Body, Baby, and Birthday!

Mother's Day this year was spent at a memorial potluck for my Aunt Mary Jane. She will be sorely missed - her kindness, her storytelling, and her love.  She was an anchor for my family and my grandmother's spirit shown brightly through her.

The service also allowed us to visit with our cousins and siblings. The older I get, the more I think we need to get together more often, especially now that we are all creeping up on our golden years.

Today is Memorial Day so, despite the misting rain, I celebrated with an 8.4 mile walk. Have lost 44 pounds so far (64 pounds from my highest weight) and my body size seems to be shifting. Have gone from a size 18/20 to a 10/12. By the time I reach my goal weight, I should be in a 6 which will be wild!

Splurged and bought myself two pair of New Balance running/walking shoes. Thick soles and memory foam which makes my feet much happier during my walks.

Last weekend went to a gender reveal party for my unofficial son Jimmy and his fiance Lexii.  Their daughter Hazley will be 3 soon and their new baby is due on Thanksgiving.  Lexii was hoping for another girl but Jimmy won the bet and they are having a son. Congrats to the family!

The water guns shot out blue dye!

Just last Friday, May 23rd my firstborn Jordan turned 32. Wow, it seems like just yesterday he was my cutie patootie little tyke and now he has gray hair!!

32 Already!

Looking forward to nephew Cole's wedding to fiance Hannah in June.  Have snagged a few smaller sized dresses from Goodwill and Ross to choose from to wear to the event.

Here's a sweet picture of one of our neighborhood squirrels framed by the hanging violet plant I picked up recently.

And did you know - June is almost here!!  I can smell summer just around the corner!

Brain Just go to Bed!!

Ugh - I'm experiencing this tonight!!

Sunday Funnies

 

Happy Easter All

Had my annual physical exam last Thursday and, for the most part, it was great. Doc happy about my blood work, my blood pressure, and my weight loss. The not so special moments were when I was informed it was time for my Pap Smear. Of course, I got it out of the way especially since it's my last one for 10 years!  Topped it off with a shingles shot, which guaranteed a sore arm for the whole weekend. 

The lowlight for the visit was when the nurse measured my height and said I was just below 5'5".  What? I've been 5'5" my whole life and now I'm under??  Perhaps when I reach my goal weight I'll be 4'11"!

Just wait until you age - you'll get there!

On Saturday met up with my hair goddess Abbie for a trim and color. Added in some darker lowlights because my blonde had become akin to a walking light bulb!  As always turned out great!

Normally on the weekends I take a long walk on Saturday or Sunday. This morning I put it off while I put clean clothes away then organized my jeans, which resulted in three large black garbage bags filled with too big jeans.  I then moved on to cleaning my office/craft room because the bed was covered with bags and boxes of paint pens, fake flowers, and bits and pieces of this and that. 

Moving on, made a batch of sugar free rhubarb and strawberry jam. 

Finally pulled up my bootstraps and went for a 5.2 mile walk, including long hills. Ahhh felt much better and proud of myself for kicking my ass to get moving.

Happy Easter everyone!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Still continuing on my journey to health. Highlights include:

• Have lost 37 lbs so far!

• Have kept up with my daily walks - even in the rain!  Sometimes I have to force myself out of the house while in my head saying "I'll only take a short walk" which then turns into a longer walk. During the week I walk 30-60 minutes, 2.5 to 5 miles. On the weekend I take longer walks - 5 to 7 miles including hills.

• Along with walking, I've added in additional workouts, including weeding the front flower bed this past weekend.  Took two hours but it's nice to see the result of my efforts.

• At least 4 times per week I lift 15 lb dumbells to tone my arms. I can actually see improvement in getting rid of my batwing arms.

• The best news was my recent blood work in preparation for my annual doctors visit this week. All the results were awesome and landed me in the green "normal" zone.

• The healthy diet is starting to grow on me. I stop eating between 4pm to 5pm so I'm not going to bed with a full stomach from evening snacks.  My meals revolve around fruit,  vegetables, lean meats, and have eliminated processed foods, sugar, butter, pasta, flour, white bread, and even cream for my coffee. It's a good thing I enjoy water as my aqua intake has soared.

• This coming weekend I'm going to clean out my jeans as the majority are too baggy. I picked up some smaller jeans at Goodwill that I figured I would grow into. When I tried them on at home, they already fit! 

In a nutshell, so far so good!! Looking forward to hitting my goal where I'm no longer lying about my weight on my driver's license!  Should have started this program years ago but there is a time for everything and now is the time.

My Inspiration to
 Start My Health Journey

Walking Beast

Making steady progress with my switch to healthy eating!  Am on day 55 and have now lost 33 pounds! Have been dedicated to my walking, even when it rains!

Typically, long walks are scheduled for the weekend.  Today decided to take a different route - walked on Westside Highway next to the Cowlitz River then headed uphill to Columbia Heights.  Well, it was longer than I estimated and the hill was a bit steeper than expected.  My feet felt like they were encased in cement galoshes!  At one point I paused to take a breather and thought "what have I gotten myself into?"

In the end my determination was stronger than my will to breathe!  Once I reached the top, I knew it would be all downhill from there.  Reached home and the total mileage walked was 6.75 miles. Whoo hoo!

One thing that keeps me going is the hidden treasure that may be discovered. If I had a nickel for every single glove on the ground, I'd be set for life. Walked by a Carhartt beanie (tempted but too wet), license plate, Rubbermaid container, t-shirts, and assorted odds and ends. Filled my pockets with acorn lids and a walnut shell as these are handy for crafts.  Will even make a stop in the middle of a crosswalk if I spy change - usually pennies and nickels.  Biggest treasure found was a gold and red ring that reads "You are not one of us" inscribed around the band.

Along with potential keepers, there have been a few surprising items, including several loaves of French bread, tampons, pencils, and shoes missing their mates.

I've also thrown in some daily (mostly) dumbbell lifting in an attempt to tone my arms and get rid of the "batwings."  

Happy April to everyone and let's cross our fingers for sunny weather!

Fasting for the Win!

Decided to tackle my eating habits to cut out the sugar and late night snacking. Ran across an intermittent fasting tracker and decided to take the plunge. 

It's been a little over a month and I've eliminated 95% sugar from my diet, along with white carbs, pasta, rice, and potatoes.  I also started walking every day (weather permitting) and lifting dumbbells.  I drink more water and black coffee with no more flavored creamer.  My eating now consists of veggies and fruits, protein, very limited cheese, wheat bread on occasion, avocado, seeds, almonds, and homemade protein shakes once in awhile.

The fasting portion has been relatively easy, especially since a good portion of the fast you are sleeping.  Was doing a 16-hour fast with an 8-hour eating window but I just switched it up to 17-hour fast and 7-hour eating window. I usually eat breakfast/lunch around 11am then eat dinner between 5pm and 6pm and start my fast, which has eliminated my evening snacking.  If I want a snack during the day, I eat celery with hummus - in fact, made from scratch hummus with less salt and it turned out incredible!

And the great news is so far I've lost 23 lbs! Also feeling much better without all that sugar in my system!  I don't feel hungry and don't have the cravings for crap food.

I plan to continue with this program until I meet my goal. And of course I'll have to buy a whole new wardrobe which will make this all worth it!!