The Weight Loss Results Are In!

It's been a long eight weeks since we started our friendly little weight loss challenge...and today was the final weigh-in!!!

I was really worried about the final weigh-in because we were out of town all weekend for my brother's wedding. And of course, being out of town means that eating good is so much harder.

Still can't believe my baby brother is old enough to be married. He'll always be a kid to me.

To make it even more challenging, Friday night's rehearsal dinner was catered by Dreamland. Now I can easily eat my weight in ribs... but I limited myself to only four. I savored every bite.

Watching "Friends"

The hotel where we stayed had a nice little gym, complete with a weight bench, two treadmills, and two ellipticals. The cardio equipment had TVs built in! They were awesome! The gym was also really hot--I'm talking like "It feels like this room isn't air conditioned" hot--and it made me sweat like it was going out of style! I did an hour the first night.

The day of the wedding, we ate breakfast at the hotel and had Arby's roast beef sandwiches for lunch. I knew the day was pretty much screwed at that point.

However, when I put my suit on, I could finally see the results of all my hard work. For the first time in years, I felt GREAT about the way that I looked.

And I'll humbly admit it: I made that suit look good. ;)

Man, I look good!

At the reception, we had Italian food, which was delicious. And I had a piece of both the wedding and groom's cake. (What can I say? When I fall off the bandwagon, I fall hard!)

Later that night, we were hanging out with my family at the hotel, and we all got hungry. Jackie and I went to get everyone some food. We'd decided on pizza, but after we drove into a questionable part of town, we realized that the Pizza Hut on the map was closed. Instead, we stopped at the world's smallest KFC and got the family meal.

At this point, my diet was going to Hell in a handbasket, so when we called it a night, I went back to the gym for another cardio session. Logged another 30 minutes.

Sunday morning, I woke up an hour early and went back and did 40 more minutes. I was hoping that it would help make up for all the bad eating the day before.

When we got home last night, I did another hour and 30 minutes.

This morning was the long-awaited final weigh-in. I got up an hour early, put on full sweats, and headed to the gym for a grueling two-hour cardio session. (This final workout had been my plan for weeks as a last chance effort to undo any wedding weekend damage.)  I did an hour on the elliptical and an hour on the treadmill. I burned more than 1,600 calories and was sweating like I was in the center of the sun. I was drenched by the time I left. Jackie was worried that I would pass out. "Don't kill yourself at the gym," she texted me while I was on the elliptical. "I'm not dead yet," I replied.

When I got home, I stepped up on the scale, and was shocked to see the final number:

Before and After

I had lost a whopping 34.8 pounds!!! I was so excited! I hadn't been in the 230s since before Jackie and I got married three years ago! I sent my picture of the scale to Jackie's cousin Beth, our official weight keeper, and anxiously awaited the final results. Would my numbers be enough for 2nd place? After weeks of being in 3rd, I really wanted to finish 2nd.

Hours later, Beth posted this on Facebook:

I had done it! 2nd place! The silver medal has never looked so good!

I couldn't have done it without the support of so many people: Jackie, my parents, Ryan Tallie, Chuck Fant, Keith & Ingrid Warren, and a lot of others.

I'm well on my way to my goal of being in the 200-215 range.

I know I can do it. I hope that my transformation also inspires others. If I can do it, so can you!

Life's a Beach... Oh, and I Passed My Master's Comps!!!

Every elevator should have a Beach button!

Jackie and I had been pretty burned out the past couple of weeks, and we were in desperate need of a getaway. Luckily, Jackie's mom had a coroners' conference at Orange Beach, and she invited us to tag along for the weekend.

This is what I imagined a coroners' conference at the beach to look like.

We packed up and left Friday morning. We made it all the way to the Mickey D's a little over a mile from the apartment and stopped for breakfast. From there, we headed to Prattville for a mandatory Bass Pro/Lane Bryant stop. We finally arrived at the Perdido Beach Resort in the mid-afternoon. After a little switch-a-roo with our rooms, we settled in and were able to start enjoying ourselves. (For the record, we really liked the hotel. The pool was great. The jacuzzi was heavenly. The gym was surprisingly nice. Our room was huge and had a comfy bed. The pizza at the pizzeria/ice cream parlor was delicious! We really had a great time!)

Pulling in to the resort!

We had arrived!

View from our room.

While this weekend was a (much needed) vacation, it was also a working weekend for me. I had to read a book for one of my classes. It was called How Sex Changed, and it was a history of transgendered people in America...not the best book to read while relaxing on the beach, but I'd rather read it at the beach than at home!

This was one strange book!

We enjoyed some great seafood while we were down there. I love shrimp! I got grilled shrimp at The Steamer the first night and a fried shrimp po'boy at The Shrimp Basket, and it was all delicious!!! We also got to go to Lambert's Cafe the last night we were there. It had been years since I'd been there. It was SO yummy, but I made the mistake of eating a whole roll before my food came, so I wasn't able to eat much of it. (However, I did enjoy the leftovers later that night while Shannon, Jackie, and I watched Independence Day.)

Me and my gal.

Ahoy, matey!! Me and Jackie as pirates!

My wing plate at Lambert's

Frozen custard!!!

I also went to the gym while we were there...gotta burn of some of those seafood calories! I was able to use an elliptical that looked out at the beach. It could definitely get used to working out with that view!

View from the elliptical while I was working out.

Jackie and I also hoped to strike it rich while we were there. We drove over to Florida (which was really just across the bridge) to buy scratch-offs and a lotto ticket. We won $15 on the scratch-offs, but we struck out on the lotto. I'm hoping we'll have better luck in Vegas this coming weekend!

Florida is on the other side of the bridge

Our unlucky lotto ticket

Posing with some of our scratch-off winnings!

Diana, Jeff, Jackie, and I also went out on the pier the night after we ate at The Shrimp Basket. It was fun to watch folks reel in their catches, and we also saw a sting ray in the water. We also went crabbing our last night there, but we couldn't find any. I was so bummed.

Before going on the pier

Jackie on the pier

Me on the pier

About to go crabbing!!

All we found was this giant sand turtle

Here are some more random pix from the trip:

Jackie in the "Big Momma" chair

Toes in the water, tush in the sand...

Jackie is rolled up like a burrito to take a nap.

She got cold.

The starfish versions of me and Jackie

Souvenir shopping

Trying on a hair hat

More hair hats

Freaky looking cat statue at Alvin's Island

Dad always told me I looked like the milkman.

I was really not looking forward to coming home Monday because I knew that I had to defend my Master's comps today. I was really nervous about it. The comps are one of the big steps I have to take in the expedited program at Alabama. It was a make-or-break situation.

It involved me sitting at a conference table with three of my professors discussing my answers that I'd written almost 2 months ago. I was so afraid that they would rip me apart, but they were really helpful and nice. They pointed out weak spots in my answers and gave suggestions on how to improve them. I also had to answer some of their questions on the fly. I know I rambled a lot, but I was praying that some part of what I was saying was making sense. When we had gone over all three answers, Dr. Zhou asked me to step out while they deliberated.

I walked out into the hallway and started looking at a bulletin board. Less than a minute later, Dr. Zhou stepped out and told me to come back in. I didn't have a good feeling. I thought that they probably said Nope, Nope, Nope...which of course would take less than a minute to do.

I nervously took my seat, and Dr. Zhou said, "You know, in a court case a short jury deliberation can be a good or bad thing....and for you, this is a good thing. Congratulations!" I was SO relieved! I can never thank Drs. Zhou

Several people have told me that getting your Ph.D. is really about jumping through all the hoops. While that sounds easy enough, they don't tell you that the hoops are all on fire. I'm just glad this one didn't catch me on fire...but I'm definitely feeling the heat from the next hoops.

