It Sucks to See It...

It really sucks to see your calorie count on paper (or the computer screen). It really makes me more aware of what it going into my mouth counts for something.

For example, this morning I took Carter to the mall to play with some friends. He really wanted a treat, so we got popcorn, not your ordinary popcorn, CARAMEL CORN to be specific, but I only ate a little. Truly, I came home and actually took the time to measure out what I had eaten from what was left to see how many calories I consumed. It was only about 1 inch out of the smallest popcorn box they sell. 45 grams to be exact. 195 calories! What? Kidding, right? Nope. 1/7th of my daily calories were consumed in 15 bites of popcorn.

On another note, I am still training hard for the 1/2 coming up, and it's kind of funny to hear people's reactions.

On Saturday morning I had to help a friend paint, and she lives 2.99 miles away, and I needed to run 3 miles for the day. I called to tell her that I was going to run over there, and I would be there in about 30 minutes. When I arrived, she didn't realize I literally meant RUN over there. She and I just laughed.

Last night I did a 6 mile run, and on my way home stopped at my sister's house. My seven year old nephew came to me and said... " I don't understand why you bought that nice new car when you just run everywhere instead."

Ah, it makes me smile : )

Frusteration

So I have to be honest. If I am going to write this, and make my life believable AT ALL, I am going to have to moan, bitch, and whine sometimes.

I am so frustrated with my eating right now. It seems to be the one thing that I cannot get back on track with.

I get 2 really good meals in each day, and then at some point, stress overwhelms me, and I blow it by eating. It has been so long since I let stress and the refrigerator go hand in hand. Ugh. I am doing my workouts again, so thankfully I am not paying for the calories on my waist, except I can't seem to lose any because I can't get out of the rut.

I let myself have the summer off of my rigorous eating schedule. Trying to count calories while at the hospital was terrible. Then we started eating out a ton because we were SO busy working on the estate, but I just can't seem to turn it around. I am craving CRAP again, and usually giving in to the cravings... grrr.

So here are my eating goals for this week:
1. I will only eat dinner out on Friday and Saturday night.
2. I will not go out to lunch at all this week.
3. I will log every meal on Calorie Count for 7 days.

There, nothing too fancy. Just laying it out there. I will let you know how it goes. Does this happen to you? Do you have any suggestions for getting yourself motivated again? I would love to hear any advice you would like to offer...

Mind Over Matter

It did it! My body remembered that it IS capable of running long distances!

I went to the Y last night. Honestly, I was exhausted from the day. I even told Brian, "My body is going to have to pull this out of nowhere." I just felt like I had nothing in me... except the twinge of excitement to try and pull off my measly little 3 mile run that was scheduled for the day.

I took off on the track. 33 laps... I didn't get any foot cramps. I reminded myself to take off slow. The music was good, and then I got into the run. Lap 33 complete! Why not try for another mile? Lap 44 complete. Another? Lap 55 complete! I finished 5 miles which was what I needed to do to be caught up with my training plan. I WAS ON A HIGH!

At times like that I have to remember that your body can only be as strong as your mind wants it to be. Running will always hurt somewhere. A muscle twinge, a cramp. Shortness of breath. Heat. Whatever you want CAN stop you if you let it... or you can press on and amaze yourself. It feels really good to amaze yourself. Try it.

The New Adventure

So, I decided that this fall I needed something to really challenge me. My spirits were a little low, I was exhausted after a long, hard, summer, and my weight is up a few pounds... not much, just need to get everything back in check.

Time to refer to my bucket list. So, on October 10th, I will be doing this...

I am so excited, and so scared at the same time. I knew this would push me to get in my workouts, and to eat better for the sake of my body.

This brings me to the next part. I plan to update you weekly on how my training is going. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Starting with today.

Week 1: For most people this would be week 4 in their training, but since I was struggling with pneumonia, I lost out on a couple of weeks. Therefore, I have had to play "catch up". I jumped in last Tuesday night with new shoes on my feet. I set out to run 3 miles... holy crap those shoes KILLED my feet. I was getting cramps right in the middle of my foot. Made it through 1.5 miles, and decided to call it a night. Spent another 40 minutes on the elliptical.

Thursday night I did Turbokick followed by 45 minutes on the treadmill. Mostly walking.

Saturday I decided I would take out on a 3 mile run outdoors. I like running better outdoors. My mind can wander instead of counting laps or watching the time tick on the treadmill. I felt better, except the foot cramps again. Then, the humidity. Long story short, I gutted out about 2 miles of running. The heat did me in, even that early. I ate really well Saturday, and tried to focus for the next day.

Sunday, I got up at 7:00. Trying to beat the humidity, I took off on a 5 mile run, and put in about 4 miles before I was done. (I finished the 5th mile walking.)

Monday night, I went with the Do More Team to do a 4-mile power walk. This was a no frills workout. We did about 20 sets of intervals during the walk, including squats, lunges, butt kicks, high knees, etc. Believe it or not, I had a lot of fun!

So there you have it, week one of training. I really need to get my eating in check, so I started logging foods again today. I want to be down about 20 pounds by the run, so I have a lot of work to do.

Operation Re-motivation

So after a grueling summer capped of by a bout of pneumonia that kept me out of the gym for 3 weeks, I was feeling a little blah. I knew that I needed to get back to the gym, and sometimes nothing motivates you more than a new toy right...

Sunday I decided I was going to instate operation re-motivation- with some retail therapy to boot.

