Running...

Yep NUTS I am! I have decided to not only run the 10k for the Groundhog Run at the end of January, but I have also decided to run the 1/2 marathon for Rock the Parkway in the spring! OY!!! What have I done??

With all this rediscovering about myself, I have gotten a wild hair up my rear, and decided to take something that is hard and that I really don't like doing to the extreme. This will push me to "just keep running" LOL!!! I just watched finding Nemo...I know RANDOM. In all seriousness, I will work my rear off to train for these races. I know I can do it. I am just at a point with myself that I need to push myself to the next level.

I guess this will be the training that I will need to get refocused on my new image. Running is good for you and I am loosing the weight, this will help tone me too!

Yep I AM nuts!

Discovering stuff about me...

Well you all know that I am usually a happy person. I always have a smile on my face that is genuine and warm and loving. I love to make people feel better about themselves and get a smile out of them. That is one reason why I love doing hair. I love the look on their faces when I turn them around and they have a great color and style! They feel good and therefore I feel good. It is like a drug to me. I feed off of peoples' happiness. When people are sad or upset about something, or even when I am sad or upset about something, I try to find the "best" out of the situation. Sometimes, I will tell you it is tiring. I have noticed that with all the weight problems and self-image issues that I have had I still try and see the "best" of it. I try to find what I like about my body and what are my good assets. For one...it is my butt and legs that I do like! ;)

So I have been pondering this today. What does it truly mean to be happy? I know what I do, and I know that I have my bad days just like everyone else does. I am a mom, wife and daughter, and sister. I love being that multidimensional, but I tend to carry the weight of being all those things around too.

When the Hubster man is stressed, I am
When my Mom is sad I am sad.
When my kids are hurting, so am I

Is it healthy to carry all of that? Yes and no! I think that I am such a caring person that I do hurt when my family hurts, and when they are happy I am joyful with them.

I think that I have come to the conclusion that this is just who I am. I LOVE being happy and I would much rather be thankful for the "stuff" that I have been given and blessed with then be stuck in the rut of being sad about the "stuff" that I don't have.

The Hubster and I have been blessed in so many ways that I can't even begin to cover. We have 2 wonderful, beautiful kids, we have a beautiful house, newer cars and that is just some of the materialistic stuff that we have been blessed with. I have been blessed to have such wonderful friends that support and encourage me day to day. I have a GREAT family who loves me for me! I have a God that loves me even though I continue to make mistakes on my walk with him. I have been blessed. That is what makes me happy!

I was telling someone the other day about what we were doing for Christmas. I told him that I am hosting at my home. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my house full of people! It gives me warm fuzzys! I think that I have been given that gift of hospitality.

Going back to the weight issues...I was talking to my Dr today and she was asking me what I think is holding me back from my weight loss!?! I told her I didn't know. I got to thinking about it later and I think that I am subconsciously sabotaging myself because I think that I don't deserve to be skinny. I feel that if I was skinny and had all of the blessings and more that I have above, then I would have everything. I feel that I might make people "unhappy" if I had EVERYTHING!!! Silly ehh?? I have so much work to do on my insides as well as my outside, in order to achieve my goals and be able to keep the weight off. It is a slow process and I know now that I cannot please everyone and right now I need to care more about myself to make myself healthy for my kids and just in general.

So please pray for me in this journey that I am traveling. It has been hard and I know that it will continue to be hard. I have all the tools that I need. It is just another discovery about myself that you would think after 28 years I would know.

So I guess Be HAPPY and Be HEALTHY!!!
Cheers to you!

Holiday Revelations...

Well I know it has been a while since I have updated. So here it goes....

Half way there! Yes that means 20lbs down and 20 to go. Yay for me! I will give myself a good clap and take a bow! LOL!!! In all reality it has been a tough journey for me. Since we went on vacation back in September, I have been slowly letting my new "healthy" habits slip right out of the window. I have been sticking pretty good to my plan, but I have been the same weight for over a month now. I have been putting myself in and out of ketosis and that is not a good thing for my brain. By my doing that "cheating" along the way, it has made it REAL hard to stick to what I know works. So here are my Revelations that I have concluded about myself...

1. I am a food Addict. PERIOD! I LOVE food, any food, any time!
2. I am a mom. I have crap in my house that is tempting for me, and that will potentially derail my great efforts. The thing about this is my kids don't really need to have that stuff to, but sometimes it is not worth the battle.
3. I have freed up time in my life, and now that I am not running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I have time to get "board" if I dare use that word. Don't get me wrong, I am still crazy busy, but not insanely busy.
4. I USE food...ex. I am an emotional eater. I eat when my husband is upset, I eat when I am stressed, I eat when I have nothing else to do. This is BADDDDD!!!!!! I don't want to take advantage of food! LOL!! I want to use food for its intended uses. I don't want to eat when I am not hungry, or when I am already full. I want to eat my 5 (small) meals a day and be happy!

The thing is I know what I need to do to get to my goal. It is not hard when I put my mind to it. I can reach my goal by April if I just stick to my guns and not let food take over. I know that I will be able to have bread again, I know I will be able to go out to eat and order anything that I want to within reason. I have to remember that this is not just for me. This is for my kids and for Jory. They are so worth it!
Lanna, my Dr. said to me today that you just have to get so sick of yourself to have that self control that it will take to get back on track! She is absolutely right about it! Even though I am running and working out like crazy, I need to do the other part as well.

I can see myself wearing those cute clothes that Jessica ;) would be proud of! I love her style!

I know if I can be a mom of 2 young kiddos, I can do anything!

And anothe 4.8 lbs bites the dust!

Yep! You read that right! 2 weeks in and a TOTAL fat loss= 9.2 lbs! WHOOHOO!!! It is working!

I was able to add this week in some veggies and a fruit. I will have to admit that this thing is not as hard as what I thought it would be. Once my cravings for sugar went away it was pretty easy. I have started seeing changes in my waistline. That is very encouraging to me. I am so glad that I am able to put on clothes that I thought were my "fat" clothes.

I have been keeping up with exercising as well as I can. Life has been very busy right now, but I did manage to get in 12 miles on the bike down at the lake and a good hour on the elliptical machine with some weights and abs yesterday. Hoping to hit the gym again tomorrow. I am just hoping when school starts and and life settles down a bit, I can get back to my routine. It has become a part of me that I miss doing everyday.

On a side note...I am SO very proud of my mama! She has just finished her 1st week with Medi and she saw a 7lb weight loss! Half of it was fat pounds! She had a hard time with that first week, but I know that she can do it! I will be right here with her when she needs me! We can do this together!

Done with week 1

So 500 calories/day was not that bad. Well, ok maybe it was...I got REALLY sick of eating just meat. I broke down and ate cottage cheese just for a different texture. I DO NOT like cottage cheese period! LOL!!

So here is my success for week one. Drum roll please...I lost 7 lbs! 4 of those pounds were fat! WHOOOHOOOO!!!! Not to shabby!

I am SO excited to see some kind of results. After all this time, after all of my struggles, I have something I should be proud of.

So the next part will be fairly easy. I will move my Calorie intake into the range of 700-800 cal/day. Keeping my carbs UNDER 30g/day. I get to add some healthy welcomed veggies, some dairy, and good heart healthy fats. The point is to KEEP my body in Ketosis. I will continue to burn fat and keep working out and taking all of my vitamins daily. Nothing really changes, except the fact that I can have a little more added! Still VERY high protein. I really feel so much better with eating this way anyways, so it should not be that hard.

I should keep loosing weight, but more at a pace of 2-3lbs/week. Who knows, maybe I will still continue to loose 5 lbs for the first couple of weeks. We will see! I just know if I continue to feel the way that I do, I will reach my goal faster than I ever thought possible!

You know what is funny?? We went out 2x last week to eat. I did AWESOME!!! I cut part of Jory's steak off for me to eat, and I went to Cheesecake Factory today and had 3oz of Salmon and about 2 oz of shrimp. It was yummy! There was even bread on the table and C had ice cream. Temptations, temptations and I resisted!

So anyways, I know that I can do this and I will be so proud (already am) of my self when I reach my goal!

Ya'll will be asking where D is! LOL!!!

Day #5

I thought that I would do a quick update!

I am on day 5. To tell you the truth I am getting really sick of just eating meat! LOL!!! I know I can make it to Weds! I broke down and had cottage cheese the other night for just for the mere different texture! I DO NOT like Cottage Cheese.

I am in Ketosis now...That is a great thing! I have lost weight, I can tell in my clothes already.

I got in a 5.5 mile bike ride on Saturday morning. It felt great.

Here's to the last few days of just meat eating!

Cheers!

Medi!

Yes I am at a desperate point in my life that I am now doing a program called Medi Weight loss! It is natural and what its main focus is, to kick my body in to ketosis, to start burning the fat I already have. Now some of you might think that I am putting my body into "starvation mode" but I am not. My body will react in a way that will start burning the fat vs the lean muscle that I have.

For the first week I eat only 500-650 cal/day. Yes PURE protein. I am about to start my day 4. I will check tomorrow morning to see if I am in Ketosis. Surprisingly I am not hungry by the end of the day. Protein really has a way of holding me over.

After the 1st week, I will go up to around 800 cal/day. I will be able to add a veggie or fruit into my daily eating. But I will have to be careful not to get my body out of Ketosis. That is when my body will be burning the fat. I will remain on the 800 cal/day for the remainder of my weight loss.

After I reach my goal, they will evaluate me and then adjust the calories that I should take in per amount of exercise that I am doing to maintain my weight. It will be a complete lifestyle change. I will be able to eat stuff that I like again, but in moderation. I might not even want to go there...

This is very similar to Atkins, or South Beach diet. It is not hard, except for the amount of calories that I am taking in this week compared to the week before. It is just training myself to eat "proper" portions, compared to the standard portions Americans think is correct.

I am continuing my exercising, up-ing my biking, and running. Cardio also is a good way to bun the fat.

Tomorrow I am planning on riding the Longview Loop. I am really looking forward to it. Also tomorrow will be hard, because it is Mackenzie's 2nd birthday party. There will be so much temptation around. I think that I have just had enough of me being 44lbs overweight that I know I have enough will power to make it through the party without caving. We are also planning on dining out tomorrow night. I told Jory that there is no sense in me ordering my own dinner, when he can just order a "big" steak and cut me a small part of it around 3 oz. So that's the plan!

I will keep you all posted with how I am doing. I will post pictures probably bi-weekly, to see the weight loss progress!

Oh and I AM going to post my weight...YES I am a brave woman. I do not care if you know. I am very open about it.

My first weigh in on Tues 8/9/2011 was 184.4 My goal is to be 140. That is 44lbs! I know I can do this and I want you to be involved with me on this journey. Without support from my husband, family and friends, I cannot do this! So there it is! It is all out in the open!

I will post after my "weigh-in" on Tues!