Sisters

I'm living in land o' boxes right now since we are moving in just a few days. I just wanted to share this pic I put together. I had this great picture of my sister and I from a while ago, and she said, "Hey, we should do a new picture now that I have my braces off!" So at my little cousin's wedding, I took a new picture of us. I thought my face looked a bit chubby in the old pic, but wow,  I can really see a change in my face with about a 20 lb weight loss. :)

Ain't my sister purty? I am so lucky to have such a great sister! We didn't always get along when we were teenagers (we're only 11 months apart), but she's one of my best friends and a lot of fun to be with. Love ya sis!

Wish me luck with the big move! Next blog will be from my beautiful new house!

Insanity anyone?

I don't get weight loss. Really. I have "lost" 2.6 lbs in the last four days. WTF??  Not to say that this is REAL weight loss or whatever, but it seems to me like my body really REALLY likes to be around 169 lbs. I have been eating better this week, and I had one nice long workout with trainer-gal...but not much else.

Oh well, we shall see what next week brings, I suppose!

Today I went to a conference for English teachers on my professional development day, and I met a P.E. teacher who has his girls' fitness class doing this workout I'd never heard of. Any of y'all heard of the PX90 peeps workout called "Insanity"? Weeel it certainly seems to live up to its name! This thing appears to make Jillian's Shred look like a day at the beach.  The P.E. dude said it kills even really fit people, but it's an excellent workout...very intense. Sounds interesting, I say! Of course it costs like 140 bucks for a 60 day program. Eeep.  So Ima thinkin' that this could be an excellent x-mas present. If not I may be able to convince hubby we should buy it and do it together...maybe. Seems to me this might give me the motivation to get my ass working out regularly again, and get me into wicked shape.

Anyway, here's the site..check it out if you dare...mwhahahahaha!

Here are some pics from the last couple weekends:

The most fabulous Chrystie and moi- and yes I'm holding her hand.

Get a gal on my couch, and look out!

Makin' faces.

My turn. Now, that's lovely.

Playing with false eyelashes and wig for my superawesomefantastic Halloween costume

 Hmm maybe this look is better?

The gorgeous Lara the night we hit the town and let loose a bit.

Nothin says classy like drinking a wine spritzer from a straw!

Lara's a classy bitch too!

I'm diggin' my shorter hair, thanks Chrystie! 

(yes, shorter- it was a few inches longer before)

Love this girl!

Flipping off lame men in general (and one particular lame man in specific!)

I like how I BEND into it. Serious flippage here. 

Just wanted to leave you with an older pic. This was...hmm...May/June of 2009 I believe. 

I had been doing this for about a month or two. I've come a lonnng way baby!

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Reality Bites

Somewhere things changed. Maybe it was after I finally completed my 10k in July and said, "Fuck this running thing," and just half-assed running for the next two months before quitting entirely. Maybe it was after Mexico when I stopped saying "no" to myself again. My "no" muscles are weak now...very weak. I truly believe the more you resist, the more you say no to the unhealthy foods, the easier it gets. Last year I kicked ass at saying no. Junk food, baked goods, chocolate- barely a bite slipped passed my lips. Now? It's all in baby. Not to say I have reverted to my old binging ways and eating giant bowls of ice-cream and bags of cookies. But I am just not saying no.

And guess what? The scale is finally reflecting it.

I seemed to do no wrong in the eyes of the scale gods by slacking off in the exercise department. Then the food ante was upped a bit, and in the last week the scale has responded in kind. Can't really blame it, now can I? Hells no.

So I an now 172.6...which is about 3 lbs up from where I was hovering for the last few months. I would dip down to 167, then up to 169, but never did I pop over 170. Until now.

Fuck.

This is what I have been dreading. I KNOW I have more flab on me, but body composition- less lean muscle, more fat- has kept the scale level for me. Not any more though. Time to get my head out of fairy-tale land where I can eat crap and sit on the couch and not gain weight. This shit just got real.

So what does that mean? Well, mostly it means I have to move more and eat less. Huh, that sounds strangely familiar.

Doing this now before another 2 or 3 or 10 lbs creeps up is key. I could easily wait and stay a lazy ass until I can't fit into my nice, new, small clothes anymore. Been there. Done that. Bought the XXL t-shirt. I can tell myself right now that I still fit into my 29 inch waist jeans (they are low-rise, so yeah, they fit, but I don't have a 29-inch waist by any means!), and my size 8 blazer and size medium tops. Sure, right now. But gimme a few more weeks at this rate, and I will be muffin topping my way out of those clothes. Of this I have zero doubt.

I will have to fight off the hunger demons that now plague me (as they did at the beginning of my journey). Maybe I should hook up with those endless bags of carrots again. Hmm.

K, back to working out regularly and saying NO, HELL NO, FUCK OFF NO to all the sugary and fatty crap that comes my way.

Sporadic is better than never!

Hey peeps! I am here, alive and kicking. The whole house buying saga is coming to an end, and I am SO excited to say we are moving in TWO WEEKS! I am still in shock that we are going to live in such a big, beautiful house. Thanks for all your lovely comments about it!

I have worked out with my trainer girl a few times now, and things are definitely more intense. She is getting me to do 30 seconds of jump rope after each arm or leg exercise. Basically we are doing every muscle from shoulder to calf and then repeating it 3 times. At the end of it, my face was red and I was sweating like a p-i-g. I am definitely not in the same shape I was in June. Sadly, I haven't been running much at all. It got hard! I know, whiny baby, my own fault. Just slacked off and lost my running mojo. I did find a couch to 10k program I could try...but I am worried about when I can run when it gets dark so early. In the winter it's pretty much getting dark when I am done work. I suppose I could use the treadmill at work. Maybe to 1/2 outside until it's too dark, then come in and finish on the treadmill? Hmmm.

I am in a bit of a world of stress with work and house stuff...but when I come through in Nov, I am definitely going to amp things up!

Did I tell y'all what my Halloween costume is this year? Some of you will maybe remember my witchy woman costume...which I have beaten to death over the last four years. This year, I have decided to change things up a bit. I enlisted my mom and her sewing skillz to fashion me into a genuine Disney princess....Snow White. I'm oddly excited to wear this costume! I will take some pics for ya for sure.

Speaking of pictures.... 'cause there are just NOT enough pictures of me on this blog, here's one more. :)

Ahh sepia...what fun to look all antique-y ;)