Update

Hi, all!

Happy Saturday! The weekend is here, what are your plans? As I assumed yesterday, I don't really have any plans. Now that I'm done with my Bachelors degree, I have way too much free time. Most people enjoy having free time, however, I don't find it that enjoyable. I would much rather be busy, either because of school or work. I'll be back to being busy soon enough, so I'm going to try and enjoy my free time while I have it.

Yesterday I had another great day, I had a great 65-minute walk and I was under my calorie goal. Overall, I've had a fantastic week, so I cannot wait to see the results of my weigh-in tomorrow. Every day, but one this week the number on the scale was lower. Plus, I was under my calories every day but Sunday. My fitness minutes and calorie burn were great this week as well! I had 320 fitness minutes, which is way over my goal and I burned about 1700 calories. I'm really thankful that I had a good week and that I'm making progress. It's not always easy, but I need to make these changes for my health. Hopefully within a few weeks I'll say goodbye to the 300's for good and never see it again!

Tomorrow is probably going to be another boring day, I just have church in the morning. Maybe I'll talk my mom into going out and walking with me in the afternoon. The thing I'm looking forward to the most is sharing my results with everyone and updating my goals.

Well, I'm off. I hope that everyone is enjoying their Saturday. Until next time!

~Sara~

Fatigue and Numbers

Hi, all!

Happy Thursday! How are you all doing today? We're so close to being at the weekend, how are you doing on your goals? Mine are going amazingly so far, I'm right on track to meet and exceed mine.

Yesterday went well, I worked out and was under my calorie goal. I love being able to look at my weight, nutrition and fitness chart and see how my numbers are each day. It's really interesting to see how my weight changes from day to day because I'm able to analyze why it is getting higher or lower. I also enjoy seeing the calorie goal compared to my actual calories and my net calories. Seeing those fitness minutes and calories burned increasing each day is so motivating as well. I can't wait to see the numbers for the entire month, so I can analyze what I need to do differently to reach my goals.

Today is going wonderfully thus far, I had a workout and I'm on track nutritionally. My workout today was shorter than normal though, only 30 minutes of walking and upper body strength training. My legs were feeling sort of fatigued, so I cut it short. I'd rather cut my workout short than get an injury or need to take off for a few extra days. A short workout is better than no workout at all.

Well, I'm off to make dinner. Tonight I'm having a delicious stir fry with chicken and sunflower seeds. I cannot wait to eat it and I will enjoy every bite of my delicious and healthy dinner. I hope you've all had an amazing day. Until next time!

~Sara~

New Month, New Beginning

Hi, all!

Happy Friday! How are you all doing today? It's May 1st, which means a new month is upon us. Today is a clean slate, what are we going to do to make it count? There are so many things that we can accomplish this month if we put our minds to it. I shared my goals a few days ago, what are your goals for the month?

Yesterday I had another good day and I ended April on a positive note, which I'm so happy about. According to my records, I was 1041 calories under my goal (for the last 4 days of April), I had almost 1100 calories burned and 201 fitness minutes in those 4 days as well. :) I'm proud of myself for staying on track these four days because it hasn't been without hardships. Sometimes I think I need to eat more in the evening, even after I've had my snack, but I work through it and realize that I don't need it. It's especially gratifying when I talk myself out of eating some that is not necessary (like some nachos or something like that). Often in the evenings, I'm craving some sort of carb, usually chips, and I know that is not something I need. There is nothing wrong with eating chips from time to time, but in the evening, I'd eat way too many of them, so I try to avoid them. It'll be much nicer when I'm living on my own again and I won't even keep those kinds of things around.

Tonight my mom, two youngest nieces and I are going out for Chinese tonight, so it'll be tougher to keep on track today, but I'm determined to stay on track. I've already determined what I'm eating (some delicious chicken and broccoli) and I've added it to my nutrition tracker. This is how my life is going to be, there will be times that go out for Chinese or Italian or whatever else. I will eat it and enjoy it, but I'll make sure that it fits into my day.

Oh, and I just wanted to share something that I find amazing. The shirt I'm wearing today is one that I bought on Saturday. When I was trying it on, I thought it looked nice, but it was just another shirt. Today it is more than simply a new shirt, I feel more confident in it. The reason for that is that I'm working out and eating better again. I feel better about myself when I'm working out and eating properly and I think it shows. I'm more confident about myself when I'm doing well. It's an amazing feeling, I love having more confidence.

