Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is... Finally!!

Well I finally caved in and  rejoined WW meeting since this whole doing it on my own thing got me nowhere but 296 pounds. That is almost 10 pounds more then what I joined WW last time at which makes me sad because at one point I had lost 90 pounds which means that over the last 2 years I have been packing back on all those pounds and then some... I know I  was blaming it on school and everything else when really it was my own damn fault for not taking 20 minutes of my day to plan on what I was going to eat and to get some damn exercise. Well now that I have gotten back to the meetings I hope that I can  find the same determination I had last time to get this shit done, and once and for all lose at least half of me. I am starting fresh this time, so I will be adding new starting out pics and hopefully soon I will get some new progress pictures. Now that school is done I have an amazing job working for a hospital that I love I'm really hoping that this will be the year when I let my head out rule my mouth and get back to being the healthy and fun loving person I used to be before I decided it was good to just eat away my boredom with life. I forgot to take pictures of my breakfast this morning so I will start with what I have packed to take to my  8 hour day at work... I made an amazing salad with fresh Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomato, cut up carrots and a cut up WW string cheese. I  am also bringing a Sweet Potato which I can cook in the convection oven at work while I am there. I grabbed a fiber one bar to munch on during break later if I am still hungry and a WW Jello Rice Pudding Snack . My water bottle I plan on filling at least 3 times  while I am there and that is usually no problem for me since H2O is my fav. drink. I really love this food picture blog it really helped me last time, and I know that this time I will do even better and keep with this!! So far after breakfast and what I have packed for later I will still have 20/46 dailies left to eat... not bad for dinner and a snack if needed later!

Finally Getting Somewhere!!

So about a month has passed since actual graduation, and in that time I have spent it getting myself back under control. I went digging in the garage and found my WW cookbooks, points plus calculator and my food journal... so happy about this because it means I can do weight watchers on my own with the use of the online community boards and I don't have to shell out over 40 dollars a month for meetings or 20 for online services. If I had the extra cash right now I wouldn't mind it, but honestly the only thing I will be missing are the meetings; fortunately for me though I have a group of really great supportive friends and family who can stand in when I need them to. My parents got me a gym membership a couple months back for my birthday, so I have been using that more and more each week along with my at home workouts and I have been managing to stay within my points limit each day. I plan to start photographing my meals again starting next week once I have my menu's planned out better. I really feel like that was key in me doing so well the first time on WW, it made me really accountable for what I was eating each day and I really feel that it will be a great this time around. Even though the last couple of months has been stressful with studying for my Ultrasound Registries I think that being more organized and taking out time of each of my days to work out has really helped me stay on track and I'm hoping that this time next year I will be able to look back and say that I made it to where I want to be... A healthier Skinnier me..                         
                                                                                                                                     
This is what I made for myself and some friends for dinner the other night it was excellent... Nothing quite like fresh steaks on the grill in the summer time!! I think next time we are going to grill up some romaine lettuce and do a Cesar salad to pair it with.                                                                                            

 

It's Over!!!

Well after all this time I will finally be graduating from college... I swear sometime I thought this day would never come but as of next Thursday I will be an official college grad. I love this for two reasons I can finally get a job doing something that I love and that challenges me everyday, and I will also have way more time to focus on getting healthy and back in shape. It's sad to say but a couple of years ago I had lost almost over a hundred pounds, but while going to school and being on clinicals I gained over half of the weight back. Now I have no excuses I will have plenty of time to concentrate on cooking healthy meals and getting in the exercise I really need into my weekly routines. I don't think I have looked forward to the future this much in forever I really hope that at this time next year I will have a great job and be able to post some new pictures of my weight loss progress on here!!! I know it's still going to be a daily struggle but I think now is def. the time in my life I will be able to push threw the hard times and make it work!!!

Feelin Good!

So this is my 6th night in a row that I have gotten in a workout and I'm feeling great... I think the hardest part was getting back into the swing of things but now that im doing it I know it's going to really pay off in the end. I hope Zumba continues to kick my butt into shape!!! Even with all the shit going on in my life right now I feel like for once I'm in control again I just hope I can keep it that way this time.

