Progress

This summer is just marching by at an incredibly fast pace!  We were out this weekend on our bikes and we saw some leaves that were starting to drop. What?   It's too early for that!  And yes, while it is too early for a full onslaught of fall foliage, it is right around the corner!   I am not too upset about that, because I like fall.but it's crazy because that means that it's been almost one season since I recommitted to this weight loss journey.  So where am I?

I do feel as if I have made progress.   I have lost weight.   This time in mid to late May I was sitting at 255 pounds.  I am NOT that weight anymore.  I'm still not where I want to be but I"m making progress.    As of my official weigh in on Friday, I am 238.8.   Not great in my mind but SO much better than where I was just a few months ago.  Progress in the right direction!

We were riding this past weekend on some trails and at one point we hit a trail that we had not been on since almost exactly a year ago.  We had hit this particular trail only 2 or 3 weeks after I had purchased my new bike.   Yesterday, as I roared over obstacles and just bounced down the erosion deterrent steps on a downhill section I couldn't help but smile.   Last year I had carefully chosen the path of least resistance.....swerving and dodging and trying to avoid any obstacle.  That was not the same this year.  I was just taking the obstacles like a pro. (Ok, they were not huge obstacles...I still can't jump over larger things...hahaha).  That's progress.

Another place of progress is with my exercise.  I am doing well with keeping moving!  I do the yoga, I walk on my breaks.  We ride on the weekends.  I'm making progress in building my habits! 

I am making HUGE progress in my balance with food.  I am doing well with learning to manage and eat in moderation.....ok more specifically the treats and fun things. I have refused to give up those items because if I do, I am not 'LIVING"  It has finally clicked in my head that I CAN have them.....but just limited.  And NOT only has it clicked, but I have been for a few months really practicing what my mind knows. I had a piece of brownie this weekend.....but I had had nothing for the preceding week!   And guess what?  I didn't miss it over the week because I KNEW that I could have it when I wanted....but knowing that I had the 'ok' it took away the burning need to have it!  That is HUGE progress for a food addict!

Soo there you go.  An update on the progress of my efforts!  Am I flying through my progression?  NO.  Am I going slow?  YES.   I would like to make progress at a much faster pace but for me and my weight loss journey, this is exactly where I need to be!

When did that happen!

It's the beginning of the month...so a few things happened.......

1.  I took my measurements.  Once again for this month I saw a reduction of one inch in every measurement on my torso.  My arm and leg measurements stayed the same.  I'm great with that!  :-)

2.  Well, this isn't the beginning of the month specific but it goes in with this information.  I weighed myself for my official weigh in and I'm down 1.4 from last week.  That means that I recouped my one pound vacation weight gain and had an extra point four to spare!  This brings my numbers to....  Overall loss 95.9  from my highest and that is 32.4 pounds since January! 

3.  Picture time! Progress report at it's finest.  And that sparked a conversation with my husband...but I'll get there after I share the progress...and give you a reminder of where I've been and what I'm doing.

So this morning I was in the bathroom getting ready for my run.  I don't normally wear form fitting clothes.  It is a kick back of being so overweight that you are trying to hide your excess pounds (yeah, futile effort, but we all try it when we are overweight).  I do have a couple workout outfits that are a bit more form fitting and I wear them on occasion, but I typically end up in a simple tee shirt for my workouts.  I have scaled down...I'm not still wearing the HUGE tee shirts to work out, but they are still not form fitting.  So anyway.  This morning I put on my typical picture outfit for my run....kill two birds with one stone ya know.  My typically self absorbed husband looks over at me and says, "Holy Crap, when did that happen, your getting really curvy???  And How?"  I just looked at him incredulously.  Seriously?   I've been focused on pretty much one thing the last 5-6 months.  Anyone that has talked to me knows this!   Furthermore, I leave the house at least once mostly twice a day to workout...I return home covered in sweat...he hears me groaning when my muscles are tight and stiff from a good workout.  But yet he's asking me how??   ha ha ha  Finally I answered.  "Bike riding, running, zumba....amongst other things.  That's why I'm always begging you to go biking with me or to go play tennis!  When....lots of hours the last few months!"     Even as I shake my head at his delayed notice of the progression, I am smiling because it was finally obvious enough that even my self absorbed husband saw it!  My hard work is paying off, it IS becoming evident in my shape!

