10 weeks!!

So today marks 10 weeks back on my journey and I am feeling great still. I am more determined than ever. I may not be working out as long as I did back when I didn't have a job but I am doing what I can to keep myself moving. Yesterday I spent all day spring cleaning. I cleaned out and organized our garage all morning and then in the afternoon I went over to my parents house and went through several totes I had clothes stored in back from 2011/2012. There were clothes in there that I was wearing when I got down to my smallest but then I got pregnant and wanted to keep them for when I could fit back in them. Then there were brand new clothes in there that I bought on clearance thinking I will fit in this someday after baby. Well they have just sat there for over 5 years now. Yesterday I got rid of an entire SUV trunk full of boxes of clothes. Mostly mine. I gave away 2/3 of what I had and only kept things I just really wanted to still wear or that I never got a chance to ever and am still hoping to someday fit. It was very therapeutic to go through and see those old things. I had good memories with some and bad with others. I got rid of some that I loved simply because I felt like I got plenty of good use of them and wanted to pass them to someone else. I am trying to stop hoarding so much. My husband thinks I never throw anything out. lol. Well last night I gave away 6 boxes and two very large trash bags full of clothes. When I saw the lady I met up with to give them to had brought two teenage girls with her to help load up the back of her SUV I knew they would get a lot of use out of most of those clothes. I told her just to regift anything that she didn't want and she plans to do just that. In scale news, I have reached a new low!

 
I felt stuck in the 270s for so long all of February so its great to see myself coasting on down in to the 260s finally. As of March 1st I am down 5.2 lbs and we still got more than half the month to go so I am feeling really successful right now. My mom even noticed my losses on Friday night when I saw her she said I looked good and that is when I mentioned that I was down 30 lbs. My husband says he notices a huge difference too and is very proud of me. I can even see it in the mirror myself. I am looking forward to summer and fitting back in to some old swimsuits so that I can swim some of this weight off, too!

Bragging rights

For the most part, in my day to day life, I am not mentioning that I am on a weightloss journey. I go to work with the same few people I have spent the last 3 years working with each and every day and don't want to say a word to them about it until someone first says something to me about noticing my appearance has changed. The one thing I have mentioned is that I gave up soda. A few of my coworkers have said they were giving it up and I mentioned that I had done the same and left it at that. Of course every now and then I see them having one anyways and saying well I went without for 3 days or whatever... The conversation this morning that I overheard goes as follows Teacher 1, as she is trying to put a dollar in to the vending machine: I haven't had a soda in a while but today is Friday! Teacher 2: You have been doing so well, so you deserve it! My thought process is immediately - what? You are doing so well let's sabotage ourself?! But I don't say anything because well we aren't exactly close friends and I kinda feel in a mental competition with this person. Even more so because I recently took over her job. She has mentioned multiple times to everyone that will listen that she is working out or heading to the gym or whatever and then usually later in the day talking about how she is gonna eat better tomorrow because today she wants to go have mexican food for lunch or any other multitude of excuses. To myself I am thinking two things. 1, she is clearly sabotaging herself. 2, I am gonna start becoming noticeably thinner in the coming months and everyone else at work will finally be talking about how great I look. lol. She mentioned yesterday that she lost 6 lbs and everyone was like oh you look awesome. I can't tell a difference yet. I hate to be so competitive or catty, but at least its just inside my head and I am not actually running my mouth to anyone but my blog and my husband. I feel good keeping myself motivated though without having to brag to anyone about it. Of course I brag on myself here, but that's what this thing is for! :)

Fabulous friday

Today is a fabulous Friday! The sun is out full blast and I feel as if I might get my first sunburn of the year. Lol. I walked home on my lunch break and am sitting on the porch listening to the birds chirping and singing as they hunt through my grass for tasty treats. I can hear my neighbor's lawn mower in the distance leaving fresh cut grass for me to smell on my walk back. The wind is blowing a gentle breeze, just enough to make the wind chimes my grandmother gave me play a beautiful melody. Today is one of those blissful days where it almost seems a shame to return to work. However, my students have been enjoying a pretty easy going morning and I look forward to coming back just before nap time is over so I can see their sweet faces as they wake up.

In fitness news, I have made it down to the weight I was when I gave birth to my second child, Bethany. I had lost 30 just after having her but then let life get the best of me and shot up that 30 and then some. Anyways, I am now 24lbs down just since January 1st and 31 lbs in total. This had me pumped so when I walked home, I actually jogged part of the way and enjoyed it.

Today sounds so much better than yesterday!

Saw this quote on facebook and thought wow that totally sums up how I am feeling right now!

It even feels so much better!

This morning I stepped on the scale to reveal myself meeting my 3rd short term goal I have listed over there in the sidebar!

I reached 270 lbs and am now at a loss of 23 since the beginning of the year/ That makes for a total loss of 30 lbs since my highest recorded weight! It feels pretty amazing. I am starting to see the changes in my skin and belly shape once again finally. February may have been a kind of slow moving dud of a month, but March is starting out on the right foot!

I think that I was getting a little stale using the same brand of workout videos over and over. I really loved the wide variety and the style of teaching used of this one kind called Lumowell fitness that I found on amazon with my prime membership. However, I felt like it was time to change things up a bit and found myself scrolling through all kinds of workouts. I thought maybe what I needed was a dance video to get myself moving and grooving. I stumbled across some "Jesus hip hop" type workouts whose slogan was Shape what the Father gave ya and couldn't resist watching to see what that was about. I found that it was actually pretty decent dancing, but there was not really any teaching going on. They just expected you to know what they were doing and to follow along. Then I saw some How to Twerk video and just had to try my hand at that. Hahaha. It was amusing to say the least. After looking at a Zumba concert series I decided that the dance videos available to me through prime were not really anything I could or wanted to do. I tried searching again just for workout videos and found something called the 21 day transformation. There are 10 episodes, so I assume there must be some type of program that goes along with it, but figured I would give the first one a try today since it was only 18 minutes long. It may have been short, but it sure got after it. I was sweating pretty bad by the time it was over and look forward to seeing what is in store for episode 2 tomorrow.

Two months in... Hello March

Okay so we are another month in to the journey and I am still here going strong. I will admit I haven't worked out as hard as I did in the first month, but I am still soda free and am moving my body more each day along with eating less.

Today I stepped on the scale to see...

273.0 lbs. So Same as I was this time last week, however I have been on my preiod for the last straight week and so I am not too surprised.

I did not have a period at all during January and February was a slightly shorter month. I only lost 6.4 lbs in the last month vs the over 13lbs lost in my first month. I was a bit dissapointed when I saw those numbers but then I took some measurements.

Here are the measurements:

These are my starting body measurements:
Neck - 16.5"
Bust - 50"
Waist - 47"
Hips - 60"
Arms - 19"
Thighs - 32"
Calves - 20"

My current measurements (and lost in the last month):
Neck - 15.75" (down 0.25")
Bust - 49" (down 1")
Waist - 45" (down 1.5")
Hips - 60" (down 2")
Arms - 17" (down 0.5")
Thighs - 31" (down 1")
Calves - 18.75" (down 0.25")

That's a total of 6.5 inches lost this month. Last month I only lost 3.5 and this time I lost in every single category! Woo, NSV for sure!

Here are my pictures to start out March.

Score!

Woke up this morning to a 2 lb drop! I am now down to 273! This puts me at my very first journey's starting weight in 2011.

Here is the picture from Sunday that I never posted. My weight stayed the same yesteday, too.

and here is today's.

I was not too upset about going up from 275.0 to 276.6 because I knew exactly what choices I made that led me there and was determined not to let that derail me. Of course I wasn't exactly pleased with that number either. However, this morning seeing the huge difference I made in progress throughout Monday, I was ecstatic to see such a large shift! It motivates me so much more to see the scale going in the right direction. Today I played more volleyball with my students and did jumping jacks in between them running after the ball and my turn to hit it. This evening after I got home from work, I found out that my daughter's soccer practice was cancelled due to the coach's illness so I dressed her up in her shin guards and cleats anyways and brought her out in the front yard to practice with her one on one. We did warm up stretching, practiced passing drills and learning to stop the ball with her foot. I let her try to shoot some goals past me while I played defender on the little tikes goal we have. We also ran a couple laps around the trampoline.

