Friday

Today I amazed myself! January 24th of this year was the first time in my entire life I ran/jogged an entire mile without stopping. Since then I have been slowly improving my time. This Sunday I had set the goal to get under 11 minutes and Monday I did that. Then I set the goal to get under 10 minutes and today, exactly four months after I ran my first ever mile, I did that! I never even would have guessed this would have been one of my my goals, much less actually achieve it. Consider my mind BLOWN!! I have become a new person. One I like, one I can respect, one I believe in. Today I love me. <3

Nothing else matters today, just this. :)

Color Me Rad is coming up on June 15th and we are signed up! It will be the first 5k I have ever done and I am STOKED!! So my new focus will be working on my 5k time. Who would've thunk that would be something I would say?!

Cheers to a great day and hopefully a fantastic long weekend!

Thursday

Today could have been worse but it could have been better. I hate getting out of my cozy bed and instantly being cold. It makes me want to climb right back in and snuggle up for the remainder of the day. I went through the motions of our morning routine but was really thinking, "How much longer till I could take a nap?" I'm a little sore but mostly tired and cold. Then I didn't eat breakfast, I just couldn't choke it down. And it feels wrong to force myself to eat. I know it's a really important meal, but sometimes it just isn't meant to be.

I had almost convinced myself it would be OK to curl up and watch a movie with Manny, when I noticed the sun had come out. I took this as a sign, or at least the motivation to get out there. I threw on some workout clothes and loaded Manny up in the stroller. I ran about two miles around the neighborhood and soaked up lots of sunshine. I didn't worry about the time today because pushing Manny in the stroller slows me down. No worries, I can work on my time tomorrow. I was feeling ready to take on the day and got a few chores done before having last night's leftover chicken cordon bleu for lunch.

Still delicious.

Then Manny was ready for her nap. At nap and bed time we read a couple books, then listen to a meditation Pandora station and snuggle until she falls asleep, and then lay her down in her bed. Despite all the energy I just had, I ended up falling asleep with her. We were so nice and cozy it was only natural. Naps and I have a love/ hate relationship. I love to take them, but I hate waking up from them. I hardly ever feel rested, instead I feel more tired and groggy. Today was no different. I went through my afternoon routine like a robot, it was terrible.

Josh and I did a nice job working together to make dinner again. We cut up lots of salad stuff so it's prepped and ready for the next couple days as well as for tonight. I used my favorite go to, Asian Ginger Plum Dressing, on mine. Josh barbecued some pork chops seasoned with Java Rub while I whipped up some garlicky balsamic green beans to go with them. Yum! I love cooking together!

I worked on my dress a little tonight but didn't get finished. It's harder than I want it to be right now. So for tonight I'm going to be done. I'm going to get a good nights sleep and hopefully wake up feeling refreshed. And tomorrow I'm going to eat at a good breakfast and get lots of stuff accomplished.

Wednesday

This is turning into a great week for me! For breakfast I had 1/2 an apple and mixed some Wildtree sugar and spice blend into our oats. It was the first time I made oatmeal like this and it was DELICIOUS! The girls were using their apples as spoons and making "mmmmm" noises the whole time. I will be making this again for sure!

Since the weather was and is dark and rainy I was feeling sluggish and unmotivated. I stalled by wandering around the house doing chores for a while. Then I thought of just the thing to get me moving and happy. Just Dance 4!!! I owe a lot to this game. It's one of the things that got me moving in the beginning. Katie got the game for Christmas and she kept asking me to dance with her but I was too embarrassed and too out of shape so I never would. It was like that with a lot of things, just sitting on the side and watching other people have fun and actually live their lives. Then one day while everyone was gone I tried it, and oh man I was terrible! But I was doing it, and it was fun! So I kept doing it until I was getting 5 stars and was as good or better than the kids! :) Today I danced my ass off for 45 minutes and felt awesome when I was done.

I put Manny down for her nap then came back to get my sweat on some more. I did these three fitsugar workout videos, a few of my favorites from this site.

ten minute arms

ten minute cardio and core

ten minute full body

After all that I was pretty hungry so I threw some left over stir fry from last night in a pan to heat it up. I added some onion and crushed red pepper since I was the only one eating it and voila! It was even better day two!

After her nap I made Manny a grilled cheese. I was tempted to scavenge some bites, but went with applesauce for a snack instead. Good choice Me!

For dinner I mostly followed this chicken cordon bleu recipe from Skinny Taste. I only had plain bread crumbs so I added the Wildtree lemon pepper blend. They smelled amazing cooking! I was seriously drooling. MMMM.... and even better to eat!! I tossed some vegetable rotini in some olive oil, salt and pepper and sprinkled a little parmasen cheese over that and some broccoli. It was sooooo good! I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow.

DELICIOUS!!

After dinner Josh and I went with Katie to skate night and we both roller bladed too!! Woo hoo!  It was super fun, and I didn't fall at all. :) We are so awesome now! I am feeling especially proud of how far we have come today. GO US!!!

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice my day turned out considering my original weather affected mood. Tomorrow I want to work on finishing my dress and on getting my mile under 10 minutes. Seems doable!

Tuesday

Another great day for me! I wanted to get off on a good start so I forced myself to eat breakfast. I would much rather eat my first meal at more of a brunch time, but I don't usually have time to eat then. So it's either fairly early in the morning or not till lunch or later, which leaves me feeling drained and weak after my workout. I went with a whole wheat english muffin, with spinach, lean ham, and scrambled egg with salsa.  I tried, but couldn't finish the whole thing. I felt a little sick and not much like running after that. This is where I think juicing or smoothies might work out better for me. I need to look into that.......

It was tasty but I hate eating so early.

Since I wasn't going to be running right away, I went to help my mom with some yard work. The slightly overcast day was perfect for it and we were able to get a lot done. I enjoy gardening so much more now that I can move easily.

During a break I felt ready and jumped on the treadmill to go for my run. This time I warmed up at a 10 incline and speed at 3 for a 1/2 mile. I wanted to improve my time from yesterday, so with the incline at 0 I started the speed at 5.5 and every 1/10 of a mile I increased the speed by .1 and I threw in and extra one near the end so I finished at 6.5. And I cut my mile time down to 10 minutes 21 seconds! Duuuuude!!! Under 10 minutes is closer than I thought!  I cooled down with the incline at 5 and the speed at 2.5 for my last 1/2 mile.

I went back to gardening for a while until I eventually had to stop to have a late lunch. I reheated some leftover quinoa with brown rice and a small piece of BBQ chicken; and I threw in an apple since I hadn't had any fruit yet today. Nothing fancy but it hit the spot.

an apple a day.......

I went back home to get some housework done before the after school/ after work/ dinner rush.
I felt good going into dinner though because I knew we had a dinner plan and we had everything to make it already. I want to remember that, because it's a HUGE difference in how I feel, than on a week when we didn't menu plan and grocery shop ahead of time. Josh and I worked really well together in the kitchen tonight and whipped up a delicious stir fry with chicken, broccoli, carrots and pea pods sauced up with a couple kinds of Wildtree goodness and put that over rice noodles. We all practically licked our plates it was so good!

NOM!

I am really happy with how the day went. I got a lot done, I drank plenty of water, I made pretty good food choices and I felt good all day. I would like to see a small healthy snack added in there somewhere. And I could use some more fruits and veggies, in fact, I will go eat 2 kiwis right now..........and squeeze in a dance party before bed. :)

Monday

Today was a great day! I'm feeling really motivated and full of energy! Right away I wanted to get in a run and take a shot at goal #4 for this week, getting my mile time below 11 minutes. I warmed up at a 10 incline and the speed at 2.5 for .3 mile, about 8 minutes. Then I changed the incline to 0 and the speed to 5.5 to start timing my mile. I kept it like that for the first .7 mile, then I slowly increased the speed for the last .3 of the mile, finishing with the speed at 7. And..... a mile time of 10 minutes and 48 seconds!!! YEEESSS!! :D I let out a WHOOP, stopped to take this lovely picture, and cooled down with another .2 mile, 0 incline and the speed at 3. I am so freakin' proud of myself! Next goal, under 10 minutes.

I DID IT!!!!!

