Rochelle's Blog ::: Subtitles Included

Having events to look forward to is always bittersweet. It’s so great to look toward the future with excitement and hope. Yet it’s sad that we wish our days away to get there. I realized a few weeks ago that I really needed to have something in my life to look forward to. Something to plan for and something that will keep me awake at night with excitement.

So in my own life, I have two events coming up that I’m really excited for. One small and one large.

First up is the Photo Walk I’m participating in on Saturday in Estes Park. My friend David told me about it a few weeks ago and convinced me to sign up. It’s part of Scott Kelby’s Second-Annual WorldWide Photo Walk. Around 50 of us are going to be walking around downtown Estes Park and beyond taking photographs. I’m so excited to learn some new techniques from photographers that are much more skilled than I am. After a few hours we’re going to have dinner and drinks. How great, huh?

And of course, there is my trip to London. I’ve been busy planning away. I’ve decided that we’re going to stay based in London and do day trips to Bath, Oxford, and Stratford-upon-Avon. The latest development with my trip is that my mom is coming with us. At first it was a bit of a shock when she invited herself along, but now I’m really excited for this! For as long as I can remember she has talked about how she would love to go there. I’m so happy that she can get to go. So now my sister, mom, and I will be sharing a room with three single beds just off Kensington Gardens.

My mind races with all the possibilities. All the things we can do, all the ways I can get prepared. I love it! Yesterday I got my passport taken care of. I had to get my name changed, which is just a huge bummer all around. I really wish I would have done it right after I got married, and not while I’m in this current state of marriage with Brian. I really wish I would have never changed my name in the first place. But oh well. It’s been great to have such an easy last name!

I’m already making lists like crazy. I think it’s exciting because I never really buy accessories for myself. I rarely buy new clothes, I hardly ever buy shoes, and I certainly don’t buy bags of any kind. But I have needs now, so I can justify it all. I’m definitely going to need new shoes to start off with. When I was in Ireland I was obsessed with footwear. Brian and I packed wore New Balance tennis shoes. We stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone around us wore much more stylistic footwear, that was still perfect for walking, but not their gym shoes. I refuse to do that again. So now I’m planning on going to the Walking Company and getting a couple of pairs of shoes. Also, I’m going to need some new clothes by then. Not a ton, but a few pairs of pants and maybe a jacket. Hopefully, I will be an even smaller size by then. I’m already wearing older clothes that didn’t fit me when I began losing weight. That’s been great, but I can even sense that they are going to become too big. Finally, I’ve been thinking a lot about a backpack of some sort. Since I’ll have more camera gear, I need something a little more substantial than my purse. But I don’t want a big bulky backpack either. I want something stylish, but practical too. Well this morning I went to the campus bookstore and ended up finding an awesome little backpack. It’s got a million compartments and lots of nice features. Not only can I use it on my trip, but I can try it out on my photo walk too!

So things are coming together quite nicely. Life is wonderful right now and I’m so happy. How often do we get to acknowledge that?

I’ve had another great week at the diet. There were definitely some slip ups, but I was able to regain control and keep my calories low overall. Now that I’m going to London in September, I’m more motivated than ever. I want to be in the best possible shape I can be by the time we get there. That way I can keep up and see as much as I can!

Well I hope you didn’t miss my usual weigh-in post on Saturday. I’ve now shifted that post to Wednesday to coincide with the weigh-ins I do for the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans summer challenge (go TEAM COCOA). I’m happy to report that I lost more weight since my last my weigh in. I’ve now lost 13.8 pounds! If I can get to 20 pounds I will be so happy! I have never lost 20 pounds or more in my entire life. I just keep thinking that slow and somewhat consistent progress is the way to go. If I can just keep it up, it will only be a matter of time before I reach my goals. That’s a very cool prospect.

Yay! I

Well the good old scale was my friend this week! After a gain last Saturday, I tried my hardest to stay positive and not get discouraged. I weighed in on Wednesday for my Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans (TEAM COCOA!) challenge, and lost that extra pound I had apparently gained. Well it just keeps getting better and I am down another 2 since then! Hopefully, I can maintain or lose more in time for Wednesday’s weigh-in!

But I am also so thrilled because I finally hit my 5% goal!! I now feel great about buying my Wii and EA Sports Active.

My next goal is to reach 10% loss.

Agh! I gained a pound this week, which is totally the wrong way to go! So through out the day I was pissy and grumpy about it. I scowled at the scale, in essence putting the blame on the messenger instead of myself!

Blasted scale!

Ugh.

So I’ve put off writing today’s post long enough. To make a long story short, I gained a pound this week.

I am not happy about it, but I am not discouraged. I truly have to step it up a notch. I think I’ve gotten sloppy with my tracking and I’ve also made poor food choices. Even though I’m sticking to my points, I’ve still been eating poorly. And there were a couple of occasions this week (like Kerry’s baby shower), where I had to guess what my points were for things.

So this week I’m going to do a few things to get back on track. I’m not going to rely on flex points. I’m going to try and avoid them. I’m going to eat more little meals through out the day. I’m going eat healthier foods, and I’m going to be completely accountable.

I’m also going to weigh-in on Wednesday for my summer challenge over at Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I think adding in another weigh-in opportunity mid-week may help me see how I’m doing and keep me accountable.

Yesterday I started up my EA Sports Active program and was greeted with this pleasant message:

10 workouts down, 10 more to go!

It sort of caught me by surprise, but really motivated me to keep going. Not that it was really ever in doubt that I would. But I feel like I’ve had a really hard problem setting goals and reaching them in the past few years. And when it comes to weight loss, obviously I’ve never quite completely the ultimate goal.

After my work out was over, and I was panting and sweating from the long run, I got even more encouragement from Bob Greene.

Thank you Bob Greene!

He was all, “Good job, you can do it, I’m going to mix it up for the last half.” Something along those lines. I was still panting away.

So I’m pretty stoked to have made it this far and not given up. I will admit that I have occasionally taken a second rest day here and there, but the program is adaptable. It just pushed my 30-day challenge out even further. There’s no way around completing the 20 workouts. So now I’m scheduled to finish on July 2, instead of June 29.

In other weighty news, I recently joined a website called “The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.” It’s a great spot! And I’ve even entered a summer challenge to lose weight. The gist is that you and your teammates (I’m on Team Cocoa) send in your weight loss results weekly, and the team that wins (highest percentage of loss) gets a prize. So far my teammates seem really nice, especially our team leader Summer. She’s challenged us to drink more water this week, which I think is a great idea!

Since I started working out regularly, I realized that I’m in need of some new apparel. My instinct was to just go to Walmart or Target and get some stuff, since hopefully I’ll shrink out of it anyway. But I checked Dick Sports first because I had to go to the mall for some other stuff. Obviously, there’s tons of cute stuff, but it’s super expensive. So as tempted as I was, I went with my instinct and sure enough I found everything I needed at Walmart for 1/3 of the price. I also picked up a new resistance belt to use with my EA Sports Active.

I'm loving those citrus colors.

My body just won't let go!

Welcome to Plateau City! Another week, another minimal weight loss. I encountered a few challenges this week, but I overcame most of them. I ended up using my flex points and a few activity points, but I didn’t go over, which I’m proud of. I even resisted a little candy bars that were spread out in front of me at a leadership seminar.

When I realized that I really needed to wear shoes to use my EA Sports Active, I dug around for a pair that I could devote just to my EA-S-A workouts. I found an old pair. A pair that I loved so much when I bought them and wore them out big time. I was a lot lighter back then and much more active. They remind me of a good time in my life and so what better reminder, as I’m in the process of making new life changes, of a previous me that was healthier.

They may be beat up, but they feel great.