Weight: 197.7
Exercise: Soccer practice (lots of sprinting)
Today I would like to talk about how great I am at shopping! I got a coupon from Sports Authority for $5 off any purchase and I had been dying to use it. I should inform you that I go crazy in sports stores, I want EVERYTHING and I will come out spending waaaay too much money. I am trying to save money and I have been doing pretty well so far, granted I have not been coming out of my house very much! Dieting + saving money = hermit Crystal. Anywho...So I got this coupon and I needed to buy goalie gloves for the girls so I thought, I should use the coupon on the gloves so I can save some money. This isn't technically shopping because I am not going for me, I am going for the girls, they NEED them! See how good I am at convincing myself? ;-)
I told myself not to look, but once I got in the store I couldn't help it! My eyes lit up like a kid who just saw Santa Clause! I needed to look!!! So then I told myself, you can look Crystal, but you can't buy anything. Well, when I was "just looking" at the running shoes I saw a bargain I could not pass up! They were New Balances just like my old shoes I just had to retire and they were only $40!!! Sports Authority was practically giving them to me for goodness sake! I had to buy them! And then of course, while I'm at the register I had to buy a few more of the awesome Powerbar Energy Gel Blasts and some protein bars. I bought 2 of each so I would not have an excuse to return to the store for at least 2 weeks. See guys, I'm always thinking! Oh and I bought the goalie gloves, did I forget to mention that in all of my running accessories excitement? Haha!
So I'm at the register and my total is $60 when all of a sudden this awesome man gives me a coupon for $25 off a $75 purchase! How great is that!?!? So I go back to the women's department, get a sports bra that costs $16 and run back to pay for everything. I walked out of the store with running shoes, goalie gloves, a sports bra, and 4 energy snacks all for the low price of $55!!! Can you believe it?! Yeah, I'm that amazing!
Check out the goods!
Day 12 (Tuesday):
Weight: 197.4
Exercise: 4 mile run
Arms
Two important items on today's agenda:
1. The possum
2. Moment of silence for my old running shoes
You folks know that I am a crazy person who wakes up at 4 am to run right? Yeah that's me! I hate the heat and I will avoid it at all costs. This means I have officially turned into a grandma and I need to be in bed by 9 pm or I am bitter! End of story. So this morning I am running, trying to wake up when all of a sudden I see THIS UGLY CREATURE RUNNING RIGHT BESIDE ME!!!
Talk about a quick way to wake me up! He was on a brick fence and was literally at eye level with me. So of course I scream, sprint like a crazy person and spend the rest of my run imagining a herd of possums running after me trying to bite my ankles! This is the second time I have seen this ugly beast and let me tell you I am not a fan of him! Does anyone know if it's illegal to pepper spray a stalker possum? I will have to google it, because you know if I find out that it is totally legal to do it I will be spraying him with my dangerous pink pepper spray next time I see that creeper!
Onto more tragic news:
I had to retire my lime green/grey New Balance running shoes. It was with a heavy heart that I decided I needed to throw them away or keep them in the back of my closet where I can't see them and be reminded of how I can't use them anymore. The bottoms are completely worn out and the last time I tried to use them they gave me blisters. These shoes hold a special place in my heart; I ran two 5K's, one 10K, one 10K mud run and a half marathon in these shoes. I will miss these shoes dearly and for that I think we should all have a moment of silence for my amazing shoes......................................................................................................
Here they are ladies and gentlemen:
And here are my new shoes:
They are very similar but they will never compare to the originals.
Happy Tuesday! Stay clear of Creepy Possums!
Day 13 (Wednesday):
Weight: 197.4
Exercise: soccer practice
8 mile run
Every time I go for a run I spend my time thinking about things. Usually they are household chores or things I have to cross off my to-do list or what topic I will write about for my blog. Today I kept thinking about how far I have come in my weight loss journey and how I got here. So today I will spend some time talking about what DID NOT work for me...
The DID NOT Work For Crystal List:
1. Aloe Vera Diet: How many of you folks remember this fad? My mom and sister-in-law were obsessed with this diet when I was younger, and me being the fat kid that I was tried it and did not see any results. Our house ended up looking like the desert by the time my mom realized this diet didn't miraculously make you skinny.
2. Low Carb Diet: This diet did work for me for a while, I was able to lose about 20 lbs, but if you read my post called "Let's Find Out When Crystal Got Fat" I talk about how quickly I gained them back. Turns out, for me low carb was a short term solution that ended up being really unhealthy for me. I mean I ate cheese and fatty meat galore. Which in turn, (Warning: TMI to come) made me EXTREMELY constipated. No bueno!
