Happy Saturday!

Hi, all!

Happy Saturday! The weekend is finally upon us, are you excited? How did your week go? Have you accomplished all of your goals? I'll tell you all about how I did tomorrow and I can't wait to share! It's another beautiful day here in Wisconsin, the sun is shining right now and thankfully it's not too hot out yet. A little later it's supposed to be warmer, so I'm not looking forward to that at all.

My mom and I took a walk this morning and we just enjoyed each other's company while getting a good workout in. Outside walks don't happen all that often for me, but it was nice to get a little fresh air. I don't get to spend that much time with my mom because both of our lives are fairly busy, but we're trying to spend a little more time together before I move. Although I don't know exactly when I'm moving yet, the date is getting closer and closer. I have 116 days, at the least, until I need to be out in Seattle for school, and who knows, it may be even sooner than that. Only time will tell when I'm moving.

Sorry for the short update, tomorrow's should be a bit longer. I'm off to enjoy the beautiful day. I hope that you all have an amazing Saturday and weekend in general. 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~

Quick Update

Hi, all!

Happy Wednesday! How are you all doing on this beautiful day? I'm doing well and I'm enjoying the day. This week is going by fairly quickly now, I can't believe it's already Wednesday. Oh well, another week will be gone soon enough.

My day yesterday was off and on, I stayed under my calorie goal and I worked out, so that's a good thing. However, I ate more than I wanted to and I ate some chips while I was waiting for my lunch. I logged the chips and made sure they fit into my day, but they were not a part of my plan. Last night I was craving some ice cream, so I ate some and I enjoyed every single bite of it. Let me tell you, ice cream is not a part of my life every day, however, when I want some, I will make it fit into my day.

This morning I had an appointment which is just a few blocks from my house, so I walked there. I decided to wear my HRM and it's amazing how many more calories I burn while walking outside. If I had someone to walk with and the weather was nicer, then I may just walk outside more. I know a bunch of people who love walking/running outside by themselves, however, I find that to be incredibly boring. If I'm going to walk by myself, I'd rather just do it around the house. To each their own.

I know this is a rather short post, but I just don't have a great deal to say today. I hope you all are having a wonderful day. Until next time!

~Sara~

Homework, colder weather, and shopping

Hi all!

How are you doing today? I am absolutely wonderful, it is 48 degrees here today and I'm loving it! :) It might be considered strange, but 50 and 60 degree weather is perfect for me, not too hot or cold. Plus it's not cold enough for snow to start falling and that makes me very happy.

I am still trying to get back into the swing of things with blogging again and I'm having such a hard time coming up with titles. It's incredibly frustrating. Nevertheless, I am happy to be blogging again.

All I have left to do this week, homework wise, is watching these 5 videos and writing a paper about them. Personally, I hate having to watch a video and write a paper about it because my computer takes forever buffering videos and it is so much more difficult to take direct quotes, if they are necessary. Hence why it is Friday and I still have not watched the videos yet.

Now onto my nutrition and fitness update. I'm proud of myself for sticking to it for 5 of 6 days so far. My weigh-in on Sunday is something that I am actually looking forward to. And I'm starting to get antsy to be able to do more than just walking but I'm waiting on the doctor's okay to increase. One thing that I am doing well with is walking while I'm waiting on my food at all my meals and eating slower. So I am taking a bite, chewing it slowly and putting my silverware down between bites. My lunches have been taking at least 30 minutes, instead of maybe 10 or 15.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping and I'll hopefully be getting some great food choices. I have my list made up and now I just need to buy them. I'm excited to see what the next few weeks hold for me. :) I suppose I should get onto these videos now. Have a wonderful day everyone! Until next time!

~Sara~

Life is Crazy (Day 613)

Hi all!

Happy Monday and Happy Memorial Day! I cannot even say thank you enough to all the men and women who have given their lives to serve and protect us. How are you all doing today?

It's the beginning of a new week, what are you all doing to make this week great? This morning I did a few job searches in Colorado and I have an informational session about the job tomorrow afternoon to see if it would be something that I am interested in. So we'll see how it goes and if it goes well then I may be making a trip out to Colorado again soon. I also went for a walk this morning, even though the weather is colder and looks like it could rain, I didn't let that stop me. It felt amazing to get outside and just walk... I also talked to my best friend on the phone while on my walk. My best friend went through a similar situation last year about whether or not to move away. She got an amazing job offer in Iowa and she's been down there for almost 15 months now, so I knew that I could talk to her about this.

This morning my new classes opened and after looking at them, I have realized just how crazy the next 6 weeks will be. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I want to accomplish everything. At this moment, I am thinking that I should just try to get all of my discussions done in one day for the next 5 weeks. If I do that then I will have more time to focus on my papers and learning activities. I know that I'll be able to get through this if I prepare.

