One-Seven-O-Yeah!

I'm very happy to update that I weighed myself yesterday and was 170 ! To celebrate I bought myself this super cute dress on eBay I've been drooling over. With some luck it'll be here the day before Christmas and I can wear it in the family pictures!

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No Scale and No Calorie Counting for almost 2 months

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted. I really will try to get better at that. Since my last post I have lost another 8 pounds and I am down to 175 pounds. The batteries in our scale died and I was either too lazy or didn't care enough to go seek out those odd disc shaped batteries that it takes. My boyfriend finally got sick of not having a scale and bought one of the old school ones that doesn't need batteries. I was expecting to be around the same weight or even have gained some since I haven't been following my plan at all. I was pleasantly surprised to find I actually lost 8 pounds! I definitely don't see it and don't feel like I have been doing anything to be deserving of these shedded pounds. Then again...I pondered about it for a little bit and I changed my mind. I have been slightly more mindful about what I eat than I used to be. I subconsciously count calories of food before I stick it in my mouth. I still have the mindset that I want to lose weight. I didn't say "to hell with it" and start eating like a pig. I have been eating way more fast food than I would like to, but I eat smaller portions and make substitutions where possible (i.e. grilled chicken instead of fried chicken). I also have been fairly more active than usual. My boyfriend got us mountain bikes and we try to go at the very least once a week. He goes every night to take our Husky on a run. It is the most adorable thing ever seeing our dog come back from a run with what really looks like a dog smile. haha. The morning of Thanksgiving we went on a 6 mile bike ride with Dereck's family. I did better than I thought I would. The way back kicked my but since it was all at a very slight uphill angle. It felt good though and I felt less guilty about all the yummy food we ate at my parents house later!

One last exciting thing. My BMI is down to 25.84. I am still in the overweight range, but once I am under a BMI of 25 I am in a regular weight range. Wahoo!

That's all for now. I will try to update more often. Don't give up!

I'm Doing Something Right!

I did my weigh in this morning and I'm happy to say that I am at 183.0, yay! That means I have lost 4.2 lbs since Sept 5th. Once again, not quite as fast as I would like, but I'm not exercising, so I don't feel like I have a right to complain. I also still eat what I want (but with some substitutions and in moderation). That puts me at a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 27 which is still in the "Overweight" range and rightly so. To be in the normal weight range for my height, I need to be between 125 and 169. That is perfectly fine with me! I hope to be around 145 anyways. :)

 I have noticed some ups and downs of changing my diet, here they are:
(I've bolded the highlights in case you don't want to read everything)

UPS:

*Feel like I have more energy
*Feel more confident just knowing that I am losing weight
* Amazingly enough my attitude towards certain foods has changed. I have started to view some really greasy foods as gross. I now sometimes crave fruits and other healthy foods.
* My pants are getting more comfortable and on the way to being a tad loose.
*Compliments! I have gotten a few compliments saying they can tell I'm losing weight. (I know I am quite verbal about it on here, but the only other people that know I am actively trying to lose weight in my day to day life are my boyfriend and my dad. My step-mom and sister now know after they complimented me and I then told them that I'm trying).
* That "full feeling" actually is started to give me a different vibe now. It is so weird to me. I used to eat until I felt "full", right? OK, sounds normal, but here is the thing... that "Full Feeling" has actually changed for me! Now when I feel full the way that I used to, I actually feel like I over ate and I am now the size of a whale. I think I have actually trained myself to now eat until I am "satisfied". It is a much better feeling too! Now I feel like I can still get up and do whatever after a full meal, whereas before all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch TV after dinner. Fascinating!
* I have changed the way I think about food. I now try to find food that gives me the most amount of Fiber with using the least amount of my daily calories while still tasting good. I say most amount of Fiber, but really just whatever will fill me up the most without using a lot of calories, but still be yummy :) .

