Saturday, July 28, 2012

A Gold Medal Week

Oh wow this has been a busy two weeks. I had another loss yesterday, making it a 1.7 lb loss for the week! I’m only tenths of a pound away from having lost 50 pounds!!! I can’t believe it. It seems like it’s taking forever, but at the same time I feel as though I just began this journey.

The same day my summer semester began, I began my 8-week running program. Well yesterday I finished my summer semester, and I should have finished my running program, but I hurt my ankle. Today my ankle is feeling better, but I will give it until Monday before I hit the elliptical for my last run of the 30 minute program. THEN, I get to start something new.

Next week I will run the 30 minute run on the elliptical Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, just as I have been doing. But Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday my husband and I are going to begin the program again outdoors. We bought a used jogging stroller and I am very excited to see how I do on the pavement. I have no doubt that I have the cardio stamina to run the 30 minutes on pavement (which should equal about 5K), but I am not sure how my joints and muscles will do. I’m excited to start the program again and be able to do something good for our family.

I think I am most excited that my daughter gets to be a part of this health journey, by riding in her stroller. It encourages me that she will get to see her parents working towards a healthier lifestyle. AND, depending on how the pavement treats me, I am considering entering my first 5K. Much of the 5K is uphill L but, I still think I want to do it.

Also, yesterday marked a special day for me. I mentioned earlier I finished my summer semester last night (yes, I finished up a paper while watching the Olympics opening ceremony). This means I am officially a SENIOR!!! In May, when I should reach my weight loss goal, I will also be graduating. Actually graduation is the date I really want to be at my weight loss goal by!

I hope you are enjoying the Olympics. It acts as a definite inspiration to reaching my goal. Seeing all of these athletes in great condition, makes me realize I want to be able to play sports with my children, and not be hindered by my weight.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

I'm Back

I haven’t disappeared, though I’m working on making parts of me do so. This is my last week of the summer semester and I think it may just kill me.
 Friday I had another loss, and I was thrilled! Then Saturday I allowed myself to eat pretty much what I want. Let me say I will NEVER do that again. One meal of being a little overboard is one thing, but not sticking at all close to my points for the rest of the day…ick. Not only did I feel sick for the next two days, but I gained 5 pounds that day! Seriously, in 1 day I gained 5 POUNDS!!!
Yesterday morning all but 2 of those extra pounds were gone, but I had a crazy day. I was so busy trying to get my assignments finished before I don’t have another chance that I didn’t even get my crunches done until after my husband came home and we ate dinner.
I did do my crunches and around 9:30 last night I got on the elliptical. I’m on the last week of the 30-minute running program, and at this point they are just adding 1 minute for each run until I’m at 30 minutes on Friday. I ran for 28 minutes yesterday (plus the 5 minute warm up and cool down), and went 2.97 miles (according to my elliptical). It was definitely the furthest and fastest I have gone yet. And this morning I felt good. I peaked at the scale and I was down below what I was at my last weigh in. So, going overboard Saturday didn’t completely kill me, though I will not be doing that again as it left me feeling disgusting.
On a personal note, my daughter turned 6 months old last Thursday! We took her to get pictures taken at our JC Penny and she wouldn’t smile at us at all. The photos are still adorable if I do say so myself, I will post a few once my cd comes in. Also, she decided Sunday night that she wanted to learn to crawl. She doesn’t have it down yet…at all, but she sure does try. I know in the next week or so I will have some extra exercise running around after my little sweetheart.
I promise to try to post on the appropriate days this week, but I promise that even if I don’t post, I’m still running and eating right. I WILL be at my goal by graduation…but in order to have graduation I must finish my assignments and pass my classes J

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Seven Week Itch

I have heard relationships have a 7-year itch. Well, this week started week 7 of my running program, which means me really giving my all to this weight loss program, and I am experiencing an itch. This itch isn’t of boredom like the relational itch, but of a lack of motivation.
Monday my motivation was thinking about blogging, but tonight I didn’t even really want to do that. It all started when nothing sounded good for dinner. I really need to go grocery shopping, but haven’t had time with school and being out of town all weekend. Because of this we went through a drive through tonight. I so badly wanted to splurge and just eat something good. It’s been at least 7 weeks since I’ve had a fast food french fry, and they really sounded good, but I didn’t have enough daily points left for them and I really didn’t want to go into my weekly points or activity points because weigh in is just 2 days away.
This desire for yummy food demolished any excitement I had to run. Nevertheless I ran, and ran hard. I went all 26 consecutive minutes of running and didn’t give up! It was my longest consecutive run yet, and it’s only going to get better from here. Now that I’m done running I feel very proud, but not nearly what I felt after completing my first 20 minute run. I am lacking the excitement I need.
I think this lack of motivation is partially fueled by a mistake I made this morning. I peeked at the scale and saw I didn’t have a very big loss at all yet. I don’t know why that upsets me. I still have 2 days until weigh in, and I had lost some, just not a full pound. Anything can happen in two day. I could drop a pound and a half or more in that time. But, what I need to focus on is getting healthier!
So I celebrate now how quickly my heart and lungs recovered after my run. I didn’t even make it through my cool down before my breath was normal and my heart was no longer racing. Today’s run was still among one of the fastest paces so far, and the second furthest distance at 2.64 miles, but it was also the fastest recovery time.  THAT is something to celebrate. Even if the scale says I haven’t lost anything, I have gained a little bit more health. I am gaining life by sticking with this, and if that’s not enough to motivate me I don’t know what is!!!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Thank You!!

