Stop the Madness

I hope everyone had a happy 4th! I know I did. David and I had a jam-packed day. We went to the Zoo and the adjoining conservatory in the morning, grabbed lunch, saw Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, had a swanky dinner on a gorgeous outdoor patio, and, of course, watched some fireworks.

Unhealthy breakfast in bed! Yup. That’s for sure a Red Bull.

I was OBSESSED with this Puffin at the Zoo. He kept showing off and splashing around a ton.

Conservatory.

Swanky dinner. I got a massive Croque Madame (I only managed to eat a third of it), David got half a Roast Chicken, we got pate and crab chowder as an appetizer, and had a glass of white wine each. Oh, plus bead and butter. Yum, French food. Expensive. And loooooooooooooooooooooooooots of calories.

Braving the horrific heat. Sweaty and smiling while watching fireworks!

 

So although my 4th of July was a little indulgent, I did make some changes after my last, rather despondent post. I bought an armband to hold my phone and/or ipod while I run.

And I got a(n expensive) gym membership at LA Fitness. I’ve got a (complimentary) session with a personal trainer on Monday to asses my fitness level and discuss my goals, and I’ll be heading to the gym for the first time tonight. If I can make it on time after the errands I need to run, I plan to take their hip hop class. If I don’t make it in time for the class, it’s Zombies, Run! on the treadmill.

I will NOT let the heat stop me from moving forward toward my goals. Temporary setback was just that. Temporary.

Well, that sucks.

204 lbs.

According to my new scale, I weigh 204 lbs. And friends, that really sucks.

I don’t really know what to do about it. I think it highly unlikely that I gained 4 lbs in the last week. Probably my new scale is just more accurately reporting the weight I was already at, whereas my broken scale was probably being generous.

And I know it’s only 4 lbs. I KNOW it’s not a big deal.

But I feel really defeated.

I’m not going to update my tracker on MFP until I’m back down to where I was before. And I’m going to try really hard to get over it and not let it bother me. The key word there is try.

But! Let’s move on to other things! Lots and lots of fun stuff happened this weekend! On Saturday David and I spent the entire day together–a serious luxury these days. With both of us working full time, plus planning a wedding, PLUS David attending school and studying for his Masters degree in the evenings, quality time spent together is rare and precious these days.

We woke up on Saturday morning and went to the farmers market. We split and egg, ham, and cheese sandwich, and a raspberry scone for breakfast, and picked up lots of delicious produce (including some stellar-looking tart cherries. I absolutely cannot wait to bake something up with them!)

Then we went to pick up our wedding bands! Well, mine, anyway. It turns out his hadn’t come in yet. To be honest, the store we’re buying our wedding bands from has been sort of a mess. Wrong sizes ordered, wrong RING ordered, etc. BUT, my wedding band is in and I love, love, LOVE it. I’m so sad that I don’t get to wear it for another 60 days!

After that, we drove around some neighborhoods in St. Paul where we’d like to consider house-hunting. We’re not quite ready to start looking for a house yet, but we know it’s something we want to look into in the next few years. We explored some new neighborhoods and had a wonderful time. Then we spent the rest of the evening at home, relaxing as best we could in the heat.

On Saturday I went to the Mall of America. Because I’m crazy.

I don’t wear makeup. Ever. I never really have. Oh, somewhere around I’ve got an old tube of mascara I probably bought in 2003 and I’ve got some under-eye concealer that is completely the wrong shade for my skin. But truly, I don’t wear makeup and I know nothing about it. I’m determined to do my own makeup for my engagement photos, though. Partly because I have no other option! So I went to Sephora, signed up for a makeover, and learned how to put on some stuff. Makeup is EXPENSIVE, you guys! (I’m having a professional take care of it for the wedding, though!)

I also went shopping for a dress (and shoes!) to wear for our engagement photos. This is what I walked out with: (The shoes and the dress; the sweater is mine, and not sure about whether or not I’ll wear it yet. I made David take a picture to help me make up my mind!) The shoes are kind of adorable; They’re yellow peep-toe wedges, and definitely the sunniest shoes I own. They’re also only the second pair of heels I own. I’m tall (5’10’) and so I never wore heels growing up, and as such never really got used to them. Part of the reason why I want to lose weight, though is be more adventurous in my wardrobe. So heels it is! (This dress also has pockets, which makes me love it even more–my wedding dress has pockets, too!)

