Losing weight has been at the top of my list of things to do, but nothing really seemed to click for me.  I used to enjoy working out at the gym and would be there almost every day.  An hour of cardio on the treadmill, elliptical, or rowing machine, and then an hour of free weights to cool down.  Then life really started in the form of my first job after college and the days at the gym disappeared.  Gained a little weight, but not too bad yet.  Then I moved out on my own and that's where the slide downhill picked up speed.  It became too easy to just eat and be lazy.  Meals were a lot of convenience foods.  Couple that with hypothyroidism and everything just sucked.  Losing weight just became too hard for awhile.

I can't really pinpoint the moment that it all got to be too much for me to ignore, but last month was it for me.  I'd had it.  I had to do something.  I wanted to start liking the person I saw in the mirrow again and I wanted to enjoy dressing myself instead of getting frustrated when my "fat" clothes became my normal clothes.


In came my first helper...My Fitness Pal.  I had actually used it a few years ago and loved it, but it became hard to continue when I couldn't have my cell phone on me all the time.  For now, I don't have that issue.

My Fitness Pal (MFP for short) is essentially a calorie tracker.  What I love so much is the super easy method of tracking.  Their food database is enormous and I can add new foods by scanning barcodes or inputting it by hand.  I can even input my own recipes ingredient by ingredient and save them for future use.  Here was something I could use easily and keep at.

Since I wanted to jumpstart the weight loss wagon, I chose the extreme 960 calorie per day goal.  I'm not going to say I always met it, but I'm darn close most of the time.  My favorite method when deciding what to eat is to input it into MFP and play around with portion sizes until I get to the calorie count I want.  It makes meal planning a lot easier.

 
This is where my second helper comes in...the Fitbit One.  I credit a lot of my resolve to continue on this little gadget.

The Fitbit One (FBO for short) is a sophisticated pedometer.  It tracks steps, flights of stairs, distance walked, and active minutes.  Their app can also track calories, but I don't use it for that.  It can even track sleep activity which is pretty neat.  It shows your restless moments, awake moments, and sleep times.  Just something cool to see.

What I adore about the FBO is its ability to track calories burned and sync up with MFP to subtract those calories from my total.  Pure magic.  I'm not sure what the formula is, but the calories subtracted from MFP is not total calories burned.  I see them as "extra" calories, those that you burn beyond what you typically burn while sedentary.

Seeing that relationship between my calorie intake and activity in real time is what keeps me moving forward.  The days I eat I little too much, I jump on the elliptical and work my way back down to my goal.  I don't beat myself up for going over because I can literally see how much extra activity I need to do to get back down.  I'm sure it's not a complete one to one tracker since it only tracks your step movements.  Using weights is not going to show up although MFP has ways of tracking those activities.  I just rely on the FBO to track my movements.  Even better are those days when my activity outperforms my calorie intake and I have room to spare.  Love it!



With my two little helpers, I have said goodbye to 5.8 pounds so far.  Not a huge amount, for sure, but still significant to me because this is the most progress I've made in a very long time without wanting to give up.  Can't wait to see how much more I can lose in the upcoming weeks!

My weight has always been something I've struggled with.  Over the last couple years, that struggle has gotten that much harder.  Part of it was being diagnosed with hypothyroidism which slows metabolism.  The other part was just not trying hard enough, I guess, to try and control it.  It's not that I didn't want to lose the weight.  I just couldn't find that something that I could keep at to make it work.

My two year wedding anniversary is coming up and I want to look and feel better for my husband.  I'm not going to make that drop off point by September 3rd, but I'm hoping that I'll be well on my way to creating a routine that will get me there.

So...this is where Project Life comes in.


I want to document all of this.  Something to keep me motivated and moving forward.  I think I've found the two things that work for me and I've made some progress already!  I haven't been this excited in a long time.


Seventy-seven pounds to go.  Bleh...cannot believe I've gotten to this point but at least I've marked it.  You're going down!  Since I started about a month ago, I've lost 5 pounds (4.6 if you're going to be exact).  And I'm ecstatic about it.  It took forever, but I got those first 5 to leave.


