2 month pictures

I had Jeremy take my pictures the other day.  I officially started July 14th but didn't take pictures until July 30th.  I think I lost about 13 pounds before I had the first set of pictures taken and I've lost about 13 pounds since.  I'm thinking of taking pictures at every 10 pounds lost instead of every month... I think I'd like that comparison.  

When I took the first pictures in July I took measurements and the other day I re took my chest and waist measurements.  I've lost 3 1/2 inches from my chest and 2 1/2 inches from my waist!  YAY!  I'm also excited because I can finally fit comfortably into the capri's I bought back in June!  Too bad it's getting cold... but I plan on wearing them enough to try to justify what I paid for them!  I hope that I don't fit into them next spring/summer!!

I got my hair cut and colored yesterday!  It's kinda in an awkward stage of growing out, but I still like it.  I went platinum blonde... because I can ;)

 Today is the official start date for the Thin it to Win it Challenge... they have had way more people than expected so the website is sssssllllloooooowww.  It's a little discouraging because it's not a very fun way to start a challenge like this.  I know they are working hard to get it going, though. 

Since I got my haircut yesterday before work I didn't have a lot of time to workout before work.  I probably could have squeezed it in but I didn't get it done.  So, at work I did the stairs... I'm on 4th floor and I went up to 9th, then down to 1st and back up to 4th.  I started out going quickly and after about 2 flights my legs were on fire and I was breathing heavy... wow, I didn't realize how hard it would be for me to walk stairs!  I made it to the top and of course going down was much easier... I used it to try to recover.  Surprisingly, going from 1st to 4th wasn't too bad.  I timed myself and I'm going to try to continue to beat my time. 

Afterwards, I wasn't really feeling well.  I was with a patient and was not feeling well, so when I was finished with the exam I sat for a little bit and had a coworker take my blood pressure.  It was 131/64... I haven't taken my blood pressure for a long time so I really don't have anything to compare it to, to see if it's normal for me or not... but at least I know it wasn't way too high.

Anniversary, baby shower, and other shenanigans

Hey!  I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged last!  We've been pretty busy, I guess and due to storms our internet at home has been in and out... I've been thinking of so many things to talk about, though!

 

Jeremy and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on the 1st!  I had to work so he brought the kids up and surprised me with 2 dozen pink roses!!  This is the very first time he has ever bought me flowers!!  The kids picked out the color and they were beautiful!!

I think I had said before how I have to wear lead aprons at work and that most of them do not fit me... well...

I can now officially fasten the velcro around properly!  Not all of them fit me yet, but more of them do! :)

My next NSV (non-scale victory) that I'm excited for (but may take quite awhile) is not having my bra straps make marks on my shoulders.  I'm sure it's these bra's but I am so sick of uncomfortable bras!!  I have a very limited selection on bra's since my boobs are so big.  I have bought my bra's from Lane Bryant for a very long time.  I have bought the same style, too.  I knew I liked them and knew they fit me decently.  THEN the jerks had to go and change them!  My biggest complaint of their change is the shoulder straps.  They used to be pretty well padded and comfortable.  Now they sew them differently and the fabric rolls up.  I've been meaning to take the new ones I have to my mom's house to sew them so maybe they won't roll... but seriously- I shouldn't have to!! 

This was after I had had it off for a little while, too! OUCH!

Saturday my friends and I put on a baby shower for my friend, Kylee.  It turned out really nice and she received a ton of really nice gifts!  She is expecting twin boys in the next 4-6 weeks!!  I'm soo excited for her!  She's going to be a great mommy! :)  I'm also excited that she is having twins!  Another mama to join the awesome club!!

 Kylee and I... I wish I hadn't worn a tank top- it got chilly!

This is pretty much all of my closest friends.  We have all been friends since High School (or before!)

Me, Mindi, Kylee, Sammie, Andrea, and Linda

side thought... I wonder if when I get thinner, I won't stick out like a sore thumb in pics like this... it doesn't help that I'm so tall, too!

