Cinderella duties

Today was a good day. First weigh-in and I am at 176.0 That is down 3.8 pounds from my first beginning of the month weigh-in. that is  a HUGE drop and I am pretty sure I wont be seeing numbers like that very often. I think its because my body was jump started after being off plan for so long. Going Low carb and getting back to my minimum 3 miles a day seems to be working. I wish I could say the same for the 30DS.

Today was a day full of chores. I did my laundry, cleaned the house and went into to town to run some errands. I got in 4 miles of walking today and I felt rusty. I need to pump up my millage and start back on those long runs. I also went grocery shopping and got enough food for the week. I made a menu before hand and so knew exactly what to get. No carbs in my house (except the good kind fruits and veggies). I did however had some potato chips. a lady at the store was handing out free tiny sample sizes and i indulged especially after the long day with nothing to eat. It was only 4/5 tiny chips in it.

I also got some sweet smelling candles at the store. I haven’t done this in a while and though it might perk up my mood, scented candles have that effect on me.

I also fund out that a mall is opening up within a five minute walk from my house and it has my favorite coffee house in it.(their carrot cake is to die for- Lord give me strength).

The plan for tomorrow is food prep and uploading pics and my menu plan. I hope I don’t get sidetracked, I just got season 1 and 2 of breaking bad in the mail.

Day 169: weigh-In and carb cycling wk1 results

It’s been a week since I came back from the big city where I indulged and gained about 6lbs. I got back on track last Saturday and did a weekend green smoothie challenge. I also started carb cycling on Monday whereby I had 3 days of low carb, between 30-50g followed by a day of high carbs 100-175g. I wasn’t 100% on  calorie wise. I went over quite a few times. I was having snacks all the time

Here are my weigh in results so far.

Weekend green smoothie challenge- Only Saturday and Sunday

Starting weigh-in 176.8
Monday weigh-in 174.0

challenge loss 2.8lbs (not bad)

 

Carb cycling week 1

Monday 174.0

Saturday 171.0

Loss -3lbs

 

So this week has been a total of 5.8lbs loss. This could have been more had I stuck 100% on plan. I did go over on my calories on at least 4 days but my carbs were right on track. I was hopping to get out of the 170’s and back to my pre-break weight but I will gladly take any downward scale movement.

 

 

Day 160: Facing the Music

Now that my holiday is over, it’s time to face the music. I stepped on the scale and its worse than I thought.

Here is the cold hard truth in Black and white 175.6. Yup! That’s over a 5lb gain in about a week.

It really clicked in my brain that I have been off my game the past few weeks. I was so good during the holidays but for some reason after the New Year, I Just didn’t give a fudge.

My running has suffered, I haven’t had a decent workout in a few weeks and my eating has gone to the pigs.

I need to implement a few plans that I have been bouncing around my head and blog.

I am going grocery shopping today for my carb cycling. Lots of low carb high protein vegetarian foods. I am going to make a menu for my low carb days and my high carb days.

Tomorrow will be day one of the low carb cycle. This means my carb intake will be between 30-50g of carbs and try to get my protein above 100g. my calories will be at 1200 .My first cycle will be Friday- Sunday.
This will be followed by my high carb day where by I will be getting my carbs up to 175g (my current weight in grams) and my protein will stay at the same level. My calories will go up to 1700-1800 to compensate for the increased intake carbs. My high carb day will also see an increase in my running mileage and strength training.

Apart from my food plan, I am back on track with my running. My goal is to get in 6-7 days a week until I start my marathon-training plan. I need to get back in the groove before I can seriously start my training. Registration for the marathon is next week and I think that is the kick in the butt I so urgently need.

After I get my shopping and menu set, I will share in detail what I plan to eat during each phase of the cycle.

Wish me luck.

Here is a sample on macros for carb cycling.

You can calculate what you need to eating.

Day 143: Weigh-in, 30 Day shred level 2, Marathon pre-training training

Let’s start with the bad news first.

Last weigh-in 1/14= 173.6
(this was up 4.4 lbs. from previous weight. After a weekend of football (soccer for the Americans), beer and pizza)

This week 1/21= 170.6
A loss of 3lbs after a slight improvement in eating

Anyone else tired of this cycle? Gaining and losing the same 10lbs over and over. It’s entirely my fault really. Consistency has not been my middle name. This is something I need to work on if I will be getting to goal by my marathon later on this year. My whole point of wanting to lose weight is to get lighter and faster. I guess I am not running to lose weight, but losing weight to run. Does anyone else feel that way?

Onto happier news, I started level two of the 30DS today. This is my second time starting level two. I did it a few years ago and stopped 5 days into level two. This time there is no chance of that. Failure is not an option. The first day really kicked my but. Man I was sweating so much that sweat was going into my eyes and streaking my glasses. I almost took a sweaty pic to post but then realized some of you read this while on a lunch break and would like to retain the contents of your lunch. I am really glad that it’s a bit more challenging because I was tired of level one and could do it with my eyes shut. I am hopping that by day 5 I will be comfortable with the workout.

