Getting Back on Track Part Three

If you missed it, I've been writing about what I will do to get back on track after a not-so-stellar March in weight loss land. Part One was about my meal plan and part two is about my exercise plan.

Part three will address my goals that I have in mind for the next couple of months- basically until the end of the school year for work (not grad school). I have a page with the "big picture" when it comes to goals and rewards that you can view here. The following list is my next few months goals:

• I will to stick to my eating plan and exercise plan consistently until the end of the work school year (beginning of June - I can make new goals then). I will allow myself a little flexibility on the weekends and if there are any "super special" occasions.
• I will not let stress influence how I treat myself and take away from my weight loss, exercise, and wellness goals (aka grad school and work excuses will not ruin this for me again).
• I will weigh in more regularly (at least once a week) but not obsess over it.
• I will let myself relish in non-scale victories (NSV) such as clothes getting too big, fitting in smaller clothes, getting compliments about looking like I lost weight, etc.
• I will reward myself for every 5 pounds lost as set forth on my goals page.
• I will lose some kind of weight every week, but would really like to lose two pounds a week.
• I would like to be a size 12 by the beginning of June for several reasons such as...
• I would would be about 20 pounds down from where I am at now and 40 pounds down overall.
• I can finally fit into all the clothes sitting in my motivation closet and maybe even some smaller clothes that are still in my basement.
• I might have enough self-confidence to wear some shorts and a real bathing suit (instead of the dresslike one I have now).
• I can sell all the clothes I'm wearing now at the big garage sale my mom, sister, and I will be having (and use the money for something fun like new clothes or to cover the price of my Alice Cooper ticket).

Although this isn't a weight loss goal, I hope to have enough credit card points to get a $50 Amazon.com gift card to use to buy an iPod shuffle for when I work out. I know I won't need the whole $50 for that, but I want to basically get a free iPod shuffle. I'm already checking out the purple and pink colors. An iPod shuffle is so small and will be much more convenient for working out than my big ol' iPod original.

I'm Still Alive and Losing Weight

I know that I've been a bad, bad weight loss blogger. The good news is that I have lost a ton of weight since the beginning of the year, between 14-15 pounds to be exact. That was enough to get me back to what I was this past August which meant I got to dig out some smaller clothes to wear! 

An outfit that hasn't fit for a while that I wore this week.

So even though I haven't been posting as regularly, I've been keeping up on eating right and working out. Most of the time I go to the gym 2-3 times a week. I do the weights two times and go on the treadmill once. I got a "warm" day this week and took a walk outside which was a nice change of pace. I took some pictures of the machines that I use at the gym, so I hope to get a post up about that soon.

I thought I'd use this post to write about a few things since my last post from my daily life. I've gotten a few rewards for my weight loss recently. I got a Chuck Berry CD and a $25 iTunes gift card as part of my rewards system that I set up for myself. I spent my iTunes card on Young the Giant and the newer Fleet Foxes albums. The video below is for "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant which is the song that got me to listen to the band and buy their album.

I'm about 1.8 pounds away from my next reward of a key chain photo album which I can use to show the doggies off to people. I also won a weekly raffle for the walking challenge at work. I think I'm supposed to get a $20 check, but I haven't seen it yet. I can't remember if I talked about my last Diet Bet, but I did complete my goal of losing 4% in a month and got $21 (I put $10 into the pot).

 

Way back at the end of January the hubs had to go to a conference for work in Orlando for a week. Some people were even taking their spouses with them, but I couldn't go. :( I can't take off of work for a week for one, and secondly I can't miss my grad school classes. The hubs was nice though and bought me a present. It is a Cheshire Cat pillow pet.

 

 

We've actually seen a few days of winter weather (aka snow) since I last wrote, but we haven't really had a blizzard or anything like that. I'm kinda thinking that we might get away with a mild winter for Northwest Indiana.

I've been spending more and more time doing things for grad school such as reading and writing assignments on Blackboard. Both of the classes I am taking have big group projects that we are starting to work on, so grad school will be taking up more and more time. I'm happy to have two monitors though, because it comes in handy for having Blackboard on one screen and Word on the other.

 

The bed in my office works great for stacking papers and books.

The dogs also like to help me with my homework...

Lilly barks at me until I put her in my lap which isn't always convenient.

Sebastion likes to take over the bed and make a mess of the pillows.

And this one, Benjamin, likes to...

tear the futon mattress apart while I'm in the other room.

Here are some random pictures of meals and snacks from the past two weeks that haven't been posted on here yet.

