Fitness Friday + Steamer Action

I'm a couple of days late, but better late than never. I am amazed at the weight loss I've seen in the last week. I had gone up a bit during my birthday weekend and traveling the next week...but, I added some supplements, deleted carbs, and upped the protein in my diet this week.

This week's weight is...

I love this little graph of my weight loss over the past two months...from 177.6 to 161.0!

Woot! Woot! If you remember my post about the motivation to lose weight and my 2013 Resolutions, you'll recall that I set a goal of losing 5 pounds a month for 5 months! I am well on my way to reaching that goal! I'm super excited and so motivated by the progress I see to keep going!

I've been walking around the house all day grabbing the seat of my pants because I'm so amazed that there is some fabric back there to grab. Those same pants were cutting off my circulation two months ago...and yes, I still wore them! I started to post a pic of my butt, but when I saw how they were sagging, I decided not to...not attractive, but I'm still happy! It means I need to go down a size! Woot! Woot!

My diet has been transformed this week by my latest purchase...a food steamer!

In my T-Pain voice...I'm in love with a steamer! Ha! The first day I got it, I cooked broccoli better than any that had ever been cooked in my home and salmon, which has never been cooked in my house!

The next day was tilapia and asparagus! And both were ready in about 20 minutes and required nothing from me after seasoning the food to my liking.

It was quite a chore to find the right steamer for me! My friend Misty almost had me sold on a rice cooker that had a steamer tray. It seemed like a great combo, but when I evaluated why I wanted a steamer, I decided to to go with this one instead. The steam starts immediately when you plug it in and I love how it has two levels! You place the longest cooking item on the bottom. When your top basket is done, you remove it and place the lid on the bottom basket and let it continue to cook.

I'd say that the steamer has beat out the crockpot as my new favorite kitchen gadget! This week I plan to get back in the gym hard and keep up the veggie and protein full diet!

Linking up:

 

Time to Change this Number...

Wow! I can't believe I just posted my weight (and my feet) for all to see. It's not that number so much that bothers me, though; it's this one (or should I say these)...

And again, I guess it's still really not the number, but the fact that as I continue to shop and buy clothes, I'm starting to get to the point where the highest of these numbers will not do anymore. I'm at the point where I can't comfortably wear clothes that are in my closet anymore.

I've usually maintained around 145 - 150, without much effort. Over the pass three years, that number has slowly increased. I was okay as long as I could fit my clothes though. I  guess I've been doing too much of this...

Source

Other than the clothes, there's this one other motivator...my husband and I are considering kids in the near future. (Did I just write that? Woah!) Anyway, I think the average woman gains about 30 pounds during pregnancy. I would much rather add that 30 to a lower weight than the weight I'm at right now. I also imagine that if I get in a healthy habit now, it will be easier to lose the weight after pregnancy.

So, what am I going to do about it is the question...

1. Set a goal! My goal is to lose at least 5 pounds each month for the next five months. That's 25 pounds total by the end of the school year...Done!

2. Accountability...Done! I just posted my weight for the world to see. I hope to continue to update my blog with my progress...maybe join a weekly blog hop. Another measure of accountability will be the DietBet that my co-workers have decided to join. You can read more about DietBet here. My co-wrkers and I plan to start our first DietBet on January 8th. Click this link if you'd like to join us! The more who join, the bigger the pot! (Angie, I hope you're ready! No more excuses!) I also joined a Dietbet with Desirae over a Going with the Flow since I found about Dietbet from following her blog.

3. Work Hard! I'll have to work hard to eat healthier and to exercise more. I don't think I'll be joining any fancy diet programs or exercise regimens. Actually, I need to cancel my membership to Weight Watchers while I'm thinking about it. I know what works for me:

• In the past, I've followed Michael Thurmond's Six Week Body Makeover. It worked for me and both my parents. The results were amazing. There wasn't anything new or amazingly different...just healthy, small meals throughout the day, cooking without salt, and drinking plenty of water (The picture above was a result of this eating plan.)
• I already have a gym membership (which has hardly been used in the past six months). Recently I ran across Les Mills Pump on Beachbody.com. I remember doing this as a class at Gold's Gym for years. I used to love it and saw great results. The gym I'm currently a member of does not offer the class, so I'm considering buying it for my toning and sticking to doing my cardio at the gym. This low weight, high repetition toning workout, paired with cardio has worked for me in the past. I don't know for sure that I'll invest in this, but I do know that I need to do toning as well as cardio to get results.

So, instead of looking for some silver bullet or diet pill, I think I'll just stick to what I know has worked for me in the past. I hope blogging about it will help keep me accountable and constantly remind me of my weight loss goals.

Linking up: