Friday weigh in

Friday! Finally! It's been a long week and it's not looking like I'm going to get much of a weekend off but again, happy to be busy with work!

The week was long - mostly because I couldn't run and boy did I miss it. The good news is that I got some "Super Feet" brand insoles from the running store and did 2 miles this morning PAIN FREE! I was about to go spend the money for the custom orthotics ($335!!!)  but I'm hoping these will work - at least for now during the renovation. I won't run again until Sunday because I promised myself I'd stick to running only every other day at least for a while.

My running route is currently overtaken by the PGA Tour of champions. This morning when I was running super slow (on purpose) I kept thinking what if Phil or Tiger see me running like a grandma?!? Regardless, I'm thrilled to be back and feeling better after only 4 days off.

The lack of running did not help with the scale even though I did yoga twice and my trainer twice.

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
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
Sep 13 - 146 -3
Sep 20 - 146 -0
104 pounds total!

I'm not at all unhappy with a zero this week. I might have had a few too many pop chips but no alcohol (until about 2 hours from now!) In fact, I was just out shopping and I tried on a top that was a small and had to go back out to find and XS. Extra small. ME? Ridiculous. I swore I'd never have an X in my size again but I never considered the X in XS.



Have a great weekend everyone!

Monday mix tape

 

Dear lord what a busy Monday! I'm SO happy to be busy - being busy will pay for the giant renovation that's just begun!

Just in time for Halloween, my house looks haunted! This is what's left of the back deck. Lots of rotted wood and structural issues that could have been prevented with about $15 worth of flashing when it was built. Now the whole back of the house is being re-built BUT we are getting the always dreamed of addition off the kitchen and dining room. Every (big, expensive) cloud has a sliver lining right? I was quite sad to see it go. Many good times have been had on that deck! I know the new one will be bigger and better but that will be the last thing done and it will be quite a while until we get to that point!

Despite having no deck, it was a gorgeous weekend in the ATL.

Saturday I got up at 5am to run the Run in Defense of Animals. It was a small race and I love races where ALL of the money goes to the charity - not just part of the proceeds. I'm spoiled now because it was at a fancy country club and the facilities were so nice!

Nicest pre-race pee ever!

There were tons of dogs there so my friend and I represented the cat population :)

It was a crazy-hilly course but I finished it in 35 minutes.  I work really hard on my mental stamina when it comes to big hills because I know I will face a lot of them on the half marathon!

Sunday things fell apart a bit. I was going to run 9 miles and had a nagging feeling that I shouldn't because I got a warning from my husband and my neighbor that I need to be careful not to over-train. Sure enough, 3 miles in, my heal was burning so I stopped to stretch and it just got worse. I KNEW I had to stop right then and there. I limped back to the car in tears and you know what my first reaction was? I wanted a doughnut. Such ridiculous thinking - oh sure a doughnut will show that plantar fasciitis.... That is proof that I'm not "cured". I will never be. It is, was and will always be hard. Sure I could have had half a Krispy Kreme and it wouldn't have killed me but that's the kind of thinking that made me 250 pounds and I'm too much of a reasonable person to listen to that sh*t :) Instead I went to 90 minutes of Bikram yoga. I saw my instructor and we talked about balance and not overdoing it and how running is hard on the body and I need to keep practicing yoga to even things out. She's totally right and that made me cry a little more. I limped over to my mat and had one of the best classes of my life. I posted about it on Facebook because I want people to know it's not all rainbows and unicorns over here. This is hard and work it's certainly not going to get easier but I'm convinced I can make the right choice 99% of the time. The other 1% really will not kill me.

I'm nursing my foot. It's all I can do. I just got a cortisone shot 3 months ago and it will be a while before I can get another one - if ever! I have a prescription for orthotics and I'm going to KT tape in the meantime but I probably won't run much this week. I can train with my trainer and do yoga which will keep me going but It's only my first day off and I'm already jealous of people running! I know I will be fine if I can just sit still for a minute! :)

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!


  

Friday weigh in!

Happy Friday blog peeps! It's supposed to be a spectacular weekend here in the ATL and I can't wait to finish all this work so that I can go out and enjoy it!

As usual, I have an early race on Saturday so I'm getting up at 5am. This one is 'just' a 5k but I chose it because every penny goes to the Defense of Animals Fund. I'm going to take it easy on that one because I'm going to attempt 9 miles on Sunday. 9 miles isn't on my training plan for another few weeks but I think I'm ready. I've done two 8 milers already and did not die!

On to the 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
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
Sep 13 - 146 -3
104 pounds total!
 
