No work, again...

Today's Weight: 212.6

I'm 1lb down since last weigh in. 

I'm starting to weigh myself everyday too lol. I don't think its a bad thing. I think it will allow me to see if there are things I need to change.

Yesterday I got another really great workout. I did a total of 40 minutes of cardio! We also did abs.

I'm really excited to go visit our friends. They are trying to move into this old plantation house, which they say is huge and supposedly haunted! I'm really hoping that we can go inside while we are there. I wish I had an EMF detector or a k-II meter and maybe an electronic voice recorder to do some EVPs. If we are able to go in I'll be sure to take a ton of pictures. If not then I can at least take some of the outside. Oooo.. this reminds me, Ghost Hunters comes on SyFy tonight! Woot!

No work today!

So yesterday, I think I got one of the best workouts. I went to the gym with my workout buddies and we first did the elliptical for about 18 minutes. Well, I did it for 18, they did it for like 14 or 15 lol. After that we moved to the upper body machines. I also went and did some crunches. I was only able to do 20 the first set and 15 the second. Then we got on the treadmill for about 10 minutes, and then the bike for 10 minutes.

Today is supposed to be cardio and abs day. I'm not sure when we'll go, because they said they'd rather go late in the evening. I think I may go sometime after lunch and at least do some cardio.

Next week we are going to visit friends and family. I probably won't be near a planet fitness to work out so I will just have to go on some walks and hopefully jog. I can also do crunches and stuff like that.

Yesterday I got myself some nice running/walking shoes. I also got myself some new socks because I was always using Victor's lol. I got some hair dye to fix my stupid hair. When we were on vacation, I tried to dye part of it blonde, but that didn't really work. So I'm just going to re-dye it brown.

Monday!

So I finally got a picture of that yummy turkey burger:

It was SO good!

Here is what we did for dinner last night:

This was my pizza, a thin crust with no sauce, low fat motzerella, tomatoes, onions, basil, and olive oil.

This is Vic's:

This was a meatlovers with sauce and lots of crust. 

Here is what was left over from his pizza:


Here is what was left of mine lol:


I used to eat at least half of the pizzas if not more. So I'm really proud of myself that I only ate 1/3 of the pizza, and that was only about 270 calories!

Can we say DELICIOUS!

I have found my new FAVORITE burger. That turkey bacon turkey burger was the most delicious burger I have ever had! I have a picture and I'll post it as soon as I can. It was so yummy. The only thing I did was I grilled the turkey burger, I put a strip of turkey bacon on the bottom and put some finely shredded colby jack and swiss cheese on top of that. Then, before I took teh burger off the pan, I put some cheese on top of it and let it melt. That went on top of the bacon/cheese. then I put another slice of turkey bacon on top. HOLY CRAP! I will NEVER go back to beef hamburgers again!

OK I'm done with that lol. Today should be a pretty easy going day. The gym doesnt open until noon, so we have to wait till then to go. After that we'll probably go get the snake some food. Then probably just hang out. I'll have to wait until probably after 7pm to see if my workout buddies are up for a walk.

I sneaked a peak at my weight this morning and I'm happy to see that its still moving! It says I'm down another pound! I really hope I can make my Halloween goal! I so desprately want to see a '1' in front of my weight! I havn't seen that since I was in 8th grade.

Well gonna go play some games until the gym opens.. ttyl

Turkey bacon turkey burgers!

That is what I'm having for dinner tonight. A friend of ours is coming over for some gaming and I decided that hamburgers/turkeyburgers would be a quick and easy meal. I also got some colby jack and swiss chesse instead of the over processed american. Can you even consider that stuff cheese? As far as the other food I've eaten today, for breakfast I had a bowl of frosted mini wheats. Lunch was scrambled eggs and some turkey bacon. I've also snacked on a little bit of dry cereal and some mixed nuts.

I got some buddies!

Last night I was over at my friends' place and I told them about how I wanted to lose weight. They got really into it and said we should all do it together! So this is our joint workout schedule that we came up with:

• Monday-Cardio/Upper Body
• Tuesday-Cardio/Abs
• Wednesday-Cardio+/Healthy Diner Night
• Thursday-Cardio/Lower Body
• Friday/Sat./Sun.: These are days when we aren't sure of scheduling, and the gym has weird hours. We opted to meet up for walks and do home workouts. 

It is really motivating to have more people doing this with me. 

Weigh Day!

