New 21 Day Challenge

Since the first one was so successful I have decided to start another one for myself...

21 Day Challenge

#1 - Continue to track all food everyday and aim for around 1,000 calorie deficit everyday or at least a weekly deficit of approx. 7,000 calories. I will allow myself one day a week without counting the calories, but still being reasonable, if I wish.

#2 - Workout at least 3 times a week at the gym and use my wii fit at home on my non-gym days.

#3 - Do a little clip every day for my v-log on YouTube to document each and every day of the 21 Day Challenge and post in a video once every 7 days. Also aim to write on here, in my blog, a little bit every day, excluding Saturday and Sunday if need be because I am not always need a computer, unless I figure out how to on my BB :P

*** with my 3 goals for this current 21 Day Challenge I plan on continuing on with the changes I made with my last challenge, which include: drink my water everyday (at least 8 glasses a day), limit treats and fried foods, avoid alcohol, cigars, extra curricular activites :) etc. etc.***

I am confident I can do this again! My goal for these next 21 days is to reach my next goal weight of 20 lbs. I am currently sitting at 15.4 lbs lost and I know that another 4.6 lbs in 21 days seems reasonable, maybe even a little low, but I am trying to be realistic and realize that I have been at this for over a month now and the weight loss may slow down... I weigh in tomorrow morning as my regular weigh in and then for the sake of this challenge I will weigh in again on Monday morning and my final weigh in will be on the morning of Monday March 22nd :) My goal for the 21 days may change after my weigh in Monday morning, but I plan to blog here again Monday as it is the first day at this :)

Anyways, there is an overview on what I am planning on doing :) I am excited and know once again I CAN DO THIS :)

Thanks for reading and have a grrrreat weekend everyone!
xx
Brooke

Update :)

Oh Monday how I loathe thee!!! Ok ok I know… once again it has been a while since I have written, but I thought I would update everyone on what is going on. First, I am not sure why I say “everyone” cause in all reality I have maybe 10 ppl that signed up to read my blogs and I have no idea how many of them actually read them on an ever semi-regular basis. This is okay though because if anything I am using these blogs as something that I personally can look back on and see what I was doing or thinking at that point in my journey.

Things are looking great! In fact, better than they have in a very very long time! I am down a total of 15.4 lbs from January 25th.

1st weigh in – January 25th
2nd weigh in – January 30th – down 5.2 lbs
3rd weigh in – February 6th – down 5.2 lbs
4th weigh in – February 13th – down 2.4 lbs
5th weigh in – February 20th – down 2.2 lbs

I am super happy with my progress so far and I am well aware that from this point forward the weigh loss will/should slow down. I am aiming for anything better 1-2 lbs per week from this point forward. With the amount of weight that I have to lose, this will be a long and tough battle, but at the same time I GOT THIS! Someone said to me yesterday, I know its hard and I couldn’t help but say back, yes, but no at the same time it isn’t. Now let me explain what I mean. I will be the first one to admit YES it is INSANELY difficult to lose weight, ESPECIALLY when you have a lot to lose like myself, ESPECIALLY when you have been yo-yo dieting since you were 12… (Side note: I am 24! FOR HALF OF MY LIFE I HAVE BEEN DIETING!!!!!!!!!!!!! How depressing is that) so yes, obviously this is hard! But at the same time it doesn’t have to be as hard as some ppl make it out to be. Weight loss is very simple when you think about it and the difficult part is re-programming your mind to suit. Its as simple as calories in versus calories out.. You consume fewer calories than your body burns in a day and you will lose weight. So it’s all about thinking straight and knowing what you want, how you want it and always have an action plan. I totally got this and once again it only took me 12 years to realize it WTF! lol but when you got it you got and when its your time its your time! I will not go another year saying “I lived half of my life dieting” I am going to get to goal (and that may take me more than a year) but I will get there and I will make this a change in my life and not just another fad diet that I am TRYING it is something I am DOING :)

