homesliceadulting

[homesliceadulting]

What's up?? It's been a minute. When I finished my last Self Journal, I had a hard time starting the new one. The hardest part was getting started after learning my beloved grandmother passed away. I finally started back this week with the goal of being under 300 lbs in 13 weeks (by 2/4). Well I'm already moving in the wrong direction. I need to rebuild some good habits like making sure I plan each week and day and meal planning. We ate out so much this week and it shows. My starting weight for this journal was my starting weight for the last journal, so I didn't really make any real lasting progress. I was a little shocked to see I gained 3.2 lbs since last week. I really need to get on it! I haven't worked out at all this week, so I really need to get on top of my game. This week was the first week, so there's really only one way to go and that's up. I've got this. Will check in next week.

Oh, we've been trying to get pregnant, but no confirmation on that. We'll see how that journey goes.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

Lost 1.6 lbs this week! A little shocked to be honest, but I'm still working the program and it's nice to be close to where I was before getting off track. I only have 1 week left in this journal and I have a few events this week that will throw my diet off a bit. I'm hoping that my next weigh in will be at least 308.6 lbs which will be a 30-lb weight loss since February. It's not the 40 lb loss I wanted, but it's still great. I haven't lost weight like this EVER, so even if I didn't meet my intended goal, my mantra for the year has been improvement and that's what I've done. I have data on my caloric intake, sleeping patterns, & exercise regimen. I've done better since February than I think I ever have in my life. I feel good. In my next journal, I've just got to keep it up.

So yeah. One more week.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

Alright--I'm going to make this quick. This week has been okay and fortunately, I'm down 1.2 lbs. Been feeling really hungry lately and my meals weren't doing it this week. I have exercised and plan to work out tomorrow as well. I need to re-up on my meals and plan them out. I also need to make sure I'm not overeating snacks. Don't know why I'm so hungry these days. Took the husband and dog for a walk this week, so that was fun. Love getting to spend time with them and getting in some exercise at the same time. I'm really enjoying that.

Overall, I did okay this week and with only 2 weeks remaining, I've accepted that I won't reach my goal of being under 300 lbs. I mostly feel compassion for myself. Despite not losing the 17 lbs I wanted to lose, I am down 6.6 lbs so far. Plus, I made a number of changes that I needed to get used to--cooking and planning my own meals & increasing my workout times/duration. Also, I started a supplement regimen that constipated me for weeks. I went through some interesting fertility discoveries. I think this journal goal is really going to be about giving myself mercy and doing better next time.

If I could revise my goal, my final weigh in for this current Self Journal would be 208.6 lbs for a 30 lb weight loss in about 7 months. So just a couple more lbs to go. That's it for now.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

Alright yall! So things still didn't go super well this week. I was still kinda reeling from the news about my fertility journey and only slightly improved my eating habits. I regained over 2 lbs--its slightly unbelievable. The 2 meals I made this week came together well, but one of them was close to 600 calories which is on the higher end for me. I also had a happy hour where I ate and drank a bit, too. On the plus side, I did exercise this week and I have plans for one more workout before the weekend is up.

I'm starting to realize that it's pretty unlikely that I'll reach my goal to be under 300 lbs by Sept 24th. Losing over 3 lbs a week is unlikely and maybe even unhealthy. I'd have to go really hard and I don't know that I'm motivated to do so.

In fertility news, my husband and I had an appointment with a specialist that helped to reduce our anxiety A LOT. We were relieved and only have to do another round of tests to confirm. So that's good.

Overall, I'm upset with myself. I've improved in other areas each week like making sure I'm planning and executing against those plans. I started back exercising and planned and cooked 2 meals. All progress can't me measured with weight loss, but my goal is, so I'm just getting further and further away. I don't really know what else I should do. I feel like I'm taking a few steps back each week and I'm not even that far off track. 😕 IDK. Not feeling motivated. And I would hate to miss my goal. I dont know where to go from here. Feeling lost.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

So, I messed up. I wrote last week about how I was super lax, but still lost a little weight and so I was going to be working super hard this week to make some progress--that did not happen, obviously. I regained 1.8 lbs.

