Saturday, July 27, 2013

Weekly Weigh-in #34

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 206.0
Current Weight: 202.4
Change Since Last Week: -3.6
Total Change: -29.8
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149

I am pretty shocked with this weight loss this week and I am not really sure it is going to stick, but for now, I will take it! Usually the WW scales are 1.4 lb heavier than mine, but for the last 2 weeks they have only been 1.2, so according to WW I have lost 30 lbs!


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Mid-week check in

Not much to report. This head cold is still getting the best of me, so I haven't been sleeping well, so I haven't gotten up this morning or Tuesday morning to work out. I fall asleep right away in the evenings after I've taken cold medication, but I wake up around 2:00 and can't fall back asleep.

Eating has been a little out of control.
Monday I made a pulled pork and pasta dish and had 2 helpings, plus a few munchies while making dinner.
Tuesday I made fried rice and chicken stir-fry - that I only had 1 helping, though probably too large.

But despite this, the scale said 204.6 this morning. Holey moley! Yesterday it had been up 3 lbs. And with the soy sauce from dinner and being in the middle of TOM, I never thought I would see a low number.

So I am going to work hard to try to keep it down this week - If by some miracle the scale said 204.0 on Saturday I would be back on track with the timetable I set out at the beginning of June.

Monday, July 22, 2013

10K Sunday!

I did it! Despite still having a terrible head cold, I got up and ran 6.22 miles, on my own (and the last 20 minutes I had no music because my playlist was only an hour)

I finished in 1:20:29 (did about 30 seconds of walking when I turned around), so an average of slightly under 13:00/mile.

I need to work on my recovery. While  it was hard, I wasn't dying, but I just felt like a slug all day long.

The official training for my 6.66 run in late October doesn't start until August 19th, but I think I will just play around the next 4 weeks - keep doing long runs on Sundays, but not necessarily 6 miles. Do some more running around my house which has slight elevations, try some strides, some intervals, and work on my strength and agility for the Diva Dash on September 7th.





Saturday, July 20, 2013

Weekly Weigh-in #33


Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 207.6
Current Weight: 206.0
Change Since Last Week: -1.6
Total Change: -26.2
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149

I did it! Got my 25 lb medal!!




When I told my husband that I had lost 26.2 lbs, he said "A marathon" - That is definitely is! I am not a fast loser - slow and steady wins the race.


Since I was uploading pics, I figured I would do my "before" picture from Disney last year. That was about 30 lbs ago.

 
 
This is today. While I can definitely see a difference, I still hate seeing pictures of myself. Before kids I never gained weight in my stomach.


206.0 is the weight I was when I got pregnant with both kids. At 9 months with my daughter I was 249 and at 9 months with my son I was 231 - I was below my pre-pregnancy weight with him within a month, but with both kids I gained 15 lbs once I stopped breastfeeding.

I feel a lot better at 206 now than I did at 210 because I've been working out.

Onederland is within my grasp. Labor Day is 6 weeks ago. But with 3 birthdays, I am not sure how I will do. But I am going to try!

New Year's Eve is 23.5 weeks away - I'd ideally like to be 22 lbs lighter by then. But I don't do well with goals, and seeing that it has taken me 34 to lose 26, who knows! One day at a time.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Can I make the 25 lb loss tomorrow?

I am practically sitting on my hands this morning working from home, wishing the time would go by fast so it could be tomorrow morning and I would see if I get my 25 lb medal. The scale this morning said I would. And I want to keep that momentum going.

Exercise hasn't really happened this week except for Wednesday. I woke up Thursday morning with horrible post-nasal drip and I was worried if it was strep, so didn't get up. Last night I was up several times with a sick kid, and the post nasal drop was still around - so pretty much I didn't sleep from 2:30 am - 4:30 am.

I am still on tap to try to run 6.22 miles on Sunday. Alone. Lots of mental games. But excitement to run by myself again. I tell myself that once I did this, then I can concentrate on intervals and fartleks and tempo runs. And then I also need to start running outside "for real" - ie hills. But I probably won't do that much before the Diva Dash. With the heat we've had this summer, the shaded enclosure of a bike trail is very nice.

