Tips & Tricks (2009-2013)

   In this post I will talk about how I lost weight the other times between Summer 2009 when I started Full Sail to the end of 2013 when Michael and I moved out of California. Not that it's too much more than "simply eating less/ more healthy foods, and walking a bunch", I just like talking and reading about this topic. Plus, since it's me and my body, I know things have worked in the past can work for me again now. Rather than reading about how 5'11" models and famous celebrities with personal fitness trainers get in shape. Even if I am ten years older now. If it's not an excuse for my cousin Jessica, who is the same age and pregnant with her fifth kid, then it's not an excuse for me!
   I will start with my few saved chubby photos of myself- between 2006 and 2008? -when I worked night shift at 911 (in Gainesville then) and never got to hang out with my friends and ate ice cream every night I had off. Oh look, the pictures are actually dated in the file. Nice!

"2006 maybe" -- on a blind date with a guy I don't remember & my friend, Lindsey

1/16/08 -- With my cousin, Lindsey, when we celebrated New Years together

5/23/08 -- Cousin Lindsey's high school graduation

6/20/09 -- At friend Lindsey's wedding while she was getting ready

   Also my least favorite pictures, which I don't have on my computer, are from our cruise in April 2008. I'll have to look through an actual scrapbook that my mom put together. I got up to 132 pounds (my highest EVER) and I cried each night that I put a dress on and it couldn't zip up since the last time I had worn those dresses I was about 117 pounds, so I had to wear a jacket over them to cover the back. All of these other photos are estimated at between 120-125 pounds, however, and I don't know how this magic came about, but before Full Sail started, I feel like my 120-125 pounds looked heavier than they do now, which is good for older me! Maybe I'm more active? I do always walk around outside on my work breaks for the fresh air.
   So when Full Sail started at the beginning of July 2009, I was still at least 120 pounds. But between walking or biking the mile to and from school every day, and taking Sasha out (until I met Michael I never had a dog before), I was able to lose 8 pounds by the beginning of November! I definitely felt my pants getting looser. I may have this somewhere on the blog already, but oh well! I only knew I was down to 112 pounds when I used the scale at my parents' house. So then I started eating healthy. I packed my lunch instead of getting Chick-Fil-A or Wendy's between class and lab, or we'd go to Crispers so I could get a salad. And by Christmas I was 105!!

Beginning of July: the day before classes started, getting our ID's and laptops!

August ~ already looking better after a month of walking 2 miles a day! :)

October 9th ~ maybe 115 pounds?

   The lowest I had been in years. I was extremely excited about it and took a lot of skinny pictures of myself a week later when we were in Birmingham for Christopher & Meredith's wedding. I even remember Michael's mom making a worrisome anorexic comment to me, which I took as a compliment, since when she saw me the time before that I was still around 120 pounds. Ironically, the week before, Mia's parents praised me for looking so healthy at 105! It wasn't until Michael's mom met my mom (who is also 105 pounds) that she understood how I easily got to my lower weight. I kept on it most of the time because I remember I was 104 in February 2010 for the photo shoots with Alana, 104 at the beach with Dawson and AJ in April, and 105 when a bunch of my high school friends (Mia, Sharanya, Tonia & her new boyfriend, Jay) went tubing at the end of July.

February 2010, I remember snacking on peanut butter crackers during these months:

April 2010 in St. Augustine:

 End of July 2010:

 

 

  ~ a few more favorites ~
It is so much easier to get back to 105 quickly when I don't gain much after that!

 

   I didn't stay 105 the whole time, but probably stayed under 115, which is good. And I should definitely work on keeping it that way when I lose the weight this go-round. Sometimes I want to add up all the weight I have lost since 2009 so I can say, "I've lost 75 pounds in the past 10 years!" even though it's all the same weight over and over. I believe I was 113 when Michael and I went to the beach with my cousin Lindsey and her boyfriend Steven and I remembering feeling self-conscience in my bathing suit, but still had fun and laughed a lot. When we graduated on April 1st, 2011 I believe I was 113 again and began working on losing weight for our wedding five weeks later! I really don't remember exercising a lot (walking) but maybe I did. I do remember that one night at my parents' house they order pizza and I ate a salad. I knew I would have pizza again a few weeks later, so it wasn't a big deal! When Mia, and my mom and I went in for dress alterations I was 107 pounds, she said I would have to wear a bustier (?) to hold up my dress since it was too big without it and a buying one was a lot cheaper than asking the seamstress to take the waist in. My mom told me I should go home and eat a gallon of ice cream, but I laughed and said, "No thanks!" with a huge smile on my face. I got down to 104 for the wedding and now 104 is always referred to as my "wedding weight".

   I believe I stayed 104 for at least another month and a half because I looked pretty amazing in all of the Blood Widow pictures which was filmed during the first three months of June 2011. While living at Millenia, I remember walking around the complex a lot and coming up with drawings and "maps" of different routes to take (around the ponds & up the stairs, etc) so I wasn't always walking in a boring circle, but I don't remember necessary being "skinny" nor unhappy about my weight at the moment. I guess I pretty much stayed around 107-112? Which is a great place to be!
   When we moved to California in January 2013, I don't think I had a problem with how I was looking and feeling -especially since we were hiking a lot when we got there, except I remembering my face looking especially round in April while we were on the Paramount tour! But it wasn't until I saw a picture of myself when we went to Victoria Beach in August and didn't like my "rolls". Now it  is crazy to think that I thought I looked "gross" at 113 (a lot of it was due to how I was standing), but at the same time it's good to have a specific number before you're like "Yeah, I need to eat healthier and exercise more." My number used to be 120, but now it's up to 130. I made a comment in a journal a few months ago that 118 looks good on me, so I'll set the top at 120 again after I hit that.

   I can't find my journal right now, so it's possible that I threw it away recently? But a few Tips and Tricks that I remember was starting off half and half, easing into it. Still eating some junk in the house like 3 bagel bites with a salad, until the Bagel Bites were gone. I would have something sugary in the morning for breakfast (Vanilla Cheerios or waffles with syrup), which satisfied my sweet tooth for the rest of the day. Normally I eat good all day and then around 6pm get the "munchies" and keep eating until I'm actually full, instead of eating one thing with water then waiting the 15-20 minutes to see if it expands in the stomach. I also drank a lot of Yoohoo chocolate mix (the little 15 calorie packets) with 30 calorie almond milk, but haven't been able to find the Yoohoo mix anywhere in Florida. Only the pre-mixed boxes but those have a lot of calories and sugars.

   We lived directly across from an elementary school, so usually when the kids were inside I would walk loops around the school. I think one loop was 0.4 miles (same as our neighborhood now) so I would try to do at least 5 at a time to equal 2 miles. I rarely walked further than that because we didn't live in the nicest area of North Hollywood (but the rent was still $1,800 a month!!), so I always stayed close to the house. I made up another route one day, but when Michael walked it with me, neither of us wanted me walking there alone! So for exercise I did the 30 Day Shred videos on and off with my 3 pound weights. After 40 days I was back down to 105! I re-did the poses in the same bathing suit because I sure do love me some "Before and After" comparisons.

But I didn't stop there!!!! :D
   On Day 51, I was 104 and according to my "California Chronicles" photos, I continued at least through mid October. On Day 68 I reached my lowest weight since middle school!? (Side note: I don't actually know how much I weighed in high school since I didn't really start being concerned about my weight, keeping track, and yo-yo'ing until Fall 2007 when I had a boyfriend who was thinner than me.) But on October 14th, 2013 in California, after doing a another few days of The 30 Day Shred, I was a low 102!! It only lasted a few days before going back to 105, but I'm glad I got pictures of it.