The results are in!!!!

I had my first official weigh in at curves yesterday....my starting weight was 271 pounds and my current weight is 267 pounds.  I lost 4 pounds, 5 inches, and 3.25 pounds of body fat.  My total percent of weight loss is 1.48% (calculate your percentage here.)  Its a start.  I'm still working on curbing those cravings for fast food and soda.  I am proud to say I have not had a soda in 2 days, I'm working on drinking more water - it is the stuff of life - it can have so many affects on your body if you don't have enough.   So stop reading right now and go get a glass of water - finish it before you come back.  Go on!!

One of my good friends from Pathways is also embarking on a weight loss journey and blogging about it (you can find it here)  in his first post he makes a good point about the cost of food and weight loss and the ease of it (its why its so easy to turn to fast food in a pinch.  I mean come on, the dollar menu - every fast food place has one - Wendy's McDonald's, Burger King, Sonic, Jack in the Box...and with combo meals, its even harder NOT to avoid them.  I used to eat junk food 24/8 (EVERY time I saw one I would stop - well, ok not quite, but just about) I ate it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack (which would end up being more like second dinner).  Any food that was 'free' (meaning I didn't have to pay for it) I would gorge myself on - seconds, thirds, sneaking when people weren't looking, it was almost a challenge to see how fast I could scarf something down without anyone noticing and go back for more and more until I was absolutely stuffed.  Then somehow an hour later I would be hungry again.  I didn't understand it until I started taking a SERIOUS look at the quality of the food I was eating. (I think this was after watching the season 7 finale of biggest loser - first time to watch the show all the way through -- I picked up the show towards the end of season 6) What nutrients did this provide?  How much am I really eating? How many calories? What is actually in this (half the stuff I couldn't even pronounce - partially hydrogenated....what does that even mean? see here for a definition/ description ) I was shocked.  Then I started think about what my body needs to function - water for organ, blood, kidney and who knows what else, fiber to keep you full, protein to help build muscles, calcium for bones, then I started wondering how the body worked, like what things made it run, what things were essential for prime function and started consuming those things.  At the beginning of this year I vowed to eat better and exercise - I started the flat belly diet and didn't even make it a week - not for lack of trying, but for lack of comfort.  There was absolutely ZERO fiber in anything I ate which left me a little, umm...backed up for a week. You can imagine the discomfort.  So I started to wonder about the rest of the diet I looked in the cook book, about 5 recipes had more than 5 grams of fiber (recommended daily intake is about 25g).  Fiber helps you feel fuller longer.  I think I could become best friends with fiber so I started looking for those things with more fiber.  Then I got on this kick for less salt ( I won't say I'm a convert just yet, but Ms. Dash does go nicely with some food).  I've become EXTREMELY interested in the amount of sodium I consume - it adds up to water weight gain.  And weight gained is well, not where I want to be.  I've read articles, I have um...18 tabs pulled up for weight loss tips, exercises to work on trouble spots and build more strength in upper body and legs (my worst spots by far) I read books (as mentioned in a previous post) and I have started to realize that while all those cooking shows may seem glamorous (or maybe that's just me) the fat content and calories may not be the best.  I watched part of Tyler Florence today.  I could barely stand it. My mouth was watering, I could almost taste what he was making.   After my little experiment with my fast food bill counting,  I realized that with as much as I spend on fast food PER month I could spend just as much (if not less) on getting good for me foods with better nutrients.  As anyone will tell you after they've 'gone over' you really can tell a difference when you start to eat better.  If I had not eaten out so much I could have paid more down on my debt (which sad to say is mostly fast food on them....so I'm paying off a meal that I consumed about 4 years ago - one reason why I'm DONE with credit). 

So I'm challenging you this week - examine where your money is REALLY going - count your calories or at least start keeping track of EVERY thing you put in your body whether it be food or drink - use household objects as measurments - for example just now I had one Eskimo Joes cup of water (for you non-Okies, it's 16oz).  I had one cereal bowl of cereal this morning and for lunch 3 mini- burritos approximately the size of an iPhone.  This gives you a starting ground to see how much you're really eating.  I challenge you to do the following eating method after detailing your food and beverage intake for one week...for each time you take a bite, put down your fork and chew your food 20 times (it was featured on Ruby - can't remember what its called).  I did it and have tried to do it for the past several meals - you get fuller a LOT faster.  For those junk-food junkies like myself, when you just can't seem to get enough, it really makes you focus on how much you are eating, the flavors and textures (the first week I did my food journal I went as far as to detail all the different flavors and textures: spicy, creamy, salty, chewy, soft, crunchy - if you REALLY want to get into it - do it -I think you'll like what you find - you find that a bacon cheeseburger doesn't taste NEARLY as good when you savor it as opposed to when you just wolf it down.)  This changed my eating forever. Once I started actually TASTING what I was eating, I began to realize I didn't like what I was eating and I didn't like the way it made me feel afterwards.