I haven't made my menu for next week - the weather is supposed to break on Saturday night, so we can enjoy grilling outside and nice summer foods. Next week will be TOM so I will want to stay away from anything that could get me to overeat. I am going to be really anxious to get under 205, so I need this coming week to be a good one (isn't that always the weeks that I gain?!) before we enter into The 3 Week Birthday Season (3 out of 4 birthdays in 3 weeks).

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Scaleless Monday and Sleeping in Tuesday

Yesterday morning I wasn't thinking straight and I got into the shower without getting on the scale. Part of it was because I knew I wouldn't see a loss after the party the night before, but that hasn't stopped me for the last 8 months - this literally is the first time since 12/1/12 where I just forgot about it. I remembered once i was all wet in the shower, but I am completely neurotic so I didn't check when I got out.

My eating was less than stellar on my day off, but not terrible: a couple of M&Ms in the mouth on my way to throwing them out (because I ate way too  many of them on Sunday, so I decided that at this point they are not a food I could have in the house - they were fine for 10 days, but once i started eating them I knew I probably wouldn't stop), a few bites of leftover coleslaw, a random piece of cheese, some coffee ice cream in the peace and quiet of my house, a bit too many leftovers at dinner. I did pass on more dessert - trying to stick to 1 dessert a week.

But then I didn't get up in the morning to work out. I was feeling really tired. Was in bed at 8:30, asleep by 10. But still couldn't get up, even though without an alarm I woke up at 5:30!

Monday, July 15, 2013

6 mile Sunday!

I headed out planning on doing 5.25 - 5.5 miles. .25 miles per week has been my normal increase, but .5 miles would be a true 10%. I went with my normal running friend and she was planning on doing 6 because she is pretty sure she's going to start training for a 1/2 in October. Our original plan was for me to turn around when I wanted to and run the rest by myself. I made it slightly further than where we had turned around last week and when I looked at my phone it said 2.92 miles! Woops! She turned around with me (she starts her tracking when we get on the trail, even though we walk for a little bit) so her Nike+ said over 3.0. After a little while I knew I needed to slow down so I told her to go ahead. It was humid, even at 8 am and since I was on track to increase my distance 20%, I knew I needed to slow down.

I ended up doing 5.99 miles in 1:17:49, an average pace of 12:59.

Next week I plan on doing 6.2 and then I'll figure out where to go from there. I need to concentrate more on speed. I want to see how fast I can actually do a 5K. I have the  Diva Dash in 8 weeks and then our town's 5K a couple weeks after that. Originally I was thinking of doing a 10K on Columbus Day, but now I am thinking of doing a 6.66 Devil's run the weekend before Halloween. I am planning on continuing to race after that (only 5Ks) - though there is a 3,4 and 5 mile races in February/March where all 3 medals fit together like a puzzle. And then next summer I want to do a couple real obstacle races. So that is the immediate plan!

We had neighbors over for dinner for the first time last night and today my stomach is feeling all squirrely (it had been a little over the weekend) so I am taking the day off to recuperate and mentally decompress.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Weekly Weigh-in #32

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 208.6
Current Weight: 207.6
Change Since Last Week: -1.0
Total Change: -24.6
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149

So close to my 25 lb washer!  Hoping and praying I can do it for next week, but next week will be PMS, so I never know (though usually I see a big drop)

Yesterday I took all the 18W out of my closet and put them upstairs! The 16W are a tad snug, but would be doable if I chose not to wear jeans one day.

Planning to step it up today and tomorrow and not "cheat" as much as I usually do over the weekends so I don't wake up tomorrow or Monday with a 3-4 lb gain that I don't see disappear from the scale until Saturday morning.

Friday, July 12, 2013

4 mornings in a row!

I lay in bed this morning really contemplating whether I truly wanted to get up. I had already gotten up 3 times this week, what is a missed one? But I was excited to try out the running interval workout for bootcamp. But I knew I had to set it up technically - I had tried to do it last night but the site was down. But I forced myself to get up.

The workout was 5 minutes of walking and then 8 intervals of 2 minutes fast and 1 minute slow and then a 5 minute cooldown.

I didn't finish the whole workout.-
--I started late because I had to get the workout onto my phone
--I did my running intervals too hard (only 5.8 - 6.2) and my heart rate was too high and I was having trouble recovering in the 1 minute.

