ONE MONTH PLUS TWO WEEKS= 20 LBS DOWN!!

So June 21st marks a great day for me. Finally made the 20.4 mark of my weight loss journey! I'm so proud of myself. I didn't do it for anyone else but me. I started this May 7th, 2013. I can't wait til I get to the end. My plan is to buy a foxy dress and get my pictures taken of myself and post my before and after pictures. I am so proud of myself!

I continue to get a ton of messages in my facebook inbox as to if I been strict, do I drink, what do I do to workout.....so I will answer those questions and I will be very honest.

I am pretty good M-F, as far as foods and drinking water. I got an insulated gel lined water cup you put in the freezer and I fill it with ice and lemon wedges and the cup has a straw. I fill that up at least 8 times per day! I once in a while crave a soda. So occasionally I might have a diet cherry pepsi or diet mt. dew, I have one and I'm good to go for a long time. I never did get a headache because I weaned myself off slowly. Caffeine headaches are the worst. I read online that smart tidbit, glad I did. With foods, same I'm pretty good really 6 days a week. I honestly thought I would crave more things than I do. I guess my weakness's would be hamburgers above anything else. I'm fine with turning away candy. I bought grapes and huge containers of strawberries and my daughters and I eat those all the time. I still mostly have fish and chicken and pork sometimes. I still eat tons of vegetables. I been looking up a ton of healthy recipes on Pinterest. I bought a box of conscious, I want to invent a new stuffed pepper with that. Its kind of a healthy rice. I tried it in with rice mixture once. Very very good. I try not to have any drinks during the week what so ever except the weekend.  My weakness is wine. As far as working out, I honestly don't do a ton of things. I try to walk a lot and I do arm weights. I think that is good to keep doing something though because muscle burns more calories than fat and I was so worried that my skin might be saggy and as long as I keep doing arm weights and sit ups and walking so far. I still have my Jillian Michaels DVDs and another Turbo Fire DVD that I should start doing now I think. I don't want things too simple. I take a chewy women's multivitamin. I had went to the doctor and my blood results were very low with Folic Acid and so I had to return for another blood check up. Researched foods to eat and taking a multivitamin must corrected what ever was wrong because the next time I went for the next blood test a month later,  I was good and down 12 lbs down on their scale and the doctor gave me a high five and said I was a star patient. I was really happy with myself. I also take a CLA supplement that I used to also take when I managed a branch of LA Weight Loss. A lot of people have asked me about this also, so here is what it does:

Conjugated Linoleic acids:

1. Decreases abdominal fat – adrenal imbalances and hormonal shifts that are common in thyroid patients frequently cause rapid accumulation of abdominal fat, so this product can be quite helpful.
2. Increases metabolic rate – it increases the metabolic rate in some people which helps to burn calories faster.
3. Enhances muscle growth – muscle burns fat by utilizing more calories which is useful in weight loss.
4. Lowers insulin resistance – insulin resistance leads to Diabetes. Lowering insulin resistance can help preventing adult-onset diabetes. Low insulin resistance means that muscles can use up calories faster so it makes it easier to lose weight.
5. Reduces food-induced allergic reactions – CLA can be very helpful in this aspect
6. Enhances the immune system – enhancing the immune system’s ability to function properly is a positive benefit which can be obtained by using CLA.

How it works

1. CLA increases your metabolism, enhances muscle growth and lowers insulin resistance which leads to more utilization of calories by your muscles.
2. High calorie usage ultimately helps in weight loss.
3. Linoleic acid is also used in the biosynthesis of Arachidonic acid (AA) and Prostaglandins.
4. Prostaglandin 1 acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and inhibits cholesterol bio-synthesis.
5. Lower cholesterol levels are beneficial for your heart and overall health.

Therefore benefits of CLA for fat-loss are two-fold. It assists in the metabolism of stored body fat and prevents the metabolism from slowing down during diet, while keeping your body healthy at the same time.

Ongoing march! I have a goal of 35 more lbs. That will put me 5 lbs more than I was when I graduated. Nothing tastes as good as being slim feels.

Anyone can do this, it just needs to be important to you and it's a priority everyday. I know for a fact I would think about my weight or I should do this or that. You just GOT TO DO IT!!!! For yourself, your self-esteem, your health.  It is so worth it!

FOUR!

So I didn't want to obsess with the scale...but I knew after two days that I was the same today would be the day of a change. Down 16 lbs! Only 4 more lbs til TWENTY!!!! Which is my first goal!

I keep getting many many messages about OMG, what are you doing...or what are you eating? This is what I'm eating.... Always eating breakfast is key. Don't have to be anything huge. Like a yogurt, some grapes. A banana. I mostly eat chicken and white fish. The specific kinds of fish is Swai, Cod, Salmon, Talapia. Those kinds are less "fishy". I season them with lemon pepper, or last night I tried crusted Paramisian. Wow, Yummy! I try to make sure that half my foods are vegtables. I find them to be more filling. I do some raw fruits each day. I have some black olives or olive oil for good fats. I drink at least 64 oz of water. Yesturday I was reading up on caffeine and how that effects your diet and water intake and that depletes your water that you drank and water is what is flushing everything out. Not that I won't have coffee with some breakfast or kill my Captain and Coke. That is not something I would do, but limiting it to special occassions like strawberry cheesecake...yes. I do have steak or porkchops once a week. I also have my meatloaf sometimes, because that is one of my favorite things and there isn't a bunch of bad things in it. Hamburger, ketchup, egg, onion....I just try and make it an appropriate 4 oz. size. I don't eat sweets alot anyways. I just make sure I don't buy alot of things that would tempt me.

As far as activity wise: I try and go on a walk each day or do arm weights. My girls love playing outside on the sidewalk chalking. Now that they are masters on their bikes, they want to ride all over town. I need to invest in a new bike. I sold my old one. I have some Jillian Michaels DVD's and also some others. So I am going to start working on those and incorporating those more. I know my body will tone nicely. I gain and lose weight pretty evenly. When I was always working out and in high school. I was very toned. So I hope I can get that way again.

As far as my goal. I should hit it right before my run in Omaha!

Thanks for all the positive comments! I hope this helps with all the questions!

I will post this on my blog and Facebook link it

I think talking about my experience has helped others already, even from other states which is pretty awesome. I always loved my job being a weight loss counselor. It's not like I didn't know what I was doing, I was just not choosing the right lifestyle with foods and just being in a major slump.

A new me is on the way..........THIS GIRL IS ON FIRE!