The one with the weigh in...

Well, it's been 1 week without carbs. You know what that means? That's right... WEIGH IN!!!

*drum roll*

I lost 8.6 pounds! At one point this week, I was down 10 pounds. I don't know what the difference is.. but I'm happy with that loss. Why? Because I lost the wedding weight!

So, we're onto week two. I'm going to be honest with you- I ate an atkins product last night that was for phases 2-4.. but it was good and I don't regret it!

Today, we're having a cookout at work and then there is a BBQ tomorrow. I'm hoping I can resist everything for these 2 days.. but if I can't.. i'll just pick up where i left off and deal with the consequences. Life happens.. as they say...

But here's hoping to being on point!

The one with the first low carb weekend re-cap..

I took the weekend to not eat carbs. I'm not going to lie, I had a moment of "what the hell am I doing??" on Saturday and almost gave up. But, I've committed to 1 month, so I'm going to give it an honest shot.

Well, my wedding weight is gone. Beyond that, I'll report on Friday.

So, I've been eating mainly meat. It's a lot more meat and a far fewer veggies than I had been eating previously. I'm not used to that. On Friday, we had chicken with cheese and bacon. After that, I was immediately over bacon. J and I ended up having bacon wrapped scallops on Saturday. So far, Sunday's dinner was my favorite- eggplant pizzas.

Now, I loaded my pizza with meat and cheese (sorry.. that's how I've *always* liked my pizza), but it was very delicious! It was a fork and knife kind of pizza, but I'm sure I can fiddle with the recipe and make it more "french bread" like. Basically, you cut an eggplant in half- hollow it out, fill it with toppings/sauce of your choice. What I like about this is I can make it for low carb friends, healthy eating friends, and people that don't care about either of that! The strangest part? I hate eggplant.. but it was gooooood!

Rewind. Saturday was the worst day so far. I really wanted some bread. That's all.. a piece of bread. I felt sick and tired and hated this all. Twon said that 2 or 3 days in I would be very sluggish and it would be the worst.. then I would get over that hump and be okay. I'm hoping that was the hump.. 'cause it sucked. Yesterday, I felt okay.. but I had gone out to lunch with my mom and husband. I had a small cup of chili (which while still low carb.. had more carbs than expected) and seared ahi tuna.. which had a sweet sauce that I had to dab off... so maybe that little bit of sugar made the rest of my day better. Plus the eggplant.

So.. that's about all I have for now. I'm hoping the worst is over.. but I promise to freak out if I need to here :)

The one with no carbs...

Well, it's Friday. My day 1 at low carb. I remember when I was in high school, I tried to do low carb with my mom. I didn't really care about it and did fine, but she couldn't stick to it. As soon as she gave in, I was like, "ok." I dunno.. I've never had an urge to do low carb before. Here's hoping for some stick-to-itiveness.

So, I had a weigh in this morning. I was expecting a 10 pound gain (I've been eating like mad and I assumed between weight and water retention, it'd be there), instead, it was a 6 pound gain. This brings me down 14 total. I expect my first week or 2 to be a big loss if for nothing else than the water that my body is clearly hanging onto (as I'm able to tell by the tightness of my ring). I love my ring. Yes, it's very pretty which I love the most.. but it's a great gauge of sodium and water retention!

So, yeah, 6 pounds I have to lose before I'm back in the real losing-ness.

Breakfast was delicious. An omelet with chicken, cheese, chia seeds, and love. Lunch will be a salad with chicken and feta. I don't have any snacks on hand.. I'll probably pick some up on my break.

Well, I feel good so far. I had my lemon water, I'm drinking iced tea, and I have a healthy plan for the day including many veggies.

Also, I'm back to posting in my other food blog (or will be by mid-day).

That's all I have for today. I'll be back on Monday full of zero sugar crankiness. It'll be awesome!

The one with all the promises..

Welp, I got married. The weather held out wonderfully! It was great to see family and friends and celebrate with everyone!

Our food a the wedding was not the healthiest. J was in charge of ordering it and he ordered for 100 people... we had about 60 (if you include children), so we have so much food left over. I wanted to donate it to a homeless shelter, but J's mom offered to freeze it for us. Though i'm loving the left over buffalo chicken, I'm officially over ziti and chicken parm!

So, I took a break from the diet/weight loss for the wedding- didn't want to stress. I was eating healthy (until this past week) and trying.. but things definitely got out of hand with parties, events, and leftovers. So, I decided to try to combine efforts- I've decided to try a low carb diet combined with whole eating. Low carb is really very good for PCOS (which I have), so I figured might as well give it a shot.

Now, I'm going to start this on Friday, so I have 3 days to get as much information on low carb/healthy eating as possible. I don't eat much meat and don't really want that to change too much. I can replace meals with tofu and eggs. I have my notebook and my pen.. I'm ready to learn!

