Carbloading with Chocolate?

Today I definitely went off plan a little bit and ate quite a few sweet treats. It all happened because we ran out of apples, sound ridiculous but I'm serious. Apples are the glue that hold my diet together. I didn't have carrots, crackers, string cheese, pretzels, bananas...I didn't have ANY snacks to take to work today. I left the house with oatmeal and some herbed chicken. So breakfast and lunch were covered but I knew I would be starving in between...and after. Ended up slightly raiding the vending machine and getting white cheddar cheez-its, then the M&M Jar in the office. One of the ladies a few office over gave me a kit kat, then at Albertsons I split an Almond Joy with Bailey. Ugh. BUT I logged every calorie. Had BLT's for dinner, um, 1.5 BLT's but again, logged and surprisingly I didn't go too far over calories. I even had a 100 calorie blueberry cheesecake popsicle for dessert. Running 17ish miles tomorrow so a few extra calories shouldn't be my un-doing....call it carbloading from the all the chocolate? :)

Thursday Nutrition

Just a quick post to chronicle my nutrition for the day. On the higher end of my calories because I opted to make a dessert tonight, just sugar free fat free cheesecake pudding but then I mixed in the rest of the frosting we had left from Bailey's birthday. Made a reaaaally rich dessert, so 1/4 of a cup felt like plenty.

James has tonight off work so I am going to go to the Y and get in at least an hour workout, probably going to run because I need to log some more miles to keep with my 800 miles for the year goal. Tomorrow we are having my neice over to spend the night so I won't get a workout in with 3 girls ages 4 and under running around. Guess cleaning up their messes will be a workout in itself.

Meet my newest running buddy

Quite a bit more sugar in todays diet than yesterday, but I stayed under my calorie goal and within my carbs, fat. The girls and I just made cinnamon sugar pretzels so I'm snacking on those while typing this- don't worry they are already accounted for in my food log. Today's small victory was that I was left alone in the office at work, I normally share with 6 other people, and I didn't raid the M&M jar! I had 10 pieces, apparently they are approximately 10 calories per candy, and that was spread out over the 8 hour workday. There have been times where I have just grabbed handfuls, literally put them in my pockets and snacked. Embarassing but I'm on track now so I'm going to admit my faults and move on from them.

 

So I suppose I should introduce my newest running buddy. A little over a week ago we got a new dog, her name is Jamba, and she 5ish year old is a pit/lab mix. We got her from a military family getting deployed overseas. James had served with them, they are Navy and he was Marine Corps, and they said she was a fantastic dog and they didn't want her to end up at a shelter or put down. James has been BEGGING me for a big dog for the longest time. He had a rottie growing up and apparently our little beagle and dachshund just aren't the same, lol. So I caved, told him that as long as he took her on walks every day then it would be fine. Secretly I was excited because that means he would be a little more active, yay! So far so good, they seem to be doing .5 mile to 1.4 mile walks depending on the weather. I took Jamba out a few days ago for a run, whew, that was work! She is a GREAT dog, super chill and great with the kids. The former owners had 2 children so she was use to them which is another reason we said yes. Ok but back to the run, she is just a strong dog! She is curious of course and pulls a little and then I have to brace my whole body to hold her. So I ran 1.6 miles (10:37 pace) with her by my side. She did pretty well, I could tell after 3/4 of a mile she started expending her energy because the leash went totally lax next to me. My right bicep is going to be so buff after a few weeks of this! :) 





Jamba

Today my workout consisted of a 1.5 mile dreadmill run between dinner and my husband having to leave for work. I'm throwing around the idea of doing a kettlebell workout once the girls are tucked in. I probably should. Eh, I will.

Update: Kettlebell workout complete. Two 6 minute rounds consisting of sumo squats, lunges, swings, windmills, crunches, rows, and power cleans. 15 # Kettlebell. 



Back to Tracking

Decided to start tracking again. I have a love-hate relationship with couting every bite that goes in my mouth but it works so here it goes. There are 97 days until Memorial Day Weekend and I am determined to lose 1.5 lbs each week, so here goes the math 97 days/7 days in a week = 13.85 *1.5 lbs = 20.775 lbs to lose.

 

Let's Go!

 

 

Edit* Ok, yes I realize I just wrote a blog about measuring success in other ways than the scale but I also want to reaaaally hold myself accountable, so I've decided to weigh in 3 x's a week. M,W and Sat. At least through the end of the month of March to see how I do. When I lost my 90 lbs I was weighing daily, but lately that was discouraging so I'll give this a 3 day thing a try.

