Let the Little Victories Commence.

Little Victories, friends.  Little things add up to such big things.

As I've talked about in this here blog many times before, one of the truest of the most true things I can relay to you (even when I'm not doing it myself...) is this:  I will never cease to be repeatedly amazed at the mighty things that can happen when you simply choose to "do."  

Pyramids weren't built in a day, blah blah blah, insert cliche here, etc.  You get it.
(Speaking of pyramids, Fat Archaeology is SO happening again.)

While I most certainly have not been perfect since my last post, here's what I have been:

Honest.

With myself, that is.

Today, I didn't stick to my calorie goal.  But, I logged it.  I put it all in MyFitnessPal and I made sure to burn off what I ate.  My workout today may not make me lighter, but it will make me more fit, and I won't gain anything.  And working out most certainly did one of the things for which I love it the most:  it made me happy.  I ate a cookie, I had a piece of cheese pizza, I drank two Whitsuns with my work team, and I am still happy.  Not beating myself up, not angry about my poor decisions - content.  And even though I didn't stick to my 1500 calories, you know what I still am?

Happy.

Little Victories are so huge.  I have a tendency to concentrate on the very large, overall picture of where I know things need to and can be, and forget that it takes many a little goal to get there.  If we constantly think about the end result without breaking it down into smaller, regular, attainable and realistic goals, we set ourselves up for a feeling of perpetual failure.  I drive myself absolutely nutty and get nothing accomplished.  It feels infinitely better to meet lots of little goals.

If memory serves me, I think I may know a girl who did just this and lost about 130lbs once upon a time...

Here are my goals for the next week:
I will work out 5 times.
I will stick to my calorie goal a minimum of 4 times.
I will make a new, kickass installment of my Sweaty Beats playlist.
I will spend a half hour per day until Saturday tidying my bedroom.  My closet kind of threw up all over...
I must see How to Train Your Dragon 2.  Seriously, though.  It has to happen.

What've you got up your sleeve?  What would you like to tackle over the next little while?  Pick a little victory in your sights, or perhaps you've already had one recently!  Share away, friends.

Little Victory!

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Brief but awesome...

My wrist is now small enough to do this.

That is all.

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Little Victory: Cartwheel

Actual photo (from google image search) of me (animated
figure) doing a cartwheel (I SWEAR I did one!).

Tonight, for the first time in over 15 years, I did a flawless cartwheel.

I often joke about how big our living room is, and how "It's just too small - I need to be able to do at least two cartwheels, and end in a round-off into the splits..."  I am fortunate to have a very big living room.  Before my roommate and I just-danced for a while tonight, I had a moment of reckless abandon.  And without thinking too much about it, I said "I'm gonna do a cartwheel!"

And, I did it.

It was perfect!  I really don't know how I did it.  I just knew I could, so I did.  We thought it'd be fun to get a photo of me mid-wheel for this blog, so I tried to do it again.  But, I was thinking too much about how I wanted to do it.  I second-guessed myself, and ended up falling down again, and again, until the last time when I'm afraid I managed to hurt myself.  Oh well - I did it that once, and I will do it again.

How did I do it that first time, though?  It felt so effortless and matter of fact when it happened.  I felt myself flying over, feet down, stand up - WOO!  How did I do it?  And is it crazy that, while not at all enjoying the pain, I am strangely satisfied that I'm a bit banged up from trying something I haven't thought I was capable of doing in so very long?

My lesson from this little victory...  Sometimes I need to stop planning, analyzing, and thinking so much about what I'm about to do, and just land a darn cartwheel.

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It's easy.

Dear, lovely Fashionably Late Readers,

I am painfully aware of my negligence to this here blog over the last couple of weeks.  I have missed it, and I have missed you! Whomever you may be...

Diligence has not been my forte, lately.  It is far too easy to become lackadaisical about...  Well, everything.  I haven't tracked my food as well as usual, I haven't made as much progress in the weight department as I'd like, and I haven't blogged as often as I should.  But, not this week.  I got back on track, lost 3 pounds, and bought myself some new, helpful goodies.

