Category: challenge

Today is the Day

OK, he’s a recruit right now, but he will be a Marine soon!

Well, today is the day.  My husband left early this morning to meet my stepson at the processing station, a few hours drive from here, and say good-bye to him as he heads off to boot camp.  I am saving my vacation time from work for his graduation, but it was still hard not to go with my husband this morning.

Since I was up early anyway, I threw my bed-head into a ponytail and did some Leslie Sansone walking workouts, adding on 2 more miles to the work wellness challenge.  I am in 3rd place after our first week, but I am only 3 miles behind the person in 1st place.  I am going to do all I can to take over first place after this week!

Yesterday I spent some time looking up Marines boot camp graduation information, and my stellar idea about the white suit is just not going to fly.  Because of all the walking, and climbing bleachers, and being outside, the website I read recommended comfortable shoes and much more casual clothing.

I really want an outfit to focus on to keep my drive, kind of like the wedding dress for the wedding, something I want to fit into by a certain date so I don’t slack off.  So I shopped online for some more casual, but still pretty, tops to wear, and I saved them in a folder so I can get to them easily.

I also made myself a motivational poster yesterday.  It’s just quotes and images that I like, arranged somewhat creatively on a page, with the Marines logo dead center to remind me of my challenge.  I hung it on the wall in our workout room.  It will be right in my face when I want to slack off, or when a workout gets tough, and I want to quit, but how can I quit when I know my stepson is busting his butt even harder?

Fired Up!

I ended up skipping weigh-in on Saturday.  That is typically a huge mistake, and I end up with a huge gain at the next weigh-in, but I just need to make sure that doesn’t happen this time.  I decided to just enjoy the weekend with the kids, get a little sleep Saturday morning instead of getting up extra early for a workout and weigh-in, and start over today.

I also had something to celebrate with my husband and kids: on Friday, I had a meeting with my boss, and my promotion is now official.  We started talking about it months ago, but it wasn’t finalized until Friday.  I am now a director at work, and of course that comes with more responsibilities, so I am even busier than before but excited too.

We went to dinner to celebrate, and the girls helped me pick out some leopard print dressy shoes for my new job role.  (Because leopard print goes with everything!)

My new title was announced at a staff meeting this morning, and there was another important announcement: the wellness challenge we are doing (tracking workout miles) now has two prizes!  First prize gets 2 tickets to an amusement park, and second prize gets an extra vacation day.  I feel so fired up now!  I actually am not very interested in the tickets, but I would love the extra vacation day.  My co-workers better get to stepping, because I intend to start racking up serious miles this week.

I said good-bye to my future Marine, my older stepson, this weekend, since he ships out for boot camp tomorrow.  There was so much I wanted to say to him, but I didn’t know how to say it.  He hugged me really tight and said he is nervous but excited.  That is what I wanted to hear, that he is looking forward to this and not letting his self-centered, piece-of-crap womb-for-rent ruin this for him.

I told my husband last night about challenging myself to lose 30 pounds while our son is away at boot camp.  I told him I have a white suit I haven’t been able to wear for a very long time, but if I can ditch 30 pounds, I should be able to wear it to our son’s Marines graduation.

I feel more motivated today than I have in a long time.  I want to win a prize in our work challenge, and I want to kick 30 pounds (or more!) to the curb before my stepson sees me again.  Let’s get to work!

My Marine Boot Camp Challenge

My older stepson, the oldest child, is leaving for Marines boot camp next week.  I first met the kids when he was about 7 years old, and I couldn’t sit down anywhere without him climbing into my lap or chatting my ear off. 

I watched that poor kid get chewed up, spit out, twisted, mangled, and manipulated by his biological mother, Psycho, until he had no idea anymore which end was up.  He was told to lie to us, lie to judges, lie for his mother, until he was so confused that he barely knew his own name.

I am glad he is finally getting away from her.  The distance will do him good, I believe.  But I feel sick to the stomach that he has as much admitted that he only enlisted to get away from her.  I hope this is a good move for him, no matter what pushed him to take that first step.

Yesterday I was driving home from work thinking about him, and how much he will change in 12 weeks, how different he will be when he comes home.  I remember one of my older brothers coming home from boot camp for the Army, and he walked up to us in the airport in his uniform, shorn head, much thinner, standing tall, commanding attention.  A man actually came up to us and wanted to carry my brother’s suitcase for him, but my father beat him to that honor. 

