My Weight Loss Journey

Weigh In - four weeks

2011-11-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

So we were told in the beginning that weeks 3-4 would probably be the lowest weight loss numbers we had as your body was adjusting to the diet plan and the exercise routines.

I am working out four days at week at the gym.
Tuesday at 9am I do Core Cardio Blast, which is a tabatas class.
Wednesday at 5pm I do High Heat, which is a high-intensity class.
Thursday at noon I do Interval Express, which is a tabatas, high-intensity mix class.
Friday at 9am I do Jacob's Relay, which is actually a tabatas class, but we also take turns on the Jacobs ladder, which I have a love-hate relationship with. I love the workout that it gives me, but the machine is so hard that I hate it.

Results of this two weeks was another 1/2 inch off my waist and 2.5% body fat lost.

The thing is that every class is still a huge effort and I get a great workout, but I am doing better each and every class, which is a big thing. I am in better shape physically, even if I am not losing the weight yet.

Weigh In - two weeks

2011-10-31T13:32:00.000-04:00

So I mentioned that I started BootCamp at NextGeneration, www.wemeltyou.org and so Saturday was two weeks in and I had a weigh in.

After two weeks of hard workouts, and a nutritional plan that was hard/easy to follow. Some parts were hard (no cheese) and others were easy (no soda).

At weigh in, my results were that I lost 8 pounds and 3 inches from my waist.

Wonderful!

Now that I am entering weeks 3 and 4, until my next weigh in, the number of cardio minutes that i need to get in has increased to a minimum of 300 minutes, and the nutritional plan has changed a little, less carbs.

i am looking forward to the next few weeks.

BootCamp

2011-10-17T11:52:00.000-04:00

Over the past year, I have watched some people I know, friends and acquaintances work on their own personal weight loss journeys, and find success. Why can't I find that same success? I really took a hard look at me, the fact that I get discouraged very easily, have trouble sticking to any diet plan very long, and just have the tendency to skip out, when given the chance. So knowing my own issues, I talked to the people who were succeeding, and they said.... Next Generation.

So what does that mean, well, here in town there is a fitness center, if you want to call it that called Next Generation, and the owner is also a client. He went through the program and has continued to keep the weight off, and he has shared it with others. The general manager is a client, and just recently hit the 170 lbs lost mark! Everyone involved in the organization has already went through the program and you see the results on a daily basis.

What does it involve? Well, first coaches and accountability. When you join a BootCamp, you are assigned a Nutrition Coach and a Cardio Coach. You get detailed instructions on the menu plan and the exercise plan. Then you are accountable to email your nutrition coach each and every day with what you ate and when! You have an exercise log, and you are required to email it to your cardio coach once a week.

Last night was orientation, and two people talked to us. One was the general manager, who started this program a little over 18 months ago, and has now lost 170 lbs. The second person to talk to us was a guy who started 12 weeks ago, and lost 55 lbs. He was so fired up because of the drastic changes he has seen in other things like his cholestrol and blood sugar numbers.

You know, for a long time I told myself that I was ok because my blood sugar was in check, my cholestrol was fine and if I really needed to lose weight those would be problems. What a joke. The idea that my cholestrol is fine doesn't mean that I am not fat, I am. I am morbidly obese...that means that I am at least a hundred pounds over what is recommended for my height. Yes, I just admitted that on a public blog! But you know what, if I don't admit it, how am I ever going to fix it!?!

The greatest thing about starting this BootCamp, was that when I walked into orientation last night, I wasn't the only one there that looked like me! I wasn't the one fat person in a class full of skinny exercise "freaks". That had always been an issue. I don't care where you go to work out, but every place I went, I always felt like the lone fat girl in a room full of skinny people. That didn't happen last night, and to see people the same size or larger than myself made me feel at home.

Weigh-in was on Saturday, and I had my famous "before" pictures taken. Haven't seen them, and really don't want to, but I promise to share when I get to the end, or whenever they show me the pictures. Today was my first workout class and I started the menu, so I am on my way. Join me on the journey to a new me, a me that is confident and happy and wants to enjoy the world with my family!

