My Progress

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Monday, May 31, 2010

Weigh In Monday

I only have a 1 pound loss to report this week. Putting me at 194 pounds. On a good note, I am on the lower half of the 190s! I am ready to bring on the 180s!

My 1 pound weight loss can be explained and here is my reasons...I was eating the Flat Out wraps. They are super healthy for you, filled with whole grains, protein, fiber, omega-3s, 100 calories, and other healthy attributes. They have so much fiber that they cause me to get backed up, if you know what I mean. I packed on an extra 2 pounds for quite a few days. I stopped eating them and it took 2 days to get rid of that extra 2 pounds and feel like myself again. I am bummed that my body just can't handle them because they are so healthy and so delicious. Reason number 2 is that I had my weekend in Seattle as my reward for losing 15 pounds. I made good eating choices but, didn't exercise. We were hoping to get to some parks and walk but, it was raining pretty much all weekend. With my daughter being with me, I just didn't feel like it was a good idea for her sake to be outside in the rain. But, I am ok with that. It was nice to have a weekend of relaxation and quality time with my friend I haven't seen in almost 2 years.

I am looking forward to a new week, a regular week. A week of daily exercise and counting calories, and lots of water drinking.

I have been reading a book by Jillian Michaels. It's called Master Your Metabolism. I am really liking it and have learned SO much! It talks about how messed up our hormones are because of the way we eat...well the way unhealthy people eat. It talks about how if you eat healthy...meaning stay away from processed foods, fatty foods, etc. and eat all natural foods so you can restore your body and your hormones so your hormones can work the way they were intended. It goes through each main hormone and what it does, why it's needed, and what happens if it isn't working properly. It amazed me out how much and how many hormones effect your metabolism. It goes through each type of processed food and what to look for to get rid of from your diet. It also tells you what foods to add in to help each hormone function properly. It's all a bit overwhelming and I find myself questioning what the point is because it seems hopeless. But, I am determined to start somewhere and over time change as much as I can. I am committed to eating naturally, free of processed foods. That is a good starting point. Over time, I plan on switching to all organic foods, then after that I plan on switching my household products to be free of chemicals and toxins. There will always be changes I can make and that's why it's so overwhelming but, I am really trying to make one change at a time.

I feel like every week has been an experiment of sorts. I am ready to get it all figured out. I am ready to be well educated and informed on all things health and fitness. I am ready to have one solid week of making great choices and doing exactly right by my body. I am ready to know exactly how my body works and what is good for it and not good for it. Obviously, I know that pretzels are not good for my body but, I didn't know that the Flat Out wraps would be so hard on my system.

That about sums up my week. How was yours?

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Let the Blog Tour Begin!




I first want to welcome all the newcomers that are here because of the Tour. I hope you enjoy what you read and if you do feel free to follow along my journey as I become a better me through fitness and health and other positive changes. I am less than 2 weeks in to my weight loss journey and while I have had some great success I still have a long journey ahead of me. Support is essential to success in my journey, I can only imagine you feel the same. So as you support me, I will gladly support you as well.

Here is a little about me:

My before picture.


This picture is pre baby and quite a while ago but, it's the heaviest I have been. It's the picture I look at and think about when I need a reminder of what I do NOT want to be. That's why I am choosing it as my before picture. This was taken at a wedding. I hadn't even realized I was as fat as I was until I saw the pictures. It was from there where I decided I needed to be healthier. I lost some weight and it went up and down until I got pregnant. I got really healthy over my pregnancy because I wanted to make sure I had a healthy pregnancy. I lost quite a bit by the time I gave birth. After a few months I started gaining it back and while I hadn't gained all of it back I got pretty close and decided once and for all it was time to get healthy and stay healthy. My weight loss journey officially began.


Just before I started the official weight loss journey.
This is the only picture I have of me that is not with a group of people of recent. This is my daughter and me about a week before Easter shortly before I decided to embark on my weight loss journey. Not the best picture but, if you compare my face in this picture to my face in the previous you can tell that I am definitely smaller than I was before.

After picture:

Well, you will have to stay tuned for that. I honestly haven't taken any pictures of myself lately. I plan on getting some good ones in Seattle this weekend so when I return I will post one or two then. Sorry to leave you hanging.

My plan:
I have been blessed with a gym membership and personal trainer free of charge. I spend 6 days a week in the gym. I meet with my trainer twice a month. While I am at the gym I spend part of the time completing the workouts my trainer has made for me. There are 3 days of workouts and each day I am there I also do an ab workout. The 3 workouts are 2 days of arms and one day of legs all encompassing strengthening my core. In addition to my weight training workouts I am completing the Couch to 5k program. Currently, I just started week 6. It's going really well. It's hard but, I feel successful at it which is something I don't feel too often. Plus, it's a dream of mine to be a runner and I feel like with this program that dream might actually come true.

I am trying to eat healthy overall, counting calories, eating more veggies and staying away from processed foods. I was journaling and stopped. But, I am going to pick that back up again because, I think it really helped me stay accountable with my food choices.
I drink water. I have one cup of coffee per day, the rest of what I drink is water. I have one cup of milk about 3 times a week. Other than that, I drink water. I try to drink 100 ounces a day if I can't fit in that much water I won't let myself drink lower than 70 ounces.

My favorite healthy snack currently is raspberries, marion berries, and blueberries and 1/4 cup of plain Greek Yogurt with cinnamon sprinkled on top. My favorites change almost on a weekly basis. So ask me next week and it may be something entirely different.

My biggest life lesson I have learned so far on my weight loss journey is to not give up. During my workouts I find myself saying I could just stop, I could just end the workout and be done. Some how I always manage to keep going. I have learned that is really all about my mental stamina more than my physical stamina.

My biggest strength I have discovered about myself while on my journey relates back to my life lesson in that my body is a lot stronger and more capable than I ever realized. I can do anything physically that I want to as long as I have the mental stamina to push myself through.

My toughest struggle during my journey has been self-control and putting a handle of my cravings. I am not really a binger, I just don't know when enough is enough. So, if I choose to eat, say pretzels, instead of sticking to my portioned out amount, I will just keep eating. I have learned that I am not the stage in my journey where I can eat anything in moderation. I have to completely cut some things out of my diet, like pretzels.

Biggest supporter? Well, I don't have one specific individual. It has been really great seeing all my friends and family support me the way they have. If it wasn't for ALL of them I would NOT be successful in this journey. My online community has been a great support also. Not only just being able to write it all out but, to actually get encouragement from others out there. It adds so much to my motivation level.

When I get to goal I am going to need a new wardrobe. So, after I go on a shopping spree, hopefully in Seattle, I would really like to have another child. Of course my husband would need to be on board and as of now, he is definitely not on that same board. If the baby thing doesn't happen then I don't know. Maybe I will pick up a fun activity that I can do, something outdoorsy, hiking or kayaking or something.

What do I wish someone had told me when I first began? That's a tough question. I mean, I have always known what to do and how to do it. I have done a lot of reading and research as well as trying out a bunch of diets. This may be a question I should come back to in a few months or when I reach goal. I am still pretty fresh and haven't had any big "ah ha" moments.

Words of wisdom: I don't have much to say in this area because I am not wise. But, things I tell myself are: Believe in yourself; I CAN do this; focus on the small successes because the road ahead can be overwhelming; never, never give up, give each second your all;

I am linking to Vegan Ana. I have recently become a follower of her blog. She is following an interesting plan for a vegan diet. She is vegan until dinner time where she can then eat meat and cheese, etc. She sets daily goals for herself and lets her readers know how she did with those goals. Go follow her blog after you have followed mine if you don't already.

Thank you for taking the tour. There are 12 people in the tour so, make sure you squeeze in the time to read all 12 blogs. I can't wait to read all of them myself.

Upcoming

I have joined a Blog Tour started by Sam over at Believe In Yourself. Sam is very encouraging and I look forward to reading her posts all of the time. She, too, is on a weight loss journey. There are a LOT of people on the same journey as I am and it's been so nice to read about others facing the same battle I am facing through the blogging world. It's been a great source of inspiration, motivation, encouragement, and overall sense of feeling like I am not alone.

With the blog tour I am hoping to get more of that community feeling as well as hoping to pass on my story with you readers to give a little of what I have been given through reading some fantastic blogs. I will be posting a little more about myself as well as putting up pictures, (FINALLY, right?!), and linking to another blogger who has health and fitness goals as I do.

Join me tomorrow in my first ever blog tour.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Weigh In Monday

Let's get right to it. I weighed in this morning at 195 for a 2.6 pound loss this week. While most people would say that's a pretty good week, I say no, it really could have been better. I got a little lazy and do I dare say, pretentious. I have been losing weight just about every week even though some of my choices have not been superb. So, I have continued to make small bad choices because I always assume the scale will still move in my favor. I am done with that mindset. I am back on track or rather more on the center of the track and incredibly focused.

Here is a little about the week.

I met with my trainer. It was a good workout. I was able to talk about some issues I was having with this months workout. I hadn't been feeling like I was physically and mentally connecting to the workout like I did with the last one. I tried to describe the way I was feeling as best I could but, it boiled down to the fact that I need more demanding workouts because I am not being worked hard enough. So, next month I need to prepare myself to step it up a notch which is good.

This week I met the 20 pound loss mark. I can't believe I have lost 20 POUNDS! I don't feel like I have lost THAAAT much but, I know it shows in my body physically. It hasn't even been 2 months and the weight has been consistently coming off which excites me to no end to see where I will be by the end of the summer, by my 28 birthday in September!

My weight loss challenge group had a mini challenge this week over a period of 3 days to see who could rack up the most steps on a pedometer. Can you guess who won? If you guessed me, you guessed right! I am so excited I won. I literally didn't stop moving until after 9 o'clock at night for those 3 days. I get a Starbucks gift card for winning the challenge. We are going to do another challenge this week. I am not sure what the challenge is but, I am excited to find out and hopefully I can be successful with that one too.

I completed week 5 of the Couch to 5K program. I did such a great job running this week. I had the endurance I needed to complete each day without any major difficulties. It was hard yes, but, I finished without an ounce of doubt.

I have some big blogging adventures coming up this week. I didn't complete the video so that's on the agenda tomorrow or maybe tonight. I also am doing something new and something exciting so stay tuned for that.

I think that about sums up my week. How was yours?

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sweetness!!!

I received my first blog award! Thank you to Laura for thinking of me with this super cool, Oh My Blog Award!


Rules for the award are as follows:
1. Get really excited that you got the coolest award EVER!
Check-So excited, this is my first blog award! I received a STAR and an AWARD all in the same week!

2. Choose ONE of the following options of accepting the OMB award:
(a) Get really drunk and blog for 15 minutes straight, or for as long as you can focus.
(b) Write about your most embarrassing moment.
(c) Write a “Soundtrack of your childhood” post.
(d) Make your next blog a ‘vlog’/video blog. Basically, you’re talking to the camera about whatever.
I have never posted a video before but, have wanted to. I think I am going to take on this challenge, and believe me, it will be a challenge.
(e) Take a picture of yourself first thing in the morning, before you do anything else (hair, makeup, etc) and post it.

3. Pass this award onto at least 3, but preferably more, awesome bloggers as yourself. Don’t forget to tell them.



Stay tuned for my "vlog" and for the 3 lucky bloggers who I will pass the award on to. It will most likely be done Saturday. I will try my hardest to shoot the video Friday night. Oh my, my husband is going to totally make fun of me. Hah!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Weigh In Monday

Wow, it's Monday again! The weeks seem to be flying by!

This was a VERY big week for me. A bigger week than I have had in a LONG time. I didn't lose a ton of weight but, I hit a milestone I have been wanting to hit for YEARS! This morning I weighed in at 197.6. It was this week where I dropped below 200. I am so excited to be below 200. I know I have a lot more work to go to reach goal but, it seems actually possible for me to reach that goal now that the leading number is the same now as it will be at goal. I haven't been under 200 since before I got married. I remember on my wedding day, I weighed 204. I am really excited about this. Even though I weigh less, I don't look it and that is due to having a baby, a baby who weighed 9 lbs 5 oz at birth and an excess amount of amniotic fluid causing my stomach to be HUGE! I know it was all baby and everything that goes with the baby because after I had her, I was 25 pound lighter than I was before I ever got pregnant. Needless to say, my stomach does not look the same and unfortunately, it never will. Eventually it will be smaller but, it will still be stretched out and gross. Even if I reach my goal of 138 pounds, I will still never be able to wear a 2 piece swim suit again. But, truthfully, I think I am passed my 2 piece days and could really care less. I just want to look perfect in a great pair of jeans (without any kind of muffin top). Don't know if that is possible.

I lost exactly 3 pounds this week. I thought for sure I wouldn't lose anything because of all my water retention from my TOM. But, the water retention didn't last longer than a couple of days, thank goodness! Also, my TOM was the reason for all my bad eating last week. Darn hormones! At least now I know how to mentally prepare myself for my intense desire to snack next month and know that there is a reason behind it.

This week was pretty good. It was a weird one because we had different functions that caused my diet schedule to get a little off track. But, I did well and I tried extra hard to get my water in especially considering I had all my water retention issues.

