Bella’s AIF: 2013 Turkey Trot

This morning I woke up at the super-early hour of 5:30am in order to get ready to participate in this year’s Turkey Trot.  The last time I did this turkey trot was back in 2008, when I was experiencing the numbness in my feet and legs.  With all that I’ve accomplished in terms of weight loss and fitness in recent months, I knew that this year’s Turkey Trot would be a completely different experience.

This year I walked in the 5K with Ani, and it was fun to chat and catch up as we walked the flat, easy course.  This course was almost the same one that I did for the SJ Rock n Roll Mini Marathon just a month ago. It felt like there were a LOT more people in this one, maybe because there were fewer waves.  They said there were over 25,000 people participating today, which I think is awesome.  There were people of all ages and abilities out there this morning, which made me smile, thinking of all the people fitting in a bit of fitness before the big meals today.

A quick shot of the crowd behind me (yes, that’s the top of my turkey headband behind me).

Speaking of my headband, I’m so glad I wore it.  There were so many fun costumes out there today – from turkeys with tutus to hats with felt “cooked” turkeys and tribes wearing feather headdresses and everything in between.  So fun!

One thing I’ve been noticing in the 5Ks I’ve been participating in lately is that now that I’ve lost so much weight and gone down a lot of sizes in my pants, I have quite a bit more giggle in my thighs than I’d like.  Since none of my workout pants are the compression type that hold it all in, I decided to wear a shaper under my workout pants.  It worked perfectly, and gave me a lot more confidence than I’ve had.  In fact, I think I’m going to wear them when I start the C25K tomorrow (I know I was supposed to start Monday, but Sofi got sick (she’s fine now) so plans changed, but I WILL start in the morning).

A few more pre-race pics we took to commemorate the occasion:

The race was really fun, and although it took us about an hour (official time: 59:15.752) to walk it (which is slower than I’d hoped), I am really proud of myself.  I felt strong the entire time, and ended the walk feeling even better than I had when I started.

Who knows, maybe next year I’ll be running the 5K. Or maybe even the 10K!

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FMM: The Holidays and More, Part 2

Happy Monday! Today I’m especially happy because I have the day off.  This is the first year that my district has given us the entire week of Thanksgiving off, and this week-long break couldn’t have come at a better time.  I’m looking forward to spending extra time with friends and family, and I have a few other fun plans, too.

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: The Holidays and More: Part 2

1.  What state/country do you live in?  I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, California (USA)

2.  Where were you born?  Were you raised there?  I was born and raised in the same neighborhood I live in now.  I love it here, and have no plans to move.

3.  How do you feel about stores like Wal-mart opening on Thanksgiving Day for pre-Black Friday sales?  Will you participate?  I think it’s a terrible practice.  I don’t like Wal-Mart for so many reasons, but especially the way they treat their employees.  I definitely won’t be participating.  I don’t even shop on Black Friday.  I prefer to stay home (or away from the malls) and do my shopping online.cyber Monday.

4.  Have you ever participated in a Turkey Trot?  Will you do one this year?  Yes, I did one several ago, when I was having all those problems with the numbness in my feet/legs.  It wasn’t easy at all, but I did complete it – slowly.  I’m signed up for the Turkey Trot this year, and I know that it will be a whole different experience this year.  In fact, I plan on having a PR!  In anticipation of the event, I bought this great turkey headband (for $1.99 at Party City), and I’m really excited about the shirt – in a size L!

5.  What was your favorite toy as a child?  I don’t know if I can name just one.  I absolutely loved reading my books. I also loved riding my bike and putting on my roller skates, but in terms of toys, I loved playing with Barbies. Even as I got older, I loved styling the hair of my Barbie head:

My Barbie head didn’t have the cool colors in her hair, but it was pretty close to this one.

6.  Will you count points/calories on Thanksgiving Day?  Yes, I track my food on MyFitnessPal every single day, every single meal, and Thanksgiving Day will be no different.  This is a lifestyle for me.  Which is not to say that I won’t enjoy my food, but I’m going to use the built-in portion control of my sleeve to make sure I don’t go overboard.

7.  Will you watch football Thursday?  I love football, so I’m sure we’ll watch the games.  I’m more excited about tonight’s Monday Night Football game featuring my 49ers!

8.  Do you decorate inside/outside of your home for the holidays?  Yes, I am really looking forward to Friday, when I’ll completely decorate my house (living room and dining room) and front porch.  I put on my Christmas music playlist and just enjoy prepping the house for Christmas.  It puts me in such a wonderful mood.  I don’t put a Christmas Tree up, but I do think my house is really festive and inviting anyway.

9.  Do you have allergies that prevent you from eating traditional holiday meals? No.

10.  Is it snowing where you live?  It never snows here. Although the snow is about 4 hours away, in Lake Tahoe.  I’m actually very interested in heading to the snow at some point this winter.

Now it’s your turn to answer the questions!   And also be sure to go back to Kenlie’s blog and leave a link to your FMM post in the comments!  I really encourage you to comment on as many people’s posts as you can – I’ve met some fantastic people through FMM.  You never know who you’ll meet today.

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Fabulous Fall Weigh-In: Week 26 Post-Op VSG

Autumn has arrived! Which means that life is back to normal – school’s in, my schedule is busy, and obligations abound. But I won’t use those as excuses to slack on my goals. The great thing about fall is that the weather is cooler, which means that those wonderful fall fashions will keep me motivated. Plus, crisp temperatures mean that it’s never “too hot” to workout. I’m going to relish my nightly cup of steaming hot tea as another way to keep my water intake up. I look forward to all those hearty, satisfying and wls-friendly soups, stews, and crockpot meals that I’ll create for myself. This year, the changing season will mark new milestones that I haven’t seen in 5, 7, 10+ years! Bring on fall 2013 – it’s time to reach new heights! Sunday weigh-ins will keep me accountable through the weekend, and will give me a positive goal to begin each new week. Throughout the fall, I’ll be giving Sunday progress updates called Fabulous Fall Weigh-Ins.

Week 26 brought celebrations – my 6-month post op appt and my 6-month surgiversary. Looking back on these past 6 months, I am so thankful for my sleeve and my new lifestyle. I’ve worked hard for all that I’ve achieved, and I have a lot to be proud of.  Lots of things making me smile. This is the last of my Fabulous Fall weigh-ins; next week marks the start of my Countdown to Christmas weigh-ins.

So, how’s the scale looking?

When I weighed in this morning, I was 208.6, which is a loss of 2.4 pounds this week, and a loss of 68.4 lbs since surgery! I’ve lost a total of 106.4 pounds from my highest weight!!  A great loss this week, and I can hardly believe that I’m less than 10 pounds away from being in Onderland!  My main focus over these next few weeks before the close of 2013 is going to be making it to 199 or less.  I know I can do it.

This week, since I’m off, I have more freedom to experiment with my workouts.  Tomorrow I’m going to head to the track and try Day 1, Week 1 C25K again.  I’ve been jogging here and there on my walks (never more than a half a block at a time), but I’ve just been taking it slowly, and I’m not too winded.  Yesterday when I tried it on my walk with my sis, niece, and the pups, my sister said I looked like I was “tip-toeing through the tulips” as I was jogging.  She said I looked like I was skipping, and as if I should’ve been tossing flower petals to my left and right.  LOL. I’m sure it was nothing that graceful, but still, I felt pretty good as I went, and I’m interested in pushing myself a bit more.  I’ll definitely report back on how it goes. Who knows, maybe I’ll spend part of the Turkey Trot on Thursday jogging.

The other thing I really need to do this week is buy some casual clothes.  I have almost nothing to wear after work or on the weekends, which is why I spend so much of my time at home in my pjs.  Nothing wrong with that, but I would like to have a few more options, so I’m heading to Marshall’s to see what I can find.  I’ve never bought clothes at Marshall’s before because their plus size selection stinks, so this is going to be another NSV.  I’ll make sure to post if I find anything good.

I’m so happy with the way that my life is going right now.  This weight loss isn’t easy, but it is manageable.  The hard work and commitment that I put in on a daily basis is showing up on the scale, and I really can’t ask for more than that.  It’s what I wanted all along when I was struggling for all those years – for my efforts to show up.  Now that they finally are, I couldn’t be more grateful and more pleased.  I’m doing it – I’m creating the new me.

Until next Sunday, my friends. I hope the scale treats you well, and that you have a wonderful week!

