The Intrepid McKenna's: Progress Report!

It's not "Transformation Tuesday", which I just found out is a thing btw, but it is the 5 week mark and the day of the MS Walk and I have pictures to share!

As you may remember back in the blog Cha-Cha-Changes that I started a 5 week long boot camp style fitness program called Kaia FIT. I also promised to use this blog to hold myself accountable for the changes I needed to make. We made some nutritional changes like no longer having vegetable oil or margarine in the house. I have been cooking nearly every night and going heavy on the veggies and less with the grains. I have even managed to get Chris to go for walks with me and scouted out a 2, 3 and 4 mile route that starts and ends at our door. I tried a new class at my gym every day for a week so I could see the ones I want to stick with and which ones I hate. ( I'll take pie and lattes over Pilates any day thank you.) and I have been working on my cardio by setting up new challenges every time I get on the treadmill. Like last week I put 5 Britney Spears songs on my iPod and hit shuffle. Every time she told me to "Work bitch " I added 1 mile to my speed (3.5 to 4.5) and jogged until the end of the song. This week I made myself run (4.7) every half mile for at least 1/10th of a mile. So I did run over 1/2 mile and that's a start :) On 4/17 I timed myself for a 5K. I went as fast as I could walk, slowed as I needed to, and my time was 56:26. I was just glad it was under an hour. However, on 4/25 after I set the new challenges, I timed myself again and came in at 53:03! I still do a 17 minute mile but I'm improving every week. My goal is to run at least 1 mile of the 5k I'm signed up for in June.

I took the photos the same way so I could prove to myself that side by side there is a difference. Also, so I could see the different fit of the same item.

and yes, I have since washed the hand prints off my mirror :)

The picture on the left was on 4/26, the picture on the right was taken 3/18.

The final numbers are 220.3 lbs, so 4.5 lbs lost, and 9.75 inches!

I think the big thing that happened was a kind of restructuring. My "weight" loss wasn't huge because I gained muscles but it's definitely noticeable in my mid section. My clothes are starting to fit differently too. As you can see I have had to find clever ways to ties that bikini top on and get it to stay up. I lost 2" off my bust and 3" off my waist so it's too big now. Plus I can pull the bottoms up much higher then I could before. I think that I will actually need a new bikini for summer :)

Speaking of bikinis, I sent in a photo to The Militant Baker on her Facebook page when she asked for photos of women in their bikinis. Jess Baker, aka The Militant Baker, writes a great blog about body love encouraging ALL women to love their bodies. She is a plus size woman and really encourages women to not feel ashamed and to embrace what they have. I know I am fat but I don't think of fat as a bad word. I always figured if the worst thing someone can say about me is that I am fat, then I must be pretty awesome! My fat doesn't make me feel unpretty, other people do. If we can just accept that it is not our job as women to make other people feel comfortable we will all feel better. As far as bodies go, it should be our job to make ourselves comfortable. I'm not going to wear long sleeves in the heat because I have big arms and I don't want people to see them because they will think I am gross. I'm going to comfortably wear a tank top and if you don't like it you can leave. See how that works? We both just made ourselves more comfortable. Anyway, I sent in her a picture and she used it in a post on Facebook. It really made my day.

These ladies might not be for you, but that is my point. It's about them. They feel pretty and sexy and awesome and that doesn't need to be validated by your opinion.

And I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Well Angelina, if it's so cool to be fat why are you trying to lose weight?" I'm not trying to lose weight to be skinny and look cute in a swimsuit, as far as I'm concerned I already look cute in my swimsuit. But I felt unhealthy. I felt tired. I had no energy. In the last 5 weeks I have reduced the pain in my hip. My plantar fascitis has gone away. I can stay awake past 9 pm. I'm not afraid of dropping things on the floor because I am not afraid of picking them back up. I don't know these other women. I don't know their life or how they feel, I only know mine. So I'm doing what it takes to make myself more comfortable with myself. See how that works?

Today was the day of the Sacramento MS Walk and I have to thank everyone for their support. We raised $540 this year and this year, walking 3.1 miles was breeze. I bought a new Wonder Woman shirt and the weather held out for us :)

MS Walk 2014

And since you know I can't resist taking silly picture... Remember that awesome photo from last year? The one where we walked past the chuch that had a great sign and we snapped the picture I want on my tombstone.