Day 28

Holy crap, guys. Today marks a month. One month of eating right, working out, and improving myself. That's 22 lbs in 28 days ... who would've guessed this was so do-able??

Today's workouts were pretty good, although this one yoga teacher gets more and more spiritual/hippie every class. We spent 45 minutes doing moon salutations today! Just repeating the same sequence over and over and over until I just wanted to yell, "Okay! We're good! The moon's been THOROUGHLY saluted! Can we stop now??" She even tried to get us to do some Om-ing and mantra-chanting ... I just prayed under my breath. I'm all about yoga as a physical outlet, but the spirituality of it is totally beyond me.

I did manage to knock out my workouts by about 12:30, so I got the afternoon off to pick up my room a bit and go see a movie. Mom and I opted for Up again - it was the last day they were showing it in 3D, and we needed a good pick-me-up. I didn't even nap today, which is good. I need to be less nap-reliant. Means I should crash pretty properly tonight, too. After I do some gaming and watch a little of The Prestige, that is. Girl's gotta have her downtime.

Today's food situation was nothing new, although it was free meal night! We hit U.S. Pizza again; we'd considered doing the Copper Grill downtown, but since the soup I love so dearly there (Roasted Red Pepper) is not a regular menu item, we decided not to risk it and go for an old favorite. I ate considerably more salad and less pizza than last time ... but I still totally indulged in a couple slices of sausage pizza. There's no saying no to that.

So I've been thinking a lot about the last four weeks, and how much has changed, and how much is still to change. I mean, I've lost 22 lbs ... that's like, 88 sticks of butter. Or 3.8 gallons of Coke. Or 88 medium orders of fries. Or 55 million grains of rice.

 

Speaking of fries, one of my personal food vices, I've only eaten them once in four weeks. I haven't had chips except for once; I've had maybe four slices of bread, all one at a time and included in a sandwich; I haven't had a single non-diet Coke; I haven't gone on a snack binge and mindlessly munched my way through a bag of Goldfish. And the greatest thing? I haven't really missed any of it.

Sure, it wouldn't hurt my feelings to go to, say, Panera Bread and order a bread-bowl of broccoli cheddar and a Sierra Turkey sandwich with potato chips and a Dr. Pepper, but I don't feel it's essential. And I can have it, but not as a staple. Never again as a staple. This lifestyle change has definitely made eating out a treat again, whereas it was just the norm for so long. I remember one night shortly before my trip home to begin this change, I was trying to pick a place to go have some lunch. I thought over all my favorites ... and realized I'd eaten at each once already that week. That's unhealthy in several distinct ways.

It's so exciting to look in the mirror and preen, rather than adjust my posture and angle until I look more flattering. It's exciting to see people I know and have them comment on how different I look. It's exciting to feel my clothes fitting my body better, and then to start fitting worse again as I begin to dwindle out of them. Most of all, though, it's exciting to realize this is only the start of something great. I've lost 22 lbs; I mean to lose at least 60 lbs more over the course of the next year or so. I can't even begin to imagine how I'll look after I've lost 150 million grains of rice! ;)

Thank you, my bloggees, for sticking by me through this first month. Four more weeks, guys. Let's do this thing.

Day 27

Good god, this morning was exhausting! At Dad's urging, I got up earlier than usual to sneak in a walk before my sculpt class ... which meant me getting up at 5:30 am. Yeah. Like the boonies of the morning. And I had some lousy dreams last night, so I woke up a little sapped already. Even so, I got myself up and got to walking.

I walked for about an hour - on the golf course track to CCC itself, then on the sidewalk back around toward home. Then I had about 45 minutes to grab a bite of breakfast before I had to hussle to the LRAC for sculpt and water aerobics, then a brief break before ... spin class. Mom and I agree - we hate spin class, but we feel it's necessary. 

So this time I get abut 20 minutes in, and my butt starts hurting. I'm doing everything I can to not think about my butt - I close my eyes, I stare at the wall, I even sing along to some of the songs (which, oddly enough, regulates my breathing). But no matter what I do, my eyes keep coming back to the little readout in front of me, which is topped by the bike's brand name, Keiser, which is one letter off from the word keister, which brings me back to my butt. Sigh.

However, I stumbled on to about 45 minutes, where I considered quitting to salvage the last of the feeling in my butt, when it occurred to me - I'd gone 45 minutes! I was a tiny clock-fraction away from completing the whole stupid spin class! So, I kept on going. And, 15 minutes (IE, a tiny clock-fraction) later, I got to hobble out of spin class with my dignity intact, if not my butt. I was hurting, but yay! I finished a whole spin class! I figured I wouldn't manage that 'til like the last week of HFFC, haha.

