And the Journey ENDS

Yes, you read that right. My weight loss journey has come to an abrupt end. I attended my final Weight Watchers meeting this morning, but I did not weigh-in. I simply went to tell my leader and some of the "regulars" good-bye. It was more emotional than I thought it would be....I actually shed a few tears. At the end I received lots of hugs.

I had my husband take an "after" photo earlier this week; it’s on the right-hand side of my blog. I look pretty good, if I do say so myself! ; )

Why am I quitting, you ask? Well…I found out last weekend that I'm pregnant… my estimated due date is July 1, 2009. I obviously won't be trying to lose weight for the next 8 months but I'm going to put my healthy eating habits to work so I don't use the excuse of "eating for two" and gain way too much weight. I'll eat more since I have to, but will make healthy choices instead of milkshakes, fried this-n-that, and candy bars. (Okay, I'm sure I'll have a craving every now and then...!) I also plan to keep on exercising (as much as my body will allow) and stay in shape for as long as I can.

After the baby is born, I plan to rejoin Weight Watchers to get the baby weight off and get down to my original goal of 145. I was only 5 pounds from reaching that the morning I took the test. I'm proud of how close I came and I know I would have made it had this little thing not happened. ; ) Once I start in again, I will bring "And the journey begins" back to life. But for now, this will be my last post.

Before I go, I want to tell those of you who commented regularly that I always enjoyed reading your comments. I love that I inspired some of you…and believe me, you inspired me, too. Good luck on reaching your goals...I'll more than likely keep visiting your blogs (you know who you are). Thanks again for all of your support over the last year. ((((hugs))))

In case you’re interested, I have started a new blog…this one will focus on my GROWING belly rather than my SHRINKING belly! Lol…. Feel free to visit Two Pink Lines if you’d like.

(Amy H in Lincoln....we aren't telling family and most friends till Christmas. We plan to break the news to you guys Monday at cask night...but in case you read this before then...sshhhhhh...)

Naked Weight

I've had a few questions about this...the reason I write "naked weight" every now and then is because any time I reference how many pounds I've lost or how many more I have to go, those amounts are WITH my clothes on since I can't strip down for the scale at Weight Watchers. lol.... That would be weird!

I make a note of my naked weight every now and then...like hitting 150.0! At WW that day, I was 151.2 with clothes.

I hope that clears up some confusion.

Quickly

The daily exercising definitely paid off....I lost 2.6 last week which puts my total at 69 pounds even. My naked weight was 150.0!

Keeping My Word and a Shout-Out

That's right folks....I've EXERCISED every day since last Friday! AND I even went to the gym last night! =)

I started back walking/climbing stairs here at work during my breaks and lunch. The stairs are kicking my butt...well, technically my calves. They are NOT very happy with me. lol.... I had a "note to self" moment yesterday...."don't look down to adjust the volume on your shuffle" because I wasn't paying attention to where I was and completely missed a set of stairs. Luckily for me there were just 3 of them, but it was still quite a shock! How I didn't complete biff it I don't know because by the time I recovered I was at the bottom of them and still on my feet, surprisingly enough. I'm just glad no one was up there to see it because I know my arms were a-flailing! lol....

I saw a number on the scale that I haven't see in oh, about 5 years, this morning! 151.4 which is .8 less than weigh-in last Saturday. =) Go me! (yes, I'm tooting my own horn here) Let's just hope it keeps going down over the next few days so I have a nice loss at my next weigh-in.

This is off subject, but I wanted to brag about my husband just a bit. Last November when I decided to do something about my expanding waistline and join WW, I never asked him to do it with me or said he needed to lose weight, too. As he puts it now, he just "came along for the ride." He makes better food choices, doesn't eat as much, and is at the gym at 5 a.m. M-F.

He's 6'3" and when he started his "lifestyle change" he weighed 285. Last Saturday morning he weighed 228. That's 57 pounds! I need to take an "after" shot and post it here with a "before" picture so you can see the difference. I'm very proud of him and I contribute my success to him because he's been uber supportive through this whole process.

So there's my 'shout-out' to my hubs. =)

I'll check back in after weigh-in this weekend.

Weigh-In Update

I only gained .6 pounds from my last "official" weigh-in which was 2 weeks ago. Not bad considering all of the full-fat Lay's sour cream 'n onion chips I binged on over the last week and a half. I confessed to my husband that I had had a lot of them when he wasn't around and his comment was something like "so that's where they went" since the bag didn't last as long as it should have. I told him we need to switch the door knobs around in the house and put the locking knob from the office on the pantry and when he's not around to take the key with him. I'm only half joking.

I walked over my lunch hour yesterday for 30 minutes and we took the dog for a walk, which also takes 30 minutes. And during halftime of the Huskers game we went for 30 minute walk. I just need to keep the activity going.

Our leader had us all set a mini-goal for the Saturday before Thanksgiving, which is November 22. That's 5 weeks from today. I really, really, really want to be at goal by then. To do so, I have to lose 8.8 pounds. I can do it. I just need to recommit and get my butt off the couch!

Get to Know Me!

I was tagged by Shanna (aka roobabs) to list 6 things about me. This was much harder than I thought it would be. Hopefully you find it somewhat interesting. Lucky for me you can't throw rotten fruit or spoiled eggs at me from cyberspace if you find it boring!

Here goes nothing…

1. I was born and raised in McCook, NE, a town of about 8,000 in the southwest corner of the state. My parents have been married for 41 years. I have one brother who is 3 years older than me. In 1994 I moved 230 miles from home to Lincoln, NE, the capital city, and have been here ever since. I live amongst approximately 235,000 other people and nearly all of them are horrible drivers!
   
2. I’ve been at my current job for 11 years. I’m afraid I could become a “lifer.” My office is in the State Capitol building, sometimes referred to as the “Penis of the Plains.” Seriously. I work in one of the “testicles” on the first floor.
   
3. I met my husband “the old-fashioned way” at P.O. Pears, a bar that has since closed….when I was 32. I find that funny because back in my early 20s when I went to the bars to actually scout for men I had no luck. Then on a night when I was just out with friends for the fun of it and not looking at all…I find Mr. Right. Go figure. He proposed to me 9 months to the day later. And we were married 1 year and 4 days after that. Our 2-year anniversary is December 9.


4. I was a band geek in school. I played two instruments; the clarinet in pep band and marching band and the alto clarinet (it’s bigger and has a lower range) in concert band. I made the All-State Honor Band and the Wesleyan Honor Band my junior year. I didn’t try out my senior year for the honor bands because we had a new band teacher who sucked and I lost interest.


5. My first car was “Claire,” a white 1982 Buick Skylark that my parents bought me a couple of months before I turned 16. I loved her and we had a lot of good times together. I’ve had 5 cars since her and she’s the only car I’ve ever named. And the only one I refer to as “her” and not just “my car” or “the car.”


6. I’m a horrible singer. Just ask my husband…he’ll tell you! Or the people who sit in front of us at church. I try not to sing too loud but still. Let’s just say I wasn’t asked to join the choir like my husband.

I will tag the following people to share some tid-bits about themselves with the rest of us: Matt, Heather, and Kari.

Unrelated to this post is a comment that Shanna left for me on my previous post that actually did make me LOL. "Glad to see that you didn't decide to run off to the north pole and make toys for children..." That cracked me up and made me wish I had thought of that because it would've made for a great title or intro. =)

Also, I forgot to tell you that when we went back home for the parade I came across the wool blazer I wore in junior high band that was part of our uniform. I tried it on and guess what? IT FIT PERFECTLY! How amazing is that? I'm back to the size I was when I was 14 or 15 years old! My letter jacket also fit. I really should've took some pictures...maybe when we go back for Thanksgiving I'll do that.

I have my meeting in the morning and as of this morning, I'm the same weight I was last Friday at my last "unofficial" weigh-in. The pound-melting fairy needs to visit before 8 a.m. tomorrow and take a couple of pounds with her so I don't show a gain! hahaha...

Back from a Hiatus

It's been more than 2 weeks since I updated my blog...mainly because I have no major news to share. At my last "official" weigh-in on October 4th, I showed a .2 gain. But in my defense, I wore a pair of jeans since it's colder these days...instead of my normal cotton capris. The difference in weight between these 2 articles of clothing was .8 pounds. So I actually lost .6 that week.

This past weekend we were out of town so I didn't have an official weigh-in, but I weighed myself last Friday (a day earlier than my "official" weigh-in would have been had I been in town) and I was up 2 pounds. Not surprising since I had some problems staying out of the pantry last week while left alone in the house on a couple of different nights.

I've been struggling lately with my points...I haven't been writing stuff down as religiously as I had been. I'm thinking about switching to the Core program but as I look through the list of Core foods, I'm already eating foods that are considered Core. The only things I eat that aren't are bread, yogurt (not the kind that I'm eating anyway), and the deli turkey I have for lunch. I'm going to talk to my leader this weekend and see what she thinks. They say that some members experience good losses just from switching plans, and since I've been at a stand-still, I'd like to give it a try. I want these last 8 pounds off!

I also haven't been working out. At all. I'm just not motivated one bit. I've been saying "I'll go tomorrow" for the last couple of weeks...and so far tomorrow hasn't come. I'm sure that if I'd just get active again, the weight would start coming off. I just need to do it.

On a lighter note, I am finally almost rid of all of my fat clothes! The sister of one of my friends came over a few weeks ago and took most of the 18s and all of the 20s, along with my 2x's. She asked if I wanted anything in return for them and I told her no. Then a couple of weeks ago, two of my friends came over and took everything else (14s - 18s; XL - 1X), with the exception of a couple pairs of capris and a shirt or two. Again, I didn't expect or ask for anything in return, but they went together and bought me a $50 gift card to Penneys! I was super excited because that's where I've been buying most of my clothes lately. So that was really nice of them.

I've still been checking blogs and have kept up with how all of you are doing (you know who you are). I was hoping that by reading about how much you're exercising and running that the pounds would melt off of me....but sadly, that's not how it works! lol....

Keep up the hard work, ladies....I'll try to get back to my regular posting. (Hopefully you haven't given up on my blog and will read this....I love seeing the comments you leave for me.) Till next time....ariva derche!

Everyone Loves a Parade!

Well, Saturday was the parade back in my hometown that I'd told you all about. My dad and I practiced a bit on the tandem bike Friday when we got there and I'm glad...we were a bit wobbly at first (okay, I'll take the blame for it...) but after a while I got the hang of it and we were zipping around just fine. =)

The parade was Saturday morning and if I do say so myself, we were quite a hit! The kids were yelling "Santa, Santa!" (one of them said my dad wasn't fat enough to be Santa!) and lots of them wanted to pet our "reindog" as well. lol... She was adorable in her red t-shirt and antlers (which we had to safety pin to the shirt to keep them somewhat in place.) We waved at lots of people and my mom threw nearly 2 big bags worth of tootsie rolls along the 1-mile route.

I look like I still weigh 220 in the costume since it was really big. The tights were almost too small but the pants and coat were huge! Why dad didn't think it would fit some of the other guys in the "toy shop" is beyond me...I'm thinking that none of them wanted to look ridiculous is all! lol... Or, maybe he just wanted me to be in it with him. I don't know, but it was a lot of fun. I'd even do it again next year! Here are a couple of pics, as promised, taken at my parents house. Unfortunately we didn't have any one take pics during the actual parade. There was a lady taking pics of all of the entries by the announcer's booth, we assume from the Chamber of Commerce, so dad was going to call and see if he could get a copy of the one she took.

I weighed in before we left Friday and I was down .4 from the previous Saturday. I did good with my eating on Friday, with the exception of a bag of popcorn from the concession stand at the high school football game that night.

Saturday wasn't too bad until my uncle opened a bag of trail mix. I should never have had that first bite because it's a red light food for me. And I know it. One bite led to two and so forth. It was the kind that had almonds, cashews, peanuts, raisins and M&Ms in it. I'm a sucker for crunchy, salty snacks so I knew better than to even have any....let alone about a pound of it! Arrrggghhhh.... Yesterday wasn't much better....we went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants when we got back to town yesterday. I had too many chips and salsa (another red light combo) and then I had a tostada, a taco, beans & rice, AND a margarita. Oy. I was stuffed AND buzzed.

I got on the scale today which was completely stupid because I knew I would be up from all of the salty nuts, salty chips, low water intake yesterday....and it's also "that time" but man. I wanted to kick myself in the ass when that number popped up. I'm not even going to type it out. Yes, yes...I know this is an accountability device but I don't want to. I'm going to stay off the scale till Saturday morning and hopefully I can at least get back down to what I was before we left town.

I'm going to the gym tonight and Wednesday for sure. Possibly other nights, too. I forgot to tell you that I have started running again. Last week I ran on the treadmill 10 minutes, walked 4, ran 3, then walked 3 more minutes. The outside of my ankle feels fine though it's still a bit swollen, but the inside still hurts every now and then, which is why I stopped. It was pulling a bit and I didn't want to injure it any more. A couple of days later I took Wrigley for a walk and we ran here and there. It normally takes us 30 minutes to complete our route around the neighborhood but we did it in 22 or 23 minutes that day. I was worried about her zig-zagging and tripping me, but she's actually a decent runner! She sort of runs sideways....her butt was to the left of the rest of her body most of the time! lol.... =)

That's all I have for now. Wish me luck in getting these excess pounds off by Saturday!

Yessss!

I lost this week and check out the number... 2.8! =) Holy cow batman! lol... My total lost is now 67.2 pounds which is 30.5% of my starting weight! It's unreal! My plan was to be at goal by the time my 1-year WW anniversary rolled around and it's going to be close. The November 8 meeting will mark 52 weeks since I walked through the door. So, 7 weeks and 7.8 pounds. Doable? We'll see I guess, right?

My mom and I went shopping this morning after my meeting and I found a super cute winter coat at Kohl's. It should be very warm...it's down and feather filled. The fabric is also water and wind-resistant so it sounds perfect for Nebraska winters! Brr....

We also went to Penney's and I bought a brown t-shirt (to go under a sweater) and a kelly green cable-knit sweater just like the brown one that my MIL bought me. It's a color I normally wouldn't have picked but I decided I have enough browns, reds, and oranges in my wardrobe right now, so I went with something in a completely different color palate. It'll be perfect for St. Patrick's Day, too! lol...

Then I bought a pair of black ankle boots at Sears just like the red ones I bought there a couple of weeks ago. They were marked down from $60 to $39 today. The red ones were on sale for $44 when I bought them.

I plan to start running again this Tuesday night. I haven't ran since I sprained my ankle 3 weeks ago. I know I won't be able to start back in where I left off in the C25K (week 7) so I'm going to have to go back and repeat, but exactly where to I haven't figured out yet. I guess I could just run till I'm out of breath or uncomfortable and see where I'm at and then go from there. My ankle feels fine now, but it is still swollen a bit. I hope that it won't just stay this size and never go down, but it's a possibility. Five years ago I sprained this same ankle and also broke a tiny bone in it. They didn't put a hard cast on it; I just had to wear an air cast for 8 weeks till it was healed. So anyway, given the history of it I'm thinking it might just be this way. Or for a while longer anyway.

I won't have an update next weekend since we're heading back home, but I'll have some interesting pictures to post afterwards because I'm riding a bicycle-built-for-two with my dad in a parade! Just wait, it gets better....he's dressing up as Santa Claus and I'll be dressed as his elf. Yes, his elf. lol..... You see, my dad volunteers for the Toy Box, which is a non-profit group that takes unwanted, donated, in-need-of-repairs bikes and they fix them up (new paint, new tires, new brakes...you name it) and then a few weeks before Christmas they give them to the low income kids (and adults) in the community. He's the head of the volunteers, which is why he's dressing as Santa, get it...but the elf costume he found is too small for any of the other guys that volunteer with him. So that's where I come in! I haven't seen it so hopefully it fits.

After I agreed to do it, I told him "Santa needs a reindeer!" so my husband is going to walk our dog in front of us and we have reindeer antlers and a cute red t-shirt for her to wear. She'll look pretty cute if we can keep the antlers on!!! And my mom is also wearing a pair of antlers and she'll be throwing candy to the kids along the parade route. I'm actually looking forward to it so hopefully the costume fits and we don't wreck on the bike. We're heading back early next Friday so I can practice riding it a bit with my dad.

So anyway, I might not have an update until after we get back next weekend, but it should be worth the wait. ; )

A little this and a little that

I was up .4 this week at weigh-in which I was fine with...you see, I skipped weigh-in last week but had I gone, I would have been up about 2.4 pounds. So really, I lost 2 pounds this week...but it's registering as a gain in WW world. What sucks is that I will probably gain this week (my trend of late) so my WW log book is going to show 3 gains in a row! Oh well...

I went to the doctor this morning for my annual exam (fun, fun!). This was the first time I'd been to see him since I began WW and he was very impressed with my 64.4 pound weight loss! =) He asked how I was doing it and I told him I joined last November and he said that he recommends it to patients because it's "tried and true" and has "stood the test of time" as far as weight loss programs go.

Given how my body has taken a liking to the 155-157 range, I asked him what a good goal weight for me would be and he said 145, which is what I had already set my WW goal to be. DANG! I was sort of hoping he'd say 155 or that I'm fine where I am, but no. (sigh) But that's okay, I will keep on trudging along in pursuit of these last 10 pounds. This 7-week plateau, if that's what it's called, has to break eventually. Right?? Please tell me it will?! lol....

