Random three day weekend

I have already had two Non Scale victories this weekend! Although to be fair, the hubby took yesterday off work so I am halfway in to a three day weekend and both victories are fitness related.

Friday is my cross training day for half marathon training. I have decided that I will mostly use my elliptical for cross training until spring weather is here and I can enjoy bike rides. So Friday morning I put on my workout gear and headed down to the basement where all workout equipment goes to die the elliptical is stored. I dusted it off and hopped on. Of course the batteries were dead. I could still use it, but I wouldn't be able to see any info or change the resistance. I dug through our batteries and found every single type of battery other than the kind I needed. Normally, I would throw in the towel and complained about it all day and of course used it as an excuse to just skip the elliptical until we got batteries.

Something miraculous happened instead, I headed back down stairs with my heart rate monitor on and made up a workout and just focused on keeping my heart rate up. I did some jogging, jumping jacks, jump rope and even dusted off an old step for step aerobics and spent a song 'stepping.' I had decided I would just spend a half hour cross training, so I moved it for 30 minutes and burned 150 calories. Not my strongest workout, but I burned more calories than I would have feeling bad for myself and lack of elliptical batteries. (While out on Friday I did pick up batteries so crisis averted for next week.)

Today, Saturday, is my long run day. I had decided that I could do most of my weekday, short runs on the treadmill during little lady's naps until spring when I break out the jogging stroller again. I had planned on doing my long runs on the weekend so I could run them outside while hubs watches little lady. I did not want to do ANY long runs on the treadmill.

This week we have been covered with about a foot of snow. I don't mind running in the cold or snow, but I am afraid of slipping on ice. The trail that I run on is used by snow mobiles if there is more than an inch of snow on the trail. I figured the snow out there is a snow mobiler's dream and I feared I would be run down by a snow mobile. I debated about switching the long run to Sunday, but figured it would be just as snowy tomorrow and I had to face reality. I would be doing a long run on my treadmill.

I felt so happy when I actually completed my long run. To be fair, the run was only 4 miles and as training progresses I will have to run 4 or 5 miles during the week, which may have to be done on the treadmill. It was a huge accomplishment for me since; 1- I didn't use the snow as an excuse to skip a run and 2- I actually ran 4 miles in my room today! It felt good and I ran 3.15 miles and then walked for .1 mile and finished the rest running. Completing that run on the treadmill made me feel much more confident for my week day runs. I was hesitant that I would ever do the 4/5 miles runs on the treadmill, but I know that if I could do 4 miles then I can definitely do 5 miles. There is no stopping me now!

With that run I have officially completed one week of half marathon training! Only 11 more to go!

Friday Figures

So, I obviously changed my mind and decided to weigh in today anyways. I was actually really anxious to see where I would be. I almost stepped on the scale last night, but I knew that would ruin it for me. This morning I stepped on and actually didn't feel much of anything when seeing the number. 167.0 It's so weird for me to not be overly concerned with what the scale is telling me. I definitely enjoyed seeing a lower number and I had actually thought it might have been even lower, but I am mostly just happy that it didn't change my mood one way or another.

My weight loss competition ends on Tuesday at midnight. I figure I will just use Tuesday's weigh in as my weekly weigh in. I am assuming I will not want to weigh in the day after Thanksgiving. I will be attempting to eat within reason on Thanksgiving day, but I will not be counting calories. The day after Thanksgiving though I have to jump right back into my new habits. That will be the real test.

I also had a non scale victory this week. On Monday I bought a bag of Dove chocolates for emergencies. That is normal behavior, right? Every has emergency chocolate, yes? I actually managed to ignore the chocolate until Thursday. I am not sure what the emergency was, but I really needed chocolate. I took one out and told myself that I could have ONE if I promised to stop there. I did it! Today I saw the bad again and I could not stop thinking about it. I gave myself the same lecture that I did yesterday and had success again. I was quite happy with that. I am keeping the bag in the freezer and it seems to help a little. When they are in the cupboard I can grab one and eat it before I even sit down to enjoy it. When they are frozen I am still enjoying when I get to my seat. I am feeling proud and in control.

