Well friends, not much to say today. Sadly I have had nothing to interesting to take pictures of lately!
I did a one mile Leslie Sansone walk this morning and then worked on my arms with some free weights. Does anyone else get majorly bored when weight lifting? I think that's why I like running/cardio so much. Every single muscle in your body is engaged and there are so many thoughts running through your head!
I really want to have some rockin' arms though (like this lady!!), so I must work on learning to love weight lifting. Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my goals post yesterday. You all are such great encouragement to me on this journey!
Well this weekend was a rocky one. I want to be able to be honest with you all, but I also don't want you to get bored of my confessions of overeating so I'm going to keep it simple. This weekend I was there with food about 50%. That is not ok in my books, but I DO know that I can and will press forward and each day is a new day to choose a healthy life.
As far as my bike trip to Alki on Saturday. I also really wish I could tell you all that it was fun and that I really enjoyed it. I REALLY wish I could tell you all this. But I feel the need to be honest with you all about it.
It was pretty miserable!
Let's just say taking my bike out for [essentially] the first time on such a long trip was NOT a good idea. I knew that my butt would hurt a little bit from riding, but I honestly had no idea how sore I would be from riding just for TEN minutes. The whole trip I really struggled to stay up with the guys. In the end, Kellen and I agreed that I need a new bike. I had gotten this one for free and it has a lot of things just wrong with it that made it really hard to ride.
Not to mention my butt. I had to come home and ice it afterward. It was so painful by the end of the trip I was literally in tears. I do know that butt pain is normal when you first start riding, but I am convinced that this seat was worse and made it more painful than usual! I was about to call off bike riding altogether until the end when I got to switch bikes with one of the guys- and I felt saved! The seat felt comfortable, the bike was EASY to ride, it just felt like a total 180 from mine.
To sum things up, I will not be venturing out on another ride until I can get a proper bike!!
I will show you a cute pic of me riding anyway just for kicks: As far as Tiff's I AM WORTH MORE CHALLENGE--this comes with another confession :( I was feeling pretty crummy after all my cheats this weekend...and I kind of peeked at the scale this morning. I realize this TOTALLY defeats the purpose of not letting the # on the scale affect you...and I feel frustrated that I would give in to that temptation. (To be honest the number more made me feel like I didn't deserve it...I am down one pound.)
HOWEVER. I am really, really happy I did this challenge. After so many bumps in the road this weekend, it could have been so easy to say "you just can't do this." But when I thought of what I had written throughout the week on those post it's, it encouraged me to know that I CAN and HAVE made positive decisions that have helped take care of my body.
Therefore, although the challenge ended today, I am going to be spinning off of this challenge and writing small notes in my food journal of positive actions I have taken. That way, I can look back and see that I really have taken steps forward NO MATTER WHAT the scale says.
This week I am refocusing. My goal is simple: starting intensity. I want to have and feel that same intense feeling I felt when I first started this journey.
One last bit of joyfulness:
I went to church yesterday and it turns out I have a huge group willing to run with me at the St. Patty's Day Dash!
I also got TWO (count em, TWO) "I didn't even recognize you from across the room" comments. Apparently I've changed in more ways that just my eyes can see!
First of all, this is my second post today but I just couldn't resist updating you all with this little nugget of inspiration I discovered! And also, thank you all SO much for the lovely comments on my post earlier about my struggling thoughts on skinny friends.
Lately I have been trying to incorporate exercise into EVERYTHING I do. One easy, practical way I've found to do this is by walking from the family's house that I work for to the little girl's school to pick her up. (I am a nanny if you did not know this). Anyway, it is about a one mile walk to get to the preschool (that I would normally drive). On the way, I take her stroller with me. I have often had thoughts that people may just think I'm crazy that pass me on the road. For one thing, I'm pushing a stroller with no one in it. I think that maybe people maybe think that I am A. Crazy or B. Expecting a baby and getting "prepared" for what it might feel like to push a stroller!
On the way BACK from her preschool, I'm not sure if this is even worse because...well...she is 4. Does anyone know if this is too old to push a child in a stroller? It's like one of those "bigger kid" strollers...but still? I'm constantly wondering if people think I am crazy for pushing (what they assume is my child) in a stroller at the age of 4. LOL But really, a one mile walk with really big hills is just too much for her to walk after being at preschool for 4 hours.
