Kathy Week 30: Check out the photos!

Kathy's Week 30 Stats:

Today's Weight: 134

Last Week's Weight: 134

Starting Weight: 151

Total Weight Loss: 17 pounds

No change since last Saturday, but considering how many servings of homemade ice cream I ate at last Saturday's family bar-be-que, I'm feeling pretty good about maintaining. I confess that by the time we were headed home from California, my weight had spiked back up to 137, so I actually am quite happy to be back at 134 again. 

Just for old time's sake, I thought today would be a good time to take a look at some old photos...

Remember me back at Week 1 in January 2010? At 151 pounds, you can see why I decided it was time to take action and become accountable here at The Skinny!

Three months later (March 2010), here I am at Week 14, 141 pounds. Good progress, but I still have a way to go!

And, just for the record, here I am this morning, Week 30, at 134 pounds. Hooray! Not only can I see the difference, but I feel so different now.

I am stronger, fitter, faster, leaner. I have more confidence in myself. My posture is soooo much better now that my muscles are getting stronger. 

I love love love this healthier, skinnier body!

And........I don't think you can quite see it in this morning's photos, but there's something else I'm lovin' about my body.......check it out!

Haha! Toenail polish may not seem like a big deal to most of the world, but my family could tell you that I never paint my nails. I'm not ready to go to fingernail polish yet, but I've had fun the last few weeks with painted toenails, even if (almost) no one else ever sees them. (I wear sturdy shoes all day long because I have to wear orthotics for my bad, flat feet.)

But there are times during the day when I think to myself, "I've got pretty toenails!" and it just makes me smile inside.

Getting a pedicure was one of the summer goals I made for myself on the list of "43 Things" I made back in June. I've already accomplished several of my 43 goals, and I have a few more in the works. Here's how I'm doing so far:

#1: Hike to the top of Mount St. Helens: Mark and I have permits to climb the volcano on August 24! I am so excited about this, and we are in serious training together.

#2: Backpack 50 miles with Mark: We are making plans for this, too, during the week of August 16. We figure the 50-miler will be part of our training for the assault on Mount St. Helens. Here's a photo of the two of us with our packs on a short shakedown hike we took a couple of weeks ago, to beautiful Mirror Lake near Mount Hood in Oregon.

#6: Get a pedicure: I haven't spent the money to go to a salon, but I'm sure having fun painting my own toenails. And every so often I talk Mark into giving me a foot rub. :)

#7: Lift weights every day for a month: DID IT! I followed the Prevention 4-week weight-lifting program that I mentioned here. The offer still stands - if you want a xerox copy of the plan, just send me an email at haynieoregon@gmail.com. The program isn't online, but I'll make a copy of the pages from my booklet, and send them to your snail mail address. 

Now we're going to begin a 6-week training program--something else I found in Prevention magazine--to get novice runners (like us) up to running 3 miles at a time. I can't wait!

#10: Go someplace in Oregon I've never been: DID IT! We visited Crater Lake on our way home from California last week. Oh, my. I've poo-poohed visiting Crater Lake for years--just another pretty face, I always said. You could see all there was to see in the photos on the calendars. Nope! Wrong! It's a gorgeous amazing spectacular place, and I am SOOO glad we went there. Can't wait to go again!

#13 Run a mile: Like I mentioned above, I should be able to say that I can do this by the end of the summer!

#16 Paint the upstairs doors: We live in a 100-year-old farmhouse, and the beautiful old wood doors need some TLC. (You can see a couple of them behind me in my weight-update photos.) I can't take any credit for it, but Mark has done a beautiful job of painting two of them, with more planned for later this summer. What a blessing to be married to a handyman!

#20 Watch the movie David gave me: DID IT! It was a fun movie--David gave me a DVD of Stranger than Fiction for my birthday in May, because he knows how much I love to write. If you haven't watched it yet, I recommend it for an evening of good, clean fun. In spite of the occasionally improbable-twists to the plot, it all comes together at the end. Made me smile, for sure.

#22 Camp on the beach: DID IT! We camped at Big Sur State Park our way home from California last week.

#23 Lose 5 more pounds (to 132): I'm getting there...

#24 & #25 Learn to use the calendar and 3 more applications on my iPod. DID IT! I'm sure I will continue to use this great tool for more things, but I am actually using the iPod calendar now instead of my faithful paper-pencil one I've used for years. It's great because Mark and I have our calendars synched, and we can both keep up on our family commitments this way. I'm also using myfitnesspal.com, weather, calculator, and the LDS Gospel Library.

#28 Send letters to distant grandchildren: DID IT! But of course I definitely want to keep doing this again. 

#41 Learn to take pictures of myself: DID IT?? Will I ever get good at this?? Hahahah - this photo isn't bad, but it's #19 out of 19 tries...and no, I am not posting any of the earlier ones. Can you say "cheesey"?

(Sorry this post is so long! If you read all this way, you are a faithful friend!!)

Have a great week, dear Skinny readers. I'd love it if you would post a comment, and I'll see you next Saturday on The Skinny!