Oh My Gosh, I Can't Believe It!

So if you've been following along, you'll know that two weeks ago I thoroughly enjoyed eating out several times, but especially the Texas Roadhouse cheeseburger.  Unfortunately the scale last week showed a 2 week gain for all my enjoyment.  Well I was back to the disciplined eating last week, and today my weight was down 3 1/2 pounds!!  My lowest weight to date.    That feels pretty awesome.

So I'd say I'm well on my way to losing the ten pounds during Birthday Season that I wrote about last time.

That's what I mainly wanted to let you all know in today's post.  I've got a lot on my mind today and I only like to write positive things when I write - so this was today's positive news!  Makes me happy.

Our morning group plus Kate and Mana

Today's work out - Jenna and ball slams.  (Kate working out with Mana in the background)

Today's workout - Kelly and sled push

Today's workout - Patty and the rower

I asked Ryan for the tire and sledgehammer today for me.  I needed that today!

Friends of mine at Gold's

My friend and her knee socks! But hey look at my Mohawk!

Why Wait? Do It Now!

Today is September 24, 2016 and we in the Dave Deters' family refer to this as birthday season.  It starts with Dave's birthday in September, then Jessica and Patty in October, toss in our Anniversary in October also, add Ben's birthday in November and Joe's birthday in December.  Then on top of that we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Since moving to Grand Junction in August of 2003, I have consistently put on 10 pounds every "birthday season."  No lie!  I even have some photos to show the awful progression.  Part of this reason is because for about 20 years prior to moving to Grand Junction, Dave and I had been in an educational setting and we just had to show up at the dining room for our meals.  But when we moved to Grand Junction, it was time for me to really learn how to cook.  Obviously I didn't do very well with that.  But that is all changing now.

2003

2004

2005

2007

2006

2008

2009

2010

2013 (conveniently hiding myself)

2015 (right when I started NLP)

The 2015 photo was taken in August of 2015.  I began working out daily with the NLP program in August of 2015.  From August 2015 to January 2016 I gained zero weight.  I did not lose weight, but I did not gain 10 pounds.  This year from August 2016 to January 2017, I hope to lose at least 10 pounds.  But it is a decision and that decision is made daily.

I have learned a lot these past 9 months about nutrition and exercise.  I have a great support network of people to share/swap recipes with and I have a trainer (through NLP) that i can check things with.  Back in August I would go to one NLP class a day and then I would walk.  When I started, walking to the mailbox and back was difficult.  But I did it - almost daily.  Then I expanded to around the block.  Then Dave and I would walk the neighborhood.  And now I walk to the school and back (about 2 miles) when I need to.  I know a lot of the neighbors this way, and they encourage me along the way.  

So if you are like I was - gaining weight every holiday season (or Birthday season as we refer to it), why not start now!  Why not make 2016 the year you don't gain 10 pounds or whatever your number may be.  Get out and walk.  Get to the gym.  Whatever works for you.  I loved and still love my Fitbit.  When I was first starting a year ago, I asked all of my family members that owned Fitbits if they would participate in step challenges with me and encourage me along the way to meet my step goal.  At first my step goal was 5000 steps a day and that was difficult for me.  Now - most days I can reach 10,000 steps without hardship.

We have yet to take a 2016 holiday photo but most likely we will use one of these from May.  I can already see a difference and I plan to have my next ten years of photos showing the weight progression decreasing instead of increasing.  As always thanks for reading and thanks for encouraging me.  I always knew this would take longer than one year and it's friends like you that encourage me that help me stay at it with a positive attitude.  

Do Trainers Have a Sixth Sense?

OMG when I think of this morning, I still smile.  Every morning we gather near the trainer room waiting for our session.  This morning was no different.  I have to be honest here, sometimes I fear (in a good way) Mana's workouts.  So I was voicing my concern to the other ladies.  I said, "Oh gosh, I wonder if it will be a leg day.  It's going to suck if it's a leg day AND it's Mana."  Jenna ever so casually replies, "Oh, Mana.  I'm not worried about him.  I know how to be sneaky and get away with things when he isn't looking."  Just to set the scene here, Mana was NOT around when she said this.

We head to the FTC (Functional Training Center) Room.  He tells us to do 10 sets of 10 pushups.  Well hey, at least it's not legs, I think.  We are all kind of in that transitional stage of we really should do a true push up, but we sometimes find it much easier to drop to our knees.  I'm on my knees and look over at Jenna who is on her knees.  Mana notices Jenna right away, "Jenna, get on your toes.  Jenna, get lower."  He leaves me alone.  He continues watching Jenna.  I am dying laughing inside.

