Hello Beauties….
Have you missed me?
Okay I have to tell you I don’t have much online dating stuff to tell
you because I have been spending a LOT of time with The Foreman and he is
pretty amazing! I am a pretty lucky girl…we
are moving really fast and trying to move slow….its a weird thing but you know
how it is.
This post however is
about me (SUPRPIIIIIIIIISE!) and where I am at now health wise.
The scale has stalled and I started to do what I always do
when I get stalled….I slide backwards – don’t work out as much….eat worse….don’t
track! I had a really disappointing day
two weeks ago when I realized I didn’t track on the weekend and I lost my
streak of days logging on MyFitnessPal.
I was pretty sad about that. I
gave myself a hug and a kick in the bum
If you don’t know MyFitnessPal.com
you should check it out. It works on
the same idea as weightwatchers or any of those programs. If you write it down, you will be
accountable for it. You can set your own
goals or pick pre-set goals. It helps
you decide what your daily caloric intake to meet that goal (maintain, lose,
lose lots, gain, gain lots) and then it will help you track your activity as
well.
The activity is marked in caloric intake (best if you have a
fitness device for accuracy but not required) and you have the ability to eat
some or all of your exercise calories.
It is recommended that you eat some of them though there are people who
swear by not eating any. I think it’s a
fine balance between eating less and starving yourself. Your body is a machine and it needs fuel.
Some days I eat them and some days I eat some of them and a
couple of times I haven’t eaten them because I haven’t been hungry. The reality is that you need to listen to
your body and do what works for you.
This app (computer and mobile) is just about helping you be accountable
and honest about what you are eating.
It has a bar code scanner so it makes it easy to input food on the go,
has most restaurants you can think of, is crowd sourced so its constantly
growing, it can important that cool new recipe you just found on allrecipes.com
and tracks other things like sugar/sodium/carbs/cholesterol etc if you are also
watching those things.
It speaks back and
forth with most activity trackers, can keep track of all your measurements and
has a community message board for support, tips and kudo’s; and its free!
I digress….
I got back on track for the most part – I purchased towel
service and a permanent locker at the gym so I couldn’t use the excuse of not
wanting to carry my wet stuff all over town when I had plans after work. I also started thinking about what I was
eating again. Don’t get me wrong I can
do better some days but I am doing pretty darn good! I mean I have lost 26 pounds so far! I count that as a good success especially
when you consider the scale hasn’t moved in over a month and I have had at
least 5 weeks were I have not been able to go to the gym at all (sick etc)
BUT…..The scale kept not moving and I was starting to feel
dejected….
until yesterday
morning!
As many of you know I am taking almost a full month from
work to go and visit Europe. This trip
has been in the works for over a year now and one of the things I did was order
a new bathing suit for my trip when I bought the one for the gym. I purposefully ordered it too small and when it
finally game in (after already losing 15 pounds) I tried it on and freaked
out!!!!!!!!!!
Oh Lord no.....this was going to be
bad!
But then yesterday……I went to grab my bathing suit to go to
the park and ….oh crap….its in the locker at the gym
NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I stared into the closet at the offending bathing suit that I
had thrown into the corner, in a ball, after managing to finally get out of it
and took a deep sigh ready to make myself feel even worse than I already did.
I mentally prepared myself for the workout about to come as
I squished into this torturous sausage casing and then something happened…..
I slid right into it….(it looks just like this but different
pattern and a pretty coral colour)
How did this magic happen?
I actually look kinda cute! I
mean don’t get me wrong I don’t look like she did but I look really cute and it
fit. The scale hasn’t moved but I have
changed a lot.
Then I started thinking….I have seen a lot of changes in the
last few months that have nothing to do with the scale
- I ran 3 solid blocks without dying….that may not seem like a lot to you but before running would have killed me. EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT! I chased my nephews and didn’t even realize I did it until I stopped!
- I have been able to climb higher and steeper with less stops and less loss of breath or chest pain
- I am able to lift more weight
- I have less back pain
- I am walking faster
- I can do other vigorous cardio activities for longer and with less fatigue!
F^&*^ YOU SCALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t get me wrong, I am still working on reducing my actual
weight but I am measuring my success by more than just that number.
One side effect I have not enjoyed is everything currently
feels less tight….except my butt! I have
less fat filling up the spaces so everything feels a bit more jiggly and I look
better standing up but less good sitting down LOL. One fight at a time right!
Let’s check out a few
progress pictures shall we?
I am pretty sure this was 10 or 11 years ago….I was already
having a hard time taking the weight off but I was trying really hard. I look back now and would be totally happy
here! We did not know that I was already
sick at this time.
This was almost 7 years ago….you can see a huge weight gain
and I am really sick here but we don’t know it yet. I have chronic headaches and vision
issues. I am unable to lose weight at
all and I have almost given up.
This is 3 years ago…I was laughing at someone beyond the
camera and I got caught here. I have
less and less photos from this time. I
am almost at my heaviest here. I am supposedly
“better” here but still having a really hard time losing weight and feeling
really bad about it. I had gone through
the treatment for the Pseudo Tumor Cerebri and barely come out the other
side.
I had less headaches but was
still having a hard time. They have
checked for Diabetes and Thyroid at least 5 times in the last 6 years. They are stumped as to why I am tired, sick
and still not losing any weight.
This is also about 3 years ago….I think this is the heaviest
point and I stayed there for almost 3 years.
I was constantly tired, I hated having pictures taken, I felt like crap
most of the time and the fatigue was mentally draining as well as physically.
Don’t get me wrong there were lots of happy moments but it
was hard and I tried to complain as little as possible but I knew there was
something wrong with me but no one could tell me anything.
Some of you will know….some of you went back and read about
it, but I slipped into a really deep depression at the end of last year. I was so tired of feeling sick, feeling like
crap and I was really sad.
Long story short it turns out that I have been vitamin
deficient for a long time. You can go
back and read all about how we found out and the symptoms that it mimics but it
was a pivot point for me.
So this is me at the beginning of January…I have been taking
the vitamin regime for a month and a half…I have already lost 10 pounds but I
am already feeling like a super star.
Here I am on voting day in May….down 25 pounds and feeling
amazing. Mentally and physically I don’t
even feel like the same person any more.
Here I am from like a week and a half ago….I am down 26
pounds, I am down 2 dress sizes, I am able to do so much more than I ever could
and I feel fantastic!
I have a lot of work to do…but I think I am on the right
track. I move more, I make better
choices, my body is healing and so is my spirit.
I was feeling a bit low….but that darn sausage casing…..uh
bathing suit really helped me see I am on the right path.
Are you guys excited for the European version
of the blog????
I am…..22 days and
counting.
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