To Vegan or Not to Vegan...

I have no update on my progress this week. I stepped on my scale and it said I gained two pounds. Shit. I stepped off in disbelief, reset it, and stepped back on. Down five pounds.

That's better. But let me be sure. I step off, reset, and step back on for a third time. Down 15 pounds. Ok, now my scale is just fucking with me. I roll my eyes and go through the process again, only for the scale to now show a gain of five pounds. Scale, don't kill my vibe.

Defeated, I grabbed my tape measurer hoping for some reassurance. Nope. Besides losing another inch between my breasts and chest, my body is holding on to ALL the inches. Whatever.

Despite the roadblocks,  I'm still as motivated as ever. Lifestyle changes are not easy to make but I'm in this for the long haul. I was lucky to gain an amazing accountability partner last week. I say partner, but honestly she has been more of a long-distance personal trainer. From here on out, I will refer to her as LJ. This week, LJ challenged me to go vegan with my meal planning and to work on adopting a chemical-free (or natural) lifestyle. I am definitely up for the challenge and all about anything that can improve my state of health. I immediately pin-pointed two vegan recipes and got to work.

My first meal was Honey-Ginger tofu over stir fried veggies with cauliflower rice. Although I didn't care for the texture of the tofu alone, mixed in the with remainder of my meal, the flavors blended together beautifully. It was so filling and oh so delicious the first day. And the second day. And the third day. By day four I was completely over it and had to force myself to eat it. This was a new for me. Ever sense I had began meal planning, I had mostly been content with the same meal day after day.

For dinner each night, I prepared portobello fajitas with guacamole, salsa, and wrapped in green leaf lettuce. Another delicious treat. By Thursday, however I was craving boiled eggs.... what?! I checked my macros for the week and discovered that my fajitas had a super low protein content and chalked it up to my body missing much needed protein. Needless to say, when I incorrectly packed my lunch on Friday, I didn't hesitate to join the carpool to Larry's Giant Subs for a nice meaty chef salad topped with boiled eggs! It was the best salad ever. Like, ever.

I would definitely do vegetarian/vegan meal plans again (with some adjustments) but its definitely not a lifestyle that I can maintain, so it's not something I'm going to pursue seriously. It's all about moderation. I didn't forget the latter half of the challenge, so I will continue to work on eating clean as often as possible.

Speaking of adjustments, Piyo, although challenging, is starting to bore me. LJ has been encouraging me to start weight training, so I went out and brought myself and affordable set of dumbells. The trainer from Piyo has an older series that uses weight training so I'm going to create a hybrid workout schedule to combine the two programs. I don't want to completely give up Piyo because I am definitely noticing improvements in my strength and flexibility but I also need to mix it up a bit in order to keep myself on track. Let's see how this goes!

Until next time...

Peace and Love, Sheree

PS. I will update with pics later!

Shark Week

So....  yeah, I'm a couple days late posting my weekly results because I wasn't very happy about them.

I gained 3.5 lbs....

Don't get me wrong, I expected a less than stellar result after last week's amazing results, but I wasn't expecting an increase neither.

Another thing happened this week. Shark Week. This was very unexpected for me, because I have PCOS and a Mirena. Normally, I don't have a period, and when it does come, it's super-duper light and only lasts a day. I'm assuming losing ten pounds in one week shook some things up, because not only did Aunt Flow show up... her ass stayed all. fucking. week. Talk about wearing out your welcome. I'm blaming my weight gain on my uninvited guest, but I'm happy to report that I've been losing almost half a pound each day since she left. (Yes, I'm weighing myself daily this week. It comforts me, so don't come at me with that shit about weight fluctuating throughout the day. I know this already.)

On the plus side, I loss 8.5 inches! Although, in my opinion it sounds much better than it actually is. I'm measuring 9 different areas on my body, so half an inch here and another half an inch there can add up pretty easily. My clothes all fit the same, and the biggest loss was in my bust, which is the last place I want to lose inches! My body has such a dark sense of humor...

Meal planning and Piyo are still a daily thing for me. I don't feel deprived at all! Homemade Chinese, Tex-Mex salad, Philly cheese steak over spinach... OMG! The best part about it is once I log my calories on Monday, it's that much easier to calculate for the remainder of the week. The food is also so good that I rarely get tired of eating the same thing. Piyo is a reward in itself. I can do it at anytime and it feels so rewarding when I repeat a workout and it's easier than before. Of course, Beachbody knows this and just as soon as I feel like I've gotten the hang of a workout, they throw in a new one. Last week, Core kicked my ass...

