New Comparison Pic

Friday, May 17, 2013

So there was THIS blog where I discussed my Spark Journey and a coinciding employee wellness program:

www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_jo
urnal_individual.asp?blog_id=5338320

I just submitted my before & after picture. My story and picture is going to be shared with the entire hospital containing THOUSANDS of employees. Oh dear. LoL. Here's the picture:



Well, today is my birthday. I had a goal to lose an additional 8-10 pounds (depending on the day) following the end of the 5% Challenge. I, in fact, lost ZERO pounds. I'm still sitting at 90 pounds lost... I did not make my 100 pound lost goal by my birthday as I had hoped for.

I'm sharing this just to keep my journey honest, not to beat myself up. I honestly don't care that I didn't make my goal. The world goes on and I'm still extremely proud of all I have accomplished in the last 2.5 years on Spark.

Mom and I are taking a 45 minute Deep Water Aerobics class 3 days a week and I'm trying to get in some fitness minutes in between. Eating hasn't been great - portions have been bigger than they should be. In other words, I know what I need to do to get there. Let's go!

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More Yoga Pictures

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Here are more pictures from my May yoga challenge. I took the last four days off due to recurring back pains. I've seen my chiropractor and am feeling better and I hope to get back into it soon. Some poses were hard and I had to modify. This has been a struggle - hence some of my funny faces. Here are the Instagram pictures and some of my captions. Follow me at @SomeCallMeQ :)


Firefly pose on Day 5 of #SpreadTheYogaLove Challenge... 1. @deemoi wants me to do WHAT?? 2. Nope. Not so much. Nice stretch though. 3. Research tips and variations. 4. Still no. I don't think this pose is for plus sized people. My bad back didn't like it either.


Modified firefly pose. Still failed. Hubby said "Now put your butt on top of you head." Thanks teacher.




Day 7 of #SpreadTheYogaLove again. I bought yoga blocks to assist with my arm balances and firefly. This might not be much, but it was challenging for me. And by the way, this is my new app called CartoonCam!


I gotz yoga friends.






I got photo-bombed while babysitting. The kids loved messing with me and palying with the camera. :)


One good shot out of ... forty?? Haha! Downward dog variations while babysitting.


I also gave myself a No Snacking challenge for May. I've slipped up a couple times but am keeping at it.



Hubby and I also planted our first vegetable garden. He's so helpful, yes?

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May Challenge Progress Pics

Sunday, May 05, 2013

I've got two challenges this month.

1. Yoga every day, following @deemoi and #spreadtheyogalove on Instagram. I'm a yoga beginner and this challenge is designed for beginners. WOOT! Here are my pictures:



Day 1: I tried two poses because I was confused by two different yoga challenges on IG. I dropped of of the second challenge because it was too advanced. So that's why I've got two poses on day one!




Day 2: a more advanced version of day one.



Here's another Day 2 variation that took a lot of practice.




Day 3: I'm definitely stretching my flexibility to new levels! I love it.




Day 4: Bunny says "good enough!" This was hard and required one hand on a wall to maintain.


Challenge 2: NO SNACKING! I'm allowing myself two small, healthy snacks a day and that's all! No junk food or sweets for snacks! Now, some of my meals haven't been the healthiest, but that's an everyday struggle and isn't part of the challenge. The challenge is to keep my snacks healthy and filling to sustain me between meals.

So that's the first four days of my May challenges!

I leave you with a picture of my outfit for yesterday's Star Wars Wedding. I'm obsessed with this dress. I mean, hello! Bright geometric print, a peek-a-boo back, and POCKETS!

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I'm Speechless. THANK YOU!

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Me. Speechless. It doesn't happen often but it has tonight.

I just completed a 5% Challenge. In six weeks I managed to lose 4.27% of my body weight. Victory dance!! This challenge is so fun and motivational, I recommend everyone to check it out. It does take a time commitment, but it's worth it. The motivation, the competition, the friendship, and the team spirit are all super duper awesome. Here's the link to join the next challenge:

www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/groups_i
ndividual.asp?gid=59980

So here's where the speechless part comes in. KALISWALKER, the 5% group leader, chose to spotlight lil' ol' me in the motivational forum. I'm completely honored. And the wonderful comments that I've been getting are amazing. Thank you all SO MUCH.

I still remember the thoughts and feelings I had the first night I logged onto SparkPeople. I was looking at what amazing things SP members had accomplished and I was awestruck and inspired. It got me out of my chair and into the gym. I didn't know how I was going to lose 10 pounds. I couldn't imagine achieving a 90 pound weight loss. And I honestly remember thinking that I would never have a motivating story like the ones I was looking at.

