Monday, September 29, 2014

Week 40 of Optifast - More Non-Scale Victories

156 lbs.

I've had a busy week but wanted to check in on the blog.  Last week brought some great news and a huge non-scale victory for me.  After I left my job in May, I had to give up my work-supported life insurance policy.  Since I've been getting healthier, and haven't been this healthy in many years, I decided to apply for my own life insurance.  After going through all of the questions and blood work, last week I found out that I was approved!  This was huge for me.  My policy isn't very expensive, but I feel so much better knowing that if anything happened to me, that my family will have some financial support.  I never thought I'd be healthy enough to get my own policy, so this is a big deal for me.

I also headed to Arizona to attend my high school centennial celebration and homecoming.  It has been 29 years since I graduated and I've never been back for one of these events.  It was such a positive experience seeing old friends and reconnecting with my roots.  I lived in my city at a very unique time, when there was only one high school, so all the kids from all parts of town funneled into one place.  I have literally grown up with a good number of people from my home town, and we came from all walks of life.  It was a very special experience, and with Facebook keeping us in touch, we have remained pretty close.
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My beautiful high school.

In truth, I never would have attended something like this 100 pounds ago.  For my 10 and 20 year reunions, I was lucky to be living on the East coast, far away from Arizona, so I had some cover.  Now I am so much more comfortable in my skin, and felt self-confident.  I guess this is one of the many perks of getting healthier.  I don't pass up special opportunities anymore.  I think this event falls solidly in the "have more fun" category of why I was motivated to lose weight.  Admittedly, it was great to look better too :-)

All of my friends were very supportive of my weight loss.  I had a great conversation with the husband of a friend who has maintained a 200 pound weight loss (he had gastric bypass surgery 4 years ago).  They have established an active lifestyle - participating in cycling races and long weekend rides.  I am always very happy to meet people who have managed to keep their weight off.  It really inspires me to know that it can be done and is being done by people all the time.

Saturday morning I met two of my friends for a beautiful desert hike.  I'm still amazed when I can do things like this without pain or extreme exertion.  Each time I push myself to do more, my confidence rises when I don't keel over from the activity!  I managed to eat pretty well over the weekend, except for Saturday evening and 3 big glasses of wine, which I enjoyed after helping my niece move (in a torrential rain storm, I might add).
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Beautiful sunrise hike in the desert.
Before I left for the trip I measured out several 2oz packets of beef jerky, 1oz packets of almonds, and packed veggies, an apple and cheese sticks.  I had a cooler with the food as well as waters and diet soda.  It worked great and I wasn't tempted one bit to indulge in fast food or junk food during my road stops.  It also made logging my foods much easier.  While I was away I had a couple of treats, but mostly stuck with my plan.  A one pound variation in my weight didn't set off any alarm bells.  Today I'm back to eating less salty protein choices and drinking lots of water.  I feel in control and balanced in all of this.  But it still feels like new territory to me.

I'm hiking farther and faster, and progressing with my C25K program.  I also started weight lifting last week and will try a group strength class on Thursday.  I'm looking forward to that because I wasn't really happy with my new gym's weight machines, to be honest.  But I know that building muscle is very important to building my metabolism and will really help in maintaining my weight.

That's it for now.  Lots of busy stuff with life and kids and whatnot, but as far as my health and choices, I'm still on track.  Hope you all have a great week!

4 comments:

Kathy said...

Congrats on such an amazing experience. Your pictures didn't come through on your blog, but it sounds like you had a perfectly lovely time. We miss out on so many people parts of life when the weight gets in the way. I've been learning that as well. Very inspirational Christy ;-)

happyinca said...

Thanks Kathy! I don't know why my pics aren't showing up. I see them, but I should probably check on another computer sometime. I thought of you when I was talking with my friend's husband. He did have some public dumping issues when eating out a few times. They have subsided now, though, and he is healthy and happy. Has never regretted the surgery!

Anonymous said...

I can't see your photos either (on this post or ever...I keep meaning to mention that!) I was wondering what high school you went to. In Chandler, correct? My nieces and nephews go to school in Chandler at Corona del Sol. And that storm on Saturday was unreal. My son was stranded at the high school before his football game. There was almost no shelter. Drenched!! So glad you are getting out there and are comfortable in your skin! You earned it!! Congrats.

happyinca said...

Hi Martha, thanks for letting me know about the pictures as well. I'm going to have to dig deeper to find a fix on Blogger. I went to Chandler High School, the one and only high school in the city at the time! Your poor son! That storm was such a gully washer -- we had to drive out to 32nd street, which was literally a raging river. If I had been driving on the freeways, I would have pulled over for sure. My brother in law went slowly, but you could barely see in front of you. Even with the fierce storms, I do miss monsoon season. I live in California now, and our drought is horrible.