March 23, 2011 By thea
It felt good to get back to it. My mood has improved dramatically over the past several days, in no small part to my March race.
I feel like I’m getting myself back to the spot I was physically a few weeks ago…which has helped my desire to fuel my body…and my desire to sleep…and my desire to have some reading downtime during the day.
It’s all connected, yo.
Food – 5 Fruits and Veggies every day, and pre-packaged snacks can’t have more than 5 ingredients. I got no less than 4 servings every day, and managed to get that 5th serving in a couple of days. I did much better with the snacking this week, too…4 out of the 7 days! Let’s pretend I didn’t makeout with peanut butter and pretzels one night, m’kay?
Fitness – 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 days a week and 10-15 minutes of strength type stuff 5 days a week. I had a total of about 1.5 hours of cardio in this week, spread over 3 days and only 2 strength sessions. Better than last week but not where I want to be.
Fun/Focus – Read 1 or 2 chapters every day and get 7 hours of sleep every night. I got 5 chapters in this week, and I’m back to sleeping 7 hours EVERY NIGHT! Yay for antibiotics!!
March 16, 2011 By thea
What goes up must come down, right?
As amazing as Week 1 was for me, Week 2 was equally notsogreat. It wasn’t horrible, mind you. I didn’t go stark raving mad. I just do nearly as well.
Fine, I’ll just say it. I hardly met any of my goals. You happy?
A lot of obstacles stood in my way this past week. Some of them I put there myself, some of them got dropped in front of me. Either way, I didn’t handle the disruption very well.
Food – 5 Fruits and Veggies every day, and pre-packaged snacks can’t have more than 5 ingredients. Ummm, no. I got 3 F/V in every day. I even managed to get a 4th in on one day. I tanked on the snacks. Big time. I didn’t meet that goal once this week!
Fitness – 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 days a week and 10-15 minutes of strength type stuff 5 days a week. Ummmm…no. I got 30 minutes of cardio in twice. In 7 days, I worked out twice. So sad. And I got ZERO strength sessions in. Zero. Sigh.
Fun/Focus – Read 1 or 2 chapters every day and get 7 hours of sleep every night. I only got about 4 chapters in this week. My sleeping has been abysmal. I’m not sure what the exact problem is, but I am hardly sleeping at night. And I’m a zombie during the day. I’m going to bed on time, I’m just not sleeping. It really sucks.
And so begins a new week. I’m going to make an effort to make it better. I’m the only one with the power to do it.
March 2, 2011 By thea
I kind of disappeared at the end of that last challenge, didn’t I?
NOT TO BE REPEATED THIS TIME, I ASSURE YOU!
So, I’m super-duper excited for this challenge. I have an awesome partner (everybody say hi to Jen…. HI, JEN!) and we are going to tear this challenge UP!
I’M IN LOVE WITH MY CAPS LOCK TODAY!
Anyhoo, Jen and I are choosing to not focus on that pesky little number on the scale for this challenge. I’m still cruising along in Maintenance Mode and Jen has kicked her scale to the curb because she’s focusing on her overall health.
As a team, we decided we would each come up with three goals for our self: a food goal, a fitness goal, and a fun/focus goal. Of course, we each picked more than three. : P
Here’s mine: Food – 5 Fruits and Veggies every day, and pre-packaged snacks can’t have more than 5 ingredients. Fitness – 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 days a week and 10-15 minutes of strength type stuff 5 days a week.
Fun/Focus – Read 1 or 2 chapters every day and get 7 hours of sleep every night.
So there you have it! It’ll be a challenge to find pre-packaged foods with 5 ingredients or less, but I guess that’s the whole point right? I’m challenging myself to pay attention to what goes into my mouth. I already know of one cracker that only has 3, and I was a little crushed to find out that my favorite snack has 7 (I thought sure it only had 5), but that’s the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.
February 9, 2011 By thea
Why, oh why, did I let myself fall into the trappings of Weekend Fare and Superbowl Food?
Hell, I didn’t even go to a Superbowl party! I seriously just went to my friends house, had a martini (or two) and then made a plate of food and went home. I was there a grand total of 15 minutes.
Have you noticed that when you haven’t eaten a particular food in a really long time that when you have that food, your body is like AW, HELLZ TO THE NO! and completely revolts and Tums is your friend?
That would be the story of my weekend.
And while Monday and Tuesday wasn’t nearly as bad as the weekend, my eating and working out was not what it should have been.
So, I’m not at all surprised that I’m up a pound this week to 158.
No big deal. It happens. The key is to not let it get to 159. Nip it in the bud, I say!
1. 10 minutes of either abs or yoga in the morning before the kids get up 3 days a week. – Got it done twice.
2. Run/Walk 3 days and cross-train 2-3 days a week. – 3 runs (including 5k race) , 2 strength in, and 1 swim in.
3. One sweet a day, at the END of the day. – Not to bad with this. A few slip ups. Nothing major.
4. Limit pre-packaged foods. – I did great this week!!
February 2, 2011 By thea
I never confessed it yesterday, but I had a big bout of Emotional Eating for lunch yesterday. I went to McDonald’s and ordered a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Value Meal with a side of Cinnamon Melts.
On the way home, I realized what I had just done. Instead of cramming the food down my pie hole out of frustration (does anyone else eat faster when they are mad???) I decided to own up to my decision and enjoy my food. I slowed my eating down and savored each bite.
Did I regret it later my lunch later? Oh yeah. But there was no side of guilt to go along with it. There was no depression based on what I ate. I bought, ate it, enjoyed it, and moved on.
Heck, I even still worked out instead of giving in to that brick that was in my stomach. And I worked out hard. I ran my fastest mile ever and had a PR on the 5k distance.
As I sit here and write this, the song Defying Gravity pops into my head…
Something has changed within me Something is not the same I’m through with playing by the rules Of someone else’s game Too late for second-guessing Too late to go back to sleep It’s time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes: and leap!
That’s where I am now. I’ve changed. I’ve turned a corner. I feel good. I’m happy. I’m strong.
It’s been a good week, ya’ll. A very good week, indeed. I maintained at 157.
I’ll take it.
1. 10 minutes of either abs or yoga in the morning before the kids get up 3 days a week. – DID IT! 2. Run/Walk 3 days and cross-train 2-3 days a week. – 4 runs , 3 strength, in and 1 spinning in. 3. One sweet a day, at the END of the day. – Slipped up a little bit yesterday, but I hit it every other day.!
4. Limit pre-packaged foods. – I’m still struggling a little bit at night with this one, but for the most part I’m reaching for fruits and veggies during the day inistead of chips. That’s major progress.
January 26, 2011 By thea
I’m tired, ya’ll, so this post is going to be short and sweet.
I rocked this week. And the scale responded.
Funny how that happens, right?
Anyway I’m done 1.6 pounds this week to 157! Woo to the Hoo!
Here are my goals:
1. 10 minutes of either abs or yoga in the morning before the kids get up 3 days a week. – DID IT!
2. Run/Walk 3 days and cross-train 2-3 days a week. – 4 runs in and 1 cardio in.
3. One sweet a day, at the END of the day. – NAILED IT!
4. Limit pre-packaged foods. – I slacked a little on this one, but never went overboard. Night time is the hardest for me when it comes to this.
January 5, 2011 By thea
Howdy ho, neighbors! Oh. Wait. The Holiday Hoe-down is over. Let’s try that again.
HI EVERYBODY!
I feel like I am a little late to the game because I was gone last week, so I’m just going to jump right into it.
I didn’t have access to a decent scale last week, so I’m going to use today’s weigh in as my starting point. This morning, I weighed in at 158.
This is up 1.5 pounds from 2 weeks ago. You know what? 1.5 pounds over Christmas AND New Year’s AND a road trip? I’ll take it. I just need to get back in the swing of things and start living intentionally.
My weight goal for this whole year is to stay in my healthy range of 153-157 pounds. I’ve started a new ticker (see it over there on the right?) for staying in this range in 2011. In 2010, I was able to stay in the range for 29/52 weeks. I know I can do better than that this year.
And you know what’s going to help me get there? Goals. Specific, quantifiable goals. Here’s what I have on tap for this challenge:
- 10 minutes of either abs or yoga in the morning before the kids get up.
- Run/Walk 3 days and cross-train 2-3 days a week.
- One sweet a day, at the END of the day.
- Limit pre-packaged foods.
So there you have it! 2011, my best year yet.
December 22, 2010 By thea
Since I’m not going to have access to a scale or a computer next week, I am officially calling this post my 2010 Finale.
So there you have it. My year in numbers. I officially spent 29 weeks in my healthy range. That means I’m above average!
Hurray for somewhat better than mediocrity!
For this challenge in particular, I stayed in my healthy range 4 out of the 6 weigh ins! GO ME!
My average weight in 2010 was 156.9. Talk about skin of my teeth!
While I’m still deciding whether or not I’m going to continue weighing myself in 2011, I really do love seeing these graphs. It really gives me a good picture of how I did for the whole year, as opposed to getting bogged down in the week to week.
I never got more than 3 pounds above my range, and the dreaded 160s decade (that I vowed never to return to) only reared it’s ugly head 3 weeks out of the whole year.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s success.
I’m eating better, I completed 5 races (including 2 tris) and there’s only more to come next year.
2011 is going to bring great things, friends. Great things.
December 15, 2010 By thea
Hey! Guess who didn’t check in last week!
IT’S ME!!
I was way up because I’m a girl and “way up, bloated mess” happens every 28 days.
And maybe it was all the take out and pizza, too. Hm. Hard to tell.
Or maybe the lack of exercise. That could have been it, too.
Anyway, I am back down this week…1.8 pounds. Which doesn’t even put me in my healthy range, so that gives you an idea of exactly how much I gained.
But I will be back down in my range by the end of this weigh in. Oh yes, I will.
- As always, stay within the 153-157 pound range. Nope, but I did lose this week.
- Do something active every day. Even if it’s only dancing for 5 minutes. 3/7 days
- Limit myself to one sweet treat a day (Exception: Thanksgiving Day) CHECK!
- When I have a choice, skip the food with a wrapper. CHECK-ish!
November 24, 2010 By thea
This week was a bit of a rough week.
First off, I took a exercise week off. Which totally defeats the purpose when you have a Fitness Challenge on the table, but I just couldn’t (wouldn’t) get my self together to workout. I logged an abysmal 10 minutes yesterday while I was dancing with the kids.
I still have this “all or nothing” mentality when it comes to exercise. If I’m not able to do ALL of my workout, I end up doing NOTHING.
That probably didn’t need explaining.
Secondly, I had a bit of a stomach bug over the weekend. It was really bad timing because Saturday was our Annual Progressive Dinner. All that delicious food and I didn’t eat hardly any of it.
So, I wasn’t expecting much this weigh in. Which is usually when the magic happens.
I am down 1.2 pounds this week!
I need to come up with some goals for this challenge. No goals = no plan = no good.
- As always, stay within the 153-157 pound range.
- Do something active every day. Even if it’s only dancing for 5 minutes.
- Limit myself to one sweet treat a day (Exception: Thanksgiving Day)
- When I have a choice, skip the food with a wrapper.
While I had a loss this week, I feel like I really dropped the ball with the Fitness Challenge. I apologize to my Healthy Holiday Ho’s. It won’t happen again!!