6/29/2012: Weddings!

We are at the Kansas City airport waiting for our flight to Denver with a connection to Oakland because tomorrow my nephew, Patrick, is getting married to his long-time sweetheart, Heather! It seems like it was a long time coming considering the fact that the oldest of the cousins is 29 years old and this Pat is the first of their generation to get married. We are excited for Pat and Heather, of course, and are also looking forward to spending time with family. I am particularly excited to see my son, Steve, and to meet his girlfriend, Elizabeth, for the first time. Fun times, indeed! Yesterday's weigh-in was uneventful which probably explains why I am just getting around to posting it today. I weighed 191.4 pounds. The plateau I expected happened...self fulfilling prophecy? Could be...but for some reason it makes me feel better to be tracking on the same line that I've been tracking on for the last seventeen weeks. I guess it's because I feel like it is sustainable and predictable. I kind of like knowing I am going to weigh a little bit less each week. That is easier for me than losing 3 pounds this week, gaining a pound next week, and holding steady the week after that. I've been lucky to have been able to sustain a slow and steady loss, and I hope to be able to maintain that. The weekend of festivities will present its own challenges when it comes to food and drink, but Jeremy expects me to be inthe 180s next Friday, so I don't have much room for screwing around. I feel confident that I will be able to make good choices. Exercise needs to happen, too, but my sister, Ruth, is staying in our hotel and I am confident she'll want me to jog or something with her. It is my goal to lose weight this weekend, just as I would if I was at home!

6/27/12: Progress Charted

6/27/12 Chart after 17 weeks

Here you go, Ruth!  I love my chart, too! 

This chart is the width of two full pieces of poster board taped together and takes up most of our bathroom wall.  The scale is right below it, so I am looking at the chart as I weigh myself each morning.  I also stare at it every day as I am brushing my teeth, drying my hair, and getting ready for my day.  Nothing motivates me more than seeing the red line falling steadily, and watching that gap between the red line and the blue line get ever so much bigger as the weeks go by.

My original plan was to lose 1.5 pounds a week for 48 weeks for a 72 pound weight loss, and that is what the blue goal line represents.  Of course, when I weighed myself the morning after I made the chart, I found out that I weighed 224 pounds instead of the 222 that I thought I weighed, so I started out a little above the blue line.  As you can see, I hugged my goal line closely for a while, but somewhere around week 8, the gap between my goal line and my actual line started to grow, ever so slowly.  My weight loss rate remains consistent at just short of 2 pounds a week.

Almost as inspiring as that red line are my Sunday photos.  Every Sunday I paste a picture on my chart and in the last few weeks I have started to see a real difference from my start photo.  I can spend ten minutes just staring at the photos that are already up, imagining how cool the chart is going to look after 48 weeks, with all of those photos of me getting stronger, healthier, and thinner, one after the other, pasted up there.  The chart is the single most motivational tool that I have in my tool box.  It never fails to inspire me to keep on track!!

6/25/2012: Monday Weigh-In

Over the last week and a half my weight in the mornings has been 191.something several times, but never on a weigh-in day.  Today was the first day that I got to mark my chart under 192 pounds, but just barely.  This morning I weighed 191.8 pounds.  Therefore, at the end of 17 weeks, I have lost 32.2 pounds.  I was hoping for a little more this morning...I was hoping for 190.something, but at the end of the day, or rather, at the beginning of the morning, I am still consistently losing weight.  The line on my chart shows steady progress and I am below my line, with each week taking me incrementally farther below my goal line as my weight loss rate is closer to 2 pounds a week (though not quite) than the 1.5 pounds a week that I am targeting. 

Here's to another successful week!!

6/24/12: Week 17 Photo

6/24/2012 - End of Week 17

The second 10 weeks of my get fit initiative is approaching its end, and all is well.  This morning I weighed 191.4 pounds and I am hoping for a 190.something for my official weigh-in tomorrow.  I jogged five miles yesterday, which is taking me just shy of an hour, and had a strength training day at the gym, today, which also takes me just shy of an hour.  It's hard to say which is harder, though the strength training seems to go faster.  I think it is because I am not doing the same thing for the entire hour.  I finish a set and go on to the next one.  It's also much more pleasant to run outdoors rather than on the treadmill.  An hour on the treadmill, even with earphones and TV, seems to take at least 3 hours.  An hour jogging outdoors just feels like an hour.  It must be the change of scenery.

