What a day I have had today! My oldest daughter just got engaged! On a overcast day, standing at a lookout point over Lake Washington...and she said YES! In just a couple of hours I am hosting a congratulations party for them and several of their close friends. My cup runneth over.
What does this wonderful occurrence have to do with my weight loss journey? Many many things...first, my daughters best friend and I were in hiding during the proposal photographing the entire thing. I had to climb into a tiny hiding place in a patch of brambles and then stay crouched down for about 20 minutes until he started the proposal. 55 pounds ago I could never have done that! It would have been impossible for me to hide anywhere!! Plus, now I have another motivating factor to lose the next 40 pounds...that "mother of the bride" dress! I vow right now that the size of that dress will only have 1 number...NOT 2.
This week was alright. I am still hovering right around 170. This is how I felt 30 pounds ago when I was hovering at the 200 mark. Just waiting for my body to figure out that I am not yet where it needs to be. I know that I will get there...but the waiting is so frustrating! This week I am going to up my exercise. I have so many different DVD's of different exercises and I am going to do a different one every day. From cardio, to yoga, to kettle bells...every day this week I am going to fit one workout in! Take that, fat!! You won't be able to hide from the burn! LOL
I am also continuing to work through my "to do list" on my house. I have some sanding and painting to do and some organizing. I still have clothes to weed out and take to Goodwill or sell. And I still have to hook up my new printer and move my computer from the basement office to the smaller bedroom upstairs that I am claiming for my new office. There is lots to do and if I try and think about it all at once it is overwhelming. Best to have 2-3 things a week to check off and before you know it I will be at the end of the list.
This next year will be a whirlwind of wedding plans and parties and the fact that I will be able to enjoy it all and not be hiding away praying that no one takes my picture is just icing on the cake! (Except that there is no cake or icing! LOL)
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015
A weekend at home
After the hustle and bustle of last weekend, this time I stayed home and made a list of all the things I have been meaning to get done this year and have either procrastinated or just plain haven't had time.
First on my list was the side yard of my house. Because my house is cut into a slight hill, the right side yard can only be accessed by climbing a 4 foot rockery from the front or through a gate from the back. My neighbor and I kind of mutually agree that we will ignore the side yard and let nature do her thing. Well that worked for me for a while...but it has been bugging me for months and I just couldn't work up the energy to tackle this huge job. I got up early on Saturday and started pulling weeds and pruning at 7am. By 11am I had it all cleaned up and I just needed to get the piles down the rockery and into yard waste cans. Today I went to the store and bought 6 bags of mulch to spread over the now clean area. Success!!! A hot sweaty mess by the time I was finished, but boy does it look nice!
Next on my list was hanging two prints that I have had for months. I went on Friday after work to purchase frames as my local frame store was having a huge "buy one frame get the second one for a penny" sale. Awesome I thought...I can check this one off my list on Friday night along with mowing the back yard and I will be miles ahead of the weekend list...when I got home however, I found that one of the frames had a broken piece of glass. Damn...another trip back to the store on Saturday. Not as efficient as I would have liked, but another project done. (and the back yard got mowed too!)
I have also been struggling with my dinners. As I live alone, it's a pain in the butt to cook for one person. The only way I manage to do a good job of it is to make a regular dinner and then make several tupperware meals that I can use for my lunches and dinners throughout the week. I decided this weekend to make a couple of things I have never tried before. As seems to be my way, I thought I had chicken breasts to make one of the dishes...but when it came down to it I only had tenderloins. Damn again!! OK regroup and pick another recipe...Saturday night I made Mexican chicken with black beans. It was enough for my dinner plus 3 more meals. Tonight I am making halibut fish tacos. The fish has been marinating in a yummy mixture all day and I am super excited to try this recipe. I think this will also make 3 extra meals, so I won't have to cook again until Thursday! Yay!!
As I look at my list I realize that I am not going to finish everything. But out of the 10 things on my list I will complete 8 and that is a victory in my book!! I treated myself to a trip to my local women's spa yesterday. Spent and hour and a half in the various rooms and pools and then topped off my visit with a sugar scrub and full moisture treatment. OMG I felt so amazing afterwards and it made all the yard work so worth it. This spa (Ladywells Vitality Spa) is so serene and peaceful...when I walk through the doors I immediately feel better. It's like stepping into another dimension and I leave all my worries and fears at the door. I wish I could afford to go every week!!!
