Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Got a little sideways

Well I am here again.. I got to get better about my food choices. I have had a headache every day for the last 6-8 weeks... this is about when I got sloppy with my food.. I do believe I have some new food triggers for my headaches/migraines that I didn't before. I have battled these headaches since I was 16 and last year when I was being SUPER strict with my food I had no problems with them at all.. So I think something or multiple somethings that I am now eating that I wasn't a year ago is causing them to be an issue again. So I am going back low carb.. PA at my surgeons office says half the grams of carbs as you get in protein.. OK THIS IS VERY HARD and I have NEVER been able to get that.. like today I will end up 90 grams protein, 51 grams of carbs, so close but not half .. my goal is 90-110 grams protein under 60 grams carbs. I think this is do able, well I know it is, I was doing it a while back.
Being super strict with my carbs is going to lower my calories and make my runs harder especially in the heat and humidity we have going on right now. So my plan is to shorten them a bit until my body gets back to used to not having the carbs.
PS.... I LOVE CARBS I mean they just make everything more yummier :)
So with all that said I need LOW CARB HIGH PROTEIN snack ideas.. nothing with nuts or seeds though bc I think nuts are one of my new triggers which stinks because, I love nuts they are my number one go to snack. Right now I am doing string cheese and a sugar free pudding but need a couple more options.. PS I don't care for greek yogurt I have tried, its just not in me.
So if you have suggestions leave a comment or hit me up on facebook or IG.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Productive day


My best weeks in this journey come when I prepare a plan and work it.. Today I got up (w a headache which seems to be a regular thing again these days)  walked w my daughter and our new puppy. Came home and started cooking my lunch for the work week. Dinner for tomorrow night, muffins for hubby and daughter for breakfast this week. Also got about half the yard mowed ...so all in all a great day so far.
Let me go back to the food . If I don't prepare lunches for the week on Sunday then I end up rushing trying to figure out something, in the morning,so normally end up w just a shake bc of poor planning. This leaves me very hungry when I get off work.  After work is my hardest time of day, if I am hungry when I get home I have no chance in ended the day on a good note food wise. So I went on and made tomorrow nights dinner also. This allows us I be able to eat shortly after I get home so I don't snack first then eat dinner... Cooking does not come easy to me so a couple weeks ago I started preparing dinner the day before all we have to do is reheat. Once dinner is done I start preparing dinner for next night... This works for me. I am a planner my brain works best that way. I know planning so far out (I have meals, 3 a day, planned out for the next 2 1/2 wks) doesn't work for everyone or every family but for me I need the structure.
On a running note today was the first 2 miles since a foot injury 2 wks ago and boy am I glad to be back out there, I just feel so much better when I can run.
That's Mikaela and our newest fur babie!

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

6/17/14 Fill / Check up Apt

Good Wednesday Morning :)
Yesterday I went to my fill appt. I was so happy when I got back to the room because my favorite PA was back. He had moved about 6 mnths ago but is now back at the practice. I mean the last PA was OK but she was just there to do a job. Never really had too many tips etc to help things move along better. Dr DW though is AWESOME. He looked at my band with the barium swallow it looks great. Still in place, no dialation etc. WE settled on .5 CC fill, I have really been struggling with hunger lately. He basically suggests the 5 day pouch test post fill. He calls it the "POOR MANS FILL" though. Kind of a reset after a fill. The last PA had told me move on to softs by dinner time the day of my fill which I thought was a little backwards from everything Ive ever been told. He also sat down and discussed WHAT I have been eating... and I knew what he was going to say and I was right.. I eat to much " SOFT " foods during day. He would rather me eat more solid protein at least at lunch, since I am already good about that for dinner. He suggested a piece of chicken. OK this is hard for me bc I eat at my desk 9 out of 10 times and I got to have something easy plus I don't do dry food very well. So typically re fried beans, cottage cheese, a smoothie, yogurt, chili... and yep I see the trend do you... they are all SOFT.
Chicken started to bother me recently, well  lets reword that.. RE-HEATED chicken bothers me.. and any chicken cooked by someone that tends to dry things out.. I  can eat chicken at my house, just cooked, by US, all day long.. I know its moist and its not re-heated so I am good.. but in order for me to bring chicken to work I will then be re-heating it which moves it to the dry category... So I don't have to worry about lunch this week anyways bc liquids still today then soft foods for the following 2 days ( I made a batch of Chili last night to get me through the soft days) Next week though I think I will be doing a batch of Mexican chicken... I use a whole bottle of salsa in with it so it doesn't normally dry out when re-heated, it ends up being shredded chicken by time its done not a solid breast but I think that should be ok.. or at least I hope so. I am hoping this will help get me back on track. He also suggested if I just have to eat soft foods at lunch to eat a handful of nuts before I eat my soft food.. said this will help, which makes complete sense to me.
As I was getting ready to leave the nurse pulled me to the side and asked if I would be interested in being in a patient profile used for marketing the band for the practice... OMG how awesome is that. I said of course I would , she called the marketing lady who came right in to speak with me about  it. This honestly BLOWS MY MIND, seriously I was almost like WHAT?? But I tried to keep cool even though inside I was so doing a happy dance :)Once it gets done I will make sure to post a link
Well I better go start my day. Happy Hump Day!

