WEIGHT: 144.8 WEEKLY NET CHANGE: -1.8 lbs. TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS: 17 lbs.
What does this mean?
1) It's working!!
2) Mid-way goal/carrot attained!!! Boston Bride: Thank you for the Carrot. I will be coming for my treat now. =)
3) 17 pounds down, 18.8 pounds to go for The BIG Carrot which is the trip to NYC. Mom: I was thinking The Book of Mormon, the revival of Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and Kinky Boots?? Eh? Eh????
Yippie, Hooray! Now I don't have to pack the scale. The H was giving me a seriously hard time about it.
Sometimes I wonder how far I am willing to go in this lifestyle change. What sacrifices won't I make? What line in the sand won't I cross?
I already feel like I spend almost all of my free time working out and blogging and all of my pocket money on workout-related stuff (gear, gym membership, etc.).
This blog and the lifestyle change accompanying it feels incredibly all-consuming at times.....and I experienced a powerful reminder of that at about 6:30 this morning when Relapse Into Chunky Town took me.......to Walmart.
Evil corporation to be avoided at almost all costs.
And not just any Walmart. Specifically, the Walmart made notorious by this epic video.....
I went. To Wally World.
(Oh go ahead and watch it again, you know you want to).
And for my out of town readers who don't recognize the location: no, I am not kidding. This video was filmed right here in NOLA and I would have paid more money than I care to admit to see it being filmed live. Miley Cyrus, move over. You've just been out-twerked.
Alright, back to the topic at hand.
So I woke up this morning, and I had a good feeling about today's weigh-in. After the birthday calorie-fest, my weight crept up to 147.0 and I have been really diligent about going to the gym and watching my calories to undue the birthday damage and try to get down to 145.0 by Saturday's wedding. I just had a feeling in my gut that today was going to be a good day on the scale.
Feelin' good.
Until I stepped on Lady Justice (that's the scale's name) and a big, blank screen starred back at me.
I tried a couple more times. Surely this was a mistake.
Any second now.....
Seriously...
And finally after multiple attempts I resigned myself to the fact that Lady Justice's batteries were completely dead.
Cue panic mode.
No.
There was no way that I was going to live my life, go about my day, and carry on as normal without knowing whether my gut feeling about today's weigh-in was correct.
So I grabbed the car keys and cowboy boots and--still in pajamas--headed out the door for the nearest place that sells lithium batteries at 6:30 in the morning. That place, evidently, is Wally World.
I loathe Wally World. Loathe it. But I was desperate and everything else nearby was still closed.
I arrived and the parking lot was surprisingly full considering the hour. I parked in the first open spot I could find and raced in and scanned the fluorescent horizon for anything resembling the "battery section."
I found an employee and asked her where I might find batteries. "Over there" she said without looking up from her magazine as she vaguely pointed in the direction of the children's clothing section.
Right.
I was on my own. So off I searched.
The search didn't take long. It turns out that lots of people must need batteries at a moment's notice because they had a battery station right next to aisle 65.
Success!
I found the batteries I needed and was ready to get the heck outta there.
There was 1 line open (this was, after all, before 7 AM).
I cautiously approached the single illuminated light in the entire check out area and was completely relieved to see that there was no line! Not a soul ahead of me. Just another employee hanging out by the open lane talking to the cashier. Score.
So as I walk up, batteries and cash in hand, ready to make my teeny, tiny, single-item purchase, the employee that was hanging out by the cashier sees me approaching and literally runs off to snag the first random item she can, puts it down inches in front of my batteries on the conveyor belt, and cuts in front of me.
Uh. Okay.
So I am immediately thinking, "Well, that was kind of rude," because this employee completely cut in front of me. But then I figured, "Oh, whatever. It's just one thing. She might be about to start her shift and wanted to buy a snack before a line forms."
So I patiently wait my turn.
It's just one item after all.
Or so I thought.
It actually turned out to be one item + cash back. And evidently the cash back created a very real problem. And I will never know what the issue was, but fast forward twenty minutes, 4 paycheck cards, 2 gift cards, a store manager, and a lane-switch later (they finally opened a second one about 15 minutes into this process)....I finally was able to buy the goddamn batteries.
TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS: 15.2 since very beginning of blog, 14.0 this second time around.
What the heck is up with the contrast in this photo? I look like I've been barefoot urban hiking. =/
This is a little frustrating because I was holding steady at 145.6 for several days in a row before this random upswing, but it's still a weekly loss so I'll take it.
It's going to be a real nail biter seeing if I can reach 145 by September 28 when I go to Boston for the wedding. That's been sort of a midway goal that I've had since starting up the blog, and the stakes grew higher when the bride incentivized me to do it by offering me a carrot.
Gotta keep on truckin.'
Even though 145 pounds-by-Boston is decent progress, I'm even halfway to NYC yet.
It's fall in the South which means only one thing: football.
Football.
Football.
Football.
And, of course, along with football come the accompaniments: tailgating, beer, and danger foods.
Want all the things.
It pretty much goes without saying that football season is a veritable mine-field of diet challenges. What's a calorie-conscious girl to do?!
We're not that far into the season yet, but I can already tell that this is going to be a bit of a challenge. It's not easy to stick to the program when there are literally piles of delectable danger foods at every Saints/LSU game watching party.
Don't even get me started on the incredible buffalo chicken wings at Fat Harry's.
So far, my strategy has been to make sure I bring something diet-friendly to the parties so I know there'll be something that I can eat, and to workout extra hard in the morning so I can drink beers through the game.
I also acquired a Saints game calendar that I am using to track my weight loss. I like doing this the morning of the games because it's a pretty powerful reminder of how far I've come and how much further I have to go.
I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the following quote from my Urban Hiking post:
"One thing that I think I will always struggle with is exercise. It's just not something that I enjoy. Most exercises tend to make me look and feel ridiculous, and I just can't get down with the whole "being sore the day(s) afterwards" thing. Yeah, all told, you're more likely to see a dog walk on its hind legs than catch me at a traditional gym."
Well, the circus must be in town. Because this happened:
I can't even believe I am posting this.
Or this.
Or this.
Yes, friends: this blogger is officially the newest member of the St. Charles Avenue Athletic Club.
Me.
It was necessary. Urban Hiking is awesome and everything, but the days are getting shorter and with the end of daylight saving's time in sight, there's simply no way that I can walk as much as I need to after work. New Orleans ain't Mayberry and I have absolutely no interest in being mugged/raped/runover-by-a-car-that-can't-see-me in the name of fitness.
Now that I've taken this final step and joined a gym, I think I have become a bona fide WOP.
I've got an arsenal of dry-fit workout gear and running/walking shorts. I've even acquired some fancy new gear to carry around the bare-necessities (much more practical and comfortable than carrying a wristlet.
WOPgear is insanely expensive. But THIS purchase was totally worth it. This was my 10 pound Carrot.
I love this water bottle iPhone thingy. I can even use the phone without taking it out of the case because the clear window is all tech-fancy.
I am signed up for a third 5k three weeks from now.
I exercise at least an hour a day almost every day. I try to workout for 2 hours each day on the weekends. And I actually like it. I can't even believe I am writing this.
Now, working out at the gym is definitely going to take some getting used to. It's not nearly as interesting as taking long walks around the beautiful city of New Orleans. On my outdoor walks I pass the time by counting lizards, and checking out real estate, and trying to find cats, and counting the number of times someone honks at me (which has been increasing as my waistline shrinks).
At the gym, I am much more keenly aware of how long the workout is taking because the timer on the machine just stares you in the face. I think if this new gym thing is going to "workout" (ha!), I will have to start bringing an iPad so I can watch Netflix or something. (I seriously wonder how people could stand losing weight before the advent of all this technology. It just makes it so much easier).
The hard work is definitely paying off. Just 1 day after the Week 7 Progress Report fiasco, I dropped 2 pounds and have been steady at 147.0 for two days now.
