Day 3 — Why am I not skinny yet?

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Three days down — eating right and working out, and I am still not skinny. Honestly, it’s rude. I have put in a solid three hours in the gym in the last two days yet no progress can be seen. Malarkey.

All kidding aside, I have doing pretty well the last few days — which are always the hardest. Despite a busy schedule, I have gotten to the gym, and have no excuse not to tonight. I have eaten well (although I do sneak the occasional chocolate covered pomegranate from the jar on a coworkers desk from time to time. But I’m OK with it.

As most who are reading this know, I have done a LOT of diets over the years. They all work to varying degrees. I have tried Atkins, Keto, strict meal plans, low fat, basically if there is a weight loss plan out there, I have probably tried it. And yes, they all work.

In general, as long as you are burning more calories than you are taking in, you will lose weight — so that’s what I am working on. I also know that my macros will help determine how quickly I will lose the weight, so over the next couple months I will be trying to narrow down what that breakdown will look like.

In all of my experimentation I have done with healthy eating and working out, I have discovered that one thing doesn’t work for me — a super strict diet with no wiggle room. Now let me clarify what I mean. When I followed that diet, I did lose weight, quite a bit in a short timeframe. For me though, it just wasn’t sustainable. I need a lifestyle change where 90% of the time I eat well, but there is some wiggle room. Does this mean I will lose weight more slowly? Probably. But hopefully it will allow me to stick to it, and not fall off the wagon completely.

What are some diet tips and tricks you have found works for you?

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Losing before cruising

Antigua — One of the 5 stops along our 10-day cruise in February.

My husband and I have decided we are going to go on a 10-day Norwegian cruise in February of 2020.

Just the thought of being seen in shorts, let alone a swimsuit is enough to give me heart palpitations.

Once again I have fallen off the healthy living bandwagon (and got ran over by it, several times.) Once again, it is time to climb back on and get my sh*t together.

I want to lose at least 60 pounds before setting sail. “Easy peasy” says my husband. HA. Definitely not easy peasy, but doable. That’s just under 2 pounds a week.

I need to come up with several shorter term goals between now and then — February seems like it is forever away, and I need to NOT wait until the last minute to get my act together.

I know how to do this. I have done it before, and I can do it again. Week 1 is all about getting my mind in the right place. Thankfully, my husband is right along with me and has goals of his own. Living a healthy lifestyle is alway so much easier when you have someone doing it with you. Misery does love company after all.

I know I can be good about going to the gym. I have a fairly light schedule this week to get back in the swing of things. It is ALWAYS my diet that proves to be the struggle. Our healthy meals are all prepped for the week, so that will eliminate having to grab junk food while I am on the run.

Any encouragement along the way is, as always, greatly appreciated!

Getting out of my own head

As a rule, for most things in my life, if I have set out to do something, I have succeeded. It hasn’t always been easy, but I try my best not to give up.

For the last 3+ months I have been eating right and seriously working my ass off at the gym. I was definitely seeing success (building muscle, feeling better, losing inches, etc). But I just wasn’t seeing the results I was hoping for on the scale.

One week I would lose 3 pounds, the next I would gain 2, lose .2, gain 1. The scale was trending down — slowly — in the right direction, but not as quickly as I thought it should be for as hard as I was working.

I got discouraged. Really discouraged.

For about two weeks I hated every second of meal prepping, eating the right meals, working out, and don’t even get me started on the extra cardio.

I was a completely miserable person, but Friday evenings leading up to weigh ins on Saturday mornings were the worst. I would make sure not to eat after 7, and attempt to get lots of sleep. No matter how early I went to bed, I would lie awake worrying about what would happen when I stepped on that scale the following day.

Would all this work I have been doing for the last week be for nothing?

People did their best to cheer me up. They reminded me that I was getting healthier, stronger, that muscle weighs more than fat, etc.

This last Saturday I stepped on the scale and was up two pounds for the second week in a row. I just broke. I found myself in tears yet again. How can I be doing all this work for the scale to be going in the opposite direction. It just wasn’t fair.

My trainer, being far more understanding with yet another round of tears than is fair to ask of him, reassured me that he was going to help me figure out what is going on. I couldn’t quit. I had to just keep pushing forward and eventually something was going to give.

We would be approaching things a little differently going forward. From now on I would be weighing in on my own scale every day and sending him the number. From there he would tweak my daily meal plan based on the scale that day.

I was ready for pretty much anything.

Every day this week (and it is only Wednesday) I have been working out 1-3 times a day, eating right, and stepping on that scale. Sure enough, every day the number has been going down, and much faster than I could have expected.

After talking to my trainer this afternoon after deadlifting class, he told me that he think I put so much pressure on myself to lose, I stressed my body out to the point that it just wasn’t happening.

Then, when the scale didn’t move in the right direction, I would be miserable. I struggled through workouts and hated my meals. I would spend the following week feeling let down, and worrying that I was letting my trainer down. That would stress me out more and then the scale wouldn’t move again.

It made complete sense.

