It's Been Too Long

Hey all! I am so sorry that it has been so long since the last time I posted. I don't like making excuses but school was crazy this past term. I know what you are wondering...are you still losing weight Becca? The answer to that question is yes and no. It seems that I lose 1 lb one week and then gain it back the next week. For example, last week I had lost exactly 1 lb and this week I gained .5. I know that .5 is not a lot of weight but it was definitely the result of bad choices. I am now out of school and I have more time to exercise but I once again am not following my plan. This next week my goal is to enter all of the food I eat into weightwatchers.com and work out at least 3 times. Well sorry again that I wasn't writing but I plan to get back to it thanks to encouragement from Erik Larson. Thanks again all and I hope that you can all find a way to be more healthy today :]

"Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can't buy." --Izaak Walton

Weigh In Thursday

So this week I have lost another pound making for a total of 20. Although I did OK on the weight part I measured myself and realized that over the past 4 weeks I have gained 2 inches on just about everything. I promised myself that I would be fully honest on this blog and I have to say that I felt really disappointed about that. I am not sure what is going on because I have lost 7.5 lbs since the last time I measured myself. Although I had this set back, I am committed to change. I need to be even better and use my extra points less. I still have a long way to go and I cannot let this bring me down. Sorry ya'll for not doing well today but I hope that I can learn from this and do better. As always I love you guys and hope you all are doing well.

Results!

Yesterday marked the 75th day since my decision to change my life and I couldn't be happier. I have not had a bad thought about myself since I started Weight Watchers. Any of you who know me well know that I just broke all of my personal records. I also feel so great! I don't get winded by doing simple activities and I have less aches and pains. I feel like my body can keep up with my age now.
Another measure of the progress I have made is my fitness test I took last Tuesday. I have taken this teacher about 4 times now and she is awesome! Usually when I take these pre-tests, I expect to not do very well because my fitness has never been great but I rocked it! I was only one of 4 people who held the wall-sits for 3 mins (the maximum) and I held the plank for a full 60 seconds where before I was only able to hold it for 25 seconds. My heat rate test was also much better than last time and my teacher was shocked at the progress I have made. I am not telling you this to brag but I really just wanted to share how I am doing with all of you. It would also be nice if I could give you some inspiration to be healthy. I know that I have said this several times but it feels so nice to be healthy. It has gotten to the point where I don't feel like eating junk food 90% of the time. Well it looks like I need to go but weigh in is tomorrow so you should check back to see the results. Love ya!

Beautiful People

Beauty noun \ˈbyü-tē\: the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit.
For the past week I have been reflecting a lot about what beauty means to me. I think that beauty is not only physical although that can be part of it. I think that every single decision and word we say can make us beautiful or not. I also believe that you can be more beautiful by loving and showing kindness to others. I can honestly say that there isn't a single person who was kind, compassionate and honest that I didn't think was gorgeous. For the past month I have been trying to be beautiful every day. Mostly by straightening my hair, doing my makeup and wearing cute clothes, but I am realizing that I forgot about that other side of beauty. I keep forgetting that a truly beautiful woman is kind, compassionate and nurturing. It is amazing to me that we can get so caught up in the physical side of beauty that we forget that a smile is more beautiful than a frown and a kind word is more beautiful than an insult. I am still working on being more beautiful and being what God wants me to be but I hope that we can all keep in mind that there are two parts to love and beauty and you can't have one without the other. Love ya'll!

Weight in Thursday

So I know today is Friday but I didn't post yesterday so here it is. I lost 2.5 lbs this week and I forgot to do my measurements so I will post them next week. I am really happy about losing because that means I am only 3.1 lbs away from my first target weight (I am trying to take baby steps).

Happy, Confident and Loving Life

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been so inconsistent with my posting but hopefully I will be able to get back on schedule with school starting. Today was one of those Sundays where I went to church expecting it to be like any other Sunday and instead I learned so much! Sacrament meeting was awesome and our mission prep class was really inspiring but it was Relief Society and the fireside that moved me to be better! Thanks go to Ellen, my roommate and Elder L. Tom Perry for making my Sunday spiritually awesome!
I also have been so incredibly happy lately! I think it is the combination of trying to look my best and come closer to God that have been making this the best time of my life. Before I started eating healthy and really take care of myself, I was having major confidence issues. It was like I would have times where I felt good and secure and then it seemed like about once a week I would break down and lose all of it. Ever since I was just a little kid I have always thought that I would always feel insecure and never fully be confident in myself. To all of you who feel this way, it is not true. YOU control your own choices, YOU control how you think about yourself, and YOU control your attitude. It would be so easy for me to say to myself that I am not losing the weight quickly enough or that I am still in the obese category for my BMI but we can't do that to ourselves. I was talking to my mom a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about my weight loss and she was saying that I will be so much better if I lost 10 more lbs. I thought about this statement and I came to the conclusion that I can not think that way; I need to be happy with how I am now because if I am not happy now what makes me think that I will be happy then? I will not be happy then if I am not working on myself today. I am not saying that we shouldn't set attainable goals for ourselves but we have to realize that reaching those goals alone will not make us happy.
On a different note I have now lost enough weight that my CTR ring fits on my right hand! I am so excited because I have two rings that I LOVE but neither of them fit on my right hand so I had to choose which one I wanted to wear everyday. Now I can wear both of them and that makes me so happy. I was also in California these past two weeks, as many of you know, and I bought some really cute clothes while I was down there. It is amazing that I have dropped a pant size and I am loving the way I feel and look. I know I still have a long journey ahead of me but I can see the results and I am now more motivated then ever to make this change a permanent part of my life. I am so thankful to all of you who read this blog and support me on my journey. I honestly do not think I could do this without your encouragement and love. Love ya!

Weigh in Thursday

This week I lost 3.8 lbs making for a total of 16.4 lbs lost total! I am not doing my measurements this week because I am once again at my sister's house in California. I also have reached my 10% milestone and I couldn't be happier about it. There are many benefit to losing 10% and Weight Watchers has an article about it. Click here for the article. If you want to read it for motivation there is it. Well I will post again today but for now I need to go do some chores. Love ya and hope your efforts are going well too!

Weddings, Songs and Firmer Tummies

So the past few days have been AWESOME! I got to babysit my 2 year old niece on Thursday and yesterday I got to go to not one, but two weddings! (Congrats to the happy couples) It is so nice to have an excuse to dress up! I also want to congratulate Mandi and Neil on getting married yesterday! Apparently yesterday was the day to get married. lol On a more personal but still happy note, while I was getting ready for the weddings I noticed that my stomach is looking more defined and I can actually see the results of my healthy living! It made me SOOO happy! It was also so much fun to see all my old church friends and catch up with them today during Sunday School (we were standing in the hallway).  I did have a cheat day yesterday but I planned accordingly and I was really strict today. I also need to get back to exercising when I get home because I feel ridiculously lazy. I have more really good news. I have a song to share with you! It pretty much sums up my message for the weekend and something I want you all to remember please listen! Loves ya!

Cha-cha-cha-cha-changing!

Right now I am babysitting my niece Sam, 2.5 years old, and she is riding on her horse-scooter and putting all of her toys in the basket. As you can see below I only lost .2 lbs this week but I'm not really worried because I feel great! I feel healthier, I don't get out of breath when I walk up stairs and I am slowly learning how to choose better foods. My weigh in is not a huge suprise because I had a couple of cheat days this week and I have been traveling. I hope to be better motivated to eat very healthy this week because I need to make up for my little slip this week. Love ya'll and greetings from California!

Weigh in Thursdays

I only lost .2 lbs today but it's better than gaining! Overall I have lost 12.6lbs. Sorry about not putting my measurements but I am in California and my measuring tape is at home! Loves ya

Californication

I am in California now and I am LOVIN IT! It's so warm here and so far I have been doing pretty well on my diet. Today I knew we were going to Ruby's for Kailey's birthday so I planned to eat a small breakfast so that I would have enough points tonight. Ruby's is NOT weight watcher friendly! The chicken sandwich was 16 points! So I ate half of it when I was there and half when I got home and that made me pretty full. I have noticed that I don't have any motivation to eat unhealthy food. When Rachel and I were looking through her fridge for breakfast I wasn't even tempted to have a sandwich with normal bread and normal cheese. I also bought a dress for Kati Jo's wedding today and I am pretty excited about it! Well I am all distracted by Sammie's tv show os I better leave befroe I start saying weird stuff. Thanks all and I promise I'll keep writing while I am here! Love ya!