DOWNS:

*Seems like my body (internally) is changing to accommodate the new way I eat. Sometimes leads to undesirable effects, but seems like that has stopped and my stomach is being normal.
*Going out to eat. I have noticed that the days I do really well on my diet are the days that I can completely control where I am going to be and what I will be eating. Days that I get asked to go out to eat at the last minute really screw with me. If I have a little advance notice, I have enough time to find the nutritional facts and make an educated decision, which makes eating out not a problem.
*Counting Calories- this is kind of an up and a down at the same time. I don't like it because sometimes I forget to do it, don't know the calorie content of a food, or I'm just being a lazy girl. I do like it because it lets me know where I am at calorie wise after lunch, so I am able to eat a sensible meal for dinner and not go over my calories for the day.
* Agreeing on dinner is harder than ever! My boyfriend is a huge fan of Meat! I think he would eat it in every single meal if he could. Besides that, he loves the type of food that I can only distinguish as being in the comfort food category. The problem is... I love these foods too! lol. So it doesn't help when he wants them and I want to make him happy, so I say ok sometimes. Him and I are basically on two different plans of diet and exercise. His is more exercise and eat what he wants and I am the opposite! I'd rather cut the calories than slaving away working them off. I figure this is probably a common issue for dieters. What really matters is that in the end we both support each others own plan for dieting and exercise and make compromises where possible, so it is not a huge issue.

So,What have I been doing to get these effects? I think I better save that for another blog, this one is getting long! lol. But I will tell you, it doesn't involve buying any magic pills, diet program, or anything special. It's about finding your will power and determination.

YOU are the only person who can make yourself Fat or Skinny!

Support Groups, they really do help.

I just found the blog "3 Fat Chicks on a diet". I haven't had much time to poke around on it, but it seems to be pretty popular and is 3rd on the list if you google "dieting blogs".

I'm considering joining it since I kind of feel lost without a support group. However, I may just go back to calorie-count.com . When I lost weight previously, I was a regular on the forums and I feel like it helped me keep focus and learn new tricks. Besides, my dieting is mostly focused towards counting calories anyways. Last time I was dieting and using calorie-count.com, I think I lost around 20 or so pounds. I am a chronic yo-Yo dieter though. Obviously, I put back on the weight and then some.

A few cool features that I feel I should mention about http://www.calorie-count.com/ is they have a weight loss line graph, they calculate how many calories you should take in and help you set a goal for yourself to lose the weight in a realistic time frame. When you do weigh-ins, the website re-calibrates the time frame. Say you didn't do so well that week, they will push out the date and give you a thumbs down. They have kept my weight loss progress on their website for years! There was a time I was worried I may have lost it since I had not logged on in over a year, but they kept my account activated and I was able to log right back on. Also, when you work-out, it accounts for those calories burned as well. It has a very user friendly and "fresh" interface. You know what, after talking about it, I am definitely going back to Calorie-Count.com haha! Nothing against the 3 Fat Chicks blog, I am sure it is great, but I think I am going to stick with what I know. I might peak in every once in a while on the 3 Fat Chicks Blog too.

If I can find a way to copy the weight loss line graph to my blog, I will. I just want to show you how bad of a yo-yo dieter I am so when I finally keep it off for a while, you know that I am really trying and that it is hard for me to do. The reason I say that is because sometimes people that are dieting will say "If I can do it, then so can you!" and that just bugs the crap outta me! I think "How can you know what I am capable of? If you can run a 5k, then should I be able to as well?!". At least this way, when I do finally do it, you can see that it was hard for me to do.

Jumping Hurdles

Lately I have been experiencing a lot of stomach pain. Unfortunately , this is not something new to me. I've had stomach problems on and off since I was about 14 years old. It is making it difficult for me to follow everything that I want to do . I want to drink those lean shakes in the morning , I want to exercise, I want to make dinner, I want to take green tea pills and drink fiber. I can't even drink as much water as I had planned ! I am getting pretty frustrated , but not losing any determination. The minute I feel able to go back to any part of my regular routine , I do. I just get annoyed that I can't work towards my goals at a time I feel so certain that I am in the right mind set to do it right ! The good thing about being in that mind set is that I am not taking having stomach pains as a reason to eat poorly. I'm still eating healthy things when I feel well enough to eat. I hope I feel better soon so I can come back with a good update !!

