I'm here!

Sorry I've been so distant. Computer issues at work have kept me away, and will likely keep me away for a while still.

Anyway, my current weight is 173.6. I have finally hit a plateau, as I've been at this weight for 2 weeks straight. My Dr. apt is Thursday, and I am just praying for mercy that I have lost enough this month for him to give me another month's RX for the phen. Cross your fingers for me!

Even though I'm somewhat stuck at this weight, I want to give myself a HUGE pat on the back for being 173 lbs. I have no idea when my weight was last this low. This is huge for me. And knowing that I am so close to the 160's... it's almost like shock. As though I can't really quite wrap my mind around the idea of that.

Anyway, now I say I have hit a plateau, but I know exactly why I have hit it so I'm not sure if it even qualifies as a plateau. It's simple. Not tracking my intake as well, things like camping 2 weekends in a row, family bbq's, not making exercise my first priority, etc. The excuses go on and on, but I'm not here to make excuses for myself. I know what I've been doing wrong, and I'm changing it now (got up at 5:15 today and did 70 minutes on the elliptical, 500 calories burned and plan to keep it up) so I should be seeing a loss next week for sure.

Also I am going to start incorporating jogging back into my regime. On June 2 I jogged a mile (without stopping) in 10 minutes and 42 seconds. That's a HUGE record for me! I'd really like to get to where I can go farther than 1 mile without needing a walk break, and I want to sign up for another 5k to help motivate me. Actually, I think I will go search for one right now. I'll keep you updated!!

*Don't forget to X your fingers for my apt Thursday!*

Another week is gone...

And so is another 1.6 lbs!!

Woohoo!!

My weekly weigh in results = 177.2

Down 1.6 lbs from last week.

I'll take it!!

Also on saturday I went shopping and bought some dress shorts... size 12!

I am just soooo excited to be seeing some actual progress. I had my Dr. apt yesterday for my 1 month check up on phen, and he was very pleased with my progress. As am I!!

Weekly weigh in and other happy things.

So I am 2 days late with posting this, but here goes...

Drumroll please...

I lost 2 more lbs last week!

My weight as of 5/11/2010 is 178.8.

My hard work is paying off, and I am SO HAPPY. Slowly but surely my friends, I will reach my goal.

I have been totally kicking butt in working out these past couple weeks, but unfortunately the Shred is starting to take it's toll on my knee once again. I seem to be swelling up pretty good every evening that I shred, and today it's pretty swollen and achy. Needless to say, I am really disappointed but I am going to back off the Shred for now. It's not worth the risk of a real injury.

Anyway, I am down a total of 9 lbs in 3 weeks. From eating healthy, and exercising my butt off. And I feel like a million freakin dollars!

I bought this top (it's actually SUPER cute irl) at Express about 3 years ago, and wore it once because it was too small. It was too small when I bought it, but it was one of those "Oh I am going to lose weight anyway so it will be perfect!" things. Well I didn't lose weight, I actually gained weight. I tried it on probably 18 months ago (around 195-200 lbs) and it was RIDICULOUSLY small. I mean really. I could button it but it looked like the buttons were going to pop off if I dared to move, and we all know how attractive the *fat stomach busting out of my top* look is.

This picture is from Tuesday. (Don't mind the totally weird blow-fish face i'm making here. Not sure what that's about.)

It FITS!

I was on a *some of my old smaller clothes finally fit!!* rush after this, so yesterday I pulled out a pair of pants I bought last summer. They were on clearance for $4 at Target, and like the aforementioned top, they were way too small when I bought them but I was planning to lose weight anyway. (Am I the only one who does this? Or is that normal? Hubby would kill me if he knew I bought clothes that didn't even fit!)

