Motivation is everything!

Good Morning Monday! Well it is today anyway. The last few weeks have been up and down for me. Or should I say up, up and down. The last week of April I gained a pound. I can live with that. However, the first week into May was crazy and I didn't know if I was coming or going. It is very easy to fall back on old habits. I had even ordered in a pizza one night. And those of you who know me well. I don't even do pizza! lol. But that's OK. This past week I knew I had to commit and really stay focused.

It was a good week. I kept my calorie intake to about 1200 calories everyday. Except Saturday. I had a birthday party to attend and did enjoy food and drinks. But I made sure to have salad and fish before going. That way I was not going to fill myself with all the wonderful large calorie foods that were there. I did have a little sliver of cake as well. That being said. I also worked out everyday this week. Cardio was 30 to 40 minutes every day and I did resistance every other day on top of the cardio. Friday evening my friend Michelle was going to work out with me but got sick. So I kept putting off the work out. I finally posted on facebook, Help! I was in need of motivation today. Thank you to my very good friend Sommer, who reminded me of our trip to the Dominican and me wanting to look awesome on that beach. My ass got up and did my workout. Now I have remembered that everyday.

It paid off. When I went in this morning to weigh in. I could hardly believe my eyes. I lost 6 pounds this week! Happy Dance!!!!!! Now, not that I am looking to loose that much every week. I just really needed to get off what I had put on and get back on track. So I am back to 38 pounds weight loss and still going. I am however, going to stick to 1200 calories a day this week, other than my one day for a BBQ and work out ever day again and see what next week brings.

Thank you again to everyone for your kind words and those of encouragement. I appreciate them from the bottom of my heart. A lot of you have been sending me messages in many different ways and it really does help me. So thank you. Until next week...have a great week!

Beautiful Monday!

That's right! I said Beautiful Monday. Hard one for me, for sure. Not a good Monday person. However, TODAY I AM!!!! Was very disappointed last Monday when I went and got on the scale to find that I had not gone up or down. I was exactly the same. At least I had not gained. But what did I do wrong? I do tend to eat a little heavier when Dalton is home. So I had cooked him a roast that week. I ate pasta twice that week and I rarely eat pasta at all. I am sure I could have made better choices. Although I was still walking, I was also wondering if what my doctor said was true. At some point the walking won't be enough. So this past week, I really tried to pay attention to what was going into my body. I have started working out with Friend's Kerrie and Dave that have given me a lot of guidance and a lot of good tools to continue this journey. Even though I do have Just Dance 1 & 2, I did not know that in Just Dance 2 there is a section that is called Just Sweat. And trust me you work up a sweat. Because of Kerrie's work schedule she does 2500 sweats a day as opposed to 1000. So when I got home from work Saturday evening. I thought. Hmmm. That is going to be my cardio for today. After I had done about 1000 sweats and was working on quite a sweat myself, I thought I am going for the 2500 sweats. So I did. Takes about 5 songs and I reached 2493 sweats. I thought, WOW! I feel great! Let's do more! lol. So, now I turned on the Zumba for Wii. Have not tried it since the first night. Must have had the setting wrong because I quite enjoyed it this time. So, I did the easy workout for 20 minutes on Zumba. Easy or not. My calves were freaking killing me!!!! But I had quite a work out and felt great! So for future reference. If anyone tries this at home. (HA HA! The try it at home warning). I would suggest, even for me. To do 1000 sweats on Just dance 2, followed by 20 minutes of Zumba. That alone is quite the workout!!! And is about 40 minutes of good cardio. I have downloaded an app for my berry, LiveStrong.com to help track my calorie in take etc. Turns out when Dave told me to write down what I was having. Some days I was not taking in enough calories, which apparently cannot be good either. So the plan is to watch my calorie in take. Cardio everyday for 40 minutes and Resistance 3 times a week. After one week of this. I lost 4 pounds this week!!!! Woo Hoo!!!! Total now at 38 Pounds!!! My next goal on my journey is very close and I can't wait to get there. So Beautiful Monday to all of you and I'll update you soon!

32.5 km later and another 2 Pounds!

Happy or disappointed? I have not quite figured how I am feeling. Don't get me wrong.....I am thrilled to be down another 2 pounds. Total loss now at 34 pounds. And it puts me that much closer to my next goal in my journey. But I was thinking and I guess hoping that walking every day would put a boost in my weight loss. It didn't. I was hoping for more than 2 pounds with walking 32.5 km since last Friday! My body aches so bad...I can't even begin to tell you. Then the next thought is....am I expecting too much. If my body is hurting, I must be doing something right. I must be building some muscle. And after all, down is down and that is what is truly important. And the fact that I am still feeling so much better than when I started this. Would I have been able to walk 32.5 km in just over a week 5 months ago? Not a chance. So I have to remember to celebrate all victories, even if they seem small. They are still at the end of the day a victory.

Forget a feel good day....It's a feel GREAT day!!!

What a fantabulous day! Everyone that has been following knows the last couple of weeks were hard for me. And that for the first time in my journey I had gained. I am very happy to report today that I lost the 2 pounds I gained and lost 1 extra pound for good measure this past week. So I am at a total of 32 Pounds and at 216 pounds and I cannot tell you how much better I am feeling. In fact, with more good news. My Blood pressue has been good on a consistant basis now. My B12 is up and all my other levels are normal. So, as much I as I do like my doctor, I don't need to be under his watchful eye any more. So now it's up to me to keep up what I have been doing. I will be going to the doctor's office on a regular basis just to weigh and have the nurses keep track. I have made a commitment to walk every day now. 4 laps at the mall = 2.5km and I will keep going till it's nice enough, hopefully soon, to walk at the park again. I am very happy to have Michelle back walking with me again. But this past weekend, my support and partner was my little man. Dalton walked with me Friday night even though Michelle and I walked Friday afternoon. And when Michelle could not come Sunday, Dalton did 4 laps with me at the mall. Thanks Dalton. Mom appreciates it. I would like to say thank you today as well to Diane Tavares at my office. She just made me feel great and I had a smile from ear to ear. I walked into the front door of the office today, and Diane looked at me and said "Wow! You look skinny!!" Although I have a ways to go before I see skinny, she made me feel like I was. Thanks Diane. Your a doll! So everyone.... enjoy this bright sun shinny day! Have a great week! And I will be back with another update soon. See you at 4pm Michelle!

