Well I had a breast reduction and lift done yesterday. I'm home now though in a fair bit of pain. I was told to expect it would be worse than the VSG, and that's sort of true. It's much easier to get around and I have more range of motion than I was expecting but just sitting here and doing nothing the pain is more than I would like. My left breast especially is super owie. I'm taking my Vicodin like clockwork which keeps me pretty well out of it. I hope by tomorrow when I'll be left with the kids I won't have to take as many or so often.
On the plus side I weighed in yesterday morning at 170.8, which is a 5lb loss for the week! I'm worried about my lack of exercise for 2 weeks but I know as long as I keep eating like I'm supposed to it will all work out.
I hope to have pics of my new perkier girls in a couple of weeks. I'm looking for the perfect dress to showcase them.
This is short because I'm on a lot of pain killers and I know I'll just ramble on and on. So see ya later this week or next week.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
And so it Begins
A few weeks ago I wrote a post on Obesity Help saying "When Will it End?" Meaning the fast weight loss. Up until 3 weeks ago I've lost 3-4lbs every week. At my now lower weight I knew I couldn't keep it up forever. Well, it's happened. Week before last I lost .4 lbs, then last week 4 (yeah!), then this week 1.2. It's hard to see. I work out SO MUCH and I'm good about my eating, though I know I could do better on my water intake, I just want to keep seeing those big numbers.
Next week I'm having breast reduction surgery. While waiting until I reach goal would be ideal, my surgeon and I discussed it and he doesn't think there will be enough tissue left for my insurance to pay for it. Insurance doesn't care if your boobs hang to your knees if they are deflated, it only counts if there is fat inside them. So I decided to opt for smaller deflated boobs rather than bigger deflated boobs. I'm quite excited about the end result but terrified of the 4-6 weeks of no exercise. Not only is an exercise plan integral to my weight loss but it's also very important to my sane mind! I no longer have a doughnut when I'm bored, I hop on the elliptical, I don't scarf down a package of Oreos (happy birthday btw) I go and run 5 miles. And I now spend more time reading about proper weight training, and triathlon strategies than how to cook the perfect cupcake. I like to exercise and I really don't like the thought of life without it. I'm actually a little bit terrified of what's going to happen. Maybe that's a good thing, and will help ensure that I stay on the straight and narrow with my eating.
It's been unbelievably hot here and the humidity has been out of this world. Running, though my favorite past time, is not doing me well so I've changed it up a little. I've added a lot more weight training this week (could conceivably have slowed down weight loss too) with both kettlebells and traditional weights. Can I say that Bob Harper has a KILLER kettlebell workout that left me hobbling for 2 days. I used to do it a lot before surgery but because running has sort of taken up my work out routine it's been gathering dust. I brought it out Wed. upped my weight (10lbs) and WOW, was I in pain (a good pain mind you). I also did one of his older Cario routines called Ultimate Cardio Body. It uses weights and plyo. While not up to a P90X level it is still a good heart pumping time and my arms and hamstrings were singing during the workout.
I'm sort of in this weird place right now, and rambling I know, I feel like I should have lost more weight, that I should be closer to goal already, but I'm also very happy with where I am in the physical standpoint. I can outrun people much more fit looking than I am. Not sure quite how to end this as I feel sort of unsettled. I know in the end something will happen and it will all work but right now, sitting in the middle, I feel almost like I'm failing.
Next week I'm having breast reduction surgery. While waiting until I reach goal would be ideal, my surgeon and I discussed it and he doesn't think there will be enough tissue left for my insurance to pay for it. Insurance doesn't care if your boobs hang to your knees if they are deflated, it only counts if there is fat inside them. So I decided to opt for smaller deflated boobs rather than bigger deflated boobs. I'm quite excited about the end result but terrified of the 4-6 weeks of no exercise. Not only is an exercise plan integral to my weight loss but it's also very important to my sane mind! I no longer have a doughnut when I'm bored, I hop on the elliptical, I don't scarf down a package of Oreos (happy birthday btw) I go and run 5 miles. And I now spend more time reading about proper weight training, and triathlon strategies than how to cook the perfect cupcake. I like to exercise and I really don't like the thought of life without it. I'm actually a little bit terrified of what's going to happen. Maybe that's a good thing, and will help ensure that I stay on the straight and narrow with my eating.
It's been unbelievably hot here and the humidity has been out of this world. Running, though my favorite past time, is not doing me well so I've changed it up a little. I've added a lot more weight training this week (could conceivably have slowed down weight loss too) with both kettlebells and traditional weights. Can I say that Bob Harper has a KILLER kettlebell workout that left me hobbling for 2 days. I used to do it a lot before surgery but because running has sort of taken up my work out routine it's been gathering dust. I brought it out Wed. upped my weight (10lbs) and WOW, was I in pain (a good pain mind you). I also did one of his older Cario routines called Ultimate Cardio Body. It uses weights and plyo. While not up to a P90X level it is still a good heart pumping time and my arms and hamstrings were singing during the workout.
I'm sort of in this weird place right now, and rambling I know, I feel like I should have lost more weight, that I should be closer to goal already, but I'm also very happy with where I am in the physical standpoint. I can outrun people much more fit looking than I am. Not sure quite how to end this as I feel sort of unsettled. I know in the end something will happen and it will all work but right now, sitting in the middle, I feel almost like I'm failing.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Reston, VA Firecracker 5k
First, let me start with what I woke up to this morning:
What this means at my 5'5" frame is I am now no longer obese but "just" overweight. This is a LONG time coming and I'm so happy. In 9.2 lbs I'll be at 100 lbs lost since September 2011.
I want to start by apologizing for the crappy pictures. Since my husband was running this race we had no photographer so everything is done with my crappy phone!
Ok back to the race. This morning my husband and I (with our daughter in the jogging stroller) drove to Reston, VA for the Firecracker 5k. I ran my first 5k at 8 weeks post-op. If you need a refresher on how that went you can find it here. I was still well over 200 lbs and just barely broke the 15 min/mile mark which was my goal. Fast forward to today. I had two goals this time; 1) run the entire thing, and 2) do it in under a 12 min/mile pace. I've been running an entire 5k regularly for a fair few weeks now so I knew that number one was a given but up until today I haven't run faster than a 12:15 practice and that was on a treadmill where controlling my pace was easier.
Before we get to the finish and pace I'll give you a rundown on how the race was handled. I went and picked up our packets yesterday. They did a cool thing, if you picked up your packet the day before you also got a pint glass with your tec shirt. I guess it was to keep lines down on the day. I'm always happy to have another pint glass so I made the 35 mile trip yesterday. Potomac River Running is a great little running store and the staff was helpful. Packet pick-up went off without a hitch. I do wish they would have given me a pint glass for my husband as there was no way he could get there but oh well I understand why they did it that way.
We left the house at 0630 expecting an hour drive but there was no traffic so we got there just a little after 0700. The nice thing about going the day before is I had some sort of a clue of where we were going as Reston, VA is not somewhere we've ever gone before. For once there were plenty of port-a-potties and no lines. They had a beautiful courtyard that looked like this:
Here's the happy family waiting to start:
What you can't tell there is my husband is sick as a dog. Pretty sure he has walking pneumonia but no matter how much I told him he shouldn't run, he wanted to do it anyway! He's wearing the male tec shirt and the female one was red. Really nice quality shirts.
The race was well run. It started at exactly 8am, which apparently took the cops on the course by surprise! Because of the stroller we started at the back but quickly made up ground. The stroller really made maneuvering difficult and before the crowd started to separate a bit it was rough going to move past people. There were over 1,700 people in the race and honestly one lane of traffic just wasn't enough. I'm not worried about placing or anything now but if I was that may have been frustrating. We were solidly in a pack the entire way and it didn't look any better in front of us.
They had a photographer right before the finish and this is her shot of me. I always think I'm looking great then I see the picture and realize I look like I might keel over at any moment. I didn't really feel like that though!
And the finish line from the other end:
After getting the results I can see that this is a race than many "real" runners do. The fastest time came in at 14:41! I looked at some other race results run by this company and that is a good deal faster than any of the other overall winners. Being a 30-34 female it's a tough group. I ran the race in 34:44 (a 10:44 min/mile thank you very much) over 10 minutes FASTER than my last race and it still put me at the bottom of the barrel. I was #132 out of 163 30-34 females and #709 out of 955 females. Still at the last race I was second to last in a much smaller field so I'm happy. I don't think I'll ever be competitive but I can compete against myself and as long as I improve I'm a happy camper!
