Weight Watchers Wednesday

So I don't have anything profound to write about on this Weight Watchers Wednesday, except that I'm officially back on the waggon, counting points.  So far I'm just participating online but plan on going to meetings on weekends.  Being on WW while breastfeeding is a total trip, I can't even eat all my points!  They say only to lose 1-2 lbs a week while breastfeeding so it's going to be hard to be patient.  I keep telling myself it took my body 9 months to get this way, it's not just going to snap back in place in 2 months and that's okay.  But it feels good to have some semblance of control over my body and its physical condition again. 

I started back at the gym this weekend, I'm mostly concentrating on lifting weights and have resolved to wait until 8 weeks post partum to work on my abs to give them ample time to close up again.  So now Wish me luck!

Kelly and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

This past week I had a rotten day.  The ins and outs of what I found so disturbing are neither here nor there.  But what I thought was interesting was my method of coping:

• Came home, stripped off work clothes, put on big fuzzy pink bathrobe.
• Husband came home, told him about my day, cried, mascara full on running down my face.
• Lots of sympathetic hugs and snuggles from him and the pups.
• Ate leftovers in lieu of cooking dinner as planned, put on my running shoes and headed down to Town Lake.
• Upon getting out of my car a man came up to me and asked me to use his cell phone.  He'd somehow managed to lock his keys, cell phone, and wallet in his trunk and his alarm kept going off.  Assessed that his story was probably legit and that he was not an axe murder or phone stealer (I have an iPhone 3G anyways, if it got jacked, good excuse to get the next model right?) and he was in fact having a worse day than me.  I took pity on him, let him use my phone and wished him luck.
• Ran 3 miles while watching the sun set on the beautiful Austin downtown skyline.  God I love Austin.
• Might have inadvertently gotten into a foot race with an old man.  He kept running next to me, changing his pace to match mine.  So I sprinted up a hill and he totally did too?!  What.  The.  Heck?  By that point I was out of breath and stopped to walk, he ran 10 more paces, turned around and looked at me, and stopped and walked confirming my suspicion that it was TOTALLY INTENTIONAL.  And also I got my butt kicked in a race by some old dude. Was more amused than anything by this. 
• Totally sweated out all my anger/angst.
• Came home, played with the pups more, knocked out some stuff for work and responded to some of my blog comments, at which point my hubs came home from hanging out with friends.
• As I was responding to the comments, I guess I was smiling really big (love you guys that actually read this thing!) and he said "What are you smiling at?" and I responded, "Does it matter, I'm actually smiling!", he responded "yeah, it looks good on you".  Love him so much, what a stellar ending to a less than ideal day!

Getting My Groove Back

For the past 6 months or so I have had zero workout mojo.  I came to a point on my business trip to Denver a few weeks ago where I became totally grossed out with my eating, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle and more than anything, stuffing my jiggly body into Spanx every five minutes. 

So far, I consider myself back on track for a total of one week.  One day at a time, one foot in front of the other.  I'm back on Weight Watchers and am really enjoying the new Points Plus program!  It really benefits those who want to build muscle and have energy to workout regularly.  And the points are really generous, I find that I struggle to use all my points each day and am really racking up the activity points!

I'm back in the saddle with exercise.  My goal is to workout 4 days a week and attend yoga one day a week.  One day lower body lifting, one day upper body lifting and two days of cardio.  I've forgotten how good cardio feels.  I hit the trail down at Town Lake for a run this weekend and swam a mile in the pool a couple weeks ago.  I'm also planning on checking out Zumba this week. 

I know it'll take 4 or 5 more weeks to see results, but I'm looking forward to feeling better.  AND I've been doing the 200 sit-up training program.

I'm fairly curious how my abs will look at the end of this 6 week program.  All the trainers I've worked with have stressed how critical it is to cut carbs for a toned mid-section, but I just don't buy it.  If you're eating the right kind of carbs and have a diet low in fat, you need those whole grains for energy.  I've never bought into the no carb lifestyle, it's not realistic.  We'll see where a sensible diet and a little sweat get me.  I might even take a before and after picture.....but let's not get ahead of ourselves.  What are you doing to get ready for summer?

Haiku For Emotional Eating

Donuts, chips, tacos
Barbecue pork ribs, sausage
Fond farewell small ass.

So I am cutting back on the drinking, so what do I do when the going gets tough?  Stuff everything in site in my face aparently, FML.

The Bathing Suit Cometh

My new spring bathing suit came in the mail today from Victoria's Secret.  I got two and let the husband decide on the winner.  I was procrastinating on the bikini readiness plan, but starting next week we'll be t-minus 6 weeks until our Belize trip.  Training for the Cap 10k certainly isn't hurting, but I have been eating like a linebacker, which isn't helping.  Here's what I had today: 2 chocolate glazed donuts, 2 deli sandwiches, 2 pickles, 2 bags of chips (and not the baked kind).  Yeah.  And all that was before 3 PM, it was like I was eating for 2 people (do not read into that statement, I am not).

So Sunday we start the Belize Bikini Rediness Program.  It will consist of this:

March 14- April 14:  WW counting points at maintenence level, no cheating!
April 15-28th: Low Carb blitz to make sure the midsection is in optimal conditon for romping under a palm tree.

April 29th-May 3: Aquire tan on a beach in Central America that will be the envy of all my friends back home.  Above is a photo from the one of the resorts we'll be staying at...Can't wait!

Running Fail and Things to Put in Your iPod Whilst Tearing Holes in Your Feets

Tonight I did my 2.5 miles, I was staying loose, hanging tough, feeling good.  Like I could go all the way to 5k even though I wasn't planning to go that far and at a faster pace than usual.  Then around mile 1.75 I started feeling chafing in my left arch.  Since I was running on the treadmill and was too stupid, lazy, etc to stop and adjust my shoe, I got a nice blister right on my arch. 

I run with custom made orthotics and I think the one in my left shoe slipped forward, not sure what happened, same shoes and socks I've had for a year, same orthotics I've had for like 12 years.  So I called my friend Kristen who is the best runner I know for advice.  I think I'm going to stick to my training plan but hunt down some Spyroflex at REI before my next run scheduled on Friday.  Hopefully they have some, last time I went, they were out and I had to special order it from some backpacking shop in effing Utah.

So in case you were wondering what's blasting in my headphones while I rip my feet to shreds, here's my recent play list:

Major Tom-Shiny Toy Guns
Don't Stop Believing-Glee Soundtrack
Cappuccino-The Knux
Carry Out-Timbaland and Justin Timberlake
Hard-Rihanna
Evacuate the Dancefloor-Cascadia
Bulletproof-La Roux
Stronger-Kanye West
Crazy Bitch-Buckcherry
Wheels-Foo Fighters
Do You Remember-Jack Johnson

Try it out, I think you'll enjoy it!

The Rundown

So I finally did it on Monday, I signed up for the Statesman Capital 10K.  Time to get serious!  Here's my training plan for the week:

Tuesday: Upper Body Workout
Wednesday: Run 2.5 miles
Thursday: Body Pump
Friday: Early AM run before work, 2 miles
Saturday: Outdoor run, 5k

Apparently I already blew my rest days on Sunday and Monday.  Oh well, the runs are short, recovery will be easy, already restarted my glucosamine and flaxseed oil suppliments.  The key I find is very slowly working up my milage, otherwise my muscles and ligaments start to give me problems, setting back my training. 

I'm going to try and do 2 treadmill runs a week and one trail run on the weekend, keep up with my strength training on the 2 other days of the week allowing for one day of yoga and one day of total rest.  We'll see how this goes...

What Have You Done Today To Make You Feel Proud?

So I was at the gym tonight, doing what I call my "high and tight" booty/ab workout, which consists of:

• Leg Press Alternating with Calf Presses
• Dumbell Lunges
• Hamstring Curls on a Swiss Ball
• Lateral Box Shuffles
• Situps on a Swiss Ball with Weight
• Medicine Ball Twists
• Some sort of leg lift lower ab things I don't know what to call....

I call it this because on my wedding day, I was washing my hands in my parents' hotel room and my aunt comes in and says "Look at her butt!  It's so high and tight!  Have you seen her butt?"  I turn around to see who my aunt is talking to and it is none other than my father.  I resume washing my hands praying that there is no response from my father...which there was not...thank God.  Hard to be nervous about getting married when you're busy being totally mortified. 