I am so close to my 3rd goal (in the sidebar!) I am hoping to reach it by the end of this month, but we shall see... I got a great idea from Katie at Runs for Cookies the other day. She says that she decides how much weight she wants to lose by a certain date and calculates exactly how many pounds she needs to lose each week in order to be at her ultimate goal by that date. My sidebar goals are kind of random but I think this way of setting up a weekly short term goal to meet seems a lot more reasonable.

Let's see, My best friend Ashley is getting married in October and I will be her maid of honor and wearing a floor length black dress. Her date was originally supposed to be the 14th but her venue double booked and so she rescheduled it for the 21st. I think that is a good deadline to reach at least a good portion of my goals. I don't want to be all the way at goal weight of 150 by then because that is a lot of weight to lose in such a short amount. It could be done, but I'm not sure I have the time to dedicate that much to losing at the moment. Ideally I would love to get as close to goal as possible, however I remember getting down to 171 and feeling absolutely amazing between that and 180. So lets aim for the higher, and make it 185 even. 34 weeks from now. 273-285=88lbs to lose by her wedding. If I divide 88 by 34 that makes it roughly 2.5 lbs to lose each week. Not easy by any means, but not extremely out of hand to try and attain either. I like knowing that I have a very simple short term goal of reaching 2.5 lbs by the next week. Plus: If I can make that 2.5 lbs by next Tuesday, I will also reach my sidebar goal before the month ends!

Woot Woot!!!

Little black dress, here I come!

6 weeks in

So I know it's been 10 days since my last post and I didn't post my weigh in last Sunday, but it was 276 I think... Today was also 276. I hovered at 275 most of the week though and am betting tomorrow I will be back there. Today was up because I surprised the kids with a trip to Legoland yesterday and we stopped at Golden Corral on the way home. My kids love it there and I do too. The hubs and I both over ate. But damn it was good. At only 1 lb up, I think I'm alright. I knew it was gonna be an indulgence, and I was prepared for the change on the scale. However, today I ate much better and have been moving my body all day long, too. I look forward to seeing how this next week plays out.

at 275 I am 25 lbs lighter than my highest weight and down 18 lbs since the beginning of the year. 18lbs in 6 weeks is not too shabby.

I took a picture of the scale this morning but I think I'd rather share some cute photos of the kids enjoying themselves yesterday. They were being rewarded for having an amazing week each at school after having a rough week the one before. Jett is wearing his Cub Scout uniform because he was selling Camp Cards that morning and forgot to bring the extra shirt I packed for him when he stayed the night with his grandpa the night before and we picked him up from the sale to go straight to Legoland.

Gettin after it...

So my work schedule has been a bit crazy the last couple days since a girl decided to quit on us and we are all having to pick up the slack while training a new hire. My lunch breaks have been cut shorter by 30 minutes and I've had to stay an hour later than usual, too. This is exhausting to say the least, but I'm still getting after it as much as I possibly can while at work. I have been doing lots of jumping jacks and trying to see if I can outdo my highest number at one time going up by a few counts each day. Today I did a few times of 25 but the last time I did it was 40 all at once. I am also racing my kids around the play yard and they are enjoying chasing me or beating me back to the start. I try to encourage them to workout with me if they are just following me around whining about when it's time to go back inside and eat lunch instead of playing. lol. Sometimes it works...

I know today isn't a new weigh in day yet, but I was just so excited this morning to see that I dropped 2 more pounds, skipped right over 277 and jumped on down to 276 even. Whoooo! So I snapped a pic to share here. :D

After my last post I ended up going to the store like I said, but when I got home I spent some time with my own kids. I rode my bike, my son rode his scooter, and Bethany walked beside us a block down the road to the church. We rode all over the parking lot and then we went in to the playground area and I let the kids have at it. Shortly after, I decided they looked like they were having too much fun and I should join them and so I did. I crawled up to the top of the rock climbing area several times and slid down both slides as well as crawled through a tunnel. It felt great to be able to play with my children and not be totally out of breath. I snapped a few pics and had my son take some, too.

Forgive the quality as most of these pics were taken by my 8 year old son, Jett who has limited experience with taking pictures or using my phone. lol. He even took a video by mistake and you can hear me saying "I don't hear it clicking!" waiting for the sound of the camera capturing our picture. lol. Bethany wanted us to pose with peace signs in the air...

5 weeks

Great news today folks... I stepped on the scale to see this beauty...

I know it's only 1 lb since the first of the month, but it is 4 lbs down from last Sunday. Super stoked to see that number after bouncing around the last couple days. I was 280 just yesterday morning. I am further down in to the 270s now and feeling confident moving forward.

As my weight has increased over the last several years my period cycles have gotten way more out of whack. I can remember back in 2010 I only had 2 for the entire year. I started working out in January of 2011 for the first time ever and not long after that my period came back and started coming every month again. I cannot remember the last time I had one but I think it was probably around my birthday in late November. I feel like I could have one start back up any day now so this also probably has a lot to do with the fluctuation in the last week. I used to keep up with periods on the My Days app but am not as diligent about it anymore since my husband had a vasectomy after our last child.

I am heading to the store soon to pick up some essentials for the week but am also going to pick up some items to make salads with. I have always despised salads until I found out that I actually like the taste of spinach when it is not cooked. I loathe lettuce so that's why salads were a no go for me. I saw Katie from Runs for Cookies posting about her February challenge to try new salads for lunch each day and that sounded yummy. I probably wont have them everyday, but any at all is more than I've had in months. It will help keep my calorie count down while also getting in some good veggies and be something quick and easy to fix.

Month One, done!

I survived my first month back in action and I feel as if I'm still kicking ass so woohoo!

Today I stepped on the scale and as I had hoped saw the 270s again!!!

So from 293.0 to 279.4, I am down exactly 13.6 lbs in my first month. This really excites me. I know I averaged about 12 lbs per month my first go of things so I'm off to a great start. That's almost a pound every other day... I mean, WHOA! I've got it goin on. lol

Time for some new selfies and lucky me I got a great deal on my very first DSLR camera a couple nights ago so I am able to take some decent pictures instead of mirror selfies you can barely make out. lol.

I LOVE my new camera.

Excuse the laundry all over the place... we'll get to it eventually. hah.

 And here are some selfies, too. :D

and now for the measurements:

These are my starting body measurements:
Neck - 16.5"Bust - 50"Waist - 47"Hips - 60"Arms - 19"Thighs - 32"Calves - 20"

My current measurements (and lost last month):
Neck - 16" (down 0.5")Bust - 50"
Waist - 46.5" (down 0.5")Hips - 60"
Arms - 17.5" (down 1.5")Thighs - 32"
Calves - 19" (down 1")

That's a total of 3.5 inches lost this month. Not too shabby.

4 weeks in.. a little late.

So I never posted my weigh in for Sunday bu I did take the picture that morning!

281 which is still down from last week, but a tiny bit disappointing since I actually hit my 2nd goal of 280 on Thursday and then made it to 279 Friday.

However, it was expected since I went to a bridal expo with my best friend on Saturday who is getting married later this year. I am going to be her maid of honor and we sampled all kinds of catering foods and cakes while there. It was delicious and I enjoyed it. I had a much needed girls day with my bestie and do not regret the choices I have made.

This morning I was back down to 280... tomorrow I'm crossing my fingers to see the 270s again since it marks a whole new month and time to update stats! :D

I have been busting out the jump rope during gym time with my prek kids and they have actually been exercising with me the last 2 days. lol

2nd Goal!

Today I reached 280 lbs and I am super excited to be down 13 lbs since the first of the year, 20 lbs in total. I get to change my sidebar to include today's date as a goal met. Score!

