Weekly and March Recap

Exercise

1 push workout
3 runs
2 walks

403 minutes of exercise
2910 calories burned through exercise.

Nutrition

2558 (Grandpa's Birthday)
1771
2161
2788 (Dinner plans squashed, bad decision for pizza)
1509
2411 (Had ice cream, and too much of it)
2700 (McDonalds and carb loading perogies)

Challenges

Well this week was tough.  I was off all week with my energy.  I think part of it was not drinking enough water?  The aftermath of my Grandpa's comments and then some other stresses I'm sure made my will-power and decision making weak.

Successes

I did almost all my runs, Thursday was a good one. I am planning ahead for next month to try to avoid "slipping up" like I did this week.

Month overall

66866 calories in Total for March
2157 average calories per day.  Highest I have had for one month since my journey started.

17058 calories burned total for March which equals out to 550 per day

Based on the numbers my projected loss for the month should be 6.2lbs.  So I should be 220.2lbs tomorrow morning.

Will I be happy with 6.2lbs?  No.  But it's exactly what I earned for the effort and motivation I put out.  At least it's not a gain and I theoretically built some muscle this month in addition.

I am really NOT looking forward to my weigh-in and progress pictures in the morning because I don't believe I will see very much difference. The good thing about it being Month-End is that tomorrow is the first day of a brand new week and month for me to really give it my all!

Goals for next month

Drink 100oz of water per day.
Pre-log my meals the day ahead
Lower my calorie goal to account for days over which will hopefully keep me losing more (1670)
Start juicing, have 5 per week.
Complete ALL my Chalean workouts for April
Complete 4 runs per week as per my running plan.
Take more pics of food
Post more recipies

Motivated!

I'm still not functioning at FULL force, but I am motivated, and not just in my weight-loss either.

After watching "Hungry for Change", I feel re-motivated.  The movie really re-enforces a lot of things I had been starting to believe myself.  Not exactly word-for-word, but pretty close. Since watching it, I am putting a little extra effort into a few things.

First off I am re-focussing on getting my nutrients from nutrient dense foods rather than processed or refined foods. Mostly this just means getting more fruits and veggies in.  I have decided to try to add some juicing into my life, not anything hard-core like a cleanse or anything, but maybe 5-7 per week.  I actually have an old juicer that I will try out to start, and until I clean that sucker out I'm going to hit up Booster Juice for a Green Hornet most days.

It made a lot of sense to me when they talked about how people who eat a lot can still be hungry and craving foods because we are nutritionally lacking in so many nutrients that we used to get from our natural diet before processed, refined, and mass amounts of food were readily available.

I will keep an eye on my sugars, aiming for less refined sugar and refined carbs in general, but I'm not going to go overboard on this one quite yet. (Baby steps people)

Also I have been slacking on my visualization lately and didn't really realize it until watching Hungry for Change.  I used to look at my old skinny pics a lot, and when I WAS doing that I remember feeling more confident in my journey, so I think I will try breaking them out a little more often.

Chia seeds.  One of the things mentioned in the movie was that when you lose weight, your fat breaks down releasing fat-soluble toxins that your body has stored.  These toxins get released through your bile into your intestines, and unless there is something there to bind with them, they can be re-absorbed.  One of the things chia seeds do, is bind with these toxins to help eliminate then from your body.  They also contain healthy fats.

That's pretty much all I will take from the movie to work on for now.  I think the veggie part is HUGE.  I am finding the last week or so I am also wanting to be more productive in general. Making real lists of things I want to do.  Then checking things off that list!  I finally took my taxes in, caught up on paper-work, made my list, and made several appointments!  

Hopefully this productivity level sticks around! I think I like it!

"Hungry for Change"

Wow.   THIS.

http://www.hungryforchange.tv

I would highly recommend that anyone watch this movie.  Its like "The Secret" for health.  One of those movies that you watch over and over to remind yourself of simple facts.

Seriously, go now, WATCH!! I would love to have some feedback on what other people thought!!

Some days are just "Meh".

Wait... Did I say days?  I meant more like weeks, or even months.

