A Slower Week

I haven't been keeping up on my counting very well, and I think I've gone over/not made the best food choices for about 3 days. I'm doing better today, though. I want to do better. I haven't really exercised this week since the last time I posted. I think I'll have to do the elliptical machine from now on until it's time to train for the September half-marathon. I want to do it, I can do it, I will do it. I still feel good about it, I just haven't been pushing myself as hard this week. I do have to practice Hula today, though. I have Hula class tomorrow, and the only step I can remember right now is the u'wehe. I had better get it down today, or I'll be in trouble tomorrow!

Yesterday....

I may have over stepped my calories for yesterday, but I'm really not sure. I made Quiche Lorraine--my favorite--that used a substitute equivalent of evaporated skim milk instead of cream, egg substitute (egg whites) instead of whole eggs, lean turkey bacon instead of regular bacon, dried onion, lite Jarlsberg and lite Havarti cheeses instead of regular swiss and any other cheese, plus a little bit of parmesan cheese and pepper. However, I did still use a pie crust instead of putting in light biscuit mix for a 'crustless quiche'. I think that I will try it that way next time. I have to say, I was VERY impressed with the way it turned out. It was really tasty! I think I will try it with regular egg whites, a bit less parmesan, and try it crustless next time. Wow, it was definitely good. I think that if I was over, it would have been that pie crust.

I woke up late again today, and so Hubby gave me a break from the morning routine so I could go ahead and get my exercise in; I didn't do it yesterday. I was so tempted to get off the treadmill, but the Lord helped me maintain focus and stay on it until the exercise was complete. I warmed up for 5 mins walking, and then started running, but then my left knee started having a sharp pain in it, so I just walked fast for the rest of those 3 mins, and then did the regular walk for the next 3. When I started running again, it didn't hurt anymore. I think I just needed to warm up a bit more. I was able to do 14 minute miles for 30 mins, plus another .4 miles with warm-up and cool down. I feel good now, and I'm glad that I went ahead and had help to get my exercise done.

I decided that the reason I've been feeling so bad is because I'm improving, and Satan likes to mess with my head. My hubby has been trying to improve his life also, and has been experiencing similar problems. However, we still have the advantage, because we ultimately have the upper hand in having our spirits control our bodies, if we want to do the work for it. It's very exciting to know that there really are great results of working hard, and that we can partake in the 'spoils'. I imagine myself, after I have made my physical transformation and staying that way, talking to people who are struggling who will probably try to say something like, "Well, I've had to battle this my entire life; you don't know what it's like." Then I'll say, "Think again, sistah..." and let them read my story, see my pictures and feel the strength that comes from making the choice to get through something hard and coming out victorious on the other side.

End of Week 7 Report

I was a bit discouraged with what I saw, but I don't have reason to be. I think I was just feeling badly because I'm behind on my over all goal. That's alright; like I said, I will be happy even if I only take off 40 lbs in 6 months instead of 60, because the main idea here is to become a better me, and to change what my everyday life is/was like. I'm happy with it. Hey, I'm one sixth of the way there! Can't feel bad about that.

Last week's weight: 200.4
Today's weight: 197.6
Difference of: 2.8 lbs
Total Loss of: 10.6 lbs

One thing that I know I need to be careful of is waiting too long to get my breakfast after exercising and waiting too long to exercise on an empty stomach and then getting my breakfast late. I have felt a few times that my blood sugar was too low when I was exercising because I had been awake for some time before exercising. I prefer to exercise on an empty stomach because then I can use up my stored fat better. Today, I got up late, so I went ahead and had my protein breakfast smoothie. I'll just wait another 30 mins before I exercise.

After doing more research on the Internet, I have decided not to try for the Teton Dam Marathon this Summer. The reason is that I don't want to get an injury from trying to push myself too far, too fast. So, I'm going to enter the half-marathon in Pocatello instead. That one is supposed to be on September 5th, called Run the Gap. My friend Patty says she kind of likes that one better because it's flat except for one on-ramp. I'm also going to read a couple of books about marathoning for someone who has been a non-runner most of their lives.

Get over it!

Man, I don't know what my problem is, but I've been feeling pretty low and discouraged in many facets of my life.  To add to it, I got on the scale this morning--cheating--and was disappointed in what I saw.  I really don't know what is going on with me, but I want to figure out what it is and just get over it...

Kicked up a notch

Well, I suppose that 'bumped' would be more accurate than 'kicked' up a notch. I did my first day of running 3 mins, walking 3. I stayed right at or barely below 5.0 on the treadmill during the run, and at 3.5 while walking. I want to be able to bump up my speed also, but I'll at least just keep doing what I can.

I know it was the right thing to do to bump it up today because 1. it was pretty hard for me and 2. I was able to do it anyway. I did almost 2.5 miles with my warm up and cool down. I did do upperbody weights today as well, but didn't push as hard because the back of my arms are hurting, right above my elbows and toward my triceps. I think I should keep working, but I need to be careful.

Eating went well. I have to manage carefully because I might have cake on a combined bday party for my sister and me on Saturday.

Another Day

Yesterday and today I did another 2 miles in 30 mins on the treadmill, but today I started having the fight with myself right after I got onto the treadmill. It was kinda hard, but I stayed on and felt really great about half way through. That's good though, because now I know that I can do it, even when I feel like I can't--because it actually means that I just don't want to for what is probably a lame reason, like "it's hard". So what, and I feel good. Tomorrow I will start the run3/walk3 thing, repeated 5 times, with a 5 min warm up.

I did really well with the eating yesterday except that I wanted some bread with my dinner, so I had some--2 pieces. Not very good. I also had about a cup of a carob-banana malt that my sister made for me with double churned vanilla ice cream, skim milk, and the above mentioned flavors. I figured I was allowed a little bit of sweetness, since it was my birthday. At least I didn't totally blow it, (at least not really bad), but I'm sure I went over 1550 by a little. It was probably around 1600-1650 yesterday--I obviously didn't finish keeping track.

Doing Better

Today I woke up feeling much better about the future and myself. I got onto the treadmill and did a run2min/walk4min thing for 30 mins, and completed 2 miles doing that. That's a pretty big step for me. My upperbody is sore from doing weights yesterday, and it's actually a good feeling.

A really hard thing from yesterday was having to start over on a mental basis also. I had to fight myself a bit to get on the treadmill yesterday because it was already 10am and would have been way easier to just allow myself to go with the thought of, "No, it would just be easier to start over tomorrow morning." I'm glad that feeling didn't prevail, because, in reality, it wouldn't have been any easier today--I would have just had the same fight with myself and even felt a little worse for not just doing it the day before.

I did really well on my eating yesterday, though I could have used 2 more cups of water and a few more green veggies; I need to go to the store.
Here are yesterday's numbers:
1454 cals 32g fat 182g carbs 99g protein 7c water
Today was good also, but I'll post the final tally tomorrow.