Hello?? (tap tap) Is this thing on??

 

I think I keep going through denial that I've lost weight.

How silly is that?

I know the clothes I've been wearing are loose, but when I think about a smaller size, I think, oh, that won't fit.

Example:

We went to a wedding over the weekend and the girls were asked to wear black skirts with red or white shirts. I'd been having a heck of a time finding something I liked, but sister-in-law said she had picked up an extra shirt at Kohls I could wear. Here's the thing though, it was a medium. Medium?? I don't wear a medium...I've been wearing extra-large or large...no way could I fit in a medium. She insisted it would fit, but I was scared to try it on.

And guess what...

It fit. Me in a medium? Woo-hoo!

I pulled out a few other medium shirts that I had bought clearanced for when I lost weight, and wouldn't you know, they fit!

I've been walking around with loose pants and I'm scared to see if I can fit into the next smaller size, but who knows I might be pleasantly surprised.

:)

It's silly that even though I know I'm losing weight, and I can feel I'm getting smaller, I have a hard time believing that those smaller sizes are starting to fit. Kind of exciting that they do.

Now, let's work on those size "small" shirts!

The Results

Did you see this season's final results post on Win, Lose, or Blog, yet?

Did I place first? Nope. Am I bummed? A little.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I'm sure anyone who didn't place first is a tad bummed.

It's pretty natural to want to "win".

Here's the exciting thing though...

I lost 23 lbs.

Twenty-three pounds!!

When I started this competition, I really didn't know what to expect as far as weight loss, but here's what I did know...I was getting into this for a lifestyle change...and if I happened to win first, it would sweeten the deal, if not, I was going to have some awesome new habits at the end of 7 weeks. Win.

I did my personal best and that's what matters.

I was good to my body.

I didn't deprive it of anything, and I only indulged once or twice.

I ate a healthy, balanced amount of calories every day.

I lost at a healthy rate.

I did the best I could for my body and let the weight come off as it wanted.

Could I have lost a few more pounds? Probably, but as I said before, this was about eating and living in a way that I could live with, forever, not short term fad dieting.

I developed a habit of working out 5-6 days a week, and guess what? Friday night at 10 pm, I hadn't worked out, and I felt off, so I threw on my workout clothes and with the encouragement of my wonderful sister in law, I ran my first mile straight without stopping. first time ever. I'm still working on my endurance when it comes to running, normally it goes something like this: run a 1/4 of a mile, walk a bit, run a bit, walk a bit, but Friday I ran one mile straight (partly uphill) without stopping at all. Fist pump in the air for me!

I might not have won a title, but the only thing I feel like I lost here was weight.

Does that sound sooo incredibly cheesy? Sorry, because it's true.

I've got about 20 lbs to go and I'm thrilled to see what the next couple months bring...Smaller sizes? Lower numbers on the scale? More muscle? 

Yes please :)

Way to go to all the other contestants! I hope those that still have weight to lose are successful in the rest of their journey! Good luck! And again, a huge thank you to the ladies behind Win, Lose, or Blog!

The End

I just sent in my last Win, Lose, or Blog weigh in!!

I'm a little sad that the last 7 weeks went by so fast!

I am happy that I sent in my last weigh in today...today I woke up feeling like poo poo. The last thing on my mind right now is tracking calories and exercise. I worked it this week with the anticipation of weighing in early and I'm glad. Today I just want to sleep and guzzle orange juice, but between packing and kids, I won't be getting any zzz's in. I'm hoping the sickies (sickies? poo poo? Can you tell I have kids?) doesn't last long because we have a lot wedding stuff to attend this weekend!

I know the title says "The End", but really it's not, just the end of the Win, Lose, or Blog competition for me. You can see by the ticker on my side bar that I still have weight to lose! Plenty! Since the end of the competition means that I'll lose this blog, I plan to move that ticker over to my other blog Chicy Creations and will try to continue to update my progress and recipes over there. My sister and I already have a private blog set up to help cheer each other on in our continued weight loss journey, I'm hoping with continued support I can quickly lose the last 20 or so pounds!

Good luck to the other Win, Lose, or Blog contestants this weekend!

And thanks to the ladies behind Win, Lose, or Blog. I'm so glad I got to be a contestant this season!

Spin Baby Spin!

Last night I went with a friend to spin class for the first time!

{image source}

I loved it! Only bummer (no pun intended) is that my bum hurts today! Those seats kill! I wish I knew exactly how many calories I burned, but I know it was a lot. I worked it for that hour and felt so good afterwards.

I've spaced weighing myself just about every morning this week, so I'm not sure where I'm at, but I'm hoping for good numbers this week. I've done great on calories and exercise, hopefully it pays off. We are going out of town for a wedding this weekend so I'll be weighing in early tomorrow...I'm a little nervous about losing a couple days in the last week of the competition, but oh well, come Sunday, I'll weigh what I weigh whether this week's blog weigh in reflects that number or not, so I just have to finish this week strong for myself!

