1 Year of Weight Loss

I am not 100% sure of the date, but I'm relatively positive that today marks the one year anniversary of my weight loss journey. As you can see from my incredibly awesome before/after post I wrote at the end of 2010 I'd say I've done pretty well for myself.

Somethings you can't really see in a picture so I thought I'd write down a few of the thoughts that I had before and after.

Before:
-I'm so fat
-These clothes don't fit
-I have to untag about 30 pictures after going out last night hanging out with my friend who appears to work as a paparazzo (yes, that is singular for paparazzi)
-I feel like a slob, may as well eat 2 gallons of ice cream and a dozen cookies (maybe that's an exaggeration but still it doesn't seem to far off looking back)
-Candy out in the office? I'll have 10 pieces, they're small so it won't hurt me any...
-I can't lose weight, I've tried everything - I give up... (this is where Weight Watchers came in to play)
-I wonder if I can get away wearing this shirt I wore in college? What, it's wayyyy toooooo tight? FML
-I have a gym membership and go about 4 times a month so that makes my fit (and I'm lying to myself)

After:
-Check me out, I have a waist!
-Check me out, I have a collarbone!
-Check me out, I am awesome
-Check me out (you get the idea)
-Fitness and nutrition is a priority in my life, I must plan accordingly in order to succeed (for real, this is a regular thought)
-When I have a "bad meal" here is no such thing as "Starting over tomorrow" it's "start again RIGHT NOW"
-I'm gonna be a hot bride, I'm sorry to all you men folk cuz I'm gonna make you do a double take when I'm all glammed up and you can't have me :)
-I am physically fit and can do whatever I put my mind to!
-I'll do whatever it takes to be healthy and feel good
-Wow, these pants fit? I haven't been able to zip them up since (enter date at least 3 years ago here)
-My stomach doesn't appear to hang over my jeans like they used to... that's different
-My cheeks appear to be somewhat chiseled. When did I get cheekbones?
-This picture looks great for a profile pic, but I also REALLY like this one. There are too many good pictures of me to decide!! (There's a problem you WANT to have!)

One piece of advice I'd like to offer those just starting a journey of their own. TAKE PICTURES. Full Body. I know they're intimidating to take because you may not like what you see (yet) but I wish I did and now I don't get to see how I looked along the way. Or show you!

I feel completely different today, obviously. If you're reading this and you want motivation or other tips, please follow me! I plan to keep posting about my journey as it's still not over. If would rather remain anonymous, feel free to email me at thateasley@gmail.com. I'm happy to share motivating tips or give you my two cents for any questions you have. I look forward to hearing from you!!

Looking back in time

I have to tell you all that I'm so happy that I've started really writing in this blog regularly. I'm looking back to my post from January 15, 2010 (I believe) and it's my public confession that at the time I just joined Weight Watchers and planned to do a weekly update regarding my health and fitness routine. I want to get back to that point where I'm excited to share with everyone my gains/losses on a weekly basis. But ugh, it's SO HARD to tell everyone your weight. Why is that? It's just numbers. And to most people they don't mean anything except compared to their own weight which we all know is relative based on your height and body fat percentage.

I don't have much of a focus to this blog yet, although I know about a year ago I really wanted to make this a weight loss blog, I didn't really have a clue how to make it just about weight loss and still have people read it.

The fact of the matter is, although I've done great in 2010 I still have some work to do and given that I am 6 months away from my wedding, I should really be cracking down on my diet and exercise. I have been "stuck" at this weight for probably 4 or 5 months now which is a huge bummer, but at the same time those numbers are getting slightly lower.

Since I told you all my real weight a few weeks ago, I'll let you know the absolute lowest I've been lately is 150.0 which is incredible but I just can't seem to break through that 150 barrier. Does anyone else ever feel like this? Like a stupid number is somehow preventing me from getting to where I'd like to be. After the last few weekends of parties, drinking and eating, and another one of those coming up this weekend I am frustrated yet motivated at the same time. I'm frustrated that a weekend of drinking and eating pushes my weight up about 3 pounds or so which I know is mostly water retention and it's going to be gone in a few days, but at the same time, a lot of it is that I overindulged and I am sick of doing this yo-yo between those stupid 3 pounds and I just want to break through that barrier.

This is where the critics say "don't worry about the number on the scale but how you feel in clothes". Well the number is an arbitrary goal, yes, but my clothes haven't changed much in the last 4-5 months either, even with the addition of a regular weight training regimen.

