Recharge

Alright. It is time. No not New Years Resolution Time, but time to get back.

When I first started my weight loss journey I did great for 3 months. I lost 15lbs. I was on a roll.

Then Europe happened.

I fell behind. I never came back, until now. My motivation is not the new year. My motivation is that we are moving to Hawaii this summer. Yep, the same place that people go to vacation in swim suits, model on the beaches in swim suits, and the last place I want to look terrible in a swim suit.

I am back at it again. This time, I am in Minnesota. I have hired a personal trainer for the next 5 months. I have met with one three times now, going on 4 tomorrow.

I am sore. Totally feel out of shape, but since Dec. 13, I am down at least 3lbs. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. So I would say I am off to a good start.

Another motivation, is that if I hit my goal of losing 50lbs. Yes it is a hefty goal but doable, my husband will take me to FIJI. A place that I never knew where it was even located until I googled it. But we might as well travel that direction while we are halfway there anyways!

So I am pushing myself, and I hope to post more here about my weight loss progress. I need to take a before picture --- before I forget!!

Here's to being happy, healthy, and busy new life!

For Me

Alright. Here we go. I am in a countdown.

I am joining the gym on Thursday December 1st.

I have six months. To lose as much weight as I can.

This is because I am moving to Hawaii.

If I can lose 50lb before June, my husband will take me on a tropical vacation.

On Thursday, or soon after, I will post my before picture. My gross disgusting before picture (still yet to be taken).

I have the motivation. I know how to get to the gym. I am getting a personal trainer. I am also going to take zumba, and one other class, still TBD.

I might leave it up to my personal trainer to recommend a class to take.

I want to wear a bikini in Hawaii.

I have looked at enough woman who are in shape and look amazing, 10 years ago, I was one of them. I want those 10 years back.

Here's to a new life. A new body. A new home.

This one is for me.

I was doing so good

I was, I really was. Life caught up. I got busy. Non stop. and I feel like I failed myself.

I went to the doctor to get my cholesterol checked, since it had been a year since I checked it last... well, my results were no good. I really wish I could be back home and see the doctors I had seen for years, since they know my family and my family history. But I am not, so I am here stuck with what I get.

This past winter I was dealing with what I now know is Allergies. Alright problem solved. Next, I went with my heart burn issues, which result in probably because I am overweight. Well. yes. I know. I am no longer 140lbs like I was in high school. Nope, I did not participate in normal sports that I can continue as an adult. But yes, the little pill you gave me doc seems to work.

But still cholesterol is not solved. So what is next? Well, I guess I am going to go see a Nutritionist now. I thought I was eating right. Low salt. Snacks consist of almonds. Eating more yogurt, oatmeal, what not. trying not to eat eggs everyday. But the big one. She says I should stop drinking alcohol. I know its not the best for me. But I love a glass of wine. I really do. We are members at wineries, and I have enough wine to keep me happy for months. I am not going to give up things I love. Like chocolate.

Where is that balance. That happy balance. I grew up eating red meat and potatoes. Favorite food, prime rib. I remember when I could eat whatever I wanted and not gain a pound. Now here I am at 26... almost 27, and not able to eat one thing I love because its not good for me. What would I rather be, healthy or happy?

How did I even get this way? Oh wait, I know stress. A stressful job. Losing weight is a life transformation, but its hard for me to go at it alone. But I have no one here that was in my shoes, and is in my shoes now. I am here for maybe six more months, and then home I go. Then for me to start it all over again.

I am just venting, so for my few followers on here, I am sorry. There is no one home right now to talk to. Its late, and I just don't think my husband understands (and the fact he is gone right now doesn't help). I am leaving for vacation in a month from yesterday. But I am going to be in Europe. And there is NO WAY, I am going to pass up European food and DRINKS!!

I am so scatterbrained. Maybe, I should just go to bed. Oh, what a day.

Great News!

I have totally been neglecting this blog, and I feel terrible. BUT -- I am down 13lbs!!

Yesterday I hit the mall, to get Clinique, since it is bonus days... finally... but I remembered that my husband has a cocktail party next weekend. I wanted to try to fit into a dress that I wore a few years ago, but I am not quite there yet. Plus it is also in the Junior sizes, so I don't even KNOW what size that is in Woman's. So I thought for fun I would try on some new dresses.

I tried on my normal size, and guess what?!?

IT WAS TOO BIG!!!

Best feeling ever! So, I am down one dress size, and I feel like I can tackle anything now. I have had a stressful last few weeks. There has been so much going on... I haven't been able to work out as much as I should have, but I have taken advantage of the beautiful weather and have taken some walks, and had a few dance parties with myself in my livingroom while cleaning... and that burns calories too!!

