My reward for hard work :)

So every time (or close to it) that I lose 10lbs, I reward myself with a new tattoo.  This one is considerably special, my boss drew the picture for me & my amazing tattoo artist, Tom, did incredible work on it.  I'll go back in 2 weeks, once it's healed up a bit, and get the color done.  Isn't she beautiful?!

It's been too long since I've done any kind of a workout, this summer & my work schedule & my schedule with the kids has just been making me crazy & allowing me to make crazy excuses to not do anything.  Back in the saddle starting tonight.  I haven't gained anything, thankfully, but I've also not lost any more.  I NEED to get back in gear.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Making Changes.

OK, admittedly, it took longer for me to get these pics up here because I'm really still not happy with the pace things are happening in.  I'm an instant gratification kind of girl and I'm not seeing the kind of drastic changes that I want to see.  I know that I didn't gain all the weight over night so I know it's going to take a while to get it off.  Still, I can't help but be slightly disappointed that there isn't more change that what's showing.  So here are my current stats.

Weight: 232lbs (down 8lbs since the 1st pics.)

Bicep: 15" (down 1")

Forearm: 10" (same)

Neck: 15" (same)

Chest: 43" (down 1")

Waist: 41" (down 2")

Hips: 50 1/2" (same)

Thigh: 27" (down 1")

Calf: 18 1/2" (same)

I know I should be proud & excited about the losses & "sames" because it means something is happening, and in the right direction.  I'd rather have things stay the same than increase; and absolutely am excited about the smaller numbers.  

But I know I have to not be discouraged & just keep going.  The pics in the white sports bra are the originals, the gray bra, I took a few days ago.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Small victories.

My kids came back to me last Thursday night, so again my work outs have suffered a little bit.  My mom was also in town for the weekend, so there was LOTS of eating haha.  I don't know about all of you, but I seem to eat more when I'm with my mom.  BUT I chose to make the majority of our meals for us and used a lot of low fat/low calorie recipes that I found on Pinterest that were still pretty big hits with everyone.  I am also down another pound!  Total weight loss thus far is 36lbs!  I'm at 233 right now, SO CLOSE to the 220's!  I will have my kids for the next 2 weeks, so I'm really unsure about how much working out I'll get done, but as long as I keep eating clean, I think it'll be ok.  My mom tells me that I technically have until Labor Day (lol!!) to finish the Lazy Man Iron Man & honestly, as long as I do finish, I'm not really concerned about the time frame it happens in.  

This morning, I put on a pair of size 18 jeans that have been literally falling off my butt for a while now, so I grabbed a belt that I haven't used in a while and had to tighten it to the next smallest hole behind the one that I used to use, which is all worn out!  Yesssssssss!!  These are the little things that keep me going, and I love it!  

I'm kinda bummed, the mesh part of the top of my running shoes has sprouted a hole by my big toe and so I will need to get some new ones in the near future.  I wish they weren't so expensive!  But I have noticed a shift in the way I do shopping these days.  Now, when I'm at Target or Walmart, instead of looking for cute tops to wear, I'm checking out the clearance racks in the work out clothes area, trying to find good deals on new sports bras or shorts or whatever.  Pretty amazing!  I thought this someecard was amazingly fitting.  :)  I'll update more when I have more!  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Something is better than nothing.

Yesterday morning when I posted, it was my intention to bike and swim last night.  Well, I accomplished 1 out of 2; I did 10mi on the stationary bike.  And as far as I'm concerned, I ate clean yesterday, did the biking, got plenty of sleep, so it was a successful day.  I will bike again tonight, and maybe actually do the swimming, too.  I'm more concerned about getting the biking done, however, because my kids are coming back tomorrow night, so I know there will be lots of opportunities this weekend to get the swimming finished.  My older brother sent out an email yesterday saying that he's completed all of his mileage for the Lazy Man Iron Man, so, technically, even though there's no "winner", he's the winner.  Here's hoping to coming in 2nd!

I really like this quote.  I'm trying to get back into that mode.  I just need to get back into the rhythm of not giving myself the option of whether or not to work out.  There is no option, it has to happen.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

In a funk.