On my average day I consume anywhere between 1500 – 2000 calories and burn anywhere between 3000 – 4000… I find I do naturally eat more calories on the weekend, but never over maintain calories and at the same time I burn much more calories on the weekends too generally speaking. On most weeks I am noticing about a 7000-8000 calorie deficit which is approx a 2 lb weight loss per week :) 3500 calories = 1 lb

One more thing before I go… I went and got myself a new tattoo and this tattoo is to be a constant reminder to stay healthy and never give up. The tat has 2 cherry blossom flowers with 5 petals each. Each petal represents 10 lbs lost or a goal reached. I am only colouring in the petals as I reach each of my goals therefore the tattoo will not be finished until I am there! :) I love this concept and as I mentioned it is a constant reminder of my new life and why I am doing this. It’s beautiful!

Well that is all for me today! I am actively posting YouTube videos again and also on twitter so please check me out there!

www.youtube.com/brookejh85
www.twitter.com/brookejh85

Thats all for today! I will try and post again this week or next! Thanks for reading and your support!

xx
Brooke

Update :) Its been a while, but I am bak!

It has been a while since I have updated on here...

It took me a while, but I have finally got my ass in gear and I am actually doing this... and not just half ass, I am doin it! and loving it! I am eating lower calories EVERYDAY and working out at the gym AT LEAST 3 times a week with an intense workout and one with a personal trainer, who is also an old friend of mine from back in the day playing baseball, which is so much more fun having a friend as a PTthan a random :)

I weighed in at the beginning of the year at the largest I have ever been in my life! EVER! and instead of letting it upset me and go and eat more I decided to finally change things.

8 days ago I started a personal 21 day challenge. Experts say that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, good or bad... so I made some goals for myself for 21 days. Those goals are consisting of, everyday I am eating around 1000 less calories per day than I am burning and aiming to burn at least 3000 calories every day. I am staying away from caffeine, fried foods, alcohol, all that stuff and I have DRAMATICALLY reduced my refined sugar intake as well, meaning I eat only whole grains and I have cut the sugar out of my diet 99%. I had a sweet tooth the other night and fruit wasnt cutting it so I had a 100 calorie aero bar AND shared it with Josh. Took that craving right away and I only ate about 70 cals! :) My other goal was to track my calories every day, one day a week I will not track my calories but I will STILL write down what I eat and still be accountable for what I ate that day. Last week that day for me was Saturday and although I didnt track calories and I ate out TWICE and went to the movies I STILL had a calorie deficit of 966 cals at least :) I am very proud of myself for the changes I have already made to be honest. I am even noticing that I am looking forward to the gym. Dont get me wrong there are times where I am like oooo it would be nice to go home and lay on my ass, but quickly I realize that the gym will make me feel MUCH better than the couch will :) My schedule last week was busy, but fun! This is what it looked like:

Monday - gym after work and did cardio
Tuesday - off day, but did house work and that totally broke a sweat :P
Wednesday - gym after work did cardio again (i was scared of the weight machines so figured I would stick to cardio until I met with the trainer to ensure I was doing the right things with the right form etc.
Thursday - off day finally just sat at home and did nothing :P
Friday - went out with some girlfriends for dinner... when they all ordered fries with their meals and booze to drink.. I ordered a lemon water and nachos with grilled chicken breast after making sure the nachos were baked not fried :) I didnt feel deprived, still had a treat, but stayed healthier and satisfied... BUT after dinner with the ladies I was already in Fergus and stopped by the gym on my way home for some intense cardio :) felt AWESOME!
Saturday - Personal Trainer appt. out for the day, visiting family, dinner, movie etc.
Sunday - shopping and running around the house
Monday - TODAY - Gym tonight after work :) Again my goal for this week is to go AT LEAST 3 times a week! which will have to be during the week because I am away this weekend.


