One week down! (Day 7)

I can't believe it has already been one week! I feel like I have stayed on plan pretty darn well. I have noticed the last few days, I have had a really hard time getting all of the food in. I need to focus this week on getting all of my veggies in. I have really enjoyed my morning fruit and yogurt snack. I have been trying to get the carbs (fruit and starches) in earlier in the day and then by the evening, I am just not hungry enough to get in all of the protein and veggies. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I know I need to switch it up.

The workout today was actually really nice. The yoga was fairly easy and after a long week, it was much needed. I am glad I started my week on Saturday. I always feel more motivated on the weekends. I put more energy into food prep and ensuring I get the workouts done early. By the end of the week, I am just ... blah. So that worked out well.

There has been this weird issue with the last two workouts. The DVD just randomly skips and I lose several minutes. Yesterday, I easily spent 10-15 minutes pausing it, restarting the system and fast-forwarding just to get all of the moves in. That was frustrating. I did a live chat with Beach Body and they are sending me a replacement disk. They had pretty good customer service. :) So hopefully that will come by next weekend when I get to those workouts again.

Here's to week 2! :)

What I Hate About Being Fat

As I've been coming to realization of how much I need to change my habits, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about what I want to be different.  It's a lot of work carrying around an extra 70-80 pounds. And honestly, I can't believe I am sharing some of this, but I don't feel like I can move forward in a positive way unless I acknowledge it. So here goes nothing.

1. Having my knees, back and joints pop constantly. Literally every time I walk, get out of bed, or sit in a position for too long, they pop.

2. Being winded. It’s embarrassing how often I am out of breath. It feels like more often than not. Even just laying in bed, I need to breathe through my mouth. I sometimes try to hide it by walking away or making background sounds (like running the dryer or faucet). I mean, seriously, who does that?

3. Feeling hungry pretty much all of the time and sugar cravings. Even after eating a large meal, 20 minutes later, I crave something sweet. It's a never-ending battle.

4. Having rolls. It’s so disgusting. My back under my bra. My arms. My hips are the worst. I am uncomfortable. All. The. Time.

5. Being uncoordinated. See #3. But not just due to poorly fit, despite the spandex, clothes. Everything jiggles around. I feel like I am always stomping. Even walking I feel self conscious about. I perpetually feel like Godzilla tumbling through narrow streets. I am terrified to go into store aisles with lots of glass.

6. Feeling a twinge of pain every time I walk by my reflection.

7. Feeling the need to cover myself up constantly while having a wardrobe full of clothes and only about 10-20% fit. I have so many sizes from fluctuating up and down over the years. And, I'm back in my biggest sizes.  I utterly hate shopping in the plus size section at the store. Even the cutest clothes feel frumpy and unflattering.

8. Acne. I am constantly breaking out it seems. I suppose it could be due to my moisturizer or makeup, but I am 99% confident it is my diet and lifestyle.

9. Chairs are my natural enemy. I always get a sinking feeling when I go to a movie theater, restaurant, or work training for the first time. I never know if the arms of the chair are going to cut into my sides for the next 2, 4 or 8 hours. Folding chairs and bar stools make me wonder if they are even able to support me. Having a chair collapse under me in a crowded room is one of my greatest fears.

10. My long-term health. This is probably the biggest one for me. I don't want to have to wonder if I am slowly killing myself by poor choices. I shouldn't have to worry about developing early-onset diabetes, a heart attack at the age of 30, or who knows what else.

Day 4

Well, I just finished the Pilates workout and my abs are on fire. I think today went really well. It was my first true test with going back to work, in my normal routine with lots of bad habits to break. I packed my little lunch bag, made a promise to myself that I wouldn't make any side stops at McDonald's or the gas station to snag a quick danish, and followed through. It was really hard for some reason. The worst part was when I was trying so hard to stay on plan and I went to the lunch room in the basement to heat my brown rice and chicken. I was sitting there, eating and I realized I was just staring at the vending machine, thinking anything in there tasted better than what I was eating. I'm going to have to hide all of my change and loose dollar bills for weak moments.

I did get a LOT of walking in today. One of the girls at work asked me if I wanted to go on a walk during a morning break and I went with her. It was so nice to get out of the office and chat- she is so nice. The weather was lovely too- it was cloudy and cool, perfect for working up just a little bit of a sweat while still going back to work. I think we were gone for a lot longer than the 15 minutes though. Oops. We walked over 2 miles! All in all, I walked over 10,000 steps today according to my Fitbit! I haven't done that in quite some time. (Sad, I know.)

I think that is part of the reason Pilates was so hard tonight. My form was probably terrible and I felt like I was just sort of going through the motions on a lot of it. But, I did it! As much as I wanted to justify just saying 'screw it' tonight, I didn't. So yay!

Organization ideas

Shout out to this fabulous blog with free printables!

http://mycrazygoodlife.com/21-day-fix-printable-toolkit/

Day 3

Day 3 is coming to an end and I feel pretty good. I have to admit, I was having a bit of a rough time yesterday afternoon. I started craving sweets and I normally would have binged on some toast and jelly or cereal. But, I powered through it and it passed in about an hour or so.

Today, I got all of my veggies in. Yay! That is quite a feat for me. I have 1 1/2 proteins left and 1/2 of a starch. I think tomorrow will be the real test when I go back to work. I prepped all of my food to take to the office with me and I got a nice new lunch bag which I am really excited about.

The pattern is so fun and it holds A LOT of stuff. And, it's made to be put in the freezer with built-in ice packs. We will see if it really keeps things cold for 10 hours. I have my doubts, but tomorrow will be the test.

The workout today was pretty intense. I think I was pretty sore from the other two days. I woke up and my legs and abs were on fire. I was afraid lower body today would be too much. I probably didn't go as deep into the lunges or squats as I should have, but I really did my best. I was sweating like crazy by the end.

Cooking for the week!

Getting ready for the week.

I made a giant batch of crockpot chicken that is cooking as I type. I have some lemon slices, paprika, garlic, and some Italian seasoning in there. I am hoping it will get me at least 5-6 servings of protein. I got a great deal when I went to Fred Meyer the other day- 4lbs for $6.99. I need to go back and stock up on some more.

 

Salad dressing! I have never made my own dressing before, it was incredibly easy! Some oil, vinegar, and seasonings. I put some spicy mustard in this one for a bit of a kick. 

 

I cleaned, chopped and measured a bunch of handy snack bags. I got grapes, apples, carrots and celery. 

 

 

How Sugar Affects Your Body

Love these little diagrams with bits of info!

Days 1 & 2

So far, so good! Yesterday went pretty well. I made my meal/snack plan the night before and stuck with it for the most part. I was short 2 veggies and 1 protein serving. It got to be late and I just wasn't hungry. I will try to get all of my veggies in today and skip on something else if I need to (maybe fruit) today.

I have been eating every 2-3 hours and it feels so weird. If I can lose weight on this diet and eat easily 4x the volume of food I was before, that is amazing. I have to admit, when I first got those containers, they looked so small. I was afraid I was going to be hungry all of the time. But when you are having 6 cups of veggies per day, it really fills you up. I'm having a hard time getting all of the water in too. I drank a little over 50 oz yesterday, but I need to drink at least a gallon (124 oz).

I did my workout early this morning and got it out of the way as well. Yesterday was the Full Body Cardio workout and it was brutal. I could probably only do about half of the workouts for the full set. I have a really hard time with pushups and crunches. Today was the Upper Body Workout and it was a bit easier - except for the pushups and planks. Those were rough. I feel pretty good. My legs are a bit achy and my abs are pretty sore. But 30 minutes is much more realistic for me than some of the P90X videos at 70+ minutes, or an hour and a half of a walking DVD.

This afternoon, I am working on building a good recipe collection and making some sample meal plans. I don't want to get burned out on salads and chicken breasts.

Carry-Along Journal

Check out the journal I made:

I got this adorable 5x8 mini binder from Amazon for $10. It came in yesterday too, the same day I got my Beach Body box. It was a good day.

On my way to the grocery store, I stopped by Office Max and asked them to take apart the binding on the booklet. (A neat idea I got off Pinterest.) They didn't even charge me! I hole-punched it and put it in my binder for easier access.

I also got some paper and sheet protectors that would fit in the binder from Amazon. I think all-in-all, it was about $15 for the binder and accessories. While I was at Office Max, I made some photo copies of the tracking sheets. (It worked out really well, the binder holds just a normal sheet of paper folded in half so I didn't need to cut them down to size or anything.)






Then, I just used a wet-erase marker to keep track of my week. Remember the good-ol' days with the overhead projectors the teachers wrote on with the marker and then would use their spit on some Kleenex to erase? One of those markers! I was afraid a dry-erase would come off too easily. (Another idea off of Pinterest!)

Then in the back, I have my measurements, workout schedule and paper to plan my meals and create shopping lists.

Now I can just stick this in my purse and have it with me all of the time. :D

It Finally Came!

Yay! Although I have to admit, I did cheat a bit. I managed to find a pdf version of the booklet online and went to the grocery store today. I printed off meal plans and shopping lists. I loaded up on fruits, veggies, lean meats, nuts and whole grains.

I also went to the office supply store and made myself a nifty little binder. (Maybe I will post some pictures tomorrow!). I feel ready to get this party started tomorrow, no looking back! :)

Gettin' Healthy!

So I am back at my highest weight again. Stress, a desk job, poor eating habits and little-to-no exercise has taken its toll. I am turning the big 3-0 in about 4 months and I want to be healthier when I get there. I am tired of being uncomfortable, grumpy, and fatigued all the time.

Recently, through a program at work, I did Weight Watchers. And, I know it works for a lot of people, but it just simply did not work for me.  I tried it for about 5-6 months and I probably lost 5ish pounds and just felt like I was being punished all of the time. I can't explain it. I like the accountability of the weigh-in, but the points system itself wasn't effective for me. I sort of gave it up because I just was not seeing positive results and went into a sort of binge-eating depression. Not something I'm terribly proud of, but I've been developing some pretty terrible eating habits in the process. Latte in the morning, perhaps a chocolate croissant, cheeseburger or a burrito for lunch and pizza or some, equally awful processed food for dinner. Throw in some diet sodas and periodic snacks of candy bars or chips and it was a ticking time bomb for disaster. I know what my issue is. Sugar. It always has been and I am sure it is something I will probably always struggle with. I'm coming to terms with that.

On Saturday, I got sucked into an infomercial (I know, I know…) and, after doing some research, I took a plunge and ordered the 21 Day Fix program from BeachBody and am very excited!

I don’t like the name of the program; I’m not looking for a ‘quick fix’, but I really like the premise of the whole thing. Portion control, forcing myself to eat fruits/veggies, eating clean, short(ish) 30 minute workouts, and prepping/planning meals. And, I can do anything for 21 days. Even if I take a week ‘off’ between rounds, I am very optimistic this will be a good fit for me. Over the years, I have fluctuated a lot. I have tried a lot of programs and I know what works for me: lower carbs, more fresh foods, and planning, planning, planning. I think this will give me all of those great things.

Mini Goals:
* First 21-day round: lose 10 lbs. (I know that seems like a lot, but I know it will mostly be water weight.) By mid-June
* Second round: lose 6 lbs. By mid-July
* Lose a total of 40 lbs by my birthday
* Lose a total of 65 lbs by the end of the year

Goals:
* Lose a grand total of 75 lbs
* Wear a size 8
* Lose 10″ off my hips and waist
* Have healthy, glowing skin :)
* Have energy
* Walk/jog a mile in under 12 minutes
* Embrace a healthy diet: Eat clean and healthy 90% of the time, treats 10% of the time (right now, it’s probably the other way around…)

I have done a lot of damage to my body, I am sure, and I have a long way to go. I would like to keep this blog going as a way to hold my self accountable, share ideas, and hopefully one day inspire other people that if I can get healthy, they can too.