I've mentioned it before that I teach 3, 4, and 5 year olds Preschool. Well as we all know, kids say the darnedest things. In the last month I have been asked twice if I have a baby in my belly. Yesterday I was told someone's cat's belly was so big just like mine, and today I was asked how I got so big. Luckily for me I am so much more mentally stronger than I used to be and so this hasn't phased me or deterred any of my progress. I just keep thinking how awesome it will be for them to see me transform over the next several months and that I can finally stop hearing all the comments on how big I am. lol

3 Weeks!! It's habit time, ya'll.

Hahah... I don't know who says it, but it's been said that if you can stick with something for just 21 days, 3 weeks, it becomes a habit. Well here I am still without sodas and drinking a lot more water than I used to. I am conscious of what I am eating and when I am eating and then what I do with myself after that.

Yesterday I went to a birthday party and I had a tiny bit of cake along with a portioned amount of chips in some nacho cheese with a hot dog. Not the greatest selection, but it was there and I enjoyed it without overindulging myself. They had a buttload of sodas and juices to drink, too but I made sure to have nothing but water. It was a carnival themed party for some long time friends children and I was asked to paint faces. I had a blast and the kids did, too.

My daughter, Bethany

My son, Jett

 There was soooo much food and candy for all the game prizes, but I abstained and turned out no worse for the ware.

This morning I stepped on the scale to see that I am down to 282!

This puts me 11 lbs down from my starting weight 3 weeks ago, but 18 lbs down in total! I am super pumped. lol

I woke up today and got a workout in before taking the kids to church. There is lots of housework and shopping to be done today, too. I am keeping myself busy and it's paying off. :)

Today was a good day.

I ate well and things came together well for me. My car is working again. Turns out the fix was very simple, though frightening, to find out it was just some bolts that came loose and so we had to spend a few cents on new bolts then tighten them on there good and seal with a thread lock. I was able to get up extra early and catch a ride with my dad this morning to drop off Bethany early and get my college textbooks with 10 minutes to spare before I had to clock in at work this morning, too.

My classes on the other hand are a bit daunting.. there seems to be a lot of work in my near future. The college algebra course I am taking is making my head spin. Ugh... once I think I have one equation figured out it wants to throw a whole different one that takes some sort of other order and its frustrating.

I am still dropping lbs on the daily.. I hit 283 this morning.. looks like I'll reach my second goal real soon. Before the end of the month if I'm lucky. I am getting really excited thinking about being able to fit in to some of my old clothes again. I am glad I kept everything I wanted in a tote haha. It's in storage at my parents house but my dad is remodeling this year and so I need to get back down to those sizes so I can throw out my current stuff and bring the older smaller sizes over to my closet before he needs the space. :D

Down to the original starting weight.

This morning I saw myself hit 284 which was the highest weight I had seen the very first time I decided to give things a go... I hope to be sailing right on passed this number real soon. :)

Today and yesterday were really great calorie intake days for me and I had an awesome workout last night. Did not get around to working out tonight, too much on my mind. College classes began for me today so I'm trying to figure out what all I have to do in each of my courses. I still haven't got my textbooks yet and am wondering how I am even going to since my car broke last night and that is besides the fact that the bookstore is only open during hours that I work. Ugh...

Week 2!

Well I keep telling myself I need to find time to post and play catchup, however I am reminded of all the things I haven't shared here yet that I wanted to and get overwhelmed thinking its just too much and so I need to wait until I have enough time to write everything. However, I think that is backfiring because I just haven't posted anything. So here's what I'm thinking... oh well to what you missed. I need to just start logging daily again even if it's short and simple that way at least I can remember the good things I wanted to share or any lows I may have had. The whole point of the blog is to keep me accountable and to share what is or is not working for me so I think it will be better that way.

Anyways, here we are 2 weeks in and this is what the scale reads...

So hooray! I am 8 lbs down in the last two weeks. Not too shabby! I am still very excited to keep trudging along. Still no sodas but my calorie intake has been fluctuating up a bit lately. I am still exercising as much as possible though so that helps. I'm not going crazy overboad with the eating though either. Just eating more when I feel more hungry.

