Fro Yo Go Go

So, we all know just how much I love all things ice cream-esque. Last summer Kevin and I discovered a lovely ice cream and sno-cone shop two miles from the house and made it our habit to walk there whenever we wanted tasty goodness. Since then, two amazing things have happened.

First, our television was stolen. We didn't watch a lot of tv anyway, but with nothing but an old console left we don't watch nearly as many movies or video games these days. Instead, we look for other ways to pass our evenings.

Second, two frozen yogurt shops moved into the area.

Did you just hear angels singing? Yeah, I know: Evening activity + Fro Yo = Natalie and Kevin walking at least three miles almost every evening.

It's totally win, win, win too. I satisfy my ice cream fix, the dog du jour gets their energy walked out, I burn calories, and Kevin and I get to spend quality time together. It's awesome! I burn 250 calories or so walking two and from the fro yo shop and only consume 150 calories (and calcium!) eating my tasty treat. Plus, it makes for a lovely cool down in the middle of working out (yes, we walk briskly!) in this heat.

There are two frozen yogurt shops to choose from - PeachWave and Yogurtini. Peachwave is a 3-mile walk through the hip part of town. Yogurtini is a 3.9-mile walk through the fancy part of town. They each offer different flavors and different scenery so it never gets boring.

Today was hot. Officially the hottest day of the year with the high at 110 in some locations. My phone said it felt like 104 just a few moments ago. When I got up this morning and saw that the temp had already reached 90, I decided I wouldn't be able to handle my Couch to 5k routine. I was disappointed because I really do like the way I feel once I'm finished.

Anyway, because I missed the run this morning, we decided to walk the 3.9 miles to Yogurtini. The weirdest thing happened on the way home. I blame the heat ... and the fro yo.

I grabbed Sadie's leash and started running. I hollered to Kevin to tell me when 90 seconds had passed. Then, I walked 90 seconds and started running again - this time for 3 minutes. As I started that three-minute run I decided to just do today's Couch to 5k routine. And I did it!

Once I got home and brought my body temp out of the triple digits using a sugar-free Fudgesicle, I was thrilled with myself. The old Natalie would have let the heat stop her and use it as an excuse. But it looks like I turned it into a challenge or something. Because I certainly didn't let it stop me.

The last three minutes about killed me. Did I mention the heat??? And I hadn't really hydrated with running in mind. And I'd already walked 2 miles before even contemplating running. And even Sadie was so exhausted she just laid down at one point. BUT I DID IT. And I kind of feel invincible. Almost.

At first I was just proud to make myself work for my treats. I recommend it to everyone. All working out should come with awesomeness like frozen yogurt, right? Plus, you'll feel like you can take on the world. Or at least 110 degrees at 6 miles an hour - in intervals.

Weigh Day Happiness

I weighed in this morning at 146.4 - a mere 1.4 pounds away from re-entering Healthy Land. I'm beginning to feel like my new self again!

I completed Day 2 of Week 2 of Couch to 5k this morning. I missed last week because I was in trial - but trust me, that is a work out on it's own. I wonder how many calories you burn writing 100 mph for 8 hours. The running isn't too terrible - hardly even painful - and I feel GREAT after.

I'm also beginning to see a lot more muscle definition. I'm not quite at a six pack or anything, but there is definitely improvement in just the past month.

Did I mention that I quit my part time job? I worked at a gourmet grocery store from Thanksgiving until the middle of June - the exact time frame when I started struggling with maintaining my weight. I don't think that's a coincidence. I'm pretty sure all the expired chocolate I consumed in that time is the culprit (as was my lack of will power) and I am VERY glad to be separated from it. Honestly, the weight loss started up again after I quit.

I just love how good I feel about myself right now. When I was gaining some of the weight back, I felt lost and out of control. But now that I am back on track I feel good again. I feel healthy and happy.

And that's how I want to feel forever!!!

So much Facebook love to my announcement

Natalie

By the way ... I DID IT!!! I am officially down to my healthy bmi range!!!! WOOT WOOT! I lost 50 pounds in 60 weeks :-D

• Lindsy and 14 others like this.
• • Damn. That's impressive!!! Go nat
    

    
    
  • Great. Congrads, I'll have to see how you did it is it in you blog? I would like to do tht myself. You are my inspiration!
    

    
    
  • Congratulations Natalie! That is awesome
    

    
    
  • BIG, GIANT, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU, that rocks Natalie, amazing job!!!
    

    
    
  • Thanks, y'all. I'm pretty excited - this is better than every birthday combined!!! :-) And I've had so much support along the way, I can't even tell ya. Friends and family: You are awesome!
    

    
    
  • Congratulations Natalie! That is wonderful! You are looking great. Keep up the hard work! :)
    

    
    
  • You are an inspiration:) I've lost about 50 pounds too, but most of it was gained while pregnant;) hee hee! I could stand to lose some more for sure!
    

    
    
  • Good for you Natalie! You are really inspiring me to keep up with my weight watchers! Hopefully in a year I'll be in your shoes :)
    

    
    
  • thats awesome nat! how did u do it? u know me of all ppl could use some weight loss...
    

