Looking Good!

     Okay, so I just have to say that the "last-chance workout" week didn't end up really happening after the first two days because I got kind-of sick. And I didn't hit my 30 lbs. However, I am now at 23.8 lbs and 59 in lost! I feel really good and I am so proud. It's been a lot of hard work, and I still have more to go. But I still had to record my progress for the end of the month. And, since I didn't have a full body shot the other day, here it is!

A Visual of My Success

     Okay, so I'm still working on getting to my 30 lb mark, which I want to accomplish this Friday... I don't know if I'm going to make it by then, but I'm sure going to try my hardest! I'll post more about my "last-chance workout" week in a few days. In the meantime, however, I've finally started to see the difference in how much slimmer I look. It also helps to have pictures to compare, and I saw an older photo from my starting weight and thought... HOLY COW. This comparison is just of my face, as I don't currently have a full body shot of myself right now, and I kind-of want to wait until I hit my 30 lbs. But, just for inspiration, I thought I'd post this anyway. It's amazing to see the change in just my face!

This is my before and after... wow.

     I still can't wrap my mind around how far I've come in just three months. I am so much healthier and happier, and I respect and love myself so much more than I ever have. And, I'm not as embarrassed about having my picture taken! That's definitely a big bonus. :D Considering how much progress I have made and am still making, I plan to talk to the bishop of my home ward at the end of next month about contacting the mission office... which means I might be getting my mission call in July! I am so excited!!! I am so proud of myself and all that I have accomplished. I still have a lot to lose, but I am so much closer than I was, and I did it in such a short amount of time.
     Keep working hard to achieve your goals and don't give up. Be proud of your accomplishments and of who you are. You can achieve anything you set your mind to, and you are worth it. Don't compare yourself to others or let them get you down. The only person you should compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday. You are a child of God!

YES!!!

     Hello, everyone! This is going to be a really short post, but I had to document this moment because I feel awesome. I have finally hit my 20 lbs lost marker. And passed it! I am now at 21.4 lbs and 55 in lost! I can't even begin to describe how great that feels after hitting a plateau for a week and a half just before it. Now, I must work really hard to accomplish my goal of the 30 lbs I'm supposed to have lost by the end of the month. 8.6 lbs to go! I can do it; I know I can. :)

     Don't forget to reward yourself for the little achievements as well as the big ones. Every step you take is a step towards a better you. Keep going and don't let anything stop you! I believe in you!

Being Proud of What You've Already Accomplished

     Hello again! It's been a while since I've posted, mainly because I wanted to hit my 20 lb mark before I did... Unfortunately, since I'm a female, problems arose and I stopped progressing for about a week and a half. How frustrating! Today, I've finally passed where I was, but am still .2 lbs away. I'm getting it tomorrow. So, my focus more recently (and for this post) is to be proud of yourself for what you have already accomplished. I've learned this is the best way to push through any trial: be it weight loss or life in general.

     The first thing that I have to point out is that you cannot compare your progress to the progress of others. Some people lose weight faster than others. Sometimes they have a head start. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. The only person you should compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday. I say this because my mom has also started to try to lose weight, and she's getting frustrated because she hasn't lost as much as I have. This is not good logic for a few reasons:

1. I had a head start of about 10 lbs before she started.

2. I have more to lose than she does, and when you have less to lose, it tends to come off more slowly.

3. I've been working out 6 days a week for at least an hour, while she is rendered unable due to disabilities caused by a car accident years ago.

4. She hasn't been quite as strict about her diet as I have, and what/how much/how late you eat makes a huge difference.

Okay, so now that I have got that said....

     As I have probably mentioned before, my biggest downfall in my efforts to try to lose weight before is that I focused on what I still hadn't accomplished rather than looking to see how far I had come. This is one of the greatest things I have learned on this journey. You know how people say, "At the end of each day, think of at least 5-10 things you are grateful for, and you'll be a happier person"? This is basically the same thing. Remember how much you have accomplished and how much more you are capable of than you were before. Think of how much weight you have already lost, if you are working on losing weight, or even how many inches. There is always something to look back on. If you have been working hard every day but haven't seen any progress, you can still be proud of your commitment and dedication! You are awesome! Keep it up! It is really hard to keep working when you haven't seen success; props to you if you keep trying anyway. Not a lot of people can/will stick with it in that situation.

