Still working

So I am still working on my bikini bod. The weight has fluctuated a lot over the last time frame I last posted. But the hellish semester is now over and it is back to grindstone. I joined a local yoga studio called oxygen yoga. It seems fairly expensive, but it is a good price for the competition.
What it is, is a hot infrared yoga class that varies in difficulty from deep relaxation to hard-core pilates fusion.
This will be the smtgird yoga class I have ever taken and my first hot yoga class.
I chose to begin with fast and furious. What the heck was I thinking? Seriously! A fast paced yoga for someone like me who has lost all their strength and is, well, let's just say, a wimp haha!
But, it is what it is and I am going to plow through it. I might die, but I am sure it will be worth it.

I also bought a fitbit charge hr! This inspired me to go for a run today as well!

What a great day. Working on that beach bod and getting stronger. After all, getting stronger is the main goal for the year!

One month progress on my bikini bod

So, I have only ran twice this month..... not proud of myself.
I am not making excuses....   yes I am...
I have been quite ill.  I have had quite severe flank pain, severe stomach pain and abdominal pain.
The doctors still do not know what is wrong. I have 2 ultrasounds to come. 
This is not an easy surgery. Even 15 months out, I still struggle.
I am really getting into a healthy mind set though. I want to do better, but some old habits keep creeping up on me.
I am hoping my pain will go away soon, and I can get back to running.

As promised however, here is my monthly update.  I am still 169 pounds.

Where I am at.

So it has been a long time since I have written and I am actually doing really well!
I have lost 164 pounds so far and have no more than 30 pounds to go.

So this begins my second journey. I currently weigh 169 pounds, I have almost lost more than I weigh!

So my goal this year is not "weight loss" but weight toning.  I am going to have an adventure of getting my bikini body, even if it is worn with a tank top!  In 1 year I am going to Mexico and will wear a bikini!

So my goal is to lose 20 pounds by summer, so that is is about 4 pounds per month by June 1st.
Really my goal is to have a "normal" BMI, and i do secretly want to weigh about 134 pounds.
But, this is only a minor goal, my ultimate goal is to be super healthy no matter what I weigh.

How am I going to achieve this?
Running! I plan to compete in several races this year (all fun races) and improve my body.
So for sure, I am going to run in "The Dirty Dash" and the "Spartan Race".
This summer I am planning to run at least 1 run a month!

I love mud races, they are so exhilarating!

I will probably do color me rad as well, who knows.

I am not sure yet, but I am definitely interested in doing a 10k this summer again. Hopefully tough mudder next year.

How else do I plan to attain this?

Gum weights. I plan to master triceps dips, chin - ups,  planks, etc. I will finally be a weight lifting girl.

I might even hire a personal trainer this summer to help me achieve these goals.

I have so many things I want to do this summer. It is going to be epic!

I am also hoping to post a picture of my progress each month to show you how I am doing.
This does of course mean that I have to post some before pictures.
I have lost 15 pounds since my last "semi-naked" picture so I will post that one and the one for today. (Probably tomorrow when it is light enough out to take a decent picture.)
Oh, the things I think of at 9 pm haha

Now that my pneumonia is getting better, I am much more excited to get this going.

Btw, new years really has nothing to do with this, this is just me!
I slaughtered my new years resolution from last year!

I will hopefully post my new years resolution on nee years day. I am going to Gibsons for a few days with my hubby, so I will need to have something to do!

~Ciao

Confession time

So the last week I have been eating incredibly crappy. I was doing so well, but then I would not eat much in the day, no way was I getting  enough protein in and to top it off  I have been eating cupcakes and chocolate.
Before surgery i almost never ate that crap, now all of a sudden I am indulging. Even today I had 2 mini cupcakes!! And had 2 York easter peps. I had a bite of salad for lunch and it was gross, and 3 crackers (although I am working on 4 more).
So realizing my mistakes quickly, I have decided to get back on track.
I really don't know why I did it. I mean the first batch of cupcakes didn't tempt me, but for some reason the second batch did. Wow scary or what!! Who knew how easily it would be to get off track!!

And here I sit wondering why my weight loss is off track!!

I lost 8 pounds last month and that brought me down to 207.5lbs.   Since the beginning of April I have only lost 0.4 lbs. This is kinda depressing when I still have a lot of weight to lose!!!

So to recap my foal weight is 140 lbs
So that is 67 more pounds to lose to get to goal. Time to kick it up a bit. I was really hoping to be under 200 lbs by my 6 month weigh in.
Don't get me wrong, I am so happy I have lost almost 130 lbs, but the end is so close I can taste it.  Btw here are a couple "skin pictures" I took today!  Not pretty I know,  but people often want to see the nitty gritty!!

Un-pasta Salad

This was a complete fluke.  More than anything I wanted a macaroni salad.  I miss it, especially yesterday as the weather was so amazingly beautiful.  So I experimented with my spiralizer.

I first cut my zucchini in half, and sliced a small slit down the zucchini length-wise.  This creates spirals, rather than noodles.  I kept these raw, added a bit of salt and pressed the noodles between some paper towel to wick out some moisture.

After that, I added 2 oz of light cheese (great protein source) to the noodles.

For the Sauce:
1T fat free miracle whip
1tsp vinegar
a pinch of paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper
1/2 small packet of splenda
a tiny bit of mustard

I mixed all the ingredients together  and poured over the zucchini.  It tasted amazing.

Next time I would add some red pepper for more flavor, but it was so good.

Ciao~

Tuna Zucchini noodle bake

So for lunch today, I took a classic.  Pasta tuna noodles and made it healthier.

So, I took my zucchini noodles and spiralized them.  This gave me a noodle-like consistency.

I added pasta sauce about 1/2c into a pan, and 1 can of tuna.  Sauteed the tuna and sauce for about 5 minutes, until hot.

At the same time, I added salt, pepper, and a bit of cayenne to my zucchini and sauteed them up for 2-3 minutes.
Plated my zucchini and added the tuna pasta sauce on top.  It was so incredibly yummy.  To add more protein, I added 1 oz of cheese cubes.

Ciao~

Chicken burgers with zucchini beet stirfry

So for tonights dinner, I had a chicken burger that was bought from costco, with spiralized beet noodles and zucchini noodles.
Ok, so not every meal can be great right. So I boiled my beets so they were tender, which is a way I like them. Followed by Sautéing them with the zucchini for a couple minutes in olive oil, salt and pepper.  This meal I found to mediocre at best. The burger made me feel a little ill, and the zucchini beet mixture wasn't great. This is what happens when you experiment. You figure out what does and does not work.  I didn't like tonights, but I am sure others will be great.