It's a New Year, so it's time for new resolutions..........

But I'm sorry to say that I actually didn't make any resolutions related to my weight loss challenge.  Don't get me wrong, I did make resolutions this year but just none related to weight loss.  I made resolutions related to my work life, social life, and personal life.  The new year came and all I thought I needed to do for weight loss was to stick with working towards my overall goal. 

Through this whole process I've been able to figure out what I need to do to be successful and what I shouldn't do too.  This whole experience so far has been very challenging.  It changes day by day and sometimes even hour by hour.  I can be on track and motivated in the morning only to end up way out in left field by the end of the day.  I've been making different weight loss resolutions each week for the past seven months.  And that is the beauty of it all.  I'm lucky to have realized to be successful in my weight loss goals I have to be flexible.  If I wasn't flexible, I've would have given up a long long time ago.  I've failed at many of my different resolutions along the way.  I still drink Diet Coke regularly.  I still don't get physical activity daily.  I still eat unhealthy things.  BUT I exercise more than I did before.  I still say "no thank you" to things that I know I shouldn't eat.  And I am still working towards my overall goal.  And that is AWESOME!

The year mark for my weight loss challenge is Memorial Day weekend.  I am sitting at 27 pounds lost (had some bad weeks with vacation/ holidays/ illness/ etc).  I hope to be able to say on Memorial Day weekend that I am at 50 pounds weight loss.  That's the current goal and I hope to achieve it and then keeping going down from there.  So to all of you who have made New Year resolutions, keep up the good work.  If you are failing at your goal so far, don't give up.  Be flexible!  Re-evaluate your plan, make some adjustments, and keep going.  If you never try then you will have to accept defeat in the end.  Accepting defeat is not fun, so get to work!  We're all awesome and I know that together with each other's support (I'm so lucky to have all the support and followers with this blog) we can achieve anything! 

Motivation is coming back..........

thanks to my friends, one in particular.  My dear Stacey Lou Freebush helped my progress a lot this last week.  She helped me make healhier choices when we ate out.  We went to the gym together.  She encouraged me to work out at home when I didn't want to go to the gym.  She rocks!  It was also helpful that Kate's wedding was this weekend.  I wanted to make sure I looked a little more trimmed in the dress I bought for her wedding, so that helped a lot too.  Thanks for getting married Kate and Alex.  It was a beautiful wedding. 

So here's this weeks results:
Weight loss = 6 pounds
Total Weight Loss = 32 pounds
Total % Weight Loss = 11.43%

So through this whole competition, our overall goal is to go to Italy once we get to our final goal weight.  While this is great to think about, it's so far away.  In fact, it's 73 pounds away.  In the past, I've used some good short term goals to help motivate and push me along.  But right now I am kind of out of ideas.  So that's where you all come in!  What are some short term goals that I could work on and reward with?  Here's a list of what has been used in the past to give you some ideas to work with:

-  Once all three of us got to 15 pounds weight loss we went and saw Iron Man 2 (we all really wanted to
    see it).
-  Once Angie and I got to 20 pounds weight loss we went and got our hair cut.
-  I wanted to take new pictures at 30 pounds weight loss.

Some things I have been thinking about:
-  I love the store Anthropology.  I've always wanted to buy clothes there but it's a little bit expensive and I know the clothes would look better if I lost more weight.  So I've been thinking that I could buy a cute outfit there when I've lost another 20 pounds.

-  I could find a concert that is coming to SLC that I really want to go to, buy tickets, and then go if I lose to a certain amount of weight.  If I don't get to the weight goal, then I have to give the tickets to someone else. 

-  My friends and I want to go to Disneyland in February over President's day weekend.  So I could set a goal to be down 20 pounds or else I don't get to go.  This may help my friends push me a little bit more too. 

What do you think?  Any other ideas?!?  I appreciate your ideas and things that have worked for you in the past. 

Dear Blog Following Friends..........

I suck!  Sorry to be so blunt but it is true!  I have let myself and you all down lately.  In fact, it's kind of like I have dropped the ball and kicked it under the bed where no one can reach it.  Things are NOT going well right now with my whole healthy living plan. 

#1 reason - VACATION!!!!!!!!

I went on vacation.  It was fabulous and marvelous.  We ate at great places, and for the most part I tried to order healthier options.  I had a turkey burger instead of a regular hamburger, a side salad instead of double the mashed potatoes.  I tried not to over eat on Thanksgiving, and did rather well.  I only had two small pieces of pie, but I did have a slice of pie pretty much every day after.  I bought an exercise video to use on the vacation, a Jillian Michael's workout that is only 25 minutes - it stayed in my suit case.  For half of the trip we were really active walking all over Baltimore, New York, and Washington DC.  It was just the other half of the trip when we weren't out sight seeing that I should have been using the exercise video.  With that all said, I actually maintained my weight on the vacation, Thanksgiving and all.  Good job, right?

WRONG! 

Even though I am no longer on vacation, my mind seems to have stayed on vacation.  I am very much lacking the motivation right now.  Since being home, I haven't gone grocery shopping until tonight.  So I have been pretty much eating out at least 1-2 times/ day (calorie trap!).  I've only worked out once and broke a sweat (I know, I suck!).  I am still having one treat per day (unnecessary calories!).  Oh, and I've been pretty much having a diet coke every day too (yes, there are no calories in diet coke, but for some reason it seems to empare my weight loss efforts!  I know better.).  You can only imagine the results of my recent effort.  That's right, I have gained four pounds in one week!  Suck!  The motivation has just hit me like a rock!  I have got to get back on track!

Challenge: 
One week of awesome healthy McHealthyness
(I am aware that is not a real word, but I like it!)

Challenge criteria:
#1:  No more eating out until next Wednesday.  Sorry friends, we are going to have to do something more constructive with our time.  Gym, anyone?
#2:  No diet coke or carbonated beverages.  Who ordered a water?
#3:  Exercise!  1 hour or more each and every day for the next week.
#4:  No more treats!  (I am going to throw away the half eaten carton of ice cream, tonight!)
#5:  I must ride the stationary bike while watching TV.  Goodbye comfy brown couch! 

Challenge witnesses:  My friends, roommate, and coworkers

Goal:  Lose the 4 pounds I gained by next Wednesday. 

The challenge is set.  The motivation is here.  I must stop typing now and go to bed so I can do my 30 minute Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred in the morning.  So ta ta for now.  I won't let you or myself down anymore!  I promise!

Hmmph!

Why is it that when you are ready to be all "go get em' Jillian!" that something always seems to interrupt that motivation and ambition?  So I totally had a bummer of a week last week with my exercise and eating right, because I was sicker than a dog.  I started getting sick about two weeks ago.  It was quite a weird sickness.  It started two Thursdays ago with me getting the aches and a slight fever after zumba, followed by laryngitis on Saturday and Sunday, to congestion/ runny nose with the aches/ cough/ fever/ etc on Monday - Wednesday, to a full voice on Thursday but nasty cough and tickling/ scratchy throat until this Monday.  I even stayed home from work two days in a row, which is very uncharacteristic for me.  To say the least, this illness made me take a break from exercise and eating super healthy.  I only worked out a total of like 4 hours last week.  Yikes!  And it's sad to say, but the numbers are reflecting this.  On my weigh on Tuesday morning morning, I was up 4 pounds!  Yuck!  Luckily I am feeling better now and getting back to work.  I've already lost 2 pounds (according to my scale, so that's good.  I have to really push it for the next week or I'm going to be paying for some other people's dinner in NYC next weekend.  But like I've said in the past, all it takes is getting refocused and back to work.  I know what to do, I just need to do it. 
Here's to a week of exercise and healthy eating! 
Good luck to you all too!  Hope you're doing better than me.  Let's push it hard before the big "eating" holidays hit.  You can do it!

IT'S PICTURE TIME EVERY BODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Week 25

The time has come........

30 pounds lost (well actually 31 pounds)

And still going....

My good friend, Tagen Baker, is a fantastic photographer and was willing to take some new pictures of me to show my 30 pounds lost.  We took these last night in her back yard after work and she did a great job.  Thank you Tagen!!!!!

It feels SO GOOD to have made it to 30 pounds in the last 4 1/2 months.  But it also is a great motivator to KEEP GOING, especially when I compare and contrast pictures from the beginning of the weight loss journey until now.  I have a new goal and that is to lose another 20 pounds by New Years Day.  That would mean I need to lose 1.2 pounds each week for the next 8 weeks.  Which is totally doable since for the past 4 1/2 months I have been averaging about 2 pounds per week.  I just have to make it through the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a trip to Baltimore/ NYC for a week. 

GAME PLAN!!!!!!

1.    I am enrolled in a Health Challenge with work which goes until Christmas.  The Health Challenge focuses on healthy eating, exercise, a food diary, drinking water, adequate sleep, etc, etc.  It has been a great asset to help me stay on track the past month. 

2.  Healthy options for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I am going to try to create healthier recipes for some of the holiday favorites that will hopefully taste good too.  And if they do not work out, then it's ALL ABOUT PORTION CONTROL!  It isn't necessary to have 3 large meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I also will be sure to track my calories those days too, instead of making it an exception day.

3.  Exercise!  While I am out of town, I need to make sure I keep up my physical activity.  Luckily the trip to Baltimore/ NYC will be with Angie and Ashley (my teammates for the weight loss challenge) so hopefully we can keep each other on track on the trip.  We'll use our workout DVD's, eat healthy at least 2 meals per day, and TRACK CALORIES!  All three of us have smart phones that we can access FatSecret.com with, so we will have to use that app to help us choose good options when we are eating out.  It's going to be hard but worth it!

AND I'm just going to keep going!  There is no giving up.  I know exactly what I need to do to acheive this goal, so I just have to do it. 

This is an example of what I will be eating for the next 8 weeks!!!! 

M.I.A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for not posting for the past couple of weeks.  I have recently moved and I don't have internet access yet.  Hopefully I will be able to get that up and going this week and then I will update you on the progress from the past couple of weeks.  It's going to be good!  Consider this a season break and the premier will hopefully be next week!!!!!  Good luck in all of your weight loss goals.  I appreciate all of your support in this endeavor.  I haven't given up! 

MAINTAINED!!