My head is not in the blogging

I have to admit to you that my mind is already on vacation.  I'm going to see my son on Thursday.  Tomorrow after work I go to Madison to stay with my sister Kelley so that I'm nearer the airport as my flight is early early Thursday Morning.

While I don't seem to have the focus to really blog - I wanted to let you know I'm still very much on course with my running.  I did the full workout on Sunday.  Monday was my day off and this morning I did my walk/jog interval. 

I have decided however to continue with the 30 minutes of jogging and 1 minute of walking while I'm on vacation this next week.  I will try to increase the jogging to 45 minutes next week after I get back.  I'm worried that it will be hard to fit the circuit training in and I dont' want to make my willpower even weaker by making it extra hard.  Also my knees have been bothering me lately (I've been frequently icing them down after I jog) and I don't want to make them worse when I'm going sight-seeing.

So bear with me as I get through this vacation.  I plan on returning full-force after this break.  I want to incorporate more of my eating and recipes in the upcoming blogs.  And I promise to update everyone on my accumulated mileage when I return as well.  I will be keeping track of that as I workout on vacation. 

Headed out on vacation...be back soon!
T

Stats:

Weight 216.5

Accumulated miles: 6.48

BMI: 31.5

Body Fat %: 43.7

Celebrations make dieting hard!

Yesterday I did my full workout.  I did my walk/jog interval training and I also did my circuit training.  That was in the morning.  In the afternoon/evening my husband and I had a wedding we had to attend.

No matter how well you do all week, weekends can unravel you.  This wedding was a prime example of that.  There were really NO healthy menu choices for me.  They had a turkey stuffing mixture.  Roast beef on a bun, pasta salad and deserts.  I ended up having a little of everything.  I also had 3 drinks.  According to Jillian Michaels, alcohol is like the anti-diet.  It can really hinder your weight loss.

That being said I had a fantastic time.  I saw family and friends that I had not seen in awhile and was very glad I went.  You simply can't avoid life just to maintain a diet...that's just wrong.  But you have to be smart, both before and after these events.  I had a good low cal breakfast (yogurt, almonds, strawberries and a sprinkling of granola) and then I had a light lunch (whole grain bread, lean turkey, fat-free cheese sandwich).  So hopefully my dinner and drinks didn't do long lasting damage.

Today my plan is to workout strong and eat smart!  While the scale did show a two pound gain this morning, I'm confident that will all be gone by my Friday weigh day.  You can have temporary ups and downs on that scale all the time due to fluid retention and the like.  Weighing myself every day helps me stay committed to my plan - but I don't let those occasional gains upset the apple cart.  If anything it just makes me even more committed to doing everything right.

Today is Sunday.  I will be packing for my trip to California and watching football - AFTER my workout.  Hope you all had a great weekend.

T

Stats:

Weight 216.5

Accumulated miles: 5.08

BMI: 31.5

Body Fat %: 43.7

Today made Yesterday worth it!

Today (Friday) is my normal day off from exercise.  I take two days off a week where I rest from my workouts Mondays and Fridays, and I cherish them. 

But before I tell you about today I have to tell you about yesterday...

Have you ever had one of those days where you just battle with your will???  I mean YOU, your will - or your willpower, wants to continue down the path you're own trying to get fit and healthy (I'll call that the "good-me").  The other YOU...tries to talk you out of it (I'll call that the "bad-me").  I mean it's a verbal argument in your mind!!!  Well I had that yesterday...a major battle with myself.  And it went something like this...

My alarm clock went off at 5:30.  I hit snooze...and did not want to get up.  It went off again and the argument began.  "Come on!" bad-me said "You've been getting up every morning by 5:00...today you don't even have go be to work until 9:00!!  Can't you just sleep in one day?!?!"

Good-me answered promptly, "No, I've slept in more days than not in the last 46 years and it shows! I'm getting up!"  I made myself get out of bed. 

"Fine, you're up, but no point in moving too quickly.  You've got lots of time...so let's have a slow morning and kind of just relax." the bad me continued. 

I moved slowly through my morning routine, until I realized I was stalling...almost hoping I would run out of time. So I quickly made myself go downstairs and threw on my workout clothes. Before I could think about it or more importantly before bad-me could convince me not to, I jumped on my treadmill and began my walk/jog interval training. 

Before I was even a minute into it my workout, bad-me began again "Fine you're doing this, but how about instead of the usual 30 minutes we only do this interval thing for 10 or 20 minutes?"  Good-me just said "I'm not listening!" and just kept going.  I finished the FULL 30 minutes and went faster than I had any previous time! 

Then bad-me began the next assault "Well goody for YOU, you did your interval training...how about we skip your circuit training?  I mean you did the walk/jog thing even though you know you didn't want to!!! I say we shower and head upstairs for a relaxing rest of the morning" 

But good-me was stronger!  So I just turned up my music and started into my strength training circuit.  Of course bad-me didn't stop there "How about we only do ONE set of each of these exercises instead of two?"  But good-me was persistent and finished the entire circuit TWO sets and all!

