5/18/13 Last week of meds.

I'm at 225 today
I haven't lost very much weight this month. Well, I guess I have but it was more like I'd lose a pound and gain a pound and lose 2 and gain 2. I can tell that I'm still losing fat and gaining muscle. I'm stronger than I ever remember being and have so much stamina. But it'd be nice to see the numbers drop on the scale.

Down to the end of the Rx diet meds. I'm cutting them in half to avoid horrible withdrawal symptoms. I'm not finished with my weight loss, but because the meds are so addictive and they become ineffective after a while the doc can only Rx them for 4 months. I think they gave me a pretty good head start. It's up to me now.

The myth I want to discuss is snacking. We've all heard that snacking is bad and we've also heard that snacking is good. Here is the definitive answer to that age old question!  It's most definitely GOOD, but it makes a huge difference of what you snack on! Granola is great but too much will add weight and the chewy bars are packed with sugar. I love apple slices! The green ones are tangy and sooo good! If you go wild and eat the whole bag, you've only eaten 240 calories. Yum! Adding caramel should be done with caution, maybe a couple of table spoons to get rid of the craving.  But there you have it, snack away, but like everything-in moderation.

This is last month and this month

The 1st is from January and the 2nd is from today

Yup, it's a late one. Technically, it's been a month and a half. April 29, 2013

I'm stoked! I've lost 40 pounds and I feel great! I've gone to Eureka Springs and Branson and Springfield, MO in the past couple of weeks. I've climbed steep hills and flights and flights of stairs. I enjoyed every minute of it. I can't wait to go to Silver Dollar City this year and climb those hills! YEAH!

I was talking to Wes; I need new clothes, especially a new swimsuit. I can't put this smaller body in that old, tired, stretched out swimsuit that I've had forever. If I tried diving into the river in that huge, ugly old thing I would end up with a fish in my "private area" or skinny dipping. 

I love clothes shopping (just not swimsuit shopping). 

Anyway, I wanted to point out one of the myths that I've discovered with my weight loss research. Today's myth is eating before 5pm everyday. What I've discovered is that you can eat whenever you want. You just have to make sure to do more activity in the day than calories that you've eaten. That DOES NOT mean not to eat, also calories ARE NOT your enemy! You need to eat, just not a lot and do not eat a lot of unhealthy, high calorie foods. You can eat tons of apples and broccoli, but only a handful of potato chips. 

There are so many more and I will share them along the way. I'm really enjoying the blog. If I did not completely lack any sort of creativity at all I would do this every day. 

All of your support and the progress I've made keeps me going. Thanks everyone!

Two Months Later...

Two whole months! I've dropped a few sizes and I am really starting to think that this can actually happen. I'm hoping to be down to a size 12 before my birthday on August 1 of this year.

I go see the doctor tomorrow about how my weight loss is going. I've gone from a size 22 to a size 18 in just 2 months and I'm feeling great about myself. I've had compliments, I've been told I'm inspiring, I have given advice, and I've helped other's get started getting on their own fitness roller coaster ride.

I'm down to 240 pounds from 267. I know I've got a whole lot more to go but I'm ready for it. I can't wait to see what I'm gonna do next!

I need to lose my fat arms, more belly, hips and thighs! On a positive note my boobs still look fantastic!

One Month Later, February 10, 2013

January 17, 2013                                                                        February 10, 2013         
I didn't think you'd be able to tell a difference this soon but looking at the side by side I am so proud of myself!I began this journey weighing in at 267 pounds and today I weighed 251.4 pounds. I've begun a daily walk of at least one mile and continue to walk until an hour has gone by. Today I incorporated a small 2 pound weight on each arm (Ouch! I'm feeling the burn!).My weight loss goal is 130 by August 1st. Not sure I'll get there that fast, it's a lot of weight loss in a short time, but I sure am gonna' try.   I appreciate, more than you all know, for everyone's support. Each of you have encouraged me to be a better person. I can no longer use the same ol' stupid excuses not to keep doing this. Keep following me! Thanks.Wow, My daughter needs to clean her room!

012213; Following Up

I've been dieting for a couple weeks now. I'm dropping weight pretty well. I've found that once I buckle down and become really and truly serious about it I can do anything.

It's funny that at different times of the day you can weigh less or more. I've lost between 7 and 11 pounds in the past 2 weeks, depends on the time I weigh myself. But I've been to the doctor for follow up after my EGD and he says that Phentermine would be a good place to start with weight loss. I've actually expressed my concerns that it raises my blood pressure a lot but he said that we would monitor it closely. Another concern is that I have a family full of addicts and Phentermine is addictive and it's like crack (for reals, the doctor even said so). He didn't think that it would be a problem for me since I'm so concerned about it.

Also, since starting to keep track of my caloric intake, I've found it difficult to meet the 1200 calories I'm supposed to eat each day. How is it that when I'm not looking I can eat and eat and eat and eat but when I'm trying to pay attention I can't even come close to what I'm supposed to eat?!?!

The first circle is how much I can eat each day, the middle circle is how much I did eat that day and the last circle is how much is left to eat after any exercise that I've done that day. 1200 calories is required otherwise you go into starvation mode and your metabolism slows down. I think I'm there now because dropping weight has been much slower.  

I want to do this the healthy way.

Diet Update January 17, 2013

You know, I'm still not used to doing the whole video blog thing, let alone the written blog. I always forget what I started out saying when I started and leave things out. So make sure to watch and read both portions to make sure you get the whole update.

So I'm using an app called MyFitnessPal ( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ ). It keeps track of my intake calories. I get to take in 1780 calories per day and I get more calories if I exercise. So far I've lost 2 pounds. I've never hit my daily calories. I came pretty close once but I exercised a lot to make sure I didn't, turns out I wasn't going to anyway.

Anyway, please comment and let me know about your journey, any suggestions, life lessons that you may have to help me, even blog subject ideas or challenges. Thanks!

Me today, hopefully I'll have pics of me looking much better soon.

Brand New Realizations

So I'm realizing how many calories are in the things that we drink. Even fruit juice contains empty, non-filling calories! Here I thought, all this time, that switching to juice helps lose weight. I was wrong.

I've begun the calorie count again, I haven't done that since Weight Watchers. I eat how I used to and still have left over calories. (I did cut out the juice and switched back to water).

I've also realized that it is damn near impossible to stick to a diet when you're on your period! OMG! I want to eat the friggin' TV when food commercials come on, which seems like every 10 seconds when you're dieting on your period! God help me this week!