Then, I came home and slept for nearly three hours. No lie - I crashed. I slept like I was trying to break records in it. Felt way better once I woke up, too. Hopefully I'll still be able to crash tonight, got a doctor's appointment early tomorrow so I can't afford to stay up.

Food sitch was pretty straightforward today, although I did finally master the perfect simple turkey sandwich. It was whole-wheat bread, two slices of turkey, and a little mayo, which is my usual, but I added some dill pickle slices and a piece of swiss cheese. It was fantastic - why in the hell has it taken me this long to realize this formula? Dinner was a beef stir-fry, which I was unsure of, but turned out to be pretty tasty with some ginger and garlic. I did have a bit of a weird mental association with the ginger at first - I used to have a jar of ginger body scrub, and so when I smelled the ginger in the stir-fry my first thought was that I was supposed to wash with it. Mental associations can be so odd.

I'm pretty excited to take a little downtime this evening, I've just gotten into the Sims 3 and, since I don't have to be up in the boonies of the morning again, I can geek out for a little bit. Good times.

PS: Oh! One more thing I forgot to mention last night. On his way home, Nate stopped off at the Trek Expo in Tulsa, and at said convention he met Tony Todd. Now, being as I've only seen the Trek movies and little of the show, I don't know Todd for his role as Worf's brother Kurn, but rather for his role voicing the main vortigaunt in Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Nate and I have a huge running gag around him - the first time Nate played through HL2:E2, he insisted on calling the vortigaunt "Kurn," to which I'd always reply, "Vort." It got to the point where we could be out around Norman, discussing something else entirely, and then all of a sudden go, "Vort!" "Kurn!" at the same moment. 

Well apparently, Nate told Todd about our in-joke, and he thought it was funny! Nate then got him to sign a Kurn figure for me with a personalized message of some kind, thus further establishing Nate as an awesome dude. I haven't found out what the message is yet, but I'm so excited to see it! I mean, I've got something signed by an HL2 voice actor! One of my favorite video games of all time! That rocks my geeky little gamer-chick world.

Day 26

Sunday Rundown:

Weight: 215 lbs
Weight lost this week: 4 lbs
Total weight lost: 22 lbs

Bust: 44" (0" lost since last week, 2.875" lost total)
Waist: 39 1/2" (1 1/2" gained since last week (how??), 1" lost total)
Hips: 50 1/4" (1 1/8" lost since last week, 2 5/8" lost total)

So I've scooted off my plateau, whoo-hoo! Such a relief, I was so worried to hop on the scale and see no change again. I can't account for the gained inches in my waist; Mom suspects we measured it wrong last week. Very odd ... but at least I'm still trending downward and looking slimmer and healthier.

Nate headed out this morning, and it was a bummer to see him go ... I enjoyed having a bit of a vacation from the program, and it was great to chill with him for awhile. And, in spite of a serious desire to just crawl on back into bed, I dragged my butt to CCC for a morning cardio, and then hit the LRAC later on for another cardio and my stretch/yoga class. I'm still feeling my legs pretty seriously from Pinnacle, but they're almost back to normal.

Food was basic today; I made bacon and eggs for breakfast, tuna for lunch, and then had the Italian-breadcrumb chicken again for dinner. I got a hell of a treat for my late-night snack, too - taco meat, beans, and cheese on a small handful of tortilla chips. Sheer foodie bliss. I'm balancing out at around 1200 calories a day now rather than only 1000, and that little bit seems to make a difference.

Tomorrow's gonna be rough ... I'm trying to get a walk in before my 8 am sculpt class, which means getting up before 6 am. Agh ... least I'll have a chance to sleep a bit tomorrow afternoon if need be, I should have all my workouts done by 1 or so. Still loving my laptop, by the way - I got WoW uploaded and patched, and I swear that game has never looked prettier. Totally seamless, too. It's easier to get through the tougher workouts knowing I've got something fun to anticipate later on. G'night all!

Day 25

Guess what? I cooked today! And not just reheating pre-cooked food, either - I marinated, breaded, and baked the oven "fried" chicken strips for dinner! And they were fantastic! I'm so proud, it's gratifying to know I do have the skills to take this lifestyle home with me.

Apparently I have reached and surpassed my physical limitations, however. I woke up this morning with my quads absolutely screaming. I figured my morning workouts would ease the pain - a little recumbent bike, a little water aerobics, and some yoga to top it off. No such luck; halfway through water aerobics, I nearly had to give up! I was whipped! I pushed through it, though, and through yoga, but now? Holy crap, guys. It hurts to use my upper legs in any way - sitting, standing, bending, you name it and I'm wussy about it right now. Guess Pinnacle really did a number on me ...

I did get a huge laugh out of water aerobics today; our instructor, Anna, had us doing some Zumba-type moves underwater. One of them was a little hip-roll/shimmy/shuffle sort of thing, and I was having fun doing it - like the song says, I've got hips and I know how to use 'em. And about halfway through class, one of the little old ladies grabs my arm and goes, "Are you a dancer?" She was just floored by how graceful and on-the-beat I was! I assured her no, no dancing since I was a kid, but for the rest of class all the old ladies kept watching me during that move! I mean, I kinda hoped that toning up and all would help my body attract some attention, but I was really gunning more for young men than old women ...

Had some great geeky time w/ Nate this afternoon. We wanted to rent the new Ghostbusters game, but there wasn't an available copy in town; so, I went ahead and bought it. I planned to anyway, once I got back to Norman, but I had the money to do it now and give us our nerdiness. We set up my XBOX in the den and basically vegged out and geeked out all afternoon and evening. The game is great, really captures the feel of the movie while still bringing its own originality to the mix, and the references laced throughout are great (a message left on the firehouse phone by a "Dr. Jones" asks after the Vigo painting, insisting it "belongs in a museum!"). Gotta love it. Highly recommend this to any Ghostbusters fans.

I'm definitely gonna need a long soak before bed ... gonna use some of those Epsom salts to really help relax my muscles. I can't afford to lose any more time - I'm almost halfway through the program already, I've gotta keep it up! Tomorrow's the Rundown, and hopefully I'll have some encouraging news for you all!

Day 24

Sorry, another late and brief post! Goes to show what the distraction of having a friend around does with my free time ... I promise to be more in-depth with them after tonight.

This morning, I did get up and do Pinnacle with Nate, as I planned. It was hard, to be sure ... but I made it! Up the hard side, down the easy side, and in just over two hours! Considering our multiple water and photo breaks, that's not bad at all. Now I was royally whipped afterwards, but I still managed to make it to stretch and a weights class. Not too bad for one morning's work.

It's been great having Nate around - we vegged out for much of the afternoon (I actually fell asleep for a while), then grabbed dinner at Buffalo Grill and caught a movie! It's been great to have some downtime and do something other than eat/sleep/exercise for a little while. It'll be sad to see him go Sunday, but I think I've got enough planned the next few weekends to help me soldier on.

Coming back from Pinnacle did have a sad little twist to it - as I was pulling into my neighborhood, the Fed-Ex truck was pulling out! Taking my much-awaited delivery with it! I seriously missed my new laptop by like a minute. It was tragic. Thankfully, I was able to stop by and pick up my packages this afternoon ... and I was right! My new Macbook made it! I've spent most of the evening getting everything set up. God, but I love being a geek! ^^

Tomorrow, I'll give you guys a fuller post, as well as some pics from our hike. Sorry to post so short, but I've gotta get some sleep if I'm gonna get up and moving tomorrow. G'night all!

EDIT: Okay, now that I've gotten some sleep, I'm further updating the post! Here are the pics we got on Pinnacle.

The view from halfway up.

Nate's dramatic pose.

My "I'm-a-Badass" pose.

(I closed my eyes again, don't look too close! >< )

I am so proud to have managed Pinnacle again, and fairly painlessly too (at least at the time). I did have one epic almost-fall on the way down - we had just passed from the rocks to the path proper, and my feet hit some loose gravel. My knees went forward and my butt dropped back, like I was about to sit down in a chair, and my right hand flew out and grabbed onto a skinny tree by the path ... and I STAYED there for like 5 seconds before I popped back up. My butt never hit ground! It made me crack up - I was amazed that I was able to catch myself like that! It's reassuring to know I've gotten fit enough for this again.

Overall, I feel great about yesterday - my quads are so sore they might just fall off, but I feel good and healthy, and way less exhausted than I did last week. For how much of a bummer last Sunday proved to be, this week has stepped it up in spades! It's been gratifying to go out to eat and make more appropriate choices (although I did indulge like mad at Buffalo Grill, but hey - free meal! I earned it!). Can't wait to do my weigh-in tomorrow ...

One thing I do wanna do this week is figure out a way to incorporate my new laptop's features into these posts. For instance, something like an occasional video-blog elements to my posts ... but I'm not sure what I'd do for them! Anyone have any suggestions?

Day 23

Today was a damn fun day! I got up early and did two laps across the Big Dam Bridge on my own - listened to my iPod, watched the morning mist burn off of the mountains, all that jazz. Then I did water aerobics, yoga, and a cardio, all in rapid succession; had to clear up my afternoon for my friend Nate's arrival!

