Wasting away again in Margaritaville

Tips for sucessful weight loss in college:

1. If it's been fried, stay away. Once a week is okay, but no more than that. This includes fried chicken sandwiches, french fries, and chicken nuggets. [This is surprisingly a pretty easy goal to meet!]

2. Stay away from high fat foods at the dining hall. [This year I have been checking the online dining hall menu before every meal to find low fat foods. I was shocked when the majority of foods there have 10+ grams of fat per serving. I'm much more conscious of the food choices I make there. Instead of picking things that I think will just taste good, I go for the things that are good for me. :) ]

3. Lots of water! This means no sodas, teas, or coffee. [This has been an easy for me because I hopped on the water train this past summer. I can drink water day in and day out and it's the best :). There have been a few late nights and early mornings that I grabbed a caffeinated drink on the way to class, but I'm doing really good sticking to water everywhere else!]

4. Live on the opposite side of campus from your classes! [This tip is mostly about walking. I happen to live on the opposite side of campus from ALL of my classes. So everyday I am walking at least 1.75 miles just to get to class, sometimes I do it twice. It is true that I have a bicycle now and I ride that to class sometimes, but have I mentioned how hilly campus is? :D]

5. Stay positive. Keep it up! You can do it! [Even if people aren't saying anything directly to you, they sure are noticing your new fabulousness.]



I realized it had been awhile again since I'd last blogged. College life gets hectic, especially when you attend an NCAA football school and happen to be in the marching band.

I've been feeling kind of discouraged and stagnating for awhile now. But then I have to start thinking about the numbers and everything doesn't seem so bad.

I started this journey at 228 pounds. Right now, I weigh 195! That's a different of 33 pounds! Holy shiznit, that's a lot!

Most mornings I still don't feel any different. I still feel like that really fat girl that everybody is friends with cause she's kind of funny. And then I put on a tank top that shows off my skinny waist and I feel amazing again.

I need more clothes that make me feel amazing. Wearing the same bulky clothes that I had to wedge myself into 30 pounds ago isn't very inspiring. I see a shopping trip or two in the future.

Love and kisses and lots if inspiration,

the Bob

P.S. Today's title is a throwback to our first marching show of the season which was Beach Music and Jimmy Buffet inspired.

He had a pickup truck and the devil's eyes

The official Saturday weigh-in, 203.2. Not too shabby! I was kind of disappointed because I was 202 the other day...but I had a hellova snacking day yesterday with going to the movies with candy and popcorn. Then after I got home, my brother and I went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Afterwards we went to Cook Out and I got a milkshake even though I knew I shouldn't have...it's just been tradition for so long and so...I just didn't eat the whole thing! But...yeah this is my excuses for not having a great weigh-in.

Wait! Wa-wait! Did you honestly think I was going to mention RHPS up there and then not talk anymore about it?! AS IF!

I LOVE going to Rocky Horror! I've been about 6 times now (in the last year) and I love it! I love getting to wear skanky clothes and shout things and throw things and sing and dance. I even love the underwear run! Going to Rocky is a great way to get over body size/weight issues. I know the first time I went when it came time for the UNDERWEAR RUN I was all, "No way, I'm too fat, people don't want to see me jiggle around the entire theatre twice!" But I sat back and watched as people of all sizes stripped down and had a ball.

And now I'm one of those crazy weirdos. I know Rocky isn't for everyone, but if you're never been, you need to check it out! And I don't just mean netflix-ing the movie!!

Wow...sorry, //end Rocky ramble.

Today is Saturday so check-up on the goals.

Exercise - I did poorly on walking this week and okay on videos. I tried a new Dance Exercise video and there shall be a review posted probably tomorrow of that.

Food - I did okay on meals and better on snacking since I started writing down what I eat again (except yesterday of course..). I think that I just need to keep up with the journaling for awhile longer. It helps to keep me accountable over what I'm putting in my mouth.

So some ways to improve for this next week! I'm planning to get the bike out today. Not the stationary exercise bike, the real bike. This way, I can mix up walking some nights with a nice bike ride. I'm VERY excited about this cause I love new things to change up stuff. And I plan to keep up the journaling!

Also this week, I've got the kids camp. I'm really hoping this is going to turn out to be a great week. :)





Friday Favourites! (better late than never!)
1. Geeky Comic - Check it out! I love it!
2. Blistex Lip Medex - As a trumpet player, I had a TON of lip blam. This is my fav product to use, especially when I play a LOT. :)
3. Jump in the Line I LOVE this song!!! I'm soo happy it's on Just Dance 2! My Fav!
4. Don't Blink - Seriously. Don't Blink. Blink and you're dead. (and I'm sorry if you don't get this... Doctor Who for the win! :D)
5. Oh and...not going to McDonalds with my family for lunch today

Sharing is Caring: Any Friday Favourites you would like to share? Have you ever been to Rocky Horror? Would you strip down to your undies to run around a theater? How do you mix up your exercise routine if you get bored?