I have tried the pants on a time or two since purchasing them, but they were just too tight. They squeezed my stomach and made my butt look gigantic because they had the 'painted on' look. I t actually wore them to work one day in the winter, and I remember taking them off the second I got home because they were so uncomfortable and I didn't want John to see how -too small- they were. Well yesterday I pulled them out of the closet. And they are not even TIGHT now!! I had to double check to make sure they were the correct pants. They fit like they were made for my body. I couldn't believe it.

I feel like my hard work is finally starting to pay off. I don't always notice it when I look in the mirror, but it's happening. And I am so excited!

She's still got it!!

So yesterday morning, I woke up at 5:10 to do the Shred and elliptical as my week plan suggests.

Well... I guess my muscles were still really fatigued from shredding on Monday, because it was SO HARD. Every squat, every pushup, every side lunge with lateral raise... OMG. I thought I wasn't even going to make it all the way through the video. Jillian and her favorite "Don't phone this in!!" phrase couldn't even keep me from...well...phoning it in. By the time the 27 minutes were up, I was dog tired and incredibly disappointed.

After the shred, I hopped on the ellip for my 30 minutes. And once again, I thought I was going to drop dead. My quads were burning, and I just felt so and tired and awful. I only finished 15 minutes! Coming from a girl who can normally bust out 60 minutes with no problem... I was so disappointed and felt frustrated about it for the entire day. A half assed shred, coupled with 15 horrible minutes on the elliptical?! Who was I??

Anyway, after work yesterday I was feeling really good (I give thanks to my 2:30 Diet Mtn. Dew) and thought it would be good to hit the track and see how many laps I could jog. I hadn't even attempted jogging for a long time and I know the longer I wait, the harder it is to get going again. I would guess it had been 6 weeks or so, if not more, so I wasn't expecting to do very well at all. In fact I was expecting it to be pretty terrible.

Well after my 5 minute warm up walk, I jogged an entire mile, without stopping, in 11 minutes and 34 seconds!! My best time yet!! I was (am) so proud, and felt like the queen of the world!! It felt great to bust out an entire mile when I had been thinking i'd barely be able to finish a lap! Anyway, I spent 50 minutes at the track (jogging some and walking some) and burned 53o calories. I think it's safe to say that I stopped feeling so bad about my awful morning workout when all was said and done!

As for today... I am absolutely SPENT. Rather than following my plan and doing an hour on the elliptical today, I am going to do some flexability yoga tonight with the hubs, and call it good. This bod needs a little break!! However, I will absolutely be back on the elliptical tomorrow morning at 5:20, and will be shredding again on Saturday. Can't wait to see how many lbs I lose this week!

Well I must start by saying how proud I am of Steph, for sticking to blogging AND WOW, even with her injuries, and with me being a horrible blog partner! I don't know why I go through such dry spells with blogging...even when I am doing well in the healthy living department! And not to mention her incredible bikini pictures... I mean... WOW!! I am so proud of that woman!!

So a little update on me. I found myself at 187.8 lbs a couple weeks ago. This was a pretty frustrating realization for me, considering that is 10 lbs HIGHER than what I was the beginning of December. It's really scary to see how fast the pounds can creep back on when you aren't paying full attention.

Anyway, I made an apt. with my gyno to ask for some HELP! I explained to him that I KNOW how to lose weight, but I really struggle with staying on track and staying motivated and keep losing/gaining the same 4 lbs over and over and i'm sick of it! He prescribed me the appetite suppressant Phentermine, and I started it on 4-20-2010. In that first week, I did REALLY well with eating and exercise, and dropped 5.2 lbs. That was very exciting for me! I have never lost that much weight in only 1 week. However, my lovely little friend TOM visited me after that and I am sad to say the next week didn't go so well. But the past is the past, right? It wasn't super horrible, but I could have done better and I know that. I am going to weigh in tomorrow to see the damage, and move forward from there.

A few weeks ago Stephanie and I set a pretty big goal. We decided that we both wanted to be down 20 lbs by July 4. This is when I was weighing 187.8, so I just rounded it up to 188, and I am really looking forward to weighing 168 lbs in July! I am going to make it happen, and I know I can do it.