I'm not trying to convince anyone I'm Schizophrenic or anything...there were not two actual voices in my head!  The point I'm trying to make is the internal argument was there!  Yesterday was one of the hardest days I've had to work out in a long long time!  My mind and body didn't want to do it.  And in the past (many times in the past in fact) I would have given into that "bad-me" and not worked out.  But that was in the past...

There is a certain amount of pride and a fair amount of exhilaration when you workout despite of your profound desire NOT too.  In fact I joke with some of my online friends that you get to burn "double" calories every time you workout on a day when you really really do not want to.  :-)  And that's kind of how I felt.  After I won in a battle like that, internal or otherwise, how could I not feel satisfied?  But the real satisfaction came today instead...

As I stated earlier, today was my day off of exercise.  YAY!  After yesterday I was really looking forward to a day where I was allowed to not workout. No guilt - this day is EARNED! Instead I planned a day to go shopping.  I drove 1.5 hours north to LaCrosse, WI.  I decided to check out the sales up there to see if I could find some clothes to wear on my trip to California next week.  I'm going to visit my eldest son John. 

My sale shopping took me to Macy's where I was looking for a comfortable nice looking lounge/sweat suit that I could wear on the plane.  I hate restrictive clothing when I'm flying in an airplane.  So I went to the plus size womens section and found one that I liked in a 1X and went to try it on.  It was too BIG!  I was elated...but then just figured it must be that particular item, so I went and got a couple more things in 1X and size 20 and tried them on...TOO BIG!!!  Unbelieveable!  So I left the plus sizes and went to the regular women's size clothing, where I was able to find an outfit and several blouses that I liked on sale in size XL. 

Now maybe moving from a 1X to an XL doesn't seem like that big of a jump to some people reading this blog...but to me it was a gigantic leap.  I was actually able to shop in the regular women's clothing section for the first time in probably two decades!  Yep first time in over 20 years!

So was my internal argument yesterday worth it????  HECK YEAH!!!  Will I be able to convince myself to do my workout tomorrow?  I'm thinking the answer to that will be YES!!!  I feel so good about the progress I'm making - and little victories like this will only fuel the fire in me.  So tonight I go to bed...ALL SMILES!

Stats:

Weight 214.5

Accumulated miles: 4.38

BMI: 31.5

Body Fat %: 43.7

Uncovering truths

Hello everyone!!! 

Today is a day of self-discovery for me.  In an earlier post I was asking if anyone had any insight into self sabotage.  I also asked my online friends if they had any ideas as to why some of us seem to sabotage our own efforts, especially when we near a milestone.  People had various answers, but none of them hit home with me.  Then I went online and began to search myself for psychological reasons people self-sabotage, and I found some interesting reasons - all of which I will list in case some of these spark an awareness in you:

Methods of Self-Sabotage

• Not believing you deserve to be thin or have what you want.
• Telling yourself that dieting is too hard and you are not disciplined enough to follow through.
• Worrying how you’ll be accepted at your goal weight.
• Letting fear of life without the fat barrier get the best of you.
• Being afraid of how you’ll respond when people show they are attracted to you.
• Fear of losing yourself to the new, slim version of you.
• Fear of failure and fear of success.
• Wish not to deal with jealous friends.
• Fear of having excess hanging skin after you lose a lot of weight.
• You won’t be able to use fat as an excuse to stay on the sidelines of life anymore.
• You think people will have higher expectation of you after you lose weight.
• You are unhappy and feel undeserving of success

 
While some of them like fear of failure (with me that would be gaining the weight back) touched a note in my mind, I realized that none of them resonated as the MAIN reason I would have this destructive and repetitive behavior.  Then I went on a website that I found very informative and interesting: http://www.peertrainer.com/ and it's there that I think I may have found my answer. It was in the article Psychology of Weight Loss 101.  In that article they asked a simple question that you had to answer before moving on and to me that question was PROFOUND!!! And I believe that many people will find more of an answer within themselves by answering this simple question:

What do I get to avoid in my life by carrying this extra weight?

That question really made me think.  You see I'm not a shy person who's trying to hide behind the weight.  I do not have low self-esteem (although answering this question brought some PAST insecurity issues to the mind).  I have a fabulous marriage so I'm not insecure in that way.  But the thought of using my weight to avoid something was intriguing to me.  So I really thought about it and identified a few real deep rooted issues in my life that I am going to have to deal with if I want this weight gone for good!
 

