Sometimes...

I just want to throw in the towel.  I feel like I stretch myself too thin and then I go into hibernation mode. The if only's run through my head. 

If Only:  I didn't have a full time job. and didn't have so many commitments. And slept better at night. And so on and so on. 

I need to realize and accept I am a busy woman.  I have a 45 hour a week job, am a full time wife and mom.  I have a daughter who wants to spend a lot of time with me.  And I have hobbies-I love to read.  And I enjoy exercising but some weeks, I may need a break.  I take a break from reading for a week and I don't beat myself up about it.  So why is it a big deal if I don't exercise Every. Single. Day.

For this week, I'm going to work on accomplishing a few goals:

1. Stretch every day.  This is a must.  I feel so much better. 

2. Carve out 10-15 minutes during the day to just be in the moment and quiet. No multitasking. No internet surfing. 

3. Exercise 4 days. What ever I want to do.  Bike, run, weights.  Whatever. 

Princess Prance 8K

It was a warm Sunday afternoon to be running 5 miles. Luckily there were a few spots of shade and water to douse myself with. This race was supporting pediatric brain cancer.


My time wasn't a PR, but I'll take it.





My favorite part of the race.


- Kat

June 5

Swam with the girl and stretched a ton because my back was bothering me.


- Kat

June 4

Spin class for 45 minutes, rowing for 10 min and stretched.


- Kat

Day 2 and 3

June 2: biked 9 miles and stretched.

June 3: biked 3 miles and stretched.



- Kat

June Challenge

I'm going to try my own challenge in June. It's an active and stretch challenge. Each day, I will stretch and:

1) run a mile
Or
2) bike 3 miles
Or
Swim for 20 minutes
Or
Do a HIIT (high intensity interval training) for 20 minutes.

Today:
I stretched and...



- Kat

Day 22

Here's some thoughts about my journey so far.

1. It really does take three weeks to change habits. I feel like I'm in a routine again.

2. I haven't binged. I did eat an extra snack yesterday-pretzels.

3. For a couple weeks, I've been eating a really big lunch (Amy's frozen meal, carrots, guac or salsa, fruit and sometimes a hard boiled egg or dessert) which carries me well into evening time. I thought yesterday I'd try my old way (frozen meal and fruit) to see if there was a difference and it was HUGE! I was hungry off and on all afternoon and then while cooking supper I snacked. So I will be back to a huge lunch again.

4. I'm looking for patterns in weight loss. This week I lost 0.6 pounds. So I went back to see what could have happened. I am going to see if exercising more while eating a little more works better than eating less and exercising less. I'll get back to you on this.

5. I skipped a run Thursday. I thought I needed to sleep in. BIG MISTAKE. I was grumpy all day. I couldn't shake it.

6. As I said above, I'm in a routine. And one of those things is not craving sugar all the time. But as I had dessert yesterday and Thursday, I realize I need to be careful of this. It's easy to flip back into the "I need sugar" mode.

That's all for now.


- Kat

Fitness Friday- May 16

I had a pretty good week:


My plan this week. Mind you I haven't really checked the weather


Some things to note this week:

*it's the last week of school.

* we are going camping next weekend so I'd better get things packed.

Weight loss this week: -.6 pounds

Total weight loss: -4.8 pounds

Day 19?

I'm definitely struggling with blogging daily here. I am pretty sure this is day 19. I have noticed I get fuller faster. And I don't "need" sweets every day. I have been eating more at lunch and often don't have an afternoon snack. I like this because I don't like to have think about food all the time.

I did something new today. I did speed work. After spending a good part of yesterday trying to find an outdoor track to run on, I went to Cessna Stadium. I got there at 6:20 with the intention to run hills until 6:30 when the gates open but they were already opened. I warmed up waking 1/4 mile the ran the straights and walked the curves for two miles. It was awesome. It was hard but fun. I'll be adding this to my regimen weekly.


- Kat

Fitness Friday! May 9th

I ran a half marathon this Sunday. Boy was it hot!


I spent a lot of this week recovering.


I'm hopeful this week will be better.


Weight loss this week:-1.4 pounds
Total weight loss: -4.2 pounds

Fitness Friday

I did great this week. It helped that I had a couple evenings to ride the bike.
Here goes:



This is my upcoming week. I have a half marathon Sunday. I'm excited!!


Weight loss: 0.8 pounds.

Day 5 and 6

I'm slacking off...whoops.

Day 5: Tuesday, April 29: biked for 30 minutes.  Diet was decent until supper.  Then I ate an excessive amount of chocolate.  

Day 6: Wednesday, April 30: spin class for 45 minutes.  Diet: no sweets, but had Five Guys burger and fries.  Yummy!!!

