Max 10 hours per week of TV – Made it.

• Knight Rider (1 hr) – I’m liking how they’re changing the show, I think there are many more places they can take the show now.
• Battlestar Galactica (1 hr) – Falling further behind in watching.
• Biggest Loser (2 hrs) – I can’t believe the records some of the contestents are breaking.  Only 9 weeks into the season and several of them have already hit some major milestones.
• Dirty Jobs (1 hr) – Normally I hate recap episodes, but when Dirty Jobs runs them, they show more of the behind the scenes information that makes it worthwhile.
• Grey’s Anatomy (0 hr) – Didn’t air last week.
• ER (1 hr) – Didn’t watch this.
• 24 (1 hr) – Starting to get caught up. We’ve watched  the first 2 hour episode, and half of the 2nd 2 hour episode.
• Solitary 3.0 (1 hrs) -Down to the final 3.
• Non-tracked viewing: Other than some evening news, I’ve watched a few episodes of The Dave Ramsey Show and a couple of episodes in the background of Cops-type shows while working on other things.

At least 2 books per month -February’s goal met, now working on March.

• Twilight by Stephenie Myers – Finished!
• The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying by Suze Orman -Finished!
• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer – About 2/3 of the way through this one already.  I don’t think I’m going to have a problem with this goal.  Now I just need to decide on a non-fiction book to read this month.

Minimum 3 blog postings per week – I had 2 posts this week, and honestly it felt good just writing a couple of posts as I wanted to rather than feeling pressured into making a 3rd one.  I still don’t want to drop this goal, but I haven’t decided how to re-write it to meet the spirit of my goal in the first place.

100 lbs (2 lbs/week) – Up 2.3 direct, also up 2 on the averaged trend. These last couple of weeks have been so busy and so stressful I haven’t been paying as close attention as I should to my diet.  I also missed going to the gym most of last week, and have not been getting up early enough to go this week.  I’ve been getting to bed slightly later than I intend (the dangers of reading a good book!) which has made me pretty tired in the mornings.

Budget – I’m happy with where we’re at this week.

Max 10 hours per week of TV – Made it.

• Knight Rider (1 hr) – Didn’t watch yet.
• Battlestar Galactica (1 hr) – Falling further behind in watching.
• Biggest Loser (2 hrs)  -Go Green, well now Black!
• Dirty Jobs (1 hr) -  Haven’t watched yet
• Grey’s Anatomy (1 hr) – Got caught up on this one, it was another combined episode with Private Practice below.  It was actually a pretty good storyline.
• Private Practice (1 hr) – See above…
• ER (1 hr) – Didn’t watch this either.  I think I saw the Finale is this week, so I can reclaim this hour.
• 24 (1 hr) – We’re kind of holding off until we get our new TV to watch this now, but it will be nice to watch several at once.
• Solitary 3.0 (1 hrs) – The solitary confinement is starting to make a couple of them crack I think.
• Non-tracked viewing: Other than some evening news, I’ve watched a few episodes of The Dave Ramsey Show and I’ve watched some shows on the Science channel.  I also watched Obama’s speech last night too.

At least 2 books per month -January’s goal met, on track for February.

• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer- Finished.  This was surprisingly good for being a book targeted more towards late teens/early adult.  I finished it Monday night, though I didn’t plan to.  I planned to read for about an hour, but when that hour came and went, I ended up reading another hour and completed the book.  There was that point of no return where it got really good and I couldn’t put it down since I was “almost done” anyway.  Will be starting the second book in the series as soon as I finish “9 Steps”.
• The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying by Suze Orman – Couple dozen more pages and this is done.

Minimum 3 blog postings per week – I wrote 2 posts but did not get them polished up and published.  I’m considering modifying this goal, not because I’m having trouble meeting the goal, but because I don’t think the goal is meeting the intent.  I’ve been thinking “I need to hurry up and get this out” or “I need to find something to write about” when I’d rather be thinking “This would be something great to write about” or “I’m going to hold off a couple days on posting this to make sure it is polished.”  I don’t know how I am going to change it yet, but I don’t want to eliminate it altogether.