If I don't wake up to the sun

Wow. I feel really dumb a lot.

I've been feeling down the last few days. No energy to exercise. And then I keep using the weather as an excuse. "Oh it's raining. Can't go walk now." As if I couldn't put on an exercise tape and burn through an hour workout inside.

Being depressed makes me eat. I've noticed that lately I've been craving chocolate and cookies more. I've also been snacking a whole lot more. I'm doing that thing where I eat even when I'm not hungry. I read this really awesome thing on Jillian Micheal's newsletter about keeping a feed journal and before you eat something, ask yourself, "Am I hungry? Do I need this food? Am I feeling depressed/happy/sad? Why do I want to eat this?"

This might be something I look into doing. I am a notorious writer and journal keeper. It wouldn't be hard for me to tote a notebook around with me all day and write every time I feel the need to sneak that third ice pop when I already had a snack.

Like I said, besides the eating, I haven't felt inspired to move. For instance, today, I didn't walk or do a video. It's bedtime and I was just going to crawl in bed without having done my crunches and weights, even though I know its just a small thing and won't take five minutes. I just didn't have the motivation to do it (or anything lately).

I was snooping on netflix for something to watch, or was going to look up old shows and the "10 Minute Solution: Carb Burner" came up on my top 10 recommendations. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea. I've got ten minutes. I'm not doing anything else. Why not? I haven't moved at all today and surely I can handle ten minutes.

Hah, when I found out the video is 55 minutes long, I almost backed out before giving it a chance.

I made some space in my room and turned the volume up enough to barely hear it (our house is small and it was almost 1am, everyone else being asleep). I watched the intro explaining that there are five 10 minute workouts and I can choose to do one, some or all.

I just went with the first workout, in my pajamas and no shoes or socks.

It was actually pretty good! I keep the movements small but I felt better for having moved around. In the video I recognized quite a few of the movies from doing the Self: Your Best Butt, Fast video. It was like learning a new dance with the same moves, I was already a step up and didn't feel quite so intimidated. Though the lady instructor is very fit and FAST.

If she were a pokemon, she'd have SUPER AGILITY power.

Sometimes it looks like I'm watching a fast forward. Seriously, watch her arms whip around.

Okay, well I did the 10 minutes and I'm about to go do my weights and crunches. Just this little burst of movement is a reminder to myself that I'm not hopeless and I can accomplish this. I may have bad days, but I still can push through and MOVE.

Fast and Furious

Just a quick update.

I spent last week at Disneyworld. While I didn't do any workouts besides walking around the parks (and walk we did!), I was kind of afraid that I would gain weight while on vacation. We ate quite a few meals at the nicer restaurants and I finished my food almost every time. I also have to mention, even with all the walking, my feet never got sore. Score!

Well I got home Saturday night and promptly hopped up onto the scale, 208.4. Sunday morning when I woke up I was 206.6. That means, ladies and gentleman, that according to the BMI scale, I am NO LONGER obese!!! This also means I've lost over 20 pounds since starting this blog!

I feel fabulous about it! C even mentioned as I walked in the door getting home that I looked awesome :)

I even got a tan on vakay. I, personally, think I'm starting to look pretty nice. And I feel awesome about it too.

Accomplishing this goal, it just goes to show that I CAN do it! All through high school and the last couple years, I've been in the mindset that I'm fat and it's okay and I look nice enough. Even though when things don't go right and I never have any romantic interests, my first thought is always, it's cause I'm fat. I always tend to scan the group I'm with and think, wow I'm the fattest one here.

And finally I'm taking charge and showing myself and everybody else that I can change my life and diet and exercise habits and be the me that I've always wanted to!

Wow this was meant to be a quick update but I kind of rambled off. I'm just soo happy and pleased with myself! Now that I know that I CAN do this, it just makes me even more jazzed up to keep going and get down to a healthy and good weight for me (not to mention a sexy one!).

Hah! New Challenges!

The family get together was nice today. It was nice to see people I saw a few weeks ago. I'm getting to know my extended family a little better. The weather was gorgeous and the food wasn't too heavy! I made a delicious veggie lasagna that was around 250 cals per serving! I had prolly half a serving and it was delicious! I don't even like regular lasagna!

I was kind of disappointed G didn't say anything about how I looked other than my dress was nice without being prompted. She told me a few times she really liked my dress (it's new, it was $12.5 on clearance at target and its like a cute, short floral summer dress). Then finally later M goes, does she look like she's lost any weight and G goes "Yeah yeah I can tell." Which pretty much means she didn't really notice. Le sigh.

It also just kind of makes me want to work harder so in the future it's like BAM! I'm awesome and fab!

Speaking of awesome and fab, after the walk tonight (and a tad bit of running), I came back and C was doing a Self Magazine workout video on the wii. She did "Bikini Ready Fast." It looked rather interesting. Glamorous girls on the beach working out with a constant stream of chatter to guide you through the workout. It looked like a refreshing change from Richard's "hug yourself" and "don't ever give up" mantra. I watched C finish up the workout and she said she could really feel it. She mentioned there were other Self workouts on Netflix so I decided I might check it out.

I debated on doing the "Slim and Sleek, Fast!" or the "Your Best Butt, Fast!" I want to work on getting slim but as everyone knows, I have a nice round butt. I finally asked M and she said the Butt one.

I watched the intro the to video and it sounded really exciting. Kickboxing?! I LOVE kicking stuff around campus: signs, trashcans, bins, buildings. Yoga? I love Yoga on the WiiFit and I just bought a beginners Yoga Dvd to try out doing a more smooth Yoga routine. Dance Moves? Hello! I love doing the Richard dances. I was really stoked to do the workout!

Warm-up: The warm up was nice and decent. Lots of walking and easy steps. It got my heart going and the constant reminder to think about my butt muscles made me really THINK and FEEL them working during my exercise.

Kickboxing: This was awesome! You start out with small moves and slowly add them together to move into fab kickboxing quick steps/kicks. I worked up a sweat and really jammed out during this portion. In terms of thinking/feeling butt muscles, I didn't do so well during most of this portion. I think I was too busy focusing on the moves still to really start honing in on the muscles working and tensing to firm that area.

Weights: This section was killer. I had to stop and just walk for a bit. Seriously. I'm not the best at lunges and squats. Fat thighs and weakish knees doesn't add up. Normally I could push myself through and finish it anyway, I'm a very determined gal, but after storming through Kickboxing, I just wasn't ready for the intense squats, pulses, and jumps this section entails. I will definitely try to work myself up to ace-ing this section.

Dance moves: This bit was good. I really could feel, think, and work my butt muscles during this section. It's like taking basic dance moves and slowing them down for maximum butt workout. I really enjoyed this. I could feel the workout here and it was good!

Yoga: This was AMAZING! I really loved the Yoga section! Like I mentioned before, I enjoy doing the Yoga poses on the Wiifit but I have a hard time trying to keep my stupid balance in the bubble or between the lines. I knew I wanted to look into some Yoga outside of that but I still haven't yet. This section really showed me how much I need to get into Yoga! The moves were very fluid and controlled. I could feel my body using my butt muscles in each movement to hold and strengthen my poses. I really felt like a got a good workout here! My only complaint was that I sweated so much during the previous sections that during the Downward Facing Dog, sweat kept running in my eyes. Eww.


Cool-Down: This was a great section. My heart had already cooled down some from doing the slow dance moves and then the Yoga and slower breathing. This section really focused on stretching out the muscles you used and I could feel it! I kept going "Oh oh oh!" during the stretches, it was rather obscene. Lol!

Overall Impression: I loved this video! I will definitely do it again! I think this week I will alternate nights of Richard Simmons and this video just to see how my butt muscles get worked (and to see if it helps with the losing weight!). It's a much more intense workout than Richard so I feel alternating them will really help to work my body.

Like I mentioned before, we haven't been doing Richard so I haven't lost any weight this week. I'm still sitting around 210-214. I really want to weigh 209 or less because then I won't be in the obese category anymore!

The new goals for the upcoming week:
-Walk every day, Run every other day or more
- Richard video every other night
- "Your Best Butt, Fast!" video every other night
- 50 crunches a day
- 15 arm curls with the 10 lb weight, a day
- Eat 400-500 calorie meals, focus especially on cutting back when eating out
- Limit number of snacks (no extras!) and keep calories under 150 per snack!!

Wow it's a lot of work! But I've been kind of slack lately so I need to work extra hard to keep up the weight loss and not let myself get into a rut. It's hard to stay motivated when the scale isn't moving.

I will try to be more accountable about my goals. Every Saturday night, I will start doing a recap of how well I accomplished my goals for the week. I'm hoping this will give me the much needed kick in the pants to jump start more weight loss!

I've rambled enough for tonight. G'night fabulous people!

Day 1/2

Okay readers. I've finally done it. The Special K diet. You can roll your eyes and bemoan life. Tell me how it doesn't work and eating cereal is blech. This is stuff I already know. But I'm ready for a change, something different.

