It's *actually* happening!

Something amazing is happening!  My weigh in days are Monday mornings.  But I've noticed this week that my pants are very loose.  So this morning I decided to weigh myself.  I stepped on that scale, counted to 3 and looked down.  *blink blink*  That can't be right.  I stepped back off the scale, waited for it to clear and stepped back on.  You guys, I cried on the scale this morning.  But this was a new experience.  I cried tears of JOY!  I have lost 13lbs!  Today is Day 20, and I'm down 13lbs!!!  

The reason this was so shocking is because I've only had 2 weigh in's so far and at my first weigh in I lost 4.5lbs.  The beginning of this week (the second weigh in) I didn't lose any weight, which was incredibly discouraging.  Granted, there were some things going on that had me incredibly bloated earlier this week, but to drop 8.5lbs in a week?!  That's insane!!!

I called every member of my family.  I couldn't believe it.  I still kind of can't.  I've been grinning like an idiot all day long.  And it's all because I'm doing it.  I'm actually doing it!  I'm not just eating better and exercising, but I'm losing weight!  I realize that's the point of it all, but I honestly didn't have that high of expectations.  If I'm going to be 100% honest, I definitely didn't think I'd still be here at the end of Week 3.  But here I am.  Or should I say, part of me is still back there but here's most of me including the part that makes me "me".

I'll leave you with this picture.  I find it incredibly motivating.  If I keep this up, I'll hit my goal of losing 50lbs in the 90 days.  But heck, even if I "only" lose 40 or 35, I'll still be incredibly happy!

I Almost Died Today

Okay so it wasn't a carrot, it was almonds.  But as I staggered up the walkway to my apartment with tears running down my face, a paste of chewed almonds in my windpipe, making the most horrendous choking/gasping for air/coughing noises, all I could think of was this meme.

And that I'd really like a donut.

Yes.  You read that right.  I was thinking about how I wanted food while I was choking on food.  What can I say, it was a low point!

Today is Day 15.  So far I can honestly say I have been doing pretty good!  I've found it not that difficult to eat 6 meals a day (although it does get in the way of my Sunday naps...I now have to set an alarm to get up and snack), it's also been pretty easy to follow the food guidelines.  What hasn't been easy is the exercise.  I have never been a physical person.  I can remember countless times when I was a kid and after dinner we'd go for a Family Walk.  This wasn't your typical stroll around the block, or even the neighborhood.  We'd go all over the place.  I was constantly trailing behind, sometimes up to half a block, and my family had to regularly stop and wait for me.  So for me to be able to say that I've worked out 6 of the last 8 days is HUGE.  

That said, I don't think I've been pushing myself enough.  The goal is to work out hard enough that you can't carry on a conversation.  I've pretty much been doing the leisurely stroll thing.  I realized at my weigh in today that maybe I need to step it up.  I didn't lose any weight this week.  While I'd like to say "that's cause muscle weighs more than fat", I'm pretty sure it's actually just that I'm not doing enough.  Without testing this theory by taking a stroll and talking to myself to see how out of breath I am, I decided to pump it up a bit today.

Okay.  That's not exactly true.  Today I woke up with a cold of some sort as well as some other things going on that pretty much made me decide I just wasn't going to work out today, I was going to lay around as much as possible.  For reasons I am unsure of (maybe my subconscious is out to get me?), I text my sister-in-law, who also happens to be my coach, that I was failing today.  It was 3pm and I'd only eaten breakfast and half of lunch and I'd not had any of my water yet.  By 3pm I should have already had breakfast, a snack, lunch and another snack, as well as over half of my water for the day.  Her response was simple and frustrating.  "Don't text me again until after you've worked out."

I text this woman multiple times a day.  I am alone the majority of the day and I like to tell people what's going on in my life.  So I tell her.  All the live long day do I tell her!

Luckily for me, I was not at home when this conversation happened.  But I didn't text her again.  And when I got home I decided "to heck with it!", put on my workout clothes (read: pajamas and tennis shoes) and put in Turbo Jams.  

Now...I'd not done this workout before.  I haven't done any real work out in, ohh...maybe 3 years??  But my roommate said I could borrow it and it was "real fun, basically just dancing". My first indication that this was not going to be "real fun, basically just dancing" was that when I put the disc in, a huge warning flashed across the screen--DO NOT DO ANY WORKOUTS WITHOUT DOCTOR CONSENT.  IF YOU FEEL ANY PAIN AT ANY TIME, STOP THE WORKOUT IMMEDIATELY.  DO NOT DO ANYTHING YOU FEEL IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR YOU."  I pretty much just wanted to say "okay" and turn it off.

But I didn't.  I let some lady in a sports bra and painted on pants yell at me about how much "fun" we were having.  And let me tell you...I have NEVER seen anyone dance doing the moves she was doing.  I made it 20 minutes before I found myself just standing there sweating and panting and wanting to lay down and not die.  So I turned it off and did just that.  Layed down, not died!  I'm supposed to workout for 30 minutes a day.  I'm counting it though.  That was the most intense thing I've done in years!  Also--I think I pulled something in my back...

All that to say, what started out as my worst day so far, turned out not so bad.

The Beginning

On an unsuspecting Tuesday morning, I received a text message from my sister-in-law asking if she paid the $25 entrance fee, would I do TerraFit with her.  Without giving it a second thought, I replied, "Sure".  Not even 10 minutes later she text me back that I was all signed up and ready to go.  When I asked what it was exactly, she said to come to this class on Thursday night to learn about it and meet the others on my team.  I started hearing minor alarms going off in my head.  Generally, I think team workout groups are kinda lame and just a way for me to disappoint people.  It was bad enough I already felt obliged to not screw this up because she paid for my entrance fee, but a whole team of people??  Yikes.

Thursday I found myself ridiculously out of breath after climbing all the stairs to where the class was.  I walked in feeling pretty embarrassed at how winded I was.  I sat down and learned about what I'd gotten myself into.  It was kind of confusing at first, points, do this, don't do that, eat "x" amount of this a day and so on.  I left feeling excited, but nervous.  The others on my team were already in far better shape than me.  I was worried I'd disappoint.

The challenge is 90 days, and began on Monday, January 11th.  Last week was the first week, and it was a little rough.  There's a food list you have to go by, and it took me about a week to realize I could actually make meals with the food, not just eat a serving of brown rice and then a serving of carrots.  I had some interesting "meals" the first week.  But now that I'm in the second week (on Day 11!), I find that meals are coming easier.  I'm learning to read labels (sugar is in literally EVERYTHING!  are you kidding me?!), figuring out a good routine for eating 6 meals a day (I still feel like I'm constantly eating), and learning how to actually make meals vs just eating random foods on the list.

My first weigh in found me 4.5lbs lighter.  And I didn't even work out that first week due to the flu (I mean, if I can't take a shower without napping 3 hours afterwards, how the heck am I supposed to workout for 30 minutes?).

So even though I didn't know what I was getting myself into, I am enjoying it.  Which is saying a lot for a Taco Bell frequent flyer!