What type of tools do you use for your motivation or equipment to aid in your progress? I had came across the Nike+ gadget when I first bought my iPod Touch and was enjoying it, however it seemed to quit working for me. I don't like the basic pedometers which you wear on your hip, because they never seem to be adequate in detail. When I was using the Nike+, I joined a site called Earndit and had forgotten about it until they emailed me some promotional offers the other day. While looking around on the site, they showed another gadget which can be synced to their site, it's called the FidBit. I'm considering adding this to my need/wish list for the next month or so, but I'm not sure. A friend of mine uses a GPS watch which tracks everything she does, however, I don't have the $349 to spend as if I did, I'd be all over that. The accuracy of the watch, compared to the accuracy of the FidBit however, I'm sure they will vary.
So my curiosity is, what do you use to track your steps?
Another thing, as previous discussed, I'm planning on putting a Wii in the house with some games like Just Dance and other work out games, but in the meanwhile, we have Hip Hop Abs and Zumba videos (which both wear you out like you can't imagine!), then of course, add in the walking. I don't see the need of owning another treadmill or any of those gadgets because mostly, they become furniture or places to hang clothes. I had a treadmill once and got tired of it pretty quickly. But what about you? What type of equipment do you use and have the most success with?
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Mirrored Image
Plastered on the wall in the ladies rooms at work are these huge, nearly wall-to-wall mirrors in which you can see your entire self in. Last night, I came out of my stall, looked in the mirror and thought, a year ago, I would haven't even looked at myself as I wasn't pleased with my body. I'm still an overweight person, severely of course, however, I like the mirror now. I was standing there last night and looking at myself, measuring up where I'm having the most success in my weight loss. Right now, it's in my waist area and thighs and you can tell it. I get kind of disgusted still, however, because my thighs just aren't catching up with my waist much at all, but I do have a long way to go and therefore, I'm not trying to be discouraged.
In February, it'll be officially a year since I've changed up my lifestyle to becoming healthier. Evaluating the months gone by, I know there are things I could've done differently to "speed" up this process but at the same time, I remind myself, I'm not in a race to health because losing too quick can be as bad as gaining too quickly. As of December 15th, I've gone from 467 pounds to 388 pounds. Calculations show that as being 79 pounds. Figuring that in from November to December, that's an average of 7 pounds per month and then some ounces. Could I have lost more? Absolutely, but the question is, should I have lost more? It's only recommended to lose 1-2 pounds per week, so using those statistics, I'm satisfied with my current success.
What's more pleasing about this however? My clothing sizes are what I see the most change in. Let's put this into the public eye:
February 2010:
Shirts: 6X
Jeans: 40W (For plus size ladies, we know this is HUGE with a near 60" waist)
January 2011:
Shirts 3X
Jeans: 34W
The 34s are snug on my thighs as it seems all the Cheetos and Dr. Peppers accumulated in my thighs, however, my waist is perfectly fitting. The 3X shirts fit nicely too and the few that I have, they aren't draped over me like furniture covers.
I'm pleased with this. I'm going to make an effort to step up in my activity levels as this is my weak point since I'd rather sleep than get up and move. I have opportunity to move at work but have yet to do it because on my breaks, I'm glued to my phone talking to my daughter and my sweetie. One of the changes coming is I'm going to be buying a big screen TV and Wii in a couple of months, so I'm going to use that to increase activity rate and my workout DVDs are headed to the living room. This is a necessity because even my daughter needs movement in her life rather than being glued to the internet. Does anyone have any success stories with the Wii games? There's one about dance something that my daughter was telling me about, I have it wrote down, but something we're going to try out.
Anyhow, I'm going to close this so I can get ready for work. I'm not into making resolutions, but the changes I really need to focus on is eating at work and moving more. I want to see approximately 50 more pounds off by August. Who's in for the challenge? Meanwhile, I'm going to continue to admire my curves that I can see now in the mirrors at work!
In February, it'll be officially a year since I've changed up my lifestyle to becoming healthier. Evaluating the months gone by, I know there are things I could've done differently to "speed" up this process but at the same time, I remind myself, I'm not in a race to health because losing too quick can be as bad as gaining too quickly. As of December 15th, I've gone from 467 pounds to 388 pounds. Calculations show that as being 79 pounds. Figuring that in from November to December, that's an average of 7 pounds per month and then some ounces. Could I have lost more? Absolutely, but the question is, should I have lost more? It's only recommended to lose 1-2 pounds per week, so using those statistics, I'm satisfied with my current success.
