Carmel 5k for Haiti recap

I can't believe I ran the whole thing!

I met my goal of running the entire race, and my tentative hope that I would finish in under 40 minutes! 

Time was about 36:40, but I was a little overexcited when I looked at the clock and am guessing a bit on the seconds.  I'll update once they post official times.

It was warm and humid, but it did rain last night (finally!) so it wasn't as hot as it's been.  Plus it was still completely overcast, which was nice.

Notable moments include:

• Using the 'mobile restroom'...technically a porta-potty with multiple stalls, but it legitimately looked like a fancy bathroom.  There was music piped in and automatic sinks and everything.  Color me impressed.
• Running my first mile under 11:30
• Passing a number of people who appeared to be more fit than me, but they fizzled out and had to walk.
• Discovering how hard it is to drink from a cup and keep running...gave up and just poured it over my face.  That's about what I would have accomplished anyway had I continued trying to drink it.
• Following a gentleman in a neon yellow tank the entire race, but sprinting at the end and passing him just before the finish line.
• Almost shoving people out of my way after the finish.  Folks just stopped right there to chat, but I had to keep walking and cool down or I was going to throw up on somebody.

They were taking pictures in a few places along the way, so hopefully I will have some to post soon.  You'll get to see how red and sweaty I am when running, hooray!

For now, here's my new tech shirt and my race bib.  :)

I have arrived!!!!!!

Ok, so the Healthy Choice Café Steamers teriyaki steak I had for lunch wasn't quite as exciting as tea with the Mad Hatter.  But nonetheless, I am in ONEderland!!!

Weigh in:  Saturday, 7/23/11 - 199.2 - 1.6 lbs lost, 51 total

Weight Watchers awards.
Clockwise from top:  Keyring for 10% of
starting weight lost; -25 lb washer;
'Stay & Succeed' charm for attending 16
meetings; 5k completion charm; -50 lb washer

I didn't cry on the scale when I saw the number the receptionist wrote down, but I did tear up a little this morning when I jumped on the scale at home before the meeting.  (I do this every week, don't ask me why...I know it doesn't really do me any good!)

I got a new charm for my keyring for losing 50 pounds!

It's been nearly 2 months since my last set of progress pictures.  2 months to lose 11 pounds...it's acceptable, certainly, but that sounds quite slow to me.  I was spoiled with my quick loss at the beginning.

I still have an issue recognizing the weight loss in myself.  Logically, I know I'm a lot thinner because I can wear smaller sizes, and my measurements are getting smaller, but I have some sort of mental block when it comes to actually *seeing* it.

I have now lost 20% of my starting weight of 250.2.  My BMI has dropped from 38 (nearly morbidly obese) to 30.3.  I am still "o-beast" (I always say it like that when I'm talking to my mom, I feel it is an appropriate descriptor, but amusing at the same time...sometimes you gotta laugh at yourself!).  But I am inching ever-closer to the 'overweight' range of the scale.

Weight Watchers' BMI calculator on their website doesn't use decimal places, so they say I'll be overweight (BMI of 29) at 193 lbs.  More precise online calculators that count the overweight range up to a BMI of 29.9, tell me I'll be there at 196.8 lbs.  I've settled on 193.4 as my next mini-goal, and I'd like to hit that by September 3.

My full weight record.  I'm averaging 1.9 lbs lost per week.

Personal goal for the rest of my life:  Never see a number on the scale or on my pants that starts with a 2, ever again!

Ruh roh

At this rate I'm not going to get to my 'ONEderland by August 6' goal.  Lame.

Weigh in:  Saturday, 7/2/11 - 206.2 - 0.8 lbs lost, 44 lbs total

To meet my goal I have to lose an average of 1.3 lbs a week.  My average for the last 4 weeks is 0.8 a week.  I'm glad I'm still losing consistently but I'm bummed it's slowing down!  I know that's part of the process, but I still have so far to go, it's starting to feel like I'll be paying for my WW monthly pass for a looong time.

Can we talk?

Excuse the terrible picture, I was trying to show size.

Seriously.  Fiber One brownies.  Go buy some.

These things might the best packaged good-for-me food I've encountered.  I was at Costco on Sunday and on a whim got a giant box of 36 of these babies.  I was not disappointed!

Mine are the Chocolate Fudge brownies.  They also come in Chocolate Peanut Butter.  *drool*

5g of fiber (that's 20% of your daily recommended value), 90 calories, and a measly 2 WW Points+.  Delicious.

Also on my trip to Costco, I carried a 40 lb bag of cat litter through the store.  Carried, without the aid of a cart.  I figured, I used to carry that much extra weight around every day of my life, what's 2 minutes?  A good illustration of what I've accomplished.  I was sweating a little by the time I got to the front.  If you haven't done this experiment with a bag of potatoes at the grocery store, or dog food, or whatever heavy item equates to your personal weight loss, I highly recommend it!


Another small milestone:  I've graduated to wearing medium unisex/men's t-shirts again!  I've been wearing L or XL for a few years, but this week I've been pulling shirts from the back of my closet that I used to wear in high school!  My wearable t-shirt collection has grown. :)

Insane smile...can you
tell I was really excited?

I also discovered I can squeeze into the sparkly dress I wore in my junior and senior years as a member of my high school women's showchoir.  It's tight across the bust right now, where as back in the day the whole thing was always a little big on me because they cut it a size or two too large and had to tailor it down.  I have 2 other sparklies that are smaller, so I'll keep using showchoir dresses as an indication of my progress.  Ultimately I'd love to be able to get into the one that I wore during my sophomore year!


Last thing for today:  I finally got new running shoes!  I've been wearing a pair of Brooks' Ghost 2 for well over a year.  The treads are worn down and I've noticed my arches cramping during Zumba.  I have a big problem with underpronation, which is when most of your weight falls on the outside of your foot when you walk/run.  I had the painful beginnings of plantar fasciitis before I bought my first pair of Brooks', and once I started wearing them it cleared up almost immediately.  So rather than trying on endless styles I stuck with what I know works for me and ordered a pair of Ghost 3 from Zappos.com.  Helpful tip:  If you have tried on shoes/been fitted for running shoes and know what you need, Zappo's often has last year's models on sale, unlike your local sporting goods store.  I got them $20 cheaper because Zappo's already has the Ghost 4 in stock.

I'll leave you this evening with a picture of my new pretties!

I'm still alive!

I know everyone was worried.  ;)

I never posted weigh-in from last week, so I'll do that and yesterday's right now:

Weigh in:  Saturday, 6/4/11 - 209.4 - 1 lb lost, 40.8 total

Weigh in:  Saturday, 6/11/11 - 210.2 - 0.8 lb gain

I had my bad few days before the first weigh in, and then the few directly after it I still wasn't on track, so the last couple weigh-ins were a wash.  I did get my next 5 pound loss star sticker for losing 40. 

As of yesterday I am cracking down on my nonsense and will be tracking everything!  I've also started tracking bottles of water (about 16 oz) rather than cups (8 oz) on my Weight Watchers etools.  It has 8 check boxes on the tracker  I'm trying to drink a gallon of water every day, so that's 8 bottles - works out well.

Here are my recent workouts:

Tuesday, 6/7/11 - 10k plan, Day 5 - 1.97 miles in 30:00 (15:11 pace) - 5 min warmup/cooldown walks @ 3.4, 20 min jog @ 4.2

Thursday, 6/9/11 - 10k plan, Day 6 - 2.68 miles in 40:00 (14:54 pace) - 5 min warmup/cooldown walks @ 3.5, incline work/jog @ 4.2

Friday, 6/10/11 - 10k plan, Day 7 - 3.16 miles in 45:00 (14:14 pace) - 5 min warmup walk @ 3.5, 30 min jog @ 4.3, 6x100m strides @ 5.1

I did 5k in under 45 minutes!  Pleased with myself on that one. 

I'm trying to increase my speed a tiny bit.  I get a little discouraged because one of my ultimate goals is to run a Disney half marathon, and they require a 16 min/mile pace.  I can barely keep up a 14-15 min pace for more than half an hour or so.  I won't even consider signing up for a race at this point first off because I don't have the funds, but mainly because the last thing I want to do is pay all those entry fees and not even get a medal because I didn't finish!  Once I get through this 10k program I'll probably move on to a half marathon plan to see if I can even cope with the distance.

*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!

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!

Last Chance Workout!

Friday, 3/25/11 - exercise video - 30 min

I didn't work out yesterday - bad me.  I was bruised from sitting on the stationary bike on Tuesday and Wednesday so I used that as an excuse, albeit probably a poor one.

Tonight should have been a running night, but as it's cold outside (where did spring go?!) and the treadmill is spazzing out right now, I decided to check out the selection of exercise videos that on demand on cable.

I settled on Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout with Jillian Michaels. 

Being the weenie that I am, I sat through the whole thing first to make sure it didn't look like it would kill me.  Despite my pre-viewing, it occurs to me that I am a terrible judge of my own fitness level.  I got through the whole thing, but I had to resort to the beginner's modifications after a short while of trying the full-out exercises on almost everything.  Yikes.  At least I tried, and at least I finished. 

I do believe it's time for some new running shoes, my shins and ankles weren't very happy with me during a lot of the higher impact cardio bits.  Current shoes were great when they were new, but they're way over a year old at this point.

Now I'm having a hard time lifting my 32 oz Nalgene water bottle.  Jelly limbs, for sure.  Stupid body, why can't I just wish you buff?!

Got in 4 days of working out in some capacity this week.  Goal for next week is 5.  Treadmill is due to be fixed on Monday.

Weigh in tomorrow!  Crossing my fingers for at least a pound loss!

Bad day

Wednesday, 3/23/11 - stationary bike - 3.9 miles in 20:15

I take care of my grandma on weekdays, and this week she has been almost completely unresponsive, and when she does say anything it's argumentative.  I think she's fed up with her situation and I can't say I blame her.  I wouldn't enjoy life if I had no idea who anyone was or what was going on at any point in the day either!  Anyway, it takes a lot of energy mentally to deal with her right now and I was very tired this evening as a result.

It also turned into one of those days when I'm just frustrated with my life in general...I feel like I'm stuck in a rut.  This doesn't have anything to do with weight loss at this point, that's going great.  Everything else - meh.

I was prepared to do my running workout but it seems the treadmill is busted again.  We had a repair man come a couple weeks ago and he did a temporary fix on it so we could use it until the new parts we need come in.  Temporary was accurate; I think I used it twice before the belt started jerking again.

By the time I discovered this I was pretty frustrated, so I just did 20 minutes on the exercise bike.  A short workout, but I did work hard...I'm definitely not a lady that 'glows' during a workout.  No euphemisms apply for the amount of sweat I produce.  (Yeah, gross...)

And I absolutely had a small brownie and a full cup of light peanut butter chocolate ice cream.  About 11 PointsPlus but I had it to spend, so though I was somewhat comforting myself with food once again, it wasn't cheating.  The important part is that I recognize it...right?  RIGHT? 

Due to my bummed-outed-ness, which is a totally valid hypenation I'm sure, I've decided a goal with a time limit may be a good thing to have right now.  So I'm going to do it:  My short term goal is to lose a total of 35 lbs by June 1.  There it is, un-take-back-able (another completely acceptable hyphenation).  Wish me luck!

Weigh in day *cue ominous music*

Weigh in:  Saturday, 3/19/11 - 229.2 - 2 lbs lost

That's a loss of 21 pounds in the past 9 weeks!  Fairly big loss this week in spite of mother nature...take that, hormones!  And one of the ladies at the meeting came up to me afterward and told me she could really tell I'd been losing, so that was a nice confidence boost.

In Weight Watchers meetings, we receive a star sticker to put in our pocket guidebook for every 5 pounds we lose, so I have 4 of them now.  The first three came every 2 weeks, but this last one took me 3, so I'll estimate another 3 until I lose 25 total and reach 10% of my body weight lost.  My next goal is in sight!

And beyond the 10%, I'll have another 12.5 lbs to lose before I get down to the lowest I've been in my previous bouts of yo-yo-ing.  After that I'll be losing all new weight, weight that has been on me for the past 4-5 years and it's time to say BUH-BYE!

After my successful weigh in, I came home to find my mom had made a breakfast of scrambled eggs w/ cheese and peppers, bacon, and cinnamon rolls.  Somewhat of a splurge, but protein is good, so I had the eggs and bacon with one of my 2 point English muffins.  I really should have checked the points on the cinnamon roll before I ate it, though.  8 PointsPlus!  8!  Yeesh.  I knew it was nutritionally worthless, but wow.

Then we went to Fazoli's for dinner, and I got a salad, but ate 2 breadsticks with it, which was another whopping 8 points for the bread alone.  I usually let myself off the hook a little bit on the weekends; my choices aren't as good but I try to stay within my daily point allowance.  That didn't quite happen today.  If I have a snack this evening it will be some fruit, because fruit is 0 points!  Hooray fruit!

And a small victory - the enablers at Fazoli's put 5 breadsticks on our tray.  There were still 2 sitting there when we were finished eating, and it took great force of will, but I threw them in the trash.  *cheer*  Bread is definitely a weakness of mine; usually when we go out to eat at any of the various places that give you a loaf of bread as a free starter, I just avoid it altogether.