Yes to this.

Let your food be your medicine. :) Eat clean!!

Slow and steady wins the race

It took more than a day to gain it- it'll take more than a day to lose it. Keep going! Don't give up!!

Slacker!!! :)

Sorry I disappeared friends.
I know the three of you must be devastated, anxiously sitting at your computer waiting for my next post.

Truth is- I'm slacking, and don't feel like talking about it. Ha :) I haven't given up! I still eat healthy probably about 80% of the time, but at least once a day I cheat. And when I do- I cheat hard. Ha ha ha

I don't want people to get worried. I do not believe you have to eat 100% healthy 100% of the time and work out 7 days a week to lose weight. That's an unhealthy mindset, setting yourself up for failure.

However, I've gotten too comfortable. I've started eating without thinking about what I am eating will do to me. How bad it will make me feel. A small cheat here and there is no biggie. But the way I've been eating lately has:
-made me exhausted most of the time.
-made it harder to sleep, feel rested, and wake up
-made my stomach hurt
-made me incredibly grumpy
-made skip the gym

I'm all for a little treat now and then. Depriving yourself will only make you resent eating healthy, and inevitably you will end up quitting.

I have to be more deliberate about what I'm eating. I have to be better prepared, and have foods I enjoy eating that are healthy at my disposal.

So that's where I am. :) No weight loss in about 2-3 weeks. Not due to a plateau, but due to that ugly little food addiction rearing it's ugly head again.

No worries folks- I've got this. :)

When to weigh yourself

A few of my friends that I've been losing weight with get disappointed when the scale goes crazy on them.

Side note: I did the same thing when I was first losing weight. My only goal was to get to that "magic number." If the number went up at ALL, or even stayed the same- regardless if I saw improvements in other ways- I felt like I was failing. Learn from me, don't do that!! :) The scale doesn't determine your success.

Truth is, scales suck. Even if you have one of those fancy schmancy read-your-body-fat-percentage ones, it sucks.

Your body changes throughout the day. It can literally fluctuate 2-4 pounds. In one day!

I tested this out, and here's my timeline:
0800- 156 lbs
1000- 157 lbs
1200- 159 lbs
1400- 158 lbs
1600- 161 lbs
1800- 158 lbs

Here's what I've learned so I don't ride the emotional roller coaster that comes with checking my weight constantly.

-weigh yourself right when you wake up.
-make sure you potty first
-try to only weigh yourself once/week

Here's what NOT to do when weighing yourself:
-don't weigh yourself every day (and ESPECIALLY not more than once a day)
-don't weigh yourself after eating
-don't weigh yourself after working out (You're muscles are all swollen up and you're retaining the water you should be drinking ;))
-don't weigh yourself after showering

And most of all, remember there are other ways than the scale to monitor your weight loss!! :)
-the way your clothes fit
-your energy level
-measurements
-taking pictures (before/during/after)
-muscles developing

I'd recommend ditching the scale altogether, but I know I wouldn't have listened to that. :) Just don't let the number dictate your self worth. You are more than a number. :)

Good stuff!

So this is pretty cool...
After doing bodypump yesterday at the gym, my gym buddy Linda and I were in the locker room gathering our stuff. As we're chatting about the class, a woman got my attention and said, "You know, this class is really working for you! I can see a big difference in you from when you first started!"
WHAAAAAAAT?!
To have a complete stranger feel encouraged by what I've been up to was a gift from God. A little reminder that how we live out our lives everyday can inspire people we don't even know! I need to remember this- in ALL aspects of my life. Not just working out.
I don't think I will ever get used to people noticing. It is so encouraging to have people excited with me! (No, I'm not doing this for anyone else besides me, but it's still pretty lovely!!) To coach people in their own new healthy choices, and celebrate when they start reaching goals and beating their own limitations of themselves is such an incredible blessing.
To all the people who constantly encourage, support, and inspire me- you have truly changed my life. :) Words will never explain what it means to me. :D

Not worth it!

