The stuff of nightmares

I'm not talking about a bad run, I'm talking about a migraine! Ahhhh, last Wednesday one of the worst migraines I've had in quite a long time happened. I'm almost 100 percent sure it was exercise-induced. Or, maybe a tiny chance it's stress related because flood. ;)

The problem with these 4:30 a.m. runs is I have to get the family up at 5 and we have to be out the door by 6. It makes the mornings getting ready sort of stressful and doesn't leave much time for hydration or breakfast. I've got to figure out a way to solve this. I'd prefer something other than getting up at 4 a.m., but ehhhhhhh, not looking too good.

This freaking migraine lasted for three days. I missed work Thursday and to be honest, I should have missed work Friday. But I went in anyway.

It took three days, lots of water, vomiting, stomach issues (always triggers IBS episodes), eye pain, but damnit I was a new woman Saturday morning.

I should have run this weekend, but honestly, I was really scared I would have a rebound headache. That has happened before and I just didn't want to chance it.

I used to get migraines often. Enough so I had to get a prescription, but the last couple of years have been really good to my head. With the exception of PMS headaches, I don't get them too often anymore. So naturally I didn't have a prescription.

Excedrin Migraine helped somewhat, but I feel like all that really is is a big shot of caffeine. Sometimes you just have to power through till it's over.

Hence, here we are today. I'm ready and able to get out on the road this week and I"m looking forward to it.

So I've come to learn the best way to avoid migraines is DRINK WATER before/after and basically like forever when running. Also, try to handle your stress as best as possible. HAHAHAHAHAH! OMG there is no handling of stress these days other than wanting to be in a fetal position under the bed. But, I'm surviving just fine!

13-minute range!

Today I will pat myself on the back and toot my own horn. It's not often I achieve something that allows me to do all that, but I will do it today!

First, it was only one mile. Second, it's still very slow compared to most runners. Third, it was only one mile ...

This is my third week of running again so I went from a 15:36 to a 13:36. I'm hitting my goals on my spreadsheet, but of course, I have a really long way to go.

I think I am going to hold off one more week on adding another mile. I'm going to keep trying to improve on the one mile.

I've found the key is to not look at your watch. I was obsessively looking at my paces and honestly that would slow me down mentally. I still look at it several times though, but I look at the distance rather than the pace.

From .72 on I thought I would trip or barf, and I did neither. So it's a win!!

What's the slowest mile you've run compared to the fastest? Do you celebrate the little victories? For me, it's the only thing keeping me going. :)

Happy Halloween!

I hope today is full of spooks, goblins, ghouls and candy of course! Surprisingly I'm not all that enthused about the candy haul this year. Just another example of me being off my game in 2016. Ha!

Last week was a nice week since I was on my Staycation. It was a bit boring (which I luved), but I sure did take advantage watching The Walking Dead, Supernatural and New Girl. These were all new shows for me and I had a great time. I started watching Downton Abbey and eh, I'm a little disappointed? But I'm going to give it more time.

Running wise I had a sort-of-good week. I got in only two runs I think.

14.31 - one mile
15:08 - one mile

I was somewhat disappointed because the last time I posted I had a 14:07 mile. It's crazy how some miles feel super fast and then whaaaat, only 15:08 - am I regressing?

I had a lot of stomach issues last week which led me to not running that third scheduled run.

What I find with my IBS is during times of stress, it will flare up, but I'm usually so stressed I can handle it. It sounds crazy and it is. But then, when things "calm down" with the stress, THAT'S when the IBS ramps up. It's annoying and illogical. But I've come to accept it for what it is.

October was a much, much better month stress-wise compared to September. Here we are, on Halloween, without having as much as nailed in one nail into the house. Our original goal was to be back in the house by Halloween. Oh, we were so young and naive 2 1/2 months ago. Bless our hearts.

But we are slowly making progress with paperwork. It's taken calling in our state representatives and attorney general, but it's coming along...sort of. We still have no insurance money so....

Today I got out there and I wasn't sure I would because of my stomach. But I'm so glad I did because I got:

So, so close to 13.59. Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I was trucking it, but I was dying. I wanted to throw up, but hey, that's nothing new. ;)

This week I hope to get back out there three more times. My plan was next week to bump up to two miles, but eh, I don't know. No rush.

Tomorrow starts my big 50,000-words in November writing project. I got to meet one of my favorite authors this weekend - Natalie C. Parker - who gave me a few tips and inspiration to get this thing done.

Happy Halloween! 

I'm back to running and so far, so good

Dare I type anything positive these days for fear that doom and gloom are around the corner. Because that's what past history has shown me. LOL! Ok, I'm half joking and half not. But I need all the positivity I can get these days so...

My weight is officially at 162.4 - which gah, gained a few pounds, but thumbs up because it could be much worse and I feel like mentally and physically I'm starting to cut through the fog of depression. So my old appetite is welcomed back with open arms.

Last week was a joyous one for me. I ran THREE times and each time improved. Now I'm not going to sit and act like I'm a good runner or even that I'm dedicated or boom, I've got this. I'm pretty slow and I'm not sure I'll ever find my "happy pace" but I was super proud of myself for overcoming mental bullshit I've had going on for two months now.

If you have the chance to talk to others from this flood, take what they say as valuable info. So many life's lessons in this and I think one common thread I've found from others who are going through this - we almost feel guilty when trying to do things other than "omgzzzzzzzz I have to work 24/7 on getting back into my house and all other things are to be damned and put on the backburner right now."

