Happy and rested :)

Yay! I am pleased to say I lost 2.5 pounds this week - I'm now at 154.5! That's an overall weight loss of more than 40 pounds!

I'm celebrating a win this week, but I'm not claiming victory over the plateau yet. This happened last month too - and the following week saw gain. But, overall, my graph is still going down - and that is what matters!!!

Kevin had been begging me for weeks - or maybe I was begging him - for a break from our lives and I gave him the following rules: No tents and no forced physical activity. Honestly, I wanted to sit on my butt and look at something pretty :-) Hiking and walking places - well, I get enough of that right now!

Kevin found a quaint little RV park with cabins that allowed dogs in the Mark Twain National Forest so we headed south to Bull Shoals Lake - with a Missouri address, but on Arkansas' side of the state line.

The place was perfect - tacky southwestern decor, a tiny gas stove (like the one I had in Mussel Shoals, California!), a full-sized fridge, two twin beds pushed together to make a king, a lake-side vista and a pool. Heaven on Earth, my friends.

What really made it great, however, was the fact that I was able to cook my meals. I know, that's a strange thing to enjoy on vacation, but I didn't have to worry about picking the right things off a menu. Cooking is less stress for me these days. We made special "vacation" foods - pasta salad (with Balsamic vinegar), strawberry pie, bacon-wrapped steaks and venison roast - and I knew everything that went into each dish. Also, we loaded the cooler with healthy snack foods.

On the first day, Kevin went hiking and I stayed in the cabin catching up on magazines - I literally had a stack of more than a dozen I needed to read through (I got through 5)! I clipped work out tricks and recipes, design ideas and gardening tips. I was lazily productive and loved every minute of it.

I didn't feel guilty for not joining Kevin on his hike. First of all, I walked 45 miles last week - 18 Saturday and 15 Sunday - then, Sunday afternoon found me driving to our wilderness retreat! Secondly, Mondays are my day of rest. Since our vacation was Sunday - Tuesday, and Sunday was driving day, his hike fell on the right day for me.



And finally, I NEEDED couch time! This summer has been so busy that I've been near insanity for awhile. But Friday was my last final and the weekend walks were the last long ones that remained on my training regimen. Plus, I planned to go hiking on Tuesday - to coincide with a 4-mile training walk.

I wasn't a complete bum, by the way. That evening, Kevin and I strolled down to the lake with the dogs and then went swimming for a bit so I got some activity in, but it was nice to do it for fun - not for training, or for weight loss.

Vacation
All I ever wanted
Vacation
Had to get away

WAY TO GO!!!

I am so excited!!! You ALL lost weight this week!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LADIES (AND GENTLEMAN) IN WEIGHTING!!!

Go buy yourself a new color of nail polish, you deserve it!

Miles to go

I have run smack-dab into a weight loss wall and don't quite know how to get around it. Yes, Ladies (and Gentleman), I have hit that dreaded plateau.

I weighed in at 157 again. Sure, back when I weighed in at 162 two weeks in a row, I had a false alarm. But the past four weeks have seen me at 156, 159, 157, and 157.

Talking with Lindsy about the plateau this morning, she asked a simple question.

"So, what are you going to do - exercise more or eat less?"

And it really is that simple. I love it.

Goal Weight Day is in 6 weeks and I need to lose 12 pounds (still!) to make Goal Weight. Of course, that means 2 pounds a week, but I've decided not to make any specific changes until after the 3-Day.

By default, I suppose that means I'm going to "exercise more" since my 3-Day training has me walking 18 miles this Saturday and 15 miles this Sunday. Plus it has me walking 60 miles over three days in a little more than two weeks. Right now, I feel the need to focus all of my energy on getting ready for the 3-Day. I'll eat healthy and follow my training regimen and reassess once the walk is over.

On a positive note, my monthly measurements provided some joy this morning. My waist is in the 20s and my hips in the 30s!!! My thighs and arms didn't change in numbers, but the definition is noticeably more pronounced in both areas. Also, my calves are (annoyingly) slowly getting smaller.

Sure, my weight itself may be frustrating me right now, but I have never felt so healthy! That's where the real success lies.