Hello followers! I can’t thank those of you following enough for the encouragement you give me.
Today was a hard day for me. I spent this weekend at the lake with my in-laws and had an incredible time, but this morning I felt like I needed a weekend to recover from the weekend. Add having only 1.5 weeks of school left for the semester, and you get a very distracted Diana. Around 5:00 this evening I realized I forgot to do my crunches during my daughter’s nap, so I started doing them while she played in her walker. She thought it was the funniest thing ever.
After my husband got home and we ate dinner I did not want to run. For the first time in over 6 weeks (today was the first run of week 7) I was not excited to run. But, I ran anyway. Today’s run was 20 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, 5 minutes running. It was much easier than I expected it to be, but then again it was a little slower than normal. I was really disappointed in myself until my wonderful husband informed me that even professional runners have days that aren’t as fast as others. I feel much better now.
After writing this I realize that today was actually a really good day. I lacked motivation, but I still pushed myself. I was tired, but I didn’t make an excuse. I stayed on track when I didn’t want to. AND, this weekend I had no internet connection. No internet is horrible when you are doing weight watchers online. Because of this, every morning my husband and I drove into town and I hopped on the weight watchers mobile site and entered in most of what I would be eating that day. I thought I was doing a really good job, but was a little worried this morning that I had gained weight. I stepped on the scale, and I can’t say what it said, but I will say it was less than my weight in on Friday!
Normally when I went to family functions, especially ones where there were 3 cakes and homemade ice cream (we were celebrating 4 birthdays), I would have blown it. But, this weekend I did not eat a single piece of cake or ice cream. I am SOOO proud of the differences I am seeing in myself. This really is a new me.
And, that’s why I thank you. What I haven’t told you is that whenever I really wanted a piece of cake I thought about how embarrassed I would be if I had a gain instead of a loss. When I didn’t want to run earlier I thought about how empty my blog would look if I didn’t have a run to blog about. So, thank you followers for giving me the motivation I needed today.

Friday, July 13, 2012

"Please Slow Down Your Weight Loss"

Hello! This has been a busy day already. The first thing I did this morning was sneak into the bathroom to weigh myself. Yes I weigh at home, but the scale is very reliable. I lost 2.8 pounds THIS WEEK!!! That is 46.4 pounds so far!!! I am SOOO excited! The scale is becoming my best friend!! Because I lost over two pounds my weight watchers app told me that I was losing too quickly, and I may need to slow my weight loss. Well, I am doing this healthfully and I know this is not a common occurrence, so I am going to rejoice in the loss!

I won’t have time to run tonight, so my husband came home during his lunch break to watch our daughter while I hopped on the elliptical (don’t worry, I didn’t actually hop on the elliptical). Today’s run was a little more challenging than I expected it to be. It was a 15 minute run, 3 minute walk, 10 minute run. For some reason with 6 minutes of run time left I wanted to quit, but I didn’t. My husband probably thought I was crazy as I cheered myself on telling myself I had just a few more minutes. I finished running with a cheer, and I can’t wait until Monday when I can run again.
That’s enough weight loss talk today. I want to tell you a little bit more about what inspired me to take on this journey. During the third trimester of my pregnancy I developed preeclampsia. This is pregnancy induced high blood pressure. It was not too severe, but I was put on modified bed rest at 35 weeks (the typical pregnancy is 40 weeks). It also made me miserable. I was more tired than I should have been, and I was so swollen that if my husband touched my feet an indention would remain. We ended up inducing labor at 39 weeks because of it, and we found out there were complications that we hadn’t even known about that could have been harmful to my daughter had we not induced labor.
You may be wondering why a past pregnancy has caused me to want to lose so much weight. Well, I want lots of children. When I say lots I’m not meaning 10 or 15, but at least 4.  I don’t want my future pregnancies to have any complications that I can prevent. I also want to live a long life for my children. My father and my husband each lost their fathers in their twenties. I don’t want my kids to experience that. I want to meet my grandchildren, and possibly great-grandchildren.
A more immediate desire to lose the weight is the playground. I loved going to the park when I was little. I remember playing on the playground and sliding down the slide. I want my daughter to experience the slide, and not have to wait until she is old enough to go down by herself. I want to be able to fit on the slide with her, and experience hearing her laugh as we both slip towards the ground. I want to feel her hair moving in the wind while she giggles and I hold her. I want to be small enough to not worry about breaking the slide. I don’t want my weight to force me to miss out on anything! 
Well, my daughter just woke up so I need to go get her and not miss out on her babbling any more. I won't be able to blog this weekend, why don't you go check out my friend Danette's blog here She is taking on vegetarianism and she is such an inspiration for making such a huge change. I couldn’t imagine giving up meat, but she’s doing it.
Have a great weekend! – Diana

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

WOOHOO!!!

