Tag Archives: Physical exercise

June 12, 2013

Almost a Year, Huh?

By Angie Bullock

So… yeah. Hi there. It’s certainly been awhile, huh?  

How have you been?

I’m doing well, but I am definitely to the point of being overwhelmed thinking about what to write, because it’s been so long. The longer it got, the more overwhelming it became, and so on and so on…

Anyway, since I don’t want this post to take you the year I’ve been gone to read, I’ll try to do a fairly quick recap/update.

I’m hanging in there weight-wise, about 20 lbs above my lowest weight on SlimGenics, and about 12 lbs about where I was when we moved to Austin two years ago, where I was pretty comfortable. Actually, I’m pretty close to comfortable now, just not quite.

That being said, this spring I started a walking routine, walking about 3 miles a day 4-5 days a week. It’s certainly helped and I’ve been enjoying it, especially since I live in such a gorgeous area with immediate access to extremely extensive wooded walking trails, parks & lakes. It really doesn’t get much better than that and kicks the tar out of getting on exercise equipment and staring at the TV!

The only other weight/diet-related thing I want to touch on is loose/excess skin. Boy, does it suck! I have had it ever since losing all the weight with SlimGenics, and it’s especially pronounced on my abdomen because of having a C-Section. Now, don’t get me wrong, if I had to choose between the fat and the skin, I’ll take the skin EVERY TIME! But, that doesn’t mean I’m a whole lot happier with my body now than when I was really heavy, it’s just a different kind of unhappiness.

Has anyone heard of the It Works! wraps? I’ve been hearing a lot about them lately and I have to admit I’m fairly curious. Generally speaking, I’m not a big believer of things like this and “miracle” fixes for anything, but there are a lot of positive reviews online about these. Of course, there’s a lot of reviews going the other way, as well.

I figure it’s probably worth $20 to give one a try, right? I mean, that’s less than a typical dinner out to eat! Just curious if anyone else has any personal experience with them or knows someone who does.

Other updates over the past year? Let’s see.. I can’t believe my baby boy is going to be starting Kindergarten already this fall, we’re putting down roots here in Austin and are here to stay, as we’re in the final stages of building a house here (so excited!), we’ve truly found home at Northpoint Church and we’re basically just blessed beyond anything we could ever imagine!

Speaking of being blessed, I also have had it on my heart over the last 6 months or so to start using this blog for more than just weight loss topics, since I just don’t really have a lot to say in that area anymore. After all, when I started it, it was never meant to be solely for weight loss, that just happened to be my major focus at the time and it just took over. But living intentionally should be the focus of my life in general, not just when it comes to eating and dieting. I especially believe it’s important when it comes to my marriage, parenting and my walk with Christ. So, I plan to (at least try) to start blogging more about other things, too.

That’s not to say I’m going to abandon weight loss issues, as it’s not like I’m magically going to become one of those people who never needs to worry about what I eat ever again and have a perfect body! Ha!

I hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying summer! I certainly am loving the warm weather and beautiful green that comes with this time of year!

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Exercise, Slimgenics, Weight Loss

August 18, 2012

Help Is On the Way!

By Angie Bullock

NOT dieting seems to agree with me, at least for now. I don’t know if it’s all the extra water weight I may have been carrying or what, but I am down 6 lbs since starting to “not diet”. :-D

I got in my two Zumba sessions this week and a little mild swimming. Yay!

However, I still feel like I am not active enough on a regular basis, and I’m not talking about scheduled exercise. I’m talking about just moving, in general. I feel like I’m either sitting on my butt on my computer (a bit unavoidable since I work from home on the computer…) or exercising. Sedentary, or regimented exercise.

So, I want to approach this the same way I do food: be more aware of my general activity level, just like I’m now more aware of the food I’m putting into my mouth via Lose It! (which I’m loving, by the way)! Being as I’m a huge tech geek and I love to compete with myself, I think I might have found the perfect solution for me, and it’s on the way right now!

