I now weigh 205. Seriously. 205.0 even. Holy wow! I might make it to goal one faster than I thought! Who knew such small changes would start to work so quickly!
Edit to add details about days 5,6, and 7:
Day 5 I did another round of run/walk intervals, but I cheated a little and had mayo with the grilled chicken sandwich I had for lunch. Oops. For dinner though I had baked tilapia with roasted zucchini and rice, so I ended the day well under budget for calories.
Day 6 was a rough day food wise. First of all, it was lasagna day at work. Since I'm transitioning, I wanted to have one last time enjoying the catered in lasagna dinner at work. It came with garlic bread, and chopped fruit. Yeah, that came to about 750 calories. Then when I got home tony was not in the mood to make the stir fry I had on the dinner schedule, so we ended up getting (gasp!!!) Burger King. But I was a good girl and had their amazing chicken apple cranberry salad (grilled of course) with apple vinaigrette dressing and a smoothie. The calorie count was still close to 750 for not a lot of food. Then, I attempted the tae bo workout again: 10 minutes was all I was able to get through before needing to stop. Yikes. Not the best day, but a bad workout is better than none, and I still came in under calorie budget!
Day 7 we ended up going to a watermark with Tony's family. It was Tristan's first time in a pool! Somehow u managed to not eat acting before going, so once we got to the barbecue at uncles house after I went a little crazy. Had Cheetos, pulled pork sandwiches, watermelon, pinwheels, strawberry shortcake, and a Mike's hard lemonade. With no exercise other than pool wading and walking around the waterpark, I ended up 329 over budget, which still left me well under budget for the week. All in all I'm proud of my progress thus far, and ended the week weighing 204.6. I lost a total of 5.4 lbs in one week! Of course much of this is water weight being flushed out, but regardless, it's nice to see the scale creep down.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Days 3 & 4 - still going strong, and I dared to weigh myself for the first time since January.
I am on day 4 of my transitional week into a clean eating schedule and regular exercise routine, although I have already technically started the exercise routine.
For me, the problem was that I have trouble controlling my diet, so although exercise came very, very easy to me, I couldn't seem to resist many foods simply for how good it tasted. But over the last few days I've really been thinking about why that is--why I couldn't seem to pull myself away. I never thought of myself as an emotional eater, because when I get upset, I lose my appetite and just cannot bring myself to eat; my stomach feels like it's the size of a marble when this happens. I realize now though, that I wasn't eating simply because I liked the taste of food, I love the feeling inside me when it tastes good. In short, I've realized I am in fact, an emotional eater, I just happen to eat when I'm happy.
Realizing this helped me understand that I need absolutely control everything that enters my body, that I'm the one that makes this call, and that's that.
So, as of now I have done a great job of doing this. I'm using an app I found called Lose It!, which I'm pretty sure is also a website. With this free app, I can input my height, weight, age, and goal weight and how quickly I want to get there. Based on this, the program sets a net calorie limit, which carries a weekly budget.
I chose a goal weight of 125, and since I want to achieve that goal by May, I chose the option for 2 lbs a week, the maximum. This gives me a net allowance of 1,428--not much to work with, but the app definitely helps. Since its my transition week, I was planning on seeing what the slight cutback would help with, still allowing myself little morsels of enjoyment until next week, when the clean eating plan begins. Turns out though that those little changes put me right there, problem being that the things I'm choosing to eat really aren't especially healthy, so I can't have a lot of it. By switching to this clean eating program, I'm hoping it helps me just stay more balanced and develop a taste for more natural, healthy foods.
So, my weight in. I decided yesterday to get a starting number and see where I was really at.
That number, is 210. Two hundred ten. I can't believe I actually weigh over 200 lbs.
But when I weighed myself this morning, I was surprised to see I was now clocking in at 207. Talk about water retention! Either way, I have technically achieved my two lb goal for the week, but I'm still busting my ass to keep up for the weeks to follow. Right now, weight loss is going to be rapid, since I'm eating enough to maintain a smaller frame only and exercising regularly. But once I make smaller sizes, its going to slow down and plateau at times, so I need to establish habits of pushing through those times now in order to make my goal weight in the time frame I've set for myself.
