So… Yoga pants

So… Yoga pants have another purpose than going on an errand to target or CVS?

 

Last night after my workout I had a few errands and just went right after my workout. I encountered other girls in yoga pants who had full on makeup, nails, earrings, and hair. 

Hmmm I might have been one of these girls who on the weekend would go to Bed Bath and Beyond…  and Beyond in yoga pants. "Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time." Old School

But now I actually wear them to workout. Not exactly yoga… although after our boot camp and daily burn we do some yoga moves before stretching, but nothing too crazy.

Was I jealous of these girls that looked like they stepped out of a Victoria secret catalog instead of a gym? Ummm…. YEA! When the thought came to mind... “Are those your workout earrings” I knew I was being a hater. Made me think of how the first time I went hunting with Greg and his friend. When I got in the truck I had full on hair, makeup, and earrings. And his friend instantly asked “are those your hunting earrings”. LOL I was all about my tan, nails, jewelry, and outfit at the time in my life. I think I am jealous of the fact they have the time and money to do those things. Working out 5-8 times a week like I am suppose to and re-teaching myself what food is, is like a second job for me right now. By the time I get off work and change clothes and work out and get home and eat it is almost time to start thinking of going to bed so I can get up at 4:30am to work out in the morning. It will all be worth it!! It will. I am proud of myself that since April 15th I have at least worked out 4 times a week! The nails and such are just not as big of a priority anymore. Health over looks. Plus the cost of grocery shopping and fitness classes I had to give up expenses like getting my nails done. So am I jealous of how she looks yes. But I need to do these things so I can look close to as good as she does in yoga pants.  Because right know when I wear them I feel like I need to be in a people of Wal-Mart instead of a Victoria Secret ad.

So... Let's Do This... Now that I have had my last suppers

Let’s get serious.

This weekend I had my last super(s). Saturday Greg and I went to On The Boarder and I had tacos, chips, salsa, cheese dip, and a Margarita. My favorites!!! I love chips and salsa. Greg thinks I sweat salsa. When I go to Margairta's the waiters bring me my own salsa. They sometime joke about bringing the chip basket full of salsa and a straw. Okay people I get it, you are aware of my favorite food.

Sunday we went to Olive Garden and had pasta, salad and bread sticks. I could eat Mexican or Italian for every meal, everyday and not get sick of it! I love pasta. So this also had to be a last supper.

After indulging in my obsessions, Sunday night I prepped  food for this week. I have seen a few facebook friends post pictures of their fridges or counters with their Tupperware with the upcoming week’s food.  Granted these people are into fitness competitions I figured if wouldn’t hurt for me to try. Even though I am not prepping for a fitness competition I am battling myself. I baked chicken, cleaned and tore up spinach, cut strawberries, and pineapple and separated them all into Tupperware portions. Confession I didn’t cut the pineapple by hand. The future in-law's got me a pineapple slicer. It is awesome!!

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/94872-oxo-good-grips-stainless-steel-ratcheting-pineapple-slicer.html

Saturday we spent a lot of time shopping getting soy milk for protein shakes, spinach for salads, pineapple, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, corn, strawberries, mushrooms, apples, chicken, steak, pork. Basically just shopping the outsides of the grocery store.

My struggle right now is getting brave and trying other green veggies. I look at my fridge and feel guilty for the starchy veggies and sugary fruits.

The closest to green veggies I have eaten is lettuce and cucumbers.

My meals growing up, like most Midwesterns , was meat and potatoes with pizza and pasta nights. There are many veggies I never tried. If my dad didn’t like it, I didn’t like it. His ideas of veggies are corn or peas. So here I am at age 28 wrinkling my nose at the thought of a green veggie. I need to get serious and get over it and learn to like them. So I will likely be sitting at my kitchen table struggling to get the green veggies down since we do not have a dog for me to feed the veggies off my plate too.

I now use baby spinach instead of iceberg lettuce in my salads.

I have tried celery but it is a no go! GROSS. My coworker saw me try it and my facial expression. She asked, “What do you think it tastes like?” I said it tastes spicy! She about fell down laughing.” Spciy?” She asked.  I said, “ ya! Spicy!!” She thinks I am crazy. I gave her my celery. So I goggled what does celery taste like. “Celery, like some forms of lettuce, has a mild acid content that gives a tart, tangy, flavor. It is sharper than a sweet pepper.”

So, in addition to prepping for the week and trying new veggies, I am going to try to eat though out the day. Try for every two hours. And to flip my food schedule upside down. I use to hardly eat anything throughout the day and then have a huge carb loaded dinner. Now I need to eat more throughout the day and limit carbs if not eliminate them after 3:00pm. This will be a HUGE challenge since it is pretty much the opposite of what I currently do.

If you have any green veggies you think I should try please let me know!

Thanks ya’ll!

So… even my feet are fat.

So… even my feet are fat L

Tennis Shoes? I don’t play tennis. Running shoes? Who calls them that? And nope I don’t run unless Mendy makes me.  Sneakers... hmm sounds like high-tops from the 80’s. What the heck am I suppose to call these things?

I am not a sneaker/tennis shoe wearer. In high school and college I wore high heels, sandals, flip flops, boots. I was a swimmer in high school so didn’t need tennis shoes for the pool and for softball I had cleats. So I had a pair of tennis shoes just for weight lifting. In college I got a new pair, of course pink and black, for going to Wal-Mart/ errands but most of the time I wore high heels, sandals, flip flops, boots. That pair also got some use for competing in some Greek completions and campus activities. So they didn’t get a lot of use. My sister “hammyuped” me a pair she had worn. Hammyup comes from hand me down but since it was going from younger to older hand me up. And since for some reason here in Missouri we don’t pronounce whole words... Hammyup. Example: wanna and gonna are commonly used. But I cannot get started on us Missourians. But she gave me a pair of her used shoes.

So when I started this fitness challenge I had a cute pair of tennis shoes and a worn out pair. When working out the bottoms of my feet hurt. When doing planks and other exercises my toes hurt. I commented to Mendy and she looked at my “cute” pair and said “OMG those are too small”. My sister’s shoes were bigger but worn.  Mendy gave me a card for The Running Well Store in Kansas City. http://www.therunningwellstore.com/

I mentioned this to my coworker, runner and blogger http://klutzcrossing.blogspot.com/. She said she also goes to The Running Well Store. Okay so I guess I need to try this special store.

When I told Greg I needed to go get fitted for shoes and I wanted to look for something to help with balance. He laughed. He said a shoe cannot help you with that. Okay I get it; it is an understatement to say that I am not the most coordinated person. My coordination issue will be another blog. I understand a shoe cannot help me with that. But I wanted something that my foot didn’t instantly become sore when I was trying to balance on it. Well and I know losing weight will help that issue too. Normally Greg thinks custom or special stuff is “pinkies up”.  But seems he didn’t think this was “pinkies up”. He couldn’t say much when he is like a child in the fact he gets a new pair of Nikes every year. Last year we got his even during the back to school sale. Granted he wears his way, way more than I wear them. He also said “you only have gotten one pair of tennis shoes in like 9 years and need them for your workouts, so I think you are due”.  Okay even Greg is for this store. Okay I get it I need to go.

Well this past weekend my sister arrived first at the lake. When it is 60 degrees outside what is one to do at the lake while you wait for others to arrive. Ugh Duh outlet shopping. Our condo is minutes away from a huge outlet. When I arrived last Friday night she showed me her buy one get one 50% off running shoes.  I was kind of jealous! Okay a lot jealous. I am a huge bargain shopper. And her shoes were coral and the other pair was aqua. My wedding colors! So Sunday we all went before Greg and I headed back home for his mom’s mother’s Day. I found two pairs I liked. Two pairs for $65. Heck ya!

 

 

But I still knew I probably needed to be fitted by this special running store place. I did just double my workouts at Fit By Burn.

I was nervous. I heard they record you on a treadmill and analyze it and stuff. Lindsey went with me for morale support. I mean really me walking into a running store. Really? It is like me walking into a ballet/dance store. Which yea Lindsey has taken me in when she needed to check on tap shoes. OMG I am not mature enough and crack jokes because it is something unknown to me.

