Friday, March 30, 2012

One Pants, Two Pants, Good Pants, Bad Pants

Like many women, I do not enjoy purchasing clothes. I hate it. It's the most depressing thing I can do. I don't mind shopping for shirts or exercise shorts, but jeans and slacks are not fun. There have been many times where I have walked out of a store frustrated because I couldn't find pants that fit right. The pants may fit around my waist but because of my size the crotch would hang half way to my knees or to get the crotch to sit right I would have to pull the waistband to my boobs. Not a fun thing to deal with. I also have short legs, so many times even petite length pants are still too long. About 6 years ago I found 3 pairs of slacks that fit me wonderfully, well kinda. One pair fit perfectly! One pair was a little big, and the other pair was a little snug. Same designer, same style of pant, just different colors. It was rather depressing that they were all so different, but it wasn't too bad so I've worn them for the last 6 years.

Fast forward, and one pair of pants became ruined with bleach (of course my favorite). I was left with only 2 pairs of pants, the black pair, and the brown pair. I have been highly impressed that they have held up so well. This last year though a problem arised, I could only wear black pants to work, and only having 1 pair made it really difficult, especially for the weeks where I worked 5-6 days in a row. A miracle happened though and I found another pair of black slacks that fit me like a glove. They were a couple sizes larger than my previous pair and while I was not happy about the size increase, I still wasn't quite ready to make the changes needed in my life to loose the weight. The final deciding factor that finally kicked my butt in gear was having the zipper burst while at work. So embarrassing!!! Thankfully though I had to wear an apron so I could hide my burging stomach. I decided to chalk up the broken zipper to the pants being old... 6 years is a long time and a lot of washes. Then horror upon horror happened, the zipper on the other pair of pants burst also. What made this even more depressing to me was the 2nd pair (brown) had always been the pair that was too loose. So I am now back to only 1 pair of slacks, maybe.

Ok, so here's the point of my story, this morning, I weighed in (officially my weigh in date is tomorrow) and I am down 5.3lbs in the last month. I hadn't really noticed much of a change in my body because let's face it, 5lbs really isn't a lot in the scheme of things. But one thing I did notice when I put my remaining slacks on this afternoon, they were loose. I'm not talking about "pulling down without undoing the zipper" loose, but loose enough that I can pull the waist band away from my stomach. I'm very excited and happy!!! I'm happy that I am finally back to the mindset I should be in. I'm exicited to see what this next weight in will say. I'm excited to think maybe, just maybe by my 35th birthday *gasp* I might just finally break the 200lb mark that has been haunting me for the last 15 years! The lowest I've gotten was after my children were born, and I got down to 205 and 203 respectively. Even being that close I could not break that stupid milestone, but I'm gonna do it this time! You just watch me!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Back from Vacation

***Note to self*** Do not go on vacation in the first weeks of learning a new lifestyle. Really really hard to eat right and exercise when out of your comfort zone.

That's right, I did it, I left town for about 10 days. My son was on spring break so I decided that we were going to go visit my sister up north. I had a lot of fun, but also struggled big time with my eating and exercising. My sister's family's lifestyle is completely different than mine. Not a bad thing for them, but it was a very bad thing for me. I was hoping to cook more than I did so I could have a little more control over what was in my foods, but because their lifestyle was very different, they weren't all that interested in eating the same foods that I was. I did do my best, but I didn't track anything while gone. I didn't know what all was many of the foods, or how much of various ingredients, so I just tried to eat less (most of the time) and decided if I gained, I wasn't going to worry about it. I did try to exercise, but again, very hard since we were constantly surrounded by 1293172389 children who wanted to "help". lol. The good news though is that I did end up loosing .9lbs between the time I left and when I weighed in yesterday morning. That was a huge accomplishment!!! Very excited about it. Now I'm trying to be back to eating better, but well, I'm having issues. I think my hormones are going wonky because today I have felt like I was just starving all day. I really hate that feeling because that is how I gained 30lbs in 1 month after it took me 4 months to loose those dang 30lbs. ARGH! I really don't want to do that again so I need to figure out how to curb the binge eating. This week is also going to be tough on me because it's the end of the month and my fridge foods are very low. Gotta restock Sunday. Only 3 days to go. I think another good news is that I think I managed to curb my eating tonight (after consuming almost a full packet of crackers). I don't feel like I'm gonna starve to death anymore. (That's what my cravings are... I feel like I'm starving and can't find enough food to put into my mouth).

