Week 38: Flat Iron

This is a post I do not want to write. No, I didn't gain anything, but I lost JUST over a pound. I’m 87% sure I won’t meet my goal this weekend, and that has been really hard for me to swallow. Last week was great until I woke up on Friday with a terrible sore throat. My need to heal this before my BIG hike the following day resulted in 7 different types of throat lozenges (Smith Brothers and Pure Honey worked the best, 20 calories each…boo), diet juice (I can’t swallow water with a sore throat, but juice goes down just fine), 2 fruit pops (70 calories each), and more tea than I ever want to drink again. I weighed in at 219.2 on Saturday (-1.2lbs). The good news is that I am FINALLY under 220 (Seriously, I hate the number 2, and will continue to hate it until I am under 200), the bad news is that I am 4.2 lbs away from my goal. Losing that much in a week may have been possible a few months ago, but I just don’t see it happening right now. SO, I am reevaluating my goals moving forward to reflect this minor bump. Ugh.

The GOOD part of this post is the hike I did this weekend. Flat Iron. Ever heard of it? Have you hiked it? To put it mildly, I was terrified. Many people told me this was the toughest hike they had ever done. And they were FIT. I knew there was a climb, but I wasn't completely sure what to expect.

The little teeny dot at the top of the wash (middle of the picture) is ME. I'm the one on the right.

The picture above is the wash about 2 miles in. This picture does not do the steepness justice, NO picture does. IT WAS STEEP. So much so that it was more like a slide on the way down. Once you make it up this brutal beaut you start the last mile, and the rest of your climb. My pace was pretty good for a while, but the climb got to my quads. I had to stop for 15 seconds every 30 seconds, and that definitely lengthens a hike. Turning back would have been easy (and looking back, a whole lot less painful), but I am NOT the type of person to turn back. I am a fighter, and I was determined to get to the top.

We continued onto the summit before dropping back down to the flat iron. The picture you see above is the view from the summit – the Flat Iron is the flat, iron shaped thing to the left. The group of hikers is below.

I felt feel so accomplished! I have been in awe of people who have hiked this. THEY have been MY inspiration, they have done the thing I wanted to do but thought I couldn’t (yet), they were the people that kept me going – and now I join the ranks.

The hike UP, however, was NOTHING compared to the hike down, and boy do my muscles know that. I just about fell in church yesterday when my legs locked up while attempting to walk (my upper body was still moving forward, but my legs were not = flat on my face), but luckily caught myself. I DID biff it at my house, and I can barely walk/stand today. Tomorrow is day 3 and my DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) should be gone. I am definitely looking forward to it.

Week 36 & 37: Thanksgiving!

I haven’t posted in two weeks. I was really anxious for the Thanksgiving holiday and I am really grateful it is behind me. It is difficult to imagine anything worse for a weight loss journey than an entire day devoted to eating. After last week’s weigh in I decided to wait until Thanksgiving was over to post. I spent countless hours planning my Thanksgiving week. My best friend from college was scheduled for a C-section on the day before Thanksgiving, and I wanted to see her and her baby girl. I know that eating right on road trips is not easy – so that, combined with Thanksgiving, no gym access, and limited time, meant I would post either a low number….or no number at all. My goal for the week was to not GAIN anything.

Success….kind of. I still wanted to lose 2-3lbs. I ALWAYS want to lose 2-3lbs, so this was kind of a blow for me. However, I am in the middle of the holiday season and this was not an easy week, eating or exercising. I did fairly well with what I ate – but part of the problem is that I traveled on my low carb days, and not eating carbs while traveling takes more willpower and sacrifice than I was willing to give. I did not eat any pumpkin pie (yeah!) but I may have had a little too much chocolate..

I drove home on Friday, made a detour to pick up a ½ off basketball at Sports Authority, and made it home in time to pick up my bike from the shop, learn a little zumba, and shoot hoops with my roommate. I woke up the next morning knowing I needed to go on a hike, but not super excited for the lonely trek. I decided to hike South Mountain because I am familiar with it, but I took a different trail. I have wanted to do an 8 mile hike for WEEKS but I just couldn’t seem to get there. 7.2 miles, 7.5 miles, 7.6 miles, but I couldn’t hit the 8. Just before heading down from my 7 mile hike I realized I could take a little detour, see a great view of Phoenix, and extend my hike to 9 miles. Great idea right?

