Comparison Pics

Well since it is another school year, that means another picture (please ignore the little heads). Hopefully you can tell that the first picture is from August 2008, I had lost about 13 pounds and was exercising (no real calorie counting at that point). I was so proud of that picture.

Picture number two was taken Friday, so it is my August 2009 pic. I have lost 92.1 pounds (maybe a pound more if I go by the old scale - man, I need to quit that) with serious amounts of exercise and calorie counting.

What a difference a year can make! Have a great week!!

Transition Can Be Tough

Well it is Friday of the first week of school. I have almost made it. It has been crazy!! But I have worked out everyday. Which, if you ask any teacher, they will tell you is tough the first week of school. Always so much to do.

Being that it is Friday, it is also weigh-in day. The transition issue for me is that I bought a fancy new scale. I thought my old one (being about 8 years old) was telling me lies. The fancy scale does body fat, BMI, water and muscle. It also weighs to .2 pounds. Today I weighed on both to get a gage of the transition. Turns out, I like the old scale better today.

Old scale weighed me at 195 which would be a 2.5 pound loss (which I need after the month I have had). New scale says 196.4. I am putting new scale weight on my ticker because I have plans to smash the old scale just for fun. But just so you know in my head (and for my ego) I am telling myself I lost 2.5 pounds this week.

I am also getting excited that the new season of Biggest Loser starts in about 2 weeks. September 15th. I saw on their website that Daniel will be on it again. If you watched last season, he was their biggest contestant ever and he was about 19 years old. That ought to be fun to watch. Those folks are so motivating (and entertaining). Just putting it out there for you because I will be setting my tivo for Tuesday nights.

Hope you all had a great week. May you be a biggest loser!!

Funny Day

Well friends, it was the start of a new school year here in Texas. This is my first year at this school and the routines are .....different which puts me out of my comfort zone but I will get it back I am sure.

We seemed to do well, lots of kids still registering and being moved around classes so I will be on my toes a few more days. Not much surprises me anymore. I have met many different families in my career, however, today I did find myself staring.

One mom brought her daughter (along with her other 4 kids under the age of 6) and I kept trying not to stare at her shirt. It was hard, seeing how it was cut open across the midsection and a boob in a red bra was sticking out (and she was not a small woman). But then I found myself staring at her litter of children. People, I ask you, why?

Then this daughter cried. Really loud and ran out of the room. I had to grab her and bring her in and calm her down. Really? In 1st grade? She has been going to school for 2 years already. This is why I stopped teaching kindergarten.

The good news is, when mom picked her up she had changed her shirt. The shirt still wasn't lovely but at least it was G rated.

When I dragged myself out of work, I made myself go to the gym. As I walked in the girls at the counter said "we read your success story and it is on our website now." How funny. Not that you are not intimately familiar with my story, but if you want to see it, following is the web page for viewing. http://www.ladyofamerica.com/Mansfield/testimonials.asp

Finally I get home and start reading some of your posts and they are making me laugh out loud. I am totally exhausted and need to plan for tomorrow (but I procrastinate). I just have to say it has been a funny day. Sometimes you need that.

Hope you all have a funny day too.

Blogger Love

I know you all have seen the lovely blog award. It has really been making it's rounds. I will tell you my favorite blogs in a moment. First I must address the fact that I was awarded the Honest Scrap award weeks ago by Crystal at Mi Vida Loca. I am very flattered that anyone would even read a blog filled with my selfish, random thoughts. Now to be awarded for it? Hotdog! Well I am supposed to tell you ten honest (and interesting) things about me. If you have heard them before, I am sorry.

