the Big 5-0 has been reached!!!

Tues. Mar, 27th 2012

Current weight: 207
LOSS this week: -2
Total loss since on this journey: 51 pounds
Total weight loss during 10 week goal timeline: 11 pounds - 9 pounds to go!!


HUGE celebration today .. I have lost over 50 pounds. It feels incredible and I'm so excited!!! I was really hoping I'd get there this week and I did (1 cup of pistachios and all lol).

Starting Weight: 258 - January 25th, 2012                                                                             









Current weight: 207 - Tues. March 27th, 2012










I still have a long way to go ... but I'm getting closer to my 20 pound goal - 9 away. I have until May 12th weekend. It is discouraging to know it takes so long .. but hopefully this means it will stay off. I do have the worry of gaining it all back .. but I just can't think those negative thoughts and accept that this is totally a LIFESTYLE change!!!!

I wouldn't be here today without the dedication and push of my awesome trainer Shawna who has taught me all I know about fitness and has shown me time and time again what it means to push hard... and of course my loving and supportive family and friends. My fiance Nick who has modified all his meals to ensure they continue to be healthy and cooking me beautiful, healthy "clean" foods. It's so great eating real food and follwing Tosca's principles. I have to specifically mention my Mom and Cathy who have been great motivators....wouldn't be here without them and my certain girlfriends who are so supportive - you know who you are!

Thanks to you readers too ... I've loved all the support I've gotten .. it's what keeps me going. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

The journey is still in progress ... and it ain't over yet folks!

Slip ups...

First of all... Have to get a guilty moment off my chest. Yesterday I was grumpy, PMSing and tired...I was sitting in front of the T.V when I craved something... Of course chips or chocolate would have been nice, but I chose a better route.... Pistachios... Hadn't got all my "healthy" fats in for the day so thought why not? Well pistachios are good (like most healthy fats) in appropriate quantities.I sat and ate the rest of them (prob about a cup worth). In the end I had a bit of a stomach ache. I think this moment for me showed that my battle with food will always be there... It's just a matter of knowing how to control it. Knowing there will be times that you say to yourself " damn why did I eat that?" in the past I'd say well I messed up this day may as well just start again tomorrow. That's not a choice anymore! I messed up on the pistachios but I realized hey this happens and it's not worth dwelling on and it's certainly not worth giving up the rest of my day's calories! Live and learn. Moral of the story... In all our weight loss journeys we will have slip ups. What person who's working on quitting smoking doesn't have a puff now and then. Food is an addiction and there will be low points. ( like me and 600 calories worth of pistachios). The important thing is how do you deal with these mistakes? Do you say screw it I'll be better tomorrow or next week or do you immediately say well that was a silly choice, next time I chose to eat something I will stop and think about it. Give yourself a rebost... You are better than that slip up... Keep your goal in mind. How will you handle your next slip up?

celebration!! - and a great idea of weight tracking

Tues. Mar, 20th 2012
Current weight: 209
LOSS this week: -6.5
Total loss since on this journey: 49 pounds 
Total weight loss during 10 week goal timeline: 9 pounds - 11 pounds to go!! 

General thoughts: I am sooo unbelievably close to 50 pounds lost that I can taste it. Had a great week and I'm proud and excited and feel soooo good! My biggest moment this week was going over to a friend's for dinner and they had plates of bulk barn candies to share. I wasn't so tempted by the gummy candies .. but the cadbury mini eggs ....... those are unreal! However I know myself and if I had eaten 1, I would have eaten 25... so I just tried to have as much self discipline as I could (and that's not easy). I think though it is becoming easier to say no as I become closer and closer to my short term goal. I can't wait to be under 200 pounds ... I think the last time I was under 200 pounds was in first year university over 8 years ago ... so I'm determined!! What I did differently this week was I just got serious about tracking and ensuring I'm in my calorie range. I exercised 6 out of the 7 days which probably played a big role - found it definitely easier to fit in with March break. I would still like to at least definitely be working out 5 days a week for sure which I think is doable.

Now something that my lovely Mother recommended that she had heard about (it's a great visual reminder to encourage weight loss).

You set an attainable goal - so mine is to be under 200 pounds by my engagement party in May. This would mean a 20 pound loss.

In one masion jar you use rocks to represent each pound that you want to lose (or also known as your starting jar). Then in the other jar you use this as your weight loss jar. So each week you weigh yourself in you move the rocks to the appropriate jar (e.g., if you lose 2 pounds you move 2 rocks from the starting jar to the finish jar).

Now the real kicker is when you gain weight. If you gain weight you have to move the rock from the "finish" jar back into your starting point jar. The process of doing this hurts (I had to do it last week) so it helps to motivate and is a visual representation to keep you on track. I have it in my kitchen because I often go in here and graze unnecessarily. These jars will help me remember how far I've come and that I still have "rocks" to lose before I reach my short term goal.

Thanks Mom for this great and motivating idea. Try it out next month and let me know what you think.

When our emotions get the best of us!

I think in my last year and a bit of focusing on clean eating I have discovered that we all have foods that tempt us ... that is foods that make us think ... "oh one won't hurt me" .. and before you know it the whole bag of chips is gone ... foods that have an emotional tie ... foods that initially taste so good that we feel a sense of happiness eating them - maybe it's the emotional tie to your Grandmother's fudge cake.

For me food has always had an emotional connection. Think about it.... during some of your happiest days and memories -  Christmas, weddings, birthdays, baby showers there is ALWAYS food as one of the key components of the celebration. I hate this about food and how it has done this to us!!! I recall the break-up of my first serious boyfriend .. my girlfriends came armed with a 2 litre container of ice cream in hand. We ate it ... and somehow at the time .. it made me feel food (although I know now this was not the answer). I recently read that 75% of overeating is caused by emotions (depression, loneliness and boredom).... Bad food is everywhere and the days of eating because you're sad .. eating because you're bored .. or eating because you're lonely .. need to stop!! Check out this comic .. who's been there? I know I have ...

