Lunch for 1-27-11

Had a great lunch today! Decided to go out to Runza after my dentist appointment and splurge a little. I was hoping they would have their vegetable beef soup since it is very low in points, but they didn't so I had to improvise. I ended up getting a new salad they have now called the Aztec Chicken Salad. It has mixed greens, a salsa with corn and black beans, tomatoes, and fat free ranch dressing. It is 390 calories and only 5 grams of fat and adds up to 9 Weight Watchers Points Plus Points. Check it out sometime and let me know what you think!

Sorry I couldn't find a picture of it, I think it is too new to be circulating on the net and I forgot to take a picture before I ate it! ;)

Dinner to come soon along with a recipe, woohoo!


Jessica Jeannine Clark

Sorry!

WOW! I have been absent for quite sometime! I have had SOOOO much going on! I know that is not an excuse, but it is my reason.

Now that the holidays are almost over, it is time to get back into shape and shed those extra pounds! I have done pretty good with maintaining, but I have been slacking on diet and exercise since the new Weight Watchers program has started. I am not sure if I like the new program and for me its a little more difficult to stick to.

I am putting a hold on recipes for now until I can get a better grip on the new program, but I will continue posting and keep you updated.

What do you all think about the new Weight Watchers Points Plus Program? Give me your feedback!


-Jessica Jeannine Clark

Picture Update

After such a successful weigh-in yesterday I decided that it is time to post a new picture! The "before" picture that is posted on my first ever blog post was from 11 pounds ago and the picture of when I was heaviest was exactly one year ago! I feel amazing!
My little puppy Sammi decided to be in the picture too. :)

Now all I need is a tan! haha

Destination

As you may have noticed, the title of my blog is no longer "My Weight Loss Journey" and is now "My Weight Loss Destination". I decided to change the title after reading a quote in my 3 month Weight Watchers tracking journal. The quote is: "Remember success is a journey, not a destination." Well I feel like I have already been through my journey and the destination of my ultimate weight loss goal is near. It will always be a journey, I mean after all life itself is a journey, but I feel like I finally made it to the top of the hill and I can see the mirage ahead. As I come closer to that mirage (my goal) I will see that it is not a mirage at all, it is in fact a solid oasis!

I want to thank you all for your continued support throughout my weight loss dream. it is no longer a dream and has become reality and I don't think I could have done it without everyone's encouragement!

Last week I had gained a pound, but I didn't let it get me down. I felt very confident this week and decided to weigh myself a day early.

Well I am glad I did because I discovered that I lost 3 pounds! So much for that stinkin' one pound, it can pack its bags and never come back!

I now weigh 133 lbs.!
That is a total of 35 lbs. lost!
My ultimate goal is only 8 lbs. away! I am so excited!

I am so proud of my accomplishments. I honestly never thought I would get this far, but I have and it feels great! Thank you so much again for supporting me throughout everything! :) You guys rock!

Love Always and then some,

Jessica Jeannine Skinny Clark (hehe)

PS: A Sweet Feats post is coming soon as well as new pictures!

Sad Face

Well I suppose there is a first for everything! In one of my previous posts I said that there have been times that I haven't lost anything on Weight Watchers, but I had never gained. Well.....that has changed. :( I am up one pound this week and I am not exactly sure why. I suppose I could have counted things little better or exercised a little more (which I did a little more than last week already). I could blame it on my annoying little monthly visitor which mostly likely could be the cause, but that's OK. I am honestly not even that upset. This just gives me the little extra push I need to do better next week.
My goals for next week include exercising EVERY day even if it is just a little bit including trying to walk more. I am also going to try to eat more veggies and lower fat items and lay off the carbs! We shall see if this will help me to lose that poundage! I have heard that the last few pounds are the hardest to lose and I am proof of that this week!
I know I can do it! I refuse to be discouraged! :)

I will be posting some Sweat Feats recipes later; Key Lime Cups and a SURPRISE! So look out for those! :)

Thanks for letting me vent,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Lower Abs

I discovered a new ab video! I have still been doing the workout from the other video, but I wanted to do something that would really target my lower abs because that seems to be where I collect the most fat.

This video has a couple of really good lower ab workouts that I think should work really well!

http://www.5min.com/Video/Lower-Ab-Workout-145279620

I will be posting new pictures of how my body has changed throughout my journey very soon! :)

Love Always,

Jessica Clark

Not Long Now!

