January 2015 - Weight Loss Results

So I've decided that I will do monthly updates on the blog about how my weight loss is going.  Again, I'd like to remind everyone reading that though I am once again trying to lose weight, I am not making this the main focus of my life.  Therefore, the results may not be HUGE every month.

But perhaps taking a more recovery-focused path will make the results, whatever they are, huge in a way.  Because it's nice to be losing weight while still loving my body.

I love my body for what it does, and for sticking in there despite years of my not taking proper care of it.  It's mine, and it's the only one I will get, and I love it.  Thanks, body!  You freakin' rock.

So here are the stats:

Starting 2015 weight: 255 lb

Weight lost in January 2015: 10 pounds

Current weight: 245 lb
Total weight loss in 2015: 10 pounds

I'm pretty happy with the weight loss.  So much fluctuating happened in January, reminding me that even weekly weigh-ins may be too much.  I'm going to only weigh in twice in February because of this. 

Here are my progress pictures so far:

Official 2015 "BEFORE" picture:

January 2015 Progress Pictures:

Any realizations learned, any EDNOS progress made in January:

The biggest thing that happened this month, ED-wise, is that I binged a few times.  I recognize that I have a problem with binge-eating, and that I need professional help with this problem.  I am now on two waiting lists:  one for a psychiatrist and one for a psychologist.

I am also super proud of myself for blogging 8 times in January!  I would love for 2015 to be the year that I get back into regular blogging.  The last 3 years have had very sad total blog counts at the end of the year.  :-(

So this will be a monthly blog entry: Results.  I wonder how much I will lose in February?

-25 Pounds Progress Pictures!

So this happened yesterday:

And I was pretty excited.  I am still recovering from the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ankle break.  I'm not allowed to put any weight on my left leg.  

Therefore, I usually skip exercise.  I say "usually" because there have been a couple of times that I tried to do some upper body stuff, but I didn't enjoy it at all.  I prefer being able to use my entire body when I exercise.  

Anyway, my pants have been feeling loose lately, so I went ahead and weighed in and YAY another goal reached.  I'm excited about it.  This means that all I have to do now is repeat the process of losing 25 pounds three times, then keep it all off forever (the hardest part).

I can do this.  

So here are the latest progress pictures:

I honestly just don't see a huge difference between 254 and 240, but oh well.  I know I've lost the weight, and I know my clothes feel loose.  (Also, LOL at my pinky when I take selfies)

I'm not truly following the Slim Fast plan anymore.  It got old.  So now I basically just watch my portions VERY carefully, and replace only one meal a day with a shake or bar.  It's hard to lose weight while immobile, but if I count my calories, it's not impossible.

I hope that all of you are having great days!  xoxo

10 pound progress picture, and some athletic goals...

Here's a fun progress picture of me!  I started at 265 pounds, and got down to 253.8 a few days ago, and took this picture yesterday.  I didn't take an official "before" picture, but I do plan to take all progress pictures in this swimsuit (which is way too small right now, but really shows my shape, which is great for progress pictures).

I wrote a list of goal weights, and I plan to post a new picture whenever I reach one of these milestones.
-10 pounds (255): 7/10/2014
-25 pounds (240)
-30 pounds (235)
-40 pounds (225)
-50 pounds (215)
-60 pounds (205)
-75 pounds (190)
-80 pounds (185)
-90 pounds (175)
-100 pounds (165)

Sometimes I get sad that I'm not naturally thin, or at least naturally inclined to make  healthy choices.  Unfortunately what comes naturally to me  right now is to eat crappy food when not even hungry and to sit around a lot.

But I'm not giving up on my quest to be healthy, just because it doesn't currently come natural to me.  It may take a long time to develop a healthy relationship with food, and it may take a long time to become truly naturally inclined towards healthy habits. 

For now, I need some structure.  One thing that has always helped me become healthier is training for a race.  I can't afford a gym membership currently, so it will be tough for the first month or so until I get a paycheck (new job starts on Tuesday!).

But for now, my apartment has a small gym and a pool, and I have a bike.

So... I'm going to be keeping this event in mind:

That's right: the Music City Triathlon!!!  Not this year's, because that's in one week.  But apparently this is an annual event, so I have an entire year to get in shape and train for next summer's race.