Drum roll please! My weight this morning was 213.6! That is another 1.6lbs down! I know Its a little more than when I weighed myself at the beginning of the week, but I figure I'm starting to build muscle from going to the gym and etc. So thats a total of 6.4lbs since I started this blog. Woot! Only 63.6lbs to go lol.

So when Vic gets home, we are hopefully going to at least go and do some cardio. He is complaining that his arms are very sore from exercising lol. 

Workout!

WOW! Today at the gym I sweated more than I ever have! I did the leg machines today then hit the elliptical for 20 minutes and then the bike for 10 minutes. I can definitely feel it in my arms from yesterday. Here is what my exercise plan is going to be:

• Sunday-Legs/30mins. Cardio
• Monday-Arms/30mins. Cardio
• Tuesday-Rest
• Wednesday-Arms/30mins. Cardio
• Thursday-Legs/30mins. Cardio
• Friday-Arms/30mins. Cardio
• Saturday-Rest
  

Unfortunately, we won't be playing D&D this weekend :(. We won't even be able to play next weekend. The in-laws have plans. I guess Vic and I will just find something to do.

Keeping it a secret...

I have decided that I'm not going to tell any other family or riends, other than those who already know, that I am trying to lose weight. I don't have to worry too terribly much about a lot of family seeing me while I'm losing because they all live out of state. At work I have decided that I am just going to wear my baggy clothes and keep my smock on so that no one can really tell. Then by Christmas when I've made a good bit of progress, I can wear something nice at the Christmas party. I am sooo PUMPED and motivated!!! I havn't been this motivated ever! I am just so ready to get this weight off. I will not waste the money that is going into this gym membership. I actually like going. It sucks while you are doing the exercise, but I feel awesome afterwards. I am still amazed that I was able to do 30 minutes on the elliptical today. Approximately 22lbs ago, I could barely do 10 minutes!

Right now we are watching Ghost Hunters. I LOVE that show! I am really interested in the paranormal. That is just one of the many sides of my geekiness.

Speaking of geekiness, I really hope that we'll be going to my bro-in-laws this weekend. I really want to play some D&D. I'm having withdrawls!

I'm gonna be sore tomorrow...

Just got back from the gym with Vic. We did the weight machines that worked out arms and then we did 10 minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes on the bike. At the end we were sweating our butts off. Vic didn't realize how out of shape he was lol. We tried using the body fat calculator thingy on Vic but it gave an error message LOL! He has like 1% body fat lolz. Anyway, after we were done we each had a bottle of Muscle Milk, the chocolate flavor. Not very yummy :(. I prefer the Slimfast even though they don't have as much protein. Still don't know what I'm gonna do for dinner. I think I may make some eggs and turkey bacon or even eat up some of the left over chili. Well we'll see...

Sweat baby, sweat baby!

I just got back from the gym. When I got there they gave me my card and asked what size t-shirt I wanted. I thought, well a large would probably fit, but I opted for a medium instead. It will give me something to work into. I had already had an account with them previously so they didn't bother giving me the tour lol. Since Vic and I are supposed to go together tonight, I just did 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and a 5 minute cool down. Before I left, I used their little thingy that measures your body fat percentage. It said that I am currently at 34.7% body fat, and that 74lbs of my weight is fat. I googled healthy body fat percentages and this is what I found:

Females age range	Too Little	Healthy range	Overweight	Obese
20-30yrs	Below  21%	21 - 33%	33 - 39%	over 39%

According to this I am considered "overweight" and I agree. I want to try to get to the low end of the healthy range. Maybe between 21-25%. But we'll see. 

I did have to run to the thrift store to get some half-way decent shoes, and these were all they had, so I got them. They're better than what I had atleast.


Anyway, for breakfast I had a bowl of frosted mini wheats and a slim fast shake.
This is what I had for lunch:

Not sure whats for dinner yet..

This was last nights dinner:

It may look yummy, but after the first few bites I couldn't eat it. The stuffing part was OK, but I couldn't eat the rest.

I've got no excuse now...

...to get up and exercise! I got another membership to Planet Fitness and this time I'm going to use it! This time I actually got their black card member ship. This means I can bring one guest per day, so Victor said he'd go with me sometimes. Not that he has anything to lose, lol, but he said he'd like to tone up and build some muscle. It will still be really nice to have him to go with. I'll also be able to go with a few different friends from work because they have memberships too. With the upgraded membership, I even get to use the message chairs, tanning beds, and I get half priced cooler drinks.

