Weight Loss Journey Came to A Halt

It's been a while since I've updated on my weight loss journey. That's because I backslid and went back to my old ways. After losing eight pounds, I ended up gaining 10 pounds back. Now, I must

mention that I've never struggled with my weight until now. Therefore, I have an appointment with my doctor where I will discuss doing a hormonal panel and a thyroid panel to be sure they're not giving me issues. Then I will also be discussing the option of visiting with a nutritionist to ensure what I'm doing is healthy. 

Until then, I'm back to my healthy ways of eating. So if you have some tasty recipes I can try, please share them. I'm super picky about my foods so it's a struggle to find some healthy options I actually enjoy. 

I've planned out my weekly diet menu to make grocery shopping easier on both my husband and me. This includes snacks, but this seems to get boring rather quickly. 

I've also tried multiple apps from my phone to help me keep track of my journey, but each one of them had something I didn't like. From not counting carbs in addition to calories or you had to go premium by paying an outrageous price for a month or year. Therefore, I'm doing it old school and using a small journal to track my food and a planner to track my workouts. These will also go with me to the doctors so she can see what I've been up to between each appointment.

Now the not so pretty info...

My current weight is 180 lbs, which I cringe at. I hate this number more than anything because for my height (5ft 1in), I'm super overweight. My goal is to reach 130 pounds but I'm doing this in sprints. So... my first goal is to reach 170 lbs. Once I achieve this, I'll go to the next goal. Then continue until I reach the 130 lbs mark. I think doing it this way will help and not add so much pressure to me. 

I really don't have a set date as to when I want to reach the overall goal, but I would like to lose at least 10 pounds within the next few months. I'll be walking, doing workout videos in my living room, and when my Mom recovers from her surgery, we will be hitting the gym. 

But for now, this is where I'll start. 

Anyone have some encouragement or stories they'd like to share?

My Diet

So in the last post, I explained the reasons why on losing weight. Now, I'd like to clue you in on HOW I've managed to lose 8 pounds (not a lot, I know) since starting this journey. When I first started, I was basically clueless about where to start since I've never wanted to actually lose weight. So, I did a lot of research and learned so much about myself. 

First, did you know there are different body types out there? 

Yeah, there is. Like three different ones. Well, come to find out...I'm considered an endomorph. This means I tend to gain weight and have a rough time losing it. I am a pear shape with a thick ribcage, wide hips, and shorter limbs. After reading this, I wondered how exactly that played into me losing weight. Well, this means my metabolism is much slower than the other two body types. 

What about the diet though? Let me explain...

In order to lose weight, I needed to adjust my macronutrients. Macronutrients are the three central groups of foods that provide your body with the strength it needs to operate: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. After figuring it out...my macro looks like this:

1586 Calories

Carbs: 122g   30%

Protein: 175g    44%

Fat: 44g     25%

You can check all of this out by taking this test--> Click here.

Once I had that figured out... I went on to search for the best type of diet for me based on the foods I love. Let me remind you.. by this point I've stopped drinking soda, eating a bunch of sugary foods, and upped my intake of water. One thing I didn't learn until it was too late was that I shouldn't have abruptly changed the intake of carbs. I should have gradually reduced them for the best outcome for my body. (I'll explain more about this in a bit.)

So a typical day looks like this for me.....

I wake up and drink 8 oz of water to kickstart my metabolism and I eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up. Once I sit with my breakfast, I have my cup of coffee. I eat either an omelet for breakfast or I have an Atkins shake with a yogurt.

My mid-morning snack is either carrots dipped in ranch dressing, celery and peanut butter, or a banana and an apple. Depends on what I'm in the mood for.

Lunchtime I have either pepperoni, ham, turkey, and cheese (without bread) or tuna on wheat crackers. (This part of the day I struggle with.)

Afternoon snack... I choose one item that I didn't have yet that day from the snack list above.

Dinner... I eat a Healthy Choice meal or what is on the menu for dinner that's rather healthy. (Chicken, pork chops, hamburger, etc)

Night snack rolls around and I try to keep this one light. So, I will eat ONE banana or a very small serving of milk. OR I'll eat a 4 oz sherbert/ice cream. (Halo Top ice cream. Check it out. It's tasty.)

But there ya have it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below. In the next post, I'll be talking about my workout routine.

I'm Back.... AGAIN!!!

Man oh, man... it's been FOREVER since I've written anything on here. Now that's about to change. I'm taking on a new adventure, which has been going for about a month now. So come with me as I document this new journey of WEIGHTLOSS. This is where I'll keep a diary of everything I do and see what works vs. what doesn't. Hopefully, someone will find this blog and journey helpful for themselves.

First and foremost, I've decided it was time because I've been doing regular visits to my doctor for various health concerns (not regarding my weight). During this time, I've watched the numbers on the scale going up ... at just about each visit, which was depressing. This is why I've decided to do it. The last time I went to the doctor... I weighed 177lbs, which is my highest weight EVER!! I know some of you may not think it's that bad, but to me it is. Let me put it into perspective. My pre-pregnancy weight looked like this:

This is me after three babies and... well... many many donuts:

I'm the one in PINK!!!

But to me... there's a noticeable difference. 

So now you have the reasons leading up to the decision. (Among others which I'd rather not share.) I'm doing this for me. I want to be healthier and have more energy. 

****

So on April 22nd, I gave all the soda I had left to my husband and daughter. Then gave the snack cakes to my son and haven't touched them since. I stopped eating my nightly bowl of Lucky Charms and traded them in for a more bland cereal: Cheerios.  I had my husband and brother carry my elliptical upstairs from the basement and placed it in my dining room. I was determined. 

However, I had no idea where to start when it came to healthy foods and the best "diet" for my body. I should also tell you that I haven't been the best eater. Meaning... I never eat breakfast. A typical day went with me waiting until around 2 in the afternoon to eat. At that point, I'd have something quick since the kids were either coming home from school or I'd have my hands full with housework. Dinner would come around 6ish and then a very late snack when the kids went to bed. I'd drink coffee in the morning and continually drink Cherry Pepsi during the day. Water wasn't ever part of my diet...until now. I found me several large cups, dumped in a bottle of water with ice, and added flavoring. The flavoring was just to add taste. No carbs. No calories. No sugars. 

Coffee still remains my wake up drink, but I use less sugar. I'm still working on the water part, which I'll admit needs some work. But I'm drinking more water now than I ever have in my life. I fill up my 30 oz cup and sip on it throughout the day. In reality, I should be refilling his cup twice each day. But... as a good friend told me... baby steps.

As for my diet, I started doing research as to what I should do. I figured that the best way to lose this weight was to educate myself first. With all the upcoming hard work, I never want the weight back so I needed to know the best way to shed the pounds. I took weeks researching and taking notes. Then, I finally settled on a new way of eating, which will be explained in the next post.

TUNE IN TO MY NEXT POST:

My Diet