Blood Work Results

So the scale, my clothes, my fitness level, etc is not all that is changing. I had my blood work run last week and the results just came back in. Vitamin levels are all in the good range, Ive been low in D for several years now but its ok now. My Cholesterol which has been high for a couple years now, but the Dr kept wanting me to "fix" it with diet.. dropped 70 points in the last year.. its still 4 points to high but that is amazing to me.. I really felt it was going to still be high, I mean my whole family has high cholesterol even the thin ones. I just got to see what I can do about those 4 pesky points.

Finding Balance and Happiness

Over the last year I have spent a LOT of time on physical activity, mainly the gym. And where this has been great for my weight loss goals, I miss my family time. Now that Ive switched from loosing weight( well mostly) to training for big runs, I have better learned how to make the most of my work outs. Gone are the days where I leave work and go to the gym to climb on the elliptical for 60-90 min followed by 15-20 on the row machine or 30 on the bike, there was literally months that I spent an hour and half to 2 hours at the gym in the evening. I have learned how to get the best bang for my buck ( or in this instance TIME) I am diligently adding strength and weight training into my week. Before I had none. I now do 3 days a week ( Monday before spin class and Wed and Friday at my home). I will be so honest with you here on the strength training aspect. I was scared of this for so many reasons. Like I said before I didn't want to be in the weightlifting section at the gym, I am still so insecure and most likely always will be ... I didn't want to gain #s even though I knew they said it would be muscle gain which after the gain would in turn burn more calories resting than the fat it replaced so therefore speed up weight loss afterwards. And really getting on the cardio by myself and not really having to move from that section till I was done was appealing. I mean I didn't have to talk to anyone, re-set anything, gather supplies ( weights yoga mats, yoga balls etc). I just had to plop down my stuff and get to it. It was easy and lets face it I like easy. I've also added a couple classes, Spin on Monday night and Core on Thursday( being in a class atmospere is in an of itself a struggle for me this goes back to my insucuritys BUT I do it and truth be known I feel great afterwards). Monday ends up being a late night still bc Spin does not get over till 7:25 but Thursday I am done at 6 and I don't stick around and do cardio after like I would have a couple months ago. I am comfortable enough with my weekly work outs I don't feel the need to put in anymore time on Thursday night. Also I no longer even go to the gym on Wed or Friday. They are my days to come home do my weight circuit and spend the rest of the evening with the family. Tues I typically, unless its bad weather run at the park by my work .. Still I am home by 630. So much nicer than leaving the gym at 7 or 730, 5 nights a wk. I finally feel like I have gotten some sort of balance. I know Ive said it before I am very much an all or nothing type of person. This has always scared me a little bit during this Odyssey ( who was it said on their blog we need to call it that, I like it :) ) Ive always been so scared to miss a work out bc in the past missed one, turns into missed a wk, turns into do I still have that membership to the gym months later. Same with meals I have tried the whole cheat meal or cheat day idea, for me I just cant do it. NOW does that mean if I am at my sisters house celebrating birthdays with my nephews I wont have a piece of cake... NO If I want a pc I will have a pc. But I am not going to schedule my cheat days or meals... a pc of birthday cake in my opinion is life not a cheat anyways.
So I guess what I am saying is that if you are struggling to find a happy balance between, family, work, meal planning, workouts, etc. Hang in there it is possible, the happy balance is different for everyone but you will find the balance.

PS  this is me when my cheat meal goes horribly wrong... LOL isn't he so cute :)

Beautiful Weather finally

Well we here in NC are scheduled to have beautiful weather then next several days. I am so excited. I have an after work run on the books for tonight to celebrate 60 degrees and no rain ( at least today).
Last night I hit the gym and I hit it hard. I skipped out all week last week bc of the weather. The gym is about 20 miles from my house and well I am not the best driver, so for everyone involved I choose not to drive more than I have to in ugly weather.. I mean I don't want to end up in one of the pictures like I posted last week :)
So last nights work out consisted of my weight training circuit, 10 min of rowing and then 80 min of spin class and the instructor brought her A game. I left there whipped for sure.
If anyone is interested in what my weight training circuit consist of I will list it all below. It is all things that can be done at home. If I have no distractions I can do it all in about 15 min.. if I am having to shoe the dogs away more like 20 so not too much time tied up in it. I do think its effective and I feel myself getting strong. I do the circuit 2-3 times a week. He will be changing the circuit up for me in another couple weeks to keep my muscles guessing..

*Squats with weights 12 Reps ( I started at 10 lbs I'm up to 15 now.. nothing special here you just hold weights in ea hand to your side and squats. The weights never move)
* Chest press on yoga ball.. 12 Reps. So with this you lay on the yoga ball with the ball under your upper back and neck, weights start at shoulders and you press up.
* Squat Thrust ( I think this is the name) 12 Reps. Weight are at your shoulders squat down and as you come back up you lift the weights straight up in the air above your head. As you squat back down they come back to your shoulders
* Row  12 reps.. One leg forward and bent at the knee, chest leaning forward. weights in both hands and row them up towards your chest
* 10 Push Up ( OK I HATE THESE)
* 10 Crunches
* 10 Bicycle Crunches


Then you repeat for a total of 4 sets.
I jumped from 10 lbs to 15 Lbs weights, but before I could go buy the 15 lbs for home but I knew I needed them I increased from 12 to 15 reps on it all and even added a 5th set.
Ive also added to the Crunches and the Bicycles Crunches.Up to 15 on those too.. But as I said I HATE PUSH UPS so those are still at 10. ****If 10# is too heavy for you to start at, move down to 8#s or even 5.. you can always increase later but you dont want to pull something or injure yourself by using weights that are too heavy.***

