I call this a Good Friday! August 22, 2008

Today is a good Friday….no wait, correction, today is a GREAT Friday!  I hopped on the scale this morning, and jumped up for joy…I am at 156 pounds!  Which means, that I have now lost a total of 80 pounds!  Wow, I can hardly believe that.  And even though I still have 11 lbs left to lose to reach my target, I am so excited about having lost 80 lbs…I realise that it is a huge accomplishment, and the fact that I did it all on my own, makes it that much more of an exploit.

And as if that wasn’t happy enough news, A friend of mine works for a magazine here in Montreal, and they are doing a story on 5 women that have a good reason to celebrate in 2008, and she submitted my name for the weight loss category of that story, and they actually picked me!!  So not only were my accomplishments underlined in Best Health magazine, but now, they will be in print as well.  I can’t put into words how I feel right now, but I am buzzing with pride and excitement.  I was already very proud of myself for achieving such great results with my weight loss, but now to actually be in a magazine, just really emphasises my pride even more.

If I would have known what a huge impact losing all this weight would have on my life, I would have done it sooner!  It literally has changed my life and me forever…and for the better.  I am 35 years old, and I have never felt this good about myself and I know that it’s all uphill from here!

Suprising discovery August 21, 2008

So last night, I got home and i didn’t know what to make for dinner, I didn’t really have all that much to choose from, so I had to improvise with what I could find.  I had some Frozen Shrimp and Calamari (non breaded of course) and some Quinoa.  So I just threw together the shrimp and calamari and grilled them with a splash of olive oil and lots of garlic.  I also grilled some spinach to have my veggie fix and my iron fix.  I only made 1/2 cup of Quinoa because I knew that there was a lot of carbs in there, but I wasn’t exactly sure about how many calories it had.

Well, much to my surprise, I checked on that today, and I was very surprised by the results.  For 1/2 cup of Quinoa, there are about 318 calories!!  I couldn’t believe that, I thought it was maybe half that.  All in all, it wasn’t so bad, because even with that, I still managed to stay pretty much within my 500 calorie meal.  But it just goes to show, that if you are counting calories to lose weight, really look at everything, because sometimes, you’ll eat something healthy (like Quinoa), but the calories contained in some of these foods can come as big surprise and add up really fast.

I found an awesome recipe on http://www.besthealthmag.ca/eat-well/recipe/grilled-vegetable-and-bulgur-salad.  They suggest using Bulgur, but i replaced that with Quinoa instead and it was AWESOME!  I also threw in some grilled Shrimp in there for added protein and deliciousness.

Finally, new numbers on the scale! August 15, 2008

Woohoo!  Finally, i have seen a new number on the scale today, and may I say it’s about bloody time!  I got so used to seeing the same number on there, that i began having doubts about it ever going down again…But alas, I have renewed my faith!

A friend of mine told me yesterday that maybe the fact that my weight hasn’t gone down in over 2 weeks now, is that possibly my body is just storing everything because this the weight that I am supposed to be.  But I refuse to believe that, I know in my heart of hearts (and after a lot of research) that my body can still stand to lose more weight, and I am sure that 157 pounds is NOT the weight that I am supposed to be.  I’ve been 138 before, so I know that it’s not impossible to go lower than 157.  I am not aiming to be 138 at this point, but 145 lbs i think would be my ideal, healthy weight and I know that i can get there.

I guess I just have to be a bit patient, because since I don’t have as much weight to lose now, my body is slowing down in the burning of the fat and losing the weight.  I know that If I stepped up my Cardio workouts, I would probably see more results faster, but right now in my workouts, I am really concentrating a lot on toning exercises, because now that I have lost all this weight, I still have a bit of flab in the stomach area, and i really don’t want to have this excess skin hanging off of me.  Luckily i don’t have much, because I have done a lot of toning throughout the whole process, it’s not even visible to anyone but me, but i see it every day and now I’ve really stepped it up and I’m really giving my abs a good workout, so as to avoid any hanging, flabby nastiness around my tummy area.  I am always looking for new Ab exercises, so if anyone out there has anything new they’d like to share with me, then by all means, pass it along, I’d love to hear from you.

Still no movement! August 12, 2008

Even though the numbers on the scale have not budged in over 2 weeks now, I am not feeling as discouraged as I was in my last blog entry.  I only have myself to blame for the lack of weight loss, as I haven’t worked out as often or as vigorously as I should have.  Plus i just came back from a 4 day vacation in New York, which was awesome!  As difficult as it was to stick to my diet while on vacation, I did really well and I am very impressed at how disciplined I was food wise, even on vacation.  And we did so much walking, that I think that is a big part of why I haven’t gained any weight during my time there.  I was pleased about that, because I drank alcohol pretty much every night I was there…this was my only cheat during the vacation…so i thought for sure I’d be gaining weight…but alas, walking saved the day once again!

I worked out yesterday, but didn’t do much cardio, I really concentrated on my abs and legs and just toning exercises in general and it felt great!  That is my favorite part of my workouts, it always makes me feel alive!  I really do enjoy the running, when i actually go out and run, but i find myself lacking the motivation to do it sometimes.  But I will get back into my regular, 3 days a week workouts, because I know that once i get back into it, I am sure to continue losing weight and achieving my goal weight.  Since I am only 13 pounds away from that, If i stick to  my program, I should be able to reach my target in the next 2 or 3 months…Wish me luck!!