I read lots of blogs, today I do believe ill be reading through this one at work.   http://www.dailydoseofdelsignore.com/?m=1

A long way indeed

Sometimes if it feels as if I am treading water in this journey.  The journey seems long.  I feel as if it is two steps forward and one step back.  This mornings run was that way.  It wasn't a good run.  Oh, I didn't hurl, or fall down or anything.  I didn't have to stop and walk.  I just felt tired and my time was SLOW and I cut it short (that was probably a mistake, maybe I should have pushed through it) by about a half mile to a mile. (Stupid GPS program malfunctioned on me AGAIN...second run in a row).

The old MaryFran wanted to come home and beat myself up about what felt like two steps backwards whilst eating a whole batch of cookie dough while I flipped the big stack of pancakes that I wanted to eat in order to tide me over to the cinnamon rolls that I could have in the oven in two shakes of a lambs tail.  (yeah, loving to bake and cook is murder because even though I don't have the sweets in the house, it only takes a few minutes to whip up a batch of delightful food).  No, I didn't do any of that.  I made the planned breakfast for us and then I realized it was the beginning of May....and that called for a measurement day.

I took my measurements.  My arms and my legs didn't hold any major changes...maybe a half inch off my thighs...but no major changes.  My torso though...EVERY measurement that I took (and I take five from breasts down to hips) showed me dropping 1 inch!  PROGRESS!

Seeing the inches drop made me look realistically at my weight.  I've dropped 28,2 pounds this year alone!   That is SPECTACULAR!   Even more spectacular?????   From my highest weight ever, I am down 91.8 pounds!   Holy cow!  I'm creeping up on the 100 pounds lost mark!       PROGRESS!!!!

I run!   PROGRESS!!

But lets break the running down even further.  On January 31,  I started to run.  I was doing a C25K program.  90 seconds of running about near killed me.  I remember the second week (I think it was the second week) when we had to run for three minutes straight.  Sherry and I were together and we were SURE that the program had stopped because it had gone on forever and a day!  I can now run for 45 minutes straight.  I may be slower than a turtle in peanut butter, but I am out there doing it.  I used to go for 20 minutes and barely broke a mile and was exhausted.  Now I jog for 45 minutes or about 3.5 miles and come home reinvigorated.  Yeah, my body is tired but I'm so hyped up that I am super productive.  I've come a LONG way indeed in running.  So what that today was a crappy run.....I STILL DID IT!  And on January 31, I couldn't!  PROGRESS

I will leave you with pictures from my morning run this morning.  It may have been a slug fest for my legs and body, but it was GORGEOUS to my eyes!

Masala Bhangra

Today was the day that they offered a Masters Class for Masala Bhangra at the place that I go for zumba.  I went in and didn't have too much information other than watching one video and knowing that it was Indian dance based.  Seriously, I knew nothing else.  I arranged my day around the class and I arrived early so that I could get a spot in the front (I like the front, it allows me to see the instructor and thus have a better idea about what I am supposed to be doing.)  The introduced the class and the style dance and then they began.  Oh my word.  It was a workout!  Fun!   I at one point thought that I was going to have to sit down because I was pushing it so hard.  I just drank a LOT of water and pushed onward.  Fun fun fun!  I was BEAT red during the workout.  In fact, I talked after the session for a few minutes, we took a group photo, I put on my sweatshirt and jacket and gathered my stuff and walked to my car and THEN I took that picture.  You can see my face is BEAT red, even after a good 5-10 minute recovery.

As I walked into the building they were collecting money as this was a paid event for us that we couldn't use our punch cards (we buy a punch card and each class we attend we punch..when we run out of punches we buy a new card...works like a charm).  One of the regular zumba instructors (Kelsey) was there sitting with a fellow zumba girl (Karen) taking the money.  (The attendee has recently received her zumba certification).   Karen looked at me and said "Soooo, I'm dying to know.  How much weight have you lost."   Now I've been going to zumba for upwards to three years.  This girl has NEVER asked me that before.  I didn't think anything of it though and told her my results thus far (took a sneak peak and it SHOULD be good tomorrow).     She went on to say, "You came back after the winter break on fire.  You are pushing yourself and I knew that it meant that you were probably doing the whole thing."   She was tickled with my results.  She and I talked about deprivation versus eating healthy.  They are truly two different things!     It was really good to receive confirmation of my efforts.  (Sherry noticed my increased drive the first time she saw me at zumba after the winter zumba break and told me about it immediately!  :-)