Days 152 & 153

Sorry I'm a day behind, but yesterday was EXHAUSTING. I hate that driving can be so tiring even though you're sitting on your butt the entire time. It's especially tiring when your'e not 100% sure of where you're going.

I had a small breakfast at around 8:00 yesterday...

Mmm, oatmeal

I had to pick up Nick from the airport in Houston yesterday, so I took the opportunity of being out there to finally see Krystal & Ross's new home. Krystal made us a yummy brunch of breakfast burritos with grapes and veggies to dip. I also had a small piece of banana bread that she baked. Very good!

Hola, burrito.

Grapes, cauliflower, & broccoli

After a lovely visit with the Robinsons, I headed to the airport to fetch Nick, who was in New York since last Saturday. He had to make an unexpectedly early trip up there for a family emergency, so please keep him and his family in your thoughts & prayers.

As a thank you, Nick treated me to dinner (and a much appreciated tank of gas) when we returned to Beaumont. We had supper at Cafe Del Rio where we shared an order of fajitas.

I had 1 and 1/4 of these.

We also treated ourselves to some ice cream. It was a ROUGH week. You guys have no idea....

That was my intake for Sunday....

Today, I had Activia for breakfast.

Lunch was a turkey sandwich with peppers and my Greek yogurt dip with pineapple for dessert..

When I got home, I did a 30 minute Sworkit upper body workout.

I lost count of how many pushups I had to do during those 30 minutes. There was a point when I had to push "Skip" when push-ups came up because my wrists hurt, even when I downgraded to the "knee" push-ups! My upper body strength suuuucks.

As I'm sure you guys know by now, I normally do 45 minutes to an hour workout, but I had a meeting with my lovely friend Anna about her new business, Tanglz Salon & Spa. Anna has been doing my hair for over a year now, and we've known each other since KINDERGARTEN. I'll be helping her out with some marketing, and I'm really excited about helping her succeed! If you're looking for a friendly, professional, and QUALITY person/place to get some pampering for your hair, Anna's definitely your girl. :)

During our marketing meeting, we noshed on some healthier option snacks...

fresh veggies, my Greek ranch dip,
and some blue corn tortilla chips.

I forgot to photograph this also.
Greek Yogurt Spinach dip!

It was an evening of dipping and snacking. We also enjoyed some Clint's Salsa as well. All yummy things with less sodium and calories than the usual suspects!

Thaaaat was about it! I hope I can raise my arms above my head in the morning! Haha! Goodnight, all...

Also, if you'd like to help me in my efforts to raise funds for the American Heart Association, please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.

Day 151: Pleasant, Productive Saturday

I woke up really late this morning! I usually wake up at around 7:30ish, but I didn't even stir until 9! Whaaaa?? I'm not complaining, but at the same time I hope my sleep schedule isn't all whacked out.

I made myself a protein packed brunch of egg whites mixed with 1 medium egg topped with peppers and spinach, 1 slice of low sodium turkey bacon, and a slice of Smart Balance spread on wheat toast. Of course, my friend Sriracha came along too!

I was able to do 2 loads of laundry, clean my apartment, and prepare to play and sing at church this evening before my workout. I used the apartment complex gym to do some cardio.

I ran for 25 minutes, and I did the elliptical for 25 minutes...

After my workout, I showered and headed to Fannett to go to church with my dad. I have to pick up Nick from the airport tomorrow, so I decided to go to church with my dad this evening instead. 

After church, my dad and I dined on some yummy food my mom's been cooking. She made chicken adobo and bulanglang (a Filipino vegetable dish that has green beans, eggplant, shrimp, bitter melon, and other stuff). I'm not a big fan of the bitter melon, but it was still pretty good!

That was pretty much it! I also had a little ice cream and half a banana with my dad for dessert. We also played a little guitar and sang after supper so that was nice!

I must sleep! I'm leaving for Houston early so I can finally see Krystal and Ross's new house before I fetch Nick at Bush Intercontinental. Goodnight, everybody!

If you'd like to help me in my efforts to raise funds for the American Heart Association, please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.

Day 150: Why Must Daylight Savings End?

Wow, 150 days. They haven't all been perfect, but they've been progress for sure. During this time, I've probably learned more about myself than I ever thought I would. What a great gift! I also realized that 150 pounds is the weight I started at in the beginning of this journey to tinier pants back in April. I hope to NEVER see that number on the scale ever again!

I tried out something new that I stumbled upon at Kroger for breakfast this morning.

More filling and quite tasty!

Lunch was leftovers from last night...

Chicken, brown rice, fresh peppers, and my
Greek yogurt ranch dip

I also snacked on about 10 Shrimp Snacks , but I forgot to take a photo of the bag.

Supper was as carbless as possible with more chicken, and a spinach salad topped with sundried tomatoes and Gerard's Italian dressing.

After supper, I biked a measly 7 miles because, as today's blog entry title suggests, daylight savings is almost over. I'm usually able to get in 11 miles if I start biking at 7, but this was not the case this evening. I guess I'll have to start going straight to the hike & bike trail after work if I want to keep biking throughout the fall/winter months. Note to self:  Start packing a pre-workout snack and workout clothes to bring to work!

I hope everyone has a happy, healthy weekend! I intend to go for a longer bike ride tomorrow morning! I might aim for 21 miles this time. We'll see what happens.

And of course, I cannot end today's blog entry without thanking today's fabulous donors for the Heart Walk! My dear and wonderful friends Amy & Jimmy have donated to my efforts to raise funds for the AHA EVERY year that I've participated, and they are both some of the best friends anyone could ask for in life. So thanks, guys! I miss you both like the deserts miss the rain!

If you'd like to help me in my efforts to raise funds for the American Heart Association, please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.

Day 149: Trying New Old Things

Like I said yesterday, I'm back!

I finally got the chance to go grocery shopping after work, and I'm excited about the healthy new goodies I picked up while I was there. But first, my photo food log...

Breakfast was chocolate Designer Whey protein powder with 1% milk.

Lunch was a peanut butter & jelly sandwich with a kiwi.

My sweet tooth kicked in at around 2:45, so I had 1 slice of wheat bread and Nutella.

Wow, that does not look appetizing. haha

After work, I was able to finally go to the grocery store so that I would be forced to avoid eating out and picking up food from restaurants. I got lots of vegetables and poultry during my trip. I wanted to go to the hike & bike this evening because the weather is so amazing this week, but grocery shopping and preparing my dinner took more time than I thought it would. By the time I was done cleaning up, I was almost out of sunlight.

This will come as a shock to Nick, but I tried fresh red, yellow, and orange bell peppers at his grandma's house last weekend for his Aunt Chrissy's birthday and LIKED them.  Nick can tell you that I have never been fond of peppers of any kind, but I must be going through some kind of taste bud metamorphosis or something. I do still hate cilantro, though.

Since I liked the peppers so much at Nick's grandma's, I decided to buy some of my own, and I made some ranch dip with Greek yogurt. Now I have a yummy veggie dip full of protein!

Organic Greek Yogurt + Ranch seasoning = protein packed dip!

Dinner consisted of various bell peppers, my Greek yogurt ranch dip, some skinless chicken, and half a serving of brown rice. 

I also added Sriracha. I'm addicted.

After some digesting and cleaning up, I decided to turn to some Internet workouts since I haven't stayed in to do one in a really long time, AND I FELT IT. I definitely need to make sure I do more of these workouts during the week because I've lost some stamina for them over the past month! I'm proud to say I can now do more true push ups than ever before (I'm up to 20), but I was struggling big time with the squat jumps and the wall sit. I think my legs are still recovering from the strength training I did last Sunday! I've never wobbled that much during a wall sit!

I did this twice

And I did this also, but only once through

So now I shall hit the showers and then the hay. I'm glad I was able to blog again tonight. It just feels RIGHT. 

And of course, I've got to throw out another thank you for some Heart Walk donation love! Special thanks to my Auntie Sionie & Uncle Rogie (aka Dr. & Mrs. Mendoza) for their generous donation!

Also, if you'd like to donate to me IN PERSON, I am "selling" $1 donations with these groovy paper hearts:

I'll write your name for the world to see you care!

EVERY PENNY HELPS! 

If you'd like to help me in my efforts to raise funds for the American Heart Association, please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.

Day 148: Feeling Like A Big Fat Hypocrite!

If you're not into self-deprecation, this entry is not for you. I deserve some self-bashing right now because my intake has been 30% awesome and 70% AWFUL the past week. (::Does math on fingers and hopes 70 + 30 = 100::).

Alrighty. Time for confession... I have been eating terribly lately. Baseball game hot dog, ice cream, Chinese food, fried chicken, Elvis Banh Mon, pizza....Yup, yup, yup, uh-huh-huh, and yup. I've been trying to tell myself that it's OK for me to splurge a little because I am still working my ARSE off with the exercise, but I know it isn't good for me at all. And the splurging a little has become A LOT.
It's been showing on the scale, too. I haven't budged from the 135-137 range. I don't know WHAT is wrong with me, but part of me wants to blame stress, fatigue, and plain old laziness. It's just SO MUCH EASIER to pick up something and then go work out than to take time to prepare a meal and then go work out especially with the end of daylight savings time just around the corner. No wonder the majority of Americans are obese. It's just...easier.

I KNOW FOR A FACT that a lot of what I've eaten lately is total crap, but I do it anyway. My self-control has been tossed out the window especially since Saturday and over the past few weeks, and I need to get it back!!

I'm feeling quite guilty because I have been asking people to donate for my efforts to raise funds for this year's Heart Walk over the past couple of weeks. Since I started working at LIT in 2010, I've been on the LIT Walkers Team  to help raise money for the American Heart Association. As some of you may remember, I mentioned one of the biggest influences to start my journey to tinier pants in the very beginning when I started this blog. That influence was how Nick's mom passed away in 2008 due to what we believe was a heart attack. Ever since then, I have felt the absolute need to promote the education and awareness of healthier living and heart health. How can I promote a good heart health and fitness lifestyle when I am not living one myself?

I also feel like I've been failing at this blog with my entries becoming less and less frequent. I know that life is not ideal right now, and that I am extremely busy, but I know I can accredit the incredible success of losing my first 15 pounds rather quickly to posting my foods to this blog EVERY DAY. Methinks it's time to get back into that habit again. Starting tomorrow, I am photographing all of my food and posting my workouts once more.

Now that I've set new goals for myself and hopefully gotten the gorging myself on food garbage out of my system, it's start to get back on the healthy eating horse and get rid of these last several pounds and reach my goals. I want to be able to ask for donations to the Heart Walk without feeling like a hypocrite! I want to TRULY have to get tinier pants! (The majority of my old pants still fit me, but a WHOLE lot better...no more flesh spilling over!) I want to feel like I've accomplished what I set out to do!!

When I feel like slacking, I need to remember how hard I've worked and how far I've come both on the outside and the inside. I've received a lot of compliments on my weight loss, and I've even been able to fit into my mom's clothes! (She's TINY, so I'm very happy that I don't need to spend money to get more clothes that better fit me!) I need to focus on the BENEFITS that my heart, body, and mind receive when I DON'T SLACK OFF and when I EAT RIGHT. I need to remind myself that I was never able to RUN for more than 2 minutes at a time when I started, and now I can run for 30...on the treadmill....and up and down the stairs of my apartment complex! And I biked 18 miles this past weekend for the first time since April! (When I biked that far in April, it was a total fluke and I was miserable for days after, but this time, I recovered like a champ!) These are all things I NEVER thought would be possible, but THEY WERE and THEY ARE!! Just like anything worth having in this life, I simply had to work for it!

Yes, I've come a long way, but I am not done yet. The journey must go on! I must keep going. Get ready, everybody. I'm back, and there's no stopping me.

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If you'd like to help me in my efforts to raise funds for the American Heart Association, please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I'd like to thank my parents, Tracie W., and Dawn K. for their generous donations! There are 44 days left to donate. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or do not want to donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements. 

Day 136: FINALLY!! I Hit 135 on Day 136!

An entry the very next day!? Say whaaaat???

Too many good things happened today regarding my weight loss for me to not blog! As I posted yesterday, I have been STUCK in the 136 pound range for WEEKS, and it's been quite discouraging. In the back of my mind, I've known that the work needs to get harder, and the eating habits need to be as disciplined as I was in the beginning because at this point, I've only been maintaining with what I've been doing.

