Throttling back before it's too late...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Yesterday started out with a workout at Planet Fitness. I decided to just do a bit of crosstraining since I had to go out for a run with the Beginner's Group later in the evening. By the end of 30 minutes on the elliptical, my shin was throbbing. I have been battling shin splints for the past month now. I have tried everything to alleviate them. Stretching, ice, NSAIDs, foam rollers, shoe fitting, orthotics, compression sleeves, pacing, running on less days, etc. I've been told to just keep running and they will eventually go away.

Moving on through my day...I weighed in, saw a great number and that is such a great motivation for me. It makes me think I'll reach my goal weight of 175 before Florida on March 1, though even my weight that I saw yesterday will suffice :o}

Work went great. I have been super productive with work now that my focus is where it needs to be. My eating was intuitive, I ate when I was hungry, though it was fairly high in sodium (yes, I did have Ramen noodles for lunch with some pickles...).

After work I heated up leftover spaghetti for my little girl and DH. I then got ready for my semi cold outdoor run with the beginner's. I warned them I may be running slower behind them if my shin really hurt, and they were very supportive of me. They know about my battling this.

So, not even a block down, it felt like my shin was made of glass and was splintering. OMG. The pain was ridiculous. Then, about half a mile in it finally starting to go away. But, with the beginner's, we do intervals, and this time was run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, and repeat. When we started with the walk interval, the pain got worse. And when we started running again? Geez! I had tears in my eyes. This repeated until we finally got back.

When I got home, my DH had taken Kaylee to the mall, so I had the house to myself. Good, I was feeling kind of emotional about my leg and the impact it would have on my training if it didn't get better, and the decisions I would have to make. I made the leftover casserole my mom sent home, along with a bun, and watched Grey's Anatomy while I ate. ahhhh, comfort.

Then, after the food was gone, I still felt hungry. But, I know it wasn't real hunger. It was "my leg hurts and I wanna cry" hunger. I went into the fridge, and tried to figure out what I could eat that could fill the void for a bit. I chose pickles. Yeah, trust me, I get that my sodium level was ridiculous, but I was attempting a "healthier - less calorie" alternative than the other things in the fridge. While eating those, DH and Kaylee got home.

He could tell my mood was down and asked me what was up. Over a week and a half ago, I promised that I would tell him the truth about how I am feeling, and if I am planning a binge or am in shaky territory. SO, I told him. I said that I am taking the day off from all forms of cardio, catch up on my sleep (get in 8 hours, the night before I had 6 and that sets off binge eating for me if I don't get at least 7). I said that I am going to have to treat this shin splint like any other injury, and take it easy. I am still going to do my training but my running is going to be strict run/walk intervals, and back down to walking when I feel pain. I am resting from running until Saturday at least with crosstraining only in the meantime.

And I then told him that I was feeling down about that and I was feeling like stuffing my face with carb-heavy, fat-heavy food. He then talked me through it, and asked me how the pickles were, and if I needed them. I said no, and threw them out.

I put my calories in my tracker, and found myself surprisingly in all my ranges at 1450 calories, but my sodium was in the 8000 range

I know my weight may be a bit up this morning, though I did get in extra water (about 100 ounces).

I guess...this is my first "bump" in this new part of my journey, and I feel I made it through and today is a new day with a new positive attitude. I have made a new "game" of grading my days at the end of each day, and most of my days have actually been an A to A-. Yesterday I would grade a B. And I am really happy with how I didn't let the situation spiral me down into turning the day into a D.

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Steady She Goes

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

It seems I have found a good balance, finally.

I have been eating good, eating MORE than I normally would if I was pushing myself hard (between 1300-1700 calories MOST days and feeling satisfied/full rather than 1200 a day and starving).

I have been consistently getting my activities/workouts in, but putting on average only 30-70 minutes of exercise in a day rather than pushing to get in at least 90 minutes. I have been only running as much as my training plan says, no more and no less. I have been taking breaks to walk when I need to. I have been walking at least a mile a day. I have been crosstraining when I need to. Sure, I need to work on my ST but I am taking it one day at a time.

