Category Archives: weight loss

5 miler and football!

I am surprised at how many of you actually eat (and like) brussel sprouts!  Yay!  Makes me wish I had bought more.

Run day today and since school has started, I don’t run on the track in the mornings.  I don’t think they would appreciate a sweaty woman skulking around the school yard.  I thought about waiting until evening, but then I remember tonight is opening night for FOOTBALL!!!!  Yes!!!

Anyway…..  preworkout munch:

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Pumpkin bread.  Delicious.

I decided to do a hill route, as I have not done that in months.  Whew!  2 miles of flat, then a 5K hill run.  There are a couple levels of hills, one tiny one to get started, then down a big hill, which is really hard on the legs to not go bum over teakettle.  Then back up a hill, smooth for a tiny bit, then a long gradual hill.  My legs were a little rubbery by the time I finished the 3rd one.  Finished in 57:00, which is slower than I would have liked – but I ran up all the hills, so that was good!  Listened to the entire soundtrack to Planet of the Apes (Elfman).  Fun to run to.

Came back and bumbled around the kitchen making breakfast.  Do you have those days?  It seemed to take me forever, but part of that was J and I both making breakfast at the same time.

In celebration of kickoff tonight, we had cafe au lait in these cups!

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Plus protein pancakes.

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My precious blueberry stash is getting lower.  Just a couple pounds left.  Did I seriously think these would last into the winter? Duh….

Had a craving for something salty for lunch – think it was the run and sweating, so I made another flatout pizza.

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I’ll be working late tonight.  With the holiday week, it’s slow so files haven’t come in until later.

So, it was time for a snack!

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And some freeze dried apples.  Crunchy yum!

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It’s feeling like fall out!  More truffula trees.  This clematis just won’t quit  – it has overgrown onto the porch.  I’ll have to take a picture of that.

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Grilled up a bunch of chicken for easy  meal prep.  I made another stirfry, but this time with carrots and broccoli to bulk up the meal.  That’s 3 veggies on the day (cucumbers at lunch)!

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Now it’s fasting time as I have blood work to do tomorrow.  Doesn’t that make me want to eat LOL!  I decided to make a morning of it – early for blood work, then John is meeting me for breakfast, then library and a little consignment shopping, then the mammo (the draw and the mammo are both at the same place).  Probably I will sprint to the nearest coffee shop for a caffeine hit once that’s over, too!

Have a great night!

Question:  Football?? Which team?

Kick off to the eating season has begun!

Today is the day that typically marks the start of the food frenzy to the end of the year. I think a lot of people already have Jan 1st marked in the back of their minds as a point to restart, so then loosen up from now until then end of the year.

Fall is my favorite time of year, I love the cooler weather, fall colors, and of course the beginning of baking season! I do love me some home made cookies. I hope to reach goal at some point this year. I managed last year to continue to lose weight during the fall and christmas months, and lost about 10 pounds from November 1st through Jan 1.
I do have 2 days where I will allow myself to eat more food than usual. Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. More so on Christmas eve, the last 2 years we hosted the family dinner and John and I love to cook and bake. So that day is one where I choose to eat a lot, and I really enjoy it.

The other thing I have trouble with at this time of year is eggnog lattes. I have only met one other person who can drink eggnog like I can, and I happened to marry him LOL! For some reason, I can drink a big glass of it and want more. I know most people think it’s too rich and can only have small amounts, but not me! So – I do let myself have one or 2 during the season. We also will make them at home with light eggnog cut with milk. That helps satisfy the craving without too many extra calories.

So, vigilance is the key for the next 60 days, allowing treats, but not to excess. Making sure I keep up the exercise and plan my eating to account for the extras.

More fun with before pictures.

I think my mind’s eye is actually catching up with my weight loss. Now that I have settled into a smaller size (even though I am not at goal yet), I am more used to what I see in the mirror. And I am starting to feel “normal”. Those of you who have been or are very large know exactly what I’m talking about.

I was looking through some boxes yesterday and found a couple more lovely pics that I actually liked at the time (?????). Like I could hide being 250 pounds with a cute outfit or a big t-shirt.
It’s like I don’t recognize the old me anymore. And I feel shame and embarrassment about the old pics, but you know, I have always been the same person inside. It’s really difficult not to regret the way I looked, and thinking how I wasted my 20s and 30s looking like that. Well, most of my 30s anyway – I did start the journey when I was 36. 😀



I swear I look like Humpty Dumpty in this picture. Or like a Weebils (anyone remember those?)

Hard to believe that I now look like this:

Struggling in my mind.

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So, I ate on plan today, which is good. But it was a struggle. Do you ever have those times where you feel like you ate poorly, even though you didn’t? It’s so weird. It’s like I have that need to be perfect in both thought and action.

I don’t know if it is the scale thing that is starting to throw me for a loop or what. I have to remind myself (repeatedly, ad nauseum) that I expected to gain or maintain this month, but now that the reality is actually happening, my perfectionist mind is causing me grief.

And it doesn’t matter what I tell myself. Yes, I have come a long way, I’m seeing results in other ways than on the scale, yadda, yadda, yadda. 🙂

I did run 3 something miles this morning, and did my strength workout, as listed below. I have a 5K race this Sunday, so I moved my weekly runs to MWF instead of TTS. I think I like it better that way anyway. I really wonder how long the 5K will take me this weekend, I am kind of excited to find out!

Gonna go watch some football. My Broncos are 2-0 (thanks, refs!!).

I can't add.

Well, I thought I had 7.4 pounds to goal, but it is really 8.4 pounds until goal. I checked the time I posted, and it was post-coffee, so I really have no excuse for the poor addition/subtraction problem. Oh well, what is 1 pound after I lost 100+? … Well, I guess it is 1%, which is really not that much 🙂

Ran slow today, I did a new route again, not the one with the big hill! I finished in 34:55, which is almost 2 minutes slower than my last time. I felt like I was going fast, but apparently not. It was very cold this morning, in the 40s, so maybe that had something to do with it. My first experience running for a longer period on concrete with all the new sidewalks in town, and not sure I liked it. My legs were also a bit sore from yesterday’s workout. Being a new runner, I am still learning all kinds of new things about how my body responds to temperatures, surfaces and times of day.
I’ve been poking around looking for some more runs this fall. I have one scheduled for the 21st of this month, and DH and I will be doing one in October (although he is walking the 5K, not running it).

And just for gratuitous cuteness, here is my 18-year-old kitty napping away. She looks so peaceful, and it makes me want to nap!

Need to quit acting like I am on maintenance

I really have such a maintenance mindset right now. I am not focused on losing, and I need to be. I have been thinking more about the fitness aspect instead. Not that there’s anything wrong with that 🙂

I keep thinking that if I push the workouts, the weight loss will follow. I know that gaining muscle is going to keep the scale put for a bit, but I also feel like I really should be losing as well. I am not ready to maintain yet, as I am just in the overweight category according to BMI (yes, I know it is a poor tool, but that’s all I have).

Okay, I guess I have been losing a bit, so that’s not totally fair to say. On July 1st I weighed 149.8, and today was 144.6 – so a little bit of progress in scale terms. At least it wasn’t upward, like happens to a lot of people during the summer months!
I have had a few cupcakes here, a few cookies there and a wee bit more eating out going on. I guess just the slowness of the loss feels like maintenance.

I just want to be at goal already. I mean, come on! 4 years and I am starting to lose patience LOL! I just need to refocus – I can see how my mind is all over the place in this post. Probably because I am a little bit tired, too.

Weigh in day! And Size 10 jeans!

Weigh in day. I lost 0.6 pounds, and I am so grateful for that! Considering the Indian food and cake the other day, having a loss was pretty surprising. Guess all that jogging is good for something LOL! Better not get cocky, though. 11 pounds to goal. I hope to hit that in 3 months. It’s getting so slow now.

Here is a pic of my new size 10 (!!!!!!!!) jeans! Note the slimming pose I struck 🙂

Almost the weekend!

Got one of my big projects done, so that is a relief!! Now I can get back to normal craziness 🙂

One of those times I am really looking forward to the weekend. Ended up eating about 200 extra calories today. Have the munchies big time.

I completed my goal for the month of thirteen 3.25 mile jogs during the month of July (3 per week). That was my goal, and I did it! I will keep with the jogging.

Yesterday I tried some intervals. During the last mile, I picked up the pace for the straight parts of the track, and went back to normal pace on the curves. That was hard LOL! I don’t know if doing that at the end of the run is better than at the beginning when I am fresh or not. Hopefully I can get my pace down to a 10 minute mile by the time I do the September run. That’s my new goal. I did 3 miles in 39 minutes – a 13 minute mile.

I’ve been thinking about maintenance again, and wonder how I will change what I am eating. I really don’t know how to maintain, just how to gain or lose! I almost fear maintenance for that reason.

Plateau??

Well, I have been checking the scale each day, and I think I might be going into a plateau. My weight at the beginning of July was 148.8 and today it is 148.

I do believe there will be some inches lost, so maybe this won’t be a true plateau like I had a couple years ago. I am concerned though, because the last time after months and months of plateauing I just gave up and gained back 30 pounds.

I really need to sit down and make sure that I am not sneaking in stuff that I shouldn’t be, or eating more on those days that I do harder exercise. Maybe I need to knock off the weekly frozen yogurt? Is it the running 3.25 miles 3x per week along with my other cardio? Do I need to eat more or less? Or do I just need to quit worrying about it?

I jinxed myself when I said 3-4 months to goal LOL!

Tomorrow is the big race day! The race starts at 8am, and we need to be done with registration by 7:30. So, going to bed early tonight. I hope to get there by 7. I registered for this race on May 8th, and I can’t believe a: that the day is finally here and b: that I am actually running a 5K!! I still can’t get over it.