Pre-Thanksgiving Weight

Okay, thank goodness, I am back down to my pre-Thanksgiving weight. I gained two pounds and stopped myself from continuing to balloon. I am thanking Myia for writing a blog about just maintaining weight for the holidays. I was still setting goals for myself that were a little unrealistic considering the amount of food I had planned on making and eating for the holidays. I ran on Monday, I did a little under three and a half miles in 31 minutes. It was about a 9:16 per mile, so that's really good for me. Hopefully I can continue to add on miles and stay at or go faster than that. If I do then I will beat my Aloha Run time from last year. I figure as long as I'm improving I'm doing okay. I would love to be able to run the race really fast, but realistically I was just happy that I didn't have to walk at all last year.
Today, thanks to Ananda, I ran again. I was sitting on the couch hoping that nobody wanted to run, that maybe Ananda had forgotten it was Wednesday. I told Nate that maybe I would just work out tomorrow. Luckily Ananda called at 5:30 and wanted to run, so I met her at Buzz's. We ran 4 miles, but we chatted the whole time. It was actually really nice. It was a change from running the loop as fast as I can and being really tired and dead afterwards. We decided that I've been training the wrong way, so my time wasn't getting any better, and I probably wasn't even burning as many calories doing the fast run as we did today. We ran a pretty good time for chatting the whole way, and the great part is I felt like I could run farther if it wasn't so dark out. I think there needs to be a schedule of short, fast runs, longer, slower runs, and interval runs. Maybe some walk/run intervals. Either way I want to be ready for the Aloha Run and hopefully the Swamp Romp if I can figure out when it is. It's so much more fun when you're training for something! And I just signed up for the Aloha Run early, which means that they send an "In-training T-shirt" and a planner.

Thanksgiving Weight

I read Myia's blog about maintaining weight. It's true, you shouldn't work too hard to actually lose weight, because it's hard enough just to stay at your true weight. I gained a pound since Thursday, but I've already told Nate that I'm going to be working extra hard this week. That means I'll be around the house a little less. Monday I'm going to go to the Bootcamp class and then running after, either at the gym or at Lanikai. Today I went for a run, around Enchanted Lakes loop. I walked to Hamakua from my place and then started running from there. I finished at the same spot. Then I stopped at Safeway before I walked home. It took me 36:31 to run my course. That includes me stopping to check my text message from Ananda. I am committed to not gaining any weight back this holiday season. I bought two mini-casseroles from Macy's so I can make different recipes for me and Nate. Happy Holidays!

Alcohol- The Devil on my Diet's Shoulder

I have discovered that I can eat pretty darn healthy without too much of a problem. I enjoy the taste of healthy food, I like to cook, and if there's not too much junk food in the house I don't eat too much junk. However, I have a huge weakness- wine. I love to have a glass of wine with dinner. Unfortunately, once I have one glass of wine, I want to have a second glass. With a little bit of wine, I lose all of my willpower to not overeat. It's pretty much automatic. Not only do I lose my sense of fullness, but I also get a hankering for chips, cookies, and chocolate. It's a terrible thing. I think I would have lost the last 10 pounds a long time ago if it weren't for wine.
Anyway, it's not that I drink wine every night. I do have a glass a few times a week. Unfortunately that's too much if I want to stay healthy and not gain back all the weight I lost. So I've been trying to replace a tasty glass of wine with other calorie free drinks. There's tea, which is a good substitute most of the time. It's actually been a great replacement for both Nate and myself. There's diet pepsi, but that has caffeine so it's really not something you should drink too much of late at night. There's the obvious glass of water, but for some reason it's just not as delicious. So, other suggestions? I'm not really into the calorie free juices. I think there's more to a glass of wine than the taste, it's all about the bottle, the glasses that you use when you drink it, it's more of an atmosphere thing than the taste.
This week:
Yesterday I went to a "Total Body Conditioning" class at the Y. I'm going to try to go to that class again next Thursday, it was really good.
Saturday morning- paddling at 8am and then Yoga if possible.
Monday- running
Wednesday- running
And No Wine. All Week.

To The Gym I Must Go

Well, it’s been a while and I have been having some bad weeks. At first it was easy because I didn’t see a weight gain and I was eating like crap and still maintaining. Well after a few weeks it finally caught up with me and after a few days of healthiness I am back on track. But that is what makes it hard, knowing that it will come back off so easily. However since I haven’t been to the gym I am pretty sure I am losing muscle and it’s only been 3 weeks. So I need to get my butt to the gym. I stocked my house with healthy foods so I am not tempted to stop and get pizza and cheese fries anymore. I did that two times!!
It’s hard because it’s solely my motivation. I no longer have friends calling me to run or go hiking or do anything active. The weather doesn’t really permit it and the one person I would work out with is still in Hawaii. So it’s basically me fighting with myself to do something active, which is really hard sometimes. Eating healthy when I have food is easy and at first going to the gym was too. I know once I get my butt back into the gym I will go all the time. I need to figure out a schedule now that I have my work schedule and school schedule and stick to it. Of course I put off homework until the very last minute which doesn’t allow me to go to the gym some days because I am stuck making up work I could have done days and days ago!
Anyhow, I guess if it was easy every one would do it. I watched The Biggest Loser tonight instead of doing homework and another person lost 100 pounds. 100 pounds, if that isn’t amazing and proof that all these are possible I don’t know what is.
A healthy food choice is key to maintaining weight but being active is what makes it all worth it. When I can run faster then I ever have or lift more weights or walk to my class in no time at all because I am fit, it makes you know that not eating doughnuts or Burger King isn’t really a sacrifice.
I just wanted to make a goal to get my A$$ to the gym this weekend. I work tomorrow and I have an excel project and Thursday I am picking my mom up from the nursing home and taking her home and then I work Friday so Saturday and Sunday is my time for the gym and I have no reason not to make both days. So someone needs to hold me to it.

