7/2/2012: Steady as She Goes

The wedding weekend wasn't too damaging, but it did not result in any weight loss, either. With the exception of the wedding celebration itself, I was very careful about what I ate while away from home. The wedding was Saturday night and I did indulge in a few (or more) glasses of wine and a piece of wedding cake, in addition to the dinner that was served. I am pretty sure those calories got burned off with all of the dancing though! Jack was a dancing machine and it was all I could do to more or less keep up with him! In addition to the dancing I jogged for about on hour on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. I was hoping to see at least a little bit of a weight loss this morning, but it was not to be. This morning I weighed 191.6 pounds. Staying on the bright side of things, it's always good to go on vacation and not gain weight, right? Also, I am far enough below my line that I can maintain my weight for three weeks before I hit it. So, even though I am a little disappointed that my efforts at staying on my path this weekend were not rewarded by a drop on the scale this morning, I am not discouraged. Today is a new day and those one-eighties are right around the corner!

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!!