Looking Back at 2011

Stolen from Brie and her awesome blog.
1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
I set weight loss goals and stuck to them.
I got a contracted full-time job.
I taught (and am still) teaching 4th grade.
I went downtown and to the bars for the 1st time (lame, party of me)
Adopted a dog of my own.
I got my Master's Degree!!!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
For the first time ever, I did!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not that I can think of.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My great uncle passed away in November.

5. What countries did you visit?
Didn't leave the country this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A house.
A new car.
More new friendships.
More financial stability.

7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 5th: I finished the coursework for my Master's Degree
June 6th: I got a full time job offer and adopted my dog.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Losing weight and continuing to go to the gym.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting enough money saved up to get into our own house before the end of the year. Some of it was my fault for frivolous spending and some of it was out of our hands.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My dog.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Start-up costs for my new job-- Stocking a classroom is expensive.

13. What did you get really excited about?
New job and dog all in the same day.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
None are sticking out to me... I'm not really into music.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
– happier or sadder? I guess happier- I can see life moving in a better direction. – thinner or fatter? THINNER! – richer or poorer? Richer, just because I have a higher paying job than last year.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Spent more time with my husband. We don't see each other very much.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Crying and complaining.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
Driving up to our cabin and then hanging with my family.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Parenthood

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't read much this year... But I did just finish The Help and really enjoyed it.

21. What was your favorite music from this year? I got into the upbeat pop rock stuff just because it keeps me motivated when I'm running.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
Hmm... I loved New Year's Eve, at least that's what is coming to mind right now.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 25 this year and I was jetboating with my family in Hells Canyon.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being able to buy a house.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Non-existent. I changed sizes too often so I just bought cheap.

26. What kept you sane? Training. Husband.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
I am strong and I can attain any goal that I want to achieve.

I climbed...

a camel's back.











No really... I did.

Well the park is called Camelsback because the park is completley flat and then all of a sudden there's this humongous hill and behind it is a bunch of trails. And at the top is an AWESOME view of the city.

Well my trainer has been talking for about a month that she wanted to take me out there "off the clock" and do a workout together but we needed to wait until the temps were in the 40s. So I thought "awesome, I've got until at least March to get my cardio endurance up for it." Well... Mother Nature is a bitch and has decided to not bring winter to Idaho yet.

So at 9:30 this morning I bundled up (it was only 30 degress at that time tyvm!) and headed to the park. Um... that hill is a lot bigger than I remember. And then she told me we'd be climbing it 3 times! Ha.

So we went straight to the hill and climbed it the first time. Kinda thought I was going to die... and then took one of the trails down. Went back to the start and she started timing... I made it in 4 minutes 50 seconds. Not great, not horrible. She told me that most people it takes 10-12 minutes to do the hill the first time (I'm not sure whether she was just saying that to be nice or not though.)

We took a different trail down that went up some more and then back down and then went to the tennis courts and did some lunges, skips, butt kicks and high knees. And then climbed the hill a 3rd time. I felt stronger the 3rd time than I did either time but I could tell my legs were about to give up on me. We took a different trail down and called it a day.

Total workout was 1 hour. And it was a killer. I'm sure I won't be moving tomorrow or even more so on Friday.

Migraines

Today I had my yearly check-up with my doctor. She's really great and doesn't make me feel uncomfortable talking to her about anything.
Everything seemed to go pretty well. My blood pressure is down, but still on the borderline high side. This is to be expected, I'm overweight and it runs in my family. But she's not putting me on pills for it because I'm on birth control and that can cause some higher blood pressure.
However, I brought up my migraines. I get them... a lot. At first I thought they were just caffine withdrawls but it's been going on about a year now. I can go some time without them and then *wham* they hit again.
Anyway, I talked to her. She asked me what they felt like, where I felt them, if they affected my vision, etc. She checked my nerves in my brain responses (or something like that) and then determined that I could probably use some sort of medicine to help control them. However, she wouldn't prescribe me the pill that I can take and it gets rid of the migraine when I have it because it's known to raise blood pressure and that's too risky with my current borderline pressure and my family history.
So, she asked about my sleep patterns. And they suck. So she decided to put me on a very low dose of anti-depressant that is also used to prevent migraines. She said it should help me sleep (which could be a cause of the migraines) and hopefully will prevent them.
I'm hopeful that these pills help get rid of them (they've become pretty debilitating) but also scared that if they don't work, I have to start going in for testing to figure out WHY they're coming.

So here's to hoping that the pills help... And now it's off to the gym.

I learned a lesson today...

