It's Hot!!! And Sasha has a new friend

It was 87 degrees at 7:30 this morning. I really need to get going earlier, but it didn't happen today. We opted for the coolest path I could think of which runs along the river and through a park.
This park has these kinda creepy statues that always make me think of Shelley
This picture is for you Shelley :)
I had to take quite a few pictures to get a good one, all while laughing my silly head off. It doesn't take much to amuse me obviously!

Shape wear flashback

I was digging through a drawer looking for a swimsuit bottom when I found these lovely things...

Size 2x spanx-like undergarments. I guess I overlooked that drawer quite a few times when cleaning things out.

Oh my, looking at these brought back some painful memories!

I didn't wear these to smooth things out, I wore them to save my inner thighs. I gain weight in my lower half, which leads to terrible chafing. I've always been a pantyhose wearer, never feel fully dressed without them- I know I'm dating myself here :)

If you mix pantyhose with very large thighs you have a ...(TMI Alert!)... Bloody mess:(

These things saved my thighs, they worked much better than the huge band aids which never stayed put. I will never forget struggling to get these things up and down in the heat of the summer, awful!

After four years of maintenance it's easy to start taking things for granted. 

Last night I wore a skirt with heels and hose and I really enjoyed being able to walk with nothing rubbing.

Four year Anniversary!

This month marks four years since I hit goal weight. It's hard to believe it's been that long. I never believed I could do it. We all hear the statistics, and they can trip you up before you even begin. Like so many others my weight dropped below my original goal. While it hasn't stayed quite that low, it's well below what I originally only dreamed of.

It's interesting how differently I eat now than when I started losing. On every weight loss attempt I had ever made, the diets I chose were so complicated that I just couldn't stick to them. I was totally overwhelmed! Grocery carts full of things I didn't recognize, and so many ingredients. This time I went simple. I only focused on calories and walking on the treadmill. Gradually I've totally overhauled my diet to mostly whole foods. Recently I've gone gluten-free. I really fought this, I thought the gluten thing was a fad unless one had celiac disease. I was definitely wrong about that.

I was a couch potato for years. I never enjoyed exercise, as far back as I can remember. Now I walk/run four miles, five days a week. I love how it makes me feel! Every time I climb stairs I marvel at how effortless it is now. Getting up from the floor without struggling and moaning is awesome!

I think it's really good to stop and look back at how far we've come. I hope I never take it for granted!
After being well over two hundred pounds for more than twenty years, it seemed impossible that I would ever get the weight off. I wish I would have done it sooner. I finally reached the point where I was becoming very ill before I got desperate enough to get serious about losing the weight. That and seeing my mom die from side effects of diabetes motivated me.

I don't think maintenance will ever come easily for me. I struggle with my sweet tooth. My job certainly doesn't help me there. Being surrounded by frosting is very hard. I used to think "I deserve this sweet, I work really hard". Now I remind myself - I deserve to take care of myself, it's okay to take an hour a day for some exercise and its okay to spend a little more for food that will make me healthy.

Nothing feels better than putting your feet up after a good run, my dog thinks so too!

Finally 5k

It only took five years, but I finally ran a whole 3.1 miles without walking.
It helps to have a running buddy that is so willing ;)

Update

Last week went much better than it would have if I hadn't joined the no sweets challenge. I can't say I was perfect, but it was a big improvement. It was a crazy, stressful week. Working long hours with icing everywhere is like sticking a drug addict in a pharmacy! One thing I've learned since I started losing weight is to not let a slip lead to giving up. Making good choices most of the time is what keeps the weight off.

So far so good!

Yesterday was the first day of "no sweets at the shop" challenge and I did great. It's going to be a stressful week, five wedding cakes, a grooms cake and three smaller ones. I have to admit I ate more raisins than I needed, and a handful of altoids, but much better than cake and frosting.
I really think that a sugar addiction is similar to other substance addictions. Something happens in my brain that makes it so hard not to dive into the frosting bowl head first.
I keep telling myself that I lost 133 pounds and made lots of cakes at the same time. I'm up eight ponds from my happy weight. I want that off, but mostly I feel so much better when I'm eating clean.
I wonder how many people that struggle with their weight have sugar addictions.

No sweets at the shop

I'm declaring November "no sweets at the shop" month. Shelley's no candy for November has inspired me. Thanks Shelley! I've been struggling with this lately and it needs to stop. One bite used to be enough, but now one bite throws me into a downward spiral that ends in a sugar coma. I'm clearly a sugar addict.
I need to stop the stress eating, it only leads to more stress.
Thanks for the inspiration Shelley. I'm hitting my reset button along with you :)

A link to a link

Roni has a wonderful interview from Sean Anderson on her site. I love his simple approach, that is exactly what I did to get myself started. I gave myself a calorie budget and I could spend it any way I wanted. I soon learned to make those calories count, but at first it was so much easier to just worry about calories and nothing else. Sean is such an inspiring guy and his website is a great way to get motivated.
http://ronisweigh.com/2010/11/wordless-wednesday-275-pounds-lost-in-two-years-two-months-and-a-day.html
http://www.losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com/

Very inspiring!

