My Journey Continued: Fresh Slate For 2014!

No idea! Let me know when you figure it out. It can't last for long, but it may seem like it. Stick with the exercise and watch the diet and it will catch up for you.
 
Well, yesterday I weighed in at 197lb and this morning I was at 196.4lb so HOPEFULLY the scale is starting to catch up. This whole weight loss thing would be so much better if it worked the same for everyone. Some people make it sound so easy. Just cut back your calories and move more and it'll come off. If only it were that easy for everyone.

I got my Taebo in yesterday and today I did Taebo and strength. I'm seeing differences already in my arms and thighs as far as becoming toned so I'm pleased with that.

I usually use Saturday as my rest day, BUT I'm a huge hockey fan and tomorrow morning at 7:30am my time I have a chance to watch team USA vs Russia in the Olympics live. So I'm thinking I'm going to get up to watch it and I'll get a workout in at the same time. I'll have the game on tv and will have my laptop going with my workout DVD. Sunday I'll rest.

Two weeks from today, at this very minute, I'll be on my way to the Domican to swim my Humpback Whales. I cannot wait! I'm starting to feel anxious though. A friend of mine booked her trip for this coming week and she's flying out this morning. With this snow storm we were all stressing her flights would get canceled, but she is on her way. I'm praying that we have good weather the week we go so we don't miss a flight. I'm going to be crushed if we don't make it.
 
Hey, Mandy, sorry you're having such a hard time with the weight. Hope it goes better for you this time. And I hope your trip to the Dominican (not Domican, right?) goes well, too!
 
Hi there - thought I'll pitch in and comment :). I lost 15 pounds in approx a month recently...following some simple strategies and diet tips that worked great for me. The challenge was to keep the weight off and possibly loose more if needed. I've done a lot of research and have finally narrowed it down to a few key things really. The most important being a)increasing your metabolism b)detoxing you liver (naturally..some food types do it) c)avoiding certain types of 'white' food :) etc. Couple all of this with some exercise and you'll remain in the best shape for a long time !

Diet Secrets
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My weight has been stubborn all month. It's really frustrating, so I feel you. Doesn't help that I always lose all will power by the end of the week. We KNOW we can do this, but it's so challenging!

Keep at it, that's what I'm gonna do! At least you're still under 200lb lol. I miss Onederland.
 
kimmyluna said:
Hey, Mandy, sorry you're having such a hard time with the weight. Hope it goes better for you this time. And I hope your trip to the Dominican (not Domican, right?) goes well, too!
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Oops.. yes, the Dominican Republic is where I'm heading. I'm not going to see much of the island itself as I'm only going to be on land the night we arrive and the night we return to shore. The rest of the time I'll be well offshore with the whales on a big boat. We actually anchor the boat out there for the week. I'm excited, but not looking forward to the whole no contact via email, internet, phone, etc. thing. Oh well, I guess that'll be part of the experience!

Loch said:
My weight has been stubborn all month. It's really frustrating, so I feel you. Doesn't help that I always lose all will power by the end of the week. We KNOW we can do this, but it's so challenging!

Keep at it, that's what I'm gonna do! At least you're still under 200lb lol. I miss Onederland.
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Keep at it. That's pretty much all we CAN do. I will say this week has been a challenge, but I'm hoping today goes well. I hope you're doing well.

~~

Well, it's been a few days since I've posted. Just wanted to give a quick update while keeping things honest. My upcoming trip is really starting to effect me in a not so good way. I've been dreaming of this trip for years and with it only a little more than a week away I'm starting to get really anxious. I kind of feel like I'm waiting for something bad to happen which will keep me from going. The nerves from having to fly is also starting to weigh on my mind. I've only flown once before and I was too young to really know what we were doing. This time it's different. I know flying is supposed to be safer than driving, but it's still weight on me. On the other side, I'm worried about missing my flight or having it canceled due to something out of my control. I'm going to be devestated if I don't get there!

With all these nerves I did crack and started eating pretty poorly over this week. I'm still drinking lots of water and I've gotten exercise in every day other than Sun (rest day) and Tues (was too tired after not sleeping well). However, I've been eating too much candy! Lots of snickers (bite sized pieces) and Twix bars (bite sized pieces). My goal for today is to NOT have any of it. It sounds easy enough.

