Monday, April 29, 2013

Yeah, a Double Post Today!

I have a question - thought...........

I have noticed that I'm getting a lot more traffic on here lately and that more folks are reading my blog - cool!

Just out of pure curiosity, what does one need to do to get you to post a reply?  I'm just curious who the lurkers out there are.......

The Thing About Mondays

Funny how many people who are trying to get a healthier lifestyle to stick often reboot on a Monday.  Fresh day (well, aren't all days fresh, new out of the box?), fresh week, fresh start.

Well, the same USED TO BE true for me, but is no longer.  I have decided that sticking to a restructive food diet all of the time is my typical way of starting a diet and is always my way of crashing, hard, only to reboot the following Monday.  No longer true over here.  I have chosen to indulge sometimes, making somewhat wiser choices than I used to - ie I no longer have processed food in the house that I like to eat, so if I'm going to indulge, well, I don't think anyone's ever been hurt by a handful of almonds, or a bowl full of berries, right?

Switching things up so that I don't have the cr@p accessible is working!

So, yesterday - I had two cocktails - orange juice & raspberry vodka.  I know, you're supposed to eat your fruit, not drink it, but all things considered, it was a healthier option than what I might have chosen before.

So today is Monday - it's a running day.  Running Class is now up to 5s x 1s.  Not sure how my legs are going to feel about it, but I'm going in with the plan of crushing it!

Happy Monday!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Wednesday's Adventure....

So, in keeping with my theme from yesterday, I have planned an "adventure" of sorts for myself today.

Run in the Rain.  It's not a downpour kind of day, just a gentle drizzle. 

Temps are supposed to divebomb from +14 when I left this morning to somewhere near +5 or lower this evening (going down to freezing tonight). 

I own a raincoat.
I love walking in the rain, when I'm dressed for it.
I have no reason not to run in the rain, then do I?

So I'm going to go for it.

4 x 1s on deck for tonight.

Happy Hump Day!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Adventures in weight loss!

Lifestyle change...yes.
Diet....um, kind of, but it's going to be a life-long commitment to eating clean, so not really a diet.
Weight loss - yes please
Exercise - unhun...who knew I was going to actually LIKE running!?  and my new bike!? 
Weather - um, more of yesterday please.
Water - love, love, love myself when I drink enough of it.
Lifting weights - that will be the next step in my adventure.  Likely will start in the next week to 10 days and develop a plan with my two daughters (18 and 22) that we can do together at the gym.

They said a lifestyle change was a journey.  Not sure that journey is the right word.  I think more adventure is more it - for me anyway.

Care to share your adventurous side with me?

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Hurt

I cannot comprehend what prompted someone to put together a plan to do what they did in Boston.

Senseless, heartless.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the running world.....and beyond.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Monday Madness?!!!

Happy Monday!

I mean that, truly.  I had an amazing weekend :)  I was very physically active, I spent hours and hours in the kitchen on Saturday, followed by hours and hours  planting seeds in trays in the greenhouse on Sunday. 

I also managed to do a run - all by myself with no tunes.  This is a first for me.  I decided to sleep in yesterday - I should have gotten up and driven into town to join the Sunday runners at the Running Room, but figured that was a waste of an hour's driving (30 min each way)....instead, I slept!  But I made a "conditional" promise to myself - that I would get up, strap on my shoes and run!  I did it!  I enjoyed it!  I'm amazed!

I also took my bike out for a spin yesterday - twice!

Eating this weekend - stellar!

Reward -

Saturday's WI:  171.2
Today's sneak peek:  170.8!

Go me!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

CleanseSMART and Clean Eating

I thought I'd give you an update on the cleanse that I'm doing.  It's not one of those crazy "eat nothing and drink water and lemon" kinds, it's one where you take herbal supplements during the day and eat clean. 

Clean eating is a common sense thing....you know, natural foods.  They don't need to be organic, just unprocessed.  Like vegetables (my fave at work is raw broccoli and carrots and cauliflower dipped in hummus), or very lean cuts of meat.  I don't eat that much pork or beef anyway as my digestive system doesn't really digest it very well, so I'm eating chicken, fish and seafood.  Lots of oatmeal (the real stuff, not the instant) with almond milk, legumes and beans, and salads with everything in the bottom of the fridge thrown into them. I'm also not eating any cheese (oh how I miss you!) and drinking little if any milk (sometimes a splash may find its way into my food).  I am eating zero fat yogurt twice a day as well as various fruit.

