New Changes

I feel like it's been FOREVER since I've written. Truth is, I was in a huge funk there for a while. Nothing really to write about. In the past 2-3 weeks I have really had a break through though and I'm super excited about it. I had totally reached a plateau and truthfully I knew what I had to do to get out of it, I just didn't want to. I had to change my eating habbits. I know that I wasn't eating "bad" food before- but I wasn't eating as good as I should have been either. I was watching my calories pretty closely during the week, but saying "screw it" on the weekends and totally canceling out the work I had put in thoughout the week. The other thing I finally came to grips with food-wise was that I was ONLY looking at my calories in vs. calories out. This worked for the first 6 months. It was simple. 13 fat grams? Oh well, it only has 100 calories. I realized that if I really wanted to take it to the next level I had to start paying attention to WHAT I was putting in my body instead of how many calories I was putting in my body. Bodybugg has a free program that will write meal plans for you, so I played around with that to learn how it worked. I liked it, but I was still not sold. I contemplated for a good week, I really didn't want to change the way I was eating, it seemed "too hard" and I was afraid I was going to miss things (food is VERY important to me). I buckled down for a week and measured EVERYTHING I put into my mouth, thinking maybe before the scale wasn't moving because I was estimating calories instead of being really honest about them. Got on the scale the next week and nothing changed.
So, I came to the conclusion that I had two options. I could keep doing what I had been doing, not take the risk, and (most likely) not reach my goal by new years. Or, I could take a risk, give it a try, and maybe meet my goal. I decided to give it a whirl. Yesterday I got on the scale and saw a number that I don't ever remember seeing before. 151.6. So, it worked! And guess what? It wasn't hard! It is going to take some adjusting because it's not how I'm used to doing things, but for the most part, it's not difficult. I also increased my cardio exercise to 45-60 minutes 4-5 days a week.
The other ah-ha moment I had this past week came while reading a blog of my former personal trainer. She was talking about the holidays and how it's so easy to get wrapped up in the holiday parties and such and hard to stay on track. She said you have to go into everything with a plan and stick to it. "I will allow myself to have 2 glasses of wine tonight, if I want to have 3, that's fine, but then I add 10 minutes of cardio tomorrow". A light bulb went off in my head. I've done this in the past, but I always have an extra word in mine, "Try". "I'll TRY to only have 2 glasses of wine" and then when I get to the party 2 glasses turns into 5 and I'm too hungover to do any type of cardio the next morning!
I went into Thanksgiving with this huge plan, threw it out the door the second I got to dinner the night BEFORE Thanksgiving, and ended up weighing in at 5-6 pounds more then next week. NOT COOL. I do have holiday parties to go to, and I'm not going to try to stick to my plan, I'm going to stick to my plan! I will get through the holidays and weigh 150 by new years day!

Trying to keep a positive attitude!

I got really frustrated this morning. I got on the scale and was 158. Although I'm super proud of myself for what I've accomplished, I still can't help but get frustrated that I've pretty much stayed between 155-160 for the past 2 months...no change. Especially the past two weeks, I've been REALLY good about keeping on track both food wise and exercise wise and no changes. Nic reminded me that the scale isn't everything and that I have been weight training. I measured my waist today for the first time in a month or so and it has gone down about a half inch so I am proud of that. Trust me, I know I'm not gaining weight, but for SO long I was used to seeing that number go down every week with (what seemed like) little effort. Now I feel like I'm putting a ton of effort out there and not getting results. I decided today that I'm going to try to just weigh myself once a week for a while. I know this won't change the outcome, but I'm hoping it will keep my mind off of focusing so much on that number.

Goals for the weekend:
This weekend is BUSY! Tonight we ARE going to that italian place that I talked about last Friday, so my goal is the same, just stop when I'm full. Then after dinner we're going to a bar to have a going away party for my cousins. My goal is to stick with just a couple of drinks (2 or 3) and not get carried away!
Tomorrow at 11 we're going to the Gopher football game. This will probably be my biggest challenge of the weekend. My plan is to either take a walk or go to the gym before hand (depending on what time I get up) and eat a lunch before I go so that I'm not tempted to eat bad stadium food. Saturday night is Ella's birthday party, we're having sloppy joes so not the healthiest food ever, but also not aweful, I'll just watch my portions. Sunday the only plans we have is going to my in-law's for dinner (which will be highly caloric) so just going to have to watch it again!

How the weekend went- 2.0

Well this morning I was lazy...My alarm went off at 6:30 to take a walk and I quickly reset it for 8:00. I was tired. I'll go on a walk tonight. So then at 8:00 when I got up I went to the scale. 158.0. A little bummed. I thought I did really good this weekend, and I did. I know I'm not as strict on the weekends so I know they'll be a little bit of a gain, so honstly I'm not that dissapointed. 2.2 pounds. Hopefully it'll come down from that by my official weigh in day on Wednesday!

How the weekend went

It's Sunday night and I'm feeling pretty good about how the weekend went for the most part. We had a change of plans on Friday night and didn't end up going to the place for dinner that we thought we would. Instead we went out to dinner and a movie with friends. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with kettle chips and wine for dinner. We had an appetizer that we shared (tortilla chips and dips), so by the time dinner came I wasn't super hungry anymore. The chips were gross so I didn't eat those, and I only ate half of my sandwich. At the movie I had a small pack of reeses pieces that only ended up being about 200 calories so I really don't regret that. On Saturday I went to the gym and then took the dog on a walk like I planned on, and had a sensible lunch at home. I was really excited because I got to wear my bodybugg to the wedding we went to because my sleeves were long. The wedding was fun I don't feel too bad about what I ate (even just had a tiny piece of cake) but I drank way too much and paid for it today. Today I took the dog on a walk to my mom's house after lunch and made a couple of healthy dinners that will help feed us for the next couple of weeks. Then my mom made chicken on the grill for dinner! We'll see what the scale says in the morning, but I don't think I did too bad this weekend!!!

Good week

I did pretty good this week, I'm really proud of myself. I brought my lunch to work every day (going out for lunch today for the first time in 2 weeks), I worked out every morning even though I was sick, and I took went on a walk 2 nights this week (I was striving for 3 but I didn't feel good and Tuesday night I was just beat when I got home from work). I'm a little bummed that I didn't get 3 night walks in, but at the same time, I'm proud of myself for doing as much as I did! Now to make it through the weekend :/
Weekends are definitely my weakness, so I need to come up with a plan. Tonight we're going to a restaurant that we've never been to before but we have a gift certificate for it that expires soon. It's just a little Italian joint and there's no website so I'm not sure what their menu looks like. My goal for tonight is to make good choices based on the menu, and to stop when I'm full! I think that's one of the hardest things for me to do when I'm eating out- I feel like I have to eat everything in front of me, and then I regret it right away. Tomorrow we don't have any plans during the day so my goals are to go to the gym and weight train, and then take the dog on a walk like I did last Saturday and to eat a healthy lunch at home. We're going to a wedding tomorrow night which is scary because I have no idea what kind of food they will serve, so again my goal is just to stop when I'm full. Sunday should be a pretty easy day to stay on track- I'm going to spend the afternoon at my mom's house preparing meals to freeze and eat next week. My plan is to walk to her house in the morning and then have her drive me home at night with the food! I know I'll eat healthy because she doesn't keep a lot of crap food at her house!
My ultimate goal for the weekend is to not gain weight. I weighed myself this morning and I was 155.8 so my goal is to be no more than that on Monday morning! We'll see!!!

What to do....

UGH! So after my post yesterday I was feeling awesome about my goals. Even though I have a cold, I wasn't feeling too bad after work last night so I took another walk (beyond my goal of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night walks this week!). Then went to bed. I woke up this morning feeling ok, went to the gym and got my work out in. As the day has gone on I just feel more and more sick. I'd really like to get at least a little walk in tonight. We'll see how I feel when I get home. It's just so frusterating, it seems like EVERY TIME I finally recommit to my goals something like this happens- I get sick, or I get injured, or something! I'm going to try my best to not let it get to me. If I don't go on a walk tonight, oh well, I went on one last night and can still get 3 nights in this week right??

Update time!

