Summer Update and Weigh-In Wednesday (on Sunday)

Hello Everyone,

I know that I have vowed to do better at blogging and well to be honest I am doing better than waiting 3 months like the last time I tried to start blogging more.  I am bound and determined to do better at this.  I only have like 3 followers at this point on Blog lovin so I am not sure how many people actually read this. If you are reading this please feel free to click on the bloglovin button on the right and follow me.  However like I have said before sometimes it helps me to write out my thoughts on here. I am not sure why but I have always been that way. 

Weigh-In Wednesday....8-6-14

Since my last weigh-in on July 7, 2014 at 157.2....I have went up in weight even though I was working out with Jillian for most of the month until I went on vacation for a week.  I weighed in as high as 159.1 pounds at one point since my last weigh-in.  I currently weigh 156.4 pounds.  I will take that since I have not been incredibly active since my vacation.  

Workouts???

Like I said I have not been doing a lot of working out over the past couple of weeks.  I have decided to start Couch 2 5K again.  I have never been able to get past Week 2 without life getting in the way and just giving up! I hope I can finish the whole program this time. :)

Diet

I have been doing my best to go back to cutting out gluten for my Hashimotos issues.  I ate all kinds of gluten while on vacation and I loved every minute of it!  Now I must face the consequences which means that it is more difficult to stop eating gluten again.  I am adding in Protein Shakes with some veggies in there which I DO NOT like but I can't taste them so that makes it easier.  I am due to have blood work completed in a couple of weeks to check on my Hashimotos and hormone levels.  Praying I am starting to get on the right road to keeping this Hashimotos in check.  

Goals for the week...

1. Drink my protein shakes daily!

2. Drink more water!

3. Do at least 3 days of Couch 2 5K

4. Get my classroom up and ready for school next week!

Hope to see you Wednesday!  Have a great week!

Weigh-In Wednesday & 30 Day Shred Challenge Update

Linking up today for Weigh-In Wednesday (even though I know it is Saturday)  but like I always say....better late than never.  This week I weighed in at 157.2 which is up .8 from last week. :( I do have some good news to report though.  I was able to lose inches.  See stats below..

6/30/14 (Before starting the 30 Day Shred Challenge)

Weight: 156.4

High Waist:  31.5

Natural Waist (ie..Belly Button): 34.25

Hips: 38.75

Arms: 10.75

Legs:  22

Chest: 37.75

7/7/14 (First weigh-in after starting the challenge)

Weight: 157.2 (+.8)

High Waist: 31.25  (-.5)

Natural Waist: 33.75 (-.5)

Hips: 38 (-.75)

Legs: 21.5 (-.5)

Arms: 10.75 (-0)

Chest: 36.75 (-1.0)

That is a total loss of 3.25 inches!  I will take it!  I get so discouraged when the scale doesn't move in the direction that I want it to so seeing this much of a loss in inches really helps me to stay motivated.  My realistic side knows that I shouldn't always go only by what the scales say but for some reason when that scales doesn't go down I am just devastated and I think that working out and eating right cannot be working.  I am trying really hard not to do that this time.  My hubby says that I should hide the scale but I am in such a habit of weighing myself every single day.  I am going to try to work on that for the next few weeks.  I really don't think I can just weigh once a week but never say never! Right?

30 Day Shred Challenge Update

Here is a pic of my calendar that believe it or not helps me to want to do my workouts. There is something about being able to put an X on each day that I complete a workout makes me feel accomplished! I am not sure if you can see it or not but I had to throw in some modifications.  I just do not like BFBM so I decided to do T25 Speed 1.0 which is like one of my all time favorite workouts and I actually did this one twice this week!  So again this is really is my adapted version due to an upcoming vacation and I am tweaking it as I go so that it is more enjoyable.  Lets face it, if we don't feel like we are getting what we want out of a workout then we should fix it.  So that is what I plan to do. As long as I am moving and burning those calories I consider it a success!

