Haters?

Here's my question....why when people see me do they feel the need to tell me the million reasons why they can't work out?  Really?  I have 4 kids, work full-time, am going to school for a 2nd Master's degree and I have managed to make it a priority. 

This little rant is because of "Book Club" which I hosted at my house last night.  We have fondly labeled it "Booze Club" because we typically do more drinking than talking about the actual book.....

Anyway, there are 11 of us in this group and we get together about every 6 weeks.  There are 3 women who I don't see outside of book club.  They are not personal friends of mine, our kids are not in the same grade, whatever....we just don't connect.  These women always come in and immediately ask me how my running/working out is going and then, as soon as I've responded (usually with a pretty minimalistic answer), they go off with their litany of excuses as to why they can't run or workout.  I usually just nod and smile and kind of ignore them.

So last night, I wasn't drinking because I am doing this bootcamp challenge and eating clean for a month, just to see what kind of progress I can make.  Well, apparently this makes the 3 evil stepsisters angry and they started giving me crap about it.  I can ignore what they say, because I don't really care what they think about me anyway.  However, then a couple of my closest friends started joining in, saying that I was overdoing it and taking it too far.  I was really upset by this.  Shouldn't this be my choice? And if you're my friend, shouldn't you support me in it, even if that means I'm not drinking with you every night?  I'm still there, I'm still going out with them, I still call them and text them....I just don't eat what they eat or drink what they drink.  Is that so wrong? 

Then the evil stepsisters turned the conversation to how they all wanted to have tummy tucks and I almost lost it.  I wanted to pull up my shirt in the middle of my dining room and yell, "Look bitches, hard work and dedication....no surgery necessary!"  I really don't know if I can continue being with these people, even if it is only once every 6 weeks. 

Bootcamp Challenge Update

So...I am 2 1/2 weeks into this challenge.  I am really craving chocolate!!  But, I haven't caved yet.  As of this morning I have lost 4 pounds.  Don't know how much body fat since we're not doing that again until the last day on 4/29.  I am more interested in losing body fat than losing pounds on the scale, but I will assume that losing pounds will translate to lost body fat as well.

As far as the eating goes, I am really struggling to get in 135 grams of protein per day.  I usually hover closer to 90-100 grams.  I don't like fish/seafood and that's making it tough.  I am eating my greek yogurt -- sometimes twice a day, drinking one protein shake per day, and then getting the rest from whatever else is in my diet - chicken, peanut butter, edamame, etc.

I'll be interested to take pictures again at the end and see if I notice any changes.  We are lifting some HEAVY weights!

Bootcamp Challenge!!!

Okay, so my 30-day bootcamp challenge started this morning!  Myself and 4 of my "runner" friends are doing bootcamp in one of the friend's basement 3 mornings a week from 5:30-6:30 a.m.  We are also trying to watch what we eat -- being sure to get enough protein, avoiding excess fats and refined sugar, etc.  Can't cut out the carbs because I'm training for the half-marathon on May 1st, but they need to be good carbs -- whole grains!  We are holding each other accountable for food choices by reporting out each morning any poor choices we made over the past 2 days.

We all weighed in and did our body fat percentage this morning and the challenge is to see who can lose the most body fat over the course of the month.   Ugh!  Not fair to have to weigh in the Monday morning after Spring Break!  I was very disappointed that my weight is up 8.5 pounds from "marathon weight" (up from 137 to 145.5...although with the poor eating and the drinking I did over Spring Break, I have to guess that some of this is "water weight" and will come off quickly) and my body fat is up 3% from early December when I last checked it (up from 17% to 20%).  Not happy with those numbers!!! On the upside, I guess it gives me more of a chance to win the challenge??  The sad part is, I'm not really entirely sure how this happened.  I have been working out like a fiend, so it's got to be the eating.  I know I haven't been great over this winter, but I didn't think it was that bad (back to the "Damn Weather" post). 

Well, it's a new day, a new month, and I'm ready for the challenge. Can't wait to weigh in, check body fat and take some new pictures in a month....I wonder if I'll see any change physically?

