It's been a while, but don't count me out yet!

It's been a while, but don't count me out yet!

Haven't been on here in a while, so I thought I'd touch base. I am 36.8 pounds down from my heaviest, but I am 8 pounds heavier than where I was the week before spring break. To my own credit, I did lose an extra 6 pounds before I left for vacation, hoping that would cover any weight gain- but I took my relaxed eating a bit too far and it caught up with me quickly. I am heading in the right direction though! I am back on track with counting my calories and eating healthy. I am also incorporating walking at night 5 days a week and other forms of exercise added to that at least 3 days a week. All in all, I am feeling pretty good! 

I go through periods where I am totally on top of my health and then times where I just plain get lazy. I am in a upswing right now and feel enthusiastic and excited...I am hoping this mood lasts long enough for me to lose 47.2 pounds. My goal is to get down to 150 pounds by my 30th birthday! It is a big goal, but I think it is achievable!

I am currently enrolled in a PE class at my college. While I had hoped to take the class in-class, I had to take it online. I am probably not exercising as much as I would in-class, but I am being diligent about increasing my stamina and getting my heart rate up each day, even if it is for a short period.

I know what I need to do, I just need to do it! It is that simple. The temptation to eat poorly or to be lazy will always be there. The hardest part for me is to stick to my guns when my husband is around. He is blessed with a miraculous metabolism and can eat as he pleases and is hungry often. My portion sizes tend to get larger when I am with him and the food choices I make tend to pack a bigger punch. Not only do I need to keep myself motivated and fight off the normal bits of laziness or apathy that can get ahold of me, but I have to deal with the daily struggle of watching him have the things that I love that I cannot have. It makes it a bit tougher, but I can honestly say that if I can stand up to that kind of temptation, then I should be pretty capable next time a vacation rolls around! ;-)

'Til next time, here's wishing you the strength and courage to stay on top of your own journey for health!

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Hurdle Jumped!!!!

Hurdle Jumped!!!!

I reached my lowest weight last November, then gained about 10 pounds back over the holidays. I have now officially lost all of my holiday weight and an additional 0.6 pounds! I know 0.6 sounds like such a minuscule amount, but I am still proud. I have done this all since the second week of January. I am so excited about this year. I am off to such an awesome start and want to keep this momentum going.

Best wishes to anyone who reads this!

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It's Been A While

It's Been A While

Since school started I have been seriously slacking in the blog department.

Good news is that I am doing well in school and have been counting calories and am now back down to my lowest weight since 2008! I am using myfitnesspal (app and website) to track my calories to help me lose weight. My current goal is 1400-1500 calories per day.

I tried to go down to 1200 calories per day, but ended up gaining weight each day I did that. That experience led me to the conclusion that 1400-1500 is a more appropriate range for someone my size. I will continue with this calorie goal until I plateau and will then lower my calorie intake to 1300-1400. I have lost 13.2 pounds since April of last year. I am 5.6 pounds away from my first major goal. I plan on taking it ten pounds at a time from there (I feel it is more managable).

The best part of all is that my mom is doing this with me. She has lost almost as much as I have (over the course of 9 months), just in the past month. It really helps to have someone to ask how I am doing and hold me accountable and I am providing the same service for her.

I got new tennis shoes for working out and have been using them for walking. I went this monday and walked a little over a mile with my mom. We walked to a Chick-fil-A near her work and had lunch(kids meals), then we walked around her office complex for 20 minutes or so. It felt good to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. It doesn't hurt that we have been having unusually warm weather here in Dallas lately.

As usual, I wish anyone who is paying attention out there the best of luck with your own health goals. If anyone wants to communicate to help with staying motivated with losing weight, please let me know!

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Wednesday's Happenings!

Wednesday's Happenings!

I got some house chores accomplished today. I did the dishes, bed laundry, and even ironed my sheets before I put them on my bed. I also finally put away the 2 baskets of laundry that have been taunting me for a week.

I read an article about eating healthy and it said one way was to savor your food. It said to actually take the time to savor the taste, texture, scent, as well as the sensations of chewing and swallowing. I tried this today with my lunch, as well as an orange, an apple, and some granola.

I have done well with my calories today. I have eaten 1256 calories today. My goal is 1400, so I have 144 left. I am hoping water and entertainment will keep me away from the fork! The hubby and I are going to a local bar that hosts a trivia night on Wednesdays. I do not plan on drinking anything other than water.