That is not a logical, or healthy, way to view this, yet we all find ourselves thinking this. Most of us who aren't actively installing sheet rock ourselves are sitting, waiting, twidling our thumbs. We are waiting for insurance money (which btw comes from FEMA even though you've PAID this money for years) and waiting for contractors (right now, we are still waiting for estimates for how much making our house a home again will cost).

So basically next to sitting inside our house and crying and dreaming of ways to get the ball moving, we are stuck in limbo. It's not a way to live long-term, particularly not when you are talking at a minimum of four more months of this.

So I've done the opposite of what I usually do. Usually I would just solve this problem. But since I can't solve it myself, I'm following through on goals. I talked in the last post about my writing project. And luckily I am healthy enough to get out there and run. So that's what I did.

It was weird going into my new "faux" neighborhood. It has its pros - good lighting, lots of streets to choose from. And its cons - this requires me to be up at 4:30 a.m. or earlier (the longer miles I go); for some reason one mile takes FOREVER compared to my old neighborhood; not sure of which cars leave at what time (which I knew well from my old neighborhood).

The first two runs I got up at 4:30 to get out there for 4:45. Sunday's run was at 6:50 or so.

Wednesday

Friday

Sunday

According to my spreadsheet, my goal for those three runs would be a combined 15-minute mile (anywhere in the 15-minute range). It was 14.83! I am soooo happy! I'm proud of going out into the new neighborhood, fighting the heat, then the COLD. LOL! Yes, Louisiana weather.

I do think running in the daylight helped me go faster, also 48 degrees is a good temp for me to run in. I enjoy it, it's not knife-cutting cold in my lungs, it's doable. The coldest I've run before is 28 degrees, so 48 is perfect.

This week I'm doing much of the same. Except I'm on vacation, but I have a field trip day with my daughter, going study paint colors, working on my writing project which officially begins Nov. 1, and going to binge watch either The Walking Dead (not too big on zombies, but I have an open mind) or Downton Abbey (I do love the British).

What about you? How was your week last week?

Ready for this week

Not much to report on last week. I have no clue what my weight is because we had to throw out our scale in the flood and I haven't been able to weigh-in at work. LOL! This is probably a good thing. I suspect I'm back in the 160s and that's ok. Honestly, I'm happy to have my appetite back.

Last week I was sore for a few days from the 5K. Not surprising, but I felt really good for the most part.

I have mapped out an Excel spreadsheet for my training plan for the 5K I'm going to do in January. I've got 13 weeks to get into better shape and basically my goal is to get a lot faster. I'm tired of trodding and pludging (is that a word?).

Friday morning I went to my daughter's Honor Roll Assembly. She got straight A's - which, yes, it's only the first grade - but considering all she has been through the situation could have been the reverse. She could have had a really bad nine weeks at school. So I hope we are doing right by her in raising her among the chaos right now. I CRIED MY EYES OUT.

This weekend we went to the New Orleans Zoo for my daughter's friend's birthday. So fun. And so hot. Where is fall? Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch with my friend's kids. Again, so fun. And so hot. Here in Louisiana, the weather has not gotten the memo we are moving along to spring.

My girl is not a baby anymore. That's what she thinks. When she's 50 years old, I'll still say she's my baby.
 

Yesterday afternoon I went to the movies with my other friend to see Girl On A Train. So, so good. I think a lot of people were expecting the greatness of Gone Girl, but I thought it was really good. My friend also liked it, so the movie has two fans! And of course I'm a fan of the book.

So this week, I have a few regular-life goals to meet. But I'm hoping to go run for several days. 4:30 a.m. wakeup call anybody? I should be finishing the outline for my writing project. I'm on vacation next week, so I'm either going to complete that or start my novel!! And yes, I will be running on vacation! It's a staycation and I'm super excited.

How is the weather in your area? How many pumpkin lattes have you had so far? (I've had zero). Have a great week!

The new normal and my return to a 5k!!

I'm going to do my best to return to regular blogging. I've started and stopped a post about 20 times over the last almost two months. I cry every time I start, but I'm going to power through. I don't want this blog to be a Debbie Downer blog. I want it to be goal-oriented (for me) and to see my hard work pay off.

The blog is about my path to returning to running. But, if you read my blog, you know in August my house was flooded. We lost everything in the house except for my grandmother's wood table that I refused to throw out, although maybe it should be chunked. Long story short: we are living in another suburb while waiting for renovations to START. That's right, we haven't even started yet.

We are in a daily, sometimes hourly struggle with the insurance company, the adjusters, the contractors, FEMA, the government for a loan....it is incredibly frustrating. Our lives are literally in the hands of about a dozen people and we have NO control.

We did have flood insurance, and we've quickly found out that we would be better off WITHOUT flood insurance. Lots of stories right there, but let's move along.

It feels like somebody has a voodoo doll of me and are just jabbing away. The worst, and I mean the worst, is my daughter and how she's having to handle this. Again, can't go into much or I will start crying. She's a kid who is worrying about adult problems and I hate that for her.

But, we are not giving up and hopefully by 2017 we will be back in our house. It's looking more and more like 2017.

My health has been interesting. I ended up getting down to my lowest weight of 157, but not in a good way. Only three times in my life have I just quit eating. When I was going through chemo (to be expected), when I had a bit of post partum depression after my daughter was born and now. September was the WORST month for me in many ways. This is totally unlike me, and I have spoken to my doctor about it. It's stress. Plain and simple. My days of overeating are gone (yay!), but I do not want to fall into days of not eating.

