Yesterday...

Yesterday my husband, Jeff, successfully defended his thesis and now has his Masters of Science in Public Health - woohoo! The tradition at his university, when presenting a thesis defense, is to provide food to everyone in attendance. I joked that is sounds like bribery, but whatever - I got a little lunch spread together and set it up all pretty. That, along with proofreading his thesis over and over (and over and over) was my part in all of this.

Sandwiches, chips, pickles, homemade chocolate cookies, sodas and water - plus flowers to match the plates and napkins (and yes, I do get a kick out of doing things like that!)

Um...I may have taken the lime theme a little too far?

Yesterday I liked my outfit and felt really great in it until I saw this picture - then I felt, I don't know...short. And yes, I know I'm short, but I guess I was feeling so confident that maybe in my mind I was tall? Or else the pants are getting too big.

Yesterday after the head of the thesis committee congratulated Jeff, everyone ate lunch - including me. I had a sandwich, and some bbq chips and a couple of pickles. And then I had another sandwich (to be fair, they were small) and opened a bag of jalapeno chips and had some of those. It has been so long - I'm talking more than a year - since I've had chips, and these (Mrs. Vickie's) used to be my favorite. But you know what? They weren't that good. And then I had a chocolate chip cookie - the same cookies that I made Sunday night and worked so hard (and succeeded) not to eat. They didn't taste very good, and although I made the same recipe I always do (the Tollhouse recipe from the bag of chocolate chips), I wasn't impressed. I had a second one to double check...nope, still not good. I mentioned this to Jeff later and he thought they were great; does this mean that my tastes have changed that much? Basically, what I came away with is that I haven't been missing much by not eating chips and cookies. Good to know.

Yesterday, even though it was a crazy morning with setting everything up for the defense, I still went to my workout. Because that's what I do.

Yesterday, when we finally came home and unloaded the leftovers I discovered that I had been pretty tense about this day. Defending a thesis is a big deal, and I think that living with someone who was stressed out spilled over to me, and I didn't realize it until it was done. I ended up vegging on the couch with a good book (Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls - I highly recommend it) and eventually I took a nap. Had another sandwich for dinner and finally got to read some blogs.

Yesterday is over. Whew!

And I Run, I Run So Far Away...

So I didn't set out to do this, but I ended up running nearly five miles this weekend! I know, I can't believe it either. What happened was that I ran on Saturday afternoon with Jeri for close to three miles (30 minutes without stopping - woot!), but I hadn't calibrated my new Nike+ Sportsband, so I knew the mileage wasn't entirely accurate - in fact, it seemed like it was overestimating how far I had run (that's why I'm saying I ran "close" to three miles...it had me over three, and I knew based on the time frame there was no way that was correct). To calibrate it, you have to run a mile, which meant I needed to map out a mile, and the park where we run doesn't have mile markers.

After we were done, I still felt pretty good, and I really wanted to get the thing calibrated. So I drove home and then mapped out a mile in my neighborhood with my car's odometer. Just as I was ready to run it, Jeff came home and decided to ride his bike with Paco the Wonder Dog to keep me company. Off we went. Got my mile in - it took me 13 minutes, which is longer than normal, but hey - at that point I was getting tired. Came home, uploaded the sensor to the Nike website and then made the gigantic error of logging in before clicking on the tiny "i" on that page. At that point, I couldn't make any changes, which I needed to, because it showed that I ran 1.15 miles, when I KNEW it was only a mile. ARGH!!! And then I had to decide to run a mile AGAIN on Sunday, or else wait until Wednesday...and my impatience got the best of me, so Jeff and I drove to the local middle school track (because running on the high school track will get lasers shot at you), only to find it being repaved - yes, on a Sunday (I guess that makes sense to do it when school isn't in session, but geez, universe, what are you trying to tell me?). Back in the car, we drove to the other middle school (this town isn't that big and frankly that was my last option) - hurray, the track was open!

