First week of T25... oh, the pain.

I completed my first week of Focus T25 a few days ago. I'm proud that I did each workout each day... and I'm glad it didn't kill me.

I have been working out for almost 2 months. I was using the elliptical and rowing machine several times a week to get in my cardio. And I'm not totally out of shape.

But this... this is intense.

T25, Alpha Cycle (total of 5 weeks)
Week 1:

Day 1: Cardio DVD
Good lord, what a way to start! My heart rate shot up and my sweat started pouring just in the first 3 minutes! Shaun T wasn't kidding when he said it was intense.
~~ I did have to follow Tania (the modifier) a little bit and I didn't feel bad about it. LOL. Like I said, I'm not totally out of shape but when your are moving like that for a constant 25 minutes, anyone is going to feel knocked down at the end.
~~ There is no jumping involved like with Insanity and if you follow Tania, your feet really won't leave the ground which is great of you have ankle, knee, or back problems. Or if your boobs are too large, which was my problem. I could have done some of the hopping if I had strapped my chest down with duct tape.

Day 2: Speed 1.0 DVD
As it suggests on the title of this one, it's all about going balls to the wall. And from doing standing mountain climbers the day before, my arms were screaming at me. I was actually worried I wouldn't be able to do the workout. Well, 1 minute in and I forgot about my arms. My heart rate shot up and I didn't feel any soreness during the workout.
~~ Again, I followed Tania quite a bit... except during the yoga type poses. My balance is great, it seems.
~~ My husband was in the room for this one, checking it out. I wanted to find out how many calories I was burning during the 25 minutes so I strapped on my Polar HRM.
~~ Sadly, my soreness was not all I forgot. My dumb butt forgot to hit START on the watch and I didn't realize it until there was only 8 minutes left in the workout. I was pissed. And did I quit? NO. Did I finish? NO. I started that whole damn thing over again. (Call me crazy but I wanted the info from the HRM.)
~~ Since I started it over, my husband decided to try it out with me. He told me after that he was having a hell of a time keeping up since he really doesn't work out at all. He also said he has no rhythm. LOL.
~~ In that second workout (doing the whole thing), I burned about 400 calories. In 25 minutes. I have NEVER burned that much in the same amount of time on the elliptical.

Day 3: Total Body Circuit DVD
Arghhhh! The planks! He was making me do planks. A LOT OF PLANKING. And push-ups. Then again, the time spent doing push-ups helped me forget that my calves were on FIRE from the previous day's workout. That's right... I did make myself get up on my toes and hop and my calves yelled at me the entire next day.
~~ Yep, you guessed it. I was still following Tania most of the time. Especially during the 'tap shoulder/push-up'. Yikes.
~ My goal by the end of this is to be able to do more moves without modifying. I know that the stronger my legs get, the more I'll be able to do without modifying.

Day 4: Ab Interval DVD
Holy hell. That is a little bit more intense than I usually do on my own with just varying crunches. Ouch. Staying in a 'V' position on the floor really puts the focus and strain on your abs.
~~ Oh, yeah. I was modifying it up! Even with the modifier, my abs were being pushed hard core.

Day 5: Lower Focus
I am pretty sure that my quads, if at all possible, would have jumped out of my body during this workout and stabbed me repeatedly. That way, I'd feel their pain exactly.
~~ Thank god Tania is there to show you the modifier.
~~ Sadly, I did have to back off and release a few times due the pain/strain that I was feeling, mainly in those stabby quads. I'm am ever hopeful and optimistic that over time, I'll get better at those moves. (Although the grunting noises coming from the crew on the DVD tells me that you never truly 'get used to it'.

I didn't do the Double Day Friday. After doing Lower Focus, I was focused on staying alive so I didn't throw in the Cardio DVD again. Let's build up to that, shall we?


I survived my first week of T25 and I felt great because I did keep pushing myself and didn't quit. I am hopeful that if I stick with this and make sure I eat enough food that I will see some body changes soon. I've been making more of an effort to eat less fast food and making sure I get enough protein and carbs.


Wish me luck as I start the 2nd week!

Let's eat! And workout.

For a more in-depth explanation of my history with eating and exercise, read this and this.

Weight loss.
Those two words plague so many people all over the world. It's one of the hardest things to achieve depending on who you are and how you live your life.

Even though most of us want to be fit and healthy, it's usually so much easier to just let it go. Staying on track with our meals, finding the time to do our workouts, and making ourselves NOT skip workout days even when we have time is normally why so many people fail at weight loss.
I'm one of them.

Hi, my name is Jaime and I have never been the 'gym bunny' or 'healthy eater'.

I like fast food. I love my Cherry Cokes. But I also love chicken. I love salmon. I love broccoli. And lord help me, I love Domino's pizza.

But even though I like junk food, it's not my problem when it comes to my diet. If I ate junk 3-4 times a day for meals, my weight would be higher.

See, I'm an under-eater. For years, I have subsisted on 2 meals a day, sometimes 3. My body went into storage mode a long time ago because I wasn't eating enough. So it's really frustrating when almost all of the diets, workout programs, and websites tell you that the key to losing weight it to workout and eat less.
If I ate any less, I'd be dead.

I still have yet to stumble across a website geared towards people who eat too little.... unless it's a website dedicated to anorexia. And I'm not anorexic. When I don't eat breakfast, I don't get hungry. (I know, it's weird.) Sometime later in the afternoon, I realize I haven't eaten all day.

For years, eating fast food and pizza is probably the only thing that was keeping me going... the calories and fat content may have been awful but it was enough to keep my body from shutting down.

Back in 2011 when I was working out religiously, a month or so in my weight loss stalled a little. I went from doing cardio 6 days a week to lifting weights. After asking around on Spark People, I started eating a little more each day. Lifting weights requires a lot more calories to build muscle and sustain that muscle.

Can you see where this is headed? I'm back on the wagon again.

Right before New Years, I got off my butt and started doing cardio again, using the elliptical and rowing machine. A week later, I started lifting weights and doing less cardio. My arms started getting stronger and you can actually see some definition. And when I sucked it up and added squats and lunges (my most hated workout moves) to my workouts, I started seeing a change in my rear. YES! Me, who suffers from No-ass-atall. I had to  get my husband to confirm because I thought I was imagining it. NOPE! There is actually definition back there, for the first time I can ever recall.

It's been almost 2 months and while my face has thinned out, my rear has started changing, and my thighs have actually gotten smaller.... my stomach and chest have not moved. (My shock was not limited to the rear... my thighs are usually stubborn as hell. Thank you, squats and lunges.) I don't use a scale anymore. I take measurements. Using a scale while building muscle will make you crazy. Muscle weighs more so the scale can actually go UP.

So my husband started looking around for an ACCURATE website generator that could tell me what I SHOULD be eating a day. (Hint: the more info about your body it wants... the better. If it asks for only weight and height, skip it. It should factor in workouts/intensity, weight, height, body fat percentage (BMI), whether you want to lose/gain/maintain your current weight.)

Holy crap. 2000 calories? Really? That's astounding to me and really hard to achieve right off the bat. But it explains why I'm not overall losing stored fat. I have been eating more than usual but still not eating enough. I swear... damned if I do, damned if I don't. Based off a previous inquiry about this, I went off a number closer to 1800. That's what it should be if I'm NOT working out.

Well, I'm working out. A lot. Up until last week, I was lifting weights and doing cardio 6 days a week.

I say up until last week because I've decided to do a cardio program that I purchased over a year ago and never got around to. (Seriously... it was still in the box.)

Yes, I'm beginning a relationship with Shaun T and the workout program Focus T25. All of the reviews that I've read about it say it's an intense cardio program... not meandering for up to an hour on the treadmill or elliptical. Hours of cardio have been shown to actually help you lose fat... and lots of lean muscle. Most workout buffs will tell you that lifting weights is much better for you. Adding lean muscle will burn more fat. A good lifting workout can burn calories for up to 24 hours after your workout while cardio burn lasts maybe 2-3.

T25 is not a meandering cardio program. People say it's easier than Insanity and P90X but it's a butt-kicking, fat burning program. Instead of doing cardio for an hour, you smash it all into an intense 25 minutes. It's supposed to really burn through fat and kick your metabolism into high gear.

We will see.

I will have an update after the first week.

Until then, I need to go figure out to eat 2000 calories a day and not be a slug.

What I Love Wednesday- Oct 2

Those that have read my blog before, all 10 of you, know that I am on a journey.
I am trying to lose my excess weight and keep it off.