Getting out of the house and being around other people also goes towards my happiness goals this year. I want to put myself out there more and expand my circle of friends. I find that the more I stay home; I become a bit reclusive, which inevitably leads to a bit of depression.

It has been a good day so far. Heck, it's been a good week! I logged in my current weight on myfitnesspal and have been logging all of my calories. I even have my mom using the tool and she is doing so well. I just hope that we can both keep this momentum going!

I am going to sign off for now, I need to do my exercises!

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A Pretty Good Day!

A Pretty Good Day!

Today has been better than I thought! My mom had a gift card for PF Changs that she got for Christmas, she invited me out to use it for lunch today. I have never eaten there before and thought that it would tank my healthy eating plans for sure. I ordered vegetable lo mein and ate only half. I also had 1 spring role and split the flourless chocolate dome cake with my mom. I had a delicious 3 course meal for just over 600 calories!

I will finish under my 1400 calorie goal today. This is likely the first day in several months that I will have met that goal...and it feels pretty darn good! I have been neglecting to utilize MyFitnessPal- a calorie and exercise tracking tool. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to add up my calories for the day to see if dinner was even an option. Dinner is an option and is in fact healthy enough that I should end up with 90 calories to spare. I plan on drinking a ton of water after dinner to help keep myself feeling full. If I get an urge for something sweet, I will have a cup of decaf tea sweetened with Stevia.

I did some walking today at Costco and did my exercises from my 60 day exercise challenge. Today was 40 jumping jacks followed by 20 crunches. I must say that jumping jacks are quite an exercise when you need to lose as much weight as I do. It is a little awkward having things "jerk" around. But it definitely got my heart rate up. Crunches never bother me the day I do them....it is always the second or third day, so I am expecting to feel that burn tomorrow!

The one thing I neglected today was water consumption- well, that and housework, but I am still on vacation from school, so I have time for housework. A tall glass of ice water is calling my name after my exercise, which I just completed. I have been doing my exercises in the evening so that they will help me want to eat less.

Today has been a great start for my healthy habits. While I know that every day will not be as easy to follow guidelines as today was, it gives me hope that I do have the will power and drive to achieve my health goals. Today has put a smile on my face for sure. To anyone who may stumble across this page, thank you for reading and best of luck to you in your journey seeking health and happiness as well!

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2012- A Year of Change

2012- A Year of Change

I am making a conscious effort to utilize my blog as an accountability tool for 2012.

There are many changes that have occurred in my life within the past 2 years. I was laid off from a company where I worked for nearly 8 years. I lost an old friend, but gained an awesome new one. I have grown closer to my husband and family. We have adopted 2 cats (Pearl and Stella).

I have accomplished quite a few things over the past year: I lost 40 pounds (and have only gained about 8 back). I will have my Associate's degree in education by December of this year!

I am hoping that this blog will serve as a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings, as well as keep me accountable to myself and others so that I can continue my journey towards a healthier me-inside and out!

I have joined a side called Pinterest and found a 60 day "get moving" challenge that I am participating in. Each day lists just a couple of exercises to perform. The exercises increase in length and difficulty as time goes on. I am hoping that this gradual progression will allow me to gain stamina and strength and get back into the habit of exercising on a regular basis. I began the 60 day challenge yesterday and will be performing today's exercise as soon as I get off of this computer!

For anyone interested, my pinterest page is here: http://pinterest.com/angyness/

One of the things that I am working on in 2012 is happiness. I think it is such a simple thing that is overlooked. One of my goals is to make time for the things that make me happy. I am trying to get myself out there more and be less of a home-body. But one of the things that I must struggle with is balancing who I am interacting with. The people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on our own actions and I certainly want to keep myself going in a positive direction. I also want to get a good grip on my spending habits and start saving more. I have started using Quickbooks as a means to achieve this.

I am aiming to get back into healthy eating habits that include limiting consumption of meat, reading all packaging and avoiding "bad" ingredients, such as: soy, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, etc. I plan on eating less sweets and cutting back on my salt intake. I want to incorporate more fresh herbs and spices into my food. I would also like to cut back on my carb consumption. I am in no way referring to an Adkins-like change. I have tried Adkins and I felt disgusting on that diet and was miserable. I do not feel it is a healthy way to eat. I had more headaches during those 2 weeks that I have had in my entire life!

