So, umm…I REACHED GOAL! YAHOOO!! YEEHAW! WOO HOO!!
I actually reached it a couple days ago, but it was the weekend and therefore family time so I wasn’t online much at all. The good news is…I managed the weekend well and I’m still at 134.8! The plan now is to maintain through this week and then resume losing next week. My new goal is reduced body fat (I’m thinking 20-22% range) and/or a maintenance range of 124-129. Obviously it’s all dependant on what my body decides to do and how I feel about it. I’m 100% content here, but I think I could stand to lose a little body fat. There’s still plenty of jiggling going on during workouts, ya know? I really just want to firm up, but I suspect that’ll come with fewer pounds and continued exercise. I love being a size 8 and feeling good about how I look in my clothes. I can’t complain at all. I dreamed about being this weight for 10 years without having the drive to do enough about it. Now, I’m already thinking about how my workouts will adjust in maintenance. As much as I love being fit and active, I prefer to do it by being active outside…walking/running, gardening, sports, etc. The weight lifting is something I plan to cut back on or at least change once I reach maintenance. I still plan to run and get back to triathlon training this spring. I guess I’ll have to find a weight program that’s pretty minimal and use that during my less-strenous training times. We’ll see soon enough.
On the house front, I took brseay’s advise and decided against planting bulbs. My mom and I are going to start seeds and hope to have some healthy flowering plants ready to plant by spring. We are going to have A LOT of landscaping to do. Good thing there’s no major rush. It will be time consuming and should function as an incredible exercise regimen! :) Now that the exterior walls and roof are up and they cleaned the inside up from the scrap boards and all, it’s nice to be able to begin planning and picturing how I want to arrange the rooms. We’ve already been able to eliminate some ideas due to layout. It’s just so stinkin’ EXCITING!! Thank you, Jesus!
Yesterday was a busy, but exciting day! I got up to our building site about 8:30 a.m. to watch them putting the exterior walls up on our house!! At noon, the builder walked us through the house for the first time and we got to walk into the “rooms” and it was AMAZING!!! By 5 p.m. they had the roof trusses all on. Today the boards and paper for the roof are going on and getting shingled. I was so giddy yesterday, I felt like a kid getting their dream gift on Christmas. Just imagine when I actually get to move into the house! LOL
Unfortunately, I am still hanging on to a fraction of a pound keeping me from 135 even. It’s amazing how much more patient I am about getting there since I’m finally really realizing this is for life. The next month plus will be a matter of the ups and downs of maintenance which is excellent practice for the rest of my life! It’s not an excuse to eat badly, but I also don’t want to spend every holiday avoiding my grandma’s home-cooked favorites…isn’t gonna happen! I’d much rather enjoy the day in moderation and eat ”clean” the rest of the month. Makes a lot more sense to me! Did I mention my DD’s birthday is on Thanksgiving this year? Yeah, I’m not gonna go through the day on 1200 calories. But I will choose not to gorge myself. I will have a reasonable portion of the foods I want and I will keep my exercise routine up so I don’t have additional calorie overload from not expending any cals. My DS’s birthday is 10 days later, so it’s a loaded month from November 26-December 26, but I can maintain. I WILL MAINTAIN and come out of this holiday season at or below 135!
I’m SO close to the 135 goal. In fact, I was inching up on it all last week….losing in .2 increments. Then came Sunday. My family ate out for lunch. Now, I’ve gotten a pretty good hold of how to eat out well and all, so I wasn’t too concerned. In fact, I had planned what I’d eat at 3 different places, just to be prepared. Well, DH chose a place not on my mental list. I thought maybe I’d be okay, but NOPE! We got there, I got the breakfast buffet and ate until I was stuffed! Granted that’s not nearly the quantity it used to be, but still…NOT GOOD! I realized right away what a bonehead I was, so I started drinking mass quantitites of water the moment we got home and then ate a healthy supper, so the scale showed me up 1 pound. Now if I was in maintenance range, I’d realize what a dumb mistake I’d made and learn from it, but still be fine since I have a small cushion. I am NOT hwever there yet, so it’s like I have to undo the damage and get back to losing so I can reach that magical maintenance range. I do realize maitenance will look a lot like losing. I’ve been lurking on the maintainer’s forum for a few days. I want to know what I’m in for..LOL I’m cool with still counting calories, exercising and realizing food and I are not ever going to have a “normal” relationship. In fact, my mentality is partially there. My parents think I’ve lost enough and should be done losing and so I just tell them I basically am, but I want to stay there, so I have to keep making healthy choices. Yes, I CAN eat grandma’s delicious Christmas candy, but not in bulk. I CAN eat my children’s birthday cake, but just one serving. This is my LIFE. I CAN enjoy it without going crazy with food! Yeah, I’m still figuring it out and maybe I always will be, but thank God for bringing me this far and I intend to STAY healthy. That doesn’t mean perfection, but it does mean realizing unhealthy behaviors and correcting them ASAP. I hope to soon be posting that I’ve surpassed 135 and I’m headed toward my maintenance range!