Oh...the ankle is doing much better. It's still bruised but the swelling has gone way down. Not completely, but it's getting there. I had my doctor look at it today and he's not concerned at all. I really need to get back to my workout routine...not necessarily running...but at least going. Since it happened 2 weeks ago, I've only been to the gym ONCE for 45 minutes. =( Bad, bad...

My parents are coming to town next weekend and my mom and I are going to do some shopping Saturday. I'm not exactly sure what she's looking for, but I'll be trying on new winter coats... the one that started this whole weight loss journey in the first place (size 1x) is now way too big! And the coat that I bought when I discovered the other one was too small is even more gigantic on me (size 2x)! Hopefully I can find something I like before the weather turns cold for good!

Shopping Spree

My in-laws were in town last evening and I finally took my MIL up on her offer to take me shopping. Even before I started losing weight, she wanted to take me shopping. Given that she's like a size 8 or 10 and I was a 20, I always turned her down with the excuse "I'm not all that into shopping" because I was embarassed to try stuff on in front of her AND for her to know what size I was.

Once I started losing, she began to ask again. This time around I would tell her "when I get to goal we can go" partly because I was still self-conscious, but also because I didn't want to get all these great clothes that would (hopefully) be too big a month or so down the road since I was still loosing. I had some pants and capris to transition into as I got smaller, thanks to a coworker, and I bought some inexpensive shirts along the way.

With the cooler temps this week and a freezing office, however, I found myself in need of pants that actually fit. The ones I had been wearing were about a size too big and were hanging on me. It's been too cool to wear the capris that actually fit well. Plus, after clearing out my closet of sweaters and tops that were too big, I discovered I didn't have many left that were suitable for fall, let alone winter. So I told my husband that I was ready to cash in on that shopping trip, even though I'm still 10 pounds from goal.

His parents were on their way through town last night so we hit the mall and went shopping at Penney's and Dillards. All in all, I ended up with 2 pairs of pants, 3 tops, 2 sweaters, and a jacket (not a coat jacket...a 'fashion' jacket, if you will). I can wear two of the tops by themselves, or under the sweater or under the jacket. Each of the tops goes well with both pair of pants, too. So I can get quite a few looks out of everything, which is nice. I'm going to buy a few more pairs of pants, hopefully this weekend, since I need more than two. She probably would've bought more, but I was feeling greedy as it was. ; ) I also need a winter coat since mine from last year is WAY too big!

I'm wearing one of the outfits today with a pair of ankle boots, so I'm standing about two inches taller than normal (at a whopping 5'6") today...but I feel about 6' tall since I'm walking proudly and feel like a million bucks. =) I've received several compliments from my coworkers, too. It's amazing how great I feel when I'm wearing clothes that FIT! lol...

Speaking of fit...I'm finding that shirts, in particular sweaters, that fit almost feel snug. I think it's because when I was bigger, I bought stuff to cover up and hide my body...so I was probably buying clothes in a size bigger than I really needed. So now that I'm buying the right size, they feel weird. Does that make sense? Have you experienced this?? A couple of the things I bought I pondered whether they were too small....until I tried on the next size up and they would hang on me. My MIL and the saleslady both said how nice they looked...and I agree, they look nice...but they feel a bit weird. But then again, both items are more "fitted" than I'm used to wearing, even the one sweater, so that could be it, too.

I went online and found some of the items to show you. The purplish top (2nd photo) is the one I have on today...only I bought it in a different color combo. Mine has dark brown, tan, black, and cream instead. The paisley printed top is much prettier in person, believe me! It goes under the sweater, which is a burnt orange, and under the brown jacket, too. And the pants I have are in the color shown and a darker brown. (I wish my legs were as long and lean as the model's are!) Not shown is the jacket, a button-down crinkle dress shirt, and a basic brown cable-knit sweater.

Tomorrow is weigh-in and although I think I'll be up slightly from the weight I was 2 weeks ago at my last official weigh-in, I'm down from where I was last weekend, which is a good thing. I'll check in later this weekend with the official results.

Seriously?

I started counting the weeks and can you believe Christmas is 15 weeks from this Thursday! I can't! I technically want to lose 15 more pounds....so a pound a week....hmmm. That would be an awesome present to myself to hit 140. I used to routinely lose a pound per week, but the last 6 weeks have sucked as far as the scale goes anyway.

My fitness level has never been better (well, up until the stupid ankle injury) so I know I need to say f-you to the digital machine that has occupied a space on my bathroom floor for the past few months, but it's hard. I WANT TO WEIGH 140! Actually, I would settle for 145. Perhaps my body likes being at 155 (or 157 as it is today) and I need to accept that perhaps this is it. At least for now.

My ankle is feeling pretty good now, though it's still ugly and has a knot on the outside of it. I am walking just fine and I can even do a complete circle in the air with my foot! I am going to go to the gym tonight....no running, don't worry. I'm going to do the eliptical since it's non-impact, and possibly the bike, too. If it starts to hurt, I'll stop and go home. Promise.

Skipped Weigh-In, Football, Ankles and Dogs...Oh My!

Our neighbor stopped by Friday night and asked if we'd like to use two of their season tickets to go to the Husker football game the following morning and we obviously said yes. It's hard to come by tickets, let alone for face value ($52 each)....and these were in the 2nd row of the end zone! The game started at 11:30 a.m. so we headed downtown to park and tailgate with another set of neighbors around 9:00. Okay, okay...technically I could have weighed in at my normal 8:30 weigh in, but I just didn't really feel like completely back-tracking across town to do so. And besides, I was up about 2 pounds. I'm still in the up-down cycle that I've been in since the beginning of August, plus TOM came to visit on Friday.

I wasn't able to work out all week since my ankle is still swollen and too sore. The first 10 steps or so are really painful in the morning or after sitting for more than 30 minutes. Once I get moving and warmed up, I'm able to walk pretty good. I just have to be careful on slopes, stairs, or turning too quickly. It's gotten progressively uglier with each day. The only good thing that came out of this whole ordeal is that it inspired a name for one of our latest brews... Black & Blue Nut Brown Ale. =) We bottled it the day after I sprained it. Pretty fitting, eh?

Below are pics taken today, 7 days after the injury. This shows how discolored it still is. It's also slightly bruised on the inside of my ankle as well.

I've also attached a picture of my two "honey buns," my husband and our dog, Wrigley. We adopted her a year ago last weekend from the humane society in my hometown. She's a poodle/bichon mix and is now about 2 years old. For the most part she is a really good dog, but she has her moments when we ask her things like "did you eat lead-based paint chips as a puppy?" or "how many times were you dropped as a puppy?" because she really is a bit psycho every now and then! We've taught her lots of tricks...she can shake with both hands, sit up and beg, roll over, and say please. She loves to "read" magazines (aka likes to chew them up when we're not watching...particularly Consumer Reports) and she eats Kleenex out of the bathroom trashcan every morning when I'm in the shower. There's never a dull moment around our house because she is constantly on-the-go. She's provided us hours of laughs (and truth be told, some moments of cussing...) but most of all she has completed our family. Who needs a baby when you have a dog that gets up a couple of times during the night to go potty, wakes up ready to play in morning, is full of kisses, sasses you during the day, complains when it's time to go to bed, and snuggles during the wee hours of the night when she can't sleep?? She's our daughter and we can't imagine life without her. And I wonder sometimes, "what did we do with our time before she came along?"

And one last thing, she takes credit for a lot of the pounds we lost because we take her for a walk nearly every day...even last winter we rarely missed a day. As long as it was over 15 degrees, we went. She loves the snow and would run and jump through the snow drifts like they were the best thing ever. I call her my little polar bear (roar, roar, roar)....and she's the best naughty dog ever. =) Oh, and he's a great husband, too. =)

It's All Fun & Games....

....till somebody gets hurt and in this case, it was me that got hurt. =( About 3/4 of the way through the mud run, I rolled my left ankle while going downhill the path in pasture-like terrain. I had to walk for a couple of minutes till we got to mud pit, which was about 15 feet wide, 25 feet long, and a couple of feet deep. It wasn't sticky mud really...more watery than I expected....but still really slippery and mushy. They had flags across the top of the pit so you had to crawl the whole way, pulling yourself through. Fun! After we got out of the pit, we were to run up a hill to the finish line, but given the pain I was in, we had to walk it. I was pissed because I wanted to run it all. Up until I got hurt, we were going at a pretty good pace and we finished in 13:30. Not bad considering that was with walking for 3-5 minutes and crawling through the pit.

The makeshift showers they spoke of turned out to be 2 firetrucks! One of the fireman was hosing people off (luckily not at high power!) and they had one of the spouts on the other truck opened up and you could stand under it to clean up. The water was quite refreshing! lol...

Once we got back to town, we went to an urgent care center to have my ankle looked at. Since I heard and felt it pop I wanted to be sure I hadn't broke it. After 4 x-rays, the doctor came back and said it was just severely sprained. Today it's still swollen all the way around, but worst on the outside and is turning black & blue...yesterday it was just red and splotchy. I stayed home from work today because I still couldn't put any weight on it this morning. I borrowed a crutch from a co-worker so I'll be going tomorrow. I may not need it though because I'm getting around pretty good tonight.

So all in all it was a lot of fun and we do plan on doing it again. I'll just be sure to tape my ankles next year. My C25K is obviously put on hold for a week or so. I don't want to take too much time off, though I understand it needs time to completely heal. I'll just play it by ear I guess.

On the weight loss front, I lost 2.4 last week, so my total is 64.8 now. HOWEVER, the last three days have been one big food fest and I'm up that and then a few more. =( I'm already expecting a gain come the weekend.

I added a couple of pics from the mud run here, but also check out my web album . Click on slideshow on the left under my name and the pics will be bigger.

Ramblings.....

I did Day 1, Week 7 of the C25K last night and it went well. I did another 2 miles in 25 minutes. I really want to up the speed in my next run so that's my goal for day 2.

This weekend is going to be another busy one but will be lots of fun. I'll weigh-in in the morning and as of today (I'm a daily weigher...I know, I know...save the lectures), I expect to lose 2 pounds which will put me around 64.4 pounds lost. I love that the scale reflects a good week, but I don't love that, if the trend continues, I can expect a 1.2 or 1.4 gain this coming week for NO APPARENT REASON! Sorry about the yelling, but I'm ready to get off this little roller coaster that I've been on since the beginning of the month. Can you tell TOM is around the corner? lol...

Tomorrow night is the start of Husker football and I can't wait! Hopefully this year goes better than the previous few. We have a new head coach who is full of fire and energy so Husker Nation is pumped to see what he's done with the lackluster team of the past 5 years of the BC era. We're going to a sports bar to watch it since it's on pay-per-view. I haven't been there since last season but I'm pretty sure I know what I'm ordering for dinner....their deep-fried chicken breast sandwich! I think this will be my first fried, battered chicken breast in 9+ months. So yes, I'll be saying good-bye to some weekly points but it'll be worth it! lol...

Sunday is the MUD RUN! I still need to find a cheap pair of shorts that I don't mind getting extremely dirty and possibly ruined. You see, I workout in capri-style yoga pants ....which would collect lots of mud and I don't really want them ruined. I figure shorts would collect the least amount of mud...but then again, that's more mud to clean off of my body in the "make-shift" showers they provide. Hmmm....now I'm not sure which would be best! I found an old sports bra, which actually fits "the girls" again thanks to the extreme shrinkage I've experienced! lol... My husband would back me on that statement. ; ) And I'm wearing a freebie t-shirt that I will just toss afterwards. I also found a very tired pair of Nikes that I will do the same with after the run. I plan to take my camera and will definitely post some pics here next week.

We're both off on Monday for Labor Day, so we're bottling our Nut Brown Ale and will be brewing another batch of our Vanilla Porter since the first one turned out so well. We'll have lots of nice brews for the fall and winter months.

Hey, check out my new avatar in the right-hand menu. Cute, huh? I spent lots of time playing around with it yesterday. You can dress them all sorts of ways with different backgrounds and animation. I'm kind of a dork with things like this! I'll probably change it up every now and then. I got it free here.

I hope you all have a nice long weekend and I'll check back in next week!

Week 6 Complete

That's right....I finished week 6 tonight which meant a 25-minute non-stop run! In that time, I ran exactly 2 miles. =) I obviously don't run really fast, but hey....I'm running and that's what matters. Speed can come later.

I decided not to listen to the podcast guy tonight since I didn't need him to tell me when to walk and when to run, so I listened to the music on my nano's playlist. I have a lot of rock "hair bands" from the 80s, as well as quite a bit of AC/DC, ZZ Top, Van Halen and Linkin Park to name a few. The songs that played tonight as I ran were all nice and fast and kept me pumped up. I don't plan on listening to the podcasts any more since from here on out, it's strictly running.

Right now I'm having a post-workout snack....a smoothie made with:

• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 6 oz lite banana cream yogurt
• 1/2 small banana
• chocolate flavored mix-in packet
• ice

I blended it all together and YUMMO! It tastes like a chocolate-dipped banana. =) It reminds me of a banana split...you know how towards the end some of the ice cream is melted and the syrups all blend together? Ya, it tastes like that. Mmmmmm....

Focusing on the Positive

After weigh-in this morning, I am again focusing on the positive aspects of this journey I've been on for 9+ months now. I won't let yet another gain (1.4) get me down. I'm more active than I've been in at least 5 years (and that health-kick was short lived) and I look better than I have in a lonnnngggg time. Hopefully this down-up-down-up cycle doesn't last long, but if it does...I will handle it!

After my meeting this morning, my husband and I went down to the Haymarket, grabbed some coffee and walked through the Farmer's Market / Craft Fair. We sampled quite a few things and bought some fresh gouda & stout bread for a beer tasting party tonight. I also bought some cute red & black bead earrings to go with the outfit I'm wearing.

Once we were done there, we walked to the Running Company which was nearby. The guy had me walk and determined I'm flat-footed, which I never really realized before. Then he went back to grab me some shoes to try. He came out with 3 different pairs for me to choose from; New Balance, Asics, and Mizuno. I went with the Asics since they had more cushion in the ball of the foot than the others. When I was at the store, I told my husband, "I think these are the same ones Kiki ended up with." I looked at her blog and yep, same ones! Here they are...cute huh? They also match my nano and headphones. ; )

I'm set to do Week 6 Day 2 of the C25K tomorrow so we'll see if the shoes help with the knee discomfort I've experienced at the end of my last two runs. I'm looking forward to trying them out.

As I mentioned earlier, we're off to a beer tasting party tonight. My husband and I are home brewers, as are two of his friends. We'll be sampling home brews and other microbrews. We get together like this every couple of months and there's always lots of good beer and food to try. I'm taking a little 4 oz glass to drink out of so I can still try stuff without having too much. The food is always tempting but I usually do pretty good. Normally I take something that I know the points of, but not tonight. I knew I wouldn't have time today to make something to take (we had to go to a birthday party earlier this afternoon), so that's why we bought the bread this morning. And tomorrow brings another challenge...I have to go to a baby shower which means MORE cake to pass up. lol....

By the way, thanks for all of the great comments to my "I DID IT!" post. You are all the best! Have a great week!

Light the Night Walk

My husband and I have registered for the Light the Night walk to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on September 11. The leaders of the team we are walking with have a young daughter who was diagnosed with Acute Promylecytic Leukemia in October of 2005. After a month in the hospital, 2 more rounds of chemotherapy and a year of maintenance medications, she is doing very well and is in remission. Her family attributes her positive prognosis to research organizations such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

We will also walk in honor of my husband's mother, who has been in remission from Multiple Myeloma since 2002, after a successful autologous stem cell transplant. She is the only person still alive from her Mayo Clinic study group, so we are very blessed to have her with us.

Participating in this walk will aid the Society in fulfilling its mission as the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services.

If you would like to help me raise funds, please visit my donation page.

I DID IT! I DID IT!

Yes indeedy, I did it! I completed Week 5 tonight with a 20-minute non-stop run! That's right...NON-STOP! I did all 20 minutes without stopping OR dying! lol... (As you know, I had planned to do the run last Sunday but due to a few Tijuana Speedball martinis, I didn't feel up to the gym. Oops.)

Back to the run...it went really well and I am uber proud of myself. I think you all know that I was having doubts that I could actually make it through it so that's why it feels so great. I had told myself to at least go 8 minutes and I could decide whether I felt like I could go on. After 8 minutes I was fine and shortly after that the podcast guy said I was half done. Then pretty soon I was at 13 minutes then 16 minutes...at which point I said "I can make it 4 more minutes." And before I knew it, he was coming on saying I was done. =) My breathing stayed nice and even, no side aches at all. That's always an accomplishment for me.

My left knee was hurting just a bit at the end though, which could be attributed to the shoes I wear, which are cross-trainers. So, as a reward to myself for sticking with this whole running thing, I'm going to buy myself a pair of actual running shoes from the Lincoln Running Company, probably after work Friday. The owner there watches how you walk and tells you which shoes would be best for you. I've heard great things about the place so I'm looking forward to going.

Thanks for all of the encouragement and positive thinking. I think it definitely helped me tonight. =)

Heading Back Down

I weighed in this morning and I lost what I gained last week and then some which was nice. I lost 2 pounds bringing my total to 63.8 pounds. I've now lost 29% of my starting weight so I'm almost a third smaller than I was last November when I began this little journey. Who'd have thought?

