Stinking Thinking

I'll be honest. I wasn't all that great of a listener yesterday in my last class of my first month of Achieve. See, I GAINED WEIGHT at my weigh-in. It was less than a pound, but it was enough to really get me down. Most of the class I was wallowing in self-pity. Every week, we go through a Power Point presentation. During the last half of the class, we came to a slide about attitude, and there was a bullet point that said "No 'Stinking Thinking'!" Maybe that's not proper grammar, or whatever, but...you get the point. For whatever reason, that phrase struck me. You know how sometimes when you're in church, listening to the radio, or sitting in a class, you hear a phrase and you just KNOW you were meant to hear it. Ok, I got it. I understood...I needed to change my attitude. Good thing it hit me before I even left the class, or else I may have had a terrible week!

Let's look at the bright side(s), because that's what I'm usually good at doing!
1) I've lost about 4.5 lbs in the last 3 weeks, and that's even my one-hour-after-dinner evening weight.
2) I've gained energy. As (I think) I've said before, this is probably one of the most noticeable things for me!
3) I'm starting to finally notice my weight loss...at least a little bit. Wanna know the weirdest place I've noticed weight loss? My FINGERS...?!?!?!?!
4) I feel better. Plain and simple.

So I had a little setback. No big deal. Time to pick myself up and get right back on the healthy train, right? :)

First, let's talk about last week.

My goals were to work out at least twice for 30 minutes each and also to have 6 healthy days. I did work out twice. One workout was only 25 minutes, but we'll go ahead and count it. That particular day, my workout was running/walking, and half of it was UPHILL! Whew. I did meet my goal of 6 healthy days, but I totally took advantage of my junk day on Saturday. Mayyyyybe I indulged a little too much. Whoops! I think my gain came from that as well as having a lazy post-junk day. On Sunday, I just laid around and watched Netflix. I even ordered in (healthy!) food, because I didn't feel like getting up to cook. It was amazing, don't get me wrong, but I should've used my day off more wisely and gone for a walk or done at least something active. I also didn't drink quite as much water on Saturday and Sunday as I usually do. Now, keep in mind, my "usual" water consumption is now up to 20+ cups a day, but I probably drank less than 16 on both of those days.

This was my cheat meal on Saturday. Can you blame me for over-indulging?!

What are my plans for this week?

Once again, I'm going to challenge myself to have 6 healthy days. I'm also going to try to minimize my junk day even more than usual. My second challenge to myself will be to workout THREE days this week for around 30 minutes each. I'm planning on trying to go for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday this week. I've heard that a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar a day can also be helpful for weight loss, so I may try that. Hopefully in another week I'll have good news for you!

Like I said in the beginning, yesterday was my LAST class of my FIRST month of Achieve. I've decided to be come a "Lifestyler" and continue attending classes. This way, I'll continue to learn, grow, and have a group to keep me accountable every week. A real-life group, that is! Writing this blog is definitely another good accountability measure for me!

The moral of the story is that we all have failures and set-backs. The important thing is that you get back up and try again.

Have a great week, everyone!

***P.S. I've now learned that we will be receiving new journals in my lifestyle class, but I took a few minutes last night to create this document. It mimics the journal that I've been using to hand-write my meals and snacks. I also created a non-Achieve version. Feel free to print these for yourself!***
Achieve Food Journal
Non-Achieve Food Journal

Time to Re-Focus!

Just like that, I’m already halfway through my first month of Achieve! This week, I officially lost another 2.4 lbs at my meeting (5.2 lbs overall!), and I’ve lost 6.5 lbs from morning to morning since Day 1. Week 2 seemed a little harder and slower-going for some reason. This week we were able to add in natural carbs (i.e. potatoes, brown rice, wine, etc.), and I think maybe I took advantage of that fact a bit too much. I also felt like I had a few more cravings this week than I did last week. I still lost weight overall, though, and I'm sooo proud of that! :)

And increase the size of your WHY!

When we first started the class, we all wrote down a couple of our WHYs – our reasons for wanting to lose weight and be healthy. I think I discussed a couple of mine in my very first post, but it’s helpful to re-visit things like that! Motivation, here I come!

