Non-Scale Victory

5 weeks after I had the baby, I tried on some of my pre-pregnancy clothes. I was horrified at how much weight  I had to lose just to be able to pull them on completely. Rather than continue to wear maternity pants (that I was having trouble fitting into because the fat from my belly was apparently dropping into my thighs), I went out and bought some pants that were a size 16, which is the largest I've ever worn. Prior to getting pregnant, I was wearing a size 12. Not tiny, but not overweight either.

Yesterday I had more than one person mention how baggy my size 16 pants looked on me. I agreed. They looked kind of pathetic and I was constantly pulling them up. So this morning, I pulled out the one pair of size 14 jeans I own. I told myself "If they don't fit, its OK. They will someday." THEY FIT! Yes, my belly is pushing at the waist more than it did before I was pregnant, but they are not too tight and I'd say they are my size!

I stepped on the scale and confirmed I have still not lost any additional weight and am still hovering at about 173. But I HAVE lost a pant size which is still a victory! Keep in mind when you're starting exercise or dieting that Non-Scale Victories are just as awesome and are a perfect boost to help keep you going!

SLOWinski

The first time I met my coach, he actually thought my name was Slow-inski. I admit it. I am a slow-a** runner. In fact, my brother questions if what I do can even be considered running or jogging since I'm so incredibly slow. I see his point. When I get on a treadmill, I start off by walking at a 3.5 miles per hour speed. Its a comfortable pace for me. When I run, I increase the treadmill to a whopping 4.0. I'm pretty sure some people WALK that fast. But that is my running speed. S-L-O-W.

In 2006 when I trained to run my first half-marathon, I started off feeling great. I had some days where I ran more miles than were scheduled and I kept pushing myself to try to go faster. Within a month and a half, I ended up with Achilles tendonitis, which is basically where your heel hurts anytime you take a step walking or running. I was told I got it because I tried to do too much too fast. I did physical therapy and got over it, but the therapists kept telling me I had to take it easy. Therefore, I am cautious increasing that speed on my treadmill now. I'm just starting out and my body may be working with me, but only because I'm being nice. I have a feeling if I over did it, my body wouldn't be so cooperative.

At this rate, it will take me about 3.5 hours to finish the half-marathon if I "run". Oddly enough, thats how long it took me when I walked the race with just a tiny bit of running too. People do say you go faster race day because you're so excited and full of adrenaline. So who knows? Maybe I can finish in just 3 hours (still only going 4.3 miles per hour).

So for now, I'm just gonna plan on settling in to the back of the crowd at the race. The fact that I have actually gotten on my treadmill and "run" most of a two mile distance is already an accomplishment. If I can do the same with 13.1 miles, it will be awesome. And I'll just have to constantly keep in mind:

Day 33 - Healthy Lifestyle Vs. Dieting

Many of you have already expressed your opinion on how you feel about living a healthy lifestyle versus being on an official diet. I've heard from many people that they think committing to live a healthy lifestyle is much more important than being skinny. Eating healthy fresh foods, exercising regularly and taking care of yourself in general are all extremely important and should be a part of everyone's life ALL of the time, not just when you want to lose weight.

I started this resolution exclaiming I just wanted to lose weight. I want to get down to a lower weight, then worry about maintaining a healthy lifestyle. But with my busy life with time constraints and stressors everywhere, I'm starting to realize "dieting" may not be the best idea. I have also just joined Team In Training to train to run/walk a half-marathon, who highly suggests NOT dieting while training. This is because you are pushing your body to gradually run more and more miles. Therefore, the coaches want to make sure you have enough calories to handle those extra miles and strains on your body.

With all of this said, I am not dieting like I had originally planned. But that doesn't mean I'm eating everything I want. I am absolutely eating healthier. For example, this morning I had steel cut oats (yes Chris, I finally took your advice) and for lunch I'm having Nutrisystem chili. But I also let myself have a piece of brownie someone brought in as a treat. I'm not obsessing over the calorie counts right now. As my body gets more adjusted to the miles and I feel more comfortable, I might start counting calories again, but my TRUE hope is that if I stick with this TNT training program and do my strength training, I will STILL lose weight and get toned up.

