perfect 10

Week 10:
3/24/11
Weight: 182.6
+/-: -5.2
This week, I feel like I kicked butt. I worked out every day this week, a couple of days even going for an hour or hour and a half. The best part? I’m starting to crave activity. I thought it would take me a long time to get to that point, because I have never been an active person. Working out is still a challenge, I’m still very out of shape, but I can feel it get a tiny bit easier each time. (and when I feel discouraged I just feel my biceps, haha) I also learned that variety helps me with staying motivated. I always thought that was just something people said but that didn't apply to me: “oh, just throw some variety in there, don’t let yourself get bored.” Instead of getting on my Wii every day, or only doing the treadmill, I’m trying to mix it up a little. I’m finding that on days I do the c25k program, I kind of miss my Wii, so I’m excited about it the next day. And then the next day, I’m excited about the treadmill when I go back to it. (Excited being a relative term here. Come on folks, I’m not one of those people.)(Yet.) And then other days, when I'm feeling like a glutton for punishment, I put in a Jillian Michaels DVD. Ugh, she's so tough!
Another motivator for me this week was the fact that, as of week 9’s weigh in, I was 3.3 lbs away from losing 10% of my body weight. (FYI for those of you not in Weight Watchers: 10% of your body weight is one of the first goals they have you go for, so that if you have a lot to lose you don’t get overwhelmed by a huge goal.)  Remember in my first post, on my way to a new me,  when I mentioned how bad I wanted that 10% so that I could get the key chain?

key chain, baby!

sorry for the crappy iphone photo.

Technically, 10% for me is 20.5 lbs and right now I am at 22.4 pounds lost! Even more exciting than the pounds lost and the key chain (I know, I know, what could be more exciting?) is the way I’m feeling right now.  In on my way to a new me I talked about how I’ve never really been a goal setter or a go getter. Part of it was laziness, part of it was just thinking I’d probably never get there, so why try? This week I had an epiphany. Since starting weight watchers one of my goals was to run a 5k. I kind of enjoy running (or, the way I do it, slow jogging, with a lot of walking, haha) and I think it would be fun to get out there in a real race with other people. My epiphany this week? I don’t want to just run one, I want to win one. I want a picture of me, hands in the air, medal around my neck. Why not? Other people do it all the time. What’s stopping me?
Okay, so I may never win a medal, and if I don’t I won’t be heartbroken, but I’m sure gonna try. I’m tired of making ‘just’ goals.
-oh, I just want to be able to run a 5k, I don’t care if I’m last
-I just want to be able to shop somewhere other than the plus sizes
-I just want to eat better.


No, no more. I can do this! I am not less than anyone else unless I let myself be that way. I want to do big things!
-I want to win a 5k. and maybe a 10k.
-I want to be a single digit size proportionate to my height. (I would love to be a size 2, those jeans would never be too long! Too long jeans, the bane of my existence, sigh…)
-I want to eat healthy, and when I have kids, I want to be a great example.

This week wasn’t just exciting mentally, but physically. I’m feeling strong, and energized. (remember my biceps? I’m not going to let you forget, haha) I work at a 911 center, so I am chained to a desk for 10 hours. (Literally, our headsets are connected to the desk. If you’re not on break, you’re not going anywhere.) We have adjustable desks, so they can be set to your height, or even raised so you can stand at your desk if you’d like. Before 2 weeks ago, I’d maybe raised my desk twice at the most. These past two weeks I’ve been standing at my desk more than I’ve been sitting. Like, probably 08/20. (granted, I do lean on the desk sometimes) I’m not feeling bounce-off-the-walls energetic, but I can definitely tell a difference in my energy levels, which is so exciting!

I realize this post and the last are very rose-colored-glassesish, I hope it’s not too over the top. (blame the anti-depressants, haha) With all of positives I've been experiencing I'm trying to prepare my mind for the inevitable plateaus and possible negatives.  Just running 'what-if' scenarios through my head, like, 'what if I have a 12 week plateau?' I was reading on the Weight Watchers forums about a lady who had a crazy long plateau like that. That would be so frustrating! So I'm trying to make sure I'm keeping non-pound goals in mind as well, so that I have other things to strive for and to gauge my success if (and when) the scale stops moving.  Things that I'm trying to focus on other than the pounds are: how my clothes are fitting (getting a little looser!), my energy levels, and my progress on the couch to 5k program (week 3 is hard!!).
Have you ever had a plateau, or a run of gains? How did you keep motivated?