Losing Weight & Not Your Significant Other

Losing weight is hard- period. And for me, losing weight became harder when I moved from singledom to having a boyfriend (my now hubby!). Why you ask? Because D loves him some food. Like... a lot. Don't believe me? 

I have proof: 

 I told you. 

Earlier today a bloggy friend wrote me expressing that she was now having trouble continuing to lose weight now that she is in a relationship and as I wrote her back from my experience and with some advice I thought that surely this could be helpful to others because the truth is that it's a lot easier to deny yourself and go into 100% hardcore weight loss mode when you are single and your choices are directly effecting someone else. 

Let me preface this by saying that I've done nothing but lose weight since D & I started dating 11 months ago but it has not been without struggle. I found that when we would go on dates that I felt like turning down the opportunity to feed each other ice cream and bake cookies together just didn't seem fair- I felt like I was missing out on some essential dating right of passage or something. And because I was far from my heaviest at the time, it was easy to slack a little here and there. For a few months during our dating relationship, I found myself quite comfortable in maintenance mode. The problem with that is that I wasn't at a weight I wanted to maintain- I still had more to lose and I needed to stop living, thinking & eating as if I had already reached my goal. 

It's hard to tell the person you love who just wants to do nice things for you and have fun adventures (that include food) that you just can't or that they are going to have to rethink their plans in order to accommodate your healthy living choices. It's hard, but not impossible. 

For example, the other night D lovingly texted me that he was going to pick up dinner for us on his way home from work (so sweet!); however, although I made sure to ask that he get me something healthy (which was hard enough) he decided to come home with BBQ ribs, pulled pork, mashed potatoes & garlic bread...REALLY!!?!?! 

After dinner he could tell that I was kind of quiet and when he asked what was up we had a very honest conversation where I explained that when I eat something that is unhealthy, it's not the same as it is for him where he just thinks, "Yea, that wasn't very healthy or nutritious, oh well, it was delicious and so worth it!" I explained that for me, when I eat things like that it's more than just a feeling of guilt that I feel, it's a feeling of defeat. I feel defeated because I know that I'm not making decisions that are going to lead me where I want to go. I think that helped everything click for him because, I believe, that if someone truly loves you, they aren't going to want to contribute to you living in defeat, but victory. And he followed up  by asking what he could do to help me reach my goal; see if you're like me you'd think..."uh, not wouldn't not bringing home BBQ be an obvious answer?" but to the mind of the person who has never been overweight or had 100+lbs to lose, they don't realize that it's not just a cheat meal, it can lead to a cheat meal marathon month. 

So here's the advice that I gave my bloggy friend & that I'm currently living out myself. When it comes to enjoying your relationship/marriage and still reaching your weight loss goals, I suggest: 

• Having a frank and honest conversation with your significant other; share your story of how you became overweight, what your goals are & how they can help you reach them. 
• Find ways to incorporate and enjoy food with them- it doesn't have to be all carrot sticks and protein shakes; make a healthy dessert together or research a new restaurant to go to and check the menu before you go for the healthiest option. 
• At the end of the day, we all have to come to the realization that the only person who is going to make the tough decisions of saying no to food temptation and yes to the gym is us- it's not our significant others. If we are waiting on them to suddenly change their eating patterns or plan our meals for us, we're gonna find ourselves 5 years older, 25lbs heavier and regretting letting ourselves go. 

Losing weight and being married/in a relationship is  possible. It will take sacrifice, planning & hard work, but hey, doesn't anything that's worth something? 

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK as a Mrs!

Why, hello there :)

After taking a post-wedding blogging haiatus, I am so glad to be getting back into the groove of things.

While we've only been married for almost 2 months, it already kinda feels like a lifetime away- did anyone else experience that?

Here are the quick wedding details:

• I married the love of my life early last month- he is the most kind, loving, integrit person I have ever met and I am blessed to be able to live life with him. We met almost 3 years ago, began dating 11 months ago & have been loving every moment of our almost 2 month old marriage! 

(This is the only professional picture we've received back thus far, I'll be sure to post a few more once we get them!)  And yes, I know you can see my bra... :/

• D (that's the hubby fyi), being the amazing man that he is, planned our entire honeymoon on his own and didn't tell me where we were going until the day of the wedding! While I'm still kind of surprised my anal-retentive control freak self let him plan the whole thing without even telling me one detail, I'm glad I did because he did an incredible job. Where'd we go? BOSTON!

Because we are going to be doing a lot of traveling in November (Spain) and December (Arizona to see my fam) we wanted to do a more low key honeymoon so Boston was perfect! I found it to have quite a few similarities architecturally to the 'Burgh but with a way cooler feel. It was laid back yet outdoorsy which is totally us without being crunchy (my word for hippie meets yuppy). The picture above was while we did Boston's Freedom Trail and we spent the rest of our time exploring the various neat little neighborhoods and Boston. All in all, it was a delightful time :)

Weight Loss Journey Progress:

As of Monday I am weighing in at 176lbs, which means a couple things:

1. I have surpassed my original long term goal of weighing 180lbs!!!
2. I have officially lost as much weight as I currently weigh!!! I've lost a whole me- that's craziness, folks. So for those not good at math (tee hee), I've lost a grand total of 176lbs!!!
3. It is past-time for my next round of progress pics (I'll post them next week).
4. Finally, this means that I am 16lbs away from my new final goal of 160lbs.