Now, I have seen tracks many times as we have gone to a ton of high school football games, and it's quite possible that I may have even run on one while I attended high school (but that was back in the dark ages and all I remember from my P.E. classes is how hard I worked to get out of them). Let me just say that this track looked really big...and I needed to run around it FOUR times to equal a mile?!? I don't know, somehow it just seemed so much more daunting than running through a park. But, I saddled up and did it. I brought my iPod to listen to music (now that the "shake to shuffle" setting was turned off), but I only ended up listening to two songs - it was weird to not hear myself breathe, and the wire from the earbuds was bouncing around and I was getting distracted, which I did not need when I was trying to get a decent running time in. Cutting to the chase of this very long story, I did my mile and got it uploaded and calibrated successfully - whew! Some observations about my running this weekend:

1. I wasn't hungry for several hours after my Saturday afternoon run - I ate my normal Fage/Kashi/Craisins for breakfast, and a pb&j made with 1 T. of natural peanut butter, 1 t. of jam and an Orowheat Sandwich Thin, along with a small banana for lunch. Ran probably three hours after lunch. I would've thought I'd have been pretty ravenous after running nearly four miles, but no. Wonder if that's normal?
2. My legs felt a little tired on Saturday evening, but overall, they were fine.
3. After my mile run on Sunday, my legs were TIRED. And a little sore.
4. I don't think I should run on consecutive days. It's too disappointing to go from a great run one day to a struggling run the next.
   

The other weird thing that I've noticed is that lately, once I start running, I keep going until I hit the time that I predetermined to run. It's almost like I flip the switch to automatic and just keep on chugging along with a pretty even, albeit slow, pace. I'm hoping that this will carry me through my first 5K, which is coming up!

Depending on how hard Brad works us this week, I would like to go for a run on Wednesday afternoon, and then again on Saturday. I know twice a week isn't much, but with my other workouts I'm having a hard time trying to fit everything in. Which is such a weird thing to write - I still don't recognize myself and what I'm doing sometimes!

I can't end this without wishing a Happy Birthday to my firstborn son, Sam, who turned 23 on Sunday - he's away at college and it's hard to not be with him on his birthday, but I hear he had a fun weekend with his brother and friends.

Fiestaware Winner!

Woot! I finally figured out how to use that "Print Screen" button!

The winner of the Fiestaware fruit bowls is:

Tina!!!

Congratulations, Tina - now that's what I call good karma! Email me (40somethingsjourney@gmail.com) your mailing address and color choice(s) and I'll forward everything on to csn stores, who will fulfill your prize!

********************

This week I was once again reminded of just how grateful I am for the blogging community. It's not only the wonderful support I receive when I post things like my loose skin, or my weight reveal; it's the "atta girls" you all give me for doing my workouts and running - things that I really put a lot of effort into. Compare that with having to spend time Thursday evening with someone who is very opinionated and didn't have a problem letting me know how "trainers don't have your best interest at heart - that they push their clients to the point of injury to make themselves look good" (my experience with my trainers has been nothing but positive). And how "running is terrible for your feet and knees, no matter what kind of shoes you wear or how careful you are to train." I just don't know why this person feels that I need to hear crap like this...it sure makes me feel crummy, because of course I never stick up for myself beyond a few weak sentences, which then get run over by more and more opinions. Sorry if this is vague - I really try not to disparage anyone publicly on my blog, and I do like this person, except when this becomes the subject matter. Needless to say, it was a long night. I was glad to come home and check in on my bloggy friends - y'all have the right attitude!

********************

So...guess what I'm doing on Saturday? Why, I'm going for a run! With my running partner, Jeri! And my new Nike + thingie that will track my mileage! I'm looking forward not only to the run, but to keeping track of how many miles I go (and I seriously cannot believe I just typed that - did you not see the picture of the old me (or "larger than life" as POD so eloquently put it) in my previous post? That person could barely ride a mile on her bike and had no intention of ever running a mile - or more!). But the sun is supposed to be shining, the rain will have stopped (shakes fist at sky...stop with the wet stuff, already!) and I am ready to GO! BTW, my first 5K is three weeks from today - I've passed scared and am now approaching excitement about it. I know, I'm crazy. Just ask my Thursday night friend.