Anyways, so I hit the cardio machines and I'm watching The Biggest Loser on closed caption, so I'm not totally sure what is going on, but Jillian has all these plates of Mexican food in front of her.  Some of my faves are on the table, the Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme, burritos, nachos.  For some unknown reason Jillian has to eat a meal of these things because they represent a meal the fat people used to eat in a day.  She looked like she was totally going to vom and actually spit out the nachos.  How can you look disgusted when you're putting nachos in your face?  All I could think is "Hey Jillian, those are good nachos you're spitting out!"  Yeah, that's probably why I'm not skinnier.  Oh well, her biceps scare me anyways. 

Confession Monday

This weekend I pushed it pretty hard with the workouts.  Friday night (after a week where my brain had been totally converted to a mushy goo after 50 hours of business tripping, project budgeting, and general workyness) I ran, which was a nice little stress relief and Saturday I did a leg and swimming work out.  I had to stop half way through my weight training because I pulled a ligament in my knee.  Darryl was on the machine next to me and was trying to coach me on how to do the exercise.  I knew how to do the exercise, I just put too much weight on the machine and was in a lot of pain.  But Darryl kept going on and on about how to do it, which was sweet and I would typically appreciate this sort of input from him, but he wasn't hearing the key issue at hand so I practically yelled at him "WHAT I AM TRYING TO TELL YOU IS THAT I'M HURT, SO BAD, THAT WE MIGHT NEED TO STOP IMMEDIATELY AND GO HOME."

That seemed to get through to him, so he suggested I try walking it off, which I did, successfully.  So then we swam for 40 minutes.  It's a good thing I didn't finish my leg workout, because Sunday, I was pretty sore from what I did do.  Now, a normal person would probably take the day off, but instead I went back to the gym Sunday morning, worked my upper body, and then did a bike/run brick.  My quads were so sore, I could barely stand stretching them before starting. 

So my confession for this Monday?  My quads are so sore, that I can no longer sit on a toilet seat without the help of a grab bar.  I will be using the handicapped bathroom at work because at home, I have no handle and I have to A) stretch before attempting to pee and B) lower myself onto the toilet seat by grabbing onto it and doing some sort of acrobatic move to lower myself down that would rival things I've seen in a Cirque Du Soleil show.  And this is how I'm faring AFTER Advil. 

Working on My Fitness

I'm getting a running start at the new year and in celebration of that, I think I need a couple new workout wardrobe items.  I am not the sharpest when it comes to figuring out workout gear.  I had to phone Kristen when I was buying running shorts to ask what the bloomer thingies were for, was I supposed to wear underwear with them?  Kristen told me no, that was the point of them, but it still doesn't feel right.  So when I did the Capital 10K, I wore underpants, running tights, and then my running shorts with bloomers.  That's like 4 layers of crotch coverage.  It's a wonder I could even run....

Since I've started running more, I've noticed that once I get past the 2 mile mark I start sweating like a whore in church.  One time I was running in a cotton t-shirt and it got plastered all sideways on my torso.  This is kind of a new experience for me since I am a notorious non-sweater, I might glisten a little, but a full out sweat to soak through a shirt, unheard of.  So I've been looking for more sweat wicking garments to wear when I work out and I've been wanting a tank like the one above.  My question is this, do I wear a sports bra under this?  The website says it has a built in shelf bra that provides light support.  Light support?  Who needs light support when they're running?  I may not be endowed to Pamela Anderson proportions but I still like a the idea of strapping the girls down as tightly as possible to the point of me forgetting I have them, because frankly, I have enough other issues to deal with when I'm trying to run.  What am I supposed to do here?  Do they make other tanks with better control?  Or am I supposed to be wearing a sports bra under it?  I'm so confused.

One area I have gotten under control is my diet/workout plan.  Here's the plan for next week, if any of my real life friends (::cough:: Christine and Janet) who read this want to come with to work out or invite themselves over for dinner, shoot me a comment/text/twitter.  The more the merrier.

