The Arm Issue and Shopping

Losing 100 pounds has done a lot of awesome things for my body. But one NOT so awesome thing - my arms. I actually think they looked better when I was my heaviest LOL. I had no qualms about wearing tank tops when I was big. I had a 'get over it' attitude about things like that. But.... now? They are empty and saggy and wrinkly....and they don't match the rest of me. They don't go with my clothing size. The just don't look right.

They look totally fine when I hold my arm up and look from the side (lol):

And when I put them down, still not too bad. Bigger, but I could live with it:

But then there is the back view when they aren't against my body:

And the front view when they aren't against my body:

It's just not pretty. Some day, I deifnitely want plastics to correct this problem. I mean, I was happy in tank tops before and now I've lost 100 lbs and I'm not. It's not fair! When I get to my goal weight, I am definitely going to pursue plastics, at least for my arms. It's visible and I want to be able to wear summer clothing.

However, that is a long ways away. I will have to get through this summer with the arms I've got, and possibly another summer too. So I am starting to buy lightweight pieces I can wear on top of tank tops. It's a look I can make work for me, especially with the cute scarves I've been buying up lately.

Oh and if you're wondering, yes I know it isn't summer yet. But we had a string of 60 degree days this week that got me in the mood :)

Last week I bought this cream colored piece. It's very lightweight and so far looks great with everything. Doesn't hurt it looks like it could be crocheted, too :)

Today I got thise rose colored tank top, and I tried it on with the same piece. Quite happy with the combo.

I also found a cream colored cardigan today I fell in love with, and I already turned it into a bunch of outfits. This is the first one, a navy tank top with the cardigan and a scarf that has navy, cream, aqua and light blue.

I wore the cardigan and also brought all my new scarves in my purse when I went to Kohl's. I found a purple top and tried it on with my cardigan and another scarf and made this outfit:

Also have lots more outfits I made with the cardigan and scarves but those are all the ones I have photos of.

The other type of clothing i"m going for this time of year are very lightweight tops but with longer sleeves. Since I'm cooler now they should work for me even in the summer:

I am usually an advocate of "love your body the way it is"... so I have to admit I feel a little like a sellout for falling into the "I need to hide my arms" camp. But I feel it is justified with all the saggyness I am experiencing now. I will continue to do everyhting I can to tone up, and i know time will help as well, and possibly plastics someday. But for now I feel more comfortable if I hide them, and I think that's what is important. I want to feel confident and FEEL like I've lost as much weight as I have... and when my arms show I just feel self conscious. That's not what I deserve to feel with what I have accomplished. So, here's to new clothes that help me feel confident :)

My Day in Pictures

Breakfast :) Banana, peanut butter and granola on 1/2 a sandwich thin.

Worked on my Single Rib crochet square for my sampler blanket while I hung out with my mom.

Got this cute outfit at Old Navy! I got a bunch of cute scarves that I'm excited about.

Had coffee with my dad at Starbucks :)

Went into Kohl's and brought my cardigan and scarves in with me. Found a couple more cute tops to go with some of the scarves!

 

This is what I've decided to do so that you guys don't have to worry about following my other blog. I'll keep it going there like I have been, updating it on the go throughout my day and then combine everything here for y'all ;)

Week 26 Update

No weight change to report this week. Booooo on sugar. The good news is I have cut WAY down and I am finally starting to feel the sugar cravings go away now that I've been really focusing on it for 3 days. :) I've been focusing on good protein choices, getting my water and cutting out the candy and other sugary items that were creeping in.

My SIX MONTH mark is coming up on Saturday!! So I will be weighing again and MAYBE there will be a change lol but I won't count on it too much. My post may or may not be ON Saturday because we have a really busy weekend planned.

Workouts this Week

Was sick for 4 days out of this week, had 2 workout days, and then really bad hip pain today. So not the best workout week, but at least I can say I worked out on the days I felt well. :)

Tuesday 11/16 - Leslie Sansone 3 Mile Weight Loss Bootcamp DVD (45 mins)
Wednesday 11/17 - Leslie Sansone 5 Day Slim Down DVD - Warm up, 4th Mile - Trim the Tummy, Cool Down (23 mins)

By the way, I will soon be posting a review of these DVDs :)

Hoping to get many more workouts in for this coming week!!


New Foods to Share
This week shall be referred to as "the week I accidentally bought tortillas when I already had a brand new package at home... now what?" :) I had been previously eating "tuna melts" made on these tortillas, and that was delicious, but I decided to try some new combinations this week! The tortillas I use are Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortillas - Fajita Size (which are the smallest).

