Hip-Hip Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!

In a previous blog, I was recently measured all over my body to track the progress of the weight-loss challenge I am participated in. Well, I stayed the same in my arms, waist, and calves. But I lost 2 inches around my hips!!! So exciting because I've got a lot of hips. More than necessary. So there you go. So awesome.

Gratitude...that's my attitude

I am just feeling so grateful. I have been luckiest girl in the world to be married to a loving and generous man. He is a great dad-our kids think he is better than He-Man. He's my Man. I love the way he is supportive about my crazy weight loss journey, my need to workout which infringes on our evening family time. He's just the best.

I'm grateful to all the people who help keep America safe. I was born in Vietnam during the war and although I don't remember details, I remember the feelings of not being secure or safe. I try to remember when I hear about the war going on in the Middle East that with every bad situation, God always balance this out with something good. We just have to find it. I know I am forever grateful to be able to come to America and given the chance to have the kind of life I have. I forget sometimes to be grateful for having all I do have.

With my family being sick all last month, I'm so grateful we are all feeling good and we are in great health overall. My boys are healthy and I watching them grow. I'm very lucky to get this opportunity-and I need to remind myself that it goes by really fast.

Lastly, I am so grateful to the hair-makers of hot rollers. It gives my hair volume and curl. So shallow, but oh well.

7.52 miles

I ran 7.52 miles today and I feel great. I thought I was going to die around mile 3 but did not want to scare my friend Cee too badly. Thanks to Rambo Trainer, my quads and hamstrings have been sore so running on top of this is just cruel. My fat is screaming at me right now. It doesn't like this much change. Must not eat sugar to feel better.

Sugar...oh honey, honey...

I've been trying to listen to my body better this past year to understand why I have such a weakness for sugary, baked goods. When I eat say a donut or cake-it never fills me up but it turns on some overeating valve in my brain and then I just want more of it or I eat everything else in sight.

This week, since this new challenge thing I'm doing, my trainer has asked us to turn in a food journal where he will scour through it during warm up. Next, he meets with us to help us find either better solutions or high-five us for our great choices. So, I have laid-off the sweets and I have found that I don't overeat or turn into the Tasmanian Devil in my kitchen. So, sweets you and I are not going to get cozy for the winter-I've got Rambo Trainer on my tail.

What would I do differently? I have been eating lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. I think I'm starting to sprout.

Measurements

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I signed up for a weight loss challenge at the gym. There are three teams, each with a trainer, and at the end of eight weeks, the team and individual with the most weight lost-gets $350 in prizes. I have been stuck at this weight for three months and want to lose the last 10 lbs. So I signed up.

Last night was our first official workout and so the measurements were taken by our beefcake trainer. Yikes!!! Crap-o-la. Do you know how much jiggly-wiggly skin I have hidden under my workout pants and large T-shirt? UUUUGGGHHH. Had to do it-no choice. One more set of numbers to worry about. GREAT. Coming from a science background-I relied on instruments like scales and rulers to quantify change. I hate it when it's used against me to measure my weight and my girth.

I have a pear-shape body and have always had trouble pulling jeans past my hips. Before having kids, my hips were the go-to area when I would gain weight. Needless to say, I want my hips to be smaller. Back to the measurements, I had a waist of 31 1/2 inches and my hip were 39 1/2 inches. Cringe. I made an unlady-like grunt and my trainer told me it wasn't bad. I looked at him and said "Yeah, if I was starring in a rap video". Horrible. Since I opened my big mouth, he made me do extra wide squats to help my hips. All around cruel. In an attempt to save my life, I will no longer complain about any of my jigglies.

Thank goodness for other bloggers

I have been scraping myself out of my self-loathing and self-defeating attitude mode by reading blogs of people who have managed to lose weight and keep it off. This I know to be true among the weight-loss bloggers:

1) It's always going to be a battle
2) Being thin (ner) did not equal happiness
3) Old feelings and behaviors do not disappear upon reaching that magical number on the scale or single digit jean size
4) Not being comfortable in owning a thin body as when they were big and uncomforable
5) Find your happiness in whatever size/weight you are at right now because it doesn't magicially appear at 120 lbs.
6) There are no confetti and room full of people cheering for you when you reach your goal. So celebrate what success you have accomplished.

I'm doing it. Forget chasing the scale. Forget that I'm one huge meal away from Fat Me again. Just focus on what I have been doing to lose the weight I have lost. I'm celebrating by not stuffing my face.

No real monsters

We keep a bin with old Halloween costumes the boys love playing with-especially wearing the superhero costumes. Today one of the neighbor kids came over to play and the boys were dressed up in Power Ranger, Spider-Man, and Superman costumes. They are trying to defeat the bad guys.

Here's the conversation around the kitchen table while they were taking a snack break (canteloupe):

S.E.: "You know my dad said there's no real monsters."
Friend: "Yeah, I know."
Koo: "Yes there is!"
S.E.: "Maybe if there are monsters, my dad can make a kid spud gun and we can shoot potatoes at the monsters."
Friend: "Okay."

It's just too cute the things that come out of little boys' mouths. As I was raised in a family with four girls, I'm still trying to get used to raising boys.