Now that I have daily  weigh-ins, I feel like I am in a much better spot mentally. I am enjoying going to classes again, I wouldn’t say I enjoy my extra cardio, but I don’t dread it all day, and I am in a much better mood.

I am now looking forward to weighing in on Saturday. It certainly isn’t out of the question to think that I will have a 5+ pound loss this week. If that doesn’t help me get in the right frame of mind, I don’t know what will.

 

Another 5K in the books

Yesterday, my husband and I both finished the local YMCA’s St. Patrick’s Day 5K Run/Walk. He did the run and I did the walk.

I have done other 5Ks in the past, but this one was a little bit different for me.

A couple months ago I told my trainer I intended on working on the couch to 5K (again) and trying to run this one instead of doing my normal 90 minute workout with him. He told me that I would be better off doing the workout because I would burn calories for longer after the workout was over than if I ran.

So I decided to do the workout.

When I heard my sister in law and husband both intended to do the run, I decided I would register, and if I was feeling good enough after the workout, I would do the walk.

I wasn’t feeling so great after the difficult workout, but I decided to suck it up and do the walk anyway.

It was extremely hard. I regretted doing it before I even took the first time. I also regretted wearing my brand new running shoes.

As I winded my way through town, I had to talk myself out of stopping at friends houses along the route and begging them to drive me back to my car.

I was tired, sore from the workout, my feet hurt, and I was getting shin splints with every step. Around the 2 mile walk I texted my husband, who i was confident had already finished his run.

Me: My back hurts so bad.

Him: Walk

Me: That’s all I have done

Him: U got it. Where are you?

About 5 minutes later I see him walking up the street toward me. Honestly, I was fighting back tears. Now I knew there was no way I wasn’t going to finish. He wouldn’t let me.

He walked the rest of the way with me, and made me jog the last 1/10 of a mile or so.

To say I was dusted at the end is quite the understatement.

It was far from my best 5K time ever, but with the exception of my first ever race, it was the one I am most proud of for finishing.

I am also INCREDIBLY proud of my husband and sister in law for each finishing in under 28 minutes.

Living a healthy lifestyle isn’t always easy, but it is so much better when you have company!

An inspiration? Who… ME???

I always find it strange when people say I am inspiring them to live a healthier lifestyle. After all, who on earth would want to follow in my footsteps? I’m a 30-something woman with over 100 pounds to lose.

Might as well put me on one of those motivational posters!

Oddly enough, I have been getting that more and more lately. I find myself at the beginning, again, and again, and again, of what is going to be a very long (lifelong) journey for me. For me to be an inspiration to others comes with some amount of pressure.

I want to be one of those people who, two years and 100 pounds down the road, can look at someone starting their journey and say “If I can do it, YOU can do it.”

But frankly, I am still worried I will never get to that point. Part of me knows if I stick to it long enough and don’t give up, I will succeed. But there is always that nagging part of me that knows I have failed each and every time up to this point. Maybe I am only kidding myself that this time will be any different.

Today I had to leave one of my workout classes because my back just wasn’t holding up. It was hurting and threatening to go out on me. I wanted to push through the pain and finish the 30 minute workout, but my trainer sent me home.

Part of me is very disappointed in myself that I quit. The other part of me is glad I left. In the past I probably would have pushed through and potentially hurt myself. All it is going to take to potentially majorly derail my progress is to have my back go out on me and be sidelined from the gym for two weeks. At this point, I can’t lose momentum, even if that means not finishing one workout.

I was feeling pretty down when I got home. Then I got a perfectly timed text from a friend saying she has been reading this blog, watching on Facebook, and following my journey. She let me know she joined a gym a week ago and has not skipped a day in nearly a week.

SO AWESOME!

I was thrilled and so proud of her.

In the last couple weeks, I have had a couple other people let me know that I have inspired them to change their own lives. They may not all be the biggest changes, but they are something. Whether it is passing on the office baked goods being passed around, parking at the back of the parking lot instead of the front, or drinking water instead of soda, little changes add up.

I wish it were as easy for me to recognize and take pride in the changes I have made in my own life as it is for me to recognize when others do the same.

I’ve been told I am my own worst critic… and aren’t we all? Something else for me to work on. For now, I am just going to keep on going.

Tomorrow’s another day, one with my favorite new class at the gym, but more about that another day.

Progress Photos

After a couple weeks of waiting, I got my photos from before and after the first shred back yesterday.

I wasn’t impressed.

In all honesty, I spent about three hours in tears — that not impressed.

Looking at the photos, it was hard for me to tell which was the before and which was the after. After some careful consideration, I could tell I had lost a few inches off my stomach, but that was about it.

I just keep telling myself that I didn’t put the weight on overnight, I can’t be expected to lose it over night.

For as hard as I have been working, I was hoping to see a little more of a dramatic difference. Hopefully the next set of photos is more noticeable.

Achieving a goal. Sort of.

OK, so remember that post I made about a year ago. The one where I said my goal was to lose 60 pounds before my wedding. Well, it didn’t happen. And I’m OK with it.

I had a beautiful wedding, in a beautiful dress, and even though I am confident I didn’t lose a single pound after I made that post, there’s nothing I can do about it now.

