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Monday, January 26, 2015

The Second Week Three

This is the mental space where I am these days...

The intersection of good new habits, letting the past go, and realizing how far I have yet to travel.

I weighed in this morning at 368.2lbs, for a total weight loss of 72lbs. That's astounding...but it's only 36% of where I need to be. I feel SO good, and I'm incredibly proud of my progress, but it gets tough to keep slogging it out, day after day, week after week, month after month.

It'll come, I know, I'm just impatient now that I've figured out this new lifestyle.

However, I'm just 28lbs from my 'century' mark, where I'll celebrate hitting 50% of my weight loss target!

At that point I should be shopping at 'regular' stores (Not Big & Tall), I should no longer need a seatbelt extender for airplane seats, and I will be the lightest I've been in this Millenium...

That will be amazing. Who wants to take the over/under on whether or not I'll hit that goal on April Fool's Day?

That's 9 weeks and two days...which would require 3.1lbs lost per week.

Who's in?

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Donating all my old clothes

I've had to shop exclusively at Big & Tall stores for more than 15 years. The selection is poor, the quality terrible, and the prices are punitive.

After years of trial & error, I have found some great sources for certain items, but quality comes at a price. My monogrammed Land's End oxford cloth button down shirts were NOT cheap, but I got them in 2005, and they're still in great shape!

It took me SO long to find, afford, and collect a decent wardrobe...it makes me anxious & sick to load it all into cheap black plastic garbage bags & give it away.

It's just that none of this fits anymore. It's crowding my closet & chest of drawers, making it tough to organize & find the few things that still fit.

I need to clear out the past, physically & mentally.

Mentally, this is really hard for me. For SO long, I just couldn't afford any of this. My Mom bought a lot of it for me. The suit I wore to my Dad's funeral. The Fiat t-shirts came from seven years of epic road trips.

This is surprisingly hard for me...and I know I should be happy that my weight loss requires new clothes...but it brings up old feelings & memories, and the fear that someday I might need all of this and I'll regret the day I donated it all.

So, a deep breath, and a last goodbye. Giving it away to those who need it more than me is a commitment to myself, my health, and I should celebrate my success, right?

I just wish it didn't make me so sad...

11 pairs of dress pants
19 pairs of khakis
9 pairs of jeans
24 long sleeve dress shirts
13 short sleeve dress shirts
21 polo shirts
28 t-shirts
4 pairs of shorts
1 suit

Monday, January 19, 2015

120 miles in 120 days

I heard about a popular New Year's Resolution going around on Facebook called "100 miles in 100 days", and it intrigued me.

Then I thought, since I'm doing a Whole 120, why not 'level up' and also make my 120 day challenge about not only eating clean for 120 days, but doing 120 miles???

...and then I made a spreadsheet...

I mapped out my 120 days, correlating to days of the month, with weekends & special days greyed out. I created columns for other types of activity & weighted them for my difficulty.

I filled it in to get it current - and darned if I'm not doing pretty well! Day 15 and I'm at 13.5 miles!

My goal is to catch up by week's end, and not let up...

Monday, January 05, 2015

Day One - Recommitment

Grocery shopped, grilled in subzero temps, and prepped my week!

Today's beginning weigh in was 378lbs, which is 5lbs UP since the week before Christmas...

Yeah, we'll just call that 'motivation' and keep moving forward...

New stuff I love!

Yack Tracks on my Bean Boots keep me from dying on icy sidewalks! Now I can walk Clyde ALL winter with no fear of death!!!

My brown corduroy blazer with suede elbow patches & woven leather buttons. I love this thing, it embodies my past AND my future...

My birthday gift this year - a reproduction Kandinsky mobile!!!

Paperwhites in aquarium rocks. My Mom always had a bowl of these on the dining room table each winter, and they really helped bring some cheer to the winter doldrums!

Indulgences

I've thought about that piece of chocolate cake on my birthday ever since I started my first Whole 30 on September 2nd. I ate it slowly & savored it...

Almost as long, I dreamed of these Boston Cream donuts from Deerfield's bakery in Schaumburg.

TOTALLY worth the wait!

I also had some Lou Malnatti's pizza - both deep dish AND the thin crust.

Lovely!

I did not have all of these on the same day, I tried to minimize the impact on my system - but the 'day after' effects were JUST LIKE a terrible hangover.

Not enough to get me to quit sugar forever, but enough to realize that a once or twice per year 'treat' is perfectly reasonable...