Waz Up Wednesday's? - Ten Week Challenge

 Waz up Wednesday's is when I talk about a project I've been working on recently. It may still be a project I'm currently working on or one I have recently finished.

I know this is not a craft project, but it is a project on myself. It will also be on my to do list for the next while.

 

Have you had days, months, or years like this?

 

I have struggled with me weight ever sense hitting puberty. I really never tried to do anything too serious about it until about a year after my first child was born. I lost 50 lbs that year and still had more to go, but got pregnant.

 

I made it through the pregnancy with out hitting my highest (non-pregnancy) weight. It was great, I was motivated. I went back to work at losing weight. It got frustrating. I was working just as hard as before and losing it half as fast.

 After 9 months of that and still being 10 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight, plus a few other life demands. I gave up.

I kept telling myself I was going to maintain, just not lose any more. now I think...

 That was nearly two years ago. I've now gained it all back. I'm ten pounds shy of my heaviest (non-pregnancy) weight. Back to ground zero. I've been trying to get motivated this past year, but it only last about 2-3 weeks and then the scale shows nothing for it.

At Easter time I decided I really needed to focus on another fitness goal and not on the scale because it was just depressing me, not motivating me. I decided I wanted to run.

I have always admired those who run. Never had the desire to do it myself, as a younger person, thought it would be sooo boring. Now it sounds nice and almost relaxing. more noise in my everyday life I guess. My only problem is that I have never been able to run. If I run more then a few seconds my lungs start to burn. Even the couch to 5K plans I see out there were/are to advanced for me.

 I came up with my own plan. It's more of a step by step plan not a day by day plan. Each time I pass a off a step, wither it takes one week or five or more, I will celebrate. I will feel good about myself! I will focus on what I have accomplished not on what I still need to to.

 

I will only be working on running once a week. The rest of the week I will be doing other things I enjoy for work outs as well. I think over all fitness will help me with the running too.

Last week My sister called with an idea of doing a weight loss challenge. we have done them with our family before, but this time we wanted to have our extended family en-valved. We are basing this off the plan we found on Six sisters stuff. We extended it to a ten week challenge, rather then their eight week one, because it will then end the weekend before our annual family reunion. 

My plan:

I will be exercising 5 days a week, eating whole foods (as close as possible), and counting calories. We started the challenge this past Monday. There is points for exercising, eating right, drinking enough water, etc. We also get points for losing weight. There will be two winners at the end. the one with the most overall points and the one who lost the most weight. I'm just hoping this will get me started on my weight loss journey!

 All pictures I found on Pinterest.

Food Friday - 'Nana bread

I am not a lover of bananas!

Never have been.

I think it's the texture more then anything.

I do love me some banana bread though.

Every time I make this it is gone with in 24 hours, both loafs.

It's a favorite here at our house.

'Nana Bread

1/3 C honey (or agave nectar)
1 egg (I've left this our before and it seems the same)
2 T pure vanilla extract

Mix above together

Add:
3 C smashed bananas

mix together

Add:
1 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 C oat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 C coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 C ground flaxseed (optional)

mix by hand until just mixed.

add to greased bread pans (two). bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 min.

Waz up Wednesday? - Garden

Waz up Wednesday's is when I talk about a project I've been working on recently. It may still be a project I'm currently working on or one I have recently finished.

We have had some progress on our garden.

We built our garden boxes.

we stapled weed barrier on the bottom. and flipped them over.

we had long staples so some of them needed a little hammering to get all the way flush.

this stinker toad was a big help "donking" (hammering)...."donk...donk...donk" I love it!

we then mixed up some Mel's mix.

added it to the boxes.

sprayed it down as we went. This stuff soaks up a lot of water, so it is advised to add it as you go. especially if you are planning on planting right away.

we decided to use some string to make a square foot grid in one of the boxes.

we are not filling each square, mainly because I have yet to see a tomato plant grow that small.

We have planted a few plants.

our lettuce and carrots were planted by seed and are just coming up. We should have planted them earlier, but the boxes were not ready.

We bought some tomato and broccoli starters and planted them this past weekend.

It is still a little early for the tomatoes so we put walls of water to prevent any possible freezing at night.

we are still planning on planting peppers, corn, zucchini, pumpkin, green beans.

 We also attached our faucet to the pipe that went out there. (it was installed by previous owners) It's hooked to our sprinkling system so we eventually want to have a dip hose system attached and we will not have to worry so much about watering.

This is a tree I bought for the far corner of our yard. I meant to have it planted earth-day weekend, but still haven't got to it.