Lent

LENT -  period before Easter in Christian calendar: the period of 40 weekdays before Easter observed in some Christian churches as a period of prayer, penance, fasting, and self-denial. This period, starting on Ash Wednesday in Western churches, commemorates the 40 days that Jesus Christ spent fasting in the wilderness.

 
I've never denied my love for coffee or diet pop.  LOVE THEM BOTH. But coffee...oh my word. Need it every day, sometimes twice, three times a day.
 
Not only do I love the taste, but quite honestly I use it as an appetite suppressor. In the morning I wake up around 6:30 starving so I drink a cup of coffee and that holds me over until I get to work around 8am when I eat my "real" breakfast.  There are afternoons when I'm hungrier than usual, so I sip on a cup of joe and it helps get me through.
 
I've not researched one thing about it, but I don't think me drinking a cup of coffee a day is a big deal, what bothers me the most is the amount of sweetener I use.  Say I have 2 cups of coffee a day, that's 28 packets of Equal I use each week. INSANE. Not only is it un-clean, but it's expensive too!
 
And this doesn't include the diet pop I drink every now and then (Cherry coke zero. LOVE IT)  I actually do think I can go without pop. #1 It's expensive so I don't buy it hardly. #2 I usually only have it when I eat out and again, expensive and I hardly eat out anymore. So I think I'm ok there.
 
I've been knowing for a long time I need to kick my Equal addiction. Though it doesn't have calories, I don't want the health risks associated with it. Again, I'm going to try and eat as clean as I possibly can and give up those things I know I can live w/o. 
 
This morning I was going to go w/o my cup of coffee, but my stomach was GROWLING (I guess I could've ate some fruit though huh?) I made a cup of coffee and added one teaspoon of regular sugar.  I guess my justification is my body recognizes and understands what to do with sugar more than it does with this man-made chemical called Equal.  I'll sacrifice and have the extra 16 calories in the white stuff.
 
Another thing I was afraid of is my reaction to the sugar. Would it make me start craving more sugar? I guess I will see what happens, but it's not like I've completely cut out sugar from my diet anyway. What's one teaspoon? 
 
Man it was such a different taste. I don't think I would even want more than one cup of that stuff but again, it did its job. I was good until my real breakfast time.
 
So that's my sacrifice during Lent.  More of a wordly reason than I spiritual one I suppose.
 
 
 

Back to the Basics of Calorie Counting and other Randomness

Even though I feel like I am still losing (based on comments and my jeans) I think I need to go back to calorie counting. These last 35 lbs or so are going to be difficult and will take a long time so I just need to make sure I'm doing my part in aiding this thing along.

Based on my current weight, current workout schedule, and goal of losing 1 lbs per week, Sparkpeople says I should be eating 1620-1970 calories per day.  I was shocked when I plugged my meals and was about 1200. I had to add some more protein so I'm getting at least 100 grams each day. 

Today is only day #2 of counting again. We shall see how long I can last but I'm going to really try and see if this helps me get back to losing some fat (not necessarily just weight).

I've become addicted to shopping AND finding clearance items. I know for some this is nothing new, but when I had only a few stores to choose from if I like something, I would buy it no matter how much it costs. Why? Because it wasn't often I found something cute.  To find something cute and inexpensive. YEAH RIGHT!  Don't get me started on Lane Bryant and those high a$$ prices (even on the clearance rack full of crap no one wants to wear) Sorry. I just went off a little.

Anywho. I get a rush finding shirts for 5 bucks and $10 dresses. It makes my freakin day.  But I need to chill the hell  out with all this shopping. It's insane that every weekend I look forward to going to Forever 21 and JCP to find bits of pieces of outfits and making something happen.

The joys of weight loss and being able to fit clothes *BIG SMILES*

Here is my latest comparison shots. The first one is in August 2011. The 2nd one is from  yesterday. I see a slight difference. Nothing major though. That's just how SLOW my weight loss is going now. 

Slight changes???

Finally my sister and I got through the whole Plyometrics P90X DVD.  We did much better than last time and I'm definitely not as sore..well my thighs aren't but my calves are BURNING. Ouch!

Have a great Tuesday! :-)

 

FB Message

Last night a woman I went to high school with inboxed me the following message:

Hey Alicia, how have you been? You look stunning might I add. I had to share this with you because you have truly been a blessing to me. Girl, I just had my baby in October and after reading your post over the past few months you have encouraged me to do a 90 day workout challenge and I thank you for the motivation.. It's great to see you doing so well. Take care and keep up the good work.