1. I have never felt bad about myself or hated myself, especially just for being obese. I have always been a good person and compared to the rest of the world, being obese seemed like a small flaw.
2. I can forgive, but I NEVER, EVER forget. Anything you have done to wrong me, lingers in my mind whenever I see you.
3. I love the water. So much so that if I die by drowning I will be extremely pissed in my afterlife (where ever that may be).
4. I think I was born to be a mom. I love kids and love to teach but the more I am around kids, the longer I can wait to be a mom.
5. I like to watch depressing shows (i.e. Intervention on A&E or 16 and Pregnant on MTV) because they make me feel better about my own life.
6. I make really good pico de gallo. It is just an awesome food that I can eat on pretty much anything. I order it in restaraunts to eat on baked potatoes.
7. I have never twittered and I rarely go on Facebook because I think the news feed is retarded. I could careless if your kid took a crap 2 hours ago and you are now folding laundry or that you sent some imaginary pixie to bomb Japan in some stupid, fake game you are obsessed with.
8. I have mad interpersonal skills. The thing I can do best is interview. Weird, huh?
9. I am TOTALLY freaked out by anyone who wants to be a clown. I think they are just perverts that dress up to get close and molest children. It is not logical, but I stick by my theory. And no, you cannot change my mind.
10. I do not feel any older now than I did 10 years ago when I was 21. I just feel like everyone around me is getting younger.

I think I am very negative sounding in my head but really I am pretty pleasant to be around (at least I think so). On to better things, your blogs.

I have to tell you, I love blogs. You can say whatever you want. And then I get to read it. AWESOME. It's like looking into someone's windows when you are walking your dogs late at night because they left the lights on and shades open and I get to see what you are doing (not that I have ever done that and enjoyed it or anything). That said, I am disappointed in some bloggers. Don't worry, not you. Some that got too big of a following or too many book deals and changed who they are and now their thoughts (or at least the posts on their blogs) are crap. Some people who I found totally inspirational were all like I have this beat, I quit. I felt abandoned. All of these blogs I am referring to are on my blog roll on the side, mixed in with yours.

I enjoy reading all of your blogs. It is so hard to pick a few but I would like you to check them out if you haven't already. These people are so inspirational, honest and best of all, entertaining. I am not going to mention Jack Sh*t because my guess is EVERYONE knows who he is, but I do love it. So here we go friends:

1. TJ's Test Kitchen- awesome inspiration and the girl has mad cooking skills and takes lots of pics!!
2. Confessions of a +Sized Girl - honest, hard working and super cute. She is like that friend you have that is always there for you, no matter how bad a day either of you have had.
3. Halving Hadley - this girl is super intelligent. I love her graphs and percentages and honest account of life. I just wished she would cut herself some slack and not OVER analyze her bad days.
4. Not Just Celery - this girl is total inspiration. With nothing but hard work and determination, she has dropped over 100 pounds. She is now an athlete!
5. Watch My Butt Shrink - she is a trained writer so her blog is excellent but it is her positive attitude and wit that keep me coming back.
6. Fit to the Finish - never has a bad thing to say. Conquered obesity and helps others now. Her story is amazing and brutally honest and has some of the best before and after pics I have ever seen.
7. Diamond Motivation - a newer blog but FULL of energy and motivation. Always a fun read.
8. Shedding My Fat Suit - does not post as often as I would like to read but when she does it is heart felt. Her blog is so relatable. Just read, you will see. I think she is someone who always has a big hug for you.
9. Bigger Than My Body - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her. I feel we are kindred spirits. And I totally laugh out loud when reading her posts. She can be very deep and meaningful - maybe I will learn something.
10. Infatuation - Darling, darling girl overseas. Our lives are so different and yet so similar. Incredibly honest and funny - I know she will have HUGE weight loss excess as her journey continues.

If I have given you a blog award before, I tried to spread them around this time because there are so many great ones. I am not telling these folks that I am giving them an award, they will have to discover by reading. Thanks for all your positive thoughts on the new school year. I love you all. Best support system ever!!

They're Back.....

Not the pounds, thank God!!! It's the evil, crappy lady troubles. I am in horrific, crippling pain. My drugs need to kick in. I feel like I have this problem more than once a month.

