Monday, March 1, 2010

Working hard to take it back off

One year and 5 months ago I weighed 137 pounds. This was the lowest I had ever been since having children. At that time I was eating exactly right and exercising.

All the charts say that I should be between 120 and 130 for my height. Back then I was in a weight loss contest with Jason and I was not dieting, instead I was paying attention to everything I took in, making better choices and exercising more each week.

After that last weigh in I had a bunch of stuff happen to me that changed me:

Serious emotional stress

Depression

loss of a job that totally crushed me because not only was it unexpected, but it was a permanent job loss with no hope of ever getting it back

Death of my Grandfather

Death of a friend from work

other stressful things in my life

Because of these things I let myself go. Over the course of 1 year and 5 months I gained 16 pounds. I still looked halfway decent, but I could tell this extra weight was on me.

8 weeks ago, I decided that this has to end, this emotional drama. So I started journaling my food intake again and my exercise. I knew once I did things right again I would feel better not only emotionally but physically. I read some things on weight loss and then started doing those things I know how to do to loose the weight.

The first 6 weeks I lost 7 pounds which put me down to 146.

Two weeks ago one of my fitness places that I work out at started a weight loss contest. It had a cash entry fee of $20 because at the end there are prizes to the top losers!!

So I did the weight loss thing. I payed the $20 and signed up. When I weighed in 2 weeks ago I was 145.8

Today was week two and I weighed in at 141.8 Awesome, I was thrilled for I have been working hard. I'm so glad to have lost 4 pounds in just 2 weeks. I'm going to work hard to have a total weight loss of 16 pounds for a final weight of 129.8 If I don't end up with a prize, then oh well, my prize will be the Non-tight jeans anymore and feeling better overall.

Since I already teach 4 all over body sculpting classes a week, 1 Step class per week, 4 Zumba classes per week, and 1 Body Pump class every other week, I knew I'd have to pick something completely different to shock the body into weight loss. I say this because when you are doing the same workouts over and over, week after week your body will just stay the same. So I figured by upping the workouts and eating better I'm sure to drop a few pounds hopefully.

So I've added treadmill work. On Saturday I walked a mile and in between the walk I ran 1.5 miles for a total of 2.5 miles on the treadmill.

Today I only had time for a short treadmill workout, so I ran very fast for a 9:52 minute mile. My fastest time ever, it was hard, but felt so good. I only did one mile at this pace. I'm not a runner usually. And for years I've actually hated running so this is a new thing.

I know my goal will only be met if I work harder than I have been . This is hard, but I would like to see if by doing the workouts that I should be doing and by eating right what weight I will end up at.

Wish me luck!

4 comments:

Jess and Jen said...

Wow...way to go on losing as much weight as you have so far! Good luck on the contest and losing the rest of the weight! -Jen

Michelle said...

Thank you Jen.

The Duke said...

I need to live closer to you because I think you would inspire me to lose weight. It seems like it becomes a life-long battle but I guess I should look at it as a life-long "lifestyle change."
I started walking again today after a winter-long hiatus due to ice-covered walkways.
I'm really impressed with your determination to keep up with this. I don't know how you can stand to exercise so much!

Michelle said...

I realized that I love to eat, so even though I don't care for exercising so much, I don't want to get rid of some things I eat. I have learned over time to appreciate exercise more and there are times I love it. Some classes are harder than others and you wonder why you are there, then there are times that exercising is tons of fun and you love how you feel during and after. The health benefits are the best. I overcame Asthma. My doctor released me 5 years ago and told me I wouldn't need my inhaler at all anymore, that proved to me that my exercise did more than help loose weight, it got rid of other things too. Living closer would be a dream. Maybe someday it can come true. We sure are trying to get there.