On The Run Mama

I have had a bunch of new followers this last week! I’m not sure where you all came from, but I’m glad to see you. If you’re interested in reading a bit of a summary of my journey you can read more here and here. Welcome & thank you for following me!!

Bao tacos (Hoisin BBQ pork, pickled veggies and folded bao) for dinner tonight. Hubby found this at Cost Co today. It is always interesting the food CostCo has.

Finished the day with 1800 calories. Not perfect, but a lot more under control. My ideal day would be 1500-1700. Best part is that I’m not even craving something sweet after dinner.

I even remembered to make my overnight oats for the morning! I’m ready to take on the new day. Tomorrow is looking to be crazy hectic too, so if I’m even lucky enough to eat I need to make sure it isn’t junk food on the go.

Oh geez, I need a weekend from my weekend.  I’m dragging!  I’m trying to start the week off right though.  I’m working hard at being strict about my eating again.  My pants are feeling too tight and I don’t like it.  I’ll weigh in on Wednesday and see where I am.  I’m completely at fault though.  I haven’t been diligent about my eating and have allowed myself too many extra servings and treats.  Today I’m being good.  I WILL be good.  It is 11:45 am and I’ve eaten completely healthy today.  There are two bowls of chocolates in the office and I am staying away from them.  I could have “just one,” but that hasn’t been going so well for me the last couple of weeks.  

Remember how the first time I went swimming I could hardly move my arms the next day?  Well today my arms are sore, but okay, and my thighs-tush are killing me!  I’m supposed to go to yoga tonight, but I don’t think I’m going to make it.  Yesterday when I was pushing Little r into the pool (he’s too big for me to throw in and he can put up quite a fight) my shoulder got twirked.  I can feel it from my neck to my pinky.  What fun!!  I think it would be wiser for me to rest it today and see where I’m at tomorrow.  I’m hoping I can get back in for a swim tomorrow evening.

I haven’t eaten well in the last couple of days and I’m completely feeling it.  My body feels blah and I just don’t feel right.  My pants were a bit snug yesterday.  My body is screaming at me to eat well again.  I started the day off right with overnight oats with applesauce, chia seeds, cinnamon and a little brown sugar.  Back to eating healthy today and feeling better soon.  

Okay so step 1 of getting my rear back in gear was going to piyo yesterday. Today, step 2, is getting my calorie count back down. I had been aiming for 1700, but I don’t think I ever stuck to it. Today I’m going to start being stricter to help me be accountable.

Today’s goal is 1510 calories (as instructed by my Lose It app). To help me keep in check I’m going to post everything that crosses my lips. Here I go…

I have being feeling blah and lacking motivation to exercise. I keep finding excuses for why I can exercise later. Granted, my body needed a break after training so hard, but it has been three weeks since my half now and I need to get back on track. I’ve not being doing so hot with my eating either. I haven’t been a pig and gained weight, but I’m not heading in the right direction and gained some in inches.

Here are my measurements for April with the +/- compared to February:

177.6 lbs (up 1.2)

Body fat - 33% (+.2%)

Water - 47.3% (-.2%)

Hips - 39.5 in (+.5)

Waist - 34.25 in (+.5)

Arms - 12in (L), 12.5in (R) (-.25, 0)

Thighs - 25 in (L), 25 in (R) (+.5)

Chest - 39 in (+.5)

Like I said, not bad, but a noticeable difference in the mirror and in my clothes.

I came to the realization this week that I’ve always had a training plan and a race (goal) I’m working towards. I don’t have one now. I wanted to back off from halfs to work on my speed, and since I’m going to Uganda in July. C and I are doing a 5 mile trail race in May (I wanted to do something different and fun), but I have no plan.

I need a plan. I need something to keep me accountable, give me direction and something to work towards. I also need to get my eating under control. I’m not running 20 or more miles a week any more and I have to stop eating like I am. Eating this way was ok when I was running so much, but I have to reduce my eating to match my working out.

I have some ideas of what I want to do.

