Months eight and nine (I know I am a slacker!!!)

Here is the month 8 pic-






Here is the month 9 pic-






Here is the "Nice Butt" pic!!! HAHAHA




Well.... I am losing weight still but it is no longer fast and furious! I am still loving this journey and I am proud of myself for all that I have accomplished... BUT.... I know this journey will not be over until I die... and if I want to keep what I have now... it will take WORK!

The hardest thing over the last couple months has been to stick with it. Now I am into a maintenance phase, I have not **quite** reached my goal.... but I am within 10lbs which feels incredible!

I know this one is short.... more of a catch up than anything.... but I want to start sharing things again and I felt the need to cover the last 2 months briefly before posting new things!

After seven months...

Month seven seemed to flow by fairly quickly and easily though I did not see much change on the scale. I am down a total of 68.5lbs which is 5.5lbs in the last month. Since I am working out more now than ever before I can feel my body getting leaner and stronger and though I know I am still burning fat... the scale doesn't move much these days. I am still excited and I know that I am on the right track and I just need to stick with it!

Challenges this month:
Travel- This seems to be a reoccurring theme. To put it simply- Traveling makes weight loss harder. Any time you disrupt your routine it is difficult to stick to the plan and see the results you want. Know that this will happen and DO NOT beat yourself up over it. Do the best you can and stay on track the week after so that you see long term results. REMEMBER- This is NOT a DIET! It is a lifestyle change!

After six months...

Well, from this point forward I will not have any tremendous forward insight. I just wrapped up month 6 a couple days ago so from here on out you will get to hear about these things as they happen!

After month 6 I was down a total of 63lbs! WOOT! I got into double digit weight loss again this month and I feel AWESOME!



Challenges this month-

Everyone needs a diet buddy- So last month (month 5) was tough! I was celebrating and it affected my diet in a very negative way. I was frustrated and could feel my resolve starting to waver. I was justifying a cheat here and a cheat there. Remember when I said that when you have a craving you need to give it a few days to see if it resolves on its own and THEN allow yourself a small treat if it doesn't just go away? Well, yeah.... I was not living by my own rules! I would get up on my weigh in mornings and hope for the best but I kept being disappointed by my lack of progress. (You might be wondering why I am still talking about month 5 when this is CLEARLY supposed to be about month 6.... keep reading) Well, it was not until Kyle said one morning, "well, you haven't been sticking to your diet like you were before." I was so pissed! Who was he to tell ME I haven't been dieting?!?! I don't see HIM dieting! I left the house so mad at him! That night I went home and said, "I might not have appreciated your delivery... but your point had merit." A full day of stewing can bring great clarity. My point is this.... surround yourself with people or at least someone who will call you out on your BS. Because Kyle was not afraid to say what he KNEW I would not want to hear, it brought me back to reality. Justification is the enemy of weight loss. Sure.... its just one cookie, or just one drink, or just one... WAIT! Didn't we talk about this before?!?!? You have to STOP the cycle. These are the moments when you realize that your weight issues have very little to do with the food and way more to do with your resolve, emotions, and self control. How's that for a smack of reality?!
Lifestyle Change- You have heard it before. "its not a diet, it is a lifestyle change." But what the heck does that mean? You start dieting and your stomach is growling and trying to tell you that you are dying of starvation, you are grumpy and starting to understand why those models always look so pissy.... they are HUNGRY, and you are wondering if being a few sizes smaller is REALLY worth skipping 50 cent wing night at the local bar with your friends! (Mmmm wings...) Every day is a challenge to make the right decisions and to tell yourself no. Then one day you are standing in the line at the grocery store and you realize you are looking at the "Cooking Light" magazine instead of drooling all over the candy display. "Hmmm... that is weird," you think. You show up to work and some big wig is in town and you find out that you are going to have a lunch meeting. You show up at the restaurant, open the menu, and while they are snacking on deep fried pickles and beef nachos you talk and laugh and sip your water. Then you order a "greek salad with grilled chicken and please hold the croutons and can I also get the dressing on the side." All of a sudden you realize that not only did you not check the menu online before going out, but you totally skipped the cheeseburger section of the menu and when the waitress asked if you would like a side of fries you simply said, "no thanks" instead of wanting to scream, "if I wanted fries I would have ordered FRIES!" Then you realize that you have experienced a lifestyle change. You are no longer dieting.... this is just how you eat now. It is an amazing feeling and it is the moment that you realize that you are now prepared for when the time comes for you to choose your hard by maintaining your weight loss. You go GIRL! (Or guy...) Break out an ice cold glass of water with lemon and CELEBRATE! Look in the mirror and welcome the new you, to the rest of your life!
Boredom- You will become bored of your routine... face it and prepare for it. For me, I am a pretty inventive cook but even for me I got burned out from making so much chicken and turkey. Just try to be creative. This is where you need to challenge yourself, especially if you do not usually enjoy cooking. If you are like me you will begin to feel the need to kick it up a notch. Though I have not discussed physical activity or working out very much, it is an important part of this process. And when you hit the plateau it is a good opportunity to change some part of what you are doing. You eat the same calories every day, do the same exercises. You need to start mixing it up a little! Your body responds more slowly if you do the exact same things day in and day out so plan to change your routine from time to time to keep it fresh and new for the best results.

