Day 53: Changes and Yes, More Progress Photos!

As you can see, the blog looks different! I have been tweaking with the borders, background, and even have a new page header. Hope you like it. I'm a huge fan of Underdog and have been for several years. It's actually how I got the name for the blog. :-)

My uncle and I went out today to shop. What we didn't realize is that both malls were outside, and it was a very warm 80 degrees out! So we perused both malls, not really finding anything to our liking (though I did find some nice shorts in the Reebok shop, but the only XL was in neon yellow! Sorry, this badonkadonk's not going into anything neon yellow just yet, lol!). We went to Syberg's to eat, and my uncle can't understand my accent at the best of times (he's British, and I'm Southern by birth and talk very quickly!) and had no idea what I was talking about! Either way, we had a good time and he gave me 20 bucks to cover the gas mileage, which is going into the kitty (a fun British expression!) until I find something good to buy. We also got rear-ended by this high schooler not paying attention to the turn lane, but thankfully the car basically had a few chips on the bumper and everything else was okay! Honestly, I have a mean gash on the fender from the time when I got into a fight with a hitch (the hitch won, needless to say!) so a few chips on the bumper mean nothing at all to me. I told the guy not to worry about it, and we went on our way. :-) So far, no whiplash or anything like that. :-D

I got in a 1.5 mile run (26 consecutive minutes) before class today. I thought I was going to have a terrible time staying upright after such a long run and BOTH my run apps sharting out at the same time (that's what happens when you put the cell phone in your pants pocket!), but I actually had more energy after a shower and a brief rest! I felt invigorated and my hands didn't shake for the first time when I filled something with water! I had mild tardive dyskinesia as a result of some bad medication adventures as a teenager, and I was shocked to see my hands are a lot less jittery! :-) Maybe it's due to almost no caffeine in my system for over 2 months, but either way I'm thrilled. Yet another NSV.

Oh speaking of victories, check out this awesomeness! 30 lbs-ish lost today, and here is the before and afters:

 

I can definitely tell a difference between the two pictures. I look like a completely different person (that's the same shirt, by the way) and totally feel like a different person! I have to admit, sometimes I feel a little bummed out from time to time but for the most part I am very happy and love my life. :-) I am even ready to start looking for jobs I think, I am nervous after being seriously burned by my last two jobs, but I'm ready to put myself out there and start looking. We'll see what happens, but in the meantime, keep your fingers crossed! :-)

 

I hope everyone has a good day! I'm going to rest up after my close encounters of the car kind, and maybe find something for dinner soon. Be blessed and enjoy life!

Day 50: The Day After

Surprisingly, I am actually feeling quite fantastic after my 5k. I wasn't sore at all and my feet felt great in my favorite shoes. I am surprised but not entirely as I am getting used to running/walking more than 2 miles most days.

Today I ventured out and did C25K Week 6 Day 1, which was 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, 8 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, and 5 minutes running, for a total of 34 minutes plus warm-up and cool-down. Since it was a longer distance, I decided to take my Sports Beans with me. They help keep the muscles in my legs from being too sore and give me energy for long runs. The first five minutes weren't that bad and the eight minutes subsequent were only difficult during the last few minutes. I explored some different parts of the trail, and enjoyed the scenery. I ran all the way from City Hall Park to my gym, which is at least 0.5 miles or more. I am still super slow, lol. :-) I decided to continue after 34 minutes and fartlek (I love that word!) for the next 20 minutes. Doing fartlek for the last part of the run keeps me running about 5k distance, and doesn't exhaust me to the point that I can't walk to my car afterward and have to be dragged. (In case I'm found unconscious, pause the Runtastic app!) Anyhoo, I did 2.26 miles in 53:17, not the best time but I can deal. I have done almost 30 miles this month, and the month is still going! :-)

 In my favorite Outdoors Inc shirt from Memphis!

Afterwards. Either my glasses are akimbo or I am, lol.

