Weight Watchers and Milestones!

I've started Weight Watchers this week and I've already seen results! I've been having a terrible time counting calories, trying different diets and I finally got sick of it and decided to take a friend's advice and give WW a shot. I know several people who have had huge success on it and it seems far more realistic than anything else. I tried it once before (when I was stick thin) and it was too hard to calculate the calories and points. That was probably 8 years ago and smart phones are awesome. I simply downloaded an app for mine, figured out my daily points (29, adding in 6 for the days I work out and 49 weekly cheat points) and I enter the fat, carbs, fiber and protein from everything I eat and it does it for me! So far, I have had all of my points each day and been full, satisfied and still had tons of energy for my workout (Jillian Michaels is still kicking my ass). I'm saving my 49 points for beer and pizza tomorrow. :)

The best part...I've lost 2 lbs this week!! That puts me at 155, which was my original "healthy" goal. Of course I still would like to get to about 145 but I'm really happy that I finally got to this point. Even when I was thin, I can honestly say this is the healthiest I have ever felt in my life.


I also found that I had progress pictures exactly one year apart! Check it out:

Over the Plateau!

Finally! After being stuck at roughly the same weight and size for several months, I'm over it! The Jillian Michaels workout is awesome, but the diet was really hard to stick to. I'm still following the basic guidelines but I've modified it to suit my schedule and tastes a bit more. I cut out alcohol for the past two weeks and have been watching EVERYTHING that I eat. I guess going this hardcore was what my body needed because it's working!

I am having an issue with exhaustion, however. I don't believe it's the fault of the diet or the workout. Both are incredibly healthy and I was doing fine up until the last few days. It's over 100 degrees here in Dallas constantly and the water starts to taste like dirt when it's so hot. Which sucks because all I drink is water. I've been using a lot of Crystal Light to mask the taste (and bottled water is just wasteful in my opinion). At home it's fine because I have a Brita filter. My problem comes in at work, where I have to pay for bottles of water and tap water is free. I generally drink 10+ glasses of water a day but now it's probably more like 5 (with some Crystal Light). Crystal Light uses aspartame, which is a known diuretic. I think my problems are mainly due to that and the fact that it's 100 FREAKING DEGREES OUTSIDE ALL THE TIME. I'm going to try powering through the taste of worms and dirt to fix this so I can get back to giving my workouts my all!

I also went shopping for some new pants the other day and fit into a size 9 in juniors! I was shocked! That means I'm officially smaller than I was in high school (but not as small as I was in college).

30 Days!

Well, I just got back from vacation in Chicago for two weeks and I feel like an addict that relapsed. There's so much good food up there! I had Portillo's hot dogs, Algonquin Sub Shop subs (the best in the world), Lou Malnati's. Ugh it was all so good! I feel like I've gained 60 lbs. back. In reality, it was maybe half a pound. I managed to exercise a few days while I was there but it rained too much for me to really get a lot in. I walked 9 miles on two different days. It was pretty relaxing, I put on my audio book and took a 9 mile stroll through the woods on a nature trail.

I tried on my wedding dress while I was up there and it fit better than last time I wore it. However, it's not good enough! I want it to be a size smaller so I can feel good and do a size exchange. Sooo the only thing to do is to lose more weight!

I'm going to start the Jillian Michaels "Making the Cut" diet and exercise plan for 30 days. It's designed to help lose the last 10-20 lbs, which is about all I have left. I hope. Of course, I'll reevaluate once I get to my goal (145lbs.) and see how I feel. I'm excited but I think it's really going to suck. No alcohol and no sugar for 30 days. I like alcohol. And sugar. I'll post updates as I go through it and see if I recommend it once I'm done. For now...wish me luck!

Goals, goals, goals!

So many important goals were hit this week! First off, I decided to go shopping for shorts. This in itself is a milestone in my life since I generally refuse to wear them. Not only do I think they are uncomfortable, but they show off my cottage cheese hamhocks a bit too much. Unfortunately, I live in Dallas and it's 120 degrees outside in summer (or feels like it anyway) and I can't get away with jeans much longer. I went to Old Navy and tried on several pairs of shorts (size 10 like my jeans have been) and they fit pretty well. On a whim, I decided to pick up a pair of 8 jeans to see if they fit. When I first started losing weight, my goal was an 8. Lo and behold...they fit. Perfectly. You can imagine that my first instinct was to take a picture.

In addition to that, my trainer and I have decided to start our own independent training business. She has been training me from the time we started working together to be a trainer and now I actually have BUSINESS CARDS. Yeah, it's official. I know what I'm doing and I'm going to get other people in shape. I'll be getting certified in August when the next community college session starts. So, if you live in the Dallas area and would like a personal trainer...here I am! I'm taking clients right away. :D

I'd still like to continue losing weight and size since my weight is still high. It's mostly muscle mass now but I have a bit of fat left that needs to shrink. My NEW goal is a size 6 and around 17% body fat. I know I can do it!

