Challenge Accepted

I accepted a challenge today from a girl I work with. She has been attempting to lose weight for alittle longer then I have and so far she has lost 22 lbs. I was explaining to her how I'm going about losing weight and she was explaining to me what she was doing. Out of the blue she popped the question.....how about a weight loss challenge? At first I wasn't sure because I'm trying to take a more laid back approach to my weight loss this time and not put so much pressure on myself to be perfect. She told me to just think about it and let her know. Well I thought about and decided why not? We agreed there should be a prize at the end but we weren't sure what. I suggested a gift card of the winners choosing but what amount?....we both agreed on $25.00. The only terms to our challenge is that it runs from November 1st to January 1st and the person who loses the most weight wins. Luckily we are only 9 lbs different in weight so we don't have to worry about figuring percentages or anything like that.....just plain and simple.....pounds lost. I'm so excited about having this new motivation to keep me going and trying harder. So what do you think?.....do challenges motivate you more or stress you out to the point of giving up? Should we weigh in each week or wait until the end and weigh in? I see benefits from both ways .....not knowing how much she has lost will push me to work harder and eat better, but knowing she has lost more could make me give up. We have decided to wait until the end.....so I guess we will find out in two months. Let the challenge begin!

Weigh In - Week 3

 

Sorry for the sideway picture, I forgot to rotate it before I uploaded it.  I've lost 4.4 lbs since last week for a total of 19.2 lbs in 4 weeks.  I only hope that this weight loss continues at this pace. 

Weigh In - Week 2

Well this is my second official weigh in and I lost 2 lbs.  So in total I have lost 14.8 lbs in three weeks.  I'm so happy to be moving in the 250's, that's the smallest I have been in awhile.

What Is Beauty?

I decided to do this post because I often wonder at what point in my weight loss will people stop seeing my weight and start seeing my beauty.  I know everyone has their idea of what beauty is so I wanted to ask my fellow bloggers what they thought.  I searched the web and found pictures of models at different weights.  I'm not asking you to be judgemental of the models I just want to know what you see as beautiful.  I've labeled each picture with the search I did online to find them.

Too Skinny Model

Fitness Model

Healthy Model

 

 

Plus Size Model

 

 



 

Just so you know what I think I would be happy being any of these except the first one, its just alittle to skinny to me.



Week 1 Weigh In

 

My starting weight last Saturday was 268 lbs and now a week later I'm down to 262.2 for a loss of 5.8 lbs. I actually began my diet 2 weeks ago and the first week I lost 7 lbs but I hadn't started back blogging yet.   So for two weeks I have a total loss of 12.8 lbs.  Yay me.

Just checking in

Hi there I know I haven't been posting much so I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still around. I've just been focusing on not overeating. I'm not following a certain diet plan I'm just controlling my portion sizes and how many times I eat a day. If I want something sweet I have it I just eat a very small portion. Three more days until I weigh in and so far the scale is showing a loss. I'm just praying I can keep up this momentum.

Beginning Weight

This is my starting weight which I'm not proud of but I'm working on changing it. I will post a picture of my weight each week displayed on the scale.

Back to blogging

Hi there fellow bloggers, I can't believe its been almost 2 years since I posted last. So much has changed since then but the one thing that hasn't changed is my weight. I've fluctuated up and down about 20 pounds but then my motivation and determination fade away. I really don't know what will make this time any different but its something that I have to do. Losing weight use to be about being skinny but as I've gotten older its more about getting healthy and taking better care of my body. The aches and pains that come with the extra weight have opened my eyes to what I'm doing to myself. I'm so glad that I've made the decision to resume my blogging. I've missed the support and motivation from other bloggers and I hope that following my journey can inspire others that they can do it to.

Small Update

I'm still working on losing weight but I did have one small set back, two weeks ago I gained a pound.  This past week I didn't attend my weight watchers meeting but I'm pretty sure I just maintained but I will be back on track this week. 

