Things are starting to change

It dawned on me last night that I am no longer hungry all the time, and I find myself craving water.
How did that happen?  I went from thinking I was going to eat my arm off, and having to pee every 2 minutes to being satisfied all the time and actually wanting more water!

Some of the things I am doing that I think have helped me thus far:

1. I never leave the house without my water bottle (I love the Medium Eco Water bottle from Tupperware)

2. I carry a navel orange with me at all times, it is big enough to satisfy, no need to wash it, and it I love them

3. I make healthy food in batches so it is always available and easy - my new convenience food. Such as:

• Hard boiled eggs
• yams with Cinnamon
• celery sticks, carrots sticks, baby cucumbers washed and ready to go
• bake extra chicken breasts or salmon for the next day to have on a salad or with lunch
• I have an abundance of fruit washed and ready eat
• I have switched to using olive oil becel and becel spray, to use less fat but still get the taste I crave

4. I have purchased 100 calorie bags of things so I can easily cure a craving with having the satisfaction of knowing exactly how much I ate, as well they make great treats and snacks for the kids

5. I weigh and learn proper portion size of the foods I consume

6. I read packages, know what I am eating, how much, what the nutrients, calories and fat content and then decide if it's really what I want.

7. I listen to my body and what it is really wanting.

8. I journal everything I eat

9. I have committed to making a change, everyday I remind myself why I am doing this

Today, much to my surprise my body wanted salmon, yams, green beans, and a tomato for lunch.  It was a surprise as this is a typical dinner, not lunch for us and I am pretty sure my kids think it is now almost bedtime.... ahh the joys of messing with young one's minds..

This morning when I put my work out gear on.. I stood in the mirror and looked at my body and saw the changes.  My belly is defiantly shrinking.  Thank god.. I was starting to think I could go into tire sales :) 








Tomorrow night my hunny and I are going out on our first date with out kids in almost 5 months... tomorrow may be my first up to 2000 calorie day yet.. but I am thinking I will choose nutrients and flavour over quantity and I will drink lots and lots of water. 

Word that stick with me and change me

I have an incredible friend whom I have known since I was just a young lass in Victoria.  
I am super lucky as she jumped on the same band wagon I did, and now we are each others support and the nice thing is we are in the same sized boat so the journey will be similar.

Spending so much of our lives as friends we have really seen each other through the ups the downs, the thin the fat.   This woman is one of the kindest, most supportive women I know.  She has kept me going daily with an email here and an text message there, asking questions, giving updates, funny moments of her journey. 

Tuesday night she sent me a text message that stuck with me:

 "I just had a flashback of being 120 lbs on the treadmill at the YMCA and being jealous of the 200lb lady next to me as she had just lost 5 lbs in a week - Guess the coin has flipped.  I would rather be 120lbs and struggling to lose 5 lbs"

I am happy to report my dear friend lost 5 lbs this week (actually I think it was more like 5 days as she started a few days after me).  This program works. There are 2 of us now that are living the proof.

I have thought about her text often over the past two days,  it made me laugh so hard when I read it.. probably because I was most likely at the gym with her that day when we were 20 and were thinking the same thing.. Although I was more like 130 lbs at the time :)  Times have changed, and I look at the young girls who think they can eat anything and nothing will happen.. well listen up ladies.. IT CATCHES UP WITH YOU.  Metabolisms are wonderful until you hit late 20's or have babies.. Mine coincided with both my late 20's and babies.

So here we are on our journey together.. both striving to be the skinny bitch struggling to loose the last 2 lbs..

Her words changed me inside.  Last night after dinner, I went to the gym, I figured the only way I can become the skinny chickadee struggling to lose the last 2 lbs is to get my fat ass on the treadmill and keep going until it's gone baby gone.

Eating & Planning, Planning & Eating

The basis of my plan is to eat less and better.  One of the things I am doing is journalling everything I eat. I find this really helps me stay on track and to be able to chose better options.

Last night was my first night out to eat since starting my new regime. My BFF and I went out to for my birthday date night.. we always do sushi and a movie at our favourite place.  I love our date nights, great sushi, fantastic company and who doesn't love a good movie.  All yesterday I knew that I would not be able to resist the best sushi roll ever (It consists of cream-cheese, scallops, prawns and something else delicious).. and it's deep fried... so not exactly diet friendly.

