Week 12 Results: -1.8

Jabba!!

I lost 1.8 lbs this past week, putting me at 238.4 pounds.

At first, I was mad at myself because when I went out to dinner last night, I had a cheeseburger and baked potato, then came home and had half a slice of new york cheesecake w/ caramel sauce and whipped cream. I thought I had blown it for today! Aaaand, because I had stayed after at school yesterday to go directly to the dinner, I hadn't had a chance to jog (correction: I hadn't been determined enough to bring my clothes, change into them and jog), so I had only had a 15 minute walk to count as exercise. SO, today, I took a quick 20 minute jog (6 laps!) around the block right before weigh in. It made me feel like I did a little to overcome my indulgences for yesterday.

I am SO excited about my weight loss for several reasons:
* Milestone One: I'm now in the 230's!!! For the FIRST time in at least eight years!!!
* Milestone Two: I have just passed the ten pound loss mark
* My BMI has decreased from 41.5 to 39.7

Observations:
* It took me four weeks to lose the first five pounds
* It took me eight weeks to lose the second five (really six) pounds
* I am losing, on average 0.9 pounds per week
* In roughly 16 weeks (by April Fool's Day 2007), when I get to 224.6, I will have reached my 10% goal (24.9 pounds)
* In roughly 31 weeks (by end of school 2007), when I get to 210.6 (minus 38.8 pounds), my BMI will be 35 (my prelim BMI goal)

What I'm loving about my weight loss:
* my arms no longer feel like a dam holding water (my boobs) back when I cross them across my chest
* my shower towel actually fits all the way around me top to bottom (where before, it fit across my chest but didn't quite come together across my tummy or hips)
* my tummy no longer spills 1/3 the way down my thighs when I sit
* my thighs are noticibly smaller
* it doesn't hurt my knees / thighs anymore to cross my legs
* when I bend over to tie my shoes, etc., my tummy doesn't get in the way, preventing me from bending very far
* I can put on my socks with ease
* when I suck in my stomach, it actually has somewhere to go
* my pants and shirts are fitting better.
* I'm not feeling like my body is unmanageable

I'm excited because this is only after an 11 pound loss. I can't wait to share what I love about my weight loss when I'm at 20 or 30 pounds!

Taunia and I are focusing on exercise again this week. I have faith she's going to kick butt, which'll be great because I'll be looking to her for inspiration since my gung-ho-ness for jogging is slowing though not going down the tubes. I think I'm just not eating well enough and perhaps that's why I'm feeling more tired all around. I want to keep inspired and she's gonna do it for me!

Week 11 Results: -1.6

Oops! I forgot to post from this past week. I lost 1.6 pounds which puts me at 240.2. Only 0.2lbs away from getting into the 230's, and I cannot be more excited about that!!!

And while I was slightly disappointed I hadn't lost more weight, I have to keep telling myself that (1) I most likely gained/beefed up my muscles from running, and (2) Healthy weight loss is no more than one or two pounds a week. So 1.6 is incredible.

I also weighed myself the day after Thanksgiving and saw that I had only gained 0.5 lbs. I think that was due in large part to eating a nice Chinese dinner for Thanksgiving - seafood soup w/ vermicelli noodles, bitter melon in black bean sauce, and West Lake soup (minced beef, cilantro and egg white in a thickened chicken broth - delish!!). I ate in moderation, and had run on the elliptical machine for an hour in the morning.

My BMI is around a 40 right now...it's going down slowly but surely. It's roughly 1 BMI point for every 10 lbs lost. I was researching BMI tho, and it said that it can overestimate fat content for athletic or muscular builds. Now, anyone that knows me knows that my legs are quite muscular (OK except for my inner thighs). For instance, when I went to go get calipered to find my body fat percentage, the calipers couldn't even grab onto anything on my outer thighs because they were all muscle, no fat. That said, I will use the BMI as a reference (as with everything else), but I know I'm never going to get in the non-obese or non-overweight category, because becoming a BMI of 29.9 means I'd have to lose 100 lbs, and with my big bones and muscles, that's not reasonable or desireable. So, my goal is a BMI of 35ish. That represents a 50 lb weight loss from where I am today: which'll put me at around 190 lbs. Who knows, this may change as I get closer to the goal and can better assess my body and weight, but this is where I'm setting my goal at this point.

