Since November of last year..

It's been way too long!
I believe my only excuse for not writing was that I forgot the password..
But even that wasn't true! LOL
So after my last post I pretty much lost hope. I kept gaining weight, as expected, with the holidays.
January hit and I was so disgusted with myself that I made that dreaded new years resolution.
I joined MyFitnessPal, joined a local gym, and began to slowly shed the pounds again!
I got all the way up to 225-230, continued with C25K on the treadmill at the gym.
One week I'm pretty sure I went to the gym 5/7 days.
But the car situation got pretty tight around the house so I wasn't able to take it for myself as much.
The weather was getting nicer, so I ran outside.
I hit a huge NSV! The 15 minute mile!!!
I haven't gone running in about a month by this time, and I've got my first 5k coming up in a couple weeks.
I'm severely nervous about it, but it's a run/walk so I know it wont be so bad knowing I can walk a little bit without looking bad.
I joined a fitness group on FB for a 90 day challenge. Today is the start of week5 and I've lost  11.8 pounds!!
I'm so excited to be further away from 250, and even happier to be closer to being back in ONEderland!
As some of you may know, I've been big since I was a child. I've only seen the 100s in my adult life once and that was about 13 months ago.

With this 90 day challenge, we have partners to keep us accountable, we post on MFP religiously, I even have an app that tracks my water for the day.
The water app has a pretty annoying notification counter that tells me how many more I need for the day.
It confused me for the first couple days because I thought it had news for me, LOL.

Being at 208.6, currently, really makes you appreciate the process.
Once you learn it's a lifestyle change, you're good to go and lose more!

Keep at it <3
Duck On A Mission / Running From 250

Keep avoiding it!

I am purposely avoiding my blog so I don't have to face the truth.
I got down to 201 last month, but now I'm back up to 210.
I haven't worked out in months, been eating junk food like it's full of nutrients, etc.
It's time to get back on track!

I stumbled upon Olga's site just last night via Pinterest.
You+Me=Fit is an inspiring site to live healthier.
With hundreds of these types of sites I had already looked at, I was feeling pretty down. Whatever was said couldn't seem to get me out of my funk.
Olga has a post called "Waking Up Early for Exercise" and although I have no trouble waking up, I do have trouble with breakfast.

Olga found the recipe at gimmesomeoven.com and so graciously shared with her readers!

Protein Poppers!

I made the base ingredients first, just to see how I would like it.
1 cup Oatmeal
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
1/4 cup honey
all rolled into a 1-inch ball.

Delicious and full of those nutrients you need!
Perfect for a quick meal or snack.
Olga said this would make 20-30 balls depending on how big you make them..
I started to make them small, but they gradually got bigger as I went.
Only made 18. Oops!

With these, I should actually eat in the morning. YAY!

With that taken care of, the motivation to continue working out!
I've finally gotten an iPhone. Yes I know, hate all you want.
There is an app called Endomondo that times how long you work out, uses GPS to track how far you've gone, you can compete with friends, etc.
I figure, I will start out with simple walks. Just so I know where to start.
By the end of one month (or two) I should be jogging/going further!

My life is finally coming together, and I just want to thank all of you for sticking by my side through it all. Even if I didn't reach out to you!

Let's lose these inches!

It's under 200!!!

Yes, that's right. I've finally defeated my arch-nemesis, 200.
It put up a good fight, but in the end it just couldn't keep up. literally.
Since surgery, I haven't been able to eat fats, which made me go down to 199!
I'm so glad that this hurdle is finally over with, and can't wait to see what is in store for me in the future.
I can't wait to start working out again either. As soon as I stop hurting when I move, I'll be back to Insanity.

I'm thinking I will start from day 1 again, any opinions?

Thank you all for your concerns. I am healing quite well.
Still hurts to do a few things, but that should hopefully be better by Monday.

I'm going to try my best to get a picture up while I'm still close to the 200 mark.
[edit 5/15/12] I took pictures but I'd rather not post them until I've reached my goal. Thank you for understanding. [/edit]

Stay healthy,
Duck on a Mission

Happy Thursday!

Almost one month since I started Insanity.
I'm going to admit, I was lazy.
I was always pumped to do the workout but I would procrastinate and find other important things to do around the house.
In all, I got to day 5! I'm so disappointed in myself.

Some bad news;
Sunday morning, I was woken up by a sharp pain.
I've dealt with this pain all week until today. I went to the doctor, and after spending all day in the hospital, I need surgery!
I'll be keeping a low profile for the weekend, and come Monday April 30, I will be in surgery to remove my gal bladder.
If all goes well, I should be back within a few days. If not, could be a week or two until I'm up and jogging again.
Everyone keeps telling me to calm down, it's a simple procedure etc etc, but it's my first surgery, I'm allowed to be nervous.

Keep those feet moving,
Duck on a Mission

Insanity!

3-26-2012, I weighed myself in at 205.

Today I did the fit test for Insanity.

For those of you that don't know, Insanity is a 60 day program designed to kick your butt!

