Day 97

So today was a wonderful day, and it came just in time to make me feel like this fall semester is going to be an awesome semester!

Today was filled with worship, romance, relaxation, and exercise. The whole day has been filled with amazing conversation between my boyfriend and I. It's like we really re-connected again. I'm not saying that we have been having problems, but every relationship experiences the ebb of true intimacy. We talked about everything and it felt really amazing.

Because of the church BBQ (which we forgot about until the service) we decided to scrap our original dinner plans in exchange for sandwiches in the park a few miles away from our apartment. We've only been to this park once before and that was almost exactly one year ago when we first moved to Denton. It was beautiful. The weather was flawless and we ate our dinner in the shade overlooking a cute lake. It was definitely relaxing and the evening gave me that reassuring sense of security. The rest of this year is going to be really great!

I've been realizing the importance my open relationship plays in my ability to go full force with weight loss. I feel like because he knows that I am doing this, he will help keep me accountable and being healthier is something we can both do together! My boyfriend has no weight issues and he is a relatively healthy eater, but there are certainly things he could do to improve his health. Together, we have learned to make healthy decisions in recipes, grocery shopping, and activities. I cannot tell you how much my wonderful relationship has done for me over the past ninety-seven days! It has truly made all of the difference!

As far as exercise goes, I will give you an update. I have been really kicking butt this week. Today's workout consisted of 1 hour on the Elliptical (-610 calories), another exhaustion test for the 100 Push Up Challenge for week 3 (28 consecutive), and a "Push It" Run*. I feel amazing. Sweaty, yes, but amazing!!!

I can't wait for weigh in on Tuesday!

xo Megan

PS. *What I have come to call a "Push It" Run consists of walking 1/8 mile (one lap), running for as long as I can, and then walking again until I feel cooled down. This weeks "Push It" Run resulted in 5 laps and actually running about 2 1/4 of those laps. :)

Day 95!!

Holy Moly,

I cannot believe that it is day 95. Time is seriously flying by.

School just started and work is picking up, so I am busy all of the time. Lately I've been feeling like a "grown-up". LOL. I have a lot of responsibility now with my apartment and now school and a demanding job and a boyfriend. It's all becoming very 'real', if that makes any sense.

I have been totally killing it this week with weight loss. I haven't mentioned this yet, but on Wednesday (after lots of water and a trip to the gym) I weighed in way lower than 228.6 or whatever it was on Tuesday. So, yes, most of that was bloating and artificial gain. Undoubtedly, I did still gain weight.

Since Tuesday, I have gone to the gym everyday and really pushed it. I can now run two consecutive laps around the track (equaling together 1/4 mile), I have been sticking to the 100 push up challenge (today I did 83 with the program!!!!), and I also bought a pass to go to my gym's group exercise classes. Yesterday, I did a Zumba class and I love it! I can't wait to try more.

I feel super amazing lately and I think that this semester and the rest of this year is going to be full of hard work AND success!!!

xo Megan

Weigh In #13

Good Morning,

This past week was a dismal week.

I went home to visit my family and went crazy. I ate out at least once a day, didn't drink enough water, and ate late into the night. I feel completely gross but I know that I need to fess up to what happened and work really hard to fix it.

I take comfort in the fact that I am actually writing this blog and that I am going to make my weigh in video today. It shows that I have some level of accountability and that I don't just give up when I fail.

Here are the results (Beware!!!)

Last Week:
Weight: 223.0
BMI: 40.8

This Week:
Weight: 228.2
BMI: 41.7

Result: +5.2 lbs

OUCH! That stings a little doesn't it. But you know what? I'm ready to get past it and I'm ready to never have to type a plus sign on here for a long time!!!

See, today starts the official challenge for me. I won't be seeing my family until Thanksgiving. That is over three months and my goal is to change as much as physically possible in a healthy manner. I want my family to notice my weight loss and be surprised.

Also, this is the time to restart and commit to the "Hot 4 Halloween" Challenge! I really really want to complete that challenge! So today starts it all again!

xo Megan

Weigh In #12

Good Morning!!!

Here are the results:

Last Week:
Weight: 223.0
BMI: 40.8

This Week:
Weight: 223.0
BMI: 40.8

Result: -0.0

That's right, an exact maintain! Needless to say, I'd take this over a gain any day but that doesn't mean I'm particularly happy about it.

I did not have a good weekend in terms of food. There was eating out and lots of heavy food and no where near enough water.

On the exercise front, I did fairly awesome this week. I have officially started running outside now!!! It is a little hard, but I feel amazing while doing it. I also re-started the push up challenge and have been pretty consistent with getting that done. (My arms feel like jello!)

Tomorrow I'll be leaving to visit my family and I won't return until Monday. I'm a little worried as to how I'm going to approach my diet while I'm there, but I'm also excited because I always look at vacations as a way to really focus on weight loss and being healthy.

I'll keep you guys updated!!

xo Megan

Day Eighty Something or Other

Golly, I really don't have anything specific to blog about but I felt as though I should write something.

This weekend, I have really been off plan. I have eaten a lot of chocolate and bbq and lots of other stuff! And after doing it, I felt heavy and lethargic and gross. Why do I make these choices???

I think I subconsciously make them so I can remember how crappy it feels to stuff my body with food. I think I make these decisions so I can get the spark back that tends to fade after a while in losing weight.

For example, today's food consisted of chocolate chip pancakes, left over pasta, bbq, potato salad, and some banana pudding. Needless to say, all of that heavy food did not go over well with my body. Not to mention, for the past few days I have not been drinking as much water as I usually do. After logging onto YouTube a couple of hours ago, I decided that that was not good enough and went for a run!!! This was my first run outside and it felt really really great. I also did my push-ups for the 100 Push-up Challenge today.

I still feel a bit heavy, but I feel a million times better than I did pre-workout.

It is seriously time to stop making poor choices and focus on making significant improvements in all areas of my life style change!!!

xo Megan

Day 79 - Running

So, today I went on my third run! (And when I say run I mean mostly walking and the running until I'm about to pass out and then walking again!)

I cannot tell you how good it feels to be doing something I never thought I could do. And as much as I never thought I would say this, I just have to. Running is truly an escape. If I just focus on the track in front of me or even on my feet moving, I feel really good even though I end up gasping for breath.

I am really going to give my all to seeing how far I can push myself in the field of running. I want to do this mostly to prove to myself that I am a strong woman. I really can do this. In fact, I really am doing it.

Just a quick update.

xo Megan

Weigh In #11

Good Morning! Good Morning!

It's time for weigh-in and here are the results:

Last Week:
Weight 224.2
BMI: 41.0

This Week:
Weight: 223.0
BMI: 40.8

Result: -1.2

WHOOOOO!!!! Do you know what this means??? I have OFFICIALLY hit the 20 lbs. mark for 2009. This year I have lost 20 pounds, and the year isn't over!!! I am so excited!

I had a really amazing week and I cannot wait for week twelve!!! Here we go!

xo Megan