DAY 99: Dedication & education

June, like my stumpy legs, was short yet powerful.  These were my big moments of the month.


What I did

Went on a work trip for 5 days.  To get in all my steps and stick to my healthy eating, I got a little… creative.  I hoofed up and down 8 flights of stairs anytime I wanted to go to or from my hotel room and never strayed from clean foods or gave in to the very tempting buffet meals.  I met or exceeded my daily steps and lost 2 pounds while away.

What I learned
I can survive outside of my element because I am stronger than I think.

salad  possible

What I did
Added measurable non-scale goals to my focus for extra motivation.

What I learned
Achieving those goals feels fucking awesome.

towel

What I did
Had a minor meltdown when I saw a photo of myself well into my weight-loss adventure, still looking like a fat cow.  Hours later, I dragged myself to the gym and, without intending to, snapped myself out of it.

What I learned
No one and nothing has power over me.  I’m in charge, and I’ve got this.

got this

What I did
Almost visually sexually harassed a colleague when the weight of my cell phone in my pocket pulled my pants all the way off of me at work.

What I learned
Weight loss is hilarious and replacing clothes gets expensive.  I say both of these things with a smile.

pants

What I did
Started — baby steps — sharing my weight and weight-loss issues with people I care about.

What I learned
There’s a fine line between embarrassment and pride (in both senses).  I have to let go of my over-protective reflexes and let people into the scary places with me.

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What I did
Worked like a mad woman to get my steps in every day.  I missed only once all month.

What I learned
Gym shoes come in unexpected styles, and it doesn’t matter how askance the people on the machines around me stare at the girl working out in a T-shirt, business pants, and flip-flops.  It also doesn’t matter how late I got free that day; my gym time is more important than my ass-parked-in-front-of-the-TV time.  Finally, I don’t have to choose between socializing and getting my burn in.  The gym is open until 11 for a reason, and I can close it down with the night shift guy whenever I need to.  At least no one will be on the machine next to me when that happens.

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What I did
Stayed home, got in only a third of my daily miles goal, and took three (!) naps on a stormy Saturday.

What I learned
Falling short one day is not failing the entire mission, and listening to my body when it’s telling me what it needs is just as important as sticking to my goals.

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What I did
Set a goal of getting in 200 miles in June, and eked it out just under the wire.  And I threw in two bonus miles to grow shrink on.

What I learned
Those pounds I have to lose are in big trouble.

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DAY 92: My massage hurts!, and other first-world problems

I got a massage over the weekend as my 50-pound milestone reward.  I usually do the Swedish + deep tissue combination, cuz mama needs the de-knotting, but mama also needs the love.  As is the norm, it hurt so good and gave me results!  My range of motion in my neck is significantly better, my shoulder blades feel as if a thousand little strings keeping them taut have been cut, and I feel less physically tense overall.  These muscles have been working like dogs lately, so they needed some relief.  My neck is still a little tender from the work the masseuse did there, though, and oddly, my hip is all weird!  It feels like my legs are suddenly two different lengths.  The masseuse did say as she was massaging my hip that there was a lot of tightness there, and she spent a lot of time releasing some trigger points, but it’s kind of strange I would still have this feeling a few days later.  (I know, boo hoo, my indulgent spa treatment gave me an ouchie.  I am to be massively pitied.)  Ah, well, it’ll pass one way or another.

Unrelatedly but in a similar vein, I have become SO DEPENDENT on my Vivo Fit.  I don’t even like the little thing.  It’s like my own personal Jiminy Cricket, but less gross and more annoying.  Every time that cursed red arrow starts filling the screen, I kind of want to rip the damn thing off my arm and throw it through a wall.  Then again, I don’t know where I would be without it. It’s been crucial to my success.  The constant, albeit irritating, reminders to get off my duff and move around have been key not just to my physical improvements, but also my mental ones (future post to come on this).  Beyond that, it was the inspiration for the very first non-scale goal I set for myself:  200 miles in June.  (As of bed time last night, I was only 62 miles away from realizing that goal.  I’m gonna scorch that number, and I can’t wait.)  Even on the days where I haven’t made it to the gym, I have gone to slightly maniacal lengths to ensure that I at least get all my steps in — and Jiminy is always moving the bar higher for that, the little bastard.  In all seriousness, though, this technology owns me.  Thank you, Vivo Fit, for keeping me committed and for keeping me moving.  Best post-holidays impulse purchase I ever made.  Wireless blu-ray player, eat your heart out.

To conclude this woe-is-me jam, I offer this parting lament: all my clothes are too big (waaah!) and I keep having to buy new ones (pobrecita!).  I put my cell phone in my pants pocket at work last week, and then my pants FELL OFF.  Luckily, no one saw that happen, or they would have seen my saggy underwear about to do the same.  (Do you need a tissue to wipe away those tears of pity?)  Yesterday, I found an oh-honey pair of pants that were too small when I bought them last spring, and had completely forgotten about.  I put them on all excitedly, and they wouldn’t stay up on my hips.  (Sob!)  I know, I know, this sounds like backdoor bragging, and I guess it is, but I am also actually running out of money to support this healthiness habit I developed to replace stuffing my face and being inert.  I’m gonna need my Diet Bets to pay out right quick, because my last paycheck went to Ann Taylor Loft and my landlady may have an expectation of receiving rent from me this month.  Although, if worse comes to worst, I guess I could always take up residence in some of the old tents I used to pass off as clothes.

OK, reader, you’ve suffered enough of me.  I’m gonna go cry myself to sleep.

😉