Weigh In- Week 8

Well I'm late posting this but I lost 3 lbs at my meeting Tuesday night.  That brings my total weight loss to 19.2 lbs.  I can't wait to hit the 20 lb mark next week.

Still Here

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here and still doing Weight Watchers, just haven't had much to post about lately.  I didn't have weigh in last week because I had to go to my son's chorus production at school so I missed my meeting but I will start posting again soon.

Weigh In- Week 7

Had my weigh in tonight at Weight Watchers and I lost .6 lbs, better than a gain.  That makes a total loss of 16.2 lbs in seven weeks.  I can't wait to hit my 20 lb mark.

The Dreaded Scale

Weigh In- Week 6

Well I had my week 6 weigh in tonight and I was totally surprised to see I had lost 3 lbs in the last two weeks.  I had to skip weigh in last week because I was in New Orleans and I tried to eat good while I was there and I walked alot but I still didn't expect this much of a loss.  I had two milestones tonight, I hit my 5% goal and I hit 15.6 lbs lost.  I'm so happy right now and I hope the weight loss continues.  My next hurdle is to hit my 10% goal which would be 27 lbs total lost.  The journey continues.

Living With Blinders On

I was thinking earlier as I drove home about a project I have to do at school where I have to be on video.  Of course I hate the way I look and totally dread this.  Another example I have is where a friend of mine posted a few pictures of me on facebook and I begged her not to but she said I looked fine and so did my mom when she seen them.  I literally have a small handful of pictures of myself because I hate the way I look.  Am I just living with blinders on or do I really look as bad as I think? 

I look back at pictures of myself where I weighed 142 lbs and at the time I thought I looked so fat and awful but now I look at those pics and would kill to look like that again.  Why can't we see whats truly there?  How do we stop seeing all of our flaws and start seeing our assets? 

I feel bad for my kids because they are going to grow up with albums and more albums filled with pictures of them but you wouldn't even think they had a mother because I'm nowhere's to be found in any of the pictures.  Its even worse now that I have a digital camera because as soon as I get a picture of me taken I just erase it and it never even makes it to print.  I'm erasing memories that my children will cherish.

Are you living with blinders on to?  How do you force yourself to stop criticizing every picture you get taken?  I don't want to get to my goal weight and still hate how I look like I did last time.  I want to learn to accept myself and what I see.

Plus Size Ad Banned From Superbowl

When I first seen this headline I was outraged but once you watch the video below you will understand and hopefully be grateful that they did ban this commercial.  Let me know what you think about the commercial and this article.

Plus Size Ad Banned from the Super Bowl

by Brittany on January 23, 2012

in Self & Body

Whitney Thompson is, to date, the only plus size winner of America’s Next Top Model. Cycle 10, B.A.(Before Angelea.)

Unlike many ANTM winners, Whitney has done anything but fall off the radar… or marry a Brady.
Thompson has been a working plus size model signed with Wilhelmina, was the 2010 Ambassador to the National Eating Disorder Association, involved in the Love Your Body & NOH8 campaigns, and has started her own line of jewelry and candles.
Color me impressed? Absolutely.
When I came across a news story claiming Whitney’s ad had been banned from the Super Bowl, I was outraged.
Was this a repeat of the 2010 Lane Bryant debacle, where ABC and FOX foolishly banned the commercial for the retailer’s Cacique line of plus size lingerie because they claimed it was too sexy?
Where are my outrage panties, because I’m about to be outraged, y’all.
So I dug deeper.
Thompson recently launched a dating site geared specifically toward plus-size women, The Big and The Beautiful. Thompson claims to have created the site so that a curvy woman can feel free to be herself and post pictures, knowing full well the men on the site are there “for — not in spite of — her physical attributes.”
Ahem, okay. This whole plus dating thing hasn’t sat well with me since FOX’s ill birthed More to Love, featuring a plus-size man deciding, The Bachelor-style, between a group of plus-size women.
Why can’t the general population date the general population, regardless of size?
I mean, I’m way more plus-size than my husband, but he found me just wandering around with the regular-sized people, and just up and agreed to marry me, anyway.
Thompson making a place for curvy women to feel comfortable is great, but at the expense of sidelining equality and acceptance among women of all sizes makes me squeamish.
So, the ad for The Big and The Beautiful was nixed, and Thompson is crying foul. Is the NFL size-ist?
Just click on the link below to watch the commercial and judge for yourself.

