60 Day Results!

Hello world!

I can’t believe it’s already been another 30 days but here we are! At the time of my last posting (30 day results) I had only lost about 4lbs. At this point I’m struggling between 8 and 9 lbs loss. My body is the QUEEN of procrastination lol BUT..that being said, I’m fairly happy with today’s results photos. I can DEFINITELY see physical changes happening in  my body even tho the scale is moving like molasses. I think that is why it’s important NOT to put all your eggs in the weight loss basket and it’s extremely important to take photos of yourself along the way! During the past few years there are very few photos of my entire body because of the fact I wasn’t happy with how I looked. Now that I’m working to improve I regret not having something to compare it to.

Can I just go off on a tangent for a moment? Let’s talk about the weight loss industry. I REALLY am annoyed by it. They prey on people’s insecurities with their self body image. Take this pill and you’ll lose this! Drink this shake and you’ll lose weight! Lose fat with these simple steps! Low Fat! Fat Free!  It’s all b.s. and bandaids. There is no simple way to get healthy and stay healthy. It takes hard work, determination and healthy eating choices. That is the ‘simple’ truth of it. But we all are looking for that solution…that one answer that will help us get where we want to be without too much of a struggle. The weight loss industry just swoops on in and takes total advantage of that desire. It’s just so insulting to me from the perspective of one of those trying to improve their self image. But… I digress…

So during this last 30 days some things have changed about my eating/exercise regimen. My fiancee, Brian, has become more motivated to get himself in shape so he has really helped to keep me motivated when I don’t feel like doing it. We go to the gym around 3-4x per week, mainly for cardio but we will sometimes do a couple of machines. Our cardio consists of walking on the treadmill anywhere from 30-45 minutes with an incline and around 3.5 speed. Eventually I may try to add some jogging in there but as of right now the incline walk and swift pace have been enough to keep my heart rate up and the sweat a-pouring 🙂 I still want to be a DDPYoga success story.. we include the yoga 3x/week.  Currently we are on the fatburner workout. We don’t really follow the DDPYoga workout schedule or eating plan. If we were we’d probably see a lot faster results but this is about finding a lifestyle that works for us.

I’ve cut back a bit on my carbs when possible and our eating out has gone from 4x/week to around 2. My soda intake is around 1/week as opposed to when I started at 1/day. McDonalds hasn’t seen me for breakfast in a loooong time 🙂 Speaking of breakfast, I found a great meal replacement shake. It doesn’t promise any get fit, get skinny results. I am purely using it for the fact it is all natural, vegan, chocked full of vitamins and minerals and a complete meal that I can whip up in a matter of seconds in the mornings. Both Brian and I have fallen in love with it. If you’re interested in the shake you can find it on Amazon or at Whole Foods. Phood Meal Replacement Shake.

Sounds like my man is wanting to head off to a park this afternoon (beautiful day out) so without further ado here are the results pictures and we’ll see ya again in 30 days! And as always, don’t forget to follow me on Facebook! www.facebook.com/MGHTake2

Holy Deliciousness, Batman!

Last night I decided to try my hand at making my very first Black Bean Burger. I’ve always heard that they were a delish healthy alternative to a greasy hamburger but have always been afraid to try making them. I love black beans, but I also love a good hamburger. I had tried black bean burgers by MorningStar and Boca in the past and neither of those seemed a good alternative to me.

I’m so glad that I tried the below recipe (recipe posted originally by The Pioneer Woman). I followed the recipe to a tee, except for that I halved everything. Next time I will probably add a little more hot sauce  (I like things spicy!). I had the burger on a leaf of iceberg (since I’m watching carbs) with an ultra thin slice of colby jack, ketchup and jalapenos, served with a huge side of steamed broccoli. Yum-o!

Give it a shot! Y’never know, you may just be a surprised as I was! 🙂

Black Bean Burgers

Prep Time:

10 Minutes

Cook Time:

10 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

4

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cans (14.5 Each) Seasoned Black Beans
• 1 cup Seasoned Breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup Grated White Onion
• 1 whole Egg
• 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• Salt And Pepper
• Hot Sauce (I Used Choloula)
• 8 slices Swiss Cheese
• Olive Oil, For Frying
• Butter, For Frying And Grilling
• 4 whole Kaiser Rolls Or Good Hamburger Buns
• Mayonnaise
• Lettuce Or Other Greens
• Sliced Tomato

Preparation Instructions

Drain, but do not rinse, the black beans. Place them in a bowl and use a fork to mash them. Keep mashing until they’re mostly broken up, but still have some whole beans visible. Add the breadcrumbs, onion, egg, chili powder, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Stir until everything is combined, then let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil with an equal amount of butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Form the bean mixture into patties slightly larger than the buns you’re using (the patties will not shrink when they cook.) Place the patties in the skillet and cook them about 5 minutes on the first side. Flip them to the other side, place 2 slices of cheese onto each patty, and continue cooking them for another 5 minutes, or until the burgers are heated through. (Place a lid on the skillet to help the cheese melt if needed.)

