Wedding Day Ready!

Invitations are out

Cake is ordered

Dress is tailored

Everything is ready of October 30^th

Everything, but…

My Body

This picture was actually taken last week. When I got on the scale this morning I was at 184 pounds, so that a half a pound weight loss. It came to my attention yesterday-or pretty much slapped me right in the face-that I have 60 days until my wedding. I have goofed off enough! Time to get busy!

I would say I have to lose 20 pounds before then (2.5 pounds a week), but I cannot lose that much weight and still have my dress fit correctly. As I have told my fellow sparkpeople yesterday, I really just want to be comfortable in my body that day. I do not want to stand there thinking that people are figuring my BMI in their head-I know that won’t happen, but you know.

So I spent some time this morning making a list of what I need to do every week for the next 8 weeks to be Wedding Day Ready. I expect this list to grow as I find new things, but I really do not want to obsess over it.

1. I need to VLOG daily. This is video blogging on sparkpeople.com
2. Track every bite of food I eat.
3. Drink eight 8 oz glasses of water a day or more.
4. Get on the scale. Normally I would be against weighing myself daily, but I think I need to be aware everyday.
5. Plan what I am going to eat and eat it. This means get to the grocery store so I will have snacks and decent food.
6. Complete Bridal Bootcamp at least five days a week.
7. Complete some kind of cardio at least once a day.
8. Do things that help with stress – like not procrastinating so much!
9. Use sparkpeople friends and videos to stay motivated!
10. Measure once a week. Oh…measuring tape how I dislike you.

Oh and I need to blog here at least daily. I need to tell you all what is happening so that I can have some accountability. The posts maybe as small as this is what I ate today, this is how I worked out and this is how I feel about myself, but at least I will be here, right?

What is it Going to Take?

Ever ask yourself that? I did yesterday.

JAG and I felt like crap all weekend. Why you ask…our bodies are telling us “Enough with the crap you have been putting in me. I am going to rebel and see if you get the hint.” I feel like poo!

So what is going to take?  What will get me back on track? What do I need to do to realize this weight isn’t just going to drop off of me especially standing in line at a Pizza Buffet?

If you stumbled upon my blog today, I am sorry. I have no tips or advice for you today. I am lost. I have fallen of the wagon, rolled to the side of the road and cried because the wagon is five miles up the road and I have no clue how to get back on it.

JAG and I have found the good and the bad sides of losing weight together. When we are motivated we are AWESOME together, but when one of us falls off we grab the other and drag him or her to nearest deep fried eatery. We love food, we love each other and we love food. So we love to eat food together. Big downfall.

It kind of feels like two addicts, I want him to do well and I want to do well, but it harder then anything to get both of us back on the wagon lately. We are done justifying…that is a good thing, but at the same time we are in the “oh who cares” mood about our weight and that is not good at all. I need to do better to help him and he needs to do better to help me.

I have got to get motivated! I actually let Shelby take this picture of me and at the time I thought, “eh I am ok with myself like this…I don’t need to lose weight.” Then I got sick that afternoon from overeating pizza. That and trying on my now tailored wedding dress has led me to this post.

Hello, my name is StrawberryTart and I am a food addict. First step, right?

Note to Myself: I am so MAD at You!

Dear Not Ever Going to Be Skinny Tart –

184! Really? 184. You have got to be kidding me! You weighed in at 180 Friday night! You were so close to breaking into that 170 area. You could have done it, but you got an attitude thinking that you were doing so awesome and you deserve a little break. So where did you go? Huh? Go ahead…tell your readers! Yeap, Cheesecake Factory and you yanked JAG right off the wagon with you.

Shoving fattening food in your mouth didn’t end there did it? Saturday morning you just had to have the Cheese Danish at Starbucks…wonder how many calories that was. On Sunday you did better with toast for breakfast and lunch wasn’t too bad, but I soon as you proclaimed “I am an emotional eater” when the chicken fried chicken was placed before you for dinner I knew it was over.

I thought Monday morning when you woke up to find your engagement ring was tight on your fat swollen finger that you would get the hint, but I was so wrong! By 8 pm Monday night you were saying “Ah another piece of pizza.” Then, you fell into the trap of dessert pizza. I hope all that apple crumble goodness was worth it because you are now four pounds heavier!

Get Your Act Together!

Me

Dear Me –

I am fully aware of your disappointment and I am sorry. I after getting on the scale this morning I did put on a cute dress that shows my legs…I think they are getting thinner (maybe not from this angle, but still).

Then, in hopes of keeping myself inline I put on my 10 pound reward earrings from Funky Vintage Kitchen.

I proceed into my kitchen and decided I should not take leftover pizza for lunch. So I made a better decision.

I think that is my theme for today…I will make a better decision then yesterday and then things will get better.

Thank you for the tough love

StrawberryTart!-I will be SkinnyTart someday!

Motivation

You have to have it!

To get up the morning

To do laundry

To mow the lawn on a hot day

To exercise

To try something new

To change your life or lifestyle

I have to admit…I had it. I have lost it recently, but I am working as hard as I can to get it back.

One of the things I did was create a visual for myself. This hangs at my desk at work-the one place I need the motivation the most.

I titled it What Will Keep Me Going.

Here is what each thing means.

1. The quote “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference in weight loss success and weight loss failure.” I see this as have a can do attitude not a cannot.
2. Good Arms and Defined Shoulders: You all already know my obsession with this. No more FLABBY ARMS! I used to have defined arms (that’s me), the only picture is of Kelly Ripa…my dream arms. I seriously doubt I will ever look exactly like that.
3. A fortune cookie quote that is so so true and my goal is to get there. Or at least feel that way about my body…I love myself.
4. My 5 lb reward. Absolutely cute earrings from my friend April at Vintage Kitchen. I already bought my first pair (will have to post later).
5. 165 reward: I love Anthropologie, but they do not make clothes for big girls, so my reward will be to buy a dress like the one shown.
6. 150 reward: Another dress from Anthropologie, but a halter to show off those good shoulders!
7. No Longer being obese! Not that I think I am, but get out of that area on those lovely charts.
8. Show my daughter healthy habits: This is working on my legacy…making sure she knows what healthy is.
9. 170 reward…that skirt…I own it. I bought it, it still has tags and has been hanging in my closet for 2 years. It may not be a Sunday morning church outfit, but just to fit into it once would be wonderful!
10. Oh I need to repeat that statement over and over again!

So, this is one way I try to maintain my motivation. I am working on other ways as well and will share more tomorrow.

How I am Doing It

I promised in my last post that I would tell you about Sparkpeople (I just realized there is no space, sorry). Let me give you some history that I didn’t really tell you in my intro.

Back when I was married to my first husband, Gweedo, I was constantly trying to lose weight and I was a smoker. This led me to my doctor where I told him, “I can’t quit smoking because I will gain weight and I cannot gain weight.” He pulled out his prescription pad and I thought “yes, he is going to give me a magic skinny pill.” He scribbled something and handed it to me. All it said was “sparkpeople.com.”

I remember being pissed and going back to the office to tell me co-workers about how my doctor had the nerve to send me to weight loss support instead of giving me a pill. I know…I know you don’t have to say it. I joined…looked around, but it wasn’t right for me at the time. I was still searching for quick fix option.

Fast forward about four years to June of this year. I did a search on Youtube looking for P90X videos because that is the way I was going to go (small ha ha). For some reason the Youtube Gods thought, this video was what I needed to see.

I had to click on it. I mean her name is Dana! When she said “sparkpeople” it hit me. I big ‘ol hello light bulb went off in my head. I quickly went to the site…started a new account and got busy. That day, that video, changed my life – ok, so that is a little over dramatic, but I think it will change my life!

If you don’t know about sparkpeople, which most people still do not, then you have to go, but wait until you finish reading. I really want to share with you my Top 10 Reasons why I love sparkpeople.com.

Now there are way more then these 10 things on sparkpeople.com these are just my favorites.

Why do I feel like I need to tell you that this are in order from least to greatest…I have blonde moments. I have to admit as soon as I typed that sentence I had to text JAG to see if I was doing it right.  Any here we go.

Number 10: Exercise of the Day: They give you a new exercise to try out each day! They even give you a little video to show you how to do it correctly.

Number 9: Awesome Articles: They provide you with so much information in one place. Things like 10 signs a fitness gadget is a gimmick. You can read it here. (hey JAG…this one is for you! Yeap..click on the link my love).

Number 8: Free Fitness Tracker: This is super simple to use, too.

Number 7: Free Nutrition Tracker: I have to say this has been a life saver for me! Again, easy to use, but if you need help they provide videos, some of which I have included below. You have the option to enter your own food as you eat it or follow their plan.

Number 6: Goal Tracking: Ladies (and gentlemen) this program allows you to track any goal! In the other goals section you can put in things like read a chapter a day in a book. Also it is super simple to track water intake goals and fitness goals.

These last 5 were so hard to rank because each one is so so important to me.

Number 5: Community: On sparkpeople.com you have what are called Teams, some of which you are automatically put in when you join based on your age, your goals and when you join. These are awesome places to meet people. You set goals as a team. You have message boards for help. It is weight loss fellowship ladies (oh and guys).

Number 4: Recipes: If you know me, you know I love to cook! Well, I was so excited to see there is a feature on sparkpeople where other users submit their recipes. It is actually at sparkrecipes.com. Now these aren’t open a bag of salad and put fat free dressing on it type of recipes. People have taken some serious time working to make everyday recipes easier on the waist line.

Number 3: BLOGS: You know I love a good blog. Well not only does sparkpeople select certain blog writers who are awesome, you can read blogs from almost all of the users. That is thousands upon thousands of stories and advice and people who are probably going through the same thing you are. And if you love BLOGs then you will love number 2 as I do!

Number 2: Video Blogs (or VLOGS): Great googly moogaly how I love me some VLOGS! I love watching them, putting faces with names and hearing accents that don’t come across in written type. And talent…let me tell you there are a few people who are so talented in video editing. Oh, and the motivation, there are seriously people on there that should be getting paid for what they give you. These aren’t not sparkpeople employees, these are users like me. Yeap…I am a Vlogger! I try to post almost everyday. I love it!

And Number 1: The reason I believe that Chris Downie created this site is what I call the Motivation which is the people! I cannot put into words what the people of sparkpeople mean to me. The support that I have been given the past few months is immeasurable. Now, I am not talking about a paid consultant that asks you how your week went. I am talking about fellow users…others on this journey with you. People who say “I am glad you are here.” During the past week I have been shocked and felt so unworthy when I was told that I motivate people and that people look for me each day (little teary eyed). I don’t see myself like that because in my eyes people like Dana (above) and a handful of others who have successfully made it through this journey are so much more motivating then I believe I am.

I am telling you. You will be shocked and amazed at the before and after pictures. You will get giddy with excitement when you hear people say “nothing else has ever worked for me.” I spend so much time just reading, looking at pictures and listening to there stories. This is what motivates me!

So, if you are looking for a lifestyle change or if you just want to maintain the healthy state you are in right now then I think that you should do yourself a favor and go visit sparkpeople.com. You can look me up when you are there (a shortcut is on the side of my blog…look for the big spark logo). We can be friends…you can help me and I will most definitely help you!

As I said above, sparkpeople offers wonderful videos about their site here are a few.

Spark Videos

Intro to sparkpeople.com

Community Support

How to Use the Food Tracker

Again, I am not being paid by sparkpeople.com. I am telling you this because it is awesome and I want you to try awesome things!