Friend Makin' Monday

It's time for Friend Makin' Monday, "sponsored" by All the Weigh!

If you decide to participate, put a link to your blog in her comments. Then, her other readers can read your answers and add your blog to their reading list. :)



1. Have you ever been skinny dipping? Yes, and it was as awesome and romantic as you think it is. Having a full moon and a nice, warm lake really helped.

2. If you could choose an exotic vacation destination today, where would you go? Hawaii. I want to see where they filmed "Lost".

3. Do you prefer to live in the city or the suburbs? City city city city city city city city! I need the night life, I need to boogie, I need sirens and honking and police whistles at every intersection, I need public transit, and I need to see that gorgeous skyline at night.

4. If you could paint, draw or illustrate any masterpiece in the world, what would it be? Johnny. Depp. I would sculpt the hell out of him.

5. What is your favorite dish to cook when you’re cooking for one? A chicken breast with pasta. It's so easy to control the portion.

6. Who has recently influenced you in a spectacular way? My friend, Liz. She is completely awesome. I wish I'd been half as wise and down-to-earth as her when I was her age (she'll be 22 pretty soon).

7. Have you ever considered dating a person who’s younger than you? If so, how young would you go? Yes, but not much younger than five years. That was tricky when I dated Oz (he was five years younger). We had such different memories of childhood and high school. He was into Pokemon and the Power Rangers and all that stuff that was big when I was in college and way beyond it.

8. What do you typically wear when you’re at home with no plans to go out? Pajama pants with a comfy t-shirt. I change the second I get home from work. My boyfriend and I refuse to wear "real clothes" when we're chilling at home. We actually check with each other first to see if the other wants to go out because once the real clothes are off, we aren't putting them back on.

9. Do you prefer a shower or a bath? Shower. I know a lot of people love to relax in the tub, but I get bored pretty quickly. I do like sitting in hot tubs, but only if I have people to talk to. Also, I've been excited about staying at hotels lately because they have such good water pressure. We've lived in historic homes for the past four years, and the water pressure sucks. When you have long, thick, wavy hair, good pressure is a must. "A quick shower" is impossible these days. I keep saying our next apartment is going to be newer, as in post-1980. We're tired of low water pressure and not having enough outlets.

10. When you meet strangers are you outgoing or more introverted? I am soooooo shy. I'm pretty anxious around strangers. I talk, because that's what's expected of me, but I'm freaking out and dying on the inside the entire time, and I have to fight the urge to run and hide. Once I finally get away, I analyze everything I said and always have a sinking feeling I sounded like a moron. Hopefully, losing weight will help with this. I was always pretty confident and outgoing when I weighed 165 pounds. Of course, I was young and dumb too, so who knows...

Friend Makin' Mondays

Kenlie over at All the Weigh, the very first weight loss blog I ever started reading, has a fun activity called "Friend Makin' Mondays".

The idea is that you write the answers to the questions on your own blog and then put the link to your blog entry in her comments section. That way, her readers can go through all of the comments and find new blogs to read. I love this!

So, here are my answers to this week's questions.

1. Do you use coupons? Sometimes, but not as often as I should. I mostly use them for clothes, since I get a lot of coupons from Lane Bryant and Catherine's. Their clothes are WAY overpriced, and I refuse to buy anything full-price there. I need to start signing up for other stores, now that I'm closer to the sizes at Old Navy, etc.

Brent is in charge of grocery shopping and doesn't take the time to cut them out or shop sales. Since our bank accounts are separate, I really don't care how much he spends on groceries, so if he doesn't want to use coupons, that's his decision.

2. How often do you weigh yourself? Every day, but only to keep on top of fluctuations before things get out of control. I record my weight on SparkPeople once per week since I'm part of a team. My official blog weigh-ins are every month. Confused yet? ;)

3. What was your favorite TV show as a kid? "The Cosby Show". I watched it every Thursday night.

4. How often do you drink alcohol? Once or twice per month. I'm not supposed to drink while taking Metformin, so I limit it to social occasions and only have one "light" drink, like a glass of wine or a beer. If I have more than that, I get pretty buzzed or drunk (the medicine exacerbates the effects of alcohol). Even just one Cosmo can do me in and make me loopy.

5. Have you ever met a celebrity or public figure that you really admire? Nope.

6. If you had to choose between only your cell phone or only your laptop all week which would you choose? My cell phone. It can do everything my laptop can, and it's smaller. ;) I only use my laptop when I need something easier to type on (or when a website doesn't have a mobile version and is super annoying to use).

7. What is your favorite brand of detergent? Purex. They don't test on animals.

8. If there was a movie about your life, who would play the role? Janeane Garofalo

9. What book are you currently reading? Nothing right now, which is strange. Summer classes start soon, though, so I don't want to start something I'd have to put down.

10. If you could spend one day on vacation anywhere in the world, which place would you choose? I’d go to London. As an English major, it's practically criminal that I haven't been there yet. ;)

Weigh-in

Image courtesy of Ampersand Seven

296 on the nose!

I know I haven't done this in a while. I switched to monthly weigh-ins for the blog because I've incorporated strength training into my routine, and that's causing a big shift in clothes and measurements (yay!) but not on the scale (sorta-boo).

I say "sorta boo" because the number on the scale is so fickle. A lot of people who are new to weight loss get so wrapped up in that number, not knowing what it represents. As most of you know, a woman's weight can vary quite a bit due to hormones and water retention. Then you toss in things like too much sodium, not enough water, holding food in your system (i.e. not pooping for a couple days), water retention in your muscles after a good workout, NSAIDs (which can cause water retention), and on and on and on.

So, while my clothes are fitting awesomely and I've been able to get into more and more of my 2X shirts, along with the size 20/22 jeans in my closet, my weight has been dancing around 298 for a few weeks, even going up to 300 or 301 a couple times. Gack.

This week, however, I finally saw a real loss. I knew my body would whoosh at some point. :) This puts me down four-ish pounds from my last blog weigh-in, which means an average loss of close to a pound per week. That is dead on to the recommendation of 1-2 pounds per week, with an allowance for insulin resistance and eating WAY too much crap this past month. I'm actually pretty surprised I lost anything, considering I ate at maintenance and didn't exercise during the entire week I was mourning Oz, and then I ate way too many carbs in Chicago and couldn't exercise all this week because the Chicago trip exacerbate the pain in my left foot. I tried to push it on Tuesday and made it even worse. :-P

So there we have it. I'm going to continue to weigh-in every day at home, since it helps me keep my sodium and water in check, but the blog will get monthly weigh-ins for the purpose of the big picture.

I'll also try to upload more pictures in general. I have a post about Chicago ready to go, and I have several pictures in 2X shirts, new jeans, and jeans I thought I could finally wear again (but they're actually too BIG now!)

Major League NSV

I fit!

For years now, I've been so upset that I couldn't fit in the seats at Wrigley Field. The first time Brent came to visit, May 2010, I could scoot back a little but couldn't actually sit. Then, I gained 40-ish pounds, so in September 2011, I couldn't fit AT ALL. I spent the entire game on the very edge of the seat with my knees mashed against the seat in front of me. We ended up standing at the back of the section, which hurt my feet, so I spent the entire game in pain no matter what we did. I was absolutely miserable and kept crying because I felt like I was ruining our day.

Then, we went back in July 2012 when we took my dad, and I'd lost 10 pounds, but of course I didn't fit since I was heavier than the first time we went. We sat at the front of the section so I could scoot forward without any knee pain. We also wanted to make sure my dad had a ton of leg room, and that was the official reason, but the secondary reason was because I was too fat.

As you can see, I've been obsessed about these seats for quite some time. ;)

So, this time, I was about 15 pounds smaller than the first time we went. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to fit yet, but I did! Not only did I fit, I was comfortable. :) I could sit all casual and laid-back like Brent did and didn't feel stuffed in. I even wrapped a thick blanket around myself at one point (it was freeeeezing) and still fit just fine. I felt like a "normal" person, someone who can just go and see a ball game and not worry about something as silly as the seats. This is one of those things that so many people take for granted before they're obese. If you've never wondered if you'll fit in a chair, consider yourself lucky and make sure you lose weight before you get to that point, because it's hell to live that way.

I was going to have Brent take a picture of me sitting in the seat, but the angles were weird and we were in a high-traffic area, so he couldn't get a good shot. I do have a picture of the seats, though. They're those really old-fashioned seats designed for butts from the 1930s. See?


We also got a picture of us, after I'd wrapped myself up in a blanket.


Fitting in the seats at Wrigley Field was an item on my 101/1001 List, and it felt SO GOOD to hit that one out of the park. :)

Wrigley Field

Quick post with my **2X** Cubs t-shirt. The last time we saw a game (last summer), I wore a 5X in this brand. I made sure to buy the same brand so I could compare legitimately. I'm so scientific. ;)



That's our hotel room, and that's why the bed isn't made. ;)

More later. I'm off to see if I can finally fit in those seats!

Ha!

As I was modeling some new clothes in the mirror the other day, proud of my progress and finally excited about shopping for new clothes, I remembered this blog post.

When I read it, I was amused that I'd written it exactly one year beforehand.

Now, I didn't hit my goal of 265 by Thanksgiving, like it mentions, but that's okay. That's before I started struggling, only to find out I have insulin resistance and had to change my entire lifestyle. It also causes very, very, very slow weight loss. So, while I didn't make that goal, it's not a big deal. "Normal" people can lose 8-10 pounds per month, but I am not normal and lose approximately 3-6 pounds per month, sometimes 1-2.

But that doesn't matter.

What IS a big deal and what REALLY matters is that I don't feel like I did during that blog entry!

In that blog entry, I was really upset that I had to lose another 50 pounds to still feel horrible, and that made me very sad. I mentioned that I'd still feel and look disgustingly fat at 290, so those 50 pounds wouldn't even matter.

This is not true! I think I look nice, maybe even borderline cute some days, and that's because I dress to fit my body. I still have to cover my upper arms because they look like the Michelin Man, but I play up my waist-to-hip ratio (which is just nuts) and wear lots of fun jewelry with colors and clothes that complement me.

The reason I looked so "disgustingly fat" at 290 was because that was my heaviest at the time, and I was severely depressed. I wore a lot of black, shapeless clothes and didn't wear makeup or jewelry. In the two pictures where I made an effort, I looked much better, even though I was the same weight.

Now that I'm happy about my weight loss and dress accordingly, I look much thinner at 295 now than I did when I weighed 295 then. Much, much thinner.



Another reason I was happy to remember and read that post is that it proves that you cannot give up and cannot give in. A year will go by SO quickly, and hey - there's 60-100 pounds gone, just like that! If I had given up when I'd written that blog post, I'd still be 340-ish pounds, maybe even more. I'd still be huge. I'd still be depressed. I couldn't have done a lot of the things I've done during the past year.

Instead, I weigh 295 pounds, and I'm extremely proud of myself. :) I can do more and do it for longer periods of time. Thanks to buckling down during "Ass-Kicking April", I feel strong and awesome, even though I'm still morbidly obese. I look forward to exercising and use it to deal with stress instead of turning to food.

When I watch TV at night, I get bored because I'm not eating and don't know what to do with my hands, so I haven't watched as much TV. I've been shopping around for an elliptical so I can exercise while catching up with the DVR. I would have told you you were on crack if you'd told me I'd say this a year ago.

Also, I hate sitting still! I never thought I'd say that. I couldn't even get out of my recliner without severe pain when I wrote that blog post, and now I can walk three miles at a 3.5 mph pace without losing my breath or feeling tired. As soon as I can get that up to 4 mph, I'm going to start "Couch to 5K".

Please don't give up. Don't let your brain win this fight. Keep going, keep going, keep going. You will have bad days. You will have bad weeks. Do. Not. Give. Up. It doesn't matter how long it takes to come off, as long as it comes off. Every pound, every inch, every binge-free day, every minute of exercise - those are victories. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and if your brain tries to whisper those thoughts late at night, tell it to STFU.