Bottom line is, I need to get in gear. There is a skinny bitch in me that's screaming to get out and I want to meet her.

I have to say that my exercise is on point, I have never worked out so much in my life. I spend typically an hour in the gym every day M-F after work. This includes light weight training but mostly cardio due to the lack of variety of weight equipment. (excuses excuses) Am I overtraining? That can't be right... Am I eating too much? Or not enough? Believe it or not, you need to eat to lose weight (sorry if you're anorexic but it's not gonna work... although it will kill you).

It's like I'm struggling constantly with the WHAT AM I DOING WRONG part of my brain. Then I think about the ice cream cones, the chocolate covered pretzels, the cheese dip, the pizza dipped in ranch dressing and I figure... oh, that's why it's not working. Although I know that the future skinny me does get to eat pizza and that will therefore be a part of my regime during my weight loss journey because I need to continue sustainable weight loss, I just need to be more conscious of it, perhaps I don't need that third slice. Perhaps I just need to be more mindful. Perhaps I need to push through and make future me happy, specifically the future me on July 9th because she'll really appreciate all the work that past me has done.

MOTIVATED MOTIVATED DOWNRIGHT MOTIVATED!

So starting last week, the fiance and I decided to weigh ourselves weekly and share our weight with one another. On Thursday last week I was 153.0, tomorrow I hope to share a different number with you all, a lower one perhaps?

Well I'm going to the gym tonight. Then on my train ride home I'm reading The Amazing Adventures of DietGirl, I would like to shout out to the author Shauna, one of the hosts of Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone, another podcast I highly recommend. My workout will include 35 minutes of running on the treadmill and then lifting until it's time to make my train, which is about 25 minutes.

A new addition to my blog is now my Daily Mile calculator which tracks my fitness in miles and shares with you fine people. There is a "Send Elizabeth Motivation" link that should be tested to see if it works, hint hint. I love you all, thanks for keeping me focused!

Where did I put that wagon again?

So I'm falling off the wagon - sort of. After getting engaged I decided it was a good idea to call it a quits with my WW membership ($40/month) and my gym membership ($80/month). To be honest I was kind of getting sick of going to WW meetings and my gym doesn't have any classes so the expenses were a little too high to keep up considering we have to buy dinner for like 230 people in 11 months! Not that I'm complaining!

To be honest AGAIN I'm kinda sick of writing about this stuff soley on my blog because when I'm not always perfect it's not exactly fun to confess to my 3 readers haha. Anyways, this will morph into a mashup of wedding planning/working out! If you can't tell, I haven't really found my blog voice yet.

Anyways, so many people are asking about our plans and I am excited to announce that we picked a date, location, DJ and now we're in the works with picking our photographer!

So far we've been bleeding money with these deposits and what not, I must say, I'm very VERY fortunate to be marrying someone with the good sense of not spending every nickel like I do. I currently am paying what I can on my student loans and paying credit cards every month (by the way I'm 100% credit card debt free, I just pay off what I use that month! HUGE ACHIEVEMENT!).

I'm really excited for my wedding, last night though I had a dream-mare (that's my word for a dream that goes bad but doesn't really fall into the nightmare category) that my whole wedding just came and went but I didn't get to hear any toasts! So I decided that I need to make a list of things that I definitely need to happen at my wedding:

-Hear toasts from Maid of Honor, Best Man and SIBLINGS (this means you R) if they want to give one
-Dance to Cotton Eyed Joe
-Dance with my mommy! (tear if I don't!)
-Make by brother pay up to the $5 bet we made when I was in 8th grade about whether or not I'd play "My Heart Will Go On" at my wedding (shhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I don't think he reads this, it's gonna be a surprise!)

So yeah, that's about all that's going on right now... oh and I guess we kind of picked our colors, purple and silver! If you don't like it, well who cares!

Tonight I'm going to try to go for a run, last time I ran for approx. 1.8 miles according to my app runstar (it's on the droid, but you might get it on iPhone too). It's a free application that tracks where you're running with GPS and plays music with a "power up" song in case you need a little boost! It's really pretty sweet. I've set my goals to run 12.4 miles this month - that is totally achievable! And I'm gonna do it all outside! For resistance training I'm getting back into Pilates after years of not doing them. I can't wait til I can do the teaser without looking like a total goon!

