Jill’s Weight Loss Adventure

The scale that is, it’s stuck and won’t go down, for 2 weeks! Grrrrrrrr, I’m not to happy with it (its easier to blame the scale that myself!) I know, I should look at the bright side and be greatful it didn’t go up! But I can’t help at be disappointed at the lack of progress! Even my measurements didn’t change!

But truth be told, after the first week of being stuck, I kind quit doing Tae Bo after the treadmill and just did the treadmill. This week, I only did Tae Bo one day, but I really pushed myself on the treadmill today (2 miles in 30 mins!) and today was the day I did Tae Bo. What doesn’t make sense is in the past I’d only work out 2 days and still lose. I’ve stayed on points with WW and don’t need to lower my points yet, I already did a little while back,

I’m going to start retracking my food and exercise on spark to see if I can figure it out that way. I tracked yesterday and found something interesting, my calories were a bit low. I didn’t even hit 1,100, so maybe I’m not getting enough! I dunno. I guess I can just try to get back on track this week and hope like heck next week I get results!

Ok, just wondering, is it weird to step on the scale and then burst out in a chorus of “Hallelujah” when you find that you’ve reached your first mini goal and have lost 21 lbs total!?

I’m so freaking excited, I’m 1 lb away from being in the 100’s, a number I haven’t seen since before my oldest was born (3 years ago). I hit my very first goal and it feels great! I’m unofficially officially weighing in today because of that number, although if its lower than that on Friday, I’ll take it! I’m so excited to think that possibly by Friday otherwise next week, I will be in the 100’s!  So as of today, I’m officially, er unofficially 200 lbs!  I’m so excited.  I can’t believe I did it.  I didn’t know if I’d ever see this number!  I also posted my new pics of me (Before and After 80 days difference) and I have to say, I can see the difference.. at least in the pics.  Its not as noticable every day in the mirror, but I know i’m changing.  I will set my new mini goal soon (180) and it will probably take me close to 12 weeks to get that too, but hey after that goal I should be at my overall goal.  And then once I hit that, I may decide to go much lower, but I’m setting my initial bar a bit low just so that I know if I can grasp that, I could possibly go on!  Regardless, I’m so excited at my new weight today.  Lets see if I can pump it out and lose more by Friday!

Yep, I got 4 new pairs of pants today.  You might say big deal, but the thing is, I didn’t go shopping!  No one came by and gave me them, nope, I didn’t even order them online.  I went into my bedroom and pulled out my drawer that has housed these pants for 2 YEARS!!!  I figured it was finally time to give them a try, because right now, I’m 3 lbs away from mini goal, 4 lbs away from being below 200, and the smallest I’ve been in at very least a year!  Why not.  To my shock, the first pair fit, the 2nd not as well, nor the 3rd.  I thought I was losing hope, but then the 4th fit,  the 5th didn’t, and then the 6th and 7th pulled through for me.  I couldn’t believe it, I haven’t worn these pants since after my first born and before I was pregnant with my 2nd (2 years ago).  I’m so happy I’m about to burst.  As it stand I have 2 pairs of dress pants and 1 pair of jeans that don’t fit.  But on the good side, I got 4 pairs of jeans (which is a lot better than the 2 that I had before) that all fit!  I just had the share the good news!!!

So after finding my interesting info on Calories to Fat numbers and how my soda intake equals out to that, I’ve cut WAAAAAYYYYYY back on soda!   If you need a refresher, I was drinking about 12 or more soda’s a week at 150 calories a pop.  I found out that 3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat!  At that rate, I was consuming this many pounds in soda…

.5 pounds a week
2 pounds a month
AND…
26.75 pounds a year!

I said I’d try to cut back to 1 soda a day or 7 week and see how I did.  Well I did even better than that!  I’m so proud of myself.  It’s been a little more than 2 weeks since I implimented this change.  I’ve drank a ton more water, even hitting my 8 glasses a day frequently.  And because I’m so dedicated to cutting out the pop, in the last 2 weeks…

The 6th - 12th of March (7 days) I drank 4 sodas!
The 13th - 19th of March (7days) I drank 3 sodas!!!

