Stretch Marks and Shoveling Snow

I don't have stretch marks for noble reasons. I've never been pregnant. Never carried a baby. I have stretch marks because I used to put away entire large pizzas by myself. Three cheese conies. Side of cheese fries. Spicy chicken sandwich combo meal, plain, large size. Chinese buffet. 38 inch waist.

They don't bother me so much. Sometimes it's a bummer that I'll never have a pretty, tanned belly. It's like two, white clawed hands pushing up out of my pants, cradling my belly. Scarring like I wore a crown of thorns around my hips and with ever pound I gained, the wounds were made deeper. I actually remember when I got the ones around my navel. I was married. And I thought to myself, “Well... that's it... you've officially gotten too fat.”

I've got them under my arms. A little of my inner thighs.

But now I have them as a type of reminder. Of what I did to myself. And what I'm capable of.

Yesterday morning, I finished Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30. That's right. Met my short term goal. And I feel like if I'm able to do that, I'm able to do any workout I want. Here's the fitness log this week:

Monday: Ripped in 30, Week 4, Day 3

Tuesday: Ripped in 30, Week 4, Day 4

Wednesday: REST! (I needed this rest day more than I knew...)

Thursday: Ripped in 30, Week 4, Day 5

Friday: P90X Yoga X (couples exercising!)

Saturday: Ripped in 30, Week 4, Day 6 and a lot of shoveling snow

Sunday: Going to do some yoga later... some nice, relaxing yoga...

Wednesday I felt like crap. I took my rest day early and I needed it. I went to bed around 9 and just slept and slept and by Thursday I felt great. Friday night my handsome gentleman and I did his yoga routine together since I was sort of snowed in there. It was an hour and a half... wow. It was interesting, working out together. We'd never done that before. And it was cool to see what he could do and what I could do. I seemed to be more flexible on some things... he was able to do the things that required tons of strength. Of course he had a one up on me since he'd not only done the routine before, but he's in the 2^nd phase of P90X, so yea, he's strong.

Saturday morning I threw on the sports bra right after breakfast, determined to get my final workout in. There was about 17 inches of snow on the ground, so there was definitely some shoveling in our future... but I knew I'd be mad at myself if I didn't finish. I'm so glad I did. Then we got bundled up and went out to shovel. Both of us surprised ourselves. I've never been in this good of shape. We shoveled the ENTIRE two lane driveway, including the crazy stuff that the plow leaves at the end of the driveway (that was all him...) in about 2 hours. A little less, considering when you stop, breath, and look around. Today I've got sore abs, arms, upper back, hips... but it feels SO very good.

That was just a validation of the progress I've been making. The ability to do something I never thought I'd have the stamina to do. And seriously, I'm by no means perfect. I've still got this extra skin, especially right in the front. But it's definitely decreased over these past 30 days. That gives me hope that if I keep it up with the fitness, I can get rid of even more of the extra baggage I'm holding onto.

I started Ripped in 30 at 134.5 pounds. I had a 30.5 inch waist. 38 inch hips.

This morning, I weigh 134.1 pounds. I have a 28 inch waist. I have 36.5 inch hips. Way back when I first started Weight Watchers, I wrote in my LiveJournal (yea, I'm old) that I'd read that you should have a waist circumference of less than half your height in inches. I'm 64 inches tall. That's 32 inches. I never thought even that was possible. Now it's under 30 and I'm amazed! Here's some “after” pictures, since I was too self conscious to take any “before” to show. But we'll call these “before” pictures for my next leg of working out.

This week, I'm going to do mainly yoga and stretching, take a week off from the hardcore workouts and enjoy the body I've got. I can do yoga so much better now. I could stand in “tree” pose for hours... with my foot all the way up into my inner thigh.

Then, on the week of February 18^th I'm going to start Jillian's 30 Day Shred. My office is closed that day, so that'll be nice. I'd like to pop it in the DVD player and fast forward through it, just to see what I'm up against.

In food this week, it was a little hard. This is the week of the glorious PMS so Monday and Tuesday I gave in to SO many temptations. I think I ate my weight in candy... and of course it was candy that I didn't put in my tracker (thought I DID track my chocolate covered pretzels). So Thursday I got this brilliant plan to kick the temptations. I put a post-it on my desk and every time I actively thought, “I'm going to go grab a piece of candy,” I put a tick mark down. As you can see, I had 15 on Thursday. If I had eaten a Starburst for every one of those desires, that's 210 calories. That's breakfast. And it worked... because on Friday, as you can see from the photo, I had less of them. It's true, when you give in to desires, it's harder to deny yourself them. And really, it's okay to DENY yourself CANDY. It's not like you need it. Have some strawberries.

Here's the food log for this week:

Monday:

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake

2^nd Breakfast: Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal

Lunch: Strawberry and Avocado Salad

Dinner: Salmon and Sweet Potato

Snack: Yogurt and too much candy/pretzels

Tuesday:

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake

2^nd Breakfast: Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal

Lunch: Strawberry and Salmon Salad

Dinner: Broccoli & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast with Cauliflower and Broccoli

Snack: Cottage Cheese, Pineapple and too much candy/pretzels

Wednesday:

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake

2^nd Breakfast: Frosted Mini Wheats in Milk

Lunch: Sweet Potato and Chili

Dinner: Buffalo Chicken Salad and Cinnamon Stix (told you there was bad stuff...)

Snack: Almonds

Thursday:

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake

2^nd Breakfast: Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal

Lunch: Strawberry and Avocado Salad

Dinner: Ham and Mashed Potatoes with Side Salad and Broccoli (kudos to my handsome gentleman for this meal!)

Snack: Almonds and Kettle Corn Popchips

Friday:

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake

2^nd Breakfast: Triple Chocolate Vitatop with Peanut Butter and Banana

Lunch: Chili with a roll and grapes

Dinner: Pork tenderloin with noodles and brussels sprouts

Snack: Frosted Mini Wheats in Milk

Saturday:

1^st Breakfast: Protein Shake

2^nd Breakfast: 3 eggs with salsa

Lunch: Frosted Mini Wheats in Milk

Dinner: Veggie Calzone

Snack: n/a

Today I've had my protein shake, I've had a fried egg with bacon, and I had a veggie burger with some fries at the local cafe that I love. I'm still full... so no idea what dinner will be. But I have a pork roast in the crock pot to have this week and I made these Skinny Strawberry and Chocolate Chip muffins that I saw on Pinterest. YUM!!

 

I linked the recipe above and I did exactly what the recipe said. You don't mess with baking. It's chemistry. But it smells so good and I did taste the batter and it's delicious. I probably won't eat any until second breakfast tomorrow. I did punch the recipe into MyFitnessPal and I called 2 muffins a serving... 4 grams of fat and about 280 calories. I'm picturing a taste like chocolate covered strawberries.

Bought a couple things to try this week. Cinnamon Roll flavored Frosted Mini Wheats. Chocolate Fiber One cereal. Fiber One protein bars (I had some Fiber One coupons, obviously).

I've got mixed feelings going about taking an easy week working out. I know it'll feel good and such... but I don't want to be lazy. I'm sort of taking a cue from my handsome gentleman's P90X workout... he just finished a between phase week that had yoga and abs. I'm sure it'll work well. It'll also give me a chance to get over mother nature's super awesome visit. But I love it... because it is the only weight loss I get anymore.

Okay. Time to pull some pork.