Basically you're working out at full intensity with small breaks in between, instead of the typical low energy with bursts of high intensity.

After just doing the first day, I can already agree that Insanity really isn't for the weak of heart. You really need to dig deep if you want to see what you want.

With my asthma, today was difficult, but I'm willing to stick it out until the end.

I want to see how Insanity benefits me! (lol)

Insanity seems to be the perfect fit at the moment. In just about 2 months, everybody will be in their short shorts and tank tops. Why shouldn't I give this program a shot and join everybody else in the hot, humid weather!?

So here I go. Day one, 205 pounds.

[not an ideal picture, but you get the idea.. I'll get a better pic up soon.]

[taken 3-23-2012]

Week 2, 219.

My first week of working out didn't go too well. I only exercised once the entire week, Sunday. It took me the rest of the week to even walk properly, I was aching more than I should have been. My caloric intake was also pretty high, but I blame that on breaking up with my boyfriend. I've been trying to stay on track with good eating habits, but sometimes the snacking got way out of control.

Eating problems or not, I lost 4 pounds. I know people are able to lose more than that in one week, but this is a big deal for me. I haven't been able to get below 220 for at least two years. I refuse to get a big head over this though.

This week I plan to workout more than once. I know not to push myself as hard as I did the first time now.
I will also restrict my eating even more! My 1400-1600 calorie diet obviously wasn't strict enough. I keep going either a  little bit under the max or way over. More focus on eating, less focus on water.

• 7-24 : 1540, 13 glasses.
• 7-25 : 1400+, 8 glasses.
• 7-26 : 1705, 12 glasses.
• 7-27 : 1515, 14 glasses.
• 7-28 : 1450, 12 glasses.
• 7-29 : 1830, 12 glasses.
• 7-30 : 1400, 10 glasses.

During the course of the week, I figured that maybe 5 pounds is a tad too much. Sure I want to lose that much in a week, maybe even more, but since I screwed up working out only once the whole week I only lost 4. This hurts me to say, but I will not join my guild in the next two raids this week.

I WILL get my eating under control!
I WILL workout more than once a week!
I WILL lose this ugly flab!

Yours Truly,
Duck on a Mission

Week 1, 223.

Hello!

My name is Melissa, but you can call me Duck or Duckie if you want. I have struggled with my weight for the majority of my life. After trying just about all of the diets out there, I've decided that it can't be done without working out no matter how much they say you don't have to. I know that sounds pretty silly of me, but I was young and naïve. My highest weight was 240 pounds, I have managed to get down to 223 pounds on my own over the course of a year, but now I feel that I need some help.

I was searching for a decent workout program that didn't cost too much since I am currently jobless. I stumbled across nowloss.com. Adrian Bryant is a very motivated man, sending out free DVDs for whoever may want them. He even pays the shipping! I thought this was too good to be true. I signed up for the free DVD and within a week later, it arrived in my mailbox on July 19, 2011. I decided to keep a little notebook as a journal to keep track of my feelings, thoughts, and how many calories I was eating along with how much water I was actually drinking. I wrote down a few reminders of how many calories I should have in how many meals and so on.

To see how much I was eating before I began the workout, I didn't change my diet for the first week. Some days I deprived myself and other days I pigged out, but I usually stayed inside the 1400-1600 daily calorie limit. For the sake of my dignity, I will not be posting exactly what I ate on what day, but I will be posting how many calories I've had and water intake for those days.

"7-19-2011
I just received Adrian Bryant's free DVD today. I currently weight 223.8 pounds. My goal is 130 pounds. I have surrounded myself with many pictures as thinspiration. I also plan to write down what I eat. Before I choose a diet plan, I would like to know how many calories I usually eat daily since I don't really eat too much."

For a flatter tummy, I need to drink 112 oz. of water every day. That's 14 glasses! Lucky for me, I have a huge Nalgene water bottle. It holds 32 oz. (4 glasses) It makes it easier to drink more because you don't have to continuously stop what you're doing to go get more water, and it's easy to carry around if you're on the run!

I will begin my workout-week on Sundays
and weigh myself weekly on Saturdays

• If I do manage to lose 5 pounds in one week, I will search for that perfect outfit!
• If I don't manage to lose 5 pounds in one week, I will cut out raiding for one week! (2 raids)

My goal is to eat Three 400 to 600 calorie meals (1400-1600 a day)
                               Don't forget that you need one source of carbs and one source of protein in every meal!

Now that I have set my standards, I will list the rest of the days of my caloric intake.

• 7-20 : 1422, 8 glasses.
• 7-21 : 1700+, 12 glasses.
• 7-22 : 1450, 12 glasses.
• 7-23 : 8 glasses. I was too depressed to count calories but I still watched what I ate.

Of course, today is Sunday 7-24. I began my workout today! I did the at home Ski Step. I am very sore after doing this in intervals for only half an hour. That's what I get for hardly ever working out though, right?

I am planning to take a "before" picture soon. I am determined to show Adrian Bryant how much he has helped me with my body!

Yours Truly,
Duck on a Mission