Weigh-in #12 - Biggest Loss Yet!

As you keep reading, you'll discover why I'm so excited about this weigh-in report. Okay, I won't keep you in suspense. One, I did hit the 270s, and two, this is my biggest weight loss report since I started blogging my journey to weight loss. How big? 8 pounds! Yes, that's right, when I stepped onto the scale Saturday it showed that I weighed 272.4 pounds. I'm sure the loss is from being sick and having no appetite for two weeks, but I'm going to do my hardest to keep from gaining any of it back. In fact, I hope that my next weigh-in will have me in the 260s.

Since I finally got rid of that nasty stomach flu, I'll resume my exercises and watch my calorie intake (yep, the appetite has returned). I hope and pray that if I stick to exercising and eating right I'll have more good news in a few weeks. Stay tuned and keep praying for me as I continue my journey to weight loss.

Previous weight (2-2-09): 280.4 pounds
Current weight: 272.4 pounds
Total lost since last weigh-in: 8 pounds

Weigh-in #11

I spent Friday night in the local emergency room with my 16-year-old daughter. Her tonsils were swollen and had white streaks all over them, which usually means strep throat. In addition to all that, she was complaining of abdominal pain, had a fever and chills, and was sick to her stomach.

After waiting for approximately three hours for a doctor to see my daughter, we learned that, basically, she had the flu, which had been going around. Well, come Saturday morning, I caught what she had, and the both of us were sick. Since Saturday, I've been unable to hold my head up, so I've pretty much been in bed resting and taking it easy -- except for the times when I was up nursing my daughter.

Although, I'm still not feeling up to power, I can at least hold my head up again. Besides, I was really getting tired of being in the bed; a person can only stand the bed for so long. Anyway, because I've been sick, I wasn't able to weigh in until yesterday evening, and I'm happy to report that I've lost 1.6 pounds. I would imagine some of that weight loss is from being sick, because I haven't been able to eat anything for two days. I tried eating Saturday night, but the small portion that I did eat didn't stay down, so I've been living off Mint Green Tea, cough syrup and Halls cough drops since Saturday evening. Even if my illness played a part in this weigh-in, I'm still happy I lost, and I plan to lose even more for my next weigh-in. If my plan works, I should be back in the 270's in two weeks. Yep, I'm crossing my fingers and hope you are, too.

Previous weight (1-16-09): 282.0 pounds
Current weight: 280.4 pounds
Total lost since last weigh-in: 1.6 pounds

Weigh-in #10

It's been too cold here in Southern Illinois to walk, but I have worked out on the Ab Lounge. By looking at the results of my weight-in, though, I guess I need to add some additional exercises to my routine when it's too cold to walk. I realize -- and am thankful -- that I still lost weight, but it wasn't a great weight loss. Even though the numbers aren't huge, a little is better than gaining, right?

The process may be slow, but I'm getting there. Yes, I know if I were able to be more active, I could probably report bigger numbers for my bi-weekly weigh-ins, but at least the numbers on the scale are going down and not up. Who knows, maybe I'll have a bigger loss to report at my next weigh-in, since I have plans to increase my fiber intake and try some new exercises. I'll let you know how that goes, of course.

Until the next weigh-in, keep reading as I share my adventure as well as weight loss advice, and pray for me as I continue my journey to weight loss.

Previous weight (1-3-09): 282.8 pounds
Current weight: 282.0 pounds
Total lost since last weigh-in: 0.8 pounds

Weigh-in #9

I'm happy to report that I'm starting 2009 out 2.2 pounds lighter! All that Green Tea, attempts to stay as active as I possibly can and watching my calorie intake must be paying off. I wish I could achieve a much bigger loss, but I'm satisfied with the small ones; at least I'm losing and not gaining.

By my next weigh-in, I hope to report a bigger loss as I begin to work on my weight loss goals for 2009. I believe once I create an exercise plan and start following that plan at least three days a week, I should see a bigger loss.

Previous weight (12-8-08): 284.4 pounds
Current weight: 282.8 pounds
Total lost since last weigh-in: 2.2 pounds

Weigh-In #8

It's been over a month since my last weigh-in, so I thought I'd better give you an update... When I stepped onto the scale Friday morning, I weighed 284.4 pounds. Yes, I know that's not a lot for a whole month, but at least the numbers are starting to go back down instead of up. That said, I'm not overly joyed with the 1.6 pound weight loss, but I'm thankful.

I'm still drinking the Green Tea often and my hunger cravings aren't as bad as they use to be. I'm also watching what I eat and have plans to begin exercising again. I know there will be a number of exercises that I won't be able to do without triggering an asthma attack, but there's always quite a few that I can do that will still burn calories. I figure once I get rid of a lot of this weight, my asthma will improve and allow me to add some of the other exercises that I'm not able to do to my routine. I guess I'll just have to see, and I'll do my very best to keep you updated. With my new writing schedule, I should find more time to get this blog back on its feet.

Stay tuned for my next weigh-in on Friday or Saturday. Hopefully, I'll have a bigger weight loss to report. Until my next post, take care of yourself and stay healthy.

Previous weight (10-29-08): 285.6 pounds
Current weight: 284.4 pounds
Total lost since last weigh-in report: 1.6 pounds

Returning to Continue My Journey to Weight Loss

First off, I'd like to apologize to y'all for my absence. The good news is I'll be returning, but the bad news relates to why I haven't updated you on my journey to weight loss in a while. The truth of the matter is when I first started this journey I weighed in at 278 pounds. One week later I was at my highest weight ever: 284 pounds.

I've been struggling with my weight for over 10 years, but I've never weighed over 278 pounds until I began blogging about my journey to weight loss. When I decided to blog about my journey, I became serious and really buckled down to buy and eat healthy foods. I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but soon after I got serious about losing weight, I reached my highest weight ever. So to be honest, I became very discouraged and had no motivation to continue blogging weight gain after weight gain--and not being able to get back down to under 280 pounds didn't help matters any.

I was doing everything I possibly could to lose the weight and at least get back down to less than 280 pounds. I even ordered one of Jillian Michaels' workout DVDs and was excited when it arrived in my mailbox. Unfortunately, that excitement faded the first night that I watched the DVD. I picked out a few of the exercises from the DVD for beginners, but within five minutes after I started exercising, I had an asthma attack. I sat down and figured I'd decrease the amount of exercises I chose to do and give it another go the next day. Again, I failed. This is when I really got down in the dumps, because I realized that my asthma was going to keep me from performing the exercises I wanted. I tried to take my inhaler before doing the exercises, and although it helped a little, I was still unable to do the amount of exercises I needed to burn enough calories.

I've had asthma since I was a teenager and it has never stopped me until now. Of course, it has gotten worse over the years because I smoke (a habit I picked up before I discovered that I had asthma). It's hard to quit smoking after I've done it for years, but that is among my plans as well. I figured I'd lose my weight first and then quit smoking. I have to take things one day--and one step--at a time.

Last time I blogged, I weighed in at 282 pounds. Now that I'm re-motivated a bit, I want to continue sharing my journey to weight loss with y'all. However, to keep myself motivated, instead of weighing in every week, I'll be weighing in every other week. With that said, I'd start over at my weight today, which is 285.6 pounds.

Please forgive me for my absence and pray for me as I continue to fight this battle with my weight.

Sixth Weigh-In

After two weeks of weight gains, I'm happy to report that this week's weigh-in was a success! I weighed in this week at 282.0 pounds, which is a weight loss of 2.8 pounds. I plan to really increase that loss next week, because I've decided to up my workout so I can burn even more calories.

When my husband first bought me my Ab Lounge a couple years ago as a Christmas present, I worked out on it every night for about 2 months, and during that time, I lost 50 pounds. However, like all new exercise equipment, once the new was worn off, I let it sit and collect dust. I know, bad idea, but this time around, I plan to continue my workout on it, as well as do the workout from a new video I ordered. The new video is due to arrive to my door on Wednesday, so I'm really looking forward to burning more calories with the Jillian Michaels for Beginners -- Frontside / Backside video.

In addition to my new workout routine, I'm going to increase my protein and fiber intake. From all the research I've done over the past few months, I learned that eating foods high in protein and fiber helps burn fat. With that said, I plan to put the information to the test, and you'll be able to tell if it works from my weekly weigh-in reports and updates.

