Something is better than nothing.

Yesterday morning when I posted, it was my intention to bike and swim last night.  Well, I accomplished 1 out of 2; I did 10mi on the stationary bike.  And as far as I'm concerned, I ate clean yesterday, did the biking, got plenty of sleep, so it was a successful day.  I will bike again tonight, and maybe actually do the swimming, too.  I'm more concerned about getting the biking done, however, because my kids are coming back tomorrow night, so I know there will be lots of opportunities this weekend to get the swimming finished.  My older brother sent out an email yesterday saying that he's completed all of his mileage for the Lazy Man Iron Man, so, technically, even though there's no "winner", he's the winner.  Here's hoping to coming in 2nd!

I really like this quote.  I'm trying to get back into that mode.  I just need to get back into the rhythm of not giving myself the option of whether or not to work out.  There is no option, it has to happen.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

In a funk.

So much has happened in the last week & a half that I've found EVERY excuse in the book to NOT work out.  I started my period (which I will refer to as "shark week" from now on), my mom is coming into town, so I had to do a major deep cleaning throughout my whole house, it's been over 110 degrees every day, etc.  Some of these may sound like valid excuses, but they're really not.  Although, I will say that I certainly looked like I'd been working out after cleaning my bathrooms.  Take a look:

And this is just my face, I was absolutely covered in sweat over my entire torso, front and back.  So I'm going to count that as exercise, but it doesn't count towards finishing the Lazy Man Iron Man, which is over in 9 days!  Fortunately, that's still plenty enough time for me to finish everything I need to.  No excuses this week, work outs must go down EVERY DAY.  My mom comes into town on Friday morning and will only be here for the weekend, so I really don't have any reason whatsoever that I can't get this done.  KimmyJo & I did go for some epic walking last night: 1.81mi!!

I'm almost done with my mileage on foot!!  I only need another 1.84mi walk & I'm finished with that part!  Feels so good to be so close to accomplishing this!  I'm only 54.08mi away from finishing on the bike & still .9mi away from finishing the swimming.  My thoughts, as of right now at 6:42am, are that I'll do my hour (10mi) on the bike tonight & do .5mi in the pool afterwards.  That "plan" could most definitely change as the day progresses, LOL!  BUT, I will do something tonight, bike, walk, swim, something will be accomplished. I got this.  I can do hard things.

Trying to get my groove back.

I'm not sure if it's my week off of work outs or my genuine dislike for the stationary bike, but man I'm having a really hard time enjoying working out this week.  I get so bored & restless on the stationary after the 1st 20 minutes & then my butt starts falling asleep and/or hurting, so I'm constantly shuffling around in the seat trying to get back to a comfortable position for the remaining half hour or so, completely unable to do so.  Oh well, I only have about 6 more days of doing it and the Lazy Man Iron Man will be completed & I can move on.  Yay!!  I like taking pics of myself after my workouts to show how sweaty & nasty I get (because sweat is fat crying) but when I bike, all of the sweat accumulates on my back & butt & haven't been able to get a good shot of it because, well, it's my back.  I finally got a pretty good angle on it last night.  :)

For your viewing pleasure, this is what it looks like right after I finish 10mi.  Gross, I know!

So I've been looking for new recipes & food ideas on Pinterest, because quite frankly, I'm getting bored with what I've been eating & am a lot more aware these days of how many calories I should be consuming in a day along with what I'm burning in my work outs to continue to lose weight.  I found this idea for a low calorie cream cheese/salsa "wrap" and added 5oz cooked chopped chicken to the recipe as well.  It's supposed to be an appetizer, but I made it dinner.  :)  I also put it in my George Foreman grill for a few minutes to seal the tortilla & melt the cheese a little & just warm it up in general.  Delicious!!  Here's the link with all the info:

http://www.chef-in-training.com/2011/10/weight-watchers-salsa-roll-ups/

Not seeing myself from the back all that often for obvious reasons, as I keep glancing at the pic above, it's getting really apparent to me that what I'm doing is definitely working and I need to keep it up and just finish this week & move along.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Slow & steady wins the race.

