The Numbers

I knew at some point I would be brave enough to share the numbers of where I started on this weight loss journey. I guess today is as good a time as any.
I am humiliated by where I started, but I am beyond proud of where I am. Probably what makes me the most proud though is the fact that how I  have done it all is simply by hardwork and dedication. No dieting. No pills. No shakes. Just what goes in--must be worked off. The weight at this point seems to be just falling off. My mom gave me her elliptical to use and due to cold Indiana winter hitting the treadmill is in full use as well. Let's not waste anymore time. :)
2.12.13, weight was 258.2 lbs--this is the nearest date and weight that I know of closest to my journey's start. The picture of me in the green shirt that I have been using in my comparisons is from Feb. as well so it seems to work out.
12.?.13, weight was 210.5 lbs! YAY!!!
I have been a size 22 for I can't even tell you how long! Last Thursday, I went and bought 2 pairs of size 18 jeans. Saturday, I had to go back and buy 2 pair of 16's and I am already  having to roll them at the waist because they are too big. I am positive I am down to a 14, but seeing as I spent $100 on jeans from Thursday to Saturday--I will try to hold off on buying 14's because we are pretty broke right now.
People keep telling me that I have changed. I take offense to that because I feel like the change that has been made is that I am happy. I feel MUCH better and therefore my mood has improved. Seems some aren't a fan.
I haven't set any goals along the way. I have no clue as to where I want to go or where I want to be through all of this, but I just want to keep going. My 32nd birthday is a week from Friday--I would love nothing more than to be under 200 lbs. by that birthday. I don't really know why and I won't be upset if I am not, but it is just something to look forward to. I kind of just want to see if I can do it. :)

Changes in the face

This pic on the right is from the beginning of December 2013

11.2.13

Changing

Where have I been???

I am sure it looks like I have fallen off with the whole walking and working out thing. Yes, it is true that I have some, but not completely. I've just been doing other things due to a very hectic schedule. Bayleigh is in travel softball now so I've been keeping active in playing with her during practices. I am still walking but not recording it due mostly to my battery life on my phone draining when I run the app. By the time the evening rolls around, it's almost dead. I have also been riding my bike as well. Again, not tracking it due to the phone. Isn't technology wonderful?!

I have also been in somewhat of a funk. Bayleigh started 3rd grade and with that came a new principal. And while I WANT to like her, there is a gut instinct telling me to stay guarded. And while my gut is telling me that, my BFF is telling me that she is wonderful! She's a pretty good judge of character too... I am one that usually will give everyone the benefit of the doubt and then let them prove they don't deserve it, but with her my gut is saying start her at 0 and let her either go up or down from there. And, that is actually a fair thing to do so I am.
Then, there's drama on the softball field. Some of the parents and our best players where invited to join a team down south and so they took the offer and went. And while I believe the team will still be a great team, now it kinda takes the fun out of it because one can't help but wonder if one day the rest of the team will accept offers as well. I can't be mad at the girls, they simply want to make themselves better and who wouldn't want to do that? I am just upset because while I am trying really hard to remain positive about the whole thing all the way around--I have others telling me how wrong I am and how I've pretty much misjudged the families. (when I am just trying to stay positive). I am to the point that I want to just go off and say, don't keep telling me how wrong I am and then not back it up! What am I supposed to say, Oh, ok, you're mad at them because you have more invested on a personal level than I do, so yeah, you must be right--I must be wrong. NO! Tell ME! Tell me how I am wrong! Because until someone does something directly to me--then I am not going to be a hater! Seriously, I am not in high school and I don't not like someone just because one of my friend's don't! And the thing that really gets me--these people are all older than I am and still don't grasp this concept! GROW UP! S

O, this has all been weighing on my mind. I am trying to not ruffle any feathers because I don't want them to take it out on Bayleigh and then ultimately get her kicked off the team. Just stay out of it would be the perfect answer, but it keeps coming to me. To my phone. To my door. To the school. The only thing I know to do, have been doing, and will continue to do--is simply give my honest opinion and my honest advice. That's all. I want to stay true to myself and I want to not be judgmental of anyone. I want to be supportive of all sides. Because the truth is, this effected the team, not me or my daughter on a personal level. Had those other parents gotten the offer they very well could have taken it too. I am willing to be my life they would at the very least consider it before saying NO. My life, I would bet on that....

Ok, I am done complaining. Maybe I need to start finding time to walk off my frustrations and then I'd really be losing the weight!

July 4th, 2013

July 4th, 2013 ended up being a HUGE day for me! When I decided in May to use my walking that was helping me to quit smoking, to also use it to lose weight, I set a goal to do the Mohawk Trail Run/Walk that our community hosts every 4th of July. I knew that it was a competitive race and that it also started for walkers at 6:45 and runners at 7. UGH, I don't like to see those hours of the morning. However, I registered with my PIC, Partner in Crime, Jen P. and together we used this goal to help push us with our walking.

PIC and I kept getting stuck in the 18 minute range on our miles. No matter what we did or how hard we felt like we pushed, we couldn't get out of it. I won't forget the first time we hit 17:30, I wanted to cry and my legs hurt SO bad, but WE DID IT! I was SO PROUD!

There is a new Disney movie coming out called Turbo about racing snails and PIC and I took our girls to see another movie and when the preview for Turbo came on we laughed and laughed and said it was us for NUMEROUS reasons! The Rocky Theme Song in it, the fact that I can't eat before walking--at all--because I ALWAYS have to rush home and interrupt our walk to go #2, in it there is a snail that says 17 minutes! A NEW RECORD!!!...LOL! I love it! We even have nicknames for each other based on that preview. I am Skid for skid mark and she is White Shadow! I only call her PIC in my blog because it's so short to type and I really am not a typer and I have so many Jennifer's in my life!

This is the movie preview for Disney's Turbo.

 

Bayleigh had been asking and asking and she was pretty determined that she too wanted to participate in the walk. It made me nervous because while I knew she could do it and finish, I didn't know at what pace or exactly how "competitive" this race really was. Not gonna lie--reading competitive on the registration form made me nervous. I wouldn't preregister her because of it.

I knew that I was going to be pushing myself. I knew that the competition for me was solely against myself. Ok, against myself and the average 17 min miles I was at. (BTW, when  you read numbers like the 17 or 18 mins that you just read, that means my time is in that range. Could be a 17:59 but it's still in the 17's so keep that in mind when reading).

My mom said that if Bayleigh wanted to do it then she would walk too so that she could keep an eye on her for me. YAY! I still didn't preregister her. I thought, oh if it's raining I won't wake her, only because the original forecast said on the 4th we might be 2 inches of rain.

GUESS WHAT! NO RAIN! So, I woke her up at 5:30 and she got out of bed no trouble at all and off we went. We met in front of mom's house at 5:55 to walk up to the school as a warm up. Registration the day of began at 6 and again not knowing much about the race, I thought we should get there early. Not only that, the registration fee went from $15 to $18 so I thought she would have a better shot at getting an $18 t-shirt since they were not guaranteed.

 

So, another HUGE factor in me being SO excited for this race is that my best friend in the whole world was going to be running it as well. So, not only do I get to do a 5K with my daughter, my mother, my PIC, but also my BFF! HOW COOL?!

Everyone meet my BFF! Guess what her name is--JENNIFER! :) Jen is such an inspiration. She started a weight loss journey herself when she found a picture of herself on her son's camera a couple of years ago. Isn't she beautiful?! She is so beautiful on the inside too and has a heart of gold! (Love you friend)!

This is a picture of my PIC--JENNIFER/Jen P./White Shadow....

PIC's daughter is a year younger than Bay. They played softball on the same team together last year and then again this year too and Jen and I have quickly become really close. Jen is one of THE NICEST people of I have ever met in my life. She too has a heart of gold. She is sweet and funny and I am very lucky to have met her that very hot softball year! AND, she lives right up the road from me so it's kinda fate that she became my PIC! (Love you too friend)!

This is my mom and Bay. My mom too has lost a bunch of weight and is looking good. I love her support that she has showed me throughout the journey I am on. She participated here to help me watch Bay. At the 1-2-3 GO walk in town, she also walked to help keep track of Bay. My mom is such a giver! I feel bad that it makes me too much of a taker. (I LOVE you too momma! THANK YOU for all your help)!

Let me share another really cool thing about this walk. I have become really close to a family here in town over the last couple of years too. Our circumstances for our friendship is one we laugh about often and it's one of those "who would've thought" type deals. But it's also one of those, "I am SO glad it did" type deals. This family, and I am intentionally not giving last names because lets be honest--you are the Internet and Internet is scary! No offense. Anyways, this family is the reason that my daughter and I now have a home church. WHAT A BLESSING THAT IS! (THANK YOU FRIENDS)! Check them out below!

