Oh, it's on now!!!

I am writing this with a smile on my face. I lost 3.2 pounds during my 7 day diet cycle. I am thoroughly pleased, because recently, my weight has shown a steady decline. This time around, I combined my 7 day diet plan with using livestrong.com's MyPlate calorie counter, and I exercised every day. MyPlate was what helped me lose 21 pounds the last time I had my "Okay, that's enough" moment, so I know it's something that works for me. By combining that with the 7 day diet plan, I was able to make sure I monitored how much I was eating so I'd know I was never starving myself. It also felt good to be back on a consistent workout routine. I feel healthier already!

I'm taking about a week off from doing the 7 day cycle, because from what I've read it's not good to do it back to back. However, I'm continuing the calorie counting. What I've learned about myself is that I need to monitor what I eat. I need to look at nutrition information and make diet decisions based on the information there. When I first stopped using MyPlate, I was towards the end of my time at Berklee, and the stress was getting to me. I had several major projects that I needed to complete, and I was feeling like I didn't have time to use MyPlate. I tried to eyeball what I was eating and guess at what combinations of foods would give me the proper nutrients and calories to help me continue to lose weight. That didn't really work. When I came home, I was no longer running my own kitchen. I was no longer buying my own groceries. I stopped eyeballing it all together, and started making food decisions based on cravings. This was the worst thing for me! But I know that if I do not use an actual tool to monitor my food, I will eat too little or too much, and I will eat the wrong combinations of food. MyPlate is something that works for me that I want to do long term.

That's pretty much it for now. I'm in a better place than I was after David's Bridal! I know progress is being made, and I'm still seeing it in my clothes and in how I'm feeling. I might post a quick blog when I'm starting my 7 days up again, but if not, I'll post again after the next cycle. I'm feeling pretty darn good about all of this!

-Jayme

p.s. my new scale rocks.

Here's the latest...

I'm gonna try to make this quick because I want to head down to the workout room before there's a thousand people occupying all of the machines. My new scale that I ordered online came in yesterday, roughly two weeks after I ordered it. (It came in an "Express" box, which I found hilarious considering how frickin long it took to get here.) Anyway, I'm taking baby steps with the weight loss thing. I don't want to say exactly what number I'm at, but I set a goal for myself the last time I did the diet cycle I'm on that I wanted to get under the 10 mark. (For example, if I weighed 163, my goal was to get under 160.) I reached that goal, and that's according to BOTH scales. I'm happy with that, and I'm ready to set the next goal. We'll see what happens. I'm back on day 1 of the 7 day cycle, and I'm ready to make even more progress. I went and tried on bridesmaid dresses yesterday, and while I maintained a positive attitude, the size that I fit into was a size bigger than the largest sizes I own at home. I wasn't terribly pleased about that, but I know this: the clothes I do have are fitting a little bit looser. The belt that I wear on a daily basis is almost too big. That's a huge motivator for me, because it's progress that I can grasp. Sometimes just looking in the mirror isn't good enough, because I can't always tell the difference unless I put on clothes and they don't fit, or I look at pictures and do side-by-side comparisons. Seeing a difference in my clothes is something I can grasp. So, I'm going to keep on truckin'. One thing I'll add, even though this diet is a 7 day cycle that you don't have to repeat back to back, I have made changes to my diet when I'm not on the cycle. I'm not completely vegetarian, but I eat a lot less meat. I eat a lot of things in much smaller portions and in moderation, like bread, cheese, and some of my other favorites. And I've increased my intake of fruits and vegetables a lot. I'm happy about all of that. I'm not looking back, either. I know that the way I was eating before was not doing me any favors. Okay, I'm rambling now, and I need to get changed for the gym. As always, a huge huge huge thanks to all of my friends and family who have written to me with personal stories and words of encouragement, etc. I appreciate all of you more than you know. OKAY BYE!!!

-Jaymers

Okay, I can do this...

It's been one week since I first started on my new diet program. I've lost two pounds so far. I was hoping for a bigger number, but I'm still pleased with the progress. The name of the game for the future and the lesson I learned this week is to really listen to what my body is saying to me. When I need to eat more, I should eat more. When I've had enough, stop eating. When I'm working out and I'm pushing myself, I need to pay attention to whether or not I've pushed myself too hard. All in all, I'm calling this week an overall success, but I'm ready to get started again with the adjustments I feel I need to make. I'm taking a few days off before I start the 7 week cycle over again, so my next weigh-in will be a week from Monday instead of next Saturday. I also think I have an unreliable scale, so I plan to purchase a new one that will hopefully give me more consistently accurate results. Right now, I'm feeling good about the direction I'm headed in. My biggest challenge has been and will be to remain disciplined and not give into cravings. We'll see how week #2 goes. I want to say thank you to the friends who have commented publicly and written privately showing their support and sharing their stories. Your encouragement really means a lot. Until next weigh-in, over and out.

