A lucky week of running

This week has been pretty great in terms of workouts for me! I ran a frosty 3 miles Saturday, and another frosty 3.6 Tuesday. Then Wednesday, I had a cancellation and went to the gym. I tried something new – I did a warmup 20 minute run on the treadmill and then I switched off lifting for 5 mins and climbing the stair stepper for 5 minutes. I only did two sets of intervals, but also did an extra round of lifting on the 30 minute machines. 

I really thought I’d be sore today but I’m not as much as I would have liked. Aaaaand so I went back to the gym again. I did 4 miles on the treadmill and then one round in the 30 minute machines. I can already tell my upper body is sore from yesterday (it always is worse the 2nd day) so tomorrow will be a perfect rest day. 

Anyways, it adds up to about 12 miles this week, which is awesome! I feel good about my food choices and also am happy about my workouts. 

I had a non scale victory today as well — I tried on Jared’s Columbia zip up because it’s freezing and it fits AND looks good. I’m definitely using it as often as I want since he has so many coats. 

I follow From Fat To Finish Line private group on Facebook and saw someone had posted about a good discount on oldnavy.com, so I ordered several things at half off, all of which are size 16 or size Large. I haven’t been able to fit in things that size in like 7 years. Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Feeling selfietastic because losing weight and working out are cooooool. 😎

Another milestone

I was very very surprised for my weigh in this week because I (mistakingly) weighed myself every day and didn’t see the scale move – up or down. And then poof, Saturday morning: 

I stuck to my calories every day and got three solid days of running in to find a 2.2 pound loss. And I’m in the teens! I guess the Saturday weigh in worked this week. I shall continue that and see if I really am past the plateau or if this is a fluke. 

One other thing I decided to switch is to start drinking light beer again. I don’t think it will make a big change because I don’t drink a ton, but if I have 6 beers, it’s 300 more calories than if I were drinking light beer. That’s not a huge number but I think it will make a small difference in the long run. We shall see. 

I am still thinking about adding in some kind of strength training or weight lifting something but I don’t really know where to start or how to fit it in. Plus I don’t really enjoy it so it’s hard to feel motivated to do it. One of my friends stopped by last night and talked about doing the stairs at the gym, so maybe I’ll try that and see how I like it. 

Yesterday we also went out to the mall to walk and get some Felix energy out after going to Texas Roadhouse (yum!) so I had to take some pictures. 

Welcome to western pa where you can buy chickens at the local store. Turns out it’s a perfect, free almost petting zoo and the kid loves it. Win win!

2017 thoughts.

Another year down, another effort to move toward a better me. Like I said in my last post, I’m checking in on last year’s goals, and I’m happy to say that I really did meet one of them. Most years, resolutions are just stupid things I think about in the beginning of the year and forget after January until just after Christmas. This year, that wasn’t the case. I had three goals: run 25 miles per month, end the year weighing less than I did at the beginning, and reach a weight below 200 lbs. The last one was impossible because I got pregnant even before the new year and had an unhealthy pregnancy. I didn’t meet the running goal for months 3-9 but I did for the rest. So, I completed about 1.5 of my goals (or half lol). 

This year I am going to reach a little higher. I definitely want to end the year weighing less than I do now, but because I have no plans of getting pregnant, Im changing the game a little. 

1. End the year weighing under 200lbs. The day I am under 200 will be a huge celebration!! I technically have the possibility of hitting my goal weight but I want to leave a window for setbacks and mistakes so I don’t completely give up. 

2. Run at least 30 miles per month. I’m doing 2.5-3.5 a couple days per week so that should average well with work stress and vacation.

3. Run 10k at least once. It doesn’t have to be a race, but to run over 6 miles would be monumental for me. 

4. Run a 5k in under 33 minutes. This goal requires ongoing running and speed work… AND actually registering for a race. My average pace now is like 13:30 so I’d need to get under 11:00. It sounds hard but if I keep losing weight and working out, I’ll succeed! 

5. Reduce debt. This isn’t running related but I definitely need to put more effort into this. Especially if I get a raise this year. 

6. Love on my dogs more. Having two under two and a full time job doesn’t allow much extra time but that doesn’t mean I can’t incorporate my dogs into more activities. Plus they make me happy and self care is good!

7. Obtain my LPC. I need to pass the NCE and finish my hours but… this is definitely doable if I keep working full time. 

I don’t want these to be resolutions that are forgotten in a month. I want to nail all of them! I’m gonna need a plan… breaking them into monthly things will make it more manageable and I will be able to see success at this time next year. Boom!

Vacation plus New Years!

It’s been a while since I checked in, mainly due to vacation and pre vaca prep. So, happy new year! 

One exciting thing happened this year: I reached my goal of ending it weighing less than I began it! The goal was under 238 and I managed 235; a surprise considering how much I ate Christmas Day!

We then went on vaca for the week in Florida where I also ate a bunch of junk. I ran 3 miles one day and did a decent amount of walking other days, but I totally ate a bunch of junk. 

No regrets! But back on the wagon. I feel good about the progress I made before vaca and look forward to even more changes in the next three months. I’m proud of the way I looked there and even like some of the pictures 😱 I can’t remember the last time I said that after a vacation haha. 

I’d love to meet the same New Year’s goal next year and have even more pictures that I also like. 

I’m going to weigh in tomorrow and check out the damage. I’ll also work on a couple of goals for this year. Last year I had a mileage goal too but I didn’t meet it because I quit running when I was pregnant. Hopefully that changes this year! Until tomorrow.  

Two week hiatus

I have logged in nearly every day for two weeks but just didn’t feel like writing. I missed two official weigh in posts, but I’ve still been weighing in and on the decline. Maybe I’m just not as excited because they weren’t huge losses? 

Regardless, I’m hanging in there. I’m in the 230’s and have set myself up to hit one of my 2016 New Years goals; to end the year weighing less than I did at the beginning! The number to beat is 238.4 and I’m hoping to be under that despite eating my heart out all of Christmas weekend. It would be a huge accomplishment since I got pregnant and had a baby this year lol. 

 So far I’ve already run three days this week and two of them were over four miles. I’m hoping for one more high intensity run on Thursday but family will be visiting and that always makes things tricky. 

Here I am on Christmas Day running 4 miles so I could eat dessert with no guilt! 

Here are the highlights of Christmas and felixs birthday. 

Here’s to hoping I can moderate my eating for a couple more days to end the year on top! 

4 evil words

Remember my plateau? It was confirmed by a school secretary who spoke the four unforgivable words that no woman wants to hear: “When are you due?” 😳

I was devastated. I brushed it off and gave a fair answer about having a baby 4 months ago, but I weighed in this week at 243, which is lower than I was before my FIRST pregnancy. So I shouldn’t look pregnant! 

This is an updated progress pic from 2 weeks ago. I don’t look small, but if you ask me, I don’t look big enough to believe I’m pregnant. Of course, because I’ve been overweight much of my adult life, I feel like you NEVER ask a woman if she’s pregnant unless she is in labor haha. 

Before that I was feeling frustrated with the plateau. That confirmed it. Then I weighed in this week and was happy again so, I’m just gonna trust my apparently round gut and keep doing what I’m doing lol. 

Weigh in Friday.

It’s been an odd week. I got in 3 decent runs, I hit under my calorie goal every day… and I lost 5 more pounds. 😳

I feel odd because it happened two weeks in a row. I was genuinely expecting a small loss, like a pound, or two at the most. 

So. I’m in the 240’s??!! It’s hilarious because instead of being totally excited, I’m kinda confused. I logged everythibg I ate and I didn’t deprive myself at all so I have no idea what the heck happened. I don’t actually want to lose that much weight at a time because I know that it’s healthiest to lose 2ish pounds per week, not twice that. 

I should be grateful and proud. I am. Just a little leery too. 

My last run I only had about a half hour to get it done before going back to work. As I was going I kept upping the speed to race the clock. When I realized I could probably do 2.5 miles and still have time to shower, I sped up more than I have in a while! It averages to about 14 minute miles, which doesn’t sound that great, but two minutes were warm up walking so it’s closer to 13 minute miles. To be able to do that for 2.5 miles is a big deal since I’d like to run a 5k in under 40 minutes at some point (yeah I know, what happened to clear goals?). If I can do it by the new year, I’d like to sign up for a race and actually test it out.  That may not be doable since the weather here sucks then, but it is nice to have some ideas. 

In other news, I’ve had more energy to love my babies, which is always a nice side effect to the weight loss / exercising. I feel good about myself so I also WANT to be more active and spend time with them. I need to remember that when I start to struggle again. 

Weigh in Friday

The week of sickness led to a pretty number on the scale but I’m willing to bet it’ll even out next week since I didn’t eat much for a couple days. Water weight can be deceiving in both ways! 

The scale believes I lost 5 lbs. I do love the thought of being so close to the 240’s anddd my first goal (251 or 10%) but I need to not get my hopes up cuz this week is special lol. 

Sick and so tired

It’s been a week of cold viruses, pink eye, cluster feeding, and pure exhaustion. Somehow, tho, I managed three runs since my last weigh in, one of which was 3.26 miles on the treadmill! That’s my first official 5k+ recorded since I found out I was pregnant. Wow!

Sunday was a gorgeous day for running and Felix and I really took advantage of it! 

We also took advantage of my parents’ hot tub post run. 

The rest of the week I was sick and emotional and overworked. My eating was way out of whack because of the fever and sore throat but I did track everything… I just happened to skip a couple of meals. I don’t like doing that. I know that everything about it is wrong for long term weight loss. So the scale may say something odd this week and next week may be a bit more accurate. Buuut it’s about the journey I guess. I’m just glad to be on the mend. I haaaate having a fever. 😷

Weighing in only one day late.

Another good week. 

Three pounds down and a little more fat percentage gone. A week filled with four decent runs since the last weigh in and eating on track. Feeling good! I started the 10K program and I’m enjoying it so far for the most part. It’s just an adjustment setting 60 minutes aside for working out instead of 30. I’ll get used to it I’m sure.