Sexy Pants (Whole75, Day 20)

Yesterday was kind of nice at work. I was in the break room refilling my coffee, and out of the blue a coworker asked how much weight I'd lost. She was supportive and happy for me when I said "90 lbs, so far!"

Then while passing between desks another coworker/ friend told me "you missed it when I said it before - you look a lot thinner, you look great!"

So that was nice. I posted on Facebook that I must have been wearing my sexy pants. It garnered a lot of attention...apparently sexy pants strike a chord with people. Heh.

And the sexy pants aren't snug, either! Maybe even before the end of the 75 I'll try on a size smaller and see how they feel.

Anyway it's Day 20 and I'm feeling fine, although my skin has been particularly troublesome lately. It may be the added stress from work, although I should point out that this stress is busy, and high-energy, and more annoying that anything (we're crunched for time and have too much to do), but it's not unhappy stress. I really like my job. Which is strange - typically in high stress positions I've had in the past (most notably customer service) I've just been miserable, and it's been my awesome (but also miserable in the job) coworkers that have gotten me through the day to day.

I still have awesome coworkers and we're still exhausted and stressed out. But ...I don't know. It's weird and wonderful to enjoy what I do. Especially at a "day job." Heh.

Oh and speaking of jobs, I was cast again in A Christmas Carol and will be rejoining the show in 2015. I'm playing literally all the same roles as last year, except one: no more Mrs. Cratchit. Instead I'll be playing The Ghost of Christmas Present, as well as the Collector, Mrs. Fezziwig, Dilber, and "voice one" (one of three narrators from the ensemble). While I'll miss playing Mrs. C (that was a bittersweet role for me, especially remembering my Grandma and my friend Mark who'd passed away), I am beyond jazzed about playing Present. It's a much cooler role than some people might think, and I *love* that the company occasionally has a woman play it. I'm still waiting to hear about other friends who've auditioned, so keep your fingers crossed for them!

On the FitBit front, the streak is alive and well at 21 days (today will be 22...can you believe that shiz???). I'm very hopeful that this will push things along a little faster. It would be so amazingly awesome to have lost 100 lbs before the end of the year.

My third Couch to 5K workout will be tomorrow (turns out you're not supposed to do them on consecutive days...whoops...no wonder my ass and thighs are so stiff and sore). But I continue to walk every day (and sometimes at night when I need additional steps) and I think it's doing me some good to get fresh air, as well as the cardio exercise and stamina training.

Speaking of which...time to slap on some sunscreen and set the timer (and put on my sneakers). It's almost time for my daily constitutional (adjusts lorgnette) don't you know.

Serendipity (Whole75, Day 17)

Seventeen's always been a lucky/ augurous number for me. And Day 17 is no exception, apparently.

For one thing, this happened:

Another Day One to record!

I completed the first full workout for a Couch to 5K. Granted, this is a pretty remedial thing (jogging and walking at intervals, spaced out pretty gratuitously) but for someone like me, who previously couldn't get through even the first few minutes of this workout without turning it off and stopping to catch my breath, this is a big victory. It's my hope that I can complete the whole circuit to improve my jogging stamina and (please please) accelerate the weight loss.

Then, as I was walking back to my office all sweaty and disgusting and glowing with victory, I got a surprise email from my friend Ashley. She's not only a fitness buff (seriously, her FitBit stats blow everyone else clear out of the water) but a world traveler with an enviable schedule of adventures. 

She asked me if I'd be interested in perhaps joining her late next year in Paris, to run their first-ever Disneyland half-marathon.

Ordinarily, I'd chuckle at such an offer and be like "yeah, dude, you go ahead and 'run' or whatever, I'll eat me some Mickey Mouse beignets and cheer you on from the sidelines." But this came mere minutes after the above screenshot was taken.

This sounds crazy...but it's a little too convenient to be a coincidence that she sent that message right after I'd started actual honest to goodness training to run.

So I said yes.

I will very likely be taking a shorter run option (5K or 10K...it's a year from now but I'm not sure a half marathon is realistic even with that amount of time to train). But I'll be going, and I'm going to run. And I haven't been to Paris since 2004. I need to remedy that!

