Latest Update!

Finally, I have a chance to share with you all my progress!

Honestly, though, it's the small victories in this case. Since my last post, I haven't lost much. I weighed in yesterday at about 153.5 pounds. So, not a terrible amount lost.

BUT!

This means I'm sitting better off now than I was last year about this time! I am slowly approaching the end of this semester, which means I am heading into a temporary stress-free zone for about a month, starting about December 16th. WOO!

Which also means that I'll have a fairly significantly less stressful semester to look forward to, and therefore more time to focus on getting into shape.

Now, the unfortunate news is that, although I did order a new FitBit band, apparently Wal-Mart can't manufacture FitBit-quality merchandise (go figure). So, to my dismay, my new band broke. Already. And again.

So, I don't have exact progress numbers to show you aside from what I'm telling you in words. I apologize deeply for my ease in breaking things. I hope to take Black Friday to go and buy the FitBit brand bands somewhere for a little less than usual. Here's hoping!

Anyway, folks. I doubt I'll have much success to report by December 1st, so as of the New Year, I will get back into posting regularly my progress.

Best wishes to all!

Hello There!

Alrighty, folks (do you like my South Dakota accent?). Here's the deal. I am going to wait (I know, again) until the beginning of November (WHAT?!??) to make my next update. I HAVE A REASON!!

I have no data to show you. That's not to say I haven't been kicking my butt (well... I'm still hovering about 40-50%...)! I mean to say that the band on my FitBit (remember that was originally my mom's) broke. Literally snapped in two. SO. I ordered a new band, but until that band comes, I won't be able to give you any data, which means I won't be able to post. And the new band won't be here until the end of September.

So... Why not until November?

That's honestly a good question. The honest answer is that I really want to focus on reaching my next goal. I hit my first 10-pound goal at the end of August, so now I'm down to 155. I want to get down to 145 by my birthday (November 10th). Why I'm not planning to post in October is this: if I don't have the new band until the end of September, all you'll see it about a week of work for September (did I post for August??). So I'll give you everything since my last post some time before the 10th of November. 

Side Note

Hello all, I just wanted to give a quick update as far as my stretchmarks go (I will provide pictures at my next "weigh-in" at the beginning of September). I'm very proud to announce that most of my stretchmarks have almost entirely faded -- all at the hands of working out and losing weight! I haven't really done anything at all in any other regard to make them go down (no intentional massaging with lotion or any other remedy you find on Pinterest, though I've thought about trying them). SO! If there's only one incentive to work out, for me, it's that it makes the stupid red-lightening, as my lovely boyfriend calls it, go away! ROAR! I feel good :)

Check-In Month 1 - Complete

Okay! So, for the most part I'd believe myself to have been fairly successful this go-around of trying to be healthier (at VERY least on the exercise side of things). Here is a list of improvements since June 28th through July 31st:

Goals:
Steps -- 10,000 per day
Miles -- 3.0 per day
Active Minutes -- 30 minutes per day

6/28 -- INACCURATE -- this was my first day with the FitBit, so I didn't start wearing it until about two or three o'clock in the afternoon.
Steps: 2,054
Miles: .94
Active Minutes: 0


