Short and Sweet

Well, I am not going to drag this one on, straight to the point. I fell off the bandwagon on working out and excercising, there are a million reasons why I can go on about but I am choosing not to.

Things have been very stressful lately, but I was told by a friend of mine that excerise will help me with that stress and I am going to go for it. I am going to lose myself in workouts.... and hope to block out all of the things going on.

I know in a sense that is not healthy, but its something that I have always done. I might as well do it this time in a way that may be beneficial.

I have begun tracking all of my food as well again in the past few weeks, I didnt think it was necesary since I was not eating much, but I know that it is.

On a great note.. NK concert is approaching fast, I found a great group for my 5* and I am excited to see Julie soon as well!

Aj♥

Keeping it Moving

Well, yesterday I was discouraged a bit. I had spent the whole week tracking foods, excercises and staying within my caloric limits. I moved much more than I have been lately by walking everyday etc... and I could feel the burn in my legs. When I weighed in yesterday I had only lost .4lbs that is barely a half of a pound. I keep telling myself that maybe next weeks weighin will be better. As I have noticed in the past sometimes it is reflected on a week in advance, and that goes for both good and bad. Sometimes if I am expecting a bad weighin and do not have one, I actually do the next week, or vice versa.

So, with that being said, I am going to brush off my shoulders and keep moving. I hate that the weather has been so hot and muggy already. It is not supposed to get like this until the end of the summer. I am mad that the weather is taking over all of my nice spring days i was looking forward to . The nice spring breezy weather or even 80 degrees at that makes me very motivated and energized compared to it being cold or muggy and hot and unbearable.

On another note, we almost purchased a house and became overwhelmed and decided to hold off for a while, but not too long because we want to find one before next April. There is one that we were looking at the downfall is that it is a three bedroom compared to that of a four bedroom. but we are going to go look at it again. We had found a four bedroom with a double living room that we really liked (the one we were going to purchase) but there are 2500$ CDD/HOA fees every year and we do not know if we want that. (in this particular HOA).. if it would have beenin the one with all the great amenities it would have been different....

So...... hmmm..

Anyways! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day,

Love
AJ♥

LONG Overdue Blog

Well, it has been WAY too long since I have blogged and my past few have been ups and downs with this new life changing process. I have been a bit depressed, had some other setbacks but I am on the right road again and it feels good.

I have so much motivation once again to keep moving in this direction. Although I may have stumbled a few times, as the time goes on I learn more and more about myself and my habits. This allows me to recognize when I may be partaking in a food that may not be doing justice to me or my goals. As well as allowing me to feel guilty when I am not moving around as I should be.

The past few days have been cool and breezy and in the mid to upper 70s. I have found that these are the days that I am most motivated compared to that of hot and muggy days or cold days. I wish everyday could be like these. Too bad I cannot find a place to live where it is always like this. Its too hard to determine especially with the worlds crazy weather patterns. I am hoping that these high summer temps were were having are going to settle down for a bit and we can enjoy spring some more.

On another note, we decided to take a little step back from house hunting. It added too much stress and was uncomfortably overwhelming at the moment. we will continue to browse but...... In the process of all of these new changes I am better learning how to budget things and get rid of unneccesary costs etc that we have. For instance last year we got rid of our cable that we barely used, now i just cut out our dvd portion of our netflix which we also never use. it is just too nice here the majority of the time to sit and watch tv, and when we do its the local shows anyways. I did keep the streaming for those just in case days (for now anyway) lol

We went back home and cleaned out the rest of our storage as well, which will also give us extra money and less stuff! score! I have had that thing for many years and it was so relieving and refreshing to finally call it quits!!

anyway, i guess thats enough for today

love you all!!!!!!

get out there and move!!!

Love,
AJ

Back to Basics

Well, its been a while since I have blogged and about a month I think that I have been off track some. I gained 1.5lbs over the past two weeks, which is to be expected since I had family here and was not even trying to pay attention to what I was eating. In addtion to that I had a birthday that I was not looking forward to and it has been very HOT here in this Sunshine state adding to my spooling emotions.  Thankfully we were moving around alot, or I would have gained alot more. I am still a bit away from where I started which is good. But I actually feel gross. My body is begging for healthy food and excercise and I am ready to get back on track. 

