The 80's Want Their Chips Back

This week is going pretty good so far.  Two days down, five to go.  Yesterday I hit the gym after work and rode 25 minutes on the upright bike, level 8.  It was a challenge, my legs were burning at times.  I thought I had legs/shoulders/core afterward but when I finished I opened my workout log to see it was back/biceps/core - Yay!  My legs were happy to be mostly done with their part.

I was a bit pressed for time but it felt like happy hour at the gym.  It wasn't too crowded but there were a lot of regulars there that I've gotten to know some and everyone seemed chatty.  Or maybe it was me.  Anyway, I spent a few minutes trying to talk a new-ish runner into the Kaiser half-marathon.  I don't think he was going for it but maybe in the future.  Later he was chatting with this super-fit woman I'm always trying not to stare at.  So I introduced myself to her and told her how much I admire how fit she is, "You made my day" she tells me...nice!  She's a mom of two and her muscles are all, "Bam!".  Lisa, don't want to forget her name.  And then another guy (a more hard core lifter type guy) commented on my workout log, "those are good for the beginning."  I explained how this has been a post-baby comeback but that I was strength training before too, not so much a newbie anymore as I am neurotic.  That and I can't remember all my exercises having three different body routines and two core routines. 

Then he asked if I switch things up regularly.  Busted.  No, not nearly enough.  I do the same exercises week after week, month after month, until I'm sick of them.  Then I meet with a trainer, or find something online, to mix things up.  Since we were talking I asked him if he had any idea why my quads are not getting stronger.  I've been lifting 35 pounds on the leg extension machine since I re-started back in July 2011.  After some trouble-shooting he concluded I need to strengthen my hamstrings more. 

He showed me an exercise which is basically like using a  leg curl machine but with a dumbbell.  You lie face down on a bench and then lift up a dumbbell between your feet and curl your legs up.  Straighten your legs and that's one rep.  I liked it, especially because I feel really cool while I'm doing it, which always helps the mojo.  So I'm going to add this to my leg routine.  At first I thought I should drop the Swiss ball hamstring roll I do but I don't want to lose the gains I've made so I think I'll drop that down to 2 sets and then add 2 sets of these.  That's an overall increase of 1 set so maybe I'll drop something else - like the Plie squats or the side lunges - because my leg/shoulder day is already too packed.

So I wrapped up my exercise with some good stretching before rushing home.  Ate a quick dinner and then back out the door for grocery shopping. Somewhere along the way I started craving ice cream and potato chips.  I decided to get one of those single serving ice creams (thank you to whoever decided to start selling those!) and picked a Skinny Cow chocolate fudge.  But that didn't address the chip craving.  At the checkout I ended up grabbing some Funyuns - yep, the onion flavored chips that I associate with the 80's for some reason.  It's been years since I've had them and was feeling curious.  I started eating them on the way home and thought, "yep, should have left these in the 80's" and made a plan to dump the rest when I got home.  But after eating my ice cream (which had a "diet food" flavor and was disappointing) I went back to the chips and ate them all.  Ugh.  Should have dumped them, I actually didn't enjoy them all that much.  Nothing worse than wasting calories on mediocre food.  What I should have done was get a full calorie ice cream and skipped the chips altogether.  Next time. 

By the way, I blame this whole fiasco on my super low weight of yesterday morning.  I hopped on the scale and for some unexplained reason I was 140.8 pounds.  Huh?  Eat too much, skimp on exercise and lose weight?  Whatever.  Just goes to show that the scale doesn't know the whole story.  But I think that low number made me feel entitled to indulge.  Which is not generally the way I like to operate.  Besides, I "indulged" on crappy food I didn't enjoy, double whammy. 

Today will be better.  No chips, no ice cream, just a good clean eating day with a little running thrown in for good measure.  I think the training plan calls for a 4-miler.  Yes sir, I'm on it!

Holiday Indulgence

This whole Holidays thing is hard on the healthy eating!  This past week has been lackluster in both the eating and the exercise department, but not in the fun department!  At least something is going right.  The week started off well enough with my run last Sunday.  But then life got hectic and I didn't exercise on Monday or Tuesday!  Can you imagine?!  Monday was because I left work late and then spent the evening Christmas tree hunting.  I figured my cold wasn't really going away so maybe it was for the best.  Tuesday conspired against me as well but I rolled with it.  I rarely miss workouts and maybe my body will be happy to have some rest. 

Wednesday evening I had a mother's club party at my house, a holiday cookie exchange.  I spent the day getting ready for the party and then the evening enjoying my mom friends.  On Monday evening I'd made some mint chocolate squares for the exchange and I couldn't stop eating them so I was glad to be giving them out.  At the party I had a glass of champagne and maybe two glasses of wine.  And I munched on the party food, which wasn't too unhealthy but wasn't exactly low calorie either.  Fortunately all the cookies were claimed so I wasn't left with a pile of cookies to resist. 

The big news in relation to me is, I wore a sleeveless dress!  I was going to put a cardigan on over it but my friend Michelle said, "It looks good like it is but I understand your issue with your arms."  Something about her saying that made me figure, what the heck, I'm going to drop this "issue" with my arms and wear it without the sweater.  I wish I had a picture of myself in the dress, it's so fun!  Next time I wear it I'll try to remember to snap a picture.

