New Things

Sorry I didn't write on Christmas Eve! I got really busy. I weighed in at 137.4. Which I'm alright with. I have been enjoying lots of goodies. Since reaching my goal, I have seen that I am going to be challenged in this, probably for the rest of my life.
I'm going to attempt to get down to 120 by my mom's birthday: April 17th. If a versian of a 6-pack emerges before 120, then I will stop there. But as long as I'm not pregnant, I want to see if I can have some abs!

I probably won't write in every week, but I will still write now and then for anyone interested. I feel like everyone (including me!) Is waiting and watching to see if I can keep the weight off. I have total confidence in myself that I will. It will be a whole new learning process. I will have to figure out how many calories I need to maintain my new weight.

I won all of my diet bets! I got a total of $135.47. Not bad! I had bet $88.something so that's almost a $50 gain! I'm thinking of using a little of my christmas money to do another. It really does help motivate, to know you have money on the line.

I had a new personal best on my 5K today! 25:57 is my new best now. Broke that 26 minute line!
Previous was 26:27, so exactly 30 seconds faster! Which I'm surprised about because I have been eating so much and gained a little. Just last night at my parent's I ate quiche, champagne, cookies (4), roast beef (a lot...) candy canes and a half of a giant baked potato (with butter... lots of butter). I usually run terribly the morning after a heavy hearty meal like that. But you won't catch me complaining!
You know what I have noticed? Weighted squats and deadlifts improve my speed by A LOT. Everytime I do them, once my muscles heal, I lose at least a minute off my time. I am going to do more and more of them now!

I really wanted to include progress pics in this post but I haven't taken any. I didn't want to put off writing this post any longer though. Sooooo oh well. Next time I guess.

I am so happy with how far I have come. Its crazy to think just this past summer I was miserable and thought it must be impossible to lose weight. There's nothing stopping you but yourself. The sky is the limit! So until next time, cheers and happy New Year!!

Are we there yet?

I'm really beginning to notice how a positive attitude has a huuuge impact on my body. The weeks when I get all negative, stressed and down on myself, I lose almost nothing. And then the weeks where I keep my head up, focus, stay positive, upbeat and happy, I suddenly drop a ton of weight. Even if Daniel and I DID bake Chocolate Chip cookies last night and eat 2! (yes, I managed to only eat 2!!)

I know I'm getting closer and closer to my goal, any week now i will hit it! One of my apps is predicting I'll hit it by December 11th so let's see what we have today! *steps on scale*:
136.6!! Another 2 pounds lost! I'm pretty stoked!! Only 1.6 pounds away from goal! I could very well put up 135 next week. Who knows if i will, but it is a very real possibility now!
I'm only 4 pounds away from having lost 40. All through lots of exercise (mainly running) and clean, balanced eating. Never felt deprived. Never suffered.

Oh, and I know I didn't post my measurements last week. It was really cold and I was lazy. But here are this week's!

Today:                             Previously (11/22/13):
Arm: 10.5"                     Arm: 11"
Waist: 29.75"                 Waist: 30"
Hips: 35.5"                     Hips: 36"
Thighs: 22"                     Thighs: 22.5"
Calf: 14.25"                    Calf: 14.25"

Its really important that I see drops in those numbers when I see drops on the scale. Because then I know I am losing fat. Not just water or muscle weight. So I am happy with those numbers today :)

I am having to curb my running a little bit. I'm getting a good amount of pain in my right foot. Its like... above the arch, on the side of my foot. There's these bones and the one closer to my ankle has been killing me if i run on road that is slanted to the left. If i run on even ground, or ground slanted to the right, its all gravy. But otherwise, its bad. Especially if i go for more than 3.1 miles (5k). Here, I'll use the ole' Google to show you which bones:

Pretty sure its one of the joints on the "Tuberosity" bone. I think its the "Talocalcaneonavicular joint". That's exactly where the pain is. Really weird place, it seems like.

Any of my running readers know a cause/solution? I think it must be my form. If I make a conscious effort to keep that foot straight when running, it seems to help. I twisted or sprained (or whatever) that ankle several times in the past and I think it could have had something to do with that? Then again, this is a fairly new problem... not more than a month old so maybe its my new shoes? I got them the last week of October.
This really sucks though, many times I have to just go for a walk instead of running. I can't get faster if I can't train enough! And its not going to help my weight loss pace.

Anyways, besides the foot, everything has been going pretty good. I'll do a progress pic when I make goal weight. I continue to be inspired by a lot of fitness page posts on Instagram (follow me: heartsonfire707)
So here are a few from this week:

And what was your excuse again?

