Adios Healthy Amigos !

Welcome to Healthy Chelle's final installment!

Can you believe it? My goal was to lose my baby weight plus 30 lbs by the end of the year. I still have almost five months left!

Where in the world should I start? I guess the beginning is a good place...

Here is a flashback to Healthy Chelle's Blog Debut -

Before I go and weigh myself, I want to list what my intentions are with this blog/weight loss process...

I am keeping this blog to help me...

- Keep myself on track
- Keep myself honest
- Provide a healthy home with healthy habits for my girls
- Inspire the people I care about to get or stay healthy

Well...Check, check, check, and DOUBLE CHECK!

I am so, so, so proud of myself. I know I have a million and one people to thank for supporting me on this journey and I love every one of them, but I am proud of ME!

Let's do a couple more flashbacks, shall we?

Feb 18, 2004

I have done well this past year and a half keeping the junk out of my cart at the grocery store and therefore out of my cabinets and fridge but my biggest downfall and biggest addiction has always been fast food, including pizza, and restaurants. I can't control myself. My mind tells me to eat as much as I can. Even when I order I am trying to figure out how to get the most food. There is a struggle in my mind everytime I go through the drive-thru as to whether or not I should supersize, biggiesize, kingsize, etc. my meal. The struggle continues even in sit down establishments. I might want a steak but if the menu tells me that I can have two sides instead of one if I order a chicken dish, I'll order that instead.

I don't know what to do. I don't think cutting something out all together is a good idea when trying to lose weight. For me, it seems like the better thing to do is to retrain yourself on how to deal with the "problems". That being said, I haven't figured out how to do that when it comes to eating out. Hey, I am a work in progress...

So, Octavio and I went to our favorite Mexican place twice this weekend. Both times we shared an entree. Neither one of us felt deprived. I think my gluttony syndrome is cured and that sense of "my food territory" is (almost) gone. YAY!

March 5, 2008

It is like I idolize food. I put it before most other things. It is OK to enjoy food once in a while but it shouldn't consume as much of my time, or should I say I shouldn't consume it so much of the time. I am trying to retrain myself to not think so highly of it.

I have little food rituals I am trying to stop.

We have stopped eating dinner on the couch in front of the tv. We eat at the table now. I have had a few nights where I have asked it I could sit in front of the TV alone on stressful days. It's happened a handful of times and I feel guilty afterwards.

Lunch time is still something I am working on. Before, I would get Ori her lunch, put her to bed, and then get my own lunch ready. Again, I would sit in front of the tv, alone. I still do this but more often than not I eat lunch with Oriana at the table.

I guess I really just have one food ritual I am struggling with - I prefer to eat alone, on the couch, in front of the tv. None of that is healthy for me.

I have learned to LOVE dinner time at the table. My Judge Judy addiction is pretty much cured. I still enjoy eating lunch alone. I think I need to keep it that way.

I am not obsessed with food anymore. I eat to live, not live to eat.

March 7, 2008

I am beginning to realize that you really can retrain your brain and taste buds. I was having a really, really bad craving last night to the point I was salivating just thinking about a certain food. What food? Peppers...I wanted to grill up some red, green, and yellow bell peppers with some onions so bad last night. If we owned a grill I just might have done it!

Thanks again Dad for the grill! We have eaten SO MANY peppers this summer it isn't even funny. Our next house will have enough room in the yard for a garden! Peppers are expensive! Even at Sam's!

March 10, 2008

I don't feel like I am in the right state of mind to 100% commit to a vasectomy one way or the other. But at the same time, I don't want to be put back on birth control, don't want to deal with the changes that will come because of it.

Octavio's appointment is Friday! Bring it on already!

A few times I had to remind myself of how far I've come by checking out old pics. Remember this? And this?

And who could forget my Goal Jean Announcement on May 1st? I am more than pleased to say that my goal jeans have been too big for the last month and a half!

OK, I could go on and on with my flashbacks but I'll spare you all the pain. I mean you have read all of them already anyway, right?

Now on to some fun stuff...let's review some numbers -

Weight August 2005 - 270.2 lbs

Weight August 2008 - 189.0 lbs!

BMI August 2005 - 46.4

BMI August 2008 - 32.4 (So close to being "Overweight" instead of "Obese"!)

Pant size August 2005 - 22

Pant size August 2008 - 14!

Waist August 2005 - 50.5 inches

Waist August 2008 - 39.5 inches!

Real Age August 2005 - 33.6

Real Age August 2008 - 24.9!

Pace of my first race in January 2007 - 12 minute 10 second mile

Pace of my race in June 2009 - 9 minute 9 second mile!

What's Next?

I have one more goal to accomplish. It has two parts to it -

• Get my total weight loss to 100 lbs (only 19 lbs to go)


• Do it on my own, living life, without putting pressure on myself (no weigh ins, no blogs, no documenting my work out numbers)

I am pretty confident that I can achieve this goal before 2009. Watch out 10 year reunion!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU my faithful readers. I really could NOT have accomplished this goal if I didn't have someone who checked up on me. I had a bunch of someones checking in on me and that really helped me to keep my focus and stay determined.