So I'm now 12 days into the cleanse - today is day 13.  I've lost 4.8 lbs (yay me!), and my irregularity has almost resolved itself (bonus for those of you who suffer as I do sometimes), but most noticeable is that my energy levels have increased.  I have not yet taken my measurements, but figure I will do that after my 30 days are up and let you know if I've lost any (my clothes say yes!).

Is it the Cleanse?  maybe
Is it the Clean Eating?  definitely

Anyhoo, for anyone who is interested, it's called CleanseSMART......it's a 30 day regime....which I'm supplementing with FibreSMART.

That's my plug for the day/week/month!

Happy "is it Spring yet" Thursday!?

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Perseverence.....

I'm feeling strong and in control today.  I'm feeling very positive about the world too :)

Today, I changed my work schedule a bit - as I live outside of the city where I work and run in, I had a quick chat with my boss and I'm now coming in two hours later on the two days I'm running after work.  So, instead of sleeping in (well, I did sleep in an extra 30 minutes), I managed to tidy the house quite a bit as well as get an amazing chili started in the crock pot.  We're having turkey chili for supper.  YUM!

Tonight is run club again - 2 x 1.  Problem might be thunder storms and downpours.  I'm hoping none of those will materialize and that we will get out there and DO IT!  Otherwise, I may have got get on the dreadmill at home.  DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS!

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

I am strong!

So last night at one point, I just about threw in the towel.  Honestly.  But I didn't........

....and it wasn't the towel related to the running that was attempting to do....it was THE BIG TOWEL...on this clean living, healthy living lifestyle I'm trying to make my new "normal."

Here I was - an overweight, out of shape woman who suddenly decides "this is it!"  I know that there will be bumps on the road.  But last night, it looked like a brick wall - that was, oh, about 50 feet high!???

At the Learn to Run group last night we were doing 2 x 1.  Six of them.  I was terrified.  Seriously.  So off we went.  Lucky for us, the thunder storms and downpours that were around all day and evening stopped for an hour while we were out!  Great....our leader had said that if the rain didn't stop, we weren't running.  So off we go.  First set - okay, out of breath, checked the body parts, yup, I'm still alive.  The second one is where it got ugly......it was one of those slow, gradual inclines - awful (our leader apologized later for taking this route - it had been unintentional).....so we're getting close to the end of the second running part and I decide, THAT'S IT, I'M A FAILURE, I WANT TO CRY.  But I carried on.

Walk a minute.....

Off we go on the third one.......I decide, nope, I'm going to walk, and walk straight back to my car and never, ever, ever, ever come back again.

Then something happened - I got a helping hand - one of the other runners (not a new runner) came up to me and cheered me on and slowed her pace a bit and got me through it.....and the fourth one.....and by the fifth and sixth, I was okay!  Seriously okay!  I actually laughed when I finished.

I am strong........I have incredible internal strength - this I have known for quite a long time.

I am strong........I just need to believe that I am physically stronger than I give myself credit for........

I can do this!

Monday, April 8, 2013

First Week Crushing It! Recap

Kind of an odd blog post title, eh?

Well, some of you may know that I post on the WW (Canada) GDT (General Daily Thread) on a regular basis.  I've recently joined a group there who is tracking everything we eat/sleep/move/do on My Fitness Pal.  It's an increadibly diverse group with a common theme and desire - to Crush It! - and it's been our Mantra of late.

So, quick recap of the last week looks something like this:

Start - Saturday, March 30 - 177.8

I ate "as clean as I could" for the first few days and really hit my stride by Monday - the first of April - or the day for April Fools!  Yup, that's me, the April Fool!   Anyhoo, I've been doing the cleanse, eating clean, and introduce exercise to the mix......quite a lot of formal exercise compared to the recent past and add to that farm/garden clean-up.  I've been physically active - very physically active.  So my weight went down, and I had a few blips, and back down, and another blip, then came Saturday.......yeah, Sunday's weight (yesterday) wasn't the greatest.  I managed to get back down close to my lowest weight last week by this morning.  Nice thing is - I just know that after Saturday's aerobithon (six 45 minute workout sessions - more on that later), that I'd be retaining water in my sore muscles. 

First WI - April 8 - 173.6 - that's -3.2 in one week.  Colour me HAPPPPPPY!

So, what's in store for week 2?

Exactly what I did in week 1 - clean eating, planned exercise, and lots of movement.


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Update and my preliminary thoughts on the BodyMedia Link.  Wow, I just love this little thing!  I wear it up to about 22 hours per day (yes I sleep in it and I don't feel it at all!).  It's been synching with MFP to track my calories (and what I eat) as well as tracked workouts, adds/deducts calories for daily life itself, tracks how I sleep (it's amazing - shows every time I wake up, even if it's just for a minute), and acts as a pedometer.

