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.

Well they had another message up this year. I took offense to it.

Because who has two thumbs and is special? Clearly I'm pretty special :)

-Angelina

Greetings Earthlings!

Greetings fellow Earthlings!

Tuesday was Earth Day and Chris and I decided to celebrate in style by "driving through the mountains in a hybrid car." ( That's a direct quote from Chris by the way.)

But reality is that Chris and I drove to Reno to have dinner.

It was Tuesday and it was 3:00 and it was a beautiful day here in Sac. I really wanted to take our exercising outside so we could see some Earth. Chris decided we should go to Folsom Lake instead of our usual route so we got in our car and headed east on I-80. As our exit approached he convo went something like this:

C: (reading road sign) Reno 126 miles
A: We could be at the Hash House a Go Go by dinner.
C: Yeah but we are not really dressed for Reno.
A: Ummm... it's Reno. You're kidding right?

He had a point. I was wearing a tank top, some stretchy pants, and my running shoes without a stitch of make up on. My hair was in a  Idontwannadomyhairsoiwilljustbraidit disaster. Chris was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and running shoes. But he was talking to the girl who wore gold sequined gift shop slippers the entire time we were in Reno last time. (That's a whole other story.) But that was good enough because we cruised right past our exit and headed to Reno!

The drive through the Sierras is always beautiful but it's very dry right now. We are having a horrible drought and the snow levels are practically non existent. I wanted to stop and get some pictures and Chris kept exclaiming that it was 36 degrees and I am a crazy woman. A crazy woman who won in the end.

    

Also, these pictures are the first full body ones I have had taken in a while and I was surprised to see the changes in my landscape. But more of that in the next blog.

At this point Chris was rooting around in his car for extra layers. He found some pajama pants. Weird, right?

We also stopped at a vista point overlooking Donner Lake where we saw some beautiful Earth. The above pictures are unedited but I did use some Picasa filters on the ones below.

Not too shabby Earth. Not too shabby at all.

We arrived in Reno at 5:00! Really it's not awful, some people commute that long to the Bay for work everyday. We went to the Sierra Trading Post store right away. That store is awesome for deals on outdoor wear and gear. I clearly needed a shirt. I found a cheap zip up but we also found one of the most horrid items of clothing ever produced. 

Size 42 French Fry Shorts? Is this necessary? 

You may be wondering why would drive so far to eat at a place called Hash House a Go Go. The hash house is one of the places we LOVED when we lived in Las Vegas. They sell "Twisted Farm Food" which is code for " Giant Fucking Portions" and the food goes beyond gimmicky, it's actually delicious. I know I have included them in the blog before and they have been featured on the Food Network. They have location at Harrah's in Reno and I'm so glad it's not any closer.

 

Buttermilk Biscuits with Honey Butter. As I am trying to be "good" I brought mine home and had it for breakfast the next day.

 Chris almost always gets the same thing. The sage fried chicken. This is the Sage Fried Chicken Benedict. I love there aggressive use of Rosemary as a garnish. Plus they also deep fry angel hair pasta as a garnish. It makes a very lovely plating.

I decided to try something new, The Kokomo Sandwich. I have no idea why it is named that. It was a giant portion on meatloaf, tomato paste,  and mozzarella cheese on white bread with a side of pan fried mashed potatoes topped with slices of bacon and grilled cheddar cheese. I died just looking at it. I finished eating it on Thursday and I didn't even eat the bread!

We really weren't prepared for the drive home though. We left at 7:45 and it was snowing when we got to about 5,000 feet. Several of you received texts stating our last known whereabouts in case something happened. The snow wasn't heavy but it was blowing sideways, the roads were icy and we were in the little car. That car isn't built for any kind of adverse driving condition but we obviously made it. We were home at 10pm. 

This more proof that the best thing about Sacramento is that it is 2 hours from everywhere you want to go. Including home if you get on an airplane. Summer is approaching and I hope some of you will consider a visit down here. We could go to the Hash House! But obviously the countryside is beautiful too. This was a successful Earth Day adventure.

Next blog will be about the MS Walk and my 5 week results from Kaia. I also have a 10 day road trip home in May for Mother's Day. I promise I will have more adventure blogs and less exercise blogs in the future :)

-Angelina