Operation wear the kid out was a huge success, and I’m still going strong.
I don’t know why, but have had a really time getting motivated for the last couple weeks. I don’t have a gym membership at the moment, but there really hasn’t been much reason (except for a few rainy days) for me not to go on a walk. Yesterday I finally found some motivation and went on a walk/run. I hate having to see the same scenery twice on a walk, so I took off after the clouds cleared and called my parents after about 3.7 miles to have them come pick me up.
Today I really got a workout. Want to lose weight? Chase an almost two-year-old around for a day.
I spent the day today babysitting for a friend. He is a SUPER sweet kid and is very easy to deal with as long as he is having fun. He likes to have fun at about 30 mph — this kept me on my toes for much of the day chasing him around. (It also didn’t leave me with much time to eat, which is an added bonus.
Moore State Park.
In the afternoon we went on a walk in the park. After wrestling with the stroller for about 15 minutes — literally, I had to resort to YouTube on my phone to figure out how to unfold the dang stroller. Not my finest moment, but I won in the end. (My friend told me it was really easy to work, just take it out of the car and unfold it. She lied).
The kid and I walked three times around one of the area parks, which added up to 3.2 miles. Not as far as I would have liked, but I had killer blisters from wearing the wrong shoes yesterday, and walking with the stroller was a little more of a workout than I expected it to be.
After my friend got home, the three of us went up to Moore Park, which is one of my new favorite places in Massachusetts. We went on a short hike to see several waterfalls and it was absolutely beautiful, I can’t wait to go back again for a longer walk next time.
I’m hoping to keep working out for the rest of the week and see the scale go down a couple numbers this Saturday, it seems to be stuck.
I can follow my healthy eating routine no problem until around 8 p.m. Without fail, as soon as the clock strikes eight-ish, the munchies attack. I want to eat everything in sight (and maybe go to the store for more).
Today I found out I’m not the only one with this problem.
Here is the CliffsNotes version of a conversation between me and one of my best friends today. (Note: Names have been changed to protect the munchy.)
Kimmy: Help! David just caught me shoveling three day old pizza into my mouth and I wasn’t even hungry, I was just in the kitchen. Whan can I do about the eight o’clock problem???
Me: Pour dish soap on it! (Learned that from Sex and the City, you know, the one where Miranda makes a cake for herself, throws it out, then proceeds to eat it out of the trash can. Pouring dish soap put an end to that). I wish I knew what to do about it, that’s my biggest problem too!
Kimmy: Let’s brainstorm and then you should blog about it. (Great idea by the way) I’m thinking of learning how to knit. Or perhaps some other craft. Cross stitching? Starting a Pinterest board… “Pinning so I don’t overeat”
Me: Love it!
Kimmy: Clean. Organize — You’re not helping with ideas.
Me: Drink! Paint.
Kimmy: Shock collar.
Me: Those are only for dogs and kids. How bout a rubber band around your wrist?
Kimmy: lol, Kids?
Me: Yeah, I’m going to be a terrible mom.
Kimmy: Juggle. A hobby… jewelry making.
Me: Color in your daughter’s coloring books.
Kimmy: Color, I love it.
So, while Kimmy is off coloring in all of her daughter’s coloring books, I want to ask for all of your help. Do you get the post-dinner munchies? If so, what do you do to beat it?
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.
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!!
First off, good news, my ankle isn’t broken! Just a bad sprain. I have been wearing the brace for two days now and it is slowly starting to feel better. When I take the brace off I can feel my ankle start to wobble, so I am not going to take my chances.
More good news. It was about 85 degrees here today, to celebrate the (temporary) arrival of warm temps, I had to wear capris. Most of my clothes are too big for me now, but I have a couple items that are too small I put on from time to time to measure my progress. One of the items of clothing is a pair of khaki colored capri pants. I put them on today, and they fit! No Denim Dance required.
After I move home and find a job, a trip to the mall is definitely going to be in order. Thank god my mom is a great seamstress, I am hoping she will be able to take in some of the clothes that are too big.
I’ll try to remember to take a picture and post it by the end of the week!
Tomorrow it is back to the gym to spend some quality time with the recumbent bike until my ankle is better and can hit the treadmill again!
I see what you did there Color Run… You made a 5K so much fun, people couldn’t possibly know they were exercising. Bravo.
Looking back on the crowd. There were about this many people in front of us as well.
I work up Saturday morning to a chilly, rainy day outside. I checked the website for the st. Louis Color Run and was excited to see it was still on. There had to have been 20,000 people there to for the race. Despite the huge number of people, it was remarkably well organized (I had to wait in line for about 10 seconds to register and pick up my number ans shirt). I was impressed.
If you’re not familiar with the way the Color Run (a.k.a. the Happiest 5K on the planet) this is how it works. You are given a packet of color (dyed cornstarch) at the beginning of the race to hold on to until you get to the end. You start out wearing as much white as you can. Costumes and tutus are encouraged. As you make your way through the course you come to four color zones where — for about 50 feet — volunteers douse you with colored powder. Yesterday’s colors were blue, yellow, orange and pink. Along the way you can stop, take pictures with signs, play in the color, etc. There is NO rush to finish. There were people in wheelchairs, strollers, even one girl on crutches (someone was following her with a wagon for when she got tired).
One color station down, three to go.
When you get to the end, there is a color party where all the runners get together and throw their packets of color up in the air. If you weren’t colorific before, you will be after this. The color throws go off about once every 10 minutes so everyone has the chance to participate, regardless of how slow or fast you are.
The race was really fun and went by very quickly. I wasn’t tired at all by the end and the rain really didn’t bother us. The rain combined with the color to make everything extra vibrant. I don’t think my white shirt and headband will ever be the same, I am going to try to wash the tutu so I can wear it again, and I have no idea what I am going to do with the shoes! I shouldn’t have stomped in all those puddles!
