Our FIRST Transformation Sunday: Bryan F.

 

 

Our first transformation is my fiancé, Bryan F. He was active in high school, playing tennis for four years in high school. The weight piled on a bit during college and his time at work, but he topped the scale at around 171 at 5'7" tall. For a small-framed person like my fiancé, this weight was somewhat bothersome but not enough to do much about it. Then the top picture showed up on my Facebook page.

 

"I guess it was seeing that picture and being made fun of for it that made me want to lose weight," said Bryan. He decided to get going on his weight loss. He began walking regularly every night, and began doing 5K's with me. He and I went to the gym every time we got together, going swimming, strength training, and working out on the bike. He also began limiting his portions, carefully considering each days eating choices. Eventually, the pounds began falling off. 

Bryan went down as far as 145 lbs, and then stabilized around 148-150 and has kept it off for 2 years. What's his secret? "I eat less," he says simply. Works for me. :-) Bryan has also made his way through culinary school and is set to graduate in November. He has a very prestigious internship with a nice restaurant in the suburbs.

Be sure to send in your stories here or to my Facebook wall. I would be super happy to read them. I hope everyone enjoys your Sunday, and remember that someday this could be you!

Day 28: Good Morning Good Morning To You

First off, I hate it that McDonald's is using this song now. Singin' in the Rain is a classic and has nothing whatsoever to do with fast food. :-) I remember the first time I saw that commercial line I was SO mad.

Anyhoo, all that business aside, it is a beautiful quiet morning and my fiancé is still asleep downstairs. I have a guest bedroom that he stays in when he and I are going to be doing something on Saturday and Sunday. The reason we do that is simply because we can't sleep in the same bed when it's a Queen-sized bed because usually I am all over the bed and putting my foot up his side and waking him up. Or so he tells me. Ironically, we went to Chicago about a year ago and stayed at this really fancy hotel in Schaumberg (thanks Dad and Hotwire!) and we were able to share a king-sized bed without even bothering each other. So I guess we just need a bigger bed. :-D

I also have some good news: my fiancé is going to be the first Sunday transformation on the Girl on Fire Facebook page and blog! For those of you who don't know, my fiancé has lost around 25 lbs and has kept it off for 2 years! I'm so proud of him and I have gotten his permission to share his story and take a similar after photo of him at the apple picking today. (A similar picture taken 2 years ago was what inspired him to lose weight.) I'm so geeked out and proud of my crazy fiancé! If you have a transformation story you would like to share please let me know. :-) I will be writing the piece up so if you're not really a writer, no worries, the English major is here to help! If you like to write, by all means send me something good! :)

I am going to get in my run today as well, and since the gym opens at 10 I will get to go on my own and then go apple picking! I am aiming for 30 minutes run/walk (or about 32 since it generally increases in 5 minute intervals). I think once I hit about 40-45 minutes run/walk I will start increasing the intensity a bit, because 40-45 minutes is about what I want to run the 5K in. :-) (Less would be good, too!) I'll get back to you later this afternoon with Transformation Sunday (like Reformation Sunday, only fewer casseroles) and a new blog post!

I am also doing a challenge suggested by one of the people I follow on Facebook called Race Addict. They have posted a 30-Day Arm Challenge to get rid of the bat wings! I have been nervous about my arms not being toned after I lose weight so I am more than happy to sign up to get rid of them. If anyone else is interested in the challenge, here is a pic, which will link to my site for a larger view:

 

I apologize for it being so small! For some reason it's not cooperating with me. Day One of the Arm Challenge is:

 

5 Push Ups

5 Dips

10 Bicep Curls

10 seconds of Punches

 

And I will post each day what I'm doing so you can follow along with me! :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day! It's breakfast time for me, lol. :-) Be blessed!

 

 

 

Day 26.2: And On The Nineteenth Day, She Rested

I'm feeling a bit better thanks to getting some chemistry homework out of the way and it just being quiet around the house for a change. I'm enjoying sitting around reading everyone's blogs and leaving comments, and just doing things that don't hurt. After a huge welt on my... back end... from the 47 minutes of biking last night, and sore knees from running 15 days in a row, it feels good to take a rest day. And surprisingly, as I rest my weight goes down instead of up! I was expecting the weight to come creeping back on if I didn't exercise. But I guess that's more of a long term thing, which is good.

I have gotten back on my antidepressant, which I'm not sure if it is making me feel better or worse. I have not been on it for two weeks now, and the scrip just came back up for refill (I lost almost a full bottle in Illinois somewhere while I was at my best friend's party. I tried to refill it and received a snarky message that my insurance carrier was not going to pay out for a lost bottle and they would not refill it for another 14 days. No bueno.) Either way, we will see if they turn me into a blabbering emotional wreck^200 again. This particular antidepressant has not caused any problems with my weight loss, in fact it makes my weight drop off twice as fast when I'm exercising regularly. Go figure. :-P

Tomorrow my fiancé is coming over, yay! We will watch a movie from home on Saturday and do our annual apple picking outing on Sunday after church. Either way, it will be very HOT. The Honeycrisps came out earlier because of the unseasonably mild weather for most of the winter, and so we are picking them in very early September instead of late September. We will also go back for the pumpkin picking in October, which is another of our traditions. I don't think we have ever eaten much of our fruit bounty except while we're out there picking. (Though I've never eaten a pumpkin whilst picking another pumpkin. That just sounds hard to do. And messy! :-D)

My birthday is in 16 days. I will be turning 29, one year away from the big 3-0. That kind of frightens me a little, and a little sad that I've wasted my twenties just sitting around being depressed and stuffing my face. That's no fun at all! Hopefully my 30s will treat me a little better. :-)

Well, I am going to work on some more chem homework and shower, but not while doing the chemistry homework, lol. Be blessed all and have a great labor day weekend! :)

Day 22: Broke a Plateau and Made It Cry

I finally got past this horrible weight gain I have had since getting off antidepressants. It went up all the way to 219.6 yesterday and I was really discouraged. I have been drinking tons of water (wouldn't drink anything else!) and it has been getting rid of some of the water weight. Well, today I weighed myself and it was down to 215.4! I was so excited because I've been getting stuck between 217-219 for a long time now and I finally got what they call a 'whoosh'. I literally dropped 4 pounds in one day. :-) So, I'm excited about the weight loss.

Guess whose birthday is in less than 3 weeks? Yup, it will be my birthday on the 15th of September. I will be turning 29! It's crazy cause I remember how excited I was about graduating high school what seems like a minute ago and coming up soon is my 10-year reunion. I'm hoping I will get to go and see some of my old high school buddies. I'm a totally different person than I was in high school, I've suddenly become outgoing and energetic and I'm sure half my class will be wondering if I've gone nuts or something, lol!

Also, the fiancé and I are going for our annual tradition of apple picking at Eckert's. It's so funny because we started doing that 2 years ago as well as going for the pumpkin picking in October, and its great to see the dramatic changes that have happened in both our lives. My fiancé has lost 30 pounds and kept it off for 2 years. He's about to graduate and he may have a job in the works. I won't reiterate all the changes I've been through but man, what a difference 2 years makes. And who knows what a difference 2 more years (actually, a year and 9 months til we get married) will make. :-)

I guess this will be a short entry, but you better bet I will be back after strength training (it's arms, shoulders, and abs day! Next one will be butt, chest, and legs day, which is always super hard after a long run.) and my evening bike ride to let you know how I did. I hope all of you have an awesome day!

P.S. I ran 22 minutes and 1.20 miles today! 22 on 22!