Category Archives: Perspective

One Of Those Days…

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  • We all have those days where everything that could go wrong does.  Except I didn’t have one of those days.  I had an awesome day up until it wasn’t.  Everything was going well, and then it didn’t go well.  Then it messed up.  Then something big messed up.  It wasn’t my fault, but being caught in the cross hairs, I’m involved.  I’m not sure what is going to happen from it, but I know it’s long from being over.
  • I ate my stress and feelings yesterday.  I still tracked, and even with being On Plan and exercising today, I’ll still be over my points by a lot.  I’m okay with this, because frankly, sitting and wallowing never did anyone any favors.

  • I think it’s very easy to fall back into the same old routine.  Eat too much, don’t workout, and then feel bad for myself.  I used to say this was so hard.  But really that’s easy.  What’s hard is not doing those things.  I claim to be strong, and I claim to want this.  So if I want it so badly, then I should just do it.  I should just choose this hard, over the hard of being overweight, tired, sluggish, mad at myself, self deprecating, and loathing.  I started saying that I had to compete with others because they were losing weight/getting thin/looking fabulous, but I can’t anymore.  I am not them.  They have other things going on, other things building towards their success.
  • I have me, my sneakers, my weights, and the road.

  • The past is exactly that.  The past.  I can’t change it.  I can’t go back and rewrite it.  I don’t want to.  I want to rewrite the future.  I know what most people expect me to become.  I know what most people think I will do.  I know that because I am not following Paleo after 6 weeks of trying – and gaining weight, not fitting into clothes, and feeling like my stomach was being torn apart day after day, makes some people feel like I didn’t try hard enough at it, or I didn’t wait as long.  I know the fact that I am back on Weight Watchers, to some feels like me giving in to the hype, and that it won’t work, and I’ll be back to finding some other plan to follow eventually.  Well they aren’t right.
  • A plan works, no matter what it is, if you work it.  You can lose weight on Bob Harpers Skinny Rules of 800 calories a day.  It is possible.  It’s by no means healthy, but if losing weight is your only goal, then yes, it can be done.  Diet pills do work, if you follow the plan.  It’s not long lasting, and not healthy, but it works.
  • There are choices to be made by everyone.  I am choosing to continue with Weight Watchers, lifting, and running and if that doesn’t make me look like this:

  • I’m really okay with that.  I know that this is a goal for some women.  I really don’t need/want to be that muscular.  I just want to be stronger than I am.  A little less jiggly.  Could I be the above picture?  SURE!  (Without the tan)  I could most certainly attain that with enough hard work.  But I’d settle for this:

  • I know I am not fat, but I have fat to lose.  I know I’m not obese, but I am not where I want to be.  So I will keep chugging along.  I feel better when I am on plan, not just mentally, but physically.  My body functions better.  My running is better.  My lifting is better.  I feel better.

  • So after having a pretty bad day, that shook me deeper than I have in a while, I am emerging, much like a cicada does, with a new purpose.  My purpose is to be happy (unlike the cicadas, who emerge to have sex and then die).  I am choosing to be happy, and with that, loving myself.

Things I love:

  • My legs are strong.  I can run for long distances and they carry me across every finish line.
  • My shoulders have become stronger making shoulder presses easier, but not too easy :-)
  • It’s summer so my eyes are a crisp blue – which I love
  • My feet, although a bit beat up being runners feet, are still strong and improving in their movement during my landing

 

  1. What do you love about your body?
  2. What choice have you made to make yourself a better person?
  3. I’m lifting and running today, what are you doing to move?

