Another run

I made it out for another run today... it was great! The hills kind of kicked my butt! I persevered though and made it through. I ended up running 3-ish miles and coming inside to stretch and cool down. The weather was COLD but above freezing so it didn't feel too bad.

Yesterday I threw together a cross training workout with moves from Jillian Michaels' workout again. That also felt great! I even woke up sore today. A nice sore, of course!

I will most likely be MIA for a few weeks as I travel to see family and friends for the holidays. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and a happy new year! I will keep up with my workouts and I hope you will too!

And BTW, I was at 158 pounds last time I checked so I have confidence I can hit my goal by the end of the year. I also went to the salon today and someone noticed I had lost weight. Jackpot!

Winter Running

I made it out for a short jog today. I just love winter running! I hadn't been out really at all yet for my marathon training (it officially begins on December 28), so I'm happy I made it today.

It snowed in PA yesterday, but not that much where I am. Instead of a workout yesterday I actually walked around town and finished my shopping. I walked over 4 miles carrying everything I purchased, and when it was all over, my HRM read 1250 calories burned. Now that was over a period of two hours, but still... that is some awesome calorie burn for shopping!

Today's run felt great! It was in the high 20's, but there was no wind and the sun was shining. I don't mind the cold... in fact I love running in it! I had my winter gear on, and the cold air just felt great! The only issue I was having was snow. The sidewalks and streets were still covered, so I had to be careful and run slowly. The good side of that is that you have to work pretty hard to keep yourself upright, so it feels like you're getting a decent core workout too. After a 2-ish mile run, I decided to shovel a bit of snow to finish things off. I ended up with over 700 calories burned. Yay!

Tomorrow will be a cross training day, so I'm pretty sure I'll do Jillian Michaels' Trouble Zones workout. It definitely makes the muscles burn!

INSANITY Returns

I just finished up Plyo Cardio Circuit, and it felt great! If you haven't tried out Shaun T's INSANITY yet and you really like intense cardio, you have to get it! Again I wanted to run today and I waited around until it was dark. I don't like running in the dark, so I did some INSANITY instead. I burned 663 calories!

Tomorrow I will definitely run! I found my iPod which was also something I was using as an excuse to do my indoor workouts. No fooling around anymore! I'm going to follow this for my marathon, and I'll be officially starting (and blogging about it) on December 28.

Must eat something... INSANITY makes me hungry!

I Caught the Lazy Bug

Yes, that's right, I have a been a lazy bum (as compared to my usual self) the last few days. I had my last final exam on Monday afternoon, and I pretty much cratered after that. I did not eat like a crazy person, but I was just so, so lazy. It was all I could do to get off the couch! I guess finals and job interviews have really taken their toll on me. I did some working out but nothing near as intense as usual.

On Tuesday, I tried a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader workout. Soooo, I hate to be mean, but seriously, anyone who takes their workouts seriously, please don't do this workout. The moves are fine, but I'm pretty sure I lost a couple IQ points. Is that mean??? Oh well... it was pretty bad.

On Wednesday, I tried to do some online yoga on yogatoday.com. They have one free yoga workout each week. Unfortunately, my internet connection was not so strong and it kept buffering and buffering. Doesn't make for a very focused and centered yoga practice! I stopped after 23 minutes and returned myself to my couch.... SERIOUSLY, I CAUGHT THE LAZY BUG!!!

Luckily, I woke up refreshed and feeling energetic this morning, so I threw together a strength training workout on my own. I combined mostly moves from Jillian Michaels, some cardio from INSANITY, and some kickboxing at the very end. All in all, it was 523 calories. Ahhh, it feels good to be back!

If I learned anything from this it's that sometimes I just need a break! I think I get so concerned that I have to do a kick butt workout everyday or I'm not working hard enough or something. But you know what... sometimes everyone needs a break! The key is not making a break a permanent stop. I've gotten to the point in my health journey where I know that will not happen, so occasional breaks are important for me. I now feel refreshed, recentered, and refocused. Ahhh...

PS - That sleepy cat is my cat, Shepard!

Monday Weigh-in

As I mentioned in previous posts, for the 25 Days till Christmas Challenge, I wanted to lose weight and be at 157 pounds by Christmas. I weighed in today, and I was at 159 pounds. Woo hoo! I was at 168-169 at the end of August, so this is some serious progress for me! Here are some triumphs related to this that I'd like to share:

1. I have never been brave enough to weigh in on Monday. In the past, I always pushed this off to Thursday knowing that I had screwed up over the weekend and it wouldn't show a loss. Today, I knew that I had been reasonable over the weekend, getting in my workouts and having controlled splurges. It showed on the scale! This really makes me feel like I've turned a corner and I have made this into a lifestyle, not a diet. I am going to embrace Monday weigh ins from now on!!!
2. I've been doing this on my own! What I mean by that is that I'm not following a plan or some prescribed diet. I'm not counting points, I'm not restricting foods, and I'm not working out like a crazy person. I'm eating what feels right (and journaling... not going to lie, journaling is very important for me) and I'm working out for less than an hour a day. And it's still working!