Yesterday I took the dog on a walk and had a conversation with myself. Since I last posted, I’ve had a major internal battle going on. On the one hand I’m VERY proud of my accomplishments and how far I’ve come in the last 9-10 months. On the other hand I’m rather disappointed with myself that I’ve come so far, and let myself stay at such a stand-still for so long now (since July-ish). Last Sunday I made a deal with myself that I was going to start really trying to take a walk at night some nights (so two work outs a day essentially). I’m proud to say that I did this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week. On my Friday morning walk I came up with goals for the weekend. My goal was simply to take a walk on Sunday (something I’ve been quite lazy about lately). I did my weight training on Saturday and then immediately took the dog out for a walk when I got home from the gym, which I was proud of. I woke up Sunday morning with a cold. Went to brunch with friends (bad choice food wise), and then came home and took a 2 hour nap. I knew we had dinner plans (pizza) with my in-laws at 5:30- it was 4:00. I put on my work out clothes and took a walk. I was proud of myself but this is when I had the conversation with myself. I decided that I’m ready to leap over this next hurdle and get through this plateau. I told myself that I’ve been working WAY too hard during the week to essentially throw it all away by eating (and drinking) like crap on the weekends.

Oh, forgot to mention- I also made a deal with myself that I’m going to stop eating out for lunch so often (every day) and bring my lunch the majority of the time. I’m proud to say that this has been another major accomplishment of mine this past week. I only ate out once last week and it was for my grandma’s 97th birthday- so I think that’s allowed!

So, I still have to come up with a battle plan, but I need to get my weekends under control. I’ve discovered that it’s really easy for me to make excuses for myself on the weekends and that it all comes down to making better decisions. This is the best time of year for me to do this because Nic’s usually occupied with a football game on Sundays so I’m on my own (and for some reason it’s easier for me to eat at home when I’m on my own, maybe because I don’t want to eat out by myself?). If I could stick to one meal out per weekend I would be SUPER proud of myself. I know there are going to be weekends where this isn’t possible, but I’m going to try really hard! I also know that on those weekends when it’s not possible, I can make better choices about where I eat out, or what I eat when I’m out.
Right now on my bodybugg system I have a goal of 145 (I think) by Christmas (which will be 1 year from when I started doing the program). Realistically if I get to 150 by then I’ll be elated! Heck, if I could just get consistently under 155 I’d be happy!
My goals for this week are to keep up with the eating in for lunch, keep up with the 2 work outs per day, and make better choices this weekend!

About time!

Wow, I knew it had been a long time since I'd posted something, but I didn't think it had been over a month! I was going to say that not a lot has been happening, and that's why I haven't posted, but I guess that's not entirely true!

I've been sticking to my workouts and eating right, but the scale hasn't been changing too much. Normally that would really piss me off, but honestly, I'm at a really good place right now. I'm hovering right around 155-158 and am really comfortable with that number. I'm not saying I'm done trying to lose, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I go a few weeks without seeing that number drop. Last month brought a lot of challenges (hello state fair!) so I'm proud to just be able to say that I didn't gain anything. I also just got back from a 5 day vacation, which is usually trouble for me, but I went into it with a plan that I was going to try to keep breakfasts and lunches about the same as they would be at home, try not to snack more than I needed to, and go on long walks every day. I'm proud to say that I took a 1 hour walk every day, and watched what I ate, while still letting myself enjoy "vacation food". I weighed about a pound more this morning than I did the morning that I left, and for me, that's a success! I'm also proud that I got right back into the swing of things and went to the gym this morning.

The major success I'm celebrating right now is that, even though the scale hasn't changed much in the past month or so, my body definitely has. I had to go shopping for new work pants a couple of weeks ago and have now started buying (almost exclusively) a size 10. I seriously don't ever remember being a size 10. Never. Even in high school I was a size 12/14. So that's way awesome!

My main goal going forward is to keep up with my work outs, and possibly add some in. I've started to try and take walks with Nic and the dog at night when there's nothing good on tv. I figure I'd rather be out being active than sitting on the couch watching something I really could care less about.

Great week!

I had a really good week this week. I stayed on track with my eating, worked out EVERY SINGLE DAY, and just had an overall good attitude! I'm back down to the lowest weight I ever remember seeing on a scale, and I had one of the best runs ever today.

The work week was pretty uneventful, but I did good. This weekend was awesome. For the first time in a LONG time, we went into the weekend with no plans. It's so much easier for me to stay on track eating wise when I have no plans because I'm more likely to eat at home, which I did this weekend for every meal except dinner Saturday night (ate healthy though).

