Plateaus... Isn't that a geography thing?

If you have ever lost weight for a significant time and then you just STOP then you know where I am going with this one. I would lose 5 lbs some months and 0 another. No matter how I ate or worked out. My body is just fun that way apparently. This month, thanks to the awesome case of strep throat I received for Thanksgiving, I was able to get past a plateau. But what fun is that? I didn't eat for 5 days. Ok well it was a little fun when I looked at the scale, but soooo not worth not eating Thanksgiving dinner. Anorexic people are insane, sorry, but they are..I love food way too much to ever just stop eating.. I don't know any secrets to get past a dieting plateau, and I have searched the web and tried all kinds of plateau advice (none worked). So I just keep pressing forwards, because even if I am not getting the results I want RIGHT NOW, I know that I am still doing what is healthy for my body. So don't give up if you have a week of zero loss, just keep trying, your body will catch up with your hard work. If it never does all I can suggest is changing it up. =)

Bend Before it Breaks

Sometimes you have to feed your cravings..For me this month, that craving is candy corn..I know I know, some of you think that is just sick, but I loooove that sugary sweetness. The advice that I was given was FEED that sugar craving..Just not with candy corn. With things like fruit, sweet yogurt, etc. So I attempted this and sure enough it's working so far...So far. I had some struggles last month with dieting and working out. Life gets hectic and things get put on the back burner..And I literally could not breathe unless it was scheduled lol. But I managed to eek in some work outs and stay on my diet the last few weeks and it is paying off. I am starting to see some tone in my arms.

Some...not a lot, lol. BUT it is a curve and I can appreciate that =)

I am a freak about my scale..I literally weigh myself about 5 times a day..There is a lot of different opinions about this. Mine is that if I watch my weight constantly I stay on track..If I only weighed myself once a week I would not hold myself accountable enough. /shrug. Everyone is different. 

 Some may say that I am body or image obsessed. Not true, I am obsessed with making myself healthy. I am obsessed with living. I have always been someone that has been soooo concerned with what others think. Always. It was just sad. I look at it now like, if it doesn't effect that person, then why should they really care? So if I am eating 1200 calories a day, and it doesn't effect you, then don't worry about it =) lol. Same goes for me. I have to stop looking at people and thinking things like "wow, they need to do this or do that"..Everyone has to decide for themselves to make this change in their life. Whether it is to quit smoking, to eat better, to work out, to play with your kids more..It's nobody choice but your own.

My change has led to this..

What can your change lead to? What do you want your life to be like? And sometimes you have to bend before you break..=)

Time to cowgirl up..

Last week was a rough one. Between dealing with the death of someone I loved, work, and planning a baby shower, you could say that my anxiety levels were at an all time high..And I used the excuse that everyone uses and simply said "I do not have time to work out"...Which was true...ish. Not working out, high stress and anxiety led to comfort eating..I never realized I was a stress eater, but after putting on 3 lbs this past week and dang near eating fast food and junk every day..I can now say that yes, I am a stress eater...

Exhibit A

These would be the cupcakes I made for my sister's shower. I ate two...Not to mention the 7 layer dip, taquitos, and carrots with ranch..

Moral of the story...Time to cowgirl up. I grew up in the country and a lesson you learn early on is if you fall off the horse, you brush your butt off and get back on.. So I started working out again yesterday and grocery shopped for a healthier diet. I am sore...beyond sore. But I can't let something set me back and hold me back. And while the comfort food helped deal with the pain of my loss, it also caused the pain in my abs today as I struggled  through my Slim in 6 dvd this morning...And I will remember this soreness when it comes to watching my Sooners play this fall and not overeat during a stressful game lol..

And next month when my sweet new niece Sophia arrives I will help my sister get back into shape and keep her motivated =)

RIP Eddie Walker, I will never forget your smile and cheerfulness.

You are what you eat...

Well if that's true then why don't overweight people go around eating skinny people? =)
So, I think I am going to start a food journal today. I am going to write down everything I eat (even the chocolate that mysteriously ends up in my mouth at work). My eating habits are a thousand times better than they were a year ago, but I am curious to see what works best. Everyone always says eating 5 small meals a day is best, but I can never manage to pull that off.And then there is the "fat free vs low carb" debate. Well, obviously the low carb one is never going to work for me...I am a southern girl, I will shrivel up and die without carbs..seriously.I also want to see exactly how many calories I get a day. Did you know that not eating enough can make your weight loss STAND STILL...? Only way eating 800 calories a day or less is gonna work is if you eat 0 calories a day and become anorexic...which is also not healthy..just saying.

Also, no more Diet Coke...this breaks my heart..seriously. I have cut out pretty much all diet sodas over the last few months, but I still have the occasional Diet Coke. I really shouldn't..It's just eating away at me anyways so..No more diet coke..God save my friends and family when I get a craving lol.

