Strength and being hungry

First off, thanks so much for the comments on my push up video!  (You readers are the best!  That’s one thing I love about the blogging community.  Supportive and friendly!)

I am extremely proud of my strength (uh oh – one of the 7 deadly sins here).  I may not be at the magic scale number, but I am seriously strong. However, it has taken me a long time to build up to this level.  I started serious strength training in August of 2008 using free weights, then the NROLW program (which took 6 months) in 2009.  I started with pushups on my knees and could barely get out a set of 10 to what I can now do.  It takes time and patience – it takes a long time to build muscle.  Jody mentioned having patience today on her blog, and it is so true.   So keep at it!  Doing some of these kickazz moves makes me uber happy.

I had another great workout this morning.  Tuesdays are run days.  I fueled up with a Luna bar and hit the hamster wheel.  I ran 3 miles basically around 5.5 to 6 mph.  Then I decided to do some intervals:

  • 1 minute at 6.5 mph
  • 2 minutes at 6 mph
  • 1 minute at 6.8 mph
  • 2 minutes at 6 mph
  • 1 minute at 7 mph
  • 2 minutes at 6 mph
  • 1 minute at 7 mph
  • 2 minutes at 6 mph
  • super challenge: 1 minute at 7.3 mph!! dying….
  • 2 minutes at 6 mph
  • 1 minute at 6.8
  • 2 minutes at 6 mph
  • 1 minute at 6.5 mph

Then maintained 6.0 to finish up 6 miles.  I wasn’t planning on 6 miles, but the intervals ate up a lot of mileage and I figured “what the heck”!  I had a high when I left the gym.  Good sweaty workouts make me smile, not sure why.  After I am done, of course 😀

Breakfast was fabulous!  Steel cut oats cooked with a banana and almond butter and jam on top.  Then John got out chocolate chips for his brekkie, so I couldn’t resist those.

Work was back up to normal, so I got right to it.  I wanted some extra protein for lunch to have some good recovery superfoods for lunch:

1/2 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup pumpkin, 1/2 scoop protein powder, chai granola and a dollop of cranberry sauce.  It was yummy, but cold!

I ended up eating another 1/2 of a protein bar after lunch because I didn’t quite feel satisfied.  I think the run did that to me.  I don’t like being hungry at all.  The Beck book has one section where you write out something called a ‘hunger response card’ which is what you tell yourself when you are hungry between meals.  Here is my card:

This can sometimes be an argument in my own mind over this.  I actually read this card to myself.  I tend to get blood sugar drops when I don’t eat at timed intervals.  Enough to make me sweaty and shaky.  It seems as though I can go from a little hungry to the fall off the cliff blood sugar drop very quickly, so this is a big struggle for me in allowing myself to feel hungry (the fear factor).  One of my biggest in trying to lose the last 10 pounds.  I tend to eat for maintenance, which – duh – doesn’t equal weight loss.  I think you have to be a little bit hungry if you want to be in a deficit, right?  So this is my personal battle and I think probably the last challenge to get to goal.  But patience, right?

Good news on the broccoli front – I got someone to eat some tonight!  We were watching Good Eats last night and I was so happy to see AB doing a show on broccoli!  I was actually cheering 😳  dork alert!  Anway, John said something about trying it and I jumped all over that and got him to agree to try some.  I did my pan sauteeing with coconut oil for him.  He only wanted a little, so that meant more for my plate 😀

Here is his “I kind of am okay eating this, but not really” look.   LOL. We’ve got some work to do.

I am done with work for the night.   These last couple of weeks have been hard.  With a light workload, I have had to work longer days to get in my minimum lines, which often meant working at night as well.  Now we are back on normal schedule and I finished up on time!

Here is my evening snacky snack.

Delicious.  Here’s to a good night’s sleep with the snack!

21 thoughts on “Strength and being hungry”

  2. Alissa

    Don’t you love getting your husband to try new things? I’m always trying to get mine to try something different. I love broccoli too!
    .-= Alissa´s last blog ..Exhausted =-.

  4. Jane

    I almost watched that Good Eats. Should have, too, ’cause I have a bunch of beautiful broccoli that I had planned to eat with baked potatoes tonight, but I have absolutely no desire for spuds right now.

    I love the hunger response card. I should make one of those.
    .-= Jane´s last blog ..Feeling Good =-.

  6. Paula

    You are soooo good at your workouts and food consumption. I admire and aspire to be as you. Your snacky is a nice combination of sweet and salty… I’ll have to try that combo.

    I recently been eating broccolini… Yum. I made cauliflower & broccoli the other night and my Daniel absolutely loved it. Of course, I had to add salsa to it for him to eat it.. but hey, whatever works, right?

    Have a great evening.
    .-= Paula´s last blog ..Taoebo Cardio—Love this video =-.