 

The fiancé and I have talked about making some homemade hummus and pita for our night together since we don't like to spend a ton of money on eating out or eating unhealthy. My influence is somewhat rubbing off on the fiancé (or maybe vice versa since he lost 25 pounds way before I did, lol) cause now he likes to run with me and cook and eat healthy. He is finishing up his externship this week and I couldn't be happier for him. With any luck, he'll get a job offer, but if not, he is very talented and will find somewhere that will enjoy having him. As for me, my job search is temporarily on hold while I concentrate on me and getting through my third semester of college, but once I feel ready to do so I will definitely entertain the possibility of working again. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a great day! I am going to my chemistry class in a little over 20 minutes, then will be putting some gas in my car on the way back. Nothing real Earth shattering, as long as the car doesn't run out before I get there, lol. Be blessed all and enjoy the weather! :-)

Day 49: Lemon Drop 5k and Race Results

Sorry about the delay in posting. I took care of my sister all day yesterday and the day before I was just in a foul mood and couldn't shake it. But today I'm in a great mood and can't wait to post more on my race today.

My fiancé and I went to Frontenac, MO this morning (about a 20 minute drive from my house in St Charles, MO) for the Lemon Drop 5k. We saw our guys at S2 there, and we decided to enter the drawing for a BMR Bliss Go Pack. Sadly, I didn't win even though I had my fingers, toes, and everything else crossed, lol. :-D We were the last to pace, since we run around 20 minute miles on a good day, but we were off. I ran some of the race (about 0.75 to 1 mile worth) and walked a lot of it. I wanted to pace myself so that I wouldn't tire in the middle of the race and have to not finish. The fiancé was ahead of me most of the time but I was okay with that... most of the time. I brought my Sports Beans and was popping them periodically throughout. They were a little sour but otherwise pretty awesome. :-) They definitely gave me the energy to get done with the race.

The final results were as follows:

Me- Time: 57:15 Pace: 18:26/mi Rank: 154
Bryan- Time: 56:45 Pace: 18:16/mi Rank: 33

I think we may have come in dead last in both our divisions but the fun thing was that we didn't finish last overall and we had an awesome time. We both missed our Phormula-1 shakes because they ran out but I may go hassle my supplement guy sometime this week and get some of that stuff. I would love something for a recovery shake. :-) But I digress. Bryan had some bread and oranges at the free food counter but I didn't, lol. :-D

Here is a photo of me from after the race. Not the most flattering of photos, but hey, I don't mind:

Yes, I'm wearing ACTUAL running clothes this time. :)

 

I am so glad I got to do this, and Bryan and I will be running a 5k later in December called the Hot Chocolate 5k. We are both totally looking forward to that one because there will be a chocolate expo and all kinds of goodies. And that one will be more crowded and a bit flatter. And cold, I'm sure, lol. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day. I will be doing some chemistry homework to catch up with the stuff I missed this weekend, and having an awesome protein shake for dinner since I missed mine this morning. (We went to Denny's, for shame! But at least I got the healthy egg white omelet.) Be blessed all and enjoy the nice weather!  

Day 44: Why I Am an Overcomer

Some days, God tests me.

The following is very spiritually involved, so if you're not interested in that sort of thing, I give you permission to overlook that bit. But still read on, you may learn something.

----
I am a huge Joyce Meyer fan. I think she is hysterical, and preaches a good message most times she speaks. I admit there are times when I've turned off the program because I wasn't yet ready to hear what she had to say. But most of the time, she brings it on home.

God seems to like it when I watch Joyce on the internet and seems to give me "homework" after viewing one of her shows. As in, well you've learned the lesson mentally, so let's see if you can put it into practice.

One of my favorite lessons by her is not to become offended at oneself. To become determined that no matter what kind of things are thrown in your way, to not become derailed from the purpose that God has called you to. She advocates being active and articulating things aloud, and she mentions having a very determined sit-down with herself and saying that she is NOT going to be kept by the devil from enjoying her life. She said there was a shift in her attitude from that point on.

Well, I experienced a more benign but similar episode today. For whatever reason, this nagging feeling inside me was that I was a loser and I was a horrible runner. I don't usually think that, normally I'm so excited to be running I can look past the fact that I'm slow. It nagged on and when I got to the hard part of my run,  I was fighting it and just so disappointed that I was, in my opinion, too slow. Eventually, it got intense and I just said to myself for about 5 minutes, "I'm an overcomer," like the Mandisa song. Sometimes I had to say it to myself more harshly than other times, sometimes I had to yell (to myself) at the devil that he was NOT going to take me down. About halfway through my cool down my insistence took, and I realized that yes, I was an overcomer, and yes, I was good at what I did. I decided to continue walking and put in an additional 35 second run at high speed. My total was 1.70 miles, 495 kcals, and 40:18, 9 minutes over the C25K time. :-) I also found out that I had beaten my original fast pace on the run at 2.7 mph instead of my usual 2.3.