My best friend is going to be here starting on Sunday afternoon/evening and she'll be here until the following Saturday afternoon. I'm so excited to have her here, especially since I've graduated. Her sister is getting married a week from today and my best friend is the maid of honor. I can't wait for the wedding, it'll be an amazing time with a family that I've known since I was 7. Plus, I'll be able to hang out with my best friend a few times during the week that she's home. Anyways, I'm off. I hope that you all have an amazing day and an amazing beginning of the month. Until next time!

~Sara~ 

Update

Hi all!

Happy Friday! How are you all doing today? I am doing alright today, ready to get back in the swing of things. I will be honest, the past two days my nutrition was off, especially Wednesday. Yesterday I tried to get back on track and was doing well until the evening, I did not eat enough throughout the day and I paid for it in the evening. Today is a new day though and I am thankful for the new beginning that today offers. From now on, I am upping the intensity of my strength training sessions because I have been slacking with it and if I want to see results, I do need to work harder.

Let me tell you, my workout was intense today! I did my 30 minutes of cardio and 40 minutes of strength training. 4 sets of legwork and 3 sets of ab work, I would have done more but I was so shaky because I needed to eat something. So, I stopped because I thought that was better than passing out. On Wednesday, I missed my workout, which is why I did both legs and abs today. I am probably going to be hurting tomorrow, especially my legs, but I love the burn.

I have a weigh-in tomorrow for my challenge, not sure, how it is going to go because of my two off days this week. Oh well, it is just one weigh-in, it does not define who I am as a person. Even though I had two off days nutritionally this week, I am still calling this a decent week. I have 293 fitness minutes and before Wednesday, I was spot on nutritionally. Two off days are not going to derail  me completely, not this time.  

Time to get back to my schoolwork, this week I am trying to get through most of the information for my final paper and presentation. It is definitely time consuming but necessary. Hopefully I’ll be able to update by Monday at the latest. I hope that you all are having a great day. Until next time!

~Sara~

Weigh-In and Weekly Goals

Hi all!

Happy Monday! How are you all doing today? It's a eh sort of day here in southeastern Wisconsin, both weather wise and emotionally. That loss in the football game yesterday afternoon was brutal, but it is what it is, congratulations to the Seahawks. Now it's time to focus on schoolwork even more and looking ahead to baseball season :)

Yesterday was weigh-in day and I was pretty excited for it, I had a great week in regards to fitness and nutrition. I had 200 official fitness minutes and bunch of unofficial fitness minutes on Saturday. I was also about 1200 calories under my weekly calorie goal before exercise calories were added. I didn't have a huge loss, but the water weight is finally coming off a little. -.4 pounds last week, so I can't complain. Hopefully the water weight will completely come off soon though. 

Starting Weight: 315 lbs

Last Weight: 293.8 lbs

Current Weight: 293.4 lbs

Weight Lost: 21.6 lbs

My goals for this week:  

1. At least 200 fitness minutes 

2. Lift Monday, Wednesday, Friday

3. East 2200 calories daily (15400 for the week)

4. Get through week 5 on my schoolwork

5. Stay positive (no matter my motivation level)

6. Blog 3 days

7. Push myself (especially with my strength training sessions)

Time to go and work on my schoolwork now. I'm about 2 weeks ahead of schedule, so here's hoping that this week I'll be able to keep that pace and get even further ahead. I hope that you all have a great day. Until next time!

~Sara~

Weekly Fitness Goals

Hi all!

How are you on this Wednesday? Personally, I can't really complain. Staying busy with my homework, I'm focusing on my final paper and presentation today. Things will calm down a bit after this week and won't really get crazy again until about a month from now. I love taking my classes the way they are now but it really stinks that the final of one class and week one of the next class fall into the same week.

I am absolutely adoring the fact that I'm back into a healthier nutrition and fitness routine. When I started out, my walking was really light, not wanting to hurt my back while it's still healing. Now, my back is still healing, but I am trying to be more efficient with my workouts. I was logging a bunch of fitness minutes (900+ in 2 weeks), which is great, but my calorie burn was quite low for that many minutes. My legs were getting extremely fatigued because of the amount of minutes I was logging. So now, I am trying to have a higher calorie burn in fewer minutes. Currently, my goal is to burn 300 calories/workout and around 45 minutes a day (225 minutes/week). Sticking with that goal and my nutritional goals will help me lose 1 lb a week.

Time to get back to my final. I hope you all have a wonderful day and evening. Until next time!

~Sara~