http://youtu.be/L4G6k5ZeHkg


While no one can know for sure why the NFL rejected the ad, if I had to take a guess, I would say because it’s, well, horribly shot and horribly offensive to women, all women.
Is that the message we want to put out into the world? Attractive douche bags in suits are tired of picking up thin and sexually experienced women on the normal-sized person dating sites, so now they’ll do their lady banging shopping on a site specializing in curvy women who… by obvious definition are not as sexually experienced… because we’re unattractive… or we’re secretly horny if only someone would pay attention to us…. or we’re the only option because all the skinny girls are in comas… or um… honestly, somebody stop me when any of this makes sense.
I’m all for lifting up women and empowering them to love their bodies, but to me, this is an abuse of size discrimination to drum up some buzz for, what equates to, a fetish site.
Frankly, I will be happy for women and teens not to see this ad during the Super Bowl. Now, what can we do about those ridiculous GoDaddy commercials?

Southwestern Rice Bowls

(without toppings)

Southwestern Rice Bowls

1 box Zatarain's Spanish Rice

1 can rotel tomatoes

1-2 seasoned chicken breasts(seasoned with taco seasoning, cooked and diced)

1 can refried beans

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained

lettuce, shredded

cheddar cheese, shredded

fresh tomato, diced

sour cream

tortilla chips, crumbled

Chipotle Ranch dressing

1 cup ranch dressing

7-10 shakes tabasco sauce

1/2 tsp cumin

a few drops lime juice

In a medium saucepot, prepare Spanish Rice.  In a different small pot, heat refried beans.  In another pot or pan, heat corn and black beans.  While everything is heating up combine sauce ingredients.  In each bowl (makes 3-4 bowls) layer refried beans, a little cheese, rice, chicken, a few drizzles of chipotle ranch dressing, black beans and corn, a little more cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and tortilla chips or strips.

                                                              

                                                          (With toppings)

As you can probably tell 1/4 of this recipe makes a very big portion.  I would recommend cutting it into 8 servings.  The Weight Watcher points for this at 1/4 serving are very high at 26 points but at 1/8 serving it would be 13 points and thats a pretty good dinner.  This was my first time making this recipe and everyone in my family loved it.  Next time I make it I'm going to look for ways to cut the points some, so if you have any ideas let me know.

Patience, Patience, Patience

One of the biggest things I'm having to learn is patience and anyone that knows me knows that I lack any patience.  But I didn't gain this weight overnight and I'm not going to lose it overnight.  It's really hard to have patience though because I just want the weight to disappear and disappear quickly.  So what do I do?  What can I do but just take it a day at a time because if I start thinking about the big picture well then I'm giving up and I refuse to give up this time.  I'm worth this and I want to be who I know I can be, I want confidence and self esteem and the only way I'm going to get that is to beat this demon.  I can do this one minute, one hour and one day at a time.  I'm already on my sixth week of eating healthy and it seems like just yesterday I started.  For me this is one of the hardest times of the year, its winter.  I get more depressed in the winter and I can't get outside like I want to but making it through.  All I have to do is keep holding on and before you know it I will be at goal. 

So how do make yourself have patience when you are trying to lose weight?  How do you make it through this time of the year?

When Ya Need a Friend

I'm just sending a special thank you out to someone I met through this blog and we became good friends.  She's always there when I need her and she can always talk me down from doing something foolish where eating is concerned.  Thanks so much Tori.

Home At Last

Well I'm home at last and I'm very happy to be here.  As I suspected I didn't lose any weight while I was in New Orleans but I didn't gain any either so thats good.  I did eat healthy so I'm not exactly sure why I didn't lose any weight, but oh well its a new week.  I'll be back to my regular posting tomorrow hopefully.