Hmm....

This has been a weird two weeks. I got probably the sickest I've ever been, and I'm still dragging. I've worked two 12-hour shifts this week, one expected and one unexpected- I'm glad I had the day inbetween because I woke up feeling icky again so I ended up just resting most of the day. Today I'm having a hard time staying awake, and I really just want to go home and take a nap!

I weighed in today at 228.8, which means I'm only 0.6lbs above where I was when I got sick. I'm actually really surprised, because there were only a few days where I truly didn't eat anything. And I have not stepped on the treadmill or darkened the doorway of the gym since February 11th. Wow. I also noticed that I should probably get another set of progress pics.

I've been spending quite a bit of my down time reading, which I've really enjoyed- the latest books on my nightstand have been:


*Winning by Losing, by Jillian Michaels
Its a good book. I've been using her food section, which isn't so much of a plan as it is a suggestion (for my metabolic type) to eat a diet of more protein. I've always done well on the Atkins diet, and I knew that I wanted to increase my protein intake so this was a nice way of having actual 'numbers' to work with. The book is strangely motivating. I read it and I get all excited about what I'm doing and how great I'm going to look. And I'm usually immune to all things motivational!

*What to Eat, by Marian Nestle
Its like an aisle-by-aisle explanation of what is better for you, how to know what to choose (normal milk vs. organic milk vs. milk without hormones??) with a splash of food economics for general interest. Its so good that I'm actually going to condense my scribbled notes into a little cheat sheet to take with me to the grocery store!

*Secrets of a Former Fat Girl, by Lisa Delaney
Well this book just goes without saying, and you can win it below! :-)

Hope you are having a great week- its Thursday, which means its almost Friday!

Giveaway: Secrets of a Former Fat Girl

The Giveaway is over now, but stay tuned for another one starting later this week! :-)

I can't stand it, I have to share this book. Secrets of a Former Fat Girl, by Lisa Delaney is a gem of a book that I happened to pick up at the local library- about halfway through it, I got on Amazon and ordered two copies, one for me and one for you!

This book has a subtitle of How to Drop Two, Four (or More!) Dress Sizes- and Find Yourself Along the Way. I will say that this is NOT a diet book with recipes and exercise routines- this book is about getting the stuff with your head worked through on your weight loss journey and some really practical advice at changing all the things that have gotten you here in the first place.

There have been numerous oh wow moments while reading, a lot of lightbulbs coming up over my head- and its all written in an easy to read format. A few of those lightbulbs:

*You're Not Like Other People: this was talking about the pity party that we can get into, why do I have to be so obsessed with food, why do I always have to worry about calories when everyone else doesn't?? She talks about the fact that its just not you, move on. (Came at a perfect time for me, evil eyeing my office workers skinny little ass and her humongo container of lasagna- its just wrong). She then follows that up with some good fixes for those- some easy, some not- but they've made me think.

*Adopt INO, Its Not an Option: I blogged about this awhile back here, and its still awesome. Its a mind game, but it works!

*Links to great places to buy workout wear! I just ordered a bra (that was quite possibly engineered by NASA) from Activa.com and I'm psyched. She assumes that you probably don't know how to pick out good workout shoes and all that, and she's got great down-to-earth advice on what to get and why- it can completely transform a shopping trip, let me tell you.

I could keep babbling about this book, but I'll just give you the scoop on how to get it!

*For 1 entry- post a comment on this blog!

*For 2 entries- become a follower, and tell me about it in your comment!

*For 3 entries- link to this giveaway from your blog, become a follower and tell me about it (with link to your blog post please) in your comment!

And for anyone who doesn't want to enter but still wants the book, its $4.99 on Amazon, a great deal! The giveaway ends Saturday, February 28th!

Back in Action!

Yesterday I turned a corner, and I am so much better after the mutant cold/flu episode! I got pink eye on top of that, but that's rapidly improving, and I am one happy girl. :-)

So back to work! I feel like I've lost alot of ground this past week and a half, so I'm excited to get back to the gym. I'm going back on Monday after work for my strength routine, and hitting the treadmill again starting tomorrow. I feel like I was kind of slipping in how hard I was pushing myself on the treadmill after I started the strength routine, so I'm going to do my usual 30 minutes this weekend and then ramp it up bigtime next week.

And I have found my inspiration dress. I've been kind of looking for 'the dress' that I want to get in the size I want to be, which I know is silly but I really want to do it. The dress I've imagined is black, something that shows some skin, a dress that I wouldn't have ever considered wearing at my current weight- or even some past weights! But I really think I found it! I was walking through the subway and saw a shop with a seriously cute black sleeveless sheath style dress, with some white swoopy colorblocks on it. I was kind of daydreaming (or in a Theraflu haze) but it caught my attention and stopped me in my tracks. I should have just gone into the store yesterday, but I'm calling the store today to see what brand and how much. I'm hoping to find it online, and post a picture of it! And maybe, just maybe, get it if its not exorbitant.

And really, there may be a purpose. I just have this feeling about the girl that my cousin Dave is dating right now, I really think there may be a wedding, like maybe spring 2010. I would be at my goal weight by then, and I have to have something to wear, right?! :-)

Incidentally, during all this dress browsing, I think I found the dress that Heba wore on the Finale of BL Season 6, from Nordstroms. http://tinyurl.com/cthlfe It was a cute dress, but she really needed a better bra! :-O

I hope you all have had a great week, and here's to an awesome weekend!

Couch Patrol

Yep, still checking in from the couch. I've had quite the run with a respiratory crap disease, and I think I can honestly say I've never been this sick before. Today is the fourth day that I've missed with work, which is a record for me. I really have no idea what I'm sick with, because it is the combination of things- like a nasty head cold, plus inflamed tonsils, sore throat, hacking cough, body aches. Its like a mutant cold/flu.

The food thing has been strange this weekend too, I think the majority of my calories have come in from NyQuil and Theraflu. And can I just say, I'm so glad I sprung for the premium toilet paper last time I went shopping? We were out of Kleenex by day two of this nastiness, but the Quilted Northern Ultra Plush has been a little bit of softness in this miserable hacking week. lol

I'm seriously 0.2lb away from the 10-pound mark, and I'm so excited! As soon as I hit the mark, I'm having another giveaway. Any suggestions, the one thing that you would love to see as a giveaway?? Leave me a comment, let me know!

Hope you are all having a phenomenal week- here's to lots of pounds lost! :-)

The Good and the Bad

The Bad (I always like to get the bad over with first!) is that I've been so sick this weekend! I went to the ER and got a neb treatment to help my breathing on Wednesday night, but felt better on Thursday so I thought I was getting over it. Its gone downhill over the day, and my Dad (an MD) looked at my throat with a flashlight and said its about 2/3 closed. Its the nurses battle of do I go in and risk looking like I'm overreacting and freaking out --or-- do I wait until I can't breathe and have to get intubated when I walk in the door. Hmm. I know I'm totally overthinking it, but still. I'm going to be up for a few more hours yet, and Will is going to look at my throat again (after 600mg ibuprofen) and see if I'm getting better or worse.

The Good: I'm losing weight pretty quickly during all this! lol I weighed in today at 228.0 and I'm loving it. Although I did look in the mirror today and think damn, my face looks puffier even with weight loss, what the hell. Yeah RN, you have lymph nodes. Don't worry everyone, I'm safely confined in an office and don't actually take care of patients.

Just for icing on the cake? We don't have a working shower. I love our 95 year old house, but when the plumbing explodes (and we only have one bathroom) so you have to order parts from god knows where. We went to my Mom's for showers today, then Marmot brought me home and tucked me back into the couch. Valentine's Day is a sweet holiday, but true love is when you have a husband who will still kiss you when he tucks you in, even when you're hacking and disgusting. I'm a lucky woman. :-)

And We Have a Winner!

Jen Schumann, from Skinny Habits!

Jen dear, if you will just email me your address (my email is to the right) you'll have Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred at your door in a few short days!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway, and keep your eyes on the blog for another giveaway starting on Monday! (Yes I'm an addict I know, but this is fun!) :-)

Exhaustion...but a Victory!