After five months...

Ahh so month five.... This was the hardest month of all. I felt the repercussions of my choices during months 3 and 4. I hit my first plateau and I hit it hard. I am lucky because I had lost enough weight already to keep me committed to the goal. It is hard to stick with it when you are working hard and eating right and not seeing the results. But just when you want to give up and eat a piece of cake or a big bowl of pasta, as yourself this- Will this in any way help me reach my goal? No is the ONLY honest answer you can allow yourself. Remember when I said that dieting is not easy and that dieting is not fun? This is when that is more true than ever! If it was easy EVERYONE would be skinny! So show yourself that things have changed and stick to the plan!

At the end of month 5 I was down a total of 53lbs. This means I lost less than 4lbs in the whole month! For that matter.... I fluctuated up and down within those 4lbs all month and it was frustrating, but I was still headed in the right direction!



Challenges of this month:
Sticking with it- The further you get into your diet the harder it is to keep dieting. Not because it is not working, but because it is not fun. (Hey I told you I was going to tell you the truth!) But do not let that put you off or scare you. Not everything in life will be fun, but things can still be rewarding! If you are like me you might hit a plateau around this time.... just know that if you stay the course you will break through that glass ceiling and it will be EVEN MORE rewarding than you could have imagined!! (See month 6 for proof)
Water- So, I know that I mentioned I was drinking alot of water previously, but this is about the time when I stopped enjoying it. I average at least 2 Liters of water a day and I knew at some point I would get tired of it and boy did I ever!!!! One day it was like I was drinking sewage instead of water. Can you see the face you are making at that thought??? Just imagine thinking it while ACTUALLY drinking water! Yuck is right! I have no idea what changed, but one day I could barely choke down a glass of water, let alone several liters! I am personally convinced that this is is why I only lost 3.5lbs this month. Remember that your body cannot function at its optimal level without being hydrated. Also remember that by the time you are thirsty your body is already dehydrated. So get that pitcher out and DRINK AWAY people!!!!
I got engaged! WOOT WOOT!!!!- (OK, now that I got that out...)Now, you might not get engaged while you are dieting, but SOMETHING will come up. That is how life is.... Ups and Downs all the time! Those ups and downs can lead us "fluffy" people to stuff our faces. Because lets be honest.... you don't get fat if you hate eating! Our weight issues are intrinsically linked to our emotions, whether they are good or bad makes no difference. So however you justify it, "Lets celebrate! Lets go to dinner!" "I am so sad, I need some ice cream!" "I am so stressed at work, I need some beers and wings": STOP! I know the temptation, I lived the temptation, I SURVIVED the temptation! You can too! Just remember... you have to choose your hard.... Would you rather be fat or losing weight? It really is that simple....

Months three and four- The Holdays!

You might be wondering why these two months got grouped together... It is because the holiday season covered these two months of my diet! I am going to discuss them together since I learned about and overcame (or not) the same obstacles for these 2 months!
Month 3-


During month 3 I upped my total weight loss to 40lbs! I had reached my first mini goal and felt AWESOME! However, this covered Thanksgiving which obviously posed its own challenges for me and my diet. We flew to New York to spend Turkey Day with Kyle's family and had a great time! But have I mentioned that Kyle's family is Italian?? They LOOOOOVE their pasta! And lets be real.... I do too! But that is part of what got me into this mess in the first place! So We got some apples and yogurt as that is my standard breakfast and I vowed to not over indulge in anything. Shockingly, IT WORKED!!! I allowed myself to eat anything I wanted... but in a very small portion. It was the first holiday that I can remember actually being able to see some of my plate behind all of the food! Instead of two heaping spoonfuls of green bean casserole (with loads of cheese and fried onions... YUMMY!), I just allowed myself 2 tablespoons. Not only did I still eat what I wanted and felt full at the end of it all, but I did not experience the food coma I usually felt at the end of a holiday meal. HOT DAMN! It seemed like I was really on to something here!

