Day Seventeen: -8lbs.

It's been a while. I'm 8lbs lighter now. :) We had our first weigh-in on Monday, and I lost the least amount of weight. Momma: 11lbs Daddy: 9lbs. Which means I have to step it up. Monday I spent 3 hours in the gym. I honestly felt great afterwards. Yesterday I spent an hour and a half. Now, I'm finally getting into the swing of things. This past weekend I went to visit my boyfriend in Knoxville. I didn't eat right, I made healthier choices. However, we went out to eat a lot and I got healthy things, but usually those healthy things are 600 or 700 calories. I have found a new healthy "meal". As you know I eat 5 meals a day, less than 300 calories each. This one is just over 200. Take a caramel fiber bar, and an apple. :) eat them together, tastes like a caramel apple. It's really good. I ate a chocolate fiber bar and an apple this morning for breakfast, and it wasn't near at good. I think my next meal is going to involve eggs. My mom bought 3 dozen the last time she went to walmart, so I promised her I'd eat some today. Well, I'm off to work out :) All cardio today.

Day Nine: Sore

I stayed at the gym last night longer than I have in a long time. I made sure I was doing my upper body correctly, instead of just rushing through it. When I used to go to the triceps or biceps machine, I would use momentum to get the weight up. But, last night, I went slowly making sure I was getting all of the weight. Honestly, If I used momentum to do it.. I would only be cheating myself. I tell ya, I can feel the difference. This morning I was reaching for a fiber bar in a top cabinet and I couldn't get my arm up to reach it, so I settled for cereal :) Tonight is lower body... I hope I can walk tomorrow...

Day Eight: This is going to be hard.

Well, This weekend was tough. My boyfriend came to town and we went out to eat a few times even got pizza. I ate a lot less than I usually would have, but I still ate bad things. I'm about to go to the gym and work off this entire weekend! I've done great today though. I had pineapple this morning and a glass of milk, and a Fiber bar, I just ate a salad with grilled chicken and salsa instead of dressing, more tomorrow. Got to get to the gym :)

Day Four: 4lbs.

I weighed this morning, and I've lost 4lbs in 4 days :) Let's just hope this trend continues. Today was a good day, I got to the gym and did a little cardio. However, my main source of exercise today was Your Shape for the Wii. My best friend Amy got it for me and my mom for christmas. And I was sweating during the Fitness Test. Apparently I'm a little more out of shape than I thought. Oh well, I've been reading this book written by Jillian Michaels about your Metabolism and it's actually very informative. It's where I got the idea to eat 5 small meals rather than 3 big ones. I'm so happy things are working right now, let's just hope I can keep it up.

Day Three: Busy Life

Well, I sadly haven't made it to the gym today. Here goes the whole "oh, I'll do it tomorrow". Although today was a special situation, I know I can't say it often. Today, we had a games training. So we were running around all over the place for 3 hours. I broke a bigger sweat than I do at the gym. Which speaks volumes about how I need to step it up there. So now that school are closed tomorrow, I don't have to work. So hopefully during the day, the gym won't be super crowded and I can spend a little bit longer in the gym. *fingers crossed*

My mom bought these Green Giant "just for ones" vegetable packs a few weeks ago and I love them. What I ate for super tonight may sound weird, but I love it. It really helps when I'm really hungry. The Green Giant thing comes in a ready to steam plastic container, just pop it in for two minuets and it's actually really good. But, what I did tonight for supper was to cook one of those Green Giant corn packages and a full can of green beans and mix them in a bowl. [If you don't like the taste of plain green beans, put a single packet of Splenda on the top of them when you microwave them, makes them just a little sweet.] It was really good. I'll definitely be using this meal more often.

Day Two: Not So Bad

I just woke up, and had an omelet. I used three egg whites and only two yellow parts, cuts out quite a few calories and you don't really miss it. I'm taking a Women's Active Metabolism multivitamin. It seems to be working pretty good. It actually has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. Anyways, I guess I'll go ahead and tell you the reason why I'm actually choosing to change my life now. My parents and I have decided to do our own little Biggest Loser type thing. Each of my parents are putting in $400, and I'm putting in $200. The person at the end who loses the biggest percentage gets $1,000. :) We all need incentive, and one thousand dollars sounds good to me. My dad weighs about 225, and my mom weighs about 265, so I have a great chance at winning, if I stick to it. Hopefully, this will help me. Another thing I'm doing is eating 5 meals a day instead of 3, or less. Each meal is only 150-200 calories, so even though I'm not eating a whole lot. I don't feel as hungry because I know I'm going to be eating in a few hours again.

For example, yesterday for my 5 meals I ate:

*Coffee & a Fiber Bar (Fiber One bars are AMAZING)

* An Orange

*A can of Progresso Light Chicken Noodle Soup (only 170 calories)

* A Salad with shredded lettuce and part of a rotisserie chicken (skin peeled off) with light ranch dressing

* A Banana

Never once did I feel hungry. I hate to pull a "commercial" on you, but the Extra gum they talk about all the time on Biggest Loser, really does work. The Winterfresh kind is my favorite. I realize it's only day two, but it doesn't seem so bad yet. I'm not starving, or secretly driving past fast food places struggling not to turn into the drive-thru. I just ate breakfast, and I'm honestly full. I only ate a small omelet, and drank some coffee and I don't feel like I'm missing anything. My main problem was portion sizes. I used to think that eating 4 pieces of pizza covered in ranch dressing was normal, now I realize it isn't and that's how I got this way. Now, I just have to change how I see food. Most people "eat their feelings", I however, just like the taste of food. I had a great childhood, I don't have some underlying problem that I look to food to comfort. I really just like the taste of food. Maybe this journey will reveal a different problem I have, who knows. For now, I'm working on my portion size and getting to the gym everyday. Well, I must get ready for work now. I'll have more tonight. Hopefully pictures of equipment, my before picture, and other little things. Good luck, and stay healthy!

Work Out Routine

I plan on sticking to a pretty simple workout routine. Definitely not Biggest Loser grade, but "doable". This first workout routine is more of a getting into it kind of routine. If I go all out at the beginning I tend to give up much to easy. Hopefully, this will keep me into it. I'll elaborate more on the upper body & lower body later, probably tomorrow. I'm actually going to work out in about an hour. I'll take pictures of the equipment I use for both of these an upload them tonight. It's a lot easier to understand the machine I'm talking about if you see it.

So here it is:

Sunday: Cardio 90 mins

Monday: Cardio 30 mins, Upper Body, Cardio 30 mins

Tuesday: Cardio 30 mins, Lower Body, Cardio 30 mins

Wednesday: Cardio 90 mins

Thursday: Cardio 30 mins, Upper Body, Cardio 30 mins

Friday: Cardio 30 mins, Lower Body, Cardio 30 mins

Saturday: REST (this is very important, you have to give your muscles time to regenerate)