Fell off the wagon for a bit.

I can't believe it's been 4 months since I've updated...let's just say that *someone* got lazy, found every excuse in the book to fall out of shape and get fat all over again.  Luckily, I found whatever it was I lost and I'm back on track.  There's no need to reminisce about what I've been doing while on my hiatus, but I did manage to drop an additional 9 lbs and maintain my weight.  Sounds good, right?

NOT!

My body, which was becoming strengthened and toned started to turn once again into the ugly pile of mush it once was.  The number on the scale got smaller but my butt got fatter, my thighs got jigglier (right, not a word, but in a self defeating sense it totally works for me).  It finally registered to me that the number on the scale hardly matters if my body still looks like crud.  Time for a reality check!

After some much needed budget tweaking, my husband found the means for us to afford a membership to the YMCA and the cost of nursery time (which is outrageous), so I can get in my mommy time and the boys still have a caretaker since Chris is still in Korea.  It has worked out really well so far.  I get in for an hour or so each day, 5 days a week, and for now I'm getting my endurance up with a lot of cardio.  The trainers say it's the best way to get my metabolism up, to burn some fat and build my endurance. So far the results have proven to be worth the effort.  Last year, I couldn't even run 2 minutes without wanting to collapse.  But last night I am so proud to say, I ran a full mile in 12:40!  Not great time, I know.  But my fat ass ran and ran til I reached the end of the line.  This was a major breakthrough for me.  Honestly, it was easy and I was wondering why the hell I couldn't have done this before but everything happens for a reason.  So as of last night I can happily say I reached my first fitness goal.  Next stop is a 5K and with a whole lot of determination and practice I'll get it done.  Chris is due to come home next month and with him by my side I can accomplish anything - he has a knack for erasing my doubts and fears as if they were never there.  Can't wait to have my workout buddy!!!

I'm part of the Team Lean program at the YMCA - and I'll elaborate more on this in a video blog.  I do so much better when I can talk it out.  Typing so isn't my thing.  So be on the lookout!

Juice Plus+

Today is Day 1 of my Juice Plus whole foods supplement program.  I'm taking the garden and orchard blend and also the vineyard blend at the recommendation of my wellness educator and friend Amy Meier. 
So far I can already feel a change.  I have more energy, my concentration is improved and I've had 3 really healthy BM's.  (Gross I know but I'm putting so many nutrient dense foods into my body that it's going to cleanse me out - this is a GOOD thing!) Out with the old, in with the new?  Haha.
In the future, when money permits I'll also be adding their Complete shake mix to my regime, especially after workouts and for those mornings when I have very little time or no ambition.  Hey, it happens and it's ok.  That's what the healthy shake mix is there for!

I think for now I'll do a weekly update on the Juice Plus.  I have so much faith in this product that I put my husband on it as well and with his health problems, it can only do him some good.  I'll let you know how it goes for both of us. :) 

PS - I have lost 30 FREAKING POUNDS!  I woke up Sunday morning and weighed myself and was so floored at the number staring back at me.  It might be slightly unfair because only the day before I had my period so I may have lost some bloating/water weight but I'm still going to say it's a 30lb loss. 
Seriously - this weight loss journey has been amazing so far.  There is still quite a ways to go before I reach my goal; another 41 lbs but it is definitely attainable and I plan to get there.

On a totally different and sour note, I've been suffering with some depression.  I haven't talked about it to anyone but I did some research and it looks like Niacin might be really helpful.  I don't know what else to do.  A lot of things I just don't want to talk about and even if I do nothing will come of it anyway, so Niacin here I come.  We'll see what happens with that I guess.

Today sucks.  I'm fighting demons I didn't know I even had and it's making everything I do impossible. 

Weigh In time!

I am so close to saying GOODBYE to the 180's forever!  By the end of the week I should be around 178 lbs if all goes well.  

My surgery is Thursday morning so I'll only be hitting the gym 2 days this week, but with my healthy eating habits I hope it will be enough to lose slowly during my down time.  Even a pound a week is good with me. 

Fingers crossed!
(PS- did some math today.  Since August 8th I've lost 13.8 lbs, which puts me at an average loss of 0.4 lbs per day.  INCREDIBLE results, right?!)

Dilemma!

I'm trying so hard to read my labels, keep my fat and sugar intake at a reasonable level but I am so frustrated with the sugar part of it!  Even though I'm eating a lot of vegetables, many of them are canned or frozen.  Believe it or not, they're adding sugar!  I don't get it.  Seriously don't get it at all.  Why exactly is sugar being added to green beans?  This is so damn annoying. 
A healthy daily amount of sugar for a woman my age is 20 grams.  In 1/2 cup of canned peas you can expect to find 6 grams.  Don't forget your cows milk, it has sugar.  Your fruit yogurt, yep, more sugar!  I guess the only way to solve my problem is to only purchase fresh fruits and vegetables and avoid frozen and canned when possible.  I should be eating that way regardless.

In a few weeks I'm going to be starting my new "diet".  It's more of a cleansing but it involves eliminating all forms of sugar that aren't a naturally occurring part of the food.  It's a 26 day program.  I'll update you more on that later. 

Health Benefits of Hula Hooping

I just ordered mine, do you have yours yet?
My husband loves to watch me gyrate my hips so this is a no brainer work out for me.  Why waste a perfectly good hourglass figure?