Grill the buns on a griddle with a little butter until golden. Spread the buns with mayonnaise and hot sauce, then place the patties on the buns. Top with lettuce and tomato, then pop on the lids!

Yum.

Day 1. PHOTOS… No, I’m not pregnant..

That is just what a year of fast food, eating out and general laziness will do to ya!

This is my Day 1 photo series. Every 30 days I’ll post a new set in the same clothes, doing the same moves and hopefully see improvements! (If you saw my page before you know how it works!) I’ll also be adding some of my stats (measurements and blood pressure…because currently at 35 years old, the machine tells me my BP is not good. If I don’t see it go down in the next 30 days it is possible I’ll be headed to the doctor to get on medication for it. I am one of those people who does not like to take medicine unless it is absolutely necessary. I’d much prefer to do things naturally.)

Taking pictures when you first start a healthy lifestyle journey is vitally important. As we are going through the day to day it is very easy to forget how far we have come. For me, taking these photos was a harsh reminder of how far I’ve gone.  You *know* where you’re at sometimes, but sometimes you don’t really fully accept it until you view it from the outside. Viewing these pictures of myself not only tells me that I need to work on fixing my plank/pushup positioning (I SWEAR my back wasn’t arched that way lol) but also lights a fire under me to improve. So hurrah!

This is me, this is where I’m starting and this is where I hope to not be again someday. It’s what I have to work with right now, so that is exactly what I’m going to do 🙂

For any of you who are seeing this who are not friends with me personally, feel free to follow me on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/MGHTake2 

And we’re BACK!

After a long hiatus from a healthy lifestyle and possibly gaining about 15lbs… I am back!

Life does indeed just get in the way sometimes and you fall off the horse, but eventually, and at any time, you can jump right back on. This time around however, I’m not only focusing on my eating style and exercise… I’m also focusing on simplifying, de-cluttering and de-stressing my life! I’m going to include things to this page such as budgeting, meditation practices (and boy do I need lots of practice there!) and any other thing that I find that makes my life not only happier but healthier mentally and physically!

Today though the focus is on my typical day of breakfast food…and this is step 1 in how I intend to change.

Let me tell you about my “normal” morning routine. I drag myself out of bed around 6:30-6:45, fumble around in the dark to find something to wear and then stumble into the bathroom to get ready. I have to leave the house around 7:30 to make it to work on time and I rarely leave the house by 7:30. Since I’m typically running late I almost regularly end up at McDonalds for a meatless egg mcmuffin (or 2..eek!) or egg and cheese biscuit with a large sweet tea. Obviously this is a very unhealthy morning routine that I’ve grown accustomed to and thus has helped me to pack on the pounds. (I’m hoping some of you can relate to this and not just judge me or shake your head at my misgivings — I of course have always known that McDonalds is frankenfood and really should never be eaten 🙂

This morning however, for the first time in I can’t even tell you how long, I did not go to McDonalds for breakfast. Oh, how I struggled with that. As I was downstairs feeding the cat and noticing it was 7:35 a.m. my mind immediately jumped to “Well, I guess today won’t be the day I don’t have Mickey D’s”. I started planning out how maybe I’d only get one sandwich and half sweet/half unsweet tea. It was an internal struggle, which I know sounds absolutely crazy to be struggling with something like this, but it’s true.  I’m such a creature of habit, and the drive thru in the morning is definitely a habit.

Quite begrudgingly I popped a bagel into the toaster oven and started frying an egg with some crushed red pepper. A slice of Muenster cheese and I was out the door with a bagel breakfast sandwich in hand in less than 5 minutes. It was 10x more filling and 100x tastier than a Micky D’s breakfast sandwich and I knew exactly what was in it. Sure, bagels are not high on the list of ‘healthiest foods’…but I think in comparison to what I normally eat it’s pretty alright. If I’m going to build a new habit of not hitting the drive through in the mornings, I’m going to have to like what it is I’m eating..a lot.

So that’s my story for today… Step 1 in a long line of Steps (10,000/day they say). Lunch this week is going to be a bagel (oops) with tuna (no mayo, just pepper) and tomato on top and a hard boiled egg. I have home cooked meals prepared for the rest of the week as well. The less we eat out, the better off we are going to be.

And of course DDPYoga WILL be happening tonight at the Haven (that’s our house) along with Day 1 Photos and measurements…fun!  🙂

Mindy 1 / Fatty McFatburger 0

This past weekend..the fiance and I had a talk about Conscious Living… basically the concept of thinking before doing in every aspect of life. Too often we go though life on auto pilot day in and day out. Most days I can’t even tell you about my drive to and from work.. I just miraculously end up at my destination 45 minutes later.