I started taking a Once daily women's vitamin this morning and also a chocolate whey protein shake to help with muscle rebuilding and soreness. I recall taking both before and them being very helpful and I'm doing my best to recreate that much success.

Oh and one important thing I did want to mention was that my son is being homeschooled and since he is required to do at least 30 minutes of exercise each weekday I am finding it easier to make myself get a workout in after dinner during the week because it is during that time he does it along side me and gets his PE done for the day. It's one less thing for my husband to worry about during school time and it's one more thing for me to do to bond with my son. :D

Still at it

11 days in and I am still at it. Been noticing a lot of good changes and have lots to tell which is why I haven't updated oddly enough. lol. I don't have a ton of time to spend online at the moment but will be sure to post more about what's been going on soon. Just know that I am still on track and making progress! :D

It's been one week...

since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side
and said I'm angry

Haha. But seriously, I'm one week in to the new year and my do-over journey. lol.

I bought a battery for my scale on Saturday and popped it in last night. This morning when I checked to see where I was after one week I seen this number.

Down 5.8 lbs in one week

Woohoo! Successfully in to the 280s and staying there. I wasn't sure since those last 2 days I couldn't check. Yesterday I actually ate over my MFP calorie goal and did not workout at all so I was a tiny bit worried. I just wasn't feeling like working out since Jett had a friend over and I had a lot of work to get done anyways. The eating was just because I still felt hungry so I snacked extra. I don't feel guilty about it much. I feel like it's alright to eat more on days when you are more hungry as long as you are binge eating a whole pizza or something crazy. 

Today, I managed to workout once in the morning and once this evening. I also spent most of my day at work redoing my classroom and setting it up how I want it to be since it used to be someone's else's room their name was still on a lot of things too so I changed that sort of stuff around and then made sure I had all my required postiings up on the walls and redid the bulletin board in the hallway that still had Christmas decorations on it.  I should have taken a picture but totally forgot. It's cute though. :)

Snow!

That's right... snow here in Texas! It's been a couple years since I last seen any real fluffy white snow around these parts. We started this week a gorgeous 70 degree day out bike riding and now here it is freezing cold already! That's Texas weather for you though. We can experience all 4 seasons in the same day even. Haha. I only wish I had the chance to take pictures but I was at work during the snow. I let my students peek out the door at it though and they all tried to catch snowflakes with their tongue.

I managed to do another workout last night even though I really didn't want to. I felt much better after doing so.

My low battery sign has been flashing on the scale since yesterday morning so I couldn't check my weight yesterday or today. I'm about to head out to the store for a few things though and going to see if I can get a battery for it while I am out.

First goal achieved!

I did it! This morning when I stepped on the scale I saw myself hit the first goal I set of 289 lbs! It's been over a year since I have seen a number lower than the 290s so this feel pretty amazing. Ignore my ugly chipped nail polish.. but here it is.

My first goal weight has been achieved!

So needless to say my morning started out on the right foot. I was still skeptical about how things at work would go today, but they actually went okay. Day 2 of my new position and so it's still rough around the edges and taking some getting used to, but it helps that the kids already know me and today there were only 10 instead of the 16 I had yesterday. 6 kids make a lot larger difference than it might seem! I was able to teach a lot more of my curriculum without as many interruptions and distractions as the previous day though still not as much as I am supposed to be getting done. Hopefully lessons will come easier to us all as time goes on though.

Last night I mentioned how I might decide to do a workout from Amazon again if I could talk myself in to it but I never actually did. I am okay with that though since I was still exercising in my free time at work. Today I did a lot more exercising during our time in the gym and even did some invisible chair wall squats. The kids got a real kick out of that one and even tried to climb in my lap. hah. Today however I felt great after getting home and having dinner with my family so I went ahead and asked my husband and son to please let me have 20 minutes with the TV even though they already started playing one of the new video games my son got fro Christmas. They finished up their first round and then let me take my turn. It's nice having the support of loved ones. I knew if I waited until after they were done I would just find some other excuse not to do it.