Ohhhh New Year!!

Okay New Year this is how it's gonna go and I don't want to hear any crap from you about it:

First your going to be amazing... I'm going to graduate form college and finally get to stop working crap dead end jobs just to pay the bills... I'm going to keep going to zumba classes with my workout slave driver and I'm going to continue to eat healthy and avoid making bad choices!!! And for some reason if I do slip and make bad choices I won't be allowing myself to wait forever to make them right again... So here it is New Year I'm telling you how it's going to be this year and if you don't like it then I guess you will just have to make someone else's year suck because you really screwed me last year, and I'm not letting it happen again this year so watch your back baby!!!

Now that I have taken care of that I just want to say Happy New Year to everyone and that I hope you all have a great year as well. For all my fellow WW out there now is the time to kick a little ass and lose some as well! I spent the last year gaining back over 60 of the 110 that I lost and while I know it's my own fault I am choosing to fix this situation before I end up back at square one completely. Anyone else in the same boat just know it's never to late to wake up and get back on track!!!

So Far Off Track I Need A Map!!!

Hey all I know it has been forever since I last posted I swear this time though I will be posting way more often. It has been a crazy couple of months for me around here with school and all now that I have been away on clinicals. I'm getting ready to head back out for 2 more months at the hospital for school, so I'm hoping with all the extra walking around and movement I will get back on track in no time. I haven't been taking photos of my food in months, and I think that it really helped me stay on track last time with the whole losing weight and keeping myself in check so I have made a promise to myself that as soon as I go shopping tomorrow and get things stocked in the fridge I will be making healthier choices and publishing the evidence here online so all can keep me in check lol. I miss how I felt when I was doing so well recently I have putt a crap load of weight back on and I have been living in denial about it well NO MORE!!! I am back this time and refuse to let this get me down I know I have a long road ahead of me since I gained back like 50 pounds from the last time I was on here it's sad to say, but I know I can do this and keep it off for good this time I just needed to get my priorities straight and commit to it again. I hope all of you out there are having an easier time of it then I am!!! Hope to hear all your advice and motivation along this way this time just like last time it really helps a girl out!!

Back On Track Baby!! Kicking Ass!

So I lost 7 pounds last week... I was stressing about school and guy shit but I finally realized it wasn't worth letting myself get discouraged and eat over it. Instead I got my food plan right, and even got in some really great walks. I have been doing really well this week so far, and I'm hoping that by my Birthday in 2 weeks I will have lost a little more. Then I can really go out and have a good time! I'm hoping to be able to get on here more and vent it really seems to help clear my head on those days when shit is just going really wrong in my life. Hopefully I won't have to many more of those occasions since I have rid myself of some very unwanted drama in my life recently! I love you girls and you give me inspiration each day to kick this plans ass I love you for it!!

Back On Track...

So with school, and work my life has been so damn busy lately that I have had little enough time to sleep let alone exercise and eat right!! Today was the last straw though I got back on the scale after months of ignoring it and I have gained 15 pounds back!!! I know I can't afford to do WW right now, but I know how to eat healthy all on my own and honestly I think it will be easier just making smarter choices instead of counting all the time...

So as of this morning I made myself a healthy breakfast and took some soup with me to school instead of going out to eat like I have been for the past few months. When I got home I ate dinner instead of snacking before dinner and even managed to get out of the house for my first walk in 3 months almost!! The beach was amazing and I hopefully will be able to get in a walk each night now as long as the weather stays this nice. 

I'm done letting shit get in my way again I have to make time for me and what's important and honestly what's more important than my health I can't go to school or work if I'm dead right!!

Here to getting back on track ladies!!!!

Physics... Physics... & More Bleepin Physics!

So I just started my second class in my DMS program, and this one happens to be physics of acoustic instrumentation. Well let me tell you the day this class is over I will either be hanging my head in shame because I failed or out grabbing the biggest drink in the world to celebrate passing.. I don't think I have ever seen this much physics shoved into a month of class. Our book is well over 500 pages and it we will have to know it back to front in less then a month for our final.. I thought weight loss was going to be hard, but I would rather tackle that any day of the week when compared to physics for ultrasound! 

I must say though that since classes have started back up I have not been as good about cooking my meals at home, I have been eating out to much lately and my scrubs are starting to get tight :( I have decided that while I don't have the 40 dollars a month to spend on WW I will still do the online again even though I don't like it as much, so at least I have a way to keep track of my points. I also decided to make my physics notes online as a pdf file and upload it to my nook so I can read and study while on working out on the treadmill when I get a chance. 

I bought the Wii Zumba a month back or so and while I like the dancing I think they go way to quickly through the basics and you really don't have that much of a chance to pick up on the steps they should really slow that down for us since we are beginners here!!! Oh well the music is a lot of fun anyway!

Class..Class..Class..

I don't even think I can put into words how excited I am to finally be starting my core classes for my DMS degree (Diagnostic Med. Sonography). I have been waiting for 6 months for classes to begin and today they finally started!! I knew this class was going to be a lot of work, but I guess until I was in class looking at all the things that we will be covering in the first month alone I really had no clue how in depth this class was going to be.

My professor seems pretty awesome, and her former students all seem to love her and come back to say hi on their breaks from other classes, so that seems to be promising! I have a long 16 month haul in front of me, but I know now that I have nights off to study and focus on nothing but school I will do really well. I don't want to make time rush by any faster that it already is, but I just really can't wait until I'm done with classes and have my degree life will be mine then and I can really get the hell out of Daytona and onto something different for a while.

I just learned today that once your a registered Sonographer you can work all over the world because it's a world wide recognized degree... Hello Ireland, Greece, Australia, New Zealand... and many more amazing places I have been dying to see my whole life... I'm so happy I decided to go in this line of work I can see it being an amazing career choice.

Surviving Christmas!

Well I guess Christmas went better than I was expecting it to this year! I had a couple of parties to go to and the food choices were oh so tempting!! I did well in planning though I ate something small before I went, so when I got there I was almost full and limited myself to just a few of the treats that I only get once a year. Going home after getting presents has been the hardest part for me though. My Aunt Kim baked like the devil this year making brownies, rum balls, cinnamon bread, and raspberry bars and oatmeal apple cookies!! I swear it's like attack of the bakery in the house and it all smells and tastes so good that I have to be super careful  as to watch what I actually eat. Not to mention that my gram got over 7 pounds of CANDY for her gifts this year as she is getting older and doesn't really want much else. I look at those boxes covering the counters and have to keep myself from diving head first. I'm thankful that most of it is stuff that I really don't care for which I guess is a real blessing! I have New Years Eve to contend with this weekend, but I'm hoping that I will be able to handle that as well as I did Christmas! My Gram also make a Chocolate Cream Pie for dessert on Christmas Day I'm just thankful I had a small piece and left the rest for my parents to finish, that thing can be the hardest to resist when it is staring up at you from the fridge I can tell you that much!!

Lunar Eclipse!

So it's times like these that I don't mind working the night shift! I got to stay up and see the whole Lunar Eclipse from start to finish it was pretty bad ass not to mention the meteor shower that happened as well midway through!! I caught the whole thing on camera, and I am super excited by that since this event only takes place every 600 years or so it's a once in 6 lifetime kind of event! I hope that everyone who loves this sort of thing got a chance to see it as clearly as I did  here in Daytona Beach.. We had the perfect weather not a single cloud in the sky!!

Sorry about the different sized pictures I started taking them on my cell phone, but finally found my real camera in my car. Then the pics were too big to upload here so I had to crop them all and the sizes ended up different. All in all though I have to say it was a great night to see the Lunar Eclipse, and I hope to see another Solar one as well some time!!

X-Mas Spirit...

