February 2012 Update Pictures

Here are some before pictures that I took about 6 weeks ago. I have been holding off on posting them for obvious reasons. ;)

I'm excited that when I lose 2 more pounds I can take some more pictures and compare. I always love the comparison shots!

In these pictures I weighed in a 196. As of today I am down to 188. I hope that by the end of the week I will be down 10 pounds. It will feel great and I really need a hair cut. :)

I don't know why it is so hard to post these pictures. I know that this is what I look like. Everyone that knows me knows that this is what I look like. So what is my problem?

Maybe it's the perfectionist in me that is so bothered by these pictures. These pictures prove that I made a mistake and gained 30 pounds back of the 50 that I lost. I guess I just hate having to admit that I failed at something.

So now that I got that embarrassing moment over I can move forward and focus on the changes I will see in my 10 pound loss comparison shot.

Bye, Bye Beachbody!

I've decieded after 6 weeks of drinking the Shakeology shakes that I am no longer going to be a Beachbody Coach or drink the Shakeology.

You are probably wondering why. The shakes taste great but they just aren't doing what I expected them to do. I expected some noticable changes and I just don't see enough of them to justify spending so much each month.

I do enjoy the shakes and if they weren't so expensive I probalby would continue drinking them. Not because they make me feel good or because they have helped me lose weight but because they are a tastey, easy breakfast that is supposed to be healthy.

I have to tell you that I was honestly a little disappointed in the product. With all of their claims I really was hoping for some awesome results. Maybe it was just me and I was looking for too much.

I was hoping for two things from this product. One of them was increased energy. I definitely didn't find that. Number two was weight loss. I have lost 8 pounds since I started drinking the shakes and they may have helped in this area but honestly I have been working really hard with watching my portions, the types of foods I eat and exercising almost daily. I really think that has more to do with the weight loss than the shakes. It's sad to say but I can't say I feel any different today than when I started the shakes 6 weeks ago.

I'm not trying to bad mouth their product. It really does seem to work/help so many people and I think that is wonderful. I just wish I was one of them. :)

I decided last week that I couldn't justify spending that kind of money without seeing some major results so that is why I decided to stop using the product and resign as a Beachbody Coach. I actually paid about $140.00 last month on the product and my coach site and upkeep. That just seemed crazy to me.

Now I am going through the process of canceling my account and resigning as a coach. Easier said than done. It seems like it might be a little tricky to do so. After having trouble finding any information on how to do so I googled it and found hundreds of people that have had trouble getting their accounts canceled. I'm praying I don't have the same trouble. I'm still waiting on a response from their customer service. They said they would get back to me last Thursday but I'm still waiting. I'm praying that they are an honest company and that it all works out.

It Has Come To An End

I'm still alive and doing well with the weight loss. I am getting close to my 1st goal of losing 10 pounds and getting a haircut. Yay!!! If you could see my hair right now you would definitely be cheering me on. It's embarrassingly bad right now. I have stuck to my rules. No haircut until I lose 10 pounds. I can't wait to get a new hair style.

I would say that by tomorrow morning I will be down at least 7 pounds. That means I will be in the 180's again. I can't wait to weigh myself in the morning.

The past two days my Fibromyalgia has been great. I totally believe in the power of prayer. I owe a big "thank you" to my life group for all of the prayers. God is good!

Since it has been so warm lately I have been walking around the mall at lunch time. It has been wonderful to get out of the office and walk in the warm sun. I have been walking a mile and a half each day. It takes me about 20 minutes. I figure any exercise is better than none.

Today my Fitbit said that I walked 9310 steps. I was pretty excited about that. Still loving my Fitbit! It is encouraging to see you effort in numbers.

After writing the post last week about eating a plant based diet. I received a message saying to check out Fork over Knives debugged. I googled it and it's pretty interesting. I didn't read the entire thing because I was too tired but it seems like everyone has crazy drastic ideas and who know who or what to believe.

