JerseyPA Girl's Weight Loss Journey Blog
 

2016 will be the year that I kick this weight off of me. It will probably take more than a year to lose it, but I'm determined by the end of the year to have at least 90 pounds off!

Counting calories has always worked for me. When I was on Nutrisystem, I did count the calories. When I first started, I ate approximately 1500 calories. I'm doing the same again - minus the Nutrisystem program :)

Here's my basic program. Keep in mind that I can eat the same thing...day in and day out for quite some time :) On the weekends, I'll replace my Cheerios with oatmeal. Here's what it looks like:

Breakfast:

1 1/2 cups Cheerios
1 cup fat free milk
1 Tbsp. walnuts
1 Tbsp, dried cranberries (the ones I purchase don't have much sugar in them)

Mid Morning Snack:

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

Lunch:

Smoothie
1/2 small banana, frozen
4-5 frozen strawberries
1 cup fat free milk
1 Tbsp. coconut oil

Mid Afternoon snack:

Low fat (2%) greek yogurt

Snack before workout: 1 cup bone broth

Dinner:

HUGE salad :)

4 cups red leaf lettuce
1/2 medium tomato
1 hard boiled egg, roughly chopped
3 oz. smoked turkey breast
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. grated cheese

I mix the olive oil, vinegar and grated cheese in a huge metal mixing bowl. Then I add the rest of the salad stuff and toss it with my hands. That way all the lettuce and goodies get coated! I love making salad this way. Sometimes I'll add a squirt of fresh lemon; sometimes I'll use 5 oz. cooked shrimp instead of the meat; I'll switch up veggies and add raw mushrooms or some grated carrot or cucumbers. And sometimes I'll add fresh spinach to the mix of lettuce. There's a million ways you can fix a salad to make it different! And I love salads; thanks to when I was on Nutrisystem. For me, it was the best way to get most of my days veggies.

Okay. So...I have 175 pounds to lose. I currently weigh 345. And since the last time I lost over 100 pounds, I have since went through the change of life; so I'm praying I'll lose the pounds the same way (I averaged 2-3 pounds a week). I started out with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and graduated up to her Body Revelation and eventually to one of her 45 minute DVDs! I was a fat burning machine!

Right now, the 30 Day Shred is too hard for me because of how much weight I have on me. I'm starting out this time with Leslie Sansome's 1 Mile Walk (gosh, I used to LAUGH at these videos; shame on me - cause they are really challenging right now!). Once I hit 310 lbs, I will start 30 Day Shred.

I will also incorporate weight training along with the walking. That's because I know for me, weight training burns fat like crazy. And it builds muscle and give you lots of strength for your workouts.

As of today....my energy level sucks....big time :( Being fat isn't fun; it's so hard on the entire body. My joints ache, my back hurts; I can't stand for more than 10 minutes at a time. And doing simple things like cutting your toe nails, tying shoes, kneeling down are nearly impossible right now. Not to mention how uncomfortable my clothes fit. This is not living; I merely exist, which is so frustrating.

Bottom line; I have to start out SLOWLY. My head still remembers the feeling and the ability to do planks and hold them; to do a FULL sit up and do many sets of them; to do the hard workout DVD's and feel challenged, but able to do them. To do a push up over and over again. I have to hold back because I can seriously hurt myself if I try to push these kind of things right now. My body is not in the shape it used to be. BUT.....it WILL BE again! With hard work and determination, I will do this!

I'll post daily and let you know how my workouts are going. And I'll check back weekly to let you know of my weight loss progress. LET'S DO THIS!!! :carrot::carrot:

Great post, and wishing you wonderful things on your journey! I too tried Nutrisystem a decade ago but because I'm a food addict (serious) I would eat most of the tasty food within the first 2 weeks, ack. I love the Leslie Sandone 1 mile walk it helped break me out of a plateau when I was in the 240's I still prefer the 1 mile walks ;).

Thanks, Candidcamster! I appreciate your warm wishes :) I was thinking about posting daily instead of weekly. Because I workout daily; I think it would be a good way to journal this...how I'm feeling, how hard it was, etc.

Yes, Leslie Sansone is really good. And I understand about the Nutrisystem goodies...lol. After about 10 months of being on NS, I decided to cut all sugar out of my diet; so I stopped ordering all of the sugary treats :) I was never a big sugar person at breakfast, so the muffins and sweet breakfast items were never something that I ordered. At first, I did their plain O's cereal; then I graduated to a high protein cereal (Kay's Naturals) which fit into the NS plan. I later stopped eating it because it was full of soy; something I don't like eating (that's why I make my own salad dressing from olive oil and vinegar).

1/4/16 - DAY 1

EXERCISE: I had to convince myself to workout. I was tired before I even started. It took me 20 min. to get going. I did Leslie Sansone's One Mile Power Walk (19 minutes total and I did not use the weights). I could not believe that I had to stop the DVD twice to catch my breath!!

I was exhausted after I was done, so no weight training was done. Within the hour, I had one burst of energy, but it only lasted about 5 minutes :) I wound up going to sleep at 6:30 PM. Woke up at 11 PM. Tossed and turned for awhile then wound up falling back to sleep.

FOOD: Followed my food plan; did not deviate from the plan. Total calories: 1417

I'm tired this morning - and sore. My lower back and ribcage are sore. Same goes for my hips. So are my feet. Sheesh :(

It's a Motrin day, for sure :)

1/5/16 - DAY 2

EXERCISE: A MUCH better day :) I had energy and was focused. I did the One Mile Power Walk; and yes, I decided to add light weights (2 pounds).

FOOD: Followed my food plan; did not deviate from the plan. Total calories: 1331

I am a bit tired today. I hope to wake up one of these days with energy like I used to. Shoulders are sore today! So is my pelvis (not sure why). Had really good sleep, too :)

1/6/16 - DAY 3


EXERCISE: To my utter surprise, I went home and turned on my TV to the "On Demand" feature on Comcast. I had been subscribed to the Giayam Fitness channel for quite some time now. That's how I've been doing the Leslie Sansome walking program. They decided to remove ALL Leslie's walking videos!!! I was so upset that I called Comcast and cancelled the fitness channel!! :( I sat there for a bit and figured I might as well break out my Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD. Reluctantly, I put the DVD in. Before I pressed play, I figured I would modify the DVD so I don't kill myself. I'm so happy to say that I did modify it (I did all of the jumping jacks in the warm up; I just modified them the other two times in the DVD).
WOW....did I sweat!!! Only stopped the DVD twice to catch my breath. And I used 2 pound weights (not the 5 pounds that they use in the video). I probably had to modify 50% of the DVD. But, I still got a great workout :) :carrot:

I had no appetite for quite some time; even when I decided to eat dinner (at 6 PM) I wasn't very hungry. But I knew if I didn't eat, I would wake up famished. So I cut back on the quantity of my food and had a smaller dinner. I was pretty tired after I was done. Sat down for awhile. Went to get back up and I could barely walk!! I was hoping that I wasn't going to wake up like that. Thank God I didn't, but I can't sit for a long period of time or else I stiffen up and have a hard time walking! Ahhh...the joy of soreness :)

FOOD: Followed my food plan; did not deviate from the plan. Total calories: 1336

I'm tired this morning - and sore. My butt and pelvis are super sore. Have to be careful not to sit too much today (hard when you have a sitting job!). My abs are really sore, too. Shoulders, upper and lower back are sore as well (from doing all those push ups!).

1/7/16 - DAY 4

WEIGHED IN: LOST 5 POUNDS

EXERCISE:

FOOD: