Ton of Fun- Week Six (Half Way)

Okay, something is definitely up this week. I don't know if it is mental, physical, cosmic, spiritual (as in someone has taken over my body) but I am in a funk. A funkadelic, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, Funky Cole Medina, kinda funk. Okay, now that I have checked all the "funks" to make sure I keep the blog PG, please tell me it isn't just me? Is it the weather, the change of the clocks, was some sort of tired/lazy spell cast on me? It is probably none of these things, I probably just need to make some positive changes and get out of the funk on my own, but it's difficult. If you haven't guessed it already in all of my funkiness, I gained one pound this week, which is WAY better then I thought it was going to be.

Is it possible to have Spring Fever when you haven't
gone through winter yet?

My week started with an awesome, new to me, 5k last Saturday and a lovely full body massage at Shear Ego. Compliments of Rob for my birthday. He made a good point that if he buys me gift certificates for them, then he doesn't have to do them. Sneaky, but smart. So it would seem as though my week was headed in the right direction. But by Monday night I was laying on the couch feeling exhausted, not quite feeling right and went to bed in the middle of one of my favorite TV shows. Thank god for DVR. Tuesday I felt a little spark of inspiration and knew that if I didn't run as soon as I got home I could very well get swallowed by the couch again. So I skipped the Cobb's Hill run and decided I would kill two birds with one stone and run to the polls to vote! I thought this was a good idea until I arrived at the location and stood in the privacy voting area with my ballot and proceeded to sweat all over the counter, whoopsy! I wound up running a little over two miles, not much, but I was happy to be outside on a beautiful fall day.

The view along the way.

I wish someone gave me a sticker
every time I went for a run!

Wednesday I packed my gym bag to go to my weekly spin class and I just didn't have the energy or desire to go. Instead I went home, cleaned the kitchen, made dinner and did laundry. At least I got some stuff done that needed to get done, but this didn't help my energy level or mood. Exercising and eating right is like a double edge Ginsu knife, when you do it, you feel great and have high energy. But when you are in Funkytown and can't escape, the last thing you feel like doing is sweating it out, but that is probably what you need to do the most! 

Thursday is my typical weigh-in day at FF and for the first time in 7 weeks I did not do an official weigh-in. I had other errands and priorities that got in the way, and even though I could have made the time with a little more effort, I just didn't. So I weighed in at home and recorded my weight in My Fitness Pal, which I do every week regardless of my progress. It keeps me honest since not every week is going to be rainbows and roses. So there you have it, week five, in all of its funktastic glory!
  

Ton of Fun- Week Five

Another week done and I am down 4 pounds in total. I would have thought at this point I would have lost more weight, but I am actually pretty proud that my weight is where it is at. Obviously I would like to lose more weight, but prior to joining the challenge it was slowly creeping higher and higher since the end of marathon training. Here is an abbreviated look at week five by the day!

Friday- Halloween parade with my sister and her family. Went out to dinner with my parents.

Saturday- Pumpkins in the Park with my Dad. 

Sunday- Watched Ainsley and enjoyed a yummy beef stew made by my sister. 

Monday- Yoga at Molly's Yoga Corner. This was the last class in the session so it was restorative, which is like a giant relaxing stretch fest. Oh yea! 

Tuesday- Planned to run hill repeats and decided to run the hood instead. Then sat on the couch too long, got too dark too early and didn't run at all. Whoops. 

Wednesday- Spin class; Halloween style. Complete with black light, halloween trivia and candy. Yup, I earned a York Peppermint Patty. 

Thursday- At school I decided to dress up as a marathon runner, complete with finishers jacket, bib, race medal and running visor. Very original! Weigh-in and Half Moon salad. Handing out candy and enjoying some quality niece and nephew time. 

Ever been happy with yourself for accomplishing something, even if it didn't go as perfect as you hoped?

I think we all need more of this!

Ton of Fun - Week Four

I am sorry this post is so late! I switched up my usual Thursday night routine and didn't get the chance to work on it. Last night I joined my niece and nephew at the annual Halloween costume parade in Fairport and so I am just starting it now. I also have no photos, so consider this an epic blogger fail! But the good news is I lost weight this week.

If only I had all my toenails!

I tried to change my frame of mind out of sabotage mode, and even though not every minute of the week was perfect, I came out on top. Last weekend we went to Wegmans for dinner and I always struggle with making healthy choices and not getting dessert! Well the Husband was really a lifesaver. He jokingly (but firmly) told me to stay away from the bakery section, and maybe the egg roll area. So I did. Well maybe I got a cookie, yeah, I think I did. Okay, survived test one, sorta.

