SBBC Week 3

Week 3 already done...crazy!  Here was my week in fitness (okay, a little more than that!):

Monday:  65 mins in the pool.  Inner thighs were so sore from Saturday's hilarious Pilates workout!

Tuesday:  I was supposed to do yoga at work, after work, but it was SwimSis' bday.  And she wanted to go to dinner at 5:30.  Who goes to dinner that early?!? :)  We went to a grill/meaty kinda place.  It can be sooo amazing.  And pricy.  I was feeling cheap and non adventurous, so I got their burger for $11 :)  We went to this same place for my sister's bachelorette party dinner and I got butternut squash soup, risotto and scallops, and some kind of delicious dessert.  I just wasn't feeling like spending that much today (in calories or dollars!).  No exercise this day.

Wednesday: 70 mins swimming.  TOM was this week, which made me feel ridiculously tired/zapped of energy while exercising.  We did 400 free for time.  Mine was 7:10.  Quite laughable because my best time racing the 500 free in HS was 5:59!  We also did 200 free for time and mine was 3:30.  A month and a half ago it was 3:34, so I was very happy with that.  One of the aquatics staff joined us for the workout and she is super speedy.  She definitely lapped me in the 400 free and was probably done when I had 75 yards left.  But then she kept complaining LOUDLY how she was SOOOO SLOW.  Add that to the other lady who is speedy (she beat me in the 200, I beat her in the 400) who always touts that she DID NOT grow up a swimmer and doesn't even do flip turns...so basically we should be impressed.  LOL  I just keep quiet.  I'm not going to brag and I'm not going to encourage other people to brag.  Those distances for time felt much harder than they were supposed to, I'm sure.  I then made sure to do 500 yards pull.  I would like to work on my upper body/arms in time for the wedding I'm in this year (okay, it's Nov 2, so I've got time, but I would like my arms to look like guns!).

Thursday: 52 mins of walk/run. Ran for 35 of those mins.  Felt hard, but less so than the week before.  I ran longer and went further than I had before.  I have run to a certain bridge a couple of times, but never gone over it.  When I got to the bridge, I had to see what was on the other side :)  Felt good.  I had my epsom salt bath, book to read, smoothie to drink, and fun deep cleaning face mask (that was bright blue) to utilize afterward.  Felt like such a great reward!  I had pictures of this all (including my blue face), but they got lost when SwimTot did a factory reset on my Kindle :(

Friday: Supposed to be a rest day, but my side mantra is "If it is nice outside, take a walk.  You will not regret it".  It was gorgeous...very sunny and 43 degrees.  Walked around an adjacent neighborhood for 42 mins, decided I was hungry and would go to Jimmy John's.  But I didn't bring any money with me!  I had to go back home and then go to Jimmy John's.  53 mins of walking total.  And a yummy sandwich.

Saturday:  1 hour of Pilates.  She made the class up of letting us each choose one favorite move to do.  Some of them were TORTURE.  We did some arms things and I got 3 pound weights, which are fine for a small amount of reps, but geeez I felt like getting some lighter ones later on! I persevered!  I chose to do "Up downs" as they are known in my class, or "walking planks".  I got the feeling that I was the only person who liked them!  I usually do more than that on Saturdays, but I was a bum the rest of the day.  Then my team lost in the NCAA tourney.  So sad :(

Sunday:  Ran after kiddos all morning and then took one of the best naps ever.  haha no real activity this day as it was getting VERY snowy out! 

Totals:  Exercise 30 points (300 mins...yay!)
Freggies: 4
Water:  5

I was very reflective this week.  Hormones do that.  I got to 50 pounds lost from my highest weight.  I had a regular (and normal) period for 3 months in a row.  I felt super frumpy Tuesday.  Wednesday i decided I needed something with a stretchy waistband (lol!) and ended up wearing a long skirt and just felt damn awesome all day.  I just have days every once in a while where I feel gorgeous all day.  The sun's shining just right and I"m at the center of the universe :)  It was good just to realize where I have been, where I am now and love and appreciate the journey.  The week can be summarized like this:  I may not have everything I want, but I'm blessed with everything I need.

How was your SBBC Week 3?

How do you kick a "frumpy" day to the curb?    I went with something that felt good physically (the skirt) and paired it with some cute accessories and some awesome music (country!).  And I gave myself a good pep talk.  

