In the last year, I have started my own Pampered Chef business...which I LOVE! I first started it to get more money, to get out of debt quicker, to get into a bigger house with better schools for my kids. And while those reasons are still there, I really LOVE getting out and being social. I'm such a social person. I am with kids ALL DAY and for those of you who are as well, you'll understand when I say I LOVE GETTING OUT AT NIGHT! Not only do I get to talk with other adults, relate, have fun, party, share great ideas and tips that can simplify someone's life, I DON'T HAVE TO FEED AND PUT THE KIDS TO BED on the nights that I work. THAT IS HUGE!!! A break from the hardest part of the day is just what I need. I've seen great successes in my new adventure and look forward to many more. I also love the great group of women that I have been able to surround myself with that truly care about me. Thanks Wendi for offering this life-changing opportunity to me. :)
This past school year, I was supposed to change from 6th to 5th grade. I found out a week before school started that I was moving to 4th instead. Luckily procrastination paid off this time. I hadn't even looked at any 5th grade material or unpacked my boxes. I had a great time teaching part-time with my group of teachers: Monica Widdison, Mike Yamashita, and Brent Johnson. My class was fantastic and super small (21 kids for most of the year). This year I'm moving back to 6th grade and I CAN'T WAIT!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the 6th grade team at Freedom Elementary. I'm going to give a shout out to Donna Pancheri, Dave VanEerden, and Jon Wright. WOOT! WOOT! They work together seamlessly and made me feel like I'd been part of their team for a long time. I also love their humor, friendships, field trips, and much, much more! I'm looking forward to a great year...just not ready to go back just yet ;)
Also over the past year, I started a weight loss journey on April 16th in which I weighed 156. I ended up at 126.4 in October last year. A 30 lb. weight loss!!! It felt amazing! I worked extremely hard with eating right, exercising, and in about August, I added weight lifting to my routine. I was on FIRE!!!! I trained for a half marathon with my neighbor and friend Jamie Coleman. She was running one at the end of August which was full by the time I wanted to register, so we signed up for the Halloween Half at Black Island Farms.
In the two months between August and October, I knee-boarded down Chelsie Lawson's cement stairs, which made it so I couldn't wear tennis shoes for 2 weeks, I ran 8 miles, then broke my little toe by stubbing it on Mike's foot in the kitchen and I couldn't wear shoes for another 2 weeks.
It was extremely painful and burned like no other. OUCH!!!
Then I went on a fabulous cruise with my dear friend Reagan for our 30th birthdays...down to Mexico. Then I came back and ran my half marathon 1 week later. I did alright for about 5 miles. Then I started to slow down. By mile 10 I felt like I was going to die. It's a smaller scale marathon so there wasn't enough stations with water and food for me and I didn't know if I was going to make it. Luckily I had Jamie stay with me the whole way, cheering me on, telling me I could do it. I finally finished in 2 hours and 36 minutes. This was my first race ever. Kinda backwards...but whatever. I then ran the Stake Turkey 5K on Thanksgiving. My time was 32:56. My running watch was stolen on this day because I accidentally left it in my van and it wasn't locked because I had no where to put my key. I ended up getting another one before my 10k in March because I'd also signed up for another 1/2 marathon and figured I'd need it. For my 10k, I signed up because I needed a way to push me further than 1 1/2-3 miles. During the winter (which was extremely COLD), I ran at the gym. I HATE running on treadmills and it's hard for me to run very far, so I got lazy. I gave myself a reason to push myself and finished in exactly 1 hour!!! SO proud!!!
I was also able to get a NEW wardrobe in November for working SO hard at losing weight. All of my clothing was baggy and frumpy. I needed cute clothing that could show off my new body that I'd worked so hard for. I spent most of my money at Maurice's, while picking up a few other pieces here and there, but ultimately it was AWESOME!!!! I looked HOT and was SO excited at all my hard work.
So, I had this picture taken first, but wasn't sure if I'm hidden in the black sweater, so I took another.
I changed shirts and this is what I got.
Mike made sure we got a picture of my backside as well. Cooper had to be in the picture with his backside too :)
Normally I wouldn't like to post any of these types of pictures, but DANG! I looked good!
One HOT mama!!
At this time I had started eating clean because I'd hit a brick wall in my weight loss journey and needed change. I was already eating pretty good, but I was needed a way to shed the last bit of fat from my body and research told me this was the best way to do it. I had finally gotten to a great place. I was fit, healthy, happy, felt AMAZING...but was missing one thing. I was what you call skinny fat. I had this layer of fat that was hiding the muscles I was working so hard to define. I had a routine of running 3 days a week and lifting fairly heavy weights 3 days a week and wasn't seeing ANY results. No pound or inch loss. I got extremely frustrated and dove off the fitness train...head first. I ate myself sick. I started eating 3.5 lb bags of Swedish fish in just a few days...now I've switched to full packages of Lemon Oreos in a day (sometimes 2). It's been this huge spiral downward that I can't seem to stop. When we returned from our trip to Canada, I swore I'd start the week after we returned...just enough time to let me polish off the goodies from our trip before I started again. I did great for a week, and then fell of again. I refuse to get my "fat" clothes out again because I figure if I make myself miserable enough in my skinny clothing, then I'll want to lose weight to make them more comfortable. So far...that isn't working. I'm just miserable, want to stay home in my gym clothing because it stretches more...and then I just eat.
Sad thing is...I never really took good before pictures to compare with my transformation. I know I have pictures of me before, but they're on a hard drive that I cannot retrieve. Someday Mike will get them for me.
Here's the worst part...in the past week I've gained 6 pounds!!! I can't believe I've gained that much, especially since I just ran 10 miles last Friday. WHAT THE HECK?!? I don't even feel like I've eaten enough to gain that much, but whatever. I almost cried when I got on the scale this morning...and much to my dismay, I weighed in at 155.8 which is .2 pounds away from my starting weight last April. Goodbye year of hard work and dedication to this transformation. Where I'm sitting now, I feel miserable (literally). My tummy gurgles all the time and feels yucky. I'm lethargic and have no desire to do anything at all. My life feels a million times worse than I did last year. My friends/family, the time has come to make a change.
I am here committing to post at least once weekly about my successes and challenges of going through this journey yet again. I'm hoping that this time, I won't be stupid and throw it all away. I hope to stick with it so I can look and feel amazing.
How is it that I was SO strong before...even in the beginning...yet I'm SO weak now? I need help and input along the way, so please comment with anything that might be helpful. Please don't criticize because I'm an expert at that already :) Below is the reverse before and after pictures. The teal topped pants were my pictures in March after I'd lost all my weight. The purple topped pants are my now pictures since I've gained all of my weight back. This is what I would have looked like April 2012 when all of this began.
Starting weight:155.8
Waist: 33"
Hips: 41.75"
Neck: 13"
Forearm: 9.25"
Wrist: 5.75"
Thighs: 24" each
38% Body Fat
Wish me luck!!!
3 comments:
Good luck Brenda. You can do it again!! Believe that you can and stay positive and you'll get through it. Yay for all your other fun things you've done this year!
Thank you for your words of encouragement! We really need to get together sometime. We live so close...I can't believe we haven't ran into each other.
Brenda,
I tried posting the following perspective to you last week and ran into server/browser problems.Finally got them solved. Don't know if my comments will help nevertheless I wish you love with many good blessings in your journey.
"I'ld say your body is likely talking to you. The binge thing is usually the body saying 'I'm starving for something, something is missing.' You might want to think about what foods you were eating when you had your energy and was loosing wt. Every body is different. I know people who do very well on a vegan diet and others who do well on mostly a vegetarian diet. But I have found I do not do well on either of those. My energies and mental go south when I do the veggie/carb thing. I have found I do best on a high protein/fat intake with lots of nuts, veggies and fruit with a bit of carb on the side. I have been using my intuition over the past several years trying to fine tune my diet so it yields the result of stable weight and good solid energy and mental alertness. I'm getting better at it every year. Just recently I came across a book called 'Intuitive Eating' (check amazon). It has a lot of good things to say. You might find it useful in your journey. Every body is different and needs its own individualized program and you are the best person to figure that out for your body. You'll get there. Just notice the results and listen to your body. It will tell you what works and what doesn't."
Love, Bicki
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