Back from a LONG time away

Hi, everyone!

Well, I don’t even know where to begin. It has been almost three years since my last post. So much has happened in that time but I think I’m ready to come back. I NEED to be ready to come back.

What’s new? Everything.

In three years, I’ve had a baby (my amazing two-year-old son Mac), moved to a new city, and changed jobs. I’ve seen my husband through a completed bachelor’s degree this past December, and bought and sold a house. I’ve gotten away from healthy habits and back into the comfort of comfort-eating.

So, the inevitable. Weight gain! And you know what? I don’t blame myself. At all. Life happens. Pregnancy caused me to gain weight, lose weight, and then new parenthood caused me to put it on again. Some particularly traumatic events in the past several months have contributed to stress eating and packing on the pounds. I really don’t hate how I look because I’ve come to love myself no matter what, but I just don’t *feel* good.

But, I’M READY. I’m ready to not feel like this anymore! I’m ready to show my son what it looks like to enjoy an active lifestyle! I’m ready to enjoy zumba again! And I’m ready to get back on the weight-loss-journey-train.

So, hopefully, if anyone is still out there–I’ll be writing regularly again. Results TBD. 🙂

Weigh-in Wednesday 1.13.16

Hi y’all!

I am not sure how many of my weight-loss blogging friends are still out there (except Des!), and thus am not sure how many people are reading. However, I still want to post on here regardless of that to keep a personal record for myself. I have not been counting points anymore, but I feel like I am pretty diligent about eating in moderation and that has helped. In addition, I have stopped drinking alcohol for a while (that ALWAYS causes me to gain weight, so I thought I’d cut it out for a bit), coffee, pop, and any other type of caffeinated beverages. Surprisingly, I feel great ! I am also exercising 3-5 times a week to help keep me in shape. Here is this week’s weigh-in:

“–67.0”

Woot! That’s a loss of 0.6 lbs! Yay. I think this is officially the lowest I’ve ever weighed on my blog, at 169.0. Into the 160s, woot! Like I said in my last post–I’m not really trying SUPER hard at this point to lose more weight. I’m just combining eating smartly with working out, and will take it from there. If I happen to lose weight along the way, that’s cool too!

Hope y’all have a great week. This weekend is the annual church choir retreat w/ my inlaws and their church choir at a state park. We ALWAYS look forward to this weekend. I will most likely not weigh in next week as it is supposed to be TOM week and also we will have a big weekend of eating. Look for me again in two weeks! 🙂

Weigh-in Wednesday 1.6.16 (and some Disney pics!)

Hi y’all!

I realize it has been almost 3 months since posting, and I’m sorry, but life happened! After returning from travel season, it was immediately application reading season at work. This put me away from my computer and office in the back reading room every hour of the work day during the month of November. No time to post!

Then it was December, and we were busy prepping for our Disney World vacation/honeymoon! My husband got a really bad stomach bug 4 days before we flew out, and actually ended up in the ER with severe dehydration (he is fine!). Of course, I got that same bug, and spent all night getting sick the night before we were to fly out. I got it out of my system though, for the most part, and was able to enjoy Disney World. I will post a few of my fave pics in this post…stay tuned.

Then of course it was Christmas…and New Years. Dang. However, I am really proud of how I handled myself, EXERCISE wise, throughout this time (food, not so much, but whatevs). I’ve never stopped going to the gym for more than a week at a time, and have been really consistent, even if it’s just taking some walks. I haven’t been counting points, but am pretty good now at intuitive eating, and am feeling really good about that. I didn’t step on the scale every week during my hiatus, and that was really freeing. I finally got back on the scale this Monday, and was so happy with what I saw.

“–66.4”

It looks like that is a whole 3 pounds lost since my last post at the end of October! Pretty awesome. I am VERY happy with my body and where I am now (169.6) and I feel that my body is very comfortable at this weight. I am not actively trying to lose weight–if it happens, it happens–but my goal is to maintain, and I feel really confident about this. Yay!

Disney World was amazing. Like totally the best thing ever, and I was ready to go back after just a few days at home. If you are a couple without kids (or are looking for a vacation away from kids), do NOT throw out Disney World simply because you think you have to have kids to go there. I can’t tell you how many times I looked around at people with kids and was like –wow, I’m so glad I’m here without children, lol (not that taking your kids to Disney or having a great time at Disney with children isn’t possible lol). And there are SO MANY FUN THINGS FOR ADULTS TO DO.

