March Madness Update

March Madness is not basketball related in my life; it's birthday related. My mother, myself, and my sister have our birthdays in March and then sprinkled all over the month are birthdays of my extended family members. It's almost over. Whew!

Let's take a look at my efforts this past month, shall we? Oh did I mention I'm on Spring Break? That makes me happy. :D

30, Flirty, and Thriving. Blowing out my candles. :D

Picking up my bib number for 5k #1 of 2013. I'm a happy girl!

03/12 5k and 03.13 5k - Do you see a difference?

"This BEAUTY runs like a beast." Sunrise with my girls on their first 5k and my second.

Celebrating my birthday one last time.

That was fun.

Non Scale Victory anyone? I'll take it!

Hit 30 pounds lost a week after my 30th birthday. Happy birthday to me!

Before and Current. So proud of my hard work. :D

 So there you have it! I'm still slowly losing weight, I'm being active, I'm fitting into clothes that I have fit into in years, I'm loving life, and I am enjoying the journey. March has been very good to me indeed.

Best wishes,
Julia

Happy 2013!

I am so sorry that I have no been around lately. Here is a quick recap of January 2013. I have been working out a lot, as per usual, but I have been trying very hard to balance my love for exercise with my hatred of tracking. LOL. I'm still walking with my best friend once a week in preparation for a 5k we're doing in March. We even tried jogging a little bit and it's been working out for us. Even if we don't always jog, we have still shaved off a lot of time on our power walks. I also began Winter Quarter in January and I have a couple of more weeks left until Spring break.

This month (February) I have been using the app Couch 2 5k and have been running on the treadmill and out in nature. I haven't jogged like this in years and I have missed it. I love the endorphins! Another awesomet thing happened: I had to buy new jeans because mine were too big. SCORE. I'm doing cardio and lifting weights (always trying to lift as heavy as I possibly can each time) and my body is shrinking. I can't believe I'm in a size 12 with the number that reflects on the scale. Last time I was a size 12 I was in the 140-150 lbs. I'm SOOOO not that weight right now. If I keep this up I think I may end up in the single digits (pant/dress size) when I get to my goal weight. 5 pounds of fat weighs as much as 5 pounds of muscle. It's just that 5 pounds of muscle takes up less space and looks nicer. :)

It's almost March and that's a crazy month for my family. All of us girls in my immediate family have their birthdays in March; we call it March Madness. I set a goal when I turned 29 years old (read HERE) that I wanted to lose a total of 30 pounds by my 30th birthday and that's in less than two weeks. It has been a long and slow journey losing this weight but I never gave up. I may have slowed down but I never gave up.  But I'm so close to that goal. I'm not going to stress myself out about it. If I get it before March 9th or not until April 9th, I will be satisfied. Why? Well, this past year was going to pass by anyway; at least I can say that a year ago I was a size 16 and now I'm a size 12. A year ago I couldn't jog and now I can! Mission accomplished in my book!

Yes, life is great. I hope it is for you as well.

Best wishes,
Julia

Santa Baby...

Guess what I did?? I got my 10% goal!!! I only needed -0.2 to get my goal and I was hoping and wishing I got -0.3 just to secure that goal. What I ended up getting was a complete shock. I lost 6 pounds! I have never lost 6 pounds before! 4.8 lbs is my highest ever. So six was over the top for me. So I got my 10% goal and I got to take another 5 lbs lost picture with the "fat pet" at my WW center. hehehe.

Now the goal is to try to maintain as much of that big loss as I can over the next few weeks.

So...

Santa Baby....

Let me keep this 6 pound loss and run with it! ;)

November Update

Hi everybody!

I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting regularly, November has been super busy yet amazing for me.
Take a look for yourself via my instagram (_julialolita_):

So This is just part of my November but I have been a workout machine, I've been tracking, I've been enjoying the start of the Holiday season with my family and still losing weight. I've also hit some awesome goals like getting 20 lbs lost. I've started TurboFire and I am really enjoying it. Soon I will be hitting my 10% goal and after that my next goal is to get out of the "obese" category, I'm so close! :D

No Weigh-In This Week

I sadly and very seriously need a bedtime on Friday nights because I stay up way too late and then come 7:00 am on Saturday I am too tired to even stay awake let alone make it to my 8:00 am meeting at Weight Watchers. This morning I woke up and I thought: Dang...I'm too tired for this; I'll go to the next meeting. So I went back to bed but I forgot that I had to take my car to the shop so I kind of shot myself in the foot by doing because I didn't have time to go to a meeting/weigh-in. YIKES!

Also, I kind of burnt myself out with my workouts on steroids. lol. Meaning: Burning close to or over 1,000 calories a day just kinda drained me or maybe it's a depressing situation I am currently going through but I only worked out once this past week and it felt rather half a$$ed. I burned 1,000 calories a couple of times last week. Don't get me wrong it felt great but for some reason this week I was just very sad and lacked energy. I think it's just what I am going through. So I am going to focus on just trying to burn 500 calories a day Monday through Friday. If I have the energy to burn more, I'll do it.

To end things on a more positive note: My best friend and little sister have joined me in registering for a local 5k. It is the pinkest 5k/10k in Santa Cruz known as "She Is Beautiful" a percentage of the proceeds goes to our local woman's shelter, so it's for a great cause. It's along West Cliff and along the way there are signs that have inspiring and uplifting quotes. I did it with my Weight Watchers leader last year (my first race ever) and it was SOOOO much fun. I am real excited to be doing it again and I am so proud of my sister and best friend for joining me, it will be their first 5k race. I start training for the 5k on Monday. I will take a survey and see if my little crew wants to walk it, walk/run it, or run it. I'm so excited!

Thanks for reading!

Weigh-ins Update

I feel like I can take a bit of a breather but it's going to be a small window of down time. The last couple of weeks I have gotten my best friend to the wedding alter and had to deal with midterms (another one is coming up hence the short breather) and that's why I haven't updated. If you are on instagram and want to see my fitness and nutrition related photographs please follow me at _julialolita_ and you will be updated faster that way. Thanks!

The past two weeks I set the goal of burning 3,500 calories. I have set this goal SO many times and gotten really close or totally forgot about it come hump day. When I set it the first week I realized a couple of days into the week: Crap! My best friend is getting married on Saturday. I have to finish all my duties as the Maid of Honor and I have to help set up the reception hall, go to the wedding rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, etc. How am I going to do all that and school and workout?! I just put my game face on and got it done! Look:

As you can see I burned 3,897 calories that week. I weighed in on Friday, a day earlier, because Saturday was the wedding and I was just too busy. With a combination of eating way too much good food all week I thankfully LOST 0.2 of a pound. I know that regardless of your efforts and regardless how much balance you may or may not have....your body won't drop a good number on the scale the day you want it to. It will come off when it's ready so I did not let it get me down.

I tracked the following week and made sure to knock out that fitness goal again and guess what? I did!

I got in some pretty phenomenal workouts last week. My last one was practically 3 hours long and I sweat out all of my negative feelings and made that workout my own. I did pretty fantastic with my tracking too. As you can see I almost burned 4,500 calories and I lost 1.6 lbs. So in the past two weeks I have lost 1.8 pounds.

*Happy Dance!*

I have got to keep the momentum! Until next time: Happy Halloween! Let's Go Giants! WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!!! YEAH BUDDY!!!!

Facing the Music

I have not been to a Weight Watchers meeting since September 22nd. Every Saturday morning since the dawn of time, it feels like, we have been taking our cat Binx to the vet because he has been dealing with a tumor removal surgery and a long healing time. My mom and sister have been using my car because it is better on gas and this specific vet is like 40 to 45 minutes away. So I would either go with them or stay home and sleep in since I was usually without a car. I weighed myself at home finally and noticed that I was up several pounds and I knew that I needed to go to a meeting, STAT. Two weeks later, I went to face the music.

This morning I was so happy to see my leader and have her weigh me in. Usually I get there and there is a line of people wanting their personal, one on one time with her. But this time it was just meant to be. When I weighed in I not only lost the weight I had gained while I was away but I also lost 0.6 lbs. Woo hoo! I will take it! I couldn't stay for the whole meeting (I had to leave 10 minutes early to go home so we could take our cat to the vet one final time to have stitches removed) but it was great being in that amazing and supportive space.

