After struggling for years with my weight, I decided that the best way to motivate myself was to share my journey with others. This means brutal honesty, folks, and you'll probably learn more about me than you ever needed to know. :D My story is not any different than all the other people out struggling with the same thing, but I'm going to show myself, and you, that this is possible. And I'm gonna document every moment to prove it.

Struggling with the same thing? Want to share your journey?
Please feel free to talk with me, either by sending a comment or by visiting my facebook page which you can get to by clicking that picture of me down below.

Monday, August 30, 2010

DAY FORTY-FIVE: August 30, 2010

Weigh In: 209 lbs

It's about time I got back in to this! I know, I know, a lot of you out there are saying finally! And you're right! The gap from day thirteen to day forty-five is a large one. But I'm back with continuing results! Now, granted, without blogging my food intake I have cheated. Fast food and chips were had, a soda or two were consumed. But overall I'm proud of myself for really sticking to this this time.

This blog really is an important tool for me though, so I'm going to try to do better about keeping it up. It's so easy to be lazy and not log the caloric content of the food I eat, but I need to put on my big girl pants (or my littler pants ;) ) and just do it. It's important or something.

So yeah. Life has been stressful lately, but I'm back on track! Wooooohooo!

Food Intake:
  • Strawberry Orange Banana Smoothie (338 calories)
Fitness log
  • Walked 0.8 mile (to and from the place my car is being smogged at, lol)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

DAY THIRTEEN: July 28, 2010

Weigh In: 228 lbs! I've lost fifteen pounds! I am so amazed and so blessed. I just have to keep this up, I'm well on my way to the 100 pound goal!

In order to reward my efforts, I'm making mini-goals so that I'm never really wanting or miserable on this damn diet. So, today in order to give myself a present for reaching ten pounds within the month, I gave myself In N Out. So. Bloody. Good. And a fitting reward for my hard work!

Food Intake:
  • 1 piece whole wheat toast with Sugar Free Apricot Preserves ( 189 calories)
  • 1 turkey sandwich with mustard on whole wheat bread (245 calories)
  • 2 pickles (0 calories. Hooray for my sister picking up ones with less salt!)
  • 1 glass 2% milk (195 calories)
  • In N Out Double Double (670 calories)
  • 1/2 of fries (shared with my sister 200 calories)
  • Minute Maid Light Lemonade (8 calories)

Monday, July 26, 2010

Sunday, July 25, 2010

DAY TEN: July 25, 2010

Weigh In: 236 lbs (Hello other pound. Nice to see you've gone.)

Food Intake:

  • Berry Banana Smoothie with Almond Milk (192 calories)

Okay. This I got to stop a minute to tell ya'll about. This little Yoplait Smoothie pack thing. I LOVE THIS THING. Half of this pack is a serving and it's only 70 CALORIES. Add one cup milk (or in my case Almond Milk) and VOILA! Insta smoothie. Now, I wanted a banana in mine, so I put one in with like a tablespoon of water to keep the consistency. Holy cow is this amazing! Super filling, super fresh and super satisfying! Also it's no fuss, I don't have to worry about what the appropriate measurements are or if it'll come out too sweet or not sweet enough, too thick or too watery. Absolutely perfect. I recommend this and will be getting more of them.
  • Tuna Sandwich on whole grain bread with tomatoes and onions in a balsamic vinagrette (560 calories)

Saturday, July 24, 2010

DAY NINE: July 24, 2010

Weigh In: 237 lbs

Food Intake:
  • Kashi Autumn Wheat cereal with almond milk and honey (300 calories)
  • Hot dog with onions, pickles and mustard (300 calories)
  • Purple Grapes (100 calories)
  • Tuna Sandwich on whole grain bread with Veggie Straws (540 calories)

Friday, July 23, 2010

DAY EIGHT: July 23, 2010

Weigh In: 237 lbs (damn, I got a pound back. :[ )

I am SO tired today. I had a really productive day, and accomplished things I've been meaning to for a while, and tomorrow is going to be much the same. Lots to do.

I'm finding suitable substitutes for most of my cravings. Today I was really craving sweet, and watermelon was a really good and refreshing way of sort of staving that off. I know it has a lot of sugar, but at least it's natural sugar and mostly water so it kept me well hydrated.

For salt, I found a pickle to be super awesome. Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE pickles. Never really can get enough, and for 5 calories it suits the salt craving just fine.