I am still shaking with adrenalin. Today was such an incredible day for me. No, I didn’t come into any money and nothing particularly great happened, but I accomplished something incredible…well, at least incredible for me!
I mentioned in the last post that my I was doing abdominal work and running every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. Well, I have been doing 210 crunches (3 set of 70, each set includes 30 lower ab crunches, 30 upper ab crunches, and 10 total ab crunches). This morning I upped that to 4 sets, so 280 crunches. By the last set I couldn’t even feel my stomach burning anymore. It was the weirdest sensation. Afterwards my abs still felt as though they were contracted for about 20 minutes. It was great.
I also ran tonight.  Monday I did two nine minute runs in my interval training, but today was a big day. Today was my first 20 minute run. I was honestly very nervous about this, but I climbed on the elliptical tonight and started. I didn’t want to 5 minute warm up to end, but it did and I started running. I was SOOO glad to hear the bell on my app ding to tell me I was half way through, and that little sound…that heavenly ding that gave an angel somewhere its wings…gave me a second wind. I ran the next ten minutes with enthusiasm.
As soon as the bell sounded again to tell me I was finished running, I actually yelled out loud. I have never had an exercise high like this. I don’t think I’ve smiled this big in a long time…at least not for something I did rather than something my daughter did. I am amazed at how far I have come. Just 6 weeks ago I was struggling to run for 1 minute straight, but tonight I went for 20 minutes. In two weeks I’ll be running for 30 minutes! I am so happy right now!
I am SO grateful that God didn’t let me continue on the road I was on. I am so grateful He made my body so that it would adapt to a healthier state, and to where it would stand up to the abuse I gave it the past few years. I am so grateful he gave me the ability to run tonight, and I am so glad I didn’t throw that blessing away.
For those of you reading this, thank you! I’m very grateful that you were willing to take a few minutes to cheer me on by reading this.  

Monday, July 9, 2012

I'm Losing It!

So, no one reads this, but I thought I should start blogging again anyway. Aria is now 5.5 months old! She’s getting SO big. She rolls everywhere, but doesn’t crawl yet. I am so incredibly in love with her, I can’t begin to explain.
Being a mom is the most amazing thing in the world, and I’m looking forward to having many more children to love. Unfortunately, I can’t do that as I am. By the end of my pregnancy with Aria I was preeclamptic and had gained over 70 pounds (now some of that was water-weight, but still horrible). On top of that I was already 50 pounds overweight when I got pregnant, so I was only supposed to gain 20.
After I had Aria I made a promise to myself and to my husband to get healthy before I had another baby. 10 days after we came home with Aria I had lost 10 lbs of water weight, and then the work began. I lost another 25 lbs by six weeks, when I started weight watchers. I have been on weight watchers for 19 weeks (since March) but for at least 5 of those I did not follow the rules. The past five weeks I have been extremely dedicated to weight watchers and an exercise routine. I am doing a running routine on the elliptical my husband bought me for mother’s day (used on Craig’s list for a great price) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As a result I have lost an additional 19 pounds since starting Weight Watchers.
That puts me nearly 45 pounds down at this point, with 66 pounds to go. Just typing these numbers is embarrassing, but I think I need to put my accomplishments and goals somewhere public. I can’t promise I will post every day, actually I can promise I won’t. But I will try to check in twice a week. Every Saturday, which is my weigh in day, and then once in the middle of the week. I will also post pictures periodically. Today I am including my before picture. This was from when my daughter was 2 weeks old.  I will have my husband take a current picture of me this weekend, so everyone (the whole 1 of you who may read this…hi mom) can see the progress made so far. And, don’t worry I will be fully clothed in all pictures.

I must forewarn you, there will be many references to what God is doing during this journey. Much of this dedication is due to the realization that I was taking God’s gift of my body for granted. After running the first time (it’s a progressive interval running program that trains for a 5K) I realized I was killing myself. I was running to praise music, and as I was doing my cool down the song “I Am Free” came one. The chorus says “I am free to run,” and I began to sob. I was huffing and puffing, and the longest continuous run that day was only 60 seconds. I felt like my heart would explode. I realized that I was taking away a freedom that God gave me. I was taking away the freedom to play with my children, the freedom to ride bikes as a family, the freedom of health. Now, I only have three weeks left of the running program, and today I am running 2 nine minute intervals. And, my heart no longer feels like it will explode after running.
Oh, and just so you know, this is not going to be a magic, overnight transformation. I don’t plan on reaching my goal before next May. If I do that will be great, but no pressure. I am doing this for a long term change, not a microwave result. This is a sustainable change, and a learning progress. And, while I’m doing this I will be completing my last year of college! So, next May will be a very exciting time for me!! YAY!
In case you are interested in either resource I am using for this weight loss journey, check out www.weightwatchers.com (I am doing the program completely online, though they do have meetings if you’re interested in them). Also check out http://easeinto5k.bluefinapps.com/. I am starting week 6 of 8 of this program. Blue Fin Apps also has a 10K app that I will go into as soon as I finish this program. I believe one version of the 10K program starts includes the 5K program and the  bridge to 10K program I will continue with.