So I ended up with a nasty cold, which is thankfully running through its course quickly- but quickly enough that I came home from work around 3 yesterday, and was getting a neb treatment in the ER by 7. I work so closely with the ER staff, the experience of being a patient was doubly miserable- but they were all very good to me, and they thankfully let me go home by 11! And as quickly as I got sick, I've been getting better- I still have a cough and headache, but I can take a deep breath without gasping!

But....a victory! I'm in a new decade! I don't know why I call it a decade, but I know I'm not the only one....but I weigh 228.8! The 230's are gone, and never to be seen again! Ok I realize that it probably has something to do with dehydration by not eating or drinking hardly anything in the last 24 hours, but still! I'm taking the victory and running with it. lol

The giveaway is going for a few more days, and I'm so excited to see who will win the 30 Day Shred DVD! The winner will be drawn on Saturday, so two more days to enter if you haven't- good luck everyone!

It's Not an Option

I'm so glad that people are excited about the giveaway! I can totally see these becoming a regular feature, its so much fun....any requests??

Yesterday was my second run through my strength routine at the gym. It pushes me! I'll be honest, I was doing leg curls and the last three reps of my 2nd set, my quads were burning, almost to the point where my eyes were tearing up. But two things came to mind- one, something I read on someone's blog about not shying away from pain. Why is it that we think we can be fit and healthy without sweat or pain? Now unhealthy pain isn't good, but the burn of a good muscle workout is exactly what's supposed to happen. I was doing plank exercises with the trainer during my program setup and was supposed to hold for 20 seconds, and I stopped at 18, saying I give up. He asked me why? I don't remember what I said, but I remember thinking because it hurt dumbass, why would I keep going when my arms are on fire and my whole body shakes because my abdominals are as strong as noodles????? I give up alot on workouts, always looking for the easy way out. But yesterday, I was reminding myself that relaxing and maybe not doing the full extension to minimize the burn, is not going to help me accomplish what I want it to! I'm working on pictures, and I have the perfect skinny picture- I'll post it soon and I think I'm going to stick a copy on my treadmill. I know what I want to accomplish, I know exactly what I want to look like and it will not happen by taking the easy way out.

The second things is something I read in a book, Secrets of a Former Fat Girl. I'm about halfway through it, and if it continues to be as good as as the first half has been, it may just be the next giveaway. She had a mantra of sorts called 'Its Not an Option' when it comes to breaking the rules. I decided to pick two reasonable rules. (No trying to hold yourself to 8 Jillian-style workouts a week or something that you know isn't going to happen!) I would so much rather be perfect on my calorie counting than exercise, so I made exercise my INO items- my 3x/week strength training rule, and my 3x/week 30-minute cardio rule. Case in point: I wanted to skip yesterday, because it was my day off and I had alot of stuff going on. But I laced up my trainers and told myself that not working out is not an option. I didn't even let myself entertain the idea of not going, I made it work in between everything else I had going on yesterday. And I went. I know it will be another battle tomorrow, but not going is not an option.

So that's my tale for today! I hope you all are having a great Tuesday, here's to a week of good choices and lots of water! :-)

Just Because!

Just because you are all such a supportive blog-community....just because I'm so happy that Blogspot exists and lets me journal my way through this journey....just because I'm so psyched that I've made these changes and they've actually even sorta stuck for over a month....and even when they don't (see the post below), I get right back on track.....and just because I'm 7lbs lighter than I was when I started this journey....

Just because of all of that, I'm doing a giveaway!

Everybody is talking about Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout DVD. I still maintain that the shred effect is on your lungs, because this is a serious workout! Its pure-Jillian-kickass style, she tells it like it is and puts you through your paces. No excuses- she's got 400lb people doing jumping jacks, so she expects full jumping jacks out of you! It's an awesome workout, my muscles ached for four days straight after my first time through Level 1. The reviews are impressive too, you can read them here.

So here's how you make it yours!

*For 1 entry- post a comment on this blog!
*For 2 entries- become a follower, or mention that you're a follower in your comment!
*For 3 entries- link to this giveaway from your blog and leave a comment!

I'll be picking a winner on February 14th, and the winner will receive their brand-new DVD in the mail 3-4 days later!

I hope you like the choice of prize- I'll be taking suggestions for future giveaways too!

Confessional

Saturday was not a good day. I went down, and I took a box of cake donuts with me.


