New Path, New Direction

Maybe you noticed that it has been a while since my last post, that is because I decided Weight Watchers was not for me and have been sticking with Kick Boxing for the past month. I am going to start in a new direction today however.

Starting today I have a gym membership to a locally owned gym, $99 for 6 months and no contract! I am also starting Tae Kwon Do at the same place I am continuing Kick Boxing. I am scared to death of Tae Kwon Do and making a food of myself, but I am hoping to gain some coordination and self defense while I am sweating off a few pounds. Being a large woman and wearing an all white flowing uniform also makes me a little apprehensive.

Please check back for more updates on this new path, my goal is to be at the gym everyday and at Tae Kwon Do 4-5 days a week and Kick Boxing 3 days a week. So if you try to contact me and I don't get back to you for a while, it is probably because I am getting some form of exercise. Oh yea, did I mention I am also going to be walking my new puppy!? :)

Updating

Well, I haven't been blogging much lately, you probably noticed my Weigh In updates have stopped. That is because I stopped Weight Watchers, I did not want to pay for it without any results anymore. And I realized that my issues are more about exercise than eating differently. I don't eat that much to begin with, and our home is full of healthier choices more often than not. When we have guests over is usually the more unhealthy food eating.

I started a Kick Boxing Class and I absolutely love it! I feel great when I am done. That is three nights a week and those are my busiest days due to working those days as well, but at the end of those days I feel very productive. In August I am going to start a gym program and Tae Kwon Do, along with the Kick Boxing. It sounds funny that a grown woman will start a martial arts program, but I am super excited. There is also another change coming next week that will encourage more exercise, AND NO IT IS NOT A BABY!! You will find out all about that in a couple weeks when I return from a camping trip.

Along with those changes I am going to start using a juicer to follow an eating plan that is geared toward my body type. It uses my body shape and weight habits, as well as the foods I naturally tend to crave and my genetics as far as my nationality goes into my body type. I am very interested to see how this goes, and I think it will be a fun research project if nothing else comes of it. Juicing is never a bad thing really so it can't be any worse than I am right now. :)

So that is the update, feel free to leave comments or thoughts.

Emotional Eating

I have always known I was an emotional eater, I guess you could say I am just an eater, because I will eat for any reason. This is not a huge revelation for anyone that is overweight; as they said in our WW meeting yesterday: If you didn't have an eating problem you wouldn't need WW. The cycle of emotional eating is a vicious one; and I actually noticed I was in the cycle the past week.

After my weigh in last week I was very angry and depressed over my WW failures, and eating was there. I ate a lot all at once and then realized I had done it and felt bad about it and ate again and then I felt gross so I didn't want to do anything so I ate again and then I realized what I ate the day before and I got angry and ate again; this cycle went on for three days until I looked at it for what it was and decided to knock it off. Three days folks! I was depressed and lonely because my husband is at training for an extended period of time, and also because of my WW issues. I realized I have to keep planning my days instead of just letting food happen and exercise happen. So on Wednesday I found a kickboxing class that meets three nights a week and costs $2.50 per class and I went. I am going again tonight and will continue to go three days a week as often as I can. I am eating like a person is supposed to, with actual meals at normal times of day, not just grabbing stuff and eating until I feel sick.

In WW yesterday we talked about our trackers, and I admit that I don't use mine when I feel bad about my eating. But that is the point of the little things; to show our patterns and help us fix them. To show us how we eat and why, and also that you can track your emotions and daily events too, and you will be amazed how they line up! This post is to encourage anyone that feels trapped in their cycles of emotional eating, there is a good way to stop doing this. It takes a lot of work, think of an alcoholic that uses drinking to numb some sort of painful memory; they drink to numb the pain and then have to drink again because they feel bad about drinking...and they cycle starts. You can stop the cycle if you pay attention to your body and what you are putting into it. If you are bored or depressed make sure to plan your meals and your exercise. Go take a walk or run or hit the gym when you are sitting at home feeling blah. The exercise releases endorphins and you will feel better after 20 minutes. There is a way to stop eating; there is an Italian Proverb that states it perfectly:

"EAT TO LIVE, don't live to Eat!"