Feeling a little bit manic in the dressing room after being in the mall for over 4 hours…

PS. This is where I ate lunch in the mall food court. They didn’t have any nutritional information posted (and I couldn’t find any on-line, either) which makes me suspicious about exactly how healthy it was! But I had half of a chicken wrap sandwich, and a small berry and yogurt smoothie. Pretty tasty, too.

Sooooooo CLOSE!

Starting Weight: 223.4 lbs

Last Week’s Weight: 203.2 lbs

Current Weight: 200.8 lbs

Loss this Week: 2.4 lbs

Total Weight Lost: 22.6 lbs!

SO CLOSE, you guys! So, my official weigh-in doesn’t have me in “one”derland yet, but I can TASTE it!

This weekend David’s best friend got married! This celebration was a long time coming! Neil and his new wife Amber have been together for many years, and have two children together, but for a lot of external reasons were never able to get married until now! It was a wonderful, beautiful outdoor ceremony, with a rocking dance party afterward! David was a groomsmen, so I didn’t get a chance to see him until after dinner, when pictures and official duties were over. But after that, we spent all night on the dance floor! I was the designated driver, which kept my alcohol to the bare minimum (I raised a glass for the toast, of course) which helped keep calories within range. Back to the dinner, though,

They served Mexican food, pork carnitas with rice and beans, two kinds of salsa, and horchata (a sweet, cinnamony rice drink). Oh, and did I mention the bride and groom catered the dinner THEMSELVES?! They spent all week slow-roasting pork. It was DELICIOUS! A ton of work, and they pulled it off, but I have to say that as much as I love cooking I’m very glad that we have a traditional caterer taking care of the food for our wedding!

Last week we only did BR once! We did Workout 1 on Monday, and then got so busy with wedding prep for the weekend, that we slacked off. I did do Zombies, Run! though, and I have to say I have a BLAST with that app. It definitely pushes me to run, as opposed to walking briskly (although I still do that, too). The story has me so captivated I can’t wait to go out again! Definitely worth the $8.00 in my opinion. Again, if you’re already a runner, this might not be useful for you, unless you really like Zombies, or have an active imagination, or just really like audio books (the app is sort of like an interactive audio book that integrates with your playlist). But if you’re a reluctant runner like me, and need something to get you going, I definitely recommend this!

In wedding news, David and I bought out wedding bands this weekend! We were lucky enough to hear word of a huge sale, and specifically waited until this weekend to take advantage of it. I had a really difficult time picking out an engagement ring (we did it together, after David proposed) and found that finding a wedding band was equally tricky–but far less emotionally-fraught. (I cried in the car after each store while engagement ring shopping. Some of these sales people are so brutal. We’re buying an engagement ring, people, not a used car! It wouldn’t kill you to treat us like human beings! A modest budget is still more money than you’d get without a sale at all, assholes! But, I digress!). I did find a wedding band I love, and I am SO EXCITED to be able to wear it every day! It’s really starting to hit home just how soon our wedding is! 68 days! We’re starting to get RSVPs back, too. It’ll be here before I know it.

David and I were up early and had a great time doing BR Workout 1 this morning. We’re sticking with Workouts 1 and 2 again this week, since we barely did anything last week in terms of BR. Next week we’ll move up to 3 and 4!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Day 90: The End.

Wow. I can’t believe I completed this program. Ninety days of eating well and working out consistently. I’ve NEVER manged to accomplish that before. I can’t seem to find the right words right now to explain to you how I feel about reaching this goal. I am so proud of myself. The last 90 days have been so hard, and have forced me to really turn my focus inward and work through some really hard things, mentally as well as physically. It’s been amazing. And I am so grateful to have found this wonderful support network online! Thank you all so much for cheering me on!