My Weight Loss Journey

Today I thought I would share with ya'll my weight loss journey starting from the time I was just a little elementary school student. During elementary school I wasn't overweight but I was usually a little bit bigger than the girls that were in my classes. When I left elementary school and was preparing for middle school I decided that for the next month before school started I would work out and diet like crazy. So I made a schedule that involved swimming laps in my pool, crunches and push ups in my house and hours of stationary bike riding in my parents room. The only problem was that I barely ate for that whole month. I ended up not losing that much weight but I had apparently boosted my metabolism and grew 4 inches that summer. When I went into middle school I was a little skinny but not as I had hoped. Over the months, because of my boosted metabolism, I shrank down to a size 0, the skinniest I have ever been in my life. The problem with that was that I didn't do it the healthy way, and when I went to school I bought cheeseburgers on a daily basis from the cafeteria so eventually I started gaining it back. During the rest of my middle school years I wasn't very overweight but just enough to where it was noticeable.
Again I graduated from middle school and decided that I didn't want to be fat in high school so I joined the cross country team. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, in fact my coach almost kicked me off the team because I walked too much during our workouts. I begged him to keep me on and I never walked during our runs again. I did indeed become much skinnier but I was still the biggest on the team and my coach always wanted me to go on diets and loose more weight. The reason why I wasn't super skinny was because I ended up eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and the amount of calories I was putting in my body had tripled. Nonetheless I still became the skinniest I would ever be during my high school year but the problem was when XC stopped, I still ate the same amount of food I had before and I slowly gained it back again. That summer after 9th grade I had found out about a "fitness camp" and I really wanted to go. So I packed my bags and left for 4 weeks of this camp. They had us work out for 4 hours a day and only fed us 1500 calories. We were starving but I lost 15 lbs in those 4 weeks and once again I looked better and felt better but I didn't keep up with the diet or exercise so the pounds came back.
Ever since fat camp I have slowly but surely been putting on weight. I would end up working out really hard for a day or two but I never stuck with it enough to make a difference. For the next 4 years I averaged a gain of 16 lbs a year and slowly my pants size went up while my confidence went down. The point where I really hit rock bottom was during my freshman year of college after I had moved out I realized that I weighed 208 lbs. I had never thought it possible that I could weight so much and I decided that if I wanted to be skinny again I needed to do something about it so I signed up for weight watchers during the spring tern of my freshman year and I lost about 17 lbs but once again I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I was doing it because I wanted to be skinny and look like all the other girls and I only lasted for 6 weeks.
During the next 7 months I gained back 10 pound of what I had lost and that is where I decided to do something again. So here I am on weight watchers again and this time around I have lost 12.4 lbs. Some of you may be thinking that because of my track record I am just going to fall of the band wagon again but there are several reasons why I think that this time I will stick with it. The first is because I have more support now and I check in every week on facebook with my sister and her friends that are trying to loose weight too. I think this has helped me because I know that someone is going to see what I have done that week and I am being held accountable for my actions. Another thing I am doing this time is this blog. I like to think of it as a different kind of weight loss journal although not all of my posts are about what I ate or how much I have lost. This blog has helped me so much because it has given me a safe place to explore what I am feeling and write it down. It has also been another way of holding me accountable because I know that people I love are reading it. I don't want to let you all down because I care about you so much and I know that you want what is good for me. The last thing I think is different this time is how I am thinking about my weight loss, I am not doing this because I think I will be skinny. I am living healthier because I was not happy before, most of the time I was good at hiding it but on some nights, as my roommate Carrie can testify, I would become so depressed about the way I looked that I would end up in her room crying my eyes out about why I have to have this struggle with weight while others don't.  It is kind of funny how God works because I have always had that little annoying thought in the back of mind saying, Why would God make me this way? Why can't I just be like the other girls and eat whatever I want? I am slowly starting to realize that God wants me to learn how to take care of the body He has created for me. I also think it is because I tend to become more prideful when I am skinny and I know that when I do get this under control I will have those memories of where I was before to humble me. I have actually learned a lot from trying to become healthy instead of just losing weight. The way I have viewed others is different, the way I look at myself is different and even the way that I think about the world around me is different. Well sorry that was such a long post but I hope that if you had time to read it I hope you enjoyed it because this is a little bit of an emotional topic for me. Loves ya and good luck to the baseball team tonight GO DUCKS!

