Not Your Average Fat Kid

I know it's been awhile, but here I am! I sort of broke up with the 21 Day Fix. In true Redhead fashion, I found ways to "cheat" while still staying on the plan. I hired a friend of mine who was sort of doing nutritional counseling. Basically I started tracking my food, eating super clean, focusing on the glycemic index, and on gut health. Combined with my efforts starting in January, I've now lost around 46 pounds. I know. I KNOW. I can't believe it. Until tonight when Timehop showed me a picture from 2 years ago, I didn't see the weight loss. I saw that my face looks thinner, but I didn't see everything else shrinking. I can't believe I'm about to put this on the Internet, buuuut here goes: I was determined to not be a "fat AND sad" person in my "before" pics. :)  So here are some things I've learned while losing weight: 1. I physically take up less space. Sounds like a "duh" statement, ...

IT. IS. FINISHED! I know, I survived. I lived to tell the tale. You know guys, it's really  not that bad. I had a headache last night (presumably from the lack of caffeine) and a brief headache this morning (which was quickly quelled by a black cup of iced coffee), but overall... It really wasn't that bad. In fact, I told the Bearded Wonder already that I'd totally do this again. I generally wasn't hungry unless I missed a snack time waited too long to eat. Everything was really filling. Though funny story, the last 2 days, every time I drank my Vanilla Refresh shake, I tasted corn. So weird. This afternoon at lunch I was looking at the ingredient list, and what's the 3rd ingredient? MAIZE. It's apparently for protein. Gross. Don't get me wrong, I love corn. I have nothing against creamed corn. But my shake with fresh pineapple and coconut extract in it still tasting like corn? Not  a fan. It was so weird. Imagine a shake made out of this. Y...

Day 2 is just about done. Suffice it to say... It was a bit more rough than day 1 . I felt pretty good after yesterday so I figured today would be just as easy. Eeeehhhhhhh.....  Don't get me wrong- I was super chipper before I drank the Fiber Sweep this morning. See? I took a picture for you guys! Told you it looks disgusting. Thankfully it doesn't taste like it looks Here is today's lowdown: 8am: ~10 oz. water 9am: Cafe latte shakeo with 1/2 banana, cinnamon, 1.25 c. water, ice 10am: Fiber Sweep 11:30am: Green tea (I ended up sipping this over the next couple of hours just because of my schedule) 12:30pm: Vanilla Fresh shake with vanilla extract, cinnamon, 1.25 c. water, and ice, 1/2 banana, spinach/strawberry/avocado salad with vinaigrette. (My shake was so gross today, you guys. So gross.) 4:45pm: 1 c. veggie broth with chopped up herbs (I was desperate for food and made this really quick. More on that below) 6pm: Vanilla Fresh shake blende...

Heeeyyyy friends. It's been awhile. :) We've been off The Fix for about a month now, and suffice it to say I have been in Hog Heaven. Are you guys familiar with the phrase "Hog Heaven"? It's a very Southern term, and it looks something like this... Yep. I saw it. I ate it. It's just that simple. OK if I'm totally honest, it wasn't that  dramatic. I mean I still tried to not eat EVERYTHING I got my hands on, but overall I had little to no self-control. I think it was because I totally OD'd on brown rice and shredded chicken. I just couldn't do it anymore. The end of the last round of the Fix was really hard for me, because I stopped being able to eat the staples we'd come to rely on. Enter the 3 Day Refresh . It was a safe but dramatic enough option for me to kick my butt in to gear. It's a bit drastic, but it's also only 3 days, and frankly- I need to undo some of my edible sins before the next round of the fix starting Mon...

As an almost life-long dieter, it was about time I had a setback in my newish fitness journey. This blog has always been my glass box to stand in and be honest about my weight loss adventures, and today is especially painful as I admit a few things. First, I haven't worked out in 5 6 weeks. Second, I've gained 1.5 lbs this week since we're off the Fix right now and I've eaten with all kinds of reckless abandon. Are we still friends even though I just told you I really suck at this sometimes? I have legitimate excuses for some  of the time I didn't work out- hubbies had the flu and I was taking care of him, I had a nasty cold, I threw my back out, I hurt my knee... But if I'm completely honest, there's still a solid 3 weeks where I didn't   have excuses. I just didn't work out. Sometimes I was busy, sometimes it was pure laziness. I'm not proud of it, and I can't go back and change it, but I can  start again. Which I did today! ...

I'VE LOST 20 POUNDS!!!  I was going to go for a girl power vibe here, but this was just too good to pass up.... You guys. YOU. GUYS.  I'm so pumped. So freaking pumped. I've lost 2.5 lbs since Monday on round 3 of The Fix, which is about what I lost during my entire last round. Granted, I didn't have my whole heart in it that time- I know I didn't. I cheated with my food, I found excuses not to work out... The program's not going to work if I don't work the program, you know? I started to feel sorry for myself, but I'm  the one who made the choices to eat junk and not work out. That's unfortunately how this works.  My dream of eating a bread basket with no calories will never be realized. Le sigh. ANYWAY. I've been trying really hard with my food this week, though it's still been tough. The Bearded Wonder was diagnosed with the flu last Thursday, and I developed a nasty cold on Monday. We still ate fix-f...

Well we've ended our 2nd round of the 21 day fix! Now, I started this blog with the intent of being honest and accountable with my weight loss journey. So it's in that mindset that I have to tell you my whole heart wasn't in it this last time. I don't know why- maybe I got arrogant from my first round and thought I was all of a sudden a weight losing goddess? Maybe I figured I'd just keep  losing weight after such a great round? I have no clue. Regardless, I'm the only one that suffered from my empathetic attitude. In 3 weeks I lost 2 pounds, though I did still manage to lose 6 inches from my body. That brings my final weight loss total in 2 rounds (though technically a round and a half, if we count my laziness =P) to 17 lbs and 16 inches! Not too shabby, huh!? I mean really, 2 lbs in 3 weeks is still great. 6 inches in 3 weeks is still great. But I constantly found excuses to not work out, or eat "treats" when Heaven knows I don...