Sunday-upper body/abs/Char Siu pork roast with stir fried veggies and brown rice
Monday-swimming/Chicken with Mushrooms and White Wine over pasta with a salad (from my new WW cookbook)
Tuesday-legs/abs/leftovers, no cooking
Wednesday-run/Chicken Paprikash with a side salad
Thursday-off, celebrating NYE at Vicars and Tarts party
Friday-off, Arroz con Pollo
Saturday-run/abs/taking the night off from the kitchen

Testosterone Festival

My traininator is competing in a fitness competition at the Testosterone Festival (you can't make that stuff up) this weekend and invited us to come cheer him on. I can't make it because of my work schedule this weekend, but I don't think I could show my face at that sort of thing, maybe if Darryl was with me, but then he'd probably see something all cool and we'd be stuck there all day. Anyways, I'll be sending him good juju while I carefully avoid bikini models, UFC fighters, and God knows what else. Tell your menfolk.

Confession Monday

I think it's been quite some time since I've done this feature of my blog, but I have a lot to confess as of late, so pour yourself a cup of coffee while I spill.

I dance around to Cobra Starship's Good Girls Go Bad and sing Leighton Meester's part into my hairbrush on almost a daily basis.

It's a great song, she looks smokin' hot in the video and I kind of want to be her.

I finally hit my goal weight!

It has been nearly half a decade since I've seen the number 2 as the second digit of my weight! I'm finally there! I may or may not have spent Sunday afternoon stuffing my face with guacamole, chips and salsa to celebrate, heh.

I've decided flying coach is played out

I made Darryl snap photos of his seat in business class before he took off on his business trip to China this morning. The seats recline a full 180 degrees, which is rare in business class, and since it's a 15.5 hour flight, being able to lie down is awesome. I've done the transpacific thing a few times in coach and although coach on long haul flights can be pretty posh, I think I need full relination (I think I made that word up). Also, what does the person in the window seat do in this scenario if the aisle person is laid our sleeping and they need to use the lavatory? Do you vault over your seat buddy? I would. We flew first class on our honeymoon too. And on our engagement trip. Seriously, I cannot go back. I've even gotten Darryl all into using the airport club lounges. Soon he will be hooked like I am, MUAH HA HA!

Food Angst

After reading my friend Elizabeth's post at The Waspy Redhead I was reminded of how once upon a time I used to cook fabulous Sunday night meals (or while I was briefly between jobs, Wednesday night dinner parties, complete with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres). I would cook things I saw online, or on cooking shows or in Cooking Light. I was a good cook.

Now, it seems like the only thing I cook is from Hungry Girl or WW. Don't get me wrong, these are great resources, but I miss cooking real food. Food that Darryl enthusiastically consumes rather than tolerates. I've lost a lot of weight and I want to keep it that way. I've been back in the gym with my trainer, I work out 5x a week, I feel like I have no time to fit in more workouts, I'm at maximum capacity. In theory I could still make one of these naughty meals (even Cooking Light's meals are WAY to high in points) once a week to help me get out my ya yas, but there are other places I'm allowing myself to indulge, like at baby showers (crammed a cupcake into my face, plus an extra generous serving of 7 layer dip and sherbet punch) or on a friend's boat (downed half a bag of potato chips) or out to eat with friends (refried beans...made with lard), so frankly, I have to keep it under pretty tight control when I eat at home.

Ugh.

One Stomach Flu Away From My Goal Weight

You know that line from the Devil Wears Prada where Emily says "I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight. "

A) I have eaten a cube of cheese many times when I felt like I was going to faint

B) I was able to achieve my goal weight via this week's stomach flu

We'll see if it maintains once I'm rehydrated. Booooo hideous stomach pains, hooray goal weight! Now to get my strength back so I can return to the gym.

I would like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party.

"Excuse me?
The... party. With the... with the pants. Party with pants?
Brick, are you saying that there's a party in your pants and that I'm invited?"

I'm down 18 lbs and all of my dressy work pants no longer fit, I could hold a party in my pants. I've resorted to wearing the Express Editor pants I bought circa 2003, which now fit like a dream. On one hand, it's a great problem to have, on the other, getting dressed for work is becoming a problem.

In other news, love Kate's post on the topic. I also love that I got an email from corporate instructing me not to panic. I wasn't panicking until I got said email. They probably don't have swine flu in Jamaica.

I'm a Shopaholic, I Can't Live Without Shopahol!

