Sister Reunion

I shared a lot about our recent trip to Texas, here... One of the sweetest rewards for traveling to Texas was getting to see my SAH Hookers friends, Christy and Lisa.  We ran our first half marathon together on Team Shrinking Jeans in June and all three of us are training for our next races in November.  All of us bonded as we trained together as a team, and we all have loved sharing the amazing bond of accomplishing something that few people in this world ever undertake. One of the greatest things has been that we have all continued to grow in friendship, sisterhood and as like-minded women striving to live our best lives.

I have said it before and I will take a moment to say it again... I cannot imagine my life without The Sisterhood.  I am absolutely thrilled that I stumbled upon it a year ago and even more thrilled that I jumped in and joined Team Shrinking Jeans really not knowing anyone.  The friendships, humor, encouragement, fun and most importantly the common willingness to challenge one another have literally changed my life and have helped me to invest more in my health and overall well being.  These ladies have become so important to me and have become truly like sisters over the past year.  I relish in their triumphs and they encourage me in mine.  When I found myself right back in my Dark Winter a couple of months ago, the first friends I went to were these ladies.  I had responses from every one of them within less than 24 hours.  THAT is friendship and THAT is sisterhood.  And THAT makes me incredibly grateful!

So, you can imagine my excitement to be able to see two of these ladies while in Texas.  Christy, happens to live relatively close to my MIL where we were staying.  Of course "close" is a relative term, as Christy lives in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the beautiful hill country where many towns are at least 30 minutes apart.  So, we met in Kerrville, a town 30 minutes from where I was staying for a run.  Little did I know just how BIG those hills in the "HILL COUNTRY" would be... We found a track and then parked about 2 miles from it and ran (downhill) walked (uphill) to the track and then did three miles on the track.  Christy was such a good sport with me.  I was not only unaccustomed to hills, but I was still sweating out all of the adult beverages I had ingested at all of the wedding festivities over the weekend, so I walked A LOT!!!  We had such a great time chatting it up and catching up... It was awesome!  After our run, we headed to Starbucks for a well deserved latte and breakfast.  What a great morning!  I left on more than just an exercise high, but on a "I've just spent time with a dear friend" high.

 

Thanks for introducing me to your HILLS, Christy!  And thank you for your friendship and for taking a step of faith and starting that little website we all love!

If that wasn't enough, we took a little side trip to Austin to see one of David's best friends and to see Lisa, one of my other "sisters"!  Lisa and I were "race buddies" at the Half.  She was nursing an injury, which brought her closer to my pace, so we started together and were together for the first several miles and ended up finishing within a few minutes of each other.  

So, when we got into town and spent some time with David's friend and got the kids to bed, I headed over to Lisa's and we sat on her patio talking, laughing and enjoying a great glass of wine.  She is one funny lady!  It was fun to share the stories of meeting our spouses and stories of those who came before.  SHE has some stories!  Then, we got our families together at one of the most beautiful places in Austin... Oasis.  What a great choice!  We had the perfect little enclosed section of the patio to keep five kids contained and still have an amazing view of the sunset.  Her kiddos are so fun.  Her Sam talked my ear off and my absolute favorite was how he said my name... He was sooo excited to tell me everything and in trying to say my difficult name, it came out Miss Tumbowee (or as I called it Miss Tumbleweed) and then when I asked him if "Miss Tiff" would be easier, he said "yeah, Miss Tuff".  How cute is that!!!  I am so thrilled that we got some "girl time" the night before, but is was fun to hang out together as moms with our kiddos too.  Here are some pics from dinner...

Running Buddies - Reunited!

 Kiddos - passing time while the adults ate...

 Incredible Lake Travis Sunset!

 The "crazy picture" - a bribe for taking a nice pic first!

 A rare opportunity for a pic of Lisa and her kiddos!

Thanks, Lisa, for being so amazing and so authentic!  You are doing an awesome job raising your kiddos and taking care of yourself too!  You inspire me.

So, there you have it!  Love, love, loved seeing two of my SAHs!!!

Shrinkvivor - Weigh-In #4

It has been another exciting week in the land of SHRINKVIVOR!

I have to say that my awesome tribe is STILL outfiting, outlosing and outlasting so far...

This was a crazy week for me full of travel, eating out, attending a wedding and seeing great friends!  I am more than thrilled that I was able to maintain, given the travel.

Our fitness challenge was FASTEST MILE.  Could be any one mile during the week...  I blew myself away with an 11:23 minute mile!!!  I thought I was going to drop by the time I finished!  That feeling was followed by total exhilaration! 

In other exercise news... I had the exciting opportunity to see one of my Team Shrinking Jeans SAH's while I was in Texas.  Christy and I got together for a run/walk through the hills of Kerrville with a nice interlude on the High School Track.  It was like having coffee with an old friend (which we did after our run!), and was so good for my soul.  This whole fitness journey has been so amazing for me and there are just many people in my life that don't totally understand it.  Especially the online component.  That's okay, it is a bit different, but I cannot imagine my life without The Sisterhood and without my amazing Team Shrinking Jeans SAH's.  You have ALL been inspiring, supportive, funny, committed and unafraid to throw down challenges!  My life wouldn't be nearly as rich without all of you!

Here's our post-run, post-coffee pic!

On the eating front, I did pretty well all things considered.  I had plenty to confess on Tuesday, given that the alcohol was flowing at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, the food was amazing and there was a ton of eating out.  I did two things that helped me maintain my weight.  First, I drank my water - minimum of 2-3 liters of water EVERY DAY!  I also kept up with my exercise, walking on one day, running on two days and plenty of running around with the kids.  I will start my medically supervised plan tomorrow, so I am very optimistic that I will be starting to make bigger and more consistent progress.  Our other challenge was to eat our fruits and veggies... I am proud to say that I never have a problem with this - I love my fruits and veggies!  I did great and didn't skimp just because I was on vacation!

I will be posting more about my trip and more about my time with Christy and Lisa soon.  It was a blast to see both of them!

Anyway, I should probably get to the details... The bottom line.

Here are my stats:

Starting Weight

215 lbs
Starting Weight for this Challenge
197.6

Today's Weight

194 lbs
This was a bit annoying - I didn't have access to a digital scale, so I was left with an even number.  I will take it and am thrilled to have maintained!

Change from last week

-0.2lb 


Difference for the challenge
-3.6lb

Total Difference

 -21 lbs

 

Shrinkvivor Weigh-In #3

It has been another exciting week in the land of SHRINKVIVOR!

I have to say that my awesome tribe is outfiting, outlosing and outlasting so far...

We will see what this week brings!

Our fitness challenge was MINUTES.  Minutes, minutes, minutes of exercise.  Could be any activity.  I am at a grand total of 379 minutes!  My slower running pace was to my advantage this week!  I had a great NINE mile run/walk on Saturday and am starting to feel like I am hitting a groove in terms of pacing.  We competitive people have some difficulty in the area of pacing - I am learning that it benefits me to be more like "the tortoise" even though every fiber of my being wants to be "the hare" 

On the eating front, I did pretty well.  I made a HUGE decision to start a medically supervised weight loss plan and will start next Thursday when I get back from vacation.  One of their specialties is medication induced weight gain.  I am very excited and cautiously excited.  Most importantly, I feel like I am making a good decision.  I have been given a copy of the eating plan and have begun to implement the changes.  First and foremost really cutting back on carbs and sugar.  I have continued to drink my 60-100 ounces of water and haven't been through a drive-thru (EVEN Starbucks!) in over two weeks!

Speaking of VACATION... Did I mention that I am going to see TWO of our FAVORITE sisters from the Hood while on vacation this next week?!?!  I will be seeing the amazing Christy M - hopefully for a 10 mile run in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.  Then, a few days later we will head to Austin where I will get to see the lovely Lisa M!  We all had so much fun together on Team Shrinking Jeans and I have been in some serious SAH withdrawals since being in San Diego.  The bigger reason we are off to Texas is to attend the wedding of my husband's youngest brother.  The greatest part is that my husband is performing the ceremony (he's a pastor) - an opportunity that most pastors do not get.

Anyway, I should probably get to the details... The bottom line.

Here are my stats:

Starting Weight

215 lbs
Starting Weight for this Challenge
197.6

Today's Weight

194.2lbs
I have a picture but my computer is NOT cooperating this morning!

 (Gotta love this "picture of the scale" thing...)

Change from last week

-1.8lb 


Difference for the challenge
-3.4lb

Total Difference

 -20.8 lbs