Celebrating successes!!!!

So, how was your Saturday?  Mine?  Mine was a little something like this...

Woke up early for Zumba!  Only to find like a gazillion more inches of snow on the ground.

Ugh, seriously...is it Spring yet?  I am SO ready for it.  Anyway, I made my way through the snow and made it to the gym.  Today was my first day back after being sick with the flu since last Thursday.  Let me tell you---if you've never had the flu, try not to get it!  It is horrible.  The last 10 days have been THEE longest and most miserable days of my life.  I'm glad to be back!  The workout was incredible!  It felt so good to move my body again and sweat!!  It's hard to believe that me, a formerly morbidly obese woman, gets a high from working out and sweating!  I love it! 

Cant get the pic to be any bigger w/o being blurry, but thats Gena B doing her thang!

I was right there on that same stage with her!  Love it!  She's awesome!!

Gena B-the most amazing Zumba instructor EVER had me and another girl (who is also training to become a certified instructor) get on stage with her again today.  I love that feeling.  Today, as I was shaking my booty in front of all the ladies, I couldn't keep the smile off my face. I love that feeling and I was totally having a private moment to myself.  As I was up there it dawned on me how powerful it is for ME to be up there on that stage doing Zumba.  Two years ago or prior to that there is no way on God's green earth that I would've even been at a gym, let alone on the stage in front of a room of 50+ women shaking my booty off.  Sometimes we can be our worst enemy, but in that moment I felt so very proud of myself!!!  I still have work to do.  I am always a work in progress, be it physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc, but I am very happy with my progress and I am starting to find and understand that feeling of being proud of myself.  Instead of beating myself up when I look in the mirror and see fat, I am going to start putting focus on celebrating my successes and being proud that I have worked very hard over the last two years and I have lost 179 lbs and counting!!!!  As easy as it is for all of us to be our own worst enemy, lets try to stop doing that as much (I say "as much" because I know it is impossible to stop being our own worst enemy completely) and lets start being proud of ourselves and happy with our progress!  Celebrate with me!  Celebrate your successes! The biggest ones and the smallest ones!  Be happy and be proud of yourself!  You deserve it!!

Moving on...

So, after Zumba I made a quick run to Aldi and got a few things.  Scored some really good fresh strawberries and blueberries; a huge cantaloupe; lots of water; and a few other things. 

The strawberries are GOOD, ya'll.

Then, came home and attempted to do some of my school work.  FAIL.  I just cant seem to focus to get any of it done.  I have this huge learning plan that is due next Friday and I haven't even started it.  Probly gonna regret that this coming week... Eh, it happens, right?  For some reason my heart and my focus just isn't on school right now.  Don't get me wrong, I am glad to be getting my Master's degree.  I know when it is all said and done in May of 2012 I will be happy I did it.  I just wish I could click my heels together and make it be May of 2012 RIGHT NOW!!! 

I would much rather focus on myself--my mental, emotional, and physical health than to focus on school. 

At least, I'd like it to be...

Moving on, again...

I am happy to report that I cheated again...LOL.  I cheated and weighed myself yesterday morning.  I know I committed to only weighing once a month, but I can feel and see the changes in my body happening (finally, after a one year plateau) and I just wanted to see what the scale would tell me. I told myself I wouldn't beat myself up about it and technically this one doesn't count; only the official weigh in on the 8th of each month will "count". Well, the scale didn't disappoint!  I was one happy chick and totally did a happy dance in my bathroom after I saw the number!!!  I am back down to my lowest weight of 233lbs!!!  I know to some people who might read this, that may seem like a lot...but for someone who used to weigh over 400lbs, that is excellent!  Last time I weighed 233 was in August 2010 and if you recall from my previous posts, September, October, November, and most of December proved to be very challenging months for me and I gained 17.5 lbs.  So glad to be out of that rut and back on the losers bench! :-)  Even without working out (well, unless you count jumping around a few times on my mini trampoline that I scored for $29 bucks at Wal-mart) at all over the past nine days, I managed to lose weight.

That thing sure is fun to jump around and swing my hips on!!!

Oh, and that's my Sasha girl in her cage stayin all warm n'cozy!  She says hi~!

Bandit boy didnt make the pic, but he's in there too and growling at me as I type this...

I have been counting calories using www.myfitnesspal.com (an AWESOME tool to use) and I've been focusing on eating more calories in more frequent "meals" throughout the day.  I was scared at the thought of it, but um....ya, it's totally working!  I try to eat every 2 to 4 hours, small meals or snacks.  I don't always get it done, but most of the time I do.  At least I have been able to this past week since I've been home.  Doing that is keeping my metabolism going and is keeping me burning calories and has helped me lose a little over 3 lbs in just a few days!  I'm a little nervous to get back to work, school, and internship this coming week because it's going to make it challenging to eat that often, but I am certainly going to try.  For my next small, short-term goal, I am looking forward to getting into the 220's!!  One small step at a time to get to my ultimate goal of losing another 50-60lbs and being a woman whose weight starts with a ONE....for the rest of my life!!! :-)

Moving on...

I have a lot of recipes that I want to share with you all.  Please be patient with me as I try to eat some of the things I already have before I go making more big meals!  I am single with no kids so sometimes, it takes a while for me to work through the food I have on hand.  Lately, I've been trying to eat the odds and ends things that I have in my fridge and freezer before I go adding to them!!  I do think that very soon I will be making a big ole pot of my yummy chili~! 

Here's what my eats so far today have consisted of:
9:30am-Breakfast: 2eggs on whole grain English muffin with mustard
1:15 (had large time gap between eats because of being out and about) Lunch: turkey tenderloin wrapped in bacon, side salad with ff french, pickle spear, one ounce blueberries, 4 strawberries.

Those turkey tenderloins are SO good grilled on the Hamilton Beach Grill~!

3:15- (craving pickles) 3 pickle spears and two caramel corn rice cakes (weird combo, I know)
7:00- Trader Joe's grilled chicken burger on whole grain bread with ff mayo, green beans

As I was taking the pictures and working on this blog, I decided to have a few more strawberries, around 8:45 and a string cheese at 9:10.
Around 10 I may have another snack--maybe some oatmeal flavored with sugar free syrup (really hits the sweet tooth)
Before bed, around 11 or 11:30, I may try to have a protein shake.  I haven't had one for a while.  I bought the new Body Fortress Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor.

Its good, maybe I'll do something with that! 

So far today, my calorie count is under 1000 (only 937) and I have been trying to get in between 1500-2000 calories a day.  I need to eat some more, but not sure if I will be able to get to that level today.  It's kinda crazy how some days its really easy to get the numbers in and some days its not.  The past two days were really easy because I was having "bottomless pit" days... egh, I digress...!

Alright ya'll.  I think that's enough rambling for now.  Remember, take care of yourself, celebrate your successes, even the littlest ones, and take it...

and eventually, you WILL reach your goals! 

Till next time...

Lots of Love,

Autumn