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.