Props to Ananda and I

So after stating that I would take back control... I feel like I have. Today I ate well all day. I did have a beer, but I calculated my carb intake and decided it was okay. Ananda and I ran at 5:30. We both showed up even though it is a holiday. We did intervals today. 1 minute slow, then the second minute faster, faster and faster for four minutes. Then back to the beginning. 1 minute intervals for four minutes. We ended up doing a pretty good pace and time. We did the first 3 miles in intervals and then ran the last mile (to Kalapawai). I ended up finishing the 4 miles in 37:08. Not too bad. I really felt like I did a workout. The fourth minute on the intervals was a fast pace and it kicked my ass. I think I probably should have run slower for the fast part so I could finish stronger, but it felt good to mix it up. And the run felt like it went much faster, since I had to concentrate on every minute that went by.
Unfortunately, Nate and I had planned on barbecueing tonight and I ended up eating too much. However, I will not let that be an excuse to continue eating terribly. Tomorrow's breakfast- two eggs and some of the spinach salad in the fridge. Lunch will be a ham wrap with mustard. I bought a ton of those hundred calorie packs so I'll throw one of those in there. I've also taken to bringing tea bags in to work so I can make myself some decaf tea halfway through the day instead of indulging in unnecessary caffeine (more coffee!). So, not a great dinner choice, but all in all I felt like I was in charge of what went into my body. That is what I was missing the past couple of days. I've been eating mindlessly. I will pay attention to what I eat and exercise. 30 pushups tomorrow throughout the day!

Long Time, No Blog

It is so easy to fall off the wagon. Once paddling ended I think I had a few good weeks of really eating well and running. I'm still running, but my eating is getting a little out of control. I decided today that I am going to get my control back. It's so easy to sit back and be passive and talk about how I'm going to eat better. I need to remember to get back to the basics. I need to remember to buy vegetables. I need to plan ahead so I'm not stuck with the choice between Burger King, McDonalds or Subway for lunch. Not that you can't find a good meal choice at any one of those places, but once you're in line and you're smelling the french fries, and you see that picture of the milkshake.... It's much better to stay completely away. My biggest challenge has been the weekends. During the work week I pack my lunch and am stuck with the healthier choices that I have stuck in my lunch bag. (At least I have still been packing lunch.) Breakfast for me has gotten to be such a habit, I have 2 eggs and add some salad to it if we have leftovers on most almost every work day. During the weekend sometimes I'll cook hash browns or have a huge bagel, or pancakes or sometimes we go out to eat. (I can't eat healthy when I go out to eat, I haven't been able to really get a handle on that.) Then after breakfast if nothing has been planned I eat all sorts of nasty stuff. Jack in the Box, Pizza, Calzones, french fries, last weekend was a bloomin' onion, chips, and cookies. I know it could be worse. My weight did go over 135 briefly one day. I immediately got back in action and went to a class at the gym before running that evening. But, it's getting harder and harder for me because I've been letting myself slip.
So. Today I am taking back the control. I announced out loud earlier today that I will be eating better today. It made it easier to turn down the nachos later this afternoon. Then when we stopped at Foodland for charcoal we got salad items. We have also actually planned out the next couple of meals until payday. I got a huge back of baby carrots and just need to remember that they are there in times of need.
Tomorrow I will be running with the ladies around the loop. I might also do the boot camp class again. I really enjoyed that last week. Today I did 2 sets of 10 pushups so far. I will have to work in some cardio.
It's so easy to just let all the hard work go, stop planning, get lazy. But I am not going to let it happen. I need to work on getting healthy again. I think I will probably always go through phases of being healthy and then slipping. I just need to get good at getting back on the wagon. Here's to reclaiming my control!

This Week

This week I missed running on Wednesday because I had to go to work until late. I decided to run on Thursday night. It ended up pouring halfway through my run, so it wasn't the best run I've ever done. Friday night I was at Queens Hospital until really late, waiting for someone to do an assessment. Saturday morning I woke up to do Yoga and I'm really glad that I woke up to do it. It was a good workout, and much needed after having only run in the past couple of weeks. I'm hoping that we're going paddling tomorrow morning, I'm just waiting on what time we would be going.

Thursday's Lanikai Loop time: 26:25. I'm hoping to lose 4 pounds before Thanksgiving. That's my goal. That means 1 pound every week for the next 4 weeks.