Feeling off

2011-09-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

So I am still feeling a bit off, not like myself. This time I am not sure that doing anything with or making any changes to my medications will make any difference. And if we want to be really honest here, I don't think I have been feeling like myself since before the surgery!

Is it a mid-life crisis? How should I know?! I've never had one before but nothing feels normal, not even every day life feels like it should. Am I depressed, yea, but is it because I don't feel right or is it causing me not to feel right. Not sure, and it really feels to be a chicken or the egg kind of question at the moment, not sure which came first but it is not helping.

I have been looking at some ideas, things I have toyed with for years but never did anything about and I think it is time to do something about them, to focus one what I want to do for a bit.

Lose weight. Check. That is the one thing I been trying to do since I gained weight during all those fertility treatments. I have to focus on it, and I am not sure that I can do it myself.

Hard Headed Men

2011-09-27T10:07:00.001-04:00

Why do men have to be so hard-headed? I have spent the last 45 minutes on the phone yelling with my Dad over this damn divorce! On Saturday, we got a note that she had filed for a continuance. This has been going on for far too long. She filed way back in May, and they were suppose to have a (hopefully) final hearing on Monday October 3rd.

So I talked to our attorney and he said that since the continuance was made on the fact that she JUST now hired a lawyer on the 22nd of September. Now she is the one that filed the original petition for divorce way back in May, and we hired an attorney the week before, which is quick for a lawyer to go to court, but I have worked my butt off to get him all the information that he needs and we are ready to go on the 3rd, that the judge will most likely grant the continuance.

Dad is pissed. He hates that she is dragging this out so long, it has been 122 days since she filled for the divorce, and she has been fooling around with her boyfriend, and living at the house doing whatever what she wants and he is just working and sleeping and his doing nothing. He is upset. It's not fair that she is living the high life waiting on this divorce and he is at home worrying about the divorce.

The other thing that is pissing him off is that he is not out at the house with the horses, and he worries about them, about if she is taking care of them or not or what is going on. He is also worried that she might be over there selling off everything of his that is out there. Although there is no real reason that he can't go out there and get his stuff, she is there and he doesn't want to see her or be around her. She is always picking on him and was always trying to get him into a fight, pushing as hard as she could to make him hit her, but he never did.

I don't know what to do. Should I go out there by the house and check on the horses? Should I take him out there are get some of his stuff or should we just wait out this divorce? What can i do to make sure this goes well, because I am sure it is not going to be over once the divorce is final because of the mortgage and loan that they have, but she has already agreed to keep paying, she wants the hose anyway, and Dad just wants his name off them. It's not going to happen easily, and that is probably going to hang over his head for a long time.

The problem is that he is just getting so mad and angry and that he isn't listening to reason. He is pissed about the continuance, and he thinks she is playing games with him, and this is all just to make it longer and make it harder on him. It's not actually, it's just because she hired a a lawyer right before court.

It really stresses me out talking to him and having to yell at him to get him to quite going off on her and to listen to what i am saying. I am ready for this all to be over, but i know that it is not going to be for a long time, ever after the divorce is final,

Divorce Stress

2011-09-26T09:26:00.000-04:00

I've been married for a little over 18 years now, dated my husband for 4 years before that, so we have been together 22 years! That's a long time. But right now we are struggling with the stress of a divorce, and it's not even ours, it's my dad's fourth one.

Back in June he called to tell me that his current wife had filled for divorce and that although he was still staying out at the house with her, things were bad. She had a new boyfriend that she was sneaking into town to stay with all weekend, and expecting him to take care of the horses and the house. So I started going down and picking him up for the weekend and bring him to our house.

She filled for the divorce on May 25th, and they elected to go into mediation instead of hiring attorneys. Their first court appointment was July 6th, and although not much went on, they basically turned in a list of what each party wanted to the mediator and went home, they got in an argument on the drive home, basically because Dad was pissed off that she came into court covered in hickeys from her boyfriend. he kicked him out of the car an mad him walk home, this is a 63 year old man, not in the best of health in the heat of July! He called me and I came and picked him up, and he has not been back out to "her" house since.

Their second court appearance before the mediator took place on August 31st, and although they were called in few minutes before their original court time, by 3 minutes past court time they were done. She refused to look at or agree to any of the options that my Dad presented so the mediator told them it would have to go to court! Talk about being mad!

We called around that day and got an appointment with an attorney and we talked it through, there really isn't much to the whole thing, in fact there are no kids, just a house with a mortgage, a personal loan and some farm equipment, most of which came from my grandparents when they passed away and then the horses. So the attorney said this should be pretty simple and pretty fast. Saturday w get a letter in the mail stating that she had retained and attorney and that he had filled for a continuance. NO! We had purposely not notified her that we had retained an attorney yet to keep her for getting scared and filing for a continuance. There is really not that much to divide.

So this morning I called the attorney to let him know and see if there was anything we could actively do to try to get the continuance not granted. I mean, we only hired our attorney a week before she hired hers and she is the one who originally filed the petition, so she should already have everything she needed worked out. right?

I am so stressed out over this, and it is making my Dad mad and stressed, and it worries me that this is the kind of thing that might make him fall off the wagon again, and this is NOT the time for that to happen, but there is a part of me that is thinking she is pushing just to see if she can't get him to fall of the wagon, just to say see, he's not fit. But then again they don't have kids so it's just the horses they are dividing, but she wants EVERYTHING, and according to her since Indiana is a No Fault divorce state that means that she gets everything! NOT! She just better be glad that Indiana is a no fault divorce state because I am sure she doesn't want my Dad trotting out her boyfriend that got fired for hiring in and working on under someone else's name, or the fact that he has since left her to go back to a pregnant girlfriend and she has another boyfriend already.

Push me too hard and I can get pissy! This is just a bunch of garbage. The only reason she wants a continuance is so that she can continue to live her life with the comforts of all the equipment that Dad would gt in the divorce, or to cover up the fact that she is out there selling off all of Dad's stuff! How do we stop this? How do we get things going and get this were it needs to be? i am just so angry!

The Journey...

2011-09-24T21:14:00.000-04:00

As I work on my journey towards a normal life again after a total hysteroctomy, I keep finding that no matter what I do, something doesn't feel right. That I feel like i am living in someone else's body.

Then it hits me, I am not writing! Well, for the longest time I couldn't even think, let alone write for a long time. Finally I am starting to dream in stories again, and that tells me that the time to write again has come.

But where. I have three blogs. The one I have been using for my book reviews and things associated with the books, and there is a part of me that doesn't want to mix this in with that. But I still want to keep that one for writing and for books. The original blog, that I started with the things I was creating, I still want to keep for that, as a business blog, in case i ever make it back into that life where I am able and wanting to build a business again. So that leaves this blog, and the last blog. I said that I wanted to keep the newest blog for my books and writing, but the writing I meant was poems and books chapters and that type of writing.

What about this more journal writing, the stuff that I write to keep my head on straight, to focus me and to help me feel like myself? Well, the more I thought about it the more I felt it needed to go here, on the journey blog. It may not specifically be about my weight loss, but it is part of my journey in life and where I am going, and hopefully it will lead to some weight loss. So this is the place to put the writing about life, about emotions, about stress, you know the journal writing.

Ok. So now I know where to put this and I am ready to go. So I have started and I am ready to move on, to get my life back and that is what I am working on doing.

Return again...Wednesday

2010-06-02T11:42:00.002-04:00

As ever, I am once again on this journey, and this time I am again feeling the need to keep a log of how it is going to keep me on track.

Weigh in: 233.5
The problem is that I can never get below 231. I will yo-yo etween 231 of a low and 255 as an all-time high, normally more towards 241. I will bounce between that ten-pound range but I can never break that 230 barrier. That is the most frustrating thing about it all!