1. In my childhood my father was a very sick man.  We had a dog kennel that was a tremendous amount of physical work.  As he got sicker a lot of that work fell to me and my sister.  We worked like "dogs" pardon the pun.  I remember starting work in the kennel as soon as I got home from school (cleaning them, feeding and watering animals, taking care of puppies, giving vaccines, clipping dogs, bathing dogs, etc.) and not entering the house for supper until after 10:00 at night.  I realized that being overweight (with the bad back that went along with it) had allowed me to avoid hard physical work.  I'm willing to work hard at any job I'm at (which have mostly been desk jobs), but my physical limitations (and my doting husband and sons) have spared me from heavy physical work. In fact this summer with my husband working out of town and much of the physical garden work fell to me, and I found myself getting angry and resentful.  It's now obvious to me that having had to work that physically hard in what should have been my carefree childhood has left a lasting mark on me. But I'm thinking I can still limit my physical labor without slowing killing myself with food...don't you?  
2. When I was first married, I was very insecure in my marriage.  After all I got married at 17 because I was pregnant.  For the longest time I was afraid my husband who has so much honor and integrity married me because he felt he had to.  I began to gain this weight very early in my marriage. Of course now after 28+ years of marriage I've learned beyond a shadow of a doubt that he really LOVES me!!!  However, it dawned on me that had my fears been realized, I would have been able to blame my unloveability on my weight.  I would have been able to AVOID any personal responsibility for a broken relationship.  In a strange sort of way I think I may have put this weight on as a precautionary measure - just in case.  Doesn't that sound insane?

I'm sure many more crazy discoveries will come to light as I really think about this question.  These two will occupy me for now.  I have NO DOUBT in my mind that I'll be able to deal with these two issues as I can clearly see they are grounded in lies - both of them.  And we all know the truth sets you free. :-)
I feel liberated!!!  I've never been one to delve deeply into my mind and Psyche to figure out behaviors.  I truthfully thought it was a huge waste of time and energy.  But recently, through watching The Biggest Loser, and seeing how those trainers have to dig deep to the root of the contestants issues in order to heal them mind, body and soul...I've decided to do a little mind excavating myself.  And low and behold, I'm realizing that I have things in my subconscious that have been impacting my life. Who knew???

On a side note - I'm doing fantastic in my run/walking routine.  I'm continuing on with the 30 seconds of running and then 60 seconds of walk/recovery.  I have found already this week that it's getting easier.  I can measure this with my Heart Rate Monitor.  So next week, I'm going to step it up and begin running for 45 seconds and leaving my walk/recovery time at 60 seconds.  My son John recommended this strategy and I think it's going to work fabulously.

Stats:

Weight 214.5

Accumulated miles: 3.68
BMI: 31.5

Body Fat %: 43.7

A sad day of reflection...

This morning I got online only to discover one of my online's friends son tried to commit suicide yesterday.  Thank God he was unsuccessful and is now in the hospital getting the help he needs.  What a shock it is when something like this happens.  A few years back I lost a nephew to suicide and I remember with clarity the thoughts and emotions that went through my mind when that happened.  Life is short, too short!!

It seems some of us know extremes on both ends.  There are those that are diagnosed with a terminal illness that are fighting for their lives with every breath they take, wanting to live and relive every second, every moment they have here. Then there are those who's mental state strips them of the value of life - making every problem seem monumental and creating an anguish that appears insurmountable - fooling them into believing their only option is to exit life as quickly as possible.

Most of us fall somewhere in between - not really able to contemplate either of these extremes.  But have you ever taken inventory of your life and actions to see which end of this scale it would appear that you are?  For example, I consider myself a happy person.  I love my life - my family, my children, my job, etc.  If you asked me I am a glass half full kind of person.  And I would never in my right mind consider suicide an option. 

However, I'm well aware of the risks that obesity plays in my life.  I know that it increases my risk of diabetes, heart disease and even some types of cancers.  I realize that it is and will continue to diminish my quality of life - stripping me of the ability to do many things that others take for granted.  It may possibly even rob my children and husband of many years with me that they may otherwise have had. And yet for the majority of my life, I've made a conscious decision to over eat or eat those things that I know I should not.  I've also made the choice NOT to exercise as much as I know I should - deciding to hit the snooze button instead of getting up and working out.

While these choices could not necessarily be considered the equivalent of the misguided choice someone makes when they take their own life, I had to recognize that it slid me further over to that side of the extreme than I had earlier thought.  I mean if I were one of the people fighting for my life and I knew that all I had to do was eat right and exercise in order to add years or even decades back into my prognosis, do you think I would still be hitting that snooze button???  I think NOT!

I guess the point to this whole post is that no one really knows how long they have here - only God knows the number of our days.  I may die in a car accident tomorrow.  But I may live a lot longer...and some of those years really are up to me.  I can make choices now that could give me years and even decades back...and I can improve the quality of my life with these choices.  Those things are up to me!

From this day forward, I choose life!  As much as it is within my power to do so, I'm going to work hard to improve my health and add value to my life.  And I will pray for those people who's minds have betrayed them into thinking that life does not have value - I will pray that God will show them the truth and love that surround them, through the people in their lives and the God that created them.