Well, I'm three days away from my birthday!  I honestly thought I would have reached my goal by now, but I haven't.  BUUUUT... I haven't been eating and working out like I should have, either.  I have been doing a lot better recently but there was a couple weeks in there that I could have made much better choices!  We will see on Thursday how close to my goal I am.  Either way, I am on the right track!!

A couple of my work friends and I have started our own personal accountability group.  It's basically all through text.  It has actually helped a lot.  We all decided we needed to make changes and then decided to send pics of ourselves to each other (in a group text) and when someone is making poor choices we can send them their pics!  We have also been making sure we are all working out and eating properly.  It has been pretty helpful to have a couple friends to chat with and share stuff with (bad and good!)

We also joined a challenge group called "Thin it to Win it!"  It's similar to diet bet but much more involved.  We do daily tasks to earn points and we have 6 weeks to lose 6% (or you can maintain without going over by 1%).  It's pretty fun so far!  My coach from Take Shape For Life is our "coach" for this challenge group.  You can follow any diet or program you'd like.  My plan is to continue logging into My Fitness Pal and workout by doing PiYo 6 days per week.  I weighed in the other day and I have to lose 19.7 lbs.  I think if I keep doing things like this and keep setting smaller specific goals, I will have more success.  Thinking about trying to lose 175 lbs seems impossible but trying to lose 20 lbs seems way more doable!

It has officially been 2 months since I started and I took pictures yesterday, so I'll try to get them up tomorrow!

Feeling much better

Last weekend I was really upset but since then, I have taken so much pressure off of myself.  Telling myself that I don't need to see how far under my calorie goal everyday did wonders.  I became obsessed... I can not have my days consumed with thoughts of calories and losing weight.  If I spent everyday like that I would go crazy!  ...and I started to!!  One thing I KNOW I need to change is how often I weigh myself.  I was weighing myself AT LEAST once a day.  I would weigh myself in the morning when I got up... then I'd go to the bathroom and weigh myself again... then maybe I would again when I got home from work and again after a workout... I seriously would wake up in the night and go to the bathroom and weigh myself- CRAZY!  I'm going to do my best to only weigh myself once a week.  I've been reading another blog a lot called, Runs for Cookies.  I really like reading her posts and she is so awesome because she finds time to post everyday!  Anyways, she weighs herself on Wednesday and calls it "Weigh Wednesday".  I'm going to be a copy cat and do the same.  This last Wednesday I weighed in at 329 lbs, which is 0.8 lb less than the week before.

So far I've changed a few things from last week.  I've been eating closer to my 1800 cal goal, I've been drinking more water, I've been drinking at least 1 Shakeology shake a day, and I started doing PiYo again.  I got off track and had a hard time getting myself back into it for some reason.  I like doing it so I don't know why I kept blowing it off.  I'm feeling much better about this week.

Here are a few of the Shakes I made this week:

I have the chocolate Shakeology so they all have 1 scoop of that with ice.

The first has 1cup of water with a teaspoon of mint extract.  I'm a big mint fan!  The second is 1cup of water with a cup of frozen dark sweet cherries and a teaspoon of cherry extract.  I call it, "Chocolate Covered Cherry."  The third looks a little funny because it was in a green glass but it is "Double Chocolate" and has 1/2cup of water and 1cup of dark chocolate almond silk.  It's hard to pick my favorite of these three because they were all so good!!

Why I Usually Quit

This my friends is why I quit trying to lose weight... I have weeks where I follow what I think I should be doing without the results that I feel represent my work.

This week I have been way under my calorie goal everyday and the scale does not show it.

My goal is to be at or under 1800 cal consumed and to burn at least 3500 calories (1700 cal deficiency) ...in theory I should lose almost a pound every 2 days.

Most days I burn more and eat less- hoping for some kind of movement on the scale.

This is how my week went this week...

Sun Aug 17th - 1404 cal consumed (396 cal under goal)  Burn= 3419cal   Deficiency=2015
Mon Aug 18th- 1364 cal consumed (436 cal under goal)  Burn= 3592cal   Deficiency=2228
Tue Aug 19th- 1686 cal consumed (114 cal under goal)   Burn=3827cal     Deficiency=2141
Wed Aug 20th- 1291 cal consumed (509 cal under goal)  Burn=3697cal     Deficiency=2406
Thurs Aug 21th- 1417 cal consumed (383 cal under goal) Burn=3436cal    Deficiency=2019
Fri Aug 22nd- 1279 cal consumed (521 cal under goal)     Burn=4069cal    Deficiency=2790

13599cal deficiency for the week.
There were days I didn't get the armband on right away so some days I actually burned more!

If there is any truth to this way of doing things, I should be down 3.9 lbs for the week.

Wed the 13th I weighed myself at 330.8.
Wed the 20th I weighed myself at 329.8.

I pretty much weighed the same yesterday, too.  It's just so frustrating to be doing what you think you should be doing and it's not working.  This is why failure happens for me.  I know you may be thinking that I'm not accurately tracking my foods but I am.  I put down every single thing I consume.  Yesterday, I ate some crap.... I didn't really go overboard but I did go over my calories by about 431 cal.  Thanks to my husband who apparently decided he has a sweet tooth and has brownies, nutty bars, and made some crazy banana bread made out of a cake mix... yeah thanks.  Take your junk to the garage!

Every morning this week I would weigh myself and see basically the same number.  I would tell myself to make sure to keep my calories down for the day... which I did.  Clearly that didn't work.

I just calculated my BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) -which is the estimated minimum level of energy used to keep our bodies functioning.  Mine is 2271.  So, maybe the calories I was consuming this week is too low.  Maybe my mistake is thinking if I consume less my body will take from my large reserves and I will lose weight faster.... I'm thinking I should educate myself a little more.  -Ugh, why does this have to be so hard!!  Jillian- it turns out it's not just as easy as calories in calories out!!

This is what I'm going to change for the week.

*Eat closer to my 1800 cal/day goal.
*Workout 6 days/week- including PiYo and walking.
*Start listening to or reading a book to help me learn.

....Yeah... I have NOT been working out like I should.

School Started!

Brayden started school last week.  It's nice to be getting back into that routine.  The girls will start preschool in a couple weeks.  In a way it will be nice when they all get back to school because I feel like I will be able to get more stuff done... especially work around my house- it's so cluttered right now.  I want to go through and get rid of at least 50-60% of everything in the house.  Our house is too small for this much stuff!  Actually, we don't have a ton of stuff, it's just that we don't have anywhere to put the stuff we do have... it needs to go!  ...less stuff = less stuff to pick up!

It's officially been 4 weeks! (tomorrow makes 5)

I'm starting to notice changes :)  I can tell the clothes I wear are getting baggier- Yay!  Also, I work in Radiology and we have to wear lead aprons if we are in an area where we could receive radiation.  All of the average aprons don't fit me.  I actually have my own that was measured to fit for me.  This one is a two piece that covers the entire torso and I wear it when I'm in an area where we wear lead for longer periods of time and have the possibility of receiving more dose.  Most of them are "frontals"- meaning we slip our arms through a couple holes and they cover the front of our bodies.  These have two straps that go around the back and cross and velcro in the front... before none of them would reach around so I would just put my arms in and they would hang on my arms- pretty uncomfortable... especially if you are trying to do something and the lead is falling down.  Now, there are one or two that are a little bit larger that actually can velcro (just barely but they do!)  They are so much more comfortable to wear when they can.  The weight isn't entirely on my shoulders because the extra support around the waist takes a lot of the pressure off.

I haven't been drinking Shakeology everyday but I decided to get some more flavors to add to the shakes.  These are the ones I picked up the other day.  I think they all sound pretty good!

Last night I made my version of fajitas.  I cooked up a few chicken breasts with a bunch of seasonings... garlic powder, onion flakes, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper... there may have been more but I can't remember for sure.  Then I cut up the peppers.  I bought one of those packs that have the red, orange, and yellow all together and also got a green pepper.  I added some teriyaki sauce to it and cooked it for a little bit.  My fresh mozzarella needed to be used so I put a little of it on a ultragrain tortilla and then added some of the chicken/pepper mix.  It was so good!!  257 calories for one

Friday, Kylee and I went for a walk.  It's so fun to go on a walk with her because we talk and gossip the whole time.  haha :)

Kylee's husband works for the city.  We saw him working and stopped to chat for a minute.  He saw us walking by the highway and said we should probably wear bright clothing if we were going to do that... haha!

 My little town celebrates "Corn Days" every year.  It was starting to fizzle out a couple years ago but a few people have worked really hard to make it a great weekend again.  This year there will be a color run!  I'm pretty excited because I've been wanting to do one!  My sister sent me the announcement about it on Facebook and told me to start training because we are running the entire thing.  I'm a realist and know I won't be able to run the whole thing.  ...but I will do what I can, that's for sure!  I got the Couch 2 5K app on my phone.  I haven't started it yet- but I should soon because the race is a month away!!

Food

I thought I'd show you some of the stuff I've been eating.  I like hearing or finding new ideas... especially delicious ones :)

 This is my go-to at work menu.  A sliced green bell pepper, wrapped with turkey.  I recently added the Laughing Cow cheese- by spreading it on the pepper slice before wrapping.  I also had fresh pineapple here, which I love!

 This was a little high in calories, so I need to tweak.  I used Buitoni pasta and added grape tomatoes, black olives, zucchini, and pesto.

 Stuffed zucchini- cut a large zucchini in half the long way and remove seeds.  Bake at 350* till semi tender- differs depending on size, but probably somewhere around 30-45min I think.  Put in toppings and bake for another 15-20min or so.  This one had pizza sauce, sliced deli turkey and topped with shredded cheese.

 I'm seriously obsessed with Zughetti!!  I bought the Veggetti and also use the julienne slicer and turn a lot of the zucchini we have been receiving into zughetti- add some spaghetti sauce and it is awesome!  This was a quick lunch the other day- just sliced up the zucchini and threw it in a pan with sauce- heated up for about 10min - Voila!! 

This was yesterdays lunch- seriously good!!  Whole wheat thin bun with spaghetti sauce (my marinara), 0.5 oz fresh mozzarella, 1/4 C. feta, and green peppers thinly sliced.  I baked them at 400* till it started to brown.

Iowa State Fair

The one and only ... IOWA STATE FAIR!!!  This is something I look forward to every year!  When I was in High School I worked in the grandstand at the fair through FFA and loved every minute of it!  I would go the day before the fair and spent every day there, never leaving the grounds until it was over.  I made lifelong friends and have so many wonderful memories.  I still love the fair, we go the day before and are there for the first and second day.  Sometimes, I'll go back for another day depending on my schedule.  The very first day is the Twins Contest.  Last year they had a fairly large group in their age group and they received 4th place.  This year there were 5 in their age group and they received 5th place.  We know they don't look that much alike anymore but it's still fun. :)

 

Last year vs this year.  My mom made all of the dresses. :)  Aren't they cute!!  

We went to Pioneer Hall and we were looking at a bunch of doll clothes this gal had made.  We found a doll dress that matched the girl's dresses!  Ainslee has an "American Doll" and was beyond excited!

We have many things on our "MUST DO" list... like waiting in line to see the Butter Cow!

"Is this Heaven? No, It's IOWA"

The kids got their faces painted this year.  We all agreed that they were cute but we'll go back to having the design on their arm next year.  They can't see it on their own face and they end up rubbing their faces and smear it.  Plus, I'm kinda a weirdo and don't really care for the full face paintings, I guess.  Oh and the face paintings are pricy!

 Last year's arm painting and this years face paintings.

We also do rides, but we do not step foot into the midway.  The ones we look forward to are Ye Old Mill, which is kinda lame but we love it!  The Big Slide and the Sky Glider.

 

Brayden rode alone this year! (EEK!)

