Positive Thinking

I know for me, keeping positive about something is very hard. I'm easily excitable, however, but maintaining motivation and positive thoughts is something very difficult for me. I suppose it's partly because I am an only child and so used to having things fall into my lap.

Anyway, last week, I had a discussion with my husband. While I was riding Stella, I struggled to make it past 5 minutes of continuous riding. Hubby asked if I was going to finish out half an hour. I think I glared at that point and told him to shut his mouth, he isn't fat he doesn't know how hard it is.

After that little blow up (not that it was a fight, but I probably shouldn't have snarled) I started thinking about it and I came to the conclusion that I only stopped because I didn't *think* I could go on. Hmm...

This week one of my personal goals was to ride Stella in increasing increments, until I managed 15 minutes. I also said I wanted to be able to ride 3 miles in one session.

I officially blew both of those goals out of the water today. Not only was it my third consecutive session with Stella going at least 15 minutes, but I did one better, I went 18 minutes AND went 3.00 miles! WOW!

There were moments I wanted to quit. Basically any moment after I looked at the display and it said that I had a mile and a half to go, or it was 12 minutes on the clock. It was very difficult to talk myself through those moments.

But like always, I cranked up my Lady GaGa and soldiered on. I thought of everyone else I know or read about, who have completed their journeys or made a significant difference. It's hard to believe that it was only 7 days ago that I could barely do this much.

I have also noticed one small improvement: My bum sits just a little bit higher. Hardly noticeable, except to me. I spent most of yesterday grabbing my own ass to feel my tiny change. I spent the rest of it double checking with my husband. "Does it look any different? It feels different but I can't tell. Is it different?" lol

Here's pics for proof!

Me before Stella


18 minutes!


3 miles!



270 calories!


Me post session:



And there you have it!

15 Minutes of Proof

I just got done riding Stella, so I decided to upload some pics, and a bit of proof that I am working super hard.

I rode her for 15 minutes, an average of about 10 miles an hour (some points hitting as high as 15 miles per hour, which I sustained for a while minute)

I am sweaty, hot, and satisfied. I turned on my air conditioning. In February. LOL

okay, now for pics:

This is Stella, my stationary bike.


And this is my 15 minutes of proof.




Also, I went 2.50 miles (.28 more than last time) and burned about 250.00 calories (50 more than last time)

I think I am getting faster!

Fancy Scale

I went out to the store and was going to buy the Weight Watchers scale in all its glory, but the store I went to didn't have one. However, they had one with all the features: BMI, Body Fat %, Water Hydration, Active mode (for athletes) and a fancy little thing that tells you your Daily Calorie Requirement to maintain weight. Which is nifty.

I am never sure about the accuracy of digital scales as they all seem to vary from one to the other but tested it against the one I currently have, and it's spot on. Yay! It was a bit of a pain to set up, naturally, I didn't read the instructions so fumbled a bit until I got annoyed then skimmed them. They didn't make sense. So I tried again and again, eventually I got the darn thing sorted.

It runs on AAA batteries, not one of the fancy Li-ions. I am not sure how I feel about this.

Anyway, I hope on shock horror, I am still a fattie. But that's okay. 50% body fat (eeps) and only 40% hydration. It's neat because you input your height and age too, so it's at least in the ballpark.

For someone my height & age, shock, should not weigh more than 150lbs lol
I am also 10% under hydration. A few more glasses of water should fix this.

Thursday Feb 25

Today went home to visit my P-units (parents) with hubby.
Didn't eat all day then had (3) hard shell tacos with beef, cheese and taco sauce. I am not sure how many calories this is, but my Lose it! app guesstimated well enough for me.

Now I am eating a fat-free refried bean burrito with fat free cheese and taco sauce on a whole wheat tortilla. Yum!

I also boiled 5 chicken breast and turned 3 of them into chicken salad with low-fat mayo, lots of mustard, onion, garlic and a splash of lemon juice, as well as 4 boiled egg white. This I put on low-cal bread (35 a slice) with a slice of Weight Watchers cheese.

the other chicken breasts are shredded and marinating in taco seasoning, so I can make quesadillas later. Yum!

And that's pretty much my menu for the week.

I weighed in today, but only after I took a shower, so I was a bit water-logged hehe, and I am happy to report no change. So I probably lost some. I am totally buying a Weight Watchers scale with all its fancyness too.

