Day 80 Spring is here!!



Seriously I CANNOT believe it's already 80 days into the year!! And 80 days that I've been watching (mostly) what I eat and losing weight.  This is probably the longest I've gone and I'm happy to say that I am BACK on track.  Not only am I back on track with my eating, but today is the first day of spring & I'm feeling a little spring in my step.  It's sunny & gorgeous outside & I HAVE to get in some exercise, there's just no excuses left, I have to start exercising.  I know that exercise is what's missing in my "program".  Yes I can cut out calories, but I know that exercising is the boost that I need to really kick my weight loss into gear. Plus I am feeling very squishy.  I carry my weight in my stomach & before I lost weight it was bulging out & tight (and oh so horrible).  But now that I've lost some weight the tension is gone & it's just all squishy.  And I don't want to lose all this weight to just be a big ol' bag of squishy skin. 

So TODAY is the day that I am going to start with some exercise.  I'm not sure yet if I'm going to run (have I mentioned how much I dislike running) or if I'm going to bike.  I think my tires need some air.  Either way, today is IT.  I am going to get some exercise in and I'll even take a picture of my red face when it's all said & done :)  Also, I got on the scale this morning & I am BACK to 266!!  So excited!  I know it's not my weigh in day so I'm not going to say this is my official weigh in.  I'm hoping that by my real official weigh in day that I'll be down to 263 & will be able to post my first "after" picture.  You know, when I started this process I totally didn't think it would take me over 80 days to lose 20 lbs but I've had a few stalls & set backs (of my own doing of course) but I am back on track & feel so happy to be back down to 266. Can't wait until Sunday's weigh in!!

Hope everyone else gets to enjoy the first day of spring!

Day 52 This isn't a race...

The other day I was looking over my friends' posts on MFP & there was one by this girl who was really frustated because she'd been "at it for a while now" & had only lost 8 lbs.  She was frustrated by her lack of loss with the amount of time & effort she had been putting into losing the weight, and man can I identify!  Every other time I've tried to lose this weight I've just wanted to see immediate results.  It's that mindset of "I'm going to do this for this amount of time so that I can lose this amount of weight" & you make the changes & wait for the "miracle" to happen but the truth is, there is no miracle, and honestly that sucks!!  We all want the magic pill, I know I do, but it's that thinking right there that stops so many people from succeeding at weight loss.  We want it to be fast & easy. We want it SO bad, but we're not willing to do the work to get us there and it gets frustrating.  But this time I came to the realization that it's not about how fast I get there, it's really not even about the final destination, it's about the journey.  This whole thing is about making itsy bitsy, teeny tiny changes in our lives that will add up to a big loss down the road.  It's about chosing diet pepsi over Hi-C, it's about bringing your lunch to school/work instead of eating at the cafeteria, it's about doing that 20 minute work out video, instead of watching that hour long tv program.  It's little changes that we can & will make for the rest of our lives that will add up to US being changed in the end.  Our choices will change, our bodies will change & in the interim our lives will change. We'll look back on the road behind us & realize that we never gave up & we made it to where we wanted to be. We made it to our "new" selves, and all we have to do from there is to keep going & by then it will be easy because we've been doing it for so long.  You see that's why the road has to be long.  We have to make real changes & real changes take time to incorporate into your life. Real changes take a while to "take hold".  So if we were to be able to snap our fingers & lose the weight in 1 month, what would we have learned?  Not a darn thing & a month or two later we'd be right back where we started because we wouldn't have LEARNED the things we needed to learn to make this a LIFELONG change.  New habits have to be FORMED to replace old ones & we've all heard that it takes 30 days to either make or break a habit.  How many habits do you think you need to break? How many new habits do you need to form?  Well give yourself the TIME to do that!  It's not a race, it's a journey of 1000 miles & we're getting there step by step. 

Day 48 Weekly Weigh In...

Ok so on Wed. I was lamenting my lack of tracking my calories & how I didn't think February was going to be much of a stellar month, well that was BEFORE I stepped on the scale this morning & saw 266 lbs!!!!!  Yep, that's right, that's two pounds down for this week!!

 

I was so excited to see that loss, especially after last weeks plateau, which really wasn't so much a plateau as a binge the Friday before Sunday's weigh in.  Needless to say I was very excited to see a loss this morning AND guess what else?  That means that I am only THREE lbs away from my first "after" picture!  Like my weight loss idol Tiffany, I am going to post an after picture for every 20 lbs that I lose up until 200 lbs (after that I'll post one every 10 lbs). 