So... will ALL that said, sorry for rambling but for once I can actually say I am giving this my all and making it a lifestyle change... changing my life to be healthier and trying to make this not seem like a diet :) My weight loss from Monday January 25th to Saturday January 30th was a loss of 5.2 lbs!!! Now the reasons it was only for 5 days was because I weighed in Monday morning as a starting point... and I weighed in on Saturday because that was the day I was starting my personal trainer so I wanted to have a weight at home to compare to the gym... plus weighing in on Saturday makes it easier for me to NOT binge and do stupid shit on the weekend :P

Anyways just wanted to share my update with everyone! I will come back as soon as I can... I am ALSO hoping to get back on youtube too! ASAP! Take care everyone!

xx

Update - Specialist

Gooood Morning Everyone!! I started writing this earlier this week and then havent been able to finish until today unfortunetly.

I managed to get an appointment with a specialist yesterday... an Endocrinologist who specializes in Diabetes. He is one of the best doctors I have ever met in my life. So knowledgable, said it how it was without holding back, layed it all out on the table and helped me tremendously. He asked me my weight and I told him, but instead of being shocked like everyone else he looked at me and said "Brooke, this is not your fault".... That was nice to hear because as many of you have heard me say this is ALL my fault. Only I have the ability to change my ways and the ability to change my life. I have no one to blame but myself. To take on all that blame is a large toll for one young woman to handle. Having a specialist (one of the best in Canada) turn to me and say, "Brooke... you are WAY too hard on yourself, this is not your fault." It was like a weight was lifted off my back. I know and still believe that only I can change me, but he went through factors that are occuring to me or have occured in the past that are way out of my control, no way for me to change them and I have to be able to accept that and move forward or I wont be able to move forward and make the changes I need to change in the present time. He said that I am focusing far too much on what I am eating and not enough on exercise, which I am aware of. He said I need to chill out and just take it day by day and just get moving. It was amazing to have someone I just met, whom is an expert, have complete and utter faith in me and my ability to become a healthier and happeri me. It felt GREAT! The doc did a nerve damage test on my legs because there was fear of some nerve damage being done, he said that everything looked great! My eyes looked perfectly healthy and EVERYTHING on my tests looked perfect (or better than perfect) other than my sugars, which was SO good to hear :) I am healthy other than this damn diabetes, but that is so nice to hear and gives me hope that it is not too late to fight this and change things in my life :D And even reverse the effects of this disease. Apparently within three months, if I continue what I am doing and up my movement/exercise I will be able to lower my insulin, have a healthy and happy pregnancy, and be on minimal medications :) :) :) :) HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?! Now.. he did mentioned that I need to stop weighing myself so often. That we as humans are far too fixated on the number and I have heard this many many times before from many professionals, but at the same time I feel that weighing myself keeps me accountable and on track. I am not sure what I am going to do with me... But the last time I weighed myself was Monday morning because I wanted to be able to give the doc an updated weight and also that was the day I started to cut out the CRAP.


For now my meds have been upped and I have been put on a pill with the insulin needles, but this should help me with my struggles so I wont complain :) I was on it when I was first diagnosed, the only crappy part is the side effects that I get within the first week or two.


As for my eating this week though... I have done very well. Limiting the processed crap and eating more fruits and veggies. Making sure I am eating a larger well balanced breakfast and I have not been snacking like at all :) :) :) This is a big thing for me at night time. I want to sit there and eat while watching tv, but I don't! :) I have been drinking more water, milk and limiting my diet pepsi. See I havent gone COMPLETELY non-processed, but I am so doing well and I can say that I am very happy with what I have been doing this week so far, I KNOW! Its only Friday, but I am feeling great about this! :) I am no long taking part in ANY extra curricular activities either, that def includes alcohol... I don't need it and it really isn't good for you obviously. My goal is to go alcohol free until christmas/new years, this wont be too hard for me. Also I smoke little cigars when I am drinking (and sometimes when I am not) This has been cut out completely too, no need for it :) Why smoke them? I quit smoking cigarettes almost exactly 2 years ago this month and I am so very proud of myself for that. Feels good to say that I have no other addiction but food and even that addiction I am slowly beating! :D

