Friday, December 30, 2011

New Year. Same Goal.

Some people make cute lists for things they want to accomplish as the new year approaches. As long as I can remember, my new year's resolution has been to lose weight. Even when I was young, that is what I would say to myself. This is the year I change. This is the year I start to work out and eat better.

Just like millions of people do every year, they make their resolution to lose weight. They tell them self they'll go get a gym membership and workout every day and make better food choices.

That's great that people want to make a change, but they need to put forth the effort to see the results. Your not going to see changes within a week. It takes about a month for you to see some sort of change in your body.

I have been on my weight loss journey for 2 years and I have still not hit my goal weight. I have done amazing things with my body that I never in a million years thought I could ever accomplish.

I have ran numerous 5k's.

I have ran a 10k.

I did a Mud Run for the first time.

I wrote a "lame" post that got the attention of many well known bloggers including Tony.

I have had also had times where I wanted to just give up on myself. Throw in the towel and say eff it.

But I refuse to give up.

I refuse to be considered "overweight". Just because the scale shows a certain number on it does not define you. I am still considered over weight, but let me tell you I am in better shape than a lot of people who are considered "skinny".

I DON'T WANT TO BE SKINNY. I WANT TO BE HEALTHY.

So my resolution is the same that it has been for a long time. Lose weight. 

I have about 20-30 more pounds I would like to lose. When I hit my goal weight in 2012, we will talk about new goals I want to accomplish. 

Happy New year.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

I knew it was coming.

Weigh-In day always makes me a little nervous. I know it's a stupid scale but it is a way to help you see the progress from the week of hard work you put out.

It started out on Christmas Eve. My local gym that I go to workout out at was only open on Christmas Eve til 1 pm and then it was closed on Christmas Day. No problem, I get in a good work out Christmas Eve and then my rest day will be Christmas Day. So I head to the gym to find that all the ellipticals are taken, all the treadmills are taken. Grrrr. So being a little mad I decided to just hop on the arc trainer for 30 minutes.

As I'm on the arc trainer I forgot that my ear phones had gotten messed up from the day before and that the music I was trying to listen to wasn't coming through my ear phones clearly. It sounded like I was under water trying to listen to the song. Not. Cool. Music is a big part of my workout, if I don't have it I get bored and I can't even imagine working out with no music. So I suck it up and keep on the arc trainer, while I listen or at least try to listen to what ever nonsense was coming out of my head phones.

Then a woman comes and sit down in one of the bikes in front of me. That was not a big deal, the big deal is that she smelled like she had literally shit her pants and rolled around in it and then worked out. It was THE worst smell possible. I sucked it up and made it off of the arc trainer with out dying of oxygen deprivation and spotted an open elliptical.

I made a bee line towards it and got on it. I was going to do 30 minutes on the elliptical. I started and was about 10 minutes in when my music just was being a little bish and decided it didn't want to work at all. I kept going and by 15 minutes I was over it and decided I could only go 20 minutes and then peace out.

This was legitimately one of the worst workouts I've had. But it was still a workout.

Then over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I grazed a lot with the food. There was a lot of good food, we did have healthy stuff like tons of veggies but I knew I had done some damage.

The result of my Weigh-In showed. I gained 2.6 pounds. Not surprised but there's nothing I can do now but keep on going.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas!

I had a goal of being a 190 pounds by Christmas. I didn't reach it. I am 2.2 pounds away from being 190. I have not been 190 pounds since probably my early high school years. I am not mad at myself for not reaching my goal. I am proud that I have gotten this far. I am not doing anything crazy. Just eating less and better foods and working out for an hour. It as simple as that. I am not denying myself any foods. If I want a cookie, I'll eat it. But I wont go crazy and eat like 8 cookies. Moderation is key and i'm getting better at it.

I want to wish all my followers and fellow bloggers a Merry Christmas and happy holiday. Enjoy the time with the loved ones in your life. Be grateful for everything that you have been given. Splurge a little during Christmas but in moderation. Let's get ready to show 2012 what we're all about!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

A NSV.

So I've been doing pretty good about going to the gym 5-6 times a week for about an hour. This past friday, I told myself that I should run a mile for a warm up and then I was going to go HAM on the elliptical. Well, at the YMCA where I work out there are four ellipticals. Three of the four were being used. I thought to myself, please let no one come in to take the last one, which so happened to be my fav. I was on the treadmill running at about a 6.5 mph, which for me is incredible. I was not out of breath while running it. I felt good, the legs felt good. I felt awesome. So as I was running an old man came in to walk on a treadmill. He was on there while I was running. I  got done running my mile and started my cool down.

