kwikloses

AHH I am doing it! I made my mini-goal. I officially reached a steady weight under 150 lbs. Very exciting! Time is going quickly until my wedding and I am taking it all in stride! 21 days till I leave here and 29 till I get married! Back to work!

~K

For the past 48 hours, a world of stress unloaded on me here. Thursday My leadership had told me to “stay flexible”… like I just planned to run to the court house real quick… no turkey heads, I have been planning this wedding for almost 12 months now and you’re telling me to be flexible? Come up with a back up plan? Holy-hell. I was informed Friday that I would not be able to go home on leave in time for my wedding on June 7^th… That day I was devastated. Cried for countless hours, and hit a real rock bottom low. Didn’t fall asleep till way late and was up all too early. The following morning I woke up and decided I was going to do what ever I could to get my wedding back. I sent a few emails, and started pushing buttons. Probably opened my mouth more than I should have about what was going on, griping to those who needed to know, those who could talk to the right people. And by 3pm, I was informed that they were able to find a slot for myself AND my better half to fly home in time for our wedding… pshew… Never have I been so relieved.  Now I need to get my rear in gear and go to the gym… Big sand storm hit today. Ick! Take care all!!

~K

So! This past week has been nice and slow at work. A female from my unit informed me of a country dance night on Mondays… My fiancé has always refused to dance… but with some pleading and such, and reminding him that we HAVE to dance at our wedding, he finally agreed. Usually he works nights but he had the past two Mondays off and he’s started going with me (2 in a row, what a feat!).

The first night, he started off and WOW was THAT entertaining… but with a little practice he showed massive improvement. On week 2, he came out of nowhere and decided to learn how to spin me. With the help of an experienced male dancer, he was able to learn how to spin me, and managed to look good doing it! I was really proud! Along with that, I have been going to Latin dance night on Fridays and been taking Latin dance lessons. I’ve been considering that medium cardio and legs of those two days… (I guess it could count!)

I have been really (surprisingly) good about going to the gym FIVE times a week (sometimes twice a day!!). Very exciting! I am seeing change in my stomach and the way my pants fit. I am trying very hard to max my sit ups and run on my pt test in early April, but it’s going to be close.

**A and I had a little tiff last week. I think a lot of it rode on the stress level around here. We are doing well now. She is down like 30 pounds now. This leaves her only 8ish pounds more than me.,. I am finding it really hard to stay positive about that, but am keeping that on the inside. I am having a personal debate with some of the ways she is losing the weight, but all I can do as her leader is continue to promote the “RIGHT” way to eat and exercise. I am excited in the sense of accomplishment she is feeling and the progress I see in her body, though. I can only continue to support her and motivate myself to keep up.

Trying to find the right way for myself,

~K

So, today I had the day off of work and I took the bus to the main gym here on the Base. I had never been there before and I was very surprised to see the quality of the facility! I ended up running 2 mi then doing legs at the weight room and back to the treadmill for almost another mile.  But the best part came from a flier at the gym.

Some group here is hosting a 5 mile relay race for woman’s history or something like that… I found this urge to get a team together for it. They have 2 categories, all female team or mixed. Half of the mixed team members must be females. Based off how well I am doing with my cardio I think I would do really well as a part of the relay. Now I have to find at least one other female to compose a team with me! The race is the last Saturday of the month, so not much time…

There is also a body building/fitness competition in mid April. I wish I was in shape for that but one month is NOT enough time for me to prep for it. Despite that, I really want to go watch, maybe catch a bit of the motivation fever…? J

Hope everyone is staying motivated! Have a great week!

~K

So I think I found a solution to my “issue” with myself feeling competitive towards my soldier, *A*. Tonight I had her take an hour off of her shift to come to the gym with me. I loved it. We had a blast on the cardio machines (of course avoiding that dang elliptical!). I challenged myself to run a bit longer than I originally intended to, and challenged her to stay on the elliptical longer than she intended. Then she taught me a few core workouts and abdominal work outs that I could benefit from, and I helped her work her calves. It was very motivating for both of us and no tension at all. I really wish I could have kept her on day shift with me and we could go together regularly… Weigh in and a longer blog with some alternative perspectives will come tomorrow. Yey for Fridays… (HAHA… like that makes a difference here!).Is home. ~K

I like to think I have always had a knack for cardio. Even when I don’t train rigorously for it, I can generally keep up with the rest of my guys on a typical run.  When I recently started hitting the gym, I have been biking. Not my favorite task but I found it to be entertaining enough to do it for more than 20 mins… Now I have this history of what I call self diagnosed ADD… I get really board with the same stuff every day, so my challenge lies in keeping myself amused. After 3 rounds of biking in 5 days, I decided I should try something else. That’s when I decided to give the elliptical a go. So after I finished the bike, I set the elliptical time for 25 mins and I start “peddling” away. As soon as I thought I had the whole motion down and got side tracked with shiny objects, I lost my senses and somehow “forgot which foot goes next”. It’s then when I proceeded to get semi-tossed from the elliptical. With both hands struggling to find a solid grip for stability, I am attempting to figure out how to put my left foot BACK down and stand on the elliptical that was winding down from a full speed venture. To those around me it had to look as though I was attempting to do a line of hop scotch… I have never in my life felt SO inept.  

So needless to say, I am sticking to the bike and treadmill from here on out… Lesson learned. 

This Friday will conclude two weeks of my attempt to become a new me. I will do my weekly weigh in and next Friday, I will do body pics again and consider posting the beginning pics and the week 3 pics. Very nerve wracking, but I think it will do good in motivating me.~Kps I gave in and ate a cookie this week, no excuses, shame on me. pss I apologize for the lack of writing this week, crappy weather and sand storms around here weaken our internet connections.

Looking the part; Why I am stepping up now.

If my story of success was to begin anywhere, I think it starts on 21Feb2008.

Background: I left for the military on 22Feb2006. I joined as a larger side of average 20 year old who had nothing more than motivation. I wasn’t exactly “athletic” in my teenage years, though always a decent runner (not track material but better than average in gym). I was 5’6 and I weighted 164pounds the day I left for my initial training. In the beginning, I was running 2 miles in 22:00 (college put a few pounds on me and lost any endurance I had remaining). With time in initial entry training, (about 7 months total) and lots of perseverance, I graduated running a 14:45 (spectacular for a female) having the foundation for the stomach I had always dreamed of, the legs of a classic runner and weighing in at a very healthy 143pounds. Upon arriving at my first permanent duty station, the change of atmosphere, rules and regulations and the difference in mission, moral and motivation took their toll. Soon, I was back up to 158 lbs, running 17:25, substituting that stomach and those legs for all the fast food burgers and liquor I could readily consume. 

Recent: So somehow (maybe the story for another day) I met this amazing man who is absolutely stunning to my eyes… J He makes me feel beautiful in everyway and yes, there are those times when I ask myself what he sees in me… he is so great… so… above me. But low and behold, this man proposed to me nine months ago. We are currently deployed to
Iraq together, and I consider myself to be luckier than 90% of the soldiers out here because I have my significant other in tow. Life is great, considering the conditions. So I have been edging towards some sort of plan for getting in shape for my wedding, but procrastination had long become my faithful nemesis, or at least my second nature.

The Tipping Point: So I was recommended to attend the promotion board this month as a secondary zone candidate at exactly 2 years (very early for a soldier to attend the promotion board to become a Non Commissioned Officer…). I have always done well at boards but the promotion board was a whole new experience for me. I got a very average score on my last physical fitness evaluation. And the senior members of the boards had a hay-day with that. During the board, they proceeded to have a blatant discussion with me, which started with this question…”granted we know your level of competence in the work place, what OTHER reason is there to recommend you with such “average” scores in your phys. fitness assessment and your weapons qualification scores?… How do you plan to conduct physical fitness training when you can’t hardly do 25 push-ups and run but a mile before you are spent?” That was it. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I ended up getting recommended for promotion (with a disgraceful score). I later requested another fitness assessment the first week of April. I have promised to myself to not miss a single day of training for that, but not just that upcoming test, but training for the future, training to prove those people who doubted me wrong. I want that what I used to have, a grip on my dream. I only hope using anger as my motivation doesn’t jinx me.

~K