Bonjourno!

Must be missing my European Vacay!

Today is brought to by the country Italy. Holy cow, guys! I ate all Italian food today. The sad part? I didn't realize it until I was loading my pictures. Oy. 

So, today was pretty good. I got a lot of school stuff accomplished, so I didn't move a whole lot, but I did get some things done that I needed to that were time consuming. 

Time to get to the nitty-gritty...

Breakfast:
For breakfast I had my favorite - an egg sandwich! It had egg, cheese, and sausage, and I had to have regular bread, no english muffins in this apartment! LOL 

Breakfast Total: 365

Lunch:

This is where my Italian kicked in. I am a pizza-aholic. Mom and I started making Naan pizza when she was here to visit in April, and I have been ADDICTED ever since! It's calorie expensive, but so worth it! Yum! Anyways, I have Naan bread, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and some mexican mixed cheese. So yummy! 

Lunch Total: 675

Dinner:

I was going to make salmon, but my mom didn't text me back on how to make it (instead she called me like 5 minutes ago), so that's on the menu for tomorrow night. I went with my go-to when I'm hungry and need something quick and easy to make. I made some spaghetti with a twist! I added some turkey meat to my sauce. So yummy! I even had enough calories to have some bread and butter (my fave with spaghetti!) :) 

Dinner Total: 460

Total Calories for the Day: 1500*

*Notice that I AGAIN went over calories by 100, but technically I was still 500 calories under my limit given to me by my program. Yippee! 

The Battles of Change

Admitting is the first step.

It's not a secret. I love food. Obviously. You don't get to 305 pounds not loving food. Last night, I was on FaceTime with my parents, and they were eating chocolate chip cookies. First of all, yum! I was super proud of myself because I was like "chocolate chip cookies? I don't need those! I had a great day!" So I wrote my blog and went to bed. 

This morning, waking up, I again had that great drive to have a great day. Until... afternoon. The deadliest time of day. All I wanted was chocolate. It all started with an ice cream sandwich. 110 calories. Not bad, right?! If I would've stopped there, it wouldn't have been bad. However, the small little devil sitting on my shoulder convinced  me it was over. So, my day turned to shit. I hate that. 

But, like I said, admitting is the first step. I'm not perfect, I don't claim to be. It's only day 2, but I will wake up tomorrow morning and not allow it to ruin my day. And the reason why deserves a whole new heading.

Wait, he remembered me?

A year ago, I was still living in Toledo, Ohio, and I was a part of a locally televised competition show similar to the Biggest Loser. I was part of the "featured" players, and our host actually got in contact with Patrick House, winner of season 8 of the national Biggest Loser show. I talked to him quite a bit that night, getting advice and whatnot. Come to find out, on our show for that month, I was a featured player that was talked about between him and our host because I was at the bottom of the leader-board.

Soon following, I went to a casting call for The Biggest Loser on NBC in Detroit. I had received notification that they wanted more information on me, so I got ahold of Patrick again and he gave me advice on making my video for the casting directors. I wasn't sure if he remembered me or not, but it was great to get advice from him. Especially since the casting director I heard from was his casting director! AH!

A few days ago, I saw on Facebook that he was coming to Phoenix to promote a new Planet Fitness opening up nearby, so I asked him to send me information about it and I would come visit. I not only got to talk to him via Facebook to arrange coming to see him, but I also got to see him and talk to him 1 on 1, and he remembered me! I was so surprised! It was so cool, and he's such a nice guy. One thing he tells me every time I see him, and it hits me like a rock every time he says it, is "don't give up. Ever. Just keep plugging away, and the weight will come off!" 

Now, I didn't get a picture with him today. I figured this is the second time I've talked to him, so I didn't want to be all "I want a picture with you!" So, I am putting a picture of me on here from last year. I was about 250 pounds in this picture. Kindof funny - I'm thinner in this picture and he has lost weight since this picture. Yikes! 

Ok, well, I guess this time tomorrow I will be updating yet again. Better news tomorrow - I promise! 

Day 1... CHECK!

What worked?

Well, let me start by saying that I woke up ready to go. I slept in (oops!) until 7:30, so my official first weigh in was a bit later than I wanted, since I want a consistent time. But, that's ok. The official starting weight is... drumroll please... 305.8! Ouch! I've never been over 300. Glad I am starting now. 