Now more bad news... My sleep patterns are completely outta whack. I was very tired last night and went to bed at my normal time, but ended up waking up around 3am and couldn't go back to sleep so all day I have just felt like I am in a fog... exhausted, no energy, cold. At one point I even felt like I had a fever. I'm still tired and as soon as my daughter goes to bed I'm going to crash. Hopefully I can get enough sleep tonight so I feel like myself tomorrow. I'm very excited to try my new ZUMBA wii game. I had attempted just to learn the moves and 1 move was so hard that I gave up, but while gone, I let my niece try it and it didn't look too hard, so I'm gonna give it a whirl! ;-)

Good night, and happy loosing!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Hump Day Blues

Wednesday:
Today has been really hard for me. I've been really exhausted today, and just didn't really have any energy. I had errands and cleaning that had to be done throughout the day so I didn't get a chance to exercise earlier like I wanted to. :( After putting the kids to bed, I did do my workout, but my heart wasn't in it. I was tired, sore, and just not in the mood, but I still did it. That is a huge milestone for me because normally I just wouldn't have done it and would have just watched T.V. or gone to bed instead. I'm proud of the fact that I did exercise. I also decided tonight that it's a really good thing this week is almost over because I'm ready to switch workouts. I had decided that I wanted to do each workout for 1 week. I think I am going to start doing my steps again, at least 10 minutes a day, along with a video workout. I haven't decided which one I want to switch to since I have a bunch... gotta think. Now to today's results

Weight: 246.9 (HOT DANG! Daily loss of .2lbs, overall loss of 3.3)
Breakfast:
eggs and waffles

Lunch:
Mac-Sketti

Ok, so this is my creation. It's a combination of Macaroni and Cheese and Spagetti. To make it, you cook the macaroni, once the noodles are done, use the same pan, and melt 2tbsp of margarine and add 1 8oz can of tomato sauce and 2 oz of cheese (about 1/2 cup). re-add noodles, wa-la!

Snack:
Apples and Peanut butter

Dinner:
Chicken Cordon Bleu, Red potatoes, and a salad.

Exercise: 55 minute Sweatin' to the oldies 2

Water 9 8-oz glasses

Oh, one more thing, before Sunday I could not grab my ankle when standing and stretch out my thigh. After just 4 workouts I can. Also, I've noticed some major definition in my arms... nice, (now to just finish getting rid of the old lady arms. Gotta work on that a lot more. )

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Fitter Single Mom: Over the Hump

The Fitter Single Mom: Over the Hump: Ok, so maybe over the hump is a little optimistic, but I'm ok with that. This morning I was kind of dreading getting on the scale, terrified...

Over the Hump

Ok, so maybe over the hump is a little optimistic, but I'm ok with that. This morning I was kind of dreading getting on the scale, terrified I would see once again, another gain, but to my pleasant surprise, I had a loss of .9 lbs. Can I get a "WOOT WOOT!" LOL. It was highly exciting. I am now back to my lowest weight since I started tracking this month. Is it a lot? no, but I'm not expecting miracles, I'm not expecting Biggest Loser numbers, I just want a healthy loss so I don't ever gain the weight back. So, onto my daily view