After donuts for breakfast, there was chinese food for lunch. Dinner was buffalo wings, alot of bar popcorn and two mixed drinks....elgh, what was I thinking??? The only positive about the entire night is that after the two drinks, I got and drank two giant things of water instead of more drinks


I don't know if it was relief that a long work-week was over, or because I've been at this long enough that I was due for a total collapse of good eating principles, or just plain old brain-fart that would make me think that this is what I wanted to eat....but looking back over the whole day is pretty dismal!


Back on the wagon this morning though, and it feels good. I've only had coffee yet today, but I have my WW water jug ready to go, we're going to my parent's for lunch. My Dad is making my Gram's spaghetti sauce recipe, the very recipe that came with Gram from Italy in the early 1900's. My parents usually eat at least enriched pasta, if not whole-wheat, and I'm planning on avoiding any bread. Hoping I'm good to go!


I've got about 2 hours before we leave, so my plan is to post about my giveaway, then hop on the treadmill for an hour. Woo-hoo!


Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Run Fatboy Run

Have you seen this movie? I'm not really a fan of Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead totally creeped me out) but it was really good. I could really identify with poor Dennis building his running habit...and the movie was just plain funny.

I am incredibly sore today after my strength routine yesterday, full body head-to-toe damn it hurts. Thank god for ibuprofen. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical today, and I was pretty proud. I threw a towel over the monitor so I wasn't so focused on the minutes, and watched half the Season 6 finale of Biggest Loser. It was on low settings, but last week I did 10 minutes and my lungs started burning, and that didn't happen until 25 minutes. :-)

Food has not been so good today- old habits reared their heads, and I totally went for the chai latte and the cake donuts. I'm not going to beat myself up about it though. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day with my handsome husband and I'm excited about doing some meal planning. A normal M-F schedule is a wonderful thing!

Next post is giveaway! :-)

Goals

I'm really proud of myself today. I went to the gym after work tonight, and did my first strength training workout. I was alternately shocked at how hard it was to do 17.5lbs with one muscle group and yet how easy it was to do 50 with another muscle group. I will admit that I had trouble with the squats- I did take it down to 40lbs, and didn't quite get through the second set. But I will be doing it all within a week, I swear. Tomorrow is a non-strength day, but I've got my gym bag packed and ready to go so that I can use the elliptical at the gym tomorrow after work.

My weight has stayed pretty steady in the past week, so after a chat with Judy (she's married to a dietician, so she's practically an expert) decided to up my calorie intake from 1300 a day to 1500. I was losing with 1300 at the beginning, but with the steady increase in exercise, the weight hasn't moved. So I started that today with the extra 200 to see if that can give my metabolism a kick in the pants. And let me tell you- after a month of 1300, 1500 feels like absolute gluttony!

I was looking back at my life so far in 2009. Its become a very quiet, but very rich life. I've declined alot of invitations for fun things that I would have absolutely done before. And I'm so glad. I've committed to creating this new lifestyle for myself, and I'm doing it. I'm not allowing other things that aren't as important to distract me. I've made the choice to have five non-scale goals be my priority for 2009, and I have the greatest feeling of freedom by not taking on extra obligations. I like this life. I feel good, I know I'm going to feel even better, and I love it.

Biggest Loser on Tuesday was good, it was great to see all the other contestants back on the ranch. Joelle is gone, I'm so ready to be done with the drama and get back to the weight-loss. And oh yeah, I seriously got chills when Shanon hauled Sione across the gym. Damn girl!

I'm totally excited about the giveaways that I posted about earlier. So much in fact, that I think I might be doing my own. Stay tuned!

Give-Aways!

Chic Runner has a giveaway!

This is a book I opened at B&N and read about getting avocado spread on my Jimmy John's BLT. Saves me almost 200 calories and like 15 grams of fat, and its awesome! I don't know why I didn't get the book, but now we have a chance to win it!

And so does Confessions of a Overweight Shopaholic!

