Truly Surprised

I got to work today and went back to MRI and weighed myself. I am so surprised and happy that over the last several weeks that I haven't payed much attention to losing weight, I didn't gain all my hard work back. I weighed in at 331 lbs.

Which leads me to my goals. I have been thinking about the goal I set for myself. I think I'm going to make it a little more achievable. I'm going to work for 17.5% That means losing 58 lbs and ending up at 273 lbs. I chose this goal specifically because 274 lbs is what I weighed at my first Dr's appointment when I was pregnant with Brayden. So, if I can achieve my goal... I will have officially lost all the "baby weight."

I have tomorrow off, so I'm going to have to get a really good workout in. Maybe I'll get some ideas from the magazines I brought with me to work, Muscle & Fitness and Runner's World. There's a good article about ab excercises in M&F that I could try out. I'll have to have Jeremy blow up the balance ball I have stashed away.

Measuements

To start out the competition I had Jeremy measure me. Mandey wanted measurements on upper arms, chest, waist, hips, thighs, and calves.

Upper Arms: 18 1/4 (R) & 17 1/2 (L)
Chest: 63
Waist: 60
Hips: 51 1/2
Thighs: 31 (R) & 30 3/4 (L)
Calves: 20 (R) & 19 3/4 (L)

I know those are pretty scary measurements but that's what I'm working with and what I'm trying to shrink. So, we'll see what the next week will bring.

Run a mile in MY shoes...I DID!

Today, as I said I would, I went to the track and to my surprise...I RAN A MILE!! I can not believe I ran the whole time! I went a little ways and thought I'd stop to walk after a little bit. Then I got one time around the track...I thought I'd stop and walk then ...but I didn't...I got around a second time then a third! I only had 1 lap left...so, what did I do? I picked up my pace!! On the last lap I had the wind behind me for a bit of it...pushing me along. Then the last 100 meters came...they were the hardest. The wind was in my face, pushing me back...almost like it wanted me to fail. I went faster and pushed harder, keeping the finish line in my mind. Then I crossed! HUGE smile on my face! I don't think I could even run a mile when I was in track in High School... haha! I didn't run it fast by any means...I finished in 14:45. I took Zoey with me to run around (she loved it) and there was once that I had to stop to get her to come through a break in the fence. It only took me like 10-15 seconds though. It also took me a tiny bit of fumbling to get my iPod/stopwatch out of my pocket to stop it after I crossed the line. I'm not to tied up on the 15 or so seconds that might have been added to my time. I'm mostly proud of myself for A: actually going out and doing it and B: for surprising even myself and running the whole time!

Today was the London Marathon. Wouldn't that be awesome to go to!! The winner ran in a little over 2 hours! I can not imagine how fast you'd have to go to run 26 miles in 2 hours! That's like a 4.5 min mile! WOWZERS! Good Job!

$$$ = Motivation!

How about a little cash to motivate me! A group of about 8 or 9 people are entering a little cross-country weight loss competition!

It starts TODAY! Although, I'm going to weigh in tomorrow because I plan on using the scale in MRI at work. I think that scale is the most reliable and I'm always there so I can use it every week. We are going to keep track of our percentage weight lost and also inches lost over our body. We are going to measure our upper arms, chest, waist, hips, thighs, and calves. For every percentage lost you get 10 points and for every overall inch lost you get 10 points. We are putting $30 in a "pot" to start out with and every week, the person with the lowest percentage lost has to put $5 in. Anyone that loses 0 pounds has to put $5 in. It's going to last 12 weeks! The last day will be July 18th. On that day, the person with the most points, WINS!

So, lets talk Goals: I haven't weighed in yet but.... let's say I'm 330lbs now. I think I can lose 20% body weight in 12 weeks... that's 66 lbs! That would mean 5.5 lbs a week to lose and at the end of 12 weeks a weight of 264! That's a weight I haven't seen since well before I got pregnant with Brayden. Actually, it's more like what I was after gaining the Freshman 20. HA!

