4 Things that have changed in my body after losing 12 lbs

It's crazy to think I'm already down 12 lbs since I started this journey.  Already, I'm beginning to see and feel changes in my body.

For instance, in the beginning, I used to be able to walk only 7 MINUTES before my lower back was in such excruciating pain that I had to stop and rest before continuing.  Guess what?  Yesterday, I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill with only minor pain.

Guess what else?  My clothes are beginning to be loose.  Not just 'gee the thighs in my pants are baggy', but 'Holy freak!  If I have to hitch up my pants one more time I'm gonna scream!' sort of baggy.  Shirts that used to be my last resort, are suddenly being considered for the Goodwill pile.

And, wonder of all wonders, I have MORE energy.  You may think, "Hey, that's kind of nice."  But one must remember that I already only get about 5-6 hours of sleep per night.  For the last two nights I've fallen asleep around 1 a.m. (it takes me longer to fall asleep - not the other way around like most people) and I'm wide awake around 5 a.m.  That equates to about 4 hours sleep.  Plus, I'm off all forms of caffeine.  No coffee, no tea, no caffeinated pops, or even chocolate.  Yet, I'm usually able to get through the whole day with only a 30 minute nap around 6 pm, then I'm good for the rest of the night.

The numbness in my hands is going down.  It's not gone yet, but it's also not constant any more.  That, alone is worth the 12 lb weight loss.

All in all, I'm satisfied where things are headed.  I wish I could drop my weight faster, but I'm also aware that it takes a great deal of effort to get the boulder rolling.

Stay with me!  There are many more amazing things to come!

Week 2 Weigh In: 4 Things I Can Do To Make This Next Week's Weigh-In Phenominal

Week 2 weigh in:

I'm getting mixed signals this week.  Admittedly, this was NOT my best week, though it often takes me a week or two to acclimate myself.  I'm not good at cold turkey.

But this weigh in, even for me, is pretty bad.

Instead of losing weight, I ultimately gained it.    My fat content went up .5%,but my water went down .8%

I lost inches in my bust, upper abs, and hips. But I stayed the same for every other body part.

I think what frustrates me the most is that most of the time, my first week is rewarded with a 5 lb weight loss.  But this time around I gained .8 lbs.

This can be attributed to many things.  It could be that I'm actually gaining muscle, or possibly water weight (though my water weight and muscle percentages tell me otherwise).  Or, it could mean something as simple as the fact that I need to take a good ol' fashioned dump.  .8 lbs could mean a myriad of things.  And I don't have the time to obsess over bad results.

All I can do is concentrate on what I am going to do to ensure I have a FANTASTIC week this next time around.

So this is what I plan to do:

1) Do NOT skip a single work out day.  I skipped a couple this week due to illness or pain.  But, you know what?  There are enough work-out programs out there that even if I'm sick or in pain, there is SOMETHING I can do to burn some calories and ramp up my metabolism.  It's time to be more flexible and rely less on walking and more on moving.

2) NO PIZZA. (Note: I didn't say eat less.  I said eat different) Pizza is the bane of my existence.  It's the go-to food for my family.  When I'm not up for cooking, that's usually what the hubby or kids request.  But every stinking time I eat pizza, my pounds are up the next day.  Goal for this week:  NO PIZZA - at ALL. Period. End of discussion. In order for me to meet my health & fitness goals, I must learn to control my cravings.

3) Drink More Water.  I was trying to drink 8 glasses per day.  Nope.  We're going for 12.  Maybe I need to flush my system out to start the ball rolling.  Heaven knows, extra water certainly won't hurt!

4) Add a little more exercise to the program.  Yes, walking is good.  But apparently it's not good enough, when you're not losing weight.  I do have a secret weapon I'm implementing this week. If all goes well, I'll explain exactly what I did so you can do the same if you want.

My sisters often tease me about it, and my husband notices within a day or two that I've started it.  But well...you'll understand when I tell you about it.  IN A WEEK!  So check back often!!!  You'll be amazed at the changes in me in just a WEEK.  Seriously.

First Day on the Trails. I Think I Almost Died.

Me after the work out. Beet Red!

My sweet husband woke up this fine Saturday morning and asked me what my plans were.  I told him I had a bit of work to do, and then I wanted to take a walk.  He then told me he'd been planning on going on a walk to and asked if we could go now.