This past Sunday Kevin agreed to sub on a mens softball team and I went to cheer him on. I was approached by a stranger from a different league who needed another girl so they could play. A couple of years ago I would have declined, but instead I jumped up and joined the Pile of Hits.



During the next two hours, I squatted as catcher (and still feel the pain!), hit the ball two out of three at-bats (got walked on the 4th) and narrowly missed getting on base by milliseconds. Last year, I missed getting on base by full seconds - my hits are going farther and I'm running faster, now. Also, I have a new idea about my abilities and I love it!

It would be easy to stop now. To congratulate myself on losing 40 pounds (or so), getting in better shape and bragging about my status as a long-distance walker. I don't even think there would be too much shame in it. I've come a long way, baby. But I promised to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks and I'm not going to walk away from that goal. So sure, I've come a long way - but I still have miles to go (12 to be exact) before I get there.


My Measurements:
Waist: 29.5 ... overall decrease of 10.5 inches (WOOHOO!!!)
Hips: 39.75 ... overall decrease of 7.5
Thigh: 21 ... overall decrease of 7.5 - no change, though, from last month
Calves: 15 ... overall decrease of 2.25 inches (slowly, but surely, right?)
Upper Arm: 12.5 ... overall decrease of 3 inches - no change from last month
Push ups: 20 (Though Kevin says they don't count since I didn't go down "far enough" hmph)
Sit ups: 27 (I did full sit-ups rather than crunches this morning)

Last Month's Measurements
Waist: 30.5
Hips: 40
Thigh: 21
Calves: 15.25
Upper Arm: 12.5

Starting Points:
Weight: 195 lbs
Waist: 40 inches
Hips: 47.25 inches
Thigh: 28.5 inches
Upper Arm: 15.5 inches
Calf: 17.25 inches
Push ups: 4
Crunches: 15

Food Nazi? Me? You betcha!

A friend of mine sent me this link today telling me I just had to try them.

I clicked the link and was unimpressed.

When I explained to my friend that I generally only eat foods that ADD to my diet, and went on to explain what I meant, he accused me of being a Food Nazi. Since he's German, I guess he'd know. But I wasn't offended by the term.

While their methods were crap - the Nazis sought a pure race (a stupid goal). Well, I find myself drawn, more and more, to pure foods (a great goal). While I prefer to stop the metaphor there, I'm okay with the title.

There was a time, not too long ago and at the beginning of this endeavor, when I would have jumped at the chance for tasty baked chips. It was a way of sticking to what I considered normal snack foods - but a "healthy" alternative.

But just what is healthy about it? What does it add nutritionally to a diet? Vitamins? Calcium? Fiber? No. No. No. It just adds empty calories. And I am not a fan of wasting my calories.

Living with 1300 calories a day takes a lot of nutritional thought. About two months ago I shifted some focus to tracking how many servings of fruits and veggies I consume in a day. Enter what I call Nutritional Multi-tasking.

Craving a crunchy snack? I grab carrots. They are satisfyingly crisp AND a good source of fiber, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K, biotin, potassium and thiamine. Can we say that about Baked Lays? I haven't researched it, but I'm guessing "No." Not only am I satisfying my crunch crave, but I'm adding to my servings of vegetables for the day. Nutritional Multi-tasking. 30 baby carrots are 100 calories. Check that against the serving size of Baked Lays.



Craving something sweet? How about watermelon? The health benefits of watermelon include preventing kidney disorders, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart care, heat stroke, macular degeneration, impotence, etc. Watermelon is a good source of thiamin, potassium and magnesium which protect our body from so many diseases. Can the same be said of Twinkies? I'll let you answer that. A cup of watermelon is only 50 calories.

Craving something salty? This can be tricky, to be honest and I don't really have it down. I love salt. When the cravings are bad, however, I add a bit of salt to a fresh food. Sometimes I add salt to my watermelon. Sometimes I grab a handful of salted peanuts or almonds (watch the fat and calories!). The hardest trick here is to keep an eye on sodium. It's recommended that we stay below 2000 mg of sodium a day. Fruits and vegetables, because they are natural, raw foods, comply to this (as opposed to those Baked Lays), but rarely satisfy that salty craving alone. I've switched to sea salt from a grinder in order to mitigate the damages of this vice. This article touts the benefits of salt, but I am a bit skeptical (and now a little freaked out about my sea salt!).

