Maintaining

It’s late at night and I am laying in bed typing this on my iPhone. My hubby is sleeping next to me.

I haven’t posted on this blog in a while. In all honestly I’ll probably retire it. But I just felt like getting my thoughts out to a place people probably weren’t going to really read.

My weight has been up and down so many times since 2014. Five years ago at the time of this post. I never seem to find a place to land on how exactly to handle it. It seems to always skew one of two ways: extreme dieting and intense exercise or complete apathy and lack of self control.

I could get into the details of my health or diet plan but I’ll save that for a different post.

Tonight as I’m going to sleep I feel okay about it all. Which is a good thing. For all I know this security will last a week or maybe even disappear over night, and I might not ever go back to how I feel in this moment.

But let’s celebrate the little things.

This is the first time that I have felt “in between” extreme dieting and extreme overeating. Most of my meals fall within my current eating plan. And once or so a week I splurge on something “naughty.” Many times I can’t just have one or two of someone on the “naughty” list before I nose dive into binge eating. I still fear that a little but I’m doing my best to not let that fear control me.

I gained a few pounds over the holiday and I set a tiny goal to just lose what I gained. This, in no way feels daunting. Just a week of keeping myself in check and I’ll be back to that.

I am in no way close to my ideal weight, but for the first time in my life I am feeling motivated to just maintain. I’m about 20 lbs lighter then I was last year and I’m glad to just not be at my heaviest. I don’t have as many weird symptoms because of it and I’m happy to just sort of be on “this side.” Of that.

I told a friend today my real weight. Not my skinny, lowest weight. But my current fat-from-smallest weight.

I haven’t done that, I don’t think, all of my life.

My goal for 2020 is to continue to maintain. Maybe shed 20 more pounds by 2021?

We’ll see :) Happy New Years!

That One Time I Failed Miserably

It’s time to talk about failures.

This past weekend was a rough one. As of Friday, I had lost 91lbs weighing a wonderful 203lbs. The last time I was under 200lbs I must have been about 12 or 13 years old (maybe). It’s been over 10 years. I was so close to this goal that I pushed myself harder than I have ever pushed myself.

For 4 days I ate oatmeal for breakfast, a simple homemade juice for lunch, and a raw salad for dinner. I couldn’t have been consuming more than 600 calories.  Each evening I would get to the gym and run 3 miles and power-walk somewhere between 1-2miles burning around 450/500 calories. For those of you who can do the math of my calorie consumption and my calorie burning- you are correct. This is not healthy.

I spoke with Justin on the phone and told him my goal was to lose 2 pounds that night. “TWO pounds in one day?!” he responded. I gave him an intellectual and well advised response as to how this was okay and doable and pretty much talked him into a different conversation so I wouldn’t have to justify myself.

That night I burned over 500 calories on the treadmill and ate next to nothing all day. I woke up excited to weigh myself. When I got on the scale it said 203 lbs.

WHAT?!

Um, excuse me!! I practically starved myself and busted my butt on the treadmill! It’s not scientifically possible that I lost absolutely no weight. I was pissed off and annoyed. I decided to just eat whatever I wanted for breakfast. I had oatmeal, an apple, some date balls, cashews, fried plantain chips, almonds, and two veggie burgers and some left over dinner from the previous night… just for breakfast. For the rest of the weekend and for the next 3 following days I had chocolate, trail mix, bread, sandwiches, fruit tart pie, pop tarts, Cheezits, two pints of ice cream, candy bars, a small bag of Hershey’s kisses, macaroni and cheese, pasta, cupcakes, and chips.

I’m embarrassed even typing this, but I want to communicate just how hard it’s been to keep up this lifestyle some times. It DEFINITELY get’s easier when you know exactly what to cook and to buy when you walk into a store. But chocolate will always taste good. Working out will always be difficult. I can arguably say that working out is just as difficult as it was when I started but only now I can do more, better, and faster.

This weekend I made poor choices. During the week I worked hard and lost 5 pounds. In one weekend I gained 12 lbs. It’s so hard for me to admit that. I’ve been back on for a couple days and am already down a couple now but if I would have just been patient with myself I would not have needed to take so many steps back.

I will explain the spiritual side of my issue but there is also a scientific one. What I did the last couple weeks was put my body in a borderline starvation mode. I was pushing my body hard physically and not giving my body enough fuel. As my body tried to hold on to fat to keep my alive, I gave it very little option and forced it to burn it rapidly. My body would tell me to eat more using hunger pangs and giving me a light headed feeling after the treadmill, but the results were just too attractive for me to listen.

