Day 51: Upping the Ante

I started off my workout this morning with the C25K W6D2. I was expecting all the workouts for the week to be the same, as they usually were for the past five weeks. Imagine my surprise when I look at the workouts and it says to do 2 10-minute blocks of running! I have never done that much running before, except on the treadmill some time ago. I suddenly got nervous and seriously considered doing the W6D1 again. I thought for sure that I would not make it. But I decided to try it anyway. To my surprise, I was able to do both 10-minute blocks without stopping, for a total of 20 minutes of running. I'm not going to lie, I was definitely out of breath and definitely considered stopping a few times. But then I would look at the clock and say, I'm halfway, I've got 3, 2, 1... minutes left, and so on and so forth. That has always gotten me through some difficult runs. Some folks think it's counterintuitive to look at the clock, that you should just enjoy the run. And I do! There are times when I look at the scenery and just love running. Other times I'm so out of breath that it's a struggle to get through it! I find that looking at the clock gives me a goal. :-)

I was definitely sweating after that workout.

 

I decided to up the ante and walk an additional mile for a grand total of 2.55 miles. It got easier as I went on, and I would have gone longer than that except it began to drizzle a little and I was concerned about my cell phone getting completely drenched or at the very least a little moody, so I packed up my gear and headed home. (Much to my dismay, it stopped raining as soon as I left! :-P)

 

I was a little sore after my workout, and I decided to take a little break. I drank my protein shake and did some homework, and texted my fiancé for a few hours. Then I got bored. Mind-numbingly bored. I am low on fuel and have to wait to fill up the tank again, so I've mostly been at home all day. I got the crazy idea to ride on my dad's stationary bike for a little while, since it is in the basement anyway and so am I, most of the time. I thought that I would do a short 10-minute ride and be done with it, but as usual I made bets with myself (as in, I bet I can go longer than 10 minutes!) and ended up doing 9.11 miles in 36 minutes. Not a bad deal, though I have to admit I'm still a bit sore. Sometimes I do two workouts on the bike for a total of 1 hour, but since I have been upping my run time I'm just going to stick with 36 minutes.

 

I hope everyone has a good day. Be blessed, and go outside! :-)

Day 50: The Day After

Surprisingly, I am actually feeling quite fantastic after my 5k. I wasn't sore at all and my feet felt great in my favorite shoes. I am surprised but not entirely as I am getting used to running/walking more than 2 miles most days.

Today I ventured out and did C25K Week 6 Day 1, which was 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, 8 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, and 5 minutes running, for a total of 34 minutes plus warm-up and cool-down. Since it was a longer distance, I decided to take my Sports Beans with me. They help keep the muscles in my legs from being too sore and give me energy for long runs. The first five minutes weren't that bad and the eight minutes subsequent were only difficult during the last few minutes. I explored some different parts of the trail, and enjoyed the scenery. I ran all the way from City Hall Park to my gym, which is at least 0.5 miles or more. I am still super slow, lol. :-) I decided to continue after 34 minutes and fartlek (I love that word!) for the next 20 minutes. Doing fartlek for the last part of the run keeps me running about 5k distance, and doesn't exhaust me to the point that I can't walk to my car afterward and have to be dragged. (In case I'm found unconscious, pause the Runtastic app!) Anyhoo, I did 2.26 miles in 53:17, not the best time but I can deal. I have done almost 30 miles this month, and the month is still going! :-)

 In my favorite Outdoors Inc shirt from Memphis!

Afterwards. Either my glasses are akimbo or I am, lol.

 

The fiancé and I have talked about making some homemade hummus and pita for our night together since we don't like to spend a ton of money on eating out or eating unhealthy. My influence is somewhat rubbing off on the fiancé (or maybe vice versa since he lost 25 pounds way before I did, lol) cause now he likes to run with me and cook and eat healthy. He is finishing up his externship this week and I couldn't be happier for him. With any luck, he'll get a job offer, but if not, he is very talented and will find somewhere that will enjoy having him. As for me, my job search is temporarily on hold while I concentrate on me and getting through my third semester of college, but once I feel ready to do so I will definitely entertain the possibility of working again. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a great day! I am going to my chemistry class in a little over 20 minutes, then will be putting some gas in my car on the way back. Nothing real Earth shattering, as long as the car doesn't run out before I get there, lol. Be blessed all and enjoy the weather! :-)

Day 49: Lemon Drop 5k and Race Results

Sorry about the delay in posting. I took care of my sister all day yesterday and the day before I was just in a foul mood and couldn't shake it. But today I'm in a great mood and can't wait to post more on my race today.