I have been taking time for myself, trying to make sure I get the proper amount of sleep, the proper amount of water intake, and reading a book or watching a favorite show when I do have time (usually on my lunch hour).

I have been avoiding most temptations (like staying up after Kaylee goes to bed) and yesterday when we went to my parents' house for supper, I loaded up on salad (thanks mom for thinking of me), and had a 1-cup portion or so (closer probably to 1.5 cups) of her yummy casserole. I followed that up with a bit more salad while visiting, and a Jello Strawberry Cheesecake cup for dessert. I was super happy with how I did.

We got dumped with some crazy heavy snow last night (wet snow) and so I went to the gym extra early this morning so when I got home I spent about half an hour shoveling it, and my neighbor's sidewalk and walkway. Good start to another day!

I am really excited for our trip to Florida in a week from Thursday (my mom is housesitting and watching Kaylee). Sure, at the beginning of January I was hoping to be at 160 pounds, but I would have had to be 110% perfect from the get-go and, for me, that is just not realistic. What matters is I am feeling good, and with the way I am going, I feel I will be down in pounds from the beginning of the month, which is fantastic being I was up 7 pounds mid-month.

I have 100 days until June 1, which I do consider the beginning of summer, and I plan on making those days count, 1 day at a time! :o}

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An insight...

Monday, February 20, 2012

I was recently chatting with a good friend on FB, and there were a few points that came out during our conversation that I felt needed to be put in a blog.

On talking about my bipolar disorder, OCD, etc:

"When I am in my "high" I tend to obsessively do things, like working out, planning out my weight loss to the ounce, weighing myself every day, planning my runs for the next year, and plotting out everything on the calendar.

Changing my weight goals every day, making sure I never eat above my goal calorie intake, mostly staying at 1200 calories.

Obsessing about what kind of body I want to have. Like my husband brought home the Swimsuit issue of that sports magazine from school because he's the librarian and certain issues can't stay there (too much sexy stuff). I looked through the issue, and I had to throw it. Every picture I saw of someone in a sexy bikini made me feel worse about myself.

On a breakthrough I had last Saturday that started me on the right track again:

"I think the main breakthrough I recently had was telling Corey everything that had been going on with my eating, and basically he has been doing everything he can to support me and I promised I would be honest with how I am feeling.

This last week I have been doing something different. I am just writing on a notepad what I am eating, not about how much, how many calories, but only what it is.

Then, if I feel like it, I put it in the SP app on my phone.

And so far it seems to be working the best out of everything else I have tried.

I am not planning any meals, just eating."

My attitude is another thing that has been a factor in my success in the last week. I have been making sure in the morning my attitude is positive, and if there is any time my attitude is veering towards negativity or I am feeling like eating out of stress or just because, I tell my DH, and we talk through it or he stays home so I can't.

Well, anyway, that's my quickie blog this morning since I now have to get my pumpkin ready for daycare and I am back to work.

P.S. Work? There are some areas that have been stressful, but as for my time and productivity? Yea, I've been awesome. My dog is being walked. I take time for myself. My husband is getting more love and attention from me. My daughter? She has been getting a happier mommy.

Life is not roses, but I am making sure I stop and smell some of them anyway!!

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Priorities Take 2

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Well. I didn't realize it has been so long since my last blog!

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to really work on putting myself first as a part of a lifestyle, not just a phase that inevitably stops working. First was putting sleep as #1 as it seems the less I sleep, the more I eat, the less I work out, the more Grey's Anatomy I watch (Oh, McDreamy...you make my heart flutter).

Also, recently I had a work situation where they noticed my lack of focus (they are able to monitor how long we type during the day, and I had a lot of gaps because I'd need to take time away from the computer to get focused again, and a lot of that included going onto my laptop). I knew after that meeting that I needed to make work a priority over my computer time. I could keep up with the basics on my phone, and so I decided to minimize my time to next to nothing on my computer.

