Back to School

Well today is my end of the summer cleaning day. I am doing loads of laundry, washing my sheets, organizing my bookshelves, dusting, vacuuming, and clearing out any unnecessary stuff from my room and bathroom. School starts on Thursday and I am ready!

I woke up around 8:30 this morning and took care of some emails, browsed around lazily on Pinterest, and lounged in bed. I made some peaches and cream oatmeal for breakfast with some ginger peach tea- I guess I'm in a peachy mood! =)

I went to my weight watchers meeting yesterday and lost another 1.6 pounds- yay! I'm officially under 160! When I hit 155, I will have lost 10% of my body weight since February. I have set my goal weight as 145, but I'm not sure that is where I want to stop. I really just have no idea. But I'm going to try not to think about that too much. I'm just going to work in 5 pound increments and consult with my weight watchers leader.

Today I am going to cook dinner for Dustin- pork tenderloin with roasted vegetables. Yum! I will be working quite a bit less at the restaurant this week as compared to last week, so I will have to make up for that in exercise.

Well, I'm off to actually finish doing what I said I would be doing today. Perhaps I'll take another break later and blog about my new meal plan organization.

Pictures... for better or worse

I have decided to post some pictures of me in the last ten years- the height of my weight struggle and the road to a healthier lifestyle. Here they are!

2005- Natchitoches, LA. Me and my best friend Tony posing for a "prom picture" after dinner in Alexandria, LA. I weighed 203 pounds.

2005-Natchitoches, LA. During an SAI (honorary music sorority) function with my little sister, Ola.

2006- Munich, Germany. Kristian and I taking pictures of our reflections in the elevator mirror.

2007- New Orleans, LA. This is my old roommate, Sara, and I at our friend Heather's wedding. 6 months later I made a huge decision and joined Weight Watchers.

2009- Cadillac Ranch, TX- on our way to or from the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium. I was down to 180.

2009- Norman, OK- Heather and I posing in front of a dumpster?

2009- Albuquerque, NM- after concerto competition at the University of New Mexico

2009- Denton, TX: Me, Heather, and Charlie belting out Rent. With some fluctuations, I stayed around 180.

2011- After rejoining weight watchers and sticking to the diet plan, I was down 20 pounds

2012- Malibu, CA: Eating at a seafood restaurant right on the coast.  I was up a little in weight: 172.

2011- Houston, TX: finding an awesome new little black dress that I feel good in!

2012- Austin, TX: Spring Break back at home with Dustin =)

2012- Houston, TX: I recently got my wisdom teeth out. This picture is from just a few weeks ago- it's my mom and I trying on Kate Spade dresses. Weight: 160.

 So as you can see, things have changed over the years for me. I'm pretty proud of the change though!

I'm back!

So... it's been quite a while since I've posted. Over half a year actually. Here's some statistical things to keep in mind that have changed since my last post:

• As of my last post, my weight was 175. I am now down to 160! I would of course love to have lost more weight than that by now, but I know that this is a lifestyle change for me and there are ups and downs. I've adapted the mentality that slow and steady will win the race.


• I have completed yet another year of my degree. I have one year left of coursework, then a dissertation! YAY!


• A lot has changed in my personal life- maybe not on the outside, but I can certainly tell. Dustin and I are moving in together at the end of November. We've been dating for quite a while now- it feels right. And I'm pretty pumped about coming home to the man I love every night! 


• I've done a lot of personal work and have found that emotional eating is getting quite a bit better for me! It will always be something that I struggle with, but I am aware of the issue and more often than not do something to counteract it. 


• I turned 27 in July and didn't feel much older. Then I bought my own car insurance and purchased a car with air conditioning!!! (my old car was a 1996 Ford Taurus that had countless issues and no air conditioning). I now have my boyfriend's mother's old 2000 camry. Between that and moving in with Dustin, I'm beginning to finally feel like I'm in my late 20s (which is a good thing- I'm sick of feeling like a college student).


• I have not been fantastic about working out. Time is an issue some days, but other days my excuses get the better of me. I always do at least 20 minutes of light exercise a day such as walking, but I haven't been doing too much intense exercise. I miss it.


• I am working quite a bit less (as of next week) at the Italian restaurant. I will only have two shifts a week. This is because I've gotten two new teaching jobs! I'm pretty excited! I will be teaching at Argyle, McKamy MS, and Harpool MS. I will be taking two classes and lessons this semester, so I would say I have some pretty full days ahead. My plan is to be done with all school and teaching at 6:00 so I can have the rest of my evening for personal time (which includes time with Dustin). 


• I have also really gotten into researching skin care and make-up. YouTube is an endless fountain of knowledge. Between that and various articles, I'm beginning to get a better idea how to care for my oily skin as an adult and find make-up ideas that work for me.

That's all I can think of that has really changed since January. School technically starts this week although I won't be teaching yet and I only have class on Thursday. So this week I want to focus on a few things:

• schedule all of my commitments


• schedule all of my food and do the shopping for my meals today


• do the turbofire workout 3 times this week (scheduled in advance).


• drink more water- I was doing so well with that and for some reason I've been slacking lately.


• eat more fish this week


• be sure all of my finances are in order for school

I suppose that's enough of a post for the day. Dustin and I are spending the day together and I need to get going. We're going to skype with one of my favorite people, Heather, and her daughter Audrey. Heather and I have always been close- I was even in her wedding. We met in Louisiana and ended up doing our masters together in Albuquerque. I cannot believe that her daughter is over a year old and I still haven't met her in person! Oh well, it will be great to see them! I hope everybody has a fantastic day today!

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Fitness Tip: a little bit is better than nothing. If you don't have a time for a lengthy workout, then just do SOMETHING for a small amount of time. 5 minutes is better than 0 minutes, 10 is better than 5, etc... You might have an excuse not to go to the gym, but there is always time to be active.

Diet tip: when things get out of control and you feel like you're always hungry no matter what, control your salt intake and really stay on top of drinking water. I will bring water with me everywhere so that I don't get tempted by soda or junk food.