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!!