Shoes to Lose

So, I told you I've been here: Acapulco and here: Zihuatanejo I've also spent a lot of time here: The office But that doesn't really explain why I haven't been here (as in, blogging like a good girl). The truth is, I've also been here: Hospital And shopping for some of these: Yep folks...that's right. We're going to be having one of these!: I'm currently 12 weeks along and Due in June. We weren't expecting to be parents but we are grateful for the opportunity that we've been given. Be back soon to give you more details!

Hello my friends! I'm back and I'm here to tell you all about it. Note: this post has quite a bit more to do with my vacation than it does weight loss, so if you'd like to just skim it, I won't blame you. Matthew and I went on an 8 day cruise through Carnival and it rocked our world. :) This is the second cruise we've taken and we've loved them both. The first two days were spent at sea without porting anywhere. We used this time to familiarize ourself with the ship (we were on the Carnival Spirit for those wondering) and to eat a whole lot of free ice cream. We played adult dodge ball and shuffle board on the deck. We sun bathed and listened to Jack Johnson and just really enjoyed ourselves. The third day we ported in Acapulco. The view from the bay was absolutely beautiful. The water was blue and the city was striking. Getting off the ship and getting down into the streets was quite different though. The streets were full of pot holes and garbage and there we...

This is ShaReece again and I come to report what i like to refer to as "TURKEY DAY SUCCESS"! As I woke up this morning, I mentally rehearsed (I know, totally geeky) what I was going to do to make today enjoyable and still be down 2 lbs. by the masquerade. I told myself, "I can have a small amount of anything I want, and a large amount of healthy foods." It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I totally enjoyed my meal with my family. Although I don't know what the scale will say (no bathroom scale at my parents house) I made way better choices than I normally would have and I didn't even feel the "post dinner turkey coma". I give myself an A for the day and will let you know what the scale says at the beginning of next week. How did your Thanksgiving 2010 go for you? Success? What did you do to make sure you had success? Also, I found this turkey comic and thought it was way funny!

So...Let's get you up to date. I attended my weekly weight watcher meeting on Wednesday and Weighed in at 171! Also, I have been invited to go to a masquerade ball on December 3rd. My goal is to be in the 160's before the ball. That is totally doable 2 lbs in 2 weeks. However, it's Thanksgiving and all. In addition, I have a problem. A big one. So...I am still single and go on dates fairly regularly. How is it possible to eat good when you are at places like Outback Stakehouse? Does anyone have any coping strategies? What is your Turkey Day game plan? HELP ME OUT!

So I had the opportunity go visit my parents this weekend and while I was at the wedding of a family friend I had many people calling me SherRon and getting in arguments over which one I am. Personally, I don't feel like we look that much alike (but that's because we continually fight over who is cuter). What do you think? Let me know. I'm curious...

Hello there...as mentioned in the previous post. I am ShaReece, SherRon's sister. She asked me if I would guest blog. I am not a blogger and have never done this in my life, but...here goes. A little about me. I am 25 years old and have been trying to promote a healthier lifestyle since last January. My starting weight was 232 lbs. My current weight is 172 lbs!! YEAH! SherRon and I have some things in common like: we share the gene pool, innate poor eating habits, love of pretty shoes and desire to lose weight and become more healthy. However, in all other ways, we are polar opposites. I have a LOVE for working out (Zumba, TurboKick, Hip Hop Hustle, most sports). I have a total different body shape as well that SherRon has often referred to as "built like a football player." This lovingly means that I have no hips or butt. When asked about my body shape I call it brick of cheese. Note pictures below. Well... is there anything else you want to know about me? Or anything ab...

Hey guys! I just wanted to check in and let you all know that I'm all still very much alive. Tomorrow I head out for my anniversary cruise with my husband where we will be spending 8 days doing nothing but enjoying ourselves. In the meantime, my sister, as mentioned in this post , will be keeping you entertained with her weight loss story and other happenings. I'll be back in just over a week and I have some very exciting news to share!

Alright peeps, I'm here for your help. I usually a very cold person and I'm not talking about my personality. What I mean, is that even if a room is at 70 degrees, I'm still chilled. My toes and fingers get the worst of it. Matt learned this quickly about me and he also noticed that when I'm cold I'm not a very pleasant person. My Christmas gifts last year included a snuggie, an personal space heater, and a down blanket. I guess he likes his woman happy! Anyway, my latest problem is that after I work out and come back to my apartment to cool down I get really cold. Like teeth-chattering, body shivering-ly cold. I'm not quite sure why this is but I don't like it. Any recommendations?? Does this happen to any of you?

A few weeks ago I found myself in a dressing room wearing a pair of skinny jeans. I stood there and looked in the mirror for a long time, debating if I would ever dare wear them out of the dressing room. I'd been wanting to try them for a while, just because it would add something new to my current selection of boot-cut jeans. It was a conflict within myself. My negative self talk was saying that I was still too fat to wear them and that I looked silly in them. They made my calves look huge and my stomach look even bigger because it was not proportional. However, I could also hear 286lb-SherRon screaming in the back of my mind, "WEAR THE SKINNY JEANS!" My perception of my size was so much different when I was larger. How many of us have once been a size, and thought we were so fat, but would kill to go back? I left the fitting room undecided. I would try them again, but those certainly weren't the pair. I couldn't shake the experience. Why was I so scared to try...

I've been wondering for quite some time now if I should remove old pictures of me from my Facebook. I look at the pictures and my smiles seem fake. They don't look like the me that I know. I didn't even see myself in them when I was that size. But the thing is, that IS who I was. That is what I looked like. That was the sum of a lot of decisions I made. But I've decided not to delete or untag those old photos of me. Before SherRon was pretty darn awesome. She nailed a pretty great job. She was a loving wife and sister. She was a good friend. She had the courage to walk in the gym that first time. She was smart enough to know that she needed to make a change and that it was up to her to do it. Before SherRon stays. She is both a warning and a beacon of hope.

Well...lets just say that Matt bought me a new camera and I'm in love. Firstly with Matt, then the camera :) So here is a little of what I've been up to lately: I've been going on walks every day during my lunch hour. This is the view from my office window. How could I possibly stay inside? I've been doing a bit more cooking. and I've also been eating some other, not so great things.... But life is good, and it's all up from here. I hope everything is going great with all of you! I'll check back in tomorrow with a bit more details.

I've recently started to notice something very special about my journey. I have SO much support. I've always had that support. Even though Matt hasn't always been on board with the diet, he was always willing to eat where I felt comfortable. He put up with my low calorie dinners and was a sport when I'd leave him each night to go to the gym. But I haven't had just Matt. I've had many, many more supporters. My Mother in law started her weight loss journey last August and she was a driving force in me deciding to change my ways. I saw how it was possible for her to lose the weight and for some reason it just clicked that if I really committed and did what I knew I should do, I could do it too. My sister, ShaReece, started weight watchers at the first of this year and has since lost 50 plus pounds. She's great to talk to about her struggles because we come from the same background, eating the same foods, and participating in the same activities. She gets where ...

I've never been able to wear my friends clothes. I've never even considered asking. I've always been the fat friend. I used to be so jealous of other girls that had 4 times the wardrobe because they could share and swap back and forth. The only person I've been able to share clothes with was my sister and I haven't been able to do that for years. This past weekend, that changed. I was with some friends and sat down on a bench that had recently been sprayed off. My whole back side was soaked. I was upset because I knew this meant that I had to spend the rest of the evening in soggy jeans. Then one of my friends piped up, "You can borrow a pair of mine!" and rushed off to her bedroom to find something suitable. I had a quick flash back to "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" when they come up with the idea to share pants and the larger of the girls says, "You think that a pair of pants that fits all three of you is going to fit...all of t...

This year I've found a lot of motivation in competitions like the biggest loser group I participated in. I also was inspired by the thought that if I could lose just 2 lbs a week, I could lose over 100 lbs in a year. There is a third inspiration I haven't shared with you. Back in March, Matthew and I booked our anniversary cruise. This November will mark our second year of marriage and we're celebrating by taking an 8 day cruise down to Acapulco, Mexico and I couldn't be more excited! Since the time we booked it, I've had visions of what my vacation pictures could look like. How healthy I'd look. Last November we went on a cruise and our pictures were so bad I didn't really want to show anyone. I was so embarrassed of my size. We didn't even purchase any formal pictures on the cruise because I couldn't find one that I liked. This year will be different. This year, I'll be hunting down the professional photographers on the ship an posing for all t...