So this Christmas Season I have been really down in the dumps. I have been stressed out about work, and starting school again in Jan. My younger brother shipped out for the Persian Gulf at the beginning of the month and will be gone for God knows how long, and no one in my family decorated for X-mas this year except my grandmother. I was really starting to feel like saying screw x-mas altogether this year and just sulking alone. 

Thanks to my best friend and my Godson I have seen the error of my ways. Last night we took my godson Key to go see all the houses in different neighborhoods that decorated and did stuff for the Christmas season. We found 2 houses that had decorated to the hilt and even had their lights and decorations flash in time with Christmas music on the radio... my Godson was so happy I couldn't help but finally get into the X-mas mood. On the way home from those 2 houses we stumbled across a whole entire sub division where every house was lit up I'm talking from the roof all the way down to the grass on the lawns were done up. They even had a motorized Santa sleigh with fake reindeer giving rides through the neighborhood so the kids could see all the houses that were lit up It was the coolest thing I have seen all year!

Now that I have my X-mas spirit back I need to make sure I don't let my X-mas appetite take over will all of the parties and goodies that have been passes around I need to remember that even though X-mas only comes around once a year it doesn't give me an excuse to stuff my face and forget about the consequences. So this week I will remember to count all of my points and keep right on tracking in hopes of having another great week on the scales!! 

My Godson Isn't he Adorable!!

I don't even want to know what the electric bill is going to cost them :(

I love all the lights there were so pretty! The flashing with the music was kick ass too!!

Best Friend Ash & My Godson Keandre!

Big Fat Loser... Is What I am!!

I meant that in the best possible way of course... I'm down 3.4lbs this week!! I officially love the new Points + Program. Not only do I get to eat more then I did before, but I find with free fruit I'm making better choices then I did before. I also think the program being new gave me great motivation as well, instead of tricking myself into thinking I know all the points for something and not really tracking like I should the new program has gotten me back to tracking and looking up Point + Values. 

I was worried at the beginning of the week thinking that I was eating too much, and that my point value seemed way to high for me to lose any weight this first week, but even after messing up my weekend a little I still lost a great amount and I feel great. I know not to expect numbers like this each week, but for me the last couple of months with my weight yo-yoing up and down a 3.4 lose is a great number to get me back on track and my head back in the game!! Knowing now that the plan really will work, just like the old one but even better makes me excited all over again to get back to basics and really work hard this time not to let myself slip back into old habits. With this New Year, and New Plan I have really high hopes for this year, and can't wait to see the results a little hard work can pull off!

I'm Down, Down, Down For the Count Baby in the Best Possible Way!!

So Busy!

So this week alone I have had to attend Math Workshops at school, to prepare us for a really hard class that will be coming up in a couple of months. I have to attend Orientation for my new classes on Wed. I have 2 doctors visits scheduled, a hair appointment, and last but not least I have to do some last minute Christmas shopping for some people who I thought were not going to be exchanging gifts but at the last minute decided to! With all of this Chaos and confusion going on I have been trying my best to stay focused and track all my points for the week.

I would have to say that so far I am loving the new Points Plus system I feel like I'm getting to eat more food, and I find I have more energy. I took a peek at the scale a couple of days early and so far I am down.. I'm just hoping that on Thur. WI the scale reads the same way. There were a few times this weekend that I forgot to track my points I'm just hoping that with all the WP we are allowed I didn't go over them..

I have been trying to get in some more AP's this week, but I have only been allowing myself to walk for so long in the cold. The last thing I need now is to get a cold or the flu right before my classes start back up. I still have like 50 AP's left to earn before the 1st of the New Year, so I know I need to find some warm indoor activities that I can do to get those last few Activity Point's in! I have been using my Wii Fit a lot more over the last month and I have found that it really is a great way to get active, but still have a blast while doing it. I'm hoping that I get the new Wii game Just Dance... It looks like a lot of fun, and something that can really get your heart rate up.

Hopefully this week goes by smoothly, and WI is a success if not then I know I really need to be more watchful on the weekends of what I'm cramming down my throat!

Rocking My AP's Challenge!

A couple of months back I set up a challenge for myself to hit 150AP's by the new year... I have almost reached that goal and I can almost taste the victory that is surely ahead! In the past I have always gotten close, but then forgot about the challenge and never finished them... but this time I want it bad! I want to know that I can finish things I set out to accomplish. So I hit the park again today and discovered a couple hidden pathways!!

I felt like Indiana Jones on a mission or something because when I thought I saw a secret pathway through a small clearing in the trees I went exploring and discovered about another mile of pathways behind the immediate park. For you twilight fans I found a place that really reminded me of the meadow where Edward and Bella go to. The sun was shining down on it and through the trees is where I saw the other hidden path. It was silly, but I felt like I had found something most of the other park goers never get to see!

 This was the main park I was used to walking through it was so amazing out I love sunny FL day's even if the weather is chilly out!

You can see the Spanish Moss hanging down from the tree here, it's so pretty when you see all the trees surrounding the park with moss hanging low from all of the branches kind  of romantic in a way!

                                  Me getting ready to sweat my butt off even if I was freezing lol...

 

In that opening back there is where I found the brand new pathways, I really couldn't believe it when I found them It was amazing. My friends said they never even knew there were additional paths behind there either. 

This is the path that was behind the clearing it went on for about a mile before it hit the main road on the other side.. Now that I know it's there it's where I will be attempting my running so no one can see my fat butt and laugh!


This park has really become my favorite place to get in my exercise, and I think next time I am there I will be checking out the other side of the park to see if I missed anything over there on that side... I love a little adventure when I work out keeps things so much more interesting!

WW Texting Buddies!

So the other night on the bored an idea was proposed and many of us WW girls jumped on the idea real quick like! We all know we struggle the most throughout the day when no on is there to help us or give us a push to stay on track, so we have decided to all exchange phone numbers and text each other for support and accountability. I woke up this morning to like 5 different messages and it made me smile, its nice to have people to talk to who know what a struggle it is to lose weight and get in shape.. Most of the girls WI today and while some gained others lost so it shows that this new plan we have all started is just going to take some time for everyone's bodies to get used to..

I weigh in on Thursday, and I honestly have no idea what to expect I have stuck to the plan all week long, but It's my TOM right now and I always struggle with losing during that week. Some of the other girls said that their points didn't increase by much and they are not sure if counting fruit as free is a good idea or not. I hope it is because I sure have been eating a lot of it this week!! 

I also managed to pry my ass out of bed fairly early this afternoon, and head to the park again. This time the sun was higher in the sky, but the wind was blowing like crazy so this walk was super cold. I also felt a little uncomfortable while I was there because there was a large group of just men there who were all scattered around fishing. I was the only female there and most of the trails or pathways are already pretty quiet and can get spooky if you have an over active imagination like I do lol.  I managed to get in a little over 2 miles today and I earned myself 7AP's!! I have a little less than a month to get up to 150 for the challenge I set myself a couple of months back and I am almost there. Getting AP's in numbers like 7 each day really add up pretty quickly I can't wait for the New Year I will be setting myself a whole new challenge with school starting!!

AP's AP's AP's . . .

So after all the crappy food I ate over the weekend I decided to take a walk this morning, but didn't feel like hitting up my normal walking route. Then I remembered taking my godson to this really awesome park to see the duckies a while back and decided that it would be a perfect spot for my walk!! The sun was out and shining, but it was still chilly out and breezy so I knew I wouldn't die of heat exhaustion. The view is amazing at this park!! There is a huge pond surrounded by these amazing trees that all have this Spanish moss hanging from them and when the sun shines right through them it really looks like rays of heaven or something it's incredible I also saw a couple ducks, and egrets swimming around looking for food, but I didn't get a chance to snap a picture before they wandered off :(

This place was pretty huge, it only took 2 laps around to equal a mile, so I did 4 laps and settled for only 2 today. I had to leave early because they were getting ready to close the roads down for the X-Mas parade, and I was so not getting stuck there for 2 more hours lol.

