I have reached my goal weight...

About 4 years ago, I was in amazing shape. I was looking better than I had ever. I was happy with my body and felt really strong.

4 years ago

Then I found out I was pregnant.

Now, some women get pregnant and do great. They have a little tiny ball where the baby is but otherwise nothing changes. But, since this was baby number 3 for me, I already knew my body was going to go insane. My whole body gets pregnant. My butt gets huge. I knew I was in for some weight gain. So, right after I found out I was pregnant I weighed, just to see where I was at my "ideal" weight. It was 134.5.

For 3 years I've been trying to get there. It has been a terrible struggle. During this time, I couldn't blame it all on baby weight. I had eating issues. I took a medication notorious for weight gain. But since December, something "clicked" and I have been losing weight.

I weighed 2 days ago and I am now 132.

I have reached my goal.

It feels really weird.

Now, of course, I'm still super picky about my body. Like, I'd really like to see my legs get more muscular. I still don't feel super confident enough to wear a bikini in front of people. But my arms are muscular again and I'm wearing a size 4 pants.

I went to put on my skinny shorts. They are too big.

So, for now, different goals.

I've decided in December instead of running a half marathon, I'm just going to do the whole thing. I have 23 weeks to train to run 26.2. I can do it.

I'll continue to weight train as much as possible. The last thing I want is to lose my amazing upper body muscles.

So, here we go. New goals. I can do it.

Progress from January to now.

Checking In

Every now and then I look at my blog and I think, "I should post more often"... and then I usually get distracted and forget. But then I'll have something to say that's too long for a Facebook post, and I'll think, "Ok, I should blog that." Well, here I am, blogging infrequently, not making any promises to be consistent or anything...

Weight Loss
I can't remember what my weight was last time I blogged, but since December 2015 I have officially lost 30 pounds. At my heaviest, around Christmas, I weighed 165. I was pretty hopeless. Yesterday I weighed on my scale at home and I weighed 135.2. I'm pretty proud actually.

I made this collage. I can really tell a difference in my arms.

Here's me last Sunday after a run. I just can't smile for some reason.

I credit Thrive, weight watchers, running and lifting with helping me lose the weight. Of course, now that I'm practically at my goal, I am not at the body I thought I would have. Does that make sense? I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing. I think the lifting will help.

Running
Speaking of running, it is going AMAZING right now.  I ran a 5K almost a month ago. It was at the end of the day after a full day at work. I had to take some walk breaks. But my time was still 33:50, even with the walk breaks, so I'm pretty happy with that. Since then I've been consistently running longer than that, so I'm certain my next 5K time will be even better.

I started the half marathon training program put out by the same people that did 5K and 10K runner. I'm on week 2. I'm starting way ahead of my December 11 race date because I want lots of time to repeat weeks if needed and be really strong at the 13.1 distance.

Sunday I started week 2. The scheduled workout was a run (nonstop) of 45 minutes. I felt good so I ran 50 minutes. You guys! I have never run that long in my life! I was pretty proud. This week's "long" run is a run of 54 minutes and I'm pretty confident I'll do it. The only issue is I've pretty much moved inside for the summer because I can't do heat, and the treadmill only goes 60 minutes, so as the runs get longer, I'm going to have to split them up. Whatever, it still counts. Around October I'll start doing my long runs outside again, so I'll be ready for an actual outdoor race.

Team Momentum
Some of you may know the story of my brother. I call him Facebookless Jerry because he's one of the few people I know in the world who does not have a Facebook account. This was a problem while I lived away from this area for about 8 years. But, having recently moved back, I've had the opportunity to spend more time with him.  I help him a lot, taking him to doctor's appointments and doing his laundry, getting him groceries. It's one of my favorite things about being back in my hometown.

So Jerry has a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT). In the 8 years that I didn't see him regularly, his condition deteriorated dramatically. He is no longer able to get himself in and out of bed, and most activities are hard to impossible for him. It really breaks my heart which is why I try to help him as much as I can.

I decided in conjunction with the Dallas Half Marathon to fundraise for Team Momentum. This is the Muscular Dystrophy Association's charity. It is a small way I feel like I can honor Jerry, who really is my hero. Every time I have a pity party, or feel like something in my life is hard, I think about Jerry, and how *everything* is a challenge for him.  I hope this in some way can help give him some hope.

You can visit my fundraising page here, and make a donation if you like. My fundraising goal is $1000, and of course, I would love to exceed  that if possible.

So that's the update. Maybe I can blog more often than once every 3 months. I actually plan to chronicle both my half marathon training and my fundraising efforts, so here's hoping I can keep it up!