I've been doing well with my food, with the exception of Friday evening.  We went to Lew's to play darts and I had a fajita chicken wrap. I didn't want a side, but got fries and gave 90% of them to Jack.  I ate a few of them.  I also had a glass of white wine.  Prior to coming home and having dinner, a few of us at work took a co-worker out for a beer for her birthday.  So I had a glass of wine and probably 1/10th of a spinach artichoke dip & chip appetizer before I got home.  That is probably what loosened up my resolve prior to going to dinner with Jack.  I felt way too full after dinner, it was pretty uncomfortable.  I've been "perfect" the rest of the weekend and I think I will have recovered my weight loss by tomorrow morning.  At least I hope so!!!!

On Friday we are off to Sonoma for my nephew Pat's wedding!  Whew, what a wedding season it has been.  I have no idea what I am wearing yet.  I need to try on some of the things in my closet and see what fits!

Until tomorrow...

6/22/2012: Melting Off

It seems as if the fat in my body has finally decided to just give up and start coming off.  This morning I weighed 191.2 pounds!!  I am doing my best to prepare myself emotionally for what I feel like is the inevitable plateau, but at the same time I am doing everything I can, physically, to make sure that weight loss sticks.  I don't need or want to lose more than two pounds a week, but once it's gone I don't want it back!!  At this point I am so close to the one-eighties that it is my short term goal to lose 1.5 pounds this week so by next Friday, when we leave for Pat's wedding, I will be in the one-eighties.  That would be pretty cool!!  To date weight loss:  32.8 pounds!!

6/21/2012: 31.8 Pounds and Counting

I was very pleased to weigh-in at 192.2 pounds this morning, holding onto the pretty significant drop in weight from last week.  It is only a two-tenths of a pound loss since Monday, but considering the fact that I have lost two and two tenths pounds since last Thursday, I am certainly not complaining.  My goal is 1.5 pounds a week and I am averaging closer to 1.9, staying just shy of losing 2 pounds a week.  While it is fun to see sudden drops on the scale, it really isn't my goal or desire to lose weight rapidly.  It seems healthier and more sustainable to me to keep up this steady rate of weight loss, not too fast...not too slow.  So when I saw the sudden drop of two pounds from last Thursday to Monday, my goal was to just hold on to that for this week.  It was pretty exciting on Tuesday when I got on the scale and weighed 191.4, because all of a sudden the one-eighties were just around the corner, but I knew that had to be a fluke.  I look forward to being in the one-eighties in a couple of weeks, though!!

It doesn't seem like I have a lot of new stuff to talk about on the weight-loss front, lately.  I'm in that middle stage, where I have figured out the formula that works and I still have enough weight to lose that it hasn't started slowing down.  I still love my chart!  It is a huge motivator.  Blogging helps, too.  And of course, working with Jeremy, my physical trainer, once a week makes a big difference, too.  I know I have at least one villager out there checking to make sure I am staying on track because my sister called me on Sunday wondering how my weigh-in went.  She's used to seeing that Sunday morning post with my weekly photo and when I didn't post till late in the day (we were driving back from Colorado) she thought I missed a weigh-in.  I assured her that I was still on track and that there was nothing to worry about!!  I appreciate her vigilance, though.  It's nice to know that if I do go into radio silence that there are people out there that will check in to make sure I have not fallen off the wagon.  Thanks, Ruth!!

There are two things I have noticed that are slightly different, lately.  First, the workouts are getting harder.  On cardio days I am jogging faster and farther and on strength training days the routines have been kicked up a couple of notches.  I struggle to get through them, but I recover quickly, so I guess that is good.  Second, I am finding that I am no longer struggling with my evening meal.  No matter where we are or what we're eating, I am able to take small portions and be satisfied with that.  My goal is to eat enough to not be hungry anymore, and that's it.  That little change has made this whole endeavor much easier.

Gotta run...have a great day, everyone!!

6/18/2012: End of Week 16 Weigh-in

It's unbelievable, really, but today I weighed 192.4 pounds which means I have lost a total of 29.6 pounds in 16 weeks.  All I can say is that all of the exercise is definitely paying off.  In spite of the snacking on our road trip, I continued to lose weight.  There were several times that I thought about eating more.  The ice cream at the gas stops looked good, for example, but I never went that far, which paid off as well.  I'll keep plugging along, counting calories and exercising six days a week.  Obviously that is the formula that works!!

