Followers WORLDWIDE!!!

HOLY SHIT. 

I never imagined.  I really didn't.  When I first started this, I kept quiet about it - and only sent the address to 6 of my very closest girlfriends.  I had it marked as private - so it was not searchable on the web.  Overtime, I added a few more, and a few more.  I eventually opened it up as pulic, and sent the address out on MyFitnessPal. 

Just recently, I started promoting my blog on other blogspheres, and trying to get my name out there.  I just checked the stats for the first time in a while, and I am BLOWN AWAY.  I now have FatGirl Followers in the US, Russia, the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, France, the Cayman Islands, and in Palestine!

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that is following me!  Please feel free to comment, ask questions, or just talk!  I love doing this, and it pushes me even farther towards my goals.  Make sure to sign up.  Once I get a certain number of "followers", I get to start advertising, doing contests and give aways, etc...

Again - Blown away.  Thank you all!

<3 - The FatGirl

Daily Transformation...

This is something that I have been thinking about for a while now.  I've been inspired, and this is something should have started a long time ago.  In fact, I am probably going to regret starting this late. 

I love time-lapse videos.  The first one I saw was a few years ago.  It was a young woman who took a picture every single day - from the day she found out she was pregnant, until the newborn baby was brought home.  I've seen videos that are pictures of kids from being a day old until they are 12.  These are amazing transformations, and beautiful to watch. 

So I started looking.  I cannot find a video like the one mentioned above for weight loss.  Sure, there are transformation videos out there, but not a time-lapse weight loss.  So, I've decided - I'm going to do it!  I have a secret stash of progress photo's i've been taking along the way for the last few years.  For the last week or two, I've been taking pictures of myself everyday - trying to find a new progress photo I like for my profile picture for MFP. 

Now, I am going to make it a daily thing.  I am going to make sure I take at least ONE self photo every day.  I am going to post ONE daily here, every day - leading all the way to my wedding day - and until I meet my goal weight.  Once I am there, at the ultimate goal, I am going to complile the pictures into a video - and I will post it on my youtube channel.  Here is my forewarning though - I am no photographer, I am using an iPhone and mostly self shots, and I don't know how to make a video - so the end result will probably be nothing like what I want.  LOL 

Ready to start???  Here are a few pictures from the last few days....

Oh - and don't mind the suicide roll hair-do.  I got bangs, and by the time I decided it was a bad idea - it was 2 days too late.  So deal with the bangs for a few more weeks until they grow out, K?  lol

02/23/13 - 227.6 lbs

 

 

 

02/25/13

 

 

 

02/26/12

 

 

 

C25K - Week 2, Day 1

Last night was rough – on many, many levels.  My future mother in law  had called us on Sunday night and invited us to dinner on Monday.  Dana, Matt’s sister, and one of my best friends was coming down for dinner with her daughter.  She was going to make lasagna.  YAY!!!

NOT.  I CAN’T EAT PASTA!!!  It has nothing to do with carbs, or calories… I gave it up for Lent.  I have a love affair with pasta – and maybe that’s the carbs talking, but I really do.  It doesn’t matter what kind of pasta either.  I love it all.  I knew that I would not be able to resist if it was sitting right there in front of me.  So I made a plan. 

I packed my workout gear before work yesterday.  I picked Matt up, and we went over to his Moms.  Everyone is drinking wine, and sampling food – and I sat at the counter with my water.  I made small talk, chitty-chatted for a while, caught up on all the gossip.  And when it was time to eat – I made a bee-line for the door.  I went to the gym while everyone else ate. 

As you all know from my previous posts – my legs have been cramping up a lot while running.  But this was a new week, and a new workout.  C25K Week 2 – Day 1.  This week consists of intervals of 90 seconds running, 2 minutes walking.  So I decided to stretch my legs out a bit before I started.

Immediately, I knew something was off.  I wasn’t 30 seconds into the warm up, and BOTH of my legs started cramping.  I told myself to push through it, that the last time, I pushed through, and the pain went away.  It didn’t go away though.  I started running on the first interval, and the pain got pretty bad.  I was taking sharp breaths, and wincing.  I would bet money that Treadmill Barbie next to me was texting her BFF about the FatGirl crying after working out for 5 minutes, 30 seconds.  I pushed through the interval, knowing there would be relief when I was able to walk for the two minutes.  I was wrong. 

When I started walking, the pain level stayed the same.  This was both of my legs.  I felt like they were going to give out on me.  Each step burned more, and more.  I limped through the second interval, continuing to tell myself that at any time, the paid would subside.  By the time I was 10 minutes in – I had to pause the machine to try to stretch out my legs.  After about 10 seconds, the machine shut itself off.  AWESOME.  I stretched for the full 2 minute walking time, and started the treadmill back up. 

