Left, right, left, right

I have really been thinking about signing up for Dam to Dam again this year. My past running partner does not want anything to do with this race again. We have done it twice now and it is a little tough. But I guess that is why it remains in the back of my mind. 20 k is 12.4 miles and this race ends the last 2-3 miles in hills. Great place to throw in the hills huh! My biggest fear is failure! I HATE THE "F" WORD! More than anything in this world, I hate failure. So I constantly think about all these "what ifs". But I guess it is not comfort that got me this far and remaining comfortable won't get me any further. When I started this blog I still hadn't decided yet if I was going to run this race. I can't let it come and go and not participate. I would be really disappointed on the day of the race if I wasn't there!   So I guess that means I am signing up! Oh dear!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes at a certain point it does get this simple. Left right left right left right....

 These are pictures from Dam to Dam 2011. There is a huge feeling of accomplishment when crossing the finish line. Well after the search for the nearest trash can because I was going to lose my stomach on the crowd around us! There is no better feeling than when you feel you have no more left in you and you can not take many more steps. But out of nowhere comes this burst of energy and you stop jogging and RUN the last couple of miles faster than the first 10!! And looking at the picture of me with Trent makes me tear up every time. He said to me that day, "mom, you didn't win." No your right buddy mommy didn't cross the finish line first, but I crossed the finish line. He was so proud of his mommy that day! I want another one of these pictures after I cross the next finish line!

This picture is from the IMT Half Marathon. Roger on my left and Lynn on my right. And the other three are people I met nearly by chance. It is what running is all about. The family and relationship that is developed is AMAZING. We all struggle through the same thing. We share aches and pains that non runners don't understand. We can spend to hours side by side and not say a word and know what the other is thinking. And all that may be said is, "We've got this." So with butterflies in my stomach I hit the enter button. Dam to Dam 2013 here I come and finish first, finish last, finish with a PR(BTW is currently 2 hours 20 minutes) or finish with the worst time ever...I will finish!

Bob's Skinny Rules

I came across Bob's rules earlier in the week and wanted to share it with everyone and my take on things.

Rule 1: WATER WATER WATER It is SOOOO important. If you lack in your water you will be able to tell in how you feel and on the scale. Also drinking it before a meal will help you to consume less food because of the space it takes up in your stomach.

Rule 2: Drinking your calories is a complete waste. Drink water, eat your calories

Rule 3: Protein helps you stay full longer, it helps to stabilize your blood sugar which keeps you from having uncontrollable cravings and spikes and valleys in your energy.

Rule 4: refined flours and grains are unnecessary. Anything refined is really unnecessary and you are just adding extra chemicals and fake food to a body that is not meant to process them.

Rule 5: Fiber keeps you full longer. Also the most beneficial fibers come from fruits and veggies, these are naturally low calorie foods, enjoy all you want of them!

Rule 6: Apples and berries are great antioxidants and are some fruits with the lowest sugar content but you still get a sweet fix.

Rule 7: Many people will tell you that you need carbs. Let me correct them. Your body needs very limited carbs. If you don't use(burn) a carb within 2 hours it is processed by the body, broken down into sugar and stored as fat. FAT. IT'S STORED AS FAT! That is why he says none after noon. So that all the carbs you have consumed are processed by your body and you don't have sugar in your blood when you go to bed. Even if you starved yourself all day and ate a high carb supper, you will probably still have a higher body fat percentage. Who wants to be skinny if you still have a lot of body fat? This is what we call skinny fat.

Rule 8: Read food labels so you understand what your eating, they may surprise you.

Rule 9: Portion distortion is a huge problem in today's society. It is most likely not as big as you think it is.

Rule 10: No added sweetener. The body is not meant to process it. Even thought artificial sweeteners are no calorie they still affect the blood sugar causing cravings and that sudden 10 minute nap at your desk in the middle of the afternoon that you hope no one else saw. However this is one that I have not been able to get away from. Yes I still use them :(

Rule 11: white potatoes have very little nutrition value. Again back to that carb thing.

Rule 12: Well it lessens the calories I suppose, but I love my meat.

Rule 13: Fast food and fried foods are full of hidden calories, artery clogging grease, and about 30-60 minutes after consumption is usually followed by a sudden fast trip to the bathroom. Yes it really screws with the bowels. Remember your intestines is where all your nutrition is absorbed. You wouldn't take a bite of Crisco or a swig of vegetable oil. Don't eat the fried stuff!

Rule 14: Start your day off right. Eggs and veggies are really easy to throw in the microwave while you put your make up on or tie your shoes!

Rule 15: If you make it you can control what is in it and it's a lot cheaper

Rule 16: High salt causes water retention and can lead to health issues like high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

Rule 17: Vegetables are not an option. That's all

Rule 18: I love to go to bed hungry. This means my body will be burning my stored fat while I sleep and not what I have eaten and is in my blood stream. Burning stored fat means less body fat!

Rule 19: Sleep is so important in health and weight loss. It is something you may not notice until you start to pay attention. When I start to lack sleep, I binge, uncontrollably. I become more emotional. I don't feel like working out. And another note...I could eat the same foods and exercise the same way and when I lack sleep your body also lacks results. It doesn't have time to run all it's process. Every person is different. You have to try it out and see what works for you. I need no less that 7 and no more than 8.

Rule 20: It is important for one cheat meal. But plan it. Know what your going to have and when so your cheat meal doesn't turn into 3 days of binging. When your body gets used to what you give it it tends to not work as hard. Your cheat meal throws it off and keeps it revved up and going.

 

So that is my take on Bob Harper's skinny rules in a nut shell!

One day at a time

Today is an off day. I set my alarm clock for 5:30 so I had a little extra time to just sit and enjoy my coffee before it was time to get ready for work. And Trent had asked if he could watch a show before we left this morning. Well my alarm clock went off, several times and I ended up waking up late. 6:50 to be exact and I like to leave by 7:15. I don't even think I had wiped the sleep from my eyes when I left. My eyes hurt today. They feel puffy. Like that feeling you get when you have cried a lot. But there has been no crying, just puffy eyes.

We went to Donkey basketball last night and it was hilarious! I have never seen anything like that before! My food choices were a little poor yesterday. I was on a self pity trip from that unexplained gain on the scale yesterday. I had 2 glazed donuts and a small mint shake. I did not eat from 2:00 until after the ball game when I was so hungry my stomach was past growling, it hurt. I ate peanut butter and banana toast and a Greek yogurt. Should not have eaten at 9:45 but I would have been in awful shape if I would have waited until morning. I did stand on the scale this morning. Yes I preach no scale stalking but I am guilty. It was back down to 209. I don't get it. Decent food choices and a gain. Crappy food and no exercise and it's back down. Oh well it is what it is.

I think today is a detox day. I have eaten well. Every couple of hours and good choices and I have the shakes almost a little nauseous. Most likely my body yelling at me for all the sugar yesterday. I know better.  Tonight is my circuit training class and I have a pretty tough 55 minute program planned. Most likely it will be an early to bed night. Although I have more staples to pull so the last of the drywall can be hung in the back porch and need to start organizing the garage so we have room to stain the doors when they come.

Mental funk takes me back to the basics.

I had a pretty good weekend. I really struggle to get out of this mental funk I have been in lately. I think it boils down to I am sick and tired of living in our house the way it is. But I guess I can't twinkle my nose and make it all done. I have tried. It didn't work. Mom always told me I could be anything I wanted but I guess a genie doesn't qualify.

Friday night Trenton stayed at Grandma's and we made another trip to Menards for more drywall and boards. I was starving by the time we got to Des Moines. We dicided to stop at Panchero's. I thought to myself, this is going to be a disaster! But was supprised when we got inside that they had a salad on the menu. The steak or chicken burrioto looked magnificent!! But I knew with the hand made tortilla and stuffed with rice it would be off the calorie charts. I ordered a salad with chicken, black beans, a little cheese and salsa. It was really good! Then when I put the calories into My Fitness Pal I was pleased to see it only had 238! That burrito by the way was 1098!!!! Glad I didn't let my eyes change my mind! We did a little furnature browsing and did agree on a paint color for our bedroom and left the rest as we agreed to disagree.

Saturday started out with Kickboxing. Always my favorite part of the weekend! The guys worked on getting the front, back and patio doors in while I packed up my kitchen stuff. It is going to be suppppper hard to make the next month work without eating shit food all of the time but I will do it! I went grocerey shopping on Saturday afternoon and then to a get together for a friends birthday Saturday night. The kids played and ran wild. I had my fair share of vodka & crystal light. It may be my new drink of choice! Sunday I didn't do much. Got my hair highlighted, few loads of laundry and took a nap. I have no motivation here lately, to do anything.

Monday is weigh in day. It sucked! I have been at 208 for two days and then I get on this morning and it says 211!! WHAT THE HELL!! I did not eat late in the day, I did not go over on my calories, but I gain 3 pounds!!! Yes this is VERY frustrating! I will do things one day at a time this week. All I can do is do my best and then move on. Goals for the week are clean food choices and lots of water. Guess I am going back to the basics this week.

Our Condemed House

Today is going to be great! It is supposed to be so nice outside!! I am so over winter and ready for spring!

 I had weigh in at our work weight loss challenge today. I was not supprised that I was up 1 pound. The last two days have been pretty stressful for me and my husband has been out of town. What do I do when I am lonely and stressed?? EAT! So I now have no chips or junk food of any kind in my house. I ate it all :( I am not making excuses because I am the one that put the food in my mouth but I tell you this remodeling my house is starting to get to me. I have all these great intentions when I leave work and by the time I drive 45 minutes home I have lost every bit of motivation I had. By the time I pick up Trenton and come home, get supper started. Mind you I have half a kitchen right now and that is the only room I have. We eat and then most often Trent wants to watch an episode of Wild Krats. Well as I said the kitchen is the only room I have and the three of us are crammed into the basement along with all of our belongings. The ONLY place to sit down, is my bed, which sits on the floor because the box spring would not fit down the basement steps. By the time you sit down on that bed there is no getting back up. It just sucks you in. I think Trent and I were both asleep by 8:00 last night. It may have still been light out. I had cleaned out, vacuumed and washed my car before we ever came in the house and that is all I got done. Oh, I did do a load of laundry, but forgot to put it in the dryer so my jeans were still wet this morning!! I just want to set on the couch or at the table. Have another room to go to beside our crammed basement bedroom and bathroom. You can only clean the same small space so many times before you say screw it! I could never make it in an apartment!

                       I think right now it looks like it should be condemed!  The windows are covered                            in plywood, siding is tore off in places and mess everywhere!

It will all be worth it when we're done, right?


I have not worked out since Tuesday night. I feel really lazy because of this. If I just did something I would have a lot more energy! Tonight I will be able to go to kick boxing. I haven't been to boot camp in 2 weeks! UGG I have to get busy!

In the next week I will be losing what kitchen I have left. When we started this project we kept saying the kitchen is the only room that we are not doing because we did it 5 years ago. Well it is about to go out the window! I have been making a list of crock pot recipes. I think this may be the strangest part of the entire remodel. Cooking in my garage! Yeah this will suck.

No great big goals this weekend. Just kickboxing tonight and tomorrow morning, try to run on Sunday and to stay on track with proper food choices. NO ORDERING OUT. Yes it is killing me that the new Mexican restraunt has opened in Greenfield and I reeeeealllly want to go there but I just can't let myself yet!

You can break my spirit

Well yesterday was a completley shitty day. It started out rough before I ever left home and it continued to be that way all day! One of those days where everything made me cry and I could not shut the tears off. I am typically a strong person emotionally and sometimes I hate that. When I finally break down I am a big ole hot mess!!