As for the C25K, I made it through Week 5 Day 2 the other night. It was two 8-minute runs with 5 minutes walking in between. The first run was, dare I say, almost easy! The time went by quickly and felt good. The second run seemed to kind of drag but I made it through. I was pooped by the time I was done and too tired to do the eliptical, so I came home and showered and got ready for bed. Tomorrow is a 20-minute run. It seems like a huge jump and I'm not sure that I'll make it through. I know...I need to have a positive attitude, blah-blah-blah, but seriously....20 minutes of NON-STOP running? sigh. I will definitely try my hardest but I may need to walk just a bit here and there. I'll let you know how it goes.

My husband and I went to a Saltdogs baseball game the other night and we each won 2 free games of bowling, so I think we're going to use them tonight. I suck big time...my ball generally spends quite a bit of time in the gutter! Again, I lack an athletic gene! lol....But, I still like to go every now and then. We've only bowled once together and that was about a year ago at a get-together with my office mates. Our team of 4 people came in dead last (out of 5 or so teams) and we ended up with the "best effort" trophy. If I get over 70 points tonight I'll be happy!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. =)

Awwww, Gee....You Shouldn't Have!

As I stand here in my sparkly evening gown accepting my first Blog Award, I must first say thank you to my dear blogger friend Kiki who nominated me. (applause for Kiki, please...). I love this new award....isn't it beautiful? =)
This actually means a lot to me because when I first started my blog, I really honestly didn't expect anyone to read it. You can imagine how surprised I was when I had my first comment from a complete stranger! My first thought was, "How the heck did she find me?" But I'm glad she did because soon there were more commenters and now I love checking my blog to see what all of you, my "fans," have to say! =)

Now on to my own nominations! (That's part of the deal when you win an award...you must pass along the love!)

1. I must start with Karen, since she was my first commenter and could be how some of you 'found' me. Her posts lighten my day and often make me laugh. I love the stories she tells of how different things are in her native homeland. She's my own personal web comedian.


2. Next, the blogger I relate to most would have to be C. It's like she gets in my head and writes about my own thoughts! Our stories of how we got to where we were and why we decided to do something about our weight are similar. I figure she's about 12 years younger than me, but I think of her as my blog twin. =)


3. Moving along...next I nominate ptg. Her posts are funny and I like how she puts her "little voice" comments down on 'paper.' She regularly makes me chuckle and I'm proud of her dedication to all aspects of her life. And, the pictures of Pnut aren't bad either. ; )
   
4. In line next is roobabs. The more I get into running, the more I like reading her posts since she is striving to be one, too. (And way further ahead of me!)
   
5. Last but not least, I have to give props to kk, my half-marathon girl. I admire anyone who willingly runs 13 miles! Her posts are on a variety of subjects and often has links to other great articles and blog posts.

There you have it! I read all of your blogs faithfully and love when you post a comment. It's great encouragement and it means a lot to me that you take time out of your day to read about a little glimpse of my life. I may not comment on every single post of yours, but trust that I read them all!

For those of you nominated, here's what you need to do...put the logo on your blog and link to the person you received your award from. Nominate at least 7 other blogs (no, I didn't follow that rule...), and put links to those blogs on your site. Be sure to leave messages on the blogs you’ve nominated so they know about the award.

(By the way, some of you have already been nominated...so I don't expect you to go through this all again!)

Gonna Get Dirty!

Yes indeed, this HMB is going to get down and dirty! My husband and I have entered a Mud Run on August 31st (click here for an explanation). We're just doing the 1-mile since I'm not up to running 3 miles just yet, plus we're not sure what the obstacles will be. I've informed him if there are walls to scale or ropes to climb, he will have to help me. He said "that's why we're doing this together, so we can help eachother." Awwww, isn't he sweet?! I'm looking forward to it even though we have NO idea what we're getting ourselves into, other than a lot of sticky mud! =)

The run is at a winery near here and afterwards we get 5 free tastings of wine....so there you go...I'm going to earn activity points to spend on booze! LOL.... Great fun!

By the way, I did Day 1 of Week 5 last night. It was just three 5-minute runs with a 3-minute walk in between. My "I am an olympian" mantra paid off once again! Tomorrow night will be two 8-minute runs with a 5-minute walk in between. I really think it will be fine because last night was great! Sunday's run might be a different story; it's 20 minutes of straight running with no walking. It could be the death of me, so if I don't post again after that day, you'll know why! ; )

As Promised

Finally, here is the complete look in the dress and with my glasses on. You can't really tell what the glasses look like though since it's not a close up. Also, the frame is just on the top of the lens and not all the way around, which could have to do with it. The earrings don't show up well either. They're red dangles. I'm also in need of a hair cut so I think I look a bit shaggy! If you click on the picture, it will open it full-size, which may help a bit.

Anyway, here it is.

On a side note, I completed Week 4 yesterday and it was my best run yet! I had no pains and kept my breathing in check. At our meeting this week, we talked about how we are like the olympian athletes because we share many of the same traits....determination, perseverance, dedication, goal setting...to name a few. (Granted, I lack the whole athletic aspect but that's okay! lol....) So while running, I was repeating a little mantra to myself. As I breathed in, I said "I am" and while breathing out I said "an olympian." I said that over and over while focusing on a crack in the curb outside in front of me and before I knew it, the run was complete! You need to try it! Yes, it sounds corny, but it worked. =)

I do plan on doing Week 4 again, at least once or twice, before moving on to Week 5. I'll let you know when I venture on.

It Was Bound to Happen

Well, it finally happened....I logged my first official gain this week of 1.2 pounds. I'm a bit surprised at how fine I am with it, to be honest with you. I know it was partly because of my splurges last weekend (which I'm still not feeling guilty about) and also due to the fact that my monthly visitor announced her arrival a few hours ago. But whatever the reason, it happened and it is what it is. I have nothing to hang my head about. Who cares if I gained 1.2 pounds in the grand scheme of things? I've still lost 61.8! =)

Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to move my focus to the fitness aspect of my journey rather than just the weight loss itself. I'm running now, which is something I never would have thought I'd be doing. And, I'm doing it at the gym which is huge for me. Actually, just the fact that I'm GOING to the gym is a big step! lol...

Tomorrow I will be doing day 3 of week 4 of the C25K. I will probably be repeating week 4 because I don't feel I'm ready to move on to 8 minutes of straight running. Or maybe I'll try week 5 and then I can decide whether I should go back or not. We'll see in the morning I guess.

I plan on uploading new pics on Monday. I would do them tomorrow, but I have issues getting pics to upload on this site from my home computer. Rather than making myself cranky, I'll wait and do it at work. Shhhh.... So check back in a couple of days and promise not to call me "four eyes" when you see me in my glasses! ; ) Just focus your attention to my jazzy handbag instead!

Finally Checking In...Very Long!

I was pleasantly surprised last Friday morning when I weighed in. I was down 2 pounds so I'm now at 63 pounds total! I realized that I am 14 weeks away from my 1-year anniversary with WW...I'm hopeful that I will be celebrating 75 pounds gone by then! =)

The trip to Iowa went well. My husband's extended family hadn't seen us since our own wedding 20 months ago so they were quite surprised. I think one of his aunts words were "there's so much less of you!" It was great that they noticed and commented. They didn't even see me at my highest weight of 220 since I ballooned up after the wedding. I'm *only* about 30 pounds smaller than the last time they saw me. They would've been really shocked to see my "before WW" photo!

The wedding was nice and at a beautiful house of one of the bride's friends. It was outdoors with a large pond as the backdrop, complete with a spraying fountain, a bridge to an enclosed gazebo and a duck swimming on the water. There was also a separate little koi pond with a waterfall. It was about 88 degrees, no humidity, and just a slight breeze. They couldn't have asked for a better day. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the hotel room so I didn't get ANY pictures. I blame it on the 2 glasses of wine I had before we left! My MIL took a picture of us with her camera, but I didn't see how it turned out. If it's good, she will likely mail us a printed copy of it.

I did have Bill take a pic of me in the hotel room with my dress and glasses on, but I downloaded it today and I don't like how it turned out. I plan on wearing the outfit to church this Sunday, so I will have him take some other shots and hopefully one of them is better. You'll just have to keep waiting. ; )

I wanted to list some of the yummy food I had while on our trip (in no particular order), NONE of which I wrote down or counted! Pasta in a cabernet wine sauce with beef tips, chocolate chocolate cake with raspberry glaze and whipped cream (shared), pork tenderloin, baby potatoes swimming in butter, wedding cake, biscuits & gravy, cheeseburger, 1/2 waffle, wine, beer at a brewpub, 2 rum and cokes, and 1 martini. Mmmmm......

