Pics.

 This is a pic. From the front.  Please don't judge my crappy mirror or curtains.  I am hoping to start working on my bedroom this spring, so hopefully they won't be around for long!!

 Pic from the side view. Attractive, right?!?! Just look at the mid section, it might be a little thick! But I'm a work in progress! It will get there.

 I figured I would let you know what I look like on a regular basis. This is what I look like to the public, I don't go out in my shorts and tank top.  This is a little bit more appropriate.

 Here is another one from the side.

Okay this one is my favorite.  I put my hand on my tummy because I seriously look like I'm any where between 3-5 months pregnant!! I just thought it was a funny picture.  Like I said before I realize that I am working on all of this so it really doesn't bother me. I might as well have a few chuckles along the way!! Also this photos were done using my phone, I am hoping down the road I can get better at this and take some better photos.  Sorry about the quality of them, I will get better with time.

Drum Roll....................................

Well today is Wednesday and that means................................................................ well nothing to most people. To me it means I get the pleasure of announcing my weight. Yippee (read that sarcastically).  Well here it is, this morning when I weighed myself I weighed a whopping 176. Yep folks that means I only lost 1 little pound.  Am I disappointed?? NOPE!! You would think with all the work I have done this week that I would have lost more, and you are right if it was any other week I would be a little disappointed, but this wasn't just any other week.  BOYS STOP READING IF GIRLIE STUFF GROSSES YOU OUT OR YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO KNOW THIS STUFF!! But this Kansas Girl got her period the afternoon I started this blog. So for me to come away with losing a pound is AWESOME! Plus a pound is a pound. 

When I was a younger gal, getting my period was no big deal.  Yes I was a little crankier than normal, but other than the obvious reason all of us gals hate that time of the month, I didn't really have any other symptoms.  Oh wait, I had the dreaded cramps; now I remember why I hated that time of the month!! But since having R things have changed dramatically. Now I have bloating, I am tired, sometimes I get nauseous, and certain parts of my body extremely hurt (I will give you a hint, they are below my neck, but above my belly button, for now any ways). But the worst part of all of that is the bloating.  I never had that before, I never understood the Midol commercials. Since having R I have come to completely understand what they mean by bloating.  My fingers even get puffy.  Really??? So when I started this blog and shortly afterwards found out Aunt flow had arrived I immediately knew this week was going to be a battle. I stepped on the scale the next day (Thursday) and I believed I had gained about 3-4 pounds!! And yes this is where my tantrum came in. Some of you are saying "You got on the scale? I thought you would weigh in on Wednesdays."  Well you are right, but I needed to know where I stood. I knew I gained weight or should I say I knew I was blowing up like a balloon! I had to know! So normally at the end of my period I walk about with 1-2 pounds to lose.  I work out really hard to lose those pounds and then normally something happens and I stop working out or I stop eating healthy. But this time I am already ahead of the game.  Not only did I lose everything I gained, but I also lost another pound!!! YAY for me. Plus this time I am more motivated to keep going. So I am hoping that in the coming weeks I will have a better weigh in; especially here at the beginning.  I know down the road things will slow down and a pound lost will be great and there will be weeks where I won't lose anything.  So today I will celebrate my one pound loss and look forward to many more coming off!

How did you do this week? Loss or gain? If you gained don't be discouraged it could be your period!! LOL Maybe this week was stressful or you didn't sleep like you should have.  Did you know that sleep can really affect your weight loss?  It can also increase your chances of getting diabetes  Here is an article that I heard on NPR while coming into work one day.  It is something to think about. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/17/163018568/poor-sleep-may-lead-to-too-much-stored-fat-and-disease

Well I hope this wasn't too much information for you all, but I want to be honest with this blog and being a woman is part of it all. Next week I am hoping that I can lose 2 pounds by next week. Oh another thing, I was horrible last night. I had a bad dinner (it was tasty, but high in calories) so I am guessing that didn't help with my weigh in this morning either.  I had a God Awful, a layer of french fries with a fried egg or two on top, followed by chili, then sour cream and finally a layer of shredded cheddar cheese.  NOT HEALTHY folks.  I was just going to have chili and a little bit of Frito's, but my husband decided he had to have God awfuls and they just smelled too good that I went ahead and made myself one too. Not the smartest meal to have before weigh in.  Next week I will know better ;)

Did you guys get any snow?? We got about an inch and it made KS very pretty, but a little dangerous.  So if you are driving around today please be careful!!! Take care and stay warm!! :)

Do you do better on the weekends?

Do you eat and workout better on the weekends or do you do better during the week days? I personally seem to do better on the week days.  I don't have snacks at work so if I don't bring them to work then there isn't anything at work for me to munch on and I also do better about drinking water at work.  The one thing that is better about weekends is that I am moving a lot more.  At work I sit at a desk a lot of the time so I'm not doing a lot of moving.  At home I am constantly moving around.