Anyway, that's all I have for now. I haven't weighed myself... Friday's confession is going to be terrible.. but I'm going to be honest!!

Ok.. I've been out of work for a few days.. I should get back to it.

This blog took me 3 days to write..

Turning 30 is a strange thing to think about every day. Though this blog has focused mainly on diet and exercise, it's entire purpose is to experience turning 30. Now, I have the goal to lose this weight by my 30th birthday, so it's really the only eventful thing happening until my 30th birthday.. well, that and the wedding.. but whatever.

But it's amazing how time flies. 3 months done with the year and i'm down 20 pounds. I'd like it to be more, sure, but admittedly, I've dicked around a bit. I -am- very happy about it.. and my progress. I'm terrified that I'll screw up and gain it back plus more and have a harder time in a few months, but I'm also making changes in my life that should be preventing that- like cooking eggs instead of grabbing fast food!

Last night, J and I were talking about the wedding. We got to the point where we almost decided to scrap all the plans and elope or have a small party this summer. I'm very conflicted on this. That is what I've always wanted, but with the little planning I've done, I've discovered we could have tons of fun with all of our friends and family there- and it is very important to me that my brother and his family come. On a more selfish note, I also want to lose more weight before we stand up in front of everyone.

I'm torn on the issue. I'd love to get it over with and just be married. I'm a no frills kind of gal and would love a no frills kind of day. However, nothing in our relationship has been "normal".. and it might be nice to have a "normal" wedding. I don't know. Just don't be surprised if you look here one day and the words "yeah, we decided to just get hitched.. so that happened" show up on this blog.

In other news, it's gorgeous out today! It's been nothing but rain and floods for a month week and the sun is finally coming out! This weekend is supposed to be rockstar gorgeous which excites me to no end!

Well, time to get myself back to work....
M

The one where she feels overwhelmed...

Ugh.. I overslept again this morning. I *really* thought it was 5:45.. but no.. it was 6:45. I have to plug in a loud alarm. I'm going to have to ease back in to my c25k!

Yesterday, J and I met up with L for a "hike". It was more of a long walk- 2 hours or so. Unfortunately, I was running on 2 and a half hours of sleep, so I was just about as miserable as I could be.

Also, I picked up a heart rate monitor this weekend. I'm curious to try it out. I'll fiddle with it tonight and do a workout. I really need to get a workout in. And I WILL wake up on time tomorrow! I have to!

J and I set a date for the wedding- April 30,2011. Now, I still have my goal set for November 3,2011.. but I'm really going to have to kick it up a notch to make sure I have as much weight lost as I can by the wedding date. That gives me a year. If I could lose 50 pounds, I'd be happy! Of course... to keep on track with my November goal, I need to lose 61 pounds by then (average of 1.1 pounds per week. EEEK!). Oh well... I wouldn't mind losing 61 pounds instead of 50.

So that's that. I'm feeling very boring lately. For this, I apologize.
M

The one that is 3.8 pounds less than the other one..

So! I reached the -20 mark! I'm down 3.8 pounds this week!

I'm extremely excited because, well, it's 20 pounds gone! But also, I reached the goal I had set for myself (-20 by the end of March).

So, today was my last weekday of not going to the gym. I really miss my workouts. I have to tell you, though, it's really hard to wake up before 6:30 when it's so dark out!

I've joined a challenge on the message boards to earn 300 activity points by Memorial day. This is pretty much 5/day for 60 days. I *should* be able to do this. Eff that... I WILL do this!

So, here is my plan of action: Do 50 minutes at the gym, a 20 minute walk at lunch, and yoga in the p.m.

Ok.. that's not as daunting as I anticipated. We'll give this one a YAY for being fat!

Alright... now I'm just talking crazy!

Happy weekend all!

86 weeks.....

It's amazing the power that a tag in a pair of pants can have. Aside from the fact that said tag is itching the crapola out of me today, it has a number that is mathematically 4 less than the number that was on the pair of pants I wore on Monday. Now, these pants are a little stretchy, so I'm probably down only one size rather than 2.. but it's still an amazing feeling!

Tonight, J is finally cashing in his birthday present from me. We're going to see Garrison Keillor in Providence. I'm really looking forward to it! I can't help but wonder if J and I will be the youngest willing attendees.

You know, my love for NPR is one of those things that makes me feel way older than I am. It's basically the only thing I listen to in the car. Of course, that feeling of oldness is countered by things like my iCarly fandom and wanting a bounce house at my wedding.

These are the things on my mind this morning. Tomorrow morning I shall complete my second week of couch to 5k and prepare for my second to last weekend at my Mom's. From here, I'll leave you with a quote that was on a blog that I read yesterday that I really liked (I run-on sentence like a master!!):

"He who argues for his limitations gets to keep them." ~Richard Bach

M

The small of it all..

