Initial Reasons

Why I want to take these steps to get to a healthy weight this time:

1. Me and the gf want to have a baby in the next five years. I want to be the one to carry the kid. I want to be at a healthy weight going into it.

2. I had another episode with my back (not quite as bad as before). I want to finish losing the weight to take strain off of my lower back.

3. I want to do all within my power to lead a healthy and long life.  I want the quality of life to be high and I want to be super active.

4. I want to feel like my gf and I look good together.

5. I want to climb mountains and hike a lot again this summer.

Week 1

Challenges this week.

For some reason despite working out and eating healthy in healthy/proper proportions I have actually gained two pounds from last week?! (WTF) This would be way discouraging if I did not already feel good results in my clothing and I did some drinking this weekend so it is possible that it is bloat... :(


Successes this week.

1. I joined the gym on Monday and have worked out 4 times. I will be going again today as soon as I get a few chores done.

2.I already look better and can feel a difference in my clothes.

3. I come home from the gym and feel a marked emotional high. Returning to the gym this week I wondered why I had ever left. I just felt soooo good.

4. Using an accurate pedometer I found that my new job keeps me on my feet way more than my old job. (I honestly don't sit down all day long.) I am hitting 10,000-12,000 steps before  even leave work to go to the gym.


Goals for the coming week.

1.  Make sure I am getting 5 fruits and veggies a day.
2. Get 8 cups of water a day.
3. Start doing push-ups every single morning.

A new beginning again...

I've done this every few years now for the past decade. I get really faithful and lose some serious weight, gain some back over the next year or two and get back on a healthier plan. I weigh about fifty or sixty pounds less right now than my highest high about ten years ago. Of the fifty or so that I lost in 2011 I have kept 35 of it off. I'm not starting in a bad place right now.

There are a few things that are going to be more convenient this time around. There are a few extra motivations.

• I've moved and instead of living 35 miles away from my gym the gym is about two blocks away. Instead of living 40 miles way from fresh veggies and produce I live about 1/2 a mile away.
• I have more free time now because I no longer have to commute far for work therefore I have more time for exercising.
• My current job requires me to climb stairs multiple times a day.
• I'm about to see my family for the first time in a year and half so I would like to be looking good when  go see them and I have just enough time to do that.
• I'm at a point where I need to balance my life and having a goal outside of work to focus is very needed.

To Do list for today -

• Make menu for the week
• Cook some items to have on hand for the week
• Make a new excel tracker
• Make a fitness plan
• Post goals where I can see them - Post reasons for my goals

I am starting to love running

I’ve sucked at blogging about it, but I have lost all of the holiday weight and am back to where I was before. Sweet victory this morning on the scale!!!

I’m still running, but I am way off of my running plan. I’m only managing to work out about three times a week because my schedule got crazy. I’m going to have to step it up a bit if I am truly planning on a half marathon in June.

I have noticed though that I have really started to like running. I am starting to find that when I get to the track I can hardly make myself walk a warm-up lap. I get there and I WANT to run. This is a breakthrough for me in so many ways. I have never liked running, but it seems that I am starting to LOVE it. Who knew?!

The mind is in charge, the body will follow

I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately.

“You have to make the mind run the body. The body will always give up.  It is always tired morning, noon and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. You’ve always got to make the mind take over things and keep going.” – George S. Patton

You didn't know we were racing... Oh...

So… Running. I’m starting to like it. My Dad pointed out, “Kiki… We’re Vikings. We are not built for running…”  I agree, but I’m really not in it to become a superstar runner. I need a Louisiana friendly sport since there is a lack of national parks and mountains.

I am a little competitive brat by nature but I am sneaky competitive. The funny thing is that people who I compete with probably don’t even realize we are competing… The sneaky competitive has started to come out on the track over the last few weeks.

1. If I get to the track at the same as someone else I will stay longer at the track than they stay… I get a ton of personal glee out of staying longer than people who get there after me. (Not that I stay at the track all that long… Like an hour.)

2. I get a huge kick out of lapping people. (In some ways that is so silly, because my glacially slow jog is nothing to brag about… BUT lapping people pushes me.)