 

Also, I forgot to mention I went on a quick 2.5 mile run when I got home today. I literally walked in, dropped my bags, said hello to the family and changed to go run. My amazing husband cooked dinner (Fish and Asparagus, see above) so I could just run, shower, and eat. I pushed myself HARD this run. Every time I run less than 5 miles I feel like I have to make every minute count. So I FLEW by my standards, 8:42 pace, HAAAAAY! Never would have saw that coming a few years ago when I started this little hobby. Cheers to surprising yourself!

Hitting Monday like a Maniac!

What a weekend! Today we celebrated my youngest daughters 2nd birthday, HAPPY BDAY BAILEY! I'm in a sugar induced coma right now. Hate feeling like this. Cake, cupcakes, froyo, pizza, hamburgers, tacos...I've had it all this weekend of festivities. I feel like a broken record lately, I have a few GREAT days and then shit hits the proverbial fan diet wise. I have to tell myself, well if you're tired of starting over, then stop giving up. I've already decided that dinner tomorrow will be fish (probably tilapia) and some asparagus. MMMMMM. I normally don't encourage frozen dinners because they aren't "clean" and can contain a lot of sodium, but I did grab a few Smart Ones (5 pp) this weekend just to have in the freezer for days I may not be as prepared as I should. I've found those are the days where I end up binge eating; one bad decision tends to lead to another. While I don't follow WW specifically I do like the idea of the points plus system. If I were to be following it WW estimates I would be aiming for 26-27 pp per day so 5 for a meal is really excellent for a lazy meal.

I got one good workout in this weekend, a 12.5 mile run. I started out expecting to do 14 miles, but ended up cutting it short. The last 4 miles were alone, Sara did the first 8.5 with me but had a cold and didn't want to push it too hard. Kudos to her for getting out there at all. I HATE carrying a hydration belt so it was hard eating an energy bar while running with nothing to wash it down. I think that started upsetting my stomach. I've pretty much decided that one we get our income tax return back I need to shop for a camelpak (camelback?!) lol, don't know for sure what it's called, but could be a good investment. Every run there seems to be something memorable that is said or happens. I've had many a things yelled at me from passing cars, both positive and negative, but this run Sara and I met a very um....special lady, a blow up doll. It was floating in Clear Creek. Very classy. I made Sara stop and take a picture. Thankfull no one else was really around or they may have thought we were mad but it made me laugh and it was first. Never run across one of those before! I guess there is a first for everything.

I'm trying to dig through my pics and create a few more before/after pictures. It helps me stay motivated to see how much I have changed because sometimes I forget. I look in the mirror and am not 100% happy yet but I've 100% better than I use to be! Tomorrow is a new day. Bring it.

GoodBye Scale...Hello Tape Measure!

Happy hump day! Half way through the week and looking forward to a three day weekend! Yesterday I ate a rather unhealthy lunch at work, it’s that point right BEFORE payday where the pantry is looking bare and I still gotta eat. I came downstairs yesterday morning to find that James has bought some top ramen so I took a packet of that to make soup but then when I got to work the idea of just soup sounded so boring so I went to the coffee shack and bought a Costco muffin (around 900 calories, eek!), then I only had about 2 bucks left so I decided to get a 12 oz apple cider too. It was sugar over-load! The only good news about having such a random and processed lunch was that when I got home I wanted a good home-cooked dinner VERY badly. I browsed pinterest and found beer chicken, but we never have alcohol in the house, but I have made pot-roast in the past with soda, so I threw some diet dr pepper in a skillet with some chicken breast, oregano, pepper, salt and garlic and cooked that until it could be shredded. A few weeks ago I had picked up some parmesan and garlic tossed potato slices from Trader Joes (frozen) so I cooked those as well, OMG sooooo good, and then I just steamed some green beans for a veggie.

While I was cooking James took Jamba (you’ll meet her later) on a walk. He saw Krissy one of my running buddies, then I looked on dailymile and saw that Sara, another friend, had done yoga the night before and I started feeling like a lazy slob. I had done a spin class 2 days before but that’s about as long as I can go without exercise before I get grouchy, 2 days. They unknowingly pressured me into a Turbofire DVD last night. It felt so good to sweat. After the workout I picked up my kettlebell and started doing some ST in front of the mirror; I felt like a beast but looked like a chunky monkey so I quickly turned to face the wall, LOL.  I haven’t weighed myself on the scale for a few weeks now, but decided that I instead would like to track my inches. I measured this morning before going to work and I’ve GAINED 1.5 inches on my waist since the summer!! So I’m going to measure every 2 weeks and mark my progress on my bathroom mirror in hot pink lipstick. Here we go!

