10 Minute Flailing

Exercise in the last day or so hasn't gone well. Last night I was all set to go an hour on my exercise bike except the computer kept resetting on me. Five minutes in, blam, it resets. So I set it again and 10 minutes later, blam, it resets again. At this point I figure I've run down the batteries and so I went scrounging for new ones for about 15 minutes. I couldn't find any and wound up sitting on the couch in defeat for the rest of the evening watching a really bad movie on TV.

This morning, I tried again (my husband finally found the batteries) and was able to do a nice 30 minute ride. Afterwards, I thought I'd try out my new 10 Minute Solution DVD which arrived yesterday. Wow. To say that I totally sucked at it would be an understatement!

I picked the first workout in the list and it went well for the first few minutes. Shoulder-rolls and some Turbo Jam-esque standing moves. It's when the workout moved to the floor work that things went horribly wrong. The instructor is very lean and sinewy and she had some strange notion that an overweight gal like myself would be able to hold herself up with one arm while doing really difficult combos of push-ups, planks, single arm lifts and leg lifts. The push-ups I did OK with. But trying to support yourself at a 30-degree angle with one arm while lifting one leg? No way. My arm gave out before I could complete a single move. I gamely tried for 5 minutes before giving up completely on the whole thing.

Needless to say, I won't be doing that one again until I'm lighter and have some upper-body strength. Fortunately, there's 4 other workouts on the DVD. I previewed some of them while drinking my morning smoothie. They look a lot more doable than that first one. Let's hope so!

Half-marathon

Oh, did I mention? I signed up to do a half-marathon walk in October. I'll repeat that again because I'm having a hard time believing it. A. Half. Marathon. 21 kilometres. Of walking. All at once. And I signed up for it.

I still haven't gotten over wanting to hurl in the corner.

Strangely, the rest of my walking buddies have signed up, too. Misery loves company! We'll be training over the summer with other walking events and just getting out there. I'll post more about it once I get my training plan solidified.

On setting my goal weight...

Since starting Weight Watchers, I've been focused on losing 74 lbs. Now, I'm not so sure anymore. After reaching my 10%, I had a chat with my meeting leader about setting my official goal. She seemed to indicate I should set it at the high end of my weight range which is 141 lbs. This confused me greatly (I thought she was saying that I'd never get lower than that), but thanks to the great people at the forums, I realized she was trying to help me get to goal quicker so I wouldn't have to pay as much.

Nice intentions aside, I'm still not sure I want to do that. Saving money is great, but I'm not too concerned about that. Not that money grows on trees but that when I first started, I committed to myself that I would pay right through till goal, whatever that might be. Others have also said setting a high-end gives you a nice cushion in the event of life's little bumps. This is true, but...

Well, what about my own personal goal? I know I want to be 130 lbs and I'd rather be in the 120s. The last time I was 140 lbs, I was definitely on the big feeling side. Setting a high-end goal is almost like giving up on that dream. I know I can set a personal goal, too, but wouldn't it be nice to have that goal and my Weight Watcher's goal coincide?

I also found a weight chart that indicated that for my age and height, the maximum I should be is 135 lbs. This is definitely more in keeping with how I feel about my body and how it handles weight.

There's lots to think about, for sure. I'm going to keep pondering this question for the rest of the week. Come weigh-in day this Saturday I'll commit to an answer.

Now what?

After the glow of accomplishment started to fade, I was left with a feeling of "now what?" Even though I know it's an expected emotion, I've been a bit mopey this weekend past. And I'll let you in on a little secret – Saturday, the day I achieved my 10% goal was the worst day of eating I've had since being on plan. How does this happen?

Well, not planning for one thing and not having a goal to focus on. I thought I'd coast this week on setting my next milestone, but after the near disaster of this weekend, I need to set one right now. 20 lbs worked well for me, so that will be the next target I will work towards. 164 lbs, here I come!

Progress pictures of my 10%

I did promise that I'd post some before and after pics as soon as I achieved my 10%. So here they are! My "before" picture was taken late last summer on a camping trip. My 10% picture was taken yesterday. I wore the same ol' clothes and tried to strike the same pose. In fact, I don't wear those clothes anymore because they're way too baggy! I really must get a nicer picture up here. Maybe after I've gone shopping? :)

Sixteenth Weigh-in - I DID IT!!!

I did it! I achieved my 10% goal!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

I was nervous all week and almost didn't go to weigh-in because I thought I hadn't lost much, if any weight. But would you look at that. I'm down another 1.4 lbs for a total loss of 21.2 lbs. I received my 10% keychain as well as a big round of applause from the meeting members. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

I know I couldn't have accomplished all of this without Weight Watchers, the unending support of my husband, the support from the forums and from my blog readers who've posted encouraging comments and suggestions. A big smooshy hearty loving thanks to you all. Mwah!

Now that my 10% is achieved, I'm looking forward to my reward (I may try to get the appointment moved up) and to buying some new underwear. It's a good day :)

Photos can sometimes tell the truth

Yesterday my friend invited me out for an afternoon of kite flying (side note, it's a fun way to earn activity points) and she took a number of pictures which she sent to me this morning. One of the photos is a picture of me. As far as pictures taken of me goes, I don't look particularly glamorous. Wind-messed hair and the jeans/t-shirt look will do that no matter the skill of the photographer. Despite this, I kept sneaking peeks at it all day today. It's the first picture of me in a long time where I don't look utterly fat.

While the scale has told me that I've lost weight, I confess I don't really see it when I look at myself in the mirror. When you live in your body 24/7 (except in the rare cases of out of body experiences), you don't really notice the day-to-day changes. I may feel thinner, I may have people who've noticed I lost weight, I may have hard facts courtesy of Curves and Weight Watchers, I may have all of this, but I haven't been able to say without a doubt that I look thinner.

My brain must've known I was onto something when I kept stealing glances at the photo today. My logical mind told me that in order to get final proof, I had to suck it up and look through all the unflattering photos of me from last year. So I did.

The ugh factor aside, I can now say it without reservations: I look thinner. I AM thinner. Beyond a doubt. Beyond any doubt. I can see it at last. I LOOK THINNER!!!

At this point many of you are silently saying, "Post pics!" I will. I promise. Once I hit my 10% goal I'll post some before and after shots. In the meantime, I'm going to go stare at my friend's pic again.