Sarah's got her groove back!

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Just popping in to say I hope you're enjoying the vacation and congrats on all the well deserved positive feedback you're receiving.


You must be nearly unrecognizable to anyone you haven't seen in a while. It's nice to see the surprised looks on people's faces.
 
AHey everyone! We're having a blast here in the USA...I'm eating good things, probably too much of it, exercising a lot and just having a great time. 2 days at the spa in Asheville, NC, now a night in Gatlinberg, TN, and tomorrow we'll head for KY to the town where I grew up. Wednesday, I'll see family for the first time and I'm pretty pumped about it. I'll let you know how it goes. I cant figure out how to add a picture from my iPad, so I guess it will have to wait until I get. Back to China. Take care everyone and thanks for keeping me in touch!
 
AOk! Yes, I did have some fun today watching some jaws drop! I felt especially good when we all went swimming in the pool here at the hotel. I wearing my size 16 slacks and feeling good! Tomorrow we go to an amusement park outside of Cincinnati, OH and that should be fun all day and plenty of exercise keeping up with a three year old. Pictures later! Thanks everyone for your continued support! The big jaw dropping event will come STurday at a big family reunion...waiting for it!
 
AHeya Sarah :)

Ooooooooh, so excited for you. Can't wait to hear how the big family reunion went this weekend.

Glad you're haveing an amazing time away.

Love and hugs Xx
 
ASo...I am here to report that I did indeed turn some heads and drop some jaws at the family reunion! My cousins took double looks, and I'm pretty sure were envious! Everyone wanted to know my secret! I told them my 5 points that have worked for me
1. No eating after 6:0 pm
2. No processed sugars
3. Low carb
4. No sodas, diet or not
5. Exercise at least 30 min every day, and more when you have time
Then one of my cousins asked, well your only doing what we all know we should, so what's the missing piece? I just said my motivation to lose the weight, the determination not to have the brutal honesty of my husband about needing to lose weight hurt my feelings again...ever! I ate too much at the reunion, and I broke a couple of my own rules for a couple of days (ate after 6 and had some high carb), but all in all I have kept exercising, stayed on no sweets and no sodas, so I'm sure I haven't lost weight, but don't think I've gained much if any! I will go back to China in.a few days, then I'll get back to my routine for a week, then off to Brazil. One battle at a time!
Thanks everyone for your continued support! I am sure I would not be able to do this without you all!
Sarah
 
Hi Sarah, Your reception at the reunion was expected I know, but must have been reinforcing to see & hear! That will be a precious memory for you. It's your determination that has done it & not some magic bullet. Hopefully you will inspire others to follow your fine example. It sounds like you are having an excellent time but are also looking forward to your, albeit brief, return to China & routine. I think you have done really well! xo Cate
 
Wow Sarah, you're just a busy busy woman! Glad you've been having a great time so far. Soak up the attention, you deserve it girl! :)
 
Hello everyone! I'm back to China now..jetlagged, but back! As I expected, I didn't lose much weight over the past month in my travels (-.5 kg) , but I didn't gain any either! I'm pleased with the results! Not sure if this month's result is the fact that I really enjoyed some food in the US, or if I'm on a plateau and I'm underestimating the calories I'm consuming...because if I read the results on myfitnesspal for calorie input, I should have been about 5 pounds lower this weigh-in...it's probably a combination of factors, and for now, I accept where I am and just keep exercising and making good food choices and know that it is a lifestyle change and today, I'm OK with that...and even more important, I'm OK with me!


Speaking of "Today"...Today is an important milestone for me...1 year on this journey and my totals are 88 pounds lost and now 38 more pounds to go. I took some time on the flight back to write some goals down and revise some and define others. No drastic changes, but just making some concrete decisions. My goal is now to lose 2 kg/month and get the rest of this weight off by Dec 2012 (to get to my goal weight of 65kg, or 143 pounds). I've set some short term goals, not only on the weight, but also in terms of my measurements which have all been kind of plateauing lately.




During my vacation, for those of you who have been keeping up with my journey, you know I went to a family reunion...well, yes, I knew that there would be people there who would be very complimentary...and I was not wrong, and yes, it did feel so good to hear those reinforcements! Of course there were people there too who had to find some faults in my method etc..but I liked the fact that I didn't have to defend them...they worked for me and since I wasn't selling anything, they could take it or leave it...kind of shut them up too! For the majority of comments, they were very positive, which of course helps us all!

Here are some "weightloss" pics from my travels in May



This is when I first arrived in May, had to go out and buy a sweater because it was cooler than normal in SC for May...this is an "XL" in Ralph Lauren...felt great! (Should have taken the cellphone off to get rid of the bulge under the sweater!)




This is late May in the great Smokey mountains on vacation. I'm particularly proud of the belt I'm wearing...it's a "Longchamps" bought off the rack in Paris...I love the quality of their products and they make nothing for large women...so this was a good buy for me...and my capri pants are a little loose too! Perfect for "hiking" in the mountains...or at least my style of hiking these days! This is going to be my "official" picture after 1 year in this journey!





This is me in front of the skyline of Cincinnati, OH. on the day before I flew out to come back to China.


I'll post some of the family reunion when I get them...not quite organized enough yet!


Thanks again for all your help and support...couldn't do it without my cyber friends in this forum!


For anyone reading this and thinking they cannot lose the weight...I'm living proof...1 year, 88 pounds...just doesn't seem possible, but it is!!


It's not about "luck", it's about good choices...so I'll say "good choices" to everyone!


Sarah
 
ASarah, you look amazing! You look healthy and so much younger! Such an inspiration. And I believe you would agree that the change is not just physical. I find myself so much happier now, always in a good mood and have a more positive outlook in life! Yay! Welcome back!
 
Sarah, You look wonderful! So radiant! I can see the huge change you have made to your life in the smiles on your face. I especially love the photo of you in your new sweater. Very trim & snazzy! I'm having a bit of a tough week but am managing to stay on top of my eating & exercise. Well done you on managing to maintain on your trip. It was good too to reassess your goals while you had the free time. It's good to see that you know now that what you set out to do you will do & it shows in your photos. Lots of love, xo Cate
 
Thanks Cate and Wildatheart! You are right..wightloss is an inside job, and yes, I do feel younger when I wear "younger" clothes!


Today, a lazy sunday for me, still recuperating from jetlag. Last night, I had a dinner so, while I didn't "blow it", I ate more of those little tasty appetizers than I wanted to...and I'm sure they were just oozing with calories. Oh well, today's another day! I started the day off right with some good cardio on the elliptical then followed by some quality time on the treadmill and for the first time since a long time (1999) I ran 1k without stopping at a 8.5 km/hr pace...and I still felt good...didn't jar my body to death (I may sing a different tune tomorrow!), but for now, I'm pleased with that.

As of today, I'm committing to get myself in shape in the pushups area...I've been putting it off and shirking it..so, I"ve decided it's time to put this in writing here...in public. By end of June I will be able to do 20 good pushups in a row. I want to work my way up to doing 50 in 2 minutes. Not sure how long it will take me to get there, but I'm now committed, so this will be the focus of this blog entry for awhile! I need to increase my muscle mass so that I can keep that metabolism fired up...and I get alot of workout in my legs by doing the cardio...now I have get the arms and shoulders toned up too...


Initial pushup assessment (as whimpy as it sounds and is):


5 (and that's with taking a "butt in the air" break after 3). These are "real pushups"..breaking the horizontal plane with my ams when I go down to almost touch my nose to the ground


My plan is to give myself 1 minute break and repeat these 5 and do 2-3 sets of these per day for a week and then increase the number per set as time goes by. from what I can see on the pushup challenge sites, that's the way to improve. I'm charting (as I typically do..in excel) my results against my goal (total = number of reps x number of sets). Here's my plan with my 1st day results (plan is the blue line and my results will be on the red bar). I'll post this result once a week to keep myself honest! I honestly don't know if it's realisitic or not, but it's where I'm starting. I'm not putting a timelimit on myself yet...that will come later when I do the measure against the Army fitness test!






Good choices to everyone!


Sarah
 
so, today I also am switching up my exercise pan...doing 15 min walking at 10 incline, followed by 15 min run (flat) at 8.5 km/hr, then another 15 min walking on 10 incline at 5.8km/hr. Seems like alot more sweat...I think my body has gotten too used to the elliptcal. As long as i can do this I'm going to keep it up for awhile.. I also did my 5x2 reps of pushups first thing...get them out of the way!

Today, I have the prepared lunches started again...rotation between salmon, grilled chicken and steak...with rice and mixed steamed veggies. Actually looking forward to that! It's also the first day back at work since 2 weeks off..good news, is I've already slooged through most of the emails on the flight back!


Good choices to all!


Sarah
 
Hi Sarah, It's a good idea to switch things around and also a good feeling I'm sure to be able to get back in a routine. Smart thinking working your way through those emails & it would have helped kill the time on the plane. It's funny, but while I have a whole year before we plan another big trip, I am already experiencing the feeling of how good it is to get back home. No overnight stopovers for me! I love all of your charts by the way & wish I had started doing them when I first started my weight-loss journey. Excel & I have never been best friends, xo Cate
 
scbibhouse, now you're encouraging me! I'm going to start lowering myself where my nose comes close to touching. I need to get deeper into my pushups. I found I was cheating myself by not going all the way down. I was getting higher reps, but a lot of them wouldn't have counted on my fitness test. So I'm starting from scratch alongside you!


Keep up the great work!
 
Congrats on the fantastic super-duper one year anniversary on the journey. Sounds and looks like you had a great vacation and surprised quite a few people which is awesome.


Be sure to let us know how the push-up challenge comes along. There's a 100 pushup challenge site somewhere on the internet that I found that also included a nice schedule for ramping up pushups. I made it as far as downloading the booklet and printing it out but apart from including pushups in some weekly goals during the winter I haven't done them consistently.
 
Hey Ya'll!

Thanks Feelinggooder, Cate and Munch for stopping by! It was a nice 1 year anniversary...celebration's over...now back to work!


Well, it's Thursday, I'm still not quite adjusted from the jetlag yet, and this has been a tough week back..full blast!

Exercise: I'm still keeping at my exercise goals and so far this week, I've managed to keep my 15 min walking at a 10 incline, then 15 min running (that's equal to about 2 or 2.5 km depending on the speed..not much, but it's a start!) then walking another 15 min at 10 incline. It seems to be giving me a good workout judging by the sweat that comes out! I then do my pushups. I did 6 x 2 this morning (according to my goal I should have switched to 3 reps this morning...forgot about it, so I'll have to get in that frame of mind tomorrow)

Food goals:, I'm eating pretty well..had another company dinner last night, so I ate more than normal, but it should even out today, so I'm not sweating that.

Motivation: still pumped...wore a recent pair of short pants and jacket outfit yesterday and the short pants were loose! Love that feeling!


Good choices everyone!

Sarah
 
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