Losing Weight is Hard

Hi, all!

So, my fitness evaluation needed to be rescheduled for Tuesday. I know it is only a few days away, but I am a little bummed out that I was not able to find out my results. Oh well, that means I have a few more days to work hard. And let me tell you, I have been working incredibly hard. According to my scale at home, I have lost 12.2 pounds in a month. We'll have to see what the scale at the gym says on Tuesday. Either way, I know that I have made progress because I stuck to my nutritional goals 22 out of 32 days. I am sort of ashamed that in March I had 10 days where I either did not count calories, binged, or just went over. Even though I am ashamed of that, it also shows just how hard I worked the other days out of the month. Consistently I saw my weight dropping, that is a fact because on March 7th, I weighed in at 330 pounds and this morning the scale told me 317.8. The results are real.

Losing weight it hard, I will not deny that at all. If it were just an easy thing to do, I would not have topped the scale at 330 pounds, and I would have been able to keep off the 50 pounds I lost before. It is hard, plain and simple. There are days where I do not want to eat healthily, where I would rather just binge on all of my comfort foods. Or have a big bowl of pasta, a whole bag of chips, a huge bowl of ice cream. Or just a bunch of unhealthy but delicious foods from a fast food restaurant. There is nothing wrong with having pasta, chips, ice cream or fast food. Moderation is the key. To be honest, though, there have been days where I have said, 'Screw it,' I'm going to make a big plate of nachos or eat a big bowl of ice cream. Not to mention that some days I do not want to work out and sometimes I don't. This week I worked out all seven days because I wanted to. But other weeks I only work out 4 or 5 times, sometimes less than that because I just don't have the energy for it. The point is, I'm not perfect 100 percentage of the time. It just so happens that this was an excellent week for me. I ate 3,921 calories under my weekly goal. I worked out for a total of 299 minutes. And had a total calorie burn between food and exercise of 9619. If you don't know, that is 2.75 pounds for the week. Some days in March I did not do well at all, but I still was down 6.2 lbs.

Here's what I want you to get from this long drabble, you don't always have to be perfect! Some days will be bad and some good. Some weeks you will lose 2 pounds, and somewhere you will gain them back. Have more good days than bad. Eat all the foods you love in moderation or find healthier replacements that you love even more. Just stick with it, and the results will come. Slow and steady wins the race.

It is finally the weekend. I am still trying to get used to working again. My job may not be all day at this point but I am still trying to get used to being busier. It will get better when I am in my actual work schedule and not my training schedule. This varying schedule is weird but I will be into my actual schedule within the next few weeks. It will be nice to get my first paycheck on Friday though. My next one will be even better though, so I am excited about May 1st.  

October Goals and Other Thoughts

Hi all!

Happy October! How are you all on this beautiful fall day? I am so excited that it's finally October, it is my favorite month of the year. Here in Wisconsin, the leaves are changing colors and ultimately falling off the trees, so it's absolutely beautiful. Plus, the weather is gorgeous, it's colder but it becomes my perfect temperature. I'm able to wear, a 3/4 length sleeve shirt, skinny jeans and boots and be extremely comfortable. Can it just be fall all year round? One of the reasons I want to move to Seattle is that the temperatures are so much better than Wisconsin's, all year round.

Okay, so a new month means monthly goals. I feel like my goals are similar each month or week but I always want to accomplish similar things. So here we are:

1. Lose 3-4 pounds

2. Exercise at least 30 minutes/5 times a week

3. Burn at least 300 calories/workout

4. Blog 5 times/week

5. Eat a healthy breakfast/daily

6. Eat within my calorie goal at least 6 days/week

7. Stay positive

8. Continue staying ahead school work

9. Monitor stress levels and make sure to not become overly stressed

10. At least 1 hour of pleasure reading/daily

11. Don't focus so much on the number on the scale or clothing but focus on how I feel

The past few days I have been seeing an ad from Special K and I just have had the urge to write about it. This ad takes places in a store that sells jeans but this isn't like every other clothing store. What's different? There are not numbered sizes on the jeans, the employee has to measure you and the tape measure gives a positive word instead of a number. This word correlates with a jean "size". I wish that is how stores were, not these stupid numbered sizes that we have today. All of us compare our size to someone else's because their smaller or larger, that is such an emotionally trying thing. If we were a size confident or strong or whatever other word, how could we compare ourselves to someone else? We don't know what the actual size would be because it's another positive word. Honestly, how amazing would that be?

Amanda and I - Summer 2012

Last night I was texting my best friend about how far ahead on my homework I am this week and she began joking around that I should come and visit her (she lives 3.5 hours south of me). At first I took it as a joke but then I began thinking, I am really far ahead and I have enough cash to spare right now. So on Friday morning, I am heading down to see my best friend for the weekend! I am so dang excited for my weekend away with my best friend, I miss her so much. We've been through everything together, since I was 8 years old (I'm 24 now), so for 3/4's of my life this girl has been by my side. When she moved away in 2012 it was really tough for me, needless to say, but our friendship is even stronger now as it was when we lived in the same town and saw each other at least once a week. Now we only see each other in person maybe once every 3 or 6 months, so any time that I'm able to spend with her is amazing.

I was checking my Facebook feed this morning and my college's page posted this picture and it is definitely something that I needed to see today and many other times. I want to share this with all of you and I hope it brings some encouragement to at least one person.
There are certain times when I get discouraged about one thing or another and I always seem to forget to look at how far I've come. Instead I focus on how far I still have to go, whether it be for weight loss or school or whatever else.
Today I wasn't really discouraged but this photo just encouraged a great deal and served as a wonderful reminder of how far I've come. Weight loss wise, I've lost 27 pounds and yeah, I still want to lose 128 more pounds but I'm so much farther than I was when I first began. And for school, I have an Associates degree and I only have 10 months left until I have my Bachelor's degree as well. Then only 3 years until I have my Master's degree. I could be able to begin my career in 5 years or less and have 3 degrees under my belt. Look how far I've come since I graduated high school 6 years ago, I'm in a much better mind set emotionally, spiritually and physically. I've experienced good and bad things but the most important thing is that I've grown exponentially.

One final thought before going to work on my final some more: no matter what you're experiencing now, always remember to stay positive and look towards the future. You can't change the past, so remember how far you've come but keep your focus ahead. I hope that someone finds encouragement in this. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Until next time!

~Sara~