Gain?

So... after careful consideration I've decided to give myself a little break. Or at least... I've decided to be OKAY if I end the month with a gain. I'm not sure how I'm even going to weigh in on Friday cause I'm not at home... but I will figure it out. Either way.. I anticipate ending this month a little larger than I started.
I just feel like it will always be my routine to gain weight in December.. but I promise to lose what I gained and then some in January. I'm really trying to adjust to the new place, new routine and I'm excited to join the gym when the new year starts!!
I got P90X for Christmas. It's not exactly an "official" copy and I don't have the guide book or anything... BUT... I'm going to find one.. or use LisaB's blog and do the program as it should be done. I have to get some resistance bands and probably some bigger weights (which are already on my list of desires for this year). I plan to do all the before, 30 day, 60 day and 90day pics. It will be fun to use this blog as a place to post what I really think about the product! I did the ab ripper X today.. just to try it out and... it makes me SO excited to start this thing and see where it takes me. Good luck to all of you gals as we finish off this comp! I'm very excited that my 2 sister in laws have both done so well and can't wait to see who wins!
I'm absolutely doing a comp starting January 5th. If anyone is still wanting to compete.. you can check it out here!

New pants...

I must admit that throughout this journey it has been fun to buy pants. I remember the first time I fit into a single digit size!! It felt AWESOME!!! Well, after years of shoving my HUGE body into a size 16/18 with massive amounts of hangover... I am a little timid about lowrise jeans, and jeans that really let it all HANG OUT!! I wear pants that I know are a little too big in order to protect myself from the muffin top... SO.. I haven't bought pants in a while... my size 7/8's were getting kind of ridiculously large and so.. today.. I stepped into Plato's Closet to buy smaller jeans. Umm... let me just say that I am still incredibly frustrated by my skin literally hanging over the edge of my pants but... after trying on like 15 different pairs of size 5/6 jeans... I had to admit to myself that they were not flattering... and try on size 3/4!!! HOLY BANANAS!!! One year ago almost to the day I bought 2 pairs of size 2 Lane Bryant jeans (these are the equivalent of a 16 and I pretty much had to lay down to zip them up!!). Today... I bought 3 different brands of size 3 jeans... IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!! One year... of hard work... and not giving up on myself... I would never have imagined this day would come.. but it's here! It's reality!! It feels FANTASTIC!!!

Spinning

Last night I went to a Spinn class at the little gym right here in my town!! It was my first experience with the bike and the gym and umm... I think I'm in love. The workout is fantastically intense but also requires you to push yourself. No one controls how fast your legs are moving but you and to be totally honest I think mine moved the SLOWEST of the 8 people in the class... but it was AWESOME!! I was sweating and am positive that tomorrow my quads are going to be forcing me to beg for mercy. It's DEFINITELY something I could really get into!! Just a great substitution to switch up my cardio. I'm actually not a fan of elliptical machines, they don't challenge me (even when I was 200 lbs I could jump on one of those things for 45 minutes and not sweat!) and I'm not really a fan of stationairy bikes... they just make my butt hurt... but THIS was different. My bum is only a little sore because the instructor really doesn't seem to believe in a whole lot of seat time!! Anyway.. it was a great workout.. and one that can be tailored to any fitness level. SOOOO... if you've never been... get out to a spinn class! I'm sure you will find it painful and AMAZING all in the same breath!

Slacking

Okay.. so I just wanted to publicly admit/announce that I have been slacking all around. I haven't ran since the half marathon (like 6 weeks ago). At first it was because of my hip, but as the pain went away, I never picked it back up. I've been busy doing life... and putting myself on the back burner. It's amazing that once I set myself on the back burner, it's easy to feed into excuses and let life get in the way. I'm pretty sure I can accurately state that I have gained at least 4 lbs since the last weigh in. This is not a surprise to me.. I really haven't been working out and I've not been eating as frequently or as healthy as I should be. I haven't gone crazy but... I just haven't been REALLY making conscious choices every time something enters my mouth. (My portion sizes might be a little out of control.)
Today, I decided to COMPLETELY recommit. So.. I've done great with my food and water AND I went on a 3.6 mile run. It felt AWESOME to be running again. It's been such a long time and I was actually happy with my pace and just the overall feel of it all. I am getting familiar with my new area and think I am going to fall madly in love with the country roads around me. I'm also probably going to join the local gym. (I realized 2 days ago that there is a gym in this little town!!!!) I'm going to sit down with the owner and negotiate some terms. I think it's funny when people try to lock you into contracts and then treat you like just another electronic funds transfer. I WILL NOT let them do that to me!
Tomorrow I'm going to the spin class at the gym... spin is something I have never done... they say you can burn up to 500 calories in one spin class. I am hoping to get the workout of my life and get addicted to it! This would be a cardio workout I can do twice a week that ISN'T running. :o)
I'm also getting excited for the new competition. This comp has been fun... but it's SO different when you do a comp at the beginning of the year.. when people have set major goals to change themselves in the new year. A competition over the holidays is SO hard... but I AM SO GRATEFUL that I have been able to shed my last 20 lbs even with all the holidays that have come in the last few months. THANK YOU TAMMY AND MELISSA FOR DOING THIS!!! And thanks to all the gals who have stuck to it and pushed me!
The new year holds a couple of goals for me. I'm going to run another 1/2 marathon in May (although my husband is TOTALLY against it!) and I want to do a triathlon in July!! After that.. who knows. I'm trying to convince my hubby to have one more baby, he objects strongly but maybe if I remind him how huge my boobs get when I'm prego/nursing... he can be convinced! ;o)
10ish days till this comp ends!!! I can't wait to see what happens.

