victoria elizabeth weight loss

A New Challenge

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So, first and foremost, my apologies for my sporadic posts the last few weeks.

I keep thinking of all of these things I want to post and topics to discuss, then get distracted with work (or school, or pets, or life), and the next thing I know, a week has passed! I guess that’s how the world works when you’re official an adult. (If you can’t tell, I’m still quasi-mourning the fact that I’m 30 now.)

As if things weren’t busy enough, starting Monday I face a new challenge: I start a second job.

Yes, on top of my 50 hour/week career, my graduate school classes in the evening, and my social life, I’m taking on an additional 20-25 hours per week.

YIPES.

Once the euphoria of getting the job wore off (it’s a pretty huge and, potentially, life-changing opportunity), the realization that my work day is now going to start at 3:30am and continue through 6pm, followed by 3-4 hours of school, really set in.

How am I going to do this?

While I think I’ve set up a strategy to survive each day and meet my work/school obligations, what happens to my social life? What happens to my health?

Looking over my calendar, a best case scenario would allow me to hit the gym 3-4 days per week — assuming, of course, I even have the energy to go.

And, even if I can make it to the gym these few days, what’s going to happen to my eating habits? Life is about to crank into overdrive, with just a few minutes to spare between commitments. Will I be able to maintain a healthy diet? Will I succumb to the allure of fast food, purely because it’s quick and easily accessible?

Yeah, I’m stressing.

My goal is to commit every Sunday evening to prepping healthy meals I can safely freeze/store to eat the whole week. I’m hoping that a few hours sacrificed from my little free time on Sundays will save me from pounds gained (and major stress) in the long run.

I know the siren call of pastries is going to be a daily temptation at the new job, as I’ve heard they cater breakfast almost every morning. Oh, boy. My hope is a speedy protein shake loaded with ground flax seed (fiber!) will give me strength.

I’m nervous for the road ahead, both for the professional obligations and the potential stress it may cause my personal life, my health/fitness, and my sanity. My hope is that through proactive preparation and a good attitude, I can make this work.

I start Monday. Wish me luck!

On that note, bon appetit my friends!

Tori

Keeping Cheat Day Reasonable

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Saturday is the unofficial cheat day in my household. It’s never officially talked about or agreed upon, but nothing is said if someone orders a burger instead of their usual grilled chicken salad.

After an 8.76 mile run on Saturday morning, I knew I wasn’t going to worry about what I ate for lunch: I deserved anything my little heart craved.

That being said, I decided to finally check out the little bar at the East End Market (in Orlando, Fl.). Located at the end of a row of artisanal restaurants and stores, you can order practically anything you’d like to eat to accompany the drink(s) of your choosing.

With a boulangerie behind me and a charcuterie to the right, I made a good decision:

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Paired with a collection of Florida wine flights, really, I couldn’t go wrong:

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A delicious, satisfying cheat meal – that really wasn’t a cheat, if I’m being honest – and a new experience supporting local small businesses. I would say it was a win/win Saturday!

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Bon appetit, my friends!

Tori

Join Me on MyFitnessPal!

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Instead of trying, with difficulty, to take several pictures of my good diary and exercise log to post on here, I wanted to encourage my fellow Yo-Yos to join me on MyFitnessPal (www.myfitnesspal.com).

I am 100% honest with my food and exercise log, and I publish everything so that it’s fully transparent to my friends.

Doing this keeps me accountable, as I’m far less likely to eat an entire bag of cookies if I know my family, friends, and coworkers are going to see it! The more people who join and add me as a friend, the more accountable I feel.

Here’s my handle – look me up!

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As a note, I do not gain ANYTHING for mentioning these apps/sites; they’ve just been a huge personal help on my health/fitness journey so I’m a big fan. Feel free to skip if you have a system that works better for you; or, even better, share it with me in the comments!

On that note, bon appetit!

Tori

The Hiatus Has Ended

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Whew.

That’s the longest I’ve gone without posting on here in, well, ever.

I think I went almost two full weeks without logging my diet, regularly hitting the gym, watching what I eat, and posting about all of it on here.

Last Friday was my 30th birthday and I vowed to spend the week ENJOYING it versus stressing about it. I ate cake (lots and lots of it), drank craft beer, and spent almost an entire weekend in a bikini (kayaking, beach, etc).

It was GREAT.

As a result of this hiatus, though, I must admit the weight has jumped up. I went from 123.4 a few weeks ago to back up to 129.6 this morning.

Yikes.

A watched pot may never boil, but an unattended pot will most certainly boil over.

I’m not stressing the weight gain, as I know if I lost it once, I can do it again. I had planned to jump back on the bandwagon Monday, but my grandmother spent the day in town so the gym wasn’t an option. I did my best to eat well (she’s the anti-healthy eater, unfortunately), but still felt like it wasn’t the start I wanted to the week.

So, today is a new day. I’m back to focusing on mostly Paleo (allowing for moderate dairy), but avoiding grain, avoiding soy, and avoiding sugar as much as possible. I’m using MyFitnessPal to log my food, GymPact to log my veggies/fruits and workouts, and RunKeeper to set a mileage goal BEYOND what I do at the gym.

This week’s goals:

  • Hit the gym at least 5 times, preferably 6.
  • Eat at least three veggies per day (thank you, GymPact).
  • Maintain the Paleo diet as best as possible, with a cheat meal allowed on both Friday & Saturday.
  • Stay under 1,600 calories daily (this has been a challenge lately, so aiming for 1,600 and then reducing down to 1,300 when I get control of my appetite again).
  • Walk 15 miles in the week (Sunday-Saturday) in addition to my workouts. I walk my dogs three times per day (about a third of a mile each day), so it’s really just sneaking in a few more quick walks each day.

I don’t want to become obsessive (I have a tendency to do that, especially after a weight spike), but I also don’t want to stray past the 130 lbs benchmark, so I really need to kick it into gear.

On that note – it’s great to be back! I missed writing here daily and I’m sure a few of you were starting to get bored of the silence. 🙂

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

Normal

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All my life, I’ve been above average.

For some areas, that’s been a good thing. Above-average intelligence, above-average drive, above-average socialization.

In many areas, however, it has been a bad thing:

Above average weight.
Above average body fat.
Above average BMI.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to just be “normal.” In all aspects of my life: average.

Well, I can’t change my height, my looks, my intelligence, or my personality, but I can officially say my weight, BMI, and body fat are “average” for a woman my age and height.

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Something feels really good about being average.

Bon appetit, my friends!

Tori

I’m Alive!

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For anyone that follows my blog with any consistency, you’ve probably noticed the sudden – and unannounced – silence.

First things first: I’m totally OK!

No melt downs, no binge/purge episodes, nothing.

I’m totally fine.

After weeks upon weeks of my Daily Accountability Reports (sharing with the world EVERY bite of food I ate and exercise I completed), I realized that I needed a few days off to give my brain a break.

I needed to take a few days of NOT tracking what I ate and letting my body tell me what it wanted again. Any time I catch myself becoming obsessive with something, I try to put the brakes on quickly: it’s very easy for me to slip back into my old behaviors. If I obsess too much about my food log or my gym attendance, I’ll start to let that cloying guilt sink in… you know, that weighted pain in the back of your mind that tells you each bite you take is BAD, BAD, BAD.

The moment I start to sense the voice returning, I do whatever I need to do to shut it down. FAST.

In this case, as I was writing my Thursday Night Accountability report, I could hear that voice again… it was mocking me as I typed. It was reading my food log over my shoulder, criticizing every snack. It laughed at my measly 45 minutes at the gym, and it made me feel guilty.

That’s when I realized I needed a short reprieve from the accountability reports.

Don’t worry – I’m still alive, positive, and kicking butts. 🙂 More posts to come!

T-Minus 10 days until my Dirty Thirty Birthday!

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

Throwback Thursday #tbt

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Digging through a box of high school photos, I’m amazed by the strength and clarity of the memories produced.

Moments in time that I thought were trivial, insignificant, come back to me as if they were yesterday.

This picture is from a church event at Our Savior Lutheran. I was about 16, maybe nearing 17. It was shortly after my Confirmation ceremony, but before I entered senior year.

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I’ve come a long, long way – but I’m glad to see that I knew happiness at any size. Look at that cheesy grin! Ha!

It just goes to show you: happiness isn’t based on size, it’s based on self. Find your happiness through loving yourself.