When I hit that wall, I got emotionally upset and decided to binge because I missed food so much. My body was finally going to get all the food it had been asking for. So I ate and ate but didn’t eat anything with nutrition so my body kept asking for more. I ate until my stomach hurt but still, my body craved the nutrients I normally fed it.

To protect me from future famine my body stored all the fat I was eating to save for later. I’ve heard this process described as borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Tricking my body to do what I wanted was not nice at all. And the sad thing is, is that is not the first or even second time I’ve done this since starting my health journey. I’m abusing the Power over my actions that Christ as given me for my own agenda.

Which brings me to the spiritual side. I do think that this binge had something to do with hormones (cravings and emotional response and what not), but my actions really did not set me up for success. In addition, I did not take any time to have my daily communications with God like I laid out in my last blog. (prayer each morning and evening, worship and journal every day.) Being in a relationship (especially with God) takes dedication and diligence to stay relevant.

One thing I’ve noticed about dating Justin is the more we communicate to each other, the more similar our jokes and speech patterns sound. We get better and brining up topics that we know the other will be interested in, and we are far more comfortable being honest and open with each other. I would imagine if we were to take a week or so off from talking to each other it would change that dynamic. I would need to “catch him up” if you will.

So that is what I have been doing with God these past couple of days. Of course, He’s already all caught up with me, but I am so ready to hear his Word for me every day like usual.

As far as my diet, I decided to go back to three regular meals with a juice to work on while at work. Still doing about 4 miles on the treadmill, and my new plan is to work on distance rather than fast times. I’m hoping to include some strength training for runners so I can keep running farther.

Lastly, and I’ll leave you with this. I got some great advice from my friend Steve from church and my mentor Barbara. Steve is a runner himself and has been doing it for years and years. He advised me to take my running nice and slow and consistent. To not try and increase more than 10% at a time because otherwise it might lead to injury, but by keeping my running manageable I can still improve while also giving myself an exercise I can do for a lifetime.

Barbara told me to take my dieting one day at a time. To get up and give myself the goal of just doing well TODAY. To not focus so much on the overall weight loss and the future, but focus on doing well right now.

Both are great, solid advice and I’m happy that I have people who are always ready to speak wisdom in my life.

Thanks for reading and I’ll pray for you!

A little encouragement:

Help! I Don't Know Anything About a Healthy Diet! (Documentary Suggestions)

If you don't know I am an avid learner. I am addicted to taking in information and reading up on almost everything. (It sounds great but some times can be a double edged sword; I have spent hours looking into incredibly stupid stuff like all the different ways you can create your own deodorant). I find information in every way, shape, and form: books, articles, Pinterest, podcasts, Youtube tutorials, and documentaries. You can be assured that I am constantly going through any one of these mediums (often several times at once.)

Anywho, one of my current obsessions is health documentaries. I believe I have seen nearly everyone on Netflix (minus Food Inc. and GMO OMG. If you have seen any of these, please feel free to leave your opinion of them in the comments!) 

I believe a MAJOR part of losing weight and getting healthy is educating yourself on your body. It's so much more than cutting out junk food and riding your bike to work, although these are great! So people average people who know nothing about health believe that a healthy diet is all about cutting out bad stuff, but they forget that they must be adding good stuff.

(Speaking of which, I heard this idea that there is no such thing as bad food or good food. Just food that is more nutritious for you. When you have it in your head that food is bad for you, it can lead to shame and some times even eating disorders.)

But the question is always where to start? There is so much information out there with many conflicting ideas- this can make it hard when you are sincere about a healthy lifestyle and are willing to start from square one and take it slow.

A great step would to be to see a nutritionist, personal trainer, or physician. Which is great for people with the $$$. I also think it's super silly that we need to pay to find this information! For the rest of us, we must take advantage of our free resources. It's a little more difficult and time consuming, but the information is out there! You must be diligent in seeking it if you truly LOVE your body <3

So the first step I recommend is to watch documentaries. Now these are almost always slanted toward one way, but the more you watch, the more well rounded you can be. I wanted to take some time and fill you in on some of my favorites from Netflix. Here's my first list-type blog. Let me know what you think, and I'd love to hear your own feedback on the films and your own suggestions.

6. Vegucated!

Basically, this is a pro-veganism animal rights documentary. It follows 3 different people of age and background in New York, who were challenged by Marisa Miller Wolfson to agree to take part in a 100% vegan diet for 6 weeks. 

