Week 21

I'm picking up my weeks where I left off so this would be Week 21 of being ON TRACK. 

I've decided like the rest of the blog universe that I will weigh in on Wednesday instead of Sunday as I was previously. (Who thought of weighing in on Wednesday anyway?). 

Anyhoo I am down THREE POINT NINE EL BEES. Whatsss uppp. I'm sure losing four pounds just shy of a week means I had me some hefty water weight. I'm sure I still have more to go as far as that is concerned. But I've very excited about that loss. 

This time around I am super concerned with weights and toning. I am really going to be focusing on that as I have an unruly amount of sag and flab. Its so sad. 

And for aesthetics (and mouth-wateringness);

Dinner and snacks for work

Then I got to work and realized why I can't lose weight (totally had a piece)  

Another dinner (the "salad" is just a HB egg chopped with mini cucumbers)

Sandwich on a bun, 1/2 serving of chips, and a pickle 

My baby making me lunch (and paying no attention to me).

That shirt is actually a tent on him since the sucka just lost 17lbs on the Advocare 24 Day Challenge!!

Hollaaa 

The grilled chicken from above and some homemade Spanish brown rice w/ light sour cream.  

 Tonight's supper; salad w/ balsamic, soy chicken patty w/ cheese and chipotle spread 

And the best part of all. Some super cuteness!

Starting Weight: 200.8

Current Weight: 180.5

Total Lost: 20.3

Comeback!

I’mmmm baaaaaaacckk.

I’m not even going to make excuses because the fact of the matter is I was lazy and unmotivated and wanted to eat ice cream ALL THE TIME. My man friend started the Advocare 24 day Challenge about 18 days ago and I keep telling myself to get back on track but I've always been a “start on Monday” kind of a gal. Then Monday would roll around and I never went shopping and someone had pizza…

Well I’m done. I went shopping and prepped my food last night and then weighed myself this morning (on a THURSDAY!).

Look at all that deliciousness! I hard boiled all the eggs, cut up the peppers and onions for quick sautéing, sliced my strawberries and mixed them with my blueberries, and cooked up the chicken and the all-natural chicken sausage (which I am SO EXCITED to try). 

A friend I’ve had since elementary school teaches several fitness classes including Zumba, Amp’d, kettlebell, and pole dancing. I always have trouble getting to classes because I work second shift and there’s no way I can wake up for 6am spin and all the afternoon classes aren’t usually until 6pm or later (when I’m already at work). But she just started offering one at 11am on Thursdays so I am definitely going to be hitting that up!

My weight is 184.4 as of this morning. That is a gain of about 10lbs in three months. I definitely thought it was more but am totally relieved that it's NOT. 

I'm going to have be on top of planning more because my life is a little nuts right now. I'm working three jobs and I am just basically NEVER home. Hence the prepping all the foods already. I'm also hoping the general sense on healthfulness will give me drive to wake up earlier. 

What else, what else. 

I've been thinking about taking a karate class. Not for any fitness benefits, more for my personal sense of well being. I've always been kind of a pushover (I get it from my momma). But I'd be more than willing to fail if it meant another got to succeed. I often take on more than I can chew (both literally and mentally) and it has in the passed led to unrelenting stress (like the kind that requires a script). 

My goal in it would be basically to gain some self confidence and learn to stand up for what I need and what I want. 

I might try yoga too. I need me some inner peace dammit!. 

Thanks to everyone (if anyone) who stuck around. I’m 100% (re)commited!

Starting Weight: 200.8

Current Weight: 184.4

Total Lost: 16.4

Cleanse results and weigh in and emotions OH MY!

First of all, I like many others want to send my condolences, thoughts and prayers to those directly effected by the Boston Marathon bombings. In one way or another we were all effected. Those in the running community, and just as American's as a whole. 

Spring Flowers from my boy
 to cheer me up

This has been a hard week for me, and I feel guilty even saying it because I do not know anyone directly effected by the bombing, but I have been very emotionally down this week. My anxiety level has been on an all time high since the movie theater shooting. Then we had a local shooting in which a man pretty much lost it and just decided to run all over town shooting a shot gun at people. This one was difficult as one of my fellow nurses lost a friend to that. Now this. It is terrifying. 