This week, it's Buns! My heart-shaped booty will be a peach when it's all said and done! Mark my words!

Peace and love,

Sheree

P. S. Drink your effin water!

A post shared by Sheree (@seeshereeshrink) on Jul 18, 2017 at 5:45pm PDT

One week down... a lifetime to go!

Ya girl showed out this week y'all!

🗣 I LOST 10.5 LBS!!!!

I'm sooo excited and soooo motivated!

First... my setbacks lessons. The first lesson I learned this week was that fast food salads have just as many, if not more, calories than the meals that I usually purchase through drive-thrus. I also struggled with random sweets and cookies showing up in my kitchen. I gave in a couple of times, but each time I managed to limit myself to one serving, and stay under my calorie budget for the day. The only day that I lost all control was on Saturday at an impromptu cookout that my family decided was necessary. I didn't necessarily eat a lot, but one or two drinks can quickly turn into five in my will-powerless world. Shame. Oh yeah... guess what was the result of my alcohol-induced cheat. Injury. I've been on crutches more times than I care to mention *coughs* 6 *coughs* so it's no secret that I'm a klutz to the core. I stepped right off of my porch and twisted my knee, which resulted in 1200mg of Ibuprofen, lots of ice, and a missed Piyo session. I was kind of let down that I couldn't work off my cheat day the next day as I planned, but I picked right back up where I left off today. Luckily, it was upper body day so I didn't have to manipulate my knee too much.

Now that I got that out of the way... this is what worked for me!

• Meal Planning! I've been cooking/preparing two low-carb meals to carry me through Friday each week. It's so convenient to pop a home cooked meal into the microwave, a pull out a premade salad when I'm hungry. The best part is, just as soon as I'm tired of a meal, the week is over. 
• MyFitnessPal! Logging my meals has opened my eyes to what calories I'm putting into my body. I love the daily reminder at the end of the day that tells me what I could weigh in just 5 weeks if I keep it up. 
• Piyo! I can't believe that I doubted this video after day one but it's serious work! It's so rewarding to see how much stronger and flexible I've gotten when I do repeat workouts. I will definitely repeat this series (minus Day One) once I complete the program. I also love that even though I'm swearing when it's over, I'm  never sore the next day.
• Water! I make a gallon pitcher of cucumber and lemon water every day. It tastes amazing. I was never a soda drinker, but I definitely don't miss that sugary juice. 

I also begin each day with a shot of Bragg's apple cider vinegar and (later) a Premier Protein shake. I park at the far end of parking lots, and walk the perimeter of my building during my breaks. I've also been getting much better sleep than I am used to getting. 

On that note *yawn* I think I've found the recipe to success and look forward to fine tweaking as I go. 

Peace and Love,

Sheree

P.S. You can also follow my progress on IG: SeeShereeShrink

Sheree's Intro

So I'm a little overweight. Well, maybe a "lotta" overweight.

Who am I kidding? I'm fat. And I'm sick of being this way.

I've been obese for as long as I remember. As an adult, I became "comfortable" with my weight when I discovered that it would not affect my love life. As a matter of fact, there is a whole population of men out there who LOVE women with some extra meat (or fat) on her bones. When you've been a Big Girl your whole life, fat jokes roll off the rolls in your back like butter. I wasn't even offended when my toddler called me squishy! I would just think to myself, "Your daddy likes it," and go on with my day without a care in the world.

Don't get me wrong, I've tried to lose weight in the past. My doctors (or my mom) would always give me gentle reminders that I was getting larger and it wasn't healthy. I tried Metabolics, joined Curves (among a few other gyms,) and even had Lap Band Surgery. Each time I lost about 40 pounds only to turn around and gain 50+ back. I'm so over "diets."

Two weeks ago, I had to return a pair of 26W jeans because they were too small. For the first time in my life I had to purchase a 28W. I found myself suddenly embarrassed to purchase a piece of clothing. Later that week, I woke up with sore feet. I limped past my daughter and she asked if my feet were hurting because I was so fat. For the first time in my adult life, I was embarrassed about my weight.

So I'm changing my life. 

Although I'm not as concerned about numbers on the scale, I do want to live my best life. I don't want my daughter to look at me as fat and squishy. I don't want to have to purchase the largest clothing size in the store. I don't want my feet to hurt because they weren't designed to carry around 300 lbs of fabulous. Buckle up tight. We're in for an emotional ride.

Oh yeah, every weight-loss journey begins with a "before" photo. So here I am sporting a shirt that fit perfectly a few months ago:

Peace and Love, Sheree