Health and Fitness Friday: Wake Me Up, When September Ends....Or at least let me sleep a little bit!

Yes, I know I only have an hour before it is no longer Friday anymore but I still wanted to link up with my girl Jen for Health and Fitness Friday!  

I am pretty much horrible at blogging lately.  I really need to start jotting down blog ideas as I am going throughout my day because I have a lot of ideas I just go totally blank when I get time to sit down and actually blog! So, Jen has started a new structure for our link up and I am thrilled!  It totally helps me because then I don't really have to think much, just follow her directions! LOL  If I can even manage that.... ;-)  So, here we go!

Eat

I haven't been wonderful with my eating lately, I haven't been awful, but not super good either...so I really need to get back on my game!  I have slacked off through the summer keeping up with MyFitnessPal (StephHightree) so I am really focusing more this month to actually log and keep track and stay within my calories.  Every time I fall off the wagon I seem to go crazy on Gardetto Garlic Rye Chips, Sour Punch Straws and Frappuccinos! I'm super excited for the fall weather because that means it is Crock Pot time!  I love using my crock pot because I never know if I will be home or not so this gives us an easy option to still have an awesome dinner at night.  

This recipe isn't Super healthy but I am excited to try it and plan on making it sometime next week.  I will have to update you on how it tastes once we test it out! 

Do

This month I have made a goal of completing 100 miles combined of walking, running and biking.  I want to get as much outside workouts done before the weather starts to get colder and I am SO enjoying my mornings with no kids while they are at school so I am taking advantage of it! So far this week I am at 25.07 miles with 2 days left in the first week of the month, I just pray that I don't lose steam!  

Think

I really need to work on NOT thinking as much this week! I have noticed that this week I have been over-thinking so much that it has been keeping me up at night. My mind is just racing with the constant To-Do list that I have going through my head so I really need to work on somethings to shut my mind down to relax because we all know that sleep is a BIG chunk of being healthy! I'm really going to work on some sleep routines to try and calm myself down and not think as much when I should be sleeping!  

Well, I've spent entirely too long writing this post and am now 8 minutes away from Saturday! So, I guess I will end this until next week!  

Happy Friday Friends! 

Until Next Time....

August 4th. One Year.

August 4th, 2012.

The day I flushed my fear down the toilet and put myself out there!

This is the day I said, "Screw it! I need accountability and I am going to do this!"  So, I did it.
I put my "Before" pics on Facebook and left it at that.  Who knew that this would open up a whole new world for me!?
Who knew that I would start to think of myself as someone other than the fat girl!
Who knew that I would actually inspire people.
I am not an inspiration!?
I am just the fat girl who wants to be less fat!
I am not a expert, I make mistakes.....but apparently I am also inspiring others to start their journey!
Im not gonna lie, it is still weird for me when someone tells me that my journey pushed them to start, I still don't know how to react and am kind of awkward when I am supposed to respond. But I am changing and I feel like God put me here to share my experience so if that is what I am called to do, then that is what I will do!

August 4th, 2013.

Today.

Today I am down 45lbs.
Today I am a runner.
Today I am a bike rider.
Today I am changing.
Today I am down 2-3 clothing sizes. 
Today I can run/walk/jog 3-4 miles.
Today I can bike ride 11 miles.
Today I am aware of what I put into my body and how many calories it is.
Today I think about how many calories I will burn during a work out instead of how many swiss cake rolls I can shove in my mouth.
Today I have hit my 1 year Weight Loss Journey Anniversary.
Today I am still a work in progress, but I am progressing and that is all that matters.

I am by no means where I want to be, but I can now with full confidence say that I will get there.  It may take me another year, it may take me two. But I will get there!  I could fill this post up with so many reflections, but it would probably take me another year to finish, so I know that you are all waiting for one thing.

My progress picture. :-)

Until Next Time....

Realization

I watch a lot of tv. Like a borderline unhealthy Im probably addicted amount of tv. I love it and Im not afraid to admit it..... :-)

So, tonight I found myself watching Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition. 

