Summer Goal

I have been doing WW on and off since last November.  With that (mostly) and some other diets, I am down 23 pounds. 

By the time school starts (Aug 13th) I am hoping to be down to my halfway point- 30 pounds.  Between now and then I have trip to Chattanooga to see my bff, Chelsea, a cruise, a cheerleading camp to coach, the Irish Picnic (which is a fundraiser for the school I teach at, they cook thousands and thousands of pounds of BBQ and there is a whole lot of drinking), and a cookie dough fundraiser delivery.  Just your every day obstacles to hurdle.

Here is how I am going to do it:

• Track WW Points Daily
• Zumba 2+ times a week (since it have been in the upper 90's-100's the past week or two, I have not gone running outside, I am saving that for the fall)
• Lots more fruits and veggies, which are zero points on WW
• Bigger lunches later in the day
• Smaller dinners
• Drink a whole lot of water

If I make this goal, I am going to purchase what I have in my shopping cart at Swell Caroline.  This lovely necklace and bracelet is what I currently have in it.  Pretty good incentive :)

Day 1: Eat Your Heart Out

I finished day 1 of "Satan's Diet" or the Eat Your Heart Out Diet. Yesterday I ate nothing but fruit.  You can have as much as you want.  It was pretty easy until it got around dinner time when I wanted some hot food!  I did cheat just a little and had a few pieces of steamed broccoli when I was really craving something other than the sweet fruit. Other than that I stuck to it.  I pretty much snacked all day. 

Drum roll please ...................................

I lost 4 pounds! 

Which is really unreal.  It felt great to eat fresh all day.  

Now, today is veggie day! We have zucchini chips baking in the oven right now.  I can't wait to try them.

Eat Your Heart Out.

I am so excited that I am going to be cruising to the Bahamas in 19 days!  And to make sure I look ahhh-mazing on the boat, I have decided to try this seven day "diet" or "cleanse" that has been all over Pinterest.  After reading through it, it seems like a relatively healthy cleanse compared to some that I have seen.

If you haven't seen it, here it it is...

You can click on it to go to the original blog post about it.  This woman's blog has been blowing up since it has hit Pinterest and she has added a FAQ section that answered a lot of my questions.  Now I plan on following it pretty closely.  However, day 5- you will not see me eating tomatoes.  I have decided to go with a natural tomato soup.

This diet aka "Satan's Diet" say lose 10+ pounds in a week....Now I am a little skeptical of that.  Am I going to gain it all right back when I stop?  I think it might push me in the right direction to incorporating more fruits and veggies into my daily diet.

After all, this is honestly a healthier weeks worth of food than I have been eating.  My doctor is in the process of switching me from two different medicines and I have felt nothing but nauseous and awful.  I have had crackers and a bowl of soup about once a day for the past 3 days.  So eating fresh veggies and fruit for a couple of days seems kind of refreshing.

I will keep yall updated on my progress and what exactly I am eating each day!  

Stuck

So since my awesome 3lb weight loss two weeks ago, I feel like I have plateaued.  The numbers on the scale are not budging.  I am wondering if I should be going back to weight watchers.  Blah.  It is so frustrating. 

I have been using the Couch to 5K training app on my phone and I love it.  I am eating 1,200 calories a day and I am on the 3rd week of the 5K training which ends up to be about 2-2.5 miles/running and walking about 4 days a week.

So, what am I doing wrong!?!?

This is what I am going to try and see if it works any...

Don't eat 3 hours before bed (Something Dr. Oz said...)

Continue the Couch to 5K

Ab Ripper X Routine from P90X

Keep up the 1,200 calories

Eight glasses of water a day.

Any suggestions are welcome!!

Here is a link to the 300 Ultimate Ab Workout :)

Weigh-In Thursday

I lost 3.4 pounds since my last weigh in!  I guess the 1,200 calories and exercising daily is what my "asleep" body needed to wake up.  Here is a little motivation for the rest of the week...which is when it is the hardest for me to stay on track.

Motivate Me Monday

I am in DESPERATE need of some motivation today.  I feel like I have a hangover (which I don't) and today has been rough.  Here is my motivation this Monday..

Me 5 years ago, before being diagnosed with a thyroid disease.

Motivation for Monday

I am kicking it into high gear! Ready to get back to eating healthy and working out every day.  I went through my Health board on Pinterest for a little inspiration and motivation.  Here are the favorite things I found. . .

Get Fit

I have been "dieting" for about 4 months and have lost around 25 pounds.  I was doing weight watchers online and to help out with my budget, I canceled my subscription.  There was nothing wrong with the WW way, I just dropped it to save about 20$ a month.  I lost 20 pounds with WW and I highly recommend it.

Since I was trying to be frugal, I decided to look around for a free calorie tracker that I could use with my iPhone.  A friend told me about My Fitness Pal and I am LOVING it!

Basically, you enter all of your information and it sets a daily calorie goal for you based on how much you want to lose.  Mine was set at 1,200 calories which seems about right for weight loss.  Then, each day you log what you eat.  The great thing about this is that you can do it on your phone OR online!  Mine is set up for both.  So if I'm out and about, I will use my iPhone.  But if I'm working I will log on on my computer.

You can also add friends who are using it online!  You can send each other messages and see how everyone is doing.  So if any of you have a username let me know and we will friend on that!

The greatest thing about this program is they have EVERYTHING in their database of food!  I have yet to enter something that I was not able to find.  And a really cool feature is that you can scan a bar code on something and it automatically enters it for you.  I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!

