My success tomorrow depends on my choices today!!!

Hi my name is Angela & I am so DONE being the fat girl! I am trying...no scratch that word, I am losing my baby-weight plus the extra weight I put on after getting married. My all-time highest weight was 268 when I was pregnant with Natalie. (Aug. 2006) After delivery my weight was 255 pounds!

When I started SparkPeople (from here on SparkPeople will be referred to as SP) back on 11/7/06, I weighed in at 239 pounds. Although Christmas of '06 I went up to 248!
I was only on SP for a couple of months, but I got really discouraged and tried to do too much at one time and burned out. Plus I was having a really hard time with some postpartum depression, which made things worse! I was so disgusted & depressed that I decided there was NO WAY I was ever going to lose the weight! I actually threw out all of my "skinny" clothes because I just knew I would never fit in them again! Boy was I wrong!!!

On January 1st while channel surfing I found an interview of Chantel Hobbs for her new book, "Never Say Diet". I was SO impressed by her testimony and all that she has accomplished in a very short amount of time. She went from 350 to 150...a total of 200 pounds lost! I was already starting to work on getting healthy, but her story encouraged me to really get going!

I thought WOW, if she can lose 200 pounds, certainly I can lose 100! I decided then and there that I would commit to SP. Things just really clicked for me & I knew I could do this! And so far since recommitting to SP the end of Dec. '07 I have lost 53 pounds!!! If I can do this, you CAN do this!!!

I am 5 ft 9 inches & large boned so the extra weight isn't horrible...but I know I would feel a lot better about myself if I get back down to 165...which is in the healthy range for me and then we'll see how I feel about going any lower or not. I want to be a positive role model for my girls! They need their Mommy to be healthy and teach them how to be fit for life!

My Weight Loss Plan:

Lately people have been asking me what I'm doing to lose the weight & stay in shape...I am by no means an expert and I am still trying to figure things out for myself. But here's a little on what I am doing for me:

I think in the beginning I was eating too few calories, around 1200 or so. Yes the weight came off, but it eventually caught up with me and slowed my metabolism. I wish I had known then what I know now...It's important to figure out your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and then take 500 but now more than a 1000 calories off of that to lose weight. I have been using the TDEE calculator from this website:

http://www.bebeautifulfatloss.com/bmrtde
e.php

I've also used this website to help me figure out a 7- day calorie cycling plan.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie
_calculator.htm#

These have helped me a lot lately as I try and figure out what my body needs for energy, but yet still continue to lose this weight. I haven't gotten on the scale in awhile but hopefully the next time I weigh myself I will finally see some results from my hard work.

If you want to know what I'm eating check out my Food Tracker on the right hand of the screen. I do track daily for the most part. I don't really tell myself I can't have something. If I really want it or am having a craving I'll work it into my calories for the day. When I'm craving chocolate I'll have a piece or two of Hershey's Bliss Dark Chocolate. They are 33 calories a square! I try not to eat a lot of processed food, and stick more with lean proteins, fruits, veggies and whole grains.

As for exercise, I do so many things...variety is the key to keeping me going. I love to walk with my girls in their double stroller. Exercise TV - including Leslie Sansone's "Walk Away the Pounds", 30 day Shred and more. I have recently picked up jogging/interval training and I love it! I am training for a 5K and have been using the following music that I download to my Nano to help me.

http://www.djsteveboy.com/intervals.html

Just click on on Podrunner: Intervals Archive and it will give you a list of podcasts to download. They are really great!

I also like to try all kinds of exercise dvd's. I like Tae Bo, Jillian Michael's 30-day shred, and lots of others that I find on exercise tv. I'm a big fan of variety because then I don't get bored doing the same thing every day and I'm constantly challenging my body.

Strength training is SO important so just do it!!! I like to do it every other day. I have a weight bench in my garage now...yay! ;) I actually like to do push ups because I love seeing my arm muscles get defined....oh and calve raises too! ;)


Hope this helps!