Week 21 Recap

Alright, so I'm going to try and start doing some weekly recaps on my fitness/food for the week. Perhaps you'll be annoyed by it or maybe inspired, I'm not sure. But this is really for me - so I can pinpoint what's working (or the less desirable - what's not).

This week I did three spin classes (two spin & sculpt and one crazy hour of cyctone), a bodypump class and ran/walked a total of 8 1/2 miles over three different days. Wow that sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Now, the spin classes each have at least 15 min of strength training in the routine, and bodypump is pretty much 50 minutes of strength training. If you're wondering what the day spread it looks like this :

Monday : 3.25 mile run in the morning/Spin at lunchtime
Tuesday : Bodypump at lunchtime
Wednesday : 2.6 mile run in the morning/Spin at lunchtime
Thursday : Usually my day 'off' and I do a walk at lunchtime - this week 2.6 miles
Friday : My favorite calorie burning, super-intense class cyctone!

This week I found I really needed that 'day off'. My run on Wednesday morning was not the best, I was pretty sore - but, whatever, I still did it. Probably too much working out but I'm in it for the results people! I tend to work out more so I can drink a few extra glasses of wine, you know? This week especially when I had plans to meet up with three of my good friend separately, for drinks. Trust me when I tell you those extra workouts are going to be handy.

I feel pretty good about what I ate this week. I stuck to the old standby of two hard-boiled eggs  and a cup of berries for breakfast, some sort of light protein and veggie for lunch (except for Thursday I had a 1/2 buffalo chicken sandwich which was crazy good - still only half a sandwich so maybe 300 calories). Sometimes I have a starch with lunch like potatoes or rice, but I'll only do this if I had just completed a workout - your body burns carbs best right after! Dinner - again - protein & veggie. This week it was ham, pork chops, meatballs with a garden-fresh veggie. Although I DID go out last night to wish my dear friend Jackie farewell, as she's moving to Scotland, and had a couple gravy fries & fried shrimp. YUP. Not much, but tasty indeed!

Here's where the workouts were handy - I  had maybe 6 glasses of wine this week, and a Woodchuck. But, with the two extra runs I did this week I can almost forget I had those, you see how that works?

Hopefully there will be great results when I weigh in on Monday, then I'll update the post! I weigh myself on Mondays because I take a two day break from any sort of strength training (which can sometimes make me appear to weigh more the day after!)

In other news, I do believe I have found the perfect homemade deodorant solution - finally! If you've been reading the blogs I have tried lemon juice. However I had to make sure I put in on a while before my clothes, it did end up lightening some of the fabrics. It worked OK, but didn't really hold up to an intense workout. Next, I tried witch hazel and lemon essential oil. Kind of the same deal, just didn't lighten my clothes. Now - to the solution, and again I have only Crunchbetty.com to thank for this one!

Here's what I mixed up last night:
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
5 tb coconut oil (you'll have to warm it up to get it to liquid form)
Essential oils (I put about 8 drops orange & 8 drops lemon in my mix)

Let me tell you this was sooo easy to make, it took me all of 2 minutes, and it's super cheap, so now you have no excuses not to try it. I put mine in a recycled container and applied just a pea-sized amount of it this morning. This formula is cyctone tested! Meaning it held up nicely to a really hard-core workout. I wasn't smelly or drenched! It probably works better, at least for me, then those 'clincal strength' formulas in the store that are like $10 - I kid you not. If only I could find an empty deodorant container to put it in so I can put it on without having to use my fingers. Now I can use my neat little witch hazel/lemon essential oil blend to carry in my gym bag and just use a a deodorant 'refresher' after working out - genius!

Stay tuned, week 21 weigh in is imminent. UPDATE: Week 21 weigh in - 1.5 lb lost last week, 5.5lbs in July, 33.1 lbs total lost since March!

Remember, Enjoy, Think About

If I ask my self ever

If I can go on any further

If I can push any harder

If I really should eat or drink that

If the work is worth it

Remember stretching out my clothes so they would fit

Remember looking in the mirror and wanting to look away

Remember that before shot staring back at me

Remember un-tagging awful pictures

Remember thinking I was pretty only from the neck up

Remember getting on a spin bike thinking I was going to break it

Remember being uncomfortable in my own skin, everywhere.

