Get your kicks!

On Route 66.. or at your local specialty running store :-)

I took a special trip out to the Lynbrook Runner's Stop in Long Island, NY to pick up some new running kicks. I really liked their website because they showed some example of how they fit runners to their shoes, which is exactly what I was looking for. There was an awesome woman at the shop when I walked in. The store is only staffed with runners and on this night, the woman on staff was a marathon runner. She asked me to take off my shoes and socks so she could evaluate my feet. Then I walked back and forth, back and forth so she could determine how I place my feet. It was an enlightening experience.

It turns out that I place my left foot neutral and my right foot supinates a bit. She had me try on a few pairs based on my needs and I ended up with these from Mizuno:
The best part of the experience had to be with the woman told me that I had very strong legs. Get that! An experienced marathon runner telling me I had strong legs- hehe. I was proud, to say the least.

I broke it my new shoes with a great run on Friday. I have officially begun the last week (week #9) of the C25K.

Sometimes You Just Want a Doughnut

So you have one.......

I really REALLY didn't want to go to work today. I wanted to lay in bed all day and wallow in my pissy mood. Instead, I got ready really slowly and made a stop at Dunkin Donuts before getting to work. I called my boss and he requested donuts, so I picked up a dozen and some munchkins. I got myself a flatbread egg sandwich, but those doughnuts were calling my name. So, I had one as I sat down to my computer at work. Then, I typed in my password, which reminds me of my weight loss goals.

The doughnut still tasted just as good, and feelings of sadness and regret didn't wash over me. I just enjoyed my doughtnut, like a regular person (ya know, the kind that can control portion sizes and not have guilt after calorie splurging once in awhile). It's rather nice to feel like a regular doughtnut-eating person.

I think it's important for my mental progress to document these feelings. I think it's important to sometimes just have a doughnut.

Weigh In Update

The readers were right! I must be retaining tons of water because I weighed myself when I got home from work yesterday. It had me down 2lbs from the morning to 183.4lbs.. It must have been all the non-stop water drinking at work. I was also a good girl, and I did the 30 Day Shred dvd after work.

I plan to keep up the water consumption and exercise today :-)

Blame it on the Alcohol

I wish I could just blame my weight gain this week on the alcohol. I weighed in this morning at 185.4 (+4.4 lbs). Yikes! I didn't even gain that much during Christmas time (which was more of a food challenge than this weekend). The sad thing is, that I don't think my eating was all that crazy. My boozing was definitely a lot more than usual, but the food was no worse than some of my recent weekends.

I'm not really going to dwell on this gain, because I feel so confident that the weight will be gone by next weigh in. I am a little annoyed with myself for "wasting" a week, in terms of weight loss, but I've got this!

Fear can take over

I had dinner with my long time friend, Maggie this week. It was quite an emotional experience for me. Maggie and I have always had the most honest relationship, so it was only natural that I felt comfortable opening up to her about my recent fears.

I am so scared to reach my weight goal. I have continually set it higher than I actually want to weigh so that I can keep "creating" a new goal. I have also binged on food as a form of self sabotage. In this never-ending cycle, I avoid attaining my goal. I used to convince myself that losing weight will solve all my problems, but surely it won't. Now that I realize this, I am so scared to reach goal.

Weigh In and Weekend Update

Boo-ya! I had an awesome loss this week: -2.6lbs! This puts me at 181lbs. I'm seriously excited considering the Panera debacle and the number of times I ate outside my home last week. I ate out for every single meal this weekend (but not all by choice).

It's been really difficult for me to teach myself that eating out is not an opportunity to eat whatever I want. Growing up, my family rarely went out to eat (usually just for a birthday or to celebrate a graduation) thanks to my mom's delicious and consistent cooking. So, going out to eat was always a free for all with my family. I am not lying to you when I say that one time at Outback Steakhouse blood was shed over the Aussie Cheese Fries. This wild event all ended with my father bleeding and my brother proclaiming to my father, "It's not my fault that you have paper-thin skin, old man!"

