Sarah - Week 30

Welp, I've been completely MIA lately. Partly because of how busy I have been (and will continue to be for at least one more week) and partly because I was ashamed at how horribly I've been doing in this diet. It's so frustrating to me that I'm so close to the end and I just can. not. make it. Two weeks ago, I gained 0.8 lbs and then last week, I only lost 0.4. Essentially, I've stayed at the same weight for the past month.

Part of me (the largest part) knows that I've been the craziest, busiest, most stressed person of all time in this past month. The other, smaller, part of me knows that this isn't an actual excuse. For one thing, I've been getting to the gym a lot more, and after next week, I'll be able to go back to my 5 day a week gym schedule. I really feel like as soon as I can get back to a normal gym schedule, these last few pounds will come off. However, I'm sad that I'm not in comfortable bikini shape by Beth's AC birthday next friday (though, I could definitely wear a bikini at this point). I just can't let this new relationship with a fellow foodie get in the way of taking and keeping off the weight.

So here we go...this week's loss was a cool two pounds, making my total loss since the last time I updated 1.6 pounds. Not what I'd like, but not as horrible as it could have been. My total loss is up to 63.8 pounds!! I'm eeeeking my way to my 70 pound goal, and at this point, I'm pretty sure I want to take it all the way to 80. 15 pounds to go! I CAN DO IT.

Sarah - Week 27

WOO!! Finally, I'm back on track. Who knows where I'm going to go from here - my life is so unbelievably ridiculously busy right now. I'm trying to balance teaching everyday, grad school three nights a week, TJs on Sundays, this diet, a new relationship and the rest of my life and it's HARD. Right now, I'm just trying to get through as much grading as I can and finish my 80 page reading assignment that's due tomorrow.

Enough of my complaining. Let's get to the numbers. I FINALLY, after weeks of bad weeks, had a normal weight loss!! I went down 2.6 pounds for a total loss of 62.2 pounds!!! I can't believe that I'm less than 10 pounds from my goal weight and only 17.8 pounds from my stopping point. However, I know that the harder struggle is in front of me - maintaining my weight. I NEVER want to be that person EVER AGAIN.

Hopefully I'm alive at this time next week...I'll probably be freaking out about my 1st ever grad level presentation. Thankfully, teaching is like doing a presentation every day.

Sarah - Week 26

I can not believe that it's been a full six months, a full half year since we started this diet. To think of how much this year has changed (and is still changing) since then! I got into grad school, I got a full time sub job, I lost almost 60 pounds...I feel so good about myself and where this is all going. I ALSO can finally start the countdown to Colleen's wedding - 12 weeks. I really hope to be to my goal weight by then. I really think that I can set my mind to it and do it!!

I'm starting classes next week, so I'm basically never going to be able to go to the gym...I'm definitely still going to go on Mondays and hopefully weekends. I'm going to try my HARDEST to go after class on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well. I can do it, it just means going around 7:30 or 8 PM when the gym is packed. Oh well. My life is going to be a month of craziness and then hopefully I'll be able to get back to my old gym schedule after that. I set my TJs schedule so that I will have plenty of time to go to the gym between work and class every day so that's pretty exciting.

Back to this week's total. Unfortunately, I'm SO CLOSE to 60 that I can taste it, but I'm not quite there. I ended up losing 1.6 pounds, getting me to a total loss of 59.6 pounds!! Though it's not as big of a loss as I was seeing before, I definitely feel like I'm much more back on track and I'm excited to have a really good week so that I can hit 60 next week. I neeeeed to get past this plateau, but even if I just keep losing one pound each week until teaching is over, I'll feel pretty good about myself. Then once summer comes, I can kick it into gear and get down to -80.

Sarah - Week 25

Well, I thought I had a pretty good week, but the scale didn't really show it. Not to give all my readers (none of you?) TMI but I think a lot of it has to do with me getting my period today AND not having pooped in a while. Gross, I know, but those things really do affect how much you weigh!! I'm hoping to have a more balanced weigh in next week. I'm also thinking about eating some more fiber one/activia products to help mmyself "get going"...gross.

Okay, so for this week, I had another loss of one pound making my total loss 58 pounds. I'm still eeeeeking my way, but I know that next week is going to be even better.

Sorry for the short post, I'm busy as heck and I am about to go celebrate Cinco de Mayo!!

Sarah - Week 24

This weekend was amazing. Everyone was shocked. It felt soooo good, like everything that I've been doing is paying off. I have sooo much more to write about but I am up to my eyeballs in work and if I have to look at basically anything else all day, I may scream.

Loss for this week...another slow and steady. I had a great wed-thurs and a great mon-tues but the weekend is still KILLING me. I really need to work on my resolve when drinking. This weekend should be a little better, I'm only drinking on Friday and going out to dinner on Sat, but I'm trying to get to the gym beforehand. Oh, and a little eight mile walk on Sunday should help. I'm really optimistic about a great week because I also don't have TJs on Monday or Tuesday so I can finish out the week strong. Anyways, I lost .8 bringing me to a total loss of 57 pounds. Oh, to be at 60. SO CLOSE. Yet apparently so far away...

Sarah - Week 23

As much as I was upset with myself last week, I still had a good weightloss so I don't think I really understood what I needed to do to change. This week, not so much. I stayed the same (thank god) keeping me at a total loss of a still respectable 56.2 pounds. Is it a great accomplishment? Absolutely. Could I have been to my goal basically by now if I hadn't gotten off track? Absofreakinglutely. This weekend at Penn State is going to be rough, but I'm staying extremely on track today and tomorrow to try to make up for it. Hopefully it'll be my last super wild and crazy weekend for a while.

I'm frustrated with myself for the lack of effort I've been putting into this diet in the past month. Before, when I could go to the gym every day, I could eat a lot more of what I wanted and not totally care about it. Now, I can only go to the gym a few select days per week and I need to reformat my plan of action. I know that once I have another great week, it'll be the motivation that I need to get me past this self-inflicted plateau and I'll be back on track.

It's funny because a few weeks ago, it seemed like I was so close to my 70 pound goal that 80 felt like nothing and now, it seems like 80 is miles and miles away. I know that I have to stay super extra motivated in the next coming weeks. A lot of what is holding me back is not being able to go to the gym, and a lot of why I can't go to the gym is Trader Joes.

I'm feeling totally overwhelmed with work right now - this long term job is nothing like what I have had before. At Kennedy, I was out of school by 230 every day with barely any lesson planning and not even a ton of grading. This is a full day's worth of planning (only to get worse in the coming weeks because I'm out of curriculum) where I don't get out until 330 at the absolute earliest and my pile of grades is a mile high.

Adding TJs on top of that is basically killing my gym time and my motivation. If I'm at TJs, I can't go to the gym unless I was miraculously scheduled for a 6-11 shift. If I'm not at TJs, I'm so exhausted that after the gym all I want to do is nap and lay around for the rest of the night and go to bed early and not get any of my grading done. I know that I have to do something about it, but I may just keep trucking through until I move to just Sundays in three weeks.

All in all, I'm frustrated, tired and need to get back on track. I've upped what I'm doing at the gym, giving me 100 extra calories burnt every time I go, but I also need to be wayyy more careful during the non-monday and tuesday days of the week and ESPECIALLY during the weekend. That's it for now, though I have a ton more to write about...maybe I'll do another update tomorrow.

Sarah - Week 22

Well, after that ridiculous week of a million things to do and no time at the gym, I'm surprised that I lost anything. My goal this week is to definitely make it to the gym more - as I've said a million times these past 22 weeks, I really believe that the gym is the deciding factor as to how good of a week I have. Looking at things optimistically, I was able to buy a water bottle and I've been drinking at least 24 ounces of water a day, if not more.

It's 10 days until blue/white weekend. I can not believe how fast these past months have flown by and how the weight has melted off. I am so excited to see everyone (and their reactions) and I'm glad that I have one more week to do really well before I trek out to State College. I've written so much about how excited I am about blue/white, I don't know what I'm going to write about after it's over!!

On to this week's loss. I had a repeat, respectable loss of 1.8 pounds, bringing my total loss to 56.2 pounds! These past 5 or 6 weeks have definitely been slow and steady, but not bad for starting a full time job and going on vacation. Even if I can keep on going slow and steady for the next 10 weeks (until school is out and I'm not the busiest person of all time) and keep my losses between 1-2 pounds a week, I'll be in perfect shape for reaching my goal by the end of the summer. I only have 13.8 pounds left to my original goal and 23.8 pounds to my end weight. That's roughly (hopefully) 8-12 weeks left!! I can't believe I'm so close!!!