Looking Towards 2017

I've not blogged for over a year.  I'm not sure why. There's something cathartic about logging your thoughts, so I'm definitely going to try to do more of it this year.


It's totally cliche to do a resolutions post, but that's ok, I'm thoroughly unoriginal.

I don't really have resolutions so much as I have a set of goals I'd like to work towards this year.


Nutrition- I've got several bulletpoints here

• Log my food most days.  I'm aiming for at least 25 days per month
• Incorporate more whole foods.  
• Pay more attention to how much sugar I'm consuming
• Drastically reduce the number of restaurant meals we're having.  I'm aiming for one per month 

Fitness-

• Do some form of exercise at least 4 days per week- don't get too caught up on this.  It can be yoga, walking the dog, doing an exercise video, riding a bike, etc.  
• Spend more time doing yoga in general

 Finances

• Track our spending
• make reductions in food budget
• increase our savings

 Home

• Start making small renovations towards making our house the home we want it to be
• Do the UFYH app 20-10s at least 2 per day
• once winter is over, spend one weekend a month in the yard making improvements.  Most of these improvements are just manpower, not expenditure

Education

• spend 1 hour per day working on my coursework.  
• Aim to test for a new class every 8-10 weeks
• BIG GOAL- Finish my ChFC designation

 Knitting

• Reduce my yarn stock by 30%
• Start holiday knitting now, make a spreadsheet and double check it
• reduce stash of remnants by 50% instead of an overflowing basket, half a basket
• finally finish a pretty thing A Pretty Thing
• Make some modifications to my alpaca fingerless mitts so they are a little easier to wear
• Finish fixing the mitt that my dad's dog ate
• Log any new yarn purchases on Ravelry
• Knit an Ease sweater
• knit another Skew sock 
• Knit Tradewinds
• Knit Wink
• Set aside an evening and photograph and log yarn  stash on Ravelry.  Add at least 10 of the existing hanks 
• Do project pages for everything I start in 2017 on Ravelry
• Take a Craftsy class
• Take a knitting class- Maybe a Fair Isle Class?
• Knit at least 8 pair of socks this year.  This will include SKEW
•  I really want to make and wear this Cabled Poncho

Life in general

• Try to be more aware politically.  
• Be the change I want to be
• work on being more positive
• work on getting more and better sleep

I think this list should keep me out of trouble this year.  

2013 Year in Review and 2014 Goal Setting

First. I would like to take a minute to look back at my 2013.

I had a lot of victories.

I started working out for serious.  During 2013,  I did all of the following:

• Deadlift 175 lbs
• Did the Fight for Air Stairclimb- this is serious business!
• participated in several 5ks
• did 2 10ks.
• finally picked up yoga as a serious habit

It was all imperfect.  But I did my best at each race and what more can you ask, really.

In 2013. I also did a lot of knitting. I made:

• Several pairs of mittens
• Several hats
• a scarf for Dev
• a couple of pairs of fingerless mitts
• finally finished socks I cast on in Maryland
• a lovely shawl for one of my BFF

 And I lost about 20 lbs over the past year.  I gained and lost much more than that, but the net loss isn't bad at all.




 2013 was a tough one for a lot of people in my family, and it wasn't exactly easy on me, either.  My life went fine, other than my company having a layoff, but in 2013, the following things happened to my sister

• divorced her husband
• moved into a rental after years of owning
• bought a house, but a major fixer upper
• as a single parent of 3 kids, started nursing school
• developed anxiety
• children got into her anxiety medication and two of them were airlifted to a hospital an hour away (they are ok!)
• witnessed her lovely, 13 year old yellow lab having a very long, grand mal seizure
• fell down the stairs at her house, breaking her leg
• had to withdraw from nursing school due to said broken leg

That's a lot of crap for one year.  Thankfully, there was some good mixed in with there, so she's not giving up on life or anything :)  it was a harder year on me, because I love my sister a lot and hate to see her suffering

Now, what do I hope to accomplish in 2013 in three sections

Fitness Goals

• complete several events.  Fight for Air, Relay for Life- walk a half marathon
• in the spring, I am going to start back on Couch to 5K.  To this end, I want to complete a 5k where I run the entire thing
• I'm doing Fight for Air again.  Normally, I would be gunning for a PR, but I have a friend that's doing it with me and my goal is to support her up the stairs.
• I want to be able to do 50 push ups on my toes.

