“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow – that is patience.”  ~Unknown~

It’s time! It’s time! It’s time to kick off a new challenge, another fourteen week effort to tone, refine and shed a few more ounces.  Mir, aka Princess Dieter, is hosting again, and I’m delighted to be her co-pilot.

Rules and My Input

1. Item of clothing and a picture of me.  Okay, seriously?  I’m already blowing the first rule.  Sort of.  I want a fitted dress for Easter this year, a sort of classic Chanel, Jacqueline Onassis look  – pale yellow with white trim, perhaps with a jacket.  It’s still December, though, and there are still Christmas clearance items on store shelves. I will keep my eyes peeled for a dress, Mir, I promise!  It will be posted here just as soon as I find it.

I DO have before pictures of me, though. I am really close to goal weight already and I’m at my goal pant size, so I’d like to focus on toning and strengthening my body for the next 14 weeks.  (The nice fitting dress will just be icing on the cake.)  However…some of my kid’s friends and a few co-workers follow this blog on Facebook, and I don’t want these photos popping in their inboxes.  I’ve posted them over at my old Blogger blog, here.

2. Starting Weight: 158.  Thank you, Christmas goodies!  Waist measurement is 31″.  I have other tracking points, but again, the whole kid’s friends seeing this thing makes me shy.  Those numbers are over with my pictures, as well.

3. Goals

Shed at least five pounds, to be accomplished with a combination of sensible eating and plenty of exercise.  Sensible = WW points daily; only eat extras as I earn them with exercise. Plenty of exercise = 50 activity points weekly, with whatever exercise catches my fancy.

Do at least 5 pullups.  Yep.  I’m already working on building strength for this.

Firm up my arms, as in tone them to the point that muscle definition is obvious.  I’ve already started working on this with weight lifting and kettlebell training.

 

 

 

4. Books

I’m starting with The Smarter Science of Slim.

I also intend to read along with Jenny at  A Minute Captured and dive into my Bible this year.

5. My guiding quote is at the top of this post.  It’s one I’ve blogged before, and I love love love it. My journey to healthy has taught me a LOT about patience!  My second favorite quote is my signature.  Keep the Faith.

 

6. My challenge buddy will be Jo!  Yeah!  We’ll be good for each other as we work on maintenance.  I will be in touch, both with blog visits and emails.

7. I promise to visit at least three blogs a week and leave supportive comments.  Or some serious sass and butt kicking if necessary.

8. I do hereby solemnly swear to NOT QUIT.  Amen.

Commit. Keep the Faith.

Anyone who reads this on purpose knows that I’ve been on a very long journey to regain my healthy and figure.  I’ve lost weight before, gained some back, lost some more, but I never made that final commitment.

Today I did.

I have a favorite coat, one that was purchased nineteen years ago.  It’s the sweetest , softest lambskin leather coat.  Coat, as in knee-length, not just a jacket. It’s also a size XL.  I’ve been loathe to part with it, because, what if I get big again? I’ve been hesitant to let it go, because, dang, it’s a leather coat!  An incredible luxury that I can’t afford to replace right now because a) leather goods are much more expensive now than they were two decades ago; b) I have multiple offspring who also need shoes, clothes, coats and an education.

I wore that leather coat Sunday night on a date with my Dear Husband, and realized that I could literally wrap it around so that the front zipper edges were past my armpits and halfway across my back.  Even though that leather coat is amazingly soft and incredibly warm, it looks ridiculously over-large on me now.

The commitment part?  Today I bought myself a new coat.  Not a leather one, but a very pretty, very warm wool tweed coat.  It’s similar to this one, except mine has a big, drapey princess type hood on it.  I’d post an actual picture of me in it, but I wrapped it and put it under the Christmas tree.  Silly me.

Anyone need a leather coat?

Commit. Keep the Faith.