Breakfast of champions

 I am having such a hard time staying motivated right now. I am totally blaming the weather! I did manage to stay on track yesterday and I feel good about that. I even tried to run. I decided that I wanted to run yesterday so I busted out the old treadmill. Oh boy, do I hate that thing. I started out and my thighs felt weird, like it was painful when they jiggled (embarrassing) but I kept going. Normally I know they jiggle, but I can't actually feel it. I was trying to pick up the pace and my calf started hurting. Back track: The night after the 10k I was feeling fine. Nothing seemed sore from my 10k. When I was laying in bed, I did a full body stretch and my calf cramped up really bad. It cramped up off and on through the night. Since that night though it has seemed fine. Back to my story: As I was attempting to pick up speed my calf was starting to cramp. I decided that since I didn't have to run/wasn't enjoying it that I could stop. I really don't want to cause an injury unnecessarily. I was disappointed in myself that I didn't even run for a full 10 minutes, but I let it go.

I was going to do a Jillian Michaels workout today, but it started with a lot of arm swinging and then into push ups and for whatever reason my shoulder is still having issues. I decided that I would do a brisk half hour walk on treadmill. That seems good for a recovery week.

I did have a bit of a non scale victory yesterday along with staying within my calories for the day. I went grocery shopping and actually stuck to my list (for the most part)! I have been enjoying yogurt as a snack so I needed to pick up some yogurt. While looking through the yogurt for my new favorite, Muller, I noticed they had a bit more variety than last week. I had found Muller yogurt and fruit mousse. It is delicious and perfect when I want something sweet. This time along side of the fruit mousse yogurt there were little yogurts with "accessories." They had fruit ones, but of course I was much more intrigued with the desserty types. They had yogurt with "choco balls" and another with caramelized almonds. The fruit mousse yogurt is less than 150 calories (high for a snack, but worth it to me) but these treats were over 200 calories. I bought one of each and decided they could be a breakfast option. Here comes the non scale victory part: I tend to get home from the grocery and want "just a taste" of every delicious food that I brought home. I was trying to move some calories around and eat a yogurt after lunch. I knew that if I spent those extra calories right after lunch, I would be hungry and in need of those calories later. I managed to resist the yogurt all day, even after enjoying a glass of wine!

I did decide that the perfect Halloween Breakfast would be yogurt with "choco balls." I believe I was right.
Breakfast of champs.

yummy holiday breakfast

delicious, but the picture is deceiving

Mustard

I did it! I wore my bright yellow mustard sweater out today! I felt amazing and didn't mind if the color brought a little attention my way. I even took a picture of me before I left. I thought I looked amazing and sort of panicked once I was out because occasionally I think I look great in a picture when it's nice and small on the camera and then when it's full size on the computer I realize that I look rough. As soon as little lady went down for her nap, I pulled up the picture on the computer. I was okay with what I saw. It was also nice to only have to take one picture to get a good one and not take a million different pictures to try to make myself look less fat.

feeling much better than last week!

This picture actually helped me on my run this afternoon. I got some more use out of the treadmill today. I had 3 miles on the schedule and figured I could get it in while little lady sleeps. It felt better than last time, but was also super boring. I did not feel like running. I took 2 breaks from the treadmill during the run. I got it done though and feel good about it. As I was nearing the end of my run I kept thinking I could just stop running and call it day, that I didn't need to do the whole 3 miles. Then, I started to think about why I want to run. I was thinking about how nice the picture made me feel. I hate full body photos, but I don't hate this one. I like that my legs are beginning to thin out- running sure is good for the legs! I also really liked that my collarbones really popped in the picture. There have been times where I try to make them pop a little for a picture in hopes of tricking someone into believing that I am not as heavy as I am, but these were truly there on their own- I am betting running may have helped take some of the extra padding off them. I also can see my midsection isn't as big as it was but still has some extra cushion- running will help shrink that down some more. So I finished strong and felt happy!


