AAAH Its December Already!!!

Where did the time go?!?!? Here I am, now 2/9 of the way to officially being a DOCTOR, with the hardest semester of physical therapy school behind me!  I can't believe I'm already this far... I also can't believe I've been able to lose weight with how stressed I've been this semester! Seriously, how was I able to balance weight loss and studying? Those are both extremely difficult things to do! And I did them! I am a bit impressed with myself, to say the least!

BUT, I haven't lost all the 12 pounds yet!  I'm at 9.4 pounds lost as of tonight.  However, this week, I suffered a minor ankle sprain, and had exams, so I wasn't able to work out until tonight. And believe me, it felt GOOD! I'm so glad that I'm done with this semester so that I can have more time to work out!

AND, I'm heading home soon... my mom has promised to get me a gym membership, and I have NO REASON not to spend a few hours at the gym every day... I have nothing else to do! My goal is to look gooood by the time I come back to start my 3rd semester in January. Plus, my family, for our Christmas gift, instead of buying each other a bunch of stuff that we will probably never use or wear, has decided to go on a family vacation to Atlantis in the Bahamas for a few days after Christmas. I'm super excited! But it also means that I have to be really diligent about losing these last few pounds and meeting my goal! And I believe I can do it!

Because I've been slacking on giving you guys recipes, and because I posted on Facebook yesterday about this amazing healthy-ish chicken parmesan that I made, I've decided to post it on here too!  I apologize that its a little non-descript, but thats one of the cool things about cooking, is that you can adjust the ingredients to your liking! Bon Appetit!

Chicken Parmesan
I take a regular boneless skinless chicken breast, dredge it in a combo of milk and butter (like a tablespoon and a half of butter and 3 tablespoons of milk, I guess?), and then coat it with a breading made from panko breadcrumbs (probably 1/2 cup, but add more if you need to), 2 teaspoons of flour, some garlic salt, and some parmesan cheese. Mix that all up, and then dredge your chicken in it. Bake the chicken in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes.

Then, for my marinara sauce, I actually take some Pomi Strained Tomatoes, put about 1/2 to 3/4 cup in a pot, add some garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste, and just warm it up and stir it every now and then. I like making my own better, because I can make it to taste... I know its not a traditional marinara, but its healthy and it works great for pasta too.

Then, when the timer has buzzed, I took 1/4 cup or so (maybe a bit less) of shredded mozzarella and put it on top, and put it back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Take it out, and enjoy!!

Current weight: 193.2 lbs.
Weight loss to date: 9.4 lbs.

-Austin

Quick update... the 7th pound of Christmas!!!

I'm so sorry I haven't updated this recently. A huge physiology test has been taking up all of my time, and I had it today and did well, but I am EXHAUSTED. A well deserved long weekend is upon me, and I am greatly looking forward to spending it with my family, friends, and dogs :)

So, here's a quick update on the weight loss. I thought I hadn't lost any this week, but I hopped on the scale tonight and sure enough, I'm another pound lighter! This is crazy!

Current weight: 195.6
Weight loss to date (4 weeks): 7.0 POUNDS!

I owe you guys like a billion recipes.  In 2 weeks, when midterms are over and I have time in my life again, I'll do a bunch of cooking one week and give you guys some new stuff. I'm really really sorry I haven't been keeping up with it!

Well, I hope all of you guys have a great weekend.  And I want you all to know that, even once I lose all 12 pounds, I'm not stopping until I'm happy with how I look.  Especially now that its coming off faster than I planned! Not a bad thing, but I have to be sure I keep it off!

-Austin

Introduction to the crazy idea...

I'll start off this blog with a little about myself.  I'm a 22 year old female, and I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, completed my undergraduate degree at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and am now earning my Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree at Emory University in Atlanta.  I have been overweight almost my whole life.  I swam competitively when I was younger, but I always told myself that it was okay to eat more because I was working out... now, years later, I have reached 200 pounds.  I've always told myself that when I hit 200 pounds, thats my breaking point, and I'm going to need to lose weight.  So, here I am, and here we begin!

So, I came up with this crazy idea today.  There are approximately 12 weeks of school left for me before Christmas break.  Therefore, to go along with the popular Christmas song, "The 12 Days of Christmas" or whatever its called (you know what I'm talking about!), I've decided that I'm going to aim to lose a pound a week, or 12 pounds before Christmas.  I'm going to weigh myself every night and post it on here as often as I can, so you guys can keep me accountable.  And, for every pound I lose and keep off for at least a week, I will post a healthy recipe or an exercise tip or something health-related (I got my undergraduate degree in Physical Education with a concentration in Exercise Science)... so, after the first pound, there will be one tip... then 2, then 3, etc. I saw a statistic today (and I can't verify it) that people gain on average 10 pounds between October 31 and January 1... thats not going to be me this year!

I'm going to lose this weight not only by eating healthier, but also in investing in some exercise videos.  I think I'm going to purchase TurboFire, thanks to @KickboxMommy (follow her on Twitter!) who has helped me immensly in choosing a product.  And, there is a very good possibility that I will lose more than 12 pounds before my deadline, but that won't keep me from posting more great tips and motivational things!

So, my beginning weight is 202.6... so my goal weight by December 25 is 190 pounds.  And if you want to join me in the "Lose 12 pounds by Christmas", I would love it!

Thanks for reading this, and hopefully for your continuing support in my endeavor!

-Austin