Food For Thought Thursday:

Tuesday Things

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  • NROLFW Stage 3 – A1 = OUCH Central.  I was like “WHAT ARE THEY DOING?” Then I realized that the reps were only supposed to be 6 per set.  Not 15.  Because I can read, and follow directions. Anyways.  I made it through the workout, but only half of the Body Weight Matrix at the End:
    • 24 squats
    • 12 lunges – each leg
    • 12 jumping lunges – each leg
    • 24 jump squats
    • Rest and Repeat Once.
  • Oh I rested.  I fell flat on the floor.  I didn’t even try the jumping plyometric workouts because frankly, no.  My hip can’t take it.  Yeah, I said it.  CAN’T.  I don’t want to go through hip surgery again, so I’m just going to skip those.  May be once my body is stronger, I’ll attempt.
  • The 100 Most Inspiring Weight Loss Blogs!  I read most of them – aspire to be one, one day.  Which leads me to my plan of the day!  I figure taking one day at a time, instead of a whole week or month when it comes to my food intake is best:
    • Breakfast – 1/2 sweet potato, 2 chicken sausage links, 1 protein smoothie, 1 coffee w/ almond milk
    • Snack: Banana
    • Lunch: Spinach Salad w/ Cherry tomatoes, radish, bell pepper, turkey bruger, cheese, light dressing; yogurt
    • Snack: Almonds
    • Dinner : Chicken Stir Fry with Quinoa and Asian Slaw
    • Activity: 3-4 mile run (might be outside, might be inside, might be a fartlek run, might be slow and steady, not sure… don’t care?)
  • I am slowly backing away with my eyes open, from Paleo.  It’s not that it doesn’t work, because yes it does.  But I don’t want to throw certain things out of my diet.  I like wine on a Monday.  I like Pizza on a Thursday.  i’m not going to jump back on the English Muffin wagon, and frankly since I stopped putting these restrictions on myself, I suddenly have a crap ton of protein in my diet.  So I am going Paleo-ish.
    • High protein, some carbs, Very little Dairy, Sugar when I feel like it, Wine when I want it.
  • I’m losing inches with the lifting from certain areas, (waist and hips), and Frankly I need to step away from the “WEIGHT LOSS” mind set, and get my head on straight.  So I am eating whole foods, and exercising.  I’m going to be more intuitive.  For me this means when I go out for dinner, I will know that the Fried Chicken is not as good of a choice as the Grilled Tuna – This has actually never been an issue.  I have cravings but I am not an idiot.  I know which one is healthier.
  • With that, I’m also keeping a lot of things from the Paleo diet – I love my eggs and sausage or sweet potato in the morning.  Love Love Love.  I love the low to no carb dinners – ending the day with pr0tein and veggies has helped improve my sleep – I don’t get the gross full feeling, and my sugar doesn’t spike.  I also enjoy drinking my coffee black or with a little Almond Milk.
  • I LOVE ALMOND BUTTER.
  • I’m okay with taking the best parts of a diet and filling the gaps with living the way I want to, and that I can sustain.  I’m still lifting 3 days a week.  I’m still running 3 days a week.  I count my exercise as my biggest accomplishment.  I PR’d AT A RACE THIS PAST WEEKEND.  I am doing something right.
  • JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS IS COMING BACK TO TV AS DRACULA - a Collective Swoon… Sigh…. I love that man…. LOVE THAT MAN.
  • Angelina Jolie – Even though I have been pretty against you since you broke up my favorite couple, I have to say that what you did to be proactive with your health deserves applause.  You are strong, and you are a role model.  At least in this respect.
  1. What’s your eating plan?  Eat when hungry?  Eat all the things?  Eat only Green food?
  2. What’s your Workout Today?
  3. What are your opinions of Vampires?

 

Food For Thought Tuesday:

Face It Friday – Paleo Week 5

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I’m really falling into the rut of “Is this working?”  I’m sure it is, deep down, and my surface has just yet to catch up.  Kind of like my acne medication.  I am sure it’s working but I have yet to reap the full benefits.

Speaking of Crazy, So I am now obsessed with Facebook games:  Farm Heroes, Candy Crush, and Pet Rescue.  Send help.  I am literally playing them whenever I can.

Candy Crush. Currently Locked Out because I lost too many times.

Candy Crush. Currently Locked Out because I lost too many times.

Luckily I have to take breaks, like when I lose too much and am locked out, or like when I have to study, workout, or do my job.

