Caught up with me I guess

Well, all the pigging out finally caught up with me and I only lost .2 lbs this week. With as much eating as I was doing I was very afraid that I would gain weight instead of losing it, so I guess .2 lb loss is better than a gain. It is still a process and a struggle everyday. I am just so glad it is starting to stay daylight longer. I think it will help me improve my mood and get me out of the winter funk. It is time to start exercising again I just have to find the motivation to do so. I think I left it in 2011 though. Ugh! This week I am going to start psyching myself up for working out. Lets hope it works!

Excited!!

So I have been a total pig and not really following the calorie plan or anything. You can imagine my surprise when I jump on the scale tonight and find that I have lost 5 lbs! I am really excited. To be fair I did only lose 1.4 lbs last week. I am very happy.

Just an update

Things have been crazy here. I have been working everyday (mind you I am a sub) and it doesn't look to let up.  I did lose a little weight (1.4 lbs) this week and I am very happy with that. This is especially true since I haven't been watching my calories as much. I have to get back to calorie counting though because I have a special function I am going to with my husband. It is during the first weekend of March. I am trying to lose more weight to look my best there.

Still going

Just a little update. I lost 2 pounds this week! Woot Woot! Good luck everyone else.

Stumbled a little last night

So, I stumbled a little last night. I was tired and we stopped and got Chinese. Which mind you is not diet friendly what so ever. Then I had a upset tummy the rest of the night. Not sure if it was from eating food I am not use to anymore or the guilt. Either way, I am avoiding Chinese from now on. Weigh in is tonight... here is hoping I didn't totally blow it last night.

Great blog

I stumbled upon a great blog today. It is about clean living. I think that clean living is exactly what I have been striving for lately. I really enjoy the different articles posted so I had to share. Eve Was Partially Right is a great blog for anyone wanting to eat right. I urge everyone to check it out.

Just checking in

Well, I am finally feeling a bit better. I am hoping to be back to 100% in a day or so. Still trying to eat right and eventually add in some exercise which is difficult after working all day. Since costs are so high to eat right I have decided to get back into using coupons in hopes of saving the extra I am spending else where. I have to be more careful though because most of the coupons are for junk food. Here is to living right and frugal. I am finding that as I lose weight and get my eating under control I am wanting to get other things under control as well. I have been slowly going through and getting rid of stuff that has been sitting around and not used. I donate it all because it is easier than trying to sell it. So here is to a year of decluttering my life and waist line!

Weigh in!

So I weighed a little early tonight as I am sick and will be going to bed early. Pretty awesome result as I have lost nearly 4 lbs this week. I am pretty excited about that. Now I just need to get over this nasty cold. Good luck to anyone else on the diet. Even though I am not working out while I am working I seem to be doing well enough. Hopefully as I lose weight I will get more energy and will be able to add a workout in with work. Running around after kids all day will have to do for now.

Vegetarian???

Being from the south it seems that meat and potatoes are necessary for nearly every meal. I really do enjoy meat. However, since beginning my diet I have been thinking about what it takes to be a vegetarian and if it is a viable option. I have actually considered going partially vegetarian as in really limiting my meat intake to like 1 or 2 meals a week. Just curious if anyone is a vegetarian out there and would care to share information about what it takes to go meatless. I will continue to consider it.

Not bad!

Official weigh in puts me at 280.6 for a total weight loss of 2.2 lbs this week. That is right where I want to be. I will just have to keep working and keep trying. I hope that I get use to work enough to start adding in some workouts too. Here is to next week.

Little nervous

So weigh in is tonight and I am a little nervous. Since I have gone back to work I haven't been working out and I haven't been following my calories as closely. I am afraid that this will reflect on the scale. I have been running around like crazy at work so maybe that will help. I need to find a balance but I haven't figured it out yet. Brainstorming will occur this weekend for sure! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Gotta get back on track

So, it isn't so much that I have forgone my diet or anything. I need to get back on track with working out. I was doing well and I went back to work and boy it is just so hard to work out after working all day. I have to find the balance some how. Any suggestions?

