Words From the Wise

So it's November. I didn't even have a chance to write about October. In fact, I have been thinking about writing this blog post for the last month. Why? Because I didn't reach my goal, but I'm still ok with that. So the week leading in to my sister's wedding, my weigh was -66.8 pounds. My goal was 70. That's pretty dang close. Two weeks before the wedding, I got really sick. Of course. Which was totally awesome and knocked me on my butt. I also think I totally forgot about how much little details go in to the last week of the wedding. Could I have reached this goal? Probably. Did I reach it? No. Am I still happy? Yes. I say it every post. I am so proud of how far I've come. That's what's impressive. So how was October? BOO (and not the ghost kind of boo). That was not a good month and I didn't even binge on Halloween candy! I went on a vacation and wasn't as careful with my eating. The pound I lost at the end of the month of September

So we're less than two weeks away from the first goal I set for myself. All I have to say is why. Why don't I have more time?! Friendly reminder that goal #1 was to be down 70 pounds by my sister's wedding (Sept 23). So how have things been going? August continued to be a slow month. But the walks started back up again. Slowly... It took a week in to August when I finally decided to kick my butt in to high gear. I was not going to get defeated that easily. So we walked. I hit my step target majority of the days in August. I was hopping on the scale each Saturday with high hopes of getting closer to my goal....but.... I think we hit the point of the plateau. The first week in August was great. Then the weight was flaking off. And by flaking I mean half a pound a week. Woof. So, August came to a total of THREE AND A HALF pounds down. Whaaaaaat?! Yeah, it sucked. I was watching what I ate, back to walking, taking my vitamins. But, again, I reminded myself that I was st

Let me start out my saying the month of July was not nice to me...not nice at all. I was busy with work and then life got hectic. AND I spent a weekend at my grandparent's house.... My grandparents are amazing and I love them dearly, but my Nanny is one to always have WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. Like, it's enough to feed at least 2.5x's the amount of people there. I get it, she wants to make sure everyone is fed and happy but did it put a damper on my weight loss. I tried really hard to be mindful of the amount of food I was eating. It was difficult when food is getting pushed on you, too. AND THEN we had my sister's bridal shower at this great pizza place. There was so much food and my sister and I felt so bad so we did a little binge eating. I can't believe the amount I ate. To be honest, it wasn't some ungodly amount but it was way more than usual. You know when you say "I'm so stuffed I don't think I can eat again..." and then you eat like 4 hours

This title makes it sound like all I've done is sweat. I'll be honest, the summer months haven't been too terribly hot here. I feel like I'm usually melting throughout most of my summer but that's not happening QUITE as much this year. We've had some really pleasant days, too! Don't get me wrong, I'm still sweating and it's still hot...but it could be worse.... Things have been super crazy at work so I haven't really had time to sit down and look at my progress. So a new month meant it was time to take a step back to see how things panned out. Let's just be honest. I haven't been good at walking or yoga. Remember when I said it hasn't been too hot? Well there have been plenty of days where it's been too freaking hot to walk. And the humidity! OYE. That's what makes our summer terrible. And, while we're just adding more excuses to the pile, it's been super busy at work. I've been so exhausted when I get home fro

I'm starting to sense a trend. I feel like I've been starting every blog with, "Where has the month gone?" But in all seriousness, I cannot believe it's almost June. I think I secretly keep hoping May will be a little longer so I can drop a few more pounds.... So April wasn't a great month for me, or at least I felt like it wasn't. I lost a total of 7 pounds. I wasn't happy but the more I reflect back on April, the more happy I am about the 7 pounds. Seven pounds is still a good dent. It's better than gaining weight. It's better than -5 pounds. I have to remember that I'm over half way to my goal (I'm at 63% of my goal..but who's counting!). I should be proud of that...although as I'm typing all of this, I'm starting to rethink my goal. My initial goal was -73 pounds....I'm thinking my new goal is going to be -90 pounds. I picked my first goal because I knew it would be a lot of hard work and I would be happy at that

HOLY COW. Where has April gone?? I cannot believe how quickly this month has flown by. I've been meaning to write my post regarding MyFitness Pal weight forever and just haven't gotten around to it. Today is the day. Long story short. No, I didn't not drop the 20 pounds my app said I would if I kept eating the same. So yes, I've stopped using that feature. I don't even look at it now. I just realized it was too discouraging for me. I was losing weight but not at the rate my app would show and that was a bummer for me. Also, I finally reached the point where I didn't lose anything...and I gained a pound. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I know, I know. ONE POUND, why are you fretting Ashlyn?! Because I'm truly shocked. Here's the story.... ...we went to Disney. BUT I did my best at watching what I ate and watched my portion sizes. Okay, so I didn't eat super healthy all of the time, but I didn't pig out either. I also walked

