Hot 100 oops

I totally forgot to post an update for the Hot 100 challenge.  Doh!  I was on vacation and so buried in cleaning out my basement that it slipped my mind.   I had a great birthday on Tuesday and not only did my Exerspy show up but I got my car back on Wed!!  Woohoo!!  So a very, very late update. 

1. Get more sleep.  Vacation = less sleeping and more time to clean. 
2. Lose 20lbs.  I didn't weigh-in last week.    
3. Meal planning.  We stuck to the plan!  But had to make a few changes to accommodate Thanksgiving and the unexpected Turkey we made at home. 
4. Balance.  Well with all the leaping over boxes and dodging piles, I think I did an okay job on this one! 
5. Tracking.  I tried!  

Well there is my update. So very late that it is...sigh!  I hope everyone had a great holiday (if you celebrate it)!      

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating today! May you be able to celebrate with your families and those you hold dear.  I have so much to be thankful this year!  

I am thankful for being able to change my life.  The past 5 months have proved that I can do it and move forward to a better life.  I am super thankful that God put Ms. All-star into my plan and I can't imagine going through this journey without her. I am incredibly grateful that my mom has had a stable year with her health.  The past few years have been rough on her.  My mom is the most important person in my life and the best mom ever!  I have amazing friends that I am incredibly grateful for their friendship, love and support!  I love my job and I thank God every day for being able to get up and go there!  Thank you to all those people that shape my life and help make me the person I am today!

I hope that this Thanksgiving is a wonderful safe holiday for all of you!  Best of luck on not eating the traditional 3500 calories!  Happy Thanksgiving!    

Happy Birthday!

My 34th birthday is tomorrow and of course it has me reflecting on the past year.  A year ago I was 40 lbs heavier and on month 5 of a 6 month asthma attack.  I felt like crap.  I probably looked like crap.  I was incredibly disappointed that I had gained 30 pounds and hadn't seen the inside of a gym in close to a year.  But I didn't really feel up to doing anything about it.  I had gone from this workout/diet Nazi to this lump on my couch.  Then January came along and I started feeling better.  By June, I felt like my old self.  It was time to find a new gym and tackle this weight loss demon again.  With the help of my awesome trainer and the support of my friends and family,  I have made huge strides on my journey.  Sure I still have issues with food and some days I would rather do anything than workout but I try each and every day to progress my life rather than regress back to the lump on the couch.  

Tomorrow is a medium day and not just any medium zone day.  It's the mother of all weeks.  The first time I did Week 10 back in August it made me cry.  As luck would have it or in my case as that bitch Karma would have it, I get week 10 for a birthday present.  The infamous week 10 is 5 min warm-up, 10 min in HR Zone 2, 10 min in HR Zone 1 and finally 10 min in HR Zone 2 again.  It sucks.  Running for 10 min at a 6.0 - 6.3 mph or higher is not all that fun.  However, a year ago I wouldn't have been able to attempt it.  My coughing was so bad and all the extra weight would have kept me from doing it.  I would have done what my co-workers suggested and skipped the gym.   I can't wait to do this and prove to myself just how far I have progressed both physically and mentally.  Sure it will suck but at least I will have done something awesome for my birthday and myself!  

Keep your fingers crossed that my new Exerspy (the bodybugg of Gold's) comes like they say on the UPS site.   It is my birthday present and it would be totally cool to have it tomorrow!   Oh and maybe just maybe I'll get my car back too.  I am doubtful on the car but you never know....

Hot 100 #8

Hello Blogland-

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!  I still don't have a car but I hope too soon!  Mine should be done soon...I hope!!  I am excited because tonight is Harry Potter!  So maybe this emotionally draining 2 weeks can have a happy ending.  Plus, this starts a week long vacation!!  Woo hoo!  No big plans except to clean out my basement and catch up on blogs.   

Wednesday was weigh and measure day with Ms. All-star.  I didn't gain or lose any weight but I did lose 3% of body Fat and gained back some of the lost muscle!  Whew...because I was really worried after last month.  At least I am headed in the right direction.  

1. Get more sleep.  Sigh.  Let's just say I need to get back in the habit of sleeping more than 5 or 6 hours. 
2. Lose 20lbs.  Weighed in at 215.2.  At least I stayed the same.  
3. Meal planning.  We stuck to the plan!  At least something is a Win! 
4. Balance.  Eh, there is always next week.    
5. Tracking.  I promise to get back on track next week.  My birthday present (provided it comes) should help that along!    
   