Wednesday Workout Update - Girl Scout Cookie Edition

No, I have neither bought nor eaten any Girl Scout Cookies - rather, we've been working off the calories in those.damn.cookies this week at my gym. And it's been tough! Did you know that a serving of Thin Mints is four cookies and contains 160 calories? Peanut Butter Patties are 150 calories for two cookies! Combine those and we got to do a team workout of pulling 310 calories on the rower Tuesday and Wednesday - one person on the rower, everyone else on other machines or doing ab work - the rowing person would row until they couldn't anymore, and then we would switch machines. Just so you know, pulling 310 calories on the rower takes nearly the entire 30 minutes of cardio, so you have to work pretty consistently to get it done. And then, we got to go to the strength room and work off MORE cookies! Believe me, I will not be eating any Girl Scout cookies this season! Brad said he wanted us to be aware of how high the calories are in them, as it's not unheard of for someone (*looks around innocently*) to polish off an entire sleeve of Thin Mints in one sitting. So, when I'm approached by the cute little Girl Scouts this year, I'll just give them a donation and let them keep their cookies!

My triceps are pretty sore, thanks to doing 80 per arm push ups where one arm is on a 12" high box and the other is on the ground - so you are doing them at an angle. I also did 150 tricep pulls with an exertube, and 150 bicep curls, again with the exertube. At this point, I'm lucky to be typing! Of course there were a bunch of other things included in my workouts this week, but the one that stands out is burpees - yes folks, it's February, which means that my burpee exemption is over. I did 45 of them today. And as my form is not perfect, I'm sure there will be bruises on my knees tomorrow. Oh well, the exemption was fun while it lasted.

One thing that made my workouts great this week is that I had Fran with me! OK, not Fran in person, but I was wearing the black sports bra that she sent me all the way from Holland! Or is it The Netherlands? Aren't they one and the same? Anyway, a couple of weeks ago she offered to send me one and I gratefully took her up on it - and I have to say that while I'm still wearing a pullover sports bra over this one, it seems to hold me tighter and there is a lot less bounce. Plus I'm having fun knowing that I'm wearing something that my friend picked out for me - thank you, Fran!

And now onto the running update, or, as Roxie likes to call it, "Adult Onset Athletics" - I love this term and am totally adopting it as the perfect description of my new lifestyle!

Here is a picture of my calendar for January (please note it's a desktop organizer, hence the coffee ring and other smeared stuff on it):I kept track of the days that I ran by scribbling the word "run" along with the time and or distance, if I knew what it was. I meant to do this with cute stickers, but obviously I forgot to buy some. The important thing, for me, is that I ran 16 times during the month of January! And on Sunday (although I messed up and put in on 1/30 instead of 1/31), in the cold temperature of 38 degrees, Ironwoman Jeri and I ran, ran, ran - all through her neighborhood - for a total of 3.2 miles - yes, we covered a 5K distance! Now, before you get too excited for me (and I just know you are!), we did stop and walk a few times - but at least we covered the distance! And then the next day I ran a mile on the treadmill at my workout! Funny, but that mile seemed to take forever (in actuality 12 minutes) while running a mile outdoors goes by pretty quick. I guess what they say is true - having some constantly changing scenery make the run go by faster. We have another run scheduled for this Saturday - go us!

Oh, I added one more thing as a goal for this year - to run on the first of every month. So far, so good...just a little goal, but a fun one.

All right, I'm going to leave you with a before picture that I hadn't seen until a couple of days ago when my dad emailed it to me...this was taken June 3, 2008, when I was about two weeks into my diet and had already lost around 13 pounds.

