A change of pace..

So, my program with the KCWLP ended and I ended up at 183!! That was a few months ago and I'm still hovering right around there, eating clean(er) and working out (most of the time).

Went to Hawaii to see one of my besties get married and even that 10 days of food and booze didn't set me back too far. I'm joining another program starting Feb 1.. I still have about 20 or 30 I can get rid of! But that's not what I'm here to write about...

We're trying to have a baby.. And it's not working :(

Fast Forward to Today (Day 33)

So it's day 33 of the 12 week challenge. It's been going great!! I'm down 14.4 LBS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a long plateau. From July 1 to July 18 I lost 1lb. That was it. I was starting to get really discouraged. Here I was, working out 6 days a week and eating healthier than I had in a long time and the scale wasn't budging. I could tell I was losing inches. My pants are all baggier in the thighs and under the butt, but still I wanted that damn scale to MOVE!!

I met with an amazing nutritionist about half way through my plateau and we tweaked my meals a little. Cut down my morning smoothies to only have 1/2 c of fruit, moved my almonds from my afternoon snack to my mid morning snack and (YAY) added brown rice to my lunch. I wasn't feeling as tired but I was still not losing. Talked with Dane, the awesome owner of Thunder Dome Fitness (or The Dome as we lovingly call it) and he took the time to go through my diary and urged me to up my calories... by 600 to 800 per day!! Apparently I train too hard lol.

So I upped them and lost a couple more lbs!!!

I'm going strong and steady and can't wait to see where I end up!

A day at the Accountability Ranch

4:45 came too soon. With a megaphone in hand our fearless leader Harold woke everyone up and we grumbled about trying to fit 17 people into one bathroom to get ready. I am NOT a morning person so this was TOUGH for me!

We marched back down the path to the workout facility and started the worst 45 minutes of the program. I was CONVINCED I was going to puke on my shoes (side note: I totally didn't). Circuit training: punching bags, jumping jacks (seriously tough), push-ups, passing a medicine ball, lunges, trampoline, jumprope (who would have thought a child's game was soooo hard!) and more punching bags. The trainers were AMAZING at keeping us motivated and going and when I was done I was PROUD! Sore, tired but PROUD!! We did a quick little interview for the website (link will get you to mine) and chatted about how the week would go.

We saw the other teams coming in for their weigh-in and preparing for the Adventure Run (more on that tomorrow) then we went back up to the house to meet with Chef Courtney. Her story is great and her recipes are AMAZING. We talked about portion control and getting good fuel for our bodies.

Then it was time to head home. I was invigorated, fresh, ready to tackle this weight loss challenge!!

The first week went well. Drinking a TON of water, eating healthy and making my food in advance so I could pack my lunch and not have any excuses to not get my food in. Having Shannon (my co-worker) there right next to me for every workout and meal sure didn't hurt my chances and come Saturday morning.. I was ready for the weigh-in and our first Adventure Run!!!

So Let's talk a little about the program

This program is probably the coolest thing I've ever done for myself. It started out very suddenly, like we found out on a Thursday night that we would start the next evening!! It all starts with a trip to the ranch.

You pull up to this house and it is BEAUTIFUL!! Out in the middle of nowhere Kansas with trees and fields all around (please excuse the dirty windshield, lots of bugs on the way)

 

We started the evening out by meeting up with everyone and heading to the workout facility on the grounds.

 As we stood around the trampoline, we told our stories and introduced ourselves to the group. We met some amazing people that day and I have a feeling we are making some long time friends as we power through this journey together! We met some of the trainers, and some of the past contestants (now ambassadors) of the team. Then we did the most horrifying thing of the week... weighed in, in front of everyone, on video with our weight announced over a megaphone!!! We did some "warm-ups" which were harder than most of the workouts I've done since highschool and headed over to a huge outdoor screen to watch a video where we would be "introduced" to the rest of the support system we would have for the 12 weeks!

After that we headed back to the house to get ready for bed. We all shared one large room set up like a dorm.