Luckily I have gained a few pounds back. Yes, I'm still trying to lose weight, but the RIGHT way. My meals have been fast food and packaged meals. I'm trying to balance somebody else's kitchen and fridge and time and omgz...I'm completely out of my comfort zone.

Now onto happier times: This weekend I ran my first 5K in three years I think? Rock N' Roll NOLA had a free tuneup, gearup 5K and me and Rich did it! Soooooooo happy.

Perfect weather: check
No hip issues or foot issues: check
No thoughts of giving up: check
Got a medal for the first time in three years: check
Spent time being a normal couple whose lives haven't been turned upside down by water: CHECK!

Old State Capital

New State Capital in the distance

Before the race
 
 

After the race (luvvvv him)

Rich, who is a pro treadmill walker, walked the entire thing. And beat me. HAHAHAH! And that's ok! I was super proud of him and us. This was not his first 5K, but he did amazing. I think he beat me by 10 minutes.

My time: 54 minutes. LOL! In my defense, the course was longer than a 5K. But I loved every minute of the race. My biggest issue were my lungs. They were on fire and just as I had predicted, I had to start walking/jogging at the half mile mark. I did end up jogging most of the race, but I was jogging very slowly.

I had been looking forward to this for weeks and it was perfect for me mentally. I had a goal, something to look forward to and plot it out.

Considering I had not run in about six months, I've been getting little sleep, I had NACHOS the night before, I'd say this was a win.

We then celebrated going to Past Times where I got a Barbecue Poboy and it was out. Standing!!!

So I'm going to do my best to start getting out there for at least a mile a few times a week. I'm dying to run a marathon, but I'm not ready for a 5k at this point, much less a full marathon. Also, my time is way, way too slow. I need to run about a 9-minute mile before tackling a full marathon. I can't get up at 3 a.m. to run 10 miles. Nope. So the next few months I'm going to work on endurance, then speed.

I'm also embarking on writing my second novel. I'm participating in the National Writing Month contest in November. Goal: write 50,000 words by December 1. I'm actually doing really good with my outline and prep right now, so I'm looking forward to this.

So basically I'm doing my best to turn lemons into lemonade. Most days I fail. But, chin up, suck it up buttercup, life moves on for everybody else and it's time to put on my armor and get out there!

Hope your racing season is going well. I love reading everybody's stories about their running.

The day my world changed forever

So, it's taken me a long time to attempt to compose a blog post about the last few weeks. I'm not even sure how much detail I'm capable of giving and I'm in a public place so it's best if I don't cry. LOL!

Long story short - my birthday was Tuesday, August 9. It was fantastic and I thought, "44 is going to be my year, I just know it." That following week I was evacuating my house due to the flooding in/near Baton Rouge. I live in a suburb of Baton Rouge. (Totally possible I have these dates wrong, so forgive me if that happened).

To sum this up as best I can: We only got a foot/foot and a half of water (depending on which room in the house). We had to wait five days before the water receded enough for us to even see the damage to our house. When we walked in and saw it was a foot, we rejoiced.

Then we immediately started going through our stuff. Naturally all furniture and appliances had to be thrown out. We knew right away floors would have to be ripped out and sheetrock replaced.

We started going through our stuff - Emily's toys, my books, Rich's sports memorabilia. There was so much slime, even on things that were at the top of our closets. Turns out, the sewage pond behind our neighborhood flooded into people's homes in the neighborhood (only five streets in our neighborhood).

So there was the combination of swamp water, rain water, sewage and about 500 dead and living earthworms. That same water sat in our house for five days. The humidity apparently rising to the top of the closets.

There are no words to describe the first time seeing your house in this condition. No words.

Because we followed FEMA's directions (although I'll fully take responsibility for this decision being the biggest mistake of my life), we left one car there. Phone service was terrible, people were starting to panic. FEMA says to only take one car so you don't get separated. So we packed as fast as we could, put the cat in her kennel, shoved her in the car with us and left. Try explaining this to a 6-year-old......

Later I'll post about where we've been living, what are our future plans, talk about the lost car (we have since bought a used car from New Orleans) and the pros and cons I've seen from people during this time.

Where does this leave my running journey? That's coming up too. And yes, I do still have goals other than doing everything humanly possible to get my little family back into my little house as soon as possible.

I bid you adieu from the state that gets a lot of shit from northerners about our Cajun ways, but we are strong. We will rebuild. We did not wait for help from the government. We helped each other. We are taking care of business. This is south Louisiana.

Week 20 - my first run!

This morning was my first run after losing 15 pounds. My goal was one mile at a 14-minute pace. I made it a half mile. hahahah!

Mistake #1 - 5:30 a.m. as opposed to 5:00 a.m. - apparently that's the open season time for people to go to work. I had to dodge a few cars which slowed me down.

Mistake #2 - I started off way too fast. I was so focused on hitting my goal that I was completely spent by the half mile.

Mistake #3 - Not sure this is really a mistake, but a factor - there was heat lightning and I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to any type of lightning. It wasn't raining at all, but the lightning kind of freaked me out. Also ... HEAT. HUMIDITY. I had to take my phone for the music and I wasn't even outside one minute before the screen was soaked with dew.