I weighed myself Monday afternoon when we got back, just for fun and I was up 6 whole pounds from Friday! But, I was fully clothed and I had just had lunch an hour before. I knew I hadn't gained 6 pounds of fat so I wasn't really worried. This morning I got on and I'm only up .6 which isn't bad at all. My body fluctuates throughout the week anyway so I'm still not worried about it. It was all delicious and I have no regrets. =)

I started Week 4 of the C25K program last night. It's two intervals of a 3 minute run, 90 second walk, 5 minute run, and a 2.5 minute walk. The first interval was just fine...even my first 5 minute run wasn't horrible! The second interval was tough....towards the end of the 3 minute run I developed a side stitch, which I haven't had since week 1. I was breathing deep, or so I thought, so I'm not sure why it happended. But anyway, I was working on getting my breathing back into a good rhythm during the 90 second "recovery" walk but it hadn't gone away by the time I was to start running. I decided to keep walking for an additional minute and by then it was gone and I was able to run the remaining 4 minutes without any pain at all. It felt good to resolve it and to be able to finish. Afterwards I spent 30 minutes on the eliptical.

I think that's *all* I have!

Monthly Exercise Tally

I decided to track the exercise I did during the month of July. I went ahead and added everything up since I'm done exercising for the day and here it is:

• 79 sets of stairs (up to the 3rd floor and down) for a grand total of 6,478 steps...and that's just counting the ones going UP. I didn't do stairs much after the 14th since it's just been too hot in the building to do so without being a sweaty mess afterwards. And given that I do them while at work, well, it's kinda gross to go back to my desk all wet! lol....
• 103 laps around the inside of the building I work in. That's the equivalent of approximately 25.75 miles. Hmm....I almost walked a marathon!
• 15 trips to the gym, usually for an hour each time. I will complete week 3 of the C25K tomorrow morning.
• 26 miles (approximate) of walking the dog. We've been slacking this week walking her...just too hot to do so. It's still in the upper 80s and humid at 9 p.m. and she can't handle the heat well. She flops down a lot in the heat.

I'm weighing in a day early tomorrow morning since we're heading out of town after lunch for the wedding in Iowa. I hopped on the scale this morning and I'm down 1 pound from last Saturday's weigh-in, so hopefully that holds till tomorrow. I doubt that I'll take time to blog before we leave...I have lots to do in the morning after weigh-in. Go to the gym, get my nails done, get my eyebrows waxed, and find a black shirt to go with my new neon red capris (size 12, by the way!). And, I will also need to pack. I think we're planning on heading out after lunch.

Hopefully I'll have pics to post when I get back. Oh, and I ended up returning the brown and orange accessories and getting RED instead. I fell in LOVE with a funky red handbag at JC Penney and couldn't pass it up. Plus, it was on sale! I found an equally funky red necklace and earrings (also on sale!) to match the bag and they look great with the dress. I'm excited for Saturday to get here so I can wear everything.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

A Little This & A Little That

Lots of stuff to touch on this week!

• I finished my second week of the C25K. I still have to really concentrate on breathing deeply so that I don't get side stitches, but it's going well. As long as I'm thinking about that, I don't notice other discomforts as much.
• We went to the Neil Diamond concert in Omaha a couple of nights ago. My husband's parents bought us the tickets and we went with them and 4 other family members. I only knew his mainstream songs like Sweet Caroline (bomp bomp bommpp), Forever in Blue Jeans, and America...but it was quite a bit of fun. I was surprised at the varied crowd...we saw people in their 20s and people in their 80s. Elderly people using walkers and drunk people who could've benefited from having a walker themselves! Oh, and we even saw one guy get taken to the ground outside and handcuffed by the police....BEFORE the show even started! Who would've thought...at a Neil Diamond concert??!! lol...
• I picked out new eyeglasses yesterday. After wearing contacts for 21 years, I'm going to give them up and go back to glasses full-time (or at least 90% anyway). I'm looking forward to my eyes not being bloodshot and dry all the time.
• I had an hour-long hot stone massage this afternoon as my 60-pound reward. It was AWESOME! When I got home I took a 90-minute nap. =) I have just enough left on the gift certificate for another one, so I will save it for when I make goal. I had a facial with it a few months ago, too, so I've gotten some nice pampering out of it. Thanks, honey! =)
• And last but not least, I lost 1 pound at weigh-in this morning bringing me to 61 pounds even. Fourteen to go...

Busy Weekend

This weekend flew by and I feel like I need another day off to rest from the last two days.

Yesterday morning I went to my WW meeting. I lost just enough to reach 60 pounds and get another star for my book. =) Just 15 more for my WW goal...20 for my personal goal. It's hard to believe that I am *this* close to being there.

In the afternoon I went to Omaha in search of a little sweater to wear over my dress, new shoes, and jewelry. I found everything I was looking for so I'm now ready for the wedding. Well, sort of. I decided that my dress does need some altering, so I'll get that done this week. It's a little big through the chest, so you can see through the arm hole and right in at my bra. I hadn't noticed it till my sis-in-law pointed it out yesterday. The necklace and earrings I bought are a chocolate brown and burnt orange combo. Very pretty, though a little reminiscent of The Brady Bunch. lol.... Then I bought a new handbag that is brown and orange. I'm not sure if I'll wear the sweater with it or not. My husband likes it better without it, and I tend to agree. Plus, it's going to be outdoors...in August...in Iowa...so I really won't need it. I just felt like I should cover my flabby arms, but I decided I'm going to wear my wings like a badge of honor and say "screw it" and just go without it. So I'll likely be returning it.

On the workout front, I got up and went to the gym at 7:45 this morning and started Week 2 of the C25K. It was 6 intervals of 90 second runs and 2 minute walks. All went well with only a tad bit of shin pain towards the very end of the last run. After I got done with that, I did the eliptical for 30 minutes. I was pretty pooped by the time I left.

We took Wrigley for an hour-long walk this evening on one of the trails. Bill wore his camelback so we had fresh, cold water for us and for her, too. Towards the end she was really hot so we poured water all over her back and her head and it seemed to pep her up a bit. She's currently laying on arm of the couch sleeping. Hopefully she'll sleep good tonight....she was a complete pain in the you know what last night! Who needs a baby in the house when we have a dog that gets up every few hours?! ; )

Perfect Fit

The dress I ordered online from Talbots finally came yesterday. The 14P fit perfectly so now all I need to find is a new pair of shoes and maybe some accessories. I'm going to Omaha tomorrow to go shopping with my sister-in-law, so it should be a good time.

I called my mother-in-law to tell her about the dress. You see, Talbots is her favorite store and she's promised me a shopping trip there once I'm at goal. Actually, she's been wanting to take me there for the last few months...it's me who wants to wait for the last 15 to come off. So anyway, I told her that I found a dress to wear to Kristen's wedding and to guess where it came from. "Talbots?" I said yes and then she went on "Oh that's great! I can't wait to see it!" She also told me she would make sure it wasn't my last Talbots purchase. lol....

Here's a picture. I've also added it as my "now" picture on the right.

C25K Week One -- Complete!

I've made it through the first week! The first day, as reported earlier, went well. The second day....not so much. My shins were killing me! I made it through but was in some serious pain. On a positive note though, I didn't experience any side aches! Thanks for suggesting I work on my breathing....I did and it worked!

Tonight I did day three. I did some reading on shin splints and found some warm-up exercises to try. I'm proud to report that I had an awesome run/walk tonight...no shin pain or side aches! AND, I did it at the gym! The two previous sessions were done in my neighborhood at 6 a.m. when no one was out and about. I conquered my fear and did it! I found the treadmill to be more comfortable to run on, too, so I will continue my training there. Now I can sleep in till my normal time in the morning and not have to get up before the sun does! ; )

I'm ready to move on to week two, which I will start this Sunday. Thanks again for helping me!

I'm a Runner...

My little 2-minute run a couple of weeks ago had me itching to try something new. I had done some reseach on the Couch to 5K running program and running podcasts. I have an iPod shuffle, but without erasing everything on it and only having the running podcasts on it, I didn't know how I'd ever find them since there's no menu or display. Or maybe I am just dumb and there is a way, but to make things easier, we went and bought me a new iPod nano last night. My plan is to leave the shuffle at work and use it only for my exercise there and use the nano at the gym and to run with.

So we (okay, my husband) transferred my shuffle's playlist to the nano, as well as downloaded all 9 of Robert Ullrey's C25K podcasts. They are available free on iTunes.

I woke up this morning at 6:15 and couldn't get back to sleep so I figured I might as well give this whole running thing a shot when it was still cool out (60 degrees, no wind...absolutely beautiful!).

I put on one of my new workout shirts that I bought yesterday at Gordman's and strapped on my iPod. I at least looked like I had the potential to be a runner! lol.... And out into the neighborhood I went.