I  have been on this journey for almost 3 years and while it has been one of the most rewarding and challenging of my life, I am reading for this chapter to come to a close and the chapter of maintenance to begin. In an ideal world I'd like to lose these 16lbs by the time I fly home for Christmas and begin 2013 at my goal weight of 160lbs (this would average a 2lb loss per week) and while I can't guarantee I'll meet that goal (because of factors beyond my control (read: whether my body decides to give up the weight or not), not because of factors I can control (read: inhaling Christmas cookies), I'm going to give everything I have to finish this journey as strong as I deserve to- which is pretty darn strong.

Signing off for this week~I hope all is well with all my old and new bloggy friends out there. It's good to be back :)

Progress Pics: 130lbs Down Yo!

Happy Saturday All!

And what a happy one it is as I'm excited to be sharing my 6th installment of progress pictures today! I've officially lost 130lbs and since I'm posting progress pics every 20lbs down, it's that time again! Unfortunately I don't see quite as big of a difference between these pics from the ones 20lbs ago but I feel it and I guess that's all that matters. Because it would take too long to post all the pics I'm just gonna post my first ones (taken at 333lbs), my previous progress pic (taken at 244lbs) and this one. So without further adieu...

(haha, clearly I didn't have anyone there to take the pic so you'll have to excuse my attempt to fit in the pic!!)

There you have it folks- I'm trucking right along fighting the good fight every step of the way. My brain is a little too scattered right now to compose a coherent post but I promise to check back in later this week with some thoughts for ya.

(PS- MELISSA- why can't I comment on your blog my dear???? I've been trying but it won't allow me :(

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Days #282 - #287: Random Soup

Get your spoons out because if you keep reading you are about to enjoy a big ol' bowl of randomness...there are so many thoughts flowing through my mind that I'm pretty sure there is no way I'll be able to organize them into a nice perfectly packaged post so here it goes!

• I'm realizing I haven't come as far with my relationship with food as I thought I had. Earlier on in my journey I felt like food had kind of...lost it's power over me, but recently I just have been having the hardest time saying "no." Very soon I'm going to be exploring when/where/why these situations occur and how I can try and avoid/deal with them.

• Biggest Loser pretty much rocks my world. Sure, I can relate with some disgrunteled viewers who say that the extreme success the BL's see isn't healthy for the average dieter (ex: someone losing 20lbs in a week as was shown on last night's episode) but I can't even say how big of a motivator watching the show is for me- mainly for 2 reasons: #1) It shows me that I can ALWAYS be working harder. When I see people who are bigger than me working out harder than me- it pushes me to go harder. And #2) It doesn't allow me to feel sorry for myself- when I saw Aaron (who weighs 440lbs or so) do 10 two-minute sprints last night that pretty much just blew my whole idea of "because I am just under 300lbs I'm in no place to jog" right out the freaking window.

• Starting yesterday I am beginning to use an online calorie counting tool called "The Daily Plate;" this is a tool that used a while back and really enjoy- it allows me to chart my weight loss progress, figure out how many calories I should be eating each day to lose weight, informs me as to how many calories I am burning on average through certain activities, and most importantly- keep track of not only my calories but carbs, fat, sodium levels as well. I am only planning on tracking w/this online tool M-F because I know I won't do it on the weekends since I'm rarely in front of the computer and I'd just be setting myself up for failure if I said I would do it everyday so I'm going to be realistic and do just M-F. Anyone else ever use The Daily Plate?
• This past weekend we got in some really good community service time- it's always fun when exercise and serving others can coincide- here's a pic of our group!

That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed your bowl o' random soup :) 

Days #279 - #281: From Fickle to Focused!

Right now...I'm pretty ticked at myself.

For some unexplained reason I've been eating like crap for the last 2 days. Now, by "eating like crap" I don't mean gorging myself on pizza or anything but I've definitely not been taking steps TOWARD my goal.

For accountability sake, I'll tell you all that I:
- Went out to dinner w/ a friend on Tuesday evening and ate WAYYYY too much bread.
- Had small donut yesterday morning even though I had already eaten breakfast.
- Ate french fries w/ my dinner yesterday.
- Choose to have 4-5 pretzel drums dipped in cinnamon sauce last night.
- And had another small donut this morning w/ a bottled vanilla frappuccino even though I already had breakfast.

Argh!!! I'm seriously mad at myself and I have EVERY reason to be- I know that all of those choices were STUPID.

But, unlike times in the past where I would have just given up I'm using this frusteration to fuel me and keep me focused to do my VERY BEST for the rest of today, tomorrow, and Saturday leading up to my weigh in on Sunday morning where I am SO hoping to hit 60 pounds lost! And, I'm also only 1 lb away from posting my next progress picture over there on the sidebar!

For example, I'm going out tonight with my girls to a new restaurant called Church Brew Works and I've already checked out the menu to decide what I'm going to get and will be eating my yummy homeade chili for lunch today.

