I had a GREAT weekend in Asheville.   I hung out with hippies and re-connected with some of my best girlfriends from college.  We camped out and did morning Yoga and meditation and took a Thai massage class and I did a breathing workshop!  It was very centering to be near all the nature again and my friends.  It felt great to re-connect in a myriad of ways.  

Now back to the real world, but it’s a good world to be in.  

Morning Meditation

Doing Yoga is way more fun when you're not toting around 80 pounds!

This is from my blog Live Life To The Fullest

I didn’t let Ego get in my way.  I felt more comfortable in the beginner group so I switched.  There was one woman in our group who seemed upset that we’d have an interval of walking + running the 2 miles, and when I suggested to her that she might want to join another groups, she seemed put off.  So during our run, we were in our little pack dog formation, and she always had to make sure she was right up in the front – the lead dog.  She reminded me of the person in class who always had to sit in the front of the class to feel the smartest.   Anyway, I thought it was rather funny.  Oh, she was wearing running gloves or something which I didn’t get.  Okay Tiger Woods.  Whatever.  

Everyone else in my group was super nice.  It’s funny to have to strike up conversation with people when you’re running.  Feels like a first date – lots of get-to-know-you conversation and heavy breathing.  

I was wearing my iPod to get me pumped up.  I rarely run without my tunes.  But I realized I was being kind of anti social (Julie?  Being anti social?)  so I turned down my music.

We did a walk + run combo for about 2 miles (30-minutes).  We ran through Ansley Neighborhood which was just so beautiful.  Very picture perfect with lots of Saturday morning yard sales.  

I have kept up my workout routine since Saturday.  We have a 7-day running schedule so it’s like homework.  Saturdays are just the day we all run together.  I did buy some wispy shorts and a breathable shirt and a running gadget.  I only look the part.  I’m still a beginner.  I am okay not being lead dog, but I don’t want to be last on race day along with the Atlanta trash pick up people.  I love this challenge.  I **NEVER** would have even thought about joining a running group in my former life, so it’s a cool step to see how my weight loss is creating new ways for me to physically challenge myself.  I’m looking forward to this upcoming Saturday!  I’ll keep ya’ posted!

Happy Trails.

J

This Is From My Blog Live Life To The Fullest

More to write about after my first run this Saturday morning!  

This is from my blog Live Life To The Fullest

I was always “chubby” and “overweight” growing up.  I told someone a story the other day about when I used to play basketball and my coach totally got mad at me because I couldn’t keep up with the rest of the team.  She sat me down in 8th grade – in the locker room – and literally made me feel awful.  Looking back, I’m sure she thought she was trying to help me.  And it’s not like I was so overweight that I couldn’t play and TLC was doing a documentary on me, haha, but I know that I wasn’t in as good of shape as the rest of my team.  So now, many years later, I’ve taken my progress seriously.  Weight loss is highly emotional and highly addictive.  And I want to reach my goals so badly.  I mean, hell, I’ve already lost 80 pounds!  Now I’m totally focused on reaching that 100 mark.  The pants  I wore to work today were too big.  It’s a bummer how much money I’ve had to spend on clothes, but it’s also joyous.  

Maybe that’s the point of this blog.  There is a good and bad to everything.  And as we grow up, we realize that there are two sides to every coin.  Being an adult has lots of cons but there are many pros, too.  I think I was always scared of growing up.  And maybe a part of me was scared to lose all this weight.  It’s all about fear of the unknown.  But during my walk/jog today after work – I saw some cherry blossom trees and the petals fell onto me just as I was walking underneath them – as if to say -

We welcome you.  Just as you are.  In this moment.  

This is from my blog Live Life To The Fullest

It’s very, very cold in Atlanta right now.  I went on a Sunday afternoon walk/jog through Piedmont Park – it was freezing.  I think in Paris it’ll be close to like 20 or 30 degrees, so I’ll have to pack warm!  I am excited to take some photos for my Blog.  My 1-year “Bandiversary” is next Thursday.  I might be at the Eiffel Tower that day!  I am like 4 pounds away from my 1-year LB goal!  Down 76 pounds…and eventually I want to be down 120 pounds.  I’m excited, and just very eager to get it all off.  

I’m meeting Katie for Sushi tonight – we’re gonna go over our last minute Paris plans!  I’ll be back soon.  

Hope you all had a great weekend.

It was employee doughnut day the other day, and the Woodruff Arts Center provided an amazing quantity of doughnuts to the employees.  There must have been 13 – huge – boxes of doughnuts!  Of every kind.  Glazed.  Regular.  German.  Chocolate.  Sprinkled.  You name it, they had it.  

I wanted to mingle with the employees, so I quietly walked by the box (after) box (after) box of amazing-looking-sweet doughnuts – and drank my coffee – and mediated on being down 80 pounds come January 15th.

I went to Dr. Champion this morning to review my weight loss and see if I needed another fill.  When I weighed in, I was down a total of 65 pounds in 9-months, according to his scale.  I told him about my frustration with my weight loss since August.  Since my last visit in July, I had only lost a total of 6 pounds.  I am happy I lost, of course, but with the amount of hard exercising I was doing, I felt like surely I should be down  more.  His wife, who checked me in, told me that I should be “The Poster Child” for the Lap Band.  That I am doing so well for a Lap Band patient, and I can’t expect to be where someone who had Gastric Bypass is at this point.  And I was reminded by everyone in the office that plateau’s are normal.  Their encouraging words made me feel better.  Dr. Champion gave me another fill (1 cc of fluid) and we’ll see how that does.  Of course, due to my new work schedule this week, I’ve had the hardest time getting up the energy to work out.  I didn’t workout Monday night, Tuesday night or tonight.  I did go to the gym last night though.  I am trying to not be so hard on myself because I’ve been eating a lot less and have to give myself the time to adjust to this new amazing job.    I know I’ll be right back in the swing of things again and everything will soon become second nature.  