I really like the podcast...it tells you when to run and when to walk. And the music is upbeat, too. There are 8 intervals of 60-second run and 90-second walks. The whole thing is about 28 minutes, including warm up and cool downs of 5 minutes each.

It went surpisingly well, and I didn't feel any pain till the 6th run when I had a little pain in my right side. I had a flashback to middle school and junior high....whenever we had to run more than a few laps around the gym, my side would hurt. Apparently I haven't outgrown that! Maybe as the weeks go on and I get more used to running it won't bother me anymore. I was out of breath at the end of the 8th run but it was a good out of breath, not a "Good Lord I'm gonna die" type out of breath. lol....

It was a good workout but it didn't completely kick my ass. I think it showed me that I'm actually in much better shape than I thought I was and that I need to give myself a little more credit. I could never have done this with my old 220-pound body so I see how far I've come.

It Paid Off

My efforts at the gym and at work paid off at weigh-in this morning. I had a 2 pound loss, which is technically over the last 2 weeks since I didn't go last Saturday. This brings my total to 59.6 which means I am oh so close to losing another point worth of food. It's always bittersweet to get to a new decade...it's a good thing but I hate giving up a treasured point! I'm sure you can all relate.

I ordered a dress online from Talbots a couple of days ago for the upcoming wedding (3 weeks from today). I got a great deal on it....the original price was $158 and I got it on sale for $44! I actually ordered two, in different sizes, since I'm not sure how their sizes run. It should be here by Wednesday, if not earlier, and I am SO excited to see how it fits. I will post a picture if all goes well!

I wanted to share with you a recipe for onion rings, if you don't have it already. We've made these twice now and I love them! Take an onion and slice it up into rings. Grind up 1/2 cup Fiber One Original cereal in a food processor and season with salt and pepper (optional). Transfer to a ziplock bag. Dip onions into 1/4 cup eggbeaters and then put them, one at a time, into the ziplock bag of ground up Fiber One and shake to coat. We put the rings on non-stick aluminum foil and grill on each side for a few minutes. You can also bake them, though we haven't done them that way since we do 90% of our summer cooking on the grill. They are really good...I think I actually prefer them to fried onion rings because you taste more of the sweet onion flavor instead of the fried grease flavor. Oh, and the whole serving is 2 pts. It makes enough to share with another person, too.

Enjoy!

My First Gain...Unofficially

I am extremely late in posting this, but my home computer has been locking up left and right so I didn't want to start a blog only to have it act up and lose it....and well, it's been a busy week at work so I haven't had a chance to do it until now.

So let's pretend it's last weekend when I'm writing this! I didn't actually go to my weigh-in....I sort of slept right through it! I did weigh myself on my scale though and I was up .6 from my "naked" weight the previous Saturday. Not a huge gain, but frustrating nonetheless.

Last week I started exercising religiously here at work and am proud to say that since July 1, I've been to the gym six times! And, one night I even RAN (gasp!) for 2 minutes straight! That was the first time I'd ever really ran as an adult so that made me proud. I was the only one there that night so that's why I decided to try it. I don't think I'd be comfortable doing it when others are there....it's that whole "I'm afraid of looking stupid" thing. But maybe some night when it isn't ridiculously hot and humid I'll try jogging a bit around our neighborhood.

I also decided to start tracking the exercise I do here at work. Since July 1st I've done 51 sets of stairs (4,182 total steps) and 47 laps around the inside of the building (equal to 11.75 miles). That's 6 days' worth. I can't wait to do a monthly tally!

That's all for now...hopefully I won't be so late in posting this week's weigh-in!

Time to Kick It Up

Another small loss this week...*only* .8 pounds. June was the worst month for me as far as weight loss totals go. Admittedly, I slacked most of the month when it came to exercising at work so I am going to recommit myself starting tomorrow and hopefully July will be a better month.

I also want to make myself go to the gym a few days during the week. I could easily go on Sunday mornings since the dog wakes us up around 6 a.m. anyway. I might as well be at the gym working out instead of trying to ignore her attempts to get us out of bed. ; ) I don't have to start getting ready for church until 9:30 so it's doable.

I could also easily go on Tuesday nights since my husband leaves for choir practice at 6:30 and doesn't get home until 8:30ish. I tend to have the munchies when left alone anyway, so it would help with that.

And maybe Thursdays will be my other night to go. I'd like to start going 3 times a week, which will be a struggle at first given that I don't like going to the gym. I will suck it up and go though. (Bill, if you're reading this....please make me stick to my new Tues-Thurs-Sun routine.)

Here's to June being over....and July starting!

Recharged & Ready

Every now and then I try on my bridal gown, the one that was, admittedly, too tight on our wedding day in December 2006. I weighed 187 that day, so I now weigh 24 pounds less. I tried the gown on last night and seeing how big it is on me, instantly recharged me and I am looking forward to the new week. Last week wasn't the best...my martini indulgence, as fun as it was, bit me in the butt. Big Time. And well, the theatre popcorn (kids size & no butter, but still), more popcorn at the bar, nachos at a baseball game and two ice cream cones from McD's obviously didn't help any either. I still lost .6 this week (total 56.8) but it was a struggle getting off the extra pounds I had packed on from the first few days of last week.

Here's a picture of me in the dress. As you can see, there's quite a lot of room now! When I wasn't holding it up, it fell down about 3" from where it should sit on my chest. It's way big on top...my "girls" could invite some friends to join them. There's also lots of room in the tummy area and butt, too.

A Funny Comic & How We're Losing Weight

I don't usually read Pearls Before Swine, but I did today and it was so funny I had to post it here. Hopefully you find it laughable as well. =)

Part of the reason I find it funny is that I've been a paying member of one gym or another since about 1996. Have I worked out continually since 1996? NO! Even now, I'm a member of Anytime Fitness, however, I haven't been to the gym since March. I don't like going to gyms...never really have...but I continue to pay each and every month. It's not that I don't exercise because I do. I generally walk and climb stairs at work for 30-60 minutes each day, and we take the dog for a 30-minute walk every evening. Last Saturday we took her on an hour-long walk. So I do exercise, but I don't go "work out" the way a lot of you do.

About 5 years ago I did work out. I spent at least 10 hours/week at the gym and lost 20 pounds in 2 months. I modified my diet a bit, but the weight came off primarily through exercise. As soon as my life picked back up (aka, my broken heart mended), I stopped exercising and the weight came back because I hadn't learned to eat right.

This time around, I'm modifying my diet and doing exercise that I know I can stick with. I know I can continue exercising at work and the dog will always need to be walked. Even last winter, we took her every day. We live in Nebraska so there were many days when we were walking in temps in the teens with snow on the ground. I bundled up in double, sometimes triple, layers and didn't let it stop me. I choose to spend my evenings with my husband and dog rather than at the gym.

My husband is unable to exercise during his workday, so he works out at the gym. But like me, he'd rather spend time with us in the evening, so he heads to the gym every morning (M-F) shortly after 5 a.m. and is there for 45-60 minutes. I choose to sleep in because let's just state it....I'm crabby as it is in the morning, let alone at 5 a.m.! He's modified his diet but he still routinely eats burgers, fries, bratwursts, wings, beer, etc., but he's not "doing" WW so that's fine. And "his way" is obviously working for him as he's lost 47 pounds himself.

I don't think that either way is wrong. We each have to do what works best for us. And so far, what I'm doing is working and vice versa. When the day comes that my losses slow down or I plateau, I will have to change something up and I will likely spend some time at the gym to see if that works. But until then, my 60-90 minutes of walking each day will have to do.

More Food Reviews

I tried two new products this week so I thought I would share them with you!

Krusteaz Fat-Free Pancake Mix
There is only one word to describe these things and that is G-R-O-S-S!!! I made them per the instructions and the batter was so thick it wouldn't pour. I ended up scooping it out and plopping it onto the griddle. They turned out really heavy, thick, and chewy. After we tasted one bite, I gave the rest of it to our dog. Even she had trouble chewing the darn thing! lol.... So the remaining 5 of them were pitched in the trash. Luckily we had a regular box of pancake mix on-hand, so our brunch wasn't ruined! I like some of Krusteaz's other fat-free products, but be sure to stay away from this one!

Western Bagel....The Alternative Bagel
I had one of the cinnamon spice flavored ones with my breakfast this morning and was pleasantly surprised! I've never found a "healthy" bagel (or english muffin, for that matter) that tasted "real" but this one was great! It's a nice size, 2 oz, so it's not one of those mini ones. It's obviously not the size of one from Panera, but it's satisfying. The NI is 110 cal, 0 fat, and 7 fiber for a Points value of 1. I will definitely purchase more when these are gone. By the way, in my supermarket, they are in the refrigerated healthy foods section and not with the regular bagels.