Weight Loss Goals
I don't believe in setting defined be x weight by x day goals, so for this I will say I just want to be a little better one year from today than I am today.  If I could be out of the Obese range, I'd be delighted.  If I was out of the overweight range, I would be estatic. 

Knitting goals

• Knit through at least 1/2 of my (admittedly small) stash.  Most of my stash is remnants.  I will be making at least a few pairs of crazy socks for Deven.
• Start holiday knitting sooner.  Like July
• SAY NO to people that want me to knit things for them in November.  
• Knit more for myself.
• Challenge myself to make harder projects. Lace- a sweater maybe?  MAYBE TRY ARGYLE?  Learn how to Fair Isle

Organizational Goals

• Finally tackle the spare room.  Reduce the volume of stuff in there by 1/2
• put in a shelving system that actually makes sense in the spare room
• get better at keeping things organized in there

All in all, these goals are all both big and small.  Doable and frightening and challenging.  Just what goals should be.


Happy New Year, everyone!

Invitations

Thanksgiving season is here.  We don't usually travel for Thanksgiving because 1) airfare is ridiculous and 2) I don't want to :).  We've got a plan for a nice, solitary Thanksgiving around here.

We are lucky enough to have invitations to several Thanksgiving meals, but I feel like Thanksgiving should be a family event, so I am going to keep it to my family of three.  We might have a friend come by as she's at loose ends, but if I am the one doing the cooking, I have a lot more control of the food on the table, healthfulness of the choices, calories I consume.

I'm thinking we will do a small turkey roast that comes built in with cranberry stuffing.  That way 1) I am not buying a separate cranberry dish and 2) we won't have a ton of leftovers.  For a veg, I think I will make a nice harvest salad with dried cranberries, roasted almonds, lovely veg.  And mashed potatoes, BECAUSE I SAID SO. 

I'll be making a pumpkin pie without modifications because I can splurge on one thing on Thanksgiving and that will be it.  No one will be overstuffed and uncomfortable.

I'm also starting the day with a 5K.  I'm not sure if I will be running or walking. I am going to listen to my body and do what feels right.  Right now, I'm having pain in the hamstrings, low back and calf, plus feet as always, so running seems like a really silly idea.  But that's several days away and I could end up being a ball of fire on Turkey Day.

Activity v. 2.0 will come when my friends pick me up for a night of Christmas shopping.  We are going to brave Black Friday and probably overconsume on the good old caffeine.  It sounds like we will be out most of the night and into the morning.  Raj has to work day after Thanksgiving, so he'll be taking Dev with him to work and I will be picking him up when we are done.  Should be fun.

I'm nervous about getting in so many workout minutes, but I know I can do it.  Yesterday I set a goal to do 50 push ups on my toes by the end of 2014.  This means that a good portion of my strength training for the year will be dedicated to push ups and things to move me towards that goal.  As always, my legs and core need a lot of work, so I know I can get where I need to be. 

I will probably set up a tabata style workout for myself to get the cardio in.  Plus maybe get Raj to mitt for me a bit for more boxing time. 

Either way, little by little, reaching my goals and making healthy plans.

Be well, everyone.

Doing Ok

Last Sunday, I did my second 10K and my last for a time.  My time was around the same and with the adjustments I made, I ran relatively pain free.  I'm just too slow for such a competitive race.  I left the course feeling like a failure, fat, slow, unappreciated.  Some of this was my own insecurities, but some was race organization.

I'm not ever going to be the thinnest runner on the course, but at this point in my life, I'm usually the fattest (in the 10K zone).  I've got arthritis in my ankle and also in my spine and that adds some discomfort to my runs.   My toes are too close together, so they rub in my shoes, no matter how lose the toe is.  And I'm slow.  I'm actually QUITE slow.  This is fine with me, because I'm not out to win, but it doesn't feel nice to cross the finish line when only 2 volunteers are there cheering.

So anyway.  I've been back on Weight Watchers for about 3 weeks.  Looking forward to Saturday's weigh in to see if I crossed the 10 lbs lost range.  Whether I did or didn't, I've been giving it my best effort and am not thinking of veering off course. 