Sunday I got up and did my 5k...it started off HORRIBLE! I had aweful side aches on BOTH SIDES, they hurt so bad I was only able to run for 2 minutes at a time. I kept telling myself that the goal was to finish, not to keep beating my best time. After about 15 minutes of 2 minute walk/2 minute run, I finally started feeling better. Now, before this weekend the longest amount of time I'd run straight for was 8 minutes, but today, I finished out the 5k and ran the last 14 minutes straight. I left the gym on such a high, it felt awesome! I ended up about even with my best time yet (33/34 minutes). After the gym we went out on a friend's boat for the rest of the day and I avoided alcohol, and bad food (with the exception of a handful of chips).

I hope I can keep this up because it feels awesome!

Lifestyle

I've been thinking about this post all morning and I'm still not sure what direction to take it in. This last week has been a roller coaster in terms of the scale, and my mind frame. My "weigh in day" on my bodybugg site is Wednesdays. Last Wednesday I was on top of the world...the scale read 156.8 that morning. HOLY. COW. Now, normally my brain would start trying to rationalize and say things like "well, it's just luck", or "the scale must be wrong". But that day, I owned it, I knew I had been on the right track from what the scale had said earlier in the week. However, every day since then, the number on the scale continued to rise. Today I'm back at 160.something (I don't remember what exactly). On one hand I'm bummed out. My mini goal on bodybugg right now is 155 by August 8th. And I so know that I could have done it, but now I'm not so sure. I'm not going to make any excuses, I just haven't been eating great. I haven't been eating horribly, but I haven't been making as good of choices as I could. But, at the same time, I'm still proud of where I am.

I realized this morning that this is my lifestyle now. It's no longer a "diet" or routine that I'm on just to lose the weight. It truly is my lifestyle now. And that's awesome. I'm used to going to the gym, I'm used to eating healthy food. Are there mornings when I wake up and don't want to go to the gym? Sure, this morning was one of them. I had a fight with myself for about 10 minutes, go back to bed or go to the gym? I compromised with myself and took the dog on a walk. And that's ok, even though this was supposed to be a weight training day and not a cardio day. Honestly, I'm sick of last months workouts and I haven't gotten my new ones for this month yet so instead of going to the gym and half assing it (which is totally what I would have done) I got myself (and the dog) moving for a half hour instead of laying in bed doing nothing. Are there days when I want to eat like shit? DUH!!!! And sometimes I allow myself to, because I know now that one meal, or even one day of eating bad isn't going to hurt as long as I get back on track!

So, no matter what the scale says on "weigh in day" tomorrow, I'm still proud of myself, and I know that eventually, the scale will say 155. If it's by August 8th that's awesome, if it's not until September 8th, that's awesome too! Because I'm doing something good for myself either way.

Being In Control

I’ve always known this about myself, but the other morning in the shower (this is where I do much of my deep thinking, lol) I was thinking about how when I’m in control of my weight (diet, exercise regimen, etc…) I’m also more in control of other aspects of my life.
I’m a much more organized person when I’m living my healthier lifestyle. Part of it, I think, stems from having to be more organized. For example, when I go to the gym 5-6 days per week I have to have a schedule: I have to get up earlier, I have to carve out time in my weekends. The house has become MUCH more organized lately. I’ve come up with a cleaning/laundry routine that is actually really easy for me to stick to, and I actually LIKE cleaning the house. I feel like I’ve accomplished something.
I also notice that when I’m being healthy, I care more about myself in general. I wear make up to work every day (not true when I was living my unhealthy ways), I wear cuter clothes (fun!).
I guess this kind of goes along with my post not too long ago about other ways of measuring success and I definitely feel like this is one of the things on that list for me!
In other news, I’ve been doing good weight wise. I logged my weight/measurements on the bodybugg site today and I had lost 0.8 pounds since last Wednesday and my waist measurement (which is the one I really care about the most) along with a couple other ones have gone down too!
My foot is getting better but still has an open cut on it, so I still haven’t been able to really do any cardio since a week and a half ago. I’ve been taking walks with the dog to try to make up for it a little, but I feel like when I finally can start running again I’m going to have lost all of the progress I’d made! I’m really hoping that, judging from the way things have been going, I should be able to start running again by this time next week. It’s just so frustrating!

Injured...