My goal:  To lose 80 pounds by my 1-year Lap Band anniversary which is January 15th.  That’s the day of my next visit with Dr. Champion.  And I am going to lose at least 100 pounds by my 18 month mark, which will be my 28th B-Day on July 15th!  Dr. Champion said this is very doable.  And that man tells it like it is!  

It is a pretty funny occurrence when people are talking about milkshakes.  The taste.  The size.  How many calories they have.  The flavors.  And of course –  how good they taste!  I felt kind of silly just standing in silence – like I was from another planet where milkshakes don’t exist (Hey – if I was from that planet, I wouldn’t have needed a Lap Band to begin with!)  I think that in my heart, I just like to be myself and be authentic with people, so maybe one of these days it’ll come up in conversation – I didn’t want to be like, “Oh, I don’t eat those.  I gave all of that up to start a new, healthy journey in my life…but I used to be just like you and enjoyed a milkshake every now and again…What about a Kashi Go Lean Protein shake with a banana?”  

WIth new folks I am meeting, I am just me – as I am in the present – no before picture.  I am in such a great place in my life and am feeling so good, and feel like I am on my way toward reaching so many of my goals.  In all ways possible, this is more freeing than any milkshake could ever be.

Look at these beautiful apples!

What's wrong with this picture?

All of the wonderfully awful-for-you things you can make with apples!

This woman is the doughnut lady. I prefer to call her the Devil.

My new personal trainer. He's waaaay cheaper than LA Fitness

So, on we went for our hike.  We couldn’t find the original trail we were going to do, so by the time we got started on another trail it was late in the afternoon.  This was a completely isolated hike – not some commercial place where there’s a gift shop at the end of it, which was part of it’s appeal.  

There should have been more of these signs along the way!

We hiked up the trail – no problem.  I was feeling so energetic!  This was by far the most fit I’ve ever been doing a hike.  My speed seemed good and I wasn’t so “in my head” about getting too exhausted or whatever.  

About to head Into The Wild...

God's footnotes that Fall is arriving! My favorite season.

So pretty.

The weather was perfect – a little overcast but not stormy or raining.  We made it up the mountain and then back down – and I thought that surely we were almost done with our 6-mile trek.  Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Not only were were only a little over half-way, but WE WERE LOST!  The trail was perfectly laid out until you reached the bottom of the mountain where there was this creek.  All of the sudden, it was like the trail stopped.  Only forest.  And thicker forest.  We looked around us to find this creek with a small plank of wood laid over it but it looked like it let to nowhere.  Was this the “Bridge To Nowhere” that the candidates were speaking of?  

Taken right before The Bridge To Nowhere

It was starting to get dark outside and I began to get really nervous because I didn’t want to be stuck out in the middle of the woods after dark.  I began to hear strange bird sounds and it all felt like an all-too-familiar Horror movie – Or a story you’d hear on CNN and you’d think, “Why were those girls out in the middle of the woods past dark, anyway?  They deserved to be attacked by that hungry bear!”  

We tried going in one direction and that wasn’t right.  Then we tried in another direction and that way was worse.  And time wasn’t on our side because it was getting darker every second.  Like I said, I wouldn’t have minded as much if it was in the middle of the day – but since it was getting dark outside – that’s what made this a little more nerve-racking.  Angela had her cell phone with her (I know it sounds wrong to have a cell phone with you when you’re out in nature – but let me tell you – I had never been so glad to have a cell phone with me!)

I was like, “Angela!  Call the Park Ranger while we have a signal just so they know we’re out here…”  So Angela called the Ranger and told him that we were lost out in the middle of the woods and it was getting dark – and neither of us had a flashlight.  Well, after the phone call – we didn’t want to waste any more time, so Angela and I crossed that creek and found ourselves on a new path.  The weird thing that threw us off was that there were signs taped up to a tree saying, “Trail —–> This Way” which was in the complete opposite direction of where we were going.  And then we stumbled upon this wooded bridge that our guide book said we were supposed to cross – but the bridge was completely in shambles – that nobody and their mother should cross it.  So we just crossed by walking through the water and over the rocks and then headed back up this path which led us straight up the mountain.  

It was at this point that I realized how GRATEFUL I was that I am in such better shape now!  I was hauling ass to get up the side of the mountain and it was steep and rocky and it was getting dark.  I think we had about another 2.5 miles to go – but since it was straight up the windy mountain – It was a tougher hike.

Eventually we saw that “Flat Creek Loop” sign so we know we had about 1/4 mile to go (who knew when I snapped the picture above I’d be so happy to see it again!)  We made it out alive!  We walked out of the forest just in the nick of time – I swear, it felt like seconds later it was completely dark outside.  

I’m a pretty big adventurer but also don’t like to play with Mother Nature because I’ve learned in different situations that she’s not kidding around.  I really enjoyed the hike yesterday and you could see the leaves starting to change.   

But I think next time when I visit Ellijay, I’ll just hang out with that doughnut lady.