Getting excited

Eight years I was struggling to keep my weight down after losing 160 pounds. I had already put on about half the weight I'd lost and was desperately trying to figure out how to stop the weight gain. I saw an 8k race in Virginia Beach and thought that was a nice thing to do to try to get back on track. Mike and I went and completed the race...he was far ahead of me, which was fine with me. I completed it in 1:37:00...I just went searching for my exact time and it's not listed!  Not sure what happened to our names, but we did the race...here is a picture of me after the race at my mom's house!



I think I can match my time from 8 years ago even though I'm older and heavier because I've been training. It's good to be on the downward weight lose road again!  :)

Five Months into my journey!

Today makes five months since I started on this journey. To date I've lost 57 pounds, 47 pounds since Sept. 3, 2012. I was disappointed when i woke up this morning and my weight was the same as it was last Sunday...exactly the same!  How does that happen when I've eaten well all week...I'm very honest and careful with my diet...and exercised 5 days a week training for an 8k and lifting weights! It doesn't make sense to me, but I have to trust that sooner or later the weight will come off.  

But in my disappointment I started thinking about 47 pounds in 5 months, that's and average of 9.4 pounds a month which isn't a bad thing at all!  I feel better, most days, have more energy, and feel better about myself mentally so I have to count those things as successes and move on!  I will keep doing what I'm doing because I'm enjoying it, not because of what the scale says to me!  :)

Walking to my sister's house!

I've decided that rather than just log miles I'm going to pick a destination. First will be my sister's house in Ohio!  She lives 380 miles from me so it will take me a while to get there, but I will do it...because I can!

Here is the route the Google maps has mapped out:

So far since the first of January I've logged 7.75 miles! I'm logging elliptical and treadmill miles! I'm excited for this journey. I will try to tell you about where I am on the trip as I travel. Right now I'm barely away from my backdoor so still in Madison Heights!  :)

New Shoes

I've been to the gym 3 of the 4 days of the new year! Tuesday I walked 2.7 miles on the treadmill to start training for the 8k in March. When I was finished I could hardly walk because of my feet hurting so badly! I made two errors 1) walked too far too soon, 2) walked in shoes that are too old! I found a training program for a 10k that has the training walk for 5 miles (8k) on the same Saturday as my race so I'm loosely following that training plan. Their days off are different from the ones I want to take so I'll adjust that, but follow it basically!

I also went yesterday to get new shoes just for my 8k training. I am planning to walk the whole thing, but if I get inspired to jog a little I won't stop myself!  LOL

Here is a picture of my shoes and new socks!  

Happy New Year!

I started the new year out at the gym walking 2.7 miles in an hour. I know it's not breaking any speed records, but I did it and I'm proud of myself! My feet are sore in a couple of places so I need to get some body glide for my feet so they won't rub on my socks. I also think I need new shoes and socks. My reward for losing 50 pounds is going to be the shoes. I think I'll go tomorrow or the next day to get fitted again since it's been a while since I've been fitted for good shoes.

I read a post today about someone saying that eating healthy is expensive. I know that some things can be expensive, but in my humble opinion, I think that eating healthy is actually less expensive in the here and now and the long run. Let's take what Mike and I ate this last week. I bought a pork tenderloin for $13.00 or $14.00 (I can't remember exactly, but that is close) I put that in the crockpot with onions, carrots, and celery. I cooked a head of cabbage and a few potatoes on the stove and had all of that for supper. I have no idea exactly how much all those other things cost. I do know the cabbage was .29 a pound so lets say that was .75 and the carrots and celery I just used a little of what I had here let's add another $3.00 for all of that (which I think is high). Now the potatoes...they were actually still from Thanksgiving and I know they were on sale. The whole five pounds probably cost a couple of dollars so I'm going to say 1.25 for potatoes. Adding all those items together cost $19.00. Well, Mike and I both ate on what I cooked for three meals, plus we had more meat leftover that we had for two snacks each. That's 6 meals and 4 snacks for $19.00. We went out to eat at Cracker Barrel tonight and spent that much money for one meal for both of us!

My point is that I don't think that eating healthy is any more expensive than eating unhealthy. You will be more satisfied with healthy eating and won't eat as much. Here is another example of a snack. I'm very full after a grapefruit (I love to peel and eat them like an orange) that costs .50 or .60 each, but a bag of chips or a candy bar costs .75 or $1.00 which doesn't satisfy me at all. So I'm saving money and health there.

Also, eating healthy is going to save you money in the long run with your health...think of eating healthy as a health insurance policy!  :)

Fifty pounds gone!

Today is the last day of 2012 and I hit my fifty pounds lost mark today. I'm actually surprised that I hit it because on Christmas morning I was 3 pounds away then the day after Christmas my weight went up 2 pounds!  YIKES I started drinking water like crazy and got right back on my 'clean' eating. Now, I'm not a clean eating fanatic! I eat mostly unprocessed foods, but I did allow my favorite Christmas cookies (just at the last one today!). My weight usually fluctuates up and down. I will have a loss and then the weight goes up a couple of pounds for two or three days before it comes back down. Well, I was technically at 48.8 pounds lost yesterday so I didn't expect the scale to be down again this morning, but when I woke up and the scale was right at 50 pounds lost I was excited!

I will have someone take pictures of me (not my husband, he is camera illiterate, but I still love him!) and I'll take measurements to post. I'm not sure I am going to post my actual weight, but we will see!  I will get all that done today or tomorrow!

I wanted to have a reward for my fifty pound weight loss and thought about getting a body fat caliper, but that would only be used once in a while and I feel might be a waste of money. I did some research and there is a little Pod type body fat machine at a local college that costs $30.00 to get your body fat tested and other than the hydrostatic this is the most accurate body fat tester. I think the best part is I can go back in a year and have it done again for just $15.00.  So I will call after the new year and see if I can set up an appointment for that.

So, that leaves me with a reward for myself. I want new shoes...I know technically that is a need, but I don't actually NEED them yet, but since I'm seriously into my exercise I want to make sure I have good shoes so I think I'm going to get these:

I have plans to do several 'races' this year. I just do them for fun and to challenge myself. I am never a serious contender because I'm too slow, but I'm faster than the person sitting on the couch!  :)

The first race I'm already signed up for is the Shamrock 8k (4.98 miles) at Virginia Beach. I did this race in 2005 and had planned to do it the next year because Mike and I liked it so much, but my mom passed away that year and that was just the end of my motivation for a while. So, this year I'm doing it again. I hope I can beat my time of 1:37 from last time, but I'll be a little heavier than I was last time, although I will have been training more so it will all be a wash for pros and cons. I would like to do it under 1:30, but just to finish would be great!

My second goal is to do a half marathon in October in Baltimore. That was the last race I was signed up for before I seriously began to gain weight. I was injured for this race and couldn't participate in it which made me sad...it was just a two weeks after this race that my mom passed away.

Those are my solid goals for 2013. I am going to try to do a half marathon in my town in August...that might be pushing my limits as far as time to get ready, but it's in my mind. The other is the 10 miler in Lynchburg in September. That's a hard course in my mind because of the hills, but I have some friends who are doing it so it might be a fun thing to do. I know if nothing else I can always count on my husband to do it with me and stay with me if I want him to!  :)

I think I've decided that my theme for this year is going to be: "Because I can!" Several years ago I had an F150 with four wheel drive and we happened to have a bad winter according to Virginia standards and my motto that year when my husband would ask why I wanted to go somewhere in this weather was, "Because I can!" Well, I have a healthy body other than too much weight. There are many people with thin bodies that can't exercise so I am blessed to be able to exercise at my weight so my theme this year is, "Because I can!" What is yours going to be?

Well, that is my post for today. I will get the measurements and photos up soon!

Adding photos. I don't have any good before pictures. I do have one, but I have to scan it and don't want to right now, but the first face photo is of me 2 years ago and the other is today. Not much difference!  :(  But I carry most of my weight in my lower body so I guess I won't see it in my face much yet!

Here is a face and side shot of me at 50 pounds lost.

Wicked Wednesday!

It's wicked because I had to workout hard today to counter the eating I did yesterday!  Seriously, I know I didn't eat as much as I would have in the past, but it was more than I needed, that's for sure!  I work up with a sugar hangover from all the cookies I ate!  LOL I've divided all the leftover macaroni and cheese and scalloped potatoes into containers for Mike to take with him to work this week so I don't have to look at them anymore! We are having vegetable bean soup for lunch and pork roast with cabbage and carrots tonight for supper!  The scale was honest (even though I didn't like it this morning) and I will just have to keep working hard to get that gain off and move on to my 50 pound goal!  :)

While I was working out my heart rate monitor went whacko a couple of times saying my heart rate was over 200 when I knew it wasn't (I'd have been huffing and puffing and gasping for breath if that were the case!) so I adjusted the monitor and it would go back to normal. It wasn't until it happened a second time that I wondered if it was because the band around my chest was getting too loose and moving around too much!  When I got home I shortened the band by TWO inches! LOL I don't think I'll have a problem with my heart rate now!  ;)