Dear Running

Dear Running,

It was so nice that we got together for one whole minute tonight on the treadmill - this is the most that we've ever seen eachother in the last two years.

I have officially broken up with 216 on the scale and told him that I want nothing to do with him or any of his 200-numbered buddies.

I think we have a real good thing going for us here and would love to see more of you in the future. Give me a couple weeks as I have to tell 215 - 200 to take a hike, but they will be out of my life shortly. Let's make a 20 minute date for some time after April when I am able to give you my undivided attention.

Looking forward to the future.

Love,

Lisa

Breaking up with 216.4

Dear 216.4,

We've certainly seen a lot of each other over these last few years. I saw you on my way down two years ago and then again the following year on the way up.

Although it is nice to see you again, I have to tell you that this the last time I will be seeing you on the scale ever again as I refuse to go back up to your level. Our relationship is an an unhealthy one and I have to say that you and I don't get along - we simply do not look good together.

In fact, although I am looking forward to running into 215, 214 and 213 in the coming days - I want nothing to do with you or any of your 200-numbered buddies. I am changing my life and really don't see you fitting in anywhere.

I'm sorry - but this is over.

Yours,

Lisa

Gotta Love the Biggest Loser!

Today I put The Secret into practice! I envisioned myself at 215 all day today and when I stepped on the scale at the gym this evening, the scale said 218.0 - thank you! I'll take that. That completely motivated me throughout my workout. I jumped on the elliptical and did an hour on that wonderful machine, then trotted over to the treadmill for a half hour and watched the Biggest Loser while walking at 3.2 on a 2.5 incline. I totally rocked it! Burnt 900 calories in total (which, for me is excellent for a work night). I tell ya, if I didn't have to wake up at 5:30 tomorrow morning to get ready for work, I probably would have stayed for another 30 - 60 minutes. I was one motivated mo fo.

The Biggest Loser, although incredibly inspiring and motivating, cracks me up sometimes! Those people can be such babies. Heck, if I had the ability to devote my entire life to losing weight on a ranch (and not have to work or worry about family obligations) I would be in heaven. Talk about a utopia. The participants on the show are always crying and breaking down, excuses, excuses, excuses (you can tell I'm a hard-ass). A few times I couldn't help but roll my eyes and laugh. However, I love watching the weigh-ins! They pull out crazy numbers most of the time! That, along with the before and after shots is what motivates me to push hard and reminds me what I can accomplish.

Speaking of my new favourite place to spend my nights (aka, the gym), I ran again for 40 seconds on the treadmill. Tomorrow I am going to push for 45 seconds. The plan here is to add 5 seconds every three days. I figure that this will help me tackle my goal of "being a runner" and get me to where I need to be if I ever want to do that 5K!

The only negative thing: I can't get out of the habit of eating processed or pre-packaged foods. They are just so much easier than making my own stuff. Sigh, I want to eat more fresh foods, but don't want to put the work into it. This is currently sitting on the top of my priority list of "things I need to tackle", followed by about 30 other items.

Lastly, I just wanted to remark that, as March 31st approaches, I have officially lost 15 pounds this month. I am so proud of myself for sticking with it. I have to say that using the weight watcher boards and surfing through everyones blogs is really inspiring and really helps me to stay on track. I absolutely love reading everyone elses blogs and love that mine has significantly helped me be accountable for my actions. Next, I have to set a goal for April. You can expect to see my April goals in tomorrows post.

The Secret

A friend of mine has been pestering me to read The Secret for a couple years now and up until now I've shrugged it off as "wishful thinking". However, today I watched the documentary on it - and I have got to say that it not only makes sense, but it's also extreemly motivating! I am certainly going to take the "Law of Attraction" as they call it into my practice and journey of losing weight. Let's see how this works! Anyone else have any experiences with The Secret?

From this day forward I am going to visualize myself at 130 pounds - and Will get there by December 31, 2010. I am going to surrond myself with positive people and things and most importantly, treat myself the best way I possibly can - after all, I can't expect anyone to treat me better than I treat myself - so, I am raising the bar!

