When I started this blog a little over a year ago I didn't really know why I was starting it. I haven't been overly consistent with it, I know I'm not a great writer, and I can't imagine that anyone really wants to read what I have to say, but I still felt like I had to do it. I had to keep a record, and it felt like I should share it just in case someone else stumbled on it and somehow connected with my story.
Last night I realized how glad I am I've been writing things down on my journey. I've been really down on myself lately. I've been beating myself up for gaining back the weight, not losing it as quickly as I did last year and just feeling like a failure.
The mind is a funny thing. Last night I decided to read some of my old posts, see what I used to write about and look back at where I started. In reading my old posts, I realized that things didn't change nearly as quickly last time as I remember. I have a lot of posts about frustration, about my body fighting me and the scale not being my friend. It took me a long time to see changes, both on the scale and the tape measure.
I have to remind myself that if it was easy, everyone would be strong, everyone would be at the gym and there wouldn't be any #goals all over instagram.
Today I decided to focus on Personal Bests and Non-Scale Victories. Today I ran 2 straight minutes at a 10-minute mile pace. That might not seem like much, but I HATE cardio, despise it, worst thing ever, but I've been working on it. I know it's good for my overall health and longevity. Today's SPV & NSV were huge for me and I'm going to keep going and keep pushing!
Showing posts with label SPV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SPV. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Monday, July 20, 2015
Another NSV...
If you follow fitness blogs, fitness posters on Instagram or Twitter, or use My Fitness Pal, you may have seen the acronym NSV used. What's an NSV you ask? It's a Non-Scale Victory. NSV's are a way for people who are trying to get in better shape, sometimes by losing weight, sometimes increasing all over fitness or strength, or other personal health goals to share a victory that's not related to the number on the scale.
So often when we try and get in better shape we focus on losing weight and when that scale doesn't move it's very easy to get discouraged. NSVs are a great way to concentrate on all the other changes that are happening to your body even if that scale refuses to budge.
My body doesn't like to lose weight. I know that sounds like I'm making excuses but it's true. I started my journey at 167 pounds at the end of January of this year. It's now July and I've lost 17 pounds. For 6 months of work, that's not really a lot of weight, especially when you consider the drastic changes in diet and routine that I've made. Don't get me wrong - I am in no way complaining about my 17 pounds, I'm VERY proud of them, but it's taken a lot longer for them to come off than I thought it would or than my trainer thought it would.
In the first few weeks I lost about 5 pounds. Then I lost nothing for 2 weeks. But in that 2 weeks my jeans went from being almost unwearable to 'I need a belt'. My weight stayed exactly the same, but all of a sudden I lost inches. That was my first NSV.
This weekend I had another.
Back in February-ish, I discovered the Banana Republic sleeveless, non-iron button down collared shirts. I've never been able to wear button down shirts, they don't stay closed properly and just don't fit me right. This shirt had an amazing fit - I think it's the darts, they're in the right place for a busty girl.
Since that first one, I've bought 2 more. I have pink, black, and robins-egg blue that I bought just 2 weeks ago. The pink one, the first one, was a size 10. The black one was a size 8. I though the blue was also the same size. Then, this weekend I was doing laundry and realized it's actually a size 6.
Since I bought that first shirt, I've gone down 2 sizes (or 4 depending on how you look at it). I was so excited. This was a huge NSV for me. It's also inspired me to do some before and after pictures wearing some outfits from a few months ago - stay tuned for those!
So often when we try and get in better shape we focus on losing weight and when that scale doesn't move it's very easy to get discouraged. NSVs are a great way to concentrate on all the other changes that are happening to your body even if that scale refuses to budge.
My body doesn't like to lose weight. I know that sounds like I'm making excuses but it's true. I started my journey at 167 pounds at the end of January of this year. It's now July and I've lost 17 pounds. For 6 months of work, that's not really a lot of weight, especially when you consider the drastic changes in diet and routine that I've made. Don't get me wrong - I am in no way complaining about my 17 pounds, I'm VERY proud of them, but it's taken a lot longer for them to come off than I thought it would or than my trainer thought it would.
In the first few weeks I lost about 5 pounds. Then I lost nothing for 2 weeks. But in that 2 weeks my jeans went from being almost unwearable to 'I need a belt'. My weight stayed exactly the same, but all of a sudden I lost inches. That was my first NSV.
This weekend I had another.
Back in February-ish, I discovered the Banana Republic sleeveless, non-iron button down collared shirts. I've never been able to wear button down shirts, they don't stay closed properly and just don't fit me right. This shirt had an amazing fit - I think it's the darts, they're in the right place for a busty girl.
