6 mo of maintanence and counting

I have maintained my weight loss for 6 mo as of this week. For those of you who don't know, I started weight watchers in June to lose about 15 lbs. OK disclaimer. I am going to talk about lbs and sizes (remember size is all relative to height and skeleton structure)... which I know is almost as taboo as money and politics and religion... so I'll just get those out there as well. I'll make enough money to keep in stylish shoes and star wars figures. I will probably vote for John over Hilary but probably Barack over John but I'm really waiting for the debates. I am a follower of Jesus. Ok with that said, back to my weight loss.

Sometime last spring I was all done having to buy size 12 pants or feeling uncomfortable in my size 10 pants. And I wanted to lose weight. In my past the ways I have lost weight is to have a major emotional crisis... move from home, break up with a boyfriend etc. Then I would not eat for feeling nauseated all the time and then I would be skinny. And everyone would say, "You look great. You are so skinny" and I would politely nod and say Thanks but inside would be screaming out, "Can't you see I'm falling apart?" Then when my life is stable I would pack those pounds back on. I was sick of this yo-yo. I wanted to learn how to lose weight without a major dramatic life event and to keep it off. So I started going to weight watchers with a dear friend. I didn't think I could do it. Bill didn't think I could do it. But slowly I changed my eating habits and started to eat things like whole wheat tortillas and whole wheat pasta and fat free cheese and I started losing weight. My goal was to reach my goal by my birthday in Sept and when I stepped on the scale on Sept 6th, I had reached my goal and two pounds more.

Then the maintanence began. In weight watchers you need to maintain your goal weight for 6 weeks and then you become a lifetime member which I did the last week of October. Then you have to go once a month to weigh in and you can't be 2 lbs over your goal weight to maintain free lifetime membership. So the first week of every month (or the second week if I need to lose a few pounds) I go back to weight watchers and step on that scale. My weight loss total now is 18 lbs.

Last week I bought size 4 pants. I am going to type that again. I bought size 4 pants!!!! Size 4. I can't remember the last time I was a size 4, but I bet it was before I knew calculus. I wanted to shout for joy in the Ann Taylor Loft dressing room. I wanted to tell the lady who checked me out about my triumph, but I didn't. She didn't look like she'd care.

So thinking about my undisciplined self, I guess I should give myself a little more credit for being disciplined enough to reach for the one point ice cream bar when Bill pounds back 3-4 cookies after dinner and to maintain my weight loss 6 months and counting. And who knew whole wheat pasta is not that bad...

Update on past blogs

Update on '8 for 8 this could be my year'
--> so it is not my year. My bracket went bust during the 2nd weekend of the tournament. I can't even begin to try to figure out what actually happened but it was hinged around West Virginia losing to Xavier which put Nile ahead and then the unraveling began. I had UNC losing to Tennessee to go the final four, but Tennessee actually lost a round sooner to Louisville. I had Texas beating Memphis to go to the final four, but Texas got whalloped by the Tigers who in turn whalloped UCLA in the semi finals who I had winning the whole thing. So there you go. Nile won again. He has it wrapped up even before the finals. The traveling trophy will stay in his room another year. Bill said I was only behind by 3 so last night, with righteous indignation, I demanded a recount. Turns out I lost by 11 to Nile and not 3, so much for the recount. Maybe next year will be my year.

Update on 'He is Risen Indeed'
--> turns out He is still risen so that hasn't changed, good thing! :-) My undisciplined self has made a few strides in the last several weeks. Adding to my 3.22 mile run in the pouring rain on Thursday, today I ran 4 miles. I ran the whole way. I ran it in a little over 20 seconds off my regular 3.1 mile pace. Bill said to expect when I go up in mileage to be maybe 2 minutes slower, but I wasn't so that made me happy. Mile 2 was uphill and it stunk. Mile 3 had the wind whipping in my face which when you are running into it feels like hurricane force winds and it stunk too. Mile 4 had me not feeling so bad with the wind at my back when I made the turn home. I wanted to quit at mile 2 and I wanted to walk during mile 3 but I kept myself going realizing I am learing a little about discipline with every step. And for anyone keeping score, 4 miles is the most I have run in my LIFE with the exception of maybe one long run day in soccer when I was in high school.