My WHYs:

1. Clothes getting tighter (or just plain not fitting anymore!)
2. Not feeling comfortable in my current clothes, because they're tight and show off all of my bulges :/
3. Losing confidence - I want to get back to the confident girl I was several pounds ago! I know she's in there!
4. Prevention of health care issues - I want to prevent things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar before they lead to more serious issues like heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. As a health care professional, I'm VERY aware of the importance of prevention. I want to practice what I preach!
5. Having more energy - This is one of the main things that I've definitely noticed a difference in since I've started this new lifestyle. Up until 2 weeks ago, I would come home from work most days and just feel exhausted. Now, I'm drinking about HALF as much coffee and diet soda as I was before, and I've only taken a short nap one day out of the last 2 weeks. It probably does help that I recently moved 45 minutes or so closer to work! ;)

MY GOALS

Last week, I said that my goal was to lose 2 pounds at my meeting (which was yesterday!). Somehow, I ended up losing even more than that!. I'd like to make it my goal again this week to lose 2 more pounds. As I mentioned in my last blog, my other goal for this week (today until Monday, April 25th) was to workout at least twice for 30 minutes or more each time. I'm off to a good start! After work today, I came home and did a 30 minute Pound workout. If you don't know what Pound is, it's a super fun workout that uses lightly weighted plastic drum sticks. It REALLY works out your legs, but it's an overall full body workout every time! I love it! Some fitness centers offer it as a group class as well. Check it out at www.poundfit.com! I'm also looking into finding a Zumba class that I could go to once in a while. I'd really like to try to get in 3 workouts this week, but I'd be happy to meet my goal of two!

In no particular order, my favorite workouts are Pound, Zumba/dance, and running/walking outside. A couple of years ago, I started running 5ks. Well, we'll just say jogging. ;) My very first 5k was the Geist 5k in May 2013. I ran the WHOLE thing (except maybe 1-2 minutes uphill) with a time of around 31 minutes. I know that doesn't sound very fast to all you runners out there, but I haven't been able to do that since! I'm not even sure if I could run a whole 3.1 miles in the shape I'm in right now. My long-term workout goals are to be able to run a 5k in 30 minutes or less, and to run/walk a half marathon. I'd like to do both of those in the next 12-18 months. :)

My post-run beer at the Geist 5k!

Now, just for "fun", I'm going to add in one more goal for this week. I want to have SIX healthy days. I've been having 5, and even then, only one big one. My second junk day in week 1 was healthy except for a cupcake, and my second junk day in week 2 was healthy except for a couple evening cocktails at a local distillery. I enjoy taking advantage of my junk days, as I'm  sure is the same for most people! :) My only planned cheat day this week is Saturday. I'm going downtown Indy to see STEVE RANNAZZISI at Crackers! (Any fans of The League out there?!) I'm sure we'll be having dinner out at a restaurant and some yummy drinks at Crackers. Other than that, I'm going to TRY to stay focused and not have any more junk days. I'm far from perfect, though, so we'll see! 

What are some of your WHYs, goals, or favorite workouts??

Here's to re-focusing for another great week! Comments are always appreciated! :)

Work in Progress

Hey y'all!

So, it's week 2. In this post I want to share with you some likes and dislikes, surprises and disappointments, from week 1 and the beginning of week 2. Mostly, it's been pretty easy! The first couple days of my first week were a little rough. I had to change my mindset about eating, and I was hungry a lot. Now that I've learned a bit more, I've gotten more adventurous with my recipes and meals, so it's just gotten easier and easier!

In my last post, I said I'd lost 5.5 pounds from morning to morning. After cheat day on Saturday, that went up a bit (as expected), but I jumped back on the healthy eating train, and now I'm down 6.2 morning to morning. :) In the past week and a half, the biggest thing I've noticed is that I have more energy. Even when I stay up a little later, it's almost easy to get up at 5:30 to cook breakfast and get my lunch and snacks ready for the day...and that is saying A LOT because anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person. Other things I've noticed include my skin clearing up (it has less dry spots and I'm getting less stupid adult zits), my hair is softer, and I've had changes in my cravings AND appetite. On cheat day, I could only (and only wanted to) finish half of my cheat meal... :-O I get excited for vegetables and lean proteins, and I look forward to my healthy snacks. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for cheat day this week (PIZZA!!!!), but overall, I'm feeling really satisfied.

