Just a quick note before hitting the gym. Today I'm focusing on cardio. I love cardio. I've been doing really well with my calories. The Lean Cusine and Healthy Choice meals are wonderful. Hopefully tomorrow I'll make some homeade chili and cornbread. I think that will be my free meal.

So I'll weigh in today when I hit the gym. I've started taking my Hydroxycut Hardcore pills as follows:

• One before lunch


• One right after lunch


• One before dinner

We'll see....

.... 216lbs. Give or take a few oz. WOW!

I spoke with my doctor about my weight concerns. We went over some blood work (he said my Cholestoral is amazing; super low I guess which is good). I'm still anemic (imagine that) and to lose weight based on my age and metabolism and RMR I need to eat around 1500-1900 calories or less a day. And exercise.

I can do that.

So I went shopping today. I don't have a lot of time to cook, so I got me some easy, Lean Cuisine style meals that have under 400 calories each, and some snacks like rice cakes, pork rines, dehydrated fruit, and low cal popcorn.

My first goal: Go one week at under 1900 calories and exercise three times this week for cardio AND weights. If I meet it, I get a meal of my choice no matter what the calorie intake. Sounds good to me ;) .

I mean really! Amanda, how hard can it be???

I screamed this at myself after I ate my half a hamburger and some french fries. With salt. And barbecue sauce.

Hand to forhead, shaking back and forth. Silly, silly, self destructive girl!

Comfort food has about all the comfort one could take from getting fired. I get upset, I get some food, I get upset again because of guilt from eating what I shouldn't. It's a vicious cycle. I even eat when I get upset about eating! GRRRRRR...

So, I've taken two Hydroxycuts today, and on the plus side, learned that they are indeed fat blockers. Hence the twenty thousand trips to the restroom... :/

Getting ready to go work out now, and then off to work goes me. I'm shooting for 40 min. cardio and 40 min. weights.

Just a short note of how today went with food and exercise.

Started the morning (and by morning I mean 11:00) with a Chicken Pannini Sandwich from Healthy Choice. Took a Hydroxycut Hardcore right after eating, and drank half a fruit punch and a full bottle of water.

About 1:30 I ate 3 crackers, took another Hydroxycut Hardcore then drove to my gym and proceeded to do:

• Twenty minutes of cardio using the eliptical machine on the second program setting, at level 1.


• Ten minutes of walking at 3.0 mph at an incline of 9%

I then took off from there, got gas, picked up my karaoke equipment, and hauled everything inside the bar. Went home, cooked dinner (Butolli 4 Cheese Tortollini with Light Alfredo Sauce and a Stoffers Personal lasagna to share with the bf).  And now I sit, typing my days efforts on the computer. I'm pretty proud of how well I did today. Some key things I could do better though:

• Eat within an hour of working out


• Eat some small snacks in between meals


• Have my glass of wine    ; )

In one year I've gained 40lbs. I went from 170lbs (still a bit overweight at 5'4") to 210 pounds. I was wearing a size 9/10 pants and a "L" tshirt, and now can barely fit into a size 14 and "XL". I can attribute this extra weight gain to many things, I'm sure. Constant eating of fast food, alcohol (hey, I'm only 23), eating late at night after work (I'm a bartender), etc, etc, etc.

On one hand, I love working out. I would go to the gym every day if I could, often spending 1-2 hrs. split between cardio and weight lifting. But I can't go every day, I'm a busy, busy girl.

So here's my workout plan so far (for the last two months at least) :

4-5 days/ week

1 hour cardio/ warm-up

         - 20 min. eliptical

         - 20 min. treadmill, fast walk @ an incline of 10%

         - 20 min. hardcore biking at level 5

1 hour weights

         - 3 sets of 15 leg lifts

         - 3 sets of 15 arm curls or whatever that machine is called

         - 3 sets of 15 another arm machine that helps that back arm flab

         - 50 crunches on the incline board without weight

         - 3 sets of 15 regular crunches with 5lb. weight

         - 3 sets of 15 side crunches on both sides with weight

My eating habits aren't as great as I'd like them to be, but they're getting better. This week (minus a day or two gone bad) I kept my calorie count at around 1,500. I eat a Healthy Choice Panini Sandwich with a few drops of tobasco sauce for flavor for lunch ( I know, I know, I really need to eat breakfast.) I have a cup of noodles in between lunch and dinner. For dinner I usually have a hot pocket, or a personal lasagna from Stoffers. I'm used to eating about three times that much. I'm constantly hungry. Not kidding, I could eat continously ALL DAY LONG!

I just picked up a bottle of Hydroxycut Hardcore. A few friends of mine have tried it, and they said the results were great. I'm starting off slower than the bottle says; I'll only be taking one pill, once daily. I don't really need it to give me tons of energy, I just want it to jump start my weight loss.

So, here I am, trying to lose weight again. I remember when I was 18 and weighed 145lbs. I felt huge. I didn't realize that the average girl wore the size 7 pants that were a little loose on me. No, to me I looked like a whale. All of my friends wore sizes 1-3, and compared to my 7, were perfect.

Goal wise, I'd be happy with a 10. I don't need to be skinny anymore. I just want to recognize the girl in the mirror.