Ugh

Not a good day. Today's run sucked.

I woke up at 4:45 with the first alarm, which I rapidly snoozed. Then my next alarm went off at 4:55, as it always does, loud and blaring and annoying. I got out of bed and snoozed it, checking the weather outside as I did. It was beautiful, of course. I crawled back into bed and when the snooze went off again at 5:04, as it always does, I got up and reset the alarm for 5:27 and headed back to bed, pulling the covers back over my head.

But then, my conscience got the best of me and I reminded myself that I'm not going to run at noon (there's no way in hell, I believe were my actual words to my self) and I drug my sorry ass out of bed and headed to the bathroom to pull my hair back and get ready.

I finally made it out to run but my whole body was yelling at me. I could taste the salt from my previous nights' sunflower seed splurge on my lips (could until at least 9:30, in fact) and my body would not stop yawning. I ended up only running about 1.5 and called it good.

SO then to celebrate, I had Taco Bell for lunch and Combos Pizza (those pretzel cheese disgusting things) for afternoon snack. Total junk food day.

Tomorrow will be better.

Note to self

Don't eat half a bag of "salted in the shell" sunflower seeds and 44 oz of soda one day and expect to have any kind of decent run the next.

Hello! Are you dumb?

Foodie

Such a foodie:
1 piece light wheat toast (40 cal) with light Smart Balance butter (1 TBSP 45 Cal) - 85 calories
4 HB Egg whites (apprx 70 Cal)
20 oz Crystal Lite Peach Tea (5 or 10 Cal)
Chicken breast (apprx 5 oz) with shredded cheese and salsa (calories? No idea)
1 donut (whoops)
12 oz Diet Rite with splenda
12 oz Diet Sunkist
20 oz Diet Coke
1 piece light wheat toast (40 cal) with Smart Balance Peanut Butter
½ Cup SB cereal with Skim milk
1 piece string cheese (70 cal)
Sunflower seeds – thousands
¾ cup Carb Smart Breyer's ice cream with SF chocolate syrup
12 oz Crystal Lite Peach Tea

Okay so I will completely and totally admit that eating bread this morning before running really helped and having a little bit throughout the day was nice. It helped me keep my energy up and keep going.

I'm going to bed early tonight so I can get up earlier tomorrow so I can run more. It's all a if:then equation. If I go to bed early, then I can run more tomorrow. If I run more tomorrow, then I'll get in shape faster and possibly lose more weight. craziness.

Starting off right?

Hey Kat,
Weighed in this morning: 166. Ugh! Probably back to where I started but I'm not going back on phase one. I need my carbs. I'm just going to be careful with how many and which ones I eat.

I ran this morning...once again sleeping with my workout clothes on. I feel pretty good about this run at least. I walked a lot less than I usually do and twice when I started to walk I made myself run to at least the next marker. So my first mile was 10:39.

Actually these were my numbers this morning:
1st mile: 10:39
Ran for 2 more minutes
Walked and watered for 1:30
Ran to 1/2 mile marker 4:39
Walked the crappy part of the trail: 2:30
Ran to next 1/2 mile marker (plus a little to make up for the crappy walk): 4:21
Walked 1 minute
Ran 2 hills: 1 minute
Walked 1:15
Ran down and up hill: 45 seconds
Cool Down: 3:15

Not bad. I need to see if I can lessen my watering time - or run a little bit more of the crappy part of the trail. I only walk this because it's really broken up and then angles 30 degrees like this: / so it's hard to run. I walk it mostly to keep from injuring myself.

Oh and I started the morning with a piece of toast with Smart Balance butter. That helped I think. Now I'm off to shower and eat some cereal. :) Talk to you more later!

OMG

Okay, I was going to write down everything I ate this weekend but as I go through it in my head it's just damn depressing. My stomach and colon were not happy with me at all, so much so that I freelaxed last night/this morning just so I could feel a little more normal.

Tomorrow I go back on the plan, however I will be incorporating a little bit of carbs. I need to be running hard and I need carbs for that. So I have light wheat bread for before my morning run and South Beach cereal for when I get back so I can replenish (this will go with my eggs as well).

I will weigh in tomorrow so I have a honest and good idea of where I am. I doubt i lost anything this week but miracles do happen. :)

Your oreos and beer from the 4th? Yeah, that was my yesterday and today, without the beer.

One more day

Eats:
pistachios for breakfast
Crystal Lite - 20oz
Subway Chicken Bacon and Ranch wrap (half of the tortilla)
Tea - half unsweetened/half raspberry
Some almonds and cashews for supper
Diet Rite with Splenda - one can
Chicken breast with cheese and salsa
3/4 cup low carb ice cream with SF chocolate

Uffda. I didn't eat or drink like I normally do all day. So I feel really dehydrated.

Exercise: Sadly, today would have been THE perfect day to workout. However, I dragged my butt out of bed at 4:55 and decided to go back to bed because I was so exhausted I could barely stand. I was supposed to run at noon today with a friend but they ditched me without so much as a phone call, so I went to lunch with another friend instead. And I was going to run this afternoon before I left to go home but things kept getting in the way. I suck.

Another day older and deeper in debt

Eats:
Lots of Crystal Lite Peach Tea before and after run this morning
4 HB Egg whites
1 CF Caramel candy
1 Diet Dr. Pepper
Beef Jerky stick
2 oz Pistachios
1 string cheese
Water with Fruit Punch CL
Half a chicken breast with cheese and salsa
More PT CL
The equivalent of 3 cookies – in cookie dough that is
¾ cup low carb ice cream with sugar free chocolate syrup
30 pistachios – which I'm just realizing I shouldn't have eaten since I already had some earlier today. Oh well.

Exercise: Ran 2.5 again this morning. First mile was great - 10:59:09 (I love when I can make an under 11 minute mile - no matter how barely under it is); I walked for 2:32 and then started up again. That was my downfall. Once I stop I have a hard time restarting, especially with the 70% humidity we had this morning. 2nd mile ended up around 12:30 (give or take) - first half mile was 5:30 but the second half was worse - attacked by geese and the mosiquito truck and lack of energy (more on this later). Ended up run/walking for 34:37 total. Not bad considering I had to literally drag myself out of bed. I lifted a little bit at 1230. I have a schedule from Keith from a year ago but some of the exercises I couldn't remember how to do. I did do some "Drive the Car" ab things that Jay had taught me years ago. Then went for a half-mile walk to stay loose before spending the afternoon sitting.

Eating: I'm really enjoying my hard boiled egg whites each morning, I will say. It's been quite lovely to get that protein in me right away. The bad thing is that I'm thinking I need to do something before I run...like a piece of toast or something, just to get me going. My energy really lacked on the second mile and part of that was because I had no fuel to burn - other than wieners from the night before which were seriously not tasting good this morning. But I hesitate to begin back on the bread thing because it truly is my downfall. It's funny with SB - people stress about the lack of potatoes and such, but I can totally go without potatoes. But bread? Hmmm. I do love whole wheat bread though. I should get a bread maker and get whole wheat flour. Then at least I'd know what was going in it and not feel quite so bad about eating it. Or maybe that's worse, I'm not sure. I did forget about lunch today until about 2:30. Then I remembered but wasn't sure how to pull it off since I worked out at noon and showered. Whoops. So I went to the store and picked up some cheese and processed meat and pistachios - not the best but at least it was something. Supper I ate what I should have eaten at lunch and it was okay. The bad thing was the Brian requested cookies for tomorrow and even offered to pay for the ingredients (which I had joked about at one point, but I haven't made cookies in so long that I'd feel bad taking his money). So I made cookies tonight and of course that means i have to try the dough. :) Whoops. I'll have to run extra tomorrow.

Overall:
I am enjoying the morning workouts even thought it's tough to get up in the morning. I've been wearing my running stuff to bed, sans socks and shoes, so all I have to do is get up, shoe up and go. It actually helps in so many ways – it saves time, it saves me from thinking about what to wear in the AM, and I have a harder time talking myself out of running when I'm already dressed. Believe me, I tried really hard this morning. And I do feel better once I'm out there. I don't like running alone so I've been carrying mace which is probably illegal, but I feel better when I'm alone. Of course I think I've seen a total of 3 people on the trails – and that's total for the last two days: 2 bikers and a walker – so I probably don't need it.