October Challenge- Tighter Belts and Even Tighter Wallets

I have let myself gain back ten pounds this summer and still haven’t worked on losing them. I have also spent too much money this summer on frivolous things and recently on eating fast food and junk food. I want to have a smaller waist and more money in my checking account by the end of October. That is why I named the challenge what I named it. Here are some of the details…

Goals

• Lose two pounds a week.
• Follow my eating plan wholeheartedly.
• Walk at least 8,000 steps every day as part of the fall walking challenge at work.
• Eat fast food/eat out only on weekends (to save money and eat healthier).
• Eat on plan meals at events and have a standard size amount of one dessert (one wedding, one birthday party, and one Halloween party).
• Finish C25K- I have two 30 minute jogs left. If I can’t do 30 minutes at once, then work on building my endurance back up and complete these two jogs.
• Hook up my xBox 360 in my office, so I can do my workout video games on it.
• Don’t buy frivolous things this month and spend less time shopping on weekends scouting for good deals.
• Focus on fitting into clothes I already have and not buy new clearance rack clothes to get by at the weight I am at the beginning of the month.
• Blog more often and post weekly updates on this challenge.

Rewards

• 195- Chuck Berry CD

 

• 190- Singstar Legends game

Beginning Weight

•  On Sunday, September 30th I weighed in at 196.8.

Beginning Measurements

•  On Sunday, September 30th...
• Neck- 13"
• Arm- 14"
• Bust- 39
• Waist-37"
• Hips- 46"
• Thigh- 24.5"
• Calf- 16.5"

If there are any of you out there that want to join in with this challenge, message me, e-mail me, or find me on Facebook.

September Girl

I named this post September Girl after the Bangles song "September Girls." The reason why follows after a video:

The simple reason is that I want to rock it out in September with weight loss, exercise, and eating right. I would like September to be the month that I make goals and stick to them for a change. Really go back to the good habits I formed when I first started losing weight. I've strayed quite far from some of those good habits over the summer and it is time to get back on the wagon. On my weigh-ins page I've highlighted the weeks that I gained weight in red. There weren't very many reds if you go back to the early days and there are a ton of reds now. I used to lose 5 pounds in 4-6 weeks, not months. I'm still in the obese category, so the weight should still be coming off like that. The problem is that my motivation and willpower have faded. They aren't gone, but I feel like they are a little candle with a small flame blowing around in the wind instead of a roaring fire. I've been trying to find some new blogs to read, because some of my favorite bloggers aren't writing as often or taking a break. Reading blogs is what sparked my fire the first time. I've also been on the hunt for some motivational quotes and found a page with a ton of them. Here is one that has resonated with me:

"Anything is possible, It's your choice whether or not you choose to make IT happen."

I'm working hard on choosing to do great things this month in weight loss land. It isn't something I have to do, it is something I'm choosing to do to make myself a better person. So here are the choices that I would like to work on in September:

• Lose at least 30 pounds (again!) and get down to at least 190 by the end of September.
• Focus on following my eating plan again with cooking more of my own meals at home.
• Finish C25K (only two more 30 minute jogs) and decide on whether to continue jogging.
• Work out five days a week. Working out could be jogging, walking, biking, walking the dogs, cleaning around the house, or playing Wii Fit or xBox Kinect.
• Keep blogging as I have time about my September choices. I might not be on every day, but I will try to keep up to date.

If I choose to do these things, the weight loss will follow and my habits will be good ones again.

I've also given myself a non-scale victory to work towards. I would like to fit into this dress sometime this fall/winter. It would be super cute with some black leggings, my mid-calf black swede boots, and these peace sign earrings.

Thank goodness this picture is blurry and a front view. Yes the dress is on my body, but believe me, it ain't pretty from the side view.

I also haven't been giving myself some the rewards that I have for meeting goals. I should've given myself a CD for getting to 195, and I never did. When I lose 0.8 pounds and get to 195 again, I choose to give it to myself and feel good about a step in the right direction.

And maybe I should choose to do things to make me sweat as much as Chuck Berry is in this picture. Johnny B. Goode!

I also bought a CD with five songs from Phillip Phillips (winner of American Idol last year). I wanted to give myself a song for every pound lost between 195 and 190 as a small reward which I never did as well. It sucks to be losing the same weight again, but I do think I deserve a little bit of reward for putting the effort in again.

If I find myself struggling (which I'm sure that I will) I will have to remember this whole choices thing and push myself to make better choices until they become second nature. If I'm hungry while driving home from work, I could choose to stop and get a doughnut like this week or I could choose to get a protein bar, veggies, or a piece of fruit. If I'm tired after work, I could choose to watch TV or sit on the computer or I could choose just do to a little bit like a short walk or some laundry.

