My Goals for 2010

I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions in years but I've also never made any goals. So I thought it was time I do that as I do tend to follow my goals even if I don't make it to the end of it. This time I will make it to the end.

Here are my goals for 2010:
- get healthy (eat more healthier, get off of some meds, lose weight, etc)
- walk 10,000 steps a day
- exercise a minimum of 3-4 days a week
- find a good man (just kidding although that would be nice if I do..hehe)

Here are some challenges I'll be doing so far for the New Year:
- walking 10,000 steps a day
- 31 days of not going out to eat
- losing 25 to 30 lbs by March 12th for Pledge 20 on http://girlgonehealthy.com
- Biggest Loser Challenge on http://3fatchicks.com
- Healthy You Challenge on http://scalejunkie.com
- Follow Along with Mamavation Moms on http://www.mamavation.com

Why all these challenges? It's basically gonna keep me accountable, keep me focus. With the people on these challenges, I know I will be able to make it. They will help me through bad and good times. They'll cheer me on. They'll yell at me. That's what I need.

Have a great and safe Happy New Years! P.S. I'll be back tomorrow with my weight. Wish me luck! :)

Couple Challenges & More

Hey all! Wanted to tell you about Pledge 20 that I've decided to also do a pledge myself and that is Pledge 25-30 which is to lose 25 to 30 lbs by March 12th. My goal is to weigh 300lbs by my birthday. I was on twitter and saw a tweet about Pledge 20 over at http://girlgonehealthy.com/. The gal on there is looking to lose the last 20lbs. Tho I still have a long ways to go, I thought I would go ahead and pledge too and lose the weight with her. Told her at first I wanted to pledge 50lbs but that was when I thought it was for the whole year and when I realized it was until March so I changed it to Pledge 25 even tho I told her 25-30 lbs. It doesn't start til Jan. 1st. I'm hoping to meet my goal of 325lbs by then. I haven't weighed myself since Monday. I'm looking forward to weighing myself on the 1st of January, the New Year. It's the New Year and it's gonna be the New Me! Am so excited bout it.

Also starting on Jan. 5th, I will be doing the Biggest Loser Challenge with the people from 3fatchicks.com. Sign-up was til 9pm PST. I had already signed up a couple weeks ago. I'm getting really excited bout this. Hopefully I will remember to sign on every so often and check out extra challenges to get some points. *smiles* I will be sure to post everything I've done for the challenge on here.

As some of you may know, I started my 30 Day Slimdown with Jillian Michaels yesterday. It required 3 DVDs by her; 30 Day Shred, No More Trouble Zones and Banish Fat Boost Metabolism. So far I did 2 days of the 30 Day Shred, Level One. Tomorrow, I'll be doing the No More Trouble Zones. Am looking forward to it. I just LOVE her!

I also started doing the C25K. I only did Day 1 so far which was yesterday. I will do Day 2 tomorrow. I decided to do this every other day. I can't run too fast yet. I've been jogging. I'm sure nobody will mind that. lol. As long as I'm moving, right?

I've been checking out my steps and am realizing that I'm not exactly getting in enough steps. So I've decided to add Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds. I'm gonna start out with the 1 Mile Walk but I read that if I do the 4 Mile Walk, I will get in those steps that I need. We'll have to wait and see on that.

I'm planning to get a couple of books. They're called 10,000 Steps a Day to Your Optimal Weight: Walk Your Way to Better Health by Greg Isaacs and The Step Diet: Count Steps, Not Calories to Lose Weight and Keep It off Forever by James O. Hill Ph.D. Does anyone have either of these books? If so, was it any good? They both sounded good and I thought I could get these 2 books and use them for my journey AND for my 2010 Reading Challenge. *smiles*

I know I posted earlier that I was gonna apply for the Mamavation Challenge but at this time, I realized it might be best I hold it off as I don't think I would be able to get online on Mondays to talk on MomTv. If there's a challenge happening in the summer with Mamavation, I will definitely be sending in my application. *smiles* So instead of sending in the application, I will follow alongside with them to lose the weight and support them and cheer them on.

