Alive... just barely!

So.. I was able to run my 9 miles on Saturday. It was the only running/exercise I did all week after fighting off that nasty bug... I actually ran it at a decent pace, finishing in 88:31!! YAY!! Unfortunately I was fooling myself if I thought I was cured of my ailment.

Today I went to the trainer who attempted to single handedly murder me. Seriously.. I missed last week cause I was sick so she really tried to stick it to me. Unfortunately, it was very obvious to both of us that I am still not near 100%. I would say I'm closer to 75%! I was incredibly weak today and suffering from shortness of breath which is really not something I deal with often. I still have some congestion in my head and chest. I'm definitely not loving this.

I JUST WANT TO BE BETTER!!! BLAH!

I also was talking to Lisa today about weight gain during the holiday season. She just wrote the cutest post about this topic... HERE's a link if you want to read it! ;o)

Anyway... I'm around... but wishing I were enjoying life a little more. Hope you are all doing fantastic as we enter the LAST WEEK before weigh in!! WOW!! I can't wait to see how you girls have done this month!!! :o)

Ya'll ready for this? ;)

Okay.. this morning while making my breakfast, I couldn't help thinking how beautiful my oatmeal looked. Then I started thinking about Jewel and all her lovely food pictures and I thought... hey I am going to take a picture of my pretty breakfast! So.. for your viewing enjoyment:

Lovely eh? That would be 1/3 cup oats with water.. no salt with raspberries and blueberries. 2 Egg whites fried with pepper and spray olive oil stuff. One cup of coffee with 3T sugar free creamer!! Umm... plus.. I can't taste anything today! BLAH!! Still looks yummy though right! ;o)

Oh and I wanted to share another picture. I woke up this morning and was delighted to see....

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Been sick.

Okay.. the last couple of days I've been knocked on my ass with a terrible cough/cold. Luckily it seems to be going away. I really don't have time to be sick right now! My 1/2 marathon is in less than 3 weeks!! WAHOO!!!

I've noticed a trend in my weight loss. I have a menu that I eat the last 10 days of the month. It is mostly veggies and lean proteins. I love it and hate it at the same time but as soon as I quit doing it.. I seem to quit losing weight. Turns out I also quit eating.

The menu forces me to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours. When I stop the menu I stop eating frequently and just try to squeeze my calories in to the day. Well.. I started paying attention to how often I am eating and WOW!! It's a huge difference. The weight comes off and stays off. (Regardless of what I'm eating as long as it's within my calories.. although I pretty much don't eat processed carbs AT ALL) I am hovering around 127. Totally can't complain. I can't wait to be up and eating again... I am sure this will make a huge difference. I've started reading Tosca Reno's The Clean Eating Diet and I'm loving it. It is actually basically what I have done to my diet and I know that eating this way is WHY I will not be gaining weight back! :o)

Family Pics!

Last October, for whatever reason, I got brave and did family pics. (For the first time in YEARS!!) The funny part is that doing the pics was actually my way of embracing my big self. I had finally just decided to accept the fact that I was a size 18 and bought my 2xl sweater from the Old Navy plus size section . I also got a Lane Bryant card around the same time. ;o) Anyway... I got new family pics last week and wanted to do a quick before/after post.

[Click on the pic to make it bigger.]

Top pic October 2008. Bottom pic October 2009.

Taking a break!

Okay.. so this week I am supposed to run A LOT!! Problem?!? I went to Lisa on Monday who decided to teach me a lesson about my glutes and quads and overcompensation. LESSON LEARNED!! My quads are hashed. I still did my 4 mile run on Monday but was just not sure what my problem was until I woke up on Tuesday to BEYOND SORE Quads. Other parts of my body were sore.. but my quads... umm... we are talking popping ibuprofen every 8 hours!!

If I wasn't going to be running 12 miles on Saturday, I wouldn't really care... BUT... I've been taught that major muscle groups HAVE to recover... and I DESPERATELY want to run my 12 on Saturday without hating myself, the world, or running!! So.. I called my sweet trainer yesterday and asked for her input and she told me NOT to run!!

Hmm... what to do? I was scheduled to run 6 miles yesterday and 4 miles today but I WILL NOT be doing it... per her expert advise. I am replacing it with brisk walking and good stretching and trying to prep my quads for the longest run of my life (TO DATE) and the longest run I will do until my half marathon on November 7th.

I struggled with the decision to do what I know I should. I wonder.. is this an excuse I am feeding into?? I guess I have another lesson to learn here... sometimes what is best for me isn't what I want!! I do take comfort in knowing that I WANT to be running. I also take comfort in knowing that I still have control over my food choices and I will continue to make good choices!! (The next few days, those choices will involve a lot of protein to help repair my muscles!) I'm not celebrating the break by any means.. and I KNOW that I am going to feel AWESOME on Saturday!!

Adventures in la-la land!

This weekend I almost died. Okay.. not really.. but I felt like I did. I ran 11 miles. BLAH! I didn't eat well the night before and was severely punished for it after completion of my run. Next week it's 12. I hope I REALLY don't die! I recruited a neighbor... I heard she ran a marathon recently so introduced myself while asking her if she wants to run 12 miles with me on Saturday. She is a total trooper and seems excited about it! (Heaven help us both!)

I also have hit a few milestones.

#1 - I hit the 70 lb mark!! Wahoo!!

#2 - I have not seen anything in the 130's in several days. That's right gals... I'm in the 120's and I'm not going back to the 130's EVER again!!

#3 - I discovered something new about my diet. The number of times I eat in a day has a huge impact on my weight. If I eat 1400 calories one day (split into 3 meals) I actually gain BUT if I eat the same calories between 5 or 6 meals, the numbers drop! Crazy I KNOW!! But I'm never hungry and I'm loving my scale lately. Very soon I will be posting a pic with that magic 125 number on it!!!

#4 - I realized that I am FINALLY learning how to eat HEALTHY!! For 9 months I've been on this journey and I've been so busy counting calories, checking carbs etc.. that I haven't learned how to eat healthy, delicious foods! Thanks to Lisa I'm learning how to actually ENJOY food again!! YAY!!!

I'm hoping that I survive this week! It will involve a total of 26 miles of running in the next 5 days!! Umm... is it Friday yet? ;o)

New Mantra

I was reading a friends blog today. It had NOTHING to do with weight loss. But there was something so profound that I had to share it! She said:

You can't quit on your worst day!!

I was blown away as I read this statement. How often in life do we fail to follow through with something because we get to the breaking point and say "forget it!"? Don't do it girls. When you get to the point where you think you're going to fall apart, pushing past it shows you how strong you are.

We learn so much when we overcome our struggles. We become stronger when we push past the desire to quit and DO IT ANYWAY!!