Week Eighteen, Week Nineteen, Week Twenty - A Summary

I stayed the same weeks eighteen and nineteen, and I gained a pound this week, for a total loss to date of 15.5 lbs.

I think I have officially hit a plateau. I know it's because I haven't kept as strict of a workout schedule. I'm hoping to get back to normal this week.

Scale Tales - Week Seventeen

Sorry for the late post!

This week I lost 1.5 lbs for a total loss of 16.5 lbs!

I hope to have good numbers tomorrow when I weigh in. It is the week that I normally gain, so we shall see.

Scale Tales - Week Fifteen and Week Sixteen

The last two weeks have been quite a blur of activity with my brother's weddding and my husband and I's trip to New Orleans. I haven't had a lot of time to exercise, and I haven't been eating the healthiest, but I've managed to hold steady at 15 lbs lost. I am looking forward to getting back on track this week. I'm looking to change up my workouts in an effort to get toned and burn more calories. I am going to try to switch up LIGHT weight training with cardio. I still want to do three days a week of cardio, and weight training the other two days. We'll see how it goes. I know that when you build muscle you gain weight, so I'm hoping that I can still drop inches if not pounds.

Scale Tales - Week Fourteen

I lost 1.5 lbs this week for a total loss to date of...

15 pounds!

I have reached my mini-goal of 15 lbs by my brother's wedding! I am so excited and proud of myself. Not so much because of the number on the scale, but because this is the longest I have EVER stuck with a diet/exercise regimen. I think that I have been successful this time because I have not set unrealistic goals. The old me would have said, "I want to lose 15 lbs in 2 months." Then, when the weight didn't come off very fast, I would get frustrated and throw in the towel.

This time around, I gave myself a whole year to reach my goal of 30 pounds. And my mini-goal of 15 lbs in 14 weeks was not too lofty.

I'm halfway to my end goal! And I still have 38 more weeks. I don't think it will take 38 weeks to lose the other 15, but I know the hardest part will be KEEPING it off until June 9, 2009.

Some other things that have worked for me:

• Not beating myself up when I miss a workout or eat badly. I've learned to accept that this is a lifestyle change, and it has to be a change that I can live with forever. There will be times (read: hurricanes) when it is impossible to exercise. That's OK! Just get back on the treadmill when the power comes back on, or take a walk outside. If I forget my lunch one day and I have to stop at McDonald's, that's OK!! Just order a single cheeseburger and hold the fries. You have to be able to adapt to these types of situations without giving up.

• I can eat anything I want (in moderation). Yes, it's true! This lifestyle change means not depriving myself of anything. These are all foods that I have eaten over the past 14 weeks: stuffed mushrooms, crab au gratin, pizza, crawfish etoufee, ice cream, cheesecake, macaroni and cheese, doughnuts, beignets, gumbo, Wendy's, McDonald's, burritos, nachos, Reeces Pieces, scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage, fried bananas, beer...I could go on and on. The key? Moderation! I watch my portion sizes very closely. I eat half the amount I used to. And I try eat at least 2 out of 3 healthy meals each day.

• Celebrate the small stuff. Having to buy a smaller belt. Giving three bags of fat clothes to social concerns. Buying a dress two sizes smaller than when I started this thing. Turning down that second helping of gumbo. It's the little things along the way that will eventually give way to celebrating the big goal.

On to week 15, and here's to losing the other 15 pounds! Cheers!

Scale Tales - Week Twelve & Week Thirteen - The GUSTAV Diet!!

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we were nearly swept away by Hurricane Gustav! Fortunately for me, I have lost another 4 lbs over the last two weeks for a total lost to date of....

13.5 lbs!

I was worried that the hurricane would throw me off track, because I couldn't use the gym (no power), and I was working a minimum of 12-hour days at the parish emergency operations center (EOC). When I wasn't working, I was busy moving things and cleaning up, so I probably did get some exercise in.

I also found that I wasn't eating as much during the hurricane because no restaurants were open and we had no power. For about a week, I ate one good meal every day (dinner) at the EOC, and a light breakfast and light lunch.

My goal is to get back to the gym either tonight (if I'm not working late) or tomorrow morning. I still have 1.5 lbs to go before the wedding in 11 days. I really think I can do it!! I believe!!

Thanks to all for your prayers for us during the hurricane. I must say that my first hurricane was by NO MEANS uneventful. For where I live, it was the worst devastation that this area (especially Baton Rouge) had ever seen. There are still countless homes without power after 8 days. I feel very fortunate that our power came back on Sunday. I have a new sense of appreciation for the little things in life, like air conditioning, grocery stores, gas stations, and traffic lights. I am so blessed that my home was not severely damaged. All I lost was some junk in my shed which probably needed to be pitched anyway (although it DID pain me to throw away an entire storage tub of Mardi Gras beads). My office mate at work lost her house when a tree fell through the living room. My other co-worker still is without power. Please keep the prayers coming for those who were not as fortunate as us. Love to all!

