Continual Weight Loss...195lbs Down Baby!

Greetings!

Why not start with this week's weigh in- especially when it's a great number like this!

Last Week: 160lbs
This Week: 157lbs
Weekly Loss: -3lbs!!!
Grand Total Loss: 195lbs!!!
Total Pounds to Goal: 7!!!

I've lost 195lbs. That's kind of crazy, right? That means I've lost another overweight person.

Wowzer.

I have been dropping lbs consistantly over the last month (and this mornings sneak peek weigh in had me down even more) and for a few months before that I had kind of hit a wall where not much was really happening on the scale. I'm sure most people can imagine that getting your body to continually lose weight for 3+ years after already having dropped a significant amount can be tricky but honestly...it's not.

Losing weight is pretty simple actually. Notice- I said simple. NOT easy. A few months or so ago when I wasn't seeing the pounds fly off, I began to blame it on the fact that I had hit a plateau or that it was just so much harder to lose weight as you get smaller but I'm not sure I really believe that anymore.

So what have I been doing differently in the last month to get the weight loss train rolling again & have me only 7 stinking pounds away from my final goal???

Well...I've been doing the same stuff to lose weight at 157lbs that I did at 352lbs to lose weight; I've been:

1) Practicing self-control & making sacrifices:

When I first started this weight loss journey, nothing could break me. It didn't matter if my co-workers brought in cake and fried chicken for the office, I was unstoppable and I saw the rewards of that self-control on the scale. However, in the last few months, I decided I no longer wanted to sacrifice and began eating things that I really had no business eating simply because I wanted them.

And mind you, I'm not talking about having 2 donuts or 4 slice of pizza- I'm just talking about little snacks here or there but THEY ADD UP. I had to remember my old mantra that helped me say no to sweet "treats" in the past, which was, "No one is going to make the decision to put you first for you, you've got to make it for yourself."

Those gorgeous looking donuts were brought into work last week and from what I hear they are the best donuts in the 'Burgh- so did I have reason to have one? Sure. Did I? Nope.

Why? Because it's not a decision that would get me closer to where I want & deserve to be. Plain and simple- it takes sacrifice & self- discipline to lose weight for the long haul.

2) I've worked out consistently:

Losing weight is a multi-faceted effort & one of those facets is physical activity. A few months ago I had started making excuses as to why I was too busy to workout and I had stopped challenging myself physically.

I am convinced that part of the reason for my continued weight loss (especially in the last month) is that I've been giving my all and challenging myself in the gym. As many of you know I am currently training for a 5K & it hasn't been easy (I'm currently dealing with some strange abdominal pain that has put a bit of a kink in my training) but I'm fighting.

There are VERY few days that I feel like going to the gym. There are MANY other things I could be doing with that time. But you know what, I know what works physical activity is what keeps those pounds flying off of me.

Challenge yourself. Make yourself a priority. Prove yourself wrong by doing something you never thought you could do.

3) I've been planning & preparing my food:

(BBQ Chicken Quinoa) *recipe below

The popular saying is true- "When you fail to plan, you plan to fail." A few months back I fell off the wagon of planning and preparing my meals weekly and found myself multiple times a week in a Starbucks, Subway or Chipotle eating stuff that isn't necessarily bad for you but isn't really that great for you either.

Like many of you, I am VERY busy. Most weeks, I have something that I have to be at almost every night of the week and it's easy to use a busy schedule as an excuse for not planning and preparing healthy meals. And that's fine- that excuse would be legitimate. But it's not gonna get you far on the scale.

If you have followed this blog for any period of time you know that when I first started this journey I hadn't ever made a real meal in my life! I ate chips, dip & frozen pizza for dinner. Thankfully, I've come a ways in the last 3 years but I am still very much in the beginning cook phase but I still put myself out there every week and try something new.

I prepare all my food for the week on Sundays (or as much as can be prepared ahead of time) to have one hand during the week. I love to eat out and believe it can  be done in a way that is healthy but the truth is that the more I eat out, the less I see the pounds coming off.

It's easy to blame not losing weight on a plateau but I think when we stop losing we need to start by taking an honest look at if we've really been giving 100% or if we've been slacking in an area or two. I know I had started to and now that I'm back on track I'm not only happy to see the pounds coming off but I'm even more overjoyed to feel like I am truly in control & living free over food.

Can anyone relate?

Also, here's a recipe for a dinner I whipped up last night- it was my first time cooking with Quinoa (yum!) and it turned out to be DELISH!!! Can't wait to have it again this evening!!!

