Cold Noodles and Weight Loss

Wow I am feeling the love here. Since I am still getting a great a lot of response from my Reader Challenge, I am going to wait until tomorrow to create a map outlining where all of the readers are coming from. Thanks again to everyone for accepting my challenge and for those of you who still have not done so, go to my reader challenge post and comment with your location. Everyone is having fun!

Last night Hubby and I had a relaxing date night. Hubby was so sweet and cooked us some Cold Chicken Satay Noodles and made his with chicken and let me make mine with tofu and lot’s of veggies!

I  sautéed tofu,peas,carrots, and asparagus, mmmmm…..

With a glass of $2buck Chuck! 

I love having date nights at home , it makes for fun in the kitchen!  

After dinner Hubby and I went on a little walk. I have some big decisions to make today and I was in need of a listening ear, Hubby is so good at that!

On our walk we ran into a million other dogs!!! THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!!! Bosco of course does not let them bother him, he is not a barker, thank God! The walk was just what I needed and when we got home we played on the computer together and made a fun networking page for our Thursday night group using ning.com. Has anyone else ever used this for keeping groups informed? It is actually pretty fun!

VERONICA’S WEIGHT LOSS STORY

This morning I woke up early but not to run, instead I am meeting my dear friend Veronica for coffee. I wanted to share a little about Veronica with you all this morning. Veronica approached me a while back and asked me if I could help her lose weight and exercise. She had joined a “biggest loser challenge” at her gym, and wanted to win!!! Well she shares her story with us today:

Long story VERY short, I went from being voted “most athletic” of my high school senior class, to college dorm life living on top ramen and frozen pizzas, to newlywed eating (just a step above our college menu), to 2 children in 3.5 years later, and 25 pounds to lose to get back to where I was before it all started!

Sorry if that intro was a bit confusing, but this is the condensed story of how one day I looked down at my daughter (4 1/2 years) and son (11 months) 3 months ago and finally realized I had no more excuses to NOT exercise and start eating right...so I finally DID something about it!  Of course I had a lot of help along the way however…

Back at the end of March, I started attending our local gym’s step class. During the second class I attended, the instructor announced that she would be starting another “weight loss challenge” the following week.  She explained that each person who wanted to participate, would give the instructor $10 at the initial weigh in.  At that time she would also take our height and our weight, then compare it with the end total that we were down after 6 weeks.  At the end of the 6 weeks, whoever had lost the most body weight percentage would be crowned the WLC winner.  PLUS, get the money in the pot contributed at the beginning of the 6 weeks.  I was so excited and knew that I would definitely be taking that challenge!  Lose weight and get PAID for it....where do I sign?!

It just so happened that the weekend before I was to start this challenge, I had the opportunity to carpool to a Girl's Night Out with some girls from church and I had the amazing opportunity to ride with and meet Bobbi.  Then when we sat down to our meal, I ended up seated next to her again and we had even more time to chat about various topics.  Some of those being healthy eating, my new WL challenge, and I even was blessed to get some tips from her on what I should do to kick this all off.  She was/is very knowledgeable and even expressed that she would one day like to help coach people who are "diet and exercise challenged" (my words not hers ;) along to get on the right track as a profession.  (I think you should definitely pursue that, girl!)  We joked that she would be my own personal Jillian! :)

I met with her the next week for coffee, and she brought along a meal plan and meal/snack ideas etc.  I was so excited to have someone genuinely care and be willing to help me reach my weight loss goal!  The food map she had planned for me was high in protein and lower in carbs.  And it helped start to train my portion control gage to where it should be.  I enjoyed her helpful tips throughout the packet.  And I also enjoy(ed) the REAL Jillian DVD she recommended--30 day shred.  It is 20 minutes of BANG for your buck and it has been a great workout on the days we are busy with tons of errands etc. to do in the day, and I don't get to get to the gym or on a walk with the kids, etc.  I try to do at the very least 30 minutes of cardio every day.  With maybe a day or two off, but I really feel a lot better and energized when I do workout.  I have actually started to love running again and I am even planning to participate in a couple of 5k races by the end of the year!

A few weeks after my chat with Bobbi, another friend of mine recommended Weight Watchers since I was struggling a bit and craving various different things, even though I was sticking to it and the exercise regimen Bobbi recommended. So I tried it and the rest is history.  I am not too hot on the sugar free "junk" that is out there, but WW has definitely enabled me to further understand what portion control and healthy eating REALLY look like, aside from Bobbi's wonderful blog that is ;).  In fact, my plates look a lot like Bobbi's these days, but I just see them in a different way...points-wise.  For me personally, I really like the idea of being able to "splurge" now and then and have it be "ok".  If I know I am going on a night out with my hubby later on in the week, I just save my points so that I don't have to watch him eat all the goodies, and I can join him in indulging!  All in moderation that is!  So for me, it works really well.  I don't feel like I am on any type of "diet" really, even though I sort of am :). I still frequent Bobbi's "snacks under 200 calories" list, and find it VERY helpful when that sweet tooth creeps up!

All this being said, at the end of the challenge I had lost 14.5 pounds in 6 weeks!  I was very excited about this, as not only did I win the title of the WLC winner, AND $100 cash, but I also was well on my way to the 25 pound goal I had set!  Now, 6 weeks after the challenge's end, I am at -23!!!
Now that I am ever so close to my goal, I have definitely realized now more than ever that even though I am back to where I was on my wedding day, it definitely is not distributed the same as it was ;).  But that is ok, because it gives me that much more motivation to get out there and WORK at it! 

Thanks Bobbi for being the wonderful motivator you are, and giving me the amazing kickstart and tools you did to help me ever-so-closely reach my goal!  I truly value you as a friend, sister in Christ, and coach ;).

 

Thanks Veronica for sharing your story, it’s stories like this that get me motivated to get my personal training license and nutrition certificate!! I can’t wait to be able to help more people meet their healthy goals and live a happier and active life!!!