So all in all this was a good week. I got on the scale this morning and I had lost a pound. After a couple of weeks of no loss, it was good to see the scale going down again. I am trying really hard to not measure my success by a number on a scale. Having said that however, I want to lose 40 more pounds, so I don't want to lose sight of my goal either. Hopefully with better meals, continued exercise and a positive outlook I will drop out of the 170's next week! So exited to see 160-something on that scale in the near future!!!
Here is my progress so far...
Highest weight - 224.4
Surgery weight - 216.0
Current weight - 171.2
First on my list was the side yard of my house. Because my house is cut into a slight hill, the right side yard can only be accessed by climbing a 4 foot rockery from the front or through a gate from the back. My neighbor and I kind of mutually agree that we will ignore the side yard and let nature do her thing. Well that worked for me for a while...but it has been bugging me for months and I just couldn't work up the energy to tackle this huge job. I got up early on Saturday and started pulling weeds and pruning at 7am. By 11am I had it all cleaned up and I just needed to get the piles down the rockery and into yard waste cans. Today I went to the store and bought 6 bags of mulch to spread over the now clean area. Success!!! A hot sweaty mess by the time I was finished, but boy does it look nice!
Next on my list was hanging two prints that I have had for months. I went on Friday after work to purchase frames as my local frame store was having a huge "buy one frame get the second one for a penny" sale. Awesome I thought...I can check this one off my list on Friday night along with mowing the back yard and I will be miles ahead of the weekend list...when I got home however, I found that one of the frames had a broken piece of glass. Damn...another trip back to the store on Saturday. Not as efficient as I would have liked, but another project done. (and the back yard got mowed too!)
I have also been struggling with my dinners. As I live alone, it's a pain in the butt to cook for one person. The only way I manage to do a good job of it is to make a regular dinner and then make several tupperware meals that I can use for my lunches and dinners throughout the week. I decided this weekend to make a couple of things I have never tried before. As seems to be my way, I thought I had chicken breasts to make one of the dishes...but when it came down to it I only had tenderloins. Damn again!! OK regroup and pick another recipe...Saturday night I made Mexican chicken with black beans. It was enough for my dinner plus 3 more meals. Tonight I am making halibut fish tacos. The fish has been marinating in a yummy mixture all day and I am super excited to try this recipe. I think this will also make 3 extra meals, so I won't have to cook again until Thursday! Yay!!
As I look at my list I realize that I am not going to finish everything. But out of the 10 things on my list I will complete 8 and that is a victory in my book!! I treated myself to a trip to my local women's spa yesterday. Spent and hour and a half in the various rooms and pools and then topped off my visit with a sugar scrub and full moisture treatment. OMG I felt so amazing afterwards and it made all the yard work so worth it. This spa (Ladywells Vitality Spa) is so serene and peaceful...when I walk through the doors I immediately feel better. It's like stepping into another dimension and I leave all my worries and fears at the door. I wish I could afford to go every week!!!
So all in all this was a good week. I got on the scale this morning and I had lost a pound. After a couple of weeks of no loss, it was good to see the scale going down again. I am trying really hard to not measure my success by a number on a scale. Having said that however, I want to lose 40 more pounds, so I don't want to lose sight of my goal either. Hopefully with better meals, continued exercise and a positive outlook I will drop out of the 170's next week! So exited to see 160-something on that scale in the near future!!!
Here is my progress so far...
Highest weight - 224.4
Surgery weight - 216.0
Current weight - 171.2
Sunday, July 12, 2015
My first 5K...and a lesson in believing in myself
Today I ran my very first 5K. My oldest daughter ran it too and we both had goals that we wanted to achieve. Hers was to finish in under 30 minutes, which meant she had to beat her previous 10 minute mile standard. I wanted to finish in under 1 hour. I am not a runner...I have never been a runner...but I have been really hard on myself lately and needed to accomplish something so that I could look at myself in the mirror and say "I am proud of you!" I knew from the beginning that I wasn't going to be able to run the whole 3.1 miles...I just wanted to set some kind of run/walk pace that would get me across the finish line in under 1 hour.
