Exhaustion!

I've been working almost non-stop today. I was planning on running my 2 miles tonight, but I just don't have any energy (or time) left. I am reluctantly deciding not to exercise. This will only be the second time since the end of July that I've missed a workout. :( Well, actually that should be :) because I've been doing so well. I guess I'll run tomorrow and maybe Saturday as well.

Here's what my day entailed, take Adam to day care, go to work from 8-12, (doing housework for an older lady) get Adam, go home eat lunch, start preparation on the food for tonight (I'm doing the food for a local shop's open house in a week and tonight was the practice run). I started at 1:00 and wasn't done with that until 7:00. I stopped at Wal-mart on the way home, made about 100 Halloween Fingers for the kids to take to school and for Brad to take to work. I'll post pictures of them tomorrow. Right now, I'm just too tired.

Miles and Music

I drove my running route today and my pedometer is indeed correct. I've been running just under two miles in 25 minutes. I also continued driving to see how much further I need to go in order to make it 3.1 miles, or 5K. It sure seemed like a lot further to go than just another 1.2 miles. I'll get there though. Step by step.

I haven't shared my playlist here yet. I'm listening to music that has 150 BPM.

Mickey, Toni Basil
I Ran, Flock of Seagulls (I love the line in this one that says, I ran, I ran so far away. So appropriate.)
County Fair, Chris LaDeaux
Here it Goes Again, Ok Go
Little of Your Time, Maroon 5
What Goes Around Comes Around, Justin Timberlake (I got the clean version, don't know what's in the explicit one. . .and the one I got is a dance remix, type thing.)
Dance With Me Tonight, That Thing You Do--Soundtrack

I'm very pleased with this playlist. I love having music in my ears while running. In fact, I don't know if I could do it without it. I mean, I know I could, but it would be so much harder. I don't even want to try right now.

Life is busy!

Wow, life has gotten really busy. I had to look at the week's schedule today and figure out how to fit my exercise in. It'll be different each day, tailored to what's going on. I'm glad to have planned that out though, because otherwise it won't happen.

I'm up to running 25 minute stretches now. I'm not sure how accurate my pedometer is, but it says I ran 1.9 miles today. When I was running 20 minutes, I thought that was 2 miles, but when we drove the course, it wasn't that long. My strides must be shorter than some because I know my beat (150 bpm) on my music isn't a very slow pace for running. I have been trying to concentrate on lengthening my stride and am able to do it in spurts.

I've decided to run a 5K with my sister in St. Louis on Thanksgiving. I'm really excited to have that tangible goal in front of me. What a thrilling day that will be. She'll probably smoke me on the race, but that's okay, as long as we're both doing it, I'll be happy. She's always been more into fitness than me, so it'll be fun to have this to share.

As I was running today a truck pulled out in front of me on the dirt road. It was far ahead so the dust it was kicking up was going to be long gone before I got there. My imagination started wandering and I wondered what I would do if someone thought it would be funny to slow down and drive right in front of me, forcing me to breathe in their dust. (Although typing this out makes me realize if they were driving slowly enough to be right in front of me at a running pace, there wouldn't be much dust. Anyway. . .) My immediate reaction was that I would turn around and run back the way I had come, to be free of their dust and to be able to continue my workout. As silly as that all is, it really showed me that I have made huge strides in choosing to be a strong person. I am taking control of my health and my body and it is amazing.

For example, the other day my mp3 player froze up and needed to be reset with a small pin-sized object in order to continue on my workout. (I NEED music!) I was already 5 minutes of warm-up walking into my workout, so I didn't want to walk home just to get a pin. Well, I was near the home of our friends so I knocked. Nobody was home. I looked around on their property for a stray safety pin or paper clip. Of course, nothing. I noticed some dried grass and picked up a good sturdy piece. It worked in the reset hole and I was able to get my music back on and get running. I was so proud of my resourcefulness and my determination to find a way to keep going. I was choosing strength instead of giving up. I now keep a paper clip on the cord of my stopwatch. :)

Some new pictures

Here are some pictures we took the other day. I'm solidly in a size 16 pants now. The stack of pants that were too tight a few weeks ago are fitting me comfortably.

Yay!

I'm down another two pounds today, for a weight of 208. I was hoping to be under 200 by Christmas, but maybe it'll be sooner. :)

On the move again

My weight is going down again. I'm so happy about that. The fill is helping me eat smaller portions and I'm doing phase 1 of the South Beach diet plan right now which has almost no carbs in it at all. I'm only doing this for one week, then I'll start adding back in some good carbs. I've lost 5 pounds in the last two weeks. Awesome. 210 today! Getting down there. 50 pounds left to my end goal.

100 pounds lighter

211 this morning! My highest weight ever was 311, so I'm officially 100 pounds less than that. I've now lost 92 pounds since surgery. This is the first of my string of short-term goals. My next one is to be 203, which is 100 pounds since surgery, then 199, of course, to be under 200. Then whatever Brad weighs, I want to be less than him, with a final goal of 160 or so. I may reevaluate that when I get there, but that's smack dab in the middle of a healthy bmi for my height. Once I'm under the 200 mark, I think my bmi goes from being considered obese to merely overweight. That'll be a nice jump to make. So happy this beautiful morning!

Victorious

I ran for 20 minutes today--approximately 2 miles. It was amazing. When I saw the 20:00 on the stop watch, I started to tear up, realizing I had done it. Once I got home, I totally burst into tears, crying, "I did it!" and Brad was there to give me a supportive and happy hug as I cried a little more. It's such a monumental accomplishment for me. I'm even tearing up a little now. I used to not even be able to run into the store from the rain, or run after my running toddler and today I ran for 20 minutes. My life has changed and I feel so strong. I'm so grateful.

Yesterday we went to Denver for me to get a fill. The surgeon determined that my port has become detached from my abdominal wall. It's stitched into place at surgery, so somehow, it's no longer stationary. He said he could feel it moving around and had a little bit of a hard time finding it. He was successful, however at getting the fluid in. He said if he's unable to access it in the future, that he will have to go in and reattach it. I'm wondering if I want to wait for problems to arise or perhaps just have him fix it sooner rather than later.

Woman stuff ahead: you've been warned!
I'm also thrilled that I've gotten my period back. I been on birth control pills since I had Adam which basically makes your period hormonally forced, so I've never known if my body is actually working properly and ovulating, or just responding to the hormones. I stopped taking them last month and so this is the first real one. I haven't had a normal, regular period since before I became pregnant with my oldest child who is now almost 11, so it's been a really long time since this part of me was normal. If you don't know, menstruation can stop because of an unhealthy body weight, either too high or too low. So this is another victory for me, to be at a healthy enough weight to menstruate. It might sound wierd, but I'm very happy to have this normal part of womanhood again.

Looking to the future

I have a lot of time to think while I'm out walking and running. The other day I realized that I have a very strong desire to hike Mount Timpanogos aka Timp. It has a big history in my family.

My father used to be a tour guide for groups going up the mountain in his teenage years. He also painted at least one painting of the mountain, probably more than that. One of which hung in our home all through my childhood.

Also, there is a photograph of my sweet mother as a teenager on a hike with my dad. I'm not sure if it was taken on Timp, but I'd like to think it was, but even if it was somewhere else, there's a Mom connection there. (My mother died ten years ago.)

The thing that got me thinking about this is a stack of pictures I found the other day of my husband, father, and brothers, along with one of their future wives, hiking Timp. The scenery is so beautiful! It's just breathtaking and amazing and for so many years it hasn't even been a possiblity for me, due to my physical limitations. Suddenly it's a real possibility to be fit enough to do this hike and actually enjoy it.

Brad would be an amazing hiking partner and I know he would help me through the hard parts so I would feel safe and be safe.

