Two hard days

The last two days I've gone to the gym I've gone for an hour plus my yoga stretches and crunches. It's actually really relieving. I have to go home for the weekend so hopefully I don't gain all that weight back eating my mom's delicious home-cooked meals.

Rough Couple of Days

Things have not been as great as I'd like them to be the last two days. I used to feel wonderful after working out which is why I wanted to do it so much. Yesterday I worked out a bit too much I think. I did 45 minutes of yoga plus 25 minutes on the treadmill doing my 5K training, then 20 minutes on the elliptical. Today I was so sore when I woke up, which I guess could be a good thing since it means I'm working muscles I haven't been by just running. I'm having roommate problems on top of me being sore which makes me stressed and not wanting to work out. Because of this mixture, I'm finding it difficult to tap into my work-out mojo. Not cool. I hope to see the effects on the scale still though. I am still only eating 1,000 calories a day so I should still be losing weight no matter how much exercise I'm doing. We shall see. Only 3.1 more pounds to go to meet my goal by Thursday. Will I make it???

I have also noticed that my skin is saggy because of the weight loss. I'm going to have to look into some toning lotion or gel to get my skin to tighten up. I don't want to be a saggy skinny gal. Two things that don't go together for me. I'll see if I can't find some toning creme.

Side-by-sides

Here are some side-by-sides I did. At least this way I can see what my progress has been throughout.





The last two I can't really tell too much difference except for the front view. I seem much tighter and sportier in the far right than the middle picture. I'll have to take some more when I meet my 15 pound goal. It's nice being able to see them right next to each other though. The ratios might be off because I can't figure out how to size landscape photos into the constraints of the page. Lame.

New Pictures

Yesterday and today's workouts kicked my ass. I'm not feeling great like I usually do. I'm going to keep plugging away, maybe take a slow day tomorrow. I'll see how things go. In the meantime, here are some new pics from me at around 184. I can finally feel the difference in my stomach. Dunno if you can see it though.





I've lost two pounds in the last two days and a total of 17 inches overall. I'm down 11.5 pounds for the 3 week and 6 day mark. We'll see what it is tomorrow morning. At least I'm happy that I am still losing weight, but I would prefer to feel better after my workouts. I need to work on that.

Still plugging away

I got my ear pierced last night as my reward. It looks great! It was totally worth waiting til I lost weight to get. My friend went with me and we ended up stopping at a resale store and I bought a cute dress and some fancy shoes for cheap. I realized yesterday that the clothes in my closet no longer reflect who I am. My style was built around my weight and now that my weight has changed, I have no style to call my own. This weight loss has become much more than I originally intended. It was merely the next step for me in a lengthy path of self-discovery but I didn't realize that until yesterday.

...hello 10 pounds weight loss

It's in!!! I'm officially rid of 10 pounds of fat! My reward is to get my ear pierced. Thursday night, baby!!

I'll get some new pictures posted. I can finally see some major difference around my stomach. Yay!

Bye-bye plateau

The change did show on the scales!! I'm back down from 190 to 187.1. I knew I'd lost weight because of how my stomach felt this morning. It's amazing when I know I've lost weight. Awesome! I've been waiting to see 187 the last week. I actually did a little dance off the scale this morning. Perseverance has paid off. :D The fiber and change in exercise did the trick. I did some ab exercises, push-ups, and yoga and strength training. I'll have to kick up the weight training though. I'm not doing enough. I also started back on my 5k training last night. It went surprisingly well after not having done it all week. I've been on the elliptical all week so at least I didn't feel like I was going to pass out starting back up like I did. I even ran more than the schedule said to which is awesome. I'm right on target. Only 5 more weeks before I should be able to run 3 miles in 30 minutes; something I have never been able to do before.

I spent last night thinking about what my rewards should be for each 10 pound mark I hit. I'm 2.1 pounds from my 10 pound mark. So far, the only two rewards I can think of are the new ear piercing I want and the tattoo I've wanted for three years. The tattoo is the one I'm most nervous about so that's going to be the 30 pound reward. If I hit 165, I'll go get my tat. I think 10 pounds should be my piercing. I've been wanting my ear pierced again for about a year now so that's something that will come up quick with the new track I'm on. But what to do for the 20 pound mark... (15 minutes later) The only thing I can think of is a nice vintage piece of Jewelry. I was thinking maybe a Victoria Secret bra, but I want to get to the 30 pound mark and 10 extra pounds loss is only going to make that bra useless to me; and they aren't cheap. Any suggestions?

....

I smiled while running on the treadmill tonight.

Really starting to see results

When I first started this project, I didn't want to put pictures up of myself. I've decided to go against that decision to show you all some of the result that I'm seeing.


I'm on the left. That's my gorgeous friend who is perfect the way she is.

Me on the right with a dear friend of mine. The difference in my face is astounding!!!

I woke up this morning and worked out. It felt great! I've been taking my fiber and been paying more attention to the grams of fiber I have a day. I can feel the difference in how flabby my stomach is between now and what it was last week. Apparently fiber is the key for me losing weight. I'll know for sure tomorrow morning when I weigh in.

I don't think I've mentioned this at all but I've been using an iPod app call Lose it! to track my calories and nutrition information. What's great is I can now check all my nutrients at the touch of a button. Three days ago I only ate 9 grams of fiber. The recommended is around 30. Today, I have eaten 26.3. What's also nice is that I have an average for each week and from what I can see, my weight loss is directly correlated with how much fiber I eat, not the amount of protein.

Tonight I went to Marshalls and tried on some new clothes. I'm down 2 pant sizes already! It's such a good feeling! And I didn't look half bad in the pencil skirt I tried on if I do say so myself. I'm looking forward to new clothes after 15 pounds.

A new discovery

After doing some research, I've discovered a possible reason for the plateau I've hit with my weight loss. It would seem from my records of what I eat that I am not getting near enough the amount of fiber I should be. I've been eating an average of 9 grams of fiber a day when I should be eating around 25. I also think I need to kick up my weight training exercise. Running and doing the elliptical are not enough. I'm going to get some supplements and some legumes and hit the gym.

The Inches are Falling Off

It's been a couple days since I measured myself so here are the new numbers:

Arms: 13
Chest: 35.5 (-3/4)
Bust: 38.75 (-3/4)
Waist: 34 (-1)
Stomach: 39
Hips: 44.5 (-1/4)
Thigh: 25.75 (-3/4)

Total inches lost in the last two days: 3.5!
Total inches lost: 12.25!!! HOLY COW!! In just 15 days!

I didn't even work out today but I still feel really proud of myself. I can't wait to weight in tomorrow and see what the scale says! Hopefully it's good news!

I'm going to have to work on my tire I have going. I've only lost an inch and a quarter off my stomach so something is going to have to be done about that.

New Pics!

The new pics are in! I took pics of dinner last night because it just looked that good that I wanted to share it with everyone who reads this. Dinner was a 4 oz filet of salmon on a bed of spinach topped with sauteed zucchini, squash, and roma tomatoes. The sides were steamed carrots and broccoli and 1/4C cottage cheese. The calories topped in at 233. We were so full after! I couldn't believe it!





These are at 188. I ditched the sign as I have no talent for writing backwards.





I don't know if the 8 inches I've lost is that noticeable. What do you think? I'll have to do a side by side sometime soon to see the difference better. I can definitely notice the difference in the arms and the stomach. I'm already becoming more shapely. Can't wait to have the hourglass figure hiding beneath all this fat.

Tonight is going to be another hour on the elliptical. I can't wait!

After a few days, great success!

