Week 24

Alot is happening since I last put in a blog I was sending in a Blog everyday during the Robs Big Loser Competition but now that is over I will catch up  and continue.  My highest weight was 370 my weight on Christmas day I weighed 335 and my weight to date is 284 I am close to my 100 pound weight loss and that is my half way point.   I have been working out the Caine Halter YMCA at the Y along with your membership they have something that is called Wellness Works and with that you get to meet with a personal trainer or coach and they do an assessment they will give you a workout plan and you meet with them  once a week.  It is  a 12 week program and you  can start it over every 12 weeks.  I have been in this wellness works since January when I started  I was weighing 329 45 pounds later and more than 12 inches I am starting my second 12 weeks and am looking forward to the next 45 pounds.  I have also started taking exercise classes and that is the reason why I have had  such success I absolutely love Body Combat it is a tough  class but you get an all body workout and I contribute this class to why  I have lost so many  inches.  I also take hydrocycle, kettlebell, body sculpt, Zumba classes and I took one yoga class I found out that class was not for me.   I found out that I needed to find the things that I like to do and to live an active lifestyle.  For me the classes push me harder than I would work out otherwise.  I won 7 out of 12 weeks and I won 140.00 of gift cards to Dicks Sporting Goods I bought something I had wanted which was a bicycle and now I ride it to and from the Y which is 5 miles each way which adds to my workouts.   My next goal is 270 and then after that 244 so my goals are set.  There is something that I didin't expect to happen and that is that people at the y would get encouraged by me I never thought that would happen.  I hear something from someone different every day.  I never thought that someone would watch me and believe in me to where they decided to pay for my membership for 4 months.  It actually  makes me work harder because now I have a responsibility not only to myself but to others.  Bishop always says your gift will take  you to a place that your charcter can't keep you.  I thank God for the gift that God has given me and I  thank God that my Charcter can keep me.  Lord, Jesus thank you for the charcter to sustain.   Next time I will talk about the changes in my diet because food is actually 70% of weight loss.

Week 2

Saturday Morning we have a woman’s meeting at church.  You know that means food.  So I turned down sausage biscuits and sunny delight and drank water and you know it wasn't even hard it was just I can't have that just like it's a normal thing now. I am so excited about this boot camp on the 19th I challenge all of Rob's Big Losers to be there.  We have a ton of things to do that day but this is all about choices.  I have 2 wonderful kids and if I want to be around to see them grow up and to see their ministries I have got to take care of myself.  I want my kids to be able to introduce me to their friends and not be known as the fat mom.  I don't want them to be ashamed of me. My son many years ago when he was in Kindergarten would walk 6 feet in front of me at school because he didn't want anyone to know that I was his mom. Let's not get it twisted my son has always loved me but he got teased at school because of me how awful.  My son has since grown out of it.  He told me mom it has nothing to do with how much I love you and I knew that.  However, this has everything to do with how much I love him.  I want to leave him a legacy I want him to say I remember seeing my mom loose close to 200 pounds and kept it off.  It wasn't easy but she didn't stop. When he is asked how she did it.  I want him to say by the Grace of God, if it wasn't for God giving her the drive and determination she wouldn't have been able to do it.  I want to be able to give my testimony regarding weight loss and what all I have learned from it.  Obesity doesn't have to be hereditary lets break the cycle right now.  Let’s give our kids a better legacy let’s not make them a statistic. 

Portion Control

We are working on portion control.  Ok we are from Texas when they say that everything is bigger in Texas that also means portion sizes.  I remember when we first moved here from Texas and we went IHOP we ordered some pancakes and they were so small and thin.  In Texas a stack was a stack thick and big and full of calories.  So tonight we decided to have Spaghetti and Meatballs which is ok as you use Wheat Pasta and even then you need to be careful and make sure you have your veggies.  So we are figuring up how many calories are in the meat balls so I decided how many calories I wanted to eat and how many I can have.  It is so much easier to pre plan then to be sorry later.   What I am learning that when you fail to plan you just simply fail.  The Spaghetti with meat balls per serving has 340 calories.  My suggestion is to fill up with vegetables also a trick we learned on Dr. Oz to drink an 8 ounce glass of water before you eat and it will make you feel full and you won’t eat as much. 