Stats:

Weight 214.5
Accumulated miles: 2.99
BMI: 31.5
Body Fat %: 43.7

Sunday - a favorite day of mine!

Sundays are one of my absolutely favorite days!  Especially in the fall.  This morning all I could think about was getting my workout done in time to sit down and watch the football games that were coming on at noon.  This year I have two teams to follow. The Greenbay Packers of course, and now the Minnesota Vikings as well.  I'm a Favre fan...I will watch him play no matter what team he plays for.  He's just a great football player! 

I made a baked oatmeal breakfast dish that I found in the Eat Clean diet cookbook.  It's a fabulous combination of old-fashioned oats, milk, vanilla, real maple syrup, slivered almonds and dried fruit (I choose cranberries and raisins).  You combine it and bake it for 30 minutes.  Delicious!  I like to make this dish on Sundays because the recipe makes enough for you to eat it several times the following week.  It really helps me to have some ready made, healthy breakfast options for work the next week.

After breakfast I went down and worked out.  Today I did both the interval running and circuit training.  Since I had read on Jillian's website that you should do the circuit training BEFORE any cardio you do, I thought I would try that today.  I suppose they have you do that so that you're not exhausted and possibly doing the strength training with less than perfect form.  But to tell you the truth I like it the other way around.  The running interval training is by FAR the hardest part for me.  And I like to get the more difficult of the two out of the way first.  I think unless I find myself giving less than what I know I should be to my strength training I'm going to keep it in the order I've been doing it. Running first - Strength training second.

Tomorrow is my day off (Jillian says if you work hard you must rest!  Her website requires that you have two complete rest days a week)  I have Monday's and Fridays off.  So after tomorrow I will be starting the 2nd week of this competition.  I have decided to weigh and measure every Tuesday! I will be recording my change in stats at the end of each of those posts.

I'm proud of myself as I've completed my first entire week of this new training routine. It was hard.  Actually, the hardest I have ever worked out in my life!  But I am excited because I did it...I can do it!!  I mean it's something I've proven that I can actually do.  And as time goes on I believe I will be able to increase my run time and decrease my walk time until I'm actually running the entire 30 minutes.  Me a 46 year old woman.  Incredible!

Because I am so worried about injury after my workouts, today I also iced a few areas.  I don't know if I mentioned this but I hurt my shoulder a couple of weeks ago.  Although I'm being super careful while working out, it's still gets pretty sore afterwards.  So I iced that.  I also have patella femoral syndrome in my knees.  That particular problem is caused from pronated arches in my feet.  I do wear arch supports to help correct this problem but my knees are still very sore.  The personal coach from Jillian's website is particularly concerned that I will injure my knees, so I iced them as well. 

Over all I feel really good about this week.  I'm currently reading several books about health and fitness.  I've learned some fantastic facts that I will be sharing with you in the coming weeks.  I think I will also begin posting the recipes that I'm making when I make a new healthy dish.  :-)  I am not going to bore you daily by saying over and over again that I've done the same workout.  I'll let you know that I've completed said routine each day...and I'll tell you when I increase my run time etc.  But there are many many more interesting things to share with you all in this journey to get healthy.  Stay tuned!

Stats:

Weight 216.5

Accumulated miles: 2.52

BMI: 31.5

Body Fat %: 43.8

I'll be talking to you all tomorrow!
T

Short & Sweet check in.

I wanted to check in today but it's been a long day and frankly I'm exhausted!

Today I made a slow cooker stew recipe so that I could devote the rest of the day to my workout and my cleaning.

I worked out this morning but I only did my interval training, no strength training. My personal coach from Jillian's website reminded me that out of the 5 days I work out I should only be doing strength training 3 of them. 

Today I decided to run for 30 seconds and walk for 1 minute for the entire 30 minute workout.  This translates into running for .7 miles. :-)  I'm happy about that.  This distance is really going to add up!!  I'm gonna make the 20 miles and I feel really good about that.

After working out, I began cleaning up my kitchen.  I got serious about getting everything I did not want in my cabinets.  If it said "High Fructose Corn Syrup" or "Partially Hydrogenated Oil" of any kind out it went.  I also put all of the natural products I brought into labeled containers and organized my cabinets for my much healthier and delicious new way of eating. :-)  I can't help myself...I keep going into my kitchen and looking in the cabinets.  They look great!

Last but not least I clean cleaned...you know what I mean.  The sweeping, vacuuming, dusting and mopping.  I don't know about you but I LOVE to relax in the evening in a nice clean house!  I love the smell after you've cleaned everything. :-)  Now I'm relaxing watching a movie and looking around happily at what I accomplished today.

