Feeling Low...

So I weighed in after just short of 30 days on the Whole30 plan.  I plan to continue with the plan, but as I only have one more day, figured I would check in for the blog.  I also took measurements and pictures.

So how was the Whole30 plan, you may ask?  I feel really good about my food choices, with the exception of eating too many bacon, egg, hashbrown breakfasts for any and all meals.  I also drank more grape juice than I should have.

So my goal for the next 30 days is to continue for the most part as I have been with the changes noted above, but I may allow myself a small taste of something here or there.  For example, I enjoy a glass of wine occasionally, so that won't be totally outlawed.  I'm am however, frustrated by the weight loss.  As of this morning the scale only shows a loss of 4.2 lbs.  Based on how my pants are getting extremely loose, I expected to see more than that.  I'm trying really hard not to feel too disheartened.  I need to focus on the fact that I am below anything I have weighed in the past year:

My measurements didn't perk me up much either:
The only areas there was a change in were my hips, where I lost 1 inch, and my upper thighs, where I lost 1/2 inch.
Not sure if you can tell any difference:

I only jogged twice this week as it was the end of the Couch 2 5k plan.  I jogged for 30 sustained minutes on Thursday and then I started a different training I found on someone's blog to avoid injury, which I will be mixing in with the Couch 2 10k plan to give myself a bit more time to get to the desired distance and time.  Today I walked for 5 minutes, then did four intervals of 8 minutes jogging followed by 2 minutes walking, with a 5 minute cool down.  On paper this looked great, in reality it was something else.  It got pretty crappy outside.  There was a noticeable wind to my back when I started which helped for my first 5 minutes of jogging, but from then on out I was fighting the wind to my side or head on.  It also started pouring at about 10 minutes in along with the wind.  I had a wind breaker on, but it felt like it was a giant sail as I was trying to jog.  I'm not even sure you could call my forward lurching movement much of a jog.  Probably the only good part of my jog today was getting it done!  I managed to go 3.55 miles, which is pretty good.  My first jog was at an 11:49 pace, which is decent, the second was 12:39, the third 13:29, and the fourth 13:48.  It got pathetic fast...

My average caloric intake this week was: 1225 cal
My average exercise burn was (cal/7): 247 cal

I have a mildly stressful week coming up, but plan to use my exercise regime to help me get through it.  I also just found out I have a wedding to plan for the end of May or first of June, so I need to get to fighting weight ASAP...yikes!

I plan to hang in and hope you do, too!

Amber
The Marsupial Maven

The tortoise feels the burn...

It's been a decent week - not perfect, but good.  I really need to curb my expectations of perfection from myself.  It's nearly impossible to satisfy and leaves me unhappy.  So here's to embracing imperfections and satisfaction with the results!

Mom told me she read the whole blog this week, even the older posts.  She told me she really enjoyed it and reinforced my purpose for putting this out there.  Ultimately I see it as a guidebook for my future self - so I can look back and gain motivation from all the hard work and challenges and struggles along the way.  In light of that, I realized I probably need to be putting more of my weekly thoughts in here.  For example, the jogging has been extremely difficult, but it is getting a teensy tiny bit better each time.  As I jog I keep remembering Val's comment about the breathing.  She told me "once you get the breathing down, it gets easier."  That is soooo true!  The breathing is getting easier which means the whole jogging thing is getting easier as I don't feel like every 4th breath is a struggle.  I started jogging with one earbud in as well.  It gives me something to think about besides counting my breaths.

The Whole30 plan has been going fairly well.  I don't really struggle day to day, but there are moments of frustration because preparing foods that work requires more time and thought.  But the food is great!  As I ate my dessert of several strawberries, some pineapple, raspberries, and cantaloupe I realized how delicious it was.  The craving for rich deserts isn't there (at least not most of the time!).  I do find myself wanting to munch on popcorn, but I just grab a handful of nuts instead, and they do the trick!  (Orchard mix: almonds, cashews, pistachios)  The most difficult part of Whole30 is that I feel hungry all the time.  I have been struggling to eat enough calories, especially on weekends when I get most of my jogging in.  But at least it makes me feel better about a large dinner.  I eat a healthy portion of mean and then a ton of veggies.  If I'm still hungry, I'll dish up a bowl of fresh fruit.

My work week is pretty easy on this diet.  I usually eat (drink) a smoothie for breakfast: banana, almond flour, almond milk or water, and whatever other fruit or frozen fruit is lying around.  I usually drink on this all day.  Lunch is usually chicken salad or tuna salad in a cup bowl served with sweet peppers cut in half.  I eat the salad as a dip.  I also take fruit and nuts to eat.  I nibble on lunch for a while.  Then I grab whatever we might need for dinner on the way home (again, a protein and veggies).  I am really anxious to weigh in.  I can tell my pants are getting a little looser and I'm feeling good about myself.  I feel that I am progressing and am excited to keep going.