I found some new shirts: (I got different colors, but can't find pics of them)

And some new shoes. I really needed new shoes for 2 reasons. First of all, anyone working out regularly should replace their shoes every 3-6 months to prevent injury. This is just good practice. The second and more important reason that I needed new shoes was because I have started really enjoying running. However, each time a run for some length of time, I end up bruising my toenails, and losing them. This seasons toenail loss count:3! That's 3 too many if you ask me. So, I decided to bite the bullet and really look into this running shoe thing no matter what it cost me. I headed downtown to First Gear (they have no website, otherwise I would link it), and had a professional fit my foot... turns out I am an overpronator with no arch who needs a size 12 running shoe. Why not sell me a Uhaul box, I am most shoes in that size will be unsightly anyways, right? I don't think what I walked away with was too shabby!

And, as for price, I could afford both of these shoes for the price that I paid for the last pair of running shoes I bought. They were so friendly at First Gear. I even TRIED to sell myself a more expensive pair, and they firmly believed that I did not need to spend the extra money. That is a business that has my business from here on out. They were no more pricey than any of the huge retail stores, plus someone took the time to put the right shoe on my foot, not just sell me some shoes.

So there you have it. Operation Re-motivation has taken effect. I am back in business with some great adventures on the horizon!

When the Going Gets Tough...

The beat down work to survive!

I have to admit that I had to raise the white flag this summer. I quickly realized that raising 2 babies, taking care of my parent's estate, painting 6 rooms, fixing broken air-conditioners, hot water heaters, clogged drains, planning an estate sale, and the list goes on... while keeping up with such a strict diet/workout regimen should only be left to superheros, and cRaZy women... (I almost qualify as the second)!

So, I decided that this summer was going to have to be about survival. I knew that my parent's estate had to be mostly settled before I started back to my day-job of caring for toddlers (LOTS OF THEM!), so I assessed the situation, and decided that a summer maintenance plan would have to go in affect.

I wish I could say I had some brilliant ratio of exercise to eating that I used to make my maintenance plan work, but I didn't. Sooooo.... here's what I did.... it's VERY unscientific, but goes back to why I weigh daily.

1. I decided what my summer weight was going to be. For me I decided I could live with 175. This is my old high school weight, so I shouldn't be that disappointed with it, and it only leaves me with 30 pounds to loose this fall.
2. I got on the scale each morning like always. If it was over 175 AT ALL, I would watch my diet closer and exercise more that day. Otherwise, I did not count calories. At all. I ate with my family, and ENJOYED it all.

I can't say I got a workout in everyday. I also learned to think outside the box on what constitutes a workout. For example, cutting and hauling limbs caused me to lose 3 pounds. So did painting rooms... probably not a full blown cardio workout, but sometimes we just have to survive.

So, it was not a stellar summer, but I made it through, still at my goal weight. Now I have BIG plans for the fall! More to come...

I'm Back!

So it's been a long, grueling summer for our family. Most of you know the details, but for those of you who don't, I will share some...


My last post was written immediately following the River Run that I did on May 9th. If I had only known how much my life was about to CHANGE, but hindsight is always 20/20. Anyways, after my first 10K that morning, I called my dad. The person I always called when I needed to share anything. Since my mom passed away 6 years ago, I shared my joys and my trials... all of them... with him.


That morning he sounded like he had laryngitis. His throat was froggy. I asked him if he was OK, and he said he felt better than he sounded. I brushed it off, and went on with my day. Sunday was a busy day, and we did not talk. I called him Monday night after a big storm, and he still sounded bad. He said he had slept through the storm. I started to worry, but still only sounding froggy, I thought he had caught a bug.


Tuesday, May 11th, my dad's boss called me to tell me he had sent my dad home from work ill, and that I should go and check on him. I truly believe in God and his planning. Normally, I would have 6 daycare kiddos to worry about, but at the exact moment that dad's boss called, my aunt walked through the door. I immediately jumped in the car, and rushed to find my dad. When I arrived at his house, he looked as if he had had a stroke. He speech was slurred, and he was very lethargic. I immediately rushed him to the ER...


By the end of the day, dad was doing much better. They pumped him with saline fluids, and had started him on IV antibiotics to treat him for the "septic shock" he was diagnosed with. If only.


Wednesday morning, dad's "septic shock" was gone leaving the doctor's suspicious of something else. Dad's health is no longer improving. I call my little sister Erin (who was stationed with her family in Okinawa, Japan. She and her family jump on a 24 hour flight home.


Thursday morning, dad is diagnosed with cancer. The doctors still don't know the origin, type, or stage that it is in.... or at least they don't want to let on to every ones worst fears. Dad is taken in for more testing. His health is decreasing, and well, let's just say I really didn't need much more information.


Friday, our worst fears are true. Dad is in stage 4 of an untreatable cancer. They will never know the origin of it because it was all over his body. Dad is barely coherent anymore. The doctors are asking us to move him to end of life care, while I get to break the news to my sister fresh off her flight...


Monday morning we moved dad to Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice where he lived 12 more days. Erin and I hardly left his side (only to eat and shower) we spent the nights with him, and did everything we could to keep him pain free, and to let him know how loved he was by all of us. We went through the toughest days that anyone could imagine.


So this is just one of a few posts to explain my summer.


This is in loving memory of a dad who showed up with chicken and noodles on sick days, the Christmas gift you always wished for, but knew was out of your reach. He brought bags full of Popsicles for grand babies (I mean MORE than anyone could eat), and his arms were always long enough to reach around you and hold you when you needed it. His hands could warm your ice cold fingers on a cold day, and his smile could melt your heart. Seventeen days will never be long enough to say goodbye, thankfully we will see him again.