Something to Remember

Yesterday was yet again another day where I did NOT want to work out.  I got home and begrudgingly got into my work out clothes.  I dilly-dallied around the house "prepping" for the workout, which really should just consist of filling my bottle with water.  Somehow I stretched it into more than that to delay the inevitable meeting with the treadmill.  Finally, I sucked it up and hopped on the machine.

Instantly, my shins were in pain.  Because of the extra weight I carry around, the motion of running is extra hard on those precious shins.  Pound, pound, pound on the treadmill...I wanted to stop after one minute.  I nearly did.  However, I decided I could push through the pain.  A quote my friend had posted on facebook just that afternoon came to my mind: "Who do you want to be?....Now you know what you have to go and do." I knew that the person I wanted to be was not the lazy person who comes home and vegges out on the couch.  The person I want to be is strong, confident, and sexy.  She's a person who doesn't have to obsess about her weight because she's in great shape already.  She is someone who just has to focus on maintaining her body weight, not shedding it.  Oh how I long to be in the maintenance mode!

Anyway, so that quote was the last minute inspiration I needed.  I ended up running straight for 2.5 miles and then walking another .75.  After I was done I felt so proud of myself.  I know it is a small amount, but for me it was huge especially considering the roadblocks I had put in my way that I had to overcome just to get on the treadmill in the first place.  I think I need to focus on striving for the feeling I get AFTER I work out, not during.  I think that will keep me much more motivated in the future to workout!

This is a nice visual of how sweaty I am after work outs like that.  Gotta love it?

Frustrated

Do you ever have those days where you find it super hard to get motivated to go to the gym?  For me, it is pretty much a daily occurrence.  Yesterday was one of those days for me.

I was working late (I should work 8-5, but quite often i work 8-7+).  It was 7:00 and I knew that I needed to pack up and leave for home before it got even later and I lost all motivation to go running.  I pulled in the driveway only to remember that I absolutely had to go to the grocery store that moment and it couldn't be pushed off (birth control is a necessary thing, ladies!).  So I backed out of my driveway and drove the 15 minutes to the pharmacy and hurriedly shopped for the items I needed, and nearly got a ticket on the drive home!

Upon my return home, I looked at the grass on my front lawn and realized it had to be nearly 8 inches long.  Curse you, fertilizer!!  It couldn't be ignored, so I decided that would be a nice warm up for my workout.  I mowed the lawn (took about 1.5hrs) and then came inside to cool off.  I quickly changed into my workout clothes.  I decided that while I cooled down from being outside, I would put away the tent that was set up in my kitchen (totally random, I know, but my nephews spent the weekend with us and we camped in the front room!).      It was taking up a ton of space!

As I am tearing the tent down, my husband calls to tell me our friends from out of town are stopping by RIGHT NOW.  Not much I could do about that, but I love these friends so I was excited about it.  They stayed until about 10:00, and which point it was way too late for me to work out.  I can't sleep for a few hours after finishing running, and since I have to wake up early it wasn't a good idea.  It was frustrating though!  I was so proud of myself for getting home and getting in my clothes to run and being so close to conquering my lack of will power, only to not end up actually being able to follow through with it.  I guess the only consolation is that I didn't just come home and sit on my butt!

Weekly Weigh In

It's that time!  Here are the latest measurements:


Height:  65.5"  (hooray!  I haven't gotten shorter!)
Neck:  13" 
Left Bicep:  11.5"
Right Bicep:  11.5"
Bust:  37"
Waist (smallest part):  31.5"
Waist (biggest part):  37"
Hips:  46"
Left Thigh:  27.5"
Right Thigh:  27"
Left Calf:  16"
Right Calf:  16.5"
Weight:  163.4 lbs.


It looks like my body is following its typical weight loss path--I lose the weight in my gut and arms first.  It takes FOREVER to get the weight trimmed off my legs.  Oh well--I will take any sort of trimming I can get!  I was actually surprised my weight stayed low after the weekend that I had.  My family came into town to visit, so there was a lot of eating out.  Additionally, we bought some soda for everyone to drink while at our house (we never buy soda for ourselves) so I had one of my biggest vices readily accessible.  Going along with that, we also went out and got Nielson's Custard (ice cream) as a family and I got a big oreo shake.  Yikes.  I don't even want to think about the calorie content in that thing...

Either way, I am happy with the results from last week and look forward to working hard this week.  I just need to do a bit better with my diet.  My family reunion is only 3 weeks away and I want to be in the 150s before then.  It would be awesome if I could get down to 155 by then, but I will likely barely get to 158.  Here's hoping for miracles!  

Waterfall Canyon

Yesterday I went on the hike to Waterfall Canyon in Ogden.  It was quite the hike!  It was about 95 degrees when we started, and the first half of the hike is just switchbacks in the blaring sun.  The last half of the hike is also switchbacks, but at least it is in the shade by the stream!  It was a great hike though.  The waterfall is beautiful, even though my pictures don't really show it.

I hiked with one of my best friends from college.  She was my roommate for several years, and we've done a pretty good job of keeping in touch over the years.  She lives about 45 minutes away from me which causes some struggles, but we still try to see each other once every month or so.  I'm really proud of her though--back in the way when we were living together I was working out daily and was in the best shape of my life. At that point in her life, she was being rather sedentary and would always give me crap after I would come home from the gym each day.  She thought I was crazy to run and workout like I did!  However, now she has had a complete change of lifestyle and is running daily.  She recently ran her second 5K and is signed up for a 10K this October.  Next year she plans on running a half marathon.  To say I'm impressed is an understatement!  She is someone who inspires me to be my better self, and I am looking forward to more hikes with her.

Here she is--success at the top!

Slacker

I didn't workout last night.  I told myself it was because I was worried that I would be too sore for this hike I am going on today (climbs 2100 feet in a little over a mile!), but deep down I knew I was just being lazy.  The thing that is stupid about it is that it would've taken 30 minutes of my time and given me a great sense of pride.  30 minutes of slight discomfort or a  full day of disappointment and guilt for not following through.  It doesn't seem like a fair trade to me. I will have to remember this next time I am feeling like slacking...

Running

I have a love/hate relationship with running.  I have exercised induced asthma, so running is the fastest way for me to have an asthma attack.  However, it is also the best way I have found to lose weight and trim up fast.  So what do you do?  Me?  I run.  I find that in addition to the benefits of weight loss, it also helps me control my asthma.  By running daily, I am able to control my  breathing more than I normally would be able to without regular exercise.  Since anyone with asthma knows how bad it sucks to not be able to breathe, this is definitely a huge benefit.

Jason and I were lucky enough to get a free treadmill a couple of weeks ago.  A friend was moving and didn't need/want it so he gave it to us.  Score!  We set it up in our unfinished basement and I began using it to run on.  It was nice, but I find that I have plenty of excuses not to use it.  "It's hot in our house..." and "My ipod blocks the screen when I run"...blah blah blah.  So last night I "pimped" out my space.  I found a fan that I haven't used in years and hooked it up to the top of the treadmill, and got some awesome computer speakers and set up a stereo for me down there.  It was enough to motivate me to run right then and there, blister or no blister.  Now that's what I'm talking about...

I was feeling pretty proud of myself last night.  I had mowed the lawn (also a nice calorie burn) and then ran/jogged/walked 2.75 miles.  I figured I would see a nice move on the scale this morning.  Or not.  I weighed in at 165.4.  I think this is one of the reasons I get so frustrated when trying to get in shape.  When you do the right things and make the efforts, sometimes it just doesn't translate to the scale.  That's why I need to remind myself that the measurements are the important things to watch, NOT the scale.  In either case, I am not getting discouraged by the numbers.  I will just work that much harder today!

Backpacking in the Uintas

I was able to get out this past weekend and really push myself on some hiking trails.  I've never been backpacking before, so I was really nervous about carrying around 25 lbs of extra weight.  Let's be honest, I'm not a fan of the 25 lbs of extra weight I am already carrying around!  So needless to say, I was a bit antsy as we drove up to the trailhead.  However, once we got started I realized that I was totally capable of it and even more than that, I loved it!  I can't wait to go again.  We were originally planning on doing an easy 2 mile (one-way) hike to a place called Twin Lakes where we would set up camp for the evening.  However, when we got there we found a large crowd had already claimed it and we wanted more solitude.  The only other option was to continue up the trail another 2.5 miles to a more secluded area.  It involved climbing a bunch of switchbacks which is always a great work out.  I was definitely sweating by the time we reached the peak.  However, it was totally worth the effort.  I could definitely see myself going on backpacking trips every weekend if my schedule would allow it.  It was a nice reminder to go outside my comfort zone and try new things.  Here are some pictures:

At Wall Lake

So many lakes that some aren't even named!

At the top of Notch Pass

This is at Ibantik Lake.  This photo does a good job of showing the spare tire.  :)

Totally worth the effort to see these meadows!

Beautiful!

When we finally got home on Saturday, I was extremely sore.  My body hurt in places it hasn't hurt in for a long time.  Also, I received a nice blister on the bottom of my foot that definitely prevented me from running today.  However, the good news is that when I stepped on the scale this morning I was greeted with a 164.2. Much better than 168.  I'm sure it is related to the time of day I weighed myself last week, but I'll take it!  Here's hoping by Friday I can get it down to 162.  It's the little things in life that bring the joy!