Some Comparisons

Not much to report, but I am starting to think about making myself some new clothes and with that I got the thinking that I should probably take some new measurements on myself.

So that's what I did and luckily I had my measurements from the beginning of September handy so I'm going to share them. :)

	September 8, 2011	October 29, 2011
Bust	49.5"	48"
Waist	40.5"	40"
Hips	54.5"	53.5"
Upper Arm	16.5"	15.5"

While those measurements do not denote a huge changed, I am pretty happy that most of them have gone down an inch or so. What this also means in the terms of my pattern sizes is that my waist is a 24 (retail - 18) and my hips and bust are a 26 and 24, respectively (retail - 20).

My sizes are all over the place, but they are shrinking which makes me happy :) time to go get some fabric prepped for sewing!

Popped my cherry

Well I did it. I finally ran outside with the fresh air, the sun shining and the squirrels scurrying around. It was wonderful and difficult at the same time. The route I took is near my house and is not flat. There are flat sections but that's it. Even considering the inclines and such I still avereged a 15:24 pace for the length of the run, which I think is pretty impressive considering that my knee and calf were giving me some problems.

I really need to figure that out. I may try to stop by The Running Store today to figure out my gait and possible solutions.  We'll see how the day pans out. Both the hubs and my big guy have flu-like symptoms but so far me and small fry are doing ok. *knocks on all the wood she can find*

In other news, I'm down to 278!!!!! That's 18 pounds baby! Yes, I'm slightly ecstatic about this because I'm also starting to see it. I mean really see it. The belt is getting pulled tighter and the butts of my jeans are really getting baggy. Not to mention that my arms are firming up. I'm so very pleased with myself.

I'd still like to hit the gym to get in my weight work but that might wait until tomorrow.

Toodles y'all!

Lucky Number 13!

So remember when I was lamenting not having lost much weight and I was getting frustrated? Well really it wasn't even about the weight loss, but its was just a lack of results in general?

I am not complaining any more! I am so happy with the changes I've begun to see.

I'm down 13 pounds, but more importantly my waist has decided to show back up. Not to mention some tone to my arms, and my hips! I can suck in my tummy without getting winded and I'm super excited about my trainer meeting on Friday with Dana! (yep that Dana) :)

I should take some new pictures for you guys, maybe I'll get on that this week. :)

Oh and I've upped  my weights again, so I'm excited about that, and we've started running and are doing a 5k in December. Fun times!

TTYL!!!
Heather

30 Days Bitches!

Tomorrow is 30 days at the gym. 30 days since attending my first Zumba class and 30 days since I sat in that sales guy's office and signed over some of mine and hubby's life.

Yay me!

You wonder what we're doing to celebrate? We're going to Bertucci's! Yep lots of carbs!

Who cares, I walked a mile in 17 minutes 31 seconds on Monday, and then on Tuesday I jogged a mile in 15 minutes 21 seconds. Yay! I actually jogged! My knees didn't collapse. My calves were on fire (forgot to stretch, doh!) but I survived.

Then I survived Zumba - the calves were more achy after that class, but its progress!

No more weight loss, but I'm getting thinner and more toned, and people are noticing my new skinny-ness!

HELL YEAH!

Getting Skinny

Well 4 weeks is here, and I've lost a total of 8 pounds.

I've gained back 2 pounds, but we're going to call that muscle.

However, I am looking skinnier, and while that makes me happy, I do wish that I've lost more weight.

I have noticed though that my stamina is improving along with some of my muscle tone.

Today I power walked 2.25 miles, which felt good, because a month ago I could barely do a quarter mile. Oh how far I've come, but still so far to go.

See you guys later!

Stagnant...

Well - I have not lost any more weight, but my jeans are getting looser! That's something.

I'm also noticing that I'm slimming down through the torso! Yay!

Today my obliques hurt, so during Muscle Up I did not do a lot of the exercises that involved them, but I focused on my abs.

My abs now hurt. Oh well. No pain, no gain right? :)

Bring on the Pilates!

Adding the weight

So last week - I lost had lost 10 pounds, but then I somehow added 2 pounds, and then managed to lose 1 of those pounds.

So all told I'm 9 pounds down, which is not bad since tomorrow marks 3 weeks of going to the gym, but I'm kind thinking/wishing/wanting to be losing the weight a little faster.

I'm taking in anywhere from 1800 to 2000 calories a day, and with the hour at the gym plus all of the rest of the stuff I usually do around the house, I burn between 2400 and 2700 calories a day.

Why is the weight not coming off?!?!

Grrrr - but 1) its been only 3 weeks and 2) towards the end of the week I stopped pushing myself as hard.

Well I can alter the latter. So today at BodyPump - I upped the weights, and I'm so glad I did.