I have to say that I am so effing glad I am 100 lbs lighter than I was a few years ago, because doing Disney at 275 lbs for me would have been rough. You probably walk 5-7 miles a day there (hence why I didn’t gain weight, lol)…after a day or two, my hips and legs were SORE as hell, and I consider myself to be in shape now! So that was a huge victory–feeling extra good about that.

Here are some of my fave Disney Pics:

Yeah, we went to a VIP premiere event of Star Wars: The Force Awakens….INCREDIBLE

Outside our guest room at “Port Orleans: Riverside” resort

Red carpet!

Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights…this is the last year they’re doing it because they’re demolishing this area of Hollywood Studios in preparation for the new Star Wars area!

How’d we get in there?!

Bed in our guest room–the headboard has a button you push that starts a fiber optics fireworks show!

The faucets in our room were Aladdin’s lamp!

Beds in our room

Along the river walk outside our resort

Looking up at our resort at night

Such a great pic of outside our resort

My new boyfriend

Selfie outside the Mexico ride! (Love this ride in Epcot btw, we rode it twice!)

Inside the Mexico ride

I found farmer Mickey! We did a character breakfast in Epcot and it was awesome.

The best most amazing alcoholic drink in Disney ever…Grand Marnier Slushy! You can find it at the wine kiosk outside the France pavilion, World Showcase, Epcot. It’s orange flavored and has Grand Marnier and Grey Goose vodka…um YUM. ❤

My all time fave pic from our trip!

Dori is eating my head!

Magic Kingdom selfie

Cinderella’s castle is transformed into Elsa’s castle at night during Christmas time…ah-may-zing

Awww

Epcot! (My personal favorite park)

Magic Kingdom (2nd fave park for me, I think)

Have to include at least ONE food pic (there are many, lol)…shrimp and grits from Coral Reef in Epcot!

New 7 Dwarfs Mine Train ride…awesome!

I think my three favorite things about the whole vacation were (in no particular order)

1. Star Wars Premiere/VIP event and fireworks show
2. Our Epcot bar crawl
3. Our resort

Everything else was super awesome too!!! OK, until next week, friends! Sorry for the hiatus!

Weigh-in Wednesday 10.28.15

Hi, friends! Long time, no blog 🙂

I am FINALLY off the road for 2015 and very happy to be back in a routine. I definitely stopped counting points while on the road, but I am pretty proud of myself for making an effort to exercise at my hotel gym almost every day that I was staying in a different city.

To recap, I’ll just post my facebook status from the day I returned from my last travel trip:

“59 high school visits, 7 college fairs, 11 hotels, 11 cities, and 5 states later, I bid adieu to admissions travel season 2015. Here’s to all those awesome students, counselors, independent educational professionals, and especially to fellow admissions reps I met on the road–y’all are the reason we do this and are able to maintain a semblance of sanity!”

Yeah, that’s a lot, man. It was fun though, as usual! Just super exhausting. And, because all I do when I travel is eat out, I typically gain weight. So, here’s my latest weigh-in from yesterday:

“–63.4”

That’s a GAIN of 2 pounds since my last weigh in last month, and overall a gain of 3.2 lbs from my lowest weight on my weight loss journey. I am super ok with this, as it’s not terrible considering how much I was eating out. I went back to counting points yesterday morning, and I had a great workout session last night (30 minutes of dance fitness cardio and 30 minutes of arm weight lifting…woo! Sore this morning, lol). So, I am definitely back in the game, and ready to get rid of those 3 pounds I picked up. Hoping to have them gone by the time we go to DISNEY WORLD IN 45 DAYS!!! I CAN’T WAIT!

Hope y’all have great weigh-ins. I’ve missed you!

Weigh-in Wednesday 9.30.15

Hi all!

I am actually updating this blog even though I am not quite 1/2-way done with my fall travel season! I am in the office all week this week and leave again on Sunday, so I figured I’d better post an update.

Travel season is HARD, you guys. As in–I spend all day driving around big cities going to high schools to talk to students about our university. Then, most evenings, I spend 2-3 hours standing up behind a table at college fairs. This leaves little time for exercise, AND I have to eat out for every meal. It is tough to make good decisions, but I am proud to say that I utilize my hotel gyms like whoa and try my best to eat healthy 1/2 the time or 3/4 of the time I am out. It’s tough! I hadn’t been on the scale since before I left for my first trip in mid-September, but it looks like the last time I blogged was late August. So, I am measuring my results from yesterday since then.

