Found a Groove

Hello Everyone!

Time for my weekly update. This week I discovered that I love getting up at 5:30 and hitting the gym before work. It gives me an overall sense of peace during the day for example: My stress is lower, I do not think about when I am going to work out after a long day at work, and I can just go home and enjoy time with my family once my day is over. For those of you that know me understand that I have forever worked the later shift because I am not a morning person. I seriously can not believe how I am accomplishing this! So this week I worked out EVERY DAY before work except Friday (my rest day) and I felt great! Hungry, but great. I know it sounds silly, but I swear I can see a difference in my body after only one week. Some exciting stuff people.Plus I have found a new favorite machine I may become addicted to. The Stair Climber! OMG, feel the burn, your butt hurts, your legs hurt, your heart is pumping a million beats a minute and the sweat pours off you. You can’t get any better than that. I believe if I don’t have a ring of sweat around my neck on my shirt than I didn’t do enough, 15 minutes and I was there. Who needs a Treadmill…boring!

However, the eating part, has not been so easy. I started off perfect Monday, then Tuesday and Wednesday I found myself eating an extra stick of cheese, protein bar, crackers or popcorn. I am telling you detox that first week is killer, (and I am a Carboholic)! Thursday I just blew it, Kelso’s Bronx Bomber pizza was calling my name for dinner. How about this pizza y’all! It is a super thin crust with White Sauce, Chicken Spedini, Cheese and Buffalo Sauce drizzled over the top, garnished with Basil Leaves! I mean this thing is AH-MAZE-ING! After eating half and my small salad I realized that stress has a funny effect on my hunger. I was so crazy stressed out that I was not going to be happy unless I ate this pizza. Friday was perfect, Saturday I would normally blame my husband for my eating, but that is just an excuse not even gonna go through those calories. So I going into this week  detoxed and ready to fight those urges for the greater good and my goals (plus the big bosses are in town, STRESS!).

I can report that we have started on the Kitchen project! YAY! Really all we did was put a new all steel faucet in the kitchen, the kind with a sprayer . Tore out the old rotten floor under the sink and replaced it with new fibro-something floor. These were the only things we could afford this month, but hey it is progress towards a new kitchen, right?

So, all in all I had a pretty successful week. I am glad that I have finally found some kind of balance between my career, family and health goals. Feels really fantastic to have a plan that will actually work for me. Stay tuned for next weeks adventures!

Savings Account: $0 (still), Weight: 166 lbs (still), Dreams: On the way to being fulfilled

 

New Year, Same You!

Like everyone else in the world I am here today to let my resolutions be known. I know that every year there is always a need to do the whole New Year, New You business, but this year I have decided I don’t want to be new. I want to be me…just make a few changes and improve in my world.

First of all, for those that follow (know me) I am constantly working on my weight and physical fitness. Obviously those goals are not going anywhere any time soon. I am very aware that consistency over time will always work best in this area of my life. So we will come back to this one in a bit.

Now let’s get to the new goals for 2012.

• I would like to redo the kitchen and finally have a space that I can cook and create wonderful dishes for my family and friends.
•  I want to go on a fantastic vacation with my husband. I would love to go Glamping (Glamorous Camping), Hawaii, Australia or New Zealand. Not really sure where, but I want to do something adventurous, fun and out of the box. So I guess I need to start researching. YAY!

Both of these are going to be quite the hit on the paycheck I will be “paying myself first” going forward. If you do not know what this means, it is really easy – you take 10% of your paycheck, before taxes, and you put it a savings account. You must always pay yourself first otherwise you just pay bills and buy crap you don’t really need .

Now back to the subject of my weight loss and workout goals. Okay, so this last year was one of the hardest since I started my journey in 2007. First I started the year off in a severe depression from being let go from my dream job and allowed myself to fall so far into self-pity that all the weight I lost in 2010 I gained back in the first 3 months of 2011. After I was back in the workforce I found it challenging to find my true passion again and pick myself up. Then I had some relationship challenges and needed to put some things on the back burner to figure out what I wanted in my personal life. Once, I was finally starting to get my footing again I was promoted! So for the last 2 months of 2011 I had a hard time with balance. I work about 50 hours a week and have constant stress and pressure (which I put on myself) that seems to take all my energy and I don’t exercise and eat right because of it. In whole I want to finally find the balance. I do think that there can be a true balance between my Career, Fitness and Family, there has to be!!!!