Over the weekend I picked up these little beauties, Luccese 1883 in goat leather. In order to wear these boots I had to come to terms with the fact that my jeans were all too big and baggy or too short to pair with these. Consequently, I went to ON and got a smaller, longer pair of jeans, which felt really good. My trainer and I had our last session today, so far I've lost 16 lbs and about 3 inches all over and lowered my body fat percentage. I'm going to try and fit in a run some time this weekend, if I can get a moment to breathe.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Best of Times

• My ipod Nike+ chip came in the mail today, hooray!

• I only have 2 more trainer sessions, I love my trainer and have gotten amazing results, but it's been 2x a week for 2 months. I am crying uncle. She asked if I wanted to add a couple more sessions, but with a business trip coming up next week and my family pre-wedding commitments starting the Wed night before, plus trying to squeeze in a last WW meeting, there was just no way. I WILL be working out on my own though, I will just have to do it outside the times she's available.


• My leg wasn't hurting at all today, I plan on doing a 1 mile run with zero incline tomorrow to test the waters.
  
• The Easter bunny brought me the same VS Pink lotion I got as a shower gift for my bridesmaids. I've been smelling myself all day, I smell so good!


• I found these compression wraps I can wear on my calf while I run to help keep the muscle warm and supported to help prevent future deep muscle pain. I'm going to see if they stock them at RunTex. The article also gave tips on applying heat before the run, cold after, being very conservative with the mileage increases, and avoiding hill work like the plague.

Worst of Times

• I nearly threw up during my workout. It's probably because my premeal workout consisted of a half a chocolate bar and a corn dog.


• I have monster PMS so I came home and ate the other half of the chocolate bar...for dinner. Well, I had a slice of 2% cheese and a Fresca too, very nutritious.
  
• I found out that my first generation ipod touch is incompatible with my Nike + chip, you have to have a second generation Touch. I assumed I had the second generation since I never run out and buy anything iPod right away. Then I remembered that Darryl bought it for me, that explains it. We ended up deciding to split the cost of a new Nano for me to use on my outdoor runs and for D to take skiing rather than risking his precious iPhone. Once we get the Nano we will have 5 iPod devices in our household and one generic media player. We have a problem.


• Darryl talked me out of doing a 5k the weekend before the wedding. He told me I didn't need to be limping down the aisle. Really Darryl? Should you be talking?
• Despite the fact that we are well past the RSVP deadline and have contacted people who did not RSVP, we still have a tiny number of people who have STILL not responded. And no they are not being held hostage by Somali pirates, so there's pretty much no excuse. I can't stall much longer and I have decided I have no problem calling people up and telling them how much we regret we won't see them at the wedding but we had to turn in the count to the caterer and hadn't heard back from them so we assumed it was a no. And we're not buying extra meals for people who might come.

Caterer Bill

I was looking over my catering bill today and noticed it was a lot higher than I was expecting. This is because I had to rent 130 chairs for our outdoor ceremony. If we have it in my dream chapel, then between rental and setup fees, I can cut like $700 out of my budget. Argh. We now have 119 guests (but one of those is a little toddler and can sit on a lap) and I anticipate 5 more to respond putting us at 124 not counting D and myself. If it's wrong to do a fist pump in the air in celebration of someone sending their regrets, then I don't want to be right.

In other news, I put on my Seven for All Mankind jeans that I bought when I was 21 years old. They slid on pretty easily and are 100 percent cotton (no spandex to cheat ladies). Granted, when I bought them they were a bit big on me and they are pretty snug through the thigh, but I'll still consider it a victory. The only complaint? Apparently when I was 21 I liked REALLY low rise jeans. Crack much?

Cap 10K Photos!

Since none of the SEVEN people waiting for me at the finish line saw me finish or took a photo, all I have is the pic above (FYI, race photo prices = highway robbery). For more pics go to this link. The finisher clock in the pics says 87.5 min, but I crossed the starting line after 2.5 min, just in case you thought I was fudging my time :).

T Minus 11 Lbs to a Skinny Bitch

While my bachelorette weekend recap is still pending (life's a bit swamped right now) I will say this. I just have to drop 11 more pounds to reach official skinny bitch status. Vegas doesn't seem to have done too much damage to my weight loss and the new shape of my rear is making me realize hiring a trainer was a brilliant idea. I can already tell this is going to be a great summer!