The list

Eats:
8 oz Water
8 oz Crystal Lite Peach Tea
4 HB Egg whites
20 oz Crystal Lite Sunrise Delight (2)
Chicken, cheese, veggie thing from last week
1 jell-o sugar free pudding cup (60 cal)
5 hotdogs without buns - basically, just the meat.*
One can, Diet Coke

Exercise:
5:15 - 5:50; 2.5 run/walk; time - too long approx 35 minutes (will wear better watch tomorrow)

So tonight I went to my nephew's birthday party. It was time for dinner and one of SIL's co-workers hands me a plate. *It had a hotdog, on a white bun, with chips on the side. Uffda. I said, "Oh, thanks. You didn't need to get me a plate!" She said it was fine and to enjoy. Ugh. SO I waited until she went outside, took the meat to eat and gave the chips to my mom. I couldn't do it. I so wanted those chips but I stood my ground. :) But then I got hungry and cake was served and I desperately needed something to distract me. So I had another wiener. Then another. Then another and yet another. Oh well. I'm full now.

Blech

Okay, so I have a confession to make. I weighed in on Saturday even though I said I wasn't going to. I was at 160, which made me really happy. But then I weighed in this morning, but I was back to 162. This did not make me happy. Grrr.

So I started reading the SB book again and discovered I wasn't supposed to have sugar free pudding. Whoops. And I learned about the nuts thing again. Shoot.

I'm feeling fat today. I don't like that. And when I feel fat I don't like to run. I SO should have run today - it's beautiful out and all I did was stay in and study. grrr.

Not having a good day.

Despite baseball...

Today was okay. I had eggs for breakfast and then pistachios. Of course I ate a bunch of them before finding a SB article that said I should only eat 30 a day because too many nuts can go against weight loss. Whoops and shit since this is usually all I eat.

Lisa invited me to the Canaries/Saints game which was awesome. I didn't eat during it and came home and had a little steak on the griddle grill again and then a little ice cream for dessert. Whoops again. Of course it's the low carb stuff so hopefully it won't work against me. Then I had some celery/PB later.

I think I'm doing okay. Tomorrow is weigh in day again. We'll see where I am.

A home day

I spent the day at home which is usually full of danger. Today wasn't great but wasn't bad either. I had a SB meal for lunch and some pistachios (this was more of a brunch really) and then I snacked on cheese and nuts for the afternoon. Tonight I had a chuck steak (I think) - red meat of some sort on my griddle grill. This worked great! I'm really excited to be able to grill again.

I did buy Breyers Low Carb ice cream. It has only 3 or 4 grams of sugar so I think I can get away with this. It's summer! I need ice cream! But I haven't opened it yet. Maybe tonight I'll have a little while I watch my movie.

Oh and I forgot to mention I did have a pop yesterday - diet dr. pepper. I broke down only because I was exhausted. It was okay and I don't think it really set me back. I haven't had a desire for it or diet coke since.

I think things are going okay. We'll see what happens Monday.

Trips make eating hard, yet easy

So yesterday we left for the northern woods and I missed breakfast. Not a good way to start. By the time we hit lunch at 1 I was starving. I almost went for a penne pasta with chicken but decided to stay strong. I did eat the apple on my apple walnut salad but I needed a little bit of sugar to keep going. I was already tired and we hadn't even started yet.

Dinner was divine. I had a petit filet mignon with green beans almondine and steamed veggies - which was basically zuccini, carrots and more green beans. Yum though. I actually felt full, which was interesting considering I had had two meals all day and a shit load of water.

Today was a little better in that I started my day with an omelet with cheese, broccoli, peppers and tomatoes. Lunch was bad - pistachios. I just wanted a hamburger so bad and I thought I better hold out just a little longer. Dinner I had scrambled eggs with cheese and jalepeno stuffed olives. Yummy.

This weekend will be tough since I'll be home and studying a lot. I like to snack when I study so I stay awake and alert. But I have some celery left and I need to go get some skim milk so I could pick up more.

I miss popcorn. I love popcorn. I miss it.

I haven't weighed since Monday. I used to weigh every day, then twice a week and my former neighbor - known as A1 on this and other blogs in my world - was a doctor and she had done weight watchers or SB, I can't remember, and she made me swear I wouldn't weigh more than once a week. So Monday AM I'll weigh again and see where I am. Hopefully I'll have dropped a few. I'd love to get below 160 this week or next. It's only 3 pounds so I'm hoping that'll happen. I think I'll feel a little more positive about all this if I can get in the 150's, even if they are high. :)

Another day down

Today was okay, other than I missed breakfast. So I had celery and PB around 9 and then ate lunch at 11:30 which I hardly ever do. Lunch was my chicken and veggie thing with cheese and then jell-o pudding. For the afternoon I didn't really snack, if I remember right. So tonight when I got home I was starving. I had chicken thing again (the joys of mass producing food for the week) and a bunch of Nutrition nuts from Planters and a few SF Red Vines.

I feel like I had something else but I can't remember. Oh well. I drank a lot of crystal lite again and am now enjoying SF chocolate Skim milk. mmmm...

Bad thing - I didn't get up this morning again for running. I blame my friend Jason for one - for calling after 10 two nights in a row, and I blame the lack of carbs. I really need some extra energy.

Of course I chatted with K today and found out that next weekend, over the 4th, will be full of sugar and fun. Hmmm...that'll be interesting coming off of these last two weeks.

Back to basics

So yesterday afternoon I was skimming through my original SB posts back in August 2005. I used to list all the food I had eaten. Some of these, if you decide to read them, are a little off mostly because these used to be on my main blog and then I realized people probably didn't want to read about this all the time so I started the second blog and then copied and pasted all the entries and adjusted time and date so they'd be accurate. It's worked and my other blog is just for other stuff as this one is just for my fattiness.

But, like I said, I used to list all the food I ate. It was a little nerve-wracking because then I had to be accountable for what I was eating each day, knowing that I would be posting it later for people read.

So here you go: my meals for Today, beginning of week 2 of Phase I
Egg whites for breakfast (4). I don't like the yolk so I only eat the whites. I also had a Sunrise Delight Crystal Lite and then a Peach Tea to follow it up. For snack I had pistachios (yum!) and string cheese (this was first and then the nuts to get the cheese taste out of my mouth). For lunch I had a salad - lettuce, chicken (which tasted funny - I hope it was the seasoning and that I don't get sick), some cheese and cucumbers - with OG dressing and SF Jell-o Pudding for dessert. I had some more pistachios this afternoon for a snack and then had a SB Meal (Kung Pao Chicken) for dinner. It's for phase 1 which makes me happy, but has way less veggies than it used to, which does not make me happy. I also had some SF Red Vines. Overall I've drank a lot of liquid today.

Oh and I did try the griddle grill last night and I think it would work better with steak than chicken since it's for searing not cooking clear through. I guess I'll have to get me some steak. :) I like that on the grill better anyway. Chicken is great baked and all the recipes I have can work in the oven. I just don't like using the oven in summer if I don't have to.

Much better

After the Subway fiasco, my day went much better. I had some celery and PB for an afternoon snack and made my chicken for the week, while also making a salad for tomorrow and slicing up my fresh celery I just purchased.

I also went to Olive Garden today and bought 4 bottles of their dressing. I love this stuff and it's the only dressing I like on my salad. So now I have some that I can take to work. YAY!

I also had some skim milk with Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup. I was so excited to find this. I love chocolate milk but I never have it because of the sugar in the chocolate. It tasted so good. *sigh*

And we continue this week. One week down, one to go!

Blew it

Well, so much for that. Not that I'm quitting, I just find it hilarious how one little thing can make me feel like an idiot.

I met a friend whom I haven't seen in awhile for lunch and we went to Subway. We always order the same thing when we go because we tend to eat alike. It's funny, like our work, "You fly, I'll buy" policy which is basically what we did except that we went together. But my friend paid and I told them what we wanted.

Our standard is a chicken bacon and ranch wrap. I thought this would be okay and I'd unroll it and just fork it. But when it was complete and we were at the table getting ready to eat I realized I didn't have a fork and I really, really, really wanted that tortilla - if only for a little bit of carbs so I could feel awake again.

So I ate it.

Though, I will say, I did pull off about half of the tortilla and only kept what was necessary to keep it together in a roll of sorts. The rest I tossed.

We also did the meal deal which was fine until I remembered I gave up Diet Coke so I had the raspberry sweetened tea, which I'm guessing was sweetened with sugar. Dammit. And the chips I just took home with me to eat at another time.

Well - that's only one meal and I do feel mucho better and am actually feeling like I can accomplish things this afternoon. I have half of my kitchen cleaned and 4 loads of laundry in. I took a break for some celery and PB and thought I'd write here.

Hopefully the lunch won't set me back too much. I'll have to work hard to erase the damage, so to speak, but I'm doing that anyway.

My excitement, which I will put on my other blog as well, I got a two sided griddle today - one side is the griddle, the other a grill so I can grill during the winter. I'm excited to try it out.

Weigh in

Okay so I weighed in and I'm at 163. Ugh. My goal is 140 but I'd be happy at 143 even. That's what I got down to the last time I did this and I felt so much better than I do now. I feel heavy, like I have weights tied to all my muscles and appendages pulling me down.