Riding with Paco the Wonder Dog around my street - I was probably up to four whole laps before I pooped out. This was also before I got my gorgeous pink cruiser that is shown in the pictures on my right sidebar. Dang, I have come a long way!

********************

If you haven't already, don't forget to enter my Fiestaware giveaway - it ends tomorrow night at 10:00 pm CST. Click here to enter.

What Happens When a Body Loses 100 Pounds

I've seen a lot of bloggers post about having loose skin after they've lost a significant amount of weight. Some are pretty philosophical about it, while others seem to fret and some have even had surgery to remove it. As for me, I tend to fall into the philosophical category - yes, I have it, but that's what happens when you are in your mid-forties, have been overweight for nearly two decades, and lose a lot of weight.

It's funny how the loose skin can surprise you - for example, I have a bit of a belly flap. Not horrible, and since it's still shrinking as I lose more weight, I don't think it will end up being all that noticeable - when I'm dressed. It would be, say, in a bikini, but I gave those up after my first pregnancy left me with some lovely stretch marks all over my stomach. So while I'm pretty accepting of that, I will admit to being shocked not too long ago when I was in a dressing room (oh those three-way-mirrors!) and caught sight of the back of my thighs. There was this funny-looking crepe-y skin that hung down when I lifted my leg to try on some pants. It was so weird looking that I had to stop and check it out, moving my leg several different directions and watching what the skin did. I guess I never thought about the back of my thighs looking bad because the fronts look ok - still a little on the ham-hock side, but much better than they used to look, that's for sure!

My first thought was that I won't be wearing any shorts now. My second thought was that I could still wear some bermuda shorts - you know, the ones that go to the top of your knee. My third thought was that I remembered enjoying wearing some sundresses last year, and why not just embrace that idea further? Bada-bing, problem solved. Don't you wish everything was that easy? Well, there's no use wailing and gnashing my teeth over it...and even if I did, the result would still be the same. So why not skip all of that and just move forward?

Speaking of sundresses and other body issues, a while ago I posted about the lovely batwings that my arms were sporting. Well, nearly a year and about a gazillion push ups later, my arms are looking better. But they still have that flappy skin sag, and because of that, last year I wouldn't even consider any sleeveless sundresses. But, thanks to Kristen over at Low Fat Dressing, I am learning all about layering - she is a pro at putting cute outfits together - and if I find a cute sleeveless sundress, I won't automatically dismiss it - instead, I'll look for a thin t-shirt that I can wear under it to make me feel more comfortable about my upper arms. Another problem solved. By the way, Kristen has lost a lot of weight and is enjoying dressing her "new" body - something that I am relating to more and more!

The other strange thing that has happened to my body since losing all of this weight is that my legs are thinner than they've ever been, relatively-speaking. I've always carried my weight in my thighs - even when I was tiny in high school, I still had heavy thighs. But the combination of diet AND exercise has really changed their shape. My calves, while still too big to fit into most boots, are thinner and shapely, and my knees no longer have a glob of fat surrounding them! It's like they are improving from the feet up in firmness (exercise), and the thighs down in size (diet).

My jewelry wardrobe has also changed since I lost weight. Necklaces are longer on me now, and I actually need to get a 16-inch silver chain...the standard size that comes with so many necklaces that I couldn't buy in the past because it was too short. Not anymore! Now I need the shorter length for several of my necklines. I am able to wear a silver cuff bracelet that I received as a gift several years ago - it fits now - along with two other silver cuff bracelets that I wore in high school. I have a bunch of rings that are too big, and another bunch of rings that fit me again - including one that I have had since I was in high school (can you tell that my love for the bling goes way back?!?). It's like getting new jewelry, for free!

These don't fit anymore - some resizing is in my future...

These fit me now!

Scary picture of a 46-year-old hand wearing a 16-year-old's ring!