Friday, May 30, 2014

Perseverance

Good Friday Morning

I felt the urge to just get it out there that whatever your goal is, whatever your starting point. If you stick with it and stay the course you will get there.
Weather that is a weight loss goal, a fitness goal, a career or financial goal. Stick with it and you wont be sorry. With that said let me share my running perseverance and this is no different than anything else. Up until last May I never ran a day in my life. Even when I was "fit" in High School I played team sports and I cycled ( pretty long distance w my dad) but never ran. I can remember leaving the house saying I am GOING to run, and not even making it to the end of the road. As a grown up  I am a studier if I decide I want to do something I read and research like a crazy person before I even start. So last spring when I had a light bulb moment and decided I would be a runner, I quickly learned that running does not come natural to most. There is more to it than making sure you have your tennis shoes on and leaving the house.. LIKE.. did you realize there are different shoes for different people depending on how  your foot hits the ground. Or that you have to train yourself how to breath when you run. Or that certain foods can cause distress when you run even if they don't normally in your everyday life.. and I can go on and on. I quickly understood OHHH I had not thought of any of this stuff the couple times in HS I attempted to make it around the block. And I became certain that there are probably a lot of people that feel like they cant run bc they tried and could not but that they didn't realize all of the above, just like I hadn't. So last June  I ran my first 5K, well it was more like a run/walk there was some running but there was more walking. IT took me about 43 min and I was THRILLED. 3 miles 43 min and I loved every min. I then signed up for my second in Aug and went on a signed up for a 5 miler for OCT which at the time I didn't know what I was thinking but I am glad I did. After that second my time had gone down by about 5 mins and I actually ran the whole thing this time.. averaging just a little over 12 1/2 min a mile. I remember thinking wow how crazy would it be if one day I can run my long distance runs and HOLD a 12 min mile pace the WHOLE time. In Oct when I ran my 5 miler I did so in 55 min flat ( thats a 11 min mile the whole time) Never in my wildest dreams 6 mnths prior if asked if that was possible would I have said yes. I probably would have laughed when asked. Now with 3 half marathons under me and another on the books for fall along with a 33 mile charity run in November I am realize I can train my body to do whatever as long as I stick with it.. and for the record sometimes that is hard. In April I ran a hard race and most of my issues where self induced like the fact I had eaten about half of what I needed to the day before so I didn't have the energy strength going in to the run to run the way I tried which made recovery absolutely awful or that I had only gotten just over an hour of sleep the night before. I felt so discouraged and I DIDNT RUN FOR 2 WEEKS following this event I sulked and did other work out things when I could and I walked a couple times but I felt defeated. When I finally got the nerve to lace up my shoes I then wanted to kick myself bc the defeat and poor self feelings were all CHRISTY made and they all fell away as soon as I was back on track. ( so much of my journey is mental for me)
Last night I took my daughter out to the greenway, we ran ( she rode her bike) a section I had never run before from the car the greenway was UP HILL for 2.5 miles, I am not sure where it leveled off bc 2.5 is where we did our turn around. I kept telling her don't worry you can do it, it will all be down hill once we turn around. When I checked my GPS when I got back to the car the 5 miles we ran I kept a 9 min 51 sec per mile pace.  CRAZINESS!!!
So whatever your goals are stick with it. If you are someone that finds it hard to stayed focus on a goal, find an accountability partner.I have one and she is the one that called me out and forced me back in my running shoes. She said look how far you have come, really you are going to let a bad race, a bad mood and scheduling conflicts undo it all. I think not. Sometimes in life I think we all need someone to call us out when we are having issues and she had let me sulk 2 wks ( she had given me time to work through it on my own) and said she wasn't letting me sulk anymore.
I dont share any of this to say look at what I have done. Not in anyway! But to hopefuly encourage someone that may be struggling with this. Our journeys are all differnt and most have no end date ( I know mine will never be over) we just have to keep at it.

