April 5th to May 5th

Total weight lost in NINE months is 69 pounds!

Total body fat lost 9% in NINE months !

Total inches lost from waist 9.3 inches in NINE months.
Total of 6 jean sizes down and 8 dress sizes down. :)
12 lbs away from 1st goal of losing 80 pounds. ;)

Tip of the Month:
I have said it before, but I will say it again... change up your snacks! What has been helping in making my protein go up is snacking on things that have a lot of protein. I have been snacking on soy nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, cottage cheese, and even Greek plain yogurt. There are various things out there, you just have to read the label to see if it is worth it. Just compare the protein, carbs, and fat. :)

April 5th to May 5th
This month was way better in terms of motivation. It was fading away and I am finally on BEAST mode again.  As mentioned on my last blog post, the weight lost is slower as I approach my goal. I still expect to see the 10-12 lbs lost a month, but I guess I just have to deal with it and be happy I am losing some lbs regardless. I tend to be too hard on myself, but I will try to see the positive in this... 69 lbs lighter is not that bad. ;) Again, I am very thankful to have so many supportive people around me... this includes family, bf, coach 1,2, and 3 lol, and friends. Sometimes I feel they are way more proud and excited than me. Thanks again friends :)

These are my results from Apr 5th to May 5th based on my journal ...

• I lost 5.5 pounds this month
• The calories I ate this month were an average of 1,418 which is higher than my goal :(
• The average carbs I ate this month were 146 grams (went up a bit :/)
• The average protein I ate this month was 85 grams (finally up!)
• In this whole month I did 15 hrs of exercise 

FYI. Once I reach my goal, I am not planning on stopping my healthy eating or exercise... that wouldn't be so smart. ;)

<3 Denise

Dec. 25th to April 25th

Total weight lost in EIGHT months is 63.5 pounds!

Total body fat lost 7.8% in EIGHT months !

Total inches lost from waist 8.5 inches in EIGHT months is inches! 
Total of 8 dress sizes down

Update!
Sorry it took forever to update, here are my updates :)
Dec 25 to Jan 25

Starting Dec 25^th I decided to cancel my fitcamp membership because of my January trip. I was able to get some activity going on with all that walking, but nothing intense. During this time I was able to stay the exact same weight.  However, I gained an inch from my waist thanks to the lovely pasta in Italy and lovely rice in Spain. Italy and Spain were amazing, enjoy some pictures. ;)

Feb 5th to March 5th

I started camp again on Feb 5th and it was HORRIBLE. I was out of breath more often than usual. Another thing that was horrible was that it was so hard to get back to my usual routine. My eating was healthy BUT I was not keeping track of my calories. In addition, my motivation had faded and I was exercising way less than before. For this reason, on this first month back I only lost 3 lbs. I was very upset but it was definitely what I needed because it made me push myself the month after.

                                            

                                                March 5^th to April 5^th

This month was better and I was finally able to keep myself on check. I started counting calories again and started exercising like before. This month I lost 6.5 lbs and 1% body fat. I mention body fat because last year I would lose 1% body fat after losing 11 lbs, but as you can see I lost the same percentage with 6.5 lbs. I believe as I approach my goal, the pounds would be disappearing a little bit slower. However, the body fat will still be disappearing at the same rate if I continue giving it my all.

These are my results from Mar 5th to Apr 5th based on my journal ...

• I lost 6.5 pounds this month
• The calories I ate this month were an average of 1,328
• The average carbs I ate this month were 140 grams
• The average protein I ate this month was 70 grams
• In this whole month I did 24 hrs of exercise 

I am slowly approaching my goal weight. I am 17.5 lbs away from the goal I set June 25, 2012. If I follow the guidelines required for my height, I would need to lose 27-37 more lbs. However, I will worry about that after I reach my first goal.

FYI. Once I reach my goal, I am not planning on stopping my healthy eating or exercise... that would just be stupid of me :)

<3 Denise

Nov 25th to Dec 25th

Total weight lost in SIX months is 54 pounds!
Total body fat lost in SIX months 6.5%!

Total inches lost from waist in SIX months is 8.25 inches! 

