Only 1 day left!!

Just have to get through tomorrow, then it's 5k day!  Very excited:)  I know for a fact I won't win ANYTHING, but I'm hoping to at least not take a walk break.  I've held up my end of the deal and ran my 25 minutes all 3 days so far this week; I ran at 6:00 Mon and Tues and 9:00 last night.  The interesting thing is I always start running in exactly the same spot; Tues was the shortest distance I managed to run.  I was about 500 ft. short of where I ended on Monday, but YESTERDAY I went about 1500 ft farther than I did on Monday.  I am able to keep on pushing it a little harder when I do my late evening runs; it's just so much easier for me.  I have adopted the K.I.S.S. strategy; Keep it Slow, Stupid.  When I don't do well on a run typically it's because I started out too quickly, pace wise.

I'm mildly stressing about my calorie count a little bit.  I'm worried I'm over estimating the "calories burned" on Sparkpeople.  I work 3 hours 5 days a week cleaning stalls.  It IS hard, physical labor.  I'm cleaning, hefting 40 lb bags of bedding, and dumping 24 5 gallon water buckets, most of which are FULL.  But I'm also USED to it.  When I upped my working days just over a year ago, I dropped some weight pretty good without changing much about my eating.  I made a half-hearted attempt to cut calories some, but wasn't very dilligent about it.  Within 6 months, I'd packed back on every lb I'd lost and then some because my body just adjusted to the extra work.  Spark People insists I need to be consuming between 2150 and 2400 calories per day; I disagree!  I think I was around 2500 on the average before cutting them down, and all I was doing was GAINING weight.  Normally, I'm around 1400-1700 per day, sometimes a little more, but I haven't gone over 2k calories at ALL since starting this whole journey.  Yesterday I accidentally ingested a little under 800 calories for the whole day.  I KNOW that's bad, but I'm just so paranoid about eating too much! My body can handle quite a lot of exercise without losing one single inch, so I know the key is to keep those calories DOWN.

Will run tonight and soak my foot tomorrow.  5k is at 7:30 Saturday morning and it will be about an hour drive out there, so I will report back on Sunday with the all new "weigh in" pics:)

Amazing what a difference a week makes

Fun hike with my little dog!

It was a week ago that I had to do my first run with NO walk break; 20 minutes.  It was SO. HARD.  I almost walked a dozen times, but I pushed through and ran the whole time.  My neighborhood is both killer and forgiving.  4 uphill climbs, but also 4 downhill dips.  Those downhill dips are ALMOST as good as a walk break:)

Saturday I pushed it extra hard (AND I rode the lazy horse earlier that day) and did 6 miles.  It was the first time I've ever gone 6 miles straight.  I've done a 5.3 mile hike before, but that was 4 years ago!  I actually mapped out 3 miles down the road from my house, and set off at an easy jog.  My Cto5K called for a 22 minute run with no walk breaks, so I focused on my music and my breathing and tried to ignore the fact that it was 3:00 in the afternoon in 90 degree heat in the full on blazing sun.  I made it.  It was probably around a mile and 3/4, don't think I made it past 2 miles, but I also didn't realize how much the road sloped upward ... with no downhill dips!  At 22 minutes, I walked, breathing so hard I felt a little light-headed.  Kept walking at a nice forward clip until I hit the 3 mile mark, then turned around.  Upon turning around, I decided to run another 8 minutes, for an even 30.  My legs felt pretty tired, but I had walked for about 10 minutes so I felt recovered enough to push through and do it.  I did it!  Ran 30 minutes, completed 6 miles, all in the blazing heat of the afternoon.

Surprisingly, Sunday I felt fine.  Not sore or anything:)  I had planned to take the day off so as not to overdo anything and hurt myself before the 5k, but I ended up taking my chihuahua to a local hiking trail called Pine Top Mountain, and hiked a nice 2 1/2 mile trek.  I don't care WHO you are, PTM is a nice little workout.  It felt great, I totally enjoyed the nice shady trail.

This morning, I pried my butt out of bed at 5:45, drank 8 oz of my coffee smoothie to get some calories in me, and set off on the 2nd to last week of Cto5k.  Run 25 minutes with no walk break.  And I did!  And unlike my first experience with running the entire time, I did NOT sound like an asthamatic about to keel over and die:)  I kept my breathing nice and easy, my legs kept moving without feeling like lead, and squeezed those butt cheeks as I crested the hills.  The downhills gave me plenty of recovery time, and I felt like I had some gas left in the tank when I finished.  Doing the same tomorrow, Wed, and Thurs then giving myself Friday as a break to recover since I'm skipping basically 2 weeks of the program to go straight to the 5k.

I'm beginning to feel anxious if I don't get that cardio burn.  I'm so encouraged by the loose clothes, I do NOT want to backslide and sabotage myself (for the umpteenth time).  I've still got a long way to go, TWO more pant sizes.  And technically, even though my size 12 shorts fit, and my size 13 jeans fit, I would NOT go to the store and buy a 12 yet.  ALMOST, but not quite.  I'm getting there, though, one run at the time:)

BTW, the soaking in epsom salt REALLY helped my left heel.  It's still very sore, but not near to the extent it was, so I will be doing that again soon, for sure.

Feeling good, good, good!

Booty looks pretty good, huh?;)

Getting there ...

Not tight or squeezing anywhere:)

Just out of sheer curiosity, I tried on a pair of Cruel Girl jeans I'd bought 2 years ago during my last "real" 'skinny' time.  They're a size 13, and my butt looked awesome in them, so I bought them despite the NO STRETCH AT ALL denim being just a teeny bit snug.  I've worn them probably 4 times total because I finally just grew out of them.  Last time I tried them on, I couldn't even pull them up all the way over my rear end.

Yesterday, they pulled up easy and perfect, buttoned up no problem, and once I got them ON ... they were a little loose!  They've NEVER been loose:)  I'm so excited:)

I also was very proud of my little Publix shopping trip.  For once in my life, there was NOTHING in my shopping cart that caused me to be embarrassed.  Romaine lettuce, bananas, strawberries, Bolthouse Farms smoothie, fresh pears, and a gallon of milk.  GO ME:)

This morning I awakened early and set out on my 2nd of 3 runs this week.  I put a little fuel in the tank by drinking 8 oz of a Bolthouse Farms smoothie (The Perfectly Protein Mocha).  My left heel has been bothering me for quite some time now.  When I've been sitting after working all day, I am literally crippled for a few minutes until it warms back up.  This is what makes my runs difficult sometimes.  I tried icing it last night, but that actually made it go crazy and the whole of my left foot started to THROB.  It was really weird, it hurt like crazy:(  So for tonight, I got some epsom salt that I plan to put in some nice warm water and soak that foot in the warm salt water and see if that's any better.

I had a single filet of grilled Tilapia and a salad for dinner tonight, and it was round 2 of making my own homemade balsamic vinaigerette.  I did much better this time!  I used 1 1/2 tbsp of dijon mustard, 1tbsp of honey, a small pinch of minced garlic, a tbsp of balsamic vinegar, and 3 tbsp of olive oil.  It tasted divine on my salad!  I ditched the iceberg lettuce and went with romaine, and put on simply a few cherry tomatoes, some crumbled feta cheese, honey roasted almond slivers, croutons, and one slice of crumbled bacon.  The toppings were just a pinch, not even an actual half a serving of anything.  For dessert I will have a 1/4 c of sunflower seeds just to keep my protein levels up.  After inputting my information into SparkPeople.com, I've been consistently low on protein and carbs.  It's a cool website!

Feeling good!  Changing my lifestyle is working out for me so far:)

Happy dance, happy dance:)

Well ... I THOUGHT I'd been this "skinny" before in the last 5 years for a VERY short amount of time, but I'm thinking now maybe not.  At least not my legs.  My legs are not, and never have been "thin".  I was a ballet dancer as a teenager, and I tend to build thick bulky muscle instead of long and lean muscle.  I would be MUCH more suitable as a body builder than a model lol:)  The majority of the fat on my legs is right on the outside of my thighs, about 8 inches below my hips.  Why is this info important?

Well, today I put on a pair of full chaps I'd bought about 12 years ago to wear when riding horses.  Over time, they became so tight and hard to zip I tossed them in a box and forgot about them.  Well, today I thought it would be fun to ride in them.  The zipper slid smoothly down my leg ... and left a GAP all the way down, even in the fat part of my thigh.  The pants I were wearing today?  Last time I put them on, I had to squeeze myself into them.  Today the butt and thigh were loose, the waistband comfortably roomy.  FABULOUS!  I'm just psyched.  Not yet ready to go shopping for smaller clothes, but happy with how things are going right now.

I have begun to crave the after run "burn".  I still do not really enjoy the actual act of running, but today for instance:  I woke at 6:30 to take kidlet to school, cleaned stalls for 3 hours, rode my horse for about 30 minutes, went to teach riding lessons at one barn, went to teach lessons at a second barn, got home at 8:45 and promptly went to change clothes and head out to begin week 6 of Cto5K.  I've just kind of lost my "lazy bug".  Very proud of how I'm coming along,

Belize!

SORE!

Wow!  I am one sore momma today:)  I gave myself a 2 month break from riding over the months of June/July because of the heat, the hard footing both in the pastures and the ring, AND getting up at 4:15 am in order to head in to work every other week both months and working until 6 pm.  I believe in giving horses rest, mine is a lovely animal that's 8 years old this year and I feel like the rest is necessary both for his physical and mental well being.

That being said, I started riding again 2 weeks ago.  I was riding in my dressage saddle, which is a saddle designed specifically for flat riding.  It's a comfortable saddle with a nice wide seat and with the exception of my one ride on Friday that was pretty hard I've been in good shape.  Yesterday, I rode a new horse in my jumping saddle, and that one is a little trickier for me.  It's a wonderful shape for my horse, but not "my" ideal.  The seat is a little bit hard, and has a funny upsweep to it, so my seat bones can get a little sore when I haven't ridden in it for a while.  That, paired with a horse 3 times lazier than my own combined to make me VERY sore today!  I even pushed through the pain and rode my horse as well today, and I was wincing in pain the whole ride, but theoretically I should be better tomorrow:)

Yesterday, Cto5K picked up to where I had to run 5 mins, walk 3, run 5, walk 3, run 5.  It was tough, but somewhat easier than my run on Saturday.  I hadn't ridden that other horse yet, so my muscles were not sore.  I have 2 more days to get through, and I BELIEVE the last 2 days of this week involve no walk breaks.

I made some mashed potatoes tonight with milk, plain greek yogurt, and some season salt.  Usually, I make them with milk, mayonnaise, and butter with salt and pepper to taste.  Not surprisingly, they were much lighter and fluffier ... the flavor was a little more mild but they were GOOD.  I am continuing to eat well, and my clothes are literally HANGING off me.  I've had to pair jeans with a belt in order to keep them from sagging well down around my hips.  I'm a little bummed at how flabby I still appear, but I KNOW I've lost plenty because my "fat pockets" around my panty line are disappearing ... my butt is DEFINITELY tightening and shrinking:)  I'm trying to decide if I'm going to run early in the morning (around 6), or if I'm going to run pretty late in the evening.  We're going out to eat with friends tomorrow night and not sure what time I'll get home, so I may try another early morning.  I just need to wake up about 5:45 so I can stretch a little and maybe eat a banana or yogurt or something to put a little fuel in the tank before I head out.  Normally if I do an early morning run, I roll out of bed, throw on the clothes, and head out without so much as a sip of water.  That may be why I found it SO hard to complete my runs correctly (and why I've quit Cto5K 3 times)

Good news is, I haven't quit, I'm actually signed up for my first 5K, I'm riding, running, and cleaning stalls AND my butt is shrinking.  Life is good ... :)

Me and my precious son about 5 years ago

Almost bed time

Ugh.  I had company over for dinner tonight, so I was TRYING to think of some sort of SLIGHTLY healthy dessert.  I didn't have handy any of my sis's recipes for yummy, low cal cookies, so I asked the hubs what he wanted.  Strawberry cake.  Lol, ok.  So I made strawberry cake out of a box and decided on cupcakes because one serving is 1/12th of a piece of cake, which would equal 2 cupcakes.  I managed to eat only 1, but they're CALLING to me.  I'm sort of enjoying denying myself, though.  Rather than the "SCREW IT" attitude, I'm embracing my desire and proving I do indeed have self control.  One thing I DID buy is some Blue Bell vanilla icecream (my FAVORITE) that is sugar free.  Only 90 cal per serving, 4 g of fat.  Interesting!  I'm going to try it out and see if that helps out my dessert craving thing.

I made some super yummy enchiladas with shredded chicken and whole wheat tortillas.  I fixed us all 2 of them, and felt full after 1 1/2, so I stopped there.  I've done great today, still firmly on track.  I indulged myself a little bit last night with a few handfulls of fried pickles from a restaurant and half a margarita.  By my approximations, though, I was still pretty far under 2000 cal.  I had a salad with italian dressing, one dinner roll, a 6 oz sirloin and about 3 bites of my baked sweet potato.

Today's run was REALLY hard.  Yesterday, I had a bit of a fighting sort of ride on my horse, so today I am VERY muscle sore, mostly in my legs and torso.  On the way home from work, I stopped in at a local park that's about 25 minutes from my house (so I don't go very often) and set out on their pea gravel running track that skirts the park.  I had one day left on my week 4 of Couch to 5K, and this week has been definitely tough.  My legs felt like LEAD today.  Those 16 minutes of running were SO hard, it took a herculean effort to actually DO it and not "cheat".  In retrospect, maybe I should have waited until tomorrow.  Hopefully next week is do-able for me.  I know if THIS week was hard, next week will be a killer!  Progress, progress ...