Progress Picture since being diagnosed with Hashimotos by a new doctor who is knowledgeable about this disease and since starting to deal with the causes of my hypothyroidism instead of just treating the symptoms. I debated putting this on here but I know that there are people out there who are wondering what happens when you become your own advocate for your health and refuse to settle for feeling bad all of the time.  I am not where I need to be, but I am definitely going in the right direction.  I just hope that I can stay motivated. :)

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! 

BECKY

Recap of last week and Birthday Events

So like I said in my last post I am determined to blog more often as I feel it forces me to be more accountable for my actions.  I only have like one follower (literally) so even if no one is really reading it, I at least like to think that someone out there holds me accountable. haha!  (Please feel free to follow me. Just click on the Bloglovin tab on the right side of this page.) :) I am relatively new at this, but I am determined to get better.  I do love to talk! Anyway so here goes my recap of last week....

June 30th - July 6th

As promised....here is picture of my adapted version of a 30 Day Shred Challenge I found on a 30 Day Shred Facebook Page. I had to adapt it because of vacation plans.  I am also posting the original challenge in case anyone wants to try it.  Again my version was adapted just for me and my time and access to the videos while on vacation.  

ORIGINAL 30 Day Shred Challenge

                                            MY ADAPTED 30 (really 32) Day Shred Challenge

     So far I was able to stay on track with my workouts. “Quick Trouble Zones” are the circuits/exercises within the “No More Trouble Zones” workout that do NOT require you to get on the floor. You can find this on You Tube if you search for it.  (I had to look this one up.)  I will say that the No More Trouble Zones workout really is NO JOKE!  Geez....there is no way that I could do that every day! A great workout (no so much cardio, but lots of strength exercises that left me laying on the floor in front of my fan! Below is a pic that I got my son to snap as I attempted this workout.  (Bad lighting, but here it is as proof! haha)

Diet for last week...
Well....I am trying the IIFIYM (If it fits in your Macros) using my fitness pal to log in my food for each day. So far I am actually gaining weight! I have not check inches yet and I really do need to stop weighing myself each morning and night!  If the scale is up even a little then I feel like I should just eat whatever I want even though I know that my weight fluctuates from day to day and hour to hour even.  We will see how the weigh in goes this week.  

Birthday Events....
My birthday was this past week and lets just say that I didn't eat any cake, but I wasn't exactly a good girl either.  Still working on those Macros and I just eat way too many carbs and no where near enough protein.  My goal is to work on that this week. 

A picture of my little family at one of my favorite Japanese Restaurants! This was a belated birthday dinner, but I will take it! 

After my workout, I spent my Birthday lounging in the pool with the kiddos!  

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July Weekend! I enjoyed my long weekend at home with the hubby and kiddos.  We love it when daddy is home to spend extra time with us since it is mainly us all day every day in the summer time.  We spent most of the weekend in the pool and relaxing outside.  We had a great afternoon and night playing at the park and watching the firework display in a neighboring town. I love the simple life!  

I would love to hear any of your ideas for getting less carbs and lots more protein into my diet.  I am such a picky eater so this is going to be a challenge.  Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

BECKY

Here I go again! New Challenge

Hello Blog World,

I really have no excuses as to why I haven't been posting!  My goal is to start posting 2-3 times a week as a minimum.  I have recently joined Skinny Meg's Challenge Group on Facebook and a 30 day Shred Challenge on Facebook as well so hopefully these will keep me motivated. Part of Skinny Meg's challenge is to log my food into My Fitness Pal Daily which is eye opening in and of itself!  I am also giving the IIFIYM (If it fits in your macros) a try.  So far it is still a learning curve.  

