Week 1

Well my first week has come and gone, and it went...well it went ok. After 1 week back to it, I am down 2.4 lbs.  Not bad.. I know. I think watching the Biggest Loser has partially ruined me though, because I see those people losing 5, 10, 15 lbs their first week. I know, I know those people work out for 6-8 hours a day, but it still makes me wish I could do that too! If I could lose that much weight each week, I would be at my goal weight before Summer! Well maybe not, but close to. This week I didnt have much time to go to the gym, so yesterday I decided the only way I was going to get to the gym was to set my alarm for 6 am and go then, before the kids are up and needing to get ready for school. This is my new routine (which I stuck to last time around - you get used to the early mornings pretty quickly) and I am glad I am back to it. Its funny how by 9 am I find myself looking back on just how much I have done already in the day!! Anyway, not too much else to say tonight besides I look forward to posting my before and after photos again!!! 2.4 lbs down, 48.6 lbs to go to my ultimate goal. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.........xo-Brit

tail between my legs

Hello readers! Surprise - I am back.

I am coming back to this blog with my "tail between my legs" so to speak. A few years back I started a new way of life. I completely changed my eating habits and was working out like crazy. As many of my followers were able to see - I had HUGE success. I lost a total of 50 lbs or somewhere around there and was feeling so amazing. I had people constantly PM'ing me telling me how much I am motivating them and one lady even told me that she lost 25 lbs and was completely motivated by me and my blog. Not only was losing the weight making me feel good - but these messages from random strangers as well as people I know were soo awesome. Fast forward a couple years. In the time since I lost the 50 lbs, I have gotten married, gone to Mexico twice, started and finished school among many other things. Unfortunately, during that time, I have also gained some of the weight back. Not only does this make me feel SO awful, but I feel like I am letting sooo many people down! After being the major motivator for so long, I am now turning to people to help motivate me. I have had too long feeling down in the dumps. Its time for me to get out of this slump and take my life back again. The first step has begun. As of tomorrow, I will be 100%, no excuses, back in the same routine I was in when I lost the weight the first time. I am going to mimick what I did then, and (hopefully) watch the pounds melt off me. I have set myself a goal, which is to be down to my ideal weight by December 25th 2013. This blog is now going to be my way of tracking my weight loss, as well as hopefully serve as the motivator it once was to many people. Here we go friends!!!

one positive + one fail

As of yesterday my first week of Shawn being my dietitian/trainer is done...and I was down 4 lbs! yay! I have a major sinus thing right now so my work out this morning sucked. Well it didnt suck but it could have been better. After how I felt when I woke up this morning I am happy I even GOT to the gym. I bet most people would have just stayed in bed. I am just super determined right now.;..... Im good at that. Once I get going with something I generally stick with it. I hate to fail. I just need to do this.
I think my 4lb weight loss this week was pretty good considering my size. If you look at a show like the Biggest loser women who are 30 lbs heavier than me are losing 4-5 lbs in a week, and they work out ALOT. I work out every morning for an hour and a bit, but I am eating really well and thats what is giving me my good loss this last week. Im sticking with it, but its just hard to be as focused when you are sick. I have to just push through it. Hopefully this sinus thing will move on soon.
With the 4 lbs I lost last week I would be happy to lose about another 15ish pounds. I just have to stay focused.
OH and I failed my March challenge. Saturday night we had a St. Patrick's Day party and I was up til 4am. Stupid decision because there was absolutely NO way I was going to the gym on Sunday. :'( I feel so guilty about failing my March challenge which is why I am not taking a day off for my sickness. Hopefully I can go every OTHER day in March besides the 18th.

ANYWAYS now that you know my fail.....its time to move on from todays blog post ramblings..

2 Week update

I am on to day 14 of my March challenge and I am feeling amazing! I absolutely LOVE to go to the gym in the morning. It just starts my day off right. I come home feeling accomplished and happy that I have completed my work out. Something else I was thinking about is how great exercise is for your body. Not only physically but mentally too! If you are feeling stressed, upset, anxious...anything really..... try getting a work out in...it helps SO much.
So last Friday I wrote saying that even though Ive gotten to the gym every day this month so far and have watched what Im eating, I am yet to be down a pound. I was stuck. So I decided to ask my fiance for help. He's in great shape himself and knows a ton about diet and fitness. The reason I havent asked him to help me before is I just have a  tough time taking it from him. If a dietitian or a personal trainer were to tell me "Brit, you need to eat like this...." I would be fine with it...but if he was to say "Brit you need to do this or that" I get defensive for some reason. I just find it hard to take it from him. BUT since I am stuck and frustrated I enlisted his help promising I would follow his work out and eating plan. So on Monday I started and as of this morning (Wednesday) I am down 2.2 lbs! Yay! I am sooo happy to be out of this plateau and I am feeling GREAT!
I basically cut my carbs - not out completely - but I just eat them before a work out or shortly after, and not after lunch. A typical meal plan for the week looks something like this:
-protein shake before work out
-protein shake after work out
-egg whites with one piece of dry brown toast
-huge salad with ground turkey, peppers, onions, a LITTLE cheese and whatever other veggies
-piece of fruit for snack
-meat and veggies for dinner
-and coffee. Thats something I am NEVER willling to give up. I just make sure I drink it with skim milk and only a little sugar.
I also chew gum. This helps me get over any cravings I have and stops me from cheating if my kids have something I want! lol
Anyway! I took my measurements last weekend. I am really excited to compare them this coming weekend to see if there was any change during the week.
Now its time to get off this computer. Ive got 4 kids to look after and a Canucks game to get ready for tonight! xo-B

March challenge

Well I am onto day 9 of my March challenge – to get to the gym every day this month! So far it’s going pretty well. There has only been a day or two where I’ve really had to push myself to get to the gym and if I hadn’t planned this March challenge I probably would have sat at home! So that’s definitely a positive that has come out of this. So far I am yet to see any results on the scale. My body is stubbornly sitting on the exact same weight and its super frustrating. I switch up my work outs every day and make sure I keep my body challenged and guessing. The only thing that I think I could improve on is my eating and I have a plan for that. I am going to try more protein, less carbs. I’ve got to do SOMETHING because at the end of this month I am expecting my wedding dress to come in and I want to look and feel good in it!

75 Days from today I am headed back to Mexico! I am sooo super excited. We are going with a group of 13-15 of us to this amazing resort in Playa del Carmen. It’s the same resort we went to last year. The reason we decided to go to the same resort is because Shawn and I had such an AMAZING time there. It was sooo much fun. Almost every person that is joining us has never been to this resort so we knew that this was a fantastic one to recommend. It promises a great time. When we go next year we will try something different but like I said, for now we knew this was a great one to recommend!

So if it’s 75 days til Mexico that means that it is only 71 days until I become a WIFE! On May 19, I will marry my love J Mostly everything is coming together now. We just have some of the details to tweak but for the most part things are looking great!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! xo-B

PLEASE WATCH THIS!

Just a quick post to share this incredible video....let's stop Kony.

http://vimeo.com/37119711


A "regular" blog post is on the horizon as well but for now....please take 30 minutes and watch this video. Imagine if this was happening to your kids....

Friday Ramblings

I have written and deleted this first sentence many times. Truth is, I LOVE to write in this blog but for some reason lately I have been lacking something to write about. Sometimes I can sit down and just type up a storm and other times I struggle to write one sentence.

I am on to my second full week of working out regularly again and I am feeling great. I am happy to report that after the first week I was down 4.8 lbs! Yay.

I hope to have more time to focus on me again now that I am down to only 2 jobs! I let one of my jobs go recently as it was just too much. After 4 months of having 3 jobs I decided it was time for some breathing room again so I put in my notice. I really enjoyed working at this particular restaurant but working nights is just not my thing. I am an early riser - always have been as far as I can remember - so working all day or looking after kids all day and then heading to work at night was just too much.

So given all this new free time I decided I am going to challenge myself a little, set a goal for myself… this goal is my March challenge…..to get to the gym every day in March no matter what. So far I am 2 for 2 (lol) This wont be all that difficult as I already normally go 6 days a week but the challenge is to make sure there is no excuse that stops me. I was up VERY late (for me) last night so today is a day where I almost took the day off, but I decided to go anyway and Im glad I did!!

Im going to change the subject completely now. I think I have mentioned before how much I LOVE to read. I love a good love story. Yes, I was a twi-hard! Does anyone reading this have any really good love stories that they can recommend? I have read an EXCELLENT book called Passion by a lady named Louise Bagshawe. If anyone likes a love story that involves action and adventure this book is unreal. I could not put it down and any person I recommended it to agreed with me! Xo-B