This weekend is pretty laid back with not much planned.  Tonight is dinner out with Lisa to congratulate her for finalizing her move to Sweden in July!  Tomorrow is most like a run in the morning while the Husband mows the lawn, and then who knows – Mother’s Day Shopping?  I’m done with my mom, but I am sure he needs to do some more shopping for her.

Might even stop at some used equipment places looking for a Barbell.  Who knows!

Sunday is my nephews 6 Birthday.  HOLY CRAP WHEN DID HE GROW UP?  That means the Husband and I will have been married for 6 years this June.  HOLY CRAP.  How have we not killed each other yet?

Then I am putting my husband on a plane and sending him to Floirda for work.  Lucky Duck.  I know he’ll be busy the entire time, but still, the idea of going anywhere at this point, even for work, sounds better than just being here.

Next week is my last week of the Spring Semester, and I am expecting A’s in both classes.  I BETTER GET THEM.  I’m about half way through one of the books for one of my summer classes, and even though it’s young adult, I really like it.

Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is about a kid who grows up on a reservation with his alcoholic parents, his older sister, and his one friend who comes from an abusive home.  His family is dirt poor, but with the motivation and encouragement from a teacher, he leaves the “Rez” for his schooling at a racist and white high school about 22 miles away.  So far I am really enjoying it, and I’m already brainstorming ways to teach this book if it is offered to me.

I also found out that Fairfax uses “The Fault in Our Stars” as summer reading for their 9th grade class.  HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

I had a bit of a meltdown last night that carried into this morning.  I am trying desperately to be positive, about everything, but alas my mental issues are catching up with me.  Since being diagnosed with first Depression, and then Bipolar Disorder a while back I have been on and off medication probably since I was 13.  While this is never what anyone should do with a diagnosed mental illness, it was my choice to go off medication because I couldn’t feel on it.  It wasn’t like I wasn’t myself, I just wasn’t anyone.  Since then I have tried many different forms of medication, but I haven’t been seeing a therapist or a licensed Psychiatrist, so my medication decisions have come from my primary care physician, which would be fine, but she is simply “trying things” out instead of looking at the root problems – which is fine, because that’s not her job to be my therapist.

So I am going to do some research and look into finding a doctor who can help, and get me back on track.  I think that could be a big reason why nothing in my head seems to fit together right and I can’t seem to find joy in much these days.

Wow that was deep.  And Heavy.. Sorry for that on a Friday!

So Today’s Plan:

  • Breakfast: 2 Eggs, 1/2 sweet potato, 2 sausage links, coffee, smoothie
  • Lunch: Chipotle Power Salad – lettuce, Chicken, veggies, Milk/Med salsa, Guacamole
  • Snack: Banana, apple, or almonds
  • Dinner: Big Bowl – Chicken Stirfry with Ginger Soy sauce (no rice) 1 Beer
  • Snack: Gelato (may be)

Activity: NROLFW Stage 2 A3 & 2-3 Miles on the treadmill

 

Food For Thought Friday:

Thursday Things

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  • Have you heard of DOMS? It stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (or something…) and I am in this stage in full effect.  Walking hurts, laying down hurts, sleeping I’m sure hurts, if I was able to know, Sitting hurts.  Eating hurts.  Everything hurts.  Today is a rest day.  It was going to be a rest day anyways, but now it is most certainly a rest day.
  • My breakfast of 1/2 a sweet potato and 2 runny eggs is officially the best meal ever.  I am pretty sure next week when I am cooking for one I’ll be eating this for dinner as well. Oh I am excited.  Not about being alone and left to my own devices, like remembering to wake up on time, and feeding the dogs, but that I can experiment with food a bit more freely.  If something I make now sucks and is horrible, I can’t throw it out and serve popcorn, the Husband won’t have that.  But next week, I can.
  • I am really trying not to be discouraged at this point.  It’s really hard not to be.  I’m going against everything I’ve ever learned about “dieting” or “losing weight” and it’s scary.  I mean on a given day I am still at a deficit in calories, and I am not hungry, so I am not thinking it’s that horrible, right?  My body will catch up eventually.  I am just ready to not feel trapped by the uncomfortable feeling that is living inside this body.
  • I got my hair cut yesterday:

Post Cut / Post Workout

  • It’s not drastic. I mean it’s shorter than it was, but there are more layers, and it feels less heavy and less dead.  My ends were horrible.  My hair is still damaged from doing the brazillian straightening system last summer, so it’s still getting better. Baby steps.  As with everything in life.
  • I have realized with this post I am very boring.
  • THIS makes me so happy.  Live in Northern VA?  Let’s help out a little girl with cancer!
  • I want this entire outfit, hair color, everything:

  • I think it’s really unfair that the mint jeans trend would catch on and was not disclosed to me by my fashion bloggers that I follow religiously, when I found the best pair of mint green jeans in January, but didn’t buy them, because I thought “Oh this will never catch on”.  NOW THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.  If I buy a pair now, I will just look like a fashion trend lemming.  I just didn’t want to be the weirdo in mint green jeans.  From now on, I will buy what I want and what I like, and if it’s trendy, I started it.  
  • This is like my anthem for this summer.  I love Ellie Goulding – ever since I heard ‘Lights’ like 2.5 years ago, and then she performed at Kate and Wills Wedding – COVERING THE HUSBANDS AND MY WEDDING SONG – and now this song is like all I can listen to.  It’s my song.  Mine.  She wrote it for me.
  • Cannibalism Evidence Found in Jamestown –  Well then founding fathers… You have some explaining to do.  My husband’s college friend’s sister was actually part of this press release, so a few degrees of separation between me and being involved in a CNN article.

Articles of Interest:

Wednesday Possibilities – National Runner Month #RunHappyIs @BrooksRunning

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#RunHappy

#RunHappy

Have you experienced this?  I didn’t think it was true, but man, after my Half Marathon (March 2012), I had one beer, and was like blitzed.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was like “But, it was just one?  and I ate stuff.”  My body was experiencing alcohol for the first time it seemed.  I felt like and after school special actress showing children why drinking is bad, and you should just enjoy running.

#RunHappy

#RunHappy

I was always an outcast or a loser in high school, and pretty much through college.  I didn’t get beat up, because I am female, but I had fair weather friends through out both phases in my life, and never quite felt like I belonged to any group, or anyone.  It wasn’t until I laced up running shoes and started running that I found my family.  I am welcomed and encouraged at each event, and even have been told that I inspired people post race.  This one woman at this years Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon told me my race shirt got her through the last mile.  She was going to walk it, until she saw me pass her.

(on the back of the shirt it says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” – it’s from Team 413)

I never felt like I could be part of a community like this, that is so large.  A smile and a wave to other runners while I am in my neighborhood.  A high five to the girls from the summer Lemonade stand that saved me that one year when I ran out of water.  The woman at the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 5K who is holding a sign that simply says “Thank You.”

I feel sorry for people who don’t have a family as large as mine, but I’d be more than happy to welcome them if they care to join.

#Runhappy

#Runhappy

PACE BE DAMNED.  I am not planning on winning any races.  I am not even planning on qualifying for races that need qualifying times.  I am only planning on finishing, and finishing with a smile on my face.  I don’t care if you can run 4’58″ minute miles.  THAT’S AWESOME FOR YOU.  Go to the Olympics and make your mom, country, coach proud.  For me, it’s about the moments where it’s me and the road.  I have my music, but that fades into the background and I can just beat peace as my feet hit the ground.  Yeah people pass me.  Old people pass me.  Pregnant women pass me.  Children pass me.  That guy in DC with one leg who does the half marathon every year, PASSED ME.  I don’t care.  I’m good where I’m at.

**Side bar… Just because I am okay with my pace doesn’t mean I enjoy being called a Penguin – a term commonly used by snooty runners in reference to slower runners – it takes a lot more guts to register and run a race with a slower pace knowing you will have to walk, than it does when you are elite and run like it’s your job.  Be kind to all paced runners.  We all have feelings.**

–

It’s National Runner Month and Brooks has this handy little hashtag called #RunHappyIs and you can fill in your own statement and personalize it for your own blog, twitter, whatever, as your run happy mantra!

