Fitness Friday: Week Six & Kim Borchert Inspires!

May 4, 2012 By 2 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been six weeks since I left the fat-girl closet with you all! In addition to my usual updates, this week starts a series of guest posts I’ve lined up to share with you. I have so many friends who are inspiring me with their life changes and I wanted you to hear from them. This week’s guest is Kim Borchert. I asked Kim to write a guest post because she a super busy woman who set a fitness goal and worked her (normal-sized) butt off to reach it. She’s inspiring, ya’ll!

Kim’s words…

“I have never been an athletic girl. I danced for 7 years and played soccer and even football. But I was always the one with the pot belly that couldn’t run the mile without getting winded. I was slow and while I loved playing games, hated the competition of it all.

Then in Jr. High I tried the track team. I was good at sprints – short and fast distances were good. But I still didn’t love it. I had always loved the water, so in that time, I joined a city swim team. I loved the non-contact sport and loved being in the water. Again, I was never very fast, but I really enjoyed myself. I swam and joined the diving team in high school. This lasted until middle of my Sophomore year when we moved. My new high school not only didn’t have a swim or diving team, but it didn’t even have a pool!

The rest of my high school days were spent trying to avoid running. My senior year of high school I even took a modern dance class to avoid running.

It has been 17 years since I graduated from high school. In that time I have tried running and never loved it. I have fallen in love with cycling, and kept up my love affair with swimming. In the last 10 years however, I have given birth to 5 babies. Five pregnancies in 8 years really took a toll on my body and as much as I tried, I was not getting the weight off.

Feeling frustrated and really defeated I had decided this was just how my body was going to be. It was what it was and there was nothing I could do about it. Then I had an opportunity to train for a 5K or a half marathon with the help of an experienced mentor.

I jumped on this opportunity. I wanted to do something for myself. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it.

For 15 weeks I ran at least 4 times a week. I was slow, oh so slow. When I started I could barely run a mile and a half. I will never forget after my first run crying that there was no way I would be able to run 13.1 miles when I couldn’t even run ONE!  My wise husband reminded me I wasn’t running tomorrow and to just take it one run at a time.

I did this. I took it one step at a time. Some miles were easier than others. Some miles were fun and some were downright torturous. But, 15 weeks after my 1st run, I did it. I ran 13.1 miles and finished my first half marathon.

I say first because I absolutely will do it again. The weight is coming off, but more important, I found myself. I found parts of me that have been buried for longer than I can remember. I found that I enjoyed taking care of myself and that I was worth it.”

Kim is the Mama to 5 hooligans, 1 in Heaven and 4 on Earth. She and her husband are recent transplants to Texas and she loves running in the mild Texas winters. You can read more of her ramblings on her personal blog, Prairie Mama and follow her on Twitter!

 

Sherry’s Week Six update:

Successes

  • A gallon of H2Orange every day this week.
  • I put on a pair of 24 pants I haven’t been able to wear in two years (and they are kind of big!) When I started my program, I was wearing a 28.
  • One exercise session this week.
  • I had my yearly physical last week and my numbers are already improving!
  • Weight: I maintained again at 280.0, so I’m still at 10 pounds lost on the program and 21 pounds lost since my high of 301. While this is good, it’s also frustrating to know I’d be losing if I were following the program more closely.
  • Inches: I lost 2.5 inches this week! I’m down 22 inches total so far!
  • I saw several people this week who I haven’t seen in a couple of months and they all commented on the weight loss. It was fun to know that other people are noticing.

Challenges

  • I had several episodes of sugar cravings (they corresponded directly with stress) that I gave in to. I didn’t beat myself up over them, but it’s something I think I’ll have to watch my whole life.
  • I wanted to exercise more, but wasn’t able to get it done.
  • There were one or two times when I ate when I wasn’t hungry.
  • I’m really having to fight getting upset with myself when I don’t have a perfect eating day.

 

How was your week?