I also did some better meal planning when we did our grocery shopping. I have said a couple times, if I buy it and it is in the house, I'll eat it. So I just try not to buy it, or buy better versions. I got nervous that I was falling into the same pattern as the previous week, when I felt super lazy and didn't exercise Monday night. So I got out the juicer and worked on my breakfast for Tuesday and Wednesday. I made a carrot, mango, pineapple juice, it was great!!

Tuesday I ran (and improved on) my Cobb's Hill run! Wednesday I went to my spin class and really focused on staying within my daily calorie target. Thursday I lost weight. Now since I didn't do my usual routine, I wasn't able to weigh in at home. Typically the home scale is lower then the FF scale and I started My Fitness Pal with my weight from home, so that is what I enter in. I did my official FF weigh in and was down so I put that in MFP instead. Now I just have to keep the momentum going and not get cocky with my weight loss. I promise I wont. This week is already off to a good start because I ran Pumpkins in The Park this morning. Race recap coming next!!

Ton of Fun- Week Three

Okay so I am always honest on here so here goes. I gained weight this week. I can think of a million excuses, but really I just didn't try this week. It sucks that I even have to try so hard, that I have to think about it all the time, that I have to plan and worry about every food decision I make. For the rest of my life.

I had really good intentions going into the week, but I got cocky with my weight loss last week. Why do we all do this? Have a great week and figure you can cheat a little here and there and that it wont matter, but it always does matter! I started off indulging in some sweet treats that I justified having because it was my birthday weekend. We had a tailgating event and a short camping trip over the weekend, and I know I could have avoided the multiple sodas and the larger portions I ate. One saving grace was that since my Mom knows about the weight loss challenge, she avoided making me any sort of birthday dessert on Sunday, thanks Mom!

I had off on Monday so I was out of my food and exercise routine. I had the whole day and didn't do anything to help my progress, except for juice. I did make my juice for Tuesday and Wednesday morning. So by Tuesday I felt like too much damage had already been done, I knew the scale wasn't going down, I wasn't even sure at that point if it would read what it read last week. I did manage to get to the Tuesday night Cobb's Hill run. Molly and Rob went with me and I did see some improvement over the previous week and I did a tiny bit extra too! But after the run I got treated to a birthday milkshake. For the record I did get a small, but it didn't help matters.

Wednesday morning, bored with my juicing recipe and already knowing I wasn't succeeding for the week, I stopped at Dunkin'. Instead of playing it safe(r) and just getting my latte, I got a bagel with low fat cream cheese too. Ugh. I did okay during the school day and made it to my weekly spinning class where I rocked it! I try to be conservative with eating on Wednesdays, knowing that weigh-in day is Thursday. I made a Boca burger and a rice side dish. I knew the rice side dish was a mistake while I was making it because I knew I wouldn't be able to eat just a small portion. Sabotaging myself I ate the whole package. Ugh again. I sort of had the mindset that I knew I was going to be up at the weigh in, so why bother. I should have switched my frame of mind and said that every choice I make can either make it worse, or make it better. I should have just made it better. I will probably make this mistake again in my life. I'm human.

So I wasn't excited about weighing in, I was actually thinking about postponing it until Friday, but I  thought that would just make it worse. So I faced the scale, and was up just like I thought, but still down over all so it isn't life altering. Lessons learned in week three? Don't get cocky, if you are down you can easily go back up again. Use every bad decision as a stepping stone to a great choice. Hopefully I can remember these lessons during week four. Here goes nuttin'!

Ton of Fun- Week Two

How has it already been a week since I last posted?! I have every intention of doing a post on my experience thus far with our juicer, but every time I am done and washing the juicer, I remember that I wanted to take photos of the process. Hopefully now my post can live up to the hype, whenever it gets done. But anywho, we are really here to discuss week two on the ToF weight loss challenge. To find out how week one went, click here.

Week one wasn't perfect and I really wanted to try to make more changes for week two, since I am sort of getting into a good groove. I have officially logged in and tracked for 13 days in a row on My Fitness Pal, if you haven't downloaded this free app what are you waiting for? Go ahead, check it out, I'll wait. Also, you can just go to the website if you don't have access to apps. There are some extra bonus features there that you can't get on the app.

So back to trying some new things for week two... I figured since I polished off a half gallon of ice cream during week one, maybe I should just not buy the ice cream in the first place, that way I am not tempted. Mission accomplished! I also decided to be more diligent about juicing, since I am using it as my breakfast to avoid the Dunkin' drive thru. On Saturday, Rob and I went to the farmers market in Fairport to get some veggies for dinner and to use for juicing experimentation. Week one I had only juiced with fruits and my sugar intake was really high. I also decided instead of juicing every night for the next morning, to make a double batches instead. I went four days in a row with no trips to Dunkin'! I hope they don't forget my usual.

