7/27/2012: Size 12!

I can't believe I missed yesterday's post. There is just too much going on these days, I guess. And I had great news to post, too! No, I have not lost another four pounds. I weighed in at exactly 184 again, yesterday. But I had no idea what I was going to wear to work yesterday since Jack had dropped all of my size 14 skirts off at the cleaners. So I checked the closet with my smaller clothes in it, wondering if there might be something in there I could wear. I had a really cute size 12 skirt in that closet and I thought, "There is no way that will fit," but I tried it on anyway. And it not only fit, it fit well! I am now a size 12!!!! Yeah! That feels like real progress!

7/23/2012: 40 Pounds!!

I can't believe it either, but this morning when I got on the scale I weighed 184 pounds.  I have lost 40 pounds in 21 weeks!  The last time I dropped several pounds in one week I got anxious that I was losing weight too fast.  That, of course, was followed by a week and a half of losing no weight at all.  So this time I'm going to look at this sudden drop in weight as the gift that it is and not fret about losing weight too fast.  The trend line has held true, and I'm sure sooner or later it will flatten out again.

But for now....40 Pounds!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  I am excited about that!!!

7/22/2012: Week 21 Photo and Chart Update

Week 21 photo! This is the first picture that I've taken and posted with my iPad. It turned out OK I think, though I will still need to upload it to my PC so I can print it out and paste it to my chart. Speaking of my chart, here's a current photo:




You can see the recent plateau that I have been complaining so much about, and the fact that I made it past my half way mark. This morning I weighed 185.0 pounds. If I weigh 185 tomorrow, when I mark my chart, I will be right back on my trend line.

I have discovered, through this process, that it is easier for me to think about this process in ten week increments. Therefore, at the beginning of each ten weeks, I create a smaller chart within the chart, and graph out a projected range of weights for that ten weeks. The process of making the mini-chart provides me with an opportunity to visualize success over then next ten weeks. It also gives me shorter term goals to work towards.

Not much else to talk about at the moment. I'm having fun with my garden and have been harvesting tomatoes and cucumbers faster than we can eat them. I bowled a 171 in practice yesterday, I hope I can do it again tomorrow in league. We saw The Dark Knight Rises yesterday. Jack thought it was awesome, I thought it was a rather tortured movie that tried too hard to be more than it was. But that's just my opinion and I am sure I am in the minority, there. We have seen other, in my opinion, better movies this summer including Moonrise Kingdom and The Intouchables. I recommend both of those to all of you movie goers out there.

I'll check in tomorrow with my official end-of-21-week weigh-in. Until then, stay as cool as you can in this summer heat!

7/21/2012: Back on Track

After an excruciating week and a half, which seriously felt like at least three weeks, of not losing any weight, I am finally back on track!  This morning I weighed (unofficially, of course, since I only mark my chart on Thursdays and Mondays) 185.6 pounds!  That puts me back on my original trend line, as if I never plateaued at all.  I can't begin to describe how difficult the last one and a half weeks were for me, emotionally.  I wasn't doing anything differently, I was still exercising everyday and eating less than 1500 calories a day.  I was still keeping my meals small, drinking plenty of water, and not drinking much, if any, alcohol.  I was doing everything that I had been doing for the first 19 weeks of my Get Fit Initiative, but it just seemed to stop working.  I started to get frustrated and depressed.  How much more could I do?  Did I have to cut my calories to 1200?  I don't want to do that.  First of all, I don't think it's enough, with all the exercising I am doing.  Second, that extra 300 calories makes a big difference when it comes to flexibility in my diet.  The thought of having to cut my daily calories to 1200 was just plain depressing.

Last Thursday I really wanted to weigh-in under my half-way mark, which was seeming more and more like an elusive goal that I would never attain, so as I mentioned in a previous post, I took it to extremes Tuesday night and skipped dinner.  I saw an immediate result on the scale Wednesday morning.  Wednesday evening, I ate a little dinner, but not much, and Thursday morning I get the result I was looking for, and crossed my halfway mark with a weigh-in of 186.6 pounds.  Therefore, I am happy to report that I am back on my 1500 calorie-a-day plan and that Jack and I went to Governor Stumpy's for dinner last night.  I ordered the Cajun style grilled talapia with fresh green beans, though I skipped the rice in favor of extra green beans.  I ate it all up, and even ate 10 or so peanuts at the ball park last night, and I still weighed in at 185.6 pounds this morning.  That's more like it!  That is more what I am used to.  Exercise hard, six days a week, eat about 1500 healthy calories a day, drink plenty of water, and slowly but surely lose weight.  My faith in the plan is slowly but surely being restored. 

The mind games I went through over the last 10 days (I swear it seems like at least 30) were incredibly difficult.  I wanted to just say f___ it!  I can't do this.  I was so ready, emotionally, to give up.  My elephant was not in the game, anymore, and my rider was tired, bone tired.  I felt like I did not have the emotional energy or physical strength to wrestle that elephant back on course.  Exercise, instead of being that thing I do in the morning, became the, "Dreaded Chore," once again.  Without the results on the scale, it all seemed so pointless.  And that emotional tail spin happened so fast.  The first weigh-in with no loss, I took in stride.  The second weigh-in with no loss was pretty frustrating.  After the third, I began threatening to cut off a limb just to see results on the scale.  The prospect of a fourth weigh-in with no loss was simply unbearable. 