I still need to exercise today, haven't found time, but I am going to the store later for some cleaning products so I will walk around for an hour or so to get my exercise in.

Also, my mom won at Sorry! tonight. She wins all the games! lol

Motivation

I have been reading other people's weight loss blogs and decided to do a list of motivators.

1. One year anniversary is in 12 weeks. We want to go to Mackinac island and cycle around. Need to be fitter for this.
2. I am short. 5ft5. I should not be carrying excess of 200lbs on my frame. I should be at 150-160 max. Probably lower, like 140. But I'm shooting for 160.
3. I am young. No one at my age should be feeling decades older. I should be out, having fun, wearing teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikinis, being thrown in the water by hubby.
4. My body can't take it anymore. It hurts to move, to sleep, to sit, to do anything. I get heartburn. Indigestion that hurts so bad its to the point where I vomit, just to make the bad thing go away. Lots of bad things I don't want getting any worse. (On a side note, it's been almost a month since I've had indigestion that badly, I don't miss it)
5. I was thin. I remember it. Though I got "healthy/fit" confused with "people have different body frames" and spent most my thin life striving to be something I couldn't.
6.Yesterday, I didn't think I could ride my stationary bike for longer than 10 minutes. 15 minutes was impossible. Today, I did it. And then later, I did another five. It really showed me that most of my battle, is in my brain.
7. My abs are sore. I notice they hurt whenever I move, when I breathe, when I do just about anything. Then I realized, I am subconsciously holding in my stomach. Wow, something I struggled to do for months. And now it's almost always automatic.
8. I have loads more energy. Not that I do anything with it. Except ride Stella.
9. I dream of being skinny. Pretty sure its a premonition now.
10. If others can lose 150+ lbs in a year, then who is stopping me from losing my 75? No one but me.

Stella!

Today I made it my personal goal to ride Stella for 15 minutes, no matter what.
Honestly, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, which is odd, because yesterday, the task seemed insurmountable.

I just plugged in my earphones, turned up some Lady GaGa and went, well, gaga on the bike.

15 minutes and 5 songs later, I traveled 2.22 miles and burned 200 calories at a pace of about 9.0 miles an hour. Pretty sweet.

I couldn't believe how easy it was to forget I was biking! This is a turning point moment, the a-HA! moment, the moment where it really drives it home that it is only *me* who stands in my way.

Now I battle with my mind a lot, and I have to wrestle down unfounded fears and doubts, so its an achievement mentally and physically for me! YAY!

I've also been tracking my food and exercise religiously. Well as religiously as I can anyway. I set up reminders also so it yells at me if I don't. I also added my uncle's GF who is a HUGE inspiration to me, as she lost well over 150lbs on her own through diet and exercise.

I found another blogger, Gettin' Shrunk Wow what an amazing transformation. Of course Ms. Bitchcakes is an inspiration too, even though she's a vegan. Not that I hold it against her! ;)


I am planning on upping my journey with Stella to 3miles a day, and trying to push it just a bit further every day. Hubby wants to visit Mackinac Island for our Anni and you can rent bikes and travel around the island! How cool! of course, must train.
12 weeks to go.

One Year Anniversary

My husband and I have a one-year anniversary coming up on May 15th.
Now, when we got married, I was known as a Fat Ass. LOL
I weighed in at 237.5 lbs, and yet almost 10 months later, I am only 12lbs lighter! I would love to lose another 28lbs from today.
So I want to be down a total of 40. Note: This will also put me in Onederland.

I think I would cry if I hit Onderland. Happy tears of course.

To achieve this mini-goal, I will have to log all my food and exercise, as well as maybe upping the exercise. UGH. but its almost 12 weeks, and only 28 lbs. I think I can do it...

I rode Stella for 10 minutes, three more than usual, so I wouldn't say that it's getting easier, more like I pushed myself.

I ate french fries today and never noticed how SALTY they are, so I think that this is a hint that my tongue was so dead to other tastes, and now salt tastes gross.

I guess this is progress??

Food and Activity Log for Monday, 22nd

Food:
Slimfast shake 190c
Smartones Peanut Butter sundae 190c
Steak and Shake, shooters and cheese fries. I dont know exactly how much, but I know it was under 1000 (their website is under construction, so I will have to wing it)

Activity
Stella, 10 minutes 139c
house cleaning 10m 36c
walking, slow, 60 mins 215
situps, vigorous 5 mins 62

I did over 600 calories worth of exercise. If you add that up, you will notice it does NOT equal up to 600. ;) There was an extra activity...

