210, yes that's right, 210

Today my weight is 210, which means I have lost 22 pounds since may 17th. I am starting to think I am going to make it to my goal. My personal goal being to get to 180 by January 1st, 2011. The BMI meter and "experts" say I should be shooting for 140, but honestly if I get and stay anywhere around 160 at some point, I will be ecstatically happy.

While weighing in today a coworker told me that she thought I was around 160??? Is it even possible to look so much thinner than you are? I wonder if she was just being nice?

While watching weight loss shows I have seen people who weigh the same as me look way worse than I ever did. I never felt as bad as they say they do, I always felt flexible, strong and pretty okay...

I guess you might say I'm a little more dense than most, which is good and bad. Good because I can look better than than the scale suggests I ought to and Bad, because I will not see results as quickly, at least in the mirror.

I sort of wonder if I have a lot of muscle, if so, it will make this whole endeavor much easier, after all muscle burns fat more quickly and makes your body healthy.

Me, 7-26-2010

9 Weeks In, 19 pounds down

Today I am feeling rather emotional. It's been a hard week, lots of hormonal roller-coastering and leaking(crying, which I hate doing) There are some days when all I can do is sit on my couch and think of how much I would like to eat nachos, cupcakes, pasta, basically anything bad for me. I resist, because I know that my body is just looking for a way to ease stress. My daughters must have some form of esp because they always seem to know when I am feeling down, they come and ask for hugs and tell me they love me, those babies are amazing!

I'm feeling kind of dried out, so I am going to increase my fluids to feel more hydrated. Plus, water makes your body work, right?

Ready for a before and after??? It's amazing, really.

Me, February 13th, 2010


Me, July 14th, 2010

El Diablo Dorito!!!

So last Thursday I weighed myself and had gotten down to 221, a pretty impressive feat in my mind. Then on Monday morning the taste for tortilla chips caught up with me, to the tune of 6 lbs of water weight, I felt so defeated and miserable. I had been flying high on this "look at me and my wieght loss success" vibe that the water just took the wind right out of my sails.

So I gulped some water, took an aqua-ban and attempted to shed the excess moisture. I've got to cut the salt but the dry crunch of a good tortilla chip makes everything in the world look just a little better. Besides that, I love salsa, it's like crack for me. The gain got me thinking, there has to be a way to enjoy the taste of salsa without gobbling enough salt to dry beef.

My thoughts are thus, salsa is good on many things, i am going to whip up a batch and not buy chips. I will try it on salad, baked potato, chicken and fish tacos. I belive this will satisfy the need without sabatoging my body.

My Homemade Salsa,
4 roma tomatoes, diced
1 vidalia onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
5 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 limes, juiced
1 yellow bell pepper
3 jalepenos, diced with seeds and membrane removed
salt
pepper

1. diced all veggies very small
2. combine all ingrediants.
3. Refridgerate and serve

I didn't do the calories for this because for about a half cups its less than 30 calories.

Do you really want to be "That Girl?"

People who write weight loss book don't often talk about the in between. The time between when you make the decision to change your life and when it becomes realized. At least you don't hear too much about it. On talk shows they show the triumphant skinny girl sitting next to a large cardboard cutout of herself, they have her stand inside her "fat pants" and hold them out so we can all see how great she has done. Or. even better, her fat pants are big enough for two people to stand in. (Jeepers, that's amazing!)

You hear a lot about what food they ate, how often they exercised, the triumph of loss. What they dont talk about is how the in-between is a big let down. The first ten pounds begin to melt off, slowly if you are doing a real life change, and you feel different but no one can tell. Your pants start to fit better, but if you have a significant amount to lose your pants from 20 pounds ago might even still fit. They are loose but certainly not so loose that two of you can jump inside of them.

Your internal movie looks something like this, "pathetic overweight girl drives her cart filled with diet food through the grocery store as thin people whose carts are filled with hot pockets and vodka whisper and giggle behind thier hands. Who does she think she is fooling, you can't eat those foods and get as big as she is. She tries to be brave as she walks by but the other shoppers are saying, she'll never make it, why bother."


Your whole life changes, and unless you really want to be the obnoxious "I'm on a diet girl" no one even knows...

Shesh!

So I'm two weeks in and only three pounds down. Yikes, that's all???

But, since figuring helps me relax, I did some math today. If I don't change anything but my calorie intake I can consume up to 1700 calories a day and continue to lose weight and be at my target by the first of the year. Since I nearly never get that high with the exception of last Saturday, oh! the shame, the horror, the egg rolls...sorry, got a little sidetracked there.

For the first six weeks of this life alteration I will be dealing strictly with food. I don't want to burn myself out and create sabotage for myself. Gotta get my food under control before I start making all sorts of other changes. At some point I will be adding 3 30 minute long sessions of exercise a week. That's going to have to wait awhile though, at least until the nacho craving pass.

I -hate- working out in my house, we have bike and lots of space for workout vids, but I prefer to have time outside or at a gym for working, why does it feel to me like that is so much more beneficial?

Me Last Thursday before the egg rolls happened...

One Week In...

and really to early to tell much. Since I haven't cut anything out of my diet aside for regular soda and energy drinks I don't really feel all that deprived. I am going to weigh myself either today or tomorrow, and see where a week of low calorie has gotten me.
I am having my DH take a before pic of me today, One I can use as the weeks go by to see if I am meeting my goals. I have some photos from before I started the diet as well, back when I am sure I was close to 250 pounds, but I didn't get on a scale for fear that it might explode. I'm pretty sure February of this year is when I was at my largest. Later, when more has happened I will find a photo from then and compare to a recent one, we'll see if I can be a before and after! Wouldn't that be cool.
My kids seem to be responding pretty well to the change as well, they are eating the fruits right along with me and Reagan even had a whole low cal taco for dinner yesterday. Hannah is a little more resistant, she wants to eat cookies and lollipops, but since we really don't have cookies in the house anymore, she will have to deal.

Nellie's on a diet!

So I stepped on a scale this weekend and the number around the 230 range, alarmed me. So I am going to do something about it. What will follow is my blog about losing some poundage. My first goal is to be at 200 by the end of august. This is completely doable and when I reach that I will set a new one. Since I am still young, only 27, I am trying the low calorie-extra exercise system, you know the only one that really works!

I found a calorie counter on About.com that seems pretty easy to use, it has a recipe evaluator that will tell you how many calories are in a bowl of Grannie's famous chicken and dumpling's...surprisingly only 327, yay i can still eat them!

So the plan is.
1. Count calories using http://caloriecount.about.com/
2. NO regular soda/energy drinks
3. Slim fast for breakfast
4. NO chips at work.(this is gonna be a toughie)

Hopefully better news is coming.

Additionally I am going to try my hand at lo-cal cooking, I love to cook and finding new ways to make delicious foods seems like a way I will be able to get through the tough times ahead. My First recipe really isn't so much a recipe as a mixer. I can't get up and eat first thing in the morning but I know that it helps to jump start your metabolism in the am, so this is my solution.

Nellie's Morning Latte

1 cup coffee
1 can slim-fast (I like french vanilla)
2 tbsp sugar free caramel syrup.

Mix over ice and enjoy, it tastes like something from Starbucks, no joke! And its pretty good too!

This is me on Easter (probably around 240)