Some Inspiration for Your Sunday:

Since my last post I have been LOVING sparkpeople.com

There is so much inspiration & so many resources on that site. I have been doing several wellness exercises & have been planning my meals & tracking every food/drink I put in my body. It has helped me stay on track.

This week we went to Bret's fathers house one day & I had all my meals planned out. I skipped out on the delicious smelling homemade burgers & fries (and cake too) & ate the dinner I had packed for myself. Turkey & spinach sandwich with a side of strawberries, tangerines, sugar free jello for dessert & a giant bottle of water. I can't tell you how bad I wanted just one of those fries...but I resisted & kicked that temptation out the window.  Yesterday we went to Bret's little sister's 11th birthday family party. I knew they were having pizza, so I worked a few slices into my calorie intake for the day. Pizza is my absolute favorite food & I didn't want to deprive myself, smelling it through the whole house. I worked in two slices & left room for one more incase I was still hungry for one. Of course I was. But at the end of the day, my calorie intake was still below my 1500 maximum, so I was satisfied. I could have eaten another three pieces, but I had a few glasses of water instead, which filled me up. I even said no to the birthday cake.

Yes, I just stated that.

Two days in a row I resisted cake. :)

Yesterday I found a recipe on sparkpeople for a crusted honey mustard chicken to satisfy my craving for McDonalds chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce... Ringing in at 186 calories per serving, I was stoked! I made a huge batch with plenty of leftovers for the next few days. (can I also state it costed less than $15 for the ingredients?! 7 bucks for a big bag of 8 huge chicken breasts, $2 for cornflakes & like $3-4 for the lite honey mustard dressing? I would have spent more than that in one visit to McDonalds with the hubby! And this will feed me for lunch for a week!)

Also, here's a link to a wellness exercise I did this morning. It helped a lot & I really enjoyed it. Took notes in my weight-loss journal & answered all the questions & brainstormed to get myself a vision statement.

MIND OVER BODY: 10 Steps to achieve a healthy lifestyle.

I saw this quote on Pinterest this last week. It really hit me hard & has become somewhat my new credo for this journey.

It has really made an impact on me since I saw it & have been thinking about it all week.

-Ashlie.

Spark People!!

Good Morning!

Been up and about since about 8 this morning. Planning my meals out and making breakfast. 

I wanted to share with everyone something totally super awesome that I discovered via another weight loss blogger I found via Pinterest, of course. 

SPARKPEOPLE!

I never really thought I would get into the whole logging onto a website every day to track my food/water intake & exercises, but I love it! It is really helpful. You put in all your info & how much you want to lose & by when & choose what food options you want(low sodium, vegetarian, no red meat, no sugar, etc.). It gives you a calorie goal for the day & even plans your meals. Of course, I wasn't about to drink milk or eat cottage cheese, so you can switch out things for something similar that will give you close to the same nutrition. It makes sure you eat your fruits, veggies & grains. There are TONS of recipes & you can add them to your meal planner. Or,(my favorite part) you can add your own recipes & it will save it & calculate all the nutritional information for it! 

LIKE DIS:

It breaks down your nutrients for the day and keeps you updated on how you are doing. I also love how you can join little groups that send out motivation to each other via the group page or email. 

So yeah, this is what I have been doing the past few days & I love it. :) 

(Making myself drink at least 3 of these bad boys a day)

Let me know if you join the site!

[It's free!]

I'm Alive!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh. I haven't posted for quite some time & tons of people have been asking me, "Where are you?!" and "When are you gonna post again?!" 

Well ladies, I have arrived. 

BAD NEWS: I fell off the wagon during the holidays. I seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE to bake goodies. With hubby's birthday, our anniversary, my birthday, thanksgiving, christmas, new years & PINTEREST.... I could not help myself. 

THIS WAS ME:

GOOD NEWS: I ate enough healthy food & stayed active enough to at least be at a stand-still & not gain back the weight I lost. I am still at 206. I don't know how. I think it would be safe to say that I ate 30 too many cookies this holiday season. 

I am making this my year. In less than 3 months my husband, best friend & I will be driving to Alaska in a van to camp out & work at a resort until the end of September. I MUST be able to hike all over the place. We will be staying in & around Denali National Park, which is over 6 million acres of gorgeousness that needs to be discovered by mwah. 

