Category Archives: Edumacation

It Feels Like One Of Those Mornings (I Should Be Sleepin’)

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  • Woke up at 5:30 and rolled out of bed, into my workout clothes, and then downstairs to the treadmill for 3 miles.  I will say I felt really good this morning on the treadmill.  I thought my soreness – that had already hit in full force from yesterday – would hurt my running, but in all actuality, it didn’t.  I was shocked.  It hurts like hell now, but man, I ran a pretty good 3 miles.
    • 3 Miles – 30’15″ – 10’15″ pace
Whew.

Whew.

  • After a cool down and then breakfast prep, I went upstairs, showered and shaved my legs because holy hell it’s too hot for pants.  So i am wearing cropped pants.  Getting me into a skirt is pretty difficult again.  I am not sure why I go in phases, but I just feel like a line backer in football when I wear a skirt.  Plus it’s supposed to storm today, and walking across campus in the rain and a dress, blows.
I'm really bad at taking pictures.

I’m really bad at taking pictures.

  • Class last night was good.  I got in a heated discussion over some themes in the book we are reading as a class.  I think the problem is that certain people believe we all have to agree, and I don’t think that’s true.  If we all had the same opinion it would be boring.  Oh well he can get his boxers in a twist.  I think it’s funny that I’m in a class with all of these people who are already teachers and they already have classrooms, but they obviously don’t know how to handle someone who doesn’t see things they way they do.  Well it’s really just one.  THERE IS ALWAYS ONE PERSON I DON’T GET ALONG WITH.  It doesn’t hurt that he is kind arrogant.  Ugh… 5.5 more weeks.
  • I find myself a bit overzealous at the moment.  Between running (and pretending to train for races I have this year) lifting, dieting, school, work, and the attempt to find a job once I leave the one I am currently at, I think I might be biting off too much.  We’ll see.  I think that the more I can get done this year – whilst still employed – the better.  Plus  if my new plan works out – the new plan fed to me by my Professor last night – i will only have three classes to take next year TOTAL to finish up my masters.  Which means internship in the spring, 1 class over the summer, and then the capstone in the fall – THEN I GRADUATE.  Is it bad that I am like “But then what?  PhD?  I don’t want to not be a student.  I want to keep going.  I WANT MORE.”  Then the Husband is like “Um.  No.  Because Money.”
  • Hopefully the act of teaching high schoolers will be enough of a learning experience for me.

Menu:

  • Post Workout: Protein Smoothie
  • Breakfast: Bagel Thin w/ Cream Cheese & Coffee
  • Snack: Banana
  • Lunch: Spaghetti Squash w/ Hot dog and Pasta Sauce, yogurt, Carrots
  • Snack: Apple & Quest Nutrition Protein Bar
  • Dinner: Fish Tacos
  • Evening Snack: Protein Powder & Water
  • Workout: Run 3 Miles

I’ll be announcing my Giveaway later this week!

Lift It All

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I woke up this morning at 5:35am and bustled downstairs to get my NROLFW Stage 4 A1 workout done – and whew.  I did it.  I felt like I worked my butt off, you know with all the squats and static lunges, but then when I looked at my HRM for calories burned I saw that I only burned 155 calories.  What gives?

1.) I might not be lifting heavy enough.  This could totally be true.  I didn’t want to go for the gusto this morning since last week I was sick and didn’t lift at all, and the week before that was my rest week between stages.  I was afraid that my strength gains were gone.  Given I wasn’t ‘struggling’ through my workout or huffing and puffing I guess I didn’t lose as much strength as I thought.  Shape Magazine wrote this article (8 Reasons Why You Should Lift Heavy Weights) and the first reason is that you’ll burn more calories.  Well then.  I need to not be afraid to pick up the heavier ones that I have just because I’ve taken some time off.  Lesson learned.  Wednesday I’ll be grabbing those 25# over my 10#.*

*I realize that for most of you these weights are like nothing, but I’m still a little fat weakling when it comes to lifting.  It will be a while before I’m like “Yeah, I can shoulder press my husband.” But I’ll get there.

2.) How INTENSE you are matters.  If you are taking longer breaks during lifting sets (NROLFW Stage 4 states to take 90 seconds between sets) then you will burn less calories.  This Article from Ask Fitness ( How Many Calories are Burned during Strength Training) talks about how Intensity during the workout is a main component in calorie burning.  But.. The article also says this:

To illustrate this, if you ran for 60 minutes at 8.6 mph (roughly a 7 minute mile), a 180 lb male would burn approximately 1,100 calories.  If that’s a little too fast for your blood, running at 5.2 mph for an hour would still burn 734 calories, approximately 300 more calories than you’d burn performing the same duration of weight training.

