I apologize...

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately. Like I said, I'm getting busy! Between student teaching and now I'm staying over at a friend's house for the week, I've just been crazy busy!

I haven't weighed in yet, I will do that tomorrow. Since I'm not at home I don't have my Jillian Michaels Wii game with me, so I can't quite do that yet. I promise I will tomorrow night! :)

I missed out on our weekly cycling/spinning class last night due to a headache. The kids were a little wild (it was pj and movie day since they collected 40 dolphin dollars - long story - plus my cooperating teacher wasn't there, so we had a substitute teacher... yeesh), so I come home and took some excedrin. So not fun. But I'm going to cycling/spinning tomorrow afternoon to make up for it! :)

I literally am so whiped out by the time I get home, then I have to write lesson plans, grade papers.... I feel like a crazy person lately. But I know I'm losing weight, I can feel it. And so can my clothes :)

Like I said, I will update tomorrow on actual weight loss. But for now, I have 3 sets of papers for 3 classes of 22 kids to grade... Yeesh.

Calorie Free

Well I did it, I gave myself a calorie free weekend! But believe it or not, I still feel like I did pretty well! I can definitely see my habits changing :)

I really suck at doing details lately because I have enough writing to do with lesson plans (wrote 5 on Wednesday and Thursday, wrote 4 more today... ugh). I'll do my best to keep up this week! I promise! :)

Still sore from Cycling on Friday, but not as bad as I thought I would be. I think the worst was being on a bus all day yesterday basically. I feel like I didn't get any exercise in, but I'm sure I got in more than I think I did.

Sorry, but that's all I have for you. Not counting calories really cuts back my details, huh? Man, I suck! LOL

Back into the grind tomorrow. This is my first "full" week of school (meaning actually being in the classroom all 5 days), so I know by Wednesday I'll be dying. But that's good... I need to get used to it! I'll be teaching most of the day, all except for language/spelling and social studies. All I can say is - I can't wait to be a teacher! :)

I have failed...

... at updating my blog, that is! I'm so sorry! I've been so jam-packed with everything, it's slightly overwhelming! But please rest assured that I have stayed on program! The exercise program could use a step up, but my calorie intake is still in tact! :)

I promise to TRY to update this everyday like I used to, but I can't make any promises.

This will be yet another short and sweet blog, to the point, but I will write more detailed on Sunday. Tomorrow I will not post because I will be in Columbus until the late hours of the night. :( Sorry! But wish us luck - it's our first competition!

Today was a good day - still not quite finishing the lunch I pack (or my mom packs, *ahem*), but getting in the calories I need for the day! My basic is a sandwich, some kind of fruit (usually a banana or an orange), yogurt, and chips. But what I actually eat for lunch is a different story. It's a variation of all of those items, LOL! Seeing as I'm more involved in the classroom now, I am constantly on the move, so that's good! Getting in my steps. I am thinking maybe next week I will wear my pedometer to see how many steps I'm actually taking every day! Should be an interesting experiment.

Tonight Ashley and Cortney and I went to Cycling class at St. James. We decided to make this a regular Friday date, since we never see each other anymore! My butt hurts, my feet hurt, and my legs are like jello, but it sure does pay off in the end! :) Have a great weekend, everyone!

Day 15...

My first day of teaching for the week always sucks. I am so tired and so ready to just pass out by the time I get home from school.... ugh.

I'm staying on track with my diet - I had a super yummy lunch today (soup and another fruit salad with fruit dip!) and I had to have a snack when I got home because I have been so hungry today! I've stayed within my calories, though, so I'm good!

No workout today - my workout was being on my feet all day at school helping with a science experiment! But that's ok, my knee is a little sore from jogging yesterday. Probably best to take a day off every once in a while!

