First Walgreens Coupon Trip

Last night (or I should probably say this morning) I went to Walgreens to try couponing for the first time. Even though I didn't have a ton of coupons saved up to use, they were having some crazy good sales for Memorial Day that I did have some coupons for, and I needed some essentials like Laundry Detergent and Cereal. We got there about 12:30 a.m. I figured the store wouldn't be as busy and there wouldn't be a lot of people behind me when I was checking out in case there were problems. My first disappointment came right away because I went in thinking that I was going to be able to pick up a Walgreen's Summer Beauty guide coupon book that I had read about countless times online. This booklet was supposed to have some really awesome coupons that I wanted to use for this trip and in the future. Right off of the bat the cashier said that she did not know what I was talking about. I did pick up the regular monthly Walgreens coupon book which has some good deals - but I really want the other one!!!! I don't know if maybe they are waiting until June 1st to put it out, or if our area is not going to carry them. Anyway...... The rest of the shopping part was relatively uneventful. They had all of the stuff that I had on my shopping list except for 2 things, and everything was easy to find. All of their sale items were clearly marked so that made thing easy too. This is where the easy ended. When I got up to the register to check out, a line of about 4 people appeared out of nowhere behind me. So this made me nervous. Then when the cashier started ringing stuff up, several of the items scanned at regular price and not the sale price. So while I am still trying to unload my cart and stack stuff on the counter, I am also trying to watch what she is scanning and make sure it rings up right, and remember the price. She corrects about 3 things to the correct sale price and then totals my sale: $191.76. Yikes!!!! Then I hand over all of my coupons. Thankfully all of my coupons scan without any problems! My total after coupons was $135.59, plus I got $7.00 in Register Rebates that I can use on my next shopping trip like cash. And after getting out to the truck and glancing at my receipt (because I thought it was still a little high) I discovered that one of my items that was supposed to be Buy One Get One Free had actually rang up full price for both. So I went back in with my receipt and items and they refunded me $10.83. So my total cost for the trip was $125.59. My receipt said that with sale prices, rebates, and coupons my total savings was: $109.47!!! So I saved 51% on my total trip. Not bad, but I can't wait until I have more coupons saved and can do even better. Here's what I ended up with on this trip:

(2) Reynolds Wrap Foil 75 sq. ft.
(2) Arm & Hammer Powder Laundry Detergent 36 loads
(4) Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Cereal
(2) Kellogg's Pops Cereal
(2) Kellogg's Raisin Bran Cereal
(2) Hawaiian Tropic 12 oz. Suntan Lotion
(3) Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid 10 oz.
(3) Sun 2X Laundry Detergent 75 loads
(2) Advil 200 ct. Tablets
(2) Pine-Sol Cleaner 26 oz.
(2) Clorox Toilet Bowler Cleaner 24 oz.
(2) Coppertone Sunscreen
(4) 5 Gum 15-packs
(2) Listerine Cool Mint Mouthwash 1 Liter
(2) Listerine Whitening Plus Restoring Mouthwash 16 oz.
(2) Benadryl Anti-Itch Cream 1.3 oz. (Came with free First Aid Case)
(1) Scott Naturals Paper Towels 6-Pack
(2) Off Clip On Starter Kits

So, still more money than I wanted to spend, but like Brandon said, "You got a lot of shit!" LOL. And I learned an important lesson. From now on, I need to have someone with me when I am checking out. This way they can stack all of my stuff on the counter so I can pay attention to the stuff that is scanning so I can make sure everything is ringing up the right price!