Tuesday:
Weight: 247.1 - Daily loss of .9lbs, total loss of 3.1 lbs

Breakfast:
2 eggs, 2 eggo nutrigrain waffles with strawberries and whipped cream

Lunch:
(Left overs)
1 serving of Sweet and sour chicken and 1 cup of rice

Snack:
Peanut butter and celery

Dinner:
(Left overs)
Corn chowder and chicken salad

Exercise:
1 hour Richard Simmon's Sweatin' to the Oldies 2

A side note on the exercise, after only 3 days of doing Sweatin' to the Oldies, I can already tell a huge difference in my body. Not necessarily in inches lost, but in the way I feel. I have a couch that once you sit down, it's very hard to get off the couch, but today, I noticed that instead of rolling off the couch, I was actually just standing right up... no hands on legs for support, no scooting to the edge, straight up. I also noticed that yesterday when I laid down on the floor to do the floor exercises, I screamed in pain  due to the sore muscles in my stomach, this morning, while still sore, no pain. During the exercise there are several spots of stretching. When I was younger I had no problems reaching my legs to do the stretches, but as I've gotten older and lost flexibility I've had a hard time reaching my legs to do the stretching properly, today, I could do almost every stretch. Not quite as well as when younger, but I still did them. I'm very happy and excited. I am finally starting to feel better than I have in a really long time. Out of the 13 days in this month so far, I have exercised for only 10, and already I'm seeing a vast improvement. I can't wait to see what else I can do.

Water: 9 glasses

Monday, March 12, 2012

Monday Blues

Weight: 248

While technically the day started off REALLY crappy, it ended even worse... it's been tough. Not going to lie about it. When I first woke up, I decided to weigh, and the scale said I had gained .4 lbs again...AGAIN! I was so upset. It sucks to see the number rise when you are doing everything you think is right and still not see results. I later made the realization that I weighed too early. I know, I know... 1 hour shouldn't mean much, but for me it does. I have to be constant on weighing in the same time every day to see real results. Once I reweighed, I was actually at my above posted weight. YAY! so a loss of .4

Breakfast:
2 "fried" eggs
2 waffles w/ strawberries and Whipped Cream

Lunch:
Corn chowder

Snack:
Peanut Butter Grahamwich
Celery w/ peanut butter

Dinner:
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Rice
Salad

Water: 9 8-oz glasses
Exercise: 1 hour of Richard Simmon's Sweatin' to the Oldies 2

I would call this day a success. Monday blues... no way!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Sabbath Crunch

Sunday's are always my hardest day of the week. Our church is at 11:00 am so Breakfast cannot be too early or too late. Lunch is delayed and then dinner is almost not worth it since church ends at 2:00 pm. It's very hard to fit  healthy food into this schedule. This morning I was excited for breakfast because this week I received a new cookbook in the mail, The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook.  When my new book came in, I scoured the pages for recipes that I knew I would eat, and recipes I thought my kids would enjoy. I came across the Strawberry Breakfast banana split as a breakfast dish. Sounds good right? A banana split for breakfast, and not just a banana split, a healthy one? I told my kids about it, showed them the picture from the cook book, and eagerly, my children counted down the minutes until breakfast was served. My son even waited for me to make breakfast instead of making himself a bowl of cereal. As I was making breakfast, I was licking my lips in anticipation of the chocolate, strawberries and bananas that were awaiting my taste buds. I gave my kids their bowls, and sat down with them to eat my bowl, and after just a couple of bites, pushed it away...I just was wrong. My mind and body was screaming at me, "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING???? This isn't breakfast!!! I want breakfast and I want it NOW!!!" So into the freezer the banana split went to await a proper time of day, and I broke open the box of waffles. Finally, breakfast was served. :)

So on to my progress...
Sunday:
Weight: 248.4

I was so excited to get on the scale this morning, SURE that I had lost, and to my horror I gained another .4 lbs!!! ARGH! But it's a process. After looking over my food choices the last 3 days, I believe that I have figured out the weight gain trigger... bread/carbs. I've noticed in the last few days I've had A LOT of carbs and bread, so hasta la vista baby... carbs/breads are outta here! No I won't be cutting them out completely. I'm a carb girl. I loves my carbs, but I will be limiting them a lot more than I have.

Breakfast:
Waffles and whipped cream (too tired to cut up more strawberries)

Lunch:
Chicken Salad from yesterday minus the bread
Corn chowder from yesterday... gotta use up those leftovers

Dinner:
Creamy Italian Chicken with Rice.

I didn't get in nearly as many veggies today... ok, let's face it, I didn't get in any veggies today... gotta fix that tomorrow. Now I did add a few tomatoes to my chicken and rice, and a little cheese.

I need to exercise but since it's now 9:36 pm, I don't think I'm going to make it. My plan is to exercise 1st thing in the morning and again tomorrow night... here's to hoping.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Which weigh do I go?

