Weight Loss Goals!!!

Sooooooo I wanna lose 26 pounds by the end of the year!!! My weight loss coach...YES...I have a weight loss coach...BAHAHAHAHAAA...anywayz she wants me to lose 40...which I'm all for buuuuuuuuuut lets also be real...THE HOLIDAYS!!! I mean, I'm jus sayin!!!! 

.

Although, it all depends on HOW motivated I am, liiiiiiike I ACTUALLY stuck to low carb on my birthday...buuuuuuuut idk if ill ACTUALLY do that for Thanksgiving annnnnnnnnd CHRISTMAS!!! I mean really HOW can we celebrate the birth of Jesus without carbs??? EVEN HE ATE BREAD!!!!

.

And my brother wants me to do keto with him and I just wanna do low carb-high protien lifestyle----buuuut i've been eating to much sugar soooooo I gotta cut that out again----I'm just NOT sure about the whole HIGH FAT thing, I'm liiiiiike what about HIGH protien with fat and veggies---I'm not like drinking oil or anything crazy...bahahahaaa...buuuuuuuut I said I'll TRY IT for two weeks and if I'm NOT down a TON of weight I'm eating an apple!!!! Buuuuuut just so  you know I'm NOT EATING PORK RINDS!!!! That's soooooooo DISGUSTING!!!! He's like they actually don't taste bad!!! I'm like I don't care HOW they taste...I can't eat pigs skin....I just can't!!! Annnnnd my brother is trying to convince me that the fat on like steak and stuff is SOOOOOOOOOO good!!! I'm like NO ITS SICK!!! I don't like the way it feels in my mouth and I'm NOT eating it!!! My fat of choice is BUTTER...thank you very much!!! 

.

 Also, I had read these reviews about some keto premade foods, like these keto cups that are suposed to be chocolate candy...OMW those things are literally disgusting...DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!! and then this like this soup broth that the lady said was sooooooooo amazzzzzing...duuuuuuude it was also sooooo GROSS!!! Buuuuuuut not as nasty as the keto cups...I was literally gagging for those!!!! My brother was like, don't buy premade keto food, your a good cook, just cook  your own stuff!!! I was like TRUE!!! I mean, unless it's a twinkie, premade food is usually pretty gross anyways weather it's keto or not- frozen and packaged meals are all the same!!!!

....soooooo Soooooooo basically I'm just doing the diet that works for me, buuuuuut without any apples or fruit!!🙄 I started today...I'll let you guys know how it's going next Friday!!!! If you've had success on keto or have any tips or GOOD RECIPES or good websites, hit me up maryfranceswriting@gmail.com or text me if you have my number!!! 

Keto taco-isn't it cuuuuuute????

I mean I'm gonna have to say, it was a pretty bomb lunch----maaaaaaannn i'm good!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

Getting older...it's all good!!!

Sometimes, when I hear my friends and peers complaining about getting older...I just can't fully relate...I don't feel older and I don't mind saying that I'm almost 40!!! (ok, in 4.5 years buuuut I'm closer to 40 now than 30;) 

.

Buuuuuuuuuuuut when I friend recently sent me a comparison photo, I realized WHY perhaps I don't mind getting older...

Check this out!!!! 

I don't particularly relate, looking good and feeling good and good health, TO MY AGE!!! I feel better older, than I did younger!!! It's been a looooooong journey, and I'm not completed yet, buuuuuuuuuuut thank God for his help in getting me where I am today!!! God's given me A LOT of tools that I've had to choose to use and work with to get here, buuuuuuuut ultimately, I couldn't have done it without God's help!!! 

.

I meant to say this on Thanksgiving but ran out of time to post about it, but I really am SOOOOOOOOOOOO THANKFUL for my health! To be able to freely do active things and enjoy life to the fullest is such an amazing gift!!! Thank you Lord!!! 

♥Mary Frances :)

The Color Run 2019

This past Saturday, November 9th, I FINALLY got to do the ONE RUN I've been dying to do..

.

THE COLOR RUN!!!!

So every half a mile you run through another color zone and get color chalk all over your clothes...it's sooooooooo AWESOME!!!! The Color Run always suggests wearing white, buuuuuuuut it looks a lot cooler on all BLACK!!!!

The theme of the color run is that it's the HAPPIEST 5k on the planet, soooooo they don't time you!!! They let you out in waves of a few 100 at a time, by the time I had almost crossed the finish line, the last wave was going out!!! So I'm not really sure what my time was cuz I accidentally turned off the fitbit walk thingy...but the best I can figure it was about 50ish minutes!!!

Thankful for...

MY HEALTH!!!

I just want to say that I am soooooooooooo THANKFUL that I'm able to do stuff liiiiiiike…

THE FOUNTAIN HILLS

 TURKEY TROT!!!