Enjoy how far I've come

Enjoy the journey, the sweat, the work

Enjoy how much stronger I am

Enjoy lifting more weight than the guy in the class next to me

Enjoy a redefined face with a chin an cheek bones

Enjoy that slimmer profile view

Enjoy sore - the physical feeling of accomplishment

Think about how much I want this

Think about single digit pant sizes

Think about being that hot mommy

Think about shopping in whatever store I want

Think about the people I can inspire

Think about hearing 'you look great'

Think of being proud of the body I've created....

Pick up the pace. Push harder. Lift more. Get up early. Put that 'treat' down. Eat well. Make the time.

The reasons are endless. The reward is great.

An experiment in variety [Stepping it up a notch]

Let's start with a recap of this weekend, so you all know I am far from perfect when it comes to my weight loss plan. We went camping this weekend, packed the cooler and forgot to bring any vegetables. My diet this entire weekend consisted of bread, meat and Woodchuck hard cider (there was one banana and a few hard-boiled eggs in there). I had a s'more and a half, and a few extra marshmallows. I'm not perfect. But, I didn't feel all that crappy about my eating this weekend. We walked a lot. Setting up and breaking down camp took some [sweaty] effort. I swam for probably about 3 hours and have the sunburn to prove it. You see, it's all about balance and you have to allow yourself to indulge (in six 200 calorie Woodchucks) once in a grand while. But I still got some exercise in. Another two pounds down this week (four total this month). The scale was nice to me this week again - maybe I just sweat off a lot this weekend in mid-90s heat, not sure, but I'll assume it's fat loss!

This week, I'm trying to challenge myself again with a few '2 workout' days just like I was doing in month two of my weight-loss competition. This morning, after weeks of swearing to myself I was going to get up early and run, I actually did. My alarm went off at 6am, and 10 min later I was out the door, in 90% humidity, head phones cranked up and ready to go. I was going to do a 'quick run' but I was going strong and not in pain after finishing the first mile in 11 minutes. So, I kept going for 3.25 miles...in 41 minutes. Geez, I am so much faster than I used to be. The second half of the run was much more of a run/walk and I really had to talk myself through it. Around mile 2 the left side of my headphones died, probably from a ton of sweat (could be that they're seven years old, as well). Without the music blasting in my ear it was hard to get motivated. But I did. And the last half mile I averaged a 7.0 mph speed. Even my neighbors gave me a strange look when I was running back to my door, dripping with sweat and frizzed-out hair at 7am. Ya, I know guys, I should probably run more. But it was a really good run, I got sweaty like a man and boy did that cold shower feel extra good this morning. But it felt GOOD. I have to pinpoint what helped me pull myself out of bed, out of the air conditioning and into the mugginess this morning. I HAVE to do that again this week, if not two more times. Also made it to my usual lunchtime spin class today. More sweat, lots of it.

I'm hoping the extra effort will really help me lose double digits in a month. That's what I really want. So far it's been 9 - 8 - 7 - 4. I did go on vacation in month four, but still, that's not a good direction to go in. I need to give it more effort this month. I'm hoping adding in the cardio variety of running on top of my spin classes will really make that scale budge! Or maybe I need to do more strength training. The experiment continues...

The visuals : 4 months before/after photos

Lucky for me I convinced myself to do a 'before' photo at the start of our weight-loss competition. Once I received the 'before' photo in my inbox, I stared at it, I was mad. Surely the photo must have been accidentally stretched horizontally? No, it wasn't. I was angry. I closed it after about 30 seconds vowing it would be my motivator.

This morning (Day 133) I thought I was looking kind of cute before I left for work, so I said why not take a picture of myself in my full-length mirror. The picture I took this morning didn't look too bad, but I thought it wouldn't be a lot different than my starting photo. After all, I'm only about 30% through with my journey. I put the two photos side-by-side and got this:

Look! I have a chin and a neck! And a much smaller tummy. Seeing these two photos side by side made me, well, really proud. Sometimes I don't notice the little changes and get frustrated that I'm not seeing more results. Well, this is results people. The hard evidence : photos. I still am not entirely a fan of the way I look and know I have much farther to go, but honestly, look what I've done in 133 days! LOOK! [Starting to tear up a little right now]. And just for the record, I am still angry about that before photo. Super mad. But I started there, and committed to myself and look what happened. 

