Foodie Pen Pals August Reveal :)

For those of you that aren't familiar with the program, the Foodie Pen Pal program is run by the awesome Lindsay, over at The Lean Green Bean and is a fantastic pen pal program that connects bloggers (and readers) from all over the country (and Canada!) with different swap partners in a once-a-month box swap.  So if you want to participate hurry on over to her website and sign up for next month (Its so worth it).

My pen pal box this month came from Alyssa. She sent me a big box of goodies (Thanks Alyssa)

She sent me a good mix of sweet and savory, and covered breakfast & lunch, plus some snacks thrown in. For breakfast I got some Cherry Pistachio Oatmeal and some Lara Bars (I had one of these for dessert oops). For lunch I got peanut butter and jelly, the peanut butter is something I hadn't seen before, it has dried cranberries inside, I can't wait to buy some bread and have a sandwich. For snacks I got some chex mix (peanut butter-sweet) and potato skins (savory) and some macaroni and cheese powder to sprinkle on popcorn (Love this idea). I also got some bloody mary mix (never tried it before so this will be a first) and crystal light appletini (my stash was getting low at work so this was great timing). All in all I absolutely love my box and am going to participate again next month!

Weigh In Friday

So this morning the scale said... 213.2! That is 3.2 lbs lost since last Friday. If I can keep this up I can be in Onederland by Christmas. I had orientation for my self defense class last night, I think it's going to be really fun. I was afraid I'd feel self conscious but there were really cool girls there some in better shape, some in worse shape than I am and no one seemed to be judging anyone else (like I feel people do when you go to a gym). Charles promised me I'd be able to do push-ups on my toes by the time I was done with the boot camp (I'm kinda hoping I'll be able to do a pull up or two as well). I am so excited about it I even took the dog for a walk this morning just because I wanted to get out and moving (that's the best part about being so excited right now I feel motivated to do extras (: )

I think its time for an update on my measurements as well:

Bust: 42.5
Chest: 39
Waist: 40
Hips: 46.5
Thighs: 26
Calves: 17
Upper arm: 13
Forearm: 9

There is some progress being made, I'm hoping to be able to fit into my size 16 pants again sometime soon. I should have my last class photos from my 2 dance classes by next week to share.

Sweets

I have a gigantic sweet tooth, I have a big problem stopping at one of anything. I can eat an entire bag of cookies in one sitting even if I'm not hungry. So today when one of my coworkers brought in two dozen donuts I was determined to do something different (I used to get 3 donuts whenever I went to Walmart because 1 wasn't enough). I did take one donut (glazed with chocolate covered with sprinkles), and I ate it very slowly savoring the fantastic taste, and very firmly told myself it tasted so great and I don't need another one. I'm lucky they are sitting in the break room (I very rarely ever go in there), so I'm not walking past them on a regular basis or my resolve might fail. But I am very proud of myself for savoring the one donut and realizing I don't actually need another one, no matter how great it would taste.

Coworkers...

Let me tell you how much I dislike when a coworker takes on a completely condescending tone with you about something (I'm relatively new so I don't know everything), and just makes you feel like complete crap about yourself. When you have a history of depression the weirdest things will sometimes set me off, and it just makes me feel like I'm worthless for the rest of the day and I want to cry. I got up this morning in a wonderful mood, put on a pretty dress to go to work, and now the day is just wasted. Does anybody else have these feelings?

Weigh and Win Update

So my most updated weigh in for the Colorado Weigh and Win Challenge is 221 lbs (fully clothed with tennis shoes on). I was pleased because I have now lost more than 5% of my body weight since I moved to Colorado at the beginning of the year. I find this to be very great progress. On Thursday I go for my orientation for my self defense boot camp that starts next Tuesday going for 12 weeks (I'm actually still really excited about it).

Weigh In Friday

I was actually very pleased again when I got on the scale this morning. I weighed in at 216.4 pounds, a loss of 2.8 lbs! I really haven't been doing anything different other than eating at home all the time and trying to get all my veggies in (some days are better than others). I'm not majorly restricting calories or cutting out entire food groups, I'm actually not even counting calories. I found for me it works really well while I'm counting calories, but once I stop I balloon right up back, so I'm going for a different approach and just watching portion sizes instead, which shouldn't be a problem to maintain indefinitely. I even had a couple of small pieces of cake at work this week, I just made sure to make them small pieces and the frosting was so rich I didn't even feel deprived that I didn't take a slice 3 times larger like I would have in the past. Tonight I go for my quarterly weigh in for Colorado's Weigh & Win, on Monday I'll post my updated pics from that.

