Weigh-In Wednesday

Alright, so my weight gain last week wasn't all Aunt Flo's fault. I had gained weight overall, but I am down from last week. I am down 2.2 lbs. I have been so good today, having eaten a banana for breakfast, half of a very genetically altered large fuji apple, and half of a taco salad for lunch. Ok, fine, I will also come clean about my can of Coke that I guzzled at lunchtime too.

That's all I have to say for this Weigh-In Wednesday. Hopefully my morning walks/jogs will make a difference by next Wednesday.

Current Weight: 207.2 lbs.
Overall Weight-Loss: 22.8 lbs.

Random Bella Moment:
John was very generous for my birthday last year and gave me a super cute pink netbook. I was putting it on top of my dresser when it lost balance and fell onto the floor with a loud crash! It was heard throughout the house and it didn't help that I screamed "Noooooo!!!" Naturally John yells up, "What was that?"

After I unconvincingly responded with, "Nothing!"

Bella yells back, "Mommy's computer!"

Thanks for keeping me honest kid.

Weigh-In Wednesday

I shall keep it short and simple. This was not a good weigh-in (warning: TMI coming up!) and I would like to blame Aunt Flo for this one since she is visiting me this week.

I have tickets to the Usher concert in November. I am hoping this will encourage me to lose some weight so I can get all kinds of cute for him!

Current Weight: 209.4 lbs.

Random Bella Moment:
Bella: Mommy, I am all done with my sandwich.
Me: Good job!
Bella: I'm still hungry, Mommy.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like some water?
Bella: Mommy, hungry means food.

Thanks for setting me straight, Bella! Mommy sure does have a lot to learn.

Weigh-In Wednesday Numero Uno (Again)

I have decided that there isn't anything wrong with constantly "starting over" on my diet. Actually, starting over on anything repeatedly is fine by me. I mean, it's better than giving up, right?

Ok, so my convictions aren't very committed. But here I am again. Starting over.

Last Wednesday I wrote a post, but didn't publish it because I re-read it and was super ashamed. As a matter of fact, I had titled that post as "Ashamed". Here it is in all its sadness:

"Ashamed"
Post Dated 9/29/10

I weighed myself for the first time this morning. I was scared. I knew it would be bad.

212.2 pounds.

Looking back on my weight-loss tracker, I have gained 16.6 pounds since June. I have gained nearly 17 pounds in the last three months.

I am shamed.

I know I have "started over" many times through the course of this blog, and I am horrified that I am doing it again. But I have to if I want to reach any of my goals by this time next year. I am already one year behind on reaching the goals I originally declared.

I have so many other wants, dreams, and hopes, but my weight is the one that I can control and accomplish as fast or as slow as I choose. I don't want to be a human yo-yo anymore. I have 48 weeks until I turn 30. I need to lose 78 pounds to reach my goal of 135 pounds. All I would need to do is stick to a reasonable 1-2 pound weight-loss for the next 48 weeks and I will reach my goal.

Can I do it? Can I be reasonable? We'll find out - slow and steady.

I know, you want to stop reading my blog because I am such a failure! But wait! Read on...

I'm afraid that I am a Paper Tiger, a term I learned from reading The Ex Hot Girl's blog (who in turn got it from this guy). I failed in my goals and when the going got tough I didn't post. This week ended up being a good week and so now I post. Paper Tiger, that's me.

I will again try to be more consistent on Wednesdays, I can do once a week, right? And if my ups and downs helps someone else go through their ups and downs, then all the better!

This last week I didn't eat out as much and I went to the gym for the first time. It appears to have paid off because I weighed in at 206.8 this morning, for a total loss of 5.4 pounds this week.

Now, let me disclose that I did something on Monday to help me get into the mode of eating right: I fasted. Not for the entire day, but for a good 24 hours. I finished dinner on Sunday at around 7:30 pm and ate my chicken and hearty salad around the same time on Monday, after the gym.

Why did I fast?

