The Days Following a Vacation...

As everyone knows, dieters like to take vacations from dieting. Well, I took a nice big "diet vacation" while skiing in Crested Butte. At least I was exercising most of the day.....

Things started off well last Thursday. Robert and I went early for a nice long run as my dad was in town to go skiing with us. We ran 6 miles and it felt wonderful. At that moment, I was completely committed to doing well while traveling. My resolve lasted about 3 hours. After that, the bordom of a long car ride set in and the Girl Scout cookies came out. At first it was just a couple and then I felt like such a horrible failure that I decided to eat even more. What's up with that? My dad was in the front seat say, "You gonna blog about that sleeve of cookies you ate?" I replied that I was going to write about it and that my writing would be cathartic. So there!

Skiing was amazing. I skied terrain that I had never been on before. The powder and bumps were a blast and I was pulled up to the top of the mountain on an old-fashion-style T lift for the first time. It truly was unbelievable. However, all good things must come to an end. While high up, I jacked my knee on a mogul. My knee swelled up like a grapefruit and I was unable to bend itl. BTW, it is very difficult to get on and off the lifts if you are unable to bend your knee. I toughed it out and skied some easy runs with my dad on Sunday. I was frustrated and angry and I expressed that by consuming large quantities of crappy food. Uuuggghhh! I haven't hopped on the scale yet, but will view the damage tomorrow morning.

Good news....went to the dr. today and he is not too worried about my knee. The swelling has gone down and my range of motion is returning. I am going to try to run and do a good core workout tomorrow. Hopefully, this will put me back on track for success. Dr. says if I continue to have problems that an ACL revision may be necessary. I am going to try to avoid that at all costs. Revisions are never as good as the first operation.

Tomorrow is a new day filled with wonderful things. I am going to embrace my failures, learn from them and begin again. Peace out.

Yeah!

Okay, I cheated and weighed today. I have been feeling so great these last few days that I just had to see what the scale read.....a wonderful 139.6! I am under 140 and so pleased.

I am blogging every other day as I am not experiencing too many frustrations right now. My eating is going very well and my workouts have been extremely challenging. On Monday, I squeezed in a fast run of 4 miles (my fastest run to date) and Tuesday I ran 2 quick miles in addition to completing an hour's worth of core and strength training. Today, I completed an interesting interval workout on the stationary bike. I warmed up in gear #7 for about 20 minutes. After that, I completed intervals of 30 seconds on, 90 seconds off.....goal was to keep RPM's above 90. I kept my gear between #12 and #14 for 20 minutes. Then came a 20 minute cool down. I was surprised by the difficultly of the workout. Tomorrow I am going to hit the treadmill for a six mile run. I am ready for the snow to melt so I can hit the pavement again. I am growing weary of the treadmill!

Down 4.1 pounds!

Woohooo! Down 4.1 pounds....now that's the way to start the week off right. I don't care whether it's all water weight or not! I thought this weekend was going to be tough because we we going to a friend's house for the Super Bowl. The weather was yucky, the boys were tired from having kids spend the night and Robert was on call, so we decided to stay home and watch the game. We had a nice dinner and I only made guacamole for snacking on during the game.

I think I am going to try the Shape interval challenge workout today and see if it is any less difficult. I am going to ramp up the speed a bit and hopefully, get another amazing workout in. I am continuing to see success with the consumption of 1600 calories. I think that is a great number for me.

This week I am going to be super strict and see if I can't dump 1.5 pounds over the seven days. When that happens next Monday....I will be under 140 pounds for the first time in 5 months. Another woohooo!

The Weekend

Let me start by reminding all those who read my blog to please make sure you eat a healthy, filling dinner before you go to the Monster Truck Show with 3 boys. Mistake #1....no dinner. Mistake #2....eating a lot of bad popcorn and Skittles (I really don't even like Skittles). However despite my eyes being puffy and joints swollen this morning, I got up early and ran a pleasant 8 miles. So, maybe I negated last night's nasty binge. Today I am on track for a successful day of consuming "good for me foods."I am going to weigh again on Monday in hopes that I am down another pound. The Shape Fitness Program slates me to lose 1 lb every 5 days....bet I'll be down 1 or 1.5. I can feel it!

My workouts have been challenging these last few days. I completed an hour's worth of core and strength training on Thursday morning. Friday, I mixed things up with jump roping , time on the Pilates Reformer for additional stretching and a series of Tabatta invervals on the stationary bike. I feel like my workouts are getting easier and I am gaining strength.

It is often difficult to stay focused and am thankful that I don't have 50 or 100 lbs to lose. I must continually remind myself of my long term goal. Baby steps....

Wonderful Day

Today's posting is 180 degrees from my last posting. I am down 4.2 (yes, you read that right) pounds and have a renewed energy and patience. My workouts are feeling easier and my runs are getting faster. Not to mention my jeans are fitting better. I am staying focused and choosing to blog instead of snack. Fabulous, huh?

Yesterday I went about 500 calories over my limit, but I ran 7.5 miles early in the morning. Listening to my body is key and not just eating because it's "time to eat." Today I am on track for a successful day.

Tomorrow I get the opportunity to bike Tabatta intervals which are all out sprints for 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. There are 8 total. So, really it's like 4 minutes of super hard work sandwiched between an nice warm up and cool down. Very exciting! I think I will rise early and get my workout finished before the sun rises. Peace out!

Glad this day is over!

If I was an alcoholic, today would be a day where I would totally tie one on! However, in light of the troubling issues I had to deal with, I did not turn to food for comfort. I did have a Diet Coke which is a no-no, but it was better than consuming a large quantity of chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream.

I finished my day under 1300 calories and am feeling very satisfied with my "plan." My gym work consisted of 2.5 miles of repeating quarter mile intervals and a full hour of core and strength training. I was pooped, but managed to have lunch with a couple of girlfriends.

Tomorrow I will rise and shine early to get 7 miles in before I have to get the boys ready for school. It will be nice a workout checked off my to do list at an early hour.

Today I am thankful for my patience, grace and the blessings God has bestowed on our family.

Giddy Up!

Well, I wish I could claim that some crazy glandular problem is causing me to gain weight....I weighed today and the scale read 144.2. THERE, IT'S OUT!

So, in light of that horrible news....I have decided to get in a good work out and begin a fresh start.

Today's workout was interval based and much more challenging than I expected. I ran an easy mile to warm up and then did 15 minutes on the bike in increasingly difficult gears and kept RPMs above 100. Next came the run....I thought this would be the easy part. Well, it wasn't. I ran for 15 minutes with speeds from 6.0-7.5 and varying inclines from 2-6. Man, it was tough running fast on a steep incline. Good news is that my workout burned around 350 calories.

Meals were great today and finished the evening at 1531 calories (69 calories short, not including the additional calories that my work out provides).

I made a wonderfully light turkey noodle soup with some leftover breast meat from a whole turkey my mom cooked yesterday. I also made an organic fruit crisp for dessert, but opted for a 100 calorie fudge bar.

I feel very empowered today...like this is going to be a piece of cake for me. Well, maybe I shouldn't use that phrase as there are no pieces of cake in my future. Peace out.

Another day without Diet Coke; however, I am still not liking the flavor of unsweetened-iced green tea.