Sunday, December 29, 2013

Holiday Success

I have escaped the holidays with no weight gained! As an adult, that is honestly a first for me. Even back in my thinner days, I'd put on 5 or so but then I would be working out right after so it would come off instantly. 

That's my victory for the week, lol. I did a bunch of walking while home in Chicago. We went to the Brookfield Zoo Holiday Magic light festival on Friday and I got plenty of steps in there! It was so pretty - I think we might make that an annual event. 

I can't wait to really start using our new Y membership. I found some classes that sounds interesting to me and that will work with my schedule. I can't wait to use the indoor track to do some actual running. I still haven't ventured into running outside in the freezing cold and on snow packed country roads. 

I did get some Kohl's gift cards for Christmas that I plan on using for workout gear. I normally just work out in old shorts and t-shirts so being around the house in them is no big deal. Being in public is another thing entirely. My future BIL bought me my long coveted gym shoes. I know I will have a hard time bringing myself to actually wear them outside of the house as I want them to last forever, lol. He got me the New Balance 890 v3 Rainbows in yellow:
He also got me an arm band for my iPhone. Now I have to load it up with tunes so I can take that with me to run. He said he tried to get me the wrap around the neck/head earbuds I wanted but couldn't find any. That's ok, I will have to find some for myself. My ears are weird. The Apple stock earbuds fall out easily as do the skull candy ones with the rubber tips. 

So it was a good Christmas for me. I hope you all had a good one (if you were celebrating) as well!

Here's a pic I love from the trip home. I had another good hair day, lol. 

ETA: that was weird - I came back to check something and my first two paragraphs were jumbled. odd.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Shoveling counts right?

Shoveling counts as my cardio for the weekend right? I sure hope so because if not, well than I am in a very lazy rut right now.

I miss the warm weather.

Like, really, really miss it.

I have horrible lack of motivation syndrome going on right now.

I'm still doing well with managing my portion control so that is the one good thing. If it weren't for the sweets I know I'd see loss every week on the scale but as it stands, I'm simply maintaining my loss. I know that is still a positive thing but I know I need to do better. There really isn't an excuse.

I had a work event this week and I took these selfies to share with some friends and it surprised me when I uploaded it to facebook how many likes it got. K says that I need to shut up and do a better job realizing that I actually have been working hard and doing a good job and it shows. It's still foreign to me. It's weird to acknowledge the fact that you look better than you did a year ago. A year ago I looked like hell. At least I have the desire to continue this journey. There's no going back for me. I do not want to be the fat girl anymore.

Of course I'll share these here too:

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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Race Plans 2014-15

Cross posted from my main blog There's No Crying in Baseball

I've spent the last few weeks picking out the races I want to run next year. I for sure will do The Color Run again. This is their 2014 Kaleidoscope Tour. I am not sure when/where I will run it though. I might have to shoot for Milwaukee or Green Bay because the Chicago date is 6/8/14 and Amarillo is 6/7/14. The following weekend is my sister's wedding on the 13th so that might be tough.

On top of that, the other June race I want to run is the Run for Their Lives PAWS for Chicago 8krun/4k walk. PAWS is the city's largest No Kill humane organization. I really love their organization and their mission. I would love to be able to do some great fundraising for this one. Last year it was the 9th of June and I'm guessing it will be the same weekend. I think I'd rather do PAWS and move my Color Run to a different city and date.

In early 2014 I think I will aim to do the Shamrock Shuffle 8k. I believe it will be held on March 31st. Somehow with a Wisconsin winter I will have to figure this one out. We rejoined the Y and they have an indoor track so I think that's what I'm going to end up using.

I will probably run the Ugly Sweater again since K said he'd do it if I want to again. My SIL said that she wants to do it for real next time and not bail again. So we will see on that one.

I feel like I need another run in there somewhere. After the Ugly Sweater I could throw in a Turkey Trot or a holiday run but come January 10th-ish 2015...I will have the Disney Half Marathon!!! I can't believe I am going to do it. But I am going to try my best to make this a reality.
I better start both saving and running even more. And investing in paper bags to breathe into. I foresee a ton of hyperventilating in the next year.

Monday, December 9, 2013

The Prompt


It's only fair that I share some pictures to illustrate what prompted me to embark on this journey.

The first set of pictures fits into The Fit portion of this blog title. I apologize for some of the fuzziness of some images. I had to scan in and sometimes take picture of the pictures to get them in.

This was me ten years ago. Obviously not stick thin, which is fine with me. A little meat, softball quads and curves....but no fat, just fit. If I can get anywhere near this I'd be happy. 

Oh, and politics aside - as I'm neither R or D - the last one in the first bunch is funny to me. My roommates in Orlando brought him from their home state of Texas. He was quite entertaining ;-) I love my boobs in that picture. My goodness.

 
 
 

In September of 2012 we visited my grandparents for a week. When we got back from vacation and I was dumping my pictures onto fb, I took a good look at a few that I thought would have been great. Except I looked terrible.I hated, hated, hated how I looked. I felt horrible about myself. I felt ashamed and depressed. How I could actually look like that in reality was so disconnected to the person I felt like I was inside. 

Anyway, below is a little time line highlighting the lows I felt when I hit rock bottom (or top in this case??) on the weight scale. I suppose this is The Fat portion of the blog title.

September 2012




March 2013
First was our tour of Lambeau Field early in the month. I think I purposefully hid my chin with my scarf. Ugh, anything to hide that!

Then came Easter later in the month. Another, "Omg I thought I looked ok" moment. I'd love to say it was the dress that's the problem, lol. Unfortunately not.
Mexico for Mother's Day 2013
At this point I had already decided I needed to get serious. I was down about 10 lbs at this point.
 
June 2013
A random day that I was trying to see if I could notice any difference.
June 16, 2013 - The Color Run Chicago

July 2013 - Dallas

September 2013 
Labor Day Weekend Door County
 
Color Run Encore
 
 
 
 
November 2013 - Ugly Sweater Run
 


So that's the visual post about where I was and am. I have a long road ahead of me I know. I just have to keep on trucking.