Day 4

Today was a good day. I fixed a plate of fruit and carrots so I was only able to eat half my meal. I didn't snack, ate a healthy supper of shredded beef tacos. And I biked for 30 minutes.

Day 2 and 3

This weekend went well. I stayed under my daily points. I exercised both days. I tweaked my back a little so today was a quiet bike ride while I watched Scandal.

Feeling good about myself.


- Kat

Day 1

Until I go crazy,  I'm going to try and post daily.

Diet:good. I was over 2 points. No snacking. Drank 100 oz of fluid.

Exercise: walked the dogs and L rode her big wheel.  2.5 miles in 42 minutes.

Commitment: high.

170 Days

Okay, I've fallen off the wagon again.  It started after Christmas.  I had lost 10 pounds and then over the holidays, gained back 7.  And then I got tired of counting points and obsessing about my weight so I quit.  I have done well about not binging or excessively overeating.  And my weight has been stable.
But...this isn't where I want to be.  I want to run faster so I can do long runs and it doesn't take ALL morning.  I want to keep up with my running friends.  I want to have more endurance when I run or do a hard workout.  I want to feel healthier.  I want to beat my 1/2 marathon time of 2:30:35. 

So...I have 170 days until the Prairie Fire 1/2 marathon on October 12, 2014.  That's three weeks before my 40th birthday.  My goal: to lose as much weight as possible (30-35 pounds) and gain muscle.  To do this I need to:

1. EAT HEALTHY.  I may eat healthy most of the time, but I eat too much.  And I could use a diet clean up.

2. EXERCISE CONSISTENTLY.  The consistently part is what I struggle with.  Life is unpredictable.  For example, I was going to exercise this morning.  But last night, Jeff came home from teaching and wanted to tell me all about the field trip he went on with L's class.  So I was up until 11 pm and I couldn't get my butt of out bed.  I need to come up with alternative plans.  For today, my plan is to exercise when I get home.  Take L and the pups out for a 30 minute walk. 

3. DEVOTE MYSELF TO THIS JOURNEY.  I have to stay on this journey.  I quit time after time and I'm tired of restarting.  I found this quote this morning and thought it was perfect:
  
                                COMMITMENT MEANS STAYING LOYAL TO WHAT YOU SAID
                              YOU WERE GOING TO DO LONG AFTER THE MOOD YOU SAID
                              IT IN HAS LEFT YOU.  
I am COMMITTED.  I will do this.  And you get to be a part of my journey.  

Fitness Friday!

So this week was bad. I used all my workouts last week and did little this week.

Friday: rest
Saturday: ran 10K Easter Sun run
Sunday: rest
Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: spin class
Thursday: rest

This week:
Run 2 times
Bike 2 times
Strength training: 2 times

Fitness Friday!

A day late, I know. L and I were busy watching Rio 2 last night. It was very good, btw.

I did it!!!!



I exercised every day last week! I'm glad I did it but I realize rest days are good also.

Here's this week's goals:



Planks are taking a back burner.

Fitness Friday!

What a week! It started off great and then L got sick. She woke me up every night hacking. So I rested Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Now my legs are twitchy.
Sat: beautiful day for a run. 6 miles

Sunday: great therapy with Ragan






Monday: body design
At least I got planks in daily

This upcoming week:

Fri: bike 30 min

Sat: thin mint sprint 5K

Sun: run 4-7 miles (depends on rain and wind)

Mon: body design

Tues: walk intervals

Wed: spin

Thurs: tempo run

Test Run

Blogger is giving me fits so I'm doing a test run.


- Kat

Fitness Friday!

2 workouts. Blech.


The good news: I've lost 3 pounds in the past two weeks. No overrating or binging. I have realized when I don't go work out regularly, I am more irritable.

Here is the upcoming week:


- Kat

Fitness Friday

What a week! Shockers lost, guinea pig died. I still got in my fitness. I haven't figured out how to motivate myself to get up and run on Tuesdays so I'm going to try and work on a plan this weekend.

Here's last week:



And this week:


- Kat

Fitness Friday!

Last week yielded 4 workouts. Body design kicked my ass. I didn't feel as good with less workouts.


This week:


- Kat

Fitness Friday!

I am proud of myself. 6 workouts this week.


Upcoming:


I had to rest today. My hips and glutes are so sore.

What a Week!

I'm trying to get away from the scale for a few weeks. I've been using the scale as a decision about whether I have a good or bad week. For Lent, I've decided to give up giving up. So I need to step away from the numbers and the counting and rely on my body to help me know when to nourish it.
I'm also determined to keep my consistent exercise up. Here was last week:



Not a good week. It started off with snow and I quickly went into hibernation.
So this week is getting off to a good start:



One of my short term goals is to do a mile a day. Run, walk, bike (which is actually 3 miles on the bike) or swim 1/2 mile. I started on 3/6/14. Let's see how many days I can go.

Upcoming Plan

Since I'm not going to Little Rock 1/2 marathon, I have time to make an exercise schedule.



Last week's schedule and follow through



My other goal: eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies and only 4 sweets for the week.

Weigh in Friday

189.0

After a stressful week (see my other blog), L was sick... A 1.8 pound weight gain is fair enough.


-Kat

Exercise

So one of my downhill goals is to be stronger and fitter.

Here was last week's schedule. I added notes when it didn't happen



This week's exercise goals:


-Kat

Wow

Okay,  I've been discouraged about my weight.  After Christmas, it steadily went up from 184 to 191 pounds and I've been stuck.  I'm reading a book that has been very enlightening (I'll post more on that when I've finished the book).  I decided to forgo counting WW points this week and focus on eating healthy, when I'm truly hungry and exercise. 

Here's my exercise for last week:

Saturday: nothing
Sunday: ran 10 miles
Monday: weights for 10 minutes, swam for 30 minutes.
Tuesday: rested
Wednesday: spin class for 45 minutes and rowed for 10 minutes.
Thursday: Zumba class for 60 minutes and weights for 15 minutes.

And I lost FOUR pounds!!!!!
I was 191.2 pounds last Friday and 187.2 pounds.

Way to go me!!!

What a Cold Week

Weight today: 188.8.  That's down a pound or so. 

Diet: I did well.  I kept track of my WW points and didn't go over.

Exercise: I slept last weekend so I didn't run or bike.  But I biked on Monday and Tuesday and shoveled snow on Wednesday for my workouts.

This week coming up is going to be a crazy week again. My goals are simple: don't use food to fuel my anxiety.  Keep life as steady as possible. 

Sat: bike for 30-40 minutes, weights for 5-10 minutes

Sun: run 2 hours (so 8-10 miles) on the mill.  It's too cold to be outside.

Mon: bike for 30 minutes.

Tues: try to get up early and do walk incline intervals for 30 minutes.

Wed: bike for 35 minutes Weights

Thurs: rest or Zumba

Diet Tracking Week

Okay, so I met my goal for this week.  I was supposed to track all my points on WW.  Which I did.  And I used all my points except 12. And.....I gained a pound.  I'm at 190. 

BUT....the good news is I feel better when I'm tracking.  And I realize I dip into the chip and pretzel bag too many times at work and eat too many sweets at home. 

And I'm glad I made my reward goal.  The weight gain makes me realize I need to diet and exercise.  This week was super stressful and busy so I didn't have much time to exercise and I didn't want to exercise.  This bad habit makes me prone to being irritable.  Which leads me to my thought:

Good Diet + Exercise= Happy Kathryn

Goals for this week:

1. Count my WW points

2. Exercise 5 days this week

3. Do 10 burpees every time I want to eat outside of meal time or when I reach for a non healthy snack (BTW, I hate burpees).

Exercise plan:

Sat: bike for 40 minutes.  Weights for 10 minutes.

Sun: run 10 miles (probably on the mill)

Mon: speed work.  1 minute repeats at 9:45 min/mile. for 20 minutes with a 10 minute warm up/cool down.

Tues: bike for 35 minutes.  Weights for 10 minutes.

Wed: Jillian Michael's workout video (30 minutes) or run 3 miles. 

Thurs: rest.

Goof Up

So I posted this weeks post to my Wichita welch blog so please reference it.


-Kat

Weekly Weigh In and Getting on Track

Weight: 189. Ugh.

How I feel: bloated.

Getting on track: ok. Now that I'm over my cold and illness, I am ready to commit. I need to run 2-3 days a week, bike 2 days a week and do weights 2 times a week. This is do able.

Sat: run 7 miles

Sun: bike 45 minutes and weights for 10 minutes

Monday: run. Speed work- run hard 60 seconds, rest 60 seconds. Repeat for 20 minutes. Warm up and cool down for 5 minutes each.

Tuesday: a well deserved rest day.

Wednesday: weights for 10 minutes. Bike for 20 minutes

Thursday: Zumba

Friday: rest.

I'll report my progress next Friday. If I do this, my reward- new ear muffs.



-Kat

Weigh in

187.4

I had a cold, didn't count any points and didn't exercise. That's enough excuses for one week.


-Kat

Weigh In Friday

187.7

Not worthy of a picture. My week was all messed up with my 1/2 marathon Wednesday.


-Kat