Thursday, March 29, 2012

Good Day

Hey everyone - sorry I've been scarce. Its just been a stupid busy week and there's been lots going on. Nutrition has been so-so but never a surplus with what I'm burning - which is good. Some days are higher than others, but I guess it all averages out. I've been super tired recently so I'm looking forward to some downtime this weekend so I can rest up.

Today, I had a great running workout on my lunch break - figured it was better to do a structured program, so I jumped back into the C25K program. Since I am already conditioned a little bit, I started back up on Week 4 of the program which worked out really well. It was nicely challenging - not too easy, and not too hard.

Here's the Workout:
Warm Up
Run for 3 minutes at 5.5+ MPH (I forgot exactly how fast I went)
Walk for 90 Seconds at 3.5 MPH
Run for 5 minutes at 5.0 MPH
Walk for 3 minutes at 3.5 MPH
Run for 3 minutes at 5.0 MPH
Walk for 90 Seconds at 3.5 MPH
Run for 5 minutes at 5.0 MPH
Cool Down

Total Workout Time: 25 Minutes
Total Calories Burned: 315
Total Mileage: 1.71 miles

It felt great to get back to a structured program - it was easier to push myself knowing the goals I needed to hit, instead of just running and trying to figure out how I was gonna eventually hit 5K.

In other news - I'm feeling totally BLEAH today. Just kinda off. I'm off work in about 15 minutes and hoping that a nice lunch and a nap before Zumba class once I'm off will help with that.

Anyways, that's about it for me - yay for running. I need to keep it up. My body always feels better after a good run

Miles Ran Towards A Better Me in 2012: 2.71 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 510

Friday, March 23, 2012

Today's been a hard day....

So as my title states - its been a rough 24 hours for us. Yesterday, I found out the company I work for is closing 7 of its 24 sites and cutting 3300+ jobs. While my site isn't one of the ones being shut down, it still has a huge impact on the business. Then, got a text from another friend this morning - his job has been eliminated and he was demoted (though still currently employed the demotion means he can't afford to pay his bills). Then this afternoon, another friend reported issues at her job as well. What the hell is going on?!? I don't think that my brain can handle any more employment/job issues today.

Hubby and I have been spending the whole day talking about how important it is to keep on track with our debt payoff plans. Seeing others being impacted like this just goes to show that we don't ever really know how safe any of our jobs are and we should take advantage of them while we can. We are really going to buckle down and get things paid off in the next few months.

In other news, I've been feeling junky for a few days now. With my new mode of BC that I started a few weeks ago - TOM is right around the corner and all the joys that come with it are wreaking havoc on my body for the first time in over 4 years....sometimes I hate being a girl. I'm grumpy, bloated & generally cranky....bleah....due to TOM and less than stellar nutrition since the kiddo is here, weight is up a little bit higher than usual...so ready for that to drop off and things to get back to normal

The kiddo has been with us all week, and I love having him here. Today we went to the dinosaur museum and had a blast! It will be sad to see him leave again in a few days. Not sure what the plans are tonight, but we're probably going out to dinner with some friends and hanging out a little bit.

Last bit of information, the coordinator for the After School program has asked me to lead a ZumbAtomic demonstration at the yearly Expo for our city at the end of April!! Its a HUGE opportunity to not only display what I've been doing with the program, but it will also get my name out there for additional opportunities. This is an amazing opportunity and definitely some motivation to keep nutrition in line. I wanna be able to confidently sport my ZumbaWear around the Expo - so this extra pudge needs to come off ASAP

That's about it - time to go chill with my boys :-)

Monday, March 19, 2012

A General Update...

Okay - so its about time for a general update from me....after my "oh crap" nutrition moment last week, things are going well. I've been eating more and have more energy which is awesome.

This past weekend was kinda full of junky food though. Drove to Arizona to pick up the kiddo for Spring break. Even though it was only 1 night, it was awesome for the hubby and I to get out of town and spend some time together. On the drive out there Friday night, he and I talked for the WHOLE 5 hours about everything & nothing in general - literally, no music, no nothing - just us talking & enjoying each others company. Sometimes with our busy lives, getting a road trip together is the best opportunity to talk.

We talked about finances (planning on being debt free - with the exception of the house & truck - by the end of the year) We talked about what we'd do once we didn't have monthly expenses like car payments & credit cards - we'd travel, he'd go back to school and not have to take out loans, we'd finally start making improvements to the house, we'd be able to live the life we've been working so hard for over the past 5 years.

