-5

Hello, everybody!

Whew, this weekend has been such a rush.  The Last Exorcism, party with Jess Lowell, and Contra Dancing all rolled into one, fun-filled adventure.  :)  I just wish it would never end.  But it will, as all things have to.

I have some great news to share after my staggering 10lb gain last week!  I lost 5!  So, essentially I'm right back to where I was before I started Weight Watchers for the 2nd time this past summer.  Thinking about it that way is definitely frustrating, but hey, at least I didn't gain another 5.

As I've learned with Weight Watchers, you're going to screw up sometimes.  Actually, lots of times.  It's inevitable.  Losing weight is HARD work.  It's not something you can commit yourself to, and expect to happen right away.  It definitely isn't something for the weak-willed people of the world.  (I have issues with my willpower often enough, so I'm speaking directly from personal experience, here.)  A "diet" can't be this wishy-washy food and exercise plan that you follow sometimes, and then wonder why it isn't working for you.  When you're in the business of losing weight-it's go big or go home. 

A support system can make ALL the difference in the world.  I'm very lucky to have such a strong support system from all of my friends and family, whenever I need them.  They keep me strong and motivated (except for those times when the friends aren't thinking and decide that supper for the night should be Wings, but then it's all up to me whether I want to comply or not.)  Unfortunately I usually do-the cafeteria on campus isn't always as appealing as I think the staff would like.  But, I mean, at least we get to eat.  :)

Last night I went Contra Dancing with Ryan, and two of his Theatre friends from UVM (Alice, and Zoe), at Edmund's Middle School here in Burlington.  What a blast.  :)  Some of the same people are still dancing as the ones Ashley, Velvet, Ryan, and I experienced the first time we went.  Contra Dancing is such a beautiful art form.  When everyone knows what they're doing and when the ladies that have been doing this for years are making it all look so effortless, Contra Dancing's appeal certainly shines through.  I was thinking about whether they have a formal Contra Dance later in the year where all the ladies and gents dress up in formal wear and then come to pull this off.  I think it would be gorgeous!!!!!!  :)  Ryan and I learned that he needs to work on his frame and that I need to (still) work on how to spin correctly.  Aww..dancing lessons!  Well-moral of the story for all this-Contra Dancing is INTENSE.  After one dance I'm sweaty, gross, can't breathe, and for every 1 dance that I dance, I need to sit out 2.  Hahaha.  That's pretty bad, but hey, I have a lot more weight that I'm throwing around than all the rest of those people.  If there  was a weekly class or dance offered somewhere that pulled off a Contra Dance for an hour or two, I would totally go to that.  It would increase my stamina, my confidence in some of the moves, and maybe I could even learn a few extra fun moves to throw in as well. 

You can really learn a lot about a person by the way they dance.  :)  Obviously you want a partner that can keep up with you, but not one that wants to swing you around 110 mph so that your feet don't even get the CHANCE to touch the ground.  (I mean, unless you're into that sort of thing...)  There were some people that I felt safe and comfortable with, and others that I felt like I had to take the lead-which is not fun.  A person really learns a lot from moving their body with someone else.  I believe it is an experience everyone should be able to have. 

All in all, everything went well.  My core and my thighs hurt a little today, but right now I'm in the mindset that I want to Bounce and Swing every guy I come across with.  And that could potentially be awkward....I don't know......   ;)

In the end, I'm still working on losing weight.  Unless something terribly interesting happens in the next week that I just can't WAIT to blog about (it'll probably happen,) I'll check back in again next Sunday with how I've done.  Please, please, please wish me luck.  Until I feel myself sliding back down into the 250s I won't feel as though I'm doing a super fantastic great job. 

LOVE!

<3 Megan <3

I'm Going To Be Hot

Finding a bathing suit when you're a size 22/24 is difficult.  Finding a bathing suit when you're any size, really is always going to be difficult.  But especially when you're a size 22/24.  Why's that?  Because NOTHING IS EVER IN YOUR SIZE!!!

Currently I have a 1 piece that I have been comfortable in all summer.  (Now, don't judge me on the basis of being big and wearing a 1 piece.  I've worn 2 pieces in the past-and they were always tankinis.)  Unfortunately with the 1 piece, I frequently get frustrated when I'm in the water for an hour or so, then I have to pee.  So I get out, and it's like an epic battle in a porta-potty trying to wedge the entire suit down my body, say NOTHING about shimmying it back up.  (15 minutes of cardio right there.) 

As you can see, that's a perfectly justifiable reason to miss a 2 piece.  A second reason is transitions-between public places that are beaches and public places that are not.  I like having something versatile that works in both places.  It's difficult to be able to transition well from street clothes to finding a way to get the 1 piece on before I get to the beach, and vise versa. 

Enter, the tankini.  I still have a pretty large stomach/midsection area compared to most other people.  Therefore, I would be humiliated if I tried to wear a bikini.  Nobody wants to look at that.  I don't even want to look at that.  Therefore-covering the majority of the pudge is absolutely necessary.  As such, here's the top I bought:

Don't think I'm blind.  I know my tummy still looks pretty bad in this.  But I bought it for a reason-two, actually.  Reason number 1: My boobs look fabulous!!! And because I'm wearing this new bathing suit in Florida on Thanksgiving Break, I want to look fabulous.  Reason number 2:  Because I'm still working on losing weight, my plan is to flatten out my stomach-which will make this look much better on me.  Normally I'm not an advocate for buying clothes that don't already actually fit you, but a flatter tummy?  Awesome boobs?  I'm down. 

:)  It's Florida beaches, I have motivation.  :)

The bottoms.  They are on their way.  I went to my local Lane Bryant today to find a bathing suit bottom as other stores like Macy's, Maurices, Old Navy, Kohl's, JcPenny's and others either don't sell bathing suits or don't actually sell them in my size.  I liked the skirt bottom because it helps hide a little of my thigh pudge, but you know what?  Any skirt-ish kind of bathing suit is hard to wear under any pair of pants because it adds even more bulge to my already bulky frame.  It's just adds a size or two and makes me feel worse about my condition.  SO-I decided to just go with regular bottoms.  Not shorts.  Not a thong.  Just regular bottoms. 

These ones, in fact:

I think that together, these pieces will make a wonderful suit, and I'll feel wonderful when I slip into it.  What I also love about the top is that the strings for the halter are small.  Which means a large reduction in tan lines.  (Which is something else I'm all for.)  Yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh man!!!!

Toes.

Anywho, I really think I have a good chance at pulling this off.  The suit only requires that I drop 1 size by November, which I don't feel is asking too much of myself.  If I can continue to do my best to eat and drink healthy (partially to drop some weight, partially so I don't get sick because colds are already spreading around campus,) then I feel like I have a wonderful chance at looking good down in Florida.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!  Better yet, leave me some love!

<3 Megan <3

The answer is no.  I am staying domestic next semester and enjoying my originally planned semester here in tthe sometimes-sleepy city of Burlington.  I have realized that I am way too content and happy with my life here to miss a single day of it, say nothing about 4 months.

I've been looking forward to a semester free of responsibilities, commitments, and stressful scheduling for many semesters.  And now that I get the chance, I'm not letting go.  I've got a bloody VICE GRIP on it.

Thank you to all of you who messaged me in one way or another via FaceBook or e-mail to share your advice with me.  I seriously sat down and thought about it all, but I've realized staying here is where I want to be.  I'm comfortable where I am and I want to start setting down roots here.  I'll probably be a native Vermon'er until I die.  Eventually, I will get to Ireland.  If its for a week, a month, or even possibly a year, I'll do it.  I don't know how, but you know what?  I don't have to have all the answers right now.  I'm just going to continue doing what's right for me, and right now-this is it.

:)

XOXO

Uh-Oh. :(

I'm so confused!!!!!

I was approached today by Linda Rodd asking if I was going abroad next semester.  A simple enough question, yeah?  No.  Not really.  (Note: abroad for me means to Dublin, Ireland.  We have a Montreal campus,  but I'm not interested.)

See, I had originally planned to have this amazing semester next semester free of commitments, worries, and bothers.  And now I have the option of going abroad dumped back in my lap.

My main arguments for not going were these: as a SWK major, classes for my program aren't being offered over there as of yet; I am not sure I have the $$$ to go (basically it's about the same cost as a regular semester, but you have to buy the plane tickets;) and I don't know if I want to leave Ryan here alone.

The first two can probably be negotiated and dealt with, but I don't know how I feel about leaving my oldest (in terms of years being friends) best friend alone at college for a semester.  And I don't know if I can handle it.

