Snow Day = Pictures

My boss called early today (just as I was about to jump in the shower) and told me not to bother coming into work. It was a snowy mess and I should stay home. I looked out my window, not one flake at my house. Seattle is crazy when it comes to snow. Less than one inch can set the whole region into city closing panic. Its crazy. I had to trade Friday for today, but whatever. Its the boyfriends day off, so we are hanging out together. Except for right now, because I'm writing this post, and he's cleaning the house. Heh.

Anyway, here is a photo re-cap of my Christmas:

Dave slaying our tree.

Christmas card photo.

Gorgeous California December Day.

Christmas Day stockings!

Personal Chef.

The meat. So good!

Back in Seattle. Yay!

Serious Improvements

Yesterday at CrossFit, we began a new program. I'm floored by how much time, dedication, and thought the owners/trainers invest in the gym and us- the clients. It makes me want to do great things instantly, like suddenly start running sub 7 minute miles, and jumping up on 24" boxes, and banging out pull-ups like I weigh 45 pounds...just because I want them to succeed in all the work they put in, and success would me mean being able to do any of the aforementioned items.

Anyway, yesterday was all about body control, and performing movements that will help us work on our body control and will eventually lead us to obtain 3 movements- Ring Dip, Pull-up, and Toes to Bar. We had to do some non-typical CrossFit things...like plank pose, and dead bug, and some typical things such as hanging from a bar, V-ups, diamond push-ups, and static hold (on parallel bars, almost like L-sit, but without the legs out in front).

I've been CrossFitting for about 3 months now. In my first week, attempting to check some things off my level one sheet, I attempted to hang from a bar for 30 seconds. I lasted 3 seconds, and WOW, that felt like an eternity. A few weeks later, I tried again, and was able to make the full 30 seconds, but barely. Yesterday? I hung for 45 seconds. I could actually feel other muscles engaging to hold me there, like my abs, instead of before I was just focused on how my arms couldn't keep hanging on.

Before starting CrossFit, I used to do a Jillian Michaels video pretty regularly. I thought it kicked my butt. In level 3, the video uses a lot of "plank" pose moves. They were SO hard. I would try and see how long I could hold plank for, usually not even making it to 30 seconds. Yesterday? I held it for 1 minute, 45 seconds!!! I was shaking like crazy, but I was trying to 'win' at least one thing. It was just me and one other guy, the other 3 people had dropped. I was staring him down. Finally, I hit my limit. He lasted till 1 minute, 52 seconds.

While I often beat myself up for not being able to do the majority of the workouts fully prescribed, I should focus instead on what I HAVE accomplished. It is pretty amazing to me that in just the short time I have been participating in the CrossFit program, I am seeing incredible results. It gives me so much hope that one day I will be doing pull-ups, running sub 7 minute miles, and just about anything else I want to do.

In case you missed it, I'm still REALLY excited I can get these boots on! I got the boots on over a pair of my skinniest jeans. But the jeans are super thin...almost more like a khaki/jean material. I'm wearing one of these outfits today:

Vacation Over

I didn't necessarily mean for my vacation from work to be a vacation from blogging, but it just sort of turned out that way. As a result, I have so much stuff swimming in my head. It feels like I took more than a week break, based on how much stuff happened.

Mega Victories:
Running a 7K in 48 minutes.









Pre-Start







Remaining 100% Paleo while out of town (away from my kitchen)
Convincing my stubborn mom that Paleo is a) sustainable and b) good for me
Losing 3 pounds! Plateau over!
Today I Back-squatted 185 pounds, and was told I was "smoking the other girls at the gym" (in back squat)

Medium-Victories
Driving a 16' moving truck from San Francisco to Seattle in 13 hours sans accidents/tickets
Making delicious birthday cupcakes for my boyfriend and only eating 2
Making it to 4 Crossfit sessions while on vacation (it should be noted that the gym is next to my work)
Seeing the huge Paleo success my brother in law is having...he and my sister cooked this Paleo meal for my mom and I:

















Mini-Victories
Playing 2 hours of football with my friends and not being sore one bit the next day
Successful first meeting of my mom and boyfriends parents
Ate at many restaurants when my mom was in town visiting...remained mostly Paleo.
Had a phone interview for a job today, I was one of 8 people out of 40 that applied that got a phone interview. We'll see if I get selected for an in-person interview.
Visiting new locations in Washington:


I have so much blog reading to catch up on!

3 Months Down

Clothes that fit are SO much better than clothes that don't. Just throwing that out there.

Now, onto the fun stuff:

June 1, 2010:


September 1, 2010:


August 1, 2010:


I probably should have taken measurements, because even though there doesn't look like much difference between August and September in my face (and I only lost 4-5 lbs this month) there are huge differences in my body.

So yes, August was a successful month. I shed another 5 pounds. My treat to myself for making it through 3 months of Paleo? I'm joining Crossfit. Gulp. Yeah...I found a location near my work. I called them today. They just said to drop by and try it out. Gulp. Those people are nuts.

Paleo; Month 2 Re-cap

Yesterday, August 1st marked month 2 of Paleo for me. Here is my head shot from July 1st:

And here is my head shot from yesterday, August 1st:


Since July 1st, I have lost 6 pounds. Making my total weight loss since starting Paleo 18 pounds! Considering that I have lost 34 pounds since January, over half of my weight loss has occurred in the past 2 months.

Last week I got so incredibly busy at work, I sort of dropped off after announcing my challenge to exercise 120 minutes a day until August 31st. Imagine that, work getting in the way of my blogging...how DARE it?!

