Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Bridesmaid dress hell, recommitment, 24 weeks down!

I'm now determined to get my butt in gear!  I went with a few girlfriends to pick out bridesmaids dresses for a good friends wedding in November.  I hate bridal sizing!  I was a size 20.  So depressing!  We're not ordering the dresses until June, so I'm hoping to get down at least another 2 sizes before then.  They say they can take in a dress 2 sizes....   If I order the dress that fits me, it might be a sack when the wedding rolls around.  If I order a couple sizes smaller (which the store won't do) I run the risk of it still being too small come september.  Ugh.  Well, time will tell how things are going to go next fall!  Oh the joys of steady weight loss :/

Weigh-in was yesterday and I was up 0.8 lbs.  I'm thinking I was up because I had a big work out, big smoothie, lots of water, lunch, right after, about 2 hours before WI, but I wasn't as good this week as I wanted to be.  Next week I'll be doing the same thing after the gym so I should have a good weight loss, hopefully.

My best friends wedding is this weekend, then DH's birthday.  I'm determined to fall back into my routine from a couple of months ago when I was losing 1.5-2 lbs per week.  I know I can do it again.  The past couple of months I've let myself have a little more junk, not tracking if I'm eating out, you know how it goes.  One week good, the next a write off.

So as of this week I'm recommitting to weight watchers.  I know it works.  When I put in the effort it works, when I don't, it doesn't.  My goal for April is to lose more than 1.4 lbs each week.  I'll keep ya posted!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Worth it! 23 weeks down!

I have to post this for a few family members/friends who need some inspiration.  I'm not letting go guys :)  You can do it, you just need to find the courage to get started!  I'll be there every second, I promise!


I'm ten pounds from half way there, I'm ten pounds from One-derland, I'm 40 pounds smaller than I was 6 months ago.  Just imagine, if you start now and lose a modest 1 pound a week, in 6 months you'll be 25 lbs lighter.  By New years you'll be down 40 lbs!  By next summer, you'll be down 65 lbs!  Imagine where you could be if you started right now.  If I can do it, you can do it!

According to my home scale today I hit a couple of milestones!  I'm down 40.6 lbs and I'm 210!  I haven't been 210 since my husband and I started dating!  Woo hoo!  This is also pre-baby weight!  Pre baby number 1 weight!

At weigh-in tonight I was down 1.4 lbs for an "official" total of 39.2 lbs lost!  You know that the real number I count by is my home scale though :)  A lot of my milestones are based on that scale, and morning weights with no variables, that's more official to me :).

I've been really lax with my tracking lately.  I get a ton of activity points in a week so I've been a little complacent, I'm not going to go anywhere near using all of them, so why bother.  I've decided to track everything, make sure I'm following the good health guidelines, drink my water, eat protein after working out etc...and see what happens...  I'll let you know how it goes!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Wracking up the NSV's!


Non scale victories!

We've been walking everyday in this glorious weather and as I was out for a walk with my hubby yesterday I realized how effortlessly I walked up to the dollar store.

It was an easy quick walk where as last year I actually made my hubby walk back home from the mall (an even shorter walk away) to get the car to pick me up instead of walking home!  The dollarstore is only a couple kilometres away from our place, but last year It was an unimaginable distance!

We were there before I realized it!  I wasn't huffing and puffing to keep up with my hubby's long legs, I used to tick off milestones in my head as I walked (only3 more turns, huff, puff).  We walked back home and I was genuinely disappointed we had to stop walking because Tom had to work.

On top of that, I opened the rubbermaid of "too small for last year" summer clothes.  Capri's I couldn't even pull up over my hips were loose!  I'm happy the weather is nice because I have a whole new wardrobe right now and can wear all of it before it gets too small!

It came at the right time too, I literally have one pair of pants that fit in my entire collection :)

My trainer yesterday gave me a huge compliment too, he said my determination is incredible!  He knows how I fell down the stairs 3 years ago and what physical limitations I have from it still.  He said, the difference between you and someone else battling chronic injury is that you're here.  Working your ass off to get healthy and do something about it.  Instead of sitting at home feeling sorry for yourself.

I really feel like I'm getting somewhere now, despite the scale rising (just trying to ignore that) :)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Busy week! 22 weeks down!

