Friday, March 23, 2012

Forming a Plan

I love that feeling I get when I suddenly have an idea that I think is going to be just fabulous!  I had one of those this morning and I'm so excited to get started.  Maybe I should go to bed early more often because I actually had a few good ideas this morning.  So, back to my idea.  When we bought this house the master bedroom was a mess.  It had all black trim and green walls and it gets very little natural light because of the covered porch.  It also had some really great things to work with like two french doors and a fireplace and the room is a great size.  I interviewed painters and they wanted $1000 to paint the room - that was too much for me.  I really couldn't justify spending that much to paint one room so I decided I'd just paint it myself. 

What a project!!  It took forever - at one point I got mad at my husband and just gave up - for months.  Finally I decided that it had to get done and my husband got on board too and we finished painting it.  It looked awesome - like a totally different room.  I found a great comforter at SteinMart for an even greater price.  I found some curtains and lamps and then found two chairs for the room.  We had a family picture done for over the fireplace and added some accessories and called the room done.  The thing is that it's been bugging me for months because I just felt like I didn't love the furniture placement but really couldn't come up with another arrangement. 

This morning it just hit me - I finally had an idea about how to make the room better.  I ran the idea by my husband totally thinking he'd veto it because it involves buying a small desk but low and behold he agreed to my idea.  The best part is that this afternoon I realized that I have a desk up in my office that I think may really work in that space so I won't even have to buy one.  I also came up with a whole plan to share our closets instead of each having our own which I know will make my husband happy and I think I'll also end up with better space for my needs so it's really a win-win.  So, that's my big excitement for the day.  Sometimes it's just the little things that can make a day.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Take it off Tuesday

I didn't get around to posting on Tuesday but I did weigh in that day.  I was down to 166.4 so that's 8 pounds lost in about a week and a half.  I've been having good days and bad days.  Some days are just easier than others.  The thing that keeps me going is that my clothes are already starting to feel looser and when I put something on I feel comfortable with the way I look in it.  I do not want to be the biggest girl in the room anymore so I am going to keep plugging away at this.  I need to add in some exercise but I've been having a problem with my arm - diagnosed with lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)  today so hopefully once I start wearing this brace I will have some relief and can get moving.  The good news is that I'm less motivated to lose weight so that my husband will like the way I look and more motivated to lose it so that I will like how I look. 

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Take it off Tuesday

Dr. Garcia's Weight Loss Clinic - I had read about another person's success on her blog and I was intrigued.  Fast forward about six months and I was at a dinner for my daughter's kindergarten teacher and one of the other moms was talking about her success with weight loss on this program.  She had been much heavier than I was when she began and had achieved remarkable success and had kept it off for over 5 years.  I was convinced it was worth a shot but for some reason just kept thinking about it instead of doing it.

Finally about 4 months later we just decided to give it a go.  One day I just looked in the mirror and decided that I didn't like what I saw and that I was finally ready to try to do something about it.  I was also worried about my husband's weight gain as was he - so together we started the Dr. Garcia Weight Loss Clinic. 
Low and behold, it was just the thing for us.  We saw results and we saw them quickly.  We were eating a really healthy diet and after a few weeks it was not hard to follow at all.  I went from 175 pounds to 148 and my husband went from 240 to 195 in six - eight weeks and then..... I got pregnant!  I had wanted another baby for years but the truth was that when I got pregnant I actually cried because I was so happy with my new body and knew that I would lose it during pregnancy.  I had a history of miscarriages and I actually miscarried that baby but went on to get pregnant again the next month and was blessed with my adorable Reagan.  I credit the pregnancy & the healthy baby that resulted to my weight loss and new healthy eating habits. 

Fast forward almost 3 years and here I sit again.  Unhappy with what I am seeing in the mirror and you guessed it - 175 pounds again.  We no longer live in Tampa so Dr. Garcia's is out.  I'm not really willing to pay what I paid Dr. Garcia to go to a Dr here because most of the clinics I've found do not have the track record or the expertise that Dr. Garcia's clinic had so I've been half heartily trying to do it on my own using what I learned.  It's been going on for more than a year on and off and it is just not working.  I keep sabotaging and it just seems too hard. 

A few weeks ago I saw a groupon for a weight loss program that included B-12 injections which is one of the things I received from Dr. Garcia so I decided to give it a try.  Saturday I went for my appt. and the whole thing is a big joke - no doctor, no blood work, the woman forgot to even weigh me.  What she did do is try to sell me on a $600/month program that would include Hcg injections which as a cancer survivor I am not able to take.  Ugh!!  What to do??  I decided to get the B-12 injections from her and get back on the do it yourself Dr. Garcia program using what I had learned the first tie around.  I decided to stop sabotaging and just suck it up and make it happen.  And do you want to know why I decided all of these things?  My husband!  My husband and I were having a conversation about what we weighed at different times and he asked what I weighed at a friend's wedding right before I found out I was pregnant.  I asked why then and he said "because you looked smoking' hot then".  So what that says to me is that a) I don't look smokin' hot now and b) I'd like to and c) poor guy didn't mean it that way but I will give him a hard time about it for a while just because I can!  In all seriousness I am thankful that he said that because it was just the kick in the (ever expanding) pants that I needed to take this thing seriously.  So I am on week one.  I started Saturday with the protein detox phase of the plan and am now adding back in fruits & veges.  Day four and I feel pretty good.  The first couple of days were rough but the last two have been so much better.  I feel like the cravings have subsided and that I may actually be able to do this.  I am going to try to track my progress here each week on Take it off Tuesday.  So far I am down from 174.4 to 170.4.  Not so bad - even though I know at this point it is a lot of water weight.  Next week I'll start to add in exercise.  I hope to be in a weight range that begins with 13_ but I would even be happy with something beginning with 14_ at this point and I'm shooting for the beginning of summer - May specifically. So, wish me luck - and determination!!