This past weekend Steve and I took the girls to Spokane to spend Easter with my family. We had a lovely time, and it was nice to spend Marida's first Easter with Nana and Grandpasan, just like we did Maron's.

Easter morning we went over to Graham and Andrea's house for Easter brunch. They put on a great spread and everything was delicious. Dad wanted to get a picture of his kids and grandkids, so we all gathered for some photos.


It's a shame that we couldn't have any of our spouses in the picture, but I guess someone has to take the pictures. I would love at some point though to get a massive family photo taken. Me with Steve and my kids, Graham with Andrea and their kids, Kasey and Lisa... Hopefully some day.

So once again I have found some kinks in my Insanity plan. Due to various circumstances I only worked out 3 days last week. Boo! This week was supposed to be the Recovery Week (2nd round) and next week was to be the start of my 1st round of the MAX portion of Insanity. The problem I have now is that, because we are going to Spokane for Easter this coming weekend, I will not be able to do the final recovery workout on Saturday or the first MAX workout on Monday. I thought about starting the MAX stuff on Tuesday and working out straight through Sunday, but that would give me 12 straight days of workouts I'm not even sure I can survive. So that's out. What I decided instead was to repeat last week's workout this week and to have next week be the Recovery Week. I'll still miss the Saturday and Monday workouts, but at least when I start the MAX portion on May 2nd I will be worked/rested enough to give it my very best shot. And I don't have any travel plans for May, so I will be able to stick to the workout schedule exactly.

This week's official weigh in has me down 2 more lbs (Yay!), and I could not be more pleased. My total weight loss to date is 34 lbs. There have been a few people along the way that have commented to me about how easily I am losing weight right now. And in some ways I can see why they would think that. Although I would not label it as EASY, I'd label is as fast. 34 lbs in 15 weeks is awesome, any way you slice it. But it certainly hasn't been easy. I have been lucky enough to find the perfect recipe for weight loss (at least perfect for me) and I have been rocking it. But the recipe calls for a shit ton of working out, and so it's been anything but easy. I am immensely proud of the weight I've lost this year because I know that, through sweat and tears and 1200 calories a day, I have earned every single pound lost. Insanity has been a HUGE part of all of this, and I am super excited (and more than a little scared) to go on to the next portion. I've doon really well with my weight loss so far, but now I feel like it's time to take it up a notch, and that's what I'll be doing in less than 2 weeks. Eeeek!

Yesterday afternoon Marida got a bit of a late start on her nap, and I ended up having to wake her up when it was time for dinner.

Some day when she is grown she is going to ask me why I call her Monkey Butt...

Getting There,,,

Anyone who knows me knows that when discussing my main weight loss goal, I generally refer to it as 'backing myself into an old wardrobe'. That is exactly what it is. There is a tote under the daybed in my daughter's room that is full of clothes that I love. Clothes, unfortunately, I have not been able to wear since the (very) early months of 2005. These clothes are my target - my goal. I keep tossing around numbers of the pounds I want to lose and how much I want to weight in the end. But really the numbers are only the representation of what I think I weighed back when I was able to wear the light blue Old Navy jeans with the studs running up the sides. If it turns out that when I reach my 'goal' weight I am still unable to wear those jeans, I will keep plugging away at the pounds until I can wear them.

So this morning I woke up to the wonderful discovery that I have lost 2 more pounds. That's 32 lbs total since January 3rd, and 18 lbs away from the goal. This afternoon, just for shits and giggles, I decided to drag out the tote of clothes and try things on, just to see where I am at. Now here's where it gets good: As far as backing into my old wardrobe, I am over HALF WAY THERE!!! Because of my whim for trying on clothes, I have now added back into my wardrobe 3 pairs of shorts, one pair of girly swim trunks and one pair of cargo pants. Cargo pants, I might add, that I love more than any other pair of cargo pants I have ever owned. They are one size up from my goal size, but they too have been locked away for the past 6 years. I am SO stoked to have them back, and even more stoked to find they are just as awesome and comfortable as I remember them. :-)

As for the goal jeans, there are 4 pairs in total. I am pleased to say that I am able to button and (with some effort) zip them all up. Even if the result above the waist line is far from ideal, they at least go on. That is excellent news, especially on the heels of a weight plateau last week. I was a little disheartened from that, but after 2 lbs lost and half the clothes I used to wear back in my dresser I am feeling more confident than ever that I am going to reach every weight loss goal I have by (if not before) my deadline of September 9th.

I am now half of the way through my 2nd round of the first part of Insanity. I am very glad I decided to do the first half again before going on o the MAX portion. I definately needed to up my stamina and endurance before trying the Max workouts. And I feel like I've been doing that. I'm still completely exhausted at the end of every workout, but I can tell that I have gotten stronger because I am working harder now than I was before, because I'm able to.

I'm for sure going to go on the Max portion this time around (after doing the recovery week again). I feel like I'm doing well with Insanity. It's made all the difference as far as my weight loss goals. But with 30 lbs down and 20 more to go I feel like it's time to really push myself, because the last of the pounds are always harder to get rid of than the first. I'm very excited to see what kind of results I end up with 7 weeks from now.