Motivation's a helluva thing, isn't it? 

Prelude to An Actual Post (Whole75, Day 12)

Things are chugging along and I realize there's a million things I've intended to write about but simply haven't.

Maybe not a million. But a lot.

1. I have comparison shots I'd like to post from Vegas. Panda and I rode the gondolas on this last trip, and got our picture taken, and I remembered we'd done the same thing in 2011. I found the older photos, and I look different. Mainly in my face.

2. My weird hair is still weird, but somehow ...a little better than it was before. As stupid as this sounds, this is HUGE for me. I have the most pain in the ass frizzy can't-decide-if-it's-wavy-or-curly unruly hair in the land. And it's long, almost to my waist now, because I haven't had the inclination to go get it cut and styled. But after nine months (with a couple of cheat weeks here and there) of eating this way, while it's still crazy and messy, it actually looks ok without heat styling. Like, if I just wash it and let it air-dry, it'll go into this ringlet-looking thing that's actually kind of cool. Not polished or tidy at all, but not stuck-a-finger-in-a-light-socket crazy like it used to be. If I wash and blowdry it, it smooths out a bit and is wavy without being too kinky. The initial frizz, which used to be perpetual, calms down after about a day. Needless to say, I am glad of this.

3. Walking. I have a streak of 13 days over 10,000 steps on my FitBit. That has never happened. Ever. Today will be Day 14. I brought sneakers (and walking-appropriate clothing) to walk on my lunch break today. Yesterday I found a cool little path and had a nice walk listening to great music, but I went in my work flats and busted up my feet. Sneakers. Sneakers are my friend. I gotta get a spare pair to keep in the car! ...anyway I may actually succeed at hitting my steps goal for every day of this Whole75. Keep your fingers crossed for me. That's an accomplishment I would be extremely proud of.

4. Of all people, Pain Jane (the aesthetician I go to for waxing) noticed I had lost weight, and congratulated me on it. Oh! And I have to write about my initial encounter with her, years ago...we exchanged emails before we met, because I was terrified to go in for her services being as big as I was, and she is a fabulous, no-b.s. woman whom I really like and whose business I wholeheartedly recommend. A few other people have noticed, including a couple of coworkers, former castmates from the theater company, and the nice Sikh man who works at the gas station by my house. (Seriously...he's very quiet and doesn't speak much, but at one point when I was getting my change he said "you lose so much weight" in his beautiful accent, and it made me smile.)

What else.

I have my callback tonight for A Christmas Carol...I'm hoping to perform in the same company's production again. It's kind of funny, since I started this blog while I was in rehearsals for it the first time, last year. This year I convinced (read: peer pressured) my friend Jen into auditioning too! Yay!

Anyway. Consider this the trailer for upcoming, more in-depth entries when I have more time and workable brain cells (speaking of trailers I have to admit I am *very* excited for Star Wars Episode VII...December 18 can't come fast enough)

Jeans (Whole75, Day 10)

Finally.

Tonight I pulled the smaller jeans out (same ones I've been trying on intermittently for months now), put them on, and was able to take all the tags off. They are comfy enough to wear out and walk around. I'm wearing them now, in fact.

It is my hope that soon I'll be in even smaller ones. Hopefully by the end of the year.

Today's a stressful one, I can't lie. But I've been good with food and I haven't broken the step streak yet!

So...every little bit helps.

One Week In (Whole75, Day 7)

Well, I'm a week into the longest Whole-eating campaign I've done, and it's going all right. Work and Evita have me a bit stressed out (the play in particular) but nothing horrifying and I haven't been tempted to eat non-compliant foods. The idea of having a drink or something to wind down is definitely an attractive one, but not an urge so strong I can't resist it or distract myself.

I do need to get to bed earlier, though. I have been staying up later in order to get all my steps in, when I should be doing that either in the morning, or during my lunch break.