So I think I did 5-6 of the intervals and then walked for a total of 35 minutes and 2.5 miles.

So next week when I do it again next week I won't immediately start at 5.8, so I can get the full 8 intervals in. It was a great workout - I was drenched and it felt great to be having the heart monitor on so I really could see where I was.

Not sure where the scale will end up tomorrow morning. I was at 210.0 this morning. I really want to get past this plateau and break the 25 lb loss.

This weekend we are going to a minor league baseball game Saturday night and Sunday night we are having neighbors over for dinner. I hope to do 5.25 miles on Sunday.

It has been fantastic being able to wear jeans every day at work. I am loving the 16W jeans. I feel so much more confident. If everyone at work does well with the jeans this summer they are going to extend it indefinitely, which would be huge for my weight loss. So much easier to get dressed when I am working out each weekday morning (well, 4 out of 5 - Monday is my rest day) and I don't really love the 16W that are waiting for me in my closet (except one pair of pants - I LOVE them). And much easier on the wallet - I wouldn't have to buy much of anything, except probably another pair of jeans, come the fall.

But in the meantime I am doing my normal work-from-home on Fridays and trying to keep any thoughts of munchies to bay because I would really like at least a maintain tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

5 miles on Sunday and 16W jeans today!

Hmmm, seems like work may be blocking blogs at work, so I haven't  had a chance to write until now.

Seems to be another week where the scale immediately jumps up 3-4 pounds and I spend all week trying to get it down.

Saturday we went to the birthday party. I had a hamburger and a hotdog (we ended up being there for dinner, so I didn't have both!), a few chips, and then a little ice cream and cake. No alcohol.

Sunday I woke up and ran 5 miles in 1:04!!! I was so excited. I even ran a little faster than normal. Eating on Sunday was a little crazy but not terribly so.

Monday was rest day. Spaghetti was for dinner and I had 2 helpings and 2 helpings of salad :(

Tuesday I got up and did strength training. Dinner was good.

This morning I got up again! And did an interval workout. I wore my heart monitor to try to get myself to work harder. It felt great to be moving, but I could have gotten my heart rate up a little higher.

Last week they told us we could wear jeans for the rest of the summer! I had been wearing 18W jeans, though with a belt, almost on the smallest hole. I washed them last night and when I put them on this morning I decided that they were just ridiculously big, so I put on my 16W. A little snug, but look so much better! Feels great!

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Weekly Weigh-in #31

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 212.4
Current Weight: 208.6
Change Since Last Week: -3.8
Total Change: -23.6
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149
Back to earning my 10% (.2 over what I was 4 weeks ago,  but that week the difference in the WW scale and mine was 1.2 instead of the normal 1.4, so according to WW I am at the same weight I was 4 weeks ago).

Of course I didn't plan on taking a 4 week hiatus, but so glad I am back there! It feels fantastic. I can pull out my 10% keychain again. And hopefully in the next week or 2 I will be able to add a 25-lb washer to it!

We have a birthday/pool party to go to today, but I am really going to try to eat well, even though it is my "cheat day". I may leave some of the "cheating" to tomorrow, as we have some stuff in the fridge that I skipped on the 4th to help with the weigh-in today, but I want it out of here by Monday.

I need to plan our dinners for the week - I may go back to our boring staples for this week, as those help me with a loss, instead of trying to be inventive.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Looking forward to next week

With the holiday over, I feel like Monday morning is the true start to the summer. No days off for any of us for 6 weeks, at which point me and the kids take a week breather before another school year begins - and my husband said he would join us for a couple of days. Yeah! But for the next 6 weeks we can hopefully get into a good summer routine, and for me that truly means working out 6 days a week.

I had intentions of working out on the 4th of July, but at the last minute on Wednesday, work had me working until midnight, and we had to leave the house at 8:30 for the parade, so I needed my rest. And then Thursday night we were up until after 11 (kids too!) and we needed to leave the house at 10:30, but I let myself just sleep in, which is rare (with WW on Saturdays and running on Sundays, I don't get much non-alarm wakings) and I slept up 8:00 and had a lot to do before we left.

We spent the mid-day at my parent's pool club - the one I learned to swim at. It was deserted when w got there, so I jumped off the diving board a bunch of times. I felt like a kid - it was wonderful. I did a few laps too, which was fun. But with no goggles (and even if I had had them, they wouldn't have been dark goggles), I didn't last too long.

When we got home and everything put away, I had a couple of hours to spare. I could have just sat down with my Kindle, but I really wanted to get in a second strength workout this week. Tomorrow I won't have time, so at 3:30 I put on my work out clothes and headed for the basement.

I started with a 5 minute walk on the treadmill, but I was itching to run (who am I saying this??!!) so I decided to run a mile. I set it for me normal 4.8/12:30 mile,  but was anxious to get it over with, so gradually increased the speed to 5.8 over the course of the mile. I finished a mile in about 11:35. I am itching to try speedwork off of the treadmill. I wish I had had my heart monitor on. I really need to get back into the habit of wearing it. Despite being drenched from running that fast, I got my strength workout in as well. And pumped up the tires on my stationary bike (bike trainer) so I can hopefully work out on that this week. I asked my husband to hook up the DVD and VCR in the basement so I can watch videos if I want (I have some VHS videos I love for workouts I can't find on DVD).

My husband insisted on cooking dinner tonight. I am pretty neurotic when it comes to my pre-WW food. Ever since the kids started swimming on Friday nights, I've just had a PB&J for dinner on Fridays. Since I am going to force myself to go to WW tomorrow regardless of what the scale says (it wasn't pretty this morning, post-4th), I want it to be as good as it can be. I was hoping to be back to my 10%, but I know that isn't going to happen. I almost told him that I wasn't going to eat what he was cooking (steak tips, grilled asparagus, pre-cooked rice - all very salty). Instead I ate almost a quart of strawberries and had a small amount of dinner. Whatever the scales tomorrow, I WILL be back to my 10% by next Saturday.

I haven't planned our menu for next week yet. Tomorrow we have a pool party to go to - it is a weird schedule. It starts at 1:00, but they feed us a meal - more of a mid-afternoon/very early dinner cook out. I will eat a normal lunch, so I won't be inclined to eat munchies, and then have a normal meal (with some ice cream and cake).

I am hoping to do 5 miles on Sunday, but with the humidity and the heat wave going on, I am not so sure. But I really want to!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

I did have self control last night!

The taco salad I made was amazing! Yes, I did have 2 helpings, but I really bulked it up with veggies and lettuce, so the scale was very pleasant this morning - 210.0 on the dot. So here I am, working at home before the long holiday weekend, and it is only 11 am and I am starving, but I will NOT have salad leftovers for lunch. Dinner maybe - I don't plan on having an organized dinner. My daughter is at a camp event until late, so I'll just pop in chicken nuggets for my son and he'll be thrilled. I want the scale tomorrow to say below 210 SO badly! I never want to see it go above. And then with 209.2 I will "re-earn" my WW 10%.

I did get up this morning to work out, despite another late night (again, watching Extreme Weight Loss on the DVR) - I didn't go to bed until 11:45 and the alarm went off at 5:30. It was interval day on the treadmill. The instructions were to do 15 minutes of 60 seconds fast, 30 seconds easy. I quickly found that 30 seconds was not enough time for me to recover. And I was only doing 6.0 (10:00 mile) on fast and 4.8 (my 5K speed) on easy. So I decided to do 60 seconds and 60 seconds - I've ready your recovery should be as long as the interval, so I was okay with that. The light bulb over the treadmill was burnt out, so I did it with just the lights of the treadmill and the small amount of light (it is cloudy today) coming through the small basement windows. I did a 5 minute warm up and cooldown - actually 7 minutes cool down to get beyond 2 miles. At some point I need to work on intervals on a track so I can feel what a 12 minutes, 11:30, 11:00, 10:30 and 10 minute mile feel like off the treadmill. Less than a 10 minute mile is what you need to sustain for 3.14 miles to do a 5K in 30 minutes or less. But that is so far off!

I am just proud of myself for getting up - I really didn't want to. I was still scared from how badly the intervals went last week. But I was excited to see what the scale would say - that is what I having been missing in this last month of yo-yoing - not doing enough to get a loss in the morning so I wasn't excited to get up so it snowballed.

I was supposed to do planks today as well - actually the schedule had me doing them before intervals. No thanks! I'll gradually add in planks! But I did do some ab/core work.