A few years ago, I read something about how to tell what size frame you have. I don't remember it except that it had something to do with measuring your elbow and that I have a small frame. When I discovered this, it floored me! It probably shouldn't have since my mom's side of the family is all very small, but since I have been overweight for as long as I can remember.. I was surprised. (I guess since I have never SEEN the small frame) So, I found another one yesterday and remeasured myself. Sure enough, my frame is small. This time, however, it encouraged me! Instead of being surprised, I'm excited to see my frame. I'll never be stick thin, but I'll be able to see myself as small.

I'm taking steps in the journey to become and active athletic woman. Instead of sticking with the same old exercises that I've always done, I'm challenging myself to be more! I'm almost done with week 2 of c25k and I feel great. I know I have a long way to go before I go out running for miles and miles.. but I know I can do it! These self challenges are really paying off. I'm losing pounds at a slower rate than I have in the past.. but the physical transformation seems to be occurring faster- and I love it!

So, Jules over at The Bosky Blog is running a points based contest.. and since I'm really bad at communication do not intend on winning.. but I figured I'd give her a shout out anyway. Her blog always inspires me to run. I read about her challenges and her love. Her injuries and her successes. And most importantly... her dog! So, if you're ever wondering what makes me want to keep running.. it's that blog.

Enough of that mushy stuff.. I have actual work to do today (including avoiding the Wednesday Chinese Buffet Event).

Until Next Time..
M

Successful weekend! Successful Monday!

3 days I went without even a lick of exercise (aside from the 3.5 pushups and 10 or so sit ups J challenged me to do yesterday). I could feel it! I was itching for some action! I tried some pilates yesterday, but my bum bum was hurting! [A little over a year ago I was snow blowing and slipped on a patch of ice right on my bum. Everything went white and I screamed. I fell. I cracked my tail bone and was in pain for months. Even now, if I sit too long at the movies or a sporting event it hurts. So, going forward, calling my bum bum is not me being cute.. it's bum (like broken) bum (like bottom).] So, this morning, I planned on restarting my c25k (the coolrunnings.com version) but did not want to get out of bed! Knowing this would happen, I enlisted J in helping me get up! It worked and I got to the gym (thank god!).

I promised myself I would finish it- no matter how hard. So, per the instructions, I did a 10 (ok, 6) minute warm up walk, then ran for 60 seconds followed by a walk for 90 seconds.. continuing for 20 minutes. There were bursts where I wanted to stop. I thought "I have the hang of this, I can go to the machines now." But the bitchy controlling side of me said, "NO! You promised you'd finish this. You have no problem running in 1 minute bursts. Stop being a p*ssy and RUN!" And when I finished my last burst of running, I had a huge smile on my face!

My face was red and I was sweaty, but I wasn't panting and I had finished! It was also the most cardio I've done at the gym. I just hate cardio so much! I need to change that mindset. But that's for another day.

Yoga tonight!!

I have officially fallen off the Red Bull wagon. I just like the taste! I'll work on it, though. On Saturday night, T walked in and saw a can of red bull and made fun of me for it. I then showed him the other can.. which he had not seen. Good times.

The good news is that I ate SO FREAKIN' WELL this weekend! That was a hurdle I really wanted to make sure I leaped over and I did! I'm really glad I didn't binge. It makes me feel very good!

And I think that's about it. I want to write about my strange sense of age. Maybe I'll do that later *shrug*.

Until next time...
M

I woke up this morning not wanting to go to the gym. I wanted to curl up and sleep for another hour and a half! However, with the impending rain/snow that is sure to plague the remainder of the week, I figured I should get up and do it in case I choose to "call out" later in the week.

I really wanted to rock it out at the gym today. I wanted to run/walk then really work my arms hard. Unfortunately, I left my iPod at home and.. well, hate cardio. So, I walked for 7 minutes and ran for a minute and a half. Pretty terrible, right? I did work my arms, but I felt like I didn't work them hard enough. I'll have to make up for that tomorrow.

It's not all bad- I did 2 hours of exercise yesterday which was nice. I went to my first yoga class and it felt wonderful! Even though I can't bend that way, I think I'm hooked!

Speaking of hooked, I've decided to break-up with Sugar Free Red Bull. It's too expensive and I've been drinking WAY too much of it. I'm not hooked on caffeine (says the girl that has had 56 oz of tea.. what can I say? I LOVE tea!) and I haven't even really needed it.

My ultimate goal is to get away from most processed food. My first step (which I'm taking baby steps with) is to step away from aspartame. I want to do some research and find out why so many people think it's so bad. In my quick search yesterday, I didn't find much negative. Admittedly, I only looked at wikipedia.

So that's about it. A break-up took place, a new love affair started, and I sucked it up at the gym this morning.

Until next time...
M