My poor, poor blog....

My poor blog. I haven't forgotten about you. You haven't slipped my mind; in fact you are constantly on my mind and I can't forget you. I've been embarrassed to write which defeats the purpose of having a "self help" blog. This summer has been a whirlwind of weddings, birthdays, work, showers, etc. I finally feel somewhat of a normal routine again.

I've been embarrassed to write because I had put a few pounds back on....with all the celebrating and lack of gym time I lost focus for a couple of weeks. Of course, when you are overweight you never forget that; you are reminded constantly day in and day out when your pants are tight or noticing your reflection walking by a store front. I have regained control and have gotten back to the gym and have been walking 4-5 miles in the evenings after work. My evening walks have been my biggest release; I rethink the day and my to do list and the more frustrated or deeper in thought I get, the harder and faster I walk....eventually run.

On another note, I had a huge realization a week ago yesterday (Sunday). I mentioned briefly in my first post about my Father currently undergoing dialysis. About 2 1/2 years ago, out of nowhere, his kidneys began to slow their functioning because of diabetes. My close friends know that this has been a long hard and draining process on my family physically, emotionally, and finacially. My dad has been in and out of the hospital because of his body rejecting the initial dialysis treatments. Finally, after a long year and a half to two years he began receiving "normal" dialysis treatments; for anyone familiar with dialysis, you know that this is a part time job. He goes three times a week for hours but has to rest for hours before and after. This, of course, is a small price to pay to see my dad leading somewhat of a normal life again. All this leads us to today, where in a month, my dad will begin attending orientation for a kidney transplant. Of course, the ideal and easiest situtation would be for one of our family members or friends to be a match. When all of this started, my brothers (2 younger ones) and I immediately volunteered to be the first ones to be tested. My dad is 53 years young with a lot of life left to live, and I would love to be the one that gave him what he needs to continue living that life. This all had me thinking a lot now that the "time" is actually forseeable and in the near future. What if after all of these months I am the one that can help him? What if I am the match?

I don't want to give my dad an unhealthy kidney (sidenote: I don't know what exactly makes a kidney healthy or unhealthy. I don't want to know. Let me have these thoughts, because it motivates me.) ; I want to give him a smoke-free, alcohol-free, lard-free kidney! One that can make this next stage in his life even better. Not to mention when someone does donate a kidney there is a lot of strain on your body. My dad will be loving life feeling good once he starts rocking his new kidney, where the donor feels a lot more strain at first because you are losing a piece of you. I want to be prepared for this. With all this being said, it has pushed me even further to aim for that healthy lifestyle I had already been striving for.

So happy Monday followers! I hope you have a wonderful, fulfilling, happy week :)

The countdown begins.....TODAY!

Famous birthdays for July 29th: Peter Jennings, Mussolini, Elizabeth Dole, Afroman, Martina McBride, and of course, me :) Oh, and a special birthday shoutout to my Uncle Ray (he should be famous....he's straight up the most tender hearted country man you'll ever meet).

What this really means is that I am a year from being 30. It is really hard to believe; in my head I still feel like the same person I was when I was 25...smarter of course, but still the same person. I definitely think the stigma attached to being 30 is completely different now than 20, 15, even 10 years ago. Or maybe I'm just saying that because my friends are now 30 and I'm only a year away. To me (don't laugh) 30 is now almost a milestone of "adulthood", or maybe I'm way behind my mature friends :)

I've done really well this week with eating and exercising. I did another BodyPump class at 6am this morning; afterwards I was doing intervals on the treadmill (shoutout to Kristen Hanson Jones for the workout) and my legs were spent. Normally a tiredness that I could push through, but not today, my legs were donezo. I got through 15 minutes and was done. I guess maybe I try doing cardio first so I'm not so tired? (any recommendations on this would be greatly appreciated)

I think what I've realized in the last month is that where the weight loss is my number one goal and the whole reason I started this lifestyle change (again), I can't help but realize how good I feel. The scale may be moving slowly but I feel so much more energized and proud of myself. It makes it so easy to see how those with a healthy lifestyle seem to be such happier people....because they are!

That's all for now...I'm gonna go enjoy my birthday :)

368 days

368 days. A little over 52 weeks. 8832 hours. This is the amount of time left before I turn 30. Obviously my goal is lose all this weight before 30. I don't know if realizing that 30 really isn't that far away lit a fire under my butt or what but I was jamming at the gym this morning!

After evaluating different exercise schedules I've come to the conclusion that morning workouts are my only consistent option. So, my challenge for all morning workouts continues :) I'm going to hit the cardio part pretty hard and plan on getting back into spin classes in about 2 weeks. I love spin! Talk about a workout! I've got cycle shoes and a cushiony butt seat from a couple years ago....time to dust off the spider webs and put them back in action!

I'm still down 4 pounds from my starting weight. This past week, I stayed the same which I was actually really excited about! After Heather & Lane's wedding weekend I was nervous to hop on the scale after all the "celebrating". Staying aware of what I was eating paid off! Now I'm ready to make this happen and start seeing some real results. I love shopping and trying on fat girl clothes just isn't cutting it; all it does is depress me. Maybe that's what gave me the little extra "umph" this morning. Who knows? Who cares? I just want to keep it going!

Watch out...I'm going to be back in my designer jeans strutting my hot bod around this fall...just wait and see :)

What a freaking week!

Ladies, ladies, ladies! I haven't forgotten about my followers or my weight loss (trust me!); it has just been an insanely crazy week! With that being said, this is a pretty uneventful post. I completely ignored the gym this week because of my extended work hours, in all honesty, I'm sure it would have made me feel better mentally and given me time to "regroup" each day. I was training others from out of town this week, which involves food, food, and more food, BUT I was very aware of what I was eating and made appropriate adjustments. With that being said, I lost another 2 pounds. Very proud of myself. This definitely wasn't a week that I had time to prepare or plan ahead regarding meals, I just had to wing it and depend on myself to make good choices. And I did! Along with that, there have been very upexpected developments that have had my mind wandering all night leaving sleep on the backburner. So needless to say, it has been a very irregular and "off" week.

One of my besties is getting married this weekend, so it is going to be difficult to remain in control. My BFF, Suz, gave me some pointers regarding buffets (sit facing away from the buffet, the more you see it, the more likely you'll keep going back). So I'm going to keep that in mind, bring along some healthy snacks so there is no binging and enjoy myself!

I promise to keep my blog updated and make it more fun and exciting in the upcoming weeks :) Just let me get through this weekend first!

YAY for Heather and Lane getting married and I am sooooo excited! A year from now, I'll be looking back at pictures of myself as a bridesmaid and feel sooooo proud of myself for losing these 30 pounds.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Weigh in day....

It's Friday, and as promised I'm here to report on my first weigh in.

But first, I would like to tell you about the first 3 full days of my adventure. I feel good. Really good. I feel lighter. And I feel energized. I know this sounds silly, I mean, geez, it's only been 3 days. But, comparing what I've been eating in these 3 short beginning days to what I normally put in my body, no wonder I feel lighter! I have writing down everything I eat making me think about each food item before I take the first bite, leaving me without the sluggish, food coma feeling. This weekend will be a challenge, however. During the week there is so much routine, as in eating at a particular time, packing my lunch and snacks, schedule bed time, etc. The weekend is a different story. I will be faced with the challenge of endless amounts of food and booze (free food and booze, whatever you want food and booze) so this makes things much much harder. This is where I need to learn how to say "no".

Saying no is hard. I can't believe the pressure that can be put on someone by simply saying "No, thank you" in regards to a food item. It's almost as if something is wrong with you because you are saying no to ice cream, pasta, or the fried wings. Trust me, I want to say yes. I want to say yes really bad, but instead of pressuring me to say yes, applaud me for saying no. I have to learn to overcome this. Maybe I'll just be honest, come up with a catchy response like "Look, Buddy, I'm fat and I'm trying not to be fat. That doughnut is going to keep making me more and more fat. And you too. Have you seen my jeans? They're too tight. Have you seen my jiggly arms? Exactly." So.....no, I would not like a doughnut.

I lost 2 pounds in three days. That's a good start. A healthy start. I'm pumped and excited and ready to take on the weekend.....bring it!

Have a wonderful weekend followers!

Allison

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

Here we go....

(warning: this post may be a little long...I have a lot to say)

First off, THANK YOU for all of you kind and supporting words. I couldn't believe the outpouring of support from my friends and family! So many of you offered such motivating and supportive words that I was soooo excited to get started today! Second, I was touched by the amount of ladies that reached out who feel like they are fighting the same battle I am. With that being said, I want this to be OUR blog. I welcome anyone that wants to join me on this journey (even if you only want to shed 5lbs!) and I offer my support as well.

I'm very much a planner so writing down and vocalizing my plans make them more realistic to me (big fan of lists, too!). I wanted to share my recent purchase from amazon.com ($10 total, including shipping) and it makes me feel extremely organized. This little sucker (Diet & Fitness journal) fits in my pocketbook and is wonderful! It is a day by day planner with areas for you to write all your nutritional information and fitness...this way at the end of the day you know exactly what your net calories are (calories consumed-calories used). It also breaks everything down into daily calorie goals also logging your mood, energy level, and a spot to journal. This allows you to go back and reflect on the entire journey! In addition, there is a weekly progress page to journal weight loss, measurements, BMI, blood sugar, just about anything! Big fan of this! My BFF, Suzy (the fitness expert), is the biggest promoter of food journaling and swears by it!

Regarding exercise, I love group classes at the gym! My favorite is BodyPump (which covers my weight training needs) and I'm looking forward to getting back into spin. On top of that, I've recruited some of my employees to join me in my first 5K....we'll be doing the Rock n' Run on August 14th at the NC Music Factory. I started training last week to prepare and I have a lot of work to do. I knew running outside was more difficult than a treadmill but geeeezzzz! My goal is weight training 2-3 days per week and cardio 5 days a week. Which leads me to my biggest obstacle.....

Becoming a morning person. This is by far my hardest battle. I work 9am to 7pm Monday- Thursday and 9am-5ish on Friday. The logical thing to do is morning workouts, especially considering the only time I can catch the classes I like are 6AM (night classes generally start at 5:30/6PM, which is out of the question b/c of work). Anyone that knows me is very aware of my infactuation with sleeping....so morning workouts are going to be the hardest change. I do believe that once I get a few weeks under my belt, I'll love the new routine. Luckily, my buddy Amanda, is reincorporating morning workouts so she is a great support system and someone for me to "report" to. Acey is wanting to join us once her butt/hip is better, which will be awesome!

I'll be weighing myself every Friday morning (at the same time) to be consistant. I will be starting with this Friday, even though it hasn't been a full week, just so I can begin the schedule.

Until Friday.....

Allison

"Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip. "
Arnold H. Glasgow

My Breaking Point

How do I begin my first post? I guess I'll just get right to it. I'm overweight. My Father is on dialysis beginning the process of a kidney transplant (all from diabetes), my Grandfather died from a heart attack in his early 50's (diabetes), my aunt, uncle, grandmother, father all have diabetes and I'm next in line. My best friend is a health coach. I enjoy physical activity, I enjoy feeling good about myself, and I enjoy accomplishing goals and being successful. Why am I overweight?

I also enjoy food, wine, champagne, naps, television, sleeping in, being lazy, and will be the first to light a cigarette when enjoying an alcoholic beverage. I have an unbelievable sweet tooth...for anything sweet. I work in a high end restaurant and am surrounded by food all day every day. My networking, sales, marketing, appointments all involve food. To me, it is an experience. I make my living on this experience and I love it. But I'm overweight and very unhappy with it and want to change. Need to change. These pictures have been taken in the last 2 months and I can't believe I've gotten to this point; if anything it's motivation to fight my battle.

I was always very small and fit earlier in life but I've been battling my weight since my later college years, fluctuating up and down. I've never completely had mental control over this battle. But I need that control, not only for my self confidence but for my life. I've watched my family struggle with health issues my entire life and can't face continuing this with my own (future) family. I know I can change the cycle.

So, this my friends, is me vocalizing my goal and making it "real" to lose at least 30 pounds before I turn 30 on July 29, 2011. In all actuality, I would like to lose as much weight as it takes for me to be healthy and happy, but 30 pounds is the first step (and it makes the title more catchy!). I will now be accountable to everyone that reads this which scares me but motivates me. I will update you weekly on my progress (sometimes more!), my struggles, successes, and my feelings. I have the tools (gym membership, fitness journal, personal health coach) but now I have to put them in motion with no excuses.

I'm scared. I'm excited. Most of all, I'm optimistic. I'm ready to strut my hot bod in sundresses, designer jeans, and bathing suits. I can't do this alone....I need your support!