Positive changes this month:  The only thing I can think of that makes me happy is that I survived Christmas without eating crazy. :) Again, I made a salad and ate that before eating any of the food that was available. I got full fast and only ate one tamal, which is a Christmas miracle lol. I'm starting to think that maybe this is a good idea for every event at home. It worked on Thanksgiving and Christmas, so why not birthday parties, etc. Even if no one wants salad, at least I feel GREAT knowing I'm eating my greens before the main dinner.

Negative Changes: I was sick over a week so I missed so much of camp. Plus, I had already missed some other days because of events I had to attend. This month was a bad month in terms of exercising. Didn't think it would affect my weight loss this much... lesson learned for sure.

Tip of the month: Change your snacks frequently or you will most likely get tired of it. My list of snacks have included soy beans, fiber bars, almonds, celery, egg whites, and fruits. At the moment I now snack on carrots and hummus, which is really good. I get bored easily, so changing it up makes you look forward to snack time.

These are my results from Nov 25th to Dec 25th based on my journal ...

• I lost 4 pounds this month :/
• I lost 1.25 inches from my waist this month.
• Drank an average of 7 glasses of water.
• The calories I ate this month were an average of 1,312 which went up from last time but is still under my 1,400 limit :)
• The average carbs I ate this month were 159g (close to my goal..)
• The average protein I ate this month was 62 (went down again) :/
• In this whole month I did 12 hrs of exercise which is most likely the reason I did not lose that much this month. This is actually my lowest ever! Lesson Learned :/

<3 Denise

Oct 25th to Nov 25th

Total weight lost in FIVE months is 51 pounds!! :)

Total inches lost from waist in FIVE months is 7 inches! 

A Total of 6 dress sizes down (found out yesterday while shopping :)

A Total of 4 jean sizes down :)

Positive changes this month:  

I have noticed my carbs were decreasing at a slow pace. This month the change I made was no bread at all, not even whole grain. My first month was no white bread/ mex bread. After that I only eat whole grain bread. Whole grain is good, but this time I wanted to see if it will make a difference on my carbs. I only ate whole grain bread if that was my only option and no food was available. In addition, I let go of cheese for now. I only let it go for the last 2 weeks, and it does cut a lot of calories... I'm obsessed with cheese but I really wanted to see what would happen if I let it go..

Negative Changes: 
I started to notice that weekends are not good for me. My calories are higher on weekends than any other day. I need to start planning ahead on my meals, so I do not eat unhealthy stuff. I'm usually not home on weekends, and so I have to grab a quick bite. This is how my calories add up.  Even though I buy a salad or chicken at a fast food place, the calories are not the same. I'm glad I don't go for the burgers, but healthy fast food still adds up.

Tip of the month: 
Not sure if I have said this tip before, but I really do think it's important so I will repeat it again lol. Salads are a blessing! Sounds dumb, but it works. Whenever there is an event or holiday coming up, eating a salad first helps. It won't make you go beast mode on the rest of the food. You will get full faster and will grub less. I tried it on Thanksgiving and it worked. I was able to not touch the mashed potatoes I had served myself. 

These are my results from Oct 25th to Nov 25th based on my journal ...

• I lost 12 pounds this month :)
• I lost 1/2 inch from my waist this month.
• Drank an average of 6 glasses of water.(not good)
• The calories I ate this month were an average of 1,275 :)
• The average carbs I ate this month were 158g (it went so much lower this month, finally!!)
• The average protein I ate this month was 70 (good, but I can do better)
• In this whole month I did 23 hrs of exercise :)

It feels nuts to say I lost 51 pounds. I can't believe I actually did it. It's not my final goal, but I am closer to it now. My only goal this month was to lose the most weight this month, compared to any other month. It was hard and it is slow, but I had plenty of motivation this time around. Apparently, knowing people expect you to fail motivates the heck out of you lol. I am so happy and I hope this continues. I know these next months might be slower, but I will welcome whatever comes my way. :)
<3 Denise

Sept 25th to Oct 25th

Total weight lost in FOUR months is 39 pounds! :)

Total inches lost from waist in FOUR months is 6.5 inches! 

Positive changes this month:  
I am really happy with my protein increase. It has been a goal of mine to keep increasing it, but has been really hard. The increase was minor, but makes me happy regardless. I have been eating more egg whites, and have been eating cereals with high protein. I have paid close attention to the protein all foods have. Hopefully I can continue increasing it and reach my protein goal. 