Scale Tales - Week Eleven

The numbers are in, and I lost 1.5 lbs this week for an official total of 9.5 lbs!

Considering the debauchery I participated in at my in-laws new house, I am very satisfied with my results!

5.5 lbs to go until my mini-goal of 15 lbs by my brother's wedding. Yay!

Non-Scale Victory - A Smaller Belt!

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I put on a pair of jeans that I haven't worn in awhile. I wasn't paying attention when I was putting my belt on, and I was like, "Where is the hole?" I look down, and I'm past the smallest hole, trying to shove the pin into the leather! No wonder it wasn't working!



I am very anal about wearing a belt, so I dug WAY in the back of my closet and pulled out an old belt I hadn't worn in probably 2 years. It really doesn't go with jeans, but I was desparate for SOME kind of belt. I put it on, and not only did it FIT, I didn't even have to use the first hole! I'm already on the second hole!



Needless to say, I am going to buy a couple new belts this weekend! YAY!!

Scale Tales - Week Ten

Sorry for the late posting, but I did weigh in on Tuesday and lost 2 more lbs for an "official" total of 8 lbs.

I figured the 10 wouldn't hold up, but I am perfectly happy with a loss for the week I am supposed to gain.

I peeked at the scale this morning and was back down to 10lbs lost - that's an "unofficial" weigh-in, of course. :)

An Unofficial Weigh-In

This morning I stepped on the scale just to see how I was doing, even though my "official" weigh-in isn't until Tuesday.

I have lost 10 lbs!

I don't know if the numbers will up since this is the week I normally gain, but I'm thrilled with the number I saw today! Woo hoo!

Scale Tales - Week Nine

This week, I lost .5 lbs for a total loss to date of 6 lbs.

The scale didn't show it, but I did have a big milestone this week. On Saturday, I did 40 minutes on the eliptical machine - 3.72 miles and 368 calories burned! We were staying at a hotel so I used their fitness center, which had shiny new machines. I think the change of scenery helped a lot.

I really want to lose 9 lbs in the next 5 weeks. I don't know if it will be possible, but I am going to really kick it up a notch this week to try and make that happen.

I didn't get around to tracking my progress on SparkPeople last week, but I've already logged everything I've eaten today. It is amazing how much you learn about your diet when you write everything down. Not just how many calories you are consuming, but how much sodium, protein, and carbs are in your diet. I definitely have room for improvement!

My calorie intake goal for this week is 1,300 - 1,400 calories a day. I ate just over 1,300 today.

Scale Tales - Week 8

I gained 1.5 lbs this week, for a total loss of 5.5 lbs.

I'm not exactly sure what went wrong. I worked out more over the past week than usual, and I worked out for a longer time period, too. I also didn't drink at all this weekend but for one strawberry daquiri (the best one I've ever had, by the way!).

I felt a little down out after stepping off of the scale this morning. That is, until I pulled a pair of dress pants out of the very back of the closet. I hadn't worn them in over a year. I put them on, and not only do they fit, they are not tight!

So, I guess I'll chalk up this week to some kind of a weird fluke of nature. Either that or maybe I'm building some muscle. Or maybe I've hit a plateau. I will keep trucking on.

My goal for this week is to track what I eat on SparkPeople. For those who haven't heard of it before, it's a totally free health website. You can track and plan meals, exercise, and there is a community forum as well. The best part is that it is completely free! I signed up right when I began my challenge, but I haven't used it much at all. Maybe if I'm even more conscious of my calorie intake, I can shed a few pounds for next week.

Scale Tales - Week Seven

This week, I lost 3 lbs!

Total weight loss to date: 7 lbs!!!!

OK! So now I am just under 25% of the way to my goal. I am very happy with my progress this week. I think one thing that helped is that I only drank alcohol one night (I mean, who DOESN'T have a few beers at a Poison concert?!). And Saturday, I was busy unloading a moving truck full of boxes.

7lbs in 7 weeks - if I keep up this pace, I will be 15lbs lighter for my brother's wedding in September (my mini-goal).

Taking my time with this

I was just looking over my blog and realizing that I haven't lost very much weight for being on this journey for 6 weeks. BUT - then Jarrod reminded me: I am making a lifestyle change. I'm not trying to lose 30 lbs in 30 days, or even six months.

I'm sure that if I REALLY watched my diet 7 days a week, and never went out to eat, and never drank any alcohol, I would be a lot further along.

But I want to be able to stick with this for life. If I deprive myself for a year, I think that I will fall off the wagon once again.

So, I guess it is best that I take my time. I would love to see results quicker, don't get me wrong. I have several drawers filled with "skinny" clothes that I can't wait to dig in to. But I have to keep reminding myself that this is more than just a diet. It's changing my whole outlook on the way I eat, the way I exercise, and the way I live!

See you tomrrow for my next weigh in - I hoping for good numbers. Thanks for your support!

The Power of Exercise

At the beginning of 2003, I did the "Body For Life" challenge. It's a type of diet where you eat six small meals a day and go to the gym six days a week. On the seventh day, you rest and eat whatever you want.

After about 8-10 weeks on this diet, I was in GREAT shape. But best of all, I FELT awesome! I remember saying to myself, "I don't care if I don't lose one more pound; as long as I feel good and full of energy, I will always keep exercising for the way it makes me feel!"

Shortly after that, I went on a week's vacation to Mexico, fell off the wagon, and was drug behind the wagon for 5 1/2 years while eating and drinking to my heart's content.

As I said in my first entry, I woke up and smelled the coffee when Jarrod turned 30 in 2007. I thought, "By the time I turn 30, I'm going to be in the best shape of my life."

Now that I have been exercising regularly for 4 weeks, I will say that I feel really good again. I first noticed it when we went to the waterpark with Kevin a couple weekends ago. We were there for 7 hours on a Lousiana summer day (obviously gluttons for punishment), and I didn't feel tired at all!

DISCLAIMER: The next paragraph may be TMI if you don't want to hear about my monthly cylcle.

Then, there's my monthly cycle. It is horrific and has been since I went off the pill 2 years ago. The entire week before, I am horribly irritable. Ask Jarrod, I will just go into a deep depression for hours sometimes, and I don't even know why. It's hormones. Fun. Then the first day of my period, I get cramps from hell and can't even sleep. Well, this month, I didn't get irritable at all and had virtually no cramps. I really think it is the exercise!

So, to summarize, getting up at 4:50 every morning does really suck, but it is worth it. I hope I can stay motivated. I don't want to fall off the wagon again.

Scale Tales - Week Six

Well, I gained pound this week. It was to be expected since it is hormone-related. Isn't it great being a woman? Sheesh. But I knew I would gain 1-2 lbs, so I'm thankful it wasn't 2 lbs.

So my total weight loss to date is 4 lbs.

On a good note, I exercised 5 times over past week! This is a record for me.

I also burned 191 calories on the eliptical machine today, another record!

Yesterday, I did 2 sets of arm exercises with the 5lb dumbbells, and a set of arm exercises with the 10 lb dumbbells. I was doing three sets with the 5 lb dumbbells, so another improvement.

On to week 7! I'm feeling great!!

Scale Tales - Week Five

I lost 1.5 lbs this week for a total loss of 5 lbs! That means I am 17% of the way there to my 30 lbs goal.

This week was very productive as I went to the gym four times. I really think my hard work there paid off on the scale.

My goal this week is to hit the gym 5 times.

I'm going to keep chugging along! Five pounds in five weeks is a pretty slow pace, but I have 47 more weeks to go!

Scale Tales - Week Four

This week I held steady. No loss, but no gain either. That's pretty good considering that I didn't really stay on track over the 4th of July weekend. I also had a lot of stress going on thinking that Jarrod was going to deploy. I've continued going to the gym as often as I can. I went Monday even though I didn't feel like it.

Total weight loss to date - 3.5 lbs

Scale Tales - Week Three

This week I lost 1.5 lbs for a total weight loss to date of 3.5 lbs. It's coming 0ff - very, very slowly, but it's coming off nonetheless! I have 49 more weeks to lose 26.5 lbs... I will keep chugging along.

I started exercising on Saturday. I have exercised Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday so far. I'm hoping that I will start seeing results soon. I have been doing a combination of 30 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of weight training every day. My goal is 5 days a week. I plan to work out tomrrow and Friday morning, and take Saturday off.

My eating habits were much better this week. I concentrated on eating healthy even on the weekends. The weekends are my downfall, when I like to overeat and drink alcohol. Drinking alcohol makes me want to eat the fattiest, greasiest stuff I can find.

I haven't been good about posting. I decided instead of posting a bunch of times each week, I will just post once a week with my weight loss update and a summary of how the week went.

Until next week - cheers!

Day 15

Today I will not eat junk. Today I will focus on my goals. Today is a new day, and I can do this.

Scale Tales - Week Two

Well, I gained a pound this week for a total weight loss to date of two pounds. :( Last week was not good. I am trying to get back on track this week. I will not quit. I can do it.

Scale Tales - Week One

During Week One of my challenge, I:

Lost 3 lbs!!!!

I am very happy with my progress so far, especially since I normally gain 2 lbs the week before my "that time of the month." So if I keep it up, I might actually show a greater loss next week.