I have no idea what to expect of myself for inches lost goal. I think that as long as I can fit into some of my old jeans...I'll be happy! Actually...I want to "fit" into my old jeans but I definitely want to get new jeans! That would be a perfect gift to myself. :)

Mandey (our competition coordinator) also suggests taking pictures along the way. I'll have to do that, too!

Today, what I want to do is go to the track in Mapleton and run a mile. I'd like to see how long it takes me to run a mile and after the competition, do it again, and see how much I improve. I like the idea of seeing how far I've come.

UP's and DOWN's

I have been struggling to follow any sort of plan. I think to myself, "You need to change, you want to change, so, why don't you change?!"

Who knows how much of the weight I had previously lost have I gained back. It's really disappointing. During all of the snow and ice I talked about how much I couldn't wait for it to be nice out so I can get out more and exercise more. It's nice out now and while I have gone on a few walks, I don't feel like they took a lot of effort and I don't feel like I burned a lot of calories. I do love my new stroller, it has helped me get out the door several times in the last couple weeks! I think what I need is a good sweaty workout at the gym! I love my gym workouts. I can hop on the elliptical and the treadmill and just go. I love being able to see the calorie burn right in front of me. I love the feeling I have when I leave the gym. I just don't get the same satisfaction going for a walk. Another thing I like about going to the gym is the alone time. I like being able to turn on the iPod and get "lost." The time to myself at the gym is really nice.

A few people I know have gotten nifty calorie counting watches. They have a belt around their midsection and have a watch. You can look at the watch and it tells you your calorie burn. It has several other functions like a stopwatch, a real time watch, among other things. I want one! :)

One thing that would help out more than anything is planning meals. If I didn't have to worry about what fried, fatty, cheese covered concoction to get from the cafeteria at work and if I didn't have to think about what I'm going to make at home 10 minutes before I need to make it....I would be making a lot better choices. All it would take is a little planning on my part.

Sometime last week I picked up a copy of Runner's World Magazine. I have been reading every page and I've about read the entire thing! I have gotten many tidbits from the magazine that I really like. Many things have been very inspiring.

Like,
Q: Can I still call myself a "runner" if I walk so much?
A: If you're running, no matter how fast or slow, you're a runner.

and

Running It Off
Kristi Lane, 34 Wescosville, Pennsylvania

Eight years ago, Lane stepped on the scale and saw a number that astonished her: 313 pounds, which hung on her 5'4" frame. "I knew I had to do something," she says. Her son was an active toddler, and Lane couldn't keep up with him. She began walking on a treadmill at her company gym, and after a few months, she lost 20 pounds. Then she got pregnant again. "I fell off the wagon," she says, "but not for long." She started walking on the path behind her office. "At some point I realized I was walking as fast as I could. So I'd pick a tree up ahead and jog to that." Soon she was walk/running three to four days a week. Just under a year later, she'd lost 80 pounds. "Once I started running, the pounds just melted off," says Lane, who wants to lose another 50. "Now I sleep better and have tons of energy. I just keep going. I crave running. If I don't do it, I get cranky. I'm a real runner now."

I really liked the story that Kristi told. It was very inspiring to me. I think to myself, I can do that! I have a route that is a little over 3 miles long. I can walk it and do just as she did, pick out a goal place and run to that. I want to be a runner! Thank you Kristi for your story, I see myself and see that you were once in my shoes. I now want to be in your shoes!

I think that I should try to have a 3-4 day a week plan. I want to do my walking route those days and when I get comfortable walking it, start picking out little running areas and over time increase those areas until I am eventually running the entire route!!

I am so thankful for this blog. If I didn't have the idea of "becoming half my size," and the life of this blog in the back of my mind, I would have stopped trying to lose weight long ago. I have a feeling my life is going to change! :)

Next year, at this time, I will be glad I started TODAY!!!

Spring Thaw!

