Breakfast - chai, SK
Snack - small apple
Lunch - Progresso Chicken and Wild Rice, DP (few bites of Joseph's lunch - leftovers of wheat cheese tortilleni)
Snack - banana, 90 cal serving SK crackers, chai
Dinner - stuffed Salmon, saffron rice, steamed mixed veggies

Feel good today. Ate good! Need to get more fruit.

Ok...getting off track again. Actually, maybe I never got back on from my last post. Haven't been on here in a while either and thought it worked good for me to journal my thoughts and experiences so here I am.

I decided to start writing what I eat to keep a little better perspective of what's going in. I'll start right now with today. This'll be good because I can keep this page up on the computer and type in what I eat real quick like - since I keep the computer in the kitchen.

Breakfast - coffee, chai tea, 1 cup of Special K, 1/2-ish cup of skim milk
Snack - small apple
Lunch - can of Progresso Vegetable Minestrone (200 cal, 4g of fat), DP
Snack - SK snack bar (110 cal, 3.5g fat)
Dinner - piece of lite Texas Toast, whole wheat tortellini with cheese, marinara sauce, water
Dessert/snack - 90 calorie rice cake pack

Coincidentally, I was organizing the bedroom closet today to make room for MORE stuff that Joseph can't have and always likes to play with - stuff to keep out of his reach...and I came across a BIG stack of size 4 and 6 jeans! Oh man, talk about motivation. I don't think I'll be back in those 4's...but at least I got a good laugh out of my wishful thinking when I tucked those away, hoping they'd come back out. I don't think so!

Sheesh. It's been bad. I totally fell off the wagon.
I lost my motivation.
I lost my drive.
I found the thirst for bad food.

I blame it on the 500-calories-a-slice chocolate cake I made for Josh's birthday. It was serious! I'm back on though. Back to my fruits instead of goldfish for snacks, and back to 100ish calorie lunches. We usually don't run around much which makes eating well really easy to do, but the past couple of weeks had us eating out a lot and it really messed me up. Instead of making better bad decisions (like grilled chicken instead of the taco salad and portion control) I went all out and gave myself quite the tummy pooch. Arggg.

On a positive note I went to a yoga class at the Y and LOVED it! It was great. And frankly, I was more sore from that than from the cycle class! I don't have much else to be proud of though because I haven't been going routinely. I am going to give it my all now that things have settled down for awhile. Took a good long bike ride yesterday with Joseph but I felt like I had a ton of bricks riding with me. Don't know if it's all the sugar and bad food getting me down, but I have had NO energy the past several days. It's my body telling me to get back on track!

Weigh in 1/22 : 162
Weigh in 1/29: 158
Weigh in 2/5: 157
Weigh in 02/12: 153
Weigh in 2/19: 154
Weigh in 2/26: 150
Weigh in 3/05: 151
Weigh in 3/12: forgot to weigh in
Weigh in 3/19: 153

I hit a beautiful 148 when I was sick and didn't eat for a couple of days; being in the 140s really felt good - aside from the fact that it wasn't healthy. That is my new goal: break 150. Hopefully in a good week and a half or two I'll make it. Here we go...

Death on a Bike

I signed up at the YMCA yesterday and decided to hit the ground running. Or riding, rather! I went to a spin cycle class this morning, and after I recovered (as best as I could) from leaving Joseph with strangers with tears streaming down his face in the child care room, I almost died on that bike. It was a serious workout. Or anything at this point would be a serious workout to a beginner. The gal next to me said you can burn anywhere from 400-600 calories doing spin class. When I got home I checked a couple of online 'calories-burned' calculators and one showed 555 calories burned and another showed 597 calories burned - with my height and weight. That's some serious calorie burnage! How many times can I say calories, calories burned, or burn in one paragraph!? Ha.

So the spin class was pretty killer. I did like it though and definitely plan to go back. They have a great schedule at the Y with a lot of variety and good classes. There are a handful of different ones that I want to try so I should be able to find my niche pretty easily. Just gotta get Joseph over his daycare anxiety. Poor baby...he cried himself to sleep in one of the ladies arms. My heart broke when I came to pick him up and saw him there. I'm guessing it wasn't too bad or they would have come to get me. There are classes from 7:30-8:30 pm everyday too, so I can leave him with Josh and go in the evenings if the child care thing doesn't work out.

Anyway, BIG first step here, folks! I'm excited! Wish me luck! Hope this really kicks my weight loss into gear!

MyTrainerBob.com

I'm sitting here eating breakfast with Joseph - Special K of course - and checking out MyTrainerBob.com. He appears on The Biggest Loser, which I don't watch, but I caught a commercial for his website so I'd thought I see if it had anything good.

