Friday, March 27, 2009

20/20 Challenge: Week 1 Results

So, this week was pretty productive. I started the c25k program with my friends, Anna and Tonja. Which turned out to be harder than I thought. The first time I tried running on the treadmill at the gym (previously I had been trying to run outside) I think I tried to run too fast. So, on Thursday (after letting the muscle I pulled on Tuesday heal some) I took it down a notch and ran slower. I finished the whole session: 5 minutes of walking for a warm up. Then 20 minutes of alternating between 60 seconds running, then 90 seconds walking. I even did a little extra at the end on Thursday since I had to quit early on Tuesday because of my pulled muscle.
Turns out that running is much harder than I thought. I knew it would be rough, but geesh! About half way through my Week 1, Workout 2 I wanted to quit. But here is where they get ya.... It seems like the longest 60 seconds of your life when you are running and see those seconds slowly ticking by on the treadmill. But then it's over and you have 90 seconds of walking. Somehow, by the time those 90 seconds are almost up, you start to feel like "Yeah, I could probably run another minute." And that's the trick to it... just keep on pushing and somehow you always feel like you have another minute of running left in you. Running a 5k still seems impossible though, but I'm not giving up. It makes me feel sad to know that my heart and body are in such poor shape. But that's just even more motivation to exercise and eat healthy.


For food this week I did pretty spectacular, I think. Most days I was at or below 1400 calories. I like to think of myself as the queen of convenient and healthy dinners. I am by no means a gourmet cook, so they may not be the fanciest or best tasting meals, but they are pretty good... especially for during the week when I have no motivation to cook and used to just eat Lean Cuisines all the time. But now I am trying to eat foods that are fresher and have less preservatives (supposedly to help control my uterine tumor).

Some of you may not really care for this info, but then again it may spark dinner ideas for others so I'm going to include a list of my dinners:
Tuesday we had breakfast for dinner: Turkey sausage, whole wheat toast, whole wheat waffles, egg beaters with some fat free cheddar cheese. It was tasty.



Wednesday we had: grilled chicken breast with steamed rice and veggies.
Thursday we had: Side salads followed by whole wheat pasta with 1/2 cup garden vegetable marinara sauce, and these cute little crunchy breadsticks that are in the salad aisle at the grocery store. Only 60 calories in 3 of them. This is my boyfriend's plate. He had cheese, I did not. He's trying to lose some weight also, but he's allowed more calories than I am.



Not sure what I'll put on the menu for tonight, but I'm thinking probably grilled cheese (with low fat cheese) and soup.


Anyway... on to the results:I weighed in this morning and I've lost 2.8 pounds this week! Yay! I'm sure I could have worked a little harder to get 3 pounds even, but I think I did pretty freaking awesome this week.
Let's just hope I can make it through the weekend, that's always the toughest in terms of willpower to eat right and exercise. And I have dinner with The Boyfriend's parents on Sunday and I know they aren't going to make anything really healthy so I guess I'll just have to work out extra that day.

The BFF, Anna, said something about make a goals chart with dates/events and how much weight she would like to lose by that point. So, I thought I'd make one too. I already had one in my head, but I put it in writing now. I think I can acheive these goals. I've already surpassed the one for April 1st. Yay! I tried to add the chart on here, but it looked too blurry and you couldn't read it. So, I posted it at the very bottom of my blog page (if you scroll all the way down), even though it's still kind of blurry there.

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Ups and Downs...

I had started the C25K program last week, but didn't stick with it very well. So this week myself and my friends Anna and Tonja decided to start as well. So we are all starting this week officially.

And then today at the gym... I pulled a groin muscle. Ugh! I hope it doesn't take me out of commission for too long. I need to work out!

I did manage to stay under 1400 calories for today though, so at least that's good. And the temptations at work are always plentiful with the people in my office.

I met the girls in my buddy group for the 20/20 Challenge. They both seem awesome and I hope we all keep each other motivated. I have faith that we can do it. :-)

Monday, March 23, 2009

Good day (so far).....

