Second weigh in

Wow!  Where did that week go??? 
I know we all say that so often. I know I do. I know I wrote at least 4 blog entries in my head that didn't make it to the computer. Such a shame.

With the holidays upon us, I'm going to be trying to SLOW DOWN and just relax. This will be a holiday of fun and family and firsts and I'm looking forward to sharing it.  But I need to RELAX.

I actually have been planning today's post since the weekend. Since I realized I had hit a bump. I was planning on writing about how easy it is to hit a bump and let it derail you and how hard that can be..

I'm not writing that entry today. Not at all. Why not? Well, because I was smart  lucky and realized that I had hit a bump on the weekend and picked myself right back up on track. I started tracking my food again on Monday. During the weekend, I look back and don't know that I was reckless about what I ate, just not as careful as I would be if I was writing it down. In the back of my mind this blog, my goals, my plans were just under the surface. I think that influenced me, even during the bump where I wasn't tracking. Being aware also put me right back on track again. The result?

Last week:  206.2 lbs
This week:  203.4 lbs

LOSS this week of 2.8 lbs !!

Net LOSS of 4.0 lbs in 2 weeks!!

I did my happy dance, no word of a lie! I'm still doing it.
Its not a lot to some. But to me, its AWESOME!  This is the first time I have lost 2 weeks in a row since JUNE! wow!  I've lost 4.1% of the weight I need to do. Just one day at a time.

I CAN DO THIS! I ROCK!

(aiming for more regular updates this week)

First bump...

Just like that...
Derailment. but its not a derailment... just a bump.

Its life. Things happen.

I totally forgot to track my food all weekend. Chaos. I don't even know what I ate half of the time... I spent most of my weekend in the kitchen cooking though...

It was what we call "kid weekend".  Every other weekend the number of kids in our household doubles. We go from two to four.... ages 7 - 12.   Its chaos. And so much fun.

The youngest is a very picky eater. He doesn't seem to like many vegetables (although he is a huge fan of bananas and clementines). Our little girl is 11 and isn't picky at all... she will eat whatever I put in front of her. (ok, she wasn't a fan of plain tofu, but she TRIED it, and definitely liked the fried stuff). Added to my Celiac 10 year old and my vegan 12 year old (and the carnivorous man who loves me infinitely), making one meal that suits everyone is a real challenge!

I pretty much spend my weekend cooking meals in shifts.  Impressively I managed gluten free mac & cheese & hot dogs, regular mac & cheese & hot dogs, vegetarian mac & cheese & hot dogs and vegan mac & cheese & hot dogs for lunch yesterday. It still required the kids eating in shifts so I could clean pots.......

But as I sit here this afternoon trying to figure out what I'm going to make for supper for my vegan while the ham is in the oven for the carnivore, I realize its a GREAT thing that I realized that I hit a bump.

I will be having weekends like this for a very long time to come. At least twice a month. So I need to figure out some strategies to get through them. Its not like a special once a year occasion where I can let it slip and not feel guilty. Its 6 days a month. Every month. 1/5th of the year. Its not like I can just ignore my healthy life 2.4 months of the year!

Yule is the next weekend that the kids are here, so I'm already writing down and planning meals for that weekend. Partly for my own health, but in reality, partly because its a really special weekend and I don't want to spend the whole weekend in the kitchen. So I'm getting my eldest to help me plan some meals for that weekend. If it goes smoothly, I may just do it every kid weekend.... it will make it easier to track!

First weigh in...

Wednesday is my official weigh in day. Against all recommendations of professionals (get weighed first thing in the morning, after you go to the bathroom, without clothes), I get weighed Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm, fully dressed (though I try to wear the lightest weight clothes and NEVER jeans), and have usually had supper because I can't go that late without eating supper (I get home from weigh in just after 8pm).

I attend a non-profit weight loss support group for friendship, support, weight tracking and motivation. I have attended 6 different chapters of the group in the last 12 1/2 years. Some of the chapters have been really large with over 40 members, some as little as 4 members. Currently, my chapter is only 8 members including myself. For the first time in 12 years, I don't feel like a welcome member. I feel displaced. Maybe its because I'm the youngest in the group by 20 years. Maybe its because its a well established group and I just joined 8 months ago. Maybe its because they don't seem to be gathering for weight loss support as much as just socialization (they've all known eachother for years). Whatever the reason, I don't feel like I belong. Which means I don't feel like I get any support or motivation. Another reason I started the blog.

Back to my progress report. I have managed to successfully record my food every day for 6 days. Even with eating out. This was not an easy task, but I'm proud of myself and am going to work hard at keeping up.

Today was my first weigh in since I started.

Last week:  207.4 lbs
This week:  206.2 lbs

Net LOSS of 1.2 lbs in 1 week.

I am really thrilled. I know, its not a lot. But its GREAT!!  I have gained every single week since October. This is my first loss in 2 months. I'm thrilled. I'm proud. I'm pumped.

I CAN DO THIS!

I made it through my 4th day tracking my food. Tomorrow I will do it again.  It was frustrating today when I already had 1300 calories by 3:30pm and didn't really feel I had eaten much (my sub from Subway was a lot more than I thought).  Then I tried not eating for the rest of the day because I decided I had already gone over. THAT was a BAD idea... that meant that by 8pm I was really really hungry and grumpy! Then I ate too much unhealthy stuff. (Yes, Kraft Dinner is my fave food... there is NOTHING healthy in it).

I can't do this overnight. It won't happen in a day. Its a learning process. But dang... I learned that Subway is tasty, but not quite as low cal as I thought.

We haven't had a good grocery run in over 3 weeks now because we ran into a few bad pays because work has been slow (winter/construction/nope). We are going to get groceries tomorrow I hope.

I am going to try to plan out my meals, look at what I can get for specials, then stock up at the produce store. We have a great produce store that is filled with dozens and dozens of different types of produce to choose from, so I'm looking forward to stocking up!

I felt like it was a good day, that I learned something, that I accomplished something (I went for a 25 minute walk today!! in -16C weather)

Tomorrow will be a great day

Food Journal

We've all heard about it.
We've heard that the ones that succeed do it.
I've tried. and tried. and tried.
I've quit. Forgotten. Fibbed. Skipped.

Writing it down. Food journalling. Tracking what you eat.

Its not anywhere easy. I've tried countless times to do it.
Writing it down on paper.
Writing it on the fridge.
Typing up an list.
Blogging it.
I have not ever succeeded at it for 4 days straight. Not ever.

Why? Because I forget. Most often that's the case. Because what I eat isn't easy to record. Really a big problem since most foods we eat at meal time are all recipes made up in my head that are vegan & gluten free. Those aren't in those fancy computer programs.

But those are excuses.

I have decided to put honest dedication into writing it down. I've installed an app on my phone for journalling. My Fitness Pal  I've tried several different ones and this is the one I like. Its got a barcode scanner so that I can just scan my package of veggie dogs and it will bring up the info for it. It was exciting when I scanned my jar of pickles and voila... it was there.

I started on November 30th.(That means I have 3 days in... tomorrow will be a record)

Keeping it honestly. Recording every cup of coffee, the baby carrots and the fudge that I sampled while I was making it for my husband. Its been tricky. But, I know that it will help. I also really hope it will get easier the more I do it.

Why does it help? It helps because it makes you stop and think... do I really want to write this down? Maybe I won't bother eating it after all. Its accountability. It helps because you can look back over your day or week and see exactly where your trouble areas lie... late night snacks bigger than you thought? Your daily cup of java is adding up because its more like 5 cups a day with all the added cream&sugar? Not eating enough at the first part of the day so binging at supper because you are so hungry? Going for mayo every day? It helps you look at your days and see where you can make SMALL changes... cutting a serving in half of a sweet. Skipping the mayo. Getting a smaller second helping.

I am determined. It is going to be difficult. MyFitnessPal also has a great feature that will calculate the number of calories in my entire recipe and in each serving just by adding all the info. This will be very handy for me because I could not find a listing for gluten free vegan spring rolls made with rice paper & tvp in ANY database, but that was what I had for supper on Tuesday last week (very yummy, will write the recipe down and post in my recipe blog).

There are lots of programs out there for tracking your food. Most phones can download free apps for it. You can do the notebook and pencil version. Or you can check out some of the others online. But either way, all the success stories show that writing it down is a huge factor in their success story.

I WILL SUCCEED

Here is a list of online calorie trackers. Some really awesome ones to check out:

http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/
 http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
 http://www.fitday.com/
 http://www.mycalorietracker.com/
 http://caloriecount.about.com/
 http://www.sparkpeople.com/

Dec 1 - Pics & Measurements

Its the first of December.

Most people I know would say wait until after the holidays to try losing weight. I'm not most people. I know that I need to make changes to my life. I need to manage my weight, manage my emotions, manage my health, 365 days a year. Not wait for a better time.

