Progress

So.

Remember a few months ago, when I made my croquis?

Well, Penny was going to come over and help me take my measurements.

The day she was scheduled to come, 

was smack in the middle of my cycle.

Mid-cycle is even worse than PMS for me. 

(which is it's own 5-6 day little hell)

In addition to feeling all out of sorts,

I was so bloaty that my waist measured 1 3/4 inches bigger than my usual big measurement

so I texted her that we'd do it later.

But I was so disgusted with myself

and what those measurements would be,

that I never re-scheduled.

A few days after that,

Brandon had given Josiah a piggy back ride to the mailbox and back.

He mentioned that he was surprised how much harder the trip was

carrying that extra weight.

Josiah weighs about 54 lbs.

I said, "Yeah. That's pretty much how much extra weight I carry around all the time."

It's kind of shocking to think about. I carry around a whole extra (good sized) person. All of the time.

~

Ya'll.

I am

so

sick

of being

fat
.

~

Right about that time, a friend started occasionally linking to the Trim Healthy Mama page on facebook
so I took a peek at it.
I'd heard of the book before, but since it was pricey
(and the authors are naturally tall and thin) I hadn't bothered to really investigate.

After a few weeks of stalking their FB page and checking out a few blogs, I ordered the book.

On August 25th

I started putting into practice what I learned in Trim Healthy Mama (THM from here on out).

It's pretty much how we've eaten for the past few years, with one exception.

THM recommends only a tiny bit of fat with carbs,

whereas,

when we ate carbs,

we ate them with lots of fats.

I'd learned that fat slows the absorption of carbs, so there isn't an insulin spike.

In true Tracy form, if some is good, more is better....

In theory, that was good (and fine for a thin person)

but when you fuel your body with both fats and  (healthy) carbs in the same meal,

the fat fuels sorta gets 'locked in' while the sugar fuels get used up, making it more difficult to lose weight. 

In addition to 'single fueling'

(which, quite honestly I did most of the time anyways, simply because I don't eat a lot of carbs...)

I started working out a little.

I lost a few pounds.

I gained a few pounds.
repeat.repeat.repeat.

I got discouraged and quit adding in the exercise, but I still ate properly.

Then my friend, Michelle,

whom I met  through Elizabeth's 'with needle and thREAD sewing circle' that I like to participate in,

wrote a post about getting fit.

I joked that her pursuit of fitness would get in the way of her sewing.

(I can't seem to do both...)

She wrote a progress update a few weeks later,

and it inspired me to suck it up and work out.

Even when I didn't feel like it.

Every single day, except Sundays, since October 18th, I have worked out.

Many of those days,

I have cried.

It has been so. stinkin. hard.

I've discovered that I only have about 5 days a month where my body cooperates with me,

and the scale is kind to me,

and I actually want to exercise.

(I have got to get my hormones balanced!)

On the bad days - I can only  do 5, or, 3, or even just 2 crunches before I have to rest.
On a good day, though, I can knock out 30 without stopping.

You like my sweet shoes? $3 at a yardsale. Bought 'em for Jeremiah, then tried 'em on. ahhh. so they became mine :-)
(I never ever would have thought I would ever wear black tennies!)

I've been frustrated and discouraged

because I'm not getting the results other people are.

The THM authors post success stories just about every day on facebook.

Those stories are why I bought the book.

Now, though,

I'm just being honest here,

those stories 

burn

my

butt.

There are women who started doing THM the same time I did 

and they have lost 20 and even 30 lbs already.

I expected to lose somewhat slowly, because really,

I didn't drastically change my eating habits.

But I did expect to lose more quickly than I'm losing.

Which is silly

because it's always been very hard for me to lose weight...

Tyler keeps telling me to just keep doing what I'm doing

and eventually it'll all pay off.

And I do,

because,

I am

so

sick

of

being

fat

!
(bless his heart - he has to listen to me whine and moan and fuss and cry 25 days a month, and brag the other 5 ;-)

While I'm not losing as quickly as I'd like,

or as much as I think I should be, given how and how much (or rather, how little...) I eat,

I am losing.

In the past 3 months,

I've lost 12 lbs.

(I'd lost another 5 previously, somewhere between going to the DR for my knee in June and when I weighed when I started THM.)

I didn't take any measurements 'til Oct 28th,
so my 'inch losses' are actually greater than what I've recorded
but in the past 4 weeks,

I've lost:

upper arms - 1/2 inch R, 3/4 inch L

upper bust - 3/4 inch

bust - 1 3/4inches
 (of course. Of course this is where I'd see my biggest loss. sheesh)

waist - none yet.
(What the heck?!) (I did have a loss of 1" prior to taking measurements 10/28 though. As a seamstress, I knew my waist measurement...)

hips - 1 inch

thighs - 1 inch each

calves - 1/2 in R, 3/4 in L

(It's interesting to note that in the 4 weeks that I lost the above inches,
I only lost 2 of the 12 pounds.
Makes me wish I'd taken measurements earlier.)

Most of my shirts look sloppy on me because they are too big.

I bought a few new ones. size m (What?!)

I had to buy a new pair of jeans, even with my elastic in the waist trick, they were too big and looked horrible.
The new ones are size 12

Twelve.

I haven't worn a size 12 in a dozen years.

(maybe even longer.)

I'm not really feeling any better yet,
although, some days, when I have lots of pure deep fats (coconut oil or MCT) my brain fog is lessened a bit.
I keep hoping that my hormones will level off,
but honestly, this past month was pretty awful.
Like I'm moving in the wrong direction...
I'm taking really good notes and will make an appointment with Dr Baker in Dec or January
to change up my prescription.

My heel still bugs me fairly often, but it's tolerable;
my knee has been pretty good for the most part.
Dr Bolyard  had told me the best thing I could do for it was strengthen my leg muscles - which I'm doing...

I am doing 75 squats, 75 crunches, (I started with waaaay fewer and have worked my way up) and 50 of the daily strength training exercises in our 8 Minutes in the Morning book every day (except Sundays).

I'll continue to increase the squats and crunches by 5 every week, 'til I hit 100.

I also do several 'bursts on the bike' (hop on the bike and go all out crazy fast for 45 seconds) 

but really should do more.
I've just started doing inverted and negative pull ups last week,
so someday I can maybe do a real pull up (that doesn't involve climbing the wall with my feet ;-)

And you already know I can do a 2 minute plank ;-)
(that would, of course, be on one of my good days ~ I don't even try to plank most days)

I still have a long ways to go.

But that's where I'm at right now.

Because I finally decided

I was

- you got it -

so

sick

of being 

fat.

Special thanks to Emily, for encouraging me to buy THM,
and to Michelle, for encouraging me to exercise daily,
and of course to my family
for all of your support and help and praise and encouragement. XO