Pizza Quesadilla
Hubby invented this. He made his with shredded 2% Italian and shredded 2% Mexican cheese, about 6 slices of Hormel Turkey Pepperoni, and Oregano.

I had a jar of spaghetti sauce in the fridge from when we made pizza burger - so I added some sauce to mine! I heated it up in the microwave first and added it into my quesadilla before folding it over. Messy to eat but DELICIOUS. I also put garlic and a little parmesan in mine.

Turkey Melt
Pretty simple - turkey and cheese! I ripped 3 slices of turkey breast up into several pieces and put them in the skillet first, turning them a couple times til they were warmed up and just slightly browned. Then I added them into my tortilla with some american cheese and grilled it up in the skillet.

As tasty as it looks, it tasted even BETTER. So yummy!!


These both came out great and now I am thinking of lots of possibilities. Ham or chicken would both be great, changing the variety of cheese and adding other things into it. I also thought of doing breakfast versions, like say, ham, egg beater and cheese. So maybe I will have more to share next week :)


Adventures in Shopping

Went back to Savers last weekend and picked out a couple of dresses. I don't have pics of both of them yet, but here is one. It is a light robin's egg blue with very dark chocolate brown. I originally bought a brown belt to go with it and help break up the pattern, but the belt broke... so I'm holding it up in these pics. I am headless because I still had a towel on my head and no makeup :)

Not bad for a $12 dress huh?

Since the belt broke and I didn't really want to try to find another one, I got creative hunting through my closet. I decided that this dark brown piece I had looked great with the dress!

Now I just needed shoes!!! (The silver ones in the first photo are cheapies I bought in desperation once and they are supremely uncomfortable!)

This week I've shopped at many shoe stores and have discovered I USUALLY fit into a MEDIUM WIDTH shoe now. This is ridiculous to me, having come from EXTRA EXTRA WIDE WIDTHS. Not all, but most medium widths fit me in a 9, 9.5, or 10. I still have many issues like the bone spur on my left heel and the fact one foot is bigger than the other, so it is still hard to find something but at least i stand a CHANCE now! Today I found one pair of brown strappy shoes for $5, and a pair of chocolate brown boots for $30.

The photo quality is CRAPPY because I took this at night with a dim overhead light in our room and tried to lighten the pic. I'll be sure to get better pics later :)

This is my FIRST EVER PAIR OF KNEE HIGH BOOTS. EVER!!! They are VERY VERY stretchy in the calf which is the only reason they fit. None of the other ones I tried on fit, although some came close. A couple more inches off my calves and I should be able to wear any boot I want... and I can't wait because man, I like boots!!!

That's it for this week. Hope to be back with my 6 month update over the weekend!!

Savers!!

My update for this week will be a little late because I've had a BUSY day! Today was my weigh-in (will report tomorrow) and then I had to leave home fairly early to pick up my sister-in-law and take her to get an xray. She had called me yesterday evening and said she fell at work and sprained her ankle pretty severely. So I picked her up to go get an Xray... then grabbed some coffee and took her to Redbox so she'd have movies to watch while she stayed home and rested her ankle. Poor thing.

Then I set off on an all-day adventure, although I had no idea it was going to be all day. I had heard about this store called Savers which is a thrift store similar to Goodwill. I looked up their website last night and it just so happened that Thursday was a 50% off sale for Veterans Day! I decided that made it a really good time to go check it out. I had been wanting to do some thrift store shopping anyway while we are going through various sizes so that we don't spend too much money on clothes.

All of their locations are somewhat far from me. First I went north up to their Boulder location (19 miles from home)... found 3 tops for myself and picked up a bunch of things for my husband to try. Then I went from Boulder all the way down to Aurora (37 miles!!) only to find that location had been closed down! (Or so I thought - I just found out it MOVED. Argh.) Thanks for the heads up, website :-P Then I went to Littleton (another 15 miles) - oh my gosh this location ROCKED. It was huge. I was in there for 3 hours or more and didn't even see everything I wanted to see. I got tons of great stuff for both myself and my husband. Then I drove home, another 24 miles.

Savers in Littleton, CO. Photo from yelp.com

SO... my little day of shopping fun somehow covered more than 6 hours and nearly 100 miles of driving... LOL!!!!!! Good thing I had packed my lunch box with 3 meals in it, and two water bottles. It's like I KNEW. :)

Here are just a couple of the pieces I bought, I didn't take pics of everything I tried on.