First Try at Couponing

So, you may not know it but lately I have become very interested in couponing. It is actually something of a fad since that new show Extreme Couponing came on TLC. The people on this show are crazy! They are mostly stay at home moms and they claim that they spend 40-60 hours a week couponing. But, it pays off! They typically save between 90 and 100% off of their shopping bills. Well, I know that there is no way that I can compete at this level since I have a full time job - but I am interested enough to devote some time to it in the interest of saving money. There is an awesome forum website that I read daily that tells you how to do everything and pretty much walks you through great deals each week at your local stores. I decided to start slow and easy and make my first trip to Wal-Mart. Truthfully, I probably spent about 6-8 hours this week looking for coupons, reading the website, clipping coupons, looking at sale ads, and then planning out my shopping trip. And while I didn't get a "Extreme" deal on everything, since not everything was on sale but I still needed it, I think that I did pretty good. Here is what I got today:

(2) Crest Whitening Toothpaste $2.77 each = $5.54
(2) Cokes $1.48 each = $2.96
(2) Crest Mouthwash $3.47 each = $6.94
(1) Heinz White Vinegar $1.00
(4) Crest Toothbrushes $1.50 each = $6.00
(8) Bar S Bologna $1.18 each = $9.44
(3) Lunchables w/ Fruit $2.38 = $7.14
(2) Brillo Spongepacks $1.46 = $2.92
(4) Smuckers Simply Fruit Jelly $1.54 = $6.16
(8) Pasta & Rice Sides $.98 each = $7.87

Total before coupons: $55.97
Total amount of coupons: -$19.20
Total after coupons: $36.77 A savings of 34%

Not too bad for my first trip. And the website where all these people go on and on about how much they save say that it only gets better with time because you'll have more coupons and can wait for more stuff to go on sale before you have to buy it. For now, I am having fun with it - plus saving money!!!

6 Week Challenge Is Over

Well today was officially the last day of my 6 week weight loss challenge. I weighed in today at 243 pounds. So overall I am down exactly TWENTY pounds since I started this whole crazy weight loss thing back in mid-January. It hasn't seemed like it since I lost the weight slowly, but 20 pounds is awesome! I didn't even realize it was that much until looking back today. And even though it's no where near where I want to end up, it is a good start. Especially considering how good I feel everyday now. More energetic, more mobile - and my jeans fit a heck of a lot better. I don't think that I will be entering another challenge anytime soon, but I will keep going with the weight loss. I will keep you posted! Hope everyone else is doing good with what they're doing!

Still Making Progress

Hey guys! Been awhile since I updated so I thought I would post. I weighed in this morning and was down to 245. So another pound or so down in the last couple of weeks. Progress has been slow, but I feel good about it because it has been REAL. For once I am losing weight by making healthy changes in my diet and routines, not by doing some crazy crash diet. It makes me feel like I will be able to keep this weight off for the long term instead of gaining it all right back as soon as I get off whatever I am doing. I think overall this makes me down 13 pounds in the last 9 weeks which is cool. I am down about 18 overall since I started trying to lose weight back in November. My start weight then was 263, so I am excited to be getting away from there. That felt really close to 300 which freaked me out. Anyway, I hope to be down to 240 or better by the end of April which I think is doable as long as I stay focused. Hope everybody else is still doing great! Let me know!

Week 7 Check In

Hey, guys! This week's update will be short and sweet because we are SWAMPED at work. I lost 2 pounds this week. I am down to 246.2 which is 12 pounds down from the beginning. It is super exciting because I wasn't even involved in a weight loss challenge this week and I still lost! Anyway, hope everyone else is doing great! Luv you guys!

Finished with That!

Well folks, today was the day. The last day of my 6 week weight loss challenge. I was cautiously optimistic, but tried not to let it get out of hand because even though I did better this week, I still wasn't as good as I wanted to be. But, everything turned out alright. I ended up losing about 2 pounds bringing my grand total for 6 weeks up to 10 lbs. lost. I also lost 6 inches (2 from the waist) - so overall I am pretty happy. I mean, I seriously did not give this 100%, so if I can still lose weight and inches while not trying my hardes, I can only imagine what I can do when I put my mind to it. It is definitely very encouraging to me! I am starting another six week challenge on March 14th (my birthday!) and I really, really, really, want to good this time around. Or at least better. I don't want to be too hard on myself because 10 lbs. is 10 lbs. and 6 inches is awesome! Hope everyone else is doing great on their weight loss journeys! I will keep on keeping you updated on mine. Luv you guys!