More Advanced Fat Burning Cardio!

Here is what I have been doing the last week, with awesome results!

First, I set the incline to 1% on the treadmill to simulate outdoor difficulty.
5 minute warmup walk
90 seconds of running (moderate pace)
30 seconds of sprinting (as fast as I can maintain)
repeat 10x for a total of 20 minutes
Then, I set the speed to 3.5mph and incline 5%.
Walk 5 minutes 
For the next 25 minutes, I drop the speed by .1 and raise the incline by 1% every 5 minutes

I've been doing this 3x a week, with the stairclimber and elliptical on the fat burner setting the other 2 days.

You Don't Win Friends with Salad

I had a friend ask me today what I normally eat. She said she hates salad and it's so easy to get around that! I hardly ever feel like eating salad (I force myself at work sometimes) so I made a list of good stuff! Some of this came from my wonderful trainer, Amy. The rest is stuff that I found on my own that works for me and have been doing since the beginning. The main thing to keep in mind is portion control. I'm horrible at keeping my portions small, but the best thing to do is a handfull of food every two hours or so. I'm realistic, so I try to eat 3 small meals and 3 snacks a day. It's not easy but if I really try I can stick to it.

Awesome foods:
avocado (in moderation)
unsalted almonds
Smuckers All Natural Peanut Butter
Smuckers sugar free jelly
Carb control whole wheat tortillas (instead of bread)
whole grain bread (low sugar, in moderation. The bigger the chunks of grains, the better it is)
turkey
grilled chicken
Ken's Lite Honey Mustard dressing
blueberries
strawberries
Jello sugar free, fat free pudding (made with skim milk)
sugar free Jello
Muscle Milk Light (I mix it with flaxseed, berries, banana and almond milk)
Almond Milk (unsweetened)
Special K (one handful with skim milk)
Goldfish crackers
bananas
low fat cottage cheese
low fat, low sugar yogurt
pretty much any vegetables (potatoes in moderation)
whole grain pasta (one handful a few times a week max)
olive oil and garlic (instead of pasta sauce)
pizza sauce (lower sugar than marinara)
veggie dogs
veggie burgers (Boca are fine)
low fat cheese
Miracle Whip Light
Cool Whip Light (with strawberries or pudding)
watermelon (in moderation)
Propel Zero (if you don't like water by itself)


That's not a complete list, but you get the idea. If I can't fit in a meal I try to have a protein shake. The goal is to keep yourself full, but not stuff yourself. Keep snacking and try not to let yourself get hungry. My problem is that this makes me ravenous and I tend to eat everything in sight the first few days of a hardcore cycle. I let myself cheat once a week and I find that I use that day as my carrot on a stick. The whole week is spent looking forward to it and I really enjoy that meal more than I would without the diet. I also find myself eating less of the bad food on that day and craving good stuff. The key thing to remember is that even if you mess up, you can ALWAYS get back on track with your next meal!

Ab Workouts

A few people have asked me what I do for abs, so I'll post some good links here! There are so many things you can do without workout equipment to strengthen the core! I like to do abs about 3x a week. Normally my trainer has me doing them on my cardio only days.

My personal favorite are hanging leg raises. There are two ways to do them. I don't have the arm strength yet to do them completely hanging, so I do them on a parallel bar. Most gyms have this equipment available.I do 3 sets of 12 with my legs going straight out and 3 sets of 12 lifting my knees.

If you have access to an exercise ball, pull ins are freaking awesome. I do 3 sets of 20, but if you're just starting out you may not be able to do many. I suggest doing what you are comfortable with and working your way up to doing more.

Decline crunches are nice, but if you have back issues like me, you may not be able to do as many as you would like. I only go about halfway down due to my back cracking, but I set it on the highest incline and can still feel my abs working. If you ever feel pain like that, it's best not to continue that particular exercise. I can normally manage to do three sets of 15 without too many problems.

If you don't have any gym equipment, planks are an awesome way to strengthen your entire core. My trainer started me slow with doing them for 30 seconds, progressing up to a minute and beyond. The most important thing is to make sure your back and butt are completely straight. If you are having issues holding yourself up, put more weight on your elbows and rock back and forth slightly on your toes. This reduces the strain on your back slightly.

There are several varieties of crunches to do if you don't have gym equipment. Don't just do straight crunches 500 times a day. Make sure you have enough variety that you are working your muscles in different ways. Just doing crunches will never give you a flat stomach or a six pack. This article has a lot of good exercises. I highly suggest switching up your routine frequently to make sure you are getting the most out of it and working yourself in different ways. Whether it's adding weight, adding time or reps or simply adding a few more challenging exercises, you can't go wrong with mixing things up occasionally!