Catching Up

The last week has been very busy.  Between working, caring for the children (meaning - them driving me nuts and me just making sure they don't injure themselves), cleaning (haha ya right, just kidding), attempting to keep working out (the thoughts take up more time than the actual doing of the workout since I only made it in twice this week so far), and blah blah blah. . . life happens (I hate that saying, duh, life is happening constantly, what a useless thing to say).

I had kind of been eating like crap and my weight went up (wait, you mean eating too much makes you gain weight!?  What!?).  LUCKILY, I caught it quick and lost what I gained plus a teensy tiny bit more.  Down to 167.2 today; I had gotten back up to 173 at the beginning of the week (obviously mostly water weight, as one cannot lose and gain several pounds of fat in just a few days).

Anyway, Jason and I had a lot of fun in Flagstaff for our anniversary.  I would definitely recommend Flagstaff Extreme Adventure Course, and Salsa Brava Mexican Restaurant!  Both exceeded my expectations!  If you are going up to Flag, you won't be disappointed in either!

Not much else to report really.  Things have been busy but fairly boring, unless I'm forgetting something -- that happens a lot nowadays.

Trudging Along

Been a little more low key the last couple weeks.  I've tired of recording, counting, obsessing, etc. etc.  Don't misunderstand, I've still been focused on losing weight, just in a different way.

Saturday is my and Jason's 6 year wedding anniversary.  To celebrate, tomorrow, we are going to Flagstaff Extreme adventure course.  After that we are going to lunch at Salsa Brava, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (a Food Network show, for anyone that hasn't had the food-porn-pleasure of watching it).

I've, sadly (well I'm not sad about it really), totally been ditching out on the weight training.  I, as usual, overdid it for several weeks and now can't stand the thought of it.  I, perhaps, learned my lesson. . .again.  BUT, I have still been going to the gym and getting some running in.  I go maybe 3 or 4 times a week, and sometimes I just walk (it's just too hot to run outside right now, even though I prefer it).  The good news is that my running is progressing fantastically, and I haven't had any pains or problems.  I have progressed to being able to run 5 miles!  I'm excited about that.  I think I could have gone a little further too, or maybe done it in a faster time.  I had changed my mind and decided I wanted to do the whole marathon instead of the half, then my injury kept flaring up and I think I'm too behind, mileage-wise, to make the full, so I'm back to aiming for the half, which I think is still pretty good.  I have until the end of the month to decide, because I will need to register for one or the other before the price goes up the beginning of September.

Speaking of September (and Labor Day), I am now under 5 pounds away from that goal (168.5 this morning).  That's rather exciting, isn't it!?  Hard to believe I weighed over 200 pounds just in May!  Well, it isn't actually that hard to believe I suppose, some days I still feel that big.  I actually went on the Flagstaff Extreme website to check to see if I would be under their weight limit, silly right?  I saw that it was 285, and even though I never weighed that much, part of me still is worried they're going to tell me I won't fit in their harness and that I can't do it.  Jason says that I am psycho, which is probably fairly accurate.

I haven't been blogging, or facebooking, or visiting my usual weight loss forums, much at all the last couple weeks.  It's been nice.  I haven't lost my enthusiasm or drive, just sick of having my whole life revolve around it I guess.  I'm at the point where, even though I have over 30 pounds left that I want to lose, 30 seems like nothing.  I've lost over 65 pounds, 30 just seems minuscule compared to the 100 I was staring at when I started.  I've already lost 30 more than twice over.  30?  Psh, bring it on.

July Losses

July Losses
-7.4 pounds
-23 total inches lost
-1.4% body fat

Inches broken down:
Neck -.5
Upper Arm -.75 ea.
Middle Arm -.25 ea.
Lower Arm -.5 ea.
Bust -1.5
Chest @ Armpits -1
Under Bust -1.5
Natural Waist -2
Waist @ Belly Button -3
Hips -1.5
Butt -1
Upper Thighs -2 ea.
Middle Legs -.75 ea.
Upper Calves -.5 ea.
Middle Calves -.75

So far Total

-63.8 lbs lost since December 20th, -47.6 of those pounds lost since March 22nd.
-106.25 total inches lost since March 31st  (WOW!!!)
-7.1% body fat since March 31st


Slow month for pounds lost, but even though I lost a lot more weight last month, I lost more inches this month, so I'll take it!

Less than 18 pounds to go before I'm at a "normal" weight.  Woooooooohooooooooo!  I didn't make it into the 160s this month, but I'm sitting at 172.2, so I'll definitely make it in August!

I very well may  make my original goal of getting to under 155 by Halloween (don't see why not, that's 3 months away!).  That seemed very far away back in March!  It'll be close to make my Labor Day goal of 164.  We will see how it goes this month.

3rd fitness assessment results, I call shenanigans

Soooo, my heart rate and systolic blood pressure have gotten worse.  Push ups the first time (in the red) I got 15 and those were knee down push ups, this time I did real MAN push ups and got 20 (last time, in June I got 40 knee down).  My flexibility is AWFUL and isn't improving even though I stretch 6 days a week.  My bicep strength is worse even though I weight train and have upped the weight of several of my bicep exercises.  My run time has gotten better.  Sit ups are better.

I'm very  happy with my body fat having gone down!  Although apparently my stomach has gotten fatter according to these measurements.

So this was my 3rd fitness assessment (the papers just show the 1st one compared to this time).  The first time a different guy did it, and since it was my first time, even though I was a little sad I was so out of shape, I left feeling ok.  The last two times, however, I leave feeling like shit.  I don't think I'm going to do it anymore.  The trainer who now performs the assessments, while he praises me for my accomplishments, he also makes me feel inadequate and points out that if I only trained with my trainer more my results would be better.  It always makes me feel bad.  Also I just don't think some of the tests are accurate.  Obviously the sit ups, push ups, and run are, because I do those myself.  But the rest are done on a machine.  HOW could some of these basic things have gotten worse?  How is my bicep strength worse when I lift more now than 10 weeks ago?!  How is my blood pressure and heart rate worse when I have lost a lot of weight, work out, and eat fairly well!?  It's always much lower when I get it checked at the doctor's office (last appointment was in April and it was 118/72!).

I feel like this whole thing is basically designed to make you feel like you MUST sign up for more sessions with a trainer in order to be successful.  Of course they want to make more money!  I get that, but it really makes me feel angry that it is at the expense of my questioning success and effort.  If it were that I wasn't losing weight or body fat, that would be on me.  That would directly be due to a lack of effort on my part!  But the other stuff I don't see how that's not improving.  Maybe I'm in denial, I don't know.  Just don't see how it's possible.

4th mini-goal met, on to the 5th

Mini goals:
1st mini goal: Get under 200


2nd mini goal: 193, my pre-pregnancy weight.

3rd mini goal: 185.9, no longer considered obese.


4th mini goal: 175, which I got down to in January 2011, a few months before I got pregnant with Luke

5th mini goal:  163, which is my goal by Labor day, but either way I'm keeping it as a mini goal.

6th mini goal: 154, no longer considered overweight.

7th mini-goal: 142, lowest weight I've seen as an adult, maybe even as a teen.

8th mini-goal and current long term goal: 135.  I'll reassess at that point.

The Tale of Three Scales

I'm a daily weigher.  And if I'm being honest, a multiple times a day weigher.  Most of the time it's just because the scale is there, and it's interesting to me to see the natural fluctuations that occur during the day.  I have to weigh myself daily, it holds me accountable.  It's no coincidence that the times in my life I've gained a lot of weight have been times I have refused to weigh myself; like if I don't see the number it's not real.  This month has SUCKED for weight loss, so far.  I've been doing more weight training, but other than that everything else is the same.  I've still lost inches, so I KNOW the scale will catch up (logically I know this), but it is driving me absolutely bonkers.  So I decided that it must be the scale!  Only thing it could be (that's sarcasm b.t.dubs)!  Anyway, it's an old scale, and it'd pull that shit where you step on and off it a couple times in a row and it would tell you different numbers each time.  Started to piss me off.   Here's the old gal:

Nothing special.  It weighed to the .2, and if you entered your height it would tell you your BMI.  Well, it used to do that, it hadn't worked in that way for a long long time.  Also it would randomly beep, and not because it was low on batteries either, I kinda felt like it was sayin' "heeeey".  This scale had been around since before Emma was born I believe.  It's now up in the closet.  I had to hide it because I was weighing myself on the new scale, then going back to this one and comparing, which is pointless, if I'm going to keep using this one, I might as well not have a new one.  I kind of want to toss it, but I just can't bring myself to do it.  Ya, I know, totally redic!

Anyway, I went to Target to get a new scale and found this amazing thing:

It's a beauty!  Not only is it cool looking, but it's glass (or some version of glass) and matched the colors in my bathroom and soooo sleek.  PLUS it weighed to the .1!!!  I was thrilled.  No, seriously, like way too excited over a scale!  Unfortunately it didn't tell me what I wanted to see, stupid bastard (this one was a boy, obvs, it's blue)!  It was pulling the same ridiculousness as the other scale with variations and while I thought the .1 readout would make me happy, it ended up making me sad.  Somehow I must have known, deep down, that I wasn't going to like this new scale, because I kept the receipt and box.  I took this asshole back to Target and headed to Bed Bath & Beyond with one thing in mind -- an old school spring scale.  They had one option, and luckily it was a brand I trusted, same brand as the old gal, Homedics.

It's nothing fancy at all.  It's little tick marks between the 5 and 10 pound big lines are barely visible when you're standing on it, so you can pretty much maybe tell to the pound what you weigh, certainly not even to the .5.  In one way this is hard for me, but in another way it's a huge relief.  I will be able to tell what I weigh, if I'm losing, and keep track of my progress, without worrying about the accuracy varying from one step on to the next.

And THAT is the tale of the three scales.

I Stand Corrected (Fat Face Take Two)

I thought I had found the most unflattering picture of myself, which I posted in a previous post, but after going through some pictures today I think I stand corrected!  Well, it's at least AS unflattering, maybe not quite as ridiculous, but pretty darn bad!!!  AND since I've been battling a VERY slow/stalled weight loss the last week and a half I thought I could stand a pick-me-up.  So here we go, Fat Face, Not-So-Fat Face take TWO!

Tried to pose at the same angle for awesome comparison!  HA!

That is all.  Thanks for tuning in.