This week sees me doing the weight loss cha-cha yet again. The week was full of challenges stemming from the fact that we are currently a one vehicle household since my car decided last Monday that it had had enough and it was time for a permanent parking spot in the garage in the sky. I was also dehydrated from yesterday’s trip to the State Fair, which saw me not drinking nearly as much water as I normally do. But it also saw me walk nearly 6 miles without tiring, and most of that at a pretty good clip. I couldn’t have done that last year.
Not having a car has made it tough to get home when I want so I can go exercise when I want. I’m also not sleeping well this week because I’m getting less of it–on average 5 hours each night. I don’t function well with so little sleep. I don’t make great food choices when I’m tired and this week was no exception. The Fat Girl tends to take over and make food choices for me when I’m tired and she is a mighty tough broad to fight when I’m tired. I give up when I’m tired, and I need not to do that.
I did, however, manage to work out 4 days last week, including nearly an hour in the pool yesterday followed by walking nearly 6 miles at the state fair. But as one of my friends said earlier this week, “a good workout can’t fix bad eating.” And she’s absolutely right–it can’t. I’m proud that I did make it to the gym as much as I did last week even with the lack of a vehicle. I just hope I can keep it up this week.
I’m hoping I can do several things this week, including finding and purchasing a car, getting enough sleep, and steering my eating back in the right direction. My strength training program will change next week, as G (co-teacher/trainer) let it be known that around week 3 it would get too easy for me. And he is right–it is getting too easy. Time to shake things up a bit. He has already told me that a new plan will be in place next week and that I better be ready because it will be even harder than what I’m already doing. Challenge accepted, I say. G has also been a good accountability partner, because he asks me on my workout days if I am planning on going to the gym–I feel like if I don’t go, I have disappointed him somehow. I also know that if I don’t go, I feel bad physically, and that I feel like something is missing.
So it’s good that I’m swimming now, and getting back and forth across the pool a little better now than I did a month ago. I’m taking a second set of lessons, but they’re not until December. Until then, I’ll be practicing every week at least twice a week so that I don’t lose what I’ve already learned. I just want to be able to swim 50 m across each way so that I can swim laps continuously. I do eventually want to learn the breaststroke and get good at the backstroke–I figure the more types of exercise I can do, the better off I will be so that I don’t get bored with my fitness routine.
I’m pleased to report that I am seeing definition in my arms and legs now. I saw the heads of my quads this morning when I got up, which is exciting because I haven’t ever been able to see them at all. I am now seeing the big veins in my thighs, and the skin is draping there a little better than it used do. I can now see my pectoral muscles, and my shoulders are starting to be better defined. On the activity front, I was able to swim continuously until I got to halfway across the pool yesterday morning, which I previously was unable to do. I can now do side shuffles with no problem, and my pushups are getting better and better. I can lift more now, step higher up now, and my balance is slightly better than it was a few weeks ago. I am also wearing the smallest clothes of my adult life, which is really exciting. Thankfully my clothes continue to fit, and continue to fit loosely…the jeans I wore today are baggy in the butt, and loose in the waist. I just bought them in July! But these are the measures of progress I have to remind myself of when the scale trends upwards as it did this week.
I told my husband as we ate dinner this evening, “I will fit into a Banana Republic suit by the end of the school year, you watch me.”
I nearly fit into one now. But I want to really fit into one come June. I plan on giving a couple of professional presentations next summer, and I want to look the part. I don’t just want to look like a teacher playing dress-up. I want to look like a pro, and to me, that means wearing a suit. I’ve only worn a suit once in my life, and it was when I was 18. I had to have one for a national HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) competition I was participating in, and I remember we had to buy it at Catherine’s because at the time, I wore a size 24. It was a navy blue polyester jacket/skirt combo. I hated the way it made me look, I hated the way it made me feel, and I hated that I only wore it one time but it cost my dad over $100. At the time, that was an awful lot of money to spend on one outfit, especially since money was tight as I got ready to go to college.
And now…I’m smaller than I was in high school. I’m in better shape than I was in high school. I’m more comfortable in my own (excess) skin now than I was in high school. I can walk into a store and buy a suit and make it look good, and make myself look amazing in it. I am more confident and poised than I was 23 years ago, and I am more
But I want a suit from Banana Republic, and I want to be able to wear it, not have the suit wear me. I want to look as good as I feel most days, and I want for once in my life to look normal.
We took this picture at the Fair yesterday. Left: me, last year at the Fair. Right: me, yesterday at the Fair. What a difference a year makes. Also? BOOBS.
La Guerra de La Gorda 