I know that walking is one of the best things that you can do for your body and it's far less damaging than running. (I am not a runner... unless an axe wielding maniac is right behind me.)
But how much walking should I be doing a day?
I have no clue, honestly.
But I know that according to most online polls, people who use pedometers are likely to walk twice as much a day as those who don't use a pedometer.

So I went looking for a great pedometer.
And I was irritated beyond belief at the pedometers that I found.
MOST of them are meant to be worn on a bed, put in your pocket, or even slipped into your purse.
My purse? I sling that thing around daily. Yeah, I'm sure my readings would be super accurate.

And on hips?
As some of you may know, all people have a different gait.
One chick may swing those hips while walking like she's sashaying down the runway.
Another chick may barely move any of her upper body while she walks.

And then there were the bands.
I actually do have a Nike Fuel band.... but it's not quite as accurate as I'd like.
It's worn on the wrist, not on your hip or shoe.
I wore it solid for over a week and I can tell you, it wasn't accurately tracking my steps.

And now Fit Bit has come out with the Flex, also worn on the wrist.
Reviews on it vary. Some love it, some say it's constantly fogging up in the shower.

I didn't want a pedometer on my hip.
I didn't want a pedometer on my wrist.
I didn't want a pedometer that would get lost at the bottom of my purse.

I wanted a pedometer made to go on my shoe... you know, shoes... that go on feet... the things on your body that actually take the steps that you track?

But oh my word, it was hell finding one.
Some of them claimed that you could wear them on a shoe but people complained that they were too bulky and slid off easily.

Finally, I stumbled across an about.com page that listed the best pedometers, as voted on by readers.
The overall winner was the FitLinxx Pebble.

That was exactly what I was looking for in a pedometer. ****
Something small, something lightweight, and something that was accurate.

One problem, though.
It only had info on corporate programs for these pedometers.

BUT then I found the tab about their "Partners" and found myInertia.
This site does have corporate pricing but they also sell to individuals.
The pedometer is $59.99 and the 1st 4 months of using myInertia's online site is free. (After the initial 4 months, it's $4.95 a month to access your info and use the site.)

I then used The Google to find reviews of the Pebble. I found a great one by a guy named Ben on Walker Tracker.
I admire anyone that wears 3 pedometers at a time. How else can you compare the accuracy of readings?

I ordered mine last week and recieved it within just a couple of days.
And I love it.
You get the pedometer and a USB stick, the little tiny ones that you forget are there.
Anytime you walk near the computer (it must be turned on), it offloads your data.
Meaning, you can stick the USB stick in your laptop and travel with it. It can always be with you and as long as you wear the pedometer, you have a step count.

I have counted off in my head steps around my house and then went to see if the pedometer agreed.
And I'm thrilled to say that it's accurate. (It does have a slight delay when offloading to your computer but that hasn't bothered me at all.)
It's small enough and light enough that I do actually forget that I am wearing it.

Since I've had it on, I find myself pacing a lot, building the number of steps a day.
And let's face it, the more I walk, the more weight I am likely to lose because I'm up and mobile, not beached on my couch eating chips.

It should also be noted that your friends and family can get a Pebble as well and you can challenge each other and see who can clock the most steps.
Sometimes, accountability and competition are key.


**** My sister/BFF works at an health insurance company. They are always offering incentives to their employees to 'get healthier'. A few years ago, she was given a small pedometer for her shoe and the more she walks, the more she gets a small incentive bonus for walking.

Since I don't work there, I couldn't get one.
But it was her pedometer that I had in mind when looking.
Lo and behold... the pedometers are from the same company, FitLinxx.

4 tests, 6 vials of blood, and 1 IV: Part 3

If you missed the first posts, you can catch up with Part 1 and Part 2 before continuing. This will make more sense if you do.

Friday, August 28th:

My husband and I went to see the walk-in clinic doctor at 11am. I told him the moment that I saw him that my symptoms had changed. The pain in my rib/right breast area was pretty much gone.

The only pain was around my collar bone, and it was only when I took a deep breath.
All of the other pain had pretty much disappeared.

So, I'm trying to tell him this and about the shoulder problems that I have had over the last year or so, in case it was related to this. (If I carry my purse for more than 20 minutes, my right shoulder burns. It may hurt for days. Also, a few times in the last year I HAVE had issues with my collar bone area. Sometimes, if I am on the computer too much, it feels like a muscle under my collar bone is burning. It doesn't last long if I put my arm up over my head and stretch it out. And more than once lately, I have woken up laying on my right shoulder and had intense pain trying to roll off of it. My husband has had to roll me over before.)