Right after my run I convinced my Dad to go on a bike ride with Manny and me for his birthday. We got my Brother in on the action, and off we went to ride along the river on the Centennial Trail.  We rode for about an hour, and just over 8 miles. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the flowers were blooming everywhere. My soul felt extra happy and peaceful. My body felt extra strong and capable. Especially my legs, I absolutely love how powerful my legs feel! 

I don't think I will ever get sick of the Centennial Trail.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I did great on drinking water but I made poor food choices today. I didn't eat until way too late in the day, then ate too much in the evening. I'm feeling a little bloated and angry at myself. I could blame it on the fact that we hadn't done our grocery shopping yet, and I was busy, and I was at a graduation party, and.......NO. Enough of that. I know better. Breakfast, small snacks throughout the day, reasonable portions, say no to brownies. I'm fixing this right now......
Step one- menu plan ......Check!
Step two- grocery shop.......Check!
(Goal #2 for this week done!)
Step three- follow through with good choices


OK, so not too bad for a Monday. :)

Short and Sweet

I can't believe it's Monday already! I meant to blog everyday last week and didn't. Early on in the week I stuck to abs and arms focused workouts and kept it moderate to low key. Then I got sick of not pushing myself so on Thursday I ran two miles without stopping. I felt great! Exhausted, but so great! And yesterday I ran to the hardware store and back, about a mile and a half and I pushed myself to run faster than I thought I could. (I'm using the Sports Tracker app to track my distance, speed and time. It's super easy to use and helping me keep a log of my runs, hikes, walks and bike rides.) Unfortunately, running has been making my foot start hurting again and I have to go easy the next day or so. I know I'm doing the right thing taking it easy and trying to heal so I don't cause long term damage, but I want to push so much harder than I'm able to right now. It's a little discouraging.

After running to the hardware store.

I love the role music is playing in my journey. It wasn't something I considered as "missing" before, but really, when I was spending that much time watching TV, I was depriving myself of valuable music, reading, artistic or actual activity time. You see, a good song makes me smile, makes me happy. It makes me want to move, to dance, to run faster, and longer. It can move me to my very soul and inspire me to push harder. The last couple week I was loving these songs:

Imagine Dragons "On Top of the World"

Passion Pit "Little Secrets"

Mike Snow "Animal"

Walk the Moon "Tightrope"

I've been keeping myself busy doing some spring cleaning and organizing around the house, as well as tending to our various flower and vegetable beds. I am stoked that the vegetable sprouts are popping up already! It will be so nice when we can pick something from our garden to eat. :)

Built 2 more planters, soil in two of them and veggies started.

I spy.......a spinach sprout!

The radish sprouts are really taking off!

Lettuce mix starting to sprout!

OK my goals for this week.....

1. I'm going to stop being so hard on myself for not already being able to run marathons. This is a gradual process. It won't happen overnight and that's OK. I will remember where I started.

2. I'm going to get back to making a menu. I want to have lot's of healthy choices available.

3.  I'm going to finish refashioning a dress I started and haven't finished.

4. I'm going to run a mile in under 11 minutes.

Bloomsday!!

Last Sunday we participated in Bloomsday! It was the second year in a row that we have done it as a family.  If you're not familiar with this event, it's a 12k (7.46 mi) with over 50,000 runners, joggers, and walkers. We have to walk the whole thing since we have a stroller and it takes us about 2 and a half hours. It was a beautiful day for it and it also happened to be Josh's birthday. We packed tons of water and healthy snacks for along the way and to picnic in the park after.

Later Josh, Katie and I went to Mellow Monkey for a post Bloomsday yoga sesh that was all stretching. It was exactly what we needed. Josh even fell asleep during savasana, snoring and all. :)

Unfortunately, the next day my right foot was really hurting and it got worse the more I walked around. I tried to take it easy and give it a chance to heal but that only goes so far with two kiddos running around. By day two it I was really bad. I was in a lot of pain and whimpering as I limped around. Josh got me an ace bandage and wrapped my foot then made me ice it. I'm pretty stubborn and resistant when it comes to treating my own ailments, so I'm pretty lucky I have him to help nurse me back to health. I took it easy again Wednesday and left the bandage on for support and my foot started feeling much better. 

