2 weeks later...

Well here is my 2nd update. I missed two days of bike riding this last week, but I still rode 5 days. I was able to achieve my goal of 5 miles every time I rode. I think that I will continue the 5 miles rides for at least one more week. My time has gotten a little better, but I want to get a little bit faster. I have also stuck to doing Zumba at least 3 times a week.

Anyway, I did not lose any weight this past week but I am hopeful that it's just from gaining muscle because I did lose 3 1/2 more inches. That makes a total of 9 inches in two weeks.

The Results are in....

It's been a week since I started my exercising and diet. So far I have been able to stick to my original plan of following Weight Watchers and working out 7 days a week. I rode my bike every day and I am up to 4 miles in 20 minutes. My miles are already getting faster each time I go out, so I am going to add another mile this week. I also did Zumba 3 times during the week. So now that I have told you about my diet and exercise, it's time for the results of my hard work.

I have lost 2.2 pounds and a total of 5 1/2 inches!!! This is so exciting to me! I am the type of person that needs to see results in order to stay motivated.

Coupons!!!!

I finally did it! I took advantage of my coupons and "price matching" last night. I spent $113 on $177 of groceries! That means that I saved $64 just by clipping coupons and looking at other store ads! Here are some pictures!

Here is the full haul

Here is a close up of one half

A close up of the other half

Some of the items there were purchased:

- 12 Boxes of Hamburger Helper
- 6 'Smartones' entrees and 2 'Smartones' desserts
- 4 packs of 'Hot Pocket Snackers'
- 12 Jars of baby food
- 3 bottles of baby juice
- 2 containers of baby puffs
- 3 'Schick' razors
- 2 boxes of garlic bread
- 3 boxes of toothpaste
- Rib eye steak

The list goes on! I am very happy with the results and I don't think I will ever grocery shop without coupons ever again!

It's time for some changes!

After months of battling weight issues, I have finally decided to do something about it! I have a really good way of finding excuses to eat junk (i.e, eating out is much faster and I get home late.) I am also constantly looking for an "easy fix" to lose weight. If I don't lose weight fast enough, I get frustrated and give up. I finally went to see an endocrinologist to make sure everything was well with my metabolism, cortisol, thyroid, etc. Well, it turns out everything is fine. I am definitely happy to find out that I am very healthy, but it's definitely frustrating to realize that there is not an underlying reason for being overweight other than myself. Now that I have crossed my "t's" and dotted my "i's" in order to make sure there aren't any underlying issues, I have decided to finally take matters into my own hands. I will be doing Weight Watchers as well as working out 7 days a week. At least 3 or 4 days out of the 7, I will be working out twice a day. Because of this new goal, I purchased a bicycle. I figured, "hey, this will be an easy and fun way to get into shape!' Oh boy was I wrong! It is fun because I get to be outside, but it is SO hard! I can't believe I rode a bike every day when I was younger! I have only been able to go about 15 minutes each ride, but I have only gone twice so I figure this is pretty decent considering the shape I am in (round.) I will just keep working at it and build up to a longer time.

I had Jason take some "before" pictures, but I am not posting them until I have pictures to put up showing some success! The pictures are definitely great motivation. I didn't realize how big I am until I saw them. Another HUGE motivating factor in all of this is Shylee. I DO NOT want her growing up thinking about diets and her weight. She is such a smart and beautiful girl already, I don't want her innocence to be tainted with ridiculous things like that. We were at Target today and we saw a young boy (probably about 5 or 6) that asked his Mom for a snack. She told him "no" and he responded back saying "But Mom! I am not on a diet!" This made me so sad! A child that young should not know about diets. They should understand eating healthy and how it provides them with energy to play and learn, but they should never worry about diets at this age!

Wow! This post turned out to be a lot longer than I originally anticipated! Anyway, thanks for reading and check back for updates on my progress!

4th of July

Shylee celebrated her first 4th of July! She looked so cute in her red, white, and blue outfit. I can't stand how adorable she is! Due to the new firework law, we were able to stay at home and watch some really great ones from our own front lawn. It was very nice since we didn't have to deal with large crowds or insane traffic. Shylee seemed to enjoy the fireworks. They didn't scare her at all. I think she enjoyed them so much because she LOVES being outside. Here are some pictures of my patriotic baby!