I was greeted by Rita. I started off the conversation with I am not a runner. As if she couldn’t tell that by looking at me LOL

I told her that I do a HIIT style boot camp and a strength training classes that sometimes these classes incorporate running. But my main issue was my feet hurting and needing help with balance.

She put me in socks and had my jog on a treadmill. Um hadn’t done that in about 6 years. AWKWARD not a fan of a treadmill. I kept envisioning this video while on that treadmill http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNPhVVjnoC0.

 

Here are the steps of the analysis

Step 1: When you first come into the store, we have a quick conversation so we understand how you exercise, use your shoes and identify your walking and running goals.

Step 2: We ask that you run, walk or jog on the treadmill while we record you from the knees down. During this phase we will record your running style, how your foot strikes and your overall gait analysis. We then explain the results so you have a complete understanding of your style and your needs.
Step 3: We size your foot for length and width and provide a shoe size recommendation based on your exercise needs.
Step 4: We bring you a wide variety of shoe brands for you to try on and try out. We encourage you to go outside and walk or run to compare the different brands. At The Running Well Store we believe there is no perfect brand or style of shoe - only YOUR perfect shoe.
Step 5: Get running (or walking) knowing you have shoe that will help you with injury prevention!
From:  http://www.therunningwellstore.com/category_s/1827.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egypPRrZcoY&feature=player_embedded

 

 

She measured me and put me in a Brooks shoe. It felt good. It was a wide. Then a shoe that wasn’t wide and it felt so much tighter compared to the wide. She put me on the treadmill again in that shoe. Another customer came in and she greeted her. I instantly panicked. And as Sweet Brown, internet sensations says “Oh Lord Jesus”.. please don’t leave me on this thing. http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/oklahoma-city-woman-sweet-brown-interview-goes-viral

I was looking at the controls. Do you push the down button and down a few to slow down then push the stop. If I just pushed the stop would I fly off? Then she came over rescued me.

 

So since I have wide feet, thanks mom, I had basically one choice. Lindsey laughed when I asked if it came in anything animal print or pink. Well normally I bought sneakers just on looks for example my pink and black ones. Nope it was teal or green in that one shoe. The teal was in stock. So teal it was.

I wore the shoes to my strength training class that night. Which I got the shoes just in time for a mile run then strength training followed by another mile run.

So far so good with the new “running shoes”.

So... the document is not in the microwave.

Whoops sorry I haven’t posted in a few days.

Thursday I think the carb deprivation was getting to me. I think when I am “watching what I eat” I become so focused on food. I have the weirdest cravings. My coworker who is also a blogger of http://klutzcrossing.blogspot.com/ will hear the most random things from my cube. Ohhh Chocolate Chip Cookies. Grilled Cheese and Chicken Noodle Soup. Chocolate Ice Cream with MM’s. White Cheese Dip. Chips and Salsa. BBQ Sandwich. Taco Bell. Noodles & Co. No I am NOT preggers. These cravings are little gremlins that throughout the day appear and chant. Chocolate...Chocolate... Chocolate. Hey did you friggin hear me. CHOCOLATE!

I become so focused on food. Try to hear my thoughts over the chant of the gremlins. The other day I printed something for my boss and went into the copy room/break room and walked up to the microwave and looked in it. What was I doing?! The printer doesn’t print there! What did I expect to find?

 

This weekend was one of my first big tests. The Lake!

Luckily my dad asked me what foods he could get that could help me stay on track. And he went to the store for me! So great to have support and encouragement.

 

This is the picture he sent me after he went to the store.

On Saturday I started the day with my protein shake and had an apple as a snack on the boat. For lunch we went to Shorty Pants on the Lake by boat. The frozen drinks and BBQ and fatty foods were so tempting. Instead, I had water, a spinach salad, and half of my sister’s grilled chicken sandwich. And two bites of my fruit cup, it wasn’t very good and I could tell it was from a can and not fresh.  Before dinner we went on a 1.5 mile hike through the Ozark State Park. The rocks and inclines gave a nice slight burn in the legs.

 

https://vine.co/v/b01VLYd0qX0?fb_action_ids=935340184232&fb_action_types=vine-app%3Apost&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

 

Then we fixed dinner at the condo. Grilled chicken, corn on the cob, spinach salad, grilled peppers. And my dessert 2 slices of pineapple!

 

I am confident that these choices will become easier and these cravings will lessen.

Just got to keep after it.

So… I have a new addiction and a new challenge!

My last blog was about my addiction to chocolate. I think I may have fell into the trap of replacing one addiction with another.  I am obsessed with… pineapple. I know it isn’t the best for my diet. But last night I had to fight the urge of getting out of bed to go eat pineapple! What is wrong with me? Greg will buy me a whole pineapple and cut it for me and I am trying to grab a piece as he is cutting. I think that is when he realized there may be a problem. Then today when I was leaving work I found some I had put in the fridge there. Could I have waiting till I got home?  Oh no there I was driving and eating pineapple. I mean seriously Jessica control yourself!

This reminded me of my friend’s blog I had just read. http://twentysomethingdmi.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-gluttonous-angel-and-noodley-arms.html

“My stomach and my brain totally battle it out, especially lately as I've been focusing on portion control.
At this very moment, I pulled to a stop at a traffic light. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a woman in her car shoving handfuls of french fries into her mouth. She washed it all down with a super sized drink before she'd scoop another handful of fries into her mouth. You guys, she looked RIGHT AT ME while she was eating. It was like she knew I was struggling. Not only did I know that I shouldn't eat like that, just watching it sort of grossed me out. So, with renewed clarity, I turned the corner and continued to the gym.”

OMG I was eating my addiction in the car. No it was not chocolate late at night or early in the morning to avoid judging eyes. No it wasn’t a fast food lunch ate in the car to avoid judgment from coworkers. It was pineapple. This hiding of food…. Are we hiding in fear of judgment from others? Are we hiding because someone might call us out on what we are eating? But hiding it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Those calories count regardless if someone saw you or even if someone judged you.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a coworker. We use myfitnesspal to hold ourselves accountable for our eating. But do we really hold ourselves accountable? If we fall off the wagon during the weekend it is unlikely we will track our calories. If we have a horrible lunch we tend to not track the rest of the day. Why do we think if we don’t track it, it didn’t happen? I guess I need to hold myself more accountable to myself.

There seems to be small wins but then also failures. I hope I start getting the hang of this soon. I went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory with a coworker today and was able to not buy anything. Even though the red velvet cake pops looked amazing! And today for lunch I had the worse cravings for French fries but I ate my spinach salad for lunch. I woke up with craving for French fries and they were still there at lunch but I ate that dang salad.

 

I have committed myself to working out at Fit By Burn four times a week. And I have since April 15. When my alarm goes off at 4:30am so many times I want to find an excuse and reset my alarm but something makes me want to get up and prove to myself I can. If I skipped I would feel so guilty. Why can’t I do that for my eating?  When I eat something I shouldn’t, I instantly feel bad about it. So why do I do it? Why can’t I stop myself from eating it like I can stop myself from skipping a workout? Eating it isn’t worth it.  It is so frustrating I can lose a pound or two in five days and gain it back from one bad day. You have to make so many positive choices to see a positive result but one negative choice and bam!

So here starts operation eating what I should. Working on making my eating a habit like my working out.

This weekend will be tough!

Every time I go to the lake as soon as we get to the condo we drop our bags and head out to our deck overlooking the lake and the State Park and start up the margarita machine…watching the sunset with a margarita and catching up with friends or family. Saturday we take the boat out and layout in the water and drink a few more frozen margaritas. I even have a perfect Tervis camel back cup for it not to spill. So this weekend I will not be drinking as a challenge set by Mendy for her Daily Burn class. I will not be eating the fried food at the restaurant on the water and will not have the muchies from drinking. It seems silly but this will be hard. During the other seasons I can go weeks without a drink. Summer just has so many social situations that drinking will be tempting. Royals games, float trips, lake trips, mud volleyball, BBQ’s…. Wish me luck! This will be a HUGE challenge for me.  