I think I’m doing amazing on that, a lot better than I expected myself to do.  And honestly, I don’t really miss soda that much.  And times when I feel myself get weak for one, I just grab another bottle and drink that!  Now if I calculate my new numbers at 3.5 sodas, or the average of the 2 weeks above, they come out to..

525 calories a week
2,100 calories a month
27,300 calories a year

Or

.15 lbs a week
.6 lbs a month
7.8 lbs a year!

At this rate, compared to my old habits, I can still lose

.35 lbs a week
1.4 lbs a month
AND
18.95 lbs a year!!

I like the sounds of almost 19 lbs a year compared to 11!  Thats a lot of pounds to lose just to drinking a soda!  I think I’ll take it! I’m just really proud that i’ve been resisting the soda and staying on a better track since finding out my new info!

So I was watching a show today, and they said that 3,500 calories equal a pound of fat. Then they went on to compute how many pounds a day the lady on the show drank in beer (she was English or Irish, can’t remember..lol) I took this as an educational opportunity for myself. I drink quite a bit of soda. I know this is a bunch of empty calories, and I need to try to cut back, so I figured I’d do some calculating on how many pounds a year I’m drinking.

First I looked back at the last weeks food journals and counted up that I drank 12, 12 oz soda’s in a week, at 150 calories a pop! So going off of the 12….

,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,

• 12 cans a week
• 48 cans a month
• 624 cans a year

Those numbers alone may seem high, but just wait, there’s more!

,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,

3,500 calories = 1 pound

150 calories in a 12 oz can

• 1,800 calories a week
• 7,200 calories a month
• 93,600 calories a year

And if that last number weren’t staggering enough..

,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,-~’~-,

If I cut out all pop, I would lose… .

• 5 pounds a week
• 2 pounds a month

AND…

• 26.75 pounds a year!

That just amazes me! I honestly wish I could do it, but I don’t think I can cut out soda completely. Its my one weakness, well that and chocolate..lol

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BUT, if I cut back to 7 cans a week, thats one can a day. Of course, I will try for less, and we’ll see how that goes, but going off of 7 cans, that’s…

• 1,050 calories a week
• 4,200 calories a month
• 54,600 calories a year

or..

• .3 pounds a weeks
• 1.2 pounds a month
• 15.6 pounds a year

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So if I have a soda a day, I can still lose

• .2 pounds a weeks
• .8 pounds a month
• 11.15 pounds a year

Although that’s not as impressive as the 26 pounds, its still a cut back. I’m going to try to go less than 7 and we’ll see how that goes. I’ll update later on if thats successful. As for now, I’ll be looking for other, better for me beverages… aside from water! lol Although that 26 is still sounding aweful good… I’d be down to like 25 lbs from my goal… so more tossing around on that idea! Wish me luck!

Wahooo.  I’m so excited, I am down 10 lbs from my highest weight here.  I know my ticker only says 8 down, but I went up 2 lbs from my starting weight.  Now I’m Down!!!!!  I’m so happy to see a gradual difference.  That should mean that it will stay off easier… I think.  Anyway, thats my first milestone for me.  11 lbs to my mini goal, hopefully I can make it in the time I did this one!  YAY for weight loss!

 Also, I’m sorry I haven’t been the best BuddySlim buddy.  I’ve been devoting a bit of my time to another weightloss site (I’m sorry) that has a bit easier tracking of everything.  I’m still sticking with the WW.  This last week I kinda fell off the exercising, but last night, hubby and I went out and bought a treadmill, so I can quit the gym and do it at home when I want.  My biggest prob was I had to wait til 7 p.m. to go and on those 3 nights, I never got to see my husband.  It just was such a bummer and I could feel myself falling out of it for those reasons.  So many times I wished I could workout during the day, but my gym doesn’t have day care, so thats why I can’t.  Now I can workout when I feel like it.  That is, as soon as hubby picks up the treadmill (tonight) and gets it set up (tomorrow!?).  I’m so ready to workout in the privacy of my own home.  I’ve never been one to like working out in a group.  I have a weird thing about people watching me.. even if their not and I think they are.  I just don’t like it!  I’m weird, I know!

 So anyway, that’s my update.  Nothing to exciting other than I’m 10 lbs down and still seeing progress!  Next goal, the Mini Goal!!!

