Started

I started using the recumbent bike last night even though I'm sick with flu like symptoms. My boyfriend was building it while I was trying to sleep off the sickness. He woke me up to test it out and I was unable to get good sleep after that. I'm tired today but I'm hoping I can make it through work just fine.

On a side note, I saw Kelly Osbourne's weight loss pictures as another motivator. She looked pretty before and she looks pretty now. Not too thin.

Recumbent Bike

I bit the bullet and bought a recumbent bike to help me lose weight. It was my favorite exercise equipment when I worked out at the gym. Hopefully it will be the same at my place. I'm so excited about it. I will still be using my elliptical machine but this is going to be good. Now I just have to budget my food so I'm not wasting any money. Going to shop at one store to not waste gas and buy the vegetables on sale. Buying frozen vegetables is actually cheaper than buying the fast food people are always talking about and it takes 4 minutes to make in the microwave. It's not rocket science to save money and eat healthy. When I was buying the recumbent bike, I was thinking man I hate spending money but there is more at stake than money out of my pocket. My health is more important than trying to save money all the time. This being said I will have no excuse for losing weight because now I can sit down in front of the television and lose weight at the same time!

I'm not going to weigh myself until the end of my first week of using the bike. My boyfriend is building it on Monday. So I will weigh myself on monday and then after the week to see the difference.

Maybe I'm trying to sabotage myself after reading fat acceptance blogs. I ate baby back ribs yesterday. More to write later.

I bought a heart rate monitor

My boyfriend and I went for a walk today with me able to use my new heart rate monitor!!!! I got it today from Target! It was on clearance from $73 to $18. I had been eyeing it for a while when it was $33 but when I saw it today for $18 I had to get it. I wore it and burned 308 calories for my mile walk. I am proud of myself but my fingers were swelling again. They always do when I walk for more than 10 minutes or try to jog.

I dream of vegetables

I was determined to get my weight back down so I made sure I followed my rule of not eating after 6pm. I got the veggie wrap from Trader Joe's. Part of me thought it tasted sick until I got to the hummus part. I think they need to work on putting more hummus and less bean sprout in the wrap. I didn't workout per se but I did walk around the mall for a couple hours after walking a lot at work. Eating vegetables is not a bad thing it just can be a bit boring. Hopefully I'll make the right amount of time tonight to make curried chickpeas and potatoes. This morning I weighed in at 194. Weighing myself everyday kind of makes me more conscious about my daily intake of food and exercise. I'm definitely exercising after work today.

I want to kick it

For those who read this and do not know already. I have a problem with weighing myself. I weigh myself once a day or more if I don't think I have good results the first time (unless I'm not at my place because I don't travel with a scale). The time I weighed myself at 194 it was my first time weighing myself in 3 days. So I was pleasantly surprised. That night however I went back up to 198. I was upset because I knew the reason was because I ate the leftover chicken I had made for my boyfriend the other night. I was determined it was a mistake though and jumped on my elliptical for a half hour. The next morning I was at 196 and my stomach hurt. I worked out again and this morning I'm at 195. I want to kick the heck out of 190 pounds. Even if it means I have to work out everyday. I think seeing the 194 pounds and then gaining was good for me to see. It really lets me know that I can't be "lazy" and feel sorry for myself every time someone mentions anything pertaining to my weight. If I do my best than I can be happy with myself.

Also, to help me work on not being a lazy artist I'm posting my chibi doodles of myself with my posts.

194 what?

Ok, I didn't exercise exactly how I was supposed too again. I tried to exercise while no one was awake so but trying to do aerobics is not a quiet venture. I stepped on the scale this morning to see me at 194. What? I feel like that must have been a mistake but I will take it for what it is! Yes!

The more I think about my prom

The more I think about my prom the more I want to push it back to when I'm at my goal weight. A prom is going to be a lot of money and I want to be the size I want to be for it so I can try and try the dress on more than once. If I have the prom before I am finished losing weight it will be too big to wear by the time I reach my goal unless I get one of those free at the weight. Xs-s-m-l sized dresses are not really what I was thinking about.

I was looking at Fashion blogs and Art blogs today thinking about how I used to sew a lot of things when I was losing weight before. Now that I have my own place I should be sewing more than just pillows. I can experiment with different things and if I like it than I could wear it. Like playing dress up. The only problem is I have to make sure weight loss is my priority.

Weight loss before everything else. I bet you if I were working out every single day I probably would be at way closer to my goal. Losing 4-8 pounds a month when I could lose 3 or 4 pounds a week at my BMI is kind of like I'm taking my time too slowly or I'm still being lazy about my goals.

I'm going to exercise tonight and tomorrow. Probably stop and pick up a pedometer too to see how many steps I take a day. This is not even just about the scales... The numbers of the weight are one thing, the way I view myself in the mirror about taking charge of my goals is another.

It feels like it's one pound at a time: 198

At 198 and hoping to be lower... If I exercised consistently (like I keep telling myself) I probably would be lower... I'm trying to walk around more. I haven't been using the elliptical as much because it gives a sharp pain in my elbow. I think I'll just cut out the arm portion of it for a while to keep it up. Surprised by my weight too because I've eaten at two Mexican restaurants this week.

Virtual Weight Simulator

This was kind an eye opener for me looking at this weight simulator. 20 pounds doesn't look like much at it but it does help for the over all look.

All you can eat

So I went to an all you can eat chinese food buffet last night... and I think I binged... on vegetables. My boyfriend was looking at my plate and said, "Your plate looks so green". Then, I looked at his plate and said, "Your plate looks so red". He basically only had meat and some pasta. I skipped the pasta. I usually get Mei Fun but this time I got broccoli, zucchini, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, and some seafood. I had so many vegetables it was awesome. My boyfriend doesn't have much vegetables to eat at his place so I was dying to get some vegetables for dinner. I did have a bit of ice cream but I was less than a fourth cup.

The lady served me sweet tea instead of the unsweet tea my boyfriend ordered. Normally I wouldn't complain about this sort of thing but I was on a mission. I had it switched out and didn't even add a sweetener.

Found a way to exercise at work

I was sick of dressing up for work. Dressing comfortable is so much easier than dressing to express the people that wouldn't be impressed regardless of how I dress. I wore sneakers to work with a neon colored exercise shirt. It was so much more uplifting to wear workout clothes (with a black skirt) to work than the flats or kitten heeled shoes.

The stress from work knocked me out as soon as I got home yesterday. I was upset by the amount of fatigue I had. I didn't even want to leave my place to do my usual window shopping. I can't let myself be stressed out like this. I won't lose any weight that way.

Oh. I worked out a bit this morning at work. You know the Richard Simmons workout video? Well, the workout move that allows you to workout the abs and the leg muscles at the same time is easy to do. It's like a standing crunch--only one leg at a time. I'm going to try and do 300 of them before I start my work day just to add in a little bit of exercise.

I was going to write about having a love affair with Broccoli but I don't have one yet. I need to eat more of it actually. Looking at candy makes me a little mad now. Like it's out to attack my thighs like a leech-- adding weight to me but sucking out all my energy. I even look at pasta and bread that way too. No wonder nomads were so thin they probably didn't have time to stop at a bakery to get all comfortable with all the processed sugars.

I did not exercise but it feels like it

Yesterday, I went out to find some exercise clothes to hopefully continue part of my weight loss journey outdoors. I hate spending money on unnecessarily expensive clothes so I opted to check a few stores for the best prices. I ended up shopping for 4 hours with a salad and sandwich in between at Panera. After all that I did weigh myself again this morning and came out at 199. I was 199 yesterday morning but this feels really good that I'm really under 200 pounds. Now, I need to keep eating mostly vegetables and fruits to get myself down to 160 hopefully by the end of the year.

I woke up and my thighs are sore. I guess I got a workout after all yesterday. My walking throughout the day could be a contribution also.