Honesty Time Again

I share this with you with tears in my eyes, and ask that no one call or text to comment on this one. You can respond with e-mails or on facebook, but no phone stuff.

I weighed in again this morning like I do everything Thursday at Weight Watchers. I have somehow gained the little bit of weight I had lost, back. I hate this feeling. I actually am looking into some health problems that I feel have gone undiagnosed for a while; but the ultimate problem is me having trouble sticking to this plan. I have very low energy and am actually mildly depressed. I think the mild depression comes from many things, but one of the top two is my weight. That's quite a vicious cycle huh? But this is all I am going to say about this, I am now going to be positive again and lay out the plan.

It is summer time, my favorite time. Long long days of sunshine and warmth to spend doing fun things. I hope to be outside working in my tiny garden and exercising somehow at least once a day, if not more.

Summer means all my favorite natural foods are in season and abundance and cheaper. Cantaloupe, strawberries, corn, spinach, apples, grapes, watermelon, peaches, blueberries, the list could go on and on. I am actually eating half a cantaloupe right now. Sounds like a lot, but it is zero points and a lot of good water and vitamins in there and it tastes like heaven.

So keep me in your thoughts and prayers that I can stay on track, I need to track every single thing that goes in my mouth and every activity I do. I HAVE TO do these things. So get on Facebook and ask me if I tracked today, ask if I worked out. Keep me motivated and honest. I have to do this now. I have the summer to hit my goal of 20 pounds to continue with WW, and I need to get it going. I had lost 5 pounds, I can do it again! I am still down a size in clothing which is great, but I need to get the weight moving down again!

Loss of .8 This week

This is a short post because I have strep and I really want to crawl back in bed today. I lost .8 pounds this week, helping me get back to where I was before my 3 pound gain last week. This once again proves it is much easier to gain weight than it is to LOSE IT! Peace out friends!

Gaining is going to happen

It is a fact of life, at certain times you will gain a little weight. You will not be the same weight day after day and week after week. I know this, so I am not depressed by the fact that I gained 3 pounds back this week. I don't honestly think it is all weight as much as it is water due to major bloating today.

I didn't track as well as I had been this week, that may have been part of it too, but I don't think it was very much of the problem. I am definitely going back to tracking religiously so I can watch my habits and so on, and look for better choices and accountability.

So, check back next week to see what happens, but until then, here are some ideas to help you get through Eating Out without over doing it:
*Put your fork down between each bite
*Get a box and put half your meal in it as soon as you get your order
*Drink a glass of water before your food arrives
*Tell the server to leave your bread in the kitchen
*Order all salad dressing on the side
*Eat a salad before your meal arrives
*Eat something sweet before you go, have your dessert first, so you don't have a huge dessert after you eat

If you have more eating out ideas, please leave them as comments!

5.6 pounds total lost

Time for celebration and honesty! I hit my first goal of five pounds!!I started exactly one month ago with Weight Watchers and it is going very well. For the honesty part, last week was my worst as far as following plan. Somehow it worked out, but I am going to do a little confession, it is only fair.

1) Moving days were hard, the movers had our food and we couldn't get in the kitchen either day, so we ate out, cheeseburgers and pizza. Those aren't exactly great foods when you watch what you eat, but I ate in moderation actually.

2)Easter was a holiday, but I didn't eat like I normally do on holidays. The holiday is not for eating, it is for celebrating our Lord. Still, there are tons of yummy candies out there that were calling my name (Peanut Butter Eggs you know who you are!) but I didn't buy a single piece, not even for my hubby. I attempted to make a WW recipe that was a Red Velvet Angel Food Cake, but it didn't work. It was yummy in a low fat trifle, but it didn't turn out as a cake.

3) Due to internet issues and getting out of my groove, I didn't actually track anything for a week, I started back to tracking yesterday. This is not what I recommend, but if you are on WW and you lose a couple days tracking, it obviously doesn't mean you will gain. It makes it harder to stay on track, FOR SURE, but you can conquer pounds still.

