Month: May 2013

My new appreciation for vegetables

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Food, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

mixed vegetables

I ate vegetables growing up, so it’s not a new concept to me, but, I do have an issue with some vegetables which is why as an adult I didn’t eat too many.

Okay so I have always liked carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.  I hated HATED brussel sprouts with a passion.  I didn’t mind the taste, but my step father gave them a horrid nickname, so in my mind I associated them with something gross and therefore I hated them.  He called them “Monkey Balls.”  I knew that they were vegetables, but I had the image of testicles in my head, so the taste was just awful to me.  I couldn’t even look at them because all I could think was that I was eating testicles.  I ate them when I was a kid because I had experience with not being allowed to leave the table until my plate was cleaned and I didn’t want to have to be punished for not eating them, so I would grin and bear it.

Throughout my adult years I refused to buy them, I wouldn’t even look at them when grocery shopping because I still associated them with testicles, so I just never bought them.  A few years ago I decided that it was stupid that I gave him that control over me, so I bought some and steamed them and they were surprisingly good.  Because I didn’t associate them with testicles anymore, they actually had a different taste to me than what I remembered as a child.  They are actually good.

I have always had an aversion to vegetables in my adulthood which is one reason why I got so fat, because I never ate vegetables.  I actually love eating vegetables now and make sure that I get at least 2 cups of vegetables for dinner every night, and sometimes for a snack.

Take this picture for example.  I like to take several different kinds of vegetables and steam them all together and mix them in a bowl.  This bowl has broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach and carrots.  I will eat the vegetables first before anything else because one of the Noom articles that I read said to eat the vegetables first, then the main course and whatever other sides.  I make it a habit of eating vegetables now and I actually love the taste.

So my old habit of eating junk is a thing of the past, and my new habit of eating healthy is my future.  I will always keep vegetables in the freezer to steam with my dinner from now on.

I Lost 63lbs with Noom for Android

On By Michel McDonaldIn Android, Diet, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

weight_chart_full

Well I finally did it, I lost 63lbs with Noom for Android.  My original estimated end date was August 10th, 2013, and here I am on May 31st at my goal weight of 200.0lbs more than 2 months early.

See my weight chart?  That’s all loss, no gain, not even a plateau.  I have lost weight every week since I started on January 5th, 2013.  I honestly didn’t think I would make it by my birthday because I wasn’t exercising, but the last 2 days I decided to take walks and today I weighed in the day before my actual weigh in day and I was at exactly 200.0lbs.  I was shocked.  I mean, it could have been 200.2 or 199.8, but it was 200.0 exactly.

So now that I have lost 63lbs with Noom, I plan on continuing my weight loss journey until I have lost all of the fat.  I extended my plan so I will lose 30 more pounds which will bring my total weight loss to 93lbs.  My new estimated end date is November 23, 2013, but the graph says September 13, 2013.  Somehow in my mind I knew it would be September.

If I am going to meet this new goal, I am going to have to step it up and start exercising more.  I will have to either get my bike fixed, which I don’t want to do, I’d rather get a new bike, or start walking.  I hate walking because of the back pain I get, but it’s free so if I can’t get my bike fixed or get a new one, then walking is all I have.

If someone told me in December when I bought my Android phone from Amazon for Virgin Mobile that I would end up losing 63lbs as a result of buying the phone, I would have told them they were out of their mind, but I did and I’m glad.  So thank you Noom for making it possible for me to lose this weight.  I honestly don’t think I could have done it without the app.  I’ve tried using SparkPeople in the past, but their website is too slow on my computer and Noom is not only faster, but easier to use.

So if I could recommend a weight loss tool for anyone, it would definitely be Noom.  I mean, it took 21 weeks for me to lose 63lbs.  If I could do it, I know anyone can do it.

Here’s to another 30lbs!  Oh and Happy Birthday to me lol.  This is a wonderful birthday present I could have given to myself.

To keep up with my weight loss, visit my Noom page with weekly updates.

Exercise

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

may 29 walk

I have really been neglecting my exercise throughout this entire diet that I’ve been on using the Noom app on my Android phone.  I have no excuse, but I really do lol.  With my degenerative disc disease in my spine, it’s difficult to walk long distances and I don’t have a bicycle anymore since my last accident which caused me to break my arm.  So the only thing I can really do is walk, which again is hard on my back.

