Weight Loss Progress: September recap

Hey there! Since September is over I wanted to update you on my weight loss progress.

September I have to say was good. I lost 4 pounds almost 5 and I lost 3 inches. I focused more on eating low carb, specifically Atkins. My mindset was a bit stronger. I took more time to make better choices than last month. I'm not at my best though. I had days where I ate breads and a couple sugary drinks, plus I had fast food. I can say the days that I had fast food was due to poor planning. I think that is what it always boils down to.

I learned this month that planning is truly essential and that packing food for my day is crucial. Another setback I would say I had was consuming hydrogenated oils. I honestly didn't realize it until my teacher pointed it out. I learned that non-dairy creamer is just OIL partially hydrogenated oil. Yuck! I honestly never gave it a second thought. It wasn't intentional I just didn't think of it only because I normally don't have coffee. My school library is "generous" enough to provide coffee for sleep deprived students and there were several mornings that I helped myself to free coffee. Now that I'm informed I've put several packets of Yogi green tea and ginger tea in my purse. I can go to any drive thru and get a free cup of hot water.

I keep track of my progress on my iPad and I log my weight almost everyday. I log my inches once a month.

Just a quick background on my goal:
I plan to be a size 10 by Thanksgiving. Size 10 by J.Crew standards since they are my favorite clothing brand.

J.Crew size 10
Bust: 37.5"
Waist: 30"
Hips: 40"

My current measurements:
Bust: 48"
Waist: 42"
Hips: 45.5"

I didn't achieve a size 14 like I planned, but fortunately I'm not discouraged. It's my goal for October. How did you do in September? What are your goals for October? Leave your link below so I can check it out!

We're going to have an Outstanding October!!!

Fashionable Friday: French Hen

French Hen by shopgirlspeaks featuring aviator sunglasses

Last week I splurged on a piece of motivation, the French Hen sweater. I plan on wearing this cute sweater for Thanksgiving. At the moment I would pair it with a pair of Stubbs + Wootten Boom Pow velvet slippers, but I actually may pair it with some brown riding boots. Who knows I still got a bit of time to decide. I can't forget to pair it with my Longchamp Le Pliage tote if I go Black Friday shopping that night. I like keeping my outfits preppy and simple.

ONE MORE

One thing I struggle with is pushing myself when it comes to any challenge with my weight loss journey. Specifically, pushing a bit harder with my fitness regime. I've started to ride my bike because it doesn't put as much stress on my knees as running would. For the last 3 weeks or so I've been riding my bike around the entire neighborhood, that equates to 1.5 miles. I can do it in about 8 minutes at an average of 10 miles per hour. Not bad. Not enough though. Once I've completed a lap I pack it up and put the bike away. In theory I could bypass my house and go for another lap, but I don't. Pushing myself is one area I need to really work on.

Another situation happened today, I started doing Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 workout and when it got to the pushups I just gave up. Don't get me wrong I don't want the drill sargeant type trainer yelling in my face but I need to do something to push myself a bit more. I want to feel healthier, and be fit. I know at some point I have to push myself. Oh why is it so hard?

I thought to myself if I want this weight to be gone bad enough I will find a way to push myself. Yes I want this weight gone yesterday, so I promised myself one way to push myself is to do ONE MORE. Whatever ONE MORE means, it could be ONE MORE push up, rep, or lap. How bad could doing ONE MORE thing be? I know it would get me ONE MORE step closer to my goal.

How do you push yourself? What do you say to yourself to do ONE MORE?

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday: Making a dish low carb

Living a low carb lifestyle certainly has its challenges. Especially when we live in a society that breads, pastas, and high carb foods dominate the average meal. My challenge to live a  low carb lifestyle is taking meals from my cooking repertoire and making them low carb.

For example, last week the meal plan called for a pasta dish that I typically made for the family.

Ingredients:
1 Jar of Newman's Own Sockaroni spaghetti sauce
2-3 cups of penne pasta
1 pound of bulk mild italian sausage
Low carb version; substitute pasta with same amount of broccoli

Since I'm completely eliminating the whites from my meals but not from my family's meals I cook the meal a bit differently now. I brown the sausage (draining the excess fat of course) and then add it to the sauce. In the past I mixed the pasta with the sausage and sauce and served it up. Now I pour the sauce over the pasta with a side vegetable and then serve it to the family. My portion consisted of pouring the sauce over steamed broccoli florets and then topping it with a bit of shredded mozzarella cheese. I can't begin to tell you how delicious it was.

If your meals are modified from your family's, do you find modifying your meals challenging?

{via pasta,sauce,sausage}

Mediocre to Marvelous Mondays

Hello folks! I wanted to introduce you to my new post series Mediocre to Marvelous. For so long I've lived a pretty mediocre life, I pretty much existed and not doing much "living." My new found weight loss (I've just begun, just you wait) has really made me think about how I can change my mundane lifestyle to the life I've always wanted.

M to M will be my take on how I get motivated to move from mediocre to marvelous. It will be a series of baby steps but it's the baby steps that truly gets us to our goals. Monday's may feature just a quote or an accomplishment that I feel has moved me one step closer to marvelous. I encourage you to do the same. If you're in a place where you don't want to be...think to yourself, how can you get one step closer to marvelous. It may take a bit of soul searching folks but you can do it!

Fashionable Friday: A small victory

I have a small victory to announce. I'm a sucker for striped boat neck tops and I purchased a cute kelly green striped one from Ann Taylor Loft in Spring 2009 with the hope that I would fit it by Fall 2009. Well that didn't happen.

Last week I was feeling a bit confident, you know since I was now able to wear a size 16 skinny jean. I thought to myself let me see if that green top I bought a while back fit, and it did!!!! When I originally purchased it the arms and chest were too tight. Not snug, TIGHT! Taking it off was like trying to peel myself out of a wetsuit. Below is a picture of the top.

Ann Taylor Loft Green top

I paired the top with my really dark denim skinny jean from Old Navy and my gold Kate Spade loafer. I'm not quite ready to post any selfies but once I am I will post a pic here on the blog. Have you had a fashion victory this week? Let me know!

Diet update and my new goal

First I want to thank you for reading my rant the other day. I don't know why I let my expectations of people who let me down get the best of me. I've decided I have the best accountability buddies right under my nose and that's my blog and readers. Duh!

In the past I've been absent because I felt like I didn't live up to what I should or I thought my progress should be. I back slid and avoided the blog because I felt like I would let my readers down. Never once did I think hey maybe I should stay on the blog and blog about letting you down and not living up to my weight loss goals and how I should push through.

Things are going to change. I'm going to share with you my pitfall and my triumphs. The ins and outs of my journey so maybe you can relate and I have documentation of my journey. Without further adieu I wanted to update you on my progress.

I still listen to Paul McKenna. I would say I tune in every other week a few nights a week. I know I don't have to listen to him all the time so the occasional listen for me works.  I've started to ride my bike! I want to be a runner really I do, but new running shoes are not in the budget and my knees are not the best around so I thought the next best thing is riding my bike. My daughter and I ride together 2-3 nights a week. I've started to eat low carb again. I'm focusing on Atkin's because that plan just works for me. I see progress rather quickly which gives me the motivation I need to keep moving towards my goal.

This past month I've lost 3 inches just by eating low carb and not having any "whites" pasta, bread, or rice. I also went shopping and I bought skinny jeans one size smaller!!! Woo hoo!!!

My new weight loss goal is to be a size 10 by Thanksgiving. This fall is chock full of events for me, a baby shower for a high school friend which means mini class reunion, I host Thanksgiving every year at my house, plus Black Friday shopping that night. I have many reasons why being a size 10 is where I need to be!

My short term goal is to be a size 14 by the end of the month. I became a size 16 by the end of last month and I plan on being a size 12 by the end of October so being a size 10 by the end of November is realistic and doable. I focus on size rather than weight because my philosophy is that you can't drag a scale into the dressing room expecting to fit into that smaller size. It's not weight it's inches.

How do you gauge your progress? Do you have any specific goals for the fall? I'd love to know, post below!

Being 40 something is tough

I thought back when I was approaching 40 that turning that monumental number would be an easy pill to swallow. For the most part it was, I don't "look" 40 most people think I'm in my early to mid-thirties, thank you very much!

Unfortunately, its not arriving at the number that's the hurdle it's the baggage that the number brings. Baggage meaning, feeling uncomfortable after eating your "favorite" meal, developing pre-diabetes, and pre-hypertension. Having those "stiff" moments when you get up, sit down, breathe...you know what I mean. It's those times that I wish I took better care of myself when I was younger. I think if I did being middle age wouldn't seem so unbearable. Oy vey!

My question is, is it too late to "feel" better through diet and exercise? Because despite my efforts I'm not there yet and I'm not sure when the "feeling great" part will kick in...

Living with Confidence

Today on my drive home from school I was listening to Joyce Meyer talk about Living with confidence. I'm not one to talk about religion and proclaim my views about my faith. I feel that it is personal and I certainly don't want to hear someone's rebuttal on my beliefs. That is one thing I really do enjoy about listening to Joyce Meyer, while she speaks about various bible verses I feel that even the non-believer can take something away from her message.

Back to why I started this blog post. Yesterday I complained about how my accountability buddy failed me. After listening to Joyce today I learned I really was behaving no differently than my fair weather buddy. I should have embraced the fact that I was blessed to have someone I could talk to about my weight loss journey and that she probably was supportive as best as she could be, even if it wasn't what my expectation of a buddy should be.

I took time to reflect on how I handled the situation and going forward I know that most of the time people do the best they can. I must be honest that I haven't reached out to her to let her know she'd been fired. I'm now rethinking how can I communicate to her what my expectations are and how to move forward. I admit I feel 100% better after having heard her message.

Lastly, I wouldn't have known about Joyce Meyer if it hadn't been for my dear friend. I'm truly grateful for the gifts that she's shared with me that have positively affected my life. Looks like I've had an accountability buddy and didn't realize it. Thanks for allowing me to share my revelation with you in the hopes that you don't make the same mistake I made.

Shouldn't buddies be supportive?

I know it's been a while but I just had to vent about accountability buddies. You see I had one, well I have one but I'm not sure how "supportive" she is. I feel like I take time to listen to her complaints and her venting but when it's my turn she doesn't have the time. That's not right, right? I mean I thought you're suppose to be there for your buddy no matter what?

Let me back up by saying that I support her on her weight loss journey even though it's almost to the end. Well sort of. Once she reaches a new goal weight she makes a new one. I think she's hoping to weigh less than 105 pounds. Anyway, she focuses on the negative and the things that are NOT going well in her life instead of accepting that life will have rough patches and it's how you get through them that counts.

Life it NOT about wallowing in the rough patches and making bad situations worse. It seems like in my texts I keep repeating myself, so much that I'm a bit blunt and direct now and not so tender and soft spoken anymore. I'm telling you folks the constant bitching and complaining gets old.  Especially when she's not doing anything to improve her situation and there is minimal to no support from her.

I think in her mind being my buddy means, half way reading my text messages and giving me one to three word answers. Or better yet not replying because the "tragedy of the moment" which is not-so-tragic is too much for her to deal with. So I'm done. I'm firing her and trying to think of a way to tactfully do it.

Have you ever had to fire your accountability buddy?