Day 63/64/65: Keeping it Real

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. :-) I get busy some days, and then remember I haven't blogged at all. I will try to be more on top of things henceforth.

I have been injured for the past few days! I had problems with one of my knees, and I decided to take a rest day and go hang out with my fiancé. Well, after several games of basketball, air hockey, and other active games, my other knee started hurting! That one has been a little slower to heal for some reason, so although I have been running I have decided to take more rest days until the knee heals up properly, and then hopefully go back to my 6-day running regiment. But in the meantime, I am having a good time spending time with my family and enjoying myself!

In case you don't follow my Facebook page, here is a recap of some of the things that have happened in the past three days:

**I went to church for the first time in probably 3-4 months. I liked my previous church, but I needed a change of scenery as I felt sometimes that people were a little too intrusive and sometimes overtly rude to me. I went to a larger church over by my school and so far I am very impressed. Everyone seems so much more relaxed, more comfortable with their faith, and pray boldly. The minister is very interesting to listen to, he preaches loooooooong sermons, but I was able to concentrate on his message and not be bored. I will be going there next Sunday and attending a class getting more information about their church.

**I went for a sprint run after being out of commission for 2-3 days after injury. I had no idea how much harder it is to sprint than to do a long, steady run. My intervals were anywhere from 11:00/mi to 8:34/mi, though I generally stayed around 10:00/mi the entire time. I'd say after 8 weeks of C25K that isn't bad at all! Today I will be going to work out on the dreadmill at my gym just because it's slightly easier on my knees than running on pavement. I will try for 28 minutes again but we will see. I'd say after being injured for so long that any running is doing well! :-)

**I am at 200.4 after wandering around between 201 and 203 for the longest time. I have this weird habit of eating more when I get closer to a milestone or a goal, maybe some weird form of self-sabotage, but I will make sure to do better this time. I am so close to being in the 190s for the first time in three years! With any luck, I will be there tomorrow. I looked at myself and realized how much thinner I actually look! With the running and various other forms of toning I have noticed that I actually look thinner at 200 than I did at 186! That's why it is very important to work out while you are losing weight. :-)

**I had a good lunch at the Peruvian restaurant yesterday afternoon, and decided after a fairly big food baby that I was not going to eat at the basketball game. Well, I was true to my word. I got a bottle of water and enjoyed that while my uncle and my dad ate some food. Even with the yummy smells of food everywhere, I wasn't particularly tempted. I just enjoyed myself and ate a few almonds when I got home. And I still lost weight! :-)

I hope everyone has a fantastic day. Be blessed and enjoy the journey!

Day 29.5: More Superhuman than Human

Well, I finally did it. I beat my dad's consecutive time by 3.01 miles. I have been wanting to do this for quite some time since my dad has been a bit too smug for my liking that he has done 10 miles on the bike, and I wanted to show him how it's done. :-) (In a friendly way, of course!) I got on there and kept riding... and kept riding... and eventually my butt went numb and I was able to ride better (it really did, I'm just now starting to get all the feeling back, lol). I rode a total of 50 minutes, and burnt around 330 calories. 13.01 miles ridden. Wow.

I remember when it was such a struggle to ride even a mile on the bike. I would watch, disgusted with myself, as my fiancé obliterated my time. I would sit on the brick partition as Bryan owned me over and over. Now, I ride longer than he does. By about 20-30 minutes, I believe. I have come a long way.

Thank goodness my Android takes good pics! :)

What was super cool was my playlist. Normally my musical taste is somewhere along the tobyMac, Chris Tomlin, and Todd Agnew vein but when I really want to get into hardcore mode I put my Rob Zombie playlist on. No joke, I have been a fan of his since the 5th grade when he was still in the band White Zombie. It plays a lot of hardcore stuff, but thankfully has stopped playing Marilyn Manson every other track and has got some better stuff on there like Cage the Elephant, and some other songs I know but don't know the artists. I don't know what it is about that type of music, but it really gets my butt in gear. :-) If I play Christian contemp for too long, I start to slow down because it puts me in a peaceful mood, lol. :-D If anyone has some hardcore Christian artists they like, let me know and I'll put em on the playlist! :-)

I got over 30 new likes on my page today. I was so excited, I never thought I had so many people that wanted to support me! It is very encouraging to know people are in the same boat as me and we are supporting each other along the way. The running/fitness/WL community on Facebook is one of the coolest groups of people I have ever known. :-)

I have decided to add a Lazy Girl Ironman Bike Ride to my list of challenges. I want to get to Tri length sometime soon, but I thought it was super cool to try to do an ironman bike ride over a month! I was thinking of picking an arbitrary number like 100 and going with that, but when I found out the bike ride in an Ironman is 112 miles, I thought it was the perfect number. So I'm going to try to do that in a month. I'm also trying to run a Lazy Girl Marathon over a month, 26.2 miles. I'm already to 2.5, I believe. :-)

I hope everyone has a great night! I'm going to rest and put some food in my belly, it seems to be telling me that is the best course of action. :-D Be blessed!

Day 28: Good Morning Good Morning To You

First off, I hate it that McDonald's is using this song now. Singin' in the Rain is a classic and has nothing whatsoever to do with fast food. :-) I remember the first time I saw that commercial line I was SO mad.