The biggest thing that I haven't noticed yet is a change in my clothes. I knew that would happen, though. See, I have this body that's a blessing and a curse. I gain and lose weight very proportionally. So, when I gain weight, it takes a while for my clothes not to fit. I could fit into clothes from high school until the past year or two. The curse part is when I start losing weight, it takes a while for me to notice my clothes fitting less snugly. :) I'm ok with that, though. I know it will come. My goal at the end of these 4 weeks is to feel even the slightest difference in my clothes. Just a tiiiiiny bit. I think I can, I think I can!

(Ok, maybe I don't need my clothes to be THAT loose! ;) )

Some of my favorite products/foods (so far) include the following:
Fiber Gourmet Pastas
Carba-Nada Pastas
Olive Garden Light Dressing (I could put that on EVERYTHING!)
Bell Peppers (I already knew this, but I love them even more now!)
Fat Free Cheeses
Sugar Free Jello with Fat Free Reddi Whip
Health Wise Biscotti

Some of my favorite recipes/meals so far include the following:
Asian Lettuce Wraps (Thanks, Rhonda!)
Chicken Breasts w/ Pampered Chef Buffalo Rub & Roasted Mixed Veggies w/ MCT Oil (or roasted asparagus in MCT oil!)
Spaghetti Fest (Thanks, Nana!)
Fajita-Stuffed Chicken (modified): https://www.buzzfeed.com/alvinzhou/fajita-bajita#.oiNLeKzoo

(Fajita stuffed chicken with mixed veggies and a small glass of wine)

My goal next week's meeting is to have lost 2 more pounds. My goal for next WEEK is to incorporate working out. I will do at least 2 days of 30+ minute workouts between next Tuesday (the 19th) and next Monday (the 25th).  I'm a work in progress. Y'all can keep me accountable. ;)

Until next time!

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!

I LOVE CELEBRATING BIRTHDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even when they're not my own! I also love CHEAT MEALS...and WINE. So many of the things that I love are about to happen ALL IN ONE DAY! That made getting out of bed at 5:30 instead of 5:45 or 6 so I could get my food ready for work so much easier. ;) Yeah, that's right. It's "cheat day", but I'm still trying to eating healthy for most of it, at least. I've lost a total of 5.5 lbs from morning to morning since Tuesday, and I don't want to ruin that progress. I'm sure a lot of that is water weight, because I've been drinking at least a gallon of water per day. Yesterday I had 20 8-oz cups plus my usual coffee and coke zero throughout the day. Either way, this week has been a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I'm excited about the weeks to come!

Hope everyone else's weekend is just as great! Cheers! :)

I Love This Crazy, Tragic, Sometimes Almost Magic, Awful, Beautiful Life…

That’s a country song, if you didn’t know. ;) I feel like it pretty accurately describes my life over the past week. Between packing, moving, unpacking, and just trying to do normal every day things, it’s been a whirlwind! We are OFFICIALLY moved into the new apartment, and my drive to work is approximately 6 minutes. I can’t say enough how excited that makes me!

Monday night was my first Achieve meeting, and I woke up Tuesday morning so ready to start this journey. I weighed myself, showered, ate breakfast, made coffee, and got ready for the day. I’m a pharmacist, and today my job was clinical. Clinical means I’m up on the floors in the hospital, and, if needed, I respond to certain codes and stroke alerts. Luckily, these don't necessarily happen all the time. Of course, my first day of Achieve would be the day. I’d never been to a code blue OR a stroke alert by myself, and before 11am BOTH had been called! Talk about a stressful day! All I wanted when I got home was to sit on the couch and drink a glass of wine. Ha! On a positive note, I’m glad I got some experience…and it distracted me from my hunger between breakfast and lunch! ;)

I really think this will be a great program for me. I feel more motivated than ever before, and somehow I’m not completely overwhelmed…YET. It definitely helps to know people who have been in the program, so I am thankful for that. 