My weight has been all over the place this week. I got as high as 199.6lb, but I feel it was mostly water weight or just from eating too much too late. This morning I was at 197.4lb. I had hoped to be down to 180lb for my trip, but it's clear that's not going to happen. I've accepted it. I just need my nerves to settle down! :(
 
It's perfectly normal to be anxious about such a big event. That trip is going to be awesome and all those anxieties will melt away once your out on the ocean with the humpbacks. The seperation from tech for a while will be nice too. You'll see.

I get nervous with planes too. Just don't have caffeine before you go and once you're in your seat have a couple benadryl and you'll either sleep or at least be calmed a bit. Plus you won't get off the plane sneezing.
 
Hi Mandy, Relax sweetie. You will have a wonderful time! I am SOOOO envious! xoxo Cate
 
Well guys, I was waiting for the shoe to drop and yesterday it did! :(

We woke up to a leaky boiler. The floor was soaked! We had a buddy of my dad’s come over and he basically said we need a new boiler. This one was here when my parents bought the house and they found that it was 20 years old so it lived it’s life. It sounds bad to say, but thankfully as my parents house this expense will be coming out of their pockets. It’s just an inconvenience because we have no heat and cannot shower. We’re living like pioneers right now. Warming up water on the stove to take sponge baths.

So, that was yesterday morning. Last night we spent 3 hours at the emergency vet with my oldest dog because he was having these weird seizure like episodes. He never fell or lost consciousness, but something was definitely off. Being a boxer they immediately wanted to check his heart as heart issues run in the breed. They first did an EKG which showed abnormal beats. Next they did an echo which showed he has a large inoperable tumor on his heart. The vet didn’t think that was the cause of these issues because his blood work showed a very low glucose level. He should be around 100, but his first test said 50. They ran it through again to be safe and the 2nd test showd 37. They took a new sample and tested a third time which showed 55. So now we’re waiting on an insulin ratio test to see if that’s really the issue. For now he was sent home with prednisone to get his glucose back up.

On a good note, I weighed in at 205.8lb yesterday. This morning was 206.6, but that’s probably because I ate pizza at 11:30pm last night when I got home from the ER vet.
 
I'm sorry to hear about the stress going on for you :(. I had to live in a house with no hot water once, it was awful, it was actually a condemned house but the owner never told us. Having to boil water and share baths was not fun at all.

Losing a pet is awful, so I hope your dog isn't at that point yet :(. I lost my cat a few years ago and I still tear up when I remember holding him in my arms. Anyway, stay positive :(.
 
Oh trust me Loch, I know how devestating it is to lose a pet. I lost my Riley (Mason's brother for a different litter) in 2011. He was my first dog as an adult, the first dog who was solely my responsibility. He was 9y 7m old and had cardiomyopathy. Losing him was VERY hard for me. I swear I cried for a month straight. Then last year I lost my bearded dragon Dewey after he had a couple of weeks of seizures with no known cause. I was devestated losing him too. Now all of this with Mason. He'll be 11 in May so I know he won't be around much longer. Typically with boxers their life span is around 10-12 years so I do feel we're already on borrowed time. It just sucks watching them grow old and develop health issues. :( Mentally he is still very strong and alert so I'm hoping he'll hang on for a while longer. We'll see how he does.

~~

I know you're probably all tired of my whinning, but hey that's my diary is for right? So here we go... My nerves are still here strong. Now the added stress of leaving my dog behind while I go on vacation is weighing on me. I am still planning on going on this trip with my mother. Mason will be staying with my dad, who he adores, so I know he'll be in good hands. Initially I thought we'd have no way to contact anyone while we're on the boat for the week, but I found out over the weekend that I can have a temporary email address set up on the boat. I can send and recv emails for an extra fee. That set my mind at ease some since now I'll be able to check on him every day.

On the whole diet and exercise front. I'm going to be honest. Both are very lacking. I'm not eating as well as I should be and I decided I'm not going to exercise this week. Reason being is time and lack of sleep. I have to get up at around 3am Friday to catch my flight and then I'll be getting up at 6am every morning on vacation and about 95% of the time we'll be outside in the sun so I'm trying to get as much sleep in as I can now because I know this trip is going to be draining. So... it is what it is. This weight loss journey is going to be an ongoing battle so taking a two week break will not break me.

Yesterday my TOM finally started which I was very happy to see. I was nervous it would hit me on my vaca, but it should be gone by the time I leave. One less thing to worry about. This morning I weighed in at 196.8lb.

