I weigh in on Friday. No good reason really, just what we have been doing. This morning I weighed in at 206 even. That means I am down 17 pounds since Christmas. Well, technically since March 1st since I did little to nothing in January and February. And don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that it is moving downwards mostly consistently. But if I want to reach 53 pounds by Christmas of this year it needs to move a little faster than that.
So I set a goal through The Line Diet and it seemed to be reasonable. I'm planning to use the graph as my guideline. On days I'm below the line I will eat healthy, and aim to keep my calories under 1800. On days I am above the line I will aim to come in at 1500 net calories for the day.
Friday 31 August 2012
Thursday 30 August 2012
Becoming a Runner
I was never the sporty type growing up. Picked last for intramurals, crossing the finish line long after the others in the gym class fit tests. Very stereotypical nerd :) But I have always wanted to run. I would try for a week or two but it was always really hard. Hard to breathe, sore legs and I wasn't very fast. So I would give up shortly after starting. But oddly enough I was into fitness. I loved to swim and joined the gym of the local hotel where I would do some minor weights, use the machines and swim.
In University I joined the triathlon club after doing a sprint race with a coworker during the summer. It was definitely not competitive and practices were often followed by nachos and beer :) But I improved a lot over that year and ran a 5K race in 27 minutes. As always I was one of the last to cross the line and I was working hard! I didn't realize at the time that I was running in a FAST race LOL.
I decided that I wanted to run a marathon. I even signed up with a private coach. But it was hard and the coach wasn't interested in making it fun :) He wanted to get me super fit and running the best marathon I possibly could. I stopped training, using finances as an excuse. And for the next 10 years yo-yo ran. I tried it out for a few weeks or months and then found whatever excuse was handy to stop.
In April of 2011, I was coming out of the fog of undiagnosed post partum anxiety. I had a rough pregnancy and a rough year after delivering my second daughter. So I had two years of binge eating and the least amount of movement I could get away with. I couldn't run 3K without multiple walk breaks and it was HARD! But my sister had asked me to run a marathon with her in October to celebrate her 30th birthday. I walked into the brand new Running Room that just opened in my city and signed up for the marathon clinic starting the end of June.
The manager, Courtney, was so sweet and encouraging. She probably should have told me to sign up for the 5K clinic instead but she explained that the first long run would be 13km and I should be able to run 10 km before that week. EEEEK! I signed up to run a 10K in late May to hopefully keep me on track. When the day came I ran with my sister (with plentiful walk breaks) and was thrilled to cross the finish line in 1 hour and 33 minutes. But I was tired and had no idea how I would ever complete that 3 more times :(
I showed up for the first clinic night and learned very quickly that I was the least prepared of the whole group LOL. Some had run marathons before. All but two of us had run a half marathon before. That night we were running 6km and would run the same route every Tuesday for the length of the clinic. The instructor, Courtney, ran with me the whole way, including the many walk breaks I had to take. But by week 4 I could run the whole 6km without walking! And although I was using generous intervals for my long run (10 min run: 3 min walk) I was completing the distance.
I was slow but for some reason it didn't matter to me. Maybe because I was sooooo much slower than everyone else there was little pressure to try and keep up. I started leaving for my long runs an hour before the rest of the group started. They would pass me along the route, giving me a thumbs up and I would finish while they were stretching. Everyone was so encouraging and I could feel myself getting better each week.
Sometime during a three hour run I came to the realization that I was enjoying myself! I really enjoyed running, being on my own and plodding along in my own world. I was excited to run and really excited to cross such a monumental event from my bucket list. Three weeks from race day we started out on our final 32km training run. My husband dropped me off and I started. About 2 or 3 kms in I rolled my right ankle. I still have no idea what happened but it hurt and bad. I called my husband to pick me up and did a little test walk while I waited. It felt ok, so I tried some running. When he arrived, there was no swelling or bruising so I decided to keep running until it hurt.
At the 21 km mark I called him to pick me up. And by the time we arrived home I couldn't bear weight on my right foot and it was extremely swollen. And it wasn't better the next morning or the next. And by a week later I knew that the marathon was out of the question. I cried. A lot. But when race day rolled around I was surprisingly calm about it. I volunteered at the 36km water station and screamed for each and every one of my teammates in training until I was hoarse.
And I realized that it really was about the journey this time. I still haven't crossed run a marathon off my bucket list but I have discovered a run of loving that must have been buried away for 33 years. And that makes everything worthwhile.