Another thing, I was thinking about what spurred me to start jogging. It was a combination of different things. My boyfriend's mom had lost around 20 lbs under doctors orders, and that got me thnking about all the excuses I gave to myself and others for not being able to lose weight. Also, I was plateuing on WW, going up and down 2-3 lbs every couple of weeks and felt I had done as much as I could do eating-wise to positively affect my weight loss. I was also tired of talking myself down after passing the pond every day after work and not stopping to walk for various excuses. And not walking around the block after I got home again, for various excuses. And my WW buddy and I started a competition between ourselves to see who could earn the most activity points in one week (each point is roughly equivalent to 15 minutes of low-impact activity). Basically, I was tired enough of continuing doing things the way I was doing them, and motivated enough to do something about it.

So, I'm enjoying jogging. I like doing it at night because it's more of a private experience - not people watching or judging my body type or the speed with which I jog. I like jogging around my block because I don't have to cross any streets and worry about being run over. I know I'll probably get sick of it in a week or so, and I'll revisit my options then, but I'm really enjoying this. I cannot wait til my Power Core Rhythms DVDs come in -- these are the latin dancing workout DVDs I was telling you about in a previous post. I'll let you know how they go, but I sure am looking forward to them!

My Boobs...

...I think they are a-shrinkin'. Thank goodness!

In other news, yesterday I went out and bought:
(1) sneakers
(2) 1 fleece pants, and one windbreaker pants
(3) 1 fleece jacket and one fleece vest

Total cost? $250. YOINKS! This was at a New Balance store, and I was in bad need of exercise clothes so I didn't have to wear my pajama bottoms and 10-year old t-shirts to go out jogging. It's weird becoming 'active' and realizing how pervasive being non-active is in my clothing. It was sad I had not one pair of pants to jog in. I can't quite do shorts yet because my thighs make them ride up (but not for long!). SO, this was a helluva lot of money to spend, but I think it's a worthwhile investment if it clothes me so that I can continue to be active.

Next mission: find a sports bra that'll hold my suckers in and not let them bounce. Because wearing two Spalding sports bras to go jogging everytime sucks. Any suggestions?

Jogging's Good...

I've done some sort of aerobic excercise for eight out of the past nine days (since starting jogging for the first time two Friday's ago). I have to say, it's not fun, but it's something I am motivated to do, and feel good doing. It's a mini-challenge I take every day, and it feels great not only completing it, but knowing I can do it, and earning activity points on top of it. And shrinking my body to a more healthy mass. THAT'S motivating.

One thing I won't do again is my kathy smith cardio kickboxing workout. Totally unfun, and made my butt ache the whole day. I guess that means it was working, but man, was that dull as dirt! I told Taunia about a new work out craze I had found and thought interesting - the latin dancing one...I just placed an order and will get it in a week or so...THAT will be fun - and it'll be ab work which is a lot of what I need.

Here's lookin'!

Jogging's Alright...

...I actually felt motivated to jog today! I was toggling back and forth, and decided when I got home to postpone it so I could chill on the couch and watch TV. Thank goodness there was nothing good on TV. After eating a "dinch" (dinner-lunch) and watching TV for a couple hours, it was 6pm, and I decided to jog anyway - why not? So I jogged for twenty minutes and felt great. Well, it was butt ass cold out, and I was gasping for air, and I only jogged 5 laps and 20 minutes vs 7 laps and 30 minutes, but it felt great to be active.

