Another ‘Before’ Picture

Wowza – I just came across this on a friend’s MySpace.

This would have been February of 2007, I believe.

It gets weirder and weirder to find pictures like this when I’m used to the new & improved me.

Hobbies-a-plenty!

I think at some point semi-recently I must have decided I was especially unsatisfied with my free time. Because all of the sudden, I find myself with oodles of new, and revisited hobbies. And it’s awesome.

Hobby #1 – Rock Climbing:

Back in May when I went to Seattle to visit my friend Carina, she took me to a rock climbing gym her and her friends frequent. I’d never been before and was excited to try something new. Especially since I’m finally fit and more active than ever. We just did some bouldering, which is a style of rock climbing that is done without a rope and normally limited to very short routes over crash pads. It was… AWESOME. It took me a few tries to make it to the top because it was, uh, terrifying. But once I did it, I was hooked.

I remembered my friend Angela, who lives in Boise about 4 hours away from me, is also really into rock climbing, so while I was there for a visit in June, I went again. This time, we did full on top rope climbing. Again, terrifying. Haha, then I realized, it’s not really that scary… if you fall – the rope catches you! Haha… duhr. Anyway, this was even more fun than bouldering for me! Then, I didn’t go for a couple months because I didn’t know anyone in Idaho Falls who liked to climb. Eventually, Angela introduced me to her friend Warren who was starting out with climbing and we decided we should hit up the gym once a week. We travel north about 30 minutes to a gym in Rexburg, called Regional Rock Wall. It’s a nice gym. Definitely preferable to the Idaho Falls local rock wall. Ugh.

So since early September, Warren and I have made it up to Rexburg about once a week to climb. You’d think I’d be better by now… haha. But it’s fun!

Hobby #2 – Knitting

I’ve known how to knit for quite some time now. And I enjoy it quite a bit, but admittedly, I’ve never finished anything I’ve started. And all I’ve started is scarves. At the moment, I have 3 scarves started and Jeff asked me to knit him one for Christmas. So, I guess that will make 4. The thing about knitting is I can’t really do it in my house now that I have a puppy. Penny won’t even let me read without chewing on the book, so constantly moving knitting needles are nearly impossible. So, getting a scarf done in a few weeks should be interesting. Especially depending on the pattern Jeff chooses. Haha.

Hobby #3 – Playing the Piano

I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the piano. I learned bits and pieces as a kid at my Grandma’s house. She had keys that were labeled with color coded numbers and a song book I’d nearly memorized. However, when it comes to anything harder than Walking in a Winter Wonderland, I don’t have much experience. Luckily I did play the clarinet for a few years when I was younger, so I already know how to read music, that’s about all I can do at this point.

Jeff recently decided he also wants to learn. So we decided to take a look around town and see what kind of pianos we could find. First we found his little sister’s really old and really broken keyboard. We dorked around on that for a week and decided we needed to get more serious. He went to a local music store and found a used digital piano. We decided it was the right fit for us because it was cheap enough to be affordable, but nice enough to learn on, rather than a keyboard that can’t simulate key weight and pressure sensitivity.

So, I bought a Learning Piano for Adults book (lol), and we’re working our way through it. It’s hard! But we’re determined, for now. Haha.

 

I guess 3 hobbies isn’t really oodles, haha. But it feels like a lot compared to my previous amount of nothing. Plus, within the month you can add Snowboarding to this list. So here’s to keeping busy! Woo!

Reunited, and it Feels So Good

I decided it was time. Time to have a cinnamon roll for the first time since sometime before I started my diet last July. I mentioned cinnamon roll’s as #10 on my cravings list, but somewhere around Christmas Time they moved up to my number one. At Easter I tried curbing the craving with Pillsbury Mini Cinnamon Rolls.

But since they were still 110 calories per mini roll… the craving was not subsided. So I waited it off. And after doing so well at my weight check in with my trainer a few weeks ago – he told me to reward myself – I decided it was time for the real deal.

So my friend Ashley and I went to Mrs. Powell’s in Idaho Falls and devoured this bad boy.

I’d say he was worth the calories. And it has definitely helped me crave them a lot less!