My Lazy Man Iron man family challenge started Memorial Day, May 28th, 2012.  The challenge is to have completed 26.2mi on foot, 112mi on bike, and 2.4mi swimming before July 4th, 2012.  As of today, I have 15 days to finish 3.65mi on foot, 64.08mi on the bike, & .9mi in the pool.  I SO got this!  This challenge was presented to me last December as well and I gave up pretty quickly, I kept allowing things that come up to be excuses as to why I wouldn't be able to accomplish this or that.  Not this time, I have been determined from the start that I will finish this one, hopefully by June 30th.  My tentative plan is to do 10mi on the bike every night for the next 6 days, and then just 5mi on the 7th day.  That will put me slightly over what's required.  From there, I'll be able to finish up the rest, no problem.  This will be such an amazing accomplishment for me, never in my life have I done anything even close to this.  It feels SO GOOD.  And once I finish this up, I can start training for my next big event, which I will discuss after I'm done.  I don't want to get ahead of myself, I need to stay focused!  So here's a pic of me after doing the 10mi on the bike last night.

If I keep losing the way I have been (roughly 10lbs/month) I should be able to reach my goal sometime between January & February.  That's amazing!!  But I need to keep focused on today.  I need to eat clean today, workout dirty, sleep good, & laugh...a lot!

I got this.  I can do hard things.

Attitude of grattitude.

I was apparently having a "fat day" yesterday when I got on the scale & it showed that I was back up to 239, because this morning it said 234!!!!  GAH!  Even after doing basically nothing all week last week, my body kept processing food as if I had been & I'm down the poundage that I've required myself to lose to justify a new tattoo!  WOOT!  I can't necessarily afford to do it right away, but just knowing that I'm still on the downward spiral is such good news to me.  :)

I didn't get in any mileage on the stationary bike today like I needed to, but I did meet up with my bestie, Kimmy Jo, & we had a good walk at the Riparian Preserve.  It was REALLY hot today, the weather stations were saying it was an "extreme heat advisory" day & even at 6pm, it was still 110 degrees.  Gross!  But we got in a good 2.9 miles in 50 minutes.  Yay us!!

It was very apparent to me tonight while walking that it's been entirely too long since I've done consistent work outs.  I struggled tonight.  Between my "lazy" week & the heat the walk tonight was pretty brutal.  But we finished & were happy with the time & distance.  

It truly does feel good to be working out again & sweating & over coming all the mental road blocks of "it's too hard".  My body is capable of so much more than what my brain tells me it is, and as long as I remember that & keep pushing myself just that little extra bit, this journey will continue to be successful & amazing.  I got this.  I can do hard things.  ;)

Back in the saddle.

This last week was absolutely brutal for me.  I had my kids, who didn't want to do any more walking after Tuesday, and therefor I got no additional work outs either.  I know I could've & should've done something around the house that would have been considered a work out, but for whatever reason, I was just so exhausted mentally & physically I didn't do anything.  So, starting today, I'm re-dedicating myself to daily workouts.  This morning I got in 10 miles on the stationary bike.  It felt really good to be sweaty!  You know, a year ago I wouldn't have said that!  I have always hated being sweaty but it seems so refreshing these days, for whatever reason.  Probably because I know I'm doing something for myself, accomplishing something only I can accomplish.  There's absolute satisfaction in knowing this.  :)

I also did a little bit of grocery shopping today to stock up on needed items for the week, so I can get back on track with my healthy eating habits.  Mainly, I wanted to be able to make this:

This is my new addition to my healthy eating menu.  It's two handfuls of baby spinach, two bananas, one cup of chunk pineapple, one cup of low fat yogurt (I used plain), and a cup of water.  It looks really weird & pretty gross, but it's seriously yummy!  I'm going to drink one a day, it's supposed to really help in weight loss.

Even though I veered from my "plan" for a week, and even though the scale said I am back up to 239 after my week of no work outs and eating dinners with my girls, I'm not throwing in the towel!  I've got a long way to go, but I have to keep reminding myself how far I've already come.  I will not stop until I'm satisfied with the body I see when I look in the mirror and know that I'm at a healthy weight for my age & height.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Too much time off.

