Spinning!

Ugh.... spinning. For some effing crazy ass reason, I thought spinning was going to be easy... ok, maybe not easy, but not as hard as it was. Apparently I was smoking crack all day long at work today!

Ok, so I walk in and all the ladies (all at least 10 years or more older than me), were all "are you joining us today?" This is when I thought I might be in trouble. 
I go in the room and pick out a bike. Apparently these women have "bikes" they always use. Geeze Louise! I was told by Nancy, who was very nice to me, that I had chosen the nicest bike. I hope I didn't piss anyone off, but I do remember which bike it was!
The class starts... all these up/downs and stuff. I hung in there for about 25 minutes and then I started cramping up. I was getting dizzy. Boo! I really thought about hanging in there, but those bike seats are REALLY effing high in the air! I would make a loud thump if I hit the floor. I made the decision to get off the bike and take the long walk of shame out of the room.

I asked the other lady next to me what time the class ended and she said in THIRTY minutes! WHAT! An hour of spinning! Ok guys, I want you to know that I will not let this defeat me. I am going to get it done. Spinning is only two times a week, but I am going to go to both classes! I've got some pounds to drop!

After bailing out on spin class 30 minutes early, I sat in the parking lot in my car and recovered. I have to say that I was a little embarrassed that I had to leave class early, but I have to just get over it, ya know? I spoke with my mom about their doggy Muffin. She has some kind a disgusting abscess in her mouth. Poor baby. BUT  I DIGRESS!

I did as I planned yesterday; I drove to the grocery store and shopped. I bought everything on my list. Then I came home and made a really delicious dinner. I accidentally made Tuesday's dinner, so I will make Monday's dinner tomorrow. Seriously though, my dinner was really good and really filling, I love eggplant, and this meal was swimming in eggplant. I didn't take a picture, but below is the recipe. 

Here are some positive things that happened today:
I woke up!
I was blessed to go to my job!
Many smiling faces told me they missed me and were glad to be back in my class!
I went to the gym!
I tried something (spin class) I have never done before!
and most importantly---
I rocked a side pony while working out and shopping!

=)

Meal Planning

I know that to be successful on the diet I must meal plan. Meal planning takes a shit load of time, but I know I can do it. Because I have been sick this weekend, I have only left the house to get the fixins for Chicken noodle soup. I guess I will have to go to the store tomorrow after I go to the gym. This is how I plan to make this meal planning successful. I will make 3-4 meals a week and eat them for dinner and leftovers each day. I also plan to make a breakfast casserole or something like that for breakfast. OK, so here's what I am making this week.

Grocery List: 
pantry items- 
old fashion oatmeal
almond breeze
craisins
sugar free pancake syrup
penne pasta
sugar free strawberry jam
raw almonds
Chicken broth
instant brown rice

meats-
breakfast turkey sausage
frozen chicken breast
salmon

produce-
portabella mushrooms
bananas
bell pepper
zucchini x2
eggplant x2
cherry tomatoes
grapes
greek yogurt
cucumber
lemon
mint leaves

dairy- 
liquid egg substitute
reddi whip
feta cheese
cottage cheese

Frozen:
hash browns
onion


         
What I'm cookin' so far!

This will be breakfast for 4 days (T-F)

Breakfast Sunday 

Breakfast Saturday

Dinner Tuesday, lunch Wednesday

Dinner Monday, lunch Tuesday

Dinner Friday

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-salmon-i/Detail.aspx

Holy crap! that's a ton of food! I wish it wasn't so late so I could go grocery shopping. I will just have to do it after my work out tomorrow. If I didn't actually have to work tomorrow I would go now. I guess I should start getting ready for bed. Since I haven't gone to sleep before 2 am in 2 weeks, I might have to take some melatonin. Alright kiddos. Have a great day! To all my teacher friends, it's back to work we go!

=)

Amanda's Top Ten!

I had a great year, I really did. So many great things happened in my life. I am trying to be SUPER positive right now because I don't REALLY feel especially positive! So here goes the Top Ten of 2012.

10. Judy finding me. What can I say? I love the silly kitty! She is laying next to me right now looking adorable. She is a good little girl.

Not what Judy is looking like currently, but a great picture nonetheless. 

9. Going on my first vacation. I know some of you might think this is really weird, but 2012 was the first time I actually went on a vacation. I know! I went with my friends to Southern Illinois and basically just hung out, drank way too much wine, and geo-cached for the first time. It was amazing and I loved every stinking minute of it!