4) Even when you think you are going to have a bad weigh-in week, go to your meeting anyway, you might be surprised and the support is what you need more than anything at that time.

I did work out more this week, thanks to going to the gym with a friend twice and also doing all the unpacking and going up and down our stairs a million times to move furniture and unpack.

So all told, it was a fantastic night last night when I stepped on that scale and the lady said I lost 3.4 pounds last week!!!! I almost cried I was so happy and I couldn't believe the lady, I asked her three times! Then to see that I had hit my first goal was incredibly gratifying too! And also, a huge thanks to all of you that read my blog or support me on Facebook, you are much appreciated!

The Big Week

This is the big week for my weight loss, so far. I am getting us ready to move and going through the moving process. Which equals high stress and for me that normally equals over eating for me. I weighed in tonight instead of my normal Thursday morning because I am not sure when I can get to a meeting tomorrow or Thursday, and it was good again, loss of .8 pounds. I am very happy I am losing each week, even little bits are very helpful!

Moving will be a stressful event, but I think it will also cut a lot of stress out of our lives. So keep following to see what happens!

Weigh In Week Two: Eating out and Grocery Shopping Revelations!

Good Afternoon Everyone! I wanted to let you know how week two went with Weight Watchers, I lost .2 pounds, that is a decimal by the way. Yeah, it isn't much, but it is LOSS and that is what matters here!

I think in order to make my loss more substantial in weeks to come my activity needs to me higher and more intense. So that is my goal. There were a few things that had me hung up for a bit this week and few things that were really good.

For one, my hubby went grocery shopping with me and I was asking the deli for label info, and reading lots of labels and comparing things, and loading up on healthy options and he had some questions. Like why I was buying black beans and re-fried beans? I pulled out my little Pocket Guide from WW and showed him what was considered a power food and explained a little bit more about the WW world and he smiled and said he thought it was great I was taking so much time to pick healthy options in the store! That is a wonderful feeling folks!

Something that hung me up for a few hours was trying to plan my first meal eating out while on WW. Some good friends wanted to eat lunch with us and we decided on Red Lobster, a mutual favorite of everyone. I looked over the entire menu 3 times to try and figure out my best options. I hate fish and seafood but they always have those amazing biscuits and some really good chicken. Here's the problem: those biscuits are very very bad for anyone on a weight loss plan. The online menus also said that grilled chicken was only available for dinner. So, when we got there I asked about the chicken and I could get it grilled with a yummy maple glaze for lunch!! So I got Grilled Maple Glazed Chicken (FANTASTIC!) and a baked potato and salad with fat free dressing. AND I DIDN'T TOUCH the Cheddar Bay Biscuits!

So some small triumphs this week, but some triumphs that make for a great growth experience during this weight loss journey! Keep checking back and become a follower so you can see how I am doing! Your keeping me accountable is a huge part of my success!

Weigh In Predictions

Tomorrow is my first week weigh in at Weight Watchers, and I am not quite as optimistic as I wish I was. I feel like I should be doing one of those "Last Chance Workouts" that Bob and Jillian always do on Biggest Loser! I have used my points like I am supposed to, I have used almost all of my weekly extra points as instructed. So we will see what happens tomorrow morning I guess.

I have noticed how my mood seems to create eating habits, Sunday was a tough day for me emotionally, and it showed. I used more points on Sunday than I did any other day of the week! That is what the weekly extra points are about, but it definitely showed where food is a comfort for me; something I need to change like yesterday!

I have also noticed that I do make better choices when I am tracking and that eating a lot of fruits and veggies has a huge impact on my body. I feel better, my digestive track is functioning much better than normal (this is always a huge problem for me), and I feel pretty good. I hadn't really felt the hunger feeling in a long time, I just ate when I felt like eating, usually out of boredom. I felt hungry quite a few times this week, which is a good thing.

I also tracked my exercise this week and I was way above my goal on Activity points. That is a super feeling as well, and the walking and yoga I have been doing are making my body feel very good.

I am looking forward to my weigh in and meeting tomorrow so I can see how I did, but not really expecting a whole lot of loss to be recorded. My body is bloated this week and I know it, and there is nothing I can do about it this week, so I will just take it in stride. But you never know, maybe I will be surprised!