At this point, I have not gained any weight since stopping my calorie counting about 10 days ago. I MAY have lost about 1 pound, but my scale is not digital and those little lines are hard to see with my aging eyes. HA HA! If I start to GAIN weight, I will definitely start counting calories again.

As for my training, it officially began on 2/1. I'm only doing 2 miles for my run/walks this week, but they have gone well. I have been able to run OVER half of the time! VERY good for me. And at our group training, the coach said my form looked good which is great to hear because it was NOT good in my last attempts at training. I actually felt really good at Saturday's training (although, I may need to look into seeing a urologist about the possibility of surgery).

Tonight, despite my ups and downs in success, I am getting a massage! This is my first "reward" of any kind really for the work I've done so far. I can't wait!

Finishing with a good quote that I need to keep in mind. Healthy lifestyle will get me there in the end. All I need is patience.

Day 24 - Rewards

I've decided on my reward for sticking with my diet for a month - a massage!!! My family bought me a gift certificate for a massage for my birthday but I never got around to using it. Now I'm going to let myself use it and enjoy it to the fullest! And I may have to make this my reward each month. I just LOVE massages. And with all of this working out AND coughing, my body aches and could use some relief!

Last night was nowhere near the silent night I hoped for. Although, it wasn't all my coughs fault. The baby was up whining for much of the night. While I was up with her, I tended to cough more. So much that my back hurts from all of the coughing I did. I was exhausted all day today and ended up going to the doctor. I'm now on some antibiotics and she gave me some cough meds with coedine. Hopefully I can kick this cough now.

One great thing about the doctor - I wasn't afraid to get on the scale! And their scale matched mine - 173 lbs! I'm hoping the next time I have to go to the doctor, I'll be at my goal! :)

Day 23 - Sick of coughing

Three weeks in and I have lost 8 lbs!! I know its not a HUGE amount and its not even really noticeable by looking at me, but its PROGRESS! And after sitting at the same exact weight for 7 months, it means a lot. I also like that its a "healthy" weight loss. No extreme measures or fad diets here, just true slimming!

I'm still battling my cold. I'm now in the coughing phase. And let me tell you, there is TONS of coughing. I stuck to my plan and did the treadmill on Saturday and my first Zumba class on Monday night. Zumba does seem to be a lot of fun and its a lot easier to keep up with than that aerobics class was. My only problem with both exercise days was that as I got deeper into the exercise, my coughing got worse. I had to skip Yogalates last night due to a scheduling issue between my hubby and me and had planned on doing Zumba tonight, but my cough JUST started to improve around lunchtime. I want to get over this cough so I decided to take the night off from aerobic activity to see if I can manage one night of sleep without having several coughing fits. So, I still have to exercise one more day before Saturday in order to keep to my "workout 3 times per week" plan.

Yesterday, I attended a meeting that my co-worker put on at lunch. It was an informative meeting about Team In Training which is a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society program that trains you to run/walk marathons or half-marathons while raising money to fight blood cancers. I've participated in two half marathons in the past and happen to work with the run coach for the Lansing area. Sure enough, I went to the meeting, heard all of the excitement from the staff person and the coach and signed up right then and there. I'll be participating in the Bayshore Half Marathon in Traverse City on Memorial Day weekend. At this point, I'm happy to just walk the race, but I DO plan to stick to training and if I get the desire to run at all, I'm not against trying to run. But right now, sitting here coughing as I type, I'm leaning towards walking.

Dieting is still my primary success. I've been able to keep my calorie intake low and my foods are healthy for the most part. I've been craving lots of vegetables lately, which is GREAT, but we don't have as many as I want in the house, so I need to make sure to include plenty on our weekend grocery trip. I'm still working on getting all of my water each day. But I've been doing an excellent job of not drinking any pop (even diet). I've only had 2 diet sodas since the start of my diet. That's pretty impressive for me.

Watching Biggest Loser this week, I heard them talking about The Biggest Loser Slimcoach. Apparently its a tiny device where you enter in the number of calories you want to burn for the day. Then you wear this device and it tracks the number of calories you burn and tells you when you've met your goal. I'm not sure how well this thing works, but it sounds interesting. I may have to look into it a bit more. Here is the link to see it on the Best Buy website: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/The+Biggest+Loser%26%23174%3B+-+SLIMCOACH%26%23153%3B+-+Black/4526204.p?id=1218480946018&skuId=4526204#tabbed-customerreviews

YUP! She's got a Sweaty Band on!