This is what it feels like jumping through a flaming hoop for grad school.

My post-workout binge: Pretzel M&Ms & Milk

Tonight I was flying solo at the gym because Jackie was working late. This was my first visit back at the gym since the Rumpshaker. I was super sore for the last two days, and this was the first day that I actually thought I would be able to drag my butt to the gym and actually do something.

I worked out chest, back, and abs before getting on my old friend, the elliptical. It was really hard to get motivated on the elliptical tonight. There was part of me that wanted to be doing cardio outside, but I know that I need to take care of my knee and don't need to over-do it. I powered through the cardio and finally headed home.

Jackie was still at work, and I had a major case of the munchies. I was craving some milk...and then I spotted the bag of pretzel M&Ms. Jackie bought them last week with a coupon. (I cant remember if she paid 2-cents for them or if they were free. Heck, the store might have paid her to take them. That girl can work wonders with coupons!)

I tore into the bag, and quickly devoured some of them. The salty/sweet combo is amazing!! I also poured myself a glass of milk, which I sucked down like it was going out of style.

Moo juice = yum!

In the end, I ate two handfuls of the M&Ms and drank 3 glasses of milk. (Jackie keeps saying that we should just buy a cow.) While I know that my body can use the milk to help build muscle, I know that the M&Ms aren't going to help me get to my weight goal.

Now I'm watching The Biggest Loser, and I can't help but asking myself WWJD: What Would Jillian Do? First of all, I think she would yell at me. Bob would also be pretty disappointed.

Unhappy trainers

I know it was a bad lapse of judgment, and I will need to do better. Tomorrow, I plan to work harder to make up for this.

In other news, I did manage to lose a pound over the past week...in spite of my birthday celebrations, which included a lot of cake!

A sinful combination

My Birthday Blog Extravaganza!!!

Today is my 26th birthday, and when I woke up this morning, I felt SO old. Every part of my body hurt. Every muscle was sore. Every joint ached. So far, turning 26 felt like I was turning 96.

And then I remembered that I ran a 5K yesterday.

I'm hoping by the time we run our next 5K, which is now in 3 weeks, I'll be in better shape. Surely the recovery period gets better!

Me on the birthday saddle

Overall, today was pretty low-key... and I liked it that way. Jackie and I went to church and then out to eat at Texas Roadhouse with my parents and her mom. We had a great time! The waitress also made me sit on the saddle while the hollered to everyone that it was my birthday.

Then we came back to our apartment to eat some of the strawberry cake that Jackie got for me at Joe's Italian last night. It is delicious! (Last night we ate at Up the Creek with some friends. I LOVE their lemon-lime grilled shrimp!)

After taking a much-needed nap, Jackie and I watched Sister Wives (one of our can't-miss TV obsessions, along with MTV's Teen Mom 2).

Tomorrow, it's back to the grindstone...and back to the gym.

Also, today marks the 1 year anniversary since Jackie and I got engaged!! I can't believe it was a year ago that I got down on bended knee and popped the question. (And I'm glad that I didn't have to get down on one knee today...because I'm not sure if I would be able to stand up! My legs are unbelievably sore!)

And for your blogging pleasure, I'm including some funny birthday pictures I found. There are even some Star Trek ones! And there are some that aren't specifically birthday related, but I loved them and wanted to throw them in, too!

Before we went to lunch

Dad, Mom, & me after lunch

 

The crew of the Enterprise knows how to have a good time!

Riker is thinking, "Man, I make this hat look good," but Picard is thinking, "I don't think these are the hats we are supposed to wear to Bruce's birthday party."

Live Long and Prosper!

Neelix: I made you a cake for your birthday!

Janeway: Crap, Neelix baked a cake.

You heard right, Uhura!

Fascinating, I thought Spock would know the difference between "your" and "you're".

Picard: Here's to you on your birthday, Bruce!

Picard: Wait... You're how old?!?

And this one's just for fun!