That said, while you burn more calories during aerobic cardio exercise like running, research has suggested that Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) is greater after weight training than after aerobic exercise.

What is the EPOC, exactly?

The estimates of how long that post-workout metabolism lift might last are controversial.

You’ll often hear fitness and bodybuilding magazines throw around the figure “up to 24 hours” (and I’ve actually heard people claim as long as 48 hours), but recent research says increases in EPOC may actually only last for 60 minutes or less.

A warning:  It’s important not to make too much of this increased EPOC after weight lifting.

While EPOC is increased, we’re not talking about hundreds of extra calories being burned after weight training — it’s more like an extra dozen or so, which generally isn’t enough to make up for the gap between cardio and resistance training when it comes to calories burned during these respective exercises.

So Which is Better? Cardio or Strength?

Women’s Health Magazine wrote this article ( Cardio vs. Strength Training ) to illustrate the pro’s and con’s for both.  (Spoiler Alert – Strength Win’s the battle for fat loss)

So, am I worried that I only burned 155 Calories lifting this morning?  No.  Not really.  I mean in WW world that’s like 2 APs.  Plus my struggle, as you all know, has never been the exercise.  I’m active at least 5 days a week.  My struggle is the food intake.  You can’t out exercise a bad diet, now.

Menu for the Day:

  • Workout: NROLFW Stage 4 A1 (5:35 am)
  • Post Workout Food: Protein Smoothie w/ 1 Scoop Trutien, strawberries, 1/2 banana, milk (6:45 am)
  • Breakfast: Coffee & Bagel thin w/ reduced fat cream cheese (8:00 am)
  • Snack: Banana (10:00 am)
  • Lunch: Spaghetti Squash w/ tomato sauce & Hebrew National hot dog, yogurt, carrots (12:00 pm)
  • Snack: Apple (2:00 pm)
  • Afternoon Pick Me Up (Class time): Iced Latte w/ Skim Milk (3:30 pm)
  • Dinner: Hotdog & Hamburger w/ Veggie Side (no Buns) (8:00 pm)

Tomorrow is 3.1 Miles in the morning.  I’ve decided to stop giving a crap about my mileage time too.  I know.  NO RUNNER WOULD EVER SAY THAT.

This one just did.

I’m not running to win anything.  I’m not running to place in my age group (never gonna happen).  I’m running because it keeps me sane.

I am a mix of these two people

I am constantly in awe of other people and their running ability.  Being able to sustain sub 8’00″ miles, is pretty darn fantastic.  That guy who won the Boston Marathon?  He’s insane.  Don’t get me started on Bolt.

So instead of the pressure to like hit a certain time or whatever, I’m just going to run because I like running.

Deep Thoughts With Bebe.

Build It Back Up Friday

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Oh this week.

After being sick pretty much Tuesday – Thursday and not exercising and only eating what I could keep down (and not caring about nutritional information) I feel pretty restless.  I am planning on running on the treadmill tonight to see if I can bust through that feeling.  I want to make myself good and exhausted so that I can go to bed at 8:30 like my body desires.

Screw a social life.  I have cheese!

I excited to sit on my couch, do school work, eat greasy pizza and drink beer.  These things excite me.  I’ve gotten to the point where I could deprive myself, and go with some routine, or whatever, or I can just accept who I am, and let the chips fall where they may (hopefully they are sour cream and onion and they fall in my mouth.)

No I am not giving up my health ventures.  I’m still going to run, lift, do weight watchers, and try to become more comfortable in my own skin, but, in the process of this, I am not going to stress about it.

There are millions of people faster than me – last Sunday’s race proved that! :-)

There are millions of people stronger than me – I am comfortable with my current ability to lift 50 pounds.  I am now qualified for most retail positions.

I will never be “skinny” and that’s fine because skinny isn’t what I want – I want to fit into my cute green pants at the moment.