In University I joined the triathlon club after doing a sprint race with a coworker during the summer. It was definitely not competitive and practices were often followed by nachos and beer :) But I improved a lot over that year and ran a 5K race in 27 minutes. As always I was one of the last to cross the line and I was working hard! I didn't realize at the time that I was running in a FAST race LOL.
I decided that I wanted to run a marathon. I even signed up with a private coach. But it was hard and the coach wasn't interested in making it fun :) He wanted to get me super fit and running the best marathon I possibly could. I stopped training, using finances as an excuse. And for the next 10 years yo-yo ran. I tried it out for a few weeks or months and then found whatever excuse was handy to stop.
In April of 2011, I was coming out of the fog of undiagnosed post partum anxiety. I had a rough pregnancy and a rough year after delivering my second daughter. So I had two years of binge eating and the least amount of movement I could get away with. I couldn't run 3K without multiple walk breaks and it was HARD! But my sister had asked me to run a marathon with her in October to celebrate her 30th birthday. I walked into the brand new Running Room that just opened in my city and signed up for the marathon clinic starting the end of June.
The manager, Courtney, was so sweet and encouraging. She probably should have told me to sign up for the 5K clinic instead but she explained that the first long run would be 13km and I should be able to run 10 km before that week. EEEEK! I signed up to run a 10K in late May to hopefully keep me on track. When the day came I ran with my sister (with plentiful walk breaks) and was thrilled to cross the finish line in 1 hour and 33 minutes. But I was tired and had no idea how I would ever complete that 3 more times :(
I showed up for the first clinic night and learned very quickly that I was the least prepared of the whole group LOL. Some had run marathons before. All but two of us had run a half marathon before. That night we were running 6km and would run the same route every Tuesday for the length of the clinic. The instructor, Courtney, ran with me the whole way, including the many walk breaks I had to take. But by week 4 I could run the whole 6km without walking! And although I was using generous intervals for my long run (10 min run: 3 min walk) I was completing the distance.
I was slow but for some reason it didn't matter to me. Maybe because I was sooooo much slower than everyone else there was little pressure to try and keep up. I started leaving for my long runs an hour before the rest of the group started. They would pass me along the route, giving me a thumbs up and I would finish while they were stretching. Everyone was so encouraging and I could feel myself getting better each week.
Sometime during a three hour run I came to the realization that I was enjoying myself! I really enjoyed running, being on my own and plodding along in my own world. I was excited to run and really excited to cross such a monumental event from my bucket list. Three weeks from race day we started out on our final 32km training run. My husband dropped me off and I started. About 2 or 3 kms in I rolled my right ankle. I still have no idea what happened but it hurt and bad. I called my husband to pick me up and did a little test walk while I waited. It felt ok, so I tried some running. When he arrived, there was no swelling or bruising so I decided to keep running until it hurt.
At the 21 km mark I called him to pick me up. And by the time we arrived home I couldn't bear weight on my right foot and it was extremely swollen. And it wasn't better the next morning or the next. And by a week later I knew that the marathon was out of the question. I cried. A lot. But when race day rolled around I was surprisingly calm about it. I volunteered at the 36km water station and screamed for each and every one of my teammates in training until I was hoarse.
And I realized that it really was about the journey this time. I still haven't crossed run a marathon off my bucket list but I have discovered a run of loving that must have been buried away for 33 years. And that makes everything worthwhile.
Wednesday 29 August 2012
The Gradual Change
I wish I could say that my diabetes diagnosis was enough to propel me immediately into an angelically healthy lifestyle. I certainly made the vow that everything was going to be different. And for several weeks it was. I cut refined sugar out of my diet completely. I started swimming a few times a week. And I reached the conclusion that I wasn't REALLY diabetic because my sugars remained normal when I didn't eat crap. So it would probably be ok to have a treat once in a while. But then the treats became weekly, then several times weekly, then daily....well you can see where this is going.
During the last week of July my husband came to me with a proposal. We both wanted to lose weight and we were both struggling hard to stay committed. But what if there was some external motivation, in the form of $5 per pound (payable every 4 pounds). Neither of us had taken spending money from the budget in quite some time and it would be nice to have some blow money. So away we went.
That Friday (our chosen weigh in day) I weighed in at 212 pounds. Two months later I am at 205.4 pounds. It definitely has not been a fast or perfect journey thus far. There has been travel, weddings, bar-b-ques. There has been stress eating (a week at my parents' house for my sister's wedding!), too many trips to the ice cream store and some enabling of each other. But there has also been a return to running (very short distances), more days without diet pepsi than with and an overall healthier attitude towards my diet.