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Smart Ones

I can't believe that I have never mentioned before how much I love eating Weight Watchers Smart Ones for Lunch! Click HERE for information on Smart Ones and a coupon. The Sante Fe Beans and Rice one fills me up alot and tastes pretty good. The one I ate today was the Grilled Flatbread Chicken Marinara with Mozzarella Cheese. It is one of their Artisan Creations.

The reason I love Smart Ones so much is because they are the ONLY frozen dinners I have found that satisfy my hunger and taste absolutely great! I have tried Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, etc. Some of them did taste really good, but I would be hungry afterwards still. I also know that a lot of diets will recommend that you eat a small salad or fruit along with the frozen dinner.

Let's get real, I am lucky I have time to remember to even grab the frozen dinner out of the freezer when I leave in the morning. You're not getting this lazy girl to make a salad on top of it. Between working at least 40 hours a week and going to school for 3 hours at night on Wednesday and Thursday, I barely have a minute to myself. You should see my house! It's a sad mess. Weekends end up being used to get done dredgerouschores that I don't have time to do during the week.

Anyways, I just couldn't believe I never mentioned Smart Ones before! I have been eating them for a really long time as a low calorie lunch. If you have not tried them, do it! You won't regret it. There are a few that I really don't care for, but that is just my tastebuds, so I am not going to bad mouth them.

Calorie Cutting Tricks

I found this article today and  wanted to share.

I have already heard of every trick they say in the article, but sometimes it is good to refresh your memory. It is pretty easy to forget some of the most basic tricks.

Here is the article at Fitbie, 9 Quick Tricks that Cut Calories . Enjoy!

Yum! Great snack

Check it out, Click Here . Quaker Quakes RANCH! mmmm. They are so freaking yummy. I just ate 17, YES SEVENTEEN of them and it was only 130 Calories!! Awesome. Great snack, so very yummy, and very few calories. It totally satisfied my evening craving I was having.

Just had to share !

Oh and P.S. They are whole grain goodness too!

Here We Go Again !

This morning I weighed 187.2 pounds. When I started dieting a month and a half ago I was 191. So at least I have lost 3.8 pounds. That's a start, but it's less than a pound a week average. That's not very much and not fast enough.

As of yesterday I started talking GNC Lean Shakes for breakfast , along with a piece of fruit (gala apple, pear, etc.). They are kind of pricey ($40 per canister) and if you took it as directed (2x's a day) you would run out in 8 days. Eek! That's why I'm just having it for breakfast. I am also taking fiber at least once a week and vitamins daily. I'm also dabbling in green tea pills , but it seems that I get headaches when I take them. I didn't want to blame the headache on the green tea pills , but after a day of not taking them and having no headaches, I just took them and have a headache. Not fun! I love drinking tea though , so I may just end up going that route.

I have to clean the house now (which luckily counts as some exercise), so I'll update in a few days !

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Personality is a big factor

I have decided that an individuals personality has a huge amount to do with what diet will work for them. I know previously I said I would get there with baby steps, but when I look at all the other decisions I've made in my life and the way I live my life, I determined that baby steps is just not me! I am an "all or nothing" kinda girl! I am going to have to make myself make drastic changes if I really want this to work. Last night my heart was doing a fluttering feeling that really freaked me out and made me start thinking. I really need to start living my life healthier, not just for my looks, but because I want to make it past 50 years old without needing major medication and hospital trips. I bought women's multi-vitamins today and plan to take them every day. I have been dabbling in vitamins for a while now, but I was casually taking them before.  Starting today I am going to implement both approaches into my routine.

1. Start eating healthy not just for looks, but for my health too.
2. Quit with the baby steps approach and dive in head first.

