April weigh-in and progress pics

First off, I weighed in at

I'm not really excited about this number actually pretty damn good with this number.  I had a slow month, I ate too much, I exercised a little less than I would have liked and I struggled.  Overall its a loss, and really, I'm eighty-f'n-seven pounds lighter than my heaviest, and 67lbs down from 6.5 months ago. 

Here I am this morning. It was really sunny so my light was a little off from normal. 

The next one is March 4th, to April 1st.  Not really much difference, however since I only lost 6.4lbs for the entire month I am really not surprised.  On top of that with the heavy lifting in Chalean Extreme its typically the month with the least weight lost.

The difference from 6.5 months ago to now. Many days I still feel like the me in the top picture. I still look at myself like 'the obese girl'. I still feel like the first thing a person will notice about me is that I am overweight.  That might be true, but I am SO much closer to being at a size where that might not be the first thing someone thinks when looking at me. It might not even be the first thing I think when looking at me!

So, next month I hit the 210's! I have 2 months and 3 weeks until I turn 30, and I am dedicated to moving forward whether the pace be fast or slower. I really want to see 199 by June 22nd, but I think I just need to concentrate on small goals again since 199 is pretty much the ONLY thing I have been able to think about lately.  So if I get to 199, I will be incredibly happy but until then I'm going to focus on 5lb increments.  BRING ON 215!!

Weigh In!

I weighed in at.... 221.2 today!! Down 3.2 from last week, so I am happy!

It'g good to have 2 losses in a row, but I think I will be feeling even better if I can get into the teens next week!! I want to say good-bye to the 220's!!!

I'm off to so my 5k today and then head out on a little road trip! Should be a great day!!!

Weigh-in shocker!

So I had my post today all pre-planned.  The title was going to be "This is not a plateau".  I was expecting no-loss, or even a gain week after all my over-indulging.  

Down 2lbs. Seems pretty counter-intuitive right? I mean the week I work my butt off and eat right, I don't lose ANYTHING, and then the week I eat crap food and exercise less I LOSE 2lbs.  What kind of logic is that?  Should I give up and let my exercise go, and eat loads of yummy food?  

NO!!!!!!!!

This is just a prime example of my hard work taking time to show up on the scale.  Had I eaten better this week, I am positive my loss would have been even bigger!  The week before last is where I burned those two pounds, not this one.  

Regardless, it feels great and it a wonderful way to start off a new week!

Weigh-in (Week One Push Phase)

Today I weighed in at









226.4.

I lost exactly 0 lbs this week. No gain either :)

Am I upset about this considering I had an excellent week otherwise... Nope! I started I new exercise routine (Push Phase of ChaLEAN) lifting heavier weights and have been told even to expect a small gain on the scale from that. I've got sore muscles all over and that spells water retention!

So be patient, more loss is coming, I'm doing everything right, and just because the scale says I didn't lose weight, doesn't mean I didn't lose some fat cells in the process.

I think after my month without the scale, I feel more confident that I can put in the work and trust that the results will come!

Now, I'm off to run 10k!

Weigh-in and Progress Pics for Feb!

Well, after a long month of no-scale and lifting, I am finally here to do my weigh-in and progress pics :)

So I was pretty happy with that number, 9.5lbs down in the last 5 weeks.  Considering I upped my calories and have been building muscle, I can be very proud of that number :)

This was me this morning :)

This one is a comparison to my last progress picture in February.  I don't see a HUGE difference, but I do see a bit in my arms and back fat :)

Here is the most recent "Before" and "Progress comparison!

I'm off to the spa again today!  I'm hoping to do better this time than last food-wise.  I have pre-logged my meal and bevies and planned out the rest of the day, and I also went for a run this morning so I'm feeling pretty good about it!

Putting the scale away!

I had put it out there a few days ago that I was considering a monthly weigh-in.

I decided back in December that I was going to do Chalane Extreme (a 90 day strength focused program) when I finished the 30 Day Shred. The idea of taking the time concentrate on muscle building is just plain smart weight-loss, even smarter if you have been doing it all along. More muscle = more calories burned.

Since I am on this journey long-term, I need to think about long term goals. When I get to maintenance, do I want to be stuck to a 1200-1400 calorie a day diet to maintain... OR would I like to be eating 1600-2000 calories a day plus some exercise calories on top? I mean really, which one would you choose?

In addition to doing the Chalene Exteme Program, I have increased my daily calories to my BMR which right now is 1850. I'm doing this so I can maintain current muscle as well as build new muscle.

The scary part of these changes is that during the transition, the scale may not show an accurate reflection of what is really going on with my body. I am going to have to TRUST that I am doing the right thing for my body and wait a little longer to see those benefits on the scale.

I had a few people with "mixed" feelings on doing a monthly weigh-in. The common question is: "What if you get off track because you don't have to weigh-in?" My answer for that now is:  I seem to be on the right track nutrition-wise, and I don't feel in any danger of falling off that wagon because I still keep my food diary public for all my MFP pals to see and I will still be logging every morsel of food that enters this body.

Knowing what I do about increasing calories and starting a new fitness regimen, I will most likely see no-loss or even an increase in the first few weeks and I believe that weighing (while I try my best not to take the scale too seriously) may just be discouraging.

I'm going to have to put my inner instant gratification whore away for a while, measure my progress in inches instead of pounds and really remember that I am doing this for long-term gain.