How many times did I eat out last week? 10 times!
Thursday
California Pizza Kitchen- pizza and red wine
Friday
Rest Stop Convenience store- cereal, apple, coffee, and a special k bar Cracker Barrel- two eggs, turkey sausage, 1/2 order hashbrowns, 1/2 order fried apples, 1/2 piece of corn bread
Saturday
Anthony David's (Italian) in Hoboken, NJ - eggs benedict with hollandaise on the side
Filipino food at a friend's home- puncit, roast chicken, lupia
Ralph's Italian Ice- small spumoni
Wild Ginger (Japanese) in Hoboken, NJ- sezchuan chicken and shrimp with white rice
Sunday
Bagel and coffee from a deli
Margherita's (Italian) in Hoboken, NJ- rigatoni with meat sauce, 1/2 caesar salad

Incidentally, my weekend of eating out ended at Margherita's, which is also the location of my and my fiance's first date. We decided to hit it up after our engagement session photo shoot, which was amazing! Check out the pictures and my weight loss progress here: Our Engagement Session

And a special thanks to Emily at Black Dog Photography for her amazing work.

Panera Sneak Attack

Whoops! A big F-ing whoops!

I enjoy eating at Panera from time to time, but I am well aware that the food is not always the most calorie friendly. I've become best buds with their online nutrition menu to try to combat this fact. I always know which soup to get (Chicken Noodle, Garden Vegetable) and which to steer clear of (Baked Potato, Broccoli Cheddar). I even know which drinks are a yummy treat and a calorie bargain (The iced green tea- yum!), but I had no idea what I was doing on Tuesday night when I haphazardly ordered the frozen mocha drink.

I foolishly asked if I could have it made with skim milk to which the Panera barista replied, "It comes pre-mixed". I should have known right then and there the mistake I was making. I sucked down the frozen mocha drink as I was exhausted after running, having a small dinner, and going shopping for 3 hours. Well, I was catching up with tracking the food I've consumed in the past two days and I nearly started hyper-ventilating when I saw the nutrition of the drink. In weight watchers terms, it was 15 points. 15 POINTS! That is two meals for me. I haven't made a mistake like this in a long time, at least not on a single food item (or to make matters worse a drink, in this case).

I am disappointed to say the least.

Weigh In

I weighed in last night because I forgot to do it on Monday. I tipped the scales at 183.6 (-1.4lbs). Yay, a legit loss after all these small losses and gain! If I can keep this up this week, then I should be out of the dreaded 180's soon!

Happy losing everyone!

Mind, Body & Soul?

My Mind is fed up with the 180's. She feels like Body will never dip below 184lbs. It is becoming very apparent that Body likes it here and finds it easy to maintain. Mind, however, is not satisfied.......

I don't like it at 185lbs, Body, so get over it! Sure, you're looking pretty good, but we can do better. I'm thinking a size 8 sounds perfect, what do you say? Do you think we can get it together and push through the 180lbs mark?

Soul doesn't really care about anything. She just wants to throw away the cell phone and laptop, sail around the world, and live off the sea. But everybody knows that Soul is a hippy-freak, and nobody trusts hippies.

So, how does Mind plan to whip Body into shape?

Last week Mind made Body do the following:
Sunday- 1 hour step class
Tuesday- 45 minute walk
Wednesday- 2.5 mile run, 30 Day Shred
Thursday- 30 Day Shred
Saturday- 2.5 mile run
Sunday- Rest

This week, Mind is thinking this should be the plan:
Monday- 2.5 mile run, Pilates
Tuesday- Rest
Wednesday- 2.5 mile run, 30 Day Shred
Thursday- 30 Day Shred
Friday- 2.75 mile run, Pilates
Saturday- 30 Day Shred
Sunday- 2.75 mile run

Hopefully this week Mind, Body & Soul can get on the same page.

