Doctor & Party

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It was birthday time last night. We invited six guests over for an epic circus/rainbow/candy party complete with carnival games and hour long scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt had about two miles of miles factored in, so we even got to move a little!
The food was no problem for me, even though cake, cookie dough pops, lollipops and other treats abounded. I just ate normal food and nibbled a little on some chocolate covered pretzels. The girls all crashed by one in the morning and slept until almost eight! It all went really well!

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Before the festivities began, however, I had an interesting doctor’s appointment. I went in to check my stomach inside and outside. I have a weird stomach issue that resulted in an ulcer for me that gives me substantial pain once a week or so. So I had to get a test to see how that is going and hopefully to get another round of medicine to cure it.
I also talked about my belly skin. I asked my doctor to just document that I have excess skin hanging off of me and its causing some rashes and making clothing uncomfortable. I thought I would have to fight for skin augmentation, but she was totally onboard and made notes about it for my file. It was nice to have that service actually be accessible to me so far. I have about 50 pounds to lose before I want to think seriously about the skin decision, but I have to say it seems like a really nice thing to do.
Lastly, I talked with her about exercise induced asthma. She and I both determined that I probably have a mild case of exercise induced asthma and I got an inhaler to use on very hot and/or humid days when I can predict future chest tightening. While I will probably only rarely use it, I’m glad to have it in my arsenal. She was incredibly positive about my weightloss and wished me much luck in my future success. She had no problem with me running and saw no reason to stop because of joint issues. It was tremendously reaffirming to hear her say that!

A Typical Day of Food & Exercise

I wake up around 5:00 and obsessively read stuff online until it’s my actual get up time of about 6:00. Really, though, that is just finally when I feel like its ok to wake up my darling dear husband with snuggle time so I ignore that time and wait until 7:00 after two little kids have joined us and its a big ole cuddle fest until when it’s 7:15 and I’ll have to rush around all in a panic. I just really like my bed!
But this isn’t really going to be a play by play of my whole day! I was just going to write down a few sample days of what I eat and how much I work out.
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Tuesday:
Breakfast- one Morningstar sausage patty, one slice of Dave’s Killer Bread, smart balance light buttery spread, chai coffee with half and half and real sugar, supplements (magnesium, B, ginkgo, C, COQ10)
Lunch: raspberry choibani Greek yogurt, 3/4 cup crunchy stuff (raw oatmeal, coconut, walnuts, cashews, sesame seeds, chia seed, peanut butter chips), tablespoon of natural peanut butter, 3 strawberries, 1/2 cup pineapple
Dinner: pomegranate choibani greek yogurt, celery with peanut butter and raisins
Dessert: ice cream πŸ™‚
Ran 2.7 miles at 10:56 pace for 30 minutes
This day was after we had gone to the store, found yogurt on sale and we needed to try them all to see which ones we wanted more of. I liked them both. πŸ™‚
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Wednesday:
Breakfast- one Morningstar sausage patty, one slice of Dave’s Killer Bread, smart balance light buttery spread, chai coffee with half and half and real sugar, supplements (magnesium, B, ginkgo, C, COQ10)- I pretty much eat the exact same thing every day for breakfast and have for years.
Lunch: 1/4 of a Taco Time Taco Salad, the nonfat Taco Time taco, 6 mexi nuggets & diet coke (my boys brought me a rare lunch!)
Dinner: Boca Burger on a whole wheat bun with mayo, ketchup, cheese, lettuce and tomato, 100 calorie pop chips serving
Ran 2.7 miles at 10:45 pace for 30 minutes
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Every day when I get home around 4:15, I shuck my day clothes, puton work out clothes and I go for a run or use the elliptical. I typically exercise 5-6 days per week. I try to get 30 minutes of cardio in and 20 minutes of weights per day. I have not been good at weights for about two weeks now, though. I need to re-integrate them but where is the time? πŸ™‚

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I rarely see things like this that are so true about me. I love this about myself and assume everyone else does this too but will never talk about it. I have found myself, lately, sharing some of my silly, inner dialogue with Bradley. It thrills me to no end when he remembers one of my self made inside jokes with myself and uses it on me. It is with disbelief and absolute pleasure through moments like these when I realize how much I love that man.

Destroy My Sweater

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I decided to retire this sweater tunic thingy. Last year I bought it at Ross for 3.99. At the time, it seemed like an autumnal addition to my closet as well as a quick Velma outfit were I ever needed to be a part of an ensemble Scooby Doo cast at the last minute. I have the sweater with the giant turtleneck and I can knock the lenses outta some glasses at a moment’s notice! But no longer. Today I was asked, “What is this? What is it?” The ‘this’ in question was my tummy, as this child pressed into it over and over..
So I told this very sweet child, who has some developmental delays, “That’s my tummy.”
He pealed out with giggles and retorted that, “It is a fat tummy!”
Other kids saw what was happening, and one child joined in, “You look like you’re pregnant!”
I returned that, “A gentleman never tells a woman she looks pregnant until he knows for sure that she is pregnant. And I am not pregnant,” followed by me, very nicely, telling the children that I was finished discussing the state of my tummy with them. I walked to my desk, kind of shaken, kind of sad and feeling really weird. No one was trying to be mean, it was just observational by children, but it was hard to hear such an honest assessment of my body.

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The irony is this: I pretty much met my goal of losing that five pounds before Thanksgiving. Hello 220! Guess the spa is mine… But that goal was intended to keep my hand out of the candy bowl this Halloween, so maybe I’ll buy a body scrub treatment or something if I continue to lose weight until then.

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Gorgeous Girl and I went for a run today. I arrived home to a slumping, exhausted husband who couldn’t take a step out the door. I asked Gigi if she was up for a run and she ran off to get ready! She was a little disappointed that I didn’t run in just my sports bra and running pants. I had to let her know that Mama might never run down the street in just a sports bra and running pants. Ever. We ran 1.8 miles at a 10:45 mile. My times are getting faster and faster lately and I’m feeling really good about that. This includes the time we stopped to tie a shoe, to rescue a runaway dog and the stitch-in-the-side walking times. I feel really proud of that!

Three Miles

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I’ve taken a couple of runs lately where I’ve just decided to do a 5K. Initially, the three miles was daunting. 1/4 of a mile was daunting, for goodness sake, and I have the 5K up on this pedestal of, like, super hard difficulty level. I think I have a block in my head because when I go out and run three miles it is not a big deal. I marvel afterwards that it feels like I just ran a mile or something.
Anyhow, I’m not bragging it up here just for giggles. I’m trying to psyche myself up to say this next bit aloud: I think three miles should be my new short distance. Why? Because when I go out and run a mile it only takes me 11 or less minutes. 11 minutes doesn’t make a workout. I suddenly realized I’ve been getting all hooked up on the mileage and forgot about endurance! I need to run for thirty minutes to get that good fat burn. Guess how long it takes me to run three miles? Boom. Looks like my body is upping the ante.
Furthermore, as I get lighter the calorie burn is smaller. I need to work longer to get the same burn, so a longer run session should take care of that. I also need to reacquaint myself with my weights system. I’ve been a total slacker!
So, my new goal is to hit right around three miles 3-4 times a week and run five miles once a week. Add some weights, maybe a hike, of course some walks, and I should do pretty well. I told myself that if I can lose five pounds between now and Thanksgiving, I get to go to the spa the day before mashed potato day. So, a mini goal within the greater goal to lose 25 by 3/19/14. I’m currently stalling at 222… But I will be the victor!!

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I went and checked out the statistics to see how I did in the 5K and couldn’t help but take a prideful snapshot of my results. I’m super pleased with my mileage – to run sub 11 minute miles was great for me! The other part? I’m totally happy with how I placed! I’m so happy to see I’m not last. Not even close to last! I fact, I think I did a good job! I’m excited to do it again next year.

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Lastly, I went for a run with these two guys yesterday. I was planning on running with the big one, but the little one surprised us both at the last minute by asking if he could, please, come running with us. He told us he needed to work out. Of course we said yes, and off we went on an intervals mile with the five-year-old. He was awesome and so was the walk. Today he asked for a hike. Something’s getting into that boy. πŸ™‚

Celebrate Schools 5K

20131005-180138.jpgWe rolled out of bed at 6:15 this morning, bent on hitting the road by 7:00 so we could make our race. It started at 8:00, after a huuuuge line to pick up our race packets yielded a gigantic orange shirt for me. Nice. They ran out of my size. Oh well πŸ™‚ I met up with my students who were excited to run the race with me and we hit the start line, waiting to hear the buzzer. While over there, a group of us from my school conglomerated and took a photo, which was pretty cool. I love those moments where you’re with people you see all the time in one setting but now you’re in a COMPLETELY different setting…

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{if you are too visible in this picture and want more fuzz or removal, lemme know!}
The horn blew and we were off! I thought I might be running with my students, or my daughter, or my friend Melissa, or my husband, or Rhiann, but I ended up running with the para educator who works in my classroom. Because I’m Captain Awesome, we call her Super V. I usually call her Lois, but whatever. We ran the entirety together, chatted while we ran and it was really fun. I was glad to have the opportunity to do something non-work with her. As we ran, we saw Rhiann and her daughter, Jude & Bradley, Gigi and her new friend and lots of other people who I teach with, but what was really fun was that it was a ‘there and back’ kind of race! As we ran back we passed people we knew we would cheer and call out to them; there was a distinct sense of community and the race was really fun. For the most part, the route was pretty flat. There were a few minor hills involved that seemed big on the decline, but the ascent went quickly and painlessly and, of course, we didn’t stop. In fact, the last bit was down a hill so we blasted down and killed our last mile! We finished the race with a time of 32:05. As we passed over the finish line a huge group of my people cheered us to the end, and we heaved and huffed and hung out, watching the rest of us travel over the finish line. Gigi ended up running with a little girl from my classroom (who will likely now be coming over for play dates) and they finished before we did in 29 minutes, while Bradley and Jude came in about five minutes after Lois and I. Jude did such a great job- Bradley said he ran about 2/3 of the race!

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What followed can only be called runner’s high shopping insanity. They should never have an event like this at the mall because afterwards we had children who needed to go potty and while we were in there we just kind of decided to see what the Disney store had. They had our Halloween costumes, apparently, along with a few necessary Barbie dolls and sweatshirts. The Baby Gap had Gigi’s current dream outfit and I could have spent a lot more on underwear for myself, a new sofa and an American Girl Doll. And lunch. I didn’t. I had my credit card out today and fortunately I managed not to use it as much as my id wanted me too. But my kids are going to be decked out this Halloween!

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We came home and, because Bradley had to walk part of the 5k with Jude, we headed out for another walk. This was like a hike, though, as we lost and gained about 500 feet of elevation (each way) in the space of 1.5 miles. Yep, we live on a hill so we did the hills and then, only then, did I feel like I had worked out enough. When we got home, Bradley was all, “Wanna work our arms out with weights?”
I was all, “No. Absolutely not.”

It was a good decision. I’m super tired now. The good kind of tired though.
I will love my hot tub an extra bunch tonight.

I Haven’t Posted in Two Days

The title kind of sums this article up. Expect to be wowed by my writing and blown away by my thinking because you’re in for a doozy…
Ha ha!
Quite the opposite.
I went into an autumnal coma, if you will, filled with hot cocoa nights by the fire, good books and lots of down time. Or the opposite of that. Perhaps I was a little more like a squirrel, doggedly and persistently running against the clock, scrambling for more minutes before bedtime to store more nuts, scurrying through leaves, frantic… Yeah… That sounds about right.
This week is one I’m not too sorry to let go. It was long, it was hard and I earned the right to my bed and six pillows every night!

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We got school pictures taken on Wednesday and I couldn’t help but line up a comparison of my employee badges. What a difference a few years makes. I often comment that teaching is one of the few jobs that so effectively documents the aging, hair styles, weight gains and losses. In the past I haven’t always been so thrilled with the comparisons. It’s a new era!
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Tomorrow is the Celebrate Schools 5k. I’m proud to say that my school has rocked it and gone over the necessary number of entrants to earn a grant for my school. That is pretty awesome. πŸ™‚
Notably, I have not worked out in two days so I’m really looking forward to tomorrow!
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I’ve also been spending time with Donnie Wahlberg on Vine. He made me laugh. What can I say?!
Nothing. I know no shame.

Seahawks

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I went running with this awesome fella yesterday. I started out wearing a grey pair of capris and orange shirt when I was in my bedroom. Then I thought it might be cold… So I changed into my bright yellow sweatshirt. I also changed my mind about the pants, so I changed into my new dark blue ones. By the time I got downstairs, I looked down and saw a bright outfit but didn’t think much of it until we passed a lady who commented that we looked like a couple of Seahawks fans! Bwahahaha! Us? Football? Ha! But she didn’t know that. After we saw what she saw we got all picky about our outfits. See, what I failed to tell you is that not only were we dressed for The Hawks, we were also dressed almost indetically. The only difference was that he was a tiny bit brighter blues and yellows! Twinsies!

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And, hey- Does this even look like the same person?! Oh, my, GOODNESS!

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The first is me from yesterday and the second is about five years ago. I’m floored.

Community

I was headed back to my classroom after work this afternoon when I spied a friend/coworker of mine waiting to chat with me. I won’t go into the vast details, but she told me about her struggle with her body, about her body goals and about how she read my blog and a few others and came to the decision that it is time to take control back. She’s totally got that determined glint in her eye. I’m so proud of her. SO PROUD. And so honored that she would share that with me.
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One of the things we talked about was honesty and how one of the first steps in making this gargantuan decision is making sure to be honest with yourself. Using the excuses of, “I had a bad day so I deserve this decadent treat,” or, “I had a bad day so I don’t have to work out,” are just lies that we tell ourselves to get out of less favorable activities. It’s so easy to lie to yourself, too. It’s easy to say you’ve been soooo good so it’s ok to indulge or things have been so stressful that you need chocolate. I get it. I’m a big time stress eater. That is why PMS is so difficult for me! But the lies only lead to poor choices, and I find that the feeling of accomplishment far outweighs any material reward, food or otherwise, that I have found thus far. And I really hate screwing up and seeing the scale bump up a bit too! Being honest with myself and reminding myself of the authentic outcome of my behavior is a huge motivator for me!
So I keep running and watching my calories.
But look at what’s happening: community. πŸ™‚
Like this:
Rhiann and I rocked the run today again. This time I was able to get a derpy run face of the both of us:

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We kept a really solid pace too! After I got home I started looking at my statistics on my Strava. I was embarrassed at the end of summer that my Strava just read two runs per week when my goal was to have averaged 4 runs per week. Granted, I was working out on the Bowflex a lot more, using the elliptical and hiking a lot, but still. I was disappointed. Well, disappoint no more!

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That’s right. Four runs per week! Woot! And the net result is the fat just seeming to melt off! I never lose weight at a pace like this. I’ve lost ten (yes TEN) pounds since the start of September! TEN! LOL! My back to school clothes are already starting to drape and the ones that were a little tight are starting to look a little bit better.

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So… Do you see that?! Yep, I figured out if I wear fuzzy socks on the scale I look classy AND don’t have to show my gross feet. Oh, and I weigh 222.8. That’s all.
(Eye roll! I don’t even know when I ever weighed this much. This is like me at 19 or 20 territory!)