I'm in the last week of Push Phase in Chalean Extreme.  This month of Push Phase has been a doozie.  Now that I think back and remember, February really wasn't awesome either. I wouldn't say these last two months were complete failures, in fact they were successes, but I have been struggling more that I had been previously.  I would love to just have a solid month to re-gain some confidence and momentum to help set me up for my 30th birthday goal.  "199 by 30"

I also want to feel like THIS again. Pumped beyond normal language!  I will get there, oh yes, I will get there.  I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and dance outside my comfort zone, and eventually I will get my groove back!

I am going to give myself until the end of this week and then I need to re-focus, re-commit, and get my energy and enthusiasm back!

Step One: Make a Plan

-By the end of this week I will have a complete meal plan for April.
-For the month of April I will drink 100oz of water per day (4x my water bottle)
-I will print out my April workout schedule

I need to kick myself in the bum and get back into a good head space.  By planning out my month, I eliminate many excuses because I will be prepared

Step Two: Follow the Plan

This is the part of the plan that is the MOST important.  I need to follow my plan.   It's the last month of Chalean Extreme (Lean Phase) and I really want to make it count and see some big improvements.  

"You'll need to lose some weight"

**First a disclaimer:  I love my Grandpa, he has Alzheimer's, and I know he did not intend to hurt my feelings... well maybe he thought it would motivate me??

I can remember my Grandpa commenting on my weight from the time I was 11, before I was overweight in any respect.  He commented on it at my heaviest, and when I was at my lightest he said "You look good with the weight off you kid".  At my heaviest he remarked "You're as big as the fridge!!", and finally last night, after losing 86lbs he says "You'll need to lose some weight!!" after my Aunt tells him I am training for a half-marathon.

I was having a really good day up to that point.

Now that I am more aware of how I react to things, it makes emotional eating harder (not impossible, but harder).   Last night I had already planned ahead for an indulgent meal and dessert so I was feeling pretty full last night, no additional harm done there.  Today however, was a new chance to screw up.  After really thinking about it I decided I would get a treat, but then let it go and finish my day strong.  I ended up having two treats and feeling horrible (chocolate scone and chocolate milk), but I decided to plan out the rest of my day and continue to finish strong.  This I have done.  I even have some spare calories that I am choosing not to eat.

How do you deal with hurtful comments?    I suppose I'm just going to try to forget about it, and move on.  Dwelling on it and soothing my emotions will not get me to where I want to be.  The only person I will be hurting by saying "F**K it" would be ME, so why should I take his hurtful comments and then continue to hurt myself even more? This is what I have done in the past, and now looking back on it... it doesn't make any sense!!

This journey, good, bad and ugly, is about learning to deal with things in a positive manor more often than not, I wouldn't say "all the time" because really... who is perfect?  Definitely NOT me, and not many people I know.

In the end, the comments hurt, but just like any judgement, they don't define me.  Those hurtful comments only define who my Grandfather is/was.

Today I celebrate not being defeated by hurtful comments!!

Weigh In!

I weighed in at.... 221.2 today!! Down 3.2 from last week, so I am happy!

It'g good to have 2 losses in a row, but I think I will be feeling even better if I can get into the teens next week!! I want to say good-bye to the 220's!!!

I'm off to so my 5k today and then head out on a little road trip! Should be a great day!!!

Good week! (Weekly Recap)

Exercise

4 runs (10k, 5k, 5k, 5k)
3 Lifting workouts
2 walks

565 Total minutes of exercise
4266 total calories burned through exercise!

Nutrition

2044
1941
1873
1809
1878
2215
1900

Challenges

This week I added one run to my workouts.  They went really well.

I need new workout gear, but every time I go and look, I get intimidated.  I'm right between a 16-18 right now, which is pretty close to the "normal" sized section, and I'm nervous to shop in it.  I have a phobia that I will go try on the clothes and they won't fit me.  Like my clothes have been playing a joke on me or something.  I've been shopping in the plus section for 5 years and I'm pretty used to it.  It's not that I want to continue shopping there, but I would like to feel confident in my size. I feel like my waist it still too big.  Its driving me CRAZY!

Successes

I ran a PB (Personal Best) in my 5k run this week, 36.14.  I am so excited with this!  Since December I have taken 2min and 16sec of my 5k time.  One day I would like to be able to run it in less than 30min!

I stayed in the green with my food all week which is a HUGE improvement from last week!!

Nothing like kicking ass and taking names to put the Pep back in yourstep!

If you didn't get it from the title, I kicked ass today!!