That never works.
There is never a better time.
There is always going to be stress.
There is always going to be family gatherings and date nights with my husband.
There are 7 birthdays in a year... then holidays... I can't wait until a better time.

NOW is the only time.

That said... Its going to be a long bumpy journey. That's why I'm writing it down. Because its real. There will be really bad days. Derailments. Successes. Accomplishments. Confusion. Real life.

My eldest son is 12 and my biggest champion. He knows how much weight has affected my life, my abilities. He is my biggest supporter.  So today, with his help, I did up my "before" pics and my measurements.

My current stats as of right now, December 1st.

I don't know if I will do them every month, every 5 or 10 pounds, every 6 weeks. I'm not sure.  I will figure that out on the way.

But right now.... Fyre is 207.4 lbs.

Yup... That's pretty big. I look pregnant.
I get asked regularly when I'm due. Its hard to take. I'm not going to look like that for long.

 And YES, I'm wearing a bikini!  Ya know what? I shouldn't be ashamed of that.  Plus, it shows as much as I can so I can REALLY see the progress. I like that bikini. Maybe I'll wear it to the beach next summer!

Measurements:

They are in centimeters because in Canada that's what we use and even though I'm old enough to have used both systems, my son was doing the reading of the tape measure and he said centimeters are what he wanted to do.

Neck:           37.3 cm
Bust:           117.5 cm
underbust:     99.5 cm
Waist:          121 cm
Hip:             118 cm
Thigh (R):      75 cm
Calf (R):        41 cm
Bicep (R)
by the side:    39 cm
Flexed:          41.2 cm

The fact that my waist is larger than my hips is a huge indicator of health problems.

According to research, women who collect weight more around there mid-section and do not maintain the hour-glass figure, even in plus size, are much higher risk of heart disease! heart-health-am-i-at-risk

With my blood pressure being high and not knowing my family heart health, this is scary and makes me even more determined to get healthy before its too late.

Starting fresh

I'm starting fresh. With stubbornness.
I've been here before, I will never be here again.

I'm not eloquent. I'm not gifted with words. I am passionate though.

I've not had a real "blog" before, so the beginning is going to be messy as I work through it. I actually hope no one reads it until I've made a lot of progress.

soooo....

My name is Fyre. Well, that's my assumed name. It suits me. Its me. Fyre and determination!

This is my journey. My progress. To start fresh and lose 100lbs. Yup. I've been a yoyo for 12 years now. Its time to change it all. For good.

I'm going to blog. (Hoping secretly that no one reads it at the beginning, its pretty embarrassing).

I'm going to journal. I'm going to exercise. I'm going to cook. I'm to going to link to other things. I'm even going to post very awful fat pics of me in a bathing suit for reference. Because I need to do this for myself. Because I need to do this for you. I need to prove to myself I can succeed. I need to show people that you CAN do it, its hard, but possible. And its worth it.

Bit of information.... I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my big toe of my right foot in the summer of 2011. I was only 36. The doctor said it will spread to all of my toes likely and its just the beginning. The toe has already started to "curl" and I can no longer wear high heels at all and have a difficult time finding shoes that fit the width. That doesn't even cover the agony of walking.

I have borderline high blood pressure. It was low all my life and just last year it decided to jump. I'm going to start getting it checked regularly so I can see progress (I'm REALLY hoping on progress) with my journey.

I have Spondylolisthesis which causes extreme back pain and is severely worsened by the extra weight in my midsection pulling on my spine.

I have asthma... not uncommon, but definitely challenging when you are exercising a lot if you aren't using proper meds.... I need to get my meds changed.

I live in a very cold northern city. Edmonton, AB. Snow started the first weekend of October and hasn't stopped. There is about 18" on the ground right now. Its been nearly a month since it was above -10C (that's 14F) and the windchill is almost always worse. (Today's windchill is -20C or -4F).

I'm a mom to 2 handsome soon-to-be men who are 10&12 and a step-mom to two boys 7 & 17 and an 11 year old girl. 

And now.... stats:
Height:     4'11"   (I keep hoping that I'm going to grow)
Weight:    207.4 lbs

The last time I weighed this much I was just about to pop out a beautiful baby boy 11 years ago.

My goal is 110 lbs. Right in the middle range of what is healthy for my height, and 15lbs heavier than I was all through University.

I'm a vegetarian and have been for over 15 years (yes, vegetarians can be overweight... chips & ice cream and pop are all vegetarian). I want to become a vegan.

Now ..... to do pictures, measurements, and start planning! 

I CAN DO THIS.