Thursday, May 24, 2012

The thigh's the limit

I went to see Dr. Stephen today for my official weigh-in.  I'm down 5.6 pounds...4.8 of that is fat!  That brings my total weight-loss to 87 pounds!  That number is a bit overwhelming to me. A year ago, I was talking about how I was going to finally get gastric bypass surgery.  I never dreamed I would lose all this weight by diet and exercise alone.  Especially the exercise part.  I never made it a secret about how much I hated exercise.  I'm now fully addicted to running, I really enjoy my yoga class, and I'm still taking the stairs...all the time.  Admittedly though, I hate the stairs.  I just do it to get some extra cardio in my day and I just pretend that all elevators are broken!.

While running tonight (I ran 5k on my own for only the second time ever), I noticed that my inner thighs no longer rub together.  I'm thankful that it was just me along the rail trail tonight, as I kept touching my inner thighs as I made this discovery. Something you should really do in private.  I don't believe that my inner thighs have ever NOT rubbed together.  Maybe when I was 6...before I started gaining weight.  According to my BMI I have another 43 pounds to lose.  I still have some real problem areas that I will be glad to be rid of.  My upper arms, butt, outer thighs, gut...I can totally see where I can still lose 40+ pounds.  Only 2 more pounds before Heloise's restoration. Yikes!

The last two weeks, I have followed Phase 2 of Dr. Poon's Metabolic Diet.  I lost 5 pounds, which is what I lost on average when I used to follow Phase 1, and I didn't exercise.  I really want to get faster with my running, so I think I'm going to try and follow mostly Phase 1 for a couple of weeks and see where I end up...with the exception of  eating a protein bar 1 1/2 hours before I run.  I ate a salad with lean protein about an hour before I ran tonight, and I had cramps the whole time.  Eating the protein bar before running definitely works better for me.

I know that the key to getting faster, is dropping more weight.  One thing I can honestly say about following this metabolic diet is I am never hungry.  I always eat until I am full and the key is to eat the right foods (ie: no cheating).  When I'm hungry, I just want to eat to subside my hunger.  I rarely think too hard about the variety of food that I eat.  This diet may not be right for everyone, but it has helped me to think of food as being fuel for my body. It's just food, and it will no longer control my life.  I was an emotional eater my whole life and I hope to never go down that road again.  I've come way too far to mess this up now.  I have boundless amounts of energy, and I never feel better than I do right after a run.  I LOVE that feeling!  It's completely addictive.

This past weekend was my nephew's confirmation dinner.  It was also his cousin's confirmation, so the mother's had a joint dinner for both.  It was a lovely evening and I saw people I haven't seen in a year, and some I just saw a month ago.  My sister-in-law's sisters-in-law (hope that's not too confusing) were shocked by my appearance.  I hadn't seen them since last summer.  My father and mother-in-law only saw me a month ago, but said that they didn't recognize me when they saw me.  I had no idea that I looked that different in the span of a month!  My sister-in-law said something that choked me up.  She told me, in a whisper while hugging me, that every time she sees me, she gets tears in her eyes because she's so proud of me.  Of all the compliments I got that night, that was definitely the one that touched me the most!  It's moments like these that make me want to reach my goal.
My boy Jules, me, my handsome nephew Nicolas,
his beautiful cousin Victoria, and my hubby.