12 Days of Christmas Giveaway - Lane Bryant Jean Jacket

If you want more background on the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway series I am running, please see this post.

Today's giveaway item is a button up jean jacket from Lane Bryant, size 26/28. It gives the wearer a good, flattering shape (flares out at the hemline a bit) and has brass color buttons. The jacket is several years old, but I actually barely wore this as I have abnormally long arms and the sleeves were always too short on me. It is a good quality jean jacket and earlier this fall I actually wore it as an outerwear jacket for a few weeks before I found a new jacket.

If you want to win this item, leave a comment by midnight tonight and I will choose a winner via Random.org.

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway - Wide Calf Knee High Boots

Although I've given away several items and taken loads upon loads of clothes to Goodwill, I still have a few items hanging around my closet from my largest size - mostly 3X and 26/28. We're talking winter coats, dresses, boots, jeans - all just hanging around my closet with no one to wear them.

Since it's a great time of year to gift someone a gently used winter coat or pair of boots (read: it's downright COLD), I figured why not make it fun and give away each item still lingering in my closet one by one on my blog in a holiday giveaway of sorts I'm very originally titling "12 Days of Christmas Giveaway." Much more interesting than taking another load to Goodwill, yes?

So for the next 12 days I will post an item from my closet that no longer fits. Each day I will accept comments from readers interested in winning the item either for themselves or feel free to pick stuff up for your mom, sister, aunt, cousin, friend (just as long as it goes to someone you know for free).

If there are multiple comments, I will use a random number generator (like random.org) to choose the winner. I'll ship it out to you the next day and wa-lah you have a new gently used, new to you item to wear!

To kick it off, my first item is actually a pair of boots that were gifted to me last year by fellow kick-ass Fitblogger, Cyndi.

They are gray suede material that hit me (I'm 6'0") just a few inches below my knee. They are a flat, size 11, wide calf boot (21" when measured on the outside of the boot), with elastic at the shaft. Best of all, they practically look new. Not to mention, they are super cute (if you haven't noticed, Cyndi is quite fashion conscious).

The goods:



Leave a comment by midnight TOMORROW, Dec. 12th (Ok, I guess technically it would be midnight on Tuesday) to be entered in winning these! And check back at 8 am tomorrow for the next item in the series!

Weigh-in - back in the 230s

Last Week's weight: 241.2
This Weeks weight: 239.4

1.8 pounds LOST

I'm not sure how I did it with all these cookies in my life at the moment. I seriously ate about 4 cookies for breakfast on Friday, and last night at a cookie swap party I ate probably a dozen cookies for dinner.

Perhaps I have discovered a new cookie meal replacement diet plan! I could make millions!

Seriously though, I ate pretty sensibly otherwise and got 14 miles of training in this week. Next week is the big 12 mile run and the race is now less than 4 weeks away! EEK!

One things for sure, I'm determined to never see the 240s again. I have no excuses now that work is slowed down, and I only have 9 work days left in 2011. I should be able to focus on eating right and doing Every. Single. Training. Run. now until the race.

Let's do this!

Best photo of the year - #resound11 - Day 9

As normal, I dropped off the #resound11 wagon after two posts. I stare at a computer all day, so when I get home I rarely want to be on the computer. Hopefully since the next 3 weeks will be slower at work, I'll feel less stressed when I get home. When I received today's prompt, I immediately wanted to share some photos I took at the gym yesterday. Feel free to check out the project here.

Prompt #9: Today, please post your best photo of the year. It doesn't have to be the best technically, it doesn't have to be the best visually, but it should be a photo that you consider the best. Does it have special meaning? Is it of a significant event or moment? Share it with us!

In a rare moment of emptiness in the gym locker room last night, I borrowed the full length mirror for a little vanity:



For comparison, a photo taken in February 2011 after the Mercedes Half Marathon:


I consider the photos from the gym last night my "best" because it really shows my progress from even 10 months ago. Looking back at December 2010 to today, I've lost about 55 lbs. Even though I always feel like I could have done better and even though I've struggled over the last 10 weeks, I've made progress. I may have lost and gained the same 5 lbs a few times this year, but I haven't moved backwards in any way. I know I will get to a healthy weight, it may just take me longer than I would have expected.

I've been working on battling my obesity for almost 4 years now. I haven't done any crash or fad diets, eaten only 1200 calories a day, or exercised for 3 hours a day. I've done this at my pace. I've taken baby steps to improve my life and my health. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Weigh in - a step in the right direction

Last week's weight - 243.8

This week's weight - 241.2

2.6 lbs LOST

88.2 total lost since June 2010

Honestly, I didn't try too hard this week so this loss is fine with me. I mean I didn't go crazy, but I finished off the Thanksgiving leftovers (including two pieces of pie and some bread pudding) and I skipped my run on Thursday because I got to the gym and didn't have any socks.

I did my 10 miler yesterday, it went ok but I had a major migraine (which I've never had before) all afternoon. I'm going to try and do a separate blog post on that.

Tonight, is a cookie swap party. And I have a 2nd one next week. If I can just sneak into the 230s this month, I'll be happy. I know it's not feasible for myself to set some huge goal of 10 or 15 pounds for the month of December. So my goal is to simply get in the 230s and stay there this time.

Vices - #resound11 - Day 2

I'm going to attempt to participate in a project this month hosted by @Jaemie, called #resound11. Each day there will be a prompt to reflect on 2011 and anticipate 2012. Feel free to check out the project here.

Prompt #2: Did you slip back into any old habits that you wish you hadn't? Did you gain any new habits that you wish you would have walked away from? Did you discover the evils of Nutella? 'Fess up ... we won't tell.

Let's face it, I have a food addiction. I love cooking and baking. I enjoy celebrating with food. I eat when I'm bored. I eat when I'm upset or stressed.

Up until recently, I've been able to control this addiction for the last year and a half. It took me awhile to get the hang of it, but I managed my addiction enough to lose over 80 lbs in the last 18 months.

However, there is one food that controls me more than any other food. It's hard to release it's control over me, and when I'm under it's control I am hopeless.

Sugar.

I will eat sweets until I get sick. I never used to get sick. So I would just eat a dozen chocolate chip cookies without thinking. I'd finish off a pint of Ben and Jerry's in less than 30 minutes. Now if I did that, I'm pretty sure I'd be sick.

For the last 8-10 weeks, I've been skating on thin ice with sugar and sweets. Let's use tonight as an example.

After work, I decided I wanted to make something sweet. Something with chocolate. Now, I don't keep sweets in the house for the reason that I would eat the whole package in just a few days so in scouring the cabinets I find a fudge recipe on the back of the baking cocoa package. Perfect!

I remember why I've never made any sort of candy or fudge from scratch.

For the life of me I could not get the mixture to heat to the right temperature. I let it boil for a good 20 minutes, at least, and I gave up right around 210 degrees. I know, I know - I'm impatient. But I was tasting along the way and the mixture started to taste burnt, so I thought maybe just the thermometer was broken.

Now I have a 9 x 9 pan of hot fudge syrup.

Even though it turned out nothing like fudge, I still ate about a pound of the result - a hot fudge syrup of sorts. By the tablespoonful. By dips and licks with my finger. With a spoonful of peanut butter (twice). By freezing it in a cupcake liner with a dollop of peanut butter.

I basically ate hot fudge syrup straight from the jar (pan). This is what a sugar addiction (vice) does to a person.

When I started really loosing a lot of weight I was more conscious about my white refined sugar intake. No, I wasn't perfect. I had an occasional cupcake. But I ate plain greek yogurt instead of the flavored kind. I substituted fruit for baked goods. I didn't bring pie or bread pudding home from Thanksgiving dinner.

Lately though, I've started to slide back into my old habits. The worst part is I don't want to do much about it right now. I have two holiday cookie swaps coming up and I'm planning to fully participate. But at some point, if I want to lose these last few pounds I'm going to have to break my sugar addiction again.

I'll let you know when that happens, because you probably won't want to be around me when I go through detox.

One word - #resound11 Day 1

I'm going to attempt to participate in a project this month hosted by @Jaemie, called #resound11. Each day there will be a prompt to reflect on 2011 and anticipate 2012. Feel free to check out the project here.

Prompt # 1: What is one word to describe your 2011? Why does that word sum up your year?

I'm going to have to throw out the word "restless" to describe my year. As I was thinking back on my year, I realized how much has happened in 2011. I walked my 2nd half marathon, I started a new job, my mom suffered a brain aneurysm - and survived, my sister had her second child, I've been working increasingly long hours at work, I began running, and now I am training for my 3rd half marathon.

It seems like no matter what changes life throws at me, I am always looking towards the next big event - never living in the moment.

Definition of restless from the dictionary:

1: lacking or denying rest

2: continuously moving

3: characterized by or manifesting unrest especially of mind

This definitely spoke to me: "2: continuously moving"

I very rarely stop and focus on what is actually happening, right then at that one moment in my life. Even right now as I train for my next half marathon, I am already thinking about what big events I will do next year. Will I dive into the triathlon world? Will I do another half marathon? What about Bay to Breakers? My mind is always in planning mode.

I think living in the moment can be hard for a lot of us. We make plans, set expectations and can oftentimes be let down when something doesn't work out in our favor. Living in the moment is definitely something to think about and actively try to master for myself.