Clothes ... that fit?

So, a year ago at this time I was 48 pounds heavier than what I am now.  That's a lot of pounds!  The speaker at Friday's WLC meeting brought in a pound of butter as a visual aid. She said she brought it in to remind the group what a pound looks like. She said some folks in the group had emailed her with sad statements like, "I only lost one measly little pound this week...." so she brought in a pound of butter and asked us to imagine that pound coming right off each of our thighs!  I loved the visual especially after remembering that I have lost almost 50 of those bad boys!

x50

But, all this losing and reshaping my body is giving me clothing nightmares.  Not the kind of nightmares you dream in your sleep, but the kind that you live in your morning routines where you try shirt after shirt after shirt on and don't like the way anything looks on you or ...even more fun of course... the pants!

When I lost the first 35 after last summer's WLC, I went clothes shopping.  I thought it would be FUN! Sounds fun, right? Getting new clothes after a significant loss like that?  I mean, 35 pounds surely equals a couple of pant sizes...   right?

That's where I have mental issues. (No husby, I don't need a reminder that I've always had mental issues, kay? I'm talking about clothes here, thanks.)

I mean, I went shopping and tried on a billion mazillion trillion different pairs of pants and didn't like any of them! I used to be a size 16 pants (on a good day!) and those are much too big.  I tried on some 14s - still baggy.  The 12s are incredibly small... I think?

This Goldilocks game has to stop.   I think I know why it's happening.
Most of my adult life, I've worn baggy clothes. Espcially my jeans/pants. I've always wanted them loose so I have room to grow. Because that's all I've ever done. GROW.  I've never had the pleasure of shrinking before.  And, when clothes fit tight, it just means I need to go one size bigger.  In my head, at least.

So where am I now?  I'm finding myself buying NEW pants (as a weight loss REWARD) that are too big!  My two newest pants, both of which I love, slip on and off my hips without even unbuttoning or unzipping them.

To me, this is a hurdle I must overcome.

Just recently (VERY recently, like last week recently) my favorite brown belt was suddenly TOO BIG.  The tightest notch on the belt was still too loose to hold my britches up.

It's time to re-train my brain to understand what clothes that fit feel like.  I'm not sure how I'm going to do this. Clothes are a really big part of my budget and I don't want to just go buying clothes that should be my size and then never wear them because they're not comfortable.  I honestly don't know how to shop for clothes now.  This is a bummer!  Suggestions are welcome!

Eat better, exercise more

Everybody at work seemed pretty surprised about my 8lbs lost.  It felt good to know that I was doing something right!  All week, people have been mentioning the success and asking for pointers. I feel VERY TOTALLY and COMPLETELY unqualified to give any sorts of pointers on weight loss, but I feel a personal responsibility to let everybody in on what works for me so that maybe it can work for them too...

Here's my big secret - are you ready????


... Diet & Exercise.

And prayer.
Lots of prayer.

This week's weigh-in won't be NEARLY as impressive. I can't even guarantee that I've lost anything.  But, I'm getting healthier and stronger, and HOPEFULLY a little bit closer to that grand prize in March - the jackpot for the weightloss challenge. :)

The Challenge :: Week 1

So, here are my impressions of this weight loss challenge that I'm a part of.

First, I'm pretty disappointed with how the thing is being executed. The accountability provided by having co-workers and friends on the challenge with me is a very good thing, but the management of weigh-in's is kind of on an honor system. They are asking participants to weigh in and then email their weight to one of the organizers of the challenge. This organizer is an outside person, so it's not biased, but the weights are not checked by ANYONE, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. Even our initial weigh in last week was pretty sorry: just weigh in on the scale you'll be using for the duration of the challenge and email that weight to the facilitator.  I'm a pretty honest person. In fact, if I had to name a weakness about me, it would be fierce loyalty. I hate to break rules and I'm pretty much a terrible rule follower. So, the thought of cheating on this, though enticing (we're talking about close to $200 here, probably!), is out of the question for me. But, how do I know that everybody else who is participating is on the same ethical level I am?

 Aside from that, I can brag that I'm doing very well. I'm back to the exact weight I made when I finished my last weight loss challenge, which is fantastic!

