Yeah, this is getting awkward..

Ok, so since I've lost weight, I've received lots of compliments about looking good, losing weight, etc.. but mostly from female friends and co-workers. Only a couple of male co-workers have dared to say anything, and usually it's been pretty benign, like "oh, you're looking good. Have you been working out?" or "you're getting so skinny!" (which is my personal favorite since I've never been called skinny).

So, one of my male co-workers at the hospital, whom shall not be named, said to me one day, "hey there skinny! We're going to have to start calling you superfox!" I was flattered, but a little weirded out by the compliment. I said thank you, of course, and reminded myself to stop wearing such low-cut shirts in this certain department. I didn't think too much about it for the next couple of days.

However, this same male co-worker was working on a different floor a few days later, and was talking to my female co-worker about me. He said the same thing to her about me, including the superfox thing. Ok, so yeah, that's a little weird, but then, he asked if I was divorced or getting divorced. He didn't ask that because I was losing weight, but because he hadn't "seen me wearing my wedding ring lately."

First of all, I never miss a day without my wedding ring at work.

Second, yikes.

Third, yikes. I didn't think men cared about or looked at wedding rings.

So, now I have to avoid this person because I think he's checking me out. I sat across from him a few days later and made sure my ring finger with my wedding ring was in full sight.

Awkward.

Graham says he better watch out, because he doesn't want to have to burn the hospital down if he ever hits on me or says something like that again. Do you remember the last time when some guys hit on me?

Fitness Update

So, I guess you all deserve an update on my progress from working out for more than 9 months, 6 days a week. I, my friends, have been a success! I have lost 24 pounds and more than 25 inches, I am down to my goal weight, and I have gained back my confidence. I am down from a size 8/10 to a 4/6 (I was so excited the other day when an employee at Ann Taylor LOFT thought I was a size 2). I am fitting in jeans that I bought when I was 21. I actually like exercising. I have self-control (except around chips and salsa... they are my downfall). I can be an inspiration for my patients and co-workers.

Anyways, here's a good illustration of my success over 9-12 months. I'm sorry about the before picture. I hardly allowed full pictures of myself post-partum, so this is one of the only ones that really shows a big difference. The picture on the left is from Christmas 2011. The picture on the right is from Christmas 2012.

And, because I'm trying to be brave here, this is my 20-week progress photos. The first picture is after I'd already lost 10 lbs.

 

 

 

Anyways, I'm proud of my progress, and anything after this is just going be icing on the cake. Right now, I'm doing a weight lifting routine with cardio, so I expect to tone up a bit more.

 

Thanks for reading!

Oh.my.blog..

I cannot believe I haven't blogged in almost 3 months. I guess I'll give a brief update as to what our family is up to..

--Graham is finishing his first semester as a Washington State student.. only 3 more to go! (18 months and counting...)
--Carter just turned 2 last month. Pictures are on Facebook. He is a doll, really. He is the cutest kid I know. He just learned the word "no" and "mine". Fun.
--I'm still working full-time at the hospital. Our hospital is planning on a big affiliation with a large Catholic healthcare organization in the summer of next year, so that should be interesting.
--Graham is serving as the interim Engineering Club President. He got voted in as the president, but he's not actually a student at the junior college, so there was a problem with that. So now, he's helping out until someone else steps up. He also just got a calling as the ward choir director. Super fun.
--Carter is talking a TON. He says full-on sentences and tells us stories when "reading" his books. Totally adorable. He also cleans up after us. I have a really bad habit of leaving drawers and cabinet doors open, but Carter manages to close them after me. I also left my makeup out on the table the other day, and Carter climbed up on the table, put it back in the bag, and climbed back down. Weird kid.
--I am almost down 20 pounds! Woohoo! I am also wearing pants that I'd saved from 8 years ago in college (my nice designer jeans and some slacks from Banana Republic). I've also retired some of my current work clothes and designated them as future maternity work clothes.
--Graham just applied for a co-op internship at a government naval agency nearby, which would pay for the rest of schooling, pay him for his hours, guarantee him a job out of college, and help pay off student loans when he starts as a full-time engineer after graduation. Hopefully we'll hear something soon about it (like an interview!).
--Carter is now sleeping in a twin bed. He doesn't get out of bed at night or in the morning, which is weird because he knows how to. He sometimes cries out in the middle of the night for "daddy--lie down!" to have Graham come and sleep in his "big boy bed" with him. Too cute, but not a habit we want to start.
--I am turning THIRTY next month.. And I'm kind of freaking out about it. I keep finding more gray hairs, so my birthday present will be a haircut and color. My parents are coming up to celebrate with us, but we don't plan on doing anything too exciting (besides shopping).