I think I'm going back to the everything in motiration idea. Well, maybe not everything. I am totally against eating processed foods. This is something I thought I would never say. I love the taste of processed foods but they just really aren't good for you. I'm not saying that I won't ever eat processed foods again. I'm just saying that I am going to seriously limit the amount of processed foods my family will eat.

It's really odd to feel this way since the last time I lost the weight I did it eating quite a few low fat processed foods and of course everything had Splenda in it. It's funny how we learn and grow from our experiences. Now I am trying to avoid processed foods and artificial sweeteners and eat more organic foods and only sweeten with Stevia (which rarely gets used).

Well, I don't think my whole plant based diet experience was a waste. It was interesting to eat like that for two weeks. We survived without the meat and even found a few plant based meals that we liked and will continue to eat. I am thankful for the experience.

Did I mention I had ham last night. ;) My husband cooked and it was so good. It really makes you appreciate meat when you go without it. Of course we all ate it in moderation. Probably a lot more so than we would have before our plant based diet experience.

Thanks for all of the advice on plant based diet verses a meat and plant based diet. It's always great to hear other opinions.

Fibromyalgia and a Plant Based Diet

I seriously feel like I don't have any time for my blog lately. My job is really wearing me out. That and my kids. ;) Anyway, I am up way later than I should be typing this but I really felt the need to write a post. Not for any particular reason. Just because I miss it.

I have to start out by saying that I have the most kind, generous and thoughtful readers in the whole world. I really don't know what I would do without all of your support. Your emails and FB messages and comments on my blog mean so, so much to me. You all make me smile every day. I have give a huge shout out to one of my sweet wonderful readers. Thank you, thank you , thank you, Erin!!! Erin is such a generous person. She read my post about having trouble finding my husband Philladelphia Phillies tickets and she emailed me to give me three of hers. Seriously, does it get any sweeter than that. Thanks to Erin my husband and I will be able to make it to a Phillies game this year. We are both very excited.

Speaking of awesome blog followers. I would just like to thank all of you for the advice, suggestions and awesome links to help me with my Fibromyalgia. They have all been so helpful. I am now on a hunt for a Naturopath near me. A dear reader sent me a sweet message with a name to search for on FB. The name was Dave Frahm. He is so knowledgable. He seems like a wonderful Christian man that is helping so many fight diseases and cancer naturally. I messaged him to see if he has any links that he already wrote on Fibro or if he has any books that will help me. I can't wait to hear back from him.

I have to tell you a little about what has been going on in my life the past few weeks. I have already told you about the Shakeology drinks that I am drinking. Lost 5 pounds so far so I am very happy with it. But I have also started eating differentlly.

I normally eat like everyone else. Meat, potatoes, veggies, cheese, processed foods, fast foods or whatever is the easiest. Until a few weeks ago when a friend of mine told my sister about this move called "Forks Over Knives". Don't buy it if you have Netflix. I bought it but I heard it was on Netflix after I already ordered. I ordered it from Amazon and it wasn't very expensive. I also ordered the Forks Over Knives book.

I started watching the movie and I thought it was going to tell me how gross it is that they put hormoes or other things in the meat we eat. I was completely wrong. It talks a lot about the corrilation between meats/dairy to cancer. The studies they have done are amazing.

This move was one more push to eat more plant based food and less of the processed food, meats and dairy. I am actually on week 2 of eating this way. Week one was easy and hard at the same time. I like meat but for the most part I can do without. My husband and childrens have had a little more trouble adjusting. My husband likes the plant based food that I have made and my girls like some of it but honestly my husband doesn't really care about the cancer/meat issue and my girls are so used to eating meats and milk products that it is a hard adjustment.

I don't want to do this just for myself and let them eat regular food. That would toatly defeat my whole purpose of trying to prevent cancer and make us healthier.

. I worked so hard thie week and last to make healthy plant based meals for my family. My husband likes it but still makes comments about not having meat. My three year old screams because she want mac and cheese and my 7 year old loved dinner tonight but was trying to sneak gummy worms later in the evening.

So I came to bed thinking "Is it really worth it?". I am so exhausted from trying to find recipes that the whole family will like, doing the grocery shopping and cooking all of this food. It is so much harder than regular cooking. Unless I'm doing something wrong? ;)

I told my husband tonight that I'm thinking about just doing regular food but using more plant based ingredients and using less meat based food. He of course like that idea.

Just last week I got a message from a old friend of mine who suggested that I check out this weeksite (DAES). The auther of this blog wrote a series called "31 days of no medication". She seems like a great lady adn I am still reading it. She also suggest a plant based diet.

When I got into bed I received a message from the sweet follower who suggested I check out Dave Frahm on facebook. He is a Nuturolist. He of course recommends a plant based diet.

So can this all just be coincidence? I don't know. Is God trying to tell me something? I am completely serious.

I went to bed thinking that I was going to stop this plant based diet because it is so hard but now I don't know. I know I sound crazy but I really want to make sure I do what is best for myself and my family.

Do any of you have any experience with a plant based diet? Any suggestions on what I should do ? :)

And The Winner Is.....

The winner of the $25.00 Sam's Club/Walmart Gift Card is #18 Sarah. Congrats Sarah! Please email your full name and email address to pudgetlosingweightonabudget@yahoo.com.

Thanks to all that entered.

And The Winner Is...

And the winner of the General Mills Cereal Giveaway is #9 Ashley! Congrats Ashley! Please email me your name and mailing address to pudgetlosingweightonabudget@yahoo.com .

Thanks to all who entered!

A Little Disappointed

I had a bit of a disappointing day. Today is my husband's Birthday. We had a great day celebrating but I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to buy him the present that I wanted to. I really wanted to buy him tickets to a Philadelphia Phillie's game. Of course they are all sold out and the only way (if I'm reading it correctly) to buy them is to purchase them from someone that already bought them and is now selling them to make a profit. That just seem so greedy and wrong. Oh well. I told my husband about it and he doesn't want me to purchase them that way. I hope at some point soon I will figure out a way to get them for him. It's been years since we have gone to a game together and now that I'm working I would really love to buy them.

That was just one of my disappointments for the day. I also had a disappointing doctor's appointment today. I went to my Doctor's to discuss my neck pain and migraines. He saw me for all of a minute and then ordered me a muscle relaxer. Not exactly what I was looking for. :( I'm not saying he is wrong in his thinking but I just wish he would have acknowledged my concerns about my neck instead of just blaming it on my Fibromyalgia and sending me home with more meds. I seriously sat in the office wanting to cry. All I wanted was for someone to listen to me and try to figure out why my pain is so bad and I feel like I got brushed off and that my Doctor was too busy to care. Although I am disappointed in the way my appointment went I am going to give the muscle relaxers a try. I prayed before my appointment that I would get some help and some answers today and I am going to leave it in God's hands.

On an better note I got to meet some really great kids today at an event that we hold at our mall. It's called Classroom in the Mall. We have a Chamber Foundation that puts this event together for local high school students to come to the mall and gain some knowledge on how a mall is run and also work with some of the stores to do some really creative activities. I had a great time talking to them about my life and my career. It's always so much fun to tell the younger generation things that you wish you would have been told when you were their age. I also got to judge the Marketing campaigns that they came up with for products they created. They were all so cute and so creative. It really was a lot of fun spending the day with them.

Tonight I had a major accomplishment. Something that I haven't done in a long time. The girls and I took my husband to Applebee's for his Birthday tonight. Applebee's is one of our favorite restaurants but we don't eat there very much because we can't seem to get out of there without our bill being between $60.00 and $80.00. Although we have never been disappointed with their food. We usually go for a special occasion or a birthday treat. My accomplishment was that I was able to control myself and order one of their Weight Watchers meals. And even better I only ate half of it. I know. It felt so good to have a little control. I hope I can continue to have this type of self control. It will definitely speed up my weight loss.

Now it's time for me to get to sleep. Morning comes way too quickly and I have been dragging all week. I hope the two muscle relaxers I took don't keep me from being able to get up tomorrow morning.