So, as expected, I didn't quite hit my mini goal of 187.4....0.2 pounds shy. I was still thrilled with a 1.4 pound loss! So, gotta hit the 0.2 pound loss this week to hit my mini goal of a 15 pound loss since rejoining on 9/23.
I ate like a pig this weekend, but it was fun! My friend's surprise birthday party was fun, but I drank too much. Oh well...it's a once in a while thing and, while I'd like to lose more, it should not be too much of a stretch to hit 0.2 this week. :)
I started using my heart rate monitor again for training purposes. It's super motivating to see how many calories you've burned! I started using it last Friday...here's what I've done and burned over the last three workouts:
Friday: Run 3 miles (hill program); Lift weights 10 reps, 3 sets each exercise. Burned 961 calories in 1:11. 55% Fat. Max HR: 177 (86%); Ave HR: 141 (69%).
Monday: Run 7 miles. Ran 7 miles in 67 minutes. Included my walk to and from the gym in my HR time. Burned 1319 in 1:28. 40% Fat. Max HR 179 (87%); Ave HR: 151 (74%).
Tuesday: Run 2 miles (easy); Lift weights 12 reps, 3 sets each exercise. Burned 612 calories in 59 minutes. 55% Fat. Max HR: 168 (82%); Ave HR 125 (61%).
Tuesday PM: Bike 25 minutes, easy. Burned 117 calories in 25 minutes. 60% Fat. Max HR: 117 (57%); Ave. HR 97 (47%).
So in four workouts I've burned 3009 calories, 1462 of them fat calories (not really sure what that means, but it's cool -- I'll take it). My heart rate monitor says I should strive for 2800 calories and 3:05 of workout per week. I think I'm going to exceed it almost every week. So far I'm at 2048 for this week alone and I'm only three workouts into it.
Remaining workouts this week:
Wednesday: Bike 45 minutes
Thursday: 4 mile Pace run (TBD)
Friday: Run 3 mile (slow hill run), lift weights 12 reps, 3 sets each.
Had a non-scale victory while cleaning out my closet this weekend. Size 12 jeans, baby!! A little snug, but no muffin top and totally wear-outside-in-full-view-of-people-able. Woot woot!
How does that happen? I know I spent two days away from work, but I don't feel rested! It's Monday and I just want to crawl back into bed. ~le sigh~
I did well at WI on Saturday -- down 1.8! So I took off the holiday weight, plus a little more. I'm officially down to my last 20 pounds. I'm stoked! This weekend I planned my food and cooked as per usual. On the menu: Fresh roasted beets with sauteed beet greens, Daal made in the slow cooker served with 1/2 cup rice, Pad Thai, roasted butternut squash, fresh vegetable gumbo, and tofu with fried rice. Lots of very spicy dishes -- I didn't mean it that way, it just sounded good when I was figuring out points and all. My DBF has been eating my WW food now (he's put on a good 20 pounds in the last couple years and is ready to get it off), so that means I can make the full recipe without having to eat it four or six times. Variety is the spice of life, right? It sure helps me stay motivated when I'm not bored with my food.
This weekend was good. Saturday I weighed in and then went out to breakfast with DBF. Came home and crashed again (even after sleeping in I took a 3 hour nap! I've been so run down that I think my body just stopped). Then in the evening we cleaned the apartment and finally got it looking better than it did pre-Christmas. In the evening I cooked and we watched some good quality brainless TV. Very relaxing. Sunday my friend had a couple friends from out of town and wanted to take them wine tasting. She invited me along since she knows how fond of wine tasting I am. It was a good time. Even bought a bottle from a winery I'd never been to before, so that was cool.
This week the focus is going to be exercise and working on my fact-finding for schools. Weeble, to answer your question, I'm looking into getting my Masters in Nursing. I need to find a Masters Entry program for non-nurses or try and get my RN from an AA or BSN school and get my Masters later. All the programs are impacted so it's a very competitive endeavor! I have to go to the city college and deal with some administrative stuff for one of my pre-requisites and continue to read about the programs in the bay area and what they require for admission.
I decided to augment my mini goals. Originally I set it up as 185.7, -3.3 from here. But I realized that my fifteen from WW is at 187.4, -1.6 from here. So that's the next mini goal -- 187.4. I already had a pretty big loss this week so I don't expect to acheive it this weekend, though I'd love it! I'm just going to do the best I can, stay OP and follow my exercise schedule. It'll happen, if not this week then next.
Here's my exercise schedule:
Monday: Run 6 miles (I already worked out this morning and ran out of time at 4.13 miles....I'm going to back this evening and finish out my mileage.)
