Joined a Gym Again

Three days ago I joined a gym.  Planet Fitness is the gym I joined.  People may have noticed that it's the gym The Biggest Loser recommends.  Or at least they sponsor a lot of things for The Biggest Loser.  I actually just finished watching the latest episode.

I have found a workout buddy, and I am so happy for that.  She is smaller than me but loves working out as much as I do and we can go together at random times.  So on Tuesday night we went at 10pm.  The gym has a circuit area that takes 30 minutes.  It goes by so fast and felt so great to work out all the muscles of my body.  I haven't done a full hard core workout yet but I will.  She prefers to go running outside but since it's almost always the rainy season, she has been ok with going to the gym.  It was kind of fun to show her all the things that I learned about machines etc.  

They also have a tanning bed there.  I did 10 minutes and felt great afterwards.  Since it rains here so much or there is cloud cover, I am not getting enough sun to help with my depression.  I wasn't realizing how much it was effecting me until recently.  I love that this gym has that.  I felt great afterwards.  I even went again today for 8 minutes.  It was a little shorter this time because I sort of burnt myself a little last time.  I thought I was safe but these are a bit stronger than others.  Here's just little snap shot of the one used today.

Yesterday I got a new Fitness magazine and a couple of treats with it.  I love getting tools to inspire my weight loss.

I am still trying to find a way to making my workouts more central in the house.  Putting the bike out of site makes it hard for me to go do it.  I was thinking of putting it in my bedroom but I am not sure what to do.  If we had different furniture then it would make it easier.  But I have no budget for that.  They say you should only sleep in your bedroom but I don't think I have a choice.  

President's Day was Monday and I went with a friend to Astoria, Oregon.  I have never been to that town before and it was great.  I drove and that is so therapeutic for me.
Here's a picture of me in the gym lockers that my friend took.  So I guess I'll catch you guys later.

Catching Up - changes to the house

I can't believe it's been so long since I have posted.  I want to start up again just for motivation to myself.  I am back in school for my Winter Term.  It is not going so well.  Just like with my weight loss, it has been hard to find the motivation to just do the homework. There is so much reading and writing journal entries.  

BODY CHANGES  I saw this thing on Pinterest about drinking apple cider vinegar in your water to help detox your body.  It is supposed to help with kidney function as well.  I have been doing it for about 2 days now and I think it might be helping.  It doesn't taste too great but if I'm thirsty enough, I'll drink it.

  I got a wii!!! with the fit balance board etc.

I have only done it a couple of times but it's better than nothing.

LIVING ROOM CHANGES

  My room mate was going to buy a house but she hasn't done it yet.  So I have want to make the house I do live in to be cozier.  I actually have a little station set up in the living room with my desk etc. (which freed up space in my bedroom).

It has wheels on it so I can pull it out when ever I want.  I am trying to make as much stuff as possible organized in my life so I can concentrate on my school work.  So far I have barely been able to get out of bed. 
   My next project for the living room is to sand and paint my coffee table.  It has gross stains from people's feet being on it.  I figured I could wash it off and go from there but then it would just come back again.  So I thought better to paint it a dark brown (to match the stains).
  I took down all the decorations we had in the living room before and started from scratch.  I talked to my roommate about what color palette she likes. She doesn't like light colors but we both agreed on turquoise and I am lucky enough to have tons of things that are turquoise. This is the Fireplace decor to far.  I am not 100% completely happy with it, but it'll do.

If anyone has an suggestions - I am all ears. I am still going to paint the little cage white.

KITCHEN
   The kitchen table has also been bothering me.  I stained it a while ago but the stain is coming off.  I don't think I did it right.  I bought some contact paper a while ago to go around some boxes I wanted to put in the cupboard for storing things.  Then I got this brilliant idea to put it on the kitchen table...So I did. 
BEFORE                                                                                   AFTER

I am not completely done with the table.  I still want to paint the legs white. And also re-upholstery the chairs and paint the wood white.