I did run this morning...well Run/Walk is more like it. I went 4.5 which was good but it didn't feel that great since I had to walk so much. So I'm going to also incorporate my breathing device to help my breathing get stronger. I feel like i've been a smoker for years the way I breathe when I run. Not good. Though it's a little to be expected since my dad smoked in the house at least a pack a day until I was 13. And then I used to spend a lot of time in a bar in seminary a few years ago...that's another story for another day. But, point is, I'm sure my lungs are caked with soot anyway.

Sooo there you have it. 20 pounds to go. No set date to make it by, I just want to do it healthy and steadily (though I guess I would like to have it gone by September so I can have a good month of lightness before the marathon).

How are you doing?

Hmmm

So today was weird. I didn't work out, which I should have, and I think the only thing I really ate, other than SF candy, was the omelet at Perkins this morning.

I'm not feeling the need for Diet Coke, which makes me happy. Maybe I can kick that habit in a good way.

I'm feeling a little low today - I'm not sure if it's because of my social life or if I'm needing carbs. We'll see.

Tomorrow I'll weigh in and let you know where I am and how far I need to go. AND I'm going to run in the morning so I'll get that completed too. :)

Hope you're doing well!

Funny trip

Hey Kat. Just wanted to say hi.

Yesterday Mom and I headed to the cities. She brought along Chex Mix for us to snack on - not the normal chex mix (which I wouldn't be able to eat either) but the chocolate truffle stuff. I inwardly said, "ugh" and then packed up some celery, PB, hard boiled eggs and string cheese - oh and some SF chocolate since I can have a little of that. She looked at me and asked what I was doing so I explained the whole "back on South Beach and can't eat that stuff" thing. She was a little miffed I didn't tell her that but who goes around telling people they're on a new eating plan again? Oh well. She ate that while I ate my celery.

Overall I'm doing well with the eating. A little too much SF candy today but I'm getting better at figuring out what I can order in places again: Salad at Chipotle but no chips, Sub at Subway but don't eat the bread, that kind of thing.

I don't really feel different yet, which the first time I did this I did, but maybe that'll change when i step on the scale Monday. Eek!

Uffda kind of day again

Truly it is getting better. I started this whole blog this morning but I forgot to send it home so it's sitting in my Drafts at work. I don't really remember what I said.

But I do know that last night after having eggs for supper and some Sugar Free candy for dessert, my tummy was going gurgle gurgle gurlge. You know that feeling? That oh crap (lit.) feeling. It's to be expected. This is a usual feeling with SB, and I don't mind it. It's that cleansing kind of feeling.

But this morning, when I didn't eat breakfast (again!) and just drank Crystal Lite all morning, my tummy got mad. It hurt...physically hurt.

But then I had some string cheese and pistachios and ran at lunch. I felt better and even more so after lunch.

I'm missing Diet Coke, but I think I'll get over it eventually. Tonight I had my chicken again for supper and I did boil eggs so I'll have those for breakfast. I don't eat the yolk, so I'll just be eating 4 egg whites. Hopefully that'll help in the mornings. :)

I'm getting a little nervous about weighing in on Monday, but I think it'll be okay.

I'm also nervous about traveling this weekend. But I think I can make it work...not as well as I would if I stayed home, but it'll be okay.

Another day down! And hopefully more weight!

Uffda

Well, what kind of self control do I really have? Nada, apparently.

Last night I had to make a pie...well I didn't have to but I promised Naomi...and so today was rough. Well, last night was rough.

The dough I made was a new recipe and because I have this thing about trying all the recipes I make, I had to sample it. It actually was really good. Really good and full of flour and butter and sugar. *sigh* I didn't eat too much because I didn't want to mess up my life too much.

Then today we had the pie. I went down to watch everyone enjoy it. Luckily EB cut the pieces really small. I broke down after all the oohs and aahs because I had to see if people were truthful or just nice because I was standing there.

I totally screwed up and had a full piece and, can I just say, damn it was good. I'm a damn good baker. This will be the death of me.

The rest of the day was okay. I steered clear of anything else not on the plan, had eggs for supper and overall didn't feel too hungry, and if I did I had celery and PB instead of chips or a candy bar. So that made me feel good.

The only bad thing, other than the pie, is that I have a headache. I haven't had a Diet Coke since Monday and going from 3 or 4 a day in the past week on the road to NONE...yeah, I have a headache. Hopefully that'll go away soon.

Starting again

Okay, so today I started running in the AM again, started SB again, and it's rag week. I'm an idiot.

My run this morning was good. I woke at 5:12 - right on schedule like I usually do. But I stalled and didn't get to the base until an hour later to run. So I ran 2 miles in 25 minutes (12.5 minute mile). Not bad but not good. I need to get stronger and faster...or at least more consistent. I walked too much. But I also dressed warmer than I needed to. It was chilly but once I got going I go really warm.

Eating today was good, except for forgetting breakfast. I had string cheese and a piece of beef jerky for snacks. Lunch was a SB meal that was actually okay for Phase 1. I was so excited to discover that. I'll have to pick up more. And I had jello-pudding for dessert.

After work I went grocery shopping and picked up a few more items to help me with my snacks and meals. I came home and made the chicken mix I usually have, just without the pasta. In a couple weeks I can add back in the pasta because I eat whole wheat and that's allowed at least.

Today wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I drank a lot of crystal lite which helped. It's just the breakfast thing. I wish SB made breakfast meals premade. But I'll figure out something.

I'm not going to weigh this week. Since it's rag week it's just not smart. So next Monday I'll weigh so I can see where I am and how much I really need to lose. The ultimate goal is 140 at least, maybe 135. I'm just not sure how much that's going to require me to lose.

I need to do this. The marathon is coming up quick and I really want to do well this year. I want to feel like I can accomplish it without worrying about being able to walk afterward. Debbie was laughing this weekend when we were talking about it because I said I have a Guthrie show that night (which is beneficial for traveling purposes, just not great since last year I had some trouble.). Last year I got blisters (wrong socks) so I had a lot of trouble walking. I also didn't stretch very well after the race and so I tightened up quickly making it hard to move.

I want to be better than this. I'm getting my motivation back which I desperately need right now.

another day

Interesting day. I feel like I've eaten better. I had eggs with veggies and cheese around 10 for brunch, then some pistachios. I had the chicken thing I made for girls day, with snap peas instead of broccoli - I liked it better, for supper. I did have some whole-wheat spaghetti but not a lot. I figured since I already screwed up Phase I with pizza the other night a little more wouldn't hurt me.

I have been eating SF candy today still, but not as much as usual. who knows. I don't really have the carb cravings like I have in the past. Maybe that's a good thing. But I do need to up the salad intake. I haven't been eating as much lately. I need to go to OG and get some dressing. I do have chicken and tomatoes so that's a good thing at least.

another bad day

Yesterday was bad. Well, actually all my breakfasts this week have been awful: String cheese and Sf candy. Pathetic. Anyway, my lunch date canceled yesterday so instead of having lunch and then taking the afternoon off, I ended up working through lunch and not leaving until 4:30. So another lunch of string cheese and SF candy. When I got home I ate the leftover pizza from Thursday and pistachios. I will say the pizza tasted damn good and I think the carbs were good for me since I hadn't had anything all day.

Hopefully today will be better. One bonus...I weighed this morning and I'm down to 157. :)

Am I in trouble?

I ate carbs for the first time in almost 2 weeks. I still have 3 days left on this non-carbs thing, but mom came over tonight so I threw in a Kashi pizza. It was yummy, but I felt a little guilty after eating it and I've had tons of energy - sugar rush maybe? hmmm... I don't know. Kashi is pretty healthy at least.

Making headway?

I haven't been writing about my food lately...mostly because it's been awful. I had a chai tea latte on Monday, but I don't think that messed with me too much. What has messed me up is SF Red Vines and SF chocolate. I've been living on those, string cheese and pistachios. I finally forced myself Tuesday night to bake chicken, and I put salsa and cheese on it - which i know is a no-no on Phase I since salsa has sugar - but I figured I needed something and most of the sugar should have baked off. The chicken tasted really good so i was glad I did that. Plus I got to eat it yesterday for lunch and I'll do that again today. I had eggs with cheese, peppers, tomato, and olives last night for supper. That was yummy too until i started eating pistachios again. sheesh.

But it's not going too bad. I'm over the hump of needing/wanting/craving carbs - I'd still like them but it's not as prominent as it was last week. And I'm down to 159 - so that's 5 pounds down. Next week is supposed to be warmer so I'll be back running again. Which is good since I have 60 days until the Brookings Marathon. It's do or die time now. I have to really push training the next few weeks. 60 days to prep for a marathon is insane but maybe I can still do it. If not, maybe i'll just go up and pick up my t-shirt and go. :) hahaha. No... I'd like to run it if I can but I'm really going to have to bust my butt the next few weeks both with strength training and cardio. Two-a-days may be a necessity. (If not three...depending on schedules and such).

