NSV & New exercise class

Friday night, after having been told by a co-worker a couple of days earlier that I needed to go buy new slacks as my butt was all baggy, went and bought size 14W slacks and they fit well! NSV! I am now down 12 sizes in pants, from a 26W to 14W. I'm quite excited about that, considering how my scale has hovered around the 220-222 mark for two months now.

I did a new exercise class last night at the Y: Kick n strength. It's an hour long class that combines kick boxing and strength training. Kristi teaches it, along with several other classes at the Y. She is also my favorite zumba teacher. But back to kick n strength, we did about 30-35 minutes of kick boxing routines, followed by 25 minutes of work with a weight bar. I'm not sure how much my bar weighed as I didn't see a label on it, but we lifted it with our arms several different ways, did squats with it (Kristi loves squats!), then laid on the floor, and did several different lifts, both with our legs, our arms, as well as the back of our knees (that was hard since I was sweating so much it kept slipping). We then did some (what am I talking about, we did lots!) of crunches. After the class, walking out to my car which I usually park quite a way from the door, I was just dragging! It felt good to know that I worked really hard in class.

Tonight I'm going to try Y Firm. It's an hour long strength training class that is supposed to burn lots of calories. It'll be interesting to see how I feel after it. Normally, on Tuesdays, now that our bible studies have started back up, I'd go to bible study instead. But since I have other things going on two Tuesdays a month, I've decided to work out on the other Tuesdays. Hubby gets to explain why I'm not there.

Very nice weekend

My cousin A is marrying O next month. Right now, they live in Minnesota. O came in this weekend for two bridal showers, one at my cousin’s (the groom’s sister), the other at her aunt’s. My mom and I drove up to Denver for the one at my cousin’s.

It was a lot of fun! I got to meet O for the first time and their cute little daughter C. We visited with several of my aunts. Had some yummy food my cousin made. She is quite the cook! She had gastric bypass about six or seven years ago, but doesn’t let that stop her from her love of baking and cooking.

I went up there expecting to have cake. I was planning for this. However, no cake, just lots of yummy fresh fruit and other baked goods. We stayed after the shower and had some dinner with them from a local Mexican food restaurant.

After making our way to the hotel, I tried working out, but just didn’t have much energy. I think it was a combination of not a lot of protein that day and not much water. I drank lots of iced tea, but only one bottle of water. I walked for about 15 minutes then rode the bike another 15 minutes. At least my heart rate got up a little bit.

Sunday morning we went back to my cousin’s for breakfast. She made the most delicious stuffed french toast. She used Italian bread, cut it about two inches thick, and stuffed it with cream cheese mixed with Splenda and fresh blue berries. Talk about heaven! I had about 1/3 of a slice and a piece of her hashbrown quiche she also made, and lots of fruit.

On the way home, Mom and I stopped at Castle Rock to do some shopping. I found a summer dress for half price, two really cute tops, and a skirt, all on sale. I also found a really cute pair of slacks and a top, but those were full price and a new sale starts today using "Ho.ney Mo.ney" from previous purchases, allowing 20% off full priced items. So I’ll go to our local store today or tomorrow and see if I can find the same outfit.

I also was able to find some new Bali bras at another store there. 42G! These are minimizer bras. My girls are actually starting to look, dare I say, normal sized! The waistline of the dress I bought actually falls below my breasts, rather than on them. I’ll have to take a picture of it tonight when I get home so you can see it.

We also did stop at the Ro.cky Mou.ntain Ch.oc.olate Fac.tory. I bought an ice cream cone and enjoyed every bite! But that was the only thing I bought other than a bottle of water. That was my sweet treat for the weekend.

My doggies were quite happy to see me. Hubby was gone this weekend too, so they were stuck in the kitchen, since I refuse to allow them to be outside overnight at home. I know they bark and I won’t be "one of those neighbors." The daytime is okay, but not nighttime.

Oh, by the way, the size of the dress? 18! NSV!

If you’ve noticed, you’ll see that I haven’t updated my weight ticker. That’s because I didn’t weigh yesterday since I was gone, and since I didn’t have a BM all weekend due to the lack of water, I am retaining, and I just don’t want to record that weight! LOL But tomorrow morning I’ll update, regardless of what the number is.

NSV

I was reading a post by Catherine about her plans for her Halloween costume this year. It got me to thinking about a past Halloween costume I wore for work one year, about eight or nine years ago. When I bought it, it was a size 24-26. I thought that it should fit me just fine. I was wrong. It would not zip. But because I spent around 55 hard earned dollars on it, I was going to wear it!

So I paired it up with a denim vest to cover the zipper that wouldn't zip. No one knew the difference, but I did.

I still have that dress. I went to my closet, pulled it out, and tried it on. I think I've found a new dress to wear my knee-high boots with. What do you think?

Sweet 16

No, I didn't just have my 16th birthday (um, time machine anyone? lol). I was able to fit into size 16W bottoms! I swung by the Dress Barn this morning and picked up a pair of blue jeans, black slacks for work, black capris, black skirt, and two pairs of denim shorts, all size 16W. I also bought a new top, size 1XL (with my girls and muffin top it will be a while before I'm able to fit into a regular XL or even large).

Holy crap!

Do you know how long it has been since I've fit into a size 16W? I barely could fit into them back when I was doing TOPS in/around '94. And only for a very short time. And what is really weird is that I was in the 180s back then (about 186 was my lowest), and I could fit into a size 16 pair of Rocky jeans, if I sucked in my gut and didn't breathe. Makes me think perhaps the sizing is a lot different now than it was then. What do you ladies think?

Here are photos of the skirt and new top I bought. I took this while trying them on, so sorry for the poor quality. Isn't the top just too cute? I love the asymmetrical look.

What is really great is that I can wear my new knee high boots with the capris pants. Of course, I need to wait until we get back down into the 90s before I wear them as I just don't think it's a good choice for 100+ degree weather. If I wanted to hem the above skirt a bit so it falls right above my knees I could wear it too with my boots, but as it is now, it is just not the right length for my boots.

When I was in the fitting room, I started laughing out loud, I was so happy I could fit into the 16s. I consider this to be a huge NSV!

Non scale victory

Yesterday evening, we had softball practice for the upcoming tourney that we are playing in at the end of the month. I was able to hit the ball repeatedly, run for the damn thing when I didn't catch it out in left field, and run to first base, all without getting winded, or my knees hurting, or my back hurting. I would not have been able to do this last summer. NSV!

What a great feeling!

I'm back to working out. I'll be going to the Y tonight to do the treadmill for an hour. Again Thursday.

Saturday I'll return to my Zumba class, perhaps Sunday too, depending on what we end up doing for Father's Day. I'm not sure if I've shared this with my readers or not, but my Hubby has a daughter from a relationship he was in back in his early 20s. She just turned 17 and is staying with us for a while during her summer vacation. I asked her this morning to think of what she'd like to do on Sunday to celebrate Father's Day.

I think I'll be able to get back in the water next Monday for the aqua interval classes. Then in July, I'll see about introducing weights back into my exercise routine. I'll start off with just 15 pounds, see how I feel, go to 20, see how I feel, and work my way up.

For my fellow WLS followers, you know and understand how excited I am to see my collar bones emerge. They. are. almost. there! I'm thinking another 10 pounds and I'll be able to see them without shrugging my shoulders. I can easily feel them. Oh! I also saw my shoulder blade just sticking out just clear as day! I could actually see the outline of the bone, without the round softening that extra layers of fat provide.

While I have been pretty much plateaued this last five weeks, I think my body shape has been shifting. I like it. :0)