Craving something cool? Grab fresh fruit or veggies from the fridge! There is nutritional value in most fresh foods, but add in a cooler temp and it's a great way to beat the heat. Blend it with ice and you're doing even better!

I started this endeavor making , but as I've grown (smaller) and learned so much more about nutrition, I am very pleased with the natural evolution. Also, I think it's a good path of discovery for others to take. Learn about the foods you are eating. See if they ADD to your diet, or merely substitute. And, as busy people, we can all use Nutritional Multi-tasking, right?

Heil Health!

Fitting room fun

When I was a size 16, I was a good, efficient shopper. I would run into Lane Bryant, grab any size 16 that looked remotely good and head to the register. I considered myself a perfect size 16 and was happy about it. It meant I was one of the smaller people in the store and helped me maintain some self-esteem.

It was a different feeling, however, whenever I went to those "skinny stores." You know the ones I mean - American Eagle, The Buckle, even The Gap. I always felt like such a poser going into those stores. I felt like the sales staff was staring at me and wondering why the hell I even bothered to enter their doors.

Until now.

I went into a skinny store today and had a blast! I even enjoyed trying on different pants in the dressing room (a humiliating feeling most times!). My friend Alison and I went shopping at a sidewalk sale and wandered into The Buckle. I tried on a million jeans and played with different fits.

It was the first time in my life that I didn't choose the fitting room far away from anyone else. I even gathered up the courage to step outside into the store!

I've been having a hard time with the changes in my body. I am far from describing myself as skinny, but how much my body has changed since September hit me today.

I was so excited, that I spent $80 on ONE pair of jeans!

5 n 1?!

As I stepped on the scale last Wednesday afternoon, I told myself not to get my hopes up, but I knew deep down that I was going to see a significant change. I know the goal of this blog is "50n50," and I plan to do just that. I am in no hurry to lose this weight. As I've been told before, I know it's the truth: "It didn't come on overnight, and it's not going to come off overnight." But when I saw the 2.3 kg change in my weight, I was ecstatic.

I joined a gym here in Korea about 6 weeks ago, and while you would assume that a person working out as hard as I do would begin losing weight immediately, I didn't. And here's why: While part of me was making a commitment, the other part wasn't quite ready to give up the junk-food lifestyle I had grown accustomed to. I was making internal excuses, like, "Oh, I'm working out so much, I can afford to eat this or that," and I was pretty much lying to myself. So while I wasn't gaining weight, I wasn't losing any either.

So as I was discussing Natalie's success with her, I went back and re-read her blog and realized that for her, tracking her calories was the key, so I decided I needed to do it to! And what a difference it made! All along, I had thought that if I saw what I was eating, I wouldn't be able to eat any of the things I wanted to or loved so much. But in actuality, I am just as satisfied, if not even more so, with the amount of food I have been eating. And once I got the eating under control, the weight just fell off!

I realize that it is not necessarily healthy or expected that I will lose this much weight each week. From here on out, I know it will be a struggle, but I accept the challenge and am ready for it. It feels really good to take control for the first time in awhile.

45 to go!

What a weekend

I can't quite decide how to start this post ...

How do you count the calories you throw up?

Anyone interested in running 30 miles?

Have you ever tried to tell a breast cancer survivor she can't do something?

I honestly don't even know where to start ... and this is what happens when I don't blog every couple of days.

So I'll take a cue from Maria Von Trapp and "start at the very beginning" since it's "a very good place to start."

Last week, I got knocked down by a nasty summer bug. In fact, they sent me home from work Thursday and told me not to come in on Friday. I also missed school on those two days - and my training walks. But I was feeling better by Friday night and was able to give my sister-in-law and nieces a quick introduction to Kansas City bbq when they passed through town on their way to Des Moines.

A few weeks ago I signed up to volunteer for the 2010 Psycho Psummer Run Toto Run 50k Trail Run at the nearby lake. Yes, a 50k. They put me in charge of Aid Station at mile 5 and 20 and it was the most inspirational day I've had in awhile.