After my run. Day 32/50 and 23.2 miles into the Lazy Girl Marathon! :-)

 

 

Mandisa has also put out a series of pictures on her website, and I have used one of those repeatedly on my page. This is the picture in question:

I can't even tell you how many times I've felt that way on the elliptical, lol. :-) But it just means that everyone who has been on a weight loss journey at some point has felt like that picture. But thank God that we are overcomers and have Someone who has overcome even the worst of circumstances. So, if you feel like giving up sometimes, remember that Christ has made us more than conquerors and we can overcome anything! :-)

I hope everyone has a terrific day. True to form, I'm going back to chem homework, lol. Be blessed everyone! :-)

Day 41: New Running Records

I did NOT want to run this morning. Do you ever have those mornings, where the body is somewhat willing and the spirit says forget it? That was me this morning. I made excuses, numerous ones that were somewhat satisfying to me, but none of them really fit the mood I was in.

Let me explain.

I can't get past 207. I have been trying to get past 207 for some time, and it goes up to 208 as soon as it gets there. No clue why, I am almost positive this time it was water weight after my lunch date with my best friend, but still, after a few days of consistent weight loss, it gets stuck at 207 again! I'm determined to push past that number, even if it takes a little tweaking of my diet.

Anyhoo, seeing that number ticked me off and I did NOT want to run. I just wanted to take a rest day and veg.  But like I said, none of them really fit the bill. I decided I would just quit my drama and lace up my shoes for my run.

I ran C25K W4D1, which was composed of a 3-minute jog followed by a 90-second break, then a 5-minute jog followed by a 2.5 minute walk, repeated twice. I'm not going to lie, that was a difficult run. There were times when I was panting so hard I thought people would think I was having an asthma attack. Still, I made it through, walked for an extra 5 minutes, and then ran back to my car, for a grand total of 37:45 or so. I burned 464 calories and walked/ran 1.55 miles.

That was a new record for me. :-) I have only run about 1.32-1.46 in the past, even with the shorter bursts of running when I was at a higher (much higher, lol) speed. I was excited for that, and even more so that I got out and broke records when I was in a horrible mood. Which goes to show you, even if it sucks sometimes, you can still get it done. :-)

Me after the run that almost wasn't. Ignore the lip funkiness, I get it every time I run.

 

I am sooo looking forward to the rest of my day as well! The fiancé is spending the night for my birthday and we will go out tonight and tomorrow. :-) I think we are going bowling and out to eat. And he apparently has an awesome present for me that he got through the mail that apparently has his name on it. :-D Either way, I'm totally looking forward to seeing him and getting some interesting presents. Today while I'm hanging out on my own (fiancé has to work til 4) I will probably goof around and do some chem homework. :-) I seem to be nice and ahead on my chem homework, and even got a 95 on my exam! I do need to do some makeup work on the lab though, cause I was a goof and totally forgot I had class! Way to go, Shelly. Either way, got some work to make up, lol. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day! I know I will. Be blessed, and don't be stressed! xx

Day 40: Woohoo, Forty Days! :)

It's been 40 days since I started this journey (well, give-or-take, since the beginning of the blog is very infrequent posting). And it's been life-changing. I hit 207.8 yet again after catching a little flack from the scale in the past few weeks. I'm kind of weird like that, I go up and down, have huge weight losses then go up and down and finally back down again to another huge loss. Right now I'm kind of in the huge losses department and continually losing, maybe about a pound a day or so.

Today was a mild cheat day in that I actually ate out today. I had half a sandwich and some clam chowder in a fun-sized bowl, it was actually pretty good though I was disappointed they didn't have the tomato basil soup. That one is my absolute favorite. Anyhoo, I rarely eat out or really have much money to spend, and 99 percent of the time I don't need it.