So much has happened in the last week & a half that I've found EVERY excuse in the book to NOT work out.  I started my period (which I will refer to as "shark week" from now on), my mom is coming into town, so I had to do a major deep cleaning throughout my whole house, it's been over 110 degrees every day, etc.  Some of these may sound like valid excuses, but they're really not.  Although, I will say that I certainly looked like I'd been working out after cleaning my bathrooms.  Take a look:

And this is just my face, I was absolutely covered in sweat over my entire torso, front and back.  So I'm going to count that as exercise, but it doesn't count towards finishing the Lazy Man Iron Man, which is over in 9 days!  Fortunately, that's still plenty enough time for me to finish everything I need to.  No excuses this week, work outs must go down EVERY DAY.  My mom comes into town on Friday morning and will only be here for the weekend, so I really don't have any reason whatsoever that I can't get this done.  KimmyJo & I did go for some epic walking last night: 1.81mi!!

I'm almost done with my mileage on foot!!  I only need another 1.84mi walk & I'm finished with that part!  Feels so good to be so close to accomplishing this!  I'm only 54.08mi away from finishing on the bike & still .9mi away from finishing the swimming.  My thoughts, as of right now at 6:42am, are that I'll do my hour (10mi) on the bike tonight & do .5mi in the pool afterwards.  That "plan" could most definitely change as the day progresses, LOL!  BUT, I will do something tonight, bike, walk, swim, something will be accomplished. I got this.  I can do hard things.

Trying to get my groove back.

I'm not sure if it's my week off of work outs or my genuine dislike for the stationary bike, but man I'm having a really hard time enjoying working out this week.  I get so bored & restless on the stationary after the 1st 20 minutes & then my butt starts falling asleep and/or hurting, so I'm constantly shuffling around in the seat trying to get back to a comfortable position for the remaining half hour or so, completely unable to do so.  Oh well, I only have about 6 more days of doing it and the Lazy Man Iron Man will be completed & I can move on.  Yay!!  I like taking pics of myself after my workouts to show how sweaty & nasty I get (because sweat is fat crying) but when I bike, all of the sweat accumulates on my back & butt & haven't been able to get a good shot of it because, well, it's my back.  I finally got a pretty good angle on it last night.  :)

For your viewing pleasure, this is what it looks like right after I finish 10mi.  Gross, I know!

So I've been looking for new recipes & food ideas on Pinterest, because quite frankly, I'm getting bored with what I've been eating & am a lot more aware these days of how many calories I should be consuming in a day along with what I'm burning in my work outs to continue to lose weight.  I found this idea for a low calorie cream cheese/salsa "wrap" and added 5oz cooked chopped chicken to the recipe as well.  It's supposed to be an appetizer, but I made it dinner.  :)  I also put it in my George Foreman grill for a few minutes to seal the tortilla & melt the cheese a little & just warm it up in general.  Delicious!!  Here's the link with all the info:

http://www.chef-in-training.com/2011/10/weight-watchers-salsa-roll-ups/

Not seeing myself from the back all that often for obvious reasons, as I keep glancing at the pic above, it's getting really apparent to me that what I'm doing is definitely working and I need to keep it up and just finish this week & move along.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Slow & steady wins the race.

My Lazy Man Iron man family challenge started Memorial Day, May 28th, 2012.  The challenge is to have completed 26.2mi on foot, 112mi on bike, and 2.4mi swimming before July 4th, 2012.  As of today, I have 15 days to finish 3.65mi on foot, 64.08mi on the bike, & .9mi in the pool.  I SO got this!  This challenge was presented to me last December as well and I gave up pretty quickly, I kept allowing things that come up to be excuses as to why I wouldn't be able to accomplish this or that.  Not this time, I have been determined from the start that I will finish this one, hopefully by June 30th.  My tentative plan is to do 10mi on the bike every night for the next 6 days, and then just 5mi on the 7th day.  That will put me slightly over what's required.  From there, I'll be able to finish up the rest, no problem.  This will be such an amazing accomplishment for me, never in my life have I done anything even close to this.  It feels SO GOOD.  And once I finish this up, I can start training for my next big event, which I will discuss after I'm done.  I don't want to get ahead of myself, I need to stay focused!  So here's a pic of me after doing the 10mi on the bike last night.

If I keep losing the way I have been (roughly 10lbs/month) I should be able to reach my goal sometime between January & February.  That's amazing!!  But I need to keep focused on today.  I need to eat clean today, workout dirty, sleep good, & laugh...a lot!

I got this.  I can do hard things.