Now on to a new week!

Back on track

Not sure if it was because I had the stomach flu on Wednesday, or I worked really hard (probably mostly the stomach flu)
But the scale on Thursday (yesterday) morning said 137.2!!!
But... because I'm sure I was still dehydrated from Wednesday, I'm going to use today's weight of 138.6.
I said last week that I was going to use Thursday morning's weight because I thought a huge thanksgiving dinner would throw off my weight but that was before I got sick.
I still wasn't myself last night and I could hardly eat at all. Pretty disappointing. I didn't even eat dessert. But it works out great for my weight loss. I only have 3.6 more pounds to go and 3.5 weeks to do it. I'm so close! Light at the end of the tunnel is in sight.

I haven't worked out since tuesday. I hope to be strong enough to run tomorrow. I had a new 5k PR! It was 27:38 on 11/23 (last Saturday) my previous was 28:55 so that was a big improvent!

I was a lot less stressed this past week. I felt much happier and confident. I'm really trying to enjoy the new me more, and be proud of myself.

I found a $10 bill out on the sidewalk on wednesday. I was going to try to go for a walk (even though I was sick) because I set my GymPact app pact for 7 days/week. So if I didn't walk at least, I'd get charged $5 for not working out that day. But since I found the $10 I figured that was from God so I didn't have to go haha
:)

So all in all, its been a good week! I'm very happy with where I'm at and confident that I will reach my goals!
I have high hopes for winning my
http://www.dietbetter.com/games/28061
Games! (That link will take you to the game I'm in with the highest pot. Really cool)
So there we have it. Little post-Thanksgibing blog for y'all :)

Stalled out >:(

I have been wracked with nerves this week. I'm not sure what caused it, but I feel almost sure I haven't lost weight. So time to get on the scale and get out the tape measure:

Scale says 140.6... that's exactly where I was last week. I was right... no weight lost.
Its really really annoying and frustrating. It is kind of to be expected though. From what I have read, that is typical after a week or 2 of really rapid weight loss. But I didn't mean to lose so quickly! It just happened on its own!

Arms were 11.5"
Waist 30"
Hips 36"
Thighs 22.5"
Calves 14.25

Everything is the same as last week except I guess I lost 1/4" off my calves. So maybe I gained muscle? To be honest, my arms are a little more defined and I ran 5.5 miles on wednesday which is farther than I've ever gone and I was sore from it so maybe that added some muscle?
Sigh. I would be lying if I said I wasn't dissapointed. But oh well. What are you gonna do, ya know? Gotta push harder this week.

I have 6 days until Thanksgiving. I might weigh in thanksgiving morning instead of the next day because I KNOW I will have a bunch of food in me that will effect everything. I'm not going to binge, but I plan on enjoying a piece of pie and a serving of the things I like. Probably gonna have a huge guilt trip afterwards though.
Maybe I'm taking this all too seriously? Its tiring obsessing over this stuff. So that makes me wonder if I should just relax and have a cheat day again? But then I think "no! You didn't lose anything this week!"
I bet I will put up a good number next week. Since I lost nothing this week.

I SOOOOO wanted to be in the 130's by this week! Guess I was too presumptuous last week when I said I was sure I would do it this week. That's what I get, I suppose. Pride goeth before the fall.

Part of what has been causing my fears and anxiety over all this, is I joined this online betting site called dietbetter.com. each game is different, but for example, you put in $25 to join. Everyone in that game puts in $25. The bet is, you have 28 days to lose 4% of your body weight. That's almost goal weight for me so I was like "I'm sure I can do it!" Everyone who completes the 4% weight loss wins, and splits the pot with other winners. It is a GREAT motivational tool and I have found a lot of the people on the sight are very supportive! Everyone there has the same goal as you. It is a great concept! Now that I have so much money on the line though, I'm scared out of my mind that something is gonna happen and I won't lose the weight! (And today's results aren't helping). You can join up to 3 games at once. Which I am guilty of. They all end December 15th and final weigh in is December 15th-17th. I could win alot of money... one of the game pots is over $13,000. I will keep you all updated on the game. I'm so nervous!
But I know I can do it. I have to be strong and keep going! Today won't hold me back. It can't. It sucks really bad, but I have to keep going. No more little snacks here and there. "Just one bite" DOES hurt.
Gonna go hard this week on the workouts!!

<a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"><img border="0" src="http://tickers.myfitnesspal.com/ticker/show/4239/1699/42391699.png" /></a><p style="text-align:center;width:420px;"><small>Created by MyFitnessPal - <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Free Calorie Counter</a></small></p>