I did not exercise much last week, and I did splurge a little on Sunday. I'm glad it didn't hurt me too badly.

On to Week TWO!!

Day 7 - Back on track!

So yesterday I kinda splurged a little bit. We went to my in-laws for Father's Day and had a wonderful meal of steak, corn, and sweet potatoes. I did limit my portions, so I was proud of myself for that. And I only had 2 glasses of red wine, no beer! :)

Today I am back on track and still feeling motivated. Tomorrow I will have my first weigh-in. I hope to see some progress.

Day 5

Today is Day 5 of 365 of the challenge, so I am 1.4% done! The first 1% has been going pretty well. Last night we went out to eat and to a movie, so I had to really think things out so I didn't overdo it. For supper, I had boiled crab legs and a Miller lite. At the movie, I had a handful of Raisinette's and a bottle of water. Real exciting, huh? Actually, it wasn't too bad.

Day 3 - Thank God for my husband!

Today, my loving husband packed my breakfast and lunch for me. I had a Power Bar (my old staple) for breakfast, and for lunch it was a flatbread sandwich, applesauce, and fat-free pudding.

This afternoon, I started to get a familiar feeling that usually sends me to the vending machine. I wouldn't call it "hungry" like how I fee between breakfast and lunch, but more, "unsatisfied." Well thank God he packed me an apple, too! I ate that and didn't feel better immediately, but I'm feeling OK now.

I have a meeting to go to tonight, so I will be eating dinner on the run. But I know I will choose something healthy. I'm on a roll!

Day 2

Day One went really well. Other than not exercising, of course. I really watched what I ate, and I'm proud to say that I didn't eat anthing after 6:00 even though I was SOOOO tempted.

I had oatmeal for breakfast today and brough the other half of a Subway sandwich for lunch.

I plan to exercise tonight, either by walking or cleaning house.

Day 1 - Off to a good start

I was going to start on my birthday, but I decided to have a little fun on my last day before the challenge started! So here I am, it's Day 1 of my challenge, June 10, and so far I'm feeling good. I didn't get up and exercise this morning, though, because I haven't been sleeping well for the past few nights. :(

I had a homemade egg mcmuffin for breakfast and have already drank two cups of water today. Jarrod is bringing me lunch today, so I'm not sure what that is going to be, I told him to make it healthy though! For dinner I am planning on a salad if I can make it to the store to pick up some chicken.

If I don't get a chance to walk tonight, I am going to use housework as my exercise for the day. Lord knows my bathroom needs some attention.

My attitude today is awesome. I'm really looking forward to losing this weight and starting to feel better about myself!

And so it begins...

Tomorrow, June 9, I am officially beginning my challenge!

The idea first came to me in February 2007 when Jarrod made his 30th birthday. He was kinda depressed and down because he was THIRTY! Like it was the worst thing in the world. It was then that I decided that I wanted to be excited about turning 30, not dreading it! But how could I accomplish this?

Why not be in the best shape of my life?

But as I've pondered this goal over the past year or so, I have added some other things that I want to accomplish by 30 as well. I came up with five core values that I want to strengthen in the coming year (in no particular order, mind you):

• Health
• Family
• Finances
• Education
• Spirituality

Here is how I am going to go about strengthening these five areas of my life:

Health

The end goal is to lose 30 pounds, but the real reason I want to lose the weight is to be healthier. I want to live a long life and not be plagued by health problems. I want to be in good physical shape before I get pregnant so it's not so hard to lose the baby weight. I want to be able to walk into a store and pick out anything I want and not have to worry if it comes in my size. I want to be able to comfortably wear a bikini in the summer time.

Family

My family is everything to me, so my goal in the upcoming year is to communicate with them as much as I can. Whether it be through blogs, Myspace, email, cards, you name it. I want to remember everyone's birthday, and schedule as much family time as I can. It's hard when my family lives hours away, but it's not impossible.

Finances

My goal this year is to save more, and spend less. My husband and I are finally in a position to really make this happen if we just put our minds to it. I want to make a significant dent in our student loans and credit cards, and up my contribution to my 403(b) fund. I want to open a savings account and start putting away money for emergencies.

Education

My goal is to get enrolled in grad school this year. I want to be about halfway done by my 30th birthday. Learning has always been a passion of mine, and no time is better than the present to make that happen.

Spirituality

My goal this year is to go to church every Sunday. I go about 2-3 times a month right now. I am also setting a goal to pray more than once a day, and to read one spiritually enlightening book this year. I want to continue to make God the focus of my life, and to live how He would like me to live.

So as you can see, this blog is about more than just losing weight. It will hopefully become a diary of my transformation over the next year. My goal with this blog is to update at least 5 times per week so that I stay focused. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and for your support over the next year.