A New week

Yikes! It's been almost a week since I've posted. What's been going on in the life of Candace?

I got in 2 workouts the last part of last week and it felt good. I missed the rest of the weekend and this is why:

Mom got into town on Saturday morning and we went o-u-t. Normally I enjoy my quiet weekends at home and really need the time to refresh from the week. However, we picked up my wonderful nephew and his girlfriend and just hung out for the day. What can I say about Kyle? He's awesome! Plain and simply, I fell in love with him from the moment I laid eyes on him when he was 10 days old and am in love still. I moved away when he was just turning 3 and cried more nights for him and his sister because I missed them terribly. I'd get letters and pictures from him and cry so hard because he was so far away. Anyway, he's all growed up now and an amazing young man in 1st year university. His girlfriend is very sweet and I feel as though I've known her for a long time. It was a great day. After writing this paragraph I realize that I am NOT going to fare well when my girls leave home.

When we got home there was company in the yard. I was truly exhausted and spent Sunday recovering. Monday Mark started a new job and I had to get up and get the girls ready. By Monday evening I was exhausted. I think I'm finally in the game today.

Oh, I went pants shopping at Suzy Shier's on Saturday (before we picked up my nephew) and picked up 2 pair of pants in size 9/10. They fit snug, but not tight and I feel pretty damn good about that.

This is measurement week. I'm waiting until TOM leaves before dragging out the tape. Also, tonight is WI night. I've been mainly maintaining, so am not expecting anything this week. This is week 4 of maintenance. 2 weeks to go, but I won't be able to stay that night as Mark has to be somewhere.

GOALS:

• I'm going to work on abs this month with the PnP gals. I'd like to lose another 1-2 inches in the waist for the end of June.
• I need to take current pics and think I'll post with the Jan comparisons.
• Switch up the 12 lb weights for 15's
• BFI: last week it was 24.4. My current goal is to move to 24 or less
• Focus on food and break the 148 (small steps now). Get to 145 by end of June.

I'm so glad the weather is finally warming up.

Weight Loss and Other Cool Stuff

I made it to weigh-in last night. I'm now 1.8lbs from goal. That's down 2.6 from the last weigh-in 3 weeks ago. Woohoo. So, I have 3 weeks to make 150 - that was the date I set for myself that I was going to just take the number on the scale. Of course, I'll likely wear shorts and a tank top that night even if it's freezing out if I'm not there yet.


Another cool thing is I realized I've been 'tucking' lately, as in my shirts. Not every day, but as in today I'm wearing a jean skirt and a top I had given up for dead long ago - it's form fitting and tucked, baby.


I took a picture of me and my running pardner, Baloo, the other night. Will post once I find the connector cord to the PC (yeah, I thought it would still be plugged into the PC too...)


Oh, and today is a great day for planning your weekend. Do you have any challenges or events scheduled? How are you going to deal with them. I have my menu planned and we'll be scheduling dinners for next week tonight or tomorrow night so I can build my shopping list for the weekend. Tonight is Dance/Yoga class - I'm going to try it out with the sneakers I'm trying out this week.


And, anyone drink protein powder? Have you tried BSN Lean Desert? It's incredible. My favourite is the Banana Nut. This stuff is incredibly delicious. If interested, I also recommend purchasing from bodybuilding.com - they're top notch.


Take care ya'll and have a fabulous Thursday.

Gimme a 1, Gimme a 2, Gimme a 1, 2, 1-2

Can you say Twelve?

I Can!

33 Silver

That's what I'm wearing today. One of the girls at work heard about my plight of needing 'ass-hugging' pants and brought in a pair that are now too big for her - Kudos to Heidi for not needing them anymore ;-) and Mark says thanks a heap for passing them on :0). They're a bit long, so am wearing high chunk heals. They're also low-cut which is gonna take some getting used to, but I swiped one of Mark's belts so they won't fall off, lol. Speaking of which - Marks belt actually fits me! and that is a NSV.

I tried the pants on the other night and could not believe they actually fit. Will need to get a picture up later. The 9yo was behind me and said, "Is that Mommy?" So sweet of her.

Stay tuned next week for comparison photos, measurements and weight as they relate to the 12-week Octoberbest, which officially ends with next Wednesday's weigh-in.

TGIF ya'll.

Flexibility, Balance

In food, I think I have both. I am trying new stuff (spaghetti squash, leeks, eggplant). I am making every attempt to eat a balanced diet daily. I cannot wrap my head around everything that 'balance' includes, but I am trying to eat the GHG's for water, f&v, dairy and oil as well as focus on whole grain foods. This has helped immensely in many areas of my well-being. But...food is not the only area for flexibility and balance.

In body - not flexible. I was never flexible at my most fit. What I'm discovering is that thin does not = fit, and that fit does not = flexible. When I was thin, I remember thinking, "What do these people have where they can sit with legs apart and touch their forhead to the ground???". So embarrassing when a 30-something outdid me when I was only in my early 20s. Even if they are 'round' they can stretch a leg off to the side, holding onto their toe. So, how does one become flexible? Is it a birthright, or a matter of stretching exercises to make those muscles elastic (something I have NEVER really done for any length of time).

So yoga/dance enters the picture. Not only am I not flexible, but I am not very balanced. Both of these activities require these features in order to look, um, graceful. Graceful I ain't. Let's talk balance, because I always thought I had balance. Scarlett walks upright with head held high - turn off the lights and she's banging into things all over. In dance, we were asked to do a releve (rel-eh-vay). This is to stand on your toes - both feet (there is another where you have to stand on just 1 called a passe releve). Not so bad, but what about after doing other footwork. I was the first to fall over - it would have been sooner had I not been wearing my new walking shoes. OK, then in yoga there are a number of balancing moves - balance the core, she says. Um, I don't know about this sitting and holding my feet, with my hands, up in the air thing. Don't roll back, she says. Oh, Barbie, you have competition on the balance thing!

Something else struck me last night. I know this will sound odd (or maybe self-degrading, since I've come from more than overweight), I am taking this class for fun, but also for exercise. The instructors are great, but...I know, never qualify a compliment with a but, but...they are both overweight. This was part of the attraction of dance. You didn't have to be fit in order to participate, but it struck me last night that I was spending 2 hours of my week (drive-time included) to participate in activities that were not geared to weight loss. I've thought about this and concluded that thin does not = fit and fit does not = thin. I've concluded that even overweight instructors can offer me something, but that I need to do more. I need to step it up a notch. They exercise as part of their work day, but I don't know their diet. I do not know if they work out any other areas. I DO know that yoga, in and of itself, is insufficient to burn fat and that dance, while cardio enters the picture, is also insufficient for healthy body weight or to build muscle.

Here's something, too, diet is insufficient to obtain the body I want. Maybe that's why I've been struggling with the 'exercise' component all summer. Why do I want to be fit AND toned? Wednesday evening we were asked to close our eyes and picture what we wanted from this journey. I couldn't do that. There's no media image I strive for. And I never had the lust for life at any weight because of my weight. All I could picture was a word, "Energy". That word, and all that it encompasses is what I want. What it encompasses for me will change as time goes on, but I do know that the "Energy" I have now compared to a few short months ago is 10-fold. I know that I am healthier now (because of the food I put in my body) than I was the last time I was at this weight.

OK, quick NSV. A girl here at work (I've written about her before) has lost some weight. Yay her, but unfortunately it was brought on due to stress. She's so sweet though. Today she told me that my 'new' jeans didn't suit me and I needed to go with her and she'd let me use her 'discount' at her 2nd job (adds to stress, right) to buy a new pair of 14s that looked good. I protested, saying that I wasn't going to be a 14 for long and I'd buy 12s when the time came. OK, here's her response, and the NSV: "All the hard work you're doing and no one can see it. Come with me and buy 12s too for when you get there."

Outa here, Cheers

Swimmin' Barbie

Hey, 2 posts in 1 day - whatup widdat?

I just wanted to share something that I had mentioned quite a while ago that had been a mini-goal, but when it happened it was like, no biggie.

So what's the deal? When I was packing for vacation, I couldn't find the shorts to my 3-piece bathing suite http://journeytothin-candace.blogspot.com/2007/07/challenge-prep-and-bathing-suits.html

I figured that since I wouldn't be 'around home' that I would just go with it. Well, after vacation I just kept going with it. I did wear the shorts once, and it's nice that they hide my mid-drift - although the top is long enough that when I stand it meets the bottoms. However, the shorts are starting to look quite 'skirty'. I mean, the elastic is not expanding quite so far and this creates a fair bit of creases (?)/material creating more of the skirty look that I'm not as crazy about. So, the shorts took a heave-ho and I'm down to a 2-piece. Yeah!

Since we plan to continue our swimming at the local indoor pool, I will let you know when the top needs an upgrade. The 'boobie' shrinkage has left the top as my next replacement, but I will need to wait for a while on this one as it still has decent support - just nothing flattering anymore.

Another NSV!

So I figured if those white pants fit, some other stuff I had boughten around that time would also fit, so I started digging through the bucket of saved favs and picked something out. When I got to work 2 of the girls asked me to turn around and were commenting that they could tell I've lost. This is Candace, wearing clothes that aren't too big:), signing off.

Good Choices and NSVs!

NSV #1: Made healthy choices while camping. OK, for the 2-day camping trip, I planned the menu, went shopping, packed the right stuff and then lost the menu. But that's OK. We didn't eat as scheduled, I didn't journal as the day progressed, but I had healthy choices. When I wanted to snack, I had apples, carrots and other stuff. When we Barbecued I had my 5pt burger.

We stopped at a friends on the way out and I had a 4pt homemade beer (he's on WW, too) and a 2pt homemade wine. I think I worked some of that off by helping hubby put some plants in the garden (our friend is legally blind and couldn't get them in himself). We kinda skipped lunch so we all got hungry and were starved by the time we hit the camp site. Thank goodness I had cooked a chicken before heading out. I was really hungry in the middle of the night and grabbed the first granola bar I've eaten since starting WW - I figured it was better than being hungry. I also ate half a smore and a couple extra pieces of chocolate - could've gotten out of hand, but didn't.

Sunday went well. I did indulge in some BBQ taters with canned gravy. Everyone really enjoyed my 1pt Brownies (hehe, didn't tell them they were healthy). A lot of people were drinking, but that just made me more determined not to drink as I wanted to keep an eye on the kids. I know I didn't hit all of my GHGs except for water, but I'm not going to focus on that. Tuesday is a new day. I can really feel the affects of my good choices, too. I was able to go to the pool, let the kids play and not get worn out just following the little one around. Also, the mad dash to the outhouse Monday morning with the little one in my arms hurt my bare feet rather than my legs or lungs. All good signs.

NSV #2: OK, so we got home and I tried on, like I've done periodically the past few weeks, a pair of white pants I bought 2 years ago. I couldn't wear them last year and, up to last week couldn't button them up. THEY FIT! They fit again! When I sit the button holes stretch a bit, but that's OK. They button up and they FIT! This makes me soooo happy! I'm gonna wear them to work tomorrow.

Cheers, Candace