After the race there was free water, bananas and banana muffins. I didn't partake in anything but a half of a banana and I'd brought G2 to drink. They had a band playing, and free massages and other cool stuff going on. Unfortunately, my husband (who was/is very sick) was having trouble breathing so we had to get him away from people and lying down. We did stay for the 100m dash for the kids. It's how we bribed our daughter to actually get in the stroller for the race. Here she is (you can see my big butt in front of her)
And here she is with her medal!
All in all PR did a great job with the race. I would definitely do another one with them and I'm thinking of signing up for a 10k with them in Sep. just to have a little better idea of how a longer race will feel before the Army Ten Miler. Right now after this race I really do feel like my goal of a 12 min/mile pace for the 10 miler is completely doable!
What this means at my 5'5" frame is I am now no longer obese but "just" overweight. This is a LONG time coming and I'm so happy. In 9.2 lbs I'll be at 100 lbs lost since September 2011.
I want to start by apologizing for the crappy pictures. Since my husband was running this race we had no photographer so everything is done with my crappy phone!
Ok back to the race. This morning my husband and I (with our daughter in the jogging stroller) drove to Reston, VA for the Firecracker 5k. I ran my first 5k at 8 weeks post-op. If you need a refresher on how that went you can find it here. I was still well over 200 lbs and just barely broke the 15 min/mile mark which was my goal. Fast forward to today. I had two goals this time; 1) run the entire thing, and 2) do it in under a 12 min/mile pace. I've been running an entire 5k regularly for a fair few weeks now so I knew that number one was a given but up until today I haven't run faster than a 12:15 practice and that was on a treadmill where controlling my pace was easier.
Before we get to the finish and pace I'll give you a rundown on how the race was handled. I went and picked up our packets yesterday. They did a cool thing, if you picked up your packet the day before you also got a pint glass with your tec shirt. I guess it was to keep lines down on the day. I'm always happy to have another pint glass so I made the 35 mile trip yesterday. Potomac River Running is a great little running store and the staff was helpful. Packet pick-up went off without a hitch. I do wish they would have given me a pint glass for my husband as there was no way he could get there but oh well I understand why they did it that way.
We left the house at 0630 expecting an hour drive but there was no traffic so we got there just a little after 0700. The nice thing about going the day before is I had some sort of a clue of where we were going as Reston, VA is not somewhere we've ever gone before. For once there were plenty of port-a-potties and no lines. They had a beautiful courtyard that looked like this:
Here's the happy family waiting to start:
What you can't tell there is my husband is sick as a dog. Pretty sure he has walking pneumonia but no matter how much I told him he shouldn't run, he wanted to do it anyway! He's wearing the male tec shirt and the female one was red. Really nice quality shirts.
The race was well run. It started at exactly 8am, which apparently took the cops on the course by surprise! Because of the stroller we started at the back but quickly made up ground. The stroller really made maneuvering difficult and before the crowd started to separate a bit it was rough going to move past people. There were over 1,700 people in the race and honestly one lane of traffic just wasn't enough. I'm not worried about placing or anything now but if I was that may have been frustrating. We were solidly in a pack the entire way and it didn't look any better in front of us.
They had a photographer right before the finish and this is her shot of me. I always think I'm looking great then I see the picture and realize I look like I might keel over at any moment. I didn't really feel like that though!
And the finish line from the other end:
After getting the results I can see that this is a race than many "real" runners do. The fastest time came in at 14:41! I looked at some other race results run by this company and that is a good deal faster than any of the other overall winners. Being a 30-34 female it's a tough group. I ran the race in 34:44 (a 10:44 min/mile thank you very much) over 10 minutes FASTER than my last race and it still put me at the bottom of the barrel. I was #132 out of 163 30-34 females and #709 out of 955 females. Still at the last race I was second to last in a much smaller field so I'm happy. I don't think I'll ever be competitive but I can compete against myself and as long as I improve I'm a happy camper!
After the race there was free water, bananas and banana muffins. I didn't partake in anything but a half of a banana and I'd brought G2 to drink. They had a band playing, and free massages and other cool stuff going on. Unfortunately, my husband (who was/is very sick) was having trouble breathing so we had to get him away from people and lying down. We did stay for the 100m dash for the kids. It's how we bribed our daughter to actually get in the stroller for the race. Here she is (you can see my big butt in front of her)
And here she is with her medal!
All in all PR did a great job with the race. I would definitely do another one with them and I'm thinking of signing up for a 10k with them in Sep. just to have a little better idea of how a longer race will feel before the Army Ten Miler. Right now after this race I really do feel like my goal of a 12 min/mile pace for the 10 miler is completely doable!
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