Friday weigh in

Happy Friday! I'm so happy this day is finally here because we're off to Scotland for a week! (disclaimer: if you plan to rob my house you'll have to get past about 150 pounds of ghetto street dog and my ninja street fighter dog sitter so just don't do it! Not worth it.)

My husband goes to visit his family once a year or so but I haven't been in 5 years and I'm really looking forward to being almost 100 pounds thinner than I was last time. My clothes take up so much less room in my suitcase and gone is the anxiety about cramming myself on the plane. THAT is freedom people.

Depending on our WiFi situation, I may be able to squeeze in a blog post but don't be disappointed if you don't hear from me :) I won't be able to do my weigh in either but will catch up when I'm back. For now, here is this weeks weigh in!

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
Aug 9  - 157 -1
93 pounds total!


Crawling along again in the weight loss department but it truly doesn't affect me anymore. I've stopped obsessing which I never thought was possible. Again, freedom! I will be looking forward to hitting my hundred pound mark - AFTER the trip :)

Have a great weekend everyone. I look forward to catching up when I get back!

Monday mix tape

 
Another weekend gone by in a blur! 

Friday I had a friend in town and cooked a big dinner for my peeps (seafood paella!) I love cooking for people and it's so much easier to pay attention to what I'm eating when I control what's in it. 

making guacamole!
I also became an official Atlanta Track Club member!  I never thought I would be a member of such a thing but by now I finally feel like a "real runner"!


Imagine my surprise when I checked Facebook and saw this! Y'all know how much I love lululemon and now I feel even better about spending all my money there. I just had to go buy size 8s. I guess it's a good problem to have but shrinking out of expensive pants hurts :)


Saturday, even though I partied a bit late on Friday, I got up and did this!



Never in a million bazillion years would I have thought I could do this without feeling like I was going to die but I enjoyed every minute of it! I only stopped once to cross at a crosswalk and once to fill my bottle at a water fountain. I was unstoppable. I'm going to gradually increase my Saturday long runs and weekday runs (mostly) following the official training schedule I have for the half. Right now I'm really feeling like I can do 13 miles and possibly even enjoy it! :)

Sunday my quads were super sore despite all the stretching so I took the day off even though I really wanted to go to yoga. I just couldn't face 90 minutes of shaking legs. Sometimes you just have to stop for a day to recover. It's hard for me not to put any exercise in My Fitness Pal!! (I'm ridiculously accountable to that thing!)

So that's it! Have a happy, healthy week everyone!!

Friday weigh in - six month update!

It's taken all day to be able to sit for a second and write this post so it's going to be brief.

Here are the stats for July:
Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
92 pounds total!


Starting BMI = 48
One month post surgery BMI = 42.6!! - 5.4
Two month post surgery BMI= 40.6 -2.0
Three month post surgery BMI= 38.3 -2.3
Four month post surgery BMI= 35.9 -2.4
Five month post surgery BMI= 33.2 -2.7 
Six month post surgery BMI= 30.9 -2.3

Inches for July
Waist: - .5"
Chest: - 2.25"
Hips: - .1.5"
Thigh:  R - 1"
Arm: R - .5"
Calf: R - 3.25"
9" for this month
52 total inches!


So all in all a super successful month! I'm amazed at the difference almost every day. I have shoulders and knees and hip bones and all kinds of good things. I can cross my legs. I can do every yoga pose. A 5k is an easy run. I'm not thrilled with how my skin is looking on my arms and my stomach but I knew that was going to be an issues and I will wait and see and hope it catches up a bit.

I have a lot more to say but I'm pressed for time tonight so I will save it for the Monday mix tape.

Monday mix tape - I can't believe it's Tuesday alread edition


I cant believe I didn't do my Monday mix tape yesterday. It was 9:30 by the time I go home from a busy day then my support group and I just didn't have it in me!

I'm back from Florida and happy to be home! I miss my pool that I had there but I don't miss the heat. The weather here is so nice right now - almost cool in the morning - so I got back to running my hills in my 'hood right away on Monday. It was one of the best runs I've ever had and if it weren't for the fact that I had work to do, I would have kept going. I never ever ever ever thought I'd get to the point where a 5k isn't enough of a work out but I have. My calorie burn is down to 350 for that run where it used to be 500. It's guess it's not as much of a burn now that I don't carry around an extra 90 pounds :)

My heel pain in my left foot came back suddenly after being cured for almost 2 years so I called my foot doctor right away and got in for this morning. I knew I was going to be getting a shot and I was not happy but I didn't want it to interfere with my running so I put on my big girl pants and went. I thought it was funny that the doctor said "When people ask for a shot in the Plantar Fascia I know they are serious because this is the most painful shot we give in orthopedics." barf. I just laid down, did my yoga breathing and bit down on my sleeve. The cortisone takes FORever to go in but then it's almost instantly feeling better.

Headed back to yoga tonight and the rest of the week will be preparing for my longest run ever - I'm going to try for 7 miles on Saturday. If the weather stays this nice it should be totally doable and maybe even fun!

I know you all are sick of all the media blitz but here's another article that came out while I was away. http://bit.ly/152fqGc
This was for a neighborhood newspaper. I love the picture!

6 month update post with pictures and measurements coming on Friday!

Have a happy healthy week everyone!

Friday weigh in

Hey all! Still in Florida so my 6 month update post will be moved to next Friday.

I'm excited to get back - my friends miss me (and my guacamole obviously) I miss them too!!




Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
91 pounds total!

I have shrunk out of my bathing suit I bought for this trip. That's a first!

I will admit I have had some food anxiety while I've been here. Yesterday I was out shopping late afternoon and when I got a little dizzy and realized I needed to eat! (time flies when you're bra shopping. Not!) Right then I would have loved to be able to just grab whatever I wanted to eat - Five Guys, pizza, Chinese food or any of the other millions of delicious things I was surrounded by. I think (ha, who am I kidding I KNOW) that if I still had the option I would have gone crazy and consumed 1,000 calories in one sitting.

Instead I sat in my car and looked up nutrition info for Pei Wei (PF Changs fast casual place) looking first at what I wanted (Orange Peel Chicken 800 calories!?!?!) and settled on the healthiest thing (Ginger Broccoli Chicken 240 calories). I took it home, ate a quarter of it (without rice!) and it was awesome. I'm so thankful to have had this surgery to keep me in control. My body has this down. My brain, not so much. Maybe it won't always be a fight - maybe it will but I now have what I need to win the battle.

You know what else really helps? All this running! I haven't stopped my half marathon training even though the humidity here is off the charts. I have to be careful as my heart rate is up about 10 bpm just from the heat and even though there are no hills, it gets to my max quickly and I have to slow down a little. Luckily I've had some great views

The only hill in this town is the bridge out to the beach. I did 5 miles at 9:00 a.m....sooooooooohot.

View this morning out in the country - I ran 3.2 miles at sunrise and it helped kinda....

I went to hot yoga once while I was here. I thought I would go more often but being indoors in Florida is just a shame really! It was an okay studio (makes me love mine more) but I loved the teacher and the class was good and hot and really challenging. The room was full of Florida "cougars" - makeup and midriffs. Hilarious! At one point I was one of 2 people still standing making me feel like quite the bad ass :)

I'm coming back to the ATL on Sunday. Thursday I meet with the surgeon for my 6 month follow up. I'm sure he will be thrilled that I'm 34 pounds away from my goal (maybe even closer by then!)

 Have a great weekend everyone!


Monday mix tape - Florida edition

 
Hello from sunny Sarasota! I love this place so much but I do miss my husband, my dogs and my best friends/neighbors.

Apologies for no weigh in on Friday but I didn't have a scale!!! I totally forgot about that until I got here. I went and bought a cheap one and was happy to check in after a weekend of drinking.

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
85 pounds total!

I have been running like a mad woman here on the flat roads. SO NICE!! I feel like I could just keep going and going. I did make myself go and walk the big bridge with a friend which is the only hill in town. Tonight I'm trying the hot yoga studio here so all is pretty normal on the exercise front.

I'm finding it a lot harder than I thought to control my food outside of my normal environment plus everyone wants to hang out and it's easy to party too much! I've still logged everything in My Fitness Pal and am sticking to mostly seafood. I did treat myself to a rum runner which was sugar overload but worth it. It's about 2 miles of running for one of those which is why I'm only doing that once.

It was interesting when I went to my favorite seafood place -  I was a little disappointed to only eat 2 oysters and about 1/3 of my meal of grilled lobster, shrimp and scallops. My mouth wanted more but my stomach said no. I really missed being able to eat it all plus dessert plus drinks. Then I saw this enormous family waddle out after eating pounds of fried food and I didn't miss it at all. Instead I got on the boat in my tankini and enjoyed that instead.

I'm currently reading my blog from the beginning in preparation for the writing of the book. It's hard to face those older posts but oh so therapeutic at the same time. This is my view as I read and write. Not bad eh?


Finally, today I saw my reflection in the glass doors while wearing my bathing suit. I freaked out for a second because I thought it was someone else. LOVE THAT!!

Have a great week everyone. I will weigh in again this Friday - hopefully I can stay away from the tropical drinks!!

Monday mix tape - short and sweet

 


Another great weekend - still raining though! Yesterday I thought it was hilarious that everyone in the neighborhood is so over the rain that they just started ignoring it and kept sitting outside at bars or walking or running or whatever it is we normally do on a sunny day. I did a lot of yoga and a lot of running!

I'm off to Florida for 2 weeks to dog/house sit with the intention of having some time to write a book based on this here blog. I have no idea how it will go or if anyone but me will ever read it but I think it will be therapeutic regardless. I'm working and working out while I'm there and have no intention of straying from my normal routine - well except for the fact that I will have my own pool :)

Have a happy, healthy week everyone. See you back here on Friday from (hopefully sunny) Florida!


Friday weigh in

Happy Friday!

Not much excitement to report on the weight loss front this week - it's my second zero loss week but I have a feeling that's going to start happening more and more as I get closer to my goal.

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
83 pounds total!
  
I will just keep looking at my photos I just got back from MarathonFoto. This makes me happy! 


 
 have a great weekend!!

Monday mix tape

 

I almost forgot to blog today - I STILL have my days mixed up because of the holiday! Speaking of the holiday, I will admit that it was difficult not to extend my 4th of July celebrations beyond the 4th. There were food and drinks around every corner. I said no to a few things and was happy with myself for noticing the danger signs.

Friday was my day off after the race but I was right back to a treadmill 5k on a rainy Saturday (rain was the theme of the whole 4th of July weekend). Sunday I skipped Wimbledon brunch to go to 90 minutes of Bikram. These are the choices that I will ALWAYS be faced with and I'm just trying to keep a good balance that will work for me for a lifetime. Ha! Aren't we all?!? 

I'm now officially training for the Thanksgiving Day half marathon here in Atlanta. I wanted to to do Savannah for it's flatness but I have my high school reunion the week before and that's just not going to work. I also feel pretty strongly that my first half should be in my own city - hills and all! I'm ready for a new goal to crush!

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!