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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Day 20 and 25

I know I'm a little late with my Day 20 post, but I've had lots going on. My family and I traveled to see my bestie(2 hours away this weekend) and we just had so much going on that I totally forgot to post. My daughter had to have surgery on Tuesday, so I'm busy with her and it's just life. Anyway, I found junk food that I could eat. There is always somehow to sabotage yourself no matter how healthy you eat. I've had guacamole(spicy and mild) with tortilla chips and animal crackers. You can be a vegan junk food eater:( Its sad, the past 4 days have been sabotaged, by yours truly. I'm still drinking my water, but that kind of slowed me down. I'm still on full mode on my fast. I'm proud of myself because we went to a bday party and I wanted a slice of cake so bad. I just had my green smoothie and while we were on the road I had a salad packed with black beans and veggies on the ride home. I was satisfied, but I still thought about the cake. I won't say I'm going through withdrawals from my social networking but, family members have had babies, friends are getting engaged and I'm totally missing out on all of the wonderful pictures, so I am looking forward to that again. I have decided that I will continue the vegan lifestyle for another 30 days. I will see if I can maintain this lifestyle. The first time I slip up I will let you know! It's either vegan or vegatarian for me. I've found such great alternatives to beef and chicken, while on this fast, but I am missing my fish. So in the past 24 days I have lost 15lbs.! Very pleased with that, but I think in order to keep that weight off in such a short time period I will have to continue eating right. Well, I'm headed to drink more water!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Day 15

The hubby was on a mission to find vanilla chai for me and guess what!!! Bolthouse Farms has a Vanilla Chai Tea, made with SoyMilk. I had to get used to the taste, but I am a fan of it. The past 5 days have been easier. I went to the grocer and spent quite a bit of time there. I found a cookie that I can eat…excited about that. They are normal cookies (Barnum & Bailey’s Animal cookies). I was very pleased; because I really needed something sweet and it hit it right on the spot. I love the Bolthouse Farm Brands they are delicious, my absolute favorite is Green Juice, it looks gross, so yummy and so good for you. I have been eating lots of steamed vegetables, cabbage, some chipotle sweet potato fries, that I want to scarf down more than 12-15, but I am also eating without trying to get full or pigging out. This is a sacrifice, very pleased that the past 5 days were better than the 10th-15th day. I have been drinking 110 oz. of water each day for the past 5 days and I will say I have been to the bathroom A LOT! I can barely sleep because the bladder is going crazy all night. I feel good and I feel like I really HAVE to get the water in. I like that I am not as hungry because I am full with drinking my water.

I had to go bra shopping this weekend. My bras are too big for me. I’ve lost 2 inches up top and went down a cup. My wedding band no longer fits; it slid off of my finger last week, which scared me. I went to JC Penney and picked up a little ring and decided to wear it until I’m finished with my journey. Wrist bones are popping out and I can see ankles and feel hip bones! I cannot wait to see my collar bones! I will SHOUT from the mountain top! Baby steps, I tell you, Baby Steps! I can say that I am extremely pleased with my energy level and what this fast is doing for me.

My husband is looking really slim in the face and his belly is much smaller and all of his dress shirts and slacks are way too big! Looks like we will have some shopping to do. I won’t purchase new winter clothes, but I threw everything out last fall so, I will have to lose weight and buy new spring/summer clothes! And what do you know; I’m well on my way. Keeping it off and learning how to make better choices is where the true work comes in. I am at the half way point and I need to start thinking of what my permanent changes will be. Spiritually, I am growing, physically I am getting stronger. I really am keeping a firm hand on this. I will say this is the first time I was really serious about something and didn’t cheat or not follow thru on it. I think the fact that its accountability to God is what’s keeping me on track. I want to be pleasing and I want to have a clear mind to really focus on what I’m putting in my body and what I’m taking out. Weigh in today had me down another 3lbs. That’s another incentive to pull through the last 2 weeks of this month on a high note.

I have a pretty busy week. My children and I are going to Sesame Street Live and then the weekend we are traveling 2 hours to see my godchildren for their bdays. Whenever my kids and god kids get together you better watch out! Have a good weekend on tap!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Day 10

Keeping it real....

I am craving a Low Fat Vanilla Chai Latte, Skinny Cow Swiss Cheese and something sweet. I did cave on the sweet portion, I had juice last night. About 4 oz. of it. I'm trying hard to make good choices. I would like some fish as well. Ok, anyway, I'm praying for strength to make it through. It's ok to have the juice, I thought I could give up meat, sweets, soda, dairy and white carbs and it not be much of a struggle(Insert "Silly Me" Here). My goal is to keep this up. I can do this!

I have been eating tons of veggies, putting together some really spicy stir fry. I've been into the shirataki noodles(tofu noodles), tofu and I've decided to try some Morningstar Brand freezer foods. The salads and leftover stir fry at lunch are starting to bore me. I'm a little concerned with my sodium intake, but let's see.

My energy level is not bad at all. I'm up, my thinking is not cloudy and I get a lot done during the day and well into the evening. I've been feeling like I'm coming down with the colds my little ones have. But, I'm able to push through it.

I'm trying not to count down the days for this to be over. I need to embrace this experience but the past couple days have been a challenge.

Today will be workout day 3. Couch to 5K week 1 Day 3. Working out has been great, I have been getting in 45 minutes on my lunch hour.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Weighty Wednesday




After dropping my first 15lbs. I was really proud of myself! I decided that I would start wearing makeup and had a little more confidence about myself.

I was working out, 2 days per week for an half hour and just basically watching what I ate during the day, the afternoons I would binge. I didn't make healthy choices. So, I was stuck on the scale. Plus, while in th gym I didn't push myself as hard as I could have and it was winter time so I still indulged in the comfort foods that I loved. As you can see, in my pictures I am starting to like who I am and I was trying to get comfortable with the person I was becoming.

I weighed 215 in the above pictures. I wore a size 1x shirt, size 16 jeans and I was winded while playing with my children. I was a couch potato and didn't want to spend too much time in the gym. The hubs would encourage me to go and I would leave in my gym wear and go to Target to shop....oh how time has changed. I needed to post this today to motivate myself to workout this morning.

Much love,

Jen

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Weigh In

Weigh in today was magnificent! I lost 8lbs!!!! I know I said I wouldn't post until the end of the month, but I am so excited about it!

Right after that post on Saturday night of how well I'm doing and blah blah blah. I had a craving, I wanted chocolate and cookies and pop and fries and burgers and chicken. My daughter woke up at 4am, screaming due to a nightmare about spiders. She kept thinking they were crawling on her, she wouldn't sleep in her bed, walk on the floor or sit by herself. She wouldn't eat. That morning I decided to go to church, kids with me, no sleep and while there I received a message that my mom had to go to the hospital for heart problems, my daughter was having some kind of tantrum all day of seeing spiders(it was so stressful, at one point I thought I was going to have to take her to see a psychiatrist or something) and my little boy's asthma was going wild. So, what did I want to do....EAT! The hubby kept the kids and that was wonderful, so I could check in on my mom. But, I wanted to eat all of the above things and more. I staved off the hunger by being in the present and just dealing with the situation, it was hard, extremely hard, but I got through it. After I found out the hospital was keeping my mom for observation and testing and my kiddies were ok. I went to Chipotle and had a vegatarian salad, with guacamole, no cheese, no sour cream. I didn't get the fix I needed but I didn't crave all of those foods anymore. I journaled about it, it felt good to get it all off of my chest. Sometimes life will stress you out, but eating will not change anything, it will only put you in a food coma. In my case, for sure because I will eat until I am numb, but that doesn't change the problems at all. My family is doing much better today and I am blessed.

Anywho, my goal is to workout 4 times this week. Today was day 1 and I decided to get back to couch to 5k. Today was day 1 of that. Feeling good.

How do you handle stress?

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Day 5 Vegan Fast

YO! Who knew!

Let me just say...I FREAKING ROCK! This fast has been amazing! I've been so focused, food is really not an issue. What I've learned thus far is, if you make healthy choices, you will have lots of energy to do more important things. Food is really not that important. (Did I just type that?) Ok, so I have been eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Big crunchy green salads, I tried chickpeas and almond milk for the first time ever. I decided that during this journey I would try 2 new things each week and see if I would make that apart of my diet. I am a fan of the chickpeas, the almond milk..the jury is still out. I've made a pizza, vegan crust, all veggies and marinara, no cheese. I love cheese. I have not tried the vegan cheese yet. I wanted to gradually try new things.

Let me tell you how the past 5 days have gone. My children can not keep up with me. We are doing arts and crafts, dancing around the house and outside playing in this snow! I can't believe all of the energy I have! It's unbelievable. I have been able to stay on the kids, to keep the house in order(cleaned and presentable to company), on top of the laundry and making time for my honey and I. The hubby is struggling. He wants all of his regular foods(I'm not making him do this), but it's very interesting to see the difference between the two of us during this journey. Anywho, the old me, would be stuck in this house...with all of this snow, depressed, eating and laying in the bed. This person, has been up, taking care of home, reading, enjoying the kiddies, working out, spending time with the hubby and not nearly as tired as I once was. Listen, if this keeps up, for the energy alone, I will become vegan:)

Tonight, I made Teriyaki Veggies in Spicy Rice. It was good. The trick to this is staying positive and enjoying the new flavors that I'm having and blocking out what used to be. I will be back on Tuesday to post on weight loss from WW meeting and in 5 more days I will update you on how I am feeling.

Until then,
Much Love

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Vegan Fast/Auntie Oprah/Sacrifice

Hello:)

Today, began the 1st day of the Vegan Fast and I will say this has been easy to step into. My husband and I started this morning. I consumed all cold foods, fresh fruits and veggies. I'm not as hungry as I thought I would be and I'm actually upbeat and have been catching up on laundry and a little cleaning. I will update every 5th day, I don't want to turn this into a vegan blog, but I am very excited about this fast!

Auntie Oprah: I DVR Oprah each day and I was pleased to see her show today featured a 7 Day Vegan Challenge to her employees. She had her employees(378 of them) sign up for the challenge and supplied them with groceries from Whole Foods to get them motivated to eat vegan meals. She also had her lunchroom serve all vegan foods that entire week. Lisa Ling went to a slaughter house to show you how the cows were, uh, well killed. It was really tough to watch. I'm not saying I'm totally giving up meat, but I am presently going to work the next 30 days and see how it works for me. The result of her staff's week was incredible, over 200 people lost weight, about 80 or so gained and the rest just decided it was not for them and quit! It happens!

Sacrifice: I also decided to give up Facebook and Twitter for the full 30 days. I was pleasantly surprised to see my friends and co-workers were very sad to see me go:) I'm not on Facebook much, but a girl loves Twitter! One of my co-workers stopped me and asked about the Fast and what surprised me the most was she knew the name of it(Daniel Fast). I had no clue this was an actual fast(goes to show how much I researched this fast). Today, I spent quite a bit of time online, reading blogs, web pages and also watching people experiences on Youtube regarding the fast. I know this will be a challenge, but I think after its all said and done...I will feel AMAZING!

I wanted to post this so I can look back at it on Day 3 while I'm going through withdrawals!