For now, I'm just going to swim, bike, and run regularly.  I will be training for the Sprint Triathlon, which is a race of 400m swimming, 22k biking, and 5k running.  If I rock it, maybe I'll try the Intermediate Triathlon in 2016!  ;-)

Here's this week's exercise schedule:

Sunday- bike

Monday- cross train: elliptical

Tuesday- rest

Wednesday- swim

Thursday- walk/run intervals

Friday- bike

Saturday- rest 

I'm thinking about the triathlon, I'm going to train for the same half marathon that I did last year, maybe even going for the full 26.2 next year.  I've been told that training for a triathlon will help my running alot.

Have you ever trained for a big race like a 

marathon or triathlon?  

B.S.

Before Sonoma.  ;-)

As I mentioned in my last post, I am going to be starting a new dieting adventure soon, in the form of a three month dedication to eating as prescribed in The New Sonoma Diet by Dr. Connie Guttersen.  Also, I will be reviewing this book for you guys.

I thought that it would be a good idea to document this review every step of the way.

I thought about waiting until after the LSAT to begin, but I can't seem to stop my "last supper" eating, and I know how much weight I could gain by June 16th if I keep this up so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead and get right into this new way of eating on Sunday, June 2nd.

Since I am jumping head first into another diet (though I will be mostly calling it a "way of eating", which to me is less negative), I couldn't skip the most fun part.

For those of you who have ever set a start date for a new diet, you know that the most fun part of this is to engage in "last supper" eating.  So naturally, I couldn't skip out on that.  Here is what I bought today, to be consumed before the diet begins on Sunday morning (with plenty of help from Stacey, no doubt):

Jacques approved.
Not "NSD" approved, though...

Yeah...  I'm not proud of having done this, but I wanted to continue on in my honesty  here in the blog.  Whatever is left of this on Sunday will go straight to Stacey, who will not be joining me with this new way of eating, but who will enjoy the meals that I cook.

So here I am, starting a new diet.  In my progress photo outfit, I think that I look pretty good:

But that can be deceiving, so I thought that I would take some REAL progress photos, featuring myself in a sports bra.

Here are the "official" BS pictures:

BUT... I don't want anyone to think that my number one goal with this new way of eating is to get smaller.  Nope, my number one goal is health.  (Longevity is my ultimate goal, but I know that even great health cannot always guarantee a long life.)

I just want to do a thorough review for you guys, and I know that many of you will probably want to know if I lose any weight during these three months.  While I am not going to weigh in, I have no problem taking progress pictures.  And YES, I would love it if I got smaller, at least small enough to fit into my 14's again, but that is not my #1 goal with this.

Because I am reviewing the diet, I am going to have to see if it lives up to its claims.  One of the claims that The New Sonoma Diet makes is right on the cover:

"Trimmer Waist, More Energy 

in Just 10 Days".  

I pretty much call BS on that claim, but I will be posting updated photos after the first 10 days, as well as reporting on any notable differences  in my energy levels.

The first 10 days are more restrictive than the rest of the plan, but still don't seem too bad.  For me, the hard part is going to be giving up ALL JUNK FOOD.

Yes, me, the junk food queen (a recent title I reluctantly gave myself) is going cold turkey off of the stuff.

In that way, this diet is VERY restrictive.  But in actual amounts of food, it is not restrictive.  And in the fact that I don't have to count calories (or anything else), it is not restrictive.

There is a list of foods to choose from for Wave 1 (what the first 10 days are called).  This list includes unlimited amounts of "tier one" vegetables and fruits, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats.

guidelines for what to eat on Wave 1

I generally call BS on the idea of making any vegetables or fruits off limits, but I am going hard core here, so will abide by the tier one boundaries for the first 10 days.

The good news is that pretty much all of my favorite vegetables to cook (peppers, onions, squash/zucchini, asparagus) are tier one veggies.  The bad news is that my favorite fruit to eat is a tier three, which means no bananas for 10 days.  But I can deal.

Okay, so my plan is to begin first thing Sunday morning, which means that I need to prepare my kitchen accordingly.

I'm planning to spend a part of Sunday preparing for the rest of the week.  Getting all my vegetables chopped up and in containers for easy access for cooking quick meals throughout the week, cooking a giant pot of brown rice to use throughout the week, same for some beans, and defrosting some fish.

Another thing that I'm going to try to do:  Blog my eats every day of Wave 1, including pictures, for you guys.

Okay, I think that I'm ready to go now.  I'm looking forward to starting this, despite the withdrawals I'm bound to have...  I will miss my chips, pizza, and cake.  But none of those should be eaten regularly by someone who wants to be really healthy.  So, I'm doing this.

30DoB - Day 13 - My blog's name...

"Leah: The Kind Weight Watcher" is the name of my blog.