Monday night, one of the things we talked about was that we each have a “diet demon”…or demons! Yesterday, I can say FOR SURE that I know exactly what one of my diet demons is. WORK. There are so many food distractions and temptations. All in the same day, I got offered a free slice of pie that someone had gotten from the cafeteria, there were cupcakes up on the floor for one of the nurse’s birthdays, and there was talk of buying pizza after we reach a certain goal as a pharmacy. 

Today, I found another set demon. Convenience. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning and then I had an appointment to turn in my keys and garage door openers at my previous apartment. I was leaving the south side of Indy around noon, and I was HUNGRY. I had my Achieve book with me, so I looked at some of the things I could grab from restaurants. I decided on Chick-fil-A grilled nuggets and a side salad, so I drove all the way there, and the line was CRAZY. I didn’t want to go inside because my car was packed to the brim with the remainder of the stuff from my apartment. Thankfully, I’d brought a Quest bar with me in case I needed a snack, but what I really wanted to do was to just run into Penn Station across the street and get a club sandwich and their AMAZING fries. I kept myself together, though. I ate half of my quest bar and made myself a wrap when I got home. 

Overall, my first two days have been good! I was pretty hungry between lunch and dinner yesterday, but I think it was more of a mental thing. Today has been better. I know that this is just the beginning, but I’m determined to succeed. Mostly, I’m determined to NOT give up if and when I fail and have an accidental junk day or I give in and have pizza or cupcakes at work instead of sticking to my plan! :) The next few days may pose a challenge, because I’m working evening shifts, but, again, I’m determined to succeed! 

Here's to a healthy week! 

Happy Thursday!

Happy Thursday!

In exactly ONE DAY I’m moving into a new apartment that’s WAY closer to work. I. Cannot. Wait. This also means that in 4 days, I’ll be starting the Achieve program. Before I start, I thought I’d lay out some challenges that I’ve faced in the past with other programs and brainstorm ideas on how to avoid those again.

1) Food Prep

This has ALWAYS been one of my biggest personal health and fitness struggles. If I have food prepped and ready to go for the week (mainly breakfasts/lunches), I do alright...most of the time. However, there are times that laziness or the food-lover in me kicks into over-drive. For example, the laziness comes out when I don't "feel" like actually going to the grocery and taking a few hours to cook food for the week or next few days. The food-lover comes out when I already have stuff prepped, but then I decide it's not what I want, so I buy something less healthy for lunch instead. I also tend to run a bit on the late side in the mornings (Any NON-morning people out there?!), so when I don't have my breakfast and/or lunch already packed, I may be in too much of a hurry to pack it before I leave or I may just think "forget it, I can't be late, I'll get something at work", even if it won't be healthy.

Things I Can Do:

-Make more easy, freeze-able meals

-Plan more (but how, exactly?)

-Get up earlier and/or pack lunches on work nights

I honestly am not sure what exactly I can do. Suggestions would be appreciated! I guess I'm not 100% sure how to MAKE myself be motivated to take several hours out of my day off to prep food or how to convince myself to take a few extra minutes at night to pack a lunch when I'm already exhausted.

2) Not Having "Enough" Success

I feel like this can be a big hindrance for me. Logically, I know that these things take time and you don't always see results right away. Especially if I'm going to be getting in shape and building muscle, the scale might not necessarily always be the best judge of success. However, mentally/psychologically, it's hard for me to continue with enthusiasm if I see little to no success within the first week or two of a change.

Things I Can Do:

-Stay active on the Achieve social media site

-Continue going to meetings

-Enlist accountability partners to encourage me. 

Suggestions would be appreciated here too! I think I'll start with a small goal. Starting Monday, every time I find myself disappointed in my success (or lack thereof), I'll try to write down one thing I'm proud of from the previous week or day.

