Success!!

I've slacked a bit at getting a post up in the past week or so.  I have no reason as to why.  I just haven't.  Shame on me.  Ha!  Despite my lack of blogging in the past week, I had a really good week!  I dropped 2 more pounds.  :)  Totally stoked to finally be headed in the right direction!  I'm now at a total of 10 pounds down.

This is spot on!  Remembering the goal at hand is motivation!

I have noticed a bit more of how my body works, or so I think.  The first month of eating better and working out seemed to be slow going.  It felt like it took my body that time to "warm up", so to speak.  After the first month I feel like I'm noticing more on the scale and finally seeing a difference in how my clothes are fitting.

With my latest successes I've been very motivated to keep up the hard work.  I've been pushing myself at the gym, mostly doing cardio.  I will go about 2.5 miles on the elliptical and then another 2.5 on either the treadmill or stationary bike.  All done within an hour time frame.  It might not seem like much to some but I'm building up my stamina and endurance.  I hope to be able to move from 5 miles in an hour to 8 soon.  Then possibly 10.  We'll see how that goes though.  

I have found a great source of inspiration.  I stumbled across THIS BLOG yesterday, courtesy of Pinterest.  I find this woman to be such a motivator.  I can totally relate to her journey in losing weight and I respect her for her genuine HARD work in losing weight the right way.  I'm pushed to try harder to see more results after reading through her blog.

While reading through the blog, I read and saw first hand results from the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  After gaining a quick found respect for this blogger, I immediately decided that I wanted to try the 30 Day Shred too.   I text James and asked if he would get it for me.  Being the loving and supportive fiance that he is, he had it for me by the time I got home from work.

After a good hour workout at the gym, I went home to start day 1 of my 30 Day Shred.  I've done Insanity before so I thought this would be cake.  Let me just say that the Jillian kicks your ass!  I thought I sweat it out pretty good at the gym.  I was wrong.  By the time I was done with what I thought was a measly 20 minute workout, I was covered in sweat.  I had sweat dripping from my face just as I did when I did Insanity.

Day 2 will be tonight.  I'm shooting for 5 days of 30 Day Shred a week.  I hope to get some killer results.  I will also be taking some before pictures tonight as well as all of my measurements.  I WILL post those here too.  I've hesitated to do so because of how embarrassed I am by how heavy I have gotten.  No more hiding.  I think that posting the cold hard truths here will help hold me more accountable.

I'm more determined than ever right now to drop some more weight.  I really believe that it's possible for me to drop 10 more pounds (maybe even more) by the end of the month.  20 pounds in 2 1/2 months isn't too shabby in my opinion.  I could possibly even get closer to my original 30 pound goal than I thought!

Motivation Monday!

I am beginning to think and realize that the slumps that I keep hitting are going to be a continual thing.  Maybe my mindset in thinking that everything should go flawlessly has been why I haven't been horribly successful at being healthy before.  Who knows.  What I do know is that I sure am motivated to get my butt in gear this week!

I have also realized that attitude has a lot to do with it.  When I get discouraged with the number on the scale or I let the negative things at work get in my head I have noticed a total drop in my commitment to the things I want to change.  I have decided that I need to start some meditation or some breathing exercises to help me clear my mind.  I have been told that this really helps.  We will see how it works for me.

I came across a workout program that I want to try for the next couple of week, courtesy of my friend Katie and Pinterest.  It can be found it HERE.  I will continue eating like I have been... monitoring my intake and counting calories.  If all goes well I could lose up to 12 pounds and 22 inches.  I'm not counting on anything as dramatic as that though.  I will be happy to see the number on the scale drop even 4 to 5 pounds and have a noticeable difference in the way my pants fit.  I will most definitely be taking my measurements tonight!

I'm ready to take on the week and see some results!  I hope everyone has a great week!

Babies, Vacation & Weightloss

It's been a while since I've posted so I thought I'd better give an update on life the past little while.