I met this amazing, stubborn, crazy woman who is 63, has survived breast cancer and refused to quit even though it took her more than 3 hours to hit mile 5. Her daughter passed away this year and was signed up for the race so she was doing it for her. Can you just imagine? To read more about her, click here.

When a run is longer than a marathon, it's considered an ultrarun. And those who run them are CRAZY. I mean this is a good way, of course. The amazing endurance, strength and physical prowess on display Saturday was just so amazing! (And I got to rub sunscreen on some of it!)

Seriously, when I finish my 3-Day training, I am going to start running. I went into training to run a 5k a couple of years ago and got myself up to 2 miles, but stopped when a dog attacked me. But I want to have a body like the women I saw this weekend. I want to be physically impressive. And I want to show people just how much I've changed in body AND mind.

Anyway, running 50k takes awhile - and they don't call it endurance volunteering for nothing. I was lugging pitchers of water and cutting fruit for more than 8 hours. Outside.

I felt good when things started. I was drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot, but I didn't bring a lunch and couldn't bring myself to eat most of the snacks we had for the runners because they were so high in calorie. So, I ate a lot of fruit and nothing else.

Big mistake.

My head started hurting after the first hour and didn't stop until late Sunday evening. When my Aid Station closed after the last runner finally came through, I raced home and made it just in time to hug the toilet. It was awful. I spent the rest of the evening in bed. Kevin brought me saltines and Sprite Zero and that was dinner.

Then, when I awoke on Sunday, every muscle in my body felt like beef jerky - completely dried out. I spent the day eating saltines and drinking water. Deciding I needed to move a bit, I went with Miss Abigail to see Eclipse and drank more water and ate popcorn.

I ate a lot of salt on purpose. Clearly, I had overheated and lost a lot of electrolytes and sodium while working Saturday. So, diet aside, it was important to gain those back - and keep hydrating myself. No matter how much you are working, when heat is involved, it is important to keep your body full of the proper electrolytes. When I go on my long walks I alternate 50 ounces of water with 32 ounces of sports drink in order to achieve this. Long distance runners, however, take it even further and take salt pills at least once an hour. I need to get some of those tablets for the 3-Day! Clearly, I am highly susceptible to heat issues.

While helping my body recover Sunday, I still tried to stick to my calorie count ... which means I didn't get enough "real" food and I totally noticed a change in my demeanor by the evening.

I was a total monster and blame the lack of greens! I guess you are what you eat - and lots of sodium makes me SALTY.

I don't know what Weigh Day will be like for me this week - I'm not able to workout or train to my usual degree. Plus, I had to eat a lot of "bad" foods to help my body recover the electrolytes lost during my volunteering. Here's hoping I didn't cause myself too much damage!

Making changes

It's never easy to make changes. Maybe that's why people who diet seem to fail so often. I know, because I've been one of them. Over the past few years, I have made small, subtle changes in my habits, diet, and activity level, and overall I have lost weight without a definitive plan. However, one thing that I've never done and never thought I would do is write down what I eat.

Last week, when I started the 50 in 50 challenge, I decided that if I was really going to do this, then it would be vital to take everything down so I can track what I'm putting into my body. Writing everything down seems so boring and tedious that I have avoided it for so long.

This week I changed my thinking and decided that I had to. Thanks to Natalie's heads up about sparkpeople.com, I have an easy, quick way to track my eating and with their huge database, I can even find out the calorie counts in some of the Korean foods that I was clueless about. Now that I have a recommended amount of calories I should be eating, it has become much easier to make better choices for snacks and meals. Seeing it all laid out for me like that has actually made it easier on me, not more stressful like I assumed it would. And it keeps me honest.

I have also realized that I have been limiting myself to about a half cup or less of rice at lunch, assuming that all the carbs in it must be horrible for me, but it turns out that I can help myself to a full cup, which helps me stay fuller longer and keeps me away from the office candy bowl when I get the mid-afternoon hunger pangs.

Small changes like this have made the week a very successful one, not to mention all the time I put in at the gym, and when I step on that scale on Wednesday, I am almost certain that I am going to see some great results, and I am actually looking forward to weighing myself for the first time in awhile!

A Science Diet

It doesn't matter why it happens - seeing the number on the scale go UP sucks.

I walked 34 miles last week - so I entered this week feeling good. I walked 6 miles Thursday at 4 mph, then walked 12 miles Saturday and 10 miles Sunday. I took Monday off (and I'll admit it - drank WAY too much beer) but was back to walking yesterday and added 5.33 miles to my tally.

So why did I gain three pounds this week?!?

I have a few theories:
1. Got a visitor yesterday. Sometimes I just hate guests!
2. I'm having some digestion issues - and haven't been able to get rid of them in a couple of days. But I'm hoping the oatmeal I'm eating right now does the trick!
3. Too many euphemisms can actually add to your overall weight.
4. I can feel the water retention (see number 1). Seriously, I know my potty habits and they are a bit off. I drank 40 ounces on my walk last night and have barely peed since. It was in the upper 70s so I didn't sweat it out!

And finally, it might be because of a little experiment I've been conducting all week ...

5. I took a break from counting calories.

Did your eyebrows shoot into your hairline? Is the look on your face best described as "shock and awe?" Well, before you think I've lost my mind, let me explain the experiment.

I've decided I might be leaning on SparkPeople.com too much for my weight loss. This is about making educated decisions when it comes to food. Not eating something at dinner because of what I ate at lunch, you know? But does that mean I will always have to calculate the calories I consumed after every meal? I hope not. Since starting 50n50, I have gained a lot of knowledge about the foods I eat. I can usually look at a meal and tell you how many calories are in it. So, applying my new-found skills, I decided to go the week without counting my calories. I focused on making good choices and just eating healthy. I did, however, write everything down so that I could go back and analyze my decisions.

Remember this from elementary school?


MY SCIENCE DIET

Purpose: Do I still need to count calories to continue losing weight?

Research: I have been counting my calories for 9 months now. I have a food routine, bad foods don't live in my house, and I know to look up new foods (like last night's dipped cone from Dairy Queen - a child's size has 190 calories!) before eating them.

Hypothesis: Surely, I am ready to make the proper food choices without tracking every calorie, every day.

Experiment: Stop tracking calories. Only look up new foods in order to make an educated decision. Write everything down and analyze the data on July 7 (today).

Analysis:
Wed: 1522; 222 over goal
Thurs: 893; 407 under goal
Fri: 1357; 57 over goal
Sat: 1396; 96 over goal
Sun: 2340; 840 over goal (Holiday - 1500 calorie day)
Mon: 1104; 196 under goal
Tues: 1532; 232 over goal
Weekly total: 10144; 644 over goal


Conclusion: My hypothesis was NOT correct. I am not ready to do this without counting calories. Because I allow myself 1300 calories a day during the week and occasionally give myself 1500 on weekend days, I should not have eaten more than 9500 calories last week (the week before I ate 9301). And I ate 10144. The amount of exercise is irrelevant since it is a constant variable that applies with the controlled calories (I've walked more than 100 miles in the past month!).

Admittedly, this does not account for 3 pounds of weight gain (to lose a pound you must burn 3500 extra calories, so to gain you must consume that much). There are other variables to consider, as mentioned above: water retention, digestion, monthly munchies, July 4th holiday. But these are all normal in our lives and something I need to learn to work around.

I can almost guarantee that I made better choices this week than I would have a year ago. And, looking over the data the extra 600 calories can be easily explained: 3 Schlitz beers, two glasses of wine and half a Magic Hat.

So, there you have it. Weigh Day showed me at 159 - a gain of 3 pounds. Perhaps one day (hopefully soon!) I won't have to count my calories, but something tells me it's important to fall back on it during holidays, menstruation, and alcoholic binging.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to log my breakfast calories. :-P

A verbose first post

Hello from Korea!

When Natalie first started on this journey, I remember how excited I was for her, but at the time I just didn't feel like it was for me. I'm a fairly stubborn person, and it takes me a lot of time to make up my mind about something.

There has been a lot of change in my life since adolescence, but throughout it all there have remained two constants: The first one is my overweight build. I can't even remember ever being a normal size. I don't ever think I was under 200 pounds in high school. Some of my earliest memories throughout elementary school were of being ridiculed for my size. The second constant has been the state of being on a diet. Another memory I don't have is of ever feeling like I could eat anything I wanted. However, this didn't stop me.

