Amazing Weight Loss Story

Reading this story is definitely inspiring.  I'm complaining about my 80 pounds that I need to lose.  This woman has worked her butt off and lost 280 pounds!  I should stop complaining and get to work!


OMAHA, Neb. -- When it comes to losing weight, diet and exercise seem to be the key. And Natalie Strawn is seeing the results. She's lost half of her body weight and keeps losing more.
Strawn said her motivation started while watching a talk show. A woman who wanted to be the heaviest in the world weighed less than Strawn did."This journey has really been hard. Well, it hasn't been hard. It's been difficult," Strawn said.The difficult journey was made easier with smaller, manageable milestones.

Before Pictures

"I've kind of looked at it as a one decision at a time thing. Instead of, 'Oh my gosh, I have to lose 300 pounds,' I think of it as, 'I have to lose five pounds. Then I have to lose another five pounds. And then I have to lose another five pounds,'" Strawn said.The 20-year-old joined Weight Watchers at age 17, attending meetings every week. She marks her progress using a video blog she shares online.Now, down more than 280 pounds, she's well on her way to her goal and serves as an inspiration to those around her -- including her Weight Watchers leader."I tell people that I have a member who has lost 282 pounds. It's just very eye opening and awakening to them because they think, 'If she can do it, I can do it,'" Lisa Ostbye said.Strawn's advice is to make the change for yourself on your own time."Do it when you're ready. You'll know when you're ready," Strawn said.She said once you start, just keep going. Strawn said exercise is part of her daily routine, walking two miles each day.Strawn recently completed her first 5K, which is a big accomplishment after starting her workout with chair aerobics.Strawn said she's about 100 pounds away from her final goal.

Read more: http://www.ketv.com/health/29789203/detail.html#ixzz1e4Wu2mD8

Ughhhhhh......

The past two days I haven’t felt like the Phen is working.  It has not suppressed my hunger the way that it did the first week.  I’m getting a little discouraged because I feel like I’m getting cheated.  I tried taking it on an empty stomach this morning to see if it made a difference and so far I haven’t really noticed much of a difference.  Guess I will just keep taking it and hope that eventually it will kick in again??  Ugh.  SO FRUSTRATING!  Why does losing weight have to be so freakin hard!!

Anyway, aside from that.  I just learned that a Jawbreaker has 130 calories!  Good grief!!  All those calories in that teeny tiny piece of candy.  Who knew?

Hey, it's ok Tuesday

Stealing this idea from a friend's blog!  So now I have something to look forward to every Tuesday (in addition to my weekly weigh ins haha).  So first, let me explain this to you so you don't sit there with your brow furrowed looking all confused.  It goes like, this...... you start out by saying "Hey, it's ok...." and then follow it up by things that it's ok to be ok with!  haha.  So here goes....

Hey, it's ok....

....to secretly like the Fresh Beat Band song "Here We Go" and to be sad that they stopped playing it on Nick Jr, although you do kind of like the new song "Friend Like You"

....to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving

....to think that starting Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving is STUPID.  People should be able to spend that day with their family...not have to work.  It's called Black FRIDAY....not Black Thursday and Friday.

....to be tired of hearing about the Occupy Wall Street protestors.  At first I thought they were doing something...but as it turns out, no

....to wonder why the heck Casey Anthony's name is showing up on the news websites....ummm the trial is over and she is nobody....so let's stop acting like she is a celebrity.  She's just a psychopath who killed her daughter and got away with it

....to really wish that you could have a big, giant, cheesy, greasy, slice of pizza when you know you can't because you are on a 1200 calorie restriction and that one piece of pizza would probably be all of those 1200 calories

That's all I can come up with right now.  Til next week!

Week 2 Goals and other thoughts....

Today marks the end of week 1 and the beginning of week 2.  While week 1 went great, I want week 2 to go GREAT!  So my goals for this week are as follows:

1.  Eat between 1100-1200 calories each day
2.  Exercise for two hours each day (collectively, not necessarily all at once)
3.  Do not eat after 6pm.

I lost 5 pounds last week, I am hoping to lose at least that much again this week!

I'm a little concerned about the upcoming holidays.  In hindsight I probably picked the most difficult time of year to decide to start a diet lol.  First there is Thanksgiving followed by Christmas.  The two days of the year when we eat the most food.  I'm really hoping that I don't screw up my whole diet on those two days.  I want to enjoy all the good food, but I want to be able to do it with restraint.  This will be a good test of my will power if nothing else!