Without making excuses, there are a few reasons why. I ate out around 4-5 times this week--even though I made a meal that was supposed to last me through the week, some of the events of the week caused me to throw caution to the wind and indulge myself. On Wednesday, when I was planning to do a workout, I got a medical procedure done called an HSG. It's a procedure that requires a long needle to be inserted into my uterus to distribute dye that will allow my fertility specialist to get a 2D image of my lady parts. This was super painful--I underestimated how taxing it would be on me physically and my hubby and I had a fattening lunch to make me feel better. I had something called The Conversion--it's 3 cinnamon rolls converted into French toast. And that's only half of what I ate. I finished the rest for dinner. Also, because of how taxing the procedure was, I decided against working out that day. So I missed a workout. Also, I had free tickets to a Seattle Mariners game, so we ate out then. I actually ate out twice on that day since my job doesn't not provide free lunch on Fridays. On Thursday, our day to usually eat out for dinner, I had a big Five Guys burger & cajun fries after my husband and I received bad news about our genetic testing results. This week has been a little emotional when it comes to our fertility journey on top of being a week that was a little busy.

I don't know that I've really thought about emotional eating, but this week was full of it. I feel quite disappointed in myself for not doing what I was supposed to do while simultaneously trying to be kind for resorting to an old, comforting behavior during a difficult week. I have 4 weeks left to lose 9.4 lbs and I don't know if that's possible--I will have to be so dedicated and I can't guarantee that I can get back on the wagon, given how the past 2 weeks have gone. On the bright side, I did plan each day, unlike last week, so that's an improvement. I need to renew my commitment, but I feel sad and upset about my fertility journey so far. Even though the HSG and ultrasound I got this week were pretty positive, the genetic testing results were actually pretty scary--the whole reason I started on this journey was to prepare my body for children. It was my main motivator. And with the bad news about our genetic compatibility, I start to question all the hard work I have put in and the work I will continue to have to do to move forward with living a healthier lifestyle. While getting healthy has other benefits and rewards (feeling better, feeling lighter, having more endurance, experiencing less stress, seeing results, fitting into spaces better), with my north star of motivation (having kids) coming into question, I need to mentally adjust. I 100% believe that losing the weight is beneficial to my life. But I may need a new north star. And that's painful, especially since having kids is something me and my husband want and have been preparing for for a long time. We need to schedule a follow up with a genetic specialist to learn more about the risks, but with our limited knowledge, it's easy to assume that things won't be as easy as we'd hoped. It's an unanticipated monkey wrench and it's taking a bit of an emotional toll that has resulted in me questioning my own life goals and motivation. Well, this is something I should share with my therapist.

Overall, I'm not dead in the water. I can get back on the horse and I will--I may just need some time to really get back on it fully. I will do the best I can while still allowing space for me to process everything. Overall, I still feel good about my progress thus far and believe that if I can be super disciplined, I can achieve my goal of being under 300 lbs in 4 weeks. I've got this. I can do this. Hoping to share good news next week.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

I had a rough week when it comes to dedication and eating well. I ate out a LOT--lots of functions and outings made it a little hard. They also prevented me from working out, but there's no excuse. I feel like I haven't been able to really be on top of my ish, including doing my planning. Something in my energy is off...I need to get back on track.

But in good news, I did actually lose weight! It was only 0.8 lbs, but that's really close to a pound. It goes to show that even with the bad eating, I am making better choices. Also, on Saturday, Aug 19th I enjoyed a spa day as a reward for my weight loss. I had a scalp renewal, a coffee scrub/wrap, a massage, and a facial. It was so nice and relaxing. My skin is soft and it felt great to treat myself. The experience was lovely, but the robes they provided were too small. Over 30 lbs down and I still am too big for normal things/spaces. I still have work to do.

Well it's time to turn up the volume. I am going to push myself this week, praying that I can still accomplish my goal of being under 300 lbs by Sept 24th. I have 5 weeks. Fingers crossed. And commitment made.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

OMG! This was supposed to be posted on 8/12, but I didn't hit post! Guess who's 30 lbs down in 6 months??? Me! What what! Look at this milestone! Just in case you're just now reading this, on Feb 5th I started a journey to get active, eat better, and lose weight. On Feb 5th, I weighed in at 338.6 lbs. I weighed in today at 308.4 lbs and that makes my total weight loss 30.2 lbs! I'm so happy about this and I'm super proud of myself. At this rate, I'll be down 60 lbs total by next February!

Aside from the celebration, this week has been interesting. On Sunday, I took my dog for an hour long walk around our neighborhood. It was great to explore my neighborhood, get some fresh air, and spend time with Beaux. When we were done with our walk, I had only burned like 475 calories and my heart rate barely reached the fat burn zone. If I do a Just Dance workout for the same amount of time, I usually burn 700 calories and most of the time, my heart rate is elevated to the fat burn category, with some cardio sprinkled in. I will say adding in the walk as a third weekly workout is great and low impact, even if the results pale in comparison to doing a Just Dance session in my house. I will be walking the dog again tomorrow and this time we'll take different streets.