I am almost done with the couch 2 5k plan - 2 more workouts, including the "race" type event.  I'll just jog my usual route, but use the TomTom to tell me when I've reached 1.55 miles, then I'll turn around and try to push myself.  I plan to register for a 5 or 10K race in May, time permitting.  Hopefully the Sage Rat Run will work this year!  I am currently on track for the half marathon, but the thought of going that distance is a little bit daunting.  I'm glad I have until August!

Here are the stats:
Average daily intake: 1327 calories

Average daily exercise: 302 calories

Exercise Activity:
My distance is increasing but I'm still pretty slow : the jogs are averaging about 12:30/mi, but as I said earlier, each run gets a little bit better.  When I started my jog today I told myself I didn't have to race, slow and steady would get the job done!  As you can see, the distance on Sat was less than today, but the jog time was equivalent.  The length of the workout is skewed based on when I turned off my watch after I got home.  My next jog is 2 minutes longer, for a total of 30 minutes.  The couch 2 5k app assumes you jog 10 minute miles, but that couple of minutes is ok, I'm sure I can go the distance...


















Well, that's all folks!  Until next week, I'll keep on hoppin'!

Amber
The Marsupial Maven

A Little Late, but still here!

Wow!  Crazy weekend!  Friday night K and I went to see the play Ry is doing lights for.  Great comedy and fun evening.  

Saturday K and I woke up bright and early to head to SHS for the final Vex Robotics competition.  K judged and I scored until noon, when we had to leave to take Ry to see Pride & Prejudice & Zombies as we'd promised her.  Fun flick - Ry and I loved it, though K fell asleep at the end.

Then as soon as we got home we had to get ready to go pour wine at the theater for another performance of the play.  Monday morning my FFA kids had agreed to help a local business with their customer appreciation bbq, so K, Ry and I dragged our butts out and served burgers and dogs until 2pm.  Then we decided we needed to see How To Be Single.  Tons of fun!

Then I broke down and bawled on the way home when I realized K and Ry had to be elsewhere and I still had a couple of hours of work to do to be prepared for classes this week.  Must have been the lack of popcorn and soda...because I was awesome and didn't eat/drink anything I shouldn't have, despite having said I was going to go wine tasting over the weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day!  I'm doing great with the Whole30 program and can't wait to weigh on the 5th of March!!!!

Here are my week's stats:

Average Daily Calories for the week:  1378
Average Daily Calories burned (3 days exercise/7):  277
Couch 25K progress:  I finished week 7 this week, and plan to finish week 8 on time

Exercise Profile for the week:

I'll be back soon for this week's post....until then, keep on hopping!
Amber
The Marsupial Maven

Sluggish Start...

So I neglected to post last week...mostly because I had to go to bed early because I did something to my back and couldn't move.  I even called in sick to work on Monday : (
As a result, I didn't do any of the Couch 2 5K Training that week trying to recover.  I did weigh in and was at 244, down from the previous weigh in by 2.4 pounds!  My average food calories for that week was 1654.

Last weekend we went to Portland to shop and meet Kass so she wouldn't have to drive all the way home.  We always have to go to Powell's when in Portland - it's tradition!  Anyway, I bought two books while there (I actually bought more than two, I just wanted to share two of what I bought):

I read the majority of Whole30 in the car coming home and started the plan on Monday (2/1/16).  Part of the program is not weighing in until the end.  This has been a struggle all week, but I have refrained from stepping on the scale repeatedly throughout the week.  I will however be posting my measurements as I was supposed to post them last Sunday, but due to the aforementioned back issue, neglected to get the data.  The Whole30 plan hasn't been too much of a struggle, but there have been a few times that I really wanted something sweet (Fro-Yo, perhaps?) or munchy (butter covered popcorn, hmmm?).  Kay helped by suggesting I drink some grape juice for the sweet craving and I had a handful of mixed nuts (no peanuts!) instead of popcorn.  I'm feeling really positive and know that I will at least lose some weight over the next month.  I just hope it's like 10 pounds...may be wishful thinking?!

As for the other book...I made plans with Kindra and the girls to do a half marathon in August.  Yikes!  So I plan to finish the Couch 2 5K, go into the Couch 2 10K, then go into the half-marathon training plan found in the book below.  Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's how the week went:

Average food calories: 1350

Average exercise calories(over 7 days): 88/day (exact amounts below)

I picked up where I left off on Couch 2 5K on Friday, and did day 2 of week 6 this morning.  I plan to do day 3 tomorrow after work.  I am off work on Tuesday and Wednesday for doctor's appointments, so I plan to do day 1 and 2 of week 7 then, and I'll be back on track (minus the week off)!