When I started WAHM's Journey to Weight Loss, I announced my goal weight, which I hope to reach by this time next year. That goal weight is more of a long-term goal, so I've decided to aim for a short-term goal as well. With the holidays just around the corner, I'd like to be a bit on the lighter side this year. With that said, I'm setting a new short-term goal to lose 24 pounds by Christmas. I realize 24 pounds may not be a big number to shoot for, but it's something, and I don't want to set a goal too high. If I meet my short-term weight loss goal, I'll be happy, and if I lose more than the short-term goal I've set for myself, that would be even better, of course.

Until next time, enjoy your weekend and God bless you and yours.

Fifth Weigh-In

I weighed in this week at 284.8lbs., a weight gain of 2.4lbs. I tell ya, I'm so disappointed with myself. The worst part is this week I didn't eat out as much and I did my best to watch my calorie, fat and sugar intake, but I still gained weight instead of losing it. I suppose I'll just have to try harder to achieve a weight loss next week.

I guess I should start exercising again. I've been so busy working that I didn't exercise at all this week, and I really did have plans to. In fact, I had planned to add some exercises to my routine, but I stayed so busy that I didn't get around to it. I'll just have to push harder and pray for the determination I need to get back to my exercises. With prayer, anything is possible.

Until next time, stay healthy and keep me in your prayers.

Fourth Weigh-In

Unfortunately, I weighed in at 282.4 this week. That's a 3.8lb. weight gain, and I'll admit that I'm to blame due to some bad choices during Labor Day. I had hoped to get my workouts in after Labor Day to burn off the calories and at least see a small weight loss, but I was only able to get in one workout, and apparently, one workout didn't do it.

On Labor Day, I woke at 7:00am and left the house to pick up my kids from their dad's house. Once I arrived there, my phone rang. It was my dad. He told me something was wrong with him and thought he might need to go to the hospital. I told him I'd be over as soon as I picked up the kids. Now you have to know my dad. This is a man who hasn't been to a doctor in over 10 years. He's stubborn and doesn't like to go to the doctor, so when he said he thought he needed to go, I knew something was wrong.

Anyway, I headed to dad's after picking up my kids. He had a rash of some kind on his belly and thought it was a spider bite. He said it was hurting him and wanted me to go to the store to get him some Benadryl and see if that would help. I was concerned that the bite was causing him a lot of pain, but he refused to let my husband and I take him to the ER. He said he'd go Tuesday if the so-called bite didn't get better. I bought him the Benadryl and my husband, stepson, my kids and I headed for home.

The kids were hungry, so my husband decided to stop at Burger King to feed them. Yes, that was the first bad choice. Instead of ordering healthy from Burger King, I gave in to the temptations and ordered mozzarella sticks and a steakhouse burger.

Later that afternoon, my phone rang again. This time dad was in a lot of pain and said that maybe he should go to the ER. I headed back to my dad's house to pick him up and take him to the ER. We arrived at the local hospital at around 2:00pm that day and didn't get called back to see a doctor until a few minutes until 6:00pm; the ER was packed.

Turns out dad had Shingles and he'd had them since Thursday. That explained why he was in a lot of pain, but he was also very, very short of breath, which the doctor said wasn't related to his Shingles. She gave him a shot, prescribed medicine, instructed him to make a doctor's appointment for the following Monday and sent him home. By this time it was late and none of us had had supper, so after we took dad home, we ate a late supper at McDonalds. I was so hungry by this time that, again, I didn't order healthy. Not ordering healthy was bad on my part, but eating fast food after 9:00pm made things worse.

And that, my friends, is why I think I gained weight instead of losing it. I am, however, thankful that it was only 3.8lbs, because I honestly feared a bigger weight gain. I tell ya, it's so hard to order healthy when everyone else is eating the things you want and you haven't eaten in quite some time.

This week I plan to eat healthier, and hopefully eat at home. I also plan to workout more often, and I may even increase my workout to include a few exercises that don't involve the Ab Lounge. I'll let you know how things go next week, and hopefully that weigh-in will be different.

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!

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