The picture on the beach!

Here it is! My before - taken one month before joining WW and the latest taken at Point Reyes a week ago!

Two years ago today...

I walked into the Weight Watchers center and signed up after having a very horrible doctors appointment that ended up with "I recommend you get help losing weight - I recommend Weight Watchers." I was 262.5 and miserable. That is the one thing that the counselors at weight watchers remember about me - they look at my before pic and always say they don't me remember me being that big, but they do remember how sad I was - how I always sat in the back and never talked at the meetings. Now they can't get me to shut up! (kidding, kinda...) I am a much better person for taking that step and I always congratulate the new people who come in for taking that step as well - I know how hard it was for me to do it.

Me in a skirt??

So for those who don't know me personally - I own basically jeans and t-shirts and running clothes (lots of running clothes...) My future daughter in law has lost some weight and sent some clothes my way - including two skirts! I liked the skirts, but kept thinking am I really going to wear them?? So after burning my legs and feet at the beach on Sunday I decided that pants would not feel so good on them and I took the plunge and tried one of them on. First off - its a 12 - and it went on and felt great, so then I dug out one of my new shirts and paired with it - along with my new Keen sandals that I can wear to work since they have a closed toe and Ta-Da!! Me in a skirt! I felt so amazing yesterday!! Here is a pic! Oh and again the skirt is a 12 and the shirt is a Large! It has been a very long time since I wore something that made me feel so good about myself. In fact I have to admit - I'm wearing it to work again today, just with a different top!

Weigh in Day!

So this is a day late - I went to my meeting and weighed in and then drove to Point Reyes to go to the beach which I will write a separate post about and post some pics (rememeber my horrible side view on the beach before pic - well I have an updated version now!). Anyway I lost a pound of the 1.4 gain I had last week - so I'm now at 177 and I'm down 85.5 pounds total! Yay!

Sacfit Saturday!

Today was the dreaded cooper test. However I am always excited about the cooper test because it is a great gauge of how I'm improving. We met at the track and I did my volunteer duties while my hubby did his cooper test and then he came and relieved me so I could do mine. Essentially you run the track as far as you can in 12 minutes. The first season I only made it 3 times around and a bit more - part of that was walking because I couldn't run the whole 12 minutes. Second season I ran the whole thing, but had slower paces and faster paces and managed to do better - just a tad over 4 laps. This season I went out, ran the whole thing at around a much faster pace than I'm used to, finished it strong and managed to complete almost 4 3/4 laps!

On a side note - I got no less than 10 people come up to me at the run today and tell me in one way or another that they have really noticed my weight loss. A Co-worker commented to me that it looked like had lost a lot of weight just this week! (actually my last weight in was up but thank you very much!!) I can tell a difference in the way my body feels again and I'm in one of those periods where I do actually look in the mirror and see what everyone else sees!

On the challenge front - I have not stepped on the scale at home at all - I will be going into my weigh in tomorrow knowing I had a very good week and not knowing what the scale will say for the first time in a very long time!!

Challenge Update!

Well so far so good! This is how I'm doing on my 3 challenges!

1 - Not weighing myself at home (or anywhere else for that matter) - I'm doing great! This is a lot easier than I thought it would be for me - I say that now, but I think as it gets closer to weigh in day at WW It wil be harder not to know what is going on.

2 - Trying something new - I already mentioned the Jicama (which is a root kinda like a radish, but bigger) I really is kinda like tofu with not much taste but it makes nice texture in salad. I also tried the chopped dates which were yummy and as a weird coincidnce my boss had brought in two fresh dates and let me try one, just as yummy! Last but not least for the try something new cetegory was dried apricots - well I didn't like those too much, I don't think I will be eating them again - of course my daughter in law pointed out they are really good covered in chocolate!

3 - Exercise 4 days this week - so far so good!

So that is my little mid-week update - I have another post I plan on doing - I took a picture of what I tipically take in my lunch and I want to post it but just have been crazy busy and will hopefully get to that sometime in the weekend!

Challenges for the week!

I have some challenges for myself this week!

1 - I will not weigh myself this week at home - I have been stepping on the scale everyday for too long and I need to stop because basically my mood for the day is dictated by the number I see in the morning and I have to stop obsessing about it NOW!

2 - I will try something new this week in the fruit and vegetable category - I was challenged by my leader today to try something new and I already have tried one thing - Jicama - it was pretty good, it added some nice texture to my salad. I have some dried dates that I bought some time ago to add to a granola bar recipe and then lost the recipe, so I thought I would make little portion controlled baggies and try those as well!