3) Making time for working out

Honestly, I think this might change for me, but historically, it's been a struggle. Since I'm moving closer to my work on April 1st (no, that's not an April Fool's joke), I'll only be driving 10 minutes one-way instead of almost an hour! WOO HOO! Spending 2 hours of my day in my car is exhausting, even though it's just sitting. If I'm going to work out when I come home, I have to be REALLY motivated. Consequently, the number of workouts per week I've done lately has dwindled.

Things I Can Do:

-Bring workout clothes with me to work

-Have a workout area ready to go at home

-Plan ahead, schedule out my day, and DON'T COMPROMISE

By bringing clothes to work, I can go straight to the gym or to the walking trail or wherever it is I need to go without first sitting on the couch and realizing I missed last night's episode of Scandal. Another thing I tend to do a lot is make excuses and compromise. For example, if I plan to workout at 3:45pm after work on Tuesday, and then everyone decides to go to happy hour after work, I need to prioritize and just go do my workout instead of making excuses like, "I'll work out tomorrow."

4) Prioritizing

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but there are so many times when I do what I WANT to do rather than what I SHOULD do. It's a constant battle. This kind of ties in to all of the previous 3 challenges that I've dealt with. I might get a wrap from the cafeteria at work instead of bringing and eating one of the lunches I prepared for the week. I might go to happy hour with coworkers or friends instead of going home to work out or do food prep. I might get caught up in a TV show that I missed and decide the couch is way more appealing than a workout session or cooking a healthy dinner. You get the gist.

What I can do: 

-Make a list and put it somewhere obvious

-Start making my health a priority

Hopefully in time I'll be able to bring updates on what actually works for me and be able to share strategies I've discovered. :)

What are some of your challenges and goals??

How do you stay motivated and prioritize to help you stay on track??

T-Minus 8 Days

Let's start with an intro. I'm Courtney. My nickname is CoCo, but that's a story for another time.

I'm a pharmacist, lover of Jesus, and Butler grad. I love food and wine and especially trying NEW food and wine, which is probably how I got myself into this mess. Let me explain.

This is a picture of me from Saturday.

This is a picture of me from 5 years ago.

In 2013, I graduated pharmacy school, and a few months later, I got out on my own and moved into my own apartment. During the last few years, I've tried diets and workout plans and accountability partners. Sometimes I was trying to lose weight, sometimes just trying to maintain, but every time I eventually fell off the wagon.

I've never been "skinny", as you can see. I'm the hungry one on the left. :)

I've always struggled a bit with my body image (haven't we all?!), but I've really never felt uncomfortable in my own skin until now. To be honest, I don't have an excuse for how I let myself get this far. I imagine it was a combination of too many unhealthy meals, too many glasses of wine, and not enough self-control. 

Starting on April 4, I'll be joining Achieve. If you don't know what Achieve is, join the club. Ok, I guess I do know a little bit about the program. I know several people that have joined and had a lot of success, including my mom! From what I understand, it's a lot like Weight Watchers or similar programs. Weekly meetings, online tools, and food logging. One of my favorite things about the program (from what I hear!) is that I'll be learning which different combinations of foods to eat and the WHY behind each of those combinations. I think it will be a good kick in the rear to get me back on track and eating healthily again.

I don't really feel comfortable sharing my weight or measurements yet, but I as I continue my journey, I might begin sharing more. Until then, I'll share my goals.

My goals:

1) Lose weight - of course. My goal is to lose 30 pounds at a reasonable rate of 1-2 pounds per week.

2) Lower my cholesterol. I've never had high cholesterol, but at my health screening for work a few weeks ago, it was on the border. 

3) Get in shape! I don't have a specific goal or timeline here. However, I would like to run a half marathon within the next year or two.

4) Gain confidence back. I've really lost a lot of confidence within the last year. I've probably gained 20 pounds in the last 2 years, and although I'm a successful, independent woman, it's made me a lot less confident in myself.

I'll be using this blog to share my ACHIEVEments (see what I did there?) as well as my failures. I'm also hoping to share and review new recipes, strategies, and workouts. I may throw in a few non-Achieve-related blog posts here and there as well, just to keep you on your toes. ;) Hopefully this will also serve as my accountability tool. 

I will NOT fall off the wagon this time!