Loose Jeans

The only downside to losing weight is clothing. For example, my pair of jeans that look good on me when they are tight, are so loose that I look like I have elephant skin. The only reason why I don't buy new pants is because I want to wait until I am much skinnier and can buy pants that are several sizes down not just one. On the plus side I fell really good about my body. I know that I am not skinny by any means and that I still have a long ways to go but I feel incredible. I am not only able to breathe and move better but I am more confident and more comfortable expressing myself. I have noticed that throughout my life the times that I look the best or dress nicely are the times that I take pride in myself and I know that I have been starting to do that again more recently.

Weigh in Thursday

Hey all I lost 2 lbs this week and a total of 23 inches in 8 weeks! :] Life is good!

Songs About Donks

Today is all about our rear ends. I don't know about you but people have been telling my for my entire life that I have a, for lack of a better term, bubble butt. So I thought that my post for the day would be a listing of my favorite songs devoted to people with big rears.

1. "Fat Bottomed Girls" - Queen
2. "Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix-a-lot (my sisters named this as my anthem)
3. "Ms New Booty" - Bubba Sparxxx
4. "Bootylicious" - Destiny's Child 
5. "Honky Tonk Badondadonk" - Trace Adkins (this has also been named my song for reasons I don't want to discuss)
6. "Shake Your Booty" - KC & the Sunshine Band
7. "My Humps" - Black Eyed Peas
8. "Daisy Dukes" - 69 Boyz
9. "Da' Dip" - Freak Nasty
10. "Wiggle It" - Ricki Lee 

Well I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did and most of these songs also double as good workout songs!  Weigh in is tomorrow morning so wish me luck! Loves ya!

Split Ends and Spaghetti Sauce

I GOT MY HAIR CUT TODAY!! But don't worry my hairstylist, named Jen, refused to cut it a lot shorter like I asked but instead just cut off all dead ends. It feels sooo nice now! It is amazing to have a stylist who understands what looks good on me and what I like! Anyways, as some of you may have noticed, I have been actually styling my hair lately and not just letting it be a fro. It takes me quite a bit of time to do this but I love the way I feel. For quite some time, I have been in this frump where the most effort I would put into my hair was to put some kind of mousse and let it air dry. Although I don't think that I look bad with curly hair, there is something to be said when you know that you spent time on making yourself look your best. The only drawback to straightening my hair is that I have to wear my rain shell when I am walking to and from classes. I'm not saying that we should all spend too much time and energy into how we look (because that can be a waste of time) but I think every person needs to find what is right for them.
On an unrelated subject I found a great tomato sauce recipe that is only 1 point for half a cup. It is really simple, Its just tomatoes, sweet onions, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper but it is so delicious. You slow roast everything in the oven and then puree together to make a sweet and thick pasta sauce. To see the full recipe online, Click here. I have already had it with whole wheat spaghetti and it is awesome!
So I have my weight in on Thursday and I am a little nervous, not because I didn't eat right but because I didn't exercise very much this weekend and I'm afraid its going to show. Well I need to go get ready for work but I still love ya and I hope you know that you are beautiful!

Obesity Discrimination (and some other discrimination too)