    
    
  • Congratulations!! You are definitely inspiration. I haven't started on my journey to shed some pounds but I made the decision awhile back that when I do and get discouraged, your triumph will be on my mind.
    

    
    
  • Amazing!! Way to go!
    

    
    
  • congrats texas you look great!
    

    
    
  • Thanks, everyone! Your support is amazing!!! :-)
    
    
    
    And to the before/after photo I posted!
    
    

    50n60 ... August 2009 and October 2010 ...

    Add a caption

    50n60 ... August 2009 and October 2010 ...
    

    · Comment
    

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    • 9 others like this.
    • • U look amazing
      • Thanks :-)
      • Awesome!! :-D I've been meaning to put up similar pics from my year long weight loss.. Summer 2009- Summer 2010. But I have to say.. I think your transformation came out lookin better ;-)
      • Natalie, you were beautiful before and you are now, but the most important thing is how YOU feel. :)
      • Thanks. I FEEL amazing! I love being able to run with Kevin or feel good about making a nutritious, tasty meal. This past year has truly been an amazing learning experience for me!
      • Congrats to you, C!!! :-) Can hardly wait to see the pics.
      • natalie you look great, i am very happy for you that you are living a healthy lifestyle :-)
      • Natalie, you are awesome.
      • Amazing!!
      • Thanks, y'all!!! It's been fun, strangely enough, and I really do feel better than ever :-) I wasn't a fast-food eater or even a high fat eater, but I was eating wrong. I've found myself eating a lot more food than I used to do - which is pretty awesome :D
      • Good for you!
      • You look fantastic! So proud of you!!! You've inspired me to shave off that last ten pounds I've been wanting to shed for a while! GO NAT!
      • HUBBA HUBBA! You look so healthy and happy!
      • You look super healthy and much happier now! Congratulations Natalie!! :)

FINALLY!!!

Perhaps I should change the name of this blog to 50n60 ... because after 60 weeks

I DID IT!!!

That's right, Ladies (and Gentleman), when I stepped on the scale this morning it gave me one of the happiest sights of my life.

You know what this means, right? I'M "HEALTHY"!!!!

When I have more time, I'll write a wonderful recap blog (that will be after I finish the 20-page paper that is staring me down as I write even this little shorty - the paper is due tomorrow). Suffice it to say, I learned a lot about myself.

The career services dean commented on my weight loss a couple of weeks ago: “You aren't supposed to lose weight. You're in law school!” Then he sincerely congratulated me (he happens to lead the running club for the law school).

He's right, of course, law school is supposed to be your main concern when you're, you know, in law school. But I saw what the lifestyle was doing to those around me (everyone had gained weight in just 2 months of classes!) and I didn't want to risk it. So, I decided to add healthy living to the list of new skills I was learning and I'm happy to say that I've gotten pretty good at it. Now that I've reached one major goal in my life, it's time to look to another: Maintenance. Gulp.

But first, I have to finish this darn 20-page paper!!!

Congratulations, Renee

Renee has lost 25 pounds!!!!

WAY TO GO!

I know a thing a two

This blog is about setting goals. Get it???

I am not, by any means, an expert on weight loss. I'm just a girl who reads a lot about it and has had a successful experience over the past year. However, I've learned a thing or two during this journey and I wish I could share it with the world.

1) There is no single right way to lose weight - what worked for me might not work for someone else. For me, counting calories was the way to get it done. But I've seen people find success without writing down a single food.

Some of my friends added a lot of physical activity to their lives and didn't change their eating habits one bit. I would never have succeeded if I'd done that because it would have overwhelmed me and made me feel like I was being tortured every day. I became a bit food-obsessed (LOVE cooking!) so there was never a time when I felt tortured, that's for sure, quite the opposite.

2) But there are many wrong ways to lose weight. One of those wrong ways involves setting extreme goals that are next to impossible to meet reasonably. It saddens and frustrates me when I see a friend embark upon something that appears destined for failure at the start. I hope and pray they will succeed, but I have yet to see it. As I'm sure you will agree, the strongest motivator when working to lose weight is success. So, why do we not make our goals rationally when it comes to weight loss?

A friend of mine announced a plan to lose 30 pounds by January 1. That's eight weeks from now - and includes two MAJOR food holidays! Seriously, I wish her well, but what is the likelihood that she will succeed? Everywhere you look (except the Biggest Loser, of course), medical advisers preach losing only 1-2 pounds a week. So why do people still set goals for major weight loss (more than 10 pounds) and completely ignore this guideline?

I'm going to be harsh here: If someone is an expert on weight loss and knows so much about it that he thinks it's acceptable to disregard other experts, then he wouldn't need to lose more than 10 pounds. Right?

I know slow weight loss is frustrating. Believe me, I felt it and at times it bummed me out. But looking back, I also know that my success was because the weight loss was slow. I didn't make drastic changes in my routine or my eating. I tackled one thing at a time.

