Seeking My Strength

Meeting my goal of a family photo shoot I was reading my US weekly mag today, aka "girl porn", and came across the "Life after Loser"  article by Eric Anderson & Brad Witter. It was, as expected, a puff piece celebrating the 10 yr anniversary of the Biggest Loser  show and spotlighting 5 contestants and their 600 lb collective weight loss. I have been a fan of the show for the last 10 years and even began my weight loss journey using their pay program with great success. I still cook from their cookbooks and the other recipes I got from their website frequently. However, I have always been bothered by the extreme weight loss contestants experience during such a short period of time and the complete lack of support they receive after their season wraps. It seems they gain a significant portion of their weight back. At this point in my journey I am highly concerned with maintenance. I would love to drop this last 20 stubborn lbs, but as long as I am main

Today is a new day! I have had a great summer. It was so fantastic to travel with my family and feel really good about myself the entire time. However, now that I have returned from my last trip it is time to get honest. I ate unhealthy foods, I drank more alcohol than I needed, and I stopped lifting weights. The result of all of those things is: my clothes are tight, I am tired, and I just don't feel as good as when Dare to Lose ended. The way I see it these are my options: Let it completely derail all of my accomplishments Be afraid to go back to the gym out of embarrassment Get back on track and use all of the tools I have gained to hit my goal I am choosing number 3. Although I am not going to pretend that I haven't thought about #2 a lot.   All of this travel has taught me something about myself: this journey will be a lifelong process and I am never giving up. It is ok, I am ok. I had an active summer full of hitting my running goals. I was able to P

Kiddos watching the waves during our family photo shoot. It has been one crazy summer! My family and I have had the wonderful opportunity to travel a lot this summer visiting our extended family. By the end of this month we will have traveled coast to coast and spent time in Pensacola FL, Atlantic Beach N.C., and Seattle WA. The hardest part of all the travel has trying to be consistent with my workouts and half marathon training. I started out really strong on our trip to Florida. I went to the gym and lifted weights, did yoga and Pilates. My friend in the picture below and I ran twice. She got me to sign up for a 5k and I was hoping to hit a new PR, but then we went for a 6 mi run that ended up being just over 4 very sweaty miles. I was afraid there was no way I could run fast in the heat/humidity. I am happy to report that I was wrong in underestimating myself. I hit a new record of 27:19 and placed 7th in my division. My first top 10 finish! At the finish of the Firec

So happy! I am at a loss for words, one of the few times ever in my life. When I signed up for Dare to Lose of course I thought about winning, I am a naturally competitive person, but in the last two months of the competition I didn't think I had a chance of first place. It seriously wasn't on my radar, I had become more focused on completing my goals of moving beyond my plateau and running my fastest BolderBoulder. I did both!  My trainer Ethan had told me that I was was in second. He said it was close. I assumed he meant between me and third. I guess I was wrong. I don't think I have ever been more surprised in my life. When they called second place and I didn't hear my name I was so confused. I even said "wait, what?" Less then one percent separated me from second place. I was so shocked and as I stood to receive first place and all the amazing gifts I was shaking. I felt...undeserving. It has been a week since the finale, and I am still at a loss fo

I have 18 days left in this weight loss competition. I can not believe how much I have changed in two months. It is remarkable! I am happier and healthier, but I would have said that I was those things in February before I started.  It is true, this is my wish! It is interesting to be on this side, looking back, I had no reference for what "healthy" really meant. (I guess I am still trying to figure that out as it seems to change). I know that two months ago I thought of myself as healthy, and I was in comparison to the me from years earlier, but today I am lighter, faster and stronger. I still struggle with making consistently healthy nutrition choices, but it is getting easier. I have been able to stop mindless snacking, now it is purely a conscious decision what and when I eat. I have had an amazing realization that I will need to continue moving my body in some way for at least an hour every single day for the rest of my life. I have worked so hard to get to this

Keeping this as a Mantra this weekend! I had the opportunity to have another fitness assessment this week and I am so happy with my results. This assessment could not have come at a better time as my weight loss this two weeks isn't reflecting the work I have done. If you are undergoing a weight loss journey I highly recommend getting fitness assessments along the way. They offer a great way to look at your overall health and fitness levels which is so much more than just the number on the scale, and let's be honest the scale doesn't always impart great news. If it weren't for this assessment I could easily have walked away from my weigh in discouraged instead, I am riding high! Doing this assessment also gave my trainer and I an opportunity to discuss the psychology of weight loss and working out. He told me that people hit a mental block at two weeks and at six weeks. After two weeks on a program that has been adhered to strictly a person will feel empowered

