UH WTF....

I'm not really sure what happened yesterday, but my eating started to go downhill an then it just snowballed from there.

I will admit, I have not been well prepared with my meals lately. Especially since it's the end of the month - this month has had 5 weeks in it - and because I live the life of a rockstar (i.e. acting like an idiot and not saving money the way I should) I am ALWAYS beyond broke by the end of the month (which is another thing I really need to work on).

I rarely eat breakfast which is another big problem I know I need to fix. I'm never hungry in the morning, but in order to get my metabolism going I HAVE to start eating something in the morning.

Yesterday I ate:

a pack of cheese crackers
an apple with sunflower butter (simliar to PB)
a lean cuisine lasagna meal
1/2 of a protein bar
some potato chips when I got home
almost a whole package of saltine crackers
thai soup w. pork and noodles for dinner
a peppermint stick
then I woke up in the middle of the night and ate MORE potato chips and 2 more peppermint sticks
Oh yeah, I also had a piece of caramel/white chocolate dipped apple that my mom made

Now, I probably would have been okay had I not gone downhill with the chips, crackers and candy.

I was ready to eat my arm off due to my workout, but I was just out of control.

TOM is here so that certainly didn't help, but I KNEW what I was doing and just couldn't stop. Now I feel like crap emotionally and physically.

UGH. Fuck compulsive eating.

I wanted to post this just so I could put it out there. It happens and I know that it's over and done with and I can't change it now so I shouldn't beat myself up, but I have all of these plans for what I WILL be changing and I feel like I keep standing in my own way.

RAHHHHHH. /rant

Pick up the phone....

I put a call out to some of my accountability partners. I emailed them part of my post from yesterday saying what I WILL be doing to get back on track and how I will be continuing to work on this journey.

Another one of my friends had basically outlined what she will be doing between now and Christmas. Can you believe it's only 8 weeks away? HOLY COW! Also, December 14th is the one year anniversary of my starting my lifestyle change. It will be interesting to do a reflection post about how my life and health has changed since that time. All I can do is give myself a big pat on the back for sticking with it. Even though I've had my ups and downs, my really on point days and my really off days/weeks. I'm still standing and if I get knocked down, I'm still getting up. Even if I have to crawl a little. Even if I need a helping hand.

Now, I am NOT looking forward to the food fest known as Christmas time where I work. It seems to be inundated with candy, treats, and more candy and treats. I've said it before, I'll say it again -- teachers like to eat and I have never seen a group of people eat more food in my life. I DO remember however, that I made it through Christmas at work last year. I mean, who decides to start a diet/lifestyle change AT CHRISTMAS? My crazy ass. I know I can get through it. I just need to keep my eye on the light at the end of the tunnel.

With all of that being said here is my plan for the next 8 weeks. It also includes my planned diversions.... notice - PLANNED.

Here we go:

I am planning on ONE off plan meal this weekend which will be Sunday night at the Vortex. I am planning on going to the gym both Friday afternoon AND Saturday morning, mind you, that will be 5 days for this week, but I wasn't planning on Saturday originally. I may also try to extend some of my workouts to an hour or so vs. 45 minutes to add in a little extra.

Next week (11/1-11/7) I will be on plan the entire week, and make up for the extra drinking I will be doing at the wedding on 11/06 by going to the gym (again on Saturday for a total of 6 days). I will try to make the best choices possible as they are serving heavy hors doeuvres.

The following week (11/8-11/14) I will be on plan the entire week. I will try to extend my gym time as the next weekend is my birthday. I will eat, drink and be merry on my birthday weekend. I will not beat myself up about this. Monday morning I am back OP 110%.

The week and a half of (11/15-11/24) I will be on plan the entire week. I will go to the gym my regular 5 days and try to fit in some extended time if possible. I will eat, drink and be merry on Thanksgiving. I don't actually think the day itself will be that bad. It is with my immediate family only and we are doing all of our favorite foods and seafood this year. Then again, there's my mom's sweet potato pie that I will fight someone over. :)

11/25-12/25 I will continue to be on plan with my plan. :) Christmas I will allow myself to eat, drink and be merry. I can make up for the difference that week with an extra day at the gym or extended time AT the gym.

Then we have new years where I will probably go to the gym an extra day to make up for drinking ON NYE.

So yeah.... when you break it down like you did it doesn't sound that bad. :)

Let's Get Real....

Wow, I thought a month going by was bad.... um how about THREE months sailing by. I've become one of those people. One of those wanna be bloggy people that just suddenly trails off when times get hard and you dont' really want to face yourself or anyone else and it's easier to hide behind the excuses than it is to type it out.

I started this blog for myself. Let's face it. I only have a handful of followers (and thank you for that, dear readers!), but this was really about trying to keep myself accountable.

Accountability: the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions

I will take responsibility for my actions, but it's just been such a slippery slope.

I checked in over at Mrs. Fatass's this morning and one of her posts really struck me. It jumped out and I let out a sigh of "holy shit, that's exactly how I feel right now." It's about comebacks and feeling like we just don't have any fight left in us and somehow we dig down and there's a second wind there and we just have to remember to keep pushing through, no matter how hard we've already fought. Go check it out.

I haven't been posting on 3FC. I haven't been talking/emailing as much with my support buddies. Excuses aside we're all really busy. The beginning of the school years are the most hectic time and I guess I just fell into the lackadaisical way of life.

I never understood before why people who have been on their lifestyle journey say "I'm tired.... I'm just so very tired." Now I do because I've been at that point. I'm tired of eating well, I'm tired of going to the gym, I'm tired of feeling bad about going out drinking with my friends because it negates all of the work I've done during the week. I'm tired of being obsessed with food. I'm tired of waking up at 2am and wanting to eat everything in my house even though I AM NOT HUNGRY. I'm tired of not seeing the scale moving.

That's part of what being a compulisive overeater/binge eater is about. It is so very fucking frustrating. I will NOT be hungry, however it's like I'm on autopilot and will stuff my face. Over the past year I have become more aware of this because of my therapy, but sometimes even though you "wake up" in the midst of it you keep on doing it anyway. It's a vicious cycle.

I had been thinking of switching over strictly to calorie counting from South Beach. Here's the thing though, I've been frustrated with wanting to eat sugary things, with wanting to eat potatoes (one of my major vices haha!), etc. I figured if I do calorie counting I don't feel deprived of those things. I know that the basic equation of weight loss IS calories in vs. calories out, but in my test runs here and there I have noticed this. The thing I LOVE about South Beach is that I don't have to weigh my food, I don't have to add up numbers at the beginning/end of the day. I can eat as much of it as I want (although let's face it, we need to be within reason) and I can still lose weight. I DON'T have the sugar cravings and I DON'T HAVE THE BINGES nearly as often. Since I've been doing more portion control and adding in things that are NOT on South Beach and trying to simply watch calories I have been waking up in the middle of the night and eating. I have been CRAVING, CRAVING, CRAVING sugars, sweets and junk food.

Now, I cannot simply blame adding sugar into my diet for the binges and the eating. There is a much deeper side to this story as well. I have been in therapy for the past 10 months with an AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING woman who not only lost over 120 lbs and has kept it off for 6+ years, but is a compulsive over eater/binge eater as well. It was someone who could really understand where I was coming from and this led me to be incredibly comfortable with her. I felt like she was more of a friend than she was a stiff doctor. When I began seeing her a year ago she had told me there was a possiblity she would be moving which I was fine with. She was up front so you can't hate on that. So a few weeks ago she broke the news that she had finally sold her house and even though I was very excited for her and the journey she was getting ready to take off to I was very surprised at how much if affected me. I actually got a little choked up when she told me. I'm not sure which was more surprising, the fact that she had sold her house and was moving so quickly or the fact that I was emotional about it. Probably the latter.

This is going to sound weird but I feel a little abandoned. Both she and my chiropractor moved (although I was able to hunt down my chiro and he is in the same area YAY!). I felt like the 2 people who have done the best work on me both up and left and what am I supposed to do now? I have all of the tools I need to be able to control/overcome/manage my binge eating, it's just a matter of using them, but I def feel like since all of this went down and my schedule changed, etc that it's gotten out of control again.

