Setbacks

These past couple weeks have been rough.  And things have not gone as I hoped they would.

First, I got sick and wasn't able to work out for about five days.  And of course, when you're sick, the last thing you want to eat is a salad, so I didn't count calories for a couple days in order to eat the things that would make me feel better.

Second, this last week was super busy.  It was my last week at work.  It was the week before we left for vacation in Texas and so I had a really long to do list.  It was our anniversary, a friend's birthday and we had a couple other social gatherings.  So because of all of those things, eating well kind of got thrown to the side and exercise got skipped a couple of days because of lack of time.

Third, I have injured my left knee.  I think I tried to do too much too quick and all of the running I was doing finally came back to bite me in the butt.   At first, I tried to just work through the pain.  When that got to be too much, I backed off of running so much and did more cross-training.  Now, the pain still persists and if I try to run or workout too long, my whole knee feels inflamed and swollen.  So, now I'm at the point of no running until it's healed.  And it sucks.  I have really come to love running, for many reasons.  A workout seems to go much faster when I run, I feel so great and more accomplished after a run and running works my whole body in a way that I haven't found in walking, biking or the elliptical. But I know I have to let my knee heal or it will only get worse.

There have been some really good things in the past couple weeks though.  Jeremy and I are participating in a fitness small group with our church family and it has been really awesome so far.  A couple weeks ago, we watched the documentary, "Forks Over Knives" together about eating only plant-based foods and it really changed my perspective on things.  Jeremy and I are really gonna work to incorporate more vegetarian/vegan meals into our diet and limit our intake of meats.  I'm really excited about it!

I bought a couple new pairs of jeans also and they happened to be 2 sizes smaller than the last pair I bought!  I was so excited when I tried them and saw that they fit quite easily!  They are even a little big, but the next size down is still just a little too small.

Also, even with the crazy weeks, I have still been losing.  At my last weigh-in I was down to 238.4, for a total of 15 pounds lost!  I also took my once-monthly measurements and so far I have lost a total of 10 1/2 inches including 4 from my midsection!  I also decided to take pictures once a month when I do my measurements and so this was the first month that I had two to compare and the results were so encouraging!  I could see a major difference in my body from this time last month.  That was so motivating and exactly what I needed to keep going.

We are in Texas this week and next and have really been enjoying it.  We are both enjoying some foods that we would not normally eat, but also keeping in mind portion control and continuing to exercise.  That is not something I would have ever done on vacation before, so I'm proud that it is so important to me now.  We'll see how I do at next week's weigh-in!

Thoughts

Well, things have been going pretty good.  The numbers are still going down and I have still been pretty good with my diet.  I've been a little more lenient with that than I probably should be, haven't been pushing fruits and veggies as much as I did at the beginning, but I'm still managing to stay within my daily calorie limit.  I've been working out really hard and this week I started running every day.  I'm certainly not very good at it, but I've been consistent.  I've been spending an hour on the treadmill every day and I always make sure 2 miles of that time is spent running.  I usually break it up in intervals because I'm definitely not at the point that I can just run 2 miles straight, but I can do 1 mile and so I will usually go for that if I can.

Something I was thinking about this week is that I've always known I could do this if I just set my mind to it.  I'm so strong-willed and determined about everything else in my life and I knew I would be about this, but this is the first time I have truly set this commitment in my mind and decided to do it.  Every other time that I've tried and given up was because I never actually wanted it bad enough to really do it, to really make the decision to change my life.  Now I feel like there's no way I can't succeed.

I decided spur of the moment to stop at Old Navy today after work.  I went in and tried on some clothes just curious if they would fit differently.  And as a matter of fact, they did!!  I tried on a pair of size 20 jeans and they fit fantastically.  No pulling or tugging to get them up, no squeezing and sucking in to get them buttoned.  I just pulled them up, buttoned them, zipped them and then smiled huge in the mirror.  It felt so good!  The last pair of jeans I bought from Old Navy I had to order online because they don't carry size 24's in the store.  Yep, 24.  That's a huge number.  But now, I can fit into size 20.  I'm so excited!  And I can't wait for that number to keep going down!

And now time for results!

Last time I wrote on here I was at 243.6.
This morning, I am proud to say, I weigh 239.4!
That's a loss of 4.2 pounds!
And a total loss of 14 pounds!

I feel so great!  This is the most weight I have ever lost while really trying.  I lost 25 pounds in high school, but that was unintentional.  This time, I have really done it.  My hard work is paying off every week.  I look forward to Friday mornings even more so now, because I can't wait to step on the scale and see a lower number!  I'm in the 230's folks!  I honestly can't remember the last time I was in the 230's!

School is officially over for me and so these next two and a half weeks before we head to Texas, I'm going to work my butt off.  Good eating, lots of working out and always a positive, determined mindset! :)