My fiancé and I went to Frontenac, MO this morning (about a 20 minute drive from my house in St Charles, MO) for the Lemon Drop 5k. We saw our guys at S2 there, and we decided to enter the drawing for a BMR Bliss Go Pack. Sadly, I didn't win even though I had my fingers, toes, and everything else crossed, lol. :-D We were the last to pace, since we run around 20 minute miles on a good day, but we were off. I ran some of the race (about 0.75 to 1 mile worth) and walked a lot of it. I wanted to pace myself so that I wouldn't tire in the middle of the race and have to not finish. The fiancé was ahead of me most of the time but I was okay with that... most of the time. I brought my Sports Beans and was popping them periodically throughout. They were a little sour but otherwise pretty awesome. :-) They definitely gave me the energy to get done with the race.

The final results were as follows:

Me- Time: 57:15 Pace: 18:26/mi Rank: 154
Bryan- Time: 56:45 Pace: 18:16/mi Rank: 33

I think we may have come in dead last in both our divisions but the fun thing was that we didn't finish last overall and we had an awesome time. We both missed our Phormula-1 shakes because they ran out but I may go hassle my supplement guy sometime this week and get some of that stuff. I would love something for a recovery shake. :-) But I digress. Bryan had some bread and oranges at the free food counter but I didn't, lol. :-D

Here is a photo of me from after the race. Not the most flattering of photos, but hey, I don't mind:

Yes, I'm wearing ACTUAL running clothes this time. :)

 

I am so glad I got to do this, and Bryan and I will be running a 5k later in December called the Hot Chocolate 5k. We are both totally looking forward to that one because there will be a chocolate expo and all kinds of goodies. And that one will be more crowded and a bit flatter. And cold, I'm sure, lol. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day. I will be doing some chemistry homework to catch up with the stuff I missed this weekend, and having an awesome protein shake for dinner since I missed mine this morning. (We went to Denny's, for shame! But at least I got the healthy egg white omelet.) Be blessed all and enjoy the nice weather!  

Day 44: Why I Am an Overcomer

Some days, God tests me.

The following is very spiritually involved, so if you're not interested in that sort of thing, I give you permission to overlook that bit. But still read on, you may learn something.

----
I am a huge Joyce Meyer fan. I think she is hysterical, and preaches a good message most times she speaks. I admit there are times when I've turned off the program because I wasn't yet ready to hear what she had to say. But most of the time, she brings it on home.

God seems to like it when I watch Joyce on the internet and seems to give me "homework" after viewing one of her shows. As in, well you've learned the lesson mentally, so let's see if you can put it into practice.

One of my favorite lessons by her is not to become offended at oneself. To become determined that no matter what kind of things are thrown in your way, to not become derailed from the purpose that God has called you to. She advocates being active and articulating things aloud, and she mentions having a very determined sit-down with herself and saying that she is NOT going to be kept by the devil from enjoying her life. She said there was a shift in her attitude from that point on.

Well, I experienced a more benign but similar episode today. For whatever reason, this nagging feeling inside me was that I was a loser and I was a horrible runner. I don't usually think that, normally I'm so excited to be running I can look past the fact that I'm slow. It nagged on and when I got to the hard part of my run,  I was fighting it and just so disappointed that I was, in my opinion, too slow. Eventually, it got intense and I just said to myself for about 5 minutes, "I'm an overcomer," like the Mandisa song. Sometimes I had to say it to myself more harshly than other times, sometimes I had to yell (to myself) at the devil that he was NOT going to take me down. About halfway through my cool down my insistence took, and I realized that yes, I was an overcomer, and yes, I was good at what I did. I decided to continue walking and put in an additional 35 second run at high speed. My total was 1.70 miles, 495 kcals, and 40:18, 9 minutes over the C25K time. :-) I also found out that I had beaten my original fast pace on the run at 2.7 mph instead of my usual 2.3.

