1 year later

THE GRAND FINALLY!!
Here are the results of a year of hard work:

The proof is in the data, but here are some pictures too.

I would like to add here that it is very hard for me to put these before pictures up BUT I know it will be good for me in not getting here again. ugh.

I just realized that there isn't a sideways before of Jack so there it is for comparison...WOW

and here is a bonus or two

I like to think I have guns

Well Now It Is The End Of April

Since last time I wrote I rode the roller coaster between 172 and 169.  I had surgery on the 16th of April and the 23rd of April to have my thyroid out and right now am sitting on 168.  I got down to 165 but that was because I didn't eat anything for 2.5 days and I couldn't keep that up as that is not healthy.  I do hope to stay below 170 throughout recovery.  My mom came for the second surgery as did my sister and it has been sooooo nice having them to visit and help take care of the little one.  Our church and my neighbor has brought delicious meals to help and so I don't feel like I am neglecting my family.
I had been running quite regularly and my goal was to do 3 miles once a week every week and I held that up for two whole weeks (couldn't do it the past 2 weeks due to surgery).  When I get back at it I will continue the goal of 3 miles once a week and when that feels more comfortable I will up it to perhaps 3.5 or even 4.

--Lindsey

YES!!

I did it! 169.6 I ran and did a work out on Monday. Tuesday I did a workout.  Wednesday I worked out and ran. Thursday I worked out and walked.  Friday I rode the stationary bike and Today I walked.
I think mostly the goal was accomplished by doing extra and different workouts, eating/sharing oatmeal in the morning and not so much as eating less during the day (though that is a factor).
-Lindsey

I came in at 212. I was shocked because for most of the week I've had a meetings at work where they've fed us breakfast (doughnuts and fried chicken) and lunch (more fried chicken, pizza, and bar-b-que ribs). It was real delicious, but not very healthy. I tried to limit myself to average portions and not eat breakfast at home and there. I thought for sure I would have gained a little or something this week, but it turned out I managed to lose. I guess that's good, but it's not fooling me. I know I'm not cured yet. I'll always have the potential to get back to the weight I was. 212 is the least I've weighed in 8 years, almost since high school.

-Jack

Sunday 17 February

B: oatmeal (4)
L: LO soup and roll (6)
D: 2 mexican roast burritos (10)
no dessert (jack wanted to make a cake with pudding and bananas BUT our oven still doesn't work)
Total: 20

I am pretty sure I eat some of Betty's snacks so throw in a few points to cover other day's snacking and you got about 23 points!

This week is the week baby! 16! 16! 16!  I want it so bad!

-Lindsey

Saturday Weigh In

171.6 for me this week.  I know I have said it before but I need to get back on track and serious about counting points.  My weight loss companion already reached his goal though and is less serious and eats more and I am left to make a hard decision to sit and watch him eat deliciousness or have a small second helping so I am not just watching.  This is one reason I got to the state I was in before.  This week my goal is to not worry about that at all.  When I am done eating, I will start the clean-up process or just walk out of the kitchen.  It's not very polite to leave the table when not everyone is done but right now it is necessary for me to accomplish this week's weight goal which is to see a 6 after the 1.
Wish me Luck
Lindsey


216 for me this week. I'm still hovering around the 215 mark. I think that it is a good place for me to be. I feel so much better and healthier at this weight that it's hard to believe that I ever felt comfortable carrying around 50 more pounds. I guess in truth I didn't feel comfortable, it was just self deception. My allergies have hit this week. One of my solutions to feeling crummy was to stuff my face at the local buffet. Somehow hot food seems to suspend the icky feelings for a while, but with my new lifestyle that sort of thing doesn't fit in. I just drank a Sobe to get some more vitamin C and took some allergy pills to stop my nose. Gaining 3 or 4 pounds is not really worth 3 or 4 hours of relief. Last weekend we planted our garden with lots of 0 point goodies, so I'm excited for the harvest already. Our peas are just barely coming out of the ground though, so it'll be a while. Having a place to plant a garden (other than an apartment window or terrace) is really nice. We've had some rain this week to give it a good start too. Well, that's all I have to report this week.
Cheers,
Jack

Friday 15 February

B: Oatmeal (4)
L: LO pizza (7)
D: Pot Pie Soup and yeast roll (10)... it's so good I had 2 bowls and 2 rolls
Total : 21

Today, we went to the park and "played tennis".  For the 90 day program, I was supposed to do 45 minutes of hard cardio but we were at the court for over an hour and I was moving the whole time and with me feeling sickly, I am counting it and Saturday I will do day 4.
My abs definitely feel the burn of a lot of elbow planking.... The lower abs that is.  I never can get those suckers to feel any sort of burn from crunches... but boy howdy do some planking if you want it to burn the next day.
--Lindsey

Thursday V-Day

B: Oatmeal (3) (I count it as 3 now because I share the bowl with Baby.
L: LO burritos and chicken ( 7)
D: Papa Johns Pizza (muchos)
Total: my best guess is 24

I am so glad that it is over.  I love that it is a day to celebrate your love for people you adore but I can feel the thick smog of commercialism all around me.  The pressure to buy something awesome for your GoodLooking guy or plan a romantic evening.  I like my romance spontaneous, anytime, and all the time.  Anyway weightloss..
Feeling pretty good.  I made it through day 2 of a 90 day program yesterday and it killed.
-Lindsey

Wednesday

B: Oatmeal (4)
L: Breakfast Burritos (9)
D: Prom Chicken (6)
D: Cobbler (5)
Total: 24

Getting out of the house and spending time with people helps me to not snack so much during the day.  I think I get bored and just think about food and want to eat it.  I really need to get out more.

-Lindsey

Tuesday

B: oatmeal (3)
L: Burritos (9) (my oven broke!)
D: cereal (5) bagel thin with cream cheese (3)
D: cookie and red velvet swirl thing (6)
Total: 26

again I repeat... not a big fan of Valentines Day.  I hope everyone else is not having as hard a time staying away from the sweets.  Try distraction if your will power isn't strong enough.

Lindsey

Monday 11 Feb

B: Yummy oatmeal (4)
L: Life (5)
D: Burritos (10)
Snacks: starburts, skittles, string cheese (4?)
D: peach/blueberry cobbler (?)
Total: 23+ cobbler

I don't care for Valentines Day.  One good thing about it though... I get to buy socks for Jack and I.  Tradition idea from Jack's mom.  Saturday, I was down to 170 which feels great but I don't believe it.  I think I must have been having a skinny day or something.  I guess we will find out this week if it holds.  I started a new workout challenge and I am burning and sore today.  It mostly hurts in my shoulders and calves though also my head hurts.  This pain could also be coming from me getting sick but I don't want to believe that because that would mean that I am sick and that is not what I am about.

Lindsey

Monday

B: cereal (5) I really need to get the right oatmeal so I can enjoy that some more.
L: LO BBQ chicken with sweet potato fries (6)
D: LO chicken burritos (9)
dessert: Cake (4)
Total: 24

Weight loss, for me in my life, has been a hard hilly hike.  At times, I am at the bottom looking up at the tall mountain I need to climb.  Sometimes I am on the hard uphill where I am working hard and sometimes not seeing any results of my work.  Other times, I could be found on the side of the trail eating a cookie high-5ing those as they strut on by (seemingly easily). There have been few peaks where I have been able to see just how successful I have been.  On these peaks it feels so good.  This moment shadows the blood, sweat, and tears and I am happy to be there.  I am there now.
No, it's true, I have not met my goal weight.  No, I don't fit in that pair of shorts I bought at the beginning of my married life but right now I feel really awesome!  22 pounds is a lot.  It is to be celebrated (not by food).  Today, I took a picture of my face on my phone and I see the difference and it is shocking and wonderful.  If I can feel this way now, I can't wait to GET to my goal weight.

This blog is supposed to be mostly for us.  Documenting for ourselves and I guess allowing others a peek but I want to say to others  celebrate your victories.  Even that first 1 pound lost is important (and make sure you keep it off).  Try not to get too hung up on slow weeks.  Be honest with yourself and admit, learn, and move on.  You CAN do it so start now.

--Lindsey

Saturday Weigh In

I gained this week to be 173.  I seem stuck in the low 70's... Just like our weather.  We also measured each other today.  We don't do this every week because that would take too long and we wanted to keep it simple.
I ran 2 miles yesterday in 23 minutes.  With Betty on Tuesday I did it in 24 minutes.  I am running a 5K in a week and hope to get 39 or under.  It is a "color run" in Houston and I am going with a few people so hopefully it will be better than my previous two 5K's.

