The Perfect Pair of Jeans...

I know what you're thinking... You're thinking that the perfect pair of jeans doesn't exist...

It's an old wives tale or urban legend or whatever...

Well I believed that too... Until last year sometime.

I found the perfect pair of jeans at the Gap Outlet in Gilroy.

They were so awesome, I bought more than one pair. Why not right?? If you get blessed with the good luck to find the PPoJ, you better buy the PPoJ!! No question!!

They hugged my bottom the right way... Made my legs look longer, & just made me feel great looking!

I bought them in denim, in black, ankle length for sandals, & regular length for heels & boots... <--- see the variety of possibilities??!!

PPoJ!!!!

I loved them, wore them all the time...

UNTIL...

(cue ominous music intro...)

Until I gained too much weight to wear them...

*sniffle*

*wipe way the tears*

I was so disappointed in myself... I had ruined the PPoJ...

What to do??

Well, I hopped in the car & drove the 30+ miles to get more (in a bigger size of course)

Well, as any of you that wear a size 16 know... Once you go up to bigger sizes your options for variety in length diminish a bit. Size 16 only come in regular length... Bye-bye sandals...

So I bought the one pair & gave up on my strappy shoe wearing days...

Small price to pay for the PPoJ...

I really should have bought more than one pair though...

I realized that later...

It came to me as I was standing in the GAP Outlet a month or so later... Right around the time the sales girl was saying "oh, I'm sorry.. We no longer carry that cut of jeans"

WHAT?!??! Noooooo!!!!

Why oh why would the fashion gods that be, discontinue a great pair of jeans that obviously sold out or else I would have been able to buy more!!!!!??

Ugh...

There is good news however... You see I am currently sitting here as I post in that original pair.. Yes the PPoJ that started it all... The size 14 ankle length pair... Complete with strappy sandals!!

The fit again!!! They are I admit a bit faded but I don't care.. I love them.. Especially now that they no longer hold a vise-grip on my thighs...

Life is beautiful from where I'm sitting...

Ever found a great piece of clothing that you loved so much??

Tell me about it in the comments...

mud...

I spent some time outdoors on Saturday...

My sister-in-law & I signed up for the Ranch Romp...its a 5k run with obstacles...the last being a big ol' mud pit...

This is us waiting to get our bibs... I got lucky #1344...

Don't we look cute?? I like some of the "before" shots... Here's another...

See how..CLEAN we are?? It didn't last long...

Soon we were running up & down hills

We're in there somewhere...

Then we were climbing over old barns

and going down a big slip n' slide, and rock climbing, and scaling hay stacks... and climbing over a cargo net...



Up....

and over...

almost at the end... only one thing left to do...

It was awesome... :o)



We're running a similar event in October... who's in???

:o)

~Bernadette

Reformed Monday-Hater

Hi all...

Well it's that time again... Can you believe sometimes I actually can't wait til Monday! Big change for this Monday-hating girl!!

So anyway.. Its weigh in day. I'm happy to announce that I weighed in 2.4 pounds lighter this week... Yay me!!! :0)

(more YAY!!s go out to my "myfitnesspal" friends Sara & Maribel for also weighing in lighter this week.. Good job girls)

We've been workin' hard. Right, ladies?

When I first started going to the gym before work I literally had to convince myself it was a good idea.

Now it's become routine.. Don't get me wrong, I still have days when I really would rather stay in bed for that extra hour, but they are few and far between.

The hardest part is starting. Dragging your butt out of the house & into the gym that first week is almost painful but so worth it.

If I can do this, anyone can. It's about breaking old habits & making positive changes...

What kind of positive changes you are making??

Have a great week!

-Bernadette

Bonus:

Here's my morning breakfast recipe. I have this every morning & have yet to get sick of it :0)

1/2 cup Light Plain Yogurt
1/2 cup Frozen Mixed Berries
1 small/medium apple

Chop up apple & mix with fruit & yogurt
Enjoy!