So I cheated last night. I waited WAAAAY to long to eat (mistake #1) and since I didn't prepare any food (mistake #2) I went to the cafeteria at work (mistake #3) to grab something to eat.
I get down there, and HOT DOG!! There is lo mein, sweet and sour chicken, and egg rolls. We never get food this good on night shift. EGG. FLIPPIN'. ROLLS!!! Oh man, I'm just proud I didn't eat 12 of those suckers.
So, I got a little of each (not nearly as much as I really wanted-which I was kinda proud of) and headed off for some serious grub time.
Well...I knew it wouldn't make me feel lovely. I expected that. And I was correct. I was not feeling lovely. Instant bloating, belly yuck-ness, but here's the kicker! Apparently those mothers had some serious salt in 'em, cause I just about Incredible Hulk-ed outta my pants/shoes!! My feet and legs swelled so badly I'm lucky I kept my clothes on. Like a preggers ready to pop. Not cool body, not cool!!
So THEN, to counteract all of the sodium I just rapidly ingested, I drank a million gallons (just and estimate... Could've possibly only been a few thousand gallons) of water. So much so, that I thought my eyeballs (sorry Sara) might just float right outta my head. Needless to say the potty and I were BFF's last night. I had to sprinkle every 10 minutes. (TMI? Prolly.)
So, needless to say, we can cross Chinese food off the "worth it to cheat" list. Because, lemme tellya, it most CERTAINLY was not worth it.
Thankyouandgoodnight. :)

BMI

Yes, I am still alive. :)
I just wanted to post a before-and-after of sorts.

When starting the diet, I got a BMI (body mass index- im pretty sure it tells you what percent of your body is fat. lol) app.

In the first picture was my highest recorded weight. I was actually bigger, but I stopped weighing myself. As you can see,

I was in the "severely obese" category. :/ Not cool. My BMI was 36. I still have a hard time realizing I had been THAT unhealthy. I had been a "big girl" for a while... but I guess I never really realized just how big I had gotten.

Now...

I've gone down two categories, into the "overweight" category!! (Never thought I'd be excited to be considered "overweight"!! Ha ha ha :) My BMI has changed from 36 to 27.9! 

Sometimes, I just need a little reminder of how far I've come. Even after losing 47 pounds, I have to fight giving up. I can still feel defeated, still want to just stop. But then I look at things like this... :) It's a pretty cool thing!

I just sneezed all over my screen. Gross. Have a beautiful day everyone! :)

YUM!!

Oh hey there turkey burger salad!!

Caught chya!!

I got new gym clothes! I was so excited about them!! I really wanted to take a picture to show y'all, but no mirror in my house works very well for "selfies" (dumb word) so I waited till I get to the gym.
I pose, aim, go to take the pic then WHAM! The door opens and I gasp like I'm standing there naked and bolt away.
The lady pretended I wasn't crazy, and just kept it movin to the potty. (Maybe she really had to go?)
When she got out, I was laughing at myself, which probably made me look even more insane, then explained, "I got new gym clothes and I was all excited so I wanted to take a picture- and you CAUGHT me!!"
Luckily she was very nice and didn't report me to the front desk for being weird in the locker room. :) We had a convo about how having cute gym clothes made us wanna go to the gym. :)
So anyway, here's the stinkin' picture. I hope the two of you who read this appreciate what I went through to get it! ;)

Today in the gym...

While "running" next to the guy on the elliptical this morning, I glance over and witness him give himself a little fist pump, then kick it into a full sprint!
Way to rock, dude! You definitely won the race you didn't know you and I were having. :)

Sexiness

I just can't figure out why I can't get a fellah at the gym?! They must e intimidated by all this hotness goin on. ;)

Big girls, you are beautiful!

A little while ago, while watching TV with friends, I saw a singer I had only ever heard before on the radio. She was gorgeous, but not the average "teeny tiny" singer I was expecting.
In my surprise I exclaimed, "I DIDN'T KNOW ______ WAS A BIG GIRL!! Go 'head girl!!!"

