Here it is...

It is the long awaited progress shot. It's a little cold outside right now (47) so I'm not pulling out shorts and a tank to make the pictures the same, but I think you'll get the gist of it. I've lost 55 pounds over the last 5 1/2 months. I've gone down 2 going on 3 pant sizes and 2 shirt sizes. Seems like even my shoes fit better. My fingers have shrunken, because now my wedding ring falls off and I wear it on a chain around my neck. I've gotten so much stronger and put on lots of muscle. I had nearly none when I started and now I'm starting to see definition in some areas and vascularity on my arms and hands. Cool! Now I just need to work on those areas that are a problem for a lot of us women: the butt, legs and thighs. I just got a new workout on Saturday and I'll work that for a while and see what progress I can make there. In the meantime, check out the smaller me! :o)

Ok, Alright Already

I have been getting the prod from many of you to get pictures up on my blog to show the progress I've made. Well, first off, I haven't had time to take new ones, but I'm working on that. But, prior to showing the aftershot, I've gotta show the before shot. This will of course motivate my butt to get an aftershot done. And I want it to be good. I don't just want to slap something up here just to do it. I want it to be representative of the work I've done and the progress I've made.

But, to get the ball rolling, here is the before shot. This was taken about 7 weeks before I officially started working on my weight and I think it's pretty representative of my size back then. My buddy James and I had rented a Ditch Witch to dig sprinkler and drainage trenches in his backyard in July and this was after we were done. Whew! A lot has changed since then, and I can't wait to show you just how much...

Whew! What a day...

Yesterday was an absolutely amazing day. I didn't have time to really process it then, so here I am on Sunday morning.

First things first, I lost 4 pounds last week which now puts me at 213 and officially, I am no longer obese! I am now happy to say I'm overweight. I have been anticipating this day for some weeks now and I am so proud to say that I've achieved it!

Yesterday I was ambitious after my newfound overweight-ness. I went for a short 1100 yard swim before teaching my senior computer class. It's so funny, because that distance used to be something I hoped to get to, and now it's just, short. :o) Anyways, after my class I had a meeting with my personal trainer, Sharon Felts, at the EDHSC. It was time for a new workout.

Something I haven't written about here is the fact that a friend (Mike) I've met at the club who is also a reporter for the local community newspaper was interested in putting together a story about me. A transitional story about weight loss and getting it done. Well, I met with him to talk about my journey on Thursday and yesterday during my workout, he wanted to take some pictures for this story. I am completely flattered that he noticed and wanted to do something like that about me. I'm doing this for me, and when I workout, I'm in the zone and don't really notice the people around me so much. I was very surprised that I was being noticed. Thanks Mike!

So, when I workout, I just do my thing, at my high intensity level and just keep rockin' it day in and day out. But, when I workout with Sharon, I kick it up a notch, because, after all, I need to look good, strong, capable. ;o) Well, in addition to Sharon, now Mike was watching, and taking pictures. Which meant in turn, that the whole gym was watching, wanting to know what was going on, who was I, why were they taking pictures? I was working on staying focused; it was just me, Sharon and the weights. But, peripherally, I could hear Mike and Sharon telling people about me, my journey and the story, they had such kind, supportive, acknowledging remarks. Thank you so much! The thing that was amazing to me was that I heard other people saying things like, "Yeah, I know her... She works out hard all the time", or "Oh, she's here everyday and she's lost a lot of weight". Wow! These other people noticed me too. That was way cool. To have all these people notice the hard work I have been putting into myself and recognizing me for it.

So yesterday I was elated; flying high. This journey is so personally important to me. I am becoming a physically healthier person and I feel so good. I am also growing mentally and emotionally and am much stronger within. I am "New Liz", who is healthy, strong, emotionally stable, giving, active and happy. I am so glad to have left "Old Liz" behind. She was obese, unhappy, selfish, timid, unsure, emotionally weak. I want to remember Old Liz so that I will never allow myself to regress back to that state. That is part of the purpose of this blog, to document the process of getting to this point.

I appreciate my readership, my family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and so on. Even if it is small group, you are sharing with me these vulnerable thoughts and realizations. It is intimate and makes me feel important that someone else might be interested in what I'm going through. I want to thank Lori, my partner for being as supportive as she is at home; making healthy meals, working out with me, encouraging me, supporting me and most importantly, listening to all my jabber about this process. :o) I want to thank Trish P, my masters swim coach for being ever positive, encouraging, enabling and for pushing me just right to achieve more and more in the pool. I want to thank Sharon for her awesome, targeted, challenging workouts. She is the best for me when it comes to a personal trainer as she has experience with weight loss herself and knows how to help me help myself. Sharon, you are the best. I would also like to thank Mike. You have added a little spark of excitement and fun to my daily routines that were frankly, becoming tedious as my weight loss slowed down this year. For a day, you made me a celebrity and I won't ever forget it. Thanks!

It's Been an Awesome Week...

This week has been great because I just keep achieving more, and more. Monday was a great weight workout and I worked really hard on that. I decided to run a mile before the weights and guess what? I ran it in 12:36! This beats my previous mile time by like over 2 minutes! I was stoked. Tuesday I kept pushing in the pool and got myself to a total workout of 1900 yards. I was so proud, but so close to 2000, so I decided to push for that. In the gym on Wednesday, I did 1/3 of a mile on the StairMaster to warm up, ran a mile in 12:23 and rowed for 20 minutes. I was trying to mix up the cardio. To further make my day, someone who works at the gym and I see her from time to time gave me the compliment that I looked great and she could tell I had lost a lot of weight. Woo Hoo!

Today in the pool, I was on a mission. I was going to get my 2000 yards. Well, a storm rolled in this morning with some good rain and wind blustering around, but that wasn't going to stop me. I did a 1000 yard warmup before Trish got there and she brought a 1200 yard workout and I... did it! 2200 yards today, a new record. I am on fire! I'm so excited and proud. I think I will swim again tomorrow and take the day off for weights because on Saturday I'm going to workout with Sharon again and get a new weights workout. My body is feeling great and ever-shrinking. I think it's time for a new bathing suit; it's starting to get too loose and baggy. That's all for now... :o)

Another Week, Another Pound

It's been a good week of working out. End result, lost another pound and now I'm down to 217. Three more pounds until I'm going to get to have my overweight party! ;o) This week has been cool though. As I workout more, I feel more and more like a part of the group that I have been longing to be a part of for some time: athletes. I no longer feel like a fat person trying to catch up. Or like an occasional exerciser who doesn't fit in. When I work out, I feel strong. I feel confident and I feel like an athlete. I'm meeting more people at the gym, talking to them, networking with other people who swim, do triathlons or who are trying to lose weight. I am an athlete.

Swimming Accomplishments

I felt great swimming today. Strong. Good form. Good breathing control. Ready to go long distances. Today I set another record for distance. Its been a while since I have and it's kindof exciting. I got to 1800 yards in my workout. I warmed up with 100 and then a400 yard set of IMO patterns and then 2 75's. Today I did interval swimming for the first time officially. Trish put together a 1000 yard workout that had intervals of 25s, 50s, 75s and 100s. Interval swimming is swimming a 25, for example, on a certain interval time, which for me in this case was every :45. So, every 45 seconds, I started out on another 25 yard swim. The workout included 6 25's on the :45, 5 50's on the 1:30, 4 75's on the 2:15 and 3 100's on the 3:00. My cool down consisted of 150 alternating freestyle and backstroke. 1800 yards in all! Woo Hoo. The intervals are hard in that they push you from a cardio standpoint in that you're mostly swimming continuously without much rest. It was challenging, but good, because we've been focusing on distance so much that speed hasn't been a focus.

As far as weight loss is concerned, I'm not really focusing on that much at all. I'm at the point now where I HAVE TO WORK OUT. If I miss a day, it throws me off, so I really prioritize it. When it comes to diet, I have been eating things that I didn't touch for months, but I have learned some moderation and I can stop after eating a little, instead of binging on chips or something. And I have been trying to average my calories as I heard about on Motivation to Move. Lots of calories one day means not so many the next or the next few. It's working out.

I just bought some new shirts this past weekend. My old ones have just become tent-like mumu's. For the first time in I don't even remember how long, I bought a T-shirt from the women's department, NOT the plus size department! It felt so good. Now my pants are starting to get too big. Alas! I could have worse problems... :o)

More Numbers

A quick post this morning before I take off for my computer class I started teaching at the Senior Center downtown. I've lost another 2 pounds this week and I'm down to 218. This week, I just stopped looking at the scale, plugged away at the gym and ate right. It paid off! 4 more pounds til I'm no longer obese. Woo Hoo!

It's All About the Numbers

As I am sure you have come to realize, for me it's all about the numbers. I am numbers driven. This is a good thing, and a bad thing at the same time. It's good and fun even, to track yards, miles, reps, beats per minute, pounds and so on. It adds a objective angle to the tangled emotional web of trying to lose a significant amount of weight.

Numbers have had me dragging the last few weeks. My weight loss has slowed significantly and it's been discouraging. I've gone from 2-4 pounds a week to 1 if I'm lucky or just stationary. I am a big numbers person and I am addicted almost to seeing that scale move, so when it's not, I get so frustrated. But, thinking about it today, I've been sick and not able to exercise the way I wanted to. I did not eat poorly. Although lately I have not been as strict about my diet and I know I need to work on that. But, even though the scale isn't moving fast, I FEEL good. My clothes fit well. I move quicker and lighter. And those are things that are just as important that can't really be quantified with numbers, but they are just as important. So for this sluggish weight loss time, I am trying to focus on these positives to keep me going.

There is definitely an upside to numbers. Nothing is more exciting to me than breaking an old record, setting a new one, lifting more or swimming farther. I have a new record to document today. Yesterday during my swimming workout I set a new record. Previously on my 50 yard sprint swim, I had the record of 53 seconds, but yesterday I did it in 50 seconds! I know I've said this before, but this time, I felt like I had a little outboard motor behind me as I took off from the wall when the "whistle blew". I'm getting faster and faster and able to go longer distances and that just excites me.

I've been thinking about swimming the Ice Breaker which is either a 1/2 or 1 mile swim (depending on what you sign up for) in Folsom Lake on April 7. If I can procure a wetsuit for my big 'ole booty, I'm in. I'll keep you posted...

Refocusing

Well, I haven't written much because there just hasn't been much to write in the way of the fitness and diet aspect of my life. Last week I worked out twice and only 1/2 the workout due to the fact that I have just felt cruddy. I decided starting today I would be getting back into the workout despite the cruddies, because they haven't left yet but I don't want to lose my edge. ;o)

I've enjoyed my body as it's changing and the clothes I'm able to fit into. Several people have asked me to post some pictures. That request has been noted and I'm just trying to fit in the time when it's still light out. I did find a picture of myself from the summer, just before I started working out and man was I a porker! I'll post a side by side here soon to show the progress that I've made thus far.

Speaking of progress made thus far, I've been uber-focusing on the fact that my weight is not dropping as fast as it had, and it had been kindof getting me down. I've decided I have a new mini-goal I can focus on for the next few weeks or month or so. My weight is now down to 220, and it's exciting to say that after losing 6 more pounds and getting down to 214, I will no longer be "obese", but just "overweight" by the average BMI calculator. That's pretty exciting, since I've been so heavy for so long that I don't even know what that would feel like. So, exciting news will be coming soon about my new and exciting "overweight" status. Stay tuned...