What is it about the holidays?

I must be the only person that gets to the holidays & starts to want to lose weight.  It happened around this time last year.  I decided on December 18, 2012 that I would go on a weight loss plan & so I started this blog. 
Can you imagine how far along I'd be if I had stuck with it?  It would be almost a year now....
Anyhoo, I'm getting back into that mode.  I feel it coming.  I've been trying to get back on track now for several months but I just haven't felt it, but I can feel it coming back.  Isn't that crazy that I want to start around the holidays? 
Anyway, I doubt anyone still reads this blog & that's ok.  I like to have something for myself to look back on. 
I tell you what though.  Besides my favorite blogger Tiffany (who takes really long in between posts, but it's not her fault she's a newly wed!!)  If you want some really great inspiration, get on Instagram!  There are some GREAT pictures and accounts of people who have lost weight all kinds of ways.  Surgyer, WW, counting calories, working out, you name it they've lost weight doing it & it's a great place for inspiration.  I guess I already said that huh? 

Anyhoo, I'm aloooost done with school.  I graduate in May, so only 6 months left!! Thank God!  I am SO ready to be done with school.  Well, at least this part.  I'm ready to start working & making some real money & then hopefully I can get my life in some sort of regular routine. 

Ok, that's all I wanted.  Just to say I am still here & that I'll probably be starting back real soon.  My weight has crept right back up where I started last year, so I guess you can say I'm starting over, AGAIN......

Long time no "see"

I know I've been MIA & my eating has gone totally downhill.  I have gained back 8 lbs & I feel like CRAP, especially after working a 12 hour tech (CNA work) shift at work!! Man does this 8 lbs really make a difference.  You wouldn't think that 8 lbs would show so much but it really does! My stomach is such a noticable difference.  I wouldn't have thought that, but it's true.  But alas, tomorrow is another day & I HAVE to get back on track, if not for anything more than to not feel like my back is broken & my feet are about to fall off after my 12 hour shift!!

Weekly Weigh In...

Sorry that I haven't been around much guys.  It's the end of my hardest semester & I have been super busy.  Thank God I only have ONE WEEK left of this semester!!  Woohoo!!  I'm very much looking forward to this summer.  I recently got a job working as a PCT (Patient Care Tech/CNA) at a hospital a town over so I am also looking forward to that.  I haven't started yet, I'm still waiting to hear about my final acceptance & then orientation & all that.  But, I have been trying really hard to watch my eating.  I haven't been counting my calories like I should & doing Insanity has made me realize that that is NOT for me. Even though, I'm still down a pound from my last weigh in.  This morning I got on the scale & was back at 267.  I can't complain too much, at least it was a loss right?  I've been reading my blogs & I have seen some really great recipes that I want to try.  And of course as soon as I do you know I'll share them with you.  But for now I am studying my big ol' booty off but I'll be back blogging regularly soon!

Hope you all are doing great!




Previous weight 268
Current weight 267
- 1 lb
Total weight loss to date
-16 lbs

Day 107 Ok I'm insane...

I know I said I wasn't going to do Insanity.  I know I said I didn't think I COULD do insanity.  I know I said only a REALLY fit person could even do this, but......I did it.  I couldn't help it. My husband has been doing it now for about 5 days & although he did make it look like pure torture, I couldn't help but try it.  Seriously, you have to hear the noises he makes while doing it.  But anyhoo.  So today while I was home alone I decided to give it a try & here are the results. 

The first day you do what's called the Fit Test.  I guess you do that periodically throughout the program to see how far you've come.  And here is how I did:

Switch Kicks - 107
Power Jacks - 25
Power Knees - 50 on the L leg & 51 on the R leg
Power Jumps - 35
Four Corners (I don't remember what this is really called) - 5 rotations
Suicides - 8
Push up jacks - 18
Plank Obliques (I think this is what he said) - 25

So for the breakdown.  The only thing I physically couldn't do were the Push Up Jacks.  I physically can't do a push up on the floor.  BUT I compromised & I did them on the wall. :)  It's the best I could do.  Maybe one day I'll be able to do them on the floor.  The other thing I THOUGHT I wouldn't be able to do when he was demonstrating them were the suicides & the plank obliques.  But I gave them a try & I was able to do them.  Of course my plank obliques were PITIFUL.  I mean it's hard to bring your leg up when your big ol' stomach is in the way.  BUT I know that's not the point.  The point is I did it & I survived.  So I guess tomorrow will start the real workout (maybe).  I have clinical & I have to leave my house by 5:00 am to get there on time, sooo I may do Day 1 on Friday instead.  Either way, I have to say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be & I am looking forward to doing Day 1 & then doing the Fit Test again in a week to see if I've progressed.  Yes I know, I am eating my words.  Do you want to see a picture of me afterwards?

