Sunday August 7, 2016  1st Week Back At Home

It's working!  All the lectures, classes are making sense and working in everyday life!  I am really trying to focus on BALANCE!  How to Balance fitness, nutrition, house, husband, children & work.  It's going well.  I am probably on the side towards "NOTHING" on the all or nothing spectrum.  As I type that I realize that I may be being hard on myself.  Probably just right in the middle. 
 - doing the balanced plate for meals
- tyring to get atelast 40 min of working out in a day, but nothing too strenuous!
- figuring out what I like and what I don't - while I do enjoy getting my workout done in the am, I got up on Tuesday and did a great bike session and them am sessions did not workout the rest of the week - and i'm ok with that.  I get them in other times of the day and don't have to get to bed so early if I don't have to wake up so early.
- enjoying the occasional "treat" balanced in with my healthy balanced plate. 

My blood pressure is amazing.  The last reading was 110 / 68.  Before I left I was having BP issues, was not feeling well, dizzy, lightheaded, vision disruption etc with a BP of 160  -170  / 95 - 100.  Feeling SO much better!

This morning I was going to go on a bike ride with a group of other riders.  The tour of ALBERTA is coming to our town.  120 Professional Bike racers will be competing and we did a part of our town's section today.  I was really scared, nervous and that little voice in my head was winning.  " I can't keep up"  "What if this.... What if that....?  I was pretty close to backing out and then I thought to myself.  " Look at what you accomplished in the last month, look at what you gave up to go to UTAH, think about what you would like to achieve!  That damn comfort zone, I just really felt like I didn't belong but took a chance!  I pulled up to the meeting place and everyone was looking at me and I saw a few familiar faces and felt a bit better.  We ended up biking 70 km together as a group.  I kept up with the group and I did just fine.  We were all a bunch of well polished ATHLETES and it felt great.  It was a beautiful day for a bike ride and I can't believe that I just about didn't go - all because of that NEGATIVE  SELF TALK and that voice in my head.  I am working hard on positive self talk .... day by day!

I did manage to lose 1 lb this week. I am in no hurry.  Working on finding balance , routine - afterall

Emotional Management + Nutrition + Fitness = Weight Management - in that order.   

Getting lots of fitness with the kids, biking a walking - hunting for Pokémon, what ever gets us off the couch and gets us quality time together!

I got the cookbook printed out, no surprise my first recipe..... LOL

not as pretty as Chef Sam's but pretty yummy!

I have 2 bike races coming up and am looking forward to many happy hours in the saddle to get some fitness in and to train for the bike races.

Looking forward to another week of challenges, fun time with the family and working on creating harmonious balance!

Enjoying a nice kayak as a family!

SUNDAY  JULY 31st, 2016   HOME SWEET HOME

It was a long day.  Enjoyed my audiobook. Didn't get much exercise in just drove and drove and drove.  The customs agent was very nice and did not make me pay duty on the extra stuff that I brought back!  I did a bit of speeding in the smaller towns!  It said 50 - so I slowed down to 50 MPH and oops..  it was 50 km/hr!  Good thing I figured it out on my own instread of a RCMP officer pointing it out!

It was awesome coming home.  I had a few hours to get my land legs back.  It was fun looking through my closet for clothes that didn't fit me, this dress still had a tag on in hopes of it fitting someday as it was only $17.99 and .......... it fit!

I still have a lot of weight that I can get rid of!  But I do feel comfortable in my skin! I feel good when I look in the mirror.  I can bend over and tie up my shoes without my stomach getting in the way!  I can reach my heels with a quadriceps stretch.   Just the little things.  The kids are able to wrap their arms around me for a great hug!  These are the things that just make it all worth it.  The struggle is to keep the weight off and it'll be a lifelong journey with ups and downs.  I am so glad that I have the support of my family and extended family.  Don't be afraid to ask for help.  My husband has lost 50 lbs now since April and  I am so proud of him!  It'll be great to continue this adventure together with him and I look forward to a long and healthy life full of amazing challenges and adventures with him! 

My blood pressure was 110 / 78 when I came home.  It was 160 - 170 / 95 when I left.  That is progress. 

Thank you for following me on this journey so far. I'll continue to post from time to time to stay accountable and hopefully report another 5, 10 , 15, 20 ???? lbs loss to come! 

LIVE HAPPY, LIVE HEALTHY!

If you have some spare time and spare money and want a life changing experience - go to MOVARA FITNESS RESORT in Ivins Utah!  Tell them Donna Stewart sent you and you'll get $100 off and you won't regret it!

So blessed to have been able to spend 4 amazing weeks on these amazing rocks!

SATURDAY JULY 30th , 2016    THE RESULTS

I can't believe 4 weeks have gone by!  I decided to skip out on the hike and the Last Blast workout today.  It was going to be a long day, so I  figured a sleep in would be good for my attention later on in my long drive.   I enjoyed a sleep in and lazy morning. Made a last minute trip to Walmart to pick up a few thing.    Went to Movara at 9:15 for my final weigh in.  Week 4 weightloss was AMAZING - considering that I spent last weekend in Las Vegas eating 3 buffets and not doing much and took half the day off on Tuesday - the scale was down 7.5 lbs!  WOW!


So Total down over 4 weeks ( 27 days) was

Lost 25.6 lbs
Lost 5.4% body fat
Chest lost 4.75 inches ( sorry husband... LOL)
Belly - 3.5 inches
Hips  4.0 inches

BMI went from 40 .5  with 42.2 percent body fat  ( 108.9 lbs of fat)  to
                           36.5   with 36.8 percent body fat   ( 85.8 lbs of fat)

My Resting Metabolic Rate started out at 1834 calories and  with losing 25.6 lbs it ended up at 1811!

I am SO PROUD and excited about my results! I worked very hard and I am feeling good in my skin!  I would still like to lose a lot more; however, I am much happier and healthier at this new weight

Before 259 lbs

After 232 lbs

Before

After

I enjoyed a breakfast and said my goodbye's.  The kitchen staff was AMAZING - I got Supper for tonight, Snack, breakfast lunch and Snacks for Sunday. 

Plan to succeed!

The drive today was interesting.  I was about 2 hours into my 20 hour drive home and something was wrong with my  car. It began to shake violently!  I pulled over from 80 mph and checked my tires to see if I had a flat, nope!  So I went back on the road and went a bit slower and pulled off on the next ramp. Thinking that I might have a rock in my brake, I backed up quickly and forward again and no change, still a shimmy.  There was a Sherriff on the off ramp as there was a fire up a side road and he took a look at my car and noticed that the front left tire had separated and he helped me get the spare tire out of my trunk ( underneath 1 month's worth of clothes and supplies that took an hour to pack strategically and tightly in!  He was excited that I had a full size spare.  Took it out and .............

IT WAS FLAT!   No compressor so he made quite a few phone calls and a wonderful highway patrolman on a day off came out with his truck that had a compressor and told me where to get the tire fixed so that I wouldn't get " took" .  Amazing ... Thank you so much! 

BE HUMBLE AND BE KIND AND PAY IT FORWARD!

I made it to my destination of Dillon Montana at 10 pm - 11 .5 hours after I left.  I checked into my motel room and went for a walk to get my 10,000 steps in. 

Another long travel day tomorrow!