Teal top $2, brown vneck sweater $3, brown button up sweater $3.50

So I have to say I am now a HUGE Savers fan. I think I'll be doing all of my shopping there for a while. Wow it was so great! In the end I have some things to return that didn't work for hubby, and a couple I decided not to keep after all... but here is what we ended up with:

IAN'S HAUL: 3 long sleeve shirts, 3 short sleeve shirts, 1 pair jeans & 1 pair athletic shorts (minus the athletic shorts, because he's wearing them) = $13.50

MY HAUL: 4 long sleeve shirts, 4 sweaters, 3 short sleeve shirts, 1 jacket, 1 hoodie, 1 scarf, 1 pair pj pants = $41.50

Love it!!! ALL of this for $55!!

Tomorrow is going to be busy too. I have to take my SIL to the doctor to go over her Xrays, do the grocery shopping I didn't do today because I was busy with Savers lol,  and do a few loads of laundry. But when I get to the laundry part, and catching up on my TV shows from this week, I will do my weekly update video and blog post :) So stay tuned!

Out with the Old, in with the New (Balance)

My New Balance sneakers have treated me well.
I've been wearing these since just before the wedding. I guess somewhere between wearing them AT my wedding, on my entire honeymoon, through many home improvement projects and selling our house, moving, trapsing through the red dirt in Utah, daily wear and workouts.... well... they've had it!!

OLD New Balance meet... NEW New Balance.

I can't believe they used to look sooooo white and clean and new! Yes I got the exact same pair because with my orthotics and my wide feet, this is pretty much THE pair of sneakers for me right now. Wish I had more choices but sadly, I do not.

I will keep the old pair around as work shoes, so I hope they can get along :)

Just for fun and nostalgia, here I am wearing them at my wedding, when they WERE all shiny and new:

Can't Ignore it Anymore

I have been dealing with foot pain for a couple of years... but over the past few months, it has been in a new spot, and gotten increasingly more painful. After reading through the mayo clinic's section on plantar fasciitis, I am pretty sure that is exactly what I've got. The location of the pain fits, and the symptoms - as far as the worst pain being when i get up in the morning, and when i get up from sitting... and that during exercise it warms up and doesn't hurt, but then AFTER.... after, it kills me.

"Plantar fasciitis causes stabbing or burning pain that's usually worse in the morning because the fascia tightens (contracts) overnight. Once your foot limbers up, the pain of plantar fasciitis normally decreases, but it may return after long periods of standing or after getting up from a seated position."

It's also much worse in my left foot. I feel it in my right, but the difference is night and day. The amount of pain in the right foot wouldn't really even have me thinking about going to get it checked... whereas the left has gotten to the point where I can no longer ignore it and must do something NOW.

This makes sense based on this bit of info found in the causes:

Improper shoes. Shoes that are thin-soled, loose, or lack arch support or the ability to absorb shock don't protect your feet. If you regularly wear shoes with high heels, your Achilles tendon — which is attached to your heel — can contract and shorten, causing strain on the tissue around your heel.

While I do not wear high heels hardly ever - I have the same problem without doing so. My left achilles tendon is already contracted and shortened and strained - because of the surgery I had on my heel which I think was in 2003. They removed a bone spur from my heel and had to cut into the tendon to do so. It healed poorly and hurts me often. This - combined with my weight - is more than enough explanation for the pain I am having. And I'm pretty sure it is plantar fasciitis.

I called a foot clinic, and they took my insurance, AND had an opening tomorrow at 2pm! That was way too easy :) It's even a female podiatrist, yay bonus.

So tomorrow I'm going, and I hope she has some good answers for me and some suggestions for treatment. It has really gotten to the point where I can barely convince myself to go for an easy walk, as the pain is so bad. Even though during the walk it gets better, the first 5 mins are hard and then after I'm done, it hurts much worse the entire day. Ow ow ow ow ow. One of the thing the website says is common is that they will give you a split to wear when you sleep, that lengthens the achilles tendon and plantar fascia as you sleep. That sounds like it would help a LOT.

On a happier note - I bought some new clothes. They fit well and make me feel better about myself. I wanted to take pics of all the tops, but the camera wasn't in a nice mood today and I didn't like how I looked in the pics. But, I do have a couple of closeups in one top, and a shot in the mirror from another.

That's all I have for now. I will make another attempt tomorrow at taking pics in all the tops. I need it to be outside in more flattering light, for sure. That just wasn't happening today as Ian's dad is here working on the tile and he cuts the tiles out back where it was shady and a good spot for picture taking :) So hopefully tomorrow I will have more to share. Scratch that. Just found out he's back tomorrow! Hehe. Oh well, sometime soon. Before Chicago, definitely. I did mention I am going to Chicago right??? I'm going next Thursday!