Inspired

So last night I was able to hang out with some great friends Matt, Missy and their sweet little boy Caleb, and we watched the Biggest Loser. AMAZING! I missed last week’s episode, but man, I cannot wait to watch next weeks. It is completely inspiring.

I know that I fall down and sometimes my fall lasts a week or 2, but I always get back up and start where I left off. Watching that show last night really inspired me. I am not inspired to work out 6 or so hours a day, but I am inspired to be consistent, to eat well and to have an overall feeling that I am doing something good for myself.

So here's to becoming another biggest loser. ;-)

So, we have a new roommate coming in tonight. My other roommate and I have met her 2x and she seems really sweet and fun. Hopefully we will all start settling down soon and get life back to a normal flow. I really want to start painting again. I have this painting that I am doing for my room and I want it hanging on my wall. Maybe I can get to it a bit sometime later this week. Fun times. ;-) I will try and get some pictures posted of my progress with the painting.

Oh, also on Monday night we had a prayer and worship night. I decided, after some coxing from friends, to try and play my djembe drum during worship. It was fun trying it out, although I am not sure if it sounded all that great the whole time, but hey, I tried right? ;-)
The picture below is simalar to the djembe that I have. The bottom part of the drum doesn't have special carvings on it, but it's pretty sweet if I do say so myself. ;-)

Cars, cops, tow men and boys

So yesterday I was on my way to a wedding for a co-worker and got into an accident. My fault of course. Seriously upset with myself, but it's over now and just waiting on my car to get fixed. I had to have my car towed to a Auto Body Shop of my choice because my insurance kept telling me that I am only covered for 1 tow (I would have towed it to my house and then figured out later where to take it). Come to find out this morning that I can have more than 1 tow not out of my pocket and that if I send my car to a body shop referred by my insurance, I do not have to have an adjuster come out. They can just fix it. What a pain!!!!! So now I have to have it towed a 2nd time and it could take a while before all is done but the good news is I also found out I am covered for rental car, so hopefully will get one on Monday.

So, while I was standing in the middle of the road (while my car was attached to the other persons car) I was waiting around, hoping to find some help. I of course forgot to bring my cellphone with me that day, so I had to wait for the lady who hit me to finish her calls and let me make a call. She apparently called the police (which by the way was literally 1 minute away from the crash) and they never showed up. In the mean time we are standing dangerously in the middle of the street and I am trying to tell her we need to try and move our cars because we are blocking everyone from getting through. Only one person out of the 25 or so cars that drove past slowed down and asked if we were OK. Turns out someone I knew saw me in the middle of the street but decided to drive on without helping. The wedding was more important I guess. Gotta love peoples priorities.

Finally, I talked the other lady into moving our cars to the police station and finish exchanging information there. Once she was done, she left and I had to wait in the station for an hour for the tow truck. Here is the conversation I heard while waiting.

Police Secretary- Ya, I had a mastectomy
Police Man- Oh really, did you catch the cancer too late?
Secretary- No, a year before I found out I had a mammogram and they didn't see any lumps.
Police Man- Wow, I don't think I could go through with that. You are a strong person.
Secretary- You know, you gotta do what you gotta do. It's either remove the breasts entirely or do Radiation and hope that no cells remain.

And so the conversation went on and on and on about how her breasts were removed and some conversation about her mammogram. I was like "seriously? this is what I get to listen to while my friend is getting married!--NICE!!!". By the way, there were like 5 male policemen to 1 secretary. Quite hilarious.

Finally, the tow truck man arrived. Let me tell you the minute I saw him I thought "Umm, is he trustworthy?". He had shaggy dog hair, no front teeth and his side teeth jutted out making the lack of missing front teeth very prominent. His shirt had multiple holes that looked like he had taken a cigarette and burned holes all over the thing. Not a very good first impression. He proceeded to tell me that the location that I wanted to drop my car off was not a secure location and that there were no key drop offs there, so he would need to take my car to his "Yard". (At this point I am in internally freaking out wishing my dad were with me) He said he was 99% sure that was the case. So he called his boss and they finally decided to just take my car to the location I asked for. (By the way, I found out it was a reputable place and they DID have a key drop off). On the way to the drop off, he proceeded to tell me what he thought about Colorado policemen and how incapable they were of doing their jobs. All in all it was a very interesting time.

