Keep on keepin' on

The past few weeks have been a bit discouraging for me as progress slowed.  I transitioned to regular food, and with that experience came the need to plan, shop, cook, prepare, package, count calories, carbs and protein.  It takes TIME and DISCIPLINE, things that are not naturally strengths of mine!  Although I have joyfully continued to lose, I have put up puny numbers on the scale the past few weekly weign-ins.  A one pound loss, and then a 1.5 pound loss.  Very discouraging.  I do recognize that it is still positive, and happily have never NOT lost at least a little bit, but I'm impatient!

This week I rejoiced with my sister, Kerri, when she reached a particular weight loss milestone she had been aiming for.  She is an inspiration to me as we travel this parallel journey to health and fitness.  CONGRATULATIONS Kerri!  The first milestone of mine that I managed to accomplish was getting off the 35 pounds I had gained over the past year and a half.  Once those pounds were gone I was back to where I started and making REAL progress!  It was a day of joy and exhilaration when the scale announced my accomplishment!  The next milestone, that seems to be so slow in coming, is to get 50 pounds off.  I shoulda, coulda, woulda hit it a few weeks ago if I had continued on the path I was on, dropping an average of 3.5 pounds a week.  My last three weigh-ins had me down 42 pounds.  Then 43 pounds.  Then 44.5.  COME ON!

Back in the saddle again!

In my determination to hit that 50 pound milestone sooner, rather than later, I am going back to the strict Optifit food for a while.  The fact is that I actually grew to LIKE it, and  I really MISS the convenience.  I don't want to have to think so much about what I am going to eat!  Slipping those packets into my neon lunch bag every day, hitting the road and not giving food another thought, is the best meal plan for success, for me.  When I'm hungry, pull something out and eat it.  When my bag's empty, I'm done for the day.  Idiot proof!  So today, I am back in the Optifit food saddle.  Giddy up!



With Peggy and Heidi at the Keller Williams Open House



Last week my Keller Williams Realty office held a big celebration.  Our annual Vision Breakfast celebrating accomplishments of 2011 and goals for the coming year, and later that day, the Grand Opening of our new office.  There were several agents attending from Spokane, who I met last Summer during our 8 week BOLD coaching sessions. They wouldn't have known that I have been dieting.  Several of them approached me to tell me how good I looked!  It was very gratifying because honestly, when I look in the mirror I don't see much difference.  But I will keep on keepin' on until I achieve my goals, because there is just no reason not to!

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Keep on keepin' on

A modeling makeover, and another AMAZING stroke of good fortune!

It all started last June.  I participated in a 8 week coaching program that pushed us to think boldly and create positive energy.  Among other things.  From there, I boldly decided to audition for the Biggest Loser.  My sister, Kerri, and I made it to the final cut before being rejected by the network execs in the last step.  We like to think it's because we are too well adjusted to provide prime time drama!  Kerri mentioned our experience in her weekly Main Street newspaper column.

The staff at Surgical Bariatrics Northwest read her column and very generously gave us an amazing consolation prize - twelve weeks all expenses paid in their medically supervised Optifit non-surgical weight loss program.  It was an amazing three months of hard work and self-discovery.  I succeeded in losing 42 pounds!

I still have A LOT to lose, but I am well on my way thanks to the wonderful head start I believe I attracted to myself by boldly taking positive action and working hard to maintain a positive mindset. 

After about two months on the program, Marie, the Operating Principal at my real estate office, asked me if I would agree to be a model in the Women's Council of Realtors spring fashion show in April. She thought that since I am working on physically transforming, it might be a good venue for me to show off my progress.  I laughed out loud.  Seriously?  I am short and fat.  I have a touch or arthritis in my knees and a bunion on my foot - I wobble when I walk!  Not exactly the profile of a fashion model!  But then I thought, boldly and positively, that it would be good motivation to stay the course with my fitness goals, so I agreed.

A few weeks later, I came to find out that it is so much more than a fashion show.  I had no idea!  The dozen or so models spend three months working with a certified fashion consultant.  Think of What Not To Wear, Clinton and Stacy!  We will have a facial & make-up makeover, a hair makeover, a session with Linda in our closets going through our clothes.  Learn colors, styles, accessories, all correct for our different body types.  She will shop with us for our show outfits and even make sure we are fitted correctly for new bras!  Geeze Louise! 

I feel like I did when Kerri and I were gifted with the Optifit program - like I have won a certain kind of lottery!  I found out at today's "class" that I need to wear my tops higher to make my short legs look longer.  I actually started to hyperventilate when she hiked up my top to demonstrate to the others.  I have spent decades under the delusion that longer tops helped camouflage my out-of-proportion, pear-shaped bottom half.  It's going to take some mental readjustment.  The class unanimously agreed with her that I looked taller and thinner with a shorter top, or I wouldn't believe it.  I also learned that I'm not 5'4", I'm 5'2.5".  And that I can't touch my hair - cut or color - between now and my makeover, 2+ months from now!  Which means a couple months of bad hair days, with gray sideburns and a skunk stripe down the top of my head.  Uh oh.

I might not have snagged a spot on The Biggest Loser, but I certainly feel like a winner!  I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited, and very grateful for the amazing opportunity to be worked over by a pro. 

P.S.  Just this past week, Patricia in my office took me aside and said she noticed that I am walking so much better.  Not so wobbly.  Forty-two pounds off of my arthritic knees and gimpy foot have made a huge difference!  I should be able to get another 40 pounds off by April and sashay down that runway with a spring in my step!  ◦

A modeling makeover, and another AMAZING stroke of good fortune!

My NEW GOAL - 100 pounds by April 7th!

Based on my average rate of weight loss these past 12 weeks of 3.33 pounds per week, which included four holidays - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years - I am going to commit to giving it everything I've got to lose 60 pounds by April 7th.  I will need to stay on track and get moving more, LOTS MORE, but I believe it's possible.  It will take a 4.61 pound average weekly loss.  Possible, but it will be a real challenge.  Success will mean that...

...I will hit the 100 pound milestone on the day I take to the runway as a fashion model!

I have been recruited to be in the Women's Council of Realtors spring make-over fashion show!  Never, ever, in a million years would I ever have imagined myself agreeing to parade on a runway, as a model.  A short, plump, wobbly model.  But I agreed to the invitation because I believe it will be good motivation to keep me on course - knowing that I will be on a runway as a model with all eyes on me, on April 7th! 

Having lost 40 pounds in the past festive-food-filled 12 week period, I confess to still not exercising like I should.  Exercise has always been my nemesis.  I lost 40 pounds in spite of NOT MOVING!  I did do weight resistance training twice a week in the Optifit fitness center with their awesome staff, for about 8 of those 12 weeks.  I did no aerobics.  My sore knees and feet make even walking around the block difficult.

So I figure, if I go all out, GET MOVING, focus, and give it all I've got, I just might surprise us all and pull it off. 

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high
and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark."  Unknown

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My NEW GOAL - 100 pounds by April 7th!

The results are in!



The beginning, 10/13/2010




After 12 weeks

 Down 40 pounds, 4 inches off my bust, 3 inches off my waist, 4 inches off my hips, 3/4 inch off my neck.

After posting those results on my Facebook wall last night, I got many, many comments of support and encouragement.  The most fun was a comment from my 17 year old son:

"dude mom.......your boobs are shrinking. sounds like any girls worst nightmare." 

Out of the mouths of babes!  I suppose from the perspective of a 17 year old boy that might sound like a girl's worst nightmare.  The real nightmare is carrying around all that extra fat!  I can always find a padded bra....

I am very pleased with the results.  I recognize that had I stayed the course through the holidays, I would have lost more, probably about 8 more pounds or so.  It's an interesting mind process, all of this stuff.  At the times I gave myself permission to eat what wasn't on my meal plan, I thought the trade off was worth it. I was with my family, in celebratory situations, traveling, out of my routine, away from the gym.  Now, I realize it wasn't worth it for the momentary pleasure of eating some yummy stuff.  I will have to practice smacking down my drunk monkey when he puts those thoughts into my head.  The huge success here is that I still made better food choices, still stayed away from the poison of sweets, and still LOST weight. 

I'm looking forward, a little nervously, to the next 12 weeks chapter of my journey, transitioning to real food.  I wonder if I can remember the way to the grocery store?  No doubt Rick and Derek will enjoy having someone in the house cooking once in a while! ◦

The results are in!

Drumroll..... The final results of my 12 week Optifit fitness plan are...

DELAYED!

I was traveling to Colorado the evening of my 11 week weigh-in.  It's the only one I had missed, and I hated to miss it!  I have realized that the weekly accountability, coming face to face with the scale, is really important in keeping me motivated and on track.

Last Wednesday, the 29th, was the scheduled final 12 week weigh-in for Kerri and me.  But the heavy snow storm that blew in caused the Optifit folks to cancel the evening's scheduled appointments and support group meeting.

So this coming Wednesday we will officially have our last weigh-in of our 12 week journey, on week 13!  It will have been THREE WEEKS since I was on the scale after week 10.  Gulp.  Three weeks that I have been traveling, busy, out of my routine and veering off track!  I haven't been in the gym for the past two weeks.  I have eaten off the plan! 

On a positive note, I have NOT eaten any sweets.  None, nada.  And let me tell you, sweets were all around me!  Nor did I eat any hot out of the oven home made rolls dripping with butter, like everyone around me was eating.  But, I ate.  And the problem with that is one thing leads to another, and I ate more.  And again.  But no sugary sweets, pastries, candies, pies, cakes or my mother's famous fudge - which has been singing to me from my kitchen for almost a week now.  No sugar, not one bite.  In spite of my lack of perfection, I can say I have been perfect in that!

So this is my confession.  And my worry for my weigh-in on Wednesday.  Realistically, I probably stopped losing weight a couple weeks ago.  Maybe I am up a little, maybe not. 

It's a new year, a new start!  I'm not sure what my plan will be from here on out, now that we have finished our 12 week Optifit rotation.  Kerri and I will have it figured out soon, we're determined to keep going until we are half the women we were in 2010!  ◦

Drumroll..... The final results of my 12 week Optifit fitness plan are...