Well it is Sunday, and if you have been following my blog posts you will know that this is the day I weigh in. On my last weigh in day I mentioned that I have been having to eat less Weight Watchers points now that I am in the 130s and I was not sure how that would go for me. Well it hasn't gone too bad at all! I've been doing good with staying within my daily points and not using up all of my extras! :) Here is this weeks weigh in results:

I lost 3 lbs.!
I now weigh 135 lbs.!
A total weight loss of 32 lbs.!
I am only 10 lbs. away from my goal!

I can't believe I am almost there! Wait, YES I CAN! I have been working my butt off (literally) to lose this weight and it has paid off, so why shouldn't I believe it?! :)

I only have 1 more pound to go for me to have lost 10 lbs. since I started this blog so when that happens, which will probably be next week, I will post new pictures.

Also stay tuned to next weeks Sweet Feats. I will be making Key Lime Cups, yummy!

PS. I haven't been mentioning my exercise lately so here is an update: Today I will finish up week 4 of C25K and I am loving it! It is really changing my body and it feels great! I also have been trying to do my ab workout when I have time, but I really just need to make time and get going on it!

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Weigh-In #4

It's that time again already! This is the fourth weigh-in since I started my blog and so far so good! Since I have been doing Weight Watchers there have been times that I haven't lost anything but I have not ever gained a single pound! :)

This week was pretty alright. I lost 1 lb. weighing in at: 140 lbs.
That is a total weight loss of 27 lbs.!

I skipped some workouts this week because I was sooooo busy! I know that is not an excuse and I plan to not skip any this week so that I can lose more!
Right now I am only 15 pounds away from my ultimate goal.
I also really hope to lose at least 5 more pounds by September 12 for my husband and my anniversary. :)

I will be posting more of my recipes soon!

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Weigh In Time!

This week I lost 2 pounds! I am so excited that I am almost past the 140's! I now weight 141 and feel amazing! I am going to continue my exercise regime and eating very healthy. I am just trying to pack on as much vegetables to ever meal I can! Did you know that not only are vegetables good for you, they are only one Weight Watchers point, AND they actually help to fill you up because of all the fiber that is packed into them! Veggies rock! :)

Thank you for sharing this happy and exciting moment with me! Please stay tuned for more posts throughout my journey! :)

Weight This Week: 141 lbs.
Loss This Week: 2 lbs.
Total Loss: 26 lbs.!

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

From Beer Belly to Six Pack

I have decided that on my days in between from running I am going to work on my abs. My gut seems to be the place that takes the longest on my body to lose the fat so I am going to start giving it an extra boost. Running alone helps to reduce belly fat, but I want to speed up the process a bit especially since I am not running every day. I would love to run every day, but the program I am on only allows me to run every other day so abs on the off days it is!

I found this awesome ab workout on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdcDEhk1Sgo

I have not tried it yet, but it looks pretty difficult which means it will work. I think with this specific workout I can tone muscle quickly without having to exhaust myself so I am excited to try it! I will keep you updated as to how it is going.

I posted some before pictures of how my belly looks now and I will post new pictures ever so often to show my progress. :)

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Brain Health

My mom sent me this link earlier and it is a quiz to take to discover your brain health. It is all based on the way you sleep, the way you eat, the state of your mood, and many other things. I received my results and they seemed pretty accurate.

Here is what they were: http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/online-tests-calculators/cyb-questionnaire/cyb-questionnaire-results/?a=2&b=4&c=6&d=6&e=0&f=0&g=1&h=1&i=0&j=3&k=0&l=0&x=1&oa=1&ob=0&od=1&oe=1

Some very interesting stuff! Take the quiz for your own brain health at: http://www.amenclinics.com/cybcyb/online-tests-calculators/cyb-questionnaire/

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Good and Bad

Well, I weighed in today and sadly discovered that I had not lost any weight this week. :( However, I did not gain any so that is good. I did the second week of C25K today on a treadmill in the fitness center at my Mom's apartment complex. I had been doing it on the treadmill in my Dad's garage and it was so hot and humid! It was a million times better in the fitness center and it felt really good rather than exhausting so I know where I am doing my workout from now on!
I am disappointed in my non-loss, but I am happy that I did not gain and that I am loving my workouts! Exercise does release endorphins (the body's natural happy chemicals) so that is good that I am getting lots of those!


Weight this week: 143 lbs.

Accomplished this week: Sticking with my workouts

Goal for next week: Work out everyday and watch what I eat a little better like actually measuring stuff rather than just eying it.

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Not Feeling So Confident...

For some reason this week I feel really bloated like I am actually gaining weight. I really hope this is not the case because I have been doing everything I am supposed to and then some. I have been working my butt off this week, but am really worried for some reason that I won't see results! I guess all I can do is keep working and hope that my efforts will pay off, but sometimes it is so hard to stay confident when I look in the mirror and still see a fat person! :(

Thanks for listening,

Jessica Clark

Excitement and Disappointment

I weight myself every week on Sundays. Last week when I weighed myself I was 3 pounds lighter AND I fit into all of my old pants! It was a great week and I felt really good about myself. This week I only lost one pound. I am so glad that I did not gain or maintain, but I was still disappointed in myself. Why didn't I lose more? What did I do wrong? I should be celebrating my loss, but instead I can't help thinking that I messed up. I seriously just need to celebrate the small victories and give myself a confidence boost. I think that the more confident in myself I become, the more I will lose and the faster I will grow to love the skin I'm in! I will work on that this week.

Here are my stats for this week:

Loss of 1 pound, weighing in at: 143 pounds

Here are my goals for this week:

Exercise more and be more careful about what I eat.

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

About My Journey

I am 5'3 and my weight has fluctuated throughout my whole life. In high school I was at my thinnest weighing only 118 and wearing size 1 jeans. The sad part of that is that even back then I thought I was fat. I have never had a good body image and I think that was one of the major causes for all of the weight fluctuations. After high school I went through some hard times and ended up gaining a lot of weight. I then weighed what I thought was my heaviest ever, 155 pounds. During this time I started working at a very physical job and lost most of the weight not even realizing it. I then weighed about 130 pounds and looked great.(pic: bottom) I stayed about the same weight for quite a while bouncing back and forth between the 130s and 140s and then I met my future husband. :) You have heard of "happy fat" right? Well that's what I call what happened to my body! My now husband and I would always go out to eat and out drinking when we first started dating. I didn't even think about how unhealthy it was because I was having fun and was happy. This went on for about a year or so. I just kept eating and not exercising and didn't even care. It wasn't until March of 2010 that I tipped the scales at 167 (pic: middle) and was shocked at how I let myself get. During this time I had recently found out that I was pregnant. My husband and I were so excited! I thought, "Yeah, I gained a lot of weight and probably should do something about it, but now I NEED to gain weight!" and I ate as much as I possibly could. Well sadly we found out just a couple of weeks later that I had lost the baby. It was a very rough time, but it was also an awakening. I felt to blame for the loss. I thought that maybe my body wasn't healthy enough to hold and grow a human life. I felt disgusted with myself and made a promise that I was going to do something about it, I had to! And I did.....
I started out counting calories and trying to exercise a little bit. I struggled A LOT at first, I just kept wanting to eat! I somehow still lost ten pounds and was down to 157, it was a good start. My mom then told me about Weight Watchers and how easy it is and how it is not even a diet it is a lifestyle change. A lifestyle change? That is exactly what I needed! So I started the amazing program of Weight Watchers and started exercising my butt off (literally) and here I am about 4 months later and weighing in at 144 pounds! I have lost a total of 23 pounds since my lost pregnancy! I am very proud of myself and am continuing to push forward. I recently took a health screening at work and realized that I am in all of the healthy ranges for body fat and waist size! It would have been awful to see what those stats were back in March! I am almost down to a normal BMI, 3 pounds away to be exact. My first goal is to weigh 135 which is only 9 pounds away and my ultimate goal is to weigh 125 pounds and then we will see! I am currently doing a running program called Couch to 5k. It is a great beginners program to running and anyone can do it.

Here is the link: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

IT IS FREE! :)

I decided to start this blog and share my official "before picture" from this point (pic: top) so that I can share my journey with anyone who is interested and I hope to inspire others to become healthy along the way. Having a great body would be awesome, but being ultimately healthy would be even better and that is what I am striving for.
Thank you so much for reading my blog!

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark