Hello Everyone, I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted an update. I was so busy with the holidays and everything I really didn't get much of a chance to sit infront of a computer for a long period of time. But here I am January 3rd 8 pounds lighter then the last time I posted. So that brings me to a new total of 11 pounds.

I found something that truly works for me. It's easy, cheap, and oh so helpful. My lovely friend Shannon bought us each a book called "Why weight around? Changing the weightloss strategy", by Dr. Alwin Lewis. You can check out the book by clicking here. Shannon  and I read the book on the same day, and started the diet together on Sat Dec, 27th. One week later we weighed in and suffice to say we were extremely happy. The diet itself sounds a little "untraditional", so I won't go into much details. But I will say it's no where near as hard as it sounds. I'm not one with a lot of willpower, but the longer I stick to it, the easier it gets.

Shannon and I set goals for next week, at my next weigh in I hope to have lost another 8 pounds. I now have a couple of friends at work that I have discussed the diet with and they intend to start this Monday, I wish them all the best of luck. Anyone who is interested in finding out more, please let me know. I would be happy to share with you. Thanks for all of your support. See you next week (hopefully another 8 pounds thinner).

Hello All,

It's that time again for me. This time my news is a little better. I lost 2lbs this week, which brings me to a total of 3lbs. I would like to thank everyone for all of your support and advice. So far, every piece of advice I had been given has been great and I appreciate all of it. 

I ate oatmeal and fruit every morning for breakfast the week per Stephanie's advice, and I am suprised to say I really liked that. I did not think it would be appetizing or would be enough food, but it was perfect. It was a nice way to start my day, and was an overall healthy and low calorie breakfast. I will definately be continuing with this great idea. Thanks Steph!

It's crazy, but after Tricia mentioned that you should "know exactly what you want before you go into the kitchen", I started noticing how many times I go in there and just start munching on snacks. So now before I go into the kitchen, I know what I want, I get it, and get out. I've even let others in on this little insight and they've said that they have the same problem and are also going to take Tricia's advice.

Going into Week 3 of my journey there are a couple new pieces of advice I'd like to take. Andrea swears by thedailplate.com, so I intend to use that as much as possible this week and see if it works for me too. And I plan on chewing gum when I feel hungry per Shannon's advice. Shannon also suggest drinking lots water in between bites to fill you up faster. So, here it goes. If anyone has thoughts or ideas please share. I'm all ears. I'll let you know how it goes next Monday.

So here I am one week after I started my weight loss journey. Not totally disapointed, but not exactly impressed either. I stepped on the scale today, and was a WHOLE 1 pound lighter. Like I said though...not impressed!

I do only have myself to blame for this horrible week. Even though I ate better, I only exercised one day out of the week. But I did try all of the advice I was given, and am here to let you know what worked and what did not.

I have heard from lots of people to keep a journal of what I ate. Not saying that this does not work for some people, but for me it was just an extra thing to do on top of a dozen other things. I did however use The Daily Plate as a guide for how many calories I should take in, and how much calories are in the food I typically eat. So as far as the journal goes, I say nay. But YAY for The Daily Plate.

Now following the advice of the comments that were left for me via myspace, I'd say those really helped me out this week. I was told to not eat past 7:00pm unless it was fruit. I actually really liked that one. I made sure that if I felt the urge to eat past 7:00 it was only a bannana. That was always enough to cure my hunger. So thank you Elana for that advice, that is something I will definatley continue to use on my journey.

I was also told to remind myself that I am the only one standing in my way. Which seemed hard to do at first. But really worked when I would want that candy sitting in my Christmas candy dish, or when I would want to go all out for my morning Starbucks fix. But I realized that it did actually help. I actually pictured Stephanie telling me that I would be the road block on this journey if I ate that candy or ordered that Latte. So thank you Stephanie for that piece of advice. I know that is advice that will help me reach my goal.

As per Vanessa's advice, I believe she was right with taking it slow. Getting used to my new eating habits before engaging in a work out schedule. It was already a lot to get used to, smaller portions, eating more, preparing foods. But this week I am ready to start some cardio. I actually started tonight with 1 hour on the elipitcal.

Now this week I am up for any more advice people are willing to give me. I was told by a friend of mine to try and eat the Quaker, Lower Sugar Oatmeal every morning with a fruit of some sort. So starting tomorrow I will be doing that for the week. I will let you know how it goes.

Wish me luck for the week. And remember, if you give me advice, I WILL follow it. Thanks for reading!!!

Hello All!

I'm sure if you are reading this then you know me. But let me bring you up to speed anyways.

I'm 26 years old and recently had a baby boy. I got married in March of 08 to my guy of 3 years, and father of my son. During my pregnancy I gained 40 lbs. Yes, 40 lbs!! Since I had a C Section baby I had to wait 4 - 6 weeks before I could begin working out, which made it difficult to lose the weight.

Once the doctor gave me permission to work out I felt so motivated to lose the weight and get my pre-prego body back. Five months and only 30 lbs left to go, I have lost that motivation. It's not that I don't "want" to work out, it's just that with the weather/time change I just have no energy. Not to mention working part time and taking care of my family. Total COP-OUT right??

