Thursday Weigh-In Results

Happy Thursday!  Today started off GREAT with a breakfast out with my boys! I ate before we went to McDonald's and just enjoyed a coffee while there. 

Then it was off to the gym for a personal training session!

I felt GREAT afterwards! I came home and had the urge to clean my house (which doesn't happen too often).  I managed to get our main living room deep cleaned before it was time to go weigh-in.  I was excited to weigh-in today because I knew I had been on plan with my eating and activity all week!  So here it is:

YAY! I was down another 3.6 pounds for a total of 99 pounds.  I am only 7 pounds away from the lowest weight I was before my surgery!!!!!!  I am telling you hard work pays off!!!

After weigh-in it was more housework and all I have accomplished is cleaning the bathroom, replacing the toilet seat (which I did by myself!!), and the hallway done.  

I just feel GOOD today!  I am ready to tackle anything!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

P.S. How come every time you clean out the litter box, the cats have to poop in it right away? Phew!

I Stink! - NSV Wednesday

It is SO important to celebrate those NSV's so each Wednesday I am going to try to do just that and remind all of you to think about what victories you have had as well.  So for this week:

1.  By the end of the day, I STINK! I put on deodorant at least 3 times a day and I still stink.  I never had that problem before I started working out and I LOVE IT!  I know that may sound crazy, but to me it is proof that I worked hard and sweat hard!

2.  I have 2 closets for my clothes.  One in my bedroom for my regular clothes and one in my workout room for my exercise clothes.  As I was putting my laundry away the other day, I noticed that I have WAY more exercise clothes than regular clothes that actually fit me.  Funny how our styles and preferences change as we become more active!

Now it is your turn! Share a non-scale victory that you have had this week!!!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

NSV stands for Non-Scale Victory.  The best quote I have ever read came from a book by Kim Bensen 

called Finally Thin:

“We measure the progress of our diets by the numbers on the scale. For that brief moment in time, this is what this machine on this particular floor in a room with this specific air pressure says. That’s it. Nothing more. The scale can’t measure behavior or determination, two things that are much more important to long-term weight loss than the numbers themselves. So the scale cannot be the only measure we use to feel successful. The scale can’t measure your will, your drive, how much time you put into your food plan, or how many temptations you said no to. It can’t tell how many old habits you broke or new, healthier habits you started. It doesn't know the effort you put in at the gym, and it doesn't care. It won’t heap praise on you because you chose the stairs over the elevator or know that you passed on a slice of a colleague’s birthday cake even though you wanted it with all your heart.Most of all, the scale doesn't have any idea how hard you’re trying, or how many times you overcame a slip and got back on track when you felt like giving it all up together. Only you know that.  Every time you get on the scale, take a minute to measure what’s really important especially your behavior and your effort. We all get zapped by the scale from time to time. It’s inevitable. But even if you feel as if the scale gave you a D for weight this week, give yourself an A for effort when you've had a fabulously successful week. I promise you, that effort will show up at the scale eventually.” 

Kim Bensen

Transformation Tuesday! - Meet Elizabeth

Happy Tuesday!!!!! I love this day in the social media world because of all of the transformations that are shared.  It is so motivating and inspiring to read about other people who are changing their lives by eating healthy and moving more.  And today, I want to share Elizabeth's story with you!

Hi. I lost 100 lbs in 2011 by doing Insanity, Asylum, P90X, BBL, running, and swimming. I ate healthy and drank a bunch of water. Was going to join the military. Due to some medical complications, never joined. Gained 126 lbs. I found out I had plantar fasciitis over a year ago.

I started my fitness journey cause I was looking up devices to help clean my own behind. I had trouble to even go to the restroom. How horrible is that? Sad. I had thoughts of ending my life because of the choices I made. The regaining the weight I lost. The lending out 5K to a guy cause I wanted him to want me. I had bad self esteem. There was other reasons of why I wanted to end my life. But for every one I knew I had 100 more reasons to stay. And I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself. And just looked at the cup half full and not half empty. Yeah I gained the weight back. So freaking what? I'm not dead yet. I will get to where I want to be. It may take a year or two. But I'll get there.