Today, I did the elliptical for 2 miles.  Not much, but it's been a couple of rough nights falling asleep.  As you can see, Netflix was keeping me company the whole time.  I hope that I can keep adding to my album more success stories.

ink & scissors shop update

New listings are scheduled to go up in the shop today.  Still loving all those bright color combinations reminiscent of summer.  I'll be happy when cool autumn sets in, but I will miss the fun that summer brings.

On the desk...I'm working on a few new products for ink & scissors.  Cross-stitch designs and fabric button.  I love the results.

On the desk...I have rooms to clean and family to greet tomorrow.

On the desk...I have a Project Life album just waiting for an update and waiting to be blogged.

At our previous home, recyling was taken care of by the HOA.  Not something I really thought about a lot.  So...fast forward to our new home and I not have to choose my own trash disposal company.  Without detailing all my woes with the first company I chose, let me just say that the price of recycling pick-up on top of the quarterly fee was just too much.

But...


all this was being thrown away even though it could be recycled (ignore the squirrel food in the bottom right).  Just a pile of recyclable items in the garage.  And since I'm generally trying to be a little more green (eco friendly?), this just didn't sit right with me.  After some digging, I found out there was a satellite center just minutes from the house which was totally doable.

So the search for the perfect recycling receptacle began!  My efforts began with a trash bag hanging off a kitchen drawer while I was still on the search.  Just ugly.  Really ugly.  So...enter in the Simple Human 60 litre Rectangular Recycler.  I adore Simple Human products.  I think they're all so well thought out and fit the bill every time that they're usually the first items I look at.  Back to the trash can, it comes with two compartments, one for recycling and one for trash.  I tried doing it this way at first, using both sides individually, but the size just wasn't working for those bulky recyclables like cardboard boxes.  Best idea ever...a removable divider!  Problem solved. 33-gallon liners fit perfectly with plenty of room leftover to tie off the bag.

But...I had to label it somehow.  Because no matter how lovely their products are, it still looked like a regular trash can.  My in-laws would confuse my recycling trash can with the regular trash can sometimes.  Imagine me digging in there for some banana peels.

Here comes the Silhouette to save the day!  As a welcome birthday gift from my husband, I decided to try my hand at vinyl labels.  Super easy.  I googled some public recyling logos and traced those on the software.

 
Carefully remove the pieces you want onto the transfer paper while taking off the negative area.  Still a struggle but it can be done.


Apply to your surface of choice...


and tadah!!!  Isn't it beautiful?  My husband told me after he saw it that it looked like I had bought it that way.  Love the magic of vinyl.  Now no more confusion on where to put things and we are saving the planet in our own little way!

And to end with a last parting image...


The Simply Human can in all it's labeled glory.  It's become one of my favorite things in the kitchen.  It fits so much in there that I empty it maybe once a week.

Has anyone else used their Silhouette or other cutting machine to make vinyl labels for something?  I'd love to hear about it.

ink & scissors shop update 08.07.2013

Hello there!  I've got a few new items ready for putting up in the shop today.  As you can see, I'm really liking the bright and cheerful colors lately.  There's just something about making tags that I enjoy.  I think it's the perfect size for creative thinking!  Come on by ink & scissors to check them out!

Not much on the desk today.  Mainly focusing on editing photos and creating listing descriptions.  I'm currently working on an upcoming post to outline my thought process on making a travel journal.  Make sure to check back here soon for that!

Added a few new items to the ink & scissors shop today!  I've been working on getting photos taken and listings uploaded since product is piling up around the studio (aka my dining room).

I've been loving bright and fresh color combinations like those I used in these birthday tags.  Isn't it just perfect for a summer birthday?  Of course, with summer coming to a close, all those vacations we took need to be documented somewhere.  This 4x6 mini album is just the ticket.  Lots of empty pages to fill with fun photos and mementos.  And lastly, some new items to add into the supplies section.  These kraft cardstock doilies would look perfect on a brightly wrapped gift.  Doilies are my go-to item when adding an extra bit of flair to gift wrapping.  They provide such a cute backdrop to bows and accents. 

Off to take more pictures!