I ordered the Fitbit Ultra! I’m so excited! 

One of the neat features is that it will wireless sync my activity/steps to Lose It!

It’s very small and can be (should be!) worn all day and all night (it tracks sleep patterns!). Additionally, not only does it track steps, but it also has an altimeter so it can track stairs/floors climbed.

Just like a lot of popular social apps (that have nothing to do with exercise), it also taps into our competitive nature and has badges and such that you can earn when you hit different levels. Fun!

My first day wearing it, I am going to try and just go about my normal day as I would now, so I can get a good baseline of how active (or, as I suspect, not active) I am right now. Then, I can challenge myself to increase that activity daily, even if it’s just getting up from my desk every once in awhile and taking a walk up the stairs, around my house, and back to my desk again.

Maybe I’ll start walking to get the mail (which is actually a good distance) and parking farther away from entrances (especially as our cooler Texas temps start to arrive in the next month or so).

It’s scheduled to be delivered next Tuesday (happy birthday to me!), so I’m planning on next Wednesday being my first “Fitbit” day. Oh, and a special thanks to Julie/Towards Healthy Life for my discovery of the Fitbit. :-)

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Exercise, Weight Loss, Zumba

August 6, 2012

Sad and Powerless

By Angie Bullock

Well, the fact that I haven’t posted a blog post in a really long time has got to clue everyone in at how maintaining my weight loss is going. :-(

It’s truly alarming to me the rate at which I can gain back weight when not paying attention at all. Clothes now don’t fit. Confidence is gone. I give it to God; but I keep taking it back. It is not well with my soul.

How many times have I written that I believe the key for my personal success in this journey is moving? God knows I will give him the diet, but He wants me to stop sitting around and get in shape. I feel like since I haven’t truly been willing to do that yet, I haven’t been able to maintain success with food either.

So, today I started using a new website (Lose It!) and mobile app to track my food. Honestly, it’s not so much about how many calories I eat, exactly, but about being aware of what I’m putting in my mouth. I so have a tendency to take it to either extreme – dieting like a mad woman and losing weight like a fiend, or simply not caring and eating whatever I want in any quantity I want (read: fully succumbing to gluttony).

I am starting slow. I am not diving in to any grand diet plan. I’m taking this first week to just be aware of what I put in my mouth and track it (which, by nature, makes me eat better). I’ve alrady been putting my Zumba DVDs to better use and have been having some friends over for “class” twice a week (which is actually fun!!). I’ve been using the community pool and swimming more and yesterday morning I started exploring some of the beautiful neighborhood trails in our new neighborhood (oh, and did I mention that we started eating out constantly because we were packing/moving/unpacking and just never stopped?). But none of that is doing me any good when it’s not consistent and I’m eating fast food regularly.

But this time, probably the most important component for me, is that I’m not doing this alone this time. I have friends who are sharing this struggle and we’re going to do it together. I bought Lysa TerKeurst’s Made to Crave Ministry Kit awhile back and today I finally opened it. It’s a 12-week DVD study that really unpacks the things, and goes even further, than the book I’ve already read and talked about, Made to Crave.

Included is the Made to Crave Devotional, which I have not yet read. The very intro itself is what prompted this blog post and really all I wanted to share right now, but of course that would have been cryptic on its own. ;-)

I also know what it’s like to feel sad and powerless in this battle to get healthy.

I want to lead Jesus girls on a journey that will help them find a stick-to-itiveness and a lasting want-to that taps into something much more powerful than the surface desires of wanting to weigh less and wear a smaller size. We need to tap into this power because the battle we face isn’t just with sugary, fatty or salty foods. There is a spiritual battle going on. It’s real. And it’s amazing how perfectly the Bible gives us specific ways to find victory with our food struggles.

Even for girls like us who don’t crave carrot sticks.

Can I get an Amen? Can I also get some prayer for this journey? I really want to see it through to the end, for once in my life, and I can’t do it alone.