To help, I've written out a reward list. Every five pounds I lose (starting at 200 lbs), I reward myself for my achievement. At 200 lbs and every 20 lbs or so, I reward myself with new fitness clothes--its important to feel like you look good to keep that motivation going! Other rewards are going for pedicures, massages, facials, getting myself fresh flowers, basically things that AREN'T food. My reward for reaching 130 lbs is to spring for a spendy hair session, whatever I want, which will probably be extensions. The final reward for reaching 125? VEGAS!!!!
So yesterday, we ended up having Taco Johns for dinner. Naughty, I know--but I had two softshell tacos which are suprisingly rather low in calories, and only half of a small potato olay's Tony and I shared. Today, we grilled up chicken wings on the barbeque and flavored it with buffalo sauce (zero calories!). Had five wings total since each wing itself nets about 100 calories a pop, a cup of rice, and a ridiculous amount of asparagus. Mmmmm, asparagus.
I was supposed to do yoga yesterday and rest today, but since Tony ended up working a 15 hour day and didn't come home until late, I didn't have the time between taking care of the house and little Tristan on my own. So, I did some yoga today which felt great, but I'm wanting to go back to the plan I was using while training for the half marathon I ran the year before I had Tristan. It was more challenging and focused on building strength as much as it focused on breathing and relaxation.
Tomorrow, I go for an interval walk/run--60 seconds on, 90 seconds off eight times. The last run went well, so I'm hoping to move a little faster and cover a little more ground tomorrow. Only one more set like this and I'll bump up to level 2, but let's discuss that when I get there, shall we?
Long post, without any pictures, but I have so much to say about all this and am hoping to keep myself honest and open by just blogging about my weight loss experience. Things I have on the roster to discuss: shopping lists for meal plans (rough drafts!?! Yeah, I went there), fad diets, diet pills/supplements, "clean" eating, and of course, the condition that affects my weight most of all (other than my own willpower), my hypothyroidism. I'll close with the decision I made this morning to weigh in every. single. morning. When I lost a lot of weight last time around, I was weighing myself daily to monitor changes. I want to recreate that experience as much as possible so I can achieve those results.
I'M GETTING MY BODY BACK! NO IFS, AND, BUTS, MAYBE'S, WISHING, HOPING, PRAYING, DREAMING, EXCUSES OR CRYING. In the words of Yoda, "Do, or do not. There is no try." I'm not going to try, I'm just going to do, because I have to.
I'll check in again soon. Until then--
For me, the problem was that I have trouble controlling my diet, so although exercise came very, very easy to me, I couldn't seem to resist many foods simply for how good it tasted. But over the last few days I've really been thinking about why that is--why I couldn't seem to pull myself away. I never thought of myself as an emotional eater, because when I get upset, I lose my appetite and just cannot bring myself to eat; my stomach feels like it's the size of a marble when this happens. I realize now though, that I wasn't eating simply because I liked the taste of food, I love the feeling inside me when it tastes good. In short, I've realized I am in fact, an emotional eater, I just happen to eat when I'm happy.
Realizing this helped me understand that I need absolutely control everything that enters my body, that I'm the one that makes this call, and that's that.
So, as of now I have done a great job of doing this. I'm using an app I found called Lose It!, which I'm pretty sure is also a website. With this free app, I can input my height, weight, age, and goal weight and how quickly I want to get there. Based on this, the program sets a net calorie limit, which carries a weekly budget.
I chose a goal weight of 125, and since I want to achieve that goal by May, I chose the option for 2 lbs a week, the maximum. This gives me a net allowance of 1,428--not much to work with, but the app definitely helps. Since its my transition week, I was planning on seeing what the slight cutback would help with, still allowing myself little morsels of enjoyment until next week, when the clean eating plan begins. Turns out though that those little changes put me right there, problem being that the things I'm choosing to eat really aren't especially healthy, so I can't have a lot of it. By switching to this clean eating program, I'm hoping it helps me just stay more balanced and develop a taste for more natural, healthy foods.