I prep the fruit & yogurt at night & then chop the apple up right before eating it the next morning. It's so yummy & only around 120 Calories (depending on the size & kind of apple).

DELISH!!

Who's running?? I'm running...

I was feeling a bit tired this morning...

I had recorded The Biggest Loser & really wanted to watch it. I get up at about 5:30 to see my husband off to work & I usually leave right after him & head in to the gym. Today I felt like having some lounge time first & then heading into the gym. I figured I'd watch 10 minutes & then be out the door.

I watched it all & by the time it was over I was feeling like I didn't have time for the gym, but I went anyway.

Boy am I glad I did! Since I really only had about 20 minutes to work out, I thought I would test my endurance with a little jog on the treadmill. It should be noted that A) I'm not a runner & B) the treadmill & I are not friends. I'd much rather hop on the elliptical machine, but since I have a 5k coming up (more on that later), I thought I'd try out the treadmill this morning.

I started off with a two minute walk on a zero incline at a speed of 3.2. Just as a warm up.

After two minutes, I increased my speed to 4.0...and I stayed there for 21 minutes!!

It was a miracle... I'd never been able to go any faster than a 3.5 for more than 5 minutes straight!! I'd get shin splints or get winded or give up because I was too tired.

Today I pushed... I think the people behind me may have thought I was insane because half way through I started whispering to myself...

"you can do this..."

"Push, push..."

"oh my God... You're running..."

"push...go, go.... You're doing it"

See... Crazy person, right? Lol

I was amazed at myself...

Now, a few of you out there may think that this is not that big of an accomplishment, but to me it's proof that an athlete lives inside me. Proof that I just have to keep working & my body will follow...

Speaking of proof I took a few pictures incase I had a "did that really happen?" moment...

enjoy..& please don't judge my hair too harshly... It was early & I had just had the run of my life ;0)

-Bernadette

Monday = Weigh In Day

Mondays have always been on my sh*t list.

They signify the beginning of the work week and the death of the weekend...So why would I choose to do weigh ins on Mondays??

What was I thinking??? Weekends are the days that I tend to not be as vigilant with my calorie counting & weekends are when "special occasion" dinners happen...so you would think that I would realize that weighing in on Mondays is just setting myself up for failure...well, I happen to be a little OCD & Mondays start the week, so Mondays it is!

I also work out with my trainer Monday mornings...call me a glutton for punishment...smh!!

So that said...today is Monday...and I did weigh in today... I now weigh 1.2 pounds more than last week...ugh!

I did it to myself... Saturday night was "double date" night. My husband & I went to have dinner with my sister & brother-in-law. We ended up at Alexander's Steakhouse.

I ordered a 10oz Fillet Mignon & we ordered sides for the table... Alexander's treats you well while you are there. There was a complimentary amuse bouche, we ordered delicious oysters, complimentary edamame, and so many other yummy things... I tasted everything!

In my defense, I had prepared my calorie count for the day. I had a filling breakfast & a satisfying lunch, so even though I had that huge meal on Saturday, I only came in 55 calories over my goal.. how is that possible??

I had worked out earlier in the day & worked off 838 calories at the gym...

Friday night & Sunday night were a different story... I had McDonald's for dinner on Friday night... I had originally planned on having a nice healthy dinner, but I got distracted & by the time I thought of dinner, I was tired & hungry...and McDonald's is only 5 blocks from my house... so easy & SO NOT WORTH IT...but I did it anyway...

Sunday night my husband wanted Burger Queen (not a typo..there actually is a Burger Queen in town)...I went in thinking I'd order a chicken sandwich, no fries...I came out with a Queen burger with cheese & fries...NO FREAKIN' WILL POWER...the bad thing is I didn't even enjoy it & I felt guilty afterward..translation = also NOT WORTH IT!

Ugh...