Past Posts on my fitness Journey…

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Fitness Friday: Week One

March 30, 2012 By 13 Comments

I made it through my first week, y’all! I started the weight-loss program through my hospital and it’s challenging a lot of my thinking. This week has been pretty big for me though! 

Successes

  • Within two days of starting the program, I noticed that the constant swelling of my feet and legs that hasn’t gone away since I was pregnant with Tobin went away! My hands are also significantly less swollen (which is great for putting on my wedding ring).
  • Zero sweets/sugar for the week. This one is really my biggest challenge. If I didn’t love candy and pastry like I do, I wouldn’t be fat. I’m not exaggerating. I don’t overeat meals, I overeat candy and sweet junk. So, for me to go an entire week without added sugar or candy is huge.
  • The program asks us to drink at least 60 ounces of this concoction they call H2Orange (seven parts water to one part orange juice with a package of Crystal Light powder for flavor). I’ve had a full gallon every day this week. Which also explains the awesome disappearance of the swelling.
  • Weight…I’ve lost three pounds this week! I’m so excited y’all! I know a lot of this is water weight and I have a lot more to lose, but I’m taking my successes as they come.
  • Inches…This really blew me away, but I’ve lost 10.75 total inches this week. What?!? It came off everywhere except my arms. I was stunned when I measured this morning.

Challenges

  • I really, really wanted some candy on Wednesday. Thankfully I have some great support folk who talked me down. But it was the first hard core craving I had this week.
  • I’m spending a significant amount of time in the bathroom from all that H2Orange. But yay for no swelling!
  • I don’t eat dinner with the family any more. I mean, I still hang out with them while they are eating, but I don’t get hungry for dinner until much later in the evening than they eat, so I don’t eat with them.

I’m sure I’ll be reading this post later, when the pounds and inches are coming off so quickly, but I’m savoring the success this week! How did your week go?

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Hopes for 2011, February & March Update

April 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

I know we’re into April, but I still wanted to update how February and March went. You can look back to my January update if you’re *really* that into my list!

Feeling 16 again. This one is the general health one. The biggest thing I did here was go see my doctor for a physical. The good news is that my body isn’t falling apart (always a positive, yes?) I also did this alternative therapy to try to get rid of  some pain in my heel/ankle. It hurt really bad, the treatment was expensive, and it hasn’t worked that well…so I guess my next move is to power through. So, now I just have to get off my rear and start working out. For me the fitness thing really kicks in when I start working out because I don’t want to mess up all my hard work by choosing the wrong food.

Don’t over commit. This one has been more difficult than I thought it would be. I did give up a gig that I have been hanging on to (and feeling guilty about) for too long. It was a huge relief.

Drink more! I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit here. I’m definitely having more water, but I’ve also been slipping on the diet soda. I’ve been trying really hard not to have it after noon though, hoping it will help both Tobin and me sleep.

Budget. We’re doing pretty well on this one. With our tax return we paid off some big chunks and did some other necessary things. Now we’re working on figuring out where we are, what our new costs are, and budgeting accordingly.

Give. After my friend, Ronny, died in March, we gave to The Livestrong Foundation. I’ve also been exploring Love Drop which is a fairly new organization, but one that is helping its donors (team) feel connected in their giving.

Get Green. I’ve been doing small things here and there for this goal. Not as much as I hope to work up to, but it’s slowly happening.

Follow directions. Following directions is hard, y’all. After visiting with the doctor in March, I’ve gotten better at this, but still not the most compliant patient.

Scrap. I haven’t scrapped much, but I did a lot of crafting for Tobin’s birthday party the first week of March, so that counts, right?

Write. I’ve been writing more here, but not my other outlets…so I’ll get right on that.

Remove distractions. This has probably been the one goal I’ve been the most proactive in reaching. We’ve cleaned out our closet, cleaned out Nicholas’ closet, posted items we aren’t using anymore for sale, I’ve cleaned out a couple of email accounts, and recycled a ton of old magazines. Still more to do, but I love the feeling of not have so much around.