I started tracking again this morning and although I have more family coming, and will also be going home this month, I am going to do my best at staying on the right path. The good thing is that not only do I feel I need and have to, I WANT to. 

I feel like I am sooo sick of food. Its not that I have been eating tons and tons of it, or anything that is very fattening or anything persay... cant really explain it. But nothing sounds good and I am glad! I think its because i have had every TYPE of food lately. Mexican, Italian.. etc. This past weekend we went back to the basics. Veges, small portion of meat, if any etc.. and it felt good. My body was happy! 

Although I have alot of homework in the next few days, and my skin is burnt, I am still going to try to get in some good cardio as well.

I wish you all the best in your own continued success! 

AJ♥

Well thats enough of that!

Well.........hmmm..... where to begin. 

The past few weeks have been extremely challenging for me. My father was in critical care again, school has been sucking, I was on my period, I have been in a funky mean, mad, irritated and emotional mood. I got out of the pattern of tracking my foods and I started eating whatever comfort foods I wanted. I know some of it has to do with my weird period cycles which I have had my whole life because of the endometriosis. It feels like the whole process consumes three weeks out of a month for me compared to the normal one. My emotions and cramps etc start two weeks prior to when I actually start. It would be okay to know that was coming but my cycles are always so messed up too. Sorry to whatever male may be reading this, but I think its important. In addition to that I am going to be 30 in a few weeks and it scares the hell out of me. I am not where I wanted to be at this age, especially health wise.  I have not been working out as much as I would like either and I just generally feel like crap because of these changes. 

Thankfully, and I do not know how. I have been pretty lucky.  The first week I lost 1.1lbs still and the second week I only gained .9 so these bad habits have kind of balanced themselves out. I do not know if I will be as lucky come Monday again. I tried to get back on track at the beginning of the week but found it very difficult. But today I started back up and feel great. 

The good news is that my mind and body have somewhat changed for the better and begun the mind process, because even though I was doing bad, I still did some good things without trying. I still ate some healthy meals and actually I ate more vegetarian meals the past few weeks than anything else. I still went on a few very long walks without thinking about it really. 

But there are so many other things that are getting me down. I know that I am going to be 30 and I know that I am not as attractive as I can be, nor do I ever know that I ever was. I have spent all of my "younger" years being fat and unhappy and now I am afraid that when and if I do lose all this weight, I still will not be beautiful. I know my husband thinks that I am, and that the weight doesnt really bother him (which sometimes, I feel acts as an enabler), but I do not feel attractive, especially in the past few months and I know its hurting our relationship some. 

I just get so tired of the up and down few pounds no matter how hard I try. I want to go to a doctor and find out if there is something causing this, but we do not currently have insurance. It is too expensive through his work and when we went this past weekend to look at getting independant insurance we were told that they would not take me because I was too big. TELL ME THAT doesnt insult you to the bone. I felt horrible. He will not get insurance without me, and now I feel like I am holding him back from getting the care he needs too. 

Anyways, I am going to try to keep pushing forward and finding things that I enjoy. I just got done boxing and it felt sooo good. I just need to throw something else in there besides walkng and boxing and the occasional swimming (which will get more frequent soon) I am thinking abotu getting a exercise bike, the kind with the chair and not the seat. (those seats cut into me and it hurts). I tried one out at the store and said to myself I could do this for quite some time without getting up so I might try that. 

I also am going to bust out my rollerskates and attempt to get back at that too. I do not have anyone who will go to the rink with me, so Ill start outside and teach Noah and Dave to do it. 

I am excited to be starting all over again, and thankful that I my setback did not bring me back to my starting weight. 

Thanks for listening and especially thanks to Valencia for holding me accountable. 

Love you all, 

AJ ♥

Short and Sweet

Okay, I am going to make this a quick and to the point one.

I have been going through ALOT and fell off the bandwagon a little. I DO NOT KNOW how, but I still managed to lose over a lb the past week. I know that will not be my fate two weeks in a row. As soon as Monday comes I am going to jump back on and take control back, no matter what the scale tells me..