Well, a couple weeks went by and I finished up month four-

Now I was down a total of 49.5lbs and really starting to look different. (I know what you are thinking.... you looked different IMMEDIATELY! I know that I did... but to me it was this month that I realized I was getting a nice waist back!) I tackled Christmas with the same plan that I tackled Thanksgiving with and all went well. It was challenging because now I was at home with my mom and all of the comfort foods I have known my whole life! Mom got me all the fruits I requested and did her best to make it easy on me, but sometimes the smell of sausage made me want to throw myself through the kitchen window! (Yes, expect to still have cravings even 4 months into your diet!) During this time we celebrated Christmas and New Years which also covered our engagement! Exciting, ABSOLUTELY! Did it lead to cheating? Absolutely.

These two months posed more challenges for some obvious reasons.... the ones I listed above are the obvious ones. The biggest challenge that I did not expect during the holidays was the effect that it had on me when my plan worked. This whole time I have been dieting and waiting for the fallout when all of a sudden I hit a plateau and I stop losing. I went through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years and I was STILL LOSING! Why? Because I stuck to my plan! Why was this a challenge you ask? Well.... this is when I realized that my "unattainable goal" was not so unattainable after all. The minute that you realize that you can eat what you want, as long as it is in moderation, and still lose weight, that is when a light bulb goes off in your head. For me it came at the end of month 3, for you it might be sooner or later than that.... but you will KNOW when it happens. The problem with that, is that after that realization it is very hard to stick to your diet 100%. It is working, your diet and exercise is paying off, but even when you are allowing yourself to indulge you are STILL LOSING! Your mind says, "well I can be really strict with myself and lose LOTS of weight. But if I slack off and eat what I want I can still lose more than I used to." There is no version of shutting yourself up quite like biting the head off the cookie.... but you HAVE GOT to find a way to silence that thought! This is NOT the time to slack up! Now it is time to put the hammer down and FOCUS on the long term goal! If you start slacking up now you will never reach your final goal!!!! So man up and ask for support from someone, hell, ask for support from me! But get people on your side and remove the temptations so that you can get re-committed to the plan.

After two months...

After two months I had lost a total of 26.5lbs! So exciting!!! I could see a difference and felt HOT again! I was seeing big numbers each week and I was working hard to make the right choices with my food and trying to stay active with riding. Here are a few of the challenges that I faced during month two:

Cravings- I cannot begin to explain the cravings you will feel. They come on fast and they come on HARD! I am not someone who has ever really had major cravings but starting in month 2 I sure did! Imagine the worst pregnancy cravings and them multiply that my a million. All I can say is STAY STRONG!!! But LOTS of sugar free gum to pacify your cravings and drink lots of water.

Willpower- Now is when your will power will be tested. Sure, you got through the first month, you lost some weight and that is AWESOME! But do you have the resolve to stick with it? YES YOU DO! Remember the results you have seen, they will come slowly but you just have to put the hammer down and dedicate yourself to changing your life! We all have our own reasons, for me it was wanting to look good when I get married, wanting to be able to a)have kids and b) actually be able to play with them, and wanting my body to stop hurting so much from the sheer pressure of the extra pounds I was carrying around with me all the time! What is your reason? Now is the time to figure it out. And don't set goals like, "my 10 year reunion." That is simply too short term! What happens if you get to your goal for the reunion and then you fall off the wagon and gain 30lbs and then you run into Miss Prom Queen circa 1999 (or 2009 or 1989 or 1979)?? All of that hard work would have been for nothing! Look at the bigger picture and decide why you want to do this for yourself.

Cheating- Yes, this goes hand in hand with will power but this topic is so vital that I feel it deserves some special attention. Cheating will happen. If you are new to this then you might be shaking your head and saying, "not for me it won't! I am too strong for that!" Trust me and know that I am saying this with all the love in the world when I say, yes it will and you are not too strong for it... no one is! Allow me to share a comical and sad story with you....
During this point of my life I was bringing lunch to work almost every day. On this particular day, however, I forgot my lunch and decided to go to Subway. That is a good decision for those "break the glass" moments. (I hate to sound like a Subway and Biggest Loser advertisement, but the fresh fit meals really are great. A 6" turkey sub on wheat with apples and a bottle of water for around 300 calories? SOLD!) So I go and I order my food and while they are bagging up my sandwich I walk to the fridge and get my apples and water out, pay and head out the door. My plan was to make a phone call so I thought I would just sit in the car to talk and eat. So as I am eating my sandwich and talking on the phone to my mom I reach in the bag for a napkin and to my absolute HORROR...... there is a COOKIE IN MY BAG! A FRESH BAKED COOKIE!!! Oh my goodness! What kind of A-hole puts a freakin cookie in your bag without asking if you want it?!?!? Didn't they see that I ordered off the FRESH FIT MENU?!?! If I wanted a cookie I would have ordered it!!! (Obviously I am still a little traumatized by the "cookie incident." Let me just tell you, there is no test of willpower quite like a warm chocolate chip cookie. I put the cookie to the side and went on with my sandwich. I thought about it while I was talking to my mom and decided I would take it back to work to give to my pregnant friend. Pregnant people love cookies, right? Well, so do dieting people. And you might not have heard your food speak to you before, but 6 weeks in and 20lbs down and that cookie is BEGGING to be part of your meal. How do you silence the cookie??? You bite its damn head off.... that's how! And that is EXACTLY what happened! I took a big bite out of that cookie and then chucked the rest of it right out the window!!!! Judging from the look on a nearby woman's face, I must have looked like a lunatic! After all, I just threw out a perfectly good cookie! Who does that?! I do... that's who! I knew that one bite was not going to kill me or throw me off my plan completely... but I knew that I did not have the willpower to only take one bite. So I chose to remove the temptation. (Remember the lesson from last month??? It still holds true!)