You might have seen this already, but just in case you haven't I'm posting it too. His post about the ironman he did with his father and brother is a great read http://bendoeslife.tumblr.com/page/6

I won't back down

There is a hill that is close to the end of my run. I'm almost home when I get to the bottom of it. I've been challenging myself to run, not walk, that hill for a few weeks now. It's gotten a lot easier and I've noticed some real improvement in the muscles in my legs and rear end. I love it when a great song comes on my iphone when I am approaching that hill. I put my iphone on shuffle and listen to whatever comes on, it's always a different run that way. Today a really awesome song came on right as I started running that hill. Thought I'd share, it really fits the whole weight-loss/exercise thing, I think.

Learning to eat well

When I was in junior high school (that's what we called it, now it's middle school) I took a home economics class. Actually, I took home ec all through my junior and senior high school years. Looking back it amazes me to think of what we were not taught when it comes to nutrition. I vaguely remember a food pyramid, but when we were actually cooking, we didn't take that into consideration. I remember learning how to make white sauce. I can't say that is something I've made a lot over the years.

My junior high home ec teacher was one of my favorite teachers, she was very patient and kind. She taught us how to make a food budget. I remember working really hard on it, it wasn't easy to feed two people on the limited amount we had in the budget. I ended up with a lot of boxed macaroni and cheese, hot dogs and things like that on the menu. I got a very good grade on it. When I got married we were on a very tight budget so we ate all those cheap foods that were on my budget menu from junior high. I don't remember being concerned about it. Not until a few years had passed and I had gained a lot of weight.

Were you taught good eating habits or have you had to develop them yourself?

Running App

I tried out a new running app this morning and I love it. It's called runkeeper. It's for the iphone and it's free, which is really great:) It gives me all the stats I wanted. It maps your run with gps and a google map, gives the distance, pace, speed, calories burned, and a cool graph at the bottom. I mostly wanted to know how far I was going and how fast. I'm still pretty slow because I run/walk, but I'm not trying to win any races so that doesn't matter. If you have an iphone it's definitely worth checking out.

http://runkeeper.com/home

Addicted to Sweets?

I thought this segment on The Rachael Ray Show yesterday was really interesting. I get that crazy out of control feeling when I eat sweets. I usually do better if I don't eat them at all. It's hard though, since I'm facing sweets all day at work. I'd like to know what others feel about the idea of sweets/high fat/high calorie foods being addictive. What is your take on this subject? How do you handle it?
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/im-addicted-food/

I can dig ditches

I continue to find it amazing what I can do now that I couldn't when I was obese. Just bending over or climbing the steps into our house was so hard when I was over weight. We've been doing a lot of heavy work in our yard. Things like digging and moving dirt and covering areas with rock. I can actually do those things now. I'm sure I could have done a little of it before, but it would have been very difficult. I know I wouldn't have been able to move the next day if I had tried. I did my share of digging a long ditch so we could install a drain to route the rain out to the street instead of under our house. I have some achy muscles, but I feel so good about what I was able to do. It was 110 degrees here on Sunday which made it even more challenging. I won't be giving up my day job to go dig ditches, but I'm sure happy to know I'm strong enough that I can do it if I want to.

Am I the only person that gets so much joy out of being able to do hard things like digging a ditch?

Learning to trust yourself

Since I reached goal I've had this terrible fear that I would lose control and gain all the weight back. Maybe it's all the statistics that are thrown around in the media. They say most people do gain it all back plus some. The voice in my head says "why do I think I am any better/stronger than all those people". When my treadmill broke down I panicked and was sure I would gain the weight back. When I give in to the two year old in my head that wants cake I panic and think I will gain the weight back. When we go on vacation and I don't have as much control over my food I'm stressed about weight gain.

Through all of these situations it's important to find ways to cope. Realizing that even though the odds are stacked against weight maintenance there are plenty of people maintaining. It's not that I'm trying to be better than others, it's about taking responsibility and doing what's best for my own body. Without the treadmill i've learned to love running outdoors. Even with the summer heat, I can still get out early or late and get some exercise in. Portion control is so important. Giving in to the two year old doesn't mean letting her lose all control. Even when I'm out of my comfort zone with food I can still find the best options and keep the weight off.

I was a little scared to get on the scale this morning. I felt kinda bloaty after being out of town for a few days. The number was actually at the lower end of my maintenance window. It's great to get that reassurance that I must be doing something right and it's still working.

Do you trust your maintenance ability and how do you build that trust?

Adjusting

It's been a year since I hit maintenance, but I'm still adjusting. At first I was shocked to see my reflection in windows. For years I avoided looking in store windows for fear of seeing my reflection. When I got closer to goal I started peeking. Then when I hit goal I found myself fascinated with it. Lately I've been wanting to see myself in pictures. For years I avoided the camera, even destroying most of the pictures of myself. I think it helps with the adjustment to take pictures and really look at them, helps the mind catch up with the body.

It's taking some time, but I'm adjusting.

How long has it taken you to adjust to the new you?

Things I was missing out on

We have some beautiful trails here. I had no desire to see them when I was overweight. It didn't sound like any fun to walk for miles when it was so hard just walking around a store. I had no idea what I was missing out on. I love strapping on my ipod and hitting the trails. The exercise is great, but make sure to take a minute to stop and enjoy the scenery.

Lori's Lanacane Anti-Chafing gel giveaway

http://findingradiance.com/2010/06/24/lanacane-anti-chafing-gel-review-and-giveaway/

I could have really used this on my thighs at my high weight. Like Lori, I'm wondering if it would work on feet. Might be great for runners. I love my heels since I lost weight, but I end up with lots of blisters. I'll have to give it a try.

Beautiful day for running!