Best. Week. EVER.

5k/Susan G Komen day came at the end of a crazy, amazing week for me. (Cra-mazing?)  The week started with me finding out that one of my work calls had won a contest that got me an official NFL jersey.  I'm not a football fan, as anyone knows, but the timing was perfect and it was all around exciting to have won.

Why was the timing perfect?  Because I had my interview for the Senior Claims Adjuster promotion on Wednesday and I knocked it out of the park -- and got the job!!  The amount of happy dancing that went on was ridiculous -- not to mention the vanity shots!  (The dress is what I was wearing when I found out, not for the interview.)  Right after I found out, I was going down one of our infamous long hallways and my director was coming towards me.  I still wasn't able to tell anyone, but of course he knew.  So I got into one of the little nooks in the wall where only he would see me and did what I can only describe as a Muppet themed silent screaming happy dance.  He was falling out laughing, it was just such a great moment.

But because of the lead up to this and the subsequent celebrating, there was not much in the way of training.  I went to the gym on Tuesday night and that was it.  Wednesday was the night of the interview and I went to WW and found out that I got the 1 pound off that I had just put back on (and frankly will probably be there again this week) and then had a great dinner with Scott and my cousin Mary Margaret who happened to be in town.  At this point, I was already getting feedback that the interview went well and I was pretty sure I was going to get the job, but of course you don't know til you know.  Thursday was the day I found out and there was much indulgence that evening with some of my favorite ladies to celebrate.  And then I didn't want to over-do it last night, so I didn't run then either.  I did do 30 minutes on my new stepper, so I feel like I got a little something in...

And today -- the race!  My husband couldn't be roused, so I had to make the trek down by myself.  I was a bundle of nerves about participating by myself (with 1000's of people, but you know what I mean) and this feeling was just further emphasized when I got there.  As I was driving in I was passing all kinds of pink-clad groups wearing tutus and pink wigs and just generally in good spirits.  I had, obviously, never done anything this size and magnitude and just never really thought about the costumes or just how many people would be there, etc.  Because the amount of people was crazy!  I found the group from my gym, but my awkward feeling continued because I don't really know anyone from my gym.   I don't take classes or work with a trainer or anything like that.  I got there just too late to be in the group picture and even felt weird asking someone to take one for me.  (The shy side of Heather, who knew?)  It was 7:15 and the race didn't start until 8:30.  It just seemed to take forever, but then suddenly it was time and we were corralling towards the corral like cattle.

So many things were going through my head the whole time.  The meaning behind the event and the woman from my gym that I had just met who was in her 5th year of survivorship.  Thinking about how freaking cold I was!  Thinking about how I no longer cared what my time was, I just wanted to be done and say that I was done.  Thinking about women and how freaking amazing we are and how so many have been through so many things and survived so much and how so many have to go through that journey alone.  Thinking that no matter how awkward I was feeling about the whole thing, just proud that I signed up for the thing, showed up for the thing and did the thing.

Anyways, I started the timer on my map my walk app so I could try to track my actual time since I didn't get a chip, but it turned out that wasn't that accurate since we were herded there for a while without starting.  Oh well. Once the crowd started dissipating, I finally got to a bit of a jog and had a decent pace.  It was definitely a combo of walking and running the whole thing.  I just would pick random landmarks and try to make it to one of those before walking.  And then I would pick another random landmark that I would have to start running again.  It was very brisk out.  We ran up Atlantic Avenue for the first half, which means we were blocked from the wind -- but also from the sun.  At the halfway point, we make the turn onto the boardwalk -- into the sun AND the wind.  Yay?  My pace wasn't as good as I had hoped, but I really had let that go.  Sure, my goal was to finish in 40 minutes, but it's not like I haven't broken other goals (see also average loss of 5 lbs per month) -- it is what it is.  I was feeling a bit disappointed but still glad that it was over, when out of seemingly nowhere my BFF Tina was there just as I passed the 3 mile mark cheering me on and taking a video of me coming down the row.  I almost had a hard time staying in stride because I started crying a bit.  I probably would have broken into full out sobbing if I had had the breath.  Thanks BFF, you ALWAYS come through!  Anyways, I pushed through and finished at 46:17.  This is just about 6 minutes faster than the "original" 5k, which means since that time I have gotten my time down by 2 minutes per mile.  And considering how much slacking I've done in the interim and how recently I was even able to run as much as I can, I am frankly pretty pleased by that.  It's true, you really do get better the more you do!

Anyways, it's finally over!  As you see pictured, we had an indulgent breakfast at Baker's Crust -- for the record, I could only eat half that thing -- and tonight Scott and I are headed for celebration at the comedy club and indulgent dinner.  Another note on the pictures -- I am really starting to see some of the changes in myself in pictures.  Especially the post race shot -- I really think this may have been a camera trick, because I do not feel like my legs actually look this good.

The tracking this week?  Not so much.  (Sorry Sherrie!)  I'm allowing myself the indulgence of not tracking again today and then renewing my focus by Monday.  (I'd say tomorrow, but who am I kidding?)

Feeling pretty sassy Thursday night after learning I got the promotion

My small attempt at blinging out 

Neptune with his sexy abs

CJ, one of the trainers at the gym

BFFs

Freaking did it!

Greasy indulgent breakfast -- but note the yogurt instead of hash browns

If you've read this far, you are truly a fan and I appreciate you!  I hope that I am giving you just a little bit of the inspiration that I have found along the way and that I hope to keep finding so I can keep trending in a downward direction.  :)

hugs,

Heather

Catch up with photos

Not a WHOLE going on in Heather's Fat News...  I've recently been taking some bathroom shots at work, so I'm adding them here for posterity.  Thanks everyone for all of the positive feedback on the red dress.  I DO love that dress and just felt AWESOME in it.  The polka dot was actually a blast from the past.  I wore this to BFF Tina's wedding in 2007 and I can finally fit in it again.  I was feeling super sassy in that too, until someone said I looked like Minnie Mouse.  What?!  

Still trying to get ready for the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure.  Finally actually did the correct 5k I mapped out in my neighborhood.  I really need to run more often than twice a week, but I also need to do a lot of things.  One thing at a time.  I recently started writing a blog post about ways to make work outs fun.  The thing that exercise enthusiasts are always preaching about.  I had this crazy idea -- girls' night out bootcamp.  You get together with your girls and work out to earn activity points (or pre-burn calories, whatever your thing is) to go out and party like a rock star.  An added bonus is a little extra tightness to wear your favorite party dress!  A skew tangent version of this would be to plan activity dates with the girls.  One of my best friends at work (BFAW) and I have been going to Mount Trashmore after work and doing a loop.  And of course, my original BFAW inspires me to go for walks at work all the time.  The bottom photo is just a random shot from the USAA walk.

And the middle torn jeans photo?  Well, that was an old pair of jeans that got torn at the thighs from my fat pushing out...  And now they're too big!  I bought a replacement pair one size down at Old Navy this weekend.  They only had one pair my new size in the style I like in the store.  Which turns out to be a blessing, because they're the slip down style that the young people seem so fond of these days.  My old favorite style is no longer being made.  Boo!  Still, SO nice to finally be down a pants size.  Losing 40 pounds and only down two pants sizes since the journey started?!  I mean, that's crazy right?  I think because this time I'm incorporating so much more exercise than I ever did the last time that perhaps there's more muscle there.  But, things are trending in the right direction -- I was finally able to buy 2 pairs of almost knee high boots.  Something that my luscious calves would never have let me do before!

I don't want to over-sell the things are going great position.  I've definitely been sabotaging myself a lot lately.  I mean, just because you can mix vodka with water by using drink mix packs in doesn't mean you should....  To excess, anyway.  There have been a few slip ups with bags of food and tying them on like a feedbag.  Some remembered, some, uh, not.  I have definitely learned that even healthy crunchy food is still a trigger that I CANNOT have around.  I'm just glad that it was healthy so I could minimized some of the shock and horror I felt when it was over.  It will be a while before apple or veggie straws are here again.  

This week I'm going to work on getting back to basics.  Making sure I get at least 2 activity points in a day, minimizing the weeknight drinking and getting back to religiously tracking.  I'm pretty good with tracking, but I've slipped a bit this weekend and I don't want this to become a habit.  

Huh, I guess more to report than I thought.  I'm off to watch the Emmys -- have a great week!

hugs,

Heather

A nod to Norman Rockwell with a Saturday Evening Post

OMG!  I totally want to train for The Great American Mud Fest!!

It's just short of a 5k, so getting to my wheelhouse but it's got a whole bunch of Crossfit like obstacles.  Where would you train?  Who would train you?  SO excited about the idea!

Even though I did too much partying last night, I made up for a bunch of that today.  I got up and once again tried to complete my neighborhood 5k.  This was now my 3rd attempt.  The first time, I posted about because it started to rain and I didn't finish.  The last time I missed the turn and when I figured it out, I tried to circle back but didn't want to circle the whole way back.  Still, I made up almost the whole thing and it was 3.07 when I was done.  I was pretty happy with my time too, all in all -- I did it 43:47, average pace 14:14 per mile.  Well, today I was very cognizant of the turn, but then I was in a really new part of my neighborhood and lost a lot of time looking at the map to make sure I was at the right parts and all that.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that there was ANOTHER turn later, ironically in the most familiar part of my neighborhood -- and that had me completing 3.34 miles instead of 3.10.  My time 48:33 and my pace was 14:30.

Bit of a downscore on the pace, but given that I didn't go to bed until 3 and got up at 8:30 and again, did too much partying the night before -- I think pretty good.  Both times put me well under my first 5k at a finish time of 52:02.

Annnnyways, after I did the run, I decided to mow the lawn for Scott since he had to work this morning.  More activity points, woo hoo!  Then when he got home from work, he swapped out some deck boards and I helped pull a couple of those.  THEN, I got the "bright" idea to take a bunch of the wood debris at the side of the house to the dump.  Which means I loaded a whole bunch of old, wet, rotted deck boards and twigs and so forth back and forth to his truck.  Even MORE activity points!

So, when Scott wanted to have a pizza from one of the better places around for dinner, I felt like despite my partying last night (which I tried to track a fair amount of), I "deserved" the carby treat. I also tracked the pizza (which didn't live up to the reputation entirely) so it's not like I was going off book.  It's just that I really try not to eat this kind of empty points plus thing.  It's just not worth it most of the time.  It cost more points than I really want to spend, for one thing.  And because I frequently eat better than this most of the time, I don't always physically feel good after eating crap.  I can just feel it sitting on my gut.  I think about all of the additional activity I'm going to need to do again to get it off and then it feels even less worth it.

That's all trending in the right direction, huh?  ;-)

hugs,

Heather

APA

My last workout pre-CAT deployment??

The End of Staycation Rambling

When we last left our heroine, she had done 30 minutes on the elliptical on Tuesday morning and rounded out the evening in bad-ass activity-ness by doing a 50 minute cardio kickboxing class.  And that was at the relative beginning of staycation...

What did the rest of the week hold?  What indeed!

As far as activity:  Wednesday I got a run in.  30 minutes on the dreadmill and hit 2.21 miles. Thursday there was minimal activity but LOTS of errand running -- why can't you get activity points for getting in and out of your car 1000 times?  Friday was spent at the beach and I counted a bit of activity points for the running back and forth to the water and just dancing around and loving life.  I think next summer instead of getting in shape so I can go to the beach, my plan is to work on getting in shape AT the beach. Lots of ways to get activity and it's out in the sun so that's even better!  Yesterday I got another run in on the dreadmill, and hit 2.20 miles.  I wasn't rocking it, to be sure, but I had so much pent up energy and what I lacked in the running part I made up in the inclines.  (My new thing is that when I don't want to run anymore, I jack the incline way up during the "rest" - so even if I'm going slow, I'm still getting a work out.)


As far as being on plan:  Well, it's been up and down.  I have been trying to track as much as possible.  But I've also been on staycation, so there's been a bit of partying going on, because you know -- I'm still me.  :)   My BFF and I fulfilled a lifelong dream of singing karaoke in Suffolk on Wednesday night and helped roll up the streets there.  Twice.  Crazy night and led to day of poor decisions fueled by exhaustion.  It started with an order malfunction at Starbucks and didn't improve much from there.  Scott and I went down to the Outer Banks on Thursday night.  While I didn't do well in the abstaining from drinking department, I did do very well in the snacking department -- ate grapes and cherries the whole night!  Friday we spent at the beach as long as the dust storms would allow -- it was a shorter trip than we would have liked.  But, it always is!  All in all, Friday wasn't great for being on plan, but Saturday it went totally downhill.  At least I got that run in.

And today?  The end of staycation?  Minimal activity, ate a large amount of potato chips which I DID track, but all of the wine I have had since dinner?  Not so much...

The problem is that I'm currently in this really dangerous point of my weight loss journey.  I feel GREAT!  I am so happy with how my body is looking and the things that I can do (more on this) and just feeling crammed full of endorphin.  I actually want to go work out.  Can you imagine?  And part of this is because of what I just was saying about things that I can do.

Like squatting.  Normal people probably don't think about squatting.  It's not a big deal to them.  But I've never been able to squat for any length of time and certainly couldn't do it without falling or holding on to someone.  But lately, I've been able to get into a squatting position and stay there for a period of time.  Without feeling like I'm going to die.

Anyways, it's a dangerous time.  I've blogged about this before.  When I feel this good, I feel indomitable.  And that makes me make poor decisions (more wine, please!) and also makes me think I look good in clothing I have no business wearing.  Shopping gets risky and iPhone self-portraits start taking over all my data usage.  I feel ridiculously sassy and really have to watch myself.

