Back in the Groove

After an awful week of being ill, it feels great to feel like myself again. Well, almost like myself. I'm still finding it rather hard to drag my butt up and out of bed in the morning, so I haven't done my morning workout all week. I have, however, resumed my hour long walk home from work. Even in the cold, when I finally walk in the door and I can hardly feel my legs from the cold. 

To sweeten the deal for me to walk home, I've even opted to not renew my monthly bus pass. I still ride the bus to work in the morning, but I walk home. My thinking is that if it saves me money to walk home, I'm more likely to do it if I'm feeling a little lazy. Because of the (lame) bus route that I have to take at the time I'm done work, I get home at approximately the same time too. Getting exercise and paying half the bus fare for the month? I'd be pretty stupid not to walk home, wouldn't I?

I'm also paying quite a bit of attention to my foods again. No more comfort foods - back to the good stuff that's meant to give me lost of good energy for the day. I've been under my calorie goal all week, and I intend to keep it that way.

I'm determined to make sure that the needle on the scale goes down instead of up when I weigh in this Sunday.  Hopefully my lazy, sick, comfort food filled week last week didn't do too much damage.

What a week...

It's been quite the week. Being sick for the week sure put a cramp into my plans to make sure I got all of my exercise in, and somehow also made it harder for me to want to eat well. I managed to do OK for the most part, though because of this, I have decided to skip my weekly weigh in. I'm not entirely sure if this is a good idea or a bad idea, but I do know that sick or not sick, next week will be different. I'll be getting my workouts in, and I'll be making sure I'm eating well. 

So, back to my basic plan:

• Eat healthy, low calorie foods
• Track everything I eat and stay under a certain calorie threshold
• Exercise 5-6 days of the week

I also found that I had a hard time drinking enough water last week, which could have been partly due to my lack of working out. Even still, I need to make sure I've got enough water in me to keep hydrated.

So, for the first time in about 6 weeks I've "fallen off the wagon". I still tried, and I think that's probably going to have been the main thing, and now that I'm feeling better, I will be back on track.

 

Just... Ugh

So... how do people overcome this incredible lack of motivation to get your butt up and moving and actually work out when you're sick? I'm not saying SICK, but just generally feeling like crud, exhausted and sniffly. 

I woke up this morning, and with the best of intentions I put my workout clothes on and shuffled out of the bedroom. I took one look at my television, trying to psych myself up for my workout.. and promptly went back to bed. Sigh.. 

Perhaps I just needed more rest. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be right as rain. Then again...

So my question remains.. how do you find motivation where there is none?

Sunday... Lazy Day...ish

So far the weekend has been awesome. I got to enjoy a wonderful dinner at the Oban Inn Restaurant last night.. and it was fabulous! I went all out and even had dessert. I know, I know.. not the smartest choice.. BUT when in such a place, I think it's best to go all out if you can. Also, the dessert was possibly the best thing I've ever tasted in my entire life. 

Today was weigh in day, and I'm down another 2 pounds! Even with all this restaurant food I've been having this weekend, and the sushi day last week, I'm glad to see that I'm still managing and on track. Things will get back to normal this coming week, so that will make it easier again.

I've starting making lunch for the week.. well, a good portion of the week anyhow. Last weekend I roasted a chicken, and there was a lot of meat left over so I've thrown it into a pot of water and other fixin's and I'm making a nice pot of homemade chicken soup. It SMELLS wonderful in here right now. Another healthy pre-made lunch in the freezer! I can't wait for things to get back to "normal" again!

One of Those Days...

Today is just one of those days. The ones where you just want to stay in your pj's, or throw on the comfiest pants and sweatshirt you own and just become one with your couch. Read a book, watch a movie, order in take-out. A lazy day.

Well, I have forced myself up. I have talked myself into a work out (Walk Away the Pounds - 4 mile) and I'm glad I did it. Getting up and moving around has given me the boost I need to get some stuff done, and I feel a lot more motivated about going out for my dinner date tonight.

In other news, I had a shopping day with my Mom yesterday. I needed new Yoga pants to work out in as my current pair keep falling off of me. OK, they're not that bad, but when you're doing something the requires constant movement, it certainly feels that way. I've also added some nice new tops (that fit me - yay!) to my wardrobe and purchased a couple of new bras. As I said before, I think half of the weight I've not lost has come from my boobs, and they are noticeably smaller, so I've now got some smaller bras to help me with that.

While in one of the stores, I decided to try on a pair of jeans in a size smaller for poops and giggles - just to see if I could fit into them. They fit! And they were comfortable!! I didn't buy them, as I've gone down a whole pant size in one month, and I think I can get away with wearing my current size a little bit longer. 

All in all, it was a great day out, and I'm feeling more and more happy and confident about this journey.

Long Weekend

Today is the first of four days off this weekend. I always find it harder to stay on track on the weekend, I guess it's because the day isn't as structured. I don't have a schedule to adhere to: be at work for a certain time; break time; lunch time; etc. The day seems more fluid, and with more freedom, there seems to be more opportunity to slip up. 

Despite sleeping in really late, I'm still on track. Mind you, it's only 11:30 am on Friday, so I still have practically 4 days to go. *Deep breath* I'm still doing well.

The plan is to log everything and make sure I get the workout in each day. It being my birthday weekend, I have lots of plans to go out to eat, which usually means more calories and such. I've already scoped out the menus for the places I'm going to and tried to plan appropriately.

Let's hope I can stick with the plan, and stay on track. As with any other day, and any other weekend, I plan to track absolutely everything.

Wish me luck. 

Happy Heart Day!

To celebrate Valentine's Day we decided to treat ourselves to sushi. So, along with 3 friends we went to a local sushi place.

For the first time since I started this journey almost 40 days ago, today is the first day that I allowed myself to go over my calorie limit for the day, which was a challenge on its own. I've got to work hard to really stick to things for the rest of the week.. which will promise to be difficult as I'll be celebrating my birthday this coming weekend.

I also decided to get a few more work out videos, to change things up a bit. I tried one of the Walk Away the Pounds videos today, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how much of a an actual work out that walking is. I actually worked up a nice bit of a sweat doing it, and it was pretty relaxing to boot. I'm looking forward to doing this many more times in the coming future and trying out some of the other workouts that I seem to have collected.

Making a Change Brings a Change

When I first started my journey, I wasn't sure how things would go. I began tracking the food that I was eating and I marveled at what an eye-opener it was. I had no idea I was taking in so many calories, and burning so little. 

Little by little I started to weed out the junk food in my kitchen. I began looking for healthier, lower calorie recipes for many of the foods I love. I would check foods before I ate them, and I found that I would sometime go through the thought of 4 or 5 different dishes before I settled on one that would work for my plan. It was frustrating, and now I see it only as a challenge that I can easily overcome.

I find that instead of craving things like chips and pop, I want water and fruits and vegetables. Whole foods look way more appealing now that ever, and I love finding new ways to prepare them.

When it comes to eating right, I'm extremely happy that I've kept it up. I feel so much better for it. I have more energy, I don't feel bloated or gassy anymore, and the more I do it, the more I WANT to do it.

That's not to say that I didn't go through a period of time when I wondered why on earth I was doing it. I spent a good amount of my first week at this running to the bathroom, and feeling just an overall feeling of, well, crappy as my body got used to the changes I was making.

Exercising too was a challenge. I starting doing the "Sweatin to the Oldies" videos a while back, and decided to keep up with them. At the beginning, just the thought of getting up in the morning and doing the work out was enough to make me groan. 

Day by day I'd drag my sorry butt out of bed, and begrudgingly put the DVD into the PS3. A great deal of swearing and "why isn't this done yet?" occurred during the first couple of weeks. If I missed my morning work out for any reason, I'd make sure I did it that night. I wasn't going to just let myself become lazy and not get this done.

It's a little strange now, thinking back to the beginning. These days, if I take a rest day, I feel like something is missing. It's funny how things work out.

At this point, it's been 5 weeks and I am starting to feel some real changes. Not just in my appetite or my tolerance for Richard Simmons. I'm finally noticing that my body is changing.

The first thing that I noticed is that my pants are much looser now. I'm even starting to think that I may need to replace my beloved Yoga pants. Though, I think even sadder than that, my boobs seem to be shrinking. So much so, that I've had to make plans to go new bra shopping. And soon.


I'm looking forward to the many more changes that are coming my way, as I keep moving forward to becoming a healthy me.

Number 1 Just Isn't Enough

In an effort to save a little time before the work out buddy needs to get to work, we opted to do the Sweatin to the Oldies 1 video today. Having been doing the 3rd video for at least the past week, it was a shock to see just how easy this one seemed. 

Usually I've broken quite the sweat by the time I'm done, and I'm cursing Mr Simmons until I'm done stretching. This time seemed like a walk in the park in comparison. We chatted comfortably throughout the workout and barely broke a sweat.

Needless to say, we'll be sticking with the 3rd video in the future.

Every journey has a beginning...

About 5 weeks ago I decided I was tired of being "the fat chick". I've been overweight most of my life, and I suppose I've let it define me. Or at least part of me.

I'd tried to lose weight in the past, but with little to no result. I just wasn't trying hard enough, my heart wasn't in it. I've tried one or two fad diets, and even at one point joined a gym. Sure, I was exercising, but it wasn't enough.

This time, I'm doing things differently. I joined up at MyFitnessPal and began tracking everything I put in my mouth. It's become almost an obsession, tracking what I eat. It holds me accountable, and I think it's helping to keep me on the right track. In the past 5 weeks I've lost 18 of the 114-124 pounds that I want to lose.

So far, my plan is simple:

• Eat healthy, low calorie foods
• Track everything I eat and stay under a certain calorie threshold
• Exercise 5-6 days of the week

I have found some wonderful low calorie recipes online, and I exercise by both walking and by doing the "Sweatin to the Oldies" videos. When the weather warms up some, I want to start the Couch to 5K program as well.
This is just the beginning of a life-long journey to get healthy and improve my overall well-being. I'll be updating as much as I can with my progress and struggles (as I am sure there will be many). I'll also be posting my successes and disappointments. I want to document this journey as best I can.

Lastly, this is me last summer, before starting this journey. I don't know what exact weight I was at the time of this photo, but my starting weight 5 weeks ago was 254 lbs. My guess is it was somewhere around there. I'll post another pic when I hit my first goal of 50 gone.