Yeah, the one with that guy....he's a hottie. Well, while watching it I started thinking to myself how jealous I was that this couple lost so much weight in such a short time and the circumstances weren't quite as unrealistic as The Biggest Loser is so why couldn't I do that?? After a few commercial breaks I had a realization. 

I AM DOING THAT!

Ok, I havent lost huge numbers in short time frames like them, but I have lost 44lbs in under a year and am still going strong! I have worked my butt off and actually started working my butt off, :-), and I need to stop being envious of others huge weight loss amounts because I soon will be one of them! I know I will because I know I can do it! I just need to get over this tiny bump in my journey. 

Think of me when you are eating that huge juicy burger and potato salad this weekend please because this momma has some food changes to make! :-)

Ill probably have a half a burger.....

Until next time....

44 lessons for 44 pounds

I am down 44 lbs total. I am so excited about finally being in the 230's! However, all I can see is that last 6 lbs until my first big goal! -50 lbs is so close yet so far away!

So, to get my mind off of those pesky 6 I am going to share 44 things I have learned since I have lost 44lbs.

1) I have too many clothes in my closet that I will never wear again.
2) I can ride my bike for 10 miles without stopping.
3) I can actually run.
4) I will succeed and make my goal.
5) I am worth it.
6) I can go a whole day without needed a nap.
7) I would rather walk or ride my bike than drive. But some places are just too annoying to get too!
8) Just because I am not a long distance runner, doesn't mean I am exempt from running injuries! BOO!
9) I need better sports bras.
10) I can not wear yoga pants to run in unless I want them to be at my ankles.
11) I am a weirdo who doesn't mind running without music.
12) It makes me feel weird and a little uncomfortable when people tell me I am an inspiration to them because I don't know how to respond.....I have never been an inspiration to anyone!
13) I really need to buy some new underwear....considering I haven't bought any since I have lost weight....
14) I crave water.
15) Fast food generally makes me sick when I eat it now.  Like stomach hurting sick.....
16) I can actually eat one serving of something and not feel like I am starving.
17) There comes a time when you just need to break down and get some smaller pants!
18) You can lose weight in your feet.....who knew!?
19) Even though I don't feel like I am getting smaller, I actually am.
20) Just because the scale isn't moving, doesn't mean I am not getting healthier and smaller.
21) Even though I feel like I am going to die, if I keep going, I will feel better when it is done!
22) I actually look forward to my evening workouts with my sissy!
23) I can go to a restaurant and not drink pop with my meal and still survive!
24) It is possible.
25) It seems weird to me to go on a "leisure" walk now...I feel like I have to take advantage of every calorie burning activity possible!
26) I don't care anymore about what people think when I workout in public.
27) It is much easier to run when you are not pushing a jogging stroller.
28) There is a term called chub-rub......You would think being a fat chick I would have known about this a long time ago!
29) I need new running shoes.
30) I need actual running shoes.
31) Shin splints suck.
32) Blisters on the bottom of your foot also suck.
33) It annoys me that I can run farther and longer on the treadmill than I can outside.
34) Have I mentioned that I really need to breakdown and buy some smaller underwear...lol
35) I am pretty much wearing 2 sizes smaller in both tops and bottoms.
36) Being lazy for more than a day will really hurt your progress on the scale.
37) People in Three Rivers really should know that the track belongs to me and my sister after 8pm....we are very territorial and you are cramping out style! ;-)
38) It is not easy to go on a two mile walk while pulling a wagon with 2 children who both weigh almost 40lbs up hill.
39) I now measure my work outs by how fast I go instead of how far I go.
40) 5 year olds and long distance walks/bike rides don't mix.
41) I need to break up with my scale.
42) I should have measured myself correctly when I started.
43) My FitBit is a really good motivator!
44) And last but not least I have learned that this has and will always be the most difficult journey I will ever be a part of!


Until Next Time......

Health and Fitness Friday: I'm ON FIRE!

This weeks post is brought to you by my calves, who are officially SORE and ON FIRE!! 

(and hopefully soon will be smaller more toned calves)

Here is my workout log for the week:

Sunday: 

30 Day Shred workout 

1 mile walk/run on treadmill

Monday: 

Biked 4.5 miles while pulling bike cart with 2 boys

Short .80 mile walk outside

30 Day Shred workout

Tuesday: 

1.85 mile walk back and forth to the park

Biked 4.16 miles

Wednesday: 

3 mile walk on track

6 rounds of Bleachers at the track

30 Day Shred workout

Thursday:

2.5 mile run/walk outside

Biked 2 miles while pulling bike cart with 2 kids.    

The majority of my working out this week has been outside and I LOVE it!  I have been waiting for the weather to get nice and so I have been using every second I can to do some sort of working out!  The one thing I have noticed however, is that I suck at running outside.  I seem to have gotten so used to the treadmill that my outdoor running has suffered.  

I did have a big breakthrough tonight though! 

When I first started working out I would walk at our high school track conveniently right down the road.  I started by walking and then slowly started pushing myself to jog.  I set VERY small goals to get myself started and before I knew it I was jogging for 30 secs at a time, which was the equivalent of like a half of a tenth of a mile. (HUGE victory for someone who is 100lbs+ overweight and has never ran/jogged in their adult life!) Well, today I ran around the whole track one time non-stop before I had to stop to take a breath!  I did this twice!  Sure I still felt like I was going to die, but that puts me one step closer to my goal of running an entire mile without taking a break or walking!  

I wanna talk about a fun topic now.  Bathing Suit Shopping!!  I can say without a doubt that I am SO excited this year to shop for a new bathing suit!  My parents have a swimming pool that we basically move into all summer so bathing suits are one of my main outfits throughout the summer. In the past I have just settled for whatever they had available in my size and price range.  The past 2 years I wore my Maternity bathing suit even though I was not pregnant last year!  I tried on at least 10 suits last year and nothing fit me.  They were all either way too tight everywhere or too small in the bust area or just ugly and expensive!  So, I settled yet again for my go to Motherhood Maternity suit!  

Well this year I am not going to settle and I can not justify wearing a maternity suit again this year!  I have lost 40lbs!  Even though I am nowhere near the weight that I want to be and plan to lose more throughout the summer I still think that 40lbs warrants a new swim suit that actually fits me this year! Yes, I will still be wearing the normal "Big Girl Swim Dress" BUT it will be smaller and cuter and New! 

Here are some of the ones I have liked so far: 

Since I have already been shopping in my head now I just need to get the last 10lbs off so I can go shopping being 50lbs lighter! ;-) 

I pray that you all have a safe and Happy Weekend!  

If you need a great link up head over to my girl Jen's place and link up to her Health and Fitness Friday linky!

Until Next Time.... 

Health and Fitness Friday (Saturday, kinda Sunday...) LOL

Yes, I realize that it is technically Sunday now...I started writing this blog post on Saturday (yes....I know that's still not Friday...) but I had to stop and am just now getting back to it!

I hit a couple milestones this week. I had a not-so good week the week before last so I was yo-yo'ing back and forth but I FINALLY lost that last pound I needed to hit -40 lbs!!

I am getting so close to my first "big" goal of 50 lbs lost that it is honestly bugging me! I just want to get my butt in gear and kick it up notch and get those 10 lbs off already!! :-)

One sad part (as if there can be a sad part about losing weight) is that MyFitnessPal finally prompted me to update my goals since I haven't updated them since I started....so of course, I lost some calories, which I need to get used to, but it really only calculates to 1 less snack during the day so I think I can handle that!

Another milestone I hit was riding my bike while pulling both of my children behind me (aprox. 75 lbs combined with the cart) for 2 miles and not getting tired!  I remember when I first bought my bike around 4 years ago and I couldn't even ride a block without feeling like I was going to die and stopping to take a break!  I have actually been considering using my bike more often for in town errands that I need to do during the day.

Speaking of doing work outs during the day I finally got myself a FitBit!

I have been debating between the FitBit and a heart rate monitor and finally decided that this would fit my needs right now.  I have only had it for a half day so I haven't gotten a full read yet but I think it is going to be very helpful and motivating to keep myself moving throughout the day!

One last thing I wanted to add is that I can finally say that I am kind of excited to go bathing suit shopping this year!  I have some bathing suit related material planned for next week's post let's just hope that I can actually remember to post it on FRIDAY! :-) 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday! 

Until Next Time....  

Ps: Thank You for giving me a shout out Jen even though I was a slacker this week and late with my post!  I love you girl!

Breakthrough

I'm a fan of reading the success stories on MyFitnessPal.  (Hit me up Steph8084 :-) lol) Everytime I read a new one I always think to myself "I Wish that were me." I sometimes find myself a little jealous that they have been working out for a shorter period of time but lost more weight or they are the same weight as me but look smaller, etc.  So even though I somewhat tortue myself with my thoughts I still really enjoy seeing other peoples progress and knowing it really can happen.

Today I woke up feeling all around icky. Headache, body ache, sinus crap, sore throat....and it got worse as the day went on. I remember falling asleep around 5 on the couch and waking up around 8....Im assuming hubby took care of the kids during that time....hopefully....haha Well, long story short even though I felt like I was gonna fall over and die I forced myself to walk on the treadmill for at least an mile or 30 mins. I finished my mile in 20 mins and called it good. I then sat down to record it in MFP and read some more success stories like normal. Only today I noticed something different about myself. I realized that instead of being jealous and wishing that were me I was thinking "I cant wait until I have a success story to post!" I really think that when I pushed myself to jump on that treadmill even thought every ounce of energy I had was screaming no I actually showed myself that I WILL be a success story! I will do it and I can do it! 
I had a breakthrough tonight and you better believe you will be seeing my success story in the future!

Tonight I fell in love...

I fell in love all over again tonight.....

with Running.

I started tripping, jogging, having seizure like movements running in July of 2012.  I couldn't jog 20  seconds to save my life.  If I was being chased I would have totally gotten caught before I even started running!  At 280 lbs, running was pretty much a joke to me, something I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined myself doing.  I remember feeling like I was going to die the first time I decided to run on the track. I remember feeling very accomplished after I was able to run for 30 secs straight without stopping.  I also remember telling myself that I WILL run a 5k before I turn 30.  

I started the C25K program all by my lonesome and hit the ground running.  I struggled through the first week.  I struggled through the second, third and made it to the fourth week.  Then my sister wanted to start so I went back to the beginning again!  I noticed a significant difference when I started over.  I was able to get through the weeks a lot easier that I did before.  We made it to Week 3 and then Winter came along and it was too dark and too cold to run outside.  BOO!  My Running was cut off. And I started doing other things to work out, lose weight and get healthy.  But that little pest called running kept creeping up in my head and I found myself actually MISSING it!

When I am running I honestly don't think about anything.  I don't even need music, even though I normally listen to it. I take in my surroundings, I leave all my stress at home, I leave all my schedules, crazy baby tantrums, depression and bi-polar, mommy carpooling stuff all at home.  And I just run. I run until my legs feel like they are going to buckle, I take a break and I run again.  I am not fast. But I am running and I love it.

Let's skip all the way to the end of last month when I got my new baby!  My new treadmill! Since then I have made significant progress not only getting myself back to where I was, but improving!  

Can you believe that I, Steph the girl who has always been the big girl, the girl who never ran EVER, the girl who has 100 lbs to lose, would be running for 3 and 5 minutes straight at a 4 and 5mph speed!?

When I began I was walking a mile in about 35-40 minutes. Tonight I shaved 10 seconds off my previous PR and did a mile in 15:50, 9 of which I ran!  

To say that I am excited would be an understatement!  I CAN not wait to get back outside and show the road what I am made of!  I can't wait to kill the C25K and I also can't wait to join my Girl Jen in Nov in Chicago and run my official 5k!  