Since my last post we've had some ups and downs.  I think we are past the worst though and I'm hoping for a fabulous 2012!  Positive thinking brings positive things your way, right?  I keep telling myself that in hopes that the worst is behind us now.  :)

So to catch anyone reading up, I went back to the doc at the beginning of the month for another follow up appointment since the miscarriage.  I had been there weekly since and they were closely monitoring my HCG levels to make sure they were dropping.  I was overly nervous after the previous appointment because the doctor had told us that I may not be in the clear yet.  I hadn't had much, if any bleeding since that appointment so I felt uneasy.  They simply had me pee in a cup and did a regular pregnancy test to see what the outcome was.  NEGATIVE!  I have never been so relieved in my life.  The doc said that HCG test showed my levels being at 45 so she decided that if I got a negative pregnancy test, then we'd be in the clear!  So now I will let my body recover and we will try again in a couple months.

My sister had her sweet baby, baby Tyler.  He was born at 6:02 on December 28th, weighing in at 7lbs. 13oz and 19 inches long.  He's such a good baby.  You hardly hear him make a peep.  I love to cuddle the little guy.  I always forget how small newborns are.  They don't stay that little for long.  It's almost been 3 weeks since the little guy was born and he's already gained nearly 2 pounds.  Such a little stud.  He makes me smile through all of these tough times.

In lieu of the joy of a baby coming into our family, I find myself saddened by it too.  I see how happy my sister and brother-in-law are and I can't help but be a bit sad.  Instead of us getting to experience that happiness, we have to deal with our loss.  Don't get me wrong, I love the little guy and I am so happy he's here.  I'm ecstatic for the joy and happiness it has brought to my sister and her hubby too.  I'm sure it's just a slump, a slump that I'm not quite sure how to get past yet.  I just hope that this feeling doesn't last much longer.  It's horrible feeling depressed like this.

One a happy note, last week we were able to go on vacation.  We went to Las Vegas and attended the CES Convention (Consumer Electronics Show).  We had a blast.  The convention was huge!  In the 4 days that we were there, we didn't even get through all of the exhibits.  We saw so many cool new gadgets and came home wanting a boat load of them.  It was nice to have a bit of a break from reality too.  It was much needed!

Since coming home from our trip, I have started my weight loss journey.  Back on the wagon and eating healthy!  We went and signed up at the Gold's Gym Express near our house too.  It feels good to be active again.  I was surprised when I got on the elliptical machine for the first time in MONTHS and wasn't out of breath and kept a constant, lower heart rate the entire time.  I chalk that up to walking for days on end while we were in Vegas though. ;) 

I did put on a couple pounds (4 to be exact) while in Vegas but I noticed that my fingers and ankles seemed a bit swollen while we were in Vegas.  I dropped those 4 pounds within the first day of being home though so I'm right back to where I was before.  I was excited to get on the scale this morning to see that I have dropped 2 pounds.  I'm thinking it was all water weight but still, 2 pounds is two pounds!  That means only 28 more to go until I hit my goal!

Weight Loss Goal!

I would say I'm probably like a good majority of America... I have struggled with my weight for what I would say has been most of my life.  I was a chunky kid in middle school, thinned out a bit in high school and shortly thereafter and then started putting some weight back on as I approached my mid 20's. 

I am now nearing 30 (only 2 1/2 more years) and I'm not where I want to be, physically.  I also want so badly to be healthy and fit again.  Last year, James and I went on a health kick and both dropped a substantial amount of weight.  We then decided to try to have a baby and our healthy lifestyle was sort of put on the back burner.  I know there's no reason to not continue to be healthy, pregnant or not, hence my new goal of losing 30 pounds before James and I can start trying for a baby again.

I figured I'd post my goal here.  Maybe this will help hold me a little more accountable than if I just keep it to myself.  I figure that I have roughly 3 months before James and I can try to get pregnant again.  This means my goal will be 10 pounds per month or about 2 1/2 pounds per week.  I think this is something that is totally doable.  I don't feel that I'm being unrealistic with my goal either. 

I will be doing it the healthy way.  No cutting out certain foods.  No extreme measures.  Just healthy eating and exercising.  I intend to continue managing a healthy weight throughout my hopeful pregnancy too and then afterwards, drop some more weight to get back to my ideal body weight.

I came across a website today that I found inspirational and very useful.  I would encourage anyone else wanting to lose some weight to visit it too.  It is http://www.superskinnyme.com/.  They have multiple calculators you can use.  Calculators that will help you figure out your BMI or the number of calories you should intake, just to name a couple.  There are numerous articles that I enjoyed reading as well. 

I will post back with my progress throughout the next several months.  I know from personal experience, seeing or reading how other are doing or have done can give you that little extra push in the right direction! 

Here we go!