I actually skipped 2 workouts this week--been having a hard time managing my time--but I think I may have made up for it. Last night, I went to karaoke with some friends and while I was there, I burned like 1300 calories. Wtf? I performed twice (sang Kids by Prince & Dream On by Aerosmith) and of course I was dancing and jamming along with the other performers as well. I drank tons of water, I sweated quite a bit, and I didn't even really walk around that much. I am astounded that I burned so many calories in a non-conventional. I earned 115 zone minutes (this is Fitbit terminology)--87 minutes were listed as Fat Burn (heart rate between 122-143) and the remaining 28 minutes were considered Cardio (a heart rate of 144-170). That's literally like 2 of my Just Dance workouts put together. I'm amazed and so happy. I'm going to work out today (Just Dance) to keep the momentum going.

As far as food, this past week was the 2nd week of me meal prepping and I realized I need to be more efficient with it. I made a meal on Sunday, then spent a few hours on Monday prepping the 2nd meal. This Monday prepping is why I couldn't work out. It's becoming apparent that I need to carve out times on the weekend to plan and prepare my meals. The 2 recipes from this week were really good. One of them was a Cajun sausage and vegetables recipe I found online. The other was a chicken/broccoli/potato recipe I found online as well. They were both very good and relatively easy to make, even though the sausage one was tedious. I don't like cooking, so batching my meals sounds as perfect as its going to get.

I've also been worried about my consumption of Baskin Robbins. I've been there way too many times in the past month trying to get the Beach Day flavor. It is SO good. In an effort to curb my cravings and not flare up my lactose intolerance, I've been buying and trying new dairy-free ice creams from the grocery store. So when I want a frozen treat, I eat a third of a pint and call it quits. I'll share my thoughts later. This approach is helping me, though. I find I have more discipline and I'm less tempted to grab fast sweets.

Overall, things are going great. I have 6 more weeks to lose 8.4 lbs--this is the goal I set in my Self Journal. With the addition of a 3rd weekly workout and paying special attention to my diet, I feel confident I can meet or exceed this goal.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

Alright now! My COVID is gone and I gained back 0.2 lbs. I'm not mad! This was my first week doing my own meal prep and I adjusted my work out schedule to Wed/Fri instead of Mon/Fri. Does that make a difference? Who knows? I feel like I did a great job eating better this week, so I'm a little surprised, but overall, this is just a blip in my journey. However, I was craving a lot of sweets and indulged a lot on Sunday & Thursday. Maybe the weight gain is accurate.

I guess I have to lay off the sweets. I found a really good non dairy ice cream and I have quite a bit of discipline with it. I am not thrilled that I have to expend so much energy to meal prep, but I know I'll figure it out and it will get easier as I go. I've even began trying to incorporate a third workout into my week. Some time this weekend, I'm going to take my dog to the park to go walk. Today is overcast so I might try tomorrow.

Even though I'm not shedding the pounds as quickly as I want to, I am down 6.8 lbs since my latest journal and 28.4 lbs since February 5th. That's almost 30 lbs in 6 months! That means I'm on track to beat my goal of 50 lbs lost in a year! I'm super proud of myself and I can't let one week distract me from recognizing my overall progress. I feel good.

I haven't mentioned this before, but when I'm done with this journal in 7 weeks, my goal is to share an update on my social media about my weight loss. Ideally, I want to be able to say that I lost 40 lbs since February. That level of accountability can be motivating. I feel excited to share my progress. I feel proud. I just gotta keep going. The Self Journal changed my life.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

Hey! So good things are happening with the weight loss! I'm down 6.8 lbs since I started my current Self-Journal and I'm just 10.2 lbs away from achieving my goal of being under 300 lbs. This week has been weird, though, because I got COVID-19. So I've been working from home and have been too tired to work out. But a small appetite has helped. Being sick is great for weight loss. I was actually planning on doing a 3rd workout this week to make up for the fact I only did one last week, but COVID-19 is taking care of that for me.

Overall, I feel good about my progress. Due to some new financial circumstances, I have decided to discontinue my meal delivery service with Cook Unity. It was nice while it lasted, but the funds could be better used elsewhere. So I'm planning to start meal prepping on Sundays. I'm thinking I'll make 3 healthy meals and divide them into thirds to make 9 meals for the week. I'll research some recipes and get started this weekend. Can't be more expensive than that meal kit ($115/week).

Looking forward to my next update. See you next week.

#weight goals #weight loss

[homesliceadulting]

13 weeks ago, I started a podcast called Sup? Media Reviews where I review 20+ year old movies and TV shows like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Toy Story, & Hey Arnold! I've been working hard to refine the segments, make it entertaining, and produce a quality show that focuses on the feelings and nostalgia we experience when watching the media from our childhoods and before. I would love for you to become a part of the Sup? community! If you want to walk down memory lane with me every week, please follow my podcast (@supmediareviews) on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest and subscribe on YouTube. Sup? Media Reviews is available everywhere you listen to podcasts and new episodes are released on Tuesdays. What I should review next???

Find us everywhere: linktr.ee/supmediareviews

#podcast #90s movies #80s movies #00s movies #90s nostalgia #supmediareviews #movie review

[homesliceadulting]

Alright, yall! This week marks a turn around in my journey! While I can't say I've been the best this week at limiting eating out, I will say that I've done a better job consuming water and keeping some of my days super low calorie. And for the first time in 3 weeks, I can report that I lost weight--I'm at the lowest weight I've been for years now. I feel proud of myself.

I am still experiencing some trouble with constipation due to my new fertility supplements, but I think my body may be adjusting--things are a little "easier" but I still need to consult with my fertility specialist to see if I can do or take anything to help. I still need to do my 2nd workout for the week (on my schedule for later in the day), but overall, I've been hitting my goals. I will say that even though I extended my workouts to 50 minutes, my last workout didn't burn as many calories as I'm used to--I don't know if I was just tired and didn't put in enough effort or what. But I'll keep my eye on that. I think I may need to be a little more aggressive with increasing the intensity of my workouts if I want to reach my goal of being under 300 lbs by 9/24.

I still have 9 weeks left to lose 13.9 lbs--I know I can do it. That's about 1.5 lbs per week. I really can't slack off any more. I just have to make sure I stay the course and not give in to my period cravings for sweets--especially ice cream or any other cravings for that matter. I had ice cream a couple times this week and I'm so glad that didn't completely derail my weight loss. Overall, I'm happy to see myself making progress and I'm motivated to continue to see the numbers drop. I'll check in next week!

#weight loss #weight goals

[homesliceadulting]

Ok now...this is crazy. Overall, since I started my journal, I am down 2 lbs. So hooray for that. Unfortunately, I seem to be regaining small fractions of pounds slowly over time and I'm not happy about it. This week was a little odd--we went to the Home Run Derby (it was hosted in Seattle) & indulged in fattening baseball concession food, I replaced a workout with the activity it took to walk to/from the stadium (over 8,000 steps that day), I ate a huge, unhealthy meal from Wendy's (felt bad afterward--not bad like down on myself, just like feeling bad in my body) and I am like 2 or 3 weeks into taking fertility-related supplements. Since I've started the supplements I've found it harder to go #2--I think I'm not eliminating solid waste as good as I used to. Will have to check with the doc on this one.

Given all those considerations and the fact that I ordered some higher calorie meals from Cook Unity--I guess it makes sense that I gained 0.2 lbs. I also snacked pretty hard at work and I home (I baked my bananas foster cookies). I guess having a big calorie burning day did not outweigh some of my other choices. Again, it's not a huge deal, but I was hoping to have some better results. I upped my workouts to 50-min sessions, but I just did the first one yesterday. Also, I think I have plantar fasciitis and it's getting more painful. It could be stopping me from being more active.

Overall, I need to do a few things to move forward so I can actually get some weight loss results next time:

Get my foot pain checked on

Make sure to keep my Cook Unity meals under 600 calories each

Don't consider extra activity as a replacement for my workouts

Limit eating out and snacking--get serious about indulging

I'll try to put these things in practice and we'll be in touch next week--hopefully with some actual weight loss!

#weight loss #self journal #weight goals #goal setting #accountability

[homesliceadulting]

Alright yall! This week was July 4th week and the ribs tripped me up, but not too much! I didn't really eat my low calorie meals and because the food court at work was closed for the week, I ate out for lunch, too. I'm actually shocked that I only gained 0.4 lbs! I did do my exercises as planned and I drank my 64 oz of water per day, so I'm assuming that helped. I also started taking a few supplements for fertility: Ovasital, a prenatal supplement, vitamin D and Omega 3s.

I didn't even think about how the holiday would impact my health journey. 😪 Overall, though, I'm happy that the drawbacks are minimal and grateful to have another chance to make more progress. I'm 14.8 lbs away from my goal and it's very doable in 12 weeks.

In other news, I need to do a little better with accomplishing the tasks I schedule into my day, particularly plans to further my podcast goals. I'm working on that today. Overall, I'm still ramping up with this journal and think things are going decently, but could go better. I've got this and hopefully next week, I'll have a better update.

