Brand New Day

I know it's been a long time since I've written.  Sorry!  No good excuse, so I won't give you any. :-)  

If you know me at all, you know that music has always played a major role in my life.  Towards the beginning of this journey 2.5 years ago, I fell in love with the song "Make War" ...

 

It became my anthem as I strove to make war against the old me, the sin, the bad habits, the laziness... all of it!

Well, thanks to Pandora, I now have a new song!  The song is "Brand New Day" by KJ-52.  I liked it from the beginning, but the middle of the song is what really caught my attention.  It says repeatedly, 

I'm not where I wanna be, but I'm not where I used to be...

If this doesn't explain how I feel, I don't know what does.  I still have such a ways to go, but I have come so far!  God has made amazing changes in my life over the last 2.5 years.  I am NOT who I was 2.5 years ago.  I was looking for a picture on facebook last weekend, and I came across these beauties...

The first picture was taken in April of 2010.  It was before my first 5k!  I finished second to last... and the last lady had a baby stroller.  Dang.  It was my goal just to finish.  I finished! :)  The next picture was taken when Leanne and Ashley kidnapped me and took me to the mountains for a weekend.  As it says in the picture, it was October 2010, just a month after I began my journey.  Wow.  Praise be to God for the changes He has brought about in me.  Not just my weight, but my lifestyle!  So much is different in my life now.  Mainly my priorities are different... my health is right up at the top of the list!  

I do feel a need to also say though, that I was not miserable in either of those pictures.  It makes me sad when people refer back to pre-weightloss days and talk about them as if everything was doom and gloom before they lost weight.  Yes, I needed to make changes, but my life still had joy!  Jesus is no more my saviour now that I'm 77 lbs less than He was before at my heaviest. He doesn't love me any more now than He did before.  He has ordained every step of my life... every step... from the slowest 5k ever to my new best 5k time last weekend. :) He has been so good and faithful to me.

Back to my song... more of the lyrics are...

Your sunlight is on my face
I look back how far I came
I think about how much I've changed
It was hard at times but I'm not the same
You deserve all this praise
You deserve all the fame
You deserve all my ways
I point back to You each and all my days

I'm not the same!  Praise Jesus I am not the same!  And without further ado, here's the song!  (My favorite part is at 2:08)

I'll try to be better about updating in the future... I'm 3 pounds away from my next big goal!  Hopefully soon you'll be hearing that I've made it! Thanks for reading!!

thankful for my team...

Sorry I've been a little absent this week... I've been pretty busy lately!  Amidst the craziness of a busy week, I came home one day, checked the mail, and had a surprise waiting...

I will keep the giver's identity to myself, since I think this person would rather remain anonymous, but the card basically said that this gift was "to help me with my weight loss plan... eating healthy costs money, and this was just something to help me reach my goals".  WHAT!?  How crazy is that?  It reminds me that I have so many people in my court.  Over the last 2.5 years, I have not been alone... not for a moment.  Countless friends have prayed for me, encouraged me, and worked out with me.  

Weight loss is no joke... making healthy lifestyle changes is hard work... but I thank God that I have a whole team of people on my side helping me every step of the way!!

I hate this box...

I still don't know why, but I really stink at jumping.  I don't know if it's coordination, balance, fear, or all of the above, but for some reason, I just can't seem to jump!  A couple of years ago, when I had a trainer, I remember not even being about to jump up onto a step (like people use in a step class... yes... I know it's LOW!).  Once during a workout, after I'd finally mastered one step, my trainer put 2 boxes on top of each other and I was supposed to jump up onto them.  Before I knew it, I was face down with a nasty carpet burn above my eye, a bruised ego, and a deadly fear of jumping up onto anything.  

This past week's workout at my new gym included box jumps... not onto steps, but onto a real plyo-box (as in the above picture).  The alternative to jumping was to do step ups, which I did on Wednesday and Thursday.  This morning, however, a different trainer was leading the class, and during the second round she asked me to jump.  I refused.  The third and final round came around and she stood on the other side with her hands out.  She said, "hold my hands, and just jump."  I freaked out... and then I did it.  Twice.  I almost cried.  I tried to psych myself up to do it without holding her hands, but I just couldn't do it.  Not yet.  But I will!  That box is my new goal.  I will jump up onto it without holding anyone's hands SOON!

Today was two-fold for me.  It was a huge victory to jump onto the box even holding her hands.  But it also showed me that I still have lots of room for improvement.  There's still so much I have to learn, and I am excited about learning it!  I have come a long way since September 2010.  Where will I be in September 2013?  Only God knows, but I plan to be stronger... and I plan to be jumping without fear!!

working out in the "comfort" of my home...

Do you ever have one of those days when you really don't want to leave the house?  Well, the snow (or more the anticipation of said snow, which melted very quickly!) made me want to be a hermit all day today.  But... as the clock ticked away, I knew I needed to get in a workout.   I have some workout videos, but they're packed away in a box somewhere. I started to look for them, but then I remembered this workout that Bob did on this week's Biggest Loser.  My trainer from a few years ago also had me do this workout during one of my last sessions in order to show me an "easy" workout at home.  I'm not sure why, but I never did it until today (about 2 years later!)  So... this was my workout!

Basically, I used a deck of cards.  Every suit represented a different movement.  Aces =11, Face cards = 10, and number cards = their value.  So, if I drew an ace of hearts, I did 11 burpees (I made burpees hearts because I LOVE them so much!!!  not...) Jokers = 50 jumping jacks.   To increase the intensity, I used an 8lb dumbbell for my squats (I held it straight out in front) and during sit ups (I held it at my chest for some, and high above my head for others).  When all was said and done, I had completed 95 of each movement!  It took me about 32 minutes to complete it, so now I have a time to beat!

