Changes

Happy Friday! I'm sooo excited that the weekend is finally here! How about you?


Wednesday was my weigh in day. I weighed in at 241.8 lbs. That's a 0.7 pound loss, which I am surprisingly satisfied with. I know that may sound weird because I was pretty disappointed with my 1 pound and 1.8 pound losses but I feel like I didn't put in more than a 0.7 pound loss effort this week. I was actually expecting to stay the same or even gain so I was happy I lost anything. I only went to the gym once and worked out once at home, that was it. I ate out many times, had a few "drinks" and even had a large slice of ice cream cake. So absolutely, I am satisfied with ANY loss I was surprisingly able to pull off this week.


Last night I had a mini eating-at-a-restaurant crisis. It was completely emotional and it shouldn't have happened but it did. I went out to eat with my mom, brother and my mom's friend as a mini birthday celebration for me since her friend was unable to make my actual birthday party. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and I got the Honey BBQ Chicken Tender's Wrap which comes with tortilla chips and salsa. I ate the whole wrap and all the chips. The wrap wasn't huge but I definitely could have easily stopped with just half and no chips. I also had a fruity mixed drink called "Bahama Mama" and a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream with Butterscotch. I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought but I think the worst part was that I was constantly saying to myself to stop eating but I didn't. I didn't care at that point. I was mad, sad and concerned. Why you ask? Well let me tell you...

My cousin text me earlier that night saying that her and her boyfriend are done for good. They have been together for 4 years and lived together for about 3. They had some issues at the beginning with him cheating but they resolved all those and moved forward with complete trust in one another. Their relationship was very strong, they were always together and always seemed "happy". They talked about marriage and kids and everyone in our family loved him. Well apparently last night he told her that he never intended to marry her or have kids with her and that he never stopped cheating she just thought he did. I was very taken aback when she told me this. A wall of emotions hit me. I was pissed off because of how he treated her, I was sad because I can't imagine what she's going through and I immediately started to question my own relationship with my boyfriend. I know that it really makes no sense to start questioning my relationship but I did because it reminded me how easily people can lie and manipulate their way to get just about anything they want. It's scary to see such a "good" couple break up. It took me all night but I eventually pushed those thoughts of doubt out of my head because my boyfriend is sooo different and it's not fair to him to start thinking he could be using me like her boyfriend was using her. Even though I'm feeling better now I know that all those emotions absolutely triggered my carelessness toward my food choices at the restaurant.


I know that if I plan to meet my goal of 235 by Christmas I need to step it up. I need to get weekends under control, start working out a MINIMUM of 4 days a week and try some new classes. I'm starting all three of those changes NOW. This weekend will not be a free for all. I will work out Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I am signing up for a Pilates class tomorrow and hopefully a spinning class on Monday.


I know that some changes are good and others are bad. Some are scary and can knock the wind out of us. My cousin will have to learn to pick up the pieces from a relationship she thought she would be in for the rest of her life. The leaves are changing colors and dropping from the trees. The clocks will change back on Sunday morning so that now waking up and leaving work will both be met by darkness. I will soon be down to 235 pounds. I will never again live a sedentary unhealthy life. I know that this change I'm making is the funnest yet; the best decision of my entire life. 

"Day to day nothing changes but when you look back you realize that nothing is the same"

It's My Time

Hello! It's been a loooong time. Eek! I have A LOT to update on and I'm not sure where to start...


So I'll start with the weekend. Saturday morning me and my mom got up early and did a 2 mile walk benefitting the Gilda's House of Madison. For those of you that don't know what Gilda's House is, it's a place that serves as basically a home away from home for families that are dealing with cancer. They have rooms to stay in and they coordinate activities so these families can get away from the craziness and sadness that comes with dealing with cancer. One of my mom's friends has a 14 year old daughter currently battling cancer of the optic nerve and they go there a lot so we felt the need to participate in that walk. 

Saturday night I went shopping and out to eat with my friend Erin. We ate at TGI Friday's and I had a Shanghai Salad with water and an alcoholic beverage. I was kind of mad at myself for drinking because I didn't NEED it but I only had one and I made sure to drink LOTSS of water. I ate half the salad and had the other half for breakfast/lunch on Sunday.


Sunday was a lounge/football day. I didn't eat much beside the leftovers from Saturday. I always find that I'm NEVER hungry on Sunday's and I'm not sure why. It's very weird.


Exercise was, ehh okay this weekend. Friday I did the "Workout" DVD at home. That DVD ALWAYS kicks my butt! Saturday I didn't go to the gym (pooey) but I did on Sunday. It was an abs day which I now love because of my new BOSU ball obsession :-).


Monday I went about 2 hours away to Oshkosh with my friend's family to have a surprise 21st birthday dinner for her. It was a lot of fun and even better that she truly was surprised and had no idea that any of us would be there. We ate at Rob Robin. I had a "Lettuce Wrap Your Burger" which was a beef patty with tomatoes and onions wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. It was served with a side salad and vinagrette dressing. For some reason I felt the need to eat the whole burger, not sure why, but I did. I also had water to drink and an "adult beverage" to celebrate with my friend. Aaaand to top it off, I had a piece of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake. It made me feel like blahhhh. Needless to say I did not make it to the gym that night.


Yesterday I was laid up with a baaaad headache so I didn't really have much to eat. Maybe 500 calories max. No gym.


My plan is to hit the gym tonight through next Tuesday with the exception of Friday. I really need to get this exercise thing down pat asap!



Sooooo....

Once in awhile I come across a song that I can completely relate to in terms of what I'm going through at that exact moment. There's been a couple of decisions that I've made in the past 4 or so days that I regret (see above) and I've been seeing this a lot in other people's blogs. I always try to tell them to just move forward and that you can't undo any of those decisions. Sometimes I wish I could tell that to myself instead of going over and over those decisions in my head wishing I didn't make them. Last week I came across a song that I've fallen in love with. I listen to rap/hip hop music and I'm not sure if anyone else here does so I'm not sure if you've heard this song but it's called "It's My Time" by Fabulous. The chorus is the part I love the most, here it is:

"Go hard today, Can't worry bout' the past cause' that was yesterday. I'ma put it on the line cause' it's my time"

That's exactly what we all need to do. I don't care if you had an all out binge yesterday or if had some dessert with your already fattening dinner. Forget yesterday, go all out today to make up for any damage you may have done. Drink an extra couple glasses of water, do an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill and FORGET yesterday. Now I don't mean completely throw it out of your head because you need to realize that you CAN'T keeping doing that if you want results but you need to stop worrying about what you can't change and put your effort forward into things you can. Put your whole heart out there, put it all on the line because this is your time to shine, this is your time to kick ass.

It's your time.

It's MY time.

New Favorites

Hello all! Not much new here, just trying to continue to eat well and get in my exercise. I've made some new discoveries in the past couple weeks that I'd like to share with you all. Please excuse me if I'm way behind the times and you guys already know and love some of these things :-)


1. The bosu ball. I've known about the bosu ball for quite some time but I've always been scared to use it. I think I was more scared of popping it haha. When I saw it used on the Biggest Loser, particularly when Daniel was doing squats on it with the round side down, I decided to give it a try. After all, if it can hold someone over 300 pounds I thought it could probably hold me. Well let me tell you I LOVE this! I now do all my ab exercises on the bosu and have started doing squats and lunges on it as well. It's crazy how hard it is and how much it beats up your muscles. I love KNOWING that I'm doing something rather then just THINKING I am.

2. Amy's organic vegetable burgers. I've tried the Texas Burger which has a barbeque flavor and the Chicago Burger which was recently renamed the Cheddar Burger. Both are out of this world!! They have such a great flavor and they are healthy for you which makes them even yummier. My favorite thing to do is to spread a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese on the burger and top it off with some sautéed mushrooms, which brings me to my next item....


