(I'm probably going to post this in the welcome forum as well since I'm new...)
First, allow me to introduce myself...I'm 5'2 and 194 lbs. I live in paradise! Although sunny Florida gets hot and is prone to hurricanes (we survived 3 last year), I choose to look at it as my beautiful paradise! I just recently began working from home (a BIG transition...I've worked since I was 15 yrs. old and never had the freedom I do now. I'm in the process of adjusting to that and my new husband of 4 1/2 months! I also have 3 pets/furbabies: Feona (cat), Freedom (60 lb. Heinz 57 dog), and Fibi (5 lb. chihuahua/rat terrier mix). My life is one HUGE blessing right now and I'm so thankful.
BUT I need to lose at least 60 pounds . When I was in high school, I weighed 120-125. Last July, I got engaged and began working out and dieting for our wedding, which was this past New Years Day (yay!). I lost 25 pounds in 5 months. Could've been more, but I didn't work as hard as I should've. I basically did low carb/low calorie diet, minimum 30 minutes of cardio 3x/week (mostly treadmill) and mild strength training at the gym 3x/week.
Then, we went on our honeymoon (to Canada- oh to be there now...). Of course, I was NOT going to diet while on our honeymoon, so from that point I basically gave up the dieting and exercising (typical newlywed from what I've heard). Needless to say, I gained back the 20 pounds in the last 4 months. So now, sadly, I'm back to square one.
A good friend of mine (who makes me sick with her motivation) has inspired me to start exercising again . We both weighed about the same 2 months ago and now she's two sizes smaller "through diet and exercise" (I cringe at those words). I started exercising the week before last (May 5). Last week was my first I full week (I exercised five days), but the week before that, I exercised 2 days. I officially started weighing in last Monday. After all that work last week, I weighed in this morning and I didn't lose ANYTHING!
Here's what I'm doing...
1. Exercise:
-I walk a minimum of 1 mile per day in at least 15 minutes. Some days, I do Leslie Sansone's 1 mile WalkAway the lbs. for Abs with 3 lb. weights in my hands to get my arms going. And then other days, I take Freedom (my big dog) to walk with me. I'm gradually trying to push myself a little more. When I'm walking the dog, I try to jog at least twice for a short distance (like a quarter of a block.) My plan is to increase to the 2 mile walk sometime this week, but I SOOOOOO dread that!
-I've been trying to do crunches everyday (at least 50). Last week, I only did 150 Monday and 75 Tuesday. That's as far as I got.
2. Diet: I drink the AdvantEdge Low Carb shakes for breakfast and lunch and then I have a 'sensible' dinner. I hate dieting (who doesn't?). When I lost weight before, I realized that I am not an overeater. I'm a lazy eater. If I don't plan ahead, I will end up eating something bad. So, I found that having those shakes available (I buy them in bulk) really keeps me on track and works for me. HOWEVER, last week, I ran out of them on Wednesday. So, the rest of the week wasn't low carb.
3. I am a watergirl(I get this from my granny). I love water! I drink a minimum of 64 ounces everyday. I probably end up with more like 3/4 of a gallon by the time the day ends. I have a 64 ounce mug that I bought from Wal-Mart...it has a bunch of cool facts about water and how good it is for us. I usually go through it 1-2 times per day.
So now...I'm sitting here writing this...thinking about that walk...dreading that walk...I need some encouragement! I don't want to exercise today- I did all that work last week and didn't even lose any WATER weight! I'm eating processed cheese right now for lunch and I want pizza. Help!