#172 Weekly Weigh In

Last night at weigh in, I had a loss. I lost another .6 (point 6) pounds making my total which brings my total weight loss to date at 34.2 I believe. A loss is a loss right? I know I should be happy that I am headed in the right direction but I can help but wish I would loose more than a half a pound each week. At this rate I won't reach my goal of 40 pounds at Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is 4 weeks away.

Last night I had to buy an new 3 month tracker. So in an effort to make a change, I decided that a New Book meant a New Challenge. Meaning I sort of created a challenge for myself. This challenge will last till Thanksgiving Day. So below are the rules of the challenge. Those that should accept will be able to reward themselves how they see fit.

The Rules:

Rule #1: Track everything that enters your mouth.

Rule #2: Drinking sodas including diet and caffeine free is prohibited. I think this rule will be the hardest for me cause I so love my diet coke. However Crystal Light is allowed.

Rule #3: No fast food of any kind except Subway. This means no McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell,  Chick-fil-a, etc. This may be hard as Rule #2 but if I reach my goal of 40 pounds then it will be worth it.

Rule #4: Earn more Activity points. This means, for me, to put my ActiveLink to good use. I must earn at least 2/3 Activity points per day. Last night at weigh in I had a light bulb moment; I have to my baseline with the ActiveLink before any activity points are recorded.

Rule #5: Cook more.

Rule #6: If you achieve the goal you set for yourself, celebrate.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

#171 Hump Day

Well i kind of decided that I wanted to start the Hump Day blog post a little differently. It is sort of redundant to state at the beginning that it is Hump Day. Also by now everyone should know that I am nervous for tomorrow's weigh in. So from now on, I will try to steer clear of those 2 topics.

For the past two and a half years I have been on a weight loss journey.  I have been yo yo dieting my entire life and this weight loss journey is no different. I have hit several plateaus and have had many ups and downs. For example after my cousins wedding about a year ago, I stayed at 30 pounds lost for approximately 4 to 5 months. Needless to say I haven't lost that much more. Right now I am sitting at around 34 pounds. My goal for Thanksgiving was to get to the 40 pound mark. I have to think positively that I will accomplish this. I have about a month left. Lets just hope that I don't totally screw it up.

As everyone knows last week I had a burst of motivation and I exercised pretty much every day. This week not so much. I kind of took off exercising this weekend which I shouldn't have done. It was probably cause I only lost point 4 pounds last week and got a little discouraged. When I set my goal, I thought sure I can easily lose 5 pounds. It has proved to be harder to accomplish than I thought. However there is still time.

As my weight goes down, I have found the my inner fashionista is coming out more and more. I have found that I am caring more and more about my outer appearance. Before I was always the "fat girl," which was probably all in my head. I know I shouldn't say that and if people knew I felt that way they wouldn't understand. However I have always been the bigger girl my entire life so I would hide behind that and my personality. I was lazy and didn't really care what I looked like. I have still have this constant fear and I have dreamed about it that I will wake up one morning and will look in the mirror and all my weight will come back.

I did a little Zumba for the Wii last night earning myself 4 activity points for the day. It usually is a lot more but I didn't do an entire hour like usual, but I still did something right?

I am going to change topics.

I have stated before that I am donating my hair to Locks of Love. So last night after my hair was dried I kind of measured my hair. To get the cut I want, I have to grow it about 7 more inches. Below is what I would like my hair to look like once I cut it except I really like my "wisps." I want something short enough that I will actually wear it down but long enough so that I can put it up in a pony tail if need be.

So sticking with the hair topic; my hair started off down and lasted for maybe 2 hours. My goal tomorrow (weigh in) is to wear it down all day. Lets hope I can do it. I don't know why I keep putting it up. This morning for instance, I spent a lot of time straightening it. Why on earth would I put it up?

Well I think that is enough rambling. Have a great day!!!!