My best friend bought me some soap and a cute little caddy to put it in, which honestly looks better than the blatantly obvious soap on the bathroom counter. :-D In fact, I have been at my parents' house so infrequently that that soap has lasted me over 2 years! I would have kept it even longer except that my parents thought it was empty when they came down and ransacked the downstairs. (Don't ask, you'll save yourself a lot of hassle.) It's the same brand of soap but a different "flavor."

Fall soapy goodness.

 

 

I also went to Loft and tried on some jeans. I tried on a size 14 and they were ridiculously close to fitting but they didn't want to zip up when I put them on. I figure if I can lose another few pounds then they will fit. I've fit into Old Navy's size 14 pants in the past so I may be able to go down a size. But Old Navy's stuff is ridiculously vanity-sized. They cut the pants bigger and put a smaller size on it so people will come back. I never entirely got that, and it struck me as being not too terribly honest. Imagine your disappointment when you go to another shop and the same size is airtight on you! lol

My size 16 skinny jeans. :-)

This weekend I am hanging out with my fiancé and we are celebrating the Friday the 13th (special fun anniversary for us because we met on Friday, May 13, 2011. And because we're weird that way we often celebrate Friday the 13th by going out to do something fun.) and my birthday. :-) It feels so weird to be kissing cousins with being 30 years old. I always thought I would have been more successful at this point in my life, but I dunno. I have a weird life that I won't get into extensively, for more information refer to the previous posts on the blog. Either way, I'm getting my life back on track. Hopefully there will be no more sabotaging from certain members of my family.

Well, I'm about to wrap it up. Going to eat dinner, do chem homework, and work out some, not necessarily in that order. :-) Hope everyone has a good day and I will be back later tonight, hopefully.

Day 34: Exhausted My Witty Title Budget

Evening all, just a quick post before I go to bed.

My fiancé and I had a very packed day after running around like crazy people. We went lasertagging out in Belleville, and I placed fifteenth and Bryan placed fifth, but my team won. We had a very competitive team, I had two kids curse at me using kiddie curses because they had taken hits while invisible. Well, yeeeeah... invincible and invisible are not the same thing, kiddos. There is a certain amount of mortality involved in the latter. ;-) We then went home to get something to eat but my parents were keen on yelling at the fiancé and I because we had come home while they were cleaning. In my stuff, without asking me anything. They just went down there and started going through my stuff and throwing out what they didn't like. They also threw out my good pumpkin soap, so now I have no soap. :-( So the fiancé and I went to the galleria, and I walked around with my purse up around my chest because in addition to getting into all my stuff, they had started getting into my.... personal effects... and I couldn't find any of my bras. (TMI, I know.) I kept telling the fiancé that this was like the nightmare I have had where I'm walking around trying to find clothes.

Anyhoo, we went home and found that my parents had taken their leave after making a mess of the downstairs, so we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I was determined I would make it through the end of the movie without covering my eyes and shaking at the very end of the movie (and those who have seen the end of any Indiana Jones movie know what I'm talking about!), and of course it was an epic fail. And Mom chewed me out for being scared and saying "OMG," so yeah, another night in my house. :-)

Tomorrow I am going for another run. I need it after all this drama with the family. But Bry and I have been making some rudimentary wedding plans like for dresses and music and stuff. I'm very non-traditional in that I HATE traditional wedding music with a passion. I think its cheesy and annoying, and I can remember way too many Sundays where I have had to sit through bad organ music. Our wedding will be light and fun and very non-traditional, and I want to have kind of a big shindig at the end of the ceremony. And I'm getting "Living Dead Girl," in there somewhere, by goodness. (My favorite Rob Zombie song) Anyhoo, it was fun doing some rudimentary planning.

Well, I gotta go to bed for now. I hope everyone has a good night.

Day 33: New Scales and Old Demons

It's been an interesting, up-and-down day. I won't get into all the particulars, but let's just say it's been interesting and leave it at that. All kinds of things went wrong and all kinds of things went right.

Anyhoo, I went running for day 22/50 over at the gym. I will probably be running in the gym for the next few days just because it is supposed to be ridiculously hot and I don't really want to miss my run but don't want to die doing it either. :-) I ran about a mile and a half on the treadmill, which is not bad considering I've only run about 1.46 miles while out on the track including both the warm-up and cool down. I did more like 1.51 today on the treadmill and had a top speed of 4.1 mph. I think it's safe to say I no longer walk and run at the same speed. Cause honestly, I have to slow the treadmill down when I get close to ending my interval because the thing's going so fast that if I try to walk on it, it'll take me out with the garbage, lol! :-D So that's a major accomplishment right there.