But he cuts me off and starts raising my arm up and then pushing on it saying 'yeah, this pain here is bicipital tendonitis' and then starts going on about my gallbladder again.

I was thinking, and trying to say, hold on. Could this possible tendonitis have anything to do with the amount of pain in my shoulders through all of this? But he wouldn't listen to me. Not one word.

He makes me lie down and starts pushing on the gallbladder area, AGAIN. And again, no pain there at all. None.

Lying there, I was actually comfortable and stayed there after he left the room so that the nurse could call and try to schedule.... a HIDA scan. Yes, he was so one track minded. Even though the surgeon told him that he highly doubted it was the gallbladder at all. Even though I had no symptoms of gallbladder problems. (Yes, I have a gallstone. But after some research, it seems MOST people have them... but they never know. Unless it moves and creates a blockage, you can live your entire life with gallstones and never know you have them.)

As I'm lying there, the nurse is on the phone trying to schedule the scan. The doctor walks back in and says, 'lay on your right side... the gallstone will stay away from the opening'. Never mind that I had not been able to lay on my right shoulder in a week. Never mind that I was actually resting comfortably for the first time in days. This man didn't listen to anything that I said.

THEN they want to have me have the scan at 7:30am on Tuesday. Um, no. We told them that we could not do that. They said we had to. I said no. We had nothing to do with our kids that early in the morning. It's not that we didn't want to, we could.not.do.it.
So he says, bring them with you.
Um, I don't take perfectly healthy kids to the doctor, especially adult docs where they can contract a number of things. (Their bio mom did that and it never ended well.) And I don't expect a nurse to babysit my kids for 2 hours.

I wanted to smack the crap out of this man. He was looking at me like a puzzle at the end.
I was no longer a patient, I was an enigma.
I was a riddle to be solved and then written about in some paper that he would publish.

My husband could barely restrain me.
I finally walked out after telling the nurse that the doctor could kiss it.
She offered to get the physicians assistant that had helped me earlier in the week (and I did like her) but I had had enough.

I walked out of there and I'll never go back.

I took 2 pain pills that night and hoped for sleep. And boy, I slept. I don't think I moved all night.
The next night, I took one pill and felt fine.
I have had no pain pills since then.
And sleep has been glorious.

My husband said he would go in to pick up copies that I need of all of this medical testing. I have an appointment with my OB-GYN next week and I plan to let her know everything. And being able to SHOW her the blood results and stuff will be best.
I am hoping she'll refer me to an Orthopedic doctor to find out if I do, in fact, have any tendonitis. Heck, maybe she'll know what's wrong since she actually does listen to me.

As of today, I am feeling loads better. I still have a slight uncomfortable feeling under my collar bone. But none of the other pain has come back.

If I ever figure this out, I'll be ecstatic.

4 tests, 6 vials of blood, and 1 IV: Part 2

You can read about how this started in Part 1.

Wednesday, August 28:

I didn't sleep much the night before and I was back at the doctor by 11 to find out the results of my blood tests, since the chest X-ray, CT scan, and EKG were all normal.

My blood test showed a slightly elevated white blood count, as if my body was fighting off an infection. But other than that, it was all normal.

So the nurse called the imaging place again to schedule an Ultrasound. Sadly, that was a 'no eating for 8 hours' before the scan deal and I was not happy. That also meant that I had to wait until the next morning to get the Ultrasound.

Oh, and they took 3 more vials of blood. YAY! I kept thinking, exactly how much do you need? Also, this nurse took the blood from the left arm as well but I couldn't even tell later. She was good.

That night, I didn't even try to sleep in the bed. I slept on the couch, sitting up again. I tried to lie down flat again and it was too painful. I drifted in and out all night and by the next morning, I was exhausted.


Thursday, August 29:


I had to be at the imaging place by 9:15am. They took me back to do the scan before I could even sit down. (And Subway in the morning smells just as good, or better, than in the afternoon. Especially after not eating after midnight the night before.)

The technician was really nice and it didn't take too long. And I had a big glass of water and a protein bar in the car, waiting for me when it was all done.