#170 Confessions

• I think I need to come up with a new name for the Confessions post. So any suggestions will be welcomed. I never been really great when it came to naming things.
• Friday we celebrated both my cousin's and aunt's birthday at Rotolo's Pizza. The food and desert was great and delicious, but I totally blew my WW points plus. Also, I only earned 1 Activity point that night, but hey the food was fantastic and I really enjoyed it. Granted I would have done better if I had ordered a thin crust, but oh how I love me some pan pizza. 
• Last week, I had this amazing motivation when it came to exercising and earning activity. This week not so much. I just couldn't get my butt over to my house to zumba for the wii. Tonight I will make myself do it. Last night's zumba class was so much fun. 
• I am still trying to figure out my ActiveLink. Last night it said that I only earned 4 Activity points for the day, but if I calculate from the WW website, I get more activity points. ATTENTION MY WW MEMBER READERS WHO HAVE THE ACTIVELINK: So here is what I think. It tracks based on all the activity you earn during the day. It is trying to get you to earn more during the day. 
• Honestly I really have been tracking my food intake all week. I may not be perfect in it, but who is? It is a plus that I do it. I seem to do better Monday through Thursday. On Friday I kind of slack off, but I still track. When I really think about it, who actually sees my tracker? Me and maybe my leader. 
• I am so ready for this election to be over. I am so glad it is 2 weeks away.

#169 Weekly Weigh In

TGIF!!!!!!!! It is the start of a new week for my weight loss journey. I had a loss of .4 pounds (point 4). That is nearly half a pound. A loss is a loss right? Don't get me wrong I am excited to have lost weight instead of gained. I am moving in the right direction. I just thought with all the exercise/activity I did that I would have lost more. Maybe it will show up next week. Lets hope my motivation continues this next week.

I still have 5.8 pounds to go to reach my 40 pound goal lost before Thanksgiving. I have about 4 weeks. If my calculations are right, I I have to lose about 1.5 pound each week from now on. To be realistic, I don't know if I will accomplish my goal which will be disappointing. So I have to keep saying like The Little Train that Could, "I think I can; I think I can."

What has to change? I need to stop snacking so much at night especially on chocolate. I need to stop drinking so many diet cokes and drink a lot more water. I really need to pay attention to what I actually put in my mouth. I need to eat more veggies and fruits and less junk food. Hey, it is just one month, I can don't anything for one month right? With this small change and if I can continue with all the exercise, I think I just may be able to accomplish that task at hand and get to my goal of 40 pounds lost. 

The Color Run: I am training for this 5K but not in the usual way. I think my doing an hour of Zumba each day will probably work instead of getting on that darn treadmill. It is on 3.1 miles so I think I can do it. The last time I did a 5K (the one WW use to have), I finished in 50 minutes. My goal is to finish under 50 minutes. I just want to beat my time.

Last night's meeting was what I needed. It was about Late Night eating. So this week I will really pay attention to what I am eating especially at night. I am keeping my fingers crossed. 

Have a great weekend!!!!!!

#168 Face the Scale

It's Thursday everyone and you know what that means....it's weigh in day. I am so nervous and that is to say the least. This week something got into me and God sent me some motivation or it may just be my ActiveLink. I pretty much have done some kind of Activity everyday this week except Sunday and mostly it has been Zumba and Zumba Wii. Below is my Activity breakdown:

Friday--6 Activity Points

Saturday--6 Activity Points

Sunday--0Activity Points

Monday--4 Activity Points

Tuesday--6 Activity Points

Wednesday--5 Activity Points

Total--27 Activity Points

Lets just hope that I can keep this up. I am looking forward to find out if all my efforts have paid off. My goal is to get as close to the 40 pound mark before Thanksgiving. Lets hope I can make it. I am looking forward to to being in a new decade. 

Sometimes my effort for this week won't show up till next week. 

#167 Hump Day

Morning all!!!!! It is 1/2 way to Friday. Tomorrow is weigh in, and of course I'm nervous. Why? Cause I never know what will happen.

My body is sort of exhausted from all the Zumba I have been doing this week. I often refer to a week, but let me explain a little something. When I say my week, I am really talking about my weight loss weeks which is from Friday to Friday. Now that that is a little more clear lets get back to the subject at hand. Since Friday I have earned a total of 22 Activity points. I pretty much done Zumba everyday except Sunday. This is a complete change then what I was doing before; lets just hope I can keep up this momentum. The little thing I wear on my bra strap is the main reason I think I have had a burst in motivation.
This little thing records every movement I do. The ActiveLink is sort like WW's version of the BodyBug.

My ActiveLink.