After my run. Day 32/50 and 23.2 miles into the Lazy Girl Marathon! :-)

 

 

Mandisa has also put out a series of pictures on her website, and I have used one of those repeatedly on my page. This is the picture in question:

I can't even tell you how many times I've felt that way on the elliptical, lol. :-) But it just means that everyone who has been on a weight loss journey at some point has felt like that picture. But thank God that we are overcomers and have Someone who has overcome even the worst of circumstances. So, if you feel like giving up sometimes, remember that Christ has made us more than conquerors and we can overcome anything! :-)

I hope everyone has a terrific day. True to form, I'm going back to chem homework, lol. Be blessed everyone! :-)

Day 41: New Running Records

I did NOT want to run this morning. Do you ever have those mornings, where the body is somewhat willing and the spirit says forget it? That was me this morning. I made excuses, numerous ones that were somewhat satisfying to me, but none of them really fit the mood I was in.

Let me explain.

I can't get past 207. I have been trying to get past 207 for some time, and it goes up to 208 as soon as it gets there. No clue why, I am almost positive this time it was water weight after my lunch date with my best friend, but still, after a few days of consistent weight loss, it gets stuck at 207 again! I'm determined to push past that number, even if it takes a little tweaking of my diet.

Anyhoo, seeing that number ticked me off and I did NOT want to run. I just wanted to take a rest day and veg.  But like I said, none of them really fit the bill. I decided I would just quit my drama and lace up my shoes for my run.

I ran C25K W4D1, which was composed of a 3-minute jog followed by a 90-second break, then a 5-minute jog followed by a 2.5 minute walk, repeated twice. I'm not going to lie, that was a difficult run. There were times when I was panting so hard I thought people would think I was having an asthma attack. Still, I made it through, walked for an extra 5 minutes, and then ran back to my car, for a grand total of 37:45 or so. I burned 464 calories and walked/ran 1.55 miles.

That was a new record for me. :-) I have only run about 1.32-1.46 in the past, even with the shorter bursts of running when I was at a higher (much higher, lol) speed. I was excited for that, and even more so that I got out and broke records when I was in a horrible mood. Which goes to show you, even if it sucks sometimes, you can still get it done. :-)

Me after the run that almost wasn't. Ignore the lip funkiness, I get it every time I run.

 

I am sooo looking forward to the rest of my day as well! The fiancé is spending the night for my birthday and we will go out tonight and tomorrow. :-) I think we are going bowling and out to eat. And he apparently has an awesome present for me that he got through the mail that apparently has his name on it. :-D Either way, I'm totally looking forward to seeing him and getting some interesting presents. Today while I'm hanging out on my own (fiancé has to work til 4) I will probably goof around and do some chem homework. :-) I seem to be nice and ahead on my chem homework, and even got a 95 on my exam! I do need to do some makeup work on the lab though, cause I was a goof and totally forgot I had class! Way to go, Shelly. Either way, got some work to make up, lol. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic day! I know I will. Be blessed, and don't be stressed! xx

Day 39: Going for the Golds

I have always been afraid of Gold's Gym.

Maybe it's just that I'm expecting a bunch of meatheads to work out there, you know, the ones that are all brawn and no brain. The ones that "feel the burn" all the time, lol. (Trust me, I feel the sweat a lot, the burn, not so much.) Nevertheless, I just had one of those days where I thought, "Shellybean, let's do something adventurous with ourselves today." However, with my limited funds there is only so much adventure I can pack into one day. :-) So I decided to go to a different gym.

Granted, there are a lot of places to go where I would blend into the background. The place I go right now is very much a place where you blend into the background. Plus, the cardio equipment kind of sucks and the weight room is very small. I wanted more of a place to work out as opposed to playing basketball or hockey or swimming. So, I mustered up the courage and went to Gold's Gym.

It actually wasn't so bad. I was given a tour by a chick who seemed kind of laid-back, not who I would expect to be giving the tour. It's a nice place, they have all kinds of protein drinks and bars, some protein powder and all kinds of shirts! I am a t-shirt junkie (as anyone knows who gives away a free one, I'm all up in their business, literally, lol) so having a Gold's Gym t-shirt would be a total geekout moment for me. :-) Even if I never went back there, it would be a pretty sweet reminder that I came, saw, and conquered. :-)

If I got one, this would be one I'd like:

 

Pink is my favorite color, so I would geek out to have one of these little tank tops. I am totally in love with racerback tees, especially since I live in sports bras most of the time and the typical tanks don't really cover the bra in the back. (By the way, ladies, if you don't wear proper gear when you run, I'd recommend it, you'll kill your back if you wear a regular bra.)