The only thing I keep thinking is this is OUR reality. This is the world that we as adults are living in. I have a seven and a three year old. What is their reality going to be like? What is man going to be doing to each other in fifteen or twenty years. What mess are they going to be left with, what disasters are they going to have to navigate?

Aside from my emotional rant, I'm done with my cleanse. Well I've been done but really haven't been on Blogger long enough to post. That is what the second half of the semester will do to you. I ended it a day early. I had such a good Friday with the girls. We painted birdhouses, everyone got along fabulously and they decided they both wanted homemade pizzas for dinner. I had planned to do tacos because I could turn that into clean, cleanse-friendly food pretty easily. But I'm a sucker for giving in when they're both getting along so well. Those "please" faces kill me. Though I'm not sure if Bell cared what we had for dinner, but with Jay hamming it up so hard, she felt like she had to join in.

Luckily I had weighed myself that morning so I wasn't ruining it by not being aware of my true results. I lost 5lbs! This brings my total down to 173lbs. (If you're paying attention I weighed myself pre-cleanse and I was at 178, not what my previous weigh in was. Oops.)

My last tid-bit is that I've been doing a lot of working out with the boy. So far he's lost 8lbs! It's great because we compete with each other in exercise so it definitely pushes me to do more. Also I walked Bell to school today then ran home (it's about a mile each way). I did not make the whole run but hey, it's better than not doing anything. And now my cardio is done for the day! I hope it stays nice so we can keep doing that. 

Have a great week everyone!

xoxo

Starting Weight: 200.8

Current Weight: 173

Total Lost: 27.8

Cleanse Day 3, 4, and 5

I'm handling the coffee withdraws much better. Mainly because I'm not anymore. I started allowing myself a cup and a half of coffee (my coffee mugs are big ass 2 cuppers) and a half a cup of almond milk. After that it's just tea. It's helped me feel a lot better. 

Finding foods to eat is even kind of fun. I don't want to get burnt out so I find that sometimes I'm making meals of the most random things. I do however have a huge craving for carbohydrates. As in like a big piece of Italian bread, or a muffin, or crackers (and CHEESE, oh cheese how I miss you!) but I have yet to give in. Having an oatmeal in the morning helps me feel better. Surprisingly I have almost no craving for sweets now. Which is fantastic as most of the good Easter candy in the house is depleted. 

Any time I do have a craving I've been able to talk myself out of it. I know that it won't be the last time I'm offered a piece of pizza, I will have more opportunities for cookies in the break room. 

My only hope it that once the cleanse is over I don't go buck wild and have a food feeding frenzy! I do know that I am going to be having a deli sandwich (with cheese and Italian bread!) But I think I can make that work. 

I'm really loving My Fitness Pal. I always go over on my allotted sugar so that is really surprising to me. Especially because basically my only sugar sources are the fresh fruits I have. I can only imagine how badly I did here when I wasn't eating MOSTLY clean. 

Snack time! Dried apple rings, cucumber, and hard boiled egg. 

Balsamic sweet potatoes, natural PB and celery and applesauce

BEST SALAD EVER
spinach, cucumber, tomato, hard boiled egg, grilled chicken and turkey bacon.
I actually don't even miss the cheese!

On to day six!  <3

Cleanse Day 1 and 2

Boy, day 1 my Advocare Herbal Cleanse was kind of rough. I remember last time making my fiber drink with less water so I could chug it faster then downing water after (it specifically says not to do this on the package, btw for choking reasons). The drink is quite gross. Well I tried to do it this time but it was so concentrated and thick I gagged it down. Literally heaving over the sink. But the day carried on. 

Then I didn't drink any coffee all morning. I had my Spark drink but no coffee. By 7 or 8 I was hurting. My head felt like it was going to explode from caffeine withdraw. I was getting dizzy. Finally around 10pm I ended up having a caffeinated tea.