6/17/2012: Week 16 Photo

6/17/2012 End of Week 16



2/26/12 Start Photo

This weekend we took our granddaughters back to Denver after their two week visit, so the last time I weighed myself was Friday morning, with the same result as Thursday.  I weighed 194.4 pounds which is 29.6 pounds lost since February 26, 2012.  I am still a couple of pounds below my line and progressing nicely!  Above you can see a photo taken earlier today and the photo taken on Sunday, February 26th, the day before I started my plan.  What a difference 16 weeks makes!!!  I see the biggest difference in my face and neck, but it is beginning be noticable all over my body.  I am now comfortably wearing the size 14s from my closet and have bought a few new things in a 14, meaning I am no longer shopping in the "Women's section," or at Catherines, aka (by me) as the "Fat Lady's Store" and I can now shop in the "normal sizes" for clothes, which is a big milestone for me!  It does not make me unhappy at all that I can now throw the Catherine's coupons away without even looking at them!  I'm starting to get comments at work, as people are beginning to notice the weight loss.  It feels good to know that the hard work is paying off.

Tomorrow is my weigh-in day, and I'm a little anxious about it because my eating was not perfect over the last 36 hours.  We were scheduled to leave at about 4:00 Friday afternoon to take the girls back to Denver.  I picked the girls up from day camp and headed home, expecting to see Jack there, ready to load the car.  When his car was not in the driveway my heart sunk a little, but I assumed he went to pick something up at the store.  When I went in the house and saw that the alarm was still on, I knew something was wrong.  Sure enough, I had a call from him a moment later and he had been in a car accident.  He was only about 3 blocks from home, was making a left turn into our residential neighborhood, and a young man decided to speed past him on the left side.  The car that hit him was moving so fast that it pushed Jack's car off the road and through a chain link fence.  His car ran over one of the metal fence posts, bending it level with the ground and the fence was laying on top of Jack's car.  Luckily, Jack was not hurt.  Unfortunately, it took the police about 3 hours to get there, delaying the start of our drive, significantly.  Also, unfortunately, it looks like the driver of the other car may not have insurance, which means we will have to pay the $1,000 deductible to fix the car.  The young man claimed that it was his father's car and his father has insurance, so maybe that is true.  Jack is going to give all of the contact info to our insurance company tomorrow, so with any luck that may work out.  Our insurance will pay for a rental car, at least, so we'll pick that up in the morning.

The accident added a little stress to our trip.  We wanted to be in Denver by noon on Saturday, so we had plans to make it to Colby, Friday night.  That would have been easy if we had been rolling by 4:00, but with the later start it was a stretch.  I got the car loaded up and took the girls out to eat while we were waiting for the police to take care of things with Jack.  By the time Jack made it home we were fed and ready to go.  Jack was a little shook up, as anyone would be in that situation, and our patience was a little thin.  I decided, rather spontaneously, that I would be better off eating a little extra to keep the edge off, rather than getting testy, so I allowed myself to eat some of the snacks that we packed for the trip.  We ended up driving until 1:00am in the morning and through a pretty fierce thunderstorm.  Luckily I drove the first leg and Jack was driving when it started to rain.  That's lucky because I have so much trouble seeing in the dark and the rain.  When we rolled into Colby we were dismayed to find that all the inns were full.  We finally found a room at a less than lovely no-tell motel, but it got us out of the rain and had two beds, a shower, and a TV (to the delight of the girls).  They got a huge kick out of waking up before us on Saturday morning, getting snacks out of the cooler, and watching TV while laying in bed and eating cheese sticks and yogurt.  Ah, the joys of being 6 & 7 years old!  We climbed back in the car at about 8:30 on Saturday morning and I thought I would be able to be more disciplined now that I had some rest.  But we were still a little tired and patience was still required, and the snacking continued.  After we dropped the kids off we stopped for lunch and I had a chicken sandwhich, but did not choose any sides, and for dinner I had a salad.  This morning I didn't have any problem getting back on track, and had a veggie omelet for breakfast, and ate only a half a piece of toast and did not eat the potatoes.  I think tomorrow's weigh in will be OK, not great, but OK.  It helped a lot at breakfast when I looked around and saw so many overweight women.  I knew I did not want to go back to that, and it strengthened my resolve to get back on plan.  My chart helps, too.  I need to stay below that line!!!

This week, life gets back to normal.  We loved having the girls with us for two weeks, but it was tiring.  When you don't have children at home all the time you forget what it feels like to have no down time.  The girls were great, extremely well behaved and a lot of fun, but part of parenting is being alert all of the time.  By the end of two weeks, I was ready to shut down for a little while.  I've always admired our daughter-in-law for how well she parents her four children, and I admire her even more now.  The girls were amazingly adaptable, settling into their new routines with Jack and I, easily.  They are incredibly smart and observant and we had many interesting and delightful conversations with them.  Their favorite day was Wednesday, when Jack took the day off and took the girls to Crown Center for the day.  There's no doubt that those girls love their Grandpa!! 