6/29
Steps: 6,039
Miles: 2.66
Active Minutes: 0

6/30
Steps: 9,185
Miles: 3.94
Active Minutes: 38

7/1
Steps: 8,304
Miles: 3.66
Active Minutes: 36

7/2
Steps: 7,449
Miles: 3.27
Active Minutes: 30

7/3
Steps: 7,326
Miles: 3.1
Active Minutes: 8

7/4
Steps: 12,565
Miles: 5.49
Active Minutes: 49

7/5
Steps: 1,507
Miles: .64
Active Minutes: 0

7/6
Steps: 9,416
Miles: 4.3
Active Minutes: 26

7/7
Steps: 3,693
Miles: 1.56
Active Minutes: 0

7/8
Steps: 4,865
Miles: 2.06
Active Minutes: 0

7/9
Steps: 13,955
Miles: 5.91
Active Minutes: 69

7/10
Steps: 11,219
Miles: 4.88
Active Minutes: 84

7/11
Steps: 19,747
Miles: 8.36
Active Minutes: 167

7/12
Steps: 7,998
Miles: 3.38
Active Minutes: 50

7/13
Steps: 4,686
Miles: 1.98
Active Minutes: 0

7/14
Steps: 3,350
Miles: 1.42
Active Minutes: 0

7/15
Steps: 3,270
Miles: 1.38
Active Minutes: 0

7/16
Steps: 4,878
Miles: 2.06
Active Minutes: 0

7/17
Steps: 8,528
Miles: 3.66
Active Minutes: 47

7/18
Steps: 4,054
Miles: 1.75
Active Minutes: 12

7/19
Steps: 7,719
Miles: 3.32
Active Minutes: 38

7/20
Steps: 3,109
Miles: 1.32
Active Minutes: 0

7/21
Steps: 7,939
Miles: 3.56
Active Minutes: 27

7/22
Steps: 4,452
Miles: 1.88
Active Minutes: 0

7/23
Steps: 9.712
Miles: 4.11
Active Minutes: 49

7/24
Steps: 3,629
Miles:1.54
Active Minutes: 0

7/25
Steps: 7,638
Miles: 3.23
Active Minutes: 16

7/26
Steps: 5,335
Miles: 2.26
Active Minutes: 0

7/27 -- INACCURATE -- My FitBit stopped recording shortly into the day because I forgot to charge it that day. This was actually one of my HIGH activity days because I went to Zumba at Lifetime Fitness with a friend of mine. So these numbers are actually very off.
Steps: 2,535
Miles: 1.07
Active Minutes: 0

7/28
Steps: 2,725
Miles: 1.15
Active Minutes: 0

7/29
Steps: 4,044
Miles: 1.71
Active Minutes: 0

7/30
Steps: 9,463
Miles: 4
Active Minutes: 45

7/31
Steps: 2,288
Miles: .97
Active Minutes: 0

Sleep -- For those who don't know, dark blue means asleep, teal means "restless" and pink means awake.

So, as you can see, I haven't done fantastic. But because of a dramatic cutback in proportions, the additional fitness that I hadn't gotten in previous months, and additional/consistent sleep (usually about 7 hours) schedule, I actually just today hit below 160! So, that means I lost about 5 lbs in just over a month. It's a very slow and irritating process, but there are other successes throughout -- like today: the machine I like to run on at the gym is the Precor elliptical that looks like this:

This, in my opinion, is a very beautiful machine. They have it both at Lifetime Fitness and at the Wellness Center at my college. What it does is you change what level the ramp is at to change what muscles you're targeting (the lower the number, the lower down your body you go -- I like putting mine at either 5 or 6 because it targets all the muscles in the legs) and then you adjust the resistance. My accomplishment not only was that I was put the resistance up to 5 (up from 3 that I used previously cause I'm kind of wimpy), but I also was able to go for 30 whole minutes without needing to take a break! I'm usually about dead by the end of 20 minutes, so I was very proud of myself! This machine can tell you how many strides (steps) you've gone, how many strides you take per minute (average), and the distance you've gone. You can either have time count up or count down. You can adjust how long you'll work out using the up-down arrows on the upper-right part of the screen. You can put in your weight and age for a more accurate reading. It tells you how many calories you burn. It can also tell you your heart rate. It's all together a wonderful machine that I attribute much of my success to.

I should also mention as an after thought that 7/9-7/14 I was visiting my wonderful boyfriend. He is huge into going on walks (which I love), so that's why my numbers were so high because we like to go on long walks late at night. On top of that, we also like to walk around the nature park or Walmart (or, usually, both). 

I'm a Terrible Person

Guys, I feel awful for how horrible I am about sticking to things (blogging, dieting, working out). It's a really, REALLY bad habit of laziness. But, here's the best "plan" I can come up with:
Once a month, within the first week of the month, I will try to make a post about my progress. Maybe I'll include pictures, maybe I won't. It kinda depends on how life is going at the time. My current motivation that I've shared on IG @aaandersen1772 with #expensivemotivation is my semi-new (it was my mom's but she used it for about a week) FitBit. I know this is a little mainstream-y and apparently the meat-heads are using them, but I'm on day 2.5 of using it (woot?) and so far, SO GOOD!!
So, here's my post for July (hey, look, I'm ahead?!):



So far this summer, I have had close to no (if not just straight-up no) progress. With a lack of motivation, lack of knowledge of what I need to be eating, when, and how much, and an extreme case of frustration when I'm starving by MyFitnessPal (MFP) tells me I'm 100 calories over (or, if I'm under at ALL, that it won't track my progress because I'm not eating enough?). So I've been working out here and there, mostly just maintaining the weight I've been at for about a year now.
I've been asking my mom for a FitBit (or something like it) for a couple months now. When she and I went to Lifetime Fitness together, we were talking about fitness and such over a Berry smoothie (I really can't remember which one it was, but it had blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. So, if you go to LTF, you should know which one I'm talking about. It was pretty good!) I was telling her about the off-brand FitBit a friend showed me on Amazon, and suddenly my mom tells me I could have her FitBit. WHAT!? She said she never had the patience to learn how to use it, so, low and behold, I HAVE A NEW FITBIT!

(Insert Picture of  the "Now" screen from any SPN season/episode here)

I have an android as of right now (Samsung GS3), although I'm thinking I might make the switch to the Dark Side because I like how you can call, text, and all that jazz on both iPhone and Mac... it's the big things. Beside the point, I have the FitBit app on my phone and every so often I sync the app with my FitBit. This can also be done via computer with the "dongle" USB that comes with the FitBit, as to sync with the phone requires you to use Bluetooth. It tracks just about everything! Steps taken, miles walked, calories burned, active minutes, it lets you track your exercise (as in, if you go for a run outside, you set the thing to log and it'll map out the route you take), it has a constant reminder of how many pounds you have yet to go until your goal (which it's recommended you do short-term goals first [like instead of saying you want to lose 30 lbs in 8 mo, you set it to 10 lbs in 2.5 mo), it tracks your sleep (which I think is really, really neat), it tells you a "budget" of calories in and out, so how many calories you take in (eating) by how many you take out (working out), and then it tracks how much water you've had. PLEASE NOTE: MOST OF THIS STUFF YOU DO HAVE TO TRACK ON YOUR OWN (e.g. food, water, mapping your route, and physically pressing the 'log' button to track sleep).
My favorite thing about the FitBit, why I think it'll work, and why I'll most likely recommend you get one yourself (or something like it, I know how incredibly expensive they are and I personally think the other brands would work just as well -- do check to see if the other brands have a compatible app, which makes it easier to keep track) is that you wear it constantly. Yeah, the plain, black band (which is what I have, though you can certainly get other, more attractive bands) looks a little... odd (kinda looks a little like a house arrest band), I'm always wearing it. The battery life seems outstanding -- I charged it for about 4 hours (not a particular science here, just was busy with other things for that amount of time) and have been wearing it ever since -- this was two nights ago and the battery says it's still at about 50% (medium).
That seemed a little jumbled, so I'll rephrase:
I love the FitBit because I'm wearing all the time and it's a constant reminder that I need to not go for the Cheezits, but the grapes. Not the ice cream, but some water. (More or less). It's a constant reminder that I need to get up and be active! And it's a constant reminder of my goal and how I would love nothing more than to fit back into size 6 jeans by Christmas (if not sooner...).

So, how's my progress? I'd give it about a 65% -- I didn't workout yesterday or eat the best for dinner, but today, I must say, I kicked butt and made up for the not-so-healthy dinner I ate with my parents. Tomorrow I plan to kick some more butt (specifically mine) to try to fully attain my goals (I was about 800 steps away from my goal today... SO FRUSTRATING!!!)

Good luck to you all on your fitness endeavors as well, and I shall see you in a month!

Still Struggling

I think it goes without saying that I can be a bit of a quitter, I can be extremely weak, and I'm way too affected by my surroundings. So, even though this probably won't work because I'm awful at doing this (as we can see by previous posts), I'm gonna try one more thing before facing the facts that I'm no longer destined to be skinny mini me.

Back story:

I've never had trouble with my weight -- for about sixteen years I was the same, steady skinny track that I'd always been on. I also, however, played soccer and softball each for a few years, then did dance for a good four years. So when my studio closed at the end of my freshman year of high school, I just couldn't bring myself to find a new studio and fell off the in-shape wagon. To my honest surprise, I began gaining weight, slowly at first. I didn't ever notice the progression because it took a few years to get where I am now at 19 years. Now, I'm not obese by any means, but I am over-weight. And let me just say, it sucks. But no matter how much I hate it, I still find myself lacking motivation. I think it may be because I don't have to look at myself very much (avoiding mirrors is pretty conducive to not having to look at yourself).

But, despite my laziness, my mom and I went ahead and bought a gym membership for the summer because I'm getting really sick of looking at all the "skinny bitches" (that I could've been had I kept working out) and wishing I looked like them instead of how I look now (or feeling like I'm not sexy, or unattractive for my bf, or however you want to put it. How I feel = lacking self-confidence, and it's purely because of my weight gain).

I'd also, before I get into my thoughts, like to just throw out there that I'm not saying I hate myself (so please don't go preaching to me about how I have to love myself and blah blah blah. I couldn't care less). In my humble opinion, loving myself is getting myself into a better, healthier shape, which I'm nowhere close to now. I don't have a good diet and I don't exercise whatsoever. So, really, if I kept the same number on the scale but was more toned and didn't have so many rolls, I would be absolutely ecstatic. But that's not the case, so I'm doing this:

I am going to suck up all the embarrassment that this may cause me and just push it all aside. What I'm going to do is keep a diet/exercise journal outside of the internet and once a week, I will take a few hours to update how my week has gone, log my journal entries on here, and post new pictures of my personal progress (yes, lucky you, you get to see me in my sports bra and panties. Hope you like chub, because it's not that flattering for me.) Oh, and also I'm trying to get rid of the discoloration that has happened with stretch marks all over my legs, so I'll be posting about how those are going and what I'm using to make them better. That all being said, here are my pre-workout and pre-stretch mark lightening photos:

Pre-Workout:

Pre-Lightening:

I would hope this goes without saying, but some people don't know better: don't be a dick; please keep your insults to yourself because this is my attempt to try to better myself and change from this to someone who you wouldn't make fun of, so just hold all that negativity in.