One of the friends I was with replied, "You better be careful Kelli- pretty soon if you say something like that, you're just going to look like a "B"!

She's right. I do have to be careful how I word things. I have a bad habit of just saying whatever comes to mind without realizing that people may not understand the heart behind it. I may sound like a "B"!

Truth is- No matter what size, I relate to the "big girl"! :) I will always be a big girl at heart, and I think that's fabulous! "Big girl" is not a bad thing to me.

As a society we need to begin to accept and love each other at every size. We need to stop being so desperate to lose weight in order to become attractive and desirable, and do it to become strong and healthy! HEALTHY is beautiful! STRONG is beautiful! No matter what stinkin' number is on the inside of your pants!!! People who are confident, love themselves, and take care of themselves- THAT'S attractive. THAT'S desirable.

That number on the tag does not define you!! Please listen. Don't waste years hating yourself trying to get to that magic size. Trust me. Love who you are. Right now! Because you are remarkable. One of a kind! You are you- and that is FAN-TASTIC!!!

There. I said it! I'll be stepping off my soapbox now.

Oh yeah! :P

Did I just wake up at 0630 on my day off to go to the gym? Why yes, I think I did!
(I would've posted right when I woke up, but as a night shift person...it's best that I not communicate with the world until at least 0700.) :)
I could get used to this? Maybe? lol
Someone tell me I'll get used to this. :)

ZUMBA!!

It finally happened!!! :)
I had one of those workouts that you hear skinny people talk about! It feels GREAT!! I worked my buns off, pushed harder than I ever have, and walked away feeling like a CHAMPION!! :)
I warmed up with three miles on the elliptical (HELLO!!) and really was pumped. Zumba was PACKED, which makes it even more fun cause the energy is off the charts! I committed to at least TRYING the most intense option for every move, and for most of them I was able to actually keep up!
I didn't think the day would EVER come where I actually looked FORWARD to going to the gym. Where I felt great after, instead of wanting to go crawl in bed. To feel the endorphins I always hear people talk about, "natures anti-depressant" kick in. Awesome.
Side note: yesterday in Zumba we had to do burpees. BURPEES. BUR. PEES. (If you don't know what a burpee is:
-Jump in the air with your arms extended over your head.
-Bend down and place your hands one the ground next to your feet.
-Shoot your legs out behind you into a push-up position.
-Jump your feet back towards your hands.
-Jump back into the air, arms extended, and begin again.
Or you can do Kelli's version:
-Throw your arms in the air and hop a little.
-Bend down and put your arms on the floor, praying you don't face plant.
-Jump your legs out and try hard not to belly flop on the floor.
-Walk/crawl your legs back in towards your hands.
-Try not to barf.
-Repeat.

Healthy is awesome. :) Strong/fit will be even MORE awesome!!

(The picture below is the awesome cardiac monitor the BFF got me for Christmas. That CA? Yeah, that's how many calories I burned in Zumba. Just in case you can't read it, it says 1049. One. THOUSAND. forty. Nine. Boom!)

Feet are gross.

Question:
Anyone else have an issue with their feet (gross) going numb while on the elliptical/treadmill? I can't go as fast as I'd like cause they go numb and my legs forget how to work. lol Also, I have to cool WAY down (and bring my heart rate WAY down) before I get off in fear of face planting when I step off if I don't.
Anyone? Anyone? Just me? Yeah...that's what I figured. :)
Side note: don't EVER google "feet are gross" unless you wanna throw up in your mouth a little. You have been warned.

H2O

Why yes, I do bring two water bottles to the gym. You can stop staring like I just pulled my boob out or something.
When you sweat like a sumo wrestler who accidentally fell asleep in the sauna, you'll drink a lot too.
Kthanksbye.

Sorry sorry sorry!!!

I swear I'll post again soon! :) I have a BUNCH to say- life just got cray cray. :)

Yeah buddy!!

I'm not obese anymore!!!! :) WOOOOO!!!