What I really appreciated about the film was that she not only challenged and studied these people, but spent 2/3rd of the film educating them. She took them to a physician, to a vegan conference with speakers, gave them cooking lessons, taught them to shop, showed them documentaries on animal cruelty, took them to farms, and offered moral support.

However, I wasn't really a fan of how she spoke very little about health and balance. The doctor spoke of how veganism limits heart disease and weight-loss (which I believe to be true), but when shopping it seemed to turn into: eat whatever you think is vegan. This included Oreos for goodness sakes. This film says absolutely nothing about processed foods. In fact, the man ate a vegan diet for 6 weeks and lost only 5 lbs. The girl only lost 2. This is great that they were moving towards a healthier path, but there is actually something known as a "junk food vegan." These are often times people with moral dilemmas with consuming animal products, but not a whole lot of interest in a healthy body.

Also, the film seemed super against animal consumption, morally. Despite that, however, I did appreciate being educated on the food industry a little bit. I was disturbed by the disgusting cruelty to animals. Nevertheless, I still don't find any wrong with eating animals products if that's your choice. I simply chose not to eat them for health reasons.

I give it a three stars and would watch it again. It was fun and enlightening, but I didn't take away much about health, mostly just veganism.

 

5. Chew on This: TED Talks

I watched the first episode of them and enjoyed it. It was mostly about food in public school. I found this very interesting as I would one day like to be a mother and I have already been planning on how I will rear them, health being a major staple.

He also speaks on adult health and the need for vegetable consumption. That's the bottom line people. If you want to drop lbs and be healthier, you must consume vegetables more than anything.

The rest of the episodes didn't seem to interest me much, but I'm sure with my information-addittion I'll watch them all.

The speaker was very passionate, charismatic, and well informed. I give it a four stars and would recommend you check it out, especially if you have or want children.

4. Fat Sick, and Nearly Dead

Wow! I love this film! This is about a man who was quite literally fat, sick, and nearly dead. He was an average business man and was really living it up. At one point he gets fed up with a harmful skin condition and seeks to cure himself with juicing. He travels around meeting and interviewing different people about health and and juicing.

What I love is that he shows us that juicing is not quite and difficult and extreme and it's made out to be. He was certainly no health guru and was able to do a 60 day juice-fast! Wow!

Although a little cheesy at some points, it's a great film and really makes you feel motivated to try juicing (it certainly motivated me), it reminds you that healthy is not just for the rich man. Anyone can do it :)

Four stars and a must see!

3. Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2

Once you watch the first, you gotta do the second. The first film is about getting juiced, changing your lifestyle, an dropping lbs. This film is about sustaining. Joe was able to drop a lot of weight but keeping it off was also difficult. This film is far more jam packed with helpful information and health and ways people stay healthy, and who aren't just looking for a momentary fix.

I appreciated this film far more than the first, but you can't watch this one until you watch the first one. With that being said, it's a four and a half stars and also a must see.

2. Forks Over Knives

This one was recommended to me by my boyfriends sister who is a mostly vegan. She shared it with me after I told her I was also vegan. The first time I had met her I was doing Paleo and she was thrilled to hear that I had cut red meat. (I was too!). I finally got around to watching it and I realllllly liked it. SO much helpful information not just on getting healthy but information on general health as far as disease and prevention.

We get some insight on the "most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted." This study takes place over at least a decade and over thousands of people. The information is very well presented and quite convincing.

I will say it is pro-veganism, but even if you're not vegan I still highly recommend it. I love how it addresses heart disease, diabetes, and how one can cure themselves of several other types of diseases by simply changing their diet and nixing the pills.

This is a five stars, easy!

1. Hungry For Change

By far, my favorite documentary out of them all. This was my very fist one I watched and it's a huge motivator for staring my journey almost a year ago. In fact, I watch it several times within the first few months when I needed motivation. 

The best idea it take out of this is the idea that as Americans we are overeating but finding a way to starve ourselves of nutrients. We focus too much on cutting and not enough on adding. They touch on ideas about juicing, veganism, and all the wonderful things that come with a lifestyle change including weight loss, looking younger, more energy, and curing diseases.

It's super easy to understand and they have many experts speaking and lots of helpful ideas.

If you only watch one health documentary in your life, make it this one. It changed my life!