3. Sautéing vegetables in chicken broth! I read that sautéing vegetables in oil (even Extra Virgin Olive Oil) isn't very healthy (duh!). Not only because it is oil but also because apparently hot oil strips some of the nutrients out of vegetables. I read that using chicken broth is a much healthier option so I tried it. DE-LI-COUS!!! I don't know if I just picked out some really tasty vegetables but I honestly think that the chicken broth brought out sooo much flavor. Needless to say I will NEVER be sautéing veggies in oil again. :-)


4. Synergy Organic and Raw Kombucha. Here is what it says on the bottle, "KOMBUCHA (pronounced kom-BOO-cha) is a handmade Chinese tea that is delicately cultured for 30 days. During this time, essential nutrients form like: Active Enzymes, Viable Probiotics, Amino Acids, Antioxidants and Polyphenols. All of these combine to create an elixir that immediately works with the body to restore balance and vitality." I have heard a lot about this drink in the blogging world and people just love it, so when I saw it at the grocery store last night I caved and decided to get 2. I got the Raspberry Rush and Strawberry Sensation. I was hesitant at first for two reasons. One, Kombucha is a type of tea and I am a HUGE tea HATER. Yuck Yuck Yuck. Second, it had the steep price of 2/$6. Basically, I put my faith in my taste buds and hoped my hard earned $6 went to good use. Well, happily they did. This drink is delicious!! It seems to have the same bubbliness as wine or champagne and the flavor is very strong so I would definitely advise you to start out sipping this drink and to not take a huge gulp right away. The bottle also states that it helps support "Digestion, Metabolism, Immune System, Appetite Control, Weight Control, Liver Function, Body Alkalinity, Anti-Aging, Cell Integrity and Healthy Skin & Hair." Wow, this little guy packs quite the healthy punch. I'm very interested to see if I notice any improvement in any of those areas over time. Oh AND if you try this and have never had it before beware there are little floating "cultures" in it that kind of look like brains. Haha bet you want to try it now huh?

Alright well that was a shorter list than I thought it would be. Maybe I was just so excited about all those I thought I had a HUGE list! Haha anyways have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Early

Happy Happy Tuesday! Biggest Loser tonight! Woo Hoo!

 

So yesterday I was having some mixed feelings about the weekend. I was torn on my food decision Saturday night and about consuming all those drinks. Part of me wanted to justify it saying that you only have one 21st birthday and that you need to enjoy it and have fun. Another part of me knew I can't do that. I can have fun without eating chicken tenders and french fries. I can have fun without having 7 drinks over the course of 7 hours. It's those "it's my birthday" or "it's the holidays" excuses that helped me get to be 270 pounds. I need to stop using the weekends as my free for all and finally buckle down so that I don't need to be worried about the damage when Monday rolls around.

 

With all my anticipation about the damage I did over the weekend building up, I decided to weigh in last night. I know I should have waited but the suspense was eating me alive so I caved. Last night I weighed in at 242.5 pounds. That's a 4.6 pound loss for the week! Yippy Skippy Lemon Dippy! Finally a week worth celebrating! For some reason my body has been holding on to those pounds for the past 2 weeks and I'm not sure why but I'm glad they are gone for good. I will soon say goodbye to the 240's and hello to the 230's. Very excited about that. My goal of 235 by Christmas is getting closer and closer!

 

So on a random note does it bother anyone else that Jillian Michaels is now selling weight loss supplements? I haven't really looked into any of them so maybe they are more like vitamins than anything else but it bugs me. I really like Jillian but part of me feels like if they really are some kind of weight loss pill that she is taking the fact that overweight people look up to her and running with it; taking advantage of her fame almost. Isn't she supposed to be promoting healthy weight loss the good old fashioned way? Exercise more, eat less, get your veggies etc etc. I don't know maybe I'm way out of line for thinking that but I had to voice my opinion.

 

Until next time my friends, keep your head up and keep on keeping on.