It amazed me how much my mind got in the way of jogging. Like thinking about it all day and deciding not to do it , psyching myself out, then deciding to do it. Then thinking I couldn't jog three of the four sides of the block and wanting to walk more...it was amazing how much my mind jumped in, and how much effort it took for me to empty my mind and just focus on the steps in front of me. More times than not, when I did things this way, I got farther than if I listened to my overactive mind.

So, that means I've been jogging three times now this week! Friday, Sunday, and today. And it felt so rewarding to be able to claim 4 activity points from a quick 20 minute activity. Knowing it's also good for my health, lowering my risk of heart disease, lowering my bmi and other indicator numbers...feels great! I am going to keep optimistic about keeping it up, and am looking forward to this week's weigh in. I'm either gonna gain "healthy" weight from the muscle I'm building up from jogging, or I'll lose (I hope) a butt ton of weight, since not only is this the first week I'm doing more intensive exercise, but it's also the first week I haven't used any of my 35 flex points (I've used almost all of them up the past couple weeks).

Here's to hopin!

Week 10 Results: Holding Steady

So, no weight lost or gained this past week, which is a good thing considering I was unhealthy the first half, and healthy the second half. It was justabout what I expected, but it doesn't quite feel like progress staying steady even though I know it is.

Better news? I am feeling SO good about myself this week. I went JOGGING Friday and then again tonight. Now, I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, and I know I only jogged around the block seven times, but this is from a girl who hasn't jogged in four years, since 2002 when I was living in Charlotte, NC and was on the Charlotte women's rugby team and we had to jog and do other merry things. That lasted only two or three months for me (I was only there for six months before I moved). Before that, it had been another four years since I was part of my college's women's rugby team.

Another reason why I'm psyched about this is because this is the first time I'm jogging for MYSELF as opposed to an obligation of being a part of a team. I don't want to get ahead of myself because I tend to do that, but I'm hoping this is putting me in a positive direction. It took me a year to get to this point in time where I worked up the resolve and cut out my whining to be active. You wouldn't think it would be so hard! But hey, anytime someone's trying to change a habit theyve had for over a decade, it's not a walk in the park.

So yay! And I hope to keep up with this - I've been trying to take this at a slow pace so that I can keep up with it, so I don't know if I'm going to jog tomorrow or just do it Tuesday.

And not to be gross, but my thighs and my upper arms, the two notorious jiggly wiggly parts, are getting ever so slightly firmer. Yay!

Week 9 Results: -2.4

I need to get a tracker on my site like Taunia so keeping track is easier! I went down 2.4 this week which was GREAT considering I gained a little over three lbs over the past two weeks. I was feeling pretty frustrated and out-of-control, and was not looking forward to weigh-in last night. Although I lost the weight, I have to honestly say I didn't focus too hard on eating healthily or being active, so it feels like a false win, you know? However, if I look at my weight loss in the bigger picture, I've lost 7.6 lbs over the span of 9 weeks, which is roughly 0.8 lbs per week which is considered a healthy rate of weight loss. All these big numbers up and down were my body adjusting to losing weight, and it did so healthily. I can't complain.

Another cool thing - I checked my BMI and it went down from BMI 41.5 ->40.2. A small change, but it's pretty cool to see that just a few pounds changes other health indicators in addition to my weight. Gives me something else to focus on and be proud about.

Anyway, reading this over, I know I'm focused on the weight, and that's really because it is the WW focus with the weigh-in's, but that word really represents my struggle to eat healthily and be active each week. It's just easier this way. Although it would be interesting to see what would happen if I focused my observations on my eating and activity - if that would influence change differently...hmmm...guinea pig commence!

day of reckoning nears

tomorrow's the day. I don't think I've had a good week. I need to approach this coming week as I did my first - with enthusiasm and dedication. I'm going to lean a lot on Taunia to keep my butt in gear. It's so weird to want something so much but to not work towards it constantly. Well, I guess like with anything, I am working towards it constantly, but am not always making progress. Gotta keep telling myself, it took me 28 years to develop my current lifestyle...it's going to take a lot more than two months to make solid, constant change.