Anyway, I've been keeping up my pledge but barely. Of course work and life would go insane when I need more time to myself. What can you do?

Where is Summer?!

Ok Seattle...its time we had a little chat. It's JULY 1st. We are in the Northern Hemisphere. That means SUMMER. Please take note of this and allow the sun in. Thanks.

Onto some real sunny things...a progress update. I decided to weigh-in this morning and see what my cumulative loss from June 1 to July 1 is. I shed that weekend water weight finally, and weighed in at one pound lower today than on Monday. My 30 day Paleo experience has resulted in...wait for it...a...12 pound loss! Not bad.

Also, I found a pic of me that I took the day before starting Paleo, and tried to re-create the same pic this morning.












Pretty crazy, huh? I mean, just look at the difference in my face and neck. Unbelievable.

So yeah, minus a few squares of a celebratory organic dark chocolate (70%) bar and a cashew Larabar yesterday, I've stuck to this Paleo thing 100%. The first 3 squares of chocolate were totally worth it...the second 3 squares made me ill. Lesson learned.

Friends, I Has Dem

Every once in awhile, I have to sit back and really appreciate how lucky I am. Today is one of those days. It is all too easy to get caught up in the day to day small things that I tend to give WAY too much power to, like a driver talking on their cell phone who cuts me off, or when a co-worker steals my favorite pen off my desk. Without being conscious of it, things like these can be a trap for my mind to get caught in. When in reality, they should just be fleeting annoyances, brushed off like water on a duck's back.

What I should spend more of my thought-time on is how incredible my friends are. On Wednesday I sent out a challenge. The challenge was for myself, and I would be doing it no matter what, but I thought, what the heck, I'll invite any of my readers to do this with me. Two of my closest friends stepped up to the challenge. They didn't have to do anything. They could have slept in on Saturday with their boyfriends, and then enjoyed a nice breakfast before heading out to run errands, or stop at a museum, or whatever else the day called them to do.

Friend "A" (in case she doesn't want to be famous) completed the challenge first. As I was out on a walk, I saw her Facebook post. It simply said "shredded." I checked my e-mail a short while later, and she had sent me the proof of her efforts:
I love this picture. This might be the best picture anyone has ever taken for me. The sweat, the emotion, her beautiful face...Like I said, I am so lucky to have friends that will do this for me.

Friend "B" (I KNOW she does not want to be famous, and may even make me take this pic down) completed the challenge second. I received her picture as I was doing yard work at the house I don't quite own yet (story for another day). She took a picture after each level...very smart, except for some reason, she doesn't turn red or sweat apparently. She runs crazy amounts of miles, so that probably has a lot to do with it. This was her pic after completing all three levels:

I love this picture too, for entirely different reasons. She looks hot. Like men would be afraid to approach her hot. Its raw, its real, and again, proof that my friends kick so much ass.

Now it was my turn. I got home around 12:30 after walking 3 miles, running fruitless errands, getting coffee, and a visit to my almost house. My boyfriend left for work, I changed, and it was ON. Level one went by so fast. I noticed how much stronger I am then when I first started using this video. Level two started out really hard, and then my body must have checked out for a bit, because the next thing I knew, I was done. My whole body feels like jell-o, and I am soaked in sweat:

Thank you friends A and B for making me so lucky. Your support means so much to me. Oh, and by my calculations, that roughly 60 minutes of circuit training burned us each about 900 calories. I will take that any day.

My Story

My story is nearly identical to every contestant they show on The Biggest Loser (I was a chubby kid, tried every diet, now things have escalated, etc.) I won't bore you with the details of how I got here, the important thing is that I'm here, and I'm ready to change. One of the best things I've ever heard is (paraphrased) "if you want the things you do not have, you must do things you have never done."

In April, I met a girl on craigslist. She was looking for a workout buddy, as she was training for a half-marathon in November. I was looking for a workout buddy because I was signed up to do a half-marathon in June. Scheduling conflicts made it so Tracy and I didn't meet till well after my half-marathon (August) and her half-marathon was inching closer by the day. We began meeting for workout sessions...swimming in icky neighborhood ponds, or in the intimidatingly large Lake Washington. We met at 7am on Saturday mornings for walk/runs around Greenlake. She had a blog of her journey to do the half-marathon and lose an amazing 113 pounds. Mis-understandings, work, life, and tragedy prevented us from keeping up our meetings. I thought we had lost touch permanently.

A few weeks ago, I received a text from Tracy, checking in with me. I was glad to have her back. So glad in fact, I agreed to go to a Weight Watchers meeting with her, as she had become a recent member. I have not joined WW yet, but I'm not ruling it out. My boyfriend encouraged me to try on my own, because "you already know everything they are saying" was his rationale. He's right. But he's also skinny.

Fast forward to two days ago. Two days ago I began my new routine. I started "brushing and flossing" if you will. I started to do the things I have never done. What is different about this time? I don't know. Nothing yet. Anyone that has tried to lose weight knows it always starts out the same. Losing weight is easy, its the keeping it off part that is hard.

Today, without any knowledge of my new routine, Tracy posted a shout out to the followers of her blog to begin their own fight. After the ego boost of calling us all supermodels, she challenged us to join her. I couldn't type "I'm in" fast enough. That's the best thing about support. Its always there, waiting for you to take advantage of it. Do I think the timing of her call is coincidence? No. Its me getting exactly what I need, when I need it.

And now for the ever-cliche before photo:


I'm on the right (duh).