Great week on the scale. I worked out like crazy (as usual!) and ate really well- at home- with no booze :) I've been really busy with work and I think that also helps me from getting snacky. Even though I can only eat little amounts, I can still eat small amounts all day long if I'm not careful. That's where MyFitnessPal comes in so handy (tinaatl if you want to friend me). I can look and see where I am for the day and get a handle on if that hunger is real or in my head. I may have said this before but it's kind of like how I use my heart rate monitor. I can be running and think I'm dying but look down at my heart rate and know that I'm not dying and push through it!

Last night I went out with my besties to see Depeche Mode (one of my 3 favorite bands from the 80s) It was a great show though our $85 seats were so far back but it was my first concert as a normal size person and that was incredible. I got to wear a cute outfit, not sweat (outdoor venue), not spill over to the seat next to me, not dread the walk etc. etc. By the time I got home, I was smiling from ear to ear - not just from Dave Gahan's sexiness, but from the overwhelming gratitude for this second chance I've been given.

I'm so glad I was not one of those girls at the show who still wear pleather and blue hair waaaaaaay too late into their 40s

I'm going to shut up now and get to work. I got these action shots from last Sunday's relay that I love and wanted to share. Imagine that - loving pictures of myself. That's a whole blog post in itself!!

This was about 3 minutes from the finish line. I love the early morning light in the park!

The handoff!

Done and majorly sweaty!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Monday mix tape

Another weekend gone in flash but it was more than fun - it was RIDICULOUS fun!

Saturday was nothing special really - I went to my support group and then shopping! I did find a contender for my high school reunion dress which I will not be showing until the event :) It's SO amazing to be able to try just about anything on and even more amazing when it looks great!

Sunday, I was up at 5:30 for another early race! This one was a relay and I went first - we had a slap bracelet we had to hand off to the next person which I thought was a great way of doing it.

 There were five of us and each leg was about 3.4 miles.  I was filling in for someone that couldn't make it and I was worried about being slow so I ran my little heart out! It was hilly but I was determined I was going to haul ass. After all it was a much shorter distance than I've been doing. I FLEW through the gate to hand of my bracelet to the next runner and I couldn't even believe my pace. 10:30 minute miles. I'm normally at 12:30. So. Freaking. Proud!

I was so honored to be a part of this team. Turns out one of the runners was in my dorm my first year of college (small world) and they are all so sweet and TOTALLY inspiring. I hope to run many more races with them even though I'm so dang short!!! :)

The "Fast and Furious Five!" click to enlarge

When I got home, I was still flying high from such a fun morning that we decided to head out and make it a fun afternoon! For me, nothing says fun like ditching the car and heading out on foot and on train!

 

We headed downtown to check out "Streets Alive" which is something the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition has been doing twice a year. They shut down 4 miles of Peachtree Street (one of the busiest in the city) and opened it to bikers, walkers, skateboarders, dogs, etc. I think this is one of the coolest things our city has ever done. All the shops were open, there was music and all sorts of fitness activities for kids. There also was a bike parade and a station to "pimp your bike" with all sorts of decorations. We were on foot but next time we will try the bikes!

Oh, and you can drink beer in the middle of the road.

 

and eat real fish and chips from a food truck
(2 chips and one bite of fish is all my stomach could handle!)

  

I had quite a few adult beverages along the way - why not when you're on foot and car-less!

 Can you believe this is what my "rear view" looks like these days?!? I knew my yoga butt was lookin' good and this was photographic evidence! :)

 

We finally headed home after 6 miles of walking and I may or may not be a little tipsy at this point.

It's impossible to describe how I felt all day. I was almost in tears I was so happy. I'm a 43 year old toddler starting a brand new life. No kind of food (not even doughnuts or pizza) or amount of food could ever be better that feeling. That is my mantra these days for getting through the tough times when I think I miss the food I used to eat. 

Have a happy, healthy week everyone! I will be back on Friday!

Friday weigh in!

Happy Friday! It's after 5 and I'm just now getting to blogging. I worked, ran 5 miles, worked more, went to my trainers class, went to lunch, worked more and now thinking I'm thinking of stopping and declaring it a sushi night.

I have another race on Sunday - this time it's a relay. I'm filling in for someone (who I'm hoping wasn't a super fast person!)  and I will do the first 3.6 mile leg. Should be easy but I'll be running at my fastest since I'm part of a team! I just can't believe I'm good enough at running to even be asked!

Okay now for the 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
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
101 pounds total!

I barely managed a pound this week but that's going to happen more and more as I get closer to my goal weight. I guess the next big goal would be 125 - my goal weight and also "normal" on the BMI scale. The scale is losing importance in this journey - it's my running milestones that really matter to me right now. Worlds nicest ex-boyfriend sent me an email and said "Kind of an awesome thing when you realize you're still capable of surprising yourself." 

