Thoughts: 10.17.08

Life is hectic lately… less time to write and I miss it! Ever since coming back from Bermuda I’ve had a tough time getting back into eating healthy. I’m not doing terribly and I haven’t regained any weight back, but I’m not making the kind of progress I want to on the scale, anyway. I did have a pleasant surprise when I took my measurements the other day: from the last time I measured a month ago, my waist is down a whole inch, and my calves are down a half inch – the latter measurement hasn’t changed in months. Not that I have enormous calves, but there’s still some excess to be burned up.  =)  What really made me feel good was comparing my measurements now, to my measurements from when I first took them as I started working out back in February [by that I mean working out consistently 5-6 times a week, not once a week or every other week like I had been]. Here’s the progress from that starting point – and this is from just exercising alone, really… the first 6 months I ate whatever I wanted: 

Chest: 3 inches lost
Waist: 2 inches lost
Hips: 2.5 inches lost 
Thighs: 2 inches lost
Calves: 3/4 inches lost
Arms: 1 inch lost

 And from that starting point I’ve lost 13 lbs. and a dress size. I still have a lot to go, but physically I feel 10 years younger than I did this time last year. I’m actually amazed at how much stronger I feel and because of that I love my body more than ever right now, even though I want to lose 2-3 more dress sizes. I’m still heavy, but I’m much smoother and everything is a little smaller. I’ve put on a lot of muscle, gained strength and flexibility – and stamina. The fact that I can go non-stop in the yard for 4-6 hours doing heavy work is pretty amazing. I haven’t been this fit since I used to run a horse farm and ride every day. And I know I have more progress to make, which is great. If I feel this good now, I’m excited to see how good I feel this time next year.  =)

It’s a long journey, but it doesn’t seem so bad anymore – quite the contrary. I’m enjoying it immensely these days… it feels good to finally take care of ME.  =)

Thoughts: 10.3.08

It’s been tough coming back from vacation and getting back into my normal routine. This week has not been my best week ever for eating healthy OR exercising. And it shows on the scale. Not horrendous, but nothing to be proud of, that’s for sure. Am I worried? No. I am having trouble breaking myself of the dessert/candy habit I picked right back up while on vacation. I discovered a new, all natural granola bar from Quaker that has dark chocolate chunks in it, and that did the trick after lunch today at only 150 calories [vs. 300+ for a chocolate bar, etc.]. I also started using the Turbo Jam videos last weekend after we got back and I have to say, I’m really enjoying them. It’ll take a few weeks to get all the moves down and have it be 2nd nature, but I’m enjoying learning it, and I’ve been sore in places I didn’t know I had muscles, which I didn’t expect after all the working out I’ve been doing consistently since last Feb. So, that’s always cool. Even though my weight’s gone up a few pounds since before vacation, I actually feel thinner… and I’m wearing jeans that are a size down from what I was wearing a month ago, so hazzah for small victories!  =D