So I am full confident that I can hit my goals my Christmas. Today, I plan to do another Jillian workout because I'm busy at school until 4:30. After that, it will be getting dark, so I'm not going to do a run today. My last final exam is today though, so I am free until next semester. I'm going to get plenty of rest tonight and then I'm going to get up to run tomorrow. Woo hoo!

Just in case you feel like shopping...

Check out this website! It's an invitation only discount shopping site. I bought a $250 winter coat for $49 the other day!!!

http://www.ruelala.com/invite/athomas24

Let the Running Begin

I decided today that I should get to running if I really think I'm going to run this marathon next May. It is absolutely FRIGID in Pittsburgh today. I wanted to run 3 miles, but the temperature was in the teens, the wind chill was negative, and the wind was blowing at 20 mph. Not pleasant! Instead of giving up, I decided to head over to the gym to do my 3 mile jog. That was both good and bad!

Good - actually ran 3 miles, didn't give up!

Bad - treadmills are so boring!!!

When I did my first marathon in 2005, I trained through the winter, and I've actually come to like that feeling you get when you run in the cold. The wind is just too much though because even with ear muffs, it hurts! So off to the treadmill I went... with no iPod. Ugh. I made it through my mileage, but I stopped once in the middle to walk. And seriously, in all honesty to myself, that was pure mental garbage/boredom. Oh well. Can't win them all right? At least I finished! I meandered my way back home, and when it was all said and done, I burned 924 calories. Nice!

So, all this running and talking of marathons makes me think about a post I read on another blog this week. It was about being a "try" athlete, which I thought was awesome! You can read it here. What really struck me is that throughout my life, even with my marathon, half marathons, P90x, etc. I still tell people that I am not an athlete. I started to wonder why I do that... you know, I have no clue! But I know I'm going to stop... just because I wasn't a HS or college athlete on some kind of team sport does not mean I'm not an athlete. I need to start giving myself credit! So thanks to Amazon Runner for the post!

I hope everyone out there who gets up everyday and presses play or goes for a jog or hits the gym gives themselves the credit they deserve. You are an athlete! And so am I! :)

I'm going to run a marathon!

A close friend of mine at school told me yesterday that instead of running the half marathon in PGH in May (as I had been planning to do), he's going to run the full marathon. We're the same pace... so I decided to do it too! We have to start training on Dec 28 already for a May race! I did one marathon before in my life, so might as well do another! The only thing that concerns me is that it's really hard to keep up your other workouts AND to lose weight when running a marathon. I actually gained weight last time! I'm going to have to be diligent about my calories instead of just pigging out after my long runs. Very important!

Jillian Michaels... like whoa!

Ummmm, seriously, Jillian Michaels!?!?! Seriously!?!?! I just finished the approximately one hour long Jillian Michaels Boost Metabolism workout. I am lucky to have her workouts On Demand through Comcast cable. OK, let's just say that was freaking hard! Take all of your favorite moves from Tony Horton and Shaun T and throw them together with not one break. Woo! I loved it! And I burned a total of 831 calories!!!! I have not burned that many calories on a workout since I did Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs from INSANITY in the same day. No wonder people on The Biggest Loser lose over 200 pounds!

I may be slightly addicted to her workouts right now! I think I'll stick to these for a little while! Her favorite motivational saying is "Don't Phone It In!" So don't phone it in, folks... get in that workout and DO IT!!!

Easy Yummy Marinade

All is well in the 25 Days till Christmas Challenge! Yesterday, I did an awesome Jillian Michaels workout On Demand! It was her Trouble Spots workout, and I was impressed to see two moves I had never done.

1. Chest Press with a Crunch - combine a regular crunch with a chest press so you end up with a weighted crunch
2. Chest Fly with a Straight Leg Lowering - combine the lower ab move where you lower your legs (straight) to about an inch or two from the ground while you perform a chest fly

I loved those! I always feel like I'm resting when I get on the ground to do chest exercises, so adding in the ab moves was awesome to me.

Also, I made an easy and yummy marinade tonight for my pork chop. I combined ~1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce, 1 T of ground ginger, and a dash or two of hot sauce. Mix it all up and marinate the pork chop as long as you like. I'm impatient, so I did about 15 minutes. I baked my pork chop afterwards, and let me tell you, the taste was awesome!!! And I combined a really great, anti-inflammatory ingredient (ginger) with something as boring as a pork chop. I will be doing that again!

