Massachusetts is welcoming me back with B-E-A-utiful beach weather. Unfortunately, I don’t live near the beach.
Sitting in my living room looking out the huge picture window, I decided it was too gorgeous of a day to spend inside, so I went for a walk.
It was one of my slowest walks yet, but it is 90 degrees (real feel = 95 degrees). Plus, my parents live in a very, very hilly neighborhood, so none of the walk was flat.
I’m heading out again on another walk when my mom gets home. It’s nice to have time to exercise again. I have to get back at it since I only lost 5 pounds last month.
I’m supposed to take my progress pictures later today, but I doubt there is going to be a difference at all. Oh well, I just have to work harder in June.
The last month has been such a crazy whirlwind, working out and eating right has pretty much been the last thing on my mind. The last week or so has been especially bad because I was on vacation in New York to watch one of my best friends get married.
Before this weekend’s wedding.
With all the excitement behind me, I stepped on the scales this morning terrified to see what the lack of exercise and terrible eating choices (not to mention all the empty calories in countless Miller Lite’s and more shots than I can count) had done to my progress so far. Thankfully, I only gained about 1.5 pounds — I deserved to gain about five times that, trust me.
Back to the grind tomorrow, I have a long walk with lots of hills scheduled in addition to some strength training.
On the way out to New York, I stopped at my college alma mater to get a workout in. I met with the women’s soccer coach (who was also one of my mentors during my time at the college) she taught me lots of new exercises and squats that will help me concentrate on strengthening my core. If they are as effective as they are painful, I’ll be in phenomenal shape in no time! Thanks coach!
At a wedding in June 2012, 55 pounds heavier.
I had a great time hanging out with my friends in New York. This is the first time any of them had seen me since I was 55 pounds heavier. A lot more people than I expected noticed my weight loss, while there were a few who knew there was something different about me, but thought I had changed my hair. It was great to have so many people notice, not to mention very encouraging. I hope to lose at least another 30 pounds by the time I go back out there at the end of August.
I met up with a friend out there who has been on her own weight loss journey, she has lost 40 pounds since the beginning of the year and looks great. She gave me three garbage bags full of clothes that were too big for her, but fit me perfectly. That will definitely help get me through until I can go shopping again. Seeing as I am down 6-8 sizes since the beginning of the year, I am starting to run low on clothes that fit me well… and it feels great.
Now that life has slowed down a bit, I promise to be better about posting!
Officially done with chemo 🙂
P.S. I want to extend a HUGE congratulations to my friend Jen who has been kicking cancer’s ass all year.
She finished her final chemotherapy treatment today after being diagnosed with breast cancer in January. She is such a strong woman, not to mention an inspiration and a life saver. By being brave enough to tell her story, she helped at least one woman catch her own breast cancer very early.
My fabulous mom and me on the drive to Massachusetts, somewhere in the hills of West Virginia.
It’s been a while since I last posted, so I have a lot to catch up on. Since my last entry, my mom and I have packed and cleaned my entire house, shipped my stuff back home and drove nearly 1,400 miles across country. Finally, about a week and a half later, I am all settled in.
My weight-loss goal during all this chaos was to not gain any weight. I didn’t think losing any weight would be reasonable since we were eating out every meal for the better part of the week, and we would be sitting in the car pretty much all day. Not only did I not gain weight, I managed to lose 3.5 more pounds, bringing my total for the year to 54.6 pounds 🙂
Walking along the Louisville Riverwalk in Kentucky.
Driving across country, I tried to get a little bit of exercise in every day. Several times, we drove a bit out of the way to find somewhere for me to at least take a walk. My favorite of the stops was the Louisville, Ky., Riverwalk. I really was NOT in the mood to work out that day, but was so glad I did it afterward. I walked/jogged about two miles, running up and down every staircase I met along the way — twice.
Now that I am back in Massachusetts, I am trying to find a gym, but they are SO expensive and they lock you into a 12 month contract. I am concerned that once I sign up for one, I will find a job, move, and be too far from the gym to be able to go and get stuck paying for it anyway.
One of the gyms told me that it is the law that if you move more than 25 miles away, they have to let you out of the contract. That’s great, but around here, 25 miles can EASILY take more than an hour to drive because of the traffic. Not gonna lie, it is pretty aggravating. Right now I have signed up for a week trial, I am just going to use that for now and keep looking around.
Duke was a wonderful traveling companion during the drive. He got to pee in nine states in four days.
The countdown has begun. Today was my last day at work and the movers come in the middle of next week to move me from Missouri back home to Massachusetts. Yay!
I haven’t been good this week at all. I haven’t been really bad, but I haven’t made it to the gym — at all. Hopefully I am burning enough calories moving boxes and packing that my body at least thinks it is lifting weights!
My meal choices have been lass than great as well. I am trying not go to the grocery store again before I leave, instead I am trying to eat the food I already have in the house. The only problem is that most of the food not really on my diet. In addition to that, my lovely coworkers organized a delicious potluck lunch for my going away party. Being the guest of honor, I didn’t think it was right to not eat, even though I don’t think any of the dishes were on my diet.
I felt SO sick after this plate of food. No seconds for me, thankyouverymuch. Part of the reason I think this try at losing weigh is because it isn’t super strict. If I want to cheat and eat something that it high in calories, I do — I just remember for the rest of the day I need to either work it off or cut waaay back on the rest of my meals. I had an apple for dinner last night to make up for it, and it was plenty.
Today, my official last say, my diet sabotoging well meaning co workers brought in a goodbye cake.
I used to LOVE this kind of cake, with the buttercream frosting, but it was so sweet, I couldn’t eat my whole piece.
I am about to go through my closet one last time, getting rid of any clothes that don’t fit or that I don’t want any more so I don’t have to move them again. These jeans are on the chopping block.
I was running a little bit early for an appointment today and found myself over by JCPenney. Even though I had no intention of buying anything, I went in to look around and try on some clothed (It is more fun now than it was at the beginning of the year — I can’t wait to see how fun it is when I am a hundred pounds down.
I am not used to being able to walk in a department store and find clothes that fit me. That wasn’t the case today though. I tried a couple cute outfits on, but walked out empty handed.
I have a couple hours of cleaning and packing to do tomorrow before heading in to St. Louis to pick my wonderful mom up from the airport. She is flying in to help me pack, then she is going to make the drive with me and my dog. It should be a fun trip, but first I have to do something about the disaster I call a house…
Here’s the newest batch of progress photos, down 51.1 pounds since mid-January. Still a LONG way to go, but I am happy with how far I have come. Below are the “starter photos” I took at the beginning of March — I wish I took pictures when I first started this!!
Time for a change 