So to know that people find a source of inspiration and motivation in ME? I'm humbled. And I'm sparked. So thank you to all of you for cheering me on and being a part of my journey.



I also wanted to share a few things going on around these here parts.

I'm trying out the free fitness classes offered by the Park District this week. Mom and I tried water aerobics yesterday. It was fun and hilarious and a great workout. My mom absolutely LOVED it and wants to join so I may be doing that with her three days a week.

Today mom and I tried a Strength and Conditioning class. I'm surprised to say that I was BORED and almost every time the instructor finished a set I was left wanting to do 10 more reps. And I used the "heavy" weights through the whole class even during times she said to use the light weights. It was a great class, but not for me. I can work up a better sweat with my Bob Harper DVDs. BUT I was elated that I found the class so easy because let me tell ya! There was a day when that class would have Kicked My Butt. It was nice to see/feel the progress I've been making.

Another victory for today??? I went to the park tonight and met up with a hula hooping group. I knew NO ONE in the group but worked up the courage to go after seeing a post about it on Facebook. It was so much fun. I can't wait to go back next week. :)

And... I've decided to take on two challenges during the month of May.


#1: NO (unplanned) SNACKING... I'm allowing myself two snacks a day that are from a (mental) list of healthy go-to snacks. Nothing else is allowed!! This challenge was inspired by teammates on my Awesome A 5% team. (Thanks TURTLETALK!)

#2: Yoga Challenge. This is inspired by Instagram. 30 days. 15 poses. Each pose will cover two days - first day being a beginners version and the second day a harder version. If you want to check it out, the hashtag is #maytheforcebewithyogis ... my username is SomeCallMeQ .... look me up :)



Full details here:
www.deemoi.co.uk/

and here:
www.challengeloop.com/challenge/2ca9
41

So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!! Thanks again to all of my SparkLoves for all of the Spark Love!

XOXO
Courtney

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Looking Back

Sunday, April 28, 2013

My employer started an employee wellness program approximately three years ago - coincidentally, around the same time I joined SparkPeople. Each year, at the start of the program, participants are required to complete a quick wellness screening which includes, height, weight, BMI, blood pressure, and a diabetes screening.

I remember my very first screening. I'm 5'10" and I weighed in at 325 pounds. In case that wasn't mortifying enough, I had to sit down with someone who calculated my BMI and showed me a BMI scale. She pointed out my BMI and a healthy BMI and said "You need to fall in this range to be considered healthy, but really any weight loss would be beneficial." In my head that translated into 'you're really fat and losing even 10 pounds would help and would be better than nothing.' Talk about a wake up call.


(The beginning of my journey.)

Well, that sparked my need for weight loss... but I didn't know HOW to go about it. Less than a month later, I saw a news segment featuring these two women from People's Half My Size Issue:



Christina, the woman on the right, mentioned that she used SparkPeople to help her lose weight. Both women talked about the importance of making lifestyle changes, which was a new concept to me. So I got onto SparkPeople and started reading and reading and reading. That very same night that I saw the news segment, I stood up about 9pm after scouring SparkPeople and announced that I was going to the gym. I still remember my husband's bewildered face. He was playing cards with a friend.

ANYWAYS... off track.

So I started using SparkPeople and I was simultaneously racking up "points" in the employee wellness program. I'm almost finished participating in my third annual pedometer challenge through that program. I received an email asking for success stories in regards to the pedometer challenge and I decided to type something up about my three year weight loss journey that coincided with the wellness program.




The bottom picture is my work ID badge... 92 pounds ago. Think it's time for an update??? I've told myself I'll get a new pictures taken at 100 pounds lost. It's something to look forward to.

So... while typing up a little blurb about my journey for the employee wellness program, I started browsing through old blogs. This is what I actually wanted to blog about today! Sometimes it just takes me so long to set up the background story. HAHA!


(Hmm... it looks like I have a love affair with cardigans.)

One of the blogs I came across was from exactly one year ago today. Here it is:

www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_jo
urnal_individual.asp?blog_id=4854226

It took me back for a moment and made me remember what a hard month last April was. I had blogged after being gone from SparkPeople for two weeks. I said "I'm here and I've missed you. Have you missed me?" And then I read through the comments and was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from my SparkFriends.

So, I just wanted to reiterate how much you all mean to me. Your kindness, love, and support means so much to me. And you all are so inspiring and encouraging!



I'm going to take a new comparison picture this week and then submit my "story" to my employee wellness program.


(Pictures from 80 lbs lost.)


(See? The cardigan love affair.... LOL!)

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