Seeking My Strength

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 ...

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 wit...

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 o...

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...