Ok, I just decided to take a few minutes to put the dress back on and take a picture.  You do have to have more than a grain of narcissism to be a blogger!  You can't tell from the picture but the dress is a black/white houndstooth pattern.  The dress was a clearance find, down to $25 from $118.  Even better!

Took my bare arms out in public (sort of, the party was at my own house)

Thursday was back in the gym but it was rushed.  I only had time to run 2 miles on the treadmill.  I ran at 6.2 for five minutes, then upped it to 7.2 for one mile, then back to 6.2 for the last few minutes.  Then I did chest/triceps/core.  Just as I was leaving Miguel texted me that he could pick up the kids.  So I went back to the treadmill for a quick half-mile at 7.2mph and then took a few minutes to stretch.  Good stuff!

Friday was a day off with Miguel.  The kids were in daycare and we enjoyed a day of hanging out.  We eventually made it to a diner for lunch and I ate a pretty big meal of an omelet, hash browns, toast, and pancake with butter and syrup.  Sometimes you just eat. After our lunch I stopped in to a WW center to weigh in.  My official/personal morning weight was 142.2 pounds but I was worried that with that huge lunch and wearing jeans my WW weight might be pushing 147.  Nope, 145.2.  And I got the materials on the new WW360 program (though I've barely glanced at them).  Good enough for another week of maintenance.  And I found out I don't have to weigh-in for 6 weeks to get to lifetime, you only have to weigh-in 2-3 times (the woman wasn't sure which) during that 6 week window.  Nice!  That means the one week I missed won't mean a 7 week wait to get lifetime (and free meetings!)

Anyway, I was still full come dinnertime and planned to skip it altogether but then I ended up taking the kids with a friend out to the mall for a free ice skating show.  The kids had to eat so we went to Panera and I ended up having dinner despite barely being hungry.  I had a half turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich (260 calories) and a cup of chicken noodle soup (80 calories).  And some of the kids' cookie.  Not too bad.  I loved that all the menu options had the calories posted.  Makes it so much easier to make a decent decision.  Wish ALL menus in the world had this. 

Yesterday was a day off from exercise.  I was hoping to make it to an 8am WW meeting to hear the deal on the new WW360 program.  But it didn't happen, so good thing I got the materials.  As I understand it the Points/tracking are not changing but they are emphasizing routines, places, habits, etc that are related to a healthy lifestyle.  I love it!  There's more to maintaining a healthy weight than what you put in your mouth. 

Anyway, Saturday morning was my mother's club Holiday Party.  I went early to help setup.  My food intake was super snacky at the party and all day, it was one of those days where I felt like I couldn't stop eating!  Crackers, cheese, cookies, crackers, cookies, etc, etc, etc.  You get the idea.  I'm going to need to eat clean this week to keep my weight in check.  I feel like I've been off track for over a week with the food intake. 

Last night I went out dancing with my girlfriend Michelle.  We hit up the local pub that was having a 90's dance party/toy drive.  It was so much fun to put on our jeans and make-up and hit the town.  Once we'd had a couple shots of tequila the dancing was non-stop until we left at midnight.  All in all I'd had two shots of tequila and one light margarita.  Oh and we also had a small order of jalapeno poppers to keep our stomachs happy.  

Today I officially started my training for the Kaiser Half Marathon on 2/3/13, which is 8 weeks away.  I did a 6 mile run from my house, actually a bit over 6 because I made a route where I ended at my car I left at the pub last night.  6.29 miles in one hour, 9:36 pace.  I felt good during the run and used some of the time for positive mental reinforcements, "I want this, this is what feels good, I want this healthy body and I'm willing to work for it."  I can't tell you enough how much difference I think it makes to force the positive thoughts.  Hopefully this will help with the eating this coming week.  I have no social plans so nothing to tempt me. 

So the Kaiser plan is much like the Livermore plan.  The only thing is I might (and that's a BIG might) do a midnight 5k on New Years Eve.  Just sounds like a good way to start the year.  Only I'm not sure I can stay up until midnight!  Anyway, here's the plan:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1 (12/10 – 12/16)	Bike + strength	4 m run	Rest	3 m run + strength	Bike + strength	Rest	7 m run
2 (12/17 – 12/21)	Bike + strength	4 m run	Rest	3 m run + strength	Bike + strength	Rest	8 m run
3 (12/22 – 12/30)	Bike + strength	4.5 m run	Rest	3 m run + strength	Bike + strength	Rest	9 m run
4 (12/31 – 1/6)	Bike + strength	4.5 m run	Rest	3 m run + strength	Bike + strength	Rest	8 m run
5 (1/7 – 1/13)	Bike + strength	5 m run	Rest	3 m run + strength	Bike + strength	Rest	10 m run
6 (1/14 – 1/20)	Bike + strength	5 m run	Rest	3 m run + strength	Bike + strength	Rest	11 m run
7 (1/21 – 1/27)	Bike + strength	5 m run	Rest	3 m run + strength	Bike + strength	Rest	10 m run
8 (1/28 – 2/3)	Bike + strength	4 m run	Rest	2 m run	Bike + strength	Rest	Half Marathon

When I was training for Livermore those Tuesday runs stayed at 4 miles for almost the whole time.  We'll see if I actually up it to 5 miles this time.  I'm starting to formulate my pace goals for the half.  More on that next time.  Hope you are getting out there and working toward the body, and life, you want!