On December 12th, I ran 5k in 38.30 which was a PB for me.  Then I was dealing with my Plantar Fasciitis, and THEN I was dealing with a knee thing that kept me from running for over a month.  So since February I have been back running, and starting to train for my half-marathon.

I went out to do a 5k, and I got the feeling.  I got the feeling that it was going to be a good run day so I decided to push for a PB. Here I am heading out with the new hat my Mommy made for me!!

Thanks to my handy iMapMyRun app, I was able to monitor my pace and step it up when I needed to. Another thanks (or not so much) to my heart-rate monitor for telling me when I had stepped it up TOO much and needed to slow it down.

At the end of my run I tried to push for the "kick" but my heart-rate shot up to 195 so I had to taper back a little bit.  When I heard my app tell me I hit the 5k mark I fist pumped like no one was watching, and stopped the app to see I had done 5.02k in 36.12!!!   Way to go me!!
 

After my run, my handy co-worker ran into town and grabbed us Sushi!! OMG so good, and what a great way to end a workout!

 

Now I'm sitting here in post-workout in my super pumped mode! Ready to take on something else!! 

Mental Block?

I don't know what's going on.

I'm back on plan, so I should keep seeing results, but for some reason I'm just not able to wrap my head around where I am at right now.

I read a lot of success stories on MFP, and lots of them have people starting where I am now, or heavier, and 6 months later or so they are in Onederland and looking good.  Then I find myself feeling jealous of these people and thinking "Wow, I wish I could do that".

The thing is, I CAN do that.  I am getting close.  I just can't wrap my head around it though.  If I stay on plan, I *should* be in the 210's in the next few weeks, which is close to the 200's which is VERY close to the 100's.   And to be quite honest with you all, and myself, it's kind of freaking the crap out of me out right now.

Part of me is here, ready to fight, ready to kick ass, and ready to take names...  Then there is that other part of me.  The part that's telling me I have SO FREAKIN FAR TO GO, that I can't do it, that it's too hard, that I suck.

Every time I think about how much weight I have to lose, my mind automatically thinks I'm still 236, not 226 or 224.  I don't know why I keep thinking I'm 236.  Maybe its because I didn't weigh for a month and it stuck?

Anyhow, that's just what's running through my head lately.  Keepin' it real, and thought I would share.

Battles of Weight-loss

For some people weight-loss is straight forward. Its simple and easy and all they need to do is simply eat less and move more.

Those people piss me off make me jealous!

My current status is "back on track" and I'm feeling pretty good about it.  I have an excellent day planned out today.  Check out my super fantastic lunch salad!

I also plan on having Shepard's Pie for dinner followed by my new favorite: greek yogurt with peanut butter, bananas, french vanilla splenda and graham grackers. 

Anyhow.  For most of us losing and maintaining weight is a constant battle, no lets make that WAR. Yes a war with many smaller battles.  My battle last week "Storm week" was a challenging one, one which I lost.  When I look back at my food diary on MFP, I can tell the battle was brewing before I even realized.  I had started eating treats more often, just fitting them into my calories, and slacking here and there with food prep and will-power.  

All I can do now, is prepare myself for the next battle by gaining momentum and getting back to the basics again.  Healthy foods, exercise, and will-power.  

The last time I lost a battle that bad was December.  I had 3 weeks total where I was very hit-or-miss with my food intake.  A few days before new years I was able to re-focus and get back on track.  

Weight-loss isn't always easy, its not always straight-forward, and you really have to fight for it. You'll have to take unplanned hits in the face, and brush the dirt off and keep going, you may need to take time-off or call in more supporters, you might lose 10 battles in a row, but in the end, you'll win if you keep fighting. 

I'm in battle-mode bitches.  Bring it on!

Weigh-in shocker!

So I had my post today all pre-planned.  The title was going to be "This is not a plateau".  I was expecting no-loss, or even a gain week after all my over-indulging.  

Down 2lbs. Seems pretty counter-intuitive right? I mean the week I work my butt off and eat right, I don't lose ANYTHING, and then the week I eat crap food and exercise less I LOSE 2lbs.  What kind of logic is that?  Should I give up and let my exercise go, and eat loads of yummy food?  

NO!!!!!!!!