My fitness goal this week is to burn 3,500 calories. I have maybe gotten about half way there and then totally forgot about it come Wednesday. I set this goal and started sharing my calorie burn with friends and then realized: CRAP! This week is the final week before my best friends Wedding! I'm also the Maid of Honor so I'm expected to be present and help at all these upcoming events before the big day; even if I weren't the MOH I wouldn't miss these things for the world! So I am trying my best to get as close to 3,500 calories burned from now until Friday morning. As it is, I am going to be weighing in a day early since Saturday morning we will be getting ready to get her to the chapel. AHHH! My childhood best friend is getting married! I'm going to cry soooo much.

Anywho, here is my Saturday workout stats according to my Polar FT7 watch. Thanks so much for reading!

 

"I Enjoy Being A Girl!"

Earlier in the week I went shopping for some stuff for my best friend's bachelorette party. I took the liberty of checking out some stores (clearance rack) to see if there were anymore items that I wanted to add to my clothes collection. I am happy to say I found a few things.

Lace shirt with a pink ribbon/bow to cinch the waist. On sale for $12.50!

I found this cute navy blue blazer. On sale for $15.00

Black shorts. Kinda velvety feeling. On sale for $9.50. I figured with some colorful leggings I can wear them through out Autumn. :D

Accessories! Necklaces in my favorite colors and belts to cinch shirts.

I am pretty pleased with these purchases and I cannot wait to wear them. Especially the accessories. As Doris Day sings: "I enjoy being a girl!" Give the song a listen below:

Makeover Monday

Back to School Shopping Spree

My financial aid came in. YAY for money. I decided that I wanted to treat myself to two things: A new heart rate monitor and some new clothes. Other than some items that I need to buy for my best friend's bachelorette party, I'm the Maid of Honor, I want to save the rest of my money. But I wanted to share with you some things that I bought for school this year. But first, my fitness related goodies.

Big 5 Sporting Goods Store: New workout toy: Polar FT7 Heartrate Monitor. Better features than the one I purchased in 2009. I am so excited to use this in my next workout. These pictures reflect how I did doing my September Squat Challenge. 130 squats in 5:28 minutes, I took a few breathers, sue me. lol.

Sears: Dri Fit pants (YAY for no more embarrassing sweat stains!) and super supportive sports bras.

Now onto the clothes!

Sears: I bought two t-shirts of the same design but in different colors. The picture all the way to the right is the second color (greys/purples). The shirt is comfy and with the belt it helps flatter my figure. The shirts were also on sale, $9.99 each.

Target: I got this cute dress on sale for under $18. I figured with a cute cardigan and a belt, it would be even more cute. Slap on some comfy thick leggings and boots and I am ready for the crisp Autumn breeze heading our way.

Target: Another cute dress for under $18. I have probably stated this a 1,000 times but I heart Mustard Yellow and when I saw this cardigan I had to have it. To be honest with you, it is super comfy but I'm not sure if the dress and cardigan does amazing things for my body. Maybe I need to get a little belt to help show off the hourglass.

Target: Pink and white shirt with brown belt,super cute! There is that Yellow Mustard cardigan, also wasn't on sale. Styles for Less: The over shirt wasn't really doing anything for my shape but I loved the fabric and the design. I am all about belts lately so I plan on buying a cute belt to cinch the shirt closed.

Target: Mint colored blazer. It's a little darker in the picture than it actually is. I wish it had buttons on it but it's just too stinking cute! Stick a white tank underneath (bought one), wear a chunky necklace with Sweetheart style jeans from Old Navy, and cute shoes and you're set! I can't wait to try it out!

Target Shirt: Peplum style with cute polka dots. Wear it with a cute pair of jeans, a skirt and I can wear colored tights. YAY!! Look at all of those colors I can work with. I swear I get too excited about these things.

Bath & Body Works: Buy 2, Get 1 Free Sale. I bought 3 body mists. Country Chic, Be Enchanted, and Twilight Woods. I think Country Chic is my favorite but they're all so sweet and subtle.  
CVS: FIT me! makeup by Maybelline 30% off: There is a chart that you put your wrist under to find your match. An employee was walking around asking if I needed help and I looked at her, saw she had nice makeup and said yes. LOL. I had 135's as my match but with her help she totally pointed me in the right direction. My collection was more mismatched but I can't wait to use it!
Target: Shampoo & Conditioner by Aussie and elf makeup products.  
Claire's: Buy 1, get 1 50% off: I bought two super comfy and cute headbands. These don't give me headaches and I can wear them with my glasses.

Up close and on my head.....was that caption really necessary? LOL

Learning Experience: Know your size!

Example of wearing your size: The photo on the left I am wearing a L and the photo on the right I am wearing an XL. I didn't see the XL size shirt at the beginning so I tried on the L for shizzles and giggles. It fit fine and I like it. I felt like maybe it was "too tight" so I was going to pass on it. I looked one more time on the rack and found the XL. *cheers and applause* I put it on and *WHOMP WHOMP!* I felt like I was drowning in fabric and felt like I looked bigger. Thankfully I took pictures because when I compared them all of a sudden the size L shirt looked fine! So, I bought it. :D Make sure to compare sizes, you may still think you're a bigger size than you actually are.

All in all, I feel pretty happy with my purchases. I won't be needing many outfits since this quarter I will only be going to campus Tuesdays and Thursdays. So I am very happy and pleased about that. I plan on buying a couple pairs of jeans tomorrow at Old Navy and maybe a couple more shirts but only if they are on sale. :)

Thanks for reading! 

Letting Go and Embracing Now

I want to talk a little bit about some bad habits I have regarding clothes/fashion/style and my weight loss journey; namely the lack of my stylish wardrobe. I don't know if I'm a fool for feeling this way but for some reason I have let myself buy into this lie that life will not really begin until I get to my goal weight. Meaning, I won't feel good about myself until I get to my goal weight, I won't look great in clothes until I get to my goal weight, I don't need to dress up/take pride in my appearance until I get to my goal weight, or I won't be happy until I get to my goal weight. I'm not sure what my malfunction is but I have bought into all of these lies and I've just been kind of floating around waiting for life to happen until then. But the fact is, life is happening right, now regardless of the number on the scale or the size of my jeans. It is going to take however many months, or years, it is going to take for me to get healthy. So until then life is still going to happen. I can either throw in the towel and not live or I can use that towel to wipe the sweat off my face and then go out there to carpe the hell out of this diem! That sounds like a MUCH better plan and that is what I am going to buy into from here on out! Thank you very much! 

These are a few bad habits that I have been doing for the past two years:

09/19/2012 Outfit of the Day

• Wearing comfy, stretchy, black workout/yoga pants all the time. It's kind of hard to keep track of your weight in clothes that expand. lol. Yikes! Also, I have noticed that the more I lounge around or go about my day in these comfy pants, running shoes, baggy t shirts, and hoodies the worse I feel about myself. It sends me into a huge funk/rut. I literally feel worse about myself from the lack of effort I put into my appearance.
• I also do not want to spend money on clothes that I don't plan on wearing much longer because I am going to lose weight anyway. Besides I have a closet filled with really cute clothes already. Those cute clothes should be motivation to lose weight and quickly, right? Well, right and wrong. I am losing weight, slowly, but not fast enough to enjoy those clothes anytime soon. I have refused to spend money on a new wardrobe the past year and a half but in reality, I really need to buy clothes that fit me NOW. My skinny clothes will have to wait and I need to come to terms that these expenses are really investments! 
• I don't know how to dress my current body shape and sometimes it's difficult to dress an hourglass figure. I go into stores wanting to wear the cute outfits that are on display and more than 75% of the time I leave feeling terrible about myself because most of the stores don't really carry my size and whatever is "in style" does not flatter all body types. So I needed to stop being a slave to fashion!
• Being afraid of my curves & hiding under tons of fabric.

Summer Favorites: Dresses, proper fitting jeans, cute tops, clutches, and high heels. Ditch the flip flops/sneakers.

