Queen of Everything-at least everything in my world

Yesterday's post caused quite the stir. It is wonderful to know that I have so many supporters! I'd like to say congratulations to all of you that have lost weight! I am so proud of you for getting healthy-and I really appreciate the inspiration and encouragement.

So here is the thing... I LOVE shoes, I mean seriously I love shoes. One of the reasons I love shoes is that it is so not depressing to shop for shoes. Shoes are fabulous! My shoes don't make me look fat, my shoes still fit if I gain five pounds and shoes are about the only way I can express my style since all of the plus clothing I've seen is AWFUL! I once had a dream to design clothing for plus sized women-maybe one day I'll consider it again, but I think I'd rather help to motivate women to get healthy and wear better clothing.

I've often chuckled (and then cried) about the names of plus sized clothing. Seriously have you ever looked at it... they use names like Goddess and Voluptuous to try and make you feel awesome about being a big girl. Well I've got news for all of you plus size designers-just because I'm a bigger woman doesn't mean that I want to look like an eighty-year old in a pink tiger velour jump suit. GAG! I actually broke down in tears once to this nice clerk at Macy's when I could not find ANYTHING decent in my size. I kept pulling out hideous item after hideous item and I was almost shouting at her because everything was so ugly! The poor woman directed me to the store manager who kindly calmed me down with a snickers bar.

Most plus sized clothing is so awful I'd rather go naked. This is really disturbing for me because I shop at nice stores. I get so excited when I find something at Nordstroms that I'm almost tempted to buy out the item in every color. I'm also short (in skinny world I would be considered a "petite") so when I'm able to find a pair of pants that actually look decent on my caboose they are about a mile too long. I feel like I can never have that nice tailored look because nothing fits just right. If I could fit in to normal sizes I would be able to really show my style. I am most excited to lose weight so I can shop in Anthropology. I love the style of that store and can't wait to spend my money on their expensive clothing. For now I'm stuck shopping at Lane Bryant or in other Fat Lady stores. While I'm discussing this I'd also like to point out how hilarious I think it is that outside of every Lane Bryant there is usually one of two mall carts... one has to do with losing weight/body shapers and the other is selling ice cream or some other fattening delight.

I hate this picture of myself... but this is one of John's favorites. 

I went shopping today and found absolutely nothing-but I guess that's good cause I won't be this size much longer. I'm already starting to notice some firmness in my stomach and legs. I already feel better than I did four days ago. I woke up this morning with no headache and I am feeling very positive about life in general. For my work out today I did the Bob Harper Inside Out Yoga for the Warrior. My trainer Bob actually advises only doing half of the video as a beginner and boy am I glad I listened to him. I was in downward facing dog when he had us do some kind of weird push-up... I heard this really scary noise in my neck and I swear I popped something that hadn't been popped in a long time. Unless my head falls off I think I'll be ok. I like this video as I really like working out with Bob. He takes some very well known yoga moves and offers some nice variations. I've actually never done an awkward airplane before and I found it very challenging. You should definitely head Bob's advice on this one... stick to only half of the video if you are a first timer and slowly work your way up to more.

I haven't been doing great on my eating-but hey-I can only do one thing at a time. haha I did have a cupcake today-but the fact that I only bought one cupcake really seems like a win to me. Prior to this honesty thing I would have probably bought 3 or 4 with intentions of sharing with John... knowing full well I wouldn't share them. What did you do today to make yourself more healthy?

Self doubt-out

It is only day two and already I'm experiencing issues. These issues are bound to keep coming up... and I imagine will continue even when I am "skinny". There are many reasons that I don't have a good self image. But the biggest reason is my big butt-literally.

I have a wonderful boyfriend, he loves me fat, he will love me thin... but I question how much he is attracted to me at this weight. I honestly can not blame him if he thinks I am gross right now. I think I'm very gross and its been a long time since I've felt sexy. My wonderful boyfriend... as kind and wonderful as he is... doesn't have much tact. He is learning but has definitely slipped and made some pretty hurtful comments about my weight. I can't help but wonder sometimes if he would be more proud of me if I was skinny.