A couple of interesting points:

• Every 3500 calories is equal to one pound. So if you cut back by 500 calories per day, you should lose 1 pound per week. So if you cut back 250 calories per day – like 2 slices of bread – and increase your exercise to burn an extra 250 calories per day, you can also lose 1 pound per week!
• Get some sleep! When you don't get enough sleep, levels of a substance call leptin, which is a natural appetite suppressant, are lowered in your body. Sleep deprivation also causes your mental alertness to suffer and raises your irritability levels. So get some rest and give your body and your mind a chance to recuperate.
• You can cut calories and still eat the foods you enjoy, simply by cutting your portions in half. You'll consume 50% less calories without having to deprive yourself of any of your favorite foods. This is my favorite theory for losing weight. I've always believed that you should be able to eat what you want (I mean, within a balanced diet) and stay fit. I guess that is pretty much what I am doing now. I've rarely felt deprived on the Special K diet and I've lost consistently. Most of the time any feelings of "deprivation" are unhealthy habits I need to change anyway.

Not much else I really need on mytrainerbob.com though. They have a place to track meals and exercise and of course message boards. I like my blog journal better to keep track of my thoughts and weigh ins. ;)

I think I need to take my scale into the shop. Just when I think I need to crack down and eat better, I weigh in with a loss. Hmm...do they have home repair men for that? I wonder if it's calibrated correctly? I've done what the instructions say to calibrate it but besides, there isn't much to it in the first place. Maybe, just maybe, I'm actually losing that much weight. But still I wonder....

Weigh in 2/26: 150
Weigh in 2/19: 154
Weigh in 02/12: 153
Weigh in 2/5: 157
Weigh in 1/29: 158
Weigh in 1/22 : 162

Check out that pattern!! I lost four the first week, then one; four the third week then one; and now four again! Man, not much to look forward to for next week if I'm only going to lose one pound. ;)

In bigger (or smaller as the case may be - haha!) and better news...I've made it into my single digit sized clothes again! Oh goodness, you just don't know what this means to me. Now, I can't fit comfortably into all of it...but a few size 8 pants are definitely do-able with only a slight muffin top. It's really amazing how it works when you eat good. I still don't feel like I "look" like a size 8, but the proof is in the pudding. Or pants rather. Mmmmm, pudding. Anyway, and bathing suits are a whole other story right now....so I must keep on truckin! My new motivation for the next few weeks - BATHING SUITS!

I got lost in the hustle of getting ready for Summer's baby shower and didn't post for Think Thin Thursday. So here is my Think Thin Monday for last Thursday's weigh in post. Did you follow that?!

Weigh in 2/19: 154
Weigh in 02/12: 153
Weigh in 2/5: 157
Weigh in 1/29: 158
Weigh in 1/22 : 162

Hanging around 153-154 since then, so I guess I need to turn it up a notch so I can get back on track. Been pretty off track lately, what with the delicious baby shower food and a hamburger from Jake's last night! But I only had a few french fries and two fried pickles, and a glass of water...so quit shaking your finger at me. Actually I don't mind a good fatty meal every now and then. I'm not one of the "no fat ever" type of dieters - I eat well so I can splurge every now and again.

Motivation Reminder:
Get back into old clothes
Shannon's wedding in September (Sky changed the date on hers to next year to save a little more)

P.S. Lovin' the Progresso Soups for lunch! Still have cereal every now and then but the soup is more "mealy".

Cheat alert, cheat alert! Whoop whoop whoop! (that's supposed to be the sound of an alarm going off - heehee)

I had Taco Bell yesterday for lunch and a hash brown from McDonald's this morning!! Aghhh! Someone stop me! But I was good for breakfast and dinner yesterday and intend to be good for the rest of the day today. I can't get into the habit of drive thrus...but they are just so darn easy! So tempting! So tasty! So wonderful! I saw the commercial for Progresso 100 calorie soups and got one to try it out (I am kinda a canned soup snob) and had that for dinner last night instead of Special K. It was great! Only 1.5g of fat compared to zero in SK and the same calories - actually less with the skim milk included. The sodium content was through the roof, but maybe they make a low sodium variety I can get.

Whoop whoop whoop - as I sit here typing Josh brings over a big ol jar of World Market Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels. I am NOT having any! But, if any of you haven't tried these peanut butter filled pretzels covered with chocolate...they are the best. I just stared at them when he set them next to me and he promptly moved them far away from me. Temptation averted! But I am sure just one wouldn't hurt....right!?

Think Thin Thursday

No post since last Thursday?! Well, this Think Thin Thursday brings good news. I've hit the 10 pound mark! On cereal alone! Who would've thunk?!

Weigh in 02/12: 153
Weigh in 2/5: 157
Weigh in 1/29: 158
Weigh in 1/22 : 162

Oh, that's 9 pounds...but I think I'll give myself the credit anyway. I can tell a difference in some clothes and it's so exciting! I am a t-shirt gal and I have been wearing some again that I didn't know if I'd ever get back into. (Especially cause of the big ol saggies...they take up so much room!)