So much to accomplish and look forward to in 2008! My first short term goal for the New Year is from my mini-goal post:
189 (-2 from 191): Only 20 lbs left. A very psychological thing for me.
I actually think I'm going to hit it this week. Before Christmas I was 189.6, but I gained 1.2 over the holidays and so have to lose 1.8. I peeked at the scale and I think I did it! I have stayed strictly OP food-wise and stuck to the exercise schedule as well. Will feel great to hit this milestone. I think I'm going to treat myself to a new pair of jeans or a pasta maker. Either would be fun. :)
My best friend got engaged over the holiday and asked me to be a bridesmaid. ANOTHER reason to get to goal. I really want to be the best version of me (i.e. fit and happy and healthy) as I stand up for her and with her in support as she marries the man of her dreams. She deserves the very best and I'm so happy she's invited me to share in her experience. And hey, looking hot in the dress isn't TOTALLY vain -- pictures are forever and I want her to have the best pictures possible. :)
I'm so close to goal these days that I can taste it. 2008 will be my year! 21.8 pounds....Considering my heaviest weight was 285 pounds and I had 116 to lose, 22 pounds is a drop in the bucket and completely attainable.
Also this year I'm going to work on changing my career and getting back into school. I have one or two more pre-requisites left to complete before I apply to the Masters programs I'm interested in. I have to get organized and make sure I apply to every program I can so that I have the best chance of getting in. Just have to focus. Lord knows I know how to do that!
This year I'm going to run Wildflower, a triathlon in the central CA. I did the baby version 2 years ago, but now it's time to kick it up a notch and do the whole thing. I'm going to start training on a road bike when the weather gets a bit better and keep focusing on the runs. I'm looking forward to saying I'm A Triathlete not a triathlete* (*well, you see, I only did the baby version so it's not really that impressive). An asterisk a la Barry Bonds. Not that I do steroids...oh, you know what I mean.
And my New Years Resolution: Eat locally. Eat organically. Eat whole foods and avoid processed foods as much as possible. I've been a vegetarian for more years than not at this point and it's not a very large leap from here. I need to live my morals -- it's important to me to eat good food and have the lowest environmental impact as possible. I don't care what other people do -- but for me, it's important.
Here's to a happy, healthy, successful and fun 2008!
Happy New Year! Didn't mean to be gone for so long. The holidays really took hold of me. Lots of travelling. Lots of organizing. Lots of crafting. Lots of everything except blogging. I even managed to exercise a fair amount in there. Gratefully, I was able to keep my gain below two pounds (YES!) and am back on track already.
Here's the workout schedule this week:
Monday: Run 5 miles
Tuesday AM: Bike 20 minutes. Lift 10 reps all exercises
Tuesday PM: Run 2 miles
Wednesday: Bike 45 minutes
Thursday: Run pace run (4 miles total)
Friday: Run 3 miles, ride bike 10 minutes
I'm hoping to lose the 1.2 I gained over the month I took a WW time-out. I think I can do it!
I don't have a lot of time -- lots of work, not enough time, blah blah blah.
Had a 2.6 pound loss! I hadn't weighed in since before Thanksgiving, so this was two weeks worth of work...and four days worth of gorging on food. So, I feel great about it! And, I took my measurements and I've lost over 3 inches from my chest, waist, and thighs. Sweet. Totally plugging along. Course, then I had chinese food and sugar cookies to go with my salt. TOM sucks.
Here's my workout schedule for this week:.
Monday: 8 mile run. Made it! Did pretty well, too. Stayed slow, did a good job pacing, and finished in 77:50. Not too shabby -- less than a 10 minute mile.
Tuesday AM: Run 2 miles. Lift -- 10 reps x 3 sets all exercises. This week I up weights!
Tuesday PM: Bike at home for 25 minutes.
Wednesday: Bike at home for 25 minutes in the evening
Thursday: 4 mile pace. Warm up 1.25. Run 6x400m sprint, recover 200m; Run remaining 0.5 mile easy.
Friday: Run 1 mile warm up. Lift 10 reps x 3 sets. Run remaining 2 miles slowly on a hill run.
Ok. Gotta run. Will catch up with all later! Take care!
We made it! YAY! I'm so thrilled the weekend is here (almost).
Today I finished off my weekly workout. Ran my warm up -- 1.05 miles in 10 minutes. Lifted -- it was hard today, but Fridays always are for me. And then did a hill program on the treadmill slowly. I finished 1.95 miles in 22:30, about an 11 minute mile. And voila! I'm done!!
I'm excited about WI tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I lost, which is a relief after the terrible amount of food I had over the Thanksgiving weekend. After WW I've got a ton to do. My DBF is going crazy with work so I told him I would help with his Christmas shopping. I've met about 3/4 of the people on the list and he told me I could call his mom for inspiration. Since I'm almost done with all my stuff this shouldn't be too bad. I'm going to order what I can online and then brave the mall tomorrow (wish me luck!). Sunday is my glass class -- I'm making a mosaic mirror! That should keep me out of trouble for a few hours. :)
Wish me luck ~ I might have hit mini-milestone number 1....
You know those mornings when you're supposed to go to the gym, and every muscle aches? That was this morning. Every fiber in my being was screaming "No! Let me rest!! I'm tiiiiiired!" After 20 minutes of dilly-dallying I made it to the gym. I was already nervous about this run, but starting sore is usually a bad sign. Still, I tried to psych myself up for it -- and I mostly won. My goal was to run it straight through without stops and to really push during the sprints. Here's what I did:
Warm up: 1.62 miles (I do this kinda weird thing where I like to do a lot of math while I'm on the treadmill. Keeps me from being bored. So my warm up is always: Start at 5.4 mph, increase by 0.1mph every 15 seconds for 1 minute; After one minute increase the interval to 20 seconds (5.8-6.0); Run the next minute in intervals of 30 seconds (6.1-6.2); One minute at 6.3 mph; Then increase speed at 0.1 mph every two minutes until I reach the desired warm up length)
Sprint 400m at 7.5mph (8 min. mile). Recover for 200m.
Sprint 1 mile at 7.3 mph.
Here I stopped. Dang it!! I finished the sprint and really tried to convince myself to keep going, even at a slow slow speed. I was at 4.0mph for 30 seconds and I just said screw it, I need a break. I made it through a really hard sprint and that makes me happy. At this point I'd run 3.05 miles in 27:28 (9 minute mile!)
Got back on. "Warmed up" by starting at 4.5 mph and increasing 0.5mph every 0.05 miles so that by the time I finished a quarter of a mile I was running at 6.5 mph. I told you I like math.
Sprinted at 7.5mph for 400m; recover for 200m.
Finished the rest of the mile between 6.0-6.4.
Finished the last 0.95 mile in 9:09. Combined distance and time it's a 9.09!
Still wished I could have finished it without stopping, but I still have one more run this week to finish and I want to be able to end strong. One more workout for the week and I am D.O.N.E. Done! 6/7 of the way through. Woo hoo. And tomorrow it's Friday! Weeeeeeeee!!!!
A couple of you asked about my sewing projects. Here is my handbag that I made for my friend! I think it turned out really well (especially for a first attempt) and will be making another one this weekend from a slightly modified pattern.
Current sewing/craft projects: Baby blanket quilt -- at my friend's baby shower I had each lady draw or write something for the mom and baby. I am currently sewing these squares onto bigger squares with interfacing and will be quilting them soon.
Socks -- I love knitting socks. Lots o' gratification quickly. My current set are for a friend who moved to NY recently. They are black with a lavendar fair isle pattern.
Other handbag.
Yikes!! Gotta get sewing. These all need to be done by Christmas!! AH!
My other proud accomplishment: I got my freaking orchid to bloom! Maybe you all are green thumbs or orchid goddesses, but not me. Well, besides almost killing it for a few months as it wilted away on my desk, I also asked my good friend (though, turns out, bad house-plant sitter) take care of it while I was on vacation for four weeks. After two years of abuse mixed with lovely bloom food and a nice new home in my apartment where I actually pay attention to my plants, it bloomed!
Here's the artsy fartsy version that my fancy schmancy camera can do:
And, I went running with the girls. :) Any one of these things alone doesn't seem like much, but combined -- well, it makes a girl proud.
Alright, 2 down, 5 to go -- workouts, that is. This morning's lift was fairly difficult. Mostly because I hadn't lifted since *last* Tuesday. Remember when everything was too easy? Ha. Not today. Well, this week is the last week at these weights -- I go up in weights on everything next week though fewer reps will be done. Still, I'm anticipating the soreness of next week if I'm feeling a little sore today! Turns out the girls wanted to run tonight afterall so it's cold dark track for us. It's ok. Should be fun to catch up with my friends and "burn some buttah."
Last night I navigated Trader Joe's fairly well. So seldom is that place nice to shop in. Last night was not an exception. More often than not I end up with my little tootsies run over from those customers spacing out, or trying to navigate the smallish aisles, or the few that are just rude and ram into you because they're frustrated, too. Ah well. $77 dollars later and I have a freezer full of LOTS of healthy meals that I could whip up quickly without blowing points. I got vegetable gyozas, lots of meatless substitutes, risotto, stir fry and more. Yummy! TJ's is a place I have to gear up for -- but when I come home with my inexpensive and healthy loot I'm happy I braved it.
