Too much to talk about!

Training with my new trainer, Alex, went great yesterday! He hit my lower body and core pretty hard! I was expecting my legs to be very sore. They weren't bad today. Now my core is pretty sore!
Alex wants me to weigh less often. I weigh almost daily in order to keep myself accountable. He suggested only weighing with him. I think I might give this a try. I think I'll attempt this next week.
He is also requesting several diet adjustments. Nothing too drastic, he has a sample diet that I will start out with. I have guidelines for each meal. One major difference is that he has me avoiding flour. I'm trying a new bread called Ezekiel bread. It is flourless.
Below is a picture of my bring home from the grocery tonight. Some things I've had before, some things are new to me.

I ran today. First run since my 5 miles on Friday. It was COLD!!! I ran with Vetria my co worker, Marnie ran too. Vetria and I were nervous about 38* with a windchill of 31*. Oh and don't forget the mist in the air that often changed to drizzle!

When we warmed up my body went numb on the outside. So when I started running I couldn't feel my rear end. Lol. We laughed about that forever. After about 5 min we were "warm" and felt good. We did intervals today. It went well. I use my new neck gator and my new iPhone arm ban today. I love new gadgets!

Picture below of Vetria and I running. You can see Marnie in the background. She lapped us several times. She is a seasoned runner.

All in all a great day.

First Session equals success!

I'm very tired tonight after lots of house work and a long Monday. I will post about my first training session with the new trainer tomorrow. (hopefully first thing in the morning)

Sleep is super important at the moment. Thanks for bring patient.

Twitter

My brother @alienwanderer has convinced me @findtheskinny to join #twitter

It seems to be interesting and different yet motivating as I switch #personaltrainer and train even harder for my #halfmarathon

Seem like another language? Yeah I know tell me about it. Lol. I'm learning all sorts of interesting Twitterisms.

Jason convinced me to join twitter since my mom is on twitter I felt pretty behind, so I am @findtheskinny on twitter. If you have twitter follow me. If not, get a twitter and follow me an we can learn the lingo together (@ # RT etc)

I do love the fact that I can follow so many biggest loser contestants on twitter. Of course they have no clue who I am, but I can see how they still work hard, struggle, succeed, etc.

I have also figured out how to link my instagram app to Twitter. I will be putting a Twitter feed on my blog too.

So join the fun and follow me!

It is all about strategy

So here I set at Outback Steakhouse. I came in with 1169 calories available.

First choice was simple. Don't waste calories on my beverage. Get a water for free (both money and calories wise)

Next step get on my iPhone. I used MyFitnessPal and outback.com along with my paper menu. I block out the world and all the "what are you getting discussions" and made a plan that I knew would work. If I don't order more calories than I can have then I can't eat more than I have.

I allowed myself bread and a small piece of the blooming onion. For each of these I calculated how much I could have and put exactly that amount on my plate and no more.

After deducting calories for a small portion of blooming onion and I do mean small (328 calories) and a serving of bread (175 calories) I only had 667 (minus one) calories remaining. So now that I treated myself to bread and fat ( all things in moderation ) I had to be picky with my entree. I chose a caesar side salad (330 calories) still a splurge and then I chose for my actual entree a 6oz sirloin prepared with no butter (227 calories) and steamed broccoli also with no butter (50 calories) all this left me with 69 calories remaining.

So what do you do next Hn you finish your small, planned ahead portions, others are still eating and the bread is staring you in the face.

You BLOG!!!

Now we are all done. I resisted the bread.

Smart Choices

At starbucks. Chose a grande water!
It's choices like these that will make this process proceed faster. Not to mention I am still recovering from 5 miles! Whew!

Personal Record - longest distance yet - 5 miles! with my big brother!

This morning I was so blessed and lucky to have my big brother take me on my first long run.  We went 5 miles today.  Up until this point the furthest I had run is 3.1 miles (my 5K in July).  I used to think my farthest was 4 miles in high school.  I'll get to that later.

I had a goal with my training for the half marathon in April to run 5 miles by Christmas.  Well, last night in talking with Jason (brother) I misspoke and stated that I had a goal of running 5 miles by December (big difference right?) I had mentioned going 4 miles with Jason, then in conversation I said "do you think I could go 5 miles" he said its not if you can or not, it's if you want to".  I was like ok, 5 miles it is.  So this morning we went to get little Everett's first haircut and then we came home to run.  Jason and Jamie had purchased my first hydration belt for me as a birthday gift and brought it to me this weekend.  I was nervous upon receiving my hydration belt.  I was thankful for the gift, but the gift of a hydration belt also brought a reality that it was time to get in some long runs.  I was nervous! Jason also brought me a neck gator this weekend because of my recent difficulties with being warm all over but having a cold face/ears/breathing cold air etc.  So we got ready.... got my hydration belt fitted, filled my bottles so I had a total of 20oz of water and grabbed a pack of fruit snacks, then placed my license in the belt as well.  I put on my neck gator and we were ready.  5 miles here we come!!!

Here we are ready to take off!

Headed down the road out behind mom and dad's subdivision, we were ready to work on my form.  My form has been pretty good, just working on smoothing out my motions.  I normally don't have trouble with the cardiovascular end of things.  I just have trouble with muscle fatigue.  I prefer it this way I think.  So today was not about speed/pace at all, just about being steady, smooth, and getting in 5 miles.

We looped around the high school, hadn't been there in a while. Just over 1 mile at that point.  Took a splash of water at that point in time with a 1 min walk break.

We headed down the main road to the elementary school, when we arrived we were at 2.3. There we took another min walk break with water and a few fruit snacks to boost my sugar and keep my mouth from feeling so dry like.  We looped around the playground where I spent many recesses off road and talked about how when I was there playing I didn't think about "can I make it through recess?"  No., I just played and did what I did and gave it little thought.  So, I should adopt a thought process about training for this half marathon like I had in elementary school, not fearing failure, but just doing it.  I also talked and remembered the days about running some of those roads back in high school for soccer.

Then we headed down Meemaw's Road, we called her she came to the window to see me go by and we exchanged waves.  Little things like that make the runs so much more special and fun.  Just past her house I got to practice good downhill form and uphill form.

Next we crossed the highway and came past one of my best friend's houses that has a monster hill next to it. At this point we were at 3.75 miles. I shortened my stride and lifted my feet, my legs burned bad by the top of the hill, but I made it. The hill was slanted so my right leg burned far worse than my left. I saw my friend, Rachel's, Dad working outside, it was fun to see a familiar face along my run in my hometown neighborhood.

We took our last walk break, another swallow of water and a few fruit snack pieces.  Then we were off to finish up.

We headed back into Mom and Dad's subdivision.  I felt myself slowing down at this point. My legs were getting tired... my lungs were GREAT though! We crossed the subdivision and went out to the road that we started on that goes along the outside of the subdivision.  When we got there I was at about 4.8 miles.  0.2 miles to go.

I could see the finish in sight.  I kept my form, didn't let it get out of control but drastically sped up my feet.  My brother went right behind me yelling "go go, you got this, don't give up now, push push, etc"  I had a bit of an adrenaline rush and it was fun.  He finally yelled "Stop!" and I had done it... I started walking and smiled big knowing that I had completed a 5 mile run.

5 miles!!!!!

I am so thankful for a brother who has invested time and energy into helping me succeed this time.

I have been rather fatigued this afternoon, I took a nap, I never take naps...... I did today though.  I feel great though! I feel better than I did when I ran my 5K in July.  I think that tomorrow I may be back to normal after a good night's rest tonight.

Today I realized this "I CAN DO A HALF MARATHON!" I can do it, I really really can.
My brother was going to take me to 6.5 miles today so that I would go half of a half marathon.  He thinks I would have done just fine, but we had family portraits an hour and 15 min after my run was over, so it was a push to get this hair all washed and dried anyhow, no time for the extra 1.5, but I'm confident that I could have done it.  I think that my cardio vascular health is the best its every been.  Now, I just need to train my legs to not fatigue so fast, it will happen though.

We looked at the map when we got home and I found out that the "4 miles" we used to run in soccer was only 2.2" !!!!!!! Seriously, so until today I thought my furthest run every was 4 miles, but I found out that it was actually my 3.1 in July... Until today!!! Now my furthest is FIVE MILES!

I'm so thankful for my health and ability to do this.  I'm thankful that God helps me through.

For those that know my childhood area it went like this (this is very general):

Mom and Dad's to
the high school
down to the elementary school
down a subdivision (across from the closed Minit Mart)
and over to and across the highway
back to mom and dad's subdivision

A belt??!!

Yeah a belt. I bought a belt! Haven't owned a belt like ever in my adult life. We have family portraits on Friday so I headed to NY&Co for something that fit well and was cute. With my waist being 7 inches smaller than this time last year I decided to try something tucked in. OMG!!! Our attire for the pics is a white button up and jeans. So below you will see my outfit. It was the first outfit I tried (except I had to get a medium shirt instead of a large, yay!)
The jeans look black here but they are dark denim. The lighting in the fitting room isn't very good. Hope that doesn't come back to bite me tomorrow. Lol. And do you know how difficult it is to take your own picture in a fitting room mirror. Lol.

Anyhow. Just a little success to share along the journey.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I will be enjoying small servings of great food this year. My motto for this holiday season. "All things in moderation."

I'm so thankful today for my family, a great husband, a wonderful job, home, friends, and God. I get to see my brother, Sis in law, and Nephew today for the first time since July 4th! I'm so excited. Jason and I will be running tomorrow. Cant wait. Maybe a run tonight too!

Getting honest with myself

I mentioned in last night's post that I had gained back the five I had lost. Well I had not been recording the gains in MyFitnessPal therefore you weren't seeing them on my blog button. So I officially weighed in and recorded this morning.... Not good. 185.6 up from 178.8 two weeks ago. Bummer. It's completely nutrition. I've been running and exercising.

So my goal is to have a loss, any loss, over Thanksgiving break, so by Monday morning.

Check out my progress graph below. This is my most dramatic loss and gain yet :(

Changes!!!

Yeah so Today was pretty crazy. Aside from teaching 7th/8th graders all day that were about to be out of school for 5 days I decided to take a plunge and do something I had been aiming to do for some time. I tried a spin class for the first time. I did a 30 minute entry level class. I went to another location of my gym that I hadn't been to yet. My location has the pool, theirs (same distance from home) has indoor tennis courts and spin classes. Now, let's back up. After calling to confirm when the class was I got all pumped about this new adventure and texted Chad to tell him. Quickly he responded that he was excited for me to go, I then asked about our next training session.....

Chad recently made some job adjustments and got married! (Congrats! Chad!) and he was only training once a week. I knew that the day was coming that he would be done training at my gym and today was that day.... :(

I told him I wanted the best trainer to switch over to. Then I proceeded to be sad that we didn't get to train anymore. And I didn't get my picture with him for my blog. For those of you that have read a while you know this will make my 3rd trainer in a year (Chad trained me for 9 months!)
It's hard to open up to someone, get used to them and then switch.

Anyhow, Chad sent me the contact info for my new trainer. I asked Chad 20 questions about him (Alex). Chad told me that I would really like him. So I texted him. Before I went to spin Alex had already called me and talked with me about some goals and asked me to stop by the gym and meet with him after spin.

Back to spin....

I walk in a room full of spin bikes. OMG what am I thinking!!!! Immediately everyone was sooo nice and helped me pick a bike, the instructor came right over introduced herself, set my bike up for me. Adjusted all the adjustments. Taught me all the hand positions, terms, where to change resistance and how, and tips to make sure my form was right. Then once my feet were all strapped in and I left my water on the floor (it wouldn't fit in the bottle holder) we were off. We stretched while peddling, we peddled flat ground, hills, standing up, setting down, high resistance, low resistance,... All while the lights were out (except a black light that lit up our towels and shoes) Music was going. Everyone was chatting here and there about who was running what races when etc. The instructor was so great. When it came time for water I got off my peddles long enough to pick up my water and the older guy next to me came over and found a way for me to keep my water at arms reach.

I was sweating, it felt so good though. My legs burned, my heart rate was up, I was sweaty! Wondering why I left the tank on my bed and wore the tshirt.

Before I knew it I heard "if you are doing the entry level only this is your last run before cool down"

It went sooo fast!!! Yipee. Me and one other guy left after the 30 min. The others were in for another hour. That will be me one day (not yet, easy does it sometimes)

Everyone was so nice and welcoming and invited me to come back. I will go back for sure. I burned almost 300 calories in 30 min and it went by fast!!

So off to my regular gym location to meet Alex.

I met Alex... He is super pumped to train me. He has high goals for me and my success. I'm still extra nervous but knowing how eager he is makes my mind ease a bit. He gave me his diet plan that he likes to start people on which is what I've been doing just more intense. I did tell him that I like to be pushed. I will start training with him Monday. He told me to enjoy thanksgiving and start fresh on Monday. I like starting fresh. I will weigh, measure, set goals, etc. Alex has already added me on MyFitnessPal (you should too) to view my food journal, read my blog, and told me to text with any questions anytime. I'm pleased with his eagerness to help me succeed.

I had lost down to 178.8 remember? Well I gained back to 183ish. Not making excuses at all but I haven't trained with Chad in almost a month. I had met my goal of losing 5 lbs by the next time I met with him and when I realized last week that I didn't think we would get to meet again it was like subconscious self sabotage going on and I just gave in and gained. That is in NO way Chad's fault. I am the only person who can make things happen for me. Now I have a new goal. I'm going to weigh in the morning, then I am going to set a loss goal for Monday. I do plan to enjoy Thanksgiving but I also plan to get my runs in, and not go crazy. I plan to laugh and enjoy my family that I haven't seen since July!!! So my goal is not a specific number. I just want a loss between Wed. Morning and Monday Morning.

Running update. It's going great. I ran in the rain yesterday with Marnie (teacher running buddy). It was warm and drizzly. The rain was running down my face and it was amazing. I did a 25 minute run and got 2.1 miles in. Best rime yet!!!

5,000 challenge update - 4th try here. I will hit my 5,000 goals by next Wednesday Nov. 30th at 9:00pm. I will get this. I'm setting reminders on my phone so I won't forget which has consistently been my problem thus far!

So I went through lots of quick changes today but it's going to be good. I will miss Chad, but I will do well and make him proud I'm sure of it! I told him that when I have my 50 lb celebration party that he has to come!

Saturday Morning Thoughts

So I got closer to accomplishing my 5,000 goal this week but haven't quite made it. It's a much tougher goal than I realized when I set it. I accomplished 2,880 of my 5,000 (2,100 sec of running, 420 sec of planks, 360 sec of yoga poses, and no knee drives). So I started over today. I will do this. I have set to have it complete by Thursday evening. I'm already off to a good start with 180 sec of planks this morning. I'm not upset for being on my third try I see it as getting better and stronger for the third week in a row.

I headed out to the gym last night for Zumba Party. The Friday night Zumba class at my gym. I got there and it had been cancelled and so the mental argument with myself began.... Stay and work out? Just do cardio? Leave so I can get home and eat dinner earlier? I headed to the car to get my earbuds for cardio and realized they weren't in my car. So I headed to the elliptical trainer to work out in silence. I faught myself mentally until I had 20 minutes in. Then I thought I can't be all warmed up and not do some circuit training. So I grabbed a kettle bell from my trainers office and headed over to the free weight section or what many might call "the guys' section". I rotated 3 kettle bell exercises with oblique sit ups on the inclined sit up bench. I did 12 reps of each exercise in the circuit and repeated the circuit 3 times. I was fatigued on the last few reps, but finished strong.

I laughed inside at all of the grunts and noises the guys make when they lift. Is it really necessary ? One guy (probably 25-30) was being worked out by his friend, who obviously though he was a bundle of awesomeness, and was being pushed by this friend to do more and more and more until he was literally about to vomit right there. The "bundle of awesomeness" friend, I thought, was just being a jerk. Anyhow. Now that that side story is over...

I left feeling great! I had pushed myself to finish a good full workout. I had done a good circuit without my trainer. Which is just an accomplishment for the simple reason that I took what he's taught me and used it on my own.

I did only upper body and abs because my quads were a bit sore from my 2 mile run on Thursday and I was looking to my running assignment today (25 min run) and didn't want to mess it up by overworking my legs. I can't lie though my shoulders are super sore today. I'm glad though, because I pushed myself in circuit training which in my opinion is difficult. I much prefer to have a person telling me what to do and when to do it.

I did 3 minutes of planks this morning. My shoulders felt that too! Yikes!

My running is going really great! I'm looking forward to my 25 min run today!

