Monday mix tape

 

Dear lord what a busy Monday! I'm SO happy to be busy - being busy will pay for the giant renovation that's just begun!

Just in time for Halloween, my house looks haunted! This is what's left of the back deck. Lots of rotted wood and structural issues that could have been prevented with about $15 worth of flashing when it was built. Now the whole back of the house is being re-built BUT we are getting the always dreamed of addition off the kitchen and dining room. Every (big, expensive) cloud has a sliver lining right? I was quite sad to see it go. Many good times have been had on that deck! I know the new one will be bigger and better but that will be the last thing done and it will be quite a while until we get to that point!

Despite having no deck, it was a gorgeous weekend in the ATL.

Saturday I got up at 5am to run the Run in Defense of Animals. It was a small race and I love races where ALL of the money goes to the charity - not just part of the proceeds. I'm spoiled now because it was at a fancy country club and the facilities were so nice!

Nicest pre-race pee ever!

There were tons of dogs there so my friend and I represented the cat population :)

It was a crazy-hilly course but I finished it in 35 minutes.  I work really hard on my mental stamina when it comes to big hills because I know I will face a lot of them on the half marathon!

Sunday things fell apart a bit. I was going to run 9 miles and had a nagging feeling that I shouldn't because I got a warning from my husband and my neighbor that I need to be careful not to over-train. Sure enough, 3 miles in, my heal was burning so I stopped to stretch and it just got worse. I KNEW I had to stop right then and there. I limped back to the car in tears and you know what my first reaction was? I wanted a doughnut. Such ridiculous thinking - oh sure a doughnut will show that plantar fasciitis.... That is proof that I'm not "cured". I will never be. It is, was and will always be hard. Sure I could have had half a Krispy Kreme and it wouldn't have killed me but that's the kind of thinking that made me 250 pounds and I'm too much of a reasonable person to listen to that sh*t :) Instead I went to 90 minutes of Bikram yoga. I saw my instructor and we talked about balance and not overdoing it and how running is hard on the body and I need to keep practicing yoga to even things out. She's totally right and that made me cry a little more. I limped over to my mat and had one of the best classes of my life. I posted about it on Facebook because I want people to know it's not all rainbows and unicorns over here. This is hard and work it's certainly not going to get easier but I'm convinced I can make the right choice 99% of the time. The other 1% really will not kill me.

I'm nursing my foot. It's all I can do. I just got a cortisone shot 3 months ago and it will be a while before I can get another one - if ever! I have a prescription for orthotics and I'm going to KT tape in the meantime but I probably won't run much this week. I can train with my trainer and do yoga which will keep me going but It's only my first day off and I'm already jealous of people running! I know I will be fine if I can just sit still for a minute! :)

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!


  

Friday weigh in!

Happy Friday!! Well I'm (mostly) back to my normal routine - jet lag made me a little nutty early in the week and my eating schedule was WAY off. I felt hungry all week but today that seems to have gone away! I ate a lot of fish this week and protein really helps me stay satisfied.

I've already run 11 miles this week and planning my first 8 miler tomorrow. I've got 14 weeks until the half marathon and that puts me well ahead of the training program. My plan is to do enough training to really be able to enjoy the race and not suffer through it :)

I worked hard for my loss this week. My arms were were so sore from training with Karen that I had a hard time running when I first set out this morning! I even took a day off yesterday which is rare for me! So let's get to the numbers

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
Aug 9  - 157 -1
Aug 23 - 154 -3
96 pounds total!

4 more pounds until 100! I'm secretly hoping that happens by next weigh in but I'm not going to go crazy. As some of you know, I lost 100 pounds once before and this time I know for certain I will never gain it back. More on that when we get to it :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Monday mix tape

 

Another weekend gone by in a blur! 

Friday I had a friend in town and cooked a big dinner for my peeps (seafood paella!) I love cooking for people and it's so much easier to pay attention to what I'm eating when I control what's in it. 

making guacamole!

I also became an official Atlanta Track Club member!  I never thought I would be a member of such a thing but by now I finally feel like a "real runner"!

