14 in 14

So i have decided to do something new. I decided to see what it takes to loose 14lbs in 14 days. So far i am on day three and still on track. No special powders or pills or anything like that...
I will bump up my workouts accordingly and do what it takes...
Wish me luck. I will keep you posted.

This Just In........

So here is a little bit of information for those of you starting on the weightloss journey.
Loosing weight is expensive... Not that this should deter you from reaching for the stars cause it can be done... this is just an FYI...
The first 10 lbs i lost i was excited, my clothes fit better, i felt a sense of accomplishment. The second 10 lbs i lost, my clothes were baggy. Ok i said to myself, time to get new clothes. So i bought some new clothes and felt great... The next 20 lbs i lost, oh no.... i have to buy new clothes again. and so on and so on...
My best kept secret... The VV Boutique (that's code for Value Village).
Second hand stores or consignment stores are perfect for transitional weights. But do you know what happened? I started finding AMAZING clothes for VERY cheap... Guess jeans for $6.75. Polo cartigan for $4.99... Wow. Now, i am hooked. Thank you kind lady who thought she no longer needed her size 10 guess jeans WITH THE TAGS STILL ON THEM !!!!
Score one for team weightloss.
Remember for every 10 lbs you loose you go down approx. one pants size. Be ready.

Find one, Go in and be AMAZED... xo

The Monday Motivation...

I remember the days where every night going to bed was the "tomorrow is a new day" thought, then you wake up and by the end of the day realize that nothing really changed. So you lay in bed and think "tomorrow is a new day" all over again.
My new motto "Live everyday as if it were Monday"
Easy to say? Yes! Hard to do? Yes!
It is much easier to hit snooze than run on the treadmill at 5am. It is much easier to drive through a fast food place than go home and make yourself a healthy alternative but keeping the "Monday Motivation" helps.
This upcoming week is my Anniversary and my 30th Birthday. Will i have cake? Yes!!! Will i have some drinks? Yes. Will I go out to dinner with my husband and friends? Yes! Will i hit snooze? Nope...
My promise to myself is to keep my Monday Motivation and work hard...
I am going into my 30's feeling better than i have ever felt in my life.... Fitter, healthier and happier!!

FOR THE LOVE OF CHICKEN !!!

Ok so eating right? Check!
Working out regularly? Check!
Planning ahead? Check!
Eating chicken almost everyday?... Ugh Check!!

Although eating healthy has many many options i often find myself eating chicken and chicken and more chicken.
I am a fussy eater, I don't really eat alot of fish or anything with sauce, nothing spicy or sour... Ya it is hard to please this pallet... but low and behold a recipe for shrimp that i love and make often.

CAJUN SHRIMP

You will need
1 bag of thawed tiger shrimp uncooked in the shell
EVOO = Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cajun spice
Sea Salt
Lemon Juice
Minced garlic (or garlic powder)
White cooking wine

STEP ONE
In a saucepan add
4 tbsp of EVOO
equal amounts of lemon juice
4 tbsp of minced garlic (1.5 tbsp with garlic powder)
1/2 a tsp of sea salt
1 tbsp of Cajun spice
1 pinch of salt
(for full 2.2 kg bag)

STEP TWO
Heat pan for 5 minutes then throw in shrimp

STEP THREE
Shrimp cooks fast, when each is completely pink and no longer greyish they are done
Just before they are completely cooked add all the step one ingredents again but instead of oil this time add white cooking wine. If you don't have wine use EVOO.
(I really like garlic so maybe you can just add garlic to your taste)

I usually make rice as seen in pic above and sear some red and green bell peppers.

CAUTION
Remember you left the shell on them so you will have to take it off before eating. Removing the shell before cooking is optional. I like to leave it on and roll up my sleeves and eat with my fingers...plus leaving the shell on means you won't be able to shovel it in as fast cause it takes time to eat...

It is a favorite dish in our house. Absolutely delicious. You can make it for one or for 10 and the best part is the minute rice takes longer to cook than the shrimp...

ENJOY FRIENDS!!!

Today's Goal

As i sit thinking of how far i have come, i can't help but wonder what it would feel like to have it ALL back on. Over 70 lbs. I don't think that i could carry 70 lbs in a nap sack all day. I can't remember what it feels like. I can remember being there mentally, hating the way i looked and determined to change it...but the memory of the physical feeling has left me.
There are some things i look back on now, things that i no longer do and understand my actions better. I remember EXCESSIVELY shopping for clothes, it was an outfit or two a week and for some reason that urge to shop is gone. As the weight came off I didn't need materials to make me feel better or pretty, i just felt it.
When they say losing weight is a lifestyle change they couldn't be more right. You anticipate the physical changes but not the mental ones. I sometimes sit back and think to myself, would this person approach the "other" me, the me that i was 2 years ago, and strike up the same conversation? Would these people invite me to this or that if i didn't look the way i look now. Even sometimes there has been people who i have spoken to MANY times that have only now showed an interest befriending me.
Did you ever see those studies where a person does a survey when they are who they actually are and get great feedback from the everyday person on the street, then they put a big hairy mole on their cheek and the feedback is terrible. I sometimes have that kind of feeling. I guess in my mind i am still the insecure old me i have always been.
But sometimes i have to sit back and ask myself would i actually approach the big hairy mole lady as easily as an everyday regular somebody? I hope i would......
On that note... today's goal... find a "mole lady" and say hey!!!

JUST A BIT MORE TO GO

So here i am. Today, well actually this is me on Saturday. I have officially lost 73 lbs. I am still not done though. I have no magic number i would like to reach and i am in no rush to have it come off. I live because "life happens" and i am still at WW. When i find myself in a rut... a stand still, lacking motivation and see the scale starting to creep up again i go back to WW. It sets the sails in motion again.

I am no superhuman. No die hard. I eat hamburgers, MacDonalds and birthday cake, but my trick now is to balance it with exercise. If i want to eat a gross amount of pizza than i have to pick and choose time to do a gross amount of exercise to counter act the pizza. Right before i choose to have the second or third piece i pick a time that i can work out.. Right there on the spot.

Basically it comes down to one rule... Your output has to be more than your input.... lamens terms.. you have to burn more calories than you eat... that is the trick.. The golden rule. The only secret.

For all of you struggling, i know where you are and what you are going through. The new plan every night before you go to bed. You tell yourself that "tomorrow is a new day" the first day to the new me... then tomorrow comes and goes and you lay in bed and do it all over again.

I am still working. Everyday just like the first, with choosing the best choices and doing what i can when i can to get where i want to be. It is a lifestyle change in every way. EVERYTHING about the way i lived two years ago has changed except maybe my love for my family...

Working out sucks... it does. But when you are done you feel like you have done something just for you. Somedays i have to get up at 5am and go for a run just to fit some me time in. I am back on my list... still not at the top, and i don't plan to ever make it there but i am on there... maybe second from the bottom some days but as long as i stay on the list I will make time for me.

xo

Starting to Notice

It is funny when people ask you "What is your secret?" I always tell them there is no secret. Eat right and exercise. The way i figure it is Oprah is one of the richest people in the world. If there was a secret diet pill or any way around just eating right and exercising she would have the resources to find it. Yet, she like us, is still struggling.



Here i am with about 50 lbs gone. What a long hard road. It IS possible but you have to want it bad enough.

Weightloss has to be in your mind constantly. The right choices, planning ahead, tricks of the trade and constant monitoring is all key. You have to be so very carefull to not loose sight of your goals.




Life happens. By "life" i mean girls night out, vacations, birthdays, bbq's, work functions. Anything that can throw you off track. You need to be prepared and be ready for anything.
I have a little motto... I do what i am supposed to do 90% of the time and what i want to do 10% of the time. There are days when you want that second piece of German chocolate cake, maybe you take it, maybe you don't. It doesn't mean you have failed. If you say no 90% than you are doing ok.

Last night i had icecream. Lots of icecream... that doesn't mean that i am going to wake up at 230 lbs tomorrow. It means that i am going to keep in the back of my mind when "life happens" that i had a treat.

You can't eat a chicken burger without a bun for the rest of your life. Eventually you will want to have a taco instead of a lettuce wrap. The thing to remember is when you eat your taco don't get mexi fries as well with sour cream and bacon and then stop at DQ for a hot fudge sunday and have popcorn for a night time snack...

PLANNING IS IMPORTANT

Even to this day i plan my meals at least one day in advance if i can. I work full time and so does my husband. By the time I get off work, pick up my son from childcare, get home and look at dinner options it is too late to thaw anything or start prep work we wouldn't eat till 7pm.
I will give you an example; at home already cooked for dinner is ham. We cooked it last night watching CSI. So ham is already done. I boil some noudles and throw in some already chopped veggies and some seasoning and my diner is done. Ham, pasta salad and snap peas... Healthy and ready in 20 minutes. Tonight when i find myself with some down time i will take steps to have tomorrow's diner started.
It is important that you put yourself back on "the list". We as mom's and wives have been so used to doing for everybody else that we sometimes forget to put ourselves on the list.
Kids breakfast, lunches, comb hair, brush teeth, work, dinner, clean, laundry, homework.........etc. This is an example of "the list" everyone has one... but for some reason our names never appear on it... This will be a hard one if you are like the rest of us....

LITTLE TRICKS

One of my little tricks was always to bring something to any function i was going to. This is why. If i was faced with a BBQ, burgers, steak, garlic bread, potato salad... you know.. those ones. I would always have a healthy option. I would bring a summer salad, or bruchetta, or salsa and pita bread... something that i knew would be a good choice.
I was usually prepared.
Another little trick is if you are planning on going out for dinner with friends make sure you choose your resturant before you go. There is a little website that has the nutritional information for almost every entree from every resturant imaginable.
www.dietfacts.com
This is a free website, no signup, no registration or passwords. You just go in and search. That way i could figure out what i was ordering first before i went. I would plan my breakfast and lunch accordingly.
Everybody is different. Everybody has their little tricks but for me it was PLANNING AHEAD!!!!

SHRINKING

So 37 lbs down here.

Getting there.

At WW they ask you to pick a goal. I was about at that point now. Picking a weight goal was something i was not willing to do. For me, to sit and tell someone i want to loose 50lbs is discouraging. 50lbs is hard. 50lbs is soo far away. But i will tell you something, i will loose 2lbs by next week...

That is how i did it. Little goals. I want to loose 5lbs by my birthday. I want to loose 2 lbs by this time next week. 10lbs by camping season. If you set your goals small to start with than you will not get discouraged. People say set your goals high. "Aim for the stars" which may work for them, but when it comes to weightloss saying "I want to loose 75lbs" feels almost impossible!!

As i reached and surpassed my little goals every week it felt impowering. I shared with whomever would listen. EVERYBODY knew i was watching my weight and doing WW so when i was invited to a BBQ or a birthday party or for dinner there was always healthy choices.

LEARNING

Learning what is good for you and what isn't sounds easy. Carrots are good and MacDonalds is bad right? Well how long do you think you can eat carrots before you find yourself at the drive thru? NOT LONG.
Anyone can eat like a bird and loose weight but the problem is when you are tired of chirping and want to EAT again. So i did some research, talked to friends and joined Weight Watchers. The thing with WW is you learn to eat what is already in your fridge at home. There is no premade meals or food to buy. So I found a meeting and started.

At first the weight came off very very fast. 20lbs in the first month!!! This is going to be easy i thought to myself. 20lbs the first month, 10 the second and 6 the third... you can see how this was going. Finally a stand still... nothing.
When i started i PROMISED myself that I wasn't willing to commit to something that i am not willing to do for the rest of my life. I am 29, the rest of my life is hopefully a very long time.

So at that point i started exercise. Just light exercise. Nothing major. Walking. Almost anyone can walk. The thing i found with exercise is you need to figure out what you are willing to give up. To exercise, you have to give up something. Weather it be couch potato time, missing your fav tv show, leaving the dishes till tomorrow, or maybe missing family time. There is something that you will be giving up. If you can incorporate one into the other you are one step ahead already.

LETS START

So here i am. Blogging.


Many ppl have asked me "How i did it?" How i managed to loose 70lbs. So i figured i would start a blog and maybe inspire someone.


My name is Mendy I am 29 years old and two years ago i was 230lbs. I was unhappy, unhealthy and obviously had no idea what i was doing food wise. Carrot sticks with your chicken nuggets and fries was my idea of a healthy meal. So what has changed over the past two years? EVERYTHING.





This was me. Was is a word i am very proud of. This was my heaviest. It was this picture that made me take a second look. Who is that girl? OMG that is me?
That is the day that it changed. That is the day that i decided i needed help.