So, my weight in. I decided yesterday to get a starting number and see where I was really at.
That number, is 210. Two hundred ten. I can't believe I actually weigh over 200 lbs.
But when I weighed myself this morning, I was surprised to see I was now clocking in at 207. Talk about water retention! Either way, I have technically achieved my two lb goal for the week, but I'm still busting my ass to keep up for the weeks to follow. Right now, weight loss is going to be rapid, since I'm eating enough to maintain a smaller frame only and exercising regularly. But once I make smaller sizes, its going to slow down and plateau at times, so I need to establish habits of pushing through those times now in order to make my goal weight in the time frame I've set for myself.
To help, I've written out a reward list. Every five pounds I lose (starting at 200 lbs), I reward myself for my achievement. At 200 lbs and every 20 lbs or so, I reward myself with new fitness clothes--its important to feel like you look good to keep that motivation going! Other rewards are going for pedicures, massages, facials, getting myself fresh flowers, basically things that AREN'T food. My reward for reaching 130 lbs is to spring for a spendy hair session, whatever I want, which will probably be extensions. The final reward for reaching 125? VEGAS!!!!
So yesterday, we ended up having Taco Johns for dinner. Naughty, I know--but I had two softshell tacos which are suprisingly rather low in calories, and only half of a small potato olay's Tony and I shared. Today, we grilled up chicken wings on the barbeque and flavored it with buffalo sauce (zero calories!). Had five wings total since each wing itself nets about 100 calories a pop, a cup of rice, and a ridiculous amount of asparagus. Mmmmm, asparagus.
I was supposed to do yoga yesterday and rest today, but since Tony ended up working a 15 hour day and didn't come home until late, I didn't have the time between taking care of the house and little Tristan on my own. So, I did some yoga today which felt great, but I'm wanting to go back to the plan I was using while training for the half marathon I ran the year before I had Tristan. It was more challenging and focused on building strength as much as it focused on breathing and relaxation.
Tomorrow, I go for an interval walk/run--60 seconds on, 90 seconds off eight times. The last run went well, so I'm hoping to move a little faster and cover a little more ground tomorrow. Only one more set like this and I'll bump up to level 2, but let's discuss that when I get there, shall we?
Long post, without any pictures, but I have so much to say about all this and am hoping to keep myself honest and open by just blogging about my weight loss experience. Things I have on the roster to discuss: shopping lists for meal plans (rough drafts!?! Yeah, I went there), fad diets, diet pills/supplements, "clean" eating, and of course, the condition that affects my weight most of all (other than my own willpower), my hypothyroidism. I'll close with the decision I made this morning to weigh in every. single. morning. When I lost a lot of weight last time around, I was weighing myself daily to monitor changes. I want to recreate that experience as much as possible so I can achieve those results.
I'M GETTING MY BODY BACK! NO IFS, AND, BUTS, MAYBE'S, WISHING, HOPING, PRAYING, DREAMING, EXCUSES OR CRYING. In the words of Yoda, "Do, or do not. There is no try." I'm not going to try, I'm just going to do, because I have to.
I'll check in again soon. Until then--
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Days 1 and 2 of the path to fitness!
Since I graduated this weekend, I now have free time to throw myself into fitness and getting healthy again.
Almost two years ago, I worked my ass off (literally) to lose weight and get in shape. By the time I started this blog, I was as small as I had been since I was a freshman in high school, and feeling great. Then, I got pregnant.
Don't get me wrong--Tristan is THE greatest thing to ever happen to me, but I'd be lying if I didn't say he came at about the worst possible time in my weight loss program. I was so close to finding a maintenance program to use, and then I got the shock of a lifetime.
My weight gain during pregnancy was in large part my own bad habits (giving in to many, many cravings), hardly ever exercising, Thyroid balance issues and just bad genetics.