3 - I will get at least 4 days of workouts in this week. I had to take a break due to the virus, but I think I'm strong enough to resume my workouts at least 4 days this week.

Weigh in Day!

Today I had a gain - 1.4 pounds - not unexpected at all since that is my typical pattern, lose, lose, lose a lot, gain a little of it back. I will be back to losing again - just got to keep doing what I'm doing and it will come back off and more! I still have my eyes on the goal!!

Sacfit Saturday!

So today went very well! I ran with the "catch up group" A group of either newer people or people that had missed a week or two and wanted to get out today but wasn't up for the whole 7 miles. We did 5 miles and then I went back out with one of the ladies and did 1 more mile! It was a pretty great run, it was nice and comfortable temperature wise going out, but it went from comfortable to HOT very quickly! I'm glad I didn't try to do the whole 7 miles, I think that would have been too much for me while still recovering. The people I ran with were so nice too, I had only ran with a couple of them before so it was nice getting to know them!

Getting back to running....

On Tuesday I did the hill workout with my group it was my first run in 10 days. I felt pretty good despite it being 102 degrees at the time! I should say I felt great until after I got home and had dinner, then I was incredibly tired and worn out. I got a good nights sleep and went out to run again on Thursday and it was harder than Tuesday. The air was just horrible and the heat was pretty nasty and I just wasn't feeling it, so me and my running partner ended up walking most of the workout, which was fine, but it puts doubt in my head about Saturdays 7 miler. I have hydrated really good today and I am going to get a good nights sleep and hopefully have no trouble at all, but I am fully prepared to turn back early if I start to struggle. This virus I had was no fun at all and I do want to not push myself and make myself worse later on.

Our new addition!

Our sons hamster died two weeks ago and on Friday we found one of my guinea pigs dead so we went out today and got a new hamster. her name is Dory and after having dwarf hamsters this girl is HUGE! She is a teddy bear hamster and such a pretty color, if you look at her one way she is dark gray and her "undercoat" is brown.

Weigh In Day!!

Drum roll please........

I lost 2.6 pounds this week! Woo Hoo!! I know it has something to do with me being sick, but I had only 5 activity points earned and I worked extra hard at just sticking to my daily points and not using much extra since I couldn't work out. I earned my next 5 pound sticker - 85.9 pounds total lost now and that makes 14.1 left to go until goal!! Oh and for those keeping track that puts me squarely in the 170's - 176.6 to be exact!!

I'm feeling a bit better, but am still coughing and have gunk in my chest so I will have to play the workouts by ear. I don't want to miss too much, but I know if I don't let myself get better it will put my running even further behind

My son loves to share with me!

My son got a virus and then he shared with me. How nice of him! I had the most wonderful run last Saturday and then on Sunday night the scratchy throat started and the cough. Tuesday I stayed home from work hoping that I could rest and kick this to the curb. Wednesday I decided I would try to make up my Tuesday run which I missed and went for a "run" after work that turned out to be more of a walk with stopping and gasping for air and coughing mixed in. That was the only activity I have had all week. I made it through the rest of the work week, but feel really cruddy so my weekend plan includes some sleeping in on Saturday - no sacfit run this week (doctors orders) and hopefully I can get better quickly.

On a side note - I can't believe how much I miss my runs- even my hill workouts - I miss them! I'm going to miss Saturday morning so much - and that is much more than the running - it is the friendships I have with the people I run with. It is my release and my stress reliever. I have to get my self better soon so I can get back to it!!

Weigh in Day!

Today I am down another pound - for a grand total of 83.3 pounds lost and a current weight of 179.2! I am below the 180's now and so excited about it!! I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and before I know it I will be at my goal!

Sacfit Saturday!

What a wonderful day! We did a free 5 mile race as a group - it ran through the neatest little neighborhood in our area and lots of people were out on their lawns cheering us on. There were 4 or 5 people from our pace group there and we all did so well! I felt amazing after the run again and again I used the S-caps - so I thinking there is something to this! I also used a new sports gel for my during race nutrition. I got a recommendation from a friend that had done a run where they gave these out at the race and she told me they tasted just like a melted dove bar - well she wasn't kidding! Chocolate #9 is the name and I ordered it online and they have excellent service, my order was shipped out the day after I ordered and got here in two days! The best part is on the WW program it is only 1 point as opposed to most gels that are 2 points. The taste is amazing and it is low fat, vegan and low glycemic! I ordered a trial pack, but will ordering some more this weekend so I have more for the upcoming long runs.