Day 5

Again, it was a weekend where I got to sleep in... so I kind of missed breakfast. Plus, we had lunch at E's parents' house. His dad made a barbecue and it was delicious.

Breakfast:
2 pieces of toast with cheese

Lunch:
The bbq... 2 ribs (it was kind of a lot of meat) and 3 bites of sausage (again...)
Plus a couple things I don't know the translations for. One is a vegetable type thing and the other was dessert. A VERY sweet dessert. I don't have any idea what it was, but I didn't eat much because it wasn't so good.

Snack 1:
A piece of bread with honey

Snack 2:
A cup of granola with milk

Supper:
1 1/2 chicken sandwiches. I make killer chicken sandwiches. The chicken is breaded with yogurt and cracker crumbs and some other things. I put it on bread (bakery bread) with a little mayo and a sprinkling of ranch seasoning. I know I should've stopped at 1, but they were so fricken good.

Snack 3:
The 1/2 of baby L's cookie she didn't eat

Water:
80 oz

Exercise:
30 Day Shred Level 1, Day 5

Plus, I lost probably 5 gallons of water sweating because it's so ridiculously hot here. I really feel like I ate too much today... probably because I completely dropped the ball with fruits and veggies. Oh well, tomorrow is another day (again).

Day 4

Well, today was a little weird because it was a weekend. This means I slept until 10:45. When E finally woke me up I asked him if he took baby L to her appointment at 10:30. Nope. So I basically rolled out of bed, put my shoes on, and ran out the door. I got home a little after noon, starving. So I basically skipped breakfast. Kind of :p

Breakfast:
Ham and cheese sandwich
1/2 of an apple

Snack:
Apple

Lunch:
Banana
Pasta with sauce (with cheese added) and beans (I know it's weird... but I live with a Brazilian who goes a little crazy if he doesn't have beans often). To be fair, the beans had sausage in them. I know, I know! I use sausage like a condiment and I probably shouldn't. But I truly don't put much in there.

Snack:
1 or 2 cups of 100% orange juice

Supper:
A piece of french toast... yep, with a little butter and a little powdered sugar. But at least it was A piece, not 4 pieces. Yes, I can eat 4 pieces of french toast in one sitting. I've actually won eating competitions. Well... one... with friends... at Red Lobster when they were having all you can eat shrimp. That was in 2004 and I haven't eaten shrimp since.

Water:
80 oz

Exercise:
30 Day Shred Level 1, Day 4
Ran 3 miles

I know... it was a pretty carb-heavy day. Instead of the french toast, I should've opted for the omelets I made to accompany E and baby L's supper. Oh well, tomorrow is another day... and I have chicken breasts thawing :)

Day 3

At some point in my life my calves will stop hurting and I'll be able to walk normally again... right? Seriously, they hurt so bad. I'm trying to make sure to stretch them well, but they still hurt. Yeah, I'm a complainer.

Breakfast:
A cup of granola with milk

Snack:
Banana
A few bites of baby L's first lunch (leftovers from last night)

Lunch:
Leftovers from last night

Snack:
A piece of bread with honey
The rest of baby L's second lunch (same thing, but with beans)
A cookie

Supper:
The same veggie thing as day 1 (you'll notice a trend... I only make about 4 different dishes)

Water:
80 oz

Exercise:
30 Day Shred Level 1, Day 3

Day 2

Today was rough, I'm not gonna lie. For one, it's becoming painfully obvious that my metabolism is trying to get back to normal. Before, I wouldn't eat all day and then would just go crazy at night. I know that that kills your metabolism, but I wasn't hungry during the day, so I didn't eat. Well, now that I'm eating small meals and snacks instead of just 3 plates of food at 9:00 at night, I'm getting soooo hungry during the day. It's good, but it's hard to adjust.

For two, I did both the 30DS AND ran. I'm planning on running every other day and doing the 30DS every day.

So here goes:

Breakfast:
Small bowl of granola (about 1 cup) with milk
Piece of bread with honey

Snack:
The rest of baby L's lunch (leftovers; about 1/2 c)
Watermelon

Lunch:
Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Snack:
Piece of bread with honey
1/2 of a banana

Supper:
Rice with ground beef, sausage (again, only 1/2 of one in the whole thing), onions, potatoes, and garlic

Snack:
More Watermelon
Another few (small) bites of ice cream (it's gone now, thank God)

Water:
88 oz

Exercise:
30 Day Shred Level 1, Day 2
Ran 3 miles

Day 1

Well, today was day 1, and it was a success. Of course, it would've been pretty pathetic if I had failed on my first day. I think the biggest thing was that I really controlled my portion sizes. I have issues with that and tend to keep eating after I'm full just because it's there and it tastes good.

Breakfast:
Small bowl of granola (about 1 cup) with milk
Piece of bread with honey

Lunch:
Pasta with sauce (that I added cheese to) and a few black beans

Snack:
Watermelon

Supper:
A bunch of veggies steamed together with some onions, ground beef, and sausage (not much meat at all... there was about 1/4 lb of beef and 1/2 of a sausage in the whole thing) that were fried.

Snack:
Watermelon
3 small bites of ice cream

Water:
64 oz

Exercise:
30 Day Shred Level 1, Day 1

I would've gone for a walk too, but it rained all day. Also, to be fair, this is my second attempt at the 30DS. The first time (last October) I gave up after 7 days. Because of this, I was prepared this time. I actually did my first day on Sunday knowing that I wouldn't be able to move for a couple days after that first killer workout (and I couldn't). So I'm counting today as my first day so I can do 30 consecutive days.

I think that was a great way to start!

Here We Go!

Tomorrow is day 1, so I had to get my initial weigh-in today. Ick. I don't have a scale at home, so as I was leaving the grocery store, I sat down my 2 liter tub of ice cream and stepped on.

67.35 kg / 148.5 lbs

I also took my measurements this afternoon:

Waist - 31.5"
Hips - 38.5" (widest area of chub)
Thighs - 23.25"
Left Arm - 11.5"
Right Arm - 11.75"

And the fun part... stretch marks and all:




Here we go!!

The Mission

The Background:

I was a runner. An amazing runner. I got second place at my regional cross country meet in high school. I also got MVP two years in a row. Ok, ok, so my "region" consisted of about 15 girls, the best school didn't show due to weather issues, and one of those two years I was the only one on the team. More importantly, that was... ugh... about a decade ago. The beginning of my decline: my senior year of high school several other girls joined the team so I chose to go out undefeated and didn't join.

Then I went to college. Ohhhh, college. Freshman 15? Ha! I was coming from rural Nebraska where there was no sign of any sort of fast food for hours in any direction. I moved to the city and suddenly was bombarded with Sonic slushies and even worse: the invention of the McGriddle. Yes, I know. It's my own fault. It's glaringly obvious that fast food and no exercise makes you fat. And to answer the question everyone wants to ask: No, I didn't really notice myself gaining the weight. It's denial. Yes, I bought bigger pants, but I was convinced that even though I needed to size up (a few times), I still looked pretty much the same. So I bought the size up and promised myself that I would lose it after college. By my 25th birthday for sure. And with that in the back of my mind, I ate what I wanted and exercised... well... I didn't exercise. The results weren't good.

I'm 5'4". I weighed 125 in my running days and looked pretty darn good (I have a bigger frame). I was in the low 130's when I graduated high school. By the time I graduated college in December 2006 I weighed (drum roll, please) 183 lbs. Yep, 50 fricken pounds. So I decided I need to do something about it. I was just about to turn 22 and had 3 years to lose the weight.

In January 2007 I made the resolution. I cut a lot of fast food and I tried to run. Let me tell you what I learned: running when you're fat is NOT easy. Seriously. I used to be one of those people who would see an overweight person and think, "Why don't they drop the donut and go for a walk". It actually doesn't work like that. It gets to a point where it's actually painful. Plus, it's depressing. I remember wondering if they made some kind of a bra for love handles. That's great for your self-esteem. Anyway, I succeeded a little bit. I was going to Europe in May and really wanted to knock off a chunk (hehehe, pun intended) by then. When I went, I was down to 165. Not so bad.

In July 2007, I moved to Brazil. This stopped my progress, as I had no idea how to cook with Brazilian ingredients. I got pregnant in October and was still at 165 lbs. Despite the doctor telling me if I gained more than 17 lbs he'd wire my mouth shut, I gained... 40. Yep, the day I delivered my daughter (in June 2008)I weighed 205 lbs. Nice. Luckily, the pregnancy weight came off pretty easily, thanks in part to the fact that my baby was 8 1/2 lbs of that, and the other part was breastfeeding. I got down to 170 by the end of 2008.

At the end of March 2009, I decided I really needed to get serious about this if I was going to make my goal of losing it by my 25th birthday (in December). I went to the gym for about 3 months, went on vacation, and didn't go back afterward. I was down to about 150 lbs.

My 25th birthday was in December and I obviously didn't hit my goal. I'm still sitting right around 150 lbs.

The Mission:

As of yesterday, I weighed 67.10 kg (148 lbs). This fluctuates A LOT. Like 3-4 lbs depending on the day.

My goal is to get down to 60 kg (about 130 lbs).

I'm planning another vacation to the US in the next few months. When I go there, I want to buy new clothes. For every kg I lose, I am going to give myself $100 to spend on said clothes. Fun!

So I'm using this blog as another way to hold myself accountable. I'm going to post what I eat, how much I exercise, my weight and measurement progress, and occasionally pictures.

Enjoy!