So there we go. Let's see how I can do.

Weekend of SF

I spent most of the weekend eating SF candy, pistachios and string cheese. I did have salad and meat at both lunch Saturday and Sunday. But the rest of my meals were awful. Ugh.
I have to weigh in the morning. i'm more than a little nervous.

Not sure about this

Today was an interesting day. I did get breakfast because of the Prayer Breakfast - so I had lots of eggs and real bacon (whoops). I did eat a lot of SF candy but I think I'm going to have to expect that I will do that because I just do. "No popcorn, eat cheese!"

Anyway, for lunch I had salad and chicken. It wasn't bad. The guys I ate lunch with all had cake in front of me though...grrr. And tonight I went out to supper with Lisa and Emmy and I had the salad bar and chicken. It was yummy and I got to bring half of it home for tomorrow.

I need to buy some more pistachios though. Those are my favorite. I can't wait until Tuesday when I can weigh in again. I did on Monday and was 164 or 165. Friday I was 161. I can't weigh this Monday because I'll be in the cities but Tuesday I can. YAY! As long as this keeps working I'm okay with sticking with it.

Whoops

Yesterday was a really bad day. I wanted a piece of bread so bad. I didn't give in but man I really, really, really wanted one. Of course I did learn that pistachios do not make a supper. And today I learned that string cheese does not a breakfast make, nor does SF candy (twizzlers, chocolate) make a lunch - especially when you add in Free Lax. So I'm feeling pretty icky today. Luckily tomorrow is the Prayer Breakfast so I can eat eggs and bacon in the AM and lunch at noon. I am going to eat the bacon even if it's not turkey. I need the protein. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better.

The good news is that I weighed myself this morning (just to see if it's working) and I'm down 3 pounds. So I'll keep going. We'll see. I was thinking of moving to Phase 2 on Monday but I'll weigh again then and see if I can make it the full 14 days.

Uff da

today was good but rough. Luckily I was so busy I didn't think too much about food. I ended up drinking all my tea and 2 pops at work. Tonight I had pistachios for supper - probably not good but that's all i was in the mood for so late at night. Hopefully tomorrow will go better or I may have to break down and have some carbs. I'm so tired and blah right now, and with drill i hate to be this way this weekend.

I am still using my notebook - that has been helping, I will say.

Oh the torture!

Today was rough, but okay. I started a little notebook I can write everything down that I eat. That should be helpful. But tonight I made cookies for tomorrow's meeting and man, it's all I can do to not eat one right now. grrrr...I'm so mean to myself.

I did discover that I drink a lot more tea when I use a glass at work instead of drinking from my Nalgene bottle. That's a good thing, except I need to bring more tea with me then. I had to run home at noon to make some more.

The food does fill me up, I will say that. I'm not quite counting the calories on the 70 calories of snacks like I did last time, but I haven't been doing too bad. I had 2 mini SF candy bars today and then some jell-o. That's not bad.

I need to make my lunch for tomorrow though so off I go. Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Here we go

Alright, yesterday I tried to finish up some of the extra food I had in the house so I don't have the temptations sitting around. Today I went shopping and started remembering how fun (and frustrating) it is to shop on the SB plan. I did pick up some of the standards: jell-o, cheese, chicken, pistachios, etc. It was good.

Tonight I boiled up some eggs, cut up celery, prepared a salad and tuna for lunch tomorrow and started planning my meals for tomorrow.

I forgot how much work it is to be on this plan. At least it seems like work...preparing, measuring, planning. Ugh. I just have to remember that this does work and I have to look good by June.

Well, let's start that over. I have two goals: 1) leaner, stronger, lighter for the marathons; 2) look leaner, stronger, lighter for the opera when I have my date with Evans! at the Cincinnati Opera date.

So I have to keep these goals in mind - leaner, stronger, lighter for marathons and opera. And just keep repeating, "No popcorn, eat cheese!"

Try this again

Tomorrow is Kevin's 38th birthday. I will turn 33 soon and I'm back up to the weight I was a few years ago. I feel heavy, fat, unproductive. It's leading me to be melancholy most of the time. I need a restart. I need to start over.

tomorrow I'm going to do Jay's cleansing - liquid baby. then maybe some fruit tomorrow night and then fruit and liquid Monday, with maybe a little lettuce monday night. Tuesday I should be ready to move into SB again. I need to cut out carbs and sugar so bad. It's not even funny. If I'm even still contemplating running Brookings in May, I desperately need to drop some weight and get back running.

I suck and those thoughts are just dragging me down even farther. Hopefully this restart will get me back on track. If I can sort this out in my life maybe other things will fall back into the place they should be. Crossing fingers.

Day 5

I just realized I didn't post on this last night. Wednesday was a rough day. I missed breakfast and then had lunch at home at noon - eggs, turkey bacon and pistachios. Not a hint of carbs to be found. And I ate too much. I tried to run later in the afternoon but all the treadmills were occupied so I opted for the elliptical instead. I was bored though so I ended up not working too hard. Then at night I went to Kevin's for Jake's Christmas program and had chips for supper. And more pistachios when I got home. Not a good day for eating.

Day 4

Interesting start to the day. I actually had my egg whites, as I used to all the time, but they didn't settle well initially. But it's what I need to do for breakfast. I did have a couple krumkake today and 2 pieces of WP pizza. Later I had chicken with salsa and cheese - yummy - and pistachios. They have become my popcorn. I love pistachios. mmmmm But the kicker of it all, I made sugar snap peas for supper and completely forgot to eat them. It takes a special kind of stupid to forget to eat. Well, I didn't forget to eat, but I forgot to eat them. We'll see how they reheat.

Oh, and ran a little today - I think a mile for sure, then I got bored and didn't really run much after that. I HATE TREADMILLS. I'm wondering if I should get an iPod to run on the treadmill. Outside at least I have things to look at; TV and shed walls just don't cut it. I also did pushups (20) and situps (25). I need to up those numbers but both RB and I have that goal so that'll help.

Day 3

Today was okay. I didn't really eat today, though I did have a couple cookies and krumkake (I was baking and the baker must taste, after all). Anyway. I did figure out a few things with this diet. My favorite pizza (wolfgang puck) is okay for me to eat...it's made with all healthy stuff so I'm good to go! WOOHOO!

I don't know if this whole SB restart is going to work or not. I hate to be negative too soon, but it is the holiday season. I'm trying to hold off on the snacks, especially cookies and such, but who knows how that will go. I didn't run much last week but have to this week. It's just that time of year again where I just want to curl up at home and knit. I don't know. Wish me luck.

Day 2

Today was okay. I started out running late so I had string cheese and a SB bar during my AM meeting. Then I went to lunch at Subway and had a wrap, which I'm not supposed to have. Oh well. I didn't eat or drink anything after that for 4 hours so by the time 4:30 came around I was so thirsty and hungry that I came home and had 4 egg whites and a yolk and 5 piece of turkey bacon (and a piece of cheese). I did break down and had hot cocoa because it's cold here. Oh well.

Day 1

Alright, here I go. Today I started South Beach again. I didn't start at Phase 1 this time, not because I couldn't, but I know that the next couple weeks will be hard to avoid carbs. I'm just going to be a little smarter about which carbs I take in. I had a South Beach bar for breakfast which was good since it took an hour to get through the lunch line at work. I opted for the chicken, salad, and sunflower seeds. I was hoping for cottage cheese but they didn't have any today. I'm proud to say I did skip the pasta (even though it smelled so good) and I didn't have the bun. The rest of the afternoon flew by and I drank a diet coke to fill me up. Then I came home and had a South Beach pizza and some cheese. Hopefully the next few days will be okay and I can stay on track.

Restarting

December 1 will be a restart of South Beach for Moe. I've become a big fat tub of goo and I'm tired of it. I need to stop eating and learn to eat better. While this is the worst time of year to begin, I need to do it.

I won't necessarily be writing everything I eat each day but I will keep this as a journal of how I'm doing and how I'm feeling. Too many cookies lately have caused my weight to balloon up again. Not good.

So see you Saturday and we'll start this fun game again. Woohoo!