I've been really great at maintaining, but I need to remember that I can do that when I reach my goal, which I am not at now. I need to remember that it's okay to have a planned diversion here and there, not EVERY weekend. I need to remember that there will always be a party, a graduation, a birthday, a camp out, a wedding, a Friday funday, sporting event, etc. etc. That does not give me a "get out of jail free" pass every single time to do as I please.

I KNOW these things, I've written about these things, I am aware of these things, but I need to start DOING these things.

So here is part of my plan:

*I need to will start planning out my meals again.
*I need to will start writing down EVERYTHING I am eating because it makes me think twice about what I am eating. (I have a handy food journal I bought that I have YET to use.)
*I need to will find a support system again.
*I need to will start going to the gym more consistantly - meaning 5 days a week.
*I need to will start doing weight training 3 times a week (meaning doing it even when I don't see my trainer).
*I need to will be doing 45 minutes of cardio 5 days a week. Which means if I only get in 25 minutes BEFORE training I still need to make up for the rest AFTER I'm done with my trainer.
*I need to will drink more water.
*I need to will drink less alcohol.
*I need to will start making SMALLER goals for myself. (ex. Instead of the goal being 170. I need to will make the goal 175. Instead of saying I'm going to go to the gym 20 times a month, I need to focus on the week at hand so I don't get overwhelmed.)
*I need to will start using my daily quotes/affirmation cards every day to help keep my eye on the prize.
*I need to will reward myself with things that do not involve alcohol or food, however at every 10 lbs lost I AM allowed to have a planned diversion meal. This is to help "reset" my body which my therapist suggested and told me I'm allowed to do. This is for ONE MEAL ONLY.
*I need to will go out of my comfort zone and start doing some classes here and there at my gym or going swimming. That was one of the reasons I wanted to go to the gym I'm at in the first place. I love my gym, but I'm shy and a little chicken when it comes to wanting to go to the classes because I feel like I'll look like an idiot.

Sorry for the novel people. I had about 3 months of shit to get off of my chest. :)

What will YOU start doing?

Um A month? Seriously?!

Wow. I had no idea it had been almost a whole month since I updated this thing.

The basic run down is this - I work for the school system. From the beginning of August to the end of September is our busiest time of the year (to put it mildly). The opening of the school year is SO hard and entails more than I could have ever imagined since I, prior to 2.5 years ago, had never worked in a school system or cared much about it.

I have realized (once again) that my weight loss is mostly foiled by my weekends. I can eat great on the week, work out 4-5 times a week (or lately 2-3 times..oops) and then I throw it ALL away on the weekend. I had bounced up at one point (after a wonderful long weekend at the beach that was no lie full of carb loading and beer) to 185.

I am happy to say that this morning the scale gods finally decided to have mercy upon me and I actually saw 178.8. Granted, I haven't been eating as MUCH as I should, but I have been completely on plan and it's probably okay because I haven't been working out really over the past week and a half.

I go BACK to my trainer tonight. She was on vacay last week, I had to cancel on Tuesday because I had too much work to do (poor planning on my part once again) and I know she is going to kick my ass.

The plan is that next week I will resume the 5 DAYS A WEEK at the gym with a more regular schedule including finally hitting up some of the classes I have yet to take advantage of at my awesome gym.

So here we go again.

I have 30 more lbs to lose to hit my first BIG goal and will be able to lose from there what I feel comfortable with..... By my birthday? Perhaps. By Christmas?! DEFINITELY!!!!

I hope you all have continued to do well on this journey. If there is one thing I have learned its that maintaining should be doable.... I have been getting lots of practice. LOL.

What's the best way to learn to run?

Sign up for a 5k!

Then get your friends to sign up with you so you have people that are PLANNING on running with you.

Holy shit.

I think I may have lost my damn mind.