Other than my little empowerment discovery - today was a typical day - ate a little over my daily points value and the scale still said 219. However, today I ran on the treadmill for 40 seconds - that's twice as long as I ran for last week. It's funny, after 40 seconds, my heart rate skyrocketed from 144 to 174! So, I figure that if I try to run for at least 1 minute everyday for the next two weeks, my endurance level will get stronger and stronger.

May The Secret be with you...

So long 220's!

That's right! Weigh in this evening: 219!

I am happy that i'm officially no longer in the 220's but - that means I only lost 1 pound this week! This is no good, I need to lose more! So, where did I go wrong? I think eating lots of processed foods (and drinking!) was my downfall. Next weeks goal: less processed foods and more fresh foods.

However, I did try on those black 16-size pants and they do up! Awesome. I no longer have to wear jeans to work!

14 pounds and counting!

Worry Weight

Officially worried about my weigh-in on Monday. I stepped on the scale today and found myself at 219 pounds - that's only a 1 pound loss this week (so far).

On the up-side, I've already surpassed my March goal (of 13 pounds) and have busted through the 220's!

Another positive: I no longer crave horrible foods, like Panago pizza, chinese food and all the other fattening foods I used to worship. I have now become dependant on hummus, whole wheat pita bread, eggs, salad and of course chili. I'm really embracing this whole "eating to live, not living to eat" philosophy - it really resonates with me.

Lastly, tonight I did 90 minutes on the elliptical. I'm going to start making Saturday nights my go to the gym for 90 minutes/ watch a movie on my ipod / Lisa time. I love this whole watch a movie gym business. It is so wonderful. Not only do I get a wicked work-out in, but I also am so distracted that the time just flys by.

Fail

Tonight was a definite fail. For the first time in 25 days I did not go to the gym. Instead, I went to the casino. I did manage to keep within my points (as I sit here eating some hummus and low-fat crackers), but am already regreting my decision to skip the gym. On the other hand, I am 25... I deserve to have some fun.

So happy that I avoided all chicken wings, sweets and fries that surrounded me tonight. Tomorrow I'll be at the gym first thing in the morning for at least 2 hours! Here's hoping this won't affect my weigh-in on Monday.

Tracker!

Breaking 220!

Well, I am starting to get a bit worried about my next weigh in (Monday). I am half-way into the week and the scale is still reading 220 pounds. I have been sticking to my daily and weekly points and have been working out daily. That should do it! Just to be sure I'll be spending 2 hours at the gym at least 2 out of the next 3 days.

On a more positive note, I am starting to feel my mid-section getting smaller and smaller. I honestly am starting to notice a difference which is awesome! Another positive note - I had to attend a meeting today at work and had enough will power to fill my snack plate up with fruit instead of the yummy pastries, which there were plenty of. Half way through the meeting, my co-worker had a half-eaten chocolate banana muffin on her plate and it looked so delicious. I ALMOST went and grabbed one, but was able to resist.

I've officially fallen in love with Chili. It is simply the greatest meal ever. It's cheap, healthy, easy to make and low in points value. Chili is the new tacos these days, but gawd do I ever miss tacos.

This weekend I am going out "clubbing" for one of my friends birthdays. My plan is to drink vodka and sodas (in a beer glass), and alternate it with plane old soda water. I've only dipped into my weekly points a little bit this week - so I can use a good 25 points on Saturday night. The true test will be whether or not I actually go through with this and avoid temptation of the margaretas, jagger bombs, and other tasty party drinks I know there will be plenty of!

Lastly, I am planning a trip to Europe this summer - so now have uber motivation to look good for the trip. It's a good thing I've been working my butt off these past 25 days.

Off to drink a gallon of tea, and then to bed.

Drinking myself Skinny!

Today was an interesting day. Work these days are stressful. When I got home today, I needed a drink, so had a couple coolers. Don't worry, I tracked them on weight watchers. The thing is, I haven't drank in about a month, so a couple drinks made me a little tipsy. I then proceeded to the gym and really gave'r on the elliptical and treadmill. I think tonight was the hardest I've worked out at the gym this year - I mean I was sweating like i've never sweat before - it was awesome. Thank you California Coolers. I certainly won't make this a habit, but for tonight, it certainly worked in my favour.

