Amy's Week 5 and Week 6

Welp, after a weekend in Utah and a week of not counting the calories, I'm up a pound and a half. So I'm hanging out at 173.4. I weighed myself the Friday before I left for Utah b/c I knew I would be indulging in super yummy, high cal foods and I was 171.7. I was 10 pounds down as of that Friday, but with everything that weekend and this past week, I DID NOT maintain!! Hee, hee....I made the conscious decision not to pay attention to calories this week b/c I felt it was driving me crazy, ever so slightly. So Becky, I'm on that same page as you, which is not being so hawkish and just letting myself monitor myself. Make good choices, portion control and, my favorite, eat lots of fruit.

Since I've started this journey, I've realized how much I LOVE fruit. I love berries and...ALL FRUIT. Ok, that's that.

I'm going to continue strength training every Mon. Wed. and Fri. and if it's warm enough get outside for a walk or a jog.

So in summary, Week 5 was awesome and then Week 6 was awesome too, just in different ways.

Ok, thanks for checking in. Until next time, "They can because they think they can." - Virgil

Amy's Week Four

Let me start off by saying that 1000 calorie burgers do not help the weight loss cause. That's my confession, you can assume what you'd like. Hee, hee!! I will say that b/c of the culprit, our Sat. has turned into a watch-what-I-eat day.

This week was good. To date I've lost 7 lbs as well. I'm pretty excited to be wearing, more comfortably, my favorite pair of jeans. I did my strength training Mon., Wed., and Fri. and that went well. As for my Tues. and Thurs. I tried to stay active. It's been super cold here in the mornings and I've just gotta accept that I won't be able to get outside for exercise anymore, well not for very much longer.

Not much else to report. Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, "I shot for the stars, but landed in the clouds." - Kanye West

Amy's Week Three

I've plateaued this week and I'm gonna chalk it up to bloating, if you catch my drift. The week went by fast and painless up until Friday. Maya woke up way earlier than normal Friday morning and I did not have any desire to work out....NONE, Zero, Nada. BUT, I finally did and I was very glad I did b/c I struggled that day with my calories.

As of late, I've been eating less than my daily ration, not on purpose; I think I'm finally getting use to eating less. However, yesterday was different. For one it was raining and two there are only so many things you can do inside with a toddler before you start munching right along side them. We've been good about eating more fruit (Maya's always been good at that, thank goodness) and I felt like if I'm eating fruit it doesn't matter how much I eat...it does matter. Too much of a good thing sometimes is not good. Arthur was at school until 5:30 and I just had to make it until then b/c with him my sanity level goes down...wait...no up....I have more sanity when he's around!!

I've learned something about myself...if I miss one day, it'll be tough, tough, tough for me to start up again. When I almost didn't work out on Friday I thought to myself, 'this will be the beginning of the end.' So, I got up off the couch and worked out and it felt GREAT!!

Alrighty, thanks for stopping by. Until next time, "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." -Gandhi

Amy's Week Two

I'm four pounds down, only 26 more to go!!! I'm pretty proud of myself for actually sticking to the two pounds a week.

This week was interesting. It was my little brother's birthday and we took him out to dinner on Wed. I tried really hard to prepare myself for not eating what I normally eat and after some research I realized I could get at least the burger and not the fries and be fine. Hurray!! I was glad b/c the burger is my favorite part. I did have some fries too!!!! There was also a night where Arthur came home late from work and he still had to eat dinner. I ate two dinners that night. Nothing huge, but none the less, two dinners.

With all the temptation, I feel I'm adapting to not eating as much pretty well. Of course, I still have slip ups, but I think that's normal. Workouts this week have gone smooth and successful. I lifted three times doing 3 sets of 12 reps, squats; 3 sets of 12 reps, power cleans; 3 sets of 12 reps, bicep curls; 3 sets of 15, back row; 3 sets of 12, lunges; 4 sets of 40, ab cross overs. During each one, I have a certain amount of weight on the bar or I'm holding dumbbells. One Tuesday and Thursday I did the bike workout. It's still difficult and hopefully I can add some more length to our ride/workout.

Welp, thanks for stopping by. Until next time, "Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Amy's Week One

This first full week of 'weighting' has been VERY tough for me. I knew I wasn't starving, but I definitely felt like I was going to starve to death on some days. 'My body is just adjusting to not eating all the time,' is what I kept telling myself. Which is true, I found that I munch and munch most days after 3 or 4 pm. I've had to keep myself busy with whatever so that I wouldn't go into the kitchen and eat. I've also discovered that I'm way more of a grouch when it comes to lack of food than when it comes to lack of sleep. I can deal with little sleep, but food, oh boy, I'm a wreck and poor Arthur has suffered through this first week like a champ.

Arthur has been so helpful with watching his portions and giving me workouts to do. He's been awesome. I did cardio twice this week and lifted three times. I think that'll be the new schedule for me. It's easier for me to stay inside and lift than get out and cardio....not to mention the weather is getting pretty cold so that makes the change a little easier too.

I've lost 1.6 pounds. I'm now fluctuating between 179 and 180. I've made Saturday morning my time to be weighed and it feels good. Slow and strong!!

Speaking of slow and strong. On Friday, Arthur and I went on a 'bike ride.' To me a bike ride is a leisurely ride down the street or to the park and back. Arthur's definition of a bike ride is up thousands of hills and up some more hills. Naturally I made it my cardio activity. Round trip it was 6 1/2 miles but since there were so many hills, I considered it 10 miles. Ha!!! I spent so much time going up the hills that it felt like I'd biked that many more miles! In all honestly thought, I really did enjoy myself. It felt great to get out and see beautiful Rexburg...it really is beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin

Amy's story and more.

I'd like to echo everything my wonderful cousin Becky said...way better than I ever could have said it, BTW.

I'm so ready to lose those extra...several...pounds. I, too, have been heavily inspired by my awesome sis-in-law and also by the fact that I will be WAY more accountable for what I do now that others are involved in my/our journey. I'll be blatantly honest, I've got about 25 pounds to lose, but if I lose 30 I'd be fine with that. Just in the last two months or so I've gained too many lbs to count, 7. Is that too many?? I guess if I can count them on two hands, it's countable. So, I guess my goal is to lose 30 pounds by August 23, 2011, the day I turn 30.

I'll tell you a little about me. I've fluctuated with weight my whole life, but up until this point, like my cuz, never really felt the need to lose weight. I was comfortable with my body. Since I've had my daughter (who will be two in December) I've seen weight come and go. For me, unfortunately, it has been coming and not going for about 8 months. My before pregnancy weight in Jan '08 was 173...highest I hit while prego, 196. After giving birth I range between 162 and 167 for the duration of breast feeding, about nine months. I've peaked, this morning, at 181.6 and I don't like feeling like I'm out of control, but I believe I am, slightly. My goal weight is 151.6 and boy will it feel great putting on those dusty jeans again!!

This is where Becky comes in. I need someone to literally spell it out for me and I'll do it. She's going to be my training and sooner or later I'll become hers, but for right now, I'm one of her cheerleaders and I know she's one of mine. I love that through a simple text conversation we came to this agreement and I'm so exciting to begin this battle/wrestle along side her. I can't leave out the husbands in the equation...THANK YOU for supporting us!!!
I've included some before pics. You're welcome!