Setting Goals

In March I spent 5+ weeks working out every day, sometimes even twice a day.  I never consistently lost weight, just yo-yo'd up and down, never dipping below my starting weight.  At the time I was nursing and eating like a horse just to keep from having hot/sweaty/shaky/weak/irritable hypoglycemic crashes.  Basically I wasn't able to cut back my daily calorie intake without getting more sick than normal.  You can imagine my frustration and how unbelievably easy it was to give up.  So I did!

My sweet Goob is 14 months now, and he's finally more interested in other things than nursing...HOORAY!  Do I seem more excited than I should be?  I am!  Don't get me wrong, I loved nursing, but there were things that I was ready to do for myself and I knew he was close to being ready to move on too.    

So I'M BACK, and I won't stop till I've reached my goals.

A couple weeks ago I started crunching the numbers (my FIL and BIL would be proud) to see how much I needed to lose, and about how long it would take to lose that amount.  Here's what I came up with:

I had 24 lbs to lose and have found that if I stick to my guns I can lose 2 lbs per week, which is a healthy rate.  At the time my birthday just so happened to be 13 weeks away.  This would give me 1 week or 2 lbs leeway and still be able to reach my goal.  Perfect timing to get in gear! 

I planned to do a quick workout first thing in the morning, before eating breakfast, and one other later in the day if I could squeeze it in or deal with Goob crawling all over me while doing a DVD at home. 

I try to run 1 mile a day, 1 workout DVD, and then do some free weights or abs. Nothing ever ends up being more than 1 hour.  I just don't have the time for more.  

I follow a 1200 calorie diet, but not necessarily counting.  I eat a certain number of portions from each food group, which works out to be about 1200.  I also do portion control.  My food scale is my best friend right now :)

This is what the tracker I made looks like, 1200 cal of course (so less servings)

I started my second lifestyle change (the first being after I had Twodles*) 2 weeks ago on August 12th, and I've met my 2 lb goal each week.

I will be posting periodically about my progress on the blog, but plan to give a weekly weigh-in via FB.

After my favorite run thus far (it was raining)  

Fastest time for 1 mile

I am excited to feel better...and look better.  

*It's hard to imagine that the first time I went through this process I was almost 20 lbs heavier than I am now!  I'm so glad I started out right when I got pregnant with Goob, and will choose to feel blessed that I must take this time to lose weight rather than be pregnant again like I want.  

Practice Makes...Better

I need a little pep talk cause I haven't exercised one lick this week.

Last week I went for a run in the wind, and of course, it stunk.  As soon as I made it to my running trail I was startled by some professional runner chic that came up behind me.  I almost had an accident, which I know is common for hardcore runners, but I had to control myself.  I'm not hardcore and don't have any excuse for peeing my pants like someone who was running a marathon might. 

My being startled was immediately overshadowed by the fact that pro runner chic was galloping gracefully along like a beautiful thoroughbred.  Her stride was incredible.  I couldn't even pretend that I was keeping pace with the horse girl.  She was long gone within seconds.  

As I watched her move farther and farther away and eventually disappear, I started to feel a little deflated.  But I kept running.  

To make the experience even more glorious, my music listening device was malfunctioning and stopped after only one song.  I knew I couldn't make it without my tunes so I fumbled around trying to get it to continue while still attached to my arm band and maintaining as much of a running speed as was possible.  I must not be good at multitasking because eventually I had to stop and get things situated.  I'm sure I lost a good 30 seconds, or more.  

By then my run was completely ruined.  I thought to myself "whatevs, I'm going home" which ironically was where my running route ended.

As I terminated the stopwatch expecting to be well over my usual time of 12 minutes and 30ish seconds, I was pleasantly surprised to see this:

With my little music mishap and the time it took to stop and correct, I am pretty confident that I ran that mile a whole minutes faster than I normally do!

I'm totally hardcore!  ;)  I've earned the right to pee my pants while running (joke)

Now if I can just get that thoroughbred out in front of me every morning.

One last success to help in my little pep talk.  Since I haven't seen a change in numbers on the scale I decided to do some measuring.  In about a months time here are the changes:

Neck-      .5" decrease
R Arm-     1" decrease
L Arm-    .5" decrease
R Thigh-  1.25" decrease
L Thigh-  .5" decrease
R Calf-    .5" increase
L Calf-    .25" increase

My goal is to see some change in the waist and hip next.  The baby fat has received it's official eviction notice.

  

A Runners Life For Me

Here's how it went down today:

• 10am and I still haven't had breakfast, so I'm running on a mostly empty stomach (I know, not wise) I did eat a few dried cranberries and some almonds.  I don't particularly feel like making 'art' along the trail for others to admire from upchucking a last minute meal.
• I won't make the same rookie mistake again of having cold fingers, so I put on gloves.  They are so huge I may as well be wearing Mike Tyson boxing gloves.