Speaking of major accomplishments, I went out to Wal-Mart today and bought a scale. It's not a fancy scale, but it at least reads better than my mom's evil thing that'll give you a 5-7 lb deviation depending on where you stand on it. I tried my new scale out and then went back for a second weigh-in, and it gave me the same measure: 212.2. I guess that's not bad considering it's a new scale, but I would have liked to see a lower weight. Ah well, that is the whole reason why I don't use the scale to begin with. I start obsessing over the weight and wondering why it keeps staying higher than I like, without realizing I've put on about 3 lbs of muscle just by running every day. It sucks! So I have the scale but I'm not touching it for another few days. Next Wednesday I'll be able to see a bit of differential and see if I need to make adjustments in my schedule or add some different types of workouts in. :-)

My awesome scale. I wish this was my weight on the side! :-)

 

I seem to be getting better at balancing the schoolwork/real life/exercise aspects of things much better. I always tended to lean towards one thing or another, no real balancing act involved. But if I have learned anything on my journey to weight loss it's leading a more balanced lifestyle. My diet was definitely the first part of that, because I eat a balanced diet. A lot of protein, decent amount of carbs, and lots of fruits of and veggies. The way I sometimes talk about my diet, a lot of folks assume it's a low-carb, low-fat diet. And to a certain degree that is definitely true. But the important thing is finding balance. I've also (mostly) stopped the five-hour studying binges. I know it sounds weird to call studying a binge but I have seriously spent all day studying for a class when there isn't even an exam coming up! Now, I try to study when I get some time to do so and yes, I still type notes from the book. :-D

 

The exercise balance... well, I'm learning. The interval training has been my best friend because my natural inclination is to run/bike and keep adding time until I get so exhausted I just quit doing it altogether. I was actually very close to quitting training until I discovered C25K and interval training on the bike. So I am definitely not leaving the gym crying anymore because I can't seem to maintain a 22-minute running time seven days into the process! I run/walk for 30-35 minutes and that seems to work for me a lot better. I have been trying to pace myself on the bike after a rather lengthy and heated discussion with my better (much better) half about why I knew what I was doing and didn't need his advice. And what do I do? I listen to him and pace myself and everything's fine again.

 

Real life balance is always a challenge for me because let's face it, I had a lot of imbalance most of my life. I have been fighting the residual demons of PTSD and childhood sexual abuse for a lot of my life, and trying to reestablish my equilibrium even to this point has taken me almost 20 years! That's why there is a great pleasure for me in treating my body well and making sure that I give it some TLC as well. Most of my life I have been punishing myself I guess, for ending up in the situations I did and in a way saddling a lot of the blame that I really didn't need to. It isn't so much about learning to love myself in a balanced way as it is to love myself at all. But I am getting there, slowly but surely. :-)

 

Wow, deep stuff today, lol! :-) I hope everyone was able to wade through that emotional baggage. I will be back later on in the day, I suppose, hopefully with a little less seriousness. Have a great day all!



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 27: Adding Minutes To My Life

First of all, gotta show you my progress pics!

 



I can tell a huge difference even this month seeing the pics side by side like that. And look how much smaller my arms are compared to the previous picture! I can really tell a difference even in a slightly different position. One of these days I will take a pic where you can actually see my face, lol!

It's crazy how much weight I've lost just from amping up my workouts. I've literally dropped 8 lbs and almost 2 shirt sizes in just over two weeks! My entire weight loss for the month of August was 10.4 lbs, which was great since most of that loss was at the end of the month. :-)

I have also brought back another idea, which was the "Pounds Lost" jar. It was actually supposed to be a "Pounds to Lose... Pounds Lost" set but I have never found the other jar, lol. I may actually do some shopping around later in the week and see if I can't find another one that looks sort of the same. It was kind of an indication of the different type of person I was at the time, that I worked so hard on the first jar and then kind of gave up on the second one! I wish it was that easy to lose the actual pounds that the jar was supposed to have in it! lol. I also had a friend that I went to high school with suggest putting a set amount of change in the jar (e.g., quarters, dimes, nickels) so that when you lose the weight you have money towards something new! All I really keep around is pennies so I would have about $1.06 when I got done. :-D Yup, I've still got 84 pounds to go before goal but I am making progress!