But a funny thing happened to me when I started the race. I started off at a slow jog and decided that I could make it to the coffee shop that is out of the park where the race started and down the street a ways...then I made it to the coffee shop. I was still feeling good, so I said that I would make it to the first water station...so I did. Then I said I would make it to the bridge...and I did. I just kept running...not a blistering pace by any means...but I kept going...and going...and going... The race had a turnaround point where the fastest runners would pass us on their way back to the finish line. I was watching for my daughter when the first few runners passed me on their way back. Sure enough, I saw her coming and we were able to high five and encourage each other. At that point I decided that I could make it to the turnaround before slowing to a walk. But when I made it to the turnaround and I still had gas in the tank I started to believe...to believe that I could run the entire race without having to walk. With each stride my brain started to believe what my body was telling it. That we could do it...that we were strong, and confident, and able to achieve this. So I kept running. When I entered the park where the finish line was I was almost in tears. Never had I felt this "at peace" in my own body. When I saw the finish line I picked up my pace. I passed a few runners and speeded up a bit more. And then I crossed that damn finish line with my arms raised in the air and even threw in a fist pump for good measure!! And to top it off, I got a medal. My daughter told me that she could see they were only going to give medals to a set number of runners and that they were down to only a few left when she saw me coming. She and her boyfriend were shouting encouragement at me to run...run faster...and it ended up that I got the 3rd to the last medal handed out! Close call...but the best thing of all was that when I looked up at the timer it read 48 minutes!! Holy crap!!! I crushed my goal of under one hour!!! I did cry then...with my daughter hugging me and telling me how proud she was of me, I just cried. When I could breath again, I asked her how she did and she was all smiles when she told me she finished in 29 minutes! A double victory!!
So now I am back at home...making a peach & blueberry crumble to take to our office picnic which is this afternoon. The race seems surreal now, looking back. But I have learned that I can push myself farther than I ever believed possible and that I have to trust my body to know more than my head!
No weight was lost on the scale this week. But so much was gained in life! I am proud of myself...proud that I tried...proud that I succeeded...and proud that I didn't let my head stop me from the best feeling I have felt in a long long time!
But a funny thing happened to me when I started the race. I started off at a slow jog and decided that I could make it to the coffee shop that is out of the park where the race started and down the street a ways...then I made it to the coffee shop. I was still feeling good, so I said that I would make it to the first water station...so I did. Then I said I would make it to the bridge...and I did. I just kept running...not a blistering pace by any means...but I kept going...and going...and going... The race had a turnaround point where the fastest runners would pass us on their way back to the finish line. I was watching for my daughter when the first few runners passed me on their way back. Sure enough, I saw her coming and we were able to high five and encourage each other. At that point I decided that I could make it to the turnaround before slowing to a walk. But when I made it to the turnaround and I still had gas in the tank I started to believe...to believe that I could run the entire race without having to walk. With each stride my brain started to believe what my body was telling it. That we could do it...that we were strong, and confident, and able to achieve this. So I kept running. When I entered the park where the finish line was I was almost in tears. Never had I felt this "at peace" in my own body. When I saw the finish line I picked up my pace. I passed a few runners and speeded up a bit more. And then I crossed that damn finish line with my arms raised in the air and even threw in a fist pump for good measure!! And to top it off, I got a medal. My daughter told me that she could see they were only going to give medals to a set number of runners and that they were down to only a few left when she saw me coming. She and her boyfriend were shouting encouragement at me to run...run faster...and it ended up that I got the 3rd to the last medal handed out! Close call...but the best thing of all was that when I looked up at the timer it read 48 minutes!! Holy crap!!! I crushed my goal of under one hour!!! I did cry then...with my daughter hugging me and telling me how proud she was of me, I just cried. When I could breath again, I asked her how she did and she was all smiles when she told me she finished in 29 minutes! A double victory!!
So now I am back at home...making a peach & blueberry crumble to take to our office picnic which is this afternoon. The race seems surreal now, looking back. But I have learned that I can push myself farther than I ever believed possible and that I have to trust my body to know more than my head!
No weight was lost on the scale this week. But so much was gained in life! I am proud of myself...proud that I tried...proud that I succeeded...and proud that I didn't let my head stop me from the best feeling I have felt in a long long time!
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Stalling again... :(
I thought my last stall was too good to be true at having lasted only one week. I was really happy, but in my normal way of thinking I was waiting for the other shoe to drop...and now it has. I was out of town on Sunday (my normal weigh in day) and so yesterday I was finally able to get on the scale and...nothing. Bummer!! I was visiting relatives in California most of the week and so that did disrupt my normal routine. But I took my protein drinks and bars with me and even though I didn't have my gym, I got up early every morning and went for my walk. I was hoping that I did enough to keep the scale moving...but obviously I didn't!