As I was walking today I started to think about my new goal of incorporating exercise into my every day routine and I discovered something. I have done some sort of "moving my body" every single day for 7 days now. It went a little something like this:
Saturday- Finished my C25k, ran 30 minutes Sunday- Went on a short hike and bike ride with the hubby Monday- Visiting grandparents, ran for 25 minutes on their treadmill Tuesday- Still at grandparents, went on a short bike ride on one of their bikes Wednesday- Ran 35 minutes Thursday- Went swimming in morning, walked 3 miles in the afternoon with the girl I watch Friday- Ran 12 minutes in morning, walked 2.5 miles with the girl I watch
And tomorrow we are taking a pretty long bike trip to Alki Beach in Seattle. It should be about a 16 mile ride altogether. I'm actually REALLY nervous because I am going with my husband and two of his best [GUY] friends. That means I'm going to have to keep up with three guys...who are pretty used to bike riding in general. I got some bike spandex today with a pad so my butt wouldn't be too sore from the trip (hehe!).
Anyway, if you are reading this WISH ME LUCK!
I will be checking in tomorrow night to let you all know how the trip went!!
How do I look?Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Pure hotness right?
Yes that's right I picked me up some swimming goggles this weekend and a new bathing suit. I tested out the swimming pool again today.
OH MAN. I can't last longer than 20 minutes there. And it's like 4 dollars a swim. Is it worth it? I'm struggling with this right now!! It's such a good workout but 4 dollars for 20 minutes just seems ridiculous!
I AM however super pumped as I am participating in Tiff's I Am Worth More Challenge!! Here's a sneak peek at one of my sticky notes: That is a big accomplishment (in my eyes). Anything chocolate I just have such a hard time saying no to!!
Well it's a gorgeous day and I'm going to go take advantage of it by walking to work. Hope you guys make it a good one!
Last night I went swimming at my local community pool for the first time. It was lap swimming. When I headed out I thought to myself...well this will be fun! I used to LOVE swimming as a kid! It will be easy!!
WRONG.
OMG! Have you ever tried swimming laps before? It is definitely an ALL body workout...to say the least. I think I only made it through about 10 or so laps before I decided to call it quits.
However, I DO want to do it again sometime. Maybe not at this pool, because it's super small and 5 people were sharing one lane! (I know, it was awkward and we were all squished).
No pictures today as I have been LACKING on my picture taking. Better get to it ASAP!!
Life is really being a giant buttface lately. Or maybe I am just being a lazy one.
We'll go with the first option. Because of scheduling conflicts and a never ending downpour of rain, I haven't been running since Friday.
The scale is sticking.....the dog is anxious....and I'm going stir crazy. All these evil thoughts keep popping into my head like "OH you're not a real runner anyway, and this 5 day break is just the beginning of a downhill battle with exercise!"
Agh.I also keep feeling like if I go to long without it, I will "lose" the endurance I have already built. Can any runners weigh in on this one?? (i know it's only been 5 days but I'm freaking out here!)
My husband sometimes plays soccer with a guy we call the "WAWA" player (prounounced like a kid crying). He always fakes injuries and does these massive rolling falls on the ground so the referee's will call a foul on the other team. I kind of feel like a WAWA player right now. I just want the ref to call a foul on life for me right about now.
Today it was raining (surprise, surprise, thank you, state of Washington!) AGAIN. I really wanted to go running but rain+the fact that there is a supposed armed robber running around near my neighborhood made me feel that I should probably stay inside. I feel so bad that my ChloeBear has gotten like zero exercise for like 5 days now!
I kind of cringed today when I thought of the 30 day shred, especially since Comcast seems to only have level 2 on ONDemand right now, and I literally huff and puff through that thing. I had read some other bloggers who had tried the Leslie Sansone "Walk Away the Pounds" dvds and I heard good things. Plus it was free on Comcast so I tried it.
Let me just tell you all...I LOVED it! I didn't feel like I was going to keel over and die through the whole thing like with Jillian, but I did feel like I was getting a really good workout. I even hand small handweights for the first ten minutes, but then got rid of them after the first mile cause it was pretty challenging! I will definitely do this again, no doubt about it!
I had an extra 40 minutes before I had to head to work today with nothing to do, so I just went to the grocery store and walked around. Am I the only one that ever does this? I was just checking out the millions of low fat/ low calorie foods they have out there now. So many cool little ideas people have thought of!
My one frustration for the week is the fact that I can't find VitaTops anywhere! They're website said that they should be available at Safeway, but I've looked at two different stores and I can't find them! No one around here has even heard of them! I also tried wal mart and albertsons...no luck! :(
This weekend I didn't excercise at all. I'm really finding it hard to find the time on the weekends to excercise. It always seems like I am spending most of my time with Kellen/friends/family and it is pretty much gogogo. This weekend was no different, and it definitely bums me out because I have a slight fear that the scale may not tip in my favor tommorow morning. Oh well, i will press on.
I tried a lot of new recipes/foods this week and am pretty happy to report some winners. First of all, I was inspired by another blogger to try a hummus veggie burger. So yummy! Hummus is a really easy food to make and I usually make a bunch for the week and pre-portion it into 2 tablespoon amounts (I got some handy baby tupperware from the dollar store for this!). I have also been eating it with carrots, which is super tasty and a great way to get a serving of veggies in!
I also tried a Green Giant "Broccoli and Cheese Sauce" tray this week. It was also super yummy. I have to admit to sort of a dieters dumb mistake though: I saw the front said "only 60 calories!" so i got super excited. I forgot to take into account the tiny letters that said "per serving" underneath. Oh well, the whole tray is still 120 calories and really delicous!
One other thing that I picked up this week is some good dark chocolate. I am defintely an advocate of NOT depriving oneself of anything when choosing to eat healthy. For me, if I say I am not going to eat something, I end up binging on it a couple days later because I feel deprived. Instead, I am choosing lower calories options for whatever it is I am craving, and also making sure my portions are in control!
So in order to curb my chocolate craving this week, I picked up some Hersheys dark cocoa chocolate. These individually wrapped chocolate squares are really good and you can eat three a day for 140 calories. They defintely curbed my chocolate craving!
I did go to my cousins house last night which was fun, the only thing is, my cousin is kind of a "party animal" and is always kind of pushing drinks that she has invented into my, and her other guests, hands. You can't really get away from drinking there. So I'm hoping that didn't set me back too bad. I have to admit that wasting my calories on alcohol is quite frustrating...i would much rather have something chocolate-ey or crunchy and salty!
I've done the 30 day shred, but I'd like a little more variety. I tried to do "Cardioke" but couldn't take myself seriously. Lol. What's your favorite at home workout video?
I WANT to work out, but I don't. I'm not feeling too sick right now, but now my monthly visitor is visiting and I'm just not feeling up to do anything!! Argh! I hate this feeling. I just wanna feel 100% again and go work my little {big} booty off!
Ok, so I'm venting. Thank you blogger friends for providing me that opportunity.
This is exactly what I was saying to myself during my first ever step class this morning. I headed over to the local gym and decided to do a one week trial membership. While I was waiting for the class to start, I did some elliptical and a stationary bike.
My friend met up with me to go to the step class. We had no idea what to expect. It started out good and was definitely a high intensity work out. After about 20 minutes, I totally hit a wall. I felt SO nauseous and knew that if I kept going I was going to hurl. I tried to get back into it multiple times, but each time I felt more and more sick. I finally decided to call it quits, I apologized to my friend, and snuck out of the class.
I am so embarrassed. I was DEFINITELY the youngest person there. There were probably multiple people in their 60's and 70's just totally rockin it. I can't believe I couldn't do it. I wanted so bad to finish the class but my stomach was just not having it. And since I get no opportunity to explain myself to the 30+ people in the class, they all probably thought I just gave up because it was to hard.
Oh well. Just a little humbling on my part I guess.
Now I'm really wondering if I'm coming down with something. I've been feeling kind of achey and nauseous but nothing to the point that I would say I have the flu. I don't know.
So much to share about the last 17 days. But first things first: I stepped on the scale this morning and was down 5 lbs. Technically, my goal is 40 pounds down. I want to celebrate the accomplishment somewhere. So 5lbs in 2 weeks and 2 days. That is pretty good. I'm proud of myself :).
Exercise has been challenging, but what an amazing feeling to feel your lungs expanding and no longer feeling like they are going to pop. It's also great to do a hard workout and not feel like your body can't move from sore muscles. I was at this point I'd say only about a week after I started. A WEEK. And in the past I would have given up after only a couple of days because I couldn't see an end in site.
My one complaint right now are my shins after I run. I think it has to do with jogging on the pavement, but they are pretty sore (and not really a muscle sore, more like shin splints). I hope to try out the H.S. track this weekend (Thanksgiving Holiday). That might help with the splints, not to mention there will be no hills to conquer!
Ok, I must be off to visit my friend Jillian. Working my way up to 30 Day Shred Level 2- haven't quite gotten there yet.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my goals post yesterday. You all are such great encouragement to me on this journey!
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