On the road again...

Well, after a two year hiatus, it seems I am coming back to my blog, but this time, it's a different adventure entirely! Before, I wrote tales of my travels abroad or Au Pair adventures.  However, this time is slightly less interesting perhaps, but completely necessary to my success.  It's to chart my progress and record my feelings during this challenging weight-loss journey. I considered making a new blog and calling it, "Some Call Me As BIG As Texas," but that seems self-depreciating, and honestly, that's the last thing I need when starting a weight-loss program... a drastic, lifestyle altering weight-loss program.

You see, I've done this whole "diet" and "weight-loss" thing more times than I could count.  However, starting in April of 2009 into March of 2010, I had substantial success for the first time...ever.  I lost around 75 to 85 pounds.  It's hard to say exactly because I didn't know my starting weight. I got down to my lowest weight as an adult.  I then took a job in Columbus, GA with long, crazy hours, and traded all my self-discipline for gorging sessions in my room, and by the end of 2010, I had gained probably 65 pounds or more back.  Starting in 2011, my weight gain did not slow, and by end of 2011, I had officially passed my heaviest weight ever, weighing in at XXX or as I like to say 125+, which is where I currently reside. Perhaps, after I have lost a large amount of weight, I will divulge that starting number.

For two years now, I always would tell myself,  "At the end of the month, I will start exercising and eating healthy."  Month after month, no changes would occur, and I am just now doing something about it. I decided to try this HCG shot, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit skeptical.  The diet that goes with it, is so incredibly restrictive at 500 calories, how could anyone NOT lose weight, HCG shot or not? They limit you to 30-45 minute light exercise per day, simply because any more strenuous exercise would require more input of calories. I have now taken the shot 2 days during the "loading Phase" which entails eating as much high fat food as possible, before more or less starving your body of fat for 38 more days.  I can't say I have felt at all less hungry OR more energetic.  In fact, I have been exhausted. However, when you pay what I have paid to do this program, you put the skepticism out of your mind, and focus on the goal.

The P.A. who is over this particular program is forecasting that I will drop at least 40 pounds if not more. Personally, I am NOT a scale person, and this program does have you weighing yourself every day.  I believe it's smarter and healthier mentally to weigh yourself every two weeks or once a week at most.  Yet, I understand they are monitoring it very closely.  So, after the 40 days of HCG shots and 500-calorie diet. I will probably weigh myself once a week. My main goal of this program is to jump start and motivate my weight loss program and to give myself hope. I have had NO true motivation, which is bizarre given my current size and complete unhappiness with it.  I suppose when you are so deep in a problem that you can't see the way out, you simply surrender.

I finally see a way out, and I want to pave my road with proven and successful methods.  I have been thinking about what helped me succeed last time.  It's easy to see the differences and new challenges I will face.  At the time, I lived in Madrid and walked unconsciously several miles a day most likely.  Also, I only worked 25 hours a week and had a low-stress job.  From 9AM til 5PM, I was free to focus on health and weight loss. I worked out every day at a very nice gym with lap pool and spa that had warm water massage pools and Turkish steam room great for post exercise to relax.

Regardless of how less glamorous my current position is, there are still techniques I implemented that greatly improved my journey and can help me now...

-PREPARATION- the easiest way to fail is to be caught unprepared.  Let me ask, what's easier, to prepare a healthy meal that involves 30 minutes of cooking and at least 8 minutes of cleaning, or swing by Chik-Fil-A and grab a #1 combo? We all know the answer.  When you find yourself hungry for a snack, those uncut veggies in your fridge are a lot more effort than that bag of chips... cookies.... or whatever is easily accessible. Being prepared with healthy food is the best way to ensure you won't cheat.

-FOOD TRACKING- In 2009, for the first month, I tracked my food and caloric intake, as well as my exercise.  It really helps show you what exactly goes into your mouth.  It's so easy to grab a handful of nuts or take a bit of this, that or the other without realizing that those seemingly harmless nibbles can add up to 300, 400 or more extra calories... Then, you scratch your head and wonder why on earth you can't shed those extra pounds. If you are dieting towards a 1200-calorie diet, and you eat an extra 400 calories a day just in bites or pieces or extra helpings, which is so easy to do without realizing, that's 2800 extra calories a week.  Well, 3500 calories equal about a pound, so you can see how this stunts one's weight-loss goals.

-SELF-DISCIPLINE- It's one of those things that our current society tries to get out of.  Let's take a pill, let's drink a shake, let's have gastric bypass, wear this vibrating belt for abs, drink this tea, let's do anything to avoid the "old fashioned way" of weight loss.  Strict diet and exercise, which require ample amounts of.... self-discipline. There's really no emphasis on this very crucial aspect of weight loss. YES, it will suck giving up all the foods you love, getting sweating in the gym, where maybe you feel self-conscious, but eventually, those results will be the fuel you need.  Every individual requires different amounts of calories to live, everyone's metabolic rate is different, but basic science will tell you, in order to lose, you have to output  more than you input. In order to have the energy to do all this, you have to feed your body right and not just watch calories, but focus on getting the nutrients, proteins and fats your body needs.  All of this is so challenging, and you have to be disciplined no matter what easy, fast-acting, effortless method the market is selling.


These are a the main things that I know will make my journey more successful. One thing that I have now that I didn't was a visual goal.  I can now see myself thinner, where as before, it was just imagination.  I can see myself thinner by looking back at photos. I know this will be more difficult than the last time, but I want it to be just that, the last time....