I drove back to the doctor after the Ultrasound and was told that they DID find a gallstone. So of course, the doctor went for gallbladder problems even though I was showing NO other signs of gallbladder symptoms (usually abdominal pain, and BACK pain).

So he called a surgeon and made an appointment for me to see him later that day and see about removing the gallbladder the next day.

A few hours later, my husband and the kids drove me to the surgeon and I met with him. (Nice guy, by the way.) He was stumped. He pushed where I SHOULD have had the pain from gallbladder issues and there was nothing. The main pain that I was feeling was in my shoulder, actually right around my collarbone.

He wanted to schedule me for a HIDA scan the next day but there was a problem. There is a nationwide shortage of the radioactive tracer used to track flow in your gallbladder, bile ducts, and liver. So I was told I would hear the next morning IF I could get the scan. And meanwhile, another 8 hours with no food.

The surgeon did give me some pain medication, though. He seemed to understand that not sleeping for 3-4 days was exhausting. And how can my body recover from anything without enough sleep?

An hour after a I left the surgeons office, I started feeling better.
Another hour or two after that, I was able to sneeze. (I hadn't been able to in DAYS due to the pain. I tried but my body tensed up so much that it almost stole the sneeze.)

That night, I took a pain pill. It helped a bit and I did get a little sleep. Although right when I first went to lie down, I felt that pain in my shoulder. But this time, it was a pulsing pain, not constant.
The next day, we dropped the kids off with Nana and my husband went to see the doctor with me. (And I did not get a call about a HIDA scan.)

Part 3 tomorrow.... it's when I decided that my doctor was a total ego maniac and I vowed to NEVER go to a walk-in clinic ever again. Never. Ever.

4 tests, 6 vials of blood, and 1 IV: How I still don't know what was wrong

This will be ungodly long as one post so I'm splitting it up into parts.

With one week left in the month of August, I gave you the 5 main reasons that I need to lose weight. As I typed that list up, I was in a little bit of pain. And that little bit turned into a nightmare the very next morning.

Backing up to the previous Wednesday night:
I had a slight pain around the top of my ribs on the right side of my body. I felt the pain the most right next to my right breast. For the next few days, it bothered me slightly. I was still able to work out Thursday and Friday and even threw in a little rowing machine that Sunday evening. The pain got worse as the weekend went along and I finally mentioned it to my husband that Sunday night.

Monday morning, it was more painful when I woke up. And the pain had spread into my right shoulder, specifically the top front. But after sleeping a little longer, I was okay for the rest of the day. But we were up most of the night because the pain got worse. Before bed, my husband checked the hours of the walk-in place next to our house, just in case.
I was finally able to fall asleep at 6:30am.... and was jolted awake one hour later feeling more pain that I have ever felt in my life. (Worse than back surgery or the 5 years of pain leading to the surgery.)

It felt like someone was branding me with a hot iron on my shoulder, mainly right at the top in the back.
I sat up and tried to figure out what was going on. At first, I thought it was a muscle so I stretched my neck a few times. The pain lessened and I went to lie back down... only to have to bolt up again in more pain that before. I tried to not wake my husband but that was impossible. He awake to find me writhing in pain and crying hysterically.

It was 7:40am by that time so I got up, got dressed, and drove straight to the walk-in clinic. I was the first patient there. And they took me back immediately.

The physicians assistant came in with a med student and they began to ask me questions. And then they wanted to poke around on my stomach since it seems that I was describing classic gallbladder symptoms. But I had ZERO pain where the gallbladder is located.

So they took some blood (3 vials) and then gave me a chest X-ray to see if they could see anything in my chest area. The X-ray was normal. So they called an imaging place to set up a CT scan a few hours later. (I had just enough time to go home and eat breakfast before I had to fast for 2 hours for that scan.) But before I left, they did an EKG and that was normal as well.

Let me say this: going to get a CT scan was a little intimidating to me but not eating? That would have been fine had it not been for the fact that the imaging place has a SUBWAY SANDWICH right next to it. It made me hungry beyond belief.

The nurse had to insert an IV, the right arm since the blood was taken from the left one a few hours earlier. The IV was for the dye that needed to run through my veins for the scan. She said it would make me warm up in the chest and throat area... and I'd feel like I had peed my pants. I kid you not, she said it. AND IT WAS TRUE! For a split second, I thought that I had peed all over that machine. That was the strangest feeling I think I have ever experienced.

As soon as the test was over, I booked it back to the doctor to find out the results.
CT scan results: Negative
No blood clots, no lumps, no masses... nothing.

They were stumped. The doctor told me to come back in the next morning and get the blood test results.

I couldn't sleep that night. I tried to sleep in the bed, lying down flat. But a few hours into sleep, I was in horrible pain again. So as not to wake my husband, I went to couch and tried to sleep propped up. It did help a little but I spent more time awake than asleep. If I tried to lie down flat, the pain in my shoulder was excruciating.

Oh, and I had a nice FAT bruise where the nurse took blood on my left arm. The bruise was at least 3 inches wide.

And that was all on Tuesday.

5 Reasons I need to lose weight

Sure, there's more than 5, but that's a good number to start with, yeah?

No matter how much wishful thinking I do, this weight doesn't lose itself.
I know, shocking, right?
So I'm back at it again.
Yay.

Back in January, I started working out again and eating better.
My regime lasted until March and then I went back to being normal lazy.
Yup, I lost about 10 pounds in less than 2 months and then stopped working out.
And now 3 pounds have found me again.

But it's time. I am just not happy with myself and it's never going to change if I sit around reading and not moving enough a day.

So to motivate myself, and hopefully a few other people, here are my top 5 reasons why I need to stick with it this time and loss this extra weight.

1) I want to be healthy: Shouldn't that be at the top? I don't really like the idea of having high cholesterol, heart disease, or any of the other numerous health problems associated with being overweight.

2) I want to be a role model to my kids: It's sort of hard to lecture your children about the importance of eating right and getting enough exercise. Unless I want to be like my mother and adopt the motto "do as I say, not as I do". (Note: my mother is actually really healthy. She works out and eats almost nothing bad... which I find horribly boring and limited. She mainly used that motto when it came to driving and swearing.)

3) I want more energy: I would love to be able to run a half marathon... or even walk that far without looking for a big, fat Cherry Coke and some shade. I may never be a runner, but I'd love to have the energy to do it. I want to be able to play Tag with the kids and not quit so early.

4) I miss shopping: I haven't really bought myself any clothing in several years. I've bought a few shirts here and there but nothing else. I want to but then I think "if I lose weight in the next few months, I will have wasted money on these new items and they'll just head to Goodwill". So I just don't buy anything. BUT I WANT TO. And Fall will be here soon which means the jeans come back out. I had one pair that still fit right but they are no longer with us. I wore them so much, the material actually started to wear out and they just died at the end of this past winter. RIP, favorite 7 Jeans.

5) I want my confidence back: At one point in my life, I weighed between 130-135 pounds. I felt better about myself then and I miss that feeling. I want to be okay with my husband taking my picture on trips. I am making the kids photo books for this summer and I'm not in a single photo. Not one. (At Disney last summer, I had PhotoPass photos taken... and let's just say that Momma wasn't happy with the photos when they were uploaded and almost became a drinker. Also, wearing white just made me look even wider.)


I am updating the weight info when it changes in my Rocky Road to Healthy tab at the top of the page. I am honest about it... even if I don't like it.


Am I alone in this weight loss hell?

Put Spark People in Your Weight Loss Bag of Tricks

This post will concentrate more on the Food Tracker part of Spark. I will post again with info about the Fitness Tracker. 


Spark People! You may have heard of it. You may not have heard and thought this post was about people that sparkle. In any case, I want to enlighten those of you that could benefit from using this FREE website.

I found Spark People back in December, 2010. I signed up and entered the info that they wanted: height, current weight, goal weight, goal weight date, days I planned to work out, etc. They do not ask for more personal info so don't worry about that.

You can track what you eat with relative ease. I say relative because at times, you do have to enter the info for food you eat manually. Sometimes, the info for that food is listed, thanks to another Spark member but the info isn't always correct. Sometimes the food isn't listed because it might be an off-brand or available only in certain areas. And it can be a pain to enter nutrition for each thing you eat. But the great thing is that once you enter and save that data, it's ALWAYS there for next time. And human beings tend to be creatures of habit, especially with food.

You can have just the list of Favorite foods and you can do "Food Groupings". What are groupings? I'll explain: I eat 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with PB and a glass of milk for breakfast most mornings. I don't want to have to find each item on my Favorites list each time so I grouped them together and now I hit one tab, one time, and it's all there in my tracker.