Anyway, today (Sunday) to add to all of the chaos I get a phone call from my mom stating my 4 yr old nephew had an accident on his bike and had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance because there was blood everywhere. Turns out my little nephew biffed it by colliding with another bike. He apparently took off his helmet before doing this too. So now he and his mom are waiting to see the doctor and who knows what all of the damage is. Poor guy. He busted his nose open and looks so sad. Please pray for him and my sister as they are going through this.

Thanks.

OH, it's that type it is?

Have you ever felt like society today has put pressure on us girls that we have to be beautiful at all times? In other words, if we do not have our hair or makeup just so, then we are not pretty? Ugh!! Sometimes I feel that big time and it really ticks me off. Now, I know it's best if we try and make ourselves presentable and not look frumpy or drab (at least not every day) but come on!--we're only human. There will be days where you just don't have time to straighten your hair or curl it just so. Sometimes a pony tail is really the only thing that will work for you on that day.

I had a situation yesterday where a lady (we'll call her Whiner) decided to tell me like it is, in front of whoever was close by to listen. Here is how the conversation went.

Whiner- “Annjeri, you didn't want to straighten your hair today? “
Annjer- (Pause.....) “No, I am doing different things with my hair.”
Whiner- “Oh, but you looked so pretty yesterday............”

Ummm, hello!!! Thanks a lot! Basically what your saying is you look awful today but yesterday you looked soooooo much better. Now that you have made me feel ugly in my pony tail, I now have this complex that if I don't straighten my hair then I am not pretty. How rude!!!!! (I have to mention that this person is someone who constantly talks down to people and treats them like their a toddler, so my annoyance was brought up by many levels because well, that person is just way too annoying). Needless to say that Whiner is pretty young (younger than me by the way) and styles her hair and wears clothes from the early 90's!! She wears high water pants (every day) for goodness sakes. But I am not going to go and tell her that her style is really not to my liking, could she please change the way she looks. I think not!

Anyway, I find it hard to style my hair just so in the first place because I have naturally curly-frizzy hair, and it takes time and a lot of energy to blow dry it, straighten it and then give it a bit of wave every day. Most days’ I do not have the energy for it. I usually wear my hair curly with bobby pins to keep it out of my face and really never hear a peep from anything about how I look until that one, glorious day of the year where I wear my hair fully down, straight and silky--and that is when all the people who see me tell me I look pretty.

I just want to let all you ladies know that no matter how you style your hair, even if a certain way you do your hair may be more flattering to you, YOU ARE STILL BEAUTIFUL!! Keep that in mind when you walk out the door each day and don’t let a “know it all” tell you otherwise. ;-)

Insanity and New Hair.....

Well, I love this time of year. I am not too happy that the weather is warm and the trees are already changing over, but again I still love this time of year. Fall is coming, cooler weather over the horizon, and the holidays are drawing near.

I got to thinking about my own life and how there are so many things happening, and really there are many changes taking place as well. I am overwhelmed by what is taking place, yet excited to see where God leads me for the future. Currently, stress and busyness have taken its place in my life and I am trying to figure out how to handle it. My eating and work outs are always affected when I feel this way, as well as how I present myself. If you haven't noticed I haven't been posting much about Crack the Fat Loss Code because I kinda fell off the wagon with it last week and honestly most of this week. Things have been so stinkin busy that I haven't even really cooked a meal but one time in 1.5 weeks. That is not good. That means I make bad choices and I end up eating more bread or pasta dishes and then I feel gross. So, tonight I am making a nice healthy meal that should last me for a few days (Chicken, asparagus and rice). That will eliminate some of the stress.