I did it!!! I completed my first 5K!! I mostly walked but jogged a little now and then. I finished the race in 46:00! I did the race with a few friends; Jodi, Melissa, and Sara. There were a lot more people there that I knew, too. Jodi finished in, I think, 27:33 and Melissa was after her. Sara and I walked and jogged together. Sara really kept me going! I was worried that I held her back but I'm glad I had her because she kept me going. She had me jogging when I didn't really want to and had me walking faster than I would have if I would have been alone. At the last little bit of the race she went off ahead of me and I went on alone. It didn't bother me at all. Then just around the corner from the finish line was Jodi and Melissa cheering along the sidelines. Jodi ran the last little bit with me. She said, "Let's go! The finish line is just around the corner!" Then when the time clock was in sight she said, "Let's get to the finish line before 46:00!" We had about 30 seconds to go and that was all that was on my mind. I didn't even notice all the people on the sidelines watching me run. I crossed the finish line and Jodi gave me a high five. I was so proud of myself! The girls and I got a banana and hung out for a little bit. They all left and I decided that I wanted to hang around a little bit. I watched some of the 10 mile runners cross the finish line and watched a girl I know cross the line. I hung out and walked around for about an hour and all I could think about is, "I want to be apart of this crowd. I want to be a runner!" I listened to the experienced runners talk about their "PR's" and their "Pace's." I wanted to talk about my PR and Pace times. I'll tell you all... since this was my first race, I have a new PR (runner talk for Personal Record.) My PR is 46:00! The pace time they had for me on the sheet that was hung up with everyones' times said my pace time was 14:59! Pace time is how fast I did each mile. I think most runners have a pace time of anywhere from 6-9 min. I decided that I'm going to do the Royal Run 5K walk/run in June. I'm going to try and get a new PR. :) If I work at it, I think I can get my pace down to 14:00 by then. Yes, I am HOOKED!

Here are the four of us after the race. Me, Jodi, Sara, and Melissa. We had so much fun! I can't wait to do another! After the race, I came home to a wonderful sight! My new stroller!! I was so excited, I ripped the box open and started putting it together right away. Jeremy had to help fix the brakes and make sure they were all set up right. I'm not sure what people that don't have a "Jeremy" to do those things do. :) I then loaded up the girls in the stroller, Brayden on his bike and Zoey, our rat terrior, on the leash and off we went. I wasn't sure how everything would go, because Zoey isn't really used to a leash, but I had her walking pretty well right next to the stroller. It worked out great! We used it again on Sunday out at my mom's. We were outside most of the afternoon and having the stroller for the girls to sit in worked out great!
I mapped out my walking route around town on www.runningmap.com. I made the route I take around Danbury fit into 3.1 miles or 5K. That way I can take that route and work on the time it takes me to finish it. For some reason, I'm still not too comfortable with the idea of running in town where people can see me. I don't know why because I ran at the race on Saturday where there were tons of people watching. I guess I knew they didn't know me and probably didn't think about it much past the time of seeing me. If I run in town, I know when I see people later they'll probably say, "I saw you running. ...blah, blah, blah." or at coffee, they'll tell all the other coffee drinkers, "I saw Megan running around town." LOL! I guess it's not that big of a deal but I don't like to be the topic of conversation and I don't want to be a "show" for anyone.

One thing I want to try, if I can, is rollerblading with the stroller. The stroller has a hand brake so I think that I would be OK if I tried it. I might have to wait a little bit to get the courage to try that but I think it would be fun. The biggest thing would be getting down the driveway to the street! The little incline of my driveway would send me shooting with the stroller into the street and I'd probably end up on the ground in our neighbors yard! HAHA!

I have got to get back to eating better! I'm about half way involved in eating good. I eat junk but then I'll have a salad. Yesterday I made myself a little malt but made some good chicken with black beans and rice for supper. Actually, I'm only about half way involved in exercising, too. I haven't been to the gym in quite awhile. I think that I'll go out because it's pretty nice out but then I don't get to it. I've gained a little weight back, too. If I want to reach my goals, I'm going to have to step it up!

The Dr. Phil show is having a "FAT debate" today. I think I'm going to watch.

Goal for today: Get some exercise in; video, walk/jog, or gym. JUST DO IT! :)