100 lbs (2 lbs/week) – Up 4 pounds this week, Yikes!  I was not careful over my birthday weekend but I did not go overboard either. 0.09 pounds down on the averaged trend. At this point I have to assume it is water weight, so next week’s weigh-in should be great.  Even though I may not have hit my weekly goal I have to remember I’m still down 10 lbs from the start of the year, which is still progress towards this goal, and there is plenty of time.

Budget – Our tax refund did not arrive yet and it was supposed to be here last Friday.  This changed our planned budget but it is not going to break us.

Max 10 hours per week of TV – Made it.

• Knight Rider (1 hr) – Didn’t watch yet.
• Battlestar Galactica (1 hr) – Falling further behind in watching.
• Biggest Loser (2 hrs) -Go Green!
• Dirty Jobs (1 hr) – This week’s episode did in fact have Mike visiting Boise, ID!  I had to work late last night so I’ll be watching this one tonight.
• Grey’s Anatomy (1 hr) – Haven’t watched it yet.
• Private Practice (1 hr) – Tied in with Grey’s Anatomy episode from above, so need to see it to get the entire story.
• ER (1 hr) – Didn’t watch this either.
• 24 (1 hr) – Still lagging here.  The first 2 episoded were 2 hours each, and it has been hard to find time for us to both watch it together  If we can make it pas the initial hurdle I think we’ll be able to get caught up rather quickly.
• Solitary 3.0 (1 hrs) – The solitary confinement is starting to make a couple of them crack I think.
• Non-tracked viewing: Other than some evening news, I’ve watched a few episodes of The Dave Ramsey Show and I’ve watched some shows on the Science channel.

At least 2 books per month -January’s goal met, on track for February.

• Twilight -about 1/3 through it now.  This one is a fast read.
• The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying by Suze Orman -Almost done.

Minimum 3 blog postings per week – Only one post this week, but there’s been a lot going on.  Its kind of a catch-22 in that when I have a lot going on, it makes things I can blog about, but it consequently takes time I could use to write the blog entries.  I could sacrifice some more TV time, but I’m already down to watching a few specific shows and outside of educational programming I never just watch something to be watching something anymore.  I have to have some form of passive entertainment.

100 lbs (2 lbs/week) – Down 6.3 pounds direct weight this week!  1.87 pounds down on the averaged trend. I’m tracking ever so slightly above my goal, literally by 66 calories per day.  I need to be a little more diligent about getting up in the morning so I can squeeze in an extra 15 minutes at the gym, and/or I need to try to cut about a hundred calories per day average from my diet.  That is such a small number but it really adds up over the long term.

Budget – Back to using cash.  It’s too easy to let it slip and overspend when using plastic, even when its just a debit card.

I’ve been drinking an ounce every morning for a couple of weeks now, and so far I’m impressed.

I’ve been able to run on the Eliptical trainer (yes, this is my favorite cardio) with greater intensity than I normally can.  This is measured by an increase of 7% in my heartrate while not feeling as though I am exerting any additional energy.  Before starting MonaVie I was pushing myself as hard as I could, and now I feel I could push myself even harder, but I don’t want to push my heart rate any higher than I am now.

I’ve noticed less of a likelihood of wanting to snack too.  My only question is whether the positive changes I’ve noticed are a result of the Monavie drink, if it is due to my morning whey protein-based shakes, or if it is a result of my starting to exercise at the gym on a regular basis.  The easiest way to find out is to stop drinking Monavie for a while and see what happens.  I plan to not drink any for the next week and see if I notice any of the benefits I’ve perceived go away.

Place all ingredients in blender, blend until smooth. Makes 1 serving. Approximately 290 calories, 25g Protein, 42 Carbs, 3g fat.

Place all ingredients in blender, blend until smooth.  Makes 1 serving.  Approximately 385 calories, 25g Protein, 69 Carbs, 3g fat.