Thats all...

AJ ♥

Disappointed

Well, I weighed in today and I was hoping for another great week but I knew in my heart that was not going to happen. There was only one or two days that I slightly went over my calorie intake for the day, and I thought that I would still be okay since I was still thousands of calories less than I used to consume. I cannot think that way though, because I allow myself to enable myself to eat more.

I did not feel the greatest this week and I had alot less activity as well. I still boxed a few times this past week and went on many walks, but it was just not enough to offset those extra calories I was intaking. I think my biggest problem was that we went out to eat too many times. last week when I had a big loss, we had only done our friday night pizza. This week, we went out for BBQ one night, we went out on friday instead of pizza, and I had Jimmy Johns for lunch and Saturday we went out for lunch since we were out of town. NOW I must say that I am somewhat still proud of myself though because I chose what I thought to be the most healthy things on the menu, and I did not finish any of them, or keep the leftovers. In addition to that, even though I did not want to, I still tracked everything. In my tracking, it put me less than what I needed for the day, but I assume that there were still things like fat grams that set me over as I was not able to track those, or how the food was completely prepared. I also became very full on those meals and didnt eat much the rest of the day, which is unlike my usual eating of small meals all day long.


So when I weighed in this morning I was +0.7lbs. I suppose that it is good that with all that had happened this week I didnt even gain 1 lb. Close, but ... Anyways.

I am going to just pick up my spirits and think to myself this is a new week, I KNOW where I went wrong and I am going to avoid that... I also asked David to PLEASE help to prevent that from happening. Such as putting ourselves in situations in which we have to go out to eat because we are away from home. If we do, we will pack a lunch like we do most of the time and have a picnic.


I still feel very dizzy today, but I am not going to let that stop me from doing my best.

AJ♥

SOOOO EXCITED!!!!!

Well, after a long week of what actually didnt feel bad..... I LOST 2.4 lbs!!!! Last night I was starting to get really anxious and discouraged wondering if when I stepped on the scale today it was going to reflect all of my changes in the past week because I worked hard to keep up with this new plan and goals I made for myself, but it paid off and I am soo happy. I know I may not always have weeks like this but I feel great and by last night I actually felt like I had a routine going that I can stick with. I am going to keep at the same pace because if I push any harder right now I think it will burn me out. When I reach a plateau I will step it up some. 

I have been logging every single calorie that I eat, and I now find myself planning ahead of time compared to the other times when I would attempt to log calories. Now I find out how many calories a certain meal is going to be and I set a plan for the day. Before I would just count at the time of eating and I would be like "OOPs, guess I cant eat for the rest of the day, because this one meal took up all my calories".. But now I KNOW how much I will have after a certain meal, and lately I have had about 200-300 left each day, and not even feeling like it. I have cut my calorie intake down at least 1000 a day. I am at 1700 a day, that is what was reccommended and that feels right. The first few days I struggled, but now I am good. I cannot believe that last night I was only at like 1300 for the day. I know that alot of people will say that is too little, but if I feel okay and my body is not feeling like I am getting ill from it, then why not? I do not try to do that though. I try to eat 1700 but I have been eating snacks in between meals, and I just think I found alot of snacks that are filling but do not have many calories so that is why. And the snacks are good for me. Like a few crackers and a string cheese. 

Also, I have been boxing ever other day, for the whole week and I am going to keep that up. I am only at 15 mins right now, but I feel good with that. I have been doing any little thing to keep moving, David used to help me a ton with the household chores but now I have been taking those on before he even gets home in order to burn more calories, I have been doing all the laundry, dishes, cooking etc.. and it feels great. We still go for a few short walks a day, and I have been finding new activities just to keep me moving. Like taking Noah to storytime at the library or bookstore, or going shopping. This week I even tackled grocery shopping with just Noah, and without David. 

I feel great and I am excited to keep moving on this journey! I feel that my mind is changing, and I think that is a key factor as well! 

Thanks for listening! And if you are on a journey yourself, I encourage you to find what works for YOU and not what everyone else is telling you. Well bits and pieces, but take in what works for you and leave the rest.... Its all about how you feel, and if you feel crappy on a plan you are on, its not going to work.

