Weigh In

Eh, this week I stayed the same. The scale went up and down throughout the week, but this morning, it was 170.2, which is the exact same as last week.

I didn't work out as much; only 4/7 days, and I just ate ok, some days better than others.

I'm happy I didn't gain, but next week needs some more effort on the weight loss front. I'm so close to being out of the 170's, I need to push past it!

Let's say next week- 2 lb loss.

Will it always be a struggle?

My parents went grocery shopping today and bought my sister and I each a pre-made lunch thing of potstickers. I love potstickers, but they are so high calorie and I can eat a bunch. It was a nice gesture because my sister and I have been working, so quick meals are always nice, but I also didn't want the calories.

So today for lunch, I opened the fridge and literally stood there staring at the potstickers, picking it up to see if it had nutrition info (it didn't), and scanning the fridge to see what else we had. Yes, we had my usual chicken and romaine lettuce, that I usually eat with different flavored mustards. But then we also had those potstickers...

It took forever for me to put those damn potstickers back in the fridge. But I did. And I got my stupid chicken and lettuce out. And it was a fine lunch that I do enjoy. Whatevs.

When does it get easier tho? When there are temptations around, it can be so hard to choose the healthier option. I just really wonder if I'll always have to have the food debate in my head, like the little good vs. evil angels on your shoulder.

Pulling out old winter coats (read: skinny clothes!)

It's getting a little cold these days! So naturally, I pulled out the jacket I wore last winter and found that it was way baggier than before. So I figured, why not go into my duffel bag of lost skinny clothes and see if my older coats fit me now.

And... they do! Even a size medium jacket that I haven't worn in so long fit great!

So now I have a whole new wardrobe of smaller coats and jackets and sweaters. I used to hate sweaters. In the winter when I was overweight, I never wore cute sweaters and jeans for a nice little outfit. I would just wear jeans and a sweatshirt, usually with a short sleeve shirt underneath which I didn't care how it looked because I would never take off the sweatshirt.

I have even gone through some of the clothes in my closet and given a whole new round of clothes that are too big to Goodwill. On a couple of different pieces, I thought twice about getting rid of them just in case I gain weight again.. but then reminded myself that it's not going to happen and I don't need fat clothes waiting for me in the closet.

I'm really seeing a difference these days, especially when trying on old clothes. It's not too shabby. I just gotta keep it up!

Weigh In

This week I lost 1.8! Yay! And I can see a difference in my clothes lately, which is awesome.

I am happy that it is a high number since last week was also high and I was worried I wouldn't lose much this week because of that. I have officially lost 79.8 lbs.

This week was a good one. I worked out 5/7 days and ate well most days. There were some days I ate things like chocolate but made up for it later in the day. It's really about  moderation. I don't officially say "no" to any one food, but I make sure to include it in my daily points and not go overboard. (That's THIS week, at least! Not every day of my life, mind you! I'm working on consistency!)

Like most of you know, my goal is to lose 100 lbs. I never really set a time limit on it. I started losing weight last September, so it's been 80 lbs in 1 year. But I do want to lose the last 20 this year, by December, so if I keep doing what I've been doing the last couple weeks and lose 1-2lbs a week, I can do it.

"Alright, who bought the jumbo bags of chocolate?!"

Oh man, living with my family can be SO hard sometimes! My dad and sister have the same kind of metabolism; meaning they can eat anything and everything and stay the same weight no matter what. Why I didn't get that gift is beyond me....

And then of course, the candy is already out in stores for Halloween so that's not helping anything.

Earlier today, I ate 3 fun size Kit Kats. I counted them (6 points) and moved on. For about 30 minutes. Then I had some more. (Now up to 10 points). Yeah, they were good but then obviously I was pissed at myself for eating 10 points of just chocolate before 2pm. I had had cereal for breakfast, which is a big splurge for me these days, so after lunch (salmon) and a couple other things thrown in there, I was maxed out on my points.

What the hell is wrong with me sometimes? It's that damn moment when I say "Oh, screw it" that just really effs me up. The following moment always involves feeling guilty, so you'd think I would learn...