Toodles!

Weekend Update

Hello all! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! My weekend was really good and my birthday was fabulous.

Friday night I went to dinner and a movie with my friends Erin and Kim. We had dinner at Red Robin. I had a Chicken Carbona Burger. It was a grilled chicken breast with fresh mozzarella slices, lettuce, tomatoes and some kind of sauce that I don't really remember much about. I just ate the chicken breast, cheese and veggies. I didn't have the bun and scraped off as much of the sauce as I could, they were just empty calories I didn't need. I also only had 2 fries just to satisfy my craving but not go overboard. Water was my drink of choice. After dinner we went to the movie "Stepfather" which was amazing! Both of my friends got candy and a drink but I opted out even after they tried to persuade me into doing so. Didn't make it to the gym like I planned. Blah.

Saturday was my 21st birthday. I got up at 7:30am so I could hit the gym before the day began. Yup, you read that right, 7:30am! If you would have told me a month or two ago that I would be getting up at 7:30am on my birthday (which also happened to be a Saturday) to go to the gym I would have told you that you were absolutely nuts. I was very impressed with myself and it started the day off very well. I got to the gym and it was PACKED! Like honestly I think the whole state of Wisconsin was there (haha not really). I decided to turn around and go home and instead do one of my workout DVD's. I did 3 segments of the abs, buns and thighs 10 minute solutions DVD for a total of 30 minutes. WOW did that workout kick my butt! After that I took the dog on a mile walk and then hopped in the shower.

I needed to go the Kohl's to get an outfit for the night and my brothers and mom decided we needed to stop and get some lunch so we headed to this little restaurant called "Green Forest". I had something called the "Low Cal Pal". It was a grilled chicken breast, watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, a hard boiled egg and cottage cheese on the side. I ate about 1/3 of the chicken breast because even though it was grilled there was some type of breading on it so I'm not sure how "healthy" it actually was. I ate everything else except I only had about 1/2 of the cottage cheese. It was a very satisfying lunch.

After we went shopping we headed home to get ready for the night. We went to the Nitty Gritty at about 5:30. A bunch of my relatives were able to go (there were 16 of us total) so that made the night a a lot better. Drinks for the night were 3 Miller Lights, 2 UV Blue and Sprite, 1 shot of Tequila Rose, 1 Chocolate Martini and 1 Key Lime Pie Martini. I drank more than I should have and I'm sure there are more calories in those drinks than I'd like to admit but I had fun. Dinner was chicken strips and fries. That dinner also could have been better but I kind of didn't care at that point. (Not good I know!) 

Yesterday was my day to make up for the damage I did on Saturday. I drank LOTS of water, about 70oz. I also only ate once. This wasn't on purpose I just really wasn't hungry but I knew I had to eat something so I had 5 of my turkey meatballs, about 1/4 cup cottage cheese, some grapes and a glass of milk. I went grocery shopping in the evening and picked up some essentials for the week. I got some Bear Naked Triple Berry Granola to add to my Greek yogurt, I'm very excited to see how it is. I also got some ingredients to make an egg white frittata for breakfast for the week. I had some this morning and it was good but next time I will leave out the green peppers I put in there. I guess I just can't make myself like them. Oh well.

I made it to the gym last night with a focus on legs. I also did light triceps/shoulder and lower abs/oblique's. I tried doing some lower abs on the BOSU ball and they were HARD. I liked it though so I think from now on my ab work will be done on the BOSU ball.

Alright well this post is getting long so I shall say goodbye. Until we meet again I shall leave you with some pictures from the weekend.


Enjoy! :-)

Me and My Friend Erin

Me and My Sister Kyrston

Me and My Mom's Friend Kara

 Me and Erin Again With A Few In Us

The Cute Little Strawberry Man That Was On Erin's Drink

Some Of Us Taking A Shot

Happy Monday!

None For Me, Thanks.

Happy hump day! Every minute we are closer to the weekend! I'm kind of nervous about the weekend though, more on that in a minute.