The last few days I've done some light exercise, like riding the stationary bike or working on my abs and arms. Three days of no activity was KILLING me! I can not believe I used to do that all the time. I was so bored and I felt like I couldn't stop eating. Bleh!! (I'm not gonna lie there was pizza and cookies involved.) I didn't realize how much working out suppresses your appetite. It makes me only want food, that is full of nutrients, to give my body the fuel it needs to be as active as I am and nothing more. But on those off days it was more eating just to eat. I'm really looking forward to being back on track. 

I had started getting obsessive about weighing myself so I had someone hide the scale so I won't be weighing in all month. I was rarely tracking my food with weight watchers and just guessing so I downloaded the myfitnesspal app to try that out for a while. It is easy enough to use and it is nice to feel like I have to be accountable again.

  I'm going to work on posting every day or two to help keep me focused. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm eager to embrace it.

Makeover Week

Wow! The last three weeks have flown by! Make over week was a blur! I'm not going to lie. I was a tad disappointed that it wasn't the grand hullabaloo I had pictured in my head. You know, like on The Biggest Loser complete with fancy stylists and a big reveal. I almost didn't write this or any future blog entries because it felt kinda anticlimactic and I didn't know where to stat.

You see I originally wanted to be below 200 before my makeover, but since you have to do that whole scheduling thing in real life, guessing when your going to hit that mark is tricky. I was weighing myself obsessively leading up to my Tuesday hair appointment. So when I got to 200.7 I had to cut myself a little slack on the less than a pound it would have taken to get below 200. But I still felt like I was cheating a little.

Deciding to go for it, first on the agenda was my hair. Lucky for me, my super awesome sister-in-law, Leann, is a hair stylist and color specialist at A Look off the Boulevard, and she hooked me up with a new do. Usually she cuts my hair in my dining room so going in to her salon was a treat.

Oooh lala! 

The next day I finally got below 200 pounds!!! When I saw that number pop up on the screen my mouth dropped open, I chuckled a little to myself and cried for a moment. I literally looked up at myself in the mirror as a different person. One who is starting to see some of her strength and determination for herself. One who is finally starting to see some of her value and beauty. Should all my self worth be tied up in that number? ABSOLUTELY NOT!! This is about deciding I want to be happy, healthy and strong and making that happen. But that number held so much power over me for so long. I allowed it to control me and my identity in a negative way and now I feel like I'm finally getting free from all of that. 

I need to mention at this point that Josh has lost 70 pounds!! Wooohoo! Go babe!!!! So he also cut off some hair.

Mmmm....so handsome! <3

Then it was time for new clothes. Unfortunately the time I have free for shopping is in the middle of the day and everyone else is busy then. For the most part it was just Manny and me. And if you have ever been shopping with a 2 year old you know that you have limited time before they get too impatient and you have to leave. So most of my shopping felt rushed and I didn't get to browse and bargain shop as much as I would have liked. It was still a good experience. My pant size went from a 22 to an 16 and my shirt size went from a 2x to a large. I was able to shop in the regular sizes and not in the plus size section!! Now that was exciting!

Pant legs up or down?

I found some good stuff, and oh man it is nice to have clothes that fit! I was feeling really good at this point and ready for a road trip with my best lady friend, Ashley.

We headed to Walla Walla for some birthday celebrating/ wine tasting with our friend, Edra.

I had a GREAT time! I sang real loud, met new people, went on a crazy jeep ride through a river and up a steep hill, laughed a TON, danced around the fire, and drank lots of wine with two ladies who mean the world to me!!

Mmmmm, wine! :)

While makeover week was still fun, I didn't work out at all and I was skipping a lot of meals since I was out shopping and away from home. I weighed in when we got home at 197.7 and decide it was time to switch my focus from weight to abilities; running faster and farther, doing more reps, trying more challenging workouts, etc. 

Now for the really mortifying part, some before and afters. I am so ashamed to admit I ever let it get this bad. I look at the before pictures and think how uncomfortable in my skin I was. I never want to forget that.

Fall 2009                                                                Spring 2013

Late Spring 2013

Summer 2012

February 2013 (top)-May 2013 (bottom)

Cheers! :)




*I had a lot of problems getting pictures to upload and positioning them the way I wanted. I finally had to say this is good enough. Something I have a REALLY hard time saying.