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?

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.

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?

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!

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!

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.