Yay!

Back under 200 pounds! I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 198. SO happy to see a 1 and not a 2. It's one of the best feelings ever.

How I did it, on vacation.

I can't believe I lost weight on vacation. This NEVER happens for me!

I went to St. Louis with 5 other people for a weekend mini vacation. I knew it was going to take a lot of self discipline, but I was determined not to fail.

The most difficult thing on this vacation was staying away from alcohol. One of the things that I do w/ this group of people is drink. We go out to bars, drink lots of beer, have fun & laugh together. I knew that I could not drink any alcohol on this trip so I stuck to water & diet cokes. It's not fun when you're hanging out with a bunch of drunk people & you're not drunk. Luckily they were nice enough to bring beers back to the hotel, so at least I wasn't in a bar environment.

Eating was pretty easy. The first day we went to an Italian sandwich place. I really wanted a sandwich but instead I got a salad w/ salami & ham on it. At the BBQ place the next day I just didn't eat the bread & I got green beans and coleslaw as my side (I was so happy to see that the coleslaw was oil/vinegar based and not creamy). I skipped on all desserts besides for a bubbletea & a sugar free cheesecake at the casino. I even skipped on the appetizers that were deep fried. I also brought packets of almond butter with in my purse. When I would get hungry & couldn't just eat a bag of chips from the gas station, I would eat the almond butter like astronaut food. It did the job.

We also did a lot of things that required us to walk a lot. We went to the zoo and walked around all day & we also went to the St. Louis City Museum which is basically a giant jungle gym. We climbed through things, climbed up ladders & slid down slides. It was fun & I bet it burned some calories.

So, all in all the vacation was a success. I am currently 12 pounds down from a little over a week ago. It's going well.

Yay!

I kicked 8 pounds in the face this week. Go me!

New Post!

Okay it's been forever. I've been having a lot of health problems lately which have caused me not to focus so much on my diet. Food makes me happy, so when I am sad, I eat. W/ the combination of stress, my diet & health problems... the very expensive antibiotics I've been on 3 times now, are not helping.

I know someone who is into holistic healing & she introduced me to an illness that I may have. All my symptoms match up. It's a little unreal. But it also makes complete sense.

So for a week now I've been following a very strict diet in order to balance the good & bad bacteria in my body. It's been going okay.

Things I can't have:

- SUGAR! This eliminates all carbs & even fruits w/ high sugar content like apples.
- Beans & Legumes cause they break down into sugar.
- Moldy fruits like melons & oranges.
- Potatoes, squash & corn.
- Dairy
- Alcohol
- Caffeine (which I am cheating on & allowing myself 1 small cup in the morning)


Things I can eat:
- Meats: Beef, Buffalo, Chicken & some fish (fatty fish like salmon)
- Green veggies!
- Sweeteners like Stevia & Agave Nectar because they are natural
- Walnuts & almonds
- Eggs
- Live culture yogurt, plain & not sweetened
- Herbal tea
- Alternative grains like quinoa
- onions, garlic, spices, olive oil & coconut oil
- Avocados (cause they help to break down sugar)

So example of what I might eat is as follows:

Breakfast- Yogurt w/ agave nectar, walnuts & cinnamon & small coffee.
Lunch- Fish & quinoa.
Dinner- Beef, onions, green beans w/ an over easy egg on top.

I also take a supplement called acidophilus which helps balance the bacteria in your system. I also drink A LOT of water. It's really hard eating out like this. I was at a wedding this weekend & luckily it was family style so I had beef, chicken & veggies. I was SO sad to pass on the bread, pasta, blue cheese in the salad & the root beer floats. I'm hoping this makes my body feel stronger & healthier. I feel a lot better only being a week into it. Another week & I should be able to introduce a few more things into my diet.

Jogging & Goals

I've decided the only thing that will keep me on track is setting a goal. My goal is 50 pounds by October. We've decided to take a little vacation then. It will be the end of wedding season & pre-holiday season... my favorite month & perfect for a mini vacay. We'll probably end up in San Francisco again because I LOVE that city & want to move there... so until that becomes a reality (if ever) I will just visit once a year. If we do end up going there, it will be twice in 2010.

50 pounds is my ultimate goal. I will be 150 pounds then. Perfect weight to me.

I know I can do it. That's about 10 pounds a month. If I stick to my calories & up the exercise it will be a piece of cake. Easier said then done of course.

I've kinda been into jogging lately. I still have a mini fear of public humilation when it comes to jogging though. I really don't want anyone looking at me. I REALLY enjoy it though. Load my iPod shuffle w/ some fun songs & jog away. I'm so antsy & it really helps to clear my mind. Lets hope I stick to it!

Something Positive.

Today I went to the "lady doctor". I haven't been since well before I was married because I didn't have health insurance. It was so nice to have the doctor have a really positive response to seeing my weight written down on paper next to my old weight. She was proud of me. I even had nurses congratulate me & ask me how I did it. It makes it all worth while knowing that not only do I look better... the more important thing is that I am a lot healthier now. It also made me realize that I need to do it... to lose these last 50 pounds. It's been SO HARD!

I totally went to my friend's house and ate a chorizo taco. The only difference is that new Maggie got a Styrofoam container of 2 chorizo tacos, beans and rice and only ate one taco & not all the beans and rice.... old Maggie would of polished that puppy off. It was still gross of me to eat it at all. It sure was delicious!

Okay, I need to stop being gross.

The Things I love

www.livestrong.com

The Livestrong.com "My Plate" application. It allows me to keep track of calories as well as my workouts. I also like that it will keep track of your weight as well as your measurements. It's really fantastic & has helped me get back into the swing of things.

The Jackie Warner, Power Circuit Training DVD.



This video is almost an hour long & I feel like it works every single muscle in my body. I was sore for 3 days after I tried it for the first time. I pair it w/ Biggest Loser Cardio Max or a Jillian Michaels video for some cardio. I just LOVE it.



Such a GREAT podcast. I listen to it while I'm photo editing. It's hosted by 2 women. One woman lost a large amount of weight & the other is a body builder. They talk about various health related topics from what foods to eat or how to start running... I think it's really inspiring.



I am a REALLY big coffee drinker & I like sweet coffee. One thing I refuse to give up is half & half. So, I buy the fat free half & half. It still makes my coffee really creamy. The Splenda coffee flavors are soooo good. I've had mocha, hazelnut, caramel & vanilla... the mocha is by far my favorite.


This Recipe for Gingery quinoa salad w/ apples, peas & coconut. It is quite possibly the most delicious thing I have ever made. When I made it before, Justin and I ate it as dinner but I think I'm going to try making it with some baked fish. Quinoa is incredibly filling!