NovGTD Challenge update:  I completed 3.70 mile of my 30 mile challenge!  It could be better but I am still trying to swim as much as possible.  At this point it is 3 more miles than I swam in the past! 

A brand new week

All the drama of last week is over.  Well not really but I am moving forward.  I need this week to be drama-free and Monday has been good so far!  I hate dealing with stress.  It's why I left my old job a few years ago and started to exercise in order to release the mountain of stress from being in an unpleasant situation.  I'm not pleasant when my stress level is up and I think everyone prefers the reduced stress life so much better.

My weekend was good and 100 times better than the last!  A monumental step in the right direction.  I was able to do some swimming for the NovGTD challenge.  I know that I can't possibly reach my goal but I am still going to give it a decent effort.  It feels great to be in the pool and truly not thinking or dealing with anything that happens outside of the water.  But boy, is it tiring.  I remember being a kid and passing out after swimming ALL day.  How do I get that energy back?  :P  

My birthday is next week.  I'm not all that excited.  I used to love to celebrate it but now it seems like just another day.  I took all week off because I don't think anyone should work on their birthday, plus Turkey Day gives me two holiday days!!  More bang for the vacation buck, lol!  I am counting on the drama-free zone extending into next week too!  Hopefully, the karma Gods are listening.  

Enjoy your day! 

Hot 100 #7

This week has been up and down emotionally.  I've been waiting for the girl who hit me to grow up and deal with the situation.   Thankfully, she gave her statement about the accident this morning and now we can move forward with fixing my car.  Hopefully, I get it back this time next week!!  Needless to say my focus has not been on my weight loss journey but on repairing my car.   No rental car until Tuesday so I am still borrowing my mom's car and trying not to hog it.  Sigh....

1. Get more sleep.  Suckit sleep.  Really, I can't wait for life to return to normal and I don't have to worry nearly as much. 
2. Lose 20lbs.  Weighed in at 215.2 that is a 1.2 pound lose!  Win!!  I am back to where I was before gaining a few weeks ago! 
3. Meal planning.  We stuck to the plan until last night when I hit my mental breakdown mode and so did not want fish!  We had Chinese and it wasn't a complete disaster.   I ate until I was satisfied and then moved on. 
4. Balance.  Eh, there is always next week.    
5. Tracking.  Fail!  I can't get in the habit.  I really need to get back to doing this.   
   

NovGTD Challenge update:  I completed 1.70 mile of my 30 mile challenge!  Well this isn't going well...

I can't wait until my life resumes it's normalcy.  I hated this week and how much it upset my routine.  I think having to give up some control was the part I hated even more.  Stupid control freak that I am.  Here's to the start of a much more productive week!!

At least I have bad luck

I was rear ended on Friday night.  I am doing okay just irritated at the timing.  The car can be fixed and will soon be back to normal.  However, in the mean time I have no car and limited transportation.  I am trying to get around renting a car until I hear from the other person's insurance company.  In theory, I don't need one at all because I can use my mom's car.  Except it means squeezing in everything before she heads to work each night.  My gym time is being cut short and I am about to throw in the towel for the swimming challenge.   I can only fit in so much in my slotted time frame.   I will try and salvage the challenge when I get my car back! 

In addition to the wreck, my uncle died on Thursday and the visitation was Sunday.  This is only the second time I remember seeing him.  He was my daddy's brother.  They didn't get along or something.  I don't really know what happened but we never spent time with his side of the family.  The first time I remember meeting my uncles was at the hospital when my father was dying.  That was almost 20 years ago.   I was told I met them before but it was so long ago and my memory is fuzzy.  It was weird meeting all these cousins for he first time and feeling completely out of place.  There is this whole other family out there that I don't know.  A very surreal day.  I am grateful for meeting them and glad that I've reconnected with one of my cousins on FB!!  Perhaps, we will be able to see each other again someday.   

The visitation left me with a jammed pack Saturday to get all my planned weekend activities done.  I wasn't entirely successful.  But I got as much done as I could and left the dirty bathroom for another day!  :)  It is a new week and the bad luck has to swing the other way, right?