The night was rough, it was hot with all of us the small space and everyone snored! We were all dreading the 4:45am wake up call that was coming faster than we wanted! Around 11:15 I finally fell asleep....

A New Beginning: Starting this whole thing over with the right support system to KEEP ME GOING!!

OK, OK.. I gave up last year. I had good intentions. I promise! But see... well here's the downfall sob story as to how my diet got off track.

On March 1st of 2012 I found out I had a teratoma on my right ovary. It all started the evening of the 28th, we were hanging out around the house when I started to have some pretty severe pain. Like, worst cramps EVAR pain, in my left abdomen. Hubby thought it was gas (after all, I'd been on a steady diet of broccoli for like 3 months and WOW, that will gas you up) so I took some Gas-X, some ibuprofen and put a heat pad on it while I watched some TV. Then it didn't go away. It wasn't gas, I didn't need to "go" and it most definitely wasn't time for those kind of cramps. My mind went to all the other things it could be and I assumed it was cysts. My little sis had just been diagnosed with PCOS so I thought maybe I had it to. Tried to work the next day and that didn't go so well, I could barely walk standing up straight. Called the Dr. and made an appointment for the next day.

Went to the Dr. who sent me to get an ultrasound (the super invasive kind), got a call from the dr less than 15 mins after I left the ultrasound place and was advised to go home and lay down until I could make it in the next day. Turns out, it wasn't a cyst per se, but a teratoma. First thing I do when I get home... DUH, I googled it!! Holy scary stuff! These things can get HUGE, often go undetected until they cause pain and are made up of yummy stuff like hair, teeth and fingernails!!!

Dr. said we would have to have surgery on Monday and I was put on bedrest for the weekend. Let me tell you how freaked out I was and as an emotional eater... well the diet was OUT THE WINDOW! (more like out the drive-thru window because we hit up Arby's on our way home from the doc).

So I ate whatever I wanted all weekend and had surgery on Monday. Good news is he didn't have to take my ovary, but this thing took up 98% of it!!!!!!!!! (No teeth, just hair for those that are interested)

After that, I pretty much was "off the wagon" as far as my diet goes. I stopped following plan, went back to eating not so great (even though we were still cooking mostly at home) and stopped losing weight.


Fast forward to a year and some later.

I'm still overweight, still unhappy and still need the motivation to get this weight gone. I kept telling myself, I'll do it, I'll start losing. But, I was back over 200lbs again and couldn't seem to lose more than 10lbs on my own. I joined the local Planet Fitness at the beginning of the year and started going with a couple friends and a co-worker. THEN, at the end of June I got the most AMAZING opportunity!!


I joined the Kansas City Weightloss Program with 4 of my co-workers. This program is INSANE, probably the coolest things I've ever done.

I'll get into the details of it another post but lets just say I started the program at 208.4 and now (3 weeks into it) I'm at 196.4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a twelve week program and I'm hoping to be in the 170's by the time I'm done. Plus, the actual habits I'm building for myself are sustainable, unlike what I was doing before which would never be able to last for long before you lose it, break into a Krispy kreme and eat your way out.

Day 20?: Eh, blogging sucks when no one reads it

I see know why diet blogs don't last very long. I'm not witty or famous or anything close to either of those and no one reads this blog so I don't feel compelled to post.

I downloaded an Android app to my phone called My Diet Coach and paid for the pro version and it is AWESOME!! I can track my weight on a chart, keep a food diary and set reminders for myself with little motivational things, dinner times, "Hey bitch, eat your damn apple" is one of my reminders :)

I have been doing GREAT on my diet. The bf and I did cheat a couple times but I'm still steadily losing. He's having a hard time with all the things he can't eat so he has declared every other Sunday a cheat day for him. I'll probably partake but not at the level he does.

Got on the scale this morning and I'm at 201!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right

13 lbs lost in 3 weeks!!!!
 I'm pretty proud of myself. My pants are already getting looser by the day and I'll need to go shopping again soon. My mom has offered to pay me $1 for every pound lost and $100 when I get to 50lbs down and another $100 if I lose 70 lbs. I'll need that extra money too since we're getting hitched in September!!