212.8

That is what the scale said this morning. I know its not Friday yet, but I just wanted to see how I was doing. I won't be putting that as an official weight, but it is a 2.6lb loss since last Friday! Thats a total of 5lbs lost so far! I'm getting closer and closer to being under 200lbs! I'm so excited to get there. The last time I was trying to lose weight, I got down to 205!!! That was sooo CLOSE, but this time I will get past it! So, only 13.8lbs until I am under 200!

So here is a picture of what I've lost:

That is a model of 5lbs of FAT!

I just need to stay motivated. I need to think of these things every day.

Clean clean clean

So today I spent the rest of the afternoon after I got off work cleaning the house. I cleaned the entire upstairs, the living room, and both bathrooms, but I still have a few more things to do with the kitchen and a TON of laundry to do. Thats what I'll probably end up doing tomorrow. After Vic gets home we're going to go to our friend's house and play some dungeons and dragons.

As far as food today, I had an apple and a slim fast shake for breakfast. At lunch I had half of my foot-long sub! That is amazing because I usually always eat the whole things. I also had a couple of chocolate chip cookies though. But, I can't imagine them having too many calories. I had a diet coke with lunch. For dinner I just ate a bowl of cinnamon Life cereal. I'll probably eat the remainder of my sub also. I probably went a little bit over today, but I also was moving around and was a bit more active than I usually am, so hopefully it will be OK.

Well the hubby is wanting to hang out so I'll ttyl!

Defeating Temptation

Tonight after work, we were required to attend one of the most boring meetings. The nice thing was that they provided free drinks and pizza. I defeated temptation by resisting eating the pizza and chose to drink a water rather than a soda. I am so proud of myself. I think I'm doing pretty well. I just keep telling myself whenever a bad food is around that its just going to make me gain weight and reaching my goal is going to take longer if I eat that. 





I only hope that I can keep that mindset.

Ground Turkey.. mmmm!

So for dinner this evening I made chili with ground turkey instead of ground beef. Vic even said that it was the best chili I've made yet, so I guess he likes the turkey lol. For my chili I added pinto beans, chopped red and yellow onions, and chopped fresh tomatoes, yum! As far as what I ate today, besides the chili, I had some Life cereal, a slim fast shake, and an apple. I've also had a lot of water. So I've been running to the bathroom a lot lol.

I went to the farmers' market and got another bag of those AWESOME apples. I wonder how long they'll last this time.

Hopefully we'll be playing some D&D on Monday or Tuesday with some of our friends. I'm really hoping that we'll be able to go to gbo this weekend to play with Vic's brother-in-law. I'm DMing that game and I really enjoy playing with the in-laws.

Weigh Day! and a look at the new Shape-Ups.

Well as you can see, today is weigh day! I am very excited to say that I'm down 2.4lbs!!! WOOT! So now I'm 215.2lbs. I really can't wait to get to onederland. I don't think I've weighed less than 200 since probably 8th grade. I think I will start using the tae bo tapes that I have. Its something good for days like today when its raining and I can just stay inside and do it in the living room.

I've been seeing commercials for these shoes by Sketchers.

They're called Shape Ups and they are for walking. This is their claim: "The Shape-Ups simulate walking barefoot on a yielding surface such as sand, which increases muscle activity level resulting in a boost of your metabolism level and increased calorie burn. These walking shoes also can relieve pressure on joints and tendons with daily use." I'd really like to try these out. On finishline.com they are $99 dollars, but there is a code to get $15 off of a $90+ purchase. The code is Aster if you are interested. Plus you also get free shipping because they are expensive. I think I may start saving up to get a pair. I read some of the customer reviews and they seem pretty good.

Goals

I think I've done really well this first week. I made lots of healthier choices today. At breakfast I chose turkey bacon instead of pork, I decided not to eat the pop tart that was 200 calories per pastry, and I had apples and diet coke with my subway sandwich instead of chips and regular soda. I have also been drinking my water. I'm really hoping that will off set the water retention from Aunt Flo. She finally decided to leave today, thank goodness!

I've come up with some mini-goals for the next few months:

• Halloween Goal: Onederland
• Thanksgiving Goal: 192lbs
• Christmas Goal: 184lbs
• New Year's Goal: 182lbs
• Valentine's Goal: 170lbs
• Birthday Goal (March 26): 158lbs
• Major Goal (by the end of April): 150lbs
  

Squash Pasta!

So this totally wasn't that bad! I was pretty surprised that I didn't mind it and ate most of it. I think the only reason I didn't eat all of it was because I got full. On to the pictures:

Here is the 'pasta'


I also added some sauteed onions and mushrooms


Just some canned sauce with ground beef


All together!


All mixed up.


Anyways, I accomplished my goals that I set for myself last night. I drank a ton of water today, I made it to the farmers market, obviously, and I walked/jogged with Vic today. So now I'm sitting on the couch with my hubby watching Ghost Hunters on Syfy. I love this show!

Tomorrow I plan to get some laundry done. I need to keep up with drinking my water. I also have to take Pip to his puppy class tomorrow evening. Blarg

Farmers' Market Haul...

Check out all my veggies, and the apples lol. There were so many yummy veggies at the farmers' market today. I got the squash to try and use as a substitute for pasta. I'm going to use the tomatoes and onions to make my own sauce or salsa. Victor and I already ate a couple of apples  and they were soooo good! I'll let you know after dinner how the squash is!

Too many calories, the farmers' market, and Patrick Swayze.

I added up all the calories that I ate today and I went over. :(. I ate somewher around 2200 cals today. BLAST! But I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I'm just going to keep trying. I think I may go to the local farmers' market tomorrow afternoon. Here is the produce calendar:


So according to this, I should be able to get some tomatoes, pumpkin, squash, peaches,. grapes, cucumbers, green beans, and apples. I really want to get some yellow squash to try substituting it for pasta, and I can use the tomatoes to make sauce. I may also get some pumpkin to cook because I have read that it is one of the 'good' carbs for you. I'm really glad that we have a farmers' market around here. It just seems like if you go to the grocery store and try to buy fresh veggies, they cost much more. Its like eating healthy is more expensive :(.

Today Victor and I cleaned at least half of the house. We got he living room re-arranged and I like it a lot more this way. There is still a ton of laundry that needs to be tackled though.

I think I may try to talk Vic into jogging with me tomorrow morning. I got to thinking, and if I can do 20 minutes on the eliptical without dropping dead, I could probably jog at least 1/4-1/2 of a mile without stopping.

I also just learned that Patrick Swayze died yesterday at age 57! That sucks. I loved him in Dirty Dancing!
Good Bye Mr. Swayze!!!


GOALS FOR TOMORROW:

• If not jog, at least go for a walk. 
• Drink at least 48oz of water. 
• Go to the farmers' market.
  

Late night work outs!

My friend Jane and I just returned from a night time work out at our local gym. She has unlimited guest privleges so I was able to tag along. We were there for at least an hour and maybe a half. I am going to be feeling this tomorrow, that is for sure. I was amazed that I was able to do 20 straight minutes on the eliptical without stopping to catch my breath or drink some water! When I used to go to the gym before, I could barely do 10 minutes without feeling like my legs were going to fall off! After that we did a few of the weight machines and then one of the cycling bike thingys lol. I feel energized and tired at the same time. I feel very accomplished, that I was able to do all that and I don't feel like I'm going to keel over. Yayz!

Tomorrow Vic and I will be cleaning the entire house. This should be fun! It really needs to be cleaned bad. Perhaps afterward we can either go for a walk/jog or to the gym.

Good night world.

BEFORE Pics

Internet is FINALLY back on!!! YAY

I was so bummed that I wasn't able to post for the last few days. So now I have to try and remember what happened for the past few days.

I weighed in at 217.6lbs on Friday. Off to a good start already!

On Saturday I discovered that cottage cheese is one of the most disgusting things that has ever crossed my lips. I had gotten a couple of those with the cottage cheese on one side and fruit on the other. The fruit didn't help either. YUCK!!! To make things worse, Aunt Flo decided to grace me with her presence. So I may end up gaining weight instead of losing this week :(.

I am proud of myself for a few things though. I resisted temptation when there were cupcakes and sweet biscuits at work. Usually I will help myself when someone brings in doughnuts or whatever, but I did really good!

Some other things that I have discovered over the last few days:

• Hummus is really yummy. 
• Raw mushrooms taste like dirt (but are ok with hummus). 
• The sandwich thins are excellent. 
• Tuna steaks are yummy. 
• Resisting temptation isn't all that hard.
  