Buy an inexpensive small notebook and keep it wherever you go- you'll see where your weaknesses are - we'll talk about that later :)

Health and Wealth - are they related?

What a week!  Started off with a bang by getting a flat tire.  But this wasn't just ANY flat tire...this was a flat tire AND a bent wheel...we're talking bent beyond repair, not to mention the ruined wheel cover.   Luckily I had the tire certificates and my tire only cost me $18, but the rim and lug nuts ended up taking $89.19 from my already low paycheck.  Luckily I had planned on $85, but it's going to cut everything EXTREMELY close.   So this whole week I've been thinking about all week - my finances and how much our lives are dependent on our finances.   In an attempt to try and curb eating out I have started keeping every receipt from when I eat out, get starbucks or whatnot to see how much I spend on unhealthy food.  What I found was astounding.  I also did a little test this week, to see how I felt after each time I ate fast food DURING my workout.  I found I lacked energy, didn't meet my targets and tended not to push myself as hard.   I've been trying to remember what life was like when I was skinny (125 pounds) and even then I felt fat.  But I did learn something over the past few days - how much muscle I don't have.  When I have checked my progress after each work out, it shows a pie chart of all my muscles.  ALL have grown except bicep and tricep.  So I know where I need to work and I've always known that I don't have upper body strength, now I just gotta build on it and really work it during the weekends, so my mission is to have gained muscle by the end of next week when I will have my official weigh in at curves.  Stay tuned for the official weigh in!!

In it, to win it

I know its been a while since my last post, I've had several revelations in regards to food, eating, exercise and living a healthier lifestyle.   I watched the move Super Size Me this weekend with one of my skinny friends.  I loved it!! I had watched the "Behind the Scenes" once before in 'baby bio' in college and thought that was enough to keep me from eating McDonald's every now and then (boy was I wrong!!), I watched the movie and wow! There's so much information about how your body works, about calories, about nutrition and everything.  I can truthfully say I no longer want to eat fast food or have soda.  Not just because of the movie, but because I want to know, actually KNOW what is going in my body- not some crap chemical, processed junk,  I'm looking up articles about food, eating, ways to cut back, what I need to make my body function better.  Ever since I started exercising I have noticed a difference in my energy, in the way my clothes feel, in how I can get up from sitting.   I've been keeping track of what I eat, paying special attention to my sodium, fiber and protein- a cliff bar for dinner after a workout satisfies. 

I'm happy that I'm finally doing this for myself.  Not for my parents, not for my friends, not to impress some hormone-driven guy  This is for me and only me to be able to actually LIVE my life- to do stuff to not spend all day cooped up during the summer- I want to be active to play sports, do Frisbee, to look good in a skirt when I sing in front of church. There's so much I want from my life - to do, experience and I know that making this change is setting me up for success in the future, to reach all my dreams and goals and to be able to DEAL with setbacks and challenges without getting stressed.

I'm in it, for me.

Life changes - sometimes you can control it sometimes you can't, but its all in your attitude

They say your pay and your relationships are based on your size - I'm starting to believe that - it's like people think because you're overweight you don't care about yourself and as a result won't care about them or the relationship.  I get it. But for once my reasons to lose weight aren't to find prince charming or have sex appeal.  Its for me - to feel healthy, to have more energy, have better skin, and the list goes on.   Recently I joined curves (I said I would right? - how's that for follow through?!) I went every day last week that I could (except for Saturday - I slept too late). I didn't quite push myself, I was still trying to comprehend the fact that I was exercising and yes I did it for 5 days in a row from NOTHING.  So I started their little smart system and I actually pushed myself today. I hit all but 2 of my targets (23/25 - not bad).  It was discouraging to step on the scale sunday and not see results. I mean come on, I worked out every day - shouldn't that count for something? Then I took a good hard look at my eating habits.  "oh." High sodium, high sugar, high fat and almost ALL processed.  The more I studied what I ate the more I wondered, "What's really in this?" And decided it would be better to start cooking more.  So I have.  It has been well over a week since I have darkened the drive thru window for a combo - extra fat included.  I can't say that I miss it.  I did have 2 sodas and the way they made me feel was enough to quit and switch to water.  Even though I'm not where I thought I'd be, I've started making changes. Heck I'm even walking a 5k this weekend! As long as its something different right?  They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting the same results.  I'm proud of the changes I made and I'm finally doing them for the right reasons.