I was disappointed I had to give up halfway in. I was dying though and I was worried I'd pass out. So naturally the walk back home was long and I had the sadz.

By the time I took my shower, got ready for work and drove into work - hell yeah, I'm going back out there Friday! It really is a mental game.

I have such a long way to go, but I definitely felt lighter without the extra junk in the trunk. I did keep looking at my watch and I'd see 12,13 and 14-minute numbers pop up so that was exciting. My numbers used to be 15-16.

I ate breakfast this morning after the run so I didn't weigh myself, but I'll count yesterday's weigh-in: 162.4. The weekend screwed me over. This weekend I'm determined to reign in the diet. Tuesday is my birthday so I'm having a Brewbacher's catfish platter and my husband and daughter are making me cupcakes to celebrate.

Last Friday my weight was 161.2 and oooooh I was so excited. I hadn't seen that number in four years. But alas, it was short-lived.

So there we go. It's going to take a lot of work and hopefully no injury. HOPEFULLY NO INJURY. This is my biggest fear.

And for posterity and because I need to include a pic:

My homemade salad. Quite a handy, quick meal.
 

Week 19 summary

Whewww, I'm super late posting about last week. We went to the beach this weekend and I've been playing catch-up all week. I'll just use my weigh-in for today since I'm already so late into this week.

Our favorite place in the world. Only pics I took on my phone. Other pics were on my real camera.
 

162.4 - ahhhh, my new stalled number I think. Although I think in my last post I was in the upper 163s, so technically I am losing. I, of course, gained a couple of pounds at the beach. I had some great meals and some not-so-great junk food. But between the trudging on the beach and walking up and down stairs outside and inside the condo - I'm going to give myself a high-five.

Also I'm proud that when I got back I eased right back into the diet. I'm still probably having too much rice and bread, but I have not resorted back to night snacking and my Starbucks coffees. Man, I'm really proud about that. I'm back to where I was on Friday when I went to the beach and back to eating for food, not eating for cravings or emotions.

Rich's grandmother passed away while we were at the beach. She was a fantastic, amazing woman who was spunky and a real dish right up till she died. If only we could all live to be 92 with a wonderful life to look back on.

Other than a few jellyfish stings (looking at you long-tentacled beings) we had a great time in the ocean.

BUT, I'm out of shape. Maybe I am skinny fat. HAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm not skinny, but I like to joke that I'm skinny fat because I've lost a decent amount of weight, but I'm terribly out of shape.

So, I think next week I'm going to head out to the road and run. I'm scared! I am hoping my 17-pound loss from my last run will help my feet and knees. I'm excited to see what I can build up to.

Week 18 summary

Before I give my summary, I just wanted to say I'm praying for the city I work - Baton Rouge. The city is going through hell right now with the officers' deaths. My dad knew one of the officers killed. I grew up in church with their family. I know a lot of people do not believe thoughts and prayers work, but I'm a believer. I'm also a believer in the officers. I will always be on their side. Period. I know I'm in the minority these days, but I believe in these people. They run TO the danger, while the rest of us take cover.

It's been a tough two weeks in my area. My opinion on anything political doesn't matter to anybody, so let's move on. :)

Surprisingly I'm down to 163.4. It's almost two pounds and you better believe I'll take it. I'm finally finding my rhythm with the diet and my new job. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with both. So now it's time to get into a rhythm with workouts. I have been doing abs and weights several times a week, but I need to add in cardio.

One mistake I've realized, remember that Clif bar? Yeah that nice little nugget had a TON of carbs and "additional carbs." What are additional carbs? Bueller? Bueller? It amounted to the amount of carbs in a Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha. So all those days of Clif bar breakfasts - yeah, what a disservice to myself that was.

Peanut Butter Crunch

Source: Clif Bar website

So now I'm researching other breakfasts. I'll probably go back to eggs and oatmeal. The great thing about the bar was I could eat it at my desk. I'm a big label reader and for some reason - I never actually read the Clif bar label. However, I think if you are maintaining weight while training - the bars would be A great choice post run.

That about does it for my summary. We are heading to the beach this weekend and I'm nervous about the diet. I'm definitely going to allow for splurges, like the ice cream shop called SHAKES. Probably a Lambert's roll or two. My brother is going to barbecue, sooooo yeah. Unfortunately I won't be drinking my usual multiple real Dr. Peppers, breakfasts of pancakes, junk food, junk food, gas station food, did I mention no junk food? Gahhhh!

I hope your week goes well and you are happy and healthy!

Week 17 summary

Apparently 165 is my body's happy weight. It's not the weight I want for running, but this is where it just luvvvvvvvvvs to climb back to and stay. I had actually reached 164 last week and joy! But I gained back two pounds this weekend.

Last week was a tad difficult what with the July 4 holiday. Then my daughter became sick with a virus and 103 fever on Friday. I stayed home from work with her. Sat by my own personal portable/walking/breathing heater all day. I handled Friday at home pretty good with my eating.

Don't mind the creepy eyes from the cat. She was a very nice nurse all weekend to the sickly.

Saturday was a different story. My husband went to Houston for the day for an Astros game. So I had Jimmy Johns. I also had custard ice cream. I was just tired, functioning on little sleep and boom.

Sunday I went out to lunch with my friend. We went to Applebees for a "healthy salad." I knew that salad wasn't truly healthy, although the chicken was grilled. But it was a quesadilla salad. hahahah! Little quesadillas were in the salad. It was delicious, but we probably could have had a burger and fries for the amount of calories in the salad. muahahahaha!