I wanted to celebrate a moment for myself in which I was not that person that ate ice cream because I was sad. On this particular day I was upset about something - can't even remember what. All I wanted to do was go into the kitchen and eat, but I wasn't hungry. I stopped myself right by the kitchen cupboards and instead I picked up the broom and starting sweeping .. I kept sweeping .. more and more .. and my time, energy and thoughts were now devoted to cleaning up instead of what food I could eat that I didn't really need. This worked for me and I was proud :)


I have found success in dealing with the stress of work in a different way than I once would as well. There was nothing I would liked more than to sit in front of the T.V with a pop and popcorn or tostitoes immediately after a rough day at work.  Now I instead put my energy and efforts into a great work-out. Trust me when I say it feels sooo much better than the taste of those unnecessary calories that you are letting your emotions control. 


Next time your emotions are getting the best of you and you crave food - pick up a broom .. head out for a run or go to the gym. Trust me when I say in the end you will be happy you did it ... 


 

lettuce cup lunch

Had a lovey lunch with my Mom today and she made these for us. Great alternative to the high carb sandwich. It's from multiply delicious (great website with good recipes too!). My Mom successfully cut the oil amounts suggested in half.

Chicken Vegetable Lettuce Cups

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or coconut oil)
½ cup yellow onions, diced
½ cup green onions, chopped
½ cup red bell pepper, diced
½ cup yellow bell pepper, diced
½ cup carrots, shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground chicken (or turkey or beef)
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh parsley or cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lettuce leaves (such as Bibb), washed and dried
Additional toppings of choice: Avocado, Guacamole, Salsa, etc.
 
Instructions:
Heat 2 tablespoon oil of choice in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add the onions, green onions, bell pepper, and carrots and cook until all are softened, about 2-4 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
While the vegetables are cooking heat another large skillet on medium heat and add one to two tablespoons of oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Crumble chicken into the pan and sprinkle with salt and chili powder.  Cook the chicken without stirring until it is browned on one side, then turn the pieces over to brown the other side.  At this point you can also make sure the chicken is broken into small pieces or crumbled.  Once the chicken is just cooked through, stir in vegetables and sprinkle with more salt and chili powder to taste.  You can also add a little ground black pepper too.  Remove from heat.  Stir in fresh parsley or cilantro.
 To serve place the chicken vegetable mixture into lettuce cups and serve with toppings of choice.  I used avocado or guacamole and salsa.  Yum!

weigh in catch up ...

Not too sure how I missed last week's weigh in .. as I did weigh in (just didn't update my blog)...

Wed. Mar, 7th 2012
Current weight: 214
LOSS this week: 2.0 pounds
Total loss since on this journey: 46 pounds
Total weight loss during 10 week goal timeline: 4 pounds - (16 to go!) 

Tues. Mar, 13th 2012Current weight: 215.5
LOSS this week: (gained 1.5)
Total loss since on this journey: 44.5 pounds
Total weight loss during 10 week goal timeline: 2.5 pounds - 17.5 (to go!)

General thoughts today were discouragement .. it is such a slow process and a few difficult eating days completely throw me off track (which is what I discovered with housewarming party, March break and going to Buffalo - eating out way too much). I'm not saying these as "excuses" ... because there are no excuses .. I'm just venting at how hard this bloody process is and how hard it is to keep weight off and how hard it is to even get weight off. I feel like I'm working hard and it sometimes doesn't feel like it's hard enough. When I jumped on the scale today - I really didn't feel like I was going to gain .. so surprise, disappointment and resentment were up there with how I was feeling.

This week's a new week .... not sure what I'll do differently (I'm not going out to restaurants as much so that helps). I just need to keep my goal in mind!

Thanks for listening to my venting. I know I'm not alone in feeling discouraged because everybody is there at times. The positive attitude is what I have to remember ...

no more excuses !!!

Now is the day to step back and stop with the excuses! Saw this video and thought it was so true.

I am COMPLETELY guilty of making excuses (time is the biggest and most commonly used excuse)... but thought this may kick some of us that need it in the butt! (it motivated me!)

on track

Weigh in #2 (sorry I missed updating on Wednesday, but I did weigh in) - here it is!

Wed. Feb. 29th, 2012
Current weight: 216
LOSS this week: 2.0 pounds
Total loss since on this journey: 44 pounds (in Jan. 2011 I weighed 258 - this was my heaviest weight - SCARY!!!! )
Total weight loss during 10 week goal timeline: 2 pounds - (18 to go!) 
General thoughts/ feeling: had a good week .. worked hard and came out with a 2 pound loss ... going to be tough to stay this strict ... going to do what I have to do though. My fitness pal has been fantastic for my food tracking. I love having such supportive friends to be there on this journey.

To think I'm 6 pounds away from hitting 50 pounds lost is quite exciting. It seems like such a huge number to me ...I couldn't have done it without the support of my family and friends and trainer of course.

The more I think about it .. the more I think I'm crazy for sharing with the world wide web my weight ... when I think about it I cringe .. however I feel like this blog needs to be an authetic experience .. how can I help and motivate others if there is nothing measureable showing my ups (and downs). 

To prepare for the week I've made some great soups. I went to spinning - which was fantastic!!! I loved every minute of it .. but damn was I sore. I'm so proud of Laura and Michele who joined me. We gave it our all and it was so wonderful to have such supportive friends around me.

Here's to another great week - have our house warming party on Saturday which will pose some challenges calorie wise (e.g., drinking + delicious food). Staying focused with my goal in mind!!!!