Ugh…I was riding high on Saturday morning. My weight was the lowest I EVER remember seeing on the scale. I was so thrilled. I had just given up on caring about the number and all of a sudden it dropped. Then, we went tubing down the river and I cut my foot on a rock. Right on the side of my big toe. It KILLS to wear any shoe that touches it. I didn’t do cardio yesterday and felt SO lazy. This morning I powered through and did weights, it hurt but it wasn’t as bad as cardio would have been. I’m trying not to let it get me down too much and just really focus on my diet this week.

Finding New Ways to Measure Success

For the past 6 months I’ve been so hung up on the number that I see on the scale in the morning. I forget that there are other ways to measure success, and, since the scale seems to have come to a bit of a stand-still for the moment, I decided it was time to start measuring my success and achievements in different ways.

A few weeks ago I took my measurements for the first time ever. I’d never been interested in them, it was always pretty easy for me to see the changes on the scale and in my clothes, so I really didn’t see much of a point. When I started taking the Slym Magic, the literature encouraged people taking it to take their measurements for a couple reasons, first of which being that the supplement specifically targets belly fat, and secondly that since most people taking it gain muscle at the same time as they burn fat, even though the scale doesn’t go down, your measurements should. So I took them. I decided I would measure myself again every two weeks. So last week I measured myself again. Most measurements stayed the same, but a couple did go down. My waist went down significantly (a couple inches). This made me smile.

I’ve also seen a lot of improvements in my physical strength and stamina lately. I’ve been able to lift more weight gradually each week and have been able to run faster and for longer amounts of time. I did a 5k one Saturday, and the next Saturday took 3 minutes off of my previous time. I was pretty impressed with that.

Another thing I’ve noticed is when I go shopping, I’m pretty much exclusively in size 12 pants now. The only 14s that I have left in my closet are my summer clothes that I just can’t afford to replace right now, but they all have to be worn with belts.

So, I’m still going to weigh myself, but I’m not going to let the number depress me. I’ve done darn good in the past 6 months, and as long as the number doesn’t go up, I’m ok with it for now.

Highs and Lows

This past week has been full of a lot of highs and lows. Last Saturday I ran my first 5k! I did it at the gym, on the treadmill, but it was still a 5k! I did it in 40 minutes! I was so proud of myself (and still am).

Overall, the past two weeks have been really stressful at work. I have still been working out (with the exception of skipping the gym this past Sunday), and have been eating fairly well (but admittedly not as good as I could be). And I haven’t been losing weight. I know. I know it’s just one week, and that there are a LOT of factors that go into weight fluctuation. I’m trying really hard not to get frustrated about it, but it’s hard not too, especially after the two weeks prior to this were going REALLY good weight wise.

It’s weeks/days/times like this that I start to question how often I weigh myself. I used to strongly believe that one should only weigh themselves once a week (when I was on Weight Watchers). This made sense to me. Sometime in the past six months since I’ve been doing the Bodybugg thing, I’ve started weighing myself every day. I know that the final outcome of a weeks worth of work is going to be the same whether I weigh myself once a day or only on a certain day of the week, but I think that if I weigh myself every day it motivates me day by day instead of week by week. For example, if I slip up and eat something I shouldn’t be (like I did last night at dinner) and see the effects on the scale (like I did this morning) then it will motivate me the next day (and days there after) to eat better/work out more, then if I weigh myself again the next couple of days and see that number start to come down again, it proves to me that eat bad=gain weight, eat good/work out = lose weight. Now, clearly this is something that I already know, but it helps to see it sometimes.

I’m going call this week a wash. I’m not going to record my weight on my bodybugg (I know this is kind of like being in denial but seriously the last two weeks have been so hard and stressful that I just don’t even care right now). I gave myself a pep talk after I got off the scale this morning and reminded myself that it’s not all about the number on the scale. I’m still keeping myself healthy by eating well and working out. And, I did give myself a whole year to lose those 25 pounds, so it’s OK if I didn’t lose any weight this week. Shit happens. Today is a new day, this week is a new week (oh and hey, today is also the beginning of a new month!). There will be highs and lows, such is life. The key is to stay motivated through the lows, and not let them get me discouraged.

On that note, I’m heading to the gym!

Yay!