Last Year's Mothers Day! No we did not drink them all we just like variety!

 

Marg Machine in the boat!

On the deck with my girls!

 

 

So… I am kind of disappointed in myself.

So… I am kind of disappointed in myself. I woke up this morning and my butt still hurt from pulling a muscle (see last blog) so I slept through bootcamp. I know slap my hand.

 

I went to Daily Burn tonight and I just didn’t do well at it… if that makes any sense to you. I felt like I could have given it more but just couldn’t muster up the energy. Everything seemed more difficult than it should have been. It just felt off to me. I think I left my body back on the couch at home because it just wasn’t into it. Hopefully tomorrow I can attack the daily burn and just beast mode through it. I will try and prepare myself better and get more water in and a few more calories in before the daily burn tomorrow.

A bright spot… When I was running the square and was doing the rope slams outside I kept watching all the people going into the Mexican restaurant, a really good Mexican restaurant. I use to be one of those people, eating myself stuffed with chips and salsa… but instead I was working out. YAY me, even if it wasn’t my best workout performance at least I was working out instead of pigging out. Every day I crave chips and salsa and any day I can beat the cravings I view as a win! And workout on that day double win! But just wish I could have performed better during that workout.

Well… Let’s be honest it was also that way with coke zero and chocolate. I use to drink a Coke Zero before I would even get in the shower in the morning. I would pop that pop tab and ahhhhhh those bubbles would just hit the spot. I would 2-4 Coke Zero’s a day. And it wouldn’t be uncommon for my “breakfast” to involve something with chocolate. We would have candy left over from conference and trade shows and yep I would have a few throughout the day. I would crave I mean crave chocolate and just a bite would make me so happy. Chocolate was never too much. I could eat chocolate on chocolate on chocolate dipped in chocolate. 

In the last few weeks I have given up soda! Huge accomplishment for me!!! OMG those headaches are something straight out of a scary movie! I even looked at caffeine patches like the nicotine patches smokers use. But I didn’t use them but they do exist. After I got through the headaches and withdraw from the caffeine I have been so scared to have even a drop of it and risk the chance of having to go through that painful process again. Chocolate is now out of the office and I have it on a rare occasion. I am good with the caffeine addition but chocolate still should not be in the house! Hopefully my chip and salsa and chocolate cravings will be broken soon :). 
Each day I workout and avoid my trigger foods I get a step closer to replacing those cravings for food with cravings for working out. 

So... Did that really happen?

So… I just pulled my what?

Tonight I went to my Daily Burn class and the first exercise was lunges. I tried to get really low on each lunge so I didn’t have to be told to go lower. Then all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain on my butt. I went on to the next warm up exercise, leap frogs. OMG my butt, a pain shooting up my butt check. I went on to inch worms with a push up. At that point I had to tell Mendy I hurt my butt. How do you tell your trainer you think you pulled your butt?  I thought can you even pull your butt? She had me go sit on the box (used for box jump) and put my ankle on my opposite leg’s knee  and lean forward and stretch my butt muscle. Then foam roll my butt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foam_rolling) Mendy thinks I pulled my piriformis. Mendy said I should probably call it a day because the daily burn was going to be intense and involve lots of squats. I asked if there was anything else I could do. And she gave me some exercise I could do while the girls carried on with the daily burn. I am so lucky to have a trainer who can fit a workout to my needs. I was able to do 8 ball exercises and two sets of each of those. Then more stretching and rolling. When I was leaving one of the girls at daily burn asked me if she could show me some stretches for my fiancé to do. I thought she overhead me tell Mendy he was starting Insanity so I thought that’s what she meant. She had me lay on my stomach and then she put one hand on my lower, lower back and another on the bottom part of my butt and pulled in opposite directions. Then put her palm on the muscle and did circle motions. OMG is it wrong to say it felt good having someone rub my butt? It helped so much but also made me realize wow I really did pull it. Good thing she rubbed my butt because once home Greg didn’t. lol Oh I should probably mention she use to do massage therapy.

Ugh I have no idea how I am going to do tomorrow mornings workout.