• I want to swim, but our HOA pool isn’t heated until May 1st and the cost of the local heated pool is too much.
• I want to start jumping rope and doing box jumps to help increase my lower body strength and speed.
• I want to do yoga one or two days a week.
• I want to still run long runs of 6-9 miles, for a solid base.
• I want to work on speed work, but I don’t know what I need to do exactly and I need to research.
• I want to incorporate more strength training. My chiropractor just gave me strength training routines to incorporate as well, so that made me excited.
• I need to set my calories back down to 1,500. I think I need to be strict for a while to get myself into balance.

I don’t have a plan though. I need to put this all into a weekly plan, something I can work on and be held accountable to. I need goals as well. I want to get faster, but what is realistic? I’m iffy about setting a weight goal, because well you know it has been a challenge the last six months have been flat lined (but deep down inside I still want to be smaller). Should I set inches to strive for? What should I be striving for?

So while this last week has been difficult emotionally and I’ve been hard on myself. I think I’ve had some good reflections though. Now I need to figure out what this will look like on a weekly basis and figure out a plan.

Overnight Oats ~ Day 4

Get this… 1/4C oats, 1/2C CHOCOLATE milk (hehehe), dried cherries, 2 tsp chia seeds and 1/4C plain greek yogurt.

YES!!!  

I figured if chocolate almond butter was okay, then why not chocolate milk?  One note… I like to warm my overnight oats up in the morning, but next time I’ll put the greek yogurt in after I warm it up.  For some reason the greek yogurt didn’t do so well with the microwave.  I’ll also stick to 1 tsp of chia seeds instead of 2 tsp.

In other news, I’m back to counting calories.  Now that I’m done with my half I want to focus better on my eating.  Today is day three of counting calories.  My allotment is 1700 (1,754 to be exact) for a day; which would give me a loss of a pound a week.  I’ve been doing 1,500 calories for a pound and a half a week, but I’ve decided I’d rather stick with a pound a week.  It gives me a little wiggle room and I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself or have to be really strict.  

I tried the same concoction of chia seeds this morning, but with half the chia seeds and the same amount of water.  It went much better and I could tolerate the texture.  Certainly not something I’ll find myself craving, but I do think it will be beneficial.

I’ve forgotten the last three mornings to measure myself when I wake up, but I did weigh myself.  

February 1st - 176.4

March 1st - 176.2

I’m not going to say I’m thrilled with this, but I’m not disappointed or surprised either.  Considering I we were on vacation and then I haven’t been counting calories I’m surprised I had the 0.2 drop.  I don’t expect my measurements to be great since I haven’t been working on my upperbody due to first my back going out, then vacation and then my fall while running that left my arm beat up.  

It’s March now, so why not take a fresh start.  I’m not going to focus on my weight with a week until race day, but instead I’ll eat the way I need to and sticking with healthy foods.  After the race I’ll focus on counting calories again.  I’m back on track with doing upperbody workouts starting today.  I’m looking forward to slimming down up top.  After the race I want to add some lower body exercises too.  I’m even thinking of starting swimming for cross training…

I picked up two new things from the health food store on Sunday to add into my routine.

~ Chia seeds ~ T told me that they are really good for hydration.  She does a 1 Tbls in a glass of water, some agave nector or honey, and a little bit of citrus (lemon, orange, whatever is on hand).  She lets it sit overnight and drinks it after long runs.  In reading about muscle recovery, it was suggested to drink them ahead of long runs to help fully hydrate.  I decided to give them a shot.

~ Bromelain ~ It is a natural anti-inflammatory derived from pineapples.  You can take the bromelain supplements or eat a lot fresh pineapple (But who really needs the extra calories?).  I had been taking it after my wrist surgery and it helped a lot.  I’m wary of being on high doses of Motrin for long periods of time.  I’ve been back on Motrin since injuring my back and my chiropractor recommended going back on a natural anti-inflammatory.  I just hadn’t gotten around to going over to the natural food store.  Then in my reading I also read that high doses of anti-inflammatory medicines for a long period of time can inhibit muscle recovery.  Well I’ll be darned.  Two reasons to go back on Bromelain and off of Motrin.  I’ll still take Motrin for migraines (which thankfully are rare) and for severe pain, but I’m certainly limiting what I take.

My supervisor gave us each some chocolate this morning which was a sweet thing.  I’m saying “No thank you” to the chocolate and taking it home for the kiddos.