After our 100 push ups, we transition to the ropes.  A plank with a rope slam - 10 each arm - 10 sets.  We are kind of like, WHAT?  Where do you come up with this stuff?

Kelly and Jenna - Doesn't that look like fun?

We notice that people are arriving to the FTC or FUN room.  We are like praise God, there's a class coming in.  Not to worry, Mana has much more fun planned in the way of "bear crawls."  He was thinking perhaps Jenna needed to run - so he grabbed some bands and we headed to the Racquetball courts.  I HATE bear crawls.  Ryan was running the class.  I was like hey, don't you want me to stay for class?  Uh, basically that answer was NO!

We pair up for the lovely bear crawls, but since we are not sure how this will feel on my leg I get to try it without a resistance band leaving Jenna to pair with none other than Mana.  I'm thinking "How's that being sneaky thing working out for you today Jenna?"

Kelly and Tori - bear crawling - Good times!

Jenna - she ran so fast Mana was like "Whoa!"

We had to do 10 burpees in between running back and forth and we had to do that five times.

Poor Jenna!

By the way my leg was fine, but I never said anything because I was kind of enjoying having the attention on someone else.  For the last set, Mana was like -"Hey you were just supposed to try it once without a band."  Oh, I say, I didn't know.

Oh yeah - my turn!

From there we went to Chest Press, Mountain Climbers, Plank Walk, and a Plank jack.  Oh my gosh.  Poor Jenna - to add insult to injury she hates Chest Day.  She was a GREAT sport and I bet she loses weight this week with no problem.

After the workout - check out that clipboard and athletic stance!

It Was Worth Every Bite

Well it seems as if the trainers are quite happy that I can work "legs" again as I believe we did squats every day this past week as well as a myriad of other leg exercises.  My knee held up great and I feel really good.

Last week, I was figuring out the balance of calories in/calories out and trying to get the ratio correct.  I was pretty close on Monday-Thursday.  Friday was turning out to be a bit of a challenge as my youngest got his braces off and that took longer than we expected.  So we decided to grab a bite to eat while we waited for a retainer to be made.  I made a pretty good choice at Subway with a flatbread chicken breast sandwich with mustard and veggies.  That hit the spot.   More errands intervened and it was mid-afternoon now and I still had not been home so I went to Starbucks and got a smoothie.    I grabbed the nutrition pamplet so I could put the nutrition info in my Fitbit.  I got home so late and I was so tired, my husband asked me to stay home from the afternoon workout.  Also since it was his birthday he suggested we go out to eat for supper.  He and the boys wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse and I decided then and there I was having a cheeseburger.  I flat out stopped tracking my food in my Fitbit and ordered a beer and a cheeseburger.  But hey, I ordered a caesars salad instead of fries.

Delicious!

After this meal, I just decided to forego the tracking for the rest of the weekend.  I write a weekly e-mail to my trainer and I usually give him my Fitbit nutrition stats via e-mail (Calories in, Carb, Protein, Fat, and Calories Out per day for the week).  Instead I sent him this e-mail.

Got Nothing For You!

Sunday, it was just Joe and I at home and I was working on a project all weekend, so Joe said, "Let's go to Which Wich for lunch."  Why the heck not, right?  I wasn't tracking anymore.  Off we went.  Again I made a good choice, like I had at Subway.  But I was beginning to wonder what the scale would say.  I can't check at home, because if you've been following the blog,  Sir Ryan had my husband get rid of the scales in the house back in March.

Monday morning - moment of truth.  I decided to check my weight in the scale in the women's locker room.  It was not good.  So I went out to wait for Ryan.  He called me in the office to get weighed and I told Jenna, "Just go tell him, no thank you."  "I'm not interested in weighing in today."  Well that sure as heck didn't work.  And he was wondering about the "Got Nothing for You" e-mail.    So unfortunately my weight had gone up 2 pounds.  But miraculously, it didn't bother me.  I had not had a cheeseburger in all of 2016 and it was worth every bite.

I'm back in the green today!

I feel a disclaimer is needed.  I want my family and friends to know that I was fully aware of what I was doing this week and I chose to do it.  I have not fallen off the wagon.

A Blessing in Disguise?

You know your day is going to be interesting when your husband's first words to you in the morning are (in your best radio announcer voice), " Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen as Patty awaits the wrath of Manaman.  No one knows what might happen."