But none the less, I still hit my goal for 500+ calories of exercise! I did 100 situps as well, which was one of my goals.

Weekly Log for Monday 15th-Sun 21st

This is my log for the week, emailed to me per Lose it!
You will note it looks like I neither gained nor lost any weight, but I only log that once a week, anyway. I am actually down 1.4lbs YAY

Stella and Stationary bike are one in the same, I just logged it under different things. I am also a full day under my calories for the week. How freaking cool.

I'll try to remember to update my food log every day so I can show you next week's.

Overexcitement

I did my dancing yesterday, and I am sore especially in my arms today.
I think I got a little overzealous in my arm movements. Thrusting left, right up down! GO GO GO! I also did volleyball and I know I pushed myself a little too hard as I felt my muscles twang. So that's probably it.

Pretty sad when you are sore from a video game! LOL

Goals for the Week:
Log my meals for 5/7 days.
Do 100 crunches with hand weights 3x this week
Ride Stella for increasing 5 minute increments, up to 15 minutes.
(3x a week)
Do 100 cals of exercise 3x a week.

Also, on a more personal goal, clean my bathroom. Hubby's is decent, as its technically the guest bathroom, but mine is a right mess. I will also count this as exercise, because lets face it, its tough to clean! (when you're lazy, anyway)

Once again I have been keeping under my calories. I havent stepped on the scale yet today, as I am still angry at it for last time.

I have been using my Lose it! App on my phone and set it up at certain times to yell at me if I haven't logged meals. Which is great! but it makes me sad as I think someone is sending me a text message. LOL

Another day, another workout (with Edits)

I've decided to log everything that I do exercise wise.
I mean, its kind of silly not to. But I wanted to see how much I move when I am not trying to move. Like when I clean the house, or do the laundry.
Anything that requires moving, picking up things, bending over, being on my feet for longer than a few moments.

I've been reading various weight loss blogs and thinking about the motivation and determination behind them, and a few of my favourite quotes as well.

"People resorted to cannibalism to survive, and we can't put down the " -This is my mom's favourite saying. She read the book "Alive" where it tells the story of the soccer players who got stranded in the Andes and resorted to eating their dead family, friends, team mates, etc to survive and RATIONING it. Not only are they starving and eating their friends, but they rationed it.

And I complain if I havent had a candy bar that day. Seriously. WTF.

Another comes from my doctor. "It's only food." Which is so odd to say, because it IS only food.
Why do we let it run our lives? Again, WTF.

Am I so weak that I can't put the burrito down? I HAVE to have it? or what? I'll die? I'll be unhappy?

God forbid.

I would love to be able to come out from this a winner, not another failure. I think I can do it, I know I can do it. It's just a case of motivation for me.

Stay motivated. Stay on track. If you make a mistake fix it. Seems simple enough. I would love to post before and after pics. Before, During and After pics.

EDIT

nothing gets your heart rate and your mood up quite like dancing! I did EA Active for 24 minutes today doing dancing and volleyball exercises and I burned EXACTLY what I wanted to burn: 150.0 Calories on the NOSE!! YAY

I am sure my neighbours would think I am nuts because after I finished the workout and burned more calories than projected (by 20 lol) I yelled out triumphantly I AM THE QUEEEEEN!

This however, got no response from either of my lazy cats. Apparently this was not news to them!

Okay ladies and gents: Food loooooog tiiiiime

Weight Watchers Enchiladas 330 cal
Weight watchers PBC Sundae 190 (I bought like 12 boxes of these. Dont judge me. Better than a DQ Blizzard!)
Egg, Ham and cheese casserole. 400 cal (as best as I can figure)

Food intake: 920

Exercise: 150

Net intake: 770

Calories left 670!

YAY! Also am on my second glass of water inside an hour. Not too shabby.

One Day At a Time

I am mortified.
Been adhering to my diet for the last few days religiously
and I am up 3lbs!

THREE of my FOUR that I lost!
UGH

I couldnt believe it.
I was all depressed.
I texted my mom.

Me: WTF I am up 3lbs.
Me: I even stuck to diet.
Me: WTFFFFFFF

she doesnt answer.
I go back to bed.
Sleep til 5pm

FIVE PM

I couldnt believe it.