If you deside to try it out let me know and keep in touch and let me know how you progress. I will post new circuits as he gives them to me. I wish I had started with the weights before now. And if I knew I could do it in 20 min and at home I would have. I just pictured me having to go to the weight lifting section at the gym with all the boys and well that was just tooo intimidating for me. Even on days I do it at the gym I dont have to do it in their section I do it over in the back and in the corner .
PS...I am on IG, and Facebook so if anyone wants to connect outside of the blogg let me know. Social Media is such a great tool to conect and support each other :)

Snow Days

So here in NC its rare we get snow days, but for some reason Mother Nature has decided that this year we needed several. We were all snowed in again the last 2 days. I have to tell you bad weather is really effecting my mood. I mean I work out to relieve stress weather its a run at lunch or a class or 2 at the gym after work. Its my outlet. Well the gyms been closed, roads been bad, and running on this ice, which is a lot of what we had this week is  not an option. I cant afford to slip and get injured and not be able to train for a couple weeks, it would just put me WAY far behind. So Wednesday I got home from work about noon bc of the weather I went on an did my weight training circuit. The trainer was so great and gave me a program I could do at the gym OR at home which is awesome for the days when I just cant get there. It wasn't a HUGE calorie burner but it was a work out and I got sweaty. Yesterday I did the circuit again but added about 20 min of core exercises that we normally do in our Thursday evening core class. It helped to mix it up and I felt better about moving both snow days. The other thing I struggle with especially on snow days. Is mindless eating out of boredom. And though I didn't do as good with my food as I do during the week when I am at work. I didn't do horrible. I still got my 120-150 oz of water in and my protein was were it needed to be too.

I will leave you with a picture taken about 20 miles from where I live ( was taken Wednesday when storm started) OK you northerners... prepare to laugh. I just dont ever thing snow in this area will be a good thing.

I couldnt do what I do with out ____________

I couldn't do what I do with out___________. We all have this, I believe. May be its a person or a gadget or a favorite food or supplement. The further out I get from when I had surgery, as we all know the WL slows and I have to tweek stuff to still see a loss.. maybe its what/how I eat maybe its the type of exercise etc. I rather just be able to do the same thing every day and always get the same results but unfortunately that is just not the case, at least for me. I have several people I lean on for support. Some fellow bloggers, my Hubby, my Mom. And then there is a girlfriend named Ellie. Back in Nov we started being accountable to ea other. In areas we are struggling ( we have different life styles and different goals, but that's ok accountability is accountability) weather its certain nutrition goal, water goals, exercise and fitness goals. We txt every day through out the day and at the end of the day we txt ea other our results. So right now I am sending my water count, what exercise I did. My calories, carb and protein ( am working on getting all of those up a little further with out gaining). This is normal for us, we've been doing it now for months. But Saturday she went above and beyond. I had a 16 mile training run to do. And if I am completely honest I WAY over did it Friday, cramming 2 work outs in when I knew I was going to be running long the next day. That was very stupid. But whats done is done. So Saturday already sore I headed out for my run. At mile 9 I txted her...9 of 16.. So not feeling this today. At mile 10 I txtd.. 10 really not sure how many more I have left in me... That's when this huge wave of support came in. About every 1/2 mile I was getting a txt from her.... I know you can do it.. Only ___ more..... Almost there... home stretch now.. I will tell you I finished because she was right there cheering me on. Not physically of course she lives about 45 min away but virtually she was right there with me, and I am so greatful. If you are struggling with any aspect of your journey try finding an accountability buddy. In todays day and age you dont have to live close by or even have the same goals. Just be supportive and encouraging. It makes the journey so much more enjoyable :)

PS THIS WILL BE ON FRIDAYS FROM HERE ON OUT :) 

Mental Update

OK so for my mental health I have asked my husband to hid the scale from me. He just took out the battery and hid that but close enough. I wont be able to weigh until March 11th . That's when I asked him to make it re-appear. That give my body about 5 wks to adjust to the weight training and diet change without me obsessing and fretting over the scale. I will however be taking my measurements more often to at least ensure I am not going in the wrong direction , but I really think this is best for me right now. Its so super scary on one hand but kind of liberating on the other..

Weigh in Wednesday #44

I am all over the board today with my feelings/emotions.
As you know I am training for my first marathon ( Full). As of Jan 1 my training was kicked up by a pretty big notch. I am in 3 different cross training classes a wk(spin, core, and sports conditioning). My long runs are getting considerably longer and Ive added weight training. The last 2 weekends after my long runs Ive just all around felt like crap. I had a feeling I was not eating enough for my body to perform at the level I was demanding and that my carbs may also be to low for the hours of running I am doing. So I reached out to a sports nutritionist for some guidance. Told her how I'm eating, how I'm training and that I feel horrible for a day or two after my runs. I said I have a feeling I need to be eating more but I don't know how to go about doing that with out a gain. She confirmed I was not eating nearly enough and gave me some tips that I started implementing yesterday so I am hoping by this Saturdays run I will notice a difference. This Sat is a 16.5 mile run, so I need the fuel to get it done.
I also started weight training almost 3 wks ago now and when I started my trainer warned me I would most likely see a gain, but that the gain would be temporary. WELLL Today I am seeing that. My scale is up 2.6 lbs from last Wednesday (I really wish I had thought to ask HOW temporary that gain would be)  and I know I didn't eat 2+ pounds . I track everything and I know it was not food chooses. So in my head I KNOW this is the muscle being built from the weight training but my heart is not believing my head at the moment.
Starting weight 273
Current 164
Total loss 109
Oh well heres to a better weigh in next week.