This is Bayleigh with her BFF Cendall. HOW COOL?! My first 5K with my BFF--Bayleigh's first 5K with her BFF! Cendall and her family are all runners so while we walked they ran. Let me tell you--when Cendall ran passed me--I had to choke back tears because I was SO PROUD of her! Her dad and brother had passed me earlier and I kept thinking her mom and sister were right behind her and they were not as close as I thought. Cendall ROCKED! She really pushed to do well and do well is exactly what she did!

This is Jill, the mom and also who I refer to as my Amazingly Awesome Friend. I joked and said she's my AA Friend--but it has nothing to do with the alcohol AA! LOL!

I love her very much and she too has been such and inspiration and motivator. When I would walk during the day she would walk with me. When would have all of our kids and off we would go. I know I slowed her down, but she never one time complained. She would call and say, you walking today--YIP, let me changed diapers and put on shoes. :)

Listen, God has put some really amazing people in my life and I am FOREVER THANKFUL for that. All of these women I've introduced you to are blessings to me and my family. I AM SO LUCKY!

We ended up having a cousin walk with us in this race...his name is Josh and he's the little boy in the above pic crossing the finish line. He is in Bayleigh's grade too. You can see Bayleigh too. I don't know who took this picture. I found it on Facebook on Josh's grandma's page and since I wasn't there when they were, this is the closest I got to seeing Bayleigh cross the finish line. She's behind the guy in the yellow shirt. They ran a lot of the walking race because they were competing against each other. Luckily for me and my mom, Josh's grandma was able to keep up so she stuck with them. (Thank you Lisa)!

Here's my PIC Crossing the finish line not long after me! YAY!!! WAY TO GO MY SWEET FRIEND! I am SO, SO, SO proud of you!!!

Bayleigh crossed the finish line first for ALL of the walkers! Here she is with Cendall at the end!

Me and the BFF at the end! Hot, sweaty messes! Jen came back for me as I walked. I was walking most of the race with a lady named Kim that I have met through softball as well and Kim's husband snuck up on us so I encouraged her to go ahead and be sure to beat him. Kim was AWESOME! She pushed me and cheered for me and said, Come on Jen, you can do this! Had it not been for Kim, I wouldn't have finished where I did or with the times I did! (THANK YOU KIM)!

 

So, anyways, when I saw Jen come around the bend, I knew she was coming back for me to walk with me to the end of my race--here comes the tears as I type--because that's what BFF's do--they come back for you when you are absolutely DYING and I had to chuckle--through the gasping for air, LOL--because the movie the Wizard of Oz came to mind when ToTo, Dorthy's dog escapes the evil witch and comes running to her arms she says, "ToTo, you came back for me! Oh you came back"! That's what I thought when I saw Jen's pretty face! :) (This just through me into complete dork category didn't it?!) LOL!

My PIC and I FINISHED! YAY! Her sister walked with her and I didn't know what kind of pace she kept so I knew that I couldn't jump off the start too fast so I just walked. Come to find out, Jen wasn't far behind me the entire race and even walked alone because she ended up going ahead of her sister. :( I feel horrible for not walking with her. She assured me it's OK and she was perfectly fine because she was able to get into her zone. That's how I was after Kim took off with Andy--in the ZONE--the survival zone! :)

I ended up finishing first in the 30-39 age category for women! WHOOP! WHOOP!

Bayleigh won a trophy for being the top overall finisher for the women! WAY TO GO BAYLEIGH!

My BFF won her age category for runners too! WHOOP! WHOOP!

Here's all of the winners from the race. Kim won her age category too. She is two women to the right of me when looking at the picture. (in the blue shirt, next to the boy in the grey shirt and lady in the black shirt) (The lady in the black is Lisa, Josh's grandma that kept up with Bayleigh).

Trophy Winners!

SO PROUD OF US!

Cendall came over and congratulated her BFF!

Two Sets of BFF's! What a sweet picture!

5:55 am vs 8ish after awards.

It says: CHAMPION, Overall Female Walker Mohawk Trail Run.

In the picture right above this one, is a screen capture of my app I used for my walk. The official time from the race was 56:52 according to the stopwatch there, but my app said 56:56. The break down of the miles is from the picture right above this one. I consistently stayed in the 15's. NEW PERSONAL RECORD!

Overall, I am SO PROUD of myself and my friends and my family for this absolutely amazing day! This race was SO much fun and I am going to keep walking and I am going to try to makes these 15 minute miles easier so that I can move on to my next race and maybe not struggle so much with it. Here's to the next!!