That basically means not blogging so much, and I am now SUPER behind on catching up with everyone. But, I am not feeling bad about that, because though I have had a few days of stress/emotional eating and a few sick days, I have had an otherwise consistent few weeks, and especially the last 5-6 days things have clicked for me.

This is what I have been doing:
First, I told my DH about the stress eating and what I had eaten.

Then, I weighed myself on Sunday, at almost 185 pounds.

Then, I pulled out a notepad, and started writing down what I was eating. No calories, no points, just writing down what I was eating and how much of it. For fun, a couple of days ago I punched it into my Sparkpeople app on my phone, and I am averaging 1300-1600 calories and am within darn near all my ranges. And I am feeling satisfied. Not hungry, not full. Satisfied.

I am weighing myself every day for now, until our vacation on March 1. I am going to start going back to Weight Watchers for the support and accountability, though I am not going to start back on the points system yet. If what I am doing now starts to NOT work for me, then I will consider going back to the points system.

I am still going to do a monthly blog where I weigh in, measure, and update my pictures.

I do want to blog more and read/comment on other's blogs, but if I don't always get to it, I am not going to feel guilty because as long as I am doing what I am doing, I am putting myself first.

Thank you all for your support!!!

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January Recap/Measurements/New picture comparisons

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Weight: 176.4 January 1
178.0 February 1

Chest (above boobs): 36.5 inches/37 inches (gained 0.5 inch)
Chest (below boobs): 37.5 inches/35 (lost 2 inches)
Natural Waist: 35.5 inches/35 (lost 0.5 inch)
Waist at belly button: 40 inches/39 inches (lost 1 inch)
Hips: 41 inches/39.5 inches (lost 1.5 inches)
Right Thigh: 24.5 inches/24.5 (same)
Right Upper Arm: 13.5 inches/13.5 inches (same)

Result: Gained 1.6 pounds from Jan to Feb, but lost 4.5 inches! Holy smokes. I guess this is why they say to measure yourself...

Recap of my month in goals:

~Track my foods at least 20 days this month.

I did a lot better for the first half of this month, and ended up tracking 24 days out of 31. I am very proud of this, though I do know that I can improve even more :o}

~Drink at least 2 bottles of water a day. Goal not met.

On the days I worked out, I did this, but on the weekends and on days I didn't hit the gym, I didn't. I would like to be more consistent with this.

~Limit my eating out, but if I do to work them into my tracking, and NOT eat what I CAN'T track.

I did this every time I ate out, even if it was hard to look at. Due to this, I ate out MUCH less this month for sure!

~Make as much from scratch as I can and start backing away from processed food whenever possible.

I didn't always do this, but it was MUCH better this month than any month in the last year.

Fitness/Races:
~Run the Resolution Fun Run on January 1. Nope. I did not do this. I don't even quite remember the reason why, but it was a decent reason. Oh, wait!!! I remember. I had to work :o{

~Stick to my training on my calendar which includes my strength training, stretching, running, and crosstraining. Take rest days when needed, but not fall out of the routine because of laziness.

Weight: This will now be a range (setting a specific goal of weight sets me up for a failure most of the time). My goal weight range for the end of this month is 169-173.

Goal not met, but you know what? I am good with that. :o}

~FEBRUARY GOALS ~

Health/Nutrition:
~Track my foods at least 21 days this month.
~Drink at least 2 bottles of water a day.
~Same as January.
~Same as January.

Fitness/Races:
~Run the Frozen Feat 5K on February 11. (I adjusted this due to worry about weather, but may see if I can switch to a 10K on race day).
~Same as January.

Weight: My goal weight range for the end of this month is 165-170 (adjusted to be realistic).

And here are my comparison photos. I am just too busy to take the time right now to get them all prettied up and really good side by side, but here ya go:







I am psyched about how great my numbers will be on March 1, which may actually be done February 29 as I am leaving for Florida on the morning of March 1.

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