Weekly Weigh In – April 13

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april 13 weigh inAnother good week. I’m down 1.6 lbs. That puts me at a total loss of 68 lbs. If I keep it up, I should be close to losing 25% of my body weight near the beginning of June. Very happy!

I do think I need to improve on my water intake. That started slipping towards the end of the week. Don’t know why, as I always have water with me. I had to play catch up last night. I ended up staying up a bit later than I wanted just to finish that last glass of H2O. I’m half way through my quota today, so I think I’m back on track.

When I told my hubby about my weight loss, he was surprised that it was “only” 1.6 lbs. I think the look on my face made him realize his faux pas. He quickly corrected himself to say, “that’s awesome.”

I wasn’t upset with him. It’s not uncommon for me to go to my weigh in feeling confident after a week of staying on program and working out, thinking I lost a tonnage but ended up “only” losing .2 lbs.

The truth is average weekly weight loss is up to 2 lbs. When I first started my most recent adventure in weight loss, I was losing 4, 5 and even 8 lbs. in a week. Why? Water. I needed to lose all the excess water in my body before I could burn the fat. Now I’m burning fat, the weight comes off at a slower pace (which is also much more healthy to boot!).

The most important thing is that the weight is coming off.

Taking the LiveLife Active Plunge

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liveLife ActiveWeight Watchers just announced its new LiveLife Active Challenge and I’ve signed up.

The challenge lasts through June 1. Each week I’ll kick my workouts up a notch and keep track of all my activities via eTools.

Since I’ve been focused much more heavily on exercise the last couple of months, I’m very excited about participating in my very first challenge. So what’s on tap this week?

Week 1 Daily Workout Plan
Monday – 45 Minute Power Walk (3 miles)
Tuesday – Body Sculpting
Wednesday – 45 Min Power Walk (3 miles)
Thursday – Body Sculpting
Friday – 45 Minute Power Walk (3 miles)
Saturday – Brambleton Ribbon 5K (walk)
Sunday – Day Hike at Great Falls

Brambleton will be my first 5k in about 10 years and my first 5k this year. Can’t wait to start.

Do You Have The Weather Gauge?

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Wow, I completely missed it. March 23 was the one year anniversary of me walking away from a job. That’s right, I stopped working for The Man.

After 10 long years at a trade association, I had had enough of office drama, 16 hour days, and putting out one fire after another rather than doing my job. It got to the point where work felt like a hungry parasite sucking out my soul.

I always fantasized about quitting my job and getting into shape. Just focus on me. But the truth was I was afraid to walk away from the paycheck.

“Just quit, take a year off and get in shape. We’ll be fine.”
In 2008, we got our financial house in order. Thanks to Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps, we are debt free and have a 6 month emergency fund. We could more than survive on one salary. I just didn’t have enough pluck to say enough.

Enter the most awesome husband…evah! He assured me we had the weather gauge. Our finances gave us more freedom so why should I be miserable. If this was something I really wanted to do, then I should. He offered a deal – quit and focus on my health and after 12 months, rejoin the rat race. Sold!

The next day I resigned. It felt great. My health was now a priority. It was the first time in a long time I felt happy. If I had to pick one word to describe how I felt my last day on the job, it would be jubilation. I was in control. I had the weather gauge.

It’s been a great year. I’ve lost 20% of my body weight so far. I’m feeling healthier, more relaxed and stronger. My insomnia has all but disappeared and my stress levels have pretty much bottomed out. I already have a cool new job lined up that I’m very excited about (no commute!).

Never surrender the weather gauge.

Clean Bill of Health

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Image courtesy of winnod/ freedigitalphotos.net

Image courtesy of winnod/ freedigitalphotos.net

Went in for my annual physical today. I was trying to temper my excitement. With the weight loss and the increased energy levels, I was assuming good things. But we all know what happens when you assume. So I decided it was best if I was cautiously optimistic.

Turns out the numbers are better than I thought. The lab work showed my numbers significantly improved over last year. Since going low carb and getting off the couch, my:

HDL levels (good cholesterol) jumped 15 points
Blood sugar levels dropped back down into the normal range
Vitamin D levels, up 10 points, back into normal range

My doctor couldn’t be happier with the results. Obviously, the biggest change from a year ago was the weight loss – 65 lbs. I mentioned to him about training for the Tough Mudder when I hit 200 lbs. He wants me to get me on a treadmill for a heart stress test before doing something that intense. Makes sense. But he likes my plans to start going on day hikes this summer.