Now that I'm feeling some motivation, I'm going to choose to make the most of this day off of work. I'm going to cook a healthy dinner and snack. I'm going to get up and move by mowing the yard, doing laundry, and mopping the kitchen floor. I'm going to work on my grad school application. Maybe I'll even be writing a post again later today to let you know how all this goes.

Summer Break Goals

Now that almost a full month of summer break is done, I thought it might be a good idea to set some goals for myself. ;) Last summer I didn't start until July and was able to lose 20 pounds. I would love to lose another 20 pounds this summer, but this is the goal I set for myself instead...

If I could get to 177.5, that would be my halfway to my final weight goal (the higher end of my final weight loss range). That is only about 11.5 pounds from where I am now. My goal is to get to this weight by August 20th. That is my first day back at work and would be a lovely day to celebrate such a goal. If I happen to lose more weight than that by then, I'd be okay with that too.

I have set up several rewards for reaching this goal and some smaller ones along the way which you can see on my goals page. My big reward for reaching the goal of 177.5 or halfway to my goal weight will be season seven of House on DVD. I will take a few hours to relax and watch some of my favorite episodes from the season.

This is the season of the Huddy hookup!

I will also allow myself a mini shopping spree for some new clothes and/or shoes for work. I'll go through what I have and see what holes need to be filled wardrobe wise. It would be a great time to do this with all the back to school sales! My sketcher mary jane style shape ups that I have in black and brown are worn out from last year, so I'd love to replace them.

They even have holes worn into the inside heel part of the shoe!

I've been in a bit of a slump throughout June with barely losing any weight. I hope this along with going back to basics with my eating plan will help me to get back on track to weight loss land.

Weight Loss Weekend

The weight loss has picked up this weekend. I finally broke my little plateau of 187 and was down to 185.8 this morning. Nearing 185 means that some of my clothes are too big, so I went through my stuff in my regular closet and my motivation closet. I was able to weed out some big clothes and find some out of my motivation closet to take their place. Other exciting news is that I have some size 14 dress pants that didn't before and now do as long as some size 12 jeans! They are K-mart Route 66 curvy fit jeans.

I left this picture wider so you could see Benjamin. It looks like is running into the fan!

I also opened this CD and put it on my iPod for my reward of reaching 186. At 185 I get Singstar Legends.

I spent this weekend getting a lot of things done around the house. I mowed the yard, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the bathroom, and organized my clothes. I also went grocery shopping and shopping for supplies and a present for a co-workers wedding shower we are throwing on Thursday. I can't spill any details yet in case she reads it, but I'll have some pictures for you later.

Some lovely poppies from my yard. They bloomed this weekend.

I am doing much better with eating smaller portions and trying to wait out the hunger in between meals and snacks. Now I just got to keep on keeping on to lose some more weight. Here are some eats from this weekend.

Grilled chicken tenderloins from Cracker Barrel.

A piece of BLT pizza that I made from my 300 Under 300 Calories Hungry Girl cookbook.

A blueberry yogurt crunch from McDonalds. Under 300 calories and yummy!

The Last Day!

Today is the last day before the 30th and the end of my month long goal of losing 4-8 pounds. This morning I woke up and weighed 187.2 which is 0.2 away from the lowest I've been since I started my weight loss journey. I was very excited and happy, so I rewarded myself with a new C.D. I put it on my iPod and listened to the whole thing this morning while doing paperwork and paying bills. If you don't know who James Durbin is, he was one of the contestants from American Idol Season 10. He is going on tour and opening for Evanescence and Buckcherry, so I'd say that is doing well for himself.

As for my Sunday, it has been pretty productive. I've done some laundry, dishes, paid bills, went to the store to get a few things for a work project, wrote my lesson plans, made invitations to an event I'm in charge of at work, and took Benjamin for a long walk. I still have a few things to do to get ready for work this week and would like to sweep and/or mop the floors before I go to bed, but we'll see if I actually get it done or not.

Since May will be here on Tuesday, I've already begun thinking of setting new goals for next month. Ideally, I would like to get to 180 by the end of the month. If I stick with a 4-8 pound goal, I will either make it or be pretty close. It would be nice to close out another weight loss decade and go down a size. If I work hard, I know I can do it! For my short term goals, here are my goals for the next week:

My eats for the day

Breakfast:

Snack:

Snack:

Lunch:

I also had a salad with ranch and an unbuttered biscuit.

Snack:

Dinner: