Category Archives: health & fitness

A narrative of my journeys with diet, exercise, and various healthcare professionals

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October 2016 Weigh-In

For once, my mid-month body fat percentage check was a win — I went down one third of a percent from the previous month. I’ll take whatever I can get.

Also, yet another non-scale victory regarding body image: during Yoga Flow class, I saw and acknowledged my midriff rolls, and didn’t care AT ALL, because HOLY SHITBALLS look at those shoulders HOT DAMN.

I’ve had a few No Good Very Bad Days where I self-medicate with carbs, but I’m apparently being gooder than I am badder overall, because my weight is still trending downward this month. Actually, I’ve lost more this month (on average) than any single month so far this year.

Monthly Average Weight

Even with all this positive juju, though, and an average loss for this month versus last month, I’m still pretty much stalled where I’ve been all year. I’ll have a couple weeks of awesome weight loss, then a slight rebound, then I’ll hold steady for a month. Or I’ll have a Really Bad Week, then a Really Good Week to get back to where I was, then maintain. In order for me to reach Goal by the end of the year (Thanksgiving is no longer a reasonable target), I’ll need to consistently have decent losses every week — slightly more than one pound.

I made it through a wedding without even a weight blip — mostly because I wasn’t enamored with the catered BBQ, and I took it easy on the wedding cupcakes. (Which was hard because OM NOM NOM CUPCAKES.)

Next month’s challenge: Halloween candy. My son doesn’t care for chocolate as much as chewy and crunchy candies like Dots and Starburst, which leaves the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers and Hershey’s and various other awesomeness for me and Dad to pilfer. As long as I pilfer them one at a time, though — just like I dole them out to my son after dinner — I should be fine.

It’s still completely reasonable for me to reach Goal by year end. I just have to believe that, and want it, and prioritize it.

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September 2016 Exercise Log

Calendar

I probably won’t keep up with logging my exercise on my blog, but I’m going to post this here because I already started it in this format with my blog in mind. In the future, I’ll probably just log my workout notes in Google Docs, if at all.

The executive summary of this month’s workouts: I worked out twice a week, usually one class and one weights session. My go-to classes are Yoga Flow and Kickboxing, since the strength classes tend to do stuff that’s not recommended for my back, and they don’t offer Core Fusion these days. I’m feeling much more comfortable with the weight machines, and I’m clearly making progress, as evident in my longhand workout journal.

I suspect that I’ll continue to do one group fitness class and one weights session every week for the foreseeable future. Tuesdays are usually Weight Watchers meetings and Wednesdays are usually social lunches, and the group fitness schedule varies week to week.

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September 2016 Weigh-in

I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off, but that Eva Longoria sheath dress on The Limited’s website really looked flattering — plus, I could get it at 40% off. That purchase turned into the biggest Non-Scale Victory I’ve experienced in a Very Long Time.

Not only did I wear it to work (and accessorize it properly), but I felt good in it, and I looked good in it, and I got unsolicited compliments on it (which is to say, I wasn’t fishing for compliments).

dress mirror selfie

Had anyone asked me five years and fourteen pounds ago if I’d be comfortable wearing an eyelet knit stretch sheath dress without a jacket or sweater over it, my answer would have been HELLZ to the NO. Today, even though I can still see my lumps and bumps and rolls and other indignities, I still feel really awesome in this dress.

This is not a little thing. This is a huge shift in mindset. This is big.
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