 I did a weight loss challenge during the summer, from June until mid August, and I lost nearly 40 pounds during that time. But, after the challenge was over, I began to have severe pain in my left shoulder and so I slacked off on the exercising. I also came down with pneumonia and so I slacked off on the healthy eating (I justified it by saying that I'm just glad I'm alive: Doesn't matter how I eat!).. Well, needless to say now, I've made up for all of that. I'm doing alright in physical therapy for my shoulder and my eating has been spot on for the last week.

I'm highly motivated by surprising everyone around me with my commitment to becoming healthier, stronger, leaner, and a couple hundred bucks richer. :) I'm 8 pounds down from my (honest to goodness) weigh in last week. I attribute that to countless hours working out and eating spinach salads with LOTS of veggies twice a day. I'm also eating plenty of fruit in the mornings and am getting sufficient protein throughout the day by way of shakes, yogurt, cottage cheese, and something meaty at dinner (usually).

 I'm feeling healthy, I'm much happier (again), and I keep surprising myself with my endurance and strength at the gym. I enjoy 5am spin classes, even though I don't have an accountability partner there. I can't wait for Spring so I can enjoy running outside more often.

 This healthier lifestyle is contagious, and perhaps that's the most appealing benefit to me. My kids are copying me - Rebecca loves her spinach smoothies and her salads and Julia wants to get serious into running. She even ran 2 miles with me and kept up with a 11:40 min/mile pace and then out-sprinted me at the end. Julia loves the shakes/smoothies and will eat raw spinach by the handfuls, along with cucumbers and celery, and even fresh broccoli.

 My husband has been a great supporter of me for this challenge as well. He has endured my thousands of questions about calories and exercise and he's been busting his own butt with Insanity just to stay with me in this. He'll enjoy his occasional sweet treat, but I don't blame him - with a metabolism and body like his, I would certainly indulge more often as well. :)

 Alright, so now I've written way more than is enough about my first week on the challenge. The challenge is over after spring break in March. I might even have a bikini body this summer... imagine that! (LOL - no don't imagine it... it was rhetorical. save yourself the gag). Thanks for reading!!!

My Fitness Pal

MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Banishing Excuses

My easiest excuse for avoiding a workout is that my kids are more important and I don't like to take time away from them.
I need to get past this, and right now the easiest way I can see around it is to get up really early and get my workout over with before my normally scheduled routine begins.  I'm going to commit to this! At least for the next 11 weeks - then who know what will happen after that, but I remember learning somewhere that 21 consecutive times of doing something forms a regular, bonafide HABIT.  So, that's what I'm going for.

But, today - husby had the day off and so did I so we did things at our leisure and it was such a JOY! I took my time with my workout today and even did the whole thing in the comfort of my own home... which is another great reminder that the excuse of bad weather, or not enough time, or even dirty clothes shouldn't stop me. I can get a workout in NO MATTER WHAT, given that we have sufficient equipment at home to knock one out without a problem.

My new-ish strategy of working out before day breaks will begin on Wednesday. I'm hoping to make it to a 5am spin class at the YMCA. It will be a super challenge since I don't have to work Weds or have any other plans. I'm gonna have to get my butt out of that bed just because.  I'll let you know what happens. :) (And while typing this post, I just remembered that holy crap, that's tomorrow.)  Heh..

Today's workout consisted of a 20 minute treadmill jog - including work with a steep incline and a two minute run at an uncomfortably fast pace.. which is great. :) And, I was watching the Dr's while I was working out and they weren't done talking about something interesting so I stayed on for an extra 5-10 minutes after that.  Then, I tried a new workout called "Hip Hop Abs" from "Shawn-T" ...  I liked it but I don't know that it did much for me, so when it was done (it was thirty minutes long!) I went ahead and did a 3 minute abs exercise to finish everything off.

I'm excited about getting back on track!  The only real, legitimate excuse I have to not go at it full force with 100% effort is a shoulder injury that I'm currently going to physical therapy for.  Hopefully it will be just another few weeks of therapy and I'll be good as new so I can re-join the weight training classes at the Y. :)