New Year New Amber

I’m back with some great news and some thoughts for the week.
My Excitement!
I’ve joined up in the Biggest Loser Round 12 Challenge on SparkPeople!!!
I’m a Light Blue Bombshell!!
I am super excited.
I have actually purchased the new SparkPeople book as well and a review will come shortly.

My Thought
I was reading the chapter guide for the 1st chapter of the book and it asks a very good question that I feel is quite relative to my situation now.

How do you react to mistakes? Do you let them get you down and then stray from the path toward your goals, or do you shrug them off? What if you gave yourself permission to make mistakes, seeing them less as failures and more as learning opportunities that everyone goes through from time to time?

I am the type of person who lets my mistakes get to me and then I stray from my path. It’s an unfortunate cycle that has been repeated throughout my life. If I do something wrong I stop doing it. If I eat too much one day I don’t eat right the next. I let my side of the house get unorganized and cluttered and it jst stays that way. It’s all the same thing!
Today starts a new for me. I WILL give myself permission to make mistakes. I can eff up royally and it’s OK. It’s OK as long as I look at these eff ups as learning experiences and don’t beat the crap out of myself over them.

This is a new day, a new year and this is the time for me to get my crap in order. I will achieve my goals of eating healthier and exercising. Even if I don’t lose a POUND I will at least be making healthier choices for myself. THis is what’s most important.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Posted in Beginnings, Challenges | Tagged , | Leave a comment

My Challenge This Week

As many of you know I am a part of a challenge team on Spark People. It’s The Biggest Loser Challenge and I am a part of the most kickass team ever! The Forrest Green Pixies!!!!!!!!!!
So we have a challenge this week and I am going to kick butt at it. I’m posting it here for accoutability :) Come on everyone make sure to keep me accountable!

~*~*~*~SCORES CHALLENGE~*~*~*~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This Challenge will run from 12:ooAM, Fri, October 16th thru Tuesday, 11:59PM, October 20th

Let’s ALL SCORE BIG This Weekend!!!

S~STRENGTH
C~Cardio/Core/Calisthenics
O~ORGANIZE
R-REST/RELAX/RECOVER
E~ELIMINATE
S~STRETCH

S~STRENGTH Spend 20 minutes on your Strength Training Today. Use Weights, Soup Cans, Water Bottles, Your Own Body Weight…Just take 20 minutes to work those muscles. Muscle makes us look FIRM and TONED as well as burn more Calories at rest. Don’t worry…YOU WILL NOT Bulk up Like Mister Universe…You’ll just look Gooood in your clothes. Use Light Weights, or Heavy Weights…It’s all up to you. Work a variety of Muscles and DON’T work the same muscle group on Consecutive Days. If you have questions ask your Captain.

www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercis
e_demos.asp?exercise_type=upper

C~Cardio/Core/Calisthenics…Take at LEAST 20 minutes to work on your Cardio, your Core, OR your Calisthenics…Or any combination of such. For great Tips and Suggestions you can click on the SPARK EXERCISE Link to see proper form and great ideas of how to work that body.

www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercis
e_demos.asp?exercise_type=core

O~ORGANIZE Spend just 15 minutes Organizing…Whatever YOU need to Organize. Your Thoughts, Your Menu Plan, Your Cupboards, Your Fridge, Your Bills, Your Closet, Your LIFE…Whatever has been an Obsticle to YOU…Take these 15 minutes and Do something about it. You don’t have to climb Mt. Everest. Just take 15 Minutes and Get Started on your project.

R-REST/RELAX/RECOVER…This is very important in our Overall Health and Well Being. Sleeping and Rest are Underrated…but your body NEEDS this time to Repair and Recover…Your Body has been working Very hard for you…Do yourself a favor and give that body of yours the Rest it Deserves, NEEDS, and REQUIRES. 7.5 hours each night. Wonderful things happen while we sleep…See this link for the TOP 10 Reasons why you need your Rest.

longevity.about.com/od/lifelongenerg
y/tp/healthy_sleep.htm

E~ELIMINATE…Eliminate Excuses…Eliminate something that has been a demon for you…This could be Refined Carbohydrates (ya know the white stuff…get rid of it) Perhaps you already do that and there is something else you need to eliminate from your Day…Could be Sugar, Tobacco, Alcohol, Dare I say it…TOO MUCH internet…Take something that has been a crutch or a hinderance in YOUR Life…only YOU know what that is…and ELIMINATE it for Today…For this Challenge…For Good. Take this Opportunity to TAKE ACTION and ELIMINATE whatever has been holding you down…It’s TIME TO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN!

