Well hello everyone!!
I know it's been a while and I feel like I've been neglecting my blog but fear not, I have not forgotten you. I am still working hard and trying to stay healthy.
I have had quite a few slip ups but I don't really call it cheating anymore. It's just eating things I know won't help me reach my goal. But let's be honest... sometimes a girl just needs her chocolate!
I did hit a plateau shortly after the visit to my mom's house. Went nearly 2 weeks without any change on the scale. I have noticed, however, many non scale victories which is always a plus.
I had a bag with clothing that did not fit me anymore ready to go for donation. Little by little I have been pulling things out and wearing them. This to me is the greatest feeling in the world. I mean, I had gone out and purchased some items for work (top, pants and blazer). The pants barely fit and the blazer was super tight not to mention the shirt. I honestly wish I had a picture to show you before. Now: the blazer fits perfectly. I can button it up and the arms aren't tight as heck. I think I bought them over a year ago? Either way, THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME! lol
So far I am at aproximately 40 pounds lost (I say this because I had hit 41 but then gained a little).
I have been finding it harder to want to work out and so I am at a loss for what I can do for cardio. I think I'm too heavy for a bike and walking became to monotonous. Thinking about possibly downloading some workout routines. Any suggestions would be great.
Until next time, keep sweating and smiling!
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Sunday, May 24, 2015
sorry I haven't been posting lately I've just gotten very busy these days. This week has been really hard for me considering it's Shark Week. I'm now at approximately 30 pounds lost which is very motivating but what is even more motivating is the fact that I'm now fitting into clothing that used to be too small for me.
I've started making smoothies which are delicious.
this weekend was a little difficult for me because I went to visit my mother. I ended up eating some white bread as well as popcorn at the movie theater however I tried to watch my portions and I made sure that I got water instead of Pop. I also made sure I got a small popcorn lol. I haven't weighed myself yet however I did come home and work out so I feel hopeful.
here is an awesome chocolate smoothie recipe:
1 banana (frozen)
1 cup almond milk (any flavor but dark chocolate is my favorite)
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs nut butter
You can add chia seeds or greens if you want. I do! You can also add cinnamon or instant coffee granules if you're feeling fancy.
I've started making smoothies which are delicious.
this weekend was a little difficult for me because I went to visit my mother. I ended up eating some white bread as well as popcorn at the movie theater however I tried to watch my portions and I made sure that I got water instead of Pop. I also made sure I got a small popcorn lol. I haven't weighed myself yet however I did come home and work out so I feel hopeful.
here is an awesome chocolate smoothie recipe:
1 banana (frozen)
1 cup almond milk (any flavor but dark chocolate is my favorite)
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs nut butter
You can add chia seeds or greens if you want. I do! You can also add cinnamon or instant coffee granules if you're feeling fancy.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Body positivity and Body shaming (my thoughts)
Since I started this journey I have had 2 people unfollow me on Instagram. These are people who had followed me for a very long time and considered themselves to be body positivity warriors. #riotsnotdiets was the popular hashtag used by one. But I have a question:
Is shaming someone who chooses to exercise and eat healthy (read: diet) not body shaming? How can you promote positivity if you make those who choose to better themselves feel like what they are doing is wrong?
Being body positive means you accept ALL bodies. ALL BODIES ARE GOOD BODIES!!
Whether you're 400 lbs, 115 lbs, handicapable, blind, short, tall, male, female, or a transgender person, ALL OF YOUR BODIES ARE GOOD!!!!
It infuriates me to the point of tears to be made to feel like I cannot be part of this movement because I want to change MY body. MY BODY IS MY BUSINESS!! I do not body police. I do not tell people to lose weight, gain weight or tell them what to eat. I simply share my journey with my friends and family because to be quite frank: without their support I'm not sure where I would be.
I have struggled with eating disorders all my life. Binge eating in particular. I could not control myself sometimes. I had to finish everything on my plate. Fast food was a huge part of the problem. If it was fast, it was easy to grab and eat (and we all know how large those portions are). Now I finally have a handle on my addiction and I am being made to feel like I cannot be part of a community that has inspired me for over a year.
You know what? I AM BODY POSITIVE!!! I AM A FUCKING PIZZA SISTER 4 LYFE no matter what.
Is shaming someone who chooses to exercise and eat healthy (read: diet) not body shaming? How can you promote positivity if you make those who choose to better themselves feel like what they are doing is wrong?
Being body positive means you accept ALL bodies. ALL BODIES ARE GOOD BODIES!!
Whether you're 400 lbs, 115 lbs, handicapable, blind, short, tall, male, female, or a transgender person, ALL OF YOUR BODIES ARE GOOD!!!!
It infuriates me to the point of tears to be made to feel like I cannot be part of this movement because I want to change MY body. MY BODY IS MY BUSINESS!! I do not body police. I do not tell people to lose weight, gain weight or tell them what to eat. I simply share my journey with my friends and family because to be quite frank: without their support I'm not sure where I would be.
I have struggled with eating disorders all my life. Binge eating in particular. I could not control myself sometimes. I had to finish everything on my plate. Fast food was a huge part of the problem. If it was fast, it was easy to grab and eat (and we all know how large those portions are). Now I finally have a handle on my addiction and I am being made to feel like I cannot be part of a community that has inspired me for over a year.
You know what? I AM BODY POSITIVE!!! I AM A FUCKING PIZZA SISTER 4 LYFE no matter what.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
So this week I lost another 2 lbs which brings me to 23 lbs total lost. Woohoo!!
This was, however, that week of the month so I was kinda bad. I had chicken wings on Monday night, chocolate on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday night.
I walked as much as possible and was able to do almost 3 miles Thursday night which took me about 56 minutes. This was due to my feet hurting. I have shin splints which are no fun and they make it hard to walk long distances. I hope that when I lose a bit more weight they won't hurt as much.
Eating clean can be really hard when PMS strikes but I have found a couple items to really help.
Firstly: chia seeds. They have a magnesium which is supposed to be great for helping cramps. They also have 3 times the amount of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. They help stabilize blood sugar, are rich in antioxidants, are a complete protein, good source of vitamin B, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, zinc and copper. Once inside your body they also help you stay hydrated longer and retain electrolytes.
Secondly: Dark chocolate almond milk. OMG it's heavenly. It's also a great source of calcium, vitamin D and has 50% of your daily vitamin B12 intake.
Not much else to report other than I ache all over lol!! Gonna be working harder next week to stay on track as far as food goes.
This was, however, that week of the month so I was kinda bad. I had chicken wings on Monday night, chocolate on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday night.
I walked as much as possible and was able to do almost 3 miles Thursday night which took me about 56 minutes. This was due to my feet hurting. I have shin splints which are no fun and they make it hard to walk long distances. I hope that when I lose a bit more weight they won't hurt as much.
Eating clean can be really hard when PMS strikes but I have found a couple items to really help.
Firstly: chia seeds. They have a magnesium which is supposed to be great for helping cramps. They also have 3 times the amount of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. They help stabilize blood sugar, are rich in antioxidants, are a complete protein, good source of vitamin B, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, zinc and copper. Once inside your body they also help you stay hydrated longer and retain electrolytes.
Secondly: Dark chocolate almond milk. OMG it's heavenly. It's also a great source of calcium, vitamin D and has 50% of your daily vitamin B12 intake.
Not much else to report other than I ache all over lol!! Gonna be working harder next week to stay on track as far as food goes.
 |
| Tex Mex egg scramble with guacamole |
 |
| Spicy chili with avocado |
 |
| Evil Chicken Wings! |
Saturday, April 25, 2015
So...
Hi! I'm Aimee. I'm 33 and here's a little background on my weightloss history to date.
I've always had issues with my weight since the age of 11. I was always heavier than the other girls my age. It never bothered me until it was pointed out by kids at school.
I come from a family of 5. I'm the oldest of 3 children. We were taught at a young age to finish the food on our plates. I remember a time when my brothers wouldn't finish all their food and I was forced to eat the remaining food. I think that's where my binge eating started.
My mom used to make cookies a lot when I was in high school. I was told I couldn't have any when I'd ask. I think this was her way of trying to help me not get heavier, but because I loved food, I would sneak a cookie here and there. I'd sneak candy if I could find any.... I even stole it from my brother's Halloween stash. I never noticed an issue until I was in my final year of high school. I had a class called "body shop" where we would do cardio and weight training. Did I mention I also rode my bike to school almost every day? And when the weather was too bad, I'd walk the nearly 4 km there and back. I still weighed 180 lbs. I didn't realize even though I was physically active, it was all the junk I'd binge on after school that was harming me. Not to mention I was working at Burger King and we'd get 75% off our meals when we were working, so that made up about a third of the food I was eating too.
It got worse when I moved out on my own. I wasn't much of a cook. I started eating a lot of fast food. I estimate I gained 50 lbs in 1 year because of this. This was in 2002.