My arms, glutes, calves and shoulders were burning by the end of class, but I know that I  pushed it a little and that I did a good thing with it. :)

So I'm going to keep the weights where they are until they feel light, and keep with my plans and goals. :)

Just have to keep focused, and as my torture, I mean work out partner says - Its a marathon, not a sprint. :)

See ya!!!

Its started

Today I went to a class called Muscle Up and while I'm sure that eventually I will 'muscle up' right now I just hurt.

Even picking up H hurts. A lot. Well not a lot, but enough to where I don't want to move.

I also weighed myself after lunch. There's probably a reason they tell you to weigh first thing in the morning.

I have some work to do, but I have set some goals for myself, so that's good.

I'm going to go back to snuggling with H now. :)

Discouraged

I have to be honest - coming into Week 4 I'm feeling a little discouraged.

Mike has already gone down a pants size, lost almost 10 pounds, and is rediscovering his jawline - whereas I have regained the 3 pounds I lost (although, I'm tempted to blame this on the GIANT dinner I had friday night still living in my gut Saturday morning when I stepped on the scale) and, although my size 18's are feeling a bit looser than normal, I have not noticed much of a different at all in how my clothing fits - with the exception of my belly getting less and less flabby every time we do that horrible painful ab-ripper sequence. ;)

While flipping through channels yesterday afternoon we came across the P90X infomercial and watched it for a good 30 minutes. From what I can tell most of your results come between day 30 and 60, and then of course between 60 and 90.

What can I say? I'm just impatient. I want it all now.

On a positive note:

Emotionally/mentally I'm feeling fantastic! I have so much more energy during the day, I still really look forward to the workouts in the evenings, and can really feel myself getting stronger.

When we first started I could hardly do 2 girl push-ups - now I can do 75% of the push-ups during the Sculpt workouts. The cardio gets easier every time we do it, unless I've eaten a bunch of junk food during the day. It is SO MUCH harder if you're not feeding your body right. This has been great motivation for me to eat right during the week. I still allow myself to splurge on the weekends - but I try to save it for Saturday nights or Sundays since we don't workout on Sunday.

Overall I'm really enjoying the Power 90 program - and I'm committed to the lifestyle now. I have to be. What would be the point of working this hard to just quit after the 90 days is up?

Mike and I are thinking we will do one more cycle of Power 90 after this one, and then switch up to the P90X workouts. I'm actually really excited for it!!

Tony Horton - You are going to have to wait

Today we went to the zoo.....it was 94 degrees at 10 am. Stephen, the boys and I sweated our way through the entire zoo. We visited all of the animals that Dev wanted to see (which was like ALL of them). Then on the way home Dev fell asleep. All 50 pounds of him in a dead weight....that I carried up a short set of stairs and then a full flight of stairs to his bed. So between the heat, the mile or so of walking, the heat, the carrying of 50 lbs dead weight for about 2 minutes, the heat, and finally the heat, I am counting all of that as my sculpt workout, because my calves were yelling at me as we walked back down from the Connecticut Street entrance of the zoo back down to other side where Parking Lot D is located....down right next to the petting zoo.

Done, and tired. My arms are hurting...I am blaming Dev for that one. :)

Have a wonderful Sunday!
~Heather

The Fashonistas of the World would Cry

First, I'm dying......literally, I think I may be dying. Stephen and I 'started over' on our Power 90, because I accidentally read the calendar wrong and told him to do Sculpt again today we had the resistance bands, so we did the Sculpt 1-2 workout again, and it's HARD with resistance bands. I don't think I've broken a sweat like this in ages. I also already am sore....just from sitting for about 3 minutes. I can feel everything between my shoulders, upper back and arms. Especially the arms. The legs aren't too bad right now, but I typically do a lot of exercise type things with them as it is. You know lifting laundry, squatting to pick up H, repeatedly going up and down the stairs for bink replacements and the like. I'm sure I'll feel the leg soreness in a few days though.

But on a good note, here are some before pictures, and I know its supposed to be a sports bra and shorts or the like, but you know what....I'm not that confident in posting that much skin so I am posting pictures of me with my tank on. It doesn't show as much but it'll get the idea across. Maybe when I'm my new fit and toned self I'll have enough gumption to post those tankless before pictures. Also, it's obvious that no one in the fashion world designed work out clothes, because they don't look good on anyone except the people in those work-out videos and the chicks from Baywatch. Vogue would never put anything so ugly on anyone. 

 I'm scared of tomorrow's workout....it's Sweat 1-2 and Ab Ripper 1-2. Maybe they name things like that just to scare us. Maybe they want to instill the fear of God into us so that when we finally master them b*tches we feel like we're on top of the world. {I'm the king of the world}

I will now go back to nursing my large glass of ice cold flavored water. Then after I watch a show or two..I will drag my sorry behind upstairs and shower before bed. Good night, all. I'm sure I will sleep like I'm dead.  

Heather