How does Jessie measure up? Read on to find out.

Happy Pioneer Day, all.  I hope you all have your snappers, parachutes, and fountains ready to go.

Part of my first appointment with Allison at the Diet Center was getting measured.  Everywhere.  Ever wondered what your knee size is?  I now know.

Here are my beginning measurements (all in inches):

Neck:  13.5
Upper arm: 13.25
Upper chest:  36.25
Chest:  37.25
Midriff (ribs):  32.5
Waist:  37
Abdomen:  42.25
Hips:  45.5
Bum:  45.25
Thigh: 25.0
Knee:  17.75
Calf:  16.25

If you're paying attention you'll notice a few things.  First, I'm a pear shape.  Second, I carry approximately 2/3 of my body weight in my thighs.  Twenty-five inches around just one of those babies!  Yikes.  Third, I have a bunch of work to do.

So now we're all caught up.  And you all know way too much about me.  I'm sorry / you're welcome.

JD loves JD!

How do you celebrate the cool down portion of a work out?  I listen to a couple of songs by John Denver.  You read that right.  Turns out "For Baby" and "Goodbye Again" are amazing for that.  The tough part is not singing along.  (I run outside.)

My C25k is going well.  I finally made it through week five, day two.  I've been on week five, day one for weeks.  I didn't think I could jog for eight minutes.  Tonight I did it.  I totally did it.  Twice!  I jogged for eight minutes, walked for five, and jogged again!  It might not sound like much to you but I am really proud of myself.  Yay for Jessie!

Meeting with my dietician is going well.  It's sad I had to pay someone to tell me to eat my veggies.  It's good to get her advice and to have someone to be accountable to twice a week. 

Ok.  I found the paper with my measurements on it.  I'll post those tomorrow.  I know you (my imaginary reader) can hardly wait!  Today I'll post my yesterday weigh in.  I'm at 171.something.  I'm nearly 48 lbs down.  When I drop another twenty I'm getting my hair cut short.

I almost forgot!  I was able to wear some really cute pants today.  Pants that haven't fit since 2008.  Everyone clap for Jessie!  Plus they're dress pants so I can totes wear them to church on Sunday.

I'm heading to DC!

And by DC I mean the Diet Center.  (Please don't judge the whole franchise based on the sad, sad website.)

It's how I lost the weight in my mid-twinties (sic).  I went from 180 to 140ish.  It was amazing.  I kept the weight off till I moved to Rochester, MN.  I knew no one, it was too cold to walk around outside, had no job, and couldn't go anywhere because I'd get lost.  So the fridge, LoveSac, and I became good friends.  Oh, and the PS2.  I played the entire RPG Kingdom Hearts before I eventually found a job there.

I digress.  I went from 140ish to 160 in almost no time at all.  It's impressive, really.

Five years later I'm back (down, sadly) to the mid-170's.  I am ready to get back in to my smaller clothes, have more energy, and I saved enough of my babysitting money (I'm not twelve, honest) to go back to my favorite dietician, Allison.

Today she took my measurements.  Turns out my arm and neck are about the same size.  She said that's typical.  I will never look at people the same again.  I didn't get a copy of my before measurements.  I'll get those and post them.  I go back on Friday.  I'll go twice a week and weigh in each time.  I'm excited to see progress. 

My current weight is 174.5.  Good luck, Jessie!

Running with friends and I get pantsed.

I have started a couch to 5k program.  I picked a free app for my iPod, downloaded it, and waited several weeks for it to cure.  You don't want to open apps before they're ready.

I started the program late in May.  The first week the schedule was five minute warm up, jog for 60 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, jog, walk, jog, walk, etc, cool down for last five minutes, totaling 30 minutes.  It is amazing how much longer a jogging minute is than a minute and a half of walking.  Time bends around me when I jog. 

I have been 'running' with two amazing women from the neighborhood.  We meet up at the park and cheer each other on.  It's nice to have support in this.  And it's super wonderful to have friends in the neighborhood! 

Tonight I am going to do Week 2, Day 3 of the C25K program.  (I missed a few days due to birthdays.)  I'm jogging for 90 seconds and walking for 2 minutes.  It's getting easier.  I don't feel a stitch in my side ten seconds in to my first run.  I may turn in to one of those obnoxious people who prescribe running for everything.

You're feeling blue?  Get out and run.

You're tired?  Get out and run.

You can't find your keys or wallet?  Get out and run.

You need to go grocery shopping?  Get out and run.

We all know those people.  I hope to not become one.  I think keeping away from professional running gear will help me keep my joy in check.  It's not that I don't want to enjoy exercise.  It's that I don't want to carry it like a disease, always looking for a new host.

Yesterday I had time to go to the DI and get new pants.  I now have two pairs of pants that are the right size!  I never thought I would be glad to shop for a 14 (12 according to Old Navy).  I found one Dockers pair that are sized for petite and curvy.  So ... short and fat, right?  Needless to say they fit me perfectly.  (:  The other pair are a great fit, aside from the twelve inches I need to lop off the bottom.  It really is about a foot of extra fabric at the end of each leg.  How big can cuffs be at the bottom of pants before it's insane?  Are cuffs ok at all?

Wish me luck with my jogging.

Weigh in coming soon.  But I won't expect too much loss.  I've been eating lots of pizza, ice cream, and cake.  Aren't birthdays the best?

I can't go out in public like this but I can blog about it. -or- Everyone clap for Jessie!

Right now I am wearing size 12 pants!  They don't look great, and they are my most forgiving pair of 12's, but they are on and zipped!  They fit about as well as the 16's I've been wearing.  (Size 14 in Old Navy's opinion.) 

I have shopped around for some 14's.  But only at Old Navy.  (So, a size 12 in Old Navy speak.)  Has anyone else noticed their jeans are paper thin? Yikes!  Also the rise was insanely low.  Or I'm getting old.  Mix of both?

I went to the DI to find some pants.  DI has racks and racks of jeans.  That's great!  But I don't have time to sort through all of them.  And so I am making due with my way too big 16's and I can get them zipped, but just barely 12's.  Ugh, first world problems. 

The weather is getting warm enough to start exercising outside in the evenings.  I'm really excited about that! 

Anyone volunteering to call/come over to make sure I actually leave the house? 

What are you going to do to get in more exercise this summer?  I need ideas!  A Slinky to the best idea left in the comments.  (I'm old school so it'll be a classic metal one.)

Happy dance! and a weigh in.

I am back down to the weight I was in 2009.  Hooray!  That puts me at 180.  Getting back down to that weight was my little goal.  Now that I'm there I'm going to focus on getting down to my healthy weight.

I am going to start going to The Diet Center again, in May or June.  The Diet Center is how I lost all the weight the first time.  (I kept it off for years.  Then MN happened.)  The Diet Center is fabulous.  If you want more information let me know.  If you have questions or want to join with me let me know.  I would love to have a buddy on this journey to a healthy weight!

Now I can give myself permission to get new pants.  It'll be nice to wear pants that aren't comically large.

One more cheer for Jessie!  Hooray!

Then the Bottom Drops Out

**PHOBIA ALERT** I'm posting a picture of my feet.



So, I'd been doing really well with my new healthy-living incentive. I even lost a couple pounds! Hooray!! Then last Thursday - Valentines Day - I walked into a room and WHAM!!! I heard a crack and felt A LOT of pain in my left foot.

My neighbor friend came over (she's a nurse) and looked at it, felt it - Ow. - and compared it to the other foot. It was swollen and "injured", but even if it was broken there's nothing that I could do about it. So much for my exercising streak! Boo. Hiss.

I hobbled around the store and the house the rest of the day, trying to make a nice Valentines dinner for my husband and I. And watch the dogs. And care for my child. All while trying to put as little pressure on my very sore foot as possible. On the bright side, my right quadricep and buttocks got an awesome workout that day!

AND my friend thinks it was just a sprain because it feels better each day. Now it's mostly just a nasty bruise. See!

That bluishness on the left side is not shadow.

Common Cents

Inspiration has struck! My other half and I had been doing our thing to lose weight this year (I know, typical New Year's Resolution.) He's training for a half-marathon. I'm training for... life in a smaller body. I'm pretty sure I'm ready for that.

Anyway, the first month, he lost 10 pounds. I lost 2, but managed to find them in a I-hate-that-he-can-lose-weight-and-I-can't eating-fest weekend. Nevermind that he was running, swimming, biking, and cutting out refined sugars. I was thoroughly depressed about the whole thing. And then it hit me. A great idea to keep me honest and actually working at being healthy. This is it:

We each get a jar to our name (or initial, as you see). There's $20 in dimes and nickels to split. Every day, we get a dime for each healthy activity: no sweets, 30 minutes of exercise, and 5 fruits and vegetables a day. That's a possible 30 cents a day, with the option to earn another nickel for every 15 extra minutes of exercise. If we don't do the fruits and veg or exercise we don't get a dime. But if we eat sweets, we have to take a dime from our jar and add it to the other person's. When all the loose change is gone, whoever has the most, wins the cash / or the better prize.

I'm already pretty sure he's going to win. But I figure if this actually helps me to get in shape, I've won that much anyway! So far it sure helps me think twice about sneaking that cookie if I lose a hard-earned dime for it! Yay for inspiration! And for progress!

Here's the Skinny

So, I'm sure you've Jessie's noticed I haven't posted in a while. I've come up with a few things sometimes, but alas, "It's not that funny!". So I haven't bothered to publish them.

I figured I could always address the fluffy-to-fit topic, but it's just so embarrassing! I confessed to Jessie that I wasn't ready to post on here until my current weight would be less humiliating... and then realized that my weight loss ticker is still on the bottom of this blog. That blabbermouth ticker! (I'll save you the trouble of scrolling down - "Wendy's lost 0 lbs.")

Anyway, since it's a winter wonderland outside, and probably will be for the next few months, it's hard to be motivated to exercise instead of curling up with a book, a blanket, and a pastry. Have you found anything that works for you? I have! But not anything that works for me yet. HA!

But seriously, winter workout/weight loss ideas - Go:

The Sedentary Times

If I had a newspaper it would be "The Sedentary Times."  That's how I feel about the last few weeks.  With Christmas came lots of reading Christmas books, eating treats, drinking cocoa, watching movies whilst wrapping presents, more cocoa, melting cheese and pouring it on everything and that's dinner (pictures of that to come).  You get the idea.

Christmas is over.  The New Year is here.  I finally moved our Christmas tree outside.  (There's a trail of needles through the house to prove it.) 

This year I have only one true resolution.  Better posture.  

I haven't weighed myself in weeks.  I will be weighed tonight.  The husband and I have physicals scheduled to get approved for life insurance.  So now I'm going to see how much my tubbiness costs, in terms of dollars.  That's going to be amazing.  I hope I'm not back to the 190's again. 

If anyone happens to read this and that person happens to have a good idea on what to do for exercise in the winter please let me know in the comments. 

Walk with me, Susie Lee. (I can tell that we are going to be friends.) -- or -- We're off to destory the ring.

I used to be against Facebook.  That's not accurate.  I used to nothing Facebook.  I only thought about it the first of the month when Oreo had a limited number of coupons for free Oreos if you bought milk.  I miss those days.

As with Twitter I learned about Facebook through NPR.  I'm that nerdy.  Anyhow, I remember it was a Saturday, I was living in Salt Lake on 1300 East and Harvard.  My roommate was Ashley E.  The host of the radio show on NPR was interviewing a few college kids about this new "Facebook" thingy.  Some of them said they had regretted posting pictures, some hadn't, and some refused to sign up.  The program ended with me not really sure what Facebook was.  It would be nearly six more years before I'd use Facebook on a regular basis.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago.  Candice commented on a friend's link.  It was for Nerd Fitness, specifically the post titled A Hobbit's Guide to Walking.  I thought to myself I need to move more and I can for sure walk.  There's a google doc spreadsheet!  More than almost anything I love spreadsheets and keeping track of time, distance, and rankings.  Sign.  Me.  Up!  I'm not a fanatic for The Hobbit but this looks like fun.