The bad news is, that my last pair of work size 18 black pants have bit the dust. There is now officially a large hole in them and I can no longer wear them to work. The good news is that I have more black pants, but they are all size 16, 14, 12.... I am so close to fitting into the 16 pants, but it will be about another week until I can actually do them up. So, being the cheap-o I am, I'm going to be wearing my jeans to work until I can get the size 16 pants on. Oh - such an exciting life I lead!

Being all hyped up at the gym, I attempted to run on the treadmill. Let's just say that I am not there yet (lasted about 30 seconds). I've never been a runner - but would like to be one day. I think once I get down to 200, I'll start training / teaching myself to run and tackle a 5K. My list of things to do once I hit 200 is getting longer and longer...

Blame it on Society

As you are aware, my biggest problem in my weight loss journey is learning the proper portion sizes of my meals. I used to really enjoy bingeing and eating mounds of food until I could no longer move. I started thinking today about my lifestyle and noted that I eat out a lot. In fact, most of my social life involves going out to eat at restaurants, drinking at bars and pubs, and the like. When I order a plate of pasta at one of my favourite restaurants, I get heaps of noodles bathing in cream. Weight watchers would probably calculate my favourite pasta dish at Earls as 75 points. So, can I really blame myself for over-eating and abusing proper portion sizes - or can I blame it on society, after all, Earls would probably consider a weight watchers dinner portion as a mere appy.

As a result of this enlightening thought, I've come to realize that I truly have to alter my lifestyle. Cut back on the bars, restaurants and eating-fests and get more into healthy activities, such as baseball, swimming, etc. The problem here is that all my good friends follow the same pattern as me (that is the restaurants, bars, eating), but none of them are fat. I'm certainly not willing to drop my friends, and I really wouldn't like to "cut-back" on hanging out with them. This really feels like a rock and hard place situation, and I am going to have to put some more thought into this - perhaps come up with a creative way to address this issue. I want to remain healthy but I also don't want to drop my friends.

lastly, completely unrelated - At the gym tonight, I did 90 minutes of cardio and when I stepped on the scale it was flickering back and forth between 220.0 and 219.0, but finally settled on 220.0. So very close and am feeling uber motivated to break the 220's.

Back to Positive!

Usually I post comments at the end of the day. Today I just wanted to drop ya'll a line to let you know that i'm back to my positive self again.

In fact, I am planning a 2-hour workout tonight to make up for my measly 30 minute elliptical workout last night.

More to come...

What-A-Mess

Today was a day from hell.

Not only did I have to work 2 hours overtime, but a stupid drunk guy sat next to me on the bus the whole way home, and boy was he an a$$. Lately I've been feeling like everyone wants me to give them something and am starting to fell like I don't have time for myself because I have to attend to everyone else - it's this same feeling that lead me to find myself at 233 pounds on March 1st. If i'm not stressed, then I am incredibly lonely.

As a result of this horrible day, I didn't get home from work until about 7:30 - scarfed down some dinner, ran out and did some banking, then only went to the gym for 30 minutes. Now I just feel guilty! I literally couldn't stand being at the gym because I think every 16-year-old boy in my city was at the gym lifting weights. There is literally nothing that smells worse than boy sweat. I had to get out of there.

I'm so mad that my week got off to a bad start. I did however track my food and stayed on plan, but I just feel like my life is such a mess and it's times like these that I just don't care about anything, including myself. I've just been telling myself that this is just a bad day and that tomorrow i'll wake up and be happy that I "cared" today because it allowed me to stay somewhat on plan.

A very grumpy and depressed Lisa signing off on this crappy Monday!

Getting the fast Food under control

Today was in interesting day. I was on the move running around the entire day and had Mcdonalds for lunch and Tim Hortons for dinner - but from Mcdonalds, I only ordered a snack wrap and from timmy's, all I had was chili! It was only a 16 point lunch and dinner. I really feel like I am starting to conquer / master the art of eating out (especially with fast food) on the weight watcher points system. Even had a few snacks in between.

