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!

Weighing in...

Holy moly, it's 2013! Where the heck did 2012 go? I feel like it was just yesterday that The Mr. and I got engaged and now we're 81 days away from saying "I do!"We don't have much planning left to do, everything has fallen into to place and I'm grateful for that.

With the wedding being so close I'm really going to buckle down and drop some pounds. I really should have been working on it the whole time but it really wasn't my top concern, until a few weeks ago. Everyone who reads my blog knows that I've always struggled with my weight and have been doing Weight Watchers on and off for awhile now. The first time I attempted Weight Watchers, I lost about 20 pounds and did pretty well at keeping it off. Well, a few weeks ago I decided I needed to get a new pair of jeans, everything was great and dandy until I got into the dressing room. The jeans I had originally picked up to try on were way too tight but I tried to pretend they would fit. I sucked in, I jumped up when trying to zip them up, I sat down and took a deep breathe hoping it would move my fat around or something. Nothing helped and I was so disappointed. I then took that dreaded walk across the store and grabbed the next size up, tried them on and carried my head in shame to the cashier.

The next morning, I got on the scale and those 20 pounds I had lost found it's way back. I won't lie, the 20 pounds brought a few friends along with, if you know what I mean. It wasn't the worst day of my life but it was pretty high up there. I decided right then and there that it was time to kick my fat ass into gear and get to work.

That of course happened a few days before Christmas and I tried really hard not to dwell on the scale and my bigger jeans, but trust me it was in the back of my mind all the time. I feel like I did okay over the holidays, I was really aware of what I was eating and when I was eating it.

I started tracking my food again on the 20th, I was faithful about it for a few days and then slacked off the last week or so. But this morning, I put things into turbo mode and it's tracking central from here out.

I'm not trying to lose 100 pounds before the wedding, clearly that's impossible. I am however going to work on making lifestyle changes and I plan on losing some weight before the wedding.

I'm going back to attending Weight Watchers meetings and weighing in every week and I plan on waking up to exercise before work because I think it would work best for me. If it doesn't, I'll try something else.

I'm going to have to do something though, I can't keep going like this and I can't keep doing the things I was doing.

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?