I did it! I have officially lost 50 pounds! I added my weight loss ticker above so you can keep track of my progress too.
I stared in amazement at the scale this morning. I wanted to be excited, but in a way, it was just relief. At the beginning, I knew I had a lot of weight to lose, but thinking about 50 pounds, or more, is just too big of a goal.
Along the way, I broke it into smaller goals. All those small goals add up to big goals! But, it's not time for me to celebrate and slip up! I am recommitting myself to eating clean, training and new cardio!
For the first time in a long time, I can see the healthy me at the end of the tunnel! Now, on to the next small goal. I want to be back in the 170's! Let's go!
As you can see to the right, I have added a slide show. If you click on any of the pictures, it will open it up in a new window to show you more about the photo. They range from 2005 when I started getting out of control and continue to 2006 when I hit rock bottom, or rock fat. Then, onto 2007 when I started making changes, and into 2008 when I started to really push myself to change. I should have some new pictures of 2009 up soon!
I am not real thrilled with sharing my "fat photos". As I get braver, I will post more of the old ones that I took for reference (read that as a sports top and tight shorts). But, it makes me accountable. I can't figure out where I want to go, and stay on a path to get there, without remembering where I have been.
But, remembering isn't enough. You need proof. You need to be able to look back and see what you were. I like to remind myself of how I felt then. (Huge, heavy, tired, un-sexy, unmotivated, lazy, sad, depressed....etc) If you watch all the pictures, you can just see me start to come alive in them. I can tell by looking at the 2005/2006 photos that I was a very unhappy person. But 2008, the smile is real, the fire is back. I look and feel alive! I cannot wait to see what happens in the future!
But, anyway, I know a lot of you are like me, and the worse you look, the more likely you are to yell at the person with the camera "No, don't take my picture" But, it is so important. Own up to your numbers. Your weight, your chins, your clothing size, your measurements or whatever those numbers are, own them, and decide to change.
Write down your measurements. Write down your weight. Write down your clothing size. Now, make goals for yourself. SMALL goals. Right now, my small goal is to be below 185 pounds. I am 185.4. If I get below 185, I will be able to say I have lost 50 pounds. WOOHOO, yeah me! So, that's all I am concerned about right now. Do I want to be 185 forever? Oh hell no. But right now, .4 pounds is what I need to concentrate on. Breaking your weight loss into smaller, more manageable chunks is key to success. I didn't start out saying, "I am going to lose 50 pounds." Nope. I started out wanting to be out of the 230's. At one time, I just wanted to be out of a size 18 jeans. I change my goals too depending on how I feel. I make them small and manageable.
Write them down!!!!! This is important. You need to come back to that and be able to see where you have been! Yeah, I've said this a few times because it is so important. Maybe your goal is to go down a jeans size. Maybe it's to take an inch off your waist. Maybe it's to lose 5 pounds. Maybe it's to run a mile without stopping. But, make a goal. Right now. Go write it down. I will wait.
Okay, now you have a goal. Now, finish reading this and go take a picture. Label and date it and put it with your goal. From day to day, no one sees the changes. But from month to month, year to year, you will be glad you have the comparison. It will help keep you motivated and help keep you on track!
Love, laughter and light,
Mrs. ChildFun
Can you believe we've already been in this challenge 5 weeks? Are you ready for weigh ins tomorrow? What are you doing for a last chance workout? Is your eating in check today?
If you are wondering what I am talking about, I took the advice of nearly every single expert out there, and decided to work out with friends. But, we took it a step father. Me and 33 of my online friends each threw $25 in a pile, and teamed up with partners to try to win it all. We spend the week motivating each other on ChildFun's Diet and Exercise Motivation Boards, we email each other, we connect on Facebook, we send encouragements by text, and telephone. We overloaded ourselves with support and it's paying off! In the first four weeks of our challenge, the 34 of us have lost a total of 183.4 pounds. We've lost an overweight woman! We've lost 2.85% of our weight. To figure your percentage of body weight lost, use this formula:
((IW-AW)/IW) * 100= weight loss percentage
IW=Initial Weight - AW=Actual Weight
We weigh in once a week and keep track of our pounds and percentage of weight lost. It's been a real eye opener. We did this for 10 weeks before Christmas, and I lost 25 pounds! It's so exciting to work with others and to have them support you. This challenge started right after New Year's and goes until March 30th.
We all have different goals and different diets and different exercise habits, but we all support each other. Some weeks some lose, some weeks some gain, some weeks some stay the same. But, it's the thirteen week period that counts. From week one to week thirteen, that's where you see the big changes. In the last challenge, I had weeks where I gained or stayed the same, but over the 10 weeks, I lost 25 pounds, and that is amazing!