3. The 3 Day Diet: Raise your hand if you remember this diet? Black coffee, vanilla ice cream, weenies, tuna you member?member?! This diet does work, every time I did it I lost 5-7 pounds BUT I was completely miserable and bitter. I also always put the weight back on. Also, just a short term fix!
4. Lemon, cayenne pepper, maple syrup cleanse: How many of you have tried this? Let me just say that this diet makes me so, so, so, so, so, SO bitter! Everything makes me upset, by day 4 I am super jittery and weak and I want to shoot myself in the head. Totally not worth it! And it only makes me feel skinny for 1 day. No need to say more.
5. Fruit and vegetable cleanse: This one was a little more bearable (compared to the lemon, cayenne pepper, maple syrup cleanse). I can survive this cleanse for a week, but again it's just a short term fix and I only do it if I need to jump start my metabolism. It's not a lifestyle change, it's too restrictive. By the end of it, I can not look at another fruit again let alone put one in my mouth! I love fruit waaay too much to make myself hate it!
6. Lean Cuisine/Smart Ones/Healthy Choice frozen foods: I'm not sure if this is actually a diet, but I know that when I first started losing weight I did it by not eating regular foods and only eating frozen, portioned diet food. It was a great way to start dieting because I had no ability to portion, nor did I know how much an accurate food serving should be. But I couldn't keep this diet up forever, the food has waaaay too much sodium, and I didn't know it at the time, but my body didn't function at its peak because of it. I was still retaining a lot of water and I wasn't feeding my body the nutrients that it needed.
SO WHAT DID WORK??? (My psychic powers are telling me you all are asking yourselves this at this very moment)
After my initial 50 lb loss (I was on a roll by the way), I plateaued. I couldn't lose anymore weight and I couldn't figure out why. I then started cooking. I looked online, pinterest, asked my friends and family for advise and different recipes. This really made the difference for me. I also stopped eating out as much. A wrap made at home versus a wrap you buy at Chic-Fil-A is a MAJA difference in calorie content and sodium content. I also spent time measuring and entering everything I ate into a calorie counting app (including my workouts). This made all the difference for me. I was able to shed 30 more pounds by doing this.
I am still doing this now. Currently, I don't enter what I eat into a calorie counting app but that's only because I pretty much know how many calories I am consuming daily and how many I am burning daily (I use an app for this). I stick to a food routine that makes things easier for me and when I do have to eat out I check the calorie content of what I am ordering to make sure I stay within my allotted calories for the day.
There you have it folks! It's not brain surgery! It comes down to the basics, count your calories and stick with all natural foods. Avoid processed foods as much as possible. Be creative with your recipes so that you don't get bored and remember to trust that the weight WILL come off!
-Happy Wednesday!
Day 14 (Thursday):
Weight: 195.0
Exercise: FAIL
(note: the parentals are leaving for Mexico and staying out there for 3 months so we had a little going away dinner and I wasn't able to run. I used Thursday as my rest day and made up the 4 miles on Friday morning)
Thank the Lord Baby Jesus!!! I finally reached 195! And cross your fingers I don't jinx it, but I think this is actually my true weight, as opposed to my I just ran 15 miles and I am super dehydrated and therefore skinny weight! I had been stuck at 197 for what seemed like forever! I was actually getting frustrated because I knew that I should be seeing a change on the scale because I have been following a strict routine and I had not seen the results I wanted. I was about to have a chat with Baby Jesus and his locks of golden hair and possibly discuss using 10 of my Jesus points for a change in the scale. Not to worry folks, I have tons of points, so I could spare 10, not that I wouldn't like to save them for a rainy day or a drunken day (toe-may-toe...tuh-mah-to...)
Anywho! So I wake up, get on the scale, see 195.0 and immediately jump around and do my happy dance! I am still 2 pounds off from my goal of 4 lbs a week, but hey I don't care! I finally saw the number drop! I get to work and I'm pumped, I tell my work wife all about it and she's pumped for me too! Then Nikki comes into the office and she asks if we are going to measure ourselves today. I say sure! Let's do this! Because I am feeling super skinny! And sure enough! Two weeks later and I am down 6.75 inches! Yay Crystal!!! [insert happy dance here]
Here are my stats:
8/8/12: 8/23/12
Weight: 201.4 Weight: 195.0
Chest: 44.5 Chest: 43.75
Waist: 37.5 Waist: 35.75
Lower Ab: 45 Lower Ab: 42.5
Hips: 45 Hips: 43.75
Right Arm: 13.75 Right Arm: 13.5
Right Leg: 26.25 Right Leg: 26
Total weight loss: 6.4 pounds
Total inches lost: 6.75 inches
Happy Thursday folks! Fight the feeling!!! Do NOT give into the cravings! Say NO to the chocolate muffins! *Random: I have been craving chocolate muffins ever since I got sick last week. Damn chocolate muffins!
-Crystal
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