Dying to know if I hit my 80 pound goal by October 1? No, I
didn’t!!! I’m currently at a loss of 78. It’s time to really kick it in gear
with the holidays around the corner. My goal by December 30 (my 45th
birthday) is 100 pounds and the holidays won’t make it too easy for me (or any
of you in the same boat). For those who don’t know my whole story, I set my goals
last December so that I could enjoy the holidays and then commit 100% on
January 2. I truly pre-planned the whole process to set myself up for success.
So far, so good!
Now let’s talk about some of my other successes and
challenges for the past month …
Exercising without
a gym: At the end of September I went to San Francisco for an improvisation conference. My motel did NOT have an exercise room. I used to be one of those
people who said, “Oh, I’m so busy traveling; there’s just no time to work out.”
That’s just a bad excuse! The old me would have really used the excuse of no
exercise room to not work out, but not this time. Once again, I pre-planned
(see the planning trend going on here?). Before arriving in San Francisco I
researched nearby health clubs and found the closest one a mile away for $15 a
day. But when I realized how early I had to be at the conference every day, I
knew distance might be a challenge. So, what did I do? I turned the motel
parking lot and second floor into my own personal gym. I always bring a jump
rope with me when I travel, so I used the parking lot for jumping rope in
between doing a series of exercises including sit ups, push ups, tricep dips
and squats (on a bath towel). I turned the second floor into a running track
and ran for 18 minutes each day, mixing in running up and down the stairs. And
yes, people looked at me like I was crazy, especially the smokers who didn’t
know how to do their morning smoking with me in their space.
New wedding
pictures: So, one of my goals was to have new wedding photos taken as I
clearly was not happy with how I looked in my original ones. I had been so busy
that I completely forgot to work on this project until my very creative friend
Sara Wise (owner of The Bride’s Maid) convinced me that I could make it happen
in 48 HOURS and she was right. Within 48 hours with the help of amazing
friends, I had my wedding dress taken in by Ursula. I forget how many inches she
removed; I think she said nine or 10. Photographer and friend Michele Smith (of
Silver Charm Photography) changed her Sunday plans to help me surprise my
husband with a surprise photo shoot on our anniversary. I’m so excited with how
the photos turned out and have shared one with you today. Following the photo
shoot Sara created a very romantic dinner ambiance for us on our patio,
utilizing a few items from our wedding day. A perfect one year anniversary!
Lifestyle Change
Award: Another highlight in October was being awarded the Lifestyle
Change Award by the American Heart Association at their Heart Walk. What an honor
and what a blessing to have a new lifestyle and new habits that have stuck.
Other approaches and goals: In the past week I’ve been adding a second work out to my day (when possible) to get me out of my weight loss slump and it helped almost instantly. I’ll continue to do this, especially with 10 days of travel in November on my schedule. On Thanksgiving I’m running in the Turkey Trot at Market Common; this will be my second 5K. I’m hoping to break my 36:57 running time. It continues to amaze me how my habits have changed. I used to feel guilty about eating bad food and now I feel guilty if I don’t work out TWICE in one day. UPDATE: I ran the 5K trot in 36 minutes and broke my record!
This blog was originally published as an article in the November issue of South Carolina Woman Magazine.
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