Life Changes

Hi Everyone and Anyone reading this. If you are, you're VERY patient. I am going to stop apologizing for being inconsistent since we all know it's just going to happen again.

There have been some major life changes lately.

#1
I got married!

best day of my life! (photo by Aly Carroll)

#2
We are moving to Iowa in 2 weeks!

#3
I got a new job, still as a school counselor (I was 4th-6th grade before, now I'm K-5)

Work Selfie

And one thing stayed the same: my weight


Now that wedding planning is over I am making my health my #1 priority. I have no excuses. Actually that's not true. I have a million excuses. However, I'm going to stop using them and just do what I need to do to lose weight and be healthy. I've started over more times than I care to admit.

However as we've all heard:

Wish me luck :)

How Often Do You Do It??

Weigh yourself that is.

For me it's 6-7 times a day!! I'll wake up-weigh in, go to the bathroom-weigh in, workout-weigh in, eat-weigh in...

So as painfully hard as it is for me, I'm going to lock up the scale for one month (AHHHHH!).

Why?

1. I focus too much on that darn number

2. If I gain an ounce or don't lose much per day it throws off my motivation

3. It's a compulsion I need to break!

So wish me luck!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I've been feeling a little off lately. Literally everyone around me has been getting sick, but I just assumed I was invisible to all the yuckiness.

Yeah right, Julia.

I have a full blown respiratory infection. My face hurts and I'm so congested that I can't see straight. I also can't breath without a lot of effort.

So as much as I protested, Jeff convinced me that P90X3 is not going to happen while I'm sick. Although I hate that I only made it to day 6, I know that it's best for me to sit it out and recover.

I haven't worked out since Saturday and it is killing me. I'm finally feeling a little better today, but still having trouble breathing so I'm going to sit it out. I'm praying that I feel better tomorrow so I can get back on track. On the plus side I'm still eating well, so it's not a total loss.

I've really lucked out and haven't had work all week due to the snow storm coming (gotta love the South, this shit didn't happen when I lived in Iowa).

If you're reading, say a little prayer that I'm all better tomorrow. I need to get my sweat on.

My sweet babies always make me feel better when I'm sick

Thanks for the picture Jeff

What I'm Eating to Stay on Track

Weighed in this morning at 225.2! That's almost 6 pounds down from Tuesday! I know it's not consistently going to go this fast, but it's nice to see the scale finally move down instead of up (and up and up and up...)

All I've been doing is 30 minutes of P90x3 daily and eating cleaner. Along with that I am drinking a ton of water. 

A typical day this week looks like this:

Breakfast- Shakeology blended with 1 cup fruit and 1 cup almond milk

Morning snack- small veggie salad with balsamic and olive oil or veggies with 2 tbsp organic hummus

Lunch- leftover clean tuna and noodles, or Amy's frozen enchiladas, or Trader Joes Salmon and Mint Sauce. 

Afternoon Snack- Quest Bar

Preworkout- P90X Energy and Endurance drink

Postwork- P90X Results and Recovery drink

Dinner- Lean protein (salmon, steak, chicken...), small portion of carbs (baby potatoes, brown rice, grilled onion and mushrooms), and a large portion of veggies (green beans, broccoli, zucchini). 

Night Snack- Homemade clean chocolate, and/or kale chips, or whole grain popcorn,  or cup of berries with Greek yogurt

grilled chicken in chicken bbq sauce, steamed zucchini, and curried cauliflower

baked salmon, roasted baby potatoes, green beans

steak, grilled mushrooms, grilled broccoli, grilled whole onion

chicken tikka masala, brown basmati rice, baked string beans

Can't believe how much I love this frozen meal. Trader Joes wild salmon with orzo pasta and zucchini. 350 calories and SO filling! 

Yummy enchilada! Only 240 calories, but so filling. 

So as you can see I eat A LOT and I eat ALL. DAY. LONG. 

For me this has been key in staying on my plan. Each meal is between 150-400 calories so I'm well within the 1500-1800 range every day, but the fact that I'm breaking them up helps my body not feel hungry all day and I feel energized all day. 

Fresh Start (again)

I'm going to try this yet again (yes for the 5th time now)...but this time for the right reasons.

1. I want to keep myself accountable
2. I want something to look back on to remind me how hard I worked when I reach my goal

Yes when, not if

3. Maybe someone out there will read about my journey and it will motivate them. That would be pretty awesome!


So I have tried and failed so many times that I got discouraged. I used every excuse in the book from I'm way too busy to I'll start Monday (ok never mind I'll start next Monday....)