Go to http://is.runhappy.com and personalize your own!

** I am not affiliated with Brooks Running in any way other than I use their products, love their Ghost 5′s in Pink and would be grateful to be an ambassador for them some day (hint hint) **

–

Today’s Plan:

  • Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/2 sweet potato, Coffee, smoothie
  • Snack: LaraBar
  • Lunch: Quinoa, Ground Turkey & Tomato Sauce, Apple with almond butter, carrots
  • Snack: Almonds
  • Dinner: Chicken Stir Fry with Asian Slaw
  • Activity: NROLFW Stg 2 B2 (intervals included in workout)

I have an appointment this afternoon, so I get to leave work early and then I’ll be home to workout.  I woke up at 5:00am to workout but couldn’t drag myself out of bed, so I stayed there for another hour, contemplating my failure to rise early.  I figure once I am between a rock and hard place with my workouts this summer, I’ll get up easier, but for now, with the option of afternoon workouts, I am pretty set in my ways of sleeping till I have to get up to get ready for work.

I need motivation.  I am lacking in the morning motivation department.

Day 1/31 – No Weighing In and No Buying Stuff for myself

May Goals

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I haven’t done monthly goals in a while, so I figured with the new month of May, I’d pick it up again.

  • Keep up with NROLFW: I can’t lose momentum on this, because I know the changes are coming and I want to see them.  I want them to happen, so I can’t give up now.  I am thinking of adding one more day of strength training into my week (I’m only doing it twice a week now) to practice moves that I need help on – Bulgarian Split Squats (Damn Bulgaria being strong in the leg department and inflicting my week hips on these), Planks (I can hold them, but my form suffers for the last 25% of the time), Deadlifts (I am using dumbbells because I don’t have a barbell, and it’s harder I’m convinced to do it this way), Shoulder Presses (I have little weak arms).

Source – This is me, completely.

  • No Shopping for Myself (except for necessities like food): I need to save money for Grad School, so this is a no brainer.  No buying clothes, no buying books, no buying anything outside the realm of need.  This will be tough.  I buy things too much but it’s something that I do so much, it will be odd to not buy something randomly.  This makes me sound horrible, because it’s not like I sit at work and just shop shop shop and spend all of my husbands hard earned money on crap, because that is only part of the time.  I just randomly see something that I think it pretty or shiny, and then I buy it, and ultimately end up returning it.  It’s not having things that excites me, it’s buying them.
  • No Weighing In.  No I’m not crazy.  I am going to hide the scale or have The Husband do it, for the entire month of May.  I will weigh in June 1, to see where I stand, but I am not going to be a slave to the device.  This is a great way to transition to tracking health in different ways.  We’ll see how it works.  It will cause me to look at different things like the way my clothes fit, and inches lost as successes, which is something I have always struggled with.  I’m actually excited about this.
  • Stopping the Negativity. I am very self deprecating.  If you have ever interacted with me, or frankly read this blog on one of my “I can’t do this ever” days, then you know how hard and harsh I can be on myself.  For the month of May, whenever I get to that point, I am going to write down on a piece of paper what is wrong and then crumple it up and throw it away.  It does more good being in the trash than being in my mind.  I didn’t gain this weight over night.  It took the first 25 years of my life to get to where I was.  I promise it won’t take the next 25 to get rid of it, but as someone who has never been thin, or fit, or comfortable in their own skin (ever) it’s hard to see the finish line.  I’m in mile 9 of a half marathon, where my legs hurt, my mind is filled with doubt, and I want to quit.  Instead of quitting I need to look to the side lines and see that little kid giving all the runners high fives (I always make sure to high five ALL OF THE KIDS – Because what better cheerleaders are there?) and the woman holding the sign that is cheering me on though she doesn’t know me.
IMG_8180_thumb

Source

I am a 3 time half marathoner.  I know to some people who read this blog that may seem like not much (you crazy ultra runners) but to others it’s amazing.  to people who say I’ve inspired them?  Me?  I can’t even inspire myself, but they are out trying running or NROLFW or some other crazy workout thing or diet I’ve started, because they saw a blog post about it?  How can I have room for negativity, when I am so incredibly humbled by that very fact?

