Happy Memorial Day!

Hope everyone is having a great day! I worked last night, came home to sleep for a few hours, and then went with the husband to the Y, which was closing at 1. Today I had a major running milestone: I ran for 40 minutes with no walk break, a three minute time PR for me!!

The husband and I are heading out for lunch and then catching up on things around the house.

What are your plans for the day?

Inches

When I first started losing weight, I was religious about taking inches on Sundays. I have fallen about from that, but will be starting again today. Here we go:
Chest: 37
Waist: 32
Hips: 38 1/2
Arm: 12

When I started in October, it was: 40, 35, 41, and 14.

We'll see how I go from here!

Saturday Recap

After getting home at 8, I slept for a few hours and then fixed lunch for myself and the husband. Today's menu? Barbeque beef and corn on the cobb. I love barbeque - it's such a summery, family gathering type of food for me.
We then went to Y where husband lifted weights, and I did a 30 minute run and some ab work, followed by a shopping trip for flip-flops and a trip to the local pet store.

I have packed two successful work lunches* so far this week: yogurt, cliff bar, oatmeal with pb and a banana. This gives me a main item and two snacks, whch seems to be about right for the amount of tim I'm working. Last night, however, I got tripped up in my diet efforts: my boss brought me in breakfast when he got here at 6:00: sausage mcmuffin and a hashbrown. I ate the mcmuffin and about 1/3 of the hashbrown. I was planning on a smoothie when I got home, but I instead ate the McDonalds.

Part of what I struggle with is eating in "special situations"- someone brings in homemade cookies, my mom fixes fried chicken, it's a holiday, etc. I know I should have willpower to eat the salad, but is a life without, say, donuts, worth living? I feel like a moderation approach works best for me - eating some of the "bad stuff" but trying to eat much healthy, whole foods, and cutting back elsewhere to make up for the indulgences.

How do you find balance?

I thought I'd share my barbeque recipe - it's the result of about two years of experimentation.

1 small pork roast (you can alson used a beef pot roast)
2 tsp meat tenderizor
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp seasoned pepper
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp garlic power
1 tbsp chilli power

Mix spices together in small bowl. Use a fork to puncture meat on both sides, and spinkle tenderizor equally onto each side. Place meat into a glass baking dish and rub top side with spice mixture. Cover with foil and place in 200 degree oven, cooking for 3 1/2 hours if the meat is under 3 pounds, adding twenty minutes for each additional pound of meat.

After cooking time is over, remove from oven and use two forks to shred meat. serve sauce on the side, but you can also toss the shredded meat in sauce.

My sauce:
1/4white vinegar
1/8 cup ketchup
1/8 cup yellow mustard - not dijion
1 tbps worcheshire sauce

How do you like your barbeque?

*are they lunches if I eat them at 4 in the morning?

Weekly Goal

One thing I would like to use the blog to keep track of is a weekly heathly lifestly habit I'd like to start. For week onr, my goal is to pack my lunch for work the night before every day.

Work eating is a huge make-or-break it for me. If I don't have healthy food, I'll hit up a vending machine or the work cafeteria, and my choices are seldom good ones. That is partially because there is a lack of good options, and partially my own weak willpower. I know I should pack a lunch, but it doesn't always happen. I'll let you know next Friday how it goes.

Do you pack a lunch?
sAc

Interesting LA Times Article

http://www.latimes.com/news/health/la-he-fat-celebs-20100524,0,7034097.story

What do you think? Are we hooked on fat and the related drama?

Finally Friday!

Happy Friday all! Today is a short workday for me, leaving at 2:30 instead of 5-ish. Not for a fun reason though - a coworker is off this weekend and next week, so I'll be coming back in to work 3rd shift tonight and all next week to cover for him (3rd shift is 10:30 pm - 7:30 am). Wish me good, quick sleep for the hopeful 3 hours I need to get between work today and when I come back in!

Last night was a rest day for me, and I went pant shopping with my mom. Pants are my personal hell, something that has only got harder as I lost weight. Why? Running has led to one side effect I don't love: much increased thigh and calf muscles. I am naturally very muscular, add muscle easily, and now have "man calves". Skinny jeans? Only if the lower leg is wide enough. Zip-up tall boots? Yeah, right.