Last night was weigh in night. I weighed in at 247.1 which means I lost another 1.8 pounds. I'm satisfied with that, as I'll take every pound I can get but I still feel as though I can do better. I guess 1.8 pounds is pretty good considering I only made it to the gym 3 times last week and I had a very hearty Italian meal on Friday night. This week my plan is to hit the gym Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I think 4-5 days a week is what I need to stick to and anything below that really isn't acceptable anymore. Yesterday was exactly 2 months since I started this and I can definitely afford to make exercise more routine than casual.


Eating had been pretty good lately. I do need to cut back on the snacking even more and stop letting the weekends ruin me. That'll help a lot. This week I'm finishing up my spaghetti squash so next week I'll be back to chicken breasts for lunch. I think I'm going to make an egg white frittata with spinach, green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and brocolli for breakfast for the week. I'm also revamping my afternoon eating because for some reason that's when I'm the hungriest. I'm splitting my afternoon into 2 snacks. My first one at 1:30 will be 4 scrambled egg whites with a wedge of light french onion laughing cow cheese. I tried this yesterday and it is sooooo good! My second snack at about 4 - 4:30 will be a cup of greek yogurt (either blueberry or honey) with some granola. I've heard that adding granola really ups the "full longer" factor. I'm hoping it works because for some reason I'm always starving in the afternoon. I wonder if it's because of all the water I drink? Anyways, 2 of my cousins birthday parties were on Monday night and I'm very happy to report that I did very minimal snacking and when presented with cake and ice cream I said, "None for me, thanks." I was very impressed with myself that I was able to do that and I'm actually looking forward to eating well during the holidays.

On to the weekend we go. So Saturday is my official 21st birthday even though my party was last Friday. Me and any of my friends and family that want to come are going to this place called "The Nitty Gritty" for dinner. The Nitty is dubbed the "Birthday Bar" because if it's your birthday you get a free mug and either get free beer or soda all night long. It's basically where everyone goes on their 21st. After dinner we are probably going to bar hop a little for the rest of the night. I'm not worried about dinner because quite frankly, eating out isn't as fun and exciting as it used to be (thank god). What I'm worried about is the drinks. I'm not a big drinker to begin with so I don't plan on having a TON of drinks but I know even a few drinks is going to be calorie overload. I want to enjoy my birthday but I don't want to ruin some of the work I've done. This is a lifestyle for me now and my birthday or even holidays are not a free pass anymore. I'm kind of torn on how to handle it but I think the best thing I can do is play it by ear and no matter what have fun. We'll see how it goes :-)


That's all I have for you folks. Have an amazing Wednesday!

Party Pics

Hello all, hope you're having a wonderful weekend! Sorry I've been MIA, I had my birthday party on Friday and I've been sooo tired since. Food has been pretty good just trying to learn to survive during the weekends. I will be heading to the gym tonight and adding a little extra cardio because I didn't make it last night as I was still exhausted. This post is mainly going to be pictures from my birthday party that I want to share with you all. It was a ton of fun and almost all of my closest friends were able to make it. Can't get much better than that! Enjoy!

The Limo

Me and My Friend Chelsea (Chester)

Up Close of Us

Part of the Limo Group Minus 5 People

2 of My Favorite Girls Kylie and Jessi

My Crazy Sister Kyrston

Having Lots of Fun

Kyrston Josh Ashley Kim Kylie and Jessi

The 5 That Were Missing, 2 Are Hiding In The Back

Ashley Q Leanne Erin and Kim

 

Another Group Picture

My Cousin Leanne and Her Boyfriend Q

 

Me and My Boyfriend Cordero

Me and Leanne After The Limo About To Eat

My Boyfriend Cordero and Q

 

Me and Cordero At The House

Me and My Fellow Birthday Girl Erin

I'll have more of an update tomorrow. Have a wonderful Sunday!!

Reflection

Hey guys happy hump day! I have Friday off because of my birthday party so it's almost like Thursday for me. Yay!