Just a little update on myself and why I am so eager to get back to working out daily and truly on my way to a better me.  In the beginning of May, I was officially diagnosed with Hashimotos Disease which is basically where my body attacks my thyroid gland and makes me have hypothyroidism. My doctor said that several things can be a trigger for this disease and gluten is one of them. Actually gluten is the BIG one.  So I was sent home from the doctor with very strict orders to avoid gluten as much as possible and my meds were changed. I found out that I have a severe Vitamin D deficiency and that I am estrogen dominant which meant that my body was not producing any progesterone. So I was given meds for both of those as well and  within a week and a half later, the swelling around my thyroid decreased and is all but gone and my face thinned out some and I was starting to have lots more energy! I should have went to this doctor years ago.  Anyway, I have been working very hard on eliminating gluten from my diet and although I just take it one meal at a time, I am having some success and feeling soooooo much better. 

Weigh-in Wednesday  Update!

 At the point that I went to this doctor I weighed 163 pounds and right now I am 156.4 pounds.  I just started working out this week and I have actually gained weight since then but my inches are still decreasing. 

I am currently on Day 4 of the 30 day shred challenge and loving it so far!  I just hope that I can keep it up.  I am working on creating my own calendar for the 30 Day Shred Calendar as I will have to tweek it up a bit due to vacation plans that we have for this month, but I think I can make it work.  I will post a pic when I finish. 

Thanks for reading my update and I am looking forward to sharing my continued weight loss journey with you. (if anyone is actually reading this blog.) And if not, then I will still be writing this mainly because it helps me to get my thoughts out there.  It helps me feel like I need to be accountable for my eating and workouts. 

Becky

Questions, questions, questions??? Please help!

Hello everyone,

       I just feel like I am always running around and just can't get this blog thing going like I want to.  But I guess it is better to post some than none at all.  Anyway I am in need of some help from those of you out there who know a lot more about fitness than I do!

        I am thinking really hard about purchasing some type of a calorie/heart rate monitor watch combo.  Not really sure what to get. I have been looking at the Polar watches but not sure which one to choose. (There are bunches of them.) I have also looked at the bodybugg and fitbit. My husband has a Garmin watch that he loves but I don't think that I need to spend that much money since I don't need a GPS.  Lord knows I just don't run enough to need that.  I really just want something that will help me keep up with my calorie burn and heart rate range to know when I am burning fat.  Please any suggestions that you might have would be very much appreciated. 

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!!! 

Thanks in advance for any advise that you might be able to give me on this.

Planning to link up with Weigh-In Wednesday this week so I will see you then!

 

Have a wonderful night,

Becky

 

 



Weigh In Wednesday for 3/5/14 (on Friday!)

Weigh In for this week:
160.3 so I gained .1 pounds this week.  I guess it could be a lot worse.  I did not stick to my goals for the week as well as I would have like to.  I only worked out twice and I tried to drink more water but I have a long way to go with that goal.  I did try to watch what I ate but I seem to do well during the week and blow it on the weekend and then spend all week trying to fix what I did on the weekend. 

So my goals for this upcoming week will be....
Workout 5/6 days (maybe this is more realistic)
Watch what I eat.  (Less sugar)
Drink more water
Do not eat so much over the weekend!!!!

Does anyone have any tips on how not to eat too much on the weekend??? I am open to any and all suggestions!  Thanks in advance :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  See ya on next Wednesday's Weigh In Link Up!

Becky

Weigh-In Wednesday 2/26/14

Weigh-In Wednesday (Late Post) 2/26/14

Well I did manage to lose those horrible pounds that I packed on last week.  My previous weight was 163.6 and my current weight is 160.2 so that is a  3.4 pound loss!  Thank goodness!  I was really starting to worry how quickly those pounds were packing on.  So I will take this loss especially when I only worked out two times that week. Hopefully I will be able to post on Wednesday of next week.

Weekly Goals for 3/2/14 to 3/8/14

• Workout 5/7 days!
• Drink more water!
• Eat less sugar!

Hope everyone has a great week! Looking forward to linking back up with Weigh-In Wednesday! 

Becky



 

Weigh-In Wednesday 2/19/14

Well let me just say that even with the best of intentions I continue to amaze myself at how I can lose focus and splurge so easily.  I did not get to workout very much this past week due to our snow storm that kept us inside and away from my group workouts at work.  I know that I could have worked out at home but I allowed myself to use the snow storm as an excuse. Then I went out for a Valentine's Date with my hubby and ate way too much.  Afterwards we came home with a box of Cinnabon to eat on for the rest of the weekend.  They were the small ones and I only ate two but that makes a big difference especially when my Thyroid is going out of control again.  Anyway enough excuses so....drum roll please..........Current Weight 163.6 and a previous weight of 160.4.  That is a GAIN of 3.2 pounds as of last Saturday!  YIKES!!!!! WTHeck!  Oh well I am working harder on my diet and exercise this week so we will see how the next weigh in goes. Hopefully better than the last! 

Have a great night! 

Becky

Food-A-Holic?!?!?

Could I really be a Food-A-Holic?

Answer:  YES!

Clues that I am a Food-A-Holic? 

• I constantly think about food!
• I plan my nights and weekends around food!
• I eat even when I am not hungry! 
• I have formed many habits that are surrounded by food!

Foods I love the most.... (I have these food almost every weekend!  I just can't seem to break the cycle.  I do okay through the week but I just negate anything that I did good during the week on the weekend eating this stuff.  I just can't stop!  My biggest bad habbit is SWEET TEA!  I love, love, love it!  Like seriously......I don't need alcohol or anything else to calm me down after a hard day of work.  I just need my sweet tea!  (And yes in case anyone is wondering....I am from the South! haha)

 

 

 

 

I have been sick with a horrible cold and we were snowed in the last part of this week and this weekend so I have all of this stuff and more!  Why? I justify it to myself as I do it by saying that I am too sick to workout so I might as well go ahead and eat what I want. Plus the food will make me feel better! 

 

Why do I do this to myself????  I DON'T KNOW!  All I can think of is that I am truly a FOOD-A-HOLIC!  And I need some serious help! 

 

So let me just say:  Hi, My name is Becky and I am a Food-A-Holic! 

 

A few of the options that I have come up with in my mind are.....

• I must break my usual habits especially on Saturday and Sunday's  by trying to find healthier options for breakfast especially!  Or maybe trying to do a workout when I would rather go out to eat something that I know I shouldn't be eating.

 

 ANOTHER PROBLEM???

 

I have Hypothyroidism and have had it for 10 years.  6 1/2  of those years I stayed on the same dose and was able to lose weight without a lot of difficulty!  In 2010 my thyroid decided to go absolutely crazy and I gained massive amounts of weight in no time!  It took me a little while to get it back under control and since then it has went out of our control a couple more times as well.  My last lab reports said that my thyroid was hyperactive right now.  I am in the process of finding a new doctor who can really get to the bottom of my problem.  With my thyroid being hyper active right now I should be experiencing weight loss but I am not.  I have read that sometimes your body does not convert thyroid T4 like it should to T3 which is what your cells use.  There can be many reasons that your body doesn't convert but you have to find a doctor who will test for those reasons.  Otherwise you are taking medicine that is not actually going into your cells as needed even though the blood work says that it is.  I am hoping to call tomorrow to get an appointment so that I can get clarification that this could be part of my problem and maybe get it fixed soon.  Please know that I am not blaming all of my weight gain on this problem because I know that what you eat is most of the battle but at this point I feel like I could eat basically nothing and still gain weight.  I think this also makes me feel like there is no point in trying so I should just eat what I want.  Yes, I know this is not a good or healthy way to think about it.  It is like I just can't snap out of these horrible habits I have formed in my life and I just need help!

 

Please feel free to comment any advice that you might have on this subject.  At this point I am never going to lose weight and my workouts are for nothing! 

 

 

 

Weigh-In Wednesday (on Saturday!)

Late I know..... (it is really not easy to get back on this weight loss wagon!)

 

Anyway, I did weigh in last week but I simply did not make it back on here til the weekend and I thought it would be too late to post.  However the same thing happened this week and I did not want to get too far behind so I am posting on the weekend anyway for February 5th and 12th. Remember:  I weigh in on Saturday's for the previous week. 

 

 (I know a bit confusing...sorry.) 

 

Where to start???  Well, since I weigh in on Saturday's and post my results on Wednesday's I am down two weigh-in's.

• My results for February 5, 2014 (week of January 27th - Feb. 1st) were 161.6 pounds.  So I gained .6 pounds that week.  But I did lose a few inches so that helped me keep my self-confidence up.

 

• February 12th (Weigh-In for week of February 3rd -8th): Last week,... I was unable to workout with my workout buddies from work due to faculty meetings and staff development workshops out of town so I felt like the whole week was a waste.  That put me a week behind on T25 and so I kind of let my diet go.  I did weigh-in last Saturday just to make sure I held myself accountable and my results were......160.4!  I actually lost 1.2 pounds. I still find it hard to believe that when I workout I gain weight and lose inches but when I don't workout I lose weight.  However I did not lose as many inches that week.  I am starting to realize what everyone else has always said about losing inches not weight.  It is sometimes better to lose inches than weight on the scale because your weight fluctuates so much from hour to hour and day to day.  So I am keeping track of my measurements as well.  I will only post those once a month so I don't bog you down with too many details.  If you are interested thought, I do log them up the "My Progress" tab at the top of this page. I update that page periodically so it may not always be up to date. 

 

• I did weigh-in today but I will not post that measurement until Wednesday so that I will be back on track. Hopefully I do not miss anymore Weigh-In Wednesdays as it is not so good to get behind. 

VALENTINE'S Day....

 

I hope everyone was able to stay warm and safe if you live in the Eastern part of the U.S. like me.  We were snowed Wednesday night, Thursday, and a good part of Friday too.  We got right at 12 inches here in the Appalachian Mountains of NC.  My hubby took me out last night for Valentine's Day to one of my favorite Japanese Restaurants.  Needless to say that was not good for my diet! Haha! 

                                                A pic from our Valentine's Date Night!

 

 

Goals for the upcoming week:  

Start Week 5 of T25 and workout every day! I also need to drink more water and not eat my way through my workout results. I am bad to workout and think that because I just finished my workout, I can have whatever I want to eat.  That is not creating the deficit that I need in calories! 

 

 

HELP!!!!

Does anyone have any tips on how to get myself back in gear so to speak when it comes to exercise and diet?  I would love to hear any suggestions or tips that you might have to help me as I am struggling right now.   

 

I am back!

 

I am back and I am starting by linking up with Weigh-In Wednesday!

 

Wow!  I have really let myself go!  I have not posted anything on my blog since August!  However I have tried to update the way my Blog looks.  I am really kind of new to this blogging experience and honestly I need all the help that I can get.  I am back because I feel like I did much better with my weight loss journey when I felt like I was accountable to someone other than myself!  That is where you all out there in cyber space came in! Please feel free to comment. I need all the help and motivation that I can get. 

 

I have linked up with Weigh-In Wednesday several times before and found it to be very helpful as well.  I don't want to just post about my Weight Loss Journey on here as I am looking to become a "better me" in all areas of my life. However my weight loss journey will be a big focus as I try this blogging experience again.

 

Now to get down to business!

 

Weigh-In for Wednesday, January 29th:  161.0 pounds!!!!

 

My weigh in day will have to be on Saturday b/c that is my Weight Watchers Weigh-In Day and I have tried several different days to step on the scale in the past and Saturday just works best for me so I will just stick with that but report my progress on Wednesdays.  My progress from last year is under the "Progress" tab at the top of my site if anyone is interested.  You will see that I did really good for a while on Jillian Michael's Body Revolution but fell off the wagon and then got ran over by it! Haha!  Now I am almost back to where I started.  I know, very depressing, right?  Anyway I have found the strength to get back on the wagon.  On January 13th, I started Shaun T's FOCUS T25 workout program and I love it!  Haven't lost weight but I have lost some inches.

                                                         

 

 

My T25 Tracker App (So far so good.)