I joined a Weight Watchers meeting here at work and had my second weigh in today. I am down to 285!

I started this journey last March at 333 so I am down almost 50 pounds. Yes, the weight loss has been super slow. It’s sometimes hard to gauge how long it’s supposed to take with shows like “The Biggest Loser” on tv where people can lose 50 pounds in a month.  The truth is that I don’t work out 8 hours a day. I don’t have a personal trainer. I don’t have a nutritionist or someone cooking meals for me.

I’m a regular person who is doing what I know how to do in a slow and steady way. It’s working. Slowly, yes, but it’s working.

My goal is to be down to 250 by May. That means I need to lose 35 pounds in the next 4 months and I think that’s doable. It equals about 8.25 pounds a month or a little over 2 pounds a week. That is exactly what Weight Watchers prescribes as the best measure for weight loss. 1 – 2 pounds a week is reasonable and doable and for me, has worked wonderfully.

Filed under: Motivation

For example, one of my favorite mid-morning snacks is 5 reduced fat Triscuits and a wedge of Laughing Cow garlic and herb cheese. It’s only 3 points on WW and is NUMMY!

You can also use the wedges as a cheesy spread on sandwiches, wraps, and even thrown into pasta to make it cheesy!

Filed under: Food Products

I’ve been dragging a foot for a while…as in, “not totally off the wagon but dangling a foot off and letting it bump the stones” for a few months now. Lack of exercise and letting bad eating habits creep back up have let me gain back 6 pounds.

I resolved on New Year’s Eve to get back on track before I completely fell off into fat land and have been searching for inspiration to help get me over the hump. One of my best sources for inspiration has been my dear friend, Candace. She has been on an amazing, visible journey for a year now and has lost like 100 pounds on her own with diet and exercise.

She just started a new blog and youtube site and I think you should go bear witness to her amazing success:

http://mynewdefinition.wordpress.com/

Check her out and be totally inspired!

Filed under: Stuff

I’ve been looking for an elliptical for a long time but always talked myself out of it at the last minute due to the cost. Well, readers, I am happy to announce that I finally got my elliptical!

It’s a Nordictrack ACT and looks like this:

A friend of mine at work had this in his garage and had stopped using it a while back. He knew I was looking for one so he offered to sell me his for only $100! Yes, folks, a Nordictrack elliptical for only ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!

WOO HOO!

I have to say, I’ve only worked out on it one time and it is NO JOKE. I was sweating within the first minute! I’ll let you all know how my workout tonight goes and if my legs have given out yet or not

Filed under: Stuff

I’ve been exercising for a few months now.

Last night, I rode my stationary bike for 25 minutes which equated to 7 miles and 210 calories burned. I’m pretty stoked at having built up to that!

When I first began this journey, I could barely walk 10 minutes on the treadmill without thinking I was dying. It really is a “ baby steps” mentality some days!

Filed under: Stuff

I’ve been riding my stationary bike a lot lately.

Did you know that you burn almost 3 times as many calories riding a stationary exercise bike than you do walking on a treadmill?

Food for thought!

Filed under: Stuff

I weighed in this morning after a 2-week plateau and discovered I’m at 293 pounds! This is GREAT because it means I am finally out of the dreaded 295 zone and only 4 pounds away from my next mini-goal.

I have found it SO important to set super small goals so that I’m not telling myself every day that I need to lose 150 pounds.

When I first started, I weighed 335. I wanted to get to 320 and then to 305 and then 299. Once I reached 299 I set my next goal at 289 and it seems like it is taking forever to get there but here I am only 4 pounds away!

This is a huge motivator and I think I’ll be hitting the stationary bike extra hard over the next few weeks to reach that goal!

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I haven’t posted in a few days but I’m still here!

I weighed in on Sunday and I am officially at 295! That’s almost 40 pounds, baby! I have to say that I still do not feel as if I’m on a “diet”. I feel like I’m paying attention to health. I don’t feel deprived or calorie-conscious or obsessed with the numbers. I feel healthy!

Filed under: Stuff

I picked up a giant bag of frozen mixed berries at Sam’s Club and have been trying them different ways. I believe they are the house brand and are only 80 calories for a cup! This morning, I had them in a smoothie with a little vanilla yogurt and it was A-MAZ-ING!

I’ve been reading a lot about how mixed berries are great Cancer-fighters and are loaded with anti-oxidants. Well, if they taste this good, I’m all over it!

Filed under: Stuff

So, I’m on this diet or weight-loss routine or lifestyle change or whatever you want to call it. Bottom line, I want to lose weight. I always thought that a weight loss plan would be expensive with organic food and diet crap but not really. Here are some ways I save while losing!

* Buy produce on sale and only once a week. This way you get cheap goods and don’t have so much that it goes bad which wastes money!

* Buy a reusable water bottle and use the filter on your fridge for clean water. You could be saving $25- $30 a month on buying bottled water by the case!

* Exercise for free at the park, the gym at your work, and even by walking your neighborhood!

* Pick up cookbooks at thrift stores where you could get the new Biggest Loser cookbook  that normally retails for about $20 for less than $3! I just did this the other day!

* Search garage sales and thrift stores for exercise equipment. I recently got a huge balance ball for about $12 at a discount store. It normally retails for $35!

* Hit up the local farmers market for cheap produce!

* Don’t eat out all the time. Eating out is expensive and you also don’t have near the same amount of control over the food ingredients.

These are just a few things that work for me – I hope they work for you too!

Filed under: Stuff