One product I DO know about is SWEATY BANDS! I saw them in a fitness magazine and decided to buy one at Playmakers (in Okemos, MI). These are workout head bands for ladies that actually stay put. They really DON'T SLIP! I was skeptical at first since their tag line is "OMG...they don't slip!" but I bit the bullet, shelled out the $$ (they are definitely more expensive than a cheap Goody hair band) and tried one during my Zumba class. I LOVE IT! Its cute AND it keeps my shorter hair out of my face while I work out! I highly suggest them to all women! http://sweatybands.com/




So enough advertising from me. I swear, no one is paying me. Although, maybe they should - it would help out with my fundraising! ;) Speaking of which, here is the link to my fundraising page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/mi/bayshr12/hslawinski Help me fight blood cancers AND get in shape! :)

I'm off to drink some Robutussin and pray for a silent night.

Heather

Day 19 - Burned out

Cue the whistling sound of a bomb dropping to earth and exploding with a loud BOOM! That's me and my exercise routine. I expected WAY too much of myself and I burned myself out. Many of you saw it coming. I think I even saw it coming, but I tried to ignore it. So, now I'm dusting myself off and trying again.

Maintaining the workout schedule I set for myself was unrealistic FOR ME. I haven't worked out in a very long time, and despite the fact that I THINK of myself as a decent athlete (albeit clumsy), I am currently out of shape. So, I have a new "plan" that really isn't much of a plan at all. I'm going to workout 3 days a week for the next couple of weeks. That is my only plan. I know one of the days will be my Yogalates class. Other than that, its a little bit up in the air. I have a treadmill that I plan to get on tomorrow morning. I also just found out about drop-in Zumba classes in my area. I'm going to try my first class on Monday. After that, I'll just feel out what works and go from there.

I originally felt like a failure falling off of the workout wagon. But then a friend (thanks again, Diana) sent me a link to this blog: http://blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com/work-it-out/qa-wednesday-avoiding-workout-burnout/ This girl isn't an expert, but she IS experienced. And she is right. It helped hearing from someone else that burnout happens, but that shouldn't keep you from getting back up and doing it again until it sticks. 

As for dieting, I've actually been doing very well up until this week. Then Tuesday, I came down with a cold. When I am sick, I am miserable and doing math is difficult for my muddled brain, so counting calories throughout the entire day is virtually impossible. Plus, I figure I need all the calories I can get to fight off whatever bug I have. So, I took a break.

 

Today, I'm back on the diet. I must say, while being a little tedious, writing down every single thing I put in my mouth has been helpful. I use the MyFitnessPal app on my iPad. It keeps me accountable - it makes it much hard to just take a bite of some "bad-for-you food". Because if I take that bite, it may only take a second to eat it, but then I have to go to my iPad, look up the item, add it to my tracker and subtract those calories from the rest of my day. Pain in the butt. I highly suggest it to everyone.

I hope this hiccup in my plan doesn't discourage any of you from continuing your resolutions. I may not have met my initial goals, but I will not allow this to derail me from my end goal of losing weight and getting in better shape by June! I can do this! And so can you!!!

Day 11 - I'm Effin' HUNGRY!

Not sure why I was so "comfortable" yesterday and freakin' starving today. My day started out fine. But then I got to work and someone had brought in pound cake fresh and still warm from the oven. I had to try it so I calculated the calories and ate it. I had to run an errand at lunch and came back with almost NO time for lunch before a meeting. So I had to scrap my planned meal and eat a turkey and cheese sandwich from the snack stand in my building. About an hour into the meeting, my stomach started growling and ever since then, I've felt like I want to and need to eat an entire pizza or something. And I've had plenty of water and it ain't cuttin' it.

I WANT FOOD!!!!! I wonder how bad it would be if I ate my dinner now while my kids watched and starved. Hmm.... It might be better than me eating an entire bag of pretzels "to tide me over". ARGH!!!!