What's more pleasing about this however? My clothing sizes are what I see the most change in. Let's put this into the public eye:
February 2010:
Shirts: 6X
Jeans: 40W (For plus size ladies, we know this is HUGE with a near 60" waist)
January 2011:
Shirts 3X
Jeans: 34W
The 34s are snug on my thighs as it seems all the Cheetos and Dr. Peppers accumulated in my thighs, however, my waist is perfectly fitting. The 3X shirts fit nicely too and the few that I have, they aren't draped over me like furniture covers.
I'm pleased with this. I'm going to make an effort to step up in my activity levels as this is my weak point since I'd rather sleep than get up and move. I have opportunity to move at work but have yet to do it because on my breaks, I'm glued to my phone talking to my daughter and my sweetie. One of the changes coming is I'm going to be buying a big screen TV and Wii in a couple of months, so I'm going to use that to increase activity rate and my workout DVDs are headed to the living room. This is a necessity because even my daughter needs movement in her life rather than being glued to the internet. Does anyone have any success stories with the Wii games? There's one about dance something that my daughter was telling me about, I have it wrote down, but something we're going to try out.
Anyhow, I'm going to close this so I can get ready for work. I'm not into making resolutions, but the changes I really need to focus on is eating at work and moving more. I want to see approximately 50 more pounds off by August. Who's in for the challenge? Meanwhile, I'm going to continue to admire my curves that I can see now in the mirrors at work!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
It's amazing how some people adapt to change differently than others, but for me? It's been a good experience in some areas while in the emotional department, it was a different story. Yesterday, I stepped on the scales and nearly did flips in excitement from the results which were called out on my talking scales. I am down ten pounds since my changes began! To me, I'm just incredibly excited about that. I'm not sure if I have mentioned in previous blogs before about the edema I have in my legs pretty severely, but even that is going away. That said, however, on Friday night, I had a bit more swelling than I'm used to do to sitting those long 8 hour training shifts. I am going to figure out how to get more movement or whatever so that I don't swell so badly. On Saturday, I took Lasix to get some of it off of me, but I'm wondering if there's another way to keep it down throughout the week.
I wanted to share that bit of information as I'm just incredibly pleased with the scales moving again. On November 1st, I will reveal my weight here in the blog. In September 2009, I weighed in at 463lbs and wore a 5X in stretch pants. I'll talk more about my clothing changes as well at that time.
Meanwhile, as I mentioned before, this blog is about everything, but mostly weight loss. But I wanted to tell you about these two sites I use today as well. Every morning, I get emails from them to click on advertisements and to read, then get paid for them. I wanted to share them with you today. I have my Windows Email set up so they trickle into their own folders and I can click on them at my own desire. One of them is about to cash out, which is what made me think about sharing them this morning. There's nothing too it but clicking and reading emails advertisements. They will take you to a website in your default browser. I love this stuff because although you can't get rich from doing it... those pennies add up and it's nice to get checks in the mail over time. GO ahead, check them out, and if you have any questions, then just ask.
I wanted to share that bit of information as I'm just incredibly pleased with the scales moving again. On November 1st, I will reveal my weight here in the blog. In September 2009, I weighed in at 463lbs and wore a 5X in stretch pants. I'll talk more about my clothing changes as well at that time.
Meanwhile, as I mentioned before, this blog is about everything, but mostly weight loss. But I wanted to tell you about these two sites I use today as well. Every morning, I get emails from them to click on advertisements and to read, then get paid for them. I wanted to share them with you today. I have my Windows Email set up so they trickle into their own folders and I can click on them at my own desire. One of them is about to cash out, which is what made me think about sharing them this morning. There's nothing too it but clicking and reading emails advertisements. They will take you to a website in your default browser. I love this stuff because although you can't get rich from doing it... those pennies add up and it's nice to get checks in the mail over time. GO ahead, check them out, and if you have any questions, then just ask.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I haven't been able to write over the last few days as I just started this job on the outside world and it's really time consuming to be honest. I'm so used to waking up in the morning, starting a fresh pot of coffee to brew while I'm in the shower, then it's coffee, Facebook, and logging into work right afterward. Transitioning from working at home to working thirty minutes away was very emotional for me. The biggest part of those emotions dealt with the fact that I was away from my daughter and then the fact that the contact between my sweetie and I was very limited. To understand this, I've been with my daughter since she was four. Yes, she goes to school, summer camps, a different church than I, etc... however, I've always been right there by her side after school when I pick her up and then through the night. This past week, she ended up staying with her friend from Wednesday night until Saturday morning. It was awful for me to deal with that because I couldn't see her in the mornings nor in the evenings. I work 2nd shift, so I just miss her as I leave and she's getting home from school.