Well I'm trying to balance everything, so I'm going to cut this short today. Tomorrow will be just like today, only I'll be getting home a little bit later. I teach again tomorrow - a BioPoem to get to know the students a little bit more. They're pretty in to it so far! :) But for now, I'm headed to bed to watch the Biggest Loser until I fall asleep.

Day 14!

Yet another wonderful day in my weight loss journey! I found out today that I still may have a chance at the Biggest Loser - they haven't even started open auditions yet and they apparently don't let you know until around the end of open auditions. So maybe still a possibility! Exciting! Just to at least go through the process would be awesome!

After I woke up this morning I immediately got dressed for working out so it wasn't even an option. I went to the gym and did a cardio day! :) I got on the treadmill with the intentions of doing hill intervals, but wound up jogging instead. I was on the treadmill for 30 minutes, plus a 5 minute cool down, but I'll tell you what, my heart was pounding and I was so gross! I felt good in the end - I really wanted to do weights but with my workout yesterday I decided not to.

I started off my day with some eggs - yum! I like eggs every once in a while now that I'm counting calories. Mostly on the days when I know I'm going to exercise a lot - burn a lot of calories. I usually do one full egg (with yolk), and then one egg (just the whites). Dunker egg with toast = major yum! For lunch I had a turkey sandwich and a super yummy fruit salad with fruit dip! I cut up a banana and an apple, then got out one of my cups of cream cheese fruit dip (60 calories, HELLO!!!). So super yummy! For dinner, once again I was at guard early (which I love!) so Miss Jackie brought in Subway for us to eat while we talked things over. A Subway Club on Wheat with light mayo and lettuce = my love. :) I just finished off my day with some ice cream, cuz I deserve it! :) Hahaha.

Tomorrow is the first day of my second week in student teaching! :) And it's looking like a 2 hour delay maybe? Haha... gotta love fog! It would be nice, but I'm not counting on it! I think I will do an at-home workout again tomorrow - it seems to be a good way to go about it when I need to be home. I will have lots of lesson plans to write now! YEESH! Hope you all have a great day tomorrow! :)

3 POUNDS!!!

And -3 pounds later, I'm still at it! :) So proud! It's only been 12 days, and I'm already 3 pounds down!

I did the Biggest Loser and Jillian Michaels Wii workouts today. Whew! Exhausting! I started off with Jillian Michaels so I could weigh in. I'll tell you what, she is still mean on a Wii game, LOL! If you don't keep up with her, she yells at you! I was sweating and my heart rate was up by the end of the 20 minute circuit! Then I thought, oh what the hell, I might as well do the Biggest Loser, too! I hadn't played this one yet, so I had to create a profile (I chose Michelle for my person), then start a workout there. I did the Fitness Program at the beginner level, and I was feeling so gross by the end of it! It was awesome!

Again, I suck at writing lately. So sorry! I promise I'll try to write more detailed this week if I can! I'm going to try to make all of my workout classes this week! Have a great day!

Days 11 and 12

I apologize for my absence lately! I have been super busy the past 2 days, so I have not been able to get on the computer to do anything!

The past 2 days have been really great! On Friday I started off my day with taking care of Grandma (yeah, when I said busy, I meant it!). After dropping her off at the salon, I went to the gym for my second workout with Julie, which was rough, but wonderful! She worked me really hard again, but this time my body didn't fight me! I'm still a little sore, but not too bad! I'm ready to get into working out again... Jillian Michaels or the Biggest Loser today I think! (I need to hang around home, I haven't been home to stay since Friday before rehearsal!)

As far as diet is concerned, the past 2 days have been really good! On Friday, we were supposed to have pizza with the girls before rehearsal, but Miss Jackie and I had Subway instead (thanks, Miss Jackie!). So Yummy! I have stayed really well on program, though I haven't had time to count calories. Yesterday was the first performance of the season, and so I was nervous, which means I didn't eat much until AFTER the performance and critique. :)

This morning I'm back to the normal lifestyle! I have nothing planned for the day except to relax a little bit, since i haven't done that since last Sunday! I feel like my life is so chaotic right now, but I'm still somehow managing to keep on track. That's a good thing, right?