We talked about our future & maybe adding a kiddo into the mix eventually - but not yet. We both think it isn't right to have a child without having financial security first - we think that anyone who has a kid without being having a stable household is incredibly selfish - plus we want to travel a little bit before we do that. We talked about health and our long term well-being - how we want to change our lives so we can be around longer for each other, and our kiddos in the future.

Road trips rock for amazing conversation! That night when we got to Arizona, we checked into our hotel and went out to dinner. We picked this little organic/fresh produce pizza place that was amazing!! Here's a pic of my pizza:

Whole wheat crust, pesto, goat cheese, pine nuts, shrimp & scallops!!! Incredible!
Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App

The next morning we bummed around town - went to Barnes & Noble (I found a fabulous Boba Fett Bobblehead for $9), a killer little store called Bookmans (Tom found me some Vampire Hunter D figures for $8), wandered around Hastings (I found a book I've been looking for for MONTHS!) and killed time at Target where we got some legos. Then we grabbed food with the kiddo and hit the road.

On the drive back, we started noticing my loyal IPOD of 7+ years was starting to lag. Its been freezing during my classes (so I've been using my nano for a few weeks) but on the trip it was really starting to freak out. We came to the conclusion that, even though we could put the money towards bills - I need a working IPOD for my classes, so once we got back into town we went straight to the Apple Store. I picked out a new black 160g IPOD Classic and I LOVE it!


After the Apple Store, we went to dinner at Elephant Bar. I wasn't super hungry - so I got some noodle soup and a salmon roll. It was super yummy! We didn't get home until after 10, so I passed out right away. The next morning, I got all the music & movies off my old IPOD and transferred them all to my new IPOD (which surprisingly took a LONG time to do....it was almost 50g worth of content!). Then the boys went and picked up breakfast and we started cleaning the house. We had friends come over to celebrate her birthday - so we made BBQ Chicken, Ribs & homemade Mac & Cheese...so yummy!

We had a weekend of less than stellar food, so I am feeling a little pudgy today, but at least I know that I didn't eat at a huge deficit either - so that will be good for my metabolism. The squish will fall off after a few days of eating better & downing water like crazy. This week I'll be eating healthier - but higher calories to justify my activity levels and stepping up my running training for the Warrior Dash. Its only 7 weeks away and I want to get myself as ready as I can for it.

I think that's about it for me - hope all is well with everyone!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

well...crap....

Okay - so yesterday I had an "EEK/Ah-ha-you're a moron" moment that I need to share with all of you! First of all - I'm gonna establish a few background tidbits just so you all are aware of the situation. Last October, I stopped tracking my food. It was driving me neurotic...I KNOW how to eat well & set appropriate portion sizes so I decided to take the opportunity to trust myself a little more, and its been nice not having to count EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth and trust my natural hunger cues a little more. Now for the past few months, I've been trying to drop some extra pudge - just so I'm a little more comfortable in my own skin, and I don't have as much weight to push forward when I am running.

Now that you know all that - I can get on to my "ahh...crap" moment. Since I've been trying to drop my extra squish I've been noticing a pattern. I'll do well for about 3 days. Then I'll start feeling like junk, get a "f*ck it all" attitude and go eat whatever the hell I wanted - which would put me off track, cause me to gain some water weight, freak out, get back on proper nutrition until the same process happened again 3-4 days later. In all, I've been losing & gaining the same 7 pounds since New Years...some days are better than others....

This has really been bugging the hell out of me. I literally can't go a week straight with proper nutrition!! What the hell is wrong with me??? I work in the fitness industry....I should have the discipline & self control to eat well for a week straight?!?!? Right?!?!?! I have enough discipline to do 8 fitness classes a week PLUS all my personal workouts to help me reach my goals - but every few days I just can't seem to avoid that magical box of Thin Mints in my freezer...

So yesterday I did something I haven't done since October. I tracked my food...all of it....I kept my naturally almost-completely-vegetarian/vegan diet in check ALL through the work day and before my Zumba class. Now - I eat a LOT of food (yesterday consisted of 2 bananas, 2 alternative bagels with almond butter, 2 cups of purple grapes, 2 servings of oatmeal with dried cranberries, 2 grilled cheese sammiches with some egg whites for protein) - there's a TON of volume there and some days I feel like I'm eating ALL the time...so I'm rarely hungry - thus assuming I'm eating enough to justify my activity levels. You know what it was...1,441 calories....that's it

Yesterday was a Wednesday - one of the busiest days of the week for me. According to my BodyBugg, I burned 2,776 calories, went 8,176 steps and had 1 hour 37 minutes of activity (my kids are on Spring Break right now - so this burn/activity amount is actually LOWER than my usual Wednesday burns)

So let's do some math here:

2,776 Calories burned MINUS 1,441 Calories eaten = A 1,335 CALORIE DEFICIT?!?!?!? IN ONE DAY?!?!?! HOLY CRAP!!!