I am also really REALLY close to my goal of getting to the 170s. I weighed in at 180.8 a few days this week, then it dropped yesterday to 180.2, this morning I was 180.0 EVEN. Come on 170s!!!!

I'm so determined.

My last weigh in was 180.8 lbs. I want to be in the 170s so bad!!! So I gave it my all on my busy busy day today (we had a talent show tonight at school that I was coordinating). I packed my things this morning for running. Two other people from our training group at work ran today as well. They are two experienced runners. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous to run just me and them because I'm not fast. But I had a great time. We went to a local park to run. I did a 2 mile trail. They took that trail plus an extra inner loop to make 3+ miles for them. So one of the girls told me that last time we ran there ( a month ago) when she finished the 3+ route that my running group was at a certain spot. She challenged me to be done with the loop by the time they got done with there loop. My run went great. It was cold but it didn't bother me today. I ran well and I passed up my loop before my time was over and just before they finished the loop. I was thrilled. I did 2 miles in 25 with hills. I was so excited. It was so nice to have someone there to challenge me and encourage me! Thanks girls!
There is a picture below of us after our run.

So after the talent show I was stuck running by Chic Fil A for our dinner. Brandon is under the weather so I got him our favorite, the spicy chicken sandwich with fries, in hopes that the spicy would clear his sinuses. Lol. So I put my dad on the phone as I went through the drive through so I would order healthy for myself. I told him ahead of time what I was getting so that when I got there I couldn't cave in. Dad is good at accountability. So it worked. I ordered a grilled chicken wrap with a carrot and raisin salad. (picture below) They packed my wrap without dressing. It was really good. So I saved 400 calories at Chic Fil a in planning ahead a healthier meal than my favorite meal that I'm always tempted to order.

I came in under my calorie goal today. I can't wait to weigh in tomorrow morning and hopefully hit the 170s!!!!!

One more picture. Me with my students at the talent show!

Will Power

O'Charleys is a restaurant that normally ruins all healthy efforts for me. The sour dough rolls are death to all calorie counts! I actually ate lunch just now at O'Charleys for 305 calories! Yes! I finally beat O'Charley at his tricks to keep me pudgy!

I ordered a pick two lunch combo and got a ceaser salad and cup of potato soup. I only ate a third of the salad (I'm not a big salad eater) and I ate the cup of soup. I ordered unsweetened tea and skipped the rolls. If you stare at them and pretend you can almost taste them. I'm telling myself I can go without the rolls and I'm doing it.

I conquered the rolls! This will in turn help me conquer MY rolls! Lol.

Eating is so Social

So, today in order to avoid eating things I shouldn't me and my tuna and crackers with pineapple stayed at my desk to eat.  I LOVE eating with co-workers, but until I get my routine of bringing my lunch back in check I may have to eat at my desk on days when I feel weak and don't think i'll be able to resist sweets and things!

5000 update

Well. I failed to meet all of my 5000 goals from the previous post and let me tell you why... I got busy and forgot last Fri-Sun because of other events going on. Now let me tell ya 1000 seconds of planks is NOT doable in 3 days. I was sore from 150 seconds a day for 3 days! (which only equals 450)I did manage 250 knee drives and over my 2000 seconds of running. I did not get in any yoga :( So I can't just leave it as a fail. I will try again. Same goals as last time:

1000 sec of yoga
2000 sec of running
1000 sec of planks
1000 knee drives.

I will accomplish this by the Satuday morning.

I was out of town Thursday-Saturday with 13 7-9th graders for all-state choir. I did not log my food while I was gone but that hotel was one long hotel and my room was on the far opposite end from my students. A few good trips between ends was a good little walk. Lol. Anyhow. I ate cracker barrel and pizza and other good stuff but I did it in moderation. I weighed this morning and had lost a few tenths of a pound. Success in my opinion since I traveled.

So this week is my first week with no marching band OR choir trips. Wahoo! So I hope to achieve my 5000 and much more!

Also I got the blogger app for my phone. This means lots more posts!!! I can now even post pictures from my phone. I used to type posts into notes then copy paste them on the site from my phone due to not having Internet at home. So, I'm excited for this app. Picture uploads were few and far between when I came across Internet access. Now they can be anytime, anywhere!!!!