Imagine my surprise when I checked Facebook and saw this! Y'all know how much I love lululemon and now I feel even better about spending all my money there. I just had to go buy size 8s. I guess it's a good problem to have but shrinking out of expensive pants hurts :)

Saturday, even though I partied a bit late on Friday, I got up and did this!

Never in a million bazillion years would I have thought I could do this without feeling like I was going to die but I enjoyed every minute of it! I only stopped once to cross at a crosswalk and once to fill my bottle at a water fountain. I was unstoppable. I'm going to gradually increase my Saturday long runs and weekday runs (mostly) following the official training schedule I have for the half. Right now I'm really feeling like I can do 13 miles and possibly even enjoy it! :)

Sunday my quads were super sore despite all the stretching so I took the day off even though I really wanted to go to yoga. I just couldn't face 90 minutes of shaking legs. Sometimes you just have to stop for a day to recover. It's hard for me not to put any exercise in My Fitness Pal!! (I'm ridiculously accountable to that thing!)

So that's it! Have a happy, healthy week everyone!!

Stranger Here or "Nobody puts Baby in a corner"

I'm blogging today because there have been a few unexpected things that have popped up in my post-surgery journey that I wanted to share. I'm guess I'm feeling very open to learning lessons right now. Some are a gentle, sweet nudges. Others are baptism by fire.

Last night in yoga I got one of those gentle, sweet nudges. My instructor sat down on my mat and said "now I don't want you to freak out or get scared or never want to come back... (I was wide-eyed wondering what on earth could be coming next)...but you don't belong in the back corner. I want you to think about moving up - at least one row." I must have rattled off 5 excuses in a row (it's too crowded, I can't quite do all the poses, blah blah blah) then she told me to just think about it. I did think about it and realized that I had just made a bunch of excuses and y'all know how much I hate excuse makers :) So I moved up a row. And it wasn't so bad. Someone new can have the back corner now. I guess I'm done hiding out back there.

Moving on to what is just the beginning of many months of constant shopping. You would think that would be fun right? When I walk into a clothing store, I immediately gravitate to the plus size section - which is as horrible, sparse and sequined as it always is. At this point, I don't even come close to being able to wear anything in it so why do I look? Is it to see if clothes in that section became cool the second I couldn't wear them anymore?!? I have no idea. Comfort and routine I guess. Then I start to circle the normal people racks. Always starting at XL and working my way down. I feel like a fraud. Sometimes I wonder if I'm starting to look like I belong in this section? I'm not really a self-conscious person by nature but somehow all these tiny clothes in the 'normal part of the store' render me defenseless. Things I try on fit - and even look good! It's convincing myself to try is the hard part.

My head really needs to catch up with my body - that's going to be a wild ride!

Monday mix tape

Weekend Wrap Up
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This weekend was one of those "this is why I live in Atlanta" weekends. Spring is in full swing and it was close to 80 degrees!

Saturday I went to my extended Bikram yoga class. It's only 15 minutes longer than my normal one but that is a loooooonnnng 15 minutes. Towards the end of the floor series, I had one leg out to side and was draped over it with my hands clasped to the bottom of my foot in traditional Bikram style. My instructor (you all know how much I love her!) sat down next to me and said "how are you? is it so much easier now?" I showed her my interlaced fingers on the bottom of my foot and she knew as well as I did that was a first for me!!! It was so hot and I was reduced to a happy puddle on the floor by the end. The rest of day I was kind of in a haze and finally went to bed at 9:30. On a Saturday!

Sunday was St. Patricks day and the whole neighborhood was outside! My husband and I planned a 5 mile walk with stops at our 2 favorite pubs. It was a great day and a great workout. I managed half a beer and half a bloody mary over the course of about 4 hours. I haven't really found anything I like that "sits well" post surgery. I'm actually really glad about that - I don't miss it at all and I certainly don't need it so we will keep it to a minimum!

Which brings me to today. Monday. I knew it was going to be today so I stepped on the scale and got my wish. I hit the 40 pound mark. One day shy of my 8 week surgiversary.

Judging a book by it's cover
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 I love how even at 43 years old I still learn lessons. Sure, I learn stuff about my job and about yoga and whatnot but life lessons are always a surprise at this age.

Last Saturday I was settling into "my spot" at yoga. It was getting more and more crowded and suddenly here comes little miss perfect body laying her mat out right in front of me. I got a little agitated but I did give her a point for staggering her mat so I could still see even though she was only an inch away. I don't do well with crowds and closeness especially when it's 105 degrees and you are sucking up my life-giving oxygen.

She turned around and asked me if this was a crowded class and I mentioned something about the January people starting to fade out and she said she was a January person but she was hooked. Then we just started talking. And I freaking loved her!

I saw her again this weekend and she took the same spot in front of me but this time I was glad to see her. Bikram really isn't the most chatty environment so we didn't talk long but again, loved her!

Tiffany, if you ever read this, thank you for being so cute and perfect bodied and for making me realize how ridiculous I am.

My trainer and I were talking about it and agreed my judgement of other people is probably a defense mechanism for my insecurities over people judging me for my weight. Especially as the (formerly) largest person at yoga. Most people I've talked to about it have said they too struggle with it. Glad to know I'm not alone but I can promise you I'm going to work on that - hard!!

10k ahead?
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It's that time of year again. Time for the lottery of the worlds largest 10k. The Peachtree Road Race. The one that's up hill the whole way on the always blistering hot Atlanta 4th of July. I don't know what is wrong with me but I entered it again. By next Monday's mix tape, I will know if I'm one of the chosen 60,000. In a weird way I kinda hope so!

Monday Mix Tape

BEEEEEAAAAUTIFUL weekend here in the ATL. I even got a good bit of sun sitting outside watching our "adopted son" play in a soccer tournament. (Adopted son is the son of a wonderful friend of mine - I figure if you're going to "adopt" a kid, he might as well be a 16 year old good looking star goal keeper. All we have to do is cheer him on, and then his mother drives him home and has to deal with his stinky clothes and teenage craziness.)

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I haven't stopped walking since the day after I got home from the hospital. It's been doing me a lot of good in many ways! I changed the battery in my heart rate monitor all by myself (don't tell the people at Polar - they want you to send it in and pay $20 - and believe me they put the fear of God into you about doing it yourself and voiding the warranty) now I can be sure I'm staying around the 130s which is no problem on the uphill parts but I have to work a little harder on the downhills to keep it up there.

I was working my way up to a 4 miler and completed that goal on Sunday.  4.17 miles actually! Long workouts are a blessing on the weekend. When you're not out eating and drinking there's so much more time for that kinda thing :)

This morning it was pouring rain and because I diligently checked the weather last night, I knew it was going to be nasty out and planned a 7am treadmill walk. I know myself and I know that if I didn't just get up and go to the gym it would never happen. I walked a boring 5k in an hour but now it's done and I feel pretty righteous about that. Tomorrow I may try the pool but then we have the dilemma of the fancy gym vs. the less than fancy Y. Fancy gym is a 30 minute drive. The Y is 3 minutes away but once I saw someone spit in the pool - I haven't been the same since. Oh and don't get me started on lane sharing (shudder). 

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Soccer tournament Saturday started with my first meal in a restaurant since surgery. I wasn't worried because we were going to a breakfast place which makes eating out at this stage pretty easy.  I had half an egg with cheese and half a chicken sausage. I even googled the highest protein cheese and chose the best out of 10 choices even though it was probably a quarter of an ounce that I ate :) I'm happy to say it was a complete success. It wasn't weird, the server didn't get offended that I only ate half my egg. It was just normal. And enjoyable. And satisfying. It's amazing to me how much more you can enjoy the people around you and the good conversation when you aren't obsessing about food. Everyone at my table ate healthy but I was still surrounded by mountains of french toast and it didn't bother me in the slightest.

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Have y'all used My Fitness Pal yet?? I've been using to track every single thing I eat and all my exercise and it's been extremely helpful. I can easily see that I'm increasing my calories every day and getting in my high protein requirement. Yesterday I finally made it into the 600s which is good since I'm burning about 400-500 and feel like I really need some food for fuel.

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I'm gearing up for a busy work week now that I'm 100% recovered and everybody knows it. I must end this extra long mix tape and earn some money to pay the bills! Have a happy, healthy week everyone!