So when I ballooned up during the last two months of my pregnancy, I was less than pleased but figured once I had the baby I would quit retaining water, my body would quit stockpiling fat like the world might end soon, and the weight would "fall off" like it had for other mommy friends of mine, especially since I planned on exclusively breast feeding for six months. If you haven't heard the hype around breast feeding and weight loss you probably haven't been pregnant before. People LOVE to say, "oh with all my kids I put on 70 lbs and I lost it all in two months by breast feeding alone, and eating all the cake and French fries I wanted!"
I want to slap these women. Out of jealousy, of course. I'm not saying their lying, because I know for a fact many women are able to do this, but I am saying that these women are pretty damaging to the egos of those of us whose bodies go into survival mode while nursing.
I posted months ago about how defeated I felt over my weight. I wish I could say my journey started them, but instead, nothing. I started exercise programs, then got too busy to keep up with them. Between 65 hour work weeks, and a 16 credit course load during my senior year of college, and an infant son, I had two dinner choices: cook and get only 3 hours sleep, or pick up dinner and get 5.
But these are all excuses, reasons why I didn't do what I simply just need to do. I'm ready for a new life, or maybe just a small piece of my old one. I want to wear a bathing suit again. Hell, a bikini even. I want to be able to shop anywhere, and look good in almost everything I try on. When I'm out running, I want to be the girls I see now when I'm out--the ones that make me say, "I wanna be THERE". I want to spend my weekends biking, hiking, playing volleyball, I want to go kayaking, rock climbing--even if it's just a rock climbing wall. I don't want to have to find the right way to stand and the right angle in pictures, I want to look fantastic from all angles. I want to get rid of my muffin top, gain a space between my thighs, and have toned arms for the first time in my life. I want men to say "damn" when I walk by.
It all starts here.
I want to blog my progress in order to stay on track with my goals. For the first 4 months I'm doing the following for exercise:
Day 1: Cardio
Day 2: Tae Bo
Day 3: Yoga
Day 4: Rest
And repeat through the end of September. The cardio program is a half hour run that at week one has me running one minute walking 90 seconds, and by week 8 just straight running the whole half hour. Since I've added so much Tae Bo and yoga to the routine, that the 8 week running program will end up taking me 10.
Diet wise, I am quitting a lot things like fast food, fried food, processed food, and super fatty food. This week is our transition week, where I have started eliminating some things (mayo, baked goods and sweets), but I know for the next couple months in order to retrain myself I need to be extremely vigilant about food. Still in search of a good clean eating plan, but I should have one soon.
So, Day 1:
Cardio intervals. Had a GREAT run, my previous flirtatious with this program have definitely helped. Didn't track meals til day 2.
Day 2:
Diet: meatloaf for lunch with dinner roll and baby red potato. Used sour cream and butter. Coffee for breakfast (no time to eat, but yes I know I need to start!), and a turkey sub from jimmy johns without mayo but adding oil vinegar and avocado. Salt and vinegar chips and unsweetened iced tea with it.
Did tutorial for tae bo as a refresher on form, then the warmup of the actual workout. Took about 20 minutes but still made me sweat. This video is definitely going to kick my ass.
On to day 3!
Almost two years ago, I worked my ass off (literally) to lose weight and get in shape. By the time I started this blog, I was as small as I had been since I was a freshman in high school, and feeling great. Then, I got pregnant.
Don't get me wrong--Tristan is THE greatest thing to ever happen to me, but I'd be lying if I didn't say he came at about the worst possible time in my weight loss program. I was so close to finding a maintenance program to use, and then I got the shock of a lifetime.
My weight gain during pregnancy was in large part my own bad habits (giving in to many, many cravings), hardly ever exercising, Thyroid balance issues and just bad genetics.