Today is weigh-in day. I make myself do it even when I know it is not going to be pretty. Just to recap it has been a LONG, tough week. Working at school, lots of meetings. I had to eat out lunch everyday. I did pretty good with choices (even though it was still more calories than I wanted to spend) with the exception of the day my team wanted to eat at Taco Bueno. It is delicious food but NOTHING there is healthy. So one bad meal and the day I had a small slice of cake. I could have easily turned this down but it was my first day with my new team and it was someone's birthday and I did not want to be rude. I only ate half. I have worked out EVERYDAY. Like I said, if I can make it through this month and get into a routine I think I will settle back into losing about 1 pound per week.

I was just thinking to myself this morning......God let this pain stop so I can walk and please do not let me go back up over 200 this week. I stepped on the scale and 197.5 came up (multiple times) which means no change. I will GLADLY take that. Not only because of the week I had but also because this is the first time in months I had lady troubles and did not go up a pound.

I will power through like always. The funny thing is that I feel so bloated and fat but other people do not see it that way. You know the presentation I had to give? I saw lots of people I have not seen since June. I was told more times Wednesday that I was beautiful than I have heard in my entire life. People can be so sweet. I know that my exercise has really changed my body (and face) even if the scale has not moved much lately. This is partially how I know that exercise is the key for me.

I have to get going to work but I want you all to know I have been reading your blogs. I am humbled by the awards that have been graciously bestowed upon me this last month. I am not ignoring them, I just need to work on that post this weekend. So THANK YOU to all of you for your continued support and kind thoughts. I could not have come this far without your support!!

Don't Stop Believin'

Do you ever feel like God (or some higher power) is trying to send you a message?

I do. Especially the last two weeks. I really started to question my decision to take on this entire weight loss project myself (sans trainer). Would I be able to do it? Will I still make progress in the right areas? What if this is as far as I get? What if I gain some weight back?

Then I heard it. A line from the song by Journey - Don't Stop Believin'

I have heard it everyday. Usually I turn on the radio and it is right at that part of the chorus. Different stations. One day I turned on the tv and it was playing a rerun of the series finale of the Sopranos. You know, where they are in the diner and that song is playing and then it cuts to black? I think this is my message. I think this because I do not remember hearing this song very often before last week. Now - everyday. So I bought it on iTunes and decided to play it for inspiration. Why not?

That said, this week is rough. I have to give a presentation tomorrow. We teachers are working like dogs and then sitting in boring meetings that make us feel overwhelmed. Eating has not been perfect this week - I fear a gain on Friday. This is the worst week for food I have had in a LONG time. It is not that bad but not great either.

However, I have worked out everyday. Including Sunday, I no longer have a day off. I did 3 days of weight training myself and it seems to be working well. The other days are classes and Saturdays are double workout days. I also started running with the dogs again in the morning (during fat camp we just walked but they were getting fat so now we must run).

I just need to make it through this month without doing too much damage and in September routines will fall back into place. So until then I just need to remember to Don't Stop Believin'!!

No More Fat Camp.....

This week has been super stressful and busy!! I guess I was expecting it but man, taking over my own diet and workout routines on top of that was a LOT more stress and work. I increased my calories (to something I can actually live with) and exercised less (only because I had to) and ate out 3 times (unheard for me). However, I did not gain and for that I am happy. Actually lost 1 pound so for that I am grateful.

Today the last camp fire will be extinguished at fat camp. I am proud that I worked so hard. It was a total of about 71 days and here are the results - I had losses in all areas:

1. Neck - 0.5 inch
2. Chest - 4 inches (and there was not much to begin with)
3. Arms - 1.25 inches
4. Forearm - 1 inch
5. Waist - 5 inches
6. Hips - 3.5 inches
7. Thigh - 2.7 inches
8. Calf - 1.5 inches
9. Pounds Lost - 20.5
10. Body Fat - 10.05% (this is as of 7/14/09, I was not able to take that again)
11. Shoes - another pair lost to wear and tear

Overall, I would say it was a success. I leave this venture behind with my head held high (and my ass a little smaller).

I hope you all had a great week and enjoy your weekend!