I have never felt better in my life than I did when I was eating a vegetarian diet and monitoring my ingredients. I was losing weight and feeling good. I was happy. But after several months of maintaining healthy eating, I had a setback and fell off the wagon. My lower back went into muscle spasms and I had to rely on others to feed and care for me for over a week. I lived off of fast food and quick-fix meals. This is the first step towards a reliance on salt, fat, and carbs. This was in November of 2011 and I have not gotten back on track since then.

I find myself eating out of boredom or depression or as a way of comforting myself. I also find myself eating worse foods; foods that I know will not make my body feel good. I see myself doing it and it is as though I just gave up and don't care. But I know better, I do care! I am just like many other Americans who suffer in silence. Fat, carbs, HFC's, and salt have a hold over me. I have to suffer through the with drawl symptoms that occur when one tries to eliminate these chemicals from the diet. I have done it in the past and need to do it again. It may seem like such a simple thing for so many people, but these chemicals are as addictive for someone like me as alcohol or pain killers are for others.

I know what I need to do, I simply need to do it. Getting back into a habit of healthy eating is not the easiest thing to do; it takes hard work, but the rewards are well worth it. While I do have a goal to reach a certain weight range, that is not my biggest concern. My biggest concern is to limit what I put into my body so that I will feel good and weight loss will occur naturally. Ta-ta for now...I have some jumping jacks and crunches to do!

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My Journey begins with avoiding obesogens...

My Journey begins with avoiding obesogens...

Just want to give a friendly hello to anyone who happens across this blog. A good friend of mine has been trying to get me to begin blogging my thoughts for a while so I thought I would give it a go!



I, like many people, am an American who struggles with her weight. I have stuggled since childhood. I have tried many diets and plans and found only temporary success. A couple of years ago I was diagnosed as being hypothyroid. I now take medication for this problem, however have not lost any weight from being on the medication alone.



I have done a lot of research the last year or so on health...health in general. The most interesting recent find is regarding obesogens. Dr. Oz brought obesogens to my attention on his show and also was featured in an article regarding them in Women's World magazine. If you or someone you know struggles with a weight problem or would just like to ensure optimum health, I can't stress the importance of understanding what obesogens are and how to avoid them.



Obesogens are chemical compounds foreign to the body that disrupt normal development or homeostasis of metabolism of lipids ultimately resulting in fat accumulation and obesity. In other words, obesogens are chemicals in your food that should not be there, they cause you to become fat! Probably the worst thing about obesogens is the fact that they are nearly everywhere! Digging into how they got into our food supply is a long and arduous journey. In the future, I intend to further discuss the food industry and how greed and corruption ir robbing us all of our health and the possibility of a long and disease-free life.



Since becoming aware of obesogens and making some dietary changes beginning at New Years 2011, I have lost 7 pounds. I have had no increase in exercise or physical activity, I have simply changed the foods I put into my body and limited myself to eating out 1X per week at the most. The changes I have made include buying more organic products and ensuring I thoroughly wash anything that is not organic. I avoid soy, canola, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweetners and anything that is GMO. Sounds simple enough right? It is harder than you'd think! Start reading the ingredients in the food you eat....it is absolutely terrifying how many ingredients and how many of them are not necesary. This was not the easiest transition at first. The first week or two I had to deal with withdrawls from some of the chemicals. Once I got past that threshold...my energy increased and now the smell of some fast food is disgusting to me. I look forward to a healthy meal, my body craves REAL FOOD.



My goal by changing my diet is not just about weight loss...it is about health. Health is the most important thing and is something we should all strive for. I am attempting to set healthy habits now so that I can continue them for the rest of my life. One gift this has given me is to change my perspective. When I look at ingredient lists, if it contains known obesogens including any form of soy product, I do not consider it food. This change in my thinking process has really helped me along my journey.



Below is a link to an article put forth by Dr Oz detailing obesogens. I urge you to read this article so that you too can become aware. I hope that is sparks a fire within you! I hope that you too want to start having a better understanding of the importance of what you put in your body. I hope that you are able to make changes to your diet that will have positive effects not just on the bathroom scale, but on your health in general!


http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/understanding-obesogens

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