Tuesday, March 5, 2013

I'm still here

I am still here. Things are still going, I am just not losing...yet. I know where my issue is, it is with food. They say recognizing the problem is half of fixing it, so we shall see. I have days were I stay on my calorie target and know that if I could keep doing it I would lose weight. It will happen. The Woman Run Arkansas running clinic started last Saturday! So I am hoping that will help get me the boost I need. Getting to the gym is a no brainer, granted I didn't go today because I needed a rest day due to running twice tomorrow in the am at the gym and in the evening with the running clinic. I am studying my booty off for the Parxis II 3051 so that has me a little stressed. I am trying a new thing to help with my calories and staying full and using some of the Herbalife products. I have seen a difference in not snacking as much, but still need to work on making better food choices. Haven't run any races this year yet toward my 13 race goal, but all of that will change soon! I am registered for the following Races!

April 13-Center Valley Elementary 5 k
April 20- The Heat Volleyball Fundraiser 5k
May 11- Woman Can Run Arkansas 5k
May 25- Rock Run 8k
June 1-Color Me Rad Memphis 5k
June 8-Color Me Rad Little Rock 5k
October 16- Soaring Wings Half Marathon
November 2- Color Run Little Rock 5 k
December 7- St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon

So I need to find and squeezed in 5 more races this year but I feel pretty sure I can do it seeing as the fall months are BIG for races and I only have 2 on the calendar and none for September. Only one of these I am not registered for yet is the St. Jude half as the registration hasn't opened yet. I am hoping a Turkey Trot and a Raindeer Run or something festive pop up close by. Downside to us moving to a small area is I have to travel for almost every race and that makes life a little difficult.

Well, i will try to get back to posting. But for now I am just too busy and figured I would update on a study date. I WILL FIND SUCCESS!!!

~Till Later

Monday, February 4, 2013

I've Been MIA

Weight isn't doing much changing. One month in, nothing to really show for it. trying to stay positive. I have a one year plan, and depending where things are in a year will reevaluate. I will share that later.

Working out has been a easy. Even getting in workouts on the weekends which has been awesome. Starting my 2 day workouts today. Hopefully I can keep that up. Still trying to stay on my calorie target and would really like to get some weight off b4 my birthday.

I have a sick kiddo so gotta run, hopefully I will be better about blogging again soon but life is just so insane right now.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tomorrow WILL BE BETTER!

SO where is B.H?

Up and down the same two lbs 223, 225, 223, 225, I think you get the picture.

I MUST stay on my calories count. That is WHY I gained it back, that is WHY I am not losing.

Kind of frustrated. So really must make that my goal for the rest of this week and for everyday.

So send me your tips and tell me what you are eating that is keeping you on track =)

I have decided that I am going to move forward with next months plan tomorrow. As of tomorrow adding to the list of things I know longer consume will be bread and pasta. It is one of those things I have learned that I just can not eat. I still eat plenty of carbs through fruits and veggies. But those are not the same. I feel good about no soda and no wine so lets move on to no bread. I also MUST find a way to stay on calorie count. Eating my burn is not working for me ;/ so 1300 a day it is, at most 1500.

I am getting to the gym fine so that is good. Foot is doing so so. It feels better but I feel a tinge or two every once in a while so I am still holding off on the running, but walking and doing some weights.

OK well crazy amounts of school work to do! And a baby shower to throw this weekend.

~Till Later

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Injury already?

Hopefully it isn't true, but I have a had feeling that I may have a bad and sudden flair up for Planter Fasciitis...which is so not a good thing. The planter fasciitia is the tendons that run from the ball of your foot, through the arch and up to your heel. It is uncommon in high arched people, which is why I am freaking out because I have a ridiculous arch hence my supination when I run, but my mom was diagnosed a few years ago and I have had several small flare ups. Seeing as we are over weight, that probably has a lot to do with it.  I am hoping I don't need to run to the Dr.