Hiking and running were always two things that I've hated. Running because it was just so hard on my body and hiking because it was just hard and I get scared in precarious situations. Looking back at running, I am enjoying doing it because of the accomplishment. It's not that I'm actually loving the act of running, so much, as I am enjoying the fact that I'm doing it. Hiking I can see why it would be fun, with the whole beauty surrounding it. I suppose it could still be scary, but as long as we do it safely, and my husband does, I think I can do it.

Now, I'm not sure when I'll be back in Utah, we were there this summer and unless we end up moving there, it may be a while before we can get back there. But as soon as it's a possibility, I want to plan an actual date for the hike. I would really love it if all my family came too. Wouldn't that be awesome? Anyone game?

I am runner hear me breathe (heavily)!

I feel sooo good about my run today. It's becoming more run than walk, so I'm going to call them my runs from now on. I'm on Week 5, day 2 of the Couch to 5K program, which is:

Walk 5 min
Run 8 min
Walk 5 min
Run 8 min

This week's days are all different, increasing in intensity. Day 3 (Saturday, this week) is to walk 5 minutes, Run 20 minutes with no walking. It will be a challenge, but I'm totally up for it. I felt like I worked hard and pushed myself today, like I haven't done yet. I was sweating so much and breathing very hard. It was great and I feel so victorious!

I lost another pound, putting me at a total of 90 pounds lost so far. Yay! 90 pounds in just over 9 months. The weight loss is certainly slowing down during these later months, but it's a great result so far and I couldn't be happier.

Well, I could be happier if I wasn't fighting the urge to eat a lot of sugar and carbs right now! Well not right now, right now, just now in general. I think the last couple of weeks have been harder than any time since my surgery in February. My meal choices are still right on target, but after lunch for some reason, it's like I get started eating with my meal and can't stop looking for treats and things to have afterward. This is the main reason I have realized that I need a fill! I'm so glad that it's happening tomorrow.

I am also going to do the South Beach Diet plan starting on Monday. I'm hoping to retrain my body to not depend on sugar and carbs. South Beach has you eat basically lean protein and veggies to start with. The plan is basically laid out here if you're interested.

I'm not sure of the whole science behind this, but somehow, even with worse eating, I've been still able to have my weight go down. When it works in my favor, I won't question it--just enjoy it. I'm sure the exercising is helping. Finally. :)

I scheduled a fill

I was up another two pounds today for some reason. I'm really not happy about that. I'm 4 pounds higher than my lowest weight of 214. I was hoping to see it go down today, not up. So, I called Dr. Metz's office and scheduled an appointment for a fill next Friday. I'm definitely able to eat more than I probably should be, so hopefully this will help kickstart the weight loss again.

I got my exercise done today, but it was much harder because I did it this afternoon. It's so much easier when I do it first thing in the morning. Tomorrow I'll be exercising about 5:30 a.m., so that's pretty much first thing.

I prepared a whole bunch of grilled chicken today on my friends' grill. I marinated thirteen chicken breasts in teriyaki and they turned out great! I'm going to freeze some of it to use for meals over the next while. We're also eating it for dinner tonight. Yay for convenient food that is healthy.

Week 4

I started my fourth week of Couch to 5 K this morning. It is so much harder than week 3. But I'm up to the challenge. Here's the workout:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:

• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

So I jogged 1.5 miles today, broken up of course. Very cool!

My weight is giving me troubles. I dropped a couple of pounds during the week, but as of the official weigh in day, I've lost no pounds this week. I guess that's better than gaining. I think I must need a fill. I'm trying to decide if I should get it before the holidays or after. If I wait, I may gain some, if I don't, then I risk not being able to eat much holiday food, which might not be a bad thing. We'll see.

Edited to add: I was just looking over my weekly weight loss chart and it's interesting to see that I've been bouncing up and down for several weeks now, but the overall trend is downward. That is interesting and somewhat comforting.

I hit the floor!