By planning my meals out early in the day I was able to foresee needing to spend more calories on dinner.

My BFF and I shared a French Kiss (The roll - not the action), edamame, seaweed salad and had a miso soup each.   At the movie we shared a small popcorn (To be truthful I wasn't going to have any but I couldn't help myself, it smelled so good).  And because of my cautious planning all day I was able to stay under 1400 calories for the day and not deprive myself of anything. I'm learning people.. I'm learning.. You see the old dieting me would have said.. it's a special occasion and either gorged myself, or deprived myself of what I really wanted, felt crappy about myself and binged later when I was having a weak moment.

The funniest part (now, not then) about the whole ordeal is we are pretty sure something was on the funky side of expired that we both ate, as we both had an internal cleansing not too long after eating..

So in the end, I am  not even sure my body absorbed any of the calories after all that careful planning. Have to be honest... not totally upset about it either :)

I felt great and this morning I found myself wanting to hit the gym.  Now if only I had a built in sitter I could have gone..

Here's to staying motivated for when my hubby gets home so I can go!

Thank you

I started this blog not to share with people I knew, rather to give me some public form of having to stick to it, to keep me focused and of course give me an outlet to vent and look back on this journey while still being some what anonymous. 

The reason I was not going to share this journal with friends or family on facebook, is because I know my writing style and I tend to write about my embarrassing truths without thinking about who is reading them.. and although I may be friends with hundreds of people on facebook, some I have not seen since I weighed 70lbs, not 70 lbs over-weight.. (change that.. now currently 64 lbs over-weight) and that to me was super embarrassing to admit publicly.

When I posted on my status that I was doing the Biggest Loser Challenge I was amazed at the amount of people who contacted me to find out more about the competition.   And then it dawned on me.. if I write my blog in privacy and I stop, I am not letting anyone down but myself.  If I choose to let those people who I care about in my life read about my journey I have created an instant support group. 
The thought also crossed my mind that perhaps someone will come across this blog and find the motivation or support in becoming healthier with me.  I know of a couple people who have decided to saddle up and gitty up along side and that to me is the best, thank you for being my pard'ners.

So this post is a BIG THANK YOU for being my support group.  I am overwhelmed and over-joyed at the number of people who not only read this blog, but the number of people who have emailed me, texted me, left comments, facebook messaged me, and not one has been negative.  Thank you for your support.  I have tried my best to get back to each one of you, but if I have missed you along the way I am sorry, just know that I appreciate your words and support from the bottom of my shrinking gutt :)

**by reading this post you have unwillingly agreed (but agreed non the less) to be my butt kicking support group and are now bound to this agreement  to email, text, and harass me should I stop blogging or fall off the weight loss wagon in any way, shape or form.  Negligence to abide by these rules will result in termination of this contract**

Weigh in Day

I have to be honest, this morning when I woke up I was worried... Often when I work really hard to lose weight I don't. 

Monday's are my Biggest Loser Challenge weigh in days, as well as my Sharecare (Dr.Oz) weigh in days...

And since I gave away my scale to Salvation Army..(After reading a book that told me to)  I have to weigh in at the gym.  Kind of embarrassing doing it in front of women I have yet to meet, but it is also good motivation to go to the gym. 

After squeezing the last drop of pee from my body and removing my shoes.. I stepped on the scale.

Now before I tell you what Madam Scale told me.. I had already pre-decided that if I had lost nothing I was not working out today ... but I had also decided that I would stick with my program and  weight loss challenge regardless.

 

So back to removing shoes and stepping on Madam Scale (she is a grand scale, similar to one you would find in a Doctors office) ... And wouldn't you know it... She told me I  LOST 6 FREAKING POUNDS!!! I got off and thought.. huh that must be wrong so I re-set everything and stepped back on.... HOLY SHIT I LOST 6 LBS!  I love you Madam Scale, I love you..... I almost wept and started kissing my New BFF, but I decided that may be slightly more embarrasing than the thought of someone sneaking a peak at my number... 

Here are a few things I may have lost this week in the purge:



6 lb ball



6 lbs if peaches

6 lb fish



6 lbs of beef



6 lb baby

That's right, I lost the equivelant of a new born baby.  Not one of MY juicy babies, but I do know a few women who have born one or 2 of these elusive delights.

