I want to be fit, healthy and happy!

Oh. My. God.  Just got on the scale this morning and AGAIN I see that same number I’ve seen the last 3 weeks.  I burned 2500 calories this week at the gym and maintained 1200 eating calories each day this week (with the exception of Friday, when I consumed 1550.)  What is going on here?

I’m frustrated with the scale.  But in lieu of that, I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time.  I’m so proud of myself.  I got up this morning in 39º weather here in South Louisiana and I did w4d1 of Couch to 5 K.  I’m completely stoked about doing this.  I was really nervous last week about running 5 minutes at a time but I did it.  It felt good and I feel stronger than I have in a long time.

So I guess there is really nothing else I can do but keep pushing on.  I was really hoping to see Onederland by Jan 1st but now that may not happen.

So I’ve been pretty diligent with the whole diet/exercise/lifestyle change thing.  I’ve been at it for exactly 2 months and 3 days now.  I’m not losing very quickly, which I suppose is the proper way, but I’ve always been an instant gratification type of gal.

And throughout my hard work I’ve been waiting for THAT moment.  You know what I mean. When someone from outside of your inner circle notices that yes, you are in fact losing weight and inches.  Well that finally happened for me today.

Insert applause here…

So the moment that I’ve been truly waiting on has finally come.  And I’m now more motivated than ever!  A co-worker that I dont see too often (even though I’m always working on someone’s computer) noticed.  I blushed.  But I was also proud.

One other thing that I’ve noticed that is happening is that before in Halloween seasons of the past, I would have already bought a bag of candy for the trick or treaters and started raiding that by now. And I would have also started buying candy to hand out to co-workers (and myself too). So, not only are my co-workers missing out on having candy lying around, my hubby and daughter are missing out too. I have no desire to even get the good stuff so I won’t be tempted so even the trick or treaters may be getting the short end of the stick this year!   I may just end up buying jolly ranchers or tootsie rolls for ToT (since I can’t eat those anyway due to my tmj…)  It’s a win-win.  And hubby and kid like those too so they won’t feel entirely left out due to my being healtier.

I thought I’d put this in writing.  Hopped on the scale this morning and it says 226.4.  So another small victory!  My “official” weigh in is on Sunday so I’m hoping it stays there or a bit lower.

Anyway this is what I wanted to write about today.  The things that I’m doing that I KNOW are working for me and the things I need to improve on.

1. Journalling my food.  I found this noom app for my droid.  I LOVE THIS.  Before I was using sparkpeople to log my food and workouts.  And that was a pain in a few ways because it was always so hard to find each food then list it.  This app you can just go to a category listing and put in what size amount and I’ve found that its pretty close to accurate.  For example, my Special K cereal this morning.  The box says 100 calories for one serving. In the app, I found it under the healthy tab under healthy cereals/oatmeal/granola and the amount of 1 handful of cereal and 1/2 cup reduced fat milk came to 200 calories total.   Plus if you haven’t added a food or snack item in 4 hours, it sends you a little reminder!  How cute is that?!

2. Exercising - Now I admit I could be doing a bit more.  And that will come.  But for now I’m doing at least 4 days of cardio and 2 with weight training.  I’m considering starting the C25K again on Monday so that will be in addition to what I’m already doing (But I’ll be doing that in the morning).

3. Prepping my meals a week in advance.  Hubby and I sit down each week and write down what we want to eat, then go get the groceries.  We have everything written out each day as to what we will cook that particular night.  This helps us SO MUCH.  Trying to figure out what we want to cook on any given night ususally ends up with us going to pick up something quick and fast food more often than not.  This has been actually saving us money in the long run.

4. Eating a snickers bar each night - well not a whole bar actually.  Chris and I split an ice cream snickers bar a night (averages around 100 calories for 1/2).  This I actually look forward to each day.  I’m not depriving myself and this satisfies my sweet tooth.   And with it I still manage to stay within my 1200 range.

Thats it for now. I’m sure I’ll be adding to this eventually!

Especially now that their Pumpkin Spice Latte’s are back.  I haven’t stopped there in a while but I did find myself drawn to them this morning.  I justified it to myself by saying that I’d be saving calories if I ordered the Grande side instead of the Venti.  So I ended up with my “usual” thinking that it was better than the Pumpkin Spice…. Er, well not so much. I got to work and I probably did the best thing in the world by checking the calorie count on their website.  Grande White Chocolate Mocha = 400 stinkin calories.  Thats roughly 1/3 of my calories for the day!  (I’m sticking with the 1200 per day calorie). 