Progress Report

Firstly, thanks to my readers for their support and encouragement!

A little update on my progress this week since my binging weekend....

My exercise has continued to be stellar. I ran 2.5 miles yesterday after work, then I made dinner with my fiances, ate, and then I did the 30 Day Shred DVD with my new exercise partner Nikki, my fiance's cousin's girlfriend.

I am also happy to report that with a little extra effort, I have been able to improve my eating this week.

I prepared some egg white sandwiches: 3 egg whites, 1 slice Kraft Free Cheddar, 1 Thomas' light mini bagel (~215 calories each), wrapped them up and threw them in the refrigerator for the week. They are extremely filling, quick to make, and reheat in the microwave in 30 seconds.

I also have been bringing my lunch more often, which allows me to pre-portion how much I am going to eat for lunch, while I am not hungry. This significantly cuts down on the portions I would eat when I buy lunch at the cafeteria at work.

Bringing food to work is not a novel concept for me, but I have certainly allowed myself to get more lazy lately.

Weigh In

Scale says -0.2lbs and I know why...

I sneaked a peak on Friday to see how the week was progressing and it had me at -1.2lbs. Rather than take this loss as inspiration, I decided to eat the calories back that I had burned. What did I consume?

Saturday: Over 1600 extra calories consumed
Nothing says "Congratulations On Your First Communion" to my fiance's second cousin like getting tipsy and eating bar food at her party!
1/3 cup calamari (300 calories)
3 baked clams (250 calories)
2 glasses of wine (200 calories)
2 pints of beer (340 calories).
Later that evening, my fiance and I went out for a cruise and stopped for a late night snack at Wendy's:
Jr. Cheeseburger (300 calories)
Value Fries (210 calories)

Sunday: Over 1130 extra calories consumed
Applebee's Oriental Chicken Wrap (700 calories)
French fries (430 calories)

I'm sure I would have posted a gain after this shmorgesborg, but I exercised lots this weekend. This was surely my only saving grace.

Sweating with the Oldies

I went to a step aerobics/kickboxing class Sunday morning with a friend that works at Lucille Roberts (a women's only gym, in case you didn't know).

The class instructor was a perky little thing at about 5'2", 105lbs. The class was 95% women 40-50 who have been doing aerobics since before I was born. Ya know, those 1980's aerobics queens with the sweatbands and two-piece midriff baring outfits. The other 5% of class was a smattering of girls in their 20's, 30's and a few little old bitties collecting social security (but, they sure kept up with the workout!).

The class instructor warmed up the class with a "joke" about how she left her three kids at home with her husband and one of them has a dirty diaper. The moms all laughed in unison.

The class itself was pretty challenging- not because of the moves, but because of the pace of the class. The instructor kept speeding up the music to a torturous pace. Regardless, I was able to complete the class, but it sure gave me a good workout.

I jest a little, but I'll definitely be going again.

Reasons to avoid running BUSTED

Wow- I ran 25 minutes on Wednesday (~2.25 miles). This is a big deal for someone who is a self-proclaimed "non-runner".

I've made many excuses for myself as to why I was incapable of running and my new self just thinks the old excuses are laughable:

"My chest is too big!"
There is no way that your chest is so large that it physically prevents you from running! I know you are top heavy, but surely there are women with much larger chests that suck it up and go running.

"It doesn't come naturally to me"
Running? Not come naturally? Your body was MADE for running. Your ancestors have been doing it since the beginning of time! Have you somehow evolved to lack the ability to run?

"Running is bad for my knees"
How can something so pure as running be bad for your knees? Running makes your legs stronger!

"I'm not an athlete, why else would I need to run?"
Ummm, how about to avoid danger- that should be reason enough!

I hope someone out there reads this and realizes that the only thing holding them back from running (or insert whatever unattainable activity here) are the self-created excuses. Let's kick those excuses aside and let the progress begin!