Here's to renewing my resolve, getting back on track, and having a great week on my plan.  My nephew's wedding is in two more weeks and it would be great to be close to 190 by then.  It's not the 188 I was shooting for, but it is close.  Oh, and I am closing in on my dad, too.  I talked to him today and he said he was at 192.  By the time we meet in California on June 29th, there is a good chance I will weigh less than he does!!

6/14/2012: Brief Note

Weigh-in day, mid-week 16, 194.4 pounds.  To-date weight loss is 29.6 pounds.  More later after we get the girls home.

June 11, 2012: 15 Weeks and 28 pounds

6/10/12 - End of week 15

No, I am not scratching my arm pit in this photo!  Our 6 year old granddaughter took this photo and I had just taken my glasses off and was still moving my hand.  We went for a nice walk and picnic at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens yesterday.  It was the perfect way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

This morning I weighed 196 pounds for a total to-date weight loss of 28 pounds.  I can wear clothes that have been too small for a couple of years and I can no longer wear the ones I was wearing a few months ago.  Progress!!  The weight loss continues to be steady, thanks to the exercise and calorie counting.  My strength training routine this week seems ridiculously hard, but it's also working.  One cannot argue with the results.

I've still got a way to go, 46 pounds to my goal weight.  But I know I am going to get there by my target date of February 4th, 2013.  I'm still below my line!!

6/9/2012: Catching Up

As I mentioned in a previous post, our granddaughters, ages 6 & 7 (almost 8) are keeping us pretty busy.  They live in Salt Lake City with their parents, Andrew and Rebecca, and their two little brothers.  We get to see them two or three times a year, but they are so far away that the visits are always too brief and seem to be too far apart.  We knew it would mean a lot to us if they could come spend a couple of weeks with us and we hoped it would work out for everyone else, too.  We're grateful that it all worked out and the Rebecca was willing to meet us about half way, in Denver.  So last Friday night Jack and I took off after work and drove about 6 hours, making it to Colby, Kansas.  The next morning we made it the rest of the way to Denver by about noon, Kansas City time, picked up the girls and headed home.  We stopped in Colby again, for a late late/early dinner at the Village Inn.  This picture is of Jack and the girls at the Village Inn.

Jack and our Granddaughters

We made it home late Saturday night and then spent a fairly quiet day settling in on Sunday.

Monday the real excitement started.  The girls are going to summer day camp at Shawnee Mission Park and are having a great time.  I'm able to get into work a little late and Jack is able to leave work a little early, so I'm dropping them off in the mornings and Jack is picking them up in the afternoons, which is working out well.  The girls are there for all of the fun stuff, but don't need to hang around too much in the mornings or afternoons before and after the activities start and end.  They are making new friends, going on field trips, swimming, and love riding the school bus.  All in all, it appears as if summer camp is a hit!

Monday evening we took the girls bowling with us and they made a new friend there.  They are looking forward to seeing Bob again next Monday.

Wednesday evening Brianna and Kyle arrived for their Missouri wedding reception and they are here with us until tomorrow.  It's wonderful having the house full of family.  We are all having a great time!!

Of course, being a parent again is exhausting.  The girls are incredibly well behaved and pretty much take care of a lot of things themselves, but as the adults in charge, Jack and I are engaged in what is going on around us every minute.  There is no such thing as "down time" until they are in bed and then I go down right after they do.  It's making getting up at 4:20 in the morning to exercise difficult, but so far, I have not missed a scheduled day of exercise since they have been here.  Today's exercise is going to come after dinner, but I think I will still be able to get it in.  Luckily, the food hasn't been too difficult to maintain.  We are eating out a little more just because I am tired at the end of the day, but I am not having a problem making good choices, either a grilled chicken breast and veggies or a salad.  I have noticed lately that my attitude towards dinner has changed.  I am no longer looking for a big meal at dinner, instead I look for a little protein and just enough food so that I won't be hungry when I go to bed.  Even if the food is really good, for the most part I am not having trouble keeping my portions small at dinner time.

All in all, life is grand!  There is nothing like taking care of a couple of precious children to help put life in perspective.  All of our children are doing well, following their individual paths in life, and our lives are full of love.  That truly is what it is all about.

Following is my calorie recap for the last couple of weeks.  My goal is to consumer about 1,500 calories a day and exercise for an hour a day, six days a week.

