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...