"When you wish upon a star..."

I'm back to my old standby.  "Old" as in the last time I tried to lose weight before this blog was thought of.  Disney movies while on the treadmill.  I am a serious Diz-geek.  So when I post my workout logs and I'm jogging or walking, odds are I'm watching Disney while doing it.  Lemme tell ya, it's hard to get all choked up and teary and still be able to breathe properly while running (yes, I'm that big of a sap for touching moments in film).

Wednesday, 5/25/11 - PALA 10k plan, Day 2 - 2.6 miles in 40:00 (15:23 pace) - 5 min warmup/cooldown walks @ 3.4, incline work @ 4.2 w/ a couple walk breaks

Friday, 5/27/11 - PALA 10k plan, Day 3 - 2.67 miles in 40:00 (15:00 pace) - 5 min warmup/cooldown walks @ 3.4, 30 min jog @ 4.2

Sunday, 5/29/11 - PALA 10k plan, Day 4 - 3.94 miles in 60:00 (15:14 pace) - 10 min walk @ 3.4, 35 min jog @ 4.2, 10 min walk, 4x100 strides @ 5.0

Sunday was pretty tough.  I'd been out in the sun on Saturday and Sunday gardening...being in the heat is draining in itself, but my hamstrings were also complaining from the constant bending that yardwork calls for.  I pushed through it, and was rewarded with some killer nausea a little afterward.  I think it was due to dehydration...I got in my normal amount of water for the day, but I should have consumed a lot more considering how I sweat while I was outside, and then of course while I was jogging.

I was planning on going to Zumba on Sunday instead of jogging, but the instructor emailed saying it was cancelled, probably due to the holiday.  Hopefully next weekend I'll get to class...it's been a month!

*grin*

I'm a little confused...but in a good way.

Weigh in:  Saturday 5/28/11 - 210.4 - 4 lbs lost, 39.8 total

Okay, first of all - 4 pound losses 2 weeks in a row?!  How does this happen?  I've been tracking everything this week, but I definitely used some of my extra points and I've gone out to eat literally every day because my mom is on vacation and that's just what we do.

And second - 0.2 away from 40?  A measly 3 oz away.  That left my weigh in feeling oddly like a let down, even though I've lost 8 pounds in the past two weeks. (!)

So, whatever, I do what I want...I'm rounding and calling it 40 because I feel like it's time for more progress pictures!  Are you super excited?!

I feel like it's a little hard to see in pictures except around my face, but these days I catch my reflection or my shadow out of the corner of my eye and have to stop and go "Wow, look at ME!"

Today also marked another goal met and surpassed - weight at 212.7.  I'm now officially at my lowest weight of the past 4+ years.  (I keep being non-commital on this number because I honestly did not step on a scale for ages, so I don't know at what point I ballooned for real...it may be more like 5 years, but the 4 I'm sure of.) 

If there was a Weight Watchers award for 15% body weight lost like there is for 5 and 10%, I'd have received that today.  And my BMI has dropped from 38 to 32. 

The goal line on my weight tracker was set at that 212.7, so I've now moved it down to (get this!) 199.9!  ONEderland is in my sights and I'm closing in!



Some fun things (for me, anyway) to think about:

-My driver's license says my weight is 200.  I'm almost true to that now!  (Definitely fudged it by a LARGE margin last time I renewed my license, obviously.)

-Once I live in ONEderland, I will be but a handful of itty bitty pounds away from being overweight.  That may sound odd, but what I mean is this:  I will no longer be obese!

I can already see myself crying on the scale at my meeting when my weight starts with a 1 for the first time in who knows how long.  It's gonna be a great day, and hopefully that day is but a few short weeks away!

Activities!

Weight Watchers has been plugging the Walk It Challenge, which is a 6 week program to encourage folks to get moving and walk a 5k.  I didn't participate in their training program since I can easily walk that far already, but I did go with my WW leader and a couple other ladies from my meeting on a walk around the neighborhood to complete the 5k.  We get a charm for our keychains for stepping up to the challenge...hopefully we'll get those next week so I can post a picture.  We kept a pretty decent pace considering we stopped to chat and had to wait for cars to pass to cross the street and whatnot.

Saturday, 5/21/11 - walked ~3 miles in ~53:00

On Sunday I did some yardwork - trimming bushes with the electric hedgetrimmer and some manual clippers.  I earned a couple activity points.  I also apparently got a mad workout on my forearms because they are sore today!  That powertool is heavy!

I debated going to Zumba, but I was wiped from being out in the sun working.  Ended up going to a late lunch with the parents and didn't get back home until after class start time, anyway.  Hopefully next week!

Today I finally got myself back on the treadmill.  I decided to restart my 10k training program, since I haven't run for distance in about 3 weeks.

Monday, 5/23/11 - PALA 10k plan, Day 1 - 1.97 miles in 30:00 (15:15 pace) - 5 min warmup/cooldown walks @ 3.4mph, 20 min jog @ 4.2

It wasn't too bad...really sweaty as usual, but not abnormally out of breath.  I could tell my legs aren't used to running for more than a few minutes at a time right now, but I got through it fine.

I'm starting to think about my loose skin, and how I need to be filling it back out with toned muscle.  These batwings need to diminish ASAP - not cute.  I hope it's not *too* unsightly when I get to the end of all this.  On the bright side, when I have babies I shouldn't get any extra stretch marks because I have them all over already!  Ha.

Back in the saddle

I didn't track all week.  Boooooo.  It is so hard for me to get back on my game after I come home, it happens every time.  I'm tracking again today though, finally.

I ate less than I had while I was away, and I tried my best to keep a mental log of my food intake the last couple days of my WW week.  I know I was bloated and irregular from eating poorly and lack of exercise during my time on vacation, and probably retaining water from traveling, so with those two problems resolved once I got home, I had a good week for weight loss despite my lack of tracking.

Weigh in:  Saturday, 5/21/11 - 214.4 - 4 lbs lost, 35.8 total

I achieved my personal goal - coming back to my home meeting at the same weight or less as I was when I left.  (3.2 lbs less to be exact.)  This makes me slightly suspicious that the scale at my 'away' meeting was a bit off, but that's to be expected.

If you've been following along for a few entries, you'll also notice that I met my short-term goal of losing 35 lbs by June 1!!!  WOOT.

I do feel my motivation waning a bit, so I think I'll do something like that again:  50 lbs by August 6!  I'd say Aug. 1 but I'd rather put my goal date on a weigh in day.

I'm also *very* close to reaching my biggest weight loss to date.  I've mentioned this before - in July '09, I got down to 212.8.  When I surpass that I'll have lost 15% of my body weight, and be the lightest I've been in at least 4 years.  I'm on my way!

I'm baaaaack!

Ok, so I'm not really that excited to be home, because I have a better time in AZ, but I am looking forward to getting back to my routine and weight loss.

Suffice it to say we went out to eat a LOT, drank too many margaritas, and only worked out a couple times in the nearly 2 weeks I was gone.  I did track on most days, and some working out is better than none, so I do feel that I've made some steps in the right direction as far as vacations are concerned. 

I also attended local Weight Watchers meetings on both Saturday mornings I was away.  I won't post an official weigh in since I'm unsure how spot on their scale would be with my normal meeting scale, but I was down 1 lb, and then up 1.8.  Add it together and I gained less than a pound while I was away.  Coming from a gal who formerly gained 5 or more pounds during any weeklong vacation, I'd say I did pretty well.

We'll see how well I'm bouncing back when I'm back to my home meeting on Saturday!

God bless stretchy belts and Right Fit jeans!!!

I went to the mall today in to find a belt to go with my pinupgirlclothing.com Troublemaker dress.  Their clothes are made with an hourglass shape in mind for the most part, but even so, my waist is a size or three smaller than my bust and hips.  So the belt that came with the dress was way too big.  I did find a wide stretchy belt at Vanity, here's a picture of it with my dress:

Guess what size the belt is?!  M/L - yes, that's right.  There are no X's in front of the L.  I know it's stretchy, but I was excited because I didn't think it would fit properly.  This one has faux patent croc leather in the front, and I got another similar one with faux ostrich regular leather.  Love it!

I walked the whole mall, and I did treat myself to a garlic pretzel (10 PointsPlus) because I hadn't eaten anything yet today.

Another stop I made was Lane Bryant.  I didn't really plan on buying anything except perhaps some new Spanx because mine are getting worn out.  But I went to the jeans shelves and figured I'd try the Right Fit jeans just for fun, to see what size I take.  They have straight (for ladies with a bigger waist and thinner legs), moderately curvy, and curvy styles.  I looked high and low for a size 16-curvy and couldn't find one on the shelf at first, so I grabbed a 14.  I figured I wouldn't be able to get into them, but I could use them as a measure of how close I was to the size.  I kept rooting around and finally found a pair of 16s.  I took both pairs into the fitting room with me.

The 16s were really baggy in the waist, so I'm thinking "Here we go again, what a crock...Right Fit my ass..."  So, on with the 14s.  What's this?  I can pull them on?  And button and zip them?  And I can still breathe?!  Woohoo!  I had to go outside the dressing room and do a few turns in the big mirror, where the salesperson told me they looked good, and I told her she needed to celebrate with me because they were size 14!  Then I went back into the dressing room and got all teary-eyed. 

Crying while trying on clothes has generally been something I'd associate with being unable to find anything that fits well because of my size.  Not today!  Those were definitely happy tears.  I'm not deluding myself...I'm aware that if I were to grab a regular pair of jeans that were not cut to fit a small waist and huge rear, I'd still most likely have to get a size 18.  But one day in the not-so-distant future, I'll be shopping at a store that isn't known for catering to the plus-size crowd.

And yes, I did buy the jeans.  How could I not?!