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Saturday Smiles, Pre-Thanksgiving Edition

One huge thing making me smile today is the fact that I have the entire week off next week! This is the first time my school district has given us the whole week off – we usually get Wednesday – Friday, but having these two extra days is really wonderful. I don’t have anything “amazing” planned, but I do think I’m going to do a few things:

• clean and organize the closets
• cheer for my 49ers as they win on Monday Night Football
• start my Match.com profile – I recently bought a Groupon for $17 for one month on Match.com, so there soon may be some interesting tales to tell of my online dating exploits
• get my hair blown out at Dry Bar Tuesday night with Tinkerbell
• watch Hunger Games on Netflix and then go see Catching Fire at the theatre
• start C25K on Monday
• begin reading The Theory of Opposites (and hopefully finish it before the week is over)
• buy some “after school”/casual clothes in smaller sizes
• do the Turkey Trot Thursday morning w/ Ani
• take Sofi on plenty of long walks

Yesterday I went to Sports Basement to pick up my bib for the Turkey Trot. Originally I was going to get a women’s XXL, since the race shirts are the technical tees that are slim fit, but they didn’t have any that size.  So I knew it was time to get a men’s tee.  I went over to the XLs, and one of the guys doling out the shirts told me, “there’s no way that shirt is going to fit you – it’s way too big.”  Too big!!! An XL! I mean, just a couple of months ago, an XL in men’s wouldn’t have fit me at all and I would’ve been hoping I could stretch out an XXL.  So, I picked up a large, and… it fits.  It not only fits, it looks good!

This morning I started bright and early on the hybrid and did the elliptical for 45 minutes! I haven’t done the elliptical for more than a month, favoring the recumbent bike, but this morning I wanted more of a burn. Plus, I wanted to push myself a bit more.  I told myself, “just do it for 30 minutes.” Then when it was getting closer to 30 minutes, I said, “go till 45 minutes, you can do it, no problem.” And I was right.  Pushing myself a bit more felt great, and I burned 646 calories! I’m going to do it again tomorrow morning, but I’m going to put in an hour.

Today I got to spend lots of time with my sister and my 6-year-niece (the older niece is on a Girl Scouts camping trip in Point Reyes, so she’s having fun, too).  This afternoon we went for a nice walk at the Rose Garden with the pups, and then after dinner we put on our dancin’ shoes and had a ton of fun playing Just Dance 4.  My little niece is quite the hip-hop dancer, and whenever a song with an upbeat tempo came on she’d say, “now THIS is my kinda song!”  Too cute.  It’s great having so much more energy to do all these fun activities with my family.

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Trotting on Turkey Day, Whew, I’m Tired!

This morning at 9am BFF and I participated in the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot. Since I hadn’t ever done it before, I had no idea what to expect.  I have to say, I was surprised that over 8000 people had signed up to take part in the run/walk.  I think it’s great that that many people decided to do something healthy on Thanksgiving morning, and the best part is, the money goes to support local charities.

The first thing we had to do was affix the technical “race chip” onto our shoes so that it could accurately measure our race time.  I was hoping for about an hour.

I had my race number and was all ready to begin.  There were thousands of people waiting in the 12+ minute line, behind all of the serious runners.  The weather couldn’t have been better: cool, overcast, and no breeze in the air.  There was a fun vibe in the air.  Lots of people with running baby strollers and dogs.  As soon as the gun went off, we were in a mass of people, all moving really slowly.  After we crossed the starting line, the crowd thinned out as some of the slower group started jogging.

BFF and I were at a fairly good walking pace the entire time, but shortly after we began, my right calf started cramping up.  I decided to push through it, because I knew I could.  We hit a bit of an incline as we went over a bridge, which actually helped my cramps quite a bit.  I guess the incline sort of stretched my muscles, which was perfect.

The crowd as we were about to begin the bridge incline

After we hit the first mile, my right leg was no longer cramped, but my toes started to become numb.  This really concerned me.  As I kept going, the numbness in my toes moved to my foot, and then to my entire leg.***  Luckily, as we neared mile 2 we got into a sort of bottleneck as we were crossing a small bridge, which forced everyone to slow down.  The slowdown helped the numbness – I guess my circulation was returning.

Mile 3 was probably the easiest because I knew it was almost the end.  My foot started to get numb again, but nothing was going to stop me.  I tried to talk about other things to take my mind off of it.  I told BFF that I wanted to be in good enough shape to enter the 10K next year, and try to run at least half of it.  She seemed skeptical as to whether or not we would be up for that challenge, but I told her it was a realistic goal to shoot for.

Our finishing time of 1:14:21 wasn’t the 1 hour I had hoped for, but it wasn’t too bad, considering the foot numbness and the bottleneck slowdown.

Tonight, 10 hours after the walk, I am tired, sore, but oh so happy that I completed the Turkey Trot.  It’s a tradition that I’m going to continue for years to come.

I’m really proud of myself for finishing the race, even under some adverse conditions.  I know that I never could have completed this walk when I was 50 pounds heavier.  So, I’ll wear this shirt as a badge of sorts of how far I’ve come:

The plan moving forward?  Beginning the Couch to 5K program over Winter Break (Christmas Vacation) and continue it for the entire 9 weeks.  I can’t wait to see how far my body will go.

