Week In Review

Weight wise, this week was not eventful at all.  I did a whole lot of nothing.  So, my goal for this week is to get back to tracking my food and counting calories every day.  It's worked in the past, so I'm sure that's what I need to do to kick start my weight loss again.

I did, however, have a kick ass workout that I want to brag about.  After a week of having to cancel my sessions because I couldn't sleep and wasn't able to wake up at 5:00 a.m., I had a make-up training session yesterday.  Let me back-up a minute to say that my ego took a little hit on Friday morning, so I was determined to work hard at my training.  And, I did.  I rocked out 3 sets of 15 of everything he threw at me.

When it came time to do my dead lifts, we started out "light" at 95 pounds and I did my first set of 15.  He threw on another 10 pounds and I did my second set of 15.  He then asked if I wanted more weight thrown on.  Before I had time to think about it, I told him yes.  On went another 10 pounds... 115 lbs. in all.  That's the most I've ever dead lifted.  It was heavy and I made sure he was very close in case I couldn't lift it.  But, I did!  And I did 15 more dead lifts.  Then we went on to planks...

I'm holding my plank for a while when he tells me I can stop.  I don't know how long it was, but he started counting down "5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." But, I told him I had more.  I could keep going.  So, I did.  He adjusts my position a little bit to make it a little more difficult, then he watches the clock.  "That's a minute. Do you have more?"  Yep, I've got more.  I hold it for another 12 seconds before my knees hit the ground.  I'm not positive, but I don't think I've ever held a plank for over a minute before.  Although he was impressed by how long I held it, he determined that it was too easy.  So, my next one was more difficult.  My feet were no longer on the ground, they were on a barbell with weights, so it was not at all stable.  Not only was it unstable, but after a few seconds, I feel him pulling backwards on the bar.  So, not only am I having to hold my plank, I'm having to fight to keep my form as he's slowly pulling it away from me.  Needless to say, I didn't hold that for quite as long!  I do one more of those to finish off the session.

Now, it's not very often that I feel proud about something like that.  I normally assume that if I can do it, anyone can do it.  But yesterday, I was damn proud! That's stuff I'd never done before.  I left that session feeling super pumped and I can't wait until tomorrow morning to try it again!  I hope everyone else has a fabulous week!

(Long Overdue) Week In Review

Time to make some changes.

I've spent the last 7 weeks with my scale (mostly) in the closet, so I've been forced to rely on non-scale progress to keep me going.  And, luckily, it's been working.  I've noticed subtle changes ~ including a new size 10 jean! :-) ~ and I've been happy with that.  However, after stepping on the scale this morning, I'm not too thrilled to see that the number hasn't changed.  I'm exactly where I was 3 weeks ago.  Nothing more... but nothing less.  I should be happy, but losing weight is still my ultimate goal. So, I've decided that it's time to get back to the weekly weigh-ins.  I'm obviously doing enough that I'm maintaining where I am and I'm not gaining anything.  But, what I really want to do is lose a little more weight.
I'm hoping that getting back to my weekly weigh-ins is just what I need to get the job done.

Aside from my weight not budging for the last month or so, my scale-free experiment has been very good for me.  I've managed to re-program my brain so that I don't need to constantly step on the scale.  I've seen first-hand that physical changes can still occur even when your weight doesn't move.  I've also learned that I need the accountability of weekly weight checks.  I've talked to my trainer about this latest plateau, and we've switched up my cardio a bit to hopefully kick my weight loss back into gear.  I'm looking forward to seeing if this helps.  I hope everyone has a great week!

Knockin' Knees

I just had an interesting thing happen...  I was walking up the stairs in my house and I felt my knees bang together.  I can honestly say that I've never felt my knees knock before.  Now, my thighs have rubbed together for years, but my knees, not so much!

Someone who has never struggled with their weight probably won't get excited about this.  However, I'm assuming that if you're reading this, you have struggled with weight at some point like I have.  So, you'll understand that this is actually a huge deal!  If my knees can now touch when I walk up the stairs, it means that there is much less of my thigh getting in the way.  Just another reminder that it's not always the number on the scale that indicates progress.

10

A little over a month ago, I tried to squeeze my hiney into a size 10 jean.  If you'd like, you can read about it here... Anyway, I tried on another pair during a shopping trip to Target this week.  Much to my delight, they fit!  And they fit well!  So, naturally I bought them. :-)  Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I drove over to my local Old Navy and grabbed a pair of size 10's off their shelf as well.  Success!  So, I bought those too! :-)

While wearing a size 10 is very exciting, the number 10 is significant for another reason... It's been longer than that since I've been able to wear that size.  I haven't put on a size 10 pair of jeans since before I became pregnant with my son.  That was over 10 (nearly 11) years ago.  Needless to say, I'm geeked! This process has been slow.  Painfully slow at times.  But, it's working.  Slowly but surely, the weight is coming off.  The numbers on the scale, and on my tags, are getting smaller and the amount of weight I'm able to lift and squat, is getting larger.  It's getting fun again!