But what is cool is how much her sending this message blessed me. Sometimes I get a bit arrogant about the process and my success thus far. I belittle it (a bit out of humility, but also out of ungratefulness), I get tired of it, I also forget about how far I've come and think too much about how long I still have to go.

But on this post, I want to take the time to recognize my heavenly Father for all that he has done for me.

Lord knows my walk is not what it should be and what it had been in the past, but I will never forget that I promised God that anybody who asked me how I did it, I would not first recognize him.

So I'm asking for forgiveness because many times I have not acknowledged that I could not have done this without him.  My journey is my testimony of God's grace and mercy on me so how dare I not  begin every morning with a " Thank you Jesus".

Yeah it's hard but like my friend said once everything major that you've done in life (education, family, work) is hard.  The bigger the pay-out, the harder the journey.

Anywho, I'm thankful for exactly where I am and that my life has touched someone to be healthier.

It's a lot of pressure, but I'm  up for it!

Happy Wednesday folks! 

 

..

Love & P90X

I didn't do P90X Friday or Saturday like I said I would. SMH. So sad and I had no excuses because I had nothing on the agenda (unless you count slow cooking and marathon episodes of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix)

But Sunday I met my sister over my parents and we did the Plyometrics DVD.  That DVD right there...THE TRUTH! OUCH. We only did 30 minutes and today I can't hardly get in and out of my chair. It's been a long time since my legs have been this sore. In Title, lately it's been my arms and shoulders, but not my legs.

I thought since I go hard in Title this would be hard but not to this extinct. I felt like a newbie working out! OUCH AGAIN.


Random NSV's:


My daddy told me I was really losing weight. That is MAJOR because my weight has to be extreme for my dad to comment about it. I remember at 300+ he made a comment about it out of concern.  And 120 ish lbs later, this is the first comment I can remember since I started losing.  Nice.

Happy Valentines Day Folks! ENJOY it and spread love not butter.(haha, I laughed a little to myself)

P90X, Running, and I suffer from ADD...

But the ADD is self diagnosed.  And based on the randomness of this all my blogs, I think the diagnoses is accurate.

I'm still transitioning from focusing solely on losing weight to focusing more on body transformation/losing inches. If I had to reach down and be completely honest, I'm ok with how much I weigh (I mean, really. Who cares about the #, it's more about what you look like anyway) and I'm ok with my curves ( I must admit my waist size is nice & normal)  HOWEVER, I have flab I want to get rid of and want to tighten it all up.

I know how to lose weight. I count calories, I track, and eat less and then weigh myself to watch the progress. But now it's a whole  new process and I'm lost. Completely. This could actually be harder because the results are even SLOWER..sigh.

Anywho. I am adding P90X to my routine. I'll still go to Title M-TH but on the weekends I'm going to do a dvd that focuses either on abs, arms, or legs. I'll just rotate between those. I did the Ab Ripper DVD on Sunday and it was tough but I know that's what I need.

My friend said she would do it with me, but she knows she can't depend on me because I'll start something and then change my mind..again (ADD).  So yeah that's the plan for now. 

Running? Oh yeah. Whatever. Suppose to do a 1/2 marathon on May 20th in Myrtle Beach. HAHAHAHA. Yeah. Ummm. Errrrrr.

Maybe I should stick with 5k's. They are fun.  Maybe I'm giving myself an out because I'm being lazy. Let me think about this and get back to you.

Coming off another FAT weekend. I ate whatever the heck I wanted Saturday and Sunday so of course today I'm trying to make-up for it and eat fruits and veggies. Will this ever NOT be the case?

Went to JCP (my new fave store, well, kinda) and let me say the great thing about losing weight is the clothes. Whoda ever thunk (sorry) that I would find dresses for 10 bucks when before I finding a dress from Lane Bryant for fifty was the norm.  Oh shopping is such a wonderful thing now. The clearance rack is now my friend because it consists of more than stuff my granny would have worn (though she was a snazzy dresser, but it's not cool for a 30 year old)

So yeah I found a dress. I thought I picked up an XL but the brand is a European brand (ain't JCP getting fancy!) and the US size is a 10. IT FIT! It's cute too. Me in a 10...that's what's up. Verification that though the scale says 190 lbs, I'm still losing inches.

 Lord don't let me eat these inches back up. Amen.