Adventures of a Flower: My Beginning...Again.

Hello all!

Let me just be frank--losing weight is a long....difficult process. I lost 30 lbs a couple of years ago when I was in a weight loss program, but as my husband and I moved away to the other side of the states (Nebraska to Pennsylvania), I slowly got out of my routine and was getting sick of counting calories and being obsessed with my weight, and depressed with how far I was from my goal weight of 125. Well, I slowly gained weight back after that and got back to the weight I started with: 225.0, 100 pounds greater than where I need to be for my height and weight and body type. Since then, I have been struggling with losing weight again. And when I lost weight before, I was at 190.0. It has been sad remembering when I could fit into smaller jeans, skirts, and clothes were a little more baggy.

Now, I am slowly crawling back to counting calories even though I would rather not, however, counting calories is actually what works for me to lose the weight I need. I am slowly planning on a workout routine too. Before, I was up from 30 minutes to 2 hours of eliptical, running/walking intervals, and lifting weights. One time I worked out until I burned 800 calories (2 hours of eliptical and running/walking)....I just barely have motivation to go exercise right now. But, I am trying to kick myself back into gear. When I get home from work I think about relaxing. And when I am at work I think about working out. It's a weird cycle. And then when I do have a routine I have a hard time following through with it on a continual basis. It's a question I have been trying to answer. ha ha thinking about it is my downfall rather than just doing it. I am hoping that doing a blog will help motivate me. And maybe I can inspire others who are also struggling with weightloss.

So if anybody who reads this has ideas on how to make working out/eating lower calories more fun I would greatly appreciate the feedback.

Plan to start again:

Counting calories using this: my Vida One application

more fiber

drinking Oolong tea (it increases your metabolism immediately) I got it for $3 at our local grocery store rather than the $190 that I can't afford on-line :p

eating less portions

getting up earlier and slowly heading to the gym (maybe dress myself in my workout clothes with shoes to sleep in that I will wake up clothed for working out ha ha)

Finding other activities to do than eating more food

Find a local exercise group that gets together just to exercise at no cost because right now my husband and I can not afford much less to pay for exercise or training. I do hope to work with a trainer in the future though.

Find a way to make working out more fun...music, beautiful setting, hiking?

I hate running right now, but I want to do it again.

...When I did get exercise recently, it was spent walking to take the train, walking the streets of Philly and New York City as you can see below: me with my hubby :) I think we walked at least 7 miles in New York, not to mention that it was hot! So, I definitely think we burned a ton of calories. My clothes felt loose.