Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A Work in Progress

I lost 2 pounds since last weeks weigh in. I would have lost more...if I hadn't had spaghetti for dinner last night! lol. I did only have 1 piece of garlic bread though, which is an accomplishment for me, considering I looove bread. I am currently reading a book right now that is really changing my perspective on things! It's called Skinny Bitch, I'm sure you've heard of it. Yes, the authors promote a vegan lifestyle, but it really does make sense, what they're advocating. I've started buying some organic foods; I am trying things slowly but surely to see what I like. I love Horizons Organic Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk!!! Tastes very much like plain ole chocolate milk, with about half the calories! I also bought some organic Fig Newman's- they taste exactly like regular fig newtons. Got organic macaroni and cheese- haven't tried yet. Got Soy Delicious Peanut Butter Zig Zag ice cream...tried and loved! It's completely dairy free! Also Amy's Organic Pizza Rolls and Newman's Own Cheese Pizza. It feels good buying products that are free of added chemicals and pesticides!!

Also, I have continued my hot yoga...I have been doing it (almost) every Tuesday and Thursday for the past month and a half now, and absolutely LOVE it. I improve my form with each class, and am really loving what it does for my body. I remember the first few classes I had to rest a couple times (several in the class do), but now I never have to rest, and really don't have to drink that much water. My body has gotten used to it!! It's now become my Tuesday-Thursday ritual! I go without even thinking about it. Anyway, just thought I would update this thing on my glorious life lately! Namaste.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Hey ya'll!

Haven't written in a while! Things are good. I did feel a little guilty about missing yoga on Tuesday, but it was for a good reason: My cousin Amber just had a baby!! My weight has stayed the same since I last posted, 130. Probably from the high sodium cashew chicken that my dad elected for his birthday lunch. But I am weighing myself tomorrow morning and will be seeing how I've progressed! I got a very good compliment at work today that the outfit I'm wearing makes me look "tiny." I love that!!

Here's a mode of inspriation: Kristin Cavallari (she was on The Hills) just got engaged to Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler- because of this, there have been pics of her all over the news/Internet, flashing her ring. Every time I see her, I think, wow- I want to look like that! I think she's about my height, and she looks so good- very toned and in shape, but skinny. Just saw a pic of her leaving the gym, looking great! It's little things like this that keep inspiring me. I'm excited for hot yoga tonight with Karamie! Here's to a good, healthy weekend!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Happy Tuesday!

Today is a good day! I have lost 2.2 ibs since my Biggest Loser Challenge weigh-in last Tuesday. So I am now 131.4. I am really excited because my friend Amanda recommended a site to me called MyFitnessPal, and I just love it. You log all your meals, snacks, even water intake, and all of your exercise. You put in how much you weigh, and how much weight you want to lose. It tells you the number of calories you need to stay under, and how many weeks it will take you to get to your goal. It has food from just about every restaurant on there so no more excuses for not counting calories! I love this and it is so helpful. What's even better is that I got some of my work friends to join as well, so we can all motivate each other!

My workout last night was 30 minutes of Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga. I'm telling you, that yoga is even more difficult than the poses in hot yoga! The heat helps in hot yoga though because it makes your body more flexible, maybe that's why I think yoga outside the heat room is difficult!! I am so thankful that I brought my friend Karamie to hot yoga last Thursday because she absolutely loved it and is going to start attending with me regularly. She is going with me again Thursday! And I'm going tonight by myself. So excited! It feels so good to sweat out toxins!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

My First Blog!

Hello to all! I don't know who all will be reading this, but this is mainly just a way for me to write about my weight loss journey and the other things that make up my daily life!! So welcome!

