This will probably be my last post . . . of 2011

Knowing me, and my life, I probably won't get back here tomorrow.  And I have a moment to post right now, so I thought I would.

2011.  It was an interesting year.  I lost a lot of weight in 2011, but I'll be honest, I've put a little back on. 

Which goes to the second thing of 2011.  Instead of illness this year, this was the year of injuries.  I was doing fantastic with exercise until May of 2011.  Great.  I was running and I was doing my Body Combat classes and my Body Pump classes.  Loved it. And then I got tendinitis in my foot.  And despite trying to cut back and using anti-inflamatories, it still hurt. All the time.  So I decided to take a little break from exercise.  Just for June.  And maybe July.  It would have been fine. Except that I burned myself at the end of July.  Then I couldn't exercise for another two months.  Now, it would be September.  And I did go a few times in September.  But then, I had outpatient surgery in October.  I'd really start again in November.  Except then, I got crazy busy.  So here it is the end of 2011, and I really haven't regularly since early May. Ugh. But I have a plan.  And I will get back to it.  I was so consistent in 2010 and half of 2011. I know that I can get back to my exercise plan.  And it is so much easier for me to follow a healthy food plan when I'm exercising.

The kids went back to public school this year.  That has been different.  I don't know if I'll homeschool again.  I miss it a lot, but I always said that I wanted to do what is right for my kids.  But I'm hoping that it isn't totally the end.  I mean, Super is only in first grade, so if it is the right thing for him, maybe we will homeschool at some point.  Speaking of the kids, maybe I should update a little about them.

Flower? She is 12.  And in 6th grade.  And a great kid, really.  But I definitely see glimpses of teenager-hood coming through.  And she bought herself an iPod Touch this Christmas.  And the texting has begun. But she still likes to hang out with her family.  And she still loves to read.  And she still loves to sing. 

Jelly Bean.  Hmm.   It has been a busy year for her.  She is in 4th grade and has homework for the first time in her life. She started competitive swimming in September and she practices 4 times a week.  She is moving up to the next level next month and then her practices will move from an hour to two hours.  I worry a little about burn out, but she LOVES it and says that swimming is the only thing that makes her happy, so for right now, we are going ahead.  She turned 10 this month.  I can't believe she is already a whole decade!

Super.  Maybe I should rename him Super Wild.  No, he isn't that bad.  Most of the time anyway.  He loves Super Heroes now. A lot. So his blog name is more fitting than it used to be.  He is forever jumping off things too.  And he loves to create things out of scraps.  He calls them "his inventions." He used to make "inventions" by connecting his toys together in various ways. Quite the creative little guy.

I don't have resolutions exactly for 2012.  But I do have a checklist/to do list/plans for 2012.  Is that the same as resolutions? I don't know. A lot of it has to do with SLITC and turning it into a business. And then most of the rest has to do with incorporating simple living even more into my life.  But a big item on my to do list is to learn to enjoy myself more.  Relax sometimes.  Laugh more. Try not to be so serious all the time.  Make more time for friends.  Make more friends.  And maybe sleep more too. :)

Here are the weight loss pictures although

Before Picture - Taken December 2009

Mid point picture - October 2010

I do need to clarify a bit.

The "before" picture doesn't really give you the FULL effect. I'm standing next to someone and so it is hard to tell what I really look like, and this is a before pic that was about 15 pounds away from where I finally freaked out. And I'm not sure what is up with my hair. It doesn't always look great, but this was a particular bad day.

The midpoint pic is taken by Jelly Bean on my phone. The camera completely died yesterday and so I will need to get a new camera, but that will have to wait until mid November. So you get what you get (and you don't throw a fit LOL)

I can't tell for sure if these pictures really gives you a flavor of what I look like compared to before. I do know that I've lost enough so that people I haven't seen in awhile completely freak out, but day to day people, well, some of them still haven't noticed, or at least they haven't said anything.

I'm not brave enough to give you actual numbers yet beyond saying that I've lost 55 pounds so far and I need to lose 110 total. But I'm sure that you can guesstimate about where I was and where I'll end up.

Less of Me These Days

Not around this blog, at least not lately. I've been chatty lately. :)

I talked in the summer about how I've been exercising. Mostly jogging. And I've mentioned a couple times about how I've been eating healthier.

Well, guess what?

I've also been losing weight.

Yea me!

It started back in March. I mean, not really. I've been overweight for the better part of the last 14 years. I did lose a bunch of weight back in 2006. But generally, I've been around a certain weight for much of that time.

So I had been ignoring the scale and just assuming that I weighed the same as always. But I noticed that my clothes were getting tighter and that I was get winded by doing simple things. So I got on the scale.

And quickly got off.

Something must be wrong with scale. I must have leaning wrong or something. I tried again.

Nope. I weighed about 30 pounds more than my "usual." And my "usual" wasn't great either.

So I spent the weekend thinking about what I should do. I knew that I didn't want to do a crash diet. I also knew that whatever I did, it was going to take awhile to lose the weight. Probably at least a year.

So I decided that I would start walking 5 days a week, and eventually work up to jogging. I didn't want to rush into it and get injured, but I also wanted to make exercise become part of my (mostly) daily routine.

I decided that I would eat mostly fruits and vegetables and small portions of meat and bread. I would try to limit my sweets to a couple of bites. By just taking a couple of bites, I'd get the taste but wouldn't consume enough to derail the whole day. I would try to eat as little processed food as possible. I'd mostly do what I referred to the "Eater's Manifesto" diet - Eat Real Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. But no foods are really "off limits." I just try and really watch my portion sizes.

And when I didn't feel like exercising, I'd tell myself to just do it anyway. (Unless I was injured.) Most of the time, if I could just get out the door, that would be enough to get me motivated to exercise that day.

I started eating healthier and exercising at the end of March. The weight hasn't always come off as quickly as I had hoped, but it has mostly consistently gone down. And by the end of September, 6 months in, I've now lost 55 pounds. I'm running at least 3 miles a day. Which is great. It is. However, it is only half of what I need to lose just to get to a healthy BMI for my height. (I'm uh, NOT tall. 5'3" on a good day.) And the definition of a pear shaped body? Well, they had my body in mind, that's for sure.

But yes, I've lost half of my excess weight. I'm proud of myself.

But mostly, it has been a little anti-climatic, but in a good way. I really have adopted a healthy lifestyle. It is just the way that I eat now. The way that I exercise. And generally, if I exercise and eat like this, I lose weight.

The other thing is that if I don't eat like this, I get sick. Like my stomach is killing me and my muscles hurt and it is all I can think is the pain in my gut for two days kind of sick. It makes it so it isn't all that tempting to overeat.

I'm hopeful that come April 1st, 2011, I will be at goal weight and that I'll be running at least 6-8 miles a day.

And I'll be proud of myself.

But I won't be celebrating by eating a huge slice of cake or going out for a huge meal. I'll eat the same way that day that I always do. I'll exercise. And I do the same the next day, and the next day.

Come back here tomorrow and I'll list some before and mid-point pictures.