Summertime Happiness

The second weekend in August I left for my first vacation in three years. I was beyond excited to go! The late night drive was so hard and I couldn’t last 2 hours. Fail. However, I did manage to drive the returning 12 hours (all by myself). We went to Florida and stayed at this beautiful condo off of Navarre Beach. The water was a perfect clear blue-green, and I got a nice little tan. It was so relaxing and just too short! We had fun learning to boogie surf the waves. It was so liberating and exciting. My favorite thing had to be sitting on the beach with my Sugar, fingers entwined, toes in the sand, watching the sun set.

That's my sugar!

That's the view from the balcony

My cousin caught an awesome sunset picture, the last night there.

 I was busy enjoying it with My Love!

The only casualty was that I broke my 24 oz. turquoise/teal tumbler with straw, which I use to drink water at work. Good news is I found a 26 oz. eco one Mason ‘tumbler’ at Marshalls for like $6! I love it, I have already had 100 oz. and it’s not even 3 PM! I ate the best I could with the budget that I had. I cooked/made around 75% of my meals, mostly sandwiches (cheese avocado alfalfa sprout, peanut butter and jelly, and egg and cheese, sandwiches) had some snacks, fruit, desserts, one beer, and one glass of wine. Most of my snacks were not ‘healthy’ but I watched my portions, and kept close to my calories limit. I weight myself the next morning and I actually lost 2 pounds!

I am now down a total of 30 pounds! Loving the No Scale Victories almost as much as the descending numbers on the scale. I am in the process of making a workout routine that I can do at home as well as in the gym. I just need to find some workouts that are doable for me right now. My knees are terrible, I have weak wrists & ankles, I am not flexible in the least, and I have hardly any upper body strength. I got my work cut out for me!

-Madeline

Busy Weekend, Yet Successful

This weekend was my brother’s birthday, cousin’s wedding, and my sister’s baby shower (#4). I had to get dressed and show up to all events with family and friends. I thought it would be boring and that I would feel self-conscious about how I looked in my skirt and dress. I actually had a good time at all events after getting over the initial anxiety of being around a lot of people. Just so you all know, I am like 87 % an introvert.  I got a few compliments on how nice I looked, especially from the family members that haven’t seen me since my own wedding in November. I danced to The Beatles with My Love and had a few drinks at the wedding ;).

I ate as healthy as I could at all events. I did eat a slice of cake at each event, but only because it was made by the best, My Dad. Did I mention he is a pastry chef? Yes sir, he is at Whole Food currently, but he has worked for La Madeleine, Central Market and at then Dallas Whole Foods Warehouse before it closed down. I had a little more carbs at the wedding because the main dish was not vegetarian. But I had mostly fruits and veggies at the other parties. Overall I would say this busy weekend was a win, compared to how much I failed the previous holiday celebrations.

-Madeline

When Shopping Becomes Fun Again

I went to the store on my lunch break today.  Normally, I like to just window shop, because being overweight can make it hard to find clothes, in none plus size stores.  Today I stopped by Ross, since it’s close to work, and decided to try on some transition slacks.  I grabbed a couple of sizes 18 and 20, of the same brand, and tried them all on.  To my surprise, they all fit!  One size 20 was actually too loose.  I also found a couple shirts in the same style but different colors.  Very affordable, I spent less on 4 items than I would have on one item at Lane Bryant or Torrid.

What also spurred this decision to go shopping, was that this past weekend, as I was packing to move, I tried on all of my  old size 20’s, which I still had saved for when I lost weight again.  They all fit, and only 2 of the 6 did not feel comfortable enough to sit in, and happened to be the least elastic of them.  I was ecstatic! To have this proof that my hard work is paying off, makes it all worth it.  To know that these clothes haven’t fit in almost 2 years, and then putting them on and zipping them up without struggle is an amazing feeling.

Now, to keep it up and get into these other, nice gentler used, size 18 jeans. 

This was supposed to be on the last blog First Mini Goal Reached

-Madeline

First Mini Goal Reached

I woke up this past Saturday morning, and decided to get on the scale.  I quickly did some math and to my surprise, I lost my first 20 lbs.!!  Four long months into my weight loss journey, and I finally met my first mini weight loss goal.  It took mental & physical & emotional preparation, determination, perseverance, faith, and working my ass off.  There were some tears, self-doubt, and most of the time I had to just suck it up and get to it. 

I want to thank my cousin for helping me, even though she is on a weight loss journey herself, my sister/friend, for always noticing/complementing/cheering me on, my coworkers, for kind words, and support.  Most of all, I want to thank my amazing spouse, who gets dress and goes to the gym with me, no matter the time of day or how short of a notice I give.  I am grateful for your constant love and support.