Some people get 7 year itch with their plans.  I get 3 week itch.  I've been trying to articulate a plan that will work for me for a few weeks now.  Here's what I've come up with so far.

1) Fall Challenge Weekly goals.  - I NEED to spend more time doing yoga.  My goal for next week is to spend at least 10 minutes a day doing yoga.  EVERY day.  Preferably more time than that spent.

2) Strength Training.  I avoid this when it's not part of a specific challenge.  I'm not pleased with this.  To this end, On Sunday, I will start 30 Day Shred.  I'm also running only 3 days per week.

3) Weight Watchers goals.  My goal is to leave at least 1 extra point every week. So far, I've been doing it and so far, I am averaging about 3.7 lbs lost.  I know this speed can't keep up, but maybe I can keep a slow, steady downhill.

4) Move more- It's knitting season. My knitting is ramping up, which is AWESOME, but I also need to be making sure that I am getting up at least 5 minutes of every hour.   It's just not a good idea to be sitting still for 3 hours, no matter how captivating my knitting is.

5) Stair Climb.  The Stair Climb is just 5 months away.  I better start running my stairs.  I'm thinking I will just start running the stairs in my house for 5 minutes of every hour.  It's not much, but it's better than nothing.  Maybe one day per week, I will just run up and down them for 20 full minutes.

I'm not expecting great, huge changes.   I just want to be a little better every day.

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?

Back On

We are back after being gone for nearly a week.  Before that, it was nearly a week of off plan eating.  As a result, I have gained back ALL that I had lost PLUS some pounds.  Very frustrating.  Now I am sitting here needing to lose at least 85-90 lbs and ready to start all over in the HARDEST weight loss time of year. 

My office is a pitfall of treats.  My strategy is this.  I will eat things that are very special to me and count them.  If there are treats I am not crazy about, I will not eat them.  I will log my snaccidents on myfitnesspal.com

I've made my lunch- it contains 5 servings of fruits and veg, two vegetarian proteins and a grain. 

Our vacation was to Maryland and we are all, very bluntly, over fed.  My in-laws are pure food is love people.  No matter what you just ate, you will be asked to eat more.  Always.  It's very difficult to refuse. I came home about 10 lbs heavier than when I left.  There's a good chance that a lot of that weight is water weight, so I should see some results relatively quickly.  I am going to record my daily weigh.  I do this anyway, so maybe I will be more day to day accountable.  This is a slippery slope for me, though, because I can get a bit scale obsessed.

The first few days will be difficult.  For 6 days, I have been stuffed full to bursting over and over.  Eating normal amounts of food will leave me famished.  For these two days, I have to be tough, vigilant.

YES I CAN.

Thursday

Oh God. This week has been eternal.  It's Thursday finally, so we are wrapping it up.  The problems with blog.com  have created a gigantic pain in the ass, but at least I have something to focus on.

  I've been moving and backdating posts manually.  Some things, like FMM might ultimately be deleted.  It's all kind of a pain.  There are over 300 posts to move from my other blog and none of the import/export tools work.  I ultimately want to take down that blog, so I want it all saved over here.  Plus maybe using this one will remind me to do the monthly updates on my son.  I haven't done any since he was about 3 and he's about 5 now, but he's awesome and notable and deserving of his own posts.

Today is Parent's Night at Dev's daycare.  So we will come home, I will take the dog for a walk (he needs it, that dog is caaarazy) and we will hit Subway, eat fresh, then go find out that our kid is good but whiny, smart but needs to work on his social skills.  You know, stuff we already know but don't know how to fix.

Since I had lunch out with Raj yesterday, I was able to keep my whole lunch at work, so I have some great choices there.  It's all healthy and delicious.

I hope you all have a great day!

Running with my kid

So, every other day, I am taking Deven out for a very short run.  With each run, he gets a little whinier and more distracted.  I don't think this is because he can't run or even doesn't like to run,   I think it's because he'd much rather play video games. I do know that as we get further into each run, he becomes more focused on the world outside and less focused on what he'd rather be doing, so it seems like bringing him along even if he complains is a good plan for now.

I don't want to force him to do this, but I want to encourage him, certainly.

For me, sitting around playing video games, messing around on the tablet and watching TV are not appropriate past times for your average almost five year old.  I want to encourage him to do things when they feel hard, do things even though he doesn't feel like doing them, and want to do things with me.  I am frustrated that the culture of lethargy starts so early.

