My Weightloss Journey...One Year Down

Life has turned me upside down the past few weeks. Our home was opened as a provisional foster home and we have two new little ones. My daughter had an appendectomy, my husband has a hiatal hernia, my husband's car broke down, the two new little have both been sick separate times, we had hiccups in getting my stepson here for Christmas break and I have been swamped with paperwork to get certified for fostering. I've definitely been humbled this month.

I've managed to stay on top of tracking my food and getting my workouts completed. I didn't lose any weight last week but I also had an unwelcomed visitor. I did splurge on Christmas Eve and Christmas more than I wanted to.

I have one more week left of this year and I want to lose ONE more pound. This would put me at 60 lbs lost for the year. Even with PCOS, that's an average of 1.15 lbs per week. Although there were plenty of weeks that I lost nothing...

I keep getting compliments and questions about my weight loss. People ask if I am at my goal weight and a lot of them seem to think I have lost enough. The reality is I still weigh 178 lbs. I am still a size 13/14. I am super happy about that but I know there is still progress to be made.

Rather than focusing on the scale, like I have my entire life, I am going concentrate on strength training. I know that to change the shape of my body I have to train with weights. This will be a learning process for me.  

This is the first year that I have not given up midway through and gained all of my weight back. What exactly did I do to lose weight? I tracked all of my food intake. I use Weight Watchers' previous points system. I made sure to keep up my intake of supplements. I love AdvoCare. I workout. True story. lol I love FitnessBlender videos on youtube.com. I drink plenty of water and get plenty of sleep. Easy enough, right?

I would say the two things that made the difference was giving it to God because I know I can't do it on my own and I committed to the process through affirmation statements. Have a support system if at all possible. If you don't have one at home or work you find one online. I love Instagram because you can follow real people on their fitness journey and find inspiration and motivation.

I gladly welcome others to join me on this journey to get healthy! :)  

Importance of Journaling

Some women love shoes...I love journals and notebooks! I love putting pen to paper. I have my food journal with me at all times. Only way for me to track properly. I usually have a smaller notebook about 5x7 or a smidge smaller. This way it can easily fit into my purse.

I also keep a prayer journal. I find it easier to talk to God this way. Usually if I start to pray out loud (technically in my head) next thing you know I'm over in left field off on another tangent. Writing helps me stay focused on the Lord and to show all of my gratitude...and of course pray!

I only have a few pages left in my prayer and food journals. You know what that means! I got to take a stroll down the stationary aisle. I ended up with two new journals and then two super cute composition notebooks. I couldn't decide which I liked best...so I got them all.

My prayer journal has the scripture of Psalms 118:24 on the front. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it". In love! I usually get up about 5:30 am to start my day and this will be a great reminder to be joyful!

The "yes you can" composition notebook will be my goals notebook. I am starting to write my goals in 12 week increments. As I accomplish goals and find things that aren't working I will need to update them. Three months seems like a great time to re-evaluate. 

The "anything is possible" composition notebook is just for funsies right now.  Who knows. I am sure I can assign a purpose to it.

I pulled a muscle in my left quad so I have been taking it easy today. I happen to have an appointment scheduled with a massage therapist tomorrow but I don't know if that will help? I will talk to her bout it. This is the first time I have had a pulled quad. lol Other than magnesium oil and a bit of heat I'm not sure what to do with it.

While I rest up I am going to start writing in my notebooks. Making my goals super official. To achieve your dreams you must turn them into goals. Then turn your goals into affirmations. Writing time!

Progress of 24 Day Challenge {Day10}

I meant to post a few days ago...then the weekend happened! We went rollerskating Friday night after work, I had a training on Saturday followed by a baby shower and then we visited with my momma for most of today for our birthday, which is tomorrow.

I completed my 10 Herbal Cleanse on Wednesday 10/12/2016. I weighed in on Thursday morning and my scale read 188.0. That's a total of  4.2 lbs from 10/3. I didn't really feel like the scale represented the true progress of the cleanse because Aunt Flo had visited me earlier in the week.

 

My typical weigh-in time is always Friday mornings. I went ahead and got on the scale Friday as well and it read 186.2!!! So I feel this is my more accurate results of the cleanse even though there was one extra day added to the total.

For those of you that don't know, I have PCOS and I typically get multiple warning signs when my visitor is coming. This time I had no clue. There were no crazy cravings, no mood swings and no cramping except a little on the first day. It was kinda awesome. I am usually always miserable a few days before and even after.

I have not taken measurements. I will save that for the end of the 24 Day Challenge that will end on 10/26/2016. I can tell you that my clothes are fitting looser...especially my pants!

Now I am on to the Max Phase and I am excited to build up my core nutrition and continuing to work towards my goals. Stay tuned for the final results!

So I am moving. I am so excited! We are moving into my kiddos school district. It will make my life so much easier...I am sure of it! But with moving comes sooo much to do! I got sidetracked for about a week and a half. The last few days I have been back on track and playing around with some changes.

I will be offline for a little bit while we get settled. We will move to the new house this weekend. I figure a week or so I will get another post up. Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you then!

Life is a Balancing Act! Stress and Weight Loss

So this summer has been hectic to say the least! We had a graduation, a wedding, drove to Texas and back three times in June. My Grandma and Aunt from Washington came to visit. My son turned 13. Now, I can't believe my kiddos go back to school in a week! Time has literally flown by! Working on getting the kiddos to bed at a decent time is not going to be easy. They are already fighting me on it!

Last weekend my hubby's car left us stranded out of town. We then spent a few days looking for the right one to purchase for him. We were blessed with the great deal we found. On top of that we want to move closer to the kiddos' school. They actually go to school 19 miles south of where we live currently. Then I drive north for work. We may have found a rental and should know by tomorrow afternoon. We've been trying to move out that way for a few years but nothing stays on the market long. Although we know that everything will work out, it is stressful.


I have a recall on my van so I have to take it to the shop tomorrow to get it fixed. I get to take a shuttle to work...super fun. Then we have open house for school on Tuesday. Taking a long weekend before school starts to go to the beach and my daughter is having issues with her feet.

Typically when life gets out of hand I get distracted. I refuse to get distracted no matter how crazy life gets! This time I've just kept swimming...metaphorically that is. Ha! Plus I keep doing my affirmations. They really do help!

I'm continually tracking my weight watchers points in my food journal, exercising, drinking my water and getting my 8 hours of sleep in when possible.  I follow the basics of weight loss. You can't go wrong by following these steps!

I had my weigh in two days ago. I am down 1.2 lbs.! Yay! The week before the scale didn't budge at all. Of course Aunt Flo was visiting for the second time in July. Thanks PCOS.
 
I am focusing on 1 lb. at a time. Exercising and eating healthy actually helps me through the stressful times. I did have my cheat meal today. I ate too much chicken alfredo and I had a glass of wine. It's okay though because next time I intend to only have the serving size on my cheat meal. Plus I went for a 45 minute walk after dinner and am currently at 12,246 steps. Now time for sleep...

Meal Planning: Do I really have to do that?

In my opinion, the most important part of weight loss is meal planning. This isn't just, "what are you going to cook for your family for dinner?" This is what are you going to eat everyday, all day, day in and day out. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks...

It is time consuming while you are getting the hang of it and at times I don't want to do it. This is so important to my success though and to yours too. I can get bored with food pretty easily so I really don't eat the same thing for more that 3 days in a row or through out the week.

My family...okay my children...are pretty picky when comes to dinner. I am always trying to please everyone and make it healthy. Well, healthy-ish that is. This is where portion control and willpower come in. Sometimes they go M.I.A. Ugh.

Grocery shop once a week. Typically produce lasts this long before spoiling and I find that I save the most money doing it this way. I've tried to shop for two weeks at a time and plan to go back for produce and bread in between those visits...and I always spend more money than needed. Going to the store less than once a week...ain't nobody got time for that!

Once you get in the habit of meal planning it becomes easier. Plus the simpler you make your food, the simpler the planning is. I am not a chef and do not claim to be. I do have a Pinterest board named  YUM!!! with a ton of recipes if you need ideas. (I can't promise they are all super health though!) My sisters and I also pin things we have made to my board Tested and Approved!!! I try to keep recipes to 5 ingredients or less. I also rotate meals. We have our staples that I make often like tacos, meat loaf, chicken, jambalaya and spaghetti to name a few. I use ground turkey majority of the time for it's cost effectiveness and less calories/fat.


I typically eat 5-6 times a day. I always have a drawer full of snacks at work. I also bring lots of produce. I was blessed with a love for almost all fruits and veggies. My go to items are carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, celery, grapefruit, watermelon, bananas, apples and berries. I will have pretzels with either peanut butter or cheese. Luckily no one at work eats other people's food so I can bring in a few days worth of produce and safely store it in a crisper drawer. I also keep oatmeal packets, almonds and prunes on hand. This prevents me from wondering over to the vending machine on breaks and I am able to stay on track.   

Each week I make a grocery list. I always double check my cabinets/fridge to take a quick inventory of what I already have and what we are almost out of. Then I will plan a meal for each night. I will shop for my produced based on what is in season...you can usually tell based on the price. I do 90% of my grocery shopping at Aldi. I do not go out to eat for lunches but maybe a few times a year. I am pretty frugal and I refuse to spend money when it's not necessary. We may grab fast food once a month or so, go out to eat for a special occasion, or if we are out of town. Even when we go out of town I pack healthy snacks. Otherwise, I prepare all of our meals at home. It's the only way to control what I am eating and it's cost effective as well.