Workout week 80 = 138.5 pounds down [with photos]

This week was a good week. 

I tried yoga for the first time and although I am, as it turns out, about as flexible as a piece of rebar, I really enjoy trying to do the different poses.  It makes me feel all girly and stuff.  Eventually, I hope that the yoga will help me improve my balance and flexibility, even though right now I'm mostly just a lurching fool.  And this lurchiosity, my friends, is why I do my yoga at home, without witnesses.

As for the weight loss, I was right on track this week, losing 1.5 pounds to bring me to a total of 138.5 pounds lost overall.  That's 41.5% of my original body weight lost, or 82% of my total weight loss objective.

Depending on the tool used to calculate these things, I am on track to hit my weight loss goal in early December 2013 or January 2014.  The last couple of weeks of slightly slower weight loss have pushed the goal date out slightly, but I am still trending exactly where I need to be for when I need to get there. 

Last week I upped my free weights to 12 pounds, and this week I added the yoga 3 times a week.  It finally feels like I am getting back into my routine after all the disruption with my vacation.  It feels nice to be back into my routine, too.  I like the predictability of my workouts.

My fasting blood sugars have gotten back to normal, as well.  Last week I had a couple of slightly high readings, which was disappointing considering how normal my numbers had been for so long.  How soon we forget!  It wasn't all that long ago when I would have been thrilled to string along 5 normal numbers, and now to have one high reading puts me into a bad mood. 

We looked at what was causing the elevated results, and it looks like eating dinner too late in the evening is the culprit.  Both times that I had elevated blood sugars occurred the morning after we ate dinner around 9:30 - 10:00 pm.  That appears to be too late.  Now we try and eat earlier, and at the worst, no later than 8:30 pm.  So far, this slight adjustment to my routine appears to be working, and I haven't had an elevated reading since putting this plan into place.

Last week I officially broke into size 14 (according to my end of the month measurements), and in honour of that momentous occasion I am wearing a pair of Gap Classic blue jeans, size 14.  I tried to find the jeans on Gap's website so that I could post a photo, but this style is not on the website.  Considering that these jeans came out of my clothing archive and are at least 13 years old, this is perhaps not surprising.  Oh well.  You will have to trust me that they are hugging every curve.  But they fit fine - - no muffin top!

This week I had my photo taken for the firm's website.  As you may recall, in 2011 I had the sad, puffy photo taken (months before I started working out), and ever since then if you google me you will see this bloated, depressing picture staring back at you:

I look tired and sad and defeated.  138.5 pounds later, you get this:

Same basic pose, same necklace, only now I have a neck (!) and only 1 chin and my necklace hangs lower.  I don't see the progress I make from day to day, but holy cow can I see a difference between these two photos.  I am not sure if I will chose this picture for the website, but at least whatever goes up there will be more representative of what I currently look like.   After all, one always wants one's exes to look at one's photo and say "damn, how could I let her get away", rather than "whew!  Dodged a bullet there!". 

This week's loss puts me well on track to hit my goals by the end of the year or so.  I am only 10 pounds away from Middleweight, and 30.4 pounds away from my overall goal. 

30.4 pounds - - that's like the weight of 3.6 gallons of water.  I can totally reach that.  I just need to keep walking, keep ellipticalizing, keep eating sensibly and keep working on managing my calories.  My calorie goal is down to 1,400 per day which is a challenge on rest days.  However I know I have meals that will get me there, so that's no excuse.  Onward and downward!

Yipee-ki-yoga M----- F-----! (plus bonus progress pics)

I tried yoga for the first time today.

I have to admit that I always associated yoga with skinny girls who have perfect hair and trust funds.  When I was in law school there was a group of girls who used to do yoga in the back lawn behind the library, and I would watch them occasionally while I was supposed to be studying.  Yoga looked very serene, but not like anything I would ever try or enjoy.  I am much more of a lummox who is more suited to strength sports like shot put than anything graceful. 

I know that I have issues with flexibility and balance however, and as I have become fitter, these are things that I want to work on.  At long last, it was time to try yoga. 

Anyone who has ever read this blog knows that I love me some apps.  They are my fitness teaching tool and motivator all in one.  When I wanted to try yoga, it was natural that I would try an app first.  Especially since I didn't know the first thing about yoga.

Today I tried the Yoga Studio app.

This paid app ($2.99 in the Apple App Store) contains detailed instructions and advice regarding how to perform more than 280 different poses, which is a must for a complete non-yoga person like me.  The app also has hours of video with classes of various types, lengths and levels, including Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced classes for Balance, Flexibility, Relaxation, Strength and combination classes in 15, 30 and 60 minute sessions.  The combinations permit quite a bit of customization so that it would be very easy to fit a routine into my schedule no matter how chaotic the week.  And because it is an app, it is perfect for when I travel, because I can do the routines anywhere.  Provided I remember my iPad, of course.

I tried a 15-minute Beginner Combination program.  In a shocking twist, the video has a skinny woman with perfect hair who demonstrates the routine to a soundtrack of relaxing new age music.  The instructions were clear (even for a barbarian like me), and I had very little difficulty following along.

That is not to say that I found it easy to do the routine - - it was actually surprisingly physically challenging, and I even caught myself sweating at points.  For one thing, it turns out that I am even less flexible than I imagined and even basic moves like sitting cross-legged were tough for me - - I had an especially difficult time with moves involving my right side, which has never been as flexible as my left.  Some of the poses I found very physically difficult due to my lack of flexibility (especially downward dog), and I will need to go back and watch how those are properly done to make sure I am not messing them up too badly. 

But I am happy that some of the things that worried me before trying yoga were no big problem - - given my flexibility issues, I was concerned about rolling around on the mat and transitioning from pose to pose, but that was not really an issue.  It only took me losing 136 pounds to be able to handle an introductory 15 minute yoga routine - - yay me.  (!)


The pace of the routine I tried was perfect - - the moves flowed from one pose to another smoothly enough that I never felt rushed, but I always felt that there was enough time in a given pose to get the benefit of the move. 


I have to tell you that at the end of the routine I felt AMAZING.  I felt energized and recharged and vital and all sorts of other positive adjectives.  Although I was checking the clock halfway through (during the downward dog marathon), I was surprised when the routine ended - - the time did fly, and I was a little disappointed when it was over.  And I was especially jazzed that I had completed my first yoga routine - - something I never thought I would ever do in a million years.  Yes, it was only 15 minutes, but I thought it was an accomplishment to be able to work through a whole routine for my first time.

I am sure I will feel the stretches in my joints tomorrow, but for now, I am very happy to have tried yoga.  I loved the Yoga Studio app and I will definitely incorporate it into my workout routine.  Even better, I can see how the different poses will help me to improve my flexibility over time, which is the point of this whole exercise.

On a completely unrelated note, I finally took progress photos for the end of the month:

 Things are definitely coming along.  Comparing to last year at this time:

I really like the way my free weight routine is helping to tone my arms, and I like how everything is tightening up overall.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to look up some cheats for downward dog for the flexibility-challenged.