 

Since I am so close to that 20 lb picture I have decided that this week my goal is to lose those 3 lbs so that next Sunday I can post my first official "after" picture!!  I can do it, I mean 3 lbs is doable right? 

 

Today I also wanted to share one of my new lunch fav's.  It's a ham sandwich on a bolillo roll (roll from Walmart bakery section) and it is soo delish!  Here it is in all its glory:

 

 

 

Bolillo Roll 170 calories

Walmart Deli Sliced Cooked Ham (2 slices) 140 calories

Mustard & 1 tsp. of horseradish

Sliced onions & tomatoes (I don't count the calories when I use vegetables as a garnish, or if they are very low in calories, like the cucumbers)

So total calorie count for this lunch was only 310 (with the veggies it would be somewhere around 336 or so).  Also, I sprinkled on some Oregano & I think a little salt.  Of course if you're watching your salt intake you could totally skip that part.  It was very yummy & I had it for lunch on several days.  I'm pretty sure that they also had wheat bolillo rolls, but I usually prefer white, but I'm sure the wheat is pretty good too if  you prefer wheat.  

 

And lastly I will leave you with a picture of me & my beautiful baby girl.  This was the day she was presented an award from the mayor for writing a story about what she liked about the town we live in.  So proud of her. 

 

 

Hope everyone else had a great weekend & let's kick this week's BUTT!!!!!!!!

 



Previous weight 268
Current weight 266
-2  lb
Total weight loss to date
-17 lbs

Weekly Weigh In....and some measurements

Today is my weekly weigh in & although I didn't hit my end of the month goal of 269 by January 31st, today is even better! Today I am down 2 more lbs for a total loss, since December 18, 2012, of 15 lbs!!!! Woohoo!!  Very excited. 



Only 5 more lbs until an after picture!! I can't wait to see if I can tell the difference.  I know I can tell the difference in this one pair of jeans that I own.  I was wearing them yesterday & they were so super baggy.  Of course they've always been a little big, but yesterday was ridiculous, in a good way of course. 

I also took a few measurements to compare to last month, so here goes:

Neck 15 1/2 inches (previous 16 -1.5 inches)
Bust 49 3/4 inches (previous 50 1/2 inches -.75 inches)
Hips 57 inches (previous 58 inches -1 inch)
For a total of inches lost in those places of 3.25 inches. 

Yesterday was a great day for eating, as a matter of fact I'll go ahead & post it. I wish I had taken a picture of the chicken that I made, it was SO delicious!!  My family loved it.

Breakfast:
Nothing (I didn't feel too hungry for breakfast so I skipped it)

Lunch:
2 beef tacos from a mexican restaurant
1/2 serving of chips/salsa/cheese dip
Estimated 580 calories

Dinner:
Shredded chicken with fajita seasoning and green chiles
3 taco shells (I guess yesterday was mexican food day)
Calories 342 (3 taco shells only had 150 calories!!)

Snacks:
Noosa Honey flavored yogurt
2 c. Golden Puff cereal
1.5 c. 2% milk
Calories 753

I still love cereal at night.  It's my favorite nighttime snack/dessert.  Sooo, I guess today officially starts the beginning of the week & I am going to seriously try to get in my 3 work outs this week.  I would say that walking the halls in clinical should count, but the floor is soooo slow that I really can't even count that as exercise. 

Anyhoo, that's my weekly weigh in, super excited about it, I hope everyone else is doing well!!



Previous weight 270
Current weight 268
- 2  lb
Total weight loss to date
-15 lbs

Day 33 Why am I lying to myself??

What did you say?  Why yes I did get on the scale this morning & it said 269!! And no that's not my "official" weigh in, I actually weigh myself every day, but why couldn't I have seen this on January 31st!!  Then I could have "officially" been at my goal at the end of the month!! Oh well, it was still great to see it.  And what makes it even weirder is that this was AFTER a total snackfest on Friday.  Friday morning class was canceled & I ended up staying home all day (in the freezing cold, can we say over this weather?) and for some reason the refrigerator was playing my swan song.  I swear it was like the refrigerator was the pied piper & I was all 50 children following it's sweet song, lol.  Let me list what all I ate. 

Cereal, beef summer sausage, cheddar cheese with more beef summer sausage, & then more cereal, homemade chili, and then for dinner some delicious homemade tuna salad.  I swear there had to have been more than that & I just can't remember it now b/c I went to bed STUFFED.  And really since I've started this journey I haven't been stuffed in a long time.  Before I started this journey, being stuffed was a constant state and I have to say, I don't really like that feeling.  I actually don't mind being a little hungry, it makes me feel like I'm in control. 

But lo & behold, I stepped on that scale this morning expecting a gain & nada, instead I was even down a pound.  Can we say super excited?  I set my goal for this month kind of low, with only being 8 lbs instead of 10, why you might ask?  Because I'm kind of chicken.  Do you ever feel like "Ok, I've lost some weight, but this is probably as much as I'll be able to lose"?  I think that's where I'm at.  I feel like I have done really good at losing these first 14 lbs, but now the stupid side of my brain is trying to tell me that I've probably reached my limit, that I can lose 14 lbs, but probably not much more.  Isn't that crazy??? I am 100 POUNDS overweight, but my brain is telling me that I can only lose 14 of those pounds.  Wow, what a stupid lie!  That is so ridiculous that I can't believe I would entertain that thought for ONE MINUTE!!  But I do.  I look back to past attemps & think, yeah this is probably as good as it's going to get....CRAZY!!  So, when my brain starts acting all idiotic what do I do?  I head on over to Project 365 & I take a look at Tiffany & the fact that she lost 180 lbs & no she didn't do it overnight, but by gosh she KEPT ON PLUGGING & never gave up & that weight came off!!

 

And if it can happen for her, it can happen for me, I too just have to keep on keeping on & stop listening to my dumb brain!!  I mean where is Minnie when I need her?? (Minnie is my skinny alter ego for those of you that haven't read my previou posts, Skinny Minnie that is.) 

What about you guys?  Does your brain have a set limit of weight that you think, "Yeah I was able to lose this much, but probably not much more than this, and SURELY not the _____ lbs that I need to lose"??  Or am I the only one with crazy brain?

Day 19...Nervous

Tomorrow is my weigh in & I'm so nervous!!



These last three days have been sort of like free for alls.  Well, mainly just the last two.  Although I did track my calories.  I made sure that even if I didn't stick to the 1700 & under amount I was still determined to at least track what I ate, and let me tell you, yesterday was a doozie!! I tracked everything I ate & honestly I didn't "feel" like it was that much.  I mean to me it was only 3 meals, which is normal right?  How bad could it be?? Oh it could be bad, and what's worse is that I used to do that every day AND MORE!!  And just in honor of full disclosure let me tell you what that consisted of:


Breakfast:

1/4 cup of Oatmeal

75 Calories

Lunch:

Jimmy John's Italian Night Club
Jimmy John's Sea Salt & Vinegar chips

1248 Calories (Can you believe that!!!!!!!!)

Dinner:

Roast Beef
Butternut Squash Casserole
Broccoli & Cheese Casserole
Loaded Mashed Potatoe's
Coconut Creme Pie
Jack & Coke

1197 Calories

Snacks:

2 Cheddar Peppers from Sonic
1/2 container of Ranch dippping sauce
KFC Original Recipe Chicken Wing

377 Calories

So tomorrow's the day.   Can't say that I'm feeling too confident about it.  I'd be ok with not losing anything, but what I'm really afraid of is a gain.  Of course I know it won't be a permanent gain, mostly just bloating, but still....Oh well all I can do is face the music & move on. 

I'll be sure to let you know.  :)

Another Biggest Loser Blog Hop...

Today I am linking up to another blog hop.  Hey, you can never have too much support right??  I'm linking up to My Pink Scribbles for their Biggest Loser get healthy challenge.  I don't think there are any real rules, it's just a place to go & share with other people who are trying to get healthy. 

 

 

For the first week I guess we're just introducing ourselves & telling what we're "doing" as far as getting healthy is concerened so here goes:

 



Exercise:

 

Currently my daughter & I have been doing this 20 minute work out we found online called HASfit 20 minute low impact aerobic work out.  It's pretty generic, but perfect for my untoned, untrained, out of shape body :)  I'm trying to do this at least every other day.

