I have nothing to lose

One Week In...

2011-01-04T15:44:00.002-07:00

and down 5lbs.. 220 this morning.. whoot. (just one whoot, don't want to get too carried away!)

I think I am going to give Atikins a shot. Have never tried it, gotta try all the "diets" out there ya know! I'll still track calories on spark people, as I think I could very easily go overboard just eating meat and butter, lol!

I'll keep ya posted.. I know you'll be on the edge of your seats...

225

2010-12-28T08:56:00.003-07:00

So weighed in today, 225. Not proud or happy about it, but it is what it is. I've gained 17lbs since early September. I could give you lots of excuses, but bottom line. I gained because I ate. ALOT. EVERYTHING.

What we need to focus on now is getting back on track, and finding a way to make it a life style and something I can do long term. I can't be "on" and "off" it's not healthy and not productive.

Today is a new day...

*this post was made on Dec 28th, but won't post from my laptop, so just getting around to posting now from my desktop.. I'm down to 220-221 this morning...*

I'm fat...

2010-11-27T11:06:00.002-07:00

and getting fatter by the day. This is so stupid. How can I be so on/good about weight loss, then be so off/bad with it. Stupid stupid stupid.

Track... where's the Track?

2010-10-17T20:50:00.002-06:00

'cause I gotta get back on it! Between Thanksgiving (2 huge meals) and then girls trip to the States and eating out alot, and enjoying yummy yummy Mexican food, I"m sure I've gained like 10lbs. I don't even want to get on the scale for 2 weeks, just get the weight down first. But who are we kidding. I'll probably get on it Tuesday morning.

Anyways I am feeling pretty full/disgusting/gluttonist (word?) pretty much disgusting so I know i'm ready to get back to a much healthier lifestyle. This will include clean eating, exercising and a positive attitude!

I have a goal of about 15-25lbs I'd like to lose by March 2011 (because i'm going to Hawaii!!!)

60

2010-09-09T11:18:00.002-06:00

FINALLY hit the 60lbs lost mark. Those dang 2lbs have been hanging around for a month (read I have not lost anything in a month). So I am now 208, which means soo close to being in "one-der-land" (as copied from one of my fav. weight loss bloggers) and 13lbs from my 'wedding weight'. I plan to get my body fat tested next time I go home (read; get to the big city). Last time I was at 28% so curious what I'm at now, I still have lots of "fat on me" lol.

Time to Check In

2010-08-26T14:02:00.003-06:00

So the summer is winding down, and I guess i've been slacking on the posting! Glad to say that I have not let up on my fitness/health goals. I've had a few week moments but I embarrassed them and took them as a well deserved break.

I'm at 210 right now, and have been for 2 weeks. I reeeeeally want to break the 210, 208 would bring me to 60lbs lost, and then of course to break the 200's!!! Which really is only 10 (11) lbs away.. I"m hoping to reach this by Canadian thanksgiving (Oct 11th).

I've been hitting the gym 4-6X a week, alternating between lower and upper body weight routines and cardio, alternating between HITT and long slow runs. I'm starting to see some definition in my arms, but it's very slight, still lots of fat there. I'm going to get hubby to do picks on sat. I haven't done in a long time... and I know it's important, I just to get around to doing it!

Some NSV (non-scale victories) i've had this summer:

I have to do my ipod band up tighter these days
jeans I bought a month ago (size 16) which were very snug, now go on with ease
I shop in regular size stores now
I have a HUGE piles of clothes I need to drop off to charity
I didn't have to wiggle in to the plastic outside chairs at my MIL's this summer (it was a tight fit last summer)
my 'travel' wedding band (had to stop wearing my regular set in Jan) is now getting loose, soon I won't have any rings to wear :( will get them all sized when i'm at goal)
I'm almost 100lbs lighter than my husband (who's 6'8" 305lbs) we've been as close as 30lbs apart before

Pictures.,.

2010-08-06T14:54:00.005-06:00

This is at Christmas time.. around 250-255ish

This is mid-May.. about 230lbs back shot... (picture complements of my daughter!!)