     So... In honor of this post, I am documenting my accomplishments. Here they are:
1. I have lost 19.8 lbs. I may not be at 20 yet, but I'm pretty dang close!

2. I have also lost 50.5 inches of fat. :D
3. At the beginning, 1.5 mi/hr used to be the fastest I could walk. 2.5 mi/hr was more than stretching it. Now, 2.8 mi/hr is my cool down. I made a new personal record this morning and walked 3.5 miles in one hour, with an average speed of 3.2 mi/hr! How awesome is that?!?

4. I have kept up a goal of working out 6 days a week for at least an hour a day. Not a lot of people are willing to do that.

5. I have been able to consistently watch what I eat, and not break my own rules. I have a lot more self control.

6. I am so much healthier than I was before. And you know what? It feels great. And when you feel good, you look good.

7. Technically, this isn't an accomplishment, but I'm going to list it anyway. I have amazing, wonderful people around me and a loving Heavenly Father and Savior who love me, encourage me, and push for my success. The support is the best part.

With that, I'll say "adieu!" until next time. Keep working at your goals! You can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it!

SO CLOSE.

     This morning I was super excited to discover that I've lost some more weight and am at 18 lbs lost! Only 2 more pounds until I've hit the 20 lbs lost marker! I am so close to my goal for the end of this month, which is to have 30 lbs lost. And you know what the best part is? I know I'm going to make it. It is such an amazing feeling. If I keep at the rate I'm already going, I will have the weight lost to go on a mission by the end of July. If I lose it just a little bit faster, I can do it by the end of next month. I have never been so proud of myself, and I am loving myself more each and every day.
      I feel like I should mention that you should not compare yourself to others; every body is different and will lose weight differently. I'm losing the weight really pretty fast, and that's not a common thing. It's healthy to lose about 1-2 lbs a week. It takes time, trust me. Before I started trying to lose weight again this time, it seemed like I would never get to my goal because it was coming off so slowly, and that's what would cause me to give up. And then I would have to deal with being unhealthy for even longer! So, even if it's coming off slower than you would like, keep going; it's still coming off, and that's great! Stay strong and invest the time in yourself. You are worth it.

Every Day Learning and Growing

     A little while ago I posted about my super-intense workout (for me) that raised the bar for me personally. A little before that, and the next day I was getting really discouraged because I was still eating really well and I was exercising more than I have in the past, but I was gaining weight! Thankfully, after resting a day and then doing cardio instead of muscle-building the next few days, I found out that it had been muscle gain and I felt a lot better. And now I have more muscle to burn the fat faster, and I'm a little lower now than I was before I gained the muscle weight! So if you are working as hard as you can and working out faithfully and you are gaining weight, don't beat yourself up. You are getting stronger and soon it will become easier to lose than before. You will get there, but it takes a lot of patience, self pep-talks, and pushing your own limits.
     Night before last, I also had a huge eye-opening experience that will forever change me. As you know, I am working to lose this weight not only to be healthier, but to be able to serve an LDS mission. I have been praying so hard for help to do the things I need to accomplish, and I kept getting the feeling that I needed to ask for a blessing because there was something that I needed to hear. I had been getting this prompting for a while now, but I kept putting it off, I didn't know why I would need one. As I finally asked my dad and received a blessing and it wasn't only a confirmation that I was praying for the right things and that I had correctly interpreted the answer to my prayers, but I was blessed to learn how very proud my Heavenly Father is of my and what I am doing and accomplishing. For some reason I always felt like I was letting him down because I don't feel like I'm really good at doing everything I need to be, but I never thought to ask if he was proud of me. I also learned how important I was, and I felt His love for me in a way that I have never experienced before. It was so overwhelming and I couldn't believe that I hadn't seen it.
      Don't ever forget your worth as a child of God. He loves you and wants the best for you. Overcoming your trials will be difficult and will take time, but your life and the lives of those around you will be blessed because of it. Ask for help; sometimes that's all you need to do. There are many people around you that love you and want to help and support you. You are always important to somebody. Don't give up, you can make it.

Whoops! I Raised the Bar...