 

I am also going to a running store to check out some running gear, I tried to find the one in O'Fallon yesterday but I couldn't find it cause Verizon Navigator sucks, lol. Thankfully, I have figured out that the Google map app has it on there. So I will find it today and get all geeked out about running.

 

Speaking of geeked out about running, I did C25K W3D3 and it was much easier, presumably since it was on the treadmill. I think I will do an extra day of Week 3 this week, so I can get used to running that length outside. It was super hard last time I did it outside, and I was wheezing a little bit, so I think I need to get where I can run it a little better before I move up to the next level. :-)

Not a bad run on the dreadmill, lol.

 After my run, but so what?

Got a nice sweat on today. Guess there was something interesting to the left.

 

I only have a three-day pass to Gold's Gym then we'll see from there, but hopefully I will be able to get a full membership and not have to worry about can I pay it, etc. :-) But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a job will come my way eventually. Especially at a running or supplement shop. I love my supplement shops, as though you couldn't tell. I almost asked for a job app at GNC but I chickened out, but next time I will ask. I may even go into *gasp* Complete Nutrition! I'm not sure though, that place reeks of upsell. :-P

 

Anyhoo, I hope everyone has a fantastic day, I'm out and about yet again. Be blessed all. :-)

Day 30: New Records and a Month of Blogging! :)

I decided to go for another run this morning, because I'm awesome that way. I didn't really want to go running around my neighborhood, since it's basically lots of houses and big dogs. Not very exciting to run in. :-) So I packed up my car and headed over to City Hall Park in St Peters. There is a backstory behind why I love this park. My fiancé and I had our first date at India Palace and then we came to City Hall Park before going to see a movie. We were sitting around and I asked him to be my boyfriend, being the blunt person that I can be at times. He said yes, and you know how the story has ended thus far. Anyhoo, we go to City Hall Park every half-year and year anniversaries and geek out about how much we love each other. So, what better place to go than City Hall Park to go run?

Getting my run on! Sorry about the pile of clothes. ;-)

 

 

It was an absolutely beautiful day for running. Sunny, cool, and low humidity. I got my run on and completed the C25K app for the day. Here are my stats according to Accutrainer:

 

Mileage: 2.04 miles

Steps: 3,870

Calories Burnt: 202.2

Total Time: 26:34

 

It's about average time for what I run, but much better mileage! I think I was getting up to 4.0-5.0 mph or more, which relieves me to know I actually do run faster than I walk. :-) I broke two records today: mileage and Calories. I have never burnt above 133 calories on the dreadmill nor have I gone above 1.50 miles. This is the first time I have broken the 1-mile and the 100s-calories barriers and I couldn't be happier about it. And the scenery was so beautiful, (small) waterfalls, creeks, bridges, animals (I saw several squirrels and a rabbit), and a pond. I really enjoyed running here and I think it may be a place for me to run for the next few days. I plan on getting my mileage up a bit and then going to Creve Coeur Park, which is a 4-mile trail around a lake. It is one of the prettiest (and longest!) trails I've ever been on, and I can't wait to take it on.

 



Nice and sweaty after a 2-mile run/walk. :-)

 

My fiancé and I have designed a team shirt for our run in the Lemon Drop 5k and Hot Chocolate 5k in December. We are Team Fire and we have two shirts, one in navy and one in pink. I can't wait to order mine later on this week, when and if my paycheck ever shows up.

 

Speaking of which, I have an interview with Lululemon tomorrow. I am geeked out because I absolutely love their clothes and just the company culture. It is very laid-back and more my style. For my group interview, I am supposed to teach the group how to do something that relates to me. Since I love to strength train and work out in general, I am going to teach them how to do an abbreviated form of the workout that I'm doing to strengthen my arms. I can't wait to do that, it will be so much fun. I don't know what I'm more geeked out about, getting an interview there or teaching people how to work out. :-D I will let you know how it goes. :-)

 

Speaking of the Arm Challenge, here are my stats for today:

 

10 push-ups

10 dips

20 bicep curls

20-second punches

 

The workouts are definitely getting more challenging, especially doing push-ups. I am no longer doing girl push-ups but full on push-ups, so adding more is definitely challenging! Nevertheless, I'm doing pretty good at it and keeping it up. Tomorrow will be a rest day on the arm challenge (except for when I do it at Lululemon tomorrow) so I will not be posting stats. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a good day! My day looks to hold... well, not very much really, just keeping busy around the house. It's always a bit limiting when you don't have much gas in the tank, lol. Be blessed all!

Day 29: Neighborhood Watch

I conquered a huge fear today and went running around my neighborhood. I have not ran or walked around my neighborhood since I was 17, when someone called me Pillsbury Doughgirl and said they were going to kick my @$$ if I went running through again (mind, this was my neighborhood in Memphis, not here in St Charles). Needless to say, never really been super keen on running even though I switched neighborhoods several times. Nevertheless, I started up and began running.

My accountability photo #1

 



I have been taking these photos for several days now, mostly just to show that I wasn't lying or anything, and apparently these pics and the sweat pics have caught on. But I love the accountability of them, and I love showing off the improvement in my body!

 

The weather wasn't too bad, maybe mildly humid but not like it was yesterday where the humidity was so thick you could bottle it and sell it. I ran for about 20 minutes, more like around 19:20 with around 6-7 minutes of running. I have been doing the C25K along with my friend from high school who is also doing it, just because I have used it in the past and liked it. Running outside was definitely different, but not too bad. Even running up the hill was sort of okay, but I was only able to do it for about a minute, which was what the app required of me. (And I made it up the hill too!) I ran around a cul-de-sac which is maybe a half mile around and then ran back to my neighborhood. I then realized that I had run back to my house and basically would have ended up halfway down the street when I got done, so I ran around the block a few times and called it. I wish I wouldn't have though cause I didn't realize I only had six minutes left on the main workout! Silly me. But tomorrow I am definitely finishing the workout! It's about a 20-minute workout plus a 5-minute cooldown on each side, for a total of 30 minutes.

 

Red faced and sweaty again. Gotta get some more done tomorrow!

 

 

I also did day two of the arm challenge, which consisted of:

 

8 push ups

8 dips

15 bicep curls

15 seconds of weighted punches

 

I have to say that it was a bit more difficult after a long run, but it was still fun! Can't wait to do some more this evening!

 

I hope everyone has an awesome day! Be blessed all.

Day 27.5: Encouraging News!

I have discovered the run/walk combo, and it was good.

I originally started out adding a consecutive minute each day to my run, until I got to 22 minutes and was so exhausted when I got done I could barely walk. After 16 days of doing this, my knees were burning and literally everything on my body hurt. This was even when I wasn't running!

I have a friend from high school who is totally rocking it and is about to start a running program. She is doing C25K, and is off to a very good start. :-) But she was running/walking it, and I have to admit that it was on my mind. I started off on the run intending to tough it out for 15 minutes. But instead, I decided to run 3-4 minutes, and walk 2 minutes. Sometimes I walked less than that, but I was getting so out of breath I decided to keep it at 2 minutes. And keeping that pace, I ran/walked for 27 minutes! I only walked about ~8:30 of that too, so my total running time was about 18:30, which was a 2:30 boost from yesterday's run! I was super excited.

I learned something important today as well. There's no shame whatsoever in treating your body kindly when you exercise. If you have to run/walk instead of pound out a 22 minute run, that's okay! Especially since I've really only been running for about 19 days. I am learning that pacing myself doesn't make me a weakling, or settling, or whatnot. It makes me smart! I'm honoring my body and taking care of it, and not putting it under so much stress it gives out on me and knocks me out of commission for weeks. You're not running to punish your body or punish yourself for being out of shape. You're running because it makes you feel good, it makes you feel alive! Running is good and healthy no matter what form it takes. I'd say a 27 minute run/walk combo is very good.

So, all that to say... be smart. Take care of your body, even when you're trying to work it out hard. God only gave you one, and you don't get to trade it in for a newer model! And trust me, a 27:00 minute run/walk, even when it's 101 degrees outside and about 70 degrees in will make you sweat profusely! Just for proof, here's a picture I took after my run:

I am definitely red faced and sweaty and proud of it. Own your sweat, to quote Definition Transformation. You got out there and did it, and that's something to be proud of! :-)

Well, I hope everyone has a fantastic day. I'm about to get some more water and get dressed up to spend some QT with the fiancé (and yes, I took a shower already, cause that would be some serious stinkage otherwise! :-D) Be blessed all! :-)

Day 27: Adding Minutes To My Life

First of all, gotta show you my progress pics!

 



I can tell a huge difference even this month seeing the pics side by side like that. And look how much smaller my arms are compared to the previous picture! I can really tell a difference even in a slightly different position. One of these days I will take a pic where you can actually see my face, lol!

It's crazy how much weight I've lost just from amping up my workouts. I've literally dropped 8 lbs and almost 2 shirt sizes in just over two weeks! My entire weight loss for the month of August was 10.4 lbs, which was great since most of that loss was at the end of the month. :-)

I have also brought back another idea, which was the "Pounds Lost" jar. It was actually supposed to be a "Pounds to Lose... Pounds Lost" set but I have never found the other jar, lol. I may actually do some shopping around later in the week and see if I can't find another one that looks sort of the same. It was kind of an indication of the different type of person I was at the time, that I worked so hard on the first jar and then kind of gave up on the second one! I wish it was that easy to lose the actual pounds that the jar was supposed to have in it! lol. I also had a friend that I went to high school with suggest putting a set amount of change in the jar (e.g., quarters, dimes, nickels) so that when you lose the weight you have money towards something new! All I really keep around is pennies so I would have about $1.06 when I got done. :-D Yup, I've still got 84 pounds to go before goal but I am making progress!

Here is a picture of the jar:

 

It is much more full than before! When I started it I had 11 stones in the jar and now I have 22! I have doubled my weight loss from when I used it last. :-) I would love to do different color stones for each 10-11 lbs but we'll see how it goes. It would be cool to have a rainbow in there. :-)

 

I also did a nice light workout today, 5.4 miles on the bike. I will do a 15-20 minute run later on today and will do a bit of strength training tonight before the fiancé comes over. I did it this way for a few reasons: firstly, because I wanted to take it a little easier and not do two super hard workouts in a row. I'm basically doing two light workouts and one hard one in the middle. That way I won't be super exhausted and sweaty at the beginning AND end of the day. Secondly because I want to confuse my body a little bit! I have done the workouts pretty much the exact same way each time and my body will eventually get used to it. I don't want that to happen, especially after some major plateauing at the beginning. :-)

 

I hope everyone has a great day! I will hopefully be posting for a second time later on tonight (the fiancé understands my obsession with this blog, and I think he enjoys seeing the photos, :-D) and adding day 16 to the 50 Days of Running challenge! Be blessed all!

Day 26.2: And On The Nineteenth Day, She Rested

I'm feeling a bit better thanks to getting some chemistry homework out of the way and it just being quiet around the house for a change. I'm enjoying sitting around reading everyone's blogs and leaving comments, and just doing things that don't hurt. After a huge welt on my... back end... from the 47 minutes of biking last night, and sore knees from running 15 days in a row, it feels good to take a rest day. And surprisingly, as I rest my weight goes down instead of up! I was expecting the weight to come creeping back on if I didn't exercise. But I guess that's more of a long term thing, which is good.

I have gotten back on my antidepressant, which I'm not sure if it is making me feel better or worse. I have not been on it for two weeks now, and the scrip just came back up for refill (I lost almost a full bottle in Illinois somewhere while I was at my best friend's party. I tried to refill it and received a snarky message that my insurance carrier was not going to pay out for a lost bottle and they would not refill it for another 14 days. No bueno.) Either way, we will see if they turn me into a blabbering emotional wreck^200 again. This particular antidepressant has not caused any problems with my weight loss, in fact it makes my weight drop off twice as fast when I'm exercising regularly. Go figure. :-P

Tomorrow my fiancé is coming over, yay! We will watch a movie from home on Saturday and do our annual apple picking outing on Sunday after church. Either way, it will be very HOT. The Honeycrisps came out earlier because of the unseasonably mild weather for most of the winter, and so we are picking them in very early September instead of late September. We will also go back for the pumpkin picking in October, which is another of our traditions. I don't think we have ever eaten much of our fruit bounty except while we're out there picking. (Though I've never eaten a pumpkin whilst picking another pumpkin. That just sounds hard to do. And messy! :-D)

My birthday is in 16 days. I will be turning 29, one year away from the big 3-0. That kind of frightens me a little, and a little sad that I've wasted my twenties just sitting around being depressed and stuffing my face. That's no fun at all! Hopefully my 30s will treat me a little better. :-)

Well, I am going to work on some more chem homework and shower, but not while doing the chemistry homework, lol. Be blessed all and have a great labor day weekend! :)