Damn weather

I go through this every year....the weather gets nice in February and even though I know from 42 years of living in the Chicago area that this is absolutely, positively NOT going to last, I continue to get depressed when the nice weather goes away and the crappy weather returns.  So, sure enough, we had a couple of weeks of beautiful weather, I was able to run outside (which was incredible) and now it's snowing again and I just can't take it! 

So, in true form I start eating....and eating....and eating.  And yes, in the past 2 months I've managed to gain 4 lbs!  Yikes!  I had been avoiding the scale and telling myself that with all my recent increased mileage I would be fine even though I had gotten on the eating train and had missed all the stops.  Delusional....I recognize this.  When I stepped on the scale this morning I actually got back on after my shower thinking maybe it had been wrong the first time (Really?  What did I think was going to happen?).



Time to get off the eating train, stop making excuses, and start eating healthy again.  I guess this means giving up my nightly giant bowl of popcorn (oil-popped, with real butter added) that I recently started eating again, and my Ghirardelli dark chocolate caramel squares in my desk drawer that I have for "snacks."  I will get back on track!  I have to....my boot camp challenge starts in a week and a half and I don't want to start out having to lose the 4 lbs. I gained before I do anything else.  The plan is to eat fruits and veggies (and some protein -- either in the form of greek yogurt or go-tein) for a few days and try to get the cravings back under control and then I can go from there.  Ugh.....why can't this just be easy?

Fruits and veggies....good!!



Chocolate....bad. :(



Carbs anyone?

Okay, so I've been focusing so much on eating "clean" that I forgot about the need to eat some carbs if I'm going to run. I ate fruit for breakfast yesterday and a southwestern style chicken salad for lunch (essentially 0 carbs), then went home and attempted to run 4 miles.  I sucked it up with an overall average pace of 9:38 and it was harder than hell.  I wanted to stop at 3 miles but forced myself to go the extra mile...and forced myself to run that mile at just under a 9:00 pace (which means the first 3 were REALLY slow)....but it was HARD. 

When I analyzed it afterward and realized I had not eaten any carbs I remembered how important it is to watch what I eat when I'm running.  It's like starting over this spring...I feel like I forgot everything I knew about running last year.  Then, without my asking or even telling this story, my friend handed me a book last night about running a 4 hour marathon.  "It's an easy read...," she said....,"with lots of good tips and reminders on eating right and hydration."  How weird is that? 

Pictures

So...here are some starting pictures.  I'm still figuring out this whole blogging thing, so I apologize that they're all in a line...can't quite figure out how to move them around...


Needs some work - especially triceps!






Skinny...not strong...yet!





When did my butt get so flat?

My goal is to build some more muscle by the end of April.  A good friend of mine holds "boot camp" in her basement every Saturday throughout the winter.  Now that running season has started, however, Saturdays are for long runs, so she has given our group a "bootcamp" challenge.  From April 1st - May 1st we will be doing bootcamp at 5:30 a.m. on M,W,F.  We will each weigh in and take body fat % on April 1st and again on May 1st.  The goal is to lose as much body fat (while building muscle, of course) as we can in one month.

Until then I am on my own with my gym classes and running.  Oh, and of course trying to eat better!

"Good" or "Bad"

I need to stop thinking of myself as being "good" or "bad" based on my food choices for a day.  I ate relatively well yesterday but went out to lunch with friends at work and had a grilled cheese sandwich and chips (not the best choice).  Other than that, I ate only healthy foods (e.g., greek yogurt, fruit, protein shake, salad for dinner), and I worked out (3.5 miles on the treadmill at a 6.3 pace and weight machines for arms). So, when I look at my day, why do I think "I was bad yesterday."?  Making the wrong choices for one meal doesn't make me a "bad" person. This mentality is bringing me down and I need to stop!! 

I am looking into the paleo diet, but I don't want to think of it as a "diet," so I need to do some more research to see if I think I'll truly be able to make it a lifestyle.  I'm tired of always worrying about what I'm eating and I'd like it to just become a natural way of life for me. I haven't found anything that's worked yet.....maybe this will be it?