Friends with Running

So, running and I are friends again at the moment. I had a chance to do over Monday's terrible run and I think I did pretty well.

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I think my biggest mistake in Monday's run was going too hard too soon. So, I put the incline at only .5 (the very first level after "flat") and slowed from 5.6 to 5.4.

I always divide runs into 5 minute intervals. I just think "I only have to get through 5 minutes". Somehow that makes it easier.

I made it through the first run and then walked for 3 minutes.

The second run was hard, but I did it. I told myself first "I just have to get through 5 minutes", then "I just have to make it halfway", then once I hit 15 minutes, I knew it was too late to stop and I was going to make it.

And let me tell you the feeling of making it was so great.

I was so sweaty my arms were dripping everywhere. So for the first time ever, before I cleaned off the treadmill, I wiped my arms with paper towels. #gross

Do you know why this picture is blurry? Because my phone was covered in sweat.

Here I am after the workout. Somehow I managed to clean myself up and librarian successfully the rest of the day after looking like this.

Friday the scheduled workout is *almost* the same- 2 20 minute runs- except the walking interval is 2 minutes instead of 3.

I took Friday off to finish our taxes, because I love the stress of doing things at the last minute. So after I drop off the kids at school, I'm going to go run at the lake. I'm looking forward to a run outside. I know I'm stuck on the treadmill for the lunchtime runs until October sometime when it cools down again, but the mornings are cool, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

So Tuesday was our weigh in with Weightwatchers. The week before, I weighed in at 151, so I was super excited to hopefully get back into the 140s again this week. Well, I weighed in at 152.2. Because I'm a big baby, I left right away and planned to sob at my desk.

Luckily, I pulled myself together and instead went for a 2 mile walk. I didn't bring any workout clothes or shoes with me, so it was interesting. But I'm glad I did it. I felt better.

I had my Weightwatchers settings set to swap activity points. But I'm earning 9 or 10 activity points a day. I definitely wasn't using them all, but I think I was using some. So I decided to change the settings so it doesn't swap activity points. If I have an extra long run or something I'll just use some of the weekly points. So far so good.

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By the way on my home scale this morning I was 149. So take that, Weightwatchers scale.

I'm going to a conference next week so I'll miss the weigh in, so when I next weigh in it will be 2 weeks. Surely I'll see some significant weight loss during that time (if I can manage to behave during the conference...)

So, about that big race...

There have been so many obstacles lately keeping me from getting my long runs in. A few weeks ago, I was injured. Then I was sick. Then I didn't have time. I'm doing ok on my runs during the week (where I'm using this program to work up to 5K). I'm repeating workouts to take it slow, but I'm doing them. I'm getting between 2.5 and 2.8 miles per workout, and I'm happy with that. But the long runs just add so much stress to my life.

This week and next, I am playing for two different shows. This means every night this week I have rehearsal until 10 pm, then wake up at 4 the next day to do it all again. Saturday I work all day, then a show. Sunday, my husband has church, and I have rehearsal for the NEXT show starting that afternoon (so no time for the long run). Then Monday I start it all over again with rehearsals every night, shows all weekend and finishing off with a matinee on Sunday, 2/21.

The thought of rearranging my life to fit in a weekly long run seems pretty impossible right now. Plus, I'm behind on training. Plus...

My weight loss has stalled. I keep reading articles about how long distance runners end up gaining weight and I know this to be true. I know that what works (and has worked for me in the past) is serious weight lifting, minimal cardio and strict diet.

I used to look like this...

So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to stop training for the half. I'm going to keep running, just 3 times a week, working up to 5K. I'm not going to run a longer distance than 5K.

And when race day comes around, I'll probably go and walk 13.1 miles just so I can say I earned the shirt.

And maybe I can finally lose those last 20 pounds of baby weight before my baby turns 3 on May 1....

Almost finished with 21 Day Fix, Running, Work, and What Comes Next?

After a pretty lazy holiday break, I feel like I'm back with a vengeance..

Me during the break... (I found this here)

A few days before the New Year, I started a round of 21 Day Fix. I finish on Sunday and I'm pretty proud of myself. I had a few goals:

1. Get used to waking up early and working out again.
2. Run regularly and work up to 5K without walk breaks.
3. Lose some weight too.

I've done great at waking up. In fact, I wake up at 4:15 every day and don't even hit snooze. It's so nice to have a little quiet time in the morning. Some days, the baby (who is 2 and probably should not be referred to as "The Baby" anymore) wakes up, and I give her the Ipad so she can watch Barbie videos on YouTube, and in exchange she lets me workout.

Here is where this came from

The running has been going pretty well, actually. For "long" runs, I've stayed with my run 3/walk 2 plan. I've gotten up to 6 miles doing that, and I'm 60+ days from the race so I think I'm doing pretty well. For my short runs I've been following 5K runner. I'm just addicted to it. It's so encouraging.

I worked up to the Week 6, Day 1 workout, which is a 10 minute run, 5 minute walk, and 10 minute run. I did that successfully in the neighborhood near my house. But then I tried to do the next workout- run 10/walk 3/run 10- in the neighborhood around my work. There is an extreme hill on the path I take. Actually, there is a mild hill starting off and then STEEP downhill, so for the first 10-13 minutes I feel pretty good. Then when it's time to turn around I have to climb this ridiculous hill. I have yet to make it the full second 10 minutes. So, I went back to an earlier workout -run 5/walk 3/run 6/walk 3/run 5- and did that yesterday. Tomorrow I'll change the middle running interval from 6 to 8. Then the last workout of Week 5 is two 8 minute runs with 5 minutes of walking in between. So I'm working back up to that Week 6 workout. I will conquer that hill!

This was here. 

As for weight loss- well, I didn't really follow the eating plan the first week. I went a little off plan on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. But for the last 2 weeks I've been following the 21 Day Fix eating plan with the little containers. So far I've lost about 5 pounds. I think that's pretty reasonable. Not sure what my final numbers will be. I didn't measure or take before pictures (yes, I know I should have), so unfortunately I'm just going by the scale and how my pants fit (good news, they fit better!)

Source

I'm pretty lucky in that I love my job. The only thing I don't love is I don't really get paid enough for us to live on. So, I've been considering getting a second job for a while. That's tricky because with most jobs, you can't just tell them when you want to work. It's been a little scary. But, I've started to get some accompanying gigs which is awesome. Yes, it means late nights and early mornings, but I've got my Thrive to help me get through. I think I'll be ok. Plus I really have missed it.

So, on Monday I'm starting a new program since I'll be done with 21 Day Fix. It's called The Master's Hammer and Chisel. It's got the gal from 21 Day Fix in it (who I love, although I recently heard from several people that they think she's annoying) and the guy from Body Beast (who I also love). This program is a little more hardcore than 21 Day Fix. There are pull ups in most of the workouts. I'm going to have to dig out my pull up bar. But I think this will be good. I do plan to continue training for my race. In fact, this is a 60 day program so the end coincides almost exactly with the race. I may sub some Sunday workouts for long runs, but other than that I'll stick to the schedule and do these workouts in the morning, and run at lunch. It seems to be working for me.

They look pretty serious. I'm actually scared.

I also get to follow the 21 Day Fix eating plan, so that's cool. I have a pretty good handle on it.

I started taking Thrive in May, and saw some results. I was pretty excited about it. But around October, I felt like it had quit working. My energy was low. I was relying on coffee again. And my appetite was ridiculous. I ate everything. And I didn't just eat one cookie- I had to eat ALL THE COOKIES! Turns out this medication is notorious for weight gain. I know it was affecting me. So, I asked to be switched to a different medication and the difference is amazing. I think the Thrive is finally working the way it's supposed to. I wake up early even if I didn't get my 8 hours. I'm motivated. I just feel capable. That's the word- capable. Like I can handle things.

Overall, things are going great. I'm excited that I made it through the 21 days, and I'm excited about starting another new program. I'm just excited about everything at the moment!

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No, really, I have a plan...

If you remember, I finished my first* half marathon on December 13 (*first half marathon since having 3 kids and first since 2011). I finished it a lot slower than the ones I ran in 2011, but I finished:

I signed up for another one on March 20, hoping I can improve my time a little. It shouldn't be too hard since my time was 3:04.

So, my new goal is to finish the race in the time it takes to listen to the Hamltion OCR (It's about 2:45).

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I have enough time to complete another round of training using the Hal Higdon method. I'm going to use the Novice 1 training program again because I just want to be stronger in my long runs. I knew last time I was really barely ready. I also think that finishing 30 minutes slower than my last half could be due to the fact that I'm about 20 pounds heavier than I was in 2011. So we're going to work on that as well.

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So, what I started doing this week was the 5K Runner Pro program designed to go from nothing to 5K.The first few days have been easy-ish so I've been doing them back to back. Yesterday I did Week 2 Days 2 and 3 for my workout to make it more of a "long" run. So my goal is to get my 5K back to constant running, but for the long runs, I'll still run 3/walk 2 (just hopefully my run intervals will be a little faster).

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I'm having some issues with my diet, but I'll talk about that later. I'm working on it. I'm optimistic.

I ran 10 miles...

