32 pounds destoyed

Just wanted to update.  I've been doing Zumba about 4 days a week and weight lifting (body pump) once or twice a week since February.  I have switched to a mostly vegan diet for the last 6+ weeks after my husband had a cancer scare (he's fine).

I feel so much better with cutting out meat and dairy except maybe once a week.  It actually felt kind of gross to eat chicken wings today... It's very strange going from eating cheese daily.

I'm down 32 pounds and in a size 16!  Still a 2x top since I carry watermelons on my chest....

Here's a side by side comparison.  On the left is current (230lbs and on the right is 252lbs in December with my foster cavalier king charles spaniel Trudy) 

On my way to my boat/anti diabetic body.

Think Positive, Be Positive

There is something that I have tried to teach the girls I had coached for 4 years.  If you are positive positive things will find you.  You see these teenage girls get picked on for such silly things and it hurts them so much.  How often to we pick on ourselves,  negative self talk, emotional eating.  All this negativity causes us to back petal and continue down that path we were trying to move away from. 

I'm now working towards keeping all negative thoughts out of my brain.  No complaining about work, being tired, not even the weather.  Keeping positive isn't the easiest thing the 1st day or even the 2nd the more you practice it the less you think negatively about things.  You start brushing off the negative things your coworkers complain about, you find the positive things in the grey boring things. 

When I focus on health, fitness, and work out I find that everything is easy.  When I forgo my hyper focusing on getting healthy I start slipping more and more and the weight goes right back on.  Through positive thinking and planning I shall be who I envision myself to be.

Stay strong my friends.

Breaking Promises

"I promises to start a diet tomorrow" haha, how many of you have said that to yourselves?  I think at one point or another we all have said something along those lines if we felt we needed to lose weight.  I know I've heard my mom say it, I know I've said it. 

The more we lie to ourselves the easier it gets and the farther we get from our goals.  It hurts when someone else lies to us so why would we lie to ourselves?  I guess I never though about it till I hear Oprah say it on her show. I had been watching on summer vacation as  kid.  I have since learned that "diet" isn't something you "go on" it's whatever you eat.  Going on a diet says that at some time you are going to switch back to you old ways.  If you change your diet your not planning to. 

I am continuing to make changes to the foods I eat along with learning how to fit exercise in my life.  With out change that we can keep up with we will fall back on what was so "easy" for us before.  I'm not sure how it's easy to haul around extra weight but I do it... 

Don't start tomorrow, start today, start NOW. Your future is only a moment away.

Feeling Pretty

So Friday while I was out shopping and felt really pretty so I snapped this photo with my phone

No was I was not driving, i was stopped at the world's longest light! 

I also gave myself a new manicure using a water marble technique I learned from Colette over at  My Simple Little Pleasures.  My hubby was rushing me so we could go grab some dinner and see Top Gun in 3D so my clean-up wasn't really even done.  I used 2 Orly polishes I've gotten from clearance at Sally Beauty.

Saturday morning while hanging out on the sofa before heading off to the gym I had this adorable group gather.

Monster the tabby on the sofa arm is 7, Belle-bel is the Linx Point Siamese and she's 4, Kiki is the little tabby getting groomed and she'll be a year in March. Maverick my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel will be 6 in March.  I love them all.  If you notice the cardboard taped to our hutch... the vacuum fell over and broke the ugly glass and I haven't had the time to get new glass, I want to get something textured. I'm hoping to find some sort of cool plexi glass as that would be safer for when we move out and rent to someone.

Fitness wise I have hit the gym Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I've taken off Tuesday and Wednesday and planning on getting up early and going before work tomorrow and early Friday.  Been doing the 30 minute circuit and alternating days with treadmill running hoping to get up 30 minutes of continues running by end of April.

Scheduled the Appt!

 I wrote this back months ago but it never got published.  I'll write a follow-up tomorrow.

This girl finally scheduled a doctor's appointment to get everything checked out. Haven't had a physical and all the "lady check-up" stuff done in 4 years so it really is about time...  Looking forward to see if I really have PCOS and to do something with all the excess belly fat, facial hair, shedding from the top of my head!  I'll update when I find out.

Day 2 of Phase 1 of South Beach diet. I had fallen off over the last few months and been eating fries, fried food and the like, Luckily only gained back 5-6lbs. I started back over in phase one since I had been also eating candy and a lot of diet soda. I really don't like to drink diet soda or diet anything. I'm hoping that once I get to a healthy weight I can eat natural organic sugar when I want to have something sweet. I try to stay away from HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and trans fats as much as possible. I like to eat whole foods and those kinds of things but man does a Culver's chicken tender basket w/ fries just hit the spot... then make you fall asleep after your sugar crashes from too many simple carbs...