I promise there will be more progress photos to come!

When kale becomes your new favorite thing [A Reflection - 4 months in]

I had my final weigh-in of our weight loss [Slim it to win it] competition on Monday. Although I only lost 4 pounds in June, I lost 28 total - in four months! I was stuck on the four pounds though - I had been losing twice that in a months' time in the previous three months. When I start not to see the results I want, that's when I tend to waiver in my fitness/nutrition plan. I get frustrated too easily.

In attempt to shake off my frustration with my 'measly' four pounds, I tried to focus on other accomplishments. What could I do today that I couldn't four months ago? The list started forming quickly. I had jogged a 5k in the last week of June in under 40 minutes (thats about 6 min shorter than when I first tried to attempt it earlier this year in much more of a walk/slow jog style). Ok. Well, that's pretty good. I can tackle a full set of tricep dips - actually lifting most of my body weight up and down with that muscle group in stead of resting my butt on the step and just pretending because I was too heavy to lift the weight, and not strong enough. Hmmm, better. I can hold my own weight up in a wall sit for a minute even with a 10lb weight on my lap. Without going on and on, you get the point here. I am very noticeably STRONGER. Which means I have not only lost pounds of fat, but in that four months had gained a ton [not literally] of muscle. That IS an accomplishment. I try not to focus on the number so much, the scale can definitely be one of my best friends or my worst enemy depending on the day.

Back on the scale this morning - already down another 2lbs this week - which means - 30lbs!!!@@@!!! Pretty cool. This afternoon I went to get lunch and saw the kale at the cafe. My brain had this reaction that told my stomach 'kale sounds delicious'. Decadent, almost. I had to chuckle a little at this though, my body is actually craving good healthy food. Yes, it still sometimes craves junk. Kale (fresh from our garden) is probably one of my favorite things to eat right now.

A lot has happened in four months, and it went by fast. I have to remember this as I continue on (hoping to meet my ultimate goal by March 2013). A little bragging here - I was #5 out of 81 people in our weight loss competition. I didn't win, but I felt like I did, and that's what matters.

A few weeks ago, I made laundry soap for the first time. It was SO easy, and cheap. Washing soda, borax, castile soap, water. That's it. It cleans clothes so well! You won't even need dryer sheets - the static is non-existent. If you want (like I did), you can add a few drops of essential oil(s), but I found you won't smell it on your clothes anyway. Here's the recipe I used if you're interested:

Melt 1 cup castile soap shavings in 16oz of water in a large pot
Add 1 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda
Add 1 gallon water to the pot, heat until everything is incorporated
Let cool completely then add 5-10 drops essential oils if you like)

This was actually a half batch, I couldn't commit to 2+ gallons of laundry soap nor did I have a place to store it. My first batch was a little chunky because I put a whole bar of soap in it and not a cup like the recipe called for, but it works just fine, you just have to shake it up a bit before adding it to your load of wash. This is about $4 to make over a gallon, which is about 5 cents a load if you're curious. You can buy almost all the ingredients at a grocery store in the cleaning isle. Dr. Bronners castile soap bars are $2.99 at City Market in Burlington - cheap! I finally found some glycerin to make liquid hand soap (also at City Market), but still on the hunt for citric acid for my dishwasher soap. May have to order that, but I hear it's a super great shower cleaner as well!

Just something before I end this post : if you're trying to lose weight, realize that it's going to take lots of time, effort, sweat, and changing of habits. I am surely no expert on the matter, and I've tried time and time again but what has changed this time is the commitment. I find all the work has been worth it. Grabbing that dress from the back of your closet that you couldn't wear in years because it was way too small, then slipping it on and realizing it fits again - is a great feeling. You'll forget about all the work and the soreness. YOU are absolutely worth the effort.