I missed a turn off. I walked, and walked, and walked, and finally decided I had gone the wrong direction. I checked the tracker on my phone to see how far I had gone only to discover that it thought I was on the other side of the world. I reset my tracker, turned around, and started the trek back. 2.6 miles later I was back to the top of my descent. I was exhausted, running out of water, and so excited to be done. I decided that if my total (I added up the mileage when I found the map at the bottom of the trail) was above 11 miles I was going straight to Wendy’s. My planned hike, combined with my detour, and my mile walk back to my car, gave me a total of 13.2 miles. 13.2 miles!! AH! The best part was that I didn’t roll my ankle until the VERY end. Good gracious.

My Wendy’s bacon cheeseburger was good, not as great as it would have tasted with fries and a frosty, but still good. However, it wasn’t nearly as good as the cookies my roommate made. UGGHHH. Cookies are my arch nemesis! More than fries, or cake, or PIE, or ice cream, it’s COOKIES. I think I may have eaten my weight in them. They were delish.

Goal time. I want to be at a 75lbs loss by 12/8. I am 5.8lbs away and have less than 2 weeks to get there. It’s time to begin.

Week 35: Angel Basin

I went to bed late last Sunday (so…10ish days ag) and decided to skip my Monday morning workout to sleep. Usually if I decide to skip a morning workout it is because I am too sore, too tired, or just flat out do not want to work out (so, an excuse...), not this one. I know that sleep is important, especially if you are trying to lose weight, which is why I make sure I am in bed 8 hours before I have to wake up. I didn’t get to control my bed time on Sunday, so instead I slept on Monday. Instead of hitting the gym on Tuesday night I met Mandy at a local community college and ran/walked about a mile on the track, did the bleachers once, and suicides twice. We were going to spend more time on the bleachers but the security guards closed the track. We’ll go to a high school next time where fancy security guards with fancy bikes and fancy locks on their fancy gates don’t exist. Instead of calling it a night we grabbed Mandy’s basketball ball and shot some hoops/pretended to do drills (at least I pretended…) at the LDS Institute. I skipped the gym on Wednesday night to hang out with a friend, and did some p90x kenpo on Thursday.

So..

Monday: Physical Therapy/Personal Training

Tuesday: Track/Bleachers/Basketball

Wednesday: Morning Cardio

Thursday: Kenpo

Friday: Morning Cardio & Physical Therapy/Personal Training

I still skipped workouts, but at least I was active every day! My nutrition was…not perfect, but not awful. One of my coworkers happened to bring in bagels on my high carb day. On a low carb day those are an ABSOLUTE NO, but on a high carb day…I can justify my way into eating one….or two. I KNOW they are not good for me, but they taste good! And then you crave more. I think my total was closer to 1.5. I know I did something else I should not have done, but I don’t remember what it was. Either way, I weighed in Thursday morning at 227.2 – HIGHER than the Saturday previous. I was upset, but there was nothing I could do about it. I knew that at most I could lose 1.5 lbs.

I was excited for Saturday morning because I was going on a new hike – but approached the weigh in with some trepidation.   

So I am SURE you can imagine my absolute joy and amazement when I saw 224 on the scale!!!! What a way to start my morning!! I was not expecting a 3 lb loss, so I was quite excited. Oh gosh. So excited. I was excited and SO ready for my hike.

Angel Basin. We left for the hike at 6:30am and BOY was it cold. We drove 30 minutes to the mouth of the “canyon” and another HOUR to drive the final 12 MILES. You have to have a high clearance vehicle to traverse the climb. It was bumpy, there were sharp turns, and I felt like I was on an Indiana Jones ride the whole time.

By the time we got there the temperature had dropped (higher elevation) to 37 degrees.

My cold weather friends may not find this cold – I was frozen. I had a light jacket and was wearing capris. THANKFULLY my bishop brought extra jackets and David had an extra beanie and gloves.

After a quick prayer we started on our hike and within minutes my pants were soaking wet. The rain from the night before mixed with the morning dew on the trail vegetation created an excess of moisture for the plants – moisture that found dry capris appealing. Cold air aside, this trail is BEAUTIFUL. And the day we went was just perfect. We crossed a little river 10 times (though by the time we returned it was more of a stream), the trees were covered with orange leaves and the ground was littered with them. 

The smell of autumn was in the air and I was in heaven. This trail is PERFECT for trail running, so I did just that, for 45 seconds at a time J Hey. I’ll get there.