Prepping

So, I am doing a 5K on Thursday, July 4th, at 6:45 in the morning and I have been worried about it some. Only because I know the pressure I put on myself to keep up. I really need to not jump off the start and take off because then I'll be asking for hurting legs and I don't want that--again! 

My PIC, partner in crime, Jen P. and I decided to hit the route tonight and just walk it. No pressures for time, just simply walk it. We did a really good job for ourselves. She struggled some due to walking it on only 3 hours of sleep and having just wrestled a pig, yes, wrestled a pig, at our county fair last night. 

Time wise we did great but we had gotten so overheated at the end that I kept pace to simply get home because had I slowed down I thought I'd have hit the pavement. I felt badly for walking ahead a little bit, but I was feeling kinda sick. She ended up going home feeling the same way. We didn't do anything different or anything wrong--it was just HOT! I honestly can say, this is the first time I've ever poured with sweat like that. I could even feel I running down my back. GROSS! That in itself made me queasy. Check out my forehead--

GROSS! These pics! I'm so irritated with this blog because pictures turn to crap when you upload them! Grrrrr! 

Anyways! So PIC headed home and we both downed powerade but still felt ill. Even at almost 11, as I blog, I'm still not up to par. I'm going to finish this cup of ice water and then refuel with powerade in the morning for the electrolytes. Tomorrow I'm taking off from working out. I need to break for Thursdays early walk. Check this out too, my BFF in the entire world is running it and one of my amazingly awesome friends that I'm REALLY close with as well, her and her family are running also! So! Between myself, my PIC, and the other two women alone, this race has a lot of awesomeness in it! Just sayin'! 

I am pretty sure that Bayleigh and my mom are doing it too! Very cool!

New Size

So this is a craptastic picture of myself however, these shorts that I'm wearing, yes the ones that are a lot shorter than I'm comfortable with, are not one but TWO pants sizes SMALLER than I've worn for YEARS! Numbers I'm not comfortable sharing just yet, but eventually I will! ;) 

And they fit comfortably. I didn't have to suck it in to button them up! I'm pretty excited!

Fishpond with Bayleigh

Bayleigh has been asking for some time now to ride Fishpond Rd with me and I've never let her ride it with me on bikes. She's walked it and even ran part of it but never rode it. Until today. :) 

She did a great job! She said her thighs hurt and was afraid the buffalo would charge us, but she did great! We rode over 5 miles and she kept saying, mom, it's so beautiful out here. Then she said, lets just be quiet so we can listen to nature! So sweet! 

We stopped for a drink and some pictures for the blog! I'm a hot mess but its ok--this isn't a beauty contest! ;) In a picture or two if you look closely you can see the buffalo! 

Late Night Walk

So I'm afraid that I'm losing my partner in crime Jen to insanity. Not like she's insane, but it's a vigorous workout program on TV called insanity--well because I guess you have to be insane to do it bc it's craziness, but anyways, Jen has decided to do that and I am wishing her all the best in the world. I watched a little bit of it on YouTube and I was tired for the girl doing it after 5 minutes! Sheesh! So my hat's off to you friend! Knock 'em dead! I'm sticking with my walking. :)

We got home from Columbus, and I'm going to say tonight bc I'm writing this after midnight, but it was tech Friday night we got home and I asked Bayleigh if she wanted to do 2 miles with me. She agreed and off we went. As we got by Jen's house she was outside and asked if we had just started and said she'd love to join us--YAY! That made my day! :D so we waited for her to get ready and off we went. Poor Emma, her daughter, she had just played hard with her sister and her side was hurting but she was such a trooper! God love her! We are so blessed with supportive kids! <3! 

Here's our time! 

After, Bayleigh and I were hanging on the porch and my neighbor Dakota, he's getting ready to go into 6th grade, and his older cousin Autumn walked over and Dakota was telling me he can see a big difference in me and that I'm doing great! What a great kid! 

We sat visiting and they asked if we could all go for another 2 mile walk. Heck! Why not! I was already sweaty! So off we went!

Dakota kept pushing me and encouraging me to better my time! My second mile was even done in 15:42, I believe! I know it was in the 15's bc when the voice of the app announced it, Dakota high fived me and congratulated me on making it to the 15's!!! Isn't he such a sweet kid?! 

We loved the cool and peaceful night walk. The stars and the moon were a glorious sight! The town was so quiet. I loved it! Autumn even suggested that we do it every night--I'm down! Let's do it! Here's our time from the second walk. More than 4 miles total tonight!