The whole Turkey Trot crew from LPC!!!

Me, T, Janellie Bean, Sister Abbott, Sister Everlene, Christopher, Judah, Odin, MJ

Annnnnnnnnnd the most spirtited dresser award for the whole event would have to go to MY PASTOR...in case you couldn't tell, that's him right there in the turkey costume...JUUUUUUUUST KIDDDDDDING… SIIIIIIIIKE!!! AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAA!!! I sent out that pic and someone asked me if that was pastor...we all just busted up laughing so I just had to make a joke about it!!!! 

 .

Annnnnnnnnnnd THIS my friends, 

 is WHY I lost weight...

Sooooooooooooooooo I can wear a turkey tutu and sequin skirts to 5k turkey trot runs!!! 

That annoying healthy-eating moment when...

Soooooooo the other day, I'm over at Coffee Bean, my new favorite spot for writing, and I'm sitting there writing when I felt I was getting a little hungry. It was that time between lunch and and dinner, to early, not hungry enough for dinner, buuuuuut IF I didn't eat something, by dinner time I'd probably be making an unwise eating decision. BUUUUUUT I had planned for this...I had a HEALTHY SNACK packed and waiting in my car!!! (I don't take it in with me cuz then I'll eat it even if I'm NOT hungry cuz it's just sitting there...I know, I should have more self control...BUUUUT I don't! So I have to prepare make precautions to help myself) 

.

SOOOOOOOO I'm sitting there, writing and munching my HEALTHY snack of a whole grain, brown rice, rice cake with dark chocolate almond butter...YUMMMM...Nom, nom, nom...I'm just sitting there ENJOYING MY HEALTHY SNACK...or so I THOUGHT it was a healthy snack...

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT...

THAT MOMENT WHEN YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL HEALTHY, 

Snacking on your whole grain, while rice cake with almond butter, and you look over and the chick next to you is snacking on DRIED SEAWEED!!! 

Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike REALLY???

REEEEEEEEALLLLYYY???

You just HAD to OUThealth me????

Pssssssh!!!✋

♥Mary Frances :)
P.S. I bet my snack had MORE nutritional value anyway!!! ;)

November/December End-of-the-year Weight loss update!!!!

First of all my friends, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

Well here it Is, my end of 2017 progress photo...as of December i hit my 100 pounds lost since surgery mark!!!

In actuality tho, I've lost 152 pounds since my highest weight of 408 in my early 20's! You guys have NO IDEA how overwhelming my weight loss felt to me at this point. It just seemed like I was in this huge black tunnel trying to fathom how much weight I need to lose, knowing that IF I LOST 100 POUNDS, I would still be OVER 300 pounds...It all seemed IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Buuuuuuuuuuut NOW, now even tho I'm still in that weight loss tunnel, NOW I"M FINALLY BEGINNING TO SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL...I can see it, it's NOT IMPOSSIBLE, slowly, but surely and by the grace of God, I'm GOING TO GET TO THE END!!!

.

This past year i lost a grand total of 42 pounds, an average of 3.5 pounds a month! Now that I'm beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel, i figure that at the end of this year coming, 2018, I'll be in the low 200's, at this point, I'll reacess and if i think i need to, im just going to keep going and push to be in the 100's! 3.5 a month doesn't seem like a lot but slowly and steadily it all adds up!!!

.

A few things I've learned this year

~It's not as important to lose weight quickly as it is to lose it steadily and PERMANENTLY!!!

So I think compared to most of my fellow bariatric surgery peeps, I've lost weight A LOT SLOWER!!! There are people that were already at 100 pounds lost by 6 months after surgery, I got there a year and a half after surgery, buuuuut what matters, IS THAT I GOT THERE!!!! 

~ Diets don't work!!!

Ok, don't get me wrong, THEY DO, buuuuuut they only last if you plan on eating that same exact way FOR LIFE!!! Part of the reason WHY my weight loss has taken me A LOT LONGER than other people is because I never really stuck to the diet they gave me!!! Now I'm NOT a doctor OR in the medical field at all, sooooo I can only speak for myself, I HAD to do what was RIGHT FOR ME!!! The reason WHY I never stuck completely do their diet plan is because losing weight has to be PERMANENT for me and diets are NOT PERMANENT and when you go off them, YOU GAIN!!! For me, I've had to learn to eat in a way that I am going to do FOR LIFE!!! For me this mean implanting, calorie count, portion control and HEALTHY CHOICES THAT I ENJOY!!! I continually educate myself on food and recipes, learning to enjoy new healthier foods, new veggies, EVEN FISH now. Buuuuut I never cut anything COMPLETELY out...the downfall is that its taking me longer, the benefit is that I'll NEVER just gain back a bunch of weight because all of the sudden I added in a ton of food that I couldn't eat before! 