So far this year I have started doing Jillian Michaels' 30 DAY SHRED workout video... & Goodness it makes me reaaaaaaaaally hate jumping jacks. Haha. The video is less than 25 minutes, so it is easy to fit in for me. But those 25 minutes I am kicking ass! You are constantly moving, working in 3 circuits of the 3-2-1 method. 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, 1 minute abs. The first week my cousin Heather was staying with me and did the workout with me for 5 nights. We used Soup cans as weights & sweated our butts off. We ate 3 meals a day, plus snacks & cooked together some delish food. The 3rd day she busted out these huge tomato sauce cans to use....Needless to say, our arms killed us the next few days.  We were sore the entire first week we did this. I could hardly move on the third day because my legs were so sore. We were walking like penguins at the grocery store...it was pretty hilarious actually. At one point she had to pull me up out of the car! Laughing is a really good exercise as well, and we seem to do that a lot. :)

Heather & I BEFORE workout:

AFTER Workout: 

I'm trying my darndest to stay doing this workout. I haven't been doing it every single night, but at least 5 days a week. I want to get back on my walking routine this week as well.

This week's health goals:
-30 day shred at least 5 days
-Have a full water bottle with me AT ALL TIMES. DRINK NOTHING ELSE & drink at least 6 bottles daily
-Take the pups for walks daily.
-ZERO sweets at all this week!

-Ashlie.

Week 4

Well it is week 4-

 I have lost 7.2 pounds.  My 3rd week was the hardest so far.  I felt so hungry, all the time.  Nothing satisfied me.  I ate even though my body wasn't telling me I was hungry.  It drove me crazy.  When I went to weigh in, I was bloated and had horrible stomach pains.   I gained the 3 pounds I had lost, plus .4.......I felt horrible.  This past week I have concentrated on waiting for my body to tell me that I was hungry.  Which is growling, weakness, nausea, things like that.  Not just eating because I walk by food and want it.  It was not easy, don't get me wrong.  But , toward the end of the week, I found myself not "munching".  I could think in my head that I wanted something, but when my stomach wasn't feeling it, I would tell my brain no and find something to do to get my mind off food.  It worked well.  

The other thing that I have been doing is , really enjoy every bite.  Not just scarf down the food as if it were going to jump off my plate.  I slowed down, enjoyed every bite, truly tasted every bite.  I found that I was feeling satisfied with food still on my plate.   

Oh happy day.  

I am doing it......I am changing my habits, my thoughts, my life.  

I hope to lose 10 pounds each month, so this week I will be tracking my food religiously and continuing with my exercise.  

I am off caffeine, yippee......Now I just need to add more water.

This weeks goals:

 -More water

- Exercise

- Track food and measure properly...

Lets do this!

 -Hollie

Hollie's Week One

Well, week one went pretty good for the scales, but it was so hard for me.  

I lost 3.4 pounds, yeah.  I am feeling better as far as energy level, feeling bloated, etc.  But mentally, this has been very hard.  I am still not past the point that I believe I can do this.  It's like a mind game, daily, telling my brain-your not hungry-you just ate.....

So, that brings me back to my addiction recovery.  I have been working on my personal inventory for quite a while now.  I realize that I have so much "baggage" that in order to feel lighter, to feel worthy, to feel good about myself, I not only have to do step 5, confess, but I have to forgive and let it go.  I will not grow spiritually or otherwise until I do.  So that is what I am working on and I know with out a doubt that all this "baggage" has a whole lot to do with why I eat.......

So, bring on week 2.  I am shooting for my 5 pound sticker.....so less than 2 pounds this week, so totally doable.  This week I am going to move more.  

Let's do this......

-Hollie.

New Year, new goals, new start......

New.

That is the word I am focusing on.  A new year, new goals, new start, and a new me that is going to emerge.  In looking at myself and why I am this weight, it is clear to me that it is my choices.  I have no one to blame but myself.  I have decided that this is going to be my year.  I am almost 42 years old and I feel like I am 72.  I started back at weight watchers.  I am going to focus on little goals, not the whole shabang...  I have a whole person to lose, it feels so overwhelming and impossible.  A couple of new quotes I like are:     

"It's choice, not chance, that determines your destiny." 

         "Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results- but first you have to believe."

I am taking this one week at a time.  No excuses.....I always seem to find many.  But not this time.  This is for me. 

I just have to believe......

-Hollie.