I had a much better weekend than I had week last week. I stayed on track with my diet Saturday. Sunday, I ran 10 miles, so I was a little less strict, but I still logged everything and stayed within my calories on MyFitnessPal.

I took some "before" pictures this weekend in the hopes that I will look at them the next time someone brings cake/donuts/bagels/cookies etc to work. Not going to post them here though- they were pretty horrifying.

 

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So, yesterday was my last training run before the Half Marathon next weekend. I was scheduled to run 10 miles. I got through it by posting about it on Facebook constantly.

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It started out well enough...

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but by mile 7 I could barely move my legs...          

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It wasn't pretty, but I made it...

I think the worst part, though, was that when I got home, I still had to help parent. My legs got sore almost immediately. I didn't take an ice bath, and probably should have...

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I barely made it 10 miles. I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about 13.1 next Sunday. I know they say the excitement of the race will get you through, but dang, my legs would barely move there at the end. The good thing, though, is I've already asked for the day after the race off. So I can wallow in my soreness completely all day Monday.

And then in March, I'll do it all again. The good thing about barely finishing is surely the next race will be a PR.

As for that diet thing, I'm determined to stay strong....

Diet: Day 1

Well since last week was spent finishing my dissertation proposal, I decided to throw any "diet" plans out the window. Like, throw them WAY out the window. And run over them with my car. And set them on fire.

Not that I had been doing great before that, either. For several weeks the pattern has been to do great and eat only what I'm supposed to during the day, then get home and allow the kids to get to me and start snacking and oh hey why not just all out binge. 

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So I've gained weight. 

This weekend I bought bigger pants. Yes, it's kind of a failure but it sure does feel nice to wear pants that aren't too tight.

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So, today is Day 1.

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I was back in the gym today. I ran 2 miles and lifted at lunch. So far my eating is on track. My goal is to get home and CONTINUE to follow the plan. Don't snack off my kids' plates. Don't get stressed out and eat a cookie. Stay strong.

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 In other news, I completed the Turkey Trot 8 mile race on Thanksgiving. That was the only thing resembling a workout I did in the last week and a half (before today). 

See, here I am with my medal. Proof that I did it:

To be honest, it went much better than I was expecting. I was able to keep up my run 3/walk2 pattern the whole time. I finished earlier than I expected. I hope this is a sign that the actual half will go well (and maybe my 10 mile run this Sunday too).

And even though training has not gone well, I've already got my eye on another half in March, where I can maybe improve on this one...

So, how's my training going?

In just a few weeks, I'm running in the Dallas Half Marathon. I started training for this over six months before race day. You would think I would be in amazing shape and totally ready. Well....

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There was a time when my training was going well. I had worked up to running 20-25 minutes without stopping for my short runs, and was just starting my "long" runs at 4 miles. For these I was running 3/walking 2. Then for some reason, it got harder.

The short runs got harder. I wasn't adding any speed or distance, but found I couldn't run as long. I went down to 5 minute increments. Too long. 3 minute. I'm now at 2 minutes running/1 minute walking. My long runs are going worse. I start out running 3/walking 2, then I skip a few of the running intervals, then I just do what I can to finish. A week ago Sunday I did 6 miles. I ended up running 90 seconds/walking 90 seconds for the final 2 miles. I was supposed to run 7 last weekend but wasn't able to due to childcare issues. I tried to run it at work at lunch on Monday and made it 4.5 miles.

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I'm signed up for an 8 mile race on Thanksgiving. Theoretically, I should do a 10 mile run the week before the race, and be able to make it 13.1 miles due to sheer adrenaline or something. But I'm nervous. I'm disappointed. And I can't get my eating under control.

Every. Day. (source)

6 months ago when I decided to do this, I thought surely I would have finally lost those 20 extra pounds I've been carrying around. Well, I'm exactly the same as I was 6 months ago, and that's primarily because I can't control my eating.

Me at night. (source)

I'm close to giving up on ever losing weight and just exercising because I like it. Except I don't like it right now. But you know what, my makeup looks great. Maybe I should just focus on that...

Four Things Friday!

Hi five it's finally Friday! I've got several things to tell you about:

1. I was late for work because my daughter's knees hurt when she bends them.

Seriously. She was screaming that she wanted to go to the doctor instead of school.
I can't make this stuff up.

2. I sent my professor the draft of my Chapter 1 of my dissertation. That was surreal. Only ++++ chapters to go, right?

3.  For months I have been stuck in my size 10 jeans. Today I am wearing size 8 jeans. I just can't get over how awesome that feels! Single digits, y'all!

4. I'm a lazy blogger today and don't have many pictures for you, but here's one of me giving you a high five!

Have a great weekend, y'all!