Quick Update

Hi Friends!  I have a few minutes to spare before going to swim/spin tonight.  I'll do SBBC Week 3 update in a couple of days...good news:  it was my highest exercise week yet! 

No real bad news, which is also good news.  I just had an emotional week (TOM).  Not in a bad way either.  Like feeling frumpy one day and feeling like the most gorgeous person on the planet the next day.  All day last Wednesday I just felt great.  Ah, I want to bottle that feeling (and then sell it!).  Then on Friday I saw this:

Last week's weight: 241.0
This week's weight:  239.6

My highest weight, in 2009 was 290, so that means I officially lost 50 pounds (in there somewhere was a 35lb lost and a 25lb gain!).  Just processing through my life and emotions.

And watching Doctor Who so I can watch the new episode this Saturday.  If I'm being completely  honest here.  :)

I had a NSV post coming up including pics (taken on a different day where I felt uber cute), but then my dearest SwimTot couldnt' remember the password to my Kindle yesterday and did a factory reset :(  I am kinda mourning for my cute "selfie" pics I had!  Plus I had super adorable ones of me and SwimTot.  Love that girl, but she doesn't get to use my Kindle anytime soon!

Happy Swimming!

EmDub

PS go check out Staci's Birthday Giveaway!  Looks like a yummy pack!

SBBC Week 2

After a couple of frustrating weeks with the rollercoaster scale, I made sure to put chocolate back in it's place this week.  It was very interesting, but this is what I found out:  it is easier to say 'yes' to chocolate than it is hard to say 'no'.

Does that make sense to anyone else?  Before last week I would pass someone's desk and pick up a piece of candy, I would get a thing or two of clearance candy at the store, I would get a mint sitting on the desk when walking out of yoga.  It was just too easy to get a fix!  This past week I would walk past candy and think "eh, no big deal" or "not very tempting".  Just like that.  I won't say I didn't have my struggles, but yeah it is scary how easily I can cope with chocolate/candy!

Anywho, here is the week's workout rundown:

Monday:  80 mins in the pool.  It was good, hard, but good.  They are adding a morning workout:  5:30am on Monday mornings.  Yeah, middle of the night.  We'll see if I go next week (spoiler: I was actually up at that hour, but I was doing work and watching Doctor Who).

Tuesday:  I had planned to do some physical activity, but I ended up grocery shopping and cooking.  That seems rather dull and uneventful, but I don't cook more than once a week, so I was standing in my kitchen for several hours making the fillings for what would be southwest chicken salad.  I was too pooped to do anything else that night.

Wednesday:  65 mins in the pool.  I really liked my coach's set of longer distance (long for this group) which was 3 x 200 yards freestyle, then a 50 yard sprint.  Who knew mixing up the distance and the sprint could be so fun!  We did that set two times and then I he had me do a couple of IMs.  I think the distances of our practices are getting around 2200 yards, which is definitely where I like it.  Going earlier, I get in more yards, which is always a good thing!

Thursday:  On Wednesday, my TriFit coach said I should make sure I am still running.  I had mentally planned in running into Thursdays anyway, but that didn't make it any less difficult to get out there!  A rain/snow mix was in the forecast when I checked it that morning, but luckily that held off and it was nice and sunny!  I started at my usual spot and chose to run through the woods first.  The last time I went in that particular area, there was 6 inches of snow on the ground.  Oh, I missed it!  My legs felt heavy and my lungs were not happy.  I made it to 6 mins running before I had to walk a bit.  I took 2 mins to walk and then ran again.  I took a city street to meet up with the main trail in the area.  I crossed the busy street because, at that point, my legs could not take the up side of a tunnel to go underneath!  I managed my "run as far as you can" and walk for 2 minutes for nearly the whole time.  Near the end, I heard a mother with a stroller gaining on me, so I tried to keep going until I hit the parking lot!  In the end, I got 44 mins in, with 25 mins of running (5 min warm up, 4ish min cool down walks). 

I was sooo sore at that point!  I went straight to CVS and got some epsom salt.  I wanted to reward myself and there was tons of chocolate.  Luckily, I had a certain book in mind to order for my Kindle while I took my epsom salt bath.  (Craig Ferguson's "America on Purpose").  As I started the bath, I was thinking how wonderful the Kindle is where I can get virtually any book I want at the click of a button.  Don't have to drive to the library and reserve it for XX number of days, when they possibly might not have it to begin with.  Then I got to searching for the book on the Kindle...$9.99...say what?!?  Hmmm...I love the library, it is so FREE!  I eventually went with a free book I had downloaded on my Kindle a couple of months ago.  It didn't turn out how I wanted it to, but it ended up being just what I needed.

Friday:  Rest day like always.  I babysat 4 m/o and 2 year old.  Parents told me it didn't matter if I put on to bed before the other.  I chose to put the baby to bed first, which was problematic because I didn't want to stop holding him in order to get the 2 year old to sleep! 

Saturday:  60 mins of Pilates.  The two men who are normally in the class were gone this day because of their kid's spring breaks.  This meant my instructor turned from her normal funny into HILARIOUS.  We were totally sitting on exercise balls doing inner thigh squeezes with her yelling things she couldn't when the men are around!  Everyone else was quasi serious about it, so I kept it to a giggle, when really I could have been roaring with laughter.  Then I did a 10 min video from Spark People to get in another point.

Sunday:  I didn't sit down for sooo long!  I worked at the church from 9:30-1:30, went home, ate lunch, cooked lunch for this week. (I don't sit down when I cook...I rarely sit down when I eat!).  I chopped loads of onions and mushrooms for Hungarian Mushroom Soup.  So good.  When I was was nearly done, cooking, the pastor text me and asked if I could come back at 4:30.  As soon as I finished cleaning up, it was time to leave again!  I usually work with the preschoolers, but they had me work with the 6-11 year olds and they were a blast!  I worked there until 7, went home, ate my soup, and fell into bed.  No extra energy for exercising today!

Totals:
Exercise: 25.9
Water: 6
Freggies: 5

Oh water and freggies were so good (for me) this week!  Can't wait to see what lessons this week brings!

Oh and before I go:

Last week's weight:  242.4
This week's weight:  241.0

Finally, in the right direction!  Here are a few of my eats for the week:

Most of my lunches were Southwest Chicken Salad variations.  This was the fillings in a lettuce wrap.  chicken, corn, black beans, onions, peppers, salsa (the good kind!), and some ranch. Nom nom nom.



This was my dinner a couple of nights.  Scrambled eggs and a green veggie.  Delicious and filling!



SBBC Week 1

 

Last week was week 1 of the Spring Bootie Buster Challenge.  Can't say I exactly nailed it, but it  was pretty good considering the circumstances. 

Monday: 60 mins of swimming with Tri-Fit.  I felt so strong.  Really good swim.  My cue is to swim keep swimming until everyone finishes.  This day I did DOUBLE the main set that everyone else did.  Good swim!

Tuesday:  Yoga class "demonstration".  Let me say how glad I am that my workplace is investing in some wellness programs. To me, demonstration means I watch, but she had us all right in there doing every move!  I forgot I had signed up to go to the demonstration this day, so I showed up sans mat and in my sweater and work pants.  Only one that was unprepared.  Awesome.  The teacher was really down too earth, possibly a little too much so.  The class was an hour, but I"m only counting 30 mins because there was talking in between a lot of moves.  I signed up for the first session of four classes and they are only $5 a piece, can't beat that these days!  PS Everyone had our stuff sitting in chairs along the back wall (of a conference room :) hehe) and this other participant sat in an empty chair next to mine, took her socks off, and LAID THEM ON MY COAT.  You don't even have to be a germaphobe for that to gross you out.  That lady SHALL NOT be my friend.  I went home and did a 1 min plank, followed by a 20 min walk.

Wednesday:  I had committed to working in the evening at the church, so I was planning on getting up before work to go swim (which I don't love getting up early).  But luckily, it snowed about 4-5 inches the night before (well, rain that turned into sleet that turned into snow), so we had a 2 hour delay.  I got sleep in AND go swim.  SCORE!  50 mins in the pool!

Thursday:  Hung out with two friends from college.  4 hours felt like 1!  Sidecars don't hurt either, mmmm.

Friday:  Usual rest day.

Saturday:  60 mins of Pilates.  She soooo kicked my butt.  Ow, ow, ow.  I normally do some other physical activity besides Pilates, but I had received an email on Friday stating that we were having a meeting on Monday about the status of something I was supposed to be working on.  Well...I hadn't really been keeping up with it so I went into work for 6 hours!  Ugh, and then went and worked from home some more. 