Stress =

To say that the last couple of weeks of been stressful is an understatement. I should have posted an update on the 14th when I went to doctors. In fact, I have had people message me asking how it's going because they have not seen an update. Thank you for that. On the 14th I found that I had dropped another pound since I slipped in the last time just for the weight. So my total was now 31 pounds and my BP was good. I was planning to come home and post my latest update when my friend Carol contacted me about our friend and my neighbour Mike. Considering Mike's condition I was in no mood to come home and celebrate my pound weight loss or to post an update.

The next week was very stressful. Mike had taken ill very suddenly and was on life support. This very much took a toll on Mike's family and friend's over the next week as Mike was taken off life support and then awaiting the funeral. A lot of us took Mike's death hard. He was a great friend, super nice guy and to me a great neighbour. Needless to say, it was a week of not watching what was going into my body.

When I woke up yesterday, the 23rd, I felt like I had gained 5 pounds. It was not a good feeling. Again I didn't want to wait to see my doctor on our regular appointment for me to see the damage I had done. So off I went again to slip in and get on the scale. I am glad to say that I was not up 5 pounds, but I was up 2 pounds. So I am now at 29 pound weight loss and I am ok with that. We are allowed to have rough weeks. And it was for me. The choice is now to get back on track and get those 2 pounds back off along with some more.

On a positive note I am very happy to have my walking partner back tomorrow. As I told you all before, Michelle fell in the first walk back in January after the holidays and I have missed her terribly!!! Our walks, talks and support. So I find myself back on my mission, wanting more than ever to get fit and healthy.

The picture attached to this post is at 30 pound weight loss. Taken on March 12th by friend Virginia. I can honestly say I already feel a lot better and look forward to more. Thank you to everyone that has told me how good I am looking and gives me a boost. Makes me want to keep going.

I will post again soon. As for now, Thank you everyone for your words of encouragement and support. Michelle my friend I will see you tomorrow. And for my friend Mike that I will not get too see tomorrow, we miss you and you will forever be in our hearts and thoughts. Rest in peace.

Just when you think buggered up. You didn't!!

I will start by saying that I seriously thought I had screwed up with eating late. Things that I shouldn't be eating and quite honestly drinking a little more as well. I had actually felt a little down if not depressed a couple days last week. I have been doing this with a stable loss. To say that I did not want to go 2 steps forward and 1 back (or should I say 2 pounds up and 1 down) is an understatement. I was really beating myself up over it. And all I kept thinking is that I don't see the doctor for another 2 weeks! It would kill me to wait that long. I know I would make myself feel worse. So I figured let's see what damage I did to myself.

So this past Friday morning I got ready and went into the doctor's office. I told one of the nurses that I was not seeing the doctor for another 2 weeks and I really felt that I had buggered up. Was there anyway that I could just get weighed to see what damage I had done so I could get back on track. No problem, she said. Let's go get weighed. So I went into the nurses room and taking off my coat and shoes, I told her that I was 224 the last time on the scale two weeks ago. So she set the scale at 224 for when I stepped on. Guess what???? To my amazement....the scale was tipped to the right. So she started to move it to the left and the scale started to level out till she stopped. I looked up. As soon as I saw 218 I started to cry. Not sure if it was from happiness or relief. Or maybe it was a bit of both. She looked at me and said 6 pounds. What were you worried about. That's a total of 30 pounds lost!!!

I left that office so happy. I felt like dancing!!!!!!! Even more so when I got home and got a pair of size 16 jeans on. Even more so when I put on some clothes that fit and people were telling me how great I look. That so helps me in this long journey that I am committed to. My friend Gina said to me, I wasn't that long ago you want to hit the 20 pound mark and here you are at 30 already. Thank you. Trust me when I tell you that I have been desperately trying to get the time to sit in front of the computer so that I post this latest update. So I am posting my newest pics with my weight loss now at 30 pounds. Update you in two weeks! Wish me luck!

Cheers!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

It has been 3 weeks since my last post and it has been a difficult 3 weeks. Work has been busy and I have found it difficult to eat at regular times. Not having lunch till 2pm or dinner around 8pm or later. Therefore I am trying that much more to watch what has been going to my mouth. I have not been out for walks at all in the last few weeks and some added stress that I feel was taking a toll on me but was trying very hard to not let it affect me.

That being said. I was expecting to go to the doctors this morning being up a couple of pounds and the BP on the high side. I was very thankful however, to find I am down another 2 pounds and the BP is actually pretty good. So it was not a jumping up and down day like last time, but I am very happy all the same. Down is down after all. So I am down 24 pounds and counting!!! It's funny how it goes on a lot faster than it comes off. But it has been travelling in the right direction and I don't want to loose sight of that.

Thank you to everyone for your encouragement. And to the people, friends, colleagues and family that tell me how great I am looking. It makes me feel fantastic and helps keep me motivated. So thanks for that as well, it is truly appreciated.

Have a great day everyone and Happy Valentine's Day as well. Thank you for touching my heart.