Health/Weight Loss

Funny things are happening to me when it comes to weight loss. My body has changed so much, but for me, I’m finding it hard to mentally catch up. It’s hard to tell your brain…hey you’re about 30 lbs. away from seeing 1XX lbs. on the scale. You’re doing great! Rather, I still have many moments where I’m back to being the 298 lb. gal.

For example, when my husband and I went on a cruise last December, there was a store in the Cayman Islands that sold rum cakes. It was so crowded in there, and it was hard to get around. At one point, I saw a small opening between two displays, and I joked to my husband that I was totally gonna knock over a display of rum cakes. I didn’t. It was bizarre, and then it hit me…weight loss… I guess I’m thinner than I thought?

This past weekend when I went to the mall to return the gifts that were too big on me, I immediately walked back to the plus size section, saw a cute shirt, grabbed the hanger in the very back, saw 3x and then it hit me…I’m not a 3x anymore. I don’t even fit in this section anymore. I just returned 1x shirts. It’s the most bizarre feeling to walk in the regular sizes sections. I feel like I just don’t belong here. The plus size section was all that I knew, and now walking into an area that is unfamiliar to me just felt so wrong.

I decided afterwards to try on Gap clothes. I walked in that store with my head down, hoping no one would notice the fat girl trying on their clothes. I was wondering if the workers were freaking out about me stretching out everything or something. It was so weird and bizarre to step foot in here for myself. I’ve never worn anything from Gap in my life. What was I doing here? I ended up grabbing three shirts and just silently hoping…please don’t be too tight…please? Your size chart said I’ll be fine, so please work out for me. They, of course, did, and I grabbed the shirts, paid for them and immediately left the mall. When I got to my car, I put my bags on the seat, and just had to take in what happened for a bit. Regular sizes. This is me now. Regular sizes.

Sometimes when I look at myself in the mirror, I face the side and expect something different. My body is reshaping. Rolls are disappearing…things are starting to curve inward. It catches me off guard every time. I’ve grown so accustomed to seeing myself in a certain way, and it’s different now. It’ll (hopefully) keep getting different, but for me, I think I’m just going to keep having these moments where I see myself as my former (larger) self.

Anyone else in this boat? Or am I just weird?

Last month, I mentioned that I would finally take on Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred. I don’t know the specifics of her program, but I took the title literally and did her Shred workout for 30 days straight. I was originally going to do 10 days at level 1, 10 days at level 2 and 10 days at level 3. However, some of you recommended that I jump around to make things less monotonous, which is what I went with.

On day 1, I thought I was going to die. Seriously…I used to do jumping jacks like crazy in grade school, but on day 1? Heh….crazy crazy crazy. And push-ups? I did 3. THREE. Jillian is a smart gal though…she mentions in her video that the day 5/6/7 people would probably feel a huge difference in what they were capable of, and boy was she right! Little by little, jumping jacks were no big deal, push-ups weren’t completely miserable and halfway through (on day 15), I even upped my weights in the work-outs from 3 lbs. to 5!

I have to admit, though….my BFF for about 75% of the work-out moves was this gal.

If you’ve done the Shred, you are probably familiar with Anita (aka the gal who does the modified versions of the moves). I’m sure quite a few of you can do the more difficult versions of the moves, but for me, Anita’s modifications were more than enough of a challenge. 🙂

I’m so glad that I can finally check this off of the 101 goals in 1001 days list, and even more happy news…check out these results!

Pretty cool, right? That’s 10.5 inches lost in 30 days, which is SO encouraging to see! 🙂 While I didn’t take any official before/after pictures (oops), I’m glad that I at least remembered to take my measurements!

I decided to give myself a little reward for finishing the Shred. 🙂 I don’t like to spend too much money on make-up, but this was a treat to myself (and heck, my birthday just passed, so why not?)

The box on the left is a bunch of samples as this year’s Sephora beauty reward. On the right is this blush (in Dollface), which I’ve heard nothing but raving reviews about. Can’t wait to give it a try!

Also, more happy weight loss moments from this past weekend.

My mom and grandma purchased some clothes for me for my birthday (which is so sweet, because I’m really really trying to avoid spending $$ on clothes right now), and most of them were too big when I tried them on Saturday. It felt weird to go to JCPenney’s and Macy’s to return everything, just to tell the associates at the store that these 1x clothes are TOO BIG. Crazy…

Since I was already at the mall, I went to the Gap for the first time ever (for myself, that is…I’d go in to buy gifts on occasion). They were having a $10 sale on their essential tees, and since most of the tees in my closet are too large, I thought I’d use up a mall gift card that I received on these. The shirts below are an XL.

The jeans I’m wearing are these. They are a bit too big right now, but the jeans that I received from my sister are a 16, which are kind of tight. I can wear them, but um, tight clothes don’t look very good on me. You’re welcome, universe. Hopefully I’ll be in those jeans fairly soon, though!

Now that the Shred is over, I’m getting back into running again. My running slacked a bit the past month, because I found if I ran, my legs would be shot for a Shred workout. My next 5K is coming up in less than a month, so I’m stoked to get back into it! 🙂

Have any of you done all 30 days of the Shred? How were your results?

I’ve been on this weight loss journey for quite some time. I figured it’s about time I did a weekly weigh-in, so I’m starting now. In week 62. 🙂

Week 61’s Weight:             234.4
Today’s Weight:                 230.4

Weight Lost:                         4.0 lbs.
Total Weight Lost:              68.1 lbs.

Some thoughts about this past week:

• Today marks Day 19 of doing Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred. Crazy that I’ve kept up with it! 11 more workouts to go!

 

• The jeans I bought at Old Navy last month are ridiculously loose. Bummer (wallet wise) but YAY! weight loss wise. I’m gonna lay off the clothes purchasing for a while, if I can help it. It’s exciting to fit in regular sizes, but I don’t want to blow money on something that fits well for maybe a month.

 

• I painted my toenails this weekend without feeling out of breath. Feels good to have a shrinking belly for simple tasks like that.

 

• I purchased bras for the first time since college in a store that wasn’t Lane Bryant. OMG….bras that fit are the way to go, people (duh, Amy). I’ve been wearing the same bras (washed regularly, of course) since I weighed almost 300 lbs. I didn’t realize how loose they were in the ladies and band size until last night. I’m in love.

 

• My second DietBet ended today….just in time for my birthday week. I’m not gonna go crazy, but it will be nice to enjoy a splurge meal or two before DietBet #3 begins on Saturday.  If you’d like to check out the DietBet that I set up, here’s the link! The more, the merrier!

 

How was your week? Any victories or vents to share? By the way, if you’re on MyFitnessPal, my username is niftyfoodie! Feel free to friend me! 🙂

 

After the holidays, I was definitely pumped to get back on track. I feel like if I go over my calories on a regular basis, it’s just so much harder to get back on track. When I heard about a DietBet a fellow blogger was hosting, I was all in.

This isn’t the average bet to see who will lose the most weight. It’s really a bet against yourself. All you need to do is join the DietBet (paying the bet amount into the pot), weigh in/take pictures of your weigh in (DietBet has instructions on this) and then you’re good to go! Then, you have to lose 4% of your starting weight in 28 days, and if you do, you win! Then, all of the winners in that DietBet get an equal share of the pot (after DietBet takes out a small percentage for their admin fees)! Easy enough, right?

I’m a competitive person, so to me, the thought of losing my $20 was a huge push to win. I think I did pretty well in my first bet. I even went 3 lbs. beyond the 4% goal!!

I was amongst the winners in my first DietBet, and won $43! Not too shabby since I bet $20 of my own money. 🙂 I’m currently in the last week of another one, but I’ve been so thrilled with doing DietBet, I decided to start one on my own!

So, here we go, y’all! Here’s the DietBet that I set up!

