Taking It To The Streets

I'm on a roll.  For the past couple of weeks, I have been eating healthy and working out every day.  I feel so motivated to continue down this path right now.  My problem is figuring out what kind of workout I'm going to do every day.  I get bored really, really easy when it comes to working out.  I've done a few workout DVDs in the past, and I just can't stay motivated enough to stick with them.  I hate having to watch the same DVD over and over again.

This summer I've been trying to mix things up.  I've been taking my workouts outside, and I am loving it!  Maybe it's just the heat, but I feel like I'm really doing something when I work up a sweat outside.  I feel like I'm getting so much stronger day by day.

My brother came down to visit me last week, and we decided to spend the day at a state park near my house.  There's a swimming beach and a hiking trail, so I figured I could get a decent workout in.  I wore my heart rate monitor just to see how my calorie burn was.  I burned over 900 calories just by enjoying myself outside! 

We started out doing a 2-mile hike through the woods.  It was gorgeous.  I worked up a sweat and was definitely huffing and puffing through some of the climbs, but I barely noticed it because I was too busy admiring the beautiful flowers and taking in the jaw-dropping views from the top of the bluffs we were standing on.  Then we went swimming at the public beach to cool down.  It was a perfect day and a perfect way to work out.

I want to incorporate more real-world workouts into my routine.  This is the reason I want to get fit in the first place.  I am an outdoors girl at heart, but my weight has been keeping me from doing the things I love for so long.  I absolutely cannot wait until next summer when I'm closer to my goal!

What's your favorite outdoor activity?

Recommitted And It Feels So Good

Week 1 of my recommitment to myself is in full effect.  I bought an elliptical at the beginning of May and have been using it off and on, but I started using it consistently this week.  Wow is all I can say!  I am loving it! 

For the past few months I have been searching for a good workout that will get my heart rate up without killing the ankle I injured back in September (which just doesn't seem like it's EVER going to heal totally).  Even walking for more than a mile leaves my ankle swelled up and painful for days.  The elliptical is so low impact that my ankle doesn't hurt while I'm getting a great workout.  Another plus is I am using my ankle enough that I feel like I'm finally building some strength back.

I've also discovered an app that I am absolutely in love with.  Have you guys tried the Nike Training Club app?  Holy moly!  It will definitely kick your butt.  I know I am super out of shape, but I have to think that even people who are in great shape can get a fantastic workout from this app.

You can choose Get Lean, Get Toned, Get Strong or Get Focused.  The workouts range from 15 to 45 minutes, and they absolutely fly by because you only do each move for between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.  The best part is you don't have to have any extra equipment.  You just use your body.

Now, even the beginner workouts are too much for me right now.  I just do what I can and try to improve each time.  After my first Nike workout, I was super, super sore, but I felt so fantastic.  I am definitely adding the workouts to my rotation.  Oh, and did I mention the app is free?!!!

I am excited to continue working out and tracking my results.  It's crazy how much stronger I feel already after just a week of consistent exercise.

What are some of your favorite workouts?  How do you push yourself to keep improving? 

Weight Loss: Take 954

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

Japanese Proverb

So if you've followed my blog over the past year and a half, you will know that I am not a very good weight loss blogger considering I haven't lost any weight.  It seems like all I ever do is lose 20 pounds, gain 20 pounds, lose 20 pounds, gain 20 pounds.  I don't know why it's so hard for me to stay consistent and just finally lose this weight. 

I know I'm not the only person to feel hopeless about trying to lose weight.  It's not easy to just completely change your entire lifestyle and know you can never go back.  When food is your friend and what you use to comfort yourself when you're down, it's hard to get rid of that crutch and walk the road alone.

For me, I feel like this is a life or death situation.  I am literally killing myself living like this.  I feel terrible all of the time.  I turn down invitations to do things because I am embarrassed about how I look.  Whenever I'm out in public, I don't enjoy what I'm doing because I'm too busy being self-conscious.

I know I've said this before, but today is the day I am making a change.  I am going to do this.  I don't have a choice.  I want this more than I have ever wanted anything in my life.  I just have to remember how much I want this when the going gets rough and all I want to do is give up.

I've been overweight my whole life.  The crazy thing is I don't feel like I've ever truly been able to be my real self because of my weight.  I feel like I have the mind of an athlete in a fat person's body.  I absolutely love sports.  A sappy movie can't bring me to tears but a real-life story of an athlete who has overcome so much to live a dream will leave me a sobbing mess.  When I think about the life I want to be leading, I think of an active life.  I want to run, ride my bike, go camping, go kayaking, play tennis.  I want to really live life.

I know I've been missing from the blog world for the past couple of months.  I actually haven't been doing terrible.  I've pretty much maintained my 20-pound weight loss from the beginning of the year.  I just haven't made any new progress.

So here I am again, starting over.  Today I weighed in at 273.8.

Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about.

- Winston Churchill

Drinking Pop and Blood Sugar (aka NSV)

I haven't had a drink of pop (soda?) since December 31, 2011.  Even though I have been going through a rough time trying to stay healthy over the past month or so, I have not given in and still haven't had any pop.  After calculating that I eat over 30 pounds (yes, I said POUNDS) of sugar per year just in pop alone, I knew giving it up was the right decision.

I can't lie.  It really hasn't been easy.  I figured by now I wouldn't even want to drink it and, for the most part, I don't.  Sometimes, though, when I eat certain foods, it always triggers a craving for a certain sweet carbonated beverage.

I feel like I have been gaining and losing the same 20 pounds for the past year and a half, but I am starting to see some benefits to cutting out the large amount of sugar I used to get from drinking pop.  My blood sugar has gone down dramatically.

Sugar has always been my weakness.  On my path to becoming 294 pounds, I ate a lot of sugar.  About a year ago, I started worrying about my blood sugar.  I have a family history of diabetes and knew that I was eating myself into the disease.  I bought a blood sugar monitor and starting testing my blood sugar every so often.  Not surprisingly, it wasn't great.  I didn't have levels high enough to be called diabetic, but my blood sugar was definitely in the pre-diabetic range.

I haven't cut out sugar completely, but just cutting out pop has taken me from pre-diabetic to completely normal.  Not only is my blood sugar now completely normal, it's not even the high side of normal.  It's normal normal.

I know I'm making positive changes in my life and becoming healthier.  I just need to put everything together to finally lose this weight once and for all.

Being Perfect

I know, I know.  I went missing for a couple of weeks.  We all know what that means.  I've been being a bad, unhealthy person and just couldn't face my blogging buddies.

I've been scale-less for a couple of weeks, so my brain decided that that meant I could eat whatever I wanted.  If I couldn't see the number on the scale, it couldn't possibly be going up.  Right?  Well, I got a fancy new scale and the number definitely did go up.  I'm not sure if this scale just weighs me heavier or if I've really gained quite a bit of weight in the last couple of weeks.  Either way, it doesn't matter now.  I need to get back on track right away.


I start every day intending to be healthy.  I tell myself that I'm going to eat several small meals throughout the day and work out.  If anything at all happens to derail my plan, I decide that today was a bust and I can start over tomorrow.  I HAVE to stop doing this.  I don't have to be perfect every day.  I just need to do my best every day.  I know that staying consistent with healthy eating and exercise is the key.  I really struggle with finding a balance between completely giving up on myself and having to be perfect.  I've fought this battle with myself in all areas of my life since I was just a little kid.  I've always felt pressure to be perfect and have never felt good enough no matter how great my accomplishments are.  I am going to try to let go of all the pressure that I put on myself to be healthy, to be perfect, to make it look easy.  I'm going to try to relax this week and just try to keep moving forward no matter what gets thrown at me.

 
My brother decided that he wants to get healthy and lose weight, so now I am even more motivated to continue on.  We are doing a 6-week competition to see who can lose the highest percentage of weight loss.  I am determined to beat him, so I am back on track as of today.  I'm excited to see how much progress I can make in the next six weeks!

So here is the embarrassing weigh-in.  I think I was around 267 or 268 a few weeks ago.  Today I weighed in at 277.6.  Yuck!  I am ready for a much smaller number on the scale next Sunday.

Weigh Day - Week 12

Well, there's really no weigh-in this week, so the title of this post is a little misleading.  I tried to weigh in this morning and realized my scale has gone completely crazy.  When I weighed last week and had a gain, I was pretty surprised, but didn't really think anything of it.  Then this week, I knew I would have a loss.  I did so good with food, and my clothes are getting super loose. 

I stepped on the scale and saw...298!  What?!  Okay.  That's about a 30-pound gain this week.  Hmm.  Maybe I should try this again.

I stepped back on the scale and saw...254.  Now you're talking!  A 13-pound loss this week!  Even though it would be amazing to be 254, I knew that couldn't be right either.

I tried one more time and saw...307.  Okay.  That's not even funny.  This scale has gone insane!  I have absolutely no idea what happened to the scale, but it definitely is done dealing.

So I'm going to have to get a new scale sometime this week.  I'll have a new scale and a real weigh-in for you guys next week. 

Weigh Day - Week 11

I took this week off and had myself a little staycation!  It was great, but it went WAY too fast.  I worked on my house all week.  I am so sore and feel like I've been doing squats all week.  Home improvement is hard work.  I haven't really paid attention to food this week, but I know I made good choices.  In fact, I was so busy I didn't even think about eating much.  I was really excited to step on the scale this morning because I was sure that with eating healthy and moving constantly all week while working on the house, I would have lost a couple of pounds.  I was shocked when I GAINED a pound!  I can't figure this scale out.  I work hard and gain a pound.  I sit around being lazy all week and lose 2 pounds.  Ugh!  It's frustrating.  I'm still on a downward trend, so I know what I'm doing is working.  I'll just have to keep on keeping on!

I've noticed some of my blogging buddies have gone MIA this week, so I hope everyone is still on track.  Here's to a successful week this week and hopefully a loss on the scale next Sunday!!

Starting Weight: 294.0
Week 10 Weight: 267.4
Week 11 Weight: 268.2

Gain This Week: 0.8 pounds

Total Weight Loss: 25.8 pounds