My aim is to cut almost all processed food out of my day to day diet. Everything but yogurt, cheese, salad dressing and bacon :) I have removed the pressure to be perfect. I won't be. I know that. There will be days I take Ella to McDonald's and choose the burger/fries over the salad (hello today!). But if those days are the minority my body can handle it. And eventually, I know I will start to want the salad over the burger/fries. Eventually...
During the last week of July my husband came to me with a proposal. We both wanted to lose weight and we were both struggling hard to stay committed. But what if there was some external motivation, in the form of $5 per pound (payable every 4 pounds). Neither of us had taken spending money from the budget in quite some time and it would be nice to have some blow money. So away we went.
That Friday (our chosen weigh in day) I weighed in at 212 pounds. Two months later I am at 205.4 pounds. It definitely has not been a fast or perfect journey thus far. There has been travel, weddings, bar-b-ques. There has been stress eating (a week at my parents' house for my sister's wedding!), too many trips to the ice cream store and some enabling of each other. But there has also been a return to running (very short distances), more days without diet pepsi than with and an overall healthier attitude towards my diet.
My aim is to cut almost all processed food out of my day to day diet. Everything but yogurt, cheese, salad dressing and bacon :) I have removed the pressure to be perfect. I won't be. I know that. There will be days I take Ella to McDonald's and choose the burger/fries over the salad (hello today!). But if those days are the minority my body can handle it. And eventually, I know I will start to want the salad over the burger/fries. Eventually...
Tuesday 28 August 2012
Here I Go Again On My Own...
Well, hopefully not completely on my own. But realistically, mostly on my own. Blogging consistently is something I struggle with. I have started and stopped dozens upon dozens of times through numerous blogs. And yet I keep coming back. Almost daily I compose blog posts in my head but never seem to sit and put my fingers to the keys. I'm not going to promise myself that THIS TIME I will do it on a regular basis because I really have no clue. But it is something I would like to do.
I took a few minutes to read over my last few posts. That was a rough period of 2012. Shortly after my last post I got the results of the bloodwork I mentioned a few posts before that. Diabetes. Not a happy word. But not a shocking word. I was feeling the highs and lows through my mood and energy. I knew the test was coming and yet I continued to eat donuts, chips, chocolate bars. Often all three in a day. I knew that my diet seriously lacked in real food. I knew that I was doing zero exercise and blaming it on my running injury. And I still chose to drink 3 (!!!) coconut cream frappucinos the weekend before I had my blood drawn.
I honestly was just really disappointed in myself. The label of diabetes was one I knew I was at risk for. I didn't want it but I chose to pretend I am invincible. It's not going to happen to me, I told myself. WRONG!
My doctor informed me that my levels were considered controlled through diet. Insulin was not required, nor was daily testing. I was given instructions to exercise when my foot healed enough to allow it, work on my diet and lose 12 pounds (5% of my bodyweight). Then come back in three months to be retested.
I chose to do some testing of my levels anyway. I cut the crap from my diet completely and tested after every meal for the first week. And every meal had me perfectly within acceptable levels. Basically, my sugary junk food snacks (and most likely the quantity of them) pushed me into diabetes.
It was time to change.
I took a few minutes to read over my last few posts. That was a rough period of 2012. Shortly after my last post I got the results of the bloodwork I mentioned a few posts before that. Diabetes. Not a happy word. But not a shocking word. I was feeling the highs and lows through my mood and energy. I knew the test was coming and yet I continued to eat donuts, chips, chocolate bars. Often all three in a day. I knew that my diet seriously lacked in real food. I knew that I was doing zero exercise and blaming it on my running injury. And I still chose to drink 3 (!!!) coconut cream frappucinos the weekend before I had my blood drawn.
I honestly was just really disappointed in myself. The label of diabetes was one I knew I was at risk for. I didn't want it but I chose to pretend I am invincible. It's not going to happen to me, I told myself. WRONG!
My doctor informed me that my levels were considered controlled through diet. Insulin was not required, nor was daily testing. I was given instructions to exercise when my foot healed enough to allow it, work on my diet and lose 12 pounds (5% of my bodyweight). Then come back in three months to be retested.
I chose to do some testing of my levels anyway. I cut the crap from my diet completely and tested after every meal for the first week. And every meal had me perfectly within acceptable levels. Basically, my sugary junk food snacks (and most likely the quantity of them) pushed me into diabetes.
It was time to change.
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