*  *  *

I hope this list helped. Educating myself on the human body and what it needs it what helped lead to my success. As of today, I have lost 90 lbs and I am still searching for more education. Never stop the journey to learn more, and never stop trying to eat better and exercise. It might not work out int the beginning, but the longer you do it, the more trial and error you have.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

A Word About My Healthy Lifestyle

I have been trying to lose weight since I was 13 years old. I have had mild success throughout the years, being able to lose 15 lbs in junior high and 30lbs in high school, but in between gaining 10 lbs each year.

Between the ages of 12 (When I stopped growing in height) to 22, I gained about a hundred pounds. I'm not sure what I weighed prior to 12 years old but I was wearing size 16 in teen sizes. (Which is plus size, but I was definitely slender for the most part). If I had to guess, I probably weight about 170lbs coming into junior high.

My weight gain began in the seventh grade after my parents split up. I had no type of balance to my diet and only trace amounts of exercise outside of my PE class. I struggled with depression and didn't know how to handle my emotions. This behavior and attitude persisted through high school. I had tried losing weight several times in between there, every time using the Atkins lo/no-carb, high-fat diet. 

When I got to be a senior in high school, we were calculating our BMI in science class and I came to the realization that I was up to 250 pounds. I was devastated and disgusted. These negative feels about myself motivated me to shed 30 pounds in one month. I felt great! I bought new clothes and weight about 220lbs.

The success didn't last. 

Upon getting off the Atkins diet, I not only gained the 30 pounds back but gained an additional 44 pounds in 5 years, putting me at a resounding 294 pounds. 

I stood on the scale and could not believe what I saw. Never ever in my life did I think I would be 300 pounds. I always felt like I was chubby and thick and that was just a reality, but 300 pounds, in my mind, crossed a line. 

I was ashamed and disgusted. I was addicted to starchy, sugary, delicious food and hated working out because it was a constant reminder of how unhealthy and out of shape I was. I was embarrassed using the treadmill at the gym because I could only jog 3 minutes at 5 mph before reaching my limit.

Even lifting weights was sad.

I was at the end of my rope. I didn't love my body and I hated the way I felt. Even sitting down was uncomfortable for me.

So how did I get from this struggling woman to the path I'm on now?

Jesus.

I had struggled with addictions before and I knew the only way the break this one was through the power given to me through Christ. Yes, the food addiction was a chemical one but there was more to it than that. I met with Gloria from my church for my second ever Sozo. I mentioned that I wanted healing for my attachment to food so we dove in to it. 

We asked the Holy Spirit when my attachment to food began. He showed me that it began when I was young girl. Growing up my mother was (and still is) a fantastic cook. We were taught that when we ate it had to be a home cooked meal with sides and an entree. The idea of our family eating TV dinners was preposterous in out house. So what was ingrained in my brain growing up is this: Food must be tasty. 

This is a lie.

Now that we knew the lie, out next step was to ask God what His truth was. What He told me was this: Food is our stewart. Food was sent here to serve us and not control us. Food does not HAVE to taste good.

I asked God to break the stronghold of food over my life. And to replace the lie with His truth. I asked God to show me who I was in His eyes. My value to Him has nothing to do with my weight or anything else I could control. In His eyes I was perfect. With that being said, He has great plans for me that will be achieved in a healthier frame. Plans to prosper me.

Once I had the correct mindset, the time for the hard work had arrived.

My roommate Ana ate according to the Paleo diet and my friend Jessica recommended the Couch to 5K App. Knowing nothing about diet or exercise I decided to just do those two things.

My average meal plan looked like this:

• Omlete or scrambled eggs for breakfast
• Salad with boiled egg, bacon, and balsamic vinaigrette for lunch
• Two pieced of backed Chicken for lunch
• Kielbasa for snack
• Chicken for dinner with a side of veggies

My average work out plan looked like this:

• Couch to 5K Mon/Wed/Frid
• Power Walking Tue/Thur
• Trading off power walking and rollerblading here and there

This is how I lost my first 56 lbs.

I was feeling great! And also not so great. 

I felt lighter on my feet but struggled with some health implications. I was CONSTANTLY thirsty. Had chapped lips. And would have leg cramps at least a handful of times a week. To this day I don't know what the cause of it was. Jamison, my friend, looked into it and said that people on the Paleo diet would often have similar issues.

I struggled through this for about 7 months when I decided to make a change. My good friend Dr. Lisa recommended a book to me that she and her two daughters stuck to, called Living Well Naturally by Anthony Sattilaro. It's a book from the 1980's about a man who cured his cancer by changing his diet and developing a relationship with God. Great book! On top of that I started reading more books and internet articles on diet/health and types of exercise. 