Speaking of which...I'm currently at 9 straight days (today will be the 10th) at 10,000 steps or more logged on the FitBit. I don't think I've ever had a clip this long, and keeping the streak alive is a great motivator to keep walking. I know it's not as effective as, say, a big workout with lifting weights or using a rowing machine or a dance class or something, but as simple and stupid as walking/ jogging is, it's MUCH BETTER than the absolute nothing I was doing before.

It's also helping my brain. Last night Panda came to the theatre to meet me and actually got to see the last few minutes of rehearsal, after which he walked with me around the community center (it's a really pretty set of buildings around two big central fountains and duckponds) to get my steps in and listen to me vent about my crazy day.

He's doing a Whole30!!!!!! He started a few days after me so this is his Day 5, but I'm still really impressed that he made the choice to do that. Hopefully in my 15 seconds of free time this weekend I can cook us up a bunch of food for lunches so he doesn't have to worry about going to the grocery store every day...like I've been doing...because despite having bought meat and veggies and all the cooking supplies I need, I still haven't had time or inclination to cook it all up. :-/ Not proud of myself for that.

My skin has been nasty lately. Like, worse than it's been in a long time. I'm going to continue the exercising (sweating oddly seems to help when my face breaks out like El Chapo...heh..."breaks out like el chapo"..hehe) and pumping up the water-drinking in the hopes that it'll clear up a bit more.

Fun weekend of theatre coming up! Tonight I'm seeing Star Spangled Girl with my friend Jen, Saturday I'm seeing an immersive play in history park, then Sunday Jen and Panda and I (along with a few others!) are seeing a friend's production of Broken Glass at Theatre Chevruta at the Jewish Community Center.

Oh and if you're in the area, stop by the studio on Mabury between 11AM and 1PM to audition for the Forbidden Broadway fundraising summer concert...I'll be helping out with that. :-)

Busy busy...

Three By Five (Whole75, Day 3)

I'm on Day 3 of my Whole75 and feeling ok, and I'm proud to say I'm on a 5-day streak hitting at least 10,000 steps on the old pedometer. I know that's not as much as I *should* be doing for maximum weight loss, but it's more than I was doing before.

Having that 2-day head start from walking around in Vegas so much was massively helpful in motivating me to keep on walking, even on nights like last night when all I wanted to do was go to bed and freakin' sleep. (Have I mentioned I love sleep? I. LOVE. SLEEP.)

I've been getting up early this week to work some overtime, not only to catch up on work I didn't complete while I was in Vegas but also to keep up with the crazy amount of work that's happening. It's nice because it makes the days go a little faster, but it's seriously an insane time. Once this week is over I think we'll all be breathing a little easier.

I love my job. I do.

Anyway today I'm wearing clothes featuring about 20 safety pins, not just from the pulled seam on my trouser cuffs that I've been too lazy to fix but also on a big tack in the back so they don't fall down...they're about 4 sizes too big at this point. I've also pinned one side of my (wraparound) shirt to my bra, but the damn thing is still a bit too...erm...revealing now. My boobs and belly and shoulders don't fit as nicely into it as they used to. Even the new bras I got are starting to look a bit wobbly. If they can see me through till Christmas, I'll ask Santa for some new underwear money and hit Nordstrom's again for another fitting.

And this time I'll remember to wear pants.

I have some Vegas photos (including some comparison shots from my last trip several years ago)...I'll try to remember to post them tonight after my walk.

No issues getting buckled into the Big Apple Coaster in Las Vegas...oh man I seriously love that roller coaster. Panda and I had a great time riding it. We didn't visit the coasters on top of the stratosphere (he's not fond of heights so I'll wait till I have friends with me who want to partake), but someday I'll revisit those and get buckled in there, too.

Not much else to report, except Oh! I tried sardines yesterday. I actually liked them. They were the super tame kind (skinless and boneless in olive oil), but I'm going to work my way up to the more calcium-rich crunchy kind. Baby steps.

"The game is won by nickels and dimes." - Khoa, from my old Dungeons and Dragons group

And We're Back! (Whole75, Day 1)

Back from Portland, back from Las Vegas, and back on the Whole eating plan for 75 days! This will be the longest period of time I've stuck to it, so I'm excited and nervous.