I'm not sure about you, but I really dread the new year. Why? Because I always have these high hopes and dreams of actually being able to accomplish something with my life and I set all these resolutions and after about 2 weeks I realize, "Screw it! Too much work!" and I give up. Doesn't matter what the goal is, it still happens. I've had on my resolution for the last, 15 years "loose 20 lbs", "exercise more", "clean house on a regular basis". This year, my New Year's Resolution involved my Etsy store... make more products for the store, and take better pictures. I actually gave up on the loosing weight thing, because it just wasn't happening. While my mind and heart was into it, my brain said, NOPE! Not happening. So I decided not to worry about it. I know I can loose weight, and I know eventually I would get to a place where physically, emotionally, and mentally I was ready to get back on the fitness wagon. Well, that time has come. 

As of March 1, 2012, I finally decided I really was ready to get back in shape, and feel better. It's been a struggle. I'm having to over come all of my ghosts and fears that tell me I can't do this. That I am going to give up. I'm too weak. I'm not good enough to do it. I know these feelings are wrong, and I am determined to prove it. Last week was my trial week, to see if I really was back in the right place mentally. The result: I am. I have selected my weigh in day for Saturday, because let's face it, the week days are pretty simple, it's the weekend that's the killer, so I like to have my weekends be the beginning of the week so if I splurge it's ok, because I still have 5 days to fix whatever I messed up, where as if I weigh in on a Monday morning, I'm S.O.L. 

So, last Friday night, I decided what I wanted to have for my main dinners for the whole week, and planned out my menu. Saturday morning I weighed in at 250.2lbs. (not my most proud moment). After breakfast I took my kids grocery shopping and spent a whopping $200 on groceries for 1 week... yup, that's right, 1 week's worth. Ok, so while the items I bought were suppose to be for only 1 week, I did stock up on a few items that could last longer than 1 week or bought multiples. When we got home, I made lunch did some cleaning, and then we had dinner. now... what did we have you ask... that's really the question right? WHAT was the food. For breakfast I had 2 "fried" eggs, and 2 slices of toast w/ a little butter. Lunch, well, I actually skipped it. Dinner ended up being Sweet and Sour chicken with Rice and for dessert Vanilla pudding. Not the greatest day, food wise, and I did get a little hungry. But I considered it a start. I drank around 9 8-oz glasses of water, and for exercise I did 5 minutes of steps on my stepper. By the end of the night I was exhausted! 

Sunday:
I forgot to weigh.
Breakfast:
1 fried egg (fried with cooking spray)
2 eggo nutri-grain low fat waffles w/ blue berries and whipped cream

Lunch:
Turkey, ham and cheese sandwich with tomato and mayo
2 8-oz glasses of chocolate milk

Dinner:
Basil Chicken with potatoes
salad
raspberry hazelnut vinaigrette

Snack:
yoplait light pineapple upside down cake

Exercise:
15 minutes on the stepper

Sunday was really hard. Breakfast kept me filled nicely, but lunch just did not cut it. I got really hungry around 2pm. Since I had already tracked my food, I knew I didn't have enough daily Weight watcher's points left, so I just drank water, and more water, and more. I learned that a sandwich alone just isn't going to cut it yet.

Monday:
Weight: 249.2 (loss of 1lb total)
Breakfast: 
1 Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl, the sausage and gravy

Lunch: 
Tuna Macaroni Salad (my invention)

Dinner:
Hawaiian Haystacks with White rice.

Exercise: none (rest day)

This was a good day eating wise, but my legs were so sore, that I could hardly walk. I had major pains in my calves from the muscles being so sore. I wanted to continue to work them out, but the pain was too much, so I decided to just give my legs a break and pick everything up again the next day.

Tuesday:
Weight: 249.2 (no change)
Breakfast:
Egg and waffles again,

Lunch:
Tuna Macaroni Salad

Dinner:
Chicken tacos (again my invention)

Exercise: 10 minutes steps

The muscle soreness was almost gone, and food wise, I was doing awesome! I wasn't getting hungry at all. I was hitting most of my daily values... life is going good.