BBQ Chicken Quinoa: 4 Servings, 1 1/2 Cup Serving Size

2 Cups Pulled Chicken Breast (I made mine in the crock pot the day before)

1 Cup Quinoa cooked in 2 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock

1/2 Cup Corn

1/2 Cup Black Beans (drained and rinsed)

1/4 Cup Diced Red Onion

Dash of sea salt

Garnish with green onion and cilantro

Top with 2 tbls. BBQ sauce (per serving)

Top with 1/2 avocado (per serving)

Total Calories: 429 per serving

This was YUMMY!

New Blog Series: Confessions!

I like to keep it real.

I think being honest about our questions, struggles, & dreams is PARAMOUNT in life in general but particularly when it comes to weight loss.

One of the things I don't like about going to the gym is I feel like in general it's not an atmosphere where people are encouraged to keep it real. Most people at the gym have no idea what they should be doing & are insecure about themselves, their level of physical fitness or their knowledge of the gym equipment & what they should be doing but they would dare not show it because it's all about appearing fierce, strong & confident at the gym. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

Anyways, I know of some blogs that have that same atmosphere. They give you that "squeaky clean" feeling of never struggling, never making a dish that tasted like crap & never admitting that sometimes eating healthy & exercising isn't their most absolute favorite thing in the world.

Well, this isn't one of those blogs. At least I don't want it to be.

Which is why I'm instituting a series on the blog called:

CONFESSIONS

In case you are like me and didn't grow up Catholic, the pic above is from a confessional booth & while I don't believe in that practice or that we have to go through any one person on this Earth for God to hear our prayers (thanks to a man named Jesus Christ), I do believe that there is power in us being honest & authentic & sharing things that we may have typically found shame in.

WHY?

Because it's important for people to know that they aren't alone in their struggles & questions and it's important to remind ourselves that we aren't perfect & to squash that little demon called pride in us.

Hence, why I will periodically be sharing some of my CONFESSIONS in regards to weight loss; no one needs to feel alone on this journey because truthfully, not to break anyone's "I'm a uniquely special individual" spirit, but there's nothing new under the sun & if I've struggled with something, there's about a 100% chance that one of you have struggled with it as well.

SO- why not get this party started?

Today's Confession: I don't think Kale is the best thing since sliced bread.

In fact, I'd take a slice of bread over Kale any day. Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past year, you probably have heard that Kale is all the rage among foodies... and although I really want to like Kale- I just don't. Now it's not the worst thing I've ever tasted in the world because that prize would belong to:

I'm getting chills down my spine just from thinking about canned green beans....bleck!

But I'm just gonna keep it real & confess that I don't think Kale is all that great. It's a pain in the bum to wash, it's kinda coarse, I don't like to chomp down on the thick stem & it has a much stronger taste than romaine.

Last night I whipped up my first homeade Kale salad & the hubby & I agreed that it just doesn't match up to it's hype. This salad was made w/ avocado, TJ's broccoli salad, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries & lemon along with a side of Tilapia (yum!):

So there you have it. You can still be a healthy gal & not like Kale. I promise. It'll be okay.

Speaking of being okay...

This mornings "sneak peek weigh in" had me at 159lbs! Whoo hoo! Now I won't officially "count" that until that number still shows up on Sunday (my official weigh in day) but I was pretty darned stoked about a 2lb loss, making me only 9lbs away from my goal!!!

SO, what about you all? Any confessions you've just gotta make? 



Gooberness & Breakfast Cookies

I'm serving up a bunch of randomness today because that's about all I got for "yinz" (that's Pittsburghese for "ya'll", which is hick for "you all" in case you were wondering!) 

Couch 2 5K Progress: 

After tomorrow's run I will officially be at the half-way point of my 5K training. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but I think I may have gotten my first dose of "runners high" the other day...it was nice :) In case you weren't sure what the half way point might consist of, it means I'm running for 5 minutes consistently a couple of times throughout the training which is something I never thought I would be able to do. My goodness I love proving to myself (with God's strength) that nothing is impossible! 

Gym Bathroom Goober Pics: 

After a good workout I can't help but sometimes want to snag a quick pic of my beastliness in the gym bathroom but I can't help feeling like a goober for doing so. But heck, I've been doing it for quite some time now and I've kinda stopped giving a flip: 

Me sneaking a goober pic after yesterday's workout: 

Me still goobering it up a couple years & pounds back. 

Baked Breakfast Cookies: FAIL! 