There was absolutely NO difference.  I turned the incline off - no difference.  I slowed my speed down – no difference.  I pushed through another 10 minutes, and had to stop again.  I paused the machine again, and it shut itself off again.  I followed the time on the app, and started the machine back up when it was time to run again. 

I have no idea how many calories I burned.  I have no clue how far I ran.  I know I was slower – but I did it.  No matter how slow I was, or what disgusting look Treadmill Barbie gave me, I was still faster than everyone sitting on a couch last night.  I pushed myself to the point of tears.  I finished it when I normally would have quit.  It’s when it’s hard that we get results.  It’s the pain that makes it worth it.  It’s called a workout because it requires EFFORT.  Without the work, without the pain, without the burn, it's just an EASY-OUT.  And I DID it. 

I took my time stretching last night, and decided that squats and deadlifts probably weren’t the best idea – so I skipped doing SL5x5.  I wasn’t happy about that, but I was honestly afraid of hurting myself – and I decided it just wasn’t worth it to me to risk it. 

The rest of the night was exhausting.  I ran around the house straightening up for Little Man’s birthday party tonight.  I planned secret surprises, and baked cupcakes.  What I forgot to do?  Make myself dinner.  I ended up with a salad, and cheese and crackers.  I was about 800 calories UNDER my goal last night, and that’s not good.  I was so tired, and I was sore.  Very, very sore.  

As I logged my pathetic dinner last night, I noticed ONE thing… my water.  I had nowhere near the amount of water I normally do by the time I had worked out.  That leaves me with two things that were not normal about this workout.  1.) I stretched beforehand, and 2.) I don’t think I was hydrated enough.  Tomorrow when I attack Day 2 head on, I am going to make sure that I am adequately hydrated, and I’m going to skip the pre-workout stretching.  Maybe I will see a difference in my performance. 

“YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE ISN’T SOMEONE ELSE.  IT’S THE ACHE IN YOUR LUNGS AND THE BURNING IN YOUR LEGS, AND THE VOICE INSIDE YOU THAT YELLS “CAN’T”, BUT YOU DON’T LISTEN.  YOU JUST PUSH HARDER.  AND THEN YOU HEAR THE VOICE WHISPER “CAN”.  AND YOU DISCOVER THAT THE PERSON YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE IS NO MATCH FOR THE ONE YOU REALLY ARE.”

The NEW FatGirl

Week 5, Day 1 - Changing things up a bit...

Me?  Make changes?  Change my mind for the 500th time?  No.... NEVER. 

Okay, well yes.  Again.  Sorry. 

This is just a minor change though - I will be weighing in on Wednesdays instead of Mondays.  With updating the blog everyday with my workouts, and trying to weigh in on Mondays and Wednesdays, it's all just a bit much.  I feel like I am putting too much pressure on myself.  On Wednesdays, we do the weigh-ins for the Biggest Loser competition at work.  Weight, measurements, the whole 9.  It just makes more sense (to ME) to do my offical update then.  I have updated the chart below with the correct dates - but NO weigh in today. 

Here is a reminder of my goals:

• I will weigh in, and report my weight at LEAST once a week, maybe more.
• I will get to the gym (or workout at home) 4 times each week.
• I will cut out the unnecessary sugary drinks, and get back to drinking water.
• I will update the below chart after each week's weigh-in. If I meet the goal listed, the date will be changed to green. If I miss it - it will be red.

Today's weigh-in:
01/28/13: 226.6
02/04/13: 224.6 228.0
02/11/13: 222.6 227.8
02/18/13: 220.6 227.6
02/27/13: 218.6
03/06/13: 216.6
03/13/13: 214.6
03/20/13: 212.6
03/27/13: 210.6
04/03/13: 208.6
04/10/13: 206.6
04/17/13: 204.6
04/24/13: 202.6
05/01/13: 200.6
05/08/13: 198.6
05/15/13: 196.6
05/22/13: 194.6
05/29/13: 192.6
06/05/13: 190.6
06/12/13: 188.6
06/19/13: 186.6
06/26/13: 184.6
07/03/13: 182.6
07/10/13: 180.6
07/17/13: 178.6
07/24/13: 176.6
07/31/13: 174.6
08/07/13: 172.6
08/14/13: 170.6
08/21/13: 168.6
08/28/13: 166.6
08/31/13: My Wedding Day!!! Goal: 165.00

Number of pounds lost:
Number of inches lost:
Percentage of Body Fat lost:
Pounds left to Lose:

Week One, DONE!!!