Even without the holidays in the picture, I am incredibly afraid of failing this.  I have tried to overcome obesity for so long that I kind of feel like this is it.  This is my last chance.  I don't want to be trapped in this body for the rest of my life.  I want to be able to feel good about myself and the way I look.  Not only that, I want to be healthy and to feel good physically as well.  I have a child and a husband to consider now.  It is not just about me anymore.  It scares me to death to think about where I might be 10 years from now if I don't do something about this now.  So I'm going to give this all I've got.  I have amazing friends and family that love and support me on this journey and I feel so amazingly blessed to have them all cheering me on.  Without them I would probably just lie down and give up.  And believe me, there are plenty of times just in one day where I would love to do just that because it's much easier than what I"m doing now.....but I know that the end result is going to be so worth it.

Week 1 Weight In!

So today is my official one week mark since starting this whole thing.  When I weighed in this morning I was 5 pounds lighter!  Yay!!  If I can keep this up, I’ll reach my goal in no time!  I just have to figure out a way to get more calories shoved down my throat.  I have been crashing and burning in the afternoons and I’m pretty sure that it’s because I’m not getting enough to eat.  I haven’t documented my calorie intake for a few days on the blog, but I can tell you that it’s been consistently between 700-900.  WAY TOO LOW.  My body is probably in starvation mode and that’s why I’m so tired.  Cuz it’s like, look…..I have no fuel.  Sooo, you go on to sleep now so you don’t waste the little bit that I have.  So, the goal for this week is to eat more!  Wow, never thought I would hear myself say that.  Kind of ironic lol.

Anyway.  I’ve been doing much better with exercise though.  I found that playing Just Dance on my Wii is a great way to get in exercise without feeling like I’m actually exercising!  I played that game for a good hour the other night.  I was a little sore the next morning! 

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – Better Oats Cinnamon Plum Spice Oatmeal – 160 calories

Snack

Medium Apple – 65 calories

Peanut Butter (2 tbsp) – 90 calories

Lunch

Bird’s Eye Steamfresh Pasta and veggies – 230 calories

Snack

Baby Carrots (10) – 70 calories

Dinner

Chipotle Apple Honey Pork Chops – 350 calories

Sautéed Zucchini – 28 calories

Rice – 150 calories

Total Caloric Intake – 1143

10 things I Hate About Being Fat

Although I'm sure I could come up with about a million more things, these are my top ten.  Feel free to add to the list!

1.  The clothing choices (or lack thereof)
Why is is that designers think that fat people don't wanna be cute?  We don't wanna walk around in a big old t-shirt that has like, sailboats or kitty cats on it.....or God forbid those horrid patterned shirts that have like, squiggly lines all over them.  Ugh.  And elastic waist pants.  Really??  Just because we're fat doesn't mean we're also 80 years old.  Can I get some distressed jeans with a cute shirt that DOESN'T cost me $100 a piece?  Torrid, I'm talking to you.  Skinny people have the option to shop on clearance.  Clearance at Torrid is like, $35 instead of $60.  Girl bye.   I wanted to make this a number all in itself, but decided to merge it with #1 instead.  SHOPPING WITH SKINNY FRIENDS!  Totally sucks.  I hate it.  I can't wear anything in any of the stores that we go in, so I'm just like, standing around looking totally uncomfortable.  People in the store are looking at you like, yeah she's just here with her friends cuz she ain't fitting into anything up in here! 

2.  Chub rub
In addition to the fact that we have to pay $6999 for a pair of nice jeans without an elastic waist, they wear out in like a month because of chub rub.  So multiply that $6999 by like 4 cuz that's how often the jeans need to be replaced.  It's stylish to wear holey jeans, but not when the holes are between your thighs.

3.  Chins galore
Sometimes when I look in the mirror I feel like I'm staring at a family of Asians because I see so many chins.  Winter is great because I can cover up my neck with a scarf, but in the summer...not so much.

4.  Muffin top
I would love to be able to wear a pair of pants and shirt and NOT have a muffin top.  having a ring around my waist looking like Saturn definitely doesn't make me feel "sexy."

5.  Unflattering photos
There hasn't been a photo taken of myself in the last 7 years or more that I approve of.  I look like I've been inflated with air in all of them.  What is it about photos and videos??  I will get ready and look in the mirror and think that I look great!  Then I will have someone take a picture and I'm like, WTF happened?!  Do I have trick mirrors in my house or something??  Is someone playing with me?  Unacceptable.