This weekend was a different weekend.  R (my son) ended up getting sick this weekend.  He had a fever Friday night that didn't break until Sunday morning.  He has had a cough since Thursday and it just got worse over the weekend.  I don't know about you, but I hate when my little guy is sick.  He looked so pathetic and didn't move much which is VERY uncommon for that guy.  Normally he is moving constantly and I have a hard time keeping up with him.  So this weekend I didn't move around as much.  For not moving much, it was still a busy weekend. I had a bridal shower in Hays and a friend from Wichita stayed with us Saturday evening. So this meant very little sleep on Saturday night due to us being up late with our friends and then getting up early because R decided he wanted to be up by 6:00 and was feeling better so he thought he needed to play and run around :) So needless to say I was a tired girl on Sunday. I was proud of myself though because during nap time I decided to NOT take a nap and clean instead.  But that bed was calling me the whole time I was up and moving. That night we also did P90X.  Have you ever done P90X?  It isn't easy doing tired, but we managed to get it done.

Do you dread the scale?  I am! I told you I would post every Wednesday what my scale says on Wednesday morning and well Wednesday morning will be here before you know it! Feel free to add your weight too! We can all report in on Wednesday morning! Okay maybe I'm just trying to take the pressure off of me. The pressure is a good thing though, it is motivating me more than I thought it would.  I feel like I need to really kick it into high gear the next couple of days because I will be stepping on that scale again on Wednesday.  Do you celebrate a good weigh in?  If so, how?  How to handle a bad weigh in? I look like a little 2 year old when I have a bad weigh in; I throw the biggest temper tantrum.  I literally stomp my feet on the ground and make a fist with my hand.  It is embarrassing, but it is the only way I can get mad for a few seconds and then let it go. It is what it is.  I can't take back those day and redo them. So what is the point in fretting about them all day long.  So I let myself throw my tantrums and then I move forward.  Please tell me I am not the only one doing this?? The things I am telling you on this blog.  But once again I hope I am helping someone out there, along with myself.

I also did NOT get my picture taking this weekend.  I think I am dreading that more than the stupid weigh in.  I HATE getting my picture taken.  I have this idea of what I look like and when I see myself in a picture it is ALWAYS worse than I imagine. Do you have the same problem? Or am I just crazy.  My I should see a therapist?? LOL I don't know if can afford one, I would probably be in there every day. Okay enough ranting for one day.  Maybe on Wednesday when i weigh in I will also post a picture. It will be like ripping off a band aid.  I will just do it all at once. 

I hope you all had a GREAT weekend.  If you had a bad weekend just move forward.  Today is Monday and is a great time to hit your restart button.  God knows I am :)

THANK YOU

I just want to take a second to say Thank you to everyone who commented yesterday either on Facebook or on my blog directly. I am really hoping this is a step in the right direction. I decided this morning that since I started this "project" yesterday, that I would share my losses and gains on each Wednesday.  So yes, that means I will step on the scale each Wednesday and report to you how I have been doing.

I also want to say thank you to all the people who have given me suggestions, I have already started some of them.  I download "myfitnesspal" app yesterday and I added EVERYTHING that I ate. I did pretty good, I only went over my suggested calorie intake by 31 calories. Pretty good for me. I also visited www.skinnytaste.com for some yummy recipes. I will be making one tomorrow in a crock pot, I will let you know how it turns out.  If I'm really good I will take a picture and upload it.

Another goal for this weekend is to take some pictures and post them. I really want to have a starting point picture. It can't get any worse than posting my weight, right?? Well yeah it can, but believe me people, I won't be posting any disgusting pictures. I will probably be wearing a pair of gym shorts and tank top, something that I can see my figure in, but nothing too revealing. Nothing like biggest loser style.  I always feel sorry for those girls who have to stand up there in spandex and a sports bra. Gross, not my style folks. I am not going to let is ALL hang out there.

I may not share every day, but I will do my best to post something every other day.  Yesterday we did NOT do P90X, we all decided we needed a rest.  I was exhausted and my husband was more tired than I was since he had to drill holes and work out in the cold all day for work. No need to push him to excercise he got his in. Our other friend that is joining us agreed to not work out as well because he had just received a shot in his back and was still sore from that. OUCH, that shot did not sound fun so I wasn't going to push him either.  He needed another day to rest.  So what did I do last night? I cleaned my kitchen, play room, and living room.  Fun!! Well it wasn't exactly fun, but I did feel better after doing it.  I burned some calories and my house didn't look like it was taken over by zombies. Speaking of zombies is everyone ready for The Walking Dead to start back up? It will be airing on Feb. 10th and I can't wait. It is probably my favorite TV show.  I don't have a lot of shows that I watch any more, but that is one I can't give up. But enough of zombies, what I was trying to tell you all is that I wasn't just sitting on my butt all night.  Since we took a night off from P90X I didn't think I should sit on my butt the whole time  and my house needed to be cleaned so that was a no brainer!