Tomorrow for lunch since I have no leftovers will be shrimp w/ a salad from the salad bar at the grocery store.

Stay positive, till the next time.

New Year and New Resolutions.

Most people write these kind of posts on December 31st or the 1st of the year, me I'm writing today.  I've been thinking about coming back to writing on my blog now that I'm feeling normal again.  I had done really well for the first 6 months of 2012 on being healthy and weight loss... But then my Grandpa's cancer came back and anything that wasn't a habit went out the window.  There was lots of tears and emotional eating after we lost him in August but I'm finally doing better. 

What I have found to help me was getting projects down. I love working with my hands and I finally tackled some projects.  I made pillow covers for my sofa pillows, finally painted our bedroom doors (they were the grossest brown green I have ever seen!) and hall trim, and hung some floating shelves in our main bathroom.  When I sat down at my sewing machine I said out loud to myself, "hello old friend".  I have truly been missing this big part of who I am, taking part of it again has made me feel whole again.

Beautiful Bathroom. Basket on the shelf and the potted fake plant I got at Goodwill for 99cents!

Newly sewn pillow cases: Mustard Yellow with white polka dots, dusty blue zig zags, and beautiful Paris design to go with our art we picked out before we moved in together 8 years ago.

This is a before of the bedroom... the picture makes the colors look much better. We now have a white ceiling, glossy white trim and oatmeal walls.

Well On to my resolutions.

1. Healthy- eat at home, less processed food, higher quality ingredients (splurge on the local butter, organic sour cream)
2. Be Positive- I'm removing anything and everything I humanly can to be more positive. Unsubscribing to emails that I never open has really helped. I have also started removing people from my facebook that I don't need to that in your face contact with.
3. Fruggleness- Your going to think Wha!??! she just said splurge on butter and sour cream! Where I need to focus on is bringing in crap, just cause it's a good deal does not mean I need to stock up on 20 shampoos!
4. Blog more, I know I'm not the best writer and most of the time I DON'T proof read my posts but I enjoy it.  I'm going to try to get a post up at least once a week.

For those of you who are wondering where I am with my weight, I haven't stepped back on the scale but I'm guessing around 248-252lbs.  I'm hoping to see 230lb in March.

I'm off to try some yoga tonight to relax. Here's the video I'm going to try.

http://youtu.be/e6Wt9CFb-4s

Take care and remember tomorrow is always within our reach.

Friday Check-in!

Guess who was at the gym 2 times in one week? ME haha of course me, it's my blog. My weight is holding steady at 235lbs but I'm ok w/ that after enjoying over 1/2 a bottle of wine last night at the downtown's Girl's Night Out thing. Worked in my MIL's furniture store with my older SIL, it's always a blast.

Ok so back to the gym, did about 20-25 minutes of the treadmill, some running, some walking on an incline. All good stuff. Got to see the director of training and he's like I need to meet with you to set up a new plan.  It's such a happy go lucky guy, and so motivating if you are motived by one of those people. So next Friday I'll be meeting with him.  Next Friday is also Homecoming for my cheerleaders! AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh HAHA good stuff.

Now it's time to clean, laundry, shower, and then go coach...

here's a great one of them where you really can't see their faces. Love these girls as much as I love my puppy.

Stay happy, healthy, and smile!

Weight Loss, a ride or journey

When I think of a ride I think of Point A to Point B. Whether smooth and enjoyable or fast and crazy there is an end of it.

A Journey is endless full of ups and downs, twists and turns. Working though each and every moment. 

I'm down about 5lbs and almost back to my lowest from the weight I'd lost earlier this year. I was very disappointed in myself for getting off track but life happens and when it's not the normal for you, you can easily fall back to the old unhealthy normal. thankfully I was off for only 3-4months before getting back "to the beach". I feel so so so much better losing the simple carbs, after a week without them I no longer want to eat the entire produce section of potatoes, the candy aisle, and every box of pasta/cereal in my house.

It's fun to think that in about 37-38lbs more lost and I'll be in "onederland"! Can I make it by Christmas, that would be exciting.  I just need to find a way to balance everything. Working a full time job, coaching definably makes for balance challenges. Not to mention taking care of 3 cats, a dog, and a husband.  I'm so thankful that my husband has taken over cooking as I hate  to cook!

PCOS? Maybe...

So I'm finally giving in and going to the doctor. Losing weight is not working well... I have nearly every symptom of PCOS except for the missing periods. Hold my excess weight in my middle region, excess hair on face and hands (yuck), hair loss on my head (my hair is sooo thick that I still have to have my hair thinned by the hair stylist.

I hate going to doctors, terrified of what they are going to tell me. Over time I've gone from 172lb in 2004 to 220lbs by 2005 and then 240lb by 2006. Now I'm around 240-50lbs. I would like to get down to 160lbs. I was told my blood pressure was on the high side of normal in 2006, I cut out frozen meals and canned soup and in 2006 my bp was back to the same reading I got in 2004! 

Going to plan for a full blood work-up to see what is all out of whack to cause me these issues, I assume PCOS but there could be other things.

Wish me luck on finding out what's up with my body and hopefully a smooth transition to a healthier me. Just hope I can get my hubby on board to help me with the food aspect.

A bit of tired

Wow have I been busy being tired. Not much has changed. Still sitting at 235lb so that's a good thing. Been enjoying life and getting stuff done around my house.

Completed a mile jogging and timed... 13.5mins! I can't believe I did it and how much I hated running the mile in school today didn't seem that long and I was excited to complete it. My goal is to get down to a 10 minute mile and be able to do a 5k in 40 or less minutes by the end of summer so September 1st of 2012. Eek I stuck a date on that, well someone needs to hold me to it.

Pushing towards eating wiser more often and getting back into a 5 day a week work out. 6 days if I'm up for it but I know I can squeeze 45-60 minutes a day.

Till next time, keep moving one foot in front of the other and don't focus on the past.

Friday Check in Week 14

Yippy weighted in today and I'm down to 235lbs!

Last time I was losing weight and got to this point I was feeling deprived and gave up. I was hungry and wanted everything. Now I eat things I enjoy but with a different thought process. I no longer eat tons to pasta, potatoes, and rice or bread. I still eat them but it's not all the time, I opt for extra veggies and protein. I am also eating breakfast every day, loving Silk's Almond milk that is unsweetened and flavored with vanilla. Only 35 calories too. I add that to 1tbsp of hemp seeds for protein and then some frozen fruit and some times unsweetened cocoa powder (the sweetness of the fruit makes it sweet).  I really love bananas and the cocoa powder as it tastes almost like the one from Starbucks from last year.

As of Monday I have completed week 4 of C25K on the treadmill, I was so proud of myself and really wanted to give up in the last minute of running but I held out and got it done!  Now on to week 5 finished workout 1 on Wednesday and that was 3 5min runs w/ 3 min rests so not too bad but I might extend week 5 into to weeks doing each workout twice once on the elliptical and then once on the treadmill since I find it much harder there.

Keep Strong as it is the NEW Skinny!

Progress Log

I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to take some before photos and some before measurements, they are not exactly perfect since I've been working out for a month and I'm down 15lbs but it's better a bit late then never. That goes for exercise too. Never is never going to get you any were other then higher health insurance, higher health costs and an earlier crapper end of life.

So lets get down to business.

Current Weight 245lbs
Chest:48"
Waist: 41.75"
Hips: 49.5" (in jeans)

I am also 5' 4.5" (yes that 1/2 inch counts!)

Maverick is wondering what I'm doing in the living room....

My goal for the rest of the month is to get down to 240lbs. I'd like to continue working towards 6-10lbs a month till I find a size I feel healthy at. I'm not looking to be a tiny size 2, not that size 2 is a bad thing it's just something I know I won't look good in. I love my curves and my boobs and like them to stay a bit... just in a healthy way.

Valentines Day awww

So I'm still at it! Down 15lbs today!!!!! In a month and a 1/2 I'm lost 15lbs! I'm so excited. I've been doing cardio 3-4 days a week and strength training 3 days a week.

I started South Beach Diet on Monday and so far so good.

Valentines day really isn't celabrated more the a kiss and some themed socks. We had Qdoba for dinner so that was yummy.

Simple Tuesdays

I'm loving the gym, still loving to eat. I've been going to the gym for a month. Going to schedule my massage for February. After that month I'm going to reward myself with my facial. Maybe I should switch them since my face is acting like I'm a teenager again and it's driving me bananas!

To concure my over eating I think I need to plan out every meal and every snack so that I know what I can eat and enjoy that.

I'm also switching to going to the gym in the morning so that my evenings are free to work on my husband's business.

Signed on the dotted line...

I'm all signed up for the gym!  $50 a month but totally worth it. I love that it's quiet and motivating. At any time I can add classes or personal training. There's a hot tub and we got 10% off at the attached spa.

I took today off to rest and tomorrow back in for cardio then M/W/F weight training and T/Th/Sat Cardio intervals! I can't believe of the intervals kicked my butt on Friday. I skipped afterburn Friday and Saturday because I over did it with my arm and don't need to fall backwards with that.

I'm officially down 10lbs in 30 days. Only drinking water and unsweeted ice tea and skipping candy and opting for fat free pudding.

Wonderful Weekend

Thursday I rocked at Foundations class. Friday I finally did Afterburn! and I lived to continue to do it again on Saturday!  Saturday was much harder, even though it was the same class with everything the same I think it was just the exertion 2 days in a row.

