Biggest Loser Linkup February 18

It's that time again!  Notice, I use a happy voice when it's been a good week??  I was super proud of myself for getting back on track so quickly after returning from vacation and it definitely paid off!

As I mentioned in my previous post, over the last year of my journey, pending vacations actually brought on a lot of anxiety (see this post from last July...HIGH anxiety!).  In the past vacations were the end of being healthy and coming back was even harder because I could never get back into my routine.  But something changed along the way and it became a lot easier to do it each time.  The great Hubs keeps telling me I'm not the same person anymore and I guess I'm harder to convince of that.  It does get easier to believe each time I overcome an obstacle.

This recent vacation was probably the biggest challenge because it was a cruise...the mecca of buffets and deliciousness.  I handled it and now, I've conquered another aspect:  losing the vacation weight right away! 

Weekly weigh-in:  -3.3 (Lost what I gained and another .2, whoop!)
Total on the challenge:  -4.4 lost
Total on my journey:  50.3 lbs lost

Now, let me tell you it was HARD...not hard to get back into my workout routine, but it was hard to not eat more than I needed to.  I think my stomach was still trying to go back to vacation eating.  Honestly, a few days I went to bed early just to get away from the kitchen because I knew it was going to be hard to control myself.

So I tracked and tracked some more, worked out and drank a ton of water and phew!  It's gone!  I'm back to being on the right track again.

I love this quote and I feel super proud when I read it:

I hope all of my BLC buddies have a great weigh-in, too!

Biggest Loser Linkup Jan 28



Another great weigh-in this week!!  I have to say that I am so excited to (seemingly) have found a way to consistently lose weight after having a year of wandering around trying this and trying that.  Eating my daily calories and working out LESS is working!

I've read a lot of different blogs and advice from folks who have reached their goals and are in maintenance.  They all actually eat...they don't starve themselves, they don't workout like crazy people.  I want to get there...I want to live that life, and that's why I like to say that I'm eating the way that I want to eat for the rest of my life.  I can carry that over and say that I'm living the life that I want to have for the rest of my life.  I guess with that part, I'm not really there yet.  Even though I've been doing this for a year, I'm still trying to figure things out.  I'm still not comfortable relaxing about what I have to do yet.  I know that this may never go away but I feel like I'm always running from Previously Unhealthy Jenn.  I'm still worried that she'll catch me and hold me down.  Because honestly, there are days when if I really let my guard down, I could certainly let her take hold.  And I'm talking about those days when I'm just tired.  Tired of thinking about things so much, tired of worrying about being good with my eating...I look at everyone else and I think "Why do I have to think so HARD about this?  Why do I have to plan so much?  Why can't I go out to dinner spontaneously and not stress about what I will be able to eat?"

This weekend, Hubby and I went out to our favorite diner for breakfast.  I ordered a broccoli and cheese omelette and didn't think a thing about it...that was kind of nice.  But halfway through it, I got a little anxious because all of a sudden I thought, "Holy crap...I didn't order this omelette made with egg whites or with Egg Beaters?"  The reason that this was disturbing to me was because I honestly just forgot.  And that is NOT like me...at all.  I'm always, always trying to figure out a healthier way to eat the things I enjoy.  I stressed for hours afterwards that I just can't let my guard down...I mean an omelett is like the easiest thing to order healthily.  I love egg whites and Egg Beaters so it's not like I did it for taste...it's just that I plain didn't think about it and that worries me.

The fact of the matter is that right now, I can't let my guard down yet.  Even after a year, I'm still not free of Previously Unhealthy Jenn.  Now, obviously there are bigger things in the Universe to worry about and I'm FOREVER saying "One meal does not a bad day make."  But my vision of the me that I want to be is in the very near future...and I'm not stopping til I get there.  So I gotta keep on going!

Weekly loss:  -1.5
Total on the challenge:  4.2 lost

Total on my journey:  49.2 lost

Biggest Loser Linkup Week 3

Yahoo!!  I had a great weigh-in this week!  So excited that it was a WHOLE number vs. being a POINT something or other…I know that I should be happy with any type of minus, but those bigger numbers sure make a week’s effort pretty rewarding, don’t they?!  Boy, it's so nice to finally be moving past this latest plateau; it's taken me a little over 5 months to lose these last 5lbs.  Even though that's a loooonnnnngggggg time, I tried to just keep going.  It's all I know to do.  I'm not going to start over again, that is for DAMN sure.  So take it from me, if you are hitting that wall and not moving...you will eventually bust through it.  It may take some tweaking, but you WILL get through it.

I stuck to the plan of eating my daily calories no matter the day or whether or not I worked out.  I took a day off between workouts which is very hard for me.  I honestly LOVE working out; I look forward to it.  My friends laugh at me when I get excited that I’m going to the gym or home to use my elliptical.  It’s true what they say about being addicted to working out or at least the “high” of working out; at some point it changes from being work and turns into fun. 

I’m not going to lie, it really is hard work work…I mean, really hard.  And in the beginning I had to talk to myself every day and force myself to do what I needed to do.  Even as recently as this past holiday; I said many times, “The last thing I want to do today is work out…so I guess I’ll work out.”  It’s not easy, but no one ever said it would be.  In the past, I dreaded it!  The difference is that this time, I want it more than anything else.  I want to be healthy.  And when you start to like exercising and being healthy, things change.  I love this quote: 

And it's even better to see your hard work pay off every now and again.

Weekly loss:  -2.0
Total on the challenge:  2.7 lost
Total on my journey:  47.7 lost

Almost to 50, woohoo!

I hope everyone had a great weigh-in, too!

Biggest Loser Challenge

Biggest Loser Linkup

Very excited to be participating in the Biggest Loser challenge!

This is my first week on the challenge but I've been on my journey for a little over a year.  I really think this challenge is going to ramp up my efforts and I'm so glad to be a part of it!

The changes that I made this week had a small impact but I am slowly inching past this latest plateau.  Slow and steady wins the race, right??  That's what I'm going with!

What I did:  I used to try to eat back all of my workout calories and for the past week I stuck to eating the same amount of calories every day; about 1700.  And it seems to be working!

My workouts were impeded a little by my knee, but by the weekend, I was back up and at 'em.  My typical workouts include 45-60 minutes of elliptical 2-3 times per week and Zumba 2 times a week for a total of 5 days.

Weekly loss:  -.7

Total on the challenge:  .7 lost

Total on my journey:  45.7 lost

Thanks for stopping by and good luck to my BLC buddies!