If you have never done one of these runs before, I really encourage you to try it. I plan on doing another one with my mom and sister in September in Albany, N.Y.
It was a great way to celebrate my 50 pound weight loss (51.1 pounds now).
After I got back from the run yesterday, I had one of my many less than graceful moments and fell down my stairs. In the process, I rolled my ankle, big time. The popping sounds my ankle made almost made me sick. I went to the doctor today and she is sending me for x-rays tomorrow. I hope it gets better soon, because I really don’t want my ankle to hold up my weight loss progress. Hopefully the doctor will at least give me the OK to ride the bike and do weights. Oh well, this too shall pass.
Here are some more pictures from the run Saturday.
I’m confident these clothes will never be the same.After.All done! On to the color party.
Last Friday I took a personal day and spent a fun-filled day in St. Louis with a friend.
The outside of the City Museum.
Our first stop was the City Museum — basically a HUGE warehouse that has been turned into a giant playground/skate park/aquarium for kids of all ages. On the outside of the building there is a web of climbing tubes and tunnels, slides and a giant ball pit. The inside features even more slides, an arts and crafts area, a skate park to run on, an aquarium tunnels to climb through (I’ll get to those later) and stairs. Lots and lots of stairs.
Quick picture before heading out to get lunch.
Like any other kid at heart, I’m a big fan of slides. The City Museum has a 10-story spiral slide I knew I just had to take a ride on. It never dawned on me that — in order to slide DOWN a 10 story slide, first you have to get to the top. I realized it was going to take climbing 10 flights of stairs to get to the top of the slide. In the past I would have just said “forget it, go without me.” Not anymore, up we went.
It was a lot easier than I expected (and than it ever would have been in the past). I stopped once to take a picture (and take a 30 second breather) but other than that we made it to the top no problem. The slide was something else, but I was definitely super dizzy by the time I FINALLY reached the bottom.
The tunnels were something else, You just start walking through and the openings keep getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller until it is difficult to even crawl through. I got really nervous a couple times because I kept having visions of getting stuck in one of the openings and having to call the fire department to get me out. THAT is the kind of thing that would happen to me. Before you laugh and think I am exaggerating, the friend I was with is probably all of a size four and she told me that she got seriously stuck in one of the openings during her last trip there.
If a twig couldn’t make it through, I could have been in serious trouble. I stayed as far away from the smaller caves as I could.
Got bacon? The BLT from Crown Candy
After a couple hours at the museum, we went to Crown Candy for Lunch. The teeny tiny diner is home of one of the best sandwiches in America (according to the Travel Channel). Their signature BLT has about a half pound of delicious bacon sandwiched between two slices of bread with lettuce and tomato. If you’re going to get the signature sandwich, they also recommend one of their world-famous milkshakes (which have been featured on the food channel).
My friend got both the BLT and the milkshake. After searching their menu, I determined there was NOTHING on it that was on my diet. Literally nothing. I tried to pick the healthiest option which ended up being a grilled cheese sandwich and a Diet Coke. My lunch was OK, not anything to write home about, but it got rid of my hunger. My friend’s lunch looked a lot better than mine. I had a sip of her shake and one piece of bacon — I worked off those calories and more on the stairs. I am glad I didn’t get the BLT, as good as it was, my friend (who is a very healthy eater) said she felt like crap later, even though she got rid of half the bacon. I felt fine. 🙂
Next up was the tour of the Budweiser brewery. We opted out of taking the entire tour and only went to see the Clydesdales and the Dalmatians — and of course the tasting room. I wanted to take a dog and horse home with me, but we couldn’t figure out how to get them past security.
Bruce, one of the Budweiser Clydesdales — the most spoiled horses on earth.
Last, we went to the top of the St. Louis Arch. I have always wanted to go to the top, but never had the patience to stand in line. Friday there was no line, yay! You have to get in these tiny little pods to get to the top. Imagine trying to fit five people in a space only slightly bigger than a phone booth, but only 4 feet high, and that’s what it was like. It was a nice view from the top and definitely worth the trip. I would like to go up there when the sun was setting.
All around it was a great day. I can honestly say I did more and had more fun than I would have 50 pounds ago. It’s the small changes I have been noticing that have kept me going. I’m having fun doing all of the things I have wanted to do since I moved to Missouri, only about two weeks left!
Here’s some more pictures from the day.
Me in front of one of the Budweiser wagons.Can we keep one?Looking up at the arch. This thing is huge!We took a few minutes to lay under the arch looking up watching the clouds go by.Overlooking Busch Stadium from the top of the Arch.
When I first started this healthy lifestyle I told people that if they saw my blog posts get less frequent (or stop all together) that I had probably fallen off the wagon and they needed to come drag me out of the nearest McDonalds — ASAP.
I haven’t posted in a couple days and I got texts from two people asking me if I needed a McIntervention (thanks guys). I am happy to report that I am still doing well, I have just been INSANELY busy.
Between working like crazy, hitting the gym and packing to move halfway across the country in two weeks, I have been too busy to blog much. At least I am not slacking off (too much) at the gym.
Counting down till the Color Run Saturday. I’m pretty excited! The more positive stories I read from other bloggers and friends, the more excited I get.
I’ll admit, I am a little disappointed in myself that I am not to the point I wanted to be with my fitness. I wanted to be able to run the whole 5K by Saturday, but several weeks ago, I realize that wasn’t going to be even close to happening. I redid my goal to be to run the first mile of the Color Run. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen either.
I am trying not to get too down on myself. Even though I am not improving as fast as I would like, I am still improving. Look for the positive in life!
Time for a change 