Anyway, just thought I'd let all 2 people that look at this know, things are going well!!!! 

Days 7 and 8: Lazy blogger takes form

I didn't have time to blog last night. Ok, that's half true, I did have some time but I was tired and lazy and didn't feel like getting stuck on the computer because once I'm on, I get sucked into the land of Google+ or something else mildly interesting and the next thing you know it's 2am and I need to go to bed. 

So lets talk about yesterday:

Breakfast:

1 fruit

Slept in again so I got up around 11 and sliced up an apple for "breakfast"

Lunch:

1 protein, 1 veggie

I sauteed up some more squash and hard boiled a couple eggs

Snack:

1 fruit

Another 10 green grapes

Dinner:

3 veggies and a protein

The bf and I made hamburgers that were more like meat balls because the limit on red meat is 4oz. We also had mushrooms again and I made myself some broccoli and cauliflower while he decided to take a salad of lettuce and cucumbers to work with him.

Last night was pretty tough because I watched my little bro and sis over at my moms house which is the most tempting kitchen in the universe for me. There were taquitos (my favorite kind), ice cream, cookies, vanilla wafers, chocolate milk, and all sorts of other "off-plan" wonderful things. I resisted though and kept true to my diet.

Today was another sleep in kind of day and the bf and I went to the grocery store to get the food for the week. We found some ways to spice things up and get a little more variety going on. I'm ok with the blandness of this diet, I've done it before and I saw the results but he is bored to tears with it. 

Breakfast:

1 starch 1 fruit

I had a piece of toast and a cup of frozen peach slices. 

Lunch:

1 veggie

I made a simple salad of just a cup of lettuce. Since I ate breakfast so late I wasn't really hungry and I had a pretty decent dinner planned

Dinner:

3 veggies, 1.5 protein, 1 starch 

I sauteed up zucchini, squash and mushrooms in a pan with some garlic and herb Mrs. Dash seasoning and boiled up some brown rice. After the rice was done we fried up 2 eggs (1 each) and mixed them in with the rice and veggies. Then we cubed up our chicken breast and browned that in a skillet and had a diet version of chicken fried rice. It was actually really really good and very filling. 

Oh, I weighed in today as well!! 

207lbs!!!

That's 7 lbs down this week. If I average 3lbs a week it will take me 23 weeks to get to my goal weight of 145. I know I can do it and I'm super pumped to start seeing results in the way my clothes fit!! 

Day 6: No creative title here

Ok ok, so since it's after midnight I guess it's actually day 7 but if I don't post now I'll never remember to. Today was a little different since the bf was off last night so we stayed up super late watching movies. It was hard to resist the box of popcorn we still have in the cabinet but we did. So we slept in this morning pretty late. Here's how food went today

Breakfast:
1 fruit and 4oz of skim milk
I ate the smoothie I made for the bf yesterday since he didn't like it. I had kept it in the freezer so it was less smoothie and more peach ice but it was good.

Snack:
2 Starches 1 fat
I used both my carbs and 1 fat to make a small bowl of mashed potatoes. 1/2 a medium potato counts as 1 starch but you can only have potatoes 3xs a week. This is rough for me, I'd eat potatoes every single day if I could.

Lunch:
1 protein 2 veggies
I had 2 hardboiled eggs and broccoli and cauliflower for lunch, nothing super exciting here.

Dinner:
1 protein 2 veggies
Dinner tonight was AMAZING!! I sauteed my mushrooms and yellow squash in a dash of EVOO and used the same pan to make my chicken breast in. I seasoned everything with salt and pepper and I think I'll be making squash a staple veggie. It was super quick and tasted so much better than bland broccoli.


I'm down a fruit today but it's late and I'm not even hungry so I'm just going to finish a bottle of water and go to bed.