Yes, I have too much time on my hands.

As far as my weekly exercise I really slacked off over the weekend so I hit the ground running Monday. Instead of yoga I went to the gym and did 45 minutes of hard cardio. On Tuesday I returned to my former Tuesday tradition of the Cobb's Hill run and I brought Rob. This was very eye opening. Cobb's Hill is always pretty challenging, but during half marathon training I got pretty good at it and even enjoyed it occasionally. Well on Tuesday I couldn't make it up the hill without a walk break. I figured this is a good gauge of starting over and it can only get better from here. Wednesday was my usual spin class, we had a sub, but she was pretty good.

4.6 pounds lost so far! 

Must be all the changes I made helped because according to the FF scale I lost over 3 pounds!!! Way better results compared to week one. I think I have found my groove for sure. How did I celebrate? My favorite Half Moon salad and I splurged and got a Mountain Dew. I really like to live on the wild side.

Looking ahead to week three I hope I can continue to stay in the groove with these changes and make healthy choices overall. It might be hard since my birthday is coming up and I am a fan of sweets, maybe I'll make a special birthday cake juice...carrots, pineapple, mango and some sprinkles? Maybe I'll just stick a candle in it!

Ton of Fun- Week One

Last week I wrote about my latest personal challenge, which is Ton of Fun. Click here in case you haven't been stalking me as much as you should! Well the challenge started Saturday and Molly and I had our first official weigh in. Of course we went to Fleet Feet together, to keep ourselves accountable and we even dragged Rob along. When we arrived at the Brighton store, the two locations are having an East vs. West contest, I'm an East-sider all the way, the line stretch a third of the way across the store! The line moved pretty quickly and we got to catch up with lots of familiar faces and do a little window shopping. When we got to the front, Kim offered to take our "before" picture. Seriously?!? I know what I look like, that is why I am in this line, but I obliged anyway. Molly went into one room and I went into the other. Kim took my measurements and recorded them into a program on her tablet. I then swapped rooms with Molly and another FF staffer weighed me. The scale at the store had me slightly lower then our scale at home. After the relatively quick and painless process, we were off to conquer the week.

Sorry for the lack of photos, I forgot what being
a blogger was all about. Don't worry I'll make up
for it shortly!

I have heard amazing things about the My Fitness Pal (MFP) app from a huge range of people, and Rob is currently using it, so I went home, downloaded it and got to work. I like that it has so many foods in the database, including everything Wegmans. I also like that it gives you so much more then just calorie count. I have used it consistently every day! One day I even tracked my breakfast and lunch the night before.

In addition to using MFP and making some changes in food choices, I started using our new juicer as a morning treat switcheroo so I can avoid the Dunkin' drive-thru! I plan on doing a post on this very soon. I also got back into my weekly fitness routine. Sunday, I got back into running races with the Iron Angel 5k. Monday I went to Molly's Yoga Corner, where I have practiced yoga for over two year. I've had to cut back my spending this year so I go less, but it is worth it every time. Especially the day after a hilly race! Tuesday Molly and I got back into our weekly running ritual. We were planning on attending the hill workout at FF but her work meeting ran late. So we ran around our hood, the weather was amazing. On Wednesdays I take Trish's spin class at the RAC in Pittsford. It is a crazy, killer good work out and I missed her torture over the summer.

Smiles for being done with week one.

Which brings us to today! For the Ton of Fun challenge you get to pick your weigh in day and time. Basically you can go whenever the store is open. Molly and I decided we would try to weigh in together, ya know for moral support. We also decided that Thursday would be the day! So even though it hasn't quite been a week we headed to Fleet Feet to face the scale.

Pulling up my stats!

When we got there we were met by one of the lovely FF employees, who was super nice and didn't mind my crazy photo requests. She pulled up my data, I confirm and we headed to the scale. The scale is located in one of the dressing rooms so it is really private. Unless you bring your own personal photographer.

Here goes nothing!

I have to admit, since I cheated and used my scale at home throughout the week I was pretty excited about getting weighed, but the result was just a tiny loss. Now, I know this is better than gaining so I don't want to sound whiney, but since my home scale showed a 2.4 pound loss (wooohooo) over what I weighed on the scale right before weighing in at the store on Saturday, I was expecting to see something similar. Improvement is improvement so I'll take it. Cheers to being less of a fatty!

I feel like I look like I am in time out.