With fresh resolve, my favorite pen, a new planner, and a neat looking Mead college-ruled composition notebook for recipes with "LET THERE BE FOOD!!!" scribbled on the front, progress shall be made.  Here are a few things you all can expect to be heading your way.

...Regular posts about Fat Archaeology discoveries
...Regular posts about Little Victories
...The return of Sweaty Beats!
...Fashion!  Struggles and successes with shopping, what I've found, where I've found it, and why it worked for me.
...FOOD.  I'll be sharing my go-to products, reviewing things I've tried, posting recipes from cooking and baking, and providing nutritional info and Weight Watchers Point Plus values for each and every one.

First on the agenda?  A tasty little ditty I made for dinner Tuesday evening...  Gotta love light versions of comfort foods. Can't wait to share it!

Here we go!

81 Pounds Get The Boot.

81 pounds!  HA!  

Good God, y’all.  What is it good for?  Aaaaabsolutely –

Well, it’s good for a reason to treat yourself to a sweet new jacket and some rockin’ ankle boots.  That’s what.   I weighed myself this morning and was thrilled to see that I’d lost 5.3 pounds and had moved into the 80’s.  1981, if you will - the year I was born.  There's got to be some double-rainbow-mind-bending significance to that...  

Or not.  

These last couple weeks have been interesting.  I don’t know why, but my body has changed a lot over the last couple of weeks, and it’s been really, really strange for me to try and wrap my mind around some of the things this has stirred up.  The more weight I lose, I am constantly surprised by the ways it affects me, both physically and mentally.  The mind grows, the body gets...  Ehhhhhh, weirder, apparently.  It would seem my body is getting better in some ways, and just plain odd in others.  We'll discuss the weirdness later this week.  It’s not all roses lately, so I've had to keep reminding myself that this is a very good thing.  

We've got a lot to talk about.

But for now, you might be wondering, "Well, Sarah, last time you had sushi to celebrate hitting 70 pounds.  How about this time?!"  

I did have salmon again, but the real celebration came in the form of suede, pleather, and a pleasing view of myself in the mirror.  My feet have finally decided to take part in this whole weight loss thing!  Some ladies are blessed and have lovely little feet and ankles, despite the rest of them not being quite so little.  Not I!

But, that has changed, and I have a rockin' pair of ankle boots to prove it.  I may or may not have also purchased a new pleather jacket at TJ Maxx.  (That, of course, means yes - yes, I did.)  Not only are my new ankle boots just plain awesome, they also happen to be deceptively comfortable.  Huzzah!!!

In honor of having lost 81 pounds, here are some photos of me basking in a brazen, wonderfully vain moment hearing Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" in my mind while checking myself out in my new goodies.  

Pleather jacket - can't find brand!  TJ Maxx - $29.99

Zigisoho black ankle boot wedges - $40 at DSW

Little Victories and Black Eyes

There are little things I do all the time that I would've been too hesitant to do before losing weight.  Sometimes I realize while I'm deciding to do something I haven't done in a while.  Sometimes it's a happy surprise right while I'm in the midst of it.  And other times, I don't realize until afterwards.  Whichever it is, it's always satisfying.  Pushing yourself is rewarding.  You simply must try it.  

"Like what?" you might ask...

Well, Sunday afternoon it was playing on the playset in my parents' back yard like I was five years old again with my five year old cousin.  Up, down, all around.  In the fort, out of the fort.  On the swing, off the swing.  

And...  I got to introduce my little cousin to swinging upside-down.  That adorable little goober will never look at a swing set the same way again.  

I would have been way too timid to do it before.  But now?  What-ev.  It’s not that I was too scared to be upside-down, I just felt less in-control of my body and what might happen.  There was a whole lot of me to handle!  I have so much less self doubt, and so more much physical freedom.  

My little cousin and I ended up swinging, feet up in the air, so that each time we'd swing back, we were facing each other.  So, I said, "Helloooooo, sir!"  And then it went a bit like this...

Me: "Helloooooo, sirrr!"