Anyways thats my little update. I believe I am going to be weighing in on Monday, see how I am doing, we will see... OH! and my dad is letting me borrow his little treadmill to put in my living room and see how I like it, I can walk/jog while watching my shows at night :) I figure I am going to be watching them either way so why not watch them while walking or jogging or even sitting on my yoga ball :) bit by bit I am making positive changes to my life and although it took me a little longer than most to get the ball moving I am happy and proud of myself :)

Have a great weekend everyone and I will check back in next week :)

LONG LOOOONNNNNG UPDATE :)

I know it has been a while since I have written a blog, but I am not writing this to send out an appology or to make excuses because it was my choice to not write and if I should apologize to anyone it should be myself.

Overall health wise, to be honest, things have been good! They could be better of course, but they are good. Two weigh ins ago I gained the 3 lbs that I lost prior, but since then I have managed to maintain over the last couple of weeks, which is shocking really.... Yes I may have not gotten too far into my weight loss/towards my goals, but that is no ones fault but mine. I am making improvements and I just need to get more serious, which I plan on... I HAVE A PLAN! lol I'll get to that later, want to update on everything that has been going on in my life.

On the Saturday of the Thanksgiving Long Weekend I lost a friend. Her name was Alina Carere and she was 23 years old. We grew up in the same town and played baseball together for years. She is a beautiful, smart, kind, caring, loving person. She never judged anyone and was so very proud of who she was. She loved all her friends and family and treated everyone with nothing but respect. I can honestly say she was an outstanding human being. On Thursday October 8th she was driving in her car when a van being driven by a 17 year old male ran a stop sign and hit the side of her car. She then hit two trees. Alina was airlifted to the London hospital. There she was put on life support and after breathing on her own and making some progress (apparently just enough to get her organs in good enough shape to be a donor which was something that Alina wanted very much so). She then passed on Saturday October 10, 2009. It really all hit me when I went to the visitation on the Tuesday night... seeing pictures of her in her uniform or at parties and just enjoying life was hard enough, but then seeing her family. Her older brother Adam who I was friends with as well and her other siblings and parents were strong, but you could def see the pain. Seeing Matt, her boyfriend, and his heart ache was almost too much to handle. I had my mom there with me as she too knew Alina through years of baseball and having her over to our house. She was a great support for me there. The funeral was on Wednesday and it was beautiful. It was held at the Catholic Church in town, where Alina and her family attended, she was a very proud catholic. My friend John and I went to the funeral and he was a great support for me at the cemetary and although it was so hard to deal with losing her I did feel better after that... like not only I, but everyone else could let go because she was okay and she was happy. She will always live on in all our hearts!

Thanksgiving weekend, other than the bad news mentioned above, was very nice. We all went up to the cottage... My mom and dad, hubby (josh), brother (calvin), sister in law (andrea), niece (cadence), grandma, grandpa, aunt pat, uncle merv and of course the three dogs! :) It was a full house, but we all had a great time! The weather was nice, cold, but nice! :) The dock got taken out for the winter, some fishing was done of course, many games of crib between my mom and myself, cottage prepped for winter, went to the church service at the Tobermory church, had a HUGE turkey dinner, which was DELICIOUS! :) It was a great weekend spent with family!

Hmmm what else has been going on. OH! I got a virus on my computer and it was a bad one too! Damn bugger completely messed up the whole comp and I had to restore back to factory and therefore had to re-install everything and all my work crap, it was NOT FUN!

Andrea is going to pop any day now and Bucky, which is the nickname that we have for my nephew and she HATES it lol which makes it all that much more enjoyable ;) hehe I know, Im bad! :) Her official due date is November 18th I believe, but it doesnt look like she is going to last that long! We have been over to their house trying to help them prepare and finish renos for when he decides to come out! I CANT WAIT! :)

Cadence is getting SO big... here is the most recent picture I took of her on Monday (Grandma and Grandpa were watching her for the weekend while we worked on renos at Cal's house)...

I heard that Grandma (Josh's Mom's Mom) wasnt doing so well and that she is in the hospital. Him and I havent gotten many updates and what we are getting is mainly from Facebook unfortunetly, but last we heard she is doing better.

Halloween is next weekend and I am so excited about it! I think I pretty much got my whole costume together and it is gonna look super sexy and awesome! I am not going to go into details cause some ppl that read this blog are going to be there and I want it to be a surprise or at least for some ppl a surprise... Anywho, I had a weight loss goal by Halloween and I didnt reach it and to be honest there is no humanly possible way to reach it by then, BUT I am okay with that

NEW PLAN!!! Starting November I am going to be eating less processed and more raw. This means no fried foods, no refined sugars, no alcohol. no nothing! I am not going to be drinking, smoking the cigars while drinking, NOTHING... I am cleaning out this body of crap because I know when I have done this in the past I felt much better! I am not going 100% raw becasue I do not believe that that is a managable thing to do, but I am eating all whole grains, lean meats, and tons of fruits and veggies. Limiting frozen foods/meals and eating out for sure! I have a feeling that someone may thing why start in November and not now!? Well first, cause I want to.... that should be a good enough answer, but I know for some that isn't. I am starting this in November because over the next 10 days I am only going to be home for 4 of them. With all the traveling and visiting and then of course the big party on Halloween where I would like to enjoy a few beverages I think it woul dbe difficult to follow my new rules. I am still eating smart and being sensible and doing all the things I am already doing, but gotta do something else casue THIS is not working, at least not the way I want it to :) I am though happy to report that I HAVE been able to reduce my insulin intake slightly.... So for those of you that think that your successes are only shown on the scale CHECK THIS OUT! lol because this is my BIGGEST accomplishment in a long time and one of the most important things for me to look at. I must be doing SOMETHING right ;) hehe

Congrats to those of you who have been losing weight, keep working hard and keeping it off. To those of you that have been struggling like me, I know... I know exactly what you are going through and where you are coming from! It is not easy, it is a lifelong battle. Some expect me to lose all my weight and change my ways overnight... well this is not going to happen overnight, this is not going to happen in a week, or even a month! Its a lifelong lesson/learning experience and I know that I will get to a place where I am proud and happy of where I am and who I have become and you will to!

Well it has been a stressful, action packed, fun, exciting, sad, crazy couple of weeks, but I came out of it a stronger person as everyone should :) Stronger meaning mentally and emotionally by the way ;) but hey I am sure physically too!! I hope that everyone is doing GREAT and I will be back to record another blog VERY soon! Stay happy and healthy! x

Ooopsy Forgot :)

I did want to mention in my last post that although i weighed in yesterday with a gain of 3 lbs overall from last weeks weigh in.... I stepped on the scale again this morning. Now I am well aware you should not weigh yourself more than once a week as this is not mentally healthy for you, BUT at the same time I gotta keep a close eye on what is going on with me and my body so I stepped on this morning. I was down .2 of a lb from yesterday, which is SMALL I know, but its something... But the other thing that I LOVED was that my body fat % has gone down now!!!!!! Since my first recording of body fat %, which was on October 2nd my body fat % has dropped a total of 1.2% which I am SOOOO excited about because that is the number that is very important to me. I may not be seeing a drop on the scale, but the body fat percentage is showing me I am at least doing something right and I am doing this by getting my butt moving! :) Thanks again for reading! xx

Weigh In - Diabetes - etc etc

Good Morning Everyone!!!

