AndreaJacobs

I am a member of a few different weight loss blogs. The two main ones I visit are here and sparkpeople. I was recently reading peoples posts about the upcoming New Year and I was shocked about what I was reading. People were being really hard on themselves and berating themselves for not making their goals. However I must say that many of their goals were unattainable. For example, one girls blog was all about how her goal was to lose over 100 pounds in 2011 and she hated herself for only losing about 65 of those pounds. I just wanted to shake her and tell her that she should be looking at the fact that she took steps towards bettering her life. That she shouldn’t look at it as not meeting her impossible goal, but instead look at how far she has come.

I have to admit I too am guilty of this. However after reading all those blogs I am deciding to not be that way anymore. I am going to be happy with the success I have made and see the New Year as yet another opportunity to meet my goal. I don’t want to put undo stress on myself by making goals that are unattainable. Instead I am going to to set goals that I know are attainable if I put my mind to it. So I have decided to put my goals in writing right here in my blog. I know Christmas hasn’t even happened yet and here I am talking about goals. However I think it is important to set goals often and always see them as an ongoing process. Not just something that I set on New Years and forget about for the rest of the year.

Resolutions/Goals
1. to lose 3-5 pounds a month
2. to spend time learning how to cook healthier options
3. spend more time on myself
4. learning to ignore the scale and put more on how my clothes fit and how I feel
5. To be down 40-50 pounds by the end of the year (my goal weight is 130-135)

I need to start this blog by admitting that I am a food addict. I feel a little weirded out by admitting it. I finally said it out loud about a week ago to my fiance. At first he just looked at me weird and said no way. I then went on to define what a food addict is. A food addict is someone who thinks about eating all the time, and uses food to burry feelings that they don’t want to deal with. I grew up in a home life that was not your normal home life. So for me food became a way to cope instead of a way to survive. I often find myself eating when I am not even hungry and then wondering what the heck I am doing.

For the past year I have busted my butt to get over this addiction. I worked out every day for an hour and I really watched what I ate. It was little easier because my fiance was away for a while and I didn’t have his food addiction to curve my eating habits (yep we are both addicts, he just isn’t ready to change yet). So while he was gone I lost a lot of weight. I was doing great. Then he came home, I sprained my ankle really bad, and I lost my mojo. I gained a little bit of my weight back and it became easier just to eat like him and so I stopped caring. Then I started to notice that my pants were getting tighter and it really hit home when I had to buy a larger size! So I put myself on a week long detox diet to get back to where I needed to be. I was so excited to see how much weight I lost when I got up this morning. The problem that arose is that my weekly visitor made an appearance and there is no way I can get an honest weight on the scale. So I guess I will just have to wait until next week to know for sure.

I am hoping however that his detox diet has helped me to realize what real hunger is, and not to eat my feelings away. I need to learn to deal with them and not bury them. If I can stop smoking and drinking soda then I can get the last little bit of weight off and not give up on me!

So I have been doing this week long detox diet. Boy has it been hard. This diet is extremely difficult. Tomorrow is weigh in day so that I can see how much weight this diet has helped me lose. The frustrating part is that I was unable to work out for two days because of parent teacher conferences. As a teacher I work for 13-14 hours on both of those days and there was no way I had the energy or time when I was getting home at almost 9 o’clock at night both nights. However on the nights I did work out I really applied myself. So I am hoping that regardless of missing two nights of working out that I still lost some weight. My pants feel lose and I feel good so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

So I have really been struggling with my diet. A little over a month ago I rolled my ankle and I was recently able to get back into work out. I regretfully gained some of the weight I lost back, thank goodness not a lot though. So I have upped my workout time to two hours a day and aim to burn about 1200 calories or more a day. I have really been doing great and working hard.

Now why I am frustrated! I came home from working out and my fiance tells me he ordered food from Pizza Hut. I know I can’t tell him what to eat but he knows how hard I am working to lose weight and he goes and does this! He then asked if I planned on having any and I said,”Nope!” I know he felt guilty but I don’t care. I really need his support. So the food comes and I have to answer the door and deal with all those smells driving my stomach crazy. The good news is I did not have any! I will get over this addiction to food and lose this little bit of weight I have left. Before I know it I will be at my goal weight and I won’t let bad food get into the way!

