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.

Official Day One

Okay, so I feel like I just need to start posting every little detail now every day to try to keep on track because obviously, for me, doing it mentally or in a journal just isn't working out. So, here we go:

I worked out this morning for about 50 minutes. I did HIIT training on the treadmill:

2 minute walk at 3.0 mph with an incline of 6.0, then a minute jog/run at 4.5 mph with a 3.0 incline, plus a five minute cool down. Total time on treadmill was about 35 minutes I burned about 260 cal.

Following that, I did a Sprint 8 on the recumbent bike:

1:30 Recovery periods with a resistance of 1, 30 seconds of increasing resistance (2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4). With a 2:30 minute warm up and about 2:30 cool down, total time on the bike was about 20 minutes.

Food:

For breakfast (pre-workout), I had an apple. About half an hour after my workout, I had a Crispy Chicken Taco (no bacon) from Chili's (because I needed to finish my left overs from last night). For dinner, I had a side light Caesar salad and a slice of cheese pizza (after dabbing off as much grease as possible) from Original Pizza. I also ate a sugar cookie that had a Hershey's Kiss in it, as well as two 1" by  1" "Chubby Hubby" bars.

Obviously, my dietary choices today didn't exactly do me too well. But, it was also my last celebratory day because I have officially finished my first semester of College (with all A's except for one B).

Even though I definitely think that things should be rewarded, I need to stop thinking that food should be a reward. That's what has gotten me into this situation in the first place. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for me.

Struggling

This has honestly been one of the most difficult things I've ever done. I've never been one to workout, the only reason I was ever physically fit in the first place was because I was in dance when I was younger. And, honestly, I don't believe I've really worked out much since my last post about what I do when I work out. The stress of finals week is upon me and all I can even think about is how I need to study, but I'm so over weight that I can't focus because all I want to do is workout, but I feel like I should be studying and nothing else.

But that's not true, it's just my brain finding a way to trick me into not working out. Will I workout sometime today? I want to, but if I'm being honest, no I probably won't. I just want anybody reading the blog to know that it's okay to struggle with getting started, but you have to push yourself if you want to lose any weight.

And don't weigh yourself often -- just often enough to keep a mental record of your progress (no more than once a week, tops). It is far too discouraging to weigh yourself more than that. I'm no health guru, but I do know that punishing yourself for not losing five pounds in a week does no good, especially mentally. And believe me when I say it is a horrible experience trying to convince yourself to workout when mentally it seems that it's doing no good.

Hang in there, guys! We'll make it through eventually.

The Scoop

Okay. So here's what's going on.

I just turned 19, and I realized (came to acknowledge) that I am overweight.

I'd like to say, "it's not as bad as it sounds," but really, it is.

I am 5'5" female and weigh 165 lbs (hence the url, 165 and losing... it was supposed to be a play-on-words-like thing on the 19 Kids and Counting... did it work?). The normal or "ideal" weight for my height, gender, and age according to a BMI Calculator App from the Android App store (BMI Calculator - Weight Loss) is between about 115 - 144. So, really, to be "normal" weight, I'd only really need to drop 20 lbs, right?

Well, that's the thing.

I used to be a dancer and for a long time weighed between 115-120 lbs. And at the time, it didn't matter at all what I ate, because I was very active because of my dancing. But then after my freshman year of high school, my studio closed and I didn't have the strength to find another one (it was essentially a really bad break-up in my head). So, I became essentially sedentary. And thus, the weight slowly started adding itself on.

Now, I go to college in SD, so let me tell you how discouraging it is to look outside and see 2 or more feet of snow every day to do anything. But, here last week, I decided to do something about the added weight (because my new pants that my mom bought me didn't fit and I about cried).

Before I go into my whole How-I'm-Doing section, let me tell you some things about my university.

1. The food sucks. And by that, I mean it's so good, but it's so bad for you! Believe me, if I could still live off of noodles and Einstein Bro's Bagels, I SO would. But, unfortunately, my body is telling me otherwise. How much are we allowed a day for food according to meal plan? About $7 per day. How much does one meal at These And Those Noodles cost (which is average across the entire university)? About $8. How much does a salad from the salad bar cost? About $10. How much does a two-oz. container of yogurt cost? About $6. Catching my drift? A single piece of fruit costs $2! You'd think that roughly $1300 would be more than enough, but if you're trying to eat any bit healthy more than once a day, you're already screwed. And, as many other college Freshmen, I don't have a job yet. Because I wanted to get used to the idea of college life and being away from the Parents before I thought about working (and let me tell you how much I needed the majority of the semester to adapt!)

Case-in-point: If you wanna eat more than once a day while staying healthy but eating more than 300 Calories, it's not gonna happen. Not for the price we want, anyway.

2. The Wellness Center (clinic/pharmaceutical needs and workout facility) at my University is about a 5-minute walk from my dorm. During the early fall, that is not a problem. But try walking over there in sub-zero weather. It is no fun or easy task! That's pretty much my point on that.

Okay. Progress time.

I've been going to the Wellness Center for four consecutive days. Though similar, I have not done the same workout, though, as I'm losing weight, I'm sticking to a treadmill, bike, and 3-in-one machine that you can use like a stair climber, "treadmill" (kind of), or elliptical.

Treadmill:

Incline	Speed	Time
6	3.0	0:00-5:00
3	3.5	5:00-10:00
0	4.0	10:00-15:00
5	3.5	15:00-20:00
2.5	4.0	20:00-25:00
0	4.5	25:00

Incline	Speed	Time
6	3.0	0:00-5:00
3	3.5	5:00-10:00
0	4.0	10:00-15:00
3	3.5	15:00-20:00
6	4.0	20:00-25:00
0	2.5	25:00-30:00

So, what I do is, if I have time, I go for about 45-60 minutes. The first half hour I usually spend on the treadmill, doing one of these routines. If I don't have as much time (or enough patience to stay on the treadmill for half an hour), I'll do half of one of these routines so I only go for 15 minutes. Then I'll move on to the recumbent bike (it's easier on my hips and back). I don't like the whole count-down time, so I usually look at how far I've gone in counting up time. I usually go for about fifteen minutes with the resistance up to level 5 and usually am able to "travel" about 3.5 miles. Our Wellness Center doesn't have those bikes though where it's truly set up to feel like real terrain -- I've tried it and I hated it. Because it was hard. Finally, I'll either stop there or, if I go an hour, I would do the bike for only 10 minutes and then do the stair climber machine thing I mentioned for another 10 minutes.

My Progress? I'm actually doing well. Since it hasn't been a full week, I haven't re-weighed myself, but I can feel my size 8 Women's jeans getting looser -- a lot looser. The outer appearance is pretty much still the same, but the way my clothes are fitting is already changing. I'm not saying this happens for everyone and I'm not saying I know anything. But, for me at least, I personally find this more encouraging -- that my "fat pants" are starting to feel looser. I'm not trying to squeeze into my size 6s any time soon, but the 8s are fitting less and less and that is the kind of encouragement I need.

Comment or email me with any questions!