"Aunt Molly" and Ainslee

 

Kylee and Me 

I was terrified most of the ride because Kylee has no fear or sense of danger and kept scooting closer to the edge of her seat and leaning over to look down.  I would then grab a little closer hold to her side - making her squirm and tell me to let go... so I spent most of the ride trying not to imagine her slipping between the bars (which she easily could).

Last but not least is fair food.  I definitely indulged myself in all the fair food I wanted!  I tried many things and of course had to get my fair favorites!  Corn Dogs, Gyro's, Rib on a Stick, Pickle Dawg (new fav!), Brownie on a stick (another new fav!!), Fried Oreo's and Twinkies, Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Caprese Salad on a stick (you know, to even it out) ...when we go my mom, sister, and I will get things and all share- that way we all get to try new stuff. 

This is something I don't share... A Gyro!  It's definitely one of my fair favorites!  

Actually, probably my favorite food!

Something I decided to try new this year, a fried Twinkie- 

it was OK but not something I'd ever get again. 

The Brownie on a stick is WAY BETTER!!

So, as you can see, I didn't pass up fair food because I'm trying to lose weight.  We always joke that it's ok because we walk around all day- haha!  I think the important thing is I didn't let a couple days throw me off track.  I got back home and got right back to tracking my food and staying under my calorie goal.  Today, I weighed myself and am down a pound! :)  Now, I need to get back to PiYo- I got off track there and haven't got myself back into it, yet.

Family Hike & Picnic

Last week Jeremy loaded up the kiddo's and met me at a nice park between where I work and where we live.  I stopped on my way home from work and got food for a picnic.  When we got there the kids found a couple of cute little kittens and played and carried them around the entire time we were there.  They went on the hike with us, too. :) 

The beginning of the hike was all uphill and Kylee's legs got tired so Jeremy carried her a little bit and I carried Annika the whole way because taking a stroller would be ridiculous.  There were benches along the way where we let the kids rest if they needed it. 

It wasn't a very long hike, so it was a nice length for the kids -especially Kylee, since she get's tired easily.  It was nice to get out of the house for the evening and do something fun!

 I decided to take the opportunity to do a little PiYo move on this fallen tree.  Silly, I know ;) -but fun!  I was surprised to see how horizontal I get! 

 

Speaking of PiYo... I've been in a little funk lately.  I have to realize this is something that happens to me.  I start strong and then peter-out...  I can't quite understand either, I guess.  I like what I'm doing and I don't really feel deprived with my food choices.  I think it's probably just the fact that it's hard to change the habit of eating junk and not working out regularly for 29 years.  Since I know this is something I do, I have to make sure to catch it early and keep on track and excited about what I'm doing and the person I'm becoming.  I still want to reach 30 lbs down by my 30th birthday, which is 39 days away. 

Bringing back 1997

We got a TRAMPOLINE!!!  

The year between 6th and 7th grade I jumped on our trampoline Every. Single. Day.  ...for HOURS!!  I didn't weigh myself, mostly because I don't remember having a scale and also because I was a kid and didn't think about that as much as I do now.  At the time I had no clue, but I lost so much weight that summer!  I was an overweight kid, but looking back at pictures you can really tell how much I slimmed down!  My neighbor/best friend, Kyle, and I jumped on it all the time.  We played games of who could jump longest or highest and also a game where we would have to go to our bottom then knees then stomach then back and then back to our feet... the hard part was trying to do it without jumping up in between.  I had so much fun!  I finally talked Jeremy into getting one for our kids me!  There was an awesome sale and I batted my eyes :)  The next morning we set it up and I started jumping... here's a pic of my awesome skilz lol!  ...and of post-jump bliss...

 Talk about a workout!  I jumped off and on for 10-15 minutes and was worn out!  The rest of this summer is going to be FUN!!

I also took some before pics and measurements.  I took the measurements on Monday and and the pictures yesterday.  The pictures were an eye opener for sure... definitely gave me motivation to make changes!!

Today, on the PiYo schedule is "Sweat" ... let me tell ya, I've been sweating so I'm curious how this will go! lol!