Friday:

Distance - 2.14 miles

135 strides/min

Calories - 602

Time - 31.53

Sunday:

Distance - 2.36 miles

141 strides/min

Calories - 633

Time - 34.38

Measurements:

12/23/15                                                 2/7/16                         Difference:

Upper Thigh: 28"                                   28"                              No change

Upper Arm: 14.25"                                12.5"                           - 1.75"

Hips: 56.5"                                             55"                             - 1.5"

Waist: 48"                                              44"                             - 4"

Bust: 51"                                                47"                             - 4"

December 23, 2015

February 7, 2016

Isn't that outfit extremely flattering!  All in all I'm feeling really positive and proud of myself.  I also thought I'd share that during my runs when I'm feeling that it' a struggle, I tell myself out loud that I'm proud of myself.  It seems to help me stay motivated because a big reason for exercising to lose weight is that I want to feel proud of myself instead of disappointment.

Until next week,

Keep on hopping!

The Marsupial Maven

Another one bites the dust...ish!

So I'm sitting here in the afterglow of my 3rd day of couch to 5K week 5 training having just returned from a 20 minute jog with 5 min warm-up and cool down.  I almost convinced myself not to do the plan today, but it was so nice outside that I decided I'd attempt the workout and enjoy the weather.  Worst case - I'd get a little Vitamin D during a brief walk.  But I accomplished the plan!  Albeit slowly, but still - I jogged all twenty minutes!  Woot woot!

Next week may be a bit challenging for me, but I'm in a good place right now!  Here are the week's statistics:

Average calories per day:  1460

Average calories burned per day (sum of the three/7): 224
Average calories burned per day exercised (sum/3): 523

My workout stats:
Days worked out: 3
Average distance: 2.14
Average speed:  16 min mi.
Average HR: 139

Weight:  I lost 1.8 pounds this week!  Yay!  Finally, movement on the scale!!!!!
Current weight: 246.4

Goals:
I didn't get in any extra exercise as I had intended.  I'm going to try again this next week!  I will also continue on with the couch 2 5K workouts, hopefully they won't be too difficult for me to continue without stopping to repeat a week - I'm almost there!  There are 8 weeks total...We'll see how things go.

Challenges:
This week I have conferences until 8pm on Monday and Tuesday and a mandatory 6 pm meeting on Wednesday which will be challenging for me to get all my exercise days in.  My plan is to get up early on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to get the exercise in.  I have Friday off, so that will be a benefit!

Until next week - hope everybody keeps on hopping!

The Marsupial Maven

Another Week Down!

So I'm a bit late in posting.  Got too relaxed over the holiday weekend, then had company today.  It was a successful week - not too exciting, but things are going well!

I'm enjoying my workout area and getting tech set up to run BitGym on tv.  It makes my runs so much better!

This weeks' stats:
Weight: I lost about 1/2 pound
Exercise:  I successfully completed this weeks' Couch to 5K workouts.  It was week 4, so the workout was the same each of the three days:
5 min warmup walk (3.0 mph), 3 minute jog (at 5.2mph), 90 second walk (3.4 mph), 5 minute jog (at 5.0 mph), 2 1/2 min walk (3.4mph), 3 minute jog (at 5.3 mph), 90 second walk (3.4 mph), 5 minute jog (5.1 mph), 4 1/2 min walk (3.4 mph), 10 min walk (3.0mph)

Here are the past two days on the Garmin:

The average calories I burned were 556 for three days or 239 for all seven.

My average calories were 1533, a bit higher than I would like.  I relaxed over the holiday weekend, as you can see below.  Gotta get the intake at a better level.

Goals:
This next week I plan to add two more days of activity to the schedule.  I've already got the bike set up for a virtual ride tomorrow morning before work and if the sun shows itself at all this week I would like to hike the grade.  If not, I'll try to do an incline walk on the treadmill.  I plan to watch the calories as I have been, but to make better choices on the weekend.  I actually was down more weight at one point during the week, but after the weekend the scale is up a bit.  I also plan to take a few photos of things going on around here, but I'm too tired right now and still have laundry to fold!

Hope your week makes you hoppy!

The Marsupial Maven

Getting into the swing of things...

It's been a good week.  I felt like I had work under control as well as my eating and exercise and got many tasks accomplished around the house as well!  I'm feeling tired in a very good way.  I also saw some downward movement of the scale in the past few days, so I'm calling this week a success!

Some stats:
Average daily calories:  1306 cal.
Average daily exercise calories burned:  166 cal.
Mileage: Tue: 1.66; Thurs: 1.66; Sat: 1.72 miles
Minutes: Tue: 31:39; Th: 28:05; Sat: 34:51
Weight: At one point my weight this week was as low as 248.8

I followed the Couch to 5K plan (week 3) for three days this week.  I'm counting today's exercise toward next week, so I didn't figure that in my daily average.  I didn't add in any other activities, but plan to do so this week.  I also journaled every day at Myfitnesspal.

As far as tasks around the house, I set up an exercise area in the spare room/craft room/home office.

This had been extremely beneficial!  Ry and I have both been working out in this space regularly.  It feels great to have a space dedicated to this and we're outfitting it to work for us!  I also just joined BitGym for working out on the treadmill during the winter when I can't get outside.  It really helps!

In addition, Ry and I discovered that Biggest Loser just started up again, so of course we've got to keep up with that to help motivate us!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week and can keep on hoppin!

The Marsupial Mavin