Yoga

I have found a renewed love of Yoga thanks to the Yogatoday channel on Youtube. There are so many full length yoga classes for every level of practitioner, for every type of yoga, for every time frame.

I have been using their yoga practices plugged in through my TV so I can see and hear them easier and I am amazed at how my body feels afterward. I woke up this morning and was sore all over, but it made me realize I had done good for my body. The muscles between my ribs were sore from being fully stretched through breathing and spinal stretches, every single ab muscle was sore from engaging my core (this almost never happens even with the best ab workout). The knots that live in my shoulders and neck are softened a little each time I practice one of the most amazing poses I have ever learned that involves sitting on your knees and going up on one hand and passing the other arm under your body and laying on that shoulder. The stretch through the neck, back, and shoulders is amazing with this pose, I apologize I don't know what it is called.

If you have been afraid of yoga or don't want to pay for classes or got turned off by it, try it again. It can help with any workout regimen and anyone that has stress in their life can use Yoga. I don't practice the belief system of yoga, but I love what it does for your body. I actually recommend yoga to almost every massage client I encounter because I have seen such positive results in my own life.

Give it a try!

First Weight Watchers Meeting

I went to my first WW meeting yesterday, showed up an hour early and got to read through all the material before class. The leader was amazing, she was born to lead a class. I loved that they give you stickers and ribbons and other little awards to show your progress in the program.

I weighed in and found out that my doctor office scales are 7 pounds heavier than the scales at the WW office. I had been wondering about this because my Wii Fit was also telling me I weighed less than the Doctor Office said. So because of that I changed my PointsPlus Allowance a couple spots.

Then I went grocery shopping and filled a HUGE bag with Produce and found fat free cheese and sour cream and all kinds of healthier versions of what I normally buy. Then took it all home and portioned out all the fruits and veggies and snack crackers and so on so I can just grab it and know I am only having ONE portion.

And this morning I had my eyes opened again, for breakfast I had Honey Nut Cheerios and a banana and strawberries. A serving of cereal is actually a 1/2 Cup!! Can you believe it? So if you eat sugary cereal or your kids do, take a look at a serving size and figure out how much it actually is when you fill up that bowl! You might be shocked.

Weight Watchers

I did it, I signed up for Weight Watchers today, and weather permitting I will attend my first meeting tomorrow!

I have set up my e-tools site, logged my food for today, and set up my Weight Watchers Mobile on my BlackBerry. I am ready to go! I have found meetings in any place that I could foresee being for travel and such and I am getting acquainted with the website and PointsPlus!

Please pray for me that this will help to get my weight loss journey on the right trail. I have said that if I can't lose 20 pounds in six months (they say that the average weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week, this should be possible) then I will not keep going after that! I know I can do this though!!

Check back for updates on this new journey!

No Changes So Far

Well, there have been no real life changes so far. A lot of additional stress and craziness, but no healthy changes really.

I am talking with Caleb about the possibility of joining Weight Watchers soon, to get accountability, group support, great tracking tools, and a little more motivation. I think Weight Watchers has helped millions of people over 45 years for a reason and that doctors recommend their system because it is a healthy way of losing weight that actually works. Obviously doing this on my own is not getting the job done so I think becoming part of a network of people doing the same thing I am may be key to getting this weight to come off!

Keep me in your prayers as we make this decision, thanks!

Pain and Gain

I have heard the phrase: "No Pain No Gain" many times. I haven't ever really believed it. In middle school I decided to try track and field. I can't remember exactly how long I made it, maybe two weeks. It was not fun doing conditioning in Ohio in January, that is putting it lightly and into good perspective. So the beginning of my "athleticism" was rough. I didn't run again, EVER! I hate running, I think for women it is harder to run anyway, unless you are blessed with a flat chest! But I digress. This past week I have been trying to push myself harder during exercise, making myself try for longer durations and so on. I managed a personal best in everything yesterday. My coordination was working well, my rhythm was working well and my stamina was much improved; until my calf muscles cramped up after the longest time I have run at once: 7 minutes. Don't laugh, that is a long time for me, my normal is at most 3 minutes. So I was trying to make it to 10 minutes, and the last leg of the run was actually and jog and speed walk, but I didn't stop. I was hobbling along with both legs stiff as boards below the knee, but I made it! I was so happy! I ran longer than I ever had before and fought through the pain, that in itself is worth it to me. Since my routine is getting much smoother and I am scoring much higher I am guessing I am building up the muscles and coordination that I have not had in quite a long time. That is making it all worth it to me for now. I haven't really lost weight, but I haven't gained either, so for now that is fine. As long as I am gaining body control and not weight, the pain is worth it!!

