Oh yeah, that happened!

Over the summer I participated in my first 5k. For most people this would probably be something that they are really proud of, but for me it was just a total disappointment. The trail was great and the support around me was great, but I was not. Alas, I had not put in the required effort to get to a decent shape prior to doing this 5k and while some people are in good enough shape to wing it, I was not.

While I was really embarrassed at how hard even finishing this 5k was for me, I've fueled that into a determination to be better. One of my goals for 2014  is to redo the 5k and kick a lot more butt this time.

Planning ahead to stay on track

They say that  you get the best dieting advice from someone who struggles with their weight, and I definitely agree! Over the years I've tried a couple different dieting styles, workout approaches and have a pretty good grasp of what works for me (and a lot of other people too!).

The issue is, of course, sticking with what works for you so that you hit your goals and live a happier, healthier and thinner life. This is the part that I've struggled with the most over the years.I know what I have to do and I know how to do it, I just fall into doing things the easiest way and that happens to be the least healthy way.

It always starts out with a lofty goal in mind and a 'recommitment' to starting healthy habits. The issue is that I know what I want to do but I don't give myself the tools that I need to be successful. I KNOW that I'm busy in the mornings and don't have time to pack a lunch or make an extensive breakfast but for so long I refused to adjust my habits and would always 'have' to stop for fast food for breakfast.

The biggest thing that I'm doing differently right now is planning ahead and packing ahead. I make a grocery list every Saturday that includes our dinners for the next week as well as what I need for breakfast and lunch. I head to the store on Sunday and then do as much prepping as I can. I've found that washing and chopping all of my veggies and getting them into ziplock containers that are easy to grab is a key to success for me.

Every weeknight before I go to bed I put together my breakfast and lunch for the next day in a super cute lunch bag that I store in the fridge until I'm heading out the door. Breakfast right now is simple, an Atkins Advantage Protein Shake, a string cheese and yogurt. Some celery and cucumber slices with lemon for a mid-morning snack and then a protein bar and a yummy salad for lunch. I'm doing pretty standard dinners that my whole family will enjoy and just adjusting to make them as low carb/healthy as possible for myself.

I'm sure that in the coming weeks I will need to adjust to add some variety to this pattern, but for now it is working really well and I know that if I continue to plan ahead and I can plan on being successful.

Uh..hello?

Wow! Today I thought to myself, "Self, you should really start a blog about your weight loss journey as a way to track everything and put all of your thoughts/suggestions/trials and errors in one place." and my wonderful self replied, "Hey crazy! You started that a year ago, so you should probably just work on that one instead of starting another one".

So here I am! I have some form of procrastination mixed with the laziness that I posted about earlier, and together it makes a deadly combination of staying fat and out of shape.

I've jumped back on the healthy wagon for the billionth time, but I'm more committed this time than usual. My little sister (14) recently moved in with me, and she struggles with her weight and with healthy eating, so I need to step it up so that I can be a good example and help her get to healthy.

I've always been a huge fan of Sparkpeople.com for tracking food/fitness and the community, but I recently started using MyFitnessPal.com because I like their mobile app and the ease of use with their site. I think I'll do a comparison post in the next few days, but for now I'm toggling between both of them.

Thanks for reading, world. I'll be back soon!

-HHT

Fighting the cravings

Oh! My! God!

The last few days have been one set of cravings after another for food that I simply can't have. This will be a short post. I just wanted to stop by to say that if I don't lose weight on the scale this week after having this much will power, I'm going to drop kick the scale into the garbage.

That is all.

-Carisa

Yo-Yo Scale

I have a significant amount of weight to lose. This and the fact that I've been sticking to my eating/working out plan made it ridiculously annoying to step on my scale and not see results. 

Last week when I weighed in, I was actually 1 lb up from where I was the week before! I could have died, I was so frustrated, stressed, and just annoyed at my body.

It is things like this that normally derail me and make me wonder why I'm even trying. I'm not going to lie, the first couple of days following that weigh in came with a lot of struggles, and I fell down. A lot. 

That was last week though, and today is the start of a new week. Weight loss is so important to me, but I think I need to start looking at the bigger picture. Even if the scale doesn't move, I KNOW that I'm properly fueling my body with healthy foods, and I KNOW when I hit the gym that I feel better. 

It is time to count milestones and progress in more than just weight, because the scale will let me down, and sometimes make me want to chuck it off of our 3rd floor balcony. 

This week I'm going to stick to it no matter what my frenemy, the scale has to say about it. 

Even though I've been let down by the scale recently, it has shown some progress overall. I've lost about 35 lbs (slooooowly) from the beginning of the year, and my goal is to lose 36 more before 1/2/13, and then 25 more by 3/15/2012. I'll still have weight to lose when I get to March, but I'll reset some goals then. Breaking this HUGE journey into 'bitesized' chunks of weight has helped a ton so far, as I don't feel overwhelmed all the time. 

Hope you're all in good health!

-HappyHealthyThin

Jealousy at the gym

I stuck to my commitment to go to the gym right after work today, and I'm so glad that I did. I feel like I'm on the right track here, and if I just focus one step at a time, I believe that being healthy will become a habit.

While I was strolling along on my treadmill, breaking a sweat at just 3.4, I happened to glance at a girl just to the side and one row in front of me, and notice that she was running smoothly and confidently at a 7. 7! She must have been going along like that for quite some time, as I switched machines after 20 minutes and she was still going strong.

In everything that I do in my regular life, I'm super competitive. When it comes to work, gaming, and life in general, I like to be in first place. Watching this girl sweat it out and LOOK GOOD while running at a 7 on the treadmill immediately sparked some jealousy.

I don't know this girl at all, don't know her background, and don't know how long it has taken her to get up to a 7. I do know that at my measly 3.4 (4.5 at the highest) we are just in different leagues completely as far as fitness.

I don't want to be stuck in the fat league anymore. Stuck feeling like I'm going to die just from walking from the car to the gym dressing room. I think that I'm just done with all of that.

My aim for this week is to be inspired by Ms.Fit, and not insanely jealous. I'm going to use her strength as a place to aim for, and not as something to make me feel ashamed of my own progress.

We all have our own paths to walk (or run, as it were) and this week I'm going to focus on competing with myself, and not with other people.


-HappyHealthyThin

I'm still alive

Yes, it is true. I made it a whole 30 minutes at the gym without dying. My time on the treadmill and cycle did put my being completely out of shape on display for everyone around to see, and while I would usually be embarrassed about my fat arms or rolls in my workout clothes, I felt relief.

Relief that I had made it to the gym, despite my 5000 excuses, relief that I can walk and even jog a little on the treadmill, albeit not for very long, and relief that I've committed myself to a healthier and happier me.

The gym may have won this round (as evidenced by my sweating profusely and generally feeling like I was going to die) but one day, I will be the victor.

Every time I take a step on the treadmill, I know that I am stepping towards my future.

On a different subject, I managed to stay on track with my eating today as well. I started the day with some celery and yogurt, which is a lighter breakfast than normal, but it kept me full until lunch. My lunch was a cobb salad minus the eggs and blue cheese, and I've made a low calorie turkey chili for dinner that I'm really looking forward to.

Woohoo!

-Carisa