Some Perspective

A few days ago, I was (finally) unpacking our books and some decorative items. I came across and looked through a couple of old photo albums from college and my wedding, and it truly put a few things in perspective for me! No matter how hard I am on myself for not yet being bikini lean, the amount of progress I have made in my life is nothing short of astounding. To show you, I'm posting a few of those pictures. Which means, of course, that I need to post the most recent pics to give YOU the perspective. Enjoy.

I was just two days shy of twenty and at my heaviest.


On my wedding day, three years later. I had said "see ya" to about 20 pounds.



Three weeks ago vs. today.

Perspective is one thing, the final goal is another. That goal must be attained and I'm going to put 110% effort toward it. I may always have more "hippy-ness" than the goal picture below, but this is what I'm shooting for.

This was my goal for May 1, 2007. It stays the same until I attain it. For this one, it's amended to May 1, 2010.

One more week is gone, and there are results. I'm down to 155.5 lbs, my waist, hips, and bra line are down .25-.5 inches each, and my thermometer jeans fit (the ones I was working on getting back into) through the hips and mostly through the thigh. In fact, in the hips, the jeans are getting slightly loose. It's the butt and thigh area that really has been stubborn. And for some strange reason, my arms. Hey. I'll take what I can get though!

Me in my "thermometer" jeans- which now fit :D

Pics as of today, 2/25/10.

Getting the definition in the stomach and arm there?

600

600 kettlebell swings down, 9,400 to go. *grin*

A Goal

Well, the last week feels a bit like it was bupkiss. I didn't truly stay on track since last Thursday- although I wasn't completely off the wagon, it wasn't like I was giving it 100% either. A part of me was bored, sick of it. It wants to be back in those size 10 jeans NOW! (They are pretty much there, my 12's are too big, but my thighs need to shrink just a wee bit more before I feel comfortable wearing the current 10's hanging in my closet.)

However, it wasn't all a loss. Measurements were the same as last week, except for being down in the chest a half inch and up in the waist a half inch. However, getting back motivation NOW is key, otherwise I can tell I will definitely start moving up in direction rather than down.

So, what better way to do that than to create a fitness goal? Caroline Radway of KettleBelle Body passed on a note to me about a week ago that a 10K swings challenge was going on, and I was welcome to join. I hemmed and hawed, but yesterday, decided it was a go. The true rules are to complete 10,000 kettlebell swings in 30 days. However, Ash Wednesday was yesterday, and being the blasphemer that I am, I decided it was time to THANK God for His sacrifice by creating a "sacrifice" in a different manner. A challenge, rather than something that makes my all-too-human brain scream in defiance to do something that my conscious brain tells me is "wrong": for example, so many people "give up" fast food for Lent. It definitely worked for me four years ago. However, the way my brain is currently working, if I told myself that I couldn't have fast food for the next six weeks, I'd drive as fast as possible to the nearest MickyD's. So, I'm doing it differently. It's not a sacrifice as much as it is thanksgiving and adoration, since I am of the belief that we all have God in us (the abstract version of "made in His image") and are therefore of a Divine nature- and Divinity, truly, should be treated with the utmost respect. If you're not well-versed in the Christian religion, none of this whole paragraph probably made sense for you, but just know that I am not willing to "give up" something, but am willing to be thankful for what I do have.

So here's the long and short of it: I have a goal to complete 10,000 kettlebell swings by April 3, 2010. April 4 is Easter Sunday. Being that is 40 days from Ash Wednesday, I have 40 days to complete that task. I've got 200 done for today so far.

Now, to just concentrate on continuing the carb cycling, staying away from most wheat/gluten, and actually work out more than 3 times per week (which is what I'm currently averaging).

Happy Dance

Checked my bodyfat percentage again last night, just to be a total pain for myself (just kidding! I was curious). I had noticed that over the weekend, my belly was showing nearly-forgotten signs of a fat drop-off, which means it was looking bigger than usual, extra jiggly, and just not quite right. By last night, the look had disappeared, so I checked, and yep! It's amazing what can happen overnight for me (literally) if I'm just patient enough and keep working my mojo ;). I went from last Thursday's bodyfat measurement of 18 mm (27% bf) to 16 mm (26% bf).

Oh yeah, happy dance. Or big goofy grin.

I have one more millimeter to go before I'm out of the overweight and into normal, and 7% points more to go (which is 8 more mm) before I see the real amazing results that I'm looking for.

In other news, eating has been fab the last few days- fun stuff here and there (actually, I ate way too much on Friday night and a bunch of cookie dough on Saturday, but those seemed to boost morale and help me retrain my focus more than anything, since my body did not respond favorably). Workouts: had one Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday (yesterday). Plan to do today's very shortly.

Still keeping to the non-wheat/gluten type foods and low milk intake (except for cottage cheese and yogurt with the occasional cheddar), and still carb cycling. Yesterday was a no carb day. Today's a high carb, which means I get to make sure all the nutrients I missed yesterday get thrown in. Cravings hit a lot yesterday, and for the most random stuff, too. I realized that I had forgotten to take my multivitamin (Prograde's VGF-25) for the last several days, so that probably explains it.

Very, VERY Quick

Okay, gotta write and run, literally. I managed to snag an hour of free time today, which is absolutely heavenly. I've been utterly swamped this last week!

So real quick:
*deep breath in* I re-introduced small amounts of wheat into my diet last weekend and immediately kicked it back out because my skin broke out into acne right away, my cold came back with a vengeance, and I felt like crap. I did way too much overeating also, which didn't help things, however, I got back under control by Tuesday and have been peachy since. Measurements that I didn't think would move went down another half inch in places such as my arms (first time they've moved yay!). I did an amazing workout on Tuesday and had another decent one on Wednesday, and am no longer sore from Tuesday's workout. I intend to go do another one as soon as this one's written. Here comes another weekend but I'm back to being strong on the diet and mindset so I'm not worried. *sucking breath back in*

So, crazy but not terrible!