Non-food rewards

I'm back to sleepless nights, apparently. At 4:45 this morning, I decided to just get up and get some stuff done before the kids woke up, because I couldn't sleep for the life of me. I started some laundry, and then decided that I might as well get my run over with as early as possible, too.

Jerry was at work, so I had to do the treadmill. I haven't run on the treadmill in a while! It was kind of a pain to drag everything around to get my set-up the way I like it (I put the cat tree in front of the treadmill, and then put my laptop on the top of the cat tree, so it's at eye-level).

I rearranged my schedule a bit this week because of yesterday's race, so today I was scheduled to do five miles easy. I wasn't sure what to set my "easy" pace at, because the last time I used the treadmill my easy pace was 6.0 mph--and I've been going faster than that outside. After testing out a few different speeds, I settled on 6.5 mph.

I finished 5 miles in 45 minutes, and then took a shower, dressed, and blew my hair dry before the kids even got up. It was strange to be up that early and have gotten all that done. Once I got the kids off to school, I went to the post office and then to shop for some prizes for the virtual 5K.

I've been so unsure of how to do the prizes, but I knew I had to get a move on it because I'm going to be insanely busy with Christmas and then the Ragnar. I've decided to that what I'd like to do is get 31 prizes (because I'm turning 31), and all of them will have a theme of "my favorite things". While I wish I could actually give away some of my truly favorite things--Garmin Forerunner, Under Armour clothing, etc.--there is no way in hell I can afford that.

I went to Ollie's, a discount store, first, and I actually had a lot of luck there--I bought a few books that are perfect for prizes. I'd also like to make some of the prizes, since I love to craft, so I went to Hobby Lobby to pick up some supplies there. I also made a stop at Dunham's.

When I got home, I got to work on some of the crafty stuff. I spent all afternoon working on it, and I was happy with how they turned out. I'm being vague, because I think I'll wait until I have all 31 prizes ready before I reveal what they are :) 

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Q. Do you have any suggestions for non-food rewards, or non-food ways to celebrate reaching a goal?

A. I was always really bad at this while losing weight. I would write down rewards for certain goals, but once I reached each goal, I felt guilty spending the money on things I typically didn't need. I didn't want to splurge on clothes as I was losing weight, because I knew they'd soon be too big.

I did buy a few things as rewards, however. Most recently, I bought those muscle tights for getting back into the 130's. When I lost 100 pounds, I got a new laptop (but that was really needed at the time--so I just used the weight loss as an excuse to finally buy it). When I kept 100 pounds off for a year, I bought a fancy schmancy bike (which was stupid, because I've only put about 10 hours on it in a year and a half!).

My family has been super supportive of my weight loss. My sister planned something really great for me when I reached 100 pounds lost. She took me to a nice salon to get my hair cut, highlighted, and blown out (my first (and only) blow out, and I was super impressed). Then we went to Macy's, where a woman did our make-up, and my sister bought me the make-up she used. It was so fun! We spent the whole day together, and I felt like a new person afterward.

After hair and make-up, with the woman who did our make-up at Macy's. She was a riot, and we asked to get a picture with her.

Many years ago, when I was in college, I told my family that I wanted to lose weight for my wedding. My dad told me he'd give me $5 for each pound I lost. Well, that never happened. Fast forward to 2010, when I had lost 100 pounds, I asked him if his deal was still good. After some hem-hawing, he said yes--and he paid me $500! So I took that money and used some it to fly out to Minnesota and run the Ragnar Relay with my brother.

When I reached the 120's (for a minute back in 2010), Jerry bought me an iPod Nano so I had something to listen to while running.

Those are all kind of extreme examples, but there are lots of things you can reward yourself with for each goal--new clothes are an obvious choice (maybe new workout clothes?). Anything that may help you reach your goals, like a food scale, exercise equipment, a gym membership, or a race entry are good ideas.

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Jefferson Bears Jingle 5K race report

I was soooo nervous for this race! I know that sounds ridiculous, considering I ran TWO marathons this year, and this was a 5K, but I was not running my marathons for time. The only reason I was running this 5K was to get my sub-26 time! I've mentioned before that I hate 5K's, because it feels like a really long sprint--which is HARD. At the marathons, I could relax and have a conversation, and not feel like I was going to vomit.

