Am I a ditz?

I have had a tizzy of a week !! I'm not sure what's gotten into me, but I feel so bllahotiathoaigshdgk!

First off, I haven't been to the grocery store in 2 weeks--so I'm living on cheerios, tofu, almond milk, 1 apple, chipotle peanuts, and water. UGH! I really don't want to think about food these days. I either want sweets or nothing at all. How on earth do you run out of food?

Oh, and the last time I went to the store I forgot to get anything for my husband to eat for lunch. I don't know how he survives with me as the main food cooker. I don't cook anything.

Secondly, I have been doing my laundry all week. I have some whites that need washed, and a load of rags. But other than that it's done! I like the feeling of a clean laundry room. Wellll wellll, last night I threw a whole load of good clothes in the dryer. Then I realized I hadn't washed them yet. Then I put all the clothes in the hamper in the washer on HOT...these included white socks, a white work shirt, a light colored exercise shirt, and BRAND NEW BLUE JEANS. BAAAAHHHHHH! I woke up this morning to find everything a wonderful shade of light blue.

This morning I happily got out some flax seed to add to my cereal. I read the package--"more omega 3's than fish oil, without the smell!" So I poured a very generous amount on my cereal. Now I feel like I have a basketball in my gut, and I am nauseated. I had a very good idea why I felt so gross, so I looked up the side effects on Google. Sure enough I have overdosed on flax seed. On the good side--I may not be hungry for 2 or 3 days.

This afternoon--a wonderful Friday in a 20 somethings life--I am looking forward to one thing: TAKING A NAP! When did I get so old?

Tomorrow is my 3rd 5K. I will be running with dad, Ashley, and Angie. I'm sure we'll have a great time!

Until next time...

Clean Eating and 5Ks

I ran my second 5K this past weekend and finished 2 minutes and 7 minutes faster than the last one. But here's the difference--it was early in the morning, cool, and on flat ground. I had a great time, downed some gatorade and ate and apple. Plus, I earned some great gear--drawstring bag, hat, tshirt, energy bar, finisher's medal, and an ice cold soaking wet towel!

I have been eating clean for 2 days again, I had about 4 days of all out bingeing, so I have calmed down. I get a small cheat per day--otherwise I am going to eat a whole batch of brownies or tub of chocolate chip cookie dough. All the weight I manged to lose came back in water weight--bah!

Today is HIIT day and leg day. As much as I enjoy the high, I have trouble getting motivated. But I brought my workout clothes, shoes, stopwatch, and my music.

I enjoy vlogging for my group more than blogging--that makes sense though. I make videos for dad, and I have a blast! It's fun to get in front of the camera myself. It was awkward at first, but now I can usually rattle off something productive.

I wanna build some muscle. I'll go do that now!

Until next time...

It's been a while...

I have been working my butt off for the past 2 weeks. I signed up for training with The Get in Shape Girl. She's an awesome gal from Boston, MA, and she is a virtual trainer. She creates routines that I can do anywhere, and coaches me on my diet. I weighed this morning, and I have lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks. I lost 1.5 inches off my waist...now if I could get those inches to come off my hips!
Today will be my 5th day of clean eating. I haven't had sweets since Wednesday. I haven't had much trouble avoiding them since I eat 5 times a day--every 2-3 hours. I just have to say "no" when someone offers me sweets. Yesterday someone said, "Rachel, come eat! You could put on a few pounds." I used to be aggrivated by that statement, but then I realized that some folks show their hospitality by overfeeding you. Oh well! I just smile, change the subject, or make an excuse and walk away.
Friday night I was dreading the 5th quarter because they have so many goodies and cupcakes! But, I stayed away...but only after crying to Kyra about my desire to eat a cupcake, at 10:00 at night, after 2 days of clean eating. She let me know real quick that I was better than a cupcake, and it is a trigger food. So, wanting to come back to the group with a success story instead of crying because I failed, I didn't have a cupcake. Hoorah!
I have been vlogging for the fitness group instead of blogging because it's much easier to talk to a camera, then edit the footage. I guess I have become a blog slacker to make my vlogs.
Until next time...(whenever that will be?!)

Huge naps, eBags Packing Cubes, and Morning Lifting

Wow, yesterday evening all my plans went out the window...or to the couch like me. I was going to wash the car, vacuum it, clean the windows, and wipe down the dash, doors, etc. I managed to get in the house, drop all my stuff in the kitchen, change into some pjs and lay down! My goodness gracious! I managed to finish "The Tourist" starring Angelina Joile and Johnny Depp before falling asleep at 7 and waking up at 10. I fell asleep for good at 11:45. I hate being that tired!


I ordered some eBags packing cubes a few weeks ago, they making packing easier. Click here http://www.ebags.com/product/ebags/packing-cubes-3pc-set/13032?productid=949922 to see them! They're good for keeping things organized in your closet, and the 3 pack set fits perfectly in a carry-on size bag. I started packing for my beach vacation last weekend, and these bags are so awesome! I have pants and shirts in one, necessities in another, and my bathing suits and cover up in another. I have room for a few pairs of flip flops and my makeup, shampoo bag will fit, too! I believe I like packing because it lets me know something awesome is getting ready to happen! Plus, if I pack well and light, I don't have a hard time UNpacking when I get back home.

I woke up early this morning to do 30 minutes of weights. I did 20 minutes of light lifting to get my muscles warmed up, then I did 10 minutes of all-out, red faced, can't make one more rep lifting. My arms are sore, but it feels nice.

I ordered some Vibram Five Fingers Bikila barefoot shoes. I am going to wear those around the house for a couple of weeks to get my foot used to walking barefoot. I've read that I can't just go out and run my normal distance in these shoes because I will suffer and over use injury to a part of my foot I don't normally use. I will take that advice! I'm pretty excited to get them in the mail today.

I ordered a body fat monitor also, I have gotten my body fat percentage measured 2 times, and I want to be able to track it on a regular basis. I am going to focus on losing fat instead of weight. I want to have nicely defined muscles!

Until next time...

Frisbee, and Heavy Lifting Soreness

Yesterday I wore myself out by power walking in the morning, doing arm exercises--lateral pull downs, bench presses, and tricep extensions to failure. This morning my arms are SORE! I really like that feeling. Yesterday morning I did lunges for 100 yars. I have to stop and start as I go in order to finish the distance. Then last night I did 6 one-minute sprints over the course of a mile. My quads and glutes are killing me today.

I am very discouraged with my progress since late March and early April. I have lost 9 pounds, but I do not look any different. I found The Get in Shape Girl on Facebook 2 weeks ago, and I have seen that it takes more than a leisurely jog and calorie counting to reshape your body. I have vowed to do heavy lifting for the next 30 days to see what types of changes I see in my muscle definition. I know that it will change me, I have to be patient and work with it. Plus, I know that once I see the changes I will never want to stop working out and improving myself.

Here's my thing--I have to work on one thing at a time. It took me 90 days to become a habitual morning runner/walker. I have signed up for yet another 5K. Now that running is a regular part of my day I will be adding lifting. I have to focus on changing one aspect of my lifestyle at a time. I can't expect to live my life for 23 years one way, then wake up a totally different person overnight. Daily goals are the key to reaching larger goals.

I have two goals right now--do heavy lifting every other day or every 3 days for the next 4 weeks, and beat my previous 5K time by 30 seconds. I can have all the support in the world, but if I can't motivate myself to do something then nothing will change. I don't want to be the same person I have always been. I will become better at running, lifting, and eating.

Until next time...

I'm back, and I've run a 5K!

I have been running full time since May. I cut back from 6 days a week because I was wearing myself out. So, I started walking on alternate days and doing lunges on those days. I was at 133 when I got married in January. (My lowest weight ever was 118 in September 2009. I managed to get down that low from counting calories religiously and walking at least 2-3 miles a day.) I don't have a way to check my body fat, so I will need to seek out a place around here that has calipers or an electronic body fat reader.