Well, I better get to bed now so good night all! Have a great night!

Mamavation Monday - My Pics & Measurements

As promised in my last post, here are my before pics as I'm starting today on my 30 Day Slimdown with Jillian Michaels. It's the best I can do. Most of my clothes are very baggy and y'all wouldn't be able to see anything. I'm looking at these pics. Yes, I am a big gal but I'm actually surprised that I don't look as big as I thought I would be in these pics. I'll have to dig up some old pics and post them as I was much heavier than here. In fact, I've lost 50lbs this year since April! I know I have a long way to go and this time, I'm gonna make it. *smiles* P.S. Excuse the mess..hehe.
Here's a pic of what I weigh on the scale today. Not bad at all! I thought for sure I was gonna gain weight from eating some of those fave cookies yesterday and having a piece of pie for a couple of days. I did good. Now let's get serious and aim for 325lbs for the New Year's. That was my goal for this month. To weigh 325lbs by New Years. Even if I don't make it, I'm definitely not too far off. *smiles*
Here are my measurements starting today:
Bust - 62 inches
Waist - 55 inches
Abdomen - 63 inches
Hips - 62 inches
Thigh - 28 inches
Arm - 15 inches

From the time I first started this blog, I've definitely lost some inches. Whoo hoo! Lost 4 inches so far. Lost almost 10lbs since I started this blog. This is great! Of course, let's keep going! *smiles*

Starting today and every Monday, I will be doing Mamavation Mondays which will include my progress in the New Year. Hopefully I'm doing this right as this is my first post for Mamavation Monday. *smiles*

Been A Crazy Few Days

Hey everybody! Look who's back! *smiles* I'm still up at my uncle's and I believe we will be staying til after New Year's. Tho I haven't exactly been exercising for a few days (just been walking and not doing videos), today I'm planning to start my 30 Day Slimdown with Jillian Michaels using 3 different DVD's. 30 Day Shred, No More Trouble Zones and Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism. Found the plan over at Exercisetv.tv. Also will be starting on my C25K apps on my ipod. Will take measurements and weigh myself today and take a pic of myself. All those info will be in the next post within a couple of hours.

So how was everybody's holidays? Mine was a busy one. It finally ended yesterday. So glad. I don't have to worry bout all those temptations for awhile. Did I sample them? I will admit that I'd like to say no but I didn't. Those little ladyfingers made by my great aunt are the best! I had 2 of them yesterday! Had an apple pie Christmas day and the day after. Starting today, no more of that stuff. *smiles* Christmas is done. I don't have to think bout them anymore. I can get back to my Special K Challenge for now (just mainly making sure I eat 5 to 6 small meals a day rather than 2 to 3 big meals). I've been thinking bout joining Weight Watchers but can't decide if I want to do the meetings (it's hard for me to sit through meetings cuz of me being deaf) or just do the online thing. The only problem bout doing the online thing in my head, there isn't someone who can cheer me on and congratulate me for losing some weight like they do at those meetings. I used to go. I guess I wasn't ready at that time. Mainly was having a hard time eating all the time but now I'm able to so I'm definitely ready to do Weight Watchers. Any thoughts bout it?

Am I gonna be overdoing myself? Prolly but it's time I take back my life. As I said earlier, I need to do this not just for me but for my son. He's my motivation. Plus I don't want him to end up like me. That's why it's best to start now and teach him how to eat and take care of himself. The only way to do that is if I'm doing it. Can't preach it if I'm not doing it. Right? Must do it too.

I would love to try Spinning but at moment, I can't afford it. So I'm gonna save some money to get myself a Spinner bike. That's what I'm gonna get myself as a treat when I get down to 250lbs. By then, I just might be able to afford it. I'm aiming to weigh 250lbs by summer. Think I can do it? It would be awesome! If I don't, I'll definitely be closer to 250. Prolly more like 275lbs. I'm sure whatever the weight I end up by summer, it'll be great! Let's just DO it! GO FOR IT!

