To diet or not to diet

No, I don't look anything like Madonna yet, but the last few weeks, except when I was traveling around the globe for my brother's wedding, I have been lifting weights for about 3 times a week and yes I can feel the difference. I definitely feel stronger and more definitions’ in my arms, but still few more years to look like Madonna's arms

Mean while the last few days I have been going through a nutritional cleansing diet that was recommended by few friends. I have been struggling with GI problems for the last 8, 9 years and after going through series of tests and taking lots of pills, I finally found a way to keep it under control only by watching what I eat. I had to quit caffeine and certain foods in that matter. A friend of mine who was suffering from same kind of problem did this certain cleansing diet and noticed how great she felt right away. Anyhow, to make the story short, I am on the diet now. I don't want to talk about the diet, but I like to talk about what the process of this diet has done to me. Discipline is what this diet brought to my life! What I have realized is that all these years I have never been on a diet just because I am not good with disciplines (when it come to food only. I have no issue when it comes to exercising). Don’t take me wrong. I eat healthy, actually very healthy, but I have no discipline with the time and the amount I eat. I can be great one day and the next day, especially if it’s a weekend, I can eat whatever I see. Worst is when I travel. I just lose track. I eat even when I am not hungry just because the food is there….. The breakfast buffets are my nightmares. I can eat and eat and don’t ever fill full. “I never go on diets because I don’t not believe in them”, was my excuse for the last 20 something years of my life. I could never stick to one so there was no reason to bother. This one on the other hand was because of a health reason, so I made a commitment to it and I can see the result already. To make the story short, with the help of this low calorie diet, and the nutritional products (vitamins, shakes and etc.), I feel really good about myself now. Not just because I have dropped few pounds that I might gain back after the diet, but because of eliminating the extra food that I was eating without being hungry. I now see that the healthy habit of eating a little of something every 3 hours was turned into a big snack every 3 hours for me. Mean while I noticed that the bad taste that I usually had in my mouth is gone. The pain that I used to get in the bottom of my stomach when I was hungry is not there anymore. The acid reflux (what I had struggled with for years) is gone also.

In reality we are the product of our habits. Before this diet I was hungry at certain times, even though I had eaten a full meal few hours prior. So by habit I would eat a piece of fruit or another healthy snack. After the last few days I am just going by what my body tells me, so I snack only when I am really hungry and instead of a whole apple and a banana I just pick one piece of fruit and stop eating it when satisfied. This means that I don’t look at the clock anymore. My body is my clock now.

Was it hard? Yes, the first two days were difficult. I was hungry almost all the time; I kept myself occupied in order not to think about food. I have been through 6 days out of the 9 days process so still too early to say that I have done it :o), but so far I am really happy with the results. Last word; eating too much is only a habit. Change your habit. Eat only as much as your body needs and you feel a lot better.

My new goal

Gosh. I haven't been here forever. My last post was 5 months ago in May!

Well, I am back :o)  This summer was a great break for me; not doing any race and for that matter no training. The best part was that I although I wasn't exercising all the time, I didn't gain any weight :o) Except the occasional runs and few spin classes, I spent most of the time traveling and visiting friends and family back home in New Mexico.

What is the purpose of coming back to Extra pound after 5 months? I am here to make a new goal. OK, it all started with me watching one of Madonnas' videos on line. Can you believe she is 50???? Anyhow, this September 30th, i am turning 45. I have realized that although i am fit and strong, but I like to see some changes in my body. I like to have defined arms and nice strong abs. Who doesn't? Really? So my goal is to do my best to make visible changes in some of those body parts by September 30th. It's doable. Isn't it?

I did it :o)

My triathlon was last Saturday. Although I had trained for the Olympic distance, but I ended up doing the Sprint distance which is a shorter one. The reason for that was I didn't feel ready for the 1.5k of swim in the bay. I could do that in the pool, but when it comes to open water swim, I am still a little chicken  Swim is always the first event. The water was nice and warm with no strong current. The swim was a 750m into the bay and then a u turn back to the shore. Right after that you run to the transition area where you change to your bike shoes and prepare for your ride. I was pretty slow in the transition since I had to get all the sand off of my feet (call me spoiled, but I can't do it with sand on my feet). Mean while few of the girls that I had passed during the swim caught up with me while I was taking my sweet time with sock and shoes. During my bike i was able to catch few of them. Right after you dismount from your bike, you need to change shoes and start your run. That is the hardest part of the triathlon since your legs don't want to change their rhythm from cycling to running. It usually take few good minutes to find your pace. My run was pretty easy and I felt really strong. A power gel and a bottle of Gaterade always help also. I finished red cheeks but with a big smile on my face. The last thing I expected was a medal, but I sure got one. I placed 5th in the overall female group. That was a great surprise since I was competing against really young, fit and strong girls. I am still waiting for the result to get posted on line  so I can see my time compare to theirs. I will post the result and some pictures soon. 