Hot 100 update #6

I can't believe that 6 weeks has flown by in this challenge.  Heck, I am still in shock that Turkey Day is in a couple weeks.  Where has this year gone?  The first half of the year I spent feeling better than I had in months and doing WW (well trying).  The second half I can account for all of it because most of it is blogged right here!  Either way this has been a much better year that 09.  I look forward to the last two months and what they might bring (presents for birthday and Christmas)!!

So this was not the best of weeks for my challenge.  I was off all week and not exactly sure why.  It could be that I spent all last month really gearing up for the 10k race and now that it's over I'm bummed.  However, I have other things to look forward to and other goals to achieve.  I need to snap out of it and realize that these goals are just as important to having a well rounded self!

1. Get more sleep.  I did my best but a couple of nights were still a lost cause.  Semi-win!  
2. Lose 20lbs.  Weighed in at 216.4 that is a 2 pound lose! We are back in the Win column. And with Aunt Flo visiting and all!
3. Meal planning.  We stuck to the plan!  Total Win!
4. Balance.  I was forced to endure a training session via CD yesterday.  So I did balance activities while attached to my computer.  Otherwise, I have been slacking a bit and not doing any outside the gym balancing.  Semi-win!   
5. Tracking.  Fail!  I haven't tracked all week.  I really need to do this and I hate it.  Sigh. 
   

NovGTD Challenge update:  I completed 1.00 mile of my 30 mile challenge!  Perhaps a slow start will mean a strong finish! 

Have a great weekend everyone!  

NovGTD aka swim til I sink

I am 100% sure that I have over challenged myself this month.  Running has nothing on swimming!   However, it was super great to be in the pool last night!  I finished my 1st mile and to be honest I swam half the laps and walked half the laps.  It was bloody hard to swim that much at one time.   I think I found some new muscles that Ms. All-star has missed!  :)  My whole body feels like I've been run over by a mac truck.  I've never been so glad for a night off from the gym.  I am cherishing this rest day with my whole body and not just my heart!  FYI, the muscle soreness isn't all from swimming some can be attributed to my 10,000 lunges during training.   She's loving being able to torture my legs again...silly trainer!       

I am pretty sure I won't make it through all 30 miles but I am going to give it my best effort.  I will probably be a much more proficient swimmer in the process.   Perhaps the real challenge should be to progress from walking half the laps to swimming all of them!  Stay tuned to see whether I sink or swim....


Look for my Hot 100 update tomorrow. 

I ran a 10k and OctGTD update!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween.  I will be sad to take down all my decorations but Christmas is right around the corner and I can put up more lights!!  I may have a holiday decorating problem....I'm not looking to correct it though!  :P

This was a kick ass weekend!  My very first 10k was on Saturday morning.  The race I chose to run was "The Race to Cure Lymphoma".  My mom is an 11 year survivor of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma so what better than to race in her honor.  She came along and sat in the car until I was close to the finish line!  It made me super proud to have her there and witness my first big race!  We forgot the camera so no pictures.  I tried to show her how to use my iphone but it was too much for my little old momma!  The run was tough because of the cold and wind.  I never realized just how tiring it is to run into the wind.  This caused me to be slower than my previous non-windy practice runs.  But you know what I did it and it felt amazing!  I finished in 1:09:30.  My goal was to finish it in under 70 min and I just squeaked under!  There is room for improvement on the next one!    

Another huge milestone was met this weekend!  I finished my October Going the Distance Challenge of running/walking a 100 miles in the month.  I finished with 103.64 miles.  When I chose to complete a 100 miles it seemed like an incredibly daunting task.   However, it wouldn't have been a challenge without trying to achieve the seemingly impossible.   I am amazed by what I was able to accomplish.  It wasn't easy and there were days I really wanted to skip that last mile.  I am so glad that I didn't listen to the little voice in my head! It is great to know that I can set a goal of this magnitude and not only achieve it but improve my health along the way.   I am choosing to dial back my goal a bit this month.  I need to recoup and not burn myself out!  My NovGTD goal is to swim 30 miles.  I've missed the water while running so much.   It will be a nice change of pace to tire all my muscles out instead of just my legs!   

I am super proud that my body supported me through all this training and let me push myself to new highs! I can't wait to see what all the swimming brings!