Just a little advice

I’m no expert but...

It absolutely astonishes me when I see people on social media say that they’re on this or that diet but they’re not exercising, so they’re surprised when the weight is either not coming off or they’re losing very little. Really? I wonder why?

You have to exercise. You have to burn the calories and fat.

And just being on a plan isn’t the final solution. Yes, I’m on Weight Watchers, but it’s only a tool for guidance. Weight loss takes more than just a plan to make the pounds and inches disappear. I’ve said it many times and I’ll probably say it many more times: there is no magic to weight loss. (Even people who have weight loss surgery have to watch what they eat and exercise.)

So, put one foot in front of the other and work that body.

Giving This Another Shot

Over the weekend my daughter and son in law had a house warming party at their new house, so once I was all dolled up, I thought I’d get my son to take a full length picture of me. I immediately deleted it.

I’m disgusted at myself for gaining any weight back. 

So on Sunday I decided to join Weight Watchers. Before I was never one to do programs but I’ve gotten to the point of not being able to do this weight loss journey without a map. I’m doing the freestyle points program that they’re advertising now and it’s super easy.

Watching those points add up (or not) really helps. You see where the big points really are and with me, I don’t want those points going over so I avoid high point foods.

I’ve started walking again and racking up the Fitbit steps.

Anyway, I’m back on the weight loss journey and this time I’m more determined than ever to get to my goal!

I had my son take another picture so I can save it for progress.

Just a quick weigh in post

Finally a new weigh in

Summer and the boys being out of school has got my schedule and routine way out of wack! For several Saturday (okay, like a month of Saturdays) I've forgotten to weigh in. I've remembered to weigh in later in the day but I'm kinda anal about weighing in after my morning whiz so I keep saying it's okay, you can do it next Saturday, and then next Saturday rolls around and I forget again. Well, this morning I finally remembered and I was a happy mama!

When that posted to MFP this morning I got several comments and one of them had a doubtful tone (and maybe I was reading too deep into it) but like I said, I haven't weighed in a month of Saturdays but I'm proud of that weigh in and I'm proud of that "lost 135 lbs so far". Looks like I've gotten my eating under control.

Now I've just gotta get my behind working out again. And I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I have been doing a 30 day challenge though. (although, I am a few days behind) It's an app on my phone that's pretty cool. It's the 30 Day Fit Challenge Workout by North Park.Android. It offers a full body workout, which is what I'm doing, and it has specific body part workouts. Give it a try!

Time for me to go to bed.

Sweet dreams y'all.

Happy (?) Six Year Anniversary To Reinventing Andrea

Wednesday  marked six years that I started this journey to become healthy. I really thought that I'd be at my goal by now. I didn't think that six years in I'd still be fighting the battle. I thought I'd be in maintenance mode by now.

The picture above (and it's funny to me to see me before I had all of my tattoos) is my before picture. I was 375 pounds then and I can only imagine the damage that my organs have suffered. I did suffer a mild stroke in September 2015 so my former bad eating habits and complex migraines contributed to that. 

I wish I had never let myself get to that weight and honestly it seemed to sneak up on me over night. And the thing about being a big person is, when you look down at your body, you don't see yourself as big. What opened my eyes to my size is that my niece was playing with my phone one day before this journey began and took a few pictures. One of the pictures was of me sitting on my sisters couch. When I saw the picture, I cried because that's when I realized how big I had became. I immediately deleted the picture, and I wish that had deleted my weight problem. Too bad that it doesn't work that way.

I never had a weight issue growing up. All through my childhood and teenage years my weight was normal. I was never chunky or anything. Like I said, it just seemed to happen overnight. 

Anyway, as you probably remember, I had a dream soon after my niece had taken that picture of me, and in that dream I liked how I saw. I was a nice healthy size and that was the inspiration for the original Reinventing Andrea. The official start date for my journey was July 6, 2010.

I've had quite a few setbacks over the years, but one thing is for sure, I come back swinging. I've managed to sprain both ankles within 3 months of each other. I had the flu twice in one flu season. Had countless sinus infections, stomach bugs, and I've lost my inspiration and motivation many times. But according to my ticker on My Fitness Pal says I've lost 118.2 pounds.

Yeah, I still look fat in the progress picture above but I can tell I'm making progress.

The last think I want to share is that I've made a deal with myself. When summer vacation for the kids started, I printed this and  hung it on the wall:

So I've decided that I can't sit down and knit or crochet (unless I'm behind on orders) until I've worked out. So far, so good lol.

Happy weekend!

Weigh In June 4 2016

I'm a little behind posting this, it's been a busy weekend of being lazy. I was a little surprised when I got on the scales Saturday morning. I really expected to see a gain. I've been eating all the good healthy stuff, drinking water, too, but because of excruciating pain in my right knee (which I believe is from an injury that didn't heal properly two years ago) and swelling in my right ankle (the one that I sprained in the cemetery a year ago) I just thought letting my body rest was something that I needed to do. And I told myself all week that even if I gained a little weight from lack of exercise, it was okay because my body needed some downtime. I stepped on the scales and this was what I saw:

It's very encouraging to see the numbers on the scale going down. It's even more encouraging to see that total lost going up. I've lost the equivalent of a teenager!

It's officially Monday, so I'm going to say have a happy week!

Weigh In Day!

I got back to it this week and it really paid off!

I honestly didn't expect such a big loss when I stepped on the scales this morning, but the scales don't lie.

I hope you all have a happy Memorial Day Weekend!