I really, really am trying to get back into the diet thing.  I kind of fell of the wagon when things started getting so busy in my life.  But I am committed to hoping back onto that horse..... Cruise to the Bahamas in two months is my motivation!

Also, I am really want to get going back to Zumba.  If you have never tried it, you must!  I loved going when I used to and it is an AMAZING workout.  I would usually burn about 600 calories in the hour class.  It is fun and upbeat.  And a lot of instructors use songs that you hear on the radio and they really pump you up.  I have 20 days of school left and I will be back in that dance studio Zumba-ing my butt off by then!  I have the set of DVDs at home but they're not as good.  It is so much easier to wuss out half way through and quit when you are doing it by yourself.

Do y'all have any suggestion how to get back moving and in the swing of things?  I am in desperate need of thin-spiration!

So What! Wednesday

I am linking up with "So What Wednesday" over at "Life After I Dew!" This week I am saying so what to:

• My shoes being all over my bedroom floor!
• That I am still not back in the full swing of my "diet."
• That my classroom looks like a hot mess half the time.. "Sorry for the mess, we are learning."
• I took a 2 hour nap after work the last two days... I don't feel too good.

So what!

What are y'all saying so what to this week?

Getting Back Into The Swing...

I started my weight loss/become healthy journey last October.  Since then I have lost and kept of 20 pounds.  It may not seem like a lot considering it has been 5 months but I have Hashimoto's Disease which causes hypothyroidism.  (Basically it makes me have no energy and gain weight...that means it is very difficult to lose any.) Insert pity party here.  And since my life has been so crazy busy lately, I haven't been exactly sticking to my plan.

But starting today, I am going full force at this thing.  I am hoping to lose 6 pounds by Chelsea's Bachelorette Party in Chattanooga on the 17th.  This gives me roughly 15 days to get my ass in gear. 

My Plan:

1. Stick to my weight watcher daily points.
2. ZUMBA! 
3. Walking..since the weather is getting so nice.

I will keep yall updated on how I am doing towards my 6 pounds in 15 days goal.  Now, if I could only keep myself motivated.

Carbs: The Truth

Skinny Bitch Chapter Two: Carbs: The Truth

Kim and Rory give a simple and to the point review of carbs and what they do when we eat them.  Unlike we all have heard, it is okay to eat carbs...As long as it not the bad carbs aka simple carbohydrates.  "Simple Carbohydrates suck and are as nutritionally beneficial as toilet paper."  

Simple Carbohydrates:

• Mostly made of sugar.  This causes sugar highs and then crashes.  This leaves us feeling hungry...so we eat more.
• White flower, white pasta, white rice, white sugar
• When manufactures refine these carbs, they strip all nutritional value from them.
• Think again when you see something that is enriched or fortified...Our bodies cannot take in these minerals very easily.
• Most cereals, pastas, breads, rice, cookies, etc have been "bastardized" in this manner...Sad day :(

Do not fret!  There are carbs we can eat and enjoy.  These are the complex carbs.  These friends make us full and give us energy.  Bless those complex carbs' hearts!

Complex Carbohydrates:

• Complex carbs are easily broken down to release their energy.
• Potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, corn, brown rice, beans, hummus, lentils, whole wheat, vegetables, fruit
• Whole grains that have not been refined (stripped of their nutrients) are good carbs.
• Fruit is a good carb!
• Fruit is high in enzymes and requires almost no work to digest.
• Fruit is made up of mostly water...So it helps the body in cleansing and detoxifying.
• Eat fruits alone so it can digest quickly...If you eat it with other foods it rots and ferments in our stomachs (YUCK) causing burping, bloating, and heartburn.

"So shout it from the rooftops until everyone of your dumb-ass, misinformed friends hear: YOU CAN EAT BREAD AND FRUIT!"

Give It Up

Skinny Bitch Chapter One: Give It Up

This chapter is about giving up your bad vices and turning that fat ass into a fine ass.  As Rory and Kim said, "You cannot keep eating the same shit and expect to get skinny."  Here is what they say about all of the things we all love to hate:

Cokes

• "Soda is liquid Satan."
• Cokes cause bone loss.
• Diet Coke contains aspartame that has components that turns into formaldehyde...Yeah, the stuff that they pump into dead people to preserve their bodies.  YUMMY!  It also slows down the production of serotonin (the stuff in your brain that makes you happy).  So it makes you fat and unhappy.

Coffee

• It is bad.  
• It is highly acidic.  You body produces fat cells to keep acid away from your organs.  So coffee = fat cells.
• Drink organic herbal tea instead.
• Use fresh squeezed juice to jump start yourself in the morning.

Junk Food

•  Junk foods have enough chemicals and preservatives to "put hair on you chest."
• If you think the food is chemical and preservative free, think again...It is even in some packaging and the FDA does not require manufactures to notify the consumer about this.  So your healthy pretzels could be contaminated by the bag they are in.  So your junk food with a shelf life of 22 years could outlive any fat ass.  Woohoo!
• "Fat free" or "Low fat" really means chemical shit storm.

Skinny Bitch

I have read Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin a couple years ago.  It was awesome when I read it then.  I have decided to read it again thanks to my roommate becoming a vegetarian.  I thought it would be nice to join her.  Although, I am not so sure that going vegetarian during the holidays is such a good idea. . . Baby steps is what I am telling myself.  I will post my thoughts after I read parts of the book.  I really wished I had highlighted the key points last time I read it so I'm going to this time.  For anyone who is interested in reading it, it is an easy read and quite amusing (after you get past the pure mortification of what the food you are eating is doing to your body).  I highly recommend it! It is only $10.38 on Amazon.