The weather here is still very warm and it's a possibility that I am retaining some water because of that...but I don't want to ever play the "scale mind games" that I used to play and so I am just saying that once again I am stuck. It is frustrating to look down at that display and see no result from your hard work. But the difference now versus before surgery is that there is no going back. It doesn't matter how long it takes me to lose this last 40 pounds, it IS going to happen. I am going to be eating this way for the rest of my life and so eventually the weight will come off!
My first 5K is this weekend. I can be honest and say that I am not ready for it. I didn't complete the "couch to 5K" training that I started a month ago. This stupid hot weather really derailed that for me. It makes it so difficult to come home to an 87 degree house and then want to go out in the heat and run. I don't have any concerns about finishing the race...I have walked the distance many times...but it's going to take a miracle to finish it in under 1 hour (which was my goal). But this is my very first race and the hope is that I will fall in love with the "race vibe" and be inspired by the other women and want to do it again and again. In order for me to make this change and make it stick for the rest of my life, I need to find ways to be active that are social and fun.
One really good thing is that I finally got back to logging my measurements. I have lost 39 1/2 inches in total since my pre surgery measurements. Plus...none of my measurements are above 50 inches anymore! The biggest losses are in my waist (6"), my hips (10.5"), and my bust (6"). I measured pre surgery and then forgot about it until my first stall. Since then, I measure on the first Sunday of every month. It is really encouraging to see the inches falling away even though that scale has slowed way down. I am glad I got back on track with it. I have now set a couple of measurement goals to go along with weight loss goals. I want my waist measurement (currently at 39") to get down to 30 inches, and I want my hip measurement (currently at 42") to get down to 36". The only way that is going to happen is to keep going with my exercise!!!
After much traveling in the first 6 months of this year, I get to stay at home now until October. This will give me three months to dial in my program and get busy getting this weight off. My next trip is our annual managers retreat to Palm Springs. I want my weight to be solidly in the 150's before that happens, so I have got some work to do!! I'll keep writing this blog to record my progress and my thoughts while on my way to goal. Off to work now...
The weather here is still very warm and it's a possibility that I am retaining some water because of that...but I don't want to ever play the "scale mind games" that I used to play and so I am just saying that once again I am stuck. It is frustrating to look down at that display and see no result from your hard work. But the difference now versus before surgery is that there is no going back. It doesn't matter how long it takes me to lose this last 40 pounds, it IS going to happen. I am going to be eating this way for the rest of my life and so eventually the weight will come off!
My first 5K is this weekend. I can be honest and say that I am not ready for it. I didn't complete the "couch to 5K" training that I started a month ago. This stupid hot weather really derailed that for me. It makes it so difficult to come home to an 87 degree house and then want to go out in the heat and run. I don't have any concerns about finishing the race...I have walked the distance many times...but it's going to take a miracle to finish it in under 1 hour (which was my goal). But this is my very first race and the hope is that I will fall in love with the "race vibe" and be inspired by the other women and want to do it again and again. In order for me to make this change and make it stick for the rest of my life, I need to find ways to be active that are social and fun.
One really good thing is that I finally got back to logging my measurements. I have lost 39 1/2 inches in total since my pre surgery measurements. Plus...none of my measurements are above 50 inches anymore! The biggest losses are in my waist (6"), my hips (10.5"), and my bust (6"). I measured pre surgery and then forgot about it until my first stall. Since then, I measure on the first Sunday of every month. It is really encouraging to see the inches falling away even though that scale has slowed way down. I am glad I got back on track with it. I have now set a couple of measurement goals to go along with weight loss goals. I want my waist measurement (currently at 39") to get down to 30 inches, and I want my hip measurement (currently at 42") to get down to 36". The only way that is going to happen is to keep going with my exercise!!!
After much traveling in the first 6 months of this year, I get to stay at home now until October. This will give me three months to dial in my program and get busy getting this weight off. My next trip is our annual managers retreat to Palm Springs. I want my weight to be solidly in the 150's before that happens, so I have got some work to do!! I'll keep writing this blog to record my progress and my thoughts while on my way to goal. Off to work now...
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