Yesterday I took a vicodin and went out and just walked as far as I could with my Noom swag on.  I was in pain from the minute I left the house until I came home, except the pain was excruciating by the time I came home.  But, what other options do I have?  As you can see from the picture above, I walked 2.21 miles at an average speed of 3.4 miles per hour for 39 minutes and 30 seconds and I burned a total of 263 calories.  It’s not much, but it’s the best I could do.

I hope to get a new bicycle some day, but money is always tight so it’s really difficult to save anything.  I am selling the keychains on Etsy and whatever I get from that will be saved so I can buy a bike.  Of course, I probably won’t sell very many.  I’ve only sold 1 and the profit from that was like $1.87 or something.  So yeah, I don’t expect that to help me buy a new bike.

Until I can buy a new bicycle, all I can do is walk.  It’s free, although I don’t know how free because it does come with a huge cost, and that’s back pain.

I plan on going out again today because I know I should get SOME exercise lol.

2 more pounds to go!

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

61 of 63lbs

You can probably guess that I am a bit excited right now.  According to the Noom app, which is available for both Android and iPhone, my original end date was supposed to be August 10, 2013.  I have lost so much weight over the last 20 weeks that I have actually sped up that estimation so that my end date is now June 1st.  It’s because I was supposed to only lose 2lbs per week, but in the beginning I was losing 3 to 4 pounds per week instead of just 2.

Although, over the last month, I haven’t been losing as fast as I was in the beginning.  I have only been losing 1.5, 2 and 2.5lbs per week.  It’s been slow, but steady and I am thankful that I have been losing instead of yo-yoing up and down.  Even though I am quite disappointed that this week I only lost 1.4lbs, at least I didn’t gain, so that’s something to be proud of I guess lol.  I have to see a silver lining there.

I have also been stressing myself out because I really want to be 200.0 or 199.9 by my birthday June 2nd, so I think that has also been why it’s been slow this month.  Perhaps if I had the “it will happen if it happens” attitude, I’d probably be there by now.  Coulda, shoulda, woulda… Whatever.  At least I only have 2 more pounds to go.

Of course, when I get down to 200.0lbs, I am going to extend my goal to lose 30 more pounds.  It’s great that I am getting down to 200lbs, but I want to keep going.  Now that I know the right formula for losing weight, I can keep going until all the fat is gone and keep with that routine so I can keep the fat off.

So, one more week to go.  See you then…

My Weight Loss Journey Collage

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

my weight loss journey

Pictures are a great motivational tool when losing weight.  You want to take a before picture for obvious reasons, but you also want to take many pictures throughout your journey so you can compare your current picture with your before picture.  If you have something to compare how you look now versus how you looked before, then you have your motivation to keep losing weight so you can see how thin you will be in the future compared to how you are now.

These are the pictures that I have taken on my journey.

  • The top left is obviously my before picture.  I say it was taken on January 1st 2013, but I think it was the day before.  It doesn’t really matter though.  I weighed 264lbs in that picture.  We were at a Denny’s restaurant having breakfast.
  • The bottom right is the picture that I took halfway through when I had lost 28lbs.  I had gotten a white Noom t-shirt and I wanted to show it off.
  • The top right I took because I wanted to get a picture of how my dog Flower was laying on me.  I was pleasantly surprised at how skinny my face was getting.
  • The top middle is the picture I took when I realized that I had lost so much weight that I was finally able to wear that dress shirt buttoned all the way to the top.
  • Then finally the bottom left picture is my most recent picture with my Noom swag.  I weighed 206lbs in that picture.

It’s important to me that I see my before and after pictures to remind me how skinny I am actually getting because sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and can’t see anything different and I get discouraged.  When I look at the pictures and see how skinny I am actually getting, it gives me hope and helps me to keep going.  It’s funny how the mirror really effects how we see ourselves compared to how a picture shows us how we really look.  I know that a reflection is the same exact thing as a picture, but it’s different, I don’t know how to explain it.  It’s the same thing, only different LOL.

Anyway, I am very pleased with my progress of losing 57lbs and I will keep eating healthy so I can continue losing this fat until it is finally all gone.

Bell No-Mor Flats

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike1 Comment

no more flats

I am starting this blog post over from scratch…

Okay, so I have wanted to buy this for such a long time and I finally bought it at Wal-Mart, my favorite store (that was sarcasm).  They were the only ones who sold them for $20.  I was going to get it on Amazon because of how much I hate going in Wal-Mart, but Amazon wanted $30 plus shipping.  Screw that!  So I bit the bullet and we went to Wal-Mart.