Tomorrow is more strength training. I was tempted to do 4.7 miles instead, but that means 2 laps of my neighborhood (I can't go to my Sunday running spot because the parade we're going to is there, but it is too far away) - but I don't want to be pooped for the 4th, so I'll just stick to the schedule. Friday needs to be a fun cardio work out.

A week from now is 5 years since I got pregnant the last time - I am 4 lbs away from the same weight. Can I lose 4 lbs in a week? I don't think so! In 2010 I had hoped to be at goal by my daughter's 5th birthday, but with a 3+ year setback and not being able to be to goal by his 5th birthday, I am shooting for when he starts Kindergarten.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Need self-control this evening....

A week later I am still saying to myself that I need to get back on track. This Saturday it will be 4 weeks since I hit my 10% at WW - 4 weeks of gains.

After skipping my WW meeting on Saturday, we went to pick my daughter up from her first slumber party and decided to hit the British Beer Company (I wanted to hit 5 Guys next door - my husband had never been and I had only been their once, but my kids don't really like hamburgers). BBC has a ton of pub food - I got a salad (an entree size with probably a bazillion calories - chicken, greens, nuts, blue cheese, pears, cranberries), but I also got a cheese dip with chip appetizer. After all, I kept telling myself, this was Saturday, my "cheat" day. We also agreed we'd been going out WAY too much and who  knew when the next time would be. Didn't we say that on Thursday?!

I did set up my obstacle course for my Diva Dash training - it was more trying to figure out the logistics. I did ladder runs, hurdles, stretching over and under a rope (fantastic for my body!), a few other things - it isn't perfect by myself (or with my daughter trying to help) - I really need another adult, but I don't see that happening, so I will improvise.

Saturday night was hotdogs (turkey ones for me, with no bun) outside on the deck. Heaven!

Sunday I got up and ran 4.62 miles with my friend - I had hoped for 4.75, but her knew was hurting her and it was humid, humid, humid, even at 7 am. I am not sure how many more times we'll run together because she is going to be training for a 1/2 soon. I am going to run 5 miles this weekend - most likely without her. I may cry if I actually run 5 miles.

I hadn't gone to sleep very early on Saturday night, so I was pretty bushed after my run, and I had quite a headache from the heat, so I had a pretty lazy day. My parents came over for dinner - we made chicken kabobs, cold green bean salad, and friend rice. My mom brought cannolis and strawberries for dessert. It was our first time with company outside. Heaven. Oh yeah, there was wine too!

Monday was my "rest day". I had prepped a cold salad for dinner -pasta (white, not wheat), chicken, apples, golden raisins, pecans, apple. I also made a caprese salad with homegrown basil. I had seconds of salad - I knew I would. This is what I am afraid of. I make these fantastic salads and I can't just stop with 1 serving. I need to train myself. It is even harder when my kids won't eat it, so there is even more left over. I need to learn to cook less. But when my husband is on this 'I will eat nothing but fruit until dinner' diet, I feel like I need to cook more - though regardless of what or how much I cook, often he is eating later in the evening anyways.

So tonight is another cold salad - taco salad made with chicken, black beans, tomatoes, peppers, olives, red onion, chilis, greens, witha dressing of cumin and chili powder.

This morning I did get up to lift weights. It was also time to do my fitness test and take my measurements (I've been doing them every 4 weeks). I went down a little in inches - I am really hoping that by Labor Day they've gone down a lot more. My fitness did increase as well....well, except for the planks. I suck at planks!

Tomorrow is interval and plank day. It was last Wednesday that I felt completely defeated. This time I am going to do my warm up on the treadmill, then do the treadmill intervals, then do planks (last week I did bike warm up, planks (or tried), then treadmill intervals (or tried) - Also last week I didn't have my iphone on to listen to music because somehow I didn't feel like 15 minutes was real running. But I will tomorrow. I am also going to wear my heart monitor - I need to do that at least on Wednesday and Fridays - we'll see about the obstacle course and running.

The scale this morning said 210.8 - the first time below 211 in about 3 weeks, so that is the real basis of my title 'Need self-control' - I don't want to eat too much salad and mainly because I want the scale to say happy things tomorrow. I need to get back below 210. I need to get back to earning my 10% (which is 209).