Day.... 10?

Slowly but surely, I am losing my mind. Just FYI. I feel like my brain is mush... and the best part is, I'm not even writing lesson plans or my portfolio yet! AAAAHHHHH! But the good news: I'M STAYING ON PROGRAM! Hello, usually at this point of my stress level I am eating like there's no tomorrow. I have done really really well! Super, actually! (I've been saying super and writing super on papers all day, give me a break!)

I stuck to my usual small but filling breakfast with instant oatmeal (a new favorite... yummy!). I picked up a cup of coffee on my way to school (black, no cream or sugar for once!). I snacked healthily throughout the day, eating a banana during the kids' snack time, chips during recess, and then my sandwich/yogurt lunch! When I got home I had an hour before I had to be to guard practice, so mom took grandma and I out to dinner at Bob Evans. You know, one of those restaurants where you think you're eating healthy and you're really not. LOL. Anyways, the way I really know I have changed is when my mom tells me she's proud of me at the dinner table. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich (keep in mind, it's on the menu as a chicken club sandwich, but I asked to not have the bacon or cheese on it). Instead of french fries I had a salad with lite ranch dressing, and instead of coleslaw I had a fruit dish. MAJOR change from what I usually order (hello Wildfire Chicken Salad with 2 dishes of dressing and fried chicken, nice to see you again... NOT), which brought on "Erin I'm so proud of you" at the dinner table. Ladies and gentlemen, this is serious! :) Just kidding mom, love you!

So again I apologize for my lack of energy lately. The kids are really wearing me out! But I do get to workout with Julie tomorrow - my cooperating teacher is sick and is taking teacher records day off tomorrow. WAHOO for a day off! :) 4 day weekend, WOOT WOOT!

Side note - the girls have their first performance on Saturday in Wapakoneta for guard... wish them luck!

Losing Momentum

Well, it has happened. Teaching is taking over my life. My day to day routine is switching over and over, and now I am trying to adjust. So for the time being, with as crazy as my schedule is, I will work out when I have the time. Right now my schedule is so crazy with seminars and staff meetings and staying after school getting things ready... Yikes! But I'm sticking to program besides my exercise! I have packed lunch this whole week so far, and have stayed away from the bad foods! :) That's good! I did cave and have some ice cream last night, but hey, I deserved it! And I included it in my calorie count. Super important!

Tomorrow is my last day with students for the week. Friday is a teacher work day, and I may not even have to go in, which means I will still be able to work out with Julie on Friday! :) That's why I haven't cancelled yet, I'm counting on my teacher getting a doctor's appointment (she's sick) so that I don't have to go in! Keep your fingers crossed! LOL I am loving my life right now!

Staying strong, and so should you! :) Have a great day tomorrow!

Day 8 Was Great!

Ok first of all, I officially am a student teacher :) My first day was WONDERFUL, and I know this is going to be a great experience. Hence, the rhyme in the title. LOL Raise the roof! Raise the roof! (I think only mom and dad will get that one, lol, they heard every detail of my day)

Today was also a little rough on the realization of what it's like to be a teacher. Yikes. I have a total of 20 minutes to eat lunch. Talk about a major challenge! I asked my cooperating teacher how she does it. Her answer: I eat quick foods. Chewy bars. Yogurt. Quick and easy! Me: I'm sorry I'm choking on my sandwich here trying to eat it quick enough. LOL

I did have a good eating day today, though, and definitely on the exercise portion. I am physically and emotionally exhuasted! I started off my day with an egg, made by none other but my mom! :) I made this super yummy and filling lunch, unfortunately it would take WAY too long to eat it. So I got in my sandwich, my yogurt, and a grand total of 5 sunchips. :) Immediately following student teaching I had to go to my student teaching seminar, where there was more food that I should not be eating. So I pulled out my remaining sunchips, and finished my lunch :) Haha! Dinner was yummy, dad made turkey burgers and green beans. YUM! I finished it off with a nice big glass of milk!

