Week 24…the good the bad…and well..uhh..it’s just a number on the scale, right?

Today is quite the day off!  When you only get Sundays and Tuesdays off, Tuesdays tend to be packed with things you can’t get done during the week..like doctors appointments!  *laugh*  It’s all good though!  I am seriously grateful for my health insurance that allows for me to get my well-woman check up without any money out of my pocket!  I am also grateful for the reactions of the nurse and doctor when they see where I am in my health :).

For that matter, this week has been one of those weeks that many of my friends along this Weight Watcher’s Journey do not look forward to. Many of my friends HATE the…….”OMG!!!!  You look amazing!  Have you lost weight?!!” comment.  I understand their objection to this comment.  Because many times, your mind can instantly go to..”What do you mean? Did I not look good before???”  But let’s face it, being over weight is not necessarily something very alluring.  And I’m not really talking about the size of our bodies (though that could be considered as well).  Usually when we are that much over weight, our eyes lack a sparkle, our skin can be a bit duller, and over all we lack a certain kind of energy that just shines forth.  That’s not to say that EVERYONE exhibits this, but it IS rather common.  And if you were honest with yourself, I believe you would acknowledge it too.  And once you have lost weight, you have a certain bounce to your step that just can’t be denied.  Then add the obvious “thinner/leaner body”….comments are going to be made!  As for me? I love the comments!   I ran into a woman I haven’t seen in over  year, and she almost didn’t recognize me!  “You look Amazing!  You have lost a lot of weight since I last saw you!”  Well, yes I have!  Thank you very much for noticing!

When I started this weight loss journey, my blood pressure was too high.  It was scaring me.  Today, I went to my well woman check up and  they weighed me. Yes, I am still morbidly obese. No big shock there!  I’m good with where I am….and I know I am getting better.  But this nurse didn’t know me.  I’m sure she just saw an over weight woman.  She had to switch the blood pressure cuff to the “big girl” size and she continued to take my blood pressure. It was LOW!  The nurse sounded shocked!  “Are you taking medications to keep it low?”  hahaha.  No, ma’am!  This is the perfect example of what my life style change has created!  I LOVED IT!    Thank you very much!

After my appointment, I went to my weekly Weigh In…  I GAINED 2#!!!!!!!!  Now, if you have been following my journey, you have seen me get upset over ounce gains or only ounce losses.  So you can imagine my surprise at my lack of concern of over a 2# GAIN!!!  I just laughed and said, “It all comes out in the wash in the end!”  It’s just a number on the scale, and I realized today that number doesn’t control me anymore!  Would I have liked to have seen a loss?  Sure!  Who wouldn’t!  But look at what I have gained in these last 24 weeks!!!  My blood pressure is more than healthy!  My endurance and my strength are increasing daily!  I am so much happier!  I have a sparkle in my eyes!  I am more confident!  I look amazing!  These things can’t be measured on a scale!  So, scale, take that!  You can have my 2# gain; I’ll take the way I feel any day!  But don’t get too used to it, next week, those 2# will be gone!  *laugh*

Week 23..Back on the Wagon and Feeling INSPIRED!!!

This week has been amazing!  I have often heard that motivation comes from outside and INSPIRATION comes from within (inside) from your very own SPIRIT.  When you are INSPIRED, you are doing things “in spirit”.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of a better way to go about life.  What do you think?

I have often been inspired to do things, like my last blogging adventure or my first marathon, or even starting this Weight Watchers in 52 Weeks.  Inspiration is what keeps me moving forward; its how I know I am on the right path.  Motivation often runs out and leaves you looking for the next big thing, but when you (or at least I) am inspired, I keep on going.  It’s not always easy, and there are often obstacles to over come or learning opportunities to welcome, but I keep on moving forward.  This week, that FEELING of inspiration has been renewed with a vengeance!

I have decided on my training schedule for the Honolulu Marathon which is December 11, 2011.  I will run 3x a week…2 at 3 miles during the week and Saturday will be my long run day where the miles will continue getting longer and longer.  I will use P90X workouts as my other 3 workout days.  And I will “rest” on Sunday.  When I say “rest”, I simply mean no formal workouts, but I will likely be roller skating!  *laugh*  I also have a double workout day on Mondays where I will be running in the morning and doing Zumba in the evenings with my running buddy who is getting married at the end finish line of the Honolulu Marathon!  I am feeling GREAT about my training schedule and am looking forward to my workouts!

