Sans School

School's out and not just for the summer winter. I'm done! I'm a master... or so I told my nephews. And now life is markedly different. I'm slowly recreating my life into a new normal that doesn't involve night classes, hours in the library, or homework deadlines.

As you might guess, the biggest change in my life thus far has been the lack of intense stress that came with being in school. I no longer have that overhanging sense of dread about upcoming papers or projects. I can hang out with friends and not worry about the reading assignments waiting for me at home. It's sheer bliss.

Not having homework has left me with large chunks of free time.  Naturally, a good chunk of it is now filled with Hubs. I think he likes having me back, but one night he did say that it was nice to have the living room to himself during sports games. I guess I ask too many questions...

I've also been catching up on quality time with my broom and mop. I have so much housework to catch up on, it's embarrassing.  I've been washing walls, floors, windows, I swept the basement, organized my holiday items into different colored containers, treated the cutting board island in the kitchen, washed out the fridge, and rearranged the pantry.  Last Saturday morning I even woke up early (8am) and rearranged the upstairs guest room and craft room.  I actually had time to pull out my craft items and organize my craft desk.

Of course, my new found free time is much more productive now that I've started working out (cardio three times a week and yoga three times a week).  I feel like I've downed copious amounts of Red Bull.  I can only stay seated for so long before I want to be up doing something.  Perfect example, I am catching up on my pleasure reading (woo hoo), but instead of reading for 3-4 hours curled up on the couch like I used to, now I have to break it up with activity like doing the dishes, laundry, impromptu dance moves, or shoveling the sidewalk (like I did this morning after yesterday's crazy snowstorm).

Speaking of reading, that is another big change.  I love to read and now I can read whatever I want, whenever I want.  I read the entire trilogy of The Hunger Games in two days.  Now I am reading The Devil in the White City, to be followed by The Corner of Bitter and Sweet.  I also threw in another reading of Emma, Sanditon, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park.  What can I say, I love Jane Austen to pieces.

Lastly, I've been doing a lot more cooking.  Specifically, I've been cooking items I can freeze and then pull out for weeknight dinners.  Almost all the recipes I make come from skinnytaste.com, which should be a surprise to no one.  I cannot sing Gina's praises enough.  Just this morning I made her skinny chocolate chip buttermilk scones and let me tell you... HEAVEN!

I pray you have a blessed, active, stress-free weekend.

One Year Today!

One year ago today, Hubs asked me to join him in a healthy eating adventure. I will admit, I didn't want to do it. I wasn't happy with my body, but at the same time, I didn't want to put in the effort that was going to be required. I remember I told him I didn't want to constantly have to think about what I was eating.  At the same time, I didn't want him to have to do it alone. I knew we would stand a better chance if we shared the journey.

When we started, I was weighing in at a whopping 250 pounds. As a direct result of my weight, I was struggling with asthma, using only 25% of my lung capacity. Every time I climbed the stairs in our house, I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached the landing. In addition, I was having significant lower back pain and my left thigh would randomly become numb from a pinched nerve. Perhaps most hurtful however, Hubs and I were diagnosed as infertile, not for a specific reason, but just because we had surpassed the allotted time for "trying" without conceiving.My doctor told me that the first defense against infertility would be shedding the pounds. Overall, I was just a mess. 

I've spent a lot of time reflecting on how I got to that depressing point.I think eating out was a huge culprit. Working and taking classes became great excuses to stop at fast food restaurants for a quick burger and fries. And when Hubs and I were home, it seemed easier to pop in a couple of pizzas or whip up some boxes of mac and cheese, than it was to plan out a healthy meal. I was lazy and full of excuses. Following these patterns, I gradually put on the pounds. It all happened so gradually really, I didn't realize how big I gotten until I was tipping the scales at 200 pounds. When I reached that point, it seemed too daunting to turn it around.

It took Hubs to get me to try, but I really owe him so much more... He made it possible for me to stick with the plan. It was his encouragement that helped me translate eating good food and exercising into a new lifestyle rather than just a short-lived diet or fad. Hubs held me accountable and he literally ran beside me when we started exercising, telling me I could do it (all while I ranted and raved).

Hubs has lost a good deal of his own weight, but that's not mine to reveal. What I can tell you is that after one year of changing my diet, taking the train/walking to work, starting to run, completing two races, taking up cycling, and yoga... I no longer struggle with my asthma. I no longer have any lower back pain or numbness in my thigh. I have gone down 10 dress sizes. I can run four miles without stopping. I have so much energy I have a hard time sitting down to watch TV.  Hubs and I only eat out about once every two weeks. AND.... drumroll please.

