Third Weigh-In

This past week I enjoyed salads with tuna for lunch and snacks, and during supper I had a complete meal that always consisted of meat (baked or slow-cooked in an electric skillet), one vegetable (mostly corn on the cob) and a limited amount of instant potatoes. However, one night during supper I had burritos, which I fried in the deep fryer. Yes, I know, not the healthiest choice, but this was one of those nights when I was so busy writing for clients that I needed something quick to fix for the family so I could get back to work, and burritos was the choice, but I certainly don't make a habit of eating fried burritos. In addition to having a salad as a snack, there were also times when I wanted something other than salad, so I had a low-fat fudge bar, grapes or a bowl of cereal (Cocoa Dots).

Throughout the day and evening this past week my drinks included water with 2tsps. orange juice stirred in, or sweet tea. I drank more of the homemade flavored water than I did tea, and one evening during the past week I had a diet Pepsi.

Unfortunately, I neglected my nightly workouts on the Ab Lounge. I was only able to work out one night out of the entire week. I had a busy week writing for existing clients as well as a new client that requires me to write five nights each week. Yes, I know I probably could have taken a short break from writing to get my Ab Lounge workout in, but work wasn't the main reason for my tardiness on the Ab Lounge. For some reason this past week I've been low on energy, tired all the time, and I experienced frequent dizziness. Maybe it's the change in my eating habits, or maybe it's something else, but whatever the reason, it prevented me from sticking to my usual workout routine.

Despite the fried burritos and not-so-active week, Friday morning I weighed-in at 278.6lbs., which is a weight loss of 3.4lbs. I tell ya, I couldn't be happier with the results. But what's really motivating is since I started my journey to weight loss I've lost a grand total of 5.4lbs. While that may not sound like a whole lot, it's a big accomplishment to me.

Have you joined me on my journey to weight loss? If so, use the comments area to tell me how you're doing thus far. Have you lost any weight? How has your diet changed? I'd love to hear all about your journey so I can cheer you on, too.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend!

Reasons Why I May Have Lost 2lbs.

Diana commented to congratulate me on my first weight loss, and she also asked if I'd share what I did differently since my first weigh-in where I gained weight instead of losing it. So, per Diana's request, I will let you know what changes I made, which I believe played a big part in my 2lb. weight loss last week.

Thanks to some wonderful advice from Diana, I stopped drinking fruit juices and turned to water with a couple teaspoons of orange juice for flavor (another generous tip from Diana). In addition to drinking flavored water, I drank Diet Pepsi instead of regular Pepsi, since it has no calories (only one a week), and I enjoyed a few glasses of instant tea with sugar. Finally, as I already mentioned in my latest post, I increased my workout on the Ab Lounge and started watching my calorie intake.

Although this update is a bit short, I believe the above-mentioned was the reason I lost 2lbs., and now I'm hoping and praying for another weight loss this week.

Second Weigh-In

I had my second weigh-in Saturday; however, I was so busy writing for clients that I didn't have time to post it. Now that I have some extra time, I'm posting the results of my second weigh-in today.

As you already know, my first weigh-in wasn't a success. Sadly, I gained 7lbs. during my first weigh-in, but today I'm happy to report that even though I didn't lose the 7lbs. I gained last week, I lost at least two of those 7lbs. I would have liked to see a bigger weight loss, but I'm happy seeing the scale at 282lbs. for now. At least I didn't gain any additional weight this week, right?

I plan to continue watching my calorie intake and working out on my Ab Lounge. At first my Ab Lounge workout consisted of 50 sets, but I've since increased my workout for a grand total of over 80 sets. Hopefully all of this will bring me a bigger weight loss to report next week.

Have you joined me on my journey to weight loss? If so, feel free to tell me how you're doing in the comments area.

My Journey to Weight Loss Chart:


Photo credit: Slushpup

First Weigh-in

Right now I feel like doing what the chimp in the picture is doing: hiding my face from embarrassment. I decided to start my journey to weight loss with natural body cleansing, and I succeeded the first night, but after that, things went down hill. Apparently, the fruits, vegetables and juice weren't keeping me satisfied. I felt hungry all the time, so what did I do, I ended up overeating with all the wrong foods. The result: more weight to lose. Yep, unfortunately, my first weigh-in was not a success. Now instead of weighing 277lbs., I weigh 284!

I still ate fruits and vegetables and exercised on the Ab Lounge, but a few of my meals and snacks were unhealthy choices. Moreover, I continued to skip meals, which they say is the worst thing you can do. I think the most challenging thing for me is working midnights. I write better at night when everyone is in bed sleeping. It's during this time when the house is quiet. Besides, I'm not a morning person and never have been. I usually have supper around 7:00pm, but since I sleep during the day, I end up skipping breakfast. Then, because I'm up working all night, I end up snacking at all hours during the night. I try to snack on fruits and vegetables, but I'm thinking it's not a good thing to be snacking throughout the night when most people are sleeping. While I can't change my work hours, I will try to snack less during the night, but I'm not sure how to do the breakfast thing. I usually end up going to bed at breakfast, and I've read it's not good to eat then sleep. Any suggestions?