Vegas Fit Club (Membership: 1)

Earlier this week I purchased round trip tickets to VEGAS! So that gives me a motivation and a deadline to get in shape. I don’t think I’ll be “finished” with my journey by the time Vegas comes around but I’m hoping that in 8 weeks I will have lost anywhere from 10-16 pounds. That’s anywhere from 1.25-2 pounds a week.

This goal is ambitious but doable, and it’s up to you – my loving audience – to cheer me on!

Vegas also corresponds with my friend’s wedding!!! So what better reason to get in shape than a wedding with college friends and cute dresses – Spoiler alert, I already bought a cute dress, which if I like will probably be worn to both the wedding and Vegas.

So no goal should come without a plan of action.

First step – Officially join a gym.

I found a gym I really liked and officially became a member yesterday. My main problem is that I think the cost of the gym is outrageously high… but when I went in to sign up THEY KNEW MY NAME! They also have other great amenities that I’ll have to take advantage of, such as a steam room and individual showers.

Second step – Go to the gym!

This is the hard part, joining the gym is painless aside from the monthly cost. But going to the gym is a completely different story. Luckily my boyfriend and I have worked out a system to correspond with his schedule. Since he’s a physical therapist, his hours often run late into the evening which puts me in a poor situation because I have no way to get home other than walking (poorly lit streets and limited sidewalks make for a scary journey home). For the past 3-4 weeks I’ve been trying out gyms in the area close to the metra (the train I take to get to/from work). So I’m making our difference in schedules work to my advantage by working out until he’s done with work, or asking him to pick me up at 7 if his schedule allows him to be home earlier! I’m so lucky to have such a supportive boyfriend!

Third step – Watch what I eat!

I’ve obviously been doing this for the past 8 weeks already but this is pretty much 80% of the battle. I mentioned recently about a podcast that I listened to which gave me some great advice… Since no one is perfect you can’t expect to be a perfect eater, but as long as you’re 80-90% compliant with eating healthy then you’re on your way.

“How many times is a toddler going to fall down when he’s learning to walk before you tell him to just give up?” – A quote that can be related to healthy lifestyles and forgiving yourself when you “fall” by going overboard with food.

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Personally, I think this all sounds too easy not to work! I’m excited to continue with this weight loss journey and happy that you’re all supporting me! I hope I make my short term goal!

On a related note, I’m not sure what my final “goal weight” will be… I’m not 100% sure how you pick that, if you have ever tried Weight Watchers, or lost weight on your own, how did you decide on a final goal weight?

Until next time, can I get a show of hands of those who are excited that I did some formatting to this post?

Recommendations

As someone new to the blogging “industry” I have found that recommendations and ideas are just as important to capturing a reader’s interests and hopefully helping someone outside my bloodline.

That being said – I know sometimes my writing is poor, however to give you an idea of my day, I spend at least 8 hours doing computer work on a daily basis. When it comes to the weekend, my computer time is spent checking out facebook (every day) or PostSecret (updated Sundays).

Since I changed my WI day to Saturdays, that has resulted in a weaker display of my writing abilities. So I’m sorry readers, I’m really trying to find my voice in this world!

So my recommendation:
I am currently enjoying listening to Podcasts as part of my daily or, day I say it, hourly motivation? Sometimes I need that extra reminder that I’m in it to lose it (see what I did there?). My Podcast recommendation is called “Fat 2 Fit”, or as my boyfriend so lovingly said, “Fit to Fitter”. Awwww.

I really hope you check it out on iTunes or their website. They are two regular guys who have put out 90 (??) podcasts now and have great topics each week. The podcast follows a program of calorie counting, and establishing the habits of the healthy person you want to be. Their system relies on the practice of never eating below your BMR, and also to take other weight loss victories into consideration (ie losing inches) because it’s not all about the scale. Now I’m no dietitian like my sister but I believe they follow a healthy and realistic approach to weight loss; focusing primarily on the calories in versus calories out.

Here’s a personal victory today:
My boss brought in some treats (I’m talking every kind of cookie and brownie bites) from Corner Bakery. I didn’t eat any! And this was especially hard because I smelled the yummy chocolate when I was closing up the bags in the break room so they wouldn’t get dried up overnight. I’m such a good assistant. You could call me Mom of the office since I’m the only full time employee that empties the dishwasher!

Challenges:This weekend I’m going to a bachelorette party so I’ve gotta be prepared for the yummy food and alcohol that this will bring!