Falling in love, getting married, trying to be a good wife, having babies... etc.

40 days... 40 days til I am married!!!!

I don't think I have even blogged since I have been engaged, which should tell you how busy I have been. Jonathan (the most amazing man alive) proposed to me on September 3rd and we are getting married on December 11th! So with only a couple of months to plan, my life has been very hectic... but so great!

I made a lot of goals in my last blog. I haven't ran any races... :( But I have been eating healthy (most of the time) and exercising 5-6 days a week. I will always have to work really hard to maintain my weight but throughout the rest of my life, life will happen. Falling in love, getting married, trying to be a good wife, having babies... etc. All of these things will probably have an effect on my weight. This is okay and I should never be too hard on myself. The victory is getting through these while taking care of my body and that's not always going to mean staying at my lowest weight.

This January will be 2 yrs. since I started losing weight. And today I have gained 20 lbs since my lowest weight and I'm proud of that! I don't want to stay there and I'm trying really hard to get closer to that but I'm proud of myself. :)

I am going to start keeping my old mantra once again... "It's not an option!"

Three months ago if I was bored I would get up and go for a run. Now I absolutely dread a run much less any kind of workout at all. My last post was about my frustration of where I have let myself get in such a short period of time. I want to share what where I am since my last blog.

I have realized that working full-time and going to school full-time has took a huge toll on my body. This is a season that God has me in and that is okay. I shouldn't be so hard on myself but regardless of how busy I am if I was taking better care of my body it would make school and work much easier and more enjoyable. Especially doing massage my body has to be healthy to give my clients my best.

Women, whatever season of life God has us in we are to, with our greatest ability, glorify Him. Our Creator takes joy in His glory. "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." Thankfully, God does not design all of to be a size 4 and maintain it but we are be a good steward of the body we were given and glorify Him in that. Let's be women of good character who as a result take care of the bodies we were given.

I have said from the beginning of this blog that to be disciplined in your weight a lot of it relies on your mindset and your emotions. For the past couple of months I have been so completely frustrated, and almost depressed, by the numbers on the scale. This is not a mindset that I can be disciplined in. I finally found motivation in a friend yesterday. My amazing friend, Whitney, who has been on missions in the Philippines since January is back and ready to get back into her running routine. So am I! I want to be back to where I love to run. This is my motivation, not the scale. So this is the plan:

> 5K on Sept 6. It is the FCA 5K that I ran last year. I will run it 2 min. faster.
> Try to find a 10K in November
>Half marathon in Dec. that I will be able to run with Whitney and some other people.

I am going to start keeping my old mantra once again... "It's not an option!"

This blog will be about the trials.

So... its been 2 and a half months since I last posted. So sorry, as I am sure you guys have been on pins and needles waiting for my next blog. : ) A lot has happened in that time. I am working full time at the daycare now, I have started practicals at school (which adds another 6 hours a week), and I am being courted by an amazing man whose name is Jonathan.

So all this stuff that has been keeping me crazy busy has brought me into a new phase for my blog. In my first blog I told you guys that I would be sharing tips on how I lost weight as well as the trials I face to maintain my weight loss. This blog will be about the trials.

I have put off writing this because I didn't want to face this. I have gained about 15 lbs. That still doesn't seem like a ton to me considering how much I lost but I can definitely feel it. My energy has dropped, I am craving sweets and carbs non-stop, I feel horrible in the clothes I used to feel great in, and where I could knock out 6 miles without breathing hard and struggling to run 1. Even though there may not be a significant difference I know I am not taking care of my body the way I should be. In trying to find the reasoning behind this I now some of it is from being so busy but I also now if I was eating healthy and exercising like I should I could do the things I have to do a lot more efficiently. Some of it may be because I feel a lot more comfortable with myself after meeting Jonathan. He is so amazing and I am blessed just to know him and he makes me feel pretty whenever I am around him. This is a good thing but I constantly remind myself where my worth comes from and that is my Creator!

So I set out to start everyday healthier and I am still messing up. I will never been perfect. This is a real struggle for me but I wanted to be honest. I am hoping no longer ignoring the problem will make this a lot easier.

You Know What I Am Talking About Ladies...

For two or three weeks now I have had a new workout buddy. She has become one of my closest friends and it has been nice not to have to work out solo all the time. It has also been helpful to have that accountability. At the beginning of the year she decided she wanted to lose a bit of weight and so we made a plan together and she has lost 4 lbs!!!! Her motivation has been so refreshing to me and has reminded me of what I was going last year at this time. Granted, she has much less weight to lose than I did... But ultimately it is about getting healthy!

Being a woman, I have struggled with not letting the numbers on the scale be an idol. For some reason this is a very real issue for most of us. Woman are painted a picture of a woman who is 5'6, 115 lbs, with long blonde hair, and legs where one thigh has never touched another. (Ladies, you know what I am talking about.) Six months ago I would have never spoke up to point out my differences because obviously I didn't want attention drawn to them. And knowing people are reading this I do not care to say I am 5'3, 145lbs., with short brown hair that does whatever it wants from day to day, and let's just say my thighs are acquaintances. ;) I do not want want to go off into a cliche rant about how God made us all beautiful in our own individual way but I will say we need to rethink beautiful.

