Checking In: Easter Goal Met!

It was the beginning of February when I decided that life needed to change and that I needed to move losing weight to the top of my to do list.  It took me a few weeks to really get going, but once I did, I realized that smaller goals in addition to my larger goal would help keep me going and give me things to strive towards along the way.  I even put reminders in my iphone to pop up on specific days asking me if I met my goal.

The first goal I set was to lose 15 pounds by Easter.  And yesterday, I was ecstatic when I got on the scale and had achieved this goal.  At 324, I am down 16 pounds.  It has seemed a little slow going at times, and I have found myself wondering if I am doing enough more than a few times .  Luckily at those times, I have my husband to remind me that we aren’t on the Biggest Loser and 10+ pounds a weeks isn’t really realistic.    So I keep going, proud of every pound that comes off.

My next goal is to lose 25 more pounds –down to 300–by the middle of May when I am making a trip back to WV to visit my family.  This goal may be a little out of reach…losing 5 pounds a week for the next 5 weeks…but, I will keep working towards it anyways and try to remember to be happy with the pounds that do come off.

Check in Time…A Little Early This Week

This morning I decided to go ahead and weigh myself and do a a check in post a couple of days early because of my plans for Family History Week starting tomorrow.  I wasn’t expecting too much this week…minus two days and a hockey game where I went a little overboard…

So I was ecstatic when I got on the scale and was down 4 pounds from Monday!  That puts me down to 328.4 which is 12 pounds down from where I started.  Weight loss has been slow going up to this point and so finally seeing a number like that does a lot for me both physically and mentally.  It definitely gives me a boost and makes me feel good about what I am doing so far.  And I am definitely ready to keep going making changes in my life.

Check In Time

Apparently I jinxed myself last week when I wrote about being excited for our new elliptical because that very night as my husband was working out, it broke.  This itsy bitsy little clip that holds the foot pedal on broke and it took us 4 days to get it figured out.  So, I still didn’t get my full week of working out, but I really kept a leash on my calorie count and it turned out pretty well.  I was even able to budget for St. Patrick’s Day so I didn’t feel bad about enjoying all that Irish food.

It has been 4 weeks since I first started on this journey and I am happy to say that since then, I am down 8 pounds.  It may not seem like a lot in a month, but I have to say that I am happy with how things are going.  The first couple of weeks were very difficult.  Nothing seemed to be happening and I was becoming super frustrated.  But now, I finally feel progress is being made and is going to keep being made.  I mentioned my short term goal was to be down 10 pounds by Easter, but I have revised that a bit.  My new goal is to be down to 325 by Easter.  So, I have exactly 3 weeks to lose another 7 pounds.  I am sure I can do this and if I work really hard I may even be able to get down to 320 which would help me even further towards my medium term goal of being down to 300 pounds by the middle of May when I head back to West Virginia for my brother’s graduation.  I have my long term goal, but I really am seeing the value of short and medium term goals.  It gives you something a bit more attainable to strive for…points along the way you can reward yourself for the hard work.  I am actually looking forward to next week’s weigh in just to see how well I am doing.

My New Fitness Track

So, I have definitely been avoiding posting about weight stuff because I was frustrated beyond measure with how things were going.  I was really trying to be good.  I was watching what I was eating and trying to do some sort of exercise…usually doing something on our Kinect, just to get my body going and yet, for the past couple weeks, I haven’t been losing weight.  I was just fluctuating within a five pound range.  Some days I was down a couple pounds and then back up…and on and on.  I am pretty sure this is why I fall off of diets so easily…I just wanted to scream.

Last week I made a suggestion to my husband that maybe we should take some of our tax return money and get a treadmill.  Something that I could get on and just mindlessly go.  I really wanted that mindless aspect.  He said I should look on craigslist because a lot of people put ones one there that are still in really good shape.  They buy them and then don’t use them and then try to unload them on craigslist.  He seemed to think that we could find a gently used one for a lot cheaper.  He was right.  There were a ton listed.  Finally after a couple days of looking and researching reviews on what we were finding, we ended up with an elliptical in very good condition and for about a third of the price we would have paid at a fitness store.  And thankfully, it wasn’t a serial killer who opened the door when we showed up.  Just a couple in their forties whose kids were getting ready to graduate and wanted some more room and a little extra cash.  And I have to say, I am definitely liking the elliptical better than I think I would have a treadmill.  It is lower impact and works your muscles a little harder.  I have been using our new elliptical for the past 3 days and I am feeling really good about where I am.

Besides the elliptical, my husband and I also joined the online weight-loss community at My Fitness Pal.  This is a place where you can talk to other people trying to lose weight and also keep track of the weight you are losing.  When you sign up for a free account, you are asked some basic questions and then the site tells you how many calories a day you should stay under in order to lose weight.  On this site, you can also keep track of your food and calories as well as your exercise.  Besides the website, you can also download a free app for your smartphone to help you keep track of everything.  Actually recording what I am eating and seeing how many calories a food is worth has been helpful and very eyeopening.  I have done a great deal of overhauling my normal meals in order to make them healthier.  If you are using this or decide you want to feel free to friend me.  My username is Ktemple55 so feel free to look me up and we can help each other along the way.  You may also have noticed the little ticker widget on the right hand side of my page as well.  A good way to keep me honest.

I am also loving the fact that my husband and I have finally gotten on the same page and are doing this together. Usually only one of us is motivated at a time…never together.  But let me tell you, it makes so much of a difference having him help and push me along the way.  I know that I am finally on the right track to really start losing the pounds and I am super excited to get going.  My new short term goal is to be down ten pounds by Easter (or maybe more).  So, I will check back in next Monday after a full week of being able to use the elliptical and keeping track of my food and see where we are then.

Weighing In…Let the Journey Begin!

Okay, so even though I know that there is no one reading the blog as of yet, the prospect of talking about how much I weigh is more than a little terrifying. However, I am hoping that the terrifying aspect is just what I need to help stay on track.

My story starts literally at the beginning. I have been overweight for the better part of my life. In first grade, my teacher had two t-shirts she was going to give to people in our class and I got one and my best friend at the time got the other because the shirts were bigger sizes and we were the two biggest kids in class. At the time I remember being so excited to have gotten a new t-shirt. Now, I realize that it probably wasn’t a great thing (okay, it was definitely a bad thing.) Things didn’t change too much as I continued up through school. In high school, I played volleyball, softball, and was in the marching band and while I may have dropped a couple of pounds during their respective seasons, it was nothing major and nothing that lasted. College didn’t bring major weight gain, but it added enough.

By the end of my four years there, I was convinced that I would never find a man who would love me for the way I was. Yes, looking back, it was fairly irrational on my part, but when you get bombarded with alumni, all you hear are stories of people who met their spouse while at college and I hadn’t even been on a date in four years. It was more than a bit disconcerting. It led me to do the one thing I didn’t think that I would ever do. I joined an online dating site (actually a couple of them). Being overweight and putting yourself out there in this sort of forum didn’t help with self-esteem, but I will never regret it because I did meet my husband this way and today we are very happy with two beautiful children.

So, I find myself at the age of 29 and happy with almost everything about my life…except my weight. I know in my head that it isn’t going to get easier to lose weight as I get older so if I want to do it and make sure I live to see my children grow up, then I need to do it now. I have tried several different things to lose weight but not with good results and in truth I probably didn’t put in the effort I could or should have. So here I am now, ready to work hard at this and also writing about the trials and tribualtions of losing weight in the hopes of shedding a few (or a lot) pounds along way.

Well, here it is…today I weighed in at 336.4 pounds. My goal weight is 180 so only…156 pounds to lose. Easy, right? Well, now it is out there in the universe so let the journey begin!

Please feel free to share your story with me and we can go on this journey together.