The reason that I gave it that name no longer applies, but I am keeping the name because it still applies to me and the blog for different reasons. 

Why "Leah: The Kind Weight Watcher"?  My original reason was that I was planning to combine Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet with Weight Watchers.  Meaning that I was a vegan Weight Watcher.

And that remained true (on and off with the WW part, but mostly on) for two whole years.

Then some terrible things happened in May and June of this year, which resulted in my taking a break from both vegan eating and weight watching of any kind.

And I've decided that for now it makes more sense for me to stick with vegetarian eating instead of going back to a vegan diet. My reasons for this are personal, and I'm trying very hard to not feel guilty about it.  Different eating styles work for different people, and this is what is working for me now.  I hope that all of my vegan readers are understanding of this.

I gained 40 or so pounds quite quickly between May and June.  I tried to get back into Weight Watchers and My Fitness Pal or any other tracking system, and have pretty much decided that they are not for me anymore.  At least, not for now.

So, if we go by the original reasons for the title (vegan eating and Weight Watchers), the name no longer applies.

But, I have new reasons for keeping the name.

One is that I'm working very hard to be KIND to myself in all areas of my life.  I'm trying to give myself a break, not beat myself up for not being the same person that I was before May 27, to not be too hard on myself for being obese again, and recently I'm trying to be kind to myself by introducing healthy foods back into my daily diet.

I don't look like this anymore, and that's okay.

I'm NOT watching my weight anymore.  I've decided to go by measurements, progress pictures, and how my clothes fit.  These are more important to me than the number on the scale, which can be confusing and mean (in my opinion).  So I've put the scale away again.

But, (and this may be a stretch), I am watching my emotional baggage, which could also be called emotional weight.  I see a counselor weekly, check in with family in friends regularly, and try to take time every day to make sure that I am doing okay.

what I look like now - and that's okay

So that's why the name is still the same.  The name of my blog now has nothing to do with food, eating, or weight.  It's about self-love.  My being kind to myself and watching my "emotional weight".

In case anyone was wondering.  :-)

my back to school plan (and some unflattering self-portraits)

I'm doing a three-in-one kind of post, since it's been a while since my last post and I have three things that I want to talk about.
The first thing is that I ate a yummy dinner tonight that I'd like to share with you guys. 

It may not look pretty, but this meal was great!

ingredients: brown rice, lentils (from dried), peas (canned, no salt added), and tomatoes (canned, with celery and green peppers), EVOO, salt

directions: Cook the rice and lentils according to instructions.  I used 1/2 cup dried lentils and 2 cups of cooked brown rice.  Combine the lentils and rice together.  Add the peas (about a cup) and tomatoes (entire can) and stir up.  Add a tablespoon or less of EVOO (I  used two teaspoons).  Salt to taste.  This recipe probably will be about 4 or 5 servings.

Secondly, I'd like to show some reverse-progress pictures.  Or "here's what I look like with some holiday weight on, squeezing into some new size 14's that would have fit perfectly only a couple of months ago" pictures.

And I want to make this perfectly clear:  I'm not upset with myself about this gain.  I had a LOT going on in my life, and eating right and exercise both took a backseat to those things.  But I wanted to be honest with you guys.  I haven't been weighing myself, but the last time I weighed in I was about 156 and I have not gotten any bigger since then, so I assume that I'm still around there.

I adjusted the saturation on Picnik!  Now it's "art".

neck... not too shabby.

ummm... I need to do some work on the ol' triceps.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, here's what I'm doing to get back down to a more comfortable size, and I'm calling it My Spring Semester 2012 Plan (clever, I know):

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Breakfast- Luna or Lara Bar + piece of fruit
Snack (if hungry)- fruit or nuts
Lunch- sandwich, veggies, pretzels, fruit
Exercise- gym class
Snack (if hungry)- veggies, redvines, yogurt, fruit, OR nuts
Dinner- something cooked that includes whole grains, veggies, and healthy fats
Snack (if hungry)- popcorn, pretzels, yogurt, fruit, nuts, cookies, ice cream, OR veggies
Before bed- tea

Tuesday, Thursday

Breakfast- oatmeal with peanut butter and piece of fruit OR cold cereal with piece of fruit
The rest of the day- just like MWF

Saturday, Sunday

INTUITIVE EATING
Exercise- walks, cardio at home, or DOR

Random Rules for every day-

Never buy chips at grocery store, can only eat chips when out .  Substitute with pretzels, baked potato, popcorn, etc. This is because chips are a trigger food for me to binge on, but for whatever reason, those other foods are not.

Exercise at least 6 days a week.  2 days a week do cycle class, 1 day a week do yoga class, other days mix it up.

No calorie counting unless I feel like I'm gaining weight; just go with hunger signals and follow the basic plan as outlined above.

And that's the plan!  :-)

This loose(ish) plan is to help me stay focused without being obsessive.  All the foods listed on Monday through Friday are favorite foods of mine, and the calorie count will be anywhere from 1200 to 1800, depending on which options I choose. 

I won't be tracking calories or PointsPlus, and will be listening to my hunger signals 100%, every day at every meal and snack. 

I will be switching up my exercise routine, which will probably help me out quite a bit.  I'm finally going to be taking advantage of my "free" membership to the University of Memphis gym and will be taking cool classes like kickboxing, spinning, zumba, and yoga. 

I'll take monthly progress pictures of the same three areas, and hope to fit comfortably into those way-too-tight jeans by the end of the semester, which is May 5th. 

Okay, that's it for now!  I hope to post again soon.  By the way, I'm back down to 199 followers, so if you want me to do a 200 followers giveaway, please tell a friend about my blog.  :-)

Do you follow an eating and/or exercise plan? 

How is it going for you?

Christmas 2010 vs. Christmas 2011

Same outfit, same weight.  I spent 2011 trying to lose weight, but I ended up basically maintaining.  I'm pretty happy with that, actually. 

I'm not weighing in at all right now, and have decided to go with how I feel in my clothes instead of what the scale says for 2012.  I have a bit of post-holiday chub going on at the moment, and my formerly loose 14's are now a bit snug.

I'm going to post another picture-post later about  my first experience with sunbutter spread... 

I hope that all of you had a happy holidays, and I wish you all only the best for 2012. 

Let's make 2012 a year of health, happiness, and prosperity, okay?  Seriously, we can make it happen.  :-)  Cheers.

Lose 12.6 by Xmas Week 1 results!

Start weight- 166.6
This week's weight- 164.0 (-2.6)

This week's measurements (+/- from last week)
neck- 12.0 (-1/2 inch)
upper arm (widest part)- 13.5 (-1/2 inch)
bust (widest part)-37.5 (-1/2 inch)
bust (below breasts)-33 (-1 inch)
waist (smallest part)- 31.5 (-.25 inch)
waist (belly button)-36 (-2 inches)
hips (widest part)-45.5 (same)
thighs (widest part)-24.5 (-3 inches)
thighs (halfway between knee and crotch)-21.5 (same)
calf (widest part)- 14.5 (same)

total inches lost 11.25 (counting arms and thighs twice)

Hmmmm.  So in one week of getting back on track, I can lose almost three pounds and several inches all over my body???

That seems like a lot, but I measured correctly.  And you can see the difference in these progress pictures, the first one take a week ago. 

My guess:  Water weight and bloat.  I think that I was carrying a lot of water weight around, and now it's gone.  And that makes me happy!  The scale says I'm lighter and so do my jeans.  :-)

I'm sure that the results this week will be less dramatic (though I would love to lose an inch or two of hips before this is all over!) and that is fine with me.  I have 10 pounds left to lose and 9 weeks to get there.

I CAN DO THIS!!!

Weight Gain confession.

If you look at my weight loss ticker up there, it looks as if I have all of a sudden gained nearly 17 pounds overnight.

...but it wasn't overnight.


I have been fooling myself for a while now regarding my weight. I would skip weighing in for a couple of weeks, and then put the scale on the carpet, or lean a bit on the wall, or stand on my tippy-toes, pretty much ANYTHING to get the scale to tell me than I hadn't gained weight.

Yep, I know it makes no sense to do that stuff. I know that if my clothes are tight, it means that I've probably gained a few pounds. I know that I can lie to myself about my weight gain, but my pants are still tight and the scale doesn't lie.

So... embarassed as I am to admit this, I have gone from a WWer who has lost 70+ pounds to a WWer who has lost 53 pounds, all since June 11.

And the lying to myself (and to you guys) stops now.

I stepped on the scale on Saturday morning, both feet firmly planted, scale on the tile floor, not leaning or holding onto anything, and the scale told me this-

166.6

I stepped off and back on three more times, and the scale said the same thing each time. Still in disbelief, I put my two 8 pound dumbells on the scale, but the scale said "16" so that's when I knew that my drastic gain was legit.

I weigh 166.6 pounds, which makes me 12.6 pounds overweight (again).

I'm pretty disappointed in myself and very embarassed about my gain.

I have a new lofty goal of getting to a normal BMI by Christmas. That's losing 12.6 pounds in about 9 weeks. That's 1.4 pound lost per week.  I'm going to add a holiday weight loss ticker to the top of the blog, to help motivate me further.

I'm fairly certain that I can do this. Actually, I know that I can do this!

I apologize for the lies both to myself and to you all that I was still near my goal weight, when I had not been weighing properly or often. Now you and I all know the truth- I have gained some weight back.

The picture here is my body at 166.6. I will be posting updated stats, weight, and photos in this blog every week. Here are the starting stats for my 9-Week-Challenge-

Start weight (pounds): 166.6

Start measurements (inches):

neck- 13
upper arm (widest part)- 14
bust (widest part)-38
bust (below breasts)-34
waist (smallest part)- 31.75
waist (belly button)-38
hips (widest part)-45.5
thighs (widest part)-25.75
thighs (halfway between knee and crotch)-21.5
calf (widest part)- 14.5

I want to give a huge THANK YOU and a gigantic virtual HUG to all of my Facebook friends who helped to encourage me to post this entry.  I was embarassed to admit to a gain on here, but you all reminded me about why I blog:  to broadcast my weight loss journey HONESTLY to anyone who wants to know about it. 

I hope to inspire and motivate you all, and I hope to continue to do that by admitting to this gain and doing something about it.

I'm committed to stop the gaining, and to lose 12.6 pounds by the holidays. 

Thanks for listening, as always.  :-)

August 2010 vs. August 2011 (progress pictures)

First of all, don't forget to sign up for my 150 Followers Giveaway!!!

Yes, this is purely for self-esteem issues that I'm doing this.  I have been feeling kind of fat lately (which I realize makes no sense, since I am by no real definition "fat" unless you are comparing me to people thinner than me, and even then...  oops, tangent, SORRY!) and was inspired by my friend Katie's awesome blog to do some newer progress pictures.

Lots of pictures were taken at Stacey's 42nd birthday in August of 2010, and lots more were taken at his 43rd this last weekend.  So, here are some comparison shots.



August 2010




August 2011



August 2010



August 2011



August 2010



August 2011

August 2010

August 2011

There are definately some differences, since there are about 30-40 pounds between the two sets of photos.  I'm pretty pleased with my progress and I know that by his next birthday, these will be GOAL pictures. 

and...GOAL!

I promise to talk about this in more detail soon, but for now- here's a picture of me yesterday.  The significance of this picture:  It was taken right after I found out that I officially made it to my goal weight of 144 (actually surpassing it by a bit, weighing in at 143.8)

Now I must get back to celebrating and having a great holiday weekend with Stacey!  I hope that you are all doing fabulously.  My next entry will talk about how I got to goal and how I am feeling now.

Another reminder to ENTER THE BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!  Last entries accepted June 1.

Progress Pictures: 155 vs 145

On January 23, 2011, I posted progress pictures for a new low weight: 154.4.  Today, I weighed in at 145, which was my next goal weight for new progress pictures!  So, without further adieu, I present to you the next (and almost last) set of progress pictures.

On the left, I weighed in at 154.4 (155 for rounding's sake!) and on the right is what I look like today at 145.0.

My hair is different, and the angles may be a bit different, but this is as close to perfect as I could edit/crop them to on picnik.com.  :-)

I think that the biggest changes of the last ten pounds are in my butt (smaller and perkier!) and in my neck and shoulders (thinner and more toned).  If I could go back in time, I would do all progress pictures in bike shorts, because my thighs are a place that I've lost the most inches, and they aren't even shown in these pictures.  Oh, well.  Retrospect and all!  :-)

I'm thrilled with all of my progress and so proud of myself for losing 75 pounds.

Thank you, all of my blog readers.  This blog has been a huge help in keeping my accountable.  Just knowing that people are reading about my weight loss journey has been SO INSPIRING for me to keep on keeping on. 

There will be one more set of progress pictures like this, and that will be when I get to my goal weight of 135!

the long-awaited updated progress pictures!

from 168.2 to 154.4

Progress Pictures! 168.2 *the front*

<---178.2

<----168.2

Progress Pictures! 168.2 *my profile*

Not much a difference from the side in the last 10 pounds! The ones with the blinds open are from 178.2, with the blinds closed 168.2

More Progress Pictures! 168.2 *my back*

<---178.2 pounds

<---168.2 pounds

Progress Pictures!

The before pictures are from May 2009, and I weighed in at 220 pounds. The "40 pounds gone forever" pictures are from yesterday, weighing in at 178.6 pounds.