-Jaymers

Starting Over....

Here I am again. It's almost been a year since I first decided to blog my process. My weight has fluctuated a lot over the last year, but right now I am close to my heaviest weight ever. I had a moment yesterday when I put on my clothes, and I saw how I looked, and said "Okay, that's enough." I'm trying something new this time, and I plan to stick to it until I've lost 50 pounds. Sounds like a tall order, but I have to do it. I'm sick of being obese. When I buy new clothes or wear clothes that I have now, I usually determine whether or not I like them based on how well they hide what I don't like about myself. It's not about whether or not I think they're cute, it's only whether or not they hide me. That's not right! Sure, clothes are supposed to flatter a woman's figure, but I have reached the point where I no longer care about comfort, style, or anything else. I don't feel good in my own skin anymore. This can change, and I have the power to change it. Today is my new day 1. I'm on a program that is 1 week long, and is supposed to help burn fat. I will update my blog weekly to share my progress. My hopes are high, I'm as motivated as I was when I lost 20 pounds two years ago, and I have love and support from friends and family. I've even got a couple of people trying it with me. I have a really good feeling about this, and I think it's going to go well.

You win some you lose some...

After a positive weigh-in a couple of weeks ago, I gained 4 pounds back. I wasn't very happy about this, so I sat down and did some thinking. I was planning to use the walk home from my subway station as my daily exercise, but I hadn't been successfully consistent with it. Different things kept coming up, like my mom needing me to take the car, or needing to pick up groceries in that area. And then there were those days when I was just in a bad mood and didn't feel like it. For any readers that aren't aware of this already, I am NOT a morning person. I like to think I fake it very well with my dear friend caffeine, but generally speaking I am more of a night owl by nature. So, the thought of getting up to work out BEFORE work just seemed painful. My wakeup time was already at 6am, so getting up to work out would require 5 or 5:30. However, after gaining 4 pounds back which left me heavier than I was when I first started trying to get back on track, I decided to bite the bullet and just get up in the mornings.

There were definitely days that I didn't feel like it and really would've rather slept in, but I was able to do it consistently for a week. It also helped having my mom get up and join me. So far, I have been trying not to go too crazy. I just do 20 minutes on the elliptical, and I do crunches every other day. I'm trying to get back to exercising 6 days a week, which leaves me with one day over the weekend, and eventually I'd like to reintegrate weight training during that one day.

Well, after 5 weekdays and a day off on Saturday, I've lost 2 pounds. What's more important is I actually feel and look better. It's only been a week and 2 pounds doesn't seem like a lot, but I've already begun to notice a difference. It's really amazing how motivating it is to see the difference visually. I also keep reminding myself of where I was not too long ago, and I know for a fact that I can get back down to that size AND smaller. Like I stated in my first blog, my goal here is to be physically fit, not just hitting some abstract number. So, with some new found motivation, I feel like I'm finally ACTUALLY back on track. I have a trip to LA that I'm planning, and I'm hoping to get under 170 by then. Right now I'm at 173.4, so I feel it's completely doable if I keep this routine up. Yeah, 5:30am is painful like I thought it would be, but it feels great once I get into my rhythm and I have my music playing. That's another thing, having the right music is HUGELY important I've found.

Anyway, that's all for now. It's ten to 12 on this 4th of July night, and I need to take my behind to bed. Goodnight all, happy 4th, and I'll check in next weekend. :-)

-Jaymers

Been a li'l while...

I'm making this blog short because I'm absolutely exhausted and in desperate need of my bed. I haven't blogged in a little while due to some physical illnesses. I won't go into details explaining what, because they're gross. But just know that everything is fine now. :-) My last weigh-in, I came in at 171.8. So I've lost a little bit more. I'm just going to continue to take things slowly. Will try to keep this thing up a little bit better. Maybe eventually I'll even post some pictures. Whoa....


G'night,
-Jaymers

End of week 1

So it's been 1 week since my last blog. According to the scale, I pretty much maintained my weight. I partly attribute this to the fact that I didn't get in as much hiking as I normally do. However, I am PMSing, (which I'm sure you all wanted to know,) so my estimate is that I've lost about a pound. My actual goal is 2 pounds per week, and I'm going to try to stick with my program to achieve that. So far, I am feeling better about the fact that I'm doing this again, because it felt really good to actually see my progress physically and feel it mentally. It's something that I'm willing to be patient about, because really this is about my health more than anything else. I'm not interested in losing 50 pounds in 3 days. Slow and steady feels more natural and more healthy, so that's what I'm sticking with. Anyway, I'm keeping this blog kinda short because I'm exhausted right now and I have to go eat dinner before it gets super late. I'll post another update next Sunday or Monday!

See ya,

Jaymers

P.S. Tomorrow is my birthday. My goal is to be where I want to be physically by my next birthday. We'll see how it goes....