  8. debby

    Boy are we twins with the getting hungry and blood sugar drops. Although I have to say that I have not experienced that for a very long time. Since I usually try to eat every 3 hours unless I am not hungry and I stretch it out to four. Keeping the sugar intake low to none helps me too.

    I am seriously impressed with your running times and distances especially now that I am timing myself!
    .-= debby´s last blog ..I’ve Got Goals!!! =-.

  9. Shelley B

    I know I won’t starve to death, but man, sometimes I can get really cranky when I’m hungry!

    I am going to buy some coconut oil – do you use it for everything? Right now I use extra light olive oil. Glad John at least tried the broccoli…baby steps, John! 😉
    .-= Shelley B´s last blog ..And We’re Off and Running! =-.

    1. Lori Post author

      I use coconut oil for all my cooking pretty much, but I don’t actually have a ton of it. Mostly for cooking my veggies! I use 1 tsp to pan saute or roast my servings.

  11. Jody - Fit at 52

    Lori, thx for the shutout today! Yes, it takes time with the workouts & big congrats to you!!!! When I decided to do amateur bodybuilding, I was already lifting for quite a while BUT I still spent a year putting more on before my first contest. & those clap push-ups I told you about before, I worked at that for a while before getting those. Patience is key & don’t give up too soon. It takes time as you said!

    I watch FoodNetwork in the gym (middle of the night repeats). I saw that Good Eats one but can’t hear it. I juts have a iPod shuffle.. music only.

    I like that hunger response card! WE have to understand ourselves & our emotions to get thru this & make progress! You can do it! Obviously, look at what you have done! 🙂

  13. Ang

    I’m the same way with getting hungry. One minute I’ll feel fine, the next I’m shaking and feel faint. I too become afraid of getting hungry!

    Good job on getting the husband to try brocolli. Maybe it will grow on him!
    .-= Ang´s last blog ..Christmas accomplished! =-.

  14. Trish

    I love me some broccoli! I too get the same way with blood sugar. Too low and I get light headed. I keep snacks in my purse for times like that (almonds, lara bar) but the problem is when those snacks call my name when I am not hungry…
    .-= Trish´s last blog ..Day 2 of C25K + Head Games =-.

  15. Lara (Thinspired)

    I have been working with rating my hunger, too. Obviously excessive hunger is bad, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with letting ourselves feel a gentle hunger. After all, if we don’t feel hungry, how can we feel full?

    Great run! Wow. Can’t imagine running 6 miles right now. Your speed is excellent, too. You are definitely strong! Was just talking to my mom last night about strength vs. skinny. She says as she has gotten older, strength has become more valuable to her.
    .-= Lara (Thinspired)´s last blog ..Unpacking, Repacking =-.

  16. Fran

    I like your cards, I’ll start working in the book this weekend, need to read the introduction first.

    I’m thinking about starting a 100 push up program for 6 weeks. I need to strengthen my upper body and give my legs a rest at the weight training. I train them a lot with my running.

    Do you know you’re famous in Holland? Today I was telling some people I work with about the 100 push up program and I told them one of my blogger friends (that’s you 🙂 ) did the difficult push up. They were so impressed!
    .-= Fran´s last blog ..A day in my life: Wednesday January 6th 2010 =-.

  17. Diane Fit to the Finish

    I have learned so much from Alton Brown. He is amazing.

    Hunger is an important part of weight maintenance and weight loss. For a long time I was afraid to feel physical hunger, but once I learned that physical hunger is my body’s way of telling me it’s time to eat something healthy, I learned to embrace it. Not saying of course, that getting too hungry is good. Definitely not!
    .-= Diane Fit to the Finish´s last blog ..The First Choice =-.

  18. Susan

    Ohman, you are making me miss the Food Network. It’s one of the things I cut back on when I got my bachelor apartment. I miss Alton Brown!! (including Iron Chef America)

    My sugar plummets when I don’t eat either. I’ll get shaky and dizzy too. I’m right there with you when you say you’re scared sometimes to let yourself go hungry. But really, it’s not THAT bad. Especially if food is readily available. It’s only ever scary when that sugar drops and having access to food is still a long way off.
    .-= Susan´s last blog ..Meet me in my office =-.

  19. Pubsgal

    Oh, I don’t like feeling hungry either, but it seems to go with the calorie deficit territory, doesn’t it? Probably because the things that are convenient for me to grab at work tend to be high in calories vs. volume, even though nuts are nutritious; even after eating something, I still feel hungry and have to remind myself, “You just had a snack with lots of calories; you’ll be fine for awhile.”

    I’m sure impressed with your running distances and pace! That’s fantastic!
    .-= Pubsgal´s last blog ..Weekly Update, 1/6/10 =-.

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