Off the wagon!

I suuuuuuuck!  The past five days or so I've done progressively worse and worse. Today I ate like crap, although I did make a healthy dinner. Exercise has been non-existent. What is wrong with me? !  I always do this! I will do so well, and then I'll start slipping and no matter how hard I try I can't get back on track! Ugh! I'm sick of this vicious cycle!

Tomorrow is a new day.  I'll wake up and do aerobics while the kids are still sleeping. I'll eat a healthy breakfast and drink lots of water.

I just can't give up. My first month of the nine is almost up.. five more days. I was only a pound away from meeting my goal of 16 lbs a month last weigh in. I can still do it! I just need to tell my cravings to fuck off and get my lazy fat ass in gear!

Results

Today was my second weigh-in. I've done well on my diet this week, but I haven't exercised nearly enough. In fact, I've been a bit of a couch potato. I've maybe gone jogging twice? It's better than nothing I guess, but I need to figure out a way to incorporate cardio into my every day life.

Anyway, I lost weight! Only 3.5 lbs, but it's something. I know the second week of a diet can be tough, especially coming off an 11 lb. loss last week.  I only need to average 4 pounds a week and so far I'm doing pretty good. I'm not gonna let it get me down!  Skinny jeans, here I come!

--Kristen

So far, so good!

I'm proud of myself. I'm really sticking with it. I've been so good on this diet!  I made these honey bourbon cupcakes for my dad's birthday on Friday... I did have a few more tastes of the frosting than I should have (it was amazing...) but I only had half a cupcake for dessert, and more importantly, I got up the next day and didn't beat myself up for "cheating" and get frustrated and decide it's just too hard and I'll just stay fat, at least I'll be happy eating all the yummy crap I want. I knew I was going to eat half a cupcake, it was a once-a-week planned cheat, which is what Bob Harper recommends in his skinny rules book.

I have been cooking every meal. I do not trust myself to go out to eat. Too much temptation. But, two nights ago, I didn't have a choice. I got a late start preparing dinner (it was already close to 7) when I realized the salmon had to marinate for at least two hours... oops! We had a coupon for the nearby Mexican restaurant (our favorite) so off we went. Now if you patronize Mexican restaurants, you know that 50% of the draw is the chips and salsa. I loooooove their chips and salsa. I knew they would be taunting me... I had maybe five or six chips with salsa. I pushed my rice to the side of my plate and only ate my grilled chicken and veggies. Win!

I feel so much healthier. It's getting confusing though... I feel like my body doesn't accurately represent me at all anymore and it makes me so self conscious and awkward. I am really looking forward to my outside matching who I am in my mind...

Someday!

Never giving up,
Kristen

Results!

The official weigh-in results are IN!  After freaking out and thinking my scale was broken when it read 147, I finally realized it was set to kilograms. Wouldn't that be nice? Dropping almost 200 pounds in a week? So I changed it back to pounds.

I now weigh 327.6.

That's a loss of about 11 pounds! In a week! I can do this. I got this. Now I'm a little concerned next week will be less than stellar... But all I can do is eat super good and double down on exercise (shouldn't be too hard... I haven't done a whole lot of working out this week)

Yay! ! !

I can RUN?

Who knew I could run? !  I haven't moved at a speed higher than semi-brisk walk in... so many years. Yes, muh boobies flop all over, and I'm sure my jiggly butt isn't exactly landing me a spot in SI swimsuit edition... but I'm running! Ok, full disclosure, I'm also walking a lot in between short bursts of running, but just in this past week I'm seeing improvement. Tonight, my six year old daughter and I laced up our running shoes after dinner. It was dusk, which is great for running, I've decided. There's enough light to see, but I don't feel like I'm making a spectacle of myself if any neighbors happen to look outside. Plus, it's waaaaay cooler than, say, noon, in the blazing sun!

The past four days I haven't consumed more than 1100 calories a day! I'm eating so many fruits and veggies that I'm staying full all day on the amount of calories I could normally put away in minutes.

I did struggle a bit today. I forgot to take my chicken breasts out of the freezer for my salad, so I had some reheated cabbage for lunch. It was not good. I didn't even finish it. Which meant that by the time I went grocery shopping an hour or so later I was pretty damn hungry again. That little voice was telling me to go to McDonald's, to go out for Mexican, to go anywhere and eat anything unhealthy! I shushed that bastard, and got some salad fixings, fruit, and grilled chicken breast from the salad bar at the grocery store. I went home and used that to make a delicious spinach salad! Win!

Oh... I don't think this technically counts as a cheat but I'm gonna mention it... my husband asked me to make him some coffee when he got home. I added the pumpkin spice creamer and a splash of honey whiskey... It smelled too damn good, so I had a couple of small sips. Maybe thirty or forty calories in all. But I haven't had any sugar, really, this whole week, so it felt a bit traitorous.

