Mid Week Update 09/12/2013

I have been feeling a little discouraged lately especially coming back from Vegas and having gained. Unlike other times, where I would have given up, I have stayed on track.

As of this morning I am down 15 pounds! I am so happy about this milestone. The next big one for me is 20 lbs and then I will do my happy dance.

I have been working out and feeling good about the cardio I am doing. I am eating pretty well (with a cheat meal here and there) and the biggest thing is staying consistent. When I have a bad day not giving up and keep on truckin'.

By doing the above, I have been able to lose a healthy 15 pounds in a little over 2 months and I am not stopping here. I have another 45 pounds to lose and I know I can get there. It may take me another 6 months but as long as I move forward.

The below is so true. I am not using any magic pills, I am not doing a special wrap or shake. All I am doing is burning calories and have a little bit of determination!

Week 8 Results - 2 Months in!

This week I was happy. I gained weight in Vegas and when I got back I was so disappointed. I have been averaging about 1.4 pounds a week of weight loss and that was the first week that I gained. I was determined this week to lose the weight I gained.

I lost 4.6 pounds last week! I am so happy. I know a lot of that may have been water weight from the trip but regardless I was down the 3 lbs I gained and more. I didn't do too well on Sunday (football Sunday is evil!) but overall for the week I was consistent.

This week I plan to go to the gym at least 3 days. I have been feeling really good burning calories on the elliptical and it doesn't hurt my knee. I am hoping to drop about 3 pounds this week. If I workout and stay within my calorie targets I know that I can do this!

On a side note, I have to say I am really happy with my results. I am not on track to meet all my targets but I am not going to be discouraged this time. I am keeping up with it no matter what and even if I am only losing about 1.5 pounds a week this means I am losing.

It's nice to feel good about my hard work this time. In the past I have had a bad or "cheat" day and beaten myself up so much that I just gave in. Now, when I have a bad day, I turn that into a challenge to work off that bad day and get my butt to the gym and eat clean. If I can keep this up, I will meet my goals. It might take a little longer but I will get there!

Week 7 Results (though I'd rather not weigh in!)

I was in Vegas this past weekend and didn't get back until Monday night so I weighed myself this week on Tuesday morning.

I gained 3 pounds! I was not as good as I wanted to be but I wasn't awful. I did expect to gain maybe a pound but not three. I am hoping a little bit is water weigh and I just started my menstrual cycle and I know that can effect your weight too.

Regardless of what the scale says, I am keeping up with it. Back to tracking daily and making good clean choices. I am going to start back at the gym. I have to be careful with my knee, but I can get there and keep moving to help burn some extra calories.

I think the big thing for me with my knee is making sure I am eating right and trying to meet my daily targets. At least 5,000 steps a day is hard when I work from home and my knee hurts but I need to make sure that hit this. So I am going to start parking further at work and taking those extra steps to help.

I will weigh in Monday and hopefully be a little better off than this week. This is the first time I gained since I started so that is the one good thing. I know how to lose I just need to keep it up!

Week 6 Results

Alright, so I forgot to post this on Monday which is my weigh in date. Whoops! I have had a busy week.

No excuse! Anyway my weigh in went pretty good. I am happy to report that I was down 1.8 pounds and I have hit 12 pounds down! I was very excited to lose because during the weekend I went off track a little. I had my 30th birthday party here at my house and it was a potluck style. There were lots of yummy foods and lots of beer and liquor. I managed to not go crazy and still lost almost 2 pounds!

Though I have continued to lose, I am not going to hit my target set fourth in this post. I have come to terms with this and that is OK. With my knee being out and with all the events going on, I have come to terms with this and have readjusted my goals. This upcoming weekend I am going to Vegas and I know I may have a week where I weigh in and might gain. I am going to try hard to stay on track with my food but I know I am going to have some drinks.

I will have to weigh in on Tuesday next week because I am going to be out of town. I am really hoping that I can stay active enough to burn some calories and keep an eye on my food intake so I can still lose. Even if it's only a little!

On another note, I am going shopping on Friday with a friend. I am hoping that I can get in a size 16. I was a size 18 before and now all of my 18's are too big!

Until next week! Wish me luck!

I saw this picture and I know all of the info but it really hit me by having a visual! Remember, put things into your body that will help it, NOT hurt it!

Week 5 Results or WEAK 5...

Last week was rough. I had a very hard time with everything. I wasn't able to work out at all because of my knee injury and that was really what made me unmotivated. I was also awful at tracking my food and calories and I had some drinks. Despite all of that, I did manage to lose 0.4 pounds.

That being said, I was weak last week. I didn't give up fully but I know I was not committed and that is why I didn't lose. 

This week I want to do good. My knee is feeling much better and hopefully on Thursday when I see the Doctor I can find out what is going on and get back to the gym! I am going to commit to myself to tracking all of my food and staying within my calorie targets. 

Saturday is my big 30th birthday party. I do plan to have that as my one and only "cheat" day however, I still want to be reasonable and not go crazy. 

Hoping I can be down at least 5 pounds before Vegas in 2 weeks. I can do this! 

The below image is a quote from Jillian Michaels. She is amazing. I love what she has said because it makes me think. WHY NOT ME? So I am going to stop asking. 'why can't I look like that?' or 'Why can't I do that?' and instead say I CAN and WILL do and look like that!

More than a month in

I am feeling really discouraged lately. I injured my knee last weekend and I am still having a hard time moving. I was told to stay off of it as much as I can until I get an MRI and see a specialist.

This is so hard! I want to be active and workout and I literally cannot do that right now. I haven't let that stop me as of yet, but I did have a few nights this week where I had a few drinks with my husband. I had some wine last night.

I am starting to feel like this is getting really hard this week and I just want to throw in the towel. I haven't lost any weight at all this week because I haven't been able to be active, and even my little movements from going into the office etc is minimal.

I will not give up but I am hoping that my knee is OK and I can get back to normal.

I have a few goals for the rest of the week. I will stay under my target for my calorie intake since I cannot workout. I will not drink this weekend. I will try to move a little more but not compromise my knee. Perhaps swimming or upper body. My goal this week was to try and lose 3 pounds. I highly doubt that is going to happen, so if I am down at least 1.5 pounds I won't beat myself up too bad.

Until Monday!

Week 4 Results

Alrighty folks, I am down 2.2 pounds this week. I didn't do as great as I wanted to, but a loss is a loss!

We went out of town this weekend and I was good as far as eating the right foods but we had some drinks and I know that threw me off. It's so hard sometimes to get out of my habits but I am working on that part. It's a little less than two weeks until my birthday party, and I want to be down 6 pounds. My goal this week is 3 pounds. I know I can do it and this goal will help me stick to my daily targets.

I have stopped working out like a crazy person. I know this sounds weird but I was working out too much and not eating enough so I am going to aim for 3 times a week of just cardio and 1500 calories a day.

Here's another silly picture.  I love instagram BTW. If you are not on there you should be. There is so much fitness inspiration on there it really helps motivate me. I found this picture on there and had to share it.

Let's have an amazing week!

Good Things are Happening!

I am happy to say that I have stayed committed to my plan even though the first couple of weeks I was not losing very much weight on the scale. So, I changed a few things in what I was doing and I must say that I am really happy with the results. Things are starting to fall into place and feel right. Not only is the scale going down, but I feel like this is getting easier and I can keep it up.

I think the best piece of advice I can give is to be patient. It took a long time to gain all the weight, it will take less time to come off but don't expect to happen over night. Keep going and you will reap the benefit.

Saw this on instagram and thought I would post it here because it embodies everything I am feeling right now.

Week 3 Results and Still Working

This week has been a little tough. I have been struggling with all the hard work I am doing and how I don't feel like I look any different. The scale wasn't moving for me all week. (I was not able to stop weighing myself daily)

I did have a cheat day but I still stayed active. By some miracle I did end up losing 2.6 pounds which I am happy about. Considering I cheated and I wasn't as good as I wanted to be I am really happy with this. I was feeling bad all weekend because I was working so hard and not seeing it on the scale. I wish my clothes felt better and looser. I wish I could see a little difference. I guess 3 weeks isn't enough time and I just need to give it more time. So that is what I will do.

I also decided to not workout so much. I am still going to workout but not as intensely as I was before. I think that is causing some issues because I am not eating that many calories. Instead of trying to eat more when I am not hungry because I am working out, I am going to do 3-4 workouts a week and stay in the 1400-1600 calorie range. I am going to see how this effects my success.

I am going into this week with a positive mind and I will not give up. It's going to take me awhile to get where I want to be, I just need to remember that in my moments of aggravation!

Week 2 Results

OK so it's Monday and that means weigh in day. I lost 2.6 pounds this week. I am really happy with the loss! I tried really hard this week. I did really well with workouts. I went to the gym Monday through Friday and took Saturday off. I did a 6 mile hike on Sunday. Kudos to my workouts! On to the not so good.