My daughter is better today, but I'm just hoping she doesn't relapse.

So my goals for the next three weeks are to get as low as I can with pounds. I plan on starting back running in three weeks and I'm hoping for a good 20 pounds or more lost since the LAST time I ran. This should be considerable less poundage on my knees.

Ultimately my goal is 9-minute miles. I'm dying to do a full marathon, but there's no way I can get out there at 3 a.m., run for three hours only to have run a nice 9 miles or so. I need to be fast to put in the work for daily training before going to my job. This is going to take a lot of work.

Based on my history with pace, weight and injuries, I may not meet that goal till next year. That's ok! I'm not giving up. :)

In other news, I'm gearing up to go to the beach in a couple of weeks! So excited!!!! Yes, I plan on watching what I eat. Another :)

Week 16 summary

I ended the week at 165. Darn holiday weekends are the knife in the weight-loss life, right? I had actually dropped to 164 on Friday and boom, it was the weekend. In all fairness to myself, my eating was not all that terrible! I feel like I have about two pounds of bloat on me, that's for sure.

Also last week I upped my workouts to five days. Each of those days I did my weight workouts and a couple of the days I did the ab challenge.

So not really sure the workouts did all that much to help with weight loss, but I was pretty darn proud of myself for squeezing them in.

We had a nice, relaxing July 4. We finally made our way to see Independence Day. So good! It was pretty crazy because the theater only had 45 seats. It was actually SMALLER than the theater I went to with my friend to see Me Before You. Sequels usually don't fare well, but I still really enjoyed the movie.

I meant to work on my wreaths for the benefit, but I ended up reading three books. So I know what I'll be doing this week.

This week I'm going to really watch my sugar. I felt like crap this weekend and I know it's because I had too much sugar and those bad (not the good!!!) carbs. I was very sluggish and I'm not normally like that during the week, so looks like food really can affect my energy levels.

This week, much of the same of the last 16 weeks. What can I say? At least I've made a blog post for 16 weeks right? LOL!

Couple of food pics:

Salad from home with roasted chicken. Coincidentally I'm having the same thing tonight!

More of Amy's Vegetable Soup. 

Just a fun pic of my dad playing basketball at my house. And no, I did not play and I'm TERRIBLE playing as an adult.

Hope you have a great week in this FOUR-day work week. 

Week 15 summary

Woo hoo! This past week I went from 168 to 165.5. Finally I hit 165. FINALLY! My body was hanging onto 167 and 166 for a good month I think. I've broke through the plateau.

But I still have a lot of work to do.

My diet slipped somewhat this week with my starting a new position at work, while keeping up with my old position. I still ate healthy foods, but I did have some rice, a taco, etc...Nothing too crazy, but I wish I had cooked more. I do love cooking, but some days it's tough squeezing it in. It's going to be like this for a couple of months. But I love my new position, and of course I still love my old position, so it's a win-win.

However, I do have to work extra hard to stay on course. I've been doing the ab challenge, but I need to add more weight workouts and get in some cardio in preparation for running.

This weekend I ended up drinking a lot of my calories and that's probably not too healthy. I had a REAL Mr. Pibb which was fantastic. Saturday night I went to see Me Before You with my friend. We had been planning on seeing this for weeks and finally found time to see it. So good, but alas so sad. I had prepared myself for it and didn't cry too much. My poor friend. I texted her Sunday telling her I'm sorry it was so sad!

I also had real movie popcorn, but I didn't go overboard with it.

I also had jambalaya from a benefit for my daughter's friend who has leukemia. And surprise, surprise, her friend was there. Ohhhh those two hugged each other so tight and it was my favorite part to the weekend. She's been at St. Jude for treatments. She looks good, but she's fighting a tough battle.

Yesterday I had a REAL Dr. Pepper because I was dying of thirst and it sounded good. And it was. Luckily I am not a drinker. I literally have one or two daiquiris a year and that's it. Even the "skinny" margaritas and drinks still have over 500 calories. Ahhhh, I'd rather eat my calories than drink them.

This week, going to drink more water, workout daily and eat loads and loads of vegetables.

Hope you had a great weekend and a happy week!

Week 14 summary

I was just looking through my phone and I have no food pictures for this post. I'm sorry! I've now reached Defcom 5 emergency situation with the memory on my phone. I need to download the literally 700 pictures that are on my phone.

Today I started my new job, which I'm still at my same company, but am transitioning into a new department. So basically I'm working 20 hours in my old department and 20 hours in my new department. I love it! It's more challenging and a tad scary because I've done the same thing for a decade now. Gotta say, kind of weird this morning to walk into a new department and not go to my old desk and sit with my coffee. Life is good right now.

However, I've slacked on my workouts - still doing that ab challenge but it's, well, challenging! I'm also BACK to where I was at the beginning of last week - 168. That is frustrating, but not at all surprising. My eating has been OK, but not as clean as what it needs to be to run. But, I'm not giving up.

It seems like my downfall has been restaurant food. A girl can have only so many salads, right? But, I feel good going into this week and am ready for the umpteen challenges I will have. Primarily being tired from work.

I hope everybody had a good Father's Day. We visited all fathers in the family yesterday and had a relaxing day overall. Here are my two favorite people arm wrestling. Her Daddy always lets her win!

Have a great Monday!

 

Happy Thursday and ab challenge!

I hope your week is going well. Mine couldn't be better! I lost the pound that I keep fluctuating with. It's almost the weekend! It's a friend's birthday. I'm about to start my new job. Did I say it's almost the weekend?

This post is to tell you about the 30-day ab challenge I'm joining. It's free, so feel free to join too.

Amanda at Run To The Finish has started yet another great challenge. Hers are free, fun and filled with prizes.

Here is the link to the challenge.

These are the goals:

CHALLENGE GOALS
What should you expect of yourself for the next 30 days??

• 3 full core workouts per week (1 new workout per week provided, plus more ideas)
• Making 1 small food change each week (1 new nutrition topic covered weekly)
• Focusing on the benefits of a stronger core
• Reminding yourself you have 5-10 minutes for key cross training

So there we go. I think it will be a lot of fun. I had my twitter set to private because I get loads of spam, but I've opened it up public now. Look for me: wendylikesbooks - I'll be tweeting about the challenge and I'd love for you to join me.

Hopefully this will get my weight loss continuing since I've seemed to hit a plateau. This week I stubbed my toe, but the problem was I stubbed my toeNAIL on my pinky toe. I will spare you the gory pics. I hate those pics people post on social media of their swollen ankles, stitches, gory bloody noses. Yeah, TMI people!!

The good news is today is much, much better. So I'll rev back up the workouts. Hope you have a great weekend.

Week 13 summary

Before I summarize last week, I just want to say my thoughts and prayers are with those in Orlando right now. I have friends that live there and they are safe, but really shook up. It's a tragedy and I'm honestly not sure what the answer is to all this chaos.

Last week I stayed the same and this weekend I fluctuated back and forth with a pound. I easily admit my eating was not the best. Both me and my husband struggled this weekend. And it's not a matter of stress eating or anything like that. Some weekends are just harder than others when it comes to preparing food and cravings. 

This weekend I made a Barbie wreath for my daughter's friend's benefit. I did something different with this one rather than gluing ribbon and tied ribbon. I bought a Barbie ponytail head (the outline on wood) and I can't WAIT to see how it turns out. I think I'm going to rent a booth to sell all the items my peeps are donating. They have a booth contest and I'm thinking something along the lines of Shopkins because the little girl LOVES those crazy tiny toys. Something to marinate on the next couple of months.

I also plotted out what's left for the wreaths, so there we go. A lot of fun.

Friday we went to see The Little Mermaid at the local theater. This was my daughter's first play and she was a trooper because it was very long. I loved every second of it. I'm not into musicals, but this was amazing. The girl who played Arial reminded me of Blake Lively.

Ursula!! The actress who played her is a fantastic villain. 

We know who these two are. Ahhhh, I just love this picture so much!

I spent the rest of the weekend with friends. This week is my last week of my regular job before I transition into my new job. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm ready for this new positive change in my life.

We went to a New Mexican restaurant and oooh so good! I tried to stick with healthy fajitas. Amazing!

I hope you have a great week of happiness!

Happy weekend and great job news

I am so ready for this weekend! I have plans with friends and of course, another kid birthday party. LOL! I actually don't mind going to kid parties as long as I'm not the hostess doing all the work. ha!

This week my weight loss has stalled. I'll probably be lucky to lose one pound by next week. So it's time to make some changes. This week I have allowed a few things back in the diet that probably aren't helping matters. Bread, fried catfish, hashbrowns. Carbs, carbs and more carbs.

Carbs are not the enemy and neither is bread. BUT when you are struggling to lose weight, those empty calories and carbs should be the first to go. Right?

So next week I'll go back to a more cleaner way of eating. I'm also going to add cardio/weights workouts. I'm going to shoot for five a week till I'm ready to run. I think I've hit a nice plateau so hopefully I can get over that hump.

My husband is also losing weight and oooooh so much easier having support at home. He's always been supportive, but he loves his shakes and chocolate milk just as much as me. So we are able to talk each other off the cliff a lot of times, but we do treat ourselves sometimes. But not daily like we were before. Love him.

He's lost 14 overall. He's involved in a healthy program at work that gave him a digital scale. He weighs daily and the scale then sends the results to his "coach." That's right, he gets a coach! He logs in honestly what he eats each day and his log is hilarious. But it's working. Unfortunately, he hasn't agreed to eat my roasted cauliflower yet, but I'm working on it.

I've had a great week mentally. I resolved some unfinished business and I'm making a change in my job. Over the next few months I'll be transitioning to my new job. I'm soooooo excited. Also, I may be able to work it out where I can pick up my daughter from school and save on childcare. This will work out really good because I can help her with her homework. My husband has had to do that with her this past year because of my current work schedule.

I'll post more about my new job later, but I love how a couple of things all came together this week. God works in mysterious ways, but he's always got our backs. Always. If you don't believe in God, I'll say I also believe in putting our positive energy out in the universe and that will bring something positive back to you. It does work!

And because I can't possibly have a post without pics, here are two salads I've eaten this week.

Peach salad I made at home. Delicious.

Greek salad from the work cafe. I always forget to mix the salad and when I get to the bottom, it's like a surprise of purple onions and olives.
 

Have a great weekend!
 

