I'm Versatile & I've Got The Award To Prove It

What is The Versatile Blogger?
1.) Capable of doing many things competently.
2.) Having varied uses or serving many functions
3.) Variable or inconstant; changeable: a versatile temperament.
4.) Capable of moving freely in all directions

As for the rules, they are...
1.) Thank the person who gave you the award.
2.) Share seven things about yourself.
3.) Nominate 5 newly discovered blogs.
4.) Let your nominees know about their award.
 
1. Thank the person who gave you the award
Thank you Heavy Man for this award.  I love your blog because you tell the whole story and not just the good stuff.  The pictures of the scale for your weigh ins is an idea I am going to steal.

2. Share seven things about yourself
1. I am a Systems Analyst for the Human Resources department at my company.
2. I can't whistle.  I can fake it a bit, but I can't just put my lips together and blow.
3. I began exercising after Hurricane Ike when there was limited bus service and I had to walk.
4. I will never watch another version of Pride and Prejudice.  Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy.  End of story.
5. I think Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys) should fire Wade Phillips and rehire Jimmy Johnson.
6. I am a science fiction geek.
7. I am afraid of roller coasters.
 
3. Nominate 5 newly discovered blogs

I had this sucker written two days ago but I cannot for the life of me find new blogs I like that haven't recently been tagged with this award.  And I have found some fantastic new reads in the past few weeks.  So I am going to be a rebel and not tag anyone.  If you want to award yourself AND have commented on my blog in the past 2 weeks then you are thereby dubbed a Versatile Blogger by me.

I love blogging.  No matter where we are in this world we can log on and find support from those that have shared experiences and struggles.  I learn so much from all of the sites I follow and know there are many more I have yet to find.

I'm Just Not That Brave: Not Exposed

Wow! 

I can post progress pictures (clothes on) for all of the world to see but that is the limit of my bravery.

These ladies (and a few men) are taking it off and getting Exposed.

That is on a whole other level.

I am about a year and a total body lift away from being able to do such a thing.

Progress Pictures: Before The Journey & Today

I thought you all might like to see a few pre-weight loss journey pictures vs. today.  I've always found others' progress pictures to be an extraordinary motivator.

All it takes to get results are making small changes and perseverance on step at a time.

If I can do this, then ANYONE can.

WSR: Weight 254.8 - Weight Left To Lose 84.8

Height: 5'7"
Age: 42

Starting Weight: 370.0 lbs
Goal Weight: 170.0 lbs

Current Weight: 254.8 lbs
Pounds Lost: 115.2 lbs
Pounds Left To Lose: 84.8 lbs

Percent Of Weight Lost: 31.14%
Percent Of Way To Goal: 57.60%

Starting BMI: 57.9
Current BMI: 39.9
BMI Lost:18.0

I have had a an absolutely fantastic week.  I am down 3.2 pounds, I exercised 5 days (3 of which involved strength training) and I stayed on plan with the diet.  The only thing I didn't do exactly spot on was drink my water.  Guess what this week's goal is?

The thing I am most proud of in this go round of my diet war is that the 22.2 pounds that I have lost in the last 6 weeks is real weight loss earned through hard work and not shortcuts.  I didn't eat less.  I ate more.  I didn't do the minimum amount of exercise.  I pushed myself harder.  I tried new things outside of my comfort zone.  This sense of pride I feel is really rooted in the fact that I am working on making real changes vs. pulling tricks to make the scale show me a lower number.

Faster does not always equal better.  I know that in the past I have robbed myself in so many ways by not fully understanding that my body needs adequate nutrition.  Eating nothing but yogurt, oatmeal and fruit for a week is not the way to go.  I've done that.  I've also gained the weight I *lost* back in no time when my menu expanded beyond the few foods I was allowing it in the short term.  That lesson has definitely been learned.

This week I want to do exactly the same thing as I did last week:  eat right, exercise, and drink enough water.

Onward and downward y'all!

Being Substantive

Twix honored me with this award.

5 words to describe my blog:

personal
painfully honest (2 word description)
welcoming
evolving

And something about my life that I would change if I could:
I would have gone to college after high school.


Ten things you may or may not know about me in no certain order.