I also got a book at Barnes and Noble the other day by Jillian Michaels, the trainer from The Biggest Loser. So far I have found it to be very interesting/educational. She says that in order to get a proper goal, that you need to figure out a realistic goal. You start by determining your body shape. Victor helped me come to the conclusion that I am an apple shape. I store most of my weight in my upper body mostly in the belly area. She says the reason you need to realize this is that there is only so much that you can do about your shape. To attain a goal she reccomends going by your waist-to-hip ratio. The ideal for women is 0.80; I am currently at 1.03. There is also a height/weight chart if you are wanting to count pounds. For my height it says my weight should be around 150lbs which is what I was aiming for anyway.

There are some great tips for eating slow so that you know when you are full. Such as, eating with your off-hand, putting your fork down between bites, and taking a sip of water between bites.

She the goes into the 'science' behind dieting/exercise. Like figuring out how many calories you would burn if you were sedentary the entire day and how much to cut out per week to lose x amount of pounds. After calculating everything, I found that I would need to consume 9,800 calories in a week to lose 2lbs a week. It also explains how you should break them down differently each day so that your metabolism can't get used to the same thing everyday. Makes sense and sounds easy enough.

I've thought of some goals to try and acheive by the end of this month:

• Jog 1/2 mile without stopping.
• Lose 4 pounds.
• Drink at least one gallon of water per day.
• Stay away from bad foods.
  

Lets try this again..

I'm getting sick and tired of looking and feeling the way I do. I'm 21 and I shouldn't weigh two hundred twenty-somthing pounds. So my big, no that is an understatement, HUGE goal is to get to 150lbs. (or at least somewhere where I feel comfortable in my own skin.) After I reach that, I can decide if I want to lose more.

To the right of my blog you will find my stats and things about me. I plan on adding measurements probably tomorrow. Tomorrow will be my first weigh day. Only because I am not currently at my house and I don't have my scale. I did weigh myself on my sister-in-law's scale just now and it said 218lbs. But my normal weighing days will be Fridays as soon as I get up and go to the bathroom.

Anyway, I can't tell you how many times I've tried to start 'dieting' or lose weight. Growing up I was always overweight for as long as I can remember. I've blogged on different sites and places before, but never have they been open for all the world to see. Well that ends today. I will no longer click that little 'private' or 'diary' setting. I want people to read what I write and comment or even criticize. (Hopefully it will be constructive criticizm lol.) There are so many people out there who blog about their trials and experiences in trying to lose weight, so I know I'm not alone, even if I sometimes feel that way.

My husband has been skinny his whole life. As a matter of fact, he is actually underweight. So I can't really look to him for advice or as a weight loss buddy. I think I may try to get someone from work in on this. I don't know if anyone would go for it though. But here are some of my plans for my weight loss:

• I have mapped out a route that I can walk (and hopefully run later on) that is in my neighborhood. According to Google Maps, it is about a 1.4 mile loop, and I live in a hilly area, so hopefully there will be some incline. I think that walking this loop once or maybe even twice if I have the time per day will be pretty good exercise to start off. 
• I will stop being lazy when it comes to dog walking. Whenever I walk one of our three dogs, I just take them outside and wait for them to do their business. I am going to start having a set route that I can walk our dogs around our apartment complex that will give them and myself more exercise. 
• I will take my dogs to the dog park at least once a week, for at least 30 minutes. They love to run around without having to be on a leash and I can walk the perimeter of the park while they run around and have fun.  
• I am going to start making healthier choices when it comes to food and snacks. Instead of going for the potato chips, I'll reach for the grapes or apples. I want to try healthier foods that I was always afraid to try because I thought I wouldn't like them.. such as hummas, asparagus, cottage cheese, garbanzo beans, mushrooms, etc.
• I am going to start eating more veggies. I have no problem eating fruit, but it seems as if I only like a small number of veggies. I will try to mix them together and cook them certain ways to make myself like them.
• I will choose water over soda or other sugary drinks.
• I am going to try and get my mom and possibly little sister to make a blog here and do this with me. The support and ideas will really help.

So there are some of the things I plan on doing. Please feel free to comment with suggestions, tips or ideas. They are always appreciated!

As far as what I have eaten today, it hasn't been that great for me, but I'm doing what I can, seeing as I'm at soemone else's house.
Food comsumed today:

• Bowl of frosted flakes with 2% milk (i think)
• A few ounces of rotisserie turkey with some potato salad
• Bbq pork sandwich and some cashews
• A handfull of grapes
• A few diet sodas here and there.