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| Early September and Late October |
What I have achieved...
Pounds:
I have lost 24 pounds!!! Not too shabby. Especially if you saw all the muscle I have gained. True story, I'm buff! I'm not joking, like..., people are impressed. Most of all me! At first I was like, oh my gosh! What's this hard thing here?! It's cancer! Oh, wait, it's a muscle. There's a muscle there??!!
Inches:
Sadly, Jesse and I didn't do my measurements until about month 4. But just from month 4 to month 6 I lost 5.5 inches off of my body!! I had her double check. That is so incredible to me.
Weights:
I can leg press 385 pounds. Legit. I did 107 leg presses of 90 pounds (plus the weight of the sled) without stopping to win a sweatshirt. You know I'll do ANYTHING for a deal. ;-) I do walking lunges now with 20 pound weights in each hand, 6 months ago I could hardly get through three "hallways" of lunges without weights. Oh, did I mention, Jesse has found a hallway that's three times as long as the first? I can bicep curl 25 pounds, that doesn't sound like a lot but you try doing that for a minute or "until failure" as Jesse loves to say. I do straight leg dead lifts with 50 pounds, I think I started with 10 pounds and could hardly do 5 reps the first time I tried.
Clothes:
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| My BFF, Cindy, and I in November |
My Son:
Gabriel has lost a lot of weight!! I don't know how much because we don't weigh him, but I can see a major difference. He has also become more active with me. We'll go across the street and chase each other around the school's field kicking a soccer ball. My son is the second reason I wanted to get into better shape. I'm doing it for me, has to be for me, but I also want to be an example to my son.
Ignorance is Bliss:
I can't tell you how true this is. I absolutely look at food totally differently than I used to. I know exactly how much effort it will take for me to burn that bag of Doritos. No thanks! I used to look forward to food, to eating. SO MUCH of our lives are centered around food, you should look forward to it, right? Wrong. Not me at least. Or, you shouldn't get happy at the thought of eating ice cream or fast food. That was me. Now I know food is fuel. That's it. I need to fuel my body so that it is strong enough to get me through my 2 hour workouts. I need food to supply my body with vitamins, protein and nutrients. I cannot waste my calories on disgusting, processed foods. But it goes even farther than that. Did you know that 6 Triscuit crackers = 120 calories? If I'm trying to stay between 1200 - 1500 calories max, which I am, I can't even eat Triscuits! 1200 calories gives me 3, 300 calorie meals and 3, 100 calorie snacks. Let me tell you, it doesn't always seem like enough. lol. I now look forward to food in a different way. I get excited at making a healthy meal. I get excited when I make a dinner I can't finish, yet was delicious and filling. I get excited when I go out to eat and figure out something healthy I can order. I get excited over AVOCADOS. Nothing new there.
The Proof:
Now the good stuff. Here are some photos where you can really see the change. Here is a photo taken of me at my birthday this year in March and then in October.
Major difference!!! And here is a photo I'm not too thrilled to post. I don't really look great in any of these next photos as they were taken after I worked out, but people are encouraging me to post it so... here you go.
That last photo was taken a few weeks ago. I've lost 4 pounds since then!! I am really proud of myself! You might not be able to tell, but in that first picture, my smile is strained, embarrassed of how heavy and weak I had let myself become. Might I even say, that smile is hiding shame. Now look at the last photo. That smile is a genuinely proud, happy smile. I am happy! I am strong!
Sorry to be cliche, but NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS FIT FEELS! I hope I am encouraging someone out there to get their ass in the gym. Stop making excuses. Just, stop. You sound so stupid and everyone sees right through them. Jesse and Cindy have both told me that before I started working out I told them that I "was happy being big." What the hell kind of total bullshit is that??!! I cry every time I think about that. I had convinced myself that I was okay and I had the nerve to tell people that I was happy. No one is happy being "morbidly obese." (Yes, at my heaviest, this was my medical classification.) No one is happy only being able to shop in a "special section" of a store. No one is happy getting winded walking up a flight of stairs. No one is happy being the "fat friend." I will not lie to you. NOTHING about this is easy. NOTHING. NOTHING! Yes, you have to dedicate time to get into the gym or workout at home. How much TV do you watch in a day? Uh huh, you have time to go to the gym. It will hurt. It will hurt a lot. You won't want to go on Mondays. It will take awhile for your taste buds to change. I ate some of my FAVORITE potato chips the other day, and I found them bland, greasy and gross. Sometimes you will be so hungry and yet so sore that you literally won't be able to fix yourself some scrambled eggs. But guess what else? You'll feel better, you'll look better. You'll fit into that sexy outfit with the tags still on it in the back of your closet. People will tell you everywhere you go how great you look, and they really mean it! You know I love it!!! You'll get to buy all new clothes! Oh, and you'll live longer, blah, blah, blah... ;-) If I can do it, you can do it!
My Next Six Month Goals:
June, 2015 will be one year in my fitness journey. I hope to be down 50 pounds total by then. I think I can do it. I've lost 24 lbs in the first six months, I hope to match it in the next. I would like to hike Bishop's Peak in SLO and I would also like to run a 5k with Gabriel. There is one next September at Disneyland that I'm thinking about signing us up for.
Thanks for reading, stay tuned! xoxoxo