I am starting this blog as a tool of motivation. I need all the help and support I can get. Each week I will try something new in my journey. A new piece of advice each week. For example, I have been told that keeping a journal of everything you eat is helpful. So for my first week, this is what I plan to do.

At the end of the week, I will write again and let everyone know if the journal was helpful to me or not. Next week, I will try somethng new. I have heard of certain weight loss tea's and such that I would like to experiment with. I will be sure to keep you all posted on my thoughts of each experiment.

Now I know the basics, eating better, cutting my porportions, drinking more water, eat 6 times a day and exercising. These are the basics that will be implemented each week. But if anyone has any advice they'd like to share PLEASE DO!!!

I will try each piece of advice I am given to see what works for me. Wish me luck!! I can't wait to hear everyones thoughts.

So I've been on maternity leave for a couple weeks now. I must say I thought  I was going to be extremely extremely bored. But to my suprise I'm actually quite busy. I get to go walking in the morning with my sister, her daughter, and our pups. I get to visit with friends. But then theres the not so glamourous part of it, such as house work and running errands. I've cleaned my room to get ready for Logan, but I still don't have it JUST RIGHT. I find that the past couple days I've been taking naps (I hate naps), but lately I'm just soo tired by the early afternoon. I do miss work, I enjoy talking to my co workers, and visiting with them. I miss them. Not so much the job, just the people. Atleast I'll get to see everyone on Sunday at the baby shower. YAY!!!

Well anyways, this is me being bored, trying to stay awake. I'll keep everyone posted when Logan is born.

For those of you who don't know Boo, she is the newest member of the Brassfield family. Yes, Russ and I adopted a dog. Not just any dog but the sweetest, cutest, funnest dog ever. She's a 15 week old Lhasa Apso. She's brown with black low lights and weighs a wopping 4 pounds. We saw her at Moondoggies (Victoria Gardens) and it was love at first sight.

Boo enjoys going for walks every morning with Ginger(my sisters dog), with my sister and my neice of course. She also loves her little toys and bones we bought her, but strange enough home girl loves leafs. She'll chose that over any other toy any day. She loves to eat Iris's food more then her own. I don't understand it. I think she just likes to piss her off. And yes, anyone who knows my cat Iris knows that she hates Boo. Iris is not nice to Boo, yet Boo always tries to be friends with her.

I can't wait until Logan gets here, that way Boo can have a little brother who adores her.

Keep and eye out for photos of Boo to be added to my gallery.

So I was sitting here thinking about how crazy my life has been lately, and I don't mean crazy in a bad way at all. So I'm sitting reflecting on the past year of my life and I must say theres been a lot of changes.

Let's start with last May, I got a boob job. You wouldn't really think that's a big change, but trust me....it is!

Then in August, Russ (my fiance) and I moved in together.  This was a huge thing for both of us. Even though before moving in, we practically lived together. This was a big step. We couldn't wait to see what eachother's pet peaves were, and to see if we could even stand eachother. However, to no avail, it's great. We love it. I'm not saying either of us are perfect to live with, but we're perfect for eachother to live with.

The next big step for us came in October. I found out I was PREGO! Wow, so many emotions, and to top it off I found out while I was at work. The doctor called and said the reason I had been feeling so "shitty" was because I was 5 weeks pregnant. I Balled!!! More out of shock then anything, but luckily I had amazing friends there to hug me and tell me what a wonderful mom I would make. But now I have to tell Russ...I avoided his calls! I wanted to wait until I got home to tell him the news, but he kept calling because he knew the doctor was calling to tell me what was wrong with me. When I got home and told Russ the news, he was shocked but excited, and that was such a relieft!  So that night both of us got really excited, thought of names and shared the news with our family and friends.

The next couple months for me were horribble. I had something the doctors refer to as "morning sickness". NOT FUN!. See, I couldn't eat anything. Everything looked or smelled disgusting. I would try to eat, but I'd get two bites down and want to through it up. I pretty much lived off of saltine crackers during this point. I'd say morning sickness ended for me, probably around begining of Dec. Thank God that was over! While we were going through "morning sickness" I was also dealing with the fact that our baby doc was a bitch! At our 2nd appt. with her, Russ finally told the staff we would be finding new care becuase she was a heartless bitch who didn't know what she was doing. (I'm glad I have him to do that stuff for me)

Then on Jan 8th, with our new doctor (whom we love) we found out that we are having a baby boy. So excited. I can't wait for all the sport games and stuff.

This month (feb) I had my bridal shower, soo much fun. Now I just can't wait for the actual wedding. In just 2 weeks from yesterday we're getting married. How crazy is that, I'm no where near ready, but everything is coming together thanks to my mom and my wonderful bridesmaids..and the best Maid of Honor ever!

The month following the wedding I get to start planning for Logan's baby shower. Yay, another project. Of course my Maid of Honor and my Mom have offered to take care of that for me, what would I do without them??

The month after that would be June, and guess what. We'll offically be parents to Logan Van Brassfield.

A lot can change in Just a year!