2+2 = 4

My beautiful mystery plant.

I lost two pounds in the last week, and two more the week before, so I'm making progress. As long as I can make it through this weekend with company, I'll be good. to be honest, I haven't done any exercise whatsoever. With the exception of the archery competition where we were walking around from noon until 3:00 pm retrieving the arrows we shot. The competition went pretty well, although I was freaking out for the first half of it. One of the few things I'm afraid of is crowds, and this one you literally had to shove people out of your way to get to the shooting line. There was over 700 people shooting that day at different times. Each group was about 150 to 180 kids and teens on the shooting line. But the whole day was really fun! I'm really happy to see that I've found something simple that works for me, I think that's really the trick. Some people might be good with a strict low carb diet or even being vegetarian, But not everyone can stick with that, I've been eating eggs and toast for the last week! But I've still made the effort to make what I'm eating healthier. I replaced one of my two eggs with egg whites and my buttered toast is high fiber toast with two teaspoons of Brummel and Brown yogurt butter on top. It's only 40 calories for a tablespoon. I eat on smaller plates and in smaller bowls. For now, it seems to be working. On another note, I'm just about ready to put my mystery plant in dirt. It's grown about as much as it can in the glass cup over winter. The more it grows the more I think it's a type of hardy hibiscus. I just really hope it

I switched from the outer bowl to the inner bowl
for almost everything I eat. Eggs, casserole, soup,
salad. Mmm, salad.

doesn't die on me once it's planted. If it doesn't, I'll be sure to take pictures when it gets bigger. That's about all I have for an update for now, I know I've been doing horrible at my weekly posts. I apologize for that, once I graduate highschool next month it'll get more frequent. But for now, please hang in there. I appreciate everyone who reads this blog, so see you next week!

6 Month Mayhem

Be honest, does anyone who is overweight like shopping for
Swimwear?

Here we go again, I need a specified goal. I've not done well with this sort of loosey goosey method. What ends up happening is I do really good for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But I usually slip up on either Thursday or Friday and say "to hell with it all!" then the weekend tuns into a disaster. So, I'm giving myself a challenge which I will probably try to get somebody to do with me. It goes sort of like this... My family is going to take a vacation to Florida in August, which is roughly six months away. My goal is to be able to get a new swimsuit and not be tortured in the process of trying to find one that sufficiently "hides" the fatness. So I'm going to get down to 160 lbs in six months. It's not what I'm trying to do, it what I am doing, there is no other option. I'm right back at my original starting point of 233 lbs, and I know it's a big goal. I also know that I can do it. On another note, my archery competition is next weekend. I'm actually getting excited about it. I've got the right equipment now, and have gotten significantly better. There is going to be hundreds of other shooters, and who knows, my team might actually stand a chance. In the past few weeks, I've also been getting over bronchitis. It was absolutely miserable, coughing bouts lasting 5 to 10 minutes. Sometimes I could barely breath. After a week of that, I went to the doctor and got antibiotics and an inhaler. Three weeks later, and I only have a slight residual cough. Anyway, I'm on day one of the 6 month challenge. I'll be giving monthly updates on how that's going. Other than that I'll be posting normally. What normal is, who knows. I'll try to make sure I do at least one post a week.

Spice It Up!

I like pablano peppers with eggs. It's the one in the upper left
hand corner.

I don't know about you, but I LOVE spicy foods. Chili, hot salsa, curry, stuff like that. I also like the added benefit of it raising your metabolism. Eaten on a regular basis spicy foods can reduce the chance of cancer and other serious health risks. But I think the best part about them is the flavor they add, and barely any calories.The pepper doesn't have to be as spicy as a habanaro to be beneficial, in fact, it doesn't have to be a pepper at all! Ginger has the same effect and goes better in things like fresh juice or smoothies. I've just been trying to add in something like peppers or some other beneficial food each time I eat. My portion control experiment is going alright, but I'm thinking that it's more important then I initially thought. I mean think about it, if your eating small portions what are the chances that you'll eat too many calories? Or too much of anything for that matter? I blew it on Wednesday, we had my favorite dinner and I ate too much. Thursday was similar except I had those same leftovers for lunch. I'm doing good today though! I've had egg whites with beans and cheezy sauce on top for breakfast, and a cup of chili on top of a salad for lunch. I'll probably put up the recipe for cheezy sauce some other time, but I like it better than shredded cheese for on tacos or on anything mexican. I've also started putting my pedometer back on, Not doing the best with my steps, but it's been pretty miserable out the last few days and tonight we're supposed to get snow. Not the best walking/running conditions. One more thing! I've got an upcoming 4-H archery contest in February, and I'd like for ya'll to be praying that I can get in the practice I need. Because to be honest I sort of stink at it and don't want to let my teammates down. With that, I'll see you Monday!