Admittedly, I've not done much in the way of working out over the last few days.  :(  I've been busy running around all over the place trying to make sure my kids get to appointments, going to & from work, & to be completely honest, I'm exhausted!  Still, it's not a very good excuse, I should be able to make time to get something done in the way of working out, even if it's just some jumping jacks & push ups in my living room. I need to get back on track, pronto!  So last night was the first walk or anything I've done since Friday.  I took my girls and met up with Kim & her kiddos at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, AZ.  I LOVE walking there, and so do the kids!

Here's a shot of my and my girls waiting impatiently for the rest of the gang to show up.  :)

We were able to get in a pretty good walk last night, despite the disgusting temp of 108.  Sick!  It just gets way too hot in AZ.  Only 3 more months until it cools back down.  If we're lucky.  We walked 1.76mi in 33 minutes.  Considering we had 5 kids with us, I think we rocked it!

So the lesson I've learned over the last week-ish is that it's really not worth it to convince myself that I can't do a work out when my kids are with me.  Because now I'm going to have to step it up big time next week while they're at their dad's.  I'm going to have to be on the stationary bike every day for an hour, at the very least, along with keeping up with my walking & swimming.  I WILL finish the mileage in all areas for this Lazy Man Iron Man before the 4th of July.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

The family that works out together is a happy family :)

Picked up my girls last night & my BFF got back from Cali so we got our crews together to do some walking at our fail safe; the Riparian Preserve!  It's always interesting when we get the kids to go along with us, we never really know how long they'll hang in for the walking, but we actually were able to get in a decent walk last night with all of them there to entertain each other & hang out.  We walked 1.73mi in 33 mins!  Pretty good, we were pleased.  :)

The girls & I in pre-walk mode, waiting for the rest of the gang to show up.

Kim & I, post walk.  I <3 her!!

Today we will be poolside, hopefully sun burns will not be acquired & just relax mode & good times with good friends will take place.  Swimming is excellent exercise & I still have a little under a mile left for my Lazy Man Iron Man.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Whatever my excuse is, it's invalid.

I decided to take the night off of work outs last night.  My ankle was hurting, it's been a really long week, physically & emotionally.  Just needed a night to relax.  I don't regret it today, I think it's good to take days off at least once or twice a week to let my body "recover".  I stepped on the scale this morning before coming to work, just to see, and it said 236!  236!!!!!!  I've lost 3lbs this week!  SO excited!

My dear friend, Kim, sent me a link to something she'd watched while on vacation in California over the last couple of weeks.  It's an Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, with a man named Tony.  If you have the time to watch it, here's the link:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/367095#s-p1-so-i0

It's a 2 hour episode, so it's kind of long, but totally worth watching!  This man proved that no matter what life hands you, no matter what obstacles throw themselves at you, no matter how much you weigh when you start, no matter how old you are, that if you have the perseverance and determination to make significant changes in your life, you can accomplish your goals.  There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that I can't reach my goals, too.  The only person standing in my way is me.  I'm the only one who can convince myself that I can or cannot do this.  It's obvious from the results that I've been seeing since I started taking this process seriously, I know I CAN do this.  I just have to continue to have confidence in myself & not listen to the excuses I try & tell myself, I'll be golden.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

OH!  And something else that I've noticed this week, I can cross my legs & sit comfortably with them UNDER my desk!  I can't remember the last time I've been able to do that.  It's never been comfortable for me to sit with my legs crossed, first of all, and since I've been so big, they've always bumped into the edge of my desk, never been able to go under.  I hope someone knows what I mean, lol, it's kinda hard to explain, but it's pretty freaking exciting for me.  :D

I think "discipline" has set in.

I did not want to work out last night.  Not at all.  I was feeling very lazy & wanted to curl up on the couch and watch a movie.  But, again, I knew I would be upset with myself for not working out, so I laced up my shoes and went to the Riparian Preserve & had myself a really nice walk.  The weather was perfect, there's plenty of shade, and instead of walking on asphalt, it was dirt paths.  I think that if I decide to continue to walk throughout the summer, it will have to happen there.  It's too hot in the neighborhood or main streets.

3.43mi walk

Before I left my house to go for my walk, I did this again:

I keep getting compliments and encouragement from friends on my Facebook page and here, but there's something lacking at the moment.  I need something new.  I'm starting to get bored.  :/  But until I finish all that's required for this lazy man iron man, I'm kinda stuck with what I've got.  I'll be on the bike tonight for another 10mi and then I pick up my girls tomorrow for the week, so who knows what the week will have in store for us.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

3500 calories = 1 pound.

Drum roll please!!!  According to my weigh in this morning, I am down 1 more pound!  This is the exact reason why I didn't wimp out last night & not workout.  I love this picture & others like it, that give a complete visual of how nasty fat looks AND how much "only" 1 pound is.  I've read that it takes burning 3500 calories to lose a pound.  So yay me!!  4 more to go for new tattoo time!!  :D  Have a great day, everyone, I know I will.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Found this little gem.  :)

"I really regret that workout" - No One Ever

I was really not in the mood to workout today.  At all.  But I knew that I'd be mad at myself tomorrow if I didn't.  So I dragged my butt down to the workout room and rode the stationary bike for an hour, which is about 10 miles.  I post the same pics of myself on my Facebook wall as I do here, so the one yesterday, with the forced smile, was mostly for my little brother who is an exercise guru (he always tells me to show "enthusiasm" after my workouts, punk).  So I forced the smile, made sure he knew it and he asked for a wink with my smile today.  Here's my attempt, it's not as easy as you might think!

It's a little frustrating when I get done on the bike, it doesn't look like I'm sweating at all.  I promise, I'm sweating...it's all over my back.  :)

After I got back upstairs, I wanted to do a little extra & had been meaning to do this little extra calorie burner for a few days.

It wasn't too hard & got my heart pumping.  Ideally I should've gone through the process 2 or 3 times, but I didn't.  My legs were a little tired from the biking.  I'll try again tomorrow.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

It's too hot.

This picture will speak for itself.  After ending up NOT being sore today from all the hard work I did yesterday, determined to do more today to make my body hurt & feel some changes, I decided to go for a walk at 5:30pm, my weather app said it was "only" 100 degrees outside, and I made the brilliant decision to walk along the canal just south of where I live where there is absolutely no shade available whatsoever for the whole mile it covers.  Stupid, yes.  I had my hydration pack on, but it didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference.  I felt pretty nauseous by the time I was done.  Thankfully, I didn't puke.  I was able to get in 3.1mi (5k) before dragging myself home.  I've come to the realization that I'm either going to have to learn to like the treadmill in the work out room here at my complex or get up at 3am to walk before work.  I'm not excited about either option.  But I'll figure something out.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

No pain, no gain.

It's Sunday and I was wide awake at 6:30am.  Stupid.  Lol.  So I decided to go to the workout room at my complex & ride the stationary bike for a little while.  I am not a fan of stationary anything, bike, treadmill, etc.  I get bored.  I like being outside, I can look around, groove to my music & clear my head.  The scenery doesn't change when stationary.  But, I did it.  I was on that bike for 1 hour 10 mins & I figure that puts me in at about 10mi.  Woot!  It doesn't look like I did much from this pic, I wish I would've taken a pic of my back, it was soaked through.  Pretty satisfying.  :)

Since summer is upon us, I've really been wanting to get some kind of hydration backpack to wear while I'm out walking or biking or whatever.  I finally got one this week!  It's a 2L pack & has a little pocket in the front for me to put my car keys or whatever while I'm working out.  Here's a pic of said pack:

It was a pretty good buy, I found it at WalMart for $20.  There are bigger, prettier, fancier ones available, but they can get pricey.  For my purposes, it's pretty perfect & I'm pretty stoked about it.

