Forties

It's official! I joined the 40lb. club this month. As I type this, I have lost 43lbs of fat. I have more energy and more confidence and I love it!!!

That's where my belt used to be!

August 1st marks a year since I started this journey and while I didn't lose as much as I had hoped, I am still so glad that I started when I did.  Over the weekend, I saw many people that I haven't seen since last year and I got SO many compliments about how good I look. I didn't think people had noticed that much! The one that really felt great was my uncle who I don't see often. He had a big smile and seemed to be so proud! People kept asking me what my secret was or how I did it and I told them I just started living a healthier lifestyle!

I'm down 4 sizes in jeans since last August!

I am not close to a final weight, but knowing I have gone this far makes me know that I can do it! School starts this week, so I may not be posting as much as in the past. Just know I am still working towards my goal!

Advice from a Dog

This is my dog, Oliver. 

 

I'm sure you are thinking 'Awwww he's cute' and 'Why the heck are you showing me your dog?' Well, I'll tell you.

I've figured out that my biggest problem for being overweight is that I have never really had a role model for healthy eating and living. I have never known what or how I was suppose to do things. The extremely unhealthy habits I've seen all my life are what I thought was normal. I've slowly been changing my lifelong habits and since I figured this part out, things have gotten a little better in realizing how to change.

Oliver, on the other hand, eats when he's hungry. I leave his food out in his dish all the time and he only eats the amount that he needs. If I give him a treat, he will save it for later. He plays a few times a day and LOVES to go for runs and walks. (He'd much rather run.)

Shouldn't that be how we all live? Don't over eat just because the food is there. If you don't need that treat, save it for later. Get exercise daily.

I think it's silly that a 5 year old dog knows these things and I hadn't figured it out. But this is why I am sharing my dog with you - Oliver has been doing things right all his life and that is why he is my new healthy lifestyle role model.

Sundresses

Right now I don't have the confidence to wear them, but Old Navy is currently having a sale on sundresses. I absolutely cannot wait until next summer when I can wear them and feel confident and look good! Here is just one of them that I'm eying...

I want this video!

My weekend

I may have lost about 10 pounds while chasing after this little guy this weekend.

 I have found myself worrying less about feeding myself, but instead getting him to eat and running to catch him before he falls off of things. (He thinks he is a monkey.)

Good Workout Tunes

Run Run Run

I don't enjoy running. Not at all. It takes all of my strength to get my butt out the door. But when you're running in these conditions, it's not so bad.

A pattern?

After ready back at my last few blog posts, I see a pattern. Not a good pattern either.

I see that I've only been blogging when I have completely fallen off track and I say 'Oh things have been bad.' Well, get over yourself.

I have not fallen off track. I have been barreling my way into the land of cute clothes and better health.

That is all I wanted to say.

Oh Ps - This is what I'm wearing today.

Oh and PPS- These are two shirts that are XL's that have been in my closet a few months waiting for me to fit into them! :)

11:11

When I started writing this blog post I looked at the time and it said, 11:11. Perfect time for a wish.
No, not a wish... a 'I will freaking DO THIS.'

The past few weeks, I have I kicked it in gear. I went shopping this week and yes, I fit into an XL. It was still a little snug on my hips, but the rest looked good. I have always had issues with my hips/thighs and my arms. (Not really my arms, but that flabby part that catches in the wind and acts as a parachute at times. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.)

This picture was taken in the JC Penney dressing room. I took some XXL and XL's in the dressing room. After trying this sucker on first I realized that I am in fact, in an XL top. Heck to the yes.

After going clothes shopping this week, I realized that even though the scale hasn't really been moving, my body has been. Keeping active has helped remove some of that jiggle, fluff, and mush and make it just a little bit more firm. While losing that fat, I'm also gaining muscle. I like muscle. I have no problems with it. I welcome it with a big ol' smile on my face.

I've decided that I need to be challenged each week. Nothing huge, but just little things to keep me going. My challenge for this week is to keep tracking. While I fail to enter the foods I eat or exercise I do into my WW tracker, I still mentally keep track. However - that is NOT enough.  This week I will track everything I eat and everything I do to keep moving. I hope you will, too!

See you next time.

Let's be honest...

I have not been doing well on this journey the past few months. About a month ago I kicked it into gear and dropped a few more pounds, but when I got a sinus infection and was put on antibiotics, I gained 5 pounds back. The past two weeks have not been good.

Okay, it's time to be honest with myself. When I look back in my Weight Watchers trackers.... I haven't even tracked anything this week. The week before was very sporadic. If I eat something, I need to track it. I've been sitting on my butt way too much lately and my water intake hasn't been near enough either. The only one I'm hurting is myself! I'm sitting here wondering what makes me so frustrated and unmotivated when I know I can do this.

On a happier note, if you get a chance to go to Old Navy today, do it! If you have their card, you get 30% off of their already clearanced prices that are an extra 40% off today. I'm going with my sister-in-law tonight, but I kind of want to go this morning, too. Bad, I know. I went yesterday while running errands and snagged some great deals. (It wasn't the extra 40% off yesterday though.) I got a pair of size 14 jeans. It's my goal to be able to wear those for family pictures this summer. I also bought another pair of jeans and two sweaters. I spent a whopping $13. :)

I have been doing a great job at tracking this morning. I need to be better at this because I know that is what's hurting me. Today will be better and so will tomorrow. I will also do a better job of blogging. Here we go!

XL

Going into this journey last August, I wore a borderline 2-3x size. In Target and Maurices I had a few 4s. *shudders*

Even though the scale hasn't moved much in the past months, my body must be losing fat and gaining muscle. Here is the proof:

That shirt is an XL. That's right. XL. It's still a little tight on the hips, but I am giving it a month and I should be comfortably wearing this shirt along with a few others I've picked up on sale. Yippee!