How afterburn works is a high intensity circuit. This weeks class was 5 or 6 stations that you'd do the exercise for 60 seconds and then a 30 second brake, doing that twice then a minute brake then do the other side or stations twice.

I've been watching my eating but not tracking the calories, it's very fustating to track them with this new site that they gym has since we eat a lot of food from Aldi that they don't have in the data base.  I'm still aiming for lower carb foods and feeling good.

I picked up a new water bottle today that the cat can't tip over! It also fits ice cubes with no problem.

Tomorrow I meet with the personal trainer, Tuesday is Foundations, Wednesday is program design, Thursday is Foundations, Friday and Saturday is afterburn. The following week is my last week of the free trial and sadly I lose my classes and personal training but I think I can still keep up with just a cardio and program design. 

Since I'm down 9lbs I'm going to schedule my massage. I can't wait.

I'm on track with my goal of about 10lbs a month.  We'll see where I get.

I've been feeling a bit depressed lately and that's not something normal for me at all so I'm going to be posting things that I'm happy for, thankful for and things that I'm looking forward to.

I'm happy that I'm able to afford a gym membership and I'm healthy enough to work towards my goal.
I'm looking forward to more thrift clothes shopping.
I promise to myself that I will replace all my undies with Victoria Secret ones when I read the size I want to stay.

Wednesday Already!

Attending the gym has been going well, giving it my all. It's nice to see my strength increasing but I do still see my lack of motion on my left arm that had be fractured back in July.

Monday I worked with a personal trainer and one other person. It was nice to have the personal attention wow-y! I got a work out!

Tuesday I did foundations again. That was enjoyable as much as exercise can be when your overweight.  I still have suspended pull-ups and mountain climbers still kill me!

Wednesday I did my program design, did well with it, kind of wishing I would have thrown some cardio in there but meh there is always tomorrow.

Looking forward to smaller sized, higher energy, and shopping for new clothes. Once I reach my goal I'm replacing all my undies with Victoria Secret ones!

Saturday.. resting

Enjoying the day away from the gym, it's kind of weird not to be there. I'm going to go tomorrow and get some cardio in to work off the fudge pops I ate. 70 calories but still need to work them off. I did shovel some more snow off the patio to keep Mr. Maverick from peeing there and making it look gross. Don't think the tenant would like to look at that when she comes outside either.

Now I just need to keep my hubby from trying to eat everything that is loaded with grease, fat, and calories. 1st he wanted Buffalo Wild Wings, then it was pizza, then Denny's, then George Webb's! for the love of my belly flab I don't need to eat those things and if he gets them it will make me very grumpy that I can't join in like I use to. But then again, doing what I did before got me where I am now.... 100lbs over weight eww.

I was looking at local thrift stores in Milwaukee that carry vintage and designer clothes, I can't wait till I can visit the stores and not have to call 1st to see if their carry plus sizes. 

Pushing on.

Day 12, 13, & 14 at the gym

Wednesdaay I worked out with the personal trainer again. I will be working with a different trainer on Monday and it will only be me and one other person. I'm looking forward to the personalized attention. I keep being informed that I have great form.

Thursday I did foundations class which seemed a little too easy, I finally got the formula of shaking the rope but I still hate hate hate it!

Friday, today I did my program design work out, that went well but my hamstring is still a bit tight. My back is sore from shoveling for the 5 or 6 inches we got between Thursday morning and this afternoon. I only shoveled the back patio and the front deck.

One the fluffy dog side Maverick at about a week's worth of food. Yep my Cavalier King Charles pulled his bag of food out of a drawer and munched away.

Day 2 At the Gym

Another day under calories! Go for me!  I also did 60mins on the elliptical today and did just over 4 miles during that time, I forgot how many calories the machine said I burned but no biggie I still did the full 60 minutes!!!! So how long before I can get 5 miles in 60 minutes?  Lets aim for the end of January, I'm hoping for a 10lb lose by then.  Can we do it, yes we can. Motivation, determination, healthy eating, and lots of exercise.

I really have forgotten how much I love to lift weights.  Feeling your muscles engage as you lift and as you complete your reps you can feel them get more and more tired but you just keep pushing on.  Gaaa I love that feeling.  I did the set that I had the last time attended this gym.

Looking forward to my meeting with Kip on Monday to set me up with a plan.  I have a long way to go and no quick way to get there.... but  I will make it there before this weight kills me or my health.

Looking forward to shopping in normal stores... not worrying but if my boobs are going to be resting on the table at a restaurant. Speaking of restaurants I have no urg for fast food, looked at taco bell when I passed this this evening when I came home from work and was like yuck. So much greasy non-filling food for so many calories!

Thinking about looking into the south beach diet or maybe just eliminating gluten.