I would like to talk today on something that has been on my mind recently which as you can see by the title is discrimination against overweight people. I have experienced this many times in my life and I have also been on the other side where I have judged because of how much someone weighs. I just want to first point out that EVERY single person is a living breathing child of God and they should be seen as one.
My first and most recent example of weight discrimination just happened about an hour and a half ago, I was in my Zumba class and I was dancing to a particularly intense song, which requires a lot of jumping, and my teacher turned to me (because I dance in the front) and said that if I wanted I could march instead of jumping. That surprised me so much that I looked in the mirror to see if I looked more tired than anybody else or if I was sweating profusely, I was not. I looked the same as anyone who is pushing through a challenging workout. I was pretty upset by this because I have been in this class the entire term and I haven't had to modify the moves since about day one. I may be obese but I am working very hard on becoming healthy every hour of every day. Weight does not equal ability and it most definitely does not equal disability. It amazes me that I am still being judged because of my weight. If any person who judges me by the way I look actually takes the time to get to know me, they will find out that I am just like them and that I am not just some lazy fat chick who has no goals and no self-control.
Another example that happened to me recently was on the plane home from California and I think this one has to do with looks and weight. My sister and I were sitting together on the plane and we happened to be sandwiched between lacrosse players from OSU. Of course, my sister being the talkative outgoing person that she is started up a conversation with them immediately. Loyal is good at not excluding me from conversations so she would say things like "Yeah, we go to the UO," "Our dad is the baseball coach" etc. The only problem was that the boys would ask a question that appeared to be aimed at both of us but then would only want Loyal, who is a very beautiful girl, to answer. It was hilarious to me to watch a conversation that on the surface appeared to include me, didn't give me a chance to talk at all; they were not even interested in what I had to say. Some of you may think I am exaggerating but I truly am not the boys that were in front of us wouldn't even make eye contact with me but held onto every word that my sister said. I love my sister so much and this is not anything against her because she does not discriminate because of my weight but every time I am around her and men, they only seem to care about her. I know that these boys didn't mean any harm by ignoring me and I'm sure it was intentional but it doesn't mean that I didn't notice. Just a tip for any guy who is reading this, if there are two girls sitting next to each other who may be related or friends, talk to BOTH of them. There is no way you are going to win the affection of one girl when her friend doesn't like you it is just that simple. I am not saying that  you have to flirt with both of them because that is a whole different issue, but when you ask a question, wait to hear BOTH answers not just the answer form the one you think is hott.
I admit that I need to do better at not judging people based on the way that they look but I hope that because of the challenge I have with my obesity I can learn to accept people the way they are and not judge because of the way they look. You never know what the circumstances are behind someones appearance. Maybe that girl you just ignored in class is overweight because she takes anti-depressants that make her gain weight, maybe she has gone through something traumatic that has caused years of unhealthy living, or maybe she is just that way and no matter what she does she can't seem to look like what society wants. I know that some of you do not have visible imperfections and I am happy that you don't but I wonder how you would feel if every single person you come in contact with can see exactly what is wrong with you when you walk into a room. I commend every person who has lived with any physical problems because I know first hand that it is not easy to live with a imperfection that is so tangible, obvious and public.
So here is my challenge, try to go an entire day without thinking about any one's weight, including your own, and just try to think of them as children of God instead of someone with a problem. As always I love ya and I hope that my atrocious writing hasn't effected the seriousness of this topic.

California Optimism

Hi my friends! Today I am in California (which is awesomely warm)! I am super happy to be here with my nieces, my sisters (minus Heather) and the rest of my family. It's a good thing that my sister Michele is here because she is a Weight Watchers Veteran and she knows what the best choices are. For example, last night my family wanted to go to El Pollo Loco but I wasn't sure what I should get so I just asked her and she told me what to order. Best sister ever! On another note, there were some comments made recently about how attractive my sisters are. Although at first I was sad about this because I am sure that they didn't include me in their comment, but I am taking it as more motivation to get in better shape and show them how hott I really am! I'm happy I chose to change the way I think about that comment because if I just let it get to me then there would be nothing productive coming from it. I KNOW I am beautiful and I KNOW that my family is really good-looking. I also know that any person that can't look at someone for who they are instead of what they look like is not worth my time or energy. I am so excited to go to the baseball game tonight and I hope that having Michele there will help me make good choices! Love ya'll!

Sick (and not the good kind)

I just wanted to tell you that yesterday I became sick. Normally this wouldn't affect me very much but now I won't be able to hold my new baby niece until July and I have been really grumpy about that. Well yesterday I did OK on my diet but not as good as I would have liked. We went to King Estates Winery and I had a couple of bites of dessert and cheeses. Although I didn't do so good for lunch, I had a really healthy dinner of Cowboy Stew and steamed veggies. Today I have school until 3 and then a baseball game at 5 and dinner at McGraths after. I hope that I can do ok tonight and I think that I will look at the menu right now so that I can decide before I get there and give in to the unhealthy foods. Well wish me luck! Love ya!