Until next week.

[homesliceadulting]

New journal, new me!

Things are going well so far! Tried something new with my hair and I'm down 2.6 lbs from my starting point for the new journal. Overall, I'm down 24.2 lbs 🤪! Feeling super proud of myself.

This past week, I started back on doing my 45-min Just Dance workouts twice a week. I'm staying faithful to my water tracking and calorie counting (and doing well in both). I feel like I'm getting back into a groove. And with my new goal of getting under 300 lbs by the end of my 13-week journal, I feel good about being able to accomplish my goal. I can't wait to see my progress. I feel hopeful and excited.

Looking forward to updating you next week.

Still need help with sleep. That's my weak spot. We'll work on it.

[homesliceadulting]

Alright! So this is my last update for my first Self Journal. It's been a bit of a ride with the 3-week trip I took to visit family in the south. Being away from the routine and system I created was tough and set me back a bit. I've been home for about 2 weeks now and I've still been working my way back toward those good habits. I'm doing decent on my meals and smoothies, but haven't gotten back to exercising just yet. I have one day left on my first Self Journal, so now's a good time to start over. Overall, though, I set a goal to lose 13 lbs in 13 weeks. If you include the 3 weeks I was out, I managed to lose 21.6 lbs in 20 weeks. I feel really proud of myself. Even with the disruption of being in the south with no real dieting or exercising plan, I accomplished and exceeded my goal. I feel good.

And yesterday, I had my first appointment with a fertility specialist. We're planning on starting a family soon and that's my major motivation. I want to keep up the good work so I can improve my chances of conceiving, given my PCOS. I feel like I'm on the right path and I want to make sure that I pass along good habits to my future children as well. I've done better than I imagined and this Best Self Journal has been the catalyst. Not only did I lose 21.6 lbs, I started a podcast and improved my spiritual life. I can't wait to see what I can accomplish next. If you're interested, you can get your own Self Journal here.

I'll be in touch.

[homesliceadulting]

Yoyoing

So, I didn't start my journal back--it's been a weird couple of weeks since I got back from New Orleans and I've had a hard time getting back on track. I didn't use my journal this past week like I wanted and now my habit tracking is off and I regained some weight. I'm still down 22.6 lbs, which is still wonderful, but I need to jump start the next stage of this journey. Unfortunately, starting next Tuesday, I will be out of town for 3 weeks--2 in Atlanta and 1 in Houston. I don't know how I'll eat healthy or keep exercising....I don't want 3 weeks to further send me back in my progress. I have to figure something out.

Anyways, still doing alright, just need to hop back on the consistency train. How do you keep up the good work when you're away from the environment you created to support your good habits? And how do you return to your environment and jump back in? I haven't figured out any of that. We'll see what I can do.

[homesliceadulting]

Alright yall! Things got a little wonky for a minute but they might be returning to normal soon.

During the first week of May, I had to go out of town to visit my ailing grandmother and then attend a wedding. All those events were during the last week of my 13-week Self Journal. I thought that I could continue to use it to actively plan my life, but I couldn't. A hand full of things went wrong:

-my fitbit watch had started malfunctioning. It would record my steps, heart rate, etc but I couldn't scroll through the options. I could only check the main screen. Eventually it completely stopped working.

-I was in the south where eating healthy is a little harder. Also, I was craving southern staples like Waffle House and Cane's. I attended a wedding...and the food and drinks were not low calorie.

-I was not exercising--couldnt fit it into the day.

-Without the healthy ecosystem of my smoothies and meal kits, my routine was broken and I just couldn't find a way back.

-My podcast launched that week! That occupied quite a bit of my mental space.

-I still had to work 2 days that week.

It was literally too much going on to try to keep up a routine.

The journal instructions say that you can do the journal as you please, including skipping a week or two to accommodate irregular weeks like the one I had. So that's basically what I'll be doing from here on out. This next upcoming week will be the week where I finish my 13-week journal. I've already purchased a new one, but I have about a 3-week span of irregular weeks coming up and I think I'll wait to start until after that.

So I've been using this week to recalibrate and get back on the good foot. I haven't exercised, but I've been on top my water intake. I've improved my eating, but not as much as I should. I am actually a little flabbergasted that I'm down an additional 2 lbs. When I got back from the south, my weight of course went up a few lbs. I felt disappointed. But seeing my weight drop after I was experiencing a plateau is really motivating. I'm going to finish my journal with a bang.

I'm down 24 lbs! What in the absolute heck! I'm amazed.