 8.  Dating. I dated a lot this year! Through all of these dates, I have really gotten to know myself and what I really want in a husband. I will not settle and am pretty happy with knowing that about myself. I pray (and hope you are praying for me) to find a great guy with whom I would love to have a future.                
                                       Oh, and one that loves Judy too. =)

7. Running. For some crazy reason I decided to take up running this year. It was challenging, but I'm glad that I did it! I learned so much about myself and how strong I really am.




6. Speaking of running... I ran a 5k this year! What?

Me finishing the 10k.

5. Speaking of running a 5k, I also ran a 10k this year too! It was hard, but I loved it. 

4. Being featured on The Center for Health and Nutrition's website as a success story. I love the people at the Center, they have helped me so much. It's such a positive place!

Here's the pic from the website

3. Facing Fears. I faced several fears this year. The first was kayaking. I was scared to do it because it might be too hard. I might fail. Well, I didn't and I had a blast! 

2. As my weightloss progressed, I saw more and more hanging disgusting skin on my body. More on my left arm than anywhere else on my body. In April I decided it was time to see a plastic surgeon to get the skin removed, and in June I did! I will still have to have more skin removed, but I am so happy with my decision. 

and the best thing that happened to me this year!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!

1. LOSING 100 POUNDS!!!!! Woo-hoo! It wasn't easy, but it wasn't so hard that you can't do it. It was life altering and a profound obstacle that I have overcome. 100 pounds off and more to come! (come on, you all knew that was going to be number one!)

Things to come to 2013:

• Running the Shamrock Shuffle
• Participating in a Warrior Dash
• Reaching my goal weight
• finding a great man
• earning my National Board Certificate
• going somewhere cool this summer
• running a half marathon
• paying off a major credit card
• saving money!
• growing my hair out
• getting organized
• eating better
• being a better friend
• being a better sibling
• after hitting goal weight, getting a photo shoot done
• buying new clothes!
• writing in my blog on a whole lot mre!
• and much much more!

=)

Starting Over

I have to start over. I am stuck in such a funk the past couple of months that I just need to breath and start over. So here it goes. Here's me starting over.

Here's how I will start over.
1. weigh in.
-----I will tomorrow morning
2. make a food plan
----I will make a food plan for the week and go grocery shopping at least two times a week.
3. I will exercise every day for at least an hour a day.
4. I will write positive affirmations and place them in different parts of my home. (i need some ideas)
5. I will get rid of all unhealthy food in my house.
6. Be positive.
7. Be Positive.
8. Be Positive.
9. BE POSITIVE
and finally
10. BE POSITIVE!


In the mean tine here's an awesome picture to make you laugh.

Gotta Love Judy the cat!

=)
Amanda


******************EDIT********************
Some affirmations:

This one will go in my bathroom- Loving myself heals my life. I nourish my mind, body and soul
This one will go on my fridge-  I choose to make positive healthy choices for myself
I'm not sure where this one will go, but I like it--I choose to find hopeful and optimistic ways to look at this.

I've got to get back to it!

This holiday season is killing me. My eating is OUT OF CONTROL. I have to get myself in check and it starts in the morning. All the cookies that I have left from my Cookie Exchange are going to school. I haven't weighed myself at all, but I probably have gained close to 10 pound since my last Dr's visit. It sucks because I was doing so well. I cannot dwell on my failure though, I must move on and persevere. At this point it is my only choice.  I really want to lose these last 35-40 pounds before the end of the school year. I have been stuck as the same weight for months now. It's just time to do it. No more excuses. NO MORE EXCUSES. 

NO MORE EXCUSES!

I think I want to sign-up for the Ragnar Relay that's starts in Madison, WI and ends in Chicago. I think it would be real fun. I'm going to have to get this ass in shape though. 

__________________________________________________
Since my last post in July, I have a new lady in my life. She is the most adorable thing in the whole world. Her name is Judy and she has stolen my heart.

Isn't she the sweetest?

Amanda =)

First day back

This afternoon was my first day back at the gym. I was excited all day. I just kept thinking...only this many hours and I can go sweat... I am such a dork! I also wanted to look my best. Usually when I go to the gym I could give a shit, but today I wanted to look good. Like it was my "Gym Coming Out Party", ya know? So I wore my favorite capri's from Kohl's and my razor back sleeveless shirt from Old Navy. I have never worn a sleeveless shirt to the gym before, it was saying, "hey, look at these arms baby! I also wore my new lightning Bondi Band and my new running shoes. I felt like a million bucks!

