Pushing myself

I restarted this weight loss journey at the beginning of the year and right away, I went and signed up (again) for a gym membership. I didn't waste any time, I jumped right into working out and getting 30 minutes of activity in.

30 minutes is all I ever did, it would hurt to work out. There were times where it hurt so bad to move after walking on the treadmill that I would just sit on the couch most the night because my knees would just ache so bad, but I kept going.

30 minutes eventually turned into 35, which turned into 40. I wasn't in as much pain after workouts but it would still hurt from time to time. I started to pick up speed and resistance, I would use the elliptical from time to time, but for no more then 15 minutes at a time and then I would just walk.

Somedays I would stay home and workout or go for walks around my neighborhood. One time, not that long ago, I even jogged for a few minutes while I was out for walk. I felt like I had conquered the world!

A few weeks ago, I went to a group class at the gym that was a boot camp type of circuit training, and I worked out HARD. I was dripping in sweat, it felt SO good. Even when it was hard and I was tired, I kept going...because I know that if I had tried that when I started 7 months ago, I would have died.

Today, I worked out twice. I went once in the morning and then again this evening for Zumba. Both times, I gave it my all, I sweated (a lot) and I burned a lot of calories. The best thing is that I'm not in pain, I didn't give up and I can't wait to go back to the gym tomorrow!

I am thankful that my body is allowing me to push my limits, that my body is growing and developing and most importantly, getting healthy.

It's true what they say, it gets easier with time.

Someday I will run and it will be for longer then a few minutes. Mark my word.

Week 24 Weigh In

Alright, week 24 is in the books and it was a great week! My mini goal for the week was to get 7 days of activity in, and I did it! I thought I wasn't going to hit it one day but I had gone swimming at my parents house, and swimming counts! Overall, I earned 52 activity points last week! Whoop whoop!

On Friday we went to a friends house to have a BBQ and I indulged a little too much, but I was okay with it. On Saturday we went to my parents house to celebrate Father's Day and again, I indulged a little too much on cookies and yummy food. I felt really bad about eating the way I did for two days (:-/), so on Sunday I kicked it into high gear, drank water like it was candy, ate within my points and tried to eat pretty clean. Whatever I did worked because the number on the scale was lower this morning!

I have lost 45 pounds, sometimes that's hard for me to believe. I have a lot of weight to lose but I'm ready to lose it and I have 45 pounds less to lose!

I've been trying really hard to be active all day long by staying busy around the house. I've done some cleaning, laundry and cooking. That has been helping me reach 100% on my active link and has helped me stay on my feet and not in front of the computer. I've noticed that when I do sit down and relax I often feel bad for not being active. I know losing weight isn't always about being active and busy but I'm trying to get out of the sedentary lifestyle. Yesterday was the first day that I sat in front of the TV for awhile, it felt good but it sure was hard to get up and make dinner after sitting down for a few hours.

For week 25, my goal again is to get 7 days of activity in and to go to bed earlier. Not getting enough sleep can really alter weight loss and bed time has been getting really late. This morning I was SO tired so I told myself getting to bed earlier is a must! I need more energy to stay active! 

Inspiration

Lately I've been taken back by the fact that I'm inspiring people. It baffles me that little ol' me is inspiring people to make healthy choices. 

I've gotten a lot of questions about what is working for me, where I get recipes from and how to find motivation. I'm always honest and more then willing to share what is working for me and how I'm getting it done every day, but I remind them that I am not a pro at this. I still eat food that I shouldn't, I still dislike working out and I still miss McDonald's and fried foods. I just know that eating those things or not doing the workouts will not get me where I want to be and all they will offer is instant gratification.

I've really had to learn that every weight loss journey is different, just like everyone is a different person. I will not lose weight the same way someone else did. I can not eat things other people can because it may throw me back to my bad habits. I've really had to learn to read my body and know what works for me.

I can share tips, hints and answers all day long but that doesn't mean it's going to work for you or be what is best for you. I want it to work for you though, so badly.

My biggest advice and inspiration I can give someone is to do what works for you. Find the program (Weight Watchers, counting calories or carbs) and stick with it. The hardest part of the journey is starting it and sticking to it. I'll never regret starting this journey again, even if it is my third time.

Third times the charm! 

Still truckin'!

It's been a heck of a long time since I've updated my blog. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm a horrible blogger and I'll probably always suck at it. If you're on Instagram or Facebook, you can keep up with my progress there and actually stay more up to date with it.

Since my last blog post, I've gotten married, went on my honeymoon, gained a few pounds and lost them all over again. Right before the wedding, I hit 30 pounds lost and then with the 3 weeks that we were gone, I only gained about 3 pounds. I was actually pretty surprised and they came back off pretty fast. It was really hard to get back into the grove of things, it took me about a week and a half to actually get my butt in gear and get back into the game.