When you got the page with your Tracker, you will see this box:

You can search for a new food to see if it's listed, enter a food NOT listed, click on your Favorites, click to access your Groupings, or even from a recipe found on Spark (more on that later).

Let's look at my Favorites, or the first part of it that shows up when I click on it:

 As you can see, I even have the info for Curly Fries from Arby's. It's about being honest with yourself and what you eat. If I ate those fries, I choose it and then it will add it to my daily totals.

Now let's look at the Groupings, since I use that each day and it really can save time.

This is the same tab as before and when you click on Groupings, once you have food listed there, you'll see something like this:

I love the Groupings. When I make a chicken salad sandwich, it has chicken, mayo, bread, and cheese. So it's easier to click ONE thing and add it all.

And my PB Toast... my favorite. If I click that option in Groupings and Add Selected Groupings, my tracker looks like this:

I am able to add the PB, bread, and milk all at once and I'm done with breakfast.

As you can see in the photo above, it will add up and display your calories, carbs, fat, and protein at the bottom of the tracker so that it's always easily referenced.

Knowing what you eat and how much you eat is a huge step for anyone wanting to lose, or gain, weight. You cannot just guess and hope you get it right. Without the proper amount of food, you're weight will either just get heavier due to too much food or your weight will plateau due to not getting enough food. It's a fine line and with a free tool like this, it takes the guess work out of it.

Another great thing about Spark People is that there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of recipes imputed by others trying to get healthier, just like you. But you must be careful. The nutritional info for the recipes may vary depending on how you might make the food. If you use lower fat foods or even different brands, the calories and fat may vary. So it's always good to double check the ingredients that you use to make sure they closely match. Being able to save those recipes into a recipe book on the site makes it so easy to come back to them later. And if you try a recipe listed, and the info is correct, you can add it straight to your Tracker!

If you use Spark People, be honest. No one can see your info but YOU so why lie, right?
Sign up, it's free, and enter your info. To be successful in health and fitness, you MUST be honest with yourself. Otherwise, it's a waste of time and sanity.

**I am in no way affiliated with Spark People other than I use it. I do not work for the company nor do I make any money at all if you go over and sign up. I am simply posting this because it has been so helpful to me when traveling this Rocky Road to Healthy.**

My History with Food and Exercise

Warning: Long post ahead. But when has history ever been brief?

As a kid, I wasn't fat. I was bigger than the other girls in my class, sure, but it wasn't just weight. I was a head or two taller than everyone in my grade and the grade above me until around 6th grade.
I stuck out in more ways than one.

My "under-eating" started in the summer of 1994 when I went away to tennis camp. You can read about that here.

But when I went off to college, I didn't gain that "Freshman 15". I lost 15 pounds due to not eating enough and constantly being out and on the go.

By the time I was in my early 20's, I weighed anywhere between 130-135. But I was "flabby thin". I didn't workout. I was just ALWAYS out. And my diet was terrible. For the most part, I subsisted on Taco Bell, Sonic, and McDonald's. I would have looked healthier if I was more trim and toned.

I wore a size 29/size 6 jeans for years. I wore tank tops as a uniform and some of them showed a little belly. But then all of that changed when I moved to MN.

For the first few years, my husband and I were really inactive. And we had the "nummie box".  
Before I moved here, I sent a small UHAUL box to my husband and the kids for Valentine's Day. It was filled with candy and a stuffed pig that sang. The box weighed 21 pounds. And we still have it. (It was even featured at our wedding. Our baker made a grooms cake in its likeness. I will post pics of this soon.) It's still full of candy, not the same candy, and we SOMETIMES eat from it. I find that I don't want to eat as much candy anymore.

We sat on the couch, watched our shows, and ate candy. And I don't even want to think of the amount of fast food we ate back then. But even then, I wasn't eating enough after awhile. There were days were I ate once. Once. Just one meal. And it was usually in the evening and it was always fast food.

See, if you start eating less food, for a little while, your body will start to feed on stored fat and you'll lose weight. But when you don't eat enough for long periods of time, your body goes into "storage mode" and you start to gain weight...quickly. That's what happened to me.

I wasn't eating enough and I NEVER worked out and all of a sudden, those size 29's didn't fit. And then the 30's didn't fit, followed by the 31's. When I finally hit the size 32's, I knew I had to do something about it.