This is just a prime example of my hard work taking time to show up on the scale.  Had I eaten better this week, I am positive my loss would have been even bigger!  The week before last is where I burned those two pounds, not this one.  

Regardless, it feels great and it a wonderful way to start off a new week!

Storm week, in review

Exercise


3 Chalean Lifting workouts (Although 2 were back to back)
2 runs (10k and 7.25k)
4 walks
1 Chalean Recharge workout

598 minutes of exercise
4315 calories burned through exercise

Food cringe

2785 (Long run day, trying to eat more)
3533 (Power outage+ Huge storm)
2785 (Recovering)
2213 (Did, ok)
2729 (Ate back exercise calories)
1938 (Only on plan day this week)
2300 (Date night with hubby)

Challenges

Wow, well this week was just one big challenge.  Spent the last of our grocery money on eating out during the storm and power outage so we had to wait until Thursday before we could get proper groceries.

When my anxiety is high, I turn to food.  The storm and power outage completely threw me off schedule. and instead of making good dining-out choices, I opted for comfort in the form of calories.  This is something I need to work even harder on.  I believe it is something I will always have to deal with, and with TOM just around the corner, I was feeling pretty weak.

Since the power was out on Monday I didn't get my lifting in, I was nervous I would fall off schedule. I even contemplated moving my whole schedule back a week.  Instead, on Wednesday I did two back-to-back lifting workouts to get myself caught back up.  (Hurt like hell the next day too!)

Successes

Well, I've really only got one, but its a BIG one.  I got back on track.  My head is back in the game, and I am good to go!

Not super looking forward to weigh-in this week, but regardless what it shows, I will own it and then I'm going to work my ass off so I never see it again!  Onward and downward!

Picking myself up one piece at a time.

I've been quiet this week.  Not super proud of my week, but I am getting back on track so I feel like I can talk about it more.

Monday was a horrible day of food choices, no ChaLEAN, but I walked.

Tuesday was bad, but actually an improvement from Monday, and I walked.

Wednesday, although I made some poor choices, I ended up staying close to my calorie goal (and under when exercise calories are considered), and did 2 strength workouts and a big walk.

Today is Thursday, and I will be under calories, and get my workout in again. I'm just not "prepared" or eating as many fruits and veggies as I normally like because of my lack of preparation. I haven't had the resources to get all my groceries since Monday, so I will finally get some tonight!  Today is going pretty good, aside from the donut I just ate.

I plan to be 100% by tomorrow, meaning good choices, and sticking to my exercise plan.

Its hard to recover from a BIG fall.  I also realized today what may have helped me make those bad choices.
We were tight on money, and unable to prepare well.  Power went out and my whole routine got put out of whack which created anxiety.  Also (TMI) Tom will be in town shortly so I'm guessing my will-power was on a low.  One of the keys to my success so far is being well prepared diet-wise and sticking to my schedule.

I'm going to write this one off as one of those very infrequent happenings that will not be a part of daily challenges for me.  Today I'm doing ok, and tomorrow I will be doing GREAT again!  Now to flush all this sodium out of my system!

Still Fighting, Still Learning

Here I am, 6 months into my lifestyle change, you think I'd be pro and have it all figured out my now, wouldn't you?

I don't.

I'm not "fixed", I still fight each and every day.  I have had a lot of winning days, days I am proud of.  I can balance my calories and meet all my macro-nutrient goals (Less Carbs, More Protein, Less fat, More Fiber, Less Sodium), I can run 10 entire kilometers, I can lift heavy weights, I can do a lot of things I never before thought possible.

Today was not one of those days. Today was a test, and I failed... BIG time!

I woke up this morning at 4am because of crazy ass winds!  Seriously, it was the biggest, roughest storm I can remember!

Our power was out from 7:45am until 8:15pm.  I had breakfast at home, but I didn't have my usual groceries, and no access to the other foods I have that require power to make them.

We ended up spending the day driving around taking pics of the aftermath, and then the sun came out so we went for a long walk to check things out a little closer.

We ended up eating out the rest of the day.  I should have made good choices.  I should have kept my head in the game. I didn't.

Today I gave in to anxiety, I gave it to urges and I gave in to rebellion.

We had fast food for lunch, and restaurant take-out for dinner, WITH a side of donuts.

So, today was a BIG reminder of how far I have to go. It was a reminder that no matter how far I have come, I need to keep fighting.  Keep getting back up, and keep kicking ass.

Here are some pics of the storm aftermath!

Tomorrow is a new day, and I plan to make it a good one!

Weigh-in (Week One Push Phase)

Today I weighed in at









226.4.

I lost exactly 0 lbs this week. No gain either :)

Am I upset about this considering I had an excellent week otherwise... Nope! I started I new exercise routine (Push Phase of ChaLEAN) lifting heavier weights and have been told even to expect a small gain on the scale from that. I've got sore muscles all over and that spells water retention!

So be patient, more loss is coming, I'm doing everything right, and just because the scale says I didn't lose weight, doesn't mean I didn't lose some fat cells in the process.

I think after my month without the scale, I feel more confident that I can put in the work and trust that the results will come!

Now, I'm off to run 10k!

First week of Push Phase (Weekly Recap)

Exercise

3 runs
5 walks
3 ChaLEAN lifting workouts
7 planks

650 minutes of exercise!
4593 calories burned through exercise!

Nutrition

2280 cals  (Spa brunch)
1810 cals
1896 cals
1860 cals
1771 cals
2434 cals  (Big Burger night)
1783 cals

Challenges 

I started Push phase of ChaLEAN this week!  I'm going to need to invest in a few heavier weights next week.  You are supposed to lift heavy so that you fail between 6-8 reps. For the most part it was great but I can tell there are a few lifts that I should have heavier weights for.  Overall I am still loving it! Muscle is good stuff!!

I was challenged at the spa again.  I feel like I did SO MUCH BETTER.  Last time I beat my self up a bit for eating too much and felt like crap all week.  THIS time I made sure to get my run in that morning, and I had planned ahead what I was going to eat. Unfortunately they were serving a different menu and what I wanted was not available and I panicked and had the buffet.  Between my run and not being hungry enough to eat much later on, I was able to move forward this week without letting it hang over my head!

Successes

This week I rocked my workout minutes without feeling burnt out!   I guess that's what walking can do. I didn't do the ChaLEAN cardio again because of my running.

On my MFP weekly recap it calculates net calories, so it compares your actual food intake to your calorie goal and then subtracts your calories burned through exercise.  Days you were under are green, and days you were over are red.  Red days are not good!  My goal this week, even though I had a couple higher intake days, was to have 0 red days!  I did it!  Also I created the biggest deficit I've had in almost a month!

Losing my spark

Ever have those times where you look through old stuff and try to re-evaluate life?

Maybe it's because I'm turning 30 shortly, who knows, but I just did that. I was looking through old keepsakes and remembering things a have pushed away for one reason or another. I remember that I used to have a brighter spark. I impacted people and they cared for me. I remember having more charisma.

My first job was at a department store and I absolutely loved it. I made some great friendships there, some of which I still hold on to until this day. People there saw something in me, potential. Some had even wanted me to take on larger roles leading to management! It gave me a sense of confidence. I found something I was good at, and other people recognized it!

Then I left and got a wonderful job in an office. The same thing happened and people there recognized something special in me. When I went through some rough times I had people demanding I get paid time off, paid time off that they were willing to give up their very own paychecks for. Later on they fought for me to get a raise because they thought I was worth more than I was receiving.  Toot toot! People don't do that kind of stuff if you're a weeny.

I read my goodbye card from this particular job last night. It really touched me that all these people cared for me so much. Facebook wasn't around back then, so I have lost touch with all but one of them, but it was probably my favorite job. I can't think of any reason why I would ever have voluntarily left or been let-go of there. The reason I did leave was a bad relationship, that required moving far away from, to be safe.

I moved home, and still maintained my spark although it was slightly less bright. I worked at a summer camp for 2 summers and another branch of the same department store, made more wonderful friends. I felt pretty good.

Then came my first job in childcare. LOVED it. I had found my calling. I felt like a rock-star, and my co-workers were awesome. After one year, the owners decided to split and I was one of two staff kept to work at a smaller daycare run by someone else. This person did not like me at all  didn't see the same things in me, and ended up firing me. When I look back, THIS is the moment where I lost my spark. I was never quite the same after.(After all I had been through and all the positive people who believed in me and loved me, this one person who thought so negatively of me, made me question everything about who I was) I was still a good worker, still friendly, still loved kids, but just not quite as charismatic and confident as I once was.

I ended up going to get my ECE after. I was ok. I was smart and did great in my courses, but I developed more of a backbone and didn't really know how to use it well. The next two jobs after school didn't have quite the same zest and when I was pregnant with my son I decided to open my own center.

Since then I have been good, but still missing that brighter spark I once had.  I work with one other person, or on my own most times.  I think I miss all the positive re-enforcement.  I can bust my butt and do all the right things, but many of them go un-noticed by anyone else. Even when they do,  I don't always have the confidence to believe other people when they recognize it. Maybe I could pay Crystal to tell me what a GREAT job I'm doing all the time!

Some people think you shouldn't validate yourself through the actions of others, but I think its human nature. The more positive re-enforcement I get to show me I am doing good things, the more confidence I have, and eventually the less re-enforcement I will need.

The happy part: Through The Megan 2.0 Project I feel like I might be getting some of that spark back again.  People are writing and telling me that I am inspiring them to do positive things!  Friends and family are proud of my accomplishments, and I feel good about the direction I am going.  I don't know if I'll ever be the same vibrant girl I was in my early 20's, but I can be the best, most improved version of myself in my 30's, and that is exactly what I intend to do!

Reward or Moderation

I've always said on here I share the good the bad and the ugly. Some people may view this as "Ugly", but this is what I'm doing, and I'm putting it out there. 

Today I am going to enjoy a burger.  This is not just any burger.  Before I started this journey one of my favourite meals was the BC (Bacon Cheddar) Big Burger at our local WhiteSpot accompanied by Zoo sticks, and a milk-shake.  I would probably have this meal once a month.  

When I first made my lifestyle change my girlfriend and I were looking up how many calories we used to eat when we would go out, or even just on an average day. I looked up my WhiteSpot meal mentioned above and it was somewhere around 2000 calories. The burger alone is 1054, then the zoo sticks are 450, and the shake is around 600.  Seeing as we were just starting the couch to 5k program, I said "The only way I'll burn enough calories to eat that is if I run 10k!".  

Ever since, I have said that when I run 10k, I will enjoy this meal again. Well I ran my 10k almost two weeks ago, and we haven't been able to get together until tonight. SO! Tonight I will have my BC Burger and Zoo Sticks (fried zucchini), and enjoy every bite (I'm not going to have the milk-shake). I would have it after my 10k but schedule-wise it just doesn't work out.  I will however, be completing my Chalene workout after my meal tonight, and probably some time on the treadmill to ensure it fits into my calories. 

Some people may view this as rewarding myself with food, sure I can see that.  I look at it like this. My life now is becoming much more balanced.  I don't have ANY food that is off limits at all.  When I choose to have foods that are high in calories, I now try to balance that by eating lower calorie, nutritionally dense foods during the rest of the day, and exercising. Sometimes even then it's ok to be over once in a while because I have many more days where I have stuck to my calorie goal or even stayed below it to even it all out.  The fact that I have not had this meal in 6-7 months is huge for me to celebrate, and realistically I will not have it again for even longer!

So there you have it... Megan's going to eat a Big Burger!  

Pumpkin pancakes!!

Can you tell I'm on a pumpkin kick? I've been looking forward to working with pumpkin for months so now I'm experimenting!  I really enjoyed these pumpkin pancakes, and although they were pretty low-calorie as well!

I used:

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbspn sugar (You could sub your own sweetener to lower cals if you like)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup 3.25% Milk (That was all I had, so you could sub skim, almond or soy milk as well)

First I mixed up all the dry ingredients, then I whisked in all the moist ingredients.

Then I fried them up in a non-stick pan with a tiny bit of cooking spray on medium heat.  I had to cook them slightly longer than normal pancakes because the pumpkin makes them pretty moist.

I actually ate these without syrup and they tasted great!

Calories per pancake were :89cal.  I ate 3 for 267calories and I'm stuffed!

Also, NSV, this morning I shared this pic with my Facebook friends.  It's a 1x shirt that I bought over 5 years ago. Today is the first day I have been able to wear it comfortably!  Losing weight = awesome!

Pain!

Ugh! I have been battling my plantars since early December.  It's really not fun.  Any day that I'm on my feet a lot, specifically walking, I end up in a world of pain afterwards.

