Milestones!

I hit two of the greatest weight loss milestones known to man yesterday.

#1 - I bought my FIRST pair of non-plus size, knee-high, pointy-toed boots! I saw them on sale at Sears and thought I'd give them a shot, but was certain they wouldn't fit because they didn't have one of those little areas of stretch on them. Lo and behold, they fit! I scooped those puppies up in a heartbeat. Can't wait to wear them!

#2 - I was given a hard time about my license! The woman looked at the license, looked at me, looked at the license, looked at me.. and then asked me for my address and date of birth. That was probably more exciting than it should have been, but I'm thrilled about it.

Today is a day of real training for the Mega. We're going to Susquehannock State Park and tackling the vistas. Each trail is less than 2 miles, but I figure if we can do each of them and possibly do some more than once, I should be in good shape!

EFX 556.

I need to express my love for the Precor EFX 556 that I love, love, love at my gym. I set it up last night for 60 minutes on the Cross Country 2 setting. As I'm getting off after the 5-minute cooldown, I realized that I had burnt just over 850 calories. In an hour! WOOHOO! At the highest resistances, it feels like I'm climbing straight up a hill, which is definitely something I need to help condition for the Megatransect.

Doctor.

Had a yearly physical today. According to my medical records, my weight was 233 at my physical last year! Holy crap. This year, the doctor's scale read 180. But I'm going by my scale this morning.. 178. :P That's 53 pounds!

Doc's Chili

Wanted to share this recipe from the Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start. (Available at Amazon!) Going to try it out tonight so we can get in a good amount of protein after the gym!

3 cups chopped yellow onions
1 3/4 lb. 99% lean ground turkey or lean turkey sausage
3 c. diced tomatoes or 1 28 oz. can roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 c. cooked pinto beans or 1 15 oz. can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 c. cooked black beans (YUMMO!) or 1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 c. fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth (I use College Inn)
2 tbsp. chopped garlic
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp. dried
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. mustard powder
1/2 c. sliced black olives
1/2 c. chopped scallions or chopped fresh cilantro

Coat a large saucepan or Dutch oven with a few sprays of olive oil cooking spray. Add the onions and cook over medium-high heat until they're soft and just starting to brown. Add the ground turkey or sausage and cook over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat with a spoon, for about 6 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, pinto and black beans, broth, garlic, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and mustard powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Garnish with the olives and scallions or cilantro.

Makes 12 (1-cup) servings (2 1/4 quarts)

Nutritional information per serving:
150 calories / 16 g protein / 17 g carbs (3 g sugars) / 2 g fat (0 saturated) / 20 mg cholesterol / 5 g fiber / 150 mg sodium

Before and Afters

Some before and after pics for reference..

 

May '09 Graduation --> May '10

LORDY. Who let me wear that dress?! hahaha.. wow.
Kate's bridal shower in March '09 --> July '10

Welcome!

I have had a ton of people asking me about how I'm losing weight, what I think about Zumba, and how I've been training for the Megatransect. Because of this, I thought I'd start a blog to keep everyone updated on what I'm doing and how I'm doing.

For those of you new around these parts, let me introduce myself. I'm a 26-year-old middle school English teacher. I relocated to the southern part of PA last year and found that it was exactly where I needed to be.

I was home in October to support my parents in the Megatransect. As I was pulling in to the parking lot to pick them up, I saw a guy with a prosthetic leg crossing the finish line. I was so mad at myself that I made every excuse NOT to do it when I had every reason TO do it, and here was this man, with every reason not to, crossing the finish line. I went home that night and signed up for a gym membership. I started taking a Zumba class near the end of 2009 with a friend of mine from college, which then turned into Zumba classes at my middle school at the beginning of 2010.

Somewhere along the way, I thought it might be a good idea to start running. I ran my first mile (EVER.. in 25 years!) in February and the fitness bug caught me. I met up with my mentor that night and she said, "Well, you'll have to start running 5Ks with me now," and I laughed in her face. That week, I organized a team to run the Race Against Racism in York and started training with the Couch to 5K program. I ended up finishing the Race Against Racism in 37 minutes. :)

Basically, I started my life here in York at over 220 pounds. This morning, I stepped on the scale and came in at 178. I've lost nearly 50 pounds by becoming active and dropping junk from my diet (for the most part - I do indulge in a meal from McDonalds and Burger King.. I'm not perfect :P).

Hopefully this blog can be an inspiration to those who come across it. I'm not an expert, I never will be, but I've done pretty well on my own and would love to help others who are starting this journey on their own as well.

<3