Going Up My Uncle's

Well, my son wants to go up my uncle's today. We normally spend Christmas with my family. Christmas Eve was always spent at my parents house and my uncle and grandparents would come over for dinner and we would open presents. But this year is gonna be different. My uncle's playing music at Hofbrau Haus in the afternoon. My dad and brother will be playing music there also in the evening. So Christmas this year is gonna be different. My grandparents didn't seem too happy bout it so my son thought why don't we go up for Christmas Eve and spend Christmas with them. So that's exactly what we're gonna do. We're spending today with my parents and open presents. Then off we go up to my uncle's to spend who knows how long we'll be staying up there for. I wish I could take my wii with me as I've been working out with it using the EA Sports Active and Jillian Michaels Ultimatum Fitness 2010. Since I will not be taking my wii, I might as well as work out on my DSi as I WON it! Also won Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD and even Jillian Michaels Ultimatum Fitness 2010 for the DS! Will definitely be using them plus the Biggest Loser for the DS. I plan to keep going with the Special K Challenge while I'm there. I just have to avoid my gram wanting to feed me every hour (seems like it's every 5 minutes..hehe). For Christmas from a twitter mom, I got the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook so I thought I could go to the grocery store and get some food that I could make while I'm there and instead of having gram trying to feed me, I could feed her as she needs to gain weight. Her doctor says she lost too much weight. That's from being sick plus she had 2 hip replacements (3 months apart) 2 years ago and she ended up losing all the weight. She wasn't very big to begin with. So maybe I can fatten her up a bit while I lose the weight. Hmmmm? Will it work? Have to wait and see. *smiles* I'm also planning to take my scale with me cuz I need to weigh in on Friday so I know how much weight I've lost during the Special K Challenge. Today was my weigh in for the 30 day challenge with Celebrate Life with Weight Loss and while on this challenge, I had somehow gained 5 lbs but lost that 5 lbs plus lost another 5lbs. So all in all, I lost 5lbs on this challenge. So not bad at all. *smiles* We'll see what happens on Friday being that it's gonna be Christmas Day. I'm so excited for the New Year to start. I've already gotten the next mini goal in mind and that is to weight 300lbs or less by my next birthday which is March 12th. That's why it will be so awesome following along with Mamavation whether I make it to the finals or not. I can still follow along with them! I KNOW I can do this and can make it. I was thinking bout weighing 250lbs by summer but that might be a bit too much but I still think that's gonna be my goal cuz even if I don't make it to 250lbs, I'll be closer to it, right? *smiles* Well, I better get going and get started with my stuff I need to pack. Have a great day! Hugz

Mamavation

So I've decided I'm gonna send in an application to join Mamavation where you have to complete their 7 week crash course in healthy living. It's gonna be hard cuz there's voting involved as only 2 will make it after the 5 finalists are chosen. Right now, I don't know too many people but I'm gonna do my best to make it to the final 2. I'm gonna need your support, guys, cuz I really want this. No. I NEED THIS. I need to lead a more healthy lifestyle, not just for me but for my son too. I don't want him to end up like me when I was growing up. He loves the same kind of food that I ate when I was a kid and still eating but not as much anymore. I'm now avoiding going out all the time with my family. I used to go out to dinner with them everyday but now I very rarely go out. When I do go out, I never make the right choice cuz I just love french fries and chicken tenders. I need to STOP eating this stuff that's not good for me but I do count the calories when I eat those not so good food. I do try to plan ahead of time to prepare myself with calorie counting. I think with this 7 week crash course, I'll finally learn what food is right that will help me to achieve my goals of a healthier me. I know there are all kinds of programs out there. Right now I'm doing the Special K Challenge and so far it's helping me to lose the weight so I think til the Mamavation starts, I will continue to do this Special K Challenge. It helps me focus on eating 5 to 6 times a day. I don't always follow with their food but what I do is, try to keep the calories bout the same as their food. When I do eat their food, I try to vary them everyday such as there are 7 different cereal bars that I'll eat one flavor a day which results in once a week in eating these bars. I picked 3 different kinds of cereals so I eat each one 2 times a week. Same goes for the protein shakes. I change them all around. These actually help me cuz I tend not to eat. Before starting this challenge, I was only eating 1 or 2 meals a day. I was never an eater but now I am and am making it. Now with the Mamavation, I can maybe eliminate eating the bars or even drinking the shake and eat even better food. I'm so motivated and really wanna do this. Hope y'all can help me on this journey. Thanks for the support!