Anyhoo, all that business aside, it is a beautiful quiet morning and my fiancé is still asleep downstairs. I have a guest bedroom that he stays in when he and I are going to be doing something on Saturday and Sunday. The reason we do that is simply because we can't sleep in the same bed when it's a Queen-sized bed because usually I am all over the bed and putting my foot up his side and waking him up. Or so he tells me. Ironically, we went to Chicago about a year ago and stayed at this really fancy hotel in Schaumberg (thanks Dad and Hotwire!) and we were able to share a king-sized bed without even bothering each other. So I guess we just need a bigger bed. :-D

I also have some good news: my fiancé is going to be the first Sunday transformation on the Girl on Fire Facebook page and blog! For those of you who don't know, my fiancé has lost around 25 lbs and has kept it off for 2 years! I'm so proud of him and I have gotten his permission to share his story and take a similar after photo of him at the apple picking today. (A similar picture taken 2 years ago was what inspired him to lose weight.) I'm so geeked out and proud of my crazy fiancé! If you have a transformation story you would like to share please let me know. :-) I will be writing the piece up so if you're not really a writer, no worries, the English major is here to help! If you like to write, by all means send me something good! :)

I am going to get in my run today as well, and since the gym opens at 10 I will get to go on my own and then go apple picking! I am aiming for 30 minutes run/walk (or about 32 since it generally increases in 5 minute intervals). I think once I hit about 40-45 minutes run/walk I will start increasing the intensity a bit, because 40-45 minutes is about what I want to run the 5K in. :-) (Less would be good, too!) I'll get back to you later this afternoon with Transformation Sunday (like Reformation Sunday, only fewer casseroles) and a new blog post!

I am also doing a challenge suggested by one of the people I follow on Facebook called Race Addict. They have posted a 30-Day Arm Challenge to get rid of the bat wings! I have been nervous about my arms not being toned after I lose weight so I am more than happy to sign up to get rid of them. If anyone else is interested in the challenge, here is a pic, which will link to my site for a larger view:

 

I apologize for it being so small! For some reason it's not cooperating with me. Day One of the Arm Challenge is:

 

5 Push Ups

5 Dips

10 Bicep Curls

10 seconds of Punches

 

And I will post each day what I'm doing so you can follow along with me! :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day! It's breakfast time for me, lol. :-) Be blessed!

 

 

 

Day 23.5: The Great Day Continues

I am so excited about how the day has gone. My mom was late coming home but I let it slide since it's pretty easy to reschedule that appointment. I cleaned up while she was gone and took my sister out to eat at Ruby Tuesday. It was ridiculous because I got a lunch plate and didn't even finish it! I got grilled shrimp, potatoes, and broccoli and left some shrimp and potatoes and my sister was more than happy to polish off the rest of my shrimp! :-D We came home and she fell asleep and I worked on my chemistry homework. I got a lot done!

My mom came home around 4 and decided to pay me a huge paycheck for taking care of my sister. I don't feel comfortable divulging the amount, but it was a good sized check. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up some new gym clothes, and some necessities and not so necessities, including a new watch! I am super excited about my watch because I had this fantastic watch that my mom got me from Nordstrom Rack and I can't find it anywhere! My new watch is pink and has all kinds of fun gadgets on it. The damage was only $8.88 for the watch and I can't wait to wear it! It will be nice to be able to tell the time when there isn't a clock nearby, lol. I also bought my favorite shampoo and deodorant, and the latest issue of Glamour! Before you know it, I'll be in those clothes. :-D

I went biking and biked 7.04 miles! It was super hard because of the heat and because I had been out walking at Wal-Mart at previous. I struggled through it and dripped lots of sweat (thank God for deodorant!) but I made it! That's a total of 340 calories and 8.28 miles today! I am so geeked out! I came home and made some pasta margarita (in the microwave, I don't do a lot of heavy duty cooking) and watched Extreme Weight Loss. I would love to be able to afford a personal training session, and for those of you who don't know, when I hit goal I'm going for my CPT certification! I will be so excited when that happens. :-) I will also be getting a tattoo, much to my fiancé's chagrin but he said if it's not huge than he will deal. I will get "Never Settle" tattooed on my upper back, right beneath my neck. I would love to do one on my neck but I hear it hurts like crazy! :-)

I am so grateful for all my new friends and I appreciate all your likes, comments, and encouragement! It really means a lot to me and works wonders when screaming "NEVER SETTLE!!!!" inside my head while I'm working out doesn't work, lol. Be blessed all and have a good evening!

Day 22.5: Ticker Tape Parade!

I love the Newsboys! I stole that phrase from "Million Pieces," which has to be my favorite song. I remember seeing the Peter Furler-led Newsboys in 2005 and they shot confetti everywhere when they sang that song. Good times. :-)

Kind of the way I feel today.

I had my every-other-day cardio/strength combo today. If you've never heard of this particular brand of madness, I have my running every morning and then I go back every other evening for cardio/strength combo. I do my strength training first, doing different muscle groups each time. On the first day I do arms/shoulders/back/abs; and on the second day I do butt/chest/legs/thighs. I usually do free weights at the end of every workout for 3-4 minutes. Then I bike for 25-30 minutes. The total damage is usually 30-40 minutes and very sore whatever I'm working out. It's especially true on the second day when I'm running, working my legs, and biking! I usually can't walk comfortably for several hours afterward. :-)

I hope you like my tickers on the side! The bottom one is the 50 days of running challenge. My friend initiated this whole thing and I think it is absolutely brilliant. I have made it through 11 days thus far and I admit there are some days where I don't want to do it, but I always feel so good afterward that I continue. The second is the Onederland by Halloween. For those of you who don't know, Onederland means that you are out of the 200s, usually 199 when its being measured. By October 31st, I would like to be to 199. It's not too lofty of a goal, it's about 16 lbs from where I am now, but it would be super cool to see a 1 before the last two numbers! I haven't been 199 for about 3 years, and I would love to see that number again. So anyway, the two tickers measure the progress I have made each day. I host my tickers at LilySlim which is has a number of tickers, not just for weight loss and exercise. Go check them out and add them to your FaceBook or blog!

I am keeping it simple this evening, since I have some chemistry homework to take care of. I hope everyone has a fantastic evening!