The only thing I haven't found a delicious healthy substitute for yet is the grease craving (i.e. fried foods and the double double I've been obsessed with for the past week) and let's face it, there's really not a way to do grease healthily. So I suppose I'll just have to train myself off. It's difficult.

Food Intake:
  • 1 piece whole wheat toast with Sugar Free Apricot Preserves ( 189 calories)
  • Watermelon, 4 cups (182 calories)
  • 2 oz Beef Jerky (140 calories)
  • Spinach Salad with Light Raspberry Vinagrette (138 calories)
  • Half a Salami Sandwich (326 calories)
  • Dill Pickle (5 calories)
Total Caloric Intake: 1120 calories

Fitness Log:
  • 15 minutes of Cardio in the morning

Thursday, July 22, 2010

DAY SEVEN: July 22, 2010

Weigh in: 236 lbs ( seven pounds to date!)

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while I spent a couple days with my boyfriend and getting on the internet to blog wasn't really an option...

Let me say that he has been really really supportive of this whole thing, and that's making it about ten times easier. When we go out he pays attention to what I can or can't eat and gives me stories since he struggled with weight loss and beat it. He's inspiring and loving and I can't believe how lucky I am.

As far as eating out goes I had forgotten how incredibly difficult that is to do on a diet. I am craving grease and fat so much that I have dreamed of an In N Out Double Double two nights in a row now. I am missing my fried foods badly. But I'm going to soldier on and if I lose ten pounds by the end of this month I'll treat myself a little. That seems fair, right?

Anyway. Food content of the days I missed: 1 fruit smoothie (approx 250 calories) 1 omelette (about 350 calories), A Disneyland Lunch from the Wine Tratoria (Approx 600 calories) Mongolian Barbecue (approx 600calories) and on the second day I slept like ALL DAY and we ate when I finally woke up and I had a Barbecue Chicken Salad and Zucchini Bread and I was SO HUNGRY, I ate it all. (with all the avocado and dressing--1300 Calories)

Food Intake:
  • 1 Caramel Light Frappucino (90 calories)
  • 1/2 sandwich Genoa Salami (326 calories)
  • Chips and Salsa (151 Calories)
  • White Bean Stew (135 calories)
I loved this recipe so much I thought I'd share it with you and blog a couple pictures of how mine came out. It was delicious!
  • Milk, Two glasses, whole (292 calories)
Total Caloric Intake: 994 calories

Fitness Log:
  • 40 minutes of Yoga, 12 poses through an instructional video. It was fun and actually really relaxing, though hard work. Some of those poses I broke a sweat. :D

Monday, July 19, 2010

DAY FOUR: July19, 2010

Weigh In: 237 lbs. I scarcely believe this. It's feeling a bit too good to be true right now and I'm wondering when I'm gonna pinch myself and wake up. I know the first weight you lose is supposed to be the easiest, waterweight you know, but dang. If this is right I've already lost six pounds. In four days. :O

Food Intake:
  • Honey Bunches of Oats with Almond and One Cup Almond Milk (190 Calories)
  • Omelette with banana squash, zucchini, ham, onions, bell peppers cheddar and Parmesan cheese made with egg beaters. (266 Calories)
  • 8 oz Acai Mango Monsoon from Juice it Up! (265 calories)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

DAY THREE: July 18, 2010

Weigh In: 239 lbs. What the heck? Did the other pounds just vanish overnight? I weighed and reweighed myself and it kept coming back to this, so I guess it's accurate. If this is correct, I've lost four pounds. :)

It's been a long boring day of sitting in front of my computer sending out about another 20 resumes and looking for jobs all over the internet. I didn't excersise yesterday or today, shame on me. But the diet itself is going fabulously well.


Food Intake:
  • Avocado, Tomato and Parmesan sandwich on whole wheat bread (448 Calories)
  • Popcorn (105 calories)
  • Steamed Broccoli Carrots and Bell Peppers with Shrimp and Soy Sauce (263 calories)
  • Vanilla Ice Cream with Almond Joy (310 calories)
Total Caloric Intake: 1126

Saturday, July 17, 2010

DAY TWO: July 17, 2010

Weigh In: 243 lbs

Okay, so today was a little bit hectic, I left the house at like 9:30 to hang out with some friends and I grabbed breakfast on the go, and didn't have time for a workout this morning. Bad I know, and I should make it up but the heat outside today and getting my tattoos worked on (I'm FINALLY getting them colored folks!) made me really exhausted. I still plan to stretch and medititate tonight. I think I'll do some beginner's yoga for about a half hour or so.