Had a minor lapse over the weekend. I did well on Saturday, but then Sunday came.... and my enemy appeared more appealing than ever. The Boyfriend and I went to BW3's. I am such a sucker for some boneless wings with Asian Zing sauce! Darn it all! I caved. I instantly felt guilty. My problem with giving in to temptation is that when I trip, I tend to trip big time... like fall flat on your face kind of stuff. And it always seems to snowball. You get that mind-set of "well, I already cheated today so I'm not going to stay below the calories I wanted to anyway." That's always a trap for me. That's exactly the thought I was thinking a few hours after the BW3's incident when I wanted a Strawberry shake. However.... I didn't get it! Yay for at least a little bit of willpower yesterday.

Normally when I cheat on the weekends, it's really hard to get back on track on Monday. But today I did very well.

Breakfast - Yoplait yogurt and an apple (175 calories)
Lunch- Turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread w/ 100 calorie bag of popcorn. (250 calories)
Snack - Small bag of baked Lays (170 calories)
Dinner - Turkey Hot Dogs on light wheat buns w/ side of organic, steamed carrots and vegetarian baked beans. (700 calories)
Dessert: Mott's individual Strawberry Applesauce cup (50 calories)

Total today: 1345. Yay!

Now, hopefully off to bed so that I can get up and go running before work. I'm really trying, I swear.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Small Victories....

Every pound I lose feels like encouragement. It makes me feel like I really can lose it. Small victories give you faith in yourself.

Even though I didn't do well last week, I attempted to get back on the wagon this week. I weighed myself again this morning and I've lost 5 pounds over the last 2 weeks. Yay for me!

Tonight, trying out a recipe from my new favorite blogger, Ashlee. Her recipes on her cooking blog always look so tasty and her weight-loss/fitness blog is really inspiring.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Overload....

So, I did really well about 2 weeks ago. At around 1500 or less calories each day and lost 3.4 pounds that week. The next week, I fell off the wagon and barely paid any attention to what I was eating. I hadn't weighed myself since then because I was afraid because 1) I ate like crap and didn't exercise hardly at all. 2) I know I'm carrying around a bunch of water weight and stuff because I'm PMSing and feeling bloated.


This week, I am trying to get back on the wagon. I finally got one of the books I ordered in the mail "Healing Fibroids: A Doctor's Guide to a Natural cure". My new doctor (who is awesome, by the way) recommended that book. It's just that there is so much information out there and some of it's conflicting. It's just like learning information about losing weight/being healthy. You are bombarded with so many ways to make lifestyles changes to supposedly help yourself, that you know you can't possibly do them all. So, which ones do you choose?


Fibroids, for instance. To shrink, or just relieve symptoms these are some of the things they recommend:Eating organic foods. Being only a vegetarian, but some say you can't eat too much soy because that will make it grow. Doing yoga and meditation. Taking chinese herbs. Acupuncture. Taking a combination of certain vitamins. Making certain kinds of tea.
Now, there is no possible way I can do all of this. It's too expensive, too time consuming, and I just don't have the willpower to make all those changes in my life at one time. So I feel overwhelmed. And it's the same way with weight loss/healthy eating. There are so many "theories" and "programs" that can help you change your lifestyle to a healthier one. So, which one of those do you choose?


In the end, I've decided to just try to read all that information and put as much as I can into practice, even if it's in small ways. I know that it would be hard for me to afford only eating all natural, organic things. So, I've focused mainly on trying to get organic vegetables and organic chicken when I can... since I don't eat much red meat anyway and chicken is supposedly pumped full of hormones. (which I apparently already have too much off, since that's what causes the Fibroid tumors).
Anyway, I went to the grocery store Sunday night and bought organic carrots, organic, cucumbers, organic alfalfa sprouts (my fav! That I didn't know you could buy fresh at kroger!), organic apples, bagged salad, whole grain light bread, and turkey breast. It's a start. Just that cost me about 25 dollars!
I've tried to cut back on my caffeine intake, also. Since I'm a known Diet Mt. Dew addict... it has been rough.


I contemplated buying a treadmill or elliptical, but since I'm trying to save money and I already have a gym membership I've decided to wait. Instead, I bought a pair of gym shoes and have decided to take a stab at trying to run/walk every morning. I've always wanted to be a runner, but am afraid. It just seems so therapeutic. I am a very high-strung, high-stress, kinda gal. I don't want to be and I'm trying to think of methods to keep myself from getting so worked up. I have one bad ankle that never seems to want to let me run, but I'm hoping it's just weak and I'll get used to it. I also feel like I can't run because people are judging me... "Who's she kidding? At her size, she should know she can't run." or "Ew! Fat girl running, that's not a pretty sight."
But I'm trying to push all that out of my head for now and just focus on myself for a while, and not so much on other people. I feel like my health is deteriorating WAY too much for a girl my age. I'm only 26, for goodness sake! I shouldn't be having all these aches and pains and problems.


Here's hoping for a brighter future....

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Starting Over....

So, it's time to take inventory and recover.

After the tumor diagnosis, it became really easy to be depressed and throw caution to the wind. Nothing seemed like a big deal anymore. It was a catch 22 though. On one hand, I was feeling like I should live life to the fullest and not stress over things that wouldn't matter in the end: my weight, my debt that will probably always follow me, stress at work. However, not worrying about those things wasn't making me any happier. I basically just spent 2 weeks eating bad food, spending money frivolously, and slacking at work...... but I wasn't feeling any happier.

It turns out that I need those things to make me feel happy and productive and in control of my life. I'm not dying, so it's time to stop acting like I am! I want to lose weight and feel fabulous. I want to save money and pay off my debt so I can eventually buy things I want, like a house (or have the money to adopt a kid, if that's what comes of my tumor situation). I like working hard and taking pride in doing a job well... it makes me feel like a worthy human being.

So, I'm trying to get back on track. I've gained 5 pounds over the past 2 weeks because I was drowning my sorrows in food and alcohol. I spent money that I was intending to save, so now I've got to cut back. I slacked at work, so now I'm busy trying to catch up. The BFF, Mrs. B., put it best when she said " I really need to face the music and pay more attention to the consequences part of being an adult...". Amen, sister..... Amen.

This morning on the local radio station, the 2 female DJs were discussing weight and how most men have no perspective on what women weigh. How, if a guy hears about a girl that weighs like 200 pounds, in their heads they picture her as huge. The reality is that most women don't actually weight 120-130 pounds. Accept it guys. They asked local women to call in and say how old they were, how tall they were, and how much they weighed. It actually sounded very liberating for most of these women. Even the overweight women who called, they were congratulated on admitting the truth and and not shamed for what they weighed. In that spirit, I'm working on a separate blog entry to start my formal transition into changing my life and committing to make myself a healthier and happier person. (Don't have as much time right now, as I have a friend that will be here in about 5 minutes. haha)

Tumor Update: It's bigger than they thought, about 9 cm... the size of a softball. Which is totally freaking me out knowing that there is this thing that big living in my body. Especially considering that the average woman's uterus is only 8 cm big! My other doctor wasn't very helpful or supportive. So, long story short.... I've found a women who specializes in this type of stuff and I see her on Monday. Hopefully she will be able to answer the million questions I have about this thing.

Until next time.....

Sunday, March 1, 2009

I've been tagged....

Yup, my BFF, Anna (a.k.a.- Mrs B.) has tagged me for this little activity.

Here were the rules: Open the folder with all of your photos. Open your 6th photo folder. Take your 6th photo in that folder and blog it. Write something about it. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.

However, I don't think I really have anybody else to tag left. So, I'm skipping that part for now.

Here's the photo:

This pic is from July of 2008. This is at the Jimmy Buffet concert... which was the Most. Fun. I. EVER. Had! We were outside before the concert where there was like a little lawn festival/party going on. From right to left: Mrs. B, me, Tonja, and Tonja's boyfriend Jason.

Good times were had by all!