~Exercise only lasts if its something you truly enjoy

Find something you like and it won't be a chore but something you look forward to, for me, THATS HIKING!!! I know it's exercise, buuuuut I LOVE IT!!! I just feel so relaxed and enjoy it SOOOOO MUCH!!! I like trying other things out for fun for a little bit, like Jabz boxing, I wanna do that another month this year, I wanna try Orange Theory for a month, I'd like to try cross fit, I like doing the races, weight training is fun buuuuut with those things, its just something I do for a little bit and then get bored, buuuuuut HIKING...I just ADORE IT!!! 

~ Pray MORE than you exercise! 

At one point during the summer I was really frustrated because I had hit a 3 month platau so I was just excercising like crazy and it was to the point that I was ACTUALLY excercising more than I was praying...Nothing is as important as our prayer life...PRAY MORE than you exercise!!! It's better to go to heaven fluffy than to hell...HOT...cuz you only gonna get HOTTERRRR THERE...jus sayin!!! 

~Enjoy the weight loss journey!

I Hear a lot of people say they just want to hurry up and get skinny and be done with it. While I DO want to get to my goal, I've learned to enjoy this journey that I'm on. To not be satisfied where I am but still contented with getting there slowly! I could say I'm going to push myself to be at my goal weight by the end of this year but Instead I plan to be there within the next 2 years. If things go as planned, another 30-40 pounds lost this year and i'll be around 220, I know I want to get down to at least 208ish (That'll be 200 pounds lost since my highest weight in my early 20's) and at that point I'll evaluate myself and see if I think I should keep pushing to get into the 100's...IF my BMI is right, I'm NOT going to push myself to be in the 100's, but I don't know yet so I just have to wait and see!!! In the mean time,  I'm just going to keep taking it slow and steady and enjoy my life! There's no reason to be in a rush for something you want to last foreverrrrr!!! 

6 more pounds and this sista is going HORSEBACK RIDING!!!!😎👐

♥Mary Frances :)

P.S. I decided to do a separate post on GOALS!!! 

Turkey Trot 2017!!!

 I did it you guys, I RAN (Ran/jogged/power-walked) MY FIRST RACE!!!

I didn't come ANYWHERE close to winning...

buuuuuuuuuuuuut...

IF there was a BEST-DRESSED-RUNNER AWARD...

I SOOOOOOOOO WON!!!

 In fact, I would VERY HUMBLY like to give myself that award...bahahahaaaa!!!I did it up right!!! My #thankful in gold glitter shirt, with my black sequin skirt, that my sis-in-love so kindly cut and hemmed for me so I could wear it in MY FIRST RACE, annnnnd my Hobby Lobby turkey headband!!! People LOOOOOVED IT!!! As soon as I walked in someone that worked there came over and asked if they could take my pic for the website! I was like, SUUUUUUUUUURE!!! LOL!!! 

.

Our WHOLE GROUP of trotters...Next year we expect some of the LPC MEN to join us...COME ON PASTOR...I see you running the aisles... YOU CAN DO IT!!!! Whoop, Whoop!!! 

Odie did GREAT and he LOOOOOVED the turkey!!!

Especially when he got down and talked to him!!!

 

 Happy Birthday JUDAH!!! Sweet 13!!!

 Getting ready to run...

 Ready...

 SET...

ANNNNNNNNND GOING!!! 

 More than halfway done!!! 

 And when I got to the HOME STRETCH, I heard my peeps cheering for me!

AWWWWWWWWWW!!! 

 Annnnnnnnd FINISHED!!! 

 

Then we all went and chowed at DJ's bagels because they have THE BEST everrrr...even better than Chompies BAGELS!!! NYC APPROVED BAGELS!!!! Nom, nom, nom!!! Ooooh annnnnd I got THE BEST ICED COFFEE EVERRRR THERE...The Hawaiian Beach latte...YUMMMM!!!

.

 What, what, WHAAAAAAAAAAT????

YES, Annnnnnnnnnd then I went hiking, IF ONLY cuz I had NOTHING else to do...annnnnd cuz I've ALWAYS wanted to go hiking in a sequin skirt!!! AHAHAHA!!!! Now I'm just finishishing up baking my pies and I've had 3 iced coffees and am SOOOOOOOOOOOO HYPERRRRR!!!! 

♥Mary Frances :)

P.S. Wait till you guys see my BLACK FRIDAY OUTFIT!!! Once dinner is over...it's OFFICIALLY CHRISTMAS TIME...me and the sis and kiddos HIT THE STORES!!! Whoop, whoop!!!