2015 - The Year of Change

     I feel like this year has flown by.  My intention was to keep on top of this blog, but I kind of slacked off around summer.  The real reason was because I had gained 10 pounds over my month long road trip and I was too ashamed to blog about it.  When we left for Disney in June, I was down to 153 lbs.  After 2 weeks at Disney and then traveling to South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and back to Texas, I gained about 10 lbs.  I thought that I would get it back down, but I had lost some motivation.  I was continuing with my workouts, but my eating was pretty much out of control.  The one good thing is that I was able to maintain the second half of the year.  I didn't gain anymore weight and kept up with my workouts.  As I reflect on this past year, I realize that even though I didn't lose as much as I had planned (even gained some back), it has still been "The Year of Change" for me and my girls.  My girls expect me to exercise on a regular basis and our eating has improved.  This was the first year since moving to Texas 8 1/2 years ago that I consistently worked out for the ENTIRE year!!!
     I am so grateful to my friend Claire Johnson for getting me back on this path again.  I am also grateful for a group of ladies that I have never met (with the exception of one of them) that have continued to motivate and encourage me.  Sometime in late spring/early summer I joined a secret Facebook Group for women that love Disney just as much as me and struggle with their weight like I do.  They have been such a blessing and encouragement to me.  So many of them feel like sisters. We check in with each on a daily basis and they keep me going. I have also started following more women on Instagram or Facebook that are on this journey to a healthier version of themselves.
     Many, many years ago I had lost 40 lbs and kept it off until I moved to Texas by following the Weight Watchers plan and going to the gym almost daily.  At that time of my life, that was the perfect plan.  Now, as I am a single mom I learned that I have to approach a healthier version of me in a different way.  Some of you may remember that during this week a year ago I began this journey using the Beachbody Programs and their Protein/Meal Replacement Shake, "Shakeology".  For me, this was the best decision that I made for the journey to a healthier version of me.  I have been able to get up early in the morning before my girls woke up and get my work out in.  I've also re-learned through their 21 Day Fix Program how to portion control and make healthier food choices.  Over this past year I've seen many people post different ways to lose weight.  Some use wraps, some use the gym, some choose a Paleo lifestyle, a Low Carb/Keto lifestyle, some choose Weight Watchers, some count their Macros, some get out there and run, and some use the Beachbody Programs and Shakeology.  I've also seen some of those people bash the programs that don't work for them on social media.  That is very unproductive and may even be a character flaw.  (sorry if I just offended anyone)  You have to do what works for YOU!!!  Find what works and stick to it.  The key is commitment and not giving up!  What works for you may not work for another.  Many years ago, Weight Watchers and the group fitness classes at the gym worked for me.  In this season of my life, I can't join a gym because I have no one to watch my girls while I go to the gym or go running.  I can't leave them alone at 5:am to do any of that and by the time I get off work in the evening we barely have time for homework, dinner and bed.  For this stage of my life, the Beachbody programs and accountability has been the key.  I think for me, the accountability has been the biggest key to my success.  If I know that I have to be honest and check in with my friends, I'm more likely to do it.  Like I said earlier, find what works for you and stick to it.  Don't waste your energy bashing other people's choices for their fitness journey.  Use that energy to love and encourage other women.  Be real with each other.
     I'm excited to see where 2016 takes me and my Skinny Minnies!  I've already committed to a 5K in January and another Fun Run with my girls at the same race (it is a motivator that we get free hotcakes after!).  I'm totally stealing this word from my friend, Cori, but my word for this year will be STRONG.  I plan to be stronger in so many areas of my life this year, but especially in my health and fitness.  What are your goals?  What will you commit to?  I am sad that I probably won't have a trip to Disney in 2016, but I'm going to focus on making other fun memories with my girls.  Stay strong my friends and Happy New Year!  Hugs!

Week 22: The Year of Change

     The finish line is almost here!!  There are only 5 more school days left!  Woo-hoo!  This past week was a crazy one!  We had something going on almost every night.  I have one more "evening" event for the year and that is a parent meeting for my pop groups for next year.  After that, we are done!!  Even though it was a crazy week, I got all of my workouts in and even added one more Body Pump workout in on Saturday.  I even added a 2nd workout on Friday evening because for some reason I had some extra energy.  A very cool thing happened this week.  My brother ordered me a Garmin vivosmart.  It came in on Thursday afternoon.  I am so excited.  I noticed that it doesn't really pick up any "steps" during my weight workouts, but it does on my Body Combat workouts.  It's 11:am and I'm only 1,062 steps away from my daily goal of 7,500.  I might need to up my goal because I've been going over 10,000 a day so far.  I think that part of that is because I added that 2nd workout on Friday night and danced at our Choir Banquet last night.  Speaking of Choir Banquet...

     I can't remember if I've mentioned this in a previous post, but when I started this journey back at the end of December, I had a goal to fit into a red dress that has been sitting in my closet for 8 years.  I haven't been able to fit into it for 8 years.  I'm so glad that I kept it because...I made my goal!!

Ann & Elsa made a guest appearance at our Banquet.  The theme was "Once Upon A Time."

Me and my fabulous colleague, Dana.  We've both gotten skinny this year!

Here is a picture from last year's choir banquet and one from last night.

My new fitness tracker.  Do any of you have one of these?  How do you feel about it?

   
I can't believe the transformation!  For the first time in 8 years, I actually danced at my choir banquet because I felt more confident and better about my body.  It was so much fun!!!  I'm not sure if I'll make my next goal (150 lbs.) before I leave for Disney, but that's okay.  I have come so far and I am commited to this journey.  For my friends and family that we are visiting over the summer...don't be surprised if I pull out my workout dvd's while we are visiting!  :)

     I love the quote above:  "Your body is a reflection of your lifestyle."  I want to reflect a healthy lifestyle to my daughters.  I want to set an example for them.  I don't want them to struggle with their weight like I always have.  I'll try to post some updates during my trip.  We are very excited to hit the road and get to our Happy Place and to visit family and friends!  Talk to you again soon my friends!

Ann

Week 21: The Year of Change

     I meant to post last week, but life is crazy at the end of the year.  In my last post I had mentioned that I was about to start my next round of 21 Day Fix Extreme.  Well, I am here to confess, that I kind of gave up on that idea.  I have been watching what I've been eating, but I haven't been doing the strict clean eating of the 21 DFX plan.  I don't know why, but I just didn't have the discipline or motivation this time.  I actually still use the portion control containers to plan out most of my days.  I haven't gotten on the scale much, but I am seeing some non-scale victories.  Last week I wore a shirt that used to be tight around my arms.  Mid-morning I realized that it wasn't so tight anymore...

   
     I have still been consistent in my workouts.  This is the longest since moving to Texas 8 years ago that I've stuck to any workout program.  I have come up with my own workout schedule.  It's a mixture of Body Pump, Body Combat, Lower Fit Extreme (21 DFX), Upper Fit Extreme (21 DFX), and whatever else I feel like trying from Beachbody on Demand.  This keeps my workouts fresh and keeps it from getting boring.  This weekend, I tried on my goal dress that I wanted to fit into for my Choir Banquet that is coming up on the 30th.  Guess what?  It fit!  I would like to tone up my lower body just a little more this week if I can.  I may try to throw in another Body Pump or push out some more cardio this week to see if it helps.  One more non-scale victory that happened this weekend was that I put on this shirt that I haven't worn for a while because it was snug.  I remembered that I had a picture from a year ago (why my friends let me wear that out in public, I'll never know).  I put them together for a comparison.  This is the result:

     This is super exciting!  I don't know if I'll get down to my goal weight of around 150 pounds before our summer vacation, but I'm close!!  In other news...I can't believe that I'm about to have a Kindergartner and a 1st grader!!!  Here is a pic of my sweet soon to be 1st grader:

My soon to be Kindergartner turns 5 in 13 days!  Agh!  Only 9 days of school left, and 12 days until we get to the Happiest Place on Earth!!  Woo-hoo!

Game night with these goofballs!!

I'll try to give you another update next week.  Make it a great week friends and don't give up!!

Week 18: The Year of Change

      Well, I can't believe that I'm ending week 18.  I also can't believe how busy this semester has been and how I've let 6 weeks pass since my last blog.  Even though work has been crazy busy I've still been on my weight loss journey.  I have been consistent

in my workouts, but I haven’t been as consistent in the eating area.  It’s usually the weekends that I tend to struggle with my eating choices.  I always tend to crave the healthy stuff though so by Monday I’m back on track.  Here is where I stand on my journey so far:

Starting:  177.6, Current:  154.6, Total Loss: 23 pounds

     Tomorrow, I start the next round of 21 Day Fix Extreme.  This is kind of my last shot to lose 5-10 pounds before Disney.  I was going to try and do only the 21 DFX workouts for 21 days, but the more I thought about it, I think that I'm gonna change it up.  I'd rather enjoy my workouts.  Some of those workouts have burpees.  Ugh!!  I'll add her Dirty 30 along with the Lower Fix Extreme and Upper Fit Extreme (I've been doing those two consistently).  I'll still do my Body Combat at least once a week and my Body Bump once a week.  I tried PiYo on Beachbody on Demand this past Saturday.  I'd like to keep that in the routine and do that instead of her Yoga and Pilates days.  Tomorrow, I'll start with Body Combat because I love it and I know that I'll get up for it.  :)
     I had Mia take my measurements and we did another round of pictures today before I start this next round.  Are you ready for the transformation pictures?

I've gone from a siz 14/16 to a size 8!

It's so cool to see where I started 18 weeks ago and where I am today!  I am now a firm believer in taking before and after pics.  I see the same person in the mirror every day, but when I see the pictures I am amazed!  This has been a process.  This is the longest that I've stuck with a program for years.  The next 5 weeks are going to be a challenge.  I am exhausted and so ready for summer!  Tonight I looked at the calendar and said "you only have to pack lunches for 5 more weeks!!!"  I can do this!  This mama just wants a day (or two) to sleep!!!  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though!  We are almost there!  I'll just keep pushing play.  Hopefully the next few weeks will be a little easier to keep you posted!  Until next week...

Week 12: The Year of Change - Post Spring Break

            I can’t believe that it’s only been 12 weeks on this journey so far.  It feels like so much longer.  Spring Break was great!  The girls and I had a great time!  They loved spending time with their Poppy and Nana and our side trip to Disney was a blast!  Well, I promised that I’d share the good bad and ugly with you, so here is a summary of what we ate at Disney. 

We always have to get our Dole Whips!!

Lunch at our Resort. 

Don't worry, I shared this croissant donut!

The girls' salad.  They weren't interested, but I was.

Pizza at Via Napoli's in Italy at Epcot.

Dessert - Tiramisu.

Cupcakes for dessert on our last day at Magic Kingdom (Be Our Guest for lunch).

Turkey sandwich at Be Our Guest.  It was yummy!

We brought a few souveniours back with us.  They're gone now.      
   

This was our "we don't want to leave Disney" faces.

Winnie the Pooh!

Mommy actually rode the Carousel too!

This trip was magical, as always.  We got to ride this car up and down Main Street.

I love these girls so much!! 

I could visibly see the difference in my weight from those two trips.

Morning workout on my Dad's back porch.

           Once we were back to my Dad’s, we made better choices food-wise.  We had a great time at my Dad’s, we got to go out on his boat twice.  This single mom was also very spoiled!  They cooked for us and did our laundry.  It was amazing!  This NEVER happens!  I was sooooo grateful.  J

            Now, the trip home…I didn’t plan like I did for the trip out (at least not for the second day). I did well on the rode the first day, but dinner was a disaster.  We stopped in Mississippi on Saturday night and our hotel happened to be super close to a movie theatre.  That was perfect for us to catch the new Cinderella!!  We stopped to get dinner first.  It wasn’t a great experience and we ended up having to leave without dinner.  So, our dinner that night was popcorn and soft pretzels.  For lunch on Sunday we went through a Wendy’s drive-thru.   I felt super GROSS after that rode trip.  Needless to say, the first stop that we made when we got back in town was to store to get some groceries and had rotisserie chicken, sweet potatoes, broccoli, & salad for dinner that night!  Yum!

            So…I ended up gaining 2 pounds during the week, but I also think that some of that is that I don’t drink as much water when I’m driving so that I don’t have to stop as much.  Oh, I also did drink some diet soda during the trip.  By the end of this week though, I was back down those 2 pounds.  Sadly though, I haven’t done that great this weekend.  I had to work 6 days this week and by the time that I left school yesterday I was so exhausted that I didn’t feel like making the good choices.  Let’s just say that Girl Scout cookies were eaten.  J  Don’t worry, we made another trip to the store today and we have good eating plans for the week. 

            I have been consistent in my workouts though.  I will say that for the past few years when I start out with a new exercise & eating regime in January, I usually end up quitting by the time Spring Break rolls around.  This is the first time in years that I not only worked out several times during Spring Break, but that I picked up right where I left off when I came back in town.  I know for sure that this time is different.  I do want you to understand something though…my dedication has nothing to do with me.  It is not MY own strength.  Jesus is giving me the strength every day to make better choices and to be committed to working out.  His Word pushes me.  His Word tells us to take care of our bodies.  I am only trying to be obedient to Him and to be more like Him.  It’s a day by day process. 

            I’ll be out of town this coming weekend chaperoning a choir trip to New York.  It’s a crazy week this week too because we have UIL and I have to get my girls ready to stay with friends and then get myself ready for the trip.  This is a stressful time of year.  It’s non-stop from now until June.  This will be a true test of my endurance and strength.  I’ll keep you updated! J Oh, and be sure to check out my Youtube page if you want to see what some of the workouts look like.  You can get there by clicking here.

           

Ann

1st day back to routine!