My week overall was pretty good :) I had some mis-haps when it came to counting calories of a new night time snack that I have been loving, but ugh! Live and Learn ;)

I weighed in yesterday morning and I knew I shouldn't have. Why? Because well on Wednesday night I had a larger meal than normal and we all know that you should not eat a larger meal the night before weigh in, like ever! But I did, silly me! So some would say that what the scale says the next morning after having a larger amount of food than what you body is used to that the weight that you have gained isn't actual fat but yet food stored in your body waiting to become waste and it totally felt that way too. Not making excuses for myself whatsoever, it was my own stupidity to have that meal the night before weigh in and I could have done many things to change that, which I am aware of, but I didn't and thats that :) I stepped on the scale and gained... well it said I gained 3 lbs, which is what I lost the week prior, grrrr! The thing is that I weighed myself the day after weigh in last week so I weighed myself on Oct 1st and I had lost 3 lbs from the week prior. THEN I weighed myself on the 2nd and I had gained 1.4 lbs from the day before, which I don't get! 1.4 gain in one day! eeeek! I wasn't even bad on that day so wth?! Anywho from the 2nd to the 8th (yesterday) which was my next scheduled I had actually only gained 1.6, but if I go from the weigh in on the Thursday and add that 1.4 in the first day after the weight in it totals 3 lbs exactly! grrrrrr!! I don't get it.

Now I totally understand that my Diabetes works against me in this matter. For those of you that are not aware of what I am going through... Here I will fill you in a bit! Type 2 diabetes (diabetes mellitus) occurs when the body can not produce or can not use the produced insulin. As a result you have to provide insulin to the body for diabetes cure and improve the symptoms of diabetes. I personally am a Type 2 diabetic, but I am insulin dependant. I was originally put on a drug called Metformin and after upping my dose over and over I was finally at the maximum daily allowance and we had to do something else. That was when I was put on a newer drug to Canada called Januvia. They had me on a butt load of Metformin and Januvia and when both those drugs werent working they then put me on Metformin and a long lasting 24 hr insulin which I took through injection morning and night. Still my sugards were FAR too high and we kept upping the doseage of insulin I was injecting at each needle. When this wasn't working they left me on the long lasting insulin and took away the Metformin and in place of the Metformin they put me on a fast acting insulin which I inject at every meal. I am currently still messing around with the doses and finally starting to control my levels with the long and fast acting insulins, 5 needles a day! OH JOY! But, there is a negative side of insulin as well. One such side effect is weight gain. The main work of insulin is to improve the ability of your body to use and store sugar (glucose). When your blood glucose levels are hgh, your kidneys try to remedy the situation by excreting glucose in your urine. Insulin provided from outside reverses these processes as blood glucose levels return to normal, which can contribute to weight gain. Therefore it is proven that Insulin plays a major role in weight gain, and even keeps us from losing weight. Insulin is responsible for the storage of all the foods we eat: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. However, high glycemic carbohydrates cause blood sugars to rise very rapidly, therefore causing the pancreas to release insulin very rapidly. In some people the body overcompensates and releases too much. The insulin will store these carbohydrates/sugars very quickly. The good side is you get a quick burst of energy; the bad side is most of what is eaten will be stored as fat. Since the blood sugars rose very rapidly, the insulin will try to bring the blood sugars within normal ranges very rapidly, causing the sugars to be pushed by the insulin into every cell, including fat cells. So now you see how this is all so hard and so frustrating for me… I look to people that are losing weight and doing all the things I am doing, some are doing them better and some aren’t, but that’s not the problem here… The problem is that it is SO frustrating for me because its not that I am being a complete pig or not exercising, its that I have this HUGE factor working against me that many of them do not and when I see others losing weight (both on my own personal weight loss groups and in the public ones like YouTube etc.) and I am not its hard for me to swallow, but at the same time I want people to realize what I am going through and what this is all about. So anyways, that’s my story :)

Sorry I have def rambled on enough about all of this :) moving on.... My exercise this past week I was very happy with actually. After last week I found that I was doing the Learn and Burn easily and decided to move on to the Turbo Burn, which is a 20 min intense calorie burn. I have done that every day Mon - Fri this week every early morning :) I am starting to notice that I am able to do this workout now with little strain. Hopefully next week I can move on to bigger and badder things. I have also been finding myself moving more throughout the day and night at home, which is obviously a bonus!

This weekend is Thanksgiving so happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We are going up to the cottage with the family and I am very much looking forward to this. Hope that everyone has a wonderful long weekend and I will be back next week! xx