Day five

4 egg whites
2 cups marshmallow treasures
3 pieces cheese
24 oz CL
12 oz Diet Mug
20 oz Diet 7Up
1 PB&J
2 rolos
1 bag light popcorn
1 grilled cheese sandwich
2 ears corn

Day Four

4 egg whites
1 1/2 cup marshmallow treasures
4 slices cheese
20 oz Diet Sunkist
12 oz CL
12 oz Endurox
2 Chalupa's (bad girl)
Baja Blast

Day three

4 egg whites
12 oz Accelerade before running
12 oz during run
8 oz water during run
12 oz Endurox after run
8 oz water after run
2 pieces cheese
handful of Tostitos
handful of leftover popcorn
shot glass of chocolate chips
1 WP pizza
2 pieces cheese
½ cup ice cream
4 Diet Coke

Day two - Indians/Twins game

4 egg whites (at least I started out well)
½ cup 1% milk
½ cup Marshmallow Treasures
2 baby tootsie rolls
1 gobstopper
5 pops
1 whopper jr.
1 med fry (BK)
1 reg. Roast beef (arby's)
¼ cup curly fry (est. I didn't eat many)
¾ Strawberry Banana shake which was nasty – don't no why I finished that much. Ugh.

Day one

Here we go...

I'm not going to put time frames in or it'll be too confusing.

4 egg whites (hard boiled and right before I ran. Lucky I didn't throw up)
2 small gatorades
12 oz Endurox
3 Twizzlers
3 pieces of cheese
1 piece chicken with bruchetta
fruit – watermelon, purple grapes, melon
1/4 cup baked beans
1 corn on cob
1 slice DQ ice cream cake
1 small bowl popcorn
1 piece sushi
4 Diet Coke with Splenda

A resurrection of sorts - Day Zero

Okay – so here I am again. I explained on the other blog that I'm not going to go back on SB right now (maybe after the marathon) but I need some place to track what it is I eat during the day so I can really see what it is that's keeping me from having the energy I need. So today is Day Zero and we'll begin tomorrow.

week of updates

Here you go, JB:

I suck.

Monday and Teusday were okay, but most of my night meals consisted of tea, pistachios and/or eggs and SF chocolate. Wait, I guess Monday I did have chicken which was pretty good.

Wednesday I didn’t eat lunch…wait no, I had a SB meal bar which tasted icky, and then I broke down and had Wendy’s chicken strips for supper. If it helps they tasted icky too.

Thursday it was a turkey/bacon/avocado wrap at OC’s and another night of eggs and SF chocolate.

Today I had eggs for breakfast and that’s it so far. I’m scared to see what tonight brings. Uffda.

crappy day

Well this weekend was interesting. I was good until Sunday when I had some strawberries and pizza topping. I even successfully avoided the apple pie I made for the ID workers, even though it was seriously taunting me.

Today is okay. Well, no. It’s not I had my eggs without cheese this morning and then I walked down to Speedy to look for SF chocolate, which they had none. I ended up buying SF crème wafers and a Skor bar because it had less sugar than most, amazingly enough. I had 3 of the cookies and all of the skor bar. Today sucks.

Moving into the next phase

• 2 scrambled eggs from cafeteria
• 2 SF Red Vines
• Salad, chicken, cheese, OG dressing
• 1 20oz, 1 24 oz, 1 28 oz bottle CL tea
• Pistachios
• Cool whip
• Chicken from Chilis and some broccoli

I weighed today too. I’m down a couple pounds from the beginning of the month, which basically means I’m down about 3 from the beginning of the week (last weekend was a free for all eating and so I’m sure I gained at least one if not more).

Next week is whoosh week and I’m thinking of going to phase 1.5 (mostly because I was stupid and brought strawberries last night and strawberries sound so good). But also because it’s basically phase 1 anyway with the occasional break with carbs. I need to get running again and I know if I don’t have a little bit of carbs it’ll be rough to get back into it. So just a few of the good ones here and there. That’s it.

How am I doing?

• 2 scrambled eggs from cafeteria
• 3 SF Red Vines
• Salad, chicken, cheese, OG dressing
• 1 20oz, 1 24 oz, 1 28 oz bottle CL tea
• 1 diet coke
• I small piece steak
• Pistachios
• 2 Red Vines
• 1 SF RS pecan cluster
• Some sugar free coolwhip

Third day - it's still going

• 3 egg whites, 1 full egg, a bit o’ cheese
• 3 SF Red Vines
• 3 bottles tea
• 4 cheese cubes
• ¼ cup chicken noodle soup – mostly broth and chicken (a couple noodles slipped in)
• Standard salad with chicken, cheese and OG dressing
• Pistachios for supper again
• 1 full diet coke
• 1 piece SF RS pecan cluster
• Small piece of LS communion bread/wine

One note of fun – I actually feel better now that I’m back on this. Thought the energy is lacking a bit with lack of carbs I am feeling healthier – cleaner, if that doesn’t seem to gross. I’m debating on staying on Phase one for the full two weeks though. I may move to Phase 1.5 next week and then onto phase 2. We’ll see how it goes.

Keeping strong!

• 4 egg whites, 1 full egg scrambled, cheese
• One 24 oz, Two 20 oz, CL Peach Tea
• One Lite Sargento string mozzarella
• Salad, cheese, chicken chunks and OG dressing
• 3 SF Red Vines (I think I had three)
• Pistachios – yes I had pistachios for supper – a great energy booster since I was dragging having no carbs since Sunday
• ¼ can Diet Coke (Funny, since last week this was my staple liquid)
• More CL Tea

Not bad so far

Monday, Sept. 11, I consumed:

• 3 egg whites, 1 full egg, scrambled with some Kraft cheese
• 1 Lite Sargento string mozzarella
• Lettuce with Kraft cheese and 2 hard boiled eggs (all of the egg!)
• Three 20oz bottles of CL peach tea.
• 1 chicken breast (ginger chicken from the SB recipe book)
• 2 pieces of SF Russell Stover’s pecan clusters
• 1 CL lemonade hard candy
• A few soy nuts (note to self: buy pistachios)
• ¾ can Diet Coke

Finnegan, begin again

Today is the 5 year anniversary of 9/11 and the restart to me and South Beach. Over the weekend I splurged on chocolate and ice cream and pizza and Olive Garden. Today I’m back on Phase 1. I have gained that much from the time I stepped off the program (basically around my Alaska trip) but I’ve gained enough that I’m annoyed and I’m making a new start.

This blog will be boring – just forewarning. I’m going to do my best to list everything I eat and when I exercise so I can see how I’m doing (including the ‘slip ups’ - which may happen today with the smell of fresh cookies for the chapel break...mmmm).

Here’s to making the 1996 135 weight by Dec. 1. Woohoo! Of course, sooner would be better and welcomed. :)

Monday funny

This made me laugh.

Days 12-13, Year 2

So the weekend was interesting, to say the least. Popcorn and ice cream, made some crappy cookies and vegged. But I did get my breakfasts set up for the week – YAY! – and have chicken marinating today to cook up tonight.

I did some research on the different phases of SB this weekend too and figured out I’m on phase 2, with the exception of the ice cream. What I have been eating is on phase 2’s plan, just maybe not in the amounts I have been eating them. So it’s just an adjustment of the portions that I need to do. I can do that. I am capable. YAY!

Oh and exercise more, natch.

Day 11, Year 2

Thanks, JB, for your insightful wisdom. You are truly a smart woman.

I’m not sure that it’s SB that’s keeping me from succeeding, or my boredom with it. There has been a lot of stuff going on lately and I know I’m shrinking into the comfort food stage again because of that. Once some of this sorts itself out and I clean out my kitchen (tossing popcorn and ice cream and, well, more popcorn and ice cream) I know things will get better.

That has been the biggest problem…I haven’t been buying what I should, I haven't been taking the time to pack my lunch and breakfast like I used to. And that's not only hurting my eating plan but my checkbook. Plus it’s not that I don’t like the SB plan…I really do. I like how I feel when I’m consistent with it, I like the meals – there are so many options!, and I really enjoy that it keeps my weight down.

When I was on it religiously, no pun intended, I didn’t miss ice cream or popcorn. I’m not sure what set me off to start up with all that again. Maybe I just need to focus more. Again – starting with cleaning out my house. Perhaps this would be a good weekend to do just that.

Thanks!

Days 2-10, Year 2

Well, I’m not doing so well keeping up with this now am I? OH well…

So let’s see…last weekend I had to do my FitTest for guards – I ran the 1.5 mile in 15:21 with a lot of help from my running buddy. The head wind sucked. Oh well…that wasn’t the only thing – I REALLY need to be doing sit-ups and push-ups on a more regular basis. I can’t believe how out of shape I truly am. Losing weight doesn’t mean crap if you can’t lift your body up off the floor.

OH and the food thing – SO not good lately. In fact, yesterday was national popcorn day and I took it one step further in making it also Orange Day because I had pizza (Jack’s – which often looks orange), Diet Sunkist soda, and…yes…Old Dutch Cheese Popcorn. Not sure why I was craving the orange soda. I was standing at Rainbow and a guy in front of me had a bottle and suddenly I just needed orange soda. Weird.