Learning Portion Control

So learning portion control after a long time of it not mattering to you isn't easy. On Saturday I went out to lunch with my mother and we went to Qdoba because she had a buy one get one free quesadilla. I can safely say I didn't realize how absolute gigantic the quesadillas were. Mom and I could have shared one and still had leftovers. So we were eating and I finished a 4th (it was cut into fourths) of it and was thinking about eating another piece when Mom said she was full. After I stopped to think about it for a minute so was I, and yet I was still contemplating eating another piece. That was a slight wake up call for me to start paying attention especially when I'm eating out (at home I only give myself 1 portion and its not a problem). I don't eat out often anymore, and I've just been telling myself to only eat half, well in this case half was still WAY too much food and I was just going to keep going because I'd been telling myself to only eat half. Which in the beginning was at least progress, but I'm now doing that out of habit and need to progress to the next step of actually listening to what my body is telling me at meal times. At lunch today I had half a Subway sandwich (didn't even take the veggies off yay!) and a cookie (I didn't go back for seconds even though in the past I would have just because there were some left over). So I'm making progress, but have realized I still have more room to grow before I have changed my lifestyle to stay at a healthy weight when I get there).

Weekend Warrior

This weekend I've gotten a lot done around the house. I rearranged my entire living room and bedroom.  Moved some very heavy furniture too. I've gotten most of the boxes left unpacked.  And done about 6 loads of laundry (mostly just getting the storage smell out of things).  Now for the rest of my to do list...

Weigh in Friday

So today's weigh in is... 219.2! I lost 2.4 pounds this week! I am so glad especially after the less than stellar performance the week before. My dance classes this week were so fun (again). I'm really not sure if I will like blues or not, I'm still kind of up in the air about it, but I love rueda (its also an AWESOME work out). I'm hoping to get out and about this weekend for another nature walk, maybe take the dog with me this time. In 3 weeks my boot camp starts so I really need to work on my endurance levels or I won't be getting as much out of the classes as I hope I will.

Colorado's Weigh and Win

In Colorado Keiser has a program called weigh and win. You don't need Keiser insurance to participate, all  you need to do is be over 25 BMI. They send you helpful little emails every day with a menu (that I completely ignore) and tell you what kind of exercise you should be doing today, or if its a rest day. For every 5% of your initial weight you lose they give you $15. You have to go to one of their weigh in stations every quarter (3 months) and weight in, but if have lost 5% and don't lose any more in the next quarter, they'll continue to pay you the $15 if you weigh in and don't gain the weight back. The maximum payout is $300 if you can lose 30% of your initial body weight. I started the program shortly after I moved to Colorado at the start of the year, my initial weight in was 237.2 lbs, that's the picture on the left. My most recent weight in was 226.4 lbs, the picture on the right. I'll have to weigh in again before August 26th, and I'll share my updated photo then, but this time around I should win $15 :) Apparently I'm not doing as poorly as I thought I was.

I feel fantastic!

So last night I got my first box from Gwynnie Bee (http://goo.gl/n1vK2Z). I decided I wanted to wear this fabulous dress I picked out today.



It fits very well and I look great, I don't feel fat, I didn't get annoyed at the website because unlike so many others they have plus sizes, and even give you sizing charts. This dress is a size 0, I paired it with a pair of 3 inch brown pumps. I would highly suggest checking this site out, they have great selection. I also got a wrap shirt in this same color and a lace cardigan. I didn't really like the lace cardigan, it was really pretty but when I looked at my side view with it on it hung so that I looked a lot larger than I actually am. I'll send this dress back tomorrow along with the cardigan I didn't wear and have two new exciting things in the mail in a few days.

Weekend Review

On Saturday I got up and went for a walk, I tried to talk myself out of it but I'm really glad I didn't. After that I volunteered at the Loveland Sculpture Invitational and sold tickets for a couple of hours, then wandered around all three art and sculpture festivals in the area. I find it absolutely amazing what people can create and wish I had that much imagination. After the festivals I went to Old Chicago and enjoyed too much food and beer and had a good time with all the regulars and Jimmy & Justin (Great bartenders btw). On Sunday I made some peanut butter truffles and chocolate peanut butter cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (for Jimmy and Justin cause I'm nice like that). I tried to restrict myself from eating too many and did an okay job but should have done a lot better. I then delivered said food to Jimmy & Justin @ Old Chicago again where I had too much to drink and eat. After spending too much money and eating (and drinking) too much I've decided I should really avoid going out by myself or just set a time limit, cash limit, or drink/food limit. Its really easy just to get to talking to people and forget exactly what and how much your drinking/eating. The rest of the cupcakes came to work with me today where everyone is very much enjoying them. I have a VERY long to do list that I created this morning so I will get up and do something instead of just watching TV at night. I'm hoping to start walking in the mornings too, its really cool outside in the morning, and its so refreshing to get outside and go for a walk before it gets hot.

Weigh-In Friday

So this week I got a TON of exercise (at least for me), I'm taking two dance classes, and I had a SIX HOUR processing (very hard manual labor, I could barely move after that), and then the time in the barns on Tuesday. So I was hoping for a really great week, I did at least see some progress with a weigh in of 221.6.

Measurements:

• Bust:44
• Chest: 40
• Waist: 42
• Hips: 48
• Thighs: 26
• Calves: 17
• Upper arm: 14
• Forearm: 10

There's a variance in some of them here, but I think it might be how I took my measurements last week, we'll see next week what happens. I've also added a picture from the completion of my foxtrot class, that's me laying down at the bottom.

So exercise is good... Right?

So at work today I found out exactly how horribly out of shape I am. I had to help weigh turkeys which didn't really require a lot of effort on my part other than standing and moving so all was good there. Then I had to help pull sample birds which required my picking up two hundred different 5 gallons buckets with birds inside. So pick up bucket then put birds in another bucket and then put them back in the original bucket. So over all 600 buckets picked up and moved with about 2 lbs  in them.  After that walk anywhere from 5 to 10 feet and start all over. I was sweating my ass off the entire time and now am completely exhausted. I also have my first blues dance class this evening and turkey processing tomorrow. I have got to start exercising more because  my desk job isn't doing me a lot of good for my stamina.

Weigh-in Friday!

First official weigh in at 222.2 lbs, I'm starting at a better place than I thought i was, but considering when I moved at the first of June I only weighed 212 pounds I'm not doing so great (10 lbs in 2 months?!). I've been trying to add more veggies into my diet (fruits aren't usually a problem for me). I absolutely can't eat any kind of lettuce, I'm very texture sensitive and even iceberg that people tell me has no flavor makes me gag. But I bought a stand alone steamer from amazon a few weeks ago, and it is my new favorite appliance! I've used it almost every night since I bought it with fresh veggies packed inside. I've actually eaten broccoli (which for a self proclaimed green veggie hater is AWESOME!), and had some zucchini as well. I went to Sprout's last week and bought almost nothing but veggies (did get some cashew pieces and cheese too, but hey still healthy when eaten in proper portions). I'm going to be taking 2 dance classes next month so I'm guaranteed 2 days of at least 1 hr of exercise each, I'm working on getting up early in the mornings 10 minutes at a time so I can go for a quick walk in the morning, so far I've gained all of 20 minutes, which at least lets me get some extra housework done in the morning. Tonight's exercise plan is... housework! I really need to vacuum, and do some serious paperwork straightening. Happy Friday!

May as well take measurements to start with too:

• Bust:44
• Chest: 42
• Waist: 41
• Hips: 49
• Thighs: 29
• Calves: 18
• Upper arm: 14
• Forearm: 10

I will try to remember to take pictures this weekend so I can take a visual log of my progress as I go.

Foxtrot Fever...

Its so sad that last night was my last foxtrot class. For the past 4 weeks on Wednesday nights I've been going to a foxtrot class for an hour and a half. Its been absolutely wonderful and fun (doesn't even feel like exercise even if I am dripping in sweat when I'm done). Next month I'm going to take two different classes (Tuesday and Wednesday nights) blues and rueda. It was one of the things I've always wanted to learn how to do (ballroom dance) and is absolutely a wonderful way to get moving while having fun.