Trent had the Grand Prix Derby at AWANAS last night and he was so excited to race his car. I helped him build it, mind you I have never done this before and I had no idea what I was doing. I did feel bad that he didn't even win one race. But I guess it was a good learning experience for him. He is a very sore loser so it is good to lose a few times. I had done well with my eating until I got home at 8:00 last night and then it was a free for all. I let my day get the best of me and resorted to old habbits trying to burry the emotions. It didn't work. It never does. So I screwed up. Today is a new day and it means I have to work that much harder. Lots of water, smart food choices and I must get in a work out sometime.

Trent woke up in the middle of the night with diarrhea. I ended up putting him in the shower at 4:00 in the morning and then we went back to bed. I should have just stayed up. I am having a really hard time waking up in the morning right now. I know I could go to bed earlier some times but I think being in the basement where it is completely dark is making it that much more difficult. I can not wait for our house to get finished so I can move back upstairs to my bedroom. It is nice outside already this morning and I think I will take advantage of that and get the car cleaned out this afternoon. IT IS A PIG STY!!! And I hate that! I haven't decided yet if I will run after work or go to kick boxing tonight. I suppose it depends on how Trent's day at school goes. I don't like dragging him to kick boxing with me during the week because we don't get done until around 9 and he should be in bed by then. So we will see. My day today has started out better and I intend to keep it that way. My feelings are still a little hurt by yesterday's incidents but I will deal with that in time.

 

                                              She is my biggest competitor!

 

I will beat her!!

 

 

And a funny!

 

Goals and rewards!

As I said yesterday I am throwing out the scale for the week. If you don't know me well then you don't know that this idea of not weighing in every morning causes a near anxiety attack just thinking about it!! I always tell people when trying to lose weight don't stand on the scale daily, scale stalking will only discourage you. But I do the exact opposite! Maybe when you get to maintenace mode that is ok but not when trying to lose. So in the middle of the night when I got up to pee I took the scale and tucked it in the closet behind the water heater. Out of sight out of mind. I hope! The reason for doing this right now is I know I try harder when I don't know where I stand. I put forth more effort. It is so easy to stand on the scale in the morning and see a couple pound loss and use that to justify eating crappy things. "Well I lost 2 pounds so I can eat a cheeseburger and cheesey fries with a shake tonight" Yes I have said that to myself more than once! We are our own worst enemies! It is ok to eat those kind of things once in a while but NOT every day or even every couple of days. Whatever you do the majority of the time is what will show on the outside! So it made me a little nervous but I did bypass the scale this morning. The whole protien shake for supper kind of worked last night. I got home after work and tried to start getting things out to cook supper for my family. I am so lost in my half a kitchen I have right now! Breaded tenderloins and french fries is what they had. (My hubby has no desire to eat anything green or healthy, rabbit food is what he calls it)As I was smashing the ritz crackers to bread the pork chops in I started getting the stuff out for my protein shake. It was SOOOOOO Yummy!! 1 cup Silk unsweeted vanilla almond milk 1 scoop vanilla whey protein 2 cups frozen strawberries 1 orange early rise sugar free drink mix packet I will absolutley make it again!! But then I thought I would try one corner of the tenderloin and ended up eating a whole one. It wasn't a terrible choice but it wasn't in my plan for the day! Something I thought about yesterday was goals. I used to set small goals and rewards for myself and I stopped doing that quite some time ago. It is time to set them again. Often we have to remind ourselves to stop looking at how far we have to go and look at how far you have come! Pat yourself on the back, no matter how big or small give yourself the credit you deserve for the work you have done!So set yourself small goals, 5-10 pound goals with a non food reward.
Here are mine
200-Ipod arm band
193-Yoga pants
186-$10 itunes
179-Scrubs
172-new socks
168-swimsuit
164-Jeans
160-shirt
156-bra shopping
152 Boots- the knee high kind!!
148- Photo shoot!!
146- SOMETHING BIG THIS IS POUNDS LOST!!
I have a busy day at work and then circuit training tonight. This is always a good night for me, I DON'T HAVE TO COOK SUPPER!! So suck it up and get busy!