So - if I take into account, I've been eating mostly the same things since January and really only lost about 7 pounds in total since I started (mostly water weight anyways) let's look at this again

Every 3-4 days I potentially have created a 4,000-5,340 calorie deficit with my basic activity levels. Logic says "INSERT METABOLIC FREAK OUT HERE" and my body suddenly NEEDS calories to maintain my levels, otherwise I'll crash. Well no sh*t - no wonder I can't stick with anything for more than a few days. Its not a discipline thing, its not a lack of self control...its a "Hillary is STARVING" thing and suddently my body craves crappy foods because it knows that's the fastest way to get calories back up. And in all honesty - when I did eat crappy, I never ate enough to completly destroy my deficits, which is why I saw around a 7 pound loss but still struggled with water weight

NOW it makes more sense (and I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner) so now, I will look at myself in the mirror....take my palm....and smack against forehead while saying "feed yourself more dammit!"

So - now I have a confession. After my Zumba class, when I realized how bad my deficit was, I got myself a burger & fries for dinner...and it was damn good. And honestly, I probably ended up right at maintenance calories - or a little bit over, but I really don't care. I've got water weight today...eh...it will fall off....at least I ate what I needed to

Alrighty - so what does this all mean. This means I need to start tracking my calories again so I don't starve myself. But I need to do this with a "health" reason in mind and not let myself get neurotic about it again (easier said than done, but I'll do my best) I can eat 2,000 calories a day and STILL be at a 600-700 calorie deficit each day - unless I'm a total lazy ass and don't do anything then my maintenance is between 1800-2000 cals a day

This also means I need to find healthier ways to get my calories up without eating junk. Due to digestive issues, I've gotta take it easy on high fat foods so I've gotta take it easy on the dairy, nuts, nut butters, etc & I naturally really don't eat a lot of meat - so after work, I'll be venturing to get myself some Lara Bars & easy non-dairy mix-n-go smoothies to help get my calories a little higher...then as long as there's nice weather, I shall go running! YAY!

With my activity levels & amounts of cardio I do, I'm technically in the range of an "endurance athlete" with my burns - so I'm going to pick up my copy of Racing Weight and learn how to eat more without causing havoc to my insides. The theory in this book is to eat around maintenance and use my workouts to create the deficit - instead of eating at a deficit and potentially causing workouts & the body to suffer. I think there's some good logic there, and its about time I implement it.

Anyways - so there's my genius moment...I was trying to trust myself more, gain the discipline to eat without tracking, "ruining" it every few days & freaking out. Now I will be doing the same, only tracking it and hopefully not going to ruin it again (NOTE: the girl scout cookies are ALMOST gone from the house! There's only 1 box of Samoas left - and they belong to the hubby so hopefully they'll be gone soon)

Friday, March 9, 2012

Yay!!

Oh my dear hair dye - how I've missed you!!!

I Accomplished One Of My Resolutions!!

YAY!!!! First of all - HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!! This has been a LONG week for sure!!! I'm totally happy its Friday AND payday (for me at least) *does little happy dance* Okay - so as my title states...I accomplished one of my New Year's Resolutions!!! This one has been over TWO years in the making and I'm SO proud to say I completed it!!!!

This was was Resolution #6 - FINALLY DONATE MY HAIR!!! As some of you know, I've been growing it out (and not dying it) for a LONG time so that I could make a donation to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Its an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients and it was an honor for me to be able to make a contribution to them!!

After work yesterday, I went to get it measured and it was FINALLY long enough! Its been super windy here, so the length has been driving me nuts because I've had to pull it back every day - otherwise I'd look very much like David Bowie from Labyrinth! I high-tailed it over to the salon and chopped it all off right there!!!

So - here's my "before" donation picture - just so you can get an idea of the length prior to donation...this is the longest my hair has been in a LONG time. I had over 8 inches of hair to donate (which was the minimum required length).

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After getting my hair cut, I went home to see the hubby (he got out of work early) and start getting used to my new lack of hair - I swear my head feels like its 10 pounds lighter today!).