I got a night-brace thing to wear, and it helps usually.  One of the worst parts of dealing with plantar fasciitis it getting out of bed in the morning and when I don't wear my brace, my feet scream at me!

I ice them when they get sore.  Like right now, I got back from a 9.6k walk and iced both feet.  It KILLS!  I know its for the best but seriously I can't wait to recover from this.

It's interesting when I think about it though.  I used to take advantage of injuries. I would use them as a valid excuse to stop working out. Now my thinking has changed.  Now, instead of not working out, I at least attempt to find a way to work out.

Its a huge NSV for me because its just shows me all the time how far I've come and gets me excited for what I am going to accomplish in the future!!

Back to Weekly Weigh-Ins

First off I want to celebrate that I have been up TWO mornings in a row to do workouts.  Considering I did not get up early for even one last week I feel very pleased with myself! I did however, wake up to a dull achy calf muscle, I'm wondering if its sore because of my plantar fasciitis night brace,  from being over-worked, or from being over-stretched,.  No matter which one I just hope it fixes itself and fast!

This morning I did Push Circuit 2 in ChaLEAN Extreme.  It felt great to get it done first thing and not have it looming over my head all day.  I'm enjoying lifting weights quite a bit.  I find myself listening to other people and wanting to shout "LIFT SOME WEIGHTS", but I know its just the "newness" of my love for strength-training coming out, and I remember how I HATED hearing (or reading in a lot of cases) people get all preachy about what they are doing diet/fitness-wise.

I do know that what works for me, works because I enjoy it and it is becoming part of my lifestyle.  If other people don't get the same pleasure out of the things I do or eat, then it won't be the plan for them. They key is finding something that can become your lifestyle.  Sometimes that's a long learning curve.

So, weekly weigh-ins.  I'm going back to them.  I like that they help keep you accountable.  Do I think I would have lost more weight last month had I weighed weekly?  No, not really, because I stayed pretty close to plan.  I DO know that I got more anxious closer to weigh-in because I knew other people were going to be watching and expecting big things from me.  Once I turn 30 (in 107 days/or 15 weeks and two days) I may go back to monthly weigh-ins, but that's up in the air. I will keep my progress pics set on the first of the month.

Oh! I have started planking.  Every night before I go to bed for the month of March, or maybe longer, I will do a plank.  So far I'm up to a 1min 15sec!  There isn't a LOT of abs in ChaLEAN so I figured I would add a little something, and it only takes up a few minutes of my day :)

Pumpkin Pie Greek Yogurt Recipe

2/3 cup of pumpkin puree

2/3 cup of Fat Free Greek Yogurt

1 Pkg French Vanilla Splenda (You can sub stevia)

1tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (I actually used apple pie spice)

2 graham crackers crumbled

Mix the pumpkin and yogurt together with the spices and sweetener. 

Top with graham crumbs!

Weigh-in and Progress Pics for Feb!

Well, after a long month of no-scale and lifting, I am finally here to do my weigh-in and progress pics :)

So I was pretty happy with that number, 9.5lbs down in the last 5 weeks.  Considering I upped my calories and have been building muscle, I can be very proud of that number :)

This was me this morning :)

This one is a comparison to my last progress picture in February.  I don't see a HUGE difference, but I do see a bit in my arms and back fat :)

Here is the most recent "Before" and "Progress comparison!

I'm off to the spa again today!  I'm hoping to do better this time than last food-wise.  I have pre-logged my meal and bevies and planned out the rest of the day, and I also went for a run this morning so I'm feeling pretty good about it!

Weekly & February Recap

Well, its almost here, weigh-in time.  One month without the scale.  One month increasing my calories, and one month of ChaLEAN Extreme!

I'll start with this week.

Exercise

1 10k Run
2 Walks
3 ChaLEAN Lifting workouts

311 minutes of exercise
2686 calories burned through exercise

Nutrition

1914
1950
2480 (Anna's Birthday and too much Pizza)
1818
1709
1826
1820

Challenges

Well this week, actually since last Saturday, I have found my energy has been ridiculously low.  Since my 10k on Sunday I have been taking it easy.  I still did all 3 lifting workouts with ChaLEAN, but my other cardio this week was replaced with walking.  I *may* still do my ChaLEAN Recharge DVD today, but I'm not going to worry too much about counting it or not since its only 150 cals burned, if that.