On a different note there were some possible victories for me this weekend. I turned down pizza twice! I was proud and felt like it was victorious but at the same time I don't want to go over board on not letting myself enjoy pizza occasionally. I felt that I really needed to eat well this weekend after the rough start to last week (it paid off though because I am back down from my binges and heading in the right direction).

While we were out thirfting on Saturday we had planned on going out to lunch. The hubs and I don't always agree on where to eat so before lunch time the hubby told me he would really prefer Jet's (pizza place) or Subway. I agreed on trying to let that happen since Jet's will sell by the slice and I would just order one. I really was hoping for Subway though because Jet's pizza is super greasy. As luck would have it, the plaza we were thrifting in around lunch time had both a Jet's and a Subway. Hubby was set on Jet's and for a second I almost went with him there. I used to have a crazy fear of ordering food alone in a restaurant. Even if we were in a food court, I would eat wherever he was eating from even if I didn't like it so I didn't have to order alone. Thankfully, I snapped out of it before entering Jet's and told him I was going to Subway. He got his pizza and met us (little lady and I) at Subway. We enjoyed our lunch together and I felt successful.

Sunday we had planned on cooking up some of the pierogies we made last month, but as evening got closer, hubby was feeling pizza again. We don't order pizza very often and I tend to always say no when he wants pizza so I told him that he could have pizza, but I was going to eat my planned meal. I felt sort of bad for not sharing dinner with him, but I had already thawed out the pierogies and was actually excited for dinner. I had something new to pair my pierogies with. Last weekend at the farmer's market I bought a huge bag of squash to share with my mom. One of the squashes that I got, the farmer described as sort of a cross between a butternut squash and an acorn squash- it's a butterCUP squash. I hadn't heard of that before and was excited for it.

buttercup squash! I loved the look of it.

The pierogies that I made were my sweet cheese ones so I thought they would go perfectly with a slightly sweet squash. I cut open the squash and "gutted" it, then roasted it in a pan with a little bit of water at 350* for almost an hour. I mashed up the flesh and added about a tablespoon of syrup to it. It was delicious! My pierogie filling was made with low fat ricotta cheese so I don't think they were to bad for me. I felt full and happy, which would not have happened if I ate the pizza (well, full? yes, happy? no)

flesh inside

The seeds were huge! We roasted them for a little snack. They were ok, but I enjoy acorn squash seeds better.

Last side note of this long post. I also found a fruit I had never seen before while I was out today-Kiwi berries. They are about the size of grapes and tasty! I am enjoying my new fruits and veggies. Who knew being healthy could be so fun?!?

cute little kiwi berries

Weekend recap and more

As the weekend comes to and end I can't help but think this was a perfect weekend - slightly lazy, but still accomplished a few things.

Friday I was thinking a lot about my new love of healthy living. I really want to focus more on enjoying life and still being healthy. I don't want to feel like I have to turn down fun events because I don't know if I can control myself. I also want to live in the moment and enjoy life while losing weight. I tend to turn down fun ideas from the husband all of the time because they may involve eating or drinking. I was trying to come up with something fun to do at home on Friday that he would really enjoy. I know that he loves sitting by the campfire and I usually turn him down because either I don't want to drink a ton by the fire, or I think it's to cold.

Oddly enough before I even asked him to enjoy the fire with me, he asked if I wanted to have a fire. I was excited. I had already decided that I would just wear my winter coat to the fire to stay toasty. (I don't know why I have never thought to do this before. I always just wear a hoodie and then complain that it's cold.) I also wanted to enjoy one drink at the fire. I was thinking about my wine, but then realized it's in the fridge and will be cold. I wanted to make a nice warm drink so I looked through what we had. The only alcohol we had in the house was wine, beer and peppermint schnapps from last Christmas. I decided I would make a hot chocolate and add the peppermint schnapps. It was pretty tasty and I had enough calories to cover it and enjoy guilt free.

spiked hot cocoa in a cozy mug

We sat out by the fire and talked for awhile. I sipped my hot chocolate and stayed bundled up in my sweatshirt and winter coat, while the hubs stayed warm in a hoodie. It was nice and I truly enjoyed that. We also planned some fun for Saturday.

