Moving right along!

Things are moving right along and I'm very happy with how they are moving!   It was a great week for walking this week,  in the last 7 days according to my Garmin (which I only wear when doing a serious walk or walk/run)  I have spent 4 hours, 28 minutes and 4 seconds walking.  I have walked 17.66 km's during 6 activities.  This makes me happy, happy, happy.

It was a very hot week here, very unusual for mid September, fortunately I'm an early riser so we had our walks completed in the early morning, before the heat of the day.  Something that the dog has been grateful for I'm sure.  I have to admit I'm lucky with Angus, he'll usually walk as far as I want to, he's good with doing stairs, he's good with running (occasionally, when he's in the mood).  However with the heat and his winter coat coming in, this is his usual position when I come out of the shower after our walks.

Thanks for the walk, I'm just going to lay here and recover.

I had a great meeting this week, I was down a little over two pounds for a total weight loss now of 68.9 pounds.  I'm so excited to see a steady loss again!  Last week at the meeting my leader Colleen asked three of us if we could be the weight loss success stories for this week.  She gave us a questionnaire to fill out and asked us to bring either a before picture or an article of clothing to show how far we've come.  I decided to bring my trench coat with me.  I bought the coat last year and when I got it, even though it was the largest size they had, I couldn't button it up properly.  The top button would do up, the middle button would strain if I did it up and the bottom button...well there was no way it would do up.  I noticed during February and March that I was able to do up the top two buttons no problem and I never really even tried to do up the bottom button, just because.  I stopped wearing it in April  and May when the weather got warm and haven't had it on really since May or so.  I put it on Thursday night to see, and it is now huge.  I had originally thought I would be able to take it in, but there is no way that is going to happen, it is simply too large to do that with.

My hands are at the two edges of the coat showing where the buttons are, when I couldn't do them up.

My hands are showing where the two edges of the coat are now, a HUGE difference!

When I was originally asked my impulse was to say no, I'm not a success yet, I've got a long way to go....but it was pointed out to me that I am a success.  I've lost a lot of weight, I've changed my lifestyle.  I'm active and outgoing now.  If there's a day that goes by when I haven't gone for a walk, I just don't feel right.  It felt so good to be in my meeting and be able to share my success so far.   I am a success, and I'm moving right along....in the right direction!

I left Angus at home on Friday, I decided I wanted to do long intervals and I know that just won't happen with Angus.   When I headed out to my weight watchers meeting I took my work out clothes with me to change into after the meeting.  I then headed up to Rotary stadium to do the 5K Route that is used for the Run for the Cure.  I put on my ipod and started out and felt great.  I walked the first seven minutes or so and then started doing my intervals.  I didn't go by time or landmarks today, I wanted to see how I would do just going as long as I thought I could.  It was the right decision.  The majority of my intervals were almost a minute or perhaps a little longer than that.  I felt great, and it was such a sense of pride.  When I time my intervals with the watch, I struggle to get 30 seconds in as I'm watching the clock.  Today I didn't do that I just went and hit the lap button on my watch every time I started running and walking.  It was great!  I'm really proud of these times!  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/375042459  I goofed up on the walk and somehow missed a km on the route, I guess I turned too early and didn't get the full park loop in so it was only 4.1km's but I'm happy with how I did!