Then, it was off to the gym again and I was in a really grumpy mood when I got there and resisted the cardio the entire time I was there. I would tell myself, OK, once I finish 30 minutes, I am going home, then when I got to 30 minutes, I would tell myself, OK, let's go to 40... etc etc. I made it thogh my entire cardio-hour pouting the whole way - but at least I did it!

Lastly, Official weigh in time... drum roll please... 220! I am very excited (although breaking through the 220's would have been nice). This means that I lost 5 pounds this week. The two previous weeks I lost 4 pounds a week, so this is the highest weight loss/ week since I started this journey. Not only that, but, in my weight loss schedule, I was planning on losing 13 pounds in March - and March ain't over yet. I stil have a week and a half to go! This is so excellent! I was very proud of myself. And, here's the real kicker - this week I've eaten more than the previous two weeks. This was the first week where I really dipped into my weekly points allowance. This week I upped my cardio by two additional hours as well (namely out of guilt).

I am feeling ready to take on another week and am really ready to break through the 220's.

13 pounds down, 87 pounds to go.

:)

Damn you Mexican food

Today was the first day since I started that I didn't have a good eating day. A friend of mine and I went down to the States, and having had only a yogurt all day, I was starving by 6pm. so, my friend and I went to a Mexican restaurant, and I had a veggie taco salad - made note of everything that was on my plate, ate it all plus an enormous margareta and it was awesome! However, when I got home and plugged everything into weight watchers, the outing cost me 41 points. My daily allowance is only 28! Luckily I only had a yogurt in the morning and I hadn't used hardly any of my weekly points allowance during the week this week.

Today, consequently, was the first day that I felt "full" since I went on the plan, and I have to say that the "full" feeling isn't as great as I remember. I didn't enjoy feeling bloated and stuffed afterwards. It was very uncomforatble. Before I started weight watchers I would eat until I could hardly walk I was so full, and now I can't understand why I would make myself so uncomforable from eating. It was a real eye opener today as my understanding of the phrase "eating to live, not living to eat" went to a whole new level.

I am always super jealous of my skiny friend who can eat mounds of sour cream and cheese and still stay a size 6! When I got home and entered my 41-point dinner, I ran to the gym and did 110 minutes of cardio with the help of my watch-a-movie-on-my-ipod-while-on-the-machine trick. I am determined more than ever to get below 220! Stepped on the scale when I got in and it showed 221!!! So close. Going to work extra hard to get rid of those last two pounds before the official weigh in on Monday. Better download some more movies on my ipod...

Keeping on track

Another successful elliptical day - 90 minutes on that machine! Figured out a trick - I downloaded a movie onto my ipod and watched it while I worked out. It was awesome, I maintained a steady high heart rate and everything.

Had a good eating day too, a smartones frozen dinner for lunch, but for dinner, I had scallops and shrimp on a spinach salad - very yum.

Not looking forward to tomorrow - have to go get my car fixed and am not looking forward to footing the bill. But, I am going to the gym (again) for at least two hours.

Also - I am in love with my lovely indoor herb garden! It has sparked many creative dinners. Tomorrow, I am going to mix some of my Morroccan mint leaves with some green tea. Looking forward to it!

An Ode to the Elliptical

Oh dear elliptical
How I adore you
You tone my butt and thighs
And upper body too.

When my eyes scan the sea
of machines in the gym
You're the only one I see
As the rest of the room fades to dim.

Your low impact nature
So easy on my knees
Unlike the treadmill
Where my calves tense up and sieze.

My limbs fly with ease
I'm on a roll
My heart pounds
60 minutes, I reach my goal.

And another 1 (lb) bites the dust!

My dedication to eating within my daily points and my attendance at the gym has been beyond wonderful! I am super proud of myself as I head into week three, and my laziness is no where to be seen. I'm finding that I have to keep looking at this journey one week at a time. I set a goal for myself on Monday and I get the job done. At the end of the week I feel a fantastic sense of accomplishment that it inspires me to keep going. We'll see if this lasts beyond March, but so far, it's working.