...swing...

Him: "Hellooo!"

...swing...

Me:  "Mighty fine day we're having, yes?"

...swing...

Him:  "Yes! Are you having a good day?"

...swing..."

Me:  "Yes, indeeeed!"

...swing...

Him:  "Me, tooo!"

...swing...

Me:  "Perfect day for swinging upside-down don't you think?"

...swing...

Him:  "Yes!  Helloooooooo!"

It.  Was.  GREAT!!!  Oh, man, do I ever love kids.  And upside down silliness.  

In all my grand, childish bliss, I did manage to forget how all the blood rushing to my face for - ehhhh, quite a while, could result in blackish eyes and a handful of small blood vessels breaking in my face.  Oh well - well-earned battle scars from my latest little victory!

Little Victories

I now understand why laptops got their name.  You can use them on... your... lap.  Remarkable!  

Whatever, No-hands Smug-face...
I can do it now, too.

After my weekly workout date with my dear friend, Lindsey, I wanted to look something up, so I grabbed my laptop, set it on my lap, and googled, or imdb-ed, or whatever-ed away.  I remember being elated a few months ago after realizing I could finally use my laptop on my lap.  When I mentioned this to her, she said, "Hmm, I never would've though of that..."  If you find yourself puzzled by this also, well, let me explain it simply for you: my tummy wanted my lap all to itself and wouldn't allow me to use laptops in their intended state.  I'd either use it at a table, or with some creative rigging to use it in the general lap-type area.  Come to think of it, there are a lot of creative/rigging type things I've done in the past due to my body interfering...

But now?  Ha!  Laptop!

I bet this means the next time I fly I won't have to try and make it appear as though the tray in front of me is comfortably in its resting position when it is, in fact, actually balancing on my belly...

I can not wait until I finally get to test that one out.  

Fat Archaeology

Would consider being chased by these if it
meant Jeff Goldbum would save me.

Christmas, 1992: our family had gone to the theatre to see a holiday movie.  On the television screens in the lobby, I saw someone drill a tiny hole into an amber stone, insert a needle, then pull out dino-DNA from a mosquito. 

Blood rushed to my face, adrenalin surged through my body, and I was beside myself insisting we absolutely had to see it.  Of course, I was ecstatic afterwards, despite being terrified that Velociraptors were going to chase me up the stairs and “compies” (Compsognathus) were going to nibble my toes if I let my feet dangle off of my bed.

I wanted so badly to be an Archaeologist and used to daydream about Egyptian ruins, Mayan temples, and most of all, how exciting it would be discovering dinosaurs’ remains. 

After all my dreaming, I’ve finally had a few successful discoveries.  They are as follows:

My collar bones. 
My knees. 
My elbows. 
Some kind of bones in my butt I can feel when I sit flat on the floor…
My ribs.
My knuckles.
I could be mistaken, but I do appear to have shoulders forming.  Will report back when officially confirmed.

Knuckles exposed.

I had no idea there was unfluffy matter underneath that extraneous, uncharted, fatty landscape.  Now, the downside to revealing these bones: less safety padding than there used to be.  It is highly likely that my clumsiness will result in pain due to the lack of natural cushioning.  Nevertheless!  I am happy to be making these discoveries, and have dubbed the discovery process of my body revealing its hidden features “Fat Archaeology.”

If you’ve never been as overweight as I have, this may seem a bit silly.   Well, Fat Archaeology really is a bit silly – but it’s thrilling to see and feel things I never have before.  The weight loss process is so full of little victories every day that no one else may understand.  These little victories (physically, mentally, and spiritually) could happen at any moment.  And while they may seem small, these are by far the most huge and most rewarding victories I have encountered along the way. 

You’re going to see mini-blogs on here regularly entitled “Fat Archaeology” and “Little Victories.”  I would absolutely love to hear about your “Little Victories.”  Feel free to post your unique, odd, embarrassing, thrilling, little victories that pop up out of nowhere on here, or on my facebook page.  

By the way – no, I did not have to look up Compsognathus.