I Can See The Finish Line

Well, it is finally here. The last week of my 6-week weight loss challenge. My final weigh-in will be on Friday and I have to say I am dreading it and looking forward to it all at once. I haven't been posting on here regularly mainly because I am disappointed in myself. But then I thought, wait a minute - my story is real and I should tell it no matter what because I know that there are other people out there who go through the same thing. If you've been following my story so far, you know that I was doing pretty good for the first 2 weeks of this challenge. I was losing weight (12 pounds) and feeling great. Well then it was like my willpower and drive just up and vanished. I started drinking Diet Dr. Pepper again and eating not healthy foods for my one meal a day, and then I started eating two meals a day and just having a shake for breakfast, and it all just went downhill after that. All of the energy I was feeling disappeared, my stomach started acting up again and I basically just felt like crap. Ever since my 2nd weigh-in I have gained weight back each week at my weigh-ins. I think in total I have gained back about 4 pounds, so I am still down about 8 pounds from the first week. Not horrible, I know, but I wanted to do SO much better :( Anyway, it has taken nearly all of that time to get back on track. I am hitting it hard and right for the rest of this week until my final weigh-in on Friday, and I am hoping to lose that 4 pounds that came back and finish up with a 12 pound weight loss overall. And then the next week I am starting another 6 week weight loss challenge and I am determined to kick butt on that one. Not only do I want to see some results before summer (shout out Nikki on looking good in a bathing suit), but dammit, I want to win an Ipad and that is the first place prize again in this contest! I will try to do a better job of keeping a constant update going on - if not for the people reading then definitely for myself. It helps to be held accountable in writing, plus I can go back and read over my journey - good and bad. Well, I'm off for now - I'll let you know how the final weigh-in goes on Friday!

Week 3 and already behind

Well, it's been forever since I have posted on here. Why is it that it seems like every time I try to get back on the blogger routine that we get extremely busy at work and then I never have time to get on here? Anyway, so this post is going to be short but I want to do it so that I can keep track of my progress and so that if anyone else wants to read it they can. Okay, week one on the diet went great - I lost 8 pounds. Weeks 2 and 3 weren't that great because I had a really hard time staying strict. The snow that left us housebound for 3 days caused more unhealthy eating than I needed to do, plus I didn't exercise as much because a lot of my exercise had been doing stuff outside. So anyway, I wasn't real strict, but come weigh-in time I lost 2.8 pounds. This kept me motivated because my thoughts were if I can screw up this bad and still lose weight then this stuff must really work! Then week 3 came and Super Bowl Sunday screwed me because Brandon cooked a ton of really great stuff that was just too tempting to not pig out on. However, I did pay for it and felt like shit for 3 days. Yesterday was really the first day that I felt good again - stomach wise and energy wise. What a difference good food, nutrition and exercise makes! Anyway, I weighed in this morning for my 3rd week and lost 1.2 pounds. So in total I have lost 12 pounds in 3 weeks. This is great, but I am disappointed in myself because I know that I could have done way better if I had more willpower. Plus, now I am pretty sure that I am not going to win the competition that I am in - so that sucks - but I've also learned that I can do this - and do it for the long term. So I'm hoping that this will be the time around that I actually lose all of the weight I want to lose and keep it off. Fingers crossed!

But it hurts so good ...