So, how are your resolutions or goals for 2011 coming? I want to hear all about it!

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Hopes for 2011 January Update

February 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

Back at the beginning of January, I told you all the 10 things I hoped to do more of in 2011. I thought, in an effort to be accountable to myself, I’d update how I’m doing each month. So, here is how I did in January.

Feel 16 again. The only thing I’ve done for this one (which is really my fitness hope for the year) is to make some doctor’s appointments that will make exercising and getting healthy easier. That’s progress, right?

Don’t over-commit. This one is a goal I have to remind myself of pretty often. I have said no a couple of times though!

Drink more! I’m doing better on getting water into my daily routine. And I’m doing a lot better about avoiding diet soda (which is a lot harder for me than drinking water). I have a long way to go on this one though.

Budget. We’ve done a few things to work on our budget including going back through old check registers to really see where our money goes. What an eye-opener that one was! We’ve already gotten our taxes done and we get to pay off some debt. I’m so stinkin’ excited!

Give. Thanks to my friend, Rachel, we have already given to the Corpus Christi Food Bank this year. I’ve also done some research to see just what we want to focus our giving on.

Get Green. The main way we’ve done this is to stop drinking soda. I know it doesn’t sound like a huge step, but we were drinking tons of cans and not always recycling them, so by avoiding them altogether I feel like we aren’t dumping so much. The other thing we stopped doing was buying bottled water because we weren’t doing a great job about recycling the bottles. Instead we bought some metal bottles for the fridge. Little steps.

Follow directions. This goal mainly goes toward being compliant with my medications. I’m doing soooo much better with this! I haven’t been checked out to see how big an impact it’s made, but I’m proud of remembering to pop those pills!

Scrap. I still haven’t caught up with N’s book or started Tobin’s book; but, I have scrapped in January! I finished N’s 4th book (which makes me only one year behind for him). I’ve organized the digital photos for T’s book, and gotten some papers to start his soon.

Write. I’ve sucked at this one. That is all.

Remove distractions. I’m super happy with this update. So far I’ve cleaned out Nicholas’ closet, organized our closet, cleaned out our books (and sold what we didn’t want to keep), canceled a subscription to a magazine that I wasn’t reading but was driving me crazy because I wasn’t reading it, and William and I spent a full day opening every box in our storage unit to see what we have. We aren’t quite done with the storage unit but the progress is awesome and we’ll be able to go down to a smaller unit (saving us money for our budget). I love this hope!

How are you guys doing? If you made resolutions are you sticking to them? If not, have you started doing anything this year to make your world better?

Filed Under: Crafter, Distractions, Healthy Life, Mom & Family, Widow Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Freckle

January 18, 2011 By 8 Comments

I have a lot of freckles. Not tons, but enough that I could play connect the dots on my body and make some weird drawings. But today, I want to tell you about one freckle specifically. I hate The Freckle. I hate The Freckle because of where it is. I hate The Freckle because of what it means.

The Freckle is under my chin, about halfway between the tip of my chin and the top of my throat. You shouldn’t be able to see The Freckle. You know the only time you can see The Freckle? That’s right. When I have a double chin. That’s the only time The Freckle shows its ugly face. The only time The Freckle dares to show up is when it’s cushioned by layers of fluff. If you see The Freckle, that means my face has gotten fat.

My face is the last place on my body that shows weight gain. I know I’ve reached a bad place when my face starts gaining. And I know I’m at that place when The Freckle appears. I didn’t even know I had The Freckle until a couple of years ago. I was surprised to see The Freckle. I mean, how do you know something is on your body if you’ve never seen it in the mirror?

The Freckle is no longer tucked up safely under my chin. Where it belongs. The Freckle thinks it’s too good for its home. The Freckle needs to back up slowly until there is nothing more to see.

Perhaps I give The Freckle too much power? Or perhaps The Freckle needs to go back to where it belongs! Stupid The Freckle.

So, do you have something about yourself that is your maker for change? Something that, when it appears (or disappears), tells you it’s time to get moving?

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