Celebrate Good Times!

2.2lbs! That is what I lost. What makes it more exciting is the fact that I’m finally in the 160’s!!! 169.4 to be exact. It has been 6 months of getting to 170.x and then me self sabotaging and gaining weight (2-5lbs). Even this time there was that a little bit (before xmas I was 170 exactly and then I gained 2.6lbs that one week!). But this time I told myself that I would get there by February and that I wouldn’t allow myself to get off track. And despite my exercise not being on par this month but eating for the majority of the time has been (I like to aim for an 80/20 up to a 90/10 ratio). And I got there!! I knew this week was my real loss week since my weight loss pattern is generally à small loss, small loss, big loss, but 2.2lbs was better than I hoped for!

One thing I can say for sure is that this week has been great – first with the job offer and now with the weight loss! I’m only 14.4lbs away from my goal and I’m only 9lbs overweight now (in terms of BMI), so that I find quite exciting!

Tonight I’m off to the mall to pick up so new bras. I got a gift certificate for my birthday which was very much needed – every single one of my bras is falling apart in some way or another!! The Bay has a buy 2 get 1 free which is just what this girl needs. We have a furnace/ac inspection tonight at 6pm so I’ll be doing some yoga when I get home instead of running. Tomorrow night we are going out for dinner and some live music so tomorrow morning I plan on going for a run before work. Getting my act together in the morning is a constant struggle so I really hope I can pull this off! Wish me luck!

Hot and Cold

Well 1 week later sees me a little smaller – I lost .4lbs last week. I was ok with that. And then I didn’t work out again until last night. For no reason whatsoever, just that I didn’t feel like it. I also ate a Wendy’s spicy chicken combo too. Oh my.

However I’m really focusing on not beating myself up over those actions, I won’t learn anything if I do. I don’t regret the combo, I was really hungry and craving it so I had it. It wasn’t due to stress eating so at least there’s that! Right now I’m working on stress eating. Normally I don’t succumb to my cravings like that b/c normally I avoid being that hungry, but I’m not perfect so of course it is going to happen! So I did it and I’m moving on.

But the exercise thing is a little more concerning. 5 days in a row of not exercising is not in lines with who I want to be and it isn’t really in line with how I like to be. It is amazing how easy it is to get sucked back in to the couch potato life though! 1.5 weeks off with my back and my motivation goes out the window! I just never felt like it and instead of reminding myself how good I feel after I just listened! Plus I think the cold weather here in Ontario did not help since it meant not running. Last night while I packed up from work and on my way home I was trying to talk myself out of running, even though it was a wonderful 0 degrees Celsius. But I shut that voice up and just did it. I told myself that running for 30 minutes will not take away time from rest and relaxation and that I would feel so much better after too. I also compromised with myself that since it was almost 3 weeks since my last run that I could do a run/walk (4 min run/1 min walk). It worked. It got me out the door and oh how I loved it! I ended up running 9/1s too! But my lungs could really feel the cold this run so I took it slow. 4.5km in about 33 minutes. But it is easier to talk myself into running then it is with other exercises so I really need to learn how to talk myself into doing those!

Exciting news on the job front though – I got the job I was interviewing for, it is a mat leave contract (which is not ideal) but it is with an organization that I really wanted to join! So I start there on Feb 14^th! My goal is to not let myself fall off the bandwagon which is what I normally do during times of transition!

Tonight is weigh in and despite the Wendy’s combo I did great this week on the food front. So let's see what happens!

On Track

2 days into the week and 2 more days on plan and on track!

Monday I scrapped the idea of a run – it was still too cold for with the windchill for me. I was going to hop on the bike but I had a Baron Baptiste Vinyasa Yoga DVD that I really wanted to do so I did that instead. It was a good 45 minute workout, one that got my heart pumping and my muscles working. Actually my arms and leg were shaky and weak for a good few hours after!

Last night I forgot that I promised the hubster that I would teach him a new circuit for him to do (we switch it up every 6 weeks or so). So for 40 minutes we worked out together. Here’s what I did:

Warm up: 4 full Sun Salutations with Warrior 1 &2 mixed in

Strength circuit

- 12 pushups, 12 chest flies, 12 dead lifts, 12 rows, 30s plank x 2

10 minutes cycle

Strength circuit

- “21” bicep curls, 12 tricep dips, 12 tricep extensions, 20 crunches, 20 reverse crunches x2

10 minutes cycle

Strength circuit

- 12 shoulder pressesx2, front kicks, side kicks, roundhouse kicks, punches, hooks, upper cuts – 5 minutes.

