Start of a New Year

Hello peeps. Long time no see.
Well. I failed in this journey over the holidays. I GAINED a bit more than I anticipated in the end third of the year.
I blame a) my trip to Vegas in September b) doing a theater production where we enjoy going out to eat afterwards and c) my lack of willpower during the holidays, especially during get-togethers.
When I hopped on the scale Saturday (last week) after totally forgetting to get on the scale over Xmas week nor on my usual Wed. weigh in that week, I about died. Wow. I really let things go bad.
So, new starting total on January 3rd, 2015 is 178 lbs. *shudder* I don't think I've been that high since I was in my big weight loss plan back in 2011-2012 (where I started at 212 lbs- which I REFUSE to get that high again). My hubs hopped on the scale hoping to outdo me in not gaining as much and also about fell over from the number.
So the two of us vowed to have one last bad day on Sunday (in order to get rid of the leftovers from New Years) and start Monday as a fresh start to the new year of weight loss/fitness.

Monday went well- I stuck to my healthy food plan all day (Bringing back my Weight Watchers Points Plus plan, since it worked wonders when I actually followed it), we cooked up a light dinner of rice and chicken and then decided to try something new for exercise (since it was FREEZING outside and we hate gyms).
My parents were getting rid of their Kinect/Xbox and had a few games we didn't have, so I swiped them over the holiday break and we decided to give some a try for our fitness exercises.

First up- Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

This game is actually quite good. Once we got it all calibrated with the Xbox Kinect we went straight to the Gym games (as this is what caught my eye on the packaging). We did the punch out blocks game (Hubs vs. myself)- this quickly became a favorite and will surely be a part of our daily Kinect workout. Think punching/kick boxing but in a fun game format.
I then tried out some of the Personal Trainer portions of the game. Wow- kicked my butt (which I need though).
Hubs and I alternated using the games and trainer sessions to let our newbie tired muscles rest between reps.
At the end of the workout I burned plenty of calories and already could feel the burn of the exercises. We ended the evening with homemade fruit smoothies!
When I woke up Tuesday- my thigh, arms and sides were sore. Guess I'm more out of shape than I thought!
Here's the deets on the Weight Watchers Points Plus I consumed Monday...

Tuesday I did good also. I packed my breakfast, snacks and lunch so I could stay healthy at work (one of the hardest things to do at my job- where there is ALWAYS unhealthy food to be had). When my hubs got home, he said he was sore and didn't want to do the Kinect games. Even though I was sore, I was determined to get some arm workouts in and did some more of the Kinect games. I then decided to try the Just Dance 3 kinect game, to mix things up a bit.

I quickly found out the controls were a little wonky when trying to pick the difficulty- it constantly would just auto choose, or when I tried to change the difficulty, it would just start at whatever the closest place my hand was nearby. I enjoyed the Black Eyed Peas song during the "sweat" mix, though I had to laugh at some of the dance instructors- their facial expressions were wonderful. I had to wonder if these were actual people they just motion captured or videotaped and put funky color filters over top. I think the "Forget You" by CeLow's dancer on the screen reminded me of a crazy mime. lol.
I toughed through about 5 songs, with the hubs joining my last dance combo. Some were just my pace and others were just down right difficult (and I've even had formal dance training since I was 3, just haven't done much in the past few years). After working up a sweat and my muscles could handle no more, I crashed on the couch exhausted. We started talking about our current setup of our living room and how our Kinect doesn't like how close we are to it and tried to figure out ways we could rearrange our living room to better utilize the open spaces.
Once we figured out what dinner was going to be, I cooked up the dinner while the hubs rearranged the furniture in the living room /dining room. Now things look TOTALLY different, but are much better for exercising as well as entertaining. Hubs also jerry-rigged my current computer setup to help me have better posture while at the computer, since I like to sit quite close to my computer and the way our computers are set up- it isn't possible. He added a piece of wood on top of the cubed bookcase things and it works perfect! My hope is to paint it and officially attach it to the cases, so it doesn't just look like a piece of plywood stuck under my computer. haha.
After rearranging all that furniture and cleaning the two rooms (this is after I did some Kinect workout exercises and cooked dinner), I was pooped. I just so happened to have 4 points plus leftfor the day after having a low point dinner, so I treated myself to a hard cider and frozen mangoes for dessert. *phew* what a day!
Tuesday's points plus breakdown:

