Sweat & Sparkle

One Freakin’ Pound?

With two days off last week for the 4th of July, I was worried about staying on track and sticking to my routine. I decided to use the time off to my advantage and finished longer workouts on Monday and Tuesday. I kept up my Insanity and weight training workouts the rest of the week, and I confidently stepped onto the scale Saturday morning to bask in my impressive weight drop.

*womp, womp, womp*

I weighed in at 163.6, barely a pound down from last week. What the hell? I busted my ass for that? What a rip-off!

Yes, I know, if a friend or fellow blogger had lost a pound and was upset, I would say/type in my most soothing voice/font, “Any loss is a good loss, at least you’re still moving down, it’s never just a pound, great job”, and more of the same. But it’s really hard to swallow, especially after working so hard.

That leaves me with 3.6 pounds to lose in 2 weeks to reach my mini-goal before the wedding. I know the world won’t collapse if I don’t hit 159 by the wedding, but it would mean a lot to me to see the 150’s and reach the goal I set so long ago. (It’s not my goal weight, mind you, just a mini-goal).

My fiance said not to let it get to me, but of course I am letting it get to me, with a fierceness. I keep replaying the week, trying to pinpoint what I did wrong, what I need to do differently this week.

I’m going to shake things up a bit this week, see what happens. I’ve been doing Insanity workouts for my cardio for over two months, and even though they are crazy intense, maybe my body is used to them. I’m going to move onto Insanity MAX this week and also add in some variety with my cardio, like HIIT workouts and the step aerobics workout I did this morning. I will keep tracking my food as usual and aim for 2 pounds gone by the end of the week.

Finally Have a Dress!

Happy belated 4th of July! The weekend went by so fast. I was off on Monday and Tuesday, which was great, but lack of a work routine is also a test of my dedication. I still worked out both days, but what is it about a day off that makes me want to eat all day long?

Yesterday was especially tough. I caved and asked my fiance if he wanted to go out for lunch, but when we got to the restaurant (a buffet, for goodness sake! What was I thinking?), I scrambled together every shred of will power I could scrounge and stuck to the salad bar and vegetable sides like green beans.

My weigh in this past Saturday was a good one, down two more pounds. My goal is to lose at least 5 more pounds before the end of July and hit the 150’s.

Well, I finally have a wedding dress! The rest of the Plan B dresses were delivered over the weekend, and I was in a flurry of lace and chiffon in my hurry to see how they looked. The one I was hoping would fit and look good is the one I decided on. It’s very pretty, with a shorter hem in the front and down to the floor in the back.

So that dress is hanging in the closet, waiting for the big day, and all the rejects are packed up and ready to return today. Yesterday I tried on the dress with the jewelry and shoes, made sure everything works together. It’s a relief to have the dress secured and ready to go! I was getting nervous that I would get married in jeans and my old, grubby college t-shirt, the way it was going with dresses for a while there.

My goal this week is to lose at least 2 more pounds. I am still doing the Insanity workouts, so I will do one of those tonight and probably add on an abs workout.

Lunch and Wedding Dress, Part 2

Right at lunch time yesterday, with no time for planning or looking up the menu online, that consultant showed up at the office and asked where I want to go. I made a suggestion, somewhere I’ve been before, somewhere I feel safe ordering since I sort of know the menu. I don’t know why she asked where I want to go, though, because she proceeded to tell me where she wanted to go.

A steakhouse! I love steak. I’d love to order a steak. A huge steak. And fries. And dessert. And soda.

I kicked myself (figuratively, of course, so I didn’t look ridiculous) and scanned the menu for something diet-friendly while she gushed about having a coupon for a free appetizer and asked if I want bread and butter. Holy crap, did my fiance’s ex slip this woman a twenty to make sure I gain some weight back?

I ordered a caesar salad with chicken and an unsweet tea. I know caesar salad dressing isn’t exactly low-calorie, but I still didn’t expect to see a calorie count of 700 when I went to log my lunch later! Luckily, the dressing had so much pepper in it, it nearly burned a hole in my throat, and I barely ate half the salad.

So I survived the lunch, by the grace of a cook who got pepper-happy (thank you, mystery cook), and I went home after work to try on my dress. I had ordered two sizes, and, with eternal optimism, I tried on the smaller one first. It fit! Actually it’s a bit on the too large side. The color is gorgeous, and it’s very pretty.

When the rest of the Plan B dresses arrive next week, I’ll try them on, figure out my favorite, and hurry up and order any different size I may need. I really like the one that arrived yesterday, but from pictures alone, I am holding out hope for one that hasn’t arrived yet. It’s my favorite, but I’ve never worn anything like it, so I have no idea how it will look on me.

I went ahead and returned the first dress today, the one that left me wanting to cry. I tried it on one more time, and it’s just not the right style for me. I am short, and long and flowy and billowy doesn’t work with my body type. I feel much better now that I actually like one of the dresses, though I am worried if it’s slightly too big now, and I am still losing weight, it will be obviously too big in a few weeks. If the dresses hurry up and get here next week, I will still have time to order a size smaller, but it will be cutting it close.

Sorry for all the wedding dress talk. It’s pretty much all that’s on my mind these days!

Compliments and a Challenging Lunch

Yesssss! A co-worker came into my office this morning, stopped, then asked, “Have you lost weight?” I said yes, and she said I look different, and that she sees a difference in my face. She only works part-time, so she isn’t here every day. It was a great way to start the day.

I am going to lunch today with a consultant for our company, so I am a little nervous about that. We’ve been to lunch before, and she is a burger, fries, and appetizer kind of person. I don’t know where we are going, or else I’d go online, review the menu and nutrition facts, and select my meal ahead of time. Well, I just need to stick to my plan and be smart with my choices. No one is going to hog-tie me, threaten me with weapons of mass destruction, and force-feed me french fries. It’s up to me how this lunch goes.

I tracked the packages for my Plan B wedding dress options, and one package is scheduled to arrive today. Wow, that was fast! The rest should be here next week.

These dresses are sleeveless, so this week I ramped up my weight training and am focusing hard on my arms. (The first one has lace sleeves.) Tonight is cardio though, so I’ll be sweating it out to Insanity.

50 Pounds!

I was ready to chew on my own arm after last week, temptation around every corner, wanting to eat, eat, eat, but sticking to my guns paid off. I weighed in Saturday morning at 167.0, and I am officially 50 pounds down!

I am thrilled. I have been working very hard, and it’s great to see the results on the scale. On Friday morning, my fiance teased me about the jeans I was wearing to work, and he told me it’s time to buy a smaller size. I hate spending money on clothes (at least until I reach my goal weight), but I found the next size down on sale for $11, SCORE! I went ahead and bought two pairs in one more size down from there. They don’t fit right now, but they will.

On Saturday, I was supposed to receive my wedding dress, but the package was delayed. I didn’t realize the post office still does some Sunday package delivery, and it arrived yesterday. Good thing I ordered two sizes, because if clothing companies could have some consistency in women’s sizes across brands, it would be a flippin’ miracle! The smaller size wouldn’t even zip. The bigger size slipped on easily enough, and I couldn’t tell if I couldn’t zip up the whole way because it was too snug or if it was because the zipper got stuck where the material got thicker in the back of the dress, where the decorations and details are.

Either way, I was so disappointed, I nearly cried. I have been waiting so long to see how I look in this dress, and I guess I built it up in my head to some Cinderella princess moment, and I just didn’t like it. I ended up losing my marbles and deciding I just look like a fat hog in the dress, that I look heavy, that losing 50 pounds didn’t even matter, that I hate it, that the whole world may as well come crashing to a fiery end, blah blah blah.

Yes, I overreacted a bit. The dress is quite pretty. I know I am not at my goal weight yet, and I don’t look thin yet, but I need to try it on again now that I am calmer and don’t have sparkly dust in my eyes and huge expectations that can’t possibly be met.

Just in case, I flexed my credit card muscles today and ordered three more options, all in two sizes so that hopefully one fits okay and makes me happy. I will return all of the ones that don’t work. I just want to be happy with how I look and feel pretty for the wedding.

Four more weeks to go. I aim to lose at least 8 more pounds by then and hit the 150’s. Even if it’s 159.9, I will be ecstatic with that.