Sunday May 27th:  Calories Consumed - 1,313 ; Calories Burned (75 minutes (5 miles) brisk walking) - 566;  Net Calories - 747

Monday May 28th:  Calories Consumed - 1,666; Calories Burned (55 minutes weight lifting) - 496;  Net Calories - 1,170

Tuesday May 29th:  Calories Consumed - 1,296; Calories Burned (100 floors on stair master and 2,500 strides on elliptical maching) - 523;  Net Calories - 773

Wednesday May 30th:  Calories Consumed - 1,307; Calories Burned (55 minutes weight lifting) - 496;  Net Calories - 811

Thursday May 31st:  Calories Consumed - 1,541; Calories Burned (jogging 5 minute miles for 53 minutes) - 638;  Net Calories - 903

Friday June 1st:  Calories Consumed - 2,005; Calories Burned (50 minutes weight lifting) - 449;  Net Calories - 1,556 (Excess calories were dinner out at 75th Street Grill, Turkey burger and a salad, on the way out of town to get the girls.  I ate more heavily than normal because I knew we would be up until midnight and I did not want to snack too much while on the road.)

Saturday June 2nd:  Calories Consumed - 1,384; Calories Burned (Day off from exercise - moved it to Saturday because we spent the day driving to Denver to pick up the girls) - 0;  Net Calories - 1,384

Sunday June 3rd:  Calories Consumed - 1,252; Calories Burned (Jog for 65 minutes approx 5 miles) - 779;  Net Calories - 473

Monday June 4th:  Calories Consumed - 1,219; Calories Burned (55 minutes weight lifting) - 494;  Net Calories - 725

Tuesday June 5th:  Calories Consumed - 1,387; Calories Burned (Day off from exercise) - 0;  Net Calories; 1,387

Wednesday June 6th:  Calories Consumed - 1,385; Calories Burned (55 minutes weight lifting) - 494;  Net Calories - 891

Thursday June 7th:  Calories Consumed - 1,683; Calories Burned (100 floors on stairmaster and 2500 strids on elliptical) - 559;  Net Calories - 1,124

Friday June 8th:  Calories Consumed - 1,244; Calories Burned (55 minutes weight lifting) - 491;  Net Calories - 753

6/7/2012: Granddaughters!

Suffice it to say that our two granddaughters are keeping us busy! So busy, in fact, that I barely have time to squeeze in this post. It is weigh-in day, though, and my minimum commitment to posting is to post my weight on weigh-in days. Today I weighed 197.4 pounds. That's only a two-tenths of a pound since Monday, but it is in the right direction, anyway! Dragging myself out of bed to exercise this morning was TOUGH! I almost didn't do it, but the operative word there is almost. I did get up and go to the gym and pushed myself through 100 floors on the stair master and 2500 strides on the elliptical machine. Fun? No, it wasn't, but I am glad I pushed through and got it done. Jack's getting the girls up and I'll be cooking breakfast in a minute, but I do want to say having the girls here is wonderful. I talked to a friend at work yesterday and was telling her all about our granddaughters and she commented that she hadn't heard me laugh that much in a long time. They are a joy! Gotta run now. Have a great day!

6/3/2012: End of Week 14 Photo

6/3/2012 - My clothes are getting too big...

As you can see from the photo, the clothes that I bought to get me through spring are getting a little big and baggy on me!  It will be a little longer before I buy smaller clothes, so Jack is going to try washing them in hot water and drying in a hot dryer to shrink them a little bit.  That ought to buy us another month or so, then I may need to think about buying a few casual things to get through the rest of the summer.  It's fun to be getting to small for my clothes!!!  Next summer I ought to be wearing a size 10!!  That will be nice.

This morning's unofficial weigh in was 197.6 pounds, so I have lost 26.4 pounds in 14 weeks.  Everything is right on track, I'm under my line, and I am looking forward to being in the 170s in September when Jack and I go on our vacation to New England.

I was a little anxious about this weekend because Jack and I hit the road right after work on Friday to pick up our granddaughters, ages 6 and almost 8, in Denver.  They live in St Lake City and we don't get to see them often enough, so we asked their parents if the girls could stay with us for a couple of weeks this summer.  We decided that the best way to get them here was to meet half-way, so their mom drove them to Denver and we met there.  We drove over half of the way Friday night and stayed in Colby overnight.  We got to Denver at about noon, picked up the girls, turned around and headed home.  We weren't really planning on making it all the way home on Saturday, but we may good time and were home by midnight.  I was worried about my tendency to snack on the road, but I didn't do too badly and I actually lost weight while on the road.  All's well that ends well and we are super happy to have the girls here with us for a visit.

Here's to hoping that tomorrow's official weigh-in stays on track!