Aside from my caffeine cravings my meals were good. I never felt hungry. I finally felt as though I was getting the proper amount of water I should be consuming every day. And I really haven't been tempted into eating anything, though there has yet to be any donuts show up in the break room. Damn nurse's and their sugar. 

Breakfast was fruit and nuts, taco salad for lunch, and chicken with green beans and sweet potatoes for dinner. 

Day 2 I decided to up the water in the fiber drink, and while it made it so it took longer to go down the texture was much more manageable. I started my day off with two Sparks, but because I had class I kind of forgot to pack a breakfast. I grabbed an apple, nuts and dried fruit (just fruit, no sugar added) to go to class with me but only ended up eating the apple. I had a big lunch of egg and avacado salad, fresh vegetables and  a sweet potato. Dinner was chicken and more sweet potatoes. I don't actually think you are supposed to have starcy vegetables after lunch, but if I didn't have something more substantial I would have been pretty low on the caloric intake. 

And the best part is... no caffeine withdraw headache until 10pm but by then I'm getting ready for bed anyway. 

My daughter is certianly paying off from seeing me eat this way. She wanted to have fruit salad with momma. 

Oh and...

I got accepted into nursing school!

(assuming I pass my the anatomy and physiology I'm currently taking)

Don't forget to follow my on myfittnesspal to see my complete food log. 

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/kmcat31

Advocare Cleanse Prep Day

As I mentioned before I am going to kick off my transition from Weight Watchers to calorie counting with a good ole cleanse. I spent the majority of the day prepping food. I cut up and baked sweet potatoes, made ground turkey "taco" meat, cut up celery, hard boiled eggs, baked some chicken, and a few other small things. My goal in this is to not have it be cumbersome. I want to be able to take five minutes, throw my meals together and be out the door. To do this you need to prep. Here is what I've come up with for the next ten days.

Meal	Choice #1	Choice #2
Breakfast	Oatmeal w/ applesauce, cinnamon & raisins	Fruit salad and nuts
Lunch	Chicken & sweet potato w/ veggies	Hardboiled egg w/ cucumbers & tomatoes
Dinner	Chicken w/ veggies	Taco salad
Sweet snacks	Apple w/ natural PB	Banana w/ berries
Salty Snacks	Celery w/ natural PB	Cucumbers & tomatoes

There is not too terribly much variation but all my food is prepped, and it really is only ten days. I will do my best to take pictures of all of these as I eat them throughout the week and a half.

I plan on weighing and measuring myself tomorrow and also taking pictures to see if there is any visible difference in ten days as well. Other than that I am going to do my best to stay off the scale until the end of the cleanse so I won't be updating that again until Sunday the 14th. 

I am well aware that this isn't the weight loss portion of the Advocare, I am also not doing the whole 24 Day Challenge. I am receptive to the fact that this isn't a miracle cure to my fat. I'm pretty much just doing this to get my mind into gear and help me start eating properly and my body functioning properly again. 

(With that said I know a lot of people do lose weight. So I'm kind of hoping for a 3-5lb loss.)

Since I'm not going to do my normal update and share my weight for over a week I'll try and update every day throughout the cleanse to post pictures and share how it is making me feel. 

Any advice from previous cleansers please feel free to share!

Week 20

Today was my last day at Weight Watchers. I almost felt guilty not saying anything. This is only because I feel as though I will be perceived as a WW failure. I wanted to explain myself. But I really shouldn't feel that way. I am losing weight for me, not to prove it to a group a women (and some men). On the other hand one of the girls met goal today! That was really exciting for her and of course everyone clapped. She even got a little emotional. It made me question whether I wanted to leave it. But I ultimately do. Money being one of the big deterrents. 

healthy household

So I ordered some PB2, Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred and MY FITBIT off of Amazon yesterday! (and a b-day present for my lover)

I'm officially signed up for MyFittnessPal. I have actually had the account for a while but haven't really used it. But I did mess around with it for a bit last night. FOLLOW ME AT: kmcat31
(I probably won't start anything until Monday. I'm giving myself the Easter gift of nothing thinking about losing weight). 

And BTW. I lost 0.6 today. I'll take it!

Happy Easter everyone!

Starting Weight: 200.8

Current Weight: 175.6

Total Lost: 25.2

WW to MFP

Hello ladies! 
First of all, I'm throwing up a brag worthy picture. The one on the left was taken St. Pat's day 2012. The on the right just a year later. Doing this made me feel so much better in a time where I felt like I haven't been losing as much as I wanted lately. 

ANYWAY, As I've eluded to in previous posts I've had some dissatisfaction with Weight Watchers. I know the program works. I also really appreciate the sense of community and encouragement you get from attending meetings. In addition I know I'm not really working the program. I haven't counted points in weeks, like eight weeks. This isn't to say I've eaten aimlessly. I've tracked what I've eaten. I always have a general idea of the amount of calories (which WW doesn't use) that goes into my body. And in lieu of strict counting I really try to make good choices  Fruit over sweets. High protein meals with complex carbohydrates. Eating larger meals in the morning and waning the caloric density throughout the day. This is how I've continued to lose weight without counting points. 

I find the whole "counting points" taxing. Then I have the while counting of the activity points as well. I know this is based off of the while calorie consumed vs. calorie burned. I'm just thinking it really should be THAT simple. I don't want to have to bring a calculator to the store with me. I don't want to figure out how well I can talk while working out in order to calculate activity points (I've literally sang a few bars of a song while running). I just want to know what is going in and what I'm working off.

In addition to that I also think it is too expensive. It is over $40 a month to attend a half an hour meeting and stand on a scale. There are days where I have to bring Bell and I just go and weigh in and leave. My Fittness Pal is free and I'm considering buying a FitBit to track calories burned (plus they sync). It is a one time purchase of $60. 

All in all I think I've made my decision. I have one more week paid for of WW so I will obviously be attending. But I after I am almost positive I will be making the change to calorie counting. 

With this change I think I will be doing a cleanse. The Advocare Cleanse to be exact. I have done it before (well I did the complete 24 Day Challenge) and had decent results, but I want to give it 110% this time. I'm hoping this will give me the boost and reboot I need to make the transition. And also help with my motivation. I am really looking forward to starting something new. 

Anyone made the change from counting points to counting calories or vice versa? I know there was a round of cleanses lately, anyone have any advice? 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Kay

Meet My Other Half link-up

Linking up Elle Noel, Sarah and Kassie to expose introduce my love to the blog-universe for the Meet My Other Half Link-Up!

1. What are your thoughts on your wife's blog? 

I don't mind it, but I also don't read much if it. She does giddily update me when she reaches a new amount of views or more followers. 

2. Do you know what IG stands for? How about OOTD?

I have absolutely no idea. (He also didn't even bother to ask, so he will forever be left in the dark. King of short answers.)

3. How long would you say you've been together?

Two years, but we've been friends for 10. 

4. Does her working out and eating healthy make you want to join in?

Surprisingly yes. I started eating better and that running thing. We were hoping to run a 5k together this summer. 

5. Is there anything you can do to inspire him to workout/eat healthier?

**After rereading this question I realized I asked therefore he answered it wrong so I'm going to have to update when he's awake.**

6. What do you love best about fit/ healthy life?

That it makes her feel good. 

7. What do you like least?

At the beginning she was really strict. Constantly working out, never eating bread. But she's gotten better. We can actually go out to eat now. Like this. (This took place while we were meeting for our weekly coffee date, I was drinking a hot chocolate and we shared an Easter cupcake). 

8. How long did it take for you to agree to answer these questions?

I said yes, first try. 

Finish this Sentence link-up

Joining Holly and Jake's "Finish this Sentence" Link-Up. If you don't follow them already (which, why wouldn't you?!) do it now!

1. If calories didn't count, I would eat...

A cheese burger, with bacon. Like "the baconator" amount of bacon. Smothered cheese fries. A chocolate milkshake. And a chocolate peanut butter ice cream sundae (because the milkshake is a drink, NOT a dessert). 

2. On my Prom night....

I went with a few girls from school, but the majority of my friends had already graduated so I went for forty five minutes and had my friend Joe pick me up in his big ass truck, bass blaring, and I went to partyy. And I totally stayed in my prom dress all night while all those college kids had their jeans on. Rockin' 

On the right. My parent's gave me $100 (so not enough by
today's standards) for a dress. I spent $45 and kept the
difference! Heck yea, beer money.

3. When I go to the store, I always buy...

Something to drink (usually a big-ass-coffee). If I don't have something going into my belly I'm way more tempted to buy cheese and crackers, or chocolate dipped cookie, or cake, or... 

4. Family functions typically...

Involve inappropriate conversations and wine. Oh, and someone else cooking our food. For the passed few years we haven't cooked. We get together and go to a restaurant  This even includes Thanksgiving. Which makes the wine more expensive. 

5. I think my blog readers...

Are the bee's knees and the cat's meow. And I love that they are so diligent on commenting and love reading their blogs too!!

6. I'd much rather be.....

Somewhere warm. This winter is N-E-V-E-R E-N-D-I-N-G. We're supposed to get snow all week. Love me some Upstate NY. I think a move out west is in order. 

literally

7. I have an obsession with....

Constantly checking the news before I leave the house for possible zombie attacks. Well that's embarrassing. 

8. My work friends....

Are few, but important. I work in the hospital with ALL WOMEN (okay, there's one dude) and things can get super catty/ bitchy/ whiny. I try and lay low, get in and get out. I know who I can look to for help and I know who to avoid. 

:) My work-bff

9. When I created my Facebook account....

I was extremely reluctant. I'm a true MySpace fan. 

10. My least favorite word is...

"but". Nothing good ever follows a "but". It's either an excuse or bad news. 

11. I really don't remember....

Anything from Anatomy and Physiology 1. Trust me I could kill my overly alcohol-inated self over the summer for not at least attempting to retain some vital information. 

12. Justin Bieber....

is not allowed in my car. This is not my doing. My boyfriends 7 year old told MY 3 year old that Justin Bieber isn't cool (yeah, she actually thinks he's not cool). So when ever it comes on Bell makes me change that ish. Sad. 

Kicking this week's ASS, btw. 

Week 19

FINALLY over my slump! For four weeks I've lost only 0.8 pounds. Check out my weight loss page to see how stagnant my graph has been. Sigh. But when I weighed in today I lost 1.8! I'm only 2.2 lbs away from my BMI not being classified as "obese" anymore, and 0.4 until it's 25lbs lost! I definitely should have kicked it up a little more this week but I've been in a funk.

It attempts to get me out of said funk I went outside to catch some snowflakes with these lovely ladies.

On a side note I've been thinking about dropping out of weight watchers. I want to get a heart rate monitor and join MyFittnessPal. I think it just makes more sense for me right now. But more on that later this week. 

Hope you all had a great week!

Starting Weight: 200.8

Current Weight: 176.2

Total Lost: 24.6

Week 18

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sweaty mess

It was a busy busy week! But I'm on spring break now so I should be able to relax a bit. Just work this week. Continuing to push through my C25K and I ate really well this week. I'm so happy to be feeling better. I also got my eyebrows waxed, hair dyed, and one of the girls at work gave me her old scrubs. She recently went from a medium to a small. So now I get to donate all my larges and wear her mediums. (Just a note, I wear large-extra large in everything else, scrubs just tend to run a little bigger). 

pre-dressing

Instead of making an omelette every morning I decided to put all my ingredients into a mini loaf pans. Easy peasy trying to leave in the morning. And as you know I like to cover everything with salsa and light sour cream. I had a veggie burger dressed the same way this week with a side of cabbage. 

salsa, sour cream,
 and a side of grapes

all the way on the right,
 a hint at my green pants

 I had a really good time this weekend. My friend, a new mom herself came out for the first time since having her baby and like I mentioned before, my other friend was in from out of town. I drank a lot of green beer, did way too many shots and danced the night away. Thankfully I felt pretty good today. Just lazy and snacky. 





My mom took the day off of work tomorrow and is taking me and my sister out to lunch and to get our nails did. I'm starting to feel pretty good with all the girly-ness going on lately. Oh and my 0.8lb weight loss doesn't hurt either. It's not fantastic, but it's almost a pound. That I will take!

Starting Weight: 200.8

Current Weight: 178.0

Total Lost: 22.8

St. Patty's Day goal: 4.8/6

5k Spring Training Link Up # 1

Linking up with KTJ and Kim for their Spring Training 5K challenge! I just started Week 2 Day 1 of C25K today! I wanted to keep it Monday, Wednesday, Friday but what ever bug I had last week came back with a vengeance so I called into work and slept ALL DAY yesterday. But I woke up feeling refreshed  and ready so start kicking some ass again. I even ate breakfast at a normal time (mine are usually more like brunch) so that I could workout in the morning. 

Let me tell you, I don't know if it was the adding extra time on C25K or the fact that I'm getting over this bug, but I had a hard time today. It wasn't that I was out of breath or anything, it was the fact that I was sweating SO MUCH and becoming physically exhausted. Maybe it was too early to jump back on the treadmill after being ill, but I felt like I was going to lose motivation if I didn't do SOMETHING.  But I did it. Its done. I'll be doing it for the next four days too. My goal is to repeat a day of week one tomorrow because I plan on having a very unhealthy weekend. 

My friend is coming into town for her birthday, which of on St. Pat's day, which is my boyfriends favorite holiday, and also a big drinking day. I will be weighing in on Saturday then immediately going out to breakfast, then out to start drinking... all day, and probably eating from the street vendors. But on the plus side we are walking all day (its basically a huge block party) and possibly throwing up. I finally get to wear my green jeans!

So to prepare I plan on working extra super hard (enthusiastic much?). I downloaded an app to remind me when to drink water. It is annoyingly helpful. That, plus my extra day of cardio and eating as cleanly and routinely as possible should set me up for a decent weigh in! 

Work out gear find!

I have absolutely nothing to do with this company, nor have I ever even ordered from this website (my mother has around Christmas time; the items came, though it was quite slow) but I was browsing and thought I'd share the good deals on fitness apparel I found with you!

  6 pack of Coobie bras for $29.00 found here.

12 Pack of Ilys Sports Shorts for $33.00 found here. 

Happy shopping!

Real-Week 17

Going strong this week. I started C25K and have successfully made it through my first week. Plus I've been doing some arms and legs on the inbetween days. I plan on signing up for my first 5k next week. It will be on May 4th. I will finish C25K on May 3rd. It's cutting it pretty close but it also gives me zero chances to slack. Boyfriend has told me he is going to sign up too. He went and did stadiums a few times this week which makes me so happy and had now started his C25K. 

This coincides with KTJs  Spring Training 5k Challenge. So if you haven't checked that out head on over to her page to read up on it! I'll have ran my first 5k by her June 1st goal that way I'll have another month to keep training and (hopefully) by then I can try and increase my time! 

So my weekend at Weight Watchers wasn't fantastic, but I expected it. As you know I kind of lost my motivation lately, then at the end of the week I got hit with a stomach bug and survived off of crackers and ginger ale. I gained 0.2. I seem to be teetering around that weight for a while now but I'm getting back on track this week! The sun shining is a huge motivation!

I also think the running helps a lot. Running in the morning (which for me is like 10:30am) definitely curbs the whole wanting to eat the contents of the fridge bit. I'm also really excited for the warmer weather because I want to try my hand at running outside. 

And shorts season is coming up... agh. 

My goal is TWO POUNDS this week. I need to meet that St. Patty's day goal. I was so thrilled to blow it out of the water and now I'm at risk of not making it. 

#1 DRINK 90 oz. of WATER A DAY!
#2 Track EVERYTHING
#3 Continue C25K

Starting Weight: 200.8

Current Weight: 178.8

Total Lost: 22.0

St. Patty's Day goal: 4.0/6