Today I practiced conscious living. During my morning walk I made the decision to go just a little further (about 3/4 mile further) which ended up adding about 10 minutes to my walk. I hadn’t prepared for this extra time to be spent before work so I was running a little late trying to get ready and such.

As I was watching the minutes quickly ticking away I started to stress about how I was going to find time to make myself breakfast. My mind immediately jumped to “Oh, I guess I will just have to go to Mickey D’s…shucks! Some breakfast is better than no breakfast, right?!” Wrong.

As soon as I uttered those words in my mind I was able to recognize what I was doing… making excuses to fall into habits that I’m desperately trying to break.

I started to remind myself that I had JUST gotten out of bed 30 minutes early so I could trek my booty around the neighborhood for exercise. I reminded myself that if I hadn’t gone to Mickey D’s so many times for breakfast in the past I may not be needing to be getting up so early to walk (of course, the walking is fabulous for me anyway..but I was trying to motivate myself lol)

I ended up going downstairs and making myself some oatmeal, grabbing a bottle of water and an apple for the road 🙂

Mindy 1 / Fatty McFatburgers 0

Day 1: Start Over Again

Today marks another Day 1 of many Day 1s in my lifetime.

After an extremely emotionally taxing weekend (see previous blog post) I decided to try and take back control of my life today. I started off this week on the right foot with a 1.3 mile walk this morning at 6:45 a.m. Normally I can’t pull myself out of bed at 6:45 let alone get up and walk..but thanks to Daylight Savings Time it is now daylight when I wake up. Also, extremely helpful, was my mom also took a walk at the same time with me. We became cyber walking buddies! Knowing that someone was doing the same thing as me was incredibly helpful.

After the walk I headed in to get ready for work and eat a healthy breakfast of pineapple slices and Weight Watchers Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal (this stuff is amazing if you haven’t tried it before. I don’t even care for oatmeal normally but this is like dessert! lol)

Last night I had prepared this week’s lunches (tuna fish lettuce wrap with a side of cucumber, onion and tomato salad [favorite]) and dinners have been planned for the rest of the week. Hopefully this will keep the fiance and I from having to eat out… saving money and calories.

So that’s how the week is starting, let’s see what it has in store for me! So far..feeling GREAT and IN CONTROL.

Current Measurements:
Waist: 37.75″
Hips: 44″
Bust: 43″

If you’re happy and you know it… [silence]

Have you ever felt ashamed to be in your own skin? Have you ever felt like you were unworthy of anyone finding you attractive or loving you? Or maybe you feel like a complete failure because you can’t stick with a healthy lifestyle? Does your mind constantly conjure up thoughts defeating your self worth? This is my life right now.

I’ve always struggled with my weight. I have always had highs and lows when it comes to how I feel about my appearance… this time is different.

About 3 months ago I fell off of the “healthy lifestyle” wagon. This time of falling off was no different than any other time in my 34 years of life..or so I thought.  However, this time I’ve found myself battling not only with my body but with my mind in ways I couldn’t imagine.

I’ve always been able to snap out of a bad mood. I’m known to most people as the cheerful, optimistic type. Someone who is always giggling or trying to make people smile.  Someone who doesn’t take life too seriously. I used to recognize that within myself… but that person is currently buried and I’m not sure where she is. I try to put on a happy face and I try to maintain my ‘cheerful’ role in life around all of my friends and family but recently I’m starting to break.

Driving home from work on Friday afternoon I began uncontrollably crying. My mind a jumble of negative self talk; belittling myself for not having more control over my unhealthy lifestyle. I felt like a failure. The more that I tried to tell myself that all I needed to do was start walking, start cooking dinner, etc.. the more I felt like a failure for not being able to do these simple tasks. The more I tried to pull myself together, the more I felt like a failure.

Last night after what would seem like a perfect day I broke down again. This time my fiance was there to catch my fall. My feelings of being down on myself do not only effect me but they effect him as well. My feelings of myself are that I am so unattractive that there is no possible way that he could want to love me. He tells me constantly how ‘beautiful’ I am and how attracted he is to me… but my brain doesn’t allow me to believe these things. I am completely embarrassed and ashamed over the thought of being intimate because I don’t want him to see me the way that I see me.

I have honestly never felt so low.

Feeling this way is hard to explain to people who love you. They often don’t understand the depth of your feelings or don’t understand your reasons for them because they love you and see you in a completely opposite way. Many times throughout life I’ve opened up to people about my body image issues, normally romantic partners, but the response is almost always the same… “you’re beautiful. There are people out there a lot more unhealthy than you and they are still happy.” I know that this response comes from a place of wanting to help, but instead it typically makes me feel like even more of a failure. I feel ashamed for my feelings of seeing myself negatively when there are other people who by appearance are more unhealthy than me and appear to be loving their bodies. People often think that I’m just being overly dramatic in regards to my body because I am not morbidly obese…but to me these feelings are something I don’t have control over even though I know they are often illogical.

