50 Pounds...GONE!!!

I stepped on the scale today thinking that I would still have another week until I lost 50 pounds, but today I discovered that I had lost 50 pounds exactly. I was so excited. It was awesome.

30 more to go! I'm so getting to goal this time.

The Stairs

Yes. Yes, I did just walk down 4 flights of stairs and back up because I was bored at work.

You're probably saying, "Why?," and I'm just thinking, "Why not?"

And Another Thing...

...don't expect me to have detailed information when the only thing I know is that an event is actually taking place.

If you're not my boss...

...don't call me and tell me what to do. Especially if it has never been my responsibility.

I just wanted to say that. For what it's worth.

Beautiful

As I was walking to my car this morning after leaving the gym, there was a nice breeze going and I thought of the song "Oh What a Beautiful Morning." I love mornings like that. I don't know if I ever feel better all day than when I leave the gym after a good morning workout.

When I was walking to the office this morning from the metro, my thumb was going across the callouses on the palm of my hand. That's the other thing that reminds me of beautiful. My rough callouses remind me of the effort that went into getting them, and that makes me happy.

Beautiful mornings and beautiful callouses are worth a lot to me.


PS...Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I will do better.

Look out of any window...

...in Washington, DC, and you will notice the thunderstorm that began right at 4:55 as everybody was just about to wrap things up at work. I looked out my window just to make sure I was hearing a massive downpour, and noticed one person in the building across from mine doing the exact same thing.

What can I say? Some days you are watching the clock more than others.

As I get skinnier...

...I become much less willing to wear clothes that don't fit well. Anything that is too baggy or makes me look bigger than I am ends up on one side of my room and the things that fit end up on the other. I just feel more confident wearing clothes that fit nicely. And I'm kind of loving the more defined waistline.

I still have a ways to go, but everything is already awesome.

11:03 AM...

...is the time that I started spinning around in circles in my office chair because I was bored. Some days, the minutes just do not pass by quickly enough.

I've had nearly the same weigh in for the last 3 weeks. I know part of it is because I have been building muscle. I just kind of miss seeing the number going down. Maybe I'll have to switch it up in my workouts and food choices a little next week.

2 Anniversaries

I have 2 anniversaries today. I earned my associates degree 13 years ago today, and I returned home from my mission 10 years ago today. Such a long time ago. I've been wearing plus size clothes for 10 years.

Just thought I would mention that today.

Success

I wore a suit to work today because I was feeling successful. This morning at the gym, I was able to get 30 consecutive minutes on the Elliptical. I've never done that before. I've barely made it to 15 minutes once, and that was over a month ago.

On Saturday, I went on the MS Walk with some people from work. We finished the 3-mile walk in 50 minutes. I was dripping wet from the rain, but I didn't break a sweat. Never thought that would happen.

I love seeing improvement and progress.

Allergies

Hello, Allergy Season,

I'm going to try really hard not to let you get the best of me this spring. I have made all the appropriate preparations - stocked up on Claritin and cough drops, and such. I hear everybody sneezing and coughing, and I'm not having irritating allergies this year.

I just wanted to make myself clear on that matter.

Kate

An Interesting Morning

Every year in March, I help with the GR Summit at work. It is exhausting and I usually need to take at least a day off work when the meeting is over to catch up on my life. This year was different - I've been working out at the gym and haven't been as tired, and I've just been handling things better overall. I didn't miss a single workout due to the meetings. Everything was business as usual.

I kept my plan of taking a day off work, two in this case. Figured I might as well take a four day weekend. Yesterday was my first day off work and it was rather uneventful, but very relaxing. Today I woke up and walked into my bathroom and it was completely flooded from the apartment upstairs.

While the workers were waiting for the ceiling to dry out, I went to work on one of my projects that I've been meaning to complete for over a year - reupholstering my vanity bench.

This was the prior fabric on the bench.