Major changes must be made now!!

Back to School

Yay! Today is my first day back to school after the summer break. I am excited and anxious. I love learning new things that apply to my work and advancing towards my CCL and then my AAS majoring in Accounting. I only took one class last semester to get back in the groove and even that was a big change for me. It was 3 hours at night once a week. This semester I decided to take two classes because it would take a decade to get my degree if I only took one class a semester. So, I will be going Wednesday and Thursday nights from 7pm-10pm immediately after work. I normally get off at 4:30 pm, but I am lucky to have an awesome boss (who happens to be my Dad) that is letting me change my schedule the two days I have school to late start days. I'm hoping I can handle this and it won't be a problem with work or home life. The other change is last semester I only had a 10 minute drive home after school and now I will have to drive 40 minutes when I am dead tired to get home.

I'm wondering how this new schedule is going to affect my diet. I'm hoping it could be in a good way. Perhaps I will just be too busy to even think about eating. On the other hand, I don't want to screw up my metabolism any more than it already is. So, I am thinking it would be good to try to have a snack on the drive from work to class. Yeah, I think that would be good. I need to stock up on some yummy high fiber granola bars! mmm. Fiber One bars seriously taste like candy bars to me! haha. Too bad they are so expensive.

Have you ever had a schedule change and needed to figure out the best way to make it mesh with your dieting plans? Did you let it get in the way or did you take control and tackle the problem? How did you resolve the issue?

Please share! Maybe it will help me know how I should handle my schedule change. Thanks!

Oh Vegas...you are so full of sin!

Well, Vegas has come and went and I'm glad it did. We were there 4 days and 3 nights. That was plenty! Not to mention that was the 3rd time in the past 8 months I've been there. It was to celebrate my 24th birthday. We did have fun, but I think the idea of Vegas has lost its luster with me. My next trip is going to be more relaxed, like a beach getaway.

Buffets are in every casino/hotel and we avoided them the whole trip except the last day. We had free passes, c'mon I couldn't pass that up! I ate until I was full, but not busting out of my pants. I would give myself a "C" rating on following my diet while in Vegas. Hey, I could've just gone for an "F" like I usually do on vacation , but I did actually try a little this time.

I felt like I probably gained at least 5 pounds by the time we got home, so I decided not to weigh myself for a couple Days and maybe the damage wouldn't be quite as bad by that time. So...a few days later I weighed myself @188 pounds. Hmm, makes me wonder where I was at before Vegas? Dangit!!

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Baby Steps

I've been teetering on the edge of actually losing more weight and just maintaining what I've already lost. I suppose having a lazy approach towards dieting means waiting longer periods before seeing any substantial results.

I started looking a little deeper into my thought process while dieting and now I'm wondering if baby steps might be the answer. I mean, really, think about it. We use baby steps for all sorts of other life issues, why not dieting? Rather than shocking yourself with a huge diet change, why not just do little changes at a time? I haven't looked into if anyone has already thought of this, but if they have, I'd be really interested in any conclusions they've come up with.

I am able to praise myself on some dieting things I do properly, but there's many that I'm just not ready for yet. I find it impossible to praise myself without afterwards just beating myself up for all the things I'm doing wrong. I've gotta stop doing that. I'm pretty sure a lot of other people out there do the same thing too. Baby steps...

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Noom, so glad I found you!

I was looking around in the app market on my android phone to see what hot new apps are out and I stumbled upon "Noom". I wasn't even thinking about dieting at the time and rarely casually scroll through the app market, so I was pretty happy to find this app.

Noom is a dieting app with a slightly new approach to dieting while using long known facts. They use color coding to try to help you realize how many "good" "ok" and "bad" foods you actually are eating. Good foods are green, ok are yellow, and bad are red. It puts all of them into a pie chart for you. Noom has you approximate calories in chunks of 50 rather than being precise. The app also includes exercise tracking (includes a calendar and a pretty good range of exercises ) , water tracking, weight tracking (includes a line graph), and a reminder if you haven't logged anything in over 4 hours. I really like the reminder feature, it helps me keep focused and remember to watch what I'm eating (you can turn this feature off if you'd rather not have it in your task bar).