Starting PiYo

I started PiYo yesterday!!  Yesterday was a 40min video of the fundamentals of PiYo.  She went over all the poses and what they should look and feel like.  I have a lot of work ahead of me before I can do the poses like they do or hold them as long as they do.  I pretty much do all the modified versions, which I'm completely fine with because it's still hard and I'm still sweating in the end.

Today's workout was lower body... but there was a point during it where my arms were shaking, too!  The lower body workout is 25min long.  It seemed to fly by!  They have a countdown in the lower left hand corner of the screen, which I love!  I'm totally a time watcher and to have that there is nice.  We were doing these downward dog splits and all I wanted to do was be in childs pose, but I saw there was only a couple minutes left and thought, I can do this for a couple minutes! (but it was still really hard for me!)

I took measurements yesterday, I'm going to have to have Jeremy take some pics tomorrow.  Also, tomorrow I will show you our new "toy".  I'm SO EXCITED!!  It totally takes me back to my youth!

I had a terrible lunch today- as in, Jeremy suggested getting food from the bar (which is like a diner by day) and I said sure... what did I order?  A pizza burger with pickles and an order of cheeseballs... 1,375 calories later... but it was soo good.  This evening I went out with a few friends to organize a baby shower for my friend Kylee, who's having twins!!  She ordered a cheeseburger pizza.... I didn't have a single piece!  ...and I didn't feel deprived, either.  I'm going to have some spaghetti squash for supper- my FAVORITE!

Impatient

Every day I weigh myself and every day I expect to weigh less... like a significant amount less.  The last 3-4 days I've been hovering around the same number and it's been making me feel discouraged.  I've been logging everything I eat into MyFitnessPal and I've been staying under my goal (minus 1 day- oops!)  I've been making sure I have at least a 1600 cal deficit ... so why is it not working?!  I think it's this type of impatience that has caused me to fail in the past.  I'd see the work I was putting in but not see the movement on the scale fast enough and just quit.  What I need to do is take a step back and understand that I'm making good choices and everything will fall into place... seriously, do I really expect the scale to drop a pound or two every day in the second week? ..especially after losing over 8 pounds last week... lets get real, probably not going to happen.

Along with my changes in how I eat, I need to start working out.  I really haven't done much in that area, yet.  Yesterday, I went for a walk with my friend Kylee and it was very nice.  As much as I'd hate to admit this... I haven't been on a walk in a long time.  I haven't done anything active in a long time!  Not to make excuses... but man, I have been BUSY!!  I just text Kylee to see if she wants to walk again today and since I have the PiYo DVD's... I really want to start those!  I can think of 100 things I should be doing... *like the dishes and laundry*!  ...but I guess those things aren't going anywhere- HA!

Yesterday, I took pics of myself in the scrub top that is the next size smaller... it's actually two sizes smaller but they don't have the size in between.  The scrub tops I wear now were bought just for me when I was pregnant with the twins... and yep, I still wear them!  I wear scrubs laundered by the facility because I go to surgery.  These are the little things that I can't wait to change.  I want to be able to fit into smaller scrubs at work.  I should have taken pics of my pants too because I have to wear elastic waist pants that taper at the ankle... oh yeah, sexy.  All the drawstring or half drawstring/half elastic pants that kinda flare at the ankle are all smaller sizes and don't fit me.  So, instead I'm stuck in a huge top (that basically fits- ugh) with a weird v neckline that shows my boobs off half the time and elastic taper crazy pants. 

 There's a little view of our locker room, pretty awesome orange, huh?!  This top is like skin tight right now... hopefully in a couple months (or less) it won't be!  Also, what do you think of my haircut?!  I buzzed my head for Kylee and I'm letting it grow back now.  I might keep it short for awhile, I kinda like it!  ...Welp, time to do something productive!! :)

59 days to go!

So, I'm 1 week in and I have 59 days till my birthday.  I'm pretty proud of my week.  I lost 8.2 pounds this week!  I was a little over that on Friday but I didn't stay as focused this weekend... although, I didn't go crazy... I just didn't track as well.

