Day 14 - The "Make or Break" Point

I'm putting chia seeds on hold. Obviously :)

Instead, I'm going to share my 'want' list with you. What is my 'want' list, you may ask? It's the things I want for myself parallel with my weight loss. I did this the first time around and it was empowering to state what I wanted for myself, to really put me first in this journey and make me and my wants important. So, here's my current list (I'm not looking at my last list prior to writing this one, it'll be interesting to see what's changed and stayed the same!)...

1. I want to wear cute clothes! I loved finally getting into cute stuff and not having such a limited selection on my last go around. I sooooooo look forward to wearing cute stuff!
2. I want my knees to not hurt.
3. I want my pants to not slouch down below my crack line. It's brutally honest, I know. But it's a biggie for me. Curvy girls will agree, it sucks to constantly be thinking about your own plumber's butt.
4. I want to not have my stomach hang over the counter when I lean over to do dishes. It gets soaked and it further highlights my chub. 
5. I want to feel my husbands hands around my waist like they are completely wrapping me, not as though they are stretching like Spandex. 
6. I want to be able to keep up with my kids.
7. I want more energy.
8. I want, DESPERATELY, the complete confidence walking out the door every day to face the world as just Kara. Not as chubby-girl-behaving-slightly-awkwardly-to-unsucessfully-hide-her-fat. It doesn't fool anyone.
9. I want to prove to the world that you can eat delicious things, everyday foods, and lose weight. I can't stand the idea of eliminating food groups, living off of liquids, 3 day diets, pills, and letting someone else do the thinking and work for you by having food delivered to your door.
10. Lastly, I want to conquer the world with cake. (For all my newbie followers, I'm a pastry professional specializing in wedding cakes and special occasion cakes. Go see here: www.karascouturecakes.com). When I'm comfortable in my own skin, I'm comfortable with asserting myself and taking charge of anything I set my mind to. Domino effect, I suppose. But man, I miss that feeling!

As I did once before, please feel free to state what YOU want for yourself in the comments below. Let the world know where you want to go. Say it out loud and make it real!

OH! Wait! One last thing I want...

I want to be featured on a Weight Watcher's commecial :) If I get to my goal, which is 100 pounds lost, I'm sure they would love another poster child! And if I get to my final weight I will have lost 115 pounds, then they can't ignore me :)  *Center of attention complex*

Day 244 - Hydration

I'm sooooo bad at drinking anything, least of all--water.

 But it is so crucial to weight loss. I know this from my journey thus far. I fell off the boat during my pregnancy hiatus, though. (Hahaha! Fell off the boat. Like into water : ) Pun intended.)

It's boring to me. But I also think that because I have been so used to NOT taking in liquids for most of my life (like since I can remember) that I don't get to the point of feeling parched or dehydrated. Perhaps I do though and I'm accustomed to it that I don't even know what it really is anymore.

So today's focus--drink all my water/liquids. This is 8 cups. And I can't use wine as a "liquid"... *sigh*

Any hints or tips to getting in all this water? Leave your suggestions below. I promise I'll try them!

Day 236 - Struggles

I'm having a hard time with wanting to eat the proper foods. I could easily blame it one the amazing 3 weeks trip I recently returned from (based on eating and drinking wine for the better part of each day during the 3 weeks). But I have to blame it on me...

I knew that I would need to adjust many things about my lifestyle to make this weight loss doable, long term and sustainable. I have ignored my own better judgement and haven't worked physical activity into my lifestyle. Why does that have anything to do with eating the proper foods? Let me illuminate.

I should be doing this...

When you are more physically active, specifically when you exercise, you need to eat more to fuel your how much energy you're using. This is great! This means eating more (and who doesn't want to eat more and lose weight) and being able to indulge a bit. On Weight Watcher's, you earn Activity Points for the physical things you do, which are then able to be exchanged to eat more, or slightly higher point value foods (yes, the points and calculating seems tedious and obnoxious to some, but I'm a closet office nerd and love this stuff!). This is part of what makes this new lifestyle easier to transition into--not feeling deprived! When you feel deprived on when trying to lose weight, binges and other self-defeating behaviors ensue. So instead of eating all of my veggies one day, I ate 1/3 of my points in chocolate...

I also haven't set myself up for success since I've been home from my trip. I have my trigger foods surrounding me (which is my own doing and no one else's) and have developed a craving again for sugar that had subsided.

Instead, I'm eating this.

What am I going to do about this?

I've already started by admitting this to my very supportive hubby. I've told him that sugar is becoming a problem again, and that I hid 2 amazing milk chocolate bars from him so that I wouldn't lose any to his sweet tooth. I asked him to remove the problem foods from the house (and I disclosed where everything was and which 'normal' pantry items would taunt me requiring their removal). This was done in a moment of clarity. I'm going to get sugar crazy again before I kick the cravings and I'm prepared for it.

Do you have a sugar problem, too? Perhaps in the form of chocolate, or ice cream, or Buttered PopCorn JellyBelly Jelly Beans? (<---- me again)  Let this comment section be your Sugar Addicts Anonymous! Tell the world and then take control!