So my first attempt failed, and some of my choices were wrong. That's okay, though; I'll just change the things I believe were wrong and start fresh. I know God will help me, but I have to be willing to help myself too. With that said, I'm praying for God to help me fight the temptations.

Stay with me; I know I can do it, and I will prove it. And even though it doesn't seem like it right now, I am determined to succeed and meet my goal weight; I'm just having a really tough time adjusting to the changes I guess. Please pray for me as I continue my journey to weight loss, and feel free to share any weight loss tips you may have in the comments section.

Photo credit: Greencolander

The Toughest Challenge Thus Far: Natural Body Cleansing

With healthy diet foods in my refridgerator now, I offically began my natural body cleansing this morning. Since I'm not much of a breakfast person, I normally skip breakfast. However, all that changed today. For breakfast, I had a peach. Come lunch time I was grocery shopping, so I didn't have any lunch. As for supper, the kids enjoyed hamburger helper as I ate salad with Italian dressing. And truth be told, the salad was more filling than I thought it would be. Aside from Italian dressing, my salad had two cans of tuna, lettuce, shredded carrots, cucumbers, homegrown tomatoes and cauliflower.

Each Friday when I go to the grocery store, I usually buy a Pepsi, but today, I exchanged my Pepsi for an orange juice, and for supper, I gave up my sweet tea for grape juice. Yeap, today and tomorrow will only consist of fruits, vegetables, grape juice, apple juice, orange juice and water -- a part of my natural body cleansing.

Although I'm proud of myself, the natural body cleansing is proving to be my toughest challenge thus far. It's hard not actually eating a meal, and then I watch the kids snack on chocolate chip cookies with milk. As hard as it was not to sneak one cookie, I didn't. Instead, I snacked on mushmelon, one peach and a couple cucumbers that I put in vinegar. The hardest thing is knowing I can't have the same thing the family is, but to do this right, I know I'll have to resist those temptations, and come Sunday, I'll get to enjoy a normal meal, which should make things a whole lot easier.

After this weekend, I'll continue eating healthy diet foods, but I'll return to an actual meal for supper. The only difference is I'll be replacing unhealthy food with healthy diet foods, counting my calories, watching my portions and doing 50 reps on the Ab Lounge. Hopefully this will work out for me and I'll lose a few pounds.

Subscribe to my RSS feed or via e-mail to keep up-to-date on my journey to weight loss. I'll be announcing my first weight-in next Friday, August 8, 2008.

Keep me in your prayers, please.

Is It Really Low in Fat?

As I ventured to the kitchen to start supper this evening, I discovered that someone had cooked and eaten all the spaghetti noodles. The only solution in order to have the spaghetti I had planned for supper was to take a 14 mile drive to the grocery store. Although my actual grocery shopping is done on Fridays, I figured I'd at least check out the local farmer's stand on my way, as well as the labels on what I had planned to buy for my journey to weight loss.

Once in the grocery store, I headed straight for the vegetable section. While my plans included buying fruits and vegetables for the week, I love veggie dip with cauliflower, so I decided to read the labels on the veggie dips. I read the label on the regular one and then compared it with a fat-free veggie dip. Would you believe the only difference in the labels was the regular veggie dip had 1 gram more fat calories than the low-fat? It's true, that was the only difference. The calories and everything else were the same, but to top it off, it only had 1 gram less of fat than the regular veggie dip. Truth be told, it's not really low in fat, now is it?

Even though I'd determined I could go with the regular veggie dip, I still opted out of buying it, because it does contain a lot of calories. Oh well, I'll eat my cauliflower raw or in salad with Italian dressing (unfortunately, I'm giving up my favorite Ranch dressing for Italian).

My next stop, after spending approximately 20 minutes comparing food labels in the grocery store, was the local farmer's stand. There I priced organic fruits and vegetables, since I like homegrown tomatoes, peaches and etc. better than store-bought. I had only planned on pricing the fruits and vegetables I wanted to buy Friday (or should I say today, as it's after midnight), but I ended up purchasing 3lbs. of tomatoes anyway. Then on my way back to the van, the lady asked me if I wanted a box of peaches she had. I started to tell her I'd be back tomorrow to buy more, but she told me they were free. Since peaches were on my list, I took them and thanked her for her generosity. I appreciated the free peaches, and I'm sure she'll appreciate my business (I plan on becoming a regular).

Natural Body Cleansing With Healthy Diet Foods

In order to begin my journey to weight loss, I spent yesterday doing a bit of research. Well, first, I had to complete a writing project, but soon after, I was wading through all the free weight loss advice I could find on the Internet. And of all the information I read, I kept coming across the same advice, which suggested that it's best to cleanse your body. As a result, I chose natural body cleansing as my starting point.

Rob, from the Former Fat Guy blog, said, "We should begin to experiment and test and then keep what works and discard what doesn’t." Therefore, I believe I'll do just as he said and experiment to see what will work for me and what won't. After all, Rob experimented and was able to lose a whopping 300lbs.! So I figure if it worked for him, it can work for me too.
I tell ya, this guy is an inspiration, and I'm still reading his archives to see what I can experiment with, and I look forward to sharing those experiments with you.

With that said, this journey and my first experiment will begin Friday. Why Friday? Because Friday is when I'll be able to visit the grocery store to get the healthy diet foods and drinks I'll need to start my natural body cleansing.

Now to explain my first experiment... So far everything I've read about natural body cleansing involves eating only fresh fruits, raw vegetables, and drinking fresh juices such as apple juice, orange juice and grape juice, as well as drinking water. I'll stick to eating only the healthy diet foods mentioned above, as well as drinking juices and water for two days. The experiment will be with the juices. What I've read suggested "fresh" juices, but instead of "fresh" juices, I'm going to buy my apple, orange, grape and vegetable juices from the store. Surely there's not much difference, but we'll know in two days.

To keep up with my updates, subscribe to my RSS feeds or via e-mail, both are free.

Photo credit: Dlisbona

How I Went From Petite to Obese

After I escaped domestic violence in 1998, I stepped onto the scale and was shocked to learn I weighed over 200lbs.! Being big was not something I was use to. I was born small, and in my teen years, I wore a size 8, but the low self-esteem and depression from being in a bad marriage caused me to give up on myself and my body. I knew I was turning to food for comfort but didn't realize--or maybe I just didn't see--I was getting bigger by the minute, and that's when I went from petite to obese. If only I had taken care of my body, stayed active and made better choices -- but I can't turn the clock back.

Since then I've been on numerous diets, but the problem is sticking to them. Sometimes I feel so lonely. Yes, I'm doing this alone and for me, but the feeling of loneliness is pretty depressing. This is one reason I started this blog, so that maybe that lonesomeness will go away. The other reason was to share my journey with everyone. I'm hoping WAHM's Journey to Weight Loss will inspire other men, women, teens and preteens struggling with weight loss to follow in my footsteps. In fact, I'm here sharing my journey to show that it can be done.

Unfortunately, there's obesity on my mother's side of the family as well as my father's. So even though I was lucky enough to be petite in school, I didn't make fun of others. I'm a nice person and making fun of others hurts feelings. In fact, I was best friends with a girl who was approximately 4ft. tall and a little overweight. It truly is what's on the inside of a person and not the outside. Speaking of what's on the inside and not the out, my cousin--who is more of a brother to me--weighs over 600lbs. He may be a big guy on the outside, but on the inside, I think his heart is bigger than he is, so to speak. He's very sweet and has struggled since birth with his weight. When he was born, he weighed 11lbs. Many believe he may have a medical condition that makes it harder for him to loose the weight, but if you know him, I can almost guarantee he'd become your best friend--a true friend.

I've watched my cousin over the years, and my worst fear is being in a situation that he found himself in a month ago. His kidneys had shut down on him, and his blood pressure was dangerously low when he arrived at the local hospital. From there, they decided he needed medical attention fast and made arrangements to have him flown to a bigger hospital a few hours away. However, the crew aboard the life flight refused to fly him because of his size. The alternative: his brother drove him in a truck to the hospital. Mind you, he was in bad shape and needed medical attention on the trip, but due to his size, the life flight and ambulance refused him.

When my cousin finally arrived at the hospital he was supposed to have been flown to, the doctor who took over his care was not happy with our local hospital. From what I heard, that doctor said my cousin could have died, and the hospital should have flown him instead of having him brought in by family members. This is my worst fear, being near death and having the people trained to save my life refuse me because of my size. Now my cousin had a happy ending. He's now home and his kidneys are back to normal. However, the situation could have had a sad ending, but I thank the Lord that it didn't.

If you will, please join me on my journey and help spread the word about my blog to others. When I say join, I mean cheer me on, pass along your free weight loss advice, encourage me when I'm down and/or set a goal for yourself and literally join me. If you choose to join me by setting a goal for yourself, then please feel free to share your updates. Just use the comments section below to share your updates, cheer me on, pass along your free dieting tips, share your words of encouragement and/or just to say hello.

Introduction

Welcome! Through WAHM's Journey to Weight Loss, you'll read about how I'll melt the pounds off through prayer, faith, hard work and determination. Furthermore, you'll discover free dieting tips based on what will work for me and what won't, as well low-calorie recipes, free weight loss advice and much more.

My entire journey to weight loss will not involve surgery, diet pills or weight loss programs. How do I plan to lose weight without all those things? Simple, the old-fashioned way, so to speak. I'll watch my food intake and hopefully find the time during my busy life to exercise as well.

I'm here to share my journey with you to show that one can lose weight without expensive surgery, diet pills, costly weight loss programs, and most importantly, without starving yourself or eliminating your favorite foods.

Let's begin this journey to weight loss with my before picture (taken today) and personal weight information.

Height: 5ft. 5in.

Current weight: 278lbs. (Yes, this is rather embarrassing, but, again, with prayer, faith, hard work and determination, that humiliating number will drop).

Goal weight: 144lbs.












Join me Monday as I reveal how I went from petite to obese. To ensure that you don't miss a single post, subscribe to my RSS feed or opt-in to receive the free updates via email.