So my cousin Stacy (who has unintentionally become my latest fitness guru/advisor due to her credibility with her awesome progress and fitness knowledge) recommended that I go to the MyFitnessPal app for calorie counting and exercise tracking help.

I used MyFitnessPal about a year ago in one of my many failed attempts to lose weight, but I don't think I was ready yet back then. My boss Beth told me before I started on my tinier pants journey that when I was ready, it would just happen. So far, she has been VERY right. Something in me has changed, and I am so glad that it finally happened. I feel better than I ever have (even though I do get tired, but that's mainly because I'm a dork who doesn't sleep enough)...

Anyway, I re-installed MyFitnessPal to my phone, and luckily, my account was still available. The last time I logged in was on June 8, 2011. The weight I logged was 156 pounds. 156 pounds!? That means I've lost 20 pounds since June of last year!? Good grief, Charlie Brown! Talk about a motivating kick in the rear! No wonder my feet and knees used to hurt so much every day!

I logged my breakfast and lunch, plus my exercise from this afternoon.

I hit the gym right after I picked up a few things for Ena's birthday party happening tomorrow. I was able to run 2 miles (on 5) and walk one mile (at 3.6) on the treadmill!! This is the first time I've ever run that far!! I had a lot to think about, so it didn't even feel like a struggle at all. This....was a good workout day.

As soon as I finished and got back to my apartment, I figured...ehh why not? Let's step on the scale.

HECK TO THE YESSITY YESS!!!

I FINALLY FREAKING BROKE 136!! I know my weight will fluctuate, but the fact that I weigh this much at the END of the day is a good thing! I have been staring at the numbers 136.4, and 136.0 for the past 3 weeks, and it's been driving me bonkers! Hip, hip hooray! I was too excited to finally be down to 135 that I posted the photo on Facebook as soon as I weighed myself, and I've received a lot of love! Thanks, everybody!!!

I must now head to Fannett to decorate for my soon-to-be one-year-old Goddaughter's birthday partay! Woo! Remember to vote for her in the Gerber Generation Photo Search contest! If she wins, she gets money for her college education! 

Happy Friday, everyone! 

Day 135: Help!! I'm Still STUCK!

In my bathroom, the spiral where I write my weight loss for my progress photos sits behind my sink and mocks me in purple sharpie...

Day 105

- 14 LBS

136.8 LBS

August 7, 2012

I've hit my plateau. I had ONE day that I was at 135, but it's been 136 for about 5 weeks now. I am relieved that I'm not gaining, but I feel SO CLOSE to my goal, and it's driving me insane that the scale isn't budging! 

Despite my recent flatline on the scale, I am still going and consistently working hard. I bike 11 to 13 miles at least 3 times a week, and I do strength training exercises at least 2 to 3 times a week. I guess I just need to work harder. I've increased my strength training, and I've begun to incorporate whey protein powder into my diet (thanks to the recommendation to my cousin Stacy & other friends). 

The protein powder definitely helps with the soreness and recovery, but I think it's too soon to tell if it's doing much else. I'm still not quite sure when the best time of day is to drink it or how often to drink it. I've read that it's good to drink in the morning, as an afternoon snack, or 20 minutes after a workout, but do I drink it for all those things or just one of those things? Just like with everything else, I must be patient. I've on

I am going to do this the right way. No drugs, no wraps, no weird diets. I am going to eat healthy, exercise, and respect the body I've been given. I'm changing my lifestyle, and I have to remember that I'm not just trying to lose weight. While I do love the notion of having tinier pants, I want to have a stronger, healthier heart and body. 

All the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it when I finally get off this blasted plateau. 

I was able to resist free delicious barbecue and various fruit cobblers tonight at a big fundraising event tonight. I ate a few bites of mango, egg whites, and wheat toast for supper instead. This weekend will be another test because it's my Goddaughter Ena's first birthday party! There shall be cake, cookies, and Filipino food galore. It's always something, right? Moderation is my bff.

Speaking of Ena, her mommy submitted her into the Gerber Generation Photo Contest. Click that link to vote for her royal cuteness if you please! Just like Gerber on Facebook, and you can vote!  

How could you not want to vote for that face?

Alright, it was a super busy day. I'm off to catch up on sleep I've lost from staying up way too late the past few nights. Here's hoping the next time I post is when I'm a pound or 2 lighter!