Well I gained 0.6 lbs this week.  Not a big surprise.

I've been good, but I did go away this weekend with my sister to a silent retreat that is known for the glorious food!  I also started weight training last week and that'll add a little increase too, so I'm not stressing.

The silent retreat was at Manresa Jesuit Centre in Pickering.  I've been maybe 4 or 5 times but this was the first time going as a parent and leaving my kiddies!  I didn't know what to do with myself!  I missed sharing a bed with my husband, missed morning cuddles with Zaryah.  I made it through though :)   The whole point of a silent retreat is to not talk and spend the time in silence with only your thoughts and no one else's noise.  We were allowed to talk outside though if we needed to.

I went on a few good walks on the 21 acres there and earned enough activity points to not feel guilty about the 2 snickers bars I ate (I haven't had one since before Zaryah was diagnosed with a peanut allergy) and the 3 pieces of bacon I had on sunday morning with breakfast!  The food was pretty good!  Mostly low fat dishes, lots of fresh salad and veggies, the food was healthy and I didn't feel deprived of the rich food I thought I was going to have to contend with!  I did have bigger portions though, and didn't track, but I planned for that. This was MY weekend.  Time by myself, to recharge, contemplate, plan, feel renewed, realize I'm lucky to have the family that I do and to reflect on how healthy I am now compared to last summer!  On Sunday morning I went for a walk after breakfast while mary had a nap (also a common occurrence on retreat!).  I can back, went to see what she was up to and we went out for another walk!  Last year I didn't have the stamina for 10 minutes!  I walked for over an hour and was ready to go again!  Amazing!

I'm really starting to notice the differences in myself with losing almost 40 lbs.  I've lost 15% of my body weight now!  There are just in the past week!

I wrote down many nsv's of losing weight that I've noticed recently and

I've also updated my goals page with my skinny girl bucket list :)






Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Meeting my maker. 21 weeks down!


Weigh-in day today!  I'll get to that, but first I want to tell you about my first visit with my trainer.

Jesus is no older than 25 I'm sure!  He's fairly new to the gym but he seems to know his stuff.  He listened when I told him about my limitations.  I like his way of doing things.  He had me doing exercises one right after the other.  To keep my heart rate up.  He likes to combine cardio with weights to make more of the workout.  That's awesome because I don't like/can't do most conventional forms of cardio!

Exercise bike fast x 5 mins
walking lunges x 15
then something that resembled a nazi goose step
then goose steps while kicking my legs out
squats x 20
side toss with a medicine ball x 15
30s break
more side tosses
squat thrusters
lateral raises
more squat thrusters
more lateral raises
chest presses while balancing my back on an exercise ball
deadlifts
more chest presses
2 minutes on a rowing machine at full speed
more deadlifts
wood chops
spartans pull
more wood chops
more spartans pull
then another 3 minutes rowing

I'm stronger than I look though, he'd give me weights and I'd breeze through it so he'd up it, just about every time!  I think I surprised him too.  He kept saying "wow you're strong!"

One thing I think I'm going to love, his focus is boxing and he asked if I was interested in doing that for cardio.  I just about leapt!  I haven't been able to continue with kickboxing because of my ankle and I've missed it!

He said next session (Thursday) will be completely different.

Well I like it so far!

Weigh-in day!

I'm down 3.4 lbs!!!  I knew it was going to be good!  This makes for a total of 38.4 lbs!!!

I'm so doing this weight loss thing aren't I?  Sweet!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Dr's appointment

I went back to my Dr. today as my Physio told me.

I fell down the stairs and did the splits when I was 8 months pregnant with my oldest daughter 3 years ago.  I tore a bunch of muscles in my pelvic floor, threw my pelvis out of alignment and cracked it.  I also seriously hurt my ankle.  I had my daughter 2 days later and nearly lost her due to placental abruption.  Thankfully she's absolutely fine!  I fared not so well...  I spent the better part of the part of the last 3 years feeling sorry for myself, nearly didn't survive the pain of my second pregnancy, and I haven't been able to do much because of the bum ankle.  2 rounds of physio and one Specialist I had no answers, still a bum foot.

The doctor was I guess expecting me to come back.  "Well I thought I'd see what physio could do before sending you out again".

