The stairs/ Monday Weigh In

Alright, so I told you that I was going to take the stairs at the hospital in my last post... Well, I took them and Mom went with me.... And.... We got locked in the stairwell. Found out that the baby floor is not one you are allowed to enter through the stairs. Thankfully a nice nurse just gave us a short lecture and let us in and sent us to the sign in desk( that we intended to go to anyhow). I was thankful. On the say up the stairs I said to mom " I hope we don't get locked in the stairwell. I'd feel like I was on Days of Our Lives and Steffano would show up!". Lol. Anyhow. I got in trouble with the nurse but I did what I told you I would do. Lol.

Moving on...
It's Monday, so I weighed in. After a full week of no working out due to restriction and being out of town I was surprisingly excited to weigh. As I posted in my blog last week I was really focused on nutrition this week since my workouts were restricted. I also posted about sticking with my plan in Knoxville. I had one bad calorie day on Saturday due to Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast, but I had all day to burn those off. So overall I felt as though my week was successful and that it was.

Last week I weighed 189.6... Today I weighted 185.8. I lost 3.8 lbs this week. At first I was nervous that all I lost was muscle, but I don't believe that it would be all 3.8. So I may gain a little back as I begin training again this week... Hopefully. But I was pleased.
So in the last 2 weeks I have lost 4.8 lbs. I'm looking forward to this week!

I go to the doctor tomorrow hopefully to be released. I'm still tight in my back and I have some pain in one specific place but hopefully I can get back in the gym.

Thanks for reading,
be sure to follow me!

I'm now Aunt Bethney.... how I'm sticking with it on my trip to see Everett!

Here are a few pictures of my nephew, Everett Jamison Terry.  He was born yesterday at 10:13 am eastern time.  He weighted 8lbs 7oz and was 21.5 inches long.  He already has my heart.  My brother was so sweet to want me to come when I could stay a few days and he has encouraged me to do little things like lotion his feet to help me get comfortable with him.  I'm getting comfortable thats for sure... so here are the pictures and below continues my blog post about how I'm sticking with it when all I have to do is set and hold my new nephew. :)

Look at that cute mouth!

When I first held him on his birthday

Day 2!

What a tiny little foot!

So in the pictures above I am encouraged because I feel like my face is beginning to thin out a little, but it might be the angle.... I don't know.

So here I set with family, out of town, and we're doing a lot of sitting. 

Well, the sitting isn't too bad because as my last post stated, I'm already restricted to walking only. So that's no big deal at all.  But when you leave town how on Earth are you supposed to eat healthy, which is what I'm really focusing on this week.

Well my first step was planning ahead.  When I packed I packed snacks to bring... it was simple... bananas (90 calories), clementines (35 calories), and 1 cup servings of multigrain Cherriod (110 calories)... oh and my water bottle (0 calories)
Those snacks work great for in between meals so I don't grab a Starbucks in the lobby of the hospital or grab a candybar out of the vending machine etc.

I have also stayed right on top of my Lose It app on my iPhone.  I have eaten out three times on this trip,  Chic-fil-a, KFC, and Olive Garden... heres what I did....

Chic-fil-a, which yesterday I wanted to call "Chic-fill up my calories for the - day", but anyhow. I ate it on my way out of town with my hubby, who I miss dearly right now.  I simply ate what I wanted. Spicy chicken sandwich and fries with a sprite.  So being that that was quite the calorie full meal I simply ate a homemade turkey sandwich for dinner last night and didn't go over my calories at all. By the way, I love Chic-fil-A and I love their atmosphere and Christian run business. "my pleasure" is my favorite.

KFC... now what on Earth do you do here other than not order... I ordered one grilled chicken breast (210 calories) mashed potatos with gravy (120 cal) and a biscuit (180 cal).  Its possible. I ate 510 calories total for lunch.. did you know that a fried chicken breat (just one piece) alone is 510 calories.  I also drank water from my own water bottle, saving me calories, sodium, and $.

Olive Garden...... Oh MY those breadsticks are good... here's what I did.... I ate a small amount of salad because it is coated in dressing. I have ordered my salad separate with fat free dressing on the side before, but for simplicity purposes tonight I let it be.  I ate very little croutons.  (117 calories, for the portion that I ate) I ate ONE breadstick (150 cal) and then I requested that no more be brought to the table.  That helped a lot. and thank goodness for the support of my Dad who is actually the one who vocalized the request because he knew.  Then I ordered CHEESE RAVIOLI (I must be crazy right,... wrong!) I normally order the apricot chicken, but I really wanted pasta and cheese. So when it rang in at a whopping 660 calories I requested that a to-go box be brought WITH my meal. I separated out half of my ravioli before I tasted it.  So, I ate 330 calories worth instead.  So dinner was 597 calories at Olive Garden.

So, there it is.... you can eat out and eat healthier than you may realize.  I surprised myself today as a matter of fact.  All of my calorie counts came from the Lose It app and from online nutrition charts found on most restaurant webpages.

So, here was my one cheat of the trip so far. On the way back to the hospital from Olive Garden my MeeMaw wanted to stop and get Krispy Kreme for the morning. Dad and I were talking about how they literally melt in your mouth. We pull in and the "Hot and Fresh" sign was on. Of course, right?. So MeeMaw and I ate a hot and fresh glazed donut each in the backseat.  (200 cal) thats right, Krispy Kreme has a nutrition chart on their website!..... couldn't find it on lose it. we found humor in that.  Anyhow. I enjoyed a great donut with my grandmother and I'm okay with that.  I went over by 200 calories today, but I can guarantee you that it was a huge success for me to stop at one donut.  Sometimes (most times) our successes don't make us perfect, sometimes our successes just put us a step closer to our goal.  Today was my first day to go over for the week. So tomorrow, maybe I'll take the stairs at the hospital to help burn it off :) *and Mom is reading over my shoulder, so she'll make me* (that means she goes too)

All in all I feel that I am having amazing will power (with God's strength) on this trip and I am proud of that.  I look forward to stepping on the scales Monday morning.  Normally after a 4 day trip out of town that is a very scary thing to do. 

Thanks for reading. Always feel free to comment, comments encourage me, and follow me!

Here I sit! / Good news from Monday

That's right... Here I SIT... I'm uploading my post from my iPhone while I sit at the basketball game. I am currently restricted on my exercise. No fun! I fell on ice yesterday and sprained my back and neck. The only exercise I'm allowed to do for a week is walking. I go back to the doctor next Tuesday and will hopefully be released to get back to working out full force. I just have to remind myself that in orderto be successful in the long run I have to take care of myself along the way. In the grand picture a week off will be nothing but if I work out anyway and hurt myself it could last for a long time.

The focus during this week now becomes my nutrition. What I struggle with the most. Maybe God is giving me an opportunity to focus on my weakness. I enjoy finding the positive in the negative. So maybe that is it.

I've been doing better on my calorie goals over the last two days. I'm excited about that! It's not easy but Ive discovered that it takes planning. Like planning out my whole day of meals in the morning instead of planning one meal at a time and exhausting my calorie allowance before dinner.

My good news for the week is that when I weighed myself on Monday I weighed in 1 pound less than last Monday. I'm down to 189.6 lbs. That appears to make me 3.4 lbs down from my original weight of 193. The 193 came from the gym scales at a different time of day, so there is a bit of a variable there. So what I KNOW is that I lost 1 pound last week. What I don't know is how much I have lost overall. The next time I weigh in with my trainer I will find that out and be able to compare my scales with their's.

I intend to see movement on the scale again in the losing direction!

Zumba Party and my first PT screening.

So I had a funny pain in my left elbow about a week ago, i won't bore you with all the details, but it went away and came back last night. My trainer wasn't at the gym
So I left off my last arm exercise and checked with another trainer on my way out. He refered me to Physical Therapy for a screening. Our gym has a physical therapy clinic inside. We can have an injury screened for free as many times as needed. So I went today. He did lots of little tests and he determined that I pulled a muscle in my elbow. Weird huh? So he taught me how to stretch that muscle and how to strengthen it with two simple exercises. So I'm resting it until Monday, then we'll see how it goes.

I'm very thankful for that PT option at my gym. I have been told that no injury is too small to have looked at. It's super important to ice when you need to, stretch, and rest injured muscles when you need to. I plan to take good care of my elbow! Its important to me.

So I went to Zumba party tonight. I honestly expected a smaller crowd being Friday but boy was I wrong! It was packed! It was lots of fun. Disco themed. We danced to "Stayin Alive" that was fun.

So far this week I have really struggled with my nutrition. I have been craving sweets terribly. I found a new sweet treat to help with that. It's Dole Fruit Crisps. It's fruit that comes in a cup. You warm it up and put these sweet oats on top. It's so good and only 150 calories. I tried the Pineapple Mango!

Anyhow. I've been counting calories since Monday and I've gone over on my calories (somedays a little, somedays a lot)Tuesday-Friday. It's so frustrating. I think part of it may have been the antibiotics I was on through Thursday and some of it may be typical "female" cravings, but I'm not in this for reasons or excuses. I have two days left in this week to meet my calorie goals and I intend to do so!

Some of you have commented and sent me facebook messages and I'm so thankful for all of you. It really encourages me to know you are reading my blog. For those of you on a journey of you own, keep up your good work!

Zumba!!!!!

Zumba is a way that I exercised in TN when I lived there and I have continued in Bowling Green and I LOVE our instructor here, Linda. If I had a tenth of her energy I could run to L.A and back before time for work in the morning. Lol. But she really motivates me because when I started going I thought "Wow, she's in great shape" then I found out one night that Zumba helped her get that way. She is so nice and helpful all of the time. She is very evidently a women of God and she just has such a passion for what she does. Tonight the room was packed. If I had to guess there were about 40 people in class. That makes it that much more fun!

I've been going to her regular Zumba class since August. Friday I will be going to her new Zumba Party class (this week is Disco themed). I'm very excited to try it out.

She shared with us tonight that she is running a marathon for the American Cancer Society in June. She has to raise money for the cancer society to run so our gym is allowing her to do fundraising Zumba classes to raise the money for the cancer society. Im totally in. I'm going to Zumba for my Grandaddy (who just passed away from brain cancer) during those classes. Contact me (for those of you who know me) if you would like to join me for those classes.

I hope you have a great and blessed day tomorrow.

Isaiah 40:31: "Those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

Changes!

Today I went on and changed trainers. This suggested by my first trainer so that he could still be around for an easier transition. It went well. Chad was nice and he pushed me to work hard. He's different from Greg and that's ok. It will be different but it will become my normal soon enough. He increased some of my sets and my cardio. He is having me use the Lose It app on my iPhone to track my calories each day, which is great because I had decided to follow them closely anyhow. I fell right at my calorie goal for today which was great. I am aiming for 1,286 calories a day. Speaking of food... I was excited to save $51 using coupons today on healthy food at the grocery!
What the rest of my week should look like:
Tuesday - cardio (possibly abs and/ or cardio chisel class)
Wednesday - Zumba
Thursday - routine #1 and some cardio
Friday - Zumba ( it's a new one called Zumba party

My plan for the week ahead

I have been taught by my first trainer how and when to eat and I think I've gotten pretty good at it.
He has me do the following:
Eat a breakfast that contains protein
Eat every 2-3 hours to maintain my metabolism
Eat a snack such as fruit just before I hit the gym
Eat a lean protein within 30 minutes of a workout
Eat lots of fruits and veggies.

Like I said I have gotten pretty good at this. I have mastered peeling a clementine and eating it during between-class hall duty. I have learned to cook boiled eggs ahead of time so I have lean protein (I don't eat the yolk) on hand as soon as I walk in from the gym. I've learned how to pack my lunch box really full to get all o my snacks in right up until gym time.

Now my next step in my nutrition... Take note of my calories. I'm supposed to stay under 1,500 a day and I'm not sure that is a problem when I'm eating my little meals every 2-3 hours. Sometimes, however, I can really be surprised when I count the calories. So this week my mission is to carefully record all of my caloric intake in a food journal. Last Jan. When I lost 20 lbs I was counting calories regularly.

Also this week:

My first full week back from being sick.
My last training session with Greg
Setting up my first session with Chad
I am going to start weighing on Monday mornings at home.

So let the week begin! With a day off work (MLK day tomorrow).
I often have trouble with my eating plan on days off because my eating is part of my daily routine and when I don't have hall duty I forget to eat my snacks. Lol
It's also easy to sleep late enough that breakfast doesn't happen and that is real bad.

Hears to a 4 day work week!

Back in the Groove / Trainer Swap

So part of the reason that I began my blog this week was because I was sick with a severe sinus infection and was unable to get to the gym for the good of myself and everyone else at the gym. So today was my first day back. ( I missed Mon-Wed ) I was proud of myself for jumping back so quickly. I found it to be just as I expected. I felt about 80% this morning but after a good workout (and musical rehearsal at school) I'm back to my good 100% self. I did today what I call routine #1.

Routine #1 is the routine that I did with my trainer for the first five weeks. I now do Routine #2 with him and do #1 on my own another day. These routines consist of strength training done in a circuit style to get my heart rate up. I do most of it in the free weight section where I have found myself to be very comfortable (surrounded by grunting men or not. Lol).

Brandon went along tonight and worked out along side me which was nice for me. He will also be beginning with a personal trainer in the next week or so.

My trainer is leaving at the end of next week. I will train with him for the last time on Monday. I spoke with my new trainer, Chad, tonight (who will also be Brandon's trainer) and I think i will have a lot of success training with him as well. I am sad though because I got used to Greg and now I'll be starting all over with someone new. But that's ok. It will be good for me.

My Journey

Weightloss and getting healthy are indeed a journey.  It is really a lifelong journey.  I can remember "Feeling fat" every since 2nd grade.  Honestly I remember a best friend and I setting in the cafeteria in 2nd grade complaining about how our thighs were fatter than another friend's.  Since then it has been a constant up and down battle with successes and failures along the way.  I always played sports.... tennis, softball, soccer, and I did marching band which is quite the cardiovascular activity.  I remember running 4 miles a day in for soccer in high school.  That was about my healthiest weight days.  When I was a senior in high school I had a lot of muscular health issues and was diagnosed with Myofascial Pain Syndrome.  The weight piled on that year as I got used to the MPS and what I could and couldn't do.  Then of course I lost some weight and gained it back etc.  With MPS/Fibromyalgia you can work out and live a normal life you just have to pace yourself so that you don't do too much one day and keep yourself from being able to do anything the next day.  I have in the 8 years of dealing with it learned to live with it VERY well.  Its basically in the back of my mind now.


Growing up I had wonderful parents that loved me unconditionally and even loved me enough to help me with my weight.  I used to get upset with them for advising me on my calorie intake, but I'm so thankful that they did.  They always advised me in a very loving and encouraging manner.  They always encouraged exercise and even joined a gym and took me.  I remember my dad losing a bit of weight himself when I was in high school.  He set a great example for what was possible.  


My brother was always the athlete of the family.  I promise you that when we were kids he could eat ten tons of food and never gain an ounce.  I promise!!!  He was always competitive with me when we were little about our sports, but he was always a good big brother that encouraged me as well and was never ashamed of his chubby sister!  We were even cheerleaders the same year once!


My entire family continues to encourage me to this day... My brother and sister-in-law are runners and my brother and I have frequent health conversations, My mom and I talk "healthy food" like its our job, My dad never fails to call me and tell me he's Jullian (from Biggest Loser) and ask what I ate/ how I exercised that day (don't think I'm not his Jullian too), and my husband is a support to me 24/7... we have exercised together, planned healthy meals together, and joined a gym before we even moved to Bowling Green!


Last January Brandon (my husband) and I set out to lose weight.  I lost 20 lbs between Jan and May.  I felt great and was so proud of myself.  I did it by counting calories, making sure I was eating a balanced diet, and exercising.  I used wii fit, my treadmill with Couch to 5K, and went to Zumba classes.  In May we made a big move back to Kentucky for our jobs.  In the process of moving back and not having a kitchen to cook in for about 3 months I gained back 24 lbs!!! yikes. So, I was then at my highest weight. I am going to be very honest here and let you know that that put me at 193 lbs.


As soon as we got our jobs in KY we joined the Total Fitness Connection gym.  In August I began taking Zumba and yoga.  I did that very faithfully but I still hadn't gotten back into eating right. So the weight and inches were not coming back off.  So, here it was November...  I needed something more...

Here I am... 193 pounds with my Lily.

I feel like this is not me at my fullest potential.  As the scripture at the top of my blog talks about taking care of what God created, I feel like I have a lot more to do to be at my best and be taking care of God's creation to the best of my ability.

So, I started with a personal trainer, Greg.  We started with measurements and a food log and we talked about how and what to eat and we began with my training.  For the first 5 weeks it went like this:

Monday: Train with Greg... we did weight training that also served as cardio because we bounced around that gym like a ping pong ball.

Tuesday: yoga

Wednesday: Zumba

Thursday: yoga

Fri-Sun:rest

After 5 weeks I had lost .4 lbs, but had lost 2.5% body fat, and 5 inches! I was stoked.  2.5 of those inches came straight from my waist!  I wasn't too worried about the .4 lbs and neither was my trainer.

So we had success. Now my next 5 weeks is starting..... my routine is changing and so will I

I don't know who might read this, but I'm so excited to blog about my journey.  I know that with the support of my family and friends, God's strength, and a desire to become my best that this will continue to be quite a journey with many successes along the way.

Please feel free to comment at any time.

 With my husband Brandon at my parents house. (another "before" picture)

One more "before" picture with my hubby!