Wednesday:
Weight: 247.6 (total loss of 2.6lbs)
Breakfast:
egg and waffle breakfast

Lunch:
Tuna macaroni Salad

Dinner:
Chicken Enchiladas
Salad

Snack:
cottage cheese and pineapple

I had a lot of left over sauce from the Hawaiian Haystacks so I decided to use that as the sauce for my chicken enchiladas. It worked wonderfully! The flavor's were a little bit different, but not much. 

Exercise: 18 minutes steps. I decided to increase each of my intervals by 1 minutes. It was really tough, and I thought I was going to die, but I completed each interval.

Thursday:
Weight: 247.1 (total loss of 3.1lbs)
Breakfast:
egg and waffle breakfast

Lunch: 
1/2 serving of the Tuna macaroni salad 
Turkey and ham cheese Sandwich

Dinner:
Tacos


Exercise: Rest day

I decided to give myself another rest day because I was dealing with some severe pain in my legs. At first I thought it was from the increased exercise and was going to reduce my time back to 5 minutes again, but by the time i went to bed, I realized that the pain was caused by the cold. I decided to take a pain pill which is never a good thing because it knocks me on my butt for about 24 hours.

Friday:
Weight: 247.4 (small gain of .3lbs but over all loss of 2.8lbs)
Breakfast: Because I was still feeling the effects of the pain pill, I had no energy to cook anything, so i decided that a sausage bowl was a good thing.

Lunch:
1/2 serving of the tuna macaroni salad (whew... finally gone!)
Turkey and Ham sandwich

Dinner:
Chicken enchiladas
salad
chocolate milk

Snack:
I had the bright idea to try to make my own frozen yogurt "ice cream" and froze 3 containers of the yoplait light yogurt, one for me and each of my kids. I was served the Black Forest cake container. While the idea was interesting, the flavor just didn't do it for me, it was just way way way too sweet. 

Exercise: 12 minutes Steps
Still hard, but getting easier.

Saturday - Weigh-in day
Weight: *trumpet sounds* 248lbs (again, a small gain of .6lbs but an overall loss of 2.2lbs)
Now even though I put on a little bit towards the end of the week, my overall loss of 2.2lbs is a very healthy loss and still very exciting. I'm not sad/upset/disappointed or anything negative about this loss. No, it's not the 4-6lbs that I typically loose when first starting a new "diet", but I also typically kill myself exercising and I didn't do that this time. I decided to take it slow and ease myself back into exercising so again, 2.2lbs, I'm very proud and excited for it!

Breakfast:
eggs and waffles again

Lunch:
Chicken Salad w/ grapes and apples on sara lee 45 cal bread
Peanutbutter Grahamwich.

Dinner:
Grilled Cheese sandwich 
Southwestern Corn Chowder

By this point, I was so stuffed i wanted to throw up, but I still had 9 points left to eat for the night. It has completely amazed me. In just 1 week, my body is already feeling the effects of eating better and eating the right proportions. It completely amazes me how the human body adapts. So, 9 evil points still to deal with. After some advice, I decided to drink 1 8-oz glass of chocolate milk for 6 points, and another grahamwich for 3 points. and finally 2 slices of turkey after my exercise for 1 point. (yes, I went over by 1 and I'm ok with that.)

Exercise: 55 minutes of Richard Simmon's Sweatin' to the Oldies.
This is one of the hardest workouts I've ever done in my life. This workout has helped me in the past to keep a weight loss maintained for 1 year (stopped working out. :( ) so between the steps and the video, I think I have my bases covered, and while I love doing the steps, I decided I needed a more total body workout. Don't want to get the sexy legs and still have a huge tummy. So, Richard, you're gonna be my buddy in this long journey to getting fit.

And this is where I end off. I'm feeling good, more hydrated than I've been in a very long time, and I have sore legs. What more can I ask? Will I keep it up? Oh yes. I'm ready for it. The one thing that is helping me keep motivated and feel like I'm in control is by tracking my food the night before so I do not have to think about it when I'm hungry. I can just look on my Plan manager and see what new and exciting food I will be eating that day. I can also decided if I want to do any snacks or whatever. It really has been a life saver.

I will be posting the recipes that I'm cooking with and the pictures of my meals on the cooking page, and linking them back to this page if anyone is interested. :)

I hope you will continue to join me through my journey and if I can inspire even 1 person to start their own journey to better health, then this has all been worth it.