My workout consisted of 45 minutes on the elliptical, 30 minutes of weights, and a 5 minute run on the treadmill. I wanted to do more, but I haven't been to the gym in SIX weeks! I have to give myself a few days to get acclimated again. If I push it too hard, my back will start yelling at me and I won't be able to walk! I have to take it slow. I definitely could have run longer, but again, I want to pace myself. 
I cannot begin to express how great I feel being able to be in the gym. Over the past few years, the gym has been the place where I feel most comfortable. Well, my bed and the gym... anyway. I love it there. I especially love my gym. It's so small, but I pretty much know everyone, maybe not by name, but I know their faces. It's just a comfortable place to be. 
So the workout wasn't too bad. I had a few small issues with my arms.
1- my arms don't stretch like they should. What I mean is, well, where my scars are, are still pretty tight. I have to stretch the skin in those areas. It's like fresh skin that's not been moved... it's weird. It's sucks and it hurts, but the doc says it's normal.
2. The scars go into my arms pit and get rubbed by my sport bras. Yes, bras. I have big ta-tas and have to wear two. My armpits are the two places where the healing has taken a little longer. It makes sense though... the place where I had the drains, it doesn't see that much air. 


Anyway, I'm feeling great and cannot wait until I drop these last 30 pounds! OMG I am going to look amazing!


=)

A week of visiting old friends

I hope you all had a restful Fourth of July weekend. Mine started off very busy, but ended very relaxing. Late Tuesday night I decided that in the morning I would drive to Jefferson City, Missouri to visit Monica. I hadn't seen her is almost two years, so I decided Wednesday was a good day. The problem was that I had a previous engagement for Thursday evening (I will discuss later) that I could not cancel. So yes, I drove all the way to Jeff City to visit Monica. I was there for only 20 hours. It was worth it though. I really miss Monica. We met back in college when were both 19. 

Here we are hanging out in one of our dorm rooms.

 When we first met I could not stand this girl. Monica was hanging out with another girl from my dorm house in the common room. I walked in the front door and they both started laughing. Of course being the self-conscious girl that I was, I assumed they were laughing at me. Later that year, right before Christmas, I was walking around campus with a video camera and BOOM, Monica was with me and were were friends. I don't know how it happened, but I try not to question fate. We have been the best of friends since that day.


Because she lives to freakin far away, I will take 20 hours over nothing! Here are some pics from the adventure.

Monica and her bf Jeremy

Monica and Miss Slouchie Sloucherson

Monica allowing her niece to do her hair.

We met up with her brother and his family, and then her other brother and his gf showed up too. It was a lot of fun. I simply didn't get enough Monica time and will need to get back to see her soon.


I drive home Thursday morning because of the previous engagement I mentioned earlier. A few weeks ago after having lunch with Liz, my old friend friend Annette from high school mentioned (via facebook) that she, her twin sister Noelle, Liz, and I should get together for a meal. We decided to do it on Thursday evening. I just couldn't back out! I didn't take any pictures, but it was great fun! I haven't seen Annette and Noelle since our ten year high school reunion in 2008. 

That's Noelle on the far left, Liz, Annette, and me. As you can see I was very large here. This is probably at my highest weight. That dress was a size 24 or size 26. I cannot remember, or I guess I don't want to remember! Both Annette and Noelle were pregnant at this time. 
We have already decided to hang out again soon and I will take pictures. It's cool because both Annette and Noelle are married to guys that we went to high school with. I was really good friends with Noelle's husband Kevin, so it will be cool to get to hang out with him too.


The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. I have been planning out my meals for the week, but I blew that out the window today because I just ate half a watermelon. I guess portion control is going to be a serious issue with me. I have to be careful. I refuse to allow myself to look like the girl in the above the picture. I may have been smiling, but don't let it fool you, I was so upset that I had to go to my reunion looking like that. You know, you try and do your hair and make-up to look good, but you put on that large of a dress and nothing else seems to matter. 

This was me in the car on the way to the reunion four years ago. I have to be completely honest, right now I am looking at this picture and tears are welling up in my eyes. How the hell did I let myself get to that point? I have no answer. Nothing. 


ANYWAY! 


I was looking through some pictures on my computer and came across a picture from last Fourth of July. I was maybe 25 or 30 pounds heavier than I am today. I thought I looked so good! Ha!

2011...........................................2012                 

Hopefully next year I will have lost this last 30 pounds and will have another side-by-side of these pictures with one more! Let's make a pact, you out in the blog world, and me, Amanda: I will lose this last 30 pounds and I WILL post another picture! It's a deal.


=)