Week 6 Wrap Up

Week 7 starts on Wednesday, I'll weigh in at 6am and I pray that this week I'll hit my 5%. This time it's different, this time things are for real. Normally by now I would of had a week or two where I gained weight, I know there's nothing wrong with that, but this time around I have yet to gain at all. I hope the same continues this coming week.

I did a little shopping on Friday and I went down a size all the way around, it felt so good to know that all my hard work is paying off. I originally started Weight Watchers again because I went to buy new jeans and size I was wearing would no longer zip up, but on Friday, it was a different story. Those pants zipped right up and felt so good on me. I could not believe it. I stood in the dressing room for a few seconds and just looked at them before I walked out and showed my sister.

During the week I also had my final wedding dress fitting. I love my dress, I bought it over a year ago and I still love it. Every time I wear it, I remember why I chose that dress. I wish I could post pictures, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. When I had the dress on earlier in January, it fit me but there were spots that I wish it looked a little better, like my shoulder area, I hated how my "back fat" hung over it so much. When I put my dress on this time, there wasn't so much "back fat," I could tell it looked better. It was one of those moments that I knew I was doing something right.

One of the things I'm doing different this time around is tracking my water intake. My goal is to drink 100+ ounces of water. We have a water dispenser at home so that makes it very easy to make sure my water bottle is always full. The Mr. and my sister give me a hard time because they say I drink all of it, considering somedays I drink over a gallon of water. I think drinking so much water has the key my success so far, I believe it's really helping me achieve my goals.

I keep finding it kind of ironic that I'm inspiring people to work out and achieve their goals. I'm not a pro at this, in fact, some days I think that I don't know what I'm doing. I know I'll learn so much out of this and eventually I'll have to change things up and do different activity, but what I'm doing now is working. I love that so many people are cheering me on and have my back. All of the encouraging words and the "keep goings" seriously make each day so much easier. At the same time, it's so intimating having so many people cheering me on, I don't want to disappoint anyone or fail at this journey.

Everyday I remind myself that it's a new day and everyday I am thankful to just be alive and breathing.

Success and Determination

                                                                Source: 24.media.tumblr.com via Abigail on Pinterest

A month and a half ago I started my weight loss journey....again. I've accepted the fact that two other times I have really put my heart and soul into losing weight and those two times I failed. This time it's different. This time I have a different determination, this time I'm going to succeed.

I weigh in every Wednesday morning and then attending Weight Watcher meetings the same evening. I joined a gym a few days into starting my life change and I've been working out 5 or more times a week. Sometimes I can't get to the gym, so I'll do a walking video that I bought one of the other times I was attempting to lose weight.

Since January 1st, I have lost 15.4 pounds! I am 1.6 pounds away from losing 5% of my bodyweight! I am so close to my first goal that I can taste it (no pun intended). On week 4, I decided it was time to start tracking my measurements, I have yet to remeasure myself, but I plan to do so soon.

I have yet to be open and honest about my starting weight, putting important numbers like that for the world to see is a big thing. Once I hit a certain weight, I plan on sharing it with everyone. It will be a big step for me, but so many people are watching my weight loss, I'm hoping maybe it will keep me in check. 

I really want to be better about updating my blog and keeping a "diary" of my weight loss, maybe I'll change my name and make it more lifestyle like. We'll see, I'm so horrible at keeping up with my blog. Clearly becoming a famous blogger is out of the question!

Of course through blogging and social networking, I have found a ton of weight loss blogs, Facebook pages, inspiring Twitter feeds and awesome Instragramers. These people have kept me so motivated over the past month and half, I love reading all their words of wisdom about weight loss and lifestyle change. One of my favorite things to do is browse through Pinterest and find inspirational quotes, they help me stay focused and I go back and read them all of time.

Everyday I find something new to be excited about for this healthy life I'm creating, what's even better is that The Mr. is doing it with me!

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.

What I wish for....

Birthday/Christmas List by abigaildeanna featuring a benefit mascara

Instead of writing out a good ol' Birthday/Christmas list, I thought I would make a pretty little Polyvore board of what I wish for. There isn't anything in this world that I need but it wouldn't be my birthday or Christmas without a wish list! So here we go!