Fiber One Original Cereal : Update
I still like them plain as a snack, but when I eat them with milk I find they taste much better with a little bit of cinnamon and splenda.

Hebrew National 97% Fat-Free Beef Hot Dogs
These are 100% fresh kosher beef franks made with nothing artifical. The NI is 45 cal, 1.5 fat, 0 fiber for a Points value of just 1 Point! I like a hot dog every now and then, but my are they pointy! So I thought it would be great to find these suckers! I've looked at 3 different stores but didn't have any luck. HOWEVER, I just called another store and they have them! I told the guy I would stop by after work, and luckily, it's not completely out of my way! I am SOOOOO excited! I will write a review as soon as I try one.

Indulgence

That was our meeting topic yesterday and yes, I do indulge. But mine are somewhat planned. Pretty much every Saturday, I blow right through my 22 daily points and at least half of my weeklies. Usually I use the extra weekly points on lunch and dinner out, but this week's 35 points went straight toward martinis!

My husband and I went to Grata, a new lounge in the south part of town. We dropped in to have A drink. As in one. Only one. HOWEVER, they have an extensive martini list and well, one led to two....and two led to three....

We had a great time but decided it's probably good that we live about 15 miles away on the north side of town because otherwise my 35 points would routinely be spent there! lol....

After Grata we went to the Starlight Lounge, another martini bar, located downtown and on our way home. It's sort of a throwback lounge...chairs, couches, and other decor from the 1970's. They have a couch in there that is exactly like the one my aunt & uncle had when I was a kid. Same design and fabric, but a different color. And the carpet is orange...as in Brady Bunch orange! I only had one drink and we called it a night.

So yes, I indulge....and apparently that includes martinis!

I lost 1.4 this week so that brings me to 56.2 total. My personal goal is to lose 80 pounds, but my WW goal is 75. So I've only got 18.8 to go for that. It seems weird typing a number in the teens.....lol....

Fiber One Reviews

Fiber One Original Cereal
I purchased some Fiber One Original yesterday because a recipe I found called for it. I had never bought it before because, well, it looks like twigs from a mini-tree! I figured it would be hard and crunchy, like Grape Nuts, so I had never ever wanted to try it. When I got home I decided to see if it was any good and reached in and grabbed a few "twigs." To my surprise, it was actually pretty good! They aren't hard at all and remind me of Cheerios a bit, in texture and taste, and seem to have a slight cinnamon flavor. The nutritional info for 1/2 cup (dry) is 60 cal, 1 fat, 14 fiber. For a points value of ZERO! They'd be good for a pre-dinner snack or late night snack when you're out of points. Even with 1/2 cup skim milk, they're still only 1 point. I had a bowl this morning with milk on it and honestly, I like them dry better. But, by having the Fiber One Original instead of the Fiber One Honey Clusters that I have been eating, I can save 3 points on breakfast! That's HUGE, especially as I continue to lose points. I don't know that I'll have them every morning, but they'd be great for days when I know I'll be eating some meals out.

Fiber One Chewy Bars -- Oats & Strawberries with Almonds
I am a HUGE fan of their Oats & Chocolate flavor (much to my husband's dismay), so I thought I would give this new flavor a try. To be honest, I don't like them. As much, anyway. They don't seem to be as gooey as the Oats & Chocolate ones, and the dried strawberries are way too sweet. They actually made my throat hurt! I will eat the rest of them, gradually, but I won't buy them again. I'll stick with the chocolate ones instead.

Please, Mother Nature...

...Take a break already! We spent another evening in our unfinished basement while we were in a tornado warning for nearly 2 hours. Tornadoes touched down all around Lincoln, but none hit in the city. Thankfully our 3 sump-pumps kept up with the downpouring rain so our basement stayed dry. Our backyard turned into a pond, as it always does with heavy rains, plus we ended up with a river on the north side of the house and a flooded sidewalk with worms floating by, but all is well this morning. I'm guessing that our neighbors didn't fare as well because a truck with the words "Emergency Water Removal & Structural Drying" on the side of it was in their driveway when I left for work today. Unlike ours, their basement is finished so I imagine they have quite a mess.

I received an email from my sister-in-law today saying that one of the boy scouts that lost his life in last night's storm was from their city (Omaha), and a member of their church. He was only 13. I can't imagine how scared all of those young boys were. I was scared...and I was in a structurally-sound basement. I hope I never have to go through what they did, but if I do, I hope that I'm as brave as they were. I've been reading stories about how they put the skills they've learned to use and helped one another, from removing tree limbs off of fellow scouts to rescuing a ranger and his wife from beneath rubble. It's just amazing.

Please keep the children and their families in your thoughts and prayers in the coming days.

We've Hit 100!

That's right! My husband and I have lost a combined total of 100 pounds! Okay, technically 99.4 but I'm rounding up. =) He's lost 44.6 and I've lost 54.8! How awesome is that?!

We were talking last night and I told him that when I first started, I had no idea I would be this successful. To be honest, I figured it would be like all of my previous weight loss attempts....I'd try hard for a few weeks, see no results and give up, only to gain even more weight. But for some reason, this time was completely different. My first week I lost 5 pounds and I still remember how excited I was to tell him. And you know what? I'm still excited to report my weigh in to him every Saturday morning. I used to wait till I got home to tell him; now I text him from my meeting and he sends back a "way to go" message or something along that line.

In today's meeting we talked about motivation and motivators and who our biggest cheerleader is. My husband is without a doubt the person who keeps me going. I don't think a day goes by when he doesn't say "hey skinny," or "I'm very proud of you." I'm glad that he decided to join me on my journey because without his support, I'm pretty positive I would still weigh 220 pounds...if not more.

I've set mini-goals from the beginning and now that the Chicago goal was met, it's time to set another one. One of my husband's cousins is getting married August 2nd which is 8 weeks from today. My goal is to weigh 150 by then, so I have to lose 15 pounds. Is it doable? I'm not quite sure...so I'll settle for 155. Another goal is to wear a dress to the wedding. I'm not a dress-wearing girl, so it's going to be tough. I haven't worn a girly dress since I was little....unless you count prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and my wedding gown. I'll do skirts occassionally. So really, the dress thing is more daunting than the weight loss itself!

Wow...I was long-winded today! Must have been the coffee I had this morning!

An updated progress chart is below.

Unbelievable

I'm not sure whether to believe it or not, but I supposedly LOST .4 pounds this week...while on vacation for 5 days. I'm doubting the accuracy because according to my scale, I gained .4 pounds. But I'm not going to argue with WW and will go with it. So I've now lost 54.0 pounds.

Our vacation was a lot of fun. On Sunday we toured Wrigley Field, Home of the Cubs, which was really cool. We were able to go inside the press boxes, locker room, dugout, and sit in several different sections, including the bleacher seats in the outfield.

Monday was a beautiful day (81 degrees) so we walked down to Millenium Park and to Grant Park. Then we walked back up along Michigan Avenue to eat lunch at Pizzeria Due which was AWESOME and so not-point-friendly it wasn't even funny! But gosh was it delicious! Mmmmm..... That night we walked to Navy Pier and watched the fireworks show. There was a cover band playing outside that was doing old school rap songs like "It Takes Two" and "Hip-Hop Hooray." It was pretty funny...lots of people were dancing (yours truly just watched) and we felt like we were back in high school! According to my pedometer, we walked over 18,000 steps that day! And the awesome thing was that my feet didn't hurt a bit, nor did my legs!

Tuesday was our architectural river tour and wouldn't you know it, it was an overcast day and only 48 degrees with about a 30 mph wind....in an uncovered boat. Brrrrrr! It also sprinkled on us just a bit but nothing to worry about. I drank 3 cups of coffee, mainly to keep my hands warm! We were on the river for 90 minutes but it didn't really seem that long because it was really quite interesting. After that we went to the Java Bar at our hotel and I had an English coffee which consisted of coffee, kahlua, creme de cacao dark, coffee liquer, and whippped cream. Again, NOT point-friendly but very delicious! That night we went back to Navy Pier and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company which was really, really good. I had a grilled shrimp entree and a side of steamed broccoli so I think I redeemed myself. ; )

Wednesday we went to the art museum for a couple of hours before we had to head to the airport. It's the type of place that requires most of the day to go through so we didn't do it justice at all.

I wrote down everything I ate, but didn't even begin to try to calculate how many points stuff was worth. I ate fruit every morning for breakfast and I tried to balance a not-so-healthy meal with a somewhat-healthy meal the best I could. And I drank lots of water and put over 50,000 steps on my pedometer while gone so that should have offset some of the calories.

All in all I'm proud of how I handled myself during the week. I found that I'm conscious of what I'm eating even when I've given myself "permission" to be "bad" and still try to find something unfried to eat.

Below are a few pictures from our trip. Also, an updated progress picture is on the right side of my blog.