More-than-mid week update

Hey everyone! Before I run off to Job #2, here's a quick recap of what's been going on.

T25
- Still going strong... haven't missed a workout yet. While I can tell I'm getting better at some of the moves, the whole thing is still pretty hard. I'm excited to see if any of my measurements have changed when I check on Sunday. I hope somethings happening because the scale is still not budging...

Wedding (what I've been thinking about the most)
- There are only 114 days to go.
- I still have 21.6 pounds I'd like to lose. ?!?!?! Sooooo worried.
- My dress is in! I'm too scared to go get it, but I have to get it within the next two weeks so I better gather the courage soon....
- Sheena's bridesmaid dress came in, and several of the other girls have received shipping notices! Sheena looks BEAUTIFUL in her dress!

Looking good!

- I spent 4+ hours working on the invitations this week, and still am not anywhere close to being done. So much to do still...
- Also worrying about hair, jewelry, honeymoon, guest list, officiant, guys attire, etc etc etc

Food
- Have recovered from what turned out to be an Easter night binge and have been going strong since. I met with my support group on Monday and this time left with some useful things to think about. So far so good. Andy and I even had a delicious dinner that Anna made last night before we listened to her play oboe excerpts for us (Anna is so good!!!). This also meant Andy got some quality Poco time.

Andy and his favorite kitty

Work
- Bah. I actually have a ton to do. And the absolute opposite amount of motivation to actually do it.

Ok gotta run. Have a good one!

Hoppy Easter!!

Happy Easter Friends!! I'm writing from Buffalo right now - we are at Andy's parent's house about to have Easter brunch, so I'll probably have to keep this somewhat short.

This morning Andy and I took our measurements to see our results from week one of T25. Here's how things played out…

I lost…. nothing! But I also didn't gain… which I guess is a good thing considering I haven't been eating perfectly these last couple of days. But there were some changes in my measurements for the better! Here are the changes:

Weight: no change
Chest: down a quarter inch
Waist: down a half inch!
Arm: down a half inch!
Thigh: no change
Hips: down a half inch!

Hey… that's pretty good!! Andy did awesome, including losing an inch and a half from his waist!!! Boys always have it so much easier.

Anyway, before getting on the road this morning we did our first workout for week two of T25. I'd say we both kept up better than the first time we did it - Andy says he's already feeling stronger. I'm excited to see how we'll both feel at the end of 10 weeks. :-)

In other news, Andy and I went and registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond on Friday night. It was so much fun! I think of all wedding events so far, it was the best because it didn't cost anything and didn't involve any opinions!!

Buy me please!

The only other thing of note that's happened is we went to the movies last night with Will and Rose and finally saw Divergent. There were definitely some cheesy moments that made all four of us laugh when we shouldn't have, but all in all I enjoyed it.

Ok, time to sign off! I plan to meet Seetha later today. Hopefully she can help me come up with a strategy so that next week's T25 results show some weight loss too.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Friend-ster

Will and Rose got back into town on Wednesday night, and with Anna leaving to visit Bipul the next day, it meant one thing.... Wednesday night FroYo date to celebrate Easter with friends!

Anna and Rose

Anna was sweet and brought us little Easter bags full of goodies. Thank you Anna!!! She also brought a plate of bacon and eggs (you can see them in the picture). They were made of candy - how cool/weird! Needless to say, I had a lot of fun, but I also ate more sweets than I should of. I will let that be my Easter treat and move on!

This morning was another T25 workout with Andy. Today's was called "Lower Focus" and basically destroyed our legs by having us do 25 minutes of squats/lunges/jumps.... my legs were on fire! But now that we've done that dvd, we've completed every workout that we will have to do in the first 5 weeks (otherwise known as the "alpha" phase).

Post-Workout... I'm wiped out!

So... that's about it! I'm excited to repeat some of the workouts to see if I get any better at them. Except the "Total Body Circuit" one. That one's just too hard to feel excited about doing again. At least for now.

Now I'm off to Job #2, and then.... then.... I have tomorrow off!!!!!!!!! THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even express the lack of motivation I've had lately to do work just because I feel like I HAVE BEEN WORKING FOREVER. I really need this break!

One more thing before I go. We currently don't have internet at our house, so I will try my very best to update again soon, but that will mean schlepping my laptop to a coffee shop or something, so... no promises. In case I don't get on here in the next few days, I want to wish everyone a very happy Easter!

REDO and T25

Hello friends. Time for an update.

On Monday night I went to REDO for the compulsive/binge eating support group meeting that Seetha suggested I try. Here's my account of that...

I knew ahead of time that there would be a leader and only two other people in the group. When I walked into the room, those people were already sitting around a conference table - so when I came in, it understandably felt like everyone was looking at me. And I felt like a total a$$hole. Why? Because I was significantly thinner than everyone there, including the leader! But I sat smiled, sat down, and we started the session. Since it's supposed to be confidential I'll refer to the people as Leader, Lady, and Man.

We started by introducing ourselves and talking about why we were there. It turns out Leader is an art therapist. So she is trained in therapy, but doesn't seem like she's trained in nutrition. I found that strange. However, she's been with REDO for 5 years, so I suppose even if she's not a nutritionist, she's picked a few things up here and there. While she is very kind and patient, what I didn't like was she didn't talk once about having an issue with food. And clearly she does. But then maybe I need to change my definition of an "issue." She obviously doesn't stick to a healthy diet, but maybe she doesn't have an issue because she doesn't care about being overweight...? Maybe? I honestly highly doubt it. Anyway, moving on. Lady has been obese her entire life and wants bariatric surgery, but her doctor is making her try 6 months of diet/exercise/counseling before he'll consider it, so that's why she's there. Man is 73 years old. His wife died 4 years ago, he still misses her very much and is very lonely, and so he turns to food for comfort.

So.... it was an experience. Obviously my life/struggles are no where near as bad as Lady and Man's. I felt somewhat ridiculous being there, but at the same time I know I still really really struggle, so I deserve help just as much as they do. I also figured they probably hated me for being "skinny," but decided my "gift" to them was showing them that all kinds of people struggle, not just obese people.

Nothing was really structured... it was more of a 'get to know each other' session. I left thankful that my life was way better than Lady and Man's, but frustrated because I was hoping to have another "tool for my toolbox" and I certainly didn't feel like I had that.

 Obviously, I called Seetha as soon as I left. We had a really good talk. :-) She said she knew I would be much thinner than everyone else, haha. But what really hit home with me was when she said I sort of "fall through the cracks" when it comes to an eating disorder. Seetha said no doctor would ever classify me as having a disorder because I manage to maintain a healthy weight and am generally very healthy. But I torture myself mentally, and that's what's not good. It helped me understand why I did/didn't feel like I belonged in the group. So! With all of that said, I'm going to keep going for a few more weeks... see if now that we know each other it gets a little more structured, and therefore helpful for me. And if not, that's ok and I'll stop going.

Moving on! Andy and I are going strong with T25. Well, Andy is so sore he can barely walk, but he is still doing it each morning with me, and that makes me very happy! I'm definitely sore too - it might be a short workout, but it's intense! Only two more workouts until we finish our first week, and then it's time to weigh and measure and see if we made any progress. I can't wait!

And lastly, today is April 16th, which means there are only 4 months until the wedding!!!!! AAHHH!!!! It will be here in no time and there's still so much to do!!! And I have so much weight to lose!!!!!! But in addition to it being 4 months until the wedding, it is also... the middle of April... a time one might consider "Spring." Well... we still don't have leaves on the trees, I currently have my space heater on in my office, and it's been snowing on and off both yesterday and today.

This morning - snow on the roof

Come on Winter!!! GO AWAY!!!!!! Ugh.

Exercising Fool

Guys, I'm so sorry it keeps taking me so long to update!!!! I was still reaaaaaaally busy at work, but thankfully even though there's still a lot to do, it can get done on my timeline so I am able to relax a bit more. Thank goodness!!! I still haven't had a single day off yet in the month of April, so I'm running out of steam, but there's an end in sight. With the office closed on Friday I only have 3 and a half days left until I get a whole 24 hours to myself!