Week 12 summary

Another week, another summary. I hope everybody had a good weekend. Mine was filled with wreaths, wreaths and more wreaths. I'm making a bunch of wreaths for a benefit for my daughter's friend who has cancer. It's been a lot of work doing these, but a LOT of fun. I just hope the wreaths get more than $5 at the benefit. :)

Here's how I'm starting off my day. Community Coffee mocha. This is a very good coffee and definitely a sometimes treat. People talk about Starbucks prices, wellll, this company is only about 10 cents cheaper. Flip side is it's very close to the new building at work, so heck yeah!

This week's weigh-in: 166.5. This brings me to a 2-pound loss from last week. Rock on! I'm so very happy, but I can tell I'm starting to plateau. I'm going to see how this next week goes, then I may start adding weight workouts.

My total since the Diet Bet in March is 11 pounds loss. I'm extremely excited to see how I feel when I lose another 10 pounds. I feel a lot better than before. My joints are feeling pretty good. My bloat is gone. I'm starting to feel a slight curve in my waist as opposed to a box.

When I lose more weight that is noticeable, I'll take full body shots. For now I present my Resting Bitch Face:

This was right after Mother's Day weekend, so almost a month ago.

In order to not look like an angry white woman on a Monday I attempted to smile. (I'm not a selfie taker, but trying to document progress) My cystic breakouts are clearing up, a bit of the double-chin is slowly disappearing. The inflamation I had under my eyes is also SLOWLY disappearing.

I have zero food pictures this week. I'm having a memory issue with my camera phone. But I can tell you with the exception of one Chik-Fil-A meal (worth every calorie), a Jimmy Johns meal (worth every calorie) and a custard ice cream (yep, you guessed it) I had a lot of chicken, salads, vegetables, more chicken and more salads.

The last two weeks I've had some stress, nothing worth talking about here, but I've done really good not stress eating. That was a big issue for me before. I would start to eat out more because I was stressed and would put my focus on the stress rather than taking care of myself. Not anymore! This is still a work in progress.

What I've found helpful:
* Keep my mind occupied during those stressful days. If I'm at work, I plot out my running plans. If I'm at home, usually spending time with my kiddo helps. I've also committed myself to a few projects and goals so I don't have the time or care to worry about whatever is going on.
* Focus on the main goal - to lose weight in order to run faster. I'm not a bikini girl, so my goal is not to look good on the beach. I'm in this to win it.
* Stop and think - do I want to eat because I'm truly hungry or because I'm upset about something? This has really helped a lot. A lot of times I'll drink a ton of water and it cures whatever is ailing me.
* Memorial Day weekend I had to go to the Urgent Care clinic for sinusitis. I got TWO shots and 10 days of antibiotics. Normally this would be a trigger for me to eat crap and not give a s***. I've not done that this time around and if anything, I've worked harder to care for myself. Perfect.

This has gone smoothly and not-so-smoothly if that makes sense. I am still missing my nighttime snacks. I really had no idea how much I looked forward to those snacks after Emily goes to bed. Saturday I went to a birthday party and I was the ONLY person to not have soda, cake and a cookie. I saved up because I knew I was eating a big salad from a restaurant later that night.

The good part of that story is I explained to the mom next to me why I was not having any (she mentioned how she's started vacation). Turns out, she's a runner! We had a nice conversation about the upcoming races. She's run both of them before and we analyzed if we really had the gumption and dedication to run a full marathon. It was very nice to talk to a real person about running as opposed to my friends on the web.

So that's where I'm at. I'm hoping to make this week a good one on the scale. As long as I'm losing, I'm pretty happy. But I have a lot of fun things planned for this week, so my non-worthy stress can take a back seat. :)

Global Running Day

It's a great day for all runners and wannabe runners (like me). :) Today is the day to talk and dissect and be all lovey dovey with all things running.

Since I'm not running at this moment (losing weight right now), here is a survey I saw at Mommy Run Fast.

Why do you run?
Running is a bit of a numbers game for me. I hate math, but I love seeing progress with my endurance and pace. But I am super, super, super slow. Sloths run faster than me, but you better believe I'm working on it! It also keeps me disciplined. Surprisingly, having a 6-year-old has made life busier than when she was a baby/toddler. Keeping a running plan forces me to be organized in other facets of life.

How do you plan to celebrate National Running Day?
Well, this is it. I'm sticking with my less sugar/more fat/less crap diet today to get me closer to running. (I've lost another pound this week! Woot!)

How many miles have you run so far this year? Do you have a mileage goal for the year? 
Not that many. I have run maybe about 40 so far this year, but I started a base at literally three miles a week. In a few more weeks, I'm getting back to it hopefully a good bit lighter.

What big events do you have on the race calendar so far this year? 
The Louisiana Half Marathon in January and the Our Lady of the Lake Half Marathon in March. I seriously just want to make it to those two, for real.

Before I leave for a run I must have:
Ipod (yes I'm very old school, but it is purple!), earbuds and that about does it.

Do you track your runs? If so what do you use?
I have a Soleus watch I track the pace/time with. But then, I open up my shiny Lauren Fleshman training journal and, gasp! use a pen to write it down in the log!

Who is your favorite running partner? 
Me, Myself and I. And I love it. I'm trying to get my friend back into it, but otherwise it's me. Running can be a lonely sport and for me it is. I cherish the time by myself, there is NO competition other than with myself. I like knocking out the run before dawn by myself. I love it.

What races have you run so far this year?
Nada.

If you have to give someone one piece of advice about running, what would it be? 
Be a patient grasshopper. I've started and stopped so many times for various reasons (usually injury or illness). In all these times, I've realized I have to do a few things first (like lose weight). I hate this time right now, but I have to take this in baby steps. Losing weight will increase my endurance and speed injury-free. It's a year-long project and patience is key.

Describe your relationship with running in one word: 
Goals.

Week 11 summary

Last week I had a really good week! I made the 160s!! My body likes to stall at 170 a lot of the time, then I start gaining and losing the same few pounds.

Today's weigh-in: 168.5 - 2.5 pounds.

The weekends are definitely a problem, but not going to beat myself up about it because while I did have ice cream and some Popeyes fried chicken, I did not have popcorn, multiple ice cream trips or any junk foods at the many places we went.

I dubbed the three-day weekend "The Weekend of the Bean Burrito!" (my daughter). We spent a ton of quality time together, I unplugged a good bit of the weekend. We went skating, to the spray pad, to the playground, to see Angry Birds (no popcorn did sort of put a spoiler on that one - movie was really good though). We read a bunch of books together and watched movies at home. Anybody seen Goosebumps with Jack Black? That was also really good.

We didn't have any barbecue and that's ok. This time of year always makes me miss my grandfather who was at the beaches on D-Day. He passed away a couple of years ago and I still miss him and my grandmother terribly. That time in the military set the path for a not-so-great life for him, but I value the sacrifices both him and my grandmother made for our freedom.

Some of the eats from last week:

Amy's Butternut Squash Soup - I'm a big fan of Amy products, but not this one. Way to bland and dense.

Homemade salad with baked chicken and peaches.

I used to be into breakfast bars until I realized they made me even more hungry. But these Clif Bars are outstanding and don't have too many bad-for-you ingriedients.

Sometimes we go to a cheesesteak restaurant. No cheesesteak for me, but this chicken chef salad was not that good. 

Roasted bell peppers with quinoa, cheese, onions and parsley. Very good but today I brought Cajun seasoning to spice it up.

This week I'll try a couple of new things and spice up some of the old recipes. I'm very excited for this four-day work week and am looking forward to another fun weekend. Hope you had a great weekend!

Roasted cauliflower

One of my friends introduced me to a roasted cauliflower. ROASTED CAULIFLOWER!?!?! Yes, and believe it or not, it's quite good. I am not a big cauliflower fan. It's kind of eh, blah, on my salads.

I really like cauliflower rice because you can season it up with onions, parsley and whatever you choose! But it's a bit time consuming to chop up the cauliflower for the rice dish.

For those with busy evenings (too busy to spend hours on a side dish), I give to you the roasted cauliflower!

 It's quite lovely and weird, no?

The recipe is from NomNomPaleo and is here.

The above picture was my cauliflower and here is NomNomPaleo's cauliflower. I'm so excited they sort of look similar!

Just be warned it will make your house smell for a bit. 

I ate the cauliflower as a side with baked chicken too. Good combination. I think, however, next time I will add Cajun seasoning to spice it up. 

Total cooking time was an hour and a half. But you literally wash it, cut off the middle, sprinkle oil oil, salt, put aluminum foil over it and stick it in the oven.

Week 10 summary

Gahhh, I had to redo this post. Blogger is a real pain sometimes. It didn't include my pics. Let's try this again, I lost 3.5 pounds!! I really worked this week on reigning in my diet. It worked out really good until the weekend. I see weekends are the biggest problem for me.

So now I'm at 171.0. I can tell I lost an inch or so based on my clothes.

So let me try this again with the pics. My pics will never be pretty. Props to bloggers who have beautiful food pics, but I'm not talented like that.

Chicken Enchilada Soup - homemade, but was more of a stew. This was fantastic!

Chicken Ceasar Salad from the local Mexican restaurant. This is my favorite item on the menu.

Baked catfish with sweet potato with butter and cinnamon. 

Applegate sausage - spinach and feta with a few eggs.

Post kindergarten graduation Izzos' salad.

Celebration custard with Reeses! Perfect sweets cheat for the week! Amazing and this small probably still has 800 calories. Oh, well. My daughter survived kindergarten (and so did I)!!

So this week will be more of the same. Going to watch my diet. Surprisingly I did not have a lot of withdrawal symptoms. I cut out dairy and grains the first four days. I was very tired though, but other than that I held up well. I think it's because the foods I ate were healthy with lots of nutrients. Cherries anyone? I also drank a ton of water. Back at it today.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Week 9 summary

Well, the wheels fell off last week and it's both good and bad. Basically my knees are shot. I'm not surprised by this and I already have an action plan.

The main goal right now is to lose weight. Now I'm not talking anything ridiculous like 20 pounds in a month, but I'm going to chip away at this in a patient grasshopper way. Which sucks, but considering I'm about 14 pounds heavier than I was at my first half three years ago I'm not doing myself any favors by running and eating with the same diet I've had.

That diet would be 'everything in moderation' - which ends up being - 'no one can eat just ONE.'

So I'm going to buckle down for a few weeks and see where that leads me. Worst case scenario - I lose nothing and have to figure out something else. Best case scenario - I lose a few pounds and lighten the load on my knees and feet. Worst case scenario - I miss out on my favorite foods. Best case scenario - I replace those junk foods with foods that will nourish me.

So let's talk numbers, I'm at 174.5 this morning. I've got my spreadsheet ready, I've got my lunch and supper for today already prepared, I've had my cup of coffee sans creamer and sugar, I've got my 32-ounce ice water ready to tackle this week.

It's a shock, but black coffee is not all that terrible!