Today, I've been continuing to do well. When I hopped on the scale this morning to get back into my Wednesday weigh ins, I was at 177. So already I'm down a pound since Saturday- not bad! My packed breakfast, lunch and snacks has kept me going well. When I got home from work, I did some more of the Just Dance 3 and worked on finishing up my choreography for our upcoming auditions for Shrek the Musical (which hubs and I are directing). This worked up a sweat, so I was glad to get to dinner. Luckily with such a light lunch, I had enough points to enjoy tacos for dinner. Hubs picked up small taco shells, so we could eat smaller portions. I finished off the night with 1 oz of jelly beans ( I was craving sugar). Sadly 1 oz of jelly beans is 3 points plus! ugh. But, as long as I don't consume anymore points tonight, I'm golden for the day.
Here's today's points plus breakdown:

Tomorrow I am meeting up with a friend at Starbucks, so I already started researching what Starbucks drinks I could have within my points plus range. Basically, I need to say "skinny" before any of the drinks I plan on ordering. haha
Friday we are planning on taking a co-worker out to dinner for his retirement, so that's another place I"ll have to figure out what to order. Time to go stalking their menu online. ;)

Luckily, January I have very little plans, other than that co-worker's retirement dinner and a co-worker's bday bash later in the month, so I think sticking to this exercise and eating healthy plan will be a little easier. (Doesn't hurt that the hubs is doing it too for once!)
*fingers crossed* I lose some of the holiday gained weight and feel much better leading up to this summer. We shall see...
-M

Weight loss is slow- so I hope that means I'm gaining muscle

Well I hopped on the scale this morning, as I do every Wednesday morning, and my weight loss was only 0.6 lbs. Boo. I know, I should be happy to have lost something at all, but I was hoping for a little bigger loss. My hope is that because I've been starting to run more, that I'm gaining muscle- and that's why the weight hasn't gone down as fast as before.
I was super good on the diet train every single day this past week except Saturday (I'm allowing myself 1 bad day).
Also, this week I have officially stopped hurting muscle-wise the next day (or hours later) after my run- I find that to be a success in itself.

My new running shoes are starting to get their work cut out for them.

I also, this past run (Monday), was able to only walk 3 times total during the run (once for my 5 minute warm-up in the beginning, once at the halfway point, and once for my 5 minute cool down). I was most proud of THAT achievement. Now granted, my pace is super slow, but its more running and less walking.

from Monday's run.

My newest turn around point- the faithful bench.

the home stretch of my run- going under Route 1 with my home only a few blocks away.

 Here's some other highlights of my diet and exercise for the week:

Last Thursday's run stats and an awkward moment on the run...

Saturday's run was beautiful with all the flowers...

... and the bridge looking cool

Saturday's stats- however, I would like to note- the mileage I think got a little off- since the gps went all wonky- I actually ran further on Monday than this Saturday's run, but for some reason the stats came up as Saturday was further. I blame faulty GPS- getting my hopes up that I went super far. lol.

pretty flowers on the run

I want this home owner's garden (I pass their beautiful flowers every run)

Saturday's lunch- I split this with the hubs.

Saturday's lunch- I also split this with the hubs.

Sunday's dinner at TGI Friday's (we used a gift card)- sadly this was one of the best Weight Watchers pointed meals, other than just a salad and/or soup. I know- it's kind of pitiful looking. Poor tiny steak.

