My NSV is that I got a ton of compliments yesterday! Every year, my high school has a big Christmas/holidays choir concert, known as the yearly "reunion" concert, because at the end of the concert, all of the choir alumni are invited up to the stage to sing our traditional closing song with the current members. Since I was a total choir nerd in high school (hehe), I always go to the concert, and I was especially looking forward to it this year because I knew I'd be seeing lots of people who haven't seen me in a loooong time. And, well, I was right! I can't even tell you how big of a boost it was to see so many people's jaws dropping, and hear "You look amazing!" over and over. I felt like I was on cloud nine all day.
I noticed last night that my upper abs are looking much better. They kind of dip in on both sides, I'm sure there is a term for that but I don't know what it is. The lower abs are another story, 2 babies and 20 years of obesity that only surgery will completely fix I'm sure. But the upper abs look quite good. It must be the jogging and treadmill on a good incline doing it.
Lying in bed last night, I put my hand on my butt, and THERE WAS A MUSCLE THERE. Technically I'm sure that muscle has always been there, but now it is REALLY there--enough to feel under the fat still covering my posterior. I am also seeing nice muscular curves in my arms, and can feel and see the changes in my leg muscles. All this is from the hill-walking and upper body strength training I've been doing over the past month.
Here is a NSV totally unrelated to weight loss, but I wanted to share anyway. I got all A's my first semester in grad school! Yay!! All the late nights were worth it, lol. Now, if only I could get my TOM snacking under control...arg...off to the gym!
I tried on two skirts from my drawer today that I had bought when I was around 320... and they are BOTH LOOSE!!!! The brown one was a size 28 so I'm about a 24 now!!!
Well, every member of our extended family who saw us last night gave my husband and I big compliments on our weight loss--I guess it must be quite noticeable! One of my aunts and one of my sisters even told me how "pretty" I looked. (I did hair and makeup, and my skin does look really nice due to the way I eat now.)
Then, I did stay totally on plan--ate meat, veggies, cheese, had a little wine and some coffee, and a bite of dark chocolate. There were loads and loads of crackers, bread, candy, and cake that I completely avoided. Despite my perserverance and restraint, the wine and coffee unfortunately made me feel kind of crappy and gave me poor sleep, since I'm just not used to them. Alas! But still, I -was- on plan.
A good Christmas overall, and today I'm back to eating as clean as usual.
My NSV is that I actually came to a realization yesterday. As some of you here may know, I decided to lose weight a couple of years ago to try to become a police officer. I am now in the process of applying to a couple of forces, and I got a letter in the mail from the provincial force saying that, based on information I gave them, I will not be moving on to the next stage of the selection process. It was a little disappointing, but I am still in contention for the RCMP, which was (is) my first choice anyway. I got to thinking all sorts of thoughts, such as, am I a "good enough" (ie. moral enough) person to be a police officer? What if I don't get into any force? I got a little down on myself and thought of turning to food to make me feel better. The epiphany (I'm not so sure that is the right word, but bear with me) is that if I never become a cop, or ever get a job that requires me to be in good physical shape, I don't want to undo what I've done so far, which is lose over 100 pounds. I want to lose more, and I want to continue in the battle. I found that I like looking into a mirror now. I like being able to do more with my body, such as play sports and climb stairs without feeling like passing out. I have so much more confidence and self esteem than I ever had. I can look at a man now and not think he is "too good for me" because I was (and still am) overweight, which is faulty thinking, I know. I look at a man like that now and think I have as good a chance as anyone else, and he'd be lucky to have me. I am much happier now and regardless of where I wind up professionally, I like who I am and I will not resort to food to give me comfort.
Hey Ookpik, I hope you get the spot with the RCMP! I love your attitude though, even if you don't you'll have the healthy strong body to rejoice over! That attitude in itself is quite a wonderful victory! Congrat's to you
My nsv is the boost of energy I got at the end of a 5K walk/jog with my hubby yesterday. He likes to push me to go faster and he sped up at the last and I kicked it in and passed him! Wow, that felt awesome! I have to admit he was struggling with his leg, the muscle was really hurting him. It's still amazing for me to even keep up with him though, so passing him was such a kick!
I'm loving this jogging stuff, who would have thought at 44 I'd take up jogging!
I'm with ya on the jogging...I started at 37. Never thought in a million years I'd ever do it, but I enjoy it and miss it right now, looking forward to Spring when the ice and snow are gone so I can get back to i! Congrats on passing Hubby...it must have felt awesome!
Last edited by Ookpik; 12-26-2008 at 04:53 PM.
Reason: bad grammar!
I have kind of a funny NSV today! It happened last night--I went to a semi-shady bar that's really popular with people my age from my hometown, because they're pretty, uh, lenient with IDs. I was actually only there because my sister and some of our mutual friends (who actually are 21+) had gone drinking, so I had offered to pick them up so they could have fun without having to worry about driving home... So I was there for like 20 mins, tops, but it was worth it! Because this bar is so popular with people my age, it has a reputation for being a little like a "high school reunion" whenever you go, because you always run into people you went to school with... Usually the ones that weren't actually in your social circle, of course, haha. But for me it ended up being kind of good because I ran into tons of random acquaintances that I hadn't seen in a reeeally long time, and I got so many compliments! And I even kind of got hit on by a random guy who went to my school but I never spoke to, haha. (Which under normal circumstances would be totally unwelcome, I'm sure, but it still blows my mind to think that anyone would hit on me, LOL.) OH, and at one point, a friend of a friend was walking behind me and said "Meredith, your a** looks great in those jeans!" I practically had to pick my jaw up off of the floor... I'm pretty sure those words have never, EVER been spoken to me in my life!!! Lol.
Basically, I'm on cloud nine right now. I mean, man, I am REALLY starting to love being at home--it gives me like THE hugest boost to my self-esteem. Haha. It's so funny, because I've been feeling yucky because I've had some bad eating habits/gained a pretty significant amount over this past week (holidays! haha) and I don't feel like such a hottie at the moment, but it feels good to remember that overall, I essentially look like a new person to people who haven't seen me in a while.
I haven't really lost anything since Thanksgiving, but somehow I went down a size! I got new jeans yesterday, and they were the ame brand, style, and fit as the ones I got at Thanksgiving, but a size smaller. Yay!
I signed up, paid money and COMMITTED to doing a half-marathon the end of April. I have been training for it for a while but I'm now past the point of no return, so to speak.
Every year, my high school has a big Christmas/holidays choir concert, known as the yearly "reunion" concert, because at the end of the concert, all of the choir alumni are invited up to the stage to sing our traditional closing song with the current members. Since I was a total choir nerd in high school (hehe), I always go to the concert, and I was especially looking forward to it this year because I knew I'd be seeing lots of people who haven't seen me in a loooong time. 
And, well, I was right! I can't even tell you how big of a boost it was to see so many people's jaws dropping, and hear "You look amazing!" over and over. I felt like I was on cloud nine all day. 