Also, if I keep up the weight loss, there is a real chance that I’ll be off the blood pressure meds by end of year. My blood pressure keeps improving with each visit. If I can hit 110/75 and do so consistently, then I can kiss those pills goodbye! Sweet.

Making My Feet My Friend

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Tuesday 2013-03-19 at 9.11.10 PMToday’s walk was great. The weather was sunny and warmish. I must have been feeling good because today was my fastest pace. I hit 17:13 min/mile. The same route on Sunday I was at 17:30, and I was trying to walk fast since it was cold.

Last week I was averaging 2 miles a day. This week my goal is 2.5 miles/day. The plan is to do another 2.5 Wednesday and drop back to 2 miles on Thursday. Friday I’ll be back up to 2.5. If all goes well, I’m going to shoot for 4 miles on Easter.

Working In The Yard

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Dot playing Johnny Appleseed on her lawn. Spreading starter lawn seeds is a great workout.

Dot playing Johnny Appleseed on her lawn. Spreading starter lawn seeds is a great workout.

Gardening may be the best workout yet. Flexibility, strength and endurance. That’s what it’s all about.

Our yard is small. I’m limited to container gardening on our deck. The hubby has promised that when we move out of the love shack, our new home will have space for a garden.

Well yesterday, thanks to our dogs, I was able to do some real lawn work. The type that causes you to break a sweat.

Over the last six months, working as a team, Peekabu and Shadowfax destroyed nearly half of our lawn. And the dogs started moving in for the kill on the other half. So yesterday we took the pick ax to the dirt, mixed in starter soil and seeded the yard. It was about 2 hours of moderate to heavy exercise. We had to work fast as the storm clouds started moving in. We were wiped out afterwards, so no walk for me.

In about 14 days we should see the fruits of our labor. As an added bonus, dog walking is now a permanent part of our routine. No more doggie wasteland.

I’ve got the gardening bug now. This week I’m selecting which flowers and veggies to grow on our deck and if the weather clears up, I’ll be pulling out weeds and mulching our rose bushes. Spring can’t get here soon enough…I’m certainly dressed for it!

Loving My Walking App

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So far I’m lovin’ MapMyWalk. It is very easy to use (always a good thing for an app), its FREE (bonus!) and I love that I can track what I’ve done for the week.

Screen Shot 2013-03-13 at 5.03.33 PMI’ve just been using the record function when I start my walks – no set routes. I use the voice feedback function to tell me my pace, speed and calories burned. It also provides elevation stats to boot! Granted, I’m not facing any real inclines, but I’m working up to it, I promise.

I’m going to test its Create a Map function tomorrow morning. I’ve decided to create a walk around a park nearby our house. I’m shooting for 2.5 miles tops.

Hopefully I’ll have my walking playlist set by then. Who knew choosing the right songs would be so dang hard?!?

As for my progress, my pace picked up today – I averaged 17.03 min/mi compared to 17.39 min/mi on Monday. Sweet!

Weekly Weigh In

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weekly dataWoohoo! I’m down 1.7 lbs this week. I assumed disaster due to some very high-carb days.  Thankfully the good days outnumbered the bad.

Woohoo! Inches Lost

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Sweeeet! All the numbers are moving in the right direction.

Inches Lost as of Mar. 8, 2013
Chest – 2.5
Upper Arm – 2
Waist – 7
Hips – 4
Thigh – 5.5

Very, very happy today! Of course, the last time I measured was June 2012. Will try to do monthly measurements from here on out. Now off to my hellish yoga class.

Why We Get Fat

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This week has been a bit rough. I’ve had pizza, fries and lots o’ wine…not exactly healthy fare. Plus sleeping in beat out early morning yoga classes. Other than the bowling on Monday night, I’ve been a veg all week.

I eat bad, my sleep gets screwed up. My sleep gets screwed up, I eat bad.

Ugh, it is so hard to get back on track.

So to help motivate me, I dusted off my well worn copy of Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes – my catalyst for dropping 60 pounds and why I’m now a size 22 instead of a 28 (sweeeet!).

why we get fat

If you haven’t read it, I suggest you do. It demolishes nutrition dogma of the last 60 years using science and the chemistry of how our bodies actually work.  Want to loose weight? Then forget about calories-in/calories-out.

I think this book worked for me because it isn’t a diet book. It just takes a hard look at the science that many diet and nutrition ideas are based on and shows how the nutrition community ignore how our bodies actually work.  Taubes’ writing really hit home that it’s not a diet, but relearning what to eat (and chucking out that damn USDA food pyramid). All of those low-fat foods I was buying were in fact helping me gain weight – holy crap! Just thinking about it ticks me off.

Ahh…The rut is over.