As for me, I am excited for weigh ins tomorrow. I worked super hard this week and I think it will show on the scale tomorrow. My scale has only moved up in three weeks and it's been very frustrating. This week I rededicated myself to measuring my food, to journaling it very carefully, and to really taking a good look at my protein intake. According to my guru, Tosca Reno, you shouldn't eat more than 25 grams of protein at a time as any more than that turns to fat. So, I really paid close attention to this too. And of course, worked out. I went to spinning twice and my fitness class twice, and lifted twice, and when I get done with this blog I will be running on my treadmill and then lifting again.
So, what can you take from my rambling? Support, support, support! Talk to your friends, family, coworkers, online friends, schoolmates, anyone, and get a group or challenge of your own going! It is the ultimate motivation. Having someone to be responsible to is a really useful tool!
Anyway, off to my "last chance workout" and the rest of my day. I hope you had a great weekend!
Love, laughter and light,
Mrs. ChildFun
Some friends and I were recently talking about how much eating healthy costs. It's true. A small carton of berries the other day was $5.00! WOW! I could have a whole meal at McDonalds for that much! I will admit, I have seen my food bill go up significantly. Especially since I live in Minnesota and in the winter, fresh produce gets trucked in from South America mostly. It is expensive. And if you want organic food, pretty much double the prices. Cheap, unhealthy food is INEXPENSIVE! You can buy carb filled sugary fatty shit for real cheap! Not only can you get it cheap, but you can get it SUPERSIZED! A family of five can eat at McDonalds for a month on what I spend in groceries in two weeks. It is insane!
BUT, let me put this in perspective for you.....and please, listen carefully.
My mother was overweight (severely obese - like 500 pounds), and she had arthritis (prescriptions), diabetes (prescriptions and blood testing supplies), heart problems (more prescriptions), and a few other prescriptions that I wasn't even sure what they were for...
She had to buy special clothes because she was SO large that they didn't carry her size in stores. Had to order it all and pay extra shipping costs. Special bras. Special shirts. Special pants. Special underwear. She had to buy a special machine to use on her legs to bring the pressure down, and had to buy special socks that were like $300 a pair.
She was so fat that she had trouble walking. She had to buy a cane. Then when that wasn't enough to help her, she had to buy a walker. Then when that couldn't support her weight, she had to buy a wheelchair. And then, when she couldn't handle that, it actually broke because she was so large, she had to buy one of those "scooters". But, she was too fat for a normal scooter, she had to buy a super heavy duty expensive scooter. She spent $3000 on a lift chair because she was so fat she couldn't stand up on her own. She had to buy a new mattress every couple years because she was SO fat that she ruined them.
She had to buy a special toilet partly to support her weight, and partly because she couldn't get down low enough to a regular toilet. She had to have her bathtub removed and get a special walk in shower. She had to pay to have special bars put in the shower to hang onto.
She had horrendous medical bills that even insurance and medicare didn't cover.
She lived with extreme humiliation due to her weight. She was ridiculed and teased behind her back. From the time I was little, people made fun of my mom. And not behind my back either. Growing up with the stigma of an obese parent is worse than you can imagine. It's like having a parent that is an alcoholic. (Gee, I must have hit the jackpot, I had one of those too.) She couldn't fly on a plane or go places she wanted because she was just too fat. She couldn't use most public restrooms. People, I could go on and on and on and on about the things she endured. I debated about using the word endured. Perhaps "brought on herself" would be better.
Yes, it is. She could have changed. She could have gotten help. She chose not to do so. And it killed her. She went into congestive heart failure at the VERY young age of 70 years old and died within days. It was all because of her weight. She left behind a family that still needed her, and 4 grand children who barely had a chance to know her....
That healthy $5 carton of berries doesn't sound so bad now, does it?
Tromping to the grocery store every 2-3 days to get fresh fruits and vegetables and spending more than I want just doesn't seem so bad...
Really my point is, the high price of the food is worth it. TOTALLY! The costs of high food are NOTHING compared to what happens to an obese person.....
Until next time!
Mrs. ChildFun
I keep talking about being stuck and having to change things up. Our bodies are smart. The one sided conversation from our little fat cells goes something like this....
"Oh, so you are going to not give me as much food? Find, take this. 'Kazaam' thunder thighs for you. I will save all your fat, and some extra I borrowed from the fat neighbor kid, and place it all on your thighs."
or...
