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.