 

I'm not at my goal but have to remember how far I've come!

A late post about New Year Resolutions

I'm sitting here eating the brinner my husband has made for us tonight and realizing that I never shared my new years resolutions. In the interest of sharing, and holding myself accountable, here they are.

#1. The resolution I feel is most attainable and I'm working the hardest towards is running 800 miles in 2013. In 2012 I ran 434 but also faced injury and was somewhat out of commission of 2 months; so if I can stay healthy and stick to my marathon training plan I should blow last years mileage out of the water! I need to run about 66 miles each month (avg 2.2 miles/day) to reach my goal. As of this minute I have logged 79 miles (1.8 miles/day) but will be heading to the gym right after this to log at least another 4 miles to up my stats to 83 miles (1.94 miles/day)...I'm  a little behind right now but not worried, summer months always yield more outdoor time :)

#2. Turn the garage into a gym. We did this last year but then started throwing more junk out there. So I want to find a place for everything and get a better treadmill if it fits in the budget. I would also love to paint the walls bright yellow.

#3. Pay off 5K in debt. I'd like to pay my car off which is right around 5K, that'd put another $265 in my pocket each month. Other option is paying off our military star card which is the only $1000+ credit card we have.

#4. Re-build the back porch. We have a tiny back porch big enough for a BBQ and 2 chairs. I just want to expand it one foot out and two feet length wise but I think that will overall make a huge difference in usable space.

What are your goals? Let's hold eachother accountable and make 2013 an amazing year!

A Week Off the Wagon

MMMM Cupcake!

Talk about an expert binge eater, this past week I have done nothing but stuff my face. I was suppose to do a 20 mile run Saturday morning as a part of my marathon training and to celebrate a friends birthday, but since my ankle has been bothering me (posterior tibial ligament dysfunction) I wimped out and only did 9.5 of it. LaRee, the birthday girl, brought us all cupcakes so I had that waiting in the are for me when I got done...and it was delicious! Later that night we celebrated my grandpa's 70th birthday at the Olive Garden, 24 of us to be exact, and I tried to behave. I had "only" three breadsticks and got the Chicken Toscana which comes with a risotto served over fresh spinach. I only ate half of it, took the other half to go, yay, small victory! I had to save room for dessert of course, haha. The chocolate mousse cake there was delicious.



Mom and I in the blue jackets

Sunday was the Superbowl so we had a last minute get together at my grandparents because my aunt Rachel had come up from Eugene for the party the night before and any excuse we have to throw a party we take full advantage of. I should back track and share that Sunday morning my mom and I did the YMCA Resolution 5k #2. It's a series of four and I'm trying to introduce my Mom (and Dad but he skipped this month), to interval running. Our goal was to beat her last months 5K time which was 53 minutes. My initial plan was to have her run 1 minute, walk for 3 but this is VERY hilly course so we kind of abandoned that halfway through and just took advantage of the downhills and then kept a steady walking pace going back up. She blew her old time out of the water and came in at 45 minutes, woohooo! Next months goal is going to be 42 minutes! :) 

Anyway flash forward again to the Superbowl party; my mom had made chili, a baked potato bar, nachos, hot dogs, and the my aunt showed up with some pizza so there was no shortage of food; and I tried it all! I was soooo stuffed.

Monday-Thursday consisted of eating more pizza, sugary mocha freezes (love them), ice-cream, cookies, and a potluck at work full of pulled pork sandwiches, lumpia, casseroles and desserts and until last night not a single workout. I had a mid-day breakdown right after eating about 3 cookies where I emailed some of co-workers and running buddies. Thankfully Sara offered to work out with me at the gym last night and it pulled me out of my funk. Even after losing all the weight and knowing what to do sometimes the brain just checks out, the willpower shuts off and I find myself shoveling food in my pie-hole as fast as I can get my hands on it. Thankfully even in the midst of the craziness and sugar crashes I know that it's temporary and I will never go back to those bad habits that ended in a 250 lb weigh in. I enjoy working out and I love the power I feel when I eat well, sometimes I get distracted but I'm not the same person I was. I can always recover, and WILL always recover. The gym calls my name louder than fast food, the road is cheaper than therapy, and I'm a better wife and mother when I allow myself those few selfish hours a week of burning calories and getting sweaty. It keeps me in check and making the right decision.

So last night I ran 3.125 miles on the indoor YMCA track, did two hellish three minute intervals on the Jacobs Ladder and did some ST. I feel healed. Tonight I will workout with Chalene...turbofire baby!