Don't be jealous of these bad boys

• I swear I see more feces along the bike trail than I do in a week from the two still in diapers.
• Maybe I'm on runners crack (aka inhaler) but I know I feel less jiggle than I did a couple weeks a go.
• Rock chucks are freaky little creatures, almost as terrifying as squirrels. (I see at least 6, no lie)
• Katie Perry's 'Firework'.....WHA..????? I thought I deleted that from my running playlist.  It's got to go!  
• I'm choking on my spit, so naturally I prepare to expel it from my mouth, but as hard as I try to project that puppy outward, it makes a u-turn right back at me! That takes talent.

Guaranteed I'm the laughing stock of the running gods, but whatevs.  Better to be mocked 'admired' by the running gods than the fat gods, I guess.

Despite all my 'fun' I push myself farther than I did last time.

1.6 miles...please tell me this is excellent time!

Rookie Mistakes & Beginners Luck

I started back to the gym on campus way too late, and now I'm regretting it.  I was able to go back a few times before Mr Medic graduated and it was completely invigorating.  That specific place is where I gained my willpower 2 years ago.  I participated in a weight loss program through the college and it changed my life.  I triumphed over physical and mental limits I thought I could never overcome, so naturally stepping through those doors brought back a lot of wonderful memories.

One particular experience was when my team did a stationary cycling challenge.  We were to see how far we could bike in just 30 minutes.  Not only were the seats almost unbearably uncomfortable, but I had never really cycled before.  I spun and spun, never stopping, but several times my eyes welled with tears because I felt like I was going to die.  I was in so much physical pain I felt like I could never make it 30 minutes.  With the help of enthusiastic teammates and my own pride, I did it.  (P.S. I don't ever want to participate in a cycling class again!)

I didn't want to let go of my special place even though I knew I had to since soon neither of us would be students.  The rebel in me asked if my ID would work once Mr Medic graduated, and they assumed that it might for a while.  Rather than be thoroughly embarrassed trying and get turned away like a criminal, I decided to go for a run OUTSIDE!

The last time I ran outside was years ago.  I decided the same night of a 5K that I would run it, without previous training. (Don't laugh, I need training for even that short of a distance)

Todays run was like a double edge sword.  I made a lot of mistakes that I will hopefully learn from, and there was definitely some greatness that came from it too!

ROOKIE MISTAKES:

- While the rest of me was ok temperature wise, my hands were pretty cold
- Exercise induced asthma is way worse in the cold (I forgot since the gym isn't usually cold)
- I need more music
- Running against the wind slows my pace considerably...I may as well have been walking!
- I wish my ipod was an iphone so I didn't have to also carry a phone for safety.  There's nowhere to put that thing except in the bra (sorry TMI)

BEGINNERS LUCK:

- Despite all the setbacks, I ran that mile faster than I ever do on the track.  I think it's quite nice to have something up ahead that you can tell yourself "I can totally go to that point!" Then as you near that goal, you can look ahead and say "I can make it there too!"

My PR for the mile!  hahaha

And there's nothing like a good ol' cool down stretch

I hope to make running outdoors more of a habit.  Plus there's no gym membership required.  Who can argue with $FREE.99?

Although I do not ever intend on becoming a running pro I would like any tips on making things go a little smoother, so please share.  Thank you much!

Endorphins...YES PLEASE!

Many of you know that at the beginning of the year I decided to get my rear in gear and lose some weight. I wish I could blame it all on having a baby. But let's be honest, I was carrying the weight of a baby LONG before I ever got pregnant.  I joined a program at the University I attend similar to Biggest Loser: trainers, nutritionist, the whole bit.  The program went about 3 months and in that time I lost 30 pounds. Afterward I kept up it up on my own and lost almost 10 pounds more.  Then Scout Camp happened.  Thankfully I only gained 5 pounds and I'm glad to say that after a near 7-week hiatus I'M BACK IN THE GAME!

I made my way to the gym this morning, dragging my feet as I went, thinking how I REALLY did not want to experience that lovely jello jiggler feeling I get when I run on the treadmill.  I was dreading even more the fact that I had no music.  I finally did the much-needed music cleanse yesterday.  I will admit that it has taken years for my conscience to catch up with me on the music pirating I did as a teen.  This amazing talk by David A. Bednar has been ringing in my ears since the day I heard him give it, and prompted the initial cleanse that same day (yes, I did cleanse once before but got sneaky and found the music again on the old Mac...shame on me).  So today I opted for Pandora, which turned out to be the best thing that happened for my workout session.

I pick my station (just in case you were wondering, I typed in Bruno Mars) and started jiggling...I mean jogging.  After about 2 minutes Katy Perry's "Firework" came on and I found my groove!  Next thing I know I'm having to try extremely hard to overcome this insatiable desire to sing out loud and dance on the treadmill (imagine me doing something like this but WAY better).  I was smiling big and really enjoying myself, which is incredible because I STILL hate running.  I felt like I could (here's the point were you think Im going to write "I felt like I could run a marathon!"  I'm not that crazy) be in a musical! You know the star in the next High School Musical: Poor college student with a post pregnancy jello jiggler body.  I'm sure it would get GREAT reviews!  Anyway, I was rockin' it on the treadmill and I felt AMAZING!  I finished up a sweet workout, all thanks to Dave Bednar, Pandora, Katy Perry, and last but not least a super imagination!  Endorphins...YES PLEASE!