Both of these things are small goals..I find that small goals work better, because I can't see the big picture and eventually give up. So..one step at a time. September's small step will be 1)food journal and 2) no diet coke.. =( I say September but I will start today. If I don't start things on Monday I end up putting them off for another week..

In closing, here are some diet tips that I have found very useful
1) Drink a LOT of water
2) Add fruits and vegetables to your diet (think of it this way, you can't have upside down pineapple cake, but you can have a pineapple )
3) Do not walk into your kitchen after a certain time at night..For me I say 8 pm. I usually go to bed at 11 so I try and steer clear of food after 8 pm...keyword there "try"
4) Gut your cabinets and fridge of the junk. I found it was easier to eat healthy when I wasn't taunted with junk food..(sorry kids, if mommy is dieting, you can eat that good stuff too)
5) MAKE TIME to work out. I started with 30 mins a day...At first I felt guilty about abandoning Tug with Jerry as soon as we got home to work out, but if I don't do it when I first get home, or first get up, I won't do it. And don't tell me you don't have time, give me another excuse...=P

Seriously..I love carbs

As I sit here and daydream about mashed potatoes covered and gravy with big buttery biscuits I try and remember that I am doing this for a reason lol. I am currently on Phase 2 of my Slim in 6 dvd..It's rough..lol. My body is changing right before me eyes and it is weird sometimes..My stomach is getting smaller but it's weird seeing muscle under the excess skin lol.

Yes mom, I know my bed is not made lol. Focus! 

So a lot of people have asked me what I eat. I eat a variety of things. I was sticking mainly to nonfat, low calorie, but I change it up too. I think that a lot of people burn out on diets because they try to stick to an exact plan and get burned out easily. It's not about eating exactly one cup of tuna a day, or two banana's, etc. It's about a lifestyle change. Sometimes I have oatmeal for breakfast, sometimes I have fruit, sometimes yogurt. I usually snack on pretzels or salt free crackers, (or a snickers bar) lol. I give in to my cravings every once in a while or I would go crazy. And it works for me. 

Subway helps me change it up when I get bored. There are so many healthy choices there. For dinner I eat turkey burgers and vegetables or chicken or just a sandwich or Smart Ones frozen meal. I don't count calories or carbs. I eat when  I am hungry. I drink water allllll day long. I drink Vitamin water zero (less calories) and V8 Juice. 

The point is, I don't stick to a stringent diet. I changed my food lifestyle. And after a few months, my friends, family and co workers got used to it. I am worried about football season coming up though...I loooove me some football food and drinks during Sooner games ..=/ We'll see how it goes

Pretty? Who? Me?

Self image is a hard thing to grasp. For the longest time I never quite saw what others saw. I still don't. I have never considered myself one of the pretty girls. Cute, sure, but not pretty. No matter how much weight I lose I will never be one of those wafer thin girls with long gorgeous hair and delicate features. I have a short torso, and round face, and broad shoulders that would make women who wore shoulder pads in the 80's jealous. My chest has always been too big for my body and I could slap a woman for even thinking about getting bigger breasts lol.  I have thin legs that are well toned, but don't match the flabbiness that is my stomach...This is how I see myself. So when someone compliments me I thank them like a good girl should but in my head I am thinking "Pffft yeah right!". It's something I am working on. I was recently told that my body shape is starting to mirror Marilyn Monroe's. I can see that, but that doesn't mean I think that I am gorgeous.

"It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others.

- Sydney J. Harris"

I have always been comfortable with other people. Just not with myself..I say that, but I guess on the outside I appeared comfortable but on the inside I was usually thinking about how something on them looks soooo much better than it does on me. I used to be one of those people who lied to myself and said "Fat is beautiful too"...Don't get me wrong. Some overweight people ARE beautiful on the inside. But if they are anything like me no matter how many times you tell yourself that you are fine with your appearance there are times when it makes you sick inside. I had to grasp that. It's not about wanting to fit in or look gorgeous all the time..It's about knowing that you are healthier, that you can do things now that you couldn't do before. I FEEL better inside. I get sick a LOT less and I am finally feeling comfortable in my own skin. Flab and all.  Being comfortable with yourself however is not an excuse to being unhealthy. That's the thing no one wants to hear.

In order to survive this journey I have had to tell myself every single day that I can do it. And that it is all worth it. It is worth it. It's not easy. It's hard and you have to train yourself to WANT it every single day.