Was a lot of fun working out together and we’ll probably try to keep this up 1x week together (he doesn’t like it too much b/c he says I’m always correcting his form!)

Eating was good too, stayed within my plan. So now I'm really hoping for a loss on the scale tonight!

10 Mile Race Plans

Sunday was my first workout in about 1.5 weeks due to my back. And boy did it feel amazing. I was planning on going for a run (even got dressed for it) and was really looking forward to it b/c it looked so beautiful and sunny outside. I checked the temp to make sure I was wearing appropriate clothes. Then I saw that it was -12 with a wind chill of -22. Um no thanks! -10 is my cutoff (and that is usually the windchill cut off), so upstairs I went to change and hopped on the bike instead. 30 minutes of a hill program later and I’m a sweaty exhausted mess! But feeling great. Pulled out my yoga mat and did a 30 minute hatha yoga to really stretch it all out. Felt totally back in the game!

This week will be my first week of 10 mile training. I'm planning on running a 10 mile race on Easter weekend and have planned a long training session to get me in the game and to keep me motivated during this cold winter season!

I plan on running 4x/week, yoga 2-4x/week, swimming 1x/week. On days where it is too cold to run outside I'll hop on the bike to cover the duration I expected to be running.

For my runs I have 2 regular, 1 5k tempo and my LSD run which will incorporate some 10 mile race pace running. For my yoga I'm looking at 2-3 vinyasa yoga sessions and 1-2 relaxation/hatha yoga.

Tonight the plan is to run 4k and then add in some vinyasa yoga. Weather looks like it is warming up otherwise I don't think I could handle the -15 it was this morning!

Looking Yonder

So Wednesday night was my weigh in – I lost .4lbs of the 2.4 I gained (so now sit at 172). I knew that was going to happen. My birthday was this past Tuesday (I turned 31!) so on the weekend my hubby and I went away and short rib poutine was consumed! Plus on Tuesday I had a work dinner. Add in the fact that my back has prevented me from doing any exercise and I’m actually quite happy that I lost!
So I don’t usually make New Years Resolutions, I usually make Brithday Goals, but since they fall so close together it usually works out that they are so close together that they run into each other!
Here’s a look at what my goals were last year:
1. Lose Weight. I lost 12lbs this year – pretty decent, not great but I’ll take it! In terms of my measurements I’ve gone from 39 to 37.5, in my waist/abs 41 to 39 and my hips 43 to 41 – but that really happened during the month of October with the running streak!
2. Two Triathlons – didn’t do either. Trained for them but didn’t do them b/c I was not working for 7 weeks!
3. 1-2 Trail Races – again didn’t do due to lack of employment. But I did do weekly trail runs during my 7 weeks off so I was happy with that.
4. Hike the loop in Kilarney. Didn’t do this but we did do a lot of hiking including some good hiking in the Adirondacks this summer.
5. Become permanent – umm, still waiting on that.
6. Get pregnant – kinda want 5 to happen before this can!
7. Last one I tacked on was to bike/run/swim/hike 2010km – did not happen!
Here are my goals for this year:
Life:
1. Secure permanent employment
2. Prepare for family
3. Go to Italy
4. Purchase rental property
5. Become more organized (in terms of cleaning!).
Fitness:
1. Run a 10 mile race
2. Complete 2nd Triathlon (pending familial situation)
3. Bike Ride 100km
Health:
1. Back to Healthy Weight
2. Make the switch to sustainable and natural meat choices
Definitely a lot less SMART. Things can change this year and with that comes a change in priorities!

Comeback Kid

So it has been a long time since I last blogged (over 6 months ago to be exact). I’m such a fair-weather blogger but I always find that there are times when I just want to write things down and for the past week I’ve been fighting it so figured why not!

