New Year's Resolution

I've noticed something super interesting about dinner at our house.  The kids have gotten us down to eating chicken nuggets, mac'n cheese, peanut butter and jelly, hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta and ... I think that's it.  We do force them to eat veggies and always drink milk with dinner, so I'm still holding on that front.  But the go to list of meals has really dwindled down.  Making dinner exhausts me and having the kids run down to the table to say "EWWWW... I'm not eating that!" is terribly disheartening. 

I resolve to get back to making healthy family meals.  Screw em' if they don't want to eat it right!?!?  Tacos!  Stir-Fry!  Lemon Chicken!  Chili!  Roast Chicken!  Potatoes!  Soup!  YES!  Muwhwahahaha!  As soon as I finish this marathon bullshit I will totally get right on this.

Rambling Post

I listed to a podcast called Get-Fit Quick Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips to Slim Down Shape UP and.... yada yada yada.  It's pretty good and the podcast are short and easy to listen to on the ride to work.  He had done several podcast about running, one in particular about how to run faster.  #1 was Lose Weight.  Sounds harsh, but if you are carrying less weight you exert less effort, so you can go faster.  One benefit of the Biggest Loser competition was losing 5-7 vanity pounds and also getting faster.  Another benefit is that I have somehow managed to drop a lot of body fat - according to my scale at home anyway.  A few months ago the magic body fat scale put me consistently between 25-29% body fat.  I was annoyed by this, so I decided to tell the scale it was stupid and ignored it.  2 weeks ago, I noticed that my body fat now comes up at 12.5%.  Which is insane.  I figured it was one day and the scale is known to be stupid.  But it has always been consistent at least.  My fat% has stayed around 12.5%, so I sort of want to believe the stupid scale now, cause I like what it says.

If it's accurate, I can attribute this to two things.

1. Adding weight training into my workouts.  I have been trying to do weights or a Jillian Michaels video at least twice a week since Biggest Loser.  This helped me lose those vanity pounds, and has made my core and arms feel stronger.
2. Changing my diet.  I do have bad eating days (see Saturday and Sunday).  But I have been making a huge effort to eat more fruits and vegetables, pay attention to what I eat, eat more organic and less processed foods.  I am still tracking my calories in My Fitness Pal and that keeps me honest.  I skipped the Diet Soda for 5 days last week, which sucked big balls but was able to eat less afternoon candy - I still ate the candy, just not 10 pieces.  I'm reading Jillian Michaels  Master Your Metabolism, and gotten both scared and inspired to make some changes. 

Workout Recap for Week of 9/26 - 10/2

Monday - Rest (after Casa 5k)
Tuesday - 5.7 miles 52:53, 9:17/mile
Wednesday - J.M. Ripped in 30 #3 (killer on the legs).  Had a sports massage today too.
Thursday - 5.57 miles 51:42, 9:17/mile very sore from massage and Ripped in 30
Friday - 3.21 miles 30:00, 9:21/mile
Saturday - rest and bad eating
Sunday - ~12.50 ~1:54:31, 9:07/mile avg, total is estimated because I turned my watch off for about 1.5 miles at the end

I ate totally terrible on Saturday, banana milk shakes and wings for dinner, but I actually had a great run on Sunday.  The weather was perfect and the whole thing felt easy.  I followed the long run up with Mexican food and a huge margarita for lunch, then promptly passed out for 2-3 hours.  Gwen was watching The Princess Bride for the first time and asked about 100 questions.  I found I could answer almost all of them without even cracking an eye to see the movie. 

Next Sunday is the See Jane Run 1/2 Marathon.  I'm excited for a big race and hoping to break my PR of 1:50:05 set at the Austin last February. 

Workout Recap: August 15-21 and other news

Monday: Recovery Run 4.70 miles, 47:49 min.  Very slow run after Sunday's long run.  Pre-Biggest Loser Weigh in.
Tuesday: Track Workout 6.66 miles, 1:00:17, .5 mile repeats - killer!
Wednesday: Ripped in 30 #2
Thursday: Supposed to be a Threshold, but we mostly just ran fast.  4.88 miles, 45:06 min
Friday: "Rest day".  If by rest you mean get absolutely F-ed up downtown with your sister, then it was a rest day.  If you mean take care of your body so it can recover - no, I did not do that.
Saturday: Recover from night of terrible choices
Sunday: Long run 10.10 miles, 1:39:56.  For not eating anything the day before this run actually felt ok.  Wore my new waist pack/water bottle holder which was annoying but bearable.

Total miles: 26.34

Good thing this week was the Biggest Loser Challenge ending.  I did lose 5% of my weight, about 7 pounds, which was a goal I thought was going to be really hard.  It was hard, but counting calories and adding in the extra workouts for cross training really helped.  I was also able to do 15 boy style pushups to win an additional 1% for my total.