I ended up hanging out with some friends and drank on Saturday. I drank more than I had planned on and wanted to so I know that threw off my success. I didn't feel great on Sunday but still went on my hike. I did not like feeling the way I did on Sunday. I realize now that I am making so many good changes that even one day of messing up really throws me off. I have decided not to do that anymore. I am going to have a cheat day here and there and by that I mean a few drinks not 12!

Regardless of my few slip ups I had a pretty good week. I felt really good about the progress I am making. I am hoping since I am committed to not cheating and not drinking this week, I will see some make up for it on the scale. I am 1.4 pounds off from my goal for this week but I am confident I can make that up with the next few weigh ins!

I did fail at not weighing myself daily. I am committed this week to only weigh myself once a week. I did buy a new scale because my old one was not consistent. Even if I weighed myself three times in the same 5 minutes it would give me three different numbers! So annoying. Anyway, once my new scale arrives I will weigh myself on that but then I won't do it again until Monday.

Thought this was relevant to my journey and it is very true!

Mid Week Motivation

I wanted to give in last night and eat bad food and drink a beer. I didn't want to go to the gym. I was so unmotivated. I feel like the scale should be going down but it's not.

I decided that I am not going to "start over" again. I am going to be strong and continue my journey.

I did not go out to eat. I made an amazing yummy dinner at home. I did not drink anything but water! I did go to the gym, and though it wasn't the most intense workout, I went and burned calories!

Cheers to Thursday and keeping it up!

My dinner: Ground turkey burger on lettuce topped with blue cheese
and sour cream w/ dry ranch seasoning. On the side: mashed cauliflower.

The picture got cut off, but it says "Reminder that
you can love your body and try to change it at the same time!"

Tuesday Reminder

I had a dream last night that I was laying on a beach in The Dominican Republic, and I was happy about my body.

When I woke up, it got me to think about how harsh I am on my body. It's not fair I blame my body when I am the one who made the bad choices. In-fact, I should be thanking it for being able to recover from all the bad things I have done to it.

Anyway, I saw this on Pinterest and thought I would share it here. Since I am so guilty of doing this, I needed a reminder.

Week 1 Results

Ohhh kay... even though I technically started on a Tuesday, I am going to make my weekly weigh in on Mondays.

Week 1 was OK. I feel good. I went to the gym everyday, tracked all my food, but I am only down 0.8 of a pound. This is really discouraging. I am not going to give up simply because I know that it takes time. However, I don't understand how I can work as hard as I did and only lose that little of an amount. I expected to lose about 2 pounds.

If anyone has any advice, please pipe in. I am eating about 1500 calories a day and working out everyday. I am not eating carbs at night (except for veggie carbs) and I am eating lean protein and fruits and vegetables. Yogurt and low fat dairy. I just don't get it.

I am measuring myself as well as weighing. I will measure myself on a monthly basis to help give me a better idea. I just hope this is not how it's going to be the whole time!

Let's see what happens next Monday. I will not give up!

Checking In

I am feeling good today body wise. I have been working out everyday and eating clean and tracking everything. I am a little disappointed that I am not down a little more but I know it's slow. However, I figured during my first week I would drop a little more faster.

I started this blog on Wednesday the 17th of July but I actually started dieting on Tuesday the 16th of July. I am starting my 5th day and I am only down 1.6 lbs. I know that's good I just expected the first week to be a little more and then taper off to 2 lbs a week. Ah well a loss is a loss and I am not giving up.

I need to stop weighing myself everyday! I will try to do this.

My official check in day will be on Monday's except on my milestone days. My mile stone days are in this post.

OK until Monday!

Oh and here's a little pic that made me laugh. I will not be a can of busted biscuits! 

Starting Strong

Yesterday was my first day of clean eating and working out. I am hoping I can be consistent with this and keep it up.

I feel really motivated and really feeling good about everything. This is encouraging. Yesterday went really well. I logged everything I ate and wore my bodymedia all day.

If you haven't heard of bodymedia, it's a really neat tool to help give you an idea of how many calories you are burning a day. I have had mine for sometime. I always cheated and never actually logged my food. But I am done cheating myself!

Here is a screen shot of my stats from yesterday:

I was talking with a friend of mine as we are making some travel plans and I have a more detailed outline of my goals. So here it is!