So an update as to where I left off:
- Ctrt ended, didn’t get the job I was very sure I was going to get (but turned out not to be what I wanted anyways).
- 7 weeks off over the summer – so so amazing!!! Lots of running (trails and roads), swimming, biking, walking, loving life
- Decided not to do Triathlon since unemployed, not to fussed about it since working out so much anyways
- Stopped going to Weight Watchers – even with lots of working out still gained about 5lbs from May to Sept.
- New contract at old workplace! Turned down permanent job in field I didn’t want at the same time (yet again.).
- Ran everyday for the month of October – best thing I’ve ever done. So so amazing.
- Went to Florida for a week in the fall.
- Fell off the swimming wagon, big time.
- Ended the year weighing exactly 170 (total of 12lbs lost in 2010).
- But quickly gained 2.4lbs to start the year!

So for right now I have lots of plans! Like usual. I’m still trying to get myself to do more toning and strength, still not being very successful, I just don’t like it!!! My new attempt is yoga – vinyasa yoga. I kinda think this might be the ideal b/c it also includes lots of flexibility stuff which is necessary. So I wanted to do an everyday thing but threw out my back last Saturday (on my birthday weekend no less!) so haven’t done any activity this past week.

As for running, I’ve been doing lots of that. 3-4x/week and a variety of distances. As for weight loss, now that I’m at the lowest since going back (in May I did see 170.8 before gaining the 5lbs) and again I’m struggling with motivation. It seems that I get to this point and then just get disinterested. Well I really want to lose this weight so I have to keep reminding myself of that! I hope that the desire to get back to blogging will help that out.

I do have goals for the year but I’ll post another post to cover those. So upcoming posts – my 2011 goals, how I plan my week, striving to become more organized in everyday life, my new view on exercise, thoughts on new Weight Watchers Points Plus plan.

Eating for Training and Weight Loss

The toughest times for me to lose weight is when I’m training for something. I find that the balance b/w creating a calorie deficit while having the energy to exercise effectively is a real tough one. I’ve tried a few different methods but I find it hard to stick to them b/c I haven’t created that as a habit. I’m trying to be proactive this year with my diet, I’m not really losing weight at the moment (expecting a stay the same tonight on the scale) but I know it is at the fault of my stress eating and not of the above. But the past couple of days I’ve noticed that I’m eating all my APs plus some b/c I’m hungry (and I’m not stressed, well I wasn’t – I need to hear today or tomorrow about the job since they have Friday off, so starting to get stressed!). So back to basics in terms of eating for training and weight loss. There are 2 sources I go to time and time again. This Runner’s World article and Nancy Clark’s Nutrition for Athletes Book. Both state very similar things with Runner’s World actually giving out eating schedules with percentages.

Since some days I’m doing 2 a days I want a schedule that will keep me fueled for both, and neither have anything on how to eat for those days. Plus I wanted a schedule that I can stick to everyday – I think it will make a more lasting habit that way. So here is what I came up with:

Breakfast – 25% of daily points
Lunch 1 – 25% of daily points
Lunch 2 – 20%
Dinner – 25%

One snack – 5% that is moved around. Before Breakfast as a pre exercise. Or in between breakfast and Lunch 1.

My evening snack will be using 50% of my activity points earned. Which means on days I’m not working out I’ll need to sacrifice points elsewhere (probably Lunch 2). The days before long workouts (anything over 1 hour), I’ll use some of my saved up APs for dinner and evening snack.

Last night was a night to remember. I got home, made a simple dinner (buffalo chicken sammies with red pepper strips). Read for a bit. At 7:45, I knew I needed to start getting ready to go for my “hills” training session. Well I really didn’t feel like it. But I really did feel like getting out there. I decided to go for an hour long walk. When I was getting ready I figured, well I may as well just wearing running clothes and my running shoes in case I feel like running! Well pretty much as soon as I was out there my legs were itching to just run. So I played it really simple – let my ipod and mood decide for me! I walk/ran out for 30 minutes and then turned out and came home. On my way out I passed my planned hill, so I ran up. On my back I did the same. My goal had been 5 times, but 2 is not too shabby. Especially considering I ended up walk/running for 7km (no garmin, it was dead, but since I’m tracking mileage here I mapped it out)! Well I really walk/ran for 6.5km in 50 minutes and then slowly walked another .5 km in 10 minutes to cool down. In that 50 minutes I ran about 35-40min and walked 10-15 minutes. Plus the hour just blew by. And I felt pretty amazing when I got home. Will definitely be doing that again!