Day 72: Busy Bee and 199 LBS!!

I finally hit 199 lbs.

Granted, I hit 198 yesterday and went up a little bit today, but considering I haven't worked out in awhile I'd say that's pretty good. I got a little bit discouraged when I couldn't hit the 30 minute mark and decided to take a break from running for a little while. I am looking forward to getting back into it soon. Anyhoo, I hit 199 lbs and am excited to report I am still there today. I took some progress pics but am a little disappointed with how they looked. My hair was kind of all over the place and I wasn't wearing any makeup. So I will be sure to retake them tomorrow and post them on the blog.

I have been dealing with a lot of things outside of the blog and the Facebook page, none of them being particularly bad or good. I have decided to work within my original degree and try to find a technical writing job through Career Services at the community college. They have been very helpful thus far and have given me a few leads and suggestions for how to find more. I plan on getting some sort of degree while I'm working, but I'm not sure how that will pan out. I will keep up with my classes and do some job-searching while I'm not in school. It will be difficult but I am positive about the future. Plus, my fiancé is starting his first job out of college and the hours are a little bit wonky, all nights for now. I am not concerned about it but he is, he's worried he won't get to see me and everything, but I think it will all work out.

I have been dealing with a lot of family issues, which are positive for the most part. My parents and I are starting to reconcile our relationship after it being rocky for years. I don't think it's necessarily that either one of us are at fault, it's just that we are SO different in personality and because I am disabled (I have mild autism) I want to be independent from them and start my own life but I just tend to do things a lot slower than most people and sometimes that is frustrating. And I think I carried a lot of that frustration with me and just had a lot of anger about it. But I am glad I am starting to get some help for that through my church. I have an outlet and it feels a lot better.

Wow, this is a pretty deep post tonight. If you waded through it, I appreciate it and I hope you will continue to read subsequent posts. Trust me, it will be a lot lighter fare than tonight, lol! I will have my photos and hopefully some running news and it will be awesome.

Blessings to ya'll, enjoy the journey, and enjoy the beautiful fall weather!! xx

Day 63/64/65: Keeping it Real

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. :-) I get busy some days, and then remember I haven't blogged at all. I will try to be more on top of things henceforth.

I have been injured for the past few days! I had problems with one of my knees, and I decided to take a rest day and go hang out with my fiancé. Well, after several games of basketball, air hockey, and other active games, my other knee started hurting! That one has been a little slower to heal for some reason, so although I have been running I have decided to take more rest days until the knee heals up properly, and then hopefully go back to my 6-day running regiment. But in the meantime, I am having a good time spending time with my family and enjoying myself!

In case you don't follow my Facebook page, here is a recap of some of the things that have happened in the past three days:

**I went to church for the first time in probably 3-4 months. I liked my previous church, but I needed a change of scenery as I felt sometimes that people were a little too intrusive and sometimes overtly rude to me. I went to a larger church over by my school and so far I am very impressed. Everyone seems so much more relaxed, more comfortable with their faith, and pray boldly. The minister is very interesting to listen to, he preaches loooooooong sermons, but I was able to concentrate on his message and not be bored. I will be going there next Sunday and attending a class getting more information about their church.

**I went for a sprint run after being out of commission for 2-3 days after injury. I had no idea how much harder it is to sprint than to do a long, steady run. My intervals were anywhere from 11:00/mi to 8:34/mi, though I generally stayed around 10:00/mi the entire time. I'd say after 8 weeks of C25K that isn't bad at all! Today I will be going to work out on the dreadmill at my gym just because it's slightly easier on my knees than running on pavement. I will try for 28 minutes again but we will see. I'd say after being injured for so long that any running is doing well! :-)

**I am at 200.4 after wandering around between 201 and 203 for the longest time. I have this weird habit of eating more when I get closer to a milestone or a goal, maybe some weird form of self-sabotage, but I will make sure to do better this time. I am so close to being in the 190s for the first time in three years! With any luck, I will be there tomorrow. I looked at myself and realized how much thinner I actually look! With the running and various other forms of toning I have noticed that I actually look thinner at 200 than I did at 186! That's why it is very important to work out while you are losing weight. :-)

**I had a good lunch at the Peruvian restaurant yesterday afternoon, and decided after a fairly big food baby that I was not going to eat at the basketball game. Well, I was true to my word. I got a bottle of water and enjoyed that while my uncle and my dad ate some food. Even with the yummy smells of food everywhere, I wasn't particularly tempted. I just enjoyed myself and ate a few almonds when I got home. And I still lost weight! :-)

I hope everyone has a fantastic day. Be blessed and enjoy the journey!

Day 22.5: Ticker Tape Parade!

I love the Newsboys! I stole that phrase from "Million Pieces," which has to be my favorite song. I remember seeing the Peter Furler-led Newsboys in 2005 and they shot confetti everywhere when they sang that song. Good times. :-)

Kind of the way I feel today.

I had my every-other-day cardio/strength combo today. If you've never heard of this particular brand of madness, I have my running every morning and then I go back every other evening for cardio/strength combo. I do my strength training first, doing different muscle groups each time. On the first day I do arms/shoulders/back/abs; and on the second day I do butt/chest/legs/thighs. I usually do free weights at the end of every workout for 3-4 minutes. Then I bike for 25-30 minutes. The total damage is usually 30-40 minutes and very sore whatever I'm working out. It's especially true on the second day when I'm running, working my legs, and biking! I usually can't walk comfortably for several hours afterward. :-)

I hope you like my tickers on the side! The bottom one is the 50 days of running challenge. My friend initiated this whole thing and I think it is absolutely brilliant. I have made it through 11 days thus far and I admit there are some days where I don't want to do it, but I always feel so good afterward that I continue. The second is the Onederland by Halloween. For those of you who don't know, Onederland means that you are out of the 200s, usually 199 when its being measured. By October 31st, I would like to be to 199. It's not too lofty of a goal, it's about 16 lbs from where I am now, but it would be super cool to see a 1 before the last two numbers! I haven't been 199 for about 3 years, and I would love to see that number again. So anyway, the two tickers measure the progress I have made each day. I host my tickers at LilySlim which is has a number of tickers, not just for weight loss and exercise. Go check them out and add them to your FaceBook or blog!

I am keeping it simple this evening, since I have some chemistry homework to take care of. I hope everyone has a fantastic evening!