Non-Scale Victories and Upcoming News (Day 616)

Hi all!

Happy Thursday! How are all of you doing today? Can you believe it's Thursday already? This week is flying by. I'm going to try to keep this post short today because I have so much to get done... 2 papers to write, finish up learning activities for Biology, write 2 getting to know you discussion posts, start a final paper, get cleaning done because we have a showing of our house tomorrow night, and finish getting ready for our garage sale tomorrow night and Saturday morning. Oh and I'll be posting about my amazing news later today or tomorrow... maybe a vlog :).

I'm so excited for next weekend, my best friend is coming home for a few days and on Saturday I have my Darren Criss concert! He started his tour last night in San Francisco and I've watched many videos from it which has made me even more excited for the concert. It's so cool watching the videos because playing at the Fillmore has been a dream of his forever. He was born in San Francisco, so I was so excited for him being able to live out one of his dreams. Seeing him live will be a dream come true for me and it's only 9 days away! :)

Thursday's are an amazing day because I get to link up with Katie, Lex, and Ashlee for NSV's Thursday! :) Make sure to go check these lovely ladies out and don't forget to link up with us and share your NSV's of the week. So without further ado, here are my NSV's. 

1. I jogged outside this morning

2. My nutrition has been right on key this week

3. I've been exercising regularly... walking/jogging intervals and workout videos

4. I have other good news that I cannot wait to share later! :)

Time to cut this short and get going on all my homework. I cannot wait to share my news with you all very soon! Have a wonderful day! So until next time!

~Sara~

Perspective (Day 606)

Hi all!

Happy Monday! How are you all doing today? It is a warm day here and we are more than likely going to get storms today and almost every day this week. Eh... But at least the sun is shining right now.

I have so much on my mind today, mostly about weight loss journeys and motivation. While I was doing some interval training this morning (see the picture... it was a great workout!) I was thinking about how people focus on how far they still have to go instead of how far they have come. So many people just look at their ultimate goal compared to where they currently are and it can seem daunting. Believe me, when I started in September of 2011 it was quite daunting to think about how far I had to go. I try to not look at how far I still have to go, but how far I have come already.

I mean come on, I am jogging and I don't hate it! I'm currently in a size 20 (down from a tight 24), inching closer and closer to an 18, I haven't been in a size 18 since high school - 5 years ago. I've lost 43.6 pounds, that is about an elephant's heart or a little more than 2 car tires! Yeah, I still need to lose 111 pounds but before I needed to lose 155 pounds. I have more energy on a daily basis. I don't break out into a sweat from  walking a few steps. I am so much more confident now. I don't feel like people see me as this overweight woman anymore... I have so many other things to offer people. I am eating lower carb most days -- me, the carb queen, who would eat a butt load of carbs at every meal before. And most importantly, I am achieving my goals.

Another thing I was thinking about came around from a blog post I read on MyFitnessPal -- you may or may not know that I'm on that site. If we're not friends on there and you want to be look me up... sbengsch
Anywho... I have this awesome friend on there who started his journey at 450+ pounds only 33 weeks ago. Today he weighs 319, which is a loss of 131 pounds so far. This dude is awesome, he is so motivating. He posts a blog every Monday about his past week and today he said that he jogged for the first time! Eek, I was so freaking excited for him when I read that! I know exactly how he feels, I jogged for the first time last week. But thinking about it, 319 pounds, that was 4 pounds higher than my starting weight. At that point, I didn't even dream about running. When I weighed 315 pounds, I avoided running/jogging/other forms of exercise unless I was at home by myself. You know why? Because I would sweat like crazy with very little movement, just walking from room to room in my house would do it. And don't even get me started on climbing the stairs.

I guess the point is, we can do anything that we set our minds to. Setting goals has been something that is very beneficial to me. What goals do you all have set for yourself? But I suppose, this post is long enough already and I have homework to get to. Have a wonderful day! So until next time!

~Sara~

I Jogged!!! (Day 599)

Hi all!

Happy Monday (and yes, it is very happy)! How are you all doing today? Are you all ready to start the new week? What are you doing to make this week great?

So, I have crazy exciting news I want to share with you and I cannot contain myself. This morning I wanted to try out a new workout, so I went to my collection of fitness videos. I found a low impact one, so I decided I wanted to try it out but it was only 10 minutes. So I did the video and decided that I was going to do some jogging. When I jog, I turn on my playlist and I usually can only jog to 1 or 1.5 songs but not today.

I jogged for 18.35 freaking minutes!!!!!

I still cannot believe it, but I just pushed myself and jogged through 5 songs. My legs were killing by the end of it but I actually did it. I was so freaking excited that I decided to take a picture and share it with all of you (and yes, it's not the most attractive picture, but I was psyched!) In the past, I always made up excuses on why I couldn't run/jog. 

- I'm too fat to jog

- It's bad for my joints

- I just won't like it

Blah, blah blah... Those were all horrible excuses. I've seen people who weigh more than me jogging, so that excuse is out. Yeah, it's not the best for my joints but that doesn't stop other people. Yeah, it will be boring and I probably won't like it if I was only doing it on a treadmill or at home. But if I were to ever go jogging outside, I just may like it. All-in-all, I could be a jogger/runner some day... And that's saying something coming from me. :)

This whole jogging thing was even more exciting because I ate way too much at dinner last night. We ordered this really delicious pizza from my favorite pizza place in town, for mother's day. I don't know why, but I can do so well with my eating and eat in moderation  but when it comes to pizza I cannot control myself. Someday pizza will not have this control over me, I am bound and determined to make sure that happens. Anyways... we ordered the pizza and my goal was to only have one plate (like 3 slices, they are cut into squares). Well, that definitely did not happen. I had more like 10 or 12 squares. Yeah... I'm not proud of that but it is what it is. Today is a new day. 

While doing some thinking this morning, my attitude is different. I woke up and was determined to have a good day. So I decided to workout and have it be a great workout. Now I'm feeling so energized, positive, and happy. I love the endorphins that exercise gives me and I really do need to get back into a exercise routine. When I have one, my mood is happier and I want that back. Yeah... life isn't ideal right now, but there's not much I can do about it. Everything with Abid will workout somehow and me stressing over it, won't help matters any. It's hard for me to accept that I've done everything that I can so far and now it's just a waiting game. This very thing is what I have told Abid more times than I can count... what I need to do is take my own advice. Everything will workout somehow, I know it.

This morning I registered for my fall classes and it's really sinking in. After my fall classes, I only have 7 classes left before graduation! Only 7, that's freaking crazy to me! As long as I take 2 classes every five week, I will be graduating with my Bachelor's in the spring. And in December of January I will be applying for my Master's and God-willing that I get accepted, I should be starting that next fall. It's really crazy to think about but I cannot wait to see where I am by next fall. Who knows where I will be in my weight loss journey, I could be really close to my goal if I keep working hard (and I just realized that as of my last weigh-in, I am now only 110 pounds away from my goal. Much better than the 155 pounds away I was at before :) ). 

But I suppose... this has been long post. And I have a new week of homework to get started on. I hope you all have a wonderful day! So until next time!

~Sara~