I eat oatmeal pretty much every morning for breakfast for a couple reasons: 

1) It's YUMMY. My typical combo is: Trader Joe's maple brown sugar quick oats, 1 tbls. of peanut butter & a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze for a total of 295 calories. 
2) It fills me up- especially with the added protein from the peanut butter. I'm usually pretty hungry in the mornings and this does the trick. 

So anyways, I came across this recipe for Baked Breakfast Cookies the other day while browsing the blogosphere & decided to give it a try. And here's what came of it: 

They were simple enough to make and contained ingredients I generally like but unfortunately when it comes to taste, they left quite a bit to be desired. I followed the recipe exactly and while they weren't inedible, they just didn't really taste like much more than blahness. You like that word? 

In the end, I'm going to fall back onto the trusted old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"- I've been enjoying my oatmeal just as I've been making it up to this point and until I stop liking it, I'm gonna stick with what I know. 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's "sneak peak weigh in" as I'm hoping to hit 160lbs for this week's official weigh in on Sunday...we shall see! 

Peace out girl scouts! 

I ALMOST Quit.

Last week I almost gave up running, which would mean my goal/dream of running a 5k would be over.

Why did I almost give up? Because I got scared.

In the moment I would have told you it was because my ankle was hurting or because my body just doesn't like running or because I can't seem to breathe as well as I'd like to (more on that below) but the truth is that it was because I was afraid of failing.

See I'm at the point in my C25K training now where it's not taking uping the running intervals quite as slow, almost every day they are adding a minute onto the time & it's asking me to run for periods of time that I NEVER have and never thought I could.

Yep, I was going to give up. But then, I was reminded of a scripture that I hung onto wayyyyy early in when I still weighed 300+lbs and it turned things around for me:

"ALL things are possible through Christ who strengthens me." - Phillipians 4:13

Remembering that I'm not operating out of Tiffany's strength but a strength that is much greater than I'll ever have gave me enough courage to punch my fears in the face & get back on that treadmill again yesterday where I accomplished Week 4 Day 1's run which called for me to run for 4 minutes intervals.

Now I know to most people 4 minutes is nothing but to me, it almost scared me into giving up. But guess what?

It was the best run I've ever had. I don't know what happened/clicked but yesterday I felt like a different runner- shoot, for the first time I actually felt like a runner! I had amazing energy and actually know I could have kept going.

Needless to say, I am so glad that I don't have to fear failure in this journey because my definition of success isn't to be the best at anything other than being the best me I can be & if I do that & am true to the potential that God has placed in me, I can't fail.

I hope that one of you is encouraged by that today.

I mentioned above that I've been having some breathing problems. Long story short I've always felt like my breathing passages just weren't big enough but never thought anything could actually be done about it (short of having a nose job which is definitely not an option I would ever consider) but the problem seemed to be becoming really problematic while running, so I decided to try out the BreatheRight Nasal Strips:

Aren't my bff & I cute with our nasal strips on? haha gotta love her!

Let me tell you, I wear these suckers to bed everynight & while running (until the sweat eventually makes them pop off) & they really have made a world of a difference. I actually went to an ENT doctor this week to see if there was anything going on that was hindering my breathing & he said no but to be completely honest, with my history with doctors, I don't really put a lot of stock in their diagnoses'.

Has anyone else every used these babies while working out? I hear pro football players wear them all the time!

Finally, some STATS:
Previous Weight: 164lbs
Current Weight: 161lbs
Result: -3lbs

My goal for this week's weigh in (which takes place on Sundays), is to lose 1lb, bringing me to 160lbs.

And tomorrow, I plan to demolish Week 4, Day 2's request for me to run 5 miles. Have I ever done that before? No. What do I have to say about that?

BRING. IT.

Couch to 5K Progress: Week 3

One of my favorite parts about this journey has been proving to myself that I can do things I never imagined were possible when I was 352lbs. If you have followed my blog for awhile, you'll know that running has always been one of those things that seemed impossible for me- as if it was just completely out of the question. 

To give you some background, running wasn't just something that seemed out of the question to me when I weighed 352lbs, it even seemed out of the question to me a month ago. I guess I've just always had that image of a "runner" in my mind and thought that I could never be that- it seemed pointless to even dream about it. I remember when I first started this journey, I challenged myself to run 30 seconds on the treadmill and I thought I was going to die! Well, now that I've lost about 187lbs I figured that it was high time to prove to myself yet again that NOTHING is impossible through Christ who gives me strength (Phillipians 4:13) so 3 weeks ago I began the illustrious C25k (Couch to 5K) training plan. If you're not familiar with it, it's basically a 3 times a week running program that uses intervals of walking/running to eventually take you from being able to run only 1 min to being able to run for 30 minutes straight. I use an app on my iphone and it works amazingly! There are plenty of them out there and they will sync with your music and will tell you exactly when to walk and when to run- easy peazy! Here's me getting a run in at our hotel last week (I was in DC for work): 