With all of that, I'm still trucking along this weight loss journey. I'm currently at 38.6 pounds lost (and I don't want to find them again!). I've learned a lot since I started losing weight again and there have been a lot of thing that have opened my eyes. It is kind of funny how you learn to love foods that before you refused to taste and there are foods that I see and think "how could I have ever eaten that?!"

Clothes are starting to fit better, it's to the point where I'm having to buy new clothes too. Such a great feeling! I have had to buy two new pairs of jeans in different sizes and this past weekend I ended up buying some jeans at a thrift store. I refuse to pay $50 bucks for a pair of jeans that I'm only going to wear for a few weeks. I can't take credit for that one though, a coworker told me to do that after I was complaining about the price of jeans. Honestly, I never thought thrift store had clothes in my size.

I try to cook dinner almost every night, I love to cook and love finding new recipes that are healthy and delicious. If I don't cook dinner, we normally pick a "healthy" place to go to dinner, or my friends and family are really great about helping me figure out the points for the meal.

I've really been trying to mix up my activity. Some days I'll walk, other days I'll go to the gym. I've done work out videos, gone for bike rides and just in general, been more active. The Mr. and I are starting to park further away from stores and just walking further. It works! I try to get 30 minutes of activity in, 5 days a week. People forget that it doesn't have to strenuous exercise, just simply going out there and getting your heart rate up will get the job done! The best part about it all is that I can go further and harder then I used to. I used to dread 30 minutes on the treadmill but now it's no big deal and I actually enjoy it.

My goal this week is to lose 1.4 pounds. If I hit my goal, I'll be at 40 pounds gone! I try to set small goals for myself every week. They don't always deal with weight, they are just small goals to help the week go by fast and help me get healthy. I weigh in on Wednesday morning, so we'll see! I'm crossing my fingers!

The day I hit my first goal!

When I started Weight Watchers, 7 weeks ago, my mindset was a little different. I wanted to take things slow, I wasn't worried about losing weight fast, I wanted to go slow and actually learn to keep it off. I had set goals (big and little) but I was willing to sit back and enjoy the process and let the system work. The first goal Weight Watchers sets for you is 5%, I didn't change it because I knew that goal was very attainable, I just had to work for it.

Every week I've watched the scale move down and every week I was getting closer to my 5% goal. Even though I was trying to be patient and just let things go the way they wanted to go, I was hoping to hit my 5% 2 weeks ago, but I was okay when I didn't.

Last week I lost 3 pounds and was just a little over 1 pound away from hitting 5%. I was determined this week to hit it. I worked my butt off all week, a few days I spent almost an hour and a half at the gym. An hour and half?! I swear I'm not trying to become a gym addict, but working out feels so good!

The past two days, I've been watching the scale. When I weighed myself Monday morning, I had hit my goal, but I didn't want to get my hopes up, a lot can change in two days. Tuesday morning I stepped on the scale and again, I was under my goal (woohoo!). I did everything I could to remain focused all day, I worked out, drank over a gallon of water and prayed that the scale gods were on my side this morning.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night, I was nervous! I knew I was going to hit my goal, but was nervous for some odd reason. I woke up this morning and got on the scale. It was playing tricks, I stepped on it about 4 times and each time the number was different. Damn machine! I got ready and headed to my meeting location.

I took off my ring, glasses, shoes and Activelink, stepped on the scale and wanted to puke. I was so nervous! My leader did her thing with the computer and then printed my label. We looked at it together and the we had a little PARTY!

I HIT MY 5%!!! I REACHED AND DESTROYED MY FIRST GOAL!

5% at a time and slow and steady wins the race.....EVERYTIME! I'm celebrating for the day but tomorrow it's time to focus again to reach my 10%!

Finding my mojo

It's been so quiet around here lately, I've lost my blogging mojo. It's not that I don't want to blog anymore, I just don't have anything good to blog about. I forget to take pictures of the fun things we do and half the time I forget to even blog about those things.

As much as I like to think that I'm a pretty open person, I'm really a private person. I don't tell too many people too many things unless you're pretty close to me. I don't often speak my mind because I really do care what people think of me. Blogging really has gotten hard for me lately.

I used to be able to just sit down and write, now I have to force the words to form and hope it all flows together. I have to really think about what I want to say and who I may offend if I really say what's on my mind. I know I shouldn't care, but I do.

So lately I've chosen to just keep it all to myself (not really, The Mr. is a pretty good listener). I still have goals and ambitions, I still work and do all those normal day to day things but I just can't seem to find my blogging mojo.