I'm Still Around

Hey there! I know I haven't been around. I'm still doing the Special K Challenge. Week one is done and have lost 4lbs! Whoo hoo! I will continue the challenge for another week. Just in case you're wondering if I'm still keeping track of my food. Yes, I am. I'm putting everything down in my fitbook and also on my gowear fit site. I'm excited. *smiles* All I gots to do is keep on going. I'm so motivated. With the Skechers' Shape Up shoes I just got last week, they really are helping with my knee pains when I wear them. Unfortunately, my knees do still hurt after I wake up from bed. Hmm, but at least I saw the doctor finally bout it and she ordered x-rays. Will have to wait til Monday to get them done. She says it's arthritis. I figured that but didn't think it would hurt everyday like this since April! *sighs* But at least, I'm still losing weight and gonna keep going. I've already lost 47lbs and need to lose more than 100 pounds. As y'all know that my mini goal is to be down to 325lbs hopefully by the end of the year. Once I get down to there, the next goal will be to lose another 25 lbs to make it 300 lbs. *smiles* I would love to be down to 250 lbs by summer so I can ride on the rides with my son. I've never gotten to do that. *pouts* He's 5 yrs old now and has always ridden with his paps (my dad). I want to take my dad's place and ride with my son. I wanna have some fun! I wanna get more active with him too. Am thinking for his 6th birthday in May, I wanna get a basketball hoop. It would be so much fun playing basketball with him. Today we went to the community center for him to play with his friends from his class. The boys were playing basketball, ping pong, table hockey and more. He looked like he was having fun. I gotta do all that stuff with him. Even tho I'm moving good now, I'm not quite there just yet. I'm working on it tho. *smiles* I will get there! Whooooooo hooooooo!

My Food Journal for Today

I actually came close to eating all my supposedly calories (2200). Here's what all I ate today.

Breakfast:
Special K Honey Almond Protein Bar - 180 calories

AM Snack:
Special K Peaches & Berries Bar - 90 calories

Lunch:
Chicken and Rice - 556 calories

PM Snack:
Special K Chocolate Peanut Protein Snack Bar - 110 calories

Dinner:
2 Salami Sandwich (couple slices on a 100 calories mini bagel) - 540 calories
Mousse Temptations - 60 calories
Yoplait Whips Key Lime Pie Yogurt - 140 calories

Late Snack:
Special K Chocolate Peanut Protein Snack Bar - 110 calories
Special K Protein Vanilla Protein Shake - 180 calories

Total Calories for the day: 1966 calories

Since the weekend is over, I'm thinking of weighing myself tomorrow just to see where I am at but it will not count until Friday. I'm just being curious. *smiles*

Recipes?

If anybody has any yummy recipes, please send them my way cuz I wanna try a lot of new things. Just so y'all know, yes, I am very picky with food. So this means I don't like too many veggies. Yes, I know, I know! I need to eat them. I'm actually hiding them in my food so I don't taste them. They have to be real fine. I will admit I do like lot of flavors but don't like the way I bite into them. LOL. I'm sure this doesn't make sense but it's the only way I can eat them. Anyways, go ahead and send them my way. If I like them or if they sound good, I'll put them on my blog and will give you credit for them. Can't wait to try new things. Thanks!

