Withdrawl

I never thought it would happen...I'm having workout withdrawl!  I have a miserable chest/sinus/throat/infection/cold/whatever and I haven't been able to work out since last Thursday!!  Adam's dad was in the hospital all last week and we were sort of on alert waiting to hear if he'd need surgery or not (thankfully not!) so that was why I missed Friday and after that, sick won.  I missed work Monday and Tuesday (Tuesday it snowed again, just a few inches, but sick + snow = no way).  I'm starting to feel a little better, but still have a nasty cough (it's reminding me to keep drinking water though lol) and a runny nose, plus my temperature tends to go up when my cold meds start to wear off, so I know I have to lay off the workouts for at least another day or two and it's driving me crazy!  It makes me anxious!  I guess it makes me worry that once I've stopped I won't start up again.  But I really will this time.  I look in the mirror and I see results and I want MORE!  This is just a delay.  Delays are okay, as long as we don't let them stop us for long!  My weight is good though, which is a relief!  I've stuck to eating pretty well in the absences of my workouts and that's probably helped!

So much to do!  I have to schedule Tyler's bday party!  You guys, my baby turns FIVE next week!  I can't believe it!  *sob*

The kids have to get haircuts on Saturday.  Writing it down will make it so!  LOL  AJ is looking like a wildman!

Brunch with my friends Sunday!  Hooray!  Don't let the snow ruin it! (SO MUCH SNOW UGH)

That's all I have the energy for right now!  OH!  But here's a photo collage I put together from 2013 photos!  What a year it was!

What a difference six months make!

I have survived Snowpocalypse 2014!  Between late last week and over the weekend, my city got somewhere between 16-18 inches of snow.  The second storm, which gave us 10-12 inches was followed by sub-zero temperatures.  Seriously, it was like 45 degrees below zero with the windchill. One local weatherman reported that is was six degrees colder here in Indianapolis that in the SOUTH POLE.  Cold people.  For here, anyway.  So we got a ton of snow and didn't leave our house Sunday, Monday or Tuesday.  My workplace was actually closed Monday and Tuesday.  And the roads are still crummy, though improving.  So yeah, that was a fun and interesting start to the year.

But before that happened, I got to see my awesome friend Paul who moved from Indy to Texas a few years ago.  We had lunch and talked and talked.  He's working on a story/screenplay and we're bouncing ideas back and forth about it which I am super excited about.

SO!  Onto the title of this post.  As of today, it has been six months since I started trying to eat better, get healthier, and lose weight.  So I want to take a second to reflect on that.  I've tried to get healthy before, with varying success, but no attempt lasted very long or made huge impact.  I don't know why this time was different.  My mom says I was just ready.  I'm not sure if I simply found the right combination or if I was more determined, or if it was fueled by being unhappy with my appearance, but the motivation finally kicked in and as the weight started to come off, I was excited and encouraged.

I downloaded the My Fitness Pal app to my phone and tracking my calorie intake.  I was immediately shocked by how quickly the calories add up and just how many are in the kinds of foods I ate.  I started making some significant changes that worked for me--eating more fruits and veggies (low cal, filling), finding low cal "treats" to satisfy my sweet tooth while keeping my calories on track, drinking more water, eating smaller portions, and most importantly not depriving myself of food I love.  The last was was crucial for me.  If I completely cut out certain foods and treats, I just won't stick to a diet plan.  I like burgers and fries and pizza and ice cream.  And I can have those things--in moderation and sometimes slightly different than I would have before.  For example, I don't need a double cheeseburger.  A single is plenty.  And often I skip the bun or bread altogether.  Treats and ice cream are an indulgence and usually I just have a very small amount.  I trick my mind into thinking that one piece of pizza is two by cutting it in half (sounds silly, I know).  I tried and enjoyed vinaigrette instead of creamy french dressing.  Little changes made a world of difference. 

But eating better wouldn't do it all, I knew I had to get active.  I started off just walking.  Then I got out the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred video I bought just before I found out I was pregnant with AJ.  The first three or four days were agony.  My muscles rebelled and every inch of me ached.  But after those few days, it got easier and it almost felt....good.  I was surprised and please that I could do the moves and exercises.  Maybe they weren't pretty, maybe I had to modify a few, but I could do them.  But then my back problems reared their ugly head.  I took a few days off of exercising, and then eased back into it with workouts on my elliptical.  It helped me stay active, but I have found over time that I get a lot more results from my workout dvds.  So I went back to the shred and this time, I finished it!  It took a couple extra days, but I did 30 full days and was so proud of myself.  I was so encouraged I jumped right into Jillian's "Ripped in 30" workout DVD.  It's circuit training, like the 30 Day Shred.  I've found that her DVDs are great for me, because I get bored easily when it comes to workouts.  Each move comes up only once per DVD program and you only do the move for 2 minutes at the most.  Each DVD also comes with 2-4 workouts, so you only do the same workout set for a week or so before moving on to a new set of moves.  I don't get bored and I end up working different muscle groups all the time.

I finished Ripped in 30 a week or so before Christmas, so I repeated it for a few extra days, since I'd asked for a few more DVDs for gifts.  I was thrilled to get "Shred It with Weights" with accompanying Kettlebell and two of Jillian's Ab DVDs.  I jumped right into the Kettlebell workouts and love it!  It's a great change, very challenging.  It only has two workouts on the DVD so after about 3 weeks I was getting bored so today I started her Killer Abs DVD.  I'm betting I'll have trouble sitting up in the morning!

