89 lbs lost so far & my Mini challenge completed! Some thoughts...

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

December 26th already. Happy Wednesday everyone!

I completed the mini-challenge I created for myself over the Christmas break. Even though there were a lot of snacks, I watched what I ate. I did my best to make sure I had as many normal meals as I could. Spark gave me my 1,000 fitness minutes trophy for December, hooray! I am still at 161 exactly! I am still surprised, but I am glad. I tried my best to have healthy breakfasts over the weekend. I had egg whites two days & also had some total cereal with leftover berries. I laughed because I had so many more berries than shown on the box. It was delicious though!

I finished working on my Christmas gifts over the weekend. I finished the hot chocolate project & made two more gift baskets. No more Christmas gift projects now! I was sitting around wondering what I will do after work now…. What will I do now that Christmas is over? Well, I will focus more on my exercise until tax seasons starts. Then I will barely have any free time at nights! At least I will be getting paid overtime.

Christmas was wonderful. I got a few pairs of pants that size 10. They all fit. It was nice to replace the 14s and 12s from my drawer. Who would have thought I would be so happy to get long sleeve workout shirts & workout fleeces as gifts?! There were 21 of us at my parent’s house for dinner. I always help prep & then cook. We had a lot to do, but everything came out on time which is great. I had some leftover grilled chicken with black beans and tomatoes. I also made myself a plain sweet potato. The only thing I had from the normal Christmas dinner I added to my plate was some fresh cranberry sauce & salad. I stayed in the kitchen & did the dishes after putting out dessert. Some of them looked so good, and I didn’t want anyone asking me if I wanted this pie or that cake or a cookie. After everyone left, we finished cleaning up. It was so quiet in the house with the dogs still being in the kennel.

When I started Spark in August 2011, I weighed 250 lbs. I am now at 161. 2012 has had many ups and downs in my life outside of the scale. Besides losing 89 pounds so far, I have gained a lot of confidence in myself. Even though I still feel fat most of the time, I also have times where I feel normal. By normal - I mean I don't feel like the big girl everyone is making fun of in their heads. There are times where I still feel negative, but I still try my best to keep pushing forward. I don't forget about my past, but I can't let it hold me back. When I started Spark, I barely ever had a positive attitude especially about myself. I put everyone in front of myself on the priority list. After all I have achieved now, I believe in me & I still try to help out everyone I can!

My big weight loss goal is to be at 155 by March 1, 2013. Although I don't full believe in the BMI scale, I am using it as my big weight loss goal. For my height, 127-155 is the Healthy Weight Range. Once I get to 155, I will not stop tracking. I won't give up on exercise or running 5K. The 155 is my goal to be healthy, but I still need to keep pushing forward. I will probably make future goals for myself, but I may not be able to reach all of them. I don't want to say "I want to be 130" and then be disappointed for the rest of my life if I cannot get that low. The last time I was 155 pounds was in 2003. It will be nice to get back to that weight even though I know I will be able to lose more. Being healthier is super important to me! Less weight means less strain on my body!

Start Date: August 17, 2011
Current Date: December 26, 2012

Start Weight: 250
Current Weight: 161
Healthy Goal Weight: 155

Start Pant Size: 22-24
Current Size: 10

Start Shirt Size: 2X-3X
Current Size: M-L

I don't have any specific resolutions or goals for 2013 yet. If I get the time, I will try to think of some. Basically, I think I want to keep going with my monthly goals! I need to add in yoga again & maybe start going back to zumba if my schedule allows it. I try to take everything day by day now instead of jumping ahead too much. Long-term goals are nice, but small steps are very important too.

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful holiday. 2012 is almost over & 2013 is approaching TOO fast! I know I can reach my goals as long as I make them realistic! I know my Sparkfriends can reach their goals too as long as you all keep pushing! Reward yourself for putting in the time to make yourself a better you! Even a pat on the back or a moment to pause and say "you are worth it" really does make a difference! You are in control of you!

I will try to get some more progress picture updates once I get to 90 lbs lost.