Here is a picture of the jar:

 

It is much more full than before! When I started it I had 11 stones in the jar and now I have 22! I have doubled my weight loss from when I used it last. :-) I would love to do different color stones for each 10-11 lbs but we'll see how it goes. It would be cool to have a rainbow in there. :-)

 

I also did a nice light workout today, 5.4 miles on the bike. I will do a 15-20 minute run later on today and will do a bit of strength training tonight before the fiancé comes over. I did it this way for a few reasons: firstly, because I wanted to take it a little easier and not do two super hard workouts in a row. I'm basically doing two light workouts and one hard one in the middle. That way I won't be super exhausted and sweaty at the beginning AND end of the day. Secondly because I want to confuse my body a little bit! I have done the workouts pretty much the exact same way each time and my body will eventually get used to it. I don't want that to happen, especially after some major plateauing at the beginning. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a great day! I will hopefully be posting for a second time later on tonight (the fiancé understands my obsession with this blog, and I think he enjoys seeing the photos, :-D) and adding day 16 to the 50 Days of Running challenge! Be blessed all!

Day 25: Running Shoes and NSVs

I finally got my running shoes today as an early birthday present. They are pink and blue and super awesome. Here are a pic of my running shoes from the official site:

The picture comes nowhere close to doing it justice. They are actually a lot brighter and prettier than the picture makes it look. And they are super comfortable! I ran for a brief sprint across the aisle in them and it was like walking on air! I can't wait to try them out tonight and tomorrow during my workout. Mom also got me 4 pairs of running ankle socks, and an orange sports bra. I'm normally very difficult to fit in a sports bra because I'm SO large on top, but this one was super comfortable and didn't have armpit bags (don't those totally suck, lol) so I have added sports bra number 3 to the growing collection. Very excited to wear all the gear tonight and tomorrow. :)

 

And NSVs (non-scale victories for the uninitiated) abound. Firstly, I'm losing all my pants! Well, not all the way, but all my pants are HUGE on me. I have a pair that was so big I literally had to hold on to them while I walked. I have only two pair that even fit me remotely well, plus two pairs of shorts. My mom is saying she will take a tuck in them, but I hate that! I would rather have new jeans that are comfortable, and don't have a weird pleat down the side where Mom has tucked them, lol. Also, I had a NSV that I passed up the rolls and butter at O'Charley's today. And the fries with my soup and sandwich. I looked at them and they looked at me (if they had eyes), and they smelled really good but I just didn't want to eat them. So I ate my yummy lunch and ignored the really greasy stuff. :-)

 

And SV's... I am down almost 20 lbs! Today I weighed in at 211.8, which was 0.8 lbs away from being 20 lbs! And if I can keep up the 2-lb streak, I may get very close to 209 (O_O) tomorrow! Then I would be out of the two-teens and getting even closer to Onederland! Plus, I would meet my goal of 210 lbs, which would be how much I wanted to lose for the month. So we will see tomorrow, if I don't eat anything too bad. I could tell I was getting close to my monthly cause I was crabby, hungry, and tired, the PMS triage. :-D So hopefully I can keep it reigned in today.

 

I hope everyone has a great day! :)

Day 23.5: The Great Day Continues

I am so excited about how the day has gone. My mom was late coming home but I let it slide since it's pretty easy to reschedule that appointment. I cleaned up while she was gone and took my sister out to eat at Ruby Tuesday. It was ridiculous because I got a lunch plate and didn't even finish it! I got grilled shrimp, potatoes, and broccoli and left some shrimp and potatoes and my sister was more than happy to polish off the rest of my shrimp! :-D We came home and she fell asleep and I worked on my chemistry homework. I got a lot done!