I'll try to get caught up on your diaries tonight. Things are hectic right now so I'm not sure if I'll have time or not, but I will try!
 
Don't worry about whining, because this is the place to do it lol!

Good to hear about TOM! I was going on 39 days when mine finally came, I was like, WTF? Must have been a bad month for us all because that doesn't happen to me!

And congrats on getting below 200lb again, that's amazing! You're really inspiring, even if you're having an off week. We all have them. You do a lot more than I do, so be proud of yourself for how far you've come. Just make sure you don't eat too badly and you'll be okay :).
 
Hi everyone! I'm back from vacation and what a vacation it was. I have to admit I almost canceled and stayed home considering my dog had gotten so ill, but after speaking to our vet she urged me to go. She felt he'd be fine while I was away and my father also told me to go. So I went. I was able to set up an email account on the boat as a way to keep in touch which helped. Thankfully, my dog did do fine while we were away. He's still sick and always will have blood sugar issues, but we're doing all we can to manage it and keep him comfortable.

The experience of snorkeling with humpback whales was amazing! Breath taking! I still haven't gone through all of my photos, but I'll attach a few as a sample. There's just really no words to explain it. When I was in the water with them time really stood still. After one swim it felt like it was only about 15 minutes. Come to find out it was over an hour long.

The crew on the boat was also amazing. They were all very nice and quickly felt like part of the family. There was one crew member who loved to hug. Boy, did he love to hug! I think I hugged him more over this week than I've hugged anyone over my lifetime. And, of course I had to find one to develop a bit of a crush over. I hated leaving him. I really wanted to get know him better and I've been thinking about him a lot since returning home. He was one of the captains and was a lot of fun to be around. It stinks that I'll probably never see these amazing people again, but they were fun to be around.

I didn't weigh myself before my trip as I was focused mainly on getting things organized and figuring out how to handle things with my dog. This morning I weighed in at 197.4lb. Not to bad, but was hoping for a better number. Oh well!

Anyway, it's good to be back. I hope you're all well. :)
 
Wow! I'm glad you went on the trip and that your dog was OK while you were away. I know that was probably a very hard decision to make. Looking at those pics I think A would LOVE to do that! Me, not so much. I'll just look at the pics and pretend I was there too :)
 
Thanks Icy, it was a great trip! My friend and I are aiming to do it again in 2016. I really wanted to go again next year, but don't think I'll be able to financially. We'll see. My dog is still doing ok. His levels are still really low, but he's a fighter. I know his time is coming faster than I want it to, but we're enjoying every day with him as best as we can. I'm trying to accept that some things are just out of my control. It is hard.

~~

Ok, here comes another long post full of honesty. I’m learning more about myself everyday it seems. This past week was H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E in terms of food and exercise. I did not exercise once, although that was my plan. I intended on taking a week to recoup from my vacation. I just wanted to get as much sleep as possible to recharge. Part of that plan was to also eat pretty well to make up for the fact that I wasn’t exercising. Well, that part didn’t pan out. I ate like a pig! I just pigged out on chocolates, chips, ice cream, fast food, etc. As I said it was H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E. I missed being on the boat. I missed snorkeling with the whales. I missed watching the sunrise and the sunset. I missed the crew, especially the one I started crushing on, I just could not get him out of my mind all week! Argh! As a result, once again junk food was my comfort.

I’ve come to a realization though. I’ve realized that I’m just not happy with where I am in life. I’m 33 years old now. I’m single and I’m really starting to worry that I’m always going to be single, but at the same time I’m not so sure I’m cut out to have a relationship I’ve been alone for so long. I have a dead end job where I’ll never advance any higher than I am. The pay is decent, but I feel like I’m stuck in a closet (my office) all day long. Having a desk job sucks. I have no college degree so I guess I’m feeling kind of trapped. To add to that, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this here, but I still don’t have my license. Yes, that’s right. I’m 33 years old and do not drive yet! I’m not sure why. I just never cared to get one. I’ve always had someone to get from point a to point b. There’s just so much I don’t like about my life, but thankfully, most of it is fixable. I just need to dedicate myself to fixing it.

I’m going to start making changes. I’m going to get back on the diet and exercise bandwagon. I really need to start driving so I’ll get myself some more freedom. I’m going to start researching online college courses so I can still work full time otherwise I’d never be able to afford it. I’m also going to try to get better “people skills”. I’m an introvert. Always have been. Writing stuff like this online is easy, but when it comes to striking up a conversation with others I always struggle. I need to get more comfortable in my own skin so talking to people won't be such a huge ordeal.

