Tuesday, December 24, 2013

New Directions (not the Glee kind)

Things have been going well for me. I started a payment plan to cover hospital expenses and having to meet my insurance deductible. I was a little worried about the tighter budget especially wanting to be able to continue on my Jenny Craig food. I can do meals on my own but I really like their food and there is nothing better than the convenience of just popping the meal in... but technically I am more than halfway and I need to start grooving myself into making my own food and continuing to lose weight. I successfully lost 1.2 pounds last week on ALL my own food.

I am VERY active on the Jenny Craig forums. I really love sharing my own story/experiences and love even more hearing other people's stories, struggles, triumphs and suggestions. I have recently been reading a blog I stumbled upon because of the JC forum (shout out to Ashley @ Coffee Cake and Cardio) and I've decided to take "A Mother's Journey" into a new direction. A part of this healing process is getting my mind and body in sync and really taking care of myself each and every day.

A Jenny Craig (JC) member recently joined and had questions about any struggles people had on the plan... here was my response:

The only challenge I've ever faced while on Jenny has been a mental one within my own self. I started Jenny in Sept. 2012 at 271 pounds and lost 85 pounds over about 9 months. There were weeks with big losses, smaller losses, gains or no losses. I didn't hit any plateaus during that time. I was very diligent about writing down what I ate and used my fitness pal to keep track of my calories. I typically stayed between 1200-1400 calories. I was able to incorporate meals out at restaurants and my own homemade dishes as well and still kept losing weight.

When I started I was very out of shape and rarely exercised. I was given a gazelle machine for free and I started exercising with this during television commercials, then I started exercising during the program and resting on commercials and eventually I could work through a whole program 30-45 minutes.

As a reward to myself for losing 20-30 pounds I bought myself a used wii and Just Dance. I started playing that and absolutely loved it. 30 minutes would fly by, I was sweating and didn't feel bored like with most workouts. Then as winter turned to spring I decided to try the C25K program that so many people were talking about. It got my gradually jogging until I could run 30 minutes without stopping. It was incredible. I'm a former soccer player but as an overweight teen I ALWAYS loathed running and here I am missing it now that it's winter. I stopped C25K while I was pregnant with my second child (unfortunately we lost him at 20 weeks) but I have since gotten into even more activity ... spinning, body pump, and hip hop dance post pregnancy. Not only has the exercise helped me feel back to normal but returning to my routine with Jenny Craig have been cathartic for me during the grieving process.

In short my keys to success:

1. Be consistent (write everything, weigh at same time/once a week)
2. Be patient (weight does not come on or off overnight and weight loss is not always linear or predictable... old dogs can learn new tricks but it's hard to erase old habits esp when stressed)
3. Be active but do what you can.... gradually build into a real routine
4. Be positive ... if you come into this thinking it's going to be too hard.. it will be.
5. Realize this is not temporary...these changes you're making need to become your way of life (not the frozen meals but the portion sizes and the daily activity)
6. WATER ... water is life and it is crucial in weightless and body regulation 

Here are my before and (now) photos:




These other 2 images were Dec. 20th 2013 before our office Christmas party!

So, here's to a Merry Christmas and a joyous 2014 pushing in the direction of ONEDERLAND (last week's weigh in on 12/18 put me at 203 lbs even)



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