Over this last couple of weeks it became crystal clear that my chart, my blog, posting on facebook, my husband, my trainer, and all of you are absolutely essential to my success.  If I had been doing this alone, if I had not made my goals public and available to the whole world, if I did not have dozens of people out there cheering on my success, if my goal was not so well defined, if I did not have my chart to mark and look at and remind me that I was still ahead of goal; I would have given up.  I know I would have.  I've been there, done that, before.  A few times.  But, because of all of you, my chart, my husband, my sister, and my trainer, I stuck it out.  Miserably, I will admit.  Complainy, whiny, pathetically, and all of that.  But I stuck it out and today the scale is reflecting my efforts again, and once again, I am emotionally back on track.

When I look at the chart closely and realize that the plateau lasted only 1.5 weeks, I shake my head in disbelief.  I can't believe that short period of time of no weight loss sent me into such an emotional spiral.  I look at the previous 20 weeks and see about 3 other flat spots on the graph.  I remind myself that this is a pattern, that this will happen again, and I need to take the plateaus in stride.  I will get there.  I will weigh 150 pounds on or before February 4th, 2012.  I'll do it with the help of all of my family and friends, my trainer, and my chart.  I'm looking forward to getting there.  The journey is not too bad, either.  These rough patches are opportunities to learn a little more about myself and what motivates me.  Here's to hoping I can get a couple of weeks under my belt before that next learning experience!!

7/18/2012: Halfway There! Finally!!

Yeah! Woo Hoo! Hip Hip Hooray! After a couple of weeks of flat-lining it, I finally dropped below 187 pounds and crossed my half-way mark!!! It feels good, yes it does! This morning I weighed 186.6 pounds. I've lost 37.4 pounds and have 36.6 to go to reach 150 pounds. I can do this! I was feeling incredibly frustrated over the last week as the fat on my body seemed to get more and more stubborn and just didn't want to let go. I will admit that extreme times called for extreme measures and I pretty much skipped my evening meal Tuesday and yesterday I ate a little dinner, but not much. Half a stuffed pepper and a few prunes (for regularity - they are helping). I know that skipping meals is not a reasonable solution and that eating 5 or 6 small meals is the best way to go, but I couldn't go much longer with the deadlock so I figured missing one and a half dinners wouldn't hurt too much. Anyway, finally, I have started to lose weight again. We'll see what my body decides to do over the next week. I am hoping to see the gradual, yet steady weight loss that has been the norm for most of the last 20 weeks, but you never know. Things change...

7/16/2012: Wait for it...Wait for it...

As I said in yesterday's post, I really wanted to weigh 187 pounds today so that I would be halfway to goal after 20 weeks, but it was not meant to be.  I weighed 188.0 pounds this morning, which is 36 pounds less than I weighed exactly 20 weeks ago. 

I seem to have hit a real plateau, having lost very little weight over the last couple of weeks.  It's very frustrating!  I did get an extra walk in yesterday evening, Jack and I went for a brisk 2 mile walk after dinner.  We ate late though, dinner was at about 7:30.  I know that makes a difference. 

Oh well, I am just going to keep doing what I've been doing, it has certainly worked so far.  That stubborn fat will let go of its grip on me one of these days!!!!

7/15/2012: Week 20 - Will I Be Halfway to Goal Tomorrow?

7/15/2012 187.8 Pounds, 36.2 Pounds Lost to Date

2/26/2012 224.0 Pounds, Start Photo

Tomorrow morning I weigh-in at the end of 20 weeks of exercising 6 days a week for an hour a day and eating approximately 1500 calories or less per day.  I started with the goal of losing 74 pounds in 48 weeks.  I am hoping (HOPING in all CAPS, actually) to weigh 187.0 pounds tomorrow morning, because that will be exactly 37 pounds lost, or half-way to my goal weight of 150 pounds, in exactly 20 weeks. That just seems so neat and tidy, doesn't it?

But no matter what the scale reads tomorrow morning, the pictures above speak for themselves.  It is not hard to see the results of all of the commitment, discipline and hard work that I have been putting into my "Get Healthy Initiative" over the last 20 weeks.  Sometimes I get frustrated, sometimes it seems like it is going to take forever to get to 150 pounds, sometimes I am convinced that exercise is just another word for torture; but when I look at these photos and remind myself that this has only taken 20 weeks, I know it is all paying off and that over the next 20 - 28 weeks I will be able to lose the remaining 37 pounds.  Yes, it is going to be hard work.  I imagine I will hit a few more plateaus losing the last 37 pounds than I did losing the first 37, but I have 8 extra weeks to lose that second half in, since I lost the first half in only 20 weeks!  I have been encouraged by both Ruth (my sister) and Jeremy (my trainer) to add 30 minutes of exercise at the end of the day.  I have to say I am not ready to commit to another 30 minutes of exercise per day, 6 days a week, but I also have to admit that adding 30 minutes of exercise on days that I don't have something else going on in the evenings makes a lot of sense.  Therefore, it seems as if a compromise is in order!  This week, starting with today, I will add 3 extra 30 minute workouts to my established routine.  Those workouts may be as simple as a brisk walk, or it may be a 2 mile jog...that's about all I want to commit to at the moment...but I am committing to adding a minimum of 3 thirty minute evening walks per week, to my routine for the next 28 weeks.

Until tomorrow's weigh-in...