I have high hopes for using this app. I've struggled with counting calories in the past. I'd either forget to log them, forget the book I was logging them in, or just not care to do it that day. Having Noom on my phone (which I always have with me) will hopefully help. I hope to see mostly green colors too! :-) .

You can get Noom either by simply searching "Noom" on your android phone in the market, or click here .

The only thing I can make

Part of me being lazy means that I don't cook. I don't cook not only because I don't feel like it, but I seriously can't cook. It's pretty sad actually. For instance, the other day my boyfriend asked me to boil some water for him to make noodles. Sounds easy enough, right? So I put water in the pot, put it on the stove, and turn it to medium heat. Then I tell him I need to go do something, but his water is probably boiling right now. He walks over to the stove and says "wow, I never thought the saying 'you can't even boil water' could ever be true, but you really can't boil water ". He teased me about It for a little bit and I laughed and agreed. I told him I've always said I can't cook.

Guacamole is the only thing I make and even kind of enjoy making! Being that I'm of German heritage mostly, it's definitely not in my blood to make guacamole. However, I've been told it tastes good and enjoy it myself. This last batch I made was a little on the oniony side, but I love onions so it didn't bother me. I don't have a recipe, I just eyeball it and make due with what I have on hand. Besides what is pictured, I also add lemon, salt and pepper. (Lemon is to help preserve it mostly) It best described as a more natural tasting guacamole.

So ....what is your favorite (or only) thing to cook or prepare (considering guacamole doesn't require actual cooking) ? What makes yours extra special too?

P.S. the 189.8 has stuck. Now I just need to go down more! Birthday Vegas trip is only 16 days away. Eek!!

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Nicht Sehr Gut

That's German for "not very good", which is what last night was to my diet. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast having everyone over last night. It's always great getting together with friends, even better when it is to celebrate getting a house. I only have myself to blame for messing up my diet last night.

We didn't end up getting pizza, but instead Dereck grilled and we had a lot of snacks lying around. After having a few drinks my hunger kicked in and my judgement on food quickly became blurred. I started out on the veggie tray and was satisfied for a while. A few hours later the Bratwurst were ready and I ate one and a half! eek! I gave the other half of the second one to my boyfriend because I finally become self aware of how much I was eating, but immediately after I started munching on Sunchips. Ugh! How dumb of me.

So, I woke up this morning and weighed myself and I am down to 189.8 LBS. At first I was pretty happy that I am down some weight, but then I couldn't help but think that I was probably down more than that before screwing up last night. It is saddening, but I have to think that a night like last night is bound to happen and I can't kick myself for having a night of fun.

I am going to weigh myself again tomorrow morning because I drank a lot last night, so I am hoping I am actually down more than that. I always weigh myself under the same circumstances so my data isn't mushed up. It's always in the morning before I eat anything and after I've gone to the bathroom. I normally try to weigh myself only once a week. Weighing yourself any more often than that will just lead to frustrations due to water weight gain and natural daily fluctuations. It is best to try to weigh yourself on the same day once a week and under the same circumstances. Since this morning my body wasn't under its normal circumstances, I plan on weighing myself again tomorrow. Besides the scale, I plan on taking my measurements when I have a chance.

I'll post the results tomorrow!

Party!

We're having a lil get together tonight to celebrate buying a house. Looks like we're ordering pizza :-/. However we cleaned the house and did yard work for literally 5 hours today. Insane!! I've only had two egos, small fruit cup, and a bowl of corn. I guess I deserve at least one piece of pizza ....