It's so damn good to see him - back in Norman, we hung out or at least saw each other briefly almost every day. Now? Three weeks with no more than an IM. It's just wrong. So we got caught up, chilled out, and went for a drive around the city (simply so I could prove to Nate that there was a city, he insists it's all trees with a skinny strip of urbana in the middle ...). We hit Maumelle Park, Pinnacle, downtown Little Rock, and even hit the Big Dam Bridge briefly! So, let the record show, Nate has been duly informed of the existence of the city. Hmph.

Food sitch was pretty straightforward - Clif Mojo for breakfast, turkey sandwich for lunch, and dinner at Chenal! It was so hard to ignore the idea of a cup of poblano pepper soup, but I behaved and just got a sirloin burger patty and fruit. I'm saving my culinary-misbehaving for tomorrow night - Buffalo Grill, my all-time favorite! Can't wait.

Sorry to post so short - today's been a long and fun day, and I'm getting up early to drag Nate's butt up Pinnacle (or maybe he'll be dragging me, it's unclear yet). Til tomorrow, guys!

Day 22

So apparently, my little walk yesterday earned me two fierce blisters, one on each of my middle toes. Ouch. Didn't slow me down, though, and you know why? Because I'm stubborn as hell, that's why!

My workouts were nice today, and oddly enough I did all four without Mom. She usually joins me for at least two, but today she had other stuff that had to get done. It was kinda odd doing everything on my own, but also kinda nice - I missed driving my own self everywhere, and I got to do that all day! I did an 8 am sculpt class (which I am getting much better at, I can do the full sets of squats now and my weight-work is giving my arms some awesome definition!), and then 9 am water aerobics. Then, later on in the day, I did my solo yoga routine and hit CCC for a good hard cardio.

The spread-out schedule meant I got some time off this morning and afternoon! I showered after my workouts and headed downtown to meet Mom and Dad for lunch. Yeah, lunch out - and not as a free meal, but eating properly, even! We went to a little diner called EJ's that's down the street from Dad's office; it was pretty damn good! I had half a tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread and a fruit cup instead of EJ's amazing homemade potato chips (hard choice, but Mom did let me have a couple of hers, so that was alright). It felt good, to be able to go out to lunch and order something I enjoy, yet something that is still in keeping with my new lifestyle.

Then, of course, I got to spend some time at the bank and see some of Dad's colleagues. They were all so glad to see me, and so excited to hear about my future plans and my boot camp success, and they all left me feeling pretty good about myself. I also heard some really cool news: an advertising colleague of Dad's had me edit a campagin proposal battling the construction of a new coal plant in Arkansas. It was a big 50-page chunk of a proposal, but I edited the whole thing as a favor - fixing grammar, cleaning up the occasional rushed paragraph, and got it back to him about two weeks ago. Today, I found out that the coal plant's been denied their application! It's a huge setback - the plans for the plant are not dead, but they're on the way out. And I helped! I feel so professional and helpful!

Highlight of my day, though, was definitely going to Barnes and Noble. I've got a handful of books to read for my category fiction class next semester, but right now I just want some good, reliable junk fiction. So I started browsing the sci-fi section, and it's just me and this other guy looking at the same shelf. He takes a book off and goes, "Hmm, this looks kinda cool ..." ... and it was one of Mel's books! The first book in his Hellgate: London trilogy! It took everything I had not to jump up and down and go, "I know that guy! He's my writing mentor! We BS about sci-fi and Shadowrun all the time!!" Instead, I took a copy for myself and told the guy that he should really check out that author's work. I'm only about a chapter into the book so far, but I love it. This is the kind of fun fiction I needed to unwind at the end of the day.

So I think I may have officially scooted off my plateau. I haven't weighed yet (I'm behaving!), but I definitely feel a change. I'm able to do more in my classes than usual, and I don't look as off-kilter or unfortunate in the mirrored studio anymore. Used to be I couldn't shimmy my hips or my chest without most of the rest of me joining in; now, there's still a little extra ripple in my hips, but it's a huge difference. I can use my core to isolate my hips, or my shoulders, or whatever, and just move what I wanna! I can't wait to get back to Norman and hit Club 101 (although, with my ladies gone, it'd be too skeevy for my tastes there ...)

Tomorrow's gonna be great - some good workouts planned, and my laptop gets shipped, but most importantly, my friend Nate's coming out to LR to chill with me for a few days! I'm so excited, I've really been missing my close friends lately, and it's a huge pick-me-up to know one of them is gonna come kick it with me! I doubt I can convince him to hit water aerobics with me, but climbing Pinnacle? Walking the Big Dam Bridge? Yes we can! ^^