Most of my friends know that I am trying to lose some weight, to gear up for bikini season and to just feel better about myself and my appearance. It's not exactly a picnic trying to get my legs into skin tight jeans that were once loose on me. A little bit on my weight background: It is always something I've struggled with since high school. I guess you could call me the classic yo-yo dieter, which is something I am desperately trying to let go of and just live an overall healthy lifestyle. The earliest weight frustration I can remember was the summer after my 8th grade year, I was definitely a little chunky....and when I looked at pictures from our family trip to Disney World that summer, I could definitely see it. Then, I ran cross country my freshman year, and got into the best shape I had (and to this day) ever been in. I lost all the extra weight and looked great. That was the only year I stuck with it, and the rest of high school I looked ok and ate what I wanted, maintaining a good metabolism. After high school was another story. My normal weight was around 125, which I was happy with. Then, my freshman year of college I saw my weight creep up and up. I remember weighing myself at an old friend of mine's and crying, because I weighed about 130. It was the most I had ever weighed up until that point. I would see pictures of myself and feel fat. I was eating fast food and drinking all the time. Then, in the fall of 2005 I went through a really bad breakup and dropped a ton of weight- obviously, never a good reason to lose weight but it did let me see what I looked like at a much lighter weight. I remember I got down to 117 pounds, and even though it was a bad breakup, I was overflowed with compliments on how much weight I had lost and how good I looked. I still look at pictures from that time and am amazed at how tiny I looked. Of course, once I felt better, the weight came back on. I moved out of my mom's house in 2006, into an apartment with a girlfriend. I started to gain more weight then, and even more when I moved in with a boyfriend. Before I knew it, I was weighing myself at my mom's post-breakup and weighed 140 pounds. I could not believe it. Of course, I then dieted and the weight went down a little, but slowly but surely crept back up. Then, in the summer of 2008, I lost about 15 pounds and got down to 124. I remember looking and feeling great, and my self-esteem was soring through the roof. I bought my first pair of 'skinny jeans' and rocked them. Then, I started my last semester of college that August, and slowly but surely, the weight crept back on, like it always did. Before I knew it, I was looking at my college graduation pictures in disgust. Then, like clockwork, lost the weight again in spring of 2009, and kept it off through the summer. Notice a trend here? Gaining weight in the fall/winter, losing in the spring/summer. Anyway, I managed to keep most of the weight off until spring/summer 2010. I had a new boyfriend (Sam, who I am still ever in love with!) who is tall and skinny, and loves to eat. Well, I love to eat too, and it showed. Looking back at pictures from that summer, I feel like a fat blob in my bathing suit. The weight kept going up and up, until January 2011, when I knew I wanted to make a change. I have had a difficult time staying on track, but I have gone from 141 pounds to 132, my current weight. Ideally, I would like to get to 115-120, and actually keep it off. Keeping the weight off clearly has been my main struggle throughout the years. I am currently trying to learn about portion control, and balancing things out. Learning that I can have 2 pieces of pizza instead of 4. That I don't need to drink 3 diet sodas in one day. That, water actually DOES taste good! I want to be the girl that can buy anything she thinks is cute, and not have to worry about how fat it makes her look. This isn't just about what other people think of course, it's about me, and what I think. And I know my best self is 10 pounds lighter than what I am now. Not just my best looking self, but my best feeling self.

We have a challenge at work we are doing right now, The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Challenge. We have to weigh in every Tuesday morning and report our weight. We pay $1 every week, and every 4 weeks, the person who has lost the most weight gets the pot. The challenge goes all the way through the end of August. The first week, I didn't lose anything, but didn't gain. Our next weigh in is day after tomorrow and I am hoping I at least lost this time, as I have been in the 133-132 range for the last few weeks. I am not interested in extreme dieting or cutting anything out for good. I just want to cut down on my portion sizes and work on balancing things out better. For this reason, I bought Bethenny Frankel's book, "Naturally Thin" today. I have only read about 20-30 pages so far, but it has already inspired me. She talks about how we should think of our diet as a bank account, and that certain foods should be thought of as investments. She says we shouldn't count every little calorie, just like we shouldn't count every little penny we we budget our bank account. I like the book because there's no cutting out foods, she just teaches us how to have a new way of thinking when we do eat the bad foods. For example, if we eat pancakes at breakfast, we shouldn't eat something like pasta at lunch, which would be starchy carbs two meals in a row. This may sound like common sense, but when you see an expert put it on paper, it really makes a lot more sense. If we eat a big lunch, eat a small dinner, etc. These are just little things that a lot of people just don't think about. Sam and I walked up to Bistro Market tonight and I got some apples, grapes, and organic non-fat frozen yogurt, which I have never tried before! It's vanilla with fudge swirls. Like I said, I don't want to cut out any certain foods, but it feels great to incorporate more healthy foods into my daily life.

Well that is (a lot) about me and the journey I've been on so far!! I will make sure to keep posting!!