OH MY GOSH I'M A MOTIVATIONAL ARTICLE!!!!!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

DUDE.

www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivat
ion_articles.asp?id=1338

DAOJRSAOJSEPAEJS

Also here's the article that linked to this all about the SparkCon:

www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivat
ion_articles.asp?id=1337

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Good run, other stuff...

Monday, May 11, 2009

So.... I'm slacking in the ST Program Planning arena. I just HAVEN'T DONE IT yet. BUT! Today I did Pilates at home and got in my run. It was a slow run -- I was REALLY reeling it back today -- but I'm very happy with it because it served it's purpose. I was scheduled to run 30min today and it turned out to be about 32 minutes.

I ran two loops of the apartment complex next to mine (so much prettier than mine to run...), and anyway after the first one a drizzle started and I was like -- man, I guess it's gonna rain again. Only for a SPLIT SECOND did I contemplate cutting the run short. Then I said to myself:

There is nothing I have on me that can't get wet.

My HRM is water resistant to 30m, I didn't even have my Mp3 player on today (which was a little tough but the battery is dead right now - WAH! although I've run with it in light rain before no problem). So I was like LET'S DO IT.

It never started raining -- only teeny tiny drops from time to time. AND on my second loop through I found a $5.00 bill. :D HAHAHAHA SO! Good things come to those who do their workouts!

I came home and did pilates and that's that.

Last night saw the return of "Healthy Meal Night" which was GREAT. I made another "The Food You Crave" (Ellie Krieger) -- Tricolore Penne w/ Chicken I believe it was called. SO GOOD. It wasn't exactly to recipe, but it turned out fantastic.

UM but then that night I also had a half a cupcake and two muffin halves. I know that one of those muffins = roughly 540-600 calories (one was 540 the other was 600). I really was not tracking all day, but I'm sure I didn't have that many calories left over. Add to that that I totally splurged on Saturday for dinner AND on Friday for dinner and it equals = Dana was still kinda in vacation mode. BUT! VACATION MODE IS OVER!!!

Long-term Marathon training mode is ON. ;) hahaha.

There has been a lot of discussion about loose skin around me lately -- it was a popular question for me at the SparkConvention after the Convention was over and it's recently come up on a SparkFriend's page.

I've posted all my thoughts about this topic on here before, but now that I'm almost a year into maintenance... they're about the same. ;) HAHAHA.

I do believe that by losing weight slowly, making sure you're hydrating and strength training, you can give your body the best chance it has of it's skin rebounding and shrinking.

I also think that based on your circumstances (genetics, how long you've beenoverweight, HOW overweight, how fast you gained, etc.etc.) your skin may react differently than someone else's. We've all seen some Biggest Loser contestants that appear to have nearly NO loose skin (Ali Vincent anyone?) And others that REALLY have it (I dunno, I'm not watching this season, but Aldo from BL Australia had some when he won, I remember watching Heba and some of the other ladies LAST BL Season Finale and noting the waggliness of the upper arm area -- although theirs wasn't SO bad). Some people's skin reacted differently than others.

I HAVE LOOSE SKIN.

Is it a lot? No. But the location of it (a random bit over my belly button) makes it so that midriff baring is not super attractive. EH. Whatever. I kinda feel like my skin has shrunk a lot but is similar in shape to how I was before. When I look at Ali from BL's befores, her belly button was a nice puffy symmetrical donut round shape. My belly before included a big ROLL OVER my bellybutton so you couldn't see it unless I opened up the rolls -- know what I mean? Thus even though my skin has DEFINITELY shrunk (It's obviously not as large as I used to be) there's still some extra where my biggest rolls were. Right over the belly button, right over the crotch, upper upper thighs, upper upper arms.

But ya'll have seen pictures of me -- I wear shirts that bare most of my arms and feel very comfortable. I wear fairly form fitting clothes and feel very comfortable as well. That doesn't mean I look super fab naked or in a bathing suit, though.

I've decided I'm ok with this -- it's definitely worth it to be super hot in clothing and only semi not so hot naked. I still look so much better naked than I used to!!! Rolls are not cute no matter how smooth and unwrinkly they are. HAHAHAHAHA. The only thing that occasionally bothers me is thinking how much work I put into this body and I don't think it reflects the amount of work I put in, or how strong my abs really are -- ya know?