Happy Friday All!


 
 
 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Tbt

So here is a TBT pic. First was June 22 2013 after my first 5k. Second was April 13 2014 before my 3rd half marathon. Persistence and dedication does pay off:)
Happy Thursday All!

Monday, May 19, 2014

I DID IT!

OK FOR REAL .. I did it. I got my sleepy tail out of bed and did my short work out this morning. I am planning a good run after work( 6-8 miles) too so I am one happy momma.
I was able to work in 3 runs last week.  Mondays was REALLY short, like pitiful short. It is amazing how much you loose just taking a couple weeks off. But by Thursday I was able to get a decent 4 miles in and then Saturday it was absolutely fabulous weather here and I got 8.25 miles on the Greenway. I have also got my hands/head around our dinner meal plan for the next 2 weeks so that makes me feel better about that aspect too . Mikaela is down to 3 wks left of school and that includes a day off next week for Memorial Day. So things are just chugging right along.
I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL Monday!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Morning work outs

OK OK I AM STILL ON THIS! LOL

I know I talked about this last blogg but I have been in the worse funk ever for about a month now.. like the kind where I am on my own nerves... A lot has changed over the last couple months and my work outs are all out of whack. And as you all know exercise is my anti depressant I believe this with my WHOLE HEART.
OK so a little back ground... My husband came home from Iraq with some injury's and while recovering for the last almost 3 years did not work. This allowed me to be a bit spoiled when it came to when and how I worked out. He was available to pick up our daughter from school EVERY DAY and cook dinner EVERY DAY. And I had the luxury of going running or to the gym for hours after work EVERY DAY.. So he finally went back to work in March, we needed this, mentally he needed this. But boy was I not prepared for how it would effect me, in no way shape or form am I upset he is working I just really had no idea how much would change. A) I have no one to unload my day to in the evenings anymore bc most days I am asleep when he gets home.. B) OM GOODNESS I have to feed myself..lol I know that sounds silly but the whole time we've been together ( 9 yrs) with the exception of deployment, HE HAS BEEN THE COOK, he enjoys it, he knows a TON of fabulous recipes and why rock that right... C) I take my lunch to pick up Mikaela from school so no lunch runs... @ 5 I go home start dinner and do the animal chores( remember we got about a million chickens ok thats an exaggeration but well over 100) afterwork. By time I get all that done, I am pretty much done for the day. Like I said I was spoiled I haven't had to mess with any of this sort of stuff in years. So I have been horrible about taking care of me and my health needs. OK this pic is perfect of my conversation with a girlfriend at least once a week.
 
SO I have a new game plan.. I have 2 Beach Body Programs.. CheLean which is weight training and Brazilian Butt Lift which is basically a TON of squats but thats ok I enjoy it. My goal since I cant seem to do the whole get up an whole hour plus early to do a full work out is... To do the 10 min B. Butt video.. its just a short work out but means Id only have to get up 15 min early, I mean there is NO EXCUSE to not get up 15 min early. Once ( hopefully with in just a couple weeks) I get used to the new wake up time I will get up another 10 min earlier to do the 10 min Chaleans ab work out. Even though both are short they are both very effective, um if I actually do them :). I am hoping getting up and getting my blood flowing first thing will help with my absolutely awful outlook recently and hopefully provide more energy to get a full work out done most evenings.
Also I had to fess up to a girlfriend and ask for some cooking tips, How terrible is that 34 years old and cant cook squat... until last night myself and Mikaela hadn't eaten a regular meal (healthy) in about 2 weeks. Which is not good for either of us.
So here's to being honest about what I have going on.. CANT COOK AND LAZY BY NATURE WITH AN AWFUL ATTITUDE and heres to changing that ASAP!