So when I ballooned up during the last two months of my pregnancy, I was less than pleased but figured once I had the baby I would quit retaining water, my body would quit stockpiling fat like the world might end soon, and the weight would "fall off" like it had for other mommy friends of mine, especially since I planned on exclusively breast feeding for six months. If you haven't heard the hype around breast feeding and weight loss you probably haven't been pregnant before. People LOVE to say, "oh with all my kids I put on 70 lbs and I lost it all in two months by breast feeding alone, and eating all the cake and French fries I wanted!"
I want to slap these women. Out of jealousy, of course. I'm not saying their lying, because I know for a fact many women are able to do this, but I am saying that these women are pretty damaging to the egos of those of us whose bodies go into survival mode while nursing.
I posted months ago about how defeated I felt over my weight. I wish I could say my journey started them, but instead, nothing. I started exercise programs, then got too busy to keep up with them. Between 65 hour work weeks, and a 16 credit course load during my senior year of college, and an infant son, I had two dinner choices: cook and get only 3 hours sleep, or pick up dinner and get 5.
But these are all excuses, reasons why I didn't do what I simply just need to do. I'm ready for a new life, or maybe just a small piece of my old one. I want to wear a bathing suit again. Hell, a bikini even. I want to be able to shop anywhere, and look good in almost everything I try on. When I'm out running, I want to be the girls I see now when I'm out--the ones that make me say, "I wanna be THERE". I want to spend my weekends biking, hiking, playing volleyball, I want to go kayaking, rock climbing--even if it's just a rock climbing wall. I don't want to have to find the right way to stand and the right angle in pictures, I want to look fantastic from all angles. I want to get rid of my muffin top, gain a space between my thighs, and have toned arms for the first time in my life. I want men to say "damn" when I walk by.
It all starts here.
I want to blog my progress in order to stay on track with my goals. For the first 4 months I'm doing the following for exercise:
Day 1: Cardio
Day 2: Tae Bo
Day 3: Yoga
Day 4: Rest
And repeat through the end of September. The cardio program is a half hour run that at week one has me running one minute walking 90 seconds, and by week 8 just straight running the whole half hour. Since I've added so much Tae Bo and yoga to the routine, that the 8 week running program will end up taking me 10.
Diet wise, I am quitting a lot things like fast food, fried food, processed food, and super fatty food. This week is our transition week, where I have started eliminating some things (mayo, baked goods and sweets), but I know for the next couple months in order to retrain myself I need to be extremely vigilant about food. Still in search of a good clean eating plan, but I should have one soon.
So, Day 1:
Cardio intervals. Had a GREAT run, my previous flirtatious with this program have definitely helped. Didn't track meals til day 2.
Day 2:
Diet: meatloaf for lunch with dinner roll and baby red potato. Used sour cream and butter. Coffee for breakfast (no time to eat, but yes I know I need to start!), and a turkey sub from jimmy johns without mayo but adding oil vinegar and avocado. Salt and vinegar chips and unsweetened iced tea with it.
Did tutorial for tae bo as a refresher on form, then the warmup of the actual workout. Took about 20 minutes but still made me sweat. This video is definitely going to kick my ass.
On to day 3!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
I graduated! + a fabulous nail tutorial (kinda)
Note: all pics are seriously out of order until I can get to a desktop to fix. Sorry!
So after a lot of hard work, I now have my B.S. in Human Resource Management. Graduation was yesterday, and I was glad to have Tony, Tristan, my sister Kaitlynn and my cousin Chelsey there to cheer me on.
My big mistake, however, was my choice in shoes. I wore these ridiculously cute gladiator heels that Tony got me the summer before I ran the half marathon, and they tore my feet UP. Ugh. But at least I looked great getting my degree!
So I've been up to my old tricks when it comes to nail art lately and I decided I'd do a mini tutorial on my latest creation. Until now I've copied other tutorials and did simple layering but as of late I've been getting creative. My last few looks:
Since i started getting interested in nail art and really collecting nail polish shades, I've mostly stuck to single shades, layering sheers, and copyong tutorials. As of late I've been playing with more gradiants, 3D nail art, and coming up with my own looks and designs.
So without further adieu, my latest nail adventure...step by step.
Since summer started I've been wearing more bright colors.
