There were always be "ups" and "downs"/"Show Us Where You Live Fridays"

So today is Kelly's Korner "Show Us Where You Live Day" and it is "Workouts, Diets, Weight Loss Plans and Tricks" I HAD to go for this one lol, and have been looking forward to it!

For those of you who are knew to my blog I have lost 166lbs since last Dec. 11,2008. I started that day so it has been about 13months in all. I decided enough was enough and it was time to change! So....what did I do?? First I planned/prayed and thought about it a LOT! I then decided it was time to take care of me rather than worry about everything else in life, and that my health needs to be top priority, especially being 309lbs at the age of 17 years old and having college right around the corner. I did not have any serious illness yet, but I was having breathing issues, just going up stairs at school and also was pre-diabetic and having serious problems with my cycles, due to the weight.

I then on that Tuesday decided that I would go down to 1500 calories. I had been working with a trainer since August but never wanted to do the food part of changing my life, until she told me she was no longer going to help, until I was serious. She she and I talked about the calories and decided 1500 was a good place to start. I did and continued that for a while. I worked with my trainer at least 3 days a week and went in to the gym on my own once or a twice a week as well. I started out slow barely being able to make it to 5 mins on the elpitical but knew it would get better. I got down about 50lbs by March and decided to lower my calories to 1200 and stay there. While it was SOO hard in the beginning I knew this time there were not going to be any exceptions to the rule and that I was NOT going to cheat even just once, because this time it was all or nothing and to this day I have not gone over 1200 calories and DO NOT cheat, because one thing leads to another.

I continued to work with that trainer until she moved in April and then was on my own for a bit. I hit the 100lb mark by the time I graduated in May and felt amazing! By now people barely recognized me, it was amazing and I felt grea too! I continued during the summer, and decided I still needed guidance from a trainer and I got a new one named Ryan, who just happened to be a cutie and in the Air Force, so let just say he was Jillian and Bob from BL all in one lol! Kicked my butt and HARD! He made me like running and made me do things I never dreamed I could push my body to do! I worked with him up until Sept. when he got deployed and I now work on my own with not trainer. Once Ryan left I knew I needed that extra push to get the last 50lbs off so I picked up cycling or "spin". I have been taking it since July and LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I now have actually started subbing as an instructor it is amazing and the best workout aside from running that I get, I do it 4 times a week!

I am now within 13lbs of my goal and have been going through a lot of struggles these last pounds but I know my goal is So close! I have been now sharing my story with many people hoping to really help whoever but especially teens and kids, since that is where I struggled a lot! I was deff. an emotional eater so that has been hard to battle, but working out has become my thing to help get the stress and emotions away, I traded them in lol ;o).

I think my Biggest Tips would be, count calories and WRITE it ALL down, no matter what, especially in the beginning. Losing weight is not rocket science it is purely calories in vs. calories out and once you count them, even if they aren't the healthiest calories or the healthiest foods as long as your under calories you WILL lose. I do think you should eat healthy calories but just really count them!

Tip #2~ Drink lots of water and eat tons of Fiber!! They are the best and totally speed up weight loss for sure!

Tip #3~ Get in the gym and push, push, push, you cannot just do the eating, or just do the working out, it MUST be hand in hand, I learned that the hard many times lol!!

Tip #4~ Look at the deeper reasons as yo why you eat, not just because you like food but the emotional reasons and really find out where they are coming from. I go back to the saying "You must change the way you see before you change the way you look". You have to change your outlook and uses of food before the weight will come off.

Tip#5~ Make it a LIFElong journey, NOT a diet, it is not something temporary, but a way of life to be healthy and live long!! It's not something that ends in 2 months but the rest of your life, we as Americans want to fight that but we must be healthy and stay healthy, make a daily thing to strive for!!

And as far as workouts, running, stair master and SPIN CLASS are my favorites for sure!! Group workouts I totally advise and for me they are great in a class setting, because it drives me to do better, when others are going for the same goal! :).

This was me 2 yrs ago in April 2008 on a vacation where I had NO clue how bad I had gotten!

This is me now, taken last night, at 143lbs SO much happier and healthier than ever! Like I say...it CAN be done! :o)

Well there isn't a ton to report for me today. Today was my weigh-in day and I would be lying to say I was not super nervous about it. For one, I knew there was a chance of weight gain with all the low-potassium stuff and dehydration from last wkend, I knew with all the fluids I was pumped with that my weight would probably go up. Also it is that "wonderful"...NOT lol, week of the month were my weight ALWAYS goes up, so I knew I had two strikes against me, not matter how I ate or worked out. I tried to mentally prepare myself, because being so close to my goal it is hard not to lose or to gain. Well I got up after getting no sleep last night, due to taking some Excedrin for a migraine WAY too late in the day, and I got on the scale and 143lbs pops up...2lbs up from last week. Of course I get the first initial reaction of, "Oh I ate too much, or didn't work out enough", but then I stopped myself....because HELLO I ate 1200 calories and NO more a day and I worked out everyday other than when I was sick, so I covered that base too...so STOP blaming you! I then went back to the real reasons of this week and was ok lol. I mean when I looked up this information last month girls can put up to like 6lbs of fluid during that one week a month, and not to mention on top of it my body had a meltdown last Friday lol, so 2lbs is not too bad at all, if anything it's probably healthy and my body is just regulating back to where it should be. I know that I did all I could to make the right choices and to lose weight so at this point it's in natures hands lol.

I have also had to accept I am still not feeling 100% after this past Friday. I won't lie and say I thought that I would just bounce back afterwords and feel fine and just "pretend" it didn't happen and ignore some of the symptoms I am still having. Well that planned failed and I decided that I had to accept the fact my body is going rough time and it's taking a lot to get back to normal. I think that is how I got in the spot I did last Friday was by NOT listening to my body and pushing it too hard. I am still experiencing a lot of light headedness and weakness and still not feeling 100%, so my doctor has ordered some more tests, some concerning my heart and others my blood sugar in case I am going to low. They also found my anemia level is down and I am "technically" anemic so they are looking into that as well. We hopefully will find answers and soon because it is getting hard to make it through day to day things and feel weak and tired all the time.

I think my lesson I learned this week, that while I have made it through a LOT of the hardship of changing myself and my life and that a lot of problems and issues are solved, that new ones will still continue to arise and that I need to be prepared to not be able to control them all. Being in control of my health now is amazing and something I love, but it cannot be something I take for granted and that I need to realize there are always going to be "ups" and "downs" and I need to roll with them and also persevere through them and continue on this road to total health. I am so thankful for my progress so far and cannot wait to continue to make it to goal and to also live a long healthy life maintaining all the work I have done :o). I hope you all had a great week and have a good weekend, I don't about all of you but I get a 3 day wkend because of MLK day and I am very stoked and it is VERY much needed lol :o). I had a great week of classes, and also working at my new job but it was deff. tiring so some nice realization will be nice. Oh! And today I believe I will final get my Vera Bradley I have wanted, but now I have a problem.....the SPRING colors are out and I might have to go with one of those lol! Here is my favorite one so far...what do you think???

~Kassandra