With exercise, HELLO, I walk around that school so much that I definitely am getting in my steps. Unfortunately today was a 12 hour day with everything, so I did not get to Yoga tonight :( But I still burned plenty of calories for the day, so I'm not really worried. AND I took the stairs today at the university (yes, all 4 floors)!

So all in all a good day! I was successful both in the classroom and in my lifestyle change. :) Tomorrow brings another day in the classroom, my first school staff meeting (yikes), and then hopefully getting a workout in! I will get a workout in. I will. I need to. Hope today has been as wonderful as it has been for me! :)

The End of Week 1! (AKA Day 7)

Well, this is the end of my first week! Day 7 is nearly complete! You will notice that my blogs will be more scattered in time now, and sometimes my day will not yet be complete. This is because my new schedule is starting, so between student teaching, guard, and working out, I'm going to be a busy girl! :) So just bear with me for the next couple of weeks until I get this schedule under control.

Today was a really good day! I started off this morning with a piece of toast and peanut butter (I was nervous for my conference today!). I successfully avoided the breakfast they had for us (running late does that to you haha), and the coffee! After the conference (which was way overwhelming, but very informational), I went out to lunch with Kylee to Chili's. I'll tell you what, calories there are an eye-opener. Definitely not as healthy as I thought they would be. But that's ok, it was our beginning of semester lunch! We are getting ready to eat dinner, and mom is making some AMAZING food! Pasta, veggies, and chicken! Yum!

My workout today was great! I started off on the elliptical (random program, LOVE IT) for 45 minutes. The little skinny people that only get on for like 10 minutes really annoy me, because it's like yeah sure that's all you need! LOL Did you even break a sweat?! Sheesh. I also got up the nerve to do some weight training by myself, taking some of Julie's tough stuff and doing it on my own. Her voice has somehow worked itself into my head so when I want to give up, I can hear her saying "COME ON MCCLELLAN! YOU CAN DO THIS!" It works :)

Incase you can't tell, my mind is definitely on student teaching right now, so my blogs are getting shorter. But at least you get the idea! I'm still staying strong with my workout and diet, so no worries there! There might just be less detail and rambling (yeah right) for the next couple of days. Wish me luck! Tomorrow is my first day in 3rd grade!

Have a great remainder of your Monday! :)

Music workout tip: Stick upbeat. I noticed today that I was going the speed of my music. Whenever a slower song would come on, I would slow down. I started skipping those songs! Stay upbeat with music that is quicker paced and it gives you a better workout!

Day 6!

Today was a success, and I think it's because of the positive outcome of last night. I know I keep saying this, but seriously, I think I've really changed my way of thinking with food! I feel like I can still love food, but I don't want to eat as much of it like I used to. Once I get a taste of it, I'm good to go. Can we just all say this together? IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!

Earlier today I had set a goal of playing on the Wii, well that didn't happen. Instead Mom and I went shopping (and you know how we shop. If you don't, then watch Confessions of a Shopaholic. Powershop much?) and I really think shopping should be on the iTouch as exercise! At least for us it is!

Food wise I did great today! Mom made a very healthy but filling breakfast. So much so that I didn't need to eat lunch - just a snack! She made egg beaters (about a cup), bacon (probably turkey bacon), and hashbrowns. To get in my fruit I had grapefruit with it instead of my usual juice! As a snack I had grapes and lots of water. We had the Seyfrieds over for dinner (including Ashley!) and had a big dinner which filled the rest of my calories for the day. Ham, baked carrots, mashed potatoes, peas, applesauce, and apple pie! YUMMMMMMM! But at the end I was putting my calories into my iTouch and Uncle Larry yelled at me for playing at the dinner table! HOW RUDE! lol