I don’t have an ideal body in mind. I don’t have an ideal weight or size. More than anything I want to just FEEL proud to be in my own skin. I want to look in the mirror and if not be able to say “I like me” at least be able to say “I’m not perfect, but y’know what..I’m not bad either.”

My fiance recommended to me last night that I should try to write out my feelings in a personal journal.  I chose to do this on this blog because I am positive that I am not the only one out there who is struggling or who has struggled with these feelings. His advice to me was to first get my feelings out in the open  and not to keep them bottled up until I break. I do feel a sense of relief now after typing this all out.

I do know the steps that I need to take to head back into the positive light. It is only a matter of putting one foot in front of the other and taking them. I need to make a doctor’s appointment to make sure I don’t have any underlying problems that could keep me from feeling better. And lastly, I need to remember and remind myself daily that there is no black and white in life and that there will be highs and lows but it is all part of the journey and these feelings cannot and will not last forever.

This One Time Won’t Hurt…

It starts with a dinner out where you order a soda, thinking just this one time won’t hurt. And then you find yourself ordering a soda anytime you go out. The more that you go out to eat the less inclined you are to want to cook at home, so you start going out more frequently. Going out more frequently means there is less time after an 8 hour day to exercise. Within one week you have completely fallen off of the wagon. You tell yourself that one week was a fluke. You had plenty of reasons for falling off the wagon that week. That week won’t ruin your health plan. You’ll get right back on the horse next week. Here it is the end of the next week and you still have not climbed back onto the horse..and you have no motivation to do such. You are still drinking too much soda… you’ve forced yourself to cook dinners at home but hated every minute of it and dreamed of just going to grab takeout. You’ve told yourself that you were going to do your yoga and go to zumba but that hasn’t happened…and you just don’t feel like you care.

Boy oh boy have I been struggling! I know everyone goes through this in their fitness journey…my question is how do you get over the hump?

How does one get here in such a short amount of time? After 2 months of doing great with both eating and exercising, shouldn’t a habit have been built?

I stood on the scales this morning fully expecting that I had undone everything I had worked for in 2 months. To my surprise the scale showed a number lower than I had been in those 2 months. I’m not quite sure how that happened. It could be due to the amount of muscle I’ve built in the last two months burning the extra calories for me…or it could be a stroke of luck. Regardless of what it is, it has lit a little bit of an ember under my butt (not a full blown fire mind you). I know I have to get back on track..I know I have to just suck it up and do the workouts and put down the $1 Mickey D’s Large Cokes. It comes to a point where you have to remember that you are so much stronger than those cravings and urges.

Just thought I’d share some of my trials with you. I know on a lot of fitness websites and such all you see are the great results and hear about the victories. It’s easy to feel like a failure when it seems like everyone else is having such an easy time staying on track. The only failures in life however come when we stop trying. So…I’m going to keep trying because I refuse to fail.

Day 60 Result Photos!

Measurements:
Waist: 37″
Chest: 44″
Thigh: 25″
Bicep: 13″

(very confused at how my measurements have gotten bigger…by an inch in most regards… but it is what it is…we’ll see what happens at 90!)

Loss: -8 lbs total 

Goal: -32 to go!

Results Day 60!

Welp, today is result day..the 60 day mark! As far as weight concerned I’m only down 3lbs from my last result day (a total of 8lbs lost in 60 days). Hard not to be disappointed but at the same time I have to be realistic 🙂

I do exercise like a fiend and that makes me feel AMAZING, but I definitely haven’t completely committed to changing my eating habits. I still drink more sugar laden drinks than I do water (not just soda, but juices moreso) and I don’t always give up my salty fries or chips for steamed broccoli or a salad with dressing on the side. I’m okay with these things and with only seeing a 3lb loss because this is a life change… not a monthly change and the changes I have made feel wonderful! Not to mention, I’ll hopefully have many more months in my lifetime! lol

Also of note, the last time that I remember feeling completely happy with my health and appearance was about 5 years ago… I was going to the gym 5 days per week and had a personal trainer 2x per week for a year. For the first 6-7 months of that schedule I had only lost between 5-10lbs (baffled the trainers)… it was after that 6-7 months that the weight started melting because I was building a ton of muscle. My body is slow to respond it seems and soon I’ll hopefully get tests to figure that out… but if I compare how I’m doing now to how I did then it seems I’ve actually improved quite a bit WITHOUT any gym OR trainers 🙂

Result Pics and Measurements to come tonite after Zumba 🙂