Things are going well.  I'm happy with my progress.  My son John called and encouraged me to continue doing the 30 second run/1minute walk intervals until I'm ready to step it up...then increase my run to 45 seconds and leave the walk at 1 minute...continuing to increase the run time and leave the walk time (recovery time) at 1 minute.  Eventually I will be running the whole thing.  Then I can begin to go farther in the same amount of time.  :-) 

Ya know what?  I actually believe in myself.  I think I'm actually going to be running 2 miles straight through before I know it. 

Stats:

Weight 216.5

Accumulated miles: 1.82

BMI: 31.5

Body Fat %: 43.8

Talk to you tomorrow...ahhh Sunday I love that day!

T

There are good days...then there are GREAT days!

Today was a great day! It started with me having the day off of work...hahaha. But it continued to get better. :-)

E-mailing back and forth with my online friends always makes my day. I mean you can't possibly have a bad day when you have six of the sweetest most motivated people e-mailing back and forth daily. If someone is down they're shouting encouragements. If someone has had a success they're shouting praise. And if no one has anything to say they're shouting out hellos and updates and simple messages to say how important we've all become to each other. It's a good way to start any day!

Next I downloaded a low calorie high protein crock pot recipe off of a website and put that together. It was called Bean Medley Chili - it was meatless but sounded delicious! Now I had supper all planned and ready for me. And I knew in advance that it was going to give me everything I needed (good carbs, proteins, vegetables) and none of the stuff I didn't.

Back online where I got an e-mail from my personal coach on Jillian's website giving me a strategy to do this running challenge. I was so excited! First she told me that before I even think about jogging I must be able to walk 4 miles without stopping (which I can do and have been able to do for sometime now) Next she said I must have good running shoes (which I had purchased recently.) So I was set.

Here are the progression stages she gave me:

Stage 1 Jog 10 steps; walk 10 steps. Repeat five times and take your heart rate (HR). Stay within target heart rate (not more than 85% of heart rate maximum) by increasing or decreasing your walking phase. Do 20-30 minutes of activity.

Stage 2 Jog 20 steps; walk 10 steps. Repeat five times and take your HR. Do 20-30 minutes of activity.

Stage 3 Jog 30 steps; walk 10 steps. Repeat five times and take your HR. Do 20-30 minutes of activity.

Stage 4 Jog 1 minute; walk 10 steps. Repeat three times and take your HR. Do 20-30 minutes of activity.

Stage 5 Jog 2 minutes; walk 10 steps. Repeat two times and take your HR. Do 30 minutes of activity.
Stage 6 Jog ¼ mile, (.25 mile), and check your HR. Adjust your pace to stay within your target heart rate. If HR is still too high, go back to the Stage 5 schedule. Do 6 more ¼ mile jogs, with a brief walk in between each. (If you have access to a track, ¼ mile is 1 lap).

Stage 7 Jog ½ mile (.5 mile), and check your HR. Adjust your pace to stay within your target heart rate. If HR is still too high, go back to the Stage 6 schedule. Do 6 more ¼ mile jogs, with a brief walk in between each.

Stage 8 Jog 1 mile and check HR. Adjust pace during the run to stay within target heart rate. Do 2 miles.

Stage 9 Jog 2-3 miles continuously. Check HR at the end to ensure that you were within target heart rate.

Remember, you only progress to the next stage when your body is ready. Stretch after every running session. If you need help with appropriate stretches, let me know. Stay at all times within your target heart rate. Your cardiovascular system will adapt over time to work more efficiently, so you can do more exercise while maintaining a lower heart rate.

Seemed like such a great plan...until I tried it. I have a treadmill that has a slide that you move up to go faster and down to go slower. There are no notches or Marks that say 1MPH, 2MPH, 3MPH etc. You have to put it somewhere and then see by the display how fast you're going. So imagine me moving it up to comfortable jog for only 10 steps, then back down to a walk..."oops I moved it too far, I'm almost stopped"...back up..."Oh NO it's time for me to jog again"...move it up..."YIKES this is not a jog it's a SPRINT"...bring it down to a jog..."wait...it's time to walk again"..."how do I count my steps with all this going on?"

Flat out...it didn't work! PERIOD!!! Perhaps it would work outside, but not so good on a treadmill.

However, it gave me a place to start. So what I did was turn my treadmill on and get it up to about 4.2 MPH. That's where I do a comfortable but not too slow jog. Then I put a piece of tape blocking the slide from going any further up. Now when I'm ready to move into a jog, I will not accidentally move my slide into hyper-drive! PHEW! Next I put another piece of tape off to the side to mark 3.0MPH which is a good walking speed to catch my breath and recover. (I couldn't block the slide from going all the way down since that's how you stop it, but having a mark off to the side at least gave me an idea where to stop it)

Now my new plan was to walk 30 seconds and then jog 30 seconds, all the while making sure my heart rate stayed right around that 85% mark. That's where Jillian says you burn the most fat and have the best afterburner affect. I want that!!

I continued this rotation for the first 10 minutes quite successfully, but then my HR began to climb up into the 90's. So, in order to give myself more recovery time I began walking at 3.0MPH for 1 full minute and continued jogging for 30 second intervals. I was able to maintain that pace for the last 20 minutes of the routine.

I really liked it!!! I mean don't get me wrong for someone carrying an extra 80lbs this was a tremendous amount of work. I don't think I've ever sweat like I did with this (probably because I never ran before...LOL) But in any case I had sweat pouring into my eyes! I was drenched when I got done with that! But in the end I had jogged for 11 minutes going approximately .77 miles. I had walked for 19 minutes going another .83 miles. It was a success! But going at this rate I can easily accumulate 20 miles total for the challenge in the 10 weeks necessary. I feel great!

After I did that, I did my Jillian Michaels Circuit training. I did two sets of each exercise! It was exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time! I showered, dressed and ate a quick healthy lunch before I headed out the door. A friend of mine had told me there was a store called Sugar & Spice about 40 minutes from my house that had organic stuff and natural products. So I went to check it out.

I found that they have lots of different grains, dried beans, lentils and whole wheat pastas. They also have seasonal produce. Right now it's pumpkins, squash, potatoes, apples, etc. I guess in the summer they have tomatoes, corn, ruhbarb and the like. While they did have natural honey, they didn't carry the sweeteners I was hoping for. Sucanat (which I love as a sweetener) and Agave nectar (which is also a fantastic sweetener). But over all I was excited. I also picked up another cookbook there that was all about cooking garden vegetables. Looking forward to thumbing through that later.

Got home, and my food was ready! My son and nephew, who were hear getting ready to duck hunt this weekend, thought the food was pretty good. :-) I love days like this where it all flows perfectly and you get all the things done that are a priority to you. You just feel so good at the end of it.

Now that I've eaten right and worked out hard, I feel entitled to have a curl up on the couch and watch a good movie or read a good book kind of night!! That's right, I deserve it! I can do as much or as little as I like, because I've earned it...and nothing feels as good as a guilt free lazy night! Ahhhh!

Stats:
Weight 217
Accumulated Miles: 1.12
BMI:37.5
Body Fat %:43.8

Hope you all had a day like this too! If not, maybe tomorrow?

T

Ahhhh a Rest day

I take two rest days a week and I'm thankful today is one of them! Normally my rest days are Monday and Friday, but this week I had a big Thursday planned so I decided to swap Thursday and Friday.

Watched The Biggest Loser on Tuesday and as always it inspired me. It made me cry and it made me cheer all within one episode. This year there's a woman on there that lost both her children and her husband in a car accident. MY GOD!!! How do you survive something like that? But survive she did...and now she's trying to figure out her purpose. I think this is going to be a beautiful story of self discovery as it unfolds. I'm looking forward to this season.

I think that self-discover and self-awareness are huge factors in recovering from obesity. Seriously there is something going on inside of you that makes you turn to food in excess and until you figure out what that is and get over it, you could easily revert back to those same unhealthy choices in the future. All that work could be reversed and in many cases even more weight than was originally lost will be gained. I don't want that!

As I stated yesterday, one of my bad habits is self-sabotage. Why? A huge milestone for me would be to get below 200lbs. There's a weight I have not been below in perhaps over 20 years. I've been as close as 201...but I've always sabotaged myself right at that point and put weight back on. Is it my body physically telling me it's comfortable at that weight? Or is my mind somehow afraid to go below that point? And if so, why? I seriously don't know but I'm going to try to figure that one out!

I do know I turn to food when I am bored, sad, mad or any other emotional trigger you might come up with. It has been my comfort for many many years. After reading so much material about it I understand the physiological affect that eating (especially high fat, high sugar foods) have on the body and how it can actually become like a fix in an addiction. All that makes sense to my intellect...now I have to get those emotions under control. I have to figure out how to make it stop on that emotional level! For instance you also get a sort of high from exercise...can I replace one bad habit for a good one and get the same emotional satisfaction? I think that's something I'm gonna try.

Talked to my coach from Jillian's website. She doesn't like the idea of me jumping into running right off the bat. Here is her advice to be on how I can get my jogging increased:

"Jog 10 steps; walk 10 steps. Continue this pattern for 20-30 minutes. When you are comfortable with this pattern and no longer feel like your heart rate is too fast or you are exerting too much, do the following:Jog 20 steps; walk 10 steps. Continue this pattern for 20-30 minutes.From here, you gradually increase (over days or weeks) the number of steps you jog, while keeping the walking the same. Once you get to this point, let me know and I can help you with specifics on how to progress to more jogging."

