Friday, February 23, 2007

My first update

Since Fridays are my weigh-in day, I decided that it will also be my update day here. Every Friday I will post my weight loss updates and my progress for the week.

I've been on a plateau for about 3 weeks now and it has really been frustrating me. I didn't expect to hit one so soon into the weight loss process. I think I realized what part of the problem was: calories. I wasn't eating enough calories! Yes, it is possible! See, you have a maintenance level of calories which is basically how many calories you need to take in daily to keep you at the weight you are currently at. In order to lose weight you need to eat 500-1,000 calories less than your maintenance weight. After going to the calorie counter and putting in my stats I was eating way under what I should have which most likely caused my metabolism to slow way down. When your metablism slows down, your weight loss will slow down as well.

So, this week I started keeping track of calories again and realized that at the end of the day I was way below what I should have been for weight loss and almost to the point of starving my body. I have been so used to eating this way that when I had to eat extra calories I felt like I was cheating or messing up, but it has paid off! I finally lost 3 lbs this morning! I had actually gained 1 lb last week and that was really discouraging, so right now I'm at 19 lbs weight loss. Only one more pound to go until I hit the 20 lbs mark! I still have a long way to go but even though this has been such a short period of time since I started this life style, I feel like it has become part of my life and I don't even think about going back to my old way of eating and not working out 5 days a week. I love how I feel physically and I love knowing that I am finally shedding some of this fat that has been holding me down for most of my life!

Monday, February 19, 2007

Are you prepared to lose weight?

Everyone should realize that there is no quick fix when it comes to losing weight. There is no magic pill that is going to mysteriously make pounds fall off of you while you sit on your butt eating chips and candy bars all day long. Diet pills are one of the biggest selling products around today. Everyone wants an easy quick fix. It would be nice, wouldn't it? The thing about diet pills is that they may help you to shed a few pounds here and there but as soon as you stop taking them the weight is going to come right back on. If you want to lose weight the healthy way then you need to do your research and you need to lose the term "diet". A diet is when someone wants to shed a few pounds for a big event or to impress someone, but in most circumstances as soon as they lose the weight they then think that they can go off of the "diet" and go back to eating normally and the pounds come piling on again! Think of this as a lifestyle change. It is your lifestyle that got you in this shape and that is exactly what you need to change to get yourself out of this mess!

My biggest word of advice to anyone who wants to lose a sizeable amount of weight: plan ahead! Pick a date on the calendar as your day to start your new lifestyle. I'm sure everyone reading this has tried "dieting" a million times. For the first few weeks things go really great and then you get bored of it. You slowly start eating the things that you miss and eventually you give up all together and go back to eating the same way that got you here! It's all in your mind! You need to prepare yourself mentally for this lifestyle change because it's not going to be easy! I believe full heartedly in self-affirmations. These may sound silly at first but they truly do work! Pick a time during the day to do self-affirmations. Do it anytime: early morning, bed time, mid-day, whenever you feel like it. Write these down! Tell yourself these things: I am a good person. I am a beautiful person. I believe in myself. I deserve to lose this weight. I can lose this weight. I will lose this weight. I can control my food and not let my food control me! Once you start doing these you will begin to believe them and believe in yourself!

Your next task is to start doing some research! Find some weight loss forums and websites that can give you valuable information on how to lose weight effectively and healthily!

The great things about forums is that you can chat with people who are in or have been in the same boat as you. You can gain all sorts of advice and tips and most importantly: moral support! Having someone to cheer you on is great motivation to keep going! One of my favorite forums is http://weight-loss.fitness.com/. This forum is filled with supportive people who are trying to lose the weight along with you.

Another website I love is sparkpeople.com. You can create your own profile page, kind of like a myspace page and network with people from all over who are trying to lose weight just like you! Sparkpeople keeps track of your weight loss and creates a plan especially for you to help you lose the weight. They have all sorts of helpful articles and links and there are hundreds of groups that you can join with people who have the same interests as you! Check out my sparkpage.

One idea I came up with before I started on my lifestyle change is to make a list of motivations. No matter how small or big they might be. Everything I want to do, clothes I want to wear, people I want to impress, everything! Then whenever I start to feel discouraged or feel like I'm ready to throw in the towel I pull this list out and read over it to remind myself WHY I am doing this!

Your mind controls your body, including your mouth and what you put into it!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Who am I?

Well, you can find most of my personal information in my profile, but you may be asking yourself what exactly is this blog about? Well, this blog is going to be about my new weight loss journey.

You see, I have been overweight for most of my life. I was always the fat kid in school. I've always been the fat friend. I'm about to turn 30 in April and I don't want to be this fat person anymore. The year 2006 was a very hard year for me, with my husband and I separating and I've done a lot of soul searching over the past few months. I finally decided that 2007 was going to be a better year for me and while I've been trying to work on my self esteem and learning to love myself, I feel that I can't truly love myself still being this fat girl that I am. So 2007 is my year! Since January 1, I have lost 17 lbs and hope to reach my goal by next year at this time. I'm going to use this blog as a sort of motivation for me. I've done a lot of research on weight loss and will post some of the things that I learn along the way. I will post links to some very helpful websites. I'll also be talking about what different strategies I am using along the way and may even post some pictures. Maybe my story can help inspire someone else in the same situation!

This is a short first post, but my next post will be about preparing yourself mentally to lose weight and change your life for the better. It's not easy. Believe me, it's not easy! I'm definitely no expert on weight loss but I want to share my knowledge along the way!

I want to share the ups and downs of this weight loss journey. I don't call it a diet because I feel that a diet is just a temporary fix. This is a life change that I am making and is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life!

Finding the new me is what I'm naming this blog because that is truly what I am doing. Since I have always been fat I've never seen the real me. I've never seen my true facial features and my true beauty because it has always been hidden under this fat. I want to see who I really am underneath all of these layers of yuck!