Summer Diet Buddies Summary, WI

The Summer Diet Buddies Challenge ended this week.  I had set a goal of losing 12 pounds in the eight weeks of the challenge, from July 4 to Sept 7.  Long story short, I'm happy with my progress.  I didn't lose 12, but I lost 10.2 pounds.  I also trimmed 2 inches from my bust and from my hips and 3 inches from my waist.

Mystery Loves Company Book Shop

I'm still feeling great about all the biking I did last weekend.  Our weather is turning beautiful (cooler and waaaay less humid) and I plan to get in some more, longer rides on the weekends.  Our last morning on the bike holiday, I decided to get in a run before we had to check out. DH went out for one last (fast) bike ride while I ran for about an hour through the beautiful residential streets of Oxford.  It was lots of fun. I found myself running by a book shop called Mystery Loves Company. Of course, I had to stop and go inside.  What fun!  I love small, independent book stores.  There were no other customers in the shop and the owner and I had a great chat.  She's a former public librarian and we have similar tastes in reading.

I ran again this morning, my usual four mile "last chance" run before my WI.  I'm loving the weather and hope to work on the quality of my runs (less walking, more even pace) during the next month or so. After a quick shower, I stopped by for a brief visit with my Dad, and then went to WW.  Despite the weekend's splurges (Smith Island Cake, Raspberry Sorbet, Key Lime Creme Brule, toast  and butter with breakfast,  and bread with dinner)  I managed to lose one pound at my WI.   Yay!  I'm guessing that the ~7 hours of biking calories spent probably cancelled out the extra calories from my splurges.  Oh, and I got in Kettle Bell workout #3 on Monday, too.  This time the Turkish Get Ups were a tiny bit easier

I had a fun NSV yesterday.  I set out for the Farmer's Market with the grand babies, but they were being great, so I ducked into a shop and noticed some cute dresses.  I decided that I would try them on.  J&E were in a shopping cart and cooperative, so I grabbed my favorite four dresses.  I decided I'd only try on the size 12s, except for one which was a petite, so I grabbed the 14P.  All of them fit, more or less, and I bought two of them. The 14P was my favorite.  It fit okay, but I decided I'd lose 5-7 more pounds before I'd wear it. That's okay.  I like goals like that.  Here's the NSV---When I got home, I noticed that I hadn't gotten the 14P, I'd grabbed the 10P !!!!!

180.8

My New Favorite Four Word Phrase

My new favorite four word phrase? = "Put down the kettle bell." Today I tried out my new kettle bell set. My daughter Laura decided to torture gift me with it as a belated birthday present. It came yesterday and I resolved to try it out today. It's The Firm 5-Pound Kettle Bell Kit with Transfirm Your Trouble Zones DVD.  I waited until after dinner and cleared a workout space in the privacy of our sitting room upstairs.  I dressed in workout clothes (so as not to feel outclassed by all the buff girls modeling the moves in the background) and popped in the DVD.  First I viewed the introductory Learn the Moves section. Then I decided to go for the whole enchilada and clicked on the Full 45 Minute Workout.  I could have chosen the 20 minute "Express" workout, but nooo, I go and choose the 45 minute workout. The instructor, Kelsie, is very clear and encouraging; she reminds me a bit of Leslie Sansone in the Walk Away the Pounds videos.

I'm definitely not a natural-born dancer, but the choreography isn't too hard and it was fairly easy to catch up if I missed a move.  Thankfully there is an option for beginners (that's ME, folks) to do abbreviated versions of some of the moves (yes, please).  They guarantee visible results after 10 workouts.  I decided to take and record my current measurements again, just to test this claim. We'll see. I was able to do the entire workout except for the floor exercise just before the cool down section. This involved a diabolical flat-on-your-back-to-standing move (without benefit of help from your elbows or arms) that was impossible a little too tricky for this grandmother of five. You know it's tricky if I fall back on hiding behind my grannyhood! It was a good workout. I'm hoping that maybe as the scrapes, bruises and aches from last night's bike fall fade and as I continue to practice with it, the moves will get easier. For now, though, I'm thinking the several sections that commenced with my new favorite four word phrase were the best part of the workout!  There may be more Ibuprofen in my future at bedtime tonight.

For your viewing pleasure:  A picture with my sister taken at my Dad's 93rd birthday dinner last month.  I have lost 8 more pounds since this picture was taken.

We're down to just the three of us again, as my brother & his friend left today.  Back to our normal routines. It's time for me to get back in my own routine to keep trimming away these pounds so I can get to my goal by Thanksgiving.  We'll have the whole family here (all the kids and grands!), lots of fun and lots of pix.  I think I can be at or very close to my WW goal (20 pounds lighter than last week's WI weight) by then.  That's three months--13 weeks.  I'm going to DO it.  Having a goal helps.  I haven't quite reached my goal of 12 pounds for the Summer Diet Buddies challenge, but it's still possible.  The challenge ends Sept 7th--that's 10 more days. I have 4 more pounds to lose to meet that goal.  My morning weight this week is looking good for melting away several sticks o' butter by my Wednesday WI.

I did a little closet shopping the other night and there's a very nice size 12 dress that bodes well to fit this fall.  I can zip it up all the way now, but maybe a few more pounds and a little more torture work with the kettle bell set will do the trick and smooth out the too-bumpy bits.

Are you setting short term goals to keep yourself going?