Look in the mirror today and point out something absolutely gorgeous about yourself!

It just won't come off.

The second picture was taken January of 2009, right after I started losing weight. The first was taking somewhere probably around August of 2009.

I got the a stomach bug this weekend. Boo! I am such a baby when my stomach is upset and I really have the best mom in the world for putting up with me all weekend. I am still not eating normal and I took Friday and Saturday off from exercising. My body really needed this rest but after being off for a couple of days I am always dying to get back to exercising.

My running buddy and I worked on speed yesterday. I am super comfortable at about a 10:30 pace but I am really wanting to work on getting faster as I will be starting to train for a half marathon really soon. I will running it at the end of April. I am extremely excited but also very nervous! I know, for sure, this training is going to push me more than I have been pushed before.

For the past month I have been trying to take off a very stubborn 5lbs. It just won't come off. I have heard time and again though that once your body gets down to a certain weight it gets harder and harder to take it off. I also feel that IF I do lose it, it will come right back because my body seems to be very happy at 148lbs. So I think what I need to do to solve this dilemma is be happy at this weight, continue to work on toning, and be more conscience of my eating than I have. If you have any suggestions, please, let me know!

You May Think That White Bread Is Better But You Are Wrong.

I wanted to take time to explain exactly how I lost weight in the amount of time I did (1 year). Like I said before, I lost the weight on my on so I took all the information I have heard from doctors, tv shows (Biggest Loser), and fitness magazines. This picture was taken after I finished my 2nd 5K! As you can tell dieting does not mean forfeiting good food. So here is a list of my rules… because I like lists.

1. Eat your fruits and veggies! Filling up on these first saved me from eating hundreds of bad calories plus you get tons of energy from these foods.
** Favorite fruit: Pinapple Favorite veggie: Snap peas **
2. Eat breakfast! At 220 lbs I never ate breakfast (and you would think I would want it) but now I never go a day without it. It is essential. It gets your metabolism started and you will eat less throughout the day.
** Favorite breakfast: Lowfat yogurt topped with Cascadian Farms granola **
3. Drink water! Erase the word soda from your vocabulary. These are empty calories and when you cut these out you will lose your water weight and become less bloated, your skin will be clearer, and water actually keeps you full.
** Favorite water: … water… (Hot tea w/no sugar is tasty too) **
4. Only whole grains! You may think that white bread is better but you are wrong. I once thought that too but I now enjoy the taste of whole grain carbs. You will lost belly fat (ladies) when you simply make this switch. Hint- Make sure it says 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat because they will trick you with that. They do have more calories but this is where you want them to be!
** Favorite whole grain: Arnold's 100% Whole Grain Health Nut**
5. Find substitutes! Chances are there are probably healthy substitutes for your favorite guilty pleasures. There are healthy ways to make pasta, health(ier) ice creams, healthy pizzas, and healthy fast food restraunts. Find them and use them. Losing weight does not mean that you have give up all your favorite foods and forfeit taste.
** Favorite substitutes: Perkit's frozen yogurt, Subway, SmartOnes Macaroni and Cheese **
6. Get your butt in gear! You have to exercise to lose weight, no choice. Simply see exercise as part of your day just like you have to go to school, go to work, and run errands you have to exercise. I came to enjoy exercise very quickly. It gives me energy and an outlet to release my stress. It is important to have a balance of cardio and strength training. Find something you enjoy and make sure you switch it up to keep it interesting. I exercise 6 days a week and always give my body a day to recover.
** Favorite exercise: Running and cycling **
7. Make goals and visualize! Know where you want to be and make a plan. Know how much weight you need to lose each week and to make things fun have a weekly ceremonial weigh-in. Visualize yourself in that bathing suit or dress you would want to wear or crossing the finish line at a 5K. Don't let the set-backs get you down. Move forward and you will get there. I promise.
** Favorite goals: Finishing my first 5K and reaching the 50 lbs. mark **

This is how I did it. Anytime someone asks me my secret I simply tell them I eat healthy and I exercise. So I have enjoyed getting to expound on this. I would love to answer questions that you have, so ask!

I enjoy food so I ate... and then I ate some more.

My name is Tara. I have lost 75 lbs since January 2009 and I am 20 years old. That is the basis of this blog. Since I have lost weight my life has changed dramatically. I did it on my own really without a group of people to support me. I did have family and friends that were excited and happy for me but none of them could really understand what I was going through.

Let me back up... I do not mean for this blog to be an outlet for my frustrations but as an encouragement to others.

At 20 I had never been a yo-yo dieter or even really been on a diet. I enjoy food so I ate... and then I ate some more. I despised exercising mostly because I could never keep up with other people but I also really couldn't understand why someone would want to run for "fun." For the life of me I could not grasp the idea of people paying to go run to come in 100th place and it just be for recreational purposes. Yes, I was very self-conscience of myself and had major self-esteem issues but I just excepted it as my fate and blamed it on genes.

But January 2009 my life changed completely. Nothing major or devastating happened in my life to make me want to change I was just simply ready to get my self healthy. Because of this I am convinced that to lose a significant amount of weight you have to be emotionally ready.

In this blog, I want to help people get there. I want to share what I went through, the struggles I have in maintaining my weight, and share my absolute love of running...