Her advice makes perfect sense to me, but I'm not sure how I can measure the jogging portion so that I can keep track for my 20 mile goal. I mean if I'm alternating walking and jogging on a treadmill - even if I reset the distance each time I start to jog, it's not likely that I'm going to be able to carry a notebook and jot down the distance for each 10 step session, so that I can add it up at the end to determine the overall distance of that combined run. But somehow I DO have to track it...I need to accumulate 20 miles over this 10 week challenge. So now there is a challenge to how I'm going to track miles in my challenge...arrrrgggg!

On a side note I spent a wonderful evening with my sisters. In the last few months we've made a deal to meet at least once a month. Each of those of us that live around here take a turn and make dinner. It's fun and relaxing. Tonight it was at my sister Colleen's house. She made Italian Spaghetti - a favorite of mine. Of course I ate too much (that's one of the reasons I rarely make it anymore at home - I know that I will eat more than I should because I love it so much). There are those foods in your life that you simply can't get control over...my recent motto is avoid them whenever possible. :-) and then enjoy them when you get the chance on occasion without guilt! And I did just that. YUM!

Stats:
Weight 217.5
Accumulated Miles: .35
BMI:37.5
Body Fat %:43.8

Well tomorrow is my weigh day AND I need to workout hard! Wish me luck!

Tammy

Day Two of Challenge

Today was my 2nd day on this challenge. There is just a feeling that's hard to explain when you are on the right course isn't there??? I mean when you know you're on the right track, you have the right mindset and you are doing all you can to go in a positive direction you just feel different. And that's the feeling that greeted me this morning when I awoke at 5am.

After a full glass of water, I promptly went downstairs where I have my treadmill and equipment. I did a 5 minute warm-up and then went for my run. I decreased my speed a little from yesterday because someone told me that it's more important to build up endurance than it is speed. Speed will come later. So I ran at 4.1 MPH and I was able to run 2.1 minutes and .2 miles. It's up!! And that's all I care about.

So between yesterday and today I've run .35 miles...got quite a long way to reach my 20 for the challenge. But I'm not going to let myself get discouraged. Especially after today when I read my bible and stumbled upon a Scripture in Romans 15:5 "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement..." The God who gives ENDURANCE and ENCOURAGEMENT...how awesome is that? I mean these are two things that I'm going to need in excess to finish strong in this challenge and God's word shows me right where to go for those resources. FANTASTIC!

Tonight after work I went down and did an interval training on the treadmill. I figured if I do this 5 days a week I will build endurance which will in turn build my cardio abilities up making it easier for me to meet the requirements of my challenge. Here's how my interval training works...

Walk at an easy yet brisk pace...one you could keep up for a long period Let's say 3.0MPH for 2min.
Walk as fast as you can without running for me that is 4.0MPH for 30 seconds.
Back to 3.0MPH for a 2 minute recovery
Then 4MPH for 60 seconds
3.0MPH for another 2min recovery
Then 4MPH for 90 seconds
3.0MPH for 2 min recovery
Back up to 4MPH for 2 full minutes
3.0MPH for 4 min recovery
Back to 4MPH for 90 seconds
3.0MPH for 2min recovery
Back to 4MPH for 60 seconds
3.0MPH for 2min recovery
Back to 4MPH for 30 seconds
3.0MPH for 2 min recovery

It's harder than it sounds! It takes a full 30 minutes to complete. When I get more fit I can step up the walking to jogging and the faster paced walking to actual running, but that's a ways off. :-)

After the treadmill interval I did some weight circuit training. That's where you do different strength training exercises without any rest in between. I get mine off of Jillian's website. I did 2-sets of 15 for each exercise. The whole workout took me an hour. I was beat!!! Three of the exercises from Jillian's site were SQUATS!!! There were regular squats, sumo squats and wall squats...ARRRGGG!! After running this morning and doing the interval training before the circuit that seemed brutal. But then there is that great feeling of accomplishment after you've completed it that makes the pain worth it.

I feel really good about the course I'm on...but I'm a bit worried after working my legs so hard today that I'll never be able to match or beat my run distance tomorrow. We shall see, right?

I'm trying to do some soul searching this time around, so that maybe I can eliminate some of the tricks my mind plays on me that seem to keep me trapped in the fat. One of the things I know is that I'm my own worst enemy. I mean I actually sabotage my own progress often. Thinking back upon it I realize that it often happens right when I'm about to break through a landmark boundary...suddenly my mind betrays me and strips me of ambition, willpower and drive. Then before I know it I'm going backwards. That's one of the things I'm going to figure out on this journey because that's an enemy in my mind that I must defeat if I want my weight loss to be permanent. If anyone out there has any insight into this self-sabotage I'm all ears!

Stats:
Weight 218
Accumulated Miles: .35
BMI:37.5
Body Fat %:43.8

Well that's it for me tonight. God bless and I'll be back tomorrow.