I'll be weighing in (officially) again on Saturday to mark the week's weight loss. I've been on the scale everyday but I know it doesn't really matter much on a daily basis.

Day 5: The bf's birthday

Today is the bf's birthday and it's been a struggle to not take everyone up on their offers for dinner and drinks. We managed though. Here's how my day went:

Breakfast:
1/2 protein, 1/2 fat, 1 starch
I used half my allotted Tbp of Promise Ultra Lite to butter some bread and made eggs in a basket for me and the bf. We each only had 1 egg and 1 piece of bread so we could save the others for snacks later on

Snack:
1 fruit and 4oz skim milk
I did another smoothie today with frozen peaches and my milk. It was sweeter than the strawberry but still a far cry from anything remotely great. The bf decided he didn't like it so I save his portion for tomorrow. I put it in the freezer so it will be more like an Italian ice than a smoothie.

Lunch:
1 protein, 1 veggie and 2Tsp of Kraft Lite dressing
I had put some chicken breasts in the crock pot when I first woke up and seasoned them up really well so I used mine at lunch with my cup of lettuce. It wasn't bad at all.

Snack:
1 fruit
I had 10 green grapes on my way to class. I've decided that grapes only make me more hungry, I love them so much that 10 only leaves me wanting more.

Dinner:
1/2 protein, 1/2 fat, 2 veggies
I made another egg in a basket for dinner, I really like doing it that way. I also steamed some broccoli and cauliflower.

That leaves me still needing another veggie so I'll snack on some celery before I head to bed. With my sleep schedule being so off since I'm not working until Monday I'm having a hard time eating EVERYTHING on my list. The bf on the other hand says it's still not enough for him.

He is struggling with the fruits so I bought a whole pineapple and a bag of oranges and a bag of green apples to entice him into eating more.

I still haven't planned tomorrows menu but I'm thinking about picking up some shrimp for us for dinner.

We spend a lot more time at the grocery store now that we are buying fresh fruits and veggies. I've been every other day since the start of this and  it doesn't look like it's going to lessen up anytime soon.

Oh and I played Dance Central in workout mode on the Kinect last night to get up and get moving more. We're going to buy bikes in the spring so we can go out and ride some of the bike paths around the area. Start small right?

Day 4: Time for some variety

Day 4 is finally here! We are off the "prep" phase and on to the actual diet plan. Here's how today's meals went:

Breakfast:
1 fruit and 1 dairy
I made a smoothie out of my cup of frozen strawberries and 4oz skim milk and about 4oz of water. It wasn't the greatest tasting when you are used to sugary smoothies like I am but it was ok.

Lunch:
1 veggie and 1 protein
I had a salad with 2 hardboiled eggs. We only get 2 Tsp of dressing but on a cup of lettuce it's more than enough.

Dinner:
3 veggies, 1 protein and 1 fat
We decided to use our 1 fat for the day to cook some mushrooms in. So we had chicken breast flavored with Lemon Pepper Mrs. Dash, 1/2 cup broccoli, 1/2 cup cauliflower and 1/2 cup mushrooms.

Snack:
1 fruit and 1 starch
I had 10 green grapes and a slice of Sarah Lee whole wheat diet bread.

The bf seemed happier at our food choices for the day. Things are tough with him working the night shift. I can make double of everything but he eats his breakfast as I'm eating my dinner. He hasn't told me his weight yet but says he got on the scale and is down 4lbs.

Drinking 80oz of water each day is super easy some days and horrible on others. I make sure I slam a water almost as soon as I wake up and another bottle with each meal and that only leaves me with less than a bottle left for my minimum.

I still have 1 more starch "allowed" for today but I think I'll pass...

Day 3: A little down

So I went and got a scale this morning and I'm officially down 4lbs since Friday night! I thought I would go ahead and post a picture of myself each week so I can see progress (and if anyone else reads this, they can to).

I had little brown and serve steaks for breakfast again, but today I saved my eggs for a snack so those are boiling right now. I put a roast in the crock pot with some pepper and onion flakes and let that cook all day and I'm down to the last couple pieces.

Tomorrow starts the second phase of the diet and I couldn't be more excited! I never once though I would complain about eating so much steak but it is wearing on me. So, here is the diet plan from here on out:



2 proteins
2 fruits
4 vegetables
2 starches
1 fat

I can't wait to start this phase and get some variety in my system. I'll update with meals and photos as I go along!

Oh and here is a little motivation for myself. A picture from May of 2008 when I was at my lowest weight since highschool!

(Balls Deep was my boyfriends wiffle ball team. Aren't our shirts awesome?)

Day 2: I want some cheese

So today is day 2 of the prep phase. We had steak and eggs for breakfast again, then we went to the store and bought a couple roasted chickens and chowed down on those. I have a beef brisket in the crockpot right now but I'm DYING for some cheese, or chocolate, or a potato or milk or ice cream or ANYTHING other than meat and lettuce!!! I've gotten up to pee like ever 3 minutes today and I'm so sick of water I could scream. I know the first couple days are the hardest so I'm doing my best to stick it out.

Day 1 New Year's(ish) resolution

Well let's start off with introductions, I'm Holly and I'm a fat girl. Ok so I'm big boned, I'm thick, and according to my BMI, I'm obese. My clothes don't fit right, I can't do the things I used to be able to do and I don't like it. 

See I used to be a thinner girl. I was never "skinny", I played too much soccer for that. But I used to have a flatter stomach and toned legs and since high school, well that's all gone downhill. In 2008 I decided I wanted to get back to where I was then and I went on the Slim4Life program and it WORKED! I went from 180 to 145 in just a few short months and I kept it off for 2 years but then I got lazy about my eating. I was going through a lot of sad stuff at that time (we'll save that for another blog) and I'm a comfort eater by the very definition. Have a bad day? Make a pot of mashed potatoes. Have an awesome day? Let's eat ice cream!!! 

Plus, I started a new relationship and man, isn't that a waistline KILLER! Dating revolves around food so much! You go out to dinner, you meet for lunch, you make each other breakfast, you get drunk and make pancakes at 3 am... No? That's just us then.

Oh and the boyfriend, well I won't name names here because frankly, he doesn't know I'm writing this yet. He's never been a skinny guy either but as I gained weight, so did he and finally we've decided to do something about it. 

We can't afford to do the whole Slim4Life program again so we're just going to stick with the diet part and see how that goes. He won't get on a scale yet but me, well I'm at my heaviest right now at 214. That's right, in 2 years I have packed on almost 80lbs. I didn't feel like I was gaining weight, It just seemed like I woke up one day and I could feel my back fat. Gah-ross!!!

So, we're in the "prep" phase of the diet. It's pretty basic ALL THE MEAT YOU CAN EAT! Ok not all the meat but pretty much! It lines out like this:

The Prep Phase lasts three days. You will be required to eat the following each day:

• 2-3 pounds of proteins from meat. (beef, poultry, fish, shellfish, no pork)
• Unlimited raw green vegetables. (celery, lettuce, cabbage, etc., no peas)
• 2 eggs or equivalent egg substitute.
• 1 orange. 1/2 in the morning, 1/2 by 6:00 pm.
• 2 8oz glasses of thermoboost. 1 in the morning, the other by 6:00 pm.
• 8 8oz glasses of water (80 oz total, including thermoboost)
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Morton's Light Salt

You can season your food with natural seasonings like garlic powder and onion powder or with products like Mrs. Dash. You can also use oil or Kraft Fat-Free Dressings, which have the added benefit of being great for marinades.

Oh and I can't eat oranges so I'm substituting a grapefruit like I did back when I did this the first time. 

Today has gone good so far, we woke up and had breakfast steaks and hardboiled eggs. We've been snacking on celery and drinking so much water I think I've peed like 35 times already. We had steak salad for lunch and are having plain hamburgers (no buns) for dinner. The bf is already bored with it but I know it works so hopefully he'll stick with it.