 

I was a little sweaty & a LOT red, lol.  Now on to study time. 

Weekly Weigh In...

So my husband has caught the "Insanity" bug.  Like I said in the last post, he's in pretty good shape already & has decided that he's going to give these workouts a try and so far he's doing pretty good.  He found a girl on youtube that does them & records herself & while she's recording them you can see what the people in the videos are doing too.  He's been doing really great & he said that the workouts are REALLY hard.  By the time he's done he's dripping with sweat.  I'm really proud of him.  Have I started doing them too?  Uh no thanks.  BUT what I have started doing is some yoga.  Have you guys seen the video of the guy who lost 140 lbs doing yoga?  If not you should watch it, it's really inspiring if you haven't seen it I've posted it for you :D.  Even if you're not interested in yoga, he's still a great inspiration of what happens when you never give up. 

 

 

How many time have we started this weight loss thing & then given up?  How many times have we looked back six months later & thought "Man if I had only just stuck with it where would I be now?"  Well this guy stuck with it & what a difference it made. 

So, I decided that doing a little yoga might help me with my creaking bones give me a little flexibility.  I have to say though, it's a bit harder than I originally thought.  So far I've only done some starter workouts, they're about 20 minutes long but dang it takes some good balance to do those suckers!  You know what I would really love to do? The couples acroyoga.  Have you seen that?  It's FANTASTIC!  Of course you'd have to have a partner willing to do it.  I don't know though, once I lose a bit more weight, I bet I could talk my husband into it, lol.  If you haven't seen that then check out this video, it's so cool. 

 



 

Serously how cool is that?  But anyway, I guess my post for today is about finding something & just doing it.  Even if you change it up & do something else, just do SOMETHING.  Today was yoga, tomorrow may be something else, but at least I'm moving my body. 

 

And now to the weekly weigh in. This morning I was back down to 268, so that's a 2 lb loss from last week where I was up 2 pounds.  I'm tired of this stall & yo-yoing and I am hoping for a much better number next week.  How about you guys?  How are you doing?

 

 

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

Day 100!

I can't believe I'm at day 100.  Of course I'm not where I was hoping to be at this point but you know what? I'm getting back on track & I can't wait for my weigh in this Sunday. 

Today I want to talk about dieters & their visions.  As you all know my favorite dieter is Tiffany over at Victorious Eating, Thinking & Weight Loss who has lost over 175 lbs the RIGHT way.  She has incorporated diet & exercise into her life & over 3 years has taken the weight off sensibly.  She is my inspiration for sure.  But you know what I love most about Tiffany?  It's how real she is.  She admits that she is just doing what works for HER.  She doesn't try to shove her "way" down your throat.  She knows that what worked for her may not work for everyone and she's just a very supportive person.  In this world of dieting everyone has their own way of doing things & instead of trying to push your way onto others I think we should all just encourage each other in our own ways.  My 2nd favorite blogger is Katie over at Runs for Cookies and boy does that girl run AND eat some cookies!  I love that she admits that she does all of this so that she can enjoy a treat every now & then.  That's what it's about people.  It's not about following a crazy diet where you only eat one type of food, it's about everything in M-O-D-E-R-A-T-I-O-N! If you want to eat a cookie then eat a cookie, but work it into your plan.  Don't eat a BAG of cookies.  If you like bread then switch to a healthier version, don't just say that all wheat is the devil.  Do what works for YOU and realize that what works for you may not be what works for everyone. 

Both of those bloggers have lost well over 100 lbs & they did it their way & that is what I love best about them. That is why they inspire me to be a better me and they encourage me to do things that I may not necessarily want to do (like exercise)!  Those bloggers who are just chugging along doing their own things & being an inspiration to others, those are the bloggers that I like to follow & I highly recommend if you don't follow their blogs that you get on over there asap & read them, you WILL be inspired, I promise!! 

Hope everyone is enjoying this spring weather as much as I am!!

Day 98 Insanity!! (& Weekly Weigh In)

Ok so my title isn't talking about me going insane (although with school I'm halfway there), I'm talking about the workout Insanity.  Have you seen this workout? It's the one that touts that you can lose a year's worth of weight in 2 months.  But seriously, have you SEEN this workout?  My husband & I were watching the infomercial yesterday & I was like "Ok, NO obese person can even DO this workout".  He said "Well you could do a version of it until you get better at it".  And I guess that's true, I guess you could work your way up to some of those exercises, but DANG they look soo hard.  I mean when you're using your body for resistance and you weigh 250 lbs or more, that's a LOT of resistance.  I mean I can't even do ONE regular push up so I know for sure I wouldn't be able to do half of those things in that video.  Still though, a year's worth of weight loss in 2 months sounds pretty good.  I would definitely say that workout video is NOT for me, although it would be great for my hubs who is already halfway to buff.  Speaking of my gorgeous hubs, we had a date night on Friday & I have some pics of the two of us :)  Wanna see? 



That's my hubs on the right, as you can see we I LOVE for us to match :)

This is my favorite pic, I wish I hadn't of cut half of my hubs' face off!

NOT my hubs ;)

 

 



This was such a fun night.  There is this band that comes every year and they play old school jams & we go & dance & just have such a great time.  I wish we had stuff like that more often. 

Anyhoo, time for my weekly weigh in.  I cannot believe it's been almost 100 days & yet I am still stuck around the same weight I've been.  This morning I was at 270.  It's that TOM so I expected to be up a little bit, plus of course I just haven't been as vigilant as I know I need to be, so this week was up some.  Looking at the fact that it's been almost 100 days really put into my mind how much time I've wasted these past few weeks.  100 days means I only have 265 days left of my self imposed 100 lb challenge!  I'm not going to beat myself up b/c that's not why I started this journey, but I am going to get back on my blogs & start reading more & getting some more inspiration. 

But for now this is where I am, 270 lbs. 

Hope everyone else is doing good!! 




Previous weight 268
Current weight 270
+ 2  lb
Total weight loss to date
-14 lbs

Day 94 Eat FRESH!!



Today Gwen over at Sky & Surf had a great article from a heart surgeon about how eating foods low in cholesterol & low in saturated fats has NOT reversed the tidal wave of people getting heart disease.  It was a really great article and something I have believed for a long time now.  It basically said to go back to how your grandparents ate.  When your grandparents were growing up they didn't have any of this pre-packaged, processed food.  They made their biscuits from scratch.  They cooked with animal lard.  They ate meat, veggies and fruit and baked their own bread.  And more than likely they had dessert EVERY night.  But guess who has a higher incidence of heart disease? Them or us?  You bet your bottom dollar it's us. 

If it comes from nature, either in plant form or animal form, it's fare game (pun intended).  This is how our grandparents were raised and how people lived before there was refrigeration and foods that could "live" on shelves for 10 years!! I mean seriously, if something has a shelf life of over one year, can that really be good for you?  (Not counting canned goods of course, not that canned veggies are the best, but they're better than nothing.)  That's why I love finding new recipes that allow me to make dinners from real food.  There's nothing worse than making my family a dinner from a box (not that I haven't done it a billion times for times sake).  I KNOW that stuff is so bad for all of us.  Of course then this leads me down the path of not having time, which leads me down the other path of why it's better for women to stay home, BUT that isn't a topic for this blog, so I will stop there.  My point is, the closer we can make our food to how it NATURALLY came, the better.  Our bodies were made to consume all things from nature, it KNOWS how to do that.  It's made to process those things because that's all we had in the beginning.  Our bodies aren't made to process all of this pre-packed, processed stuff! 

So my take away message for myself is to go back to what I was doing at the beginning of the year.  Look for more recipes that I can make at home that use fresh, natural ingredients.  I KNOW that is what's best for me and for my precious family.  And they deserve the best, and yes I do too. 

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

April is Here...

So March has come & gone & unfortunately my weight has not.  Meaning I have not gained nor lost since my last post & just about since the beginning of March.  Still hanging out at 268.  While I'm happy to not have gained, I am a bit bummed with myself that I haven't lost any weight.  Of course it's my own fault.  I haven't made weight loss a priority this month. 

This morning I was laying in bed thinking of my goal of 100 lbs this year & I started to get a little down on myself but then I realized that I still have NINE months left in this year & I can't give up now!!  Just because March was a bust doesn't mean I have to go back to my old thinking & give up.  I have proven to myself that I CAN do this when I put my mind to it, and right now I just need to put my mind BACK to it.  One month does NOT a failure make, right?  I just have to get back on the horse. 

I know I'm overdue for a weekly weigh in & my April goals are due so I will get on them asap & get them posted, as well as revisiting my March goals.  Although I'm preeeety sure I didn't do too swift on those. 

Good news is school is almost out, 4 more weeks!!  I'm happy b/c this is supposed to be our hardest semester, so I'll be glad to get it done & over with. 

Anyhoo, how is everyone else doing?

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!