Day 139 - An Interview With Matt, Part Two

Part two of our interview with a fellow CIA student Matt. Click here to read part one.

Kara: Have you incorporated physical activity at all?
Matt: I did. I started with 20 minute increments in cardio and worked my way up to and hour. After about two weeks of that though, I was getting bored. So I started using weights. And I did that for about a month. But summer break came and I stopped working out. I could tell that I was losing muscle weight because I dropped 5 pounds by doing nothing. Then I went back up those 5 pounds. It's been tough getting back to it. Lot's of stress going on. Makes it tough.

Kara: Between cardio and weight training, which did you feel was more beneficial to your weight loss?

Matt: Cardio without a doubt. Weight lifting definitely sustained my weight loss but it didn't help me lose any more. Cardio is the way to go.

Kara: What has been hardest about losing the weight, other than changing your eating and physical habits? For me it's been under-growing all of my clothes and feeling frumpy in them because they are so loose. What is it for you?

Matt: Yeah! It's bad! I wanted to wear suspenders the other day and when I put them on my pants and there was this big old pocket in the back, and was like 'I can't wear this now.' And my class schedule messes up my breakfast and lunch, which messes up my day somewhat.

Kara: Have you given yourself any time limits- not eating past a certain time?

Matt: That's actually what I credit most of my weight loss to, not eating past a certain time. When I was hardcore losing, I stopped eating at 7pm. And to stave off the hunger I would drink a lot of water and chew gum.

Kara: What have been the greatest benefits other than improving your overall health?

Matt: Compliments! The compliments are nice. And going up Roth Hall stairs is cool, I'm still a little winded after four flights, but it's not as bad now. And I got a girl, I guess. *he gets a little red and bashful at this point : )* So that's nice.

Kara: Did you have any Ah-Ha moments when you realized you could do something physical again?

Matt: Actually my parents have some property upstate and there's a big hill in the back and I used to run with my dog up the hill, and halfway up I'd have to stop and catch my breath. Now I can just run right up it.

Kara: Have you found a lot of support from friends on campus?

Matt: Yeah, they'll say that I'm looking great, and keep up the good work. You know, it helps with the motivation.

Kara: How does your family react when you go home?

Matt: Well, they've seen me in between here and now, but they support me. Being home, though, can be terrible--something about home. I think I've just been eating bad my whole life and that just comes natural when I go home.

Kara: What has been your biggest obstacle other than being surrounded by all of this food?

Matt: I hate exercise. I loathe it. I detest it.

Kara: Have you found difficulties with people socially now that you interact with food differently?

Matt: Minor ones. I'll be out with friends and they'll want to split something and I can't, and I order a salad instead. They'll ask why I don't want to eat something and it feels like, you know 'This is hard enough already. Stop tempting me.'

Kara: How about tips, advice, motivational words for anyone who wants to lose weight but might think they can't do it?

Matt: If I can do it, anyone can. *laughs at his own cliche* But you've got be ready to do it. Something clicks in you, that you're going to do it and it's going to be now. I'm doing this, I'm losing the weight.

I agree Matt. Thank you for your candor and your time! : )

Tomorrow: Foods I can't live without. 

Day 129 - Supportive People

Kara and Shinera.

Meet Shinera (kissing my cheek). Shinera is someone who cheers me on when I undertake a new obstacle course. She believes in me before I even believe in myself. She might even think I'm Wonder Woman. Whatever her reasons for being behind me 100%, her support is so vital in my journey. Support from family and friends in any undertaking is key to achieving things bigger than you even set out to achieve.

I'm not trying to sound cheesy motivational speaker-ish, but a community of people dedicated to you and what you want to accomplish is important in any undertaking in life. I have found this to be mostly true when you are trying to change your lifestyle for the better. People get used to you as they know you, habits and all. It becomes part of them in a way, and it's hard to change how you interact with another person especially if certain social aspects need to change to make you a better person. I come from an Italian background where the center of every gathering is food. Even when we get together with friends it starts with food. My husband and I had rituals with some of our friends in Buffalo- every Tuesday night, we ordered in, played cards and spent the evening catching up. Those habits of socialization and gathering are hard to rearrange. That's why people like Shinera are so key to successful weight loss journeys. Changing certain things about my lifestyle is as much a reason to support me as is going back to school at 29 years old.

Wherever you find your support group--family, friends, co-workers, partners in crime at Weight Watchers : ), peers at school, significant others, even your children--soak up their support! It was awkward for me at first; I've always been rather reserved and independent. But allowing that positive energy to flow into my life, accepting for the first time ever that others accept me, and just enjoying the love, warmth and support around me has been life changing (having nothing to do with my waistline). This journey has been about so much more than weight loss. And to anyone and everyone out there who has offered so much as a "Hey, you look great" or changed their whole lifestyle around (like the man at the center of my world) I thank you. I could not have succeeded thus far without you.

Find a support system. And if you have a good one, give them a shout out below.

Tomorrow: My Rough Week in Review