Subic Triathlon

I have only less than 2 weeks to the big day. I have been training really well. The last few months i have been working hard and steady to build up endurance and speed. I am a little behind with my swim , but pretty good with my run and ride right now. Yesterday I had to do all 3 sports in one day. My day started at 6:30 with an hour and half of bike ride, then after a nice helthy lunch and a little rest I ran for 10k with a group of friends. Right after the run, I swam for 40 laps of 25 meter (1k). You can check my training log here http://www.mapmyrun.com/user_profile?username=trigal1 

The great thing about triathlon is not the day of the event, it is the training process of it. During the training period you live like a triathlete which means you eat like a triathlete, you think, sleep and feel like a triathlete. This always gives me such a good feel of control. It is not always easy to workout few hours a day. Although I enjoy it, but all these training require a lot of discipline and scheduling. But at night, after a long day of working hard, I just remind myself how good it feels to be healthy.  I just wanted to write this and encourage everyone of you who read this blog to give yourself a push. Get out of your comfort zones and make a difference in your life. It is not all about the weight, it is about feeling good about yourself. You are what you want to be so never stop challenging yourself.

Problem solved!

Those of you who have heard me whining for so long about my unexpected weight gain during the last 2 years will be happy to know that I finally found out why. After my visit with the dietition and her diagnosis of slow metabolism, my friend Diana suggested that I should do hormone test to make sure my hormon levels are normal. She had a good reason to suggest that since I am in my mid 40's now. I finally made the appointmet and got the blood test done last week and I got the results back today. Out of the 5 things that I was tested for, my estrogen level was the only thing off, but it was way off. My estrogen level is 3 where a normal level is betwwen 24 to 114!!!!!!!!! According to the doctor my birthcontrol pill that I had been taking for around 2 years, is the cause of my weight gain :o) What a releife!!!! Now I know that I was not imagining all these. Like any wise person I will stop taking the pills, but not till I am done with my triathlon on May 11th. This could mean that I can join the moms to be list anytime soon :o) Just kidding.

One of those days

Now, I am having one of those days. You know the kind that you don't feel good about yourself, nothing works right for you and you are ready to burst into tears for no reason, type of day. I have been sitting in front of my computer for the last few hours. I have read every possible interesting news site that you have heard of, already read bunch of blogs and went back and forth from Anarestan to my own training blog. Of course that was not my plan for the day at all. I was going to swim this morning and then have coffee with a dear friend. I cancelled both plans and instead I am sitting here feeling sorry for myself. Problem is when you have a family and tons of obligations; there usually is no time to get depressed. But then there are days like this, that for no good reason you just feel horrible, sad, depressed and extremely fat. Don’t you wish you could erase these days out of the calendar? Thank God I am getting closer to menopause.

Back on track

I am finally losing some weight :o) which is a great thing especially after I decided that I don't care anymore.  Mean while I was busy training and also competing. I did a 10k run on March 7th with time of 57:10 which wasn't that bad considering that I had to stop running for couple of months. Then on March 16th I did a Sprint duathlon (7.5k-30k-5k) which I placed first in my age category. My time overall wasn't that great, but I was glad that I did it. This time both of my kids participated (shorter distance of course) and ended up getting medals also.

I am back

Is there such a thing as too much cardio?

So it has been a week now that I have been on my new diet of eating more and exercising less. It is absolutely depressing. My body craves to go running. In the evening when I usually go jogging, my body goes through the exercise withdrawal syndrome(if there is such a thing ;o) where I feel a burst of energy that I don't know how to contain. I am getting depressed

My first half Marathon

Ok, I will start with saying that I have a new respect for all the marathon runners now :o) I am so  glad that it was only 23.4k (in order to make a loop, they made us run longer, lucky me :o) and now I realize that no matter how fit you are, you have to train right to be able to run that long.  It took me almost 3 hours to do it. (2 hrs and 57 something minute)

My day started at 4:30 AM. My friend Susan and I met at the hotel lobby and walked to the track field where the start line was. When we got there all we you could see was a sea of people waiting to start (7000 participants overall). The full marathoners had started an hour earlier so this crowd was only the half marathon, 10k and 5k runners. We started at 6 AM sharp. Slow start ,of course, since the people in front of us had to move. Susan and I started with a nice easy pace and just went with the flow for a while. We picked up our speed about 15 minutes into the run. We met some missionaries from US while running, which was nice and kept us busy for a while. While chatting with them we missed the first water stop (not very smart!). We got some water on the second and the 4th stop though. Mean while I was thinking to myself that this is not as bad as I thought it will be.  Silly me......When we hit the 9k Susan took off and I stayed behind going with my own pace. About a kilometer later the climb started. Well, it wasn't that bad considering that it was roller hills, so after each climb there was a nice downhill, but that really slowed me down. Mean while I hit the water stop number 5 which to my surprise was out of water. I had at least another kilometer of climb and was very thirsty. By the time I hit the half way turn I was 1 hour and 20 minutes into the run which I thought was pretty good, but I was really dehydrated. On the way back, the hills (rollers) truly killed me and out of the sudden I was just exhausted. Sure enough there was no water on the way back at stop number 5 so I had to drag myself to the next stop. I got 3 cups of water when I hit that water stop, but that’s when my body decided to give up on me. From there on it was a battle of jogging for a while and then dealing with leg cramps (It happens when you are dehydrated and low on minerals). I would have killed for a Gatorade at that point :o) my last 5K was not pretty at all. My right leg was cramped up and the toes were all locked. I jogged 2 minutes and then I had to walk for 5. I was physically and emotionally in pain (I had made a promise to myself that I would run the whole course no matter how slow). When I got to the finish line field, the only thing that I could see was the Finish line (picture in the photo gallery). I was really hurting.  The first thing I did after passing the line was to beg my husband to get me Gatorade. I think it took me 2 bottles of Gatorade and then another 2 bottles of water to bring me back to life.

So what is after this? Training properly so I can do it under 2 ½ hours.