A New Approach

For the past 25 years or so, my diet approach has been 'Lose the weight as quickly as possible by restricting this or that or the other thing"

Well, that's frustrating because eventually you want one of the forbidden items.  and then the floodgates.

So, I changed my goals.  My goals now are to move SOMEHOW every day for at least 40 minutes, to do at least one strength training item per day and to eat about 2,000 calories per day.  If I run/walk for over an hour, I add a few more calories in.  I can usually make room for an indulgence or two every day.

It's not perfect, but it works for me.

I'm feeling happier and more comfortable with where I am.  Just watching now, to see if this is the honeymoon phase.  I hope not.

My week

So this week kicked off with a bang and a whimper. The bang was a shitload of jumping jacks. Like really really a lot of jumping jacks. Sunday was 300 and everyday added or stayed the same. Today's was 800. The whimper was me whining about the jacks.

The next bang was me committing to three six-mile runs this week. The whimper came from my poor, sad, blistered toes.  For some reason I decided that I needed to do that distance for the first time  three times. But I said it. And so I did it. Sunday morning crazy Conner and I went out and knocked that out. Slowly. I'm not a fast runner y'all. I planned to knock it out consecutive but Monday was a big no can do. I went for a four mile walk instead with friends Becky and Cooper. We had a lovely time taking notice of the day. Tuesday was OMG first day of kindergarten so sad old mom took the day off and ran with my friend Sara. She had no schedule or agenda and was just there for me. It was perfect. Six miles and one to go.  Wednesday was guilt day but more on that later. Thursday after work was my day. Hydrated all day and home long enough to put on my sports bra and my sneakers. I start off slowly and stay that way but meander my way around the neighborhood ticking off miles little by little. It was a pleasure although some of the actual miles felt rough. By the end of mile six my aforementioned blistered toes were voting to secede from their union with my body. But I did it. Goal met. Five points for me!

Guilt day. Dev had a fever. Dev had a cough. We treated symptoms but didn't really worry because he was acting fine. Not remotely like a sick person. Saturday morning we all did Color Me Rad. We get home. Whoa. Biiig fever. Give my little busy some Motrin and on with our day. Not acting sick. Sunday sick off and on. Monday same. Tuesday no fever so off to kindergarten we go. Mention to the teacher that he's not feeling perfect. Get a call from the nurse that he was in but not acting sick so she sent him back to class. We pick him up and take him to urgent care. Oh, have we met? Worst mom ever. My kid has pneumonia. Ten seconds after his first dose of his antibiotics and he's so much better.
I'm going to feel better about this in about a dozen years.

Moving into next week. My goal for this week is active recovery. Run our walk with Conner six days. Happy mom, happy dog.

Keep moving forward everyone.

Trying out blogger for the tablet, Weekly and Monthly goals +Challenge

My laptop had been functioning just fine until Thursday when it wouldn't boot. It hasn't booted since. My husband's computer is usually occupied by him, so my screen time is vastly diminished. This is a good thing as my first 10k is in less than a month. I've been struggling with my runs lately, so I devised a new plan. At least twice this week, I will go out and cover at least six miles on my feet. On off days I will work on my legs and back and core.

I've downloaded a Tabata timer and set it for 12 intervals of 5 minutes running/one minute walking. It is my hope that this will allow me to get the six miles under my belt. If I can keep this up I should be ready for the 10k by the end of the month.

Because I'm posting this blog from my tablet I can use voice recognition to type. This is super cool. The only thing is I don't always speak clearly enough and sometimes voice recognition thinks I said something kinda weird. I mean, I usually am saying something weird but not the way it thinks.

I met and exceeded my  goal to run 40 miles in the month of August. I'm really really proud of this. It was in no way easy for me but what it did was prove to myself that I'm far stronger than I think.

For the month of September it is my intention to continue the training program by running three days per week, to track my food every single day even when I don't want to, do at least 15 minutes of yoga focusing primarily on my back my legs and my hips, and to stay within my calorie range at least 5 days per week.

I'm in a fall challenge with my trainer so I will have lots of other goals to me throughout the month too. I'm looking forward to this new challenge and I'm feeling pretty good about myself despite the fact that I still haven't lost any weight. I met with my trainer at the end of last week and had a fat caliper test. I've lost inches just about everywhere and I have definitely lost fat everywhere. Seeing that has made it far less painful that I have actually gained 4 pounds since I started working with her at the beginning of the year.

The fall challenge requires me to make a weekly goal. For me this weeks goal is to do three six mile interval run walks.

I'm still really struggling with my food but I feel like I'm stronger and better. I know that if I keep staying the course I will eventually reach my goals. I just need to get my food in line.  This challenge should help me with that.

Be well, everyone. I hope you're also also moving towards making yourselves proud and meeting your goals.

Struggle, Always Struggle

I've been a giant ball of stress.  My in-laws came for a visit.  Now, don't get me wrong, they are lovely people, but they live in a museum, practically and I, well, don't.  Not even close.

So I took Wednesday off from work and frantically deep-cleaned my house.  My husband took Thursday off from work and helped me do more scrubbing.  They arrived Friday AM and my house was preeeetty much as clean as I'd want it to be.  But there were still things.  Like I have worn out cookware.  It took my mother-in-law 2.3 seconds to mention this. It will be about 7 years before new cookware makes it anywhere in our budget.  We have muuuuch bigger priorities.  What we have is adequate, at least until we've replaced our terrible truck and possibly moved into a house with a fence for my puppy.

We're from different cultures, my in-laws and me.  A lot of the things they expect as normal would NEVER EVER happen in my central Iowa upbringing.  Many things come off as downright rude.  So I spent the better part of 4 days stress eating, rage suppressing, biting my tongue.  For example, my father-in-law called me from the kitchen, where I was cooking dinner, to tell me to refill his glass and to grab a refill for my husband, too.

I tried to focus this stressed out energy on my runs, but for the past 3 runs, I couldn't find my groove.  I just got new kicks and I'm not sure if they are causing problems or if I am causing problems for myself.  I plan to scale back my runs to 10-1-10-1-10-1-10 starting tonight and see if that sorts that.  It's calf pain I am having, so I don't know if that can be attributed to my shoes or no.  I KNOW it means I need to do more yoga, but here I sit, on my arse, blogging about yoga instead of doing it.  FAIL.  I keep trying to just stretch it out.  I really need to.  I am better than wearing out at 8 minutes in.  I'm a strong girl.  I've got this.

Anyway, I am giving the shoes the side-eye.  I've got a couple more weeks of test runs before I am stuck with them, so we shall see...

We are at right about a month before my first 10k EVER.  YES I CAN.

My week.

Stuff I did this week.

Bootcamp, twice.  I really enjoyed it, too.  I needed a good run with bootcamps, because last week, I was ready to quit.  I was doing whole thirty and I would run completely out of energy before it was over.  There were a lot of factors at play here, but I think not having any non-fruit carbs was really kicking my butt.  I brought some Ezekiel bread back in and I've now got enough energy to make it through about 90 minutes of strenuous exercise.

3 training runs.  Sunday morning's run was ok, I really struggled on Wednesday- had to keep talking myself through it until I finished and today's run was an absolute dream.  I loved every second.  One of my BFFs met me for the last half-mile or so and it was such a joy to see her pretty face and hear her ramp it up beside me.  I've come a long way.  I can now run and talk a little at the same time.  It used to be that I needed to spend ALL of my attention on watching my breathing.  I'm really starting to think I can run these 10Ks.  Total mileage for the week was 13.11.  That's 3 3.5 mile runs and a shorty before bootcamp on Tuesday.

Not knit.  I've got projects on deck, really I do, but I keep turning my head away from them.  They are pretty much all straight knitting and that's so damned boring that I just want to do something else.  I need to stop, because I can't pick up something more interesting until I have these things off the needles. BECAUSE I SAY SO.