That said, I am proud of myself. I had every opportunity to go get junk food today and I didn't. I drank my Diet Dr. Pepper and waited to eat until I got home. And saved money too! Yay!

I had a fine supper of leftovers, but lacked the healthy spaghetti squash that I made last night, so I used real pasta and it upped the calorie count by 200, yikes! And I had a cup serving size. One. Cup. Do you know how much pasta that is? Compared to the lots of squash I had last? Bleh, silly carbohydrates and their calories.

I also had a killer sweet tooth tonight, so I used more cream than I should have for dessert. Still completed the day under 2000 calories, though, so I did alright.
Food Intake:

(The Calorie Counter I use is iGoogle's)
  • 1 glass white grape juice ( 160 calories)
  • 1 piece wheat toast with peanut butter (266 calories)
  • Spaghetti with a red wine tomato basil sauce, mushrooms, zucchini and shrimp and Salad Caprese (890 Calories)
  • Strawberries and cream (462)
Total Caloric Intake: 1778

Fitness Log:

Friday, July 16, 2010

DAY ONE: July 16, 2010

Weigh In: 243 lbs (Yikes! That's the heaviest I've ever been. :/ )


Today's the first day of the rest of my life! Starting today, I'm going to get back in to the shape and stop making excuses. Now this is not to say that I have low self-esteem as a bigger girl. I don't. I love myself, and weight or no weight I think I'm quite attractive. I just know I can do better for myself. Help myself live longer and fuller and maybe enjoy the things that I can't do now. Like camping, or hiking or running. I'm only twenty years old, I have a whole life ahead of me, I want to look forward to marriage and kids and chasing youngsters off of my lawn with a cane. And I can't do that if I stay trapped in this body.

So here's the plan. I keep a very public food and fitness diary with absolutely no cheating. If I fall off of the wagon and have a hot fudge sundae with extra oreos and caramel sauce, I have to log it. If I'm too lazy to excersise and I don't that day, I have to log that too. There will be no "Oh yeah, I did a million sit-ups today" posts if I'm laying in my bed watching Star Trek. I need to stop lying to myself about how much activity I get and how much food I eat. Yay, honesty.

I'll update throughout the day, there will be no regularity to my posts at all, I'll just write something when I feel I need to.

Update 11:30 PM : I did really well today. I kept to what I wanted, which is to stay under 1500 calories and excersise at least a half an hour a day. I even went out to the mall where the food court was just /waiting/ to get me, but I kept my willpower super strong and didn't eat anything else because I didn't need it. I'm proud of myself. Yay!

Food Intake:

(The Calorie Counter I use is iGoogle's)
  • 1 glass white grape juice ( 160 calories)
  • Brown Rice with Celery, Scrambled Egg and Green Onion, cooked in olive oil (310 Calories)
  • Spinach Salad with Tomato and Cucumber and Italian Vinagrette (170 calories)
  • Spaghetti Squash with a red wine tomato basil sauce, mushrooms, zucchini and shrimp and Salad Caprese (683 Calories)
  • Strawberries and Cream (127 Calories)
Total Caloric Intake: 1450 Calories

Fitness Log:
  • Approximately 35 Minutes of morning excersise (jogging in place, sit-ups, cherry pickers, arm circles, the stuff we learned in gym class.) I have a playlist on youtube that's about 35 minutes long, and I just made sure I kept moving the entire time. I also did stretches before and after to make sure I didn't hurt myself.

  • Playlist is as follows: "Better Version of Me" by Fiona Apple (3:01), Eye of the Tiger by Survivor (4:00), Survivor by Destiny's Child (4:17), Pressiong On by Relient K (3:59), Handlebars by the Flobots (3:39), Devil's Dance Floor by Flogging Molly (4:04), Headstrong by Trapt (4:46), Points of Authority by Linkin Park (3:33), Mad World by Tears for Fears (3:47) and Don't Stop Believing by The Cast of Glee (4:16)
  • Gentle Stretching and meditation for 25 minutes prior to going to bed. Burned incense (Amber) and listened to a mix of a thunderstorm that I made here: http://www.soundsleeping.com/