So that's six months of new eating habits and six months of workouts.  And six months of results!

Here are a few "before" pictures. 

December 2012 (I cringed to post this.  Bad angle, but wow)

May 2013 (you think an outfit is flattering, but then...)

I don't have a lot of pictures of myself along the way, but you can sort of tell from these:

August 2013, in jeans that don't fit!

September 2013, celebrating fitting into a smaller jean size!  This was about 15 lbs lost.

And here I am today, six months in as of Saturday, 36 lbs and 25.5 inches lost (I'm really bad with measurements, not consistent about WHERE I measure my waist, for example, but it's an estimate)!

In my workout gear. Forgive the mirrored-tile mirror left by the last owner of our house. Also the cup leftover from the kids' baths.

I've done some figuring and I should be able to reach my goal weight by mid June, so my conservative goal is to be at my target by my 1  year anniversary of getting healthy, July 11th, 2014.  I think I can do it!  It will be a total loss of almost 70 lbs in a year.  I know that might seem sort of slow, but right now my average is about 1.4 lbs per week and I think that's reasonable for me.  I'm okay with this taking time as long as I can keep the weight off and I think I'm more likely to do that if I take it slow.

And now I want to thank you ladies (and gentlemen?) who read my blog from time to time.  You've all encouraged me and complimented me and it means a LOT!  My family has also a huge source of support and encouragement. They never make me feel bad if I splurge or skip a workout here or there, but are the first to comment that they see the results and are proud of me.  My Facebook group has been a great help as well.  I'm so lucky to have the encouragement of those around me and I couldn't do it without you all!

Thanks always for reading!

Whew! Well hi, 2014!

Oh my goodness, I always forget how insane December can get!  I'm glad it's over, but I'm actually having a hard time adjusting to not being so busy!  I still want to do my ornament post, but I haven't had any luck getting good pics. My cell phone flashes too much.  We'll see if I get it done before we take down the tree!

Still going strong on the fitness front--I placed second in the challenge at work, with a total of 13% lost--the winner lost 14%, so close!  I'll get $100, so that's good.  I've been doing Jillian's Shred It With Weights, which is a kettlebell workout--super intense!  Next up is abs, I feel the burn already!

Christmas was very nice.  AJ still doesn't totally "get" it, but Tyler had a ton of fun. I'm loving my kindle fire (thanks babe!) and my mom likes hers too.  New Years was quiet and uneventful, aside from Tyler being a little bit sicky. 

And so!  Another year gone!  Last year was...well it was!  Nothing horrifically awful, nothing amazingly life changing!  So here's my yearly survey thingy!

YEARLY SURVEY!
1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before? I visited the West Coast, California!  It was AWESOME!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?  I don't know that I "resolved" anything, but I finally FINALLY made some major progress on losing weight and getting healthy.  I'm inching toward 40 lbs lost and I LOVE IT!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend Pam had her first baby girl in April!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Adam's Grandpa passed away just a few weeks ago. 

5. What countries did you visit?  Still no progress on that one.

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you didn’t have in 2013? I would like to be able to buy a bigger house that suits my growing family better!--That was last years answer, but it REALLY needs to happen this year!

7. What dates from 2013 will be etched upon your memory, and why? Nothing really jumps out this year.  I'm okay with that though, we'll call it a rebuilding year

8. What was your biggest achievement of this year? Has to be getting healthier, dropping over 35 lbs and at least two pants sizes!

9. What was your biggest failure? I'd like to think I didn't have any major failures!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nope, stayed pretty healthy this year.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Well we bought two "new" cars this year and I am really hoping they go on to be reliable long time vehicles for us!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? AJ's milestones--it's so fun to watch them do things for the first time!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Nothing is immediately coming to mind.  I'm sure there were news stories that got to me though.

14. Where did most of your money go? Bills, cars, kids

15. What did you get really excited about? California and each pound that I lost!

16. What song will always remind you of 2013? Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus.  She annoys the pants off of me and that video is needlessly raunchy, but I like the song, damn it.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier, THINNER (YAY!), and about the same I guess

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? House projects!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? I can't really think of anything

20. How did you spend Christmas? We stayed at home and enjoyed ourselves immensely!

21. Did you fall in love in 2013? More and more with my kids and hubby every day

22. What was your favorite TV program? Still gotta be the Big Bang Theory!

 23. What was the best book you read? A tie between "Single Infertile Female" and "Hyperbole and a Half" both written by bloggers I adore.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery? I'm sort of in love with Pink!

25. What did you want and get? Healthier!

26. What did you want and not get? A promotion and a house

27. What was your favorite film of 2013? Catching Fire!

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 31!  I think we were all just getting over being sick and I was super busy at work, but I'm sure we had dinner and cake and loveliness.

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More SPACE!

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2013?  Well, not by choice, but baggy clothes!  Nothing fits, in a good way!

31. What kept you sane? My family, especially my kiddos, my friends, working out (it's true, it's stress relieving) and a little bit of relaxation time daily.

32. What political issue stirred you the most? I'm so sick about hearing about the healthcare drama I could puke.

33. Who did you miss? My sister, my grandparents and my great aunt--still true

 34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013. Take time to work on yourself is sooo important!

 35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year."Say what you want to say, let the words fall out honestly. I want to see you be Brave!" Brave by Sarah Bareilles