At my heaviest, 329 pounds, almost three years ago, was when I made a vow to myself to embrace a healthier lifestyle. I joined a gym, stopped eating so much, stopped drinking so much beer, and discovered I had a thyroid problem. Within a year I had dropped about forty pounds and developed a little more self-esteem. However, after I lost my motivation, I gained a little weight back as I moved to another city to finish school and started drinking more.

When I regained my motivation, I lost everything I had gained back plus about ten more. I lost the motivation again, and then, more recently, in the months before I moved to Korea, I hired a personal trainer and lost about twenty more.

My first couple of months here in Korea were difficult. Initially losing weight from all of the walking and the healthy cuisine, once I moved to my new apartment, I began to frequent the nearby bakery in order to help assuage my feelings of loneliness. Finally, I had to snap myself out of it. Here I am, 27 years old, and have never even fit into a size 12. Size 12 has always been my goal. There's always been something magical about it. My first goal is to be healthier. My second goal is to fit into a 12, which losing fifty pounds should accomplish...but don't worry, I don't plan on stopping there. For the record, I was wearing a 2o when I came to Korea, and a friend of mine who is leaving was giving away most of her clothes, and I am now wearing her size 16 trousers. So I'm close!

So, here I am...I have joined a local gym which specializes in quick bursts of exercise and weight lifting in order to pump up the fat burning. I spend the weekends hiking or exploring new neighborhoods, so I stay quite active. Each workout at the new gym, I feel like I'm going to die, but it is amazing how much stronger I am getting, and I love they way that feels. I've been going for about a month now and have dropped a few pounds, so I wish I had started the 50 in 50 challenge earlier, but there's no time like the present.

I have been quite active over the past several years, so I know that my main problem is my calorie intake, so I am taking control by writing down everything that I eat.

I weighed myself at the gym yesterday and I am 107.5 kg (damn metric system,) so that equals out to a starting weight of about 237 pounds...I can't believe I'm posting this in the internet. My initial goal is to go for the 50 in 50. I know I need to lose more than that, but I want to start off with 50 and see where it takes me.

Here I go!

Welcome to another Lady!

For the 200th post on 50n50, I would like to send a big welcome to another Lady in Weighting!

Ms. Lindsy and I went to high school together, but didn't become friends until we happened to live in the same apartment complex years later. Since then, we've been inseparable.

Lindsy has decided to join our merry group and will be blogging with us from Busan, South Korea.

Yep, we span the globe!!!

WELCOME, LINDSY!

Emotional Challenges

I was just walking to a local salon near my house after a nice lunch with my hubby when I passed this group of really drunk men. I actually saw two of them early this morning (about 7 hours ago) in my apartment’s lobby and just thought that they had had a crazy night of drinking and were headed off to bed….. anyway, there were about 7 of them- all very nice looking- some more drunk than others- holding each other up. I passed with care, not wanting to accidently be fallen on. Then, all of a sudden I heard snorting- pig noise snorting- and one of them told the snorter to shut up, but he didn’t listen. Seeing that I was the only ‘larger’ individual in sight it was pretty clear he was snorting at me. As I continued to the salon I told myself that I wouldn’t let it get to me, but it did. When I got to the salon it was really busy and the lady asked if I could come back in an hour. That was fine with me, so I headed home. As I walked toward the elevator I heard some familiar drunken noises. I froze. I thought about getting pissed , and then, almost immediately after getting pissed, I became shy and felt like hiding under a rock. Being fat and having confidence issues really do go hand in hand for me. As I turned the corner most of them were already in an elevator trying to figure out how to go up. Only one was at the call box trying to get their friend to release the elevator (the security in our building is pretty tight) and so I waited, just out of view for the next elevator. I took the next elevator up and once inside I changed my shirt- from a white & green one to a black one thinking maybe it was the color of the shirt that was so unflattering. I wish that I didn’t feel so upset about this, but I am upset. Losing weight is a challenge in itself. This just makes it harder. Part of me doesn’t want to go out tonight. Our plan is to go into the beer gardens and have a few drinks after a long week of work. But now I feel like I should just have water. I know this sounds silly, but it is real. That guy really messed me up emotionally today.