Time for The Biggest Loser finale! Woo hoo!

Monday again!

It feels like the last few days have been a whirlwind. I flew out of town on Thursday for a job interview, returned late Friday night (keep your fingers crossed for me because I loved it!), moved all day Saturday, went to a Christmas party Saturday night, and unpacked all day yesterday. Phew! My exercise for the weekend was moving/unpacking. I don't know where my heart rate monitor is right now (still packed somewhere) so I have not been tracking calories officially.

So where does this leave me on the challenge? The weekend was a lot less structured than I would hope, but I don't feel like I fell off the wagon in any way. Today, I am doing quite well, so I'll move forward with this momentum! I totally forgot that I decided to throw out my toaster oven because it was so old. Part of the reason was also to force me to eat eggs for breakfast or oatmeal. I usually have toast with peanut butter, which is also a great breakfast, but I wanted to be a little more high protein over the coming weeks. Today I made two eggs with some baby bella mushrooms mixed in. I also had some berries and pineapple on the side with my usual coffee and organic milk. Excellent!

As for the workout, my DVD's are still in an undisclosed box! Luckily, I have On Demand workouts, so I'll pick out some cardio on there and do that before I head out to class. I hope all is well out there! Have a healthy day!

Weigh-in and Eating on the Go

I'm traveling for a job interview today and tomorrow, so I have to eat on the go. So far, I'm doing well! I had my favorite breakfast at home today, which is whole wheat toast with peanut butter and jam. I know, I know, jam has a lot of sugar in it. When I'm done with this jar, I'm going to try to make my own with frozen berries and agave nectar. I had a layover around 11, and I found myself a Subway and had a sandwich. I typically don't like Subway but when your options are bagels, pizza, donuts, or Subway, you eat Subway!

When I got to my hotel, I had some extra time, so I went to the fitness center! It felt great to workout again. My cold is definitely almost gone. I had some reading to do to get ready for tomorrow's interviews, so I brought that with me and did 35 minutes on the elliptical. After my workout, I weighed myself, and I'm happy to report I was at 160 pounds! That was the middle of the day and fully clothed! My goal for Christmas is 157, so I am well on my way! PLUS, that means I've lost at least 8 pounds since September, and I'm happy about that.

Tonight is dinner out at an Italian restaurant. According to myfooddiary, I have 959 calories left to reach my lose 1 pound per week total. I don't plan to have wine because I'm still taking some cold medicine, so that should save calories. Their salads look great, so I'll definitely start with those, and hopefully have a fish or chicken entree. The menu had a few chicken dishes on there that looked good, but I'm hoping there's a fish special. I'll skip dessert but I will most likely have one piece of bread. That should keep me satisfied but in check!

Hope everyone is doing well in their health journeys!

3 Fabulous Days in a Row!

This second challenge is going quite well. It's the 25 Days Till Christmas Challenge, and I'm just trying to eat clean and workout. My cold has sidelined the working out, but the food is going so well! I can actually feel the difference. It makes you wonder why you ever step out of the clean eating habit. It feels like crap! I'll have to remember that whenever I want a cupcake or pizza! I wish you could bottle the feeling and take it out whenever you need it.

On the workout front, I'm thinking I can do a little workout tomorrow. My cold is much better today than the last few days. On Monday I'll be starting up my P90X-half marathon training hybrid. Can't wait!

I'm moving into a new apartment this weekend, and I'm also really looking forward to that. It's on the ground floor as I've probably mentioned before, so I can jump all I want. I dropped my keys at my old apartment tonight, and it was kind of surreal. I don't know why, but I always get a little sad when I leave one place and move to another. This apartment even bothered me a lot, but I think I get a little contemplative because it symbolizes change to me. I've left behind the life I had in that apartment, and I'm moving on. And, I've had so many changes in my life over the last 9 months that it is a welcome change! It's kind of like the icing on the cake... or maybe the peanut butter on the apple!

Fighting a Cold

Ugh, I am still fighting a cold. It makes me realize how important working out is! I can't workout right now because I'm so exhausted, and that leads me to have to eat way less to be healthy! OMG, that is hard!!! Today I'm around 1400 calories, and I could probably fit in 200-ish for a snack later. I think I'll have some dried fruit or maybe some yogurt. I've been drinking a ton of decaf tea for my throat, so I'm sure I'll have some of that too!

My challenge officially started today, but the cold is getting in my way. My scale is also packed (I'm moving this weekend), so I'm going to have to really kick it off in full gear on Saturday!

At least I have The Biggest Loser to watch tonight! Usually I end up working out during that because it's impossible to sit still watching Jillian and Bob work with everyone. Sigh... today will be a relaxed BL session for me!