After I took my running down to 3 days a week instead of 6 I started to see myself losing weight. I am happy to say that this morning the scale said 124.6. I haven't seen that number in well over a year! I started heavy lifting yesterday. My biceps feel pretty sore, but it's nice. I got this advice from Kyra Williams--The Get in Shape Girl. She is amazing, and very motivating! Plus I also joined a great group on Facebook--Clean Eaters and Fitness Fanatics. These guys really know what they're talking about, and they have the same struggles I do! I know now that I'm not the only person who wants to gain muscle, get fit, run fast, and still wants to eat sweets!

I ran my first 5K about a week and a half ago. I finished 9th from last...not too shabby for my first ever try. I just didn't want to finish dead last. I will run my next one the beginning of September. I am looking forward to it...it's in a much larger area, and we will have a dinner the night before, and a great goody bag, and post-race showers and massages will be available. I ran with my daddy (a.k.a. Bland County Survivorman) this past Saturday. He's a self-taught survival guru, and he is in awesome shape for someone whos knocking on 60's door. He kept up with me (which is not a huge feat), and he even encouraged me to run faster...I beat my time on this course by a whole 3 minutes over the last time. I had to run early--so I wouldn't burn up after the sun came up. It gets so hot these days!

I have been making numerous trips to the doctor over the past 6-8 months. I have problems with headaches, and I can't stay awake. Even though I try to workout, eat healthy fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, I will get SLEEPY most of the day. I have had my iron checked--and it was low, so I started taking 1 iron supplement a day. After 90 days I had it checked last week--and it's still low. Today my Dr. told me to start taking 2-3 supplements a day and check back in another 90 days. I have taken an iron supplement before, and it pushed my hemoglobin level 2 tenths over the threshold so I could donate blood to the Red Cross. After giving the blood I passed out, then I couldn't drive home, and I stayed in bed for 2 days. I am pretty sure I won't be giving blood ever again.

This morning I power walked, and I will be doing HIIT this evening--running sprints. Oh, how I love/hate running them. But I have to imagine the results: losing body fat, and looking great for vacation. Maybe I can get back into blogging on a regular basis, I just didn't feel like much was going in around here to talk about.

Until next time...

Motivation

I have had a sleepy few weeks. But I have managed to keep walking or jogging or doing lunges with hand weights even when I didn't feel like it. I finally lost 1 pound after weeks and weeks of jogging. Recenty I jogged with an iPod--something I had been avoiding so I don't become dependent on its beat to motivate me. I did like the music, but I found myself getting aggrivated and distracted when a song came on that I didn't really like.

I have been doing intervals--which according to every fitness article I read probably contributed to my 1 pound weight loss. I have worked up to 35 seconds of running with a 40 second recovery. I repeat this over a mile or 1.2 miles. I am trying to jog or do intervals on non-consecutive days. On those days I don't jog I walk with hand weights and end my mile with 100 or so yards of walking lunges or leg lifts or twists...or something that will make my glutes and hammies stronger.

After another week of jogging I lost another pound--hooray! I have lost 6 pounds in 6 months. From everything I have ever heard that is a steady and maintainable weight loss. Do I still eat cupcakes, ice cream, cookies, and bread? Yes. I have gotten to the point where I can stop eating and walk away. Thank goodness! I am changing, finally. I still have slip ups, but I get back on the right track.

Breakfast is 2 eggs with cheese and salsa, and either a piece of buttered toast or cheerios. I'll have coffee mid morning, and I drink water all day. Lunch is half a sandwich and potato chips. If I have to have a snack it'll be tootsie rolls or some other chocolate treat. I'll eat a reasonable portion of whatever P&E have for dinner. I am really trying to re-train my stomach and brain to communicate so I'll be able to control my eating habits. I try not to graze while I'm making cupcakes or lunches so I don't add unnecessary calories.

I'm going to work on toning my arms. I have decided I'll never have thin, bony arms, like some folks who lose weight. So, I'll be happy with toned arms. Good deal.

Until next time.