Fast forward to 2012 and I was at an estimated 300 lbs. I started seeing a new doctor and he referred me to Dr. Poon. For those who don't know, he is a weight loss doctor who specializes in placing obese, diabetic, PCOS and those with fatty liver disease on low carb diets. It worked. I lost 90 lbs. But then due to personal issues, I stopped the diet. One thing I should mention about this doctor is, he said this wasn't a diet. This was a lifestyle change. I don't know how eating 20 grams of carbs a day on phase 1 or maybe 40 grams on phase 2 was healthy. In my Google searching I found an article written by Miranda Malisani, RNCP about the diet. You can find her blog here: http://livelightnutrition.blogspot.ca/2011/12/my-experience-coaching-dr-poon-dieters.html
In her post she states "A weight-loss diet does not equal a healthy diet:" and "Eating less does not equate to losing more". I was brainwashed into believing this diet was the be all end all of diets because it worked for me. I did plateau, several times, but it worked. And I know there will be haters who will tell me "DON'T CALL IT A DIET!!! IT'S A LIFESTYLE CHANGE!". No. Anything that causes you to lose weight rapidly (more than 1-2 lbs per week) and is not sustainable is a diet.
No one told me I should probably try seeing a psychiatrist during the weight loss because I might develop body dysmorphia. For those who don't know it is defined as "a distinct mental disorder in which a person has symptoms of a medical illness, but the symptoms cannot be fully explained by an actual physical disorder. People with BDD are preoccupied with an imagined physical defect or a minor defect that others often cannot see. As a result, people with this disorder see themselves as "ugly" and often avoid social exposure to others or turn to plastic surgery to try to improve their appearance".
When I saw myself after losing so much weight, I still saw myself as being fat. I did not love the person in the mirror and I would constantly criticize myself for not being able to lose weight faster. I started cutting back on my food significantly. You eat very low calories on this diet to begin with. I was cutting that down by half. I wanted to lose faster. My hair started to fall out. I was scared.
So needless to say, I went back to my old ways of eating and I watched the weight creep back over time. During this time I realized and learned a lot of things about myself and what's important in successful weight loss. I learned to love myself as a person, but I still hated my body. Somehow through all the drama, I ended up falling in love and getting married to a man who loves me more than anything and never saw a problem with my weight.
Most recently I had discovered on Instagram, a hashtag that would forever change my perspective on myself... Pizzasisters4lyfe. At first, I just thought it was a bunch of plus sized women trying to be proud of being fat. I learned that this was hardly the case. It is a community of individuals who practice body positivity. What is that? Well simply put, it's learning to be positive about your own body as well as others. Don't put yourself down because you're overweight. The journey to being healthy starts with accepting yourself for who you are and not hating how you look. This unfortunately has attracted a lot of hate as there are fitspo (fitness inspiration) people who see this as glorifying obesity. I honestly don't see it as this as it has helped me to learn that I am a work in progress.
Which brings me to today.
My family has a history of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. I remember being told by my doctor when I was at 300 lbs that my blood pressure was borderline. Well... I had reached a weight that my scale couldn't even measure. It would give me an error. I learned later that it maxes out at 335 lbs. I could hear my blood pulsing in my ears all the time. A quick Google search told me, that was a sign of high blood pressure.
I was scared.
I started cutting out pop and just drinking water. Then I started trying to eat more fruits and vegetables. I cut out junk food. I tried eating whole foods (non processed) and I started to lose weight. Finally, I started walking for exercise.
To date I have lost 20 lbs. I was told by a few women that I inspire them (I've also inspired my hubby to eat better) which made me decide to start this blog.
Here I will track my weight loss progress, as well share my struggles and also healthy recipes. I hope that this will help anyone who has had issues losing weight, or for anyone wanting to start somewhere so they can see, it's not easy, but it's also not impossible.
Aimee
Hi! I'm Aimee. I'm 33 and here's a little background on my weightloss history to date.
I've always had issues with my weight since the age of 11. I was always heavier than the other girls my age. It never bothered me until it was pointed out by kids at school.
I come from a family of 5. I'm the oldest of 3 children. We were taught at a young age to finish the food on our plates. I remember a time when my brothers wouldn't finish all their food and I was forced to eat the remaining food. I think that's where my binge eating started.
My mom used to make cookies a lot when I was in high school. I was told I couldn't have any when I'd ask. I think this was her way of trying to help me not get heavier, but because I loved food, I would sneak a cookie here and there. I'd sneak candy if I could find any.... I even stole it from my brother's Halloween stash. I never noticed an issue until I was in my final year of high school. I had a class called "body shop" where we would do cardio and weight training. Did I mention I also rode my bike to school almost every day? And when the weather was too bad, I'd walk the nearly 4 km there and back. I still weighed 180 lbs. I didn't realize even though I was physically active, it was all the junk I'd binge on after school that was harming me. Not to mention I was working at Burger King and we'd get 75% off our meals when we were working, so that made up about a third of the food I was eating too.
It got worse when I moved out on my own. I wasn't much of a cook. I started eating a lot of fast food. I estimate I gained 50 lbs in 1 year because of this. This was in 2002.
Fast forward to 2012 and I was at an estimated 300 lbs. I started seeing a new doctor and he referred me to Dr. Poon. For those who don't know, he is a weight loss doctor who specializes in placing obese, diabetic, PCOS and those with fatty liver disease on low carb diets. It worked. I lost 90 lbs. But then due to personal issues, I stopped the diet. One thing I should mention about this doctor is, he said this wasn't a diet. This was a lifestyle change. I don't know how eating 20 grams of carbs a day on phase 1 or maybe 40 grams on phase 2 was healthy. In my Google searching I found an article written by Miranda Malisani, RNCP about the diet. You can find her blog here: http://livelightnutrition.blogspot.ca/2011/12/my-experience-coaching-dr-poon-dieters.html
In her post she states "A weight-loss diet does not equal a healthy diet:" and "Eating less does not equate to losing more". I was brainwashed into believing this diet was the be all end all of diets because it worked for me. I did plateau, several times, but it worked. And I know there will be haters who will tell me "DON'T CALL IT A DIET!!! IT'S A LIFESTYLE CHANGE!". No. Anything that causes you to lose weight rapidly (more than 1-2 lbs per week) and is not sustainable is a diet.
No one told me I should probably try seeing a psychiatrist during the weight loss because I might develop body dysmorphia. For those who don't know it is defined as "a distinct mental disorder in which a person has symptoms of a medical illness, but the symptoms cannot be fully explained by an actual physical disorder. People with BDD are preoccupied with an imagined physical defect or a minor defect that others often cannot see. As a result, people with this disorder see themselves as "ugly" and often avoid social exposure to others or turn to plastic surgery to try to improve their appearance".
When I saw myself after losing so much weight, I still saw myself as being fat. I did not love the person in the mirror and I would constantly criticize myself for not being able to lose weight faster. I started cutting back on my food significantly. You eat very low calories on this diet to begin with. I was cutting that down by half. I wanted to lose faster. My hair started to fall out. I was scared.
So needless to say, I went back to my old ways of eating and I watched the weight creep back over time. During this time I realized and learned a lot of things about myself and what's important in successful weight loss. I learned to love myself as a person, but I still hated my body. Somehow through all the drama, I ended up falling in love and getting married to a man who loves me more than anything and never saw a problem with my weight.
Most recently I had discovered on Instagram, a hashtag that would forever change my perspective on myself... Pizzasisters4lyfe. At first, I just thought it was a bunch of plus sized women trying to be proud of being fat. I learned that this was hardly the case. It is a community of individuals who practice body positivity. What is that? Well simply put, it's learning to be positive about your own body as well as others. Don't put yourself down because you're overweight. The journey to being healthy starts with accepting yourself for who you are and not hating how you look. This unfortunately has attracted a lot of hate as there are fitspo (fitness inspiration) people who see this as glorifying obesity. I honestly don't see it as this as it has helped me to learn that I am a work in progress.
Which brings me to today.
My family has a history of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. I remember being told by my doctor when I was at 300 lbs that my blood pressure was borderline. Well... I had reached a weight that my scale couldn't even measure. It would give me an error. I learned later that it maxes out at 335 lbs. I could hear my blood pulsing in my ears all the time. A quick Google search told me, that was a sign of high blood pressure.
I was scared.
I started cutting out pop and just drinking water. Then I started trying to eat more fruits and vegetables. I cut out junk food. I tried eating whole foods (non processed) and I started to lose weight. Finally, I started walking for exercise.
To date I have lost 20 lbs. I was told by a few women that I inspire them (I've also inspired my hubby to eat better) which made me decide to start this blog.
Here I will track my weight loss progress, as well share my struggles and also healthy recipes. I hope that this will help anyone who has had issues losing weight, or for anyone wanting to start somewhere so they can see, it's not easy, but it's also not impossible.
Aimee
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