I appreciate food so much more after a good fast. Not in the "give me a burger STAT" kind of way, but in a "banana, all I need is a banana" kind of way. I am hoping that my brain will reset itself and I can now proceed with my weight-loss in the normal way of thinking. I hope.

Hello, Gym, Missed Me?

Last night was my first visit to the gym in... umm... well, it's actually been so long I don't even remember the last time I went! I didn't do any kind of physical activity for the entire month of September - unless you count hefting up my big behind to go get some Tillamook's Limited Edition Grandma's Cake Batter Ice Cream. That's right, Limited Edition.

My boot camp fee is $64.07 and my gym is $49.13. That is a grand total of $113.20 wasted last month.

I have a legit reason for not being aggressive with my workouts. Before you ask, no, it was not a legit excuse to stop watching what I eat. Anyway, I got my MRI results back and I have a "benign stress sclerotic lesion." No, I don't know what that means. I tried to look it up online but couldn't find anything. But the doctor's office wasn't concerned so neither am I. The only comment was, "If the patient is still in pain, consult sports medicine doctor." Well, I was a bit achey, but nothing serious. So I wait a couple more weeks before I hit the gym again because I really don't want my hip to start hurting.

I wanted to ease my way back into working out, so last night I was on the incumbent bike, catching up with my US Weekly's that had piled up (I only read these at the gym). To my surprise, I was on there for an hour. I was nervous that I would wake up this morning with my hip hurting again, but it was totally fine. The gym rat is back!

'S On Like Donkey Kong!

I have been in a funk lately. A diet/exercise/health funk. I struggle with this constantly.

Since my brother's wedding way back in June, I have checked out of living healthy. I have since gained back a little over 10 pounds. I am shamed.

I realized that I needed something other than the idea of having a fit body to motivate me because, frankly, that just seems so out of reach right now. I tried to tell myself to lose 20 pounds by my birthday in September, hoping that would put me back on track. Nope. Didn't work.

But alas! I have some crazy co-workers that have decided to join me in my weight-loss journey. We are starting a small office pool (right now it consists of two other co-workers and one of their boyfriends). A Biggest Loser type of contest.

Each contestant buys-in for $50 and the goal is to lose the highest percentage of body weight in one month. On September 10th the winner gets the cashola! We may have a couple more people that will enter who will have to weigh in tomorrow and their last day will be September 11th.

I am super excited and this contest really did the trick to motivate me. My inspiration for the month? Why, none other than Miss Jennifer Hudson!

To close this post, I am going to have to do a dreaded weight recap (eek!)

Current Weight: 206.0 lbs. (The Horror!!!)

Weigh-In Wednesday #23

Oh you guys will be so proud of me! I have lost 2.6 pounds this week! I implemented the circuit training that my boot camp trainer recommended which includes five minutes on the Stairmaster at level six, followed by 15 push-ups, 15 shoulder lifts (again, I am making the names up), and 15 tricep curls. I had to do this four times. The Stairmaster portion was brutal because I normally do it at level four.

In addition, I have still been sticking to my morning runs/jogs and even did my first 10 minute run/jog in over five years! I had a very good week in the working out department, but my eating habits are still suffering. Man, could I have possibly lost five pounds this week had I stuck to my calorie counting? In all honesty, if you saw what I ate on Saturday and Sunday, then the answer would be a resounding, YES!!!

But I am super happy with my 2.6 pounds and feel like I am on a roll. Skinnybitchdom, here I come!

Oh, and let me give a warm welcome to some lovely new friends:
Cheyenne - thanks to your advice, I have started bringing my netbook to my daughter's gymnastics class and have started writing again!
Melissa - who has a countdown to her vacation at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. You know I started following her the moment I saw that! My trip is sadly much further into the future, September 2011 to be exact.
Renae - thanks for your comment yesterday! I am totally feeling like this whole weight-loss blogging is worth while and certainly keeping my spirits up.

Thanks for the support ladies!

I have been a poor blogger/follower lately because work has been busy and I have been stressed about fitting into my bridesmaid dress. But I will be on track soon enough!

Weight: 195.6 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 34.4 lbs.

