PHOTO FRIDAY!

It's weigh day y'all!!

pounds lost this week: 1
pounds lost to date: 27
current weight: 222 lbs

I worked hard for that one pound ladies & gents! I'm happy! I was worried I might have a gain after last weekend. I'm starting this weekend off on a much better note :). It's hard, but I've done a really good job avoiding temptations. Now I'll just give myself a good pat on the back, and keep chuggin along.

Also, My boyfriend and I are celebrating our 1 yr 6 mo anniversary today!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ I couldn't be happier, and I most def. would not be able to do what I'm doing without him! I am the luckiest girl in the world :]. I LOVE YOU BABE!!!! xoxox


Love you all!
-Carissa

Turning Point?

Is tomorrow already weigh day?? This week went by pretty fast! I'm sooo glad it's the weekend (the boo & I don't work/school on Fridays :]), but I'm also very, very nervous. Weekends seem to be a time when I overeat the most.. it's like when I'm out of my normal routine everything gets screwed. I seem to think that since I just weighed in, I can eat whatever & however much of it and then work it off all week. Last weekend was so terrible.. I gained like 6 "lbs" in 3 days.. WTF. It makes this whole week like a make-up week, ugh! I kinda think that was a turning point for me.. I've already worked really hard to get this far, and I don't want to go back to that way of life.. I want to be happy and healthy, both physically and mentally.

My workout seemed harder today than usual. Same thing happened last week, and I took a 3 day break. I'm going to make it a point to workout tomorrow. Hold me to it!

Talk to you soon!
-Carissa ♥

Post these on a wall somewhere...

Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes it’s the quiet voice
at the end of the day saying,
"I will try again tomorrow."

Don't give up what you want
most for what you want now.

"You’ll never achieve extraordinary
results by taking average measures."
–Skwigg

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.

Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon
as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and
with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall."
- Confucius

Friday was Weigh Day

223! Though I didn't post on Friday (pictures next week...), I did update everything. I'm so excited! 26 lbs lost so far!! NEVER TO BE FOUND AGAIN! :P Of course, over the weekend I didn't do so hot and have gained some of it back.. lots and lots of salty foods, so I'm just ready to push hard this week and get back to my routine. Weekends seem to be the hardest for me, so I'm going to try and focus on stay OP and not binging in the upcoming ones.

When I was starting, I never really pictured myself making it to each of my goals. It was really, REALLY motivating to reach that first one! I actually tried, and my work paid off. Though I don't feel like I look any different, I'm positive that it's coming. I can actually see myself reaching 50 lbs lost.. and it's a wonderful feeling.

Now, on to the good stuff... my first REWARD! TOMS! I'm not sure when I'll get them, as I'll have to wait until it fits into our budget.. but I do have them picked out!


At least I'm pretty sure those are the ones I want :). I love the glitter! I'm kind of thinking about changing my 2nd 25 lb lost mini goal reward.. but I haven't decided yet. Anyway, WHOOOPEEEE!!!!!!


-Carissa

Happy Love Your Body Day!!

In honor of National Love Your Body Day, I decided to make up a list of a few reasons why I love my body, exactly as it is right now. No "ifs" or "buts" or "excepts". So...

I love my body because...

...it has arms, legs, eyes, ears, a heart, lungs, and everything else that works to keep me alive and well every day. Thank God for my health.

...of what it has been able to accomplish so far.

...it's the house for my soul, my feelings, and my thoughts.

...it can be so easily wrapped in a hug.

...it bravely protects all my insides :).

...it's mine.


I know I complain a lot about the way I see myself. But none of that right now. Today (and everyday - I'm still learning), I just want to be thankful that I have this unique, ever changing, capable body. Especially with pictures like these being plastered all over the media, it's important to remember that beautiful does not have boundaries, and no one should be able to tell us it does. Let's appreciate our bodies and give them the TLC they deserve! :)


Why do YOU love your body, exactly as it is RIGHT NOW?
xo, Carissa

To learn more about the Love Your Body campaign, visit http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/.