Then I cut out the fabric and learned how to use a staple gun. The staple gun was definitely the fun part. Reminded me of Iona in Pretty in Pink, when Iona aims her staple gun at a shoplifter. Shoplifter kid: "You missed my eye by and inch!" Iona: "Half an inch. This isn't the public library, Light Fingers."

Here is the bench all finished and put back in place. Loving the fabric.

Oh...and the second best part of the morning had to be reading my horoscope: If there's a problem in the garden -- Slugs? Snails? Bulbs aren't blooming? Weeds are all-consuming? -- you're going to put on your gardening gloves and solve it. If there's a problem in the bathroom -- Toilet broken? Water boiler smoking? -- you're going to put on your bathroom-problem-fixing gloves and fix it. What's the ultimate household necessity? Trouble-solving you!

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Or reupholster furniture.

Brilliant

I started typing an e-mail and wrote "High" instead of "Hi." It's just going to be one of those days, I think. Last day before a meeting. Bleh.

So looking forward to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday when the meeting is over.

Do you even know what my diastolic is?

It's not every day you get to use a Ferris Bueller line like that one. I took my blood pressure this morning and my diastolic (the lower number in a blood pressure reading), was shockingly low. If I didn't already have a doctor appointment tomorrow, I would have made an appointment. It looks like a medication adjustment is in my near future.

Just one of the blessings of getting healthier.

Thyme, Basil and Dill

My Thyme plant is doing well. I thought my Dill plant was not doing well, but it turns out that I just couldn't see it growing in the beginning. Now the Dill has surpassed both the Thyme and the Basil. Who knew?

Speaking of Thyme, I wrote a guest blog post called, "Thyme," on a blog for LDS single women. 2 friends of mine run this blog and they have been asking me for months to write a guest post. So I did. And it turns out to be the most popular post on their blog for the entire month of February. Here is where to find it:

http://your-golden-heart.blogspot.com/2011/02/guest-post-kate.html

It's definitely one of my favorite things that I've written in a long time. Enjoy!

Longest day of 2011

Oh my gosh....I guess I need to back up to yesterday at 3:43 p.m. That's the time I fell asleep and took a 2.5 hour nap. Oops. Whenever that happens, I can't fall asleep until after midnight. Like well after midnight.

Cue the 12:45 a.m. thunderstorm...so not helping my sleeping pattern. Neither was the car alarm that kept going off, likely due to the aforementioned thunderstorm. Left my bedroom to sleep on the couch since I couldn't hear the car alarm there, but it's also not as comfortable.

Alarm clock went off in time to make it to the gym in the morning...and I didn't go...too tired. Went back my bedroom to go back to sleep for another hour before my work alarm went off. Then hit snooze until my alarm didn't bother going off any more. Finally got up, got dressed, sent e-mail explaining why the hell I was going to be late (overslept), then finally got myself out the door.

Drove to metro and went into the full parking lot instead of the parking lot for the excessively late. Got a parking space in the other lot, sat in the car until one song was over, then another song, and decided I had to get out of the car or else I would just let myself listen to Neil Young all day instead of going to work. (I don't think Neil Young would have minded being the reason for my work absence if he knew what my job was. He probably would have been happy.)

Finally got to work an hour and a half late.

Boring day at work. Just waiting for the time to pass now. I've got to get home to go to the store and the gym since I missed my workout this morning. I'm looking forward to getting to the gym. I missed going there this morning.

Lebanese Taverna

Restaurant Review: Too much lemon.

Oooh...double post day

Sparklie gave me an AeroGarden for Christmas. It's yellow and very bright and it grows plants indoors. The plants come in pod form and the pods dangle in water and the roots grow in the water. Kind of like those weird potato experiments from elementary school, only these will turn into useful fresh herbs. I planted Thyme, Basil, and Dill on Saturday. The Thyme and Basil plants are already starting to grow! There's tiny green leaves and everything. The leaves on the Thyme plant are smaller than a 4 leaf clover, and very cute.