I pushed it this evening and went for my first walk/jog outside since before Winter but since it was a windy 39 degrees I didn't get very far very fast! But, I am ready!

Tonight marks the night that I fell in love with running all over again!  And I have come to the realization that I am a Runner.  

Until Next Time...

Health and Fitness Friday

I'm late to the party.....not surprising, I'm ALWAYS late to the party....all the time... :-)

I don't have a whole lot to add.  I've been kind of boring.  At this moment I am failing my DietBet....I will figure something out because I hate losing money... :-) 

My workout Schedule for the week was: 

Sunday: 5 Mile Stationary Bike Ride

Monday: Level 2 30 Day Shred

Tuesday: 7 Mile Stationary Bike Ride

Wednesday: Level 2 30 Day Shred

Thursday: 6.5 Mile Stationary Bike Ride

Friday: Rest Day

Tomorrow I will be doing at least one session of 30 Day Shred, 60 minutes on the Stationary Bike and if I can fit more I will be making up for taking today off.  

I have 5lbs left to lose for my DietBet....lol

This week has been pretty boring so I will just end it with my latest Progress picture.  

Happy Friday and Have a Great Weekend!!

Until Next Time..... 

Goals, Accountability, Encouragement

Why do we set goals?
Is it to stress ourselves out throughout the year?  To freak out when you haven't accomplished your goal within the time limit you gave yourself?  To set yourself up to fail?  That's what I used to think.  In the past I have never set goals because in my mind I knew I was going to fail.  I just knew it and you couldn't tell me otherwise.  Why?  Because I trained my brain to believe it.  I told my self that I sucked so I just assumed that I was going to suck.  Well, 2012 has shown me that I can actually accomplish somethings when I put my mind to it.  2012 has taught me that I am persistent and determined and that if I work my butt off I can actually accomplish some things.

So, with all of that, I am presenting to you some of the goals that I have written down that I want to accomplish in 2013.  I know, some of these are crazy, some of these should be things that come naturally and some of these things you will probably think are silly.  But they are not silly to me and there is a reason why they made my list.  I'm sure I will be adding and probably taking some of these away but I just wanted a record of my original goals so that I can always come back to them.

I have divided them up in categories, apparently I am becoming organized by the minute!

My Fitness Goals for 2013
-Make it to 199lbs
-Workout twice a day
-Eat Better, stick to 1500-1200 calories a day and keep logging into MyFitnessPal.
-Start running again and complete the C25K
-Run at least 1 5K (The Hot Chocolate Run in Chicago with Jen for sure)
-Feel better about myself

My Personal/Family Goals for 2013
-Get Organized
-Be a better wife and mom
-Make a Budget AND stick to it
-Work on getting out of debt
-Build a Savings
-Start a Christmas club in January so that I am not freaking out in December
-Feel better about myself
-Make at least one day a week Date Night
-Have a girls only day with Cady at least once ever other week
-Be in bed by 11:30pm on weekdays, even when school is out
-Craft more and build up my online business
-Read my Bible once a day
-Try not to over-commit myself

So, there they are.  I'm sure I will think of more as things start to unravel with the new year approaching, but I believe these are some of the most important items I NEED to accomplish this year.

I ask you to help keep me accountable.
If you see me buying up the whole Clearance shelf just because it is cheap and I MIGHT need it in the future slap me back to reality and tell me NO!  :-)
If you see me eating an entire package of oreos in one sitting slap me back to reality and tell me NO! :-)
If you see me online at 3am Facebooking, Blogging or Pinning slap me back to reality and tell me NO! :-)

Since part of this post applies to the Health and Fitness side of my life and it's Friday and I actually remembered to link up this week, I also wanted to link up with Jen at A Daily Dose of Davis for Health and Fitness Friday!

Have you thought about setting some goals yet?  If your interested in sharing your list I'd love to see it....since I'm kind of a goals newbie my lists can always use some help!

I trust you all had a Very Merry Christmas and I pray for a Safe and Happy New Year!

Until Next Time.....