Can you tell I love giveaways?? lol

This one is a goody basket, and this is part of the surprise contents. :-)

Big Boobs

My dear co-worker Judy saw my goodbye pictures and progress pictures, and told me today that she could tell my stomach was getting smaller because my boobs look bigger! Gave me a big smile for the rest of the day, thank you Judy! :-)

I finished my strength training orientation with Joe today, and I'm psyched. And sore! I did some unbelievable squats on this machine, and wow. These are serious squats, I swear my ass almost touched the ground! Ok it wasn't even close, but they were the deepest squats I've ever done and it was awesome!

A major plus about the gym- its partner downtown is the It Gym, and everyone works out there with the pool, cycle room, etc. I didn't realize how much less activity that the gym here has, but I love it. Its so much less intimidating that way, and there were some majorly fat people there.

Another thing, I suddenly couldn't care what people think of me. I'm in workout clothes that I know are not flattering, and there are some skinny people there who can out-whatever me, but I. Don't. Care. Totally un-self-conscious, and I'm there to get gorgeous and buff. Very cool revelation today.

So thats what I have- how have you been doing??

Recap

Today I met with the trainer at the gym (last week had to be postponed) and that was awesome! We only got halfway through my strength building program, he's very focused on form which is great. I'm going to have a 45-50 minute routine, working the major muscle groups and the core. I go in tomorrow for the second half of the workout, and then I'm going to start my routine on Wednesday! I'm also hoping to get downtown for a Ease Into Cycling class with my sister if at all possible.

I gave the trainer guy (Joe) an abridged version of my plans for the year, the eating better, losing weight, having a regular workout routine, etc. He warned me not to burnout, that its common to have that happen. On one hand, I totally didn't want to hear it. Me, burn out?? No freaking way, I am on a roll baby! On the other hand, I hope I'm not heading down that track. I decided to try the elliptical for 10 minutes (whoa is that different from the treadmill!) and it gave me some time to think. Am I on a burnout path? My conclusion after 10 minutes of contemplation was no. The changes I'm making are small in the whole scheme of my life. Fewer calories, more steps. That's pretty much it. I haven't made any changes that I don't think I could do forever, all of them are workable- making better food choices, and a committment to daily exercise 3 days a week. They're not huge changes, they just take committment. I almost got a little irritated while thinking about it, because I don't want there to be any doubt. No burnout for me, I can totally do this!

Food choices have been a little weird today. Breakfast was my usual SF shake, nothing new there. I had half a takeout container of Indian food, which made for an interesting lunch. I know there was rice, some peas, chicken, possibly some eggplant, and only God knows what else! I couldn't even begin to guess whats in it to get a calorie count, so I'm just going to hope the curry will kill all the calories anyway. Hah! Dinner was crockpot chicken and rice, and two tablespoons of lingonberry sauce for a sweet treat after dinner.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday- its that much closer to Friday! :-)

Refresh for February

So its the first of February now, I've been at this weight loss thing for an entire month. I turned in my weight for the month of January at 230.0 even. Not bad, considering I'm down 7lbs, or 9lbs if you go from the highest weight I hit this month. I would normally be seriously bummed that that was all I could accomplish in a month, but when I consider the significant level of working out I've done (well, significant compared to 2008!) it makes me feel better. I can just see the changes starting to happen in my pictures, and that's really what is going to keep me pushing through now.

I think the biggest change in the past month has been my relationship with food. I honestly don't know whose blog I read it on, but it was the concept of food as fuel for your body. I've spent years of my life (ab)using food to feed my soul, thereby mistreating my body with overeating and not eating stuff that helps my body. I look at what I've eaten over the past month, and I have to say I have never eaten this many vegetables in my life! I'm excited, because a lot has changed this month and I'm looking forward to February and the changes that are coming.

As far as today , it was only so-so for eating, mostly coming down to the dog and I sharing a roll of Ritz crackers. Marmot hates it that I feed the dog, but one-Ritz-for-me-and-then-one-for-Max is what kept me from eating the entire roll myself! I'm not going to beat myself up for the so-so eating day, and just bask in the fact that I had the entire weekend with my husband. Still fighting off the cold, but god bless Zicam! I'm still not feeling good, but I'm questioning whether I'm still sore from 30 Day Shred or achy from being sick. Or achy from too much couch time! Either way, I'm looking forward to my gym appointment with Joe tomorrow. I even bought workout pants from Target.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend, and here's to a great week ahead! :-)