Catching Up

Yep, I know I've been gone for three weeks, and I apologize for my absence as of late. I figured that I should just catch up on what's been going on, so this might get a little long.  After my last post we had company for four days, we had a good time, but they stayed in my room; so I couldn't get to my computer for much of anything. I was hoping to get a post out after they'd left, and I'll admit I sort of avoided it because I didn't really want to write that week. I didn't post because I didn't want to. Well, more importantly because I was sick of posting when there had been no progress. I'd fallen down on my exercise again and hadn't been eating like I should've. I didn't write because I didn't want to admit it. Every time I lose five pounds it seems either something bad happens or I have to be making exceptions for who I'm around. The rebounding it really starting to get on my nerves. This past week though, I've been making some progress. I switched out normal eggs for egg whites and normal bread for double fiber or veggies. I went hiking with friends and am getting back to regular exercise. I'm eating smaller portions and loosely counting calories, loosely meaning keeping the portions small enough I know the approximation of calorie content. So we'll see where that takes me, so far I've lost two pounds.  I'm generally avoiding all the normal bad stuff like sugar and processed grains, because that's just a bad food spiral waiting to happen. I'm also drinking quite a bit of tea, not sure why, but it's just been sounding really good. Most teas have a lot of benefits, and so does the raw honey I like to put in it, so I'm not going to complain. Oh! I also have some really good news. remember my brother? He's been trying to lose weight also, except he's actually succeeding. During the last three weeks while I haven't been posting he decided to buckle down and get it done. He's lost a bit over twenty pounds, I'm so proud of him. I wish I could lose weight that fast, but guys typically have better metabolisms and more muscle, so they lose fat way faster than women do. I'm not going to let that discourage me, It just gives me the will to try and catch up. Just need to keep in mind that every day is new. You can make new choices and you get a fresh start every time you open your eyes in the morning. Hmm, I guess this wasn't as long as I expected it would get. My plan is to update you on how the smaller portions are working out for me this Friday, So I guess I'll see you then!

Back On Track!

We get to see all types of wildlife while hunting, there is
portion of the land where quail are encouraged, so we got
to see quite a few southern bobwhites.

Boy is it nice to be back home! It took me a little longer than I thought to get settled back down to normal life again, but I'm happy to be around the rest of my family again. My brother came home as the top hunter of the family this year since he got three deer in the first two days. One was a large buck. Both my dad and I helped lower the predator population on the quail farm, but we didn't get any deer. Eating didn't go as well as planned. Pretty much meaning no one did anything they said they would. I did gain weight, and I felt horrid. It went sort of like this. Didn't drink enough water, fried chicken for dinner, the whole nine yards. I'm still trying to get my head out of the vacation mindset. I gained six pounds over the holidays, but on the bright side, I did get a bit of exercise stumbling across muddy fields in heavy boots to get to a stand, along with biking up and down steep hills yesterday. I was going to post some pictures from the trip that my brother took, but I'm still trying to get him to send them to me. I also wanted to let you know that I'll be trying something our Chiropractor suggested for weight loss. It's called Shibboleth, it's a free christian weight loss guide which looks like a low fat low carb approach to things. It looks pretty reasonable, so I'll give it a try for at least a couple of weeks. I like trying new things just to get a feel for it then adapt it into what I do permanently. I'm starting Shibboleth today, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. If anyone is interested, I'll put the link on the bottom of the page so you can check it out. breakfast was an omelet with spinach and green olives. I was going to take a picture of it, but I forgot until I was halfway through it. It feels good to be back to posting, and I look forward t whatever's next. See you soon!


www.myshibboleth.com

Hunting Week

Still not the best for you, but these

snack sticks are tasty and only 40 

calories!

Let me list out for you just how bad we usually eat when we go on hunting week. Normally, because mornings are early, we have cereal. But not just any cereal, it's almost always fruity pebbles. Lunch isn't much better, most of the time we are out in the tree stand. We'll either have a cliff bar, or a sandwich we pack with us. The only time lunch gets better is when we have it with our friends who own the property. Then it'll be something along the lines of a roast with green beans or other veggie, which is better. Dinner, well that's an interesting one. Dinner is something like hot dogs with chips or fried chicken and maybe even a frozen pizza. Have you gotten my point yet? We go on this hunting trip once a year, and we eat horrible while gone. This year it's going to be a little different. My family have all agreed that the cereal is going to be replaced by eggs, yogurt, or fruit. Cliff bars will still be around, but we've also added in meat sticks and fruit for in the stand. So at least breakfast and lunch will be better. We'll be eating veggies with almost every dinner too! I'm happy that my whole family has decided it would be best to try to eat a bit better on this trip. Something else that was really exciting, I normally wear size 18 jeans, yesterday my mom gave me a pair of size 16 to try on. I was thinking that there is no way that they would fit me, but I slid them on a zipped them up with no problem! Needless to say that I broke out the happy dance! I'm really excited about our trip, it'll be great family time, and if we get enough deer, we'll be able to share it with our friends. This will be my last post for this week until I get back on the 21st. Hopefully I'll be able to update you on what all went on the same day. Wish me luck, and I'll see you all soon!

Whoops...

It was tasty, but not worth it.

Hmm, yeah, I'll admit that I had a really bad day yesterday. We had mac 'n cheese and chips for lunch. I'm not exactly sure what the heck I was thinking, but I was in a really bad place. I'm happy to say that today wasn't as bad, and it's bound to only get better. I'm really going to focus on not eating starchy carbs and making sure to keep track of condiments and snacks. I've done really well with my steps today, I've made it over 10,000! I'll post the exact number later tonight. I also wanted to tell you that there will be no posts next week, my family is going on a hunting trip. There isn't going to be any wifi, which will actually be a relief for that amount of time. I like getting away from electronics occasionally. So the rest of this week is going to be taken up with preparing all sorts of stuff. I'll be leaving this Monday and will be gone through Sunday. I'll try to post at least one more time this week, but we'll see how everything goes. This will just be a quicky post today, so I'll see you all soon!