I'll let you in on a little secret.

GEEEEEZ, Friday's take so long to get here! I'm just ready to weigh in already, haha! I had another really good sweat at the gym today :). My butt/thighs are SO sore! It's kinda depressing how most of my weight loss is coming from my butt area.. because I wanna KEEP that! Lol. But I'll take what I can get ;).

I've been bombarded with midterms last week & this week. I'm so ready for the semester to be over. I need to find out if I'll still have access to the gym on campus in between semesters...

I'll be cutting it close on calories today. My calorie goals actually decreased this week.. as well as my fat intake, etc. I really need to work on that! Now I'm aiming between 1210-1560/day. It was like 1600-1800.. so that's kind of a big drop! Idk. I'm just taking it day by day, meal by meal. We'll be able to go grocery shopping on Friday & I'm excited to get some new vegetables to try cooking!

Hope you're all having a fantastic week!

-Carissa ♥

P.S. The little secret? - I weighed in this morning at 224 - that's 25 lbs lost & my first mini goal reached!!! I'm going to wait until my official weigh in day to actually record it, because I want to make sure I can maintain it. But still! YAY!!!!!!! :) :) :)

What's your body frame size?

There are plenty of calculators that you can use to determine what size your body frame is. You can go off of your wrist circumference or your elbow breadth (the distance between the two prominent bones in your elbow). Personally, I used my elbow breadth.. I think that my wrist will shrink as I lose weight, so I don't really know that it would be an accurate number to use.

Different calculators will give you different results, but I used this calculator and it told me my body frame size was small (*grin* - I've never been a small anything!). This chart said that the appropriate weight for someone my height (5'8") with a small frame is 126-139 pounds. SAY WHAT??? That's tiny! Or at least seems so. My current long term goal is 149, so that's only 10 lbs less; I guess I can see that. But I'll reevaluate once I get to goal :).

Workin' my butt off.

Or at least I'm trying too! I just got back from the gym :). And I feel sorta proud. A friend of mine was supposed to go with me, but she ended up having a doctor's appointment, so I just went alone. I was tempted to just go home, telling myself "You can do some crunches and walk at home", but I knew better (What would really happen is I'd walk through the door, and sit in front of the computer and tell myself I have too much homework)! So I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and walked on the treadmill for another 10. I will do my crunches and probably some push ups and such before my accounting class tonight. Maybe I should take a shower before I go.. ha!

-Carissa

Turns out laughter really is the best medicine!

Research shows that laughing burns about 1.3 calories per minute. You can read the article here and start laughing by going HERE! :)

Crunch Challenge

There's no prize and it's mostly for myself.. but feel free to join if you want to do it with me :).

My plan is to complete 1500 crunches within the next 30 days. That's 100 crunches every other day. I have an ab ball that I'll use, and I'm also going to do other types that I've found on sparkpeople.com & other websites. I'll post before/after pictures & measurements after I've completed it, and I'll keep you guys updated with the number I've completed by adding a new "box" over to the right ->.

Now - just to be clear - I know that targeting one specific area will not necessarily make you lose weight in that area. I'll still do cardio and all my normal stuff.. I just want to get a good stomach workout in and see how my body can (hopefully!) change.

Hereeeeee we go!


PS. If you would like to do the challenge with me, I can put a link to your site in the sidebar along with my stats. Just let me know! ;)

Paranormal Activity

I went and saw Paranormal Activity last night.. and let me tell you, I have never been more horrified in my life. I literally SCREAMED. But so did everyone else in the theater. It had me freaked out for a couple of hours afterwords too. There were people that just got up and left, and I was almost one of them. Ha! No movie will ever be able to top that.

AND. While we were leaving the theater, I swear someone touched the side of my head twice. My friend was behind me, but swears he didn't do it. Idk.. just kinda freaky!

I don't even know if I would recommend seeing it.. I mean, if you like scary movies, def. go see it. But it seriously takes a toll on the heart...

xo!