Stepped on the scale today at the gym, it displayed a lovely 224. 1 more pound bit the dust! That puts me at a 9 pound weight loss since March 1st - and all i've done is stayed on plan and exercised regularly. I am eagarly waiting for that 10 pound point, and think I can easily get to it by the next weight watchers weigh-in. It will be so good to be under 220, I'm almost holding my breath until I get there. I'm in such a hurry to get out of the 220's. I'm doing it slow and steady though - the turtle does win the race after all.

Today at work I was in a conference that served sandwiches for lunch and because I had a frozen Smartone dinner, I thought to myself, "what the hey, lets try giving real food a shot", so I went for the vegan multigrain wrap and when I got back to my office and added up the points, it turns out it was a 12-point wrap. It was like a party of daily points hiding in the roasted vegetables in the wrap - entrapment almost! I was outraged. This happened in week two as well - but at that time I had made the horrible mistake of eating a veggie Quiznos sandwich (FULL of fat). I definitley learned from the Quiznos mistake though - that damn sandwich cost me 30 points! In one sitting! I think I'll stick to my Tim Hortons Chili from this point forward when I am in need of fast food.

I've decided to start to integrate more "real" foods into my diet and lifestyle once I get under 200 pounds. I really need to learn to cook healthy foods (besides egg sandwiches with salsa and healthy pizza). One thing at a time though - first, get to 200, then conquer the real food battle.

At the gym today, I was planning on staying past my usual 1 hour, but the guy beside me kept passing gas and it was incredibly unpleasant. I kept looking at him with disgust and disapproval, but he seemed to think nothing was wrong. In the end, he won. I wapped it up on the treadmill and got the heck out of there. Why do some people not have gym manners? Shhheeesh!

Dang Quesadilla!

Today was my first time trying the Smartones Quesadilla - I had it for lunch. I ate both quesadillas in the package thinking it was all 1 portion, then, after I ate it I looked at the box and saw that I had ate 2 portions - each quesadilla was 1 portion! So, my Weight Watchers points went from 4 to 9 for lunch. Not so great.

Definitely not the smartest llama on the field today. Made up for it at the gym though with some inspiration from the Biggest Loser. In fact, tonight was my longest time spent at the gym this year. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and 45 on the treadmill. Legs are going to be hurtin' tomorrow. Looking forward to it though.

A Tired Lisa is a Hungry Lisa...

Last night was horrible. I couldn't get to sleep and when I finally did it was 2am (way past my bedtime!). Then when I got to work it was like I walked into a potato sack filled with angry cats. I was running around like stink and then realized I hadn't had lunch - and it was alreay 2pm! I completely threw off my day by eating lunch that late. By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and eat some pizza (the ultimate comfort food). I was in a complete grumpy funk and this was the first time I felt like not staying on the plan! Yikes.

Once I sat down and took a couple breaths to calm myself down, I was able to drag my butt to the gym and do the regular 30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes on the treadmill. I really had to push myself for the first 15 minutes, but after that I totally got into it and was sweating like a mother. It was awesome.

Today at work, a coworker put up some photos of us from an event we did 2 years ago and I looked so skinny, healthy and fantastic. In the photo I was only 179 pounds! When I saw the photo it completely confirmed why I am doing this and also served as a slap in the face, like, "Lisa - get your butt in gear".

Starting to think about the summer and am thinking I am going to make it a personal goal to do some form of physical activity at least 3 days per week on my lunch hour at work. I'm lucky enough to work for a very large company, it has a pool, weight room, cardio machines and even fitness classes. I'm very much looking forward to creating my "lunch time summer workout plan". It's going to be a good summer.

What's driving me now? - Breaking out of the 220's - only a mere five pounds that stands in my way. I'm taking you down 5 pounds!



These Pretzels are Making Me Thirsty!

Anger is not fun, but makes me less hungry

Today, for reasons I won't mention here, I spent the majority of the day frustrated, angry and used. As it turns out, feeling this way, although not fun at all, doesn't make me hungry. In fact, I didn't feel like eating all day today because I was to busy being frustrated and running around like a crazy person. So, we can rule out anger / frustration as a cause to my overeating problem. In fact, I only ate half my points today, which is not good because that means I am not getting the nutrients my body needs. I have a sneaking suspicsion that my overeating problems come from being happy / comfortable.

