I've been so busy that I haven't posted much about my weight. I'm sad to say that I'm not in the 170's.
I was 181 the morning I left for Rolex. But at one point last week and this week I was in the 185's. No clue what happened, but I wasn't eating the best that's for sure. I got sick with a 24 hour stomach bug this week and that dropped my weight and I've been able to keep it down for the 2 days since I've felt better. Hopefully it lasts. I'm not terribly worried, but I do really really want to see 176. Just once dammit! :)
I've been running about 3-4 days a week. The break while I was in KY was both good and bad. It made it hard to get back in the groove and I was hating running for a few days.
I shared this photo on Facebook earlier this week to keep myself motivated. . .
The left is 2010, middle is 2012 and right is this year, 2016. I was quite large in 2010 and that may be one of the only full body shots I have at that size. My max weight was 250, so it's possible I was a bit less there, but not much. I remember those pants like it was yesterday. And those freaking pants were sooooo soft and comfortable. I was almost sad to shrink out of them. They were Old Navy and I was unable to get a replacement pair. I think the jeans in the other two photos are the same pair, even thought hey don't really look it. There isn't a huge difference in the two photos on the right. Not even in scale numbers and clothing size, but in between those years I went back up in all numbers. I remember when those jeans didn't fit. I believe it was last year, 2015, when I wore them again at Rolex and I was so happy. I think I look happier and healthier in this year's photo. Why? The 2012 photo was after doing HCG. I don't regret doing that. But I don't think I'd do it again and I don't think it was the healthiest choice. I think I was tired and certainly didn't feel as good as I do now. So that's the difference I see when looking at those photos.
In other news. . . I was at Macy's last month and I saw a purse that caught my eye. I took a photo of it but I didn't buy it. I stalked it online and when I got back from KY, I saw the price dropped so I got it.
I'm usually a solid color purse girl, but for some reason I fell for this. And I love the striped interior.
And yesterday I got a package in the mail. . . . a total surprise gift. . . .
That's a Dooney and Burke cross body Cardinals purse! How cute is that? I've noticed them but never spent the $ on one. I was really really surprised to receive this in the mail! I might have got teary eyed.
I have a busy weekend coming up, including a graduation party. I'm pretty anti-social right now. I'd like to just stay home and do nothing. I haven't been able to do that in some time and I need that kind of break to be honest. Have a great weekend peeps!
I'm 5'10" and have struggled to find clothing that is long enough. Jeans are a continuous problem. Skirts have been impossible for a long time. Long skirts stop at a funky spot on me, not just below the knee, not mid calf, but somewhere mid calf to ankle. Basically in a funky spot that they should not stop and therefore I've never been able to wear long skirts. Through the years of trying them on, I've also that that even if they were long enough, that I didn't look good in them. I've always felt they've made me look like I have huge hips. And lets be honest I have had huge hips. That's my problem area. Earlier this summer a FB friend suggested I try Kohl's. I did and I actually found a skirt that was long enough. I didn't have a chance to wear it. I got it in early July, went to Canada, got sick. . . suddenly it's fall. But I wore it to a wedding this weekend. I called this a historic moment and had to get photographic proof. :)
It felt weird to walk around and feel the skirt at my ankles. At my ANKLES!!!! I pulled it off and didn't think I looked too dorky. I refused to wear a short dress so it was this or pants.
I started my weekend with a 3 mile run/walk on Sat. I repeated that on Sunday. Remember I had a goal of running by Oct 1st. Well I consider this success. I'm not running the full distance, but that wasn't the goal. The goal to be hitting the pavement and putting in the miles.
My lung capacity isn't the best and my heart rate sometimes gets too high. But I'm working on it and I'll get it back. It's going to take time, but I knew that going in. 6+ weeks of laying around doing nothing had to have some kind of impact.
It feels good to be working out again cause I'm fat. I see it in that skirt photo. I'm slowing reintroducing advocare back into my life. I missed it. But I cut out all supplements other than what the doc told me to take for my illness. I'm not very good at taking a lot of stuff. So I had a hard time keeping up with what I needed to take to get better. So I'm back on the wagon! I feel like I have the willpower today to get through the day without eating sugary things and without soda.
Spark helps with avoiding the soda. Advocare doesn't make a variety box. I bought all flavors and made my own variety boxes. I still have some that I'd like to sell. These are packaged in the older square packaging (except for 2 flavors), so I have a special price on them. If you've wanted to try spark, or try all the flavors, let me know. If you aren't local I'll ship them to you. Ask me about the price!
On Sunday we went to the last Cardinals home game of the regular season. There was a special for all inclusive seats and we sat on the Powerade Bridge.
I pigged out yesterday. I don't even want to think about. The scale is *so* high this morning. This was my *first* round at the buffet. I made my own brisket nachos. I went back for a hotdog and more cookies. We had Chinese for dinner. Ahh! Today is *going* to be good. I feel fat and that is motivation to be good.