For dinner lsat night I made DBF a meat filled pizza and one with spinach and kalamata olives and peppers for me. I cooked up some red artichokes as a veggie/side and called it a day. I ate one serving of my pizza (1/3 of a small 8" diameter pie) and it was five points. DBF at 3/4 of his. Boys.
Tonight is some gyozas and rice and veggies. Tomorrow will be the real cooking day. I'm going to make a great Thai Curry Recipe (from WW no less!). I've made it twice before and keep coming back. Looking through my past eating schedules it's been a couple months since I made it, so I'm looking forward to it! I also got fixings for falafels. I won't need to make those until the weekend though. Still...Mmm mmm! YUM!
I peeked at the scale this morning. I try not to do that because I really do go crazy. One peek turns into checking day and night. I just can't do that to myself. Still, I wanted to see the damage. Slight movement up from last weigh in, I think -- though I'm not sure. I've had this scale for years and actually really love it. I bought it at my heaviest -- when the top of the scale (270) was many pounds below what I weighed. I had to guess how much I weighed by how far past 270 it went! There was a space between 270 and 0; I decided that space was 10 pounds and then it read "5." I think I weighed about 285, but I'll never know. I remember how happy I was when I hit 270! What a milestone for me -- to be able to weigh myself on a common household scale. So...more than 90 pounds gone and I keep it to remind myself where I've been, though it really is fairly crappy scale. lol
Back to the topic at hand though: the movement up is very minor (less than a pound) and I think if I'm really focused and stay OP all week I might be able to get a very small loss on Saturday. Ok? Ok. :)
So, today and tomorrow will be a double workout day. Today with light biking and lifting in the morning and then running with the girls tonight; tomorrow moderate biking in the morning with light biking (at home! YAY!) in the evening. Thursday's pace run promises to be a doosie:
Warm up 1.37 miles
1X400 sprint; 200m recovery
1X1mile spring; 400m recovery
1X400m sprint; 200m recovery
Finish 0.63 miles at easy pace
Then, of course, running and lifting on Friday. So...by the end of the night I'll be 3/7 on my workouts. Almost halfway!! Woot woot!
How was everyone's Thanksgiving?! Hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed family, friends, or peace and quiet!
I went up to visit my folks. They live ~100 miles away from me, but wouldn't you know it, with traffic it took 4 hours! We had a nice meal of soup and break with some cheeses.
The next day was fun and relaxing. I went running on their treadmill, which I think is miscalibrated because it told me I finished my 4 mile pace run in 35:40. I'm pretty sure it's wrong, but I took it anyway. :) I did really well and figured out my points. I split my pie with DBF and it was a not-too-bad day, food-wise. The NEXT day is the day I should have planned for! I ate and ate and ate. Bad bad bad. But, I also ran three miles (did the stride run) and went on a really long walk with my mom and the dog. Very relaxing and beautiful!
Saturday evening we came home (3 more hours in traffic! Ugh!). My DBF had to work from home and he was fairly stressed. But I just sat on my ol' patootie and read a book and relaxed. Sunday we got our Christmas tree and decorated the apartment. It is too cute and I'm so excited to go home tonight and smell ~Christmas~!!
So if I'm good all week I might be able to salvage my diet. :) I'm back OP today, but I didn't cook last night so have to go grocery shopping tonight AND cook. Whew. Should have done it yesterday but I was too excited by getting our apartment decorated for the holidays. Did I mention I love Christmas?
So, the workouts this week:
Monday: Run 6 miles Finished in 55:22. That's a 9:14 on a long run. Booyah!
Tuesday AM: Run 2 miles. Lift 16 reps x 3 sets each exercise.
Tuesday PM: Use new exercise bike (!) or have exercise date with the girls
Wednesday AM: Bike 45 minutes at gym
Wednesday PM: Use new stationary bike at home (thanks parents!!)
Thursday: 4 mile Pace Run
Friday: Run 1 mile warm up. Lift 16 reps x 3 sets each exercise. Finish with 2 mile hill run.
As for recipes....not sure what I should cook yet. I'm thinking about going to Trader Joe's and getting some of their frozen food. Their risotto is very yummy. Also need to pick up some thread and stuff. I'll let you know what I come up with tomorrow! :)
Finished in 55:22. That's a 9:14 on a long run. Booyah!