I bought the shoes... :D And they are so cute! I wore them that same night to the ballet and the ballet was good. It was the Dracula ballet and I went with this guy I've started dating, who so far seems pretty amazing. Anyways, back to the shoes....they are black with really cute toe detail. I'll post a picture of them soon. :)

Tomorrow I will do my measurements from the past 4 weeks I've been working out. I have gotten up the last 4 weeks, 5 days a week at 5 am to work out. My cardio hasn't been very "fat burning" since I've only been taking my dog for a walk on the cardio days. These next 4 weeks I am going to start doing my cardio at the gym for more of a "fat burning" workout. 54 more days till I am in Oz!!

Shoes

Who doesn't love shoes?? I love shoes. In fact, when I'm really depressed I can go try on shoes and that will cheer me up. Today was not the case. I decided I needed new shoes because when I added panty hose (thigh highs to be exact) to my outfit all the shoes I have did not fit! So, I got all excited and buying shoes and didn't even look at my bank account to see if I could afford them. I started thinking I couldn't afford them so I was just going to do without. I came home and I looked at my accounts and sure enough I can afford the shoes! The question is, do I now go buy them, or do I just wait since I found a pair of heels that I forgot I had that has a strap across the ankle so they would stay on my feet. Decisions, decisions.....

I have not been posting here, obviously. I have been really busy and basically been slacking off in all areas of my 16 week challenge, except the gym that is. I think I have actually gained weight since then...only a pound or two though. I also thought who really wants to read about someone whinging about losing weight all the time...lol. I'll try to get better now that life has slowed down.

School has been keeping me super busy!! But I turned in my research paper yesterday and I am going to try to make a real effort to keep up this second part of the semester. So far, I'm at least 2 chapters and several pages of writing behind..lol. Tonight in class we had a group discussion in lieu of a test and there is one student in particular that I CANNOT stand!!! This student feels the need to dominate every conversation and talks in a loud, monotone, nasal voice! Plus this student talks over everyone else and just drives me crazy in general. The bad thing is that we are in the same major and so I'm certain I will continue to have classes with this student until one of us graduates. This is a good motivator to take extra classes!!

I just realized that after I get up at 5 am to go to the gym, yes folks, that is the real time I get up to go to the gym, I can come back home and go back to bed. I don't have to be at work till noon! Yay!! That put a big smile on my face!!

I have been busy lately, so I haven't been able to post as much as I would like. It's easy to get behind at school, so I've been playing catch up. My tickets to Australia are purchased and all I'm doing now is waiting for the date to get here :) My diet has not been great. But you get that on the big jobs. I had some issues I needed to work out, and I have worked those out now thank goodness. I was doing so well at the beginning of the week, but then I ate out a few times and so today I'm eating out again, but I am planning on drinking lots of water and having a good dinner and a 100% day tomorrow.

I started to make peanut butter cookies with peanut butter chips and chocolate chips in them but then I thought to myself, I don't NEED these cookies, I WANT these cookies. I decided I had to make sure the majority of the foods I'm eating come from the NEED category and not the WANT category. I'll work on it after lunch :D

My rant

People, if you have a dog, potty train it properly! Which involves taking the puppy OUTSIDE to use the bathroom, not using potty pads! Using potty pads teaches the dog to piss and shit in the house! Yes, the dog is only allowed to use the potty pad, but it is still in the house and the dog never learns to shit and piss outside! Getting a puppy requires hard work. Not all puppies pick up potty training easily, but dammit, it still needs to learn to shit outside! What happens if the dog is boarding somewhere? I'll tell you what will happen. The dog will get to go outside several times a day and will NOT use the bathroom outside! The dog will come back in and promptly shit and piss INSIDE!

Day 9

One of my neighbors told me the other day that he noticed I had lost a lot of weight and if I didn't mind sharing how much had I lost. I was proud to tell him I had lost about 30 pounds since February. I also told him about how I am trying to lose another 18 pounds before December and he told me that my current weight to height ratio looked really well on me. I was very flattered. It was a very nice thing for him to have said to me, but I also know that if I'm not careful I will get back into the comfortable mode and I will just stay the weight I am. I want to keep losing, so I will gladly accept his compliment and keep trying to lose the rest of my weight.

The above paragrah is why I'm having a hard time this week. I DO want to keep losing weight, so I just have to buckle down, wait out the cravings and keep telling myself, "chocolate icecream will still be around in December, so will Snickers bars." :D This realization is coming after lunch today, of course. I had a "no-cheats" dinner and breakfast but lunch as a disaster. I had my SS lunch then I had some peanuts and 2 granola bars. Thank goodness I was at school when I had my dinner because I was craving something sweet after I ate. I hoping since I did not have anything sweet after dinner and I lived that tomorrow will be a better food day. I think I will have a grilled cheese sandwich tomorrow. That sounds really good.
Goodnight all!
BTW, I am going to figure out how to post some pictures and put up one that I found of me that was taken 5 or 6 years ago. YIKES!!! That was when I was over 200 pounds! I am also just going to post some other ones as a progression of where I was to where I am now.

Day 9

Ahh, Wednesday. The day I get to sleep in. Only I didn't get to really sleep in because of my damned annoying dog! Who does he think he is, waking me up at 7 so he can go outside? Then getting back in bed and doing that annoying licking! Crazy dog.

Breakfast was good, it was oatmeal and milk and some apricots. Lunch was cream cheese with some garlic and some minced onion flakes and some bbq spices. Yummy! I also had some crackers and an apple. Then I ruined that great 100% meal by having a granola bar and some peanuts. For dinner I had a single serve meatloaf, some green beans and asparagus and then I had a scoop of icecream. I am vowing to be 100% Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Monday! Sunday will be off slightly, I already know.

I had class this morning and I was sad I had to go to school instead of work for once. I work for a vet and today we had to put down this dog who meant something special to all of us. He's been coming to the clinic for 11 years and the last 2 years he has spent a lot of time boarding with us also. This dog was noisy and such a food hound and he was the best dog ever. We all loved him. Putting him down was one of the saddest things we've had to do all year. I was sorry I wasn't able to be there for his owner and for him. I will miss seeing that little guy and even though the boarding facilities will be quieter now, it won't be the same without his barking himself hoarse.
I miss you, buddy.

Day 8

Well, I got up and walked this morning. Yay me! I sure didn't want to, and in fact, neither did Calvin, but we did it. I always weigh in on Tuesdays and then sometimes I decide to have a cheat day, which is pretty much allowing myself to eat whatever, and other times I decide that the treat to myself is going to be staying focused and on my plan. Normally it coincides with my moods, funny that, huh? Well, I started out in a great mood today, then by 2 it had gotten bad. I booked my ticket to Australia only to be told that my credit card wouldn't accept the charges. Well, I call the credit card company and even though I have almost double the price of the fare on my card, because the price of the fare is over my credit limit they will not allow the purchase to go through. WTF?? I obviously have the money there, why can't I spend it??? Anyways, I was in a downer mood, so I had icecream and a bean burrito for lunch. For dinner I had a hot dog and some chips and some more icecream. I know tomorrow I will make myself be on the straight and narrow, but today I allowed myself some wallowing.

On the upside, despite my binge over the weekend I still managed to lose .6 of a pound! :) I worked out that I need to lose 1.25 pounds a week (including last week) to make my goal. I will have to stop this pity party and get focused again, meaning tomorrow, and get my act together so I can lose enough to make up for my small loss this week.

I'm off to do homework. Goodnigh all!

Day 7-coming in a day late

Well, week one is over. It was a pretty good week, despite how I ended it :) Don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful weekend and I had a blast, but food wise it was a terrible way to end.

Monday was a good food day. For breakfast I had a yogurt smoothie with peaches and kiwi. For lunch I had a meatloaf with vegetables and for dinner I ate at my neighbors and I had some pork ribs (I kinda eyeballed my portion to what it should be) and I had some bell peppers with it. It was really good! I didn't drink as much water as I should have, but it was good.

I have school on Monday and Wednesday mornings. I almost forgot to go to school because I was so busy at work! LOL. My friend reminded me that I needed to go. Well, I will post my weight and my day tonight. Have a good day everyone!

Days 5 and 6

I have this bad habit of disappearing from the people who I am loosely accountable to when life kinda goes haywire and I make bad food choices. Well, I am making myself sit down and write about the last 2 days. They aren't pretty.

Day 5
Well, on Saturday I got up and I had cereal and milk. I had breakfast later than normal so I could get a chai tea latte from Starbucks and not go over my hour. Well, after I had my cereal and my chai tea I proceeded to have some peanuts and that dreaded granola bar that I had been successfully avoiding all week! I realize I am just stuffing myself, so I get a diet coke, I fill up my water bottle and I proceed to drink both of them. I focus mainly on drinking the water, but I used the diet coke to kinda fill that "I need something different" need.

Lunch would have been at 2 on Saturday, but I came home and took a nap. Ahhh, it was so nice. I only slept for an extra 2 hours, but it was nice. I got up at 3:30 and had a grilled cheese sandwich and some chips. I had no vegetables or fruit. I also ended up melting some chocolate chips and stirring in a spoonful of peanut butter. If only that had been the end of the day .

I went to my neighbor's for dinner and I had a hamburger and some french fries. I ended up drinking until 11:30 or so. I was trashed. I just felt like having some drinks, and boy did I ever have some drinks.

Day 6
I got up this morning with the world still spinning quite a bit. I drank an entire large McDonald's cup of water and went back to bed for another 2 hours. The 2 extra hours only slightly stopped the spinning when I finally got up at 8. I had breakfast which was a peach smoothie and some more water. I ended up going to IHOP a few hours later and had an omlette and pancakes and a coffee. For dinner I had a hot dog and some icecream.

I really dropped the ball for the weekend, so we'll see what Tuesday's weigh in brings. I know I can do 100% tomorrow with extra water, so here's to 100% day tomorrow!

Goodnight all.

Day 4

Breakfast was good. I had a yogurt and peach smoothie. I've gotten to where I would rather have my fruit and yogurt in the form of a smoothie than just a bowl of yogurt. It's a nice change.
Lunch was good also. I had salmon and roasted bell peppers and some asparagus. I had all my water for the day aslo. For dinner I went out on a date. We ended up having some like pizza rolls for a starter, then I had half of a baked manicotti (I have no idea if that is spelt right). I ended up having 2 drinks the whole evening, oh and I had a lobster and crab bisque...yummo!! :) Overall, I think my day ended up ok.

I went to the Goodwill today to get some pants since I was down to 1 pair and the cooler weather is coming in! I decided against buying new pants until I get to my goal weight, then I will buy them new. Anyways, I am now wearing a 12! Yahoo!!! In February I was wearing a 16. I am so excited and proud of myself!

Well, I am off to bed to contemplate some things. Goodnight all.

School and other stuff

I have finished my first week of school and I don't think it's going to be as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm going to enjoy the 2 classes I actually go to and my online class is going to be interesting also. My teacher for my Thursday night class is going to be a great teacher. She's funny, kinda crazy, outgoing. It'll be great.

I feel like banging my head into the wall trying to figure out the most cost and time effective way to fly to Australia. I can't buy my ticket until Monday or Tuesday, but I would like to have something figured out by then. It can get expensive if you aren't careful. I keep changing my dates by a day or two and I keep looking at getting one round trip ticket from Oklahoma City to Sydney then I look at 2 tickets. Getting a domestic ticket from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles then a seperate ticket from Los Angeles to Sydney. I'm not checking any luggage, so not waiting for luggage will make the whole process easier no matter which route I take. I guess I'll stop making myself crazy today by not looking at tickets anymore since I can't do anything about it anyways until after the weekend.

Day 3

Well, today was a good day. I didn't go for a walk again because it was pouring down rain when I went to bed. I know that doesn't mean it will be raining when I get ready to go, but there is only 40 minutes from the time I get up for a walk and the time I get up for work with no walk. That is not enough time to fall back asleep and make it worthwhile. So, I decided not to go.

Breakfast was good. I had cereal and milk. For lunch I had the other half of the burrito from last night and a salad and an apple. For dinner I had some cheese and chopped veggies. Oh yeah, at lunch I did end up having 2 small handful of peanuts. I did also pull out a granola bar, but I put it back up.

I was so proud of myself for how I handled dinner tonight. Tonight was my only night class. My class is from 5:30 to 8, so my dinner time falls in the middle of that class. Well, tonight I cut up some cheese and some tomato and some red bell pepper and took that to class with me. The last 2 semesters I was NOT that organized, so I was really proud of myself! :)

I am going to get up and walk in the morning; I already changed my alarm, so here's to another good day tomorrow!

Day 2

I normally get up at 5:20 am Monday through Friday and take a walk, even on my mornings off. Well, I decided I wasn't going to do that on Wednesday's anymore. Wednesday is now my regular morning off because of school. It was so nice to sleep in today! I didn't get up, go for a walk, then go back to bed like I used to do. I just slept until I woke up. Pure bliss.

For breakfast today I had a cherry vanilla smoothie which was even a bit tart for me, and I like the tartness of plain yogurt. It was good though. For lunch I had some butter chicken and an apple. I went out to eat for dinner at On The Border. I know I shouldn't have had my fruit if I was eating out, but hey, I love my fruit and I didn't want to not have it. I didn't have any of my crackers though. For dinner I ended up having half a burrito. I also had some chips and some guacomole. I probably finished drinking the rest of my water at dinner also.

I ate lunch at work this afternoon and I really wanted to have some of the peanuts and granola bars we have up there, but I didn't! I wouldn't have stopped at just one granola bar and I wouldn't have stopped at just one handful of peanuts. So, I decided that just not even going there at all was the best idea. Goodnight all!

Day 1

As I'm writing this I haven't thought of a title for this post yet. I almost put day one, but do you know how many days there are in 16 weeks?? More than I want to think about right now! It just seems like such a long time till December 19. I should just start with day one and stop complaining.

Let me tell y'all a little about what I'm doing. I always was a heavy person and when I lived in Australia my weight eventually ballooned to 200 pounds! I'm only 5'1" so that was massive on me. I tried different programs and doing it on my own, but nothing ever worked. I had heard about this program called SureSlim before and I didn't really think it would work, so I never bothered to check it out. Eventually though I was tired of being fat and decided I had nothing to lose in seeing what it was about. It was the best decision I made. The SureSlim program gave me a program that was customized to my individual needs. I managed to lose almost 50 pounds in the first 5 months. Life happened and eating healthy was the furtherest thing from my mind and I gained about 30 of the pounds back over the space of a year. Back in February I decided to get back on it, after having managed to lose 10 of the 30 on my own. So far I have lost another 27.4 pounds. I am anxious to get finished losing the last 20 pounds! So, here's how my day went.

Today was a really good day. I got up at 5:20 (yes, in the morning) and dragged my dog out of bed to go for a walk. We walked 1.5 miles. For breakfast I just had cereal and milk and some cherries. The cherries were especially good because I hadn't had any in such a long time. I'd forgotten how good they were. For lunch I had some meatloaf and a salad and for dinner I had some butter chicken with cauliflower and onions and an apple. I drank at least 64 ounces of water. I have a large McDonald's cup and so I just fill that up all day with water. I might have drunk more than that, but as long as I get in 4 a day, I'm good. I'm a coffee addict so I have to have the extra water to make up for all the coffee I drink. Well, I am off to finish up my night and get into bed. I'm exhausted from the last few days of staying up late and getting up early. Goodnight everyone.

Starting out

Today I start my personal 16 week weight loss challenge. In 16 weeks I will be flying to Australia for a 3 week vacation. At the end of those 16 weeks my goal is to have lost 20.4 pounds/9.2 kilos.
It has been over 2 years since I have seen all my friends who live there and I want them to see me at my best. Not only that, I want to BE at my best. These upcoming weeks will be hectic with school, research papers, and work but they will be great, I know it! Each day I will come here to post how my day went. Nothing like being accountable to everyone who reads this. :D

Start weight: 138.6 pounds/62.8 kilos
Goal weight: 118 pounds/53.5 kilos

Starting measurements:
Chest: 36.5 inches
Waist: 32 inches
Hips:41 inches

Get ready, get set, and GO!