Well, It's Been A While

Wow, I just realized I haven't blogged since New Years, and I really should change the title of my blog since I'm not doing much running these days. I think I got discouraged because I never really got any better (better = faster). BUT, I may try again. And, just because I'm not running, doesn't mean I've given up on exercise. I'm still working out, just doing other things.

I've also started focusing WAY MORE on my diet. Not my "diet", but my overall eating, like what I've been putting in my body. A bunch of my WeWa (WeWe = Weight Watchers) Message Board buddies and I are currently reading Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. This book is truly eye opening. It's about removing anti nutrients and toxins which are slowing your metabolism, and restoring natural whole foods to your diet. Foods that will rally your fat burning hormones. And, it makes sense because I've been saying for years, that I eat so good, I'm so careful to eat low fat foods and what I thought were healthy foods, I should weigh 150 pounds already. I thought I'd been eating good, but my metabolism is all screwy.

Until I started reading this book I never REALIZED the amount of chemicals I have been putting in my body. Processed foods are murder on our hormones because our bodies don't recognize them as foods. Processed foods don't come from nature, they come from factories. So, when we eat "fat free", "carb free", "sugar free", it's really a bunch of chemicals thrown together to actually make them have taste. Have you SEEN how long some of these ingredient lists are? And, do you even recognize most of the ingredients, let alone can you even pronounce them??? So, this is my main focus these days. I'm learning to eat MUCH cleaner. More whole foods, more natural foods, and less hormone & pesticide laden foods. The theory of the book is "if it doesn't have a mother, and doesn't come from the earth, we shouldn't be eating it".

So, I'm making changes, slowly but surely, and I'm paying MUCH more attention to what I put in my body. Most of the foods now have small ingredient lists, and they are things I can actually pronounce. I've cut out ALL artificial sweetners, and I use organic honey or raw turbino sugar now. I've switched to organic milk (1 or 2%), all natural cheeses, all natural lunch meat (Boar's Head has a great line), natural peanut butter (All Natural Jif is great), organic or Greek yogurt (I love Wallaby and Stoneyfield, and Fage) and Polaner All Fruit Spread. All of these aren't only good for me, they actually TASTE good. I feel satisfied and stay full longer.

Today's breakfast was a fruit smoothie: 6 oz Organic plain Yogurt, Frozen Blueberries, frozen strawberries, little organic honey, and a splash of 2% organic milk. I had that with a hard boiled egg and I was good to go.

Lunch was 2 oz. Boar's Head All Natural Roast Beef with a slice of All Natural Havarti, and some roasted red pepper hummus rolled in a whole wheat tortilla. I had that with some grapes and I was more than satisfied.

Snack is some whole raw almonds and an orange.

Dinner is going to be some whole wheat pasta with some Newman's Own All Natural Marinara, some romano, and a big salad. Except for my low fat milk and yogurt, none of my day's food is labeled as "low fat", "sugar free", or "fat free". Most of it is all natural, it's good for ME, and hopefully by incorporating these changes, I can start to FINALLY balance my metabolism and get some of this weight off.

Welcome 2009!

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm really looking forward to this year. I don't like to make "resolutions" because you know how that goes. It's all good for a week, maybe two, maybe even a month, and then it all goes to shit. So, my resolution is "No Resolutions", and I'm just going to say that I hope to make some little changes, maybe learn a new routine or good habit this year and incorporate some new things into my daily life. These are some of the things I have been tossing around.

1. Try to be more patient.
2. Make some specific mother-daughter time. Maybe start a new tradition with Kelsey.
3. Run faithfully 3-4 days per week even if my running buddy flakes on me.
4. Tell Wade more often that I appreciate him. He knows I love him, but I want him to know that I APPRECIATE him.
5. Start following a regular face washing routine. I'm horrible about going to bed with make-up on, and I want to keep my youthful appearance (*snort*) for as long as I can.
6. Once and for all, start "eating to live" instead of "living to eat". THIS ONE will be the hardest!
7. Put $40 per week in my "going on a Safari fund". With what I have saved, if I do that, I can see the giraffes live and in person in the spring of 2010 (or whatever time of year is the cheapest LOL).
8. Visit at least one new place, and make at least one new friend.
9. Go out more with Wade. We stay home too much, and we're too young to be fuddy-duddies.

So, that's what I have. Even if I only do some of the things on the list, I think that will still be good. Slow and steady and all that good stuff......

Martini Saturday

Wade and I attended my friend, Cindi's, Second Annual Martini Mixology party on Saturday night and we had a really good time. We hung out with friends, had martinis, and ate good food. Cindi's hubby, Bob, is a chef, and he makes this killer Brie wrapped in phyllo dough with thinly slices apples, candlied walnuts, and raspberries. Mmmmm, it's to DIE FOR. There was not one scrap of that left at the end of the night.