I have lost a whopping 100 pounds! I met my goal three days ago and it was all I could do not to announce it to the world right there and then. It is shocking to think that a year ago I weighed 250 pounds and now- here I am at 150. I feel good. No wait, I feel awesome!

What's next for me? Well, I am definitely sticking with my new lifestyle. Hubs and I recently signed up for the IronMan Challenge at my workplace. We have two months to complete a full IronMan- 26.2 miles running, 2 miles swimming, and 112 miles cycling. In the last two days, I logged 10 miles cycling and 3.2 miles running.  This workout should be great training for my upcoming sprint triathlon. That's right, I am signed up for the SheRox Sprint Triathlon on June 10th. A sprint triathlon involves swimming half a mile, cycling 14 miles, and running a 5K. Hopefully in the process of training for the SheRox, I will continue to lose a little more weight and get fit. I would say that is my goal for 2012--to get fit and continue to be a healthier person.

Please, grab some carrot sticks and a tall glass of ice water and help me celebrate.

Just put Coal in my Stocking Please

I've been getting a lot of questions about how I survived the holidays-- you know, considering my new, healthy lifestyle and weight loss goal.  (Can you believe it will be one year this Friday since Hubs and I started focusing on getting healthy?)  In response, I want to tell you exactly how it all went down. 

First off, it was not easy!  Hubs and I traveled north to my parents for the holidays and the house was overflowing with chocolates, potato chips (including my favorite barbecue variety), fudge, cookies, pie, cheeses, and so on... and so on.

As a first line of defense, I traveled with a lot of my own food items or I bought them up there on our first day in town.  I made sure I had my essential bagel thins close at hand.  I also took my fat free sweet Italian cream coffee creamer, fruit leather (snagged from Trader Joes), homestyle popcorn from Pop Secret (incredible stuff), baby carrots, cuties, double fiber bread by Brownberry, light string cheese, and some light sour cream (my parents don't like sour cream, so we would have had to buy this anyway).  Having these snacks/low fat options around the house helped a lot.  When my family was munching on chocolate turtles, I grabbed some fruit leather and consumed only 1 weight watchers point instead of 5.  When we had Italian beef on Christmas Eve, I had my homestyle popcorn and carrots with my meal, instead of potato chips.  And when everyone else was eating my uncle's fried cornmeal mush for breakfast, I was more than happy to eat a bagel thin coated with oohy gooey peanut butter and a cutie.

Inevitably, I knew I couldn't avoid all of the holiday indulging.  I tried to do it wisely though.  When we went out for breakfast the day after Christmas, I ordered oatmeal with a side of scrambled egg whites instead of the bacon and cheese omelet I would have ordered before.  When everyone was ordering fish fry on Christmas Eve's Eve, I got a salad with grilled chicken and cranberries (delicious).  And in my stocking this year, I requested no candy.  It was a big change because normally my stocking would be full of Snickers, Kit Kats, and Lifesavers.  The one surprise was a package of Weight Watchers chocolate, caramel, pecan candies.  They were just like turtles, but only cost me 1 point each- hooray!

When it came to Christmas dinner, Mom generously let me introduce a number of healthier options.  2 years ago, we had: broccoli rice casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes loaded with butter, ham, white jello, cranberry sauce, gravy, buttery dinner rolls, candied yams, and wine.  This year, we served up: roasted parmesan green beans, honey ham, 7-up casserole (made with diet soda and 1/3 fat cream cheese), rosemary garlic parmesan biscuits, regular mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, gravy, and wine (from the winery behind our house).  It was a scrumptious meal, filled with healthy dishes (many of the recipes from where else, but Gina's skinnytaste).

Picture taken from skinnytaste.com

 To balance out the copious amount of eating going on over the holidays, I purposely included plenty of exercise.  Thankfully, there was enough snow Up North to do cross-country skiing.  I was so excited to dust off my skis and glide across the fresh powder to my heart's content.  It had been too long since I'd gone skiing.  It is such a good cardio workout- my arms and legs were really feeling sore by the end of the second day.  In addition to skiing, I managed a couple of yoga videos, walks in the snow with the dogs, and 2 really good 5k runs (the runs happened while we were still at home and I had access to the gym--I'm not one for winter running out of doors).

So how did it all work out?  Well, my original goal starting way back in January 2011 was to lose 100 pounds by January 6, 2012.  You already know that I've lost at least 90 pounds and I will tell you that when I left for my parent's house I was 3 pounds away from reaching my goal.  I will also tell you that I gained 1 pound over the holidays.  Oh the suspense...

And the verdict is...

Like I could really tell you today when tomorrow is January 6th.  You'll have to check back tomorrow to see whether I met my goal of 100 pounds lost or not.