I wanted to try out the pack tonight, so I went to my favorite spot to do some walking, the Riparian Preserve.  There's something about that place, it's peaceful, pretty & a lot of the trail is dirt, so I'm not walking on scorching hot pavement the whole time.  Tonight I did 3.4mi, and oh man, was I a sweaty mess when I got done!

After my workouts today, walking around getting stuff together for the week, I think I may actually be sore tomorrow!  I don't know if it's correct or not, but I associate being sore with having actually done something that's worked.  So call me crazy, but I hope I am, in fact, sore tomorrow.  They say "no pain, no gain" so that's what I'm shooting for.  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Determination

I took 2 days "off" from workouts because this week kicked my butt and it was over 105 every day.  I don't have a gym membership so pretty much everything I've been doing lately has been outside.  In the heat.  In the early evening.  Yuck.  But, my week with my daughters ended last night and even though today would've been the first chance for me to sleep in on a Saturday in months, I was up at 8:30am to catch up on some walking.  It's amazing to me that now, since I'm in the habit of doing daily workouts, how much I seem to miss doing it when I skip a few days.  I really do enjoy working out and how it makes me feel when I'm done.  I feel accomplished, which is something that feels good no matter what form it comes in.

When I left for my walk around 8:30am, it was 81 degrees outside.  After walking 3.05mi, which took me about 50 minutes, I checked the weather again (cause I was sweating like a pig!) and it was already up to 90 degrees.  A 9 degree increase in under an hour.  Yuck.

About an hour after I got home, I realized that I'd gotten a little sunburned.  :(  I really needed to go out and get some mileage on my bike today, but I didn't want to get fried.  So, I did a few things around the house, re-purposed an old, over sized t-shirt into a workout tank top & took a nap.  Here's the pattern I followed to re-purpose my t-shirt:

http://www.crafterhoursblog.com/2011/08/tee-to-tank-tutorial-by-jen-from.html

It was super easy, but it's a lot more time consuming if you're like me & don't have a sewing machine.  That's something I hope will be rectified in the near future, however.  I have so many ideas!

After my nap, I decided to go down to the pool & do some more laps.  Before July 4th gets here, for my Lazy Man Iron Man, I have to complete 2.4mi swimming.  After the .5mi I did tonight, I'm already 1.5mi done!  It feels pretty good!!  

My plan for tomorrow morning is to go down to the exercise room by the pool at my complex to try & catch up on my biking mileage down there.  It's a really old bike & it doesn't even track mileage anymore, but I've been averaging about 35 minutes to bike 5 miles out in the neighborhood, so I think I'll be able to make a pretty good guess.  And it's better to be in the AC that outside getting fried by the hot sun.  My skin will thank me.  :)  I got this.  I can do hard things.

Go for a walk!

I just found this and it speaks for itself, especially for us women.  Take a look & go for a walk!  

Listen to your body.

I've pushed myself hard this week.  Probably too hard.  Between having my kids, starting this lazy man challenge & temps over 105 all week, I think I exhausted myself.  So, I did nothing yesterday.  And that's ok.  My body needs time to rest & recoup.  And I can't even really say i did "nothing".  I took a nap, which is good, getting plenty of sleep will ensure that I have the energy to do the workouts that I want to be doing.  I ate clean.  AND I started a 14-day Acai Berry Cleanse.  I've been doing these "detoxes" once a month & they really do help.  I feel less bloated, it cleans me out from the inside, and keeps me regular.  :)  

The bottom line that I've come to conclude, is that if you're good to your body, you're body will be good to you.  I'm absolutely not an expert, I'm not perfect by any means in doing this (remember, I'm a smoker) but I know that I feel better when I'm actively making good decisions about what goes into my body and what I'm doing to try & strengthen my body through working out.  I plan on taking another nap this afternoon (remember, I'm old and I start work at 5am!  Lol) and then picking back up with some kind of workout.  I know my kids would be thrilled if that included pool time, so I think I'll need to make that happen.  Biking is something else I'm thinking needs to happen.  We'll see.  But I got this.  I can do hard things.

OH!  AND I have a new hiking partner!  My friend Mandy and I are going to get together as often as we can to go do some hiking.  It's going to be a blast!!