I have so much admiration for those who go and change themselves and feel good about themselves and work towards goals.  But I have so much love and respect for those who accept themselves.  We are not all Crossfitters.  We are not all Runners.  We are not all Fitspo beauties or hunks.  Some of us just don’t want to gain weight looking at pictures of food on pinterest.  Some of us would simply like to be able to not ask for a belt extender on an airplane.  Some of us want to get rid of health problems.  I think there comes a point where Online personas can be motivational to the point of damaging.  I think it’s one thing to say you can change yourself for the better, and it’s another to try to force your training plan/eating plan on them.  I have a person in my life that does this.  I really hate it.  Because I know that I am not going to be able to make myself do what they do.  I just won’t.

 

I love lifting – but I don’t think I would enjoy copious amounts of it.

I love running and cardio – because my heart rate is up, my body is moving, I can feel myself getting stronger and faster with each step.  I love crossing the start line with a large group of people.  I love crossing the finish line and feeling the past mileage all creep up on me.  I love the soreness of the distance on my body for days afterward.

I love food.  I love carbs.  I love bread – although I rarely eat it now – I love ice cream.  I love beer, wine, etc.

I know of people who eat these things and still lose body fat and weight and look slamming.  So I’m not going to play the restriction game anymore.

I’m accepting who I am now.  It took a heck of a lot of energy to get to where I am.  Losing 40 pounds?  That was hard.  But not as hard as this last 20 will be.  But it will only be as hard as I make it.

I think over thinking and stressing has been my downfall.  That ends today.

 

Build It Back Up Friday Articles of Note:

Back to Work – Ughhhhh

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I am regretting going back to work today.  I am exhausted.  My entire body is out of pain thankfully, but I am drained.  I will workout tomorrow.  I promise.  I took a nice three day break to get through my illness, but I will be back on the treadmill tomorrow morning for 3 miles.

I’m going to restart NROLFW Stage 4 next week because I only got one workout in, so I think it would be easier to just restart it, so that I do the stage justice.

Plus with all this sitting around I really want to bust out some cardio.

I plan on running 3 on Friday and 4.5 on Saturday (Outside weather permitting).

  • Sunday is Father’s day.

I love my Dad.

He’s kind of hilarious.

and odd.

But he’s my hero.

We are having my parents and The Husbands parents over on Sunday for a cookout – like we do every year.  The rest of the families are invited of course as well, but My older sister and her husband and kids have a picnic planned at Lake Brittle, and my little sister is kind of being a butt, so I doubt she’ll be there.  But that’s cool.  Whoever shows up will be well fed!

Saturday is then, obviously, clean all things day.  I will also be spending Saturday night writing up a paper and two presentations that I have coming up in the next few weeks.  I figure if I have a night off from life I might as well.  The Husband will be out with his dad and brother to a Bill Cosby stand up show, so it will be me, my laptop, and a bottle of wine :-)  Really looking forward to the wine.

Tomorrow is Friday, even though it doesn’t feel like it.  Mainly because I was home working for two days, which I adore doing because I have no distractions.  I have the TV going in the background if I am not on a conference call, but getting my data entry done at home is so much easier than in the office.

Sigh.  When I become a teacher, working from home will never happen… except for like when I am working on the weekend… Yay Grading.

So I kind of adore my Y.A. Lit professor and want to take any and all classes he is teaching.  I plan on taking him for my internship and my capstone – AT THE VERY LEAST.  I would love it if he would teach the rest of my courses as well, because he is just – what is the right word – so…. there.  He is present in every moment he is in.  When you are talking, you are the only one he is hearing.  When he is talking you can’t help but be engaged.  he is magnificent.  Brilliant.  If I had teachers like him in high school I would have done better – Promise.

He just has this way, that makes you want to be engaged.

Before you ask – it has nothing to do with his looks.  He is a sharp dressed individual.  He is hilarious.  Frankly I could see myself having a long conversation with him over a bottle of Malbec, but I digress.  I want to pick his mind apart.  I want to know all of his secrets, because I think he has the ones that could tell me how to be an amazing teacher.  I think he knows them all.

I totally bought his book too.

I totally also asked him to sign it.

I am totally a fangirl of my professor.

Give It To Me:

  • Are you Happy It’s Thursday?
  • What are your plans for the weekend?
  • Did you ever have a teacher who made you want to learn more because they were that awesome?