Moral of the story- Cut yourself some slack! It takes time to retrain your stomach and your brain. When you REALLY crave something.... give it a few days to see if it will pass and if it doesn't then give yourself a bite of whatever it is. It is hard to limit yourself to one bite of anything, so if you are not strong enough then it is best to avoid it all together. But I have found that if I am really craving something I am more likely to binge if I resist it for too long. But do not let that one bite turn into 2 and then 10 and then "well I will just have a cheat day." Stay on track and REMEMBER to focus on the goal!

After one month....

NEWS FLASH- Dieting sucks. I know that I mentioned this before... but seriously... it is not fun at all. However, it is incredibly rewarding. Here is a month one recap-

So after one month I lost 14lbs! WHOOOO HOOOO!!!! I was super excited to be on my way to being a skinnier and healthier version of me! I started riding horses again and was really enjoying myself. It was a workout without thinking of the work. I have ridden horses my whole life but had to take a break to be part of "corporate America." Or so I thought!! As it turns out... you really can make time for anything that you want to. I certainly used to have time to go out to the bar with my friends, so I just re-prioritized things in my life and made sure that there was time available for the things that are important to me. No more excuses!!!! That first month wasn't all rosey tho! Here are some things I learned and challenges I had to overcome-


Dieting- Yes this seems like an obvious challenge, I know. But when you have really committed to losing the weight, it is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

"No"- Learning to tell yourself "no" is one of the hardest things I have ever experienced! As a fluffy girl I knew what I was doing (or so I thought) and I was going to make the decisions that I wanted to make. And if that meant eating 1 or 2 (or 5... but who's counting, right?) Krispy Kreme donuts, so be it! I am the master of my own destiny and the master of my own waist line. (Or so I thought....)As hard as this step is... STICK WITH IT! Do not surround yourself with people who will try to lead you astray.... right now you need all the support you can get. If start out cheating, you will NEVER see the results that you want to see!

Caffeine Hangover- Yeah that's right. I gave up all caffeine cold turkey. I do not drink coffee often so soda was my staple. I could easily drink 6 cans a day.... while at work! Let alone if I had some at home! This was a choice that I made and was not suggested by my Dr. But I know that caffeine can lend itself to cravings and I did not want any part of that! I will say that there were moments that I felt like a drug addict. One of my co-workers would pop the top on a can and it would send me into a frenzy! I made BBQ sauce one night and wanted to use just a tiny bit of diet soda for flavor so I had Kyle buy me one bottle so I could use that. After all, I didn't want extra cans floating around! When I opened that bottle it was like the sky opened up and I could hear the angels singing. (Apparently dieting can also make you mildly crazy.) As I am prone to having mental battles with myself, I started the inner dialog. "Just put the cap back on it and walk away." I was successful, I did that, but I could not stop thinking about that damn soda sitting on my kitchen counter! It was a personal challenge to not drink it. Then I realized that the challenge was not ignoring the soda. The challenge was being comfortable pouring the soda out. You have not made a lifestyle change yet.... so cut yourself some slack and do not surround yourself with impossible temptations. Does that mean don't go to lunch? No- but that brings us to the next topic.

Eating out- Scary.... very scary. Since we know that in real life you cannot plan for EVERYTHING... here is what you do in real life- If you are going out to lunch with friends, work or on a date, set the place in advance and look at their menu online to decide what the best choice would be for you and your diet. Do not be afraid to be picky. Ask for your salad with dressing on the side and no croutons. You think they care? No! Order things that are grilled as often as possible and instead of heavy sauces ask that they use herbs. You still get great flavor but without needless calories. I also suggest going into these places chewing a piece of gum, this pacifies the desire to chew and it also keeps you from grabbing at the appetizers the evil non-dieters might order.