Well, I'm officially finished with the 3rd week of the program and I've got to say, I am quite impressed with how my endurance has improved. I started out huffing and puffing from running 1.5 minutes and yesterday ran for 3 minutes. Now, I know to some running 3 minutes straight may not seem like a big deal but for ME...it was a major moment of victory. I remember as I was getting ready to run yesterday thinking that I wasn't ready to move to the next level of running for 3 minutes but I put myself out there & took a chance and ran those 3 freaking minutes twice! 

Now, I'd be lying to you if I said that I'm totally confident I can do tomorrow's run, or the next days or the next days because honestly, I've never ran that far before and by no means have the runs I've been doing been easy but you know what, I'm willing to TRY and give it my all and each time I've done that, I've never been disappointed. 

One thing that has been a little disappointing is that my left ankle pretty much started giving me problems after just a week into the program. I went out and got some really good running shoes (thank you Brooks!), socks & an ankle brace that I believe has definitely helped although I still definitely can feel some pain. Here's my fancy shoes & not so fancy brace: 

 I've heard some mixed reviews when it comes to pain & running- some say that if you feel absolutely any pain that you should stop right away & see a doctor. Others say that pain in some form just comes along with running and as long as it's not debilitating or getting increasingly worse, to just keep keeping on. Honestly, that's the approach I'm going with. 

I want to run a 5k. Ahemmm...I'm going to run a 5k. Later this month I will be signing up for this baby: 

And although I'm still downright terrified & in disbelief at the thought that I could actually run for 30 minutes consecutively, I'm going to give everything I have to find out. I don't plan on training to run any farther distances than a 5k as I quite honestly enjoy other physical activity more than I do running but running a 5k has been a goal of mine for quite some time and this is the year and the time for me to reach it! 

Questions: 
- Are any of you working towards/training for something you once thought was impossible? 
- Anyone have any advice/thoughts on encountering pain while running? 

My Revelation: Moral Eating & Food Shame.

In my last post I mentioned I've been having some revelations about this weight loss journey lately and today I'm going to share what I mean by that. 

Often times we like to have revelation moments when they just kind of come to us from out of nowhere and we are able to pat ourselves on the back for being smart enough to finally figure something out- that is not the kind of revelation I have had. Mine has come from doing something the WRONG way, seeing the negative effects it was having & then finally God opening my eyes to the truth & showing me how far I had wandered from it. 

About 3 months ago (aka: Holiday prime time) I began realizing that I was living in a constant fog of shame and guilt in regards to what I was eating. Now, if I was stuffing my face with pizza, baking sleeves of cookie dough, eating McDonalds weekly or not ever eating anything green, then I could understand feeling ashamed of my eating because those decisions would not be me doing my best, they would not be a reflection of the freedom & joy I have, they would be indications that food was in control & not me. However, I wasn't doing any of those things- I was eating pretty close to how I've been eating for the last 3 years that I've been on this weight loss journey but things had become quite different for me- I began to feel like no decision I made (concerning what to eat) was good or healthy enough. 

Here's what I mean: After not being around the healthy eating/weight loss blogosphere for awhile, I began to get back into it & instead of reading blogs that had to do with weight loss specifically as I used to, I began to read more blogs written by super healthy gals who are whiz's in the kitchen for inspiration, since I'm really not a very knowledgable cook, was looking for more healthy recipe ideas & just kind of thought that I had moved passed needing to read blogs that were specifically about weight loss since I no longer had hundreds of pounds to lose. And let me tell you, I read those blogs and tried to model my life in a similar way for multiple weeks until I hit the breaking point after feeling like a failure after eating a bag of Lay's baked potato chips with my salad from Panera. At that moment, I knew something was very wrong. 

I had gotten to the point where NO food decision I made was good enough. If I ate: 
- Salad, then I thought about how I should have used less dressing & that cheese really was unnecessary. 
- Chili, then I shouldn't have used canned beans because well...they are canned and have too much sodium. 
- Smoothies, then I shouldn't have used any juice and not too much fruit either, carbs and sugar are bad for you, you know. 
- Chicken breast & whole wheat pasta, then I shouldn't have because those documentaries I watched told me we really shouldn't be eating meat every day and then pasta shouldn't even be in my vocabulary if I'm a seriously healthy person. 