I was going to get gastric bypass surgery. Decided to sign up with a PT instead. Then after a few months of that. Decided to do the T25 workout program. So happy that I get to still spend 25 min a day with the love of my life. Lol. And I'm so grateful that I have hope again and that my foot isn't stopping me this time. I'm down 50 lbs so far. Thank you all. Love you all.

I LOVE her story and I relate to her so much.  She is a amazing lady who has taken back control of her life and I know she will inspire many others to do the same.  I am  telling you all that depression is a very real and very invisible thing.  I think even more so for those of us that battle with our body image and self esteem issues.  Some days the thought of it all being over can be overwhelming, but Elizabeth is proof that we are not going through this alone and that there is hope!!!  For even more check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/shrinkinglady.

If you would like a chance to tell your story, click here to fill out the form.  I LOVE seeing all of the inspiration and we have to lift each other up! We are all in this together!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

When will it end? NEVER

Happy Monday! I hope you all had an amazing weekend. I am feeling much better today! I started off my Monday with a training session at the gym. 

Felt good to get back to moving my body!

I have been reading a new book called Suddenly Skinny by Freya Taylor. 

I am not finished with it yet, but I am really enjoying the book.  Now I will forewarn you that she tells it like it is, there is no sugar coating at all. But this quote really stood out to me as I was reading. 

How true is this?  We start a "diet" with an end goal in sight (and I'm not saying anything is wrong with having a goal).  But what happens when we reach that goal? Is the diet over? Do we just go back to the same way we were eating before?  To me the word diet is a negative word.  It sounds like deprivation, something that I will only do for a short time, and it brings up a lot of negative feelings in me.  I always see this quote:

I was doing some web surfing for a list of all the different "diets" out there. And here is a link to one I found very interesting. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diets

If you have time, read through some of them.  I am not saying one way is the only way.  I have long promoted that we all need to find what works for us.  But I think we need to stop looking at our program of choice as a diet and make sure that we are doing something that we can maintain for a lifetime. 

There is no expiration date on my healthy eating and moving my body.  There will not be a date that it is over.  I will always be a food addict, I will always battle cravings, I will always have to watch my food intake.  The way I am living today is a sustainable way of life that I can see myself living for the rest of my days here on Earth.  

So when will it be over? NEVER! 

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari 

Short Message Sunday

I don't usually blog on Sunday, but this has been on my heart all day and maybe you need to hear it. 

I have not intentionally moved my body since Thursday. I have done great at eating right, but zero exercise. And you know what? THAT IS OKAY! Thursday night I started having symptoms of a urinary tract infection. By Friday afternoon, I had a fever and ached all over. I bought some OTC meds but I felt bad all weekend. Sorta like having the flu. I even had to miss a couple family activities because I had no energy. My body needed rest and I gave my body rest. NEVER feel guilty for listening to your body. Being fit and healthy is a lifelong process, it has no end date. As some say it is a marathon, not a sprint. Take care of yourself! So what if it takes an extra week to lose that pound, you will get there. You are living in the only body you will ever have here on Earth, so respect it with movement and respect it with rest when needed!

I am feeling a bit better tonight and have a training session in the morning!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

Thursday Weigh-In Results

Happy Thursday! Today is my weigh-in day! I was actually very excited to go today because I have had an amazing week of eating right and moving my body.  Here are my results:

I was down 3.4 pounds!!!!!!  That makes my total lost 95.4 pounds.  I am moving back in the right direction and it feels GREAT!

Due to internet outage (again), I was unable to blog yesterday, but here was my workout:

My trainer wants me to row 1,000 meters every Wednesday.  I got upstairs to use my rowing machine and it does not calculate distance, but number of rows.  So I sent her a text and she suggested doing 200-300 rows, so I completed the 300!!

I also had a training session this morning.  I do have to say that I am feeling so much stronger!!!

That is it for today! Short and sweet! Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

Toe Injury Tuesday

This will be brief today as my internet is down AGAIN and I am posting from my phone. 

Today started off with another training session at the gym and man oh man was it hard. BUT, I did it!

Then it was off to work for awhile. I headed home to eat lunch and opened the freezer in my garage and BAM, a hammer flew off and landed right on my big toe on my left foot.  The same toe I had surgery on earlier this year. I will admit there were a few tears, followed by some pain meds and a. Brief nap after lunch. And it still hurts! Ouchie!