On a lighter note, i've recently bought a whole whack of fresh herbs and planted them in cute individual pots next to my balcony window. They have definitly inspired me to do some fresh cooking (something that I've been avoiding since I started losing weight because of my lack of interest in cooking.) But today, I made an individual-sized pizza with fresh spinach and basil topped with two of those cute babybel cheeses and it was only 8.5 points. I was so pleased with myself that I had made something so yummy, fresh and low in points value. I can't wait to do more with all my awesome fresh herbs. It's going to be a fun next two weeks.

Lastly, tonight was my weigh in and.... drumroll please... 225! 8 pounds! I'm thrilled. There goes that bowling ball i've been carrying around with me on my body. Very much looking forward to the 10 pounnd mark. It really can't come soon enough. It feels like Christmas is a week away and the 10 pound mark is wrapped under the tree. I know it's there, but I can't get it for another week. Sigh...

Remembering 2008...

Why am I remembering 2008? Well, it was in that year (when I was merely 23 years old) that I stepped on the scale and found myself at 220 pounds. At the time, that was the heaviest I had ever been. That year, when I went home for Christmas my mom commented on my weight (as usual) saying that it looked as if I had "ballooned out". Her words were what I needed to get into motion and lose some weight - and I did just that. When I got home, I immeditely hit the gym, going everyday for an hour and worked like a dog. About four months later, with this exercise plan, I was able to get my weight down to 179. I had never felt better. Looking back, I was still eating large portions of food (even though it was healthy food) and in those four months, even though I learned to exercise on a regular basis - I didn't learn how to eat properly (and address my over-eating problem). As soon as I slowed down on gym attendance, my weight began to creep up again, and tada! There I was at 233!

So what is different this time around? Funny you should ask - I'm changing my lifestyle and learning to eat properly. What's more, once I get down to 180 I'm getting back into swimming and yoga (the two sports/ forms of exercise I love most). Right now, I can't do either because 1.) I look terrible in a bathing suit and 2.) I can't do any yoga bends because of all the fat on my body. So, needless to say I am very much looking forward to that 180 mark.

So, I'm not looking at all that hard work I did in 2008 as a waste - rather, I'm going to learn from it.

Another thing I keep thinking about in terms of weight loss is the weight of objects. For instance, when I stepped on the scale tonight at the gym, I had (so far) lost 3 pounds this week and thought, "what, only three pounds" but when I got in the car and started driving home I started thinking about the three pound weights I use at the gym and remembered how heavy 3 pounds actually is - and i'm no longer carrying that around with me on a daily basis. To date, I've lost 7 pounds! That's 1 pound short of a bowling ball! And bowling balls are heavy! Go me!

Lastly, I just want to note - I love Saturdays - they rock. I got so much done today and feel well-rested and ready to take on a lazy Sunday!

Losing my Marbles!

Friday is here, but my brain is not. The good news: I've been on my plan (both the Weight Watchers and Exercise) for a straight two weeks now and am feeling significantly better about myself - Already!

The only problem is, the days are much longer now that I am not sitting on the couch when I get home from the work - I go to the gym and work my butt off like a mother. My average day is: wake up at 5:50: get ready for work, 6:30: leave for work, 8:00am: arrive at work, 4:00pm: leave work, 6:00: get home and eat dinner, 7:00 go buy tomorrows dinner then 8:30: off to the gym, 9:45, get home from the gym, shower and off to bed. These days, as you can imagine are wicked long days and as the week goes on, my brain fuel gets lower and lower and then Friday arrives and I lose my marbles.

For example, tonight, after taking a light brisk walk on the treadmill for a nice 30 minutes, I then went to go get the spray bottle and towel to wipe down the machine and returned to the treadmill to find my water bottle and ipod missing! I had a quick little panic attack and then noticed that I had returned to the wrong machine. I was wiping down the machine next to the one I was on! The guy next to me was looking at me with an interesting look on his face, like "what the heck is that girl doing?" I just smiled and went over to the correct machine.

Then, as I was walking to my car in the parking lot after my hour-long gym workout I approached what I thought was my car (I drive a silver sedan - just like millions of other people in this world) and proceeded to put my car key in the lock, but it wouldn't budge. After about 2 minutes of confusion and fiddling with the keys, I realized that I was, in fact, at the wrong car and my car was across the parking lot. In my defence, it was dark out...

Thankfully, the day is over and tomorrow is my re-fueling day. I am very much looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!

Goodnite!

Goodbye 230's - I Won't Miss You

March 11, 2010 - Update

Very proud of myself. Not only have I stuck to the Weight Watchers plan, but I have also stuck to my exercise regime. That's right - I have gone to the gym everyday for an hour, 1/2 hour on the Elliptical machine and 1/2 an hour on the treadmill.

The best part, I'm out of the 230's. They are gone forever as I now sit at 227! 6 pounds in 1 and 1/2 weeks is pretty amazing. However, I've relied pretty heavily on frozen SmartOnes dinners. My lack of cooking skills and the size of my 3 x 7 kitchen make it hard for me to be creative with my meals. I'm pretty content with frozen dinners on a daily basis, but am worried about the nutritional value they come with. Health is about more than just weight loss, as Weight Watchers has taught me. So in the coming weeks, I'm going to try to work in some more fresh foods and the like.

Tried to be a bit creative for dinner tonight as I was craving some cheese and crackers (not just 1 or 2, but lots!). So my solution I came up with for this craving was garlic on low-fat crackers. Because garlic has virtually no fat, I thought it was the perfect solution. So I roasted a bulb of garlic and ate all the roasted cloves with 12 crackers. When I got to the gym, I noticed a distinct garlic smell and pin-pointed it to me. I stunk. When I came home, I quickly hit the shower to get rid of the smell - I forgot how garlic oozes out of me after eating it, and had made the terrible mistake of eating a whole bulb. Sigh. The shower didn't work, the garlic is still oozing out of my pores. This is starting to worry me.

Here's hoping that tomorrow I don't stink.

The Tipping Point

In late February I went to visit my family and had a life-changing conversation with my mom. We were sitting at the kitchen table when she told me that she didn't recognize me anymore because of the weight gain. She then went on to say that my weight breaks her heart.

The conversation was intiated by my complaints that i've hit road blocks in every area of my life - with my living situation, my job, my educational career, and the list goes on. My mom responded with something that really made me think, she said, "when you lose weight and get your outside looking like your inside, people will start looking at you for the good person you are and all the other areas in your life will improve and come together". The domino effect! Why have I never thought of that before. So simple and so motivating.

My mother, and her long history of commenting on my weight, broke my heart when she told me this. I literally couldn't stand to listen to her go on and on about our family's history of diabeties, heart disease, and other fat-related diseases. I got up from the kitchen table and went to the bathroom, took a good look in the mirror and vowed to myself that I would seriously committ and dedicate myself to myself - put myself first and resue Lisa from the 100 pounds that have taken over my appearence and life.

And thus, this conversation was my tipping point. When I returned home from my family's house I joined Weight Watchers online, and began an exercise routine that I would follow on a daily basis. March 1st, 2010: 233 pounds. This is the last day I will ever see that number on the scale.

In the Beginning...

Hello Blogging World!

This is a blog about my 100-pound weight loss journey, an attempt to rescue myself from... myself. This year, is my heaviest to date, weighing in at 233 pounds, I officially look and feel aweful. My goal is to reach 130 pounds by by 26th birthday in December 2010. This blog will document every step of the way, my successes, failures and everything in between. It will no doubt be an interesting journey, and one I think others who are on their own quest to loose some poundage and get healthy will enjoy.

I have always been an overeater. I love cheese, pasta, pizza, chocolate, cake, you name it. What's more, I can eat heaps of this delicious but fattening foods and feel fine and satisfied afterwards. I don't know where this over-eating (binge-like) quality of mine developed, but I am hoping this weight loss journey will help me discover where this issue came from. I have some preliminary theories, but time will tell if these theories are true.

I began this journey on March 1st, 2010 and have set an end date of December 31, 2010. 10 months to loose 103 pounds. This blog will act as my venting outlet for this journey that will consume my life over the next 10 months.

And away we go!