Keep a look out on my MySpace page. I'll still be blogging on there when the bug bites me. I am working on one right now about dealing with anxiety. I hope to have it posted soon.

In closing, although my readers are fabulous, here are a few pics of my True Motivations...

The End!

Weigh Day Week 27 Is this it???

Goal: Lose baby weight + 30 lbs

Pre-pregnancy weight: 221.0

Weight last week: 194.4

Current weight: 189.0

Weight loss/gain since last week: -5.4


*drum roll*


TOTAL WEIGHT LOST (not including baby weight): -32.0

I DID IT!

Apparently I can't jump with my mouth closed :)

My hard work really paid off this week!

I went above and beyond what I promised to do last week. Here's what it looked like -

Monday - 40 intense minutes on the treadmill, as planned
Tuesday - 6 hard miles on the bike, as I thought was planned (turns out I only promised 5)
Wednesday - 45 intense minutes on the treadmill because Monday's felt sooooo good
Thursday - 6 more hard miles on the bike
Friday - 50 intense minutes on the treadmill and family soccer time at the park
Saturday - Opted to go to a Louisville Bats game instead of ride my bike
Sunday - 55 more intense minutes on the treadmill

I burned close to 3000 calories last week and logged in over 4 hours of exercise. You think I'd be beat but really, I feel better than ever!

What I love is that I didn't starve myself at all! I had quite a few healthy lunches and dinners and tried hard to get my breakfast in every morning, but I also had Dairy Queen, Fiesta Time (twice!), hot dogs and Kizito cookies at a Bats game, and mashed potatoes.

The key - ?

Moderation. Cliche, I know, but it's true. I haven't deprived myself of anything during my journey except McDonald's (for which my body thanks me). I knew I needed to live life and learn when to indulge and how much to indulge. I think I finally got it!

Tune in tomorrow for Healthy Chelle's Final Blog!

Weigh Day Week 26

Goal: Lose baby weight + 30 lbs

Achieved so far: Baby weight is gone!

Pre-pregnancy weight: 221.0

Weight last week: 191.4

Current weight: 194.4

Weight loss/gain since last week: +3.0


TOTAL WEIGHT LOST (not including baby weight): -26.6



Well, just goes to show you that no matter what you do, Aunt Flo can come and reek havoc on your plans.

Seriously - here's what my workout week looked like -

MONDAY - 3 miles on the bike in the AM and 3 miles on the bike in the PM
TUESDAY - 4 miles on the bike in the AM
WEDNESDAY - 4 miles on the bike in the PM
THURSDAY - 2 miles on the bike in the PM
FRIDAY - Softball double header and 3 miles on the bike in the PM
SATURDAY - 2 miles run/walking with a friend
SUNDAY - 5 miles on the bike in the PM

I misbehaved a bit on Saturday night. I am pretty sure that played into this weight gain as well.

Can anyone say "Self Sabotage"?

No, but for real, since having Jocie, Aunt F has been pretty unbearable. One cool thing about it though, is that I am finally small enough that I can actually tell when I'm bloated! Before, I was bloated 100% of the time so I guess I never noticed. It is not a great feeling to be bloated. It is, however, a great feeling to think you have put on weight and then REALIZE you are just bloated! :)

I am going to get off my behind this week and really try to accomplish my goal. Now that I know I am comfortable on the bike I think I'll alternate between the bike and running this week.

The hard part is that it's so stinkin' hot outside but I just don't feel like I can push myself on the treadmill. I think I need to make myself run for longer periods of time. My problem is that anything over 30 minutes does not sound appealing to me.

Funny. After I typed that last paragraph I went over to my email to see if I had any inspiring emails to pass along to my readers.

The first one I opened was from sparkpeople.com and said -


Most experts recommend that you exercise up to 90 minutes most days of the week, emphasizing that you gradually work your way up to that duration. However, a recent study conducted at Boston Sports Clubs found that participants who exercised for 20-30 minutes did so more consistently than those involved in 45-60 minute workout sessions. This study shows that you're more likely to stick to a shorter duration workout than a longer one.

Action Sparked: If you're having trouble staying consistent with exercise, try a shorter workout session. Tell yourself that you'll exercise for 10 or 15 minutes, and follow through with it. Of course 10 minutes of exercise is better than totally skipping a workout. But, once you've hit that small goal (whether it's 5, 10, or 20 minutes), ask yourself if you could keep going. You may find that planning on a short workout is enough to get you to the gym, and once you're there, you can do a lot more than you thought.


Hmmmm. Coincidence? Me thinks not.

I am not sure what this means for me though. I am just being lazy. I think I need to get over my laziness and get my train on.

My plan for this week -

40 intense minutes on the treadmill Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun
5 hard miles on the bike Tues, Thurs, Sat

The last few weeks I have contemplated publicly declaring that my goal would be accomplished. I have avoided it so far but I think this has GOT to be the week.

I'm-a-gonn-a-do-it.