And so it begins

Here's my start weight.

I am going to work really hard to lose weight in a healthy way. I hope that the scale reflects the effort I plan to put into this, and that I am down to my goal weight (125ish) by the end of the competition.

a new competition!

My friend Kari decided to do another weight loss competition. Since I had fun with the last one, i decided to get in on this one. I'll admit I'm a little apprehensive that I wasted my money because the weight seems to come off me so sloooooooowly. Hopefully this will encourage me a little bit, and who knows, maybe the weight will come off faster.

As a re-introduction to myself, here goes:

I'm Wendy. I just turned 35. I've been married for almost 16 years to my high school sweetheart. Together we have four children, ranging from 4-12. I work as a realtor, and am a girl scout leader in my spare (ha!) time. I never gave the slightest thought or worry about my weight growing up. As a competitive gymnast, I was always thin, always active. After my second child was born, I used Depo Provera for birth control, and for the first time, I found myself struggling a little with my weight. I stopped it after a year, but then I got a swing shift job, where I was spending 9 hours sitting down, late at night. I started drinking more soda, eating more candy, and before I knew it, another 10 lbs had creeped on. For the past 9 years or so, I've hovered between 145-155. I know that doesn't sound very big, but I'm only 5'2, and unfortunately, I carry most of my weight in my stomach/torso area, so it makes me look especially big.

I work out a lot- I typically am in the gym at least 6-8 hours a week. I think my downfall is my sweet tooth both for sugar/chocolate and for mountain dew. I enjoy reading diet books in my spare time. Many of them swear that I must have emotional issues that I'm suppressing if I'm overweight, but I honestly don't think so. I'm reasonably happy and satisfied with my life. Sure, I wouldn't turn down a million dollars, but I'm not too motivated by money. I have a great husband, great kids, great family, great friends.

Anyway, that's me in a nutshell.

Just a game

I'm down into the 140s.

What has been different this time? I've participated in biggest loser competitions before. I've counted calories before. I've even kept track of said calories on a website. I've quit soda in the past (not this time though). I've been so, so, so tired of my weight for years now, so that certainly hasn't changed.

So, what DID change?

I think it's a couple of things. First, I got an iPhone, so tracking calories became much easier- I was able to add things right as I ate them, and was able to see how many calories things had. This makes food choices much easier, particularly when eating out. Knowing just how many calories were in Carl's Jr fries made me realize I didn't like the fries enough to order them. I would often order a cheeseburger there, figuring it was "cheaper" calorie wise than chicken strips, since the burger wasn't fried. The chicken was significantly lower in calories though.

Second, I changed the calorie tracking program I used. I used sparkpeople for years. I do like how they keep track of how many fitness minutes you've done year to date. However, my friend Jackie told my about http://www.myfitnesspal.com

The above two has made me take all of the dieting stuff less seriously. I know, it seems like it would be counter productive. I've realized that I've started to see meeting my calorie goal as a game, like my stupid facebook games. I try to keep my calories around 1200 per day, and then I try to exercise most days so that I have a bigger debt.

The weight is coming off slower than I'd like, but, it IS coming off. And that's what is important. I stalled a bit in the beginning, but now it's steady. Very, very slow (we're talking SLOTH slow here), but at least it's going in the right direction.

ARGH!!!!!!

152.2

I am up .2 since last week.

In the last week, I have worked out almost 9 hours. And this isn't pansy working out. This is running 3 miles without stopping. I hate running with a white hot passion. I also did an hour of kickboxing. Two hours of humilation via a burlesque-style chair dancing class.

I have kept my calories/fat/carbs within what myfitnesspal is telling me to do. So, my calories have ranged between 1200-1400/day. NO cheating. Every bite of food that goes in my mouth is logged.

IT ISN'T FAIR!!!!!!!!

I may end up cheating today- french fries covered melted cheese with some bacon on top sounds divine. If I'm going to stick to the diet and have nothing happen, why not?

Cranky

So I've really fallen in love with http://www.myfitnesspal.com. I don't know why it clicks for me better than sparkpeople did, but it does. I like that it shows me how many calories I have left.

Having said that, I'm appalled at how little I can actually eat in a day (particularly when I simply MUST have a can of mountain dew every day, and at least one piece of bread). I honestly thought my portion sizes were ok, and that it was my food choices that were bad. I still think to a certain extent, that's true. I mean, if I gave up bread and mountain dew, I could "afford" a ton more veggies. I went to lunch with someone at Carl's Jr recently, and they had a big plate of nachos and a big burger. I felt very virtuous with my chicken strips, and thought my food choices were awesome. Maybe they are, comparatively. But, the choices I was making obviously weren't working for me, as I've been struggling to lose weight for years now, and not seeing any success.

Now, I find myself incredibly irritable, but I really expect I'll see a great number on the scale. I think SEEING success makes it easier to be good with my food. In the past, I'll eat really well for a week or so, and not see anything, so I'll give up. Because of this competition, I've pushed past that first week (I started a week or two before you all did), and think I'm going to really start seeing results soon.

So, now I fantasize about eating crappy, sweet, sugary foods, and what I'll reward myself with at various loss stages (cute jeans and massages and pedicure figure heavily into these rewards).

Not a good start

PMS has ill timing for me this week. I could feel the bloating/cravings coming on yesterday. I dreaded getting on the scale, and actually decided to go to the gym before weighing myself. I am up 1.6 pounds this week- 155.6. Lame.

I actually feel like I did well this week. I exercised for 60-70 minutes 4 different times. I was careful about what I ate. I'm even cutting down on my soda. Hopefully this is just a hormone thing, and next weigh in will be better.

New Year, New Challenge!

I have started a new weight loss challenge with some very good friends.

I didn't take a picture of my beginning weight either. bad, bad me!

But, here's my beginning stats:

weight: 154

measurements

Bust: 39

waist: 34.5

hips: 39.5

I need to eat better. The quality of the food I eat isn't that bad, though I do have a penchant for chocolate. I've noticed that I try to not eat, thinking to save calories. Then, my blood sugar drops dangerously low, and I'm starving, cranky and panicky. At that time, I start craving sugary, crappy foods, and I generally give in because I haven't eaten all day. Thus, at the end of the day, my calorie numbers are ok, but the consistency is bad. I think I'm going to try loosely following a diabetic diet- eating a mix of protein and carbs, and not allowing more than 3 hours to go between eating anything.

Exercise is still going fairly well for me. I'm in a good habit with that, and tend to exercise at least 4-5 hours a week. Now that I've gotten clearance to not worry about my heart rate from my cardiologist, I've been better about doing cardio and pushing myself.