Clothes and Fried Pickles

So! I have done fantastically all week long, and as per usual I indulged myself a little..With some fried pickles..Oh my..My inner chunky girl loooooves those lol. I went shopping today and got to buy smaller sizes! This is my FAVORITE part of losing weight..I love love love to shop when things fit right! I finally got a little black dress. Every girl deserves a little black dress..Example A

Yeah I am being a little sassy =P

Working out gets easier every day. I know I curse Debbie the poor woman in the Slim in 6 videos, but she is right..You do get stronger every time you work out. The down side to all of this is the excess skin..I am now  seeing "hangy skin" parts in random places like under my arms, or on my side, and goodness my lower stomach..one of these days I will tell Tug that the lower stomach part was his fault =P 

I keep thinking I need to change my diet up to maximize my weight loss, but I usually chicken out. The extreme low fat way is working, although slowly at times. I have been considering tossing in a few weeks of low carbs and see how that goes. The hardest part of dieting is my job. I work in a grocery store for crying out loud..I am surrounded by food 40 hours a week..well..like 50 hours this week. 

My advice this week is to keep at it..If you are a '"flaky" dieter, it will never work for you. The weight will creep back. Today was supposed to be my day to rest from exercise, but then those dang fried pickles somehow went in my mouth..so I think I will do Slim and 6 pack tonight to burn off some of those calories.

Oh! if you are wondering what program I am using, here is the link.

Slim in 6

What keeps you motivated?

It's Saturday..I have 6 days in a row of work ahead of me..Today is one of my only days off and I do not want to work out..Not even a little. I go to the fridge to get something to eat, anything..And I see the pic I put on the fridge..AH HA! There is my motivation! Thank goodness it was staring me in the face. Skinny me circa 2002. Oh how I miss her lol.

So I don't eat a tub of butter and I move on. And at some point this afternoon I will get up and work out. I never would have been able to do this without a little motivation here and there. My friend Sherri had a baby this spring. She dropped a lot of that baby weight pretty quick. Without knowing it, Sherri was some motivation for me. Gave me a tad of a competitive edge when she started working out too. I get to shop in normal stores again, not the "plus size" ones. That motivates me. My debit card has my picture on it from my bigger days..Everyday I see that, it motivates me. The people in my life telling me that they are proud of me, that motivates me.

So when you get started on this weight loss journey, find some motivation..It'll push you harder =)

Ups and Downs

One thing I have learned from all this dieting is that it has some major up days and major down days..Let's take last night for instance. I worked out yesterday like I was supposed to..I ate right allll day long and then around 9 pm I got this huge craving for ice cream...not just any ice cream..Dairy Queen ice cream. Now if you have lived in Texas your whole life like I have you know that your inner fat girl is addicted to some Dairy Queen...I thought it over in my head, made some excuses like "I'm pmsing..that means my metabolism is higher..I can sooo eat ice cream"..you get the drift. I caved...I had a chocolate covered strawberry sundae in a waffle bowl..It was heaven.

Soooo today I made up for it by eating really healthy and working out..I probably won't lose a pound this week because of that dang sundae, but if I deny myself something that I really really want all the time, I''ll end up gorging on 100 calorie pack snack food and that's no bueno.

Tonight's blog will have some before and after pics...the first pic was taken back in October sometime at my heaviest...The second pic was from today...after my workout.. It's not amazingly impressive..but it is about a 60 pound difference.

PS...Yes..that is the Mad Hatter and Alice on my wall..

The Journey

I am going to start blogging about my weight loss because I think it will help keep me motivated to keep trying harder to be healthy everyday. So where else do you start but at the beginning ? =)

When you are the chunkiest of three teensy sisters, you are never quite sure where it all began. I've always just thought I was bigger. Even when I was younger and was in no way fat, I always obsessed over the idea that I was.

I started my first crash diet the summer after my sophomore year..We called it the "grapefruit diet". It consisted of ten days of nothing but salad, bacon, eggs, and grapefruit..It was not good lol. I always dropped a few pounds but nothing really significant. So I started working out.. A lot. I played tennis and that kept me in decent shape throughout high school..Granted, I still thought I was a monster because I was never the petite, small boned, small chested girl.. I was just ..thick.



So needless to say...my weight has been on my mind probably since about the age of 12 and on. I went to college, quit working out, became best friends with my local Jack in the Box and by the time I was 19 I had gained almost 45 lbs. I went from a size 8 to a size 14 in one year. I stayed at that weight until I got pregnant in 2005. Luckily I only added about 15 more pounds with my pregnancy. When my son was about 6 months I had gotten back down to a size 14 but still weighed about 190 lbs.. once I stopped breast feeding the weight went back up..again..

I didn't care enough about myself to do anything about it.. I hated it but I had given up and just lived with it..in the summer of 2009 I got pregnant again, but lost the baby and almost my life to an eptopic pregnancy. The sadness consumed me and I again just did not care what I looked like..I was empty inside. I had reached 230 pounds.

That was it...I couldn't do it anymore..I was disgusted with myself and the direction my life was going.. I was depressed, and a little lost. A friend had posted some pics of his amazing weight loss and it inspired me. I asked him for his secret and he introduced me to Slim in 6. A workout program from Beach Body.com. I was hooked. It was not a hard work out and I could do it at home. I modified my diet and started working out and it is now July and I am halfway to my goal ..