Breakfast:
Slimfast meal bar - 200 calaroies

Yes, I have decided to use the Slimfast plan to help me stay on track right now. I have a number of friends who have used it and gotten wonderful results. I started to have a shake this morning, but after three drinks I just couldn't handle the taste anymore. I think it needs to be much colder than I got it today. But I hope to use the shakes, the bars and the snacks, then a balanced meal, to get me down to where I feel better and then w;; see what happens next.

Have I revised my goals? Not at this point. I think I need to do that and make much smaller steps for myself, but I am just going to work on following the plan and blogging about it for this next week, and then I will ease into more and more with it.

Toxic Tuesday

2009-12-29T12:59:00.002-05:00

Not really sure what to title this post, but Toxic Tuesday sounds pretty good at the moment.

Got up this morning and made French Toast for the kids, and I did well not to eat the leftovers!

Wii Fit: Did 15 minutes of Yoga, then some Rythm boxing, Hula Hoop and a long bike. Totaled 45 minutes so far today.

Want to get back on later today, need to break it up because of the kids in the house and trying to control them, but at least I am working on it.

Now, on to more "Boxing Day"....we are cleaning out closets and drawers and getting rid of old stuff to make room for the new...

Wii Fit Plus

2009-12-28T10:15:00.001-05:00

Brad's Christmas present to me this year was the Wii Fit Plus Balance Board. I had been wanting it, and also the Biggest Loser program, but at least I got the board.

I was sick all night Christmas Eve, so I wasn't up to using it on Christmas Day, but Brad and the kids all registered and played and had a blast.

Saturday was my first day on it and I did just over an hour.
Sunday I did 40 minutes.

This morning I got up before the kids and did 45 minutes, 5 miles on the bike ride, some hula hoop and some yoga (which is harder than you might think it looks to be). I hope to get another 45 minutes later today, but the kids got up and breakfast needed to be made.

As always, another new start for me, but I keep going, I keep trying. I never seem to get anywhere, but I keep at it.

Tuesday Morning

2009-07-28T08:59:00.002-04:00

Good morning, and welcome to Tuesday.

So I went ahead and got up early, while the kids were still in bed (and are still in bed, although that routine is going to have to change with the approaching start of school!), and did 15 minutes on my Gazelle. Yes, I know that is not alot, but I am just starting out, and so my plan is to start a couple days at 15 minutes, then increase the time and stay there a couple day, then increase and so on. At least I have 15 minutes of exercise in already this morning, and I am hoping to do another 15 before bed tonight.

I am eating my breakfast, a cup of Yoplait Lowfat yogurt, Pina Colada flavor, only 170 calories. It's not my favorite flavor, but I do like it, and it is a pretty good breakfast. I am all out of flax seed, or I would add that to it. It adds alot of fiber and helps it to last until lunch on the tummy. In other words I don't get as hungry as quickly if I add the flax seed. Will have to remember to get more while I am out today.

Not sure when I will weigh in, but I need to do that soon. Need to get a new starting point, and to know were I am going, but I have just been avoiding that. I know you all can relate!

Just another start?

2009-07-27T18:59:00.000-04:00

How long has it been since I posted here?

Well, in my own defense, I switched jobs and that took me away from the computer, and I did do better at this journey then, but I have found time to be back at the computer, but not to the blog. So again, I will begin.

Searched Craigslist for weeks, and finally found a Tony Little Gazelle machine. Had been wanting one for years since I saw them on tv and saw Tony Little demostrating them. So I found one, and bought it, but it is not like the one I remember from tv, but I am going to use it! Espically since I bought it! And I have got to get my money's worth out of it or I am going to be in so much trouble with hubby!

To that end, I am going to begin blogging on my journey again, to keep me accountable to what I am doing.

Monday June 9th - Another New Start

2008-06-09T08:54:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am, back again after a long abscense, but life intrupted my best laid plans, and that is the hardest part. I get so busy that counting points and watching what I am eating gets pushed aside.