First of all…I’m sure you want to know when this all starts. This DietBet starts on March 16 (weights need to be submitted 24-48 hours before the bet starts), and ends on April 12 (final weights are submitted 24-48 hours after the end date). The bet is $20. Not a crazy amount, but hey, I think it’s enough to motivate!

To understand how DietBet works, here’s a link. It’s very simple, and just a note: I have nothing to do with the handling of the money. It’s all regulated by the admins of the website. 🙂

I decided to make this a public DietBet, so it’s easy for anyone to join. Tell your friends and family! You can make this a mini-competition, if you want. 🙂 You can also make your weight private, if you don’t want other members to see your weight.

I hope a few (or heck, several) of y’all join! I want this DietBet to be a fun, supportive little community. If you have any other questions about this, check out their FAQs.

 

 

 

 

One of the most popular questions that I get asked lately is about how I’ve been losing the weight so far.

***I’m absolutely NO expert in weight loss whatsoever, but I figured I’d share with y’all what has been working for me.***

Here’s some before pictures from late 2011. Facebook doesn’t hide the ugly truth. I was quite obese then (still am now, actually), and I tried REALLY hard not to post pictures on Facebook, but these little gems somehow slipped through the cracks.   

I cannot do restrictive diets. Diets that tell me exactly what I can and cannot eat just aren’t for me. I will fail at those diets, and I have come to peace with that. I knew the best way to do this would be a gradual way, so I started calorie counting on MyFitnessPal. The great thing about MyFitnessPal is that you can tell it your weekly weight loss goals (0.5 lbs-2 lbs/week), and it will give you your calorie goal based on that. In the beginning, I told it 1 lb/week, which put me at about 1800-1900 calories/day (this sounds high, but I weighed almost 300 lbs. in the beginning). It wasn’t too bad to reach that goal, and somehow (seriously, not sure how this happened) in the first month, I dropped 10 lbs. It was motivating, for sure!

The next month, I decided to drop down to losing 1.5 lbs/week, which made my calorie count around 1700/day. The 100 calorie drop to me just wasn’t a big deal…this seemed very gradual and doable to me. I still have MyFitnessPal set to losing 1.5 lbs/week presently, but now I’m about 1600 calories. The reason for this is every time you drop 10 lbs., MyFitnessPal prompts you to adjust the calories based on your new weight (it calculates this for you, but you have to OK it).

I love calorie counting. It may not work for everyone, but for me, it’s wonderful. I make mostly healthy choices on my own, but I know if I want pizza or chinese take-out for a meal, it’s totally fine. As long as I have the calories for it. I won’t lose control this way, and I don’t feel deprived at all.  Now, sometimes there are meals where I just don’t feel like entering everything. I used to have a splurge meal once/week, but now I’m at about every two weeks. I know some people will diet more strictly than I am, but for me, I’m trying to teach myself how to make this into a lifestyle change. I’m not going to say no to a dinner out with a friend at the tex-mex place with my favorite queso, because I only have 500 calories left for the day. I won’t go on an all-out binge either, but I will eat what I want in smaller portions. Small changes…even if I eat a little over my calories, I’ll accept the small gain and move on.

In the summer of last year, things started to slow down weight loss wise for me, so I decided to start running with the C25K program. I was exercising 3x/week with C25K, and the weight started dropping fairly consistently once I incorporated some form of an exercise program. Then, in January (of this year), my husband and I joined a gym near our house, which has allowed me to add strength training to my exercise program. I try to work out 4-5x/week, where I either do 30 minutes of cardio (usually running) or almost an hour of strength training. I will say that since adding strength training to the routine, my weight is dropping a lot faster than before. I’m seeing 2-3 lb drops/week when I was so used to 1-2 lbs/week.

About 13 months later, I’m feeling like a whole different person. I’m just about halfway done with my weight loss journey, though, so there’s still quite a bit of work ahead for me.

I would like to reiterate that I’m no weight loss expert. I just wanted to share with y’all what has been working for me, since quite a few of you are curious. 🙂