Oh and get a great support system, cuz I know I have wonderful friends and family and a loving husband and son who inspire and encourage me daily!! 

Love 

AJ

Guilty....

So yesterday I tried to make a healthy choice for my lunch at Chik Fil A, but I did not do so when I walked in. I was all set with it up until that point, and I failed I had the usual with was well over 1200 calories. The good thing was that I had not eaten too many calories before hand and I was full for the rest of the day until I had a snack at night. So I did not go too much over my daily intake, but I did not eat great food either, and I felt weak that I could not make the best decision. I beat myself up yesterday and then I moved on. I feel better today, and I am off to another great start today. I am about to get some boxing in and a walk later before or after dinner. The weather is better today. It is up around 70. Yesterday it was 50 and gloomy out.. I am sure that had some to do with it, and the way I was woke up. I am looking forward to this weekend, we found a new park that we are going to go and take a long walk at, and we decided to take it easy and hang out by the pool. I am still in the mood to purge things out of my closet, which includes a huge bin of things I kept as memories... I will not get rid of all of them, but I really hope to get rid of some more. This helps with my stress. As I have gotten older, less has become more, and makes me happy. I HATE clutter and it brings me down.

By tracking my foods and calories, and using Calorie Counter website, I was also able to find out what I am getting too much of and not enough of. No surprise that I do not get enough Iron, I have struggled with that my whole life. Supposed to be taking iron pills. and also No surprise that I get too much sodium in a day... I really need to cut back on that. I love salty things.... and I eat alot of carbs..

Anyway, I will leave it at that today, before I start rambling on..

AJ

I did it!

So yesterday was a struggle because I woke up to loud lawn care and strong scents from the neighbors and the pollen was coming in the house all day long. It was hard to breathe and I had a constant sinus headache.. However, I still managed to go for a walk, do laundry, clean and box for 15 minutes. I did 1000 punches and it felt good. The other great thing is that I only went 67 calories over my suggested daily intake of 1700. The day before I consumed 2500 calories I am ashamed to say. I do not know how normal people that consume 2000-4000 cannot all be extremely over weight. It was only difficult at night, when of course biggest loser was on. But I did it. I had some steamed asparagus for a snack (I burned my hand though :(), and then later I had three triscuits and a string cheese. When I was going to bed I did feel a little dizzy, but I guess that would be expected when your calorie intake is 1000 less than what your body is used to. Surprisingly though, I did not feel that hungry throughout the day.

Today is going to be another challenging day for me. I had so much energy for about a week and then the last few days I have been waking up feeling like I didnt even go to sleep. I blame it on the weather and my allergies. Its only 65 right now compared to that of 85 yesterday although it is going to warm up more. But my sinuses hurt really bad again. The news crew said the pollen is going to keep getting worse through the week. I thought when I heard about it in Michigan in was bad, but it is actually extremely visible here. I have to keep dusting yellow film off from my furniture all the way into the middle of my house even. :(

Anyways.. I am tired today, and when I am tired or not feeling well I tend to CRAVE junk food, or greasy food. We promised Noah the other day we would take him to Chick fil A, which is actually somewhat healthy and all fresh foods so I guess if I am going to have a challenging day, I might as well eat there today, but I will check the nutrition info on the menu before we go and select the best option. I will get through this day to the best of my ability....

Take care,

AJ

Tracking helps

So its evident that tracking does help point out to me where I am going wrong... I did not want to add last nights calories in. I did not eat anything unhealthy for dinner, but where I went wrong was that I had a second turkey sloppy joe... and of course that meant that my nightly snack would then set me over my daily calorie intake.. So I think that I am great up until dinner time and then I either eat too much at dinner, or I eat too much at night.

This is very disappointing as I went over my calorie intake by about 500 last night. It sucks because I had alot of activity yesterday. I took Noah to the park in the morning, did some light boxing, went through alot of things in the guest room, cleaned like crazy, and went for a nightly walk. 

As I have been on this journey, I have been making my own plans with a combination of different programs. Today I figured out about how many weight watcher points I get, and I am going to try to figure that in as well. Its just one more thing to hold me accountable. Soon I will figure out what works for me, and if not I am going to have some testing done, to figure out what is preventing me from succeeding.