Anyways, we are heading down to California over Thanksgiving break, so let me know if you're in town as well because we'd love to see you!

Update

So, I haven't blogged in 2 months. Yikes. I've been busy. Graham has been down in Portland during the week, completing his engineering labs, so I'm a semi-single mom. Pretty much every day, I wake up early, get ready, drop Carter off at daycare, work, pick Carter up, throw something in the oven, put Carter to bed, exercise, and then it's bed time. Free time is minimal and usually I use it to take a bath after a hard work out.

As far as life goes, I cannot wait for the summer to end and for life to go back to normal. I love Graham too much for him to be away this much. Plus, Carter misses him and asks for Daddy all of the time. Work is work..

Vegetarianism has gone out of the window. Although I believe fairly strongly about its principles without getting all self-righteous about it, I just can't do it long-term. I love cooking too much, and not being able to cook beef, chicken or pork made me sad. I have a full shelf of cookbooks that I felt like were going to waste. I love trying new recipes and trying new vegetarian recipes wasn't cutting it. I still plan on eating meat more sparingly and making a vegetarian meal at least 1-2 times per week. I also bought some organic ground beef at Costco that I liked.

Fitness-wise.. I am doing great. I am almost 6 months in and still loving it. I have not missed a planned workout once. I even brought my workout videos on vacation (which my family joined me in, which was a lot of fun). Thanks to my friend Sherilyn who let me borrow her videos, I have moved on to Turbo Fire, which is the Insanity version of Turbo Jam. It is very high intensity, so it requires a lot of energy on my part. I am absolutely drenched with sweat even after a 15-minute workout. It combines high-intensity cardio with high-intensity interval training (HIIT), as well as yoga, stretching, and resistance band training. The HIIT workouts are no joke. I've never jumped this much in my life, including at cheer practice and tumbling lessons. I am in love with the music and look forward to my workout all day long.

Graham says I've become an annoying person who talks about working out a lot now, but that's ok. Both of my co-workers work out a lot, so it's something we all share now. I love feeling the endorphins after exercise and feeling sore after a new workout. I am beginning to like what I see in the mirror. From June 1st-August 1st doing Turbo Jam and Bar Method, I only lost 2 pounds (out of a total of 10) but I lost more than 10 inches. Man do I wish I measured myself in March when I started! Anyways, since I started Turbo Fire July 30th, I've lost 2.5 pounds and 4 inches, including a full inch off my waist in only 2 weeks! I found my measurements from October 2008, and I'm actually smaller than I was then in my arms and waist! My goal is to get down to my waist measurement from my senior year of high school--only 4.5 more inches to go.. If I keep going at this rate, I should be there by October, when we take our family photos for Carter's 2nd birthday! I've lost almost 12 pounds so far, and it's dropping more rapidly with the new workout.

Anyways, hope you all are doing well and enjoying your summers. It's been in the high 70's and 80's, which is unbearable up here. Thank goodness I live in the Pacific Northwest because I am now heat-intolerant.

My journey back to fitness

I say "back to fitness" as if I've ever been truly fit.. but I really haven't. When I've worked out in the past, like on an elliptical machine at the gym, it was never like it is now. I was involved in all sorts of activities and sports growing up, like soccer, dance, softball, cheerleading, and gymnastics, but somewhere along the way I stopped really trying to improve. I was fine with where I was at the moment, which was nothing really special. I was never thin, but not fat or overweight. I was just normal-sized and adequately trained in the sports I participated in.

In high school, I took advantage of my metabolism and activity and really started eating like crap my senior year. I started to gain some weight, and I probably weighed 135 pounds or so when I graduated in 2001. I am only 5'3" (I think?), so my BMI was within the normal range, but I was heavier than I would've liked. I went away to college and went down to 130 pounds within the first few months. I worked out like a fiend, but ended up gaining the weight back after the winter.. which ended up being my life story for the next few years. One summer after I lost my winter weight, my grandpa even remarked, "Oh Sherri you got skinny again".

