Next Stop: Purple Hair!

Forgive me blogger, for I have sinned, it has been almost a month since my last post. It's been quite a busy and fun month and I got to 99 lbs lost! That's right, I was right on the cusp of my goal on Wed. November 24th. I would have hit the magic number on Thanksgiving BUT.... my husband had other plans and whisked me away for a night at a posh hotel and dinner out for his birthday. It was so much fun and I just went with it. Started with some wonderful Hess merlot, followed by dinner at a Thai restaurant where I ordered sake and then back to the hotel for a cocktail at the bar! It was so worth it, and so much fun, but yeah, I totally gained 3 lbs. that night. Then Thanksgiving and a cookie exchange happened, plus bloatiness and well, I was up a few more pounds.

This past week I've been really good about keeping moving but between holiday stuff, volunteering at the kids' schools and a big project at work I only got in one really serious workout day. Otherwise, I would consider it sort of maintenance level workouts. I have still been walking the dog every day and Molly and I still run even if it's 25 degrees out! But I only got in a bit of strength training due to time constraints. This made me really reluctant to get back on the scale. I was praying to just please, still be in the 120's - PLEASE! So I cowboyed up this morning and I'm at 127! Fantastic! I am really happy with that. That is within my comfort zone. So I just need to shed 4 lbs. to officially meet my 100 lb. goal. After that I will be really content with anything under 128. If I start creeping anywhere above that number the sirens will go off and I will seriously examine what I've been eating. But I feel like I can really exist here and maintain my weight loss.

I really do like working out now. It's not a chore, it's part of my life and I intend to keep it that way. After a few days of just getting in a dog walk and some ab work I feel really great when I can blow it out and get in a good, challenging workout. It makes me feel physically good and I also have that satisfaction that I accomplished something so meaningful on several levels. I have conquered whatever voices told me to just stay put and hey, there's so many other things to do, I am making sure I NEVER gain back the weight I've worked so hard to lose, and I am fighting off diseases related to obesity.

In related news I am in TWO magazines! WHAT? It's kind of absurd but, yes, I am featured in the January issue of Family Circle magazine and the Dec./Jan. issue of Best Self Atlanta. Both articles feature a number of inspiring weight loss and transformation stories.

So I'll be scheduling my purple hair for the week after Christmas, well, as long as my paycheck gets here in time! I am making sure I have some time this week to get in some good workouts and I don't have any events coming up that would cause me to overindulge. I will have dinner on Christmas Eve at the in laws but I know there will be fruit and veggies that I can eat and Christmas brunch will offer some scrambled eggs and fruit salad. Yes, there will be coffee cake too and I can have a nibble. I know I won't go crazy because I want the scale to remain my friend and not this intimidating contraption of doom in my bedroom!

OMG - 3 to Go!

I've been a totally remiss blogger. This month has been pretty crazy. At the beginning of the month I caught a cold plus got all bloaty and gained back 3 pounds. Ugh. I felt cruddy and got cranky at not being able to work out and lose the way I planned and started eating stuff I shouldn't. It was kind of hysterical that I won a FB sweepstakes and a company called Rain Tees sent me 3 bars of dark chocolate right then. I am really proud that I still have a few morsels left. I totally could have eaten all three bars that week. The upshot of all that behavior was that on Nov. 9th I was back up to 132.6 lbs. Crud.

Exercise:
That was motivation for me to turn it up this past week. I have been walking running and hitting the bike like nobody's business and have been wearing my heart monitor so I could track my calories burned. One day I burned over 1200 calories so I actually burned more than I consumed. I've been keeping it between 850 and 1100 calories burned per day. It was a lot at times but I want the weight loss more than I wanted to drag my tired ass off that stationary bike. I've been running with my friend Molly and both Tues. and Thursday neither of us was super excited about getting out there but both days we did it and boy, it felt so good to have gotten 4 miles accomplished by 9:30 in the morning! Of course, after Molly left, I threw myself on the bike for an hour!