I dropped what I was doing and put on some shoes (I was already in work-out clothes to help motivate me to get my butt out of the house...eventually).

We headed over to the trails that follow the Spokane River for our walk. He asked how far I wanted to go, and I told him my hope was to go 3 miles.  Yeah, I know it's not far, but it is when I stop at a mile on the treadmill.

Walking always seems to take three times longer on a treadmill. Blech!

I was able to get about a mile into my walk before my back was screaming, my hands were so swollen I couldn't make a fist, and my calves were beginning to cramp up, and my hips hurt.  Oh, how I love the beginning weeks of losing weight.  NOT!!

The start of a massive blister. Isn't it pretty? I shall name it Henry

KC asked me if we needed to turn back and I promptly told him NO!  I will finish this walk even if I have to stop 30 times and I'm crawling to the car! Little did he know how close to the truth that may be.

The nice thing, as he pointed out, about walking the trails vs. a treadmill, is that on the trails you must turn around and walk back.  You HAVE to walk back.  You don't have a choice, unless you want to die there on the trails. With a treadmill, you can get tired and step off and be done.

When we got to our half-way point, I had to stop and rest my back for about 5 minutes.  My boobs and stomach are too big!  It was hurting my back too much - if felt very much akin to labor pains.

So I sat down, relieved the pressure on my back, the stood up.  KC asked if I needed more time and I told him, "This is as good as I'm ever gonna feel, so we might as well get started."

My fingers are so swollen they look like stuffed sausages!

I did pretty good for the first 1/2 mile, then the pain in my back commenced again, followed by my hands (from the swelling), then my shins, calves, quads, and hips.  KC very nicely slowed his pace as I adjusted my stride, and quietly endured the experience through gasps of air.

It wasn't pretty, but I finished without having to stop, and I have the start of only one major blister on my left heel to show for the experience.

I came home with my face beet red, my shirt covered in sweat marks, and my fingers tingling from lack of sensation. There were moments I felt like I was going to die of a heart attack, or pass out from hyperventilation.  But I also came home with a sense of accomplishment.  The fist step is often the hardest, and today was no exception.  Working out at 295 lbs is no easy task, but as long as I persist - remembering that at this point it is merely a war of the wills - I will succeed and it will get better until working out is eventually fun.  It will EVENTUALLY become something I look forward to and crave.

Why my weight loss will not be a priority in my life

So, I thought it might be a good idea to join Instagram.  I thought it would be fun to encourage others struggling with the same weight loss issues I am.  So far, all I've found are a bunch of very muscular, skinny people who probably spend more time in 1 day working on health and fitness than I do in a week.  Of course, that may be why they're all skinny and fit and I'm 150 lbs overweight.

That's great.  That's fine.  If that is your priority, I'm all for it.  It's an honorable endeavor.  However, before anyone judges me on how I go about this whole weight-loss thingy, I want you to spend a couple minutes in my shoes...or at least check out a typical day for me so that you'll understand WHY I do not plan on spending 3 hours a day on my health and fitness. But I WILL put it on my schedule and make sure I carve more time for it.