Competition

I've decided to keep this going and start a competition for the new year. I've so appreciated competing during the holiday season, but it's really AWESOME to compete at a new year. So.. if you are interested.. you can check out the details HERE!!! I probably WON'T compete.. I'll just do it. Competing has been a huge part of my success and I want to give other women the opportunity!! SO LETS DO THIS THING!!!

Who am I?

Okay.. so I moved. I'm sure you've all got that by now. It's actually sort of a weird thing. See... people here don't know who I am. They don't know who I was either.

Last night, I went to a social gathering for women in our church. It was meant to be a spa night/cookie exchange. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with this... I asked friends for cookie recipes and got a fantastic HEALTHIER version of the cookie from Lisa. I figured WHAT THE HECK??? I'd much rather present myself as a health freak than a good cookie maker.... so I showed up to the cookie exchange with these:

Chocolate chip cookies:

1/3 cup butter OR 1/4 cup coconut oil (I used coconut oil)

1/2 cup agave

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t vanilla

1 egg

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oat flour (I grinded up oats in my blender to make this)

1 cup oats

1/2 cup nuts

1/2 cup chocolate chips

These cooked in my oven at 375 for about 9 minutes. They were beyond edible. They were actually kind of good. Not like eat the whole plate of cookies good... but wow.. I can't believe these are healthy good!

Because I am new, women were asking me lots of questions trying to get to know me. Asking me about my interests/hobbies... I guess I wasn't sure where to go with this. See... my interests/hobbies/LIFE for the past year have revolved around nutrition, exercise and weight loss. I don't want to go acting like I'm amazing because I've managed to lose weight.. but I also don't want to pretend that I'm not obsessed... so... I mention that I've been busy doing competititons and losing weight this year and one gal hears how much I've lost and soon.. she is telling every person who walks past her. (This girl happened to be VERY fit, tiny, marathon runner!) Anyway... I was glad that I brought a healthy alternative to cookies.. even if people didn't like them. (Which people DID like them... but you know.. not as much as the sugar cookies covered in frosting!) I got a lot of the "how did you do it?" "Oh I like food way too much to do that..." But, overall... it was a lot of fun.

Back on the Wagon!!

So.. I figured out how to stop the snacking... I just ate ALL the goldfish. ;o) They've been gone for 2 days and I am back on track with my diet. I did have a small gain.. but I honestly think it was from all the sodium. After just a day of being back on top of my normal nutritional preferences, I am back where I started. My goal for the month is to be at 115 by weigh in. I KNOW I can get there. January 5th of 2009 is when I started this journey. I would never have imagined that a year later I would be 83 lbs less.. SO INSANE!!
On another random note. My size 34A bra is too big. Luckily we are just talking like.. I need a 32. I was checking it out today and realized that the brand/name whatever... is SWEET NOTHINGS. Umm.. couldn't be a more perfect name! ;o)

Coping

My life has been upturned and I'm having a hard time dealing with it. I didn't think that I would be feeling so stressed and isolated but WOW... adjusting to this move is harder than I thought. The hardest part has actually been that my hubby has been working CRAZY hours and I haven't had a MOMENT of child free play. I discovered there is a yoga place in this tiny town and although I've NEVER done yoga... I think I'm going to become a yoga master as soon as my hubby starts working normal hours and coming home in time for me to venture out alone!!

Amidst all of this, I've been trying to cope with OLD habits. If you've ever seen my progressive pic, you will notice all the sores on my upper arm in my earliest photo. I AM A PICKER!! The bigger I got, the more I picked. It is easy for me to resolve this by getting fake nails but now that I am away from the gal who did my nails, I decided to try it without the safety blanket and holy crap.. STRESS + NO NAILS = I am totally a picker. I had hoped that I had somehow left that part of me behind a good 30 lbs ago but alas, she is still here.

Another thing I've been doing is eating... ALOT!! Fortunately, I don't have a lot of "off limits" foods in my house... the worst I've mindlessly ate is goldfish crackers... BUT.. I've just been eating and eating and the worst part is that because of my allergies, I can't really even taste anything... but I still eat. I've had to pull out the carrots a couple of times to put something at least healthy out for my eating frenzies.. but... I just feel like I've lost control... and although I'm making much BETTER choices than I would have this time last year, it's disheartening to realize that I will always be a work in progress. I somehow had hoped that it would be second nature to me... that I would be so in control that no amount of stress could force me to do anything NOT in alignment with what I've been preaching these days.

It is what it is... I'm out of control.

Luckily, I am hopeful... that this is just another step towards total transformation in my life. I have got to LEARN how to deal with stress... and how to do it without tipping the scale. Honestly, if I were the same person this year as I was last year... this move probably would have meant a 20 lb gain. But I'm not her anymore. I will not punish myself... I am going to move forward. :o) BUT... I will not pretend that it is easy.. because it's not. I am a real person... and I can't ALWAYS do everything right. But.. I do learn from every experience. Right now I am learning that I need to NOT buy goldfish... at least until I have time to have ME TIME!! :o)

December 1st

I tried to post this yesterday but for whatever reason the file was zipped and I was too lazy to figure out how to unzip it! LOL!! Either way... 120.8 is not a huge loss for the month and did NOT put me in the 1-teens... BUT... I'm totally good with it. It's been a crazy month and well.. you get what you put into it and 1.6 lbs of effort is about all I made the time for this month. NEXT MONTH... I want to be at my goal of 115. only 5.8 lbs to go. As long as I am able to go to the store on Friday and buy me some decent food... I will TOTALLY be there!! AND I must become reacquainted with my treadmill. Maybe if I give it a name? :o)

Congrats to all you girls who are sticking with this. I am SO SO excited for Vicki!! YAY!!! You won ALL of your money back (this comp and last comp!) and you proved to me that I'm not full of it!! LOVE THAT!!