I've tried several diets before, and they just didn't work for me. I've tried the South Beach Diet (not really, something M forced upon the family when I was in middle school and gave me this terrible self-image of being really fat), the 3-hr diet, and well just using various other dieting techniques. Nothing has really stuck with me.  I cut out soda's awhile back.While at school I drink a healthy amount of water. Now I'm home for the summer and things aren't going as well.

Foodwise, I love to cook. Watching the food network is total inspiration to try new things and cook like never before. I love to buy all kinds of fresh and whole ingredients to make my own homemade dishes.

So I'm doing this Special K Challenge. I figure it's for two weeks and it's fairly simple. Two bowls of cereal or meal bars. Two snacks. One Regular Meal. Something I can handle. It's how we eat at my house anyway. You're on your own for breakfast and lunch (unless we go out to eat). Then C or I make dinner (or we go out to eat, but since C and I both love to cook, more cooking has been happening lately).

I officially start the day tomorrow but I'm going to also record everything I eat. It's really important for me to write and keep track of what's going on. So here's today's list (baring I don't eat anything else...maybe some fruit. Or water. I've heard if you drink a glass of water that helps if you get nommy and don't want to eat anything before bed. This could be lies. M told me this.)

Breakfast - Yoohoo, Reese' Peanut Butter Egg, and a Peach


Lunch - 1/2 Baked Ziti al Forno at Olive Garden, 1 plate salad, 2 breaksticks with alfredo


Snack - Chocolate Chip Cookie (?) Special K bar [Side note: this was okay. It was about like eating a chocolate Rice Crispy treat. Meh, but chocolately.]


Dinner - Cracker Barrel veggie plate, carrots, green beans, turnip greens, and mac n cheese, 1 1/2 biscuits with butter and apple butter


Later Snack - who knows yet? Maybe another peach, we have a lot of those




Already I'm kind of feeling discouraged. D especially doesn't seem too keen about this. Fam is notorious for buying cereal and then not eating it. He looked at the grocery bags today and goes, "Who is going to eat this?" M replied that I would and it was for the Special K diet. He scoffed. Not a great start =/


I'm hoping to also be more active. I'm not really sure how to do this. I'm terrible at most sports. I don't like running, though side note: I have lots of dreams where I'm running, fast, free and amazing. There's no pain or shortness of breath, I'm just running past and feel amazing. When I wake up from these dreams I always want to go running but I don't think it ever happens. I should start running right? And other physical activites around the house? Well there aren't a whole lot. I should try and get the exercise bike out of storage. I hated it when it was in the fam room at the old house. Maybe I will feel more inspired to use it now that I want to change.


And I really do. I want to change things about my body and how I look. I don't think I need a nose job or anything like that. I'm just...really overweight. I keep thinking, I can lose all this weight and find adorable clothes that fit me. I know my bones aren't going to get any smaller so I will always be a certain size, but I'd like to be a few sizes back where I used to be.


My long-term goal in mind, over a year or so is to lose 50 pounds. Current;y, I weight 228lbs and I'm 5'10".

The slightly less long-term goal is to lose 20 lbs. If I loose 20 lbs, my BMI will say that I am no longer obese. I really really really want to not be obese.


My short-term goal is to lose 6 lbs and start a work out schedule. I want to keep to this strict SK (Special K from now on will be abbreviated. And there was much rejoicing. Ho-ray) and start exercising to show myself and other people that I really mean business. I feel like if I can accomplish this, I will feel more enthused about changing my lifestyle and being a better me.

For tomorrow, I will talk to M about bringing the bike in the house (or putting it somewhere useable, we might have a trial finding it). I will eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. With plenty of fruits (and prolly some veggies) with the meals and with snacks. I will also drink at least...2 bottles of water (the big Nalgene bottle's worth, that's 32 ounces times 2, so 64 ounces of water). I will spend time tomorrow envisioning me fitting back...into my SR prom dress. It only just doesn't fit. I would really love to wear it to Rocky Horror sometime because it is the PERFECT Mrs. Lovitt dress.

I've read different diet books. And I think the best thing I can do is to mediate everyday on being that new slimmer me. I think I should start doing the yoga on the wii again. That way I can learn the routines and spend the time meditating on looking better and feeling rejuvenated.

I haven't told C about this undertaking yet. I'm afraid she might try to mock me or give me that "What stupid thing are you doing now? look." I did tell M about it though. She is also trying to lose some weight (though not SK diet). We'll have to work together I think. I'll need all the support I can get. I'm just afraid my close people will do more to discourage me and get me down rather than encourage and support.

Hmm..I'm really hungry right now, going to get a peach and some water.

Well, I think I've said everything I need to tonight.

I'll see you tomorrow friends!
Love, Bob