On Saturday, I did Kickbox Fastfix for my last cardio workout. The workouts are QUICK. 20 minutes on the dot, including warm up and cool down. They are FAST. But the pace is no joke. There is not a single moment of down time. My arms are KILLING me from all those punches! My kicks still need some work. I can’t get as much height or power behind them yet, but I’ll get there. There are three workouts in Kickbox Fastfix: Arms, legs, and abs. Each workout is serious serious cardio, but with a focus on one of the three areas. So far I’ve only done arms. I hope to try out the other two this coming week, when I start Body Revolution aaaaaaaall the way back at the beginning.

Here’s what I ate on Saturday:

I went to the Farmer’s Market at 6:30 AM, and while I was waiting for the bus, I had some cold-pressed iced coffee with a homemade caramel syrup.

At the market, I had a small everything bagel with a little bit (less than I wanted, frankly!) of cream cheese.

My snacks for the day were fresh strawberries and fresh sugar snap peas from the market. The strawberries were DELICIOUS and raw sugar snaps are some of my FAVORITE things on earth. Crunchy and sweet, a perfect snack!

In the afternoon I made strawberry yogurt muffins with almonds and nutmeg.

And ate one for a second snack.

Dinner was a 6oz grilled steak, with more fresh sugar snaps.

And a popsicle for dessert!

So.

Now let’s get to the good stuff. My RESULTS!

Starting Weight: 223.4 lbs

Last Week’s Weight: 205.4 lbs

Current Weight: 203.2 lbs

Loss this Week: 2.2 lbs

Total Weight Lost: 20.2 lbs!

I’ve lost TWENTY POUNDS in NINETY DAYS!

That’s a third of the way to my weight loss goal!!!!!!

Thank you all so much for all your support and for following along in this journey. I still have 40ish pounds to go, and just 82 days until my wedding! I am definitely not done! I’m starting Body Revolution over at the beginning again (in fact, I just did Workout 1 this morning, and wow, I can’t wait to tell you guys about how that went!). I would love to lose 20 more pounds by September 1, 2012–which is my wedding date, but my short(er)-term goal is to lose 10 more pounds by July 8th, which is when David and I are having professional engagement photos taken!

I do have some “Before” pictures, and I’ll post them eventually. I want to wait a little bit longer until I have some good contrast photos, but I’ve been taking pictures all along.

I hope you guys will keep reading. I’m going to shift the focus of the blog slightly to include more about my general quest for health and wellness, and include a lot more recipes and personal stories. And of course, I’ll let you know how Body Revolution goes the second time around.

I am worth it. I am strong. I deserve this.

And so do you.

Day 89: FINAL WORKOUT 12!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Today included super high highs and very low lows.

 

The highs. My final Workout 12. I. Kicked. Ass. This was above and beyond my best workout of the last 90 days. I brought it so very hard. I wanted to EARN that applause from Jillian and the group at the end. I was a sweaty ridiculous mess at the end, but I SLAUGHTERED it. I am so freaking proud of myself; I can’t even explain it. I gave absolutely everything I had and then some.

 

The lows…

 

My food…there’s no other way to say it. My food was a shit show today. A total nightmare.

 

I don’t have pictures of my breakfast. Which was a McDonald’s breakfast sandwich AND a hashbrown. That’s 600 calories GONE, baby. At BREAKFAST. This was a mess and a poor choice on my part, obviously. David had to dop me off at work this morning, because he needed the car, and we were running late. I had to choose between making breakfast or getting in my workout and I chose the workout. But I exercised ZERO restraint in breakfast. Seriously. Not only high in calories, but also really just gross and so not in line with my food philosophy.

 

I had packed my lunch the night before, though. So I should have had a nice healthy lunch to eat. Right? WRONG. I packed a sandwich, only to pull it out and realize that the bread was COMPLETELY moldy. I had to throw the whole thing out. Without a car, I couldn’t go anywhere to pick up something for lunch. I was stuck with the vending machines.

 

So I had some instant ramen.

Then I had a bite-sized Milky Way. …And then three more.

When David picked me up he handed me a Red Bull. And I drank it.

I FINALLY stopped the madness when I got home. I made a ham sandwich with goat cheese, mustard, tomatoes, and lettuce on grilled sourdough for dinner.

…And had a popsicle. But those are only 45 calories each, so whatever.

I’m kind of pissed for having such a heinous food day so close to the end. BUT. It is what it is. And at least I managed to get it on track before the end of the night. Tomorrow is the LAST DAY. I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!