T

A small beginning

Well today was the first day of my "Give me 20" challenge! I decided to really push myself. I decided to make my challenge this: "My challenge will be a running challenge. I'm going to accumulate 20 miles of running over the next 10 weeks. I will do this by increasing my distance by 20% increments over time. Eventually culminating by not only running in excess of 20 accumulated miles, but also in the ability to run 2 miles without stopping."

This may not seem like much of a challenge to some. I'm sure there are many out there that would/could say "I could run 20 miles in 10-weeks with my eyes closed" But that is not the case with me. I'm not a runner, never have been. Frankly I'm terrified of running. I don't know which fear holds me back the most - my fear of injury or my fear of failure. But I've decided to go with a biblical truth that fear is NOT from God. I'm moving forward with this challenge inspite of or maybe even because of my fear. I want to defeat that fear!

Another reason I chose this was because it was really going to be hard for me. I wanted this challenge to be HARD. That is why it's called a challenge. I wanted to have an accomplishment that I could draw on later when I ran into those things that inevitably would make me feel like I couldn't succeed. I wanted to be able to look back on this challenge and say "I DID THAT!! See what I can do if I put my mind to it??" Everyone needs an accomplishment like that in their arsenal.

I used this morning to get familiar with my video camera - setting it up to video tape my first "run" on my treadmill. I was embarrassed to be seen on camera PERIOD. But it was magnified by the fact that it was early morning - my hair undone my make-up not on. Ugh! But vanity has no place in this challenge. I introduced myself to the camera and told it what my challenge was going to be and why. Shut the camera back off and hopped on the treadmill to warm up. When I had warmed up sufficiently I turned the camera back on and took my first RUN.

I ran at a 4.6MPH pace. My run lasted a total of 2 minutes and I went a whopping distance of .15 miles!! That was ALL I could do, honestly!! I was gasping for air when I told the camera my dismal results. But great things can be built on small beginnings. "Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises" as Demosthenes has said. I will build on this.

I also made it a point to let others around me know of my challenge. I let my online friends know, my coworkers, my siblings, and my children as well as their girlfriends. I did this for two reasons. One so that they could support me and cheer me on and second so that I could not back out, or back down from this challenge without looking like a fool. ;-) You've got to think of everything. LOL

Now I'm home from work and heading downstairs to workout. I'm going to be doing my running challenge in addition to my regular workouts - not instead of them. This is a journey to lose weight and get healthy, I will not let that goal out of my sight for a minute!

Stats:

Weight 218

Accumulated Miles: .15

BMI:37.5

Body Fat %:43.8

Talk to you tomorrow.

Tammy

It's time...

Here I am a 46 year old woman with nearly 100lbs to lose. I always imagine people must look at me and thinking, "why in the world doesn't someone like that try to lose weight?" Naturally you would think I've never tried...but the truth is I've tried, and tried, and tried!!

Over the course of my obese adult life I've tried every diet I could find. I've also ingested every diet pill or potion I heard about (some I even had to purchase online from Canada). God only knows what all of that did to my body!

Then my sister Kathee turned me on to the show The Biggest Loser. On that show there were people older, bigger, less fit than I was. And in some cases seriously ill or injured! Yet they were able to lose 100s of lbs. 100s!!! One by one this show stripped away all of my excuses and also all of my fears and began replacing them with HOPE.

Through that fabulous show I was introduced to Jillian Michaels. I loved her style of training so much that I purchased books, DVDs and eventually joined her online weight loss website. Getting excited by realizing none of the information I was reading was offering me those same solutions I had tried and disproved in the passed, I ordered more...

Eventually I had all The Biggest Loser books and workout DVDs. I purchased Kim Lyon's diet/exercise book also. I began to devour the information...making small changes as I went. I subscribed to new healthy cooking magazines and ordered healthier cookbooks than I had previously used. I joined various online communities and began to learn as much as I possibly could about health and fitness.

In the process I met some fabulous online friends. There are seven women that I communicate with regularly. Even though some of us have never met face to face, we've developed a bond that would indicate otherwise. We share our successes, failures, hopes dreams and fear...and we support each other through them all. It reminds me of what military men describe as the feelings they have for their fellow soldiers during battle. This is a battle we fight!! One that people who do not have any or even those that have very few lbs to lose could never understand. And this group of women are a support team that I can't even imagine being without. :-)

Let me bring you to today. Over the last nine months I've educated myself and in the process lost nearly 20lbs. But now I want to get serious and lose the other 85lbs. I want to take what I know and really make use of it!! I feel like I've learned it...now I want to live it!!

Tomorrow starts the new season of The Biggest Loser AND a wonderful Fall Fitness Challenge on Jillian's website that I have ever intention of entering...and winning. I know that both will provide the incentive I need to begin strong and end well. Tomorrow I'll explain the challenge and what goal I set for my part. :-)

Stats:

Starting weight 218.5

BMI: 37.5

Body Fat %:43.8

Talk to you tomorrow,

T