My mom came home around 4 and decided to pay me a huge paycheck for taking care of my sister. I don't feel comfortable divulging the amount, but it was a good sized check. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up some new gym clothes, and some necessities and not so necessities, including a new watch! I am super excited about my watch because I had this fantastic watch that my mom got me from Nordstrom Rack and I can't find it anywhere! My new watch is pink and has all kinds of fun gadgets on it. The damage was only $8.88 for the watch and I can't wait to wear it! It will be nice to be able to tell the time when there isn't a clock nearby, lol. I also bought my favorite shampoo and deodorant, and the latest issue of Glamour! Before you know it, I'll be in those clothes. :-D

I went biking and biked 7.04 miles! It was super hard because of the heat and because I had been out walking at Wal-Mart at previous. I struggled through it and dripped lots of sweat (thank God for deodorant!) but I made it! That's a total of 340 calories and 8.28 miles today! I am so geeked out! I came home and made some pasta margarita (in the microwave, I don't do a lot of heavy duty cooking) and watched Extreme Weight Loss. I would love to be able to afford a personal training session, and for those of you who don't know, when I hit goal I'm going for my CPT certification! I will be so excited when that happens. :-) I will also be getting a tattoo, much to my fiancé's chagrin but he said if it's not huge than he will deal. I will get "Never Settle" tattooed on my upper back, right beneath my neck. I would love to do one on my neck but I hear it hurts like crazy! :-)

I am so grateful for all my new friends and I appreciate all your likes, comments, and encouragement! It really means a lot to me and works wonders when screaming "NEVER SETTLE!!!!" inside my head while I'm working out doesn't work, lol. Be blessed all and have a good evening!

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!

Day 21.5: More Progress Pics!

I have some more progress pics that I want to share:

 

Pretty cool, right? I am pretty stagnant as far as actual weight loss goes but look at the definition on my legs! I can also see some arm definition despite the bat wings I'm sporting (gotta love them bat wings!) I'm super excited about wearing shorts now because I have some gorgeous calves to show off. And needless to say, the fiancé is pretty excited too. :-)

 

I actually dressed up yesterday! I wore a black top and this crazy glittery skirt that I got on Beale Street when I worked on the next street over. I got so many compliments and good vibes from people, and it felt great! It was much better than when I used to go to places and people would walk on the opposite side of me so they wouldn't have to stand next to me (sad but true, I'm afraid). Now I'm more confident and carry myself so differently. I don't have the actual photo, but I took a selfie and sent it to my man, and I noticed my eyes. They just looked vibrant and full of life. I smiled and texted him, "Now that's the look of a happy woman."

 

I got my first grade in... 100 percent on my first chemistry homework! I am excited about that, especially considering how much I struggled with it. I still remember Dr. Bob's chemistry class and learning about the different states of matter. I had no idea what was going on half the time, but I remembered for years that a puppy is a heterogeneous mixture, but I had no idea what a heterogeneous mixture was or why the puppy was one. Now I found out that a heterogeneous mixture is a piece of matter where the chemical composition varies in each sample you take. Obviously the puppy is composed of different kinds of chemical composition throughout! Chemistry mystery solved. :-D

 

I hope everyone has a great evening.... and remembers to hug their puppies. :-)

Day 18.5: Finding New Confidence

It's amazing how you find yourself when you lose weight.

I have found by losing weight I have suddenly felt like I should not ever, EVER settle and I have been telling people I know that, probably to the point of annoyance at times. :-D But there is a story behind my obsessive use of the phrase "Never settle," and I feel like I have reached a point in my life where I feel comfortable sharing a little bit more of myself.

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My weight has only been an issue for me since I was 14. Before that, I was as active as could be. I was a moderately accomplished gymnast and tried to be a cheerleader until a self-confidence and knee blowout ended that venture. :-) I also ice skated and played soccer, basketball, and softball. I was never good, but I loved it.

I don't want to get into the particulars of my childhood, but there were some issues that caused me to gain weight. I ended up putting on over 100 lbs in a short amount of time.

I finally got to the breaking point the first time when I hit 240. At 5'3" (fun sized!) that was a hard pill to swallow and my body was showing the effects. I lost 51 lbs, getting down to 189, but I gained it all back after ending an abusive relationship with an ex-boyfriend. It was very hard for me, as was the death of my maternal grandma, and I'm just now emptying the last piece of that emotional baggage.