If you look behind me you can see the rays of sun shining down partially it was so cool to look at while I was walking... It's def. true that having something pretty to look at while working out helps take your mind of the working out part!

 

This picture was taken on the back part of the path where there are the most trees, it was a little freaky because it was so quiet today not a lot of people were out walking the path, and I felt like if it had been later in the day it would have been the perfect set up for girl gone missing or something lol. 

 

 

 The white pathways lead out to water overlooks, It is really pretty from there that's where I kept seeing all the duckies and egrets trying to get themselves some dinner.

 

In this picture you can really see how big the place is, this is only the beginning of the pathway once you pass the white building in the distance you still have about a 2/3rd of a mile walk left ahead of you... I love that it's so big though there is so much to look at and enjoy. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and I earned 6  AP's for my little walk so I really enjoyed it! I plan on walking here at least 3 times a week now, and if I start to get bored with this place I will switch parks up for a bit. I just love finding new motivation for working out though it can be so hard to just get up and go sometimes!

Goals For Tomorrow:

* Get Some Needed Sleep!

* Stay OP & Track Everything!

* Grocery Shop, (Running out of Fruit :( )

December!

Well it doesn't seem even remotely possible that it could be December already, but alas it is and the weather is reflecting that here majorly at the moment. Living in FL your just not used to the temps being in the 30-40 at night. I'm currently sitting here at work wasting 4 points on hot chocolate to keep my insides toasty while sitting in a semi- ice cube of a room. I can't believe over 2 years has pasted since I joined WW, and I'm still 90 pounds from goal. I just guess it goes to show you that when you slack off for months at a time you get NOWHERE!

I am glad that with the new plan I have re-commited and have found myself tracking accurately everyday. I like the fact that my points increased by quite a few, but then I guess when food points doubled it was necessary. I have exactly 1 month until I begin taking my core classes for my DMS degree, and I really would love to lose another 5-10 pounds before I have to buy my scrubs for class. That is def. one of my major goals for this months as well as making sure I stick with the new plan and don't give up on myself. The next year for me will probably be the busiest I have ever had. With being in classes 5 days a week for 8 hours and working 8 hours each night, time for friends, homework, and life will be very limited to say the least.

I guess it's all about the planning just like with WW I will need to plan out my time for friends and school as well. I know it will be worth it in the future even if I have to suffer and sacrifice now I will be much better off for it later after I have graduated and can get a great job. I guess for now I better enjoy what time I have left with the Holiday's and get my mind set ready for the next years that's to come. I hope with the stress of school and work I won't let my WW slip or become forgotten. I might only be down 50 pounds now instead of the 75 I was, but I never want to see myself at my starting weight ever again that was the most awful time for me and I never want to be that person again!  I won't let myself become that person again!

New Plan Day 2!

So I must admit today went a lot smoother than yesterday went. First off I made sure I planned out my meals better for the day so I knew by tonight I wouldn't end up with 17 points left over like I had yesterday. This morning I had an 11 point breakfast which helped put a dent into my dailies. I also planned on making pasta for dinner which I knew even using Whole Wheat pasta was still going to cost me some Dailies because of the about of carbs being consumed. Here is a look and breakdown of how I spent my points today, and if you notice I even managed to get in 2 AP's this morning with a little mini workout before I had to head into school for the day!

For my pasta sauce I added Shredded Cheese, along with fresh garlic, green bell pepper, and minced onion. I calculated the pasta points with the cheese points included it's just easier for me to lump things together given the amount of ingredients I use when I cook. So at the end of today I managed to reach all of the goals I set for myself yesterday... I got in my Dairy, I Ate almost all of my DP's, I got in a Multi-Vitamin, and I even got in a bonus mini workout!! Overall I would say I had a pretty successful day I just hope tomorrow goes as well.

Goals For Tomorrow-

* Earn at least 4-AP's
* Get in all of my GHG's
* Track all of my points!