Official weigh in for this week

I lost 3 lbs this week! So not only did I lose what I gained over Christmas I lost more! Total weight loss since I started 4 weeks ago is 13 lbs. Not bad in a month's work!

Never would have before....

As the title says I never would have done this before. It is really amazing how one's attitude can change in such a short time. Just 4 short weeks ago I would have never went on a walk for fun. I mean don't get me wrong I love hiking through the woods and being one with nature. I just never really found it fun just to walk on a sidewalk. To me that was exercise and exercise was.... well evil. Just 4 short weeks ago, when I started this journey I could barely walk down a hill without getting winded much less walk back up it. Today, I started to take the dog out to the little dog park and it was so nice out I decided I just HAVE to take a walk. It was as if my body was yearning for a long lost friend. I enjoyed walking more today than I have ever before and it is an amazing feeling. Like breathing that first big gulp of air after you have been holding your breath for too long. I always knew that my mental acceptance of a "diet/lifestyle change" would be the hardest part. I am glad to know that acceptance isn't an issue because I am full on embracing it!

Oh and by the way, pizza for snack? 400 calories (I have tweaked the original recipe)

It is so good and extremely filling. You can make it with fewer calories I just really liked the pepperoni on it. 

Want the recipe? Ok here it is:

Flat out flat bread	1 bread
Buitoni Pesto w Basil Sauce (red. Fat)	2 tbsp
Pepperoni	10 slices
mozzarella cheese	1/4 cup
mushrooms	1/2 cup

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place pesto on the bread then place the rest of the toppings. Wait to put the cheese on last. Bake for about 5 mins or until cheese has melted. Take out and enjoy. This recipe is roughly 400 calories.
The original recipe came from Prevention's 21-Day Belly Melt. Find more information by visiting www.prevention.com it called for different items. I was looking for a little heartier snack since I kind of skimped on breakfast today. If you want the original recipe you can find it here.

Whew worked out this morning. I am sore but in a good way. Feels good to workout. Don't know how many calories I burned but really I don't want to know because then I will start trying to figure out how many calories I can eat to make up those burned calories. Afterwards I made notes of my goals forward and how I think I did on the workout. I have to say after the workout my attitude was that of BRING IT ON! I am sore now but look forward to the next time.

My workout plan for the next 4 weeks:
Monday/Thursday/Saturday- Light walk for warm up then workout listed below.
Tuesdays/Friday- 30 to 45 mins Cardio (brisk walking, stationary cycling, eliptical)
Wednesday/Sunday- Rest Day (light walk 15-20 mins)

After 4 weeks I will evaluate and try new exercises.

My workout today:

Walk	12 min 34 sec (3/4 of a mile)
push ups	2 sets of 12 reps
plank	2 sets of 3 reps @ 5 s on 1st 10 secs on 2nd
Bent over row w/ L-Raise	2 sets of 12 reps
Body weight squat	2 sets of 12 reps
Curtsy Lunge	2 sets of 12 reps

New Year, New Me

Happy New Year everyone! My new year's resolution isn't to lose weight or get my life on track and the way I want it to be, like all the cliched resolutions. Why? Because resolutions are made to be broken. Instead, I am making a life time promise to myself. A promise to not only lose weight but to get in shape and stay healthy. I am tired of always being sick, going to the amusement parks and having to suck in as deep as possible to ride a ride, being tired all the time, and not being able to do things I enjoy because I am either too embarrassed or not fit enough to enjoy it when I do it. August of 2011 my husband and I set out to climb this hill/small mountain in a  nearby park. It nearly killed me. I could barely make it 20 steps up hill without having to stop and take a breath. That will be me NO MORE! If I was forced to make a New Year's Resolution it would be: To do what I can today to reach my goal tomorrow. I know I have a long journey ahead of me but it starts with a single step. I am going to strive to take that single step every day! Happy New Year!