PHOTO FRIDAY!

I told you guys I'd post pictures today, so I will. Even though I'm dreading it!

pounds lost since last weigh in: 2
pounds lost to-date: 24
current weight: 225

Just 1 pound away from my first mini goal! :)! I don't know when I'm going to start seeing a difference.. but I hope it's soon...

-Carissa

NSV!

I guess I'm post-happy today!! But I really wanted to share this non scale victory with y'all. I was on 3Fc and I came across a thread talking about BMI - what were you/are you now, that type of thing - and I realized I haven't calculated mine since I started. So, I did. ANDDD... (drum roll please).. I've gone from a 37.9 to a 34.5! That still puts me in the "obese" category, but only about 5 more points or whatever until I drop down to "overweight." I'm on my way!!!

A little somethin to cheer me up :)

Down & Out

I'm in a mood today. I'm doing everything I can to resist eating the sour cream and onion potato chips in the pantry. I just keep trying to remind myself that I'm not hungry and that the chips will only make me feel better for a little while, and then worse afterwords.

Today I took my first walk around the new neighborhood. Walked for about 30 minutes or so, and then started feeling rather nauseous :/. That's been happening lately.. idk whats up with it. I guess I was just hungry, because I felt better after having lunch. I had a cheese quesadilla on a wheat tortilla, broccoli, and ranch. Yumm :).

I think I'll go work on my speech midterm some more.. AWESOME.
xo, Carissa

Mozzarella Sticks

I've recently discovered my love for mozzarella sticks, and today I was looking online for a healthier recipe for them. Thought I'd share :).

Weight Watchers Oven-Fried Mozzarella Sticks

Ingredients:
2 sprays olive oil cooking spray, divided
8 oz canned tomato sauce
2 tsp ground oregano, divided
3 slices reduced calorie wheat bread, torn
1 tsp dried thyme
8 oz part skim mozzarella cheese, cut into 8 finger-like strips
2 tbsp honey mustard

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a small saucepan, combine tomato sauce and 1 teaspoon of oregano; set pan over low heat and simmer 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine bread, remaining teaspoon of oregano and thyme; process until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Place crumbs in a shallow bowl. (Tip: Use the ends of the loaf of bread for the bread crumbs since those slices are often uneaten.) Coat cheese sticks with honey mustard. Transfer cheese to bread crumb mixture and turn to coat. Arrange cheese on prepared baking sheet and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Serve with warmed tomato sauce on the side. Yields 2 cheese sticks and about 1/4 cup of sauce per serving.


These sound sooo good.. I can't wait to try them! I don't have a food processor, but I'm sure I can figure out some other way to do it. There were lots of other recipes for healthy mozzarella sticks when I googled it, so you might try some of those and see which you like best!
-Carissa


Picture and recipe belong to Weight Watchers, http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeId=86531

I think I might be addicted..

.. to Subway. Okay - I AM addicted to Subway. And I think that it has been a big help in losing weight over the past month. Just to say, here's what I get each time:

6" on 9 grain honey oat
Ham
American Cheese
lettuce
onions
spinach
honey mustard
occasionally jalapenos ;)

& ohhhh it's sooo good! I've also been playing that scrabble game they had going on.. I've gotten about a thousand letters and plenty of free drinks/cookies/chips (which I haven't eaten, woo hoo!) and then yesterday I won... a 3 month pogo.com membership! Which is cool. They have some pretty fun games..

Anywayyyy I'm hoping to get some recipes & new workouts up soon.. I need to get back into the workout habit myself. Talk to you all soon!

Surprise weigh in!!!

I've been anxious to see how much good/damage I'd done over the past month or so, so I decided to get on the scale this morning..
While it was figuring out my weight, I just closed my eyes and prayed for 230...
And when I was finally brave enough to look down, what did I see?

227 lbs.

:) :) :) Do you know what that means???
It means I'm only 3 pounds away from my first 25 lbs lost goal!! Toms, here I come!!!