Right.  So I threw away the Artisan Sausage Breakfast sandwich I’d ordered there too and ended up only drinking about half of the damn coffee. 

I love Starbucks with every inch of my being.  But I guess I’ll just have to stick with making my own black coffee at home.  It’s cheaper and healthier. 

sigh

Cupcakes.  Are a vile temptress.

We had our monthly birthday party for everyone in my section at work yesterday.  My coworker was responsible for bringing the goodies.  I was so proud of myself yesterday for only having one tiny piece of pound cake.  Well today she brought the remainder of the food that no one ate and promply put them on my desk. 

So now I just ate my banana that I was saving for tomorrow. I am counting the minutes until 3:30 when I leave work!  I. WILL. NOT. GIVE. INTO. TEMPTATION!!!!

I’m already planning for another sweet treat on Saturday as that is my mom’s birthday party.  If I survive this day this will be a huge step for me I think.  Old me would have devoured 2 by now.

Finally getting back to recommitting to ME again!  I started back last Monday (Aug 22nd) at 240 and I’m pleased to report that as of this morning I’m at 232.  I’m exercising daily and writing down everything that I put into my body.  Changes are coming!

I also took “before” pictures.  Wow that is quite sobering.  All I know is that I do not want to be where I am.  I owe it to myself to find the real me again and to be happy with who I am both inside and out.

More later…

I woke up this morning all set to be discouraged.  I can’t seem to shake the 230’s.  I feel like I’ve hit a brick wall there. But what I did do, is take my measurements since it had been about a month since I’d last done it.  Wow.  Quite a difference.  My clothes are actually getting loose on me.  I bought a pair of size 24 slacks to wear at my grandmother’s funeral.  I have that pair on today and I’m having to hold them up as I walk.  I think it may be time to actually give those away.  I don’t want them back in my closet because I don’t want to EVER be this size, ever again!

Other than that, these last two weeks have been a blur.  I haven’t been doing quite as good on the exercising front.  I have been getting my C25K in though and walked about 3 miles yesterday.  Today did not start off well due to rain and lightening.  I will try to go this afternoon though.  On a side note, my knee is really bothering me so I might just do the ellipical instead of the jogging/walking thing today.  I will just play that by ear and see how it goes.

Ok work calls so have a nice week everyone!

I got my first compliment this weekend!  We bumped into my cousin and cousin-in-law (of all things…) in NOLA.  Cousin could totally tell I was losing weight!  She complimented me alot and man, that sure felt good! 

Well limped through w2d1 this morning.  And it wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared.  I mean, I was still huffing and puffing by each time I got towards the 90 seconds of jogging but it wasn’t nearly as hard as I was expecting.  And the reason for the limp is that I think I sprained my toe.  Only me I swear!  Yesterday while taking out the trash, my big toe went backwards.  I have a really bad habit of dragging my feet when I walk so now I’ve paid dearly for it.  It hurts mildly to walk but I seemed to do better jogging actually.  After my run/walk this morning I took of my shoes and socks to discover a large bruise about the size of a half dollar on top of my foot near where my toe intersects with my foot.  Lovely…

In other news the weekend went by rather quickly.  It was a busy one too.  We had flown my daughters boyfriend down last week for a visit (first visit actually) so we’ve had him since last Tuesday.  Also his good friend flew down Wednesday.  So it has been a constant stream of teenagers around since last week.  (The boys stayed at Devyn’s step-moms & dad’s house while Dev stayed with me, in case you were curious…lol)  Saturday we brought them boyfriend’s friend to the airport, then left for New Orleans for the day and eventual departure of boyfriend.  Had a lot of fun even despite the awful and oppressive heat.  And I got a sunburn.  Once we brought him to the airport, we decided to head home.  Chris’s brother also came in Saturday so it was an airport-filled day.  We visited with him for a good bit Sat. and Sun.

So exercise this weekend wasn’t to hot unless you count all the walking we did in New Orleans.  But it was still a fun weekend.  We’ll see what the scale says tomorrow!  Until then a quote from John Wooden.. “It is easier to reach our potential when we learn the value of including others in our quest.”

Good morning everyone! 

I’m still trucking along!  I took a sneak peak at the scale this morning and I’m down 2 pounds from Tuesday!  I didn’t even exercise all that well this week (not my full 30 min/per day) !  Something is working though!  I’m staying within my calories and I am moving more!  My clothes are fitting better too.  So if I go by today’s weight, I’m down 14 pounds.  It will be nice when people can actually notice!

Even though it’s been busy, I’m still managing to do everything I need to.  Of course, I’m waking up earlier but I’m also finding that I’m sleeping better as well.  All in all, some really good things are happening!