As I started my cool down he got off the treadmill and headed for my elliptical. You gotta be effing kidding me! All the ellipticals were taken and I didn't really want to do anything else that day. So I improvised. I stayed on the treadmill and ran for 4 more miles. I incorporated some interval running into it as well. I was on the elliptical for over an hour. But I ran the 5 miles in 57:15. Never in my life did I think I would first off run, on a treadmill and especially for over an hour. I honestly amaze myself sometimes and that is one of the best parts of being on a weight loss journey. Proving to yourself that you can accomplish something that you never thought would be possible. Anything is possible.

When I got off the treadmill I felt like a champ. And I had the sweat covering my face and drenched on my t- shirt to prove it. Get out there and amaze yourself.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

190 by Christmas.

Its sunday and I just wanted to get a post in before I go tan, workout and study for finals. This week is my last week and then bring on Christmas break! Hell yeah! Since New Years will be fastly approaching, I have been thinking about what goals I want to try and accomplish this coming new year. My first goal though, is to be 190 pounds or lower by Christmas. I really feel like I will be able to accomplish it. I have been going to the gym 5 times a week and eating very well.

I also want to start taking pictures of stuff I eat just like Nathan does. I really enjoy those posts because they let me take a look at what other different foods he is eating and still losing weight. Plus I also enjoy his sarcastic humor that he puts in those blog posts. Secondly, I want to start taking pictures of myself at each weight-in like Tyler does over at 344pounds. I did that earlier in my weight loss journey but just stopped doing it for some reason. Lastly, I am going to start keeping tack of my weight loss on my blog, as do most bloggers except for me. So, there you have it. Some short term goals that I will hopefully accomplish and get to doing.

Have a great sunday and GO PACKERS!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

I'm on a Roll.

For the past 2 months I have not blogged. For the past 2 months I have been trying to figure out why I haven't been losing weight consistently. I joined Weight Watcher and thought the pounds would melt off. I was wrong. I tried eating every 3 hours to keep my metabolism going. I worked out for almost 2 hours some days thinking that by burning more calories, the weight would fall off. I was wrong. None of those things worked for me. I became so frustrated and upset at myself. Why wasn't I losing weight? There was a point where I thought maybe this was my body telling me it doesn't want to lose anymore weight. But I knew that wasn't possible. It had to be something that I was doing, that wasn't clicking.

I went to Australia the second week of November. While I was there I didn't work out, ate pretty decent and walked a lot. I also laid down a lot because of the time zone changes and because I was laying on a beach catching some rays.. but I digress. The week I came back from Australia was a recovery week from me, just trying to get back on the right sleeping pattern and back to reality. I didn't work out at all that week either and something clicked in my head. Since I wasn't working out, I didn't need to eat that much and ate healthy foods. Throughout that week, I ate when I felt hungry and drank a lot of water. The next week I decided to get my bum ass back to the gym, not because I needed to but wanted to.

I decided to step on the scale and see the damage that had been done from vacation and a week of not working out. The result was 3 pounds lost since the last time I stepped on the scale. I was shocked. So here is why I told you the above previous stuff. For the past 3-4 weeks I have been on a roll. I have been going to the gym and working out 5-6 times a week. I only go for a maximum of an hour. No more 2 hr killing myself shit. The thing that I have been doing is eating right. I eat healthy option food and only eat when I'm hungry. I have noticed that I have become a lot sooner than usual and that I just stop eating and go off to do other things. I have been drinking so much water, I should probably be living in water. But I don't deprive myself of anything. I had some cookies the other night. On thanksgiving I had two pieces of pie. If I deprive myself of something I want, I will binge. I also eat lots and lots of vegetables too.

I have lost 11 pounds so far. I am on a roll. The best thing though that I heard is from one of the ladies that works at the local YMCA where I work out. She's seen me every day that I go and workout there. Today she said to me, "Wow, you're really serious about this working out stuff aren't you?'', and I replied "Oh yeah!" and then she preceded to call me a "rock star". And to be honest you guys, I feel like a rock star. I finally found a routine that I can stick to and lose the pounds. Find what routine works for you and stick to it. If it doesn't work then try something else until you can figure out what the piece to your weight loss is.