Day 26: Trying to Adjust

The last few days have been really intense, with tons of roller coaster emotions and just not fun. I'm trying not to drown the blog in pessimism cause that's not really what I'm all about, but I just feel really discouraged. I'm still working out, still not eating too much, but I just start to wonder if maybe I'm wasting my time and money going to school and doing all these things to better myself. I feel like I'll never be good enough to meet my expectations, no matter how hard I work. I have felt this way all my life, I work and work and still don't feel good enough for myself. I got a 4.0 GPA my first semester and I have a 4.0 GPA this semester. But I'm beating myself up because I got a 98 instead of a 100 on a quiz! :-P I know I shouldn't do this to myself, that I should accept myself as I am. But I've got it in my head that I accept myself as I am, I am being complacent and that will cause me to backslide. Do any of you feel that way? How do you deal with it?

I have been trying to work myself back up to 22 minutes and got a little further, to about 17 minutes before I felt another crying fit coming on. Fortunately, this time I waited till I got into the car. Since it has been two times in a row now, I wonder if its not PMS but something a little deeper. I have lost 21 lbs in 2 months, I have worked myself into the ground and gotten the reward for it. But it is still a shock to the system! I have never been this active or in better shape, and there seems to be this huge adjustment curve involved. This is the first time in my life that I have really treated myself well or honored myself. I have from a young age thought very badly of myself and not treated myself well. To actually do that for myself, to actually believe that I do matter and that I am doing the best I can, is such a hard pill to swallow, especially when it seems that the people who are closest to you want to sabotage you and make sure you fail! (Not people like my fiancé though, he has supported me through all the things the haters have dished out.)

I know I am going to get through this and come out stronger. I have never quit even through sexual abuse, financial disasters, and depression, but it is still hard! I would love any prayers that you can give me! :-)

I think I am going to do some serious chilling, and suck it up and have a rest day. It is so hard to give myself a rest day but I know I need some time to recharge and rejuvenate after working out continuously for way too many days! I just want to sit around, read Glamour, and paint my nails. I haven't done that in a long time. :-)

I hope everyone has a great day. If you're in the same boat as me, please pray for me and let me know any ways I can pray for you! :-)

Day 25.5: Demotivation Becomes Motivation

I have had a very... interesting day today, as in, really kind of blah. My mom was in the same mood I was but for a different reason, and when you add two people who want to kill everyone and especially each other in the same room, it does not bode well for either person. Mom was telling me about how I spend so much money and how they aren't going to pay for my overdrafts (Which really is not a huge deal, it was a glitch in the system and I will pay it off tomorrow after I get my paycheck. It was just the way she said it, she knows how to push all my buttons!) I don't consider myself to spend massively either. I just have things that come up that I need to take care of, like having some gym shorts and some deodorant, and I take care of them when they come up. There is a lot of stuff I want but I am still prudent. :-)

Anyway, my mom's words and my general bad mood apexed today when I went and tried to bike. I made it 2 miles (actually, closer to 1.76) and I just broke down. I'm sure I kind of surprised the guy next to me, but I got up and left, feeling completely defeated and just blah. I posted to my GOF page on Facebook, thinking everyone was going to knock me for it. What can I say, sometimes I can be a tad pessimistic. But I got a lot of encouragement from some great people, even some I didn't even know. I decided then that I am a lot of things sometimes, but a quitter is not one of them.

I got home just as my parents were leaving to go out of town and I was determined to attack my dad's stationary bike. He has a different type of bike than I'm used to using, I usually use a recumbent and he uses one that looks more like a regular bike. I got on and turned on the beauty hour on HSN, and proceeded to kick butt. I rode for about 40 minutes, and knocked out 10.3 miles out on the treadmill, beating my dad at both time and mileage. My dad and I have always been a bit competitive when it comes to the stationary bike. I am always trying to beat him, and now I have. I rode for a grand total of 12.06 miles. :-)

What is really sweet is that I have obliterated another mini-goal of mine which was to do my gym's requirement for biking for a short-track tri (10.2 miles), which I set kind of half-jokingly cause at that point I was much heavier and knew that it would be a bit of a long shot. Now I have not only met that goal but I have beaten it by 0.1 miles! That is completely awesome.

I am so glad for everyone's encouragement. :-) It is super awesome on a bad day like this. I get on my blog and write about it and I hope other people are encouraged by it too. Sometimes you just have a blah day. You can still get it done! Never settle and never give up. You're just one step away from a breakthrough!

I hope everyone has a fantastic evening. Me, I've got to get some chemistry homework done, because as far as I know, it has not done itself, lol. :-D Take care everyone!

