Whoop, Whoop, Pull Over That Ass Too Fat!

I now humbly present to you, the Before and In Progress post...

To the left, I offer to you, the dreaded "Before" picture. The Porky Police should have pulled my ass over around the time that this picture was taken, but it's an awkward and awful task to tell a loved one that they are packing on the pounds (yet again) without sounding like a huge douche. This is one of the only pictures I could find of me at my heaviest, because I would delete 99% of the pictures my husband took of me out of shame.
Funnily enough, this picture probably only survived because I thought I looked thin in it.  Looking at it now, I make my 50-pound dog look like a beanie baby, and I'm larger than the sprawling Oak in the background.  I had a 40-inch waist, which I discovered during an all-time-low-moment at a dress fitting.  I was well on my way to full-blown diabetes, a heart attack, a stroke - you name it! 

To the right, I present my "In Progress" picture.  This is important to say - while it sure is nice to be able to wear cute clothes in a smaller size, and not cringe when looking in the mirror, I'm SLOWLY becoming less concerned with the scale, and more concerned about how I feel and what I can do. 

Although it makes apparent the fact that I've lost some weight, the picture to the right doesn't show that I have a better attitude, more energy, more motivation, and more self confidence. It doesn't show that I can breath better, and that I don't get sick as often, or that I don't fall into extended periods of depression anymore.  It's the improvements in things the picture doesn't show that are currently making life a whole lot better, and keeping me on track to meet new goals.  Alright...the mirror is doing a pretty good job of keeping me on track as well. 

In summary, I'm certainly proud of my progress, but I know that I still have challenges ahead. I need to work on getting stronger, faster, and eating cleaner so that I can continue to kick my PCOS in the jugular.

Short-Term Goals Update!

• I completed workout numero deux on the band instead of the rings. I quickly discovered that an all pull-up workout is much harder for me than a workout that allows you to switch from pull-ups to chin-ups.  I did it anyhow and the sweat burning my eyeballs was welcomed.
• I think my push-up form has improved.  We have push-ups tonight, so perhaps I'll have an official ruling on that in my next post.
• I have slowly started to cut out sugar and gluten from my diet and I'm feeling great!  I'm hoping that by the time October comes, my 30-day challenge should be a piece of cake.

Back Injury/Progress Update
If you read last week's post, you are aware that Grandma Jill pulled her back while applying her daily underwear :).  After a ton of foam rolling, stretching, massaging, and Aleve, I'm on the mend!  I was able to participate in modified workouts last week, and the full workout last night.  I did 30 reps of an 125# deadlift which was very exciting.  I don't have a rope climb yet, despite a few enthusiastic attempts, but I was able to rock a rope-pull from the floor pretty well.

I don't know that there is a finish line in this journey to health, and that's fine, but I'm going to keep running the race (which at my pace is an extremely slow jog...FOR NOW).

Until next time - thanks for reading!