The good thing is that I have no issues with junk foods like most people do, that is not my weakness. My weakness appears to just be eating too much at night. Even of the good stuff. I am going to work on finding things that fill me up more, and things to keep my mind busy at night, especially while I am watching tv, and especially tonight during Biggest Loser. Ironically, I eat more during this show than any other show. AND this is the show that is the most inspiring to me... I think it is because they bring up so many emotions during this show...

Anyway that is enough for today.. I am going to brush off yesterday and try to do better today.. I do not think I have as much energy as yesterday because I was woke up early to loud noises and strong scents coming in my windows... and my allergies are going crazy.. but I WILL try to do as much as I can!!


Thanks for listening,

Amanda

Im Back

Well I have not blogged in a while. Mostly because I was very discouraged. I was working so hard and eating right and over the past three months I have just been up and down with the same 3-5lbs. I have always had issues with metabolism. I do not eat like crazy. In fact I do not even like that many "junk food" items, I just cannot get my body to burn off what I am eating. If I had insurance I would go and try to evaluate what exactly is causing my metabolism to do this, and which foods I particularly need in order to get it moving. I own all of Jillian Michaels books and they describe this in them, but I do not know which ones to apply. Anyways, now that the weather has been gorgeous again down here. I wake up with so much energy. I managed to get the boys to keep the house clean all weekend even! It was so nice waking up today with no laundry or anything to hold me back. It also helps that my current class, a Sociology class is not stressing me out and holding me down. I cannot wait to finish school. I am officially burned out. 

I was looking back on the times when my weight was the smallest, and besides the time I was sick, it was when I was working my butt off. Either a million hours at work, or multiple jobs and activities. I knew that I would eat small amounts all day in between during these times too. So that tells me that my biggest issue right now is not moving around enough. Since I have been struggling with the weird effects of working out too much and not eating enough during those times, I decided that I am just going to put as much regular excercise and moving around in my days as I can. That means taking Noah to the park each day, walking to get the mail, cleaning and going through things in the house...etc.. and I will add long walks, my new boxing equip and the treadmill a few times a week. I have no problem having an extensive workout, or eating few calories, but I just cannot seem to mix those two, because then I have issues with low sugar, or low blood pressure. So for now I will lower the calories, monitor them and add more activity that is less intense and see how that works..

I want to thank all of my friends who have not only been my inspiration but have also been encouraging me as well. 

I love you all, and I am so proud of you! 

Aj

I do not understand!

Well I weighed in this morning and apparently I gained .9 for the week. I do not understand. I worked out like crazy this week. Probably more than any other week. Although I did have a few weird days with my sugar. I do not understand that. On the days where my calories are real low due to loss of appetite, I have the sugar attacks, then have to eat more but still on these days, or on the days in which I may go out to eat, I am still always below the calorie intake, or right at it. This week, my goal is to go from today until next Wed at least, without eating out even once, even if its a healthy place. I want to see if this makes any difference or not. This is going to be especially hard on the weekends. That is my most challenging time. Especially when we are out doing things. Wish me luck, and I am going to fight back harder this week! I need to get to the bottom of this and what is occurring and what I need to change.

Ps. We were going to go out and look for some boxing equipment today, but I may wait until Friday, for something to do to get out of the house, because I am really wanting to get a few great hours of exercise in tonight.

Amanda

Catch Up!