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***When I told my parents about my numbness, my dad was very concerned.  He said he thought I might have a pinched nerve or something like that.  He told me he wants me to watch it, and if the numbness continues, he wants me to go to the doctor.  I will definitely keep an eye on it, because I don’t want any lasting nerve damage.

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HYC Check-In: Finding Motivation Wherever I Can

Last week was a pretty good one; I did everything I was supposed to do, but I sort of felt like I was just going through the motions, you know?  Things have started to get a bit too routine for me where my weight loss is concerned, and so I thought it was time to find some new motivators:

• My 20-year High School Reunion. Yes, the motherlode of all motivators where diets are concerned, the (sometimes) dreaded high school reunion.  I’m really looking forward to this one, though, especially since I haven’t gone to the 5 or 10 year reunions.  This time, though I’m definitely going; I’m even on the reunion planning committee.  I’ve “reconnected” with so many of the people via Facebook, and it will be nice to see them all in person.  The twist for me is that I went to an all-girls, Catholic high school (yes, plaid skirts and everything), and you know how catty girls can be with each other.  So looking good for this event is even more important.  I want to have a knockout dress and the whole 9 yards.  Go big or go home, right?  The reunion is going to be in October 2009, which gives me 11 months.  I *should* be able to get to my goal of losing 140 pounds total by then.  I have 90 pounds to go and 11 months to do it in, so it’s possible.  And this week, every time I’ve been tempted to over eat or indulge, I just whisper to myself, “20 year reunion,” and that seems to do the trick!
• Turkey Trot. As I wrote in my previous post, I’ll be participating in a 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.  I’m really proud of myself for signing up and following through.  I haven’t done anything like this in years, and I’d say I’m long overdue.
• Couch to 5K.  In her comments to yesterday’s post, Jenna really inspired me to get off my butt and truly start training via the Couch to 5K program.  She mentioned that by following the program, she lost 20 pounds in 9 weeks, without doing much to change her diet.  Wow!  I mean, I always knew in my head that the program would be good exercise, but it never quite clicked that it would help me burn tons more calories.  It was definitely an ah-ha moment when I read that comment.  I’m going to start training for the C25K over Christmas Vacation, because I’ll have the time to really get started on it.
• 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels.  I had heard so many good things about this DVD and I decided to put it in my Netflix queue and try it out before I bought it.  It just arrived today, and I’m looking forward to trying it on Wednesday, since I have the day off.

I’m glad that I’ve found a few things to keep me motivated.  I’ve been working on my weight loss for more than 7 months, and I’ve made great progress in that time period.  I’m in it for the long haul, and so I’m sure from time to time I’ll need to find a few new motivators to help me keep up the energy and excitement for the positive changes I’m making in my life.

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Turkey Trot!

A few weeks ago, I saw something in the newspaper about this year’s Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning in downtown San Jose.  It seemed like a fun way to spend the morning, and a great way to pre-burn off all of the calories that would be consumed later in the day.  I haven’t done a formal walk/run type of race in years, and thought it was about time for me to challenge myself.  Plus, the proceeds from the race support local charities, including Second Harvest Food Bank, which is in desperate need of donations at this time of year, especially with the economy being what it is. 

So Thursday morning, I’ll be taking part in the

 

I knew I wanted to sign up, but I also knew that it would be a lot more fun to do it with other people.  So, I sent an email out to everyone – friends and family alike – but no one seemed to be able to do it.  I can understand, especially for the people who are having Thanksgiving at their houses.  There’s always so much to do to prepare for it.  Finally, I strong-armed BFF into doing it with me.  I knew she wasn’t going to have any cooking to do, and I knew that even though 9am on a non-workday would be early for her, she was up for it. 

Saturday morning the packet arrived, complete with my bib number and an electronic chip that I’m supposed attach to my shoes.  So high tech!  Well, this is Silicon Valley, after all.  I think it’s neat that the chip records your time during the race. 

I’m interested to see how long it takes me to complete the 5K.  I’ve been using the treadmill more at the gym in order to get some practice in.  I’ve been going at the pace of a 20-minute mile, which seems slow, but then I remember that I’m walking, not running.  (As much as I want to be able to run someday, right now my body isn’t in the physical condition to be able to run.  I think this is going to be one of my new year’s resolutions – to stop saying “I should start the Couch to 5K program,” and actually get started on it!).

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the walk.  It’s supposed to be a fun time and it’s all for a good cause. 

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