If you notice, I didn't start increasing my physical activity until I'd lost about 20 pounds. I waited until I was comfortable with the changes in my diet before changing something else. I set small goals - you know, like lose a pound this week - and felt successful each time I reached them.

Do we set drastic goals because we have become a society of people who need instant gratification?

Are we used to working hard in short bursts for our success?

Is weight loss just another to-do list entry?

I'd venture to say that it is a mix of the above. I know I wanted to see results fast - and didn't, but I love the results I'm seeing now and the it was totally worth the weight wait. In truth, I was used to short bursts of hard work followed by weekends of relaxation, but this won't work in weight loss. Even a "free day" once a week, as some advocate, creates the chance to backslide. And you know we love to-do lists. There are about a million apps out there that help us organize our errands and each thing we need to accomplish is a day's work. But weight loss isn't something to check off a list. It's something to incorporate into your life - it's the by-product of a healthier lifestyle.

So, I advocate setting attainable goals for yourself. Few people wake up one day and say "I'm going to make $30 million by Jan. 1" and expect to achieve. But if you say, "I'm going to save an extra $300 by Jan 1" you will probably do it! You won't get overwhelmed and you'll find the little changes you need to make in your money habits to reach your goal. So why not carry that into weight loss? You'll be the richer for it, I promise.

I've got friends in low sizes :-)

One of my law school buddies, Megan, is a beautiful 5'8 with amazing shoulders and a stunning face structure. She recently had bangs cut and WOW - what a hottie.

About the time I started 50n50, she started focusing on losing some weight, too (though she didn't need to - she was in her healthy range - she just wanted to get back to her undergrad days). During the past year, we've shared recipes and swapped stories about our cooking trials and triumphs.

I'm happy to announce that Megan has lost 30 pounds since she started focusing on her weight!

She has gone down at least two pant sizes and last night was generous enough to offer up a bunch of her old pants to me - because I can now fit in a size 6! (The 6s are from Old Navy and Megan says they run big, but I've been wearing 10s most of the summer so I'm still excited with the 8s she gave me for fitting and was super ecstatic about the 6s!).

When I first met Megan - when she was wearing a 6/8 - I immediately put her on my list of "skinny friends." I don't know how or why I do that, but I put my skinny friends in a different category in my head - maybe I just assumed that they couldn't relate to certain aspects of my life because they were skinny. Do you do that with your friends?

Anyway, while trying on the clothes that Megan was wearing when I met her and labeled her skinny, a weird thought occurred to me. If I met myself today, would I put myself in the skinny category???

Proof is in the picture

As strange as it may seem, I have had a hard time realizing that I've lost 40 pounds. Sure, I see the number on the scale each (day) week, but I honestly haven't seen it in the mirror. When people tell me I look different, I wonder to myself how that's possible. But, that all changed today - it's finally beginning to sink in!

Losing weight slowly has made it hard for me to fully grasp how different I look because I see myself everyday. Sometimes, I'll walk past a mirror and catch a glimpse of a girl who looks like a smaller version of me, but when I turn to look closer, all I see is the same face that greeted me over the sink earlier in the day when I was brushing my teeth. This surprises those who don't see me everyday - to them, the change is drastic - but it's been so gradual that it's snuck up on me.

But, it turns out that I really, truly look different.

It finally sank in this afternoon when I was getting ready for Boobs Rock - my big breast cancer awareness festival. As a joke, I "slutted" up my t-shirt by tying it tightly around my waist and rolling it up a bit. But when Kevin showed me a picture of myself I was shocked. I expected to be ashamed by my usual rolls, but - um - they weren't there.

I first passed it off as a trick of the camera angle, but when I saw other photos from Boobs Rock - and I still looked half decent - things started shifting in my mind.

So, as an experiment, I went through all of the photos I've taken over the past year and pulled one from each month into a folder. It wasn't the best experiment because there were many different angles - and I really avoid full-body photos anyway.

It was when I accidentally went from a photo taken today to one taken a year ago, however, that I finally saw what everyone has been trying to tell me. And, um, wow. Can I say that? I look A LOT different!

I'm saving the before/after photo for the finale blog in September - but I needed this realization now. I needed to see how far I've come in order to head into the last lap of this journey. The next ten pounds may not make much of a difference visually, but seeing just how much I've changed has me pretty jazzed.

Surprise!

I'll be honest - I kinda forgot this morning was a Weigh Day. But when I remembered, I was bummed.

"There is no way I've lost any this week," I said to myself as I took off the clothes I'd already put on for the day and stepped on the scale.

I was already beginning to draft my blog explaining my weight gain over the week: stress from a big paper, boyfriend drama, depression, a dinner of lasagna at my professor's house last night. You know, the usual suspects.

So, imagine my surprise when the scale said 186! 186? I didn't think it was right, so I stepped off and stepped on again.

Yep, 186. Maybe I was reading it wrong? I got off again and looked at the long lines compared to the short ones and marked what should be 186 then stepped on the scale again.

186!

WOOHOO!!! By my calculations, this puts me ahead by a pound and that is handy with Thanksgiving being next week (MUCH more on that later).