I'm not sure where that leaves me, I've thought about just closing my blog and moving on. I've thought about forcing the words out and hoping someday I'll catch my blogging fever again or I can just do link ups every day and never have anything good to say, but I really don't want to be that blogger.

Whatever I decided to do just know that I'm still around, that I probably still read your blog and that I wish I could find my blogging mojo again.

If anyone has any tips or tricks, please let me know!

Goals

I won't lie, I'm horrible with goals. I never write them down and I never focus on reaching that one end goal. I have a lot of "goals" in my head but can't seem to accomplish them. Some of the goals are just day to day things, like staying on to of house cleaning (which I've been failing at) and all those good things. I also have long term goals that I want to accomplish, but just can't seem to get started on them. I talk about them, I think about them and then it just stops, I never actually start working on these goals.

So, I'm starting here. I'm writing these goals down here, giving myself a time limit and I'm going to set out to accomplish these goals. I'll document where I'm at from time to time, I'll share my struggles and my triumphs and I promise you that I'll be real. No sugar coating allowed around here!

Here we go:

Daily goals: done everyday, without fail

1. Be happy, no matter what.


2. Eat healthy


3. Keep up on daily chore list

Short-term goals: completed on or before the wedding (3/23/13)

1. Cook healthier


2. Lose 20 pounds before the wedding


3. Work out 2-3 times a week

Long-term goals: completed on or before a year from today (8/27/12)

1. Pay off $1000+ on my debt


2. Get a job working with children


3. Lose 40 pounds

Super long-term goals: completed within the next 5 years

1. Be debt free!


2. Start a family


3. Go back to school and finish my teaching degree.

What do you do to set goals? Do you write them down? How do you stay on top of them and get them accomplished?

It's the little things

It would be safe to say that there are a few little things in life that I love; I love coffee (Starbucks, please), water bottles, purses and planners. There's a little place in my heart made for planners, anytime I see one that is super cute, I think I need it and I have to have it.

Back in January I wrote about a planner that I had found and had fallen in love with. I was going to use it to stay more organized and help plan my days a little better. I loved the planner and tried to use it but often times it felt too bulky and I just couldn't get into using it. I've probably only used it twice since I put it together and it just sits in my corner by the couch and collects dust. (Anyone want it?)

2012 planner NOT being used!

The other day I was relaxing and browsing some blogs and came across this post at Crazy Beautiful Life. Holy moly, I was instantly in love and I had to have everything from erincondren.com. Seriously, especially that dang Life Planner. (I promise I'm done with links now)

That dang planner stole my heart and if you were to ask The Mr. it's probably all I talked about for two or three days. "The planner this....the planner that." "If I had that planner we wouldn't be double booked for this weekend!" Yes, I really did say that. I would be willing to spend my savings on that planner, that's how bad I needed that dang thing!

Okay, I wouldn't spend my savings but I would dig deep and beg and plead a little bit to get my hands on that planner, and that's exactly what I did! I'm sure The Mr. bought it for me to shut me up but oh man, I can not wait to get my new planner! I even had to dance like the people from the video below to convince him that I would put this planner to use!



You can bet your bottom dollar though, I danced and I jumped and I clapped and I got my planner! I can not wait until I can get my hands on it! What a wonderful day that will be!
**I should add that I wasn't paid anything or asked to write this blog. I really truly do love this planner and I'm pretty sure you need one too!

Falling behind

The past couple of weeks have been a bit hard. Work hasn't been all that great, I feel like I'm falling behind at home with every day chores and just staying above water. I was really starting to get down on myself about it too, I needed to find that happy medium and I needed to find it fast.

I thought that maybe I was taking on too much at work, maybe I need to cut my hours back, step down to just a barista; I even thought about finding a whole new job. Not being home at night really gets to me. I want to be able to cook dinner, clean the kitchen and relax with The Mr. and because I work retail, being able to do that kind of stuff is really hard. I probably could find a new job but I just started to accumulate paid time off and the medical benefits are really good so really it would be stupid if I found another job.

So I really had to do some deep soul searching and realized I just needed to buck up and do what I have to do. If another job opportunity comes my way that offers all those things but with better hours, I'll take it, but for now, I just have to deal. So, I'm dealing and trying to roll with the punches.

As for home, I realized I can't let work interfere with what I'm doing at home. I'm not saying I do all the work because The Mr. really helps me out around the house but sometimes he does more then I think he should. I'm probably being really sexist here, but I believe that keeping the house clean and tidy is my job, and I don't want to fail at it.

So being a good future house wife, I went to Pinterest and looked up easy and fun ways to keep the house clean throughout the week rather then just spending one whole day cleaning the house. Of course, I found all kinds of ideas that I would love to use, but I'll have to save them for when we have children because a lot of them don't apply to us. But I did find one that I've already printed out and started. It's very easy, very simple and it gets the important stuff done on a daily basis, which was important to me. I've  printed it out and stuck it to the refrigerator!

                                                                             Source: tipsandpix.com via Abby on Pinterest

Finding joy in these little things have been hard the past couple of weeks but I kept telling myself that I'm lucky to have a job and a roof over my head. 

Planning and other important stuff

The ball is starting to roll again on the wedding planning. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I still find myself having a hard time believing that I am planning my wedding with the man of my dreams by my side.

We have our engagement photo session booked and on the calendars; have some save the dates ideas rolling with a pretty amazing graphic designer and we're working on eating healthier and losing some of these pounds so we can look A-MAZING on our wedding day!

So far, the hardest part has been deciding what we want when it comes to food or center pieces. There are SO many ideas and it's not that The Mr. and I can't agree on it, it's that we just like so many of them that we can't decide.

I'm still in love with my dress. From time to time, I'll sneak into the closet and open the dress bag, you know, to make sure there isn't dust collecting on it or that it doesn't have a stain or anything, and every time, I remember why I bought it. When I see it, I wish the wedding was sooner just so I can wear it.

As far as work goes, I'm getting settled in my new store. It was a lot harder then I thought it was going to be but each day is better. I'm still excited about the future and looking forward to growing with Starbucks.

The Mr. and I have been really good about writing out a meal plan and sticking to it. My work schedule has been a little funny, so somedays I'm cooking dinner at 10am so I can take food with me to work and he can have dinner ready when he gets home. It's been working out really good even though I still laugh that I'm in the kitchen so early in the morning. I won't lie though, coming up with 2 weeks worth of dinner ideas is a little hard.

This past weekend was beautiful and we stayed busy, but I'll save that for another blog!

....the future comes one day at a time....

I'm not a big fan of change, in fact, change is really hard for me. It wasn't until I was older that I realized it and this last week has been a little rough. When change is happening, I get really irritable and will normally have a crying fit. This may or may not have happened this week....

A few months ago, I met with the two district managers in our area for Starbucks and got asset to see where I was in my development at Starbucks and to see if I was ready to move up the chain of command. Everything went well but I needed a second store experience, (bigger store = more people to manage, more challenges) and I needed to work in a drive thru store. It took a few months to get the ball rolling but not long enough. Earlier this week, I worked my last shift.

I'm not sure why I had such a hard time, maybe it was because I was PMSing, who knows, but it was hard to leave. I even picked up one last baby shift just so I could have one last final close. It was a good close too, I got to see most my favorite evening customers and got hugs from some amazing partners.

I know the store is literally right down the road and I can go there anytime and even pick up shifts to cover but I loved that store. When I started there last May, I had a hard time fitting in. A lot of the partners had been at that store for years and they had their own clique. The store was at a rough patch and a lot of work needed to be done, so I went in and helped get the job done. I learned a lot from that store, grew a lot as a manager and met and made some great friends.

I'm excited for my future with Starbucks and I know that when doors close others open up for certain reasons.

I've worked two shifts at my new store and I hate feeling like the newbie. Today was harder then yesterday but I know it will get better. I am truly thankful for the partners that have welcomed me with opened arms and I sort of dislike the ones that have not been very nice to me. I won't hold that against them though.

With all of this, hopefully change will become easier. Someday.

Positive Thinking

                                          Source: amytangerine.blogspot.com via Abby on Pinterest

Who's up for a challenge?

Last year I ran across Crystal Wilkerson 2011 planner on Pinterest and I fell in love. It was late 2011 and I didn't have a chance to put it together so I stalked followed her on Facebook and watched and prayed for a 2012 planner. Sure enough, in late December she released the amazing 2012 planner and I bought it as soon as I got the email.

I went out to Staples, bought out all my supplies and put the planner together in hopes to be more organized this year. So far, I've used it here and there, not as much as I would like though, but I'm hoping to change that!

She's starting her first Thirty Day 2012 Planner Challenge in February and I'm excited to really put my planner to use! I'm always up for a good challenge and I'm always looking for a way to improve, I really can not wait!

When you buy her 2012 planner you also get "The Thirty Day Gratitude Challenge" for free; this includes 30 quotes with 30 journaling prompts. I have yet to print mine out and start using it, but I have enjoyed reading the quotes and leaning on them when I need a little pick-me-up! I'll probably use the quotes on my blog more then I will to journal, but either way, I love them.

I'm a sucker for a good planner and I love that I can customize this one to myself and make it about improving me. I hope she makes planners for years and years to come!