I took a fun photo of a bracelet that I got on etsy.
I wear that to every game. I LOVE it!
We ride the Redbird Express to the game. Because there was also a football game in StL yesterday the traffic was awful. It took us over 30 mins to get out of downtown and let's just say I'm surprised we didn't get in a wreck. Our bus driver lady was NUTS! But we were talking to the people sitting behind us. We were in sideways seats and they were in front facing seats so it was pretty easy to chat. And suddenly I realized that the man seemed *very* familiar. Maybe he was my 8th grade science teacher? So I asked. I was wrong, but he was my teacher. He was my math teacher when I was a Jr. I had him for Trig/Pre-Calc. He was one of my favorite teachers! His voice was so familiar but I couldn't place him at first. I think since he was wearing a hat it threw me off. It was fun to catch up and also fun to tell him that I went on to get a degree in math. Now I might be looking for him on the bus next season!
This was such a busy weekend and at the same time I felt like I didn't get anything done!
First I got off work on Thursday at 11:30 AM. We were given 3 hours off and I didn't take a lunch. I went to the park in town to do 3 miles before going to ride Eli. It started off amazing and just stayed that way. It was cool and overcast. There was fine mist at the beginning. Perfect running weather. Just over halfway through my Garmin beeped that the battery was low. OMG. I knew I was on track for my fastest 5K. I just hoped the battery would last. Thankfully it did! I am so tickled with this pace. It actually felt easy. Now the rest of my runs this weekend were not like this. But I'm hoping that I'm onto something and will need to re-evaluate my goals.
Then I went to the barn and I just had a great ride on Eli. He's 20 now and things haven't been so good. But he gave me such a great ride. Great way to start my weekend!
It was a busy week and my 7 day fitbit step total was the highest I think it's ever been on Friday.
114K! Usually breaking 100K takes some effort or some long runs.
On Friday we had tickets to the Cardinals game. We were going with my parents and it was their first time at this Busch Stadium. I believe this is the 3rd Busch Stadium, but I'm not sure. It opened in 2006.
We had fun! There were fireworks after the game. They do such a good job of this and everyone has a great seat. It's fun to just sit there and wait for the lights to go off and the fireworks to start.
My mom took this photo of us. I don't really love it. I think it makes both of us look heavier than we really are. She got close (as opposed to zooming in) and I also feel like it's shot upwards a bit. But there you have it. . .
We didn't have any plans for the 4th. A friend from my barn gave me some homegrown blackberries and I attempted to make a pie. I tried this years ago and it flopped. It was super runny and disappointing. This time it turned out much better!
But holy sweetness! I guess cause I don't eat much sweet stuff anymore, this was a shock. We got some vanilla ice cream to top it with. That helped toned down those blackberries, but my teeth were still coated in sugar. Thanks for Carb-Ease Plus from Advocare. I popped that before inhaling this hot mess of sugar! :)
Yesterday I went to the barn to ride and found this:
Swollen knee from a little cut above the knee. I opted to ride him lightly for 40 mins to see if the swelling would go down. It didn't. It did get warm when it wasn't before. So maybe riding wasn't the best idea. But Eli puffs up like a stove pipe from the most superficial cut. So I knew that's what it was from. I put ointment on the cut and hopefully this is better today. He was going to give me a really sweet ride so I was bummed that I had to go easy. :(
Today is someone's birthday at the barn so I made a patriotic cake.
Now unfortunately it's Monday. I didn't gain any weight from this crazy weekend when I got on the scale this morning. :) WHOOP! I leave for Canada in 3 days! Well the first stop is Detroit. The nerves have kicked in.
I'm still on this plateau of 182-183. I need to hit 181 to get to 30 pounds. I never imagined I'd still be playing yo-yo with the scale at this point. I really really wanted to hit that goal before yesterday when we went to a Cardinals baseball game. I had that planned as my cheat "meal" and I decided I was doing it no matter what the scale said. Since I'm kind of a cardio junkie I ran every day Thurs - Mon hoping to make some progress. I also really wanted to get some miles on my legs. On Sunday morning I got in 5 miles and I can't tell you how long it's been since I've done that route. My legs were beat and I knew I wasn't in shape enough to run it. I walked twice for a total of 1 mile, so I was happy with that. I really want to get to a point where I do 5 miles once a week consistently.
So what did I eat at the ballgame? I did not eat clean, that's for sure.
My husband and I shared nachos with pulled pork BBQ sauce, cheese, salsa and toppings.
I had two Shock Top beers.
I had one mudslide. My cousin was drinking them and I had forgotten my love of the mudslide. So I got one. Funny how they put a lid on it. It almost looks like chocolate milk for a kid. I said I got mine in a sippy cup! :)
The game went to 11 innings and we won! Whoop! We got home much later than expected. Then I topped off the day by having an oreo McFlurry from McD's. Yes I really cheated. I prefer to just cheat one meal and not most of the day like this. But at the same time I kind of needed to get this out of my system. I'm ready for a good week and hopefully to get to my goal of 181 by the weekend. Then it's on to to the 170's! I think I'm going to take measurements and some updated pics on Sat.
Speaking of pics. . .
I downloaded a new app on my phone so that I can make collages for instagram :)
I know any before and after is legit, but I haven't been as heavy as I was in 2008-2009 since then. . . I have gone up and down. I really want to get together some before and after from my Advocare journey. However, I do think there is value in these photos. I don't even identify with the 2009 version of me. In the full body shot. . . gosh I knew I was big. . . I've seen that photo before. . . I just didn't realize how chunky my legs were. I remember those pants. . . I loved them. I was sad when they were too big on me, which is silly. But it's hard to find pants in long lengths that I love. I loved those pants! But I never want to fit into them again. I hope I gave them away, but I need to go through some clothes again and just purge.
From my perspective these photos motivate me and keep me dedicated. But I hope they motivate others too. Sometimes it just takes the right photo to encourage people. For me I've seen many before and afters, but then one clicks. I'm like if she can do it I can do it. I've seen some crazy before and afters - where the after is like bikini competition ready. That is likely not realistic for me. That is not my goal and I know that I don't have that kind of dedication. I'm just the average girl looking to be more confident and hopefully have a better time shopping for clothes. Though I've started to wonder if that's ever really easy as a woman? I'm not sure it is, no matter the size you wear!
Hope you all had a good holiday weekend. Summer is here and while I'm more active in the summer, I'm also in positions to eat more food. So summer is always a challenge. I'm determined to make this one the healthiest summer yet!
Hey everyone! It's been a *long* time since I posted. Mostly cause I haven't done jack with my weight loss. Total stall. Slight gain. Slightly bouncing around. I struggle to lose weight during half marathon training when I have longer and longer runs. I think in some way my body is always in a state of inflammation. I will gain 2 lbs shortly after a long run. . . try like hell for a week to get it off and then have another long run. Sucks, but it's life. I'm hoping to really buckle down once the race is over.
So here's what happens in 2 weeks. I run (well I think I will be walking to save my legs) a 5K on Saturday the 18th. I get this medal:
The next day I run a half marathon and I get this medal:
But because I did both I also get this remix medal. Apparently the middle part spins.
Who doesn't like race bling? That's the *only* reason I'm doing both of these - for the bling. First of all I have never done a 5K and received a medal. My very very first 5K that I ever signed up for, gave away medals. But it was rained out. I still got my medal. And I cried! No joke. But eventually after doing a few races I threw that medal out. It didn't count. My husband is doing the 5K with me and I think this will be the one time he finishes before me! I'm really worried about putting those miles on my legs the day before a half. Last month we did a Run or Dye (one of those color runs) and we walked quite a bit of that. My legs were sore. You use different muscles to walk than run. So I'm kind of torn on if I should really walk this 5K. I've not fully decided yet. It will be hard to walk it cause I'll have fresh legs and I will want to run!
My half training is going well. I'm following Higdon's novice 1 plan. I followed this the last time as well. However, I had just finished a 15K using his plan for that distance. And I ran 3 times a week. The half plan calls for 4. For my last (and first) half marathon I tried that for 2 weeks and just couldn't commit to 4 days. So I tossed the really short run in the middle of the week and did 3 days. I figured it worked for 15K - 9.3 miles, why won't that work for 13.1? It did work. I mean I have no reason to believe it didn't. But this time around I'm doing all 4 runs. I have hopes that getting my weekly base mileage up will help those last couple miles of the race where I was just dying the first time around. I should note that really I'm only doing the runs on this plan. Not the strength and cross training too. I wish I had the time for all of that, but I have too many other commitments. I ran 9 miles on Sat and I looked back at my 9 mile run for the first half (cause let's be real, I never run 9 unless I'm training!) and my avg pace was faster. So maybe the 4 days is helping. I'm not going to lie, it's hard. I've really struggled last week. And I struggled in the last 2 weeks of the plan the first time as well. So I have a 10 miler this weekend and my fingers are crossed! I really want to PR this half, but I know the course will be more hilly and I will be running alone (I had a friend with me the first time) so I really don't know what to expect. I want to run the whole thing first and if a PR happens then that will be great.
Last but not least - any baseball fans out there? I'm a new baseball fan. This is really my second year of paying attention in a way that I can knowledgeably talk baseball, I can identify the players on the field, etc. The St Louis Cardinals (my home team) are in the playoffs. I'm going to game 4 of the 5 game NLDS series tomorrow. I have tickets to 2 games for the NCLS should we make it that far. I'm not sure we will. The Dodgers are tough, among other things. But my fingers are crossed. I'm struggling with my soda drinking habit, so I was thinking I may give up soda once the Cardinals are done with their season. I haven't fully decided. It's such a drug. It's emotional for me too, but sometimes I just *want* a soda. In the meantime Go Cardinals!
