Perseverance and a Plan...Both Pay Off!

I have returned!  8 planes, 7 properties, 6 days, 3 rental cars and 15 meals on the road.  I'm alive.  I'm somewhat rested.

And I lost weight through it all last week.

Yep.  Proud to announce that as of this morning I weighed in at 186.6.  Just 1.6 pounds away from my 100 pound goal!  I was nervous about the scale to be honest - who wouldn't be when my food options were limited to the Atlanta airport and whatever I could find near my hotel?  15 times!

But I persevered.  Because I had a plan.

First off, I ran Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday and Friday.  I don't typically run 4 days in a row, but I knew I wouldn't be able to run Saturday like usual due to being on the road.  So I purposefully changed up my workout each day so it wasn't too much of the same.  Did weights twice.  Also forgot my Ipod - so here I was at the mercy of hotel gym TVs.  One had the power go out the night before so no tv at all.  I literally listened to the sound of my feet pounding the treadmill for 4 miles.  One guy came in to do weights while I was there and I was internally begging him to start a conversation with me to distract me.  He did not - probably got out of there quickly to avoid my sweat flying all over the place.  At least I had a gorgeous mountain view.  :)

My eating was kept well in check.  I carefully studied menus in advance, making the best choices I can.  I did have a few "oops" moments.  My travels were taken off course on Monday and I was 5 hours behind and completely rushed.  I had to work late into the night in order to get myself back on my timeline as I had 4 properties to handle in 36 hours.  I purchased a box of dark chocolate raisinets.  My rule normally is to eat half and put the other half away.  Well I kept eating them while I was working to help me stay awake...and ate the entire box.  390 calories later...FAIL!  BUT.  I checked myself, and agreed that I was not strong enough to buy them again.  So I did not.  I also ate a bag of chips they put in my room as a gift.  Just a small bag of plain Lays.  To the tune of 240 calories.  I quickly recalibrated myself and vowed to do better.

And that I did!

I watched portions (which one gourmet restaurant I visited made that easy - I ordered scallops and got 2!  Just 2 scallops! lol).  Had them remove unnecessary things from salad (cheese and bacon - don't miss them one bit) and put my dressing on the side, only using half.  Thursday night I ate by myself at an Outback Steakhouse - I researched my meal online in advance, they have a meal calculator there.  Did you know NONE of their dressings are even remotely healthy?  Just an fyi.  Anyway - I had a 6 oz sirloin, grilled asparagus and steamed broccoli with half of the pumpernickel bread they bring you (2 pieces).  It was amazing and under 500 calories.  That's what I'm talking about!  Also, one of the properties I visited had a gift bag of healthy snacks waiting for me - what a blessing!  All fruit bars, trail mix and water.  That helped alot.

I made sure if I really wanted something to budget for it.  Starbucks has a mango smoothie that is super yum.  Wish it wasn't a syrup thing but other than that, it tastes really good.  I budgeted for the 250 calories.  AND you can get a frappuccino for just 140 calories - did you know that?  Caramel - grande sized, and skim milk.  I'll even get the smaller one next time I need some sort of caffeine kick.

Starbucks also has oatmeal now.  I ate oatmeal twice this week.  I'm not normally an oatmeal person but I just might become one.  At Starbucks it has 140 calories, but when you add the "mixins" which are mixed nuts (100 cals) raisins/craisins (100 cals) and brown sugar (50 cals) then you've made something healthy into an almost 400 calories cup.  SO I chose the raisins/craisins and the brown sugar.  It was heavenly!  And really sticks to your ribs.  I might just have to try oatmeal more often.  I have some good recipes for pumpkin oatmeal and the like - time to experiment!

So foodwise did well. Exercise did well.  Tried to get as much sleep/rest as I could.  Took a 4 hour nap when I got home yesterday and then slept an easy 9 hours last night.

And lost weight.  That's how its done yo.

It is less than a pound from last week (.8 to be exact) but I'm perfectly ok with that.  I may wait to count my weekly weight until Tuesday morning anyway as I like to weigh on Tuesdays and the body bugg website is currently getting serviced.

Quick picture to leave you with.  If you've followed my blog for awhile you know that at my heaviest, 285 pounds, I was unable to buckle the seatbelt in most airplane seats.  On my last commercial flight in 2009, I covered my lap with my sweater, praying that the stewardess wouldn't ask to see my seatbelt.  I was horrified and would have just died right there if I had to ask for an extender.

I slid into the seat on Monday morning and buckled.  And promptly took this picture for you.

It's taken myself from above (black is my shirt, black/cream is my skirt).  Look at all that slack!  I must say...that felt great.  I'm sure the guy next to me wondered what I was doing.

That, my friends, is what success looks like.  Slack in a seatbelt I couldn't even buckle two years ago.  You know, the act of buckling an airplane seatbelt sounds silly, and simple to some of you.  But for me - I cannot really describe to you what that easy click and ability to tighten meant to me.  Overwhelming.

I'll be writing a post later this week anyway about perspective.  Read a great book recently and it made me think even more clearly about where I am and where I have come from, rather than focusing on the last frustrating 20-25 pounds I have to lose.  Or focusing on the parts of my body I want to hurry up and shed fat from.  I am still obese according to the BMI chart (which is laughable really as I know I don't look obese!).  Then I'll be "overweight" for awhile.  Really, my goal weight is still technically in the overweight range for my height. 

Do I care?

As long as I'm healthy, fit, running faster and feeling good, I may always fight with the experts on that number.  And I'm OK with that.

Because I can buckle the airplane seatbelt now.

Because I am no longer at risk of being diabetic.

Because I will never be on cholesterol medication.

Because I can run 5 miles without stopping.

Because I've gone from a size 24 to a size 12 in two years.

The numbers are just tools we made up to track it all.  I'm completely happy with my progress, and excited to hit my 100 pound goal in the next 2 weeks!!!

Who's excited with me???

~Clara