Right... okay... oops. It's been over a year since I last posted. That's (obviously) all on me. Last year's Biggest Loser competition was very "less than" for me and I lost a bit of my drive for this blog, among other things. I gained a few pounds with last year's competition. I can't remember how much, but I know it was not just a couple pounds.

That was then, and this... this is now. Today is Monday December 16th, 2013. Second (or first, depending on how you count) day of the third week of the last month of the year. The final weigh-in for this year's Biggest Loser competition is this Wednesday. I know I have not won the competition. I would have been alright with that if I had even met my personal goal... which I did not. If I can manage to be down a couple pounds at Wednesday's weigh in, I will have gotten half way to my personal goal.

I know, I know. Some of you think that I should be celebrating. 15 pounds is nothing to turn your nose up at. I get that, I truly do. But I'm more upset with the fact that I set a goal for myself and I didn't do everything I possibly could to meet that goal...

Be that as it may, here's how I'm moving forward: I am hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del and selecting restart! I have a long-term goal of being 135-145 pounds by August 14th, 2014 (My 10th wedding anniversary). It is slightly lofty, but very achievable... IF I STICK TO MY GUNS!

I have four 30-day exercise challenges I am restarting this evening. I will go to the gym at least 5 times a week - or at the very least, I will run up and down the stairs of my apartment complex for 30 minutes. I will be sure to drink at least three cups of green tea a day. I will watch my portions and make sure that at every opportunity I am choosing the low-to-no carb option(s). I will not drink soda - diet or otherwise - or eat (too many) sweets.

I will also remember that I am human. I will fall down. I will make mistakes. BUT: I will get right back up again! Besides: You can't make mistakes if you're not even trying in the first place.

I can do this. I will do this.

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Hello Out There!

Hello out there in cyberland!

It's been a few weeks since my last post, and I apologize for that. It's been a little crazy around here the past few weeks with the start of the Biggest Loser competition at my work, and with my monkeys starting 1st Grade and Kindergarten last week! EEP! I finally have a moment to write while I wait for the fresh-cut Parmesan fries to cook before putting in the crispy chicken fingers for dinner. :)

So, the initial weigh-in for the Biggest Loser competition ("BL") was the 29th of August. I had hoped to be at 220 for that day, however, the scale said 222... which I had been expecting. The weekend prior to the base line weigh-in was NOT a good one food-wise. So there it was. It just means that I have two extra pounds to add to my competition end game! :D

The following Wednesday - September 5th - was the first official weigh-in of the game. Unfortunately I sustained a total weight of 222. boo. Then I realized that A: I was weighing in 1.5 hours later than I usually do (9:30 am instead of 8 am) and B: That I had totally FORGOTTEN it was weigh-in day and I had eaten breakfast in the morning (which I don't usually do). So I took that 222 with a grain of salt.

I haven't hit the gym as hard as I had wanted to... yet. But I had my assessment at the gym yesterday, and the trainer and I really talked about my "secret weapon" : LIFTING. We worked out a routine that I am tweaking and will start to put into place this week, but be full boar by next Monday.

There is a digital scale in the hall outside the clinic at work. Typically it has been pretty true to the "official" scale inside the clinic. I stepped on it yesterday morning around 8:30 am (when I will be weighing in for the remainder of the competition) and it said I was down 4 pounds! That didn't have the burn from the assessment workout, nor tonight's cardio, nor tomorrow morning's lifting AND cardio... I'm hoping to be down a whopping 5 pounds total tomorrow morning at 8:30 am.

                                        ... stay tuned! ...

B and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad (food) Day!

     Yeah... today has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for food consumption. I have eaten far more homemade chocolate chip and toffee cookies than I care to share, or should have even thought about LOOKING at, let alone CONSUMING. sigh. Cookies, and sponge cake, and multiple cups of coffee with creamer... yikes. I'm not even going to put totals in my food logger because I know it would just scream, "HORRIBLE!" (Okay, not really. It would just show my overage in a bright red box, but you know...)

     I'm feeling really down about all this right now. I feel incredibly silly/stupid for having allowed myself to "go crazy" like this. And the day before the initial weigh-ins for the Biggest Loser competition at my work! SERIOUSLY SELF?! *facepalm*

     To try and put a positive spin on it, I have told myself that having a (slightly) higher starting weight for the competition could lead to a (slightly) more impressive finish... if, as a friend of mine said to me today, I can "get my ass in gear!". That last part is proving difficult psychologically today. I keep thinking to myself that I've already blown the competition with today and I shouldn't even try.

    Yeah - I've told that part to SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! I know I haven't blown the competition. I know that I can just "start over", right now, right this very millisecond even. But I also know that now I am going to have to work just that much harder to achieve my goal for this competition. But that's alright. I'm going to put on my proverbial blinders and just "compete" with myself. I can do this, I know I can. And I'm going to blow that nay-saying part of my crazy girl brain right out of the friggin water!

              Yeah, that's the ticket! PEW PEW PEW SILLY SELF!

And So it Begins... Again!

     That's right, folks! My work is graciously holding another Biggest Loser competition this year, and I am participating. This should (hopefully) be my last year as I plan to reach my long-term goal by mid-May 2013.

     Last Wednesday was a weigh-in day and I'd dropped another 2 pounds. That made 46 total since last September (at the first competition). I currently reside at 221. This Wednesday is the initial weigh-in/assessment for the competition. I'm hoping to be down at least 1 more pound. My goal for the competition - which is lofty but doable - is to lose 40 pounds. It goes from September 1 to December 29th. Weigh-ins every Wednesday, and they're offering a special group fitness class every Saturday. Due to my working weekends again, I won't be able to go to every one of those, but I have my own schedule done up. It's going to be intense, but I really want to win this year!

     I took the last couple weeks off of exercise. The first week was by accident (kept over sleeping) and then last week because it felt good to have a break. I think I may have been a bit burned out and didn't realize it until I was resting. But this week I am back at it. Had my last Monday morning Zumba class today (will be attending an evening class during the school year so I can take the kids to school with my husband). Tomorrow lifting, and Wednesday Spin in the AM. Then the initial weigh-in. Hopefully my break wasn't too detrimental.

     Super excited! Hopefully I can keep this energy up for the next 4 months!

Breaking the Habit

     Yes. As scary and somewhat heartbreaking as it is, the above is a visual description of my journey thus far. Let's go back a couple of weeks, shall we?



     The last post I made was on Wednesday the 27th of June. I had just hit the 30 pound loss mark and was thrilled. Since that time; I have had some good days, some not-so-good days, some GREAT days, and some really horrible days. I'm still fighting the good fight, though. I have come to a place where if I have a "bad food day" or "bad exercise day", I don't get too down on myself for it. I've realized that hey, it is going to happen. I am but human (though if you ask my kids, they may say I'm a superhero).

     So when my husband discovered the photo we had taken just a couple weeks into my company's Biggest Loser competition last fall (above left), I was really shocked at what I saw! I had just come home from Zumba class and was in the kitchen making an early lunch for everyone. From the living room I hear my husband say, "Bethanie, you need to step out here for a second." Naturally I was annoyed because I was in the middle of making two peanut butter and honey sandwiches and sides of fruit for the kids, and Reubens for us. When I didn't pop out right away, he repeated himself, so I stepped into the dining room and said, "What?!" He did a few back-and-forth looks between me and his monitor, and then told me I HAD to come there. So I did, and what I saw stopped me dead in my tracks and literally brought tears to my eyes.

     There, staring at me in 1080p glory, was a marshmallow shaped me. I stood there; still soaked in sweat from class (as you see in the above right photo), half the fixings for sandwiches in my hands, staring at his screen. After the initial shock wore off, the disgust rolled in. How could I have let myself GET like that? I wondered. The thought that followed was regarding the image I have of myself locked away in my grey matter. It finally really hit home, then, that I AM making great changes. That I AM making noticeable changes in my physical self, and along with that in my mentality. So I immediately had my husband snap a photo of me to record my progress.

     The image above will help me to remember that it is worth it. That I am doing things right, and doing enough. It will be a long journey, but the fact that I'm on it and creating successes is a wonderful feeling.

And the Shrinks Keep on Coming!

Yup, that's right! Last Wednesday was weigh-in day, and a momentus one at that... but I got so busy that I forgot to post! Last Wednesday I hit the 30 pounds lost mark! YAY! *the crowd goes wild* I am now at the weight I was back in August of 2007 when I first started going to health coaching sessions at the clinic in my office.

So today (being Wednesday) was another weigh-in day, but today was also a measuring day. I stepped on that scale and was completely shocked by what I saw: A great big, digital 234! That's three whole pounds down from last week! That brings the total loss since September of 2011 to 33 pounds. And six of the seven measurements were down as well, from .25 of an inch to a whole inch (my arms and quads).

YIPPEE!!!!

So when last I wrote it was just over a month ago (sorry! I didn't realize how much time had actually passed), and there have been some other changes than just my inches and mass. I feel as though I am in the midst of a paradigm shift where food is concerned. Don't get me wrong - I'm still completely obsessed with food. But I feel like my obsession is more on how I can create yummy yet healthy foods. It's more about eating to live (and give my body the right foods so I can use them the best) and less about living to eat.

I have found a new website for recipes and ideas: Foodgawker. It's like Pinterest, but with food! I find it amazing. There are so many ideas there and more are posted at least once a day. I also find a lot of international foods (sometimes the recipes are written in foreign languages. Thank goodness for Google Translate!) which I absolutely love to try. And I still find myself looking up a lot of the sweets, but when I look at them now I try to find healthy substitutions where I can, like applesauce for oil, etc.

Also, another triumph (though seemilngly small on the surface) is my personal NO MORE SODA campaign.  I have a strange relationship with the bubbly, often times sickly sweet beverage. I used to like drinking soda... a lot. I mean, I could but away a 24 pack of Coca~Cola in a day! But now I find that I'm not such a fan. And yet I will drink can after can if it is available, each can tasting worse and worse, but I still keep chugging away. So Sunday night I made a promise to myself and the Universe. I will not drink another soda (unless it's splashed in a Rum & Coke or some other delicious adult beverage). I don't like the taste anymore and it's SO not good for you. I think I just kept drinking because it was a mental habit/addiction. But so far, so good. I am 2 days soda sober. I CAN DO EET!

Weigh In and Uh Oh

Well, yesterday was another weigh in, and it was good! I have gotten below 240! I stepped on that scale and it said "239". HOORAY. Yesterday was also a measurement day, and I'm happy to say (sans my quads, which are three inches bigger, but they're leaner. THANK YOU SPIN CLASS!) that everything has gone down. Bicep, abs, waist, hips, calves, and yes - even the girls have shrunk a couple inches! (HALLELUJAH to that! For those who don't know, I've been extremely busty my whole life).

Anywhoo.

So it was a pretty good day all over yesterday. I made it to spin and it was a great class. I stayed WELL below my 1600-1800 calorie (finished the day at about 1450). It was nice. Today, however, was less nice. Today was my department's Summertime Potluck. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of you can already guess where this is headed.

That was the first plate I had. Then I had a second plate just like that one... with the addition of a pulled pork sandwich. And a chocolate chip cookie. le sigh. I had known that today was the potluck, so I had a light breakfast and planned a light dinner. I had hoped to stay below the 1600-1800 calories, but alas, I'm at just about 1800. I guess that's better than a 2400+ calorie day like I used to have. I'll get over it, but right now I feel like stewing. :)

Things are going well enough, just still not as fast as I would like. But I guess I just have to accept that and work with what I have! :)