All in all, today was a pretty great day and I am stoked to keep moving forward. I did get asked by a 5 year old if I had a baby in my belly though.. and a 4 year old asked me the same thing yesterday... darn kids. lol

Pushing forward

So yesterday was my first day back to work and as expected there was the obstacle of not finding time to get a workout done. However, I did manage to exercise while at work. I looked silly lunging around the playground and punching the air in the gym as my kids kept asking me what the heck I was doing, but I feel good about doing more than just standing around. By the end of the day I was worn out already and decided against turning something on to do. I kept up with calorie counting throughout the day and managed to stay close to goal so overall I think that was a success.

Most people will tell you not to weigh yourself every day and obsess over the numbers on the scale. I have always been a daily weigh checker though. To me I find it good info on how my body reacts to different things and I know it will fluctuate up sometimes even in the best of circumstances. This morning I woke up to see that I was 3 lbs down in the last 3 days which leaves me only 1 lb shy from my very first goal of getting under the 290 mark and hitting 289. For the last year now I have not cared a lot about my health and fitness in the sense that I would actively be doing anything but every now and then I would weigh myself just to see if I was climbing up any higher or not. Just about every time I checked myself I was in the 290-300 range. I'm thankful I never got any higher but seemed to just kinda be stuck there so that is why my first goal is to hit the 280s.

Today has been one of the most frustrating days I have had in a long time. I work for a daycare and have been teaching school aged children for over 3 years now. A short time ago I was told they wanted me to take over the Pre-K program at my center and that I would be the prek and schoolers teacher both from January til graduation in June and then I would go back to having my schoolers and doing field trips with them, etc. until August where I would then most likely just be doing Pre-k. Well, if it were just regular pre-k with 4 and 5 year olds it wouldn't be so terrible. However our ratios require them to move kids around and I end up with a class half full of 3 year olds and am finding it impossible to teach any of the curriculum I am supposed to be doing. I know it's only been one day, but its been the first day and so I am thoroughly mentally and physically exhausted. I have just about broke down in tears 3 times today. I am not sure I can do this and I may end up losing my job over this which would be terrible since my husband is currently out of work and I am the only one bringing an income for our family. Now when I first started teaching schoolers I said the same thing about wanting to quit and cry and scream everyday for the first several weeks. Eventually though I got the hang of things and absolutely loved my class. Now that I love my class though they want to move me and I'm just not sure  I can do this. I am going to try of course.. but this is so not the ideal time for me to be having a huge stressful change in my regular stressful job of working in childcare.

Luckily I have not let it get to my eating habits though. I am still counting my calories on day 4 now and am on track as far as that goes. I have not worked out today but I did try to do some more exercise in the gym when I could. I may force myself to do a short workout video before bed tonight. We shall see. I won't be too hard on myself if I don't though because I know the food is what's really helping me lose the most right from the start anyways.

On my lunch break today, 2 coworkers were leaving at the same time as me and going to eat chips and salsa at a local Mexican place. They invited me along but I told them I was trying to save money and also eat better. They said they were too but just weren't going to tell anyone they ate chips and salsa. lol. I have seen them post everyday on Facebook for the last several weeks now about going to the gym together and trying to workout more etc. but here they are eating chips and salsa and trying to sabotage me along the way... I mean I am sure it was unintentional. I just can't let things like that slow me down. I contemplated it for about 10 seconds before I said no thanks and was really pleased with myself for doing so. When I got back they again said how I should have joined them because it was so good, but I am glad that I stuck to my plans instead. I love Mexican food and would have loved to go because my husband does not like it and so we hardly ever eat at those types of places. I still have not had any soda since Friday and have been drinking tons of water each day. I feel good about those choices and am just working to keep pushing forward.

An extra day off

So because the New Year fell on a Sunday, my employer graciously gave us this Monday off and I have been thoroughly enjoying my extra day this weekend.