Never get too comfortable or cocky with you're workouts because it's easy to be knocked down again.
I've been feeling pretty good about my trainer workouts... I've been sweaty and tired at the end but haven't walked out feeling like I was going to die. Well, all that changed today.
Trainer amped up my workout majorly today and almost had me on the floor puking. She took my step ups from my normal 50 step ups per leg to 100 per leg with 12.5lb weights in each hand.
I..was..dying. Or died. I don't know.
But I know she could tell she was about to lay me out on the floor. It didn't help that I didn't eat well today because I was dealing with students throughout the entire day with no breaks. My body is ticked.
But.. I think it's good. Now I have a new goal. 100 step ups on each leg with the 12.5lb weights and not wanting to die on the floor when it's over. I'm giving myself 3 weeks. I know I can do it.

Any new goals you've set for yourself?? Health and fitness related or not.

Christmas Came Early

My husband isn't normally a person that does any sort of Christmas shopping. In the almost 7 years that we've been together, I think he's surprised me with 1 present. Usually I see something I want, I call him and see if it's in his budget and then he pays me back. This year, however, he got on the ball quick. I don't know what 1 of my presents are! He's even wrapped them all himself!

But... tonight he was wrapping the last of my presents and either he got lazy and didn't want to wrap the last one or he was so proud of his present that he wanted me to open it RIGHT NOW (I'm pretty sure it was the later.) Anyway, I opened the box and it was a Bondi Band! I've been wanting one since I started working out. I'm so excited to wear it at the gym tomorrow to see how it works. And here's a picture of it!

Now let's see if it helps my running skills. :)

Checking In

I think about updating a lot... I just don't seem to have time and/or energy to do it. Work is kicking my butt right now. This is our busiest time of year... Well up until next week and then I have 2 weeks off.
I've been working with my new trainer once a week and I LOVE her. She kills me, but in a good way. She understands me, gives me encouragement and doesn't put up with any crap. I like going to the gym on her days, wheras my first trainer, I wasn't too thrilled to see him.
I made it to the gym 3 days last week.. That's a recent record for me. And they were hard workouts. I know being busy isn't an excuse, but really, I've been busy. As soon as I make it through next week it's back to the grind, no excuses.
My eating hasn't been the greatest, but I'm maintaining. And I'm happy with that right now. I have learned to own my choices and think before I eat. Whereas me a year ago would have just shoved a bunch of food in my mouth and then thought of the consequences later.
So suffice to say, I'm proud of myself. Ya the weight's coming off slower that I would like it but I keep telling myself that this is forever. Even if it takes me 2 years to get to where I want to be, it's better than not doing it all.

I've also made some new co-worker friends that I go to the bar with almost every Friday (I get water or Diet Pepsi.) There's a pretty good span of us as to where we are with our ability levels, one is a former weight lifting champion and one is a sports extraordinare that just had ACL surgery over Thanksgiving break. However, we've all decided to have the same goal and run the Race for the Cure 5K that's here in May. I'm super excited to have some motivation to keep going and to have people to workout with. Now to continue with the C25K so that I can not pass out!

Until next time...

New Trainer

My trainer that I've had since February quit a few weeks ago. No notice, but I was pretty sure it was coming. I knew he wasn't happy with his job. I was super nervous when I found out because I wasn't sure that I wanted to start all over with someone new. Someone who didn't know a thing about my past workouts.

It took a lot for me to not be negative about it. But, 3 weeks into working with the new trainer and I think I'm going to like her! She has a very different approach to the workouts than my old trainer did, but I think it's good! I've shocked my body (aka she tries to KILL me) and I've finally jumped over the pleteau that I was on almost the entire summer. I'm now down 46 lbs. I'll measure on the 17th of the month and see how many inches.

It's nice to be leaving the gym feeling like I'm going to puke and shaky. I didn't want to admit that my old trainer had slacked off on the workouts, but the new one has made that obvious.

I kind of have a renewed faith in working out and I'm excited to go to the gym... Something I never thought I'd say.

It's the Dress

My husband's cousin is getting married this Saturday. I'm pretty excited to get to attend a wedding because I haven't been to one since my own last year. But the most exciting part is that I get to wear one of my bridesmaid's dresses from my wedding.... Which is 2 sizes smaller than my own wedding dress was. Last weekend D and I were trying on our "nice" clothes to make sure that we had things that fit for the wedding. I put on the dress that I wore on our honeymoon (the same size as my wedding dress, obviously) and D zipped it up. When he let go, the dress fell to the floor. I was torn with excitement and sadness. I love that dress but I'm excited because that size of dress is behind me forever. So now I get to wear a cute orange flower dress that I almost bought for myself when 2 of my bridesmaids chose it as the dress to wear at my wedding.

(The dress that I'm wearing is the one on the furthest left.)