I had a GREAT weekend. No particular reason, just the perfect combination of relaxing and having fun. Also, I stayed on track and for the first time in a LONG time, actually lost weight instead of gaining or staying even. I stayed on track eating and finally got to go back to the gym for the first time since being sick. It felt AWESOME to step on the scale this morning and see a lower number than I have in a really long time. As of this morning I weigh 163. So awesome. I think that Slym Magic that I started taking may actually be helping! Tonight we’re going out to dinner to celebrate father’s day so my goal will be to keep it healthy. We’re going to a little Italian place so I’m going to just stick with pasta and red sauce and a side salad.

Goal for the week:
Continue gearing up for a 5k. My goal for this week is to start walking/interval training a 5k instead of just going for the 30 minutes I usually do on the treadmill. At least on Saturday, time constraints due to working out before work on Mondays and Wednesdays may force me to keep it to my 30 minutes, but we’ll see!

Another decision made...

So, I made a decision today to do another thing I never thought I would do. I decided I’m going to try taking a natural supplement called Slym Magic. It is an all natural appetite suppressant and metabolism booster. I decided to do that because right now I’m at a plateau, one that I’ve hit many times before. In the past, when I hit this point, I gave up. I’m determined not to give up this time, I will get past this! So, I decided that I need a little help, a little boost. I bought a 60 capsule bottle which should last me between 1 and two months. We’ll see how it goes. I’m still going to be watching my calories and working out at the same intensity (if not more). I just feel like my body needs a little help at this point, and since it’s all natural and I know the person selling it has done a ton of her own research on all of the individual ingredients in it, I’m going to give it a try.

On the one hand, I’m excited to try it. On the other hand I feel like people will think I’m trying to cheat nature or take the easy way out, even though I know that’s not the case. I’m just going to have to get over what other people think!

As far as this week goes, so far I’ve been right on track! Right back into eating right and working out after this weekend. It feels so good to be back in the swing of things! I’m hoping that this weekend does not present as many challenges as last weekend! I know I’m going out to dinner on Friday night and possibly Saturday but I’m hoping to eat in and healthy the rest of the weekend!

Frustrated (from Sunday 6-13-10)

I’m frustrated for a couple of reasons tonight. We went to our friend’s cabin for the weekend and I had this grand plan that I was going to eat somewhat healthy and stay active…

Well, I didn’t eat healthy, and I didn’t stay as active as I had planned. It was a rainy, gloomy weekend, so much of it was spent inside the cabin, eating and drinking. We did get out and went shopping for a few hours on Saturday so I guess that was more active than sitting on the couch for those couple of hours…but I didn’t go on a run like I had planned. I’m just frustrated with myself for letting my guard down so much and for letting myself just completely lose control. But, I’m trying to not be negative and dwell on things, so I suppose the silver lining is that it was only two days, and as of dinner time tonight I’m back on track eating wise, and determined to stay there. Another thing I determined this weekend is that I’m really not a big fan of drinking anymore. I drank beer all weekend, and not only did it not taste all that great, but I barely got buzzed and just felt like crap the next morning. Not to mention all of the empty calories.

The second reason I’m so frustrated is that I gain weight REALLY fast. Or at least I feel like I do. I’ve been in the upper 160’s for the past week or two, and tonight when I got home I weighed 175…GROSS…6-7 pounds in 2 days?! Is that even possible?! I know that I’ll be able to get it under control as long as I get myself back under control, but it’s still depressing to see.

New goal

I’m about to type words that I never in a million years thought I would type. I used to think people with goals like this were NUTS. Last night while I was at the gym running I decided that I want to make a new goal for myself. One that doesn’t focus on the scale.

I want to run a 5k.

Is it a marathon? Hell no! (That I can PROMISE you I will never do). It’s not even anywhere near a half marathon. But, it’s something I’ve never done before, and something I know I can accomplish!

Funny enough when I went to lunch today with some friends I found out that they also just recently made it a goal of theirs’ to run a 5k and decided they would do it in October.

SWEET! Buddies! And I didn’t even have to ask!

As far as this week goes, I’ve been really proud of myself! I’ve been staying on track calorie wise and workout wise! I did cardio Monday and Wednesday night, and weight training Tuesday and Thursday.

I’m really nervous about this weekend. We’re going up to a friend’s cabin and I KNOW there will be temptations. Although I’m not going to be as strict as I have been this week, I also don’t want to just go crazy. Also, I’m going to bring plenty of work out clothes and make it a goal to go on a walk/jog both days that we’re up there. Also, we’re going grocery shopping tonight so I’m going to make sure to get plenty of healthy options!

Weekend Recap

I am, for the most part, quite proud of how my weekend turned out. Here’s a recap:

Friday night: Went out to dinner for my birthday, already discussed how this turned out, no need to go over it again.

Saturday: Worked out (cardio) in the morning, did an extra 15 minutes on the treadmill, yay me! Went to my cousin’s graduation party and only ate fruit and veggies (with a little light ranch of course), and resisted soda and just drank water. That night we headed over to a friends house for dinner (I knew ahead of time that we were going to have chicken on the grill with corn on the cob so I wasn’t too worried). There was also pasta salad, but the only dressing on it was Italian so I also didn’t feel too bad about that. I was doing REALLY good, I even brought my new favorite summer drink, Club Soda with lime instead of having any alcohol. Then, someone pointed out that there were Dairy Queen Buster Bars in the freezer. I had one, even after I looked at the nutrition facts. Gross. Oh well, I didn’t dwell on it because it happened and at that point there was nothing I could do about it.

Sunday: Back to the weight training routine!! Ate lunch at home, went to Chuck E Cheese and got hungry, thankfully they have an (over priced) salad bar, so I opted for that instead of breadsticks or pizza. Then I got hungry again around 8 so I had an avocado sandwich with Ezekiel bread. It was interesting. I had a half an avocado that needed to be eaten and I really wanted a sandwich…lol.

So, besides a couple little slip-ups, this weekend went MUCH better than the last few have.

My goal for last week was to cut out pop, which I did! So, my goals for this week are:

No Soda
Try to get at least 4-5 servings of fruits and veggies each day (right now I’d say I’m pretty good at getting at least 3so I want to bump that up).

Oh, also, I finished reading (skimming through) Skinny Girl, and returned it J

Motivation? I think so!

As of yesterday morning, I was back at “wedding weight”. I put it in quotes because about a week before the wedding I was down to around 164 but the week of the wedding and the two weeks after (before I gained 8 pounds in Mexico) I was around 165-167. This morning I was 166.6. That made me smile…a BIG smile! It’s crazy to me what a couple days of diet can do.

This morning I got the confirmation of a lifetime that (for me at least) diet makes a HUGE difference. Thursday I was right on track with my diet all day, and it obviously showed on the scale and in my mood. I felt better simply because I was doing something right! Last night I had plans to go out with a couple of friends for dinner to celebrate my birthday. The good part about it was these are two people who completely “get it” and are also trying to watch what they eat, so I knew there wouldn’t be any external pressure to eat anything I didn’t want to, plus I went into it knowing that this was going to be my “cheat meal” of the week. I was all prepared: I went online and looked at the menu before hand to see what my options were. We were going to an Italian restaurant that I had been to once a long time ago, so I wasn’t very familiar with their menu. I knew ahead of time what my game plan was: try to stick to a small amount of bread, get a small salad, and ask for no alfredo sauce on my entrée- red sauce only, and stick to a small amount of wine. I ate more bread than I planned on, I didn’t go with the salad, my entrée wasn’t quite what I expected it to be, and of course they brought me a free birthday dessert. BUT: I stopped when I was full, and I do not feel guilty about what I ate.

Talk about getting confirmation that a healthy diet makes a difference though. This morning I have a slight headache (from the wine I’m guessing, though I only had 3 glasses) and I weigh about 2 pounds more than I did yesterday morning. A week ago I would have been totally discouraged by this, but I’m not letting myself go there today. Instead of looking at this as a negative thing, I’m going to look at it as a learning experience. Of course I’m going to have cheat days, of course I’m going to eat out a couple of times a week. I’m just going to have to plan carefully and make sure I get back on track the next day.

Today’s challenge? My cousin’s graduation party. My goal is to eat lunch before hand (we’re going there around 1:30) and stick to eating fruits and veggies while I’m there. Also, hoping they have bottled water since I’m trying to limit my alcohol consumption and am also cutting out soda.

Happy weekend!

Encouraged!