It occurred to me that I can make a lot of positive changes in those 12 weeks, too.  Why not come out after 12 weeks as an improved me, too? 

So, the “My Marine Boot Camp Challenge” was born!  I called it My Marine not to refer to my challenge, but to my Marine: my stepson, who to me will always be a talkative, sensitive 7-year-old curled up in my lap, no matter that he is over 6 feet tall now and heading off to become a Marine. 

My objective: during the 12 weeks that my stepson is away at boot camp, I will work hard too.  I don’t even pretend that what I will do will be anywhere near as challenging or difficult as what he will be doing, but when I want to slack off and be lazy, I want to force myself to think of him and what he is pushing himself through to achieve his goal.  Why can’t I push myself too? 

He should be home from boot camp around January 2, 2018.  I weigh in on Saturdays, so my final weigh-in for the challenge will be January 6, 2018.  My goal is to lose 30 pounds during this “boot camp”.  I know that sounds like a lot, but I anticipate losing more than 2 pounds per week to start out, especially when I bump up my workouts next week (I wanted to focus on consistency this week, then step it up next week).

I don’t want to wait until next week to start, or I will likely lose my drive.  So I am starting right now.  Consider me enlisted!

I’m excited to feel connected to my stepson in some way while he is gone, even if he isn’t even aware of it.  I dedicate every workout, every drop of sweat, every huff and puff, to my stepson, and I hope I can make him even a tiny fraction as proud of me as I already am of him.

October Will Be Epic!

Thank you for the kind comments on yesterday’s blog post!  I really needed them.  I’m glad I finally wrote out my feelings and only wish I’d have done it sooner.

It might just be wishful thinking, but I am fairly certain that I am not quite as stuffy today.  My voice still sounds funny since my throat is rough from coughing, but maybe, just maybe, I might be starting my comeback to relatively healthy instead of looking like an extra from The Walking Dead.

Yesterday I printed out a blank calendar for October and filled in my planned workout for each day.  Now, before you get too impressed, it is basically the same workout from week #1 repeated through the entire month, but I made sure to alternate cardio and weight training days, and even added in a few ab days so I don’t conveniently accidentally-on-purpose leave those workouts out.

Tonight I won’t be able to work out because I’m heading to my stepson’s football game.  I missed last week’s game because of work (thanks, work), so I am really excited about tonight and blowing what is left of my voice.  No one will be able to understand what I’m saying, anyway.  My voice sounds like I chewed on barbed wire as a snack.

My office is starting a wellness challenge that begins on Monday.  We have to track our workout miles, and then we will add all our miles together on a map we will post in the kitchen, tracking our progress walking across the state.  My competitiveness kicked in, and I want to rack up more miles than anyone else!  We are counting actual miles from walking and running, and also converting workouts like aerobics to miles too, based on intensity and length of the workout.

And how awesome is it that the month of October starts on a Monday?  New week, new month, all at the same time!  It’s like the dieter’s starting-over hallelujah.  It’s definitely a sign.  Cue the angels singing and light beams shining down gloriously on October first!  Toss the glitter and the confetti!  Applaud wildly!

…or just write this off as the cold-medicine-induced ramblings of a semi-drugged woman with a raging fever. 

Either way, Monday is the new start of all new starts, and it is going to be EPIC! 🙂  Who’s with me?

Compliments and a Challenging Lunch

Yesssss!  A co-worker came into my office this morning, stopped, then asked, “Have you lost weight?”  I said yes, and she said I look different, and that she sees a difference in my face.  She only works part-time, so she isn’t here every day.  It was a great way to start the day.

I am going to lunch today with a consultant for our company, so I am a little nervous about that. We’ve been to lunch before, and she is a burger, fries, and appetizer kind of person.  I don’t know where we are going, or else I’d go online, review the menu and nutrition facts, and select my meal ahead of time.  Well, I just need to stick to my plan and be smart with my choices.  No one is going to hog-tie me, threaten me with weapons of mass destruction, and force-feed me french fries.  It’s up to me how this lunch goes.

I tracked the packages for my Plan B wedding dress options, and one package is scheduled to arrive today.  Wow, that was fast!  The rest should be here next week.

These dresses are sleeveless, so this week I ramped up my weight training and am focusing hard on my arms.  (The first one has lace sleeves.)  Tonight is cardio though, so I’ll be sweating it out to Insanity.

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