1. I cannot stand dawdlers in grocery stores.  Seriously, just go home until you figure out what you want and get out of my way.  You are slowing me down.

2. I am amazingly competitive about learning.  I think it has to do with the years of morbid obesity and thinking that if I weren't going to be thin that I was always going to be the smartest/most informed person in the room.

3. I spend nearly every Saturday at home watching HGTV.  I love all of the design shows except for Antonio's.  His season of Design Star must have really sucked if he was the winner.  Sarah's House is my favorite.  Tommy is HIlarious.

4. I read the Twilight books.  Their tag on my GoodReads account is oh-the-shame.  They are very badly written.  I only picked one up because I was peer pressured into it.  I like real books thank you very much.  The lead character is a dishrag whose only self-esteem comes from having the dreamy vampire love her.  Oh yeah, that is a role model for young girls.  :eyeroll:  But Edward?  He is the reason I read that crap.  The Cullens and their vampy friends have a much better story than Bella.  I was rooting for Victoria.  Bella is the Kim Bauer of Twilight.   Just sayin'.

5. The get-my ass-in-gear track on my iPod playlist is the Tempus Fugit Mix by Bananarama.  All their best hits condensed into one really long, rocking track.  I Heard A Rumor...they say you got a broken heart...

6. I am going to have to see Mission Impossible 4.  I am not a Tom Cruise fan.  For the record I would like it known that I was not a fan pre-Scientology freakfest Tom.  I didn't like him when I was  in high shool after he broke out in Risky Business.  The reason I am going to see it?  Josh Holloway (Sawyer from LOST) is going to be in it.  Now THAT is a  man that needs to be a big damn movie star.  He could give me a nickname any time.

7. My favorite shoes are my gray Chuck Taylor Converse's.  They are super comfy.  I love Friday when I can wear jeans to work because I get to wear my Chuck's all day long.

8. I don't drive.  I don't even have a driver's license.  I usually live very close to work and either walk or take the bus.  I currently live a block away from where I work.  It is incredible not to feel the stress of a daily commute.

9. The Amazing Race is my favorite reality show.  I want to try out once I get below 200 pounds.  That said, the one that I lose tons of time over is Big Brother.  I get the live feeds and join in at Survivor Sucks all season long.  It is usually the same group of people that you see every summer over there.  But this last season blew serious chunks.  It was boring as hell on the feeds and I actually had a life for once.

10. I LOVE coffee.  I don't mean Starbucks pour a ton of fat and sugar in a
cup and call it coffee, coffee.  I mean fresh roasted by people who live for coffee, coffee.  Find a great coffee house with a great roaster and stick to it.  There is no going back to mass produced crap once you have had the good stuff.  Trust me.


The people I have chosen to tag are:

1. Erin
2. Shanilie
3. Hadley
4. Ang

Ok tagees, it's your turn.
Answer the questions above, describe your blog in 5 words, and tag 4 more.

Attitude Is Everything

So here's the deal ...

6 weeks ago I was getting fatter by the day, sad as all get out about someone that made me insanely crazy (seriously, seriously crazy) and feeling as if my world was caving in from pretty much every direction.

Today I am 20 pounds lighter, happier than I've been in a long time and that crazy-inducing person and I are getting along fine now (friendly even) and things are looking way up on all fronts.

Do you want to know what made the difference in those 6 weeks?

I changed my attitude. 

I felt like crap.  I looked like crap.  But I wasn't going to let my general crappy malaise deter me.

So I came home on a Friday night, had one last burrito bowl/chips & guac from Chipotle, threw out all of the food in my kitchen that wasn't diet worthy and dug out my tennis shoes.  Then I started all over the next day.  I woke up on Saturday with no willpower, but determined to get my diet and my life back on track.  It was slow going at first, but I had a plan and I stuck to it for one meal, then two, then three and what do you know it is Sunday (I made it through an entire day successfully).  As I had one successful day after the other my confidence grew that I could get the diet train back on the rails and one day became one week, one week became one month and so on.  Now I am 6 weeks down the road and I feel great!

It is all in how you look at things. 

Change your Attitude.
Change Your World.

I did.

I Wanna Do Yoga!

Surprisingly I think I just became a fan of yoga.

The cool down session of Biggest Loser Cardio Max is all yoga and I feel great!

I am not the most graceful of people.  This isn't about being overweight.  This is just me.  I am a klutz with a capital K.  My shadow is always plotting to make me trip over it.  So I didn't think I would be any good at yoga.  It seems to be all about grace and form.  But I did it and I think I may have even done it well.

So now I am going to put my geek cap on.  Okay, it is always on because I am a massive geek on a great many levels but right now I am going to direct my geekdom at learning about yoga.

Today's Surreality

On my way in to work today, as I passed by the counter of one of the businesses in the lowest level of the building in which I work, I was stopped by the owner.  He complimented me on my weight loss and then he asked me how I was doing it.  He said that he wanted to shed some weight himself and then he told me that he didn't eat dinner last night.  I told him that was the worst thing he could do because the weight always come back that way.  He needed to eat leaner meats, watch his sugar and get some exercise.  I advised him to start walking.  It is free and it is easy and nearly everyone can do it barring some serious condition.  He thanked me and I went on my way.

I get these kinds of inquiries all the time now.  It really is surreal to think that I am that someone that other people think to ask for advice.  They look to ME for motivation.  They think I know what I am doing.  It feels good.  I know that I've done the work to get to this point, but I always have the thought wiggling around in the back of my mind "how did this happen?"

Before I finally found whatever it is that I needed to do this I would read blogs such as PastaQueen and DietGirl and marvel at their success.  It seemed unreal to me that this was possible - breaking free of the prison that is morbid obesity.  The woman inside of me was trapped and screaming to get out.  The shell I existed in was not me.  It was a hideous enclosure that hid the real me from the world.

This isn't to say that I am not grateful for the miraculous changes that have occurred.  I am just having a really hard time making an adjustment to them.  This new reality is still blindingly bright and quite surreal.

WSR: Weight 258.0 - Weight Left To Lose 88.0

Height: 5'7"
Age: 42

Starting Weight: 370.0 lbs
Goal Weight: 170.0 lbs

Current Weight: 258.0 lbs
Pounds Lost: 112.0 lbs
Pounds Left To Lose: 88.0 lbs

Percent Of Weight Lost: 30.27%
Percent Of Way To Goal: 56.00%

Starting BMI: 57.9
Current BMI: 40.4
BMI Lost:17.5

It makes me want to cry a little to be making this post over a year after my last weekly stats report and to have gone back up the scale to cover ground I had already covered.  Then I remember that I have lost 19 pounds since August 27th.  I remember that I am not attempting to starve myself by eating too few calories in order to see a lower number on the scale.  I am no longer counting points as if my life depended on it.  I am now using points only to make the decision about whether or not I am going to buy something and bring it home.  Then I feel pretty freaking proud.

I have had a hard week.  I was eating WAY too little protein/iron during that special time of the month and it made me sick.  I mean it knocked me on my ass.  I didn't go to work for 2 days.  If you knew me, you would know that is highly illogical.  I only take vacation because they make me.  So I have to up the protein for at least a week starting 3 days prior to the arrival.  I have to eat actual meat vs. only veggie products (which I am completely in love with).  This is the reality.  I am no longer allowing the calendar to drive my weight loss goals.  It is insane to put that much pressure on myself when I am already tacking the absolute toughest thing I have ever had to do - taking off 200 pounds worth of soul killing fat.  So I am going to take care of myself and eat what I need to eat.

All of that said, I am down 2 pounds in a week that I saw only 2 workouts.  I will take that and smile.

Onward and downward!

I'm In KettleHell

I just did Jillian Michael's Shred It with Weights for the first time using my brand new kettlebell.

It was hard.  It was really, really hard.  I only did about half of the DVD.  The rest of the time I was shouting "OMG, Jillian you are killing me"!  I am so glad that she wasn't there to get in my face because I would have needed a bucket.

I am soft and squishy.  I have hips that get in the way of all of the swinging and the twisting but it was a great workout.  I can feel the effects of it in my arms already.  I am going to keep doing it and work up to actually finishing Level 1.  I've done the 30 Day Shred, but this one is so much more awesome.  The kettlebell makes all the difference.  You've got to try it.  You'll hate it, but you will also love it.