I chose this race because it was sure to be a super small race. It started at 3:00 pm, which is a late start for me--usually I run at 8:00 in the morning. So I wasn't sure how the time difference would affect me. I like to run on an empty stomach, but I obviously wasn't going to skip breakfast and lunch to do this race. I had a protein shake for breakfast, and a lunch that I'm sure was delicious but my nerves were so bad that I could barely choke it down.

Mushroom soup, Ezekiel toast with sunflower seed butter, grapes, and a Cutie. I bought Maranatha sunflower seed butter, and I like it a lot better than the Sunbutter brand. The Sunbutter brand reminded me of the smell of a farm, and I couldn't get that out of my mind when I ate it. The Maranatha brand just tastes like sunflower seeds--yum!

Anyway, it was raining all morning, and really windy. I kept hoping that the weather would get better before the race, but it didn't :(  I didn't care though, because I wasn't going to let anything stop me from running this race today.

Beautiful day for a race

I dropped off my kids at my parents' house at 2:15, got to the school and picked up my shirt and bib, and saw that the route was the exact same road that I had run my 10-miler on Friday. This race was unlike any other I've ever run before. It was VERY small and intimate--like, everyone knew each other. I was the only one there without a friend or family member. I'm pretty sure everyone was running for fun, and I was the only one running for time. Again, I didn't care! I was going to get my sub-26.

Cute shirt!

I was bummed that it wasn't chip-timed, but because it was such a small race, I figured I could start at the front, so it wouldn't really matter. It was pretty funny, actually, at how small this race was--the race director had a microphone, and announced, "Okay, everyone's here, we're going to start. I'm going to take you over to the start line now." And she literally walked/ran 1/4 mile to the "start line"--which was just an imaginary line in the road. I lined up right behind the boys who looked like they'd be running quite fast. Everyone else looked like they were running for fun, so I didn't want to have to weave around anyone.

The race director said, "Okay ready? 3...2...1...GO!" She started the timer, and we were off. Only one person went past me in the beginning, so I felt like I started in the right spot. Shortly after we started running, the rain really picked up and it was soon pouring. I was totally drenched. It was 37 degrees, pouring rain, and super windy. My hands were frozen, so I pulled my sleeves over my hands, but it didn't help much. I glanced at my Garmin a couple of times in the beginning, and saw that I was running at a 6:00/mi pace--way too fast! I kept reminding myself that I was running my own race, and I didn't have to run that fast.

If I didn't get my sub-26, at least
I looked festive!

I noticed that there were only two females ahead of me, so I was determined to keep it that way. I've never placed in a race, even in my age group. There were about 50 people in this race, so I had a good chance of getting an age group award. The first mile seemed to last FOREVER. I was dying to hear the beep from my Garmin, signaling a mile.

My feet were very, very numb from the cold and rain. It felt like I was running on rocks, because parts of my feet were totally numb, and it was just weird. I finally heard the beep of my Garmin, looked down, and saw 7:58. I ran a sub-8 mile! I could feel myself slowing down, though, so I knew that would probably be my only sub-8 mile. To hit my sub-26 goal, I had to run 8:20/mi, so that's what I was focused on. I prayed that the course wouldn't be long.

The second mile, I had serious thoughts about quitting and turning around. My lungs were on fire, I was SO COLD that I couldn't stand it, and my feet were getting more and more numb. I could see the ambulance ahead, where the turn-around point was (it was an out-and-back route). After the turn around, I heard someone come up behind me kind of loud. Then he was right next to me, and he had a damn dog with him. I try to avoid dogs at all costs when I run because I'm terrified of them, but this husky actually seemed to be really well-behaved, and didn't even glance at me. I was thankful for that, but I was still uncomfortable running next to it.

But that guy kept pace with me the whole second half of the race. I tried to pass him, but I was already running as hard as I could. I kept thinking, "I can't let a DOG beat me!" I finally heard the beep at mile two, and I looked at my Garmin: 8:36. Shit. I knew I'd banked some time in the first mile, but I was going to have to really push it hard to finish under 26 minutes.

I felt like I was dying (did I mention how much I hate 5Ks?!) I finally saw the point where we would turn into the school parking lot, and I ran as hard as I could. I passed the guy with the dog, but he was right on my heels.  I heard the beep for mile three, and saw: 8:16. I could see the time clock at the finish line, and it read 25:14, so I put everything I had into that last little bit, and crossed the finish "line". I think I stopped my Garmin a couple of seconds after my "actual" finish, but I wasn't sure where the line was. There was a guy there collecting tags from our bibs, and he tore mine off. I could barely breathe, and I was SO relieved to be done!

