Like I Have New Batteries

One week into this journey I've lost weight and I've gained an enormous amount of energy! It's crazy, just 7 short days ago I was suffering from insomnia, fatigue (I know weird combo), short temper, moodiness. I was lethargic and essentially in a food coma. Eating fast food, fast, processed food and far too much of it. With a crazy schedule between work, school and my son's social calendar, I could justify every drive through, every restaurant.

I cannot believe that in just a week I've regained my crazy energy, maybe not 100% but close. I wake up at 4:45am, do chores, make lunches, prepare dinner, homework, blah, blah, blah, the simple point is I used to stay up until 11:30pm, hit snooze until 6:00am, then bump and grump through the house trying to figure out why I was so tired, why I seemed rushed, why I just felt like going back to bed. No breakfast, fast food and sugary snacks through the day until I hit the drive through at night. Here's the shocker, all without exercise! I know huh.

Now, up at 4:45, oatmeal, computer work, chores, 100 sit ups, 100 push ups, make my son's breakfast, lunches and get ready for work - awake and ready to face the day. I feel refreshed. I pack my lunch or make healthy choices, I drink lots of water, and take vitamins. At night I walk the track during football practice, hit the gym three days a week and am beginning boxing workouts. It's sad that I waited so long to get to this feeling, to make these seemingly simple changes. I hope I can inspire others to make the changes now, find the "good food euphoria" and enjoy a happier, healthier life before irreversible problems arise. Anyone can do this, most of you want to. Love yourself enough to want great things, you deserve it!

Keep up the good work.

93 To Go!

Five days into this journey, I feel great. It's incredible how eating right and exercising will even improve your attitude, your mindset is different, better, happier. Ask my boyfriend! Before Tuesday, I was stressed, felt ugly, sad, emotional and sometimes just plain depressed. I wanted to talk to no one, I wanted to see no one, I wanted to be no one. I'm so much better, not healed, not done...but better.

I woke up this morning 7 pounds lighter than I was last Tuesday when this all started. Seven pounds is HUGE, but again I know it's simply the answer to eating better and exercising, it's the answer to the simple shock my body is going through, flushing out all the crap I'd put in my body since the end of January.

I'm super excited to see what's next and I know I can do it, I know I'm in the right place mentally. I believe in myself and truly believe that's one of the biggest hurdles.

My frig is completely packed with colorful foods; asparagus, broccoli, apples, grapes, chicken, carrots, beets, pork chops, salad. Everything looks so good! Last night I made a delicious dinner of baked chicken, steamed market fresh broccoli, and braised potato quarters, yummy. It was great to season my own food, not drive through and have it handed to me, processed and greasy. Those of you that know me, know I love to cook. I love to create great meals and I'm super happy to have brought that back in my home.

Let's start this new week with a positive outlook on our goals, eat right, exercise and believe in yourself.

Old Habits and New Ones

Well, I'm less than a week into this journey and I've lost two pounds! Don't get it twisted, I'm sure it's just the pure shock I've put on my body with the change in my eating - I barely would count it as success, but I'll take it even still.

My hope is to blog weekly, however I was compelled to write earlier this time, partially for my sanity, partially - I hope - for your entertainment.

During the season premier of The Biggest Loser; watching contestants talk about how they got to where they are today; seeing many of them uncomfortably sitting in their cars eating fast food, it was as if I was looking at myself. I reflected on how I used to pull up and order food for myself, my son then pretend I was ordering for someone else too. Sadly that someone else was simply my stomach, my emotions, my insecurities. I fed them well. I'd eat more than some NFL line backers and sometimes not even feel full. I could consume 6-7 pieces of pizza in one sitting. I started to believe I really might have a disorder where I didn't have the sensation of being full. I believe now that I'd simply stretched my stomach to a point that it took so much more to get full!

Though I've tried everything, Alli, Phen-phen, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Adkins, soup diet, grapefruit diet, air diet, praying diet, I've come to the conclusion it's not a diet I need, prayer maybe, but truthfully it's not a diet any of us need. This is a life change; a chance at re-birth - simply starting over, eating right, exercising, and being conscious of EVERYTHING we consume.

We need to start a new revolution and know that it took time to get here -it'll take time to change. One program that's really worked for me in the past is journaling, writing everything down. Initially I'd walked around with a small note pad and wrote down everything I ate and the calories they held. I'd made a decision to not consume more than 1800 calories - why...because I made it up! I mean I knew one pound of body fat contains approximately 3,500 calories. Which means, in order to burn 1 pound of fat, you must have a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories. Therefore, to lose 1 pound of fat per week, you need to have a 500 calorie deficit each day. I figured I'd up my chances in losing more by eating WAY less.

I've since become more educated, conducted more research and it turns out you really do need to eat to lose - careful, I didn't say run to McAnywhere! I still track everything I consume but now use a tool called Daily Plate from www.livestrong.com. This is part of the Lance Armstrong foundation and really has been a Godsend. There's tools to set goals, track literally anything on this planet that you'll consume with full nutritional breakdown. With your goals you'll chose how many pounds a week you'd like to lose and the program will tell you how many you're allowed to consume daily. Additionally you can log your fitness - here's where I wish they'd upgrade. When you log a workout the system give you back the calories you burn, so be mindful to keep them subtracted in your head or just add your work outs at the end of the day. There are groups and challenges that help you keep in touch with like-minded people after similar goals. There's even a feature called "Loops" where you can put in your location and the distance you want to walk/run, and it produces a loop or three to get you going. Oh and THERE'S AN AP!

Well I'm off to get physical! Finally, I'm AMPED - I missed this feeling, I think it was hiding under wrappers and calories! Watch out folks!

Losing 100 Pounds - Won't You Join Me!

The time has come to make some drastic changes, I mean drastic! Changes in my mood, my outlook and most importantly, my health! As most people wait until the New Year to conjure up a resolution, I waited until the season premier of the Biggest Loser! I have long known I needed to take better care of myself; just this past January I lost 32 pounds and felt great only to gain 18 of it back. It is now time! Though I’ve told myself this many, many times before; the roller coaster must stop now, life changes must occur and a new me, mentally, emotionally, physically and hopefully with that FINACIALLY will come out of this shouting from roof tops that I too can achieve greatness!

Okay enough of the pep talk. If you follow my blog you’ll know suffered a stroke five years ago so you’d think my health was paramount and in my mind and heart it truly was. For some reason, eating and eating unhealthily was simply easier. I feed my emotions, my pain, my successes, my failures, everything. Because of my stroke I could no longer get additional life insurance. Because I’m a single parent, I needed it. Just last week I qualified for it! The last step was to complete the blood, urine, height and oh yes the weight – stepping on the scale for the first time in a long while, I cried when the medical assistant moved the slider to 250 then 265, 275…277 – there I was in all my glory, less than 3 sacks of potatoes from 300 – ashamed, I drove to work in silence and tears. How can I have a 120/80 blood pressure and be morbidly obese??? I wasn’t overweight as a kid. I’ve been in healthcare for 17 years, I know what’s right – I teach my son healthy choices everyday. I’m astonished by the childhood obesity plaguing our country but yet I stand before you a hypocrite. Easy to give advice but poor to receive it. Those days are over.

The day before the biggest loser premier, a friend posted a YouTube video about a man and his journey; www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbXgQqbOoU. I was touched by Ben’s story so much that I went to www.bendoeslife.com to read more. PUMPED, I wanted to get off the couch and instantly go for a run, but I had a sleeping 7 year old upstairs, so I cleaned out my cabinets of junk. Anything Jillian Michaels wouldn’t have approved of was gone. I wrote down my goals, my why and went to bed ready for 9/21!

I’ve regained my desire to be fit but to help keep me on track, I’ve decided to put it all out there – blog about my journey too – I thought if Ben can do it, so can I. Why else would I be crazy enough to put my weight out there for the entire world to see? Hopefully along the way, I’ll inspire someone else to make life changes too. Am I terrified? Hell yeah. Will I stumble? For sure, but I’ll get back up and keep moving because not only am I worth it but so is my son, my future and the friends and family that surround me.

Here we go…

Not so EXTREME!

Candy is my nemesis or maybe quite the opposite –it’s all in how you look at the glass I suppose! I must be genetically immune to diabetes given my sugary consumption. As the sour revolution grew so did my obsession, so imagine my giddiness when one of my true favorites, Sour Patch Kids came out with their new Sour Patch EXTREME. Three new flavor combinations, one piece is a sour apple/strawberry mix, one a orange and blue razz mix, and the third is watermelon mixed with grape. The bag’s graphics portray animated two-color faces with insanely puckered and otherwise distorted faces, and a tagline proclaims “2 SUPER SOUR flavors in one”

The candies are covered in sugar, similar to there counterpart Sour Patch Kids, large in size, ready for a handful of mouthwatering, face puckering, eyes tearing sour goodness. I go slowly, though I want to dive it, they are twice the size of their small kid friends, I take one. Mildly reminiscent but not overwhelming, I pop in a couple more…have I ruined my taste buds I wonder, couple more….hmmm. I enlist a few nearby friends, “hey try these new Sour Patch EXTREME’s,” I tell them. Apprehensive of the EXTREMENESS, they take one, in there mouth it goes, I wait. Disappointment! “Where’s the EXTREMENESS?” Exactly, I reply. To my dismay, the scientific geniuses at the Patch Headquarters some how missed the mark. Not only are these the antithesis of EXTREME but they are far less sour then their little friends.

Remember, I know candy – I highly un-recommend these little treats. Stick with the originals.