Day 25: Running Shoes and NSVs

I finally got my running shoes today as an early birthday present. They are pink and blue and super awesome. Here are a pic of my running shoes from the official site:

The picture comes nowhere close to doing it justice. They are actually a lot brighter and prettier than the picture makes it look. And they are super comfortable! I ran for a brief sprint across the aisle in them and it was like walking on air! I can't wait to try them out tonight and tomorrow during my workout. Mom also got me 4 pairs of running ankle socks, and an orange sports bra. I'm normally very difficult to fit in a sports bra because I'm SO large on top, but this one was super comfortable and didn't have armpit bags (don't those totally suck, lol) so I have added sports bra number 3 to the growing collection. Very excited to wear all the gear tonight and tomorrow. :)

 

And NSVs (non-scale victories for the uninitiated) abound. Firstly, I'm losing all my pants! Well, not all the way, but all my pants are HUGE on me. I have a pair that was so big I literally had to hold on to them while I walked. I have only two pair that even fit me remotely well, plus two pairs of shorts. My mom is saying she will take a tuck in them, but I hate that! I would rather have new jeans that are comfortable, and don't have a weird pleat down the side where Mom has tucked them, lol. Also, I had a NSV that I passed up the rolls and butter at O'Charley's today. And the fries with my soup and sandwich. I looked at them and they looked at me (if they had eyes), and they smelled really good but I just didn't want to eat them. So I ate my yummy lunch and ignored the really greasy stuff. :-)

 

And SV's... I am down almost 20 lbs! Today I weighed in at 211.8, which was 0.8 lbs away from being 20 lbs! And if I can keep up the 2-lb streak, I may get very close to 209 (O_O) tomorrow! Then I would be out of the two-teens and getting even closer to Onederland! Plus, I would meet my goal of 210 lbs, which would be how much I wanted to lose for the month. So we will see tomorrow, if I don't eat anything too bad. I could tell I was getting close to my monthly cause I was crabby, hungry, and tired, the PMS triage. :-D So hopefully I can keep it reigned in today.

 

I hope everyone has a great day! :)

Day 24: Praise You While I'm Sore

My ankle is injured! No bueno. I don't exactly know what happened except that it is bruised, and does not respond well to walking. It does better when I run instead of walk (I guess cause I tend to land more on my heel when I walk and more on the ball of my foot when I run!) but I'm not going to be dumb and try to pound out a 24-minute run today. I ran for about 10 minutes, which is about half of what I'm used to running. I am going to do some cardio/strength combos tonight that don't directly involve my ankle so I'm going to do those at full strength. Today is legs/thighs/chest/butt day which really sucks when you're an active runner and biker! But I persist because I love the way my calves look! They are shapely and beautiful. :-)

I lost 2 lbs today, but the gym scale has been recalibrated to weight what my mom's scale does! It would normally weigh me at 210 because of the way it was calibrated yesterday but today it weighed me at the exact same weight! I was totally bummed out, but hopefully it will be at 20 lbs tomorrow. I am so ridiculously close it's crazy! I'm around 18-19 lbs lost, which is great but I can totally get past that! Because of my persistence I have shattered several plateaus and if I get down to 212.0 on my mom's scale I have completely obliterated the whole plateau and the 5-6 lb cycle I have been doing for weeks now. So I am hoping for another whoooooosh. :-)

I am so excited about how my life is going, despite the few minor setbacks I described above. I remember a few weeks ago pondering life as a Christian and wondering if Joyce Meyer was right, that God would give me a better life if I loved him. Looking back, saying YES to Jesus was one of the best decisions I have ever made! I am amazed at how my life continues to change for the positive.

I love being back at church and serving God in different ways. I'm going to help serve at a mission project which involves filling bags with rice, protein, and vegetables for those in need in Haiti. We are going to fill ~40,000 bags of rice mix and they will be shipped to Haiti! There is also this whole missions weekend and I am definitely going! Because of school and the way my schedule is set up it is very difficult for me to go overseas, but I hear there are some local projects that will be available. I love volunteer work of all sorts, so helping in this field sounds fantastic to me. I am also attending a class that the church is offering in September about the privileges of being a church member. I'm so excited about all of this.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day and knocks out some good exercise. If you're injured like me, be smart and take it easy. Never settle for getting hurt worse. Be blessed all!

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!