Christmas pouting!

This is what Christmas looked like for this lowcarb, gluten free and sugar free girl. Glad all the goodies are gone!!

2014 Weigth loss progress

Well 2014 is almost over and once again I haven't made it to my goal weight. Having said that, I'm awfully close!

I started the Atkins and gluten free lifestyle back in April and here I am at the end of the year and ready to report my "success". I know, it's not ultimate success but with weight loss there's never an ultimate success because it's a constant battle and journey to keep the weight loss off. But, I'm pretty proud of how far I've come this year and I'm looking forward to making it to goal in the next 4 months.

Right before we started this whole lifestyle change my sweet hubby took me to Salzburg, Austria for my birthday. I told you we're close to everything here! I love it! Anyhow, these are my official before photos and actually they are officials for both Johnny and me. We started together so these are a good indication of how far we've come.

Not sure if it's evident of not but I was in the 220s at this time. As much as I loved the trip I felt frumpy and uncomfortable the whole time. BTW, you know what's in that bag Johnny's holding?? Cronuts!!! Only the best donut/croissant mix ever! They were even filled with Bavarian cream and covered in sprinkels. TO DIE FOR! literally! If I had known I was about to start a major food overhaul I would have eaten three more! We're standing on the actual do-re-mi steps in A Sound of Music. If you wanna see more photos from my 41st birthday trip to Salzburg you can find me blogging about it here. A must see for Sound of Music fans.

This is our OFFICIAL before photo. I weighed 222 in this photo and that wasn't my highest. I had actually started at 235 and lost some and was on my way back up in this photo. 

I've always had a weight problem. Even when I was young and in school. I wasn't fat by any means but I was always larger than everyone else. In my head I was a fat girl and that never went away. 

So we started Atkins and I started eating gluten free for health reasons the end of March right after my 41st birthday. It was hard in the beginning but it's amazing how well low carb eating works if you don't cheat. It has taken me 9 months to lose 52 lbs and I still need to lose 20 but I'm super happy with the results. 

One thing Atkins promises is that you will lose more inches than weight and it is completely true! I weight more now than I did the last time I lost weight, I actually got to 167 but I wore a larger size in clothing then. I was following a low cal diet and while I weighed less I was bigger. Atkins works differently and it takes from fat stores first which makes your body physically leaner instead of losing muscle on a low cal diet. So I'm smaller now that I have been in 20 years. I'm in a large in most things and some mediums in others. I started in an 18/20 and in 9 months I'm down to a size 10 or Large. 

I will say, and if you looked closely at my weight chart above, the last 3 months have been extremely slow. I don't know what's going on. I don't cheat, I'm always on program but my body has just decided to take it slow. I was very bothered with it, since I'm a perfectionist and I usually like to get things done quickly but I realize now, this is a lifestyle. I'm never going back to eating the way I did and for more reasons than one. I can never eat gluten again, I am intolerant to it and it does terrible things to my joints and skin. Plus, gluten-free and low carb just go hand in hand so it's easy to live this way. Another thing is that I'm happy. I'm not at goal yet but I'm at a point that people actually tell me that I've lost enough. I always wanted to be here and now that I am it makes the slow losing more bearable to know that I look like I've lost enough. 

BTW, Johnny has lost 50 lbs also! He's in the best shape of our 24 year marriage and he's healthier than ever. 

So between the two of us we've lost more than 100 lbs since April. Johnny is maintaining and stays between 158-162 and i'm 170 as of today. We're both a year older but life has never been better. It's amazing what losing 50 lbs can do, not only physically but also the whole outlook on life.

One of my biggest fears has always been my husband's ministry as a missionary being cut short because of my health. I was so fearful and aware that any minute I could become sick and it would be my fault for not doing something about my weight. I'm thankful and glad to be at least trying my best to be healthy and if we have to ever leave the place that God has called us to work in, it's won't be because I neglected the body God gave me.

So there it is, the accumulation of 9 months of faithful eating and I'm pretty proud of it!! 9 short months have changed our lives and I know you can do it too. If you struggle with weight as 90% of us do, it's time to make a change. You can do it!!!

My running story

Well my running story started back on April of this year. I had always envied runners and thought that they must be extreme athletes to be able to run and enjoy it, because why would anyone run if they weren't being chased, I mean really? I just thought they were super crazy type A personalities and since I wasn't I'd never be a runner.

Back in April, right after my 41st birthday Johnny and I began the Atkins diet. After finding out that I had a sensitivity to gluten I cut it out completely and figured it was a great time to start a diet since I was quite over weight. I've always had a weight problem but I had never been able to beat it.
Anyhow I've secretly dreamed of being a runner. Like I said, I didn't even imagine that I ever could run but here I am, I'm a runner.

Weigh-2-Go Monday

Okay, so I'm here and excited about Weigh-2-Go Monday. I'm tickled that I'm actually on my way to goal and I can almost see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. So this week I lost......3.5 lbs. towards my 30 lb. goal. So I am officially down 11.7 lbs! Yeah me! You know what that means?? I only have 18.3 lbs. left to make it to my goal. I think I can totally do this.

So how'd you do? I'll see you here next week for Weigh-2-Go Monday.

Wow!

Okay so guess what today is??? No, it's not my birthday but your welcome to send gifts anyhow. No, today is weigh-in #1. So my goal is to lose 30 lbs by April 4th. Don't say it! I know that's a tall order, it's pushing it for sure but I want it!!