But I'm considering recently that I really don't think I've changed my body composition that much since I've been maintaining -- I still see where I could stand to lose some fat and gain some muscle. I know that it's extremely difficult to try to do both of these things at the same time -- most people who are trying to change their composition end up building muscle and THEN losing fat to achieve this goal.

I'd like to learn to understand this better -- basically you have to have a caloric excess to gain, yes? But a caloric deficit to lose? But what if you're maintaining and just shifting fat to muscle? Can it be done? I know some people say it can and some are naysayers and say don't bother it's illogical. I dunno.

My main goal this year is to work towards the MARATHON. But this is something that's always in the back of my mind. I DO want to be stronger, I DO want to have more muscle.

I need to go get measured by the BOD POD at my gym. I think I'll call today about setting that up. :) I keep thinking about it and not doing it -- but I have some freaking cash at the moment and need to set it up before I spend it. HAHAHAHA.

OK! This was a long one but that's all for now.

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!!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

No sooner do I sit down after my run to track in on SP than do I hear thunder rolling and it start pouring down! :D Glad I got my bootie out there running when I did! :D

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YAY!

Friday, May 08, 2009

Feeling very much ON TRACK again. This weekend will pose some potential challenges, but I think I'm prepared for them.

The friend visiting will show up this evening and we will likely go out to eat (I need to go grocery shopping BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). And possibly tomorrow for lunch -- but he's leaving by Saturday night so I probably won't have to do too much to avoid eating out OR making sure we go someplace with a healthier option. So I'm not worried. I plan to do Pilates at home this weekend and go on another run on Sunday.

Yes ANOTHER run -- I got my first post race run in this morning (FINALLY). It was GORGEOUS outside and ... I stopped to give someone directions? HAHA That's the first time I've ever done that, but I think I did actually help them go the right way. I also took a detour to look at a cool statue thing my DH and his professor were telling me about right before I left for San Diego. It was so cute!!! In a courtyard near where I usually run, there is this like... rusted giant robot man taking a nap in the grass. I wished I was running with my camera. HAHAHA :D

Due to the stopping for direction giving and not really paying attention to my watch when I got back, I really have no idea what my time was like, but I ran 5K on the dot according to Mapmyrun so that's cool. Then I did some upper body ST. Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns, Bicep Curl w/ Shoulder press, Tricep Kick Backs, Lateral Shoulder Raises, and Decline Chest Flys and Chest Press.

Also after weighing in 5lbs UP right after I got back home from my trip, I'm now back 5lbs down so WOOT on that. I knew I never really overstuffed myself on my trip and my tons of walking, running, hiking all had to count as well. :) I really hope to jam pack more vacations in the future with as much physical activity as I had in San Diego. It was GREAT.

That's about it for now.

OH. ONE MORE THING. Today a coworker came up and handed me a cupcake in a plastic container. A BIG CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE with um, Chocolate Icing... and Belgian Chocolate Curls.

I'm sure I will eat it at some point -- it looks amazing and I'm a chocolate fiend.

But -- I'm proud that for now I resisted the urge to RUN OUT TO THE BREAK ROOM AND DEVOUR IT, and it is sitting out of sight in my desk drawer.

As she handed it to me she said,"Because everyone needs a little chocolate now and then." I just said, "HOLY CRAP.... this thing is massive!" HAHAHAHAHA

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PHWEW.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

I am officially caught up with Sparks and have my BLOGS posted and PICTUREs are UP everywhere... I have a few things to tweak on the photos, but overall.

*PHWEW*

This morning I was going to run, but instead I ended up unpacking and putting things away and catching up on America's Next Top Model at the same time. Tomorrow morning I'm hitting the gym at 9AM. I've had two days off from workouts and I'm raring to go. When I left for work today I felt so ODD because I hadn't worked out. :P

! I found a funny picture that you will not have seen... someone else took this one -- it's me and Debbie (S318830) practicing "SKINNY" poses:


ALSO!!!!!!! I have a RACE FINISH PHOTO! AND I LOVE IT!!! :D



WOOHOO!!!

So that's about it for now -- I've added all my new SparkFriends. :) YAY. Looking forward to getting into my normal routine -- however, we're having a guest this weekend (only Friday night, though), so that will be something different still. Hence the special need for me to get all my CRAP unpacked and not spread out all over the living/dining area... HAHAHA :)

OH and for those of you just returning to my blog there are FOUR photoblog posts from my trip to San Diego posted on 5/6/2009 -- the earliest of which is the one about the Convention so don't forget to scroll on down so you don't miss them all!

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