I ate breakfast, then walked (Yes, I walked) to the grocery store down the road to get my food for today. We have a great grocery store that sells food that can be 1 - 4 servings. I picked up food that was ready to be cooked for lunch and dinner, and it was delicious! Yum! I am obsessed with this grocery store, so whenever I mention Fresh & Easy, that's my grocery store! 

What did I eat? 

Breakfast: For breakfast I started off with what I had available (I just spent a few days in Vegas, so I didn't have much). I am OBSESSED with oatmeal, thank you Bob Harper! So, I started off my day with Quaker Oatmeal and a cup of coffee. 

Total Calories for Breakfast: 160

Lunch: After my shopping trip, since I live in mini-Mexico, I decided to heat up a chicken burrito from Fresh & Easy. It was a few more calories than I wanted to use, but it filled me up and lasted me longer than a less-expensive lunch. I also filled up on 16 oz. of water - which I truly believe helped fill me up and keep me full! 

Total Calories for Lunch: 460

Mid-Afternoon Snack: Now, I did need a little something come about 3:30. This is normally when I come home from work and eat dinner, but being that it is summer vacation, I knew I needed to last just another hour or so, especially since dinner was going to take a while to cook. I luckily had almonds in my cabinet, so I ate 1/3 cup of almonds. I also drank another 16 oz. of water! 

Total Calories for Snack: 213

Dinner: This was what I had picked up at the grocery store. I was so excited about it, but didn't really think about calories when I picked it up at the store. So, the calories were a bit much, so I went over my calories for the day, but again I stayed full, and they were good calories. I picked up chicken breasts that were pre-marinated in garlic and herbs, asparagus with garlic and butter, sweet potato wedges with brown sugar and chipotle, and 16 oz. of water. I ate about 2 hours ago and I'm STILL FULL! I love it! 

Total Calories for Dinner: 880

Total Calories for the Day: 1713*

*Please keep in mind - I am using the "Lose It" program on my iPhone to count calories and it tells me how many calories I need to eat in order to lose 2 pounds a week. I set on my own my goal of 1200 to 1400 calories to start losing a bit quicker than 2 pounds a week. The actual goal according to the program is 2000. So, I am still actually below my goal according to the program. I am not being super strict right now about calories for this purpose. 

So how did I do?

Overall, I'm very happy with how my day went. I plan to be more strict on calories tomorrow, but today was a great start! My goal for tomorrow is to stay below 1400 calories, and to again WALK to the grocery store. I also am setting myself the goal of getting into the gym for about 30 minutes. Let's see how it goes! 

OK, folks, confession time...

I just traveled to Las Vegas for the first time, and yes, I took an airplane. I boarded the airplane, got to my seat, went to buckle my seatbelt, and OH SHIT! It wouldn't buckle. Why? Well, probably because the ends were about 2 1/2 inches away from each other with my belly in between. Hmmmm... 

The real kicker of the story? I had to, in front of a few of my friends from work, ask the flight attendant if she could bring me an extender. When she wasn't exactly prompt on bringing it to me, it was then brought to the attention of everyone near me on the airplane because AFTER the flight attendant did her safety demonstration, she handed me the extender on the way back that she used for the safety demonstration. Ugh. Can we say embarrassing?! 

This is the beginning of my journey. Right now. I got back last night, I have said my peace with all my favorite foods today, and starting when I wake up in the morning, it's game on. I know I can do this. It's just getting started. 

What's your plan, Erin?

Well, that's the thing. I know what to do. I've done it many times before. I have just given up time and time again. 

Dietary wise, (SN: I hate the word "diet", it's so temporary, so we're going to go with "lifestyle change") I plan to cut down my calories (like I've been counting... right...) to between 1200 and 1400 a day. Lots of vegetables, protein, but very little carbs. I eat too many carbs. WAY too many.

Exercise is a struggle for me, mainly because I live where it is currently 110 degrees outside. However, I live 2 skips and a hop away from our 24/7 fitness center. So, I will start light, but work my way up. I love to run (at least I did about 60 pounds ago), but currently my body would probably break if I attempted that. I'm going to start with the elliptical, minimum of 30 minutes a day, minimum of 5 days a week. 

I will weigh myself tomorrow morning (that's when you're the lightest, so that's what we're going with), make some breakfast, and go grocery shopping, as I currently don't have many groceries in my house. I will post an update nightly, weigh myself in every Friday between 6 and 7 in the morning. 

Short and sweet, kindof. Here we go!