Yesterday, I talked about walking at Cleveland Park on Sunday what I failed to mention is that it’s a good way for you to have some one on one time with your kids. Yesterday while we were walking and talking my son and I was able to talk and deal with some of his issues that he is going through.  I know my kids are getting bigger and every moment I can spend with them is a blessing. 

YES YES YES YES SUNNY IN GREENVILLE SC

What a beautiful dayit is  today we left church and I said, wow a perfect day for a walk.  I said, Cleavland Park here we come.  Ok Picture it I haven't walked in a couple of years and back then I was walking 10K a day.   I just got some brand new shoes and what do I do try to push out 3 miles.  Ok I did the 3 miles but my knee and feet are saying WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  I simply replied to myself I said, self I am Rob's Biggest Loser and I am losing weight, getting healthy and enjoying this beautiful day.  Then I went to the Y to hopefully do some weight training and my coach said, on Tuesday he is going to set me up with a weight routine.  He said, he would rather not have me do the weight machines because he is going to work me on the free weights.    We had a good workout and we are getting ready for tomorrow morning we will be back here in the morning.  The elliptical machine is calling my name.  My coach did say he is proud of me and the weight that I have lost.  He said, your doing good he also said, this week we have been concentrating on the Big changes and now he wants to start to fine tune things.  We are going to  be working on portion control and getting on a good schedule as for of what I eat and when.  He has advised me to go to pyramid.gov to get some good recipes because I have no imagination outside of chicken breast and salad or veggies.  So I need more of choice of what to eat.  Looking forward to this week and all the awesome changes that will be done in every area of my life.

I want my blog to be upbeat because hands down this is a long road.  However, I also want it to be real and honest.   This morning after my workout I was feeling good and then I looked in the mirror and I didn't like what I saw looking back.  All I could say is I wonder how long it will take before I don't see you looking back at me.  Meaning the obese person.  I know it takes time and I know I didn't just put it on overnight.  Yes, I can see that my clothes are getting bigger on me. I can see that my wedding rings that was tight and wouldn't move even with force moves around all time now.  I will let these thoughts hit once in a while but now it's time to come out of the dulls and look at what I have accomplished.  I no longer drink soda, I haven't had any since before Christmas, I don't eat sweets, or chips or junk food anymore.  I am no longer a couch potato.  I am working out at 5 iin th mornings.  I am an inspiration to the world.  Mostly, I am fearfully and wonderfully made.I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.   Lord, I want to thank you for giving me the strength, for increasing knowledge in me everyday. 
Lastly,  Thank You His Radio for this oppurtunity I love you all.

Day 3

The alarm rang at 4am this morning and my body said, Mary are you stupid lay back down and go to sleep.  There was a time that I would listen to my body but I told my body to shut up!!  Yes, sometimes you have to be hard with yourself. Then I got up I went to wake up my daughter and she said, oooohh Mom I asked her if she was going and she said, yes. we really feel good working out in the morning nothing like feeling like you accomplished something early in the day.   After this monings workout I weighed myself and I was down by 6 pounds since Monday and all I could say was thank you Jesus!!   After a long day it's time to go back and we had a good work out although I sure am sore tonight and the thought of 4 am is more than what I can bear right now.  I also know this is a mind game also.  So many things has to change in getting healthy it's not just working out, and eating healthy it's about changing the way you think and old habits.  The thing with getting rid of old habits is creating new ones but only healthy ones.