• 5:30 a.m. My 4-year-old son with Down syndrome wakes me up.  If I'm lucky, I can get him to lay with me till 6, but chances are, he's been up since 4:30, run through the house, torn everything to shreds, and finally came to me when there was nothing left to destroy and he was bored.  Don't worry - all dangerous items are locked safely away, and the house is locked up tight.  
• 6:00 a.m. I begin the arduous process of waking up my 15 year-old and my 6 year-old.  This process usually entails pounding on my teen's door 3 or 4 separate times, flipping his light switch on, threatening him with bodily harm, yelling, and occasionally laying on him until he surrenders and climbs out of bed.  Between visits to the teen, I must sing (yes, sing) my 6-year old awake to avoid any little-girl tantrums, help her find her clothes (because she is incapable of finding the outfit I laid directly next to her when I walked in the room), cook her breakfast, and make sure she eats it.  Then, I run after my 4 year-old trying to change his pull-up, and wrestle him into his clothes so that we can take said teenager to early-morning seminary. 
• 7:00 - Teen gets taken to seminary.  We pick up more kids for the Elementary school carpool, drop them (and my 6-year-old) off, then head home.
• 8:00 a.m.  I try to squeeze in a bite to eat while simultaneously running after my son who has climbed up onto the counter (or kitchen sink) and is now dumping any and all food the older kids left behind all over the floor or counter - or eating it himself.  Then, I try to convince him (I usually fail) to keep his clothes on while I spend the next several hours following behind him cleaning up mess after mess.  Finally around 10 a.m. I give up and let him go at it.  Screw it. I'll clean up his mess when he goes to pre-school (Don't judge me). 
• From 10:00 am - Noon: We work on his speech therapy, I try to squeeze in a little time returning e-mails and doing social media, he's fed, re-dressed for school, I make any phone calls needed for the day, etc. 
• 12:00 a.m. my son goes to school and I collapse into a heap on the couch.  I love the boy DEARLY but he is some serious work!  From 12 - 2 is when I race around like a maniac getting everything done that can't be accomplished with children in the house: dentist appointments, personal doctor's appointments, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, filling orders, last-minute work on any one of my websites, running errands, etc.  
• 2:00-4:00 the 6-year-old and the teen come home and we prep for evening.  Go through school work, check our schedule to see what is on tap for the evening, start dinner, last-minute cleaning, mow lawns/water grass and plants, etc.
• 4:00 - 7:00 is dinner prep & eating, activities for the kids, the 4 year-old comes home, and I field faxes for my part time job doing transcription work at home.
• 7:00 - 9:00 the evening bed-time ritual occurs for the little ones. 
• 9:00 - I work out
• 10:00 - 1:00 a.m. - I do my transcription work, followed by any other work that needs to be done on my business, websites, and writing my books.  At 1:00 I fall into bed and try to remember to breathe. 

With that said, I think I'm going to call it a night and go to bed an hour early.  Looking at my schedule for tomorrow already has me tired.  Whew!

Let the Epic Games Begin! First official Day of my Weight Loss

30 minutes on the treadmill feels like an hour on the trails!!

As of this morning (Sunday the 17th), I'm weighing in at 296.2, which is already a loss of 7.2 lbs.  But the weight lost up until this point has been due to sporatic attempts to be or eat healthier.  Today is what I would call my official "Day 1" because I'm journaling my food and working out. 

I like starting on Sundays because I don't eat out on Sundays, which forces me to eat healthy(er) and allows me a little more time to focus on myself before jumping head first into my week.

So just a couple quick heads-ups for those who either don't know me, or have never had this much weight to lose: 

1)  I have little or no filter.  I think filtering this experience gives a person a false sense of simplicity when it comes to losing weight of this proportion and to leave out the undesirable components of my weight for the sake of the 'eww' or 'TMI' responses keeps those who are struggling with the same issues as I am from feeling isolated because they won't identify completely with my experience.  So, for those who are faint of heart, be warned.  And if you find a particular post disturbing I'll tell you a secret:  You can delete it!  I'll never know and nobody will tell.  Just come back the next day to when things are normal :)

This is what I concentrate on while I'm on the treadmill.  Hundreds of motivational quotes!

2) I can get a little hard core at times.  I have an all-or-nothing personality. This means that in order for me to successfully lose 160 lbs I will need to be 100% all of the time.  I cannot fudge.  Not working out even ONCE will cause me to fail.  This is a personality flaw.  I understand this.  And it has taken me years to come to grips with it.  If you are NOT all-or-nothing, that's OK.  But this is who I am.  Thus, there will be lots of posts on some days because I tend to obsess on occasion to stay focused on the end goal. 

3) I will NOT be following any specific diet.  They are too restrictive.  However, I can say that of the weight loss programs I have used (and I've used nearly all of them), I will probably adhere closest to the 6-week-body makeover, which is what I was using 6 years ago when I lost 80 pounds.  I would have succeeded in that program if I hadn't gotten pregnant half way through and forced to stop.  

I am not following any specific diet, but am instead choosing to take bits and pieces that have worked for me and incorporating them all into a method that I will be able to maintain indefinitely.  The problem with diets is that they are temporary.  I am looking for a way of living that will be permanent.  Nothing less.  I have NO intention of regaining this weight back. Ever. 

4) I will be eating a LOT.  Why? Because it requires a lot of food to maintain a body this size.  So, a normal person might be on a 12-1500 calorie diet to lose 2 lbs a week.  Me?  I'm on an 1800+ calorie diet and I'll be losing nearly a pound a DAY.  Never fear, though.  The smaller I get, the less I'll be eating - in spite of the increased exercise.