Ran a webinar.  At work, I've taken over running our team's weekly webinar.  I get a good amount of stage fright, but I am getting more confident week by week.  I'm starting to get to a place where I believe I can be good at it.  That's a good place to be.

Boxing class.  I LOVE TO BOX.  REALLY REALLY.  Something about boxing class makes me feel like all is well in the world for at least 3 hours after.  A friend I haven't seen for too long came to class today for the first time and she seemed to enjoy it.  This makes me happy.  Everyone should hit some stuff once a week.  It's good for the soul.

Counted calories- Even when it was inconvenient.  I may not lose weight this week.  I really can't be arsed to care too much.  But if I don't, it won't be because I didn't make myself accountable. 

All in all, I am really great with where I am.  I had an epiphany today.   I honestly don't care if I stay this weight forever, so long as this body will allow me to do the things I want to do.  I want to fuel it with healthy foods, do a better job of getting enough sleep and keep pushing myself to be better, faster, and stronger.  I am not defined by what the scale says.  Do I wish I looked better? Sure.  I think we all have that voice in our heads telling us to feel a certain way about ourselves.  But I am taking myself back from that voice.  I may not always feel this way, but today I do.  And I would like to feel this way tomorrow.  And that's a really, really great start.

So, how the heck are you?

I signed up to do what?

Last night, I went on a race registration spree.

I have 5 events coming up and am now registered for 4 of them.

The first, Color Me Rad, will be walked with Raj and Deven.  I did this race last year and it was FUN FUN FUN!  I can't wait to get all messy!  That's August 31.

Coming up after my fellow Warriors and I will Run Back to the 80s on September 17.  We are planning on dressing like 80s TV show.  I'm thinking of Mama from Mama's family or maybe something from Facts of Life.

Coming up right after that is probably the one I am most scared of.  On September 29, I am going to run the Zoo Run Run 10k. This will be my longest ever race.  I'm nervous but I've got this.  YES I CAN.

After that, I registered for Gilda's Run 10k to benefit Gilda's Club on October 13- supporting people with cancer.

I am also doing a 12 mile moonlit walk at some point in October.  I might also add the haunted hustle and a Thanksgiving run (or 2) but for now, this is what I'm up to!

My weight isn't changing.  I'm still gaining and losing the same 5 lbs.  I need to just stay the course, track my food and try not to eat more than 1/2 of my exercise calories.  I've got this.  I know what to do, I just have to do it.

Shrinking Jeans Summer Blowout Weightloss Challenge

I need a boost.  I decided to join The Shrinking Jeans Summer Blowout Weightloss Challenge.  I'm going to stay the course with my calorie counting, clean eating, 40 miles run for the month of August, 30 minutes of yoga per day and twice a week bootcamp and once per week boxing.

I'm proud of my fitness, but my weight continues to be higher than I'd like it and higher than it has been at various points of this year.  I'm disappointed to report that I am only one pound less than I was on 1/1/2013.  It's time for me to continue putting in the work.  Here's what I learned doesn't work for me.  MODERATION.  If I open the door, I open the floodgates and my self control goes out the window.  I need to just use my common sense, make better decisions and keep working hard.  You don't lose weight in the gym, you lose it in the kitchen.

My trainer will be doing fall and holiday fitness challenges.  I will definitely be in it with her, as my fitness has grown by leaps and bounds.  If I could get my food dialed in, I would seriously be all set.

I accidentally agreed to run a 10K in September and another in October, so I am working hard to get ready for that.  This week's training runs are 4 10-minute runs with a one minute walk break between each run.  Next week, it's 3 15-minute runs. I'm a little scared of it, but I'm tough, I've got this.  Prepare yourself for weeks of whining about too much running, which is probably better than weeks of silence I've been giving this blog lately.

So, how are you all? What are you doing to make your life a more positive place?