 

Diet:

 

I am couting calories.  I'm a big believer in calories in/calories out.  If you eat less than your body needs you will lose.  Right now I'm sticking to 1700 calories a day or less.  Of course I subtract any exercise from my total calories & make sure that my net is always 1700 or less.  I am trying to eat healthier as well, with as many of my calories coming from fresh, homemade foods & less processed, pre-packaged foods.

 

Goals:

 

My immediate goal is to lose 20 lbs.  That's when I get a dinner/movie date reward.  My short term goal is to lose 50 lbs. I told hubs that once I lost 50 lbs that we were going to sign up for dance classes.  Fun!! And my long term goal is to lose 100 lbs this year.  I am aiming for 2 lbs a week & so far I am on track.  Today actually equals 1 month that I have made this change & so far I've lost 12 lbs. :)

 

If you're interested in linking up just hop on over to My Pink Scribbles & join in. 

 

Hope to see you there!!



Day 13 Weekly Weigh In

So today is the day & I am SOOO excited by what I saw when I stepped on the scale this morning.  I was down FIVE pounds!!!!!!!!!!  Five pounds in one week!! I am SOO stoked! 

 

 

 

My goal by the end of January was to weigh 269 & today's -5 lbs brought me to 271 so I'm preeeety sure that I will meet my goal for January, how exciting is that!!  I said if I got down to 269 by the end of January that that would be 10 lbs for the month & it looks like I may even go over that!!  Woohoo!

 

Ok, I'm calm now. 

 

So, on the way to church this morning I had several thoughts going through my mind.  One of the things I was thinking about was all the times that people (myself included) say "Oh I've tried EVERYTHING & nothing works, I just can't get this weight off."  But those of us that are bigger know the truth, we know that that is just a bunch of well, crap basically.  Yes, you may have tried everything, but the key here is HOW LONG did you try it for?  I mean if you're big then yeah, you probably HAVE tried every diet in the world, I know I have.  Heck, I even had weight loss surgery & still ended up back at 283 lbs!!  But the harsh reality is that NOTHING will work if you don't work it.  There is no magic pill, surgery, or diet, there's no magic at all, there's just HARD WORK, determination, and perseverance.  And believe me I'm am JUST as guilty as everyone else.  You won't believe how many times I've jumped on the "I've tried everything & nothing seems to work" bandwagon.  The whole time though, I knew the truth.  The truth was, I DIDN'T STICK TO IT!  Yeah, I may have done it for a day or two, but as soon as I didn't see the results on the scale then I was done.  My thinking was "Ugh, I've tortured myself for TWO WHOLE DAYS and this dang scale hasn't moved a pound, this doesn't work" and so I gave up, and here I am again, wearing a size 24/26 & wondering why I was such a quitter!!  I mean I have to say that this time has been SO GREAT!!  I have not been hungry one time (I mean I get hungry, but then I eat).  I have not been deprived, and I am so amazed at the fact that the weight is coming off.  Isn't that crazy?  I mean we've heard for years, calories in/calories out.  If you burn more calories than you consume you WILL lose weight.  But to actually see it working so well is just so mind blowing, and exciting, and the thing about this is that I KNOW that I can do this now.  I know that I can stick to it.  I KNOW that I CAN lose this weight!!!  I don't know why I all of a sudden got this bug up my butt to get started on this weight loss journey, but I sure am glad I did.  :)

 

Ok, so here is a picture of my lunch today.  It's a homemade pizza:

 



Ha! I started eating it before I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of it!! :)  Here's the breakdown as far as I could figure:

2 pieced of Mama Mary's crust (2/6 of the pizza) - 240 calories
1/4 of one 80/20 hamburger patty - 73 calories
1/8 c. of pizza sauce - 15 calories
1/4 c. Mozarella cheese - 40 calories
A tablespoon or so of sliced mushroomos - 4 calories (almost not worth counting)
2 1/2 black olives - 13 calories
And some sliced onions that I didn't count

Total calories 385 for my lunch.  I have decided from now on that I'm not going to count little things like onions or mushrooms if they're used sparingly.  I mean the caloric value is so low that I don't think 1 T. of onions is going to make that much of a difference.  Of course that's just me, you can do it however you want.  This pizza was very good.

Ok, well that's my weekly weigh in.  How is everyone else doing?  I hope you're doing great & now I am off to take my Sunday nap!!  Hope everyone has a great week planned!



Previous Weight 276
Current Weight 271
-5 pounds lost
-12 lbs lost total