Sunday:  Worked at the church, ran back to work to sneak 45 more mins of organizing my project in, babysat, then had dinner with the whole fam damily.  SwimSis and my dad were here for the day and we headed to Cracker Barrel (SO good!).  I ordered the chicken salad...salad.  Whatever that is called.  It has chicken salad, craisins, almonds, apple slices, a very nice bed of lettuce, and 2 pieces of cheddar and 2 little bread things that remind me of sandwich thins.  I ate a little, but packed the rest up for the next day's lunch.  I grazed on what everyone else had, too.

Overall, my food was not very good.  I really didn't go to the store all week. I had McD's multiple times for breakfast, and my lunch was Walgreens salad all week!  I also picked up a couple of boxes of clearance V-day chocolate at Walgreens.  I ate 1 box Thursday (I think 6 or 7 pieces) and split the other between Friday/Saturday...lame!

Total workout points:  22.6
Water Points; 5
Freggie Points: 3

Week total:  30.6

In the end...I can and will do better next week!  Ready to rock it!

Liebster Award 2013

A very kind and humble thank you to Amy over at  Run with Perseverence.  That girl nominated me, even emailed me, and I am a terrible person who always says they're going to respond to an email, but it always gets pushed to the side...sorry Amy!




Here are my 11 fun facts for the day:

This drives some people crazy, but I really like watching movies with the closed caption on.  You pick up on so much!

I love watching TV shows on Netflix.  I’m currently watching Doctor Who. I looooooove it.  I always think each Doctor is my favorite, then the next one becomes my favorite. 

I try not to read books or watch TV shows too fast.  I feel like if I rush through them, I don’t get the full impact of what the characters are feeling in a certain moment. 

Because of this, I often have late fees at the library…oops!

My favorite late night host is Craig Ferguson.  He’s flipping hilarious. But I never stay up late enough to watch his show.  I must read one of his books one of these days. 

I watched a clip of Matt Smith (current Doctor Who) on Craig Ferguson’s show and I almost peed myself.  Bonus points for Matt Smith saying he likes to swim!

I refuse to acknowledge the fact that movies/tv shows are shot in any other order that the start/finish of the movie.  Anyone else?

When I was 3, my family was at a hotel.  We were getting ready to go swimming.  My dad asked if I was ready to go swimming.  I said yes and jumped in the deep end (not knowing how to swim).  He calmly took off his shoes and socks and jumped in to get me.  I came up laughing. 

I worked at my hometown’s city pool for 6 summers in high school/college.  My aunts and uncle, as well as my brother and sister that are close in age all worked here too over the years.  I have pictures of myself as a toddler swimming there.  When TeenSwimSis was little, as in 4-6 years old, she would come along with myself and our other two siblings and spend all day at the pool. I hope she will work there too when she is old enough. 

Even though I love swimming, lakes freak me out a bit and I don’t really like going in the ocean very far!

I was born on the 11^th, so 11 is my lucky number!  I like that the Liebster Award has 11 random facts.  And my amount at the store today was $11.11!

11 Questions for my nominees1. What do you enjoy most about blogging?  Getting to chronicle my story.  I love going back and reading old posts.

2. If you had to pick only one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?  I've said it before:  Garlic Bread.  It's not something I have a lot and it is not something I go out of my way to eat, but when I do...I KNOW it is the ONE food I would eat for the rest of my life!

3. What is a goal you currently have for yourself, and how are you progressing toward meeting that goal? One of my goals is to not be afraid of riding a bike.  So far, not so much progress, although I did join the triathlete club at my fave YMCA.

4. What is the last book you read that you would highly recommend to someone?  I read "A Daughter's Hope" and "A Mother's Dream" by Francine Rivers.  It's Christian fiction, which some people scoff at, but I emotionally identified with the characters on page 3, so I was hooked.

5. Who has had the biggest impact on your life?
My family has made me who I am - both good and bad!

6. Who was your favorite teacher in school and why?
I really liked my health occupations teacher.  She was always very kinda and knowledgeable.  And she always caved whenever I debated whether or not my answer that she marked wrong was right!

7. Describe a "perfect day" for you.
Last Wednesday was pretty good.  2hr delay due to weather, so I got to sleep in AND go to the Y before work, score!

8. If you run, what's your next race coming up?  If you don't run, what event in your life are you preparing for right now? I haven't ran consistently in forever.  I'm hoping to to a 10K this year!

9. What's the best piece of advice you've received? I know this isn't grammatically correct, but it was said by middle schoolers.  "Be who you be, and love who you are".

10. What's your favorite Bible verse?  If you don't have one, what's your favorite quote?  I don't think I have a favorite, but yesterday Ephesians 3:14-19 was really rocking my world.

11. What is your dream vacation?
I think somewhere with water and a nice breeze! 

I am not a cool blogger and am not going to tag anyone, but thanks Amy for giving me the opportunity to gab about myself! :)

 

Last week's weight: 241.8
This week's weight: 242.4

3 words:  Clearance Valentine's Candy

Ugh.

All Over The Place

So, the Spring Bootie Buster Challenge (SBBC) is now underway!  Hurray!  It comes at a perfect time.  I’ve gotten lazy in a few regards. 

I won’t list certain things, but I will give you an example to illustrate:

Every night last week, I had the same thing for dinner.  I am too lazy to cook my own chicken, so I got a baked 8pc chicken thing from my local deli (it ranges anywhere from $6.99 full price to $3.59 on managers special).  2 pieces a day. My sauce of choice last week was hummus.  Too lazy to make a salad, I just ate the chicken with my fingers and dipped it in the hummus.  So lazy.  So good.  The best that it got was on Thursday night, I used some lettuce to make the chicken and hummus into “wraps”.  And I ate my dinners while standing in the kitchen.  Couldn’t even be bothered to walk to the table!

My point is:  Ineed more variety, specifically fruits and veggies! 

That’s one thing I love about these challenges.  Simple steps can add up to great and healthful changes. 

 Here's to hoping I workout more than once M-F this week (last week...oops!).

Last week I also neglected to realize that it was my 1 year blogoversary.  Hip hip hurray!  I feel slightly sentimental thinking about how far I’ve come weight wise, and definitely how I’ve improved in my swimming.  And blogging, so many fun friends and things I have learned along the way.  Thanks guys!

A weigh in:

Last week:  241.2
This week:  241.8

I'm fine w/that!

I’ve also had a cold going on for forever.  I felt pretty well doing the Netipot, but then it just didn’t go away (spoiler: still got it).  I went to see the doctor last week, after having it for a week, which is long for me.  I went to my work’s employee clinic, which is across the street from my building.  It was a good day to go:  I was their only patient all day!  Dr. told me I was (as in my symptoms were) boring. Haha!  He was nice and spent a lot of time talking to me (as I was the only patient).  They do primary care too, so I might just give in and make him my primary physician.  The cold is lingering and I’ve stocked up on chapstick as I have become a mouth breather, much to my dismay.  I’ve also enjoyed the snot crusties on my face in the AM (sarcasm!).  But seriously, the Netipot (with water that was either boiled or bottled water…don’t want this to happen!) is so much fun. 

I did think it was transitioning into the flu on Saturday.  In the morning I went to Pilates and ran for about 28 minutes outdoors (25 degrees - go me!).  Then I hurried on downtown to a bar to meet a friend for drinks and college basketball.  Thank God there were drinks.  Our team lost by an amount that I can only laugh at!  Alcohol helped.  This was the second time this year I had alcohol and I had 2 huge long islands.  My second was a mix between a long island and a margarita.  Vodka, rum, tequila, triple sec, lime, simple syrup, soda.  Needless to say I didn't drive home.  So when I finally arrived home later that afternoon I took a nap.  When I woke up I really thought I was getting the flu!  My face was flushed, I was sweating, my body ached, my sinuses were all stuffed up.  I really worried all evening.  Then when I saw my temp was fine time and time again, I though "hmmm...do you think alcohol could have been a contributing factor combined with being achy from Pilates and running???".  Sometimes I am a genius.  Sometimes not!

I guess I don’t have anything substantial to say today, but here are a few pics of the last couple of weeks!



The only kind of cheese I really like



Vegetable and shimp curry w/brown rice. Nom nom nom!

Lots of my fave!



Only spectating.  Love this pool!



Going to bed at 8:30 one day! Oy, this cold!

Made myself feel a little better with homemade chicken and stars soup.



And of course my new desk pal.  I named him Buster.



I picked up a yummy salad.

And a --what the???  LOL mislabeled much?  I bought it because it was mislabled and hilarious.  Tuna is not chocolate!

Oh yum!