My pedometer readings look like this for the past four days:

Thursday - 9266 steps
Friday - 8616 steps
Saturday - 20,271 - yes, that's twice the 10K steps I was aiming for!
Sunday - 13, 926 - yes, I was busy working outdoors.

It's really keeping me thinking about what goes in mouth, whether I'm moving enough (ie today I'm at my desk and sitting in meetings most of the day - I know I need to go to the mailroom, or walk to the cafeteria to fill up my water bottle, or something.......just to get that movement in).

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Tonight is run club - 2 x 1 intervals (not sure how many).  Also not sure if I'm up to running 2 minutes straight.  My next thought, as I start to panic as I'm typing this, is - what if 1 minute isn't enough recovery time and I die out there?

Tonight's temperature - +10C-ish.  Much better than the near freezing temps of last week......and freaking rain - a lot of rain.  I have my raincoat and a baseball cap to keep the rain off my face, so I should be fine, but I'd be happier if we were doing something I was more familiar with.  Longer distance in inclement weather scares me!???

Anyhoo, will report back tomorrow.....if I survive?!

Friday, April 5, 2013

Amazing!

Flyby post today .... busy, busy, busy!

Bike - I GOT MY BIKE!  OMGoodness, it is a dream to ride.  I went out to test the gears last night (it was almost dark, so didn't go too far), and I managed 6.5km of hills. 

This is by far one of the best gifts I've given myself -

The best to date.......after my two wonderful daughters.......is this quest I am on to be the healthiest and fittest I can be.  I'm so energized, it feels incredible!

TGIF!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The First Week!

Wow, I am amazed/thrilled/excited/proud with how I'm doing.  I have had this habit over the past 20 years or so of making these grand plans to get and stay healthy by eating right, drinking water, and exercising.......sometimes I'm great at it, sometimes, well, I'm an epic failure.

I can feel it - in the air - in my head - it's just there.....this time is different.  I am fed up of failure, but moreso, I'm just plain fed up of being tired, feeling plump, not having energy, having issues with my digestive system ... oh I could go on and on. 

So, it's been, well, today is day 6 of my plan....I'm been eating clean, planning and tracking my food on MFP (come find me, I'm Oldefarmgirl over there) and planning and executing my formal exercise plan.

So far this week, I have accomplished this:

Monday - RR Learn to Run
Tuesday - gym, gentle leg workout and abs (my legs were tired from Monday)
Wednesday - RR Learn to Run
Today - I get my new bike, so I have either a 7k or 10k planned....and if I still have any energy afterwards, I'm going to wash the filth off my van - it's plastered with road salt and mud (gotta love spring on zee farm!).

Today's food is planned and I'm going over to track it shortly - I also promise to get 3+L in today.  Oh, yesterday, well, only got 2.5L in, but that's not too bad, now is it?

The cleanse is going very well - and I had a great sleep last night - first one in a while.

I also just uploaded my first full 24 hours of stats on my BodyMedia Link - I think I'm in love.  It showed me that I managed 9812 steps out of my target of 10k - close!  I also got 7h52m of sleep last night, which I'm sure is a record....yes, I plan on wearing it when I sleep.  I had a great calorie deficit yesterday and I'm definitely on track!

Oh, before I forget - running club last night - again 1 x 1 (10 times).  I found the first three intervals brutal as my shins were a bit sore and it was cold and windy.  By the time I got to the tenth interval, I think I could have done more!  Seriously!  Anyhoo, those new lovely shoes were a great hit with my left foot....no pain in the ball of my foot at all and no rub points anywhere in my shoes on either foot!

Tonight, I'm headed to The Bay to pick up a new sports bra that is on sale AND has come highly recommended by some very seasoned runners...The Shock Absorber Ultimate Run Bra......



Keep on keeping on!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Tracking and Accountability

I decided to put together a handy-dandy spreadsheet (I'm all about spreadsheets!) to track how I'm doing and to help me stay focused.  Yes, I know that my Body Media Link will also do all of this for me and more, but at least this way, I can see what I'm doing while I figure out how to use my lovely new toy!

Today - food tracked and planned.
Run Club at 6pm

Minimum 75oz....hoping to hit 100oz of water, that is!

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Running.......

Sorry about being MIA.  I took a braincation.  I was in a serious funk the last few days.  Well, 10 days for sure.  I ate crap, felt like crap, didn't give a crap.....you get the picture.

