The Sunday Skinny

Happy Easter! I'm hopping with excitement this morning!

First, I need to make an adjustment to my stats this week. Since I'm on the home stretch of my Blue Sky program, I needed to make accountability a little easier for me once my weekly weigh ins with them are done. The weight they started me at was higher than what my Wii showed (plus there was a time discrepancy between the 2). So, it's going to affect my overall loss, but not my weekly loss. This will be much easier to keep up with going forward. Anyway, let's see this week's progress!

Starting Weight: 229.2 lbs

Last Week's Weight: 200.0 lbs

This Week's Weight: 198.6 lbs

+Gain/-Loss This Week: -1.4 lbs

+Gain/-Loss Overall: -30.6 lbs

This was a FANTASTIC week for a few reasons! First, this is the first time in 5 years that I've been under 200 lbs and so help me, I will NEVER see a weight beginning with a 2 ever again! Second, I began a hardcore exercise program this week that is already giving me some confidence back. I work out 5 mornings a week with a program called Scenic City Boot Camp. The 2 owner/trainers are incredibly supportive and give us a different (and very effective) workout every day. I love it and can't wait to see how my body transforms over the coming months! Third, this week marks my goal of losing 1/3 of the total weight that I want to lose with this journey. That's a huge goal for me and I'm so proud of myself! And finally, while seeing a number on the scale is rewarding, there is nothing quite as great as fitting into that next size of jeans. This week marks me saying goodbye to size 16 jeans and hello to size 14!

This week, I'm working starches back into my diet and trying to get a handle on not having them at every meal. I'm planning to work out another 5 days this week and hopefully lose at least 1 lb by next week. I know that with adding starches back in, it's likely going to slow down my loss, but if I can continue to lose 1 lb per week, that's at least progress! As always, thanks for the support!

101 Things in 1,001 Days: Update 9

In April 2010, I came up with a list of 101 things that I want to accomplish in 1,001 days. I’m trying really hard to knock out some things on this list since I only have until the end of this year to wrap it up. My most recent updates are in BLUE.

12. Read 100 books - In January, I read “Room”. In March, I read “The Hunger Games” & “Catching Fire”. (2012 book count - 3; Overall book count - 21)

14. Read all of the Harry Potter books - I have finished books 1 through 4 and am currently reading book 5.

23. Finish the cross stitch piece I started for my wedding - I finished it!!! February 2012

24. Enroll in a pottery class - My high school alma mater started offering fun classes for alums and I signed up to take pottery classes every Thursday in April 2012!

49. Eat 5 things that I've never tried before - I tried guacamole in October of 2010. I tried zucchini for the first time in August 2011 and it was ok. I tried asparagus in February of 2012 and I liken it to eating weeds. Bleh.

79. Get the interview with my grandparents converted to DVD - I finally did this and picked up the DVD’s in January 2012! This means a lot to me because this is the only video that my family has of my grandparents. My grandfather passed away more than a decade ago and I’m glad that I now have something to show my girls what a great person he was.

95. Buy myself a Dooney & Bourke or Coach purse - To reward myself for surviving Week 1 of this new diet, I bought myself a Coach purse that I’ve had my eye on for 2 years!

So, I've completed 41 of 101 tasks in 24 months and made progress on another 3 tasks. I’m 41% complete with the rest of this year to make some serious headway. This year is off to a great start!

The Sunday Skinny

The past couple of weeks have been crazy busy and I have had so many food challenges, it's been ridiculous. Let's see if my efforts to get back on track are paying off.

Starting Weight: 218.7 lbs

Last Week's Weight: 201.9 lbs

This Week's Weight: 200.0 ls

+Gain/-Loss This Week: -1.9 lbs

+Gain/-Loss Overall: -18.7 lbs

I am in week 8 of my Blue Sky program and in order to hit my goal with that program, I have to lose an average of 4.2 lbs each week. Yeah, that's not gonna happen. So, I'm backing up and revising my goal with the hopes of losing 3.2 lbs each week. I've been working hard on my eating habits again and starting tomorrow, I'll be doing an hour of bootcamp every day. Wahoo! It's going to be tough but I've got such a good start to this journey and I'll be damned if I'm going to throw it away now. I will be thin & in amazing shape by the end of this year!

The Sunday Skinny

Let's see what the scale has in store today!

Starting Weight: 218.7 lbs

Last Week's Weight: 205.5 lbs

This Week's Weight: 201.9 lbs

+Gain/-Loss This Week: -3.6 lbs

+Gain/-Loss Overall: -16.8 lbs

I had a tough week with food. I wrapped up week 5 of my diet program and I've officially hit the point of hating food. I had days where I didn't get close to my necessary calorie count and exercise definitely wasn't happening this week. I had a few slip ups, but no major upsets.

This week I'm trying to be more diligent about meeting my calorie counts and get in 4 session of exercise. I'm doing The Color Run in Atlanta on April 7th and while I'll definitely not be running it, if I don't pick up the pace, I'm going to have trouble even walking a 5k.

I'm crossing fingers and toes that next week will finally be the week that I get out of the 200's for good!

The Sunday Skinny

I'm very happy this morning from another great week! Let's see the stats.

Starting Weight: 218.7 lbs

Last Week's Weight: 209.0 lbs

This Week's Weight: 205.5 lbs

+Gain/-Loss This Week: -3.5 lbs

+Gain/-Loss Overall: -13.2 lbs

I wrapped up Week 4 of my Blue Sky plan this week and I finally feel like I'm hitting my stride with it. It doesn't feel like a full time job to follow anymore, which is a relief. It's becoming easier to plan my meals and I don't turn to panic mode whenever a curve ball is thrown my way. Yay!

My exercise slowed down a bit this week, but I need to ramp things back up because I'm still planning to do The Color Run on the 31st. 3 weeks!!! However, I'm not running it. I haven't done the proper training for a 5k yet, but Angela & I are going to walk it and have a blast!

At the risk of sounding cliche, I have to admit that I haven't felt this great in YEARS. I have infinitely more energy, no more headaches and despite the fact that I'm not sleeping as much, I don't feel tired all of the time.

Although I can't see the results in my clothes or in the mirror yet, I know it's happening because people tell me all of the time that they can see it in my face already. Plus, at my Week 4 appointment, they re-measured me and in 4 weeks I've lost 2.5" off my waist and 1.5" off my hips. Progress is good!

As always, thank you all for the support!

The Sunday Skinny

I'm on cloud 9 this morning! Let's see why!

Starting Weight: 218.7 lbs

Last Week's Weight: 213.8 lbs

This Week's Weight: 209.0 lbs

+Gain/-Loss This Week: -4.9 lbs

+Gain/-Loss Overall: -9.7 lbs

Wow, I'm so pleased with this week's number! I have to thank you guys for all of the positive encouragement from last week's depressing rant. I was in a bad place and you guys really made me feel better.

This week was good for a lot of reasons. I've officially finished 3 weeks on the Blue Sky program, which means I'm 25% of the way done. I love number markers! I'm finally feeling like I've found my groove. I actually look forward to having veggies with my meals and I don't miss the bread at all. The sweets are still a little bit of a challenge, but I'm dealing.

Speaking of sweets, I have to confess that I broke down and ate a brownie yesterday. I had baked them with my kids on Friday (for Dr. Seuss's bday) and in a moment of weakness yesterday, I ate one. And I don't feel guilty about it. I have worked my ass off for weeks now, being strictly disciplined about every morsel that I eat and I feel like if I want to have a little splurge periodically, well, it's not the end of the world. However, I was less than thrilled that after I enjoyed that delicious brownie, that I proceeded to have a headache for the next 2 hours. Lesson learned. Smaller portion next time? Lol.

I have ramped up my workouts, working out 4 times this week, which is great! My Wii hasn't seen this much action since we got the thing, 3 years ago. Hubby & I volunteered to coach our oldest's soccer team this Spring, which should be interesting. Thankfully, hubby is the one with all of the athletic skill. I'm more of a team manager and moral support cheerleader. However, he assures me that I won't get away with not participating on the field. We'll see.

This week my goals are to get in another 4 workouts and to try 1 new recipe.

Thanks again for all of the support!

The Sunday Skinny

This was a really tough week. Let's see the results.

Starting Weight: 218.7 lbs

Last Week's Weight: 215.0 lbs

This Week's Weight: 213.8 lbs

+Gain/-Loss This Week: -1.2 lbs

+Gain/-Loss Overall: -4.9 lbs

I had a lot of really low point mood swings this past week. It pains me that I'm crying over food, but honestly, it's not really the lack of food that's so upsetting I guess. I'm having a really hard time dealing with the fact that I've gotten myself into this situation and it's my own fault that I'm now having to take such drastic measures to get where I need to be. The fact that it's so slow going is also very frustrating. I know that I didn't put all of this weight on overnight, but I'm so driven to get this weight off now, that it's just not coming off as fast as I would like. I'll accept it sooner or later...I just hope it's sooner.

This weekend was super tough because I went on a scrapbooking retreat where all of the meals were prepared for me and I had no idea ahead of time what would be served. Dinner Friday went fine and I sailed through breakfast & lunch yesterday, but that's when the ship started to sink. For dinner last night, every single thing served was loaded with carbs and definitely NOT on my approved food list. I could either suck it up and eat a little of the contraband or go hungry and this girl doesn't just go hungry. Within 20 minutes of eating the stuff, I had such horrible guilt that I nearly made myself vomit. Horrible. And then this morning, they served hash brown potato casserole and quiche, which are also 2 no-no's. I managed to scrape the crust off the quiche and pray that the small slice I ate wasn't too bad on my diet.

So, let's move on from my depressing rant. I'm now feeling more motivated to start exercising, which is great. Guilt can be a handy tool sometimes! My goal is to get in 4 workouts this week and to stick really close to my diet. I know that falling of the wagon this weekend isn't the end of the world, but I'm so paranoid about falling into those old habits. Thanks for the support!