Eating:
Today I am at 126.2 lbs. I have only 3 lbs. to go to my goal. It's a phenomenal feeling. I know that I can get there by keeping a real careful eye on the calories I take in and keeping my calorie burn high. I am still on Good Measure Meals, they gave me a 2nd month at 50% off. I took another 'after' picture for them so you can see me in their new brochure. So 5 days a week I know I am getting 1200 calories of balanced nutrition. I was planning my meals for Saturday and had a good dose of fiber in the morning, followed by a little bit of fruit and then I planned a salad for lunch so I could get in my 2 - 3 servings of veggies. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for dinner but NEVER thought 'Hmmm, what sounds good for dinner? What do I want?' I immediately thought of what was lacking in my day so far and it was protein. So I looked for some lean protein and found some tilapia that Clay grilled. It's a whole different mind set. It's not about what I feel like eating - that has nothing to do with it. It's what do I need. What does my body need?

I even took the kids to iHop and watched them eat apple crepes and pumpkin pancakes. It all looked really tasty but I drank my hot tea and kept my hands to myself! And look what it got me: 126 lbs.! I haven't seen that number for 2 decades. It's so worth all the hard work.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and maybe I'll see you at the malls in the wee hours of Friday morning!

WHIRLWIND!

Monday started black as night and it only got a little lighter as the day went on. I planned on working out with Sule who was coming over to shoot some video content for his website but the shoot was canceled by the weather. So I was left to my own devices on a rainy day. Turns out it wasn't a bad thing! I actually gave myself a good strength workout, and even found a spot between rainshowers to walk the giant dog. I was very proud that despite the change in plans and the malaise I was able to give myself a darn good workout.

The next thing that happened was an email about a photo shoot! It sent me into a frantic shopping tizzy as they wanted winter clothes and I have NONE. Plus I didn't even know what size I was and I really had no idea what my style was or if I even had a style!!! Tuesday came and I did my cardio day of walk 2 miles, run 2 miles and do an hour on the bike. I burned about 1100 calories and felt great. And the shopping began. I ran around asking salespeople for help. By the end I'd found a sweater, a tunic and a sweater dress.

Wednesday I worked out at Exhale Spa with Sule - he was taking the class as he's logging in hours to become a trainer there. The spa is in the Loew's Hotel in Midtown and it is beautiful! The class was killer, the teacher Brianna kicked my ass and kept up a high intensity for the hour long workout. After that MORE SHOPPING! I hit Macy's and TJ Maxx and had several weight loss epiphany type moments!

Epiphany #1: I found boots that would zip all the way up my calves!!!! I haven't had tall boots in forever because my calves were just too thick. So there I was with tall boots that zipped (with a bit of coaxing) all the way up! Plus they were super cool so I snapped those right up.

Epiphany #2: I tried on a bazillion pairs of jeans because I didn't know what size I was anymore. I thought 6 petite but, nope, too big AND too short. Who the hell can wear them if they are too short for me???? But I didn't give up, I just kept on grabbing more jeans until I found a pair that wasn't all gappy in the back and was long enough not to turn into capris after one washing. Guess what size they were. GUESS! F-ING SIZE 4!!!!! I was soooooo freaked out! I was a size 4 for about 18 minutes back in 1992. And not again since then. Zoweee.

Epiphany #3 and this is a big one: I have entered the 120's - it has happened. I have reached the promised land! I am, as of this morning, 129 lbs. I have worked so so so hard to get here. I was stuck for so long I don't think I really believed I would break free and lose these last pounds. I have been on 1200 calorie per day Good Measure Meals since October 5th. I have totally ramped up my exercise routine and have been pulling out the stops to make this happen.

That being said, I'm not done. I have 6 lbs. to go to reach my 100 pound goal and earn my purple hair. I'm going to do it. And it's going to happen before Black Friday when I plan to do more shopping and find a biker chick jacket to go with my cool ass new boots. I will see you at Perimeter at 5am. with Starbuck's. I'll be the bitch in the boots.

Nnnrrrrrggggggg!

So I am at 132 lbs. this morning. That means I lost a whopping ONE POUND this past week! Unbelievable as I am literally exercising my ass off! I've been running, walking the dog every day of course, getting on the bike, doing my strength training. I have been hitting it really hard and ONE POUND does not seem to be adequate reward for all the freaking work.

That being said, I know what I am doing will, eventually, register on the scale. So today I walked 2 miles with the giant dog, I ran 1.5 miles (didn't do 2 'cause I ran yesterday and I am uber-conservative about how much stress I put on my heel), then I got on the bike for a full hour. I really don't care what I have to do or what it takes I WILL get this weight off, I WILL reach my goal weight and I WILL have purple hair. It's not happening as fast as I would like but I'm in for the journey and this is part of it.

In anticipation I am cleaning out my closets of clothes that I will never wear again so I can make room for a new wardrobe.

Gimme A TWO! 2! T-W-O!

So I'm at 132.6 lbs. Last week was up a pound, down a pound, just mucking around basically. A bit frustrating but it's part of any weight loss journey. It's not a straight path. I know this. This is not to say I'm not impatient about it. I am so close to my goal and soooo close to seeing that two on the scale. You know the one I'm talking about. The two in the middle. It means I'm back in the 120's and that is going to be stupendous. I haven't been there in DECADES! Seriously, it has been that long. It's going to be an amazing achievement to get back there.

I have been dorking around in the 130's for months. It's really been exhausting and frustrating to get so close and not be able to push past and get to that number on the scale. My body has been so resistant. I am determined because I know what a healthy weight is for me and where I am now is not quite it. Close. But no cigar. It is bizarre to watch my ass get flatter. I never lose weight in my ass and now I have. I'm pretty weirded out to see what I will look like once these last few pounds come off. It's like unwrapping a gift. V e r y s l o w l y. But it's cool and I know I will get there and I am starting to think about buying clothes altho I have no idea what my style is or what to buy.

So, I'm sticking with what I know works. Stick to the Good Measure Meals. Count the calories I'm burning. Keep on with the cardio. Keep moving and keep hydrated. Because I want that two.

Cool.

It's not Friday yet, which is when I weigh, but I haven't lost a lot of weight this week, not as much as I wanted anyway. Plus it was a frustrating afternoon so I was kinda cranky. I was trying to make dinner and work on this craft project for William's class and it all sort of went wrong and I also got really tired of hollering at the kids and micromanaging them to clean up after themselves. But, I just read something that cheered me right up! It's from Livestrong.com. It's a very cool website with all sorts of helpful weight loss and fitness tips. I was wondering what my resting heart rate should be and I went to Livestrong to find out. Here's what they said:

a normal resting range for a healthy adult is between 60 and 100 beats per minute, or bpm. Well-trained athletes at rest may range down to 40 to 60 bpm.


You are supposed to take it after reclining for 30 minutes but I checked it after, oh, 7 minutes because I don't have time to sit around for 30 minutes right now - cranky - remember! My resting heart rate was 50! I'm a freakin' ATHLETE!!! That makes me feel so good. It really validates why and how hard I've been working for the past year and a half. I have worked so hard that I went from slug to athlete. I have never in my life considered myself athletic. That blows my mind. So, back to basics, it's not about the number on the scale. It's the fact that my heart is so strong now that it pumps more blood with a single beat and therefor can pump less often. Being healthy is so important to me and I have made such huge strides from where I was last year. I am so proud of myself and I know I will never turn this clock back. No way.

On Track!

Phew! I knew this would work and I am right on track and so happy about it. In the past two weeks I've lost 8lbs. which is amazing. I am back down to 133lbs. which puts me at 90 lbs lost and just 10 away from my goal. I am right where I want to be and I know that the GMM will keep me on track. All I have to do is keep eating them and keep it together on the weekends when I don't have the meals and then keep up the cardio. I had a great workout the other day hopping on the stationary bike for sprints and then hopping off to do abs, then back on the bike, then off for some heavy bag work. I've heard the high intensity alternating with strength training yields results so I'm mixing it in. And mixing it up. Got to keep that muscle confusion going!

It's challenging to plan these workouts without Sule but I know so many different exercises it's easy to keep mixing them in. I know I'm not doing as good a job as he does at making sure everything gets worked on evenly and keeping a good balance between joint mobility and strength but I'm making an attempt anyway!

I even went out to lunch with Mom and Dad yesterday and it barely affected me. We were at a Mexican restaurant and I didn't have a single chip. It took some willpower but, honey, I know what I want and I know what I need to do to get it. Will chips and salsa and queso get me there? NO NO NO!!! I had a delicious salad with chicken and citrus with the dressing on the side and ate about half of it. Had the rest for dinner. I had a plan of how to cope with going out to lunch and I stuck to it and my reward is to be right where I want to be weight loss wise. One of Sule's sayings that I love is this: Not having a plan is a plan to fail. It's genius and sooooo applicable to this journey.

So go on out to eat or socialize, just have a plan. And if anyone thinks it's sad or wrong that you won't eat any chips, backhand 'em! Oops, I meant, smile, and stick to your guns! You are in control, nothing can make you eat the chips. If it's not helping you get to your goal then don't put it in your mouth!