I had what I thought to be a rough week which turns out to be quite a good one. I had trouble doing my 5K training on Thursday so Friday wasn't very fun in the gym. I felt demoralized and defeated. A great Saturday workout reinstated my hope in ellipticals though so I've found a new routine that works better for me. I'm now on the treadmill three times a week doing the 5K training and then on the elliptical for a half hour after. On the days I'm not doing my 5K training I'm on the elliptical for an hour. I've thought about taking a day or two off but I enjoy the internal clean feeling I get afterwards. And then, after a hot shower and a cup of tea? There is nothing that beats that feeling.

Looking back on my old posts and the pictures I took (Yes, I know I need to post new ones) I can't believe I was okay with looking like that. I'm missing the glow. I'm starting to get it back, or so I'm told. That's comforting. I also realize how much I really didn't want to work out. I just wanted to play sports. I'm working out almost every day now without too much of a problem. I've also dragged a couple more people to the gym with me and have an offer to play racquetball. I've gotten more people on board and that makes me feel great! That's the whole point of this entire thing, including this blog: to inspire people to make a life-changing decision and help them accept their bodies and fix what they would like to fix. It's really the most delicious thing I've ever done. For example, tonight for dinner I cooked for a good friend of mine. We had salmon on a bed of spinach covered with sautéed zucchini, squash and roma tomatoes, with a side of steamed broccoli and carrots and 1/4 cup of cottage cheese. The meal totaled at 233 calories. I was stuffed! And it was delicious! I used to have a box of stuffing for dinner. So long to those days. I don't ever want to eat like that again.

I had a fantastic day today which started with me working out for an hour. Ate wonderful food all day long and didn't even come close to my calorie allotment. My weight measurement shocked the hell out of me today. I lost 2.4 pounds the last two days!! That brings my total up to 6.6 pounds!! And I have my new measurements:

Arms: 13 (-1)
Chest: 36.5" (-1.75)
Bust: 39.5 (-2)
Waist: 35
Stomach: 39 (-1.25)
Hips: 44.75 (-1)
Thigh: 26.25 (-1.75)

That's a total of 8.75 inches! Holy cow!! Today is the two-week mark. My, has it gone by quickly. I didn't realize that I could be the weight I want already had I started sooner. But I try not to dwell on that. I feel great and people are noticing. That's a good thing. I'm ahead of schedule by 2.6 pounds. I can't believe how easy this is!

After a poor weekend, a good day

Everyday I feel better and better. I have more energy, I sleep less, and my body is really starting to show some progress. I have lost around 4 inches in the last five days which is astounding to me. I didn't expect for the weight to fall off so quickly. The amount of weight I have on my body still is equivalent to 268 sticks of butter. I feel disgusting knowing that. But what's different than before is that I say that with self-confidence, not self-consciousness. For the first time in my life I know that any little headway I make is just another notch on me becoming physically healthy.

I have a special scale that tells me my body fat as well. I forgot it had this nice little addition until I almost fell off the scale and pushed the button with my toe. Last Thursday my poundage of body fat was 69.9. How gross is that. I weighed 193.5. That means without fat I weigh 123.6. I think 160 is going to be a healthy goal for me. Healthy and über sexy.

On a light note, I finally challenged my brother to a weight-loss duel. I think he's going to start next week with his. It's going to be the same challenge; 6 weeks in length and whoever has the highest percentage of body fat lost wins. The loser has to cook a very nice and healthy dinner for the winner and himself. I say himself because I'm going to kick his ass.

Today's measurements:
Arms: 13 1/4" (-3/4")
Chest: 37 1/2" (-1/2")
Bust: 41 1/2"
Waist: 35"
Stomach: 38" (-5 3/4) Note: I'm pretty sure I measured in the wrong place the first time. I don't think that amount is possible :P
Hips: 45 1/4" (-1/2")
Thigh: 27 1/2" (-3/4)

Total inches lost so far (excluding stomach)= 2 1/2"
I know I've lost some off my stomach so, including stomach (although inaccurate): 8 1/4"
That just a feel good number purely for my own enjoyment.