Fast forward to 13 months later, here I am, still overweight and fighting my battle. And here I am writing yet another blog post about how I am starting again, but this time I am going to do it.

Will I succeed? Who knows, but I have to try.

Four months ago I told myself I had to get some kind of accomplishment under my belt before posting again, or I couldn’t take myself seriously, let alone expect anyone else to. Here’s a wrap of from then to now…

After the wedding last year, my new sister in law introduced me to her gym. One where there is a lot of structure, no open gym, all workouts are classes led by a personal trainer.

She told me about the gym’s 49-Day Shred program she was participating in, where you were expected to attend classes 5-6 days per week, add in cardio, and follow a strict meal plan.

Honestly, it sounded terrible, but just what I needed.

About ½ way through her shred, I decided to join the gym, carefully watching her progress with the shred, asking questions, learning my way around the gym, and mulling over whether I would sign up for the next shred.

Around Thanksgiving time, I decided I was going to sign up for the next shred, which started the first week in January. My goal was to lose 20 pounds in the seven weeks.

I figured it would be best to ease myself into it, so I went to the Tuesday night Shred class, which consisted of 90 minutes of weight training in roughly four-minute intervals with cardio exercises in between stations.

It was during that workout I realized I made a HUGE mistake. There was no way I would be able to complete another one of those workouts.

It was the hardest workout I had ever done. Half a dozen times during the workout I considered just getting up and walking out. I finished on the verge of tears. When my sister-in-law asked me what I thought, the dam broke and I started crying. I told her how embarrassed I was to have done as badly as I did. How I couldn’t breathe. How everything hurt. There was no way I could go back.

She gave me a pep talk, (the first of many) as did several other gym-goers as they were leaving, some I knew, others, I didn’t.

I think that was the first time I got a taste of the gym family that had been developed. That night, several gym members sent me messages of encouragement and the trainer reached out to me to say I did well.

My goal was no longer to lose 20 pounds. It was just to make it to the other side of the shred without quitting.

Reluctantly, I went back the next day, and the next, and the next. I started the shred, and slowly but surely, things got easier. Not easy, but there was definite progress with how I was feeling during and after workouts, and I was gaining strength.

Long story short, and eight weeks later, I finished my first Shred and am down about 10 pounds and 28 inches. I am anxiously awaiting my before and after photos.

I certainly didn’t lose the 20 pounds I was hoping for. But I did something better. I finished the program. One that, eight weeks ago, I didn’t think I had a chance of finishing.

I am sure I will write more about this program from time to time. I really think this gym will be the difference between my quitting (again) and reaching my goals. Whatever those may be.

Sweating for the Wedding

It wasn’t all that long ago I didn’t think that anyone would ever be able to look past my weight enough to want to be with me. So I set out to lose it.

60 Pounds later I started to feel more confident with myself, proud of what I had accomplished, and happy. I think that happiness was evident, and not long after, I got together with an amazing man.

He loved me for who I was and didn’t care that I was overweight. I was blissfully happy. And I started putting the weight back on. 50 of the 60 pounds I had lost, to be exact.

A few months ago I realized how much weight I had put back on and started working to take it back off. I am happy to report that my total weight loss is back up to 52 pounds.

A week and a half ago, that amazing guy I mentioned asked me to marry him.

I said yes.

If getting married isn’t a great reason to become healthy and look better than ever, I don’t know what is.

I am blogging again to help keep myself accountable. Hopefully it helps, I am going to need all of the assistance I can get if I don’t want to look like a giant marshmallow walking down the aisle.

Our wedding is September 9 of this year. My goal is to lose an additional 60 pounds before then. That’s 32 weeks. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

 

Inspiration on the go

I am going to keep this short and sweet. I saw this video come up on my Facebook newsfeed and it was nothing short of inspiring.

Watch it.

That is all.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yahoo.com/amphtml/beauty/this-womans-weight-loss-time-lapse-video-is-seriously-inspiring-153334876.html?client=safari#

It’s hard, but it’s worth it. I think?

There are days I look forward all day to going to the gym and working out, there are even days I get up first thing in the morning and go before work. There are days I truly like being there.

Today was not one of those days.

Today I had to drag myself, kicking and screaming, but I went. I particularly dread going to the gym on running days, I still haven’t reached the point in my training that it is fun — at all. But people keep assuring me I will get there. We’ll see.

Thursday I started Week 3, day 1 of the Couch to 5K program, and while I did better than I expected, I wasn’t able to make it through all of the running parts. Today, however, I did! I was pretty pumped. Even though I was dreading going, that feeling made it worth it.

Of course that isn’t making me dread Monday’s run any less.

I think I am starting to get my diet back under control after my slip ups while traveling. That is, and probably always will be, the hardest part.

I wish it were easier to think of the milestones that made me proud of myself before I slip up on the diet. I just need to keep reminding myself that in the long run it will be worth it.

Today’s weigh in had me down 6.2 pounds this week, which I was thrilled about, so overall now I am down 33.2 pounds. I would like to lose another 67 this year, which will me hard, and maybe not possible, but that is my goal.