At the end of our 4 mile trail we climbed into some Indian ruins. Their doors were very small. I don’t know if the residents were just as small or if their doors were made that way because it was easier to build. Either way, we had fun. And the view was breathtaking.

This was such a good group and such a beautiful hike. Most of the hike was covered with trees and other vegetation - this happened to be the only open spot (and a great spot for camping!) on the whole trail. 

It is now a new week and while I am excited for Saturday's weigh in, I know I have not done as much as I could have to get a good number. I had Monday off for Veteran's Day observance and it threw me off a bit. I skipped my Monday workout and instead of hitting the gym tonight I am going to take my bike to the shop. We'll see. I am hoping for at least 2 lbs, but 3 would be nice :)

What do you do to lead an active life outside of a gym?

My Support Team

I know this is an out of the ordinary post - but I could not find a way to fit it into another post (without it being ridiculously long). So here goes...

I have a lovely family. Both my mother and my grandmother encouraged me to lose weight while I was growing up, I just didn't care enough to listen. My older sister was a health nut. I remember her going for runs and refusing to eat "unhealthy" food while she was in Junior High. She tried to rub off on me, I mean REALLY tried. I know now that she cared about me and wanted to see me be happy and healthy, but I really did not want to hear about my bad decisions. She is probably the reason why I got gym membership after gym membership - she made working out seem "normal". Eventually she learned that unless she wanted me to be angry with her she should refrain from speaking to me about diet or exercise. It took some time, but I came around.

When I decided to start working out my mom and older sister were my first phone calls and became my first cheerleaders. When I told my sister about my desire to participate in the Bisbee 1000 she mentioned that it was still odd to hear me so excited about exercise and physical activity :) Shortly after making the decision to try and get healthy I spoke with a friend of mine about my goals; she had recently lost 50lbs and was still working on losing more. She became my 3rd cheerleader. My little sister was eager to go on hikes with me and she still never fails to tell me how small I look. She was my 4th cheerleader. I talk to ALL of them on a weekly basis and they push me, encourage me, inspire me, motivate me, and cheer for me. Four people is a GREAT support team, but I have been so lucky and so blessed to have my team grow.

About a month after I made the change to be healthy I was referred to Rehab Arizona for Physical Therapy. I continue to be AMAZED at how supportive they have been. Chris, Mandy, Josh, and Jared have helped me so much. They push me, challenge me, teach me, train me, and celebrate with me. I am always excited when I hit a new goal because I know that my success is their success. They are not just my cheerleaders or my support team, they are an integral part of my journey. They have become part of my family.

I am a proud member of the Mesa Caledonian Pipe Band (MCPB) where I play the bagpipes. I took the first three months of my journey off and by the time I went back to band rehearsals I was 30lbs lighter. They made me feel so wonderful about what I had accomplished. MCPB is already a family, and will forever be part of my family, but they now join the ranks of my cheerleaders. When I am frustrated or discouraged they NEVER fail to give me the  motivation and determination I need to press forward.

I have support through the Relief Society ladies at church, my Bishop and his counselors, the gals I work with, my roommates, the students I teach bagpipes to, friends I haven't seen in years, and so much more. I am so blessed to have so many cheerleaders I can turn to for support and motivation! There are definitely times when I need to be reminded that the hard work, the dedication, the sacrifices, are all worth it. I depend on you and THANK YOU so much for being a rock I can depend on!

THANK YOU

Mom, Jessie, Emily, Sarah, Chris D, Mandy, Josh, Jared, Chris H, Debra, Lois, Kelly, Adrienne, Betsy, Kathy, Kristen, Maura, Brother and Sister Ostlund, Bishop and Sister Nicholls, Clara, Brother and Sister Haynie, Mo, Krisjana, Erin, Nichole, Kimberly and SO SO SO many more. 

YOU keep me fighting. This is so important to me and I absolutely could not do it without your love and support. THANK YOU.

Week 34: The Dieter's Plateau

I apologize for not having a post last week. I noticed my weight starting to plateau, so I did a few slingshot days and did NOT want to weigh in during the middle of it.

A "slingshot" week (or in my case, 4 days) is when you change up your diet for a bit. Our bodies get used to our diet the same way our minds get used to schedules. Once my body has fully adapted to my diet it stops losing the weight and instead stores extra fat. You can only consume less than your daily calorie expenditure for so long until your body hits that "starvation" mode and decides it needs to store the energy. During my slingshot days I eat high carbs and up my calories for 4-7 days straight - which then causes me to retain water and the scale to be a bit deceptive - hence the lack of desire to weigh in. However, these "slingshot" days basically tricks my body into releasing stored fat instead of storing more fat.

