Back to basics

This mornings breakfast

1 Cup Oatmeal

1/4 cup Vanilla Yogurt

1 Apple Cut up and cooked

Lots of Cinnamon

Turns out I'm pretty smart

Who knew?

I ran into library to get Jena a few books on Monday and on a whim I picked up Jackie Warner's book, 'This is why you're fat (and how to get thin forever)'. The title is harsh but I had read good reviews that it was a very common sense guide to weight loss, so I though what the heck.

She breaks in down into 4 parts. I'm only half way through part 2 and so far I'm impressed.

Part 1-'This is why you're fat' is all science, therefore I had to read slowly as to 'get' it all. :)  She talks about 3 major things, first balancing our hormones is key and we can do it simply by cutting out over processed foods and adding in simple super foods. Second, sugar is killing us. America is so stuck thinking Fat free is the answer and then we eat sugar in everything. Sugar is addicting and it messes up your hormones. Third, we must detox our liver, Thyroid and Adrenal glands so that they can work properly.

I was worried at this point, wondering what crazy detox diet was coming even though everything she says makes perfect sense and is all backed by science.

Part 2- 'This is how you eat to get hot and healthy' {I think her titles a bit dramatic don't ya think?}  I'm only 1 chapter in here but she starts off telling you to add in certain foods for 2 weeks.  She doesn't want you to change the way you eat, only add foods.  The goal being to build up key nutrients in your body to help balance hormones and flush our organs.

 You should eat the following foods each day:

• 2 Eggs - not just egg whites! The whole egg. With Yolks and all their supposed fattening glory.
• 1 cup Oatmeal - Add fruit, cinnamon, yogurt, just not sugar.  I happen to love that she is completely happy with plain old oatmeal. {I hate when people recommend things like Steel Cut Oats that are ridiculously expensive.}
• 2-3 cups Fresh Vegetables - Try hard to make them fresh, if not frozen is better than canned.  She lists about 20 but they are pretty common, normal veggies, nothing weird.
• 2 cups Fresh Fruit - Again, all the normal stuff, fresh or frozen, not dried.
• 2-3 Liters of Water with Lemon - I had to convert this to ounces or cups, I just don't think in Liters. So that is 8-12 cups or 64-96 ounces. The lemon is a bile thinner which aids in processing fat. The Lemon also helps curb hunger.
• 8 oz Whey Protein Shake - apparently whey is a great detoxifier, natural fat burner, improves insulin levels, stimulates antioxidant production and is chock full of amino acids.  After learning all that I was more on board but this could take me a while to implement. She recommends just drinking it with water or adding it to a green smoothie.
• Herbal Teas - I don't drink them so I'm not even gonna go into it.
• She also lists wants you to take a few common supplements.

As I was reading this it occurred to me that this was pretty much exactly {minus the whey protein} how I started eating back in October when I started loosing weight. Who knew? I could have written a book and made millions!   

So far I'm completely on board.  It will be pretty easy for me to eat all of these foods without feeling like I'm on some radical diet. Cause I don't do diet.  The Whey Protein I'll try to add in a few weeks but I'm not gonna run out and buy it right now.

I'll have to share more of the book as I read it but so far I'm enjoying it and it is a pretty common sense approach, which I like.

I'm going to go for a run tomorrow in my cross trainers that actually have some cushioning left in them and I have high hopes that my shins won't hurt as bad! I've given them 7 entire days of no running. My knew shoes won't get here until Tuesday and I just can't wait that long to run!  

Send happy shin thoughts  my way!

I'm a lucky girl

Recently I received a very kind note and gift from an unidentified friend.  They said some very kind and motivation things, made me cry and realize how blessed I am. Whoever you are {and I have a few guesses}, Thank You just does not express what I feel for you, but it's all I have to give. My Thanks and my commitment to keep going on this weight loss journey.  

I have definitely been discouraged lately.  I've been trying to dig down deep and find that drive that I had in the fall and it's a little embarrassing to admit but the thought of 'Why? Know one has even noticed anyway' has crossed my mind several  times.  It shouldn't matter right? This is for me, my health, my body image. But it sure helps to know that someone has been inspired to start taking care of themselves too. It helps to have people tell you they see a difference, however small it may be.  I don't expect people to fawn over me or tell me I look fantastic because I'm not even close and it would make me uncomfortable anyway. It's the little encouraging comments on my blog or in real life that keep me remembering that it's worth it.

So whoever you are, you are an Angel, an answer to prayers and I am truly blessed to have you in my life!

I am a Lucky Girl!

I blame the children

I can't believe I'm going to share this but it makes me SO made I just have to do it.

I had a short run planned for today. A quick 2 miles that I decided last minute to make all downhill. I had Barry drive me up to the top of the subdivisions until we hit dirt road, which turned out to be exactly 2 miles. It started off fine, I was expecting shin pain and it came but when I hit about a 1/2 mile I had to pee.  Nothing horrible but I noticed right off that the running downhill was exaggerating it quite a bit.

Continue running and my worst fear comes to life. I am peeing my pants a little bit at a time.  I'm in the middle of a suburbia so I can't just run off the trail and pee because believe me, I would have!  Down, down, down I go and I'm now 2 blocks from home on the steepest incline. I stop and walk 20 feet but that makes my shins hurt worse.

Now I'm just plain pissed off at my body. Screw you body, I'm running!  And you know what my body said to me? Screw you, I am going to pee!  I walked the last 3 houses looking just like a 2 year old with wet pants to my knees.  It was awesome.

I was so mad I didn't even care what my neighbors thought, even though I didn't see anyone.  This is what having 4 kids does to you!  Stupid Piece of Crap Bladder!  I see some surgery in my future.

2 miles down in 19 minutes and wet pants! GRRRRRR!!!

*****
A few hours later I did my Upper Body Weights, my favorite. I upped several of my sets which made it extra fun.  The Mister was pretty impressed that I did 20 lb Bicep Curls, I was pretty impressed too! :)

Then he showed me how to do Dead lifts. The posture is really awkward to get the hang of but I finally got it down. I believe I lifted 135 lbs. Lower Body is Saturday and I'm going to have him do a full workout with me. That should be fun....or painful!  Maybe I'll take a picture if I can actually lift my body weight.

Day 155

Yep, that's how long since I put my foot down and said, screw being fat! For real, it just had to get pissed off enough about it.  And then I lost 20 lbs and I wasn't angry anymore.

Did you know that anger can lead to good things?

It's true.

And you know what happened when I stopped being angry with myself?

I gained 3 pounds back.

It took me 2 months but at that rate we are talking 12 lbs a year and that's not really ok with me.
But heres the thing, I'm not really in that angry place anymore so I had to find something else. I searched and searched and then I went running last Saturday morning.

Somewhere in that 4 miles and through the shin pain I realized how happy I was. Not in general. Not my life is so great kind of happy. {ha! yeeeaaahhhhhhh, let me tell ya about my 'life' lately. sigh.....}

Just happy to be out running.  With Shin Pain. Happy that I could.

And that thought brought me back to the beginning.  My sister had sent out an email about running a race together and somewhere in it she said  'Because I Can'.

And suddenly it all made sense again.

*****

Today's Workout

Ran the canal road today. Ryan and his friend rode bikes along with me. 2.6 miles out and back. Shins screaming at me the whole second half. I've got to get some new shoes, it's crazzzzy to me that I have actually worn out these running shoes.

I had Barry's voice in my head the whole time, 'you don't really push yourself' which is his way of saying I don't really believe in myself. It's true. I give up too quickly. So today I only took 30 second walking breaks instead of 2 minutes.  Victory for the day!

Came home to the other 3 kids and a sleeping husband and re-established order in the house. ;) Then did this Leg Blaster workout for 25 minutes.  It's much harder with a 1 year old at your feet demanding your attention.

He's just going to have to learn that a healthy and fit mommy is a happy mommy!

Today

It occurs to me that I may be a bit fickle.

I have no defense.

Blogging my journey to weight loss and fitness has been very helpful to me.  I started out on Tumblr and at the time, it was just what I needed. However I have found myself less and less involved in the community there for many reason which I won't go into right now.  And so, I find myself here.

I'm feeling the need to 'go it alone', if that even makes any sense.  I did really great in the beginning. 20 pounds gone kind of great.  And then, somehow I lost my way.  Yes, life was thrown at me pretty hard, but their was more to it.

It doesn't matter really.

I have re-evaluated, set a new plan, dug down deep and pulled the motivation back to the top.

Today  was a new day.

Today, I re-committed to myself.

And today was good.