Christmas-2010: I was getting in the shower and looked into the mirror after I got undressed. I was astounded, disgusted, and furious with myself. I had never been that big before.
My mother asked me when I called her crying, "how could you not have seen it before then"? To which I replied, "Mom, women don't typically like to look at themselves naked. Men like to look at naked women".

I knew I couldn't keep doing the same old thing and see any positive changes. We were out of town for a week after that and it then that I decided to buy an elliptical machine and use it.

In January 2011, I started working out and counting calories to make sure that I ate enough. I worked out for a week before weighing myself the first time so I figure I lost a pound or two more than what I tell people. On January 16, 2011, I weighed 182.4 pounds.

By June 2011, I weight 160 pounds. I was SO happy. We left for vacation and I was almost into the 150's, finally. And then it all fell apart.

We were gone a lot that summer and when traveling, I lose the will and determination to workout. By August that year, I was still around 160 but I wasn't working out. And then we started renovating our house. Oy. Who needs a workout when you are ripping up carpet and subfloor, ripping out a bathroom, destroying a kitchen, and spending up to 12 hours a day doing construction?

It took us a few weeks to get it all done and when it was over, we were exhausted. The kids went back to school and we did nothing. And I mean nothing. I think we slept for a few days and then vegged on the couch for a week. And I never got back into working out.

Fast forward to this past Christmas, 2013. Here we go again. ALL of the weight I shed managed to find me, after I thought for sure I had lost it.

So, on January 16 of this year, 2 years after the initial weight loss, I began to head down to the basement and workout. This time, it WILL stick. I hope.

I only had free weights the first time back in 2011. This time, I invested in a weight machine and it's been worth every penny. My arms are already gaining SO much muscle. And since I was getting beyond bored with the elliptical (cardio is not even close to being something I enjoy) I purchased a rowing machine. I love that thing.

It's been 2 months and I am down a little over 10 pounds. The scale says that not only have I been losing weight, I have been gaining muscle. Our scale also shows your BMI, bone mass, and water levels. I can happily say that the BMI is going down while the water and bone levels are going up.

So now you know how I got here, wandering down the Rocky Road to Healthy again.

What about you? Have you ever struggled with your weight? Have you ever plunged into an exercise program? Tell me about it.

Undereating to Overeating, Trying to Find the Middle

So many people trying to lose weight in this country are talking about not overeating.

I read blogs where dieters are constantly looking for ways to curb their appetites or not sit on the couch and constantly eat.

That's never been my problem.
I am an under-eater.
It's not intentional. I have never had an eating disorder. There are just times that I forget to eat.

I had a healthy appetite when I was younger. I could put away 4-5 pieces of pizza at Godfathers and go for some dessert pizza afterwards. But during the summer of 1994, that changed.

In 1994, I went to a tennis camp in Florida for a month. They fed us chicken (cooked any way you can imagine) and lots of pasta. We needed the energy. A typical day found us playing tennis from 8:30-noon, then lunch and a break (we used the break to change clothes, and then we played from 1ish-4. Plus, it was Florida in the dead of summer.  HOT and HUMID.

I lost weight that month. Even the camp director noticed. And I ate a lot of pasta. (See? Carbs are GOOD when you work out a lot.)

When I returned home, though, my mother was worried about my eating habits. Instead of 4-5 pieces of pizza, I ate 2. My stomach shrunk from eating right and working out. The doctor told her that it was normal and I was actually eating more of what I should be eating.

But over time, I lost track of what I should be eating a day. To be honest, no one ever told me that. I was never told to eat a certain amount a day. Most of what you have always heard on TV and in magazines is about eating LESS, not more. I guess I may be in the minority with this under-eating problem.

I have to use the Spark People website and App on my phone to track my food. If I don't, I don't eat enough. And when you are working out, especially building muscle, you need fuel/food. It really is a great tool for tracking calories, fat, carbs, and protein. It will also keep track of vitamins like Vitamin C as long as you always input the correct info into the trackers.

I should be eating anywhere from 1560-1910 calories a day, since I do cardio and weights up to six days a week. And to some, that may seem like nothing. But I have a HECK of a time trying to get over 1500. My stomach just doesn't want that much food normally. But I am trying very hard to train my body to want this much food.

I think I might write up a post about the uses of Spark People sometime soon.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to eat.