I am fiercely protective of my son.  I don't want him to have the same struggles I do.  I don't want his self worth to be defined by the number on the scale, by the size of his jeans.    I don't want him to have to fight his way to fitness.  I want to instill a love of exercise in my son that lasts a lifetime.  I don't know how to go about changing his mindset without him feeling like he is being punished.  And I most especially don't want him to become a lazy and entitled child.

He's certainly someone that wants to take the path of least resistance right now.  I want to instill fight in him.,  Fight will keep him on top even when things are hard. 

I want to keep running with him. I want it to be fun.  I want it to be our thing.

Does anyone have any ideas?

A Perfect Day, Really.

I got up this morning and anxiously checked the forecast.  It was supposed to be raining really hard all day and I was doing Color Me Rad this morning.  I was determined to run rain or shine, but there was threat of lightening.  We'd get pulled off the course if it was lightening, plus, well, you know, risk of death.

It was cold.  It was about 45 and it was absolutely pissing down.  MISERABLE.  No biggie, I'm running. That's my plan.  it's time to leave the house, it was chilly with a light drizzle.  No bigs.  I can do that.  We get to the course and it's not raining at all. THANK GOODNESS.  Then it starts just downpouring.  I've got Raj and Deven with me.  It's freezing, raining hard and my teammate hasn't arrived with my number.  They won't let me run with it.   A friend text that she was at the course but was heading out, too cold for her.  Finally Heather arrived with my number and we went to the corral to wait for the next wave.

They start tossing color packs and we get lightly colored.  It's still raining quite a bit, but less.  It's crazy cold.  The line starts moving and we get going. Slowly.  I strongly dislike the steerage portion of races.  I sat with my team for a while, but I was cold and I wanted to get the show on the road, so I broke away into a run and made my way to the first color station.  I did a combination of running and walking because I didn't do a good job of monitoring my breathing.  Additionally, it wasn't a timed race and to keep running, you really had to pass people and I am not about that, especially when you have to veer off the course to do it.

It was cold and miserable, but it was a lot of fun.

Here's me at the end of the race.


When I finished, I was so cold, all I wanted was to get my wet clothes off.  Normally, I am very shy about my body, but in this case, I stripped my shirt off in the parking lot and threw a different shirt on over my soaking wet sports bra.  I took my shoes and socks off, pulled my pants off, put on different pants and we headed to buy some hot coffee and hot chocolate and did some shopping.  We then headed over to get some dinner at my favorite pizza place

Then we went to the Fitchburg Fire Department Open House.

Deven loved seeing the ambulance.


and the fire truck


We came home and showered.  My skin was very alarmingly tie dyed and it took a lot of scrubbing.  I still have plenty of dye in a lot of places :)

We went out, did some more shopping and came home and made some dinner (potato soup!)

Dev threw some tantrums so we sent him to his room/to bed and we watched 'My Idiot Brother"  A charming movie, actually. I LOOOOVE Paul Rudd.

What did you all do with your Saturday?

25 Minutes and Then Some

So last night it was my night to do C25k.  It's week 7, so warm up- run 25 minutes, cool down.  I don't want to say it was easy, necessarily, but I kept my head in the game and I did it without much difficulty.  I need to start pushing myself on the hill front more.  I've never met a race yet that didn't have at least one very substantial hill.  I don't want to be defeated by some little hill, you know? 

When I got home, I did something I've been thinking about doing for months.  Deven keeps mentioning that he wants to run with me. But 4 is too little, right?  Well, I decided that when I finished my 'big' run, I would take him out on a 'little' run.  So I queued up the week 1 podcast and off we went.  We talked and talked while we did our warm up walk.  We discussed fall, Halloween decorations and the neighborhood.  Soon enough, it was time for our first 60 second run.  Mind you, I just got back from about a 2.5 mile run, so I was kind of beat, actually. 

He did great.  I kept reminding him that we had a lot of running ahead of us, so don't go too fast.  He REALLY wanted to turn on the afterburners, but he listened to me and settled into a nice pace.  Soon enough, it was time to walk again.  He started complaining that he was tired.  I told him that you get the best results if you keep working when things get hard.  I could see that rolling around in his little four year old mind and he seemed to like that, because he just kept plugging.  If he'd said "Mom, I am really tired" we'd have headed home, but I want to squash the thing inside him that wants to quit when things get hard.  I want him to be someone who pushes through things and does what he needs to do, whether in school, in fitness, in life.   My tiredness evaporated as we ran, and I could have gone on like that for hours.  We did 8 total one minute runs and we really had a fun time. I'd go so far to say it is the most fun run I've ever had.

We got home, my husband gave Deven a bath while I finished up dinner. An easy meal night- packaged Indian food over brown basmati rice.  As a special treat, I made some pudding for Deven and thawed some frozen blueberries and cherries  and had half a serving of vanilla pudding for dessert.  He was in such a great mood.  I don't know if it was the special time with mom, the endorphins from running or both, but it was really great.

When I tucked Deven in bed last night, I asked him, as I often do, what his favorite part of they day was.  He said it was running with me, seeing the Halloween Decorations through the neighborhood and seeing a gargoyle on the trail we ran on.  I told him that running with him was my favorite part of the day, too. 

He gave me a big hug and settled in for a good night's sleep.

All in all, I feel like I am on track for where I need to be, weight loss wise.  I'm trying to change my mindset where I need to lose 2 lbs every single week. I don't. I just need to live healthfully, burn more than I eat and keep notching it down., little by little.

I feel like I am in a pretty healthy place.

How are you all?

*this post was moved over from my old blog.  All comments are lost.

Weigh in and Weight Watchers in General

So today at weigh in, I was down 1.6  lbs.  I told my leader that I was leaving Weight Watchers because my pounds lost per dollar ratio is too low, that something in the mechanics of Weight Watchers right now is demotivating to me. 

She and I sat down and are working on a way I might be able to stay in a losing mode with Weight Watchers. I know that it's a program that works for a lot of people, but for me, I have an intensely difficult time staying ON program. This hasn't always been the case.  In 2003, I lost weight very quickly and very easily with Weight Watchers.  I was never not on program.  I excelled at making the program fit my life and making my life fit the program. I'd get to the end of my point range and just stop. It was like an invisible line.

I ended most weeks with more than 30 points in the bank because of activity.  I lost more than 60 lbs from February to October, when I made lifetime.

Now, I've lost 3 lbs in almost a year. 

I need to do something.  My son, lately, has been making remarks about my size.  He mentioned today that I am 'very round'  My feelings are hurt by this.  I mean he's only four and I am trying to teach him that it isn't nice to comment on people's sizes, but he hasn't figured it out yet.  I'd really wanted to have this weight problem resolved before he got to the Fat Mom noticing stage and I am just unbearably sad.  I feel like a failure.  I know that Aimee is going to have something to say about that :).  I just need to get the hurt and sad and channel it into a positive change for me.

My resolve is strong.

Celebrating Victories as They Happen

This cold has been kicking my ass hard.  I put off my Week 5 Day 3 run for quite some time.  But then I decided it was time to just do it.  My chest is still heavy, my cough is still intense, but I came home from work, put on my sports bra, laced up my running shoes and grabbed my phone, I turned on the podcast and hit the sidewalks with my trusty puppy.