Day 88:Last Workout 11!!!!!!!!!!!

To say that yesterday morning did not go as planned is an understatement.

First of all, Workout 11 got stuck in my laptop and wouldn’t come out. Nor would it play. After about 25 minutes of wrestling with it, I finally got it to eject, and moved into the other room and set it up on our main tv. I admit I had a hard time focusing because I was running late and was irritated about my laptop (which has been experiencing a whole host of other problems lately as well). So not my best ever workout, but I made it through.

Then David left for work, I hopped in the shower and got read for my day. We only have one car between us. David and I used to both commute to work using the bus when I was at my old job. Now, for my new job, I need to drive because it’s in the suburbs and there’s no convenient bus line to get there. On Wednesday nights, David has his MBA class, which he drives to.

Can you see where this is going?

David took the car keys with him to work by accident. And we don’t have a spare set. (I know, I KNOW. We need to get on that).

Luckily my new job has Flex Time, which basically means that they don’t care when you come in and when you leave, so long as you work your 40 hours a week. You can make up whatever schedule you want. So I wan’t going to be in trouble for being “late.” But it WAS going to throw my whole day off. My preferred time to work is 7 to 3. I get home by 3:30 and have plenty of time to run errands or whatever before David gets home from work and needs the car at night for school.

David couldn’t get the keys back to me until 9:00am, when he had to come back to our neighborhood for an off-site meeting. So I had to work 9:30 to 5:30, which just sucked.

So. Not a really fantastic start to the day, although I did use that down time in the morning to get some much neglected cleaning done, so that’s good at least.

David’s bachelor party is this weekend, so we had a little date night last night before all the debauchery begins!

We walked 5 miles (round trip) and got dinner on the outdoor patio of a Mediterranean restaurant we love. And we stopped and got frozen yogurt on the way home. Yum!

Here’s my food for day 88!

For some reason I don’t have a picture of my breakfast! But I had a whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter and blackberry jam again.

For lunch I had the leftover organic frozen pizza.

Snack was some peach applesauce.

And dinner was curry-spiced chicken, wrapped in a thin sheet of phyllo dough, with sautéed vegetables and fig, apple, and apricot compote. And a glass of red wine.

And frozen yogurt! Tart yogurt with granola, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

Day 65: Chugging Along

I really need to get my blogging act together! I hate trying to write up a post the next day.

Things have been HECTIC around here. I have an app on my phone that counts down until the wedding. 3 months and 16 days left! It’s getting to the point where every spare minute is spent on wedding-related things. Making payments, contacting vendors, dress fittings, working on DIY decorations, and on and on and on. I’m also getting really excited to start my new job on Monday! My future boss emailed me an agenda for my first week already. I can’t wait to get going!

But even with all the chaos happening right now, my health is still a priority. I did Workout 10 yesterday. I don’t remember any specifics about it, except that I was tired, and that I still don’t love Workout 10 at all.

Tuesday is  my happy hour day! David was actually able to come this time (usually he has too much to do for school) and we decided to walk the two miles home instead of waiting for the bus. It was gorgeous outside yesterday and we had a wonderful, leisurely walk. Of course, we did stop and get pizza on the way….

A Non Scale Victory:

Last year, my sister bought me this necklace for my birthday. I absolutely LOVED it, but yesterday is the first time I’ve worn it despite owning it for a year. Why? Well friends, my neck was literally too fat to wear it before. I couldn’t close the clasp. Now, though? It fits just fine!

FOOD:

Breakfast was an egg, turkey bacon, tomatoes, and av0cado

I had a whole wheat tortilla with a little bit of honey for a morning snack.

For lunch I had this roasted red pepper and tomato soup. It is DELICIOUS. Normally when I taste something I love, my first impulse is to try to make it from scratch at home. But this soup tastes SO GOOD I don’t even want to bother making it myself. I’m happy to keep buying it. I had a bowl with two crackers crumbled on top. YUM.

I went to try on dresses again on my lunch break (still no luck) and I got a small (“tall”) nonfat caramel macchiato.

At happy hour I had one beer.