Negative Changes: 
This month was hard for me to go running on the days I don't have camp. It gets dark early, and being the paranoid person I am, it is very hard to convince myself to go running at night. From now on, if I can't find someone to go with, I will work out at home no matter what. No excuses :)

Tip of the month:  This month was my birthday month and I knew a lot of dinners were coming up. For me personally, restaurants are very tempting. Obviously, most restaurants are NOT portion friendly. One plate can easily be dinner for two. In addition, not all restaurants have healthy options and will be a lot of calories EVEN if you eat half your plate. For this reason, the days I knew I was going to dinner are the days that my breakfast and lunch was light. This does not mean that I go crazy for dinner. I either share half with someone, or take half of it home for tomorrow's lunch (only if it is something I consider healthy enough to eat again). Another thing I do is count my calories by lunch time. After counting my calories, I have an idea of how many calories I can eat during dinner. It is something I do everyday and it is something that obviously worked because my calories were way lower this month.

 My goals for this month were...

1. Lose 8lbs or more
2. Do not exceed an average of more than 1,450 calories
3. 80 grams of protein or more (baby steps towards the 120g goal)
4. Average of 10 glasses of water (need to work so hard on this)
5. Excercise more than 20hrs this month 
6. Keep an eye on my carbs, do not go over 140g average

These are my results from Sep 25th to Oct 25th based on my journal ...

• I lost  9 pounds this month :)
• I lost 1 inch from my waist this month.
• Drank an average of 6 glasses of water.(it went down from last time :((( 
• The calories I ate this month were an average of 1,345 :)
• The average carbs I ate this month were 174g (have to go even lower)
• The average protein I ate this month was 70 (which is 3g higher than last time, so I still need to work on this)
• In this whole month I did 17 hrs of exercise (which is ok, but I know I can do more )

2 out of 6 goals accomplished
Thankfully, I was able to surpass my 8lbs off goal. Also, I lowered my calorie intake a lot! I was constantly checking to make sure I was not going over my calories. The goals I failed on were my exercise hours, I would of lost much more weight if I would of continued working out the days I do not have camp. Also, my water was really low this month. My protein did go up, but not to the goal. Lastly, my carbs are lower but not as low as it should be. This month I am going to focus on being strict with my carbs and protein.
<3 Denise

The reason why I started....

For those that are wondering why I started doing this and what pushed me to do it at age 26....

I have an uncle that was using a website where you can see how many calories you eat a day. He wanted me to try it and after 2 weeks I was in shock!!!! I was eating over 2,000 calories, almost 2,300 calories a day! That was when I realized I needed to change. 

I then started to analyze my whole life. I started thinking about alllllll  the health problems I have encountered. My paralysis, my high blood pressure problems, my hernia, my cyst, the times I have passed out suddenly, etc. It wasn't, "I want to look good in a dress" anymore, it was more like, "I want to be healthy and don't want to continue going to the Dr with these stupid problems." For me, it was to the point where I would see the same Denise, while everyone around me kept seeing the weight going up. So after deciding calories needed to go down, I started to cut off the good stuff in life lol  tortillas, pan Mexicano, chips, etc. :( Plus, I started eating only whole grain, fruit, snacks, vegetables, etc.

 Lastly, the cherry on top was the exercise!! 3 months before knowing I was eating too many calories,  my dear cousin gave me a gift card to start fit camp. I was scaredddddd and I couldn't bring myself to start. So the day I decided to eat healthy and keep calories on check, is the day I text the trainer I wanted to start :) They are great trainers and I still get sore til this day because of the variety. If interested you should check them out. ;) http://www.facebook.com/myfitcampla

 And so this is why I started this change. Reality hit me in the face. Obviously I am still learning, and I have been changing so many things to see what works for me. Hopefully one day I can have a post that says TOTAL WEIGHT LOST IS 80 LBS. Wouldn't that be awesome? :) 80 lbs is my goal for now, but 100 lbs would be my ultimate goal. So I have 50 more lbs to go :)
Thank you for your time. Hope it can at least give you some tips :)
Love always Denise <3

New goals for October

1. Lose 8lbs or more
2. Do not exceed an average of more than 1,450 calories
3. 80 grams of protein or more (baby steps towards the 120g goal)
4. Average of 10 glasses of water (need to work so hard on this)
5. Excercise more than 20hrs this month 
6. Keep an eye on my carbs, do not go over 140g average