My mantra for today is “don’t let yourself be discouraged”. Why? Well let me explain…

Before the wedding I was in an awesome routine of cardio 2-3 days a week and weight training 3 days per week. Since about a week before the wedding I could count on my thumbs how many times I have weight trained. I know this is one of the many reasons my weight loss has halted. I had myself all psyched up to start my weight training again this morning. Last night, when I got home from work, while walking into my house I SLAMMED my knee into the metal door frame. It hurt like a bitch but it wasn’t until later in the evening when I realized how much it actually hurt. I woke up this morning being able to walk pretty much pain free, but bending my knee, squatting, or lunging hurt like hell. At first I thought, ok that’s fine, I’ll just modify my workout. Wrong, 8 out of 9 moves in this workout involve bending my knees for some reason or another. At first I got all discouraged and pissed off, but I quickly turned it around. So what? I can walk pain free, so, I’ll go to the gym and walk on the treadmill like I have been for the past two weeks. I’ll start my workouts on Sunday when my knee has had time to heal. No big deal. Don’t sweat the small stuff!

Another thing that could potentially have me discouraged? Remember how I spent a pretty penny on some motivational weight loss books yesterday? Well, I started reading those books last night. The first book I picked up was “The Biggest Loser: Success Secrets”. I love the show and have been using their simple philosophy of calories in/calories out for the past 5 months. It works for me. I love this book, it’s totally what I was looking for, something I can pick up when I don’t feel like working out, or feel like eating crap- and it will (hopefully) give me the encouragement to keep going! It’s totally goal oriented and has tons of positive success stories and secrets from past contestants on the show. Love it.

The second book I picked up is called “Skinny Bitch”. I’ve seen it on the book shelves and have picked it up many times, but never really considered reading it. When I was at the store yesterday it looked really great, and promised a simple philosophy that anyone can follow! Great right? WRONG! I’m having a total love/hate relationship with these authors. I love the manor in which it’s written: the authors take a relaxed, no bull attitude and tell you like it is. There are swear words and everything. However, their general philosophy is annoying. It starts out by talking about all the stuff you shouldn’t do. Most of it makes sense; don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t ingest aspartame. Fine, but then; don’t drink caffeine (at all, no tea, no coffee), don’t eat/drink dairy, don’t eat meat (seriously). I understand what they’re saying, however, I don’t want to live the rest of my life eating just fruits, veggies, grains, and drinking water (because honestly that’s all they say you should be drinking). To me, that’s setting myself up for failure. Like I say, I understand what they’re getting at- don’t give your body things it doesn’t need. That’s great. If you have the willpower to do that, more power to you, pat yourself on the back. That’s just not for me. I will read through the rest of the book (I’ve now been skipping chapters that I can tell will make me mad), but I will do so in such a way that I am still able to return the book this weekend, I refuse to pay $13 for it. There are however tips that I will follow. The chapter I just read was talking about how you should ease yourself into (or away from) certain things. They say that instead of eliminating all of the “bad” things from your diet at once, you should do it week by week. Pick one thing each week to eliminate and add to it until you’re home free. I totally agree with this, just not all of what they want me to eliminate.

So, instead of being discouraged I’m going to be encouraged. So what if I can’t weight train today? I’m still going to the gym and getting my exercise in, and I’ll start the workouts on Sunday. My goal for the week as far as eliminating something? I’m going to give up pop again. I’ve done it before and it’s really not that hard for me. I like sparkling water and I love iced tea- so no issue there.

One day at a time!

25 by 26

So, I turned 25 3 days ago. I got married a month and a half ago. I've lost 25 pounds in the last 5 months (well technically I lost 30 and then found 5 on my honeymoon). I PROMISED myself that, although the wedding was a great motivator, it would not be the end of my weight loss journey. Alas, the past month and a half has been a struggle.
I've GOT to get myself back on track. I have no excuses. I need motivation, I need goals, I need will power. So, I went to the book store today and purchased two books. I made a goal. I'm 25 years old, and I want to lose 25 pounds by my 26th birthday. I know that doesn't sound very hard, but to me, that seems IMPOSSIBLE. This morning I weighed 170 pounds. That would put me at 145. Pretty sure the last time I weighed 145 was before I ever cared about my weight. Seriously, probably middle school, I don't even know. I know it sounds odd, but that scares the SHIT out of me. That's uncharted territory and although it sounds great in my head, I can't even imagine weighing that little.
So, there it is. My goal written down on paper (sort of). That was a tip in one of those great motivational books I purchased earlier.
Wish me luck!