I know I never really fully wrote about yesterday, so let me tell you a few of my highlights from yesterday. First of all, I had a small breakfast. I had eggs this time! I had eggs over easy, but instead of having 2 eggs, I had 2 egg whites and 1 yolk. I made lunch since I was at work, and I had a sandwich, melon, and yogurt (oh my goodness! So good! Kraft Yogurt Parfaits, I had the cherry chocolate... Amazing! And only 100 calories!)! The dinner was a little rough, it was all finger food. But I stuck mostly to chicken and vegetables, so that was good. There were a lot of like chips and dips, but I only put a little bit of that on my plate, and it shows on my calories that I didn't over-do it! So proud of myself! The worst part of my day was drinks. Usually I drink water, but with the party last night we had all kinds of wine and alcohol. So I took an occasional pudding shot (too too strong, probably shouldn't have had any at all, but that's ok.) and stuck mostly to wine. Let's just say that after seeing the caloric intake on alcohol, this won't happen again! Not to mention the headache in the morning. Yikes!

So my first successful weekend! Very proud of myself. I'm on my way! :) Thank you again to everyone for all of your support, I really appreciate it! Especially my parents, they have been awesome about my change of habits. Probably because they've wanted to see this for a long time. But still! Keep the comments coming, they remind me that I have this support system!

Tomorrow is my last day of relaxation, but it's still going to be pretty busy! I have my student teacher conference tomorrow morning, then Kylee and I are going out to lunch (no worries, I'm confident now!), then I'm going to gym (maybe take a class?), then guard practice! Can't wait to see the tarp in our gym! Wahoo!

Stay strong!

Reflecting...

This morning I woke up still feeling guilty about last night, and I decided to put in my calories to see what kind of damage I did. What a pleasant surprise! I was totally honest with the amount that I ate (and drank.... yeesh) and I didn't go over my daily budget of calories! :) :) This is good.

What I figured out as I was adding my food and drinks is that I have changed. Normally, my plate would have been full. Maybe even heaping with food. Last night, I had mostly veggies and chicken on my plate. Granted, those little cream puffs were staring me in the face, so I ate a couple. And the wine! Yummmmmmm! But again, I don't think after looking at my calories that I went overboard!

I'm actually quite proud of myself now. Upon reflection, I think my label for the last post must change, so I will change it on this blog.

Today brings rest, some Wii games (The Biggest Loser??), getting back on track, and my beloved large water bottle. :) Have a great day, everyone!

Day 5

Well, the day wasn't a total failure. Let's just say this: it was a Christmas party, we had some drinks, and so went the food. It was a lot of healthy food, though, so it counts, right? According to Denise, I didn't really eat as much as I thought I did. Maybe it's just the guilty feeling I have with not tracking calories. I tracked my calories earlier, though, and I had only eaten 800 calories. I shouldn't have gone over calories, but if I did, that's ok. Tomorrow is a new day!

Sorry for the short post tonight (or early this morning, whichever you prefer, lol). I'm awful tired. It was my last day at work ever (unless they really need me on a Saturday) and our Christmas party. The good news is I got this awesome hat for when my students have a birthday! :) Hahahaha!

I will update more detailed tomorrow. Back in the groove tomorrow!

Day 4

Today proved that I am human. It was a little bit more of a rough day, but I faced my first real challenge so far, and I conquered it!

I started off the day with a wonderful breakfast! Just toast with peanut butter, but again it held me over for a long time! For lunch I had a tuna sandwich and crackers with a banana. I rounded out the day - this was my challenge which I mentioned yesterday - with Subway and a salad! The challenge was that I went to help paint our tarp for winter guard, and we were going to have pizza for dinner. Before my lifestyle change, I would've loved this part of the night. However, this came to be a challenge as to how to not eat anything unhealthy, but to have my own dinner going. I was going to eat ahead of time, but instead I decided to take a sub from Subway! Super good idea! Not to mention Shelley (thank you thank you thank you) bringing a wonderful low-calorie low-carb salad!!! :) Again, with the support. It's the little things that make me realize the support I have behind me! Wahoo!

The true tough part of my day was my workout. Apparently I was having a really clumsy day and my body just didn't want to cooperate. I started off on the treadmill with the intentions of jogging, but after 10 minutes of tripping over my own feet on the treadmill while only going 3.0 mph, I decided perhaps jogging wasn't a good idea. And the one time I did a 1:30 jog, I knocked my iPod out of the cup-holder. Yep. It hit the treadmill and went flying behind me. Funny now, not so funny then. ;-) Then I went to the bicycle, thinking this would be a better option for my clumsiness. Riiiiiiiight. 3 minutes into my bicycling, I again knocked my iPod out of the cup-holder on the bike. Nice. So I decide maybe holding onto the iPod might be a better option. Yep, you guessed it. I dropped it. Again. My poor iPod took a beating today. :( Needless to say I got very frustrated and decided it was time to stop after 45 minutes at the gym. Looks like I need to make a stop at the gym on Sunday!

The good news is my sister told me today that I'm already looking thinner! :) Wahoo! That's a success!

Tomorrow brings another challenge. This is not only my first day of work for the week, but it's also my last day working at the salon. AND we have our Christmas party tomorrow night! Hello calories! But, Mom has made our food this year diet friendly, since most of us are tracking calories on our "Lose It" application! No exercise tomorrow, I think my body was telling me today that I need to take a day off! Not to mention, I probably really won't have time.

OH! And a music suggestion for jogging (which I didn't do but I still listened to the music cuz I LOVE IT!) is the Twilight soundtrack. Seriously, most of those songs are a wonderful pace for jogging! :) Just throwing that out there!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Day 3!

Things are looking up! Day 3 was a huge success, and I mean HUGE! :) Despite the snow, which was a minor setback, but all is good.

Yesterday I mentioned lunch with Cheryl at Panera, and I thank you all for the suggestions. I found that a you pick two was a good option, a more filling option. And I believe I made a positive influence on Cheryl :) I got a pick two with the Smoked Turkey Breast and Broccoli Cheddar Soup. Super yummy AND filling. I did order an apple for the side, but didn't end up eating it because I was full! I had water to drink (staying strong with no pop or caffeine in general). Cheryl wound up ordering pretty much the same thing, she said it sounded "healthy"! Overall we had a good time - talked a lot about my exciting week coming up! (Student teaching begins Tuesday in classroom!)

However, while we were at Panera (15 min away from my house, this will come in handy in a minute), the snow began. Ugh. I love snow, but not when I have to drive in it. First of all, I had to brush off my car before I could go anywhere because in the 1 hour we were at lunch there was at least 1 inch of snow on my car. Grrrrrr! I was totally considering going to the gym to work out, which quickly went downhill when I turned onto Central Ave. and my car didn't want to move. Lovely. So needless to say, I went straight home and haven't left the house since. So I decided to do my workout on the Wii today, which was actually really good! I got my heartrate up like I'm supposed to. I did some boxing, strength training, balance, aerobics, etc. It was a lot of fun and I was actually sweating! It was a good workout, but low impact. Tomorrow it's back to the gym for a high impact workout since Saturday I won't have any time for a workout - Saturday will be dubbed my day off from working out.

So I just finished putting in my calories for the day (so far) and with my calories burned earlier I'm sitting just under 1000 calories. Looks like I get a snack again tonight! :)

I was telling my mom earlier today that I really feel confident in this approach to weight loss. I really feel like I have a solid support system on here and I actually want to eat right and work out, and I think that's thanks not only to my willpower but to the support I have received so far. The first week is usually hell, but I haven't had any obsticles so far. So I know this is going to get really old really fast, but THANK YOU for reading my blog, I hope I entertain you enough that it's not super boring to read and you stop reading. I have a long road ahead, and I hope to keep you all here throughout it.

