baptisms

I'm about a week late in posting this one.  Oops.  Last Friday Faith and I met up with one of my uncles, his wife, one of my brothers, and a cousin (plus his friend) at the Mesa temple to do some baptisms for some family members that my uncle has found recently while doing some family history work on one of our family lines.

I haven't done baptisms in forever!  It was fun to go and do them (even if the white jumpsuits are the most UNFLATTERING things in this world...seriously.  I thought I was doing really well with this whole loosing weight thing and looking pretty good!  Nope.  Just kidding.  I still look like a giant beached whale...)

We did 30 names!  I'm so excited to have been able to be a part of doing this for them.  I hope they're ready and accepting of what we're doing for them.  :)

weight loss stats and some pics

Alright folks, I've been doing this whole eat right, loose weight, try to transform my body thing now for eight months.  How about some updates on my current stats??

Curves: 
Date started: 1/2/2013
Pound lost to date: 64.4 pounds
Inches lost to date: 45.8


Myfitnesspal.com
Date started: 12/31/2012
Pounds lost to date: 64.2


Forever Fit
Date started: 8/15/2013
Pounds lost to date: 8


I've lost 64 pounds in 8 months!  And I lost 8 pounds just this week on my new plan with my doctor!


Faith, Julia, and I have started doing a workout DVD a couple days a week at home: Slim In 6.  There are three different workouts progressing in difficulty.  We've been doing the first workout for a couple days, so we decided to do the next workout tonight.

Bad idea.

We both about died.

At one point Faith even said, "I'm broken!"

Here's some pics of us attempting to "Ramp It Up!"  (and dying in the process)  This is only part of the floor exercise portion.  There was a whole 20 minutes before this where we were lunging and squatting, and doing lots of arm exercises.  Julia decided she needed to take pictures of us while she was laying on the sleep, sick, and not participating with us.

travel dreams

I keep having dreams about Kristy and I traveling places.  I've dreamed a few times of us being back in Paris.  Another time, I don't remember all the particulars but we were somewhere different, and last night I dreamed I was visiting her in Italy where she lived in a TINY apartment with 3 other girls.  In my dream last night I only remember being at her apartment waiting for a delivery.  My bags had gotten lost at the airport and they had to be delivered to the apartment.

I think it's time to start planning my next trip!

losing my interest in food

These appetite suppressants sure do a good job at their job.  I get hungry occasionally through the day, but when it comes time to actually eat something (most of the time which I have to force myself to do), after I take a couple bites I loose interest and have to make myself finish because I know I have to have the calories and nutrients.

I'm also changing they way I think about food.  Now, instead of focusing on what tastes the best, I'm looking for what has the biggest punch of protein with the fewest amount of bites I have to take in order to eat it quickly before I loose interest in it.

This is all very new and unusual territory for me.

forever fit

I went to a new doctor this week.  I haven't had a gynecological exam in WAY too long, and I just decided to bite the bullet and get it over and done with.  I found a doctor close to the house and made an appointment.  Then went on Tuesday and got poked and prodded in uncomfortable and awkward places...

When I was looking at their website I noticed they also offer a medically supervised weight loss program called Forever Fit by MD.  Since I've been on a weight loss plateau for the past month I've been looking for a way to kick-start my metabolism and get back on the weight loss track.  So, I decided to give this program a try.  I was intrigued because it's doctor supervised, with weekly weigh-ins, a personalized plan, and there's no contract that I'm locked into.  It's a month to month plan.  I called and made an appointment and had my initial consult on Thursday afternoon.  

I talked with the doctor, and the nurse assistant, for about an hour.  They weighed and measured me and we talked about the different options and which one would work best for me.  Because I've chosen to follow a vegan diet, she said, "You're going to be a challenge.  But that's okay!  Challenges are good!"  LOL

They gave me my plan (about 1300 calories a day), gave me a shot of B-12 in my butt, a prescription of appetite suppressants and sent me on my way.  My weekly weigh-in days are Thursdays, so I'll be interested to see what happens this first week.  

Today was definitely interesting since it was the first day on the appetite suppressants.  I take one pill twice a day (once in the morning and one late afternoon/early evening).  This morning I took my first pill at 9am.  I was still feeling kind of hungry for a little bit after, but by about 10 the hunger went away and stayed away for most of the day.  It was kind of interesting.  I've trained myself to eat every two hours the last 8 months, so my brain is still on that two hour schedule.  Every couple hours my brain was like, "K, it's been two hours.  Time to eat something."  But my stomach was all, "No.  We're good."  It was weird.

So, I ate my breakfast (fruit and a Luna bar), took the first pill at 9am, was still kind of hungry so bought a fruit and nut bar from the vending machine, then the hunger disappeared and I had to force myself to eat lunch.  I went through the whole afternoon without eating anything (weird), then went to the gym after work.  After the gym I was starting to feel a little hungry, but it was time to take my next pill so I did.  Then I went grocery shopping and while shopping the hunger disappeared again.  When I got home I knew I should east something because I hadn't eaten anything since lunch and had just burned a bunch of calories at the gym, but...I wasn't hungry.  So I forced myself to eat a bowl of cereal and now I'm sitting on the couch, blogging.  I feel a little hungry but not as much as I would be normally. It's definitely something I can ignore.  

This is definitely going to be a change.  I'm going to have to break the habit of eating every two hours.  Should be fun to see how the weekend goes...

letters

Here's a picture of what we did today after church:

We wrote fun letters!!

I had the thought today of a couple people I should send a note to.  Those couple turned into 7, and a "quick note" turned into this elaborate art project, but it was really fun!  Mom and the girls helped and we were all laughing and having fun.  We've decided to make this into a monthly thing and we've already started thinking of who we're going to send a letter to next month.  :)

shark week

It's been Shark Week on Discovery Channel this week.

It's a big thing.

In honor of Shark Week, at work we've been playing shark trivia all week and hunting for paper sharks hidden around the office to get the most points for our team.  The prize: a week of being able to wear jeans!  I'm not sure who the winner was (they hadn't announced anyone yet by the time I left), but my team ended up with 33 points.  Not too shabby!

All our paper sharks swimming in our team ocean.