Normally, I'd use bright shades on my nails too, but this time I wanted to do something in understated colors and more elaborate textures. So I came up with "decadent pearls".
First things first--nail care. I prefer to shape my nails with a file rather than cutting because I think it helps them stay stronger. Once I'm done with that, I use the glass nail file (from Old Navy) to fine touch the ends and make them smooth.
Next, I use a cuticle oil pen on my cuticles and over the whole nail for nourishment. Then I push my nails back with that little pink thing (the technical term is lost on me right now).
I started with a base coat I got from Sally's Beauty Supply. Always use base. I don't really know why, but I do know it just seems to work out better.
Next I used straight white polish. I know a lot of people go for white in the summer and it looks like white out on their nails, but trust me, I'm not done. FYI, if your going to do white, do it right: choose a shade that has a hint of another color. Sally Hansen Complete Manicure has a great selection. Use two coats.
Next is silver. Pour a small amount of polish onto some paper. Using a makeup sponge, dab a corner into the plush and then onto your nail. You want the polish to fade out near the cuticle, so the bottom of the nail is almost all white, and the tips are almost all silver.
I thought that didn't have enough dimension, so I added TGIF from the Katy perry collection for OPI on the silver ONLY.
Then some clear coat..
And finally, the fun part. I ordered these nail art pearls from amazon.com
And picked up some gems from Wal-mart.
Using punk nail glue and tweezers, I basically just got creative. Here's my thumb...
And all the rest of them!
Have fun trying it!
So after a lot of hard work, I now have my B.S. in Human Resource Management. Graduation was yesterday, and I was glad to have Tony, Tristan, my sister Kaitlynn and my cousin Chelsey there to cheer me on.
My big mistake, however, was my choice in shoes. I wore these ridiculously cute gladiator heels that Tony got me the summer before I ran the half marathon, and they tore my feet UP. Ugh. But at least I looked great getting my degree!
 |
| Tony, Tristan and I right before I walked :) |
So I've been up to my old tricks when it comes to nail art lately and I decided I'd do a mini tutorial on my latest creation. Until now I've copied other tutorials and did simple layering but as of late I've been getting creative. My last few looks:
Since i started getting interested in nail art and really collecting nail polish shades, I've mostly stuck to single shades, layering sheers, and copyong tutorials. As of late I've been playing with more gradiants, 3D nail art, and coming up with my own looks and designs.
So without further adieu, my latest nail adventure...step by step.
Since summer started I've been wearing more bright colors.
Normally, I'd use bright shades on my nails too, but this time I wanted to do something in understated colors and more elaborate textures. So I came up with "decadent pearls".
First things first--nail care. I prefer to shape my nails with a file rather than cutting because I think it helps them stay stronger. Once I'm done with that, I use the glass nail file (from Old Navy) to fine touch the ends and make them smooth.
Next, I use a cuticle oil pen on my cuticles and over the whole nail for nourishment. Then I push my nails back with that little pink thing (the technical term is lost on me right now).
I started with a base coat I got from Sally's Beauty Supply. Always use base. I don't really know why, but I do know it just seems to work out better.
Next I used straight white polish. I know a lot of people go for white in the summer and it looks like white out on their nails, but trust me, I'm not done. FYI, if your going to do white, do it right: choose a shade that has a hint of another color. Sally Hansen Complete Manicure has a great selection. Use two coats.
Next is silver. Pour a small amount of polish onto some paper. Using a makeup sponge, dab a corner into the plush and then onto your nail. You want the polish to fade out near the cuticle, so the bottom of the nail is almost all white, and the tips are almost all silver.
I thought that didn't have enough dimension, so I added TGIF from the Katy perry collection for OPI on the silver ONLY.
 |
| gets a lot of use! |
Then some clear coat..
And finally, the fun part. I ordered these nail art pearls from amazon.com
And picked up some gems from Wal-mart.
Using punk nail glue and tweezers, I basically just got creative. Here's my thumb...
And all the rest of them!
Have fun trying it!
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