On top of that, my sweetie and I began talking in July of 2009, only a few short weeks after I had moved to North Carolina. From the moment he sent that first email to me, we have talked nearly non-stop every single day. Seriously. We have sent more messages via email, Facebook, and text messaging than any normal person. We never run out of things to say and when we're not together, we're always and I do mean ALWAYS talking. So, now, not only was I away from my daughter, but my communications with him was also cut dramatically.
It was rough. It was a very rough week and by Saturday, my emotional turmoil took a turn for the worse and I lost it. It was sad, it really was. I think I shed more tears yesterday than I've shed in a year. Seriously. My emotional wreck even upset him, which is something I never, ever do because he's very precious to me and I am protective over his feelings. It's the Gemini-Leo relationship and we fit it to a "t". When I say I'm protective over his feelings, what I mean by that is that I'm gentle with him, we are always very calm with one another and if we have problems arise, we never yell, accuse, threaten, or any of that mess. We seriously work things out like civilized human beings. Yesterday, something in me flipped upside down and his feelings were like that of a lit cigarette under my shoe because I literally smashed them. I felt like shit. I couldn't even explain in the moment why I was so nasty towards a situation that came up and unfortunately, I upset him. It's so rare that I do that, as a matter of fact, in the 15 months we've been together? That's actually only the 2nd time I've ever done that.
Perhaps the situation was heightened for him because he was already going through some other emotional issues, so it wasn't entirely because of me that he had a bad moment yesterday, but I definitely poured gasoline on his fire. I felt horrible because unless you are in a relationship like the one we share? You simply wouldn't understand. We're very protective over one another and each other's feelings, so it was a shock.
Anyhow, the good news is, our relationship is important to us. Our relationship is priority and when he walked in the door yesterday, at first, he was hesitant to even give me one of those monstrous hugs that he always gives me. We talked. I listened to his feelings without interruption and then he listened to mine. I had to explain to him how new all of this was to me and of course, he too was going through separation anxieties from me. We're not used to our communication being dropped like that. Not only was our communication dropped, but we also always spend Wednesday through Friday together and even that was taken away because I had to work.
I love him. I love that man more than I ever knew I could possibly love. When I moved to NC, I wasn't coming here to love, I was career pointed. That was my life... career, daughter, cats, ya know? But now that God brought him into my life, I've learned over the past 15 months that 2nd chances are beautiful in life. With this man, I've learned so much. I've learned that real love is real, I've learned to be patient even. Me? Patient? Yea, that was tough. I've learned that not every man is out to hurt us but also that no one is perfect and that our imperfections can be seen past if we're willing to take that chance. We've grown up together and in the process, have grown on one another. He's places me in the palm of his hand and shines me up like a diamond should be shining. We've had people trying to break us up, we've had people put us in positions which would've broken us up had we not been strong together, and we've had daggers thrown at our relationship. And yet? Each time people do this to us, we grow stronger together.
The point of this blog, I guess, is to say that no love is perfect no matter how we present ourselves. As we decided yesterday, if our relationship was perfect and without flaw, we'd be God, and we know that is not going to ever be the case. It's how we handle the negative situations which determine our success in our partnership. There's some growing up to do in areas, but we go through those hurdles together. I find myself getting impatient sometimes, I find myself dealing with those thoughts alone, and then I end up flooring them out into his lap all at once and overwhelming him with them, but then we deal with that.
I don't know. Life is strange, but love is even stranger. Time is precious, don't waste it on blocking out the good stuff in life, even the one person who makes you feel like a diamond, a precious stone... because being loved and sharing your love with someone else? It's an amazing feeling. We're 15 months in and we are still electrified by one another in so many ways. It's just amazing.
That said? I've lost 8 pounds this week!
On top of that, my sweetie and I began talking in July of 2009, only a few short weeks after I had moved to North Carolina. From the moment he sent that first email to me, we have talked nearly non-stop every single day. Seriously. We have sent more messages via email, Facebook, and text messaging than any normal person. We never run out of things to say and when we're not together, we're always and I do mean ALWAYS talking. So, now, not only was I away from my daughter, but my communications with him was also cut dramatically.
It was rough. It was a very rough week and by Saturday, my emotional turmoil took a turn for the worse and I lost it. It was sad, it really was. I think I shed more tears yesterday than I've shed in a year. Seriously. My emotional wreck even upset him, which is something I never, ever do because he's very precious to me and I am protective over his feelings. It's the Gemini-Leo relationship and we fit it to a "t". When I say I'm protective over his feelings, what I mean by that is that I'm gentle with him, we are always very calm with one another and if we have problems arise, we never yell, accuse, threaten, or any of that mess. We seriously work things out like civilized human beings. Yesterday, something in me flipped upside down and his feelings were like that of a lit cigarette under my shoe because I literally smashed them. I felt like shit. I couldn't even explain in the moment why I was so nasty towards a situation that came up and unfortunately, I upset him. It's so rare that I do that, as a matter of fact, in the 15 months we've been together? That's actually only the 2nd time I've ever done that.
Perhaps the situation was heightened for him because he was already going through some other emotional issues, so it wasn't entirely because of me that he had a bad moment yesterday, but I definitely poured gasoline on his fire. I felt horrible because unless you are in a relationship like the one we share? You simply wouldn't understand. We're very protective over one another and each other's feelings, so it was a shock.
Anyhow, the good news is, our relationship is important to us. Our relationship is priority and when he walked in the door yesterday, at first, he was hesitant to even give me one of those monstrous hugs that he always gives me. We talked. I listened to his feelings without interruption and then he listened to mine. I had to explain to him how new all of this was to me and of course, he too was going through separation anxieties from me. We're not used to our communication being dropped like that. Not only was our communication dropped, but we also always spend Wednesday through Friday together and even that was taken away because I had to work.
I love him. I love that man more than I ever knew I could possibly love. When I moved to NC, I wasn't coming here to love, I was career pointed. That was my life... career, daughter, cats, ya know? But now that God brought him into my life, I've learned over the past 15 months that 2nd chances are beautiful in life. With this man, I've learned so much. I've learned that real love is real, I've learned to be patient even. Me? Patient? Yea, that was tough. I've learned that not every man is out to hurt us but also that no one is perfect and that our imperfections can be seen past if we're willing to take that chance. We've grown up together and in the process, have grown on one another. He's places me in the palm of his hand and shines me up like a diamond should be shining. We've had people trying to break us up, we've had people put us in positions which would've broken us up had we not been strong together, and we've had daggers thrown at our relationship. And yet? Each time people do this to us, we grow stronger together.
The point of this blog, I guess, is to say that no love is perfect no matter how we present ourselves. As we decided yesterday, if our relationship was perfect and without flaw, we'd be God, and we know that is not going to ever be the case. It's how we handle the negative situations which determine our success in our partnership. There's some growing up to do in areas, but we go through those hurdles together. I find myself getting impatient sometimes, I find myself dealing with those thoughts alone, and then I end up flooring them out into his lap all at once and overwhelming him with them, but then we deal with that.
I don't know. Life is strange, but love is even stranger. Time is precious, don't waste it on blocking out the good stuff in life, even the one person who makes you feel like a diamond, a precious stone... because being loved and sharing your love with someone else? It's an amazing feeling. We're 15 months in and we are still electrified by one another in so many ways. It's just amazing.
That said? I've lost 8 pounds this week!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Dinnertime
The kitchen is my home. I absolutely love to cook, rather it's something simple or something major. I experiment all the time in the kitchen as well. Tonight is no different. Last week while at the store, I was attempting to buy tilapia, our favorite white fish to eat, but somehow, I grabbed a bag of whiting instead. No problem, it's not as mild as tilapia, and we'll use it just fine.
I'm experimenting tonight and in my pan, I layered baby carrots (which next time will be sliced in half), four pieces of fish which were sprinkled with garlic, paprika, garlic, pepper, more garlic (we love garlic, can't tell?), and then splashed on soy sauce and lime juice before covering it with mushrooms! I'm serving this wild a wild rice dish I'm making, which I hid in chopped baby spinach (teenagers!), as well as making collard greens to go with it.
In the old days, before I gave up many things I used to eat, I would have baked up corn bread and even baked macaroni to go with this. I'd even probably go as far as frying that fish rather than baking it. The end result however, is a much healthier dish than the old days and very tasty. My teenager doesn't mind foods like this and enjoyed it as well, so what we have here? Is a winner!
I'm experimenting tonight and in my pan, I layered baby carrots (which next time will be sliced in half), four pieces of fish which were sprinkled with garlic, paprika, garlic, pepper, more garlic (we love garlic, can't tell?), and then splashed on soy sauce and lime juice before covering it with mushrooms! I'm serving this wild a wild rice dish I'm making, which I hid in chopped baby spinach (teenagers!), as well as making collard greens to go with it.
In the old days, before I gave up many things I used to eat, I would have baked up corn bread and even baked macaroni to go with this. I'd even probably go as far as frying that fish rather than baking it. The end result however, is a much healthier dish than the old days and very tasty. My teenager doesn't mind foods like this and enjoyed it as well, so what we have here? Is a winner!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Blog Design
If you would take a moment and let me know if any of my side bars are running into the blog, please let me know. When you do, also let me what browser you are using. I work from the Opera browser, but was having issues when viewed with the Firefox. I think I have it fixed, but want to make sure.
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