But what did I do? I was full from lunch and everything, so I went to work and didn't think about it. And then when I came home, I ate spaghetti squash and canned tomatoes and basil and Parmesan cheese for 0 points. Well maybe the parm was a point, but the moral of the story is I stayed within my points for the day even tho they ran out at like 2pm!

A year from now...

"A year from now you will wish you had started today." 
-Karen Lamb

 
With where I'm at right now, I have about 20 lbs to lose to get to my goal. And then I will reevaluate and probably create another goal to lose some more weight or tone up or something. I'll figure that out when I get there.

Ok, so 20 lbs.. I can definitely lose that in 4-5 months, which would be by the end of the year.

By the end of the year, I will wish that I had stayed on track and met my goal.  I do not want to get 80% of the way there and quit.

By the end of the year, I will be so happy and proud of myself for reaching my 100 lb weight loss goal. Mark my words!

Work out on empty stomach?

My routine right now is to wake up, make and drink a smoothie and then work out. But I have been wondering if maybe I should start working out before I have my smoothie so I can exercise on an empty stomach.

I've heard that when you work out on an empty stomach, you burn stored fat that is already there basically, but if I work out after the smoothie, then I will first be burning off the smoothie.

I Googled it, and there's conflicting reports. This blog from the NY Times says that it makes no difference, but Dr. Oz says it does.

What do you guys think? Have you noticed any differences between doing one or the other?

WI: Back in the game!

It was a good week. I ate really healthy and worked out every day. I also started my job this week, so I have had less time to mindlessly snack all day. And since my job is in the evening, I can plan my own dinners and eat on my own schedule rather than having to do the whole family dinner thing every night.

Also since I work around dinner time, I have to plan my meals better, which typically is a smoothie for breakfast, a healthy lunch, like chicken on romaine lettuce with mustard, and then another healthy meal when I get home, like fish or chicken.

And this week it paid off. Today I weighed in at 172.0, which means I lost 3.7 lbs this week. Only 2 more lbs to go and I will have lost 80 lbs!

This next week, my goal is just to keep doing what I've been doing and get to the 160's, even if it is just 169.9.

NSV: Never had tan lines before

Sometimes I forget how far I've really come. I feel like a whole different person than I was a year ago. I've lost weight and that has translated into me changing a lot of other things (inside and out) that I didn't like about myself. In this case, it's actually getting a tan...

 I have fair skin and have always burned. A few years ago, I just gave up on even trying to get a tan. I just accepted that I'm pale and always will be. It didn't help that I was gaining weight and kind of stopped caring about how I looked all together.

And I definitely didn't want to lay out in a bathing suit. I was more the type of person where if I had to be in a bathing suit, I'd have a cover up on (or wear capris while everyone asked, "Aren't you hot?!") or be in the pool the entire time.

But now that I've lost weight, my opinions and beliefs about myself are changing. Why couldn't I try to get a tan?

So I got tanning lotion, which I'd never bought, and started going to the pool a couple times a week and laying out. And guess what? It worked and I got tan! You can see tan lines! I thought it was just impossible for me to get a tan, so I am pretty happy that I can turn my skin to a shade of normal!

It's the little things that make you stop and realize how much has really changed.

Diet motivation is a tricky thing

Some days I am so on board and gung ho about being strict with my eating and working out, and some days I just don't have it.

When I first started losing weight, I had such motivation and was seeing results, so my head was completely in the game. I never cheated and was just so strict. And well, it worked. Crazy, right?

But then after I lost about 70 lbs (out of the 100 I am working towards), I lost steam and had a couple things that derailed me. Life changes, stress and emotional stuff sure throws a wrench in the whole motivation equation. So that's what these last couple months were; hard and motivation-lacking. Last month, I worked out pretty much every day, but didn't eat right, so I hardly lost anything.

Right now I am feeling motivated. I am working out AND eating right (the most important thing). This past weekend was blah and I was eating more than usual and high caloric foods... just because I was feeling out of it.

I don't have all the answers, but I am going to make a huge effort to stay motivated from now on. And if one day, I'm not feeling it, then I think I need to just let that day happen and not feel too bad and get all guilty because that just leads to more bad days.

However, I do not plan on there being any horribly bad days in the near future because I am back on track and want it so bad!