I started my own journey, invited a couple of friends, and made it visible to the public.  (You're welcome.)  If you'd like in on the journey email me at DeetzBlog shift+2 gmail decimal point com.

The last week or so I haven't been able to get out of the house to walk.  It needs to be a priority again. 

I weighed in again this week.  I am down .8 lb since last Wednesday.  Yay!  I never thought I'd be happy to be just under 195 lbs.  It'll be nice to see the 180's again.

I've been drinking more water.  It's amazing what staying hydrated does for me.  Let's hear it for water!  I am getting better at realizing when I'm hungry for food vs when my body needs water and doesn't care if it comes from a burger or milk or plain water. 

How are you, dear reader, keeping away the cravings for munching and finding time to work out?






*Update*
You can view my old house here.  It's for sale!



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Jessie's at it again.

As a rule I don't talk about my personal life on this blog.  But I feel I need to excuse why I now weigh about 200 lbs.  Ugh, seeing it typed out is so depressing.  Allow me to explain.

When I got married I was pretty near my goal weight.  The next day we moved to Minnesota.  I had no friends, no job, and no idea how to get around the town.  So at home, on the LoveSac, I did sit.  I gained around 25 lbs, landing me at 160.  Silly now how large I felt at that weight.

October of 2010 we moved to Lehi, UT.  Again I found myself with no friends, no job, and no desire to venture out to Utah County. 

January through August of 2011 I was off and on (mostly on) depressed.  I turned to food for comfort.  Oh, Food.  You wonderful listener.  You constant companion.  Thank you for literally filling me up when I was empty.  Ahem.  Turns out this is a bad idea.

 2011, I had already ballooned up to 180.  A health issue helped me gain another 39 lbs.  (Sarcasm.)  If you're doing the math at home you'll know this means I was 219 at my heaviest.  Oh, the shame.

So now I'm back on the wagon.  I'm putting my weight loss ticker back on the blog.  I'm keeping track of food and exercise at MyFitnessPal.com.  

I'll do weekly updates of the weight ticker.  I won't have time to blog about each weigh in.  I barely have time to put my hair in a pony tail these days.

Check in from time to time.  Cheer me on.  Leave your suggestions in the comments.  I'm open to work out ideas.

We've moved again.  So now I need to make friends.  Hopefully friends who want to go to the Rec Center with me.

Only my shorts are longer. And my yellow windbreaker ... no, that's the same.

Too True

I know -- two posts in one day! Can you handle it?

Well, when I saw this comic in the newspaper today, I just had to share. It's so familiar, I laughed out loud! I suppose if I think about it too much, though, I may realize it's not that funny!

BizarroComics.com



Nothing Lost, Nothing to Lose

Ok, so the first week has gone by and guess what! Nothing's changed. I've lost nothing. In fact, during a weekend trip, I lost all control and gained. /sigh/

This story is so old and tired, it should be dead. Let's try and kill it.

I'm still playing Winnie-the-Pooh with my up/down, and Tigger with my jumping jacks in the restroom. When did I move to the Hundred Acre Wood??

Anyway, this week I've added a couple other little random moves to my workday:

• While refilling my water mug (which is up to about 4 times a day at least), I stand feet shoulder-width apart and bend side to side while sucking in my tummy. I'm hoping it'll help whittle down my love handles.
• Whenever the phone rings, I stand up to answer it, then do my down-up-down thing when I sit.

Lucky for me, no one else works near me - they'd think I was so weird if they did! I know it's weird, but I have to 1. add variety to my day, and 2. use quirky little ways to sneak in some movement.

Am I as ridiculous as I feel? What do you do to sneak in exercise?

P.S. I am not expecting this alone to change my figure. I am also doing a walk/jog 3 days a week and strength training every other day. Just so you know I'm not as crazy as I sound.

Winnie the Pooh is My Personal Trainer

Wow, traffic on our blog has really gone down since we stopped weighing in! Must be because there's just no car wreck to gawk at anymore, I guess. Well, "Get used to disappointment."*

*Name that film?

However, I have since reassessed my goals (again), and will mention little tips and tricks I'm trying, and little successes and failures I'm having every once in a while. I hope you don't mind.

Today I read an online article about "How to Stay Fit While You Sit". I thought, 'Great! This is perfect for me, since I'm confined to a bulletproof box for 8 hours everyday, mostly sitting at a computer...' Wrong. Let me sum up this article:

Do you sit most of the time, instead of being a personal trainer like me?? I get paid to work out all day, unlike you poor pathetic desk-bound accountants and computer hackers! Well, here's some ways to burn calories. Have sex! It will make you live longer! Also, use a treadclimber, Body by Jake resistance bands (?), and [something else that doesn't help you exercise while sitting... I can't remember what it was. To be honest, I saw that that was the end of the article and stopped paying attention]. By the way, I'm not getting paid for pushing these products. Really, I'm not.


"Um... thanks for that. I'll log that away." I'm pretty sure you can do none of those things while sitting at a desk at work. And if you do, you'll probably be fired.

A few things I am trying:

• Every time I get up from my chair, when I go to sit again, I almost sit, and then stand up again before actually sitting. It's kind of silly and Winnie-the-Pooh-ish with the up/down, up/down, but I was amazed how sore my glutes were the next day after doing this!
• Whenever I go to the restroom, I'll stay in there after washing my hands and do twenty jumping jacks. Or jumping jack coordinators if I'm feeling nostalgic.

So there you go. Those are my fluffy to fit tips for you fellow 'sitters' this week. Ones you can actually use.

What's Your Excuse?

Have any of you noticed I'm not posting my weigh-ins anymore? Yeah, I didn't think so. It's for the best. Really. I haven't been exercising or eating as I should, and whatever half-hearted attempts I've made at counteracting my poor diet aren't working.

I've come up with all kinds of reasons this week as to why I'm in such a state. And then I read this article this morning, and you know what? I've used a couple of these! And just as it says, they're not reasons. Just lame excuses.

http://fitbie.msn.com/lose-weight/tips/6-lamest-excuses-not-losing-weight/tip/0

So, my question is, which ones have you used? And how do you get past them?

How Do I Get Off?!

Well, another week has passed on my weight rollercoaster. First we go up, then way down, then slightly up, then slightly down, and on and on...

It's so boring it's not even worth blogging about.

How do I get off this ride and onto that one that plunges down and it's over (like the Tower of Terror)? I mean, besides shifting my weight off the scale...



http://www.chron.com/



They Say It's My Birthday

So Happy Birthday to me! Especially since my scale said a lower number! I'm not going to post the number my scale says anymore because I feel so... so vulnerable without Jessie posting hers with me. You can do the math if you care to.

This week I walked to and from work every day. And since I live in a town where no one knows it's my birthday - except those who ALSO have my birthday - "Theives! Robbers!!" - I didn't have any birthday treats to eat this week. I did happen to binge on Papa Johns pizza one night. But I felt so guilty about it, I was good the rest of the week!

More Merry-Go-Round Than Yo-Yo

chron.com

Here we go again. I'm almost back to the beginning. And that's not a good thing.

I've decided the road to obesity is another road paved with good intentions. I intended to exercise this weekend. And I intended to eat healthier, too. I've been intending to do all these things since I was 15. Obviously, the scale once again reveals that I didn't. Today it read:

181.5

 
I tried to justify that maybe it said that because my scale was broken, but I really don't think so. Just my momentum. SO. The plan for this week: Walk to and from work every day (it equates to about 2.5 miles roundtrip) as well as adding other cardio three days a week and strength training the other three.

It's my birthday week, so I'm also going to limit myself to one birthday treat per day. I can do this! Right?