It started after I finished my 4th interval run, I hoped to the sides of the tredmil to lower the speed and when I went to walk I could feel the sharp pain up my arch right away. I gave it a second to see if it was just a tweak or something but it didn't give. Then I stopped, pulled my shoe off and gave my arch a little rub down, then tried lowered the mill from my 5% incline to a 1% incline, nope still painful, oh crap getting more painful so I called it a day. I was so mad I wasn't even going to run today! I actually had to talk myself into running today! I was just going to walk. I was so exhausted, but after walking my warm up mile it was easy to just bump up the speed and start running my intervals. Anyway, got off with a limp and finished my 60 min cardio stint on a bike. Haven't been on a bike in a long time. I could feel it working different muscles which was nice, but wow the calorie burn is kind of a disappointment, only 100 calories for 20 minutes and I was pushing pretty hard at a 5 resistance. My foot still hurt when I left the gym and I was def limping. By the time I got home it was better, and now it isn't bothering me at all. I've been icing and plan to do so a few more times today. My plan for the rest of the week/weekend is to take it easy...no more running this week regardless just to be sure. I am going to elliptical as long as it doesn't hurt and ride a bike. Hopeful my new shoes come in soon and i can get them broke in this week as well. Then I plan to "hopefully" be able to ease back into running after a few days off =/ hopefully not a few weeks off. If it is still bothering me next week to the DR I will go.

Ugh talk about frustration!

Making mental notes of food choices I need to change for next week. Drinking plenty of water. I have the cup a coffee that is left in the pot from my husband in the morning and that is all. I have joined the gym last Thursday! Have worked out everyday since and glad for that. Hoping the weather is good in Alabama next weekend when I am down for my sisters baby shower so I can walk and do some outside stuff. 8 days closer to that 21 day habit mark! Same with soda!!!

~Till Later

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Do You Eat Your Burn?

Ah the great debate on calorie intake vs. calories burned.

My fit pal has me set at 1300 cal a day, which I haven't figured out how to eat that even if I eat no meat or bread, so I try to shoot for 1600...but I also eat a good bit of my calories burned. On BIG run days I feel like I am starving. Even with a good breakfast before I hit the gym. I am in the market for a good heart rate monitor so I know EXACTLY what I am burning. For now I enter my weight and age into the machine, and then subtract about 20%, I usually burn between 750-900 calories at the gym in an hour so after you take away the 20% for the inaccuracy 600-720. So that boost me right back to eating a 2000 calorie day. According to dailycaloriecount.com, putting in that I am doing light activity (which really prior to last Thursday I was more like sedentary)  but I wanted to make sure I was getting the most realistic look possible  SO to maintain they say I need to consume about 2450 a day. They tell you to shoot for a 500 reduction in calorie intake a day to lose a lb per week so I would be close to that. At moderate activity, it has my calories around 2750 and another site said I needed to eat 3000 a day to maintain my 225lb status. So either way 2000 is less, so for that I am glad.

Now here is the great debate. Some people say why would you eat your burn when you are trying to lose? Doesn't that negate the point? While others would say you should eat your burn because you are already at a deficient becasue of the burn. So technically I am still only eating 1300 calories a day to live on, and that I ate the additional 800 to replenish my body from the workout. I am sure if I only ate the 1300 a day I would drop a lot more, a lot faster, but I can't seem to get anywhere near that number. My goal would be to keep it around 1600 and not eat all my burn, but I am not quite there either. For now I am satisfied that I am staying close to the calorie allotment with working out. I think I ideally shooting to eat half of my calorie burn would be a good goal. Maybe that will be what I shoot for next week.

No movement on the scale. Pretty sad about that. Almost went to the gym again tonight becasue I was upset with a friend, will share that tomorrow, but I didn't one workout a day is all I think I have the energy for right now. Had one beer Monday after the National Championship game, seriously best beer of my life. Really think my body is missing salt, beer is actually good for replenishing runners. Sounds wired but it is. Food is so so, I think I have a new addiction to granola. Bought another box today and really wish I hadn't. I got it to make it like dessert when I eat yogurt  but I end up just eating it and it really isn't low in calories but it is soo good but I am think I will not get any more of that. Need to add in more fruit. Maybe add to the grocery list buy frozen fruit. Love a fruit smoothie.

Random Thought: Sunday night we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with friends. I only had 3 chips, drank water, and you really can eat there without having a margarita =) I did finish off my plate of fajitas (without eating the tortillas) but the not eating chips was HUGE and I will take the little success.

~Till Later

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

I still want Soda

Well...I haven't had so much as a sip of a soda since last Friday...Maybe hasn't been long enough? Who knows. I mostly want it in the morning when I first wake up, and then again around 3 when I am starting to tucker out. I have axed my plan to give up coffee. Its just to exhausting to live without. However, now that my husband takes a good Thermos full to work, there is usually only a cup to a cup and half left in the pot for me so that is better then half a pot.

Weight was looking really good! Was down 3 lbs and was really excited, then the national championship happened and I ate a bunch of bad food last night...glad today is NOT my weigh in day. Really hoping I am not logging a gain this Friday in my fitness pal.

Gym is going well. I am amazed that I am pushing myself as hard as I am. I know I could push harder though. I haven't done any working out at home like I had hoped, but I have a class still to finish before the 25th of this month. So maybe that can be rolled onto a goal of next month. I have worked out everyday since last Thursday. Sunday I ran outside instead of going to the gym, and all of my workouts haven't been as  long as I would hope, but they are workouts and I am going which is more then I was doing two weeks ago.

I am exhausted from watching Alabama win their 3rd national championship in 3 years and have 3 essays to correct and resubmit so I am going to get to that. I will update more later!

~Till Later

Saturday, January 5, 2013

3 Days down...18 and many many more to go

They say it takes 21 days to start a new routine. Well I am officially 3 days closer to hitting that magic number with going to the gym. Although I must say, this time "re-starting" hasn't been as hard. I think a good part of me is just so upset with myself that I am here AGAIN!  I was really getting happy with myself, and I felt beautiful again. I am just disappointed with me. So maybe I have found my mojo and that is what is making it easier to get there.
Yes, I have a great "excuse" we moved 890 miles away, I am hitting crunch time to the finish of my 2nd semester of grad school, my husband was pretty much MIA the last 5 months with processing out of the Navy and moving 6 weeks before the rest of the family to start a new job, which in turns means I handled all of the move. Which if anyone has ever handled a move by themselves you get it.
But to me all that really is, is an excuse. I still could have said no to the pizza, pasta, and bread, and really for as much as I procrastinate (i.e. this blog) I could have gone to the gym. But never the less here I am again, and the only thing to do about it is get my butt back in gear.
I finally accepted that I needed to change my fit pal to reflect ALL of the weight I have gained back. At one time that number was a 35 =/ and my scale read 199. When I got back on the wagon 2 days ago it was 225, 9 lbs shy of where I was 2 yrs ago when I set out to start losing  and only 2 lbs less then when I started this blog. But here we go.
Enough of my pitty party. I have weighed in at 223 the last two days after hitting the gym so yay! I officially gave up Diet Dr. Pepper Friday. I did suffer from a pretty bad headache last evening, and I did cheat a smidge and have a sip of the hubbies Cherry Coke zero. But when I say smidge, I mean it. I am allowing myself coffee on Saturday and Sunday only. So basically I am going caffeine free all week as well as no wine. The wine hasn't really bothered me yet. Maybe that is because by the time it would be nice to have a glass, since there isn't any in the house and we now live in a dry county (who even knew those still existed?) I kind of get over it because no one is going to drive 20 min to get some.
Calorie intake is going ok, it could be better, but I am tracking it so that is a def plus and is helping me stay at least aware of my choices. The gym is going good. I need to get some new shoes before I end up with shin splints and I probably should go ahead and start icing down when I get home from the gym so I will get on that next week. Running is going surprisingly well! I have been running at an incline on the mill, which is new for me all together. But it really boosts the calorie burn, and I need to kick this losing business off and fast! I hit an elliptical tonight, which I never really care for becasue I don't sweat nearly as much as normal. And yes if I am going to the gym, I like to leave and feel like I killed it and to me sweat tells me how hard I worked. I only did 30 on the elliptical  was going to do the weight circuit but just didn't feel like I had done enough cardio so I hit the track. This gym has a track which is kind of cool, except the track is pretty small IMO. If you run in the middle lane you have to do 19 laps for a mile! Which that is just too many, seriously you would get dizzy. But I think for short runs it works ok. I decided I would do a 3/2 interval (run for 3, walk for 2) for 15 minutes. It wasn't too bad. Towards the end I was DYING and ready for it to be over, but I also realized that I was pacing out at a 11.5 min mile so I kept it up. I was pretty excited about that. I don't think I could have kept that pace going for much longer, but considering I haven't done any running since September, I am glad that it seems to be coming back faster then I would have thought. Hopefully endurance will pick up in the next few weeks too.

Well I gotta go. I have a TON of school work to do.
~Till Later.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Day 1=not a total failure

I joined the gym! Yay me. It is not as nice as I would have thought per the cost. I am pretty sure some of the equipment is as old as I am. But it is the only one in town with child care (yep it is official I live the middle of nowhere now).

I did great eating wise till this afternoon. Tomorrow I must focus on actually making myself eat! I had breakfast, and came home from the gym and had a snack. But then I finished the Diet Dr. Pepper I opened this morning (ps only one can left in the house!!!!) and it was all down hill from there..but down hill is a relative term bc I def didn't eat to lose weight today. But I did do much better then usual!

I didn't die on the treadmill which is a good thing lol. The child watch closes at 12 and I didn't get on the 50 year old treadmill till around 11:10 so I decided I would do 45 min. I walked the first full mile, after that I ran every other quarter mile. In all I did 3.33 miles in 45 min. The 1st half mile I ran at my 6.0 pace at a 4 incline...that hurt. The last mile I dropped to a zero incline and only ran at a 5.t each quarter mile. That wasn't easy, but it def wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. So yay for that.

Needless to say though scale hates me today. Trying to hold on and give myself a couple weeks it takes time.

Goals tomorrow:
1st no soda day!
day 2 at the gym! going for the same workout, but a full hour.
Play Just Dance with the kids in the afternoon, and get in another 30 min
Drink at least 64 oz of plain water.

Ok folks I'll  let you know how it goes!
~Till Later

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Official Start Date? Well, that will be tomorrow

Well, I didn't really find a groove today. I MUST FIND IT! I MUST MUST MUST!

Tomorrow January 3, 2013 will be my new start date. I will find me! The real me! The one behind the cellulite  fat rolls, and big thighs.

I played Just Dance with the kids for 30 minutes and it killed! Can't wait to see what it will do if I do the sweat it out version! My plan is to step up the exercise in increments.

One of my major goals is to be ready for the running clinic in March. In September I was running a half marathon, today I bet it would almost kill me to run a mile...if I even could.

Now that we are moved and settled, I can finally go and join the gym Friday. I should have just done it when we got here. Heck I may even go and do it tomorrow! Yes I will go and join tomorrow. Need to get the kids out of the house to begin with.

Here is my plan for next month:

1st 4 weeks:
-Focus on Calorie Intake using My Fit Pal. Even with calories earned by working out, stay under 1600 a day.
-Run/Walk at the gym 4 days a week and take it slow! No matter how hard it will be for me, I do not want to get injured again.
-30 minutes of Just Dance workout version 5 days a week
-circuit training at home 4 days a week
-no alcohol for 30 days
-giving up diet soda

Sounds like a lot, but when are weighing in at 222 lbs...well I need a lot. and really its an hour and half a day, and I plan to do it at two separate times a day. Annoying, yes, but great for getting that metabolism up! I also am saying no to wine. It is a little easier now that we live in a dry county. Can't exactly run out and grab a bottle. Closest liquor store is 20 minutes away. I figure if I can give it up for 30 days, I can keep adding to that. Seeing as it slows you down for 2 days and is full of calories, maybe if I can find my grove from last year I will see much better results as it was something I didn't give up =/. I am also getting rid of the diet soda. I love it. I crave it. It will KILL! But its expensive, unnecessary  and everyone swears you will lose weight if you cut it out. I have maybe 5 left in the closet and then they are gone. To reward myself for these things, I am going to put $10 a week that I don't drink in an envelope, and $3 a week that I don't have soda. That is about what I spend drinking soda and wine a week. I am going to put them back in cash and let it build. Each time I lose 10 lbs I am going to let myself go and blow it on something just for me!

~Till Later

Maybe I should change the title to 32?

Not in the mood for blogging...just not fellin it. But here is where I am.

Ugh up to 222, epic fail... saw 199 for a day, hit 200 for my sisters wedding, then from June till now...well I think we all know what happened.

In 2012 I ran 8 races, knocked 26 minutes off my half marathon time, and was on my way to a new me. But between student teaching, graduate classes, 2 kids, a cross country move, holidays, injury, and a whole host of excuses here I am again...at least I am not back to 234 right?

Well my goals for 2013 are here, in BLACK and WHITE and all their splendor:

1. Blog at least once a week, even if random and short.
2. Lose 20lbs in the next 10 weeks to at least be 2lbs less then I was for my 30th birthday.
3. Over all, get down to 175 by the end of the year...not my finish line, just my 2013 goal.
4. GRADUATE GRAD SCHOOL
5. Run 13 races in 2013, which will mean 2+ several months bc, well it is too cold where we live now!
6. Run a 5k with an official time of less then 30min (best time ever 31:58)
7. Run my next half in 2:30 or less
8. BUY SKINNY JEANS!
9. Wear a sexy nightgown for my husband again. 
10. Be Happy and Comfortable in my own SKin!

Good Luck to all my weight lose blogoshpere friends. Here we go again!