And it's a good thing. :) Hit the Floor is the workout video I tried to do a few days ago and found it to be really hard. I was determined not to let it get the best of me. I asked my sweet husband to help me by sitting with the remote and helping me pause or back up where I needed to. He helped me make sure I was doing the moves as correctly as possible, given my strength level. It made such a difference having him here helping me. It was still really hard, but I didn't stare at the screen without trying on any of the moves this time. Thank you, Brad!

We took progress pictures again. Yesterday was my 8 month mark. What an amazing 8 months this has been. I will add the pictures to the slideshow and post a few others that we took yesterday as well. I'm wearing a woman's size 16 in these pictures. I hadn't realized I was down to that size, quite yet, but I am. I started in a 26/28.

Strength

I feel so blessed. As I was doing my run/walk this morning, I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for where I am. I really feel that the whole Lapband surgery and following changes I've been able to make has been a gift from God. I feel that the desire and ability to do this exercise so diligently and not lose motivation has been divinely given. I'm pleased with myself for the effort I've put forth, but more than that, I feel that the ability to do so has been from His strength. I have wanted to do these things before, but never before has it clicked like it's clicking now. I prayed for years that I could find a way to lose weight and get healthy. My prayers have been answered and I feel that I must give praise to Him for this amazing journey I'm on.

Biggest Loser: Families (spolier, don't read if you don't want to know.)

We finished TBL:Families episode for this week last night. I was so sad to see Jerry go, but so happy when the follow-up segment showed how far he has come. I truly want these people to get healthy and lose that weight. I think his daughter, Colleen is amazing and I loved how his perspective on who should stay really took into consideration that this could really change her life at her very young age.

I'm really enjoying this show. It's motivating. I want to see more differences in their bodies, but I know that will come.

Sparkpeople.com has a couple of very interesting articles about The Biggest Loser. The first one is highlighting the great things we can learn about weight loss from the show. The second one is to warn us of some of the unrealistic things about the show and how to avoid comparing ourselves to those situations.

Marching band ruined me for running

Well, sort of. I cannot run (or even walk for that matter)to music unless my feet are hitting the ground right on the beats. I attribute this to those four years of marching band. It's even so bad, that sometimes I feel like my feet are not on the right part of the beat, like the right foot should come down on the first beat of the measure, not the left. So I have to do an awkward skip to switch feet. Band geek, through and through, I suppose.

The reason this creates a problem is that I have to be very specific about which songs I can use on my MP3 player for my workout since the song essential controls how fast my feet move. Right now I am using Maroon 5 songs: I use one for the walking parts and the other one for the running parts. I'm not completely sick of them yet, but I have already made up my playlists for the next 3 weeks, just using those songs, so I very likely will be sick of them. But, as long as they are the right tempo for me, I'm glad to have them.

I'm back together with Mr. Scale

At least for this week. I didn't like my weekly weigh-in result, (+1 pound) so I asked Brad to leave the scale out. I'm glad I did because this morning I was down two from yesterday, with a new low weight of 89 pounds lost. I like that a lot.

The weight loss has sure slowed down since my 6 month mark. I want to just be patient about it and not stress too much. I know I'm living in a healthy manner and will continue to do so. I just hope that my body continues to shed the weight.

I'm on my third week of Couch to 5 K. This week the plan is:
Walk for 5 minutes
Then do the following two times through:
Run for 90 seconds
Walk for 90 seconds
Run for 3 minutes
Walk for 3 minutes


I didn't know if I was going to be able to handle running for 3 minutes, but I surprised myself at how strong I am. I even ran an extra set of 90 seconds because the workout ended before I was home.

I did a new T-tapp workout called Hit the Floor this morning. It totally kicked my butt. It was so hard. It's going to take a lot of trying before I'm strong enough to do it, but I sure could use some toning in my lower body, so hopefully I can work up to being able to do the workout properly. For now, I'll just do my best and yell at Teresa while I try to follow her moves. :)