Now to continue on my quest, to meet my next mini weight loss goal.  Hopefully, now that I have found what foods and exercises work best for me, it won't take as long :)

-Madeline

Results of Hard Work

I was sitting in my office, when A Thousand Years by Christina Perry began to play.  It was the song I chose to walk down the aisle to, and is very special to me.  It reminded me of the other day when I picked up my wedding dress from my dad’s house.  When we got home I got the idea to try it on, as soon as I got into my room.  I figured it would fit better, now that I lost a little weight.  I got My Love to help me tie up the upper half of my dress (the corset half), and take pictures for me to see.  

Left picture - When I tried on my dress for the first time

Right picture - This Monday night 

Missing Middle Picture  -  Between picking out the dress (pictured on the left) ,

 and  my wedding day (where I  gaind 15+ pounds and had to let out a few inches in the corset area)

I was so amazed that my hard work, four months in to my weight loss journey so far, has resulted in not only having the dress fit better, but be too big!  That was as tight as we could lace it up.  And to think I had actually gained fifteen to twenty pounds in between the first picture on the left, which is me trying it on for the first time, and my wedding day, where I had to have it let out a couple inches in the corset area.  The picture on the right, I took on Monday of this week.  My bottom and waist have shrunk along with my upper back fat.

I have been in such a great mood since then, that I started to make lots of other before and after’s.  Here’s to keeping up the good work, and maybe kicking it up a notch!

Fourth of July and Our Honey’s Birthday's

For the 4th of July this year, my cousin invited us to Winstar World Casino.  I have been there many times, and a few times I have stayed at the Casino’s Hotel.  I am not going to tell you how we all got sick from a lot of the terrible food there (which was a first for me), or how our room had a busted toilet, but I am going to say that I ate a lot of not good for me foods. 

Here is my cousin and I in the hotel room, 

taking selfie's while the spouses wait :)

While we were there I had french fries from Chips ‘N Ales, a slice Alfredo Florentine pizza and cheese tortellini at Matador’s, a Caprese Sandwich with a baked potato from Terrace View Café.  On the way back home, we stopped at the Cracker Barrel, and had delicious food for half the price of any crap from Winstar.  I ate french toast, hash browns, eggs, and a biscuit.  All the food was vegetarian friendly, but a lot of fatty carbs and loads of evil calories.  The only plus side is that we walked for a couple hours and it was a lot of fun.  I also had some Black Heart Rum, which tasted pretty yummy with coke.  To make matters worse, we got home and realized we were low on groceries, and so the carb loading continued on to Sunday night.  

I am treating this as a lesson that needed to be learned.  Holiday’s do make it a lot more difficult, no matter how you celebrate, if you don’t make planning your meals a priority.  I am not even going to get on that scale for at least a week, so I won’t feel even more disappointed.  Oh, I almost forgot to add that today is My Honey’s birthday, so there was cake and ice cream last night.  Here’s to getting back at it!

-Madeline

Tenth Time’s a Charm – Tales of an Aspiring Vegetarian

When I was around nine or ten years old, I went to Guadalajara, Mexico with my Grandmother and cousins.  At some point in time we went to visit my Aunt’s Farm.  I have always been clumsy and I also do not think I had eye glasses yet, but while walking around the farm, I accidently stepped on a chick. My aunt had to put it down because I hurt it pretty bad, and to this day that incident bothers me.  Another time, when I was the same age-ish, I witnessed the same Grandmother kill a chicken.  Of course she had them there to feed herself, and she raised kids on a farm, but to me it was her killing a chicken.  I was shocked, I couldn't look away.  I don't know if I blocked out parts of the scene, or if I closed my eyes for part of it.  

It's safe to say that these occurrences, among others, have given me a pretty strong protective instinct for all animals.  Fast forward about 10 years, and I was on the internet, learning about all the animal cruelty that goes on for food and for fur.  That pushed me over the edge of just purposely ignoring how meat got into the package or in my burger, to becoming a vegetarian and not contributing or participating in any of it. 

Now, I am only human, and anytime it was too expensive, or inconvenient, I would fall back into eating meat.  I can’t say that I won’t fail again, but this time I will try my very best to stick with it.  That lifestyle is something I don’t want to take with me on this journey.  It makes me feel good to know that I am helping (in my miniscule way) to not only become healthier, but help our environment, save animals, contributing to vegan and vegetarian companies, and do what I feel is the right thing, in the process.

Here is a Vegan ShoppingGuide for anyone interested, and some Accidently Vegan stuff found at the grocery store.  I am sure there are some restaurants near you, like these, that have vegetarian alternatives.  And here is some eye candy :) I love Chester.

-Madeline