Accountability

Good morning!

I try to be open on this blog and share all of my struggles with my weight loss. I don't have it all figured out and coming across like I do is fake and phony. I do have a much better understanding about my body and how it works, and about the way I am losing weight this time. I have come A LONG way from before but still have struggles sometimes.

The past two weeks I have relaxed slightly with my eating plan. I have been doing awesome and killing it, so it was easy to slip into the mentality of "I'm doing SO well having this _____ won't hurt that". Well technically that is right but the problem is when you have too many of those ______ is a row/week. I have not gone crazy and completely blown it but just more had some extra treats that were not planned. For example I had TWO extra treats yesterday that were not planned at all. I still wrote them down and accounted for them, but that is not the point. I did not say no when I really didn't need those treats. I like having treats when they are planned for and then I can enjoy them fully.

This morning when I woke up and was lingering in bed (love weekends!) I was doing some mental visualization and positive self talk. I was reminding myself how good it feels to be completely in control and making healthy, wise food choices.

The day is going to be good today as most of what we are eating is at home. Tonight, however, we have a pot luck that we are going to that could pose as being difficult since I don't know what foods will be there to plan ahead. Here is my pot luck strategies:

- don't go hungry. Eat a piece of fruit or starter salad before you go.
- survey all of the food before you pick what you want. Go through the whole table to get a good idea then pick your top choices and take small portions of them.
- drink lots of water before and during your meal to avoid going back up for seconds.
- get some activity before hand so you will feel empowered to make better choices and have burned some extra calories.
- give your self some positive reinforcement before you go. Yes I mean talk out loud to yourself. Are you going to have one piece of dessert? If so, talk yourself through how it will feel when you stick to that! How will it feel if you don't stick to that and eat more than you planned. Ect. 

It also doesn't help that this is a stressful situation to make sure Rylee has food as well. We have to cut up her food ect. My plan of attack for that will be to go through the line once and get Rylee's food (also allowing me to survey the full table) then get her food ready and have my husband watch her while she eats and I will then go get my food. 
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Today the weather is really nice out. It is supposed to be a high of 6 or 7 degrees and looks really sunny. You can bet I will be getting out for a long walk once Rylee get's up from her nap. After church I plan on making a new muffin recipe, doing some cleaning, and meal prep for the week ahead. I got all of my groceries yesterday so my fridge and cupboard is full of healthy food choices. The best place to start is in your own kitchen!

Yesterday evening I spent some time writing out my workout plan for the week. Pair that with a good solid meal plan, I see an awesome week ahead.

On a side note -- I have bought a few new items for summer, all in smaller sizes. My pants are all officially a size 12 now (won't be long until I fit into my size 8 wardrobe!!!)

Talk to you all soon!

My weight loss journey...

I thought I should write a post showing my journey for those of you who don't know me.

My name is Kelly and I am 23 years old. I started my weight loss journey when I was 19. I have been heavy all of my life and have tried many many ways to lose weight.

I got a gym membership in November of 2007 and was working out very slowly (as I couldn't move very much). I was trying to eat right but didn't understand why I wasn't loosing weight.

One night at the gym as I was about to leave I saw a weight watchers meeting and decided to get some more information. My aunt had great success on weight watchers so I wanted to find out what it was all about.

I ended up joining that night at a starting weight of 274.4 (the heaviest I had ever been - and ever will be). I went home that night and read through all of the material and got started right away. I decided that I was going to give this my best shot for a month and see where it got me (assuming I would fail). So I followed the plan, and low and behold my first week I lost 4.4 pounds! I was very pleased with this and kept working hard and the weight kept coming off. When you are larger the weight comes off easier at the beginning, but you don't really notice this.

When I got to about 40 pounds lost I was looking in the mirror and still did not see a difference, so I took a picture of myself and compared it to my starting picture and then I saw the difference.

Starting weight:

20 pounds gone:

40 pounds gone:

80 pounds gone:

115 pounds gone:

So many thoughts and memories are going through my head right now. It felt so great to hear from everyone how great I looked! The whole process took me just over two years from start to "finish". I say finish like that because it is never really over.

I do know that there are so many things that I enjoy doing now that I never could have dreamed of doing before - but I'll save that for another entry.

The whole time I was losing weight everyone asked me "what is your secret". My favourite thing to do was look around to make sure no one was listening, lean in towards them, and whisper "diet and exercise". Everyone thinks that there is some magic formula to losing weight and their kind of is, but it's not a secret. Calories in vs. calories out. However, that being said losing weight is NOT easy. If it was then no one would have a weight problem. It takes A LOT of hard work and dedication to get to your goal, but hey, nothing ever worth doing was easy right?

And as hard as losing the weight was it was the best possible thing I could do for myself. I know that I am not at my goal weight now but I am still far healthier than I was and can do far more things then I could ever dream of!

I am VERY open about my weight loss and have nothing to hide. The pictures of me before are reminders of what I was and what I will never be again. The pictures of me after are there for me to be proud and remind me of what I can accomplish if I put my mind to it (which, btw, is anything!)

Another thing that makes me proud is all of the people that I have inspired to lose weight. One of the greatest feelings is hearing how something I have said or done has helped someone else.

I will write a post sometime soon of what my "tips" are, so keep an eye out for it!

Until next time...