Exercise Chemistry

Today was a pretty good day, I worked out for a longer time than usual, getting in 3,000 steps during my workout and then sprinting twice. I ate Oatmeal for breakfast and then a Salad for lunch, and soup and a sandwich with Tater Tots baked in the oven for dinner. So not too shabby a day.

Tomorrow I go back to work and get to have Breakfast for Dinner! One of my favorite dinner meals. Eggs, Turkey Bacon, Sausage and Pancakes! Not the healthiest, but absolutely delicious!

It has been a particularly stressful week thanks to medical and personal stuff. Trying to make some big decisions about my career and so on, and as we all know stress can really make the pounds pack on. It makes it hard to sleep and the stress hormone cortisol makes your body go into protection mode and store extra fat. This is never helpful when you are trying to lose weight, but when someone figures out a way to erase stress from life, please let me know so I can do it too! I always feel that after a large amount of stress, a boxing workout feels amazing, it gets lots of stress worked out and gets the endorphins flowing which makes you feel happy. I was actually hyper after working out for a while yesterday.

So if you are stressed like I am and you need some energy and some extra strength to face the day, get your exercise in and let the endorphins flow!

Weight Watchers Links

Hey, Short post today, I have a lot to do. I am very sore from yesterday so I am going to get my errands done today and then work out. Woot!

I listed some Weight Watchers resources yesterday, and today I found yet another amazing one, so I am going to post them all here again today!

Today's find: An easy points calculator, you need to bookmark this one:
http://www.webmilhouse.com/pointcalc.php

The Points Values Websites I showed before:
http://www.quiddity.cc/rachel/diet/wwfoods.htm#top

http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html

http://www.exercise4weightloss.com/weight-watchers-points.html

I hope this provides some info for people who want to know all about what they are truly eating!

NEW HOPE

I worked out for an hour today, and felt good after I finished. Light eating today helped too. I had lost two pounds during my week and a half of not working out or weighing myself. I guess that is not too bad.

I have used some online tools to figure out how many points I would be allowed to eat on Weight Watchers. Apparently 24 is the number of points I can use per day. Sounds like a lot to me.

There are A LOT of websites that you can use to get points, many of the are blogs that readers contribute to all the time.

Here are a few that I have bookmarked on my computer to reference as I try this little experiment of seeing how many points I consume in a day:

http://www.quiddity.cc/rachel/diet/wwfoods.htm#top

http://www.exercise4weightloss.com/weight-watchers-points.html

http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html This one is the Bee's Knees! She has everything on here and updates it regularly! It is a lot of stuff to look at, but take the time. If you are already on Weight Watchers this could be a HUGE resource for you!

I think this will help me to keep track of what I eat better, so I know where I need to put more thought into my choices. I will let you know how it works out.

One thing after another, EXCUSES

Well, I have allowed excuses to pile up around me for not working out this week. New medication that prevents me from sleeping, not feeling well, etc. NO MORE, Today I am doing a nice long workout to get rid of some kinks, some stress, SOME CALORIES! And most importantly EXCUSES!

I found some motivation in some other weight loss blogs and through reading the Weight Watchers e-mail today. I love that I can "Like" them on facebook and get updates and such from them. I am still deliberating joining, getting my hubby on board that it is worth the monthly/weekly fee is the hardest part.

