Weight Loss Journey (so far!)

So, as mentioned in my last post I am unhappy with where my weight was/is.  I held myself to the promise to clear the living room this weekend while Thomas was away at a conference and I have space to start doing INSANITY tomorrow!

These pictures were taken at the beginning of the first Insanity where I had to stop after two weeks and right before I hit my heaviest (move out/in week...pretty comparable add 2-3 lbs).

I am NOT a morning person.

I have horrible posture...

What I did NOT mention in my last post is that, though not exercising, I was inspired by my sister-in-law (Mary's blog) to start tracking my calories with http://www.myfitnesspal.com.  This website allows you to nutrition information on almost any brand/type of food and allows you to add information for foods not listed.  It also has a recipe option where you can put in the ingredients for homemade food and tell it how many servings it is to give you a calorie count (I *love* this option).  It also gives you a range of calorie limits for your goals (gain 1 or 2 lbs a week, maintain weight, and lose 1 or 2 lbs a week).  It suggests to go for the 1 lb a week goal, so I opted for that.  It also takes into account any exercise you do.  I did not schedule any exercise into my routine for losing weight, so any I do is just a bonus of calories out!

I thought this would be hard, but so far it has not been. I have been over on calories a total of three times and two of them were by 10-20 calories, the third day was after I donated blood and was ravenous.  I found I can still eat all the foods I crave and not feel hungry.  The trick?  Portion control.  I try to limit myself to actual serving sizes, or less (Instead of two scoops of ice cream, 1/2 cup).  It satisfies the sweet tooth and keeps me in check (I also like cookies/cake/kit kats all of which have been included in my diet since starting).  You can eat out, but everything at restaurants is typically higher calorie, too large of portions, and more expensive than making it at home.  I also found a great way to cut calories is to trade turkey or chicken for beef.

Since I started September 22 I have officially lost 10 lbs and I was re-taking my starting measurements for Insanity and realized that from the pictures above to now I have gone down in *every* measurement...most notably I lost !four! inches around my waist.  That is crazy!  Especially since I have just been cutting calories and not exercising much (two random yoga classes and a little more walking around campus).  Calories in < calories out=weight loss.  It really can be that simple.  Just make sure that if you follow this method you are eating diverse foods and getting enough calories (no less than 1200 a day) so that your body is healthy, gets the vitamins and variety it needs, and you do not put your body into starvation mode (which can make losing weight harder).

What About You?  Are you trying to lose/gain/maintain weight?  What works for you and what does not?

Things Missed in the Last Months

For some reason, time has been jumping through my hands--I go to work and suddenly it is lunch time and I blink and the day is over!  It probably has to do with the start of school, work being busier, moving, and a variety of other things that cropped up over the course of time.  I missed quite a few things I was looking forward to blogging about.  And since there are many...I am just going to condense the important ones here, in an attempt to get everyone caught up so that there is no backlog.  Here is what you missed:

1.  I turned 26!

Dressed up for my birthday day.

And for my birthday night!

At work my coworkers brought me a card and a cake :D  Thomas and I went out for dinner at a local sushi/Malaysian fusion place.  That evening I went out with a few friends and stayed out WAY too late.

2.  I started doing INSANITY!

I am NOT a morning person.

 So yeah, these are my starting pictures...I might not look "fat", but I am unhappy with my current weight and BMI.  I loved getting up and doing the workouts, they are intense, but they really made me feel good and focused all day.  The first few days are killer (achy, tired, etc) but your body adapts quickly.  In week two I pulled something in my back and could not do the routines until I was healed.  Unfortunately, that week was move-out/move-in week and I have not gotten back to it since I do not have enough space cleared yet.  I plan to have the space cleared after next weekend and will be back at it with a vengeance!

3.  We got new floors installed and started moving out of our apartment and into our house!

We rented a UHaul van, everything else was booked, and took all of the pieces that were too large to be hauled in my Civic...which meant a lot of furniture.  We had a friend help, since I had hurt my back.  The following pictures are what our house looked like after moving only the big stuff and a few miscellaneous things.

Bedroom does not look *too* bad here...

The left half of the office...

...and the right half.

The...hallway pile of furniture in front of the office.

Kitchen...notice the amount of stuff just piled on the counter?

And the living room...

Since these were taken, these rooms have been bombarded with even more things and put in some order.  It definitely is not perfect yet, but it is much more livable :D  Pretty soon it will be put together and we will not have to do this for at least another 5 years.

4.  We "celebrated" our 1st anniversary!

During the move-in week, Thomas and I took a night to snuggle up (I cannot remember if this was after we moved our bed or if we were on the sleeping bag we used the first few nights), watch shows, and unwrap the frozen top layer of our wedding cake and cut a slice to eat.

It was a tad smooshed, but still quite pretty and tasty.

5.  School started back up.

Thomas was back to taking classes and all my grads/undergrads were back from the summer field work, internships, and general vacation...meaning I had to start supervising more than I have been.  Not to mention two of my projects started giving really awesome results :D  Yay!

6.  Thomas turned 25!

Thomas' sister planned, and I helped, a celebration of "25 years of Memories" from friends (old and new) and family.  Everyone was supposed to write a memory they had of Thomas to be packaged up for his birthday.  He was surprised and really liked it.  We also went out to dinner with some friends to celebrate.

I think this may cover all of the *big* things that happened...sorry I was so behind.  I will try not to do it again!

What About You?  What sorts of things make your life crazy lately?  What things do you tend to push to the side when you feel swamped/exhausted?