It's My Birthday Week!

This year, I'm starting a new journey in WL. So far, I'm off to a good start. I've been keeping track of my exercising and most of my food intake. I'm down over 7 lbs and this is officially my 3rd week of my new lifestyle. I'm being optimistic and hopeful that I can lose the weight.

My first weight loss goal is losing 25 lbs for this quarter. That means by the end of March, I should have lost 18 more lbs. I recently joined a spark team (100 lbs in 1 year) and that is our group goal. I'm also challenging myself to work out 5 times a week.

This week has started off good, but it's my birthday week and we have plans to travel out of town to celebrate. I'm going to visit my BFF and some old college friends who I haven't seen in a while. I'm so excited! But with friends, comes fun and that usually includes going out to eat, and going to bars. Especially with it being my birthday, I know the gals are gonna want to show me a good time. Then there's Super Bowl Sunday and that means beer and junk food. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I do enjoy my cocktails. I'm hoping I can be good this weekend. My friends all know I'm on a diet and they are all in the same boat as me, but we're probably "gonna let our hair down" this weekend. Either way, I can't wait for the celebrations to begin!

I'm not gonna be too hard on myself, because then I'll have a guilt trip and with my history, that's when I usually fall off the wagon. I just have to keep in mind to stop eating when I'm satisfied, it's not necessary to clean my plate, and go easy on the drinking. Other than that I'm looking forward to starting my 32nd year! Happy Birthday to me :)

Reply & Week 2 results

So someone actually replied to one of my Board posts on SparkPeople.  She lives in Houston and is looking for a WL buddy.  Here is my reply...

Hi Lisa,
My name is Mely.  Nice to meet you and thanks for the reply.  I too live in the NW area, near the horse racetrack, if you know where that is.  So tell me a little about your goals.  I've been on and fallen off the wagon a few times now.  I've tried multiple diets including the Master Cleanse, being vegitarian, cutting out sweets, Quick Weigh Loss Centers, counting calories, etc.  I've had the most success with QWLC, but it gets very expensive and when I couldn't afford it anymore, I quit and let myself go and unfortunately gained all my weight back.  I work in the medical field so I know the problems that come along with obesity, plus I have a family history of diabetes so that's always a concern for me.  As of right now, I am not diabetic.  I get myself checked out annually for it, cuz it's always on the back of my mind.  More recently, my husband and I have been trying to conceive our first baby and so far have no luck.  I've always known it would probably be difficult since my menstrual cycles are irregular and my weight is probably the main cause for that.  My doctor told me that the best thing to do was lose weight.  It's very sad and frustrating knowing that I'm probably the cause of our infertility and I'm intent on losing this weight forever.  I also want to set an example for my family (my parents are overweight and so is my husband) and my future children.  I've been overweight my entire life so I know the emotional, social, and physical hardships that come along with being a "fat" girl and I don't want my kids to go through that.
So my plans right now include changing my eating habits for good.  I'm watching my calorie intake and exercising on a regular basis.  I'm not at all athletic, so I'm starting out small.  Just doing workout videos at home at monitoring my heart rate so that I can keep track of the calories I burn.  I'm starting my 3rd week, and I've already lost over 7 lbs!  I'm so happy.... my goal is to lose 2-3 lbs a week.  I watch The Biggest Loser every week and it helps keep me motivated.  I wish I could lose the big numbers that the contestants do, but then I realize I'm doing small steps and there's no Bob Harper around to help me get my ultimate burn.  LOL, plus I'm learning to eat healthy so this is all still very new to me.  I wasn't exactly very fond of vegetable or cooking :)  But I'm slowly learning to enjoy it.  And now that hubby wants to plant a fruit and vegetable garden, I am even more excited.
So that's a little about me.  Hope it wasn't too long.  My goal is to lose 120 lbs and 7 of those are gone!  Hope we can keep each other motivated and accountable.  So hope to hear from you soon.
-Mely

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I've lost 4 POUNDS this week!  so excited!  I thought this was gonna be a tough week since I missed 2 workout days and I had sushi yesterday.  But I still lost and now I'm super motivated!  That's a total of over 7 pounds in 2 weeks!  Yee Haw!

Week 1

So far so good.  I've kept up with my calorie count and exercising twice a day.  I'm feeling pumped and can't wait till Sunday when I weigh myself and take my measurements!  I'm currently doing my own thing, but getting a little help from Spark People.  It's a site that generates a weight loss plan for you, monitors your caloric intake and fitness regimen and gives you customized meal plans.  It also has a community board where you can talk with other members.  Right now, I'm burning more calories than I'm consuming, but this won't go on much longer since I read that can be bad for you.  But since I'm staying within my calorie level, I'm not gonna worry about it now.

As far as what I'm eating, I'm going what with we have around the house.  Since right now, we're pinching pennies since losing my job, I can't really use the meal plans that are generated for me on the website.  That would mean buying alot more groceries than we need.  And since I'm also trying my hand at couponing, we only really buy what's necessary or what we can get for cheap/free... so I have to work my diet around those circumstances.  But it's working out so far.  I  know it's only week one, but I'm very optimistic.