Well, I guess we'll find out tomorrow if my hard work and sacrifice has paid off! I am so pumped to weigh in!  The first of many weekly weigh-ins. I have no doubt it will be good news. The first week is always an easy loss.

See you then!

Eager to weigh in...

Day 6!  It's definitely starting to feel more natural, eating healthy, keeping track of my calories and looking for ways to work in some exercise. But I know from experience, all it would take is one bad day and I'd be done. Why is that? I give up so easily. I heard a quote last night comparing losing weight to climbing a mountain. If you stumble one day, just get back up the next and keep climbing! You haven't lost the progress you've made, even if it feels that way.

I haven't cheated AT ALL. Pretty impressive, I think! I've averaged about 1250 calories a day. And I'm trying to do something active everyday, even if I haven't worked out as much as I know I should. My new running shoes came yesterday! I was so excited, I laced them up and took off. They feel like a secret weapon- when I'm wearing them, I just want to get up and go! I'm still really wanting to go to the gym... But I don't want to invest in one unless I'm sure I can stick with this. Ooh! That would be a great incentive... When I reach a 50 pound weight loss, I can join a gym!

Speaking of weight loss... I'm really curious to see how much I've lost. I feel lighter. But I really want to wait the full week and weigh in on Friday. I read The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper, and he says you should weigh yourself daily... But I know from experience that a bad day or two really messes me up.

SkinnyTaste's corned beef and cabbage is cooking up in the crock pot for dinner... I'll let you know how it turns out ;)

Thincerely,

Kristen

Nine months and 150+ pounds to go...

Sunday night we returned from our Maine vacation. It was a blast! Fun, family, and soooo much FOOD... I'd been planning to start my new lifestyle change on August 15, and in preparation, I ate whatever I wanted and more (to "get it out of my system" I suppose).  It should have come as no surprise then, when I stepped on the scale Day 1 and weighed in at a whopping 337 pounds... Ouch. I knew I was getting up there but seriously? I'm carrying around a whole extra person in the form of FAT!  I'm so ashamed I've let it get to this point. If I end up abandoning this diet like I have every other time, will someone please find me and slap me?!  I can't afford to give up. My kids need me. I'm 28... I don't want to waste my whole life being too overweight to get off the couch and enjoy it. I want energy! I want good health! And I desperately want a sexy body again... So after gaining all that weight on vacation, I actually need to lose MORE than 150 pounds to get where I want to be. That's daunting. But I'm gonna take it a day at a time and try not to get too overwhelmed. That's generally what fucks me up-- I'll do really well for a week or a month even and be like "Why the hell am I still fat?? This is not worth it." And go back to my old ways.  NOT THIS TIME, BABY!

I'm not following any specific diet. My focus is really to eat clean. Nothing processed and very little sugar or carbs. The carbs I do eat must be in the form of whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, whole grain breads or pastas, etc.) Almost all of my diet will consist of fruits, vegetables, and lean meats/eggs. I'm only drinking water. 

I want to workout at least 5 days a week.  My original plan was to get up at 7 every day, before my husband leaves for work, and take the dog out for a walk/jog.  I want to do some pilates, zumba, and cycling.  I have a two-month membership to Curves that is already paid for, I just have to go in and sign up... That is problematic though, because their hours SUCK! My husband is at work almost every hour they are open, so I pretty much would need a babysitter to even go... Sigh. I might join Gold's Gym again. They have great rates and better hours.  And the cardio cinema is a dream come true.  Work out while watching a movie on the big screen in a dark room so you don't have to worry about anyone watching your fat jiggle while you exercise?!

Yesterday, Day 1, I got up at 7 and took the dog out. I attempted jogging, but after maybe 1/8 mile I was struggling to breathe. Holy crap. I thought the burn in my legs would be what got to me, but my chest was screaming. How freaking pathetic! I walked for a few minutes and then ran the rest of the way, exploding-lungs-be-damned!  All-in-all I was out for about 20 minutes. Not bad for my first workout. I had planned on doing more that day, but my new diet left me pretty drained. I guess I need a few days to acclimate to no-sugar-low-carbs... I'm sure eating right will eventually give me more energy but for now I have very little.  I'm fighting a sugar-withdrawal-headache.  

I'm using the S Health app on my phone to track calories and exercise. I really like it so far, it's very user-friendly. It tells me I should have like 2300 calories a day if I want to lose 2 pounds a week (it won't let me opt to lose more than that). No way am I eating that much, so hopefully I'll lose much more.  I think I had about 1450 calories yesterday.  To meet my goal of losing 150 pounds in 9 months, I'll need to average about 4 pounds a week. Should be easy at first, but it's likely I'll plateau at some point... I honestly have no idea how realistic this goal is. I know it'll be tough. But even if I get to the 9 month mark and have only lost 100 pounds, I'll be well on my way and hopefully will have solidified these new healthy habits forever.

Fingers crossed :)