I still need to make an appointment to see the new Chiropractor.  I am having a bit of knee pain and hip pain in my left leg.  It makes it a bit difficult to run, and I would like to continue running and getting stronger!  I will make that phone call tomorrow!

I also bought a white board today and hung it by my dining room table…(which is where I work when I work from home).  It has a list of all of my goals for the next 18 weeks.  They are all labeled by time-line goals so I know exactly where I am going and when I can expect to get there!  I LOVE IT!  I have been wanting to get this done for about 9 weeks now.  Obviously, I wasn’t INSPIRED enough 9 weeks ago!  *laugh*

As for my Weigh In today…it went FANTASTIC!!!  Last week, the day after I returned home from vacation, I stepped on my home scale and saw around a 2-3# weight gain!  Not too horrible. There could be lots of reasons for that (water retention, travel stress, constipation, bad eating).  I wasn’t really upset.  I knew I was on vacation and I ate consciously and made some not so great choices.  I also go A LOT of activity points in, so I was cool.  So all week long, I have been focusing on eating cleanly again and working out and getting back on track.  Today, I stepped on the scale at Weight Watchers and I am down 3# from my last official Weigh In!!!!!  That is a total loss of 33.6#!!!!  That is also 1/2  way to my next goal which was 6# by August 30th!

Along with this amazing weight loss, I have to brag about something else that is not centered around weight!  I was brushing the tangles out of my hair the other day and noticed my biceps flexing.  I actually have a little bump in my arms at the tip of my biceps.  It is visible!!!  This is exciting!  I don’t think I have EVER seen that in my arms!  Sunday I wore my “skinny” jeans to church and found them a little big baggy!  And everyone in church (who hadn’t seen me in 3 weeks) kept saying how great I was looking!  My minister said to my husband, “Wow!  She looks like a completely different person!  A brand new woman!”  Another friend said to me, “Wow!  You look amazing!  You are losing weight!  How are you doing it?”  I know lots of people who get offended at this question/statement. Me?  I LOVE IT!  It lets me know that all of my hard work is visible and effective!  I’m ready to keep this momentum going!

I hope you are finding something that INSPIRES you to get healthy!

Weeks 21 and 22…Vacation, the story I tell myself, and new goals!

It’s been too long since I blogged!  And boy do I have a lot to say.  Better get a cup of coffee and make yourself comfortable before reading!

Week 21 came and went with a .2# loss.  I was ecstatic with that weight loss!  It put me at exactly 216# with a 30.6# total weight loss.  Considering how “off” I had been feeling,  I was very happy with this.  I had been off focus for a while.  Once I reached my goals, I kinda got off balanced.  I do that sometimes when I reach a new goal…until I can find one to focus on.  I had stopped running in order to make sure my knee was healthy for vacation, and in truth the other workouts started slacking a bit too.

The next day after weigh in, I headed to Florida for vacation!  I had all these big dreams…..  dreams of eating on plan…dreams of exercising at the hotel gym..dreams of maintaining but possibly even losing while on vacation.  Seriously?  Who was I kidding!  Yes,  maintaining would be a great goal…not losing..not gaining..just staying the same. That was even a doable goal!  It started out great!  I made my healthy snacks for the plane ride there.  I was NOT going to eat airport food!  I wanted to be in control!  I packed fresh fruit, veggies, humus, protein bars and healthy crackers. I paid a ton of money to make sure I had enough water on me.  I was prepared!  The flight there was perfect!  I even managed to get 3 miles in during my Salt Lake City lay over…1 hr of laps around terminal one and 1 blister to show for it (never walk in wedge flip flops!)

We arrived in Orlando and made it to our hotel in Palm Bay.  The dinner choice for the evening?  Sonny’s bbq.   I ordered a sweet potato with a turkey sandwich.  I did okay.  Actually, food wise, I did great for most of my vacation!  *most*  The next morning, we were going to drive 4 hrs to Key Largo so I got up EARLY and did 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Then had breakfast at the buffett…not the best choices.  But I did okay.  I tracked it.  For lunch on the road, we hit Subway, and I did great until the 2 cookies at 12pts!  *laugh*  It’s okay.  I can handle this.  Dinner that night I had fish tacos..very yummy and I was still doing okay with points.  Then on Friday (the next day) it was Waffle House for breakfast…yummy..but high in points!  Followed by 90 minutes of snorkeling with a sub sandwich for lunch.   Drinking LOTS of water.  Then that night for dinner, I had a HUGE burrito at Chipotle.  HUGE POINTS!  Deep breath..it’s okay.  Saturday was another breakfast at the hotel and then swimming at the beach!  I had some extra points left over and a big dinner planned.  I was going to meet one of my Weight Watcher on line friends.  This is where I racked up the points!  TWO STELLA BEERS!!!!!!!!!  Fried spring rolls…. but the entrée was delicious and so worth it.. jerked chicken with banana chutney with yummy potatoes and steamed veggies!  So worth it and so much fun!

I had stopped exercising at the hotel. I figured all the beach combing, walking at the zoos and theme parks and the kayaking at the zoo was enough exercise!  But the one day where my food just went to hell in a hand basket was the day we went to Universal.  We bought the all you can eat meal deal.  We did that at Sea World 2 years ago and were able to get all the bottled water we wanted, all the fresh fruit, and amazing fresh food buffet style for cheap!  Universal had other ideas.  All they served was FRIED FOOD!!!!  Oh and pizza and spaghetti with huge meat balls and fat laden foods and salads.  I threw my hands up in the air and gave up!  Called it vacation and went on my merry way…feeling the horrible effects of trashy food in my body.

Anyway….the vacation was amazing!  Had a great time!  But I believe I have gained 3# back while gone.  I also realized that (emotionally) this trip was a lot harder on me than I had expected.  I didn’t expect any upset emotions at all.  But once I got there the subject of my weight immediately came up and my Mom who is obsessed with my weight, her weight, and now even my daughter’s (who is a skinny little girl).  When my daughter put on her bikini, my mom actually told her she would need to work on getting a flat cut tummy if she is gonna keep wearing these.  (My daughter is SKINNY!)  My mom was told I had lost 30# and all she could see was how big I am NOW and how big I must have been in order to lose 30#..she couldn’t even say “You look great!”  All she could say was, “You have?” with a look of admonishment. “You got THAT BIG?”  Yes..she actually said that!

I know my mom.  I know how she thinks.  I know how she acts.  I know what she says.  But WHY do I insist on wanting her approval?  I wish she would say….(as her first and initial reaction) “You look fantastic!  I love you and I am so proud of you!”  My mom did eventually come out and say, “I love you and I’m proud of you.”  But that was AFTER the damage that was already done.  She doesn’t mean to be hurtful, but this is just the way that she is.  It was so very hard to stay positive and upbeat and proud of myself around her last week.

Now I am home.  Still feeling the effects of vacation.  I had given up while there.  I have been home since noon yesterday and so far I have eaten Pizza, regular root beer (2 huge glasses full), dessert pizza (at least 3 servings), a blue berry muffin with a diet coke, asian food that is heavy on points, and a 20 oz regular Dr. Pepper with 2 hostess cup cakes.  Yes, this is real. This is me going off the wagon…BIG TIME!

While eating my cup cakes, I drove to the grocery store and loaded up on fresh fruits and veggies and made a plan!  I am getting back on track!  I am going to work out tonight.  Running training doesn’t start again until Monday, but in the mean time, I’m getting my butt back in gear!  And I have set new goals….

In 3 weeks (Aug 30th):

I will be down 6# meeting my 15% goal!

Work out 6 days a week (running 3x/week and weight lifting 3x/week)

In 8 weeks (Oct 4):

Down 17# putting me in ONEderland!!!!

Working out 6 days a week

SkyDiving..jumping out of a perfectly good air plane as soon as I reach ONEderland..

Sign up for PoleDancing Classes!!!

In 10 weeks (Oct 18):

Down 19# reaching my 20% goal.

Work out 6 days a week

Lifting 12# weights on a regular basis during my workouts.

Be down to a comfortable size 14 (or smaller..I can wear some size 14’s now) no matter what the brand and be able to actually buy my bras at Victoria’s Secret

Have my 5K pace down to 30 minutes and my 25 derby laps down to 4 minutes 30 seconds.

In 18 weeks (Dec 13):

Down 30#

Work out 6 days a week

Finish Honolulu Marathon in 7hrs or under.