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Exercise, Gluttony, Prayer, Weight Loss

April 28, 2012

Needing Some Encouragement…

By Angie Bullock

Well, I’m in the middle of Week 3 of The Metabolism Miracle, and I’m actually feeling very pessimistic. I’ve had a persistent thought running through my mind this week that I’ve really been trying to fight, because I know it’s the evil one putting it there: “I’ll always be fat”.

I feel like no matter what I do, no matter what diet I attempt, I am just stuck right where I am and my body isn’t going to budge. :-(

I did have a moment earlier this week where I felt thinner; my clothes were fitting a bit better and I thought I might be making progress. Unfortunately, that moment is gone and I no longer feel that way…

I am almost done with 3 full weeks. I’ve lost nothing since the end of Week 1. Now, I know I’m not supposed to be getting on the scale, but I just can’t resist. How else am I supposed to gauge how I’m doing, if I’m making any mistakes, if the food choices I’m making are working?

Summer is coming. Well, here in Texas, it’s pretty much already here, with temps holding steady in the 80s and even 90s everyday. I’m still not comfortable enough to wear shorts and I’m still not comfortable enough to wear sleeves that are shorter than down to my elbows.

I’m eating according to plan, I’m more active and I’m exercising.

Will I ever be comfortable in my own body again? Even after hitting my goal weight with Slimgenics, I still wasn’t comfortable enough to do those two things, so I’m really starting to question if it’s even possible for me to ever feel “in shape” again…

Part of me feels like I need to just accept that this is the weight I’m going to be and try to enjoy life anyway. Buy some clothes that comfortably fit me at this weight and move on. Then I think, NO!! That’s not good enough. Other people have succeeded, I can too! Or… can I?

I’m sure my internal struggle is plain for all to see. If I feel like I need to keep pressing on, then I know I won’t be content until I get there. This keeps me from enjoying life on a daily basis. That’s not good. God did not design me to feel this way and I know it.

But on the other hand, I feel like if I accept being content where I am now, I’ll certainly never get where I want to be, because I’m struggling to do it while fighting for it!

I know there’s a biblical answer somewhere… I just haven’t found it yet. I will continue to be in prayer and continue to give this over to God, because that’s all I can do…

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Exercise, Metabolism Miracle, Prayer, Slimgenics, Weight Loss

April 21, 2012

My Body Failed Me…

By Angie Bullock

Following The Metabolism Miracle plan, I should be exercising a minimum of 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. This week, Monday – Friday, I only managed to get in 3 days. But, they were all Zumba, which is far more intense than just walking or something, so I didn’t feel all that terrible about missing one day, especially considering that today I was planning on doing the 45-minute intermediate Zumba routine.

Alas, my body had other plans…

As I walked up the stairs with Zach to pray with him before his nap, I noticed that my ankles were really sore. I kinda chuckled to myself, thinking that it was an odd part of my body to be sore from Zumba! Then, I came back down, turned it on, put on my tennis shoes and started the warm-up routine.

I think I realized by 2 minutes in that this was NOT happening today. My ankles are NOT the only sore part of my body! Within 1 minute of starting the routine, my legs turned to pure jelly and I just knew there was virtually no chance that I was going to make it through 45 more minutes… :-(

Of course, I still needed to get in some sort of exercise, so I decided to flip on the Wii and do the “Free Step” routine on Wii Fit Plus (if you’re not familiar with it, it’s kinda cool – it just counts off a beat on the remote, so you can turn the channel and watch TV while stepping on and off the Wii Balance Board), which I did for 1 full hour. I logged just over 6,100 steps.

While an hour of that didn’t even have me as sweaty as 20 minutes of Zumba, I was warm when I was done and it felt good to move my body in a way that didn’t make me want to die! ;-)

As for the low carb/no-carb diet, it’s actually going really well and is much easier than I anticipated. Being such a meat and cheese lover has made it much easier!! :-D

Have a great weekend! :-)

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Dieting, Exercise, Metabolism Miracle, Weight Loss, Zumba

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