The first few feet were rough.  The dog was spazzy and had to be talked to and I'm the kind of runner that has to count steps and breaths, to be honest. Without the count, I don't really have the lung capacity to run.  I can't run with chatty friends.  If I do, I will be walking within a mile.  With the cold, I REALLY had to focus on keeping my breathing controlled.  I was tired, dude.  I mean tired before I left the house.  I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.  Just kept counting one-two-three-four in and one-two-three-four out.  My podcast advised I had gone 5 minutes and I thought, "What? Already?" I had hit a pretty decent stride and was eager to just keep running.   Then she announced ten minutes and I thought, "You know what?  I can do this!"   Then my dog saw my neighbor's dog.  And my neighbor's dog (Blitzen) is a badass.  A German Shepard that doesn't much care for other dogs.(understatement)  So Blitzen starts barking his head off, Conner starts acting like an idiot, lunging for Blitzen and I am trying to pull my poor dog across the street with a car coming because I don't feel like burying my dog today after Blitzen rips his freaking head off.  OF COURSE I forget to count.  And I turn on the afterburner and I sprint like two blocks to get the hell away from them.  The Blitzen has already forgotten about Conner and is barking at another neighborhood dog, but Conner is trying to rip my arm off to get to all the spots where Blitzen might have peed.  HELLO? I AM RUNNING HERE, JACKASS.  Anyway, with the sprinting, the idiot dog, the psychopath dog, etc, I ended up really burning up a lot of my energy and my breathing was really labored.  The podcast announces that I have 5 minutes to go.  Shit. I can't breathe.  How am I going to make it five more minutes? I slow down a little. I make myself pick my feet up a little higher.  I take note of a pain in my low back on the right.  I focus for a minute on my posture, check out my shadow, notice I am slouching.  Berate myself for sucky posture.  Advise myself that that isn't helpful in the slightest.  Straighten back and shoulders and soldier on. Keep counting breaths.  Say "holy shit, this is the longest five minutes in history"  out loud. Wince in the direction of a little park, notice there are no children at play and just keep running.  Podcast announces I have two minutes left.  Quicken my pace a little.  Try to plan my route.  The dog has other ideas.   So I turn the opposite of where he wants to go, because I am in charge, right?  Head for the highway. And time is up.  Say to myself "well, that wasn't so bad." 

I've apparently developed some last five minute amnesia.  I mean I remember sucking air, wondering how long before I give up and walk.  I was feeling that low back pain and I wanted to quit.  But I straightened up, counted my breaths and I finished all twenty minutes.

I knew I could do it. I am feeling so proud.

Weigh In, Weekend and maybe another W

I don't know that there will be another W.  We will see.

I will start with the business end of this post.  I was down .4.  Too bad I have 13 lbs of regain before I can start getting to real celebrations again,  I'm not going to wallow in this, I am just going to celebrate the small victories.

First of all, I earned my rewards.  I am going to let the LUSH bath ride because of my extra purchases of base coat and a nail polish. I LOVE the nail polish I selected.  China Glaze's Ruby Pumps.  It's stunning, glittery.  I feel extravagantly fancy having it on my nails.

That brings me to the point,  I haven't felt good about me forever.  I admire girls that are girly, but I am not one of them.  So I've started encouraging myself to be more girly.  Nail polish rewards, doing my hair properly.  A birchbox subscription.  It's time that I felt happy about how I look.  I am working on the weight loss, but I can't speed it up, so I am going to appreciate the me I have today, damn it.

I had a great on-the-go weekend.  We did Dirty Girl.  Here are a couple of pictures.

This is the first Muddy Obstacle.   I'm second from the right.




This is towards the end of the race. I started to notice that my FREE BEER was coming off my bib. I stopped belly crawling because OMG SAVE THE FREE BEER.



5K later, I am tired, Dirty, triumphant.

I love this picture of me.  I'm not the thinnest girl in the race,  I'm not the most confident, but I am loving the way I felt at the end, so I went ahead and registered for Color Me Rad 5k.

Today we did some tidying and then went out for lunch. I logged my Taco Loco and my chips and salsa.  My family and I headed off to the amusement park for some fun and came home and watched "We Bought a Zoo"

Now I am relaxing and enjoying my evening with my family,  I didn't work out today, but I have great plans for this week.  I am going to restart Couch to 5K on week 3 tomorrow.  I'm going to do sparkpeople strength training plans, too. Three days a week.

There you have it. Two more "w"s.  Workouts and "We Bought a Zoo"

Workout for 8 January 2011

i didn't end up going to my friend's gym.  she overslept and i have waaaay to much social anxiety to go to a new gym by myself without an official appointment.  so i went to my gym and ran/walked a 5k. ooooh god. i am so slow now.

on thanksgiving day, i did a 5k in 37:48.  today, i did the same distance in just over 45 minutes.  not happy.

i also shoveled the drive.

definitely need to have a higher focus on running for this first part of the year.  my next post will detail my goals for 2011.