Splits: 7:58, 8:36, 8:16, 7:25

The race director (who is actually part of my wine club!) congratulated me, and I could barely gasp out "Thanks!" I waited around for the awards, because I was pretty sure I'd get something. I was in the top 15 finishers (because I could actually count them while I was running, hahaha), and I know I was the third female overall.

The director waited for everyone to finish, and I just kept getting colder and colder while I waited in the gym. My teeth were chattering so loudly, I'm sure everyone could hear them. I couldn't stop trembling, and my whole body was shaking. Finally, they started the awards. First, they had an award for best costume. There weren't many people who entered for that:

The two candy cane ladies won. Then they announced the top male and top female. They gave medals to the top two in each age group. My age group was 30-39. I wasn't very surprised when she called me for FIRST PLACE, because the race was so small, but it was still very exciting!! This was my first award I've ever gotten for a race.

I was completely soaked to the bone, and I desperately wanted to leave to pick up the boys and take a scalding hot shower. But because the race was so small, everyone would have noticed if I left after I got my medal, so I hung around for a few more minutes ;)

Overall, the race was totally miserable--freezing cold, pouring rain, and super windy. But despite all those uncontrollable things, I'm glad I did it! I reached my sub-26 goal. And I experienced a very intimate race, which was pretty fun!

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Coffee Crisp!

Today was a tough day for me as far as temptation goes. No run on the schedule this morning, so I had a pretty lazy morning. My dad came over, and dropped off some of the kids' stuff, and then he said that he had something for me. My dad is notorious for junk food, so I assumed he brought me a fun-sized Butterfinger from his treat jar (my favorite thing to grab when I go over there).

He was holding it behind his back, and the kids were trying to guess what it was. I could hear the wrapper, and said, "It's a Butterfinger." But I was wrong--it was even better than a Butterfinger. What's better than a Butterfinger?

Coffee Crisps!! I absolutely love these candy bars, but they are only available in Canada (as far as I know). So whenever someone in my family goes to Canada for whatever reason, they come back with a bunch of Coffee Crisps. My dad used to bring me back the ginormous-sized ones, but I think he was trying to do something nice without sabotaging me. (Although a small part of me wishes he'd brought the ginormous ones...haha!)

The kids got Christmas cards in the mail from my brother's ex-wife, with gift cards to Target. They were SO excited. They talked all day yesterday how they were going to spend them. So this afternoon, I took them to Target to spend their gift cards. I also wanted to get the stuff for a care package for a soldier in Afghanistan, and that was actually really fun to shop for.

I asked my little brother (Nathan) for some ideas, because he spent three years in Iraq. He said his favorite things to get were beef jerky, "real" toilet paper, magazines, and homemade cookies. I never would have thought toilet paper would make the list, but I bought the best quality toilet paper they had ;)  The hard part was the cookies.

I don't bake, because I can eat a whole batch of cookies (or a whole pie, cake, sheet of brownies, etc). So it's easiest for me not to bake. But I really wanted to include something homemade in the care package, so I decided to make my very favorite oatmeal cookies. (Yes, the ones I almost ralphed when I decided to run them off last summer). I made a full batch, which is three dozen cookies. And since this particular soldier likes M&M's, I used those instead of chocolate chips.

I took a tiny taste of the dough, and it was soooo good. My good intentions went out the window, and I ate about 5 pinches of dough. I guesstimated it to be about 12 PointsPlus worth. When I realized it was getting out of control, I stopped what I was doing and went and brushed my teeth really well, so that I would have a minty mouth and cookies wouldn't taste good--or at least that's what I told myself. But it worked, I didn't touch any more of the dough, and I didn't eat a single cookie once they were baked. They were VERY tempting, however!

I packaged up as many of them as I could fit into the box I was preparing, and the kids and Jerry each ate a few. Now they are gone. I wasn't even hungry for dinner after that, so I just counted the cookies as dinner and moved on. Not the best choice, but stuff like that happens once in a while. I handled it much better than if I had binged!

Chandler is cracking me up. He and Phoebe were fighting, so I put him on the third level of the cat tree (he usually only goes on the second level, because it doesn't have sides and he can actually fit). He thought it was awesome being up there on level three!

And to my surprise, he got comfortable...