I’m starting to see changes in me with my new lifestyle change.  The most obvious on the scale, down 6 lbs total now, in 2 weeks time!  I’m very proud of that!  My energy has increased to where I can do a lot of things a lot longer than before.  I’m able to play with my kids and not tire out right away.  I made it through a 2 hour shopping trip, with my son on me in a Baby Bjorn, and dealing with my little girls, and wasn’t completely exhausted.  I even went to work out that night.  I’m excited that things are noticeable and its making me want to keep pushing on.  I’m on day 13 and haven’t gone over my points at all.  Daily, yes last week twice, but never weekly, in fact 19 to spare last week.  As I speak now, I still have all 35 of my weekly for this week, but I know I’m going over tonight, splurging on pizza!  While at the grocery store I bought a bunch of 100 Calorie and low cal foods to snack on and make it even easier to enjoy and stay on my point target, or a tad lower. 

I’m really worried about next weekend.  We going to visit my parents from Friday to Sunday.  My parents aren’t the ummm, healthiest of people.  Lots of junk food, high fat, high cal cooking and eating.  Going to their house is usually a nice treat to really splurge, but this time I’m worrying.  I don’t want to fall off my plan, even for 2 days (Friday I’ll be able to control).  I honestly don’t know how to plan for it, since most the time meals are played by ear.  I’m hoping I can stay within points, but at the same time, its hard to say what meals are going to consist of.  Let alone I’m sure I’ll get made fun of whipping out the measuring cups for my servings.  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever had this much anxiety over food at their house!  lol

One change I think I’m going to make, I’m going to see what the scale says Monday, but I’m thinking of changing my weigh in day from Monday to Friday.  Not only because so far my numbers have always looked the best on Fridays, but I always seem (ok the last 2 weekends since I just started my plan) to save my Weekly points for the weekend and splurge then.  Of course, come Monday, the scale reflects it.  Last week, there was a 1 lb gain from Friday to Monday, then yesterday, I was down 3 more pounds, so we’ll see what it says Monday.  If I’m up, then I’ll keep the number from Friday and continue Friday weigh ins.  If no change or lower, I’ll probably just keep it at Monday.  I know, fickle, but I’m really wondering if Monday weigh ins are a good idea or not, even if it’s the beginning of the week. 

All in all, great week again, 2 weeks in a row!  Lets keep this steam going!!!

Well, 1 week down and the results are in… kinda!  I did a sneak weigh in Friday night.. mostly just to see if what I was doing was making a difference and give myself the motivation to make it through the weekend.  I was in for a pleasant surprise when I saw a 4 lb weight loss!  I was on cloud 9 all weekend, but also wondered if that was a fluke.  So I weighted again yesterday afternoon, just to see, and was up 3 lbs (from the 4 lost) so I was a bit bummed, but I kept telling myself, that is still 1 lb down from my previous weight.  But I trudged on to today and my official weigh in was 3 lbs total down from last week!!!  WOOOOHOOOO!  I’ll take it!  But I think I’m fluctuating (sp) so much because well… TMI, but its that time of the month for me, and well all women know what kind of weight changes that brings.  So maybe next weeks results will reflect a little better!  I know my ticker only says 1 lb down, but from when I started planning this weight loss journey, I went up 2 lbs, so this last week took care of those 2 lbs, plus one more!  YAY!  Its nice to see my exercise and watching what I eat is paying off!

Also, I can see a change.  Well, not physically see a change yet, but I know my exercising is really paying off.  Not only am I building up muscle working out and needing more weights already, but I got a ton more energy.  And my biggest, proudest moment happened this a.m.  I was able to dance around the kitchen with my girls, through 1 1/2 (that’s all we played…lol) songs, as in dance song (Cotton Eye Joe to be specific).  Normally I’m lucky to finish a song, usually about 1/2 way through I have to sit down winded.  Today, I danced through the whole thing, and while I had a little bit of a workout, I was still able to keep going for another 1/2 of the song for my girls (then they lost interest, and I had to get back to my dishes).  I was so proud, because one of my big goals is to be able to play more with my kids and not wear out so easily and it’s already starting to come to light!  I, of course, am going to keep on working out and getting more and more energy, so then maybe one day, I can out dance and out play them!  Then they will be proud to say they have an awesome mom that loves to play with them!

 On a Weight Watchers Note, I stay under my total points by 13 (extra weekly points).  I went over my daily by 3 points on Thursday and Saturday.  Then of course I splurged for Super Bowl Sunday.  But honestly, all this food I ate last night, I felt miserable ALL night until this morning.  It’s weird the change a week can bring in how much food you want/need to eat.  I went over my normal points and felt miserable!  I’m going to have to keep this in mind from now on!

All in all, it’s paying off!  Week 1 went off without a hitch and went great.  Week 2 is starting out well, but of course this is just the first day of it!  I’m watching what I eat, watching portions, working out 3 nights a week, and I’m already starting to feel great!!!

Or what…  I mean I know I’m not, but with all these dang cravings I’m having, I would swear I was!  My biggest has been sweets.  But I’m staying away.  I figure this is just a test of my will.  I’m actually going to eat an apple soon, so good choice on my part!  As long as I keep fighting these cravings, I’ll make it through today!

 So far all week, I’ve been doing awesome!  I’ve stayed at or under my points!  So I still have my 35 to spare.  Thinking those are going towards Super Bowl Sunday!  Went and exercised like a good girl yesterday.  Soreness is definately going down!  Still fighting off the urge to step on the scale.  I’m dying to see, but nervous there’s no change.  only 4 days to scale day… lol

 And I have to brag on myself for a minute!  Under adversity, I managed to stay on my diet and be right at my points for the day.  Tuesday, our power went out because of the weather (was out for 14 hours total in 20 degree weather, was not fun).  Actually, right as I was getting up to make dinner, the power went out.  We ended up having to go out to dinner (no power = no appliances), well I did well and planned out my meal, only spending 5 points, and infact my drink was as much as my food, so a total of 9 (I had to have a soda.. bad girl).  I was pretty proud of myself for being able to stick to, when circumstances were trying to rule against!  So go me!

 I hope the rest of you are doing well on your journey’s!  I hope this pace keeps up and the cravings go away!  lol

I officially started my regiment yesterday, and as almost any starting day of a diet/exercise plan, all went very well!  I went with the WW (free) plan and thought by judging my previous caloric intake to how many they allowed, I was going to have to ease into it, from about 46 (average), down to 36, then 26 (my amount they give me).  But surprisingly, it was easy to stay within 26 and I wasn’t starving.  I did however subtract 11 points from my hour long heavy workout, but I’m allowed to do that.  And then, just cuz I could, I splurged at bit and had 1 cup of ice cream instead of 1/2 cup, leaving me at exactly 26 points.  I was pretty proud of myself.  And I’m honestly surprised at the minimal points certain foods are (like stew last night, only 5 pts a cup and 1 cup filled me).  I did wake up hungry today, but thats ok, I don’t always have to be full!  And I actually for the most part got my meals planned out points wise, snacks I just play by ear.  But with meals I should only take 18, then add drinks in with those (of course water is free!) and then the rest can be snacks (apple only being 1 pt!)  Can you tell I’m overly excited about this plan.  It almost seems too easy and makes me wonder if I am going to lose.  Only time will tell.

 Workout wise, I busted my butt at the gym.  I was there for over an hour and got in 10 mins on the bike with 2 lb weights, 12 mins on the treadmill, and 10 weight stations working almost everything.  I didn’t do the ab machines, since on Friday I did them and my stomach is still throbbing in spots.  Of course, thats because I had a c-section 7 weeks ago and I think I over did it a wee bit, so I’m letting them heal!  I go back to workout again tomorrow, doing the M, W, F regiment at the gym.  Although, I’m contemplating doing Yoga or Tae Bo at home on off days, or even playing the Wii.  I think if I do anything today, it would be Yoga, because I’m definately feeling the burn from yesterday!

Also, I fighting that urge to step on the scale.  I want to see results like now and I know I won’t.  I’m making my weigh in days on Monday, what better way to start the week..lol  Of course, yesterdays weigh in was a tad disappointing at another pound up.  But I can part or all blame that on my weekend of prediet splurging.  I was bad this weekend, so that pound is no shocker.  Now next week I hope to see them moving in the other direction, or at very least stay stationary!  lol  Anyway, Day 1 was good, Day 2 is going well too!  Lets hope this pace keeps up!