In my last post I touched on the fact that I've always wanted to be a runner. To experience a runner's high and feel the freedom that I always hear about. However, I've NEVER been a runner and unsuccessfully completed C25K twice now.

I got this crazy idea in my head that I would force myself to do it if I signed up for a 5K. So I am. It's going to be December 4th.

I know this sounds bad but I don't really care what kind of run it supports (this happens to be arthritis), I just want to run a 5k and say OMG I did it!

This will be just before my ONE YEAR anniversary of starting a lifestyle change and a HUGE personal accomplishment.

Here's my plan:

On Monday I will be re-starting week 1 of C25K.

I figure even if it takes me 12 weeks to complete the program INDOORS that will give me another 6 weeks to train outdoors. Score!!!! I know that road running will be much different as well as running in the COLD. Even if I decide to do some training during the fall it's a hell of a lot cooler than the 110 degree heat indexes we've had here recently.

And... there may be some really exciting breaking news regarding this LATER. So keep an eye on this blogspot. ;)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

"It's time to worry about YOU and not everyone else..."

Is what I was told this morning. It should probably be a motto for me. I'll admit it I'm nosey. I gossip. That's something in the future I would like to work on (hooray, just one more thing to add on to the list)...

I admit that sometimes, when I post on the 3FC forum and I see that other people are heavier than me and wear smaller clothes it makes me really frustrated.

I understand that all bodies are not created equally.

Just because I understand that doesn't mean that it doesn't get to me.

So I was venting to my friend about someone who is almost 50 lbs heavier than me and only ONE inch taller than me that can wear a much smaller pant size. I'm still in the 16-18s and this person claimed they can wear a size 12. Granted, I do not know that it may be vanity sizing.

I have a big ass. Serious junk in the trunk. Big hips. Always have, probably always will. I love my curves, but I could stand to lose what I have dubbed my "hippo thighs."

My friend literally said to me "I'm putting my foot down, you need to worry about YOU and not worry about what everyone else is doing."

You know what? She's right on the money and I'm glad she put her foot down with me. That's exactly what I needed to hear right now.

Instead of being worried with what everyone else is doing, how much weight everyone else is losing, how people who ask me about weight loss but then refuse to do anything themselves are doing...

I need to be worried about bringing MY personal A-Game. I need to start being gracious for the things I have, for the things I'm doing for MYSELF. I'm not doing this for anyone else.... this is about ME. Worry about ME.

-----------------
I had a complete melt down last week. I never really realized just how important my schedule is to me. I had Monday off of work. My therapist took me out to dinner for my celebratory "You made it to the 170s" dinner on Tuesday. I completely forgot about my therapy appointment on Wednesday (first time I've done that). I thought I had a session with my personal trainer on Wednesday which I did not. Thursday I hit rock bottom. I became so frustrated with the routine of working out, eating well (ish), that I just mentally exhausted myself. This lifestyle change is NOT easy by any means. I'm constantly pulling back layers of myself (which is why I'm in therapy) and I was done for the week. D-O-N-E DONE!

I cancelled my training appointment on Thursday (a first for me which I'm kind of proud of, but not proud I cancelled), I didn't work out for the rest of the weekend and I ate whatever I wanted. Not cool.

TOM is here (and almost gone, YAY). I weighed in yesterday at 180.0. Not happy about it, but I'm really hoping it will go down after TOM has left for the month.

I got back to the gym yesterday afternoon which felt good after taking a week off. I don't have any PT appointments this week because in NOT making my appointment last week I wasn't able to sign up for my appointments THIS week and she didn't have any availability after I got off of work. So next week it is. I'm hoping to be able to have 3 sessions next week since I missed 1 this week.

I have some goals for myself. Some shorter term, but mostly LONG term.

I am *crossing fingers* buying my ticket for the SUPER FUCKING FABULOUSLY AWESOME 311 concert at the Fox Theatre in ATL on HALLOWEEN. They're doing an ultra rare set so I'm hoping the universe is still loving me and is holding a ticket for me.

My goal is to lose another 30 lbs (10 lbs per month) before then.

