Progress??

I successfully ran the Nelson 5K on April 16.  I'm not even going to post my time, it was slow.  I ran with my sister who had adhered to Couch to 5K plan much better than I did.  Don't know if you remember the morning of April 16.  In Lovingston, VA it was pouring rain and about 50F.  In some parts of the county it rained 7 inches that day.  Yet we ran and we questioned our sanity, but it was a bonding experience.

Sometime in the last few weeks I weighed myself.  Since Christmas I have cut out soda and meat and recently sugar.  When I weighed myself  I was only down one more pound since I started all this nonsense!  I can see why people feel defeated.  I mean really. I should stop depriving myself and eat what I want and gain back the 2 lousy pounds that I've lost.

Granted, I have not been exercising regularly.  I need to get a schedule going again.  I need to start working on arms.  My new career, ultrasound, will depend on upper body strength to stop me from getting musculoskeletal injuries.

Improvement??

Whew!  Okay clearly I took a hiatus from the blog.  I was tired of writing the same old thing...still eating sugar not exercising as much as I should be, blah, blah, blah.  I got sick of hearing myself as I'm sure you did too.

I needed to make changes and I finally did so now I have something to write about.  I have not had any extra sugar for about three weeks.  Some of my friends are surprised that I just stopped one day.  Me, the sugar addict.  I didn't make a quit date.  I'm not sure I was even conscious of the decision I just stopped.  I haven't kept track so I only think it's been about three weeks.

So now that I have my sugar licked (at least for now) I need to amp up the exercise.  I ran/walked 4 miles yesterday.  I need to run a few more times before next weekend when the Nelson 5K is happening.  I haven't run 3 miles straight yet, but I'm not too worried.  When I'm under the gun I usually pull through.  I will be slow, but I will run the whole way.  I'm looking forward to training for the 4miler in September.  I would love to beat my PR which is 32:55.

February 16

2 days in a row!!  C25K Week 6 workout #2!  I wore my tights without underwear for the first time ever!  I anticipated some sort of awful chafing involving sensitive areas, but it was totally fine!  I did come to the conclusion though that I don't like tights.  I can't get the elastic at the bottom of the leg to go over my foot easily and taking them off is worse cause you just want to get them off.  Whenever I get trapped in anything the claustrophobic panic sets in.  Really, if I can't get a necklace off I start freaking out.  Anyway...I think I want to try a running pant that is more open at the bottom like yoga pants.  With that said I have 3 pairs of running tights in small available....

February 15

I almost don't need to post...you already know what I'm going to say.  I've said it a hundred times.  First of all you know when I'm not posting it's because I'm not doing anything!!  I'm posting today because I finally  did a running workout...C25K week 6 workout 1.  Did it on the treadmill at the PVCC fitness center.  There was NO music today.  That prompted me to come home and learn how to use iTunes.  Finally loaded up my iPod shuffle that I've had for about 3 years and used about a dozen times.  I found it initially to be very frustrating as it wouldn't let me register.  After being at it for about 20 minutes the saying "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results" kept ringing in my ears.  It finally worked and now it is full of pure indulgent teen pop a la Katy Perry and Jay Z.

I was out of town this weekend for my nephew's birthday party.  Need I say more?  Just one word...CAKE!  I will make a note that in some situations vegetarianism has not hit hard yet.  I had a rough time at the food court at the Leesburg Corner Outlets.  I settled for some really greasy veggie pizza at Sbarro, but that was about my only option.  No salads to be found!  It was wicked expensive as well.  I should have packed lunch.  It was my secret hope to eat at the nearby Panera, but it was so bitter cold I didn't feel like walking to the car to move it and get out again to get into the Panera.  Lame but true.  I hate the cold!!

As for the cold.  It looks like it will be about 65 tomorrow and 75 on Friday!  I plan on taking my runs outside.  Woohoo!

Not so Skinny Bitch??

Remember the book that got all of this started?  The Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook??  I got it right before Xmas and the forward led me to the original Skinny Bitch book.  Since then I've cut out soda and meat.  By now I've made a few recipes from the book.  The first one: Tofu Mexicali Scramble, was pretty good.  The kids wouldn't eat it, but that wasn't surprising.  The next one I made the other night.  Sweet Potato and Leek Casserole.  That one was a complete bust.  NO ONE liked it.  It sounded good, but the leeks were too much.  I sent it next door to my parents.  My mom loves oniony things so I'm hoping it doesn't go to total waste.  So this morning I have some extra time.  I decided to whip up the Pumpkin Pecan Banana Bread.  I had all of the ingredients minus the almond milk (I used cow milk.)  As I'm putting it together I realize that in the fine print at the bottom where all the nutritional info is.  The bread is 350 cal per slice with 17 g of fat!  Then as I'm putting in a cup and a half of sugar I nearly chuck it in the trash!  What??  350 calories is about a quarter of my daily intake.  If I have 2 that's half, how is that healthy or skinny?  I checked their other breakfast breads and they are all about the same way.  I feel confident there are other, less fattening recipes out there.  At least with less sugar .  The thing about cookbooks is they can put whatever nutritional info they want, unlike labels they are not help to FDA standards.  Needless to say this recipe does not give you a sugar figure, although they do give carbs: 50g!!

Whew!  Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.  Unfortunately, it will go right to my heiney!!

January 28

I did it!!  Week 5 workout #3 done!!  I was so much better prepared for my workout at the fitness center today.  I wore my clothes to lab so I didn't even have to change them.  I wore my shorts today so no worries about the VPL.  I also remembered to bring  band for my hair.  The front is not quite long enough to stick behind my ear.  I used one of those elastic bands that goes all around your head.  So the workout for Couch to 5 K today was warm up walk for 5 min and jog without stopping for 20 min.  I thought I would die on the treadmill, but it was okay.  My iPod shuffle needs attention so I haven't been using it to run, which was the whole purpose of buying, just haven't really gotten around to loading it up.

I went to Whole Foods right after working out.  I intended to spend about $50, but I also went in blind without a list.  Ended up spending $100 and still forgot to get my daughter's milk in a box for her school lunches.  (I know, not the most environmentally correct thing, but saves my sanity.)  I did get loads of good stuff.  I got some organic veggie shortening because I've made 3 pie crusts in the past week.  Something I probably have never done.  If it's going to be a trend though I thought I would like to use something better than Crisco.

Another small victory in the past few days.  I've had no added sugar in 2 days with on exception: my daughter asked for hot chocolate, but then didn't drink it.  Well, I couldn't let it go to waste so I drank it.  At least it was mostly milk as opposed to say a doughnut.  I'm psyched.  It was so easy to cut out soda and meat.  Sugar is next!!

January 26

So far this week has gone really well in terms of exercise!  The temp hitting 50 yesterday sure helped.  I did my Week 5 #2 workout outside.  Walk for 5 min., run for 8 until you complete 25 min.  I just ran around Lovingston.  I did weigh myself before lunch and the workout and I'm 126.  So I guess I've lost 1 lb. I was a little disappointed, but I've been so concerned about not drinking soda and not eating meat that I've let the fat content go.  Too much cheese and carbs!  So my next goal is to really pay more attention to fat and extra carbs (read sugar.)

This morning I did a workout on one of my new workout DVDs. It's a Gaiam: 5 Workouts to Lose Weight.  My kids were home because of the lousy weather so I picked what sounded like a workout they could keep up with.  I choose the Walking one, which also sounded like the easiest.  I like it, maybe a little because it was easy, but I could follow it and my kids could too.  The balance ball one last week was ridiculously fast and I couldn't keep up.  What's the point?

Gonna just keep plugging away.