{"id":17083,"date":"2011-05-13T08:44:31","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T15:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=17083"},"modified":"2011-05-13T08:48:09","modified_gmt":"2011-05-13T15:48:09","slug":"kaizen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=17083","title":{"rendered":"Kaizen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

“There’s a Japanese word, kaizen<\/em>, which means making a big change by making one small change every day, doing one little thing differently.”<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Since 2006, I made small changes every single day that ended up being one huge change in the end. I lost 100 pounds. I ran Hood to Coast. I biked 55 miles. I swim 1.5 miles in 50 minutes. Who would have thought 5 years ago that I would be 100+ pounds lighter and buying a bikini? It seems like a trivial thing to even care about, right?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nBut I’ve never owned one. Not even as a teenager that wasn’t overweight. It just wasn’t me, or something I ever thought I wanted. I was always shy, self-conscious about my body. I thought I was “Fat” even when I wasn’t–just a little chubby “baby fat.” It wasn’t until I did<\/em><\/strong> get fat, and then lose the weight, that I became more comfortable with my body.<\/p>\n

Now at 144 pounds I’m fit and proud of my accomplishments. I’m still self-conscious about my body parts though. I am working hard to change that. After years of feeling every flaw, it’s a hard habit to break.\u00a0 I do get stuck in that “Fat Talk” Loop in my head on occasion.<\/p>\n

Which is funny because I am okay with my body (like I said yesterday) EXCEPT for this one part: my stomach. My arms and legs are super muscular, I’m toned in every part of my body but this one area. And unfortunately, for someone who lost a significant amount, it’s probably only remedied by plastic surgery (not an option right now).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nOver the weekend I bought a bikini. It’s the first one I’ve ever owned. I have no tropical vacations planned in my future and I honestly don’t know that I will EVER wear it in public, but I bought it anyways.<\/p>\n

I figured at the very least, I could wear it in our backyard this summer when we’re working in our garden. Our backyard is very private and I wouldn’t have to worry about feeling uncomfortable or self-conscious about my body. I can just enjoy that my hard work has paid off and I’m sure Michael will like the bikini, too. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

But now I have one. I felt empowered when I wore it last weekend. Sure I was self-conscious of my stomach but at the same time I felt confident and happy that I could finally<\/em> own something like this.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: What’s one small thing you can do today to make a change?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

GIRL’S NIGHT OUT<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

I hadn’t planned on eating out two nights in a row but it sort of happened that way. My cousin Anna had some big news to share with me so I made the exception.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

2003<\/p><\/div>\n

We met at one of my favorite Portland Restaurants: The Sapphire Lounge<\/a> on SE Hawthorne. It was originally a “turn of the century seedy hotel in Portland Oregon inhabited by sailors, travelers and ladies of the night.” It’s a dark, romantic, eclectic restaurant now with amazing food and even yummier martinis. An old friend joined us as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAnna and I arrived just before Happy Hour ended so we ordered a few things right away to get the discount.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI got a glass of the house red and the Sapphire Salad: Citrus vinaigrette, candied walnuts and shredded Parmesan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n(Yum! Candy on a salad? Yes please!) For dinner I got my FAVORITE dish! Butternut Squash Enchiladas: baked in a jalape\u00f1o Emmentaler sauce that’s both sweet and spicy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI’d intended on eating half the entree and taking the rest for lunch but it was smaller than I remembered (and Anna had a few bites too) so I ate all of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nI don’t think there’s actually tortillas in the dish. It’s just oozing with cheesy,\u00a0 spicy goodness and a crispy topping. I love this dish. And I’ve never had one that compares to it (although I’d love to try and make this!).<\/p>\n

It was a good night and it was nice to go out with the girls. It felt just like old times.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Have you ever reached a goal and rewarded yourself with something you’d never had before? Like a bikini?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“There’s a Japanese word, kaizen, which means making a big change by making one small change every day, doing one little thing differently.” Since 2006, I made small changes every single day that ended up being one huge change in the end. I lost 100 pounds. I ran Hood to Coast. I biked 55 miles. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,336,16,3330,44,55,64,2754,315,85,87,95,104,2565,1949,3331,124,1452,152,154,195,196,2778,2806,2514,261,298,303],"tags":[2954,3333,1397,8770,551,1940,2493,3336,746,8662,3337,8691,3335,893,2459,3332,3334,8763],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/dinner-e1305300685546.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17083"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17860,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083\/revisions\/17860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}