And just a little side rant, all these cutsie little smoothie packages you can throw in the blender with either ice or milk or juice and then you blend up the frozen fruit and make your own smoothie ... have SUGAR in them!  Seriously?  I will be getting some fresh fruit from my local Publix and making my OWN smoothies this week:)

Kicking it UP!

Whew!  Couch to 5K has kicked things up a notch, big time!  I struggled a little bit, but it was a GOOD struggle.  I think once I run my 5K on the first, I will try to continue this particular week's workout on a 3 times a weekly basis as my cardio exercise.  It may only be 21 minutes worth, but it's a butt kicker!

My pants are all seriously getting baggy:)  Methinks that by the end of this month, I will be able to squeeze into the next size down!!:)  They're VERY loose in the butt/thighs which makes me VERY happy!

I have come up with a new way to eat dinner on my late nights; instead of eating fast food at 9:00 at night, I pack my stuff I used to pack for lunch (a "sandwhich" of sliced ham and skinny cow soft cheese with no bread) plus a carton of yogurt, at 7:30 vs. 9:00. I think that alone will help in my quest to slim down.  What put it on in the first place (the weight, I mean) is all the fast food and the late meal times.  KILLER!

Happy with my progress.

Blech!  Nope, that belly's not pregnant!

Wow.

Well, it's here!  Pic day!  I'm VERY pleased to say you CAN see noticable results:):)  All it's doing is spurring me on to have even MORE of a difference!  I'm so glad I decided to take the pics.  It's all about accountability, baby:)  I will go out in a couple of hours and complete week 4 of Couch to 5K.  It will be close, finishing that program and running my actual 5K Sep 1st, but I have hope that I can run the whole thing.  That's my ONLY goal ... I know I won't have any sort of amazing time, but I will get a T-shirt out of the deal, woo hoo!  30 days in, I'm not down a pant size yet, but everything I put on is loose everywhere; hips, waist, and legs:)  

I need to add in some strength training this next 30 days; I haven't gone over 2000 calories the entire month, I KNOW.  I've stayed at or under 1500 for the most part.  I've done my running 3 days a week and I clean a barn 5 days a week.  What I haven't done is crunches/pushups/squats.  I WILL be doing those now to try and tighten things up and get down into that elusive size 12.  I will re-post last month's pics so you can see better:)

Day 1, fat belly

My son said, "SMILE Mommy, you're losing weight!"

Day 1, nice fat rolls there

Day 30, less rolls and more definition

Day 1, amazingly large fat roll

Day 30; rolls nearly gone, and does that rear look a tad smaller?

Hump day!

A strange thing is beginning to happen ... I'm actually starting to look forward to my runs!  Woo Hoo!!  I will enter my 5K tonight while I'm thinking about it; it is the Celebrate Freedom 5K on September 1st.  The all day long christian concert afterwards will be featuring 2 of my favorite artists; Jeremy Camp and Kutless so it's a no brainer to choose that as my first one!

The last 2 days I've "slipped" a little bit in the quality of my meals, but not the calorie count, really.  I had Arby's last night, which isn't bad in and of itself; I took one of the buns off my plain roast beef sandwhich and I had a DMD to drink with it, but I DID eat all of the medium fries and I had a fruit turnover.  Today I had a Lean Cuisine meal which is idiot proof, but rather than 180 calories worth of fruit, I had 140 calories worth of Oreos.  I blame summer camp.  I had LOST my sweet tooth craving completely; wasn't even TEMPTED at the store.  But then my kids made me some sweet treats, and even though I halved the treats, I still ate them which has re-awakened that sugar scream in my head.  Yesterday at Wal-Mart, starving, I was in total purgatory trying to avoid all my sweet/carb filled pit falls.  I did it, though!  Tonight will be pork chops marinated in Teriakyi sauce, as well as new potatoes and cooked carrots.  Water to drink, as per usual.  Will have to detox again, but I can do it.

Bought a new pair of riding pants not too long ago, and when I wore them, they were just a *smidge* tight on me; bought them straight off the rack, no trying them on.  Today when I put them on, they were so comfortable and even felt slightly loose.  It's these things that will cause me to PUSH THROUGH that sugar craving and keep going.  I feel really good, and want to feel even better.  Picture posting Saturday!

Me and hubby at Horseshoe Bend, AZ