I know I have posted the above photo before. I have to say ladies and gents this sucker works. It is like a game, but in this game I am competing with myself. It seems like every day I try to be myself from the day before. Zumba, according to the ActiveLink, earns me approximately 4 to 6 Activity Points. 

People, my loved ones, seem to compliment me on my skin. I have never really had a problem with acne before not even in high school. Is it luck? Or genes? I have no idea, but I am going to clue you guys in on a little secret. I don't use anything like Proactive. I mainly use two products, and I don't think I would ever stop using these products. Also, I don't really wash my face, the normal way. 

This is my secret to clear skin. I take it ever day.
It helps your eyes, makes your hair grow faster,
and for me, gives you that skin that glows.
It also helps with gray hair and hair loss.

This stuff is amazing. When I do have a pimple,
in roughly 8 hours they are lighter if not gone.
I love it. 

Some other skin care secrets, I use:

• I always wear sunscreen especially on my face under my make up. Y'all know I have porcelain, white skin. To clue you in, it doesn't tan. So the sunscreen protects my skin from the UV rays. Also it will hopefully help in the prevention of one day having leather skin and wrinkles.
• My morning skin care regiment is as follows: (1) Use the Neutrogena Rapid Clear all over my skiing; (2) Moisturize with the Clinique yellow moisturizer; (3) Sunscreen; and (4) a makeup primer. All this is done before any ounce of make-up is put on my face.
• Let the primer be completely dry before putting on foundation. The primer works as a barrier. Your skin won't soak up the make-up and your make-up will last longer.

Well I think that is enough stuff....Happy Hump Day!!!!

#166 Confessions

• The show Revolution is one of my new favorite shows. I started watching because Billy Burke aka Charlie was in it. However, he is no Charlie in this show. I love how at the center of show there is a fearless girl. She reminds me a lot of Katniss Everdeen. Love it.
• Over the weekend, I got some much need motivation. I actually tracked my food except Sunday. I also managed to earn about 12 Activity points doing Zumba 2 for Wii. Thanks in part to my ActiveLink. I am beginning to really like this thing, although it is still a little confusing to figure out how it works. On both Friday and Saturday, I earned over 200% each day earning 6 Activity Points. Yesterday I earned only 4 activity points. Thanks to another day of Zumba. Tonight's plan is to do Zumba 2 for the Wii. 
• For some reason, I can't seem to want to start reading, but I really want to read the books I talked about in an earlier post. I don't know what my problem is. 
• The second presidential debate is tonight; I don't really know if I will watch. We will see. I am so ready for this election to be over. I am tired of the commercials and getting the phone calls. 

#165 Weekly Weigh In

Good Morning Y'all!!!!!!! I am yet again disappointed in myself. I had another gain. I gained 1 pound this week. It sucks but I need to move on from it. Today starts a new week for me. I still have 6 weeks till Thanksgiving to get to my goal of the 40 pound mark. I have 3 pounds to go till I am in my next decade. When I say this, it means that the second number in my weight goes down. I hope that explains it a little more. With this weeks gain, that is roughly 6 pounds away. That means that I have to lose at least 1 pound per week every week till Thanksgiving.

I know what I am doing or should I say what I am not doing. I need to get my butt back in gear if I want to achieve my goal. It the words of Nike....I got to "Just Do It." 

I am still getting used to the ActiveLink. It is sort of motivating me to do more. I find myself wanting to walk around the office. My goal is to earn at least 3 activity points everyday. I have no problem on Zumba days, but it is the other 5 days of the week. My goal for this weekend is to track my food and to not sit on my butt all weekend. I also need to start training for my 5K again. I need to be proactive in this weight loss thing.

What I am reading next? 

I am starting this series. I have read the first one, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, but I am re-reading it so it is fresh in my mind. I an curious to see if I like it just as much as I did the first time I read it. Last time I read it, I read it in two days. I will let everyone know my thoughts when I finish both books.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!

#164 Hump Day

  

Its Hump Day......yes it is already the middle of the week. Fisrt off, I couldn't be more excited cause we are down to a little over 36 days till Breaking Dawn Part 2.  Instead of walking on the treadmill like I wanted last night like a person should when they really want to shed some weight, I went to watch my little cousin, Natalie, play volleyball for Holy Savior. Holy Savior wanted all 6 games. I couldn't be more prouder.