May symbolizes, to me, new growth.  It’s the full bout of spring in bloom, with warmer days and nights, and my allergies will stop being such a bitch, and this year we’ll be inundated with Cicadas and that plague, but mostly, it will be about growth.  Growing from what I am now.

I am 28 years old.  I have a goal to my best self by 30.  I don’t want to enter the new phase of my life next year of changing careers, and decades of age, with this mentality.  I know I have to change my mind to change my body, so that is hopefully what I am going to do this month.

What are your goals for May?  Have you ever run a race of any distance?  What is your favorite Race sign?

Tuesday Things

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  • I know that the investigation is far from being over, but I am ready to not hear about the Boston Bomber anymore.  He puts a bad slant to my day, even though he is in custody, and he will be brought to justice, it doesn’t bring the lives lost, back, nor does it mend the ailments of the runners who did survive.  I just wish – and I am bracing for the flack I am going to get from this – they would give him the death penalty and be done with it.  I also think it should be death by IED.  That’s just the reactionary coming out in me.
  • Yesterday’s workout was balls to the wall hard.  Oh my gosh.  I haven’t felt dizzy during a workout in a long time.  I think I might have been dehydrated, but who knows.  I ran 2 miles before lifting, because I am a cardio whore, and I like it, so that might have played a factor.  I really need to also rest in between the exercises like the book says to.  I hate wait 75 seconds.  That’s 75 seconds I could be lifting people!  This also may be why I was dizzy.  Whoops.
  • This is what I look like today:
photo (3)

Outfit of the Day

thanks to Moody for waking us up earlier than normal, I was able to actually do my hair and not half do it from it being done the night before.  Go Moody!  Now I just need to get him to get me up at 5:00 am for a workout (Trying this tomorrow!) and not wake up the husband.  Like he should wake me up and then go back to bed.  Yeah I don’t see that happening.  Oh well.

  • The Praxis II English Component is killing me.  KILLING ME.  I just want to take the damn test and be done with it.  I think waiting for things like this is the majority of the anxiety.  The waiting for the test day, and that morning, I will be useless until I’m actually in the testing center.  Ugh.  Plus The Husband will be on work travel so I’ll be jittery all alone.  Sadness.  Oh well.
  • Today is a run day, but with the weather looming badly outside, it will most likely be on the treadmill, which is fine, because then I can cook the spaghetti squash while I run.  Multi-tasking like an adult.  I’m liking the run 4 minutes/walk 30 seconds  interval.  I mean outside I kind of wing it, because I usually feel better on pavement than I do on the treadmill, so my ability to continue to run past the 4 minute mark is a bit higher than it is inside.  I am not sure why that is.  You would think that it would be easier on the treadmill.  But I guess not?  Who knows.  I know that my sub 10’00″ paces have been primarily on the treadmill, but I am seriously pushing myself.  I think I need to transfer that to the outdoor running and see what my legs can do.
  • I’m really liking the whole paleo thing still.  I need to experiment more with different dishes, as I have been clinging to the ones I know well, but i am growing bored of them.  I need to figure out quick dishes for lunches, and fast dinners.  Plus with my Summer Session, The Husband is going to have to cook dinner 3 nights a week, and I don’t want him to get flustered and just get Chipotle every night.  Because I love Chipotle, but not that much.
  • Regular Exercise Might Help Fine Tune Diet - Exercising may help raise hormones associated with being satisfied more!  I know this is true.  I am rarely hungry immediately after a workout.  I actually can go a couple of hours before I want food.  Even then it’s more I know I need to eat and less, I feel like I have to eat.  If that makes sense.  My go to meal post Half Marathon is Jimmy John’s sub or Pizza, and definitely Beer.  Then followed by a long ass nap.  Then followed by more beer, and sleeping in the next day.
  • I’m really excited about the 4 Miler race I have in two weeks.  I love the 4 mile distance, because it’s short, and it’s a good check on how fast I go out at races.  I try to run the first 4-6 miles of a half marathon without stopping, but since this is such a short distance, I am going to try and run the whole darn thing.  I’m bringing back the water belt as I have been told running with a handheld water bottle can throw off your gait, and since my gait is already off a lot, I shouldn’t hurt it more.  Or I should run with a hand held water bottle in each hand.  Double fist that run.
  • I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow.  I am not sure if I should go short and scare the crap out of my Husband, or just get a trim and not regret my decision.
    • Thoughts?

What should I do with my hair?

Are you running any races soon?

Do I wear too many Cardigans?

 

Food For Thought Tuesday

Rainy Monday

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Oh rain, please help my allergies by having a hurricane grade downpour (sans wind and destruction) this week so that I might be able to breathe through both nostrils at the same time, whenever I feel the need.

Ugh.  I hate that I can’t fully enjoy the outdoors, when the weather is so nice and inviting, and I must be stuck on this guy for my runs.

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I love you, but I am not IN LOVE with you

I think aside from NROLFW stg 2 A2 tonight, I will do a 5k on the treadmill.  I took yesterday off because the fronts of my thighs (Hamstrings? Thighosides? What?) were SO TIGHT yesterday.  The act of walking was hurting, and on the way home from lunch I fell asleep in the car (don’t worry, this is when the Husband took the wheel. Right as I dozed off.)

 

(Kidding.)

 

So I decided it would be best to sit on me bum all day and watch TV and pretend to study for my Praxis II Exam, which is like two weeks away now.  Oh Lordy, Time Flies.

Sleep last night either evaded me, or was just too short.  Next week when the Husband has a trip, I think I’ll take advantage of that time and go to bed at like 9:00pm every night, so I can practice getting up at 5:00am for workouts.  I would love to have my workouts done in the morning so that the afternoon can be free for whatever, and then when school starts in the summer, I won’t have my training suffer.

What I look like today

What I look like today

Not too shabby for a Monday, huh?  Like my dirty hair fix?  Dry shampoo that bad boy and up in a ponytail you go.  Wahoo.

Menu:

  • Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/2 sweet potato, smoothie, coffee
  • Snack: Water
  • Lunch: Quinoa & Taboule Salad, Apple, Carrots, Seltzer
  • Snack: LaraBar
  • Dinner: Stuffed bell peppers with ground turkey and mexican seasonings
  • Activity: 3.1 mile run & NROLFW stg 2 A2

 

I just finished reading Looking For Alaska by John Green, and wow.  I didn’t like it as much as The Fault In Our Stars but it’s okay.  It was still amazing.  I’ve already ordered An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns, so that once my classes are over for the summer I’ll have beach reads for Chincoteague.

Food For Thought Monday:

 

 

 

Friday WOD

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Lordy Lou.

Stage 2 workout B of NROLFW is no joke. I was thankful when I got to the cardio.

Lifting is hard but it will be worth it.

When I was doing some of the exercises I noticed muscle definition in my arms. Where the hell did that come from?

It’s not much but it’s there.

I’m here world. I’m finally arriving.

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Face It Friday – Paleo Week 4

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Well I am not weighing in until Stage 2 is over – I will also update my measurements then as well, so Face It Friday will be more of “How did this week go?” type post with a recap of workouts, foods I tried, things that I think worked, and things that I know didn’t.

Workout Recap

  • Friday April 19 – 3.2 Mile Run & NROLFW (Stg 1 Workout A – AMRAP)
  • Saturday April 20 – 4 Mile Run
  • Sunday April 21 – 1.5 Mile Run & NROLFW (Stg 2 Workout B – AMRAP)
  • Monday April 22 – 3.6 Mile Run
  • Tuesday April 23 – 3.0 Mile Run & NROLFW (Stage 2 – Workout A)
  • Wednesday April 24 – 3.0 Mile Run
  • Thursday April 25 – Rest Day

Total Mileage – 17.9 Miles

Things That Worked

I can usually make healthy choices throughout the day with no problem, it’s night time that for some reason all I want is sugar, bread, grease, more sugar, alcohol, etc.  So being at home most nights after dinner, it’s a real struggle.  It helps that I don’t keep that crap in my house to begin with, and that my husband doesn’t bend to my every whim of saying “I want Pinkberry” otherwise I would still be 221 pounds, and fighting for my pants to not rip. One of the key ways of keeping my in check most nights is having a reallllly filling dinner.

My Go To Filling Dinners:

  • Chicken Stir Fry with Peppers, onions, Broccoli, and Asian Slaw over a 1/4 cup of Quinoa
  • Grass Fed Beef Meatloaf with a side of roasted brussel sprouts
  • Grass Fed Steak with Roasted bacon wrapped asparagus and 1/4 avocado
  • Spaghetti Squash with Ground Turkey and homemade tomato based pasta sauce
  • Garbage Salad – take all veggies in the house and chop them up with spinach, mix in nuts, meat, or another form of protein (4-5 oz per person) and add healthy fat in the form of EVOO or avocado – MIX AND ENJOY

If I have something that at the end of the meal I am stuffed, I know the only thing I will be getting up for is refilling my water bottle.  Which is the way it should be.  I am still learning what works with Paleo and what doesn’t.  I know I have to bulk up my veggies at every meal, and sometimes it’s hard to do that, but no one said this would be easy.

I refuse to believe that you HAVE to slash calories incredibly and workout like a maniac to lose weight.  I know that you can do this, but it’s not the only way.  After my incredibly “woe is me” post yesterday I took it to the people who have lived it.

The New Rules of Lifting: Lift Like a Man Look Like a Goddess facebook group opened themselves to me with much enthusiasm.  They worked through my issues (and by they I mean like 20 women on one thread that reached over 150 posts in one day) and we came to the conclusion that A.) If I was following Paleo I shouldn’t be counting calories, and B.) since I was counting calories it was evident I wasn’t eating enough.  Me?  Not eating enough?

After much research and other blog posts, I found that I was essentially fueling my body to maintain.  I was eating enough to get me through the day and if I exercised I was eating just enough to not feel hungry.  So I was burning everything I ate which should equate to weight loss right?  Apparently not – EM2WL explains:

If you have been a low calorie dieter for an extended period of time, you may want to consider doing a full metabolism reset.  This will allow the body to reset back to its normal metabolic set point, so a small deficit will once again start the weight loss process once the reset is complete.

So while I am not doing the full metabolism reset, I am simply upping my calories, continuing to eat cleanly, and lifting/running.  I am actually so tired of being a slave to the scale that I am not going to weigh myself.  I am putting the scale away until the end of stage 2, when I will also chart my measurements.

I am more than that number.

Things That Didn’t Work

Cashews.  My mouth swells and I get all itchy.  Luckily I am not deathly allergic, because that would have been horrible to find out, you know at work, where I would have to rely on my officemate to figure out what was happening, but still annoying nonetheless. 

Coconut water.  This stuff is vile to me.  I bought two containers (small one serving) that were mixed with other fruit juices, and I swear it tasted like vomit.

Two Workouts In One Day.  Yeah I felt bad ass, but I obviously was not prepared for the extreme exhaustion I felt about two hours after the second workout.  If I am going to do this again, it will have to be after I’ve figured out my eating style and how to go about not falling asleep at work.

So, How Did This Week Go?

This week was about learning again for me.  I need to trust the process, remain in the present, not focus on months down the road, stop nit picking whatever flaws I see, THROW MY SCALE OUT THE WINDOW, and look at the strength gains I’ve made.  40 Pound Shoulder Press?  I can lift 40 pounds over my head?  Seriously?

UntitledThis is the girl who had trouble with 5 pound weights, walking up stairs, and fitting into her wedding dress on her big day…

WAHOOO

This is the girl who just did a 40# Shoulder Press, has 3 half marathons under her belt, is keeping herself in the present, and isn’t going to stop this time.