I will always wonder about this. It isn't his fault but I've blamed almost ever relationship issue on my weight. This is not only unfair-but I would hope inaccurate. When he took almost a year to introduce me to his family I thought it was because he was waiting for me to lose weight. He is taking forever to propose to me... I blame this on my weight-I believe he is waiting for me to lose weight before he proposes. He will not accept me being his girlfriend on facebook-again I think this is because I'm not skinny so he doesn't want people to see he is dating a fat chick. Look I seriously have no other reason to believe this than my own insecurity-so before you get your pitch forks ready give the guy some slack. He in fact is in love with and dating a fat girl. Does he like my fat butt or my disgusting obesity that is destined to kill me before my time-no, he doesn't. But that doesn't stop him from loving me. I've never dated a kinder more loving man in my life.

Its just after 8:00PM here in New Jersey and I just got home from work. I was too tired this morning to work out so I'm about to select a cardio video from my vast selection. I'll probably do some more Bob Harper Inside Out Method-this time the cardio video. I haven't done all of the videos in the series but so far I really would recommend this one. I like how he offers a 20 minute selection for beginners and an hour long routine for more advanced exercisers. This is great because it could be quite intimidating to muddle through an hour long routine at this weight and strength. But soon I will be ready to conquer more challenging routines.

I'd also like to give a big shout out to one of my besties. Allison is amazing. She is seriously being so supportive to me. Back in May I was training to run a 5K with one of my other girlies and in June I actually ran one-at the time Allison told me that I motivated her to get up and work out every morning. Allison did the Self Three Month Challenge. I hope i can persuade her to write something about that experience later-but anyway she did the three month challenge and she really looks great! So because I motivated her... she is paying it forward to me and motivating me. She gave me some great advice yesterday... one thing I'd like to pass on is this. Alli suggested that I write up my goal on little note cards and leave it through out the house as reminders to me.

I'm going to write a lot of these little reminders... here are a few:
1. 135 BABY!
2. Starbucks-only 2 times a week! (Alli suggested that I cut back on this habit but not eliminate it completely- great and doable advice!)
3. Think about how pissed all of your x-boyfriends will be when they see how sexy you are!
4. Strong is the new Skinny!

If you have any other good ones for me let me know!

I hope you all made healthy choices today... I know I tried.

This time is different

I'm not sure why... but I feel that this time is going to be different. As scary as this is for me... I'm going to invite other people to watch my journey. I've thought about this for a long time and I really see a lot of good reasons to invite others to view my journey. I am so serious about doing this that I called in sick to work today in order to get myself going. In truth I've been having some nasty headaches and I could use some rest... but I think it is all connected to my weight. This past summer I had a period that would not end. I bled for 90 days straight. I'm sorry to be so graphic-but it is what happened. I was subjected to millions of "tests" and proding and they could not find one thing wrong with me. In fact in the end my doctor told me very kindly that I really just needed to lose some weight because the excessive weight put my hormones all out of whack.

First of all it will keep my honest, motivated and accountable. So many countless times I have wanted to get in shape-but something has gotten in the way every time. That "something" has been myself. I have all of the tools that one could possibly need to get in shape. I have all of the motivational fitness books, I have low fat recipes, I have about a million work out dvds with many more available to me for free online! I have NO more excuses.

Second-I really hope to be able to motivate others. I know I am not the first person to have weight problems. I have seen so many people lose large amounts of weight and keep them off. Some of these people have been loved ones and friends... but mostly they have been strangers. I'd like to keep this blog in order for others to see an honest struggle and progression of weight loss.

Third- I need a way to work this all out in my head. I have a large amount of weight to lose. I have over 100 pounds to lose. Just to admit that here scares the shit out of me. But in order to lose weight I really have to be honest with myself. I have to tackle this head on and being in denial about the number is not getting me anywhere. I have almost 150 lbs. to lose. That is so embarassing. How did I let this happen? This is something that I will ask myself every day for the rest of my life. I'm hoping to find at least some answers to my questions here.

So here we go...
Day One: October 28, 2010
Weight: 277
Body Fat: 48%

My current goal is to be at 135 pounds. I say current because I believe that as I lose weight that number may change. But I say 135 because that would be a healthy weight for someone of my height and build. I also have another motivating fact... I'm planning on getting married next summer. That gives me about nine months to lose the weight at about 16 pounds a month. That is actually a very reasonable goal. But we will see how realistic it is when you add in normal life.

Today my exercise was: Bob Harper Inside Out Method (Super Strength) and Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout led by Jillian Michaels. I like these work outs because one is pure strength training and the other is interval training. The Last Chance Workout switches between cardio and weight training. The other good thing is that Inside Out Method has a 20 minutes version and Last Chance Workout is only twenty-five minutes long so there really is no excuse of not having the time. If you'd like to purchase these workout videos you can find it here:My Trainer Bob and Biggest Loser Workout DVD. Check out Bob's website for lots of advice and motivation.

I got a great motivational quote from Real Simple Magazine

“Things start as hopes and end up as habits.”

― Lillian Hellman I'm hoping that this hope of mine ends up as a habit! Happy work out to you!

Well . . .

I did do yoga this morning, first thing--only half of the program but it's a start. Then I ate a chocolate cookie left over from FHE last night. Oh well! I ate some last night, too, truth to tell. Chocolate is definitely my nemesis. My divine, delectable, delightful, daily nemesis ; ) I simply can't seem to pass it up. So, while I ate relatively healthily the rest of the day, I did have chocolate. Again.

First Day

Ok... so maybe if we were thinking we wouldn't have chosen the first Monday of daylight savings to begin this. haha I set my alarm a half hour earlier with the intention of doing some yoga and getting my workout bag packed for after work. Well since I was so tired... I just hit snooze and ended up waking up 45 minutes later! I did some crazy lunges when I got home... and then I ran off to see my Johnny. I turned down birthday cake today... it didn't look that good anyway. 

I really have to do better at eating tomorrow. Today I did really good on healthy snacks. I got these apple rings from Trader Joes and these perfect little bags of almonds. I just need to do better on my main courses. 

John and I went and saw Paul Blart, Mall Cop tonight. It was cute, but the main character was overweight and there were several references to his weight. Things like this usually make me feel a little uncomfortable because I feel like everyone looks at me like that. They probably do... but it just doesn't matter. My weight does not define me. One of the society issues it did remind me of is that its perfectly acceptable for an overweight male to end up with a beautiful woman... but a "fat" chick would never get the guy. This makes me sad and also a little mad. We really live in a sick world that has taught us all to judge women purely on their outer beauty. I don't want to be fat for many reasons... most of them are health related, but I am also tired of being judged by my fat butt. 

Well... speaking of my fat butt.. it is burning from the lunges I did. I found a great little thing on the Internet. Its called Hulu. They have all sorts of tv shows... but if you go to the Health and Fitness section on it... you can see Jillian from The Biggest Loser showing you some target toning moves. They are really good. As she said... I'll be cracking walnuts with my butt soon. YIKES! 

For tomorrow... I need to find some cheap ways to eat healthy. It really bothers me how expensive and elitist healthy food is. Trader Joes seems to be the most reasonable... but I'd rather shop at Whole Foods. Oh well! haha 

It sounds like you are off to a good start. I'm going to take a walk tomorrow on my lunch break and then go to the gym after work. I'm also going to apply to be a dog walker on my lunch break... that way I'll have to walk! :) Good luck! Think Thin! 

Sorry this is late

I have been trying to figure this out! Started to last night, and I was just too tired to do it. Today I have been so busy!

In fact, I found myself in town at 2pm today, having not had anything to eat yet! I know, that's a lousy way to start a fitness program. So, I stopped at the grocery store, Fred Meyer Deli, actually, and what I picked up and really wanted--even took to the counter--was a chocolate mousse parfait!! However, I thought about writing on this blog, and actually put back the parfait and picked up a cup of vegetable soup and a small piece of foccacia bread instead!

I still had two Reeses fun size when I got home, but they were the small Easter size, and now they are gone ; )

I loved your blog entry, Jess. That is so important. We all need to be loved unconditionally, and we deserve to be. Your dad meant well, and I'm glad you realize it, but he was wrong ; )

So, I meant to get up early and do Yoga today but didn't, what with stupid daylight savings time I was lucky to get up when I did! I think I will do the relaxation section before bed, though.

This is kind of a dorky post, but hopefully I will get better at that, too ; )