I bought two storage shelves for the kitchen.  We have so much stuff I can never get to what I need.  I still have some organization to do in the cupboards.  But I love the new space.  It's almost like more counter top space (which I LOVE).

BEDROOM

 I rearranged my bedroom too.  I wanted to make it more cozy and the decorations more sophisticated.  It's still a work in progress.  I have plans for it though.  I have been holding up on hanging curtains because the plan was to move out within a year but I am just gonna hang 'em now.
One thing I am happy about it the shelf.  It used to hang higher and have my stuffed animals on it but I have used Pinterest to see what else I could do with it.

It hangs right above my bed and honestly I was a bit worried it might fall on my head while I slept but it seems to be holding up.

  OK, enough about my house.  I am cutting down on my facebook to leave more room to do something like this blog.  I want to lose the weight and I have a friends wedding coming up in April.  I have a dress I want to wear but I HAVE to lose weight in order to fit in it.  So I guess we'll see.

First, Accept Your Body

It has been speaking to me the last couple of days that I really need to think about how I think about my body.  When I started my weight loss, I was happy with my body.  I just wanted to be healthy and not be held back by anything.  Not that my weight was holding me back from being happy but sometimes it would throw it's ugly truth into my face at times...trying to buckle on the airplane and a stewardess asking if I need an extension.  Anyway, I realize that I have been putting my body down as a gained back all of my weight.  Every time a pound was gained I got depressed and ate some junk for comfort.  I think I am beginning to realize that I have been thinking poorly of my body instead of just excepting it and moving on. Of course there is a benefit of being fit and skinnier but that's just the added bonus.  So on this note...here's to loving my body and learning to accept me for me.  This is what God gave me to work with and He loves me either way.  He just wants me to be happy.  I have to learn to motivate myself.

    I am excited for Thanksgiving coming up.  I am going to love my body and only put healthy stuff in it.  Step 1.

    This last 24 hours have been torture since I seemed to have caught a stomach bug.  It's finally gone and I have time to get about 3 hours of sleep before I have to be at work at 2am.  On a better note, I am getting hired to work in the day care at school...the one where us students learn to be teachers and I am only one year into the program.  

  I am starting of thinking a small blog with tips for working/raising children and also include many activities that are appropriate for certain ages of children.  I'll think a little more on it but if people have opinions, please leave a comment.

**that posture I have on my wall to remind me to love my body and only make it better.

weigh in

It's been 2 weeks since I weighed in so this morning I decided to go for it.  I was already having a hard time getting out of bed and thinking this is gonna be a down day for me so I hopped on the scale.  I am down 1 lb since my last at 303.4  That's progress.  Last night I was laying bed watching a movie and I wanted so bad to go get some fast food....SO BAD.  But I didn't and talked myself out of why I shouldn't do it.  So that was a victory for me.

Pumpkin LIfe

I currently have pumpkin the oven and pumpkin seeds dehydrating pumpkin seeds.  I have been wanting to make pumpkin muffins for a while and so I am going to do it with real pumpkin.  I found this blog on facebook...https://www.facebook.com/arawlifestyle?ref=ts&fref=ts  I tried to look on her website but it wouldn't go on it.  Anyway, she started eating raw about 1.5 years ago and she is in school.  She does a lot of video blogs.  Anyway, I wanted to share me doing something in the right direction.

 I bought my pomegranate and thyroid pills again.  I have been trying to drink more green drinks...I am not too sure about adding spinach.  My blender just doesn't puree it like I like it and I hate drinking solids.  I have been taking my vitamins diligently the last few days.  Today I brought my stationary bike into the living room.  We never use the tv so I figured I could store it in front of the tv when I am not using it.  When it's out of sight, it's out of mind.  So that today.  My weight was at 304.4 this morning.  I HATE THAT!

Biking and Cookies

I have had so much happen these past two days that I wanna blog about so let me get started.

To begin with...I have been visiting a lot of fast food restaurants this week..