Well yesterday was a very good day. I achieved my goal of trying to see if 2 shakes and one meal a day would keep me full - and it did. I think that I have figured out the secret that works for me. Most people who do this Herbalife shake thing drink one shake for breakfast, one for lunch and then eat a sensible dinner. This didn't work for me. At lunch time I am usually so starved that I used to just shove things into my mouth until I felt sick. So, I have figured out that if I drink a shake for breakfast, eat my "sensible meal" at lunch (which usually consists of either salmon or chicken breast with spinach salad and some fruit), I then really do feel full when I drink my last shake for dinner. And I don't feel sick and full when I try to work out after dinner. Working out also went really good last night. I replaced the batteries in the elliptical so last night I was able to tell how many calories I was burning, plus I was able to up the resistance - which coincidentally you cannot do if the batteries are dead. So I cranked the resistance up to about 7 and was able to go at a fairly good pace for about 12 minutes. And believe me, I was definitely sweating when I jumped off of that and got on the bike. Then I turned the resistance up on the bike to 10 and went another 9 minutes. All in all I burned a total of 250 calories in 21 minutes. It doesn't seem like much but it is the equivalent of one shake - so it's like I didn't eat it at all! And let me tell you, my butt and legs are sore today so I know I did some good. Plus, I am feeling so much better during the days at work. I have so much more energy! It's still sucks getting out of bed every morning to do my newspaper route, but what person in their right mind would be perky at 4:45 a.m.? By the time I get home and start getting ready for work at Haechten's I'm feeling pretty good and by the time I get to work and get settled in about 9:00 I feel great! I don't know if all of this feel good energy is from the supplements I'm taking or the exercise or the good food, or all of it but whatever it is is working. It would almost be worth it just to feel like this and not lose weight. Almost ..... But nothing will ever feel as good as hitting my target weight loss (and winning this competition!). I know that there is no way I will lose all the weight I want to lose in 6 weeks, but I am aiming for a good 30-40 pound loss. And this will certainly get me jump started towards my ultimate goal of about 100 pounds. This sounds crazy to me, but I know that I can do it and I need to do it. I don't know if I've said this yet, but my start weight was 258 pounds (yikes!), so a 100 pound loss would put me at 158, which I think would be an extremely healthy weight for my 5'7" height. But hell, let's be honest, I would be thrilled to weigh anywhere south of 200. Which still would be a 60 lb. loss, but I ultimately want to lose more. Anyway, I'll check back in later ... if anyone is reading that I haven't bored to death. :)

Looking Good

Well, things have still been going pretty good with the whole diet thing. Day one finished up good. I actually stayed really full from the shake and so I ended up only eating a small spinach salad with chicken breast and mushrooms and felt stuffed. I don't know if it's healthy to skip the 2nd shake but I think for now I'm just going to listen to my body. I'm taking vitamins and a supplement so I should be getting all the nutrition I need, so I'm definitely not going to force more calories just because the diet says so. If I'm full, I'm full. I also managed to fit in 8 1/2 minutes on the stationary bike. Not great, but better than nothing and I did break a light sweat. Day 2 (Sunday) was another good day. Once again I ended up only having one shake and 3 small snacks and then part of a chicken breast. However, I felt really good about this day because we went to Abilene to do some grocery shopping and when Brandon and Brayden ordered pizza from Sam's to eat, I grabbed one of those rotisserie chickens from the deli. When we got home I pulled off the skin (the good part, lol) and ate one of the breasts. So I faced my first Abilene take-out food challenge and did pretty good. Plus I haven't had a diet dr. pepper since Friday and I just knew that I would cave and get one in Abilene and I didn't!!! Yay!!!! I'm no longer having headaches as of today (Tuesday)so I think I'm through the caffeine withdrawals. I probably would have lost 5-10 pounds just by giving up diet soda on it's own. Sunday finished up pretty good with exercise as well. I managed to do 10 minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes on the bike. Batteries on the elliptical were dead so I don't know exactly how many calories I burned or how many miles I did, but I was sweating! Yesterday was good. First day on diet back at work. Made my shake and took it with me to work - kept me pretty full. I snacked on a string cheese about 10:30. Went home for lunch and some salmon with spinach salad. I had planned on having another shake for lunch but it was cold outside and I wanted something hot to eat! Plus I was pretty hungry by lunch time. Then for supper I had a chicken breast salad instead of a shake (about 6:00 p.m.). I was pretty hungry and I still needed to get in a big dose of protein so I went with it. But maybe a one shake diet will work better for me for a while until my stomach adjusts. I mean come one, even with eating 2 salads and 1 shake plus snacks I MAYBE had 1500 calories for the whole day. That's probably half of what I was eating. I really want to win this weight loss competition, but I also want to keep the weight off this time, so I've decided to be really hard on myself for 6 weeks, but at the same time listen to my body and try to do it realistically. If I can't realistically have 2 shakes and one meal then I'll have 1 shake and 2 meals and then maybe exercise a little more. It's all a work in progress. I am going to try again today though to do the 2 shakes and one meal because I want to see how hungry I am at the end of the day and if at any point I feel sick or light headed or whatever. I'll let you know! I didn't get to exercise yesterday so I plan on getting in a good one tonight. Wish me luck!

Day One

Well, this is my first full day of being on me "diet," or as I like to call it my 6 weeks of "I can do anything for 6 weeks" phase. Isn't it funny that I have been trying to lose weight on my own for about 5 years and the only things that have really gotten me motivated in the past and now are some crazy weight loss competitions with cool prizes. I know that there is probably some mental and psychological point to ponder with that realization, but my brain is too fuzzy with lack of caffeine to ponder it. Plus, I intend to keep repressing it as long as possible. Anyway, on to my first day update as it has happened so far. Every day on this Herbalife wellness plan :P I am supposed to replace two meals with shakes, eat one sensible meal, and have about 3 snacks. I am supposed to consume about 150 grams of protein a day. They don't count calories, so I'm not exactly sure how many calories I will be getting, but I can probably figure a rough estimate. The two shakes are supposed to be around 250 calories each depending on what you add to them, so there's 500 right off the bat. I would guess that all of my snacks add up to about 300-500 calories, so that's about 1,000. And then my meal which I intend to be a boneless chicken breast with spinach salad, some cheese and balsamic vinegar dressing is probably about 500. Oh, and then I am drinking some kind of green tea crap 3 times a day which is probably about another 100 calories. So about 1,600 calories a day give or take. Good Lord, no wonder I'm hungry! Anyway, the lady that is my contact person said that if I am still hungry after drinking the shakes that I can add some protein powder to them to make me fill full longer. I might try that next week, but I think I probably just need to give my stomach some time to adjust. I'm thinking it will shrink a little bit on it's own. I mean, it's used to eating God knows how many calories a day - so if something's used to holding a cow and now you're trying to fill it up with a hamster, there's bound to be some adjustment. (I know that metaphor was kind of weird, but just go with it.) Okay, so far today here is what I have done:
Got up at 5:30 - had 32oz. water with Grape Crystal Light, string cheese and banana (7 grams of protein)
10:30 - had an 8 oz. strawberry banana shake (15 grams of protein)
12:30 - 7 hard-boiled egg whites (30 grams of protein)& 8 oz. Green Tea
2:30 - 32 oz. water with Grape Crystal Light


So far, so good. At about 52 grams of protein. Not feeling very hungry, but my stomach is kind of rolling around. I don't know if it's just trying to get used to the changes or if all the liquid is sloshing around. Plus I still have another shake, a snack and my chicken salad meal to look forward to. Surely with all of that I won't get too hungry. I'm going to try and fit in about 30 minutes of exercise today also, even thought they say that on the Herbalife plan you don't have to exercise to lose weight - but I want to anyway. Wish me luck for the rest of the day!

Herbalife or Die

I haven't been on here in nearly a year, but with the start of 2011 and all of the New Year's resolutions being thrown around, I thought that I would give blogging a try. I'm sure that there are no longer any readers that check this page at all, so I'm just going to treat this as my own personal diary for the time being. If you happen to stumble upon it and read, great - if not, I have the perfect place to keep up with my newest endeavor ..... the great Herbalife Weight Loss Adventure of 2011. That's right, as of today I am officially involved in a 6 week weight loss challenge that centers around the Herbalife brand of weight loss stuff. I am not a big believer in Herbalife products, it's just that the prizes for this particular competition were too good to pass up. Plus with the entry fee I was given several different Herbalife production to try that are supposed to aid my weight loss goals. Anywho, back to the important stuff - the prizes! First place gets an Ipad and $200, 2nd place gets a 37" HDTV and $200, 3rd place gets a HD video recorder and $200, and 4th and 5th place just get $200. There are only supposed to be 100 people participating, so I am sort of feeling good about my chances. I mean, I can do anything for 6 weeks right? I'm hoping that this will be the kick in the butt that I have been needing for about a year to get some of this weight off that has constantly been creeping up since I had Brayden 5 years ago. Enough is enough! Wish me luck!