Thank You!

This is the last week of the competition..so crazy. I'm trying to figure out how that happened so fast! I just wanted to send out a quick thank you to the ladies behind Win, Lose, or Blog and to all of those that have been awesome supporters with their comments.

To hear (or rather "see") the words "You are an inspiration" means the world to me. This competition has been the best motivator for me!

I think all the ladies that have been competing have done wonderfully, and I don't know about the other ladies, but I'm a little nervous about the competition ending. When Sunday comes, the competition is over, but my weight loss journey isn't...at least it shouldn't be! I have about 25-30 lbs to go and I hope that I can keep with the habits I've made the last couple months. Good luck to all the competitors this week and to any readers who are also trying to lose weight!

And on one last happy note..I went from the BMI category of "obese" to "overweight" since starting this competition...big step, right? lol. woo hoo :) about 18 more pounds until I get into that "normal" range...don't you hate those labels anyway?

{Inches}

My weight peaked at the end of December. In the beginning of January, I was about 1.5 sizes bigger in pants (I say 1.5 because I'm in between sizes right now in pants), and 2 sizes bigger in tops than I am right now. I was at the highest weight I've ever been outside of a pregnancy.

Since January, I've lost 25 lbs, and I'm half way to my goal weight.

I took measurements at the start of January and decided to take them again today.

Here's the difference since then...

neck: -1"
chest: -4"

arm: -1"

waist: -6"
hips: -4.5"thigh: -1.25"

Total Inch Loss: 17.75"

Those darn thighs of mine haven't wanted to thin out as much as I'd like.

I wish I had thought to take measurements 6 weeks ago, but I didn't. I'm glad I have some reference though, because when the scale makes me mad, I can pull out my measuring tape and hope that doesn't tick me off too. :)

2 Steps Back, 5 Steps Forward...

Or rather two days back, five days forward...

I typed up a post, not meaning to whine, but just stating how I was completely mind boggled that I did worse on the scale this week than last week even though I worked my butt off this week. Several days I managed to burn more calories from exercise alone than what I ate that day. My week was full of long walks (pulling a wagon or pushing a double stroller), gardening, jumping on the trampoline, and working out (500 calorie burn dvd, stability ball, crunches, push ups, the list goes on)...and plenty of low fat, low cal meals. I worked it this week...most of it...except for Sunday and Monday. Oh, Mother's Day, you are a blessing and a curse. We went up to my husband's parents house for Mother's Day and came back Monday. Remember all those sour patch kids, ice cream and cheesy potatoes I mentioned? Yeah, I kind of forgot about those for a moment today. My weeks easily blur one with the next, and by the end of the week, it's easy to forget what happened at the beginning of the week, so it wasn't until I actually went back and reviewed this week's calories that I realized those two self-sabotaged days were this week.

So yes, I worked my butt off Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I totally rocked those days, which was probably a good thing to help offset Sunday and Monday...those two days were bad, very bad. I guess it's part of life. It's not like I will never have a "splurge day" again. Makes me wonder though what I would have seen on the scale this morning if it wasn't for those two days. Either way, I'm still happy with what I saw on the scale this morning. It's been a long time since I've seen that number, but it better not plan to stick around too long.

On a side note, my husband's work party ended up being at Texas Roadhouse, not an Italian place. Score. I ordered a 6 oz sirloin, side salad with no cheese, egg, or croutons with light dressing and a side of veggies with no butter...AND I didn't touch a single one of those made from Heaven rolls with cinnamon butter. The lady next to me asked if I had a food intolerance since I asked for so many adjustments on my meals. Nope, just trying to eat better. I ate the salad and veggies first and was getting full so I only ate about half of the steak...I left stuffed, but not feeling gross or bloated. I felt a little guilty being so picky with my order, but it was worth it. Still was tasty and satisfying and I cut out a lot of calories.

So how much did I lose this week?
Can't say :)
Be sure to check Win, Lose, or Blog on tuesday after this week's results are posted!

What's in My Fridge?

I'm not actually going to show you everything in my fridge, but thought I'd focus on the salad dressing shelf.

I used to not like salads...scratch that...every now and then I loved a "good salad"...one covered in globs of creamy ranch, egg, bacon bits, cheese, and croutons...the works...you know that ones that can pack several hundred calories on top of your regular meal. Red Robin's Avo-Cobb-O dinner salad with ranch packs 1150 calories... Of course that's a main course dish, but still, that's a lot of calories for any meal.

When I started counting calories and cutting back on empty/unnecessary cals, I started looking for new salad dressings and was pleased to find there are several kinds I love that don't pack all the calories like regular ranch.

The blue cheese dressing would be the hub's...not mine.

These are some of my favorite dressings right now:

I don't have a strong brand preference, but here's what I have right now and a little nutritional info on them:

Maple Grove Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette

2T- 35 cals
160 mg sodium

Great Value Light Italian Dressing

2T- 15 cals
480 mg sodium

Kraft Light Balsamic Vinaigrette

2T- 25 cals
290 mg sodium

Newman's Own Low Fat Sesame Ginger
(I've tried Newman's Own and Litehouse and like them equally but Newman's Own is cheaper)

2T- 35 cals
330 mg sodium

Wishbone Salad Spritzers- Ranch

10 sprays- 15 cals
65 mg sodium

***

Compare the calories in those to ranch which has around 150 calories for 2T and it was easy to give up my ranch. :)

Some of the dressings have way more sodium than others, so that's something I have to watch. I try to go easy on the sodium on my other meals if I have a salad with the higher sodium dressings that day.

I also love this Creamy Cilantro-Avocado dressing for "mexican nights". 2 tablespoons has 32 calories and 160 mg sodium. It's sooo yummy on a bed of lettuce with black beans and fresh pico de gallo and lime juice.

I love the raspberry dressing with chopped apples, craisins and almonds.

The sesame ginger dressing is delish with grilled chicken, mandarin oranges and chopped walnuts or almonds.

And of course, I love the Wishbone ranch spray for having a little taste of ranch without all the calories.

Do you have a favorite salad dressing?

Why Do I Do That To Myself??

Why do I do say yes to food when I know I'll regret it later?

Better yet, why do I use a holiday as an excuse to eat worse than usual?

The last 24 hours has consisted of bbq chicken, cheesy potatoes, ice cream, bread, over 200 calories worth of sour patch kids, a turkey burger, french fries and other foods I normally say no to...well at least I have been saying no to for the last 5 weeks.

I think my stomach and body hate me right now. My body is not used to those foods and I think I can almost actually hear it saying blah, bleh, blah...ok, maybe it's not...my stomach is not actually making gross noises...after how I ate, I wouldn't be surprised if it was, but it is saying I feel totally blah right now, I feel sluggish...shame on you Amy.

I hope this is lessoned learned. I'm not saying I will never eat any of those again, because believe me, I will...just not so much or all in such a short period of time. I did so good at Easter that when mother's day hit, I said I deserve a day to eat what I want...but really, my brain can make that exception, but body isn't going to agree with it.

I'm off to burn off those sour patch and some of that ice cream. I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day. My husband's work is having a dinner party for his department at an italian restaurant tomorrow...carbs...enough said.

Week 5

I'm a little surprised by today's weigh in. I just wasn't expected to see a loss on the scale, I feel blah and bloated. I think I did ok on calories the last few days, but over did it on the carbs. Blast you delicious carbs.

Speaking of carbs, I'm about to be treated to homemade waffles and sugar free syrup by my wonderful husband...and then I think I'll need a carb break...at least until this unwelcomed "aunt" of mine leaves town and I'm not so stinkin' bloated...tmi?

Happy Mother's Day!

Ball Cobra...aka killer tummy ache...

I got the Gold's Gym stayball for Christmas and it came with a 30 minute workout DVD.

I do this at least a few times a week, sometimes in addition to other workouts, or on nights that I haven't had time to exercise and I need something a little more quiet to do than my other aerobics dvd. It's not super intense, but it helps tone and build core muscles...I'll take/need plenty of that!

I've pretty much got the routine memorized and could probably do it without the video.

There is one move that I cannot do though.

I've tried.

and tried.

and tried.

And every time it hurts.

{the ball cobra}

Maybe I am doing it wrong?

I've tried to position myself higher and lower on the ball, but the pressure always hurts my stomach and lower abdomen.

My stomach hasn't been the same since I had a c-section, so maybe that's to blame? It's been almost 15 months but my lower abdomen is still temperamental sometimes.

I don't know, but it's so frustrating that I can't do this one move without hurting and feeling like I'm going to hurl.

Week 4

I just submitted my week 4 weight loss and I'm pretty happy with the number. Not ecstatic, but satisfied. I'm losing at a steady rate, which is good. I've been afraid of hitting a plateau and I'm glad it hasn't happened. I probably could have had a bigger weight loss this week, but I keep having to remind myself that more than "dieting", I am living. There are days where I just can't seem to fit in a workout as long as I want and there are times that I do say yes to that little piece of chocolate calling my name...um, actually, yesterday I said yes to a few peeps, a few pieces of chocolate, and McDonald's for lunch... It's part of life sometimes. I'm not suffering and straining myself to lose weight, I'm not "fad dieting"... I'm eating better and exercising, so I just have to let the weight come off at the rate that my body wants it to, and so far I'm happy with that rate. I'm just ounces away from having lost 15 lbs since the challenge started, and I'm 1 lb away from being 20 lbs lighter since January.

I'm just barely at the lowest weight in almost 3 years and it feels good.

Keep an eye out at the Win, Lose, or Blog homepage for Week 4 results.

Happy Sunday!