Unfortunately, many people trying to lose weight will hit a plateau and instead of giving their body what it needs (energy) they try to eat less and exercise more, doing exactly the opposite of what they should be doing. When this doesn't work they might give up. Plateau's can be the end of a weight loss journey, that is why many refer to it as the "dreaded dieter's plateau". It is not so much the physical battle of getting over the plateau that is challenging, but the mental battle. Have you ever tried to lose weight and plateaued? What did you do?

So....last week.Mentally, coming off the plateau was difficult. I had spent a week not losing weight even though I worked incredibly hard. I was looking forward to Saturday's weigh in, but was terrified for it at the same time. I changed my diet, then changed my diet again, and my body was not responding well. I was already tired by Tuesday morning and it just got worse and worse as the week went on. By Friday I was exhausted - physically, mentally, and emotionally. Yes, I wanted to keep fighting for my goal, but I just did not have the energy to do it. My desire and will-power was there, but my fight and energy were gone. My older sister called me on Friday - to check in and to chat. I told her what was going on and she recommended that I take the evening off. I have no idea why that felt so foreign to me. Could I actually do that? So I did...kind of. I went to physical therapy but skipped band practice. I focused on me for the rest of the night. I woke up on Saturday feeling refreshed and got out the scale for weigh in...

3.4 lbs is a GREAT loss for one week. I would love to have seen a bigger number for 2 weeks, but honestly, I am just so happy that I finally got past 228. I'm nervous/excited for this Saturday's weigh in as well. I hope I am under 225, but I'm nervous/scared that I'm not quite over this plateau. I am not a very patient person and weight loss requires patience. Ugh.

After my 6am weigh in I met up with my Bishop and some guys from my stake for a hike. I expected a few more people to be on the hike, with at least one more girl, and I was hoping for someone close to my fitness level. Nope. I got 3 super fit guys and my super fit bishop. As soon as we started the hike two of the guys took off. It turns out there is some awesome climbing on the side of the trail and they wanted time to climb, so they raced to the rocks. David and my bishop stuck by my side and allowed me to set the pace. The hike was about 6 miles and it was so fun. The worst part wasn't the uphill climb, it was the descent! We hiked up for about 3.5 miles and down for 2.5 miles, so you know the downhill was steep! I was super sore the next day but SO proud of my pace. I may have slowed them down a bit (especially on the downhill..) but I was still SO proud of what I accomplished.

I love hiking.

I'm going again on Saturday.

I can't wait.

Week 32: Lose Yourself

I have become a bit obsessed with music recently. I am starting to run  jog (what? 3 minutes counts...) and I want upbeat music to listen to. I have never enjoyed rap music....until recently. Eminem has a few songs that I love, one of them is "Lose Yourself":

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

When this song plays I think about everything I am working towards -- my weight loss goals, my fitness goals, my career goals, my dating goals, ALL of it. In that moment, if THAT was my one opportunity, would I slow down? Would I take a break? Would I give up? NO. I would push through. So that's what I do. When this song comes on, I don't stop. It doesn't matter how tired I am, how weak I feel, or how close I am to collapsing, I don't stop.

We all have moments when we want to quit. Moments when we think we could not possibly go a step further. Moments when we are so fed up with trying so hard for so long that we no longer care about the consequences. Those are the moments that define us. Those are the moments that we get to show our strength. Those are the moments that we get to reach out to someone ELSE and help them with their moment. 

My point in this is that reaching your goals (ANY goals) is never going to be easy and there will always be obstacles, but obstacles are not an excuse to quit. Instead, they are an opportunity to get stronger. 

Now for my week :) 

If you don't know who TOM is, read the hints. I'm fine when TOM stays for a few days, but I'm not fine when he's just on his way. Being a woman is hard enough without trying to lose weight when your body is retaining water for no other purpose than to retain water. You cramp, you feel bloated, and you are ridiculously tired. I could BARELY get out of bed on Wednesday, AND it was a 4:30am morning AND I had a 45 minute cardio session calling my name. I reluctantly got up, went to the gym, and managed 30 minutes before I nearly collapsed. I worked 1/2 a day, went home, and SLEPT. These days will happen. They suck, but they happen. I also missed Thursday evening's workout because I got super busy with church stuff (and I may have had a LOT on my mind) and went to a haunted house instead... So, I missed a total of 2.25 workouts.