Peanut Butter Balls

This sounds so yummy! I love Peanut Butter Balls but this is supposed to be healthy. *smiles* I so have to try this. *smiles*

Peanut Butter Protein Balls

Ingredients: 1 cup plain instant oats, 1 cup honey, 1 cup natural peanut butter (drained), 1 1/4 cup vanilla protein powder

1.) With peanut butter still in the jar, drain the oil off of the top
2.) Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl with a spatula
3.) Wash your hands and continue mixing the ingredients until there are no dry spots
4.) Roll up balls of the mixture about the size of a half-dollar and place them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper
5.) Cover with wax paper or parchment paper and refrigerate
Optional: You may also melt down two cups of semi-sweet chocolate morsels and dip one side of each ball in it before refrigerating

Servings: approx. 24 balls
One serving, plain= 103 calories
3.5g fat
11.5g carbs
7.5g protein
6g sugar

One serving w/chocolate= 138 calories
5.5g fat
17g carbs
7.5g protein
10g sugar

Food Journal for Day 2

Yesterday ended up being a little messed up so I couldn't eat what I had planned but that's ok. Here's what I ate:

Breakfast:
Special K Strawberry Protein Shake - 180 calories

AM Snack:
Yoplait Whips Yogurt Key Lime Pie - 140 calories

PM Snack:
Chocolatey Pretzel Bar - 90 calories

Lunch:
Chicken and Rice - 359 calories
V-8 V-Fusion Light Acai Mixed Berry - 100 calories

Dinner:
Special K Chocolate Protein Shake - 190 calories

Late Snack:
Thomas' 100 calories mini bagel with salami and turkey slices - 360 calories

Total Calories for the day: 1419 calories

Also had 4 bottles of Fruit2O. Again, calories doesn't count for these water. According to the GoWear Fit, I'm on a weight loss trend. So hopefully it's true. We'll soon find out. *smiles* I'm gonna continue on with the Special K Challenge for now. I don't get hungry at all even tho I'm not eating enough calories. But as I said, we'll soon see what happens when Friday comes. Keeping fingers crossed.

My Food Journal for Day One

As y'all know that I started on the Special K Challenge, here's a look at yesterday's meals and snacks:

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal - 150 calories

AM Snack:
1 Special K Cinnamon Pecan bar - 90 calories

Lunch: (was out to lunch with mom and my son)
1 Arby's French Dip & Swiss Toasted Sub w/Au Jus - 500 calories
1 Arby's Medium Curly Fries - 540 calories
2 - 12oz fl. Diet Mountain Dew - 0 calories

PM Snack:
1 bottle of Fruit 2 Day (Pineapple Banana) - 120 calories
1 container of Jello Mousse Temptations - 60 calories

Dinner:
1 bottle of Special K Chocolate Protein Shake - 190 calories

Late Snack:
1 Special K Chocolatey Pretzel bar - 90 calories
1 bottle of Special K Strawberry Kiwi Protein Water - 30 calories

Total Calories for the day: 1770 calories

I didn't eat enough calories as I've read that in order for me to lose about 2 lbs a week, I had to eat bout 2200 to 2400 calories. For some reason, I could never reach there and that even included the food from going out to eat! When I don't go out to eat, it's even less. So we'll see what happens this time around doing this Special K Challenge. *smiles* If I do lose about 6 lbs in 2 weeks according to the challenge, I might just keep going. Might as well especially if it works, right? I'm not starving myself as you can see. Oh, yea, I also had 4 bottles of Fruit2O. I don't like drinking plain water and this water has flavor and best of all, no calories! I love this water! I used to drink Diet Pepsi all the time and never drank water until bout 8 months ago. I'm thinking it's one of the main reason I had lost the weight until I hit the plateau (wasn't even trying to lose weight..lol).

Today's The Day!