On Tuesday my daughter turned 1, and before I knew it we had people coming for dinner and nothing really planned so I panicked and ordered pizza.  I originally did pretty good staying in my calories, but around 9:30 I gave in to two slices pizza that were left behind.

Successes

On my daughter's birthday, even though I ended up going over with some pizza, I was able to have just one small piece of cake.  For me this was HUGE!  Cake is a giant weakness for me, usually when I make it, it's gone within 24 hours and I am usually the one to make sure I get almost half. Achem.

Even though I lacked energy, I still did all my lifting workouts, and a total of 6 workouts for the week. So although I usually exercise longer, at higher intensity, I can't be too upset with that.

February in review

Sorry I'm a bit of a numbers geek so I crunched my numbers for February.

Nurtrition wise 57636 calories for the month, which averages out to 1987 calories per day.  I guess that's what happens when you have 7 days where you are over on your calories.

Exercise-wise I burned 16650 calories this month which averages out to 574 calories per day.  Considering I have decreased my workout these last week or so, I'm pretty impressed with that.

ChaLEAN Extreme

I had wanted to do the schedule as written in addition to my running, but towards the end of the month I found I wasn't doing a great job keeping up with it and found it a bit too much.  To improvise I just replace the ChaLEAN cardio with my running when I don't have the time/energy/motivation to do both.  Overall I am really happy with the program.  My form is improving and I find I am able to lift heavier weights.  Also I am noticing my muscles more, and I feel like I am in general getting more firm.

I have mixed feelings about Push Phase (The second 4 week phase in ChaLEAN Extreme). On one hand I am very excited and looking forward to the challenge. In my head I know building muscle is key for me on my journey. I really like the way muscle makes me feel as well.  On the other hand, I have seen lots of reviews where people didn't lose a lot of weight in that month due to muscle-growth and water retention.  Actually Chalene even says many people see gains the first few weeks of each month.  So I'm hoping I can keep mind over matter and go with it.

In the end the goal of the program is to build muscle and burn fat, which doesn't always translate to a whole lot of lost lbs on the scale.

Eating more

Well its been a month of upping my calories, and I have to say that I LOVE it!  I feel less deprived than I did before and find it easier to fit in more indulgent foods when I want them.  I have also found I am doing a really great job at increasing my fruit and veggie intake.  My cravings are changing from cake/donuts/sugar to other healthier options like fat-free greek yogurt and bananas, peanut butter in my oatmeal, avocado in my salad, and sweet potatoes!  That's not to say I didn't enjoy any cake/donuts/sugar this month, but I believe that I ate less of it that I have before.

TGIF!

The last week I do not know what has gotten into me.  I just feel run down.  Last night I had a tickle in my throat so its possible that I could be coming down with something.  I suppose its possible I could be a little run-down, but I have been exercising less (although more intense with my weights).  Regardless of why, I'm taking it easy this week. It's the opposite of what I would have liked to do since weigh-in and progress pics are just around the corner.  

Other than Tuesday my eating has been on track.  I guess I can celebrate that.  Usually when I'm tired, my willpower weakens and those are the times I end up in the most trouble.  Last night I found myself having a conversation with ME in my head.  "Why do I feel anxious right now? Could it be weigh-in?  Mmmm I want something delicious.  NO, I just had something delicious (bananas, greek yogurt and graham cracker crumbs), I'm not hungry and I don't need anything".

Why do negative things always seem more prominent that the positives?  It's not like I've been sedentary and binge eating. I still walked Monday and Thursday, and did my ChaLEAN lifting workouts, and oh yeah RAN 10k on Sunday.  **

I this is where I usually run into problems with my "extremist" side.  I end up feeling like a failure if I'm only giving 80% instead of 110%. How do I plan on overcoming that now, and in the future.  Well, first thing is recognizing it.  Done.  Next is to write about it. Doing.  Then I need to recognize that I am still miles away from where I started and moving in the right direction.  I may not be going at the same pace as I like to, but regardless I will get there. 

I'm going to give my body a few more days of easy, and then I want to hit next week HARD!  I start ChaLEAN Push phase on Monday, and I'm really excited to build some more muscle!

**I love writing these blogs.  Sometimes, half-way through a post, I'll have a realization that helps me see something I was not able to see before.  Where the astrisks are is right where this happened for me today :)