Running goals for the next 8 weeks.

http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Knovice.htm

I just stumbled onto this page. This is the running program I am going to start next week. It looks totally do-able.

Seven blisters, sore muscles and a resolved to achieve

Muscles all over my body are sore. I have a total of seven blisters on my feet. I'm having some caffeine withdrawals.

Despite these minor pains I am pretty happy. I am on day four of resestablishing all of the good routines and habits that I worked on last year and am looking forward to even more good results.

I have changed things up a little bit.

1. I'm giving up caffeine - Last year I was constantly battling anemia due to working out, due to being vegetarian, and due to my celiac's disease. The anemia would kill me and really mess with my workout routines so this year I am researching ways to overcome it. Turns out that caffeine inhibits iron absorbtion. Good-bye french roast that I love... Adios Diet Coke... It will be worth not being tired and avoiding bruises.

2. I've added pilates to the mix. If I'm going to run a 1/2 marathon I need some serious core muscles, especially considering I don't want to have any back issues. Must take care of old injuries and strengthening my core is going to help with that. (At this point I totally recommend the Windsor Pilates DVDs. I've done her 20 minute pilates workout twice this week and my midsection is super sore...)

3. I have set a 15,000 step a day goal. I might actually have to up this a bit, but just for the first few weeks I want to make sure I am solidly hitting this before uping it too much. 15,000 steps based on my stride length is about 6 1/2 miles. Some days this will be hard and some days this will be super easy...

4. I have not started training for the marathon per se. Right now I just want to be able to run a mile easily. So my goal by the end of February right now is to be able to run three miles without stopping in about 36 minutes. That is 12 minute miles. Its a very reasonable goal.

Yep... I'm going to make a few excuses right now...

So, I have probably gained back about 10 of the pounds that I lost. I was doing really well maintaining the weight loss until Thanksgiving rolled around.

Really, though the gaining some of the weight back is not the bad thing really. It is disappointing, but the more important question is why I quit losing weight in the first place. This weight loss thing is a whole lot simplier than most people thing it is. I quit working out. I ate fairly healthy until November rolled around... Exercising and eating right...

• I never truly reestablished routines once school started again. That was just laziness on my part.
• I kind of suffered a bit of an identity crisis towards the end of summer. I looked completely different. Looking in the mirror was a new experience every single day. It became a bit overwhelming to not recognize the person in the mirror.
• I did not get to hike Timpanogos because of the snow conditions and I had really invested a lot of my motivation into that goal. I focused all of my energy on that goal and then when circumstances did not allow for it to happen it was a bit devastating.

How I resolve to solve some of the above problems:

• I made a new excel tracker.
• I bought a new pedometer.
• I made a new schedule.
• I have set new goals. (I want to be able to run a 10k by the end of June. I want to be able to do a half marathon by next December. I want to be in my "healthy" weight range by the end of June (that's about 50 pounds to go.)

Still working at this... Setting new goals...

Despite my lack of effort on the blogging front I am still very focused on fitness right now. I have maintained my weight over the last month since I blogged but have not lost anything more. (This is mainly because I have not been focusing enough on my eating though I am still exercising...)

I started running a few weeks ago and have decided to work towards doing a half marathon! I need to do some more research but I want to be able to run a half marathon by about Christmas time. I think it is totally do-able. Right now however I am just focusing on being able to run a mile and a half in a decent time...

I'm gonna sew... Yep.

Since none of my clothes fit and I still have more weight to lose I have decided NOT to go shopping. Rather than shopping I bought a used sewing machine.  Uhm… I don’t sew, but I figure how hard is it to follow the seam of an existing article of clothing to take it in…

Weekly Results: Goals and the process

Weekly Results: Goals

• Lost 3.2 pounds this week (Total lost so far: 46.8 pounds)
• Gluten free, meat free, made an awesome garbanzo bean cake so not totally sugar free…

Thoughts:

I mentioned that I extended my stay in Utah just to give the snow on top of Timpanogos time to melt. On my last night in Utah I was grumpy and complaining about it little bit to my dad. I told him about all of the hours on the treadmill walking on a huge incline, all of the stadium steps that I ran, all of the careful planning and visualization exercises, etc. I told him that I felt cheated.