How Monday Sneaketh Up On Us

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  • Friday night we ventured to Ashburn to pick up my race packet and dilly to Sorrento Grill in Herndon for dinner.  When we lived in Herndon we ate their at least once a week, and for good reason.  The food is amazing.  Better than anything Manassas has to offer – I’m really started to loathe the town I live in.  It’s becoming a bit too much and I need a change.  Plus it’s Monday.  I’m not in a stellar mood.
  • DID YOU WATCH GAME OF THRONES?  WERE YOU PISSED TOOO?  If you didn’t just skip this part and scroll to the next bullet. Are we really supposed to live for the next 9 months on that alone?  I mean really HBO.  That’s the ending?  Why didn’t you just end the freaking season at the Red Wedding episode.  I mean really.  If you were going to have such a lackluster ending to the season.. I mean COME ON.  I was waited the entire time for something – ANYTHING – to happen.  The closest thing was Grampy Lanister sending little shit Joffrey to bed without his supper.  Oh and that guy receiving his son’s penis via Medieval Express.  That was pretty bad ass how his sister was like “I’M BRINGING HIM HOME.”  Go girl!  And seriously.  Like two weeks without my Khaleesi and you bring her back for the last 3 minutes?  Jerks.  Now that True Blood is starting back up I should be all like “Well at least I have this,” but that whole series is like ‘WTF?’ and ‘HUH?’ to me now.  Vampires are like so last year.. or something.  Twilight’s over.  I have no more vampy love.
  • Saturday was Lisa’s surprise Goodbye Party – AND BOY WAS SHE SURPRISED!

  • Heh.  Of course, I got the balloons in Blue and yellow for the Swedish Flag – because I’m awesome and think like that.  It was a great time, where I ate too much, had too many cupcakes, and should not have had alcohol because Saturday night was also….

  • My race.  See how unsure I look?  that’s because my stomach, at this very moment was like “HAHA.  YOU’RE NOT RUNNING.”  It was like “Bitch it’s time to sleep!”  My legs were like “Yo, maybe you should listen to stomach.  I think this whole running thing might be a bad idea.  I think you aren’t prepared for this.”  My mind was like “You have to run 1 mile, that’s it.  RUN STREAK!”  My heart was like “You can do this, I believe in you.”  While my face is saying “Balls.”  It was slow.  Hot.  I felt myself almost vomit like 4 times.  I ran the first mile in 9’11″, and everything after that was horrible.  My final time was 43’34″ which is 3 minutes and 56 seconds slower than my 4 mile time on Mother’s Day.  The fact I didn’t vomit on the course (or at all) is a win.
  • Sunday was another day of fun and running around.  We met Lisa at 1:00pm for lunch at Chop’t and then we traveled to DC to see the Munch exhibit at the National Gallery.

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  • And then Lisa took a quick visit to Stockholm

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  • All in all it was a good day.  We dropped Lisa off, and then did our grocery shopping before heading home to continue the bad choices in eating with Tony’s Pizza and Game of Thrones.
  • Needless to say my Workout at 5:30 am did not happen – but lucky for me I don’t have class in person tonight so I can get it in after work.  Day 15 of the Run Streak and Day 1 of Stage 4 of NROLFW!  Let’s do this!

Give It To Me:

  1. What are you doing to be active today?
  2. What did you think of Game of Thrones?
  3. Have you ever been to Stockholm?

Stop Holding Your Tounge

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  • HAPPY FRIDAY!  Oh my did this week fly by or what?  I’m actually happy because it seems like things are moving along in the right direction with school.  I’m not really stressed yet, except when finding parking and then running through the rain in a dress and flip flops, and that is a good sign.  I can do this.  I can do 6 credits in a fast track setting for 8 weeks over the summer.  I CAN.
  • Runner’s World Run Streak Day 12 in the books with a 3 miler this morning.  I played around – since I was on the treadmill – with pushing myself.  I did the following running workout – which basically had me at an average pace of 6.0 mph:
    • 2 min @ 5.5 mph
    • 3 min @ 6.2 mph
    • 2 min @ 5.5 mph
    • 3 min @ 6.2 mph
    • 1 min @ 5.5 mph
    • 1 min @ 7.0 mph
      • repeat for 5x total
    • 2 min @ 5.5 mph
    • 2 min @6.2 mph
    • 2 min @ 5.5 mph
    • 2 min @ 6.2 mph
    • 2 min @ 5.5 mph
    • Cool Down at 4.0 mph
  • Because I am crazy and a sucker for countdowns and challenges, I will also be starting this tomorrow:

  • A few extra squats couldn’t hurt, right?  Lord knows I could use more butt strength.  Fear the butt.
  • I am getting more and more fearful of crossfit people – mainly because I feel like they look at me and wonder “Can I deadlift her?  Would she be a PR?”  I don’t feel judged by them, not at all!  Every single one I have come in contact with has been more than pleasant (actually some have even been nicer than runners I have come in contact with!) but I feel like a barbell with a set amount of weight to them.  I get that up and down look.  Like hungry people see people turn into “food” at least in cartoons, and I turn into a barbell. These are the things I think about when left to my own devices.  You’ve been warned.
  • I’ve been taking a conugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplement recently after it was introduced to me by another person on the NROLFW board.  While it’s not a diet pill, it can aid in the use of fat as fuel for workouts.  Because I am still running so much I was worried that I would be burning muscle I was building, but this is supposed to aid in that, I guess?  From Wikipedia:

The most promising science around CLA concerns its effect on weight management. Thirty-five intervention studies have been conducted using CLA in humans to investigate the effects of CLA on weight management. These studies, which vary widely in CLA dose and duration, show the most significant effect of CLA on weight management is on body composition, a reduction in total body fat and an increase in lean body mass. The effect of CLA on fat mass is modest and at the recommended dosage of 3.2 g/day produces a statistically significant 90 g fat loss per week (about 1 lb in 5 wk) as shown by a 2007 meta-analysis.[32] Doses higher than the recommended 3.2g do not seem to have any additional effects on body fat reduction. Another meta-analysis found that CLA supplementation produces about 1% increased growth in targeted lean body mass per week[33] With the simultaneous decrease in fat mass coupled with increases in lean body mass, often the net change in weight is small. However, the effects of CLA on body composition is a healthy effect, since the degree of fat mass is related to many causes of mortality[34] and lean body mass burns more calories than fat mass, which may help to increase resting metabolic rates. CLA use itself is not an answer to the prevalence of obesity, but it can be a useful tool in addition to a healthy lifestyle and exercise program to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.

  • Since I am focusing more on getting rid of the jiggle juggle in my body than the number on the scale, after speaking with my doctor, I decided I’d try it out.  Not sure if it’s from the CLA, or that everything is finally starting to work, but I have a good amount of energy, and I have no adverse effects.  So something that occurs naturally is just getting an added dose.  We’ll see how I feel once the bottle I have is empty.
  • What are you up to this weekend?  I have my next race tomorrow night!  Twilight 4 Miler in Ashburn!  YAY NIGHT RACES!

Food For Thought Friday – Runner’s World Edition!

Tuesday Things

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  • Woke up this morning after the first night back with A/C working in the house.  It was a beautiful restful sleep.  I was only doing 2 miles on the treadmill because it’s technically not a run day, but because of the Run Streak and the fact I am not lifting this week, I had to do at least 1 mile, and decided to actually get a workout in so I did 2 miles.  2.0 Miles – 20’18″  (Not too shabby).
  • First day of Class 1 was yesterday, and my teacher is hilarious.  HILARIOUS.  He is eccentric, different, brilliant, and amazing.  He also co-wrote  a book I just purchased, as I am sure it will come in handy with research I need to do this fall.  And because of my Amazon Prime free trial, I am getting it on Thursday!
  • I’ve decided next week (Which starts for me on Friday’s after I weigh in) I will have an Activity Point Goal. On Weight Watchers, you earn Activity Points for working out.  These can be measured by going to your tracker, finding the activity you did, and entering the duration you did it.  A lot of people find this way to be a bit misleading, as they don’t think the points calculated are accurate.  For instance:
    • On Saturday I ran 4 Miles and burned 564 calories.  Punching in “Running” and 40 minutes to the tracker I get 9 Activity Points, where as on My Fitness Pal I would just simply get 564 more calories a day.  If you aren’t familiar with Weight Watchers, 9 APs is a lot.  It’s more than I usually eat for lunch.  So a lot of people don’t trust simply entering it into the tracker.
  • So then Weight Watchers unveiled “ActiveLink”.  They jumped on the FitBit bandwagon (among others) and fashioned a clip that you wear all the time and it measures your activity expenditure.  You then plug it into you computer (I think) and it uploads (?) your activity to the WW website and spits out your points for the week.  I think this is a lot more reliable, because even though me and So and So weigh the same and run for the same amount of time, it doesn’t mean I burn the same as her.  I run a lot so it takes a lot for my Heart Rate to get high.  Everyone is different.  But I elect for option C, because I don’t want to pay for an ActiveLink:
    • I take my Calories and divide them by 75 (an arbitrary number that a good portion of WWer’s use on Twitter to figure out APs) and that is my AP for that exercise.  So this morning I burned 302 calories running / 75 = ~4.  So I earned 4 APs for this morning’s run.
  • Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about APs.  You are welcome.  Go conquer the world.
  • I’m selling stuff on Ebay.  Because I am poor, and I have a ton of stuff I don’t use anymore, that I need to get rid of.  Old HRMs, Purses, etc.  Here I go!  Anyone want a used but still perfect Polar FT4? 
Yup.