The shiny guy always worries

If Bill and I have a girl, she'd be like this... curly hair and all. And no, Mom, we are not pregnant!

One of these things is not like the other

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things doesn't belong

1. Katie got up at 10:30 am today on her day off
2. Katie drank a diet coke for breakfast
3. Katie ate zillion point crab rangoons for lunch because she couldn't help herself
4. Katie ran in the pouring rain over 3 miles this afternoon and it was raining when she left so she made a conscious decision to leave the house and step off the porch into the pouring rain

BUT REALLY I DID ALL THOSE THINGS! Who am I? and I cleaned out my closet and got rid of a ton of clothes. and I cleaned up the kitchen. and I made dinner. and I baked a cake. did I mention I ran in the pouring rain? Where did Katie go?

Bill's back in the hardware and I didn't finish last

It was a successful day for the Iverson at the Friendly Sons of St Patrick's 25th Annual 5K Run. We woke up early and headed west to Des Moines for this road race. Bill has been nursing an injured foot for the last two weeks and has not been running his usual training. Just to put it in perspective, I have run more this week than he has. Here is us before the start.

Bill got 14th overall out of 138 men in the 5K and 2nd out of 34 in his age group (40-49). So he is back in the hardware taking home a trophy. He ran 20:40 which is 14 seconds off his personal best which is amazing given his lack of training and a sore foot. The sore foot has really gotten him down the last two weeks and made him dramatic like "My running career is over." "All my conditioning is gone. I will run like an old man". I don't pay much attention to his drama of the day when it comes to his running and knew he could do it and he did in grand fashion.


No trophies for me, but I did get my personal best by 21 seconds. I ran a 30:22 and got 24th in my age group out of 54 women (30-39). I also finished 71st out of 159. Now that is respectable for the girl who has been known to finish last. Here is a picture of me outside Sully's Irish Pub where there was free post race beer and the awards were held in the pool room.

Hope Springs Eternal

It is hard to see in this picture but there are little green buds poking through. Seeing these guys working their way through the mulch, leaves and muck after being covered with the most snow since 1874 makes me feel encouraged by new life and seems like a treat after all that raking nad bagging. The reward for living through winter is definitely spring.

Spring Cleaning

So the corner has turned, spring has begun and I realized if I can face my fears of getting my cavities filled, I can face the backyard. Blast that beautiful 100 year old oak tree who drops his leaves too late in the fall to have the city suck them up at the curb. My enthusiasm waned about 5 minutes into raking when I started to think to myself, Why don't I just hire a lawn service? And I am calculating a lawn service into my budget as the piles keep accumulating. Then I realize I have only one yard bag so I have to run to Ace Hardware which isn't so bad actually because they have popcorn on the weekends. Back armed with 20 yard bags and these cool yellow plastic shovel/rake type devices claiming to make yard work easier, I start bagging. Bill took these action shots of me because he found great humor in the big yellow plastic hands.
About bag 9 my neighbor yells from over the fence, "you know the town is giving out 10 free yard bags because of the late leaf drop this year". Yes I did know that which I found out after I got back from the store....Ugh- Information that could have been useful to me about 45 minutes ago...
the FRUITS of my LABOR --13 yard bags filled with leaves
here is the backyard now. It looks like I did NOTHING back there... double ugh! Good thing I have the bags at the curb to prove it.

NEW RUG!

Ok so here are some pictures of the rug. Our intial thought is that it looks weird because we have never had a rug there. Am I crazy for covering our pretty hard wood? Bill and I think it looks a bit dark but it is night time. I wonder what it will look like in daylight. I think it looks good with the pink chairs and the rose walls. We need some type of striking curtain...a rich burgandy? I want HONEST opinions if you have some to share. Folks in town please come over and take a look yourself. It doesn't look great with the couch but I don't think anything will look good with that couch. I need to get it recovered.... shonna? summer project? hmmmm? a close up
an aerial shot. it looks a bit 'striped' but i think that is from being rolled up for so long
our new 'sitting' area
with the pink chair
next to the couch