But I enjoy my strength, really. I can squat and leg press absurb amounts of weight, I look good in shorts, and I don't get tired easily walking around. I just need to find pants that aren't so slim-legged.

What body parts has running changed for you?
sAc

Biggest Loser

Anyone else a huge fan of the show? I had been rooting for Mike from the first episode, and was so happy when he won!

My all time favorite is Alli Vincent - she seems so relatable.

If you had asked me at any earlier point in my life, why do you have weight issues? or Why are you fat? I would have answered with a laundry list of reasons: I work too much, I have issues with my self-perception, I take too much on without leaving time for myself, I eat out too often, on and on. After I began running and trying to eat intuitvely, I realized there weren't reasons - they were excuses, cop outs.

Why am I fat? I eat too much, and don't move enough. As Jillian puts it "calories in vs. calories out". The only way this will be a true lifestyle change for me is to stop the excuse and fix the food and exercise issues.

Who did you root for this season?

sAc

Before Pictures

So you can see the pictures that inspired me to start this journey

July 2009, presenting research at an academic conference. Can't you an exact weight here - major scale avoidance during this time. Probably over 200 lbs.

The New Before, at Disney World the week of May 10, 2010:

Weight here: About 174

What amazed me about these two set of pictures:

• Man this has taken a long damn time! But I've yo-yo'd enough in my life to know that quick weight loss leads to quicker gain-back.
• My arms still need work - more lifting for me.
• That I can wear shorts! Me - shorts!! I was flabbergasted the first day in Disney where I could wear shorts and walk around with absolutely no thigh-creep/rubbing. Probably the first time since age 10 I could do that.

What amazes you about your pictures?

sAc

Tonight's Workout and Shoes

I work out after work at a local YMCA about 5 minutes from my house. Today was a 2 mile interval run, 1:1 intervals with the fast at a pace of 6.00, followed by 3 miles on the stationary bike and a quick ab workout. I would have like to have run farther, but am plagued by a little toe blister issue that has resulted in a painful raised cuticle. I also have blisters in between three more of my toes as well.

I have been through 3 pairs of running shoes: Brooks Adrenalines in wide (ok feel but caused blisters between my toes), Ascis 3010 (led to severe plantar facillatis after 2 runs; returned them), and my current beloved Saucany Guides in a men's wide, suggested by my local running store after filling them in on the blister issue from the Adernalines. My current pair have about 85 miles on them, but the blistering is getting worse as my mileage goes higher - not sure if I have too much motion control and am rolling my toe into the outside of the shoe, or if I need more width in the toebox. My LRS has been ok, but they're not the most helpful place I've been. I'm going to try thicker socks, but if they don't work, I may be shoe shopping again.

What kind of shoes do you run in?

sAc

About Me

With Liz from the Biggest Loser at Nashville's Resolution Run 5K

I am an engineer at a major automotive company, and have a bachelor's and Master's degree from Indiana University. I got married a little over a year ago, to my engineer husband, and we share a house with our two dogs, a jack russell terrier and a minature schnauzer.

I started my running life on Sept 21, 2009. I had always wanted to run a 5k, and impusively chose a first race on Sept 26, knowing I would be walking the majority of it. On that first run, I could literally only make it 1 1/2 minutes without stopping. I finished my first 5k in 42:18, slow but addicting, exhilerating. Since then, I have run between 10 - 25 miles a week, fighting shoe issues and a 65+ hour a week work schedule. My current 5k PR is 34:54 - I'd love to get under 30 this year. My half marathon training formally starts June 1, with a goal of running it at 5:1 run/walk ratio.

I hope to use this blog to track my training, eating, and hopeful weight loss through this process.

What are your running goals?

sAc

Hello

I am long time blog reader starting to write on my own. In the past 7 months, I have lost 26 pounds, run 6 5K races, and began a journey away from a sednetary lifestyle and yo-yo dieting, hoping to emerge a strong, healthy person with a positive relationship with body image and food.

I have decided to train for my first half marathon, the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, in October of 2010, and am starting this blog to journal my training. I also have some more weight to loose to meet my goal, having plateaued over the past two months. I have seen what a motivating, positive community the weight loss/food blog world can be, and I am happy to be joining you.

Weigh in day 1: 172 pounds
Goal: 150

Thanks for joining me!
sAc