And then David and I stopped and got a pizza for dinner. Thin crust, Neapolitan style.  This one had arugula, prosciutto, and goat cheese. I ate three (small) slices.

 

Not fantastic on the food front, but really not too bad, either.

I hope you guys have a wonderful Wednesday!

Day 64: So Close!

First up, weigh-in!

Starting Weight: 223.4 lbs

Last Week’s Weight: 208.2 lbs

Current Weight: 205.4 lbs

Loss this Week: 2.8 lbs

Total Weight Lost: 18 lbs!

EIGHTEEN POUNDS, YOU GUYS! I am sooooooo close to being down 20 lbs and 1/3 of the way to my goal weight. That is awesome and so, so exciting! I love weigh-in days! They pump me up and give me the energy to rock it throughout the rest of my week!

This morning was Workout 9. Not too shabby. I have to say, though, that I can’t do divebombers to save my life. “Melt your heart forward!” Not happening, Jillian. I start in Down Dog, then sort of lurch forward into a plank, and then kind of collapse onto my forearms. Not cute. Needs work.

I have the first of two bridal showers coming up this weekend (one here in Minnesota, and then the second one back in Massachusetts) so this morning on my lunch break and again after work, I went out and tried on dresses. I found a few, but nothing I LOVED, so I didn’t buy one yet. Do you know how amazing it was to go into a REGULAR store and zip up clothing that didn’t have an “X” on the size label? IT WAS AWESOME. It’s funny; I remember being this size before and sobbing my heart out in dressing rooms because I hated the way I looked. This time? I was strutting my stuff! It’s not that I’m happy at this weight; I’m not. I have a long way to go and I am going to get there, damnit. It’s that this time I’m on the way DOWN instead of on the way UP, weight-wise. I’ve been heavier. I’ve been larger. But never again. So I’m enjoying my ability to shop in stores that cater to normal women, not “plus-sized.” I might be at the top end of those normal sizes, BUT NOT FOR LONG.

Today was an ok day, as far as food goes.

 Breakfast was an egg, turkey bacon, tomatoes, and avocado.

I had a dark chocolate chip oatmeal cookie for an early snack.

I had to grab lunch on the run. This is an egg white, cheddar, and sundried tomato sandwich on a “skinny” 9 grain everything bagel. A “skinny” bagel is when the middle’s been cut out, so you just get two really thin slices.

A kiwi for an afternoon snack.

For dinner I made zucchini fritters. Shredded zucchini with garlic, onion, lemon zest, thyme, and a little bit of flour, salt, and egg to bind it together. Pan-fried in a teensy bit of olive oil and served with salsa.

Now that my ban on calories-dense beverages is up (even though I cheated a bit and had some early) I had the cream soda I’d been saving in the fridge since last week.

And one square of dark chocolate for dessert.

Days 61, 62 & 63: Whirlwind Weekend

Oh man, I just totally bailed on you guys with no heads up. I’m sorry!

David and I unexpectedly went up to his aunt’s house over the weekend to use her color printer to print off our wedding invitations. A wonderful, super talented friend of mine is a graphic designer and she designed all our wedding stationary for us as a gift. Then she gave us super low-cost tips for how to print them out ourselves and get professional (and cheap!) results. Our invites cost $20 plus the cost of printer cartridges! Hooray!

We had an unplanned chance to go up and bang them out this weekend, so we dropped everything to make that happen. I didn’t bring my laptop with me, so no blog updates, sadly.

Before we went up there, though, I had a wedding gown fitting on Saturday morning! The fitting went really well! My dress definitely needs to be taken in again thanks to the weight I’ve lost so far. The seamstress was wonderful about it all. Kind and professional without making me feel self-conscious or stupid. She’s going to take in the bust now, but leave the waist until my August fitting. That way, if I lose more weight (which I TOTALLY WILL) she can take the waist in just once, instead of having to do it twice. I felt really great walking out of there.

And of course, I barely remember what happened over the last three days. I know I did Workout 10 on Friday, although I can’t remember if it went well or not…On Saturday I took a long hike in the woods for my cardio.

Food was…well. Let’s just say that I haven’t been in top form food-wise for the last few weeks….