I need to start focusing more on my goals and envisioning where I want to be b/c I've been at this TOO long to be doing stupid stuff like eating a donut that I really don't even want just because it's there. Lesson learned.

On a brighter note, I went to the Pirates game the other day with my church fam and had splendid time! While the Pirates officially suck, PNC park is absolutely beautiful and we had amazing seats! Wanna see me cheesin'? :)

Peace out ya'll! Prove to yourself just how strong you really are today!

Time to FIGHT!

Hello friends!

The last two months have been a whirlwind- between being in DC for 2 weeks for work & then trying to catch up with everything at home from being away- I'm just finally getting to the place where I have a grip on life again!

Life is good but it's felt a little bit like a roller coaster lately and while I haven't gained any weight because of it, I know that I wasn't doing my best for a couple weeks. Right now I'm weighing in at 225lbs, for a total loss of 127lbs since beginning this journey 1 1/2 years ago at 352lbs! As I've shared before I have felt a little directionless since meeting my 100lb goal since I really don't know how much weight I'm trying to lose in total, and the directionlessness has unfortunately shown in the mediocrity with which I've been moving along on this journey.

Well friends, I have found myself a new goal & have since gained direction once again and I'm excited to share it with ya'll today! I want to be under 200lbs by the end of the year- meaning I have approx 12 weeks to lose 25lbs! Looking back at my progress in the last couple months I've been averaging a loss of about 1.5lbs per week, which isn't shabby but I know I can do better because I'm not doing my best to even get the 1.5lb loss. Consistantly losing 2lbs per week is not going to be easy and it's going to take me truly getting back to a place of discipline and sacrifice- something I've wandered from recently & am ready to fight for.

Now, I don't believe I've lost 25lbs in a 3 month period since the beginning of this journey but I'm going to fight tooth & nail for what I want and what I deserve- AND I DESERVE TO BE UNDER 200LBS!

How am I going to do it? The same way I've lost this 127lbs:
- Tracking everything I eat through the My Fitness Pal App.
- Staying within my 1500 calorie budget every day.
- Do 1 hour of Cardio (usually spin) 4x's per week.
- Do HIIT strength training 3x's per week under the supervision of my trainer JZ.

Simple Plan. But one that requires dedication & sacrifice- particularly through this Holiday season.

Anyone with me in finishing out 2011 STRONGER THAN EVER?

p.s. I'm only 1lb away from my next set of progress pictures so fingers crossed that I'll be sharing them in next week's post! But until then, here's a sneak peek!

This was me at the beginning of my journey 12/09           And then me 2 weeks ago in DC!

Days #273 - #278: Long, Short, and Short-er!

Well, I'm only 1lb away from being 60lbs down!

Being that the time is drawing near when I originally began this journey (Nov 8th) I've been doing a lot of reflecting about just how far I've come in a year- sure, I know I won't make my goal of losing 100lbs by December 31st (I've come to terms with that finally!) but I will have lost a significant amount of weight- something I have NEVER done before!

Like I said- I realize my original goal is not something that will happen but you know what? WHO CARES!?! My ultimate goal is not to lose 100lbs by December 31st, my ultimate goal is too lose all of my extra weight and I KNOW that will happen- whether that's on December 31st or any other date.

That's not to say that I'm still not setting goals- that is just in my blood (I do it in all areas of my life) and it gives me something to strive for and feel good about achieving; which is why I've recently set 2 new "short-term" weight loss goals to go along with my long-term one; in case you've never heard them they are:

*Long-Term Goal: To weigh 175lbs (a total loss of 177lbs)
*Short-Term Goal: To have lost 100lbs by March 26th (that is the date of the wedding I am in!)
*Short-er Term Goal: To have lost 75lbs by December 21st.

I am currently 16 pounds away from achieving my "short-er term goal" and I'm going after this with all I've got.

 So why December 21st?

Well, I am originally from AZ (which is where all of my family lives) but moved to Pittsburgh awhile back and due to finances/timing I wasn't able to go home for Christmas last year but have already booked my ticket (ouch btw!) to fly home for Christmas this year...on December 21st! By that time I will have been away from home for 1 year and 6 months and it is one of my strongest desires to meet my family and friends in the airport and for their jaws to drop!

My family has always been very kind in regards to my being overweight- belive it or not I am the only overweight person in my family and I can probably count on both my hands the # of times anyone has ever mentioned my weight being an issue in my entire life; which I'm sure we can all agree is both a positive & negative thing. Regardless, I know they have all wanted me to lose weight for a LONG time- for my health and because well, they're my family!

They do know that I've been "losing weight" but none of them have any idea how much and I would be able to hold my head even higher being able to say that I've lost 75lbs! Granted, I know that 59lbs is something to be proud of too- but 75lbs is what I'm shooting for.

This was a picture of me during my last trip to AZ, so this is how they remember me:

I don't think I look like this anymore...but sometimes it is truthfully hard for me to tell! Oh well, the scale doesn't lie...I am 1lb away from 60lbs being gone!

Yipeee!

Anybody else have a hard time seeing your own weight loss?