Molly had an amazing week too. I know her weight loss challenge is a personal journey so I wont share  too many of her details, but if you're wondering how much she lost, this photo may be a clue...

Ready for week two!

I feel like I am off and running, pun intended, with getting things back to the way they were earlier this year. In fact I just signed up for my first, post marathon, half-marathon. The Lake Effect Half Marathon in Syracuse, February 2014. I ran it this year and PR'd!! Watch out week two, here I come!!!

Baby I was Born to Run....slowly

I'm back baby and pretty sore! Thursday I dragged Molly to the Fleet Feet Pub Run at Char at the Strathallen hotel. They had a 3 or 5 mile option and even though a few months ago I would have chosen the five, I was hoping to just be able to go the distance at 3. The weather was amazing Thursday night and I was so excited to be back out there.

Alright guys, summer vacation is over!

I actually couldn't remember the last time I used my running sneakers, until I saw all the dirt on the bottom and realized I used them hiking in Lake Placid about two months ago! We were all in for a rude awakening. I picked up Molly and we were down right ecstatic on the drive there, kinda like some middle school girls on the way to a One Direction concert. Since I have been away from the Fleet Feet family for a bit there were lots of new faces, but a ton of familiar faces too. It was like coming home again and we picked up right where we left off. 

Proof that I ran! Or stood around with a bunch
of people in running clothes!

We got the 3 mile route from Ellen and we off and moving. The majority of the group were off and in the distance in no time. Molly and I pulled up the back and pacing us, without really knowing it were Amy and Dave. After a half mile or so I couldn't believe how good I felt and even though we weren't going as fast as I have in the past, I was going faster then I thought I would be able to go. I was also shocked at my endurance level, my heart wasn't beating out of my chest and my breathing was surprisingly controlled. When we hit 1 mile I was so happy that I didn't need to walk and this kept me energized for mile 2. During mile 2, I started to feel some aches and pains in my knee and legs but nothing bad enough to make me stop or slow. Molly dropped back a bit and I ran and chatted with Amy and Dave. We caught back up with each other at a red light and I told her my goal of running to one of the last streets, take a short walk break and then run the rest of the way. Even though the route was 3 miles, Fleet Feet always gives you the gift of going slightly farther without officially saying it so the route was more like 3.4ish. As we made the final turn on to East Ave to head back to the hotel we chatted about our surroundings and past runs and how good it felt to be back out on the streets. When we returned to Char we hung out for a bit and then headed home.

Slow but steady and got it done!

My final pace on the Garmin was 13:29. I did forget to pause it for a couple red lights so really it was slightly better then that! By the time I got out of the car my usual running pains were back, but I wore them like a badge of honor. Turns out you can jump back on the wagon and I feel like I appreciate my body and mind more now for it. Now I am recharged and ready to go for my first weigh in for the Ton of Fun challenge and my first 5k as a Warchol. I'll be posting about both soon.

Ever take a break from exercise and are shocked by your progress when you return? Either good or bad. 

Having a Ton of Fun

So I mentioned in my last post that the spark is coming back! I am actually excited. Some may say giddy! You know how deep down you know all the right things you NEED to do, but sometimes your brain likes to play games? That is how I have been feeling lately. Hopefully at some point you are finally strong enough to over take it and say, shut up this is what I am doing. I decided that to get back into the groove and community atmosphere, I would join the Ton of Fun challenge at Fleet Fleet.

Courtesy of FF website.

It is a 12 week challenge to lose weight and be active. I thought it was just the right thing I needed to get in gear. The program costs $50 but you have the opportunity to earn it back through store credit by losing weight. There are other fun prizes along the way. You know I am game for anything that involves prizes, sticker charts and goal tracking. I have enjoyed FF training programs in the past and have met some of my closest friends by participating in them. It can be intimidating at first, but quickly it becomes your favorite thing in the world. I plan to post updates throughout the 12 week program. Not sure just yet if I am comfortable putting my weight on here for all to see, but I do want to cover the ups and downs.

Actual weight...of a small child.

One of our wedding gifts was a new, fancy, bells and whistle scale so I am excited about using it and seeing some change. A benefit of running is that it helps your body to be more toned. One disadvantage  to less running is more jiggle. In addition to maybe losing a pound or two, I hope this challenge can help the jiggle reduction.

That wont ever happen, let's not be too lofty with our goals.

So I hope you join me over the next 12 weeks to track my progress, root for me, help me celebrate my success and keep me out of the Dunkin' drive thru! Seriously, I could really use your help on that last one, anyone available between 6:30-7:00am?

Ever had success with a weight loss challenge?