--Lindsey

I also gained a little this week, but I'm still hovering around the 215 mark, which is good. I got new pants for Christmas, so now I actually have jeans that I don't have to bunch up under my belt to wear. I got size 36" waist pants and as you can see from the measurements that's a flattery sizing scheme. I was pretty blown away by the measurements this morning. It has been quite a while since we did the measurements and I hadn't realized the drastic change. No wonder I look different. This week was the first time that someone who didn't know I was on this journey said, "hey, you look different." It felt good to have someone actually notice that I've changed without having to have it pointed out. So my advice to myself and others is: don't be afraid to venture a compliment to someone who you notice has changed for the better.

ps. for anyone who reads this who used to buy Levis SilverTabs baggy jeans.... they don't make them anymore, but after trying on about a million pair of pants I think that the red tag Levis 569 are pretty close. Cheers!

Friday

B: Toast (5)
L: LO (12)
D: Pizza 9)
Snack: popcorn (2)
Total: 28

No wonder I gained a pound

--Lindsey

Thursday

B: cereal (5)
L: Turkey Sandwich (4)
D: steak fajitas (12)
Total: 21

doing good

Lindsey

Tuesday

B: Cheerios (4)
L: LO burros (7)
D: LO soup and biscuites (7)
D: Lemon Bar and cookies (6)
Total: 24

Dessert. Better today.
--Lindsey

Monday

B: Cereal (5)
L: LO Pot Pie Soup (3) biscuits (6)
D: LO chicken burritos (8)
Dessert: a lot
Total: 22+ a lot

Jack had the day off work and we staved off a craving for Papa Johns and settled on some LO dessert from Sunday.  The goal is no dessert till Sunday.

--Lindsey

Sunday 20 Jan 2013

B: HM Toast (3)
L: LO Mexican (9)
D: HM Turkey Pot Pie Soup and 3 garlic cheddar biscuit (11)
D: cookies and lemon bar (6..oops)
total: 29 (could be worse I guess)

Plan, gather, count, assess, re-gather, eat... Repeat
Everyone has a splurge day.  Some people have two right in a row.  Ugh.  I just get these cravings and sometimes somehow Jack has them at the same time and we make BIG mistakes.
The soup was really good and so were the cheddar biscuits. YUM. but now I gotta pay for it with sweat... Sweat is harder than sweet... ALWAYS... no exception.

-Lindsey

Our Graphs

Getting Back At It

So it has been really hard to get back at writing everyday and documenting what we eat.

Breakfast has been either oatmeal or toast
Lunch has been a sandwich, sweet and sour chicken, pancakes, fiesta chicken, LO, and LO again today.
Dinner has been usually LO or a sandwich.

I have tried to keep it around 23 points but with the purchase of Butter Crunch before vacation and having a scoop almost every night has left me probably more around 25 or 26 everyday.

I did start having some ladies I know over on Monday and Wednesday to do Bob Harper workout and that has been nice.. I did not run this week though since it has been actually quite cold and wet and I don't want to get Baby or I sick.
Today I weigh 172 which I think is because yesterday I took on a job of delivering the Yellow pages book... A waste of my time because I think I only made MAYBE 14$ and it took a combined total of about 3 hours for both of us to do it. UGH.... BUT it was good because I walked fast the whole time. and lost some weight.

--Lindsey

Jack weighed in at 214.8

Happy New Year

My weight goal for Christmas was to weigh 170.  I did not accomplish this goal but I do feel good about the work I have accomplished this far.  I also managed not to gain weight on our trip to Arizona.  This morning I got up and weighed in and at first thought it was trickery so I stepped off, let it clear, and stepped back on.  A lovely 172.4.  I feel like I ate what I wanted and amounts that were good.  I did have a night of Thanksgiving proportions but obviously recovered.  I ran four times in Tucson, once in Pima and did the Bob Harper Biggest Loser workout and a Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred on level two in Pima as well.  My sister got me a yoga mat and a yoga dvd so now I can start my goal of doing yoga.  I think that it will build my core muscles and improve my balance, running posture, and endurance.  Proud of last year and happy for a new one.
-Lindsey

Well 2012 turned out to be a great year. It started off crummy, gaining 15 to 20 lbs and then ended great because I lost about 50 lbs. I can't believe how well I've done. My initial goal was to get down to 230, which would have been a reasonable weight based on my average over the last 5 years. Today I weighed in at 218.8! and I feel great. I think I still have a few pounds to shed, but overall I'm a lot better off than I was just a few months ago. I can't believe that I used to carry around two of my daughter with me all the time. No wonder I was out of breath and couldn't do anything. Now I'm still not in great shape, but I can move a lot better and I don't feel like I'm near death when I try to run or play a game. This is extra good because I signed up for a city basketball league with some colleagues from work. Here's to 2013, may it be another year healthier than the last on this journey to a bodacious life.
Cheers,
-Jack