Aug 28th - down 15 pounds (233 lbs)
Sept 20th - down an additional 6 pounds, 21 lbs total (227 lbs)
Oct 17th - down an additional 8 pounds, 29 lbs total (219 lbs)
Nov 15th - down an additional 8 pounds, 37 lbs total (211 lbs)
Dec 13th - down an additional 8 pounds, 45 lbs total (203 lbs)
Jan 15th - down an additional 10 pounds, 55 lbs total (193 lbs)

I don't feel like I am going for unreasonable number's here. I am hoping to average about 2 pounds a week. I know some weeks will be harder than others so this is just an average. I have all the tools and knowledge to do it, I just need to stay motivated!

In case you are wondering most of these dates have special meaning.

Aug 28th is my 30th birthday. I would like to head into my birthday going strong and having lost 15 pounds. Labor day weekend we are going to be in Vegas so I want to be able to go into this weekend confident and making sound eating choices. (but still have fun!)

Sept 20th I am going to go on a girls trip to California with some girl friends. If I can lose any weight I may have gained in Vegas and lose an additional 6 pounds I will be really happy.

Oct 17th I am going on a cruise with my husband and my mom and her husband. Being down almost 30 pounds by then will make feel confident that I can still travel and lose weight.

Nov and Dec dates are not significant but just wanted to put two additional one month markers on my plan.

Jan 15th is the big one! I am going on a 7 day girl trip for my friends 30th birthday to the Dominican Republic! I am so excited and I want to be able to feel comfortable in a bathing suit. I am not going to say bikini, bathing suit! I want to go on that trip a new Lindsay and feeling great. I don't want to hide my body in the pics with the girls. This is the big motivator here.

I will document my travels and how well I do and prove that I can lose weight and still travel and have fun. It's all in balance and dedication!

OK enough for today :)

And so it begins...

My Confession:
I am starting this blog as a sort of motivation for myself. I bet there are hundreds of these out there. Personal, intimate professions to help one motivate to get back on track. Sure it may be public, but it's more of a statement to oneself.

I decided to do this for myself. Best case scenario, I use it as a way to track my progress and keep me going. Perhaps I am able to help motivate a few people along the way. Worst case scenario, I give up and only have a few blog posts. I can then look back and see another thing that I failed at, and hope to go at it again. So here it is!

A Fat Girls History:
I have been trying to lose weight for years. I may lose 5 pounds here, 10 pounds there. Then gain some back. It hasn't been significant but I have never been satisfied by where I am with my weight. Back in 2004 I weighed almost 290 pounds. I am 6 feet tall, but that is way too much even for my height. I should be about 170-185 lbs. I didn't even recognize that I was gaining so much weight. I was only out of High School for a few years and was oblivious. Once I started to open my eyes and see what was going on, I heard the remarks from family and friends. I decided to start a journey where I made a few small changes in my life. I started weight watchers, I gave up soda, I started working out.

It's weird now that I go back and think about how I went from 290 to 215 in what seems like only months and I didn't even try too hard. I realize now, I didn't understand how many bad decisions I was making, so by only changing a few things I was able to change my weight so fast. Since then, I have become well aware of my weight and how much I gain or lose. This is a curse and a blessing all in the same scenario.

I met the man of my dreams and slowly over the past 5 years I went from my lowest (in my adult life) of 215 up to 248. That is where I am at now. I have struggled so hard the past 3 years especially to get my weight under control. I know I am the only one who can control it, but it's so easy to get off track. So this is where my story starts again, this time I will control my out come.

A New Beginning:

Yesterday I was scrolling through instagram on my phone. I was sitting in front of the TV looking at all the fitness models on my instafeed. I follow all sorts of fitmotivation on my instagram account but it has done no good. For whatever reason it hit me... I have every way to control absolutely everything regarding how I feel about myself. It will not cost me anything to get healthy, it will not break the bank, it won't hurt me. This is the one thing that I can have for myself that I cannot buy or get someone else to do for me. I have to do it if I want it.

I woke up this morning with that thought in my head. I have all the tools to succeed, I just need to do it. It's a direct reflection on me when I fail. I have read other blogs, and other peoples stories when they say they just had that 'aha moment'. I feel like this is my 'AHA' moment.

I am going to start this journey and only end it when I want to because I am satisfied with my health. This isn't about just losing weight, it's about being happy with myself and living a long healthy life.

Current Sats:
I am 6 foot tall.
My current weight is 248 pounds.
BMI (according to this site) 33.6%

Ultimate Goal:
180 pounds
BMI 24.4%
Happy and Healthy

I understand that this is going to take me some time. I am going to set small goals along the way to achieve my ultimate goal.

I will document my progress and commit to at least being honest with myself and how I track my updates.

I do have pictures I have taken on my start date. I am a little embarrassed to post them now, perhaps when I lose and feel better I will at least post them then.

And so it begins!