And I also bought real ice cream – Speedy’s had Edy pints on sale this week – 3 for $3. sinful.

So I am truly living up to the sinner I am – orange food, ice cream, can’t sit up to save my life and truly am a fatty.
Any advice from the 2 people who read this? HELP!

Day 1, Year 2

Well, here we go again. Thus beginneth year 2 on the South Beach eating plan. Of course, I’m sorry to say that this year is not beginning as well as last year.

First, last night was salsa and chips night with Kris which was a blast, so though I ate very well during the day, I screwed it all up at 5pm…because not only did I have salsa and chips, but I went home and made cupcakes for the boys today and had to sample them AND I had some ODCP. I’m so screwed.

I did get up and ellipticate today. I have my fit testing this weekend so I need to keep going. Hoping the weather clears so I can run tonight. I hate running on the treadmill in summer, it seems so futile.

So I’m going to do my best to be phase 1-ing it this week, but it may have to be more official next week.

Day 363-31

This day really should be 364 but whatever. I’m not starting off well, at least via exercising, but I’m doing well starting out with eating.

I’m back on Phase 1 – at least until Guard weekend (during which I’ll probably have pie because it’s Fay’s retirement) – because I desperately need to drop some poundage. I don’t feel bad, I feel okay actually, but I’m back to 150 which isn’t good. So I’m back to my original goal of losing 10-15 pounds. 10 would be great, 15 would be perfect.

So last night I baked up some ginger chicken after eating my last SB pizza for awhile. I chopped that up and this morning I mixed that into my standard salad – lettuce, cheese and chicken. Mmmm. I also made up my eggs this morning and sliced up some celery for my snacks. Yep, I’m back on track hopefully. OH shit…I just realized tonight I’m supposed to go out for drinks with Kris. Shoot. Well, at least I’m starting out okay and tonight I’ll cheat as usual and then tomorrow will be completely back on track. YEP!

I didn’t get up to work out this morning because I’m a total loser. I rolled over and said screw it and went back to sleep. Of course now I feel incredibly guilty so I packed my gym bag and after drinks with kris tonight I’m going to go straight to the gym – so I can hurl up all my salsa and chips. :) yeah, that’s brilliant, isn’t it?

I have been amazed that I haven’t gained more than what I have over the past year. I dropped from 167 to 143 and now I’m back to 150. Not bad really.

Day 350-18 thru 362-30

Somehow I think I got off on my numbers. I started this whole thing August 1 last year so that should be 365 not 364, right? Weird.

Anyway, the past couple weeks have been pretty crazy for food and working out. The 18^th through 23 I didn’t do much of anything for working out because I was oversleeping from work and working a lot in Sioux Falls. The 24^th I did go for a run which felt pretty good – 1.25 in 9:30 and finished up what I think is 1.50 in 12:30. I’m not sure that’s right but it seems okay. I should be okay this coming weekend for my run then. That’s all I’m worried about right now. But I haven’t run since Monday because it’s too freakin’ hot which keeps me from running outside and causes me to oversleep. Weird. BUT tomorrow and the rest of the week, I must get to the gym and eat better.

I haven’t made pies since the 17^th. I did make cookies yesterday – they were good, but like I need those. I need to get back to SB too. How am I going to do this?

Day 345-13 thru 349-17

I am such a slug. I didn’t do anything Thursday or Friday except eat it seems. Saturday I got up early and ran 2.5 miles around the lake, but then went home and made a pie. UGH! Sunday I vegged.

But today, I ellipticated for 37 minutes, burned 475 calories, went 4.10 miles and was at level 12 for 27 of the 37 minutes.

I’m getting back on track. I have to because I’m getting chubby again. NOT GOOD! I have just a few days left at the end of this month to get back on track so I can at least start my second year of SB back where I got down to…if not even more off – like maybe I could get down to 140 before I have to start another year. What do you think? Can I make it?

Day 344-12

Okay so this popcorn for supper thing has too quit. Last night we went to the new pirates movie, which was totally awesome, and of course I had popcorn! It was good though. I got home late so I didn’t get my run in but it’s probably okay if I take a day off every now and then.

Day 343-11

Much better today. Ate breakfast like normal, ate a good lunch, did snack on M&Ms but every girl needs a little chocolate, and I guess I didn’t really eat supper – popcorn again. BUT I went running and ran 1.25 miles in 9:02. Damn. I couldn’t believe it and half of that distance was with a shoe untied but I didn’t want to stop. Then I walked a ¼ mile and then jogged a slower but steady pace for another 1.25 miles before walking around half the lake and back home. It felt good.

The 9:02 really amazed me, especially coming off a cold like I have. I was breathing pretty hard, but I probably could have made it another quarter if my shoe had been tied and if I knew I had to. I think I could safely say that would have been about 11:30 for a full mile and half since I was slowing down on that last stretch of about 100 yards or so. Pretty good.
I’m planning to run with a friend next week while at home for guards but he runs 4 miles at a time. UGH! SO much more in shape than I, but if I keep going each night or morning I should be okay by the time we run.

Days 339-6 thru 343-10

Okay…so I have an addiction. I think I’ve spoken of addictions before, but I’m not going to take the time to find the other posts…so there. Nope, I am now addicted to Old Dutch Cheese Popcorn. This will truly be the death of me if I keep buying it. And then I’m going to go to hell where there will be Old Dutch Cheese Popcorn lining the walls, but when I go to grab some I’ll run into glass and Satan will laugh his fool head off. Then he’ll take me into another room where there will be mountains of Limey Tostitos which will also be protected by some super shield and all I’ll be able to do is look at them. Hell awaits me.

So last Thursday I did go to Bally’s and ellipticated for 32 minutes. It felt good, but then I also felt like hell the rest of the day. Summer colds suck, but see my other blog about that. The rest of the weekend I did nothing. Today I had the afternoon off so I went running. I ran around the lake and fields – 1.25 miles – without stopping, which was good, but then I was dying, which was bad. Having no lung capacity since it’s filled up with good and not working out since Thursday and it being hotter out than originally planned did not help. I walked ¼ mile then ran another ¼ then walked the rest of the way around the lake (3/4 mile total) and then back home. So 2 miles in about 20 minutes. Not bad, but not good either. Of course then I went home and ate a whole bag of OD Cheese Popcorn. There’s a reason their initials are OD because that’s what I did…I OD’d on the popcorn. So not good. Trying to counter it with fruit tonight but not doing well. Ugh.

Day 325-22 thru 338-5

Wow…it’s been awhile. Sorry folks…actually sorry self since this is really only for me. I didn’t do a lot of specific exercise til this morning. I walked a lot on the 22^nd during Emmy day, somewhat exercised on the 23^rd, and then didn’t do much of anything until I was home again on the 1^st. Then mom and I walked 75 minutes Saturday AM, Sunday AM, Sunday PM, Monday AM…crazy we are. Plus we played TrakBall which is awesome. This morning I ran for 20 minutes, my 1.5 mile run plus some cooldown time after. Tonight I’m going to run the park/lake area. I finally found out how far around it is officially: ¾ mile around the lake, 1 ¼ around the lake and fields. Sweet! So that one time I went 3 times around I ran 3.75 miles, plus walking home – so a 4 mile night. Maybe I can do that again tonight. I hope so.

Food has been sucky. I have to get back on my eating plan. It’s so not good. Carb cravings are getting insane. I need to go back to phase one as soon as possible. Gotta shop tonight. Grilling with JB on Saturday…YAY!

Day 325-22 thru 338-5

Wow…it’s been awhile. Sorry folks…actually sorry self since this is really only for me. I didn’t do a lot of specific exercise til this morning. I walked a lot on the 22^nd during Emmy day, somewhat exercised on the 23^rd, and then didn’t do much of anything until I was home again on the 1^st. Then mom and I walked 75 minutes Saturday AM, Sunday AM, Sunday PM, Monday AM…crazy we are. Plus we played TrakBall which is awesome. This morning I ran for 20 minutes, my 1.5 mile run plus some cooldown time after. Tonight I’m going to run the park/lake area. I finally found out how far around it is officially: ¾ mile around the lake, 1 ¼ around the lake and fields. Sweet! So that one time I went 3 times around I ran 3.75 miles, plus walking home – so a 4 mile night. Maybe I can do that again tonight. I hope so.

Food has been sucky. I have to get back on my eating plan. It’s so not good. Carb cravings are getting insane. I need to go back to phase one as soon as possible. Gotta shop tonight. Grilling with JB on Saturday…YAY!