My Marathon pre-training training isn’t going according to plan. My goal was to be a lot further than I am mile-wise but I am stuck in a rut and struggling to get out. I am only halfway though my 100 miles/month challenge with only ten days left. I could get it done if I log in 5 miles everyday for the rest of the month but I cant seem to motivate myself to move. The weather is shit and conducive to sleeping in. Today I did manage to get myself out of bed and out for a run. It was freezing cold. I had the bright Idiotic Idea to take off my jacket and hoped that the cold wind would force me to move faster. Instead, my elbows froze and I couldn’t move them, I was out of breath trying to fight the freezing cold; and as a result ran only half way and walked the rest of the way home. Some people actually think that I have a really high IQ.

I still have until the 24^th of February to build my fitness base for the marathon and I plan on trying my best to rack up the miles. I have started following a lot more running blogs and realized that I am JOKING! There are runners out there who take their running seriously and are doing great preparing for various races. I need to get myself into that mind space.

Every night I put my running clothes together in the hope that I wake up and actually run. Here is to hopping that tomorrow is one of those days and if I can squeeze in a 5-miler, that would be the cherry on top.

and Tuesday and wednesday……………

Day 122: Last blog of 2012; Day 8 whole food detox(I cheated) and 2012 summary

Today was day 8 of my detox and it started off well. Then I had a lunch date and I ate fries. The worst possible thing that I could have eaten and I felt like shit afterwards. Not just guilty but my body felt like it had eaten junk. It was so not worth it. Hindsight is 20/20. I wont beat myself up over it. Tomorrow I pick back up again and finish of my 10 days.

I am also happy to announce that I accomplished my December running challenge. I got in 103 mi, which is three miles over my goal, and I went for a run/jog/walk all 31 days of December 2013. Happy dance.

Averaged 3 miles a day

that sho’ is a lovely picture.

 

Lets get the not so great news out of the way. I weighed in at 169.2. I am taking this with a grain of salt because of AF.  I will weigh-in again after the week is over.

So 2012 wasn’t a great year in terms of weight loss.
1/1/2012 I weighed in at: 186.8

12/31/12 I weighed in at: 169.2

That means I only lost 17.6 pounds, which is truly terrible.I only averaged 1.5 lb. a month, which ironically is my weekly weight loss goal.

On the brighter side, I am stronger and faster and I have also gone down a few clothes sizes. I might not have lost lbs., but I lost tons of inches. and built muscles. I haven’t had a soda all year and my drink of choice is now water. Looking forward to cooking more of my own food and sharing more with my blog peeps.

 

I ran a total of 907.75 miles in 2012 in a total of 230 hrs.52 minutes 43 second. I am really proud of this and I cant believe I kept it going. My goal for 2013 is to average 100 mi every month and so I hope to improve on 2012.

I cringe at april only 9.5mi.

I am also just a happier person this year.

Have a great crossing of the year.

 

Day 106 part deux: After the pity party.

So after getting over my weigh in, I decided to get back on track. I went on a 4 mile power walk. Im on track with my eating and will do my 30Ds later today.
I think I just had to take the time to realize that even though i didn’t like the number on the scale, it’s a loss from last week. Going off the rails and off plan won’t help me. So I’m back on track. The pity party is over and next weeks weighin will be better.

Day 105: Negotiating with yourself

I do this all the time. Mostly because the enemy to my progress is myself. Getting up in the morning to run is a still a struggle for me. Especially when I am not training for anything or have some type of goal I am running towards.

Back in September and October I did over 160 miles each month. I woke up in the morning with the sole goal of getting out for a run. I didn’t dally around in bed and there wasn’t an option of not going out.

Now that I don’t have a race in about 7 months, getting up to run is harder than the actually running.
Today morning, I was in bed for a full 30 minutes trying to convince myself to get out of bed. I always put out my clothes the night before and it takes me about 5 minutes to go to the bathroom, get dressed and out the door.

I came up with every excuse in the book to not go out. In the end I negotiated with myself. If I could go out for a run, I only had to do 2 miles. This seemed like a good compromise. But then I started thinking; my goal for December states that in week 2, I have to average 4 miles daily. Two miles would be too little.

More turning around in bed ensued. In the end, I decided that two miles would be Ok but I would have to run the entire way with no walking break in between.

So I did. I went out and struggled through 2.25 miles and ran the whole way.

 

Today is day 4 Of 30 DS. I hope I can make it to day 30 continuously. So far I have logged in miles on my Nike running app everyday and I think December will be my perfect month.

 

Tomorrow is the halfway mark of my challenge to weigh 159.9 before the end of this year. At this point in my journey, I should be about 164. Pounds. This is gonna be a tough one because at the beginning on the challenge on Dec 1, I was at 168.2. The following week I went over the rails and didn’t weigh in at all.

 

Its gonna be tough But I am crossing my fingers for a good weigh in.

 

Day 100: The good, the Bad and the Ugly

Day 100:The good the bad and the Ugly

100 days and I am still blogging. This is the longest I have committed to keeping a journal of any kind. Its also made me more aware of my journey but the best part is all the wonderful people I have met online.