Finally get a hold of mom.

Her: have you been going
Me: going?
Her: potty
Me: no
Her: thats what it is then
Me: ive even been eating fiber
Me: lots of fiber
Her: Yeah, it doesnt work on us.
Her: trust me

Lame.

I dont feel depressed any more or demotivated.
I just need to erm
well
you know.

Haha.

I have my Lose it! App linked with my Twitter account.
Last night I tweeted: "I did Stella for 7 minutes and burned 96 calories"

LOL I am sure anyone who reads that would be very confused.
Stella is so needy. What a bitch.

One day at a time.

I am so over this whole drinking water thing. I am on my third glass today (20 oz glasses) and its quite annoying.

Also, updated: I rode Stella for 8 minutes today. And went another .25 of a mile. I am up to 1.25 miles now! Wooo! I also logged my grocery shopping as exercise because lets face it, it is. Lifting boxes. Pushing carts. Lifting bags. Carrying bags. And of course, carrying bags upstairs!

I am just wanting to see some results. Once we get the new car sorted out, I want to go back to Curves. It's so hard now as hubby is working double shifts all the time lol I dont any time to go. Stella will keep me busy though!

Updated Layout and Stella

You may notice my super cute, aww-inducing header.
It was designed by my loving and amazing husband.
He also designed my mom's, for her blog, here:
Mandatory Blog

If you would like something done for your blog
You can visit his online portfolio here
Brian Farrar Design


I have decided to name my bike Stella!
Why? Because it's fun to say.
Examples:

Stella likes to be ridden hard
Stella pushed me to the limit
Stella supports my fat ass.

I also have a pic of Stella.
I just need to upload it.

Tuesday

I sorted out my messed up food log and put it all on the appropriate day.
Today so far, I have had:

Slimfast shake 190c
Smartone peanut butter cup sundae 190c
Smart one pizza bites 280c
Mountain Dew 170c

Exercise

House cleaning 36c
Stationary bike 90c


I am proud of myself. Though I only lasted 7 minutes, I was going at 11 miles per hour, and I went a full mile.

I still have to do a bit of cleaning and I want to do either some EA Active or another mile or so on the bike.

Monday Madness

We had friends from out of town come by today and decided to treat them to a lovely dinner at Applebee's.

I got 3-Cheese Chicken Penne
It was okay. Usually it's delicious.
Today they over cooked the noodles. They were much bigger than they were supposed to be and they didnt have the "al dente" bite to them.

I picked out the grilled chicken and the tomatoes and ate them.

I went to the store and bought Weight Watchers meals as well as Slim Fast shakes.

Here is my food log today:

Breakfast: Mt Dew 170 cal
Lunch: Mt Dew 170 cal
Dinner: the penne, I ate like a 3rd, but I put in half the cals at 467
Weight watchers chicken enchilada montery, 330 cal
Weight watchers peanut butter cup sundae 190 cal

Total food calories: 1482

I exercised today too:

5 mins moderate stationary bike: 50 calories
5 mins vigorous situps (with handweights)64 calories

Total exercise calories: 114

Net calories: 1366

I just noticed I logged this all under Tuesday and not Monday in my app. UGH

Spinning a Yarn

I am making a crochet blanket now, I've been working on it for a few days, and I really do love it. It's blue and white.
I am doing it in stripes, 6 rows of half double crochet stitches in blue; 3 rows half double of white.

I did my first ever yarn change and it was a little difficult, but I think with practice it will look great and become easier. I have a couple pics of what i've done so far, but its not much. I'm only 8 rows in hehe.

I am going to start another project, making a hat for my friend. I found a bunch of free patterns that are "beginner level" which i think is where i am lol

i want a pompom maker.

A Little Nutty

Today we paid off the dead car! YAY
We just now have to wait for the title to get mailed to us


On our way home, I made an executive decision. I wanted an exercise bike
Went to Wally World and they had 2 left of the one I wanted
YAY
Throw it in the cart!

After waiting forever in line finally manage to get home
Lug it up stairs
Take it all out of the box

Start putting it together
Its the most complex thing I've seen
Arch washers
Acorn nuts
Nylock nuts
Flat heads
Round heads
Figure A
Follow steps 11a-11g

Reading it I got confused
I cant do this I say to hubby
Why?
I dont know what a nut is

Long pause

You dont know what a nut is?
I get it confused with a bolt

Another long pause.

Its the small round thing.
Right, I know that now. But ask me again in ten minutes I'll tell you its the bolt.

Long pause
...It's cute that you're so dumb.

LOL I cant take offense to that, as I know he was feeling very manly at the moment

Magic Gummy Bears

I love gummy bears.
I hate multivitamins.
I cant swallow the stupid horsepills.
Even breaking them in half gets a gag out of me.

I thought hey, what about those Flintstones vitamins?
At least they are flavoured.
Might taste like Tums, but I wont get sick!

I couldnt find any unfortunately.
I did find some gummy bear ones though.
They are still for kids
I compared them to the adult vitamins
Good enough for me.

Open the package, and god do they smell awful.
Like dirty socks.
UGH
They were expensive too
Hesitantly, I popped one in my mouth.
Surely it would be better than the multivitamins?

OMG it tasted like a gummy bear. Lemon. Orange. Strawberry!
So good! Three in a pack!

I sniffed the other two.
Yep dirty socks.
But it tastes so good!

They are magic gummies.

Wii Fit... Me Fit?

Okay, I have been strictly sticking to my diet for a whole... day.
I also decided to do Wii Fit last night as I had mentioned.

Between the 1578 spins and a 1400 calorie diet, somehow, MAGICALLY
I lost 2.4 lbs! In a day! Wee!

I hear you saying "but your body fluctuates blah blah blah"
I know that.

But what I also know, is that I am HELLA sore. I think this is an honest, hard won loss.

I feel hungry. All the time now. I did a test to see how many calories I have to consume to stay at my current weight and that number is shocking. 2300. 300 above the D/V recommended amount

I am on a 1400 calorie restrictive diet, and that's a whole 900 calories less. Which is like 2 meals less. LOL

But if I can stick with it for a while then I wont be as hungry. Also if I am cutting out 900 a day and one pound is equivalent to 3300 calories, then i should be losing one pound every 4 days, for a while anyway.

Also next sunday I am seeing the in-laws and they arent... exactly fond of me, to put it nicely. it would be awesome to be down ten pounds by then

I want one of these

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Stamina-Air-Resistance-Upright-Bike/7680163

It's a stationary bike with adjustable tension. Like a mountain bike. YAY! I am getting one when I get my refund lol I am having that sucker shipped straight to my door.

Calorie Conflicts

I just popped in Wii Fit, its been almost 3 weeks lol
First it yelled at me for not showing up for so long
then it yelled at me for gaining weight
and then, it yelled at me when it asked if I noticed if Hubby was looking fitter, fatter, toned, or the same. I said the same, and it told me I need to pay more attention to him.

After flipping off the tv, I started training. (he gets enough attention, thank you!)
I did 5 minutes of Yoga and burned 5 calories according to wii fit.
According to my Lose it! App, 5 minutes is 14 calories.

I did 20 minutes of aerobics on Wii Fit, and only burned 37 more calories.
I input "low impact aerobics" into lose it and came up with 145 calories.

Now, to me, it seems I burnt the 145. And here's why. I did step exercise basic, then I did advanced. I did hula hooping, then I did advanced on the second tier, which is 6 minutes instead of three. I ended up doing 1578 hula hoop spins in 6 minutes. I was gasping for air, had a stitch in my side, pain in my chest, and my legs were going numb. So, I will stick with 145 calories burned, thanks.

I really feel that nothing quite counts exercise calories correctly. My numbers never match up. Even on the Elliptical and I run 30 minutes burn 150 calories according to the machine, to Lose it! I burn like 300.

But Lose it doesnt always over shoot things. oh no. You can log your erm bedroom activities in as well. And the average calories burnt is... 5 per 15 minutes. I dont know about you... but that seems a little ...low.

However, you can input your own exercises. I do that for EA and it seems to actually be more accurate. Burn 150 calories or so per 20 minutes of exercise, that seems pretty good.

I dont know what to trust really, but as long as I am exercising, who really cares.

Been Lazy

Yesterday and Today I didnt really get a chance to go to Curves. Tomorrow though, no excuses, I am going no matter what. I am also going to do EA Active and also extra crunches to make up for my lack of exercise. Maybe pop in Carmen Electra as well.

If I can stop watching Mythbusters. LOL