Gaining Confidence

Measured myself this morning. So excited about my progress. Hips 41 (down from 44), waist 38 (down from 41.5), breasts 42 (down from 44) and thighs 23 (down from 26). Amazing! I think you can really tell in my face (see last post and compare to my profile pic). Here is one of my smaller legs and totally shrinking butt. I want it back. Lol.

Still losing

166 pounds! The juicing really jump started my weight loss and got me in a healthy mental state. After a devastating incident in my marriage, life has taken some unexpected twists and turns. I am now down to 166 pounds - my lowest weight in 15 years. I am not juicing right now. Stress is melting the pounds away. I need to start exercising again and I'm planning another juice fast soon.

Day 45 - I am a Kick Ass Woman

So it's day 45 and I am still going strong. I have been juicing at least 2 meals a day and have been exercising like crazy. I am feeling really good. I do not have Earth shattering numbers to share and I'm a bit bummed about that (but I am still one kick ass woman!)

To recap, I started this journey in late June at 197 pounds. I started juicing on August 4th at 192.9 pounds. It's 45 days later and I am now 179. That's not what I expected - I thought I would be down at least 20 by now, but LIFE gets in the way sometimes. I keep telling myself - take it one day at a time and try your best. Don't get down on yourself when life throws you a curve ball and NEVER look back.

I have started a Facebook group of kick ass women friends who want to eat right and get healthy - I am calling it Shrinking Sisters. The group is made up of my sister, 2 childhood friends, and 2 neighborhood friends. I am hoping to inspire them and get more encouragement myself. They have actually gotten out and exercised (except for my sister) and I am so proud of them. Sis, if you are reading this, you get a bye for one more week due to your injuries and then you need to get your butt moving!

My pledge for the week - I need to go back to hard core juicing. I want to see big numbers (I feel like a Biggest Loser contestant). Except for this Thursday (dinner with coworkers), I will JUICE ONLY for the next several days (I'm not committing to an actual number of days because my hubby reads this blog and will remind me, "ugh, weren't you going to ONLY drink juice for the next bla bla days?"

Wish me luck!

Day 36 - Girl on Fire!

Today I am feeling absolutely exhilarated. Last night I registered for my first 5k, Laps for Lexi. Lexi was the 8 year old daughter of a police officer friend of my hubby's. She was the most alive, most beautiful, spirited little princess who died of cancer five years ago. This will be the 4th annual running of Laps for Lexi. It's the perfect start to my 5k future. So at 8:00 a.m. this morning I laced up my brand new running shoes, the Saucony Triumphs, and hit the pavement. I normally run on the treadmill in my basement and I do not do any incline. Well running outside was WAY different. The inclines were difficult and my shins were burning. I thought about giving up a few times in the beginning, but then my muscles were warming up and I started feeling stronger. My music is a HUGE help when I am running. At one point "Girl on Fire' by Alicia Keys came on - a song that used to annoy me. Guess what - it is my new anthem! I am on fire - my life is SO much healthier, I am stronger mentally and physically, and everything is falling into place. This journey is amazing. Why didn't I do this years ago? Guess I wasn't ready. Nothing can stop me now.

Not sure how far I ran yet, but I was gone for an hour! Going to map my route in a few minutes. Have an awesome Sunday, friends!

Day 32 - Goodbye Inches

Day 32. Feeling pretty great. Scale is moving down - in the right direction! I am still juicing for at least 2 meals a day. I have started running 3 miles and lifting weights every other day. Today I have no school, so I plan to take a long walk. It's glorious outside and I just can't sit inside all day. Since the beginning of the summer I have lost almost 17 pounds (11 since the juicing started on August 4th). That is like 3 gallons of milk. No wonder I have more energy! Carrying around that extra weight was hard on my body for sure.

I have some new and improved measurements to share:
Waist started at 41.5, now 39.
Hips started at 44, now 42.5.
Thigh started at 26, now 25.
Arm started at 15, now 14.
Breasts started at 44, now 42.5.

Feeling proud of myself. My goal is to lose another 10 pounds by October 1st. Think I can do it? You're damn right I can!

Day 29 - Feeling Fine

Tomorrow I will hit a huge milestone - not only will it be day 30 of juicing, but it will be day 30 of no Diet Coke. I think that is an even bigger accomplishment! To be completely honest, I have not stuck to just juicing for the last 29 days. As most of you know who have been following along on my journey, every day I have replaced at least 2 meals with juice. Yay me! (You gotta celebrate all the little wins and not focus on the shortcomings.) There have been several days in the past two weeks that I have had pho soup for dinner, or a turkey sub from Subway for lunch, or the occasional dinner. I have tried to make better choices and to stop myself before feeling full. Since the beginning of the summer I am down 16 pounds, and down 11 since starting the juicing. That's not as much as I wanted, but I am super proud of myself.

This week I am going hard core. No real meals at all (after tonight's Labor Day steak fajita meal with friends) and I am going to run/lift weights every day. This week I want to leave the 180s for good. I am soooooo close! The inches are coming off too. I have lost almost 3 inches just from my waist which is making a huge difference in how I look in my clothes. The bloat is gone and my tummy is getting flatter and flatter. I wore clothes this week that I bought 4 years ago and haven't been able to wear since. That's progress, my friends!

I'm off to drink my delicious morning juice. Here is the recipe:
5 handfuls of spinach
1 pear
1 peach
2 kiwis
3 big chunks of pineapple

Day 24 - Mixed Feelings

Haven't written in awhile. Started back to school last week (teacher pre-service week) and started for real yesterday. I have to say that in the beginning I thought that once I reached day 24 I would have lost over 20 pounds. Not sure if that was realistic, but it's what was in my head. I am still only down 10 pounds, but a lot is going on. It's hard to stay 100% on track with JUST the juice all day every day. The funny thing is, I am not tempted at the times where I thought I would be, for example a staff breakfast or eating lunch with other teachers on my team. I thought dinner would be the easiest - it's NOT. It's the hardest. I can make it all day and then at night I fall apart. When I "cheat" and eat at night (pho soup mostly) I don't lose any weight that day and it takes me a couple days to start losing again. Also, I lose more weight when I work out, but I have been so exhausted after working all day that it is hard. I am giving myself a break this week (although I did lift weights last night) and I am hoping to get started with my workout plan next week. After having the summer off, my feet are killing me this week! I can't imagine running on them. Ouchie!

This weekend my food addiction reared its ugly head after an emotional day. One of the main triggers of my eating is my mother. Mom, if you are reading this, I'm sorry but it's true. After a little stressful situation with her, I was feeling downright depressed all day. Nothing seemed to help get me out of the funk. All I wanted was to eat - BAD food! That, of course, made me angry with myself because once again my food addiction was winning. I knew that I should use my coping skills - pray or mentally go to my happy place - but SCREW THAT. I wanted to eat, damn it. So, I did and I must say, I felt better. So I gave myself the grace of indulging and coping the way I wanted to. I just made a promise that tomorrow was a new day and I would simply try again. One thing I have learned is to LOVE MYSELF and give myself a break - but not too much of a break. Oh, and by the way, even though the pounds aren't pouring off like I would like, I am actually losing inches. Belly (or nasty gut as I call it) is shrinking. Woo Hoo!