Great link!

I get emails from fitness magazine and most of them are trying to get you to subscribe but they also provide good articles to read. This particular article is how to cut calories everyday without even really being on a diet. I thought it was worth sharing. Hope it helps!

The No-Hunger Way to Cut 100s of Calories

Some of my favorite advice from this article:

• Use 1 tablespoon of mayo and 1 tablespoon of low-fat cottage cheese to make tuna salad.
• Toss your salad with 1 tablespoon of dressing until every lettuce leaf is coated. You'll get away with using half the usual serving size. Try this trick at dinner too.
• Making meatballs? Mix half the amount of ground beef the recipe calls for with half as much cooked brown rice.
• Measure out your breakfast cereal; overestimating by just 1/3 cup can add 100 calories
• Make your own salad dressing using low-sodium, fat-free broth in place of 2 tablespoons of oil.
• Having fajitas? Fill up one tortilla rather than three, then eat the rest of your fixings with a fork.
• Skip the small movie-theater popcorn and bring your own 1-ounce bag of Lay's.
• At the mall, curb a craving for a soft pretzel with a 100-calorie pretzel pack.
• Eat fruit before every meal. In a Pennsylvania State University study, people who munched apples 15 minutes before lunch ate about 187 fewer calories.
• When making mac and cheese, resist temptation and prep just half the box. Save the rest in a zip-top bag for next time.
• Use your grandmother's Joy of Cooking and you'll save an average of 506 calories over three meals, according to a recent Cornell University study. The secret: Smaller portion sizes and lower-calorie ingredients were called for back then.

Goal: 100 calories

Burn 50: Get up from your desk and take a 20-minute walk at lunch.
Cut 50: Skip the oyster crackers in your soup.

Goal: 250 calories

Burn 125: Shovel the driveway for 20 minutes.
Cut 125: Hold the cinnamon bun. Eat two slices of cinnamon toast.

Goal: 500 calories

Burn 250: Spend two hours making dinner for the entire week.
Cut 250: Mist a pan with cooking spray instead of pouring in oil.

Valuable lesson

So, I usually can do okay eating out as long as I look up the nutritional facts before hand. Today, we were out shopping and stopped at TGI Friday's for lunch. Big mistake! I thought I was making a good choice with the turkey burger but when I got home I found out it was loaded with calories. So the revamp on the diet was a bit of a wash today. I am not discouraged though. I am taking it as lesson learned and probably will avoid TGIF from now on because they really are not diet friendly at all.

Frustrations and Battle Cries

So Wednesday nights are official weigh-in nights. I am a little disappointed with myself because I gained a pound over the Christmas holiday. I will be revamping and rededicating this week. Lesson learned: weight comes on faster and easier than it comes off.  Although I have to say that I did ok today. I was reaching for a second biscuit at Cracker Barrel and a guy walked by with a shirt that said "Ireland". It reminded me of my mantra: Baby Ireland! I pushed the biscuit away. I guess every little step counts. Tomorrow is another day and all I can do is try to better tomorrow than I did today. Good night!

Day 1

Well, technically this isn't day one on my weight loss journey but it could be. It is just after Christmas and after trying to be good during the holidays I am back home and ready to revamp my lifestyle. The short term goal is to lose 40 lbs by March 7, 2012. The long term goal is to reach 180 lbs (the higher end of what is considered healthy for my height and age). That means I have roughly 105 lbs to go. The prize for reaching my goal is a promise from my husband to take me any where I want to go in the world. I have chosen Ireland. The more rewarding prize is hopefully I will be healthy enough to have a baby which is something I have feared would not be possible at my current weight. The biggest prize of all will be a better, more healthy, more active, and hopefully more rewarding life. Feel free to take the journey with me. I will be including updates on my weight loss goals. Sharing the highs and lows of it all. What works, what doesn't, good recipes and fun exercises along the way. I hope to learn alot about the world and myself on this journey. Here goes nothing!