 

So last night was my weekly weigh in. I weighed in at 248.9 which means I lost another pound. Am I happy about it? Ehh, yea sure. It's one pound I had last week that I don't now and it's better than nothing. Am I ecstatic about it? Ha far from it. The funny part is I was actually feeling pretty light yesterday and thinking maybe I pulled off another 3 pound week. Guess not. I've thought about it a lot and I feel the need to use this post as a reflection on what I did this past week that was good and what was bad. What I need to do more of and what I need to stop now. I'm not throwing a self pity party I'm just trying to figure out what happened so I can move forward with a killer week next week. So here goes. Let's start with the good.

 

 

 

Good:

- Breakfast, lunch and dinner during the week have been pretty darn flawless

- No soda except for sips of Pepsi Max when I visit the boyfriend once a week

- Water has been 64oz + for the past week.

- I was offered a gyro on Monday night and an ice cream sundae last night and said "no thanks" to both

- I worked out Saturday, Sunday and Yesterday. Saturday I went out of my comfort zone and went to the gym during the day with lots of people instead of at night. I also took the dog on a 1 mile walk when I got home from the gym.

 

 

 

Bad:

- Two words: Weekend food. I only ate half of my meal when I went out to eat Friday night but I can only imagine how many calories were in that half. I also had 2 pieces of bread with lots of garlic butter. Saturday at the movies me and my friend shared a small popcorn but there was lots of butter on it so that didn't help this weigh in either.

 

-For some reason I've started snacking a lot lately. It's always in small quantities and healthy for the most part but a snack here and a snack there does add up over time and I know that. This includes having a glass of high sugar juice that I know I need to stay away from but since it's in "small quantities" I feel its ok.

 

- I didn't work out Monday. I know it doesn't seem like a huge deal but I definitely feel like working out 3 days instead of 4 can and will make a difference.

 

- Monday night and last night I ate TOO much for dinner. I wasn't stuffed but I know that I could have eaten much less. Monday we had burgers and I could have easily taken off the bun and half the cream cheese that my dad slathered on top. Last night we had tacos. All 4 of us had 4 hard shells apiece and I could have easily stopped at 1 or 2 but why deny it if it's right there right? WRONG.

 

 

 

Lame excuses I know I shouldn't use but I'm going to anyway:

- Last week I weighed in on a different scale then I usually do because the locker room where my scale is was closed for cleaning. I know this excuse is lame and it may have made no difference but it may have made some difference as well. Every scale weighs differently and I knew that was a chance I was taking by using a different scale instead of just waiting an extra week to weigh in.

 

-TOM is here. Since about February when I was in the process of gaining 50 pounds in 8-10 months TOM has been pretty MIA which is extremely weird for me. I'm the type of person that can tell you the exact day almost to the hour that TOM would arrive that's how "regular" he was. Since February he has shown himself twice, right now being one of those times. I'm not sure if my body trying to balance everything out again would have an effect on the scale this week or not but anything to make me feel better huh? Haha

 

 

 

Things I need To Work On:

- I need to get in my 100 oz of water a day. I do awesome at work and get in the full 64oz that I need but the second I get home I drink no more water and almost no water on the weekends either.

 

- I need to get a handle on my weekend eating. I eat out about once a weekend, which I'm fine with, I just need to make healthier choices when I do go out.

 

-Snacking is stopping now. I'm not talking about cutting out my planned snacks because that's not something I could do but getting up and grabbing something out of the fridge quick and then doing so again in 30 minutes is not something I can afford to make a habit again. The thing is I'm not hungry when I'm doing this, I'm just bored and I know that making this a habit can go very bad very quickly.

 

- I need to get more exercise. I'm not talking about heading to the gym more because I basically go every night that I'm able to. I could add in Friday nights on most weeks though so I'm going to do that. I also will be adding in 20 minutes of morning exercise during the week with my 10 minute solutions DVD's. Other things I am thinking of doing is hooking up my pedometer to try to get in 10,000 steps a day and joining a few classes at the gym. I would like to take spinning, Pilates and yoga classes once a week. They have classes on the days I'm usually there so it would work out pretty well.

 

 

 

Sorry for such a long post I just needed to reflect on my actions and decisions this past week to see what's been going on. This next week will be good I'm sure of it. :-)

Monday Night Football

Hello my lovelies! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. My weekend was very relaxing and very successful. I'm learning more about my self everyday and I'm loving it.

 

Friday I went out to eat and shopping with my friend Erin. We ate at this Italian restaurant called Bucatini. I had the Paglia e Fieno Boscaiola. Here's the description: Fresh house made spinach and white fettuccine mixed together and sautéed with sweet onions, olive oil, ham and mushrooms finished in a light Pinot Grigio cream sauce. It was very very good but I only ate about half of it and gave the other half to my mom when I got home. I had water to drink and a piece of bread with garlic butter. While we were out and about I bought the 10 Minute Solutions DVD for Buns, Thighs and Abs. I haven't done it yet but I watched 3 toning segments of it and I think I'll like it. The other 2 segments are cardio and I've never been a huge fan of cardio workouts on DVD. They always seem so jumpy and all over the place and I can't do a lot of jumpy stuff because of my knees so I usually skip over those segments since I do cardio on my own anyways. I'll be incorporating 2 of these workouts everyday into a quick morning routine before work. I figure I can handle a quick 20 minutes in the morning.

 

Saturday I was awoken by the sound of my phone playing the FOX NFL Theme Song (my text message alert sound). My friend wanted to see if I wanted to go to the special 3D Double Feature of Toy Story/Toy Story 2 that night with her. I loved those movies growing up so I thought why not? We agreed to go to the 7:30 showing and my first thought was 'darn I guess I'm not going to make it to the gym tonight.' I quickly stopped myself by realizing that the clock said 11:00am and she wasn't picking me up until 6pm. That's 7 hours to go to the gym and I wasn't going to let the fact that I wouldn't be able to go at my normal time be an excuse to not go at all. So, I hopped my lazy butt out of bed and headed to the gym around noon. Focus was legs with light triceps/shoulders and lower abs/obliques. I then did the usual 45 minutes on the bike. The gym was a lot busier than I'm used to seeing it but it was a refreshing change. When I got home from the gym I was feeling energized so I decided to take our boxer Cassius on a quick 1 mile walk so we could both get outside a little. I love the feeling of wanting to exercise versus needing to exercise. It feels really good :-)

 

Yesterday was relaxing and mellow. I did some grocery shopping and cooking. I cooked up some spaghetti squash and turkey meatballs. I threw on 1/2 of a cup of Prego mushroom spaghetti sauce and had 4 of the meatballs with the squash. It was very very good and I will be eating this regularly! The turkey meatballs were to die for as well! Yummy!!

 

Tonight is the Viking Packer game at the Metrodome! I'm suuuuper excited!! Anyone else?!?!?! Since the game starts at 7:30 and I have to clean the bathrooms after work I won't be able to make it to the gym  but I will be doing my "Workout" DVD tonight before the game instead. I also think I will be getting my pedometer hooked up and seeing if I can walk 10,000 steps a day. We'll see how it goes.

 

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!!

Friday Couldn't Come Soon Enough!

FRIDAY!!! FRIDAY!!! FRIDAY!!! Sooo happy Friday is here! How about you?!

 

Food and exercise have been good lately. Tried to cook some spaghetti squash last night but needless to say I bought the wrong kind of squash. Darn! I will try again this weekend.

 

Tonight I'm getting together with my friend Erin to do a little shopping and probably get a bite to eat. I like that with every meal I eat at a restaurant, I'm slowly getting more confident in choosing the healthiest option possible. It doesn't scare me nearly as much as it used to. I'm making "lifestyle changes" and it feels good. I think I'm going to buy 2 of the 10 Minute Solution DVD's tonight as well so I'll let you know how they are once I give them a try.