"Oh, what happened, we worked out all week, and I wasn't expecting it, and somehow you shook off 5 pounds of precious lard? Well, guess what, body? You've been eating the exact same healthy crap, the exact number of calories, and doing the exact boring amount of cardio for two weeks. I know your routine now, and I know the exact amount of energy that you need to use so that we don't lose any more precious, precious fat!!!"
When you eat healthy and exercise, you are a step in the right direction, but there is more to weight loss than that. You need to plan, plan, plan and plan. It doesn't matter which diet you are following. Right now, I follow the principles of clean eating. I need to know that I have healthy food and Whey protein in my house at all times. I need my fridge stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables and lean protein. I need to know that I have enough eggs, etc. If you don't have the right foods, you will fail.
Now, you settle into a routine, and that is the worst thing you can do to sabotage your success! You need to constantly commit to challenging yourself and changing things up. Normally walk 45 minutes on the treadmill? Try walking 20, jumping rope for 10 and then walking another 15. Or if you are at the gym, jump on an elliptical for 45 the norm? Try 15 on the elliptical, 15 on the treadmill and 15 on a stairclimber. Add in a day (or two or three preferably) of serious weight training. Grab a copy of Oxygen magazine, or go to their website, and you will find lots of fat blasting muscle building routines that can easily be done at home.
And settling into the same routines with food can send you into a stall as well. Eating the same amount of calories every day, at the same time every day, and the same foods every day leads your body into a lull and it becomes comfortable and uses the least amount of calories because it knows what to expect. To fire up the metabolism furnace, shake things up once in awhile. Eat a bigger breakfast, smaller supper. Try new foods. Have one "high" day where you add about 500 calories into your diet, and then back down the next. (Do this no more that twice a week though).
So shake it up somehow! My change this week was to exercise before breakfast. I had settled into a comfy routine, and the weight loss stopped. I have been right about the same for about 3 weeks now. I hope I see a change on that scale at Monday's weigh in. I really am thinking positive that I will.
And remember - when you cheat and eat bad and skip your workouts, you are only cheating yourself. You deserve the best, so give it to yourself! I am by no means an expert, but I want to help as many people as I can! Together, we can do this!
Love, laughter and light,
Mrs. ChildFun
Ugh. I so didn't want to go work out today. Somedays I feel so energized and ready to rock it, and today so wasn't one of them. I actually went back to bed this morning after the kids went to school. I was totally gong to skip it. But, my husband, God bless him, started snoring, and I couldn't sleep. HAHAH! I am really glad.
I went to the YMCA and went to my cycling class and worked really hard! I felt great after I went, and so I went and did my 100 crunches I made my groupies do. (I have a list of friends on my cell phone that I send daily motivational texts to) And then I hopped on a stairmaster for a little bit. All in all, i worked out for 1 hour and 15 minutes. According to my heart rate monitor (I use a Polar F11 Women's Heart Rate Monitor)
, I burned about 1300 calories.
While I was working out, I was thinking about my blog and what to say today. I was thinking about how I have said a lot about my mom and guilt, and I wanted to clarify something. I do not blame her, except for maybe the crappy obesity genes she handed down - LOL! When I stopped exercising and going to the Y, that was MY choice. When the doctor wrote the prescription for antidepressants, I am the one that filled it and went and took them. (I am since off of those since I think they contributed to my weight gain, but I don't totally blame them either). I am the one that cooked the meals and ate the food and drank the booze. I have no one to blame but myself! Just wanted to clear that up!
So, I am sort of on a plateau but not really. Stupid scale won't move. I want to see that number move so bad! I love My Fitness Coach! (You can read my review of it here.) I started it last Sunday, and when I used it yesterday, it made me do my measurements all over again. I lost like 6 inches! But I gained a pound. I guess I am proof that a pound of muscle takes up less room than a pound of fat!
Last week I started taking vitamins again (I will go into that in a seperate post). And this week I am going to really concentrate on journaling my food. I am also trying to shock my bod a bit and shake things up. I know some people like to eat before they exercise and some don't. I've been reading up on it a lot, and there are just a billion opinions out there. I think it's all about what will work for you. I normally get up and eat breakfast, then go to the Y, so I am changing and this week I am going to try to work out BEFORE I eat just to see what happens. It was hard! I was starving by the time I got done. Maybe that will shake it up!
For this week's weigh in, I am up a pound to 189. But, again, I go back to those old pictures, and I don't feel like 189, does that make sense? I need to let go of old guilt and the numbers I guess!
Love, laughter and light,
Mrs. ChildFun
