Progress

I don't blog anymore but I've been wanting to get together some progress photos for myself for a while and once I did it, I was pretty darn proud. I also posted a bit of a rant on Facebook awhile back after getting really annoyed with people wanting to know what 'magic potion' I was taking and had an old friend ask to see pictures.

Facebook Post:
I've lost enough weight (32lbs with another 25 to go) now that people are starting to comment on it, Thank you! However the next comment is alway along the lines of "what's your secret?" It drives me crazy, there is no supplement, or diet or magical workout. Eat fresh food and less crap. Say goodbye to the soda and hello to water, lots of water. Lift a lot of weights and make sure they are heavy. Don't leave the gym until you are soaking wet and you smell. When you're so sore you can't walk down the stairs, then you're doing something right. I call it literally working my ass off. That's my secret.

 Not sure I'd like them on Facebook but I'll share them here.

October 2010.

I was about to turn 32 and my 4th (and last) baby was 10 months old. Funny thing is I remember thinking I didn't think I was that big I just wanted to be healthier and more active. 

I was 204 lbs.

Yikes.

January 2011, Down 20 pounds, about 184. I did Jillian Michaels DVDs and the elliptical for 3 months and then started Couch to 10K in January.

Ragnar June 2011

I lost 5 more pounds down to 180 but losing weight when learning to run was very hard for me. Honestly I felt very skinny here but still struggled with emotional eating.

A ran about a 13 min mile here.

August 2011

178 pounds

Quit working out about this time.

Top pix are August 2011

Bottom pix are November 2011 in Hawaii

I had gained about 7 pounds back to 185.

Summer 2012

In 2012 I went back to college, worked out sporadically, ate well off and on.

We had family pictures taken in July and they are the first pictures I have ever had printed and felt I looked ok. I attribute that to the confidence I found in exercise.

October 2012

By my 34th birthday I had gained another 9 pounds back to 194. In my second semester of school I had an epiphany about how much I could actually accomplish when I put my mind to it. I had 4 kids and I was going to school full time and pulling a 3.7 GPA. Suddenly I knew I could lose more weight and then instead of thinking I needed it, I suddenly really wanted it.

I spent December 2012 planning what I wanted and how I would get there. 

I wanted to learn to run, not jog and walk. RUN. 

I wanted to learn to swim. I wanted to be 145 pounds. I wanted to keep up with my kids.  

I wanted to be strong. Not skinny. Strong.  

I didn't even take pictures because it wasn't really my main focus.

So I started the Couch to 5K program over for the 3rd time and I signed up for a swim class.

That swim class was possibly one of the best things I've ever done for myself. It was hard. It kicked my but every time. It challenged me and left me wanted to more.  My instructor was awesome! 

And the weight started falling off. 

So did the emotion baggage and lack of confidence and the depression.

I had also signed up for a Biggest Loser Contest at my gym in January. It help hold me accountable but they didn't give you any directions, it was all up to me. My first weigh in the 3rd week of January was 194, my last weigh in the 2nd week of March was 174. 

My pants were literally falling down and I needed a new belt. 

That was fun.

In April I hit a plateau and couldn't get past 170. So I took a step back and gave myself a little test to see if I could maintain the weight for a month.  I ate more and let myself have treats but I still went to the gym 5-6 days a week and kept on my running plan. 

By May I was ready to pick it up again and lost a few more pounds down to 166.4.

As fun as the number on the scale is to see, I have discovered that it is much more fun to jump in the pool and swim laps for 45 mins and not feel like I'm going to die. Fun is heading out for a run and not stopping until mile 3 for a walk break and then realizing it was only my head that thought I needed to walk because my body is fine and so I walk 1 min and then RUN another 3 miles. Fun is seeing my blood pressure go from 130/90 to 105/60 and my heart rate from 75 to 55 bpm. Fun is now running a 10 to 10:30 min mile.

Fun is having my 11 year old son want to go running with me and him not be able to keep up. (Because I let him go with me in 2011 and he would literally lap me until I was in tears and wouldn't allow him to go with me anymore.)  Fun is having my kids look at these pictures and say "Wow Mom! You've lost a lot of weight. I don't even remember you being big like that."

I have lost 37 pounds and would like to lose another 22. I will never say it's not about the number, get real, it is about the number, it may not be the number I originally thought but the number counts. It's about the fit of your clothes and putting on a swimming suit without shame. It's about feeling like you want to participate in life instead of sitting on the couch under a blanket. It's about learning you are stronger than you thought you were, you can push yourself harder than you knew you could. 

I never though I'd be that person getting up early to run and planning my day around the gym because it's is that important to me. But I am.  It's as simple as this...I could sit around being fat and taking antidepressants that don't really fix anything or I can exercise every day, feel great and be skinny.  I'll take the later. Trust me, the pain of working out is way better than the emotion pain of being the fat girl.

I think I'll try to update this with new pictures as I reach my goals this year, which are... 

*Ragnar-Wasatch Back in June

*The Huntsville Half Marathon in September

*And my original goal set back in December is to be 145 by my 35th birthday in October

Now Get Out and Be Awesome!

Stoked

Yesterday my sister sent me an invite to FitnessPal.com.  I used that site faithfully for about 6 months and it was a huge part of my success in loosing weight.  I was pretty stoked (yes I just used the word stoked) that she was on it and that she was trying to get my Sister-in-laws to do it too.   I do so much better with a little support system.  It's helpful to have someone notice you didn't go to the gym all week.  A small quick message, encouragement or sarcastic comment really makes all the difference for me.
So lets do this girls!
Put down the potato chips!
Lets all be skinny...er by the time we see each other at Christmas!

And feel free to come be my friend if your on there, my profile is missiklee.

An article to share

I know I share a lot of CJane posts but I just can't help it, she is so great.

Weight Doesn't Matter is actually a guest post but I thought it was great too!  I get really tired of hearing all the obesity statistics myself. Not to say they are totally wrong but they are definitely twisted by the media to sell skinny as the only way.

Turns out I'm pretty smart

Who knew?

I ran into library to get Jena a few books on Monday and on a whim I picked up Jackie Warner's book, 'This is why you're fat (and how to get thin forever)'. The title is harsh but I had read good reviews that it was a very common sense guide to weight loss, so I though what the heck.

She breaks in down into 4 parts. I'm only half way through part 2 and so far I'm impressed.

Part 1-'This is why you're fat' is all science, therefore I had to read slowly as to 'get' it all. :)  She talks about 3 major things, first balancing our hormones is key and we can do it simply by cutting out over processed foods and adding in simple super foods. Second, sugar is killing us. America is so stuck thinking Fat free is the answer and then we eat sugar in everything. Sugar is addicting and it messes up your hormones. Third, we must detox our liver, Thyroid and Adrenal glands so that they can work properly.

I was worried at this point, wondering what crazy detox diet was coming even though everything she says makes perfect sense and is all backed by science.

Part 2- 'This is how you eat to get hot and healthy' {I think her titles a bit dramatic don't ya think?}  I'm only 1 chapter in here but she starts off telling you to add in certain foods for 2 weeks.  She doesn't want you to change the way you eat, only add foods.  The goal being to build up key nutrients in your body to help balance hormones and flush our organs.

 You should eat the following foods each day:

• 2 Eggs - not just egg whites! The whole egg. With Yolks and all their supposed fattening glory.
• 1 cup Oatmeal - Add fruit, cinnamon, yogurt, just not sugar.  I happen to love that she is completely happy with plain old oatmeal. {I hate when people recommend things like Steel Cut Oats that are ridiculously expensive.}
• 2-3 cups Fresh Vegetables - Try hard to make them fresh, if not frozen is better than canned.  She lists about 20 but they are pretty common, normal veggies, nothing weird.
• 2 cups Fresh Fruit - Again, all the normal stuff, fresh or frozen, not dried.
• 2-3 Liters of Water with Lemon - I had to convert this to ounces or cups, I just don't think in Liters. So that is 8-12 cups or 64-96 ounces. The lemon is a bile thinner which aids in processing fat. The Lemon also helps curb hunger.
• 8 oz Whey Protein Shake - apparently whey is a great detoxifier, natural fat burner, improves insulin levels, stimulates antioxidant production and is chock full of amino acids.  After learning all that I was more on board but this could take me a while to implement. She recommends just drinking it with water or adding it to a green smoothie.
• Herbal Teas - I don't drink them so I'm not even gonna go into it.
• She also lists wants you to take a few common supplements.

As I was reading this it occurred to me that this was pretty much exactly {minus the whey protein} how I started eating back in October when I started loosing weight. Who knew? I could have written a book and made millions!   

So far I'm completely on board.  It will be pretty easy for me to eat all of these foods without feeling like I'm on some radical diet. Cause I don't do diet.  The Whey Protein I'll try to add in a few weeks but I'm not gonna run out and buy it right now.

I'll have to share more of the book as I read it but so far I'm enjoying it and it is a pretty common sense approach, which I like.

I'm going to go for a run tomorrow in my cross trainers that actually have some cushioning left in them and I have high hopes that my shins won't hurt as bad! I've given them 7 entire days of no running. My knew shoes won't get here until Tuesday and I just can't wait that long to run!  

Send happy shin thoughts  my way!