I didn’t try to install it right away because I was still nursing a broken arm.  My arm was all healed up, but it still hurt.  I think I waited a week or week and a half before finally attempting it and it was not easy at all.  I tried soapy water, but that didn’t work because I didn’t drench it with soapy water.  I tried 2 other methods which one didn’t work and the other did, but the tube wasn’t in all the way like it should, and it popped the tire out on both sides.  I had a hell of a time getting the tire back in and scratched the hell out of the rim and even punctured the tire bead where it is supposed to fit into the rim.  Big mistake.  Now if I want to switch to a regular tube I won’t be able to because the tire has metal wires in it that are sticking out, so that will definitely put holes in the tube.  I was thinking about returning the No-Mor flats, but naturally I crumbled up and tossed the receipt that same day and that was weeks ago, so it’s long gone.

I did what I should have done the first time and that was Googling for videos on how to install it.  I didn’t find any videos, but I did find an “Instructable” where the guy was saying how easy it is and gave detailed instructions on how to do it.  My arms were (and still are) too sore to attempt it again, so I put the tube back in it’s box and put the tire and rim in the patio for a few days.  I just attempted it again by soaking the heck out of both the tire and the tube and I am still having trouble getting it in.  It’s just not working for me.  If this was as easy as that guy claims, then perhaps he needs to come install it for me lol.

Well, I have had this bike since 2004 and I think I am ready for a new one.  I’ve sunk so much money into this bicycle and it’s just a real pain in my ass.  It’s… get ready for this… a Wal-Mart bicycle.  Yes, I bought it at Wal-Mart way back when I didn’t know how homophobic they were.  So, I think what I will do is keep the tube and perhaps sell it on ebay or my Etsy page for $15 and call it slightly used, since I basically didn’t really use it, I just tried installing it and it didn’t work, but it’s REALLY clean with all the soapy water I put on it lol.

My birthday is coming up, so I think I want to get a cruiser at Target.  I know, you get what you pay for, yada yada yada…  But Target is a good store and the bicycles are Huffy, and that is a brand I have been familiar with since I was a kid.  I have more faith in Huffy than I do with the bike I have now.  The cruisers are $104 to $139 which isn’t too bad.  Of course I don’t have that much money to spend on well, anything actually, so I will have to set aside half of the money in June and pay for the rest in July.  It will be a late birthday present.

Whoever heard of someone buying their own present?  Screw that, I’m gonna ask for it and see who gets it for me LOL.

If anyone ever asked me if it’s worth it to buy the Bell No-Mor Flats tube, I would simply say NO!  But if you must have one, buy mine LOL.

Noom Swag

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

Noom_Swag_1

Noom_swag

I got a very cool package in the mail today filled with Noom swag.  It had 2 black shirts with the Noom logo on the back, a water bottle, a backpack that’s most likely a gym bag that you could wear as a backpack, a note pad, a pair of sunglasses, some lip balm and a cute cauliflower lol.

They wrote me a very cool letter and everyone signed it.  That was the first thing that I saw when I opened the box and I was very touched that everyone signed it, someone even drew out my full weight chart lol.  I thought that was cute.

It’s inspiring things like this that really keep me going.  I really love the shirts, I had a white one and now I have 2 black ones, so that’s pretty awesome.  Plus I really love the sunglasses.  I had a pair of sunglasses for the bike, but they broke because of the way I took them off, it was a pair of sports sunglasses that had a strange attachment that was glued on the arm and it snapped off.

The water bottle is awesome.  I’ve always wanted to buy one of those because they have them everywhere, but they are so expensive, so now I have one with the Noom logo on it.

Oh and by the way, today was weigh in day and I am down to 206lbs.  I am 90.48% finished with my goal to lose 63lbs.  I began my weight loss journey with Noom on January 5th and it is now May 11th and I can’t believe that I have lost 57lbs already.  This is just the most amazing journey I have ever been on.  I still look at my before picture and think “how did I ever get that fat, and how can I be so different now?”  It truly is amazing, and all I did was eat better and eat less food.  According to the estimated end date, I have until June 1st to get down to 200.  That is the day before my birthday so that will definitely be a birthday I will never forget.