And we had a get together with D's family that is in town for the wedding. D's aunt noticed right away that I had lost a significant amount of weight and commented on it. People noticing that I don't see all the time is something that keeps me motivated!

Back from the Dead

I'm bringing the blog back... It's been a long time since I updated but apparently learning how to take control of my life takes a lot of time.

But I'm happy to report, since my first weigh in, I am officially down 43 lbs and about 30 inches. I just took new "progress" pictures because I could feel myself falling off the wagon. Boy did those help! I don't see the difference in myself every day but in the pictures, when they're put next to my "before" pictures, I see a HUGE difference. That put me back on track.

I have a lot of reasons that I've finally been able to stick with this weight loss journey for 9 (!) months so far (seriously the longest I've ever stuck with any "diet") but that is largely in thanks to my personal trainer that I've had since February. Ryan, as much as I hate him when he's killing me once a week, has been my motivator and my cheerleader. He's pushed me and it's amazing how much having someone hold you accountable helps. Seriously, I know I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for him.

But I haven't reached that goal yet. I'd really like to lose about 124 more pounds, but I'm pretty sure I'd spend the rest of my life trying to reach that number. Really, 84 more pounds and I'll be the smallest I can ever remember being and I'll be healthy.

I have some new goals to keep me on track with my weight loss:
1. I'm going to run (I mean run, not walk) a 5K in May. My goal is to run the whole thing.
2. Within the next year and a half I'm going to run a half marathon.
3. Sometime in the future, I will run a marathon. It may take me years to get to that point, but the nice thing is, once I've lost this weight, I'll have the years in my life to do it.

So I stink at blogging...

So obviously I'm not good at keeping up on blogging. It didn't help that I broke the screen on my laptop and was computerless for a few weeks while the husband and I decided what to do and what kind of computer to get. But I'm finally back online!
My weight loss is still going. I started to get off track there for about a week and caught myself. On Thursday I joined a gym! I walked in there just to get some info because I had heard that it was a pretty good gym and ended up walking out with memberships for both the husband and I!
I have a plan where I am going to have a personal trainer 1 time a week. My first time was yesterday and let's just say I'm sure I looked like a fool. And I'm sore!
He's set me up on a meal plan and I need to be working out about 5 days a week. So even though I can barely move right now, I will be heading to the gym today to see if I can stretch out some of these muscles!

2 lbs down!

That's right... 2 pounds in one week... According to what I thought I weighed and what I really weighed today. But I think it's probably more of 5 or 6 lbs.

BUT I just thought of today that I need to make some goals to keep giving me motivation..

So if I lose 15lbs I get something, 30lbs something else, 50 lbs... another.

I think for 50 lbs I've decided that we'll get a dog! I've been wanting one badly and know that I need to wait until my Master's program is over so I have time to commit to it. I'm thinking 50 lbs down would be about that time.

But I need goals for other milestones... Any suggestions?

Wednesday Check-In

Yesterday was a busy day. I've taken over as secretary for my riding club and last night was my first official meeting. Needless to say, I'm overwhelmed but it's good to get more involved in something.
Calorie counting is actually going pretty well. I'm having a lot of fun figuring out different combinations of foods to eat and figuring out what to eat and when to keep myself from getting hungry.
And... I joined sparkpeople. It's going to be good to have some motivation and to have some people answer to when I start falling off the bandwagon.
Unfortunatley exercising has been non-existent this week. Thanks kindergarteners for giving me a sore throat and leaving my body to fight off a cold which has made me exhausted. And the husband has been sleep talking like crazy this week... He's sleeping well but I'm sure not! I'll get onto the exercising for sure on Monday after my weekend of class is over and I can get my 21 days in a row done so that I can get my routine built.
I also hi-lighted my hair today and I think I'm going to like it. It's fun to have something new! I'll get pictures up once my camera battery is done charging. But since I haven't really had a whole lot to post about that's been extremely important and I hate blogs without pictures, I'll leave you with a few of the loves of my life... My horses and dog.

Anyone else make resolutions? Keeping up with them?

Happy (?) Monday

Is there really such a thing as a happy Monday when it involves going back to work? It makes it even worse that it was the first day back after 2 weeks off. On the positive, my students were quiet and well-behaved today. I doubt that will last long.

Today was the first day of my new "lifestyle." I'm not calling it a diet because I'm not really dieting but just changing my lifestyle and eating habits. And so far... I'm hungry. I knew it was going to be hard but geez I'm starving. Part of the probelm is that I need to go grocery shopping and the other is that I'm afraid I'm going to go over my calorie allowance. After going grocery shopping tonight I'm hoping it will get a bit easier.

No pictures today... I'll get back on the picture train tomorrow. But until then, what do you do to help keep your mind off food and eating when you know you're not really hungry?