6.  Climbing more than one flight of stairs is near impossible
By the time I get to the top of the second flight I'm about to die.  I used to climb stairs all day every day because I grew up in a two story house.  Now I have no steps and so I'm not used to it.  On top of that, add in all the extra weight I have gained since then as well.  I definitely have to work on this because the elevators at my school are stupid slow.  When I tell you we waited on the elevator to come down two floors for ten minutes, I'm not exaggerating. 

7.  Sucking it in
Do you know how uncomfortable that is??  Not to mention that it obviously doesn't help according to the pictures I referred to back in #5.  You would think that after all these years of walking around for hours every day sucking it in that I would have abs of steel.....but no. 

8.  Going to the Beach
Going to the beach is just depressing when you're fat.  First of all, you have to watch all the tan skinny girls prance around in their string bikinis while you lie there in your black "slimming" one piece with pasty white legs from wearing pants year round.  I say "slimming" because that's what black is supposed to do for most people, but when you're blatently overweight, it just doesn't work.  There is no "slimming."  Not to mention, most of the bathing suits made for overweight people tend to be black, navy or purple.  What's up with that? Back to my point in #1.

9.  Being the Fat Bridesmaid
I have only been in two weddings in my adult life and was the token fat girl in both.  Having to stand there next to thinner, more attractive girls and then have it documented for life is just not cool.  Not to mention, you know that the guy that gets stuck walking down the aisle with you is like, why did I get stuck with the fat one?

10.  Hairstyles
It doesn't matter how I do my hair, my face is still fat.  I want a cute short hair cut that doesn't require much work.  Can I have one?  Sure, if I want to look like Chaz Bono. 
  

Day 3 - Where oh Where has my energy gone?

Soooo, are these things working still??  Cuz I have like, NO energy.  I'm wondering if it's because I'm not eating enough.  Ugh.  It's hard to eat when you're not hungry though.  Today I had to eat lunch, even though I wasn't hungry, because I started to get dizzy.  I automatically knew that it was because I needed to eat something.  Sure enough, as soon as I ate, the dizziness disappeared.  Crazy.  I'm starting to think that maybe I should set timers on my phone for lunch, snacks, and dinner lol.  Breakfast I'm ok with because after sleeping all night I'm usually hungry when I wake up.  But once I take that pill, the hunger disappears.

This is harder than I thought it would be.  I knew the pills would decrease my appetite, but I never expected it to totally disappear!  It's a crazy feeling to have to force yourself to eat because you're not hungry, but you need food.

Aside from that, I'm still happy to report that I still have not had any crazy side effects!  Yay!  Even the dry mouth has disappeared for the most part.  I still feel the need to drink water because the thirst is there, but the dry mouth is not.  I had about 4 oz of coffee this morning.  I was scared to drink it because I didn't know how I would tolerate the caffeine while taking Phen.  Which, thinking back, I wonder if that had anything to do with the dizziness??  Who knows....

So, let's talk about my goals.  You know why I'm here.  Obviously I'm not taking these crazy pills just for fun.  I want to, and need to, lose weight.  I have not been successful at doing this on my own and so here we are.  The dr thinks that this will help give me the push in the right direction that I need.  My long term goal is to lose 80 pounds.  That will put me at a weight that is considered "average" for my height.  Although, what is considered average by the doctors is still sometimes crazy to me, but whatever.  I'm hoping that the Phen will help get me halfway through that goal.  If I can get my caloric intake up a bit and increase my activity, then that shouldn't be a problem.  I found a website that has a neat weight loss calculator on it that can tell you how much time it should take you to lose your desired amount of weight based off of your caloric intake and your current weight.  According to that calculator, I could potentially lose those 80 pounds in about 7 months if I ate around 1400 calories a day.  I'm clearly not making it to that mark.  Soooo, I'm going to need to work on that.

-Short term goals-
Eat 1400 calories a day or close to it
Increase exercise

-Long term goals-
Lose 80 pounds
Continue the good habits learned while using the Phen
Be comfortable in my own skin!


Day 3 Menu
Breakfast
Bagelful - 200 calories

Lunch
Leftover roast, potatoes, and carrots - 350 calories

Snack
Handful of goldfish - 70 calories

Dinner
PB & J on wheat bread - 380 calories

Snack
Dole Fruit Chillers (grape) - 55 calories

Total Caloric Intake - 1055

Ok, so my caloric intake was much better than I originally guestimated it to be.  Still not as much as I need to be eating, but it's better than yesterday!