Buckle up people this one is LONG. Sorry not sorry.
So as I do at the beginning of every year, I made a vow that this year, I am going to lose all of this weight. I do this every year and every year I fail. BUT NOT THIS TIME….she says for the 100000000000000 time. OK fine, I might be a little bitter but in my 23 years on this planet I have never once been slim. I was a chubby kid and I am now an obese adult. Yes I wrote the word obese because I can’t hide behind the claim that I “just need to lose a few pounds” anymore. I probably need to lose 200 lbs. I am not kidding and I am not aiming for an unrealistic goal weight. I don’t need to be skinny. I need to be healthy and while I don’t have any major health issues at the moment, the risk for me to have them later on is pretty high. I also have a condition called Papilledema which we discovered I had in October of 2014. It’s a condition where excess spinal fluid builds up behind my eyes and puts pressure on and disfigures my optic nerves and also puts pressure on my brain. It’s also called Pseudo-tumor syndrome which can give you an idea to some of the side effects. Headaches, light sensitivity, blurred vision, and sometimes I see movement in the corner of my vision when there is nothing there. It makes me feel crazy to say the least. All this to say, that if I am to lose weight, the fluid is less likely to build up and my symptoms might decrease. So there is my ultimate worry, never being free of my brain problem.
So Ashlee, what makes this year different than any other year that you have made this goal?
So what’s new this time is that I am so much more prepared. I went through a brief period early last year when I was actually doing really well and losing weight. I had a wonderful diet. I was (and still am) obsessed with watching TheDomesticGeek and all of her meal prep ideas. I was feeling wonderful and I thought for sure I had lost a good amount of weight. I was going to an exercise class every Wednesday and doing my own exercising at home about 3 times a week. I was feeling great and my clothes were fitting differently and everything was going great, until I stepped on the scale and I hadn’t lost a pound in 3 weeks. In fact I had gained weight! I was so discouraged that I almost gave up. My mother encouraged me to keep going and I did for a time. Then I fell while hiking and tore most of the ligaments on the top of my left foot. And as that set me back a good bit, I was discouraged again and ultimately gave up. This was before I heard the term “Non-Scale Victories” and I’ll get into that a little later. So I know what works and for me that’s going to mean that I don’t measure my progress by the scale, I measure my progress by measuring my waist, thighs, and arms. I feel like using this and how my clothing size changes.
I am going to lay out my goals at the end of this blog but first I am going to overview what I am going to do to achieve my goals.
Ok, so first and foremost a diet change. I need to make a complete 180 in the way I am eating. I am a college student and I work at a jewelry store. I have a pretty full schedule so that means I am on the road a lot and end up having to get food out. So instead of cutting out fast food completely because it’s simply not practical, I am going to limit myself to Chick-Fil-A or Wendy’s because I know there are good healthy options without getting a burger and fries. I also have several meal prep plans that I can go by. And as I go and prep I will show you what I am doing. I want to be clear and say I am not looking for a quick fix, I am looking for a life style change that will sustain me. That being said I will not be denying myself the foods and drinks that I love. I just wont be having them all the time like I’m used to. The fastest way to get me to binge is to take something out of the diet completely. I know this doesn’t work for everyone but from my experience, cold turkey just isn’t going to cut it. So cheat days are Sunday’s or I might tweak it if I’m going to a special occasion or something. It will be once a week and I will enjoy it. I chose Sunday because we usually have lunch with my family after church and its almost never at home.
As for exercise, I plan on starting out at home. Walking and HIIT workouts that can be done without machines. I may someday end up in a gym. But I have been once and I was so self-conscious I couldn’t bring myself to go again. I’ll also be posting those as I do them. I will be doing the HIIT workouts on Mondays Wednesday and Friday mornings, and walking or jogging on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sunday will be my rest day and my cheat day.
Now you may be asking yourself why I haven’t talked about cool aid yet and how it would fit into a weight-loss blog. Well to kick start my weight-loss and I mean kick-start, I am not using this as my only tool to lose weight, I starting drinking SlimQuick Pure. It is intended to act as an appetite suppressant, metabolism and energy booster, diuretic (reduces excess water which is actually what I need for my Papilladema so ++) hormone support, and stress reducer. THIS ISN’T SPONSORED by the way. just thought I should mention that. Now I’ve only been drinking it for three days, so there aren’t many changes yet. But I can tell it definitely works as an appetite suppressant. I don’t want to snack. Today is actually the first day I got hungry in between lunch and my next serving. I take two servings*in the morning and two servings in the afternoon per instructions. I hate drinking it, it tastes like cool aid and I hate cool aid. Hence the title. But it only motivates me to finish it so I don’t have to think about it for several hours. I’ll keep you update on other changes as they come.
*one serving is one water bottle
My ultimate goal is to fit into a size 10. I’m not going to obsess about getting lower than that but I feel like it’s a realistic goal for me. I currently wear a size 26/28 in pants and a 3x in shirts. But I am going to start with a smaller goal. I bought a top from Fashion to Figure that absolutely does not fit. I feel like it will be a good goal to fit into the shirt completely in 6 months So by June 1 I want to be able to button this particular shirt. And if I can then I might consider stepping on a scale and seeing how much weight I have lost. That will be an awesome Non-scale victory. I also bought a pair of over the knee boots that I want to fit into. Although it might be next Fall before that happens. Let’s just be real here.
Ok I’ll stop writing. I know its a lot but this is to keep me committed and accountable. Here are some pictures of me over the years so you can see where I’m starting.
I hate Cool Aid Buckle up people this one is LONG. Sorry not sorry. So as I do at the beginning of every year, I made a vow that this year, I am going to lose all of this weight.