Anyway, so I didn't earn any activity points yesterday. Good thing I have Zumba tonight. I am still getting use to the ActiveLink, so far so good except when I plugged it into my computer yesterday, it said that on Monday I only earned 3 activity points. So I was a little confused. So tonight, I plan on working out extra hard. I will try to keep posting more about my ActiveLink.

I have been tracking as best I can. So far so good. If I could just do it over the weekends, I would disappoint myself come Monday when I have to try to remember everything I ate over the weekend. I guess I need to start planning on what I am going to do to reach my goals for next week. The following is what is going through my random brain:

I am fearing, yet again, that I will gain weight this week. I really don't want to do this. I have about 6 and a half weeks till Thanksgiving. I really need to get on the ball especially since I also have that 5K I signed up for. Why do I do this to myself? I go through weeks where I am really good than I go through weeks where I am not so good. I guess thats life. In an effort to better, I am going to start now rather than wait till Friday at the start of a new week. So I will start fresh today. I will track, track, track and earn activity points. I will look up the actual points intend of just guessing. I will only drink diet coke on Thursdays after weigh in. I can do this for 6 and a half weeks right?

Yes my brain rambles and rambles. Thats just how it is. So for the next 6 and a half weeks I will be the best little Weight Watchers member I can be. Good luck to you all, and have a blessed day!!!!!!!

#163 Confessions

Love this....

• I haven't posted one of these in a while and I am sorry; I guess I need to put forth a little more effort. I will try to do better. 
• So I have am in my first week of having my ActiveLink gadget from WW on. I plugged it in this morning to see how many points I earned yesterday. It recorded 3 activity points. Well maybe I need to move the location cause I would think Zumba (at least the way I do it) would earn more than 3 activity points all on its own. We will see how it goes.
• Once again, my cold is back. I guess I need to especially thank my allergies for turning into a cold. The cold has since been passed on to my parents. Sorry guys.
• I have to say that I am trying trying and trying to track my food intake, but it is so hard to keep it up, but I have to do it if I want to reach my goal of 40 pounds by Thanksgiving, which is less than 7 weeks away.
• Also, since we are getting closer to Thanksgiving, that means that it is getting closer to my 5K, The Color Run. I am so excited for it, but now I just need to get my butt in gear. I guess today I will make myself do some treadmill work. 
• I finished Graceling by Kristin Cashmore.....I would highly recommend this too anyone especial those who enjoy books that have a fierce and passionate female heroine at the center of the story. I loved it!!!! I can't wait till the next installment. Fire.
• I have to share one of the best quotes I have found on the internet recently by none other than Mr. Robert Pattinson...I just hope it is real. “If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable." I really wasn't a fan of his until recently. Recently when he was going through that cheating scandal of his, I couldn't help but be impressed how much he had handled it with so much grace. I hope one day I find a man for myself with that my love, kindness, and grace. Why on earth would you want to cheat on someone anyway, especially one who seems to adore you?
• I know I have talked about how I never have been in a relationship, so I am going to leave you with this:

• Have a great Tuesday everyone!!!!! 

#162 Monday Monday

Monday, Monday....the start of a new week. I have spent the last hour trying to remember what I ate over the weekend cause this girl didn't track. This weekend all I did was stay in bed watching Hallmark movies all weekend, most of which I have seen. Anyway, your probably asking why? Well, I suffer from allergies, which have turned into a minor cold so I decided it was in my best interest to rest. Well we all know what happens when you lie in bed all weekend....we eat.

This weekend I tried not to snack much...which I think I accomplished.

Friday, my sister had it in her head that we were going to a movie as a family, which in fact we did. After work, dad and I went home right at 5pm, which usually doesn't happen. Anyway, my health conscious sister made a Taco Soup which was delicious by the way. She found the recipe on some blog she follows. When she sends me the recipe, I will load it into my recipe builder on the WW website and figure out the points. I am sure it wasn't too bad. However, it surely was delicious. After dinner, we went to the movies. We were trying to see Taken 2 with Liem Neeson. We had planned on the 8 pm show, but guess what it was SOLD OUT. We bought tickets to the 10pm show. So we had time to kill. Mom wanted Marble Slab (Yikes). If you know me, than you know ice cream is my fav. Guess what, I didn't have any. (Go Me) We visited with some cousins that were at the ice cream place. Then we went to Starbucks, where I got an venti iced non-fat latte with 2 splenda (I think it was 4 ppv). Then we went to the movie. MOVIE WAS FANTASTIC. Everyone should go see it.

