Update!

So last Friday I went in for my final session with my personal trainer. We did a final weigh in as well as re-took all of my measurements. Good news! My weight is down to 181, and I lost 2 inches in my waist and hips, and 1 inch in my bicep! YAY! Now that info is kinda deceptive. We re-calculated my body fat, and it was still at 32%. This means that although I have lost fat, I have also lost muscle. Since I have been only dieting the last two weeks, not working out, then both fat and muscle has been falling away. I'm not exactly complaining, but trainer lady did point out the importance of muscle mass in overall fat burn. This week and next week I hope to start back walking and maybe lifting a few weights. My arm isn't completely healed, but I want to remain pro-active.

Happy thoughts: So all this time I've been saying that I can't really see the weight loss. Well this weekend it finally hit me. My pants are simply hanging off of me. I had so much underwear showing in my jeans that I went out and bought a new pair of jeans and a new pair of khakis that fit much better in the waist. They were still a size 14, but it made me happy b/c I think that I've been denying the fact that most 14s were no longer fitting me. I kept looking in my closet and saying all of my pants are 14s and they fit. However, I am realizing that when I would try on 14s that didn't fit, then I just wouldn't get those pants. I never picked out a larger size that did fit. Now I'm going to take 3 pairs of work slacks and have them altered over the break. They are sagging in a major way, and its kinda embarassing. However, I'm just smiling that I've finally opened my eyes and recognized the tangible improvements.

Christmas break will be tough for managing my weight. I am planning to try my best to keep up with my diet (although, I recognize that eating at home will simply be different than eating on my own) and get in a little exercise. My mom and I are planning to walk, and there are weights at home for me to use with my low-impact work out tape. Since I'm still working my way back into exercising anyway, then this is very reasonable. I'll plan on punching it up when I return to work the following week.

Sexy new body, here I come!

Stillllllllllllllllll not able to exercise yet :-(

I miss it. Well I don't miss the actual work outs; you know that those can be ass kickers. However, I feel more in shape and slim/trim when I am exercising. When I don't work out, then I feel like I'm just hanging out gaining wait. I have been maintaining my diet. Oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast, sandwich/salad/grilled or baked poultry for lunch, 100 calorie pack for a snack, and a reasonable dinner. I've been choosing grilled options for my meats (usually poultry or fish), and I even cooked twice this week. I made grilled shrmp w/angel hair pasta and low cal pasta sauce, as well as fresh turkey burgers w/baked fries. Yay me!

I feel as though I need to be more restrictive with my diet, though. Since I am doing absolutely nothing right now, I need to be very particular about what I eat. Most likely I will not begin working out again until the week before or after Christmas, and even then I'm just planning on doing some walking. My arm should be nearly healed by then, but I figure that if I can just walk at a slow-moderate pace for about 45 mins - hour, then I should really sweat very much. I am also thinking that I can walk out door as well. The cool air should keep my temp. down. Until then, I want to be sure that I am maintaining my weight at the very least. Truthfully, I'd like to lose at least a pound or two before the new year simply by dieting. However, worst case scenario would be an increase in my weight. Setbacks are no fun. To aide in this I am going to have to begin a food journal. I absolutely hate food journals b/c it seems like a real hassle to write down everything that you eat. However, it ups you accountability and makes you take a hard look at the food choices that you're making. Then, I'm going to try to enter what I've eaten into Fitday.com. Have I already told you guys about this site? Well it allows you to enter the food portions that you've eaten for the day as well as your daily activity. Based upon the calories consumed and burned, it'll let you know if you've gained or lost weight for the day. Now it isn't completly user friendly. Sometimes its hard to know what was included in food that was eaten out, and you can't always find the foods that you've had in their search engine. However, I think its good enough to give me some rough idea. I suppose that I'll start this tomorrow. I need to pick up a cheap journal to carry around.

Oh, I think that I owe you a weigh in. Well I'm having my final session with my personal trainer next week. Its just an exit interview, so she'll weigh me and take all of my measurements once again. I should be able to report back at that time. TTYL!

Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I know that it has been a hella long time since I blogged. What happened you ask? Sickness and infection. As it turns out, I may have a disease called Hidradentitis Suppurativa (http://dermatology.about.com/cs/infectionbacteria/a/hidradenitis.htm). Pretty nasty stuff, but there are worse things in the world to have to deal with. In short, it means that I am prone to chronic infections of the sweat glands. One of these got particularly intense last week, and I was forced to the doctor. While the infection has been removed, I am now healing, which has kept me off my feet. I am actually a little fearful about getting back into exercising since the infections are generated within the sweat glands. I know that I can't not exercise, but I'm just afraid that as soon as I do, then I'll be back in the same boat battling another infection. The doctor's don't really seem to have any recommentations on how to manage the condition or avoid future outbreaks. I have a follow up appointment on Friday, so I'll try again to coax some helpful hints out of the doctor and his assistant. Until then, I'll have to work harder to maintain my diet. Without exercising it isn't likely that I will lose weight, but I would at least like to maintain it until I am back in good health. I'll go for another weigh in, in a week or so and let you know where we are!

ETA: I read that sweating and being overweight can aggravate the condition. LOL! So I need to lose weight, but I just can't sweat while doing it. Nice!