I know Wade was ready to leave the party a little earlier than I was, but he was a good sport about it and stayed as long as I wanted. Of course, he was my Designated Driver so I needed him to stay LOL. I got drunk, but not as bad as last year. This year I didn't have to lay in the back seat when he was driving home, thefore I didn't roll *off* the backseat when he stopped at a light, and he didn't have to pull over because I thought I was going to puke. This year I didn't drink "TOO much, too fast", which was my problem in the past. I drank, got my drunk on, and then I stopped drinking. Wade was happy about that, and I didn't embarrass him, which he's ALWAYS happy about. I did pass out as soon as I got home though, which is par for the course.

AND, even though he was ready to leave, he let me put the Santa hat on his head and then take a self portrait of us. My honey, he's such a good guy! I love him!

And The Fat Get Fatter

Ok, we had no company for dinner today (perfect day as far as I'm concerned). Kelsey was even a maybe because she hardly ever spends her free time at home anymore. Yet, I prepared a feast as if I were having 12 people for dinner. This is what I prepared and what we ate. THIS IS FOR TWO (maybe 3) PEOPLE:

ham (5 lb)
turkey (12 lb)
stuffing
yams w/marshmallows
rolls
gravy
ham glaze
mashed potatoes (I had to throw them away because they were like glue)
And of course we had a pie---caramel apple pie w/pecans from Fresh Market. One of the best pies I ever ate. And, yes, there was French Vanilla ice cream on top. *puffy cheeks face*

4 hours of cooking and cleaning for 15 mins of eating and more cleaning and washing of the dishes. AND, my stomach hurts, AND I can feel my underwear getting tighter as I type. Yep, that's my "fatness indicator". When my undies get tight, that means I'm packing on some extra pounds. And, right now, they're rolling down the stomach under the fat, I'm feeling roly poly, and the thought of food is making me ill.

Mark my words, next year I am going to a restaurant!

Endurance - I Think I Have Some

Today I woke up early and decided to head to the gym for a run. I figured I was up, so I might as well get a workout in. Anyway, I had the best run today. I'm not talking pace time because my pace sucked (17 min mile), but I don't care. I ran longer today then I ever have without stopping.

I did a quick warm up and then ran a nice, steady pace, trying to keep my HR in the zone (143-160), at 3.6 mph for just over 30 minutes. I've never run this long before, so I'm really proud of myself. AND, I wasn't gasping for breath (thank you inhaler). Throughout the rest of my workout, I was running between 3.5 - 4.0mph with no incline. Out of the hour workout, I think I ran a total of 50 minutes (broken into blocks). That's the best I've ever done. Usually I spend more time walking then running, AND I think my pace is actually faster when I'm walking, but I'm going to improve that, slowly and steadily.

SO, anyway, I'm really pumped, I feel good, and I'm going to keep working on my endurance. The next step after that will be gradually trying to increase my speed.

I have a little less than 4 weeks until my 5k.


Today's Workout

1:00
3.52 miles
1236 calories burned

PUPPIES!

In case you haven't seen it, this is puppy cam. I am hooked on these little guys, and apparently so are many others as you can see by the number of people viewing. Although they sleep most of the time, when they're awake, they play with their toys and with each other. And, let's admit it, what's cuter than a bunch of puppies.

http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016O


And I made it to the gym tonight....treadmill run/walk interval workout. The chick next to me smelled like armpits, so thank goodness she left after 10 minutes, it was brutal.

Yeah, I know, we went from puppies to armpits.....



Today's Treadmill Workout:

3.29 mile walk/run
57:01
1012 calories burned

Stupid IT Department

Blogs are now blocked at work, that's why I haven't been keeping up as much. And, when I get home from work and take care of all that needs to be taken care of, plus work out, I just don't feel like sitting at the computer.

They also blocked personal E mail, Face Book, photo sharing, music streaming, and all kinds of other good stuff. Shit, I can barely print an online coupon anymore. I'm surprised WeWa is not blocked, but thank goodness it's not.....I need somewhere to go when I'm bored.

I finally picked up some reflective stuff at Sports Authortity today, so now I can go running after work. I haven't running outside since we turned the clocks back because it's already dark by the time I get home from work, and I didn't have anything to make sure I could be seen...especially since I wear black pants. I picked up some reflective bands you put around your wrists and your ankles. I hope that's good enough to make sure people can see me. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

I'm "training" for my next 5k, the Jingle Bell Run on December 11. It's a run where people dress up in holiday theme and wear lots of jingle bells. I picked some bells up at Target this weekend and I'm going to get some reindeer ears or something. I wanted to get a Santa hat, but I know I would be sweating under that hat....I'm just way too hot a person to wear anything on my head. It sounds like it will be a fun race, so I'm excited. I hope I can do it in 47 mins or less. That's my goal. Yeah, my expectations are not high because I know I'm a slow runner. But, once this is done, and I set my time, I'll have something to try to improve upon. I'm just happy that I'm out there burning calories.