I have been watching what I eat, and have not been snacking. I feel great and I hope to lose 15-20lbs more before I head to Europe for a couple weeks with my Mom this summer.

For now, spanx will be my friend, but luckily I wasn't wearing spanx when I tried on the dress! Imagine what I would look like with the Spanx, I keep telling myself. :)

I don't mind being the "largest" of all of our friends out here. I am not giant. I mean I fit into a size 12, which made me feel great. It is hard though when all your friends are a size 6 or smaller. I am just not built like them. I had one friend complain that they didn't make something small enough. Yes, they are lucky to be small, but they are the ones that wish they had the larger chest. (And that I have plenty of that to share).

I am going to keep going, and working hard at this. This is for me.

I know I only have a few followers on here, and that is totally fine. I love the support. I love knowing I am not the only one. I know we can all get through this together. It would be so hard to go through it alone. So, thank you. Let's keep each other in check.

Peace.Love.Dove.

5 miles

Today I went 3 miles on the treadmill, and then later in the afternoon I took a walk at Washington Park with Lucie (my dog), Sue, and her son Jimmy. That walk is about 2.25 miles. So I went over 5 miles today!

I ate scrambled eggs for breakfast, a mozzarella sandwich for lunch, and homemade general tsao's chicken for dinner. I let myself have ONE, just one dove chocolate. Oh it was so good. I needed it.

My feet are tired, and I have this weird feeling in my throat, I sure hope I am not getting sick! Have a great night.

peace. love. dove.

Super Bowl Food

Ah, Super Bowl Sunday was yesterday... I tried my best to not pig out on all the delicious food. My downfall was the beer. It was good beer. Four cups of good beer. I think I had my alcohol limit for the week, so this week I am going to try to go alcohol free.

Problem is I love to have a glass of wine at the end of the day. But I have to remember, I am going for a healthier lifestyle. If the lifestyle can include alcohol, that will be great, but if it can't I would much rather be fit and look great, than to drink beer. So, once I finish the beer in the garage, I am not going to buy anymore, for me that is. My husband loves his beer, I don't feel it would be fair for me to just take that away from him. If I lose a bunch of weight because of it, he might want to get on the bandwagon too. But its a wait and see for all of us.

Today I worked out for an hour on the incline trainer. I fluctuated between 5% and 10% incline. But I went 3.1 miles and burned 613 calories. My largest calorie burner exercise in one workout session. Like I said, I am starting off slow. Maybe one day I can run a marathon or something to that sort, but I know it doesn't happen overnight.

I am happy to report that after a workout I am feeling refreshed and more willing to do stuff around the house. I put a bunch of stuff away, cleaned the bathroom, and even started on the laundry. My husband will be so happy. I think he will even start to enjoy my new found energy!

For breakfast I ate a bowl of oatmeal. My favorite oatmeal is Strawberries in Cream. Quaker used to sell it in a box by itself, but I couldn't find it at any of the local stores, so I switched to a new brand that sold just Strawberries & Cream. Its is called Better Oats. Now I found they make a DARK CHOCOLATE oatmeal, and it sounds delicious!! I am going to go to the store tomorrow and see if I can find it!

For lunch I made myself a salad. It was good and filled me up, but I am starting to get hungry again. I will have a snack of fruit here after I fold a load of laundry. I think that is enough for today. I am know I am only rambling to myself, but it will be nice to be able to look back and reflect on what I did and didn't when trying to get fit!

peace. love. dove.

Its been a while, but Ive been doing good.

I started this blog thinking, perfect, I can record my data. Look back and see accomplishment. Well, thanks to many online tracking systems, I have found myself using those and not blogging about it. This is going to be a recovery year. I am not sure that I can lose ALL of the weight I have put on since college, but I know that I can try my best to do what I CAN do. So far, I have worked out for 13 days in a row. At least a half an hour, at most about an hour.

I have been tracking my progress on ifit, which is linked to my incline trainer, so it documents it for me! (very helpful.) I have also been back on SparkPeople. I love most that you can track it all. get support by joining team/groups. Take on challenges, earn badges. Earn points by logging in, Find recipes that are healthy. I am finding myself on there reading about healthy living, which makes me feel better, and make smarter choices.

I have also been on Women's Health reading stuff too! So I have been doing good I would say. My husband and I save one night a week to go out and have a nice dinner. It is a weird feeling to not eat everything when I go out. Normally I would scarf it all down, but I have been doing good!

I will post my daily mileage, calories burned, and time. I think I am going to try to train for a marathon or 5K type thing. So I am going to put that into ifit soon. I will let you know!

Making progess, slowly but surely.

peace. love. dove.