Kinda hard to see the bruise in this pic.  But I didn't let it stop me from getting my walk in this evening. 

Now I am ready for a snack of an apple and almonds and relaxing in front of the TV event though I'm sad Extreme Weight Loss is not on tonight. 

Sending you all love and healthy wishes! Hoping for restored internet tomorrow. 

Keep Losing,

Kari

Gym Eval, First Day of School, and Workouts

Happy Monday! Today was the first day of school for my boys.  My youngest is starting 7th grade and my oldest is a freshman in high school.

Summer went by way too fast, especially because I spent much of it recovering from foot surgery.

Today was also my first evaluation/assessment since starting training at Anytime Fitness.  I was mixed on the results as some was good and some was not as good as I expected.  BUT, I am looking at this as a starting point for post-surgery.  So in 6 weeks, I am going to have an AMAZING assessment!  Here were my results:

	Start – 11/1/12	05/05/14	08/04/14	Total
Weight	402.2	301	312	-90
Body Fat	?	48.50%	49.40%	+0.9%
Neck	?	12.25”	12”	-0.5"
Chest	60”	47.5”	48”	-12"
Waist	67”	51”	48”	-19"
Hips	73”	57”	58”	-15"
Thighs	37”	24.75”	25”	-8"
Bicep	23”	15.5”	15.5”	-7.5"
Dress Size	34	26	24	-10

So since I started, I have lost 65.5 inches off of my body!  I know my weight and body fat increased since my surgery and I am kinda bummed, but I also know I did not give it 100%.  I feel so energized after this assessment.  I also had a GREAT talk with my trainer about nutrition and she helped me figure out a few tweaks to my nutrition to help as well.  And she mapped out what a typical week of activity should look like for me.  I am really going to track in My Fitness Pal for the next 6 weeks and pay close attention to my carbs, proteins, and fats.  Feel free to connect with me there.  My username is wtb165.

Today's workout was 20 minutes on the elliptical this morning at the gym:

And this evening I did the first disk to my new Les Mills pump I bought a few months ago.  I really enjoyed it even though I did not burn many calories:

I am still looking for more transformation stories to share on my blog. If you would like a chance to tell your story, click here to fill out the form.  I LOVE seeing all of the inspiration and we have to lift each other up! We are all in this together!

That is it for today! Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

August Goals and Workout

I cannot believe it is August 1 already.  My boys start back to school on Monday.  The summer went by WAY too fast.  Let's see how I did on my July goals:

I am SO happy to say that I was successful on all 3.  Even though my food was not 100%, I tracked everything I put in my mouth and I really worked on getting in those good health guidelines that Weight Watchers recommends.  I have liked wearing my fitbit, but it is not really an accurate measure of all of my activity, especially weight training and biking.  I have been looking at the Garmin Vivofit as a possibility.  Anyone tried it? What do you think?

And for August:

Foot surgery and filling in at work has really limited my flexibility to attend my Weight Watchers meeting.  I am the kind of person who needs that weekly accountability.  In August, I will attend every week even if it means driving (actually being driven) somewhere else in order to attend.  I also want to walk/bike 30 miles.  I really think this is doable now that I am recovering from surgery!  AND THE BIG ONE: cook dinner at home 5 nights a week.  Since my surgery we have fallen into a bad habit of eating out or ordering out.  I do so much better when I cook at home.  I hope to start sharing my dinner menu each Monday on the blog again.  Fingers crossed I can get the other 3 to agree!

And I had another personal training session this morning.  I won't lie, I woke up SORE this morning.  My arms hurt from yesterday and I was hoping she would go easy on the arms today, but NOPE!  And I am kinda glad because I felt SO good after my workout!  I was even confident enough to talk to a guy that had been at the gym when I ran into the gas station for a coffee!  I am learning that I am worthy more and more everyday!

My kitties had their first vet visit today and their first round of shots.  They looked very healthy and were very well behaved!

I am excited for this weekend because I get to spend some time with my family celebrating my nephew's 14th birthday!!!  I hope you all have an AMAZING weekend as well!

Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari