| Before Pictures | Week 4 Pictures | Week 8 Pictures | Final Pictures |
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Weight: 220lbs |
90 days on Plan
Today is day 90 for me. That's right, 90 days and the strangest thing is, it's gone by so quickly! It doesn't feel like it's been 3 months at all!
Today: 200.6
Chest: 5
Bust: 3.5
Ribs: 2.5
Waste: 6
Belly button: 4.5
Hips: 5.5
Butt: 4.25
Thigh: 3.75 (each)
Calf: 1.75
Ankle: 0.25
Shoulder: 1.5
Bi: 1.0 (relaxed)
forearm: 1.0
wrist: 0.5
Big Weekend
I had big hopes for this weekend. We had a lot of plans most of them involving enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having.
I got off early on Friday and ran down to the AT&T so they could set up my phone for me. It was exciting to finally get to use my new 'toy' (I got an iphone) and it was a great way to kick off the weekend.
After that I jumped on BART and rode down to pick up my car and then drove to a local park called Shadow Cliffs - there I was meeting up with a group of folks to do an open water swim! But first, I had to pass the swim test.
I wasn't really worried about the swim test, and it was a nice warm-up to the longer swim that was planned for that night. At 6:15 I was in my wetsuit, in the water, and headed for the far side of the lake - now a certified 'ORCA' :) The out and back was 1600yards total, and that along with the 300yard swim test I had done earlier meant I had done over a mile - whoop! It felt GREAT.
After the swim I headed home, showered, changed and then planned on getting some food for the dog. But that's when I got 'the call' from my husband :( He had been driving down the highway home when the rear tire had blown out. He and the car were ok, but while trying to change the tire he found out that they had never given us the lug nut key and he couldn't get the old 'blown-out' tire off!
Well the dog food (and my food) were forgotten in the rush to get down and meet up with him. He tried a few 'tricks' to get the tire undone, and when that didn't work it was up to me to drive from store to store to see if I could find what we needed.
I didn't. I was getting hungerier and hungerier as the night wore on and finally I HAD to stop. A quick drive through the at Arby's and I had a roast beef sandwich in hand. I threw out the bread and ate just the 'beef' and at least stopped shaking. It was at least enough to get me through until I got home. After the futile search for the lug nut key, we finally just had to throw in the towel and I picked up hubby and we went home, leaving the car in a gas station parking lot. Any ideas we had of a nice relaxing Friday night at home were completely blown. We finally hit the door after 11! I mixed a quick shake for my last meal of the day and hit the sack.
We were up early on Saturday, but not for the nice bike ride I had been planning. Instead it was a drive to the Toyota dealership to try to find the key. They told us there were 12 different keys and they needed the car in order to tell which one! Only the car had a flat that we couldn't fix and was over 15 miles away! duh! We drove back to the car and made an imprint of the lock with play dough and brought that back to the dealership. They spent some time trying to figure out the match before the guy at the shop just said "I'll probably get in trouble for this, but just take them all and bring back the ones that don't work" and so we did (Thank you thank you thank you Toyota guy!).
FINALLY the car was fixed, we took back the keys that didn't work, bought the one that did and made it home. I spent the rest of the day cleaning the yard, planting flowers and pulling weeds, while hubby scrubbed bathrooms, vacuumed, swept and did laundry (yeah we're weird like that).
Our reward for all the housework? We settled down to taco salads (with ground turkey and no chips) and the finale of "The Biggest Loser". It was a the perfect ending to a less then perfect day. Watching the Biggest Loser always charges me up and I ended up day with a 30 minute light calistenic session including the first day of my 100 pushup program.
Sunday we were all up EARLY - the whole family (except my son) were going to run the Bay to Breakers. We all had breakfast and suited up for the day. A short drive and then we were on BART and on our way into the city.
Once in the city, we started walking to where our starting corrals were. On our way we go a very pleasant surprise! Cause standing on the sideway (almost in front of the place I work) was Jerry - who I had just watch win 100,000 the night before!
The girls just HAD to meet him so we did, and got pictures. 
After that, we lined up to start and about a half an hour later, we were off!
We had a GREAT time. The B2B is a great race, lots of fun and the participants and the fans are amazing.
At mile 5 I decided to pick up the pace and ran to the finish. It felt great and I was glad to push myself a bit.
After 7.5 miles we were finished, and while rounding up the family members we ran into Jerry again! The girls wanted to see how his race went so we said hi. He told us that he had always wanted to do the B2B but was too heavy - so this was a dream come true for him -- it was great to be there to witness it! 
We finished our day with a one mile walk to go get food and pick up our finishers t-shirts, and then a two mile walk to catch the train back to the race start. Even though it was exhausting, it made for an AMAZING finish to the weekend.
And my weight in all of this? Well that's the biggest bummer I guess. Saturday I had a weird jump up to 215.1 (from a low of 213.9). Sunday I woke up still at 215.1 and this morning? 215.4 -- My hormones have been going crazy since I started this program and TOM has started again WAY early so between that and all the exercise plus the extra salty food over the weekend... should make this an interesting week to say the least :)
Pretty Good Day
For a Monday :)
Yesterday was good. I ate on plan; did it without any snacks, and I made it to the gym. I absolutely KILLED it at the gym, which I love Leg Day Then I went home and went for a run. It's week 4 of my 1st day to 5K program that I'm doing from the podrunner website. which looked like this: WEEK 4 BPM CHART: Those 5 minute running intervals after a 90 second rest were just killing me! :) But in a good way. I really pushed myself and it felt GREAT! After that, I ate my L&G and hit the hay. Tired but in a good way! I also , finally got around to taking measurements - wow! Chest (this is just under my arms): -2.2"
Squat - 3 x (195 x 10)
Dead Lift - 3 x (135 x 10)
Stand Calf - 3 x (90 x 10)
29 minutes from 129 to 140 BPM
5-minute warmup @ 129 BPM
3 minutes @ 140 BPM
90 seconds @ 130 BPM
5 minutes @ 140 BPM
2 minutes 30 seconds @ 130 BPM
3 minutes @ 140 BPM
90 seconds @ 130 BPM
5 minutes @ 140 BPM
Two minute cooldown @ 130 BPM
Waist: -3.7"
Hips: -2"
Butt: -1.5"
Thigh: -1"
Calf: -1"
The Long and Winding Road
The weekend started out great - woke up for my official weigh in and I was 216.5! That's 3.1 lbs for the week - I hit and surpassed my goal for the week!
I fixed Macadamia nut pancakes with caramelized bananas and coconut syrup. And fed them to my family. While I had MF - scrambled eggs.
Then we went to the store and picked up a BUNCH of Lean and Green supplies.
Then the kids and I spent a hour or so prepping a bunch of food. and after I went to my choir concert. My kids showed up, my grandparents and my uncle and my other uncle and his wife and kids :) were all there too. It was nice to see everyone. And since it had been a while since we had been together, we all went out to dinner... at Home Town Buffet!
I was dreading going in there - I mean, it's a buffet!
This is the place where before - in my former life I would go in and eat and eat and eat until I felt like I would burst, and then go grab one of each of the deserts.
So I walked in -- looked at all of that food, picked up a chicken breast and roasted squash and that was my dinner. The best part was that the food was good! I enjoyed my dinner and didn't really miss all the crap that I would have eaten before at this place. Plus, I felt much better when I walked away!! Victory!!
The next day - not as good --
I can make a bunch of excuses like "It was Mother's Day" or "It's the first time since I started this program that my kids have been over" but it was, plain and simple a stumble. I'm still working on the true 'why' of it all and on strategies for keeping it from happening again - but I'm trying to avoid making excuses and taking the easy way out.
I woke up yesterday morning happy to see that even after going to Home Town Buffet that my weight was down .1lb (216.4) My youngest loves to make me breakfast on Mother's Day but was ok about honoring my request that she not, this year. So, I got up and grabbed some Oatmal and then grabbed some soy cinnamon chips. I don't know why I grabbed the chips - well I do. Ever since I bought all those 'healty' Snacks they have been calling me. All of the rest of my food is carefully packaged in bags, a day's worth of food in each, but the snacks. They just sit there, waiting for when I say "I'll have a snack!" and my feast beast pounced on the opportunity. ((You'll notice a theme coming up)).
So I ate my breakfast, packed up some food and the kids and loaded the car so we could go to the lake. I packed a Bar and a RTD Shake alongside the Lean & Green that I was bringing to BBQ so that I would have food all day. I was set.
Once we got to the lake and got set up, I started feeling a bit peckish. My family was snacking on chips and crackers all of which I knew I wasn't going to eat. For some reason I looked over the stuff I had brought and went, "Grapes, ooo grapes are healthy, and grabbed two, popping one in my mouth. It was seriously just an automatic thing. My husband, who was sitting right there said, 'I thought you weren't supposed to eat fruit?'
I sat there for a second process what he just said with one grape in my mouth literally sitting between my teeth waiting to be crushed! Finally it hit me what I was doing and I spit it out and threw them both in the trash. I grabbed my bar and thanked him - still kind of stunned that I had gone so brain dead.
The rest of our day went really well. We had a nice lunch of chicken and grilled asparagus and then spent over an hour swimming in the lake.
On the way home my oldest reminded me of the porkchops in the fridge that we were supposed to have Saturday night for dinner and asked we could have them when we got home. I agreed - after all, the girls had helped me prep them.
When we got home everyone started snacking again. I was getting the chops ready and was feeling a little hungry myself. What I should have done was had a shake or some other small meal, but since it was so close to dinner time, I talked myself out of a meal and allowed myself a 'snack' instead. I mean it was a healthy snack wasn't it? So what that I was only supposed to have one a day. I grabbed a package of crackers and the hummus I had bought the day before. I spread each cracker with spread and munched away happily as I cooked. But then that package of crackers was gone and before I could really THINK about it I grabbed another and opened it! These disappeared quickly too and I found myself thinking about what else I could put hummus on so I could keep eating it.
At this point my rational brain started to take over, and I saw this for the binge it was becoming! The familiar arguement started in my head. You've blown the day already, just keep eating. You've done so well, what's one day? May as well finish the hummus so that it won't tempt you another day...
But, something came back to me that I had told another weight fighter many many years ago. Adherence to your plan starts the minute you stop being off plan. The 'Day' is never blown, unless you keep eating.
So I put the crackers and hummus away, finished cooking and had the second 1/2 of my Lean & Green for the day when dinner was done. That was it - I was back on plan.
What I realized was that being on plan isn't like walking a tight rope. If you do make a misstep, you aren't left helplessly falling, waiting to hit bottom and hoping you survive!
Being on plan is more a journey through the forest. Your eating plan is your GPS - guiding you to your goal and showing you the path through the trees. A misstep can take you off that path and can even have you walking backwards for a bit, but the minute you pick up your GPS again, you find the path and you're back on your journey again. THE MINUTE you pick it back. That means mid bite, mid binge, mid day -- it doesn't matter!
Anyway - after all of that I entered all my food into the "My Plan" page and found that I hadn't killed my calories or my carbs. And as a 'reward' for making right choices later - my weigh in was 215.8 this morning.
So, I'm here, on track and paying very close attention to my GPS right now!
Still Humming Along
Food has been good - the closest thing to a 'slip' was a few extra raw almonds yesterday. Hardly a disaster.
Workouts have been another story. Monday night I had choir and since I had just done a triathlon on Saturday I decided to make that a rest day. Tuesday, made it to the gym alright, and got my run in, but Wednesday... I rushed home thinking I had dress rehersal for the concert on Saturday, drove to the theater, only to find no one there! Wrong night! duh! I went home and jumped on my bike and got a 20 minute quality ride in, and then took the dog for a brisk 10+ minute walk - so it wasn't a total loss. Last night really was our dress rehersal. I ended up finishing that at about 9:00. Went straight home, changed and hit the door for my run at 9:30. God 2.2 miles done in 30 minutes, then grabbed my last meal of the day and hit the sack.
I don't like missing so many weight workouts - but some weeks you've got to be flexable.
Results so far this week? well the scale has finally started moving after a week of stall and yoyo weigh ins - down to 217.8 today! yay!
Hello again!
Hello everyone! I'm a body blog user from a long time ago - I'm excited to see the site back up again!
This particular blog is going to be getting BACK to my lowest adult weight (170). And future blogs will be about getting below there and finally to my goal weight.
So, a bit about me. As you might suspect i've been overweight my whole adult life. Luckily this hasn't had too much of an effect on my overall health - yet. I'm 5'5" and at the moment 220lbs :(
My eating plan right now is very simple, low cal, med carbs (no starches or dairy) and low(er) fat (lean meats and 'healthy' fats). I eat six times a day and have been doing this for 4 weeks now. Happily I've lost 20 lbs in that 4 weeks!
Excercise - My goal is to workout 5 days a week and I have a five day split. I'm currently on week three of a periodization plan. I've always loved lifting weights and love lifting heavy. However, my two year break saw a huge loss in strength that I am focused on getting back - during this challenge.
This year I also started doing triathlons. On Marh 29th I did the Lavaman in HI and swam 1 mile, biked 23 miles and ran 6 miles in just under 5 hours! It was a HUGE day for me and a big turning point in my life. I'll be continueing to train for and complete triathlons through this challenge. I just did a short (sprint) one on Saturday and have another REALLY short one (super sprint) on May 25th. My next really big Tri is September 13th when I'll be swimming across the bay from alcatraz, and then biking and running through San Francisco. My training is focused on peeking for that race. The others are all just practice :)
Umm - other then that: I'm 40, I work 40+ hours a week and commute 4 hours a day. I have a loving and supportive husband who loves to see me healthy and happy. I also have a sweet dog named Zeus (a Great Dane) who's become my running partner and a cat, Imbri, who likes to show me correct yoga form. I have three kids who visit now and then, and a step-son who's decided he wants to do triathlons with me.
I hope everyone's having an 'on plan' 'green' day. I know I will be, even though this blog doens't show me starting until Saturday. I did that beause that's my standard weigh in day :)
Have a great humpday everyone
-Shawn