Let's get serious, A yoyo dietiers history.

for my entire life, it feels like i have been trying to lose weight.  i was a chunky kid. i was a fat high schooler up until i did slimfast over a summer and ended up being  just a chunky junior in high school- same for senior year.

then in 2003, i found weight watchers.  i totally found my thing, weight peeled off.  i went from 218 to 160 in like 6 months. i was a weightloss superstar. i was around 172 lbs the day i got married and although still chunky (about size 12) i felt super cute.

then i quit smoking and bounced up to around 210. i dieted off and on for a few years, not caring too much and for some reason, decided to do a master cleanse. i lost like 35 lbs doing a few of them but completely murdered my metabolism.  too bad. especially since i got pregnant RIGHT after.  disaster struck.  i loaded on weight. fast. i went from about 189 lbs to about 279 the day i went to the hospital for a c-section (my son was breech)

i was miserable.  after all the bloating from surgery and being pregnant wore off, i was left about 259 lbs.  i bounced around at around that weight until about may of 2010.  i tried weight watchers, but just couldn't get it going. i did the biggest loser club and lost some weight there, but then my elliptical broke for a second time (it was a piece of junk) and i lost my motivation.  then i started doing sparkpeople.com's fit firm and fired up and watching what i ate.  then i did the 30 day shred. then i joined some bootcamps.  a good amount of  weight was coming off, i was looking a little better.  i went from about a size 20 to a size 16.

that's where i am today.  i am in a funk.  a few weeks after thanksgiving, i was down to my lowest pre-baby weight..  this morning, in my full jammies (the lowest weight was a naked weight) the bathroom scale showed 12 pounds more. ugh. christmas was horrible for my weight loss efforts.

so i need to do something. here is my plan.  i am going to log the food that i eat. for right now, if i am over calories, that's ok.  but i am going to make myself be accountable for my food.  actually, the next post on this blog will be my food (edited through the day to include everything i am eating).

i am going to have a daily fitness post.  i must post even if i am not doing anything. but i need to be doing things.  most monday, wednesday and saturday, i will be doing couch to 5k and a strength training video from sparkpeople.com.  tuesday and sunday is yoga.  if my husband doesn't bowl, then thursday is also yoga.  if he does, thursday is zumba on the wii.  sunday is also zumba, but at the gym.  that should keep me busy for 6 days a week. on friday, i will try to do a little zumba for the wii.  i have a goal set at sparkpeople.com to log 24000 fitness minutes this year.  that's roughly double what i did last year.  i can do it.

on monday, my bodybugg should be delivered.  that's the point at which things will really get going.  because i am going to aim for a 1000 calorie deficit per day minimum.  i'm hoping that the deficit can come from exercise.  because i like to eat. clearly. a girl doesn't get to 220 lbs because she hates it.

today's workout is an open house at another gym. my friend karen goes there.  we are going to do a couple mini classes.  it should amount to about 90 minutes workout.

i have a scale abstinence thing going on until 1 february 2011.  i can look at the bathroom scale, but i can't take an official weight on the wiifit until then.

TIME TO GET BACK TO IT

Yeah, I haven't done a darned thing about getting fit again. I am so irritated about this. I was so motivated, now I am not.

Time to find my groove. I need to start running again.

If I don't post about running here, nag me about it, k?

Yeah.

My last post was me paying lipservice. My mouth was writing checks my butt didn't cash.

I have to get back into the swing. I was so proud of myself. I was getting so strong. NOW I AM SITTING ON MY ASS ALL THE TIME.

I ran on Friday, and it sucked more than any run has ever sucked. I barely made it a quarter of a mile.

I am starting my running program all over again, because dammit, I have to work back into it. I am pissed. I had come so far.

Ah, well. I got there once, I can do it again.

To the good, I think we are going to go shopping for balcony flowers today. Balcony flowers make me happy.

Vacation makes me a lazy.

Or excuses making does. Be that as it may, we left for vacation the Saturday before Easter, and today was the first day that I actually ran again.

I suck. I can run a half mile, but I am pretty beat. Will have to build back up to it.

Anyway, funtime is over. No more excuses. Only sweating.

I'm happy today

Because all of my self esteem is on the scale.

I LOST 2 lbs today. YAY. I will celebrate by adding on to my running routine.

Kitties are lazy and fat.

Love,
Emily

An update

getting ready for the big trip to alabama. it's been so long since we saw everyone, so i am really excited.

i won't be able to run there, though. maybe i can get everyone out doing stuff that is active, like bowling, going to zoos, etc.

and yeah, matt, i am posting again, thanks for noticing. i thought i was incognito