So. Freaking. True!

Monday mix tape - Tuesday edition

Just a quick one this Tuesday that feels like a Monday!

It was a great weekend though I probably ate and drank a bit much! Saturday morning I got a late start and ran 7 hot miles. I almost stopped a few times but kept at it knowing I will probably feel like that a few times on the half marathon. Some lady stopped me and told me I should have a drink of water. I held up my water bottle and just kept running. I hate when strangers tell me what I need though she probably meant well. I was the sweatiest girl at the park no doubt.

Sunday I rested and had NO alcohol!

Monday, I got up at 5:30 and I did this!

 

This was super fast for me! It was a GREAT race but it was POURING rain. Just as we took off, the first drops fell (which is probably a good thing since I might have stayed in bed if it had been raining when I woke up). I still had a blast and was only bothered by the rain a few times. Luckily my feet weren't wet until about the 4th mile but I would have liked to take my shirt off - we're not ready for sports bra running yet...if ever! I will happily submit this time for the Peachtree next year and get a much better start time! So proud!!

--------------------

First phase of operation renovation is going on today. This used to be a window in my husband's office and now it's a door! I wanted really awesome modern steel doors that opened up the whole back of the house - then I found out that just the doors are $20,000 so we're going with normal people doors (at least I got the blinds inside the glass kind!). We had to start with this one since the other side of the house is getting torn down and this will be our (and the dogs) only access to the back yard for quite a while. Oh and the deck will be gone too which is a shame since we have a nice new door that opens up on to it :)

 

Sorry for the short mix tape today but I might not even make it to yoga for the amount of work I still have to do!

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!

Friday Weigh In - 7 month update and a HUGE milestone

Happy holiday Friday everyone! I knew that going out to a meeting at 11am on a holiday Friday was a bad idea! There was a car fire that shut down the interstate (of course) and it meant making it no where near my noon class with my trainer.  I was SO stressed out about it but once I decided not drive Dukes of Hazzard style to try to get there on time, I calmed down a little bit. Luckily I already planned on yoga this evening and that will be enough. Whew. What a day already!

Now for the good news. I have lost ONE HUNDRED POUNDS!!!!! I can hardly believe it happened so fast. I feel ridiculously awesome.

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
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
100 pounds total!

Inches for August
Waist: - 2"
Chest: - .5"
Hips: - 1.75"
Thigh:  R - 0"
Arm: R - 0"
Calf: R - 0"
4.25" for this month

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

 Last time I lost 100 pounds, it stopped there. I just gained it all back starting the day of my 100 pound party. That's not going to happen this time. I know what I need to do and I'm just going to keep doing it. I'm lucky to have had my surgery as a tool - I still fill up on 3 ounces of food and I couldn't be happier about it!

People have started asking me how much more I want to lose. My goal on paper with the surgeons office is 125. My surgeon said not to be surprised if I get lower than that. My frame is so much smaller than any of us could have imagined so it will be interesting to see what my body decides to do!

I'm looking forward to running over the weekend - I have a long run planned for Saturday then Monday I have a 10k! I love races on holidays - you get it done early in the morning then you feel righteous all day and can enjoy a few treats. This is a qualifying race for the Peachtree next year so I'm hoping to get a great time to submit which equals an earlier start time for 4th of July. I'm even more excited to be so excited about my running plans!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Monday mix tape

 

Another great weekend gone by quickly! Now that I love my job, it's not so bad when Monday comes around anymore!

Saturday started with a little trepidation - I had made up my mind I was going to do 8 miles and I was going to stick to that regardless of the red wine I drank the night before. I was a little nervous about it because I was leaving the comfort of my neighborhood to run the new Atlanta Beltline which will eventually circle the city. Right now they have a 2 mile part of it paved that's absolutely gorgeous! I just couldn't face 8 miles running in circles in my neighborhood. Time to break out of my comfort zone! 

I got there about 8:15am just as it was starting to get a bit crowded but I enjoyed it so much, I just stayed on it instead of running the park like I had planned. One hour and forty minutes later:

 

I earned 4 badges on my Nike + running app. I love breaking my own records! The fact that I can do this is still unbelievable to me. I wonder if that's ever going to go away? I do feel like my running anxiety has calmed down a lot - it was mostly panicky feelings of "I can't do this" and now that I really know I can, I can talk myself out of that pretty quick.

If running 8 miles doesn't make me a badass, a few hours later I put together an Ikea dresser by myself in under 2 hours. Oh, and then we went to see our local soccer team play. Quite the full day!

Sunday was a GORGEOUS day and I treated myself to my absolute favorite brunch spot with my girls. That's a Manmosa I'm drinking. OJ, champagne and mandarin vodka. In case you are wondering, I log that drink at 300 calories which makes it an occasional treat.

shout out to Anna!

The afternoon was spent beginning the next and hugely important chapter of my life. 

My first renovation. 

What started as a simple siding project has turned into structural issues and has now evolved into an 8' x 18' addition to my kitchen and dining room. It's a huge job but I trust my brother-in-law contractor and he is kind enough to do it in stages so we don't have to pay for it all at once. It's going to be long and it's going to be expensive and I've just made up my my mind that I'm going to suck it up and make the most of the mess while I work my butt off to pay for it. It will be worth it in the end. I'm hoping it's not more than a year.

Today I woke up tired after not sleeping much - too much thinking about the tens of thousands of dollars I need to make while the back of my house is being ripped off! The weather was absolutely gorgeous - crisp and cool and almost like fall! I knew it was going to be a great morning for a run. I set out to do a 5k and because my body and weather were all cooperating, I kept going and did 5 miles. My quads and calves are pretty tight but I think I can build up to that being my "regular run" distance. I burn about 500 calories doing that distance (for now anyway!) which is my daily goal. I didn't realize how much harder it would be to burn calories now that I'm in better shape!

Time to get back to work and pay for all this craziness. I'll be back on Friday for the weigh in -  7 MONTH UPDATE with pictures!

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!

Friday weigh in!

Happy Friday!! Well I'm (mostly) back to my normal routine - jet lag made me a little nutty early in the week and my eating schedule was WAY off. I felt hungry all week but today that seems to have gone away! I ate a lot of fish this week and protein really helps me stay satisfied.

I've already run 11 miles this week and planning my first 8 miler tomorrow. I've got 14 weeks until the half marathon and that puts me well ahead of the training program. My plan is to do enough training to really be able to enjoy the race and not suffer through it :)

I worked hard for my loss this week. My arms were were so sore from training with Karen that I had a hard time running when I first set out this morning! I even took a day off yesterday which is rare for me! So let's get to the numbers

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
Aug 23 - 154 -3
96 pounds total!

4 more pounds until 100! I'm secretly hoping that happens by next weigh in but I'm not going to go crazy. As some of you know, I lost 100 pounds once before and this time I know for certain I will never gain it back. More on that when we get to it :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Monday mix tape - Edinburgh edition!

 

Hey y'all I'm back in America after a fantastic trip! I took a ton of pictures so I'm just going to share those instead of blah blah blah-ing about it!

The Edinburgh festival and the Fringe were in full swing. The worlds largest arts festival lived up to its name for sure! We got to see a few shows and lots of interesting street performances!

In the middle of it all

show flyers everywhere

I drank A LOT of beer. 

Husband whole pint and my half pint

And I ate A LOT of food

Curry!!!!!

Fish and Chips!!!

Prawns in North Berwick that were swimming just hours before eating

Sticky Toffee Pudding. I have never had this before and I have no idea why. Absolutely divine!

I ran almost every day along the beautiful sea front. These were the best runs I've ever had. Nothing like the North Sea air in your lungs!

My daily route with complete with lots of dogs!

Time for a new shirt. I look like I'm wearing my dads!

More daily running views

I made a new best friend who is the biggest cat I've ever met!

 Saw some Football

Big rivalry game and it was not a good result!

We thoroughly enjoyed the unusually GORGEOUS weather

Gorgeous views always

The bridge in Musselburgh

Princes Street Gardens

Happy Tait's on the bus!

So that's about it! I'm tired and happy to be home but sad to leave at the same time. I've never enjoyed that city as much as I did this trip. People joke about it being designed by M.C. Escher - up hill no matter which way you go - and it's true. Some of the stairs are so tall that they don't even look real. Last time we were there I almost had a heart attack (seriously). This time, I ran every stair in that city, flew up the hills without ever being out of breath and most of all, felt freedom to do ANYTHING.

As I was curled up in my plane seat on the way home I couldn't believe there was ever a time I was on the verge of not fitting in it. There was no panic when the food came and I had to put my tray table down or when it was time to go get up and go to the bathroom. People who have never been fat have NO IDEA how hard it is on a plane. I will never ever have to worry about it again and that makes me so happy I could cry.
 
I did lose a pound while I was away but brought back some sugar cravings. A few days away from drinking and replacing fish and chips with healthy food will help!  I will weigh in again on Friday - we're coming up on the 100 pounds lost mark which I hope to hit in the next couple of weeks. I ran an hour this morning which turned out to be 4.56 miles - I think that's a great start considering I can barely keep my eyes open! :)

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!