weight loss

It’s no secret that I need to lose weight. I have been struggling with my weight for a few years. I do great for a while and then fall off the wagon. I have finally come to realize that I can’t do this on my own.

As I was scanning our local paper the other day I came across several meetings for TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly). I looked them up online and they seem to be like Weight Watchers but more reasonably priced.

Another cool thing was they (TOPS) have a program called KOPS (Keep Off Pounds Sensibly). I liked that because I have wondered what to do once I lose the weight. How do I maintain and not gain the weight back.

Have you heard of TOPS? Do you know of anyone who has lost weight using them?

Photo credit: gotplaid?

At one point I had this post already written and ready to publish. All it was lacking was my weight picture. The original post was bitter. It displayed my frustration at eating right, exercising, and not losing any weight. I was sick and tired of it. It has been thirteen weeks and all I have to show for it is numbers on the scale that can’t make up their mind. Sometimes they are high and some days they are lower. They are not consistent. It sucks!

Fast forward to today. I was driving in my car and the word persevere popped into my head. My dictionary defines persevere as: to continue a course of action, ect. in spite of difficulty, opposition, etc.

Weight loss is not easy. It’s not easy eating healthy. It’s not easy to exercise especially on the days when I don’t feel like it. However, I have been consistent in meeting my goal. As a matter of fact, most of the time I have gone over my goal.

As frustrating as it can be, I have been committed to continuing this journey towards weight loss. I am so committed that week after week I meet my practical goal of exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes. I blog about it and even post a picture of my weight. Believe me, it’s not easy posting a picture with large numbers on it.

Why do I do it? Because I’m committed. I signed up for this and I’m going to finish. I’m going to persevere even when it’s tough. I encourage you to join me in this endeavor, it’s not too late. Head over to Ragamuffin Soul and take the plunge.

This week was hard. I had no motivation to make my goal nor did I care if I made it or not. I had a lot of emotional eating and feeling blah. I just didn’t care.

Anyway, here’s my weight and I did make my goal but barely.

Also, hubby thought it would be cute to stand in the air-conditioned house and take pictures of me mowing the lawn. Wasn’t that nice of him. So in honor of his hard work, here’s one of his pictures.

Oh and be sure to check out the other participants progress in the Ragamuffin Top Challenge.

Last week I changed my goal from thirty minutes of exercise three days a week to sixty minutes of exercise three days a week. Although I met my goal I am officially changing back to my original goal.

I found sixty minutes was taxing on me mentally. Whenever I thought of exercising for sixty minutes I felt dread and didn’t want to do it. I even broke it up into two sections of thirty but having to do that extra thirty was miserable. I wasn’t even going to complete my goal this week because I was dreading having to exercise for an hour. I hated it.

What’s interesting is the reason I upped the goal to sixty minutes was because I was getting my thirty minutes in and continuing until I got to sixty minutes. When all I had to do was thirty minutes I was fine. I would cool down for a bit and then hop back on the elliptical and do another set of thirty minutes. I loved it.

I don’t know why one was mentally depleting me when I was exercising for the same amount of time but I got a better workout with my original goal. So that’s what I’m sticking with: exercise three days a week for at least thirty minutes.

By the way, here’s my weight.

This sucks because this is the first time in over a week that I’ve been 200.

Be sure to check out the progress of the other participants in the Ragamuffin Top Challenge.

It’s been hot so I’ve been staying inside working out on my elliptical (I heart my elliptical).

I’ve met my goal and this week my goal has changed. My goal is to now workout three times a week for at least 60 minutes. Those minutes can be broken up. Say, 30 minutes here and 30 minutes there as long as at the end of that day it totals 60 minutes.

The goal change is based on advice that was given to me by my previous pastor’s wife and an article my husband emailed me. Both said you needed to be doing cardio for at least 60 minutes and your calorie intake should be between 1200 and 1500 calories.

The food part I’ve been doing great with (now)(emotional eating is not good for you). It’s the exercise habit I’m trying to get established (and stay established).

The following weight picture was taken Thursday evening when this post was written. I will be busy Saturday and don’t know if I’ll be able to post then so I’m posting in advance (I heart that feature).

Be sure to check out the others progress at Ragamuffin Soul.

Welcome to my ninth week of the Ragamuffin Top Challenge. I have to say that I am finally starting to see some results. The numbers on the scale are slowly going down and so far this is my best week. Once again I have met my goal of exercising three times a week for at least 30 minutes. I have actually put in more time than that but I want to be realistic since some weeks finding time to exercise is difficult.

Ways I have accomplished my weight loss:

• My husband and I weigh ourselves each evening and record the weight in a spreadsheet. He has it rigged so that it will give us our average weight for the week as we enter data. This has been helpful in staying on track with my exercise and food choices. I can also see how my monthly female times affect my weight. Did you know that I gain weight while PMSing? Neither did I.
• A friend gave us her elliptical because she did not like it. I however love it. I always do great with exercise until winter comes and then fall off the wagon, gain back the weight I lost and then gain more weight. Now I am able to exercise if I’m not able to get outside to walk/run.
• The same friend showed me the FreeZone channel with exercise shows so I have something else to do when I can’t get outside.
• I’ve started the Couch-to-5k Running Plan. It has helped me with my running since one of my ultimate goals is to run more/walk less. I’m only on week one but it is similar to what I was doing when I first started running.
• I’ve been keeping a food journal. I use food labels and calorieking.com to track my calorie intake.
• I’ve been working on my dedication. My husband mentioned that if I had as much dedication for exercise than I had for my blog the weight would come off. You know he’s right. My dedication for exercise was null and void until this challenge.

Why is it I can be accountable to a bunch of strangers yet couldn’t remain accountable to myself, friends, and family? My theory is that there is no pressure for instant results. I don’t feel like you are dissecting me trying to see if I have lost any weight. I can be honest and don’t feel as though I’m being judged. If I don’t reach my goal because of laziness or “one of those weeks” there is always encouragement. Plus it’s nice being part of something where every goal is different.

Mine is to exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes. I’m also incorporating running into my walk because I love the way I feel after a walk/run. Others are trying to lose a few pounds while some are training for marathons. We are all part of a community that is trying to take better care of ourselves. It’s not too late to join!

By the way, here’s my weight for the week:

To do my exercise for the week I take the kiddos to the park and walk/run while the kiddos are playing. Our park has a walking track built around the play area and meanders around for awhile. It’s quite pleasant to walk. I only do the small section that goes around the play equipment because the older brothers tend to forget to watch their younger sister. This way I’m able to keep an eye on the toddler.

The only drawback is I’m going in a small circle over and over again. I usually walk/run for thirty minutes and then we walk back home. This wouldn’t be so bad except we can’t find my mp3 player so I have no tunes to zone out to. I have to rely on whatever pops in my head; today it was “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”. I have no idea where that song came from. For the longest time it was “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” so I should be thankful for the change in songs.

Do you know what it’s like to be hitting the pavement trying to relax and enjoy the moment all the while “Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o” is going around and around in your head?! It’s enough to drive you insane so you spend the time trying to find another song only to come back to the same thing.

Meanwhile, the kiddos have found a smashed turtle and think hanging around it is more fun than playing so I have to coral them back to the play area. I’m back on track and pick up where I left off…e-i-e-i-o.

I met my goal. Here’s my weight.

Check out the other’s progress who are in the challenge.

My weight fluctuates on any given day - water retention, pms, hormones, blah, blah, blah. So I don’t really go by numbers when it comes to losing weight (except to get under 200).

My ultimate goal is to have a healthier lifestyle and to get rid of the belly fat. I’ve started with small goals because when I make big goals I don’t reach them. Then I get upset, give up, and so on. Now I aim small and take one baby step at a time. Eventually it will become habit and I’ll up the ante from there. For now I met my goal to exercise three times a week for thirty minutes and here’s my weight.

Be sure to check out the progress of the others who have accepted this challenge.

I didn’t meet my goal and had no intentions of doing any exercise whatsoever. Then we got rid of the kiddos for the weekend and I remembered how hubby and I used to go running without the kids. So yesterday and today I went running with hubby. When I say running I mean I walk at a brisk pace and then try to run for 60 seconds, walk, run, walk. I’m not to where I can just run but I feel so much better if I run instead of just walking.

There is a walking track with a park two blocks from our home so I want to get back in the habit of running again. The kids can play and I can work on my running. As long as I go before 11:00 am then it isn’t too hot. Yes it is but I can handle it. After 11:00 and I feel like I’m going to die.

All that to say I didn’t make my goal. It was intentional. Here’s my weight.