Just Keep Walking, Just Keep Walking....

Walking, walking, walking.....  I feel like Dory from Finding Nemo, but instead of swimming, I'm walking.  :)  I started walking last Tuesday.  I started with a little over a mile and just today I walked a little over 3.5 miles.  Sunday is my day of rest, but I felt so lazy yesterday not walking.  I'm really enjoying walking and getting in that exercise that my body needs so badly.  It feels good to use some muscles that haven't been used much in the past.  I don't walk fast, but everyday I've been pushing myself a little harder to go a little farther.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to start walking a little faster. I've got a walking buddy too.  It's nice to have someone to keep me accountable.  I can't just sleep in and skip the walking because I know I have someone waiting for me.  Although I do feel like I'm holding her back a little since I walk kind of slow, she doesn't seem to mind, which is very nice!  When she asked if she could join, I told her that as long as she walks my pace, then she was more than welcome to join.  It is nice to have the company.

The weight loss is going good.  I lost another 2 pounds this week, so I'm down to 281 right now.  I was really wishing I'd be down to 279 today, but I'll take the 2 pound loss.  :)  Maybe I'll get to 279 for next week's weigh-in.

I'm really excited about my goal of getting down or below 200 lbs for my birthday next year.  That is really pushing me even harder.  It gives me something to look forward to.  Something to strive for and try harder to attain.  I've got 8 months and 11 days, 257 days all together until that goal.  If I lose 10 lbs a month, then I should be right on track to reaching that goal.  I'll have to push myself pretty hard, but I think it's reachable.  I'm on the right track so far!  I started low carb May 6, so two months will be July 6, and I'm sure I'll be down 10 lbs for my second month.

So, my mini goal for this week is to lose another 2 pounds and to keep walking everyday this week, except for Sunday.  :)

A reminder to myself

When I look in the mirror, I don't see this.  You know why?  I suck it in.  Even when I pose for pictures I suck it in.  These pictures, I did not pose for.  These were taken the day before I started low carb.  

May 5, 2012.  I was almost 300 lbs.  With my clothes on that day, when I weighed-in after the party, I was actually 299, then I subtracted 3 lbs for clothes and that's how I got 296.  Sigh....  I'm posting these to remind me that I don't want to look like this.  Not now.  Not ever.

Goals

I want to set some goals for myself, and I thought today would be a good day to do that.  My long term goal, is to lose 150 lbs.  When I talk about the weight I've lost, I'm talking about since the very beginning, when I weighed 300 lbs.  So, I ultimately would like to weigh 150 lbs.  Now, I have never weighed that much.  I remember weighing 200 lbs when I was 12, so who knows how young I was when I last weighed 150 lbs.  So, I don't know what I'll look like at that weight, and honestly, I might think that I'm too skinny at that weight.  So, for now that is my goal, I might change it when I get closer to that weight.  I might want to be 170, or I might want to be 130, I really don't know yet. 

A shorter term goal that I'd like to make for myself is to be under 200 lbs by my 30th birthday on March 8, 2013.  At my weigh-in this morning I'm now at 283, I lost 4 lbs since last week!!  So, I would like to lose 84 lbs in 263 days, or 8 months and 18 days.  I think I can do it! 

An even shorter term goal that I'd like to make for myself is to be able to fit into the six or seven pairs of size 22 jeans that I have in my closet.  I'm currently a size 24, even when I weighed 300 lbs I was wearing a 24.  I go down in sizes VERY slowly, unfortunately, so I'm not sure what weight I'll be when I can get comfortably into those pants.  When I was in high school, I had lost a bit of weight, and was down to about 230 and was wearing a size 20, but now that I've had kids, my body is different.  So, it's a guessing game for me when I'll go down in sizes or what I'll weigh when I'm at those sizes.

So, those are my goals for right now.  I'm sure it will take probably two or more years to get to my final goal, but having smaller goals is always a good way to stay on track.   

Update

I haven't had much time to update this blog.  But, I'm still going strong.  After being slightly off track for a week while in California for vacation and gaining 3 lbs, I've lost that weight and am now down to 285 now.  Feeling really good and enjoying cooking lots of low carb recipes that I've found on Pinterest and low carb blogs.  It makes things so much more enjoyable to have new ideas and recipes to try out!

I need to start exercising and with the kids home from school now for summer, it's kind of hard to find time.  If I break out the kinect, then they want to do it with me and I can't do things the way I want to with them right next to me.  And, if I wake up early, they will too.   *sigh*    And then at night, after they go to sleep I'm tired too and don't want to exercise.  I'm almost thinking of getting up super early, like 5:30 or 6:00, which is early for me, and just going walking.  That way my husband will still be home, asleep :) and if I leave quietly the kids probably won't wake up.  Maybe I'll start that on Monday. 

Other than that, I'm loving the low carb way of eating.  It's really not that hard and I don't feel deprived.  :) 

Having Control

Control is one thing that I usually don't have with my eating.  Even when I was doing Weight Watchers I still craved sweets non-stop.  I would rather have eaten a candy bar than dinner sometimes.  It was known to happen.  Since starting the Atkins way of eating I have been in complete control.  I actually kind of freaked out today at church after taking the sacrament and realizing that it was bread.  But, that doesn't count.  ;) 

I have not been having cravings, which is amazing.  Sure, I've made a couple sugar free desserts, but not because I was craving sugar.  Just because I wanted to try them out and at the end of the day if I still have some carbs left out of my 20 that I'm allowed, then I don't feel bad using them on a dessert.  Sugar hasn't really even crossed my mind.  I have complete control over what I'm deciding to put into my mouth.  I can say "no" to that piece of candy that the kids gave me for Mother's Day today or the cupcake that my daughter decorated for me at church.  It's liberating to have control over what I choose to put into my body!  It's an amazing feeling. 

Without eating the carbs, my body isn't craving more of them. It was a vicious cycle before.  I would have my meal, that would include a ridiculous amount of carbs, now that I think about it, then I would always crave something else sweet.  Which would make me want more.  A vicious cycle!!  I'm so glad that I have gotten rid of  sugars in my diet.  I do however need to find a good tasting carb-free sugar substitute.  Splenda just isn't cutting it for me.  The horrible bitter after-taste is anything but appealing. 

Oh, and another thing.  This morning I weighed in at 290!  I've lost 6 lbs in the last week! 

A Fresh Start

Where do I begin?  It's May 2012, I had fallen WAY off the wagon for far too long.  I let myself go, yet again.  And I got on the scale last Saturday to see 296 staring back at me.  Wow.  That's all I could think. 

Thankfully, a friend of mine was over and was talking to me about how she has been having great success with her new way of eating.  It got me motivated, and I've officially been Low-Carbing it since Sunday.  So, tomorrow will be a week of only 20 carbs a day.  It's actually quite easy.  Which, is very strange for me.  I'm a carb-o-holic, through and through.  I haven't really craved sugar at all and I could really care less about bread right now.  I'm completely satisfied and actually find myself naturally eating less because eating higher fat and more protein is very filling.  I've found some awesome Low-Carb recipe blogs and have been inspired that I can still have things that I love, just modified versions of them.  Now all I need is to find a sugar-free sugar substitute that I like!

So, thank you Nikki for leading me in the right direction. 

Here's to a new JOURNEY, one without giving in or giving up.  I KNOW that I can do this.