Bad thing this week was being a complete idiot and getting sloppy drunk on Friday night with Jenna and Amy. I don't know how 3 educated women go out and NO ONE says "Hey girls, lets have some water this round."  Or "you know, maybe let's not RUN to the next bar and order shots ok?"  We paid the price.  As Jenna said, Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" has taken on a whole new sinister meaning.

What is this week looking like for training?  Not so good.  Besides being a stupid drinker, I also caught some kind of infectious mutant virus, probably before Friday.  I've felt the beginnings of a cold for a few days but it came on full force Sunday afternoon.  I officially do not have Strep throat, but the doctor was nice enough to load me up on drugs anyway.  So I will be taking a few days off from running to let my body truly rest and get back to it at the end of the week.

And in HUGE MILLS FAMILY NEWS: Gwendolyn starts kindergarten tomorrow!  I am so excited for her!  I'll post pictures and a first week recap next week. 

Workout Recap: August 8-14

Great week!
Monday: Maintenance Run 5.5 miles, 52:01, 9:27/mile avg
Tuesday: Track 4.0 miles, 37:45 (WUP, 2x.75 @ 8:00 pace), cool down
Wednesday: 6 Week 6 Pack video 35 min
Thursday: Tempo Run 5.0 miles, 46:19, 9:16/avg
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: Body Pump class @ 24 Hour Fitness
Sunday: Long Run, 10.0 miles, 1:37:04, 9:42/mile

Total mileage:  24.50 miles

Monday is the final weigh in for the Biggest Loser at work.  Saturday morning I weighed in at a year low of 134.6 pounds, probably the lowest weight since the aftermath of the twins 2.5 years ago when lack of sleep, eating, nursing and stress got me down to 129.  That is when people started giving me funny looks and asking if I was ok - too thin to look healthy.  135 is always my goal weight and usually I hover right below 140.  As far as the Biggest Loser competition goes, I am going out to eat with John to night as an early anniversary celebration, so I will probably not weigh in at my low number.  This is our last week with our favorite babysitter before she goes off to Texas Tech!  We will all miss her.  A dinner out is bad timing for the competition, but well worth it for what may be our last date night for awhile. 

Congrats to my running buddy Jennifer for placing 2nd in her age group at the 5k for Clay this weekend!  You rocked it girl!

Next week's schedule is about the same overall mileage.  We have one more week until Gwen starts school and our running schedule may have to be slightly adjusted to get everyone out the door on time. 

Snack Attack

I've been making an effort to eat healthy, including healthy snacks.  What is "healthy"?  Preferably less than 200 calories, organic or non-manufactured at least, fresh, taste-y. 

Like:
Chocolate dusted almonds
Fresh berries
Grapes
Cherries (so good this time of year)
Organic greek yogurt
Animal crackers
Pop Chips
Mojo bars - YUM
Myoplex Light protein shakes
Cherry tomatoes

What am I still eating, even though it's not "healthy"?  Diet soda.  I am so addicted.  Every day at 2pm I feel the need to get my drank on.  I did manage to get through a couple days this week, by couple I mean 2 and it was very challenging. 

My Fitness Pal App Review

Link to the mobile apps here 
Web version here

 I found this app through my iPhone while searching for calorie counters.  The phone app is pretty useful and lets me easily track calories without having to use my computer or write things down the old fashioned way.

Features -
Profile - the site and app both allow you to enter your height/weight/daily activity level and weight loss goal.  From there you are assigned a base calorie intake goal.  Mine is 1370, which sucks ass and I dispute it every day.  This has to do with the BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) which is the minimum amount of calories you need to perform basic functions like breathing.

Tracking - to keep your daily calorie intake tracked, use the "My Diary" or "Food" tab.  This is where you enter your meals, snacks and water intake.  The search options to look up food are mostly accurate.  There are entries already loaded for restaurants, brand name foods and generic foods.  Adding new foods to the database is easy too.  There is also an option to create a record of nutrition information for your recipes, meals and favorite foods.  I created entries for the coffee I drink every day, the egg white veggie taco from the cafeteria and my Sunday Football Chili.

Exercise -  Remember that base calorie level?  That does not count activity over the usual sitting at your desk all day.  You can add your workouts and it deducts the calories burned from your daily intake.  Today I ran 40 minutes at a 9:28/mile pace.  With the tool I added in that I ran my 40 minutes, but it doesn't have an option for 9:30, so I picked the 10:00/mile pace.  MyFitnessPal says I burned 419 calories, so I can eat an additional 419 calories and that is added to my daily goal/limit.  I think this is pretty accurate too.  Using my GPS watch I get about the same numbers.  When I do Ripped in 30, I count it as "Circuit Training", 35 minutes is 293 calories.  It feels like 500, but I know 293 is realistic.  At the very least it is more accurate than the calorie counters at the gym. 