One interesting question was from a coworker, and she asked me if I was going to be posting pictures of progress, and the answer is yes. I am going to take pictures as I lose weight and change my blog picture so that you all can see the changes if we don't see each other often. Any other questions, feel free to ask! I love getting feedback! :)

Tomorrow will be an interesting day - I don't really have anything going on. I do think I need to work on some things for school on Tuesday, so that will probably consume a lot of my day. I would like to make it into the gym, though, and get in that high intensity workout that I need. I do also have to paint our tarp for winter guard, bringing a pizza party with it. :( Looks like I'll be eating BEFORE I go! And that's ok with me! Hope you all had a wonderful day! Talk to you tomorrow!

Ooops!

I forgot to mention in my earlier blog that I fixed the problem with comments. For some reason the security on comments was put on so that only fellow bloggers could comment. Sorry! Now it's fixed, and you can comment. :) Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting me know!

Day 2!

Day 2 - usually the day I struggle with willpower. Today, not so much! I woke up feeling like a new person. For once, I didn't want to go out to eat at McDonald's or sneak food. Today I changed my lifestyle, and it felt really good! It may be the outpouring of support from friends and family that I have received since I started this last night. Thank you to all of you that have supported me already - it has truely helped!

I took Julie's suggestion for breakfast this morning and had whole wheat bread (I don't say "toast" because basically I warm up the bread - with whole wheat I can't toast it or it hurts to eat with my braces... yikes!) with peanut butter on it, and a banana on the side. I ate breakfast around 10am, and I gotta tell you, I wasn't hungry until about 1:30 this afternoon! Usually breakfast doesn't last me that long! So thanks for the suggestion, Julie! :) Lunch was pretty light, I just had a salad with some mixins in it, like orange peppers and ham. It was SOOOOO good! I had a light snack (cut up apple - again with the braces - and a 1/2 sandwhich) because I had Zumba tonight (more to come on Zumba later). Dinner was really good - I had a lot of leftover calories. I was originally just going to have a turkey burger without a bun and broccoli, but I wound up having cheese and a bun on my burger because I had the calories! :) This whole working out thing while on a diet - wonderful! I haven't really found myself "hungry" without calories to be able to eat.

An update on the weight, because I estimated yesterday. But I was really close, actually. I weighed in like a week and a half ago on my Jillian Michaels Wii Game, so I couldn't really remember what my weight was. But I weighed in again today, and it said 269, which is pretty much where I thought I was. Again, yikes! I can't believe I let myself get to this point... they say it all the time on The Biggest Loser at the initial weigh-in, but really. Knowing how big you are is SO DIFFERENT when it's put into number form. Not the part of weight loss I enjoy. But the good news is - that is DEFINITELY the last time I will see that number. Scout's honor ;-)

I have had some friends from school talking about working out on the Wii. I do enjoy working out on the Wii, especially Wii fit, but I don't like to use it too often, because I don't feel the intensity with that workout that I get in the gym. Granted, tomorrow I am going to Wii Fit because I think my body is going into shock between counting calories, change of diet, AND working out. So tomorrow will be less intense, and that's what I like about the Wii Fit. I can still get a workout in, but it's not super intense (unless you want it to be). But ladies, if you want to have a Wii Fit night during student teaching, I'm game! It would be fun, and a definite break from grading papers and planning lessons and all that jazz. Just let me know! I would love to be a part of your journey, as well!

Now to Zumba. I really enjoyed it tonight! I have to admit, all day I was nervous about it because I didn't know what to expect, I wasn't going with anyone, so I was halfway considering not going. But then I thought of how well I'm doing so far with my lifestyle change, and I decided to at least give it a try, and man oh man am I glad I did! My instructor was awesome, she talked to me before the class started about what Zumba is all about, and about halfway through the class she told me "You're catching on really well!! Great job!" and I really felt the sincerity of it. Mostly because I do have a background in dance, so I knew some of the terms she was using better than other people in the class. ;-) It was nice to get into the music and not feel like a total idiot, which is what I love about the gym I go to. People there are wonderful! So don't be surprised if I randomly start speaking spanish or doing figure 8's with my hips. It's just so fun! hahahaha... just kidding just kidding, yeesh!

I am now at the point where I have nothing left to say except I can still have a snack tonight! Yay! I tell ya, I wish I would've had the willpower to do this a lot earlier, it would have been a lot easier on me and my body. Oh well, I dug my own grave! Now it's time to reverse that and make the changes I need to make. For instance - pop is out of the picture now. No more pop! I also am cutting way back on coffee (at least until student teaching starts... wink wink). No sugar, no cream in the coffee anymore. Small changes that add up, right? Well tomorrow brings nothing major. Like I said, I'm going to do some Wii Fit or Jillian Michaels tomorrow, and I am going out to lunch with my favorite cooperating teacher I ever had (so far). Panera. Suggestions? Feel free! I've already started looking at nutritional facts... not pretty. Julie? HELP! That's all for today. For those also making a change - stay strong! It's all worth it when the skinny jeans fit!

Day 1

Hi Everyone!
I am officially beginning a blog to track my weight loss. Why? Because I feel if I know people are reading this blog, either to support me or for inspiration, I will continue my journey when I want to give up. So right now I am thanking whoever has begun this journey with me, and I hope that you all with stick with me! :)

Today was day 1 of my journey. I weighed in at 264 (I think... more exact measurement will be posted tomorrow) pounds on my Jillian Michaels Wii game :( Not good at all. Not what I wanted to see to be honest. But I got myself here, so I'm going to get myself out!

I started off the day with a little sleep-in (I know, I know), but it was nice! I wasn't planning on starting today until about halfway through the day, so it didn't start off so well. I had waffles with syrup. Could've been worse, but still. Not my best. My lunch was small because I knew I was going to be working out with Julie (my personal trainer). The workout went really well! I've always referred to Julie as "Jillian", because I need her to be my Jillian Michaels. Today, she really set that in action! I warmed up on the elliptical (easy peasy, right? ha) for 10 minutes, then Julie joined me. She bumped up my resistance (up to 6 from 1), then we did sprint intervals every 15 seconds. I cooled down from 18-20 minutes, then the real pain started (not to mention my legs going numb, to which Julie responded "that's good, you won't feel anything now!"). We did a lot of exercises (full body) 2 sets of 15 repetitions for the remaining 45 minutes. It was tough, VERY tough. We did a lot of arms and legs (which Julie said there wasn't going to be a lot of legs. To that I now laugh!), but it was all full body. Julie pushed me really hard, and I can honestly say this was the first time ever working with her that I did not stop the exercises, I completed all of them! Granted, I got nauscious (yuck, that makes me want to work out again, cuz I LOVE bodily functions... eek), but I finished and it was GREAT! The drive home was a little rough (couldn't feel my arms), but now I'm feeling awesome. For dinner we had chinese. We had vegetable/chicken stir fry and an egg roll. Looking up calories for egg rolls made me never want to eat egg rolls ever again. 320 calories for a little egg roll! THAT'S CRAZY! Lesson learned. According to my "Lose It!" Application on my iTouch (great application, by the way!) I am allowed 1700 calories per day, I consumed like 1600, and burned 800, so I guess I'm on track? I guess I should probably check out the whole calories consumed vs calories burned. Note to self. :)

Summary: Day 1 was a success!! Had a great workout with Julie (AKA Jillian) and now I'm ready for tomorrow. I will be in pain, yes, but that's ok. It's a good pain. Tomorrow brings Zumba, a first for me. Hopefully I didn't bore you to death. ;-)