Journey to a healthy me

I've been thinking about resolutions that I would like to make this year. I have a few that are related to school, some related to work, and some related to my weight loss journey. But before I get there, I want to recap on a few things. Two years ago I decided to make a New Years resolution to give up diet soda. I have done just that. I have not had diet soda in over 2 years. It has been difficult at times, but I feel better not drinking it because I drink more water. I still crave it, but I don't want to make a compromise and have one here and there because I was addicted. I couldn't go without it. One year ago I weighed 224 pounds. Today I weight 167.6 pounds. In one year I have lost over 50 pounds through watching what I eat and exercising. What will this year bring with my weight loss journey? I'm nearing the end of my journey, but it's really only the start because I will then have to learn how to maintain my weight loss. I am not really sure what my goal ...

This week I've continued to struggle to get to the gym in the morning. My schedule is so hectic that whenever I can sleep in I will. I do not know what I am lacking in motivation or determination to get there. I have found that if I exercise I am more likely to eat well throughout the day. I need to figure out something to get myself back on track in order to meet my weight loss goal. I'm just stuck. Tomorrow is a brand new day, a busy day, but planning again to go work out and enjoy the crazy fitness class bright and early.

I have lost 70 pounds! Last week marked a year  since I started my journey to get to a healthy weight. I doubted myself at times, but I am not going back now! I never imagined that I could stick with watching my calories and making exercise a priority everyday. This week has been a quick weight loss week. I know I haven't been eating enough most of the week, but generally make up by dinner time with calories. Working out has been getting easier. I have been reading, but just finished the book so I need to find another book to read starting tomorrow. I starting running more. I am pushing myself to get fit and healthy. My vacation is coming up, and I can't wait to see the pictures because I will have comparison pictures of one year of this journey.

Typically I have to be careful walking out of the bathroom to my bedroom so my family doesn't get a glimpse of my butt. Well today I discovered that is no longer a problem. I can wrap a towel around me and do not have to worry about my butt sticking out! These little things make me so happy. I have lost 67.8 pounds so far and want to lose another 50 pounds to be at a healthy weight. I increased to 4 days at the gym and started my running program again has been helping me to reach my goal. Eating has been tough lately. I have been so busy that I typically miss breakfast and lunch. I started drinking coffee without anything added to it, and I love it! It has a great taste and I love its zero calories!  A new week starts tomorrow and I need to get a few of my eating habits under control.

The other day I was thinking back to where I started... I never took a starting photo, because I didn't think I'd be blogging about it. I'm amazed at the transformation. I've lost 55 pounds! It's been slow, but I'm glad it's been slow because I'm learning how to eat better (slowly) as well as how to manage my time with work, exercise, and school. This was taken in September. I finally fit in an XL in misses! I was so excited (you can tell by my expression). I fit, but it was a little snug, but I didn't care! It fit and that's what counted in my head. Since September I've lost more and can fit in an XL in Juniors! I'm young and I want to wear younger clothes that make me feel confident in myself. This is me a few days ago. My face is smaller, by arms are smaller, my hands are smaller, and my body is smaller! EVERYTHING is smaller! That outfit was something I didn't think I'd fit into. My loose skin is causing me to feel v...

My plan when I decided to run an extra day was to just repeat week 4 again... But then I decided to try week 5 on my couch to 5k program. Initially I thought it was 5 minutes of running, walk, 8 minutes running, walk, and repeat. I was VERY hesitant. But it was actually only 5 minute increments the whole time. Somehow the app acted up, and I think I did 4-5 minute increments even though it only called for 3. I felt awesome after and my calories burned amazed me! The scale has been going up lately, but I feel its because I've been increasing my strength training, and I've eaten poorly 3 days this past week. We'll see what this extra running day will do. No school this week! But I definitely have some catching up on assignments and readings to do.

I recently had to go for a follow-up on lab work I had done. My fasting blood sugar went from 103 to 87! I was hoping that was the case since type 2 diabetes runs in my family. My bad cholesterol is within normal ranges, my good cholesterol is low, but went up since the last lab work. My doctor was impressed, and I'm encouraged to have her see my results. I'm still Vitamin D deficient, but that is something I can work on with supplements and a little sun if it ever comes out... I was so stuck on week 3 of my couch to 5k. I think I did week 3, 3 or 4 times. I decided to try week 4 which is 16 minutes of running altogether with walking breaks. I was nervous because I struggled when I tried. I slowed the speed down. I struggled Tuesday, but finished it! Today I struggled, but nothing compared to Tuesday. I did it and am going to keep pushing myself.

Now I love the television series "Bones", but it has so many twists and turns! Yet I keep watching it week after week like my calories. I've always been overweight to the best of my knowledge. I don't remember a lot of positives about my body... And the most recent discovery as I have made with my ever changing body are my bones! After losing 40 pounds I can see bones in my hands, feet, wrists, face, neck, chest, back, knees, ankles, and I can feel my hips! It definitely feels weird, but it awesome! Running has been a struggle the past week, but I'm just repeating a week and we'll see where that takes me!

I've had a tough weekend following MyFitnessPal calories... I exercised a TON on Friday, and had a HUGE meal. Saturday I stayed under my calories, and today I think I'll go over since I just ate a ton of chocolate. I exercised, but got frustrated with my running program... I couldn't do 5 minutes. I tried, but had to tell myself that I can try another day. Back to my weight gain. I've lost 40 pounds, but I stepped on the scale and I'm up a total of 5-6 pounds! I'm discouraged because I've been trying, buy maybe not hard enough. I'm going to hard boil some eggs, and plan my meals better for this coming week. I hope that I can get back on track! I know I can do it, I just can't let little slip ups discourage me from pushing myself to continue to become healthier.