Day 2

You never know who is watching you.  When my daughter and I arrived at the Y this morning at 4:55 there was a gentleman who said, this is day 2.  Then he said, you know do it for 23 days straight and it will be a habit.  Well, 30 minutes of hard Cardio is what the checklist is today, the first thing we did was the Treadmill for 10 minutes, then 10 minutes on the Rowing Machine, and we finished it with 10 minutes on the Elliptical Machine, by the time we were 3:00 Minutes into the Elliptical I was quoting scripture.  I can do all things through Christ strengthens me.  By my Coach’s description of having a good work out is if you feel like you can’t take another step you left it all on the gym room floor.  So I definitely had a good workout.  The working out is the easy part for me not a problem I will work hard and I don’t mind that I am putting in the time so I might as well give it all I have.  My problem is with the nutrition and drinking the water.  Then again Rome was not built in a day.  We are on a very tight budget and it’s hard to feed a family of four the way we need to eat.  I have adopted the motto that there is no backup plan.   What I mean is that if I don’t have the right healthy foods that I desire that something up healthy will not do.  Drinking soda is not an option no matter what.  So yesterday we had poptarts in school, this morning cereal but the kids had a choice of Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes.   So they knew that what they get is 2 fruits they had an apple and a pear.  So my next step is to start taking their breakfast and lunch to school.  For lunch soup and a croissant with cheese so they had soup without the sandwich and since I work with them I ate what they ate.    A lady at work said, to start carrying raw veggies like cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, carrots, or bell peppers.  I think that is an awesome idea.  Then I didn’t eat until after Church which was a sandwich from you know it Subway which was a quick way for me to get everything in.  I need to have a variety of things in my recipe box my problem is I have no imagination in that area and I am looking forward to adding.  My problem is evidently I don’t know how to eat healthy evidently that’s what got me to over 300 pounds for over a decade now.   By the way my first goal is to get less than 300 pounds that will be a glorious day everyone all over the state of South Carolina will hear me shouting.   

Day 1

The alarm rang this morning at 4:00 am and yes it’s time to start my schedule.  So as we go to the gym I am so proud to wear my Rob’s Biggest Loser Shirt.  My daughter and I decided to start off on the bikes and I am getting introduced to the equipment.  I have been to the Y before but now they have all new equipment.  Now they have Matrix and it is different but in a good way I must say I do feel intimidated to get on this elliptical and the elliptical is my favorite machine over the bike or the treadmill.   So I am not sure where the intimidation is coming from.  That is ok this afternoon when I go back to the Y I will get my time in on the Elliptical because God has not given me the Spirit of Fear but of Power and of Love and of a Sound Mind.   Looking forward to letting you know how things go today when I meet with my coach.  Let’s talk food we got to school today after working out this morning.  You know we are hungry and what is there for Breakfast yep you guessed it our all favorite  Pop Tarts and the kids looked at me and said,   Mom what are we going to eat.   All I could say was get 2 fruits which were apples.   God always has a ram in the bush my boss looked at me and handed me $10.00 and said, go and buy the kids something to eat.  So we went to Subway and had a breakfast sandwich and it was delicious.    I went to my appointment for Wellness Works and we have our cardio set.  My Coach is John Hammrick and I appreciate all of his knowledge.  He is starting me out with just cardio which I said I want strength training as well.  Since I am working out 2 times a day he wants me to do 30 minutes of Cardio 2 times a day and to hit it as hard as I possibly can.  He said, anything extra is good and we talked about the classes that would be beneficial to me.  That is where I am getting my strength training at.  He also said, to journal everything that I do and how it makes me feel.  He said that if I don’t feel like I can walk when I get finished then I hauled out and did a good job.  If I feel just fine then I didn’t give it all I had.  We talked about my goals and we talked about that my goals don’t end when Rob’s Biggest Losers is finished. 