FRIDAY:

I dashed out of the house without making breakfast, so I grabbed a vegetable cheese omelet.

And some pineapple.

I ate my lunch outside while reading on my kindle. Two leftover slices of pizza.

…..and we also had pizza for dinner. Yikes!

I had one oatmeal dark chocolate cookie for dessert.

SATURDAY:

Two scrambled eggs with spinach, parm, and a little bit of salsa.

Yeah. That’s a bowl of Kraft mac & cheese, which was my lunch. I have no comment.

I had an oatmeal dark chocolate cookie in the car.

When we stopped at the co-op to pick up some groceries, I snagged this sample of pumpkin brownie and vanilla gelato. YUM.

I’m sad to say I broke my NO CALORIE DENSE BEVERAGES rule a little bit early. On Saturday night I had just 4 oz of red wine while working on invitations.

We went out to a greasy spoon for dinner with David’s aunt, uncle, and grandmother. Almost NO truly healthy options there. I got a grilled chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries. I ate half of the sandwich and the fries and brought the rest home.

Breakfast was an egg, turkey bacon, tomatoes, and avocado.

Lunch was the second half of my sandwich and sweet potato fries.

I got super snack attacks in the afternoon. I had a luna granola bar, but then I also had a handful of candied pecans, one small package of fruit snacks, and one square of dark chocolate (the latter three not pictured).

Dinner was sparkling water, venison steak, barley vegetable bread (with butter), thyme mashed potatoes (with butter), corn on the cob (er…with butter), and steamed broccoli.

Then for dessert I had a small slice of homemade rhubarb crisp with a dollop of Greek yogurt mixed with cinnamon.

On the ride home, David and I shared this all-natural, cane sugar grapefruit soda. The second slip up in my no calorie-dense beverages week.

Whew! I am going to go catch up on all of your blogs now. I know some people are now FINISHED with Body Revolution, which is AWESOME! I can’t wait to go read all about your amazing results! And I promise not to disappear on you guys without warning again!

Day 60: 2/3 Through!

I am 2/3 through Body Revolution! That’s RIDICULOUS. I can’t even believe it. I am working hard and seeing results and I love it. This commitment has been so worth it.

Another late blog post. Sorry guys! This time I wasn’t hiding from you! My night just went totally haywire. Last night our cat, who has previously been the laziest most useless cat ever, caught her first mouse. Now, David owned this cat before we met. I’ve always been a dog person (I grew up with pit bulls. They are hands down the SWEETEST dogs on earth, but I won’t get on my soap box here…) so this is my first real experience with cats. I’ve worked in a fair number of restaurants in my life time, so I’ve see plenty of mice, and I don’t generally consider myself squeamish. But that cat kept trying to drop the STILL HALF ALIVE mouse in my lap, which I definitely was not ok with. At some point, while trying to figure out how to handle the situation, the mouse got away! So I have no idea where it is now. Hopefully it really did get away, instead of crawling off to die behind our fridge or something. And I’m also pretty upset that there are mice in our building! Ugh! Must give the kitchen a thorough cleaning over and make sure all food is properly sealed.

Then after that ordeal, I spent some more time talking to my best friend on the phone while she goes through some tough stuff.

So forgive me for not getting this blog up last night! As I’m sure you can see, I had a lot going on!

Yesterday was a good day. I did Workout 9 for the second time, and although it’s really hard, I’m beginning to enjoy it. I am really struggling with the plank flies? Is that what they’re called? You’re in plank and holding yourself up with one arm. The other arm has a light weight and you curl the arm underneath your torso and rotate? I can only do one or two (very poor) and then go to my knees. But even on my knees I struggle with this. I can’t quite support myself on just one hand yet. I’m going to work hard and focus on this move and see how much I can improve in the next week.

Food!

I was running late so I had to get breakfast out. A vegetable and cheese omelet

I went out to lunch with a friend to an artisan pizza shop. We split a house salad (already dressed)

And a small pizza with meatballs, garlic, and ricotta. I had two slices.

For a snack I had some raisins

And multigrain crackers when I got home.

Surprise, surprise. Dinner was veggie quesadillas again.

 

And even though I really, REALLY wanted a glass of wine after the mouse incident, I resisted! Hooray!