1. They're Real mascara by Benefit 
2. Eyeshadow pallet from Benefit called Two Faced Naked Eye (or just a gift card to where benefit is sold would do!) 
3. iTunes gift card 
4. Abigail Bearpaw boots, in purple 
5. Starbucks gift card 
6. A beautiful purple scarf 
7. Toms, in red 
8. Lane Bryant gift card

I can't believe how soon my birthday will be here and Christmas will be here just as fast! I need to start shopping too!

Do you make a wish list every year? If so, what's on your list?

Currently obsessed with....

I have always loved to get my nails done. It was something that mom and I would go do together. When I was in high school sometimes she would pull me out of class and we'd go and have an afternoon together, eat lunch and get our nails done.

Of course when I grew up and got a job that involved the making of some kind of food, I couldn't have my nails done and even nail polish was out of the question. So for the last couple of years my nails have been off and I would paint them if I had a long weekend or went somewhere important.

When I left Starbucks the first thing I did was march my way to the nail salon and I got those dang acrylic nails put back on and I was in love. But then I remembered how horrible they are for your nails and how much they damage your real nail and I got sad. I knew I shouldn't have put them on so a month later I was taking them off. (Enter serious sad face here)

I had heard about shellac nails before and knew it was the new "thing." I researched it and called around for prices. I found out that there are two options, one is the actual shellac and others offer gel polish which is called Gelish. Gelish offers a lot of color options and even allows different customizations of the colors. So two weeks ago, I got my first round of Gelish nails and I'm officially hooked and obsessed!

My first trial with it was a little disappointing. Because I had taken my acrylic nails off, the tech left a fine layer of acrylic on my nail so it wasn't so thin and brittle. Within a few days some of those pieces of acrylic started to lift making the gel start to peel and look really ugly. I went back and they fixed the one that was really lifting and looked pretty ugly, they even did it for free! Within a week and a half the nails with acrylic left on really started to lift and look ugly, I was kind of bummed about it and I was ready to just have it all removed and not do it again. I again researched and found out that the acrylic didn't help and with my nails being so thin the gel had nothing to hold onto to.

Yesterday I went back to the salon and got a new gel color put on. I made sure the tech removed all the acrylic and I had her do a quick manicure. For some reason this time the color looks a little thicker and looks like it may hold on longer. They say the gel should last 2-3 weeks, my first round lasted almost two weeks. Some nails only lasted a week and half, others looks great when I went in yesterday. I hope this time they will last 2 or more weeks!

I really am happy with the look of Gelish and I like how quick and easy it is to apply. I've looked into it and you can even buy the stuff from a supply store and do it at home if you wanted. I never would do that though, I like going in and having my nails done. It's always good to have some quiet time that's all for me!

....on the job

A little over a month ago, I left Starbucks and took a job working for the local school district. I loved my job at Starbucks but it was to the point where I just really wasn't happy anymore. I had switched stores to "better" my career but it wasn't that great of a move for me. Needless to say, I didn't like the store I was working at and just couldn't find my groove there.

I could have switched store (again) and hoped that the love for Starbucks came back or I could have found a whole new job, and that's what I did! It didn't take long for me to realize that I wanted a "real" job. "Real" meaning normal hours, Monday through Friday...you know, a "real" job. I also knew I wanted to work with children. I was looking at daycares, getting back into nannying and the school district. The school district job opened up, and I jumped on the opportunity.

So here I sit, in a high school class room. I currently work as a one on one with a student. I've been working with this student for a little over a month now and she has grown so much and has become someone I truly care about. I want to see her succeed and grow into a mature woman.

I never thought that I would work in a high school or better yet, actually enjoy working here. I have really enjoyed getting to know the other kids and I love that some of them look up to me and actually come to me to talk. My dreams on becoming a teacher are out of this world right now. I walk into a classroom and instantly hope and dream that someday I can have my own classroom. I think about the kind of rules I would have and how I would teach.

No matter what happens, if I stay here for the whole year or go to work at another school when my time with my student is up, I know that I'll be doing what I love.

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!