Full time job to help weight loss...?

First of all, I got a job! Yay. It is a hostess position, so I'm not getting too excited, but at least I will be working. I start today. It's a full time position, so I'll have somewhere to be and something to do now, which is the great part. And hopefully I'll be able to meet some people around my age.

I am also thinking that with working full time, I won't be able to munch on food at random times during the day out of boredom or anything. This way, I can plan my meals and when I'm going to eat and therefore eat less calories.

Since the job is a hostess position, I'll be working at night, so I won't be home for dinner with the family, which is definitely going to help me. I won't have to eat what everyone else is eating, and I can eat when I want to. This will also help because I've realized that my family eats so late (like 8pm) and if I eat lunch around 12-1pm, I get hungry before that, and end up snacking around 6pm. And I keep thinking, hey wouldn't it be nice just to have dinner at 6pm and not add more calories just because I'm hungry? Eating dinner as a family is like a big deal with my family so if I were to just eat by myself, I think my mom would be insulted or think something was wrong. So now that I'm working during the dinner hours, I just avoid that whole situation.

Does work help you all keep to a better eating schedule or does it end up making you busier and then more likely to eat quick, junk foods?

Sabotaging myself?

Ugh. What the hell is wrong with me? Yesterday and today have been bad eating days. It was the typical "Whatever, I'll eat this, I don't care" and then the "Omg, I can't believe I ate all that" kind of guilt that came after.

It was my mom's birthday, so we had cake and went out to eat. That's no excuse. I could have eaten better and made better choices, but I just didn't. Yesterday, I just kept thinking, "Tomorrow I'll start over." And then today, guess what I've been saying to myself? "Tomorrow I'll start over." Ugh, so dumb. It's that typical diet mentality that I thought I had overcome.

How was I so strict before and now it's such a struggle?

I don't even know what to say. This post has taken forever to write because I really don't know what my problem is. I am so pissed at myself, so you would think that would push me to be strict. I WANT to keep going and get to my goal, so you would think I would just do it...

Weigh In

Man, things are just not going like they used to. I lost 0.4 lbs this week, which is frustrating because I did watch my eating, using very few Weekly points. I also worked out every day.

I did eat fair food... so maybe that put a kibosh on this week's weight loss. I hate how one day of stupidity can affect a whole week of doing good.

Plus I have been working out A LOT! Like lots of hours on the elliptical, that crazy hard workout DVD like 4 times, and swimming laps in the pool! And this is what it gets me? 0.4? So annoying.

Next time, I should do this...

Fair food... uh oh..

I went to a fair type thing yesterday. I had a good time, but I have to admit that the food got the better of me...

I had a gyro, which was so not worth the calories. I barely ate the pita but I'm sure the dressing stuff was atrociously caloric. (Lol... that'll be my new catch phrase- "that's atrociously caloric")

And french fries... I had been cravings those.

I also had ice cream...

And a deep fried Oreo.

I did my best to look up the calories  in a gyro (around 600) and the Oreo (surprisingly it said only around 100). It was a lot and not my best move, but I suppose it could have been worse.

But the good news is that my sister and I went to the pool afterwards and I did lots of laps and got my heart rate up, so hopefully I burned some it off.

Much more active

A year ago, if you had asked me what I liked to do for fun, I would have said something like, watch TV, watch movies, go out with friends, read, relax, etc.

But now if you were to ask me, I would still say those things, but I would also say I like to hike, take walks,
play tennis, play Wii especially the dance games, lay out by the pool, swim laps and work out. Lately I have been doing all these active things without even realizing just how much more it really is. Don't get me wrong, I still love my TV, but it is nice to be doing fun outdoorsy things now that end up being an added workout throughout the day.

Lately I make sure to do my regular workout, but then many times will add another workout or go play tennis or swim laps in the pool or play Wii with my sister.

Maybe it has something to do with the place I moved to, since there is absolutely nothing to do here but outdoorsy stuff... My parents live in this community that has the pools and tennis courts and all that... and I will make a confession right now... my sister and I did water aerobics yesterday. Yep, it was us with the old ladies just gettin a lil workout in! Funny stuff... might go back tho, why not!