Hula Hooping has been a popular activity for decades. But just recently people are learning of the health benefits of hula hoop exercises. Fun, Engaging, Simple, Hula Hooping can be a great exercise for both children and adults. Following are some health benefits of hula hooping:

Burn Fat

Hula Hoop exercises are a great fat burner. Some of the large muscles of the body are activated causing higher blood flow and increased heart rate. Because of the amount of energy used your body will burn fat to fuel those large muscles at work.

Tone and Shape

Hula Hooping works your glutes (bum), thighs, and abdominals. This area of the body can cause great embarrassment especially for women and hula hoop exercises  are a simple activity to really improve your body image. The constant motion and the "pushing-pulling" effect hula hooping has on muscles will stretch the muscles, build strength and definition, and also burns the fat around those areas to give you a great body shape.

Increase Aerobic Ability

The only way to increase your aerobic endurance is to do aerobic activities. Exercising with a hula hoop is excellent at doing this because it is simple and fun but makes your body work hard for its oxygen. Its low impact so it won’t cause injury and you can do it anytime and anywhere.

Feel Better, Look better

Hula hoping will increase your fitness and improve your body shape. This improvement has many follow-on benefits including increased learning ability, increased happiness, ability to work harder but most importantly it provides more energy for the things you enjoy in life.

So that is some of the health benefits of hula hoops. So find some time, grab a hoop and enjoy the health benefits of Hula Hooping.

Will it help? IDK

I created this spreadsheet in Excel to give me a general idea of when I can expect to reach my ultimate goal and also to keep me on track with my losses. If I want to reach my goal of 135 lbs by January 1st, I will need to continue to consume around 800 calories per day, lose 3.09 lbs per week, approximately 12 lbs per month and I will reach my goal.  Actually, I would weigh slightly less than 135 lbs at roughly 130 lbs.  I don't know if this is realistic at all because there are a lot of days that I consume 1200 calories or more, but I like that this gives me a rough outline.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens next week!

I'm literally melting away...

OUT FUCKING STANDING!  I woke up this morning 2 lbs lighter than what I weighed in at yesterday morning.  I don't know how it's happening but I'll be damned if I'm not happy about it!

 

Switch Up

As of late I have been paying careful attention to the amount of fat and sugars in my food, and I think it's time to switch things up a bit.  I'm not really happy with some of the things that I have been eating.

• Replace Organic Low Fat Milk with Almond Milk Original.  It has no cholesterol, only 60 calories per serving (1cup), zero saturated fat (the bad fat which clogs your arteries), nearly half of the carbohydrates found in cows milk (which means a lot less sugar), and 50% more calcium than cows milk.  Over all, I say it's an easy switch for my cereal in the morning. 
• Change to Safflower Oil instead of Canola Oil. (The high-oleic type).  There are really several options when it comes to pan searing my chicken and fish and currently I am using canola oil.  It's not necessarily terrible for me, but I can do better in terms of the type of fat that I cook my food in.  Light olive oil might be my first and best choice but safflower is right up there.  If I had a choice, I'd actually prefer to use an Almond Oil.  Because of the cost of Almond oil it might not be worth it for my wallet though. Safflower it is.
• Snack on Fat Free Cottage Cheese instead of Yogurt.  Today I compared my 2% milk fat cottage cheese with my Activia Light yogurt.  What an amazing difference in carbohydrates and protein.  There is a lot sugar put into yogurt to get it that sweet flavor, which is what I prefer when I eat mine.  I personally don't like plain yogurt so I always go for the strawberry or key lime pie flavor.  After seeing how many grams of carbs and sugar I could be saving my body I decided to quit eating yogurt all together (for now at least) until I get my body weight regulated.  I do take acidophilus supplements so I'm not concerned with losing any healthy bacteria for my intestinal tract.  Also, cottage cheese offers more protein per serving than yogurt and with a rigorous workout routine I need the added protein. 
• Eat more fruit and veggies!  This is a no brainer, right?  I can snack all day on fruits and vegetables so long as I mind the sugar intake.  For obvious reasons I'm going to consume more plant calories when I'm craving a snack.

This is all I have for now but I think it's a good step in the right direction.  Educating myself about food is only going to benefit me in the long run and my body will thank me for it when I'm old and gray. :)

Reached my 2nd goal today

That's right, I did it!  I have finally reached my second weight loss goal of 185 lbs.  It feels like only a few short weeks ago that I was weighing in at 194, but here I sit now telling you it's 185.  WOW!  I'm feeling pretty good about myself in case you didn't notice.  :)

As of tomorrow, it will be two months since I embarked on my weight loss journey.  I decided to do this the right way; eat well and exercise.  Common sense, right?  Well, common sense has paid off for me, at least to this point.  I eat a low carb, low sugar, high protein diet with lots of fruit and veg and I always drink at least 64oz of water a day.  It's amazing what the right changes can do to a persons body, and today I feel so blessed to have made it this far.  I do have a plan in mind to change my weight loss a little bit, and in time I will talk about that.  First I would like to try it out and see what sort of results come with this change before I decide to stick with it.  More on that later. :)

Tonight I went to the store and finally bought myself a digital scale.  It's pretty nice, it measures your weight, BMI, bone mass, hydration level and allows you to input your goal weight so you can track your progress and see how far you have left before reaching that goal.  It was $35, and so far worth the money because it's the scale that told me I'm at 185lbs.  My BMI and body fat % are outrageous though.  Now that I mention it I need to do some research and find out what levels are appropriate for my body type - just out of curiosity so I can focus a little more on those numbers instead of my actual weight.  Time to get to work!

PS - I ate 1 cup of raspberry sherbet tonight.  It was an amazing cheat!