This is end of July, just to compair the 2 'butt' shots (me in jeans and white t-shirt with butt to the camera) about 215lbs

This is end of July at about 215lbs

Obese No More

2010-07-11T08:14:00.002-06:00

I am ECSTATIC to post that I am no longer obese, according to BMI calculators ever where. This morning I weighed in at 215 (also note, a new low for me!!) and this puts me at 29.99 BMI which means I'm out of the 30's which means I'm not considered obese anymore! Though I know those charts are just an estimate, and don't take in to account lean body mass ect. It's still nice to be out of that range!

Another victory...I am now 97.5kg's, so I am out of the triple digit's FOREVER in kilograms, whoooo hooooo.

So I've been working out really hard the last little while, thurs I was starting to feel iffy, woke up achy ect but still plugged on.. Friday I was not well. Headache, achy all over, very irritable. I came to the conclusion that i've been over training. My weight was not shifting so i'd work out harder ect. I was doing my best to keep my calories up, but had a few days of low calories (1300 range) so that coupled with hard workouts = feeling really sick. I really do equate it to over training because I never got sick/flu/poops ect. I'm still not feeling 100% but about 90% today. I have now not worked out for 3 days and have dropped 4lbs, so that also tells me my body needed a break!

I'm going to switch up my routine. Cutting out some cardio and start doing a weight/body weight exercises 3x a week and the other 2 days will be cardio, one day i'll do HITT the other i'll do a long slow run. I'll stick with this for about 6 weeks, the rest of the summer. I'm hoping to be around 203-207 range come labor day weekend. My challenges will be when I go to my inlaws the last week of July, but i'll just do my best to pack healthy, clean foods. We will have our trailer so that will help to have my own mini kitchen!

oh and I did buy a bikini for some body shots, as I know it's important to document, and I think better in a bikini than my full piece, BUT i never plan to wear it out in public. It's an XL and fits right now, but bulges out some fat in places still :) this next week it's my goal to get hubby to take pictures so I can post some progress pics!

so to recap:
Start weight: 268
Current weight:215
Total lost:53lbs

Start BMI: 37.4
Current BMI: 29.99

Start KG's: 121.5kg
current KG's: 97.5kg

50lbs lost, and no plans to find them, EVER!

2010-07-01T09:38:00.002-06:00

So I am pretty sure I hit my 50lbs mark this morning.. I say pretty sure because my scale jumps all over the place, drives me nuts! but I'll go with it.
So this is the lowest i've weighed in probably 7years. and the first time i've hit the 50lb mark, so kinda excited! Next big # is 214 'cause then i'm out of the stupid 'obese' range for BMI, even thought I know i should not put any clout in BMI's but it still bugs me.

My hubby is away right now with the kids, and i'm enjoying a much needed break. Though I do have some guilt/hesitation with it, but still very much enjoying it. I did a really great work out yesterday, but also learned a lesson. I NEED to be drinking more water. My hammies ceased up on me and almost made me fall to the ground. I drank about 1/2 my water bottle and they got better. I had not drank any water that morning and did a hard cardio work out just prior. So lesson learned.

I'm almost finding it hard to eat all my calories and drink all my water (min 2L a day) I don't know how people are hungry if they are eating nutrient rich foods and drinking all the water they should. I feel like I am constantly full and have to force my self to eat and drink, lol!

I bought a new work out outfit yesterday. A yellow Adidas dry t-shirt (bright yellow!) and some black stretchy Capri's. I am feeling more confident to wear fitted stuff to the gym and frankly my old work out shorts were too big, starting to look sloppy! I also bought a new sports bra as the girls were getting away from me during working out. It's the only time in my life I feel it a pain to be large busted (36D) so today they are double bagged, lol. A under wire sports bra + a tank style sports bra. We'll see if they can calm down a bit today :)

Vo2 Max, RMR, Body Fat %

2010-06-26T08:22:00.002-06:00

So I bit the bullet and while I was visiting my Mom and family in the big city I got my Vo2 Max tested as well at RMR (resting metabolism rate) and my body fat percentage done.
The Vo2 Max gives me personalized training zones for aerobic and anaerobic zones. For my aerobic I train 140-156 bpm (beats per minute). They also gave me the speeds on the treadmill to exercise at to achieve this. My anaerobic zone is 170 to 183 (183 being my maximum heart rate). I love it. It gives me much better direction to train at and I feel like I'm training with a purpose rather than just doing what ever. I also got an estimated Vo2max as I did not reach it. The test is performed with a scuba type mouth piece and your nose pinched off so you have to breath through your mouth and thru a tube that has a one way check valve. So when you are running really hard that very small delay in the valve made me closaphobic (SP?) a bit and I just found it really hard/ strange to breath thru this scuba type mouth piece. So needless to say I finished kinda abruptly and didn't do as well as I had hoped. I finished at 8min 30 sec. with a Vo2max estimated at 28. something. I think that falls in to the poor rating. but what ever, mostly did the test to get me heart rate zones! I'll do better next time!

Next was the RMR, this test told me exactly how many calories my body burns at rest, 1600. Instead of using the Internet to estimate it according to my height and weight (which ranged from 1780 to 1850) this test told me exactly what mine is. So I take my rate, 1600 and multiply by my activity level and then minus 500 calories for weight loss. So I am now aiming to eat between 1700-1800 calories a day.

Finally was the body fat percentage. Mine is 28% the range for women is 20% to 33% so I am happy where I fall (better than BMI which tells me I'm still obese at 30points). The test was taken over 17 sites and compiled over 10 of them. My lean body mass (everything except fat) was 162lbs and that means I have about 58lbs of fat on me. I have a goal of about 20% body fat which is aprox. 195lbs if I don't loose any lean mass. So that made me VERY HAPPY as I originally though I needed to get down to 170ish but that is impossible with a lean body mass of 162 lbs. So I only have about 25lbs left to go!!!

45

2010-06-12T08:10:00.001-06:00

45 pounds down...

Sweat Stains

2010-06-10T14:31:00.002-06:00

Ok. Vent.

Why, when I sweat, does it look like I've totally peed myself. I know I've mentioned this before, but it still really bugs me! Every time I'm done working out, I look down, huge wet spot all around my va-ja-ja region. Doesn't matter if I'm on the treadmill, eliptial, bike, track. Always big pee sweat stain.

It's gross and not very lady like.

A few NSV

2010-06-09T19:25:00.003-06:00

So last week I went to our local fabric store, which is right beside this clothing store that I've never been in before. Never been in because for the past 8 years I've shopped exclusively at plus size stores (well some tops at Old Navy) so I peek in and think "oh.. there are some cute things in here.." so I go poke around and get to shopping. So I find the discount rack and try on some pants and find a pair that I quite liked, size 16.. and you know what it took like a day or two to realize. I just bought pants at A REGULAR SIZE STORE.

HELLO PEOPLE

this is huge!!

I'm excited to wear them Friday for our girls night out. I'll be sure to take some pics :)

So..

2010-06-06T15:04:00.002-06:00

been a bit frusterated as I didn't lose this week and may have but a pound on actually. In my mind i've been eating great and doing 'everything right'. So i've decided to go back to sparkpeople and continue to count calories, while eating clean. Just to make sure i'm hitting all my *markers*. So just for fun I started entering calories today. And I know I splurged a bit, but when I entered my caloires, I ate 1300 at lunch. hmmm that could be a very good reason, that my perseption of how much i'm eatting has gotten a bit out of wack. So sounds like it's a good idea for me to get back on the calorie counting wagon!

Another dilema of mine, my girls (4+5) are now done preschool for the year. I was using the mornings when they were in preschool (3 mornings a week, 9:15am-11:15am) to hit the gym, then I only had to put 2 kids in child minding. Well now I need to put all 3 in everytime I want to go to the gym, which costs me $9 everytime I go!! ($3/h x 3kids) never mind my membership on top of that. So for now i'll plan to go mon,wed,fri. and hope to squeeze in other work outs if hubby gets home from work early or just doing interval training at home.

So today at Church I got a few people commenting on my weight loss. After 7months and 42lbs it's about time, lol. It just goes to show it's a slow process, but so nice that my efforts are starting to show now. Made me happy :)

Survived

2010-06-03T07:32:00.002-06:00

Well I have officially survived another year... celebrated my "late 30's b-day yesterday" uhg. My goal is to be a very fit, hott 40 year old. I still have 3 years, but it's probably gonna take all that time to get there :)

So did I cheat on my birthday you bet I DIDN'T. The family went to Dairy Queen for dessert, and I brought a bowl of cherries from home. and you know what? I didn't even miss having ice cream/chocolate, not one little bit. I had lobster for dinner..yummmmmmm I guess the cheat I had for the day was the butter I dipped my lobster in, but I still consider it clean, just not a healthy daily choice.

I also went for a massage and peddy yesterday. The masseuse really worked me over, I actually feel sore today. I even got a work out in yesterday too.

So my weight is still flexing around 226 to 228. I have had 2 days of not the best water drinking, do weights, snacking at night (on fruit) finishing my cycle.. so all these add up to some expected fluctuating in my number, so I'm not so concerned.

40.2lbs

2010-05-26T09:03:00.002-06:00

Finally hit the 40 mark!! Whoot Whoot. I was 227.8lbs this morning, so with a starting weight of 268, that's a 40.2lb loss so far. Can I get a "Whoot Whoot" with a raise the roof?

Since Monday I have cut out fruit and sweeteners (honey agave ect) and am seeing great results, even considering it's t-minus 1 day till TOM.

32.8lbs to go till I get to my wedding weight of 195lbs. Then we'll go from there :)

Vegas

2010-05-24T10:09:00.002-06:00

So found out that a goal trip I was aiming for (end of Nov to black fri shopping in Great Falls MT.) has been changed to a Vegas trip in Sept/Oct!! I'm quite excited but now I got to kick it in to high gear. My goal was to be 195lbs for this trip and then to SHOP SHOP SHOP for a whole new wardrobe. But now 'cause things have been moved up 2months I really got to kick it in to gear. I think it's doable, maybe more a 199 but it means no slacking off time.

The trip is with my mother in law and my 3 sister in laws. Last year they went to Great Falls and saw a play and did some shopping. My hubby couldn't get the time off for me to go, so this year for sure! I think it will be such a blast! and hopefully Vegas is still HOT HOT HOT by then.

I did really well those 2 weeks I was doing my yeast detox so I am reverting mostly back to that eating for the next week.

So no:

fruit
natural sweeteners (honey, agave)
butter (my big weekness)

not alot of no's but i'm still eating very 'clean' so not alot I can take out. So I will be eating lots of veggies, lean meats, brown rice, coconut oil, olive oil, beans, fish ect.

I am sooo close (well 10lbs) from being where I was when I 'dieted' before and I so want to surpass there, all this work/loosing right now feels like "been there, done that" as I"ve seen all these #'s before (3 years ago) and it's more frustration that I let myself gain it all back (and then some). So once I hit the teen's (217 to be exact) I will be in 'new territory'. Also then I will be sooo close to getting out of OBESE and in to OVERWEIGHT which will be a huge mental milestone!! (214 is that magic #)

Fridge

2010-05-22T13:40:00.002-06:00

So I decided to take a pic of my fridge for you all. I know weird, but hey I was bored. I thought a fridge gives a good snap-shot of life at that person's house.

So some key notes:

you'll find my hubby's diabetic meds. he's type one so we have to deal with that. Which really isn't a big deal. but in the back of my mind it scares me that our time may be shortened because of this disease.

Left overs from last night. I made 2 meals. One for the fam. one for me. They had noodles with homemade cheese sauce, veggies and ham. Me, I had homemade butternut squash soup. One of my faves!!

A salad for a BBQ we are going to tonight. I made a 'clean' greek salad with fresh oregano from my garden!! (I'm quite pumped about this). I am so excited I don't have to cook dinner tonight!

My homemade yogurt which I love love love. It is so easy, CRAZY easy and give me such satisfaction to make my own. + I save so much $$. (.78cents compared to $2.89)

Tiny mozzarella balls. They are b.. .something, I made a tomato, fresh basil, olive oil, mozz. cheese salad for lunch today, yum!!!

Cravings

2010-05-19T11:57:00.002-06:00

So last night I was realllly craving McDonalds for supper. Don't know why, part because I was pretty tired from gardening, and just 'done' with cooking. Luckily the husband whipped out the cereal for the kids before I could tell him of my craving (cerel is a go to in our house for day's we don't want to cook ect) so I just had some homemade yogurt, granola and a mango. It was quite yummy. I was snacky all night and ended up having a bowl of air popped popcorn with about 2 tablespoons of butter on it. Not horrible, but not the best.

But... I was so glad I did not give in to my urges, as this morning I was 229.8... I am out of the 230's!!! i've been retaining water because of the heat here (30C) and pms so was very surprised to see it. But it gave me the umph to stay on track with my eating. I bought some cherries today so looking forward to that for my snack today.

I haven't been to the gym as much lately but been busy with cleaning and gardening, and just being more busy that I usually would be at home so it kinda makes up for it. I also believe in taking little breaks.

SEVEN

2010-05-05T08:58:00.005-06:00

7lbs in 2 weeks... I am beyond excited!!!!! I finally decided to weigh my self this morning, after getting hubby to hide the scale for 30 days, but after 2 weeks I decided I needed to 'check in' and am soooo happy to see things are working. It gives me a new boost to keep going.
So what am I doing you ask?

1) Eating Clean. you can google this but basically not eating processed foods, white flour, SUGAR, trans + sat. fats. Eating good food in it's natural state.

2)Yeast Cleanse. taking herbal supplements and staying away from all yeast made/producing foods ie. bread, cheese, soy sauce, fruit, sugar, mushrooms...

3)Drinking my water

4)Exercising. aprox 4-5X a week cardio type stuff for 40-50min. I really like doing Tabata with my new gymboss.

So that's the scoop. I also want to note that I purposely put exercise last. In reading The Eating Clean Book, I've learned that diet is 80% of the weight loss equation, 10% is genetics and 10% is exercise. It makes sense to me. Really it's alot easier to eat 500 less calories a day (skip the muffin and juice) than it is to burn 500 calories. Well in my case it is. We're all different.
So i've decided I needed to be more vigilant about my diet, and not stress about the exercise as much. I have always really enjoyed exercise so it has never been a big deal to get to the gym. But now it's that much more enjoyable because I don't "have" to do it.
So that's what's working for me right now. Today is actually my last day of the yeast cleanse to starting tomorrow I will add fruit (2-3 servings) in to my menu. Yum!!

OH and how could I forget.. i'm HALF WAY to goal!!!

Day 13 of 30

2010-05-03T15:14:00.003-06:00

and only 2 more days of my 'yeast detox' so then I can add fruit back in to my diet. I'm really starting to miss it!! Hubby made the kids Mac+Cheese today for lunch and I was tempted, it smelt quite yummy. I have found if I am starving I am more likely to cheat ( but I have NOT cheated at all!). I think I am going to weight in on wed. Originally I wasn't going to weight till the 30 days but I now decided I need a 1/2 way check in...so if things aren't moving working I can re-evaluate and not loose a whole month. + it will be 2 days after TOM and that is usually when I am pretty 'lite'.
I have not been tracking my calories.. I figure i'm pretty safe with how i'm eating but another reason I need to check in with the scale, to see if I need to get back to counting calories.

Did I check back in after my first couple work outs with my Gymboss? Can't recall, but I do want to say I LOVE it! Friday I just worked out at home, I did the bike 4min of 10rest/20hard second intervals, then did some squat/jumping jack intervals and some modified mountain climber and wall push up intervals, all in all about 30min that felt like 10min, lots of sweat and a feeling of accomplishment!!

