Eat breakfast like a king

That was the advice my trainer. Basically have what you want for breakfast if it's going to keep you from splurging at lunch and dinner.

So that's what I did. I had the leftover hamburger helper (that I made with 2% milk and lean turkey meat), tostitos with spinach artichoke dip, and one of those frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches. Then I drove to starbucks and got a mint hot chocolate and a cookie that I ate half of.

I don't think I would have wanted all that if it wasn't for the amount of stress I'm under. I have a killer anatomy exam this tuesday and wednesday (2 part). Anatomy is basically the class they put in to weed out the first year optometry students. If people fail out the semester it's usually due to this class. So that's why I'm not being too hard on myself, I can only balance so much at once. I won't be too upset about not losing anything this week...the goal is to make it through the week without having gained anything back.

My Weaknesses

The Starbucks pumpkin spice latte

The Starbucks line of hot chocolate. Yesterday I had a mint hot chocolate but I've also been known to get the new salted caramel hot chocolate.

Both vivanno drinks. The banana chocolate and the mango peach banana, but usually I go for the banana chocolate with a shot of espresso. What's bad about these is they only sell them in size grande. I got the mango peach banana today and asked for an extra cup so that I could pour out half of it to give to my friend.

Lost a pound this week, back on track

Woohooo I'm now at 145, down 1 pound from the last time I weight myself (last week I think).

I think I'm safely back on track. Yesterday I started training with a trainer again in small group sessions. The session is an hour long and then I did 30 min of random cardio while I was waiting for my roomie to finish her assessment. I had an early relatively healthy dinner ( I did follow it with a handful of chips and dip), and when I got home I didn't feel like eating anything.

I highly recommend working out with a trainer, it just takes your workout to a whole new level. If money is tight see if your gym offers small group training sessions for groups of 2 or 3 to subsidize the costs.

Pigging out and feeling skinny

Lately I've been pigging out a lot. I haven't been eating huge portions as much as it is that I've been eating bad food. I just get these strong cravings and when I'm under a lot of stress it's very difficult to resist.

I've been consistently having a bad Starbucks drink like everyday this past week. Usually a mint hot chocolate or that new salted caramel hot chocolate. I've been eating this to-die-for Whole Foods chocolate cake, and lots of sugar cookies. I got my wisdom teeth pulled a week and a half ago and since then I've been on a super soft sugar cookie spree, and a starbucks sugary drink spree as well. In the past 2 weeks I've had chinese takeout twice, french fries a couple of times, and a couple of cheeseburgers. I've haven't been able to work out more than twice a week this past month, IF I can even get twice in (that'll change starting this week though).

Now here's the weird thing, I feel thin! I haven't beel feeling gross, I feel like my stomach is more tucked in, and my butt less jiggly, and sometimes I have these bursts of energy. It's really weird and I'm not sure what to make of it. I could swear some of my pants are looser on the thighs. I weighed myself and my weight hasn't significantly changed from what it was a month ago.

Does anyone else have this experience? I feel like God is giving me some freebies. Either that or my careless habits will soon be catching up with me.

Take Advantage of Resources

If you are affiliated with a university or a large company/corporation...nowadays chances are that you're provided with exclusive health resources to assist in promoting healthy lifestyles. The funny thing is most people don't even know about these, some people don't really care. It's unfortunate that these resources aren't better advertised, but I think they do that on purpose they wouldn't want everyone taking advantage.

For example, my university offers affilliates personal training packages at deeply discounted rates. I just signed up for 8 1-hour personal training sessions plus an assessment and I paid exactly $108. The tradeoff is that they're done in little groups of 2-4 so that the trainer is still making money and it's also good worth of mouth promotion for the trainer until they get their "business" rolling...but for me that comes out to be $13.50 per session. Compare that to the $60 + per hour rate my gym at home charges.

This is a renewal package for me and although I haven't lost a significant amount of weight since school started these weekly intense sessions are really the reason why I've been able to at least not gain any weight during a crazy semester. The hard work, the team support, the pep talks....all of that keeps me in check for not too great of a sacrifice on my part.

Am I still on anyone google's reader?

I haven't blogged in forever and I would like to get back into it. I miss having that support and encouragement. If you read this please put me on our google reader, and link my blog to yours and what not.

Quick update: I'm now in the middle of my first semester at optometry school in South Florida. I love it and I'm soooo glad I chose this profession....but it's crazy! I'm taking 8 classes and 3 labs and I'm quite sleep-deprived. I've had some struggles and bumps in the road especially after hurricane Gustav which left my family with a very damaged house. I got depressed for a bit and it affected my academic performance. However I've been doing ok since then.

In terms of health and weight loss, well I formed a workout group. Me and 3 other classmates meet with a personal trainer (pictured above) every week for one intense hour of a session. I think this has helped me stabilize my weight in crazy times. We're about to renew our package and we start again next Monday. However I need to get the ball rolling on actually lowing weight again.

One Year Later in Pics

On July 12, 2007 I drove to the medical weight loss clinic at the persistence of my best friend Angela who found out the times of the introductory classes and gave them my info. My weight gain was rather rapid and at the height of it I had no energy, wore the same 2 pairs of BEBE sweatpants, and avoided leaving home as much as I can. This pic with my little cousin was taken about a month before:One year later I have shed roughly 45 pounds and list green apples as my favorite thing to snack on. I'm also addicted to activity and have discovered the great mental benefits of yoga. The pic below was taken about a week and a half ago in egypt, that's me in the white.

I still haven't reached my goal size but I don't consider myself on a diet. Instead, I've changed my lifestyle and acquiring new, permanent habits. I saw the clinic, the appointments, and the prescriptions as a tool to jumpstart and not the means and I haven't used those services in months. The bic below was taken about 3 weeks ago, I'm the one in yellow.

I hope my success serves as some sort of inspiration to the rest of you out there!