Weigh-in Day, Mar. 31

192.4!!! Down 2.8 pounds from last week!! (Note - I am posting this a few days after March 31, but I did actually weigh myself on that day. This is just the first chance I got to sit down and blog about it!) In the words of my trainer, Liz - who is now reading this, so I must behave! - it just goes to show that you can take a week off, maintain my weight, and come back in and kick some butt!!

I think there were a couple of reasons for this big loss. #1 - After vacation, I think I was retaining a lot of water due to drinking a lot of alcohol. #2 - I was bloated for another reason. (Ladies, you know what's up.) #3 - I was REALLY careful about what I ate because I didn't get to work out as often as I would have liked. That's right - I worked out LESS than normal, but because I was so careful about my food intake, I still lost almost 3 pounds!

Now, I'm not really expecting this week to be so awesome because my 25th birthday is tomorrow. (YAY!) I've been out to eat a lot in the last few days, and it's hard to really know how many calories you're taking in at restaurants. You can't control what they cook your meat in or measure out how much cheese is in your salad. But this is real life! I don't want my birthday to become a reason for me to fall off track (just like vacation), but I am giving myself a little leg room. Just so you know - I have not yet had a single dessert!! That is one triumph!!




















I recently found these old pictures of myself from the summer of 2008. That year was very up and down for me - I lost 2 grandparents, had a very disappointing academic year, but I went to study abroad in Paris that summer, which was the time of my life. Unfortunately, I was so extremely overweight, I hate looking at a lot of my pictures. I don't even know what I weighed - I was afraid to step on a scale. I did, however, find inspiration in these photos.



To really appreciate this photo - it must be compared with the new photos I took today. I've been meaning to take some comparative photos for awhile, but you all know how crazy my schedule
is. So here are my newest photos.



















May I just be the first to say - HOLY CRAP!!!! I mean, I know I've been shrinking but seeing where I'm at now compared to where I was is SHOCKING to me. Especially that view from the side. My best guess to my weight in the above picture is around 230 lbs. That's about 40 POUNDS of a difference. And who knows how many inches. I'm feeling great about where I'm at - which in truth, can be dangerous. It can lead to complacency, which is what made me start slacking off last year. So, in effort to make sure I'm not sitting into a routine, today I ran 6 minute intervals. I had run for 6 minutes straight, once, at the beginning of my workout. Today I ran for 6 minutes, walked for 2 minutes and then repeated it 3 more times. NEVER have I done that before. By the last running interval, I was pooped. I wanted to stop after 2 minutes! But I kept telling myself, "Come on, Danielle, you can do this. Don't give up on the last leg!" And I finished it! Granted, I wasn't running very quickly, but that's not what I'm working on as of now. Maybe when I can run a mile, I'll work on speed.

That's all for now - I'll update you on my goals in the next post! I haven't forgotten about them - but while on vacation, I didn't keep up with them. But I'll let you know soon! Thanks so much to everyone who follows me!!!