Yup.

  • I am still upset over Game of Thrones – if you don’t watch, you won’t get it, so I won’t go into detail, but man.  I AM JUST BROKEN.  AND DESTROYED.
  • Bachelorette – lordy.  What is wrong with this bitch?  THIS IS NOT A FAIRYTALE.  CINDERELLA NEVER HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN 25 MEN.  THAT IS WHAT WE CALL A SLUT TALE.  GEEZE.  Anyhoodle, last nights episode affirmed my thought that she is three sheets to crazy.  First one on one date with her first choice – Brooks.  Okay he’s cute, I get it.  He has a great jawline, hairline, butt line.  I see the package.  I see why he was her first choice.  But their date is going to a Bridal Gown Shop (WHAT IN THE LOVING EFF?) and they dress up like a bride and groom, go to a cupcake truck, get surrounded by fans (Fans?  Really?) and then they go to the Hollywood sign and have a little cuddletime as “Newlyweds.”  Um.   First date.. and this is what you choose?  This is like when Coutrney was like “I planned a fake wedding!”  And Ben was all like “durrrrrrrr.”

Sound it out… you almost got it…

  • Then the group date was a rap video with “Souja Boy”.  Right.  Which was called “All the Right Reasons”.  When the guys had private time with Des, Ben (The guy who used his Kid as a pawn in this game on night one – not the dumbass above) was like I wanna kiss you – and then they did, and he was like “This will be our little secret.”  Um Idiot… she already kissed Brooks.  So then he gets a rose, obviously.
  • The second one on one date was with Bryden (?) and he got all emotional because he almost died in a truck accident, and that’s why he’s all deep and introspective.  He even happened to be carrying pictures of his mangled truck and face.  So OF COURSE he gets a rose.  He also got her into a bikini and in a hot tub.  BUT he lacks moves.  There was the awkwardness of them staring at each other, and she is like come on… make a move and he just looks away.  So she says “Oh just kiss me already.”  And he still doesn’t move.  So she kind of pathetically lunged at him.  Poor Des.  Poor Mangled Bryden.  Poor Chris Harrison having to still host this show.
  • So then at the cocktail party, everyone is vying for time with her before she makes her final decision, and this guy (I can’t remember his name) comes up and is like “I need to tell her I have type 1 diabetes.”  I’ll call him Diabeetus.  I get that all the guys without abusive or sordid pasts need to pretty much play whatever hand they are dealt, and use any medical issue to their advantage as why they need her to love and heal them, but seriously dude.  If you got that shit under control, that is not something you need to bring up and be like “Yeah… it’s been really hard dealing with this.”  You’ve been good for 16 years.  It’s not like you just found out.  That is like a 3rd date convo (yeah I’m a bitch, but this is a game.. and he is playing with a wonky defense.) Well while he is pouring his heart out, who should come in but Ben!  BUT HE ALREADY HAS A ROSE.  HE IS SAFE THIS WEEK.  WHAT THE HELL.  He and Des sneak off and kiss again (Secretly!) and Diabeetus gets his panties in a twist about it.  He confronts Ben and is like “that’s not cool” and all the other guys say the same thing.  He’s like “I’m here for Des!”
  • Guy Drama.
  • She sends home the token Black Guy who can’t dance, and 2 other white dudes that I don’t remember being there.

Food For Thought Tuesday:

 

So It Begins

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Morning all!  It’s a Rainy One in the DC/VA/MD area and there were many accidents on all roads – the inner loop of the beltway was pretty much at a standstill for 3 hours before Connecticut Ave. due to a tractor trailer accident.  Can you imagine?  Being stuck in the same spot for 3 hours?  omg.  I just can’t.

Lucky for me, I don’t have to go anywhere near the Beltway to get to work or school – or anywhere I usually go for that matter – So I sailed by a bunch of fender benders, nothing serious, but still.

66 East Bound

66 East Bound

I woke up at 5:40 am – supposed to be 5:25 but whatever – and then changed quickly and went downstairs to bang out my 3.0 miles for the day.  It was TOUGH.  Actually it was so tough that it was TUFF.  I struggled, had to jump off a few times, felt like I was going to vomit, etc.  I know this is because of dehydration (I sucked at drinking water this weekend) and lack of sleep.

Our AC unit is getting fixed today – THANK GOD – so the Husband is home waiting for them to arrive.  Should be any moment.  $6700 bucks.  To say things are going to be tight for a while is an understatement.

I am not awake.

I am not awake.

I start class tonight.  SUMMER SESSION!  In 8 weeks I’ll be done, but still.  My God.  So much work.  I just populated my folders for my assignments in Google Docs (Where I keep my existence) and now I am less overwhelmed.  Except for one thing…

 

GROUP WORK.

 

WHY DO THEY MAKE US DO THIS?  Seriously.  We are adults.  I don’t think it’s fair for me to have to rely on someone else to do their share so I pass.  NOT COOL.  I’ll work my way through it.  After this week, I plan on spending next weekend working through as many of the assignments as I can, so it will be a simple publish and submit on Blackboard when they are due.

This should be interesting to say the least!

Plan for the Day:

  • Workout: 3.0 miles + Cool Down – DONE
  • Breakfast: Bagel Thin w/ Cream Cheese, Coffee w/milk, Protein Shake
  • Snack: Tea
  • Lunch: Spaghetti Squash, Keilbasa and pasta sauce, yogurt
  • Snack: Cherries, Baby Carrots, Apple
  • Dinner: Steak with a Cucumber, mint, feta salad
  • Class from 4:30-7:10
  • Then Collapse.

OH AND THE BACHELORETTE IS BACK TONIGHT!

Food for Thought Monday:

 

 

Create Your Future (goodbye Face it Friday)

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  • I’ve realized that not only my focus on the scale, and the number it exudes when I step on it, is not the only bad habit I have when it comes to my weight loss/fat loss journey.  I also then publicly post my loss or more recently my gains and then berate my actions from the past week in an effort to shame myself into not repeating them.  Well obviously this hasn’t worked.  I think the negativity I put on myself on the daily is only compounded by the fact that I am self deprecating (and most of the time not in a funny way) on this blog.  How am I supposed to motivate anyone else to do anything healthy if all I do is show myself doing these things in a negative light?
  • What A Difference A Year Makes wanna be inspired?  Go read that post right now.
  • I am going to continue to trust the process.  I am going to continue to workout and lift heavy and be hopeful.
  • I did not workout this morning.  I woke up at 4:00am having to use the little girls room, and the minute I put my weight on my feet, my legs ached.  It was Friday.  All of my workouts were coming back to hit full on.  Once classes start on Monday (UGH) I will be in class Monday – Thursday 4:30-7:10, so working out in the morning is my only option.  For those days I plan on working out in the morning.  But Friday’s?  I’m free once work is done.  Why not give myself a break from the early morning and workout in the afternoon?  Exactly.  Studies conducted in my basement show it doesn’t matter when I workout, as long as I workout. :-)

  • So I am starting today, again.  Like every Friday after I check the scale and then threaten to jump off the roof, I am coming back down and realizing that things take time.  Things that are worth it take time.  It will happen.  I just have to trust the process and follow though.
  • I can’t:
    • Out exercise a bad diet.  It might work some weeks, but really if you eat like crap it will not workout for your in the long run.
    • Be mad when I ‘only Burn 300 calories’ during my weights workout.  The after burn isn’t measured.  The muscle I am building from these workouts isn’t visible immediately.  I feel defeated if I don’t burn like 600 calories a day, but really, I should be proud I burned that much JUST doing weights.  A friend of mine who kills it at each weight workout has to go for like an hour to burn that much, and I am doing it in half the time (Heavier people burn more calories in general).
    • THINK THAT MY CALORIE BURN IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS
    • THINK THAT THE SCALE IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS
    • Listen to a million different trainers and expect to get results.  This is where I really struggle.  When I get overwhelmed or think that I am obviously failing at (Insert lifestyle change here) I immediately go to the Internet and start googling everything.  I then get a few tips from every site I find and start putting them all into motion, which just ends up with me being overwhelmed and confused and not successful.
  • My plan: Stick with Weight Watchers, Running, and NROLFW.  Eat cleanly as much as possible, hydrate like a boss, and get more sleep.