The problem is that I’m 33 which I realize is still young to make drastic changes, but at the same time I’m also very impatient an want instant gratification. I know I will not get it, but sometimes I feel as though I’m panicing because things aren’t happening fast enough. I don’t know how to fix that part, but maybe as I go I’ll figure it out.

So with all of that said, I’m looking at Monday to get back on track. Why Monday and not tomorrow? I have a funeral service to attend. My uncle’s ex who I was lose too years and years ago passed away and afterwards they’re having a get together at a restaurant so I know I’ll be eating bad stuff. It just makes sense to wait until Monday to give it a go again. I have not weighed in since my last weigh posted in this diary. I will not weigh in until Monday morning as it’s a fresh start for me. I’m afraid to see what the number is and I totally would not be in stock if it’s at 200+ again. We’ll see…
 
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Hi Mandy, your photos are wonderful. I don't think 33 is too young to make drastic changes. On the contrary, 33 is a perfect age to make changes for the better. The older you get, the harder it gets. Good for you sweet-heart. You take control of your life & change the things you think need changing. No-one knows you, better than you do! Feeling good about yourself is so important & I think you have the nous to change what needs to change. There is someone for everyone & I hope you find that special someone. It's time we all stopped sabotaging ourselves & do what we know we need to do to be healthy & happy. Life IS good. PS Our 31 yr old son still does not have his drivers license! xoxo Cate
 
Mandy, you sound so much like me! I'm totally in the boat with you. The last week has been awful for me, I seem to be going through a weird phase. I also feel like I'm stuck in a dead end job (retail for 5 years, ugh) but with bad pay. I didn't finish high school till I was 22. I'm 26 and I can't drive either. I'm stuck in a rut, so you aren't alone.

But I remind myself that life is worth living, and we get by day to day. You have to focus on bettering yourself, and don't let what anyone else might think affect you. I'm introverted too, but once you start getting out there, you'll be surprised how easy it is. You've lost 50lb! Even if you slip up here and there, that's amazing! You're capable of finding someone to share your life with, and you're capable of hitting your goals, just keep trying until you succeed.

Tomorrow I'm also going to start again. Let's make the next several months ours :).

*hughug*
 
Cate, thanks, I hope you’re right about there being the right person out there. Being alone forever is one of my biggest fears. It’s just weird because even though I do feel that way, the thought of being in a relationship is pretty terrifying in itself too! It’s also pretty crumby when I see a guy and feel a strong attraction to them and later find out that they’re already taken or as in the case of this guy I just met on the boat a couple of weeks, a relationship just wouldn’t work between us. Someday… hopefully… I’ll be in a healthy, loving relationship. That’s all I really want. To be happy.

Loch, I do agree that life is definitely worth living. I have had no suicidal thoughts or even thought of just throwing in the diet/exercise towel. It’s just frustrating to think that I’m 33 years old and have practically nothing to show for it. I see former classmates every now and then and they look like they’re doing really well for themselves. I guess it’s just a bit of jealousy rearing it’s ugly head, but being jealous won’t do me any good. Only I can fix my life and I’m going to make an honest effort to do so.

~~

So, as I said over the weekend today starts my journey all over again. I braced myself as I stepped onto the scale completely expecting and accepting to see 200lb+. To my pleasant surprise, I was at 198lb even. Considering all of the junk I ate last week I’m wondering if even today’s weigh in is a low number. I just don’t see how it would’ve stayed this low considering the calorie intake of lately, but we’ll see how things progress over the week.

I did get my morning workout in. Hearing the alarm clock sucked and I was tempted to hit the snooze button, but I made myself get up. It’s time to get back on track. No more excuses. It needs to happen!

Will try to get caught up on everyone’s diaries tonight.
 
Great job on the exercise. I'm happy you stayed in onederland. Probably all the swimming and keeping your sea legs burning up a lot of the junk. The pictures are really awesome! What an experience.

Don't worry over having a relationship. Start by having a moment. Then a conversation. Then a cup of coffee. Don't try to find "the one" and don't worry about where/if things will go. Just have fun and socialize. There is no ticking clock or magical age limit for finding someone. It will happen. Just try to make yourself available to opportunity without trying to make it happen. Have fun!

Yes you can.
 
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