My plan is to update weekly on how my progress is. New Career Position, New Gym and New Outlook on Love. Time to Rock this Year!!

Savings Account: $0, Weight: 166 lbs, Dreams: On the way to being fulfilled

 

Ready, Set, GROW!

I made it through my weekend and only gained one pound! I typically gain around 5 to 6 after my weekends and then work the whole week to get it off. I finally have found my niche with the weekend and how to control my insistent need to over indulge. Having a partner on my side that makes the same healthy choices I want allows my dieting life 10x easier!

So, now I only have to wait a day to get back to where I was instead of a week! I couldn’t be happier! I just want to hit that 100#s by the end of this year. I can not let the food win, I have to win, I will win. I can do this! With the loving help of my friends and family I will get there! I am really finally growing and becoming a real true clean eater! I can feel the success!

Here is my positive change plan:

• Eat on my program at 90%
• Run 4 times a week (or an intense cacrdio workout)
• Weight training at least 2 times a week (YMCA Interval Class)
• Allow myself to feel and not suppress anthing

 

Everyday we have choices to make and today I make the choice to be the best that I can be! 

 

Interested vs. Committed

Hello everyone on the internet highway!

Have you ever thought of a life changing possibility and were very interested in following it through, but just could never find the drive to complete it? Well, I have been quite interested in hitting 100 pounds lost and at times have been successful at getting closer and closer to that goal. The thing about being just interested is that the plans only stay with you for as long as something better doesn’t show up on your door step. For example, I plan to stay on my program 100% through the weekend then a girlfriend calls and we go out dancing and end up having a few drinks that leads to late night eating, and I am quickly on the pattern of binging again for the whole weekend.

When I am just interested in my goals I find that I have to see results everyday! As long as the scale motivates me in the morning I am good to stay on my program the rest of the day. But if I hit a plateau or gain I pretty much just quit for a whole week. BOO! When this happens I have the tendency to blame everything around me for my failure instead of myself, you know the drill: The husband just had to eat out or order pizza, the friends begged me to go out, my job is so stressful right now I just couldn’t focus on myself, and etc.

WELL I AM NOW COMMITTED! I mean really truly 100% dedicated to me and my goals and I have found that my outlook on life, love and happiness have completely changed. I am no longer concerned what the scale says everyday, it does not rule my life. I DO! So yes I do weigh every morning on my aka “Naked Scale” (I coined this term at work and people just love it), and no matter what it says to me I will stay the course of my program. No husband, friend, job, plans or daily challenges will sway me from my 100# mark!

For those of you that have read ’100 Days of Weight Loss’ by Linda Spangle I am referring to Day 2 and have fully adopted the “No Matter What” attitude.

I will always be committed to my weight-loss plan no longer just interested.

I am going to take the time out to exercise 6 days a week and do my 3 P’s (Yes another term I came up with):

• PLAN (plan your meals in advance and write it out)
• PREPARE (cook all your meals in advance)
• PRE-PACKAGE (package all your meals for quick grab and go)

Nothing can stop me now! Watch out world here I come!

 

Finding the Balance

Those of you that follow my  blogs I am constantly trying to find my drive and what meal plan is going to be the best for me and my weight loss success. So far I have lost 14 pounds since April and for some reason I just can not get past 160! So frustrating! I know that people say the last little bit of weight to lose is the hardest, seriously 3 pounds a month average is not cutting it. I want to lose another 26 pounds to hit exactly 100 pounds lost, that would take me another year at this rate! Right now I feel like this will always be my dream and I will never reach it. Talk about depressing, who wants to diet the rest of their life. The only thing that got me the closest was HCG last year I was within 11lbs and I couldn’t have been happier. Tried to do it again this year and totally cheated the whole time, so obviously not for me.

My game plan is to continue trying to eat clean and exercise daily for at least 30 minutes. With the help of my company and my friends I will conquer this and finally fit into my size 4s!

• Here I go again! Starting 161.5