This is all sounding like it's coming to a phone conversation with my family tonight after my supper and before Music Makers.  See, I'd love to go, but for all the reasons mentioned above I just don't know.  I also don't know when/if later in life I'd be able to go on my own outside of college.  I mean, once you get settled in a career, you don't get good vacation time easily usually until your late 20s or mid 30s.  Which is suck.

I'm torn. 

:(

1/2 Fail

Hellllllllllllllllllllloooooooooooo Blogosphere!

So-I have some news.  I half failed this past week.  Now, I've been EXTRAORDINARILY active.  Like, walking nonstop to and from the U-Mall, but...I have some bad news.

Somehow I managed to gain 10 lbs in a week.  Yeah....I know, right?  Despite having walked literally half my ass off (which is sad because I LOOOVE my butt,) I still managed to gain all that weight.  Now-I didn't splurge in copious amounts or anything like that.  My theory is that since I've been so active, I've been building muscle.  My grandmother's theory is something to do with water retention and the fact that last week was 90 degrees every single day, and something or other to that effect.  Maybe it's both?  I'm not sure.  Either way, I know I'm slimmer (see "Looking Down: I See Boobs"), but it sucks that I still have to carry all this extra crappy weight around with me.

Zumba is still going wonderfully.  Lisa is my instructor here on campus.  (We took Kickboxing together last year.)  Zumba is much more fun, though.  :)  I am always so tired on my way to Zumba, but by the time I leave I've been sweating and the endorphins have kicked in, so it makes the rest of the night go easier. 

On another note....Whale's Tails!!!!  Ryan's recounting of this excellent trip is here; Ashley's is here.

This sums up the Meg Ryan relationship...

See!  I'm not lying.  I have lost some of my tummy!

Mmmm hmmm.

Effing Adorable.

Originally Ashley Ryan and I had decided that Sundays we would use to explore our area via hiking, or doing some other bonding activity.  Ryan and I were going to show Ashley our "spot" that we found last year this Sunday, but instead after looking through What's Good (a little booklet 7Days puts out at the beginning of every school year for us kids,) we found that there's a secret path up to actually touch the Whales' Tails that can be seen coming North on I-89.  So, we decided that for 20-30 minutes we would wave at traffic.  Another Megan in my COR class and I randomly came across each other in Dirt Chic downtown (another place we decided to explore,) and I later found out that Megan saw us while we were at the Whale's Tails.  WHOA.  Welcome to VT-small world.

All in all, the Whale's Tails trip was a success.  Plus, multiple double rainbows showed up.  (Check here for the musical rendition.)  It was wonderful. 

What wasn't a success however was getting a ride back to campus.  The CCTA bus decided it was totally okay to be 25-30 minutes late.  Which would have been fine, had it not started raining.  5 minutes before the water started falling from the sky:

Yes, we're sitting in the grass waiting for the bus.  Soon after Ashley took this picture, the Heavens opened up and water splashed everywhere.  It was an ugly experience.  After making a call to Sketchy Josh to come pick us up, the bus decides it's an awesome time to show up.  Obviously.  This followed by a text to Sketchy Josh telling him he doesn't have to pick us up and waiting the next 40 minutes to get back to campus= a really bad trying to get home trip.  I mean, obviously it was great in that the memories will be there forever.  But-it was cold and wet.  Oh well, at least we got to order Wings (Honey BBQ Chicken Wrap with Cheesy Waffle Fries,) and marvel in the fact that we made it back alive.

Ahhh....the tales of epic travels.

Until next time.

-Megan

Looking Down: I See Boobs!

Soooo....some of you may be baffled at the title.  Understandably so.

Here's what I mean.

When I came to college, I was overweight enough where when I looked down the front of my body, I saw boobs and then a few inches of protruding tummy beyond that.  Now when I look down...I just see boobs!!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!  This means I've probably lost some inches on my tummy area, but I'll be able to validate that more when I'm able to find some quiet time to strip down and take my measurements.  (It's really rather difficult in college with people around all the time.)  I'm not knocking it though, all summer I craved more interaction with people my own age.  Well, now I've got it.

I'm very excited for weigh-in on Sunday.  Also, I've gone in to reset my WW points.  I had been allotted 32 points per day, but now that I've indicated that I'm walking most of the time, I'm allowed 37 points per day.  No WONDER I've been starving at the end of the day.  I'm doing some serious calorie burning by walking everywhere (especially to Ryan's dorm room-which is 5 stories up-and elevators are not an option.)

To add on the subject of my diminishing belly bulge, I feel like I can account to the other reason I've lost some of it.  First, there's the exercise portion which obviously helps, regardless.  But then there's the food choices.  Case in point:  I looooooove warm bagels with cream cheese.  They taste so good, and it's essentially a comfort food.  However, bread expands in your stomach-therefore creating extra pudge and bloat during the day.  I've been really careful about choosing lots of fruits in the morning for breakfast (I need to start working more protein in in my breakfasts as well-but I'm working on that,) and having at LEAST 1 salad a day with either lunch or dinner.  I like to try to have a bigger lunch because then your body has the entire rest of the day to digest that.  Dinner should be something simple yet effective.  Half a plate of veggies or fruits, 1/4 plate of protein/fiber, 1/4 plate of whole grains. 

I'm having a bit of a battle with the "whole grains" thing.  The prepared meals I've been getting are more geared either towards straight up carbs (lunch), or lots of veggies/healthy stuff that'll digest within the next hour or so (dinner-usually.)  Maybe I should work on making deli choices for lunch instead, and then asking for whole grain bread.  That may help.  :)  Plus any cold cut means will be protein.  Hmmm...excellent.

Also-on a side note.  I splurged last night.  It's been around 90 degress EVERDAY of college so far.  It's sooooooo hot.  Vermont is NOT supposed to be 90 degress.  Ever.  Okay, maybe one or two days out of August, but not for weeks at a time.  It was in the 70s and 80s before I left for college back in Lyndonville, and now that I'm back in Burlington where the weather is naturally about 5 degress warmer than home anyway, the temp decides it needs to skyrocket.  Because of this, I had a chocolate creemee for desert yesterday with Hershey's chocolate sauce.  I don't regret it.  :)

Anywho, I've got to wrap up this post for now because I have class in a half hour and I'd like some time to center myself before going up to campus for 3 classes.  To everyone out there-good luck with your weight loss plan or with your making healthier lifestyle choices plan!  I'm always here...going through the same process with you.

Chin up, kids!

<3 Megan <3

How I'm Doing

Hi, all!  So, weight loss!  My next weigh-in day isn't until Sunday, but I just want to let you all know what's going on for me right now.

Basically, I'm throwing my points system out the window for this week.  After move in day (which was the day I made my last post,) I've been SO incredibly active.  Also, it's been about 90 degrees every day since, so while you're sitting on the couch, you're sweating.  It's basically the best weight loss plan ever.  (Kidding...kind of...)

SO-with Weight Watchers, in order to calculate how many points per week you're allowed, you indicate your current weight and what your activity level looks like.  Well, obviously when I was home this summer I was sitting most of the time.  Now that I'm back at college, I'm up and going almost all the time, so I'm burning through calories left and right.

I think I've probably lost about 4 lbs through sweating the past 4 days alone.  But I digress.  Essentially, I think I've jumpstarted my metabolism with all the force of a great typhoon.  (Little reference to Disney's Mulan.)  So because of this, I'm finding myself becoming hungry a lot sooner than I'm used to.  Also since I've been back at college, I've been doing my best to eat lots of fruits and vegetables throughout the day.  Unfortunately, the sucky drawback with increasing fiber intake is that sometimes you become kind of gassy.  And in college, as everyone knows, there's no place to really go to fart.  It's horrible!  Seriously, I've had conversations with Eden and Ryan about this my freshman year of college.  And I don't mean gassy just in terms of farting, but also in terms of your stomach and gastrointestinal tract making weird noises randomly throughout the day.  I know that's probably TMI for some people, but I'm being completely honest with all of you what you sometimes have to go through.  I know that a lot of this is my body just adjusting to getting the nutrients it needs, but seriously.  It's difficult sometimes.  Haha.

So to wrap up, basically I think I'm doing good with my weight loss.  I had more substance in my meals today because I realized that I'd be getting hungry a lot sooner than usual.  More protein and more fiber, yo!  One of my regrets about our cafeteria is that the caf doesn't usually serve yogurt beyond breakfast.  Which is really sad.  Obviously.  Since they usually have granola.

But-whatever.  I'm going to keep doing the best I can and trying to stay active and healthy to the best of my ability.  That's all anyone can ever ask of you.

Best of luck to everyone out there!  Keep me posted on what's happening for you!

-Megan