Last night I had my hair done by a good friend of mine, which made me look so pretty and I feel so much more confident in myself. We stripped my hair of the dark brown that I have had for a while and now I am cinnamon. LOVE IT!! To give my friend Cara credit, she said "I am going to SPICE you up!!". ;-) I love being pampered and honestly, I do not take care of myself as much as I really should. I don't even remember when the last time I had my haircut. My friend was like "When did we cut your hair last? It really needed it!”--Ugh!!! Today as people saw me they were complimenting me left and right, and even some were wondering what had changed--"You look different" they would say. This made me realize that I have really not been paying attention on how I look. I usually pull my hair up in a pony tail or I scrunch it with moose and pull it back in bobby pins to keep it out of my face. I probably am constantly looking like I am in high school or something because in all honestly, I still do my hair the same way I did back then. That was 13 years ago people. Seriously!! Of course my hair cuts have changed, just not the way I style it. So I am going to try and straighten it more often. It’s hard though, because I get hot when my hair is straight but we will try it and see. ;-)

Anyway, as I was saying before I am trying to deal/cope with stress. I am not a person who handles life very well when I have something going on every evening. Even if it means that my evenings are full at home with cleaning or organizing, then going places and doing things without much rest. I used to be the type of person who had something booked for every evening of the week and somehow I coped. I don’t know how. I don’t know what my sanity looked like back then. Maybe I just wasn’t sane and now I am. HA HA. I love when I have some evenings where I can just lounge after work and read or watch a movie. Sometimes I will even just go to my room and lay down with my eyes closed for a little while and let the quiet rejuvenate me. If I don’t have any of those moments then I feel like I do today—exhausted-emotional-ready to just throw everything to the wind and say “let those people deal with it because I’m done”. It certainly doesn't help when I am sleeping poorly either.

I know I am rambling and sorry if this post is a bit lengthy but it’s good to get some of these thoughts out. I really want to have a life where I know I can juggle eating well, exercise, work + over time, fun with friends and family and then responsibilities like paying bills, cleaning and organizing my house. Sheesh, it’s no wonder why I am no way ready to buy a home. I think that would send me over the top into the great land of insanity.

Fun times...

Well, happy Monday everyone! ;-) Got to love Mondays. I have to say that yesterday I was totally not paying attention to what awaited me at work today. I am so glad too. I certainly did not want to focus on the fact that my job is super crazy right now, and who knows how many hours I will be working starting tomorrow. Yippeee!! Actually, the upside to all of that is my paycheck will have a little more cushion in it--so glad for that.

Last week was also a crazy week for me eating wise. I certainly did not make the best of decisions--and I paid for it. I ended up getting really stressed and allowed myself to go off of my eating plan. I therefore ate more carbs than I should have (which included some sweets) and therefore felt nauseous, headachy and my stomach constantly felt yucky. My body felt really week and I didn't have a ton of energy (which I am not sure what that was all about). Anyway, I was so tired last week that I only exercised one time. So this week I am getting back on plan. I can't stand having stomach aches and feeling like I did from eating too many bread or pasta products. So tonight I am going to make a healthy meal and start fresh.

This weekend my roommate and I went through our storage room to get it organized, cleaned out and ready for our new roommate to come in. I am giving a ton of old clothes and random junk to Good Will, but I found a lot of fun things too. I apparently--at one point-- went shopping a few years back when I had lost a ton of weight, and bought brand new jeans, Capri’s and workout clothes that still have their tags on them. WOW! This was so exciting. It was like getting presents all over again. I of course cannot fit into any of these items right now, but they are certainly giving me even more of an incentive to lose weight so I can fit into them. I am also keeping some of my favorite shirts that I wore when I was 1/2 of my size now and I really want to be able to wear them again. So all of that is exciting.

On the exercise front, this week I am going to focus on cardio 3-4 times and try and do weight train 2 of those times. If I get to the gym more than that, we are doing well. I am just not going to overdo it. I think the week before last week I went gung-ho on my work outs and that might be why I was so exhausted the next week. Who knows?

Anyway, here is to a new and healthy week.

Day 3-CTFLC Week 3 and proud of myself, sort-of...

I will start off with saying that I am not proud of myself with how I ate last night. I had a very stressful day yesterday--I was extremely exhausted and way too emotional for my own good, so I had a food melt down and ate things I shouldn't have.

It was a learning lesson. After all was said and done, I realized that I still could have made good choices even within my melt down yesterday. But today is a new day, and I will move on. That's the way life is right? If I just let myself mess up and then never regain my balance, then I will never be a healthy person. Instead, I choose to regain my balance and start new. This is a life long journey. This is not a crash diet. This is not a phase. I am worth it!!! ;-)
___________________________________________________________________________________
OK, this is going to sound silly but I will mention it anyway. As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, I have been decorating my bathroom. My prior roommate owned a lot of the "extras" that we had in our bathroom, so I have been slowly replacing them. I bought some metal shelves to go over the toilet. Have you ever put those suckers together? Golly Gee Willakers Maynard!!! They come in a million and one pieces! Sheesh. Oh, and the instructions. LET ME TELL YOU the instructions are REDICULOUS!! But I did it. I put each and every piece together with my own two hands. LOL!! Again, I know it sounds silly, but I felt proud of myself. Since there are no men in the house to do these things for me, I have to learn on my own and it's pretty sweet. ;-)

Day 2-CTFLC Week 3 and more.

Well, I started week 3 of the program. This weekend I carbed up a-lot and didn't really focus on calories or making sure I had the appropriate snacks in place. I have also decided that I tend to be obsessed with weighing myself all of the time because I just want to see results like NOW! This type of mentality is not good for me. I get depressed when I do not see the scale move when I am working so hard. Soooooo, I am not sure how often I will weigh myself each month but I am going to try hard and not focus on the scale. Instead, I will focus on watching my calories, doing the carb up and carb down days, excersize 3-5 times a week and get my water in. That is certainly more than enough to keep me occupied.

On another note, I started buying stuff for my bathroom. I have lived in this house for almost 2 years and me and my prior roommate that I shared it with could not agree on a color or scheme. FRUSTRATING!!! So, our bathroom remained colorless. I basically had a shower liner and that is pretty much it (other than mismatched and worn out bathroom mats). Sooo I have been looking and searching for what I want and finally decided on getting a chocolate colored shower curtain, and my new roommate has brown mats. Hopefully soon we can figure out colors to go with it. It is fun decorating, and I can't wait to find pictures to throw in splashes of color. Very fun.

I can't wait to start up my canvas painting again. I think once we get the house back in order after my roommate completely moves out, and then I can start being more creative again.

Well, that's all for now. Tootles.

Day 6-CTFLC Week 2- Confused...

Good morning. Today was weigh-in day for me--second time this week. I got too antsy for my own good after our holiday weekend and weighed myself on Tuesday as well. The results are the same today. The scale cannot make up its mind if I lost anything or gained. It wiggles back and forth and won't stay in one place. Ugh!!! It is very frustrating. So on Saturday at the gym I am going to weigh myself and see where it is. It will probably be a little different since I will have eaten breakfast by that time, but I will try and account for that. When I weigh myself at work, I do it before I eat or do any major water intake.

I guess I feel like I am busting my butt and the scale isn't moving in the right direction. Sigh... But, I know I cannot give up. I have to keep moving forward and eat well and exercise. I know that this is good for my heart and over all well being. Not seeing the scale move is frustrating. Since I weigh way more than I should, I want to see it go down, even if it is a pound or 2 a week. I know that the more I exercise, the more muscle I gain and muscle weighs more than fat--so this must be one of the reasons why I am not seeing a huge change. There were a few days this week that I could have eaten more veggies, so today and the rest of this time I will concentrate on that more as well.

On a good note, I have noticed some toning in my legs. I haven't noticed a lot of difference in my waist or arms, but I can tell I am toning up. This week I have been focusing on incorporating multiple types of exercise into my routing. I did the elliptical (Monday), bike (Tuesday) and yesterday (Thursday) I swam 12 laps or 6x back and forth. I think today I might go back and do some elliptical and then tomorrow work on increasing my laps.

Anyway, on another note, I am excited for fall to come. I see signs of it as the leaves are turning different colors, but the weather is acting weird. We keep having warm days and then some cool. I cannot wait to decorate for it. ;-)

My roommate and I are also planning on going to one of those "paint your own pottery" stores soon. We found a good deal online and so I get to use my creative side in something else. Very exciting and fun. ;-) Oh, and one more thing--can you say "THRILLER!!!"? Yes, I and my roommate are going to learn Thriller in the next 2 weeks for her 80's Totally Tubular Birthday Party!!!! That will certainly bring a ton of laughter. Tee Hee!! ;-)

Day 5-CTFLC Week 2 and Coffee MMMMM......

Good morning!
Today is day 5 of Crack the Fat Loss Code. Today I am doing what they call a "Baseline" day. What does this mean you ask? Well, it's feeding your body what it needs or what it is requiring. So, I get to have 2 meals today in which I eat a carbohydrate. Yippee!! ;-)

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and bought almost all of the items I needed. I purchased Ezekiel bread which is on the "allowed" list. ;-) I have to say it's pretty tasty. I added a tiny bit of peanut butter because it is EXPENSIVE in the calorie sense (200 Calories for 2 tbsp).


This morning, I measured out real creamer for my coffee to go with my toast and I am savoring it. I have been using half-n-half which is OK, but I can't stand the taste of coffee with it. So, right now I am really enjoying the "real" creamer. Yummmm...

Also, I started counting my calories today. Last night I sat down and planned today's menu. Can I say that it is exhausting trying to figure out what you’re going to eat for the whole day? I think that since I am counting my calories it really makes me look at what I am putting in my mouth. You can't have too many nuts, or too much cheese. You have to have protein for at leave 4-5 of your meals during a day, so you have to be creative. It is also important to watch how many carbohydrates you consume and how much fat you are eating. At least with this lifestyle plan, they give you good examples of how to fill your day food wise so you know what you should eat and what you shouldn't.

Today is going to be another big workout day. I plan on trying to do more than 35 minutes of cardio. Maybe an hour’s worth and then weight train. Since my muscles are so tight every time I go in for massage therapy each week, I need to incorporate a stretching routine as well. It will be interesting to see how many hours a week I spend on working out and stretching. It’s like a part time job! LOL

Have you ever felt--while trying to get your life in order and back to a healthy balance that the whole thing consumes you? I mean, there might be things here or there that are not related to weight loss or just getting healthy, but for the most part that is your LIFE?? I have people asking me all the time what I have been up to lately and I have to strive to find some other answer other than "Well, I am on this getting healthy kick". Sometimes I slip up because I can't think of anything else to say and that is what I tell them. They pause--look at me funny--smile at me and then ask me what I am doing. In my mind I think "Why did you say that??????". Now they look at me differently and then move on to whatever else they may be doing. Sigh..... At some point I know this will just become a habit, a way of life and I won't actually have to think about it so much, or spend so much time planning. I will just know what to eat, when to eat it and just move on--with life.

I have also been working on a canvas painting which I haven’t touched in 2-3 weeks. I feel like our house is in semi-chaos what with a roommate moving out and my other roommate and I are painting our laundry room. My hope is that when things settle down I will actually start working on it again. On top of that, I am searching for a new church, and am praying for new fellowship around my area. Big changes are happening—sometimes at a slower pace than I like—but it’s all good. ;-)

Day 4- CTFLC Week #2

Well, I am on my way into week #2. Sunday the 4th was my first day and basically, I was supposed to only have 1 carb meal that day. Well, I ended up breaking down and had several carbs (including some sugar) that day. Uggg.... I chalked it up to a carb up day since I had been off of major carbs for 7 days.

Today I weighed myself and found I am pretty much at the same place as I was last Friday. I might have lost a few ounces but the scale could not make up its mind on where it wanted to stay this morning sooooo... I am basically marking it as a zero weight loss or gain. Which is OK, I am trying hard not to be disappointed in myself. I know I have to live life and there are days where I need to eat more carbs in order for my body to function. I just am scared right now to eat more carbs because I don't want it to show a gain. Sigh.......

I am also working out now, which last week I couldn't because, well, I wasn’t' eating carbs. ;-) So, I have been going strong since Monday. Yesterday I did 35 min. on the bike, weight trained and then went home and after dinner I helped paint some of the laundry room. Today is a rest day to give my muscles some healing time and then tomorrow I will be back at it again. I know that when we build muscle, it weighs more than fat so that might also be the cause of a lack of weight loss. Who knows?

On the up side, since I have cut out regular bread from my diet, I feel so much better. I am not bloated like I used to be either. So, today I am going to buy some Ezekiel bread and see how my body handles that. I sure hope I do OK because I miss eating bread. ;-)

So, I am still on my journey of learning how to eat properly. This takes time. It takes learning. It means finding out how to fill the body with the proper nutrients to make it work and not starve. This is a lifetime experience, so I have to be patient with myself. I am also starting to count my calories again because I want to make sure that I am not over-eating in my 5-6 meal a day plan, or I could be under eating. I am also going to buy a food scale today, because most of the information out there goes by ounces rather than regular measurements. It will make my life so much easier I think.

Day 7-CTFLC Week 1

I made it to day 7!!!! Yeee haaaahhh!! Do you know what this means?????? This means that tomorrow I can start eating carbs. Praises be! ;-)

I just wanted to say that I am so very thankful for my friends and family who are sticking by me through this and praying for me. I cannot tell you how much it is helping me. Some of the things God is showing me is too private for a public blog but I can tell you--THANK YOU--and please keep praying. This is a long journey. God is bringing healing, and I have so much weight to lose, but this is the time to do it. ;-)

So, yesterday (day 6) was a tough one for me. There were times where I just wanted to give up and not care--but God reminded me of why I am doing this. It's not the short term benefits that I should be looking at, but the long term ones that I should be striving for. Grant it the short term goals are what keeps us going though.

I am feeling revved up today--or I should say this afternoon. I actually had a pretty rough start to my Saturday. I had bad stomach pangs and felt a bit nautious for quite a while. I didn't want to eat anything. I ended up eating my first meal at 10am, but I am feeling a lot better now, with only a little bit of issues.

I know that I need to keep gong strong even through my weekend, so I chopped up a simple green salad, mixed apple cider vinegar, olive oil and garlic and pepper and had a pretty tasty salad. I grilled some burgers on the stove top this morning so I am combining my salad with that. Super yummy and very simple.

I do have to say that garlic, even though I used it often before I started the program has now become a main staple in my home. I bought a few bulbs at the farmers market and they are so fresh and yummy. I am pretty sure I always have garlic breath, but hay, it tastes great. Also, there are so many people at work getting sick right now and I know that garlic is a great way to stave off sickness, so the more the better. ;-)

All in all, my day is going pretty well for day #7. I have had coffee with real creamer but am not too worried about it.

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend. Tootles.

God, only God can.......

God, may your Spirit open up the seals, break through and let your light shine. May the hurts and pains flow away. Come Lord Jesus Come, Come Lord Jesus Come. May the life long hurts--the bondage keeping us from walking towards you fall away. Wash it away God. You are the Only one that can take care of them. Place your hand over the wounds, the scars. With every tear and wail- may they fall away Lord. May every part of us be whole--be made new. Show us the way Lord. May the tears make our hearts soft for you Lord. Amen.


Song "Fling Wide" by Misty Edwards

Awake, awake, O north wind
Awake, awake, O south wind; blow over me
Come, O winds of testing
Come, winds of refreshing; blow over me

Pre-chorus:

Let the winds blow, let the winds blow (7x)
Let the winds blow

Chorus:

Fling wide the door to my soul
Open up the door to my heart
Have your way, have your way
Have your way, yeah

Post-chorus:

I won’t be afraid; I will face the wind
I won’t be afraid; I’ll embrace the flame

Bridge:

Take me through the fire, take me through the rain
Take me through the testing, I’ll do anything
Test me, try me, prove me, refine me like the gold, like the gold

Amazing isn't it? The reality is, God, only God can walk us through the hard times. I am amazed by how many times I have said yes to Him, and yet I still tend to walk on my own path. How easy it is to try and do things my way, instead of asking Him for help. He reminded me today that I said yes to Him last year when I visited IHOP. I said yes to what He asked me to do, and yet I ended up caught up in the issues of life-of bondage. Whew! Practically took my breath away when He told me this.

Here is the reality of one of the issues I have been dealing with. In order to lose weight, I tried taking it on all by myself. I have struggled and struggled and struggled--feeling sorry for myself for not being like those other people who can go on with life without worrying about their weight. POSH!!! It is what it is. I am not like them. I never will be. God created me like I am, and like it or not, it is what it is. I can't change how I look without God's help, and even then if I get to my goal weight it won't stop there. I still have to lean on Him for life. FOR LIFE!!! I often struggle with this reality. I often wish it were different.

Funny, as a kid I used to day dream that there would be this weight loss pill that you would take once a year and WALLAH, you were thin. HELLO!!!! Wouldn't that be lovely? Or not! Think about how many people in this world who would be truly obese yet hid the truth by a weight loss magic? No one would be healthy.

Anyway, the thing is--the reality is-- we all struggle with something. It doesn't work very well by doing it on our own strength--we have to lean on God. That is my reality today, and I pray that I am reminded of that every day.

Day 6- CTFLC Week 1--Great news

Day 6 and 5 pounds lost! Wahoooooo!!! This is an exciting day people. I am charging forward. I am CRACKING THE CODE!!! ;-)

So, it's possible that most of the weight I lost is water weight, but who cares right? It's 5lbs less than I was before, so that is exciting enough. I have to think- the more pounds I lose, the less weight will be on my back and on my knees and ankles. Oh, glorious day! It will be a major celebration once I find out how much weight I lost at the end of this 8 week cycle. But that's not only it, I will have become healthier. I hopefully will no longer have issues with cholesterol and high blood pressure. Very exciting.

In other news- Yesterday was a tough one for me. I was hungrier than the day's before, and I felt weaker too. I did however break down and have a cup of coffee with real creamer in it. It's was DELICIOUS!!!! Oh, how I miss my coffee. You can have coffee on this plan, but the book states it's better to have sugar free in everything you drink. I however cannot stand most sugar free drinks, so if I can't have it, then I usually don't drink it. But yesterday I was cold and just wanted the yumminess. ;-) I really wasn't feeling too guilty about because it was really a treat for me.

I am looking forward to a 3 day weekend. I am hoping to get some painting on canvas in, but also we are painting our laundry room yellow--SO FUN--and might work on that some as well. My cousin Tammy is in town so I am hoping to see her too, but we will see.

I also should be able to start exercising on Sunday since that starts Week #2 and I begin to eat regular carbs again. We will see how the first workout goes. I bet it will feel great. Elliptical, HERE I COME!!!!

Well, healthy eating everyone and have a great Holiday Weekend!

Day 5-CTFLC Week 1

Yeah for day #5-

I have to admit, even though I am determined to stay going on this journey, today is probably a little less easy than yesterday. I didn't sleep well last night because of my back, and again getting up many times to use the restroom. Sooo, today I am a bit tired and just feel blah.

I am still wondering if I am taking in too much salt. My ears still feel like there is pressure there so I might need to check my blood pressure in the near future. I hate having issues like that--it sucks!!

Last night I decided to change up my eating a bit so I grilled some steak and chicken for the rest of the week. I didn't get home until late, so I didn't give myself much time to tenderize the steak so it came out tough. Bummer, but still edible. ;-) I am so glad we can eat most lean meats. It breaks up the monotonous.

Today I am a little hungrier than yesterday. I still had to force myself to eat breakfast though. I was a bit hungry when I woke up, but when it came time to eat I wanted to gag. LOL! I will be glad when we can have grains soon, and then I can eat oatmeal on some days. It will be a good change-up from eating eggs every morning.

As far as water goes, I am doing my best to drink through-out the day. 70+oz is what I am getting in. There are so many theories on how much a person should drink. I heard a while back on the news that the idea of how much water a person should drink isn't really what it was a while back. I've heard you should drink 1/2 of your body weight, which would be like chugging a ton of water each hour. What are your thoughts and what have you heard to be healthy? For now, I am just going to stick to the amount recommended in the book unless I hear of something better.

Good to know: Here is some information that I have been reading about for fat loss--thought it was pretty interesting. This is a quote from the CTFLC book.

"The best part about manipulating the body's energy stores is that, ultimately, we can get the body to store less fat altogether, giving you higher sustained energy levels. That's right; when you manipulate glycogen stores over a long period of time, the body takes what it's eating and forces it to be used for sustained energy levels, instead of storage as fat.

The body is stubborn, but it can be trained. It wants you to survive; that's why it stores fat. It thinks that by saving up plenty of energy, it can keep you healthy in case of emergency. But that's just your cave dweller brain thinking! Today we don't need to hunt and gather our food, so there is rarely a time when we'll need to save all that fat in case of emergency. Just the opposite is true: our food is too convenient, too readily available. With the double-to triple-sized portions being the norm rather than the exception, we are eating too much and storing too much fat.