Day 324-21

WOOHOO! Ran this morning at 5.0 on a 1.5 incline for 30 minutes … with… out… stopping. YAY! It was awesome. I felt good. Started out going 15 minutes (the scheduled for the 5K training program) and then felt okay so I upped it to 18 to get 1.5 miles in. Then I felt really good so I went 6 more minutes for 2 miles. Then I felt great so I went 6 more minutes for 2.5 miles. Then I was tired so I walked. The other good thing was I was able to bring down my heart rate fairly well in the 5 minute cool down. Yay me!

Day 323-20

Alrighty then. Last night I ran again for 20 minutes around my lake. It felt good. And this morning I ellipticated for 32 again. The food thing…I really need to think about this. I broke down and bought Old Dutch cheese popcorn last night and ate too much of it for supper, oh and my cookies of course. Not a good thing. But at least I’m running. On my 5K training chart today is an off day, so I’m going to take it off. I see Keith today – thank goodness – and I have to pack for the weekend. Woohoo!

Day 322-19

Okay…back to where I should be. I ellipticated this morning for 32 minutes then ran/walked for 15. I found a chart for a training program to run a 5K in 12 weeks. No, I’m not actually signed up for a 5K but this will give me something to go by when I’m planning my exercise days. YAY! And I’m going to go back to my spreadsheet and get that going again too. Tracking is essential!

Next step - food. Again.

Days 317-14 thru 321-18

Quick recap – Wednesday went to the Twins game and took the day off from exercising – my knees still hurt from running the last couple days. Continued recouping Thursday. Friday the same – should have run but then it started raining. Saturday and Sunday I was cleaning and I did nothing. Aren’t I just the model citizen for Runners Magazine? Not.

Day 316-13

Note to self: when planning on running a few miles at night, do not eat Lime Tostitos just before heading out. This will affect your wind and ability to breathe. Thank you.

Ran 2x around the lake/park last night. walked a lot more than the night before – not just because of the chips but my knees were crying a bit and it was hotter out. Oh well…it’s good for me. When I start to get winded because of the heat I just keep thinking about my buddies in the sandbox and figure I don’t have it so bad. It keeps me going.

My food intake is better. I’m so hungry anymore, it’s driving me nuts. I had my spinach/egg thing at 6:30, got to work today (wed) and needed more. So at 7:30 I wrongly had a cinna twist from the cafeteria, and now at 8:08 I’m eating jello. I can’t get satiated. Ugh! I know it’s good because my metabolism is kicking in – thank god for exercise – but it’s just a little scary.

Day 314-11, 315-12

The last couple days were okay. Sunday I was so exhausted after work that I went home and slept for 2 hours. I meant to only take an hour nap tops, and suddenly it was 2 hours later. Oh well. I needed it, I know. My headache had gone away and I felt more alive than I had. It was very good. After that I made up my breakfast’s for the week and grilled up a bunch o’ chicken (which turned out really well this time).

Monday I ellipticated at Bally’s in the morning. Then I worked 8 hours straight and got home a little after 4. Nice. I’m doing that all week. 30 minute lunches suck so I’m not taking lunch this week and leaving early instead. But I got home and needed to work off some annoyances so I ran/walked for an hour or so. It was great. I went around the park 3 times – the long section. I wish I knew how far around it is, I’m guessing if the lake is ¾ mile than maybe adding the park adds another half mile down around and back? So 1.25 miles around the long way? I’m not sure though. I’m going to go with that until I know better – so 3.75 miles, run/walk, plus to and from my house. maybe 4 miles all around. It felt good, I will say. Though by 7pm I wanted to go to bed, I was so tired. I ended up crashing at 9 but didn’t fall asleep completely until after 10. It was one of those dozing hours.

Goal: work on supper. I don’t eat well for supper. I had cereal last night because I wanted something cool but my lettuce is all icky and I hate salad after awhile, especially when i've had it for lunch. So I need to find some cooler alternatives if I’m going to run at night too. Hot food after running in heat just doesn’t sound appealing but at all.

Days 307-4 to 313-10

I have been very lax in keeping up with this blog. Shame on me. I just haven’t been doing well with anything and I hate to even write about it. My friend Tom has been running a lot lately and I wish I could be like him, but I don’t know…I’m in a weird state right now (not just MN, but emotionally too). I had a massage Thursday and Keith wrote afterward confirming our next appointment with the note: “Thanks and take care of yourself every day!! :)” He’s right, I need to be taking care of myself. I’m not sure where or when I stopped. Was it during Alaska or before? My Alaska eating was crap, and I didn’t go to the gym at all during that time so I’m sure that had something to do with it. My sleep schedule has been off, so I know that’s part of it too. Will I ever get on track again? How can I do this soon? Help!

Days 295-23 to 306-03

I’m a little sad. I missed my 300 day mark. Shoot. Of course that was Graduation day and I was running around the entire time anyway.

So I’m not quite back in sync with my life…getting better. You'd think I would be back by now...soon. Less M&Ms, a little more running. This past Thursday I ran around the entire Powderhorn Park, up the short stairs, walked a bit, back down, then up and down the big stairs twice, around the lake once more walking and running, then up the incline sidewalk to 12^th Ave. It was great. But I wasn’t quite in the right mindset. I think I need to change up my music again. It’s getting too predictable and not motivating like I’d like. Though it also just helps keep the beat and I can zone it out just enough to think while I run. Not like I need help with that.

Food is getting better, like I said. It’s grilling season again which always helps. I fire up that bad boy, throw on some chicken and I am GTG – that’s Good-To-Go.

Just got to keep on keeping on. “you can do it!”

Day 294-22

Better today. Went to Bally’s this morning and Ellipticated for 30 minutes. I’m thinking it’s not doing me much good now – I was on level 10 and the only thing worrying me was my heart rate. My legs weren’t really having a hard time at all. So I’m back on the treadmill in the AM I think. I did mow tonight and I went for a run around Powderhorn. I actually did the stairs there too. WOOHOO! A guy was out running and doing the stairs too and when I passed him the last time he gave me the thumbs up and smiled. That was a nice motivational moment. It felt great to be running outside again. I’ve missed it.

Food is okay. Not great, but okay. I’m back on spinach/egg casserole for breakfast, salad with chicken for lunch. After that it’s downhill. I had pistachios and diet coke for supper tonight. not the best option, but it works for now.

Day 290-18 thru 293-21

Not much happening here. I babysat Riker Thursday night. He took me for a nice walk that night. Friday I ran to SF to finish guard stuff, then back Saturday night. I did mow on Sunday, but that was about it. I’m such a slacker.

Day 286-14 thru 289-17

Having a crappy week. I started out on Phase 1 because I need to drop at least 5 pounds (via my dr.) and I’d prefer around 10 or 15. But then the aftermath of being gone for 3 weeks is still weighing heavily upon me and I can’t get a damn thing done. So I’m comfort eating…though I haven’t had popcorn since Saturday, but I have had the SB bars and some frosting (bad!) and more jello and jello pudding than I should. Once I can figure out this stupid work schedule, my life, and stub rooms I think I’ll be able to get back on track. But tonight, if we go, I’m having chips and spinach dip at Major’s and maybe fattening pizza. At least I know I’m going to do this, and then I’ll run my ass off tomorrow, but for now I need comfort and happiness or I may hurt someone.

Day 284-12, 285-13

Friday morning was the first time since I started SB that I truly saw myself in the mirror and saw myself as thinner. Of course, that night after a thrilling game of paintball I realized it wasn’t as true as I thought.

I can’t wait for Phase 1 on Monday. I suppose I could start today but that’s just not fun. I need one more weekend of crap and then I can reset my life again. Plus I’m just not quite back from the trip yet. Soon though.

Days 261-19 thru 284-11

Uffda. So I’m chalking this time stretch (and the next few days) up to Alaska and the evils of AF dining. Oh the evils of AF dining – my weight went up 3 pounds and cholesterol 20 points. SO NOT GOOD! So, I’ll be starting phase 1 again Monday. I need one more weekend to recoup. More then.

Day 260-18

Okay day. There’s something about mom’s house that makes me want to sleep in. Not that I had anything pressing this morning, but still.

Used mom’s weird treadmill this morning – ran for 18/2, 254 calories, 1.56 miles. However, this one didn’t ask for my weight so I’m sure those calorie numbers are off. I did run 4.5 for 3 min; 5.0 for 9.5 min; 5.5 for 2 min; 5.0 for 3.5 min; CD for 2. It was okay. I may run again tonight if I’m motivated since I probably won’t have time tomorrow.

Day 256-14, 257-15, 258-16, 259-17

Okay…so I missed my update from Friday: I did elliptical first at X-train Rev, level 5 for 20 minutes. I burned 344 calories, for 2.98 miles. My HR was 159/144 at the end. Then I moved to the treadmill – random instead of manual to get some hills in, level 3 since I hadn’t done this before, and at 5.0 speed. I ended up with a HR of 155/121, 135 calories and 1.15 miles. Not bad…good burn.

Saturday and Sunday I had good intentions to get in but with packing and church it just didn’t happen.

So today I ellipticaled 30 minutes – Xtrain Rev again, but I altered it a bit. I didn’t follow the program b/c I’ve been having some issues with that (not long enough going one way and too long others), so I broke it down by 5’s for the most part. Totals were in the end level 6, 351 calories, HR 154/134 at end and 1.87 miles. Not bad. I think I can do better.

Tomorrow I’ll be running on Mom’s treadmill – should be interesting. Then Wednesday I’m basically in a plane all day, but hopefully once we land and get settled I can find the gym and get a workout in. We’ll see. I’m just hoping I don’t lose my momentum.

Day 255-13

Good day today. I’m still feeling the burn which either means I worked new muscle groups or I didn’t stretch well enough, or I just need a nice hour in a hot tub to loosen things up.

Tried the X-Train Reverse on the Elliptical today for 15 minutes at level 5. I was a little disappointed because I started going forward first (which maybe was wrong) and it wasn’t until 5 minutes that it had me switch directions. Then it switched back after 2 or 3 minutes it told me to switch back. But then, nothing. I finally switched back to going backwards at 12 minutes for 2 minutes and then one minute going forward again. I probably did that all backwards though. Maybe I’m supposed to start backward first. I’m not sure…does anyone know?

Anyway…Elliptical I burned 185 calories and went .99 miles. I avg’d 67 rpm’s going forward and 60 going backwards.

After that I moved to the treadmill because I realized I hadn’t run in awhile. 18 minutes total – well 15/3 – with an ending of 163 calories, 1.41 miles on a 1.0 incline and random speeds. It felt good to run again and I realized I’m really not doing well on breath support. I had noticed this last night singing, but I’m not sure how to work on that. Maybe running will help.

I get to see Keith tomorrow. YAY!

Day 254-12

Someday….my weight will go.

Until then, I keep ellipticating. Today final total of 630, 5.45. miles, 170 HR, 65 rpms, random levels/minutes (5/5, 6/10, 7/5, 8/5, 7/5, 6/5), for 35 minutes total. THEN I did another 5 minutes on level 4 for the X-train reverse mode. This was new to me…pretty cool too, though I don’t like the stop and restart thing every minute or so. But it was good to work some different muscles for once. Tomorrow I’m going to split my time. I think I’ll run for 15 or 20 minutes, then ellipticate on x-rev for 15 or 20. It was a good burn.

Day 253-11

UGH I suck…still not eating well. I can’t seem to get a handle on it. Went to Major’s last night for MH’s b-day and had the spinach cheese dip – very yummy but OH so bad, and then because it was MH’s b-day we got a free dessert – cheesecake, which was good but again OH so bad. I’m glad I’m working out or I’d be ballooning back to where I was Aug.1. But that’s not helping the lessening of the weight I have now either. Blech.

Elliptical again – 30 minutes (I’ve been getting up too late to do 45); 384 calories, random levels (5, 6, 7,6), 2.06 miles. I’m thinking it depends on which machine I’m on for what my cals and miles end up being, though I was going slower today. tomorrow – MUST go 45 minutes at least, and maybe hit the weights.

Days 250-8, 251-9, 252-10

Well…I suck. :(

This weekend for food was awful. I’ve reverted to my comfort foods – chips, cookies, cakes. I might as well admit it. And it’s not good.

Didn’t work out all weekend – well, Saturday and Sunday. I set my alarm with good intentions but guards just wears me out. I was so tired I couldn’t pull out of bed before my normal 4:45 time slot. Oh well.

Today – Ellipticated, 30 minutes, random pattern, random levels (5,6,7,6,5), 4.61 miles, 533 calories.

Day 249-7

Ellipticated again today. 30 minutes, 383 cals, 2.05 miles, 164 HR, and random levels: 4 for 5min, 5 for 10min, 6 for 10min, 5 for 5min. I’m thinking I could start at level 5 next time and go up from there, just to shake things up.

Weekend ahead. I’m going to have to figure out if I’m going to run at 4:30 and wake up mom or wait until night. If I wait until night, then I’ll only be able to do it Saturday night, since my gym is closed by the time I get home on Sundays. Hmmm…dilemma. Well I’ll figure it out. When I was here last weekend I didn’t work out at all, so trying to make it work isn’t a vital thing…though I know I feel better when I do. We’ll see how the weekend goes, I guess.

Smiley's!

Just realized that I haven’t put smiley’s on my calendar in 2 weeks! My calendar looks yellow now. :) yay.

Day 248-6

Morning came way too early today. I could have used another hour of sleep but I pulled my flabby butt out of bed and made it to the gym anyway. I ellipticated for 30 minutes, 374 calories, 2 miles, and alternated levels this morning – started at 4 for 10 minutes, level 5 for 5, level 6 for 5, level 5 for 5 and 4 for 5. A different workout – sort of.

I still enjoy going to they gym in the morning but today wasn’t quite as satisfying as before. I think I’m just too tired to enjoy it today. It has nothing to do with the weather – I love his dreary, gray-day weather, and besides at 5am all you see are stars anyway. Oh, and I made myself stay up instead of taking a nap when I got home…I actually feared laying down because I figured I wouldn’t get back up. Good thing I really have nothing on my calendar tonight – well a few errands and laundry but otherwise I can crash as soon as CSI is over. Thank goodness.

How freakin' cool is this?!?

I don’t have an iPod, but I want this jacket!

I know it's only Wednesday...

10 things I’ve learned this week

1. AM workouts rock!
2. Patience is good.
3. The ability to ignore is better.
4. Reading good articles while ellipticating makes time go faster. And works your brain as well as your body.
5. Ellipticating burns more calories – though the calorie counter can be deceiving.
6. Running helps your cardio more, though it can be harder on my knees.
7. Spinach is good in many, but not all, things.
8. Writing stats of running times (cals, miles, etc.) while running doesn’t work well.
9. Running on the far treadmill, away from the fan and people, is not only quieter, but helps you sweat more.
10. Stretching is key!
11. (one more for good measure) Napping in the morning is awesome.

Day 247-5

Not feeling well this morning so I ran for 30/5 instead of ellipticating (plus I wanted to take a longer nap this mornign). I did pretty well in the end actually – 324 cal and 2.8 miles. I started a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress throughout the week, plus I want to track how many calories these machines say I’m burning throughout the week so I can make this. Of course, my eating habits probably won’t help, but at least I’m trying.

I do need to work on my eating. I’ve been baking a lot lately – a nice stress reliever – and I can only give away so much. I’m trying to watch how much I sample, but it’s hard when chicken and salad are losing their appeal. Maybe once I get back from Alaska my focus can return. Plus I’ll be able to grill again, which will help.

One other thing I need to start is lifting again. I have a sheet from Keith to follow, but I’ve been scared to start…I think it’s the intimidation of Bally’s. I need to get over that.

Day 246-4

Elliptical today again – I’m starting to love this machine, which is odd since I used to hate it. Maybe getting older makes your head change. Very possible since when I was a kid I hated grapefruit and spinach, and now I love it…yes LOVE it.

So elliptical, 770 calories, 6.67 miles, level 4 random pattern, 65 avg rpm, for 45 minutes. Not bad. I got started a little later this morning, so my whole morning was off a little (of course, it’s still morning, but nonetheless).

Last Wed-Fri I had been able to work out and NOT take a nap when I got home, but the last two days ellipticating for 45 minutes really took it out of me, so I’ve been back to napping for 10 minutes or so after I shower. It’s not bad, but makes my morning a bit more rushed, though I’m still getting to work on time - sometimes even early! shocker!

Day 243-1, 244-2, 245-3

What a foolish weekend. Haha…get it? Saturday and Sunday I missed the gym, due to timing issues. But Saturday I made angel food cake and cupcakes. SO not on the SB diet but it had been a year since I had had any, so why not. The cupcakes didn’t turn out very well – my pans and oven suck. The cake was okay – in a loaf pan, which was a first for me. I’m going to try these this week and take them home for guards – or if I have enough and get them done on time, I may bring them Wednesday to choir. Osmo will be there, which is cool.

My eating plan has been sucking lately. Popcorn has been calling out to me and winning. SO not good. Anyway, so today to make up for that, I ellipticated for 45 minutes, 762 calories, 6.6 miles, 65rpm at level 4. These numbers seemed odd…maybe it was a 2 or 1 day for calories, and a 3.5 for 1 for miles. So either I need to increase my level or the machine is off. But if you can trust those machines, than this rocked. I read a lecture my friend gave to her workplace while I worked out. That made time go so much faster and really kept me going.