She's sending me for another MRI and more x-rays of my bum ankle.  She's also referring me to a fot and ankle specialist.  She said this doctor had fixed her sister-in-law's ankle after years of instability.  So here's hoping he can fix me!!!  I'm about to sign the consent forms for an amputation (if someone would give them to me!).

Well more waiting... Man things move slow in Ontario.  It'll be months before I get an MRI and more months before I see the surgeon.  The ball is now rolling though so that's all I care about.

On a good note, with many thanks to a certain Grandma for financial support, Tom and I are both able to go on with our gym plans!!!  He's been going to Baofit bootcamps and will be starting Muai tai training this week!  I start with a personal trainer twice a week starting tomorrow!!!  His name is Jesus (Hey Zeus) and I'm excited to meet him!  I'm looking forward to doing something physical and watching my body changing as a result.  I'm super excited to do this without hurting myself again!  I have a list of don'ts from my physio, but with the help of the trainer I should still be successful!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Progress pics and measurements

Wow!  I have to say, taking measurements and progress pics is a great idea!  If I wasn't won over before, I am now!

I only lost 5 lbs in February and was kind of down because of that, until about 10 minutes ago!

Jan 31st 223.8 lbs
Mar 1st 218.4 lbs

Look at my double chin!  It's disappearing!  My arm looks thinner and you can totally see the difference in my back!

Here's a comparative with my before pic.

And my measurements this month blew me away!!!

                     Since start             This month
Bust                  6 in                       1.5 in
Waist                8.5 in                     2.5 in
Hips                 5.5 in                     2.5 in
Rt arm              2.25 in                   1.5 in
Lt arm              2 in                        1.25 in
Rt thigh           1.75 in                    1 in
Lt thigh            1.25 in                    0.75 in
Rt calf              2 in                         1.5 in
Lt calf              1.5 in                      1.25 in

Total                30.75 in                 13.75 in


WOW!!!!!  For a bad month that was pretty damn good!!!

Finding my niche?

As most of you know, I'm battling a chronic ankle injury that is preventing me doing a lot of things (again).  I was getting pretty good there for a while with the kickboxing and walking on the treadmill, then I re-injured my ankle.  I keep doing it!  So I went to the doctor and she said I may need surgery to finally fix the instability caused by the initial injury, but we're trying Physio first.  I was told to lay off the kickboxing and treadmill and don't even think of step, elliptical or aerobics!  I really find the stationary bike BORING so I decided I need to do SOMETHING else.

I really haven't found my exercise niche yet.  I feel like I try something, fail at it or can't do it or don't like it, then I'm looking for something else.  So far I think I've been lucky to lose an average of 1.75-2 lbs a week.  I do feel like I'm on borrowed time and as my weight gets lower, it's going to get harder to lose.  I also need to get more active consistently, for health reasons!  I'm losing weight to get healthy, not just to be smaller, and exercise is a big part of that.

Tom and I joined a gym recently with a post new years deal and we had a meeting with the owners wife last night.  She did all of her measurements and formulas and said I have a good muscle base already and she thinks that I would do better with weight training as my focus.  She mentioned personal training, which I think I'm going to look into that when I go back to work after I catch up with bills...

She also told me my goal weight is too low.  I said I wanted to be 140-145.  She said I should be around 150-160 if I'm to be weight training.  I gave her a look and she said that with my muscle mass already, lower than 150 is a stretch.  She asked me what I thought her weight was and I guessed about 135, she's about my height, she's 158!  She weight trains and does only the required cardio and looks very healthy.  And her thighs don't even touch!  So maybe I do have to rethink my ideal weight...

I could live with looking like this :))

A few years ago I was going to a gym regularly and was doing weight training and really liked it!  Maybe I'm just not an endless cardio girl.  Lifting weights is fun, when you get tired you move onto something else.  No marathon elliptical sessions!

I NEED TO BE HEALTHY.  Sitting around isn't going to get me there.  I NEED MY HEART TO BE HEALTHY.  Eating well and losing the weight will help, but skinny people die of heart attacks too!  I need to actively try to get healthy, maybe it'll cost a little more money, but what is a long healthy life worth?  Can I put a price on growing old with my soulmate?  Seeing my grandkids get married?  NOT having to use a walker in my early 70's?