“If you run 100 miles a week, you can eat anything you want – Why? Because: (a) you’ll burn all the calories you consume; (b) you deserve it; and (c) you’ll be injured soon and back on a restricted diet anyway.” – Don Kardong

The Good.

I have gone out for a Run/Walk/Jog everyday so far this December. So far I have 35 miles, which is 10 miles over my goal for the week. My goal to get to 1000 miles is only 4 miles away. I think I will get to it tomorrow. Next week I am upping my mileage up to 4 miles a day. I think December is going to be the month I run everyday. Marathon training starts January 1^st. I want to start my year with a bang.

 

The bad:

I didn’t get on the scale today. I just couldn’t face it.

After my Thursday step on and 2lb gain, I            went off the rails. On Friday, I ate way over my calories and went to a graduation party were I went nuts on the food and alcohol. Not my proudest moment. Right now I am struggling whether or not it will be beneficial to get on the scale. Will seeing a gain kick my but into gear or will I fall further into oblivion.  I think I’ll just do my best this week and I weigh in next Sunday.

The Ugly

I am still bloated and my tummy is acting up. It’s distended, I am in pain but its still not enough to stop me from eating. Ugh. I’m seriously considering the one day juice cleanse just to get my stomach moving. I am feeling horrible and I wish I could just stay away from food for a week or so.  I am starting my 30-day Shred this week. I think I might have to step on the scale before I start just so that I can have an accurate basis to measure my success. I will be creating a new tab just for the shred where I will have before and after pictures, my measurement and finally a review of the program. I want to do the 30 days continuously with no break and so I need to figure out my schedule for the next month to ensure that I have time set aside for it. Its only a 30 minute workout and shouldn’t be too hard to squeeze in.

 

Have a great week and make good choices.

 

Day 97: Amping up the workouts

 

So I got on the scale today and I saw a two lb gain. To say that I am frustrated is putting it mildly. I have been consistently under 100g of carbs daily. I have been running everyday this month with a minimum run of 3mi each.  And my calories have been at 1400 everyday. I am doing everything right. I am not cheating; I log in everything I put in my mouth. I am not starving myself and I am exercising. So what is wrong with my body? I am gaining and losing the same 5lbs for the past 3 months and it’s driving me nuts.

I will admit that since giving up my gym membership (save some mullah) I have only been doing cardio i.e. my morning runs. I got some apps to try and get in some strength training but I just don’t have the discipline to look at my phone or kindle and try and do exercises from an app.

But that still doesn’t explain why I am not losing. I am eating at a deficit, I am exercising, I am drinking about 16 glasses of water daily (and going to the bathroom enough times to prove it) I just don’t know what I am doing wrong or why my body is happy being 20lbs overweight.

 

So I decided I am buying some workout DVDs. I got the Jillian Michaels 30-day shred. I did it a year ago and only got to like day 15 before giving up (mostly due to laziness) I also got the Insanity workout dvd because I need a challenge that will push my body to the limit.

I haven’t figured out a schedule for the workout yet but I am hoping to have the DVDs and stat working out by Monday. I will keep up with my running challenge. (100mi in Dec) So far I have done 23miles. My goal of getting to 1000mi by the end of this year is also on track. I am at 983mi that means I only have 17 miles left.

I really am determined to get to 159.9 by the end of the year. I think I will be lowering my carbs even more and upping the exercises and running. I will keep my calories at the level they are because I don’t want to starve my body.

Once I figure out my workout schedule for the 30day shred and Insanity, I will post them up. It’s really hard to keep a workout schedule during the holiday season because of all the travelling and family function to attend. I’m hopping I can maintain my running schedule at least.

Make good choices.

 

 

Day 92: weigh-in and a Run

Today was the first day of my december running challenge. I got up and went for a run. More like attempted a run. anyways I’m getting back in the game slow and steady. I did 2.85mi/ 4.5K in about 4o minutes. I ran half of it and walked the other half back home. my fastest 5K is about 29 minutes and i am slowly building back up to that. tomorrow is another day and another run.

I also weighed in today. I almost didn’t because I’m mid cycle, bloated cramping and generally in a bad mood with the need to eat everything and not exercise ( I keep alternating with the need to eat everything followed by not wanting to see food……. oh but its had to be a woman).

 

I bit the bullet as one might say and stepped on the scale lo and behold 168.2 thats a loss this week of .4lb. now this might not seem like a lot to anybody else, but I have NEVER lost weight when aunt flo is in town. I ALWAYS gain. in fact I always gain an average of 5lbs most of it just from bloating. Happy dance. I’m hopping that next week when I step on the scale i’ll see and even lower number as the bloat goes down. I didn’t eat perfectly but I averaged 51g of carbs and my calories stayed in the 1400-1500 range. had some rice and chocolate though. damn-it because i was in pain and deserved it.( thats what I tell myself 🙂 I drank a lot of water and lots of tea.

Last week weight 168.6
This week’s weight = 168.2
weight to mini- goal = 8.3
days left= 30

This weekend I plan on working on my goals and progress pages. they have been neglected and i think i’ll add some pics of my progress. I was looking at old pictures on myself and WOW! just wow.