I'm pretty excited to make roasted carrots with fresh Thyme. Maybe in a few weeks or a month or something.

My Nemesis

The elliptical machine has been my nemesis at the gym for as long as I can remember. Today I shattered my personal best on the elliptical by 5 minutes. I got 10 continuous minutes on the elliptical last Thursday, then today I decided I was going to try for 15 minutes and totally got 15 continuous minutes on the elliptical.

The balance is shifting. I kicked the elliptical machine's butt instead of the elliptical kicking my butt.

My Fall-Back Job

I was waiting for a guest to arrive at the security door of my floor at work, then one of my co-workers walked by and told me that at least now I'm ready for my fall-back job as a greeter at Wal-Mart. At least I can just laugh at stuff like that.

That's not even the funniest thing that happened to me today. But I'm not going into that here.

Happy Valentine's Day! At least it has been funny.

Clothes from long ago

This morning I was having the hardest time thinking of something to wear - nothing looked really appealing. So this morning I reached for something that I haven't worn in a year because it didn't look great the last time. Today I tried it on and if fit perfect, maybe even a little loose.

I'm so excited to be getting back to a better clothing size.

Monday Morning

I heard birds singing this morning. It's the first time I've heard birds singing this winter. Spring must be on the way.

Saturday Weigh-in

I have lost 14 pounds since I started the Mayo Clinic diet, and 11 of those pounds since I started working out with a trainer twice a week and going to the gym on my own 3 times a week. Here are some benefits I've already noticed:

1. I sleep better.
2. I haven't needed to take a Claritin-D in about a month.
3. Clothes fit better.
4. General health is better.
5. General mood is better.
6. Water intake way up, caffeine intake slim to none.

Totally worth it.

My kind of Pizza

I've been playing with various pizza toppings for the last month and a half or so, ever since the Mayo Clinic Diet recommended Veggie Pizza. I've made artichoke and mushroom pizza, pineapple and mushroom pizza, pepper and zucchini pizza, and zucchini and mushroom pizza. (Clearly, I like mushrooms.) Tonight I made this Veggie and Chicken Sausage pizza. It was awesome. I adapted it from a recipe that I read in Clean Eating. I used zucchini and mushrooms with the chicken sausage rather than the spinach that was suggested in the recipe.

Go forth and try new pizza toppings. You might be surprised.

Snowy Mess

So we got 8-9 inches of snow here in the DC area last night. I think the average commute home for most people yesterday was about 4 hours (for my boss, it was 7 hours). I made it home in just under 2 hours. Today is a little warmer, so everything is just kind of gross.

I'm here at work today. Too much to do here. But I did take my sweet time in getting here today. And I forgot to bring my better pair of shoes for work, so it's almost like I'm working from home today. Minus access to my kitchen. And TV. And books. And comfortable living room....

Greek Salad Pitas and Workouts

I made Greek Salad Pitas from Ellie Krieger's So Easy cookbook. They're pretty good. I think I may have used too much lemon, but they tasted better the next day after the flavors in the feta cheese spread had time to blend.

I went to my workout with my trainer tonight and the workout kicked my butt. The good thing is, I was able to get through the routine two and a half times during my second workout in years, and most people only get through it once or maybe one and a half times. So I'm off to a good start.

Learning how to eat...Again

I met with a dietian on Monday. So far, she hasn't told me anything that I didn't already know, but she did help me figure how many calories I should be eating and such. Yesterday was day 1 of following her guidelines. I was starving by 4:00, and asleep on the metro at 6:15 p.m. (I rarely fall asleep on the metro.) I restructured my meals some today, and I think that is working better.

This will be an interesting journey. I am glad that she gave me some suggestions for recipes:

Recipe books by Ellie Krieger
Recipes from eatingwell.com
Recipes from cookinglight.com

I think what I want to learn is how to read a cookbook like a dietitian.