So, I promised myself - oh, April 1st is coming, you're not working that day - that's the day I will do what I should be doing.  Reset, reboot, re-re-re-re after how many re's?

So here's what went down....my youngest daughter is dealing with a very deep bout of depression right now and it's killing me.  I know it's her, not me, but wow, really hard to be supportive 24/7 when I was already struggling myself.  It's so hard as a mom to see your child suffering so much and knowing that other than being supportive, there is nothing I can do to fix this......I love my girls so much and it is just so damned hard.

As you know, I came back from an incredible vacation exactly one month ago today, and I have been suffering with borderline vertigo attacks ever since....the stress of returning to work with a 14 hour time difference (jet lag central over here), the stress of working through the psychiatric medical system with my daughter (I'm thrilled to say we are finally making some amazing progress), and just trying to get caught up.

Went to work every day, came home and NEEDED a nap.  I would have been face down on the floor had I not.  BUT, silly me, some days I pushed myself too hard - went to the gym, did some work around the house.  And I paid for it.

As you may have read, I had registered for a Women's Learn to Run program at our local Running Room.  It started on March 25th.  I was in NO SHAPE to run - hell, walking in a straight line most days was a struggle.

So, the pitty party started, and continued.

Then POOF!  It was a long-weekend - a four-day long weekend!  WOOT!  Thursday evening, we went to see my oldest daughter in a speech competition at the university and then out to dinner - nice family dinner out!  Friday - we went to a farm auction - kind of a ritual around my world - the Good Friday Farm Auction Sale in Ilderton!  We didn't buy much in the way of farm equipment (DF bought a pump), but I scored on a bunch of landscaping shrubs!  SCORED!  Can't plant them yet, as it's still snowing (what? - again Mother Nature, come on!?).

So I had a great sleep on Friday night, got up on Saturday and decided - this is it!  I had my daughters clean out the fridge, and we headed off to the grocery store.  Did the "perimeter" shopping like it was our job, and also visited the Health Food section.  A gazillion dollars later (I haven't shopped like that in eons), we came home with lean and mean foods - healthy greens and fruit, lean protiens, and two containers of Almond milk, which I had never tried.  I was immediately a fan of Vanilla Flavoured Almond Milk - I now put it in my one cup of morning coffee (no more half & half and sugar for me) and use it to make my oatmeal each morning - yum!

I also started a cleanse - my sister and her hubby did it in January and highly recommended it....it's gentle.  I started it on Saturday......and am thrilled to say that I'm down 4.2 lbs already - WOOT!  I'm using CleanseSMART and boosting it a bit with 2 capsules of FiberSMART each day.  It's a 30 day cleanse, and I figure with 30 days of clean eating under my belt, I will be back in the habit of eating clean and healthy again!

Okay, back to running - and getting physical!

I felt great the past few days.......no dizziness!  Nothing.......so last night, I jumped into week 2 of the Learn to Run Program - they were doing 1 min run x 1 min walk x 10.  Shockingly enough - I DID IT!  I kept up!  I didn't die!  and even more shocking - I LOVED IT!  LOOOOVED IT!  My left foot and shin didn't though, so like a smart woman, I went into the store right after the clinic and got fitted for a new pair of runners....here's the ones I got:

New Balance W860YG3

I had a pair of NB years ago and didn't care for them that much.....these were like walking on a cloud!

Next purchase is a good running bra!  I'm stumped though...I think I'm going to tough it out for a few weeks and double up as I did last night - I know that I will be losing inches quite quickly in the next month or so, so perhaps I will wait for May and use it as a reward for sticking with it!

April is here - spring is here.  I have a lot of purging and cleaning to do - everywhere it seems.
The house - closets, and "stuff" - I'm getting through it!
The yard - wow, it's amazing how much crap can accumulate and land in your yard over the winter...especially when you have almost 5 acres of lawn/gardens to rake/clean up!  We'll get to it later this week when it finally warms up a bit.
Me - mind clutter (getting there), body clutter, oh my!  Well, here's my plan for April:

Food:
Clean eating - tracking on MFP (myfitnesspal)

Workouts:

Mon - run club
Tues - circuit training/weights legs
Wed - run club
Thurs - circuit training/weights upper body
Fri - rest
Sat - Zumba, core
Sun - run club

Biking 3 days per week min!  on that note, I also want to share that I went out and bought myself an amazing bike yesterday - hybrid, step through.  I get it on Thursday - I'm so excited!  

...and last but not least, UPS should be delivering a little gift to me today - my Body Media Link should be arriving today!  More on that once I've got it set up and have used it for a bit.



What are you doing for exercise in April?

Tracker