OVERWEIGHT!

Okay. So how many of you read the title and thought this was a rant of some sort?

Wrong! Overweight is a CELEBRATION! ***cue confetti and Kool and the Gang.***

Because yesterday morning, after years of hearing “That’s Obese!” my Wii said, in a slightly less demeaning manner, “That’s Overweight!”

It has been a long, curvy, hilly, hard-as-crap road. But I’ve gotten here. And I’m only getting closer to normal from here.

I am so proud of myself. So stinking proud. It has been a long road. I started my downward trend in February 2009. I’ve gotten stuck. I’ve gained some pounds back. But at the end of the day, I am 63 pounds down from my highest weight. And, in case some of you didn’t know me then or you just need a reminder (because sometimes I do), this is what 63 pounds difference looks like.

In my slightly roomy size 12 Long and Lean jeans from Gap and a medium half-marathon t-shirt.

Sorry for all the horn tootin’ today, my friends. But I just can’t help it.

I’m not obese anymore!

my hero zero

226.8 – 226.8 = zero. What?

Well, this week I stayed the same. (And my toenails are seriously chipped, thus the socks.)

Breakdown of the week that was:

Average daily calories: 1513

Exercise: 5 days for 6 hours and 40 minutes total

I am not happy, but I am not frustrated. I’m just not cutting any more corners. No more Panera. No more being lazy. Just hard freaking work.

The next two weeks I’ll be weighing on Sundays, due to being out of town during the week for new job. And then I’ll be in Atlanta (far from my native Kentucky) from 2/10 – 2/20, so I don’t know what my posting will be like in that time.

Happy Monday! Good luck on the scale!

i don’t need an excuse

So this is my morning. 229.2 – 226.8 shows a 2.4 pound loss for the week. Again, trying to be happy about it.

I averaged 1512 calories daily. I exercised 6 days for a total of 9 hours and 10 minutes. And I lost 2.4.

I also have a horrendous headache. I had actually planned an insightful post based on this week’s sermon, but instead I’m going to put my effort into talking Nathan into making a trip to Starbucks for me. The post will come later. I promise.

How’d all your weigh-ins go?

we’re gonna do what they say can’t be done

Down 2.4 more!


But I’m not really happy. I have busted my butt this week. Granted, I ate out several times, but I did really well. I ate an average of 1315 calories a day. I exercised 5 days for a total of 5 hours. And I lost 2.4 pounds this week. But that’s 9.8 pounds in 2 weeks! So looking at the big picture, I’ll take it!

I am really impressed at how much I really have changed this year. Exercising is almost habit. We eat dinner, we clean the kitchen, we go to the gym. It’s that simple. I don’t know how I would be doing this without Nathan though. He’s such a good sport and he doesn’t give me the option to back out. And me depending on him keeps him there too.

I am really suprised at my eating. When I went out to lunch Friday and Saturday, I was shocked at how little I wanted to eat. I ate less than half of what was on my plate, and I physically couldn’t eat anymore. It wasn’t that I didn’t want it, I was just listening to my body.

And as much as I am listening when it comes to food, I need to stop listening when it comes to exercise. I let my tiredness talk me out of keeping going. We exercised a lot, but I only did my full plan one day. I didn’t do weight training at all. Because I was tired. I need to keep Bob in my head, remember how tired the Biggest Loser contestants always are.

I am hopefully playing the Biggest Loser in my own way this week. I have 2 interviews, so I’m going to try putting off my start date at the restaurant until next week – I go in for orientation today. I want to use this week to live at the gym, keep cooking, and increase the support I give to my blogging buddies.

I can’t wait to see how y’all did!

the dance we shared

Happy New Year’s Eve!

So I officially weighed for the Easter Challenge this morning. 239.0. Big Ugh. Are you kidding me? Nope. It’s true. I realized that I really have no idea how my weight has fluctuated as I kept this blog, only that this is my highest. In the spirit of all those great cable tv countdowns and yearly summaries that I am unable to watch (did you all know I don’t have cable?), I decided to do a month by month blog summary of 2007.

February: I am a runner. I am respectful to my body. I am honest. I’m still working on it. I started running C25K. I had a great ephiphany about loving myself as I am today, not as I will be in the future.

March: I won a spelling bee at work. I had a tantrum over a magazine. I read a book. I made my first trip to Kansas. I ran and then I stopped running. I had a binge, started (but never finished) the Beck Diet Solution, and weighed 226 (after doing the math today because of vagueness then). I also took a lot of food pictures.

April: I officially stopped running. I went to Weight Watchers, had yet another awe-inspiring weight loss (lots of sarcasm there) , got a new car, and had a rant about points and serving sizes. I was interviewed by Fat Bridesmaid and had a successful weigh-in.

May: I wrote the post that entertained me the most, my jeans were loosey-goosey. I began a job search, had a ton of wedding guests, and learned that my grandfather has cancer. I realized that my beauty is an optical illusion. I quit my job and gained my 5 pounds back. I gave some of my weight loss success history, and we went to Asheville (where I “totally stuffed my face all weekend”).

June: I went back to Weight Watchers and created my mission statement. I began the purging of my stuff. My whole family went to Kansas. I started a new job and had a successful weigh-in. I weighed 221.8.

July: I made a weight loss plan. I listened to my favorite sermon ever. We saw Nickel Creek. We found our new house. I had a boob ephiphany and made another weight loss plan. I weighed 225.4.

August: I bragged on my amazing husband. We sold our house and found a new one. I posted a Love List (complete with ephiphany). Our air conditioning went out. Work got difficult. We prepared for the move. I voiced my life coach dream. I obviously quit weighing myself here.

September: We moved. Very stressful. And we had severe phone issues (with new construction) so we had no internet.

October: Nathan posted for me! I made my 30-in-30 plan (another plan that was a huge embarrassing failure.) We saw Nickel Creek in Asheville (did I seriously not blog about this?), in Louisville, and Lexington. I found my weight loss motivation. I made more running plans that I did not keep to, and I did not weigh at all.

November: I turned 30. We celebrated 30. I took a lot of Thanksgiving pictures. I made a Christmas Plan (which fell flat before I even shared it).

December: We had an awesome trip to Asheville. I made sausage balls. Christmas! Priorities (including job hunt already). Resolutions. Weight of 239.0

What have I learned?

  • When I blog every day, and am honest with my blog friends, I lose weight. (As in 5 pounds in April).
  • How many times can I say I want to be a runner but I sit on my butt?
  • If I stick with Weight Watchers, I LOSE WEIGHT.
  • I make a lot of plans, and then I do nothing with them.
  • We really love Nickel Creek.
  • I take a lot of pictures.

Well, that’s 2007. Here’s to 2008!

see your face every place that I’m walkin’

So here it is. The dreaded scale picture. I honestly thought it would be worse. Thank you, Miranda, for offering the scale challenge. I challenge all y’all blog folk to do this. Show us your toes (in any state of repair) on your scale. With numbers on it, of course. How inspiring will it be to others to see those numbers go down?

I am honestly pleased with the color of my toes. After I got them done, the paint has a purple undertone that i don’t like. But you can’t see it in the picture. That makes me happy.

I also got up and did yoga this morning. I know. It’s crazy. I also ate pretty well today. Banana, peanut butter and honey wrap for breakfast. South Beach Asian Chicken Wrap meal and mandarin oranges for lunch. Half a turkey sandwich and a small whole wheat bagel for dinner.

Wait, aren’t I leaving out something very important?

You’re going to think I’m lying to you.

But I am serious.

I did not have a Starbucks drink today.

Nor did I have caffeine in any other form (ICMocha, Pepsi, Coffe Ice Cream). Absolutely none.

I rock.

My headache is only minimal. I wouldn’t even realize its a result of caffeine neglect.

I feel really, really good about how I have taken care of myself today. I expect days like this to come!

Rock on, bloggers. We’ll make it.

see your face every place that I’m walkin’

So here it is. The dreaded scale picture. I honestly thought it would be worse. Thank you, Miranda, for offering the scale challenge. I challenge all y’all blog folk to do this. Show us your toes (in any state of repair) on your scale. With numbers on it, of course. How inspiring will it be to others to see those numbers go down?

I am honestly pleased with the color of my toes. After I got them done, the paint has a purple undertone that i don’t like. But you can’t see it in the picture. That makes me happy.

I also got up and did yoga this morning. I know. It’s crazy. I also ate pretty well today. Banana, peanut butter and honey wrap for breakfast. South Beach Asian Chicken Wrap meal and mandarin oranges for lunch. Half a turkey sandwich and a small whole wheat bagel for dinner.

Wait, aren’t I leaving out something very important?

You’re going to think I’m lying to you.

But I am serious.

I did not have a Starbucks drink today.

Nor did I have caffeine in any other form (ICMocha, Pepsi, Coffe Ice Cream). Absolutely none.

I rock.

My headache is only minimal. I wouldn’t even realize its a result of caffeine neglect.