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SO - here's the final result...a new haircut for me!!!!
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I had one after school class that day, so before going to my ZumbAtomic class yesterday afternoon, I stopped by the hair dye store to pick up some goodies (since now that its cut I can start dying it again) While I was checking out, I mentioned to the cashier at the beauty supply store that I had just cut it all off to make a donation. The woman was SO thankful and appreciative of what I'd done. She said that she regularly gets women coming in who have received wigs with the program and so it has a personal connection to her. Just thinking about how my little blonde donation could impact someone's life - well, it actually makes me kind of girly, teary-eyed and sniffly.

Even though I KNOW I complained more than once about growing out my hair, not being able to cut or dye it, pulling it back in a ponytail every day, etc - its NOTHING compared to what someone with cancer is going through. I have NO right to complain about anything in my life when someone else is fighting for each day they have. Someone out there who is fighting cancer is going to make a beautiful blonde!

This originally started out as a silly bet from my hubby (he bet me I couldn't go a year without dying my hair) and it turned into the most incredible experience that spanned over 2 years of my life. The last time I dyed my hair was December 24th 2009 - so this has been a labor of love for the past few years and one of the most incredible experiences ever. Its forced me to become more comfortable in my own skin and not rely on a box of hairdye to fix whatever is going wrong in my head. Its pushed me out of my comfort zone on more than one occasion - and those experiences are truly impossible to put into words.

Since my haircut, its honestly crossed my mind a few times to NOT dye my hair, keep growing it out and donate it again, simply because of the impact this first experience has made on me. I know its just hair - but you know what...for some people, it makes the difference between feeling normal and feeling like an outcast and I can help change that.

I'm still toying around with the idea of dying it. Its been a long time, and I would like to play around with colors while I'm still younger. It would take me another year and a half (at least) to grow it out long enough to make another donation. And honestly, I'll probably end up dying my hair this afternoon - with the understanding that if I ever wanted to do this again, I have the wisdom, appreciation, self acceptance and patience to go through the waiting process again.

Thanks for letting me share this experience with you all - its really meant a lot to me to be able to help someone out (I'm seriously getting all sniffly at my desk! EEP!) Remember there are people out there who are suffering more than you ever will. And just a special request from me, take some time today to focus on all the gifts you have in life. I hope you all have an amazing Friday.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Back At It...

Alrighty - so after finishing my 10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge I decided to take a few days off of strength training. I needed to focus on a new Zumba circuit for class (which I rolled out on Saturday morning) so most of my free time was spent recovering and getting that ready to go.

This past week was awful for nutrition (we have a surplus of Girl Scout Cookies in our house at the moment) BUT weight is magically maintaining. Had a doctor's appointment on Friday and got my bloodwork done & got on my new type of birth control. Hope it goes well *fingers crossed*

Today marks exactly 2 months until the Warrior Dash - so training began today! Yippee!!! I haven't ran in a LONG time, so I was antsy to get back at it. I snuck over to the gym on my first break at 7am and hit the treadmill. OH LORDY I MISSED RUNNING!! I know I say it every time - but running is SO amazing for me! I took it easy and ran a nice 12 minute mile just to get back into the groove and it felt incredible.

Nutrition has been on track today as well and energy levels are starting to come back up as well. For strength training, I'm starting to incorporate my Kettlebell workouts back into my routine again. Today was Chest & Back and I did it with the 15 pound bell instead of the 10 pounder - proof that the 10,000 swing challenge made me stronger!! I only had to drop to a 12 pound weight for the one armed Flys on the last 2 sets since my elbow wasn't taking the 15 too well. Either way, I'm happy with my progress and hopefully will get some nice DOMS tomorrow from it

I'm still toying with the idea of using the Warrior Dash training program for strength training too - I'm thinking that just incorporating Kettlebell into my current routine of Running and Zumba will help me get stronger all over....so I think I'll stick with this for a week and see how it goes.

I really want to start running outside (even though it will kill me) and get up to a 4 mile distance in about 6 weeks. Should be tough, but do-able. Anyways, off to go heat up my lunch (whole wheat pasta, veggies & tomato sauce!) Tonight is Zumba and hopefully I'll be able to snag a nap in the middle of it all - after grocery shopping of course...gotta stock up on stuff for this week!

As I stated in my NY Resolution earlier this year - I want to run towards something this year...not run from my issues anymore. I want to get closer to a better me, and this is one of the ways to help create a healthier mindset.

Miles Ran Towards A Better Me in 2012: 1 (gotta start somewhere, right?)
Total Calories Burned: 195