Here we go:

“–65.4”

Looking at my last weigh-in, it looks like that’s a GAIN of 1.0 pound. I am actually really impressed by this, considering how difficult travel can be and that I stopped counting points for it. It is far too difficult to count weight watchers points (especially in Nashville, where instead of eating out most of the time, the fair organizers feed you and you are starving 24/7 and you will eat anything and everything) on the road! But I am pretty satisfied with this. It puts me at 170.6, which is not too shabby. I have wanted to be at 165 for my Disney World vacation in mid-December. Although that is *probably* do-able, I have two more big weeks of travel left, and I may end up gaining another pound or two before it’s all over. Then it’s back to counting points and working it all off!

At any rate, that’s all I got for now. I am gone the next three weeks, so my next update will be almost exactly a month from now. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it won’t be terrible! Love and miss you all!

By the way, to prove that I am eating SOMEWHAT healthy some of the time, here are some pics of my food from the road!

Jamaican food from “Calypso Cafe–East” in East Nashville, TN. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Jerk white bbq chicken, boija (sweet cornbread) muffins w/ coconut, and wild rice–complete w/ a Red Stripe!

Red Yeti Brewing Company in Jeffersonville, IN–HIGHLY RECOMMEND. All locally sourced farm ingredients–fresh pear salad with grilled chicken, candied walnuts, goat cheese, spiced apple vinaigrette–shared truffle fries as an app w/ my friend and then enjoyed a blackberry wheat beer (brewed there, of course!)

Strawberry chicken salad from “Chill Spot” in Brentwood, TN–feta cheese and fruit vinaigrette of some type…yum!

Turkey burger w/ fries at Bluegrass Burger in Louisville, KY

Gorgonberry pecan salad w/ grilled chicken from Bru Burger in Lexington, KY

Sorry for the hiatus

Hi y’all!

So sorry for the hiatus.

It’s fall travel season for me at work…which means, I’m sadly not really around or home much to weigh myself and/or update this blog. I will do my best to update when I am off the road. For now, I’ll be taking a break. More to come, probably in late October!

Love,
Kelly

Weigh-in Wednesday 8.26.15

Good morning!

It’s weigh-in Wednesday again, so it’s time to post this week’s results!:

“–66.4”

Yep, that’s where I was the week before last. Just a measly little gain of 0.2 lbs, so no biggie…still doesn’t bump me up back into the 170s, so I’m cool with it. I was honestly SO surprised that I didn’t gain more…I didn’t have a great handle on my eating this week, AND I added weight lifting back into the mix. Here’s what it looked like:

Tuesday: 30 min elliptical, 30 min weightlifting (arms)
Wednesday: 60 min yoga
Thursday: 45 minute walk (it was too nice outside for the gym!)
Friday: rest
Saturday: 30 minute bike ride to and from gym, 30 min weight lifting (legs) @ gym
Sunday/monday: rest

OK, so that whole riding my bike to the gym and then doing LEGS at the gym?! TERRIBLE PLAN. TUUUURRIBLE. I was so friggin’ sore on Sunday, Monday, and even some yesterday. It was AWFUL. I haven’t been that sore in a long time. So, that’s why I was pretty sure I was gonna see a 2 or 3 lb gain on the scale. Hoping that next week or the week after I’ll see a loss since I’m trying to lift consistently from now on. Here’s what I have planned for this week:

Tuesday (last night): 30 minute bike ride to/from gym and ARMS lifting..this was a much better plan lol
Wednesday: 60 min yoga
Thursday: 30 min treadmill or elliptical, 30 min lifting (legs)–and I’ll be DRIVING to the gym this night haha
Friday: rest, most likely, or maybe a short walk
Saturday: 30 min bike ride to/from gym, 30 min lifting (arms)
Sunday: 30 or 45 min walk w/ dog
Monday: rest

Yay! Well, hope you all are doing well. Our freshman move onto campus this Friday, so we are excited to get them here–other students will follow and we will start classes next Thursday! I am ready to have students back on campus. We in admissions don’t get the summers off, so it gets really quiet around here!

Weigh-in Wednesday 8.19.15

Hi, friends!

Weigh-in Wednesday this week. Didn’t know what to expect since I had worked out a lot but also ate A LOT, and it was my second full week not paying for Weight Watchers, but still counting points:

“–66.6”

OMG IT’S 66.6 LOL LOL. Jk I don’t care about that! But it’s a small loss of 0.2 lbs. I’m cool with it! A little at a time has been my motto. This puts me at 169.4, which is pretty dang good in my book. I’d love to be down to 165 by the time Disney World vacation/honeymoon rolls around in late December, but we shall see!

I did a great job working out last week:

Tuesday (skipped for once a month viola playing @ church service)
Wednesday: 60 min yoga
Thursday: 30 min elliptical
Friday: 60 min yoga
Saturday: 60 min walking
Sunday: 30 min walking
Monday: rest

So, it was a pretty good week. I started this week off strong last night with a 30 minute elliptical session and weight machines–arms. It has been a few months since I have done weights, and I think my weight loss has slowed down because of it–so, back to weights! Here’s what I plan for the rest of the week:

Wednesday (tonight): 60 min yoga
Thursday: ride my bike to the Y!!!! then do weights–legs, then ride back. I don’t need to do cardio there since I’ll be riding my bike to and from if the weather is good!! If it’s raining, I’ll just drive and do elliptical or something +weights
Friday: 60 min yoga
Saturday: 30 min elliptical (or other, treadmill maybe? idk yet), weights–arms
Sunday: 30 min walk w/ dog
Monday: rest

So far, so good! I have already busted the diet part of this week but I’m cool with it. I still have 23/32 activity points to eat PLUS my weeklies if I dig into them, so it’s fine. I bought a box of oatmeal cream pies at the store (um WHAT WAS I THINKING) and then this morning I had a GIANT cappuccino muffin w/ chocolate chips and a grande coffee, but I’ve only had 1/2 the coffee because I am so full! I think I won’t be drinking the rest, lol. At any rate, I’m still feeling good. Love y’all, and hope your weigh-ins are great! See ya next week!

Weigh-in Wednesday 8.12.15

Hi y’all!

Another Wednesday, another weigh-in. I thought I’d gain or maintain this week because it was my first week not paying for WW AND it’s that time of the month, but look at this!:

“–66.4”

That’s a loss of 0.4 lbs, yay! It’s not much, but it puts me back in the 160s–at 169.6. I’ve officially bumped down to 27 points a day, which is just one point away from the LOWEST point count per day you can even have in Weight Watchers, 26. So that’s pretty exciting! I did do a great job w/ workouts last week:

Tuesday: 30 min dance fitness
Wednesday: 60 min yoga
Thursday: 30 min walk w/ dog (originally planned on 60 min dance fitness, but I was SUPER sore from the combo of two previous workouts)
Friday: 30 min elliptical
Saturday: 30 min elliptical
Sunday: rest

So, I’m pretty proud of myself! This week I probably won’t get as much, but here’s what I’m planning:

Tuesday (last night): rest, we had a monthly church service where I play viola
Wednesday: 60 min yoga
Thursday: 30 min elliptical
Friday: 60 min yoga
Saturday: 30 min elliptical
Sunday: 30 min walk w/ dog

We’ll see how that goes–so far, so good, but it’s only Wednesday! Hope y’all have great weigh ins–nothing else all that exciting going on here!

Weigh-in Wednesday 8.5.15

Hey y’all, I almost forgot to post today! Whoops. Here are today’s results:

“–66.0”

Yeah, so that’s a loss of 2.2 lbs. Nice! I was honestly SUPER surprised about this because I did end up going to GenCon for a night/day, and therefore ate ALL OF THE THINGS and drank ALL OF THE BEER. But I’m pretty sure I’ve lost weight each year at GenCon because of the phenomenal amount of walking that I do, so I’m down with this. Plus I ACTUALLY got back to yoga last week, so that was super exciting. Going back tonight, can’t wait! It’s one of my fave parts of the week.

Here’s a pic of me and the hubs from GenCon, we had a blast as usual, even though we weren’t there for all 4 days this year!

Yesterday, I took a HUGE step. I canceled my Weight Watchers subscription! Let’s face it, people. I’ve lost 103 pounds over the past 3ish years, and I am basically a plan expert at this point (even if WW doesn’t consider me one or pay me to be one, lol). I am still counting points and tracking everything I eat, the only difference is that I’m NOT paying Weight Watchers to give me an app to calculate points and write it all down–so, I just do it myself. I can pretty much look at anything and guess the point value, being pretty accurate most of the time. Plus, I know how to be reasonable now. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Weight Watchers and am not doing this to hate on them–they helped me lose 103 pounds, for God’s sake! BUT I need to save some $ each month and this is a good way to do it. I’ll still be weighing in once a week, tracking my food/points, and checking in on the blog. I found a site that calculates how many points a day I should be eating, and it’s basically in line with what Weight Watchers told me–so, if I lose more weight, I know when and how much to adjust. Yay!

Hope y’all have great weigh-ins. That’s it for me this week!