Alright, welcome to November in my life!
The builders have gotten the basement walls up and this week they’re waterproofing them and then backfilling around them, so we’ll have such exciting progress! Yay! I know it doesn’t sound like anything huge, but it’s been so amazing to watch it all happen. We’ve got the papers in to get electric hooked up next week, too! I mean it makes my heart soar to see the progress and know that we’ll be back in our own house in a couple months. I’m debating planting some bulbs so we have flowers come up next spring, but I’m not sure how disturbed some of the ground will get right around the house. I may put them out by them end of the driveway or something. I enjoy gardening and I know it will feel more like home to me once flowers are growing there in the spring.
On the plan part of my life, all is going…well, according to plan! LOL I am looking forward to reaching my weight goal of 135 this month and see what happens after that. I have decided on my goal maintenance weight range, based in large part on having a good body fat percentage. I’ve exceeded all the goals I made for myself at the very outset of this journey. At first, I had a goal weight of 150, a goal size of 12, and to reduce body fat. All goals met!! I revised the weight goal many months ago, but had no idea what to reset the goal size to, since I wasn’t sure how my body would change with the continued loss, ya know? Well, I’m pretty much in 8’s in misses and 9’s in juniors now, which is beyond my dreams. I’m thinking if I can get more of this tummy fat gone, I could possibly get into 6’s by the end of it all. I KNOW I’ve never worn that size as an adult and I’m pretty sure I never wore it as a teen either (at least not mid-late teens). I have absolutely no desire to go any lower that that. In fact, if I stay in 8’s I’ll still be completely fine and content. I am still so shocked they fit! It’s what size my skinny, eats-like-a-bird MIL wears.
Anyway, once again I was recently able to gain some perspective and really prayed that God would allow me to enjoy where I’m at. He has so graciously granted me that and it has made a tremendous difference in my mood toward finishing this weight loss, and everything else, for that matter. I am looking forward to posting being at goal soon, so I can share the joy with you all. Here’s to November being a fantastic month for us all!
Okay, we don’t really celebrate Halloween here, but it was an easy title. The kids are totally jazzed for the Harvest Party at church tonight. They’re doing trunk-or-treat (people decorate their trunks and the kids come around the church parking lot and get candy and play games) and having a ventriloquist which my son LOVES! Anyway, I’m thrilled to post that I’m down to 137.4 today which put me below my October goal of 139 and very close to my big GOAL of 135. YAY!! I’ve almost come to a decision on what to do with keeping my goal at 135 or whatever. It’s been an interesting thought process and it’s helped me to really consider what motivates me to get to or keep a certain weight. I’m so glad to be at this point, but I know maintaining will not be a cake walk, so I have to be committed to that just as I have been to losing weight. I just feel like life has been so good and God has given me a gift in realizing what life can be like as a healthy person. As I’ve said before, I’m SO blessed!
This morning I weighed in at 140.0 which puts me into the “healthy” range on the BMI chart!! WA HOOO!!! I did it! I can’t believe I did it!!!!!! To think that when I started out, I thought just getting to “overweight” was tremendous and now I’m so OVERJOYED to know that I am a healthy adult. It’s only partially sinking in. I still can only half comprehend that I’m not the “fat chick” any more. It’s definitely going to take my brain a while to catch up with what’s happening with my body, ya know? Anyway, I’m trying to revel in this moment and be super thankful for reaching this incredible milestone! God has been very gracious to me in having such a supportive family and giving me determination to continue when it was frustrating to make healthy choices. So, there it is, that’s my joyful announcement for the day!
Last Thursday, the excavator began digging the foundation for our new house. He even filled the ditch and basically formed the driveway which is huge since our ditch was a pain to get through to get on our land, especially for our kids, parents and other less agile folks. Anyway, today the cement guy is coming to do the footing for the basement and the excavator is digging for the septic. I know that’s no big deal to most of you, but to me it’s SO incredibly awesome!! I was holding off my excitement until something actually happened on the land (just in case something went wrong) and now it’s happening! I’m starting to be able to picture how things might look and it’s beautiful!
On the weight front, I’m creeping along. I am at 141.6 and taking the slow and steady approach apparently. I’m totally fine with it since it’s going in the right direction and I’m pre-TOM. I would love to see 140.something in the next day or 2 just so I can celebrate the healthy BMI milestone. My DH has allowed me to treat myself to a heart rate monitor as my reward for hitting “healthy”. I’m so excited to get it and see what I actually burn for calories so I may be able to do a better job of eating the right calories. My latest project is pre-planning every meal so I can keep better track of calories. I had gone WAY under for a little while and I think it had stalled me out a bit. Now, I’m trying to be more mindful of drinking my water and then just eating the planned meals. I’ve cut out eating out for about a month to really see how what I’m eating at home is effecting my weight. I think I mentioned before that I suspect my whole family has a minor wheat intolerance. So, I’m cutting back on wheat. I think it’s one of the other culprits behind my stalled weight-loss. I REALLY have been OP for the last week and a half which is a long time for me to go without any “cheating”. But I think it’s helping me narrow down possible problems with my food choices.
Exercise-wise things are a little unsure. I’ve been having some light pain in one foot which has caused me to proceed with my running program with caution. Today it feels a little better, so I hope tomorrow I find it back to normal or at least improved more. I have been listening to my body to make sure to not overdo it. The plan is to continue as long the pain doesn’t get worse and continue to baby the foot until the pain is completely gone. Otherwise, all is well. I’m THRILLED to see better weather here. We’ve had a little warm-up so the outdoor running is MUCH nicer.
That’s all my news for now. Take care ladies and gentleman!
So, we closed on the loan to build our new house! WOOOO HOOOO!!! It’s really a dream come true. DH and I always thought it might be fun to build, but it didn’t seem like it was going to happen. Now I can’t believe we’re actually doing it. I’m SO excited to get started. They start digging the foundation next week. We’re already getting bathroom accessories, picking out paint, and trying to coordinate all sorts of things. So far, so good….
The weight is coming off sloooooowly, but pretty steady. 1-2 pounds a week, like is supposed to be healthy, so no complaints. I’m only a pound and a half from “healthy”. That will be a day to celebrate…and it should be in the next week or so. I’m over a week into the new running schedule and it’s going well. I can already see it’s going to challenge me and continue to improve my cardio health, not to mention my running speed and endurance. That’s all for me right now. Be healthy!
Yay! I met my goal for this month (Sept) today and just wanted to enjoy the moment (or day LOL). I reached 143.8 this morning, so it was a close call since my goal was 144. That means I am only a couple pounds away from a HEALTHY BMI!!! Yee Haw, baby!! I’m almost “healthy”! My goal for October is to not only reach the healthy BMI range, but to also get into the 130’s..the farther the better!
On another note, I set my preliminary (Ultimate) goal at 135 since that was the weight I maintained throughout high school. We’ll see how the 30-something me looks at that weight. Things aren’t quite as tight as they once were. I know most of you can relate. Anyway, I do feel amazing (the vast majority of the time) and am SO much happier with how I look and feel in and out of my clothes! HeeHee
I do hope to continue getting fitter, so the quest is ever on to find the right exercises for me to do that. I found out at my chiropractor the other day that Pilates is irritating my back muscles. Apparently it’s making my core ab muscle so tight that that muscle is pulling on my back muscles, causing trouble. So, pilates is out. I’m thinking of trying Bob’s (from Biggest Loser) weightloss yoga. I’ve heard good things. I’m going to check it out from my library first and see what I think, so I’ll keep ya’ll posted. The running and strength training are still working wonderfully, so they get to stay for October! I’m doing a new 5K training plan that works on speed and also build endurance. We’ll see how my legs/body feel about running 5X/wk now. The fun begins tomorrow!
So, a month or so ago I went to Savers (a store like Goodwill) and found a couple pair of jeans that were quite tight in anticipation of wearing them for fall/winter. Well, today was a cooler day and I went to put on jeans and tried on one of those pair. It fit SO perfectly and I felt amazing in them! They’re a size 10, too, which made it even more awesome. I used to think of that as like the ideal size to get to if I ever could lose the weight. Now I’d (almost) consider myself a size 10 and I know I could pretty easily go down another size before my journey is over. A single digit size is like beyond a dream for me. I seriously barely wore an 8 in junior high or high school. I was pretty much a 10 even then, so this is way more than I had hoped for. I just wanted to share that little victory in my life since this month has had its ups and downs for me. Keep dreamin’, ladies! Sometimes God exceeds our dreams…just more to thank Him for!!