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Keep Pushing! Random mini- challenge for myself

Friday, December 21, 2012

Happy Friday!!!

There is quite a bit of chores left on my holiday checklist:
-Help my Mom clean & clean & clean some more!
-Go Food Shopping
-Finish my hot chocolate gift project
-Finish wrapping the gifts that just got delivered
-Help my Mom prep & cook for the 22 people eating over on Christmas Day!

Besides chores, I was invited to a game night & then a movie night! I need to make sure I stay true to myself. Over the years, I always put other people first. I think it is important to help others, but I also need to make sure I help myself reach my December goals. The new year is coming, and I don't want Christmas cookies to be the reason I didn't reach my weight goal for the month. I don't think there is anything wrong with eating extra yummy food- I just don't want it for myself!

Normally, I am pretty good with watching what I eat. I baked three types of cookies last night, and I didn't have any! I was within my calorie range yesterday, but I snuck in some chocolate while I was making the dipping spoons. (I posted pictures below) Dark mint chocolate... I couldn't resist! Looking back, I wish I had a healthier snack instead of the chocolate. I don't feel guilty, but I don't want to keep sliding over the holiday just because the food is there. Co-workers brought in two platefuls of cookies & a crumb cake.. and I am not giving in!

Randomly- I decided to make a mini-challenge for myself. I would like stay at 161 by 12/26. I wanted to reach 161 or less by 12/31.. but I really don't want to slack off over the holiday. I will be ok with the meal food - I won't over eat! But there will be cheese and crackers and pretzels.. I will have some - but not too much! I will be travelling to a few different houses the whole weekend, so I need to make sure I eat full meals instead of just snacking on the run.

My Mini-Challenge
-Don't eat too many snacks
-Eat Full Meals
-Stay at 161 by 12/26
-Try to get as much exercise as I can
-Reach 1,000 fitness minutes by 12/26.
-Don't get too stressed
-Enjoy my time off from work

As a Christmas present for myself, I bought an online deal for 10 yoga classes! I was debating if I should do it or not - but if I already paid for it I am more likely to force myself to go to the classes!

Hopefully everyone has a wonderful holiday if you celebrate it! Keep pushing towards your goals even if you are tempted by all of the goodies like I am! If you do decide to eat extra of the yummy food, don't get discouraged! Track it if you can, and keep moving forward!

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Tis the Season!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

As most of you know, my work gave me a nice bonus the other day. It put me in a really festive mood! I made a nice fruit and candy basket for my co-workers last night. When they first saw it, they were joking around saying they bet it was soy & vegan chocolate or other healthy items & no good fattening food. =) They all love dark chocolate and caramel, so I made sure to get a lot of that! Everyone keeps walking around going "mmmmm". I am now thinking about making one for my Mommom and maybe one other one. I just need to get the fillers for it! I forgot how much I like doing last minute projects like that. =)

I am still super excited for the holiday! Some more gift items I ordered were delivered yesterday, so I will wrap them tonight. Oh - I have to wrap up the rest of the marshmallows. After that, I will be almost done! This weekend I will be baking cookies & dipping the spoons into chocolate. Man, I don't know what I will do when Christmas is over. Thats right - I will be working 9-12 hours a day!

Also, I want to use the treadmill tonight! If I get the chance, I will do another search for 5K. I want to sign up for one, but I haven't found a good one. I know there aren't too many choices this time of year. Maybe this weekend I will map out a local course and run my own. I just don't want my legs to be super sore on Christmas Day when I have to help out my Mom with dinner.

I was 161 on the scale this morning - but I want to wait until after Christmas to get my official weight. With my challenges, I like to be close to the weigh-in days before I count it!

Hopefully everyone has a wonderful holiday season! The new year is approaching so fast!

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Christmas Gift Project Update & Declutter!!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Happy Wednesday everyone!

So....I have moved most of my belongings 7 times since 2006. I moved out of my parents, then back, then out etc.... I used to have a nice filing cabinet with everything organized. As time moved on, I got rid of it & most of my important paperwork got shoved into big tupperware containers. I had to look for important documents last night, so I decided to throw out a lot of old receipts and bills I definitely don't need anymore! It took me two hours to go through everything, but I feel so much better now! Now I just need to figure out how to shred my information!

After I cleaned up, I did some more work on my Christmas Gift Project. My parents have Christmas dinner every year for both sides of the family. I think there will be 22 of us this year! Instead of buying big gifts for everyone, I like to make something and give it to each person. Sometimes I bake cookies, muffins, etc. This year I decided I wanted to try to make my own hot chocolate mix. I am done the mix & I packaged 30 of them. I bought small cinnamon bun marshmallows, small chocolate mint marshmallows, and the regular vanilla flavored kind. Last night I rolled all of the cinnamon bun types together! Hopefully tonight or tomorrow night I will get the other kind done too. I also bought plastic spoons & I want to try covering them with chocolate so they can be used to stir everything together. My co-worker gave me that idea, and it sounds really fun! Once all of that is done, I need to fill out the recipe cards with the ingredients & also want to give directions on how much mix to use and what to add to it. I love choices, so I will give each person all three kinds of marshmallows, white chocolate and chocolate covered spoons, dark hershey kisses, and candy canes! They can decide what kind of hot chocolate they want with the mix I gave them. Yum! My parents lucked out because I was testing it all on them haha.

I also posted a picture of a cute little snowman! My friend gave me a snowman that grew crystals. It is so cute! I love little decorations like that. I put him on my desk at home. =) Little things make me super happy!

My work doesn't exchange gifts to everyone (except giving to the bosses). But I may make up a fruit and candy basket. My co-workers love dark chocolate and caramel candy so.. I may go and pick some up. I randomly buy some when it goes on sale & everyone jokes saying I am trying to make them all fat so I look better haha. I don't eat the candy, but I know they enjoy it.

I really want to do some 5K training this weekend. Although I am not currently signed up for a race, I don't want to slack off too much! I could use the extra exercise, and if I want a better time, I really need to keep training!

The scale hasn't moved too much since I started in December - I am at 162 now & I started at 164 when I made my December goals. If I lose one more pound & I will get to my hopeful goal of being at 161 by the end of this month. I think I need to up my exercise to get there. My food tracking has been pretty good lately!

Hopefully everyone has a great rest of the week! Keep pushing towards your December goals! It isn't too late- every day counts =)

So much paperwork Ahhhhhh

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Raise & a Bonus - simple celebration time!!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Happy... almost Tuesday!

I was promoted to a better position within my company a few weeks ago. Although the training did not start yet, I had my review today. I started my job with this company last February. The review went great. I was given a $2 raise & a Christmas bonus. Woohoo! With my last job, I worked there for two and a half years and never got a raise. I did so much for that company, and everyone hated each other there. I am so thankful for the company I work for now. I never imagined I would be this happy at a job. Even though I never imagined working for an accounting firm, I love it!

When I first got to work this morning, my co-workers & boss all said to me: "Did you have fun at the Christmas party? It looked like you had fun!" hahaha. I know I felt silly dancing and laughing so much- but Oh well! Everyone had a good time so it was definitely worth.

After work, I used a free Redbox movie code & walked around the food store looking for something to reward myself with. It sounds silly, but I wanted to celebrate with my parents. I knew they were already cooking dinner, so I didn't want to pick up any real food. I walked around for about 20 minutes before I decided what I wanted - angel food cake & berries! Oh and I couldn't forget the fat free cool whip =) My Mom apparently never had raspberries or blackberries before? My parents thanked me for the dessert & the movie.

I finished my Christmas cards finally & had my dessert. Yum yum! Normally I try not to have an actual dessert - I prefer some kind of snack instead of a baked good - but it definitely was a nice treat. The new training will probably start in January once my position gets filled! I am still nervous & excited! Even though I will be working tons of hours soon... at least I will be paid more & I know I am appreciated at my work!

I still need to figure out what kind of workout schedule I will have. It will be so easy to just forget about the exercise =( Hopefully that does not happen. I wish I had a workout partner closer to home to push me to workout!

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