This week I also hit my first goal of losing 15 pounds. My goal was to lose 15 pounds by June and I did it by mid-May, I am really proud of myself and am doing better than I anticipated. As a reward for losing 15 pounds, I am going on a trip to Seattle for Memorial Day weekend. Seattle is about 4 and 1/2 hours from where I live. My brother lives there as well as some good friends. It's been a good while since we have been able to go and thought that a trip would be a nice little reward for all my hard work.

I was able to put my new muscular strength to work. We have been doing yard work and we needed to move a large garden box out of the way. When we moved it initially, I physically could NOT lift it. I had to drag it with the person that was helping me. This time, I was able to not only lift it but carry it across the yard with the same person that helped me initially. I was pretty impressed with myself.

I survived week 4 of the Couch to 5K program. I am not sure how I survived and truthfully, I almost didn't make it. It was SO hard! For the final day, I just ended up lowering my speed because I wanted to finish and knew that if I didn't lower the speed, I would just give up. When I got off of the treadmill I didn't feel like I could have done better. I felt good and I felt like I did all I could do which is the most important thing. I am ready to move on to week 5!

That about wraps up my week. I am very pleased with it overall! Especially being below 200! Such a great accomplishment for me!

A new blogger friend of mine posted a fancy little star on her blog in honor of my success. Her name is Sam and she is from Believe In Yourself. Go check her out. Thanks again Sam! And thank you to all my other readers. You are a huge part of how I stay motivated! If you are just dropping by, thank you for taking the time to get to know me. Please follow along as I continue on my journey, the more support the better!

Friday, May 14, 2010

I did it!

After my frustration yesterday, my body decided to listen to me. I got on the scale this morning and was given a very nice surprise, one of which I totally deserve! This is what I saw:


So exciting, right! My hands actually shot up from my sides and high into the air for I felt victorious! Never again will I see a 2 as the leading number in my weight! Thank you for letting me celebrate with you. My day of entering onederland has finally arrived and I couldn't be more thrilled and proud of all my hard work.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

This weeks pretty much sucks. It's my TOM so I am retaining water like mad! I can feel the swelling in my feet as I type this. I had my husband pick me up some Midol just to try to get rid of the bloating and water retention. Needless to say, I am not losing weight. Which totally bums me out because right now the scale says exactly 200.0 pounds. I am SO close to be in "onederland," and of course, I am at a stumbling block, a hurdle, that unfortunately, I can't knock down, I have to just wait and let the wind knock it down for me. I am so frustrated because other than drinking a lot of water, which I do anyway, and omitting sodium, which I don't consume anyway, there isn't anything I can do. Unless, there is another trick out there that I am unaware of. If you know, by all means, enlighten me because I will do whatever I can to get rid of this water retention in the next day or so. I am rooting for the Midol to actually work. I don't think I have ever taken Midol before so, we will see if it works.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Weigh In Monday

I am pretty pleased with my weight loss this week. This morning I weighed in at...200.6! That is a total weight loss of 3.8 pounds. I am very happy with that considering I had a mistake this week and had to make up for that. Last week was difficult with physically with my workouts, this week was difficult with my diet. It wasn't just my mistake with the tortillas, it was other bad decisions, and difficulty with self-control. I don't really want to go into it because I am disappointed in myself but, more than ready to move on. I thought I could live by the saying, "anything in moderation" apparently, that is not the case with me. I am not ready to give myself that freedom because, once I start, I can't stop. It obviously wasn't that bad right, I did lose almost 4 pounds but, the point is, I don't like the way I feel about my bad decisions and I don't like how much harder I have to work just to make up for my bad choices. I don't mind working hard, that's not it at all, it's the working hard to make up for something that I chose to do and shouldn't have.

So moving on...did you catch what my new weight is?! 200.6! Yes, I am SO incredibly close to being in what they call "onederland." My weight will no longer begin with a 2 but a 1! It is so close I can taste it, I can feel it! And when it happens I will be taking a picture and posting an entire post on being a person in the 100's.

I met with my trainer on Friday for my 1 month evaluation. My trainer was SO proud of me! She took my measurements and I lost on all of them except for my right calf. My right calf stayed the same. I lost an inch and a half off of my shoulders, off of my waist, and off of my hips! Not an inch and a half total but an inch and a half off both. I am proud of myself for what I have done over a month and can't wait to see what happens in another month.

All my pants are getting too big for me. I found a couple of old pairs that fit and a couple more pairs that almost fit. It excites me because it's almost like getting brand new clothes! I don't want to buy any new clothes until I can't get a way with wearing what I have. That will be a while. Luckily summer is coming soon and shorts, capris are a little easier to be flexible with as far as too big goes.

My 6 week weight loss challenge weighed in today for week 1. I am in 2nd place right now! So close to first, I just need to work a little harder and make sure my diet is 100% perfect! I am determined to win the challenge. Mostly because it's good incentive to keep up with what I am doing. The competition is honestly fun for me. I can't even remember the last time I competed for something.

I think that about covers my week. How was yours? What do you do to help you win the battle of self-control?

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Fix-Up

I made it through the day mostly sticking to my plan. I added in protein with every meal instead of eating just fruits and veggies. I don't think I would have survived the day had I stuck with fruits and veggies only. I had two carb items. The first was some cold cereal without milk for a snack. I ate it because I needed something dry and crunchy and filling also. I ate Life because it's what we have in the house and I just made sure I portioned and included my calories into my total for the day. For dinner I also had my veggies and I actually had chicken with my veggies in a "Flat It Out" wrap. They are really healthy, lots of protein and fiber, they are whole wheat with flax and have 100 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. I also included a wedge of laughing cow cheese in my wrap.

My calories were well under my daily allowance and I have ended the day feeling good about my choices. I think I may have a spinach fruit smoothie everyday. It was so good!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Ooops!

I realized AFTER I ate 2 tortillas, one for lunch and one for dinner (because my lunch and dinner were the same that tortillas are incredibly high in calories. I am not sure why I never looked previously and I just assumed they were around 120 calories. Nope, they are 200 calories, TWO HUNDRED calories EACH! I should be put to shame. I went to the gym two times today both time for an hour so I know I burned that off but, I am fairly certain that I didn't burn anything else off. So, as a way to make up for my terrible mistake, I am eating strictly fruits and veggies tomorrow. I will allow myself one source of protein tomorrow (egg whites) just because I will need the extra protein after hitting the gym. I am putting this mess up on here because eating fruits and veggies will be REALLY hard for me and I need the accountability.

I am so embarrassed, why did I not look at the calorie info. before I ate the first one?! I look at calories for practically everything else, especially carbohydrates.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Weigh In Monday

First off I want to thank ALL of you for reading, for your support, and for your encouragement. I have confession, I didn't have my comment moderation set up and hadn't even realized until tonight that I had all these comments. So, you will have to forgive me for not responding to the comments. That's not what I am about at all and the problem is fixed so that will never happen again.

This morning I weighed in at 204.4 which gives me a 1.6 pound loss. Not great but, I will take it. Much better than a gain!

This last week was probably the hardest week I have had physically and mentally. It seemed like my body was just not cooperating, too tired or something. Running was a challenge, lifting was a challenge, and yoga was a challenge. I never felt really sore after my workouts so I don't know what my problem was. I am ready for the new week of workouts to begin just to move on from my bad week. I kept waiting for a wall to pop up so I think this may have been a mental thing like I was trying to create a wall that really wasn't there.

My diet for the most part was good. Friday was not as good as it could have been because we took a day trip out of town and had to eat out. I ate a couple biscuits in the evening and I regretted it right after. I felt sick to my stomach for the rest of the day and into the next. It could have been worse and I feel like I have almost conquered my self-control. When I want something bad I just tell myself that there is no food worth eating just because it tastes good, losing the weight and feeling good about myself is far better than a taste of something delicious. So far, my little pep talk is working.

I did a great job with my water intake. I was trying to reach half my weight in ounces a day. Last week I was up to 90 ounces, this week I am at my goal and so far doing well with it.

The rest of the weekend was good and I have to admit I am proud of myself for my diet choices.

I have the best husband in the world! He bought me an iPod for an early Mother's Day gift and told me to go buy myself an arm band. I am so excited about it and have already enjoyed using it at the gym. I also have some really great friends who put some music on my iPod that I can listen to until I get my iTunes library built up. My iPod comes with a pedometer so I will try to use that. I would really like to get that thing from Nike that connects to your shoe that gives you calories burned and distance run. Maybe that can be a reward for a weight loss milestone.

I joined a 6 week Biggest Loser competition. It started today. I am excited about it. There are about 15 total people participating. I feel like I really do have a chance at winning and am going to try really hard! Putting my game face on and ready to win!

I have neglected my food journal and so my goal this week is to start that back up.

Thank you readers! Here's to a great week! How can I help YOU with YOUR goals?