Day Twenty-Six, Numbers For Week Four

Hi everyone.

Dang, I nearly forgot to write today!  Things are well here.  Andrew is a bit unruly today, and I think the beginnings of some serious independence are showing.  But that's a story for another day.  I worked out like a...uh...well, I worked out my lower body really hard today, and lifted up to 30 POUNDS for dumb bells working out my calves.  I've never wielded such heavy weights before, and this increase in strength is so wild and surprising to me!  I had to pick up a big stack of nested glass bowls, and I had braced myself to pick them all up in one hand.  Before I couldn't really do it at all, without being afraid my wrist would break off and I'd drop and crash all the glass bowls.  This time, I tensed up, ready to lift some seriously heavy glass bowls, and the bowls all jetted up into the air with not nearly as much effort as I thought I'd need.  Me and Popeye...we're likethis.

I meant to wait until tomorrow for numbers, but I got anxious, I guess.  I was wondering how I was doing.  I was worried nothing much had happened, since Week Three had been such a bust with lack of workouts and food issues.  I missed running yesterday since Andrew was a little sick, and I just finally decided to get it over with and find out what my progress has been.  So, here it is:

Weight:         179! (That's down five pounds from Week Two, and down ELEVEN POUNDS TOTAL!)

Bust:             41.75" (Down .5" from Week Two, and down 1.25" total)

Upper Arm:  13.25" (Up .25" from Week Two, and down .25" total)

Waist:           39.25" (Down 1.75" from Week Two, and down 3.75" total)

Abdomen:    42.5" (Down .25" from Week Two, and down 2.00" total)

Butt:             43" (Down 1.00" from Week Two, and down 2.50" total)

Thigh:           24.5" (Down .75" from Week Two, and down 3.50" total)

Calf:             15.5" (Absolutely no change yet at all...that's ok, I like my calves!)

I was getting bummed as I was taking measurements, but then I looked back at the Week Two numbers, and then back to the beginning, before I started.  This is real progress.  It isn't necessarily flashy, look-I-lost-seventy-pounds-in-two-weeks, but this is real, tangible progress.  I can wear size 12 jeans now, which I had not been able to do.  I can tell a very slight difference in myself, how I stand, how my body moves.  It doesn't feel like I'm moving a Jell-O mountain when I am running.  When I move, I don't really hurt later, as opposed to before, when I was sore a fair bit.  I am enjoying being active, and I can see and feel how I feel better when I am putting better, whole foods, in my body.  My mental state and clarity are improved, and I just feel good.  It is really wild.  I mean, excuse me for saying it twice, but I lost three and a half inches off of my thighs.  That is a fair amount, in my humble opinion.

The measuring tape, while I fear it and have a fixation on it (well, not really), has really been a useful tool for me so far.  It is one thing to see a number on a scale, and I am glad the number is lower, don't get me wrong (ahemELEVENahem), to be able to see where the weight is coming off from is very cool.  I find it interesting that my arms got a wee bit bigger, and at first I was chagrined, but then I realized that that is muscle growing there, and I think that is just fine, thank you very much! 

So here, let me put it this way.  I have lost 44 sticks of butter off of my frame (and it really might all be from butter, who knows?) .  I can lift heavier weights than I have ever lifted before.  I did 10 pushups (okay, so they were the "girly" ones, but still), and my BMI, that good old controversial measurement, has dropped down to.......(drumroll)..................29.8!!  That is down from 31.6, and I am no longer considered obese!  That might just be my biggest, happiest surprise this week.  I am far from being at a healthy weight, but I am no longer OBESE!  I never thought I'd be so happy to be just "overweight", but try thinking of yourself in terms of that word and see how you feel.  Obese.  Just so glad it doesn't apply to me anymore! 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, to running for my Aerobics workout, and to walking with Andrew at the farmer's market again.  I look forward to talking to you again, tomorrow!  See you then!