Exercising has been quite a challenge... as always, but this time it's not finding the time or the motivation to do it.  I have alot of time on my hands now, as well as the motivation.  I'm really, really getting the baby itch and I don't have many more years to wait, especially with wanting to have as many kids as I want... the time to start is now.   The challenge in exercising has been my stamina... meaning, I am REALLY out of shape and it's killing me.  For some reason, my feet really hurt whenever I work out.  I started noticing this last year when JC and I attempted the Couch to 2K program.  Whenever we went to the track to walk/jog, my feet started killing me only a few minutes after starting.  I thought it was just cuz I was wearing a new pair of tennis shoes.  Wrong, they hurt even with my comfy, beat-up work sneakers.  Then I thought it was cuz I was trying to run (something very new to me).  Wrong again.  They hurt even when I'm just doing aerobics... even doing lunges or something when I'm sort of stationary.  It boggles my mind, but I'm trying to push past the pain.  And now that I had my carpal tunnel surgery done 2 months back, my right hand is still healing and I can't do some of the floorwork exercises that I want to try, like push-ups, kneeling leg lifts, side planks, and various yoga positons.  It's very frustrating.  It hurts when I put any weight on my right palm, since the incision site is still sore, and my wrist is still weak, so any I can't bear very much weight on it.  One last thing that is very frustrating is my lower back pain.  Now this is nothing new, nor is it anything that bothers me on a daily basis.  However, I've always had this pain/sensitivity on my lower back right above my coccyx area.  It's hard to lay flat on my back on hard surfaces.  It's also hard to do abdominal floor work where you put any pressure in that area (i.e. sit-ups, sitting "V", reverse crunches).  It's just alot of pain in that area and even though I use padding to support that area, it's still kind of difficult.  Other than those issues, my workouts have been great.  I've been using my heart rate monitor (HRM) to track my minutes, heart rate, and calories burned and it's been a great tool.  I can input my actual calories burned every work out.  So far, I've just been using various workout videos, Zumba youtube videos, and Wii dance games to get my exercise in.  And it's been fun to do it in the comfort of my own home.  I'm hoping to lose at least 10 lbs these 1st two weeks.

Now to on to a different update.  Aunt Flo came for a visit last night.  I hadn't seen her since September, and believe it or not I was starting to miss her.  I got a prescription for Medroxyprogesterone from the midwife 2 weeks ago and started taking it for 10 days.  Going past 90 days with no menstrual period is bad especially when not pregnant or taking any BC pills.  My obesity makes me irregular and it's the main reason why we haven't gotten pregnant to date.  The RX helps shed the lining of my uterus and makes me have a faux period of sorts (it's a little more complicated than that, of course) and once I start my period, I can start monitoring my cycles and BBT once again.  In 12 days, I will re-start the natural Progesterone creame twice a day which will help regulate my cycle.  I use it for 26 days then stop 7 days, and repeat this cycle.  It's kind of like the pill but without the pregnancy protection... LOL.  So of course my period has been really heavy since starting, but I'm hoping it won't last long since I've got a birthday to prepare for :)  Tomorrow I will start my ovulation charting again on Fertility Friend... which has been another great tool in getting ready for baby-making.  So here's to healthy living and getting knocked up sometime later this year!  Cheers!

Day 2?

48 minutes of Turbo Jam.... I'm feeling great.
Breakfast: oatmeal, strawberries, and a tangerine
Lots of water

Hello Eggs... Are you there?

Well it's been about 4 months since my last blog and alot has happened since then...
We are finally settled into our little home and things are running smoothly.  We renovated our kitchen 1st thing after we moved in and it took us about 2 weeks to get most of it done.  We enlisted help from my brother in law and a friend of his.  JC took 2 weeks off work to help work on the kitchen.  We got most of it done, but to date, it still remains partially unfinished.  Oh well, we'll be working on it slowly.
Then we kind of held off on baby-making for a few weeks because I decided to get carpal release surgery done on my right hand.  I wanted to make sure I wasn't pregnant for the surgery as well as the few weeks following when I would be using pain meds.  So we used protection.

Then at the end of November, I got laid off and that got things really spinning out of control.  I've been looking for work non-stop for over a month.  And even though I'm collecting unemployment, it still frustrates me that I can't find work.  For the mean time, we are okay on our finances, but I've been in a funk lately and I just sit around the house all day and watch TV.

I also recently got back on my prenatal vitamins (which I had lapsed on for a few months), I started my provera dose this week so that I can menstruate, and I'm going back on the progesterone cream 12 days after I get my period.  I'm hoping this will kickstart my hormone system.

I made my new years resolution to lose weight so that we can finally make a baby, but I haven't had the motivation to get off my ass and start my weight loss regimen.  I'm sad to say, that I'm probably the biggest I've ever been in my life.  It's depressing.  And now that I actually have the time to dedicate solely to weight loss, I can't even lift a finger.

Well today, I did my 1st workout, and boy did it hurt.  I know I didn't burn enough calories (meaning I consumed more calories than I could burn) and that's a bit dissappointing, but I figured baby steps are better than jumping into a program too fast and burning out too fast.  Tomorrow, I want to try and wake up early and do a work out routine so I can catch up.  My plan is to workout morning and afternoon and eat more calorie-concious.  I need to lose this weight and the baby itch is getting worse and worse... although maybe it's a good thing I'm not pregnant since I have no healthcare and no job.  Plus I don't want to be an obese pregnant lady, because I want the natural child birth and I don't want any complications.  I need to focus....

So here's hoping things change soon and I can change my outlook on life.... me being the optimistic person that I am still have that glimmer of hope that things will change for the better.  Cheers!