I was on a roll, got scared and then gave up on me. I gained 15 pounds in 4 months! I haven't seen 230 since junior year of high school and it was depressing. So I ate to comfort myself. I would sneak fast food and throw the wrappers away so my fiance wouldn't know. It literally felt like I was cheating on him. Not in that way, but by constantly sneaking around. It was embarrassing and ended up getting to the point where I was short with him and quite frankly a bitch to be around.

2 weeks ago I told him the truth and it was a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders. If he was disgusted he did a good job not showing it. He was supportive and glad I told him the truth, although he was very shocked. He told me he was also sick of how we weren't working out and eating out all the time. So for the first time ever we decided to do this together.

That is HUGE for me! I really needed motivation and it's so much easier to be on the same page. We decided to order P90X3 since it was only 30 minutes and had beginner modifications. We also agreed to eat clean together and to only have one cheat meal a week. For the first time in a LONG time I felt so motivated and believed this would finally be the time I would lose the weight.

My lowest weight was freshman year of college when I met Jeff- 189 pounds. Last week I weighed in at 231. Knowing I had gained 42 pounds was so depressing, but at least I was doing something about it instead of wallowing in self pity.

So this past week we got our suppliments and workout and started. We finished day 5 today and I am beyond proud! I love the program and I love that we are doing this together! I've been on track with my eating as well and feel so much better.

Every week I want to post something I'm proud of and something I can improve for the week ahead. I'm not worried about impressing anyone on my blog or if it's even interesting. I just want to write what I feel and if people read-great. If not that's fine too.

This week I'm proud of:

1. Working out every day (started Tuesday), even though I have had a cold.
2. Eating clean again and no fast food! In fact I'm not even tempted.
3. I have had shakeology for breakfast every day this week.


I can work on the following this week:

1. Trying to push myself a little more in the workouts
2. Blogging constantly
3. Not weighing myself daily


Tomorrow I'll post my weekly menu and weight update.

Glad to be back at it :)

Yay free hat :)

Let's Try This Again

It's been a while.

I wish I could write a post saying how hard I've been sticking to my clean eating and exercising and how much weight I lost in the process and how amazing I feel...but that would all be a lie.

Truth is I have completely given up on myself. I have gained about 10 pounds and am at the highest weight I've been in a loooong time. Nothing can seem to motivate me, even the fact that I'm getting married in 6 months.

I have been working nonstop and things have been very stressful. I used this as an excuse to shove McDonalds down my throat and sit on my ass instead of working out. I went on a 4 day spree where I worked out and I loved it, but then just got lazy and quit again.

Enoughing complaining though. I'm starting over. 

My wedding is in 6 months. My goal is to push myself and lose 10 pounds a month for the next 6 months. 

It's not my goal weight, but it's a hell of a lot closer than where I am now.

So today I weigh in at 226 (it pains me to even write that). I want to be in the 160 range by June. 

Let's see how it goes.

Breakfast Ideas

Whoa was yesterday crazy! Those of you reading who are teachers or work in the schools- are your students going bananas too or is it just me?

I wanted to linkup to SkinnyMeg for breakfast ideas. I'm part of her dietbet group where you can put in $25 and anyone who loses 4% of their bodyweight by October 1st gets to split the pot. I'm always up for making a few extra $$.

Here are some things I love for breakfast. Some are Reset recipes and some are just what I eat normally.

1. Oatmeal

I make a big batch Sunday and throw it in the fridge, then I can microwave portions quickly. I use steel cut oats. The convience packs can be loaded with sugar and chemicals so I avoid those.

Also I just discovered these and they are AWESOME!! It's frozen steel cut oatmeal and you just pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes and top it. It's all natural-no preservatives.

Here are some of my favorite toppings:

1. Dried cherries & unsweetended dark chocolate chips
2. Apples, walnuts, and pure maple syrup (the real stuff, not the traditional bottled syrup).
3. Blueberries and agave syrup
4. Bananas, pecans, and PB2
5. 1/2 scoop of chocolate shakeology (or protien powder), fresh strawberries, and a little bit of stevia

2. Egg Muffins

Take either egg whites or whole eggs, mix with toppings, bake in muffin tin, put in the fridge. I'll eat these with a side of fresh fruit for breakfast.

Here are some mix-ins I love:

1. Chopped turkey bacon, green pepper, onion- top with salsa
2. Chopped turkey sausage, mushroom, spinach
3. Mushrooms, onions, peppers, spinach, and diced tomatoes

You can really take any omelet toppings and just mix them in.

3. Waffles 

I am obsessed with these. They are amazing! I'll top them with a little pure maple syrup or just eat them plain and then add a side of fruit.

4. Greek Yogurt, fresh figs, pecans, raw honey

I love this so much! It's very filling too.



Happy Friday everyone!