Rob's Biggest Loser Begins

Tonight is the night that Rob's Biggest Loser's began I am so excited to officially get this started.  There are so many things that are going through my head.  When I went to do the assessment with the YMCA staff they had me do 2 things sit ups and push ups. Ok both of which I hadn't done since high school.  The test was how may can you do in a minute.  Who knew that a minute would be so long but I stayed focused and I made it through.  All I have to say is that is a starting point. The thing that most surprised me was when the nutritionist stated that it's a myth stating you can't eat after 7.  With my schedule many times I don't get home until after that time and I was wondering, how am I going to eat before then. She said, it's what you eat and if we are honest what we usually eat is unhealthy.   My after 7 desires have always been ice cream and chips and cookies.  This is not just for 12 weeks this is a life style change.   First the natural then the spiritual I am shedding weight in the natural which masks feelings and things that I hold on to now it's also time to shed things in the spiritual that God doesn't want me to hold on to.    The thing I am most proud of is my kids are doing this right along with me.   My son on the way home said, so mom are we getting up early and going in to workout.  So at 4:30 we will be on our way to the Y they open at 5am.  I will also be meeting with my coach at the Y to set up my workouts tomorrow. I will let you know how my first day went tomorrow.

The Journey Continues

I get discouraged when it comes to what to eat and how much to eat.  I can work out all day long but if I don't put enough of the right things in my body what is the use.   I know if I don't eat enough then my body goes into survival mode and will just store the fat.  I don't need to do that I have enough fat stored up and I am trying to lose it.   It is even a harder task when you are on a tight budget because unhealthy food is so much cheaper than healthy food. What I do know is in James 1:5 says  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  I asked God for wisdom and told God I don't know what to do.  So this is where the miracle comes in my kids and I are getting ready to go to eagle trail and run the stairs workout and have a good time.   Before I leave the Holy Spirit says call the YMCA and see if you can have a free day pass.  So I called and told them I am one of Rob's Biggest Losers and because of the snow storm the kick off date was postponed so can we have a free day pass.  They said, yes we could for one day.  Thank You Jesus!!!!  So we go and I look at the schedule of classes and they have a kettlebell class that I really want to go to and it starts just 30 minutes after we get there.  The kids really wanting to go swimming so I tell them you do this 30 minute kettlebell class and you can go swimming afterwards.   So we do this our very first kettlebell workout we don't know what to expect but I am excited.  When I say we worked every muscle with the kettlebells believe it and believe that we can feel them.  Now to the miracle I was telling you about.  There was a lady doing the class with us. We talked for a few minutes before class then after class for about an hour to an hour and a half.   I was explaining to her that we are apart of Rob's Biggest Losers and so she started asking me questions usually I would be apprehensive but not this time so I answered all of her questions.  It ends up that God had a divine appointment for me.  She is into nutrion and she is interested on how a family can eat healthy on a limited income.  She said, she has alot of receipes to share with us and that she even wants to make food and bring it over to us to try.  I am very excited because my imagination is chicken breast and steamed veggies or salad.  That gets old quick so now I will have the variety that I want.   She wants to take me under her wing not only me but my whole family.  Since Rob's Biggest Losers probably won't start till next week she said, she will give us her free passes so we are going tonight they are having hydrocycling which is cycling in the water.   I am really excited about this exercise.   She also is going to be meeting us there Thursday Night and Saturday Morning for Hydrocycling and any other workout we decide.  I know how to swim but she is going to teach me the way to swim laps for exercise very good exercise and it won't hurt my knees.  It also gives me a variety.  I asked God for wisdom and He gave it to me in spades.   I thank you God my Father for everything that you have set in place for me in the future, everything you have done in the past and what you are doing for me in the present.   

When we kick off Rob's Biggest Losers their is a wellness program that they have at the YMCA that I will also be doing.   Making progess and going forward.