 *fingers crossed* I start to notice the losses and gaining of muscle more and/or next week is a bigger loss. We shall see.
-M

Over the halfways point

So after my weigh in on Tuesday, I lost another 1.6 lbs, making my grand total lost at 31.4 lbs. I'm official over halfways to my goal! Hooray!
I was skeptical about my weight loss after dealing with a very tempting day at a hockey game (beer anyone?), followed by going to Buffalo Wild Wings. Each boneless wing is 2 pp, and then for every 6 wings (so 12 pp at this point) you have to tack on an addition point for the sauce. So, 6 boneless mild wings is 13 points plus. Eek! I soaked up a huge chunk of my weekly points that day, as I had Chipotle for lunch. All in all, it is the most I have ever used of my weekly points thus far, but luckily I didn't touch them at all every other day that week. So, I was super happy and super surprised with the 1.6 lbs loss.

 (Me and friend Dani at the game- with 7 other people (one being my hubs)).

 (The Titans won 5-1 that day!)

 (Beer anyone?)

The hubs tempted me with birthday cake at my bday surprise on Monday (my bday is Sunday, but so few people could get together that day, he surprised me early). So, cake...yeah...super hard.
When you look at the point values for vanilla birthday cake with icing, it makes you want to cry. I had 8 pp at the end of the day, so we figured out how big of a slice I could have, and I must say, it was mighty pitiful. *sigh*

(The dreaded birthday cake)

Anyways, hopefully the rest of the week goes well and I keep on trucking along with my weight loss. Since I hit 30 lbs down, I'm officially going to go through my closet this week, so I'm hoping for another moral boost. :D
Laters and keep on losing it! hehe
-M

Little steps

So I'm down another 0.8 lbs this week. Not as fabulous as previous weeks, and nowhere near my hope for 1/5-2 lbs a week loss, but I'll take it. This week has been SUPER rough.
We've been busy doing lots of stuff around the house and out and about stuff for the theater. I've been stressing out like no-other for certain things.
I've also been bad and had diet coke 3 days in a row (I know, I was off the caffeine train for so long, then I lacked sleep one day and I needed for 3 days straight! Eek!) Smartly, it was diet soda, but still, I should try to wien off of it.
Food-wise, Wren tried out his new "Perfect meatloaf" pan, so I weighed out how much I could have and how much roasted potatoes I could have besides my vegs, and our meal was complete. The slice of meatloaf was a little puny I must say, but if I hadn't had a large Chipotle meal, i would of been able to do more.

Also food-wise, we are running low in the cabinets and fridge for the 'healthy-go-to-foods' so i've had to improvise and order out a lot more. Not my usual smart ones and fav. breakfasts recently. Hopefully I can get to the grocery store tomorrow and stock back up (I also blame our outragously high heating bill that came- makes me not want to spend more money for a bit, but a girl's gotta eat!).
Anyways, many people I know have been joining Weight Watchers recently, including my mom and step-sister and step-bro-in-law. Hopefully we all will be so successful!
So I'm down 0.8 lbs this week, making a total of 22.6 lbs lost since I start Weight Watchers. I gotta keep trucking along. I got 39.4 lbs left to lose till I reach my goal!
Off to go walk some.
-M

Another step, another setback

Ok. So I admit it. I suck at this whole, keeping up with what I eat thing. I am the first to admit I am horrible at it. But after getting another rejection with a show I auditioned for, I realized, that I really need to get my act together. Luckily the show I'm currently in is a lot of high-energy dancing, so that helps, since my gym time has been cut short because of all the practices.
I ate slightly healthier this past weekend while on a crafting weekend retreat for Autism. I haven't had soda since last Thursday (which is a big step for me, except for a single root beer drink on Sunday...but other than that, it has been Water like no other, diet iced tea, and juice). This right here is a big step. I've also been trying to eat more meats, fruits and "good carbs" and stay away from the pastas. I haven't had much pasta at all this week, and had more carbs like potatoes and rice. I know these small changes aren't huge, but they are in the right direction. Considering 3 out of 4 of the regular castmates that go out to dinner after practice with Wren and I are on a diet, shows that we all are starting to feel the pressure of loosing weight.
Sadly today I woke up battling a sickness that has seemed so familiar...ear pressure/pain, slight runny nose, glands in the neck swollen and sore throat. I had a feeling I was going to get sick today, as last night I went to bed with a sore throat. If this ends up mutating into ANOTHER sinus infection, I think its time to say to the doctor...there is a problem. This would be the 3rd time in a row (every 2 months or so) that I've gotten a sinus infection. Same feeling, same symptoms...yes, they might all be stress related, but boy are they not fun.
Today I haven't done totally horrible, thus far (as of 6pm) I've had the following:

March 30th, 2011 menu

Lunch (didn't get up for breakfast):

• Medium Wawa Chicken Noodle Soup and 1 package of Premium Saltine crackers (150 +24 calories)
• 1 spicy southwest beef Wawa wrap (420 calories)
• 32 fl. oz. of Orange Juice (yes I drank that much OJ...I am trying to beat this sickness) (360 calories)

Snack:

• Apple slices, Mango chucks bowl from Wawa (roughly 70-170 calories...no one is really clear on this)
• Diet Raspberry Iced Tea (10 calories)

So thus far I've had 1034 to 1134 calories, leaving me with just the right amount for a small dinner.

I gotta get this diet rolling, and once this show is over, I plan on getting my gym time to really be stepped up a notch. Anyways...I gotta get through this all!
-M

Curse you weather and temptations!

Can I just curse this weather? It has made it so difficult to get to the gym in a normal routine, or even get to my dance class! Argh!
Well, tonight I hope I can make it to the gym. Aka. I'm gonna try to go, no matter what. I can't keep putting it off.
I also need to stop giving into temptation foods: ie. donuts at work, huge portions of pasta at home, that kind of stuff. *sigh*
At least I have pretty much completely switched to whole wheat pasta, bread, and tortilla shells. Woo.
I also have been good (except 1 soda over the weekend) and not had any caffinated or calorie intense sodas. So at least that is one step in the right direction, right?
Ok. I gained back a pound from when I was last actively exercising and eatting right. I MUST get back up! I really need to get rid of those temptations and I pray the weather holds out more, so I can actually get my exercise in (besides shoveling snow and scrapping ice off my car!) lol.
*crossing fingers for the drive to keep going*
-M

Falling off the horse...

Ok, I'm going to own up now. The reason I've been neglecting the blog-o here...well...I haven't been the best in my exercise and diet. I have had an absolutely horrible week (diet and exercise wise). I ordered out, I had foods that aren't very good for me, I didn't make it to the gym, and I had a single soda this week (gasp!). I did however make it to dance class, and auditioned for a musical today (which there was about 20 minutes of dancing) so it hasn't been a total loss. I havn't lost any weight this week (I actually think I might of gained a pound). But let me show you my biggest thing to overcome:

Yes...buffalo chicken cheesesteaks. They are my kriptonite, so to speak. With all the snow we've been having, me not having time to make it to the grocery store, I kind of had to order out at work...which is never a good thing, since all the places people order from are HORRIBLELY tempting.
So, ok...I'm gonna try to do better starting later today, so sorry everyone. Not only am I cursing myself for having no confidence to say NO, but I also am cursing Mother Nature in giving us all this snow!
Anyways, back on the horse I go. We all fall sometimes, we just got to get back up and continue trying!
Laters.
M

Tuesday Two-step

I just got back from my Adult Ballet Class that I attend, taught my a friend of mine. Me being the 'big girl' size wise in the class of 6 women (there were only 3 that showed up today in the class), makes me sometimes a little uncomfortable, but my love of dance sometimes out weights my weight issue. I started dancing at the age of 3, and have continued to do so ever since. Since the class is an hour long, I don't have time to go to the gym on top of that, so Tuesdays is my dance nights.
I also hope to keep a food journal while I'm blogging about my weight loss goals, so below is my meals today. Here's the food I've had today:


My Meals today: Tuesday, Jan. 18th, 2011

Breakfast:
(Sadly I missed my breakfast today, due to having to get my car out of the ice...making me run late for work)

Lunch:

• 1 bottle of cranberry juice (120 calories)
• 1 cucumber roll, aka. 6 pieces of sushi (~110 calories)
• 3 wontons from wonton soup, with a dash of broth (~105 calories)

Mid-snack:

• 1 bottle water (0 calories)
• 1/2 a banana...I couldn't handle eatting the entire thing for some reason (55 calories)