I have no idea what I weighed when I graduated college in 2006, but I was smaller than when I started going through grad school. I again started eating like crap and went up to ~140 pounds before I got married. Then, after I got married in 2007, I probably gained 15 pounds. I only started weighing myself in 2009 when I thought I would try to lose weight. My mom bought me a scale (man was I scared of the number on the scale), but I stopped trying to lose weight when we started trying to have a baby. After having a baby, I dropped to 6 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight, but couldn't drop those pounds until I stopped breastfeeding. I lost a few pounds when I went vegetarian, but I ended up gaining about 7 pounds within 5 months. Seriously.. yikes (and I'm not sharing my weight because I'm way too embarrassed). I cried when I saw the number on the scale and decided I needed to actually TRY at something. I hated looking at myself in the mirror and still have this habit of stepping outside the bathroom, even when brushing my teeth, so I don't have to look at my body.

I used to exercise regularly before I met Graham, but we liked being with each other so much that being apart for an hour felt like an eternity. So, exercise went down the drain, and pretty much stayed there until March of this year. I had my moments of attempted exercise regimens, but I never put the full effort in. So first, oddly enough, I had to do something that would help me commit to exercise again.. I had to do something regularly that I absolutely HATE...

Flossing my teeth.

I know.. that's weird, but once I flossed every night for a month straight, I knew I could commit to exercise. I hate flossing so much, and I've never been good at doing it, so if I was able to do that, I could exercise, which I don't hate.

Anyways, I set a goal of mine for 12 weeks of fitness, based on an inspirational quote I spotted on Pinterest:

It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing,
8 weeks for your friends to notice,
and 12 weeks for the rest of the world to notice.
Give it 12 weeks.
Don't quit.

So, I exercised 4 days a week for the first 4 weeks, and increased it to 5 days a week after that. I like to alternate between The Bar Method videos and Turbo Jam videos. The Bar Method sculpts my muscles like no other exercises, and Turbo Jam helps me get my aggression out. It's a great balance!

So, I did my exercises, rewarding myself with small presents (a cookbook, eyeshadow, etc) with every 3 consecutive weeks I worked out, with the goal of getting a new pair of workout shoes after 12 weeks (because my Nike Shox are terrible for my high arches). After the 11th weeks mark, a woman at work asked me what I was doing because I was looking so trim. It was one of the first times I've received a compliment about my body in years, and I was seriously so happy I could've cried.

As far as diet goes, being a Registered Dietitian and all, I know that being severely restrictive in my diet would not work out for me. So, I set a goal to eat salads 2 times a week for lunch, and to eat less calories at breakfast (I often eat a small amount of Kashi cereal with a protein shake). I still eat dessert, as well as chips and salsa. I know that if I cut out eating those things, I would probably lose weight faster, but that's not realistic for me. I will never give up dessert or my salty snacks, so I couldn't cut them out completely.

So, where am I at now? What are my goals?

After 14 weeks, I am currently down 8 pounds, but I feel like I'm down 15. I didn't measure myself before I started working out, which I should have, but oh well. I can look at my body in the mirror again. Yesterday when I looked at myself in my workout clothes, I said "wow".. which has happened, oh hmm... like never. My legs and butt are muscular again (thanks Bar Method), and I'm beginning to see definition in my arms (thank you Beach Body hand weights).

My goal is to be healthy. I will never run a marathon, nor will I participate in a triathalon.. so those aren't what I will be working towards. I want to lose more weight, and get down to a healthy BMI (which is 140 pounds for my height). Sure, I will never be skinny or thin, but all I want is to be healthy and to feel better about myself. I have made myself a fitness chart with a planned monthly exercise regimen. I will still be doing Turbo Jam and The Bar Method videos, but I will be trying out some of their more advanced videos within the next few months.

What have I learned? (if you're even still reading)

Losing weight is hard. It requires lots of dedication, time, and mental commitment. The physical aspect is just an aside to the mental preparation I have to do every night I press play on the DVD player. Fitness is a goal everyone should aspire for. It's not just to look good. It's to feel good, to test your body and your mind, and to learn what you are truly made of. Even if nobody ever reads this, writing this blog has made me proud of what I've accomplished so far.