Saturday----all day in bed
Sunday---all day in bed. Saints won!!!!!!! Yippi.

I didn't read...I didn't track....I didn't earn activity...Better luck next weekend.

Happy Reading!!!!!!

#161 Weekly Weigh In

TGIF....I am so ready for the weekend. Last night was weigh in. So as you know I was probably nervous, like always. Anyway I gained .4 (point 4), which isn't bad considering what I ate last weekend and the fact that I am on my period.

If you read my blog this past week, then you know my goal leading up to Thanksgiving, now 7 weeks away, is that I lose 5 pounds, which I know really isn't much, but with my track record I low balled it so that I wouldn't be disappointed in myself if I didn't accomplish it. I can do anything for 7 weeks right? 

Today starts my new week. So TODAY I will start FRESH. So what I guess what I am saying is that I am STARTING OVER today, not Monday. Last night's meeting was all about TRACKING, which is my downfall. I know it works if I track and try to stay with in my points. I need to STOP going crazy on the weekends so that I don't have to work so hard during the week. So I need to TRACK TRACK AND TRACK. So this morning's breakfast is already written down in my Ultimate 3 Month Tracker, that I bought at my meeting.

Last week I told you I bought a WW activity tracker. This week has been my base week, which means that this little tracker is giving me a starting point. Hopefully it will give me a little motivation to move more. My Weight Watcher's leader told me and the rest of my meeting members that when she saw how little she moved made her want to move more. Lets just hope I get the same effect.

My ActiveLink

So I guess I need to plug this little gadget in so I can see my activity or lack of activity this week. I wear this thing on my bra strap where people can't see it.

Over the last couple of years, I have really noticed a change in myself both on the inside and the outside. Now I can finally see that my physical self is changing. It is hard to believe that it takes loosing almost 40 pounds for me to finally see a change in my body. I am becoming more and more extroverted; which for me is a big thing. I am one of those people who has no problem being by myself either reading a book or do something else. It takes a lot for me to speak up and start up a conversation. I feel that I am a very shy and awkward person; sometimes in social situations I don't know really what to say. I usually try to steer clear of being the center of attention because I have always been the "big" girl. I have found myself, lately, that I am slowing not minding getting some attention. It is kind of nice when notice my weight loss and actually have the guts to tell me. Those of you who have....Thanks a bunch.

I have to send out a little public Thank You to my cousins from Arizona. Thanks to the Adams clan especially my cousin Elyse for taking time out of her busy life to go through her closet and send me clothes she doesn't wear anymore, most of which are cute by the way, and sending them to me. Very thoughtful. I also got to thank her sweet momma for mailing them to me.

The clothes were a big gesture especially for someone who has been constantly changing sizes. Sending the clothes is also helping me save the money for when it is time to really go shopping for new clothes. Thanks everyone.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

#160 Hump Day

It is the middle of the week already. Wow time sure is flying by. I realize that I haven't been posting recently, but things have been crazy. I have done this before so I am going to do a repeat and combine hump day and confessions. So here we go.

• So in I have been telling you that I have been working on my first DIY Pinterest project. I  made a gift for my best friend. She loved it. 

• Allergies suck butt. I have been suffering from allergies my entire life. These weekend it came back with a vengeance. I missed work on Monday cause I didn't really sleep cause of these stupid allergies.
• Last week at WW I bought an activity tracker. This week is my base week. So it has been recording all my activity or lack there of activity for this week. I will be talking more about this each week from now on.
• Also, last week we were giving homework at the meeting. We were asked to keep a tracker to give to someone else at the meeting. I have been tracking but my food intake has been crazy. I guess I know why. It is because my monthly visit made her appearance yesterday. So I hope it wasn't too crazy. 
• I have been slowly reading Graceling by Kristin Cashmore. I have been sucked in. I am sorry to say I have been reading slower because I have been sick with allergies. Anyway this is a great book. I am sucked in and this story surely has peaked my interest. I hope that I will love the other books in the series but it seems like each book is about different people. So I am keeping my fingers crossed.