He laughed at me as I sulked a little bit. He pointed out that it had not been wasted effort. I had gotten in shape after all and that it wasn’t like I hadn’t done several awesome hikes. I would not have been in shape for those other hikes if I had not been prepared for Timpanogos. He was of course right.

I realized though that there is power in pushing towards specific things. There is power in making plans and building dreams. We gain a lot from the process even if we never end up where we think we are going. I know that I am strong enough to climb Timpanogos even if it did not get to happen this year.

Perhaps next year I will get the required training to hike in snowy conditions and then it won't matter how much snow is up there... I will get to go anyway.

Weekly Results: Getting back into a routine

Results

• Lost since last report on June 13th: 5.8 pounds (Total lost 43.6 pounds)
• Status on my gluten free, vegetarian, no sugar thing... Well, I am still gluten free. I am not really a vegetarian anymore... I am more of a pescatarian (I discovered sushi and eat it all the time now). I am mostly sugar free.

Thoughts
While on vacation in Utah my weight loss has slowed down significantly. I am still losing weight but not at the rate I was before and really I've been ok with that. Next week I return home and will be getting back into a regular routine of cooking, and exericising.

I extended my stay in Utah hoping that enough snow would melt on Timpanogos to be able to make it to the summit, but its just not going to happen. I went yesterday and hiked about a mile and half up the trail and there was already one snowfield to cross. The higher elevations still have about five feet and they are recommending that anyone who goes up takes things like ice-axes with them... I have done a significant amount of hiking though. It has been great even if they were just shorter hikes.

Anemic again! Double WTF!!!

I'm anemic again... It happened a few weeks ago. This time I know that it is because I have not been taking care of myself. Celiac Disease makes absorbing iron hard, and then throw in being vegetarian and not being careful about your iron for a few weeks and you have a disaster on your hands...

Be wiser than I have been... I'm on vacation and have to spend time recovering... Not cool.

Iron rich foods people!!! Beans, quinoa, edamame, eggs, lentils...

Weekly Results - MUST WORK OUT!!!

Results

• -1.4 pounds (Total of -37.8 pounds)
• Still did not get another pedometer, but resolved to do so soon. I NEED the motivation provided by tracking steps…
• Gluten free, sugar free, ate fish a few times again.

Thoughts

This has been another off week… I got back into eating carefully and healthy, but I really have not worked out. I’ve done a lot of walking. I’ve been active, but have not gone to the gym… I guess what I am learning is that routines are sacred. Throw off your routines and everything goes crazy!

Unfortunately, I am going to have to try and get back into routines while on vacation because I’m not going to back in Louisiana for about a month and that is just too much time to lose messing around. ENOUGH LAZY FOR ME!

I have set a summer goal. By the first week of August I want to have lost another 15 pounds. That gives me about seven weeks. This is completely possible as long as I stay on track this summer. 

Nothing to wear...

I have lost enough weight now that none of my clothes fit properly except for the shorts I bought last week, and slutty skirt w/tube top... None of which does me any good since I arrived in Utah yesterday and it is still freezing... Not literally freezing, but its too cold for me.

I either need to go get a pair pants today or I need to attempt to use my mom's sewing machine right now... Hmmmmm...

Weekly Results (very late due to being in New Orleans for a week)

Results
-1.4 pounds (I was on vacation and we ate out a lot... This is a miracle.) Total lost: 36.4 pounds.
Steps - I broke another pedometer and lost one in a swamp... I'm not going to buy another one... I walked a lot this week...
Not gluten free (contaminated at a restaurant), Not sugar free, Not vegetarian (I ate a lot of seafood this week)

Thoughts
I am trying to decide if I should look at this week as a big fail or as a success. I actually lost weight while on vacation and eating out... However I am feeling the effects of eating sugar, gluten, and maybe the seafood too... Hard to tell what is causing me to feel so tired. I just don't have the energy that I had a few weeks ago and I wonder if it is the poor diet recently or if it is simply that I have been running around like a crazy person since school got out.

This last week was really a huge reminder to me that many of my dietary choices are about being healthy and feeling good rather than losing weight because I lost weight, but feel like crud...

Anyway... Today is my first day back on track. Its requiring a fair amount of coffee...

I normally HATE photos of myself...

I have long hated pictures of myself. I avoid getting them taken at all costs. Any photos that do happen to be taken and posted on Facebook I quickly un-tag. Today however I was touring the region and seeing sights. All day long I was shooting pictures of myself and sending them to a girl I'm interested in. Showing her where we were at and what we were doing.

I looked back over the photos that I took and still disliked them, not because of my weight. Instead of disliking them because of my weight I disliked them because of the dorky looks on my face, or the hairs that were out of place, or way the shot was off-center. It was interesting. I liked it. I am starting to think I am looking pretty good!

UGH... The heat...

I know I already wrote one kind of self-indulging post about the heat here in Louisiana, but I thought of another fitness aspect yesterday.

Yesterday it was so warm that I could hardly stomach eating at all... It reminded me of how I used to feel in Spain. In Spain during the summers it would get so hot that we would live off of fruit and Danone Coconut Yogurt. I really wanted some of that yogurt yesterday.

Of course, also just like in Spain as soon as the sun went down and the temperature dropped a little bit I could eat without feeling sick... (The heat really never bothered me this much the previous two years here in Louisiana... Not sure why this year is so bad.)

Weekly Results: Short skirts, tube tops and weighing everyday

Results

• Loss -4.6 pounds (Total lost 34.6)
• 84049 steps = About 39.89 miles
• Gluten free, vegetarian, had some key lime pie this week. (I think I am going to start indulging in sugar once in awhile. Mostly at social functions where it is offered. Sounds kind of a funny, "I'm a social sugar eater...")
• Week 15 of working out
• Week 11 of eating right

Thoughts
As I mentioned yesterday the 35 pounds I lost was a major goal. I have laid out a few major goals and wanted to reward myself in some way as I reached each goal. yesterday I went shopping and bought the sluttiest out-fit I have every owned in my life... Maybe slutty is a harsh word... Maybe I should say "not modest", or "shorter than I have ever worn before"... It was a short khaki skirt and a pink billowy tube top. I was kind of freaking out in the store.. I mean the skirt was like three inches above my knees... AHHH! As I was freaking out though I was looking in the mirror and you know what it looked good! My favorite barista took a good look at me too and she was smiling a little bit. She looks a little bit like a younger, and more emo KD Lang. (I'm gonna have to start shaving my legs above the knees to wear it though... That's a big concession to make for a skirt...)

Yeah! for looking good. Yeah! for gaining some more confidence.

I also got in a conversation this week with a friend about weighing everyday or not weighing everyday. Since I started working on getting healthy this time around I have started weighing daily. I've never done that before and some argue that its not good because you focus too much on the number. I am not totally focused on the numbers, but I recognize that the numbers help me reach my objectives.

My objectives are not to reach particular numbers on the scale, though the numbers are a tool I use. My objective is be able to hike, skate, maybe dance, and reaching a healthy number on the scale is a side-effect of or tool to doing those things. Does that make sense?

I have found weighing daily to be useful though for several reasons:

1. It holds me accountable. If I overeat or if I eat gluten I know about it right away and can start repairing the damage immediately. If I were weighing in once a week I might not notice water retention as much, or I might be less careful about the amount of food I eat, but weighing daily is a constant guide.

2. There are ups and downs on the scale everyday. It used to freak me out when the number would go up from day to day and I knew I was being good, but our body goes through different cycles and in some ways I think that weighing daily and tracking it is helping me get to know my bodies rhythms.

3. For me it is really motivation, centering, focusing to weigh daily. Just the routine of stepping on the scale reminds me of what I am working towards.

4. I like weighing daily because I am a mega-nerd and tracking my weight daily was an excuse to make an Excel spreadsheet.... I like watching the weight-line trend downward...