I feel really, really good about how I have taken care of myself today. I expect days like this to come!

Rock on, bloggers. We’ll make it.

daylight come and I wanna go home

I know I weighed in yesterday, but today I decided to be honest and actually post my weight. Today I am at 221.8. Almost as low as I was during this most recent round of Weight Watchers. Go me! I am hungry a lot, but I’m determined to push through it. I really want a bowl of cereal, but fitday won’t load, so I don’t know how much I’ve eaten today without it, and I don’t know if I want cereal because I’m hungry or because I’m bored or because I’m craving something that is in Wheat Chex. Boo FitDay!

But today’s eating has been good:

B: Starbucks and banana
L: Kashi Sweet and Sour Chicken with broccoli
D: Grilled Tomato Pasta and broccoli

Work was also good today. I think I am really going to enjoy my new job. Although today there was a wreck and I had to turn around and it took me almost 2 hours to get home. It’s all good, though. I spent the time listening to a sermon that really confused me.

So I’m listening to this lady talk about gluttony. I know, none of us really wants to hear that. But she had me hooked. She started by talking about her own story and how she used her desire to be skinny and her love of food as roadblocks to God. I bought that. And I think that is something I have struggled with as well. She then discussed that in order to fight the battle of the bulge from a spiritual standpoint, we must give up our need to control things ourselves. We must repent of our gluttonous behaviors, ask for forgiveness, and allow God to help us. Again, I got that. I eat too much, I eat too often, I don’t move enough, and I am not enough to fix that. I may have sporatic successes, but I can only do this for the right reasons if I let God drive. I have to want God to change my heart not just my body. That really spoke to me. I do often pray for comfort in my skin, for positive feelings of self-worth, for some sort of magical change that will turn my body around. But I pray for the changes to occur on the outside, not on the inside. What I did learn today is something I already know: I cannot do this by myself. And I must ask for, and accept, a change in my heart.

But then the sermon got really confusing for me. (And I still have 12 minutes left to listen to, so she may wrap it all up nicely.) She talks about how we use idols. We use food, television, other distractions as idols. These nasty little things also keep us from being the person God wants us to be. She talked about the time that we spend thinking about food, planning food, planning exercise, and that all this time could be spent in more productive ways, like meditating on God and His word. So how am I going to do this? I seriously think that in order for me to not be a glutton, I have to plan. I have to shop once for the week and not deviate from the menu. I have to have my exercise plan written into my calendar. I have to plan. She discussed planning like it would somehow also become an idol that was a distraction from God’s plan. That’s when I stopped listening. I’m going to go finish it up in a few minutes.

I have been doing very good on my 30 day goals. Limited meat in my Kashi meal for lunch. Yes, it is processed food, but it’s Kashi! They care and are trustworthy. Still no tv. It was really hard tonight ’cause That 70′s Show was on while we were eating dinner. But we resisted. I listened to a sermon on the way home. I am going to try really hard to restart C25K Saturday morning. Really hard. I have also been drinking a whole lot of water. That helps me feel better as well.

And I’m going to have a bowl of cereal. I typed out my whole blog, and I still want it. Doesn’t someone say that when you get a craving, you should distract yourself for 20 minutes? I’ve done that, and I still want Wheat Chex.
Kitchen, here I come!

you’re the one that I wanted to find

Yesterday was a busy day!

It started with weigh-in. Not good. I was up 2.6. All in all, that’s two weeks without counting a single bite. And the night before, I ate a philly cheese grinder and had a little to drink at Kent’s. I was actually just proud that I hadn’t gained back all of my loss. So when I lose the 2.4 I need to bring me back to 5 pounds, do I get another pedicure?

After the meeting, we drove around looking at houses in the city my new job is in. We got very disheartened. It’s so upsetting that moving 35 miles away makes such a ridiculous difference in real estate prices. For a house half the size of ours, it’s double the price. I don’t know what we’re going to do. We found a house that’s up for auction on Saturday, so we’re thinking about seeing if that’s a possibility. But we don’t know. Isn’t it cute, though?

Yesterday was also the day of magazines. New Runner’s World, new Oprah, new Rachael Ray and I even gave in and bought People (I think) ’cause of the ladies that lost 100 pounds. It was very inspiring. Especially to see that it took them 2 years. It made me realize that slow and steady is the way to succeed. I’m just impatient!

But I know that the way I succeed is to plan. So here is my plan. Or my rough plan. We need to go to the store.

B: Oatmeal with nuts and fruit
L: Turkey Sandwich and Triscuits
D: Some meat and a vegetable from the grill