Progress - I can track my weight, weekly goals and there is an option for adding a progress bar to  your own blog

Motivation - after finishing my tracking for the day, it tells me what I would weigh if "every day were like today..."  This can be motivating or really defeating.  There are also charting options so that you can see how you compare to your weekly goal - which is nice.  This way when I eat a bunch of shit one day I can cut back a little the rest of the week and not feel too terrible. 

Summary - I really like this app, a B+.  Its FREE too!  I don't use it every single day, but I go through periods of a week every month where I use it daily.  It keeps me honest about what I'm eating and when I feel bummed about my 5 vanity pounds I can SEE that I am not eating to lose weight most of the time.


Update: new iPhone version has a bar code scanner option.  I just scanned the bar code on my diet soda and it added the info to my daily total.  Sweet!

Wednesday Workout: Gym

Tomorrow is a race day so I wanted to take it easy but also wanted to take advantage of the gym while I have the free pass.

Stationary bike: 22 min
Treadmill: 10 min
Arms/weights: 5 min

I did the bike/run as an attempt to a brick workout, but I don't think I did either activity long enough, but I did get my heart rate up for 30 minutes.

Diet wise I was pretty bad today: Chick-fil-A and a handful of peanut M&M's.  I am realizing that I am seriously addicted to sugar.  Every day at 1pm I start thinking about chocolate and by 2pm I am getting really pissed off because I can't NOT think about chocolate.  And diet soda.  Monday I didn't bring a soda in my lunch and didn't get down to the cafeteria before it closed.  By 4pm I was begging anyone who would take pity on me to break a $5 so I could buy a soda from the machine, then the damn thing ATE MY DOLLAR.  So fucking pissed.  I'm getting mad just thinking about it.  I went home with a headache that day.

Cheat Day

My plan this week is to have today be my 'cheat day' and be good the rest of the week until we go to Baltimore.  Being "good" means not eating candy (GAH!), junk food (mmmm...), or alcohol.  Today is my cheat day because we are celebrating Father's Day today and going to Chez Zee for brunch.

Wish me luck!

Wednesday Healthy Snacks

Having my favorite salad today: mixed greens, gorganzola cheese, sliced apple and raspberry dressing.  Also finishing off the watermelon before it goes bad.  I LOVE watermelon but hate cuting up 10 pounds of it.  The pre-cut containers at HEB are more expensive but worth it.

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This is my snack for the this afternoon.  I will NOT eat the CANDY in my candy jar.  NO.  I will have a soda or coffee though.  Come 2pm I am seriously jonesing for chocolate and soda. 

Biggest Loser - New Foods

Tip of the day - real labels.  I bought a couple of these Odwalla Protein drinks.  They are pretty good and have 20g of protein.  This is a better ingredient list than some other protein drinks, more organic and natual ingredients.  I also bought a whole bunch of yogurt this weekend.  I normally buy the organic greek yogurt, but this time got a variety of flavors to mix things up.  I ALWAYS forget to check the ingredient list on yogurt.  This one has high frutose corn syrup as the second ingredient and Aspartame.  I don't have a problem with either ingredient in moderation, but prefer them not to be in my "healthy" yogurt.   I would rather have yogurt with a little fat than Aspartame and HFCS.  And I prefer my fake suger in diet soda & coffee.

The Biggest Loser Day 1

My team at work is participating in a Biggest Loser Competition.  Today is weigh in day: 142 pounds (with clothes on!).  We weigh again at the midpoint in July and the competition closes in August.  My goal is to lose 5%, which would put me right below 135 pounds.  Normally I like to be around 138 so I'm glad to have a motivator to get me to my "preferred" weight.

Protein Shmotein

Been doing some reading/listening about what you're supposed to eat after working out.  The answer is protein.  Protein assists with muscle recovery and also keeps you feeling full longer than carbs.  Since I workout early, I don't always have time to boil eggs or even eat cereal in the midst of the morning routine with the kids.  This weekend I bought Muscle Milk (contains no milk) at Sam's Club.  Giving it a try for a few weeks.  Muscle Milk (contains no milk) doesn't taste too bad and is 180 calories.  The only thing I don't like about Muscle Milk (contains no milk) is that it is completely un-natural.  Not that I'm super organic-girl, but I like to be able to read an ingredients list and know what I'm eating.

Other breakfast options: Black beans & pico on a tortilla, wheat bread with peanut butter and banana, Kashi cereal, Kashi cereal bars, or Mojo bars.