Being on vacation and eating whatever I wanted was pretty awesome, although I tended to overdo it at the buffets in Vegas (...that's kind of the point of buffets, I find, and while the food was amazing I was SO OVERSTUFFED that I now know not to do that). Drinking some booze was also nice, especially when Panda and I sat down by the pool all day Wednesday, reading and drinking Vinno de Mocca from a plastic lemonade pitcher. But I find I'm ok giving up alcohol for two and a half months, if it means I'm inching closer to my goal weight and getting healthier for it.

I'm a little bummed that we (I) didn't finish the liquor-infused chocolate truffles we have in the fridge, but hopefully they'll hold up for another couple of months and I can eat them on Christmas Eve.

Thanksgiving on a Whole30 is going to be a challenge. Panda was actually kind of miffed when I told him I was doing that. He makes really awesome pumpkin pies, and he made a comment like "so basically the only thing I'd be contributing, you can't eat." I felt bad about that, but decided to go through with it anyway.

Food's a weird political thing.

Anyway I'm really proud of him for sticking to the plan for 20 days (the last 20 of my 40). He lost 11 pounds and said he was feeling a lot better. He may be doing a Whole30 soon; we'll see.

I walked the ArtsWalk5K today! It was good to catch up with my fellow Shakespeare people and raise a little money for their group. And I'm now 3 straight days hitting my 10K steps on the old FitBit.

This week at work is going to be nuts. And I'm still helping with rehearsals for Evita, but it opens in a few weeks so that's not too intimidating.

Anyway! Back in the saddle with healthy eating and exercise. Goal for Whole75 is to hit 170 lbs by Christmas, which is a pretty steep order, but I'm motivated and eager and let's do this thing.

Wonderland.

I'd missed this place.

Whole40 was a success.

I hit my goal, just barely. Lost a couple of inches off of my hips and thighs, and a quarter-inch off my neck (although I could be measuring wrong.)

195.

It's been almost ten years since I've seen this side of 200. And I'm not interested in going back. Let's keep this progress going!

A few days of treats and celebration, then healthy eating (with dairy and some legumes; basic low carb) after that.

Whole75 begins on October 10th (same day as the ArtsWalk.) And I'm actually...kind of looking forward to it.

I thought I'd cry when this happened. Maybe I still will.

Maybe I am.

You're supposed to spell it "Onederland." I don't, for this reason.

Got it. Looks like "The Oh-nee-ders."

Time to celebrate! Portland and Vegas, here I come!!

The Good Thing About Work Being Crazy... (Whole40, Day 40)

...is that being crazy busy at work makes the day go quicker, and I don't think about pumpkin spice lattes and red wine and cherry cheesecake all day.

The bad thing about work being crazy is that work is crazy. Not a lot of time or energy for blogging, I'm sorry.

Yesterday the product team took a few of us from marketing to lunch at this awesome Thai restaurant. Thai is almost impossible to navigate on the Whole30, so I checked their menu online beforehand and figured I'd get a house salad with no dressing, and then eat from my snack drawer when I returned to my desk. But when we got there, they'd already ordered...family style...some of the most delicious and non-compliant foods that I really, REALLY wanted.

Thom ka (best soup EVER) is amazing. No idea if I spelled it right. But I have no idea if there are sugars or soy in it. Everything else is practically crusted with delicious peanuts. And of course there's soy sauce added to most of the liquids.

Pad Thai? Forget about it - I could eat it till doomsday. Peanut central.

And THAI ICED TEA. I'd forgotten how much I love Thai tea. I had plain iced tea which I like just fine, but that outstanding combination of sweetened condensed milk, coconut, and caffeine is just...well, it's just heaven.

I ate some onions and peppers and a few slivers of beef that I'd scraped the sauce from. It was kind of embarrassing, but whatever. I had food at my desk when I got back.

Goal for tomorrow is a landmark one. I'm hoping against hope.

And then Saturday morning I head out for Portland, and then Vegas.

Please, please, let me celebrate a victory on this trip...please...

Sigh. Ok. Back to crazy work.