Breakfast:
6oz WW Amaretto Cheescake Yogurt w/flax seed - 1.5 points
12 oz diet big red

I'm still here....I think

2008-03-13T11:14:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so you all noticed that I disappeared, did you?!?

Sorry about that. This whole weight loss thing is so hard for me, and the fact that I had been workign so long and only lost six pounds was wearing on me, so I have taken a few weeks off. I know...

But, I will be back to making my Saturday morning WW meetings with two of the gals from church that I am friends with....

I am going to be back to working on my diet....

And....hubby gave me a few month a Curves....so I am going to be starting that up. I have to get the exercise going, although the thought oh having to go somewhere to do it is what I hate.....if I could just find one of those Tony Little Gazelle exercise machines for home....

BloggerWave - New Company

2008-02-26T10:34:00.000-05:00

bloggerwave

So your like me, you have taken the time to put your thoughts and feelings, your ideas and opinons down into a blog. What do you do with it now? How do you get people to read it?

One thing you can do is to use your blog to get paid. Yep, you read that right, you can get paid to blog about a variety of topics. Doesn't that sound like fun?

The newest company in this vein is BloggerWave. They are based out of Europe, but are open to bloggers all over. Their goal is to be the biggest advertising on blogs in Europe! Great goal, and what does that mean to you? Well, the bigger they grow the more chances to blog about more things for those that are working with them. So if you sign up for BloggerWave now, while they are still growing, you get in on the ground floor and grow your blog while they grow, which all means more for you! What have you got to lose, give them a try!

Friday Log

2008-02-22T09:11:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, finally!
My kids are out of school today, a little snow and a little ice here, not what I would think of enough to let them out of school, but then again...

Breakfast:
WW Amaretto Cheesecake Yogurt - 1 point
Flax Seed - .5 points
Diet Big Red - 0 points

Thursday Log

2008-02-21T10:06:00.000-05:00

It's Thursday, can everyone cheer! YEAH! The week is almost over!

Breakfast:
Sweet Tea - 5 points
Bacon, Egg and Cheese biscuit - 12 points

**YIKES! I can't believe I just ate that many points! I was running late to work, didn't grab my regular breakfast and so I grabbed McDonlad's on the way to work! Now I am wishing that I hadn't. All I can think is that I am skipping lunch! UGH! I feel so sick now that I realize how many points I just consumed! WOW! Who would have thought that something that small would pack so many points.

Wednesday Log

2008-02-20T10:13:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Wednesday! The middle of the week, and what used to be weigh-in day. I have switched to the Saturday morning WW meeting, so weigh-in has now switched to Saturday morning! Yeah! I actually switched because there are some friends that go to that meeting, and this holds me even more accountable.

Breakfast:
WW Amaretto Cheesecake Yogurt - 1 point
Flax Seed - .5 points
Diet Cherry Pepsi - 0 points

Snack:
100 calorie snack pack - peanut butter crisps - 2 points
16.9 oz water - 0 points

Lunch:
Michelina Budget - Ziti - 5 points

Snack:
16.9 oz water - 0 points

Dinner:
scrambled egg with cheddar cheese
toast - 2 slices
unsweeted ice tea

Tuesday Log

2008-02-19T08:53:00.000-05:00

Good Morning!

Breakfast:
WW amaretto cheescake yogurt - 1 point
flax seed - .5 points
diet big red - 0 points

Monday Food Log

2008-02-18T10:38:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy weekend, so busy and then I wasn't feeling all that great yesterday...but I am ready to get back on track today!

Breakfast:
WW Amaratto Cheesecake Yogurt - 1 point
Flax Seed - .5 points
Diet Big Red - 0 points

Lunch:
Michelina's Budge Gourmet Ziti - 5 points
16.9 oz bottle of water - 0 points
WW Carrot Snack Cake - 1 point

**working on a second bottle of water! Depending on what you read, recommendations are for at least 48 ozs of water a day, to half your body weight (that is, if you weigh 200lbs, you are suppose to drink 100ozs of water)...anyway, I have really got to start getting my water intake up if I want to do anything better than a measily one pound a week.

At work:
16.9 oz bottle of water - 0 points

Early Evening:
16.9 oz bottle of water - 0 points

**that makes THREE bottles of water today!! for a total of 50.7 ozs! Not bad!!

Thursday Food Log

2008-02-14T11:36:00.000-05:00

Breakfast:
1 bag of carmel bugles
20oz diet big red
** i don't know the points yet, I have to go to weight watchers and check into it. not a good breakfast I know, but I had to take 2 gallons of milk to the school for a Valentine's party so I was running late to work today.

Wedneday Food Log

2008-02-13T13:07:00.000-05:00

Well, its Wednesday already and I should have meeting tonight, but I am working the College Basketball game for our church tonight, so I can't make meeting. Just found out that a friend is doing the saturday morning meetings, and hubby suggested that I switch and go with her, which I am surprised about, I didn't think he would want me to go Saturday morning, so I just may do that.

Breakfast:
WW Key Lime Pie yogurt - 1 point
Flax seed - .5 points
Diet Big Red - 0 point

Snack at work:
WW Carrot Cake snack cake - 1 point
Diet Big Red - 0 points
** not that I was really hungry, but so much going on and trying to deal with it and work is getting busy, so that is why I snacked, not because I was hungry.

Lunch:
cheeseburger with tomato, and pickle from Wendy's - 7 points

I worked the concession stand at the basketball game tonight with the gals from church, so I didn't get to eat a real meal, but I did have my meal from there.

Dinner:
Polish Dog with relish

Food Log for Tuesday

2008-02-12T10:12:00.000-05:00

Well, tax season has started in full force, which means that I am busy, busy, busy at work! Sorry I missed yesterday, but I never got the chance to get online.

Breakfast:
WW Boston Cream Pie Yogurt - 1 point
Flax Seed - .5 points
Diet Big Red - 0 points
** total points - 1.5 points**

You know, it may be a low point breakfast, but the extra fiber in the flax seed really helps me to feel full and I don't get hungry before lunch time this way. It's all about the fiber! Want a breakfast that stays with you until lunch so that you don't snack, bulk up the fiber! Fiber makes you feel full!! It's amazing what just two little teaspoons of fiber will do!

Well, I didn't eat lunch because I had to take my oldest to the doctor for his yearly. I hate this, but the doctor's office won't schedule well-checks in the late afternoon, they save those appointments for the sick kids. So I have to pull him out of school to make the appointment. I think they have it backwards, they should schedule the late appointments for well-checks, and the daytime appointments for sick kids because if the kid is sick they aren't in school anyway!

Lunch/Dinner:
McDonald's hamburger - 7 points
Sweet Tea - 5 points
**total - 12 points**

Late Dinner:
1 bowl of chili - homemade with ground turkey - 5 points
1 piece cornbread - made with flax seed added - 2 points
** total - 7 points**

Daily total - 20.5 points

Thursday Food Log

2008-02-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

Well, at weigh in last night I was actually down another pound, so that was a surprise! I wasn't sure.

Breakfast:
WW Strawberry Yogurt - 1 point
Flax seed - .5 points
Diet Big Red - 0 points
**total - 1.5 points**

I think I have got my breakfast down to a manageable thing. This small 2 point breakfast is great. It fills me up and lasts till lunch and I feel good about what I am eating. Now I just have to get lunch and dinner in line, mostly lunch, because alot of times we are so busy that I don't really eat dinner.

Wednesday Food Log

2008-02-06T09:35:00.000-05:00

Yep, it's Wednesday again. I should have weighed in this morning, but didn't get a chance. Will update you all after weigh in at meeting tonight!

Breakfast:
WW Key Lime Pie Yogurt - 1 point
2 tsp Flax Seed - .5 points
20oz Diet Big Red - 0 points
**total points - 1.5 points**