Dinner:

• 2 cups of penne pasta (~400 calories)
• 2 meatballs and a hint of sauce on it all (~250 calories)

Night snack:

• mini boneless buffalo poppers...I know, the worst healthy wise of my meals today (440 calories)

Total Calories consumed today: roughly 1480 calories

I danced the night away, so now I'm dead tired. I know my meal today wasn't the absolute best, but it could be a LOT worse.
Time to dance/step with a smile!
-M

Day 1: Stepping up to the challenge

So I've already joined the YMCA gym (been twice so far) and already cut out soda completely from my diet, along with other choices I've decided upon. So what got me in this exercise and weight loss kick?
Well, I think it all started when I looked in the mirror not that long ago, and didn't recognize the person in the mirror. Was that really me?
It was only 3 1/2 years ago that I was close to 60-70 lbs lighter and was in college. When I graduated college I was a cool 140 lbs, and before college I was at a slim 120 lbs. At the time of college, I thought I was a little curvy...but little did I know I would long for the day when I was back at that weight only 3 years in the near future.
First, I blame the job I got out of college. I went from walking everywhere in college and going to the gym on the occasion, to a desk job, where I had to drive 35 minutes to and from work. The most walking I would get at work was to and from the printer and the fridge.
Secondly, I blame my eatting habits. I love my pasta and pizza. When I was done with college, I never left my bad college eatting habits behind. Eatting super late at night and eatting loads of carbs and soda = not a good thing.
Third, I blame my lack of drive to stick to a diet or exercise plan. This is all pure laziness on my part and the fact that I HATE giving up the foods I love.

But I plan to change all of this. I always know when my eatting was getting bad, because I started to get horrible hearthburn. I'm only 24 years old, I shouldn't be getting heartburn to the point of not being able to function! I also want to be able to not get winded from going on a short jog down the street to catch my scarf on a windy day. It's all got to start here.

(this is me. Currently, at 205 lbs and age 24, I tend to wear a lot of black clothes to hid my chub as best as I can)

I want to Smile stepping onto the scale, not get the urge to cry myself to sleep after seeing that number. I need to step up to the challenge, and it starts here.

Goals:

1. Loose roughly 70 lbs...however long it takes, My goal weight is 135 lbs. I know the closer you get to your weight goal the harder it gets, so I plan to give myself over a year to reach it. Ideally I'd like to loose it in a single year, but I know myself, and that's gonna be really tough.
2. Eat and drink healthier. Cutting the soda intake completely, no diet sodas either, no pure caffinated beverages. Also, drink more water in general. Cut my portions and eat less pre-packaged foods, and sub out white bread for wheat. Go for more whole wheat pastas and eat less fatty and greasy foods. Cut down or out completely eatting from Fast food places. I know this is a lot, but I refuse to give up foods I love...I just need to eat them in smaller portions and in healthier ways.
3. Exercise as much as I can. I plan to go to the YMCA gym at least 4-5 days a week. I plan to give myself 2 days of rest for the weekends, because to be honest, who really wants to go to the gym on their day off. I know I don't. That, and my gym is close to my work, not my home. So far, I've started a routine at the Y: 30 minutes on the eclyptical or treadmill, 30 minutes weight lifting (focusing on arms and abs), and 20-30 minutes doing laps in the pool. I hope to improve upon this, as I hope to be able to handle more exercise as I progress. Luckily for me, the pool is open late in the evening, so I can go after work.
4. Feel better about myself, no matter how much or how little I loose. As much as I'd love to be able to wear those cute little dresses I see in stores, I realistically know, everyone's body type is different. Mine for instance: I have hips and large boobs. Both of which I don't expect to change much, even after I loose the weight. Those two parts of my body, I know will pretty much stay the same. This weight loss is more so I can feel good in my body, and improve my health.

So, in close, this blog will help me (hopefully) to track my progress in weight loss and exercising. I plan to post my meals and improvements in exercise and weight loss, as well as the struggles that I am trying to overcome. I hope, in turn, that someday, I'll be stepping with smiles.
-M