There are SO MANY different types of diets and each book/article has such conflicting ideas. I have found that trying to find the "right" diet can be a lot like trying to find the "right" political party. Just like each political party will tell you that they are the most correct option, diet plans will go into great detail not only why their diet is the best but also why every other diet is wrong.

This can be very disheartening. Especially for the average Joe who knows nothing about diet and health. But instead of being discouraged, I decided to enter into a testing phase. 

I am currently in said testing phase where I'm trying to figure out what is best for my body. There are probably better ways to have a testing phase where you journal and take notes and track things, but basically I just try something and then make mental notes of how I feel and how it affects my weight loss.

I've gone through cutting red meat, cutting back on carbs, cutting back on fat, cutting dairy and so on and so on. I've had various success but for the time being but I am currently following a 98% Vegan diet and a Jogging/Cardio/Strength workout plan that looks like this:

Diet:

• Steel Cut Oatmeal for breakfast
• Refried beans and/or rice, salad, entree (roasted veggies, veggie burgers, tofu/veggie stir fry), and fruit for dessert (usually an apple)
• Different variation of lunch for dinner (usually also sweet potatoes instead of beans/rice)
• If try not to snack but if I can't control myself I'll eat an apple, peanut butter, or raw nuts (cashews, pecans, or almonds)

Exercise

• Couch to 5k Mon/Wed/Fri
• Jillian Michaels Tue/Thur
• Sprint Mile Tue/Thur/Sat
• Hacky sack between my classes
• I try to save one day (usually Sunday) for something really light like yoga or stretching 

But there is more to my journey!

I have not been consistently losing weight. I lost little to no weight in the month of October. There were several times where I would fall off the wagon (ask my roommates and boyfriend who can tell you all about it) and my go-to junk foods would be pizza and cookies. Some times I would binge for a few days or only go a day or two before falling off again. In fact, it's January 7th and yesterday I started with just one cookie and ended up eating 5 cookies, a smores sandwich, Hershey's Graham Crackers Sticks with chocolate dip, and two Poptarts. 

It happens!

I wondered what I was doing differently that was slowing my success. What was different? I turned back to Jesus.

Jesus, what do you want for me and my body?

After some intercession I heard from The Lord. He told me that he wanted my healthy body to be a reflection of my health. That above all else, he wanted me to pursue health in my relationship with HIm.

So I started a new regime that invited Jesus into the process. Every morning I read a chapter in Proverbs (there are 30 chapters so I read whichever chapter of the day of the month it is) I listen to worship and pray for my day. Each night before bed I journal, and do some intercession.

(I'm still working on structure for my prayer/intercession time. I'm working on making prayer lists and scheduling prayer time based on Mike Bickles sermon about developing the inner man. It's easy the first few times but once you get into the thick of it, it gets very mundane and chore-like but it makes a huge impact in your life.)

Getting into this Intimacy Regime and improving my spiritual health had a great impact on my physical health and well as my mental health. Learning to love myself and love my body started early in my health journey and has turned into something I have to walk myself through nearly every day.

I'm trying to cut back on my habit of pinching and poking my flabby areas because I feel like I'm communicating to myself that I am gross. It's still something I'm struggling with.

I've recently starting dating a wonderful Christian man which has added an even newer struggle of trying to keep my weight loss focused on God and my testimony and not based on what I think my boyfriend wants to see. Fortunately I had my mind set straight in the beginning so I'm not having to train myself out of those thoughts, and more am just needing to deflect them.

I have lost a total of 87lbs and currently weight 210 pounds. I am smaller than I was in most of high school and am approaching junior high weight! My mile is at 8:35 and I can do 3 miles on the treadmill easy. I can lift more and longer and sleep and wake easier. I sit more comfortably and I worship more freely. It's easy for me to mention that I am beautiful and cute and attractive and I feel like I can confidently call myself athletic. 

My goals for the future include:

• Losing at least 30/40 more pounds (or whatever puts me at a healthy, tones weight)
• Get my mile down to 8 minutes by May
• I want abs
• I want to be able to do 10 full push ups by May
• I want to be able to do 5 pull ups by 2016
• I want to be a size 9 dress size by 2016

When I started my journey I told myself that if I could just get down to 210 I would be happy. Now, I AM happy but I realize that I can achieve whatever health goals I can imagine. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I want to reach the epitome of health, strength, and endurance and there is nothing in this world that can stop me.

I hope you can feel encouraged by my story. I'm always happy to share my tactics and plans on what I've done and what I'm currently doing in detail. But please know that my testimony and success are non-existent without Jesus. I tried for years and years to get to be where I am today. It wasn't until I got things straight with God that I saw any lasting success.

Here are some progress photos!

Here Is Where I'm at Now

Soooo, I just have at a great talk with the lovely Jazzmin. It was great. After talking to her I came to a confession: I am an addict.

My lifestyle is getting super out of hand. To the point where I'm started to get worried about my health. I have absolutely no motivation to diet and exercise. I want to want to but I just can't muster it up.

I hate being uncomfortable and all that stuff is super uncomfortable.

I think I'm to the point where I seriously need to go to a rehab or something. A place where failing won't even be an option. I hear so many stories of success stories and tips and I take note and I try everything and yet, here I am. The same person before but heavier.

This lack of self motivation also trickles over into my social and personal life as well. I am not motivated to clean or rehearse or practice or take care of my responsibilities. I don't know how one gets this? I suppose it would be to leave myself no option but to not fail. To move out? Having to rely on only myself to get things done instead of my mother.

Another obstacle I face is my diet. For a while I was buying my own groceries and trying to eat better but my family was still eating whatever and they would bring me stuff like fast food and starches and it would kill me.

I am so stuck. I feel so useless. I feel like a failure. I want so bad to be thin and healthy. I would have more acting opportunities and I would feel better overall.

What do I do?

I'm not sure if I need motivational words or what...

I think would I need is a person who is willing to dedicate to this with me. Someone who I could see very often. (Several times a week) To eat and exercise with. Someone who won't let me take failure as an answer.

I pray consistently and I stay the same. My heart and motivation stay the same.

Lord, save me.

I've lost a few pounds!

Just found out that I've lost about 3 pounds :D
It's not a lot, but it's good considering that I've had so many bad days and I haven only exercised twice in 3 weeks!

... Well that's really all! Haha, I'm just a bit excited now. It may be only 3 measly pounds but in a about a week it'll be 3 more measly pounds... then the next week it'll be 3 more. And the 3 more, and 3 more! And I'll have lost 12 pounds! I'm also thinking about taking an exercising class when school starts so who know's how fast I'll be dropping the pounds then.

Well, have a good day! Hope you guys are losing too!

Entering into Week Three

I'm starting to think that my blog isn't very motivating because I've been doing so horrible! But I don't want to quit. I used to go on so many diet and every time I would slip up I would just give up. But like the Toby Mac song that I posted in my blog a few days ago, I'm going to just keep getting back up again! I don't care if I fail a thousand times! It'll only make my victory that much sweeter.

So these past two days have probably been the worst yet. I have eaten so many sweets and greasy foods. I went to Buca di Beppo and had a HUGE bowl of pasta. I got the left-overs boxed up and I finished it at home. Then today, I went to Chipotle and had a giant burrito. (Healthier than most fast-food places but still wasn't good for me.)

BUT, in doing so I experienced my first "Man I wish I would have stayed on my diet" feeling. After I got home from Buca di Beppo I was so gassy and bloated. I felt full and disgusting. I got bad heart burn and I just over all felt awful. I have been doing decent for the past handful of days and so eating all this greasy food did not go over well for me. I hadn't realized how eating healthier and smaller portions had made me feel better. I probably haven't lost any weight, but I would like to weight myself. I'll have to go to a gym or something though because my scale is out of batteries.

But I got paid and went shopping today! I got: apples, pears, bananas, edemame beans, raw chicken, 100% whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, fat free yogurt, and raw salad. I hope that is enough for me not to cheat!

Also, I haven't been keeping up with my exercising either :( But tomorrow I'm going to do my walking! I have a food plan, but I think I need to educate myself more on weight managing exercise! Any one have any links to information on that?

*Tips: Have a PLAN for your diet. Especially for losing weight. I used to have it in my head that I would just "cut out" things and start losing weight. But the truth of the matter is there is a healthy balance that your body needs! Sugar get's such a bad rep, but your body needs stuff like that in the right proportions. So I insist that you go to https://www.choosemyplate.gov/SuperTracker/myplan.aspx and follow the default plan, or better yet sign up and make your own unique plan based on size and desired weight like I did!

*Inspiration: This girl got tired of being overweight and decided to take her health into her own hands. Just like you and me, she devised a plan and failed many times until she found the plan that worked for her. Now she's working on a book to motivate young adults to get healthy! You can check out her blog at http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/

I'm praying for you people out there trying to get healthy! I inspired my mom to start eating healthy too, so now I have someone to help keep me accountable and to cook yummy food for me :)