Once again I want to say thank you for all the support I have received so far.  Being this open was NOT easy for me, but I think I needed to come out of my shell for my own good. Also if I can help other people along the way then I know I am doing the right thing.

Take care of yourself and I will check in again this weekend. Until then, go do something fun, it is Friday.

Hello there

I am new to the blogging world so please be patient with me. 

Since I entered into my 20's my weight has been on my mind and slowly going up.  I have tried a lot of things, but I have never taken pills or starved myself and I'm not about to begin either so if you are on here for that then you have found the wrong blog. I thought if I started a Blog dealing with my weight and letting the world know where I am with this Journey then I might actually do a better job at sticking to a Healthier life style. This is actually pretty big stuff for me since I like to keep my weight and my concerns about my weight to myself. So if you are negative please stay away as well.

My story:
In high school I weighed around 120 lbs and felt okay about my body.  I have never been one to feel comfortable in a bikini or working out in short shorts and a bra, not my style. Give me a t-shirt and gym shorts and I feel a million times better. So even when I was slim I never felt AWESOME about my body. Where did that come from?  I have NO idea. I don't really care either, I just know that my attitude about my body needs to change.

So when did I start to gain weight? Well like most people in college. And it was a gradual thing. It wasn't like one day I woke up and I had gained 50-60 pounds.  It would be a pound here and there and some years were better than others, but I know I gained weight each and every year.  Let me also add that I met my husband in high school, so he saw me at my best point and now he still loves, but he just has a much chubbier version of me. When I was in high school I was active in sports, but I also ate what ever I wanted. If I wanted McDonald's I never thought twice about it. So as I became less active it never dawned on me to stop eating all the junk too.  Plus in college you have to add all the calories from alcohol too that I wasn't consuming in high school. So I was increasing my calorie intake and less active, great path for success, NOT!

So where am I now. FAT!!! Let's be honest here. I am not the fattest person on earth, but I'm not a healthy weight either.  I have put my height and weight in a BMI calculator and it says I'm over weight, which means, I am fat!! I'm okay with this, well not okay with being fat, but I'm okay with admitting it. I guess. But I think I need to admit this because if I don't, I will just keep telling myself I have a few pounds to lose.  I have more than a few pounds to lose.

So here I am weighing.................................................................................................
177 pounds. There is it. I told you all. This is a huge moment because I don't even let my husband see that number on the scale.  But there it is, the ugly truth.

So what do I plan to do from here?  Well to be honest my plan is to lose weight :) Well duh! LOL How am I going to lose weight you are asking. This week I started P90X and I have been taking Body by Vi shakes. So I am hoping that I can start eating better and excercise my way to my weight goal. Which is what? My BIG HUGE goal is to weigh 130 pounds. That is a 47 pound weight loss. Breath Jessica, I can DO THIS!!! What are my mini goals? My first one is 10 pounds.   I have never been able to lose more than 10 pounds at a time. So if I can get past that dreaded double digit number I think I can continue to lose weight. What do I need?  I need support!! Where am I going to get this support?  My husband, my family, and friends.  AND YOU!!!

If you are on the same road as me then please follow this blog and comment.  If something is working for you, please share it. If you have a weight loss story PLEASE feel free to share it. I could use all the help in the world here! It is GO time people. No more looking back. I only see a bright and slimmer future for me.

I will post some pictures in the near future and I hope at some time I will have the AWESOME pleasure of posting before and after pictures.  That is really what people like to see any ways. :) I know I LOVE them.  Also as an FYI I love explamation marks and capitalizing letters, can you tell?? So if this bothers you, you probably shouldn't follow my blog. Sorry. Also my grammar is horrible and I'm not the best speller. Once again if these things really bug you, then bear with me or jump to someone elses page. My hope for this blog is to help make myself accountable for my weight loss and gain, but I am also hoping that I am not the only one out there battling this. So I hope I can find some support out there. I will help you if you will help me. If I find a recipe that I like I will share it or I find a work out that I enjoy doing then I will share it. (BTW, I don't enjoy P90X, but it is kicking my butt and I think I needed that challenge). Feel free share your tips and recipes too!

So there you have it, my first post on my blog. Here is to me lossing weight and anyone else who wants to join me on this journey. Thanks for stopping by. Be nice to yourself, you deserve to be happy!