So Saturday was day 3 of the first week of C25K.  Same workout, intervals of 60 seconds running, and 90 seconds walking.  I’ve had this thing where I’ve tried to push myself a bit harder each day.  This is why I have been taking pictures of the treadmill at the end of each workout.  Saturday was the last workout of the week, so I really wanted to push myself.  I walked faster.  I ran faster.  I ran a LOT faster on the last interval.  And I accomplished my goal. 

I walked at 3.2, ran at 4.5, and for the last 60 seconds, ran at 5.5.  I kept it at a 1 incline, and saw something I hadn’t seen yet – the 8^th lap on the treadmill.  I covered a distance of 1.77 miles in 30 minutes.  The previous workout, I only reached 1.74, so I was pretty proud of myself.

 

 

I also realized that I actually prefer running on the treadmill, vs. running outside.  Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the scenery and fresh air outside over Family Feud on the TV and crazy perfume lady next to me.  But I like that the treadmill gives me a visual of my accomplishments.  I know that I am keeping a steady pace.  I know that I ran faster today than I did on my last workout.  I know exactly how far I ran.  And I know that today, I worked myself harder than yesterday.  For that reason, I think I am going to stick with the treadmill throughout this round of C25K.    

Anyway – after my run on Saturday, I was feeling especially motivated.  I was sitting in front of the mirror stretching my legs out, and realized I wasn’t ready to quit yet.  I was surrounded by all these weights – I might as well lift some of them!  So I pulled up the 5x5 app on my phone, and got to work.  For those of you who don’t know, the app I am talking about is StrongLifts 5x5.  The basic, quick rundown is this:  you do 5 sets of 5 reps on 3 major exercises.  That’s it.  I had started it once before, after my Moose of a Dog, Lexi – ate my copy of NROLFW.  Stronglifts was free, had an app, and had some great reviews. 

5x5 is comprised of 2 workouts, A and B.  Workout A is Squats, Bench Press, and a Barbell Row.  Workout B is Squats, Overhead Press, and Deadlift.  On your first workout, you are supposed to lift 45 pounds for the squats and the bench press, and 65 pounds for the row.  I surprised myself by completing 5x5 squats with good form.  However, I failed on the 4^th set of the bench press, only completing 3 reps on 4 and 5.  I also failed on the row, completing 4 reps on sets 3 and 4, and only 3 reps on set 5.  Tonight will be workout B.  I’m excited to see what I can do! 

After feeling pretty antsy yesterday morning, I realized throughout the day that I was pretty sore – so I decided to take advantage of my rest day.  But I am anxious to get back to it.  I actually packed my workout bag this morning and threw it in the car, so that I would be prepared if Matt throws me a curveball tonight. 

Here are some updated progress pictures I took on Saturday.  They are disgusting.  I am a hot sweaty mess, and normally I wouldn’t post crap like this.  BUT – I look a hell of a lot better than I did 60 pounds ago, and this will be something great to look back on 60 pounds from now.  Right?  Right. 

 

FatGirl

Still gettin it!

Okay, so last night when I got home from work, Matt told me that his mom was making her famous chicken and rice. I'm sure he did not mind getting out of making dinner, but I didn't mind since I can't have lasagna anyway (I gave up pasta for Lent). When we got to the house, she was running late with dinner. By the time dinner was finished, we had eaten, and we got the kids rounded up and ready to leave, it was already 7:00.

I had my mind made up. I was doing this tonight. I rushed Matt and the kids out of the house, dropped them off, and headed to the gym. Tonight's workout seemed easier than the last one. I didn't have to think about my breathing as much this time, and it seems like the intervals were done before I knew it. I impressed myself with this because I also tried to run faster tonight and put the incline up just a little bit higher.

I really pushed myself. On the last interval, I decided that I was going to try to run at 5, which was a half a mile faster than I had run the entire time.

Today, I took advantage of my off day by doing the Zumba Toning. Now, I don't have the maracas so I just used my two pound weights. Holy. Hell. To be honest, I only did 30 minutes and quit. I don't even know how long that DVD is. But those 30 minutes definitely kicked my ass. And I was pretty proud I did it, because I really, *really* didn't want to.

And I had a NSV today. Kinda. Lol

I talked to my mom tonight, as I do every day of my life. I told her about my workouts last night and today. My mom is a walker. She walks a few days a week, and is working on losing some weight. She told me tonight that when she was walking today, she noticed some people her age gathering for an exercise class. After she was done walking, she went and asked a staff member about the class.