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Website Shortcut

I decided to get an actual domain name. If you want to follow me on my lazy dieting journey, you can always check back by going to http://www.lazygirldiet.co/ . As you can see by clicking on the link, it just routes you right back here. Just an easy to remember name. Also, if you scroll down all the way to the bottom of the web page, you can sign up for e-mails. I don't really expect for anyone to be able to even find my website yet, but just in case, I wanted that to be known.

Gettin' hydrated is easy!

64 oz of pure water before 4:00 pm. I'd say that's not bad! It was pretty easy actually (especially being summer in Arizona) . Plain and simple - always have a bottle of water with you. Try drinking 8 oz if you start feeling hungry or thirsty. That's what I did and before I knew it, I had consumed the daily recommended amount of water.yay! The best part? It's cheap! Not a water drinking fan? There's a vast array of products you can add to make it taste great!

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Conglomerated Diet

It appears that I have inadvertently conglomerated diets. I came to realize that I am on multiple diets at the same time. I keep picking out tips I've learned along the way from dieting in the past and started to put them in my head as some type of commandment I must follow.  It could be a good thing, but it could be bad too. Only time will tell.

To be more specific, I have noticed that I have decided on the following rules for my new diet:

Drink 64 oz of water per day
Eat less than 1,500 cals per day
Make an effort to incorporate more physical activity into my day
Try to get the most out of my calories by eliminating certain foods
Pay attention to Fat and Fiber content of my foods
Take Supplements/ Fat Burners
Experiment with different herbs
Eat every 3 hours
Try my best at keeping a diet and excercise log

These are all things that I know I can at least put for a real effort on doing. I am not saying that I will do every single one every day, but I know I can at least try.

I will get more detailed on each one and cite where I heard of these things (some are common sense). I am not endorsing any kind of diet plan or promoting them, but I feel it is necessary for you to know where I learned these tactics from and give credit where it is due.

Typical Cart

First off, I didn't get the idea to take this picture until I was in the checkout lane, so this really is a typical cart for me doing a light shopping trip.

 What you can see:
 Steamers veggies
 Spray butter
Pepperoncinis
Single serve milk
 Wine
 French bread
Rotisserie chicken

 What you can't see:
 More single serve milk
 Pickles (not for me)
 Small fruit Smoothies

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Water

Just downed a whole 16.9 oz bottle of water in the 45 minutes it takes to drive home. I don't feel hungry anymore and just might make it to dinner time without requiring a snack :-)

UPDATE: I really did make it to dinner without eating a snack. Normally I am starving and want dinner ASAP. I didn't have any problems waiting this time. I got home, talked to my boyfriend for a bit, then prepared the meal. Then scarfed it down ;)

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Ready for a Change! (with little sacrifice, that is)

I'm seriously ready to start dieting, but I know that I am super lazy, so that is why I have failed so many times before. Yep, typical yo-yo dieter right here! I've tried so many different things.

Just after signing up for the newest and "best" diet drug out there, I thought to myself, "this is enough, there is going to be a different way, and you are going to find it now." I actually ran my credit card through for the transaction and called 2 hours later to cancel it. I am not fooling myself even one more time. No Magical Pill is sitting out there just waiting for me to discover it!

Therefore, I am starting this blog to help myself stay focused and maybe shed some light on some other lazy girls (and guys) out there. My goal is to find a diet that really will work with my sedentary lifestyle. I am not trying to sell anything and do not think I am an expert. I am just starting an adventure and figured it would be nice to do it with anyone else out there on the same adventure as me. I would love to hear any tips anyone has to share and hopefully be sharing knowledge that I find along my path. I'll be posting progress pictures along the way too. I don't doubt that I will fail a few times before really finding something that will stick. I am ready to make that journey.

Here are my stats:

5" 9' Tall
191 LBS
At my heaviest: 201 LBS
At my lightest: 112 LBS
Jean Size: has varied between Size 1 to Size 15.
Goal Weight: 140-145 LBS
Time-Frame Desired: 5-6 months
Diet Goal: To achieve my desired weight with as little effort, cost, pain (hunger pangs, that is), and inconvienence as possible.

Off I go!