So last night I said to my fiance that it sucked because I was having a major case of the munchies. However that I was glad that there was nothing in the house for me to snack on other than healthy stuff. I then proceeded to take a shower and when I came out he was gone. He thought he was being sweet by going to the store to get some snack foods. He said that I have been working really hard and that I need to be able to treat myself from time to time. I tried to stay away but it was impossible. So I consumed way more calories than i needed to yesterday. It isn’t his fault at all, it is all mine. I guess the positive in it is that I work out for two hours a day and burn over 1100 calories a day so I am sure I didn’t do to much damage. It just ticks me off at myself. I made the decision to eat the snacks. I wish I could figure out what possess me. So today I am on a strict veggie and fruit day and then I am going to be watching what I eat from now on. If I truly want to get this weight off by the end of summer than I really got to stop hurting myself with all these extra calories.

So I wanted to do a post where people could comment with things that have worked for them. I am working really hard to get off the last 50 pounds I have to lose. I have already lost 80 pounds but I really want to get down to my goal weight by the end of summer. Right now I am working out for 2 hours a day both cardio and lifting weights. I am watching what I eat and keeping a journal. Is there anything that you do that has worked really well for you??

At work I have some co-workers that are always telling me I need to eat more and treat myself more. I keep trying to explain to them that this is not a diet but a life change. If I eat a salad while you eat chinese it isn’t that I don’t like what you are eating it is that I know more about what is in it. I know more about my body and how the things in bad food affect how my weight fluctuates. My fiance tells me to ignore them. They are just jealous of my weight loss. I have lost 74 pounds and I look considerably different. I just can’t understand trying to sabotage someone, or derail their diet. They treat me like I have an eating disorder when in fact I am just being healthy. I still have another 30-35 more pounds to go and I am not going to do anything to sabotage it. How do you deal with people that just can’t handle you no longer being the fat friend?

So I woke up this morning to my fabulous guy telling me to get up he was going to come and work out with me today. That really made my day. He is trying to lose weight but his schedule usually makes it hard for us to find time to work out together. So he ran on the treadmill while I kicked butt on the elliptical. I recently bought these leg weights (2 lbs a piece) I wear them on each leg while working out. Boy do they kick my butt.

After our workout my guy told me to get a shower and get dressed because he was going to take me out for lunch. We went to a local restaurant called Good Wood. It is a barbecue restaurant which smelled divine from the moment we walked in the door. I was really proud of myself though. I ordered a caesar salad with a salmon filet on it. I know caesar salads are not the best but I thought it was better than any of the other options. I must admit though, I did cheat a little. I have not had anything naughty in a really long time. My fiance knows this and ordered me small piece of cheesecake with ganache on the side. I know, I know, not the best of things to be eating but I see it as my celebratory/v-day lunch so I went with it.

Then we went to Game Stop to find a workout video for me on the Wii. We found an EA Active Fit II for really cheap and he bought it for me. Boy if you want something that is going to kick your butt I say go for it ;).

I hope you are all having a great day and that you have an excellent week.

After reading quite a few blogs on here about people being way to hard on themselves, I was inspired to write this blog. One of the things that I learned during this weight loss journey is that if you don’t love yourself you will never reach your goal. I have read blogs about people who are doing losing weight for boyfriends, husbands, family, and friends. Sorry to say but that doesn’t work. If these people are in your life than get rid of them!! It is totally different for someone you love to tell you they are worried about you because they love you. However a lot of the blogs I have read are women who are being told by loved ones to lose weight because they are not attractive enough. That is all a dieter needs, someone telling them something like that. Secondly, don’t let friends or loved ones who get jealous about your weight loss derail you! There are a lot of people out there who like us better when we are heavier. Maybe it makes them feel better about them. But when we start to lose weight it throws them off and makes them green with envy. Then all of the sudden we are the bad guy. Instead of being upset to lose these kinds of people, be happy to lose them. Your life will no longer be stressful and you will be able to fill your life with people who truly care for you.

If I have learned anything it has been that it is important to do this journey for yourself. Look inside yourself and find out why you want to lose. Perhaps it is to feel sexy, maybe to get healthy, or maybe even just to fit into a dress you have always wanted to wear. Once you have that reason in mind you will be unstoppable because you are doing it for you.

So today was a weigh in day and I am officially down 75 pounds! I received a silver star :). That means I only have 35 more pounds to go and then I will be at my goal weight!! Thanks to all of you that have been such excellent help and support.