My exercise routine lately has mostly consisted of 60 minutes on the elliptical most days, as well as playing tennis and hiking or walking with my hubby on other days. This has been working pretty well but I know I really need to focus more on strength training, along with all the cardio. I absolutely LOVE Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred, but I have never stuck with it long enough to see what kind of results it has to offer, so that is going to be my focus for a while. This is my plan for this week:

Monday: 30 day shred, 30 minutes ellip.
Tues: 60 minutes ellip.
Wednesday: Shred, 30 minutes ellip.
Thurs: 60 minutes ellip.
Friday: Some sort of activity with the hubs.
Saturday: Shred.

Sound like a plan?! I thought so :)

Speaking of activities with the hubs... last Monday we thought it would be fun to go for a hike. We live only minutes from the beautiful Wasatch Mountains, and have many many hiking trails at our fingertips. We have really taken that for granted in the past 2 years, and want to get the most out of this area and the beauty that surrounds us while we are here.

So we started up the first trail we came to, and about an hour and a half later reached the end of the trail! It had led us to the most majestic waterfall! It was sooo beautiful and peaceful. It was a pretty tough hike at times, and I kept thinking about how strong my legs felt and how proud I was to be able to do strenuous activities like hiking. There is no way I would have survived this hike 2 years ago, and knowing I have come a long way is such an incredible feeling. When we got back to our car, 2 hours and 22 minutes later, I looked at my heart rate monitor and could NOT believe my eyes! I had burned exactly 1300 calories!! Yes... I may have a long way to go on this path of weightloss and healthy living... but there is no denying I have come a long way!

Edit: Tuesdays weigh in = 180.8 (for a weekly loss of 1.8 lbs! Good for being on tom!)

W.O.W. gets a new look

Well after much soul searching and advice from a cousin I have taken my fitness in a different direction. So far I am happy to announce I am down 3 pounds this week so far. I have done my elliptical machine twice, a lot of strength training, and just been eating damn close to perfect if not better than perfect (if there is such a thing)

I feel as this has gone on that I am doing the right thing some of the aches and pains that I was haivng have disappeared and Kristan has been a champ helping me with meal plans, reminding me of making good choices, and holding me accountable for my fitness. I am so proud of my eating yesterday I just need to share it:

Breakfast: 3/4 C. Blueberries, 3/4 C Strawberries, 1 scoop of protein (smoothie)
Snack: 1 cup of grapes, 1 low fat cheese stick
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Glazed Chicken and an apple
Snack: 2 pieces of turkey sandwich meat, 1 kiwi, and 3 almonds
Supper: 5 Cups air popped popcorn
Water: 92 ounces

How awesome is that!! It may be tough...but I am tougher. I have to take accountability for my own fitness at one time or another. I am planning to go to strength training tomorrow night too!!

Keep fighting the good fight, it pays off!!!

WOW #3 Week 3-Things Have Changeed

Its been a long time since I have even thought about you, but the over the last month I have started having really weird and random injuries, but the most alarming of all is I have been taking Ibuprofen before I go and work out and it has gone away from the "ohh" it feels like I worked out to more of an "ouch" this is uncomfortable pain and its scaring me. Plus my competitive nature isn't very good for this either because I don't like to modify or "take it easy" i'm not really very good at it. Generally, when in pain looking back I think "hmmm...so that is where I should have modified"

The thing that is freaking me out the most at this moment though is that I haven't had this weight off for a long enough time to feel safe knowing I can keep it away forever and ever.

Kristan has saved the day, as always, and nobody will ever speak of her negatively in my presence EVER. After this I consider myself lucky to be considered her friend, and with the utmost respect. I was scared, and I am scared...I don't want to stop kickboxing, so she is going to work with me to develop a workout plan and eating plan to get through the next few weeks.

I can't forget how far I have come and where I want to end up...More later...