During it I had the thought that I should be making a "true" mom work out video. I was using my bike beside our spare bed piled to the roof with clean clothes, did jumping jacks in the toy area, dodging lego bits on the floor, mountain climbers on the stair with my 2 year old crawling all around me and the stairs, trying to mimic me, and push ups on the wall, straddling a garbage bag of hand me downs yet to be sorted. A TRUE stay at home mom work out if I do say so my self!

Measurments -1 Month

2010-04-27T08:37:00.002-06:00

Bust- no change
Waist- down 1"
hips- down 1.25"
thigh- down 1"
bicep- down 1"

Wow! I'm very happy with the results. I kind of find it intriguing that I am loosing so 'evenly' lol. Does this happen with everyone? hmmmm

Well off to the gym, my gymboss timer finally arrived yesterday and I am quite excited to try it. You can set 2 times, example. Run 1min *beep* walk 2min *beep* run 1min. ext. or for doing Tabata training where you go hard and do as many reps of an exercise for 20 sec. and rest for 10 sec. and do this for 8 intervals = a crazy good 4min work out!! I'll post how it goes!

Day 6 of 30

2010-04-26T15:16:00.002-06:00

So just plugging along here on my clean eating. It really is going quite well. No major cravings.. yet.. it's a bit harder because I am doing a yeast cleanse as well, so basicly I am eating, veggies, meat, plain yogurt, grains, rice noodles, rice. I made an amazing risoto...yummmm it was so good, it was with scallops.. yum, yum, YUM. I think I will be making lots of risoto dishes.

Still working out too, today I did 30min on the treadmill (360cal)walking at 6 incline and 3mph. Then did 17min on the eliptical for another 200cal. ( I brought a clean DRY pair of pants to change into after before picking up my daughter)

Did I mention that I hid the scale for 30 days? I would weight myslef 2-3x a day and was starting to feel that my success was based on the # and also frusterated at how much it shifted (due to cycle, salt ect). So for the 30 days of clean eating, I will not be weighting myself..so far that has been the harder part of this (than not eating crap!)Hubby took my measurements about 2 weeks ago so I think I will have him do them again today/tommorow to see what the change is, and will post it here!

Nothing like...

2010-04-22T11:34:00.002-06:00

picking up your daughter from pre-school, and we you get home your husband points out your HUGE sweat stain on your crotch that looks like you totally peeed your self. The joys of working out.

Oh and by the way yesterday I started a 30 day challenge for myself. 30 days of "Clean Eating" I totally love the concept of cleaning eating. The first 14 days i am also doing a Yeast cleanse as well. I've had a problem with yeast for a year or 2 and am finally brave enough to do something about it (besides masking it with antibiotics). So no fruit either for 14 days. That will be a challenge. I know i'll go thru sugar/sweetness withdrawals, and I hope for my husbands sake, it's not too ugly!!

Things Seem to Be Working...

2010-04-09T11:07:00.002-06:00

I think I have found that delicate area that is working for me. I don't seem to be fluctuating as much and can see I'm down a few "point somethings" each day which is encouraging. I eat between 1600-1700 cal a day and do aprox 45min of cardio 4-5 days week burning 400-650 cals each session, depending on what I'm doing. These days I do these for cardio:

1)Treadmill at about 6 incline and 3.2mph (basically hill walking)
2)HITT on the tread mil; 3 incline, walk speed 3 mph, run speed 6.5mph, doing 1min run, 2min walk (or until my hr recovers)
3)Stationary biking with a level of at least 10
4)I was doing spin classes but found it too hard on my back and the seats were just TOO uncomfortable. but I loved the work out!

I'm feeling great, and am almost half way to my 1st goal (195 wedding weight). Hubby even noticed the other day when I was dressed going to the gym, he was like "you are looking good!" and noted that he is really starting to see a difference! Whoot whoot!