~*DISCLAIMER *~ I am going to share some huge honesty today, and since my roomie reads my blog, I want to warn her: I am not mad at you! This is just the way it works when you are trying to be healthy and "family" or family is around. It doesn't matter who it is, there is always someone that makes you realize these things.
** When living with thin people or people who can eat anything they want and still look great, AKA my husband and sister, it is hard to keep positive thoughts flowing. I go to the store and get healthy foods, and yet Taco Bell creeps into my home. Birthday cake is requested. Chips come into play and all kinds of yummy things I shouldn't be eating. Sweets are my weakest spot, and when those are around, you can forget it, my will power packs its bags and frowningly walks out the door. So I get very very down on myself when these triggers appear. The same thing happens when I am at the home of a friend or family member; I don't EVER EVER EVER expect them to cook or provide food to my needs, I am not that person, but sometimes it is hard to stay positive and on track when these positions present themselves.

I just needed to share that and ask for any comments available. If you deal with this or have dealt with any of today's topics please let me know how. I have found certain days I am just too down to care about a whole lot, and I HATE FEELING THAT WAY! I am not a down in the dumps person, but this weight is bringing me down, instead of it going down!

So to follow up to my disclaimer, it is not that people around me frustrate me, it is the fact that I can't control myself that frustrates me. The anger is all self directed, not directed at anyone else!!!! Please know and understand this!!!

Sugar War

I am continuing the Sugar updates, it is not happening. Going off sugar cold turkey is not a good idea. The headaches and cravings are not fun. So it is happening gradually. Like a friend said, sometimes it is better to allow yourself one treat a week than to go off sugar all together. I think this is going to be my new plan. That is the lovely thing about plans; they can be changed! Hallelujah for that.

I guess I am sort of taking on the ideas of Weight Watchers Flex Plan, where they give you a little wiggle room and then it makes it less of dieting and more of getting yourself into healthy habits.

So I am having less sugar and healthier sugar options. I will keep you updated of course!

Just not feelin it

Ok folks, time for more honesty. I did absolutely nothing yesterday. It was my birthday and I just didn't feel good and so I did nothing. So go ahead and let me know, that is no excuse not to work out. It is fine, I told myself this already. Now I am going to move on.

The snow is falling steady again today, but I am going to head out to the grocery store and pharmacy anyway. Sometimes you just have to. I am going to hitting the Wii a little today, it may be pretty light since I still don't feel well, but I am going to burn some calories anyway. My husband reminded me even light exercise is good exercise. Maybe some Yoga and a little upper body work will take care of it.

I went to the store yesterday and got a big bottle of Stevia to replace sugar in my iced tea and other drinks. I love Stevia, it is a natural sweetener with zero calories derived from a tea like plant. It takes hardly any of it to sweeten something and tastes just as good as sugar. If you haven't tried it I suggest it, and don't get the Stevia mixed with other stuff, get the real thing, you will appreciate it a lot more. Today I am going to be getting the normal grocery staples that we are out of, plus some No Sugar Added Apple Butter. This is some awesome stuff for an alternative to jelly and sugary syrups on biscuits and bagels and sandwiches. I love Apple Butter! I might pick up some Sugar Free Jello too, it always make getting away from sugar so much easier.

And in addition to that stuff I will be doing laundry and cleaning my home, which always helps with a calorie burn! So for once I might be excited about that!

$*U~G*@~R= THE ENEMY

Sugar is my biggest enemy at the moment. I am trying my hardest to avoid refined sugar and sugary items. I know sugar is in starches, which I am limiting, and in fruits and other things naturally; I am not trying to remove that sugar. I am removing the added sugars and fake sugars. I am going to be making Ice Tea with Stevia instead of sugar, not eating sweet desserts, not eating or drinking things loaded with sugar and sugar alcohol. AND IT IS HAAARRRDDDD! I crave sugar like an alcoholic craves beer. If there is sugar around, it literally consumes my thoughts and the longer I go without it, the harder it is to refuse. Please pray for me on this issue and offer any encouragement or tips that will help, PLEASE SHARE THEM!

Thanks in advance! :)

5K Goals

I just got the e-mail I had been thinking about, the one that says when the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Columbus is being held. It is May 14th this year in downtown Columbus. I am hoping the team that I have tried to be a part of in the past is participating this year. It would be awesome to participate with some family and friends!