So for weigh-in #1 (drum roll please) I lost 5.3 jiggly pounds!!! Oh yea so that means I only need to lose another 25 lbs in the next 12 week. How'd you do?

another 14 miles and a story

Okay so today Traci and I headed out at 6:30 to ride not knowing how extremely fatigued our legs were from yesterday. If we had been smart we would have just taken the short 5 mile ride but NOOOOO, we opted for the long ride with one little change. We wouldn't take an extra leg of the route but we would shorten the route but about 3 or 4 miles. When we got to the turning point we decided to go for it and so we took off. 

The extra stretch is down a long corn lined country road and back to where we trun to go home. 

At the end of the road I stopped to wait for Traci before we turned around to head back. On the side of the road there was an old farmer selling potatoes. So I'm sitting there trying to recover from the ride so far and the man gets out to chat. Our convo. goes like this:

HIM: where you coming from?


ME: from pribislavec through Belica, Mala Subota

HIM: you need to ride that at least 5 times. (that would be 70 miles)

ME: no, I think once is plenty

HIM: you girls sure like those cakes huh? Ate a few too many?

ME: huh? (in shock) uh, yea 

HIM: you're fine just like you are (as if that would make up for the cake remark)

I translated and Traci and I broke out into a delirious laugh. 

Anyhow, we made the 14 miles. I'm pretty proud of that. Tomorrow, I think 5 miles is plenty.

Cycling, who me?

Yea, me! This morning I managed to ride 14 miles, not only 14 miles but I also burned 1500 calories too! Oh yea! Super great feeling of accomplishment. Heading out tomorrow too at 6:30 in the morning. YEA, I can do it!

New Start

Today is a new day for me and today I started tracking my intake with SparkPeople. SparkPeople is wonderful and so useful. It has all the tools a person needs to keep track of calorie intake and fitness goals. So today is the first day of my lifestyle overhaul. I'm pretty excited about it and motivated thanks to a few friends who are doing awesome.

I know that past failures or even successes don't determine my ability now and I'm on my way.

I'll be posting periodically about my weight loss and or in the unlikely case, gain.

So as of today,
6/30/2010 -  0 lbs. lost

Just Stuff!

If you'll noticed, I've been sporting a Thank You George W. Bush graphic near the top of this blog. A friend let me know that she was putting it on her blog and I just wanted you all to know, that you are welcomed to take it and display it, I made it so no need to get credit. I think he deserves our thanks for doing his best.
Oh yea, remember yesterday when I told you about Weight Watchers online and my new endeavor, well I have a new blog to keep track of my many future victories! For those who were following the old one, well I was going to pick up on that one again but I accidental deleted it, hence the new one. Anyhoo, here's a link to my new blog and I will be weighing in on Mondays so check it out. Also let me know if you also have a weight loss blog and I would be glad to link to it as long as the content is Christ honoring.

Have a great weekend y'all!!!

The Cold Snap is Over

Last night on the way home from church the subject of the unresolved gas crisis came up. Our kids hadn't heard about it and there were many questions. By the time we made it home we had a plan for most situations that could occur and we had discussed the trickle down from the whole situation.

Right after we walked in Johnny told us that the whole gas crisis was resolved.
Alexi Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom said: "We really treasure our reputation as a reliable supplier and are prepared to supply Europe with as much gas as it needs."
Now we just hope this gas super giant sticks to it's word.

Already Bosnia and Bulgaria have been without gas and it was looking scary for us, but Praise the Lord our fear of a cold snap didn't come to pass. I was a bit bothered to realize that if the case had come to pass we would have been sorely prepared. Our stove, hot water heater, central heating all run on gas. Anyhow, it didn't happen and we are warm for a while longer.

We have really been fighting a lot of sickness lately in our church. The week before last our pastor's family of 6 had a monster of a stomach virus, then last week it hit our house, we also have one lady in our church in the hospital and another whole family was sick on Wednesday, so guess who was at church? Just us, yep, I guess it happens sometimes, it never has before but I guess there's always a first time for everything.

I have come to realize that the work here in Croatia will never be easy. It has been a fight since the beginning and it seems like every time we get ahead ol' Slew Foot manages to get his grubby paws on someone in our church and bring them down a bit.

I know that the most important thing about being a missionary isn't ability but availability and obedience. God never said it would be easy but he did give us a job and expect obedience. Anyhow, I don't know why I'm even typing this, maybe it's for me, a pep talk in sorts. Oh well, I guess I needed it.
Oh yea, guess who joined Weight Watchers online this past week? Yea, you guess it, me! My super sweet mother-in-law sent me Christmas money and here I am loving WW online. The food tracker is so easy and the availability to good recipes and food counts is almost limitless, I love it. Anyhoo, I weigh on Monday and I'm pretty excited, I think this WI is gonna be a doosey, I was sick with the stomach virus for 4 days before I started WW so I hardly ate anything and then I've been so good this week and stayed on program and ate my points healthily. I'm excited and I'll probably post Monday with my first week results.

Other that the above, we are just busy with school and life in general. Winters in Croatia are very hard because it's dark by 4:30 and that really messes with your mind. When it gets dark, we start thinking bed but hey from 4:30 until bed a lot can be accomplished. So winter is always hard here but we're managing, not being very productive but managing. We should get used to the early evenings right about time for Spring. Isn't that how it always works, oh well.

Hope you all have a great weekend, stay warm and enjoy the Lord's House on Sunday!

Week 5 on the SBD

Well I have oficially been on the South Beach Diet for 5 weeks. The first two weeks were a bit difficult but then it got so much easier as the cravings disappated. So now, after 5 weeks I am down 14.2 lbs. I'm so excited about it and can't wait for next week.

I'm posting often about my weight loss on my other blog, I'm Almost There, so drop by anytime, the door's open. :0)