If I make this goal my other goal is to get a sexy/sassy Halloween costume. I've never worn one and I think I deserve/want this.

I'm thinking something along these lines:




OR



I am an Alice fan through and through but the Queen costume is super hot. Even I can admit that.

I've always wanted to be a runner. Mostly because I despise it. I felt like if I could become a runner that it would be a huge accomplishment because I hate running and have never felt able to do it or wasn't physically able to do it. I've tried doing the C25K program and floundered around and gave up twice now.

I want something to motivate me to do that. What more can motivate you than SIGNING UP FOR A 5K?

I have found 2 possible dates - November 6 or December 4. I posted on FB asking if any of my local friends are interested and already got a response. Soooo - I have about 14 weeks to train for it (if we decide on the Nov. 6 date). Honestly, I would like MORE training time because I'm scared, BUT I think it would be pretty damn cool to have a 5K under my belt 8 days shy of my 27th birthday.

That's all the big news I have for now. Time to get FOCUSED.

How do you all get focused on your goals?

HALF WAY: 30 down, 31 to go

I'm just as tired of bitching about my struggle with the 180s as you are of reading about it...

but the good news is I FINALLY BROKE MY PLATEAU!!!! I'm not really sure what kick started it. I had a very indulgent 4th of July weekend (which really meant I drank entirely too much Saturday night when out celebrating one of my best friend's birthdays).... then I didn't eat much for the next 2 days. I flew. Came home. Had chinese food one night... and have been eating on plan since then.

I jumped on the scale Saturday morning and was greeted by the number 177.2. HOLY SHIT!!!! I'M LOSING IT! FINALLY!!!!

My personal trainer had asked me to start a food journal. Of course who wants to show up to their trainer and have a list that says "I've been eating junk." It definitely helps for a bit of accountability.

Friday I planned out my shoe string budget meal. I had some staples I could use at the house, found recipes for a few things I could make this week, looked up some stuff online and budgeted accordingly. $25 later I came home with groceries for the week.

Eating this week consists of: egg mcmuffins for breakfast (whole wheat english muffin, 1 egg, a slice of american cheese and a little bit of mayo.

15 bean soup. Hobbit Shire Soup (found the recipe online, I'll post a recipe once I decide if it's edible or not), some whole wheat pasta (always a staple for a fat kid), apples, oranges, bananas, some fiber one bars (not completely OP, but it could be much worse), peanut butter, salads, turkey burger patties and veggies.

Sounds pretty yummy, huh?

Saturday night I went to go celebrate my brother's girlfriend's graduation. I hadn't seen some of those people since April. I was blown away by all of the nice compliments of how great I'm looking. Granted, I'm not letting it go to my head, but it's nice to have other people notice, especially when you've been busting your ass (literally) trying to make a difference.

On top of breaking into the 170s it really made me smile and has made me feel like my hard work is really paying off.

I am officially 30 lbs down. 31 lbs away from my goal of 145. Granted, I don't really know how I'll look when I get there, so there may be some tweaking, but to see 145 on the scale will be a HUGE accomplishment for myself. I can't remember the last time I saw that.

I've been tracking my food religiously (calories and all), doing my journaling and using the South Beach plan as a guideline. I haven't been tracking calories in the past and finally gave in. My trainer said with my work out routine I can eat about 1700 calories a day. Since Friday it seems that I have been anywhere between 1100 and 1500 which I'm fine with. She and I can talk about it this week (or this coming week).

This morning I weighed in at 176.8 which I am totally fine with. It's amazing how I went from bouncing around the same 3 lbs or so to being almost 5 lbs down and half way through the 170s already.

I'm hoping I can keep this momentum. I really feel motivated to kick these last 30 lbs.... I know it will be my hardest to get rid of, especially as I get closer to 145. It's making my birthday goal of 150 seem obtainable. What an amazing birthday gift to myself... "Happy birthday, here's a healthy version of YOU!"

The new school year starts August 25 and I also have a trip to Florida planned for Labor Day weekend. I would really love to be another 10 lbs down (165ish).

Time to bring my A-Game!