The other 5K I have been thinking about is the one I did last year in Dayton, the Panerathon 5K To End Childhood Hunger. I did this one last year with my parents and loved the feeling of finishing my first 5K. It took me a lot longer than I had wanted, because I was really really out of shape, but the feeling of crossing the finish line was great! So this year maybe we can do it again and have better finish times, maybe even run some of it, I HATE RUNNING! I run a few minutes a day right now on the Wii, and I am getting more used to it. Hopefully by the time the weather is nice enough I will brave running a little outside.

So now you know two of my small charity goals for the year, the two spring 5K's that are important to me. If you are interested in doing either of these with me, please let me know, I would love the company. Children are welcome at both and the entry fees are minimal. You are helping yourself with a goal of good health and helping these great charities with a gift of participation and donation. OR, find a race in your area that interests you and set a goal for it! Let me know what you are participating in so I can keep you in my prayers!

The Plan

So here's the plan:

1)Cutting out Sugar
2)Using the Wii Fit System for Exercise
3)Doing Army type drills for abdominal and back and arm strength
4)Eating healthy foods with a limited amount of processed food and starches
5)Limiting Fast Food, mostly preparing food at home

Sugar is pretty much an addiction for me, I can't resist it. So I try not to have it around my home at all except for cooking. So removing it from life is an important part of eating healthy for me. I have had to remove sugar from my life in the past and I know I felt much better when I wasn't ingesting very much.

Using the Wii Fit System is fun and easy for me. This was a Christmas/Birthday gift from my husband because I love the Wii. I use the Wii Fit Plus games and the Biggest Loser game. I have been able to do this so far for 7 days straight. I love the variety and the fact that they change the surroundings and the words that they use. I love the Aerobics exercises such as Walking (step aerobics), Rhythm Boxing, Super Hula Hoop, Basic Run and Kung Fu. The Wii Fit Board sits in front of my fireplace right under the TV, so when I sit down to use my laptop or to watch TV there is always a reminder, and its easy to get to that way.

My husband does sit ups, push ups, arm exercises, leg lifts, high knees and other "fun" stuff to keep up with his Army workouts and PT tests. He does these a few nights a week and I have started doing them with him as much as I can. That way we get to exercise together and he pushes me to work hard. I also get a lot of extra calories burned and build up stamina this way.

We have started planning our meals a month at a time and cooking pretty much every night so that we don't have junk for dinner. Planning helps a lot to make better food choices, and when you only buy groceries the stuff you plan, you don't end up in the grocery store when you're very hungry and buy a lot of bad stuff. This also saves a lot of money because we aren't eating out or ordering pizza.

So that is the basic plan. Hopefully building up to longer workouts and getting smaller and healthier.

Day One

Good Evening.

I am starting a new blog, this one is solely dedicated to my weight loss journey this year. I have been researching Diet Journals, and the research points to online blogs where people can read and hold you accountable as being the most productive to weight loss. So here I am.

If you are a friend and you know me at all you know weight has always been an issue for me. There was a couple years in my late teens where I was sick and I lost a lot of weight and that was they only time I was actually at a healthy size. Obviously being sick is not healthy and so once the ailment was under control my weight came back. I am the largest I have ever been at the moment, and I hate it. I hate the fact that I look awful and feel awful and I am only 26 and dealing with this. So I am going to be very transparent and honest with anyone that chooses to read this blog and hope it offers some sort of insight into the world of a young woman that is overweight.

If you feel the need to "critisize" then don't! Encouragement is always welcome, but I think the fact that I am choosing to write about this and keep myself accountable is enough "critisizing" for anyone to take, so feel free to comment on things that apply to yourself and to be encouraging, but don't feel this is a place to make any kind of remarks that are belittling.

So here comes the most painful honesty of it all, my weight. I figure if people on BIGGEST LOSER can get on International TV and the internet and chronicle their weight every week, so can I! Not that many people read my blog anyway.

Height: 5'2" Weight: 220 Size: 16 Womens

It's on the table now, there is no turning back, only losing.