I'll put the spreadsheet totals up on Monday (I don't have access to excel till then). I was a little nervous for this mornings weigh in. My goal was 3 lbs. 

Last week: 233.2. This week: 230.4. Equals: -2.8.

I'm pleased with that! For missing 2.25 workouts, I will accept this. I still need to average 3lbs/week to hit my big goal, but I can make it up this week. HOWEVER, I get a mani/pedi when I'm under 230 and I BARELY missed it. AND 2 of my friends were going for mani/pedis today. After my 6 mile hike, a subway sandwhich, and some chicken, corn, and pineapple, I decided to weigh myself in again. This does NOT count towards this weeks weigh in, but....

229.6........AAHHHHHH!!!!!! So yes. I got a mani/pedi. 

BUT the most EXCITING part is that I have now lost 60.0 LBS. Honestly, I was terrified that I would get caught in the 50's and wouldn't find a way out. But I am already at 60 LBS. 70 - watch out! I'm on my way!

Week 31:Tight Schedule?

For the next 11 weeks I will be working out 9x/week. I understand that I may have the occasional interruption, but I am hopeful they will be rare.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday
4:30am: Wake up!
5:00am: Cardio @ LA Fitness
6:15am: Shower
7:30am: Commute to ASU
8:00am: Work
5:00pm: Physical Therapy/Personal Training (PT) (Cardio/Weights on Wednesday)
7:30pm: Teach Bagpipes (Band Rehersal on Friday)
9:30pm: Sleep

Tuesday/Thursday
6:00am: Wake up!
7:00am: Commute to ASU
7:30am: Institute
8:00am: Work
5:00pm: Cardio @ LA Fitness
6:00pm: Errands :(
7:30pm: Foam Roll
8:30pm: Sleep

Saturday
5:30am: Wake up!
6:30am: Pick up sister (Thanks for hiking with me every week!)
7:00am: Hike
11:00am: Cinderella (errands, clean, cook, etc..)
4:00pm: FREE TIME!!! HALLELUJAH!!

Sunday
8-9:00am: Wake up :)
11:00am: Church
3:00pm: Prepare food for the week
5:00pm: Relax.

REPEAT.

Last week was my first week on this schedule. While I am not a fan of waking up at 4:30am, I am a fan of working out in the morning.

My nutrition was GREAT this week. I even logged my food on MyFitnessPal. I started to get dizzy during my workout on Friday night and realized I had only consumed 713 calories for the day....oops. Fridays are always hard, but this one was even worse. If I did not have good options for lunch in the past (no fridge/freezer, nothing prepared, etc...) I would just grab a burger, now I just have a protein shake. Unfortunately, protein doesn't have the calories I need.

I never track what I eat on the weekends. I don't go totally off plan and eat whatever I see, but I allow myself two days of not planning. I've started a habit of getting a subway sandwich after my Saturday hike, eating my normal breakfast meal a few hours later, and working in lean protein during the rest of the day. Sundays I depend on protein bars, protein powder, and whatever I am preparing for the next week (usually turkey tacos). I'll allow myself to have things like chips and guac or a lean cut steak, and whatever fruit sounds good. This past weekend I made some no sugar pumpkin spice cookies and they turned out SO good. I also made Chris Powell's Peanut Butter Power Bricks. They are DELISH. The only bad thing about the peanut butter bricks is that they have honey and peanut butter in them, so you have to be careful to not indulge too much.

4 LBS. YEAH!!! I want SO SO badly to be under 200 by January 1st - that gives me 11 weeks to lose 34 lbs. This is an average of just over 3 lbs a week. That is a LOT. I have averaged 1.8 lbs a week. That is why I will be working out 9x a week for the next 11 weeks. I am skipping Thanksgiving. I am skipping Halloween goodies. I know Christmas is going to be SO hard, but I have to keep my goals in mind. I know this goal might be too much of a stretch. If I can't hit 199 by January 1st I will at least get there before January 31st.

But I'm going to try for January 1st.

Many of you have asked for progress pictures. I have put these on the page "pictures" and will continue to update this monthly. I was pleasantly surprised at the physical change since 282 lbs. I hope 190 will be just as great :)