Summer Challenge

Today is the first day of Carolyn's Summer Challenge which I have joined in on to keep me accountable on my weight loss goals. We have 8 weeks until the official start of summer and 8 weeks to push ourselves to meet some goals. My goal, of course, is to loose a few pounds...well more than a few.

I will be sticking to my 5-4-3 diet plan. I'm actually liking it...my first week went pretty good and I think I am down a couple pounds. Sometimes I have the feeling of what to do with myself in the evenings since snacking isn't an option anymore, I eat out of boredom, maybe I should do sit ups instead. I keep a food diary though, and so I know when I am done...easy, peasy...page is full = no more food in the mouth. Breakfast is the only meal I really have to put some thought into...and that definitely takes more time than skipping breakfast...but I have a few different breakfast meals figured out that I like and get me my morning calorie load.

I'm going to try and keep the following exercise schedule:

• Monday - rest
• Tuesday - 4 mile run and strength
• Wednesday - cardio cross train (usually interval hill walking)
• Thursday - 5 mile run
• Friday - 4 mile run and strength
• Saturday - cardio cross train and yoga
• Sunday - long run

I took some before pics, but I don't think I will post them yet. I'd rather have some after pics that I am proud of to put up next to them.

Be checking in again with my progress this Friday.

Today's Accomplishments

Today I signed this little cherub baby up for kindergarten.

As most mother's know, this tears at your heart strings. I'm happy I have a healthy smart baby, but the thought of her going off to college just kills me...and kindergarten is the first step. She is also my second child, you would think it would be easier, but it isn't. Of course she is a little more grown up now.

She also got her first pair of glasses on Sunday. Evidently her left eye is a little "lazy" - or another way to put it is her right eye is a control freak. The glasses make her look even older. Then she likes to rub in the growing up thing by making her own breakfast, doing the dishes....she is torturing me. Damn kids.

On the diet front - my husband in his oh-so-supportive ways bought these today (they were "on sale" - I need to stop letting him go to the store).

Double stuffed bastard. See what I'm up against! I did resist though and managed to stick to my calorie 5-4-3 plans for three days solid now. Hoowah! I also got a 5 mile run in today...double Hoowah!

And I found this picture of Chuck and I from our early dating days...in my Chinese goal dress. Pretty hot huh? I look nothing like that now...but I am gonna get back in it!

5-4-3 Day 1 & 2

Okay, first off - I'm hungry...but hey, that means I'm burning some fat calories right?

Yesterday was day 1 of my "inspired" plan, and things went pretty well. I spent a lot of time the night before planning out my breakfast and lunch, so I could get most of my calories in during the morning and early afternoon...and topped things of with a 300 calorie salad for dinner. Total calories consumed for the day were a little over 1,500.

I also got in a 4 mile run, followed by 1 mile of interval incline walking - totally calories burned during the workout - 650 or so. My knee was aching a bit, oh I hope I don't have to go down that knee pain road agian.

I didn't plan out today as well, but I got my big breakfast in, my medium lunch and so far I am on track for the day. Not sure what I am going to do for dinner yet. I also plan on doing one hour of the interval hill walking tonight. (update: did my cardio & burned 575 calories, and I stayed on track with dinner - even though my husband was eating chips and drinking wine in front of me - bastard)!

Dinner is the toughest because that is family time. I do have hubby's support though, and he said he may even join me on my plan - eventually. Yeah, I won't hold my breath on that one - kind of like him starting running with me (he bought shoes about 5 months ago and has only worn them around the house to "break them in"). At least he is supporting me in my efforts though (update: not really), and I think I can stick to a small amount of protein and some veggies or salad for dinner and be good.

My goals: I'm a little self conscious about posting my weight (chick hang-up, I know) so I think I'm going to use my pant size as my goal post. Currently, I'm a size 12 and I want to get back to the size six I was when I first began dating my husband. I actually have a picture of us when we were first dating in a cute little oriental dress - that would be fabulous to be able to fit in that again! I don't know if a six is realistic for me anymore, an eight may be where I actually end up. I was comfortably an eight for all the years after dating, and up until I had my last baby (except during pregnancy, of course). But hey, aim high right - so I am shooting for a six.

Butt Seriously Folks

I don't know why, but I just can't accept my body the way it is. I spoke to my doctor about losing some weight the other day, and how I have been struggling with it much more now than I did pre-kids, pre-older, pre-whatever even though I am exercising pretty regularly. She told me this story about a study on rats (she has actually told me this story twice). Rats that consume calories throughout the day versus rats that consume all their calories in the evening...the rats that eat throughout the day don't gain weight and the rats that gorge in the evening do gain even though they are consuming the same amount of calories. Hmmm.

Now I don't think I gorge everything down in one evening meal, but I do have a bad habit of skipping breakfast...and it makes sense to me that the morning meal would set your bodies metabolism up for the day...skip it and your body goes into a starvation mode. So I'm going to try a new food plan that I have named the "5-4-3" plan. 500 calories in the morning, 400 calories in the afternoon, and 300 calories in the evening - with two 100 calorie snacks during the day. That is 1,400 calories a day - and puts the bulk of my calories in the early part of the day to hopefully (cross my fingers) give my metabolism a boost. That coupled with 4 days of running a week and 2 days of cross-training and some strength.

If this works, I may need to write a book. If it doesn't - I may resort to liposuction if I can raise the funds. Liposuction just seems like cheating to me though, I want to earn my body back the old fashioned way.

Now all I need to do is get my hubby on board...and I am going to be accountable here and report weekly updates every Friday. Anyone want to try this with me?

Recovery Run (Hah!)

Tonight I traded this

for this

After 3 1/2 weeks of not running, I finally made some time at 9pm tonight to run a 5k on my treadmill.

Mile 1 - 9:45

Mile 2 - 9:30

Mile 3 - 9:21

Last .1 - :51

Total time: 29:27

So basically, my pace is improved after this break - hmmn. Maybe I should take more vacations.

I followed up by walking 2 miles with interval hills - so I could get at least 60 minutes of cardio. Plus, I really like the way my ass feels after doing the hills.

Funny kid trick of the day - Charlotte showed me how she can make snowflakes with bologna. My girls got talent.

Has Anyone Seen My Motivation

I can't believe I haven't gained any weight, because I have seriously wained in my commitment to be fit and healthy. I think I need an intervention, I need someone to yell at me ala Jillian to get me back on track or I fear I will never wear a bathing suit again (not even thinking a bikini yet).

Even though I posted an event schedule and my next event is about 10 days away, I have not ran once since my half marathon. That is 3 1/2 weeks folks. My guess is that is taking the whole "recovery" thing a bit far. I'm not worrying about it either - I still think I can pull out a 12k in 10 days. I just don't know why I am sooo lackluster about it - where is my drive? I haven't been totally sedentary, I've had a few trampoline sessions with the girls (including one where I tried a front flip and landed on my neck) and lots of gardening. So the question is will I run today?

My diet has been crap lately too - too many nights with wine. If I could just save the wine or one day a week I would do so much better...but the kids...they can really make a glass of wine or two very tempting.

If I can just get through the next week of crunching out tax returns and some other numbers, taking care of 3 kids, 7 baby goats, some baby chicks...and still find some time to get some runs in and eat right, I'll be good.

Anyone have a whip?

Weekend Quote

Sitting by the pool (it isn't warm enough yet, my girls just like to hang out there) yesterday with my girls, I got this little gem from Delaney:

"Look Mom, I can lick my armpits"

Then came the demonstration - that will come in handy when she gets older. I should have taken a picture, maybe I can get her to do it again.

I didn't get into the Nike Women's marathon, so I think I will try to make Cowtown my first full marathon on October 5th.