Dedication: Seems to be Paying Off

Last night I had to get my measurements taken to see how my first month went with my personal trainer. I was very nervous about this. I’ve been keeping an eye on my weight the whole month and it’s been fluctuating up and down, usually about 3 pounds, the whole time – but no actual weight loss. So, I was convinced my measurements would be the same. I mean, obviously, I feel like I’ve gotten stronger since starting my training with Patrick… but I guess I’m just really hard on myself.

I haven’t really been obeying his diet. I sort of hate it. Protein and veggies? Always? Only? Sooo boring. So, I’ve still been dieting – and eating as often as he suggested, but I haven’t been sticking to his suggestions. Which may be why I haven’t lost any weight. But it’s still a diet… come on, body! Give me a break!

So, I went on a trip this weekend and let myself indulge a couple times. First at the Cheesecake Factory with their low carb cheesecake which I assumed would also be lower calorie. Turns out, I was wrong. Still about 600 calories… whoops? But that’s much better than their normal cheesecakes that can be around 1100 calories… A SLICE.

Then I let myself have berry pancakes the next day at breakfast. I figured the berries made it healthier? Too much of a stretch? Probably.

So, I felt guilty about both the rest of the weekend. And then – I realized I had my measurements the next day. CRAP!!

So, when I got home, I went straight to the gym, determined to work off at least a little bit of the indulgence.

I think it worked. Haha.

I weighed in with a 3 lb improvement. My body fat percentage reduced by 2.6%. And I lost a total of 10 inches overall (4 of them on my waist, alone). All this in one month of working out with this guy.

Needless to say – I signed up for another month. I’m still determined to lose those last 10 lbs. :)

On a side note – I fit into a size 6 dress this weekend as well. I was pretty stoked about this. Especially considering that less than a year ago, it would have been a size 20. WOO!

Nothing Tastes as Good as Being Skinny

As I’ve mentioned several times, I have been dieting since last July. I am proud to say I have reached one of my milestones. At my 50 lbs lost milestone, which was around Christmas and New Years, I decided to set a New Years Resolution to lose 15 more lbs by Spring. I met that goal Wednesday!

I actually feel like I plateaued around March. I hadn’t lost any weight for quite a while and I was definitely starting to get frustrated. But I stuck out the diet, and the exercise, and I lost 4 lbs in this week alone. I still can’t figure out why, really… I think because I kept busy and didn’t have time to snack. I’m going to try and stay busy always now! haha.

However, before this week’s break through I was starting to get really depressed about stuff. I’m surrounded by people eating what they want all the time, and I’m forcing myself to restrain… and on a daily basis I have to remind myself that Nothing Tastes as Good as Being Skinny. This is a mantra Alexia taught me. And boy is she right. I’ve never been this small in my life, and believe me, I am loving it!

But it still gets hard. Especially during social gatherings. I’ve been managing, but it is hard. So, this week, with my renewed motivation from my newly lost 4 lbs, I decided I was going to meet with a personal trainer. At the gym I’m going to your first 2 trainer sessions are free with your membership. So I tried it out and decided to invest in a month of sessions. I’m actually really excited. I’ve met with Trainer Man 3 times now and we’ve talked nutrition, and goals, and worked out once and I think this might be what I need right now to help me bust through the plateau.

The diet isn’t fun at all. But I think it’ll be good for my body to change things up a little bit. Basically the diet is 6 small meals a day, every 2 or 3 hours, that consist of different proteins and veggies. And I am so sick of chicken right now, it’s all I feel like I can eat when I go out places, and I’ve never been much of a veggie eater. So… this is definitely going to be a challenge.

I’m also drinking whey protein shakes regularly. Trainer Man says the high protein diet will help me gain more muscle which will burn more fat. Works for me! So, I bought the giant bottle of it at Wal-Mart and felt ridiculous. Why don’t they market one towards women?? Seriously! No, checkout lady, I’m obviously not a steroidal body builder… nor do I want to be one… *sigh*

Anywho, so that’s the skinny (ar-ar), but on this milestone I decided it was time… time for the befores and afters. So here they are.

I think you’ll see why the mantra is working so well…

BEFORE:

Left: Me and My Brother, Fall '06. Middle: Me in June:'08. Right: Me and Ash, May '07.

AFTER:

May '09