My advice: 

Leave the workout clothes for your workouts. Leave the comfy clothes for relaxing at home. If you are in a rut and not giving yourself some TLC...Go play dress up, STAT. Not ready for that kind of effort? Start off with something smaller. Maybe wear/buy a cute simple dress, put your hair in a low pony tail, and put on some lip gloss and mascara.

Money is tight for me right now but I am so tired of feeling and looking frumpy. Look at the money that you are spending as an investment. Take time to try on different styles of jeans and buy the ones that feel good and look great on you. buy a few cute tops, maybe a dress, and some cute shoes. Here is where the investment comes in: When you look good, you FEEL good and that is what really matters here. It is so important that we love and embrace ourselves at all times.

Sometimes it is better to spend the extra $5 to $10 to buy a pair of jeans that fits better than the cheaper pair that may not do anything for your body. This is not always the case but I find that it has been my biggest issue. I will buy the cheapest item but end up hating how frumpy it makes me feel. Sometimes it seems like being frugal, when it comes to clothes, bites me in the rear. LOL. Also, you don't have to buy everything all at once if money is an issue. Buy a couple of pieces at a time if you have to.

Fashion is such a weird thing. 1) It's always changing, who can keep up? 2) It's not a one size fits all deal 3) It sucks me in and I can't stand it! Window shopping is fun and sometimes I see an outfit that I just HAVE to try on. Most of the time I feel like crap when the outfit is on my body and it doesn't look as good as it did in the window and other times I cant put the damn thing on to save my life and wonder: That's an XL?! Then I leave feeling super sorry for myself. Know your body. If a certain fabric doesn't flatter your body, stay away from it, no matter how cute a trend is. I have had a lot of practice with this one over the years. There is a certain fabric, I need to learn the name of it so I can curse it properly - lol, that just clings to my body in really unattractive ways. I stay away from it like the plague. Just remember, fashion is always changing. Style is something you create. So feel free to experiment, express yourself, mix and match, think outside of the box, whatever you do...don't limit yourself to just department stores. Try thrift shops or vintage shops too. If you are really crafty...make your own clothes.

Don't forget the little things: Do your nails, simple manicure is fine. Accessories are always fun! Try a dramatic eye look or play up your lips with some red lipstick. Va Va voom!

I was afraid of my bigger hourglass figure. I mean, I was afraid of my boobies and my arse. For real. I'm used to having an hourglass figure and I have always had one, I just was not used to it being so much fuller, softer, and fluffier. I didn't know how to work with my current body and I'd freak out and hide under tons of fabric. Even though I have bigger boobs and bigger hips/butt, I still have a waist that I need to show off more. I'm not doing myself any favors by drowning myself in shapeless outfits, if anything, I end up making myself look bigger. So don't be afraid, embrace your curves! Really take the time to find articles of clothing that flatter your shape and if an item is almost perfect but little things here and there aren't working for you, you can always have them tailored.

Obviously I am still learning as I go but that is my advice and I have been following it through out the summer when I have gone out shopping. I have also gone through my closet recently and found out that I am starting to fit in shirts and jeans that didn't used to fit a year ago. I have also donated clothes that do absolutely nothing for me! So my wardrobe is growing a little bit and I am feeling fantastic!

I have purchased a lot of high heels over the last couple of years and I am so happy that I am finally putting them to good use! They killed my feet and my knees before due to all the extra weight but lately they have been easier to wear. Also, it doesn't help that I was just so use to wearing my running shoes everywhere and they are comfy compared to heels. I'd wear a cute outfit but still wear my running shoes. Oh man, that's so bad. lol. I really enjoy and love being a girly girl, it's time to act like it and leave the running shoes at home when it's time to party. Time to spice things up!

So whatever misconceptions/lies you are buying into regarding your beautiful body, your weight loss journey, your personal style/clothes, your life, just stop it. If you are not enjoying your life now, let those lies/plans go that are not serving you and embrace NOW because we all deserve to be happy.

While all these tips are about superficial things please don't mistake them as my way of telling you: The only happiness/substance as a human being depends on how you look. No, no, no, no. I am ALL about inner beauty, it is very much important to me, but when you put forth the effort to look and dress nice, you do feel better! Inside and out. So go out there and strut your stuff. 

Thanks for reading!