One Chubby Girl's Journey To Lose Weight

So I know I’ve been a little MIA, I haven’t had the best couple of days. Since the last time I blogged I hit a little low point in my motivation so my diet suffered a bit as well as my exercising. I still walk and try to do Zumba but the biggest obstacle is work right now. I know that isn’t a long term excuse but having to get used to getting out of work at midnight after not really working that much for a few weeks after school took a toll on my mind. Waking up at noon isn’t the ideal, you know? I admit when I’m wrong though so, I cheated. Last night after work, Nancy and I went to Jack and had a burger and tacos. And a diet coke, which I’m not too proud of… But I was up watching Dr. Oz last night and he is doing a show that says that people who cheat, lose more weight than people who didn’t give in at all. I’m thinking it’s because the guilt of cheating makes you work out harder the next time you exercise. Whatever the reason, I’m DVR’ing the show since I’ll be on my way to work by then.

On another note, I want to thank my friends and family who have helped me through the past few bad days. For Instance, my cousin Pablo. He sent me a message on Facebook saying that my journey will have ups and downs but not to give up. I’m really lucky to have such a strong support base.

I’ll be back on here more often hopefully. <3

So since I didn’t work out as much as I wanted to Monday, I tried to make it up on Tuesday. It was my friend’s birthday and he wanted to hang out and planned on running afterward. So he picked me up and we babysat a bit which interfered with our original plan since I used my workout shirt to wipe yogurt off the baby’s face and hands but I feel like I got a bit or cardio running around after him. So I made up for it all by doing an hour of Zumba when I got home. I drank most of my calories in juice because the night before I had a quarter of a pastrami sandwich and we shared small fries which was my friend’s birthday dinner. No soda though so I was pretty proud of that. Either way, I made up what I missed and I’m hoping not to miss anymore considering how intense that one hour of Zumba turned out. So today was NOT the greatest day. I really don’t like when I try to make plans and for whatever reason, they fall through but my hair looked good so meh. But I’ll be honest and say that it affected my diet a little since I’m an emotional/stress eater. So after moping a bit and talking to Ing I had a Lean Cuisine four cheese canneloni and water. I told my brain the pasta was my treat since I was reeeeally craving chili cheese fries and a Cherry Coke from Tam’s. I then had lots of water and made dinner which was soup. Before I had dinner I had a 20 oz. cup of my juice which was a whole cucumber, celery, a lemon, about 5 pieces of kale and a small red apple. Then I had a medium bowl of soup for dinner. I had a little sweet craving so I had a PB&J sammy with some milk. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about visiting a doctor since they say that you should always consult with a doctor before doing a diet or exercise regimen and I just want to know what exactly it is that I should be working on and just get an overall check up. The only thing I dislike about is that I usually get an appointment about 4 weeks away. I just hate waiting… Any suggestions/objections from the people? <3A

So not much to report today. No oatmeal since I woke up late but I had a kashi bar instead. My salad for lunch with yummy lemon-caper dressing, an orange for a snack since I got light headed after Zumba. I’m on Intermediate so it’s getting tougher! I always thought dinner at a friend’s house was kinda odd but I made it worse by taking my own dinner. A Mac’ and Cheese Lean Cuisine which was yummy! Need to start running to get my stamina up though. That’s been a big focal point that I need to work on. It’s 11 pm now and I’m still kinda hungry which makes me sad. So I’m looking up recipes to make baked green bean fries since my Nana gave me a huge bag of them for some reason. Oh well, Goodnight everyone.

So I think today went really well! Started off with early morning breakfast of strawberry oatmeal with double fiber with a piece of wheat toast and unsweetened Chinese Slim Tea which I can say is working! :/ Followed up by a double dose of Zumba so 40 mins straight! Then took a walk to Fresh and Easy to pick up some lunch. Got some salad packs and some frozen Eat Well meals for the next few days. Made an amazing salad for lunch!! Mixed greens with 2 oz tuna in water with a lemon-caper dressing to die for! I even surprised myself! My whole lunch came out to be around 90 calories!! Washed down with LOTS of water. Ended the night with a beef and broccoli Eat Well meal that was a total of 280 calories. I think I did really well. Gonna finish it all off with some yoga and meditation because it really worked last night. I’m pretty confident about now!

So I woke up this morning, not really with the intention of weighing myself but as I was in my bathroom getting ready, I figured why not, it won’t hurt me. So I stepped up on the scale with no expectations but when I looked down at the number, boy was I shocked. 191!!! Down 7lbs since I the last time I weighed myself!! Well now that I know that my preparation for this has been working, I’m NOT going back! Gonna be sticking to this because I can do it!!

So today was my first day on this journey. I woke up with the intention of being up early to get a jump start on my day. That didn’t work as great as I thought it might. I woke up a bit later than I set my alarm but it worked out just fine. Up and ready to start my day, I began with 20 mins of Zumba and a few ab workouts. A bowl of oatmeal later, I was ready to go. Luckily, I love oatmeal. Then during a trip to Target with Alex, I realized I forgot my snack. So I got a low-fat string cheese, not bad. We stopped to get sandwiches cuz that’s what he wanted so I chose a 300 cal sandwich I ate half of. Added some salt and vinegar baked chips and tons of water, and that was lunch. In the middle of the day, I got a bit hungry so I ate some leftover 300 cal pasta from Fresh and Easy with fiber water. Did another 20 mins of Zumba after that. Mom got home late so we had a late dinner of poached fish and veggies with unsweetened tea. I’m gonna try that unsweetened tea thing as long as I can. About to meditate before bed now. So far, I think it’s a great day. Tomorrow I’m starting juicing and my slim tea to cleanse and detox my body as well as I can without shocking my system. Goodnight All

So I’m sure if you’re following me, you know a little about me. If not, here are the basics. I’m 23 years old, a lea, born on August 16th. Also born on that day were Madonna, Wilhelm Wundt, Charles Bukowski, Edie Gorme, Julie Newmar, Steve Carell, Rumer Willis(exact same day). I am the youngest of two, my older brother is 30. I am a pastry student at Le Cordon Bleu which was both a blessing and a curse for me considering my deadly love affair with food. I live very happily with my mom who is my hero and my inspiration. Not to get into it too much, but my mom divorced my dad in 2005, at the start of my Senior year of high school. Since then she has supported all three of us on her own, with out contributions as small or large as they may be. The divorce wasn’t hard of any of us and we took it really well. We thrived as a trio and I think that brought us even closer than we were before. My brother became a stronger person and helped me through a lot. I never really spoke to anyone about my plans for the future, but he actually ast me down and asked what I wanted to do with my life. That is one of the myriad of reasons for which I think he will become an amazing father (and gf will be a glorious Momma!!) in the next month or so to the wonderful Sebastian Miguel.

Which brings me to a point. One of my biggest motivating factors is that little boy. He will be my first and ONLY nephew. I want to lose this weight to show him that if you set out to do something, you are your biggest obstacle. Faith is all it takes. I read a great saying this morning “Faith means taking the first step up even when you can’t see the entire staircase.” I want to be there for this little boy and not have to worry about losing my breath when I run around with him. I don’t want to be tired after carrying him around, picking him up, teaching him how to walk, run all of the things that babies do. I know that this little man will be my world. I don’t want him to grow up thinking that he has 3 tias and he’ll know one of them as the chubby one. 

One thing I’d like to mention about this little guy is his name. His first name was unintentionally picked by his grandpa when having a discussion with his momma. His middle name, Miguel, is my grandpa’s name, My tata. I know that if he were around today, he wouldn’t have let me get to the weight I’m at right now. I was talking to my mom about this and she said that things would have been a lot different. For one thing, she would have gotten a divorce a lot sooner had he known everything that was going on. She also said that he’d take me to Mariachi shows which is something I’ve always wanted to do. I want to take this step to becoming a better person for Sebastian and for my Tata who I know is looking down on me giving me strength and courage to be able to accomplish what I set out to do. 

So far, I have heard, seen and read about all of the support I have from my friend’s and family. I told my mom that I was going to do this and my mom has heard it all from me. So she said that if I do this, she’ll give me a dollar for every pound I lose so when I’m done, I can go out an buy myself something nice. I told my grandma, my Nana, this and she said that she’d match it and do the same, my Nina who was also at the kitchen table said she’d also match it and do the same. So not only do I have a great lifestyle and a better outlook on life as well as an improved self image, I’ll have $210 to buy a nice dress and go to dinner with my lovely Ingrid <3 

So  that’s about it for today. I’m now going to rest and hopefully come to the ralization that my life will begin again and I’m getting a second chance at enjoying myself. *Added bonus! January 18th also happens to be my mom’s “Start to Stop” date. She’s gonna quit smoking!! If only Sebastian knew the impact he had on us even before he was in our arms! I love you my Little Sailor!

This is the little King <3

As you may or may not know, my name is Alyssa. I’m 23 and like most Americans(sadly), I’m overweight. This blog is my personal reflection about what I’m attempting to do. So in the complete honesty of the internet I’ll be divulging what I feel, and what I’m doing. So you might be asking yourself “Well, what is this blog about anyway?” That’s where I come in. Here’s the deal: I weigh 198 lbs. Now that may sound like a lot but the worst part is that that’s not even the highest weight I’ve been at. My ultimate goal is to lose 70 lbs in 7 months. Beginning January 18th, I will start chronicling what I’m doing to reach that goal. 7 months from January 18th is August 18th, which also happens to be 2 days after my 24th birthday. What better gift to give myself than a healthier lifestyle and better outlook on life.

Today is January 15. That means that in 3 days, I will begin this journey and hopefully, you’ll join me. I’ve even enabled the anonymous question function so people can ask me questions or leave comments. Tell me what you think. Support me if you like (which I’d appreciate.) So like I said, I’ll be on here as often as I can trying my hardest to become a normally functioning and average weight-ed person.

January 18th to August 18th.

From 198 to 128.

I believe I can do this. I believe I WILL do this.