Success Not Perfection

Soo sorry I haven't posted for the last couple of days. This weekend has been proven to be a challenge and I haven't been doing very well on eating healthy. So I have decided that starting now I am going to get back on track. My family is at BJs right now and I'm really glad that I am at home and not where the temptation is. I am so sorry to everyone that has been drawing some strength from my success but I can tell you now that it is ok to mess up, and it is even expected, but it is what we do after we mess up that makes up who we are. I know that most of you reading this blog have been in the exact same place I am right now. Maybe you were on a diet and started eating junk food again, maybe you were working out every day then stopped all of the sudden. Whatever it is you CAN get back on track. If there is something you want to change do it! Tomorrow is not the day you should start on accomplishing your goals. I promise that I won't ask you to do anything that I am not willing to do myself. So here is my new goal: I am only going to have ONE day during the week that I allow myself to be indulgent. For these past 5 weeks it has been the rule that I was allowed to cheat during the weekends and I would be really strict with myself during the week. My reason for changing this is because I haven't been losing weight as fast as I had hoped. I think it always helps to write our goals down and then tell someone else. I have done both by posting here but you don't have to make them public. Maybe you can put it up on your bathroom mirror and tell your significant other or maybe you can hang it up on your fridge and then tell your mom. Whichever goal you decide to make, don't be afraid to succeed. I found a quote about success that I think applies here.

"Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life." -Dr. David M. Burns

Happy Snow Day!

What did I do today? Well I woke up at 8:40 and walked to class when the snow was coming down so much that my whole head got soaked. Then I took an astronomy test and attended my stretch and flex class. after that I met up with my family and we went to the ducks basketball game. That was pretty sweet because we ended up sitting on the floor right next to the president of the U of O. It has been pretty difficult to stay on track with my diet and my family ha ha. I think I did well today considering where I went. At the game we had a suite so I just ate some grilled chicken and salad that was catered. During my stretch and flex class I really had to put a lot of effort in because I am exhausted from this week! I was sitting there doing "serve-it-ups" and I was struggling to say the least. On the bright side I noticed that my butt is looking firmer. I was getting dressed and I caught a glance in my mirror so I looked again and jumped for joy! I don't always feel like I am actually making progress but that definitely made me feel like all of my struggle was worth it. I have realized that I have to consciously make healthier choices if I want to succeed at being healthier. My brother in law Rodney was talking to me and he was saying that this is the point in a diet where things start getting really hard because I have gone without junk food for a while and I will be even more tempted to just tell myself that it is just one cheeseburger or just one cookie. I hope to keep this in mind when I am at the baseball game tomorrow night and when my mom starts cooking. Well hope ya'll have a good day tomorrow and I hope that even if you are not trying to lose weight you can make at least one choice that was healthier than today! Love ya

Weigh in Thursday

So this week I have lost 2 . 1 lbs yay me! I have also lost 6 inches all around. I think I'm gonna celebrate with a day of walking in the snow to my classes, oh wait, I have to do that anyways!

It's Been a Cold Day...

Ok maybe it isn't THAT cold but I feel like I can't get warm! Hi all, I am thinking about making my posts a daily thing so here I go. I didn't do anything really awesome today except for putting my clothes in the dryer and waiting for them to finish upstairs, only to find out an hour later that I had never pressed start, yep that stunk.
Hmmm well about my healthy choices today, I had a breakfast that consisted of rice krispies with fat-free milk, 3 egg whites with a slice of low fat cheese on top and three slices of turkey bacon. I felt like I was eating for two and it was only 9 points! I know that means nothing to you non-Weight watchers people but personally I get 30 points a day and that is just a regular sized meal!
I also had a really good workout this afternoon in my Zumba class. I think there is a point in every workout when I realize that I am the master of my body and that I can choose to power through or give up. I think that I have gained a lot of confidence from this. It is really empowering to feel complete control over my body. So that is what I would challenge you to do; next time you are working out, try to tell yourself that you are in control and that you can CHOOSE what your body does. I will be the first to say that I often "give up" too early when I am working out but I think I am slowly working towards being able to power through and achieve better results.
I also thought I would tell ya'll about my challenge this weekend. I am going to a place where the cheese flows like wine and the pasta flocks to my hungry mouth. Yes, I am heading to my parents house. Luckily for me they all know that I am on a diet and my mom asked me to make a list of what food I will need to survive but I am still worried. I know for a fact that my mom is going to be making her BBQ beef sandwiches and I don't know if I'll be able to limit how much I have! I guess we will know by Monday. Also I have a date with the scale tomorrow morning so wish me luck! As my roommate Krislyn would say LOVE YA!

Weigh In Thursday

So it is technically not Thursday but I will post what I lost as of last Thursday so ya'll can see where I am.  Last Thursday was my 4 week mark and I had lost 1.2 lbs for a total of 9.1. I had also lost a total of 18 inches all over. :] Slow and steady wins the race!

The Six Questions

Who?

My name is Becca and I am currently 20 years old. I live in Eugene, Oregon and am a little more than halfway through my sophomore year. I am the youngest of four sisters and I have six nieces, no brothers or nephews.  I am also Mormon and I plan on serving a mission when I turn 21. (I can't wait for this btw) Hopefully as the blog progresses I will be able to show who I am more fully.

What?

I am starting this blog because I want to vent about my downfalls and my successes. You see when I start to talk to people in person about my weight loss, they often look away or become uncomfortable. I am hoping that this blog will allow me to tell the truth and maybe have some people read it without getting uncomfortable. I also have many friends who are on the opposite side of that spectrum and when I bring it up they will tell me that I am not fat and that I am perfect the way I am. I am not perfect, no one is, we are all trying to make it through this life to improve and become more perfect.

Where?

I live in the beautiful Northwest. The trees are greener, the air is cleaner and the people are leaner. When I first moved here I was shocked about how many people ride bikes instead of driving. I come from southern California and it is borderline crazy to try and bike anywhere. This is mostly because of long distances but it is also because California drivers are crazy (in a good way) and most people don't want to die young. Another thing I love about Oregon is that there are so many places to go outside. Where I come from, if you wanted to go outside, you would drive 40 minutes to the beach or you would go to a park near your house, those were your options for some outside time, not including backyards. There have been many moments where I have hiked up Spencer's Butte when I wanted to get some healthy exercise in nature.

When?

It is obviously winter time and that means that it is stinking cold! I walked to class this morning and it was about 40 degrees!! Of course I like that it isn't sunny all the time but I think that the cold weather gives me an excuse to stay inside most days. 

I also am at a point in my life when I should be able to look back and say "Wow! Those were the healthiest days of my life!" right now I can't say that and I want to be able to say that when I am older. It is also a time where I can lose the weight more easily. I think that it is harder to do what what want today tomorrow.

Why?

There are several reasons why I am changing my lifestyle. First of all, I got to a point where I didn't want to wear cute clothes, or look at myself in a mirror. When I went out in public I was always self-conscious that people were looking at my weird for wearing a shirt that was too tight or for wearing a skirt that showed my big calf's. I knew that this wasn't the right way to think about the body that Heavenly Father gave me but I couldn't help it. I was constantly comparing myself to others and thinking that the girl over there was cuter, skinnier and prettier than me. I still struggle with this sometimes but it is way less frequent and less intense. I think that just the fact that I know that I am trying to take care of my body without hurting it or starving it is helping me realize how important my body is to me.
Another reason is because I want to be healthy for my mission when I turn 21 in December. When I am on my mission I will probably be walking for at least 10 hours a day. I want to be healthy so I can serve the people in my area to the best of my ability. 
The last reason is because I want to look my best. I talked to my Bishop one time about how I was not feeling good about my appearance and how I thought I wasn't as good as other girls in the ward. After telling me that I shouldn't compare myself to the world, he told me that I should still try to look my best. He said that dieting and exercising is pleasing to God and that I would be blessed for my efforts. It took me a few months to grasp what he was saying but it is true. Now that I am slowly and healthily losing weight, I feel happier and I know that God is supporting me in my efforts. 
How?
I am using Weight Watchers Online to monitor what I eat and portions. I am also walking to all of my classes and taking two workout classes per term. At the current moment I am enrolled in Zumba and a class called Stretch and Flex. I find that taking classes through the University of Oregon has helped me actually work out because they have mandatory attendance.