Let's just ignore Job #1 and #2 right now. We need to talk about exercising.

I have been an exercising fool! Let me list it all for you (from the beginning of my streak).

4/5
- 21 Day Fix Total Cardio DVD = 30:00
- P90X MMX DVD = 30:00
* Both of these were with Anna at her house. So much fun!

4/6
- 3 mile run outside = 32:00
- Fitness Blender Ab Video = 17:00

4/7
- Jillian Michaels DVD = 30:00
- Walked on treadmill = 60:00
- Stationary Bike = 15:00

4/8
- Pilates DVD = 20:00
(Tuesday... my super long day)

4/9
- Skinny Bitch Ab DVD = 15:00
- Walked outside = 30:00
- Jillian Michaels DVD = 30:00
- Walked on treadmill = 60:00

4/10
- Workout w/Ted! Rowing + Tabata = 30:00
- Walked outside = 30:00
- Elliptical = 45:00
- Stationary Bike = 15:00

4/11
- Jungshin with Sarah! = 40:00
- Biked to/from yoga = 20:00
- Vinyasa Yoga class = 60:00

Jungshin Master, Sarah!

4/12
- 2.8 mile run = 30:00
- Upper Body Fix DVD = 30:00
* again both of these with Anna at her house!

4/13
- T25 DAY ONE!!! Cardio = 25:00
- Bike Ride outside = 45:00

4/14 (today)
- T25 DAY TWO!!! Speed 1.0 = 25:00
(that's all so far... hope to do a little more before the day is over)

All of that... and the scale has barely budged. Ugh. BUT. There are only 124 days until the wedding. There is no time to waste. And no matter what happens, I am determined that 124 days from now I will be able to say "I really tried." Trying is all I can do - I don't know what will happen - but I have to at least try.

You probably noticed in my exercise list I listed T25 with great excitement. :-)

T25 arrived on Saturday!

All of the contents

Andy, Anna, Lisa, Elizabeth and I are all doing it! Elizabeth started a week ago, and Lisa a few days ago, but Anna, Andy and I all started on the same day. It's fun to be able to text back and forth about how it's going. :-) Just a quick overview - T25 is a ten week program where you do a total of 6 25-minute workouts each week. The workouts are super fast-paced and so far pretty tough, but definitely doable. On Sunday I weighed myself, took my measurements, and a before picture. I'm really excited to see what changes happen over time! I will definitely keep you updated with how it goes and the progress I make.

Additionally, tonight is my first night of going to the compulsive eating support group. I'm actually really looking forward to it. I am hoping that the support group + T25 will help me stay on track and motivated to get the hot bod I'm hoping to have for the big day!

Stay tuned for more frequent (I promise! I really promise!) updates. Looking ahead, there's lots to discuss about the support group and T25 (I'm sure), plus wedding activities will start to ramp up... I'm also planning to go to NYC in early May, running a 10k later in May... a trip home in June... lots going on!

Thanks for sticking with me friends. :-)

Quick Update!

I literally only have 10 minutes before I have to go to a meeting. And I need to pee... so... time is limited. But I also wanted to say hello!

Job #1 got CRAZY BUSY again. CRAZY BUSY!!!! CRRRRRAAAAAZZZZZYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!! I've had a lot of responsibilities and I'm happy to say that while I've been stressed and tired, everything's turned out really well. I'm pretty proud of myself for the work I've been doing - just wish I had a day or two off!

What else is going on besides Job #1? Not a whole lot to tell you the truth. My dad had a birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!!!! Anna also re-sparked my enthusiasm for at-home workout DVDs (stay tuned for more on that soon). And Seetha has not only come to my rescue again, but has stepped up her presence in my life even more - I am so so so lucky to have found her.

And so that you don't think my life is all work and no play (even though it feels that way a lot lately), here's a silly video of Andy - taken at a Frozen Yogurt place after a community concert on Saturday. Will and Anna were there too... you can probably hear their voices/laughter in the background!

Ok, time to pee. Have a good one. More soon. I really promise. Promise!!!