I've been trying to eat less at dinner. I think I was fooling myself into thinking I could eat a little more since I was eating a small breakfast and lunch and that lie just wasn't doing myself any favors.

Goal this week: find a few low calorie or low fat recipes to try for dinner.

Think Thin Thursday

Not much change from last Thursday. I think the whole eat dinner "normally" thing is putting too many bad calories back in my diet. The problem is that I want to get enough calories because from what I figured I am not eating enough. I don't want to make my body go into starvation mode and start trying to save up fat instead of burning it. Anyway, just a little fine tuning and I should have the right amount of calories down. And of course exercising helps! Failed miserably on that goal from last week. It didn't even enter my mind but once that I needed to make time to teach myself how to workout on the Soloflex. We'll just keep that on the never changing, ever growing life list. ;)

Weigh in 2/5: 157
Weigh in 1/29: 158
Weigh in 1/22 : 162

Down one pound is better than nothing...but seriously?! I want to see some results for eating as little as I do! Come on Special K...pull your weight!

P.S. The weekend went much better than I expected! I ate well and Josh wasn't as bad of an influence on me as I was on myself.

Update on the SK waffles!

They are much better than I previously stated. What had happened was...the box explicitly said do not over cook them but I like my waffles a little crispy...so I overcooked them. When I had them today I didn't toast them as long and they tasted MUCH better. Plus all that butter and syrup helped! Kidding.

Just wanted to let you all know before my previous critique makes their stock drop or something. Because I have that much influence. ;)

I was playing around with MyPyramid Menu Planner this morning...the one I thought I linked in my post from Friday...and I think I gave you the wrong address. I wanted to give you the right one in case anyone wanted to look at it. The link in the post below is still informational, but this one is the one I was using and having so much fun with: http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/planner/. If you want it to save your meals then you'll have to register. It's neat-o!

Motivation

My motivation in general is vanity. I want to look GOOD! It's crazy to look back at old pictures and think about how I wish I was there again. Luckily I gain proportionately over my body so I can hide it pretty well if I really need to. UNTIL bathing suit season, that it. Oh good grief...it's too soon to be thinking about that.

Specifically, my motivations are simple ones.

• I am matron of honor in Shannon's wedding in September.
• I am a bridesmaid in Sky's wedding in October. Coincidentally, my wedding was on her birthday and she is looking at MY birthday for her wedding! How funny!
  
• I have refused to buy any new clothes that actually fit because it makes me sad to think about buying bigger. So, I need to get back down to fit into my old clothes. There is no reason to have two different sized wardrobes.
  
• One of the biggest motivators: my boobs. I can't stand them anymore. Breast feeding didn't help this situation any, and now they are just big ol, in-the-way, out of control daily burdens. It's impossible to find any bras that are comfortable, bathing suit tops are the bane of my existence, and any fitted shirt is out of the question. I have a Victoria's Secret gift card that has been waiting patiently for me for years, that I will someday use to buy a pretty, comfortable bra for myself. And I've read the fine print and checked the balance online; it doesn't expire. So it waits.
  

I feel pretty motivated to give this my all. There are several biggies riding on this - I want to look good standing beside my besties at their weddings. And the brides need to be the center of attention, not my boobies. ;)

My big ol saggies send their love,
Heather

I don't think the bowl of ice cream and cherry pie that I just ate is going to help me lose weight. It did however, taste really good. I've been good all week so I treated myself! It was all my fault too. I asked Josh to stop at Braums to pick up some sour cream for dinner and said maybe if he felt like it, maybe he could get something tasty for dessert. How can you go to Braums and not get dessert?!

So the Special K (hereafter known as SK) diet has been going well. I have definitely lost a few pounds already. I am battling being hungry quite a bit, but like I said before...fruit, fruit and more fruit. I did skip cereal for lunch yesterday and had a small salad with carrots and tomatoes and bit of olive oil and vinegar instead. I'm really satisfied with the SK products so far, except for the waffles. Yuck! I'll finish the box because I don't like to waste...but they just aren't that great. The protein waters aren't the best either, but not too bad. They have artificial sweetener in them and I don't care for the way it tastes in general, but the flavor otherwise is good.

I found a great link through the CDC website where I can enter my foods and it tells me not only my calories but if I am meeting my daily food pyramid goals. It's really cool! The search feature for food and beverages is very user friendly compared to other calorie trackers I've found. It's overall very complete and I really like it a lot. Check it out sometime... www.mypyarmidtracker.gov

Now for the hard part...the weekend is here! Josh and I eat pretty bad as a rule so I must stay strong! I can do it! Change those bad habits! Live a better life! Make better bad decisions! Eat to live don't live to eat! Yadda yadda yadda and all that jazz.

Thinking skinny thoughts,
Heather

Think Thin Thursday

Weigh in day.

I wasn't super excited about weighing in today b/c I've been checking my weight every time I pass the scale - mostly before and after I pee to see how much my urine weighs, ha! - so there's not much surprise with what it said. But b/c I was weighing at different times of the day the readings were all over the place. I wonder if my scale is even accurate but I don't see why it wouldn't be. I guess water and food just make that much of a difference through out the day.

Weight 1/29: 158
Down 4 pounds? I account for such a large drop b/c of two reasons; A) when I weighed last Thursday it was around 11:30 and not an early morning weigh and B) it was a different scale.

My goals until next Thursday:

• Learn how to use the Soloflex that has been sitting in the utility room for 6 months now AND use it at least twice.
  
• Drink more water! Seems like a lot of the time I just forget. It's not that I don't like water and I do intend to drink more but I think I just get busy and don't do it. I'll keep a pitcher full to pour from all day. By the way, filled my pitcher while I was typing and it's ready to go!

I'll post a run down on the how the Special K Challenge is going so far later tonight. I gotta go eat my cereal now! And fruit! And water! ;)

The Stats

I am putting it all out there for you! You are getting the skinny and fat of it all! Here is the down and dirty of Heather! ;)

So the official stats are going down in the history books today. I was weighed last week at my annual doctor's appointment on Thursday. That worked perfectly since I want Thursdays to be my weigh in day for "Think Thin Thursdays". I went out and purchased my first scale for this challenge. I never had the desire to know my weight on a day to day basis and frankly don't care now as long as I SEE inches disappear. Knowing my weight has never been a big deal to me, but for some reason I decided I needed a scale to do this right! I figure this way I can measure my inches and weight lost for your entertainment purposes! Ha, I mean, for my own encouragement and accountability.

First of all a little story. When I was playing with the scale the other night, I weighed myself before I peed and I was 162.8 then after I peed it was 162.2! Ha! My pee weighed 6/10ths of a pound! :) I am easily entertained around here.

Weight: 162
Height: 65 inches (5'5")
Body Mass Index: 27 (overweight)
Target Weight: ideally 130, realistically 140 with a target BMI of 22-24

F.Y.I. - Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person's weight and height. BMI provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems. - CDC.gov

Just finished my third yellow Dickey's cup of water today. On to four...and to the bathroom.

Special K Challenge: Six Pounds in Two Weeks

Alright! This is it! Day One of my weight loss challenge! The official start to gettin' skinny! Or at least healthier. ;)

I've decided to kick it off with the Special K Challenge to jump start my weight loss. I felt that this was nutritious enough that I am still eating healthy - as opposed to starving myself - and is the structure I need to get started. I don't have the discipline to diet on my own (YET!), so this way I have my specific Special K plan to follow. Hopefully after the two week challenge I can keep it going with smaller portions, healthy snacks, etc.

Their tag line is "lose 6 pounds in two weeks", so I think if I can see a difference right out of the gate I am hoping I'll get that boost I need to keep going! I am one of those people who reads and researches everything (until I know more than I ever needed to) so I haven't done all of my homework yet. I have a rough list of calories to refer to of the foods on my Special K diet, but I would like to see about how many I was eating before. I've used a calorie counter website in the past so I need to go check out my calorie intake for the "before" and compare it to now. I also need to make sure I am hitting high protein, high fiber foods for dinner. I need to refresh myself on nutrition facts. We eat fairly balanced meals around here, but now it the perfect chance to tweak it to get us healthier.

Special K Challenge:

Meal 1 - 1 cup of cereal (I purchased blueberry and original to choose from) and 2/3 cup of skim milk or 2 SK waffles and 2 tbsp light syrup and either option with fruit

Meal 2 - more cereal or one protein meal bar (I purchased chocolaty chip and chocolate peanut butter)

Meal 3 - eat as I normally do

Two snacks - honey pecan snack bars, protein snack bars (I purchased chocolate delight and chocolate peanut), crackers (I purchased tomato and basil and multi-grain), and protein water (I purchased tea flavor and tropical fruit flavor)

Beverages - drink as I normally would, I am NOT cutting out my beloved DP but cutting down to a few a week, of course lots of water!

Fruits and veggies - eat through out the day to help curb hunger, I think this is what will really get me through as I anticipate being really hungry!

I've always liked SK cereal and I eat cereal everyday anyway, so this shouldn't be too bad. Lunch could be very challenging so I plan to eat a lot of fruit and veggies with it. And of course, snacking...ahhh, dear snacks. I must learn to say goodbye to junk food and hello to better food. This plan gets you in the habit of eating fruit when you are hungry and I am hoping that will stick with me. I do love fruit...but I love chips too!

Day One almost down...dinner is sounding really good right about now...