Weigh-In Wednesday #22

One more pound gone! Not quite my two pounds a week goal, but we will be celebrating the small victories! I figure I need to lose at least ten more pounds by the 25th in order to fit into my bridesmaid dress. I tried it on last week and whaddya know - it zips!

But I can't sit.

Or breathe.

The dress looks like crap on because everything is being squished and pinched out the top. In reality, I need to lose like 15-20 pounds in order to fit into the dress comfortably. However, that for sure will not be happening within the next three and a half weeks. So ten pounds is my goal to be able to sit in the dress. Otherwise...

I am going to ruin their wedding party pictures.

Weight: 198.2 lbs.

Update

My legs are still killing me from Monday.

I still went jogging at 5:00 am this morning.

I. Am. Unstoppable.

'Nuff said.

Weigh-In Wednesday #21

I am back in Onderland. Hopefully my stay will be longer than two weeks! I lost 2.4 pounds this week. I am positive the weight loss had everything to do with boot camp on Monday. My legs are still sore!

Let me share with you the workouts that we had to do at boot camp on Monday...

***Disclosure! I don't know all of the terms of the workouts, so they may be a little off. Bear with me.***

Like I said, I arrived a few minutes late, but they were just starting their warm-ups. The warm-ups consisted of doing jumping jacks down half the length of a football field. Then we had to go the rest of the way doing high-kicks (you are basically skipping but you lift one knee up as high as you can, then switch to the other knee). Still doing warm-ups, we turn around and do frog jumps. Next is a sideways shuffle where your arms are straight out to your sides and your left leg crosses in front of your right leg, then behind it.Then turn around and do it again switching legs - right leg crosses in front of and then behind the left leg. Sound complicated? It kind of was because I seem to have two left feet. Plus I was tired at this point. Have I mentioned this was just the warm-ups?!

Ok, now that I have a good sweat going on, the real workout begins. We start by doing burpees (this term I did not make up. That is seriously what they are called). Immediately, one of the regulars exclaims, "Ugh! Burpees? I hate burpees!" I shortly found out why she hated them.

A burpee is where you start in the crouching position with your hands on the ground. You kick your feet back so that you are in the plank position, you do a push-up, kick your knees back up to your chest, then spring up with your hands in the air. I found this video for your viewing pleasure. The only thing that wasn't included in the video is the push-up. She had us do 30 of these, to which I replied, "Don't people train to do 30 of those?" Hey, it was my first day, I can complain! Somehow, I managed to finish them.

Next, was circuit training consisting of nine cones placed in a large circle. Each cone was a particular exercise and each "round" was two minutes long:

Cone 1: Bicycle crunches
Cone 2: Push-ups
Cone 3: Squats with a weighted ball
Cone 4: Planks
Cone 5: Bicep curls
Cone 6: Pelvis lifts (not sure what you really call it, but you are lying on the ground with one leg straight out and the other leg is bent. You push your pelvis up through the heel of your bent leg. This totally got my hamstrings burning!)
Cone 7: Resisted run (a stretchy group of bands are placed around your waist and the trainer holds the ends behind you as you run in place)
Cone 8: Agility test (two cones are set two feet apart. In a fluid motion you start on the outside of one cone, then hop in between the cones with one foot, followed by the other, and then hopping to the outside of the second cone also one foot at a time.)
Cone 9: Over-head tricep curls with a weighted ball.

After the cones, we had to run one lap around the track. I knew I could do it since I have been running in the mornings (by the way, when I say "running" it really is jogging to normal people. Really though, a slow jog/fast walk). It took me two minutes and 31 seconds to complete it the lap. I was beat tired.

The last two exercises concentrated on abs. There were six of us, but one participant's 9-year-old daughter decided to join in for this one. Oy vey! The seven of us lined up on the ground. The only thing touching the ground was our bottoms. Our legs were bent and off the ground, and our upper bodies were off the ground too. Then we had a weighted ball where you touch one side of the ground, then the other side, then pass it to the person next to you. The ball had to go all the way down the line AND BACK before we could relax.

The last exercise of the night was simple, but took me FOREVER to finish: 50 sit-ups. Not crunches, but full on sit-ups. Suffice it to say that the 9-year-old finished her 50 while I was completing sit-up number 15. Aah to be young again!

After class was done, the trainer took my measurements. They are still too ghastly to share with you all, but hopefully that will change soon!

Weight: 199.2
Reason for Weight-loss: The countdown to "Fit Into That Bridesmaid Dress" has officially begun - only 31 days left til the wedding!

Left! Left! Left! Right! Left!

At six o'clock last night, my palms were sweating and my heart rate was elevated from anxiety. I was driving to my very first *gulp* boot camp class!

That's right, I, Princess Melanie, went to boot camp. My body has pateaued with the workouts I keep repeating at the gym. I know I could lose weight faster if I could just watch what I ate. But apparently I would rather torture my body with exercise than control what enters my mouth. So I needed something new.

I had looked into the Snohomish County Boot Camp a few weeks ago, but chickened out after corresponding with the lead trainer. I was all gung ho to go get my butt kicked at boot camp until I expressed a concern that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the class. The trainer emailed back with, "If you've been going to the gym 4 days a week, you'll do just fine and we do have people of all different fitness levels come. We have beginners who can barely jog 1 lap around the track..." Wait a minute - I can barely jog around the track. I mean, I can do it but I am very winded afterwards. Yes, even though I have been running in the mornings for the last three weeks. So I chickened out and didn't sign up.

Two weeks later, the scale is moving in the wrong direction. I decided I had no choice. I had to do this. And besides, I get one week free! So, with trembling fingers, I signed up online. All day yesterday I was scared out of my mind. What if my knees give out? My arms are sore from my previous workout, what if I can't do any of the exercises? What if they scream at me?!

All sorts of horrifying thoughts kept running through my mind until quitting time at 5:00. The term "Boot Camp" just sounds so foreboding. But it was too late to cancel. I was signed up.

I pull in at 6:04 (the trainer knew I would be a bit late) and they were just getting started. The trainer, was easy to spot. She was this cute Asian girl with Oakley's on. She greeted me from across the field with a warm smile, "Are you Melanie?"

From that point on, I was able to relax. The trainer had me jump right in. It was super challenging, but you work at your own pace. Really, it was like your high school PE class - but harder because you are ten years older and are packing on a few - ok a lot! - of extra weight.

I was lucky the trainer was nice. She was motivating and worked us out hard without being overbearing. I don't know that I would be going back if the founder of the boot camp was the trainer: His name is Mr. Pain. 

So, if you are tired of your same ole, same ole gym workouts, I suggest hitting the outdoors with a boot camp class. It was great to be with other people working towards the same goal as you and who were struggling just as hard. You aren't the only one!

Tatted Up

Blogging cousins, Pam and Marquita, are followers of YA Highway who posted a question that I loved so much that I have to blog about it.

The question of the week was, "What tattoo would you get to pay homage to a favorite book or celebrate the success of your own?"

I don't know that there is a book out there that I love so much that I would get it tattooed on me. But I do have one completed book. A book I am so attached to that I would have no problems getting a two inch tattoo of - drum roll please! - a MIXTAPE! Oh, and pink, of course. I couldn't find a picture of anything I really liked, so I sketched this:

Ok, I was joking about the "Author!" thing, but you get the idea. Not quite sure where I would put it, either on the back of my neck, right below my hairline and off to the side a bit, or on my back, right below the bra line also to the side. But that second option would only be possible if I wasn't eating this:

The anti-diet.

There is nothing sexy about a bra line tattoo if my bra is cutting into my back fat. Maybe next summer, when I have reached, and am comfortably maintaining, my goal weight!

But don't worry, because thanks to my personal handyman, I now have this at home to work off the anti-diet "snack" I had:

I am still planning on waking up at 4:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that I can run on the track because I really like the fresh air. But I figure I up my running regimen and get on the treadmill to jog/walk a mile every morning. I will let you know how that goes. You know me and my "goals"!

Anyway, what about you? Not all of you write, so what kind of tattoo would you get to commemorate accomplishing your biggest goal?

Weigh-In Wednesday #20

Well, that was a short visit to Onederland - I gained two pounds.

I was so disappointed with myself that I decided not to post anything today. Then I started thinking about how the first step would be to stop the blogging on weight loss and the second step would just to stop the weight loss plan altogether. I don't want to fall into that trap.

So here I am. Tail between my legs, admitting to you that I have failed this week.

It seems to me that it is the going out to eat that gets me into trouble (I own a permanent seat at Outback Steakhouse). The weeks that I don't go out to eat are the weeks that I lose weight. Maybe it is because I eat simpler foods at home. Or maybe it is because when I go out to eat I decide to eat everything on my plate. Plus the appetizer.

Weight: 201.6
Total Weight-loss: 28.4

Weigh-In Wednesday #19

That, my friends, is me sweating out an eighth of the cheeseburger I ate at lunch yesterday. Only the Stairmaster (a.k.a. Ass Kicker!) can make me sweat that much in such a short amount of time. But I love it! The hardest part for me is finding the motivation to get to that super sweaty phase. But once I am there, it is awesome! To me, nothing feels sexier than when I am working out hard and I feel the trickle of sweat between The Girls - TMI, I know.

Although I sweat it out at the gym yesterday, I have no weight loss to report - BOO! Hmm, could it have been because of the cheeseburger?

I decided that I am setting a short term goal of losing three pounds by next Wednesday. I know it is a lot of weight to lose in one week, but it is crunch time!

I got a bit of encouragement yesterday when a co-worker said, "Melanie is disappearing on us!" Yay, my 30 pounds lost has made a physical difference!

A Little Too Much Jiggle

I hate running.

Hate it.

Give me the elliptical, the stairmaster, and even the bike (my second least favorite machine!) and I will be ok. But running is the ultimate evil! It probably has a lot to do with that fact that I have too much body jiggling around. But I was inspired by Body by Pizza to start running.

A co-worker gave me a running schedule that she followed when she first started running. It is meant to build your endurance so that I will eventually be Forrest Gump. The first week looked simple enough:

Tuesday: 5x (1 minute run; 1 minute walk)
Thursday: 3x (2 minute run; 1 minute walk)
Saturday/Sunday: 3x (2 minute run; 1 minute walk)

On Tuesday, I woke up at 5:00 am and walked across the street to do my run (my neighborhood is way too hilly and I don't want to frighten my neighbors by creating a small earthquake as I stomp by their house). First run is fine. Second run is still good. By the third minute of running, I was slowing down and huffing a little. The fourth run is where it started getting really tough. By the fifth running minute I was barely jogging!

Despite how large and in charge I am, I go to the gym often enough that I didn't think running for a minute and walking for a minute would be a big deal. But it was! Have I said how much I hate running?

When I came home, I was desperately hungry and threw together this egg white omelete filled with spinach and white cheddar. It looks bland and boring, but it was super delicious! Including the Smart Balance butter that I cooked the omelete with, this dish came out to about 317 calories.

Today, I decided to drive to the local middle school and run on their track. I found that I prefer the track to running on the sidewalk - probably because I must look like a burglar running through a neighborhood at 5 am in my hooded sweathshirt and warm-ups; but the moment my feet hit that orange track, I felt like a freaking track star!

Surprisingly, today was much easier than Tuesday even though I was running for two minutes at a time instead of one. I am sure it had to do with the fact that I only had to do the set three times. Oh, and because I am a track star.

By week six, I am supposed to be able to do a 6 minute run, 1 minute walk, 5 minute run, 1 minute walk, 4 minute run, 1 minute walk. Uh, yeah, we will see how that goes.

Welcome To Onederland, Hope You're Here To Stay!

Welcome to Weigh-In Wednesday #18, where I can proudly say that I am in the 100s!!!

For your viewing pleasure:

I have recently started reading a lot of weight-loss blogs and I have come to find that everone cleverly calls the 100s "Onederland". I dig it. And now I am officially part of it - barely!

This means that I have lost two pounds this past week. Really, though, it should've been more. But then Costco pizza happened on Saturday. And then their gooey cinnabuns happened after that. I basically had a very fun weekend.

On top of finally breaking below 200 pounds, I reached another milestone today... I have officially hit the 30 pounds lost mark! Oh happy day!

As exciting as this is, I keep thinking back to 2005 where I had lost 30 pounds also. At that time, I was down to 179 pounds. It sucks that I have let myself go so much that I now have to lose double the amount I did in 2005 just to reach that lower weight again!

But enough of the glass being half empty. I have lost 30 pounds dammit, and I am under 200 pounds. I am a rockstar.

The H2O Diet

Drinking water is good for you. I know that. I have heard a ton of different wonderful things about water in relation to the well-being of one's body. Other than being good for your skin (which I totally need to improve!), it is supposed to help you lose weight for a number of reasons, including:

1.) You burn 12 calories by drinking cold water (however, your body absorbs water better at room temperature, go figure.)

2.) Drinking one glass of water before a meal will make you feel full faster; thus you don't risk overeating (this really isn't the case for me.)

3.) Drinking water speeds up the fat-burning process. (the jury is still out with this one.)

Well, those reasons are all fine and dandy, but I will tell you the real reason you lose weight by drinking more water. Be warned, this tale may be a bit TMI for some of you...

I am one of those people that normally doesn't drink water. I am a soda addict, but will otherwise drink juice or something with some flavor to it. However, within the last 4-6 months, I have started to force myself to drink more water. On an average work day, I will drink a 23.8 oz. bottle of Smart Water before my lunch break, and another one after my lunch break. This is on a good day. Sometimes, that bottle sits at my desk completely full and stares at me in all its sparkling promise of weight-loss.

Anyhoo, since Germaine is noticing some positive results with her skin by drinking more water, I decided to up my daily dose too. Yesterday, I drank a cup of coffee in the morning and then drank one bottle of water before my first break at 10:30 am. I refilled my bottle and drank about half of it. Now, this would be half a bottle more than I normally drink in that time frame, plus the extra liquid of coffee in my system.

During my lunch, at noon, I went to the bathroom and pretty much peed water out. Seriously, I left a super clear bowl of water in the toilet. I then went out to my car to read a book and at 12:30 I started feeling the urge again. I told myself, "Self, you can wait a half hour."

Self was wrong. Ten minutes later, I got out of my car, ran to the bathroom and squatted (because I didn't have time to get out one of those paper cover thingies) for five minutes as my bladder emptied. Alright. I should be done. 

Nope. When I was done with lunch twenty minutes later, I went again. For another five minutes. I then sat at my desk and started working. Thirty minutes later, there was that dreaded tingling sensation. "I can hold it! I can hold it!" I think to myself.

One minute later.
Two minutes later.
Four minutes.
Five minutes.
Seven.
Eight.

Nine excruciating minutes later, I pass a fellow co-worker asking them to cover my desk as I fly to the bathroom! Let's recap that: In the span of two hours, I emptied my bladder FOUR times!

So the secret to water in relation to weight-loss isn't what you may have been taught. The secret is the calories you lose from the exorbitant amount of times that you have to run to and from the bathroom and the calories lost as you are in the squatting position for five torturous minutes as your body hovers over the toilet since you didn't have time to cover the seat.

Forget fiction, I should write a weight-loss book. 

Weigh-In Wednesday #17

After a week on The Diet (with a hiccup of chocolate birthday cake and grape juice on Sunday) and five hardcore gym days where I tackled this beast...

I am pleased to announce a four pound weight loss! Yay me!

I was getting into the habit of weighing myself everyday and got down to 200 pounds as of Monday, but it didn't stick. I am going to try very hard to wait to weigh myself again until next Wednesday. The great news is that I am officially declaring today as my lowest weight of the month which means that I have lost a total of six pounds since March. Again, yay me!