The great thing about this workout is that I can change it up to be whatever I want it to be.  Once I get more weights for the house, I can do more resistance movements.  I could use climbing the stairs in my house as one of the movements.  The possibilities are endless!  I don't have an exercise mat, and most of my house is tile or hardwood, so I literally completed this entire workout in the tiny hallway of my house since it's the only carpeted spot.  Haha!  No excuses!

And if you're wondering if it was an efficient workout... I'll let this picture help you decide...

Hooray for being a hermit AND getting in an awesome workout today!!

it's not supposed to be easy...

Last night after working my regular job (teaching Pre-K) and my part time job (tutoring at Sylvan) and going grocery shopping, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym.  It was almost 8:00.  I hadn't seen Chuy all day.  That morning I had an appointment that I had to fast for because they were drawing blood.  I was totally out of sorts all day.  I didn't feel like exercising.  I could have very easily justified skipping the gym last night.  Even as I was walking into the gym, I was muttering to myself  how much I just didn't want to be there.  I was such a grump!  

But as I changed into my workout clothes I felt like I heard the Lord whisper to my heart, "since when has this been easy?"  Sure, I may really enjoy some workouts... zumba is a blast... on odd days I enjoy running... but the last 2.5 years have been FAR from easy!!  I have hurt physically (both from muscle aches and clumsiness in the gym! hehe), I've cried when that scale wouldn't move for weeks, I've lost sleep getting up for early workouts, I've said no to food that I really wanted.  But... these years of work are PAYING OFF!  It's not easy losing 70 pounds, but it's worth every difficult moment. 

This morning I got up and went to a 6am training class at my new gym.  Did I want to go back to sleep when the alarm went off at 5am?  Absolutely.  But do I regret getting up and finishing one of the hardest classes yet?  Not even for a second.

“Act. It’s of God. (Philippians 2:13) If you do rather than lamenting what you can’t do, you will do more than you thought you could.” - John Piper

I knew I'd never be normal!

Just 8 days ago, I began this blog.  I explained that I titled it "Redefining Normal" because my goal this year was to finally be in the "normal" range for my BMI (body mass index).  For my height, that means weighing a max of 145.  I also explained that I was "redefining" normal, because I really don't think "normal" exists!

example of what the body fat % calculator looks like

Earlier this week, the trainer/teacher at the gym took our weights and body fat percentages.  When I told her about my goal to get into the normal BMI range, she said she never uses BMI, and that using body fat percentage is a better idea of how much I should lose.  Well, last night her computations were finished.  I couldn't help but be excited when she was calling out everyone's muscle mass.  Even though I was by far the biggest girl there, I had more muscle mass than a lot of them!  I have 122 lbs of muscle mass.  My body fat percentage is still high, but that's because I obviously still have a lot to lose.  She asked me what my weight goal was in my head, and I said 145... she shook her head and told me that I should be no LESS than 152!  She said that to be less than that, I'll have to lose muscle, and I don't want to do that!  I'm so happy to know that all of the hard work I've done is paying off.

So... I guess I have a new goal. :)  152 it is!  

Just a quick update on South Beach... it is going exceptionally well.  I don't feel at all deprived, and I have a lot of energy (especially considering I've not been going to bed when I should).  I did 2 classes back to back on Monday, and I felt fine.  I was actually pretty surprised by that!

Confession:  I wrote on Monday that I was going to try to run a mile every time I went to the gym.  That hasn't happened at all!  I was a little late on Monday, and then was exhausted after 2 classes & really wanted to get home to my man (it was already 7:30!).  Tuesday was an off day.  Wednesday I did one class, but I gave it my all and was again exhausted (in a good way) & had gone straight from a staff meeting after work, to the gym... I was ready to go home!  Maybe I was aiming a little high with that mile run expectation, but I will be running sometime this weekend to make up for it.

I guess it's official... I'll never be normal!!!  :)

Operation Bridesmaid Dress!

3ish years ago in my size 20 bridesmaid dress

So... I found out this weekend that I am going to be a bridesmaid sometime this summer!  Though it was not part of the plan, a couple of the other bridesmaids and I ended up trying on dresses on Saturday.  I had no idea what size to try on, and started with a 16... TOO BIG!  I tried on many dresses over the next hour, and for a lot of them, I needed the 12!  WHAT!?  The last wedding I was in was a few years ago, and my dress (from the same place) was a size 20.  I still have that dress, and can't wait until I can hang them up side by side and take a picture.  They didn't have the size 14 for the dress that we're pretty sure I will be wearing, so I tried on a 12.  It's way too tight... I don't have to order the dress until the end of February, so my goal is to see just how much I can lose by then.  I really really want to be able to buy that 12 and look amazing in it at this wedding.  I know the bride is the shining star, but my hubby will be there, and he'll be looking at me. ;)  hehe

First step of Operation Bridesmaid Dress is a change in eating... I am beginning the South Beach Diet TODAY! (¡oy!) I've tried this before, but never really stuck with it.  I'm gonna do my best to really do it this time!  If nothing less, hopefully it will break me of my carb addiction (man, I love snacks!).  I am also signed up for a training class at the gym (I'll get into that in a little more detail soon) every day this week, and I want to run at least a mile every time I go the gym (either before or after the class).  

Any other advice on fitting into bridesmaid dresses is more than welcome. ;)