I am so not happy about that.  But yesterday I got a cranberry, apple, chicken salad from Burger King.  It was surprisingly good and I would go for that again if I needed something quick or felt lazy.  It was about $5.50.  Not too bad.  I got it with an advocado/ranch dressing.  Of course I am not sure how many calories is involved in this Salad.  I am sure the dressing is the only bad thing.  It only had lettuce, apples, bleu cheese, and grilled chicken.  It seemed real enough.

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After that, I hopped onto my stationary bike while watching an episode of tv on my laptop.

 My legs were going crazy.  I am going to work up their stamina again.  I realized that in order for me to use the ifit Live thing then I have to pay $99 a year.  Woah, maybe when I get a better job or am done school... For we will use the interval and speed settings. to get these legs into shape.

I started a squat thing with a friend I know.
Here is the LINK to it.  100 Prisoner Squat Challenge
We are just ending Day 3.  Anybody else wanna jump on the band wagon?

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You might be wondering about this cooking thing you see here.  I have been wanting to make cookies for about 2 weeks now but I had no eggs, and still don't.  I have used milled flax seed for eggs before and thought I could do that.  But I kept putting it off.  Then on facebook tonight I see another young girl is making cookies and I decide it is time... So I go searching for egg less cookies.  It's hard to find one with all the plain ingredients that I have in my house. So I decided; fine, I will just substitute with the flax.  The first recipe I find is a Honey Walnut Cookie Recipe.  And turns out it doesn't need eggs or milk. + YAY!  So I proceed to substitute regular flour with buckwheat flour and brown sugar with coconut sugar. And this is what I made!  I had my room mate taste them.  I told her, "Forget about what you think cookies taste like."  And she did and she like them.  I thought of one other thing I would add to these cookies to make them even better.......BANANAS!!

Here's my edited recipe:

Honey Walnut Cookies2/3 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocnut sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I think I would change this to safflower oil)
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
In a small bowl, whisk together oil, honey and vanilla extract. Pour into flour mixture and stir until almost combined. Add the walnuts and stir until walnuts are well distributed in the cookie dough.
Shape into 12 rounded balls (approx 1-inch balls) and place onto prepared baking sheet. It is easiest to shape this dough with your hands or with a small scoop.
Bake for 10 minutes, until cookies are lightly browned around the edges.
Cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

++I only managed about 9 cookies...if you add bananas, make sure to add more flour too!

The Bike Finally Arrived

 My doorbell rang today and this is what I got!

I opened the box and this is what I find...big bummer.

At first I was gonna return it...then realized that is had nothing to do with the performance of the bike and decided to put it together anyway.

So here it is all put together and in my "gym".

I realized that I want to put some sort of cloth or curtain on the wooden work bench.  That stuff under there is organized but it looks horrible.  I guess that will be my next project.

I am going to work on Saturday morning at 7am.  And I hate weighing that early.  And I didn't weigh last Saturday, so I weighed yesterday; Wednesday.  I was down .8lbs!  So I hit the 296.6 mark.  Hopefully it will stay that way. I have been having a hard time not eating junk the last few days.

Tuesday Workout

I noticed I had a new episode in my que on HULU -> so I headed to the garage to do my 30 minute workout that (according to mapmyfitness) I am supposed to do today.  This is one of the reasons why I really love my IPhone!

I started with the stepper for a while, until my thighs were feeling it...then I kept going.

Then I used the weights for a bit and lunged from side to side with them.  By then sweat beads were dripping down my face.  I have missed this feeling so much.  You can even see one drop on the right side of my face!

I also added my new Weight Loss Stones to the left side of my blog.  There eight in there right now.  I am sticking to only weighing myself on the weekends.  Those seem to be the best days.  And Friday is now my cheat day.

Successful Saturday

Weighing myself this morning was a great feeling.  I actually was kind of worried and didn't know if I wanted to.  But I was surfing healthy websites and tips etc and decided I was just going to do it.  I am down 3.8 lbs from my last weigh in...I can't remember when that was.  But I am currently at 297.4lbs.  What you see next is what I had for breakfast.  Cereal with flax oil, fried ham wrapped in cheese, and of course my vitamins.  I am missing some essential vitamins from my cupboard but they are expensive so I have to wait for that.