I need a sitter!

Hugs,
Heather

Fitness Adventures

Remember a while back when I was talking about "the next thing?"  (No?  Here's a link.)  I was going to buy groupons and just try different fitness stuff.  Well, during that time I bought a groupon deal for cardio kickboxing.  I finally went to my first class tonight and I really liked it.

The class was 50 minutes and very small -- which I like.  The teacher, Master C, is awesome and was very accommodating.  It was mildly intense, but I never felt like puking or anything.  Turns out, that's because this was the "easy" night.  The classes are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and apparently the Saturday class is crossfit-like.  Yay?

I chatted with some of the other ladies before the class and told them I was there on the groupon deal.  They were taking bets on whether or not I'd be back since a few weeks ago there were other groupon ladies and they have not been back.  The class was a cardio workout but was not overly intense -- again, because they build up to that.  Of course, I was totally uncoordinated as usual but luckily these ladies were awesome and not judge-y at all.  Very friendly and inclusive.  Not like when you go to some cardio classes with a bunch of Barbie-bots.  Blech!

All in all a GREAT day for activity -- I got two walks in (see frizzy picture from earlier) and a cardio kickboxing.  Feel great!  And that's a total of 14 earned for the day!!

Minor programming (?) note...  I've been running a mental tally of how much I've lost since I started and I realized that I haven't been keeping a great log of this to keep me mindful of it.  My current goal is to lose about 5 lbs a month until I get to my goal weight of 155.  (This is the top of my suggested weight from WW for my height.)  I've decided that in order to be able to better track where I'm at and how I'm doing, I am going to start posting scale photos again ((((gulp))) -- but only on the first of the month.  These posts will not be split to Facebook, because -- hello -- I don't want my stupid weight in my timeline.

All right, back to the Olympics...  Doesn't THAT inspire you to get some activity in??

Activity Points Accountability

30 minutes
Dreadmill
And look - I'm getting close to a 14 minute mile. I fear that off the dreadmill it would be much higher (lower? What's the correct usage if I want to sayit would take longer?). But it's all a process, right?

I'm including the grade info for my own edification. I can't quite jog the whole 30 minutes but what I do during the slow down is jack up the incline so I'm still burning even I'm not going as fast.

Activity Point Accountability

25 minute walk with our boy. 2 AP. Do you get extra for the sweat??

Activity point accountability

Elliptical trainer
30 minutes
7 AP


Whew!

Recommitted

Starting today, I am making it my personal mission to get no less than 2 activity points a day.

2 Activity Points is NOTHING.  That is a 20 minute walk.  I'm kidding myself that I don't have time.  I'm not TAKING the time.  I'm not making it a habit.

That's how I was successful on WW before and I forgot.  It was being as diligent as I could with tracking and getting a little bit of activity when I could.  I never went crazy -- I just walked on my breaks and lunches.  Started getting a little bit of weight lifting in.  I did it in my work clothes and yes, I got sweaty when I was at work.

So?  I looked a lot better -- hell, I was pretty hot.



Here's where part of the motivation came in -- another textversation!  Friend says that she wants to work out but can't afford the gym.  I start sending suggestions.  If it's too hot to walk outside (and it's no joke -- mad respect for those outdoor running nutjobs), then why not mall walk?  Or rent DVDs to work out inside.  Or Nike has a My Fitness App that is free.  I got a blow off, basically.

And then later it hit me -- I'm not even taking my own advice.  I'm kvetching because I haven't had time to go to the gym since Tuesday, but that's an excuse.  Okay, I won't get 7 or 8 activity points without working hard at the gym - but does that mean that I should just not get anything?  That doesn't compute.  I can't believe I fell into my same old routine of "I want to go run around the block and lose 10 lbs" that contributed to my slow weight loss to begin with.

No more.  I'm taking a page out of my inspiring WW friend's page and when I don't go to the gym, I'm going to exercise in other ways.  I stole her idea to do a step routine in my living room tonight.  I'm not as hard core as she is -- I just did 30 minutes.  But still, that is 30 minutes of exercise that I wasn't going to get otherwise.

The bottom line is the balance -- it is my new mantra.  I'm married to a Libra -- I'm not one!

 I need to be as diligent as possible with tracking and I need to make sure I'm getting just a little bit of activity in every day.  I think as long as I can stick to that I am going to see more consistent downward results.

I am going to try to stay accountable by reporting about it here.  Keep me honest and poke me when I don't have something up!

Thanks again friends for inspiring me -- let's get going!

Heather