Bon appetit, my friends!

Tori

Wednesday Accountability Report

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Man, I’m slipping up a bit on posting these – whoops!

It seems that any alcohol consumption around dinner time totally knocks me out (or causes amnesia), but oh well.

Here’s how I did yesterday:

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As you can see, drinking definitely loosens my inhibitions with my diet – I pretty much blew my whole day between dinner and late night munching. That’s OK: today is a new day!

Bon appetit, my friends!

Tori

Making Money, Getting Fit!

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OK, I know I’ve bragged about the GymPact App in the past, but I must tell you:

This thing is the BEST!

Why do I say that?

Because not only is it helping me stay on track with my diet, my workouts, and my fruit/veggie consumption, but I’m making REAL CASH from it.

Don’t believe me? Take a look below:

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By committing to a set number of workouts, food diaries, and veggies/fruits per week, I’m earning money for following through on my obligations. I’m basically “betting” the millions of other users of the app that I WILL workout and eat right, and I’m putting my money where my mouth is.

If I fail to meet any element of my pact, I’m responsible to pay out.

Here’s my usual weekly wager:

$50/day for my Food Log, for which I commit to all seven days of the week.

  • I do this because I am RELIGIOUS about my food log (I haven’t missed a day in almost a full year), so this is something I trust myself to do, even on the busiest of days.

  • I use MyFitnessPal for a food log, which autosyncs to my GymPact, making it simple to keep everything in one place and not doubling my work.

$10/day for my Workouts, for which I commit to five days of the week.

  • I’m pretty consistent with hitting the gym 6-7 days per week, but I commit to 5 days to account for sick days, fatigue, and “just not feeling it” moments.
  • GymPact works with RunKeeper, TrackMyRun, and many other GPS-apps, so you’re not limited to working out in a gym. I use RunKeeper all the time for my walks/runs, so it autosyncs back to GymPact.
  • You must log at least 30 minutes – either in a gym or moving outdoors – to get credit.

$10/item for my Veggie Pact, for which I commit to seven fruits/veggies per week.

  • I actually just joined this pact, as I was hesitant that it would require me to eat dozens of fruits/veggies per day. Come to find out, it’s much simpler than that.
  • You can log up to FIVE individual fruits/veggies per day. You have to take a picture of it that PROVES you’re eating it (or about to eat it). Think a bowl of chopped fruit with a fork in it versus a picture of the produce stand at Publix. It needs to be obvious that you’re going to consume it.
  • The “community” – AKA, the other users of the app – verify you picture with a Thumbs UP or a Thumbs DOWN: was it really a fruit or veggie? Did it look like you were going to eat it? Taking a picture of Starbursts made with “real fruit flavor” won’t cut it, bub!
An example of the type of thing you load to meet your "Veggie Pact."

An example of the type of thing you load to meet your “Veggie Pact.”

On average, I make between $2-2.50 per week.

So, where does this money come from?

The users that didn’t follow through on their pact!

Yes – if you commit to 5/week for the Gym and bet $10 per day, you’ll get charged $20 if you only make it to the gym three times. It’s a real pact, guys! You put your money where you mouth is, so you’ll risk losing it if you’re not consistent.

The app connects to either a Credit Card (you provide) or PayPal, so you have to be serious about your health and you commitment to using the app before you dive in. It’s helped me a ton with accountability and progress – and, to date, I’ve made over $150 from using the app for 9 months. Yeah, that’s serious money, folks.

I’ve told a lot of friends about this app and many have started using it. Some make money, some lose money (once or twice) and then get SERIOUSLY motivated… or delete the app. It’s not for the faint of heart, so only sign up if you’re prepared to follow through with your PACT!

Bon appetit, my friends (and don’t forget to put it in your FoodLog)!

Tori

 

Tuesday Accountability Report

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What a great day!

I had a blast at work today, accomplishing surprisingly everything I set out to do (even with those surprise, time-devouring, pop-up meetings).

I was good almost all day, except for my afternoon snack (a coworker walked around passing out bags of candy) and the dessert at dinner (how can you resist frozen yogurt?).

Despite a sore knee, I got in over 2 hours of cardio (elliptical trainer!) and feel pretty good right now. A good day!

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Overall, it was a successful day!

Bon appetit, my friends!

Tori