That title...oh boy. My wittiness is just at a whole new level. Just kidding. It's bad, I know, but it will do. Alright, so we are almost two and half months in (this all started January 2nd). For some reason I felt like February was a bit of a dud. I don't know why but I just felt like I wasn't shedding the weight like I did in January. And then March rolls along and I feel like March has been a big time dud. Enough is enough. I decided to really take a look at my weight loss and wrote it all down on a sticky note (reminder- MUST. DESTROY. STICKY. NOTE.). After looking at the weekly log ins, I found the following... 1. I tried to tell myself I would log my weight weekly after I QUICKLY realized daily weigh ins were DESTROYING my self esteem. It's crazy how much your body weight can fluctuate. HOWEVER, once I would drop a pound or two I would anxiously get back on the scale to see if I had shed another half a pound or so...and guess what? I would only log when I did

Oh, how I tried to come up with a clever title when I realized we are officially 50 days in! Nope. It's not happening today. Part of me can't believe it's been 50 days...while another part of me is like, what?! ONLY 50 DAYS? Yep....50 days friends. So where I am in terms of my goal? Well, we have two scales in our house that are EXACTLY three pounds off from each other. So, according to one scale I am nearly 22 pounds down from my start weight. My favorite scale has me at 25 pounds lighter (I bet you can now tell why that scale is my favorite). I have a doctors appointment on Monday so that will be the true test. Alright, so we're making progress. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. You always want progress to happen much faster than it actually does. It actually took me looking back at my 33 days blog to see that I've lost ten more pounds since then. It sure doesn't seem like it. I'm ready to put the clothes on I own and for the

When I first decided to make this lifestyle change, I struggled with getting adjusted to the portions and amount of food I was eating (or wasn't eating). But I was also surprised at how quickly I was able to adjust when I cooking at home. I've purposefully cook meals for two to four serving sizes because, with just my husband and me, there is no need to make more. I'm not a fan of leftovers either. I found when I was making food, I would just make a huge batch which lead to 1. a lot of waste and 2. us eating sometimes two to three servings a piece of food (which most of the time was really bad). Like I said, only making a serving for the amount of calories I want to consume has been an easy way to manage my calorie intake. However... What hasn't been easy is having lunch meetings with a catered lunch or going out to eat as an office. Where do I even begin? First, I NEVER thought I would be the person that would get annoyed with going out to eat. We all know portio

Folks, we're 33 days in to my lifestyle change. It's definitely been an interesting adventure. I was just emailing back and forth with my dad about the journey thus far and his sweet words made it all worth it. I've been lucky enough to have a very supportive family and my husband who has been willing to not eat Taco Bell in front of me....he's too kind.  So, 33 days in and we're down nearly 14 pounds. I've been watching what I eat, eating smaller portions, and getting light workouts in every night. Here's a more precise description of what I've been doing: - Watching what I eat- I've been counting all of my calories via MyFitness Pal. Oye. This was rough. Actually, what was rough was typing in to see what the calorie count was of that cookie I was craving and see how many of my overall daily calories it was taking from.That one cookie would be my lunch. Can I survive just eating a cookie for lunch? Hell no. I'm not one of those people who

It's been a long time coming....I've decided it was time to make some serious changes to my lifestyle. And, I've decided to document it! I wasn't super active in staying healthy in college, but I did A LOT of walking. It's amazing how something as simple as walking can help. But let's be honest, walking was about as healthy as it got for this girl. I lived on cookie dough, Taco Bell, chicken nuggets, Crazy Bread....plus the ALL YOU CAN EAT DINING COURT! I hated food like lettuce, brussel sprouts, heck, anything green. My friends would joke and call me Ashlyn "I love brown food" Shaffer. When asked my favorite food I quickly replied with, "Carbs count, right?!" After college it was difficult to motivate myself to stay active. I found every excuse to not workout. I would tell myself, "there simply isn't enough time in the day to get things done" and forgo the workout. But on lived the Taco Bell, pasta, chicken nuggets, bread d