Well, I haven't posted in a few days, its been busy with homework etc.. On Saturday we went to the circus, and I ate a bunch of junk that day. Not anything too unhealthy and in moderation but still. On a good note though, We had went outside and did a lot of walking after we returned home, went to the gym for a while and played some basketball. It was a good day. Sunday, I did not feel so well. Spent most of the day in bed, or in front of the TV, watching my Bears lose their spot in the Superbowl. I didn't eat a whole lot, but did have Arby's for lunch that day. so I felt bad about that. Today, I tried to start things out right. I had a yogurt for breakfast (even though I usually do not eat breakfast) about half of my cup of coffee, a smart ones meal for lunch, and salad and soup for dinner. Before Dinner we had went for a long walk and lifted weights in the gym. I did not eat nearly as many calories as I was allowed for the day, but did not feel hungry either. At about 630 I began to get very blurred vision, extremely dizzy and felt like I was not breathing right, and started freezing. Of course this sent me into panic attack mode, because I am at home alone with a three year old. I was unsure whether to eat something or if it would make it worse. So I decided to have a pudding and drink some water since I had just remembered I had almost NOTHING to drink all day, even though I had not been thirsty. I have struggled with that my WHOLE life, those who know me understand. But even when I was a baby. I have been to the hospital I cannot even count how many times in my life for IV fluids and dehydration. Anyways I still was not feeeling great and realized it was probably my blood sugar and my blood pressure from working out, reducing calories etc... same thing happened a few months ago. I ate a few tortilla chips and laid on my back. After about 40 more minutes I started to feel normal again. but then, as David was coming home from work, I had him stop and get some food because I was starving, so here I ate at 10pm.. I feel so horrible! I HATE the fact that I can go for multiple testing on my blood sugars for diabetes etc.. and it always shows borderline hypoglycemic (my whole life) and things like this happen, but not when I am being tested. I know a lot of it was my blood pressure I am sure from lifting weights etc... On days when I eat a lot more, like Saturday it does not happen. The stupid thing is that I was not even hungry to eat more most of the day. So now, I try to do good and my body rejects it. I hope this pattern stops at some point. ANYWAY, thanks for listening as I ramble on. I guess we will see on Wed when I weigh in, how this awful and at the same time great week went. Tomorrow it is supposed to be severe thunderstorms and possible tornado warnings with 60mph winds. The news people said not to go outside so I guess I will just take it easy tomorrow and do some cleaning around the house to burn calories. Floors need to be mopped. I am going to take a break from homework tomorrow too! At least I am on my last week of this 4 credit insane class! 

AJ

Yesterday was great!

So yesterday we managed to stay outside in the beautiful weather for two hours, walking, lifting weights at the gym and just having fun. It felt really good. Last night, I caved a little with a snack that probably was not so healthy but I did fairly well the rest of the day so I do not think I went too much over my calorie intake, I havent added that last thing yet so we shall see. Today, has not been an easy day to get a workout in so far. However, i have been running around the house nonstop since I woke up. I have laundry going, two crockpots of my famous white chicken chili. I am taking one of them up to the clubhouse for the community chili cookoff. Hoping to win first prize of 100$ or at least second or third for less money. I am confident about winning, but I feel anxious about being around people that I do not know, especially with only Noah since David is working doubles. I just keep telling myself that it is only for a few hours and that maybe I will meet some nice people. Although much of my experience with this community has not been to my liking in the past year. Most of the people are really young couples, or rowdy college kids. So we will see. Nonetheless it is beautiful out again. So glad that we have gotten past that huge cold spell and hoping it does not return. I have actually been able to turn the heat off the past few days.

On another note, I found all of my Jillian Micheal and Biggest Loser books. Think I will start reading those again. I have my homework finished for the day and am looking forward to the second episode of Idol tonight. I just need to watch my "wanting to eat snacks" while watching television. MOst of the time they are healthy snacks, but sometimes I just want to keep eating more and more.

Ok, I think that is it for today, or for now anyways :)

A-

Inspiration

Well here is the first day to my new blogging, another step on my journey. One of my friends who is also on a new lifestyle change had started a blog and I began to read it daily and it inspired me to create my own. I believe this will help me to not only log my feelings but to be real with myself and be able to see it all in writing. I lost another 1.1lb this past week, not alot but its going in the right direction at least. Went for a few walks last week. Did about 20 minutes of cardio today with Bob Harper on my Wii Biggest Loser game. It felt good. I feel good today. Still tired though. I think I need to start using my breathing machine at night to help with that. Any more energy would be fabulous. Going to extend our walking time and length today. It is another beautiful day outside. I have been doing really well on new food items and recipes too. I think I will post some of the great recipes on here! Okay that is all for now! 

In the words of my fav boys NKOTB, Lets Get This!!!!!!!