 

I posted my progress pictures on my pictures page (link on the right hand side) last night. It was very scary to actually post them and I almost backed out last minute but I'm glad I didn't. I was thinking that I might put the pictures into the paint program to make it look a little nicer and then repost them but for now they are up there. I could tell there are some slight changes, nothing major yet since it's only been 20 pounds. I think the change I saw the most is that it seems a lot of my rolls seem to be slowly "smoothing" out haha. I don't know if I see any change in my arms or legs yet. Maybe a little? I'm just glad to know that I will never be at either of those points again and it will only get better from here.

 

Oh aaand I am in LOVE with my new water bottles! I don't think 100 oz a day will even be a problem with this one. It has really helped that it holds 64oz at once. A lot of times when I get done with one of my 28 oz bottles it takes me hours before I get my butt up to refill it again. With this one I won't have to refill it once throughout the day which will really help. I'm really glad I got these!

 

Well, that's all I have for today. I hope your Friday is fabulous and so is your weekend!

Happy October

October 1st!! Can you believe it? Where in the heck did September go? Anyone know? Well all I can say is 8 days until my bday party! And 16 days until my birthday!! Woot woot!

 

So I'm not sure if you noticed or not but at the top of my screen that little bike seemed to have moved a smidge to the right again….

 

Because I lost another 3.7 pounds!! It's official, I have lost 20.1 pounds since I started this on August 13th! I made my goal with a week to spare. I was so excited I kind of just sat there and stared at the scale in disbelief haha. My next goal will be to get down to 235 by Christmas. That's another 15 pounds and I'm excited because I think I can do it. I lost 20 pounds in 7 weeks and theres 12 weeks until Christmas so now that I think about it I may up that goal a little to make it more of a challenge. I know that the more I lose the harder it will be to lose weight but I'm not going to let that stop me.

 

I'm thinking of buying a few of the "10 minute solutions" workout DVD's. Has anyone used these before? I've heard great things about them and I want to try the abs and pilates ones. I think these will come in handy for a quick workout in the morning and on days that I don't go to the gym I can still do a little something at home. I would really like the abs one because I feel totally lost when it comes to ab exercises so I NEED HELP! Haha.

 

I've noticed on numerous blogs that A LOT of people are making goals for the month of October so I thought I would join in on the fun! My goal is to drink at least 100 oz of water a day. Now this goal isn't only for the month of October because I plan on continuing this after October is done. I need to use October to get used to it so I can continue with it as part of my everday life. My main problem is that after I leave work I don't drink any water. I've been trying to cram 100 oz of water in during work and it just isn't happening. I know that it will be a lot easier if I use the hours after work to get this amount in as well. I went to Kohl's and picked up 2 new water bottles to make this feat easier.

I saw these on Erin's blog and instantly fell in love with the bottle. They were half off so how could you resist? These new water bottles hold 64 oz of water, they have a handle and a straw! You all know that I NEED a straw or I won't drink that much water. I plan to keep one at work and one at home. My goal is to drink a whole one at work everyday and a whole one at home every night making it about 130 oz of water. I love my old water bottle and don't want to get rid of it so that water bottle will be my gym buddy. I currently don't bring water to the gym (I know, I know NOT good) so I figured this little guy would be a perfect companion.

 

Oh aaaannnd I almost forgot! Since I'm down 20 pounds I took some progress pictures and will be posting them very shortly to my pictures blog. There's a link on the right hand side if you want to check them out.

 

*Disclaimer* These pictures were taken in my sports bra and shorts so that I can really see the changes in my body. You will see stretch marks and the fact that I currently have more rolls then a bakery. I've made a lot of progress and I'm slowly trying to be comfortable with posting these pictures on here but quite frankly I'm not yet. Be patient with me and if you don't like it, don't look at it.

 

 

And with that I want to say happy Thursday! One day closer to the weekend!