I received my PiYo DVD's in the mail!!  I was supposed to get a bonus "Hardcore on the Floor" DVD but that didn't come with the package... I called yesterday and they said they'd send it right away!  -Awesome!!  The challenge group starts August 4th, but I think I'm going to start before then.  :)  I'm pretty excited because I have some of my friends joining me!  I already knew two people in the group and now I have two more people joining in!

The DietBet starts tomorrow!  I weighed in last night though.  They open up the "weigh-in" two days before.  They give you a secret word that you have to write on a piece of paper and have in your pictures.  You take two pictures... one on the scale, showing the weight and one full body picture.  After taking the picture of the scale and seeing my toes... I'm thinking that a pedicure should be in my very near future!!

I need to take some "before" pics ... and hope these are the LAST "before" pics I ever take!!  I'm also going to take some measurements.  It's just a couple other nice things to see change along with the scale! :)

30 B4 30

Hey friends!!  I'm back!  My daughter is done with treatment and she's doing great! :)  It's been a very busy 9 months.  Lot's of driving and hanging out in hospitals... it is all kinda a blur now and we are so happy to be home!

So, guess who turns 30 this year?!?!  Yep!  ME!  My current goal is to lose 30 lbs before my 30th birthday... which is September 18th.  That's 64 days away.  I started this goal on Monday.  I apparently had a lot of water weight or something because today is Wednesday and I'm down 6.8 lbs already... kinda weird but I'll take it!!

I've been listening to Jillian Michaels podcasts some on my trips back and forth to Mayo.  She always says "calories in - calories out" ... so, you need to count the calories you take in and the calories you burn and to lose weight you have to have a deficiency.  My sister gave me her BodyMedia armband to use.  It measures a lot of things; calories burned, activity levels, steps, and sleep.  It measures the calories you burn throughout the day... your body burns calories even just sitting around.  This is good to know because I think it's way more accurate than plugging in my activity into the MyFitnessPal app and seeing what it estimates I burned.  I also became a cool kid and got a smart phone.  The armband has an app (what doesn't), so I can link the armband to my phone and see my calorie burn at anytime during the day.  I also have the MyFitnessPal app and have been tracking my calories consumed there.

Here is my plan:  I'm going to wear the armband and track my calories burned and track my calories consumed.  Here is what it looked like yesterday (I didn't put the armband on till about noon because I was charging it). 

I couldn't get the "snack" area of my food log on my screenshot but it included sweets I had added on from the night before... I technically ate them after midnight and didn't want to add them onto that day's log.  Also, I was really busy around lunch time and ate the watermelon on my way to work.

Here is the math that goes along with how I plan to lose 30 pounds before my birthday.  When I started it was 66 days away.

3500cal = 1pound
30pounds = 105,000cal

So I need to burn 105,000cal in 66 days.

105,000/66=1,591

I rounded up to 1,600... so, I need to have a 1,600 cal per day deficiency to reach my goal.  Yesterday, I had a deficiency of at least 1,724cal.

I have 2 workout systems that I'm going to use.  I bought Jillian Michaels Body Revolution.  It's a 12 week system and has 15 DVD's.  There are 3 phases, 4 weeks each.  Every week builds up more and more.

I also bought Piyo, which is a combination of pilates and yoga, but is more intense.  Tia, a girl I work with, has been doing the 21dayfix and started Piyo.  She has had great results (like losing 120lbs!) and started coaching.  I decided to join her "challenge group" and do Piyo.  I haven't received it in the mail yet but it should be coming soon.  The challenge group starts August 4th.

Then I found out Mandey, a great friend from childhood, has been doing the 21dayfix, Shakeology, and a bunch of other workouts.  She has had fantastic results with her hard work, as well!  She has extra Shakeology and is sending me some to try.  I figured, why not?!

ALSO, I joined another dietbet!  It starts July 20th!  If you want to join, it's the one hosted by Heidi & Chris Powell.  :)

As you can see, I'm using every resource I can to help me reach my goals.  I will not fail!!!