In every food decision I made, I always left that meal thinking I could have made a choice that was: 
- "Cleaner" because anything preserved is just "trash." 
- Had less sodium. 
- Had less calories and carbs. 
And the list goes on and on.

It had gotten to the point where I felt like unless I was literally eating pure vegetables with no oil & no seasoning that I just wasn't good enough which I'm sure you can imagine just made me leave every meal feeling defeated & like I could never do good enough. 

I'm not playing the blame game & I accept FULL responsibility for my thoughts & what goes in my mouth but truthfully, I'M DONE READING BLOGS THAT OBSESS ABOUT FOOD. Ahhemmm...let me say put that another way in case it wasn't clear: FOOD IS NOT MEAN TO BE OBSESSED OVER whether it's UNHEALTHY food or HEALTHY FOOD. 

Food is just food. And after finally being set free from this flat out destructive way of thinking I feel SO very bad for the thin girls who are blogging their brains out about food 24/7; they are constantly thinking of desserts and peanut butter and anything else they have deemed "untouchable"- trying to find ways to still have it and I really don't care whose feathers I ruffle when I say this but FOOD IS NOT MEANT TO BE OBSESSED OVER. Food is meant to nourish us so we can live our lives, not become our lives. 

Don't get me wrong, I am all for sharing healthy recipes & tips that we come up with- that's part of what this community is for but there is SO much more to being healthy than just eating foods that have as little calories/sodium/wheat/carbs etc. For many of us who had or have weight to lose, we used to focus and have our lives revolve too much around food but I have to say that I don't think it's any better when we are obsessed and our lives still revolve around food even when it's healthy. Food is just food and there is SO much more to life than what our next meal will be. 

I've vented quite a bit here but I can't help but be SO glad to finally be free from constantly feeling like every food decision I made wasn't good enough just because it's main ingredient wasn't chia seeds, coconut oil or protein powder. I have worked 3 years to stop being controlled by food and having my life revolve around food & I'm not about to go back to that place but just with a different healthier type of food!?

Here's the TRUTH: 

You and I are not better people when we make healthy food decisions. 
You and I are not worse people when we make unhealthy food decisions. 
Food should NEVER cause you or I to feel guilty or ashamed unless we are letting it control us. 
There is SO much more to life than your next or last meal. 

In closing, I was reading my Bible the other day and came across this verse & couldn't believe how much it described how I was becoming: 

⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ- Phillipians 3:19-20

It is so easy for our God to become our stomachs- for us to make a top priority in our lives the things we crave, the things we think will make us appear uber healthy to others & for our minds to be set on what is so very temporal. The other day I felt the Holy Spirit remind me that when I stand before God, He isn't going to ask me why I ate that half a bagel with cream cheese the other morning when I know it had "gasp! simple carbs in it!" but He'll be interested in things that matter, like what did I do with the time He gave me here on Earth? Was I obsessed with myself & the things that stroked my ego or was I able to invest my time into things & people that mattered. 

Make every effort toward freedom from unhealthy habits in your life- just don't allow yourself to become a slave all over again to trying to eat or live according to someone else's definition of perfect. 

Checking In :)

Greetings long lost friends! 

Wow, it's amazing how quickly honeymooning + the Holidays + traveling + adjusting to newly married life can really make time fly by! I really had no intentions of letting 3 months go by without checking in but alas, it's Valentines Day and the last time I checked in it was Halloween...my bad. 

Life Updates: 

Life is good. God is great. My husband is the biggest blessing I've ever known- want proof? Check out his Valentine's gift to me today: 

How stinking cute/creative/amazing is he??? Ah, thank you Jesus for a man that loves You and me more than anything else in this world. 

The past 3 months have been pretty great. We traveled to my hometown of Arizona for Christmas where I discovered how much I love hiking! It's unfortunate that I didn't know that or take advantage of the thousands of trails in AZ when I still lived there. Here's a shot of me in one of my favorite places in all the world: Sedona, Arizona: 

Enough about life in general...

Weight Loss Updates: 

I am currently weighing in at 165lbs (meaning I'm down 7 since my last post) and have lost a grand total of 187lbs. My final goal is to weigh 150lbs so I've only got 15lbs to go! 

I only have time for a quick check in today but I am really really really excited to share with you all some of the aspects of my weight loss journey as of late. Basically my little weight loss world has been turned upside down for the last two months (and no, I don't mean I've been on a two month long pizza binge) but it's changing my way of thinking about food, about weight loss & about myself and I'm excited to share it with you all as I've got to believe there has got to be some others out there who have struggled with the same thoughts and patterns as I have. 

Hope all is well with everyone & that you're living your free~est! 

- Tiffany