So thank you Noom for giving me such a wonderful present and for being so inspiring to me throughout this journey.  I really appreciate all of your support.  And a special thank you to Stacy and Marit who have both talked to me through my own website.  Marit sent me the first shirt and Stacy sent me the swag bag.  Thank you both.  And thank you to the entire staff of Noom for signing the letter.  OMG you guys are so awesome.  You are making me cry.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  You guys rock!

If you are considering losing weight, please download the Noom app from the Google Play App Store.  You will not regret it!  I owe all my weight loss success to Noom.

I can finally fit into my old clothes!

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, WeightLeave a comment

dressed up

I have lost quite a few pounds since January 5th when I started using the Noom app on my Android phone.  The difference is absolutely amazing to me.

I haven’t been able to wear this outfit in such a long time.  Actually, I forgot I even had it.  It’s a blue shirt that I got 2 years ago, I forgot what I needed it for, but I needed a dress shirt.  The neck was tight, so I wasn’t able to wear a tie, but I didn’t need to.  I also wore it last year to the grand opening of the Bakersfield Gay & Lesbian Center, but it didn’t really fit me as well as I had hoped.  The neck definitely didn’t button, but it was so tight that the button below the neck button was making it too tight, so I had to loosen that one too.

I’ve had the pants since 2004 when we went to my partners mother’s funeral.  They are adjustable with elastic so that if I gained or lost weight, I’d still be able to wear them, but I haven’t been able to wear them for a very long time because I was too big.  Today they expanded all the way out so they just fit me.  I can’t wait for the day when they don’t need to expand to adjust itself.

The tie is a clip on tie because, well, that’s how I roll bitches LOL.  I actually don’t mind tying a tie, but why when you can clip it on?  I’m not a real estate agent or the CEO of a company, so why the hell should I tie a tie?

Of course I don’t have any dress shoes so if I were to wear this outfit I’d be stuck with my black tennis shoes, which are really old and need to be burned lol.  I will focus on new shoes when I am at a point where I’m needing to go on a shopping spree for a new wardrobe.  When I do get some new clothes, it’s going to be all dress clothes with collars.  I am so tired of always wearing t-shirts and jeans or shorts.  I’d like to start dressing with some style.  I’m an adult, not a child, so I’d like to start dressing like an adult.

Take a look at these before pictures of me on my Noom page and see the huge difference from then and now.  I’m not done with my weight loss, I still have a long way to go.

I’m not a one trick pony after all

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

circle brick and wall

I have been playing around with my lanyard (or gimp) material a lot over the last week.  I thought there were only 2 styles, the square and the round.  Well, a friend told me on Facebook to try the triangle pattern which uses 3 colors.  I never even knew it was possible to use not just 3 colors, but only 3 strands.  She sent me to “Laneyards” on YouTube and I’ve been watching a lot of his videos and have discovered so many different patterns that I never even knew existed until now.

So I put all of the images on my crafts page in the Lanyard Keychains section.  I made some keychains with the Mega Lace, I made a pretzel, I made a long wall stitch with the Mega Lace, there are some imperfections in it because I had to add more of the clear gimp because I didn’t have enough, but it doesn’t matter because it was just for practice.  Then today I just added the ones you see in this post.  The one on the bottom is the brick stitch in a circular pattern and the one above that is the wall stitch in a circular pattern.  Of course they were just practice.  They are small because I used scrap gimp to make them.  I’m out of all of my gimp now so if I want to make more, I’ll have to take a trip to Michael’s, which I will do tomorrow.

I never knew I had it in me.  I really think these are so cool.  Of course, I don’t know what I’m going to do with any of them lol.  My next trick will be a rainbow wall in a circular pattern.  I honestly don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but I’m going to try it anyway.

I am also going to make many awareness ribbons for many causes that I support.  There are too many to list, and most likely I will have a keychain of only cause ribbons that I won’t be able to keep on my keychain, because if I did, they’d never fit in my pocket lol.  Of course I can put one on my keychain at a time during that awareness month.  Either way, I’m going to be very busy making lots of ribbons with the simple circular stitch, bending it to make a circle, then attaching it to the other side to make it into a ribbon, then continuing with a few more stitches to finish it off.

My hands seem to be doing fine with the stretching and pulling of the gimp.  I had to stop crocheting after 20+ years because of my carpal tunnel syndrome, so perhaps if I can make these keychains, I might be able to crochet again.  Maybe… we’ll see.