A very Merry Christmas to all...

I wanted to personally wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

A lot of things have changed in my life int he recent month that has prohibited me from working out. I am still eating right and am happy to report that I'm maintaining.

Let's just hope that all the Christmas goodies are keeping their distance this year. I personally haven't baked like I normally would because I'm trying to avoid having it right there in front of my nose ha ha.

Well on that note have a good one and enjoy your famiy time!

What I'm thankful for...

There are oh so many things this season I am thankful for.
Here is a list:

1. Finally marrying the greatest man besides my dad I've ever known
2. Reconnecting with so many old friends this year
3. Having a job
4. Having a roof over my head
5. For the most part having a healthy year
6. Having continued support from all my friends
7. Family

I'm sure there are so many more things that I'm thankful for. I just don't have the time and a space to list them all out.

I hope everyone enjoys this holiday season with their families and cherish ever breath you are given.

OMG I did it! I lost my Vacation weight in a week!

I had a huge shocker when I stepped on the scale this morning...

I managed to loose all the weight I gained while I was on my honeymoon... in one week! I am down 7.2 lbs in a week. I didn't go to my class three times this week because of getting caught back up at work and my stress level was so high I needed a break. I am not going to let this weight loss go. I am going to continue to try and loose more weight this week.

Things I need to push this week:

Tone down the juice/More water

Go to class or the gym 3 times this week (hour each)

Take time out too just relax and work on stress relief

Thank you everyone for your well wishes!

Today is a new beginning...

Hello everyone,

I have been truly inspired by my friend Mindy. She had an adorable baby girl 2 days before my wedding in July. Since then she has lost a great deal of weight. She is posting a blog weekly with her step on the scale and using a ticker to show her weight loss. I decided I am going to do the same.

I've started basically doing this since I started in July. The Honeymoon threw me off a little and now I'm back to start again. So here is my first posting of my scale and now I have my ticker in place....

So some changes I'm making. Duane and I both are going to go on a customized meal plan that my friend and personal trainer is doing for us. It's based on our weight and out body fat %. Mine right now is 46.8% So not only am I going to watch my weight go down but I'm going to watch my body fat % go down. I will do a weigh in each week on Tuesday mornings and then maybe every other month a body fat % review.

Goal this week: 3 days of aqua aerobics and review meal plans.

5 lbs vacation weight

Why is it when you walk soo much on vacation... that you still gain weight? Oh well I had a great time on my honeymoon vacation. 5 lbs is better then gaining 10. I can do this.

I am just awaiting the menu from Jack to get started on our meal plan and then we are hitting the ground running....

Feels good to be back home though.

Getting Ready for Vacation

Hello again everyone,

As I get ready for vacation I have been starting to think about what my eating habits are going to be during and after vacation. I think I will be pretty good on vacation it'll be a matter of getting enough of the right foods.

I have contacted my friend who is a personal trainer to ask him to come up with a new meal plan for me for when I get back. I also am having him take into consideration my husband as I also cook the majority of our meals. I am super excited to be working with him again. It's time for a change to boost my weight loss.

I want to wish everyone a happy weekend and also hope that you have a great week while I'm playing on a much needed and deserved vacation.

Check back mid November!

remained the same...

Hello everyone,

I have remained the same weight for weeks. I go to aqua class when I can but work has been so demanding for weeks and with the honeymoon vaca coming up the week of Halloween, just haven't pushed it.

I'm going to enjoy my time off and get on a meal plan when I get back and continue the aqua classes...

Thank you for the support. thought I would let you know I'm taking a break.

Week 8

This week I have been fairly happy. We booked our Disneyland vacation for late October and have had a few days off for rest.

This morning I weighed in at 327.5 which I believe is another 3 lbs down. Only 27.5 more to go to hit my next goal! Very exciting.

Hope everyone had a good labor day!

Week 7... small hurtle

So... my weekends are notorious for throwing me off track. I feel that I get my head into a project and spend hours focused and don't eat. Whether I over eat or don't eat it has the same affects on me. So I was sooooo worried this week. Although my basement is starting to actually look like a livable space... my weight suffered.

I am reporting in at 330.8 which is a little less then a lb difference from last week.

Also I am reporting that I am going to investigate the gym scale... every week I show almost 6 lbs heavier on the gym scale then I do on my scale at home. The gym scale is heavier. I'm wondering if they are meaning it to be so that it'll get us all to work out more often. Regardless, Duane had a good plan to get a bag of something and weigh it. 5 lbs of sugar, flour, etc. Then if it doesn't register 5 lbs then we know the gym scale is off. I suggested we get a bag of salt for the water softener, since we need it, because those are normally 20-40 lbs depending on the size of the bag. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have something to report. If it is correct then I am not weighing myself at the gym any longer! Just to know I could be 6 lbs lighter and that I'm closer to my goal is more encouraging.

Stay tuned!

Week 6... Some old Challenges

This week I weighed in at 331.6 which is about 2 more lbs down.

Over the weekend we were busy cleaning and getting ready for a party on Sunday. The challenge was to not overeat... the challenge was hard. I think I did very well but not well enough.

I love aqua aerobics. I go Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays and I'm feeling really good. I just wish the scale was reflecting more of what I feel.

I think what is holding me up right now is I get so busy throughout the day I'm not getting in enough calories. I need to focus this weekend on daily meal plans and make sure I get it in.

Stay tuned!

Week 5 down... time to reflect

Today I weighed in at 333.2 which means that in the first 5 weeks I lost 6.2 lbs. I feel like this is a good start. The past couple of weeks I have mentally made a transformation to pick better choices when eating. I have been going to aqua class at least 3 days a week and also picking it up with projects around the house. I have not had any soda or candy since week 2! and I plan too continue to not have any NO MATTER WHAT! I'm not going through those withdrawl headaches ever again.

I do hope that my weight loss will gain momentum in the next month or two. I am feeling stronger so now that I have muscle building the fat should start falling off.

My biggest challenge is getting in breakfast. I am not a morning person. No matter how hard I try, I still hit that alarm clock. My goal starting week 7 will be to eat breakfast BEFORE I get in the shower each morning. Hopefully that will boost my weight loss.

So now time for the pictures. I did a side by side comparison so you can see the changes. I personally notice that things are lifting in the tummy area and you can see there are changes in my back and bottom area.

Thank you all for your support... Talk to you after week 6!

Week 4... Feeling groovy!

So week 4.
This past week went pretty well.
Still no soda and no candy. I think the challenge this week was getting in enough food and water. I did go to 3 aqua classes and really felt it this week. I loooove these classes though. I feel like I get a total body work out and not a lot of impact on my knee's.

I have to tell you that this week I had more energy. I slept better most nights. I also felt like I had more brain power at work (Didn't know it was possible ha ha).

I won't be able to weigh in tomorrow because of a nephews birthday party but I will be weighing in on Tuesday....

Update: Weighed in on 8/11 at 334.4
WOOOOO HOOOOO! Slowly but surely I'm going down!

Stay tuned!

Week 3... found a class I like

So this week my friend and I took some classes at the gym to figure out what we liked... And we found one. Aqua Aerobics! We also found out that they do classes Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We also want to go 3 if not all 4 classes each week if we can make it. I just am so excited that we've found a class we like. I think even if she can't make it I can totally make it myself. The ladies in the class were regulars and they were very nice and encouraging.

I figured in between I am going to start working out on my Wii Active program I have. It looks fun and Duane made a strap extender for me for the leg strap. I think between the two I'll get a full body work out.

I'm down!!!! I weighed in at 337.2 this afternoon! It was the tortus that won the race right??
I'm also on day 10 of No Soda and No Candy!!!!!! I'm super excited about this.
More to come!

Weighed in last night

First weigh in before starting my 4 days a week at the gym stuff.
339.4 lbs.

WOW... wow... not sure what to say here.
Took the butts and guts class last night that nearly killed me. I'm sore all over today.
I'm still going to swim class tonight regardless. Pushing foward and trying to stay positive!

Week 2

So just like each time I try to get pumped about a new diet change. The second week always poses challenges. I say to myself all week, "OK you can do this. Just stick to it". Then what happens is Mr. Excuses raises it's ugly head and I end up falling off my eating plans. Yes, I confess... I ate out at fast food places this week. 2 of the times being subway (which is a highly better choice) but, none the less I did. I also didn't keep track of my soda intake and I also know I didn't drink all that much water.. Instead of beating myself up over it. I decided I am going to chalk this up to being a bad week and push through. Normally I would give up once I had a week like this but I am determined to do better!

I think I figured out the mentality behind my own sabotage. Every time I loose a little bit of weight I go "Hey, you did good. It's OK if you have (fill int he blank)." Then as the week goes on I convince myself more and more until I've gained that weight back again and feel awful. So If I can change my mentality from this pattern I may just be one step closer to beating my addiction.

I also am in talks with a good friend this week who is also frustrated with her weight. So we are going to work on this together. We both have a membership at the same gym so we are going to go after work Monday-Thursday starting this Monday. First months goal is to go consistently 4 days a week for the first month. If we do that then the reward is a night on the town with our husbands. Then she came up with a really great idea for a weight loss jar. For every lb we loose we will put X amount of $ in the Jar. When we hit out 60 lb goal then we will go shopping for cute clothes that fit! Of course, I have more then 60 to lose but setting small, medium, and large goals I've read will keep you motivated.

So this week I want to:
Eat breakfast every day!!!!
Stick to a healthy eating plan
No more sugars (Candy, Soda) and this I'm not waiting till Monday to start I'm starting TODAY!

I'm sorry I failed all of you this week but, I plan to not fail in the long run. Stay tuned!

Week 1

Today I weighed in at 330 lbs. I'm 5 foot 4. After already loosing 6 lbs this week... so a good start. My first goal is to be under 300 lbs by the end of October in time for our Honeymoon trip.

This week I ate:

• Oatmeal for breakfast (There are some weight management oatmeal's by Quaker)
• A fruit and reduced fat string cheese for first snack or Frusion (Yogurt smoothie)
• A peanut butter and Jelly sandwich on wheat with a veggie for lunch (I read that peanut butter and jelly sands or a wheat pasta with meat sauce are great diet power foods for lunches)
• A fruit and Almonds for second snack (Emerald nuts has 100 calorie almond snack packs and they are a good protein source)
• For dinner I'll get in 3-4 oz of meat (I prefer Turkey or chicken), a light starch (Rice or light on potatoes), and a lot of veggies (Dark Veggies give you more vitamins so I try broccoli and peas)
• Last snack: Depends on when I eat dinner. I try not too eat anything 2 hours before I go to bed. If I still need calories and get munchie I will have a high fiber cereal with milk.

As you can see from the above I've put in some notes for others if they want them. I read a lot but I also have a very good friend who is a personal trainer and we've had many discussions on nutrition.

Now I'm posting pictures. I am not proud of what I have let my body become, but I feel that to know where you are going and to stay motivated you need a reminder of where you have been. These are pictures taken today.

I decided that I no longer want to carry around 2-3 people on my body... Thus my site is going to be under construction this week to make way for the "Samantha Weight Loss Blog"

Stay Tuned!