I am trying to change the look of my blog...but for some reason I can't take off the picture that is currently on it...Can someone help me?
  For lunch I made a lunch meat sandwich with ham, cheese, and spinach.  Yumm.
   Today is an active rest day for me...so I cleaned the kitchen!  For dinner I went to a friends and ate a bunch of salad, and cooked veggies, and garbanzo beans.  Then we went on a short walk to pick black berries and we went back and had ice cream with the berries and some brownies she had made.  They are the same gluten free ones I buy at Fred Meyer.
  I was reading through my first posts on this blog and realized I mostly wrote about what I workout with but not so much my eating.  So I am going to try and post more on that.  OK, gonna go.

A Green Drink

Today I made healthy eating choices.
For breakfast I had, some strawberries, a Zing Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, and a non-fat Greek Yogurt.
Then for snack or lunch (since my hours are so messed up right now) I had an apple and I wanted another one so bad that I ate it too.  I also had a Zing Chocolate Coconut bar.  That one was really good and I plan on getting the rest at work tomorrow.

Now, an hour later, I decided to make a green drink.
some strawberries, with spinach and orange juice....I wish I had a vitamix. The spinach is so thick.

A new Addition

No weighing today.  I never weigh when I am working these crazy early morning shifts.  I drank tons of water yesterday.
 I went through my blog to when I first started this diet to see how I was so successful.  Pretty much I ate mostly raw food and worked out almost everyday.  I didn't really write about what I was eating though.  I wish I had.  I just got off work (it's 12:05pm).  I stopped by Panda Express and got yummy food.  I promise to workout today.
I am about to have an addition to my garage...

I have decided it is time to quit paying $26 a month at the gym and put it to better use.  So I got this one and can spend my $26 a month on this.  I am hoping it comes in a week or so.  And I hope it's a good one.

YAY!  This is the display

I needed to give myself more inspiration and make this more fun than a duty.  So I made this picture for my wall out of a frame from a broken mirror.

It is pictures of things I am looking forward to when I successfully get down to 180lbs and stay there.  A lot of times I see girls or women walking in the store and become envious of them because they have the body and shape that I want.  But when I am home, I don't see that and I lose my inspiration.  So I am going to change that.  And I want to start hiking again.  The person I had for my hiking buddy is now 6 months pregnant, so that may not be happening.  I am ok doing it on my own though.  It's just more fun when you have someone to encourage you along.

Utilizing the Garage

I have been working 2 am - 10:30 am this week and half of last week.  I remembered that I was working out and losing a lot of weight was when I was working this same shift. About a week ago I changed my garage around me made myself a workout place for the home.

So anyway, I have been fighting with myself.  I know I need to workout and eat better.  But I just wanna chill before going to bed.  And that mostly means playing a game or watching a movie.  But I decided to put two and two together.  And that's what you see in the next picture.  I set up the stepper by the sideboard and put the computer there.  I didn't do it for very long...but I still proud of myself because I actually did it.  I did it twice.  Ok, it wasn't for very long.  But it was better than I have been doing.  Small Steps.

Anyway, I am gonna start the easy way.  When I got a tired, I stopped.  I did push myself a little bit.  But, I have to build up my muscle mass again.

28 years and 2 days

I have been alive for 28 years and 2 days.  In all that time I have been growing and learning.
For some reason, when it comes to being a fit chick, I run into problems.
My main problem has been money.  I am trying to budget my money and that doesn't leave me with much choice on eating healthy because I have to take what I can get/afford.
I haven't once worked out in the last two days and on yesterday morning the scale said 298.  WAAAHHH!
I don't wanna be there...
my printer hasn't been working lately so I am going to try and reboot/reinstall it.
 I have been wanting to put up motivating pictures all over my room to help me get done what I want.  I have decided to turn my bedroom into a motivation den.
I want to put up my $5000 sign, which is a personal motivation.
Then I want to put up decent pictures of girls who I see has fit---not skinny.
Then put encouraging sayings up.
Even motivating accomplishments I have done so far even though I fell back on it.  I want to be blogging more so that I can remind myself everyday what I am living for = to be healthy.  But it's time to get to bed and get some sleep before work tomorrow.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT TODAY = I washed my car...and my room mates.  I even broke a little sweat.

A New Turning Point

Right now I am ending the day of my 28th birthday. I have not been on track with losing weight this last year. So I figured, "why can't this be my turning point?" and so it will be. I am going to get on track. I will finally lose this weight. I looked in the mirror today and hated what I saw. I hate being fat and really want to go back to being fit and in shape. Who's with me?
I spent my whole day at the beach. It was great. Here is a picture.

Keep Up the Hard Work!

That heading is from Dr. Steve.  He sells this product.

I have been taking it for 2 days now and I feel great.  It helps with a couple of hormones that hinder your weight loss.  It helps regulate cortisol from stress, the fat burning hormone adiponectin, the hunger hormone ghrelin, and helps regulate your blood sugar.  It has been serving me wonders.  Every couple of days he sends encouraging emails to give you some information about continuing the journey.  I can already tell a huge difference.  I don't have those munchie cravings that plague me at 10pm.  And I feel great.  So here's to my luck with this journey.

I have loved getting more exercise and choosing foods I love.  I decided to buy a bunch of salad bar food and I did.  So everyday I have been having a yummy salad with peas and beets and cheese and eggs and lettuce and spinach and mushrooms and cauliflower and broccoli etc.  I have been sure to have protein in every meal and I know that helps my not being so hungry all the time.  All right, good-night.  And to everyone out there on this journey with me - "KEEP UP THE HARD WORK!"

The End & The Beginning

After a weekend like what I had, I knew that the HCG diet was not for me.  I had gone down 172 but then after the weekend I was at 178!!!!!  Crazy!  So I decided to stop taking the drops.  I have been dieing to get some exercise into my routine again so I decided to do just that.

Last night I was craving a salad from Izzy's.  They have a great salad bar.  The down side is they also have a pizza bar and other food bar.  So I needed a friend to go with me.  So I posted on facebook and found a friend who had just come back from a 6 day flying trip (she is a flight attendant) and she was hungry and glad to join me.  So we headed on over.  There are two of their pizzas I like...the veggie one! and the artichoke one!  So yeah, I decided to have 1 each of that along with a huge plate of salad.  So I ate a huge plate of salad first and went and got the two pieces of pizza and decided to fill the extra space with some more of the salad.  They have premixed lettuce sometimes and I wanted to try the combinations.  So after that, I decided I needed more pizza so I got two more veggie slices because the artichoke was all gone.  And then I decided to skim the dessert buffet and walked away for 4 things.  YIKES!  Then they had just put out fresh artichoke (and that is hard to come by because it disappears so fast.  So I went and grabbed three slices.  Mind you, these are small pieces.  Three of them equal one slice from Pizza hut or where ever.  

But anyway, I came home and I had made a complete mind set to quit the HCG and that's when I decided I was going on a walk.  It was about 8:15pm and the sun was going down.  So I just decided to make my way around the neighborhood.  And I tried to walk vigorously.  It was exhilarating.  And now this morning I sat out on the front porch with my tea.

  On the HCG you don't eat breakfast and I didn't really have breakfast food so I decided to make my home made strawberry ice cream.  Not sure if I posted it before but it's a handful of strawberries and a 1/2 cup water and about on tablespoon of and artificial sweetener.  I used a truvia packet.  YUM YUM.  Well I after eating that a browsing some weight loss websites I was a bit cold.  I remembered I have a back patio that is in the sun in the morning.  So I transferred my Ceylon tea to the back and here I sit. It's hard to take a picture of myself so I took a reflection picture through my laptop. HAA  BY the way, you can see I am in need of a table or something to set up my work station outside.  If anyone has one (even if it's run down) can you let me know?  I could really use one.  I would love to do my homework outside on these sunny days.

I just noticed my reflection in the mirror and I realized I already got a bit of a tan.  So I had to run in and put SPF 15 on so I don't burn.  Anyway, now I hear my homework calling me so I better get to it.

Looking Back and Just Updating

LOOKING BACK

Hello Folks.  I took the second picture a long time ago and have been wanting to share it on here.  The picture on the left is the day I bought this sweatshirt.  Now it is so big on my that I had to show my progress.  Even though my weight loss journey started at the beginning of 2011, this shows a difference and I love it when I am looking at my old pictures and notice how big I really was and to what I have done now.  On the day, I am almost 30lbs heavier than the picture on the right.  I really hate that and I am going to go back there and even lower.  Here is another picture...I purposefully took the 2011 pictures to show the difference.

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HCG Diet Update

Today is day 22 and I have only lost 4 pounds.  And that is not even the pounds I gained during my loading days for this.  So that puts me at 275.  Gosh I hate that number.  I hoped to never get up there again.  I have hit as low as 147!  How did I manage to gain all this weight back?  Of course I think it's because I didn't work out.  After July 2011, I sort of lost my momentum and motivation to lose weight.  I really want that desire back.  I have been trying to eat healthy but different circumstances arise all the time.  Here is some recipes I have eaten while on the HCG.

The one on the top had tilapia and a cold cucumber salad with cilantro and it was gross.  The picture on the bottom is a salad I decided to whip with some extra veggies I had in the fridge.  There is cod with this recipe.  It was pretty good but it could have used more spices.  The strawberry and cinnamon mix was delicious as well.  This last picture is some steamed/mustard cabbage and shrimp with melba toast.  Yum, Yum.

Up all night

I just got off an 8 hour unexpected grave yard shift. Before going to work I chowed down on two black bean burgers and popcorn. I thought I needed more energy since I was gonna be up all night with no sleep. Big mistake? I decided to weigh when I got home. I was up 4.4lbs from yesterday morning! Ouch. And yesterday morning I was up .4 from the day before. I gotta be more controlling of myself. Off I go to sleep now.
I wanted to share to absolutely delicious meal I made yesterday!

Day 4- good day

Today was good. Hopefully I am down 2 lbs tomorrow. I was down 1.6 this morning. I stayed strong at school and munched on my gum instead of helping myself to the bending machine. I ran out of peanut clusters and was knowing I was gonna eat everything in sight so I headed to the store and got more. I ended my day with watching "Soul Surfer". It was a pretty good movie. Now I need to get some sleep so I can wake up tomorrow and do my school work.

Day 3 - Very Rocky Day

Hello.
  So pretty much this day started very well.
and it ended kind of rocky.
I had tilapia with my lettuce, onion, and apple salad.
Then I went to a good-bye party, not thinking I was going to partake in the goodies.
   And then I saw something liked and I ate two.
Then they brought out a salad and some wraps...as well as artichokes.
   And I partook of them all, until I was stuffed.  I even had a some coconut bars that were to die for.
This wasn't just a little of stuff, no it kept eating and eating.  Until I knew I HAD TO LEAVE!!
  So I said my sad good-bye and home I came.  I decided that I could just skip dinner now, since it was 5pm anyway.
  So I did.  It's 11:15 and I am actually starting to get hungry.
So off to the kitchen I went to eat a yogurt and an apple.  Yogurts are not on my diet but I have about 6 left so I must take care of that.
Yesterday was a better day.  I worked all day and I had my food with me so I didn't cheat while at work.  Then in the evening I was hungry so I ate yogurt and crab.
Yesterday morning I was down 1.6lb!!!
And this morning I was down 2lbs.  I am still not down to my pre-loading weight but I am going to be there tomorrow morning. (Fingers crossed)
  I am still getting used to taking drops 3 times a day at set times.  I have to wake myself up at 7am to take them.  Good thing I don't have to wait 10 minutes like with with the other stuff.  I forgot this morning and took my first dose about 1pm.
I plan on using this bottle until it's all gone.  And then it will be summer and I can work out!!  YAY!
  So off I go to bed I go.