Follow this link for a list of REFINED Carbs (The BAD Kind) and COMPLEX CARBS (The GOOD Kind)

www.bellaonline.com/articles/art6628
.asp

S~STRETCH Those muscles have been working hard for you…Take some time to stretch them out at the end of your workout or the end of the day…Or better yet BOTH. Stretching is Wonderful…Not only does it Give us more Range of Motion and Flexibility…but it also de-crease our muscle soreness. Follow this SPARK LINK and Get points for reading up on Stretching while getting some Great Examples of Stretches to do.

www.sparkpeople.com/resource/stretch
ing_benefits.asp
*********POINTS*********

Simple…1 point per Each Category, per day…For a MAX of 6 points…However IF you do ALL 6 S.C.O.R.E.S you will gain a 4 point BONUS giving you 10 POINTS MAX for the Day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I KNOW i can do this. I just got a new resistance band and am oging to get out the stability ball this week. I plan on working my butt off literally so that i can fit better into my Halloween costume :)

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Posted in Challenges | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Weigh Day 9/24/09

I am very excited to announce that I am down 2 more lbs!!! Go me!

Posted in Accountability | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weigh Day 9/9/09

I’ve maintained my weight this week. Not super thrilled about this but at least it wasn’t a gain!

Posted in Accountability, Beginnings | Leave a comment

Weigh Day 8/31/09

This week was a gain. I’m not using TOM as an excuse but it’s still a factor. I’ll be doing a post soon about how to combat bloat at TOM.

Posted in Accountability | Leave a comment

A Realization – Goal Setting

I’ve been at my new way of eating and exercise for a little over 2 weeks now. I have started slipping again back into my old bad habits. First I gave myself free reign when eating out with family and friends, then I started making excuses as to why I didn’t work out daily, then I just stopped caring altogether. All of this while pretending to those who I’ve told about my healthy lifestyle that I’m doing fine and kickign butt at my new way of life.

Yeah this isn’t working.

I want to be all excited and motivated. I want to do it all at once. Eat healthy and exercise every single day without a slip up. I want to lose 2 pounds every week so I can lose my 100 pounds by next year.

But this is stressing me the hell out!!!

I need to set mini goals. Not just weight related ones either. I need to set goals on my exercise and eating patterns. They need to work up to being an everyday thing. I’ve done pretty good with tracking every piece of food I put into my mouth (except for the Vegas weekend…that was caloriefest 2009 but it’s out of my system now.)

So here it is.

  • Continue tracking my food intake at Spark People
  • Eat healthy 5 days a week
  • Exercise 3 times a week

That’s it! For right now I can’t stick to the full Spark plan. I need to do this for the next 2 weeks to make sure I’m setting a habit. I will then move to eating healthy 6 days a week for a week then 7. The exercise will follow suit. Exercise 5 days a week for 2 weeks then up to 7.

Once those goals have been met i will add in things like picking 1 healthy item when I go out with friends. Finding low calorie drink alternatives and sticking with those when I’m out at a club.

Setting this path for myself will make things flow much more smoothly. These are just my fitness goals. I am working on small goals for other parts of my life as well. Things like organization, time management and emotional goals.

I’ve lived the chaotic life for so many years. I don’t think I’ve ever had stability. Even when I thought I had it I was still living like a mess. At this time in my life i need as much stability as possible to be able to survive and come out strong.

I can do this!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Holding Yourself Accountable No Matter What

I’ve been faithfully participating at Spark People all week. I’ve joined a couple of teams and tracked food/exercise. I am doing better at that then I’ve ever done in the past.

The problem starts when I overdo it on the food intake. There’s a little voice inside my head that tells me “Oh just don’t worry about tracking that, it wasn’t much and you’ll do better tomorrow.” Will I? I mean really will I? Or will I have another little cheat and “forget” to track that too? Maybe then I  just not even hit the site at all the day after that. Of course at this point i just chalk it up to failure and fall back into my old habits.

NO FREAKING WAY!!!

Holding myself accountable for the things i put into my body is going to be the only way I will be able to change my way of eating. If I track what I eat every day it will become a habit. It’ll be just like the email and blog checking routine I have every morning. I’ve done it for so long that I’m pretty much on autopilot when it comes to that stuff. With the iPhone app on my phone I’ll have no excuse at all not to track my food.

The reason this comes up today is because of the last few days. I have been horrible with my eating!! I’m currently living with my parents to help them out with some hard times they’ve come upon. THe problem is that I’m not the one in charge of meals here. So mom will cook, or even worse go pick something up. Usually when she cooks it’s pretty healthy or i can make some adjustments to it. The problems start when she goes and grabs take out food.

Lunch was Chick Fil A, Dinner the next night was Rally’s, McDonald’s was dinner tonight. She does this when she’s tired from working such an early shift. But yet, she won’t let anyone else control the kitchen! So there i sit with my entirely too huge portion of food worried about my caloric intake and she sits there and tells me “What’s wrong? Don’t you like it? Why aren’t you eating?”

I’m learning better how to handle this though. When she does bring take out I will sit it to the side and make a huge veggie salad with low fat dressing. Then, I drink a HUGE cup of water before I touch the meal. Finally, I will cut whatever portion sits in front of me in half. It’s still a lot of calories at times but it isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. I’ve even started asking her to give me a heads up when we’re having take out so that i can let her know what healthy items I want from the menu, or plan my other meals accordingly.

So I’m continuing to hold myself accountable and learning new ways to handle bad eating situations. I’ve come a long way and it’s only been a week. Can you just imagine what will happen within this next year?

Posted in Accountability, Bad Food Situations | Leave a comment

Vlog – Weigh Day #1!

I’m super excited!!

Today is my weigh day and I am down 3 lbs! Holy crap I miscounted earlier. I thought it was 2! I was so excited you have NO idea.

OK enough giddy like a teenager-ness here. This is todays vlog. I am a part of a challenge on the Walking/Leslie Sansone team on Spark People and one of the challenges was to make a vlog. I decided to take the plunge and do it. My webcam is not so hot so my plan is to reward myself for meeting a goal weight by purchasing a new one!

Here’s the video. Have a great day!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Posted in Daily Post, Vlog | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Not The Best of Days

It’s only my 2nd day and I am learning as I go that’s for sure!

I ended up eating most of my daily calories at breakfast.

The problem that i face is that my family centers everything around food. All of our “family time” is based around going out to eat. Going to the grocery store and finding strange and obscure things to try is something that my mother enjoys fully. I’ve taken on that trait.

So today my mother and I went out to breakfast before i had to go to work. We do this pretty much every sunday since I’m not home for “sunday breakfast” anymore. We go to a southern style restaurant and share what they call “The Big Man’s Breakfast.” It’s cheaper than both of us getting a meal and we can take some home to Dad or brother when we’re done because we never eat it all.

Usually I don’t eat any lunch after a breakfast like this but that leaves me hungry all day. Then when dinner comes around I am STARVING!

Of course i end up eating anything I can get my hands on. This is why I’m working on the blog tonight! I don’t want to eat the whole house.

Plan of action for next week

If we DO go out and have breakfast I will cut my portion of food down even more (putting half of each thing into the to go box.)

Tomorrow is Weigh in day. I know I weighed yesterday because I just started all this but i feel that Mondays should be a weigh day for me. It helps me to keep that in my thought over the weekend so I don’t go crazy. Knowing i have to weigh on Monday may help me not overindulge on nights out and sunday breakfasts.

Question – What are your favorite tips for eating out or with family?


Posted in Daily Post | Leave a comment

Beginnings and Why I Started This Blog

This is the first day of my new lifestyle. I’ve said it so many times before and each time I ended up falling off never to jump back on. I’ve put super glue on my shoes and have no intention of falling off this time. I will succeed.

What am I going to succeed in? I plan to lose 100 lbs by next year on this date. Some people may think this is impossible. I would have to disagree. If I change my eating habits and start exercising as I should be, there should be no problem with me losing the weight.

I’m starting out at 250 lbs. That’s a BMI of 43! Yes folks, I am what the healthcare profession would call morbidly obese. That’s a damn scary phrase right there. I don’t like it! But, the only way to change it is to start eating right and exercising.

I also have Type 2 diabetes. This came on when I was around 19. I had a 2 year stint as a heavy drug user. I wasn’t eating and maintained a weight of around 180. Once i got clean and started eating again I ballooned up to around 280 lbs! Since then I have come down to about 250 with the small changes in eating I’ve done. I eat veggies and fruits now, I eat more fiber and lean protein as well. It’s not doing enough though. I’m not LOSING weight I am maintaining at 250.

I am starting ShrinkingAmber because I need to get this weight off. I need to start being healthy and taking care of myself. I’m not getting any younger and there are a lot of things I want to do before I die. Being in a hospital all the time with issues related to my weight isn’t one of those things!

So this is the beginning.

My Stats

250lbs

43 BMI

Measurements

Bust – 50

Waist – 51

Hips – 54

Thighs – (left) 29 (right) 28

Calves – (left) 19 (right) 18

Upper arms (left) 17 (right) 16

Ready to go on this journey with me?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Posted in Beginnings | Tagged | Leave a comment