We need to teach our cave dweller brains the modern way of thinking. We do not need to be walking around with excess baggage, because we can learn for ourselves how best to eat for maximum performance. The payoff is rediscovering the joys of eating again. "

I love what the author sais here. I am learning that if I can train myself now how to live, I won't have to stress out about it much later, and I can still enjoy life and eating. This isn't a "diet". It's a way of life--coming to terms with how the body works is my ultimate goal so that I can live a good life, not one filled with being uncomfortable because I am big, or one where I am filling my body with toxins from the medications I am taking. I am so looking forward to the day when I am off the medications because then I am going to do a full body cleans to get rid of them. That will be a day to party for sure. ;-)

Day 4-CTFLC Week 1 and more fun

Wahoo, I made it to day #4!!! This is exciting for me because normally I would have given up because "it was just too hard". I won't lie, there have been temptations, and when hunger is "LARGE" in my mind, I want to eat whatever.

This time around is so much different. I feel great--albeit a bit tired and somewhat weak, but really it's been great. My body is definitely doing weird things though. I can feel hunger pangs here and there, but for the most part I am really not that hungry. I actually had to force myself to eat breakfast this morning. Weird. I am wondering if some of the lack of appetite has to do with eating the same thing every day. Well, hopefully tonight I will buy some new veggies like mushrooms and onions to put in my food to change it up some. They have meal plans for each day, but when you are on a tight budget, you eat what you have.

The difference between how I feel now verses before I started CTFLC is amazing. My daily routine used to consist of the following: Wake up, make coffee, drink 1-2 cups coffee, wait to eat breakfast, feel famished, getting a headache, starting to feel my blood sugar crash--oh, I guess I should eat. That was my usual pattern and I would end up eating around 9am. Since I get up so early every morning, including weekends, which means by the time I wake up and eat it's been 3 hours or more! Not good! I would get shaky and just feel like crud because I would make the choice to not eat until it was too late. On the other hand, in regards to just eating during the day, I would not focus on my protein intake for every meal. Sometimes it was just carbs so I would feel yucky no matter what.

Now, since Sunday I have had to re-think everything. Since it's better to eat 4-6 meals a day, I now have to think about the timing of everything. I try and get 5-6 meals in a day (small protein meals--some with veggies and protein shakes). So now, I don't feel my blood sugar crashing since the first thing on my list is to "EAT". Go figure eh? Even though I had no appetite this morning, I knew that if I chose to skip my first breakfast I would be in trouble. It's now more important to me to make sure my body has the appropriate nutrients to function. Did I actual say that? To function--WOW! It's no longer about what "I" want, but what my body needs. Sure, there will be times when I might eat something that is delicious because I want it, but I am learning to eat for my body, not for "MY" emotions. Cool huh?

I know that I am very early in this process, and I am sure there will be some mistakes I will make down the road. But, at the same time, this go around feels great. It feels right. It feels healthy. I am so excited to see where God takes me on this journey. It's not really ALL about weight loss is it? It's about Spiritual, Mental and Emotional things. What a BIG change I am making in my life--for ME!! Not for anyone else, but for me and for God. I know He wants me to be healthy and not be on medication my entire life. That is another thing I am excited about--getting off medication. It's actually a little embarrassing for me because I hate telling people that I am on different medications because my body just cannot handle being over-weight any more. Sigh.... But, this will change. I have to get a blood test done soon, so I am hoping it shows the need to take me off some medications.

This week I have just been lying low--not exercising much. I know that if I choose to do that, it might drain me too much. I think I might try some cardio tomorrow but not do too much and see how it goes. Next week is when exercise is actually "allowed" so that will be great. ;-)

On another note my mom and I had a great time last night at a girls pampering party at a store called Beauty Brands. In order to gain more clients and just more customers, they offered free mini-services if you signed up. Also, they did raffles which mom and I didn't win anything, but we did come away with many free give-a ways. They had paraffin wax treatments, 5 minute chair massages, free hair treatment and straightening, etc. It was just great fun and a good time to spend with mom. ;-)

Will do another update later. Tootles for now.