     Hello again! This is going to be a pretty short post, but I felt like it needed to be posted nonetheless. And before I start, I just have to say that taking a "resting day" (a day that you don't work out) at least once a week is really beneficial and sometimes critical. Anyway...
      A few days ago I missed my workout unintentionally (it wasn't my designated resting day) and I felt the need to make up for it. So, on Saturday, I doubled my regular workout to compensate. I wanted to cry, and though I didn't, I ended up crashing on my bed for a couple of hours and was really sore the rest of the day. But I did it. So then I thought, I am not working as hard as I could be even though I had previously thought I was. I had raised the bar for myself. Though I don't think I'm really ready to double the workout like I did the other day, I now realize that I need to up the anti and work harder than I was before. This was not a happy thought.... it is exercise, after all, but now I know that I have to do it in order to accomplish my goals.
        So, I guess the point of this post is that you always need to try to push your limits. You may be capable of more than you imagined. Maybe you learn that you're not ready to amp it up all the way, but you could be doing more to help yourself than before. The body is amazing. I want to challenge you to have the confidence in yourself and push hard to raise your on bar; exceed your own expectations and blow your "limits" out of the water. You can do it!

New Discoveries

     Hello again! As you all can probably relate, I'm always looking for ways to make working out more interesting/bearable. Getting myself to workout is always the hardest part of trying to loose weight for me, and not enjoying exercise has always been a detriment. Yesterday, I got really excited as I discovered an app called "Fitocracy". "Myfitnesspal" was a great app, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't really my thing and I didn't keep up with it as well as I had planned.
      Anyway, "Fitocracy" is an app recommended by Dr. Oz that allows you to track your exercise and complete quests and challenges. I discovered it last night, and I love it already! In a way, it's like a game in the sense that with each set of exercise you get a certain amount of points, as well as extra points for completing fitness challenges and quests. After you reach certain amounts of points you 'level up', and it pushes you to work harder so you can get to the next level. You also can have followers that encourage you to do better and that can give you tips or answer questions. It really shows you that you are not alone and that there are other people who are struggling. If you are interested in taking a look, you can either find it on your phone (Iphone or Android), or you can go to fitocracy.com and check it out. If you want to follow me as well and see what I'm doing, my username is readytobefit21.

      The other thing I discovered is a virtual weight loss simulation. It isn't really something that will help you lose weight physically, but it gives you an idea of what you would look like at your goal weight. This would be great for something like a vision board or a picture in your mind to help motivate you and keep you going. The website for this is www.modelmydiet.com. 

This is about what I would look like

at my ideal weight, which is 130 lbs.

Keep working hard to achieve your goals. You can do it! Don't let yourself down by giving up.

Exciting News!

    Well, I apologize again for not posting for a while... I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing. I have, however, continued to track my progress and had something very exciting happen to me this morning! First I'll tell you that instead of being at 10 pounds and 6.5 inches lost, I have now reached 16.4 pounds and 30 inches lost. It feels awesome!
     Now to the best part.... A little over a year ago my grandma gave me some really nice jeans. I loved them, but I unfortunately couldn't wear them because they were WAY too tight and and gave me an extreme muffin top. They were by no means flattering. At all. So, I put them in the bottom of my drawer in hopes that I would be able to drop some weight and fit into them someday. Lately, having lost quite a few inches, I have been curious to see how much better they would fit. I thought they would still be too tight, but I was still wondering. This morning I tried them on, and guess what?? THEY FIT!!! I was so excited! And they look great!
     So, it gave me an idea... I don't know why I haven't done this from the beginning, but I'm doing it now. I put a picture of when I started out side-by-side with a picture of me today to compare the difference. It's a lot easier to see how much better you look when you can compare! I'm even wearing the jeans! Here's the result:

     I am feeling so proud of myself. It may not seem like a huge difference, but my self-esteem and confidence have been boosted quite a bit. Seeing the difference (and fitting into a smaller pair of pants!) have really helped to motivate me to continue. And believe me, if I can do it, then you can as well. It is definitely worth it. 

      To those of you struggling or getting discouraged, I want to tell you it is possible. It definitely is not easy, and it takes a lot of time. Keep going. If you give up now, you will be giving up blessings that you don't even realize may be there. Ask for help or encouragement. There are so many people out there who are willing to help you. I was surprised by the amount of support I have received, even from complete strangers. But most of all, believe in yourself. You are the only one who can change your life. If you aren't doing this for yourself, even if you do lose the weight, it won't last. You have to really want it. If you ever need any advice or encouragement, I can also help you if you ask. You can do it! You are of precious and infinite worth, and you deserve the best. Don't settle for less.