If you knew how I'd been eating this past week, it would come to no surprise to you that I gained on the scale again. My Saturday morning weigh-ins have become things I dread now when they used to be one of the highlights of my week. I felt like all of my efforts were validated and that I was headed in the right direction. Now it seems like I'm getting a test back that I know I didn't study for. I'm not really sure why I'm off my groove most days of the week. I can understand allowing myself special occasion food, but I'm having a hard time deciding what counts as a special occasion. I remember when I first started my diet I had to come to terms with not always eating what I wanted, whenever I wanted it. I had to understand that just because something sounded good, didn't mean that I should eat it. I'm finding myself falling back into that hole more and more lately and I need to find a way to reel myself back in. Speaking of special occasion food, this l...

Do you guys remember way back in June when I told you to look forward to a review and a giveaway from CSN stores? Well, that day has finally arrived. The hardest part about this giveaway was choosing what I wanted. There are so many items in so many stores! They carry everything from dining tables , to fitness equipment, to shoes and accessories. I browsed through many, many different stores but kept going back to the shoe section. (Can you blame me?) Being a good weight loss blogger I would have purchased something in the health and fitness section, but where is the fun in being good all the time? After several hours pouring over the different shoes, I picked a pair and submitted my order. Immediately afterward I got an email telling me my order had been received and that it would ship from the warehouse within two days. The first day came and went with no news from the store. The second day I received an email telling me they were checking with the warehouse to see why my item had no...

As I approach the 100 lb mark, I have done a lot of reflecting about the changes I've made. I know that it is all too easy to slip back into my old ways. Its always easier to just not care but this certainly isn't something I want for myself and my future. I need to make sure that the changes I'm making are truly lifestyle changes and that they are sustainable. I've done some experimenting. I've stopped counting my calories religiously and I've loosened the reigns on what I'm eating. This resulted in a gain of 2.9 lbs on the scale. Its certainly not the result I was looking for but I think that I'm finding my balance and deciding what is important to me. I don't want to always be the person at diner ordering a salad with no cheese or bacon and dressing on the side. I don't want my family and friends to plan meals around "What I can eat." I don't want to log my calories and exercises every day. I do want to go on a date with my hu...

For those of you that don't know, Matthew and I were participating in a friendly round of couples biggest loser. Well.....Drum roll please.....We won! This news is coming a little late as the competition ended a little over two weeks ago but I realized that I never shared that with you. Matt and I lost an average of 16% of our body weight in 11 weeks. Holy smokes! Matt did such a wonderful job and lost 60 lbs. Losing weight is much easier when you're married to an inspiration. I'd like to send a shout out to my brother and sister-in-law who made the competition a challenge and kept the competition steep. They lost a combined 13.9%. Today I wore a size 14. 14! I'm still shocked at that number. The smallest size I ever remember wearing is a 12 and I wore that when I was in jr. high. In high school I wore an 18 so I'm not quite sure when 14 got jumped, but lets just say I was young. The pants I got from my sister when she came down to visit nearly a month ago. She...

Lyndsay over at Thinspiration tagged me in a question game where I answer 8 questions she made up and then make my own questions and tag my friends. So here goes.... Who's your favorite Muppet? I never watched the Muppets. I'd probably have to say Kermit just because he puts up with Miss Piggy. What's your favorite school supply? Pencil boxes. They were always such a big deal in elementry. I've been considering getting a funky one for my work desk. What's the best costume you've ever worn? One year I went as a Chip-munk. I work a monk robe with little bags of chips pinned all over it. I'm all about the play-on-word costumes. What's your least favorite word? Anyways. Its anyway. There is no need for the "s" at the end. You covered all of the ways available when you said "Any". If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be? Virginia, Alaska wouldn't be too bad either. Who's your favorite Care Bear? Are th...

So my friend Dawne over at " It's My Time " always talks about falling in love with exercise. I agree that it is definitely something that will need to happen in order to be able to maintain this weight loss. To be honest, I'm not in love with the elliptical. There. I said it. I know it is surprising that I don't enjoy moving in the same spot, looking at the same thing, but I just don't. Lately I've really enjoyed riding my bike but let's be realistic. I live in Utah. In a few months that isn't going to be an option for me. I dabbled a bit in tennis, but I was really bad at it right off the back (who would have suspected) and I ended up just being really frustrated. I'd like to think I'm going to be a runner, but I have pretty bad knees and I'm not sure that will ever happen. I have, however, found a fondness in doing yoga. It was very unexpected. I tried it out a little at the beginning of this year when I was much larger and it just w...

Why is it that when we're feeling down we don't do the one thing that will make us feel better? I just got back from a bike ride with the husband and it is just what my spirits needed. The weather was a perfect 65 degrees and the sunset was beautiful. It was the type of scene summer love movies are made of. Just what my soul needed!

I'm not proud of this last week. I've mad bad decisions and I've made them on purpose. I've eaten way past the point of being full and I've ignored the voice of reason telling me that I should take it easy. This last week has been a rough week, even on the day to day stuff. A new position has me stressed at work and the free food that is all over my office has been tempting. Some persistent health issues haven't helped either. But this time is different than all the times before. I know that I can control what I put in my body. I can't control what goes on around me, but I can control how I chose to react to it and this week I've let myself down. I'm pushing the reset button. I'm going to stick to the plan. I'm not going to go over my calories, I'm going to work out at least five times this next week and I'm not going to have soda unless it is the weekend. I'm going to care, and not just think "I shouldn't be eating this...

I've never felt more out of control on this journey, or more like I don't really care. The fact that I'm even noticing this shows me that I care but lately I've just been holding on to the bandwagon for dear life. I ate as planned yesterday until about 8 o'clock. I went and worked out and after I came back I ate a yogurt, a skinny cow ice cream bar dipped in PB2 (which, by the way, is quite delicious)...and then a second ice cream bar. I was never satisfied. The scale has also been doing some strange things. It appears that I've gained nearly 4 lbs in the past half week. I've not been eating my best, but I've certainly not been eating 4 lbs gained worth. I think my body may just be adjusting after the end of the competition. Maybe my subconscious is giving it a break that I wasn't made aware of. Maybe it is healthy for my body to take a break from all the losing and this is its way of telling me that? I've had a constant headache for about 3 week...

Hey friends! Sorry for my absence this past little bit. I've been feeling a little drained. There is something about going from not caring at all about what goes in and out of your body to obsessing about it all the time that is just exhausting. I've not worked out since last Thursday. I have not logged a complete day of calories in over a week. As you all know, I haven't blogged in a week. I haven't even stuck to my "no diet soda except for the weekends policy." Don't get me wrong. I haven't given up. I've simply taken a break from all the measuring. In spite of my slacking off at all of these things, the scale was exceptionally nice on Saturday with a loss of 4.4 lbs. (PS. This is really shocking to me. I have no idea why I continue to lose quite a bit of weight week after week. I expected it to slow down by now. But hey, I'll take what I can get.) Today however, I was a bottomless pit! I simply could never feel satisfied. I had some fruit...

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was mostly spent cleaning my apartment, although I did manage to sneak in a Jack Johnson concert, Shoe Shopping , Seeing "Eat, Pray, Love", floating down the provo river on an inflatable tube, and a lunch with Matt's extended family. So with no further ado- I've been wanting some nude pumps for quite some time but haven't been able to find just the right pair. (I've secretly been coveting a pair of Christian Louboutin's that I'm sure didn't make it any easier) This Saturday I wandered into the clearance section of DSW and there they were...on clearance none the less! I wore them out Saturday and they don't like me as much as I like them. It will be a while again until my feet are ok to wear them, but I can look at them as much as I'd like. What are your methods for breaking in your shoes? On the healthiness front, things are going well. My eating has stayed on track but I haven't ...