I went to see a psychiatrist for occasional depression and panic attacks, and found out I had residual post-traumatic stress disorder from that relationship. He seemed to think I had daddy issues (I do, my dad is way too awesome! It's killing me! :-D) and tried to get me out of my parents' house. I moved way too fast, found a job where I got scammed and lost over $2000, and it pretty much imploded. I'm still unpacking those bags.

So, all that culminated into a very frustrating time of it. I became moderately depressed, and one day I went to the library hoping to find the latest book to change my life (aren't we all guilty of this from time to time, lol?) and found out that the answer was in my lap. I had my BMR Bliss meds and needed to take them for the day. I had reached into the passenger seat to grab the bottle and it said in pretty font, "Never Settle."

Suddenly, I realized that was what I had been doing my whole life. I had been settling into everyone's mold of me, I let everyone push me around, I didn't take care of myself, and I had just been settling. Now was the time to change. I pulled into the gym on the way home and the rest is history. :-)

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I hope that gives you a better understanding of what I've been through. I really hope that I can encourage you to do the same. Well, maybe not with the roller coaster of emotions it took me to get there, but I want to encourage you to never settle for less than what you're worth. Don't let anyone tell you negative things about you. You were put on this Earth for a reason, and that was not to give up! :-)

I hope this has encouraged you tonight. I hope you have a great evening.

Day 18: Kickin Butt And Taking Names

Day Five of the running streak! I have gone 10-10, 3, 6, 10, and today I ran for 12 minutes. It's not exactly doubling my time but I reckon that as I clock more and more minutes I will have to add a few minutes at a time. I am still trying to hit that elusive goal of 20 minutes of running and trying to add more time every day.

I also gave up caffeine, entirely by accident. :-) I have been drinking flavored water for about 2 or 3 weeks, and I realized yesterday that I had drank no soda at all, just drank water and was fine with it. So I thought, what the hey, I'll just stop drinking soda. So I have and have my cup with a V on it (it originally stood for Vegan to promote my blog, but since I am no longer updating the blog I just carry it around for fun) filled with lots of water. It's a 24 oz Tervis water bottle and I am totally geeked out about it.

I made this really great little fruit salad today. My mom was serving eggs with way too much fat added to it in the form of sausage and LOTS of cheese (yuck), and I wasn't really interested in that after a 12-minute run. So I threw together a can of mandarin oranges, a handful of blueberries and slivered almonds, and some Greek yogurt. It was delicious and more nutritious than my mom's eggs and sausage. :-D I will post a picture of it the next time I make it and give a more detailed recipe.

Well, this is a short entry since I have class in a few minutes. Have a great day all and I'll catch you later today. :-)

Day 17: Girl on Fire

I can't believe it! I blasted through my plateau today and weighed in at 213.6. At my lowest I was around 214.8 so I am both shocked and pleased. Let me tell you though, I only weighed once! :-D

I also have been running like crazy for the past few days. I started out doing running and walking, about 10 minutes or so, then I did it for 3 consecutive minutes, then 6, and today I ran for 10 consecutive minutes (and 2 seconds). My goal is eventually to get to where I'm running 30-40 minutes at a time and am able to strength train along with it. Cause honestly, when I get done running I don't want to do anything else right away. That is why generally I run in the morning and strength train at night. :-)

I have been watching a lot of inspirational videos lately. Not my traditional Joyce Meyer obsession (she is an amazing speaker, the jury is still out as to whether I believe in God or not but I do enjoy learning about Christianity) but some weight loss videos on YouTube. My favorite is this one here which I believe has a website that you can access from the page. I have always enjoyed watching Before and After videos, and this chica is completely relatable. A lot of the folks on YouTube are older and have kids or grandkids and want to lose weight for them, so its nice to see someone younger on there as well. :-)

I am going in to see a career counselor on Tuesday to see if she can set me up with a job, preferably something that utilizes my Technical Writing degree. Yup, I have a BA in Technical Writing but as of yet have been unable to use it except for my occasional contributions to the Examiner and a brief contract job for a museum. I did insurance for a time but I have learned I don't like customer service. And cold calling is horrible! You get hung up on, sworn at, insulted, and all kinds of fun stuff. So, hopefully I can find something that suits me and uses my degree. Wish me luck! :-)

Well, that is all for now, gotta get ready for school. Have a great day all! :-)