Food For Thought Friday:

Pick Things Up, Put Them Down

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  • Guess who woke up early again and worked out?  This girl.  Yep.  320 calories burned with NROLFW Stg3 B4 & 15 minutes of interval run/walking.  I satisfied day 4 of the Runner’s World Run Streak and I finished up Stage 3 of NROLFW!  I’ll update the NROLFW Page this afternoon with my measurements and such.  I don’t notice a massive change in this stage – it was a short one really – appearance wise, but I am noticing that my lifts are getting easier.  My form still sucks at times, but that’s because for some reason I am trying to rush every move.  I need to slow down.  This is where working out with a buddy would help.  Oh well.  Stage 4 I am going to make an effort to take the full rest period between sets, and really focus on form with each move.  I say that now, but who knows what will actually occur (most likely more of the same)
  • Tomorrow is a run day – aiming for 3.1 miles (same old same old) and I will likely do this in the morning.  I like getting up early and getting this done so that in the afternoon, if I so wish to sit on my bum and do nothing, I have that option.  Hurrah for laziness after 3pm!
  • I can’t believe it’s Thursday.  I know it is a short week because of the Holiday and all, but still.  It went by soooooo quickly.  Friday’s are usually dead around here given that my Parent company (those I contract for) has 9/80 work weeks.  This means, that the employees work 9 hours a day for for 9 days and take every other Friday off.  Um, can I get in on that?  After almost 4 years of asking, the answer is still no.  I know I could attempt to use it as a bargaining chip “Don’t give me a raise, just let me do 9/80!” but then they would have to do that for everyone, and well, then the world would apparently implode.
  • Is it weird that I talk to my baby muscles?  I urge them to grow and promise them things like steak and extra protein shakes if they burn off the fat that surrounds them.  I figure it’s one thing I haven’t tried, so why the hell not?  May be they just need a little TLC.
  • Yesterday at around 2:00 I crashed.  Hard.  I was sitting at my desk and the entire room got warm and cozy like.  I closed my eyes for a moment and felt myself drift and then realized I was at work.  This is bad.  I need to go to bed earlier if these early morning workouts will continue.  I also need a barbell still.
  • I bought sandals this morning, because The Londoner had them in her post and I was like “OMG THOSE ARE THE SANDALS I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR.”  Style, color, everything.  They were from TopShop, and luckily reasonably priced, and my size was somehow available.  For the big footed women of the world, we don’t have many options as it seems we all like the same shoes, and there is a group of us somewhere who go around and buy all the cute ones up, leaving the rest of us with well, the not so cute ones.  So I immediately bought them.  This ruins my ‘Don’t buy anything for yourself in May.” rule, but I figure with the cheaper shipping I won’t have them till June, so it all evens out.
via topshop.com

via topshop.com

I will affectionately refer to them as my Jesus Sandals.  He would have totally rocked these back in the day.

  • I am beginning to like where this year is going.  I know, Little Late Bethany… but with classes starting on Monday and the countdown till Lisa moves to Sweden chugging along, there is a lot of change afoot.   I am excited by it, well except for Lisa leaving.. I’m excited for her, yes, but not for her to leave.  Why does Sweden have to be so darn far?  But nonetheless, things are changing.  Happy things.  Good things.  School things.  I am hoping that this summer session goes by as quickly as I imagine it will.  8 weeks of classes.  Luckily some of those Mondays/Wednesdays I’ll be meeting online so I won’t have to immediately rush to campus after work, I can mosey on home and then do homework.  I am lucky in that I have the ability to get shit done quickly and still have it be “A” work.
  • I am really looking forward to The Husbands and my mini-vacation in August to Chincoteague.  The beach will be a nice change, and the sun will be great.  I can sit on the sand under an umbrella and read alllllll day.  I’ll have my cooler filled with water and fruit next to me, and my SPF 70000 on.  Life will be grand.  The Husband can go off and run through the water, chase seagulls, or capture fish… whatever he normally does on vacation at the beach.  I’ll just sleep.  It will be soooooo nice.
  • Plan of the Day:
    • Breakfast: Bagel thin, Cream Cheese, Coffee w/milk, Protein Smoothie
    • Snack: Cherries
    • Lunch: Spinach Salad, yogurt, Apple
    • Snack: Baby Carrots & Banana
    • Dinner: Some sort of Salad dish without lettuce.  I’ll let you know how it goes
    • Activity: NROLFW Stg 3 B4 & 15 minutes of intervals  – DONE!

Food for Thought Thursday: