It’s All Going Away

Here we go again!

After hurting my Achilles Heel while training for my 5K last year, I’ve had a really hard time getting back on the bandwagon for permanent weight loss. Even worse, those wonderful eighteen pounds that came off in the three months of training for the 5K have also returned.

And then some. Yuck, huh?

I started back at the gym with some healthy goals in mind this past January. I did really well for several weeks and even lost a few pounds.

Then I got sick and spent a week in bed. And since then I’ve had the darndest time getting the motivation back to be really good and healthy-minded again. Easter candy has not helped in that regard. Neither has being on the road so much. Sometimes, it can be hard to find ways to work out and eat healthy.

I was grateful to be home Monday, so I headed to the gym for a wonderful workout. I spent forty-five minutes on the elliptical machine, which I love, and which is also low-impact and doesn’t hurt my apparently-permanently-damaged Achilles. It felt great! On my way out of the gym, I stopped to read their inspirational stories of members who have lost weight with the help of a trainer.

While I was reading, mostly not bothering a soul, a nice trainer named Lindsey came up to me. She was so friendly and not intimidating in the least. She asked if I wanted to do my free trainer session with her. I hesitated at first, and then I decided to do it. Why on earth should I be afraid of something that could help with my health improvement goals?!

So I met with her yesterday for a fifty-minute workout session. She spent some extra time with me in the beginning to get a feel for my goals and desires. She is so sweet and understanding. She played sports in high school in a small town, too. I feel like we have lots in common. Rather than feeling inadequate around her, she made me feel good for my goals and wanting to change! Lindsey is awesome! And she made me feel awesome!

We had a great workout. She taught me some neat exercises that I can also modify to do in the hotel room when I’m away from the gym. My legs and arms were certainly feeling the burn, and it was a great feeling. She was so uplifting and supportive. I really enjoyed working out with her.

So I bought a trainer package with her. Eek!

We are going to work together on my weight-loss goals these next several months. I just want to get me back and be healthy and happy and satisfied. I think that having a trainer throughout that process will only be a good thing. Nothing else has worked, so this has to be the trick. And I am tickled to get started.

She will be a motivator and someone to help me keep track of my progress. She will help me get through those plateaus and find new ways to keep the weight coming off. She will challenge me and push me harder than I think that I can do. She will help me develop the new me that I’ve been wanting for years.

No more excuses. No more regrets. Only doing something about it and loving the results!

It’s going to be great, and I’m so excited to start this new phase. I’m keeping track of my daily exercise and food using Lindsey’s recommended MyFitnessPal.com. Follow along, if you want! Even better, join and keep track with me! You are three-times more likely to succeed if you have friends helping you along the way. I have previously been using loseit.com to track my progress, but MyFitnessPal is a little more comprehensive in tracking exact workouts, like reps, weights, etc. It will make it really easy to see my improvement! I recommend either tracking tool, if you’re looking for a way to start being more healthy.

Once it comes back in stock, I am also going to get The Basis fitness tracker watch, which will also help my weight-loss goals. I hope this happens soon…I’ve had my eye on it since January!

In these next several months, whether I’m busy at work or have a few days home, I’m excited to see these weight-loss goals come true. It will solve so many aspects of my life that I’ve been wanting to change!

The journey has already started and is wonderful.

2012 Annual Family Christmas Snack Table

The holidays just wouldn’t be magical in my family unless we all ate until we were sick on multiple occasions. And we have created a party to facilitate just such blissful agony.

It is called the Annual Family Christmas Snack Table.

I designed the invitation and sent them out a few weeks prior to the party night.

No one except me showed up in stretchy pants. That was awkward for a moment. Until they all regretted their decision when I out-ate them all.

I’m sure that this post won’t have nearly enough food to make us all sick, so let’s take a journey back in time to enjoy some past years of Christmas Snacking.

Snack Table 2009, with two very pregnant ladies. I was not one of them.
Snack Table 2010, or the year of the Forbidden Fruit Tray.
Snack Table 2011, or when I had to leave early for work. Are you kidding me?!

Phew! Now that you just had to loosen another hole on your belt, let’s move on to this year’s festivities!

It felt very different this year. Probably because my sister, her husband, and (now) two boys were in Texas for the event instead of gathering around the Snack Table in person with the rest of us.

They Skyped in for some of the fun, but it only made us wish that much more that they were there in person. I hope you know how missed you were, T’liese. We would have probably even temporarily allowed a Fruit Tray, too, if you had only been able to attend.

Should I be captioning these photos, too? I brought Peanut Butter Hershey Kiss Cookies seen up above, and these are Pretzel Turtle Bites.

Which are heavenly.

Which is why I ate them all made them, yo.

Please tell me that you’ve had Andes Mints Cookies. They are soft, chewy cookies that have Andes Mints placed on top just as they come out of the oven. After a few minutes of melting, the mint is swirled around to create a delicious, minty frosting.

I could eat a million of these little buggers. And I probably did, if you must know.

I went to three stores looking for the typical box of Christmas Andes Mints. Did they go out of business and not tell anyone? Finally, Target came through for me, but they were in the form of giant Andes Mints individually wrapped in plastic, not foil. Weird, huh?

So I broke them in half when it came time to “frost.”

I don’t know about you, but this looks like a party-about-happen to me!

I made Lemon Squeeze Cupcakes, which mean that I poured a sweet lemon glaze on top of lemon cupcakes to let things sink in a little. Then I frosted them with lemon cream cheese buttercream frosting.

Cupcakes make my heart go pitter-pat. Or didn’t you know?

I’m finally learning through lots of practice that sometimes, less is more. I don’t like cupcakes with frosting three feet high. I like just enough so that each bite has some frosting, but not so much that you can’t taste the cake!

Yep. I’m becoming a frosting snob!

But they turned out so pretty! And very, very edible, I assure you!

I decided to set aside a few chocolate chewy cookies from the Andes Mint Cookies recipe to make Homemade Oreos with them. With homemade buttercream frosting.

Because I was worried that I wasn’t bringing enough food. *snort*

I am tearing up just thinking about them now…

Aren’t these adorable?! After squishing the halves together, I rolled them in cute Christmas sprinkles to make them even more festive. They were almost too pretty to eat.

Almost.

Wow. I would probably do some pretty awful things to have one of these cookies right about now.

How are all of your New Years resolutions going (nervous laugh)?!

So, after my oven could take no more abuse, we headed north towards my brother’s house for the Snack Table! First, we stopped to pick up my Dad on the way. We had enough time to open some presents, so I caught it all on camera.

He’s a handsome guy, huh?

I look like him.

But that’s not why I think he’s handsome. Sheesh! I don’t want to be a handsome guy!

And now I know where I get my opening-Christmas-presents intensity! Look at this excitement!

A few of his presents were things that he had suggested…like new, fancy drool-proof pillow cases. He is a tough one to buy for, that’s for dang sure. And he certainly doesn’t want anything!

Hmmm. Maybe we’re not related after all. I always want fun stuff!

Oh man. These pictures absolutely crack me up! Have I mentioned how nice it is to have my Dad back from Mexico?

Wait, that sounds bad. He was down there on purpose!

He lived there for seven years and moved back to Phoenix this past April to be closer to family.

It has been wonderful living in the same city as my Dad. That hasn’t happened since I was four years old! He’s a lot of fun, even though I don’t see him as much as I would like. (He is probably grateful for the lack of visits from me!)

He reads a ton, and one of my readers recommended that I give him this book (hi, Peter!). I also bought Dad a new stylus to use on his iPhone, since he lost his about one week after he got it back in May.

Obviously, he was pretty excited to get a new stylus. Probably as excited as I was to give it to him!

And this was probably my favorite picture of all…him posing like he was using the stylus in all its glory. He is so funny!

I’m glad that you’re home, Dad. I love you.

On to the Snack Table! We brought a dear family friend to the event this year. Here Don is prepping his shrimp cocktail that he brought.

It’s his first time…he didn’t know any better. I guess I’ll have to add that to the do-not-bring list next year.

Rookie.

Luckily, it was far enough away from the best thing at the party that I only gagged a few times. Shrimp = fish.

(I stained these cabinets, by the way).

So here is some of the spread. I say some because my Dad brought Chicken Tacos for his savory contribution to the evening. They were so good, but he was still setting them up on the entire back counter when I was taking these pictures. And then I forgot to get a picture of the tacos!

I was probably too distracted with stuffing my face later to remember to take a picture of it all. Oh, the memories.

You’ll just have to trust me, though. He brought incredible Chicken Tacos. He used your recipe, Charloe, and they were out of this world!

These are the Andes Mints Cookies just before being devoured. We always had these growing up at our Family Snack Table, so they just taste like Christmas to me.

And they taste like chocolaty, chewy, minty cookies, too. And that’s fine by me.

Everyone got a cupcake. Or six two.

And these didn’t last long, either. Not that I expected them to last long. Not with this crowd.

Have you seen how we can put food away in my family?!

This was another one of Dad’s contributions to the evening. How he still has candy from Halloween is beyond me (maybe we aren’t related), but I was personally glad that he decided to share it with the rest of us.

Pretzel Rolo Turtle Bites. Sweet, salty, crunchy, caramel. What more could you possibly want in a snackable dessert?

Here is Don, our wonderful family friend. He brought everyone poinsettias for Christmas…so thoughtful! We sure do love Don.

And I wish my brother would let me post pictures of his family, because I got some really good ones of them. I guess we’ll just have to finish the party with a picture of me and Hubby. Very full at this point in the evening.

But that’s the whole point of a Christmas Snack Table!

I am already planning the menu for next year’s event…

A Turning Point

When I was in high school, I played three sports all year long. Small schools afford such luxuries, and I really loved being able to participate in all three instead of having to choose. The athletics year began in August with volleyball season, which was only a primer to get me in better shape for basketball (my favorite), which ran from November through March. Softball began immediately after and continued through May. With several team sports camps each summer at various colleges, even the summer didn't allow me to fall away too much from being fit and trim.

The summer after I graduated, I visited my sister in New York. We had a great week of traveling the east coast and seeing some incredible sites (I'm talking to you, Williamsburg!). However, I assumed that vacation meant eating dessert after every meal and finding treats at every stop. Since I was no longer working out as strenuously as the past four years, the weight just magically appeared for no reason. By the end of the summer, I had gained my Freshman Fifteen before beginning my classes that fall!

Over the next eleven years, weight was a constant battle for me. Since my preferred major food group is the sugar family, it was inevitable that pounds started to pile on. Most of the time, it was gradual enough that I wouldn't sense it until I found a scale and weighed it in. Then I would panic and try to get back to my better days through Tae-Bo, dieting, and any other drastic measures I could find. I also found that unhappiness in my life simply invited more weight to join in on the fun. I couldn't keep ahead of it, and I certainly couldn't get back to that high school weight (which I thought I was so fat at the time, mind you).

While living in North Dakota and attending flight school, I tried the latest fad of The Atkins Diet and had much success. I lost twenty pounds in about two months and looked amazing. Compliments abounded, and I was loving the results. However, I felt like crap. Atkins consists of a low-carb diet, and even fruit and vegetables are forbidden! What type of healthy diet won't allow fruits and veggies?! I was restricted to only proteins, like meat, cheese, and eggs. I still have a hard time scrambling eggs for breakfast! Though the weight came off quickly, my body felt awful. I was putting bad fuel in and feeling the affects. And, of course, after I stopped eating the Atkins lifestyle, the weight all came running back to me and then some.

I've gained an additional twenty pounds just since being married. It feels awful to admit that, though I'm sure it's been obvious to all. Despite trying to eat healthy and working out rigorously (in occasional spurts), nothing I've done has lost more than a few pounds over the past 2.5 years. It's to the point now where I am constantly thinking about my appearance...and not positive thinking, either. I'm miserable. I've lost so much confidence and have seen that trickle into every aspect of my life. Truth be told, it's taking over. It beats me down all day, every day, until I hardly recognize who I am any more. Physically, emotionally, and mentally...this monster has infiltrated every part of who I am.

So I've decided to change my life through healthy eating and consistent physical activity. And I've also decided to keep track of my progress here on Captain Micah. I do best at maintaining goals when more people are aware. I've been a little gun-shy about displaying it for the whole world to see because it felt like I would only let more people down when it didn't work. But you know what? I can't think like that! I've got to do something, and if it means letting more people in on my efforts to become healthy again, so be it!

I refuse to take drugs or supplements to help in this endeavor...I need to do it the right way by changing my lifestyle completely. It's called working out and eating properly. This doesn't mean I can never eat a brownie again. When I've tried that no-sugar approach on multiple occasions, it's only been marginally successful for a short time (losing two pounds in one month). What I need to do now is just make every decision better. And to be consistent. If I eat fewer calories in a day than I burn, the weight will subsequently go away. That's Micah Math at work, so you may want to check that! I've got some fun tools to get me through...a gym membership, an app on my iPod Touch that helps me track every calorie that I take in or burn off throughout the day, and a loving husband who wants nothing more than for me to be happy. Perhaps the most important tool up my sleeve is the burning desire to find me again. Seeing a picture on my Mom's blog of our trip to Utah last week had that killer impact on me...I couldn't believe that was me. Where is Captain Micah?!

This process may take longer than I would prefer, but I've taken an awful eleven years to get to this point. I, thus, have to understand that in three months I won't be fifty pounds lighter. But you know what? That is a goal that could happen in six to eight months! I'm not going to obsess with a number on the scale as much as I am going to measure it through self-esteem and how I feel about myself day in and day out.

I'm excited. I need this. I need to lose the weight and feel better about myself. I know obsessing about how I look, even if just in my head, has impacted everything I do for the past several years. I need to get healthy so I can focus on things that really matter, and be happy doing it. I'm tired of trying to fill my life with things that are supposed to make me happy. I've been treating my symptoms instead of simply killing the root of my problems! I am tickled to begin this journey and love that results are already taking place. I don't know what is different about this time, but it is. And it has to be! I can't live like this any more! I know what I need to do, and the excuses need to leave my life so that I can get to work and make it happen.

So to the side of this blog, I will "weigh in" each week. I will update the pounds of weight lost and maybe occasionally make a post or two about my feelings on progress.

If you want to join me, feel free. Rumor has it there is strength in numbers. I've only just begun and am already feeling better about myself. What a difference to actually DO something about it!

New Captain Micah, here I come!