I woke up this morning and found the same workout routine I did yesterday on Amazon and hit play again. This time my 4 year old daughter, Bethany, was curious as to why mommy had moved all the furniture around in the living room and stood there watching me for a bit. She eventually joined in when she saw familiar moves like jumping jacks and said hey I know how to do those! lol

Later in the day I noticed my kids had spent most of their time inside playing video games while it was a beautiful 70 degrees outside after the storm passed over us early this morning. I made them both get up and join me outside after I aired up my bicycle and my son's. I realized his bike is now way too small for him but about the perfect size for my daughter to start learning on. She gave it a quick try but did not like it much today. I will keep trying though because my son is 8 and still can't ride a bike without training wheels. He does love the scooter he got for his birthday this year though. After raking some things in the yard while the kids played a bit we all decided to go for a walk. Well, my son, Jett, rode his scooter, I was on my bike, and Bethany went for a walk next to us down to the church parking lot about a block from our house. We rode our scooter and bike around for some time while trying to convince Bethany to go play on the slide or something but she did not want to play by herself so she just ran around chasing us in between getting drinks of water from the backpack she brought along. Eventually she needed a potty break so we all hurried back home. Once that was over they went right back outside and began jumping on the trampoline. I wish I had as much energy as the kids seem to. haha

For dinner tonight I made spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic toast. I typically have a huge bowl followed by seconds and then lots of garlic toast, too. This time I measured out one serving for myself with the food scale and only ate that one bowl. I had one piece of toast with my meal but it was too hard to resist eating one half a piece of toast more when it was time to put away all the left overs. I am still proud of myself for the small amount of restraint I did manage though. I made sure to put the leftovers up in several smaller containers instead of one big one so that I already have a good size portion if I want to take some with me to work for lunch some day or just to give some i to the kids at some point. My husband groaned a bit at the thought of that many more dishes, but  I know this will help me make better choices so I think it's worth the extra dishes.

I feel like I have been eating tiny breakfasts and lunches with big dinners for the last couple nights and now that I am aware of this I am going to make it a point to have much larger meals earlier in the day so I have more time to burn those calories. After having everything I did tonight I am going to see about perhaps doing another video or just hopping on the elliptical on our porch.

Back to the basics

Well, here it is a new year again and as cliche as it sounds I am over here thinking a new year a new me.... again.

A lot has happened over the course of the year and a half since my last post.  I am now married along with raising 2 kids, working full time, and attending college full time. You can easily see how I let life get the best of my time and not found myself here or even working out or eating right. I am back up to over my original starting weight and am pretty embarrassed to have let things slide so far.

293.0 lbs

Today I weighed in at 293 lbs, although I did once last year see my highest weight right at 300 lbs on Superbowl Sunday last year. The lowest my weight ever got to was 171 lbs so I never quite made it to my goal of 150 lbs which according to BMI charts would be near the very top of a normal BMI range for my height of 5'5".

Here are my ''before'' pictures taken this morning which will hopefully be followed by many progress and after photos throughout the coming months.

Plenty there to lose... I am going to start calorie counting again since I know that worked before. I am not sure if I will try to do 1200 right off the bat this time though. I may take it easy and start with something like 1800 which I am sure would still be a considerable amount less than my body is currently used to. 

Sweaty but feelin good after my first workout of the year.

This morning I found a beginners workout to stream from Amazon and decided to give it a try.  It was only 30 minutes long but half way through I felt like I was going to puke. I did not expect to feel so out of shape from doing such a basic beginners style workout when I used to be able to do much harder ones on the regular before. I was shocked at how much it winded me but it was a good smack in the face of the reality of my situation. I plan to exercise in some form for at least 30 minutes every day. I may do a home workout video or go for a walk, but I need to get myself moving a lot more regularly that is for sure. 

These are my starting body measurements:

Neck - 16.5"

Bust - 50"

Waist - 47"

Hips - 60"

Arms - 19"

Thighs - 32"

Calves - 20"

Here's hoping the new year brings you good luck and balance to all things in your lives and I look forward to catching up with many of you about how your journeys are coming along.