The Journey Begins

It’s Christmas Day and I am so excited because I got my son a Wii and my Daughter the Wii Fit.   Very proud of myself because first of all the way I set up Christmas is they have to share their presents to be able to use them how they want.  They are so excited because they have been wanting them for a while so we have a blast playing the games then we pull out the Wii Fit.  My daughter gets on and it weighs her does the balance and I am excited because as all good parents do we get them there games for us also.   I get on to do my profile on the Wii Fit and it says OVER THE WEIGHT LIMIT  restarting.  My countenance fell just another thing in a long line of things that I have not been able to do because of my weight.  It weighs my 13 yo daughter in at 246 pounds my heart dropped.  My son at 173 my heart dropped again and he ran into the other room crying at the first realization that he does need to lose weight also.  My husband says, I see your countenance has fallen just like the snow is falling outside.   Don’t let it discourage you just use this as an opportunity to encourage yourself to lose weight.   The next day I went to the gym to work out I had looked to see what the maximum weight is for the Wii Fit and it said, 330 lbs. I figured I must weigh at least 360 but I weighed in at 335 excited for the first time to see that.  On 1/5/11 I had lost enough weight to finally get on the Wii and do my profile.     January 5, 2011 was a day of  blessings first the wii then I get a phone call from Rob and Kristin and His Radio saying I am one of the 32 contestants God is amazing.  For those who don't know Rob Dempsey used to be over 300 pounds and is a DJ on His Radio in Greenville, SC and he has a local Weight Loss Competion called Rob's Biggest Losers. Rob Dempsey has lost all of the weight and has kept it off for over 5 years.  After the excitement calms down a little bit came in game plan ok how am I going to do this and how am I going to eat how am I going to get my workouts in.    Then there is the question am I going to really lose weight?  

Well the game plan is as follows Putting God first in all things I can’t do this with out Him anyway.  Make sure that you have your prayer and study time with him.  Leave the house at 4:30 in the morning because YMCA opens up at 5:00 I had already did my rerearch.   Shower at the Y go pick up my carpool, go to work at the school my kids go to, drive the carpool after school and back to the Y for an evening workout.   With only Wednesdays Nights off.   Okay we have the workout schedule it’s set in stone.  Now, the food ohhh the food it’s expensive to feed a family of four from Texas healthy.   You know that as they say everything is bigger in Texas and it’s true and they also come with bigger appetites.  Yet another excuse I am not allowing myself to use anymore.  Ok, I don’t like fish of any kinds but I know that this is what is healthy for me so will I eat what I don’t like.  Well, I tell myself I guess that depends on how much you really want it.   I want it enough to know salsa doesn’t have a lot of calories yet it masks the taste of fish.  I love some salsa.   Grilled Chicken Got to love it veggies oh ya !!!  My down falls are soda, chocolate, cakes, chips, breads.  Don’t forget pasta, and did I mention mayo and ranch dip.  Well, haven’t had any sodas since Christmas ok check no cakes and junk food in the house since the beginning of November that’s right even during the holidays I made 2 pies both sugar free fat free.  2 for Thanksgiving and 2 for Christmas so ok check check.   Now it’s time to put it all into practice.  Looking forward to January 10, 2011 the beginning to the Competition my kids are screaming and excited and Kaye and TJ will be writing their own blog with how they are doing.  Most of all an attitude change has taken place instead of  being sad of what I can no longer have.  I now look at what I can have and not dwell on what I can’t I am excited about instead of hurting my body taking care of my temple.  In South Carolina it only snows once a year and that's it so we got that snow on Christmas Day I am looking forward to the start of this Weight Loss Competition and then I hear on the news Major Snow Storm to hit the east coast and we are right in the middle of it.   No way, and when is it to hit you guessed it January 10th the night of the kick off.  Due to the wheather the kick off has been postponed so my work plan has to be postponed also.   I will keep doing what I have been doing.  I go to The Beat after work for right now and get in a good work out.  Since the kids are out of school still tomorrow we will go twice to work out once in the Morning and Once in the evening.  

Mary's Starting Weight 12-25-2010 335

Kaye's Starting Weight 12-25 -2010 246

TJ's Starting  Weight 12-25-2010 173

Mary's Weight 1-16-2011 322  Total Weight Loss 12 pounds

Kaye's Weight 1-16-2011 239  Total Weight Loss 7 pounds

TJ's Weight 1-16-2011 167      Total Weight Loss 6 pounds

Support us as we are on the journey for our health.  I want to leave my kids a healthy legacy.  When they complain about no sweets and sodas.  I just keep saying they will thank me one day and that it will be greater later.  Our foundation Scripture is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  This we are sure of without Jesus nothing is possible.