What a blazin fire we had!

Saturday morning we woke up early, well little lady woke us up at her usual 6:45. We all got ready for the day and left the house around 7:50 to get my car back to shape. The hubby checked the tire when he got home from work and said that I ruined the actual rim/wheel of the tire and that can be costly. I was feeling really bad about it, but he was super sweet about it and went down to Discount Tire with me in the morning.  I have a temporary wheel on until they can call for parts on Monday and let me know.

ugly tire, but drives nice

After what felt like forever we were on for the fun portion of the day. We went thrifting!  I love that we both really enjoying thrifting and can enjoy that time together. I found so many fun clothes. I only had 2 sweaters/long sleeve shirts in my closet. I always felt to fat to wear sweaters so my whole wardrobe consisted of jeans, t shirts and cardigans. In the winter I would just wear a cardigan over my summer outfits. I felt like it hid my muffin top much better than a sweater. Lately I have been wanting to wear actual sweaters and long sleeve shirts. We went to 3 thrift stores and I bought 6 shirts, one hoodie and one pair of jeans. I am so excited. Each shirt and the hoodie were about $3 each, so $21 on tops  and the jeans were $7 but they are seven for all mankind. I was excited about the jeans, but they don't fit me yet. They will though! I also love the hoodie. It feels slightly quilted and super warm. I also love that I feel confident enough to start wearing brighter colors. I don't feel the need to blend in.

$28 worth of clothes

Sunday has been much more laid back. Little lady and I decided to head out for a few things, mainly diaper cream. I decided to go to Target instead of the much closer Meijer because (a) little lady was cranky and I thought a long car ride would help and (b) my Target running running shorts size large seemed a bit big and I wanted to buy clearance shorts for next summer. We spent a lot of time looking at all the wonderful Target things. They had some really cute coats! I loved that I could try them up and zip them up! I didn't buy any coats though because I don't really need any fall coats and they were $40. I did end up buying a new cardigan. I have wanted a mustard yellow one forever, but haven't found one/wasn't sure I felt confident enough to wear yellow. I have one now and I will feel confident enough to show it off! I also bought a size medium pair of running shorts. They are a different cut than my size large though so the mediums are tight. I can still wear them though, but they really accentuate the muffin top. I think they will be perfect for next year.

As we were at Target, I realized that we were super close to Kohl's (I don't head to this side of town often). Kohl's is one of the few places that I can buy bras. The bras that I had been wearing were finally getting ridiculous on me. The cup went up so high on my chest that it was very noticeably peaking out in a tank top. It just looked odd and the band was starting to feel loose and spend most of the day riding up on me. We headed in to bra shop. I wasn't sure what size the bra was that I was wearing. I thought it was 38DD (the size I always claim to be) so I looked at 38Ds. I don't know why I didn't think to try a smaller band on. I was in a panic, I hate bra shopping. I tried on a few but they didn't fit right. As I was trying bras on I looked to see what size and brand my current bra was. I knew I bought it at Kohl's and figured I would just get a smaller one of the same bra. My old bra was 40DD. I didn't like seeing that and was glad I had blocked that out of my memory. I couldn't find the brand that I wanted, but ended up finding a brand that actually carried a 36DD. It's hard to find larger cup sizes with smaller bands. I tried it on and it feels perfect! I am wearing a 36DD bra! I feel great and am excited that my band size is 4 inches smaller than last time. Although the old bra was always worn on the tightest fitting and wasn't tight at all. I am wearing my new bra on the loosest fitting, but it feels perfect!