In 260 days I will head out on an adventure of epic proportions. I have just registered for runDisney's Marathon Weekend Goofy's Challenge 2015 and I am setting a fundraising goal of $1,000 !   Marathon weekend  is incredible. In 2013 a group of friends and I met there and ran the Donald half-marathon. For many of us it was our first attempt at that distance, and such an amazing experience.  The Donald Half Marathon 2013! The guys were fast and aren't pictured. We have decided to come together again, and three of us are going Goofy! Marathon weekend offers a wide range of races, everything from little kid dashes, 1 mile fun run, family 5k, 10k, half marathon, and the marathon. Then the races get crazy; you can run the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday (this is Goofy) or you can be Dopey and run all of them (race everyday from Thursday to Sunday). Disney is a magical place indeed as it makes the impossible possible. The finisher medals are als

This has been an exhausting week! I am so tired, and not all that proud of my nutrition choices this week. I have been hungry, stressed, and sleep deprived. This has led to giving in to cravings and eating too many calories. I am choosing to see this as learning experience; I am human. I turned to comfort foods in this time of stress, and I had TWO Dr Peppers. I am so ashamed! I went six weeks soda free, back to day zero. (It was so good and totally worth it!)  Truth! Every day and every meal is an opportunity to make healthy choices. So I sit here today ready to choose better, but to keep listening to my body. If I am hungry and I really feel the need to eat, I will eat. I just need to make sure that I am really hungry and not dehydrated or experiencing the effects of eating salty or sweet food.  I am so happy the weekend is here, hopefully that will allow me to catch up on much needed sleep. I haven't had a decent nights sleep all week. I have been dealing with a p

My fellow participants in this crazy competition!  I am starting to notice significant changes! I feel good and strong. My clothes are fitting better, and friends are telling me that I look good. It is such a great feeling; to see results of all the hard work and all the sore muscles. I think I have been sore for six weeks straight, but I don't mind as much anymore. We had a weigh in on Saturday and I lost 4 lbs and now am 149 lbs!That means that there is one less weight lever on the scale to move, yippee!  I have now lost 11 lbs in the past 6 weeks, just 1 lb short of my goal to lose 2 lbs a week. My body fat is 31% down from 35% (check out this link on body fat if you want more information) . If I go back to my   The Good, The Bad and The Ugly  post I can see that this means I have lost 10 lbs of fat, not so good to have lost a pound of lean body mass, but happy that it is mostly fat. I think the biggest change so far is that I have lost 4.5 inches off of my waist and

I generally like to consider myself rather self sufficient and independent, but after this week perhaps I need to do some soul searching for an updated view of myself. My husband, Matt, is out of town on business all week. In the five years he has had this job this is only the second time he has ever had to travel, and the last time my daughter and I were able to go. This is really the first time that I have ever been alone in our house with kids at night. He takes a week long fishing/camping trip with his dad some years, but I usually take that time to go visit family in South Dakota with my mom. This is a whole new experience. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I find it unsettling. I guess it is just that we feel incomplete without him.  Our 6th anniversary Oct 2013 after the slide at the end of the New Belgium Brewery Tour It isn't that I can't do it by myself, but I don't like it. I have always had a great appreciation for my friends that have to go it

Yeah, sounds right. Anyone who has ever "dieted" knows the adage of "calories in vs. calories out". How do you know exactly? Well you wear a hr monitor  and maybe a pedometer to judge calories out and you use a web tracker to log calories consumed. I am going to focus on two of the main places that help to log your food intake. The first is Weight Watchers  Online and the second is My Fitness Pal . I have found that the only way to truly be successful in losing weight is to track my food intake somewhere. It makes me accountable and aware of what I am eating, and how many calories are in my food choices. I hate doing it, I find it tedious, but if I want to lose weight I have to do it! I know that a lot of people have great success with Weight Watchers Online. Personally, I didn't like it. It was expensive, although relatively easy to use and had a mobile app. The points system just never made sense to me, an avocado is full of healthy fat and good fo

This last week has been a challenge. I didn't see the scale budge, I ended up with only a two lb loss for two weeks. Then at the group work out after the weigh in I pulled my calf (medial head of gastrocnemius). I was killing that work out too, with an average hr of 155, it was a calorie torcher. I was really warmed up, but it pulled as I sprinted. Had to stop and ice immediately; not sure which was more painful watching the workout or the pull.  I admit I have not been stretching post workout. This is a lesson, follow the advice I give to 90% of my massage clients! This really scared me. Not just the pain, but wondering what it was going to mean for my weight loss and my workouts. I am so fortunate to be part of Miramont's Dare to Lose program, I know that I have support so that I don't have to sit out.  Part of this program is being on a team, and our team captains are DJ's through Town Square Media. My DJ is Paul Wozniak  of Tri-102.5 . At the end of our w

Notice the light up tutu, my favorite yet! Rarely do things fill me with such righteous indignation that I feel the need to contact the editors responsible for allowing the content to go public, but that is exactly what happened when I opened my facebook account today and became aware of this story: Thanks to:  Miles, Muscles & Mommyhood: SELF Magazine: LAME  for the following picture. Check out their post on this as it gives great content from the Glam Runner  facebook page. "The real story behind this photo is not that tutus are a “lame” fad. Despite what SELF Magazine published, it is not that “people think these froufrou skirts make you run faster.” The real story behind  this photo is that Tara and Monika, pictured here, are board members for Girls on the Run San Diego. They founded  Glam Runner , a business that sells running tutus, to raise funds for the council. They are dedicated to helping grow the program in their community. The real story behind thi

My mantra for this week, the end of the 1st month! I have found the missing link! The answer to my "plateau problem": weight training! Last week was the first time in 15 years that I did weight training 5 days in a row. It is absolutely amazing to me the difference that it makes, not only to my fitness, but to my overall perception of myself. Having a Personal Trainer is huge! I think everyone who is undertaking a weight loss journey should find a way to set up at least three sessions to begin a program, and 30 min. is plenty of time to gain the information necessary for creating a successful plan. Miramont offers great ways to keep training services more affordable, check out your local fitness center to see if they similar options . I am suggesting three 30 min. sessions because that is how many times I have met with my personal trainer Ethan. I think it took until our 3rd week meeting for things to really click. It certainly took three weeks for my strength to bui

My very basic (one button) Polar Heart Rate FS1 monitor I hope to accomplish two things in this post: I want to talk about my workout calorie burn and I want to review my Polar HR monitor. If you find this post interesting please leave me a comment below, and share it with others. When I met with my personal traine r the first time he told me that I should be wearing a HR monitor every workout and that we were aiming for a 500 cal/hr burn. Fortunately I had purchased the most basic model pictured above back in 2010 when I was pregnant. (I wore it during workouts to make sure that my heart rate stayed in a safe zone for me and baby.) That was really the most experience I have had with using a heart rate monitor to date. I have read about training in zones, but to be honest it just gets really confusing. It is about like having my wellness profile done, it is a lot of information that I am not sure how to use.  I decided to follow Ethans advice and wear my monitor. That mean

My trainer Ethan at the end of my St. Patty's Day Booty Whoopin'! I began Sunday with morning yoga. Unfortunately I was hoping for something my class did not bring. I mean it was still yoga, and good for me, but just not what I wanted. It was a beautiful day so I decided to make good on my promise to start running. My husband took the kids and dog to the park, and I was set to run there and meet them. I got all packed up and was finally ready to go.  My run started all full of promise and hope. It ended with despair and disappointment. (Perhaps I am exaggerating and being a bit melodramatic.) I am trying to kick a head cold that seems determined to hit my lungs, and that didn't help. The bigger problem was my legs. I swear by the end of 2.6 miles I couldn't hardly move them. I felt like I had cement blocks on my feet. The workout we went through on Saturday completely hit my legs and I woke up sore, hence the yoga, but I was hoping the run would help me feel bette

Today was our first weigh in, and I lost 5lbs in the past two weeks. I am happy with my results especially considering I took last weekend off and headed to Vail. A much needed and deserved trip, planned since Christmas. We did snowshoe and spend 4 hours on the hill, managed 12 lifts and 17,480 vertical ft. but we also ate: bread, butter, escargot (more butter), pizza, hamburgers, tuna tartare, tuna tacos, tuna poke, and beer (lots of beer). All the things I miss and crave from my former home. This competition has given me an amazing opportunity to meet with a nutritionist twice. I have the hardest time with nutrition. I hate the word diet, I mean it starts with DIE. So I am trying to embrace a lifestyle change. I am going to take the next two weeks, starting Sunday, and eliminate wheat and dairy. I want to investigate how being gluten free makes me feel, and as much I love cheese I know it doesn't make me feel great. I am also reading the  "The Wahl's Protocol&q

I have finished the 1st week of this Journey! I would like to give myself  a round of applause. I made it without any soda, alcohol or junk food! I have endured four crazy workouts, some of which caused tunnel vision, and 7 other less intense bouts of exercise. So to myself, I say "way to go"! This week began with yoga on Sunday, which was a perfect way to kick things off. I love having yoga available again! It was so nice to set my intention for the week. To know that this was going to be challenging on so many levels, but with breath comes strength to persevere.  I had my first training session with my amazing trainer Ethan Townsend on Monday. It taught several things. Perhaps most importantly, never leave my inhaler at home! With in the first five minutes, and only shortly after his warning to alert him if I was experiencing nausea or dizziness, I experienced tunnel vision. We stopped and walked to allow me to recover, and then got right back to it. We may have

Standing on the Precipice Dare to Lose kickoff ! Standing at the precipice of change. I participated in the kick off for Dare to Lose this past weekend and got to meet my fellow competitors. It was nice to see that we all had different goals, needs and age ranges. We have been split into two teams: North ( 2 females 1 male) and South (1 female 2 males). I am on the south team, and we will be competing both individually and as a team. I really like my team, but also really like the other women in the competition.  Saturday morning began with me meeting my trainer: Ethan. I have full confidence that he is going to pull every ounce of will out of me, and shape me into my strongest and healthiest version possible. I may need to buy stock in Advil before this is all over, but it will be worth it. Anyway, I met him and had my Fitness Evaluation done. It was a bit disturbing, but if you don't know where you start how can you find your way to a new outcome?  Results