Winning at losing!

Just wanted to post a quick up date on my progress.

Today is Sunday Afternoon. I went for my walk. I walked for 1hr. Just walked in my neighgborhood. It is a beautiful sunny day, not too hot. I was so tempted to stay inside and watch youtube videos, but I made myself go for that walk. As I walked I thought about that girl in Essence who lost like 90lbs running marathons, and I thought about the time I lost 50lbs by walking. Until I reach 170lbs I will be using walking as my primary form of exercise. I realize that sometimes you have got to be systematic in your weight-loss efforts. Rather than jump around from activity to activity which I do not think I would stick with I am just sticking to walking to Davis St every day. To cut down on the laziness factor I will be walking as soon as I wake up each morning. I have to stay on track!

Today I drank a protein shake for a snack, it was basically some almond milk and protein powder. It did not taste very good. The milk was bland. I think I will swithc my snack to a yogurt cup. I know I could use the extra calcium and the yogurt does have some protein in it. 5g protein which is about the same as the protein powder and besides it taste good! It is also easier to make!

At lunch I had a veggie burger salad. (Lettuce, cherry tomatos, shredded carrots, cucumber, veggie burger). I made my own dressing using mustard, black pepper and honey. Next time I think I will use small sugar packets instead. I can control the calorie amount better. I may experiment with making my own dressings, I don't like a lot of salt and the other dressing seem too saltly. Tommorrow I am going to make myself eat a black bean, lettuce and tomato salad.

I think it is worth it to spend money on healthy foods that make you feel good. Every time I think about the fact that I am eating salad for two meals a day I will think about the fact that I use to eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

I will not have any snacks before dinner. I will have dinner around 5.

I will not be having any snacks after dinner. I will make dinner my automatic shut off until breakfast. I will fast from dinner until breakfast and then I will break the fast. I think this will do a lot interms of weight-loss.

Still taking my daily vitamins with breakfast!

Will practice these healthy techniques for the until next Sunday and then I will weigh in.

CLM

My Diet

Breakfast- yogurt and whole fruit!

Mid-am snack- Almond milk with protein powder!

Lunch- Salad with beans, or a veggie burger!

Dinner- Salad with beans, or a veggie burger!

Treats

Hungry- A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain

Chocolate craving- Hot chocolate- sugar-free!

Sweet Tooth- Sugar-free fruit pop!

Special Outings

Fish!

CLM

Walking 30min 6 days per week!

My marathon!

I have always loved fitness. In high school I played volleyball, basketball, batminton,cross country, and other sports. I love walking and weight training is fun to me. So I never felt like exercise was a problem for me. I never felt the need to complete a marathon. I have walked 15 miles straight before and don't feel distance is my personal challenge. If I do complete a traditional marathon it will be just because I got into running! I am more likely to do smaller races like 5ks or half marathons.

The idea of a marathons is appealing though. You set this wonderful challenge that will bring you to the next level. I think my biggest struggle is in eating well. I would be happy if I could say that I ate a salad every day for lunch for a year! Today is Sept 10th If I could eat salad everyday for lunch until Sept 10th of 2011, I would feel like I could run a marathon!

CLM

Staying Inspired!

On the cover of InStyle was Jennifer Hudson looking new and improved. She was in beautiful form. Seeing her and other celebs slender down are a big inspiration to me. I keep looking at Queen Latifah, she is slim now too!

In the lastest Essence Mag there was an article about a girl who was 290 and 5ft 3in who ran several marathons, half-marathons and 5k races. It makes me think I can do it too.

CLM

Small Changes!

So right now I am focusing on a few small changes so I can lose a very big 10lbs by Oct 7th!

The first thing I am doing is having a healthy breakfast. I have been drinking homemade fruit/protein smoothies every morning along with taking a multi, calcium and vitamin d supplements. I may take this transition this to eating yogurt and whole fruit because blendding the drink is time consuming and rather noisy. I will also be able to reduce or control my caloric intake a little better by doing this.

The second thing I am doing is 30 minutes of exercise per day. On mon, wed and fri I am doing strength training. So far I love the sculpt dvd by the firm. I am going to check out the Biggest Losers sculpt dvd to see if I can use it as an alternate. I also have a dvd called the Eat Clean workout that I will check out. I am really excited about these dvd's. They are really fun to do! On Tue, Thur and Sat I am doing cardio, whether that is my stationary bike, walking outside or indoor low impact exercise.

The third thing I will start today is eating a salad every day for lunch. This is something I really want to lock in to increase my vegetable intake on a consistent basis. I will play around with the salads. Here are a few of my ideas!

#1 Tuna salad salad (Tuna, lettuce, salt and pepper, dressing of choice, tomatos)

#2 Black bean salad (Black beans, lettuce, tomatos, dressing of choice)

#3 Taco salad (Grillers crumbles, lettuce, tomatos, dressing of choice)

#4 Hay Stack (Black beans, crumbles, lettuce, tomatos, dressing of choice)

#5 The Vegeterian (lettuce, tomato, carrot, sun flower seeds)

#6 Shrimp salad (lettuce, grilled shrimp, tomato and cucumber)

#7 Salmon salad (lettuce, strawberry and salmon)

For now this is what I am doing. I will make healthy dinner choices maybe next month!

CLM

Reflections!

When I first started this blog I weighed 247bs Now I weight 268lbs. I gained 21 lbs. I wonder how I would feel right now if I had lost 21 lbs instead and weighed 226lbs! Throught out this journey I have been under a tremedous amount of stress and it goes to show that stress really does kill. It also goes to show that you have to have a commiment to health in order to lose weight. Gimicics do not work. I have just been on a rollar coaser when it comes to weight-loss.

I really want it to work this time!

CLM

September News Letter!

Update:

I pretty much joined 24hr fitness and weight-watchers, but I did not last long mybe two weeks. i quit my job and am now at home so I will be focusing on losing weight at home. A great deal of stress in my life has been lifted so I am hoping that I will be able to use this time to really focus on my health goals.

So where am I?

I am 268lbs. I gained back the 10 lbs I lost in weight-watchers. This time I think I am really going to focus on making small healthy changes that I can sustian for life to reach my weight loss goals. By Oct 6th I want to accomplish the following.

#1. I want to have kept a journal of what I have been eating.

#2 I want to have kept track of my weight weekly.

#3 I want to have drank a health smoothie every morning for breakfast.

#4 I want to have eaten 3 meals a day plus fruit and water.

#5 I want to have stuck to my dvd workout The Firm for 30 minutes once a day!

#6 I want to as a result of these health habits have lost 10lbs making me 258!

#7 I want to be well on my way to my goal of weighing 200lbs.

CLM