It's a silver sneakers program that meets twice a week, and is catered to seniors. And she signed up!!! She said I had inspired her to work harder on being healthier, and she is going to do the class in addition to her walks.

That's kind of an NSV, right? Either way, I am one proud daughter right now. Her first class is next Wednesday. I told her she's going to have to do a guest blog post about it... She'll never do it, but I can't wait to hear about it!

See ya tomorrow!!

FatGirl

I said i'd never do it....

I fought it.  I fought it long and hard.  I didn’t want to do it.  I wasn’t going to give in.  And then I bought the DVD, only because I basically stole it.  And then I fought it again.  The DVD has sat in my house for months, collecting dust.  Last night, it won.  Damn you ZUMBA!!!!

Let me back up…

Yesterday was a bad day for me.  It started out as a bad morning, continued into a bad afternoon, followed by a bad weigh-in, a bad attitude, and bad traffic on the way home.  I will admit I was glad when Matt told me the kids were staying at Grandma’s until 6.  At least I’d have some time to wind down before my bad day affected them.  So I sat down to relax.

The next thing I knew, it was 6:45, and Matt was waking me up.  I literally hit the ground running.  Don’t get me wrong, everyone loves a good nap – but now I was behind!  I had a schedule planned for the night!  I had a plan!  Now the plan isn’t going to work!  Needless to say, I was NOT in the best mood when I woke up.  I helped with homework while I got dinner ready.  By the time  we were done eating, it was close to 8.  The kids go to bed in an hour.  There’s no way to get to the gym and back in that amount of time, Matt is watching TV in my workout room, and Nathan is playing the Wii in the other room.  How in the hell was I going to get my workout in?

Just that quick, I moved the DVD player from our family room, to the bedroom.  Hmm… not a whole lot of space.  I had about 6 feet between the TV and the bed, and about 10 ft of usable space from side to side.  The 30 Day Shred is not going to work.  Neither is the Brazilian Butt lift.  Or Turbo Jam.  I eyed the DVDs with contempt.  This is stupid.  Who wants to dance like a fool in their bedroom?  I really don’t want to stare that this Latin diva’s spectacular abs for the next 30 minutes.  But if I want to work out – if I want to keep my promise to myself, this IS my only option. 

Damn it all to hell. 

I started to get some workout gear on.  And here comes Madie. 

“Wanna play spoons?” 

Uh, with two people, and without alchol... hmmmm…. NO.

“Aw sweetheart, I would but I have to work out!”

“Can I work out with you?”

Damnnit.  I should have known that was coming.  Now I have to share my already confined space with someone else.  Eh, she is kinda small.  It’s not like a second elephant trying to salsa in a 6x10 box, right?

“Sure, go get dressed…”

And we we’re off.  Within 2 minutes we were hip shakin’, laughing hysterically, and sweating.  I had to really focus on my posture – back straight, tummy pulled in, shoulders back… - to really feel the burn… but when I did, IT BURNED.  We did the Zumba Live dvd, so it was nice to see people of all ages, shapes and sizes fumbling around just as horrifically as I was.  We were dancing, having a great time, when Mr. No FUN came and knocked on the bedroom door.  He asked what we were doing and said we sounded like 10 teenagers having a slumber party.  We yelled back “ZUUUUUUUUMMMMMMBAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”  He yelled back that it was bedtime.  I rolled my eyes at Madie, and said, “it’s only been 10 minutes!”

Yep, I was wrong.  More than 30 minutes had passed, and we hadn't even noticed!  We were just having FUN!!  But, Miss hipshaker still had to take a shower, and be in bed in 15 minutes.  Oops…  That was my fault. 

As the kids got in their shower and bath, Matt help up his hand for a “fist bump”.  I did it, but asked “What’s this for?”.  He said that he was really proud of me for working out.  He was SURE that when I woke up like a crazy person from my nap that I would excuse myself from working out, saying it was an off day, or I had too many other things to do.  I told him that I come first now.  If it comes down to a choice of working out, or doing the dishes (which just happened to be the situation) I’m choosing me, and as proof, the dishes are still in the sink.  LOL 

I hate to admit it, but it was fun.  I can see why so many people love Zumba.  I really don’t think this will be my every “off” night workout, but it will definitely be used on the nights I really don’t *want* to work out. 

Hey, a girls’ got to have priorities, right?

Then I weighed in this morning when I got to work…  I am down TWO pounds from YESTERDAY!!!  I was super excited!  Tonight is my next run for C25K – Week 1, Day 2 – and I’m pretty excited about that too.  Matt is making dinner, and hopefully will have the dishes done by the time I get home…   

PS – I *finally* understand this…