Since that first one, I've bought 2 more. I have pink, black, and robins-egg blue that I bought just 2 weeks ago. The pink one, the first one, was a size 10. The black one was a size 8. I though the blue was also the same size. Then, this weekend I was doing laundry and realized it's actually a size 6.
Since I bought that first shirt, I've gone down 2 sizes (or 4 depending on how you look at it). I was so excited. This was a huge NSV for me. It's also inspired me to do some before and after pictures wearing some outfits from a few months ago - stay tuned for those!
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
A little bragging and some progress pictures
Adam and I have been working out and eating well for a little over 4 months now. It hasn't always been easy and there have been some days of serious frustration for me. I've been trying not to weight myself too often and I don't like obsessing over my weight and measurements (my gym on the other hand...the fitness manager there is a little obsessed and it's annoying, thankfully our trainer ignores him).
Saturday I went back to Victoria's Secret, the place where I took my starting pictures (the lighting in their fitting rooms is forgiving and made me feel a little better about myself back at the beginning). I went back 2 months later and took more. Today was time for round 3. (Don't worry - I'm shopping too, I'm not just hogging a fitting room).
February - April - June
Large Pants & 34DD - Large Pants & 32DD - Medium Pants & 32D
I feel pretty amazing about the changes I'm seeing. It's been a lot of hard work and it's a really great feeling to see it paying off!
Saturday, May 2, 2015
It's all about the S.P.V
One thing I'm learning on this journey is that it's all about the Small Personal Victories (S.P.V.). If you want to get in shape, if you want to lose weight, or if you're just trying to eat better you have to be doing it for you or it's just not going to work. It's great to have a buddy, someone to motivate you, but it all comes down to what you want and what motivates you.
I've written before about frustrations with the scale, something that anyone who's tried to lose weight probably knows about. It's easy to forget that some changes aren't measured on a scale.
We all have that outfit that we hang on to hoping that someday maybe it might fit again. This morning, that skirt fit. I didn't plan to wear it, I didn't even plan to try it on but something made me take it out of the closet and put it on. This is a skirt I bought about 18 months ago. I've worn it once - and that one time required some control top pantyhose and it was still kinda tight. Today - it fit no shapewear required. I didn't wear the skirt to work, it's a little short to wear to the office without tights and I refuse to wear tights when it's this nice outside. Instead I wore a different skirt. On a whim, riding the high from the skirt that suddenly fits, I tried on a shirt that has been just a little bit too snug for comfort. It fit too!! Off I went to work today wearing my new shirt (never before worn) and my great black pencil skirt and I felt fabulous!
I've written before about frustrations with the scale, something that anyone who's tried to lose weight probably knows about. It's easy to forget that some changes aren't measured on a scale.
We all have that outfit that we hang on to hoping that someday maybe it might fit again. This morning, that skirt fit. I didn't plan to wear it, I didn't even plan to try it on but something made me take it out of the closet and put it on. This is a skirt I bought about 18 months ago. I've worn it once - and that one time required some control top pantyhose and it was still kinda tight. Today - it fit no shapewear required. I didn't wear the skirt to work, it's a little short to wear to the office without tights and I refuse to wear tights when it's this nice outside. Instead I wore a different skirt. On a whim, riding the high from the skirt that suddenly fits, I tried on a shirt that has been just a little bit too snug for comfort. It fit too!! Off I went to work today wearing my new shirt (never before worn) and my great black pencil skirt and I felt fabulous!
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| A picture of 'the skirt' the last time I wore it - no picture of it today, but I'll post one when I wear it again! |
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| My outfit of the day - please excuse the bathroom selfie |
Friday, May 1, 2015
You know you've made a lifestyle change when...
You spend Friday night at the gym.
Yep. It's 9pm on a Friday and I just got back from the gym. We skipped last night, we were both sore from Wednesday's murderous training session and Adam wasn't feeling well. We both agreed when we started to not skip 2 days in a row, so off to the gym we went.
Tomorrow's weigh in day - wish me luck :)
Yep. It's 9pm on a Friday and I just got back from the gym. We skipped last night, we were both sore from Wednesday's murderous training session and Adam wasn't feeling well. We both agreed when we started to not skip 2 days in a row, so off to the gym we went.
Tomorrow's weigh in day - wish me luck :)
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Small Personal Victory!
This post will be a little out of order but I just had to share. Today I hit a personal milestone - I broke 160! My official gym weigh in today puts me at 158 (my home scale puts me at my wedding weight). In the coming posts you'll learn why this is such a big deal to me right now but I just couldn't not share!
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