Do I wish my skin was taut and perfect? Of course - who wouldn't? But seriously, this is where I'm at...a 46-year-old woman who looks pretty decent when fully-clothed. I will take that any day over the 44-year-old me who looked downright terrible no matter what she wore!

Fiestaware Giveaway!

I know I said that last Monday would be the last of the giveaways for a while, but how could I pass up the offer to give y'all a chance at some Fiestaware?!? Answer, obviously, is that I couldn't...so here's the deal: Jason, from csn stores, which is a huge umbrella shopping organization with over 200 specialty web-based stores, contacted me about promoting one of their sites that sells stools - and in return, let me choose something from any of their online stores (within a certain budget). Now, I have to say that I've checked out their site and let me tell you, if you can't find a barstool there, it probably doesn't exist...they have tons of styles and sizes! If we ever move to a house with a kitchen counter that has a breakfast bar (or if my husband gets his way and remodels our kitchen counter to accommodate bar stools), I will definitely be perusing this site.

But, getting back to the giveaway, obviously something as large as a barstool wasn't in the budget...but I found some Fiestaware on one of their other sites, so today the giveaway is two fruit bowls in your choice of color(s)! They are little - measuring 6 1/4 ounces, but actually hold a nice serving of fruit (or nuts, or whatever your heart desires...) - I already own a couple of these, and this is what my morning dish of strawberries looks like in one:

I'm happy to report that this giveaway ships to both the U.S. and Canada (sorry international people) and all you have to do to enter is leave me a comment telling me what you would use the fruit bowl for. The winning comment will be drawn by random.org. Giveaway closes at 10:00 pm on Thursday, February 4; winner will be announced on Friday morning. Good luck!

FCC Disclaimer: Giveaway will be fulfilled by csn stores, who will also be sending me two fruit bowls as well!

The Body Fat Solution Winner and Friday Catch Up

The winner of The Body Fat Solution is:

Lori!!

Congratulations - now you can stop drooling, lol! Email me (40somethingsjourney@gmail.com) your mailing address and I will pass it on to the publisher so they can mail you your book!

********************

Last week I won a giveaway from Jenn at Slim-Shoppin' (thanks, Jenn!) for a Special K New Years package and I have to say that I loved how they presented everything...the red bowl with the paper shreds, the New Years tiara, lei and noisemaker - how cute is this?!? So far I've had the Fruit Crisps, which taste like thin Pop-Tarts; the multi-grain crackers, which are good and I appreciate that you get a lot for one serving (17 crackers for only 90 calories); and the low-fat Granola, which is tasty as well! I had to make my husband take the fruit crisps with him to work - the calorie count isn't bad (100 for two bars), but I really try not to eat too much processed food like that. I am looking forward to trying the protein shakes next week after my workouts - they will come in handy when I have to run an errand or two right after but still need to get the protein in me to rebuild my muscles. My only issue with these products is the amount of sugar that is in everything, even the multi-grain crackers, which has both sugar and honey. I don't think this is necessary and would be more inclined to buy their products in the future if they would cut the sugar content way down. That said, this was a fun thing to win and I do appreciate the chance to try these products!

********************

Due to the fact that Blogger is not letting her comment, I've been emailing back and forth with Benita of Basically Benita. She's into fibers and spinning and weaving and knitting...oh, and losing weight...hence the emails. Anyway, she is starting a 10,000 Step Club and since not everyone can or wants to run (this was so me a year ago) here is another way to get involved with a group of like-minded people! Click here to join!

********************

Recently, I was honored to be the subject of a couple of interviews...if you haven't had enough of me already, here they are:

Monica on the Go featured me in this post - thanks, Monica!
I'm also profiled on thatsfit.com, thanks, Melissa!

********************

I know I said that last Monday would be the end of the giveaways for a while, but I got the chance to do another one where the winner will get two little pieces of Fiestaware, which I love - so I couldn't resist! Check in on Monday for your chance to win!