So the way I see it is.. One baby down, 10 more to go..


And yes.. The 6lb loss was enough motivation for me to turn around, put my shoes back on, place my headphones on my head and walk briskly over to the treadmill and turn on The View.

A-Ha!

In my last post on Friday, I mentioned how the couch called my name along with food all day... and I wasn't sure if it was the working-out or if I was wanting to eat out of boredom.

Well good news ladies.. it turns out with all the excitement this past week I forgot about the one day a month that a woman needs to "prepare" for the following day. (Read hibernate and eat in privacy cuz it ain't pretty) That's right I was PMSing..  Oh happy, happy, joy, joy. 




Funniest thing about this..I am totally craving oranges...

 

Yesterday I did the period purge.  For any men who may stumble across this blog or women who are confused by this term.. The Period purge comes in many forms, for me it tends to come in the form of either cutting bangs, dying my hair or purging my closets and drawers.  Luckily for my poor fried hair, this month I cleaned house.  Well 2 rooms, and if you've seen my closets in those two rooms you would know why it took me all day and only completed 2 rooms (I am not talking about the size of the closets.. the lack of actually,  referring more to the amount of stuff I can stuff into one).

Talk about weight being lifted!  I worked for a good 8 hours and man did I sweat.  6 garbage bags of donation and trash later.. I feel 20lbs lighter.  My house still has A LONG way to go and so does my body, but both are looking better today.

This morning when I put my work-out pants on to hit the gym, I felt a flattish belly for the first time in years. Don't get me wrong it is still all flab, and has the same measurement as my boobs and butt, but the bloat is down.  (I guess the water has paid off)
And get this, last night when I put on my fresh out of the dryer jeans  - I didn't have to lay down to do them up!  Now that was a good feeling.. and one that kept me motivated enough this morning to get up and go to the gym. 



Yup you guessed it.. my typical Saturday night jeans :)



I made it to Day 5!!!

Day 5.. Almost complete. Wow, a whole work week and no major break-down binges!!

Although, if I were to be honest, today was tough.

It started out great, took the kids to school and off to the gym for some serious Mommy time. One of the things I love/hate about my gym, is that each cardio machine has a built in Television. 


NO - NOT ME... YET...

I love the TV's because:
A.The time goes so quickly
B. Guilt free TV
C. I end up doing way more cardio than planned just so I can watch the last segment of The View.

I hate the TV's because:
A. I feel like I never have any quiet in my life, no time to be with me and my thoughts
B. I end up doing way more cardio than planned just so I can watch the last segment of The View.

With my luck today The View had a segment called 4 hours to change your life.. everything from sex to weight to sleep deprivation.. so I had to stay on that treadmill to find out how to change my entire existence in 4 hours.

An hour and 20 minutes later I found out that an icepack on the back of your neck for half hour a day helps speed metabolism(I think..), Brazil nuts & eggs makes husbands hornier, and I should get a night light thingy to go to sleep with... I am still confused on how this will change my life in 4 hours..I guess I have yet another book to add to my list of things I should get around to reading. 

Since I stayed on the treadmill 45 minutes longer than anticipated I deprived myself of my favourite part of working out... the stretching station.. and shower...Yikes...

I am always surprised at the number of parents that still talk to me when I show up at to pick the kids up, and how close they can stand next to me.. I mean I am visibly wet people... not pretty.

At the beginning of this post I said today was tough. That is because I am EXHAUSTED. 
Note to self: You are not in shape, going full force for over an hour on the treadmill and not stretching afterwards makes you tired, sore and HUNGRY.

After coming home and having a lovely lunch of egg salad in a whole wheat wrap, I made the mistake of sitting down on the couch for 10 minutes.. that's when it happened.. the legs started to shake, the back started to ache, so I laid down for what was to be only a few minutes to relax....let's just say my PVR is back down to 12% full. 

I am still trying to figure out if I was so hungry from working out, or from boredom.. or from stress.. Regardless I did not deprive myself food, when I was hungry I had edamame beans, orange, blueberries, carrots. 

At the end of the day despite the aching muscles and bags under my eyes, I feel great.  I feel my tummy getting smaller, I have a wee bit more energy and my mood has definitely lifted.

Yup that's Me