On another note, it is not a good idea to watch The Biggest Loser while Aunt Flo is in town. I am already crying when I watch it each week, but last night I was in wracking sobs the entire first half of the show!

Current Weight: 201.6 lbs.
Total Weight Loss: 28.4 lbs.
Reason for Weight Loss: I just found out that my brother's fiancee's bachelorette party will entail a pole dancing class. I don't know how I am supposed to lift my 201 pound ass up a pole.

Weigh-In Wednesday #16

I was watching The Biggest Loser last night and Ashley had lost four pounds in one week, which, to her, was very disappointing. I don't know about you, but if I lost four pounds in one week, I would be willing to run the risk of being disowned by all of my friends and calling them at 6:00 am to celebrate my four pound achievement. It takes me two months to lose four pounds and it took Ashley a week. I do understand that it is a different situation and that all they do is workout on The BL, whereas I have real life to deal with on top of fitting in a work out.

So, although I didn't lose a staggering four pounds, I am ecstatic about my 1.2 pound weight loss this week! Not acceptable by BL standards, I am sure I would've been voted off, but by my standards, this week was a win. Yay me!

I found that fasting on Monday really did help me get in the mindset of Phase I for South Beach. I really was happy to just be able to put something, anything, in my mouth. I didn't miss a single carb. Of course, this is just the beginning of day two, so we will see how the momentum keeps up.

To help keep the momentum going, I have been searching for good weight-loss blogs and found one that is truly inspiring: Body by Pizza. Love the title already. The truly amazing thing? She has lost 111 pounds in 16 months! No folks, that was not a typo - one hundred and eleven pounds! And she did it the old fashioned way - working out and counting calories.

One of the things that makes me enjoy a blog are the author's personal pictures, and Rachel has some wonderful before and afters and other pictures throughout her entries. I guess I am still a kid and need pictures whenever I am reading something! Another reason I love Rachel's blog is that she is smart. And crass. Her writing, to me at least, is intelligent and witty. Throw in a couple of expletives and I am hooked!

Another aspect of her blog that I like is that she has a list of her monthly weight and how much she had lost overall for that month on her sidebar. I loved that idea and decided to add my own list to my blog. And you know what? It really made me feel like I have accomplished something. Doing a weekly weigh-in is still a must, but sometimes I have really bad weeks and I feel like I should give up because I can't really control my eating habits. But when I see an overall weight-loss for that month (even if it is just one pound) it really does make it worthwhile.

Current Weight: 205.4 lbs.

Here We Go Again!

Desperate times calls for desperate measures. We are back on The South Beach Diet (a.k.a. The Diet or SBD)!

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to go to the grocery store over the weekend, so I decided to fast yesterday to try and cleanse my system of the BBQ and carb filled weekend I had. Besides, I'm catholic, we like to fast. Also, Lauren put it best when she did the Hollywood 48-Hour Miracle Diet and she said, "It really puts the South Beach Diet into perspective, at least you get to eat on that one!" Boy was she right, all I wanted yesterday was a bite of cauliflower and ranch. But I managed to only drink water and tea yesterday and now it is time to binge on some protein. Go Meat!

My last venture with the diet didn't go so well because I have a tendency to modify the strict Phase I. Although hot wings are low carb, they are not a Phase I approved food, but I managed to make it one. Every single day. But no more cheating!

I also decided to take my measurements and was planning on sharing them on my blog until I saw that my thigh is the equivalent of a slender woman's waist. Maybe I can share them with you after a 50 pound weight-loss.

Might As Well jump. JUMP!

I went to the AIRobics class again last night and actually thought to take pictures. I just had my phone with me, so we couldn't get any usable action shots. Here is Lauren and I striking a pose during the first break.

We are starting to get some beautiful weather here in Washington. Perfect for those lunch time walks. I am debating buying a pair of Skechers Shape Ups to add a little umph to my walks. Does anyone else have them? How are they working for you? They cost a pretty penny, so I am doing a little research before spending that kind of cash money.