So now the game plan is to use that weekend as a lesson... I need to make better choices... channel that guilt into energy during my workouts & plan ahead for meals so that I'm not left floundering at dinner time with a growling belly... So that was my weigh in...let's hope I have a better story to tell next Monday...

Have a great week all...make smart choices!!!

~Bernadette

My Latest & Greatest DIY Project EVER!!

So my latest project is DIY at its finest. Its me...I'm my latest project.

I am in the middle of the biggest makeover I've ever done. Its lasted oh, I'd say...about 14 years.

That's how long my weight has been yo-yoing... When I was 21 I was thin, in a semi-new relationship, & foolishly blindly happy... now I'm 35, not so thin, & foolishly happily married...

No...not to the same guy... in fact, that semi-new relationship is part of that epic moment when everything changed for me. It was the beginning of the yo-yo... My then boyfriend (we'll call him Mr. Toxic <---my cousin's favorite name for him), broke up with me..well, more like I cought him with his ex-girlfriend, but tomay-to, tomah-to... the point is we broke up...BRING ON THE ICE-CREAM!!!

That's exactly what I did...I stopped going to the gym, ate whatever I wanted & basically was really sad...

After a while I wasn't depressed anymore. I realized that I was better off & went about my life...but by then I was a bit bigger..like a size 18 jeans...Did I mention I'm only 5'3"?

Then one day..years later (I was 30+ by then) I joined the gym again, hired an awesome personal trainer & worked out like a feind. I counted my calorie intake & it worked. I got down to 165lbs & into size 10 jeans. I thought that was AWESOME!

In other words, I got comfortable...

I figured I didn't really have to count my calories so accurately anymore because I still worked out regularly and it was all about maintaining..see I didn't want to be a rail thin skinny minnie..just a regular girl... size 10 worked for me!

Then...BOOM!!!

My grandfather was diagnosed with cancer...I cared about nothing else...I stopped going to the gym so that I could be there in his house. I hung out with my mom & aunts & again ate anything I wanted... see the pattern??

Three years later I am a borderline size 14/16 & tired of being a yo-yo... I still had my gym membership so I started going again about 8 months ago. Three months ago I actually got serious about it... I decided I needed to make my health more of a priority...so now I go to the gym every morning before work. I work out for about 45 minutes a day Monday thru Friday and for about two hours on Saturday. Every other Saturday I go to Zumba class..LOVE IT!!!

If you've tried Zumba before & didn't like it, I urge you to try a different instructor. I've tried a few different instructors & have decided that I only really enjoy Angelo's Zumba class, but I'll post on that another time...

Two months ago I started the calorie counting again...

Over the last three months I have lost 6.6lbs... not a high number if you're used to watching The Biggest Loser, but its what I've got, so there you go...

Anyway..if you're still with me, then for the next little while you'll be reading about my journey..the ups & the downs...

Oh, by the way, I weigh in every Monday morning...just once a week no matter how tempting it is to pop on all the time in between weigh ins.

All for now...

Bernadette...

Some Changes...

Hi everyone...

As you can tell its been a while since I've posted last...I took a bit of a break...like almost a year long break...sorry about that...

I can tell you what happened...it was the light fixture that took me down...I had imagined this beautiful light fixture for my bedroom..something modern & stylish. My husband wanted a fan..a plain jane fan... I told him we'd come up with a combo fan/stylish light fixture thingamajig that we'd both love...

Secretly I knew that if I created something awesome, he'd love it & forget about the whole fan idea.

So I got to work...

and let me tell you, it was WORK!!

I just couldn't do it..I tried, really...

I tried over & over, & over again...

days passed by...

then weeks...

then months...

& before I knew it, I hadn't created a thing...not the light fixture, or anything else...

So here I am...DIY-less...& with no pretty light fixture for my room...or even a plain jane fan...nothing but this...

horrifying isn't it??

So that was the beginning of the end of that project...

So mow my new project is me.... more about that in my next post...

Thanks for sticking around...I'll be back, I promise

Bernadette :o)