This has been a hard decision to make because I desperately really want to get to my goal of seeing the 100's for my 30th birthday.  I may still make it there, but I also have to prepare myself for the fact that I might just have to look like I weigh in the 100's on my birthday.  Eventually I may even have to raise my goal weight too, if I am doing lots of strength training and toning, I may look better at 160, than I once did at 149.

So, I will still do weekly recaps of food and exercise, but I'm not going to weigh myself until March 1st, when I will also do my next progress photos!

Weigh-In time!

Wow, this was awesome!!

238!!

-4lbs this week! After the last two weeks seeming a little slow, this feels like my perseverance is paying off!!

Will post later on today with my Spa day!

It always feels so good to turn a bad week around!!

I started this week off horribly (or at least I felt like it)!  Last Sunday I was over my calories by a LOT.  I had planned to work it off, but felt too lazy and gave in to the temptations of the couch!

Monday and Tuesday weren't too bad, but I felt like I ate too much.  Wednesday I did ok eating-wise, but let my husband talk me out of doing my workout... I felt like crap.  Hence my Wednesday post Lazy or Moderation.

Thursday morning, I woke up and decided to turn this ship around.  I'm pretty sure I let me last week's weigh-in get the best of me.  I only lost 1lb from Monday, but I had burned enough cals for 3!

**The scale reminds me of the Honey Badger sometimes, and  Honey Badger don't give a shit!**

Any ways, like I was saying, Thursday I decided to get out of my funk and bring it!!  I hauled butt the last three days and today, I weighed in and lost 2lbs for the week!!

It feels so good when I turn it around like that.  I feel like "Oh yeah rough week? I'm going to show YOU who's boss... You think you got me all defeated and stuff... well WATCH OUT because this lady is about to kick it into high gear."

I won!

First Post of 2012, Success!!

December was a ROUGH month!! I was challenged in a lot of ways! I made a lot of bad choices. Between time-off, injury, having my co-worker leave for 3 months (yes there is only one person I work with), holiday goodies, and stress, I think I actually did pretty good! I'm down 7lbs for December! Sure it could have been more... If I was perfect.

I'm not perfect though and losing while facing challenges is a big success for me!

Originally in September I wanted to hit 240lbs by January 2nd. In early December I realized that would most likely not be realistic for me, an decided to change my goal to 245.

In hind-sight it would have worked out if I didn't have such a rough patch for two weeks, if I hadn't ever decided to have a "spike week". But maybe it will help me long term, who knows.

This morning, I HIT my mini-goal!!!

42lbs lost in 3.5 months!


Now, onto the present. January is going really well so far! I've been under on my calories, and have everything pre-logged for the week, and today I finished my first day of the 30 Day Shred!! Here I am post-workout and still smiling.

Jillian had my heart rate up around 170-180 the entire workout!!! WOW.  

I'm feeling so positive right now.  I *CAN* do this.  I feel like I'm just starting and the last 3 months was really a week. I'm not sure why. I don't know when you're supposed to feel like a veteran weight loser, but I'm not there yet. 

One thing I can see being an issue is that I still see my 300lb self in the mirror. I still think of myself as that same larger woman. I mean I am definitely still large, but I'm nervous that there will come a time where I am not obese any more and I won't be able to see it. Maybe it will just take time.  

For now I am enjoying my Skinny Cow Ice Cream cone and prepping for another morning with Jillian!

One of my secrets.

I usually weigh-in on Mondays, and I have been pretty good about only weighing on Mondays. I do this so I don't get caught up too much in the numbers, because while sometimes they can be motivating... other times the numbers can de-rail me.

There is an exception to this. If I get on that scale on Monday, and the scale tries to give me bad news, not-so-good news, or just plain not-good-enough news, then I allow myself a "re-weigh" on Tuesday.

Now if the scale is in a better mood on Tuesday, I record that weight instead. Obviously it means it's more accurate right ;) If the scale is still not feeling generous then I will just accept that I didn't do quite so well that week or that my scale is trying really hard to piss me off. Then I wait until Monday again in hopes that between my hard work and the scale having some time to relax, we can have a better result.

With all that being said, this morning the scale was WAY nicer to me than yesterday, I even weighed multiple times to make sure the scale wasn't going to change its mind! I am finally moving in the right direction!!! 250 even! I want so badly to be in the 250s and I'll be there any day now :) these 250's have been here long enough!!

New Scale

I said I wasn't going to weigh myself until Jan 2nd... But I got a new scale yesterday. I am not to blame! We went looking at scales because the one i have burns through batteries like my kids do diapers. We walk into London Drugs, and there it was, sitting in front of us... The Biggest Loser scale. The Biggest Loser *may* just be my favorite show right now. Also, sometimes, I may pretend I am on The Biggest Loser and chant to myself "If they can do it on Biggest Loser, so can I" when I'm in the middle of an intense workout and want to quit.

I've just outed myself as a huge dork.

Anyways, the result was ok, but I got excited because I weighed mid-day yesterday and saw a lower number. This morning it was up 1.5lbs. So I'm still on my way down from spike week and this last week really wasn't super amazing either so I shouldn't be surprised.

I get too caught up in the number. Sure I have sore muscles and could be holding on to some water, it could also be that it is a new scale. Maybe it's just payback for saying I wasn't going to weigh until New Years, and then doing it anyways... No matter what, it's now my number to start this week off, and I don't want to see it again!