My Belt

I have been wearing the same belt through this entire journey. When I ran out of holes, I used a leather puncher to add 3 more. Each hole is an inch and I have moved over 6 belt holes since August. That means I have lost 6 inches on my waist. I thought it would be fun to just keep adding more, however, the end is getting WAY too long, so I think I may need to just buy a smaller one. (Eeee!)

It's been too long!

The title of the post speaks for itself. Things have been kind of crazy and almost every day I would think, "I need to write another blog post." Well, today is the day!  I have been busy substitute teaching in the area and keeping the studio up and running.

 Easter season has been spent avoiding the Cadbury brand. 5 points for 12 pieces? In previous years, I would go through 3-4 bags of these suckers. It makes me cringe just thinking about what I was putting in my body. (Don't worry, I didn't buy them, I took this while at the store today.) Cadbury creme eggs have 5pp each and even Reese's peanut butter eggs are a lethal 5pp. As delicious as they are, it's just not worth it.

 I want to share a few of my current favorite "Go-To" foods with you.

Just 1pp each! You can also purchase Weight Watchers brand cheese for 1pp, but when these are almost $1 cheaper this is the choice I make.

I just discovered these today! Sour Cream and Onion has been my favorite, but the Cheddar flavor are incredible. Definitely try these if you haven't! Can't go wrong with 3pp for 27 chips.

3pp for a box. It always cures my sweet tooth!

Another trick that I use to cure that nasty sweet tooth of mine. I can't remember the exact points, but for 1 Jolly Rancher, it's 0pp and I never have more than 1 a day or even every few days.

With avoiding the Easter candy aisle and going to the 'good' foods, it has made this a great month. The scale has been going up and down since December, but for the past few weeks it has only been going down. I love being back on track again and being 37lbs lighter than I was last August feels great! I will share a few of my tips and what inspired me again in a later post!

Feb-NEW-ary.

I have been seriously slacking on watching what I eat and exercising this week. I started January ready to do P90X but things got crazy and I didn't have an hour each day to lend to it. I did it for about 1 week until it became a every other day thing and then it just stopped. Things have gotten a little crazy and stressful for me and instead of going for the healthy things, I just grab whatever is convenient. I am staying with my parents while I am substitute teaching and the food they make and have on hand isn't very WW friendly. I do make things for myself most days or just do smaller portions, but it doesn't satisfy me or leads me to more bad choices.  I am facing some financial issues (my student loans are suddenly due NOW instead of 6 months after graduation like they told me) so I put my WW membership on hold for a while. I still plan on following the program, but I just need to save a little money until I find a full time teaching job.


While January was rough, February is a brand new month. I need to get in the right mind set again. I am going to set a few mini goals for this month:


-The first is to drink plenty of water each day and NO Diet Coke. One can a week is the new rule!
-Convenient isn't healthy. Go for the good stuff, not whatever is laying there.
-Exercise at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes. An hour each day proved to be a little difficult, but when I can fit an hour in during the day, an hour it'll be!


My goal to lose in February is 10 pounds! Here I go!

Start from Scratch

The past few weeks have been very weird for me. It seems like after the Holidays and my three day flu extravaganza, I was completely off. I went up and down a few pounds and I was eventually up 4.5lbs and extremely frustrated. After a talk with the awesome Erica, I decided it was time to start from scratch.

I marked the points plus on everything and started with the basics again. I tracked every single bite and measured and checked everything. (I have a lot of the points for the things I eat memorized so I don't check them all the time.) I have also been drinking at least 72oz. of water a day.

I would like to share that since Monday, I am now 5lbs down. I broke the wall I was stuck behind and bashed it down and am ahead .5lbs now. I could have very easily given up, but I know it'll be worth it in the end! I'm not sure what exactly made me gain the weight, but going back to the basics worked. Thank goodness!

P90X

So... P90X. OUCH.

But it feels soooo good.

Motivation

I have always been against buying clothes that are too small in hopes of fitting in them someday. It made absolutely no sense to me. However, since I have no doubt in my mind that I'll be constantly moving to smaller sizes (like I have been) I have been picking up a few things here and there.

This is a purchase I made today:

Anyone that knows me knows that yellow is my favorite. I bought this shirt as a summer P90X motivation. It's a size Large and it SHOWS MY ARMS. Whoa. Also, it was only $5.

Here is another recent purchase:

Since the winter coat I bought last year is already way too big and I fit into the coat that I've had for 3 years again (that didn't really fit when I bought it), I decided I needed to buy one while they are on sale right now. However, I didn't know what size to buy. M or L? What style? I've always wanted a red coat like this, so I made the splurge. And my splurge I mean it was $30. I decided on a M tall after reading the reviews. I can't wait to show off this sucker later this year! :)

Arm Ode

An Ode to my Arms

I hate you. 

Please look like this:

Starting P90X today. On my way...

I lost my niece!

I celebrated the New Year away while photographing my cousin's wedding. It was SUCH a fun day, but I was absolutely exhausted after it was all over! I was battling the flu the two days before, so my strength wasn't at it's highest and I didn't get to enjoy all the yummy wedding food. (Which was probably for the better.) Of course, I lost a lot of weight while I was sick, but the scale only went back up a few pounds. 

Now, you may remember a while ago when I lost my nephew, well... I'm excited to say that I've now lost my 3 year old niece.

She weighs between 35-40lbs and I have now lost 37lbs. I'm calling it. I lost her. :)

Happy New Year!

 ---------------------------------
Update: The flu weight came back plus a few and it's been a fight. I am now -35 and G weighs 38.5 on my scale. I just have 3.5 to go! I know it'll happen before February!