You see, last night I might have made a joke at Mana's expense, but I found it extremely humorous.  I still smile and laugh when I think of it.  However, Mana - seemingly not amused - promised a little payback today only hinting that it would have to do with a "leg day."  I reminded him that Jenna's sister-in-law was trying out the session to see if she wanted to join.  That didn't seem to phase him.

This is me after the workout.  Notice Jacob's Ladder behind me.

Want to know the greatest part of this day and why I feel so good?  I DID Jacob's Ladder.  I haven't done Jacob's Ladder since the 12 week challenge (March).  In March, I heard my knee pop.  In May, I further aggravated my knee by walking up and down the 8 flights of stairs multiple times a day for multiple days while on a cruise vacation.  From May until about one week ago, I have been "rehabbing" my knee.  Well it's working because today I did Jacob's Ladder - as well as dead treds, and The Price is Right Mountain climbers while holding a kettlebell in each hand.

On the treadmill with a 20 incline holding a kettlebell in eacch hand.  Fun times!

It never feels like quite enough to just say thank you to Ryan, Mana, and Suzanne.  I can't believe the difference in the quality of my life since January.  Thank you all for your part in making that happen for me.

Motivation Monday - September 5, 2016

You know, it's funny (or maybe not so funny).  The first thing that comes to my mind about today being a "holiday" is there is NO weigh-in Monday.  Today I'm actually kind of happy about that fact.

About 12 weeks ago I was put on a "rehab" schedule of workouts because of my knee.  Since that time, my weight loss has slowed dramatically and I get frustrated about that often.  I feel like Dory on Finding Nemo.  One day I'll see the positive and then "A boat?  Hey, I've seen a boat!" and I'm off in negative land.

I got sick with a head cold after my Senior Games swim and I had that for about a week.  I still worked out, but I didn't eat much because I didn't feel like it.  My weight stayed the same last Monday which was to be expected.  I didn't let that get to me.  I was ready for a great week as I was able to attend two sessions a day of weight training.  I missed my 4:00 friends and I was so happy to be able to be back with them.

I did have to make myself these positive affirmation cards though recording the progress I have made since January.  I look at these daily and sometimes several times a day.  I have a photocopy of them up in my locker at the gym too.

Remember how far you have come!

I showed these to my doctor on Thursday and she LOVED them.  Thursday I had my first completely normal blood pressure in about 4 years.  That was great.  Kudos, right?

Well right before I went to my doctor appointment, I had my last physical therapy session with the trainer Suzanne.  This means I can start doing squats and lunges again and that I can do leg day again.  This should be a major kudos, right?  Yet all I can see is how fat I still look in the dang pictures.

PT is done!  Thanks Suzanne!

Totally not what Suzanne or others see.  Why is it so difficult for us to see ourselves as others see us?  Anyways, I was feeling quite down about these photos when I went to the doctor.  The great blood pressure and the high fives from my doctor made me feel good again.  (Oh look - a boat!)

Friday, I felt weak and I could not deadlift the amount of weight I usually can.  I start getting down on myself again and I'm like "What is going on with me?"  Friday night we are doing pull ups and it dawns on me - "Oh yeah, you had a tetnaus shot yesterday.  That might be part of the problem."  Duh?  "Oh look - a boat."

Saturday, I'm excited because I get to attend an actual NLP class.  I haven't done that for 2 or 3 months.  But stupid me, I decide to weigh myself before class.  (I'm not supposed to do that, but since Monday was a holiday, I thought I'd check.)  Up a pound and a half.  Shoot!  Frustrated - yeah, just a little.

Sunday, I get to wear street clothes because I have no workout.  I pull a pair of jeans out and put them on and I'm swimming in them.  I'm like whose jeans are these, anyway!  Oh, those are mine and they were too tight in January.  Today I could have fit me and my youngest Ben in those jeans.  "Oh look, a boat."

I'm definitely not going to quit.  I do get frustrated, yes.  But I am training my mind to grab on to the positive.   I am especially thankful for those who have sent me cards, e-mails, or messages on Facebook about how this blog inspires you.  I can't tell you how many times after I post a post, I want to take it down.  I feel like it's too honest and I'm not sure if I want it all out there.  I highly recommend making the positive affirmation cards - whatever that equates to for you.  My doctor was like "Whose idea was that?  I love that."  They help me every day.

Oh and can I just say to Mana and Ryan if you read this, thank you for putting up with my ups and downs.  I know you see the good in me and I am thankful for that.  I'm determined to meet my goals and I'm trying to get better with my frustration level.