So yesterday I got my GoWear Fit and my fitbook. I also got a new pair of shoes. I wasn't able to get the Earth shoes like I wanted but I did, however, get myself Skechers’ Shape-Ups. I'm really looking forward to using everything I got in my journey.

For the next 2 weeks, I'll be following the Special K Challenge. This is where I eat 2 Special K meals and 2 Special K snacks. There are so many choices in these food. I don't really eat cereal but love cereal bars. Although for the next 2 weeks, I will eat cereal. *smiles* I have my 2 weeks planned out already with the food. Everyday will be different. I bought 3 different kinds of cereal, 3 kinds of protein shakes, 2 kinds of protein bars and 6 kinds of snack bars along with a protein water mix. So it'll give me a variety of choices and dinner every day will be different. So I'm looking forward to it. *smiles*

Today I weighed myself cuz I figured today is my starting day and saw that I lost 3 lbs! Yaay! Now I weigh 337.4lbs. I'm still gonna use 340lbs for my starting weight as it was the day I decided to start a whole new journey. One where I'm gonna get healthy and lose weight in the process.

Here are my measurements as of yesterday:
Weight - 340lbs
Bust - 62 inches
Waist - 57 inches
Abdomen - 64 inches
Hips - 63 inches
Thigh - 28 inches
Arm - 15 inches

As for pictures, I still need to get them done. Will have mom take them today. I would've asked yesterday but she, dad and my son went out to Oglebay Park to see the Christmas lights. I didn't go cuz I was busy getting ready for this journey. As soon as the pics are taken, I will put them up. I will do a front view and side view. Then the next time I take a pic will be when I've reached my mini-goal of 325lbs.

Wish me luck! *smiles* And oh, by the way, I will do 2 weigh ins (one on Wednesday for the 30 day challenge til it's done and one on Friday for the Special K Challenge). After the 30 day challenge, I will just do the weigh ins on Fridays.

Getting Ready

Today, I'm in the process of getting myself ready for the journey. Gonna measure myself. Take a pic of myself for my before pic. Go to the store to get a couple pairs of Earth Shoes. Go grocery shopping. Hope that my stuff will be here in the mail such as my fitbook and my gowear fit (according to the email, it should be here). Then I should definitely be ready for my journey even tho I've already started doing the 30 day challenge. But to me, for some reason, it wasn't exactly helping but will continue on with it. Heck, why not? I still have 15 more days with the challenge and maybe with all the stuff I'll have might finally help me with the challenge and I might finally actually lose the weight before the challenge is over. *smiles* Yesterday, I watched what I ate. Did my exercise with the wii (EA Sports Active). Wish me luck for today!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

My Journey

Hi, my name is Lindy. I'm a 36 yr old deaf single mom to one son who's 5 yrs old. I'm 5 feet and 5 inches tall (I shrunk!) I weigh, at moment, 340. I am considered as morbidly obese. According to the BMI calculator on http://www.bmi-calculator.net, I have a BMI of 56.57.

I am starting on a new journey soon even tho I've been on a journey for so many years. But Friday is the day that I start my new healthy life. I'm talking about not focusing on getting thin but focusing on getting healthy and lose weight in the process. I WANT a life where I'm not morbidly obese. I WANT a life where I can be active with my son. I WANT a life where I can walk up to the bus stop without huffy and puffy. I WANT a life where I can take my son anywhere and be able to do the things with him that my parents have to do with him just cuz I'm too heavy.

I don't know where this life will take me to. All I can do is do my best cuz I'm willing to do this change NOW. Am I scared? Yes, of course, I am but also excited cuz I WANT to change. I NEED to do this cuz I want to be there for my son and BE ALIVE.

So, come and join me on this journey to a new me. To becoming a former fat mama.

Even tho right now my main goal is to be 250 lbs (that'll change when the time comes), I'll be doing mini-goals for now and that goal is to weigh 325 lbs. I would LOVE to be down to 325 lbs by the end of the year and it's ok if I don't, at least I'll be close to it. *smiles*