Oh and it was also nice this morning, Abid called me and we got to talk for almost 8 minutes on the phone... that's some sort of record for us. :) His internet has been horrible lately, so that's been tough. We haven't really been able to talk since Monday and even before that his internet was bad so the video wasn't the greatest but at least I was able to hear his voice. It's getting harder to be apart because of the internet problems but I know that God will get us through and he has a purpose for all these things happening. I am praying that we will hear something about our petition soon, it has been close to 2 months now. But they said it will probably take at least 3, so we are getting closer to the time when we should hear something back. It's hard being patient.

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;" Psalm 37:7a

That is what I will leave you all with today because I have homework that needs to be done before we have family over later. I hope that you all have an absolutely wonderful day and do not forget to remember all the men and women who have lost their lives for our freedom. 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~

My Best Friend (Day 593)

Hi all!

Happy Tuesday! How are you all doing today? It's a beautiful day here, a high of 72 and sunny. We've had such perfect weather lately, it should stay like this all the time. I've  been a very bad blogger lately... hardly posting or reading/commenting. I won't make any excuses but I have been really busy with school. Honestly, I didn't think that it would keep me quite so busy, but it has... along with working out, family, stressing out about Abid and trying to sell our house, among other things.

Today we had a showing of our house, so I went down to the coffee shop in my town and worked on some homework. But then I finished my homework before the showing was over so I went and visited my best friend's grave. I've been missing her so much lately. The past few weeks have just been really stressful and I feel so alone, I don't really have any friends who live nearby (I do have some but they all work). Most of my friends live in other states and I wouldn't trade these people for the world but it's hard not really having many people around here. Not sure if I've ever posted a picture of my best friend and I, this is her and I a few weeks before her death.

Amanda was honestly the most amazing person I have ever met in my life, her heart was so big. Everyone that met her, loved her instantly. She was just one of those people. In every situation she knew what to do and say to make everything better. It's time like this (stress, confusion, worry, etc...) that I miss her most. I would never wish how I feel about losing my best friend, onto my worst enemy. Don't get me wrong, it's easier now than it was 4.5 years ago but it still is freakishly hard. I really wish she was here right now, but alas she is not. I get through this, I always do. 

I love you and miss you so much, Amanda! <3

But I suppose... this house showing really screwed up my schedule today. I'm going to go workout, walking to warm up and cool down and then some Hip Hop Abs. Plus I want to do some serious strength training as well. And I'll stop being such a slacker with my homework... so that means getting a head start on everything else for the week. I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon! So until next time!

~Sara~

Progress (Day 540)

Hi all!

Happy Friday! How is everyone doing today? You've made it through the week, that's a great accomplishment! :) It's snowy here today, but a bit warmer (35 degrees, and yes, in Wisconsin that is warm :) ). I had my doctor appointment this morning and he said that I'm making good progress, but he wants to see me in a month just to make sure I keep progressing. As my doctor said today, it doesn't matter where you are right now, all that matters is that you're heading in the right direction. I think about this with my weight loss/exercise as well, just keep making small changes and they lead to great things.

Today I walked 2 miles! That is huge for me, it took me about 46 minutes (long way for me to go if I want to walk a 5K in 45 minutes). Plus I did more upper body strength training while walking and dang... I can feel it in my arms, especially my shoulders. I did 5 sets of 10 of bicep curls, hammer curls, lateral shoulder raises, chest press, shoulder row, and tricep extensions. Plus another one (I don't know the name of it), I held my weights up near my head almost in a sense that I was flexing my bicep (without the flex) and just held it for 1 minute, I did that 5 times as well. That one I felt the most. It's crazy just how much 2 lb weights can do. Next week won't be too bad, my plan has me walking 30 minutes on Monday, 2 miles on Wednesday, and 2.25 miles on Friday (or whatever day I choose to do each). Plus more walking on the other days of the week. But I'm sure proud of myself for keeping up with this program now. I can't believe that in a few weeks I will be walking my first 5K! Once I accomplish that, I am going to work on my 5K time and hopefully do some more intense cross training.

So yesterday was a high carb day, and honestly my high carb days aren't that high. But it was weird having pasta for lunch and rice/bread with dinner (we put rice in our chili instead of noodles). Oh and then I had plain waffles as an night time snack. They were all really good, and I was still plenty under my carb goals (craziness I tell you)! Actually I was well under on all of my numbers including calories. Plus I found out that the chili we've been having all week will have fewer calories than I originally thought. I put down on the recipe that there are 12 servings, well it will be at least 15 serving for that pot. So my calories, carbs, protein, and fats are a little lower each day than originally calculated. Oh well, it happens.

This morning was amazing, I got up did all the things I had to do to get ready. I came down stairs, made myself a cup of coffee and opened up my computer. To my surprise I had a message on Skype from Abid from a few minutes before! What?!? It said he was offline but I sent him a message back anyways, not thinking anything. But he responded to me, he was online! He was at his friends house and we were able to talk for about 45 minutes (before my doctor appointment). I wasn't able to see him because his friend doesn't have a cam, but I was able to hear his voice and he was able to see me. It was like how it use to be when we talked every day. Oh, it was so nice. He sent me a few newer pictures of himself (he's looking handsome as always). Of course he wasn't smiling in the picture, his excuse was because he's not with me so he can't smile. (Cheesy, I know. But it was cute :) ). I guess it's no different than his "fake" smile in most of his other pictures. He told me that once we're together and we have pictures together, he will do his real smile. He is such a goon! :) (One of the many reasons why I love him).

Today I'm catching up on blogs (I follow so many awesome bloggers). Plus responding to some discussion postings for school. Have a wonderful afternoon/evening everyone! So until next time!

~Sara~

Catching Up (Day 536)

Hi all!

Happy Monday! How is everyone doing today? Did you all have a good weekend? Mine was wonderful, busy but wonderful. I just want to say thank you to everyone who commented on my blog yesterday about me revealing my current weight. You all are amazing and so encouraging! I was really nervous about revealing my true weight (not sure why because I have my highest weight out there and how much weight I've lost). But nevertheless, I was nervous. All of your encouragement was so wonderful, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. So thank you!

This morning I did not want to get up, so I slept a lot later than what I normally would (well sort of). The time change made it look as though I slept an hour later, I woke up at 8:30. So before the time change, that was in my normal time frame. But that just means that the morning went a lot faster than normal. Probably didn't help that Abid decided to call me at 12:40 this morning, it was 10:40 in the morning by him. He felt horrible that he woke me up, but that's the best way I could have been woken up. Anytime I get to hear his voice, is a wonderful thing.

I just finished up my workout, and I'm feeling amazing. It's amazing how great I feel after a workout, even if it's just a walk and a little upper body strength training. My pedometer is amazing, I found the perfect spot to wear it while walking where it very accurately counts my steps/mileage. It was just this little cheapy pedometer (because I can't afford much right now), but it's doing the job. 1.05 mile walk today in 20 minutes, my time is improving again. Today I didn't really have a real "goal" of how far I was going to walk or mileage or anything. My back/hip was starting to hurt right around 16 minutes, so I pushed myself to 20 minutes and then called it a day.

Yesterday was a high carb day (you all know how much I love those days), it went fairly well. I was under all of my goals, even after I adjusted my numbers because of my weight loss. Last night I was so dang proud of myself, my brother, SIL, and their 4 youngest came over for dinner (that's pretty typical). And of course the kids wanted hot chocolate pudding on ice cream, well I turned down the ice cream and just had a small portion of the hot pudding. That was a total win. It is a step in the right direction for me mentally with my weight loss. Here's a recap of yesterday:

Type	Carbs	Protein	Fats
Total	399	399	85
Used	285	155	50
Left	114	244	35

This week I have a very light homework load, a little reading, writing a thesis statement and outline for a future paper, a discussion post, and responding to others outlines/thesis statements. The reading is already done. Plus my outline is about done, just need to write the thesis statement. So all I really need to do is write out my discussion post by tomorrow and wait for others to post their outlines so I can respond to those. I'm hoping this means that I can catch up on the blogs I follow, finally! I've been such a bad blogger friend lately, I've barely read any blogs. But hopefully today I can catch up on all of them!

I should start my thesis statement quickly and maybe start on my discussion posting. Then I promise I'll start catching up on those blogs. Plus I get to watch my Brewers this afternoon. :) So until next time.

~Sara~

Year 1 Day 150 (Day 515)

Hi all!

How is everyone doing today? It's a new week and a chance to start fresh. I'm doing well on my goals for the week so far (and I have realized that I haven't posted my goals yet, I'll get to that in just a little bit). Plus I had physical therapy this morning for my back. My physical therapist said that most exercise is going to be out of the question right now, I can try to walk a little, but that's about it. I need to be up and moving around but I don't want to over do it. So it's difficult because I never really know how far I can push myself before I've over done it.

Yay for goals! :)

1. Nutrition - eat within my calorie range each day (been horrible with this lately)
2. Water - drink at least 100 oz of water per day (this too)
3. Exercise - do my PT exercises as recommended
4. Positivity
5. De-stress (this has been the worst)
6. School work - get a head start on my assignment that's due on the 3rd and respond to everyone who posts a discussion
7. Paperwork - finish up the paperwork needed for Abid and get it sent out as soon as I have the money

I was relaxing this afternoon, watching some TV and working on my homework. Well a commercial came on for this weight loss pill and some of the people on it were saying how you can't lose weight on your own, it's impossible. Gosh, you have no idea how frustrated that made me. This is a national commercial and so many people are hearing this garbage. Another person said that he didn't need to change his diet at all (he ate the same amount of food) and didn't have to exercise at all, and he was able to lose weight. Ahhh.... this is a complete load of crap. These types of commercials really do frustrate me because just a few years ago, I would have believed every word of it. But after learning what I have over these past 515 days, I have realized that it takes a butt load of hard work, a change in nutrition, and exercise. It's a lifelong journey that will never really be complete. And I just hate that other people may be believing what this commercial is saying. So it just upsets me.

But it's time to go and work on some homework. So until next time.

~Sara~