He looks kind of like a overfilled muffin--when the top gets so big that it spills over sides. He actually slept like that for a while.

Well, tomorrow is the big day for me. Sub-26 or bust! The race is at 3:00 in the afternoon, which means I'm going to be a nervous wreck all day. But I hope I'm feeling my best tomorrow and ready to run hard enough to puke.

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10 miles followed by Biscoff spread

I've discovered that I dread any run that's more than four miles. Fridays are my long run days, so today I was scheduled for 10 miles. I really wanted to get warm and cozy under my electric blanket and watch Lifetime movies all day, but I knew that wasn't going to happen ;)

I procrastinated for a little bit after the kids left for school, but finally dragged myself out the door. It was cold, but thankfully not rainy and cold, like the weather app predicted. Running in the rain doesn't bother me, but at 35 degrees, it would have been kind of miserable. I chose a route that I've never run before--basically five miles in one direction, and turn around and come back. I would be running on busier roads the entire time (which I like, because it's generally safe from dogs). I hoped trying a new route would distract me from the fact that I was running 10 miles.

As soon as I started running, I felt a weird cramp in my side--awesome. I hoped that it would go away soon, and just kept running. After about 3/4 of a mile, it started to sprinkle. Even more awesome. I started saying, "Please don't rain until after my run!" and naturally, the sprinkles turned into actual rain. I debated whether I should keep going or turn around and finish on the treadmill. I didn't dress for a wet run. I decided to keep going, and since I was going to be passing a recreation center at about mile four, I could just go inside and call for a ride if the rain was too bad.

The new route was the perfect distraction, and I actually was enjoying it. I refused to look at my Garmin the entire time, because I didn't want to push my pace--my race is on Sunday, so I want my legs to feel good. Unusual/interesting things I saw along the way, in order that I saw them:

• A man in his underwear taking a pizza box out to the trash (he looked totally embarrassed when he saw that I was running by, haha)
• A used condom
• A hypodermic needle
• A dead rabbit :(
• A homemade bong
• Another hypodermic needle

So based on my run this morning, one would think that I was running through the ghetto.

I felt surprisingly good after the first few miles. It helped that I wasn't concerned about my pace. Last week, my nine-mile run felt rough. I was pushing it, and I felt tired. Then at the end, I had to run super hard to get a sub-9:30 pace. Since today's run felt rather easy, I was guessing it was about a 10:15/mi pace. I was shocked when I stopped my watch and saw that I ran done a 9:30 average pace! I don't know what was different between last week and this week, but I was happy to see that I felt so good while running that pace.

I love how consistent my splits were! It's hard to do that even when I'm trying to.

I went grocery shopping after I showered. While I was there, I have no idea what possessed me, but I decided to buy a frozen meal for lunch. I despise frozen meals, and probably eat only one a year. I saw them in the display case, and I thought, "I wonder if they've gotten any better since the last time I tried one?" They were on sale, so I ended up buying one.

When I got home, I threw it in the microwave for four minutes, and it was done. After stirring it up, it looked like this:

It was 8 PointsPlus, which seemed like a lot for such a tiny amount of food. I kept thinking how I could cook something that tasted better, was cheaper, and a bigger portion--but I wanted to give it a chance.

Eh. It was okay. I wouldn't buy it again. It was pretty bland, and tasted like all the other frozen meals (it's weird how they all taste the same!)

Yesterday, I kept thinking about my ten-miler today and how I could buy a yummy treat to have after the run. I earned 12 PointsPlus, so I was excited to "spend" them on something good. But after the run, nothing really sounded good. Even at Kroger, I didn't see anything that sparked my interest.

But then it hit me in the late afternoon, and I knew the perfect way to spend the activity points--the last of the Biscoff spread! I did check how much was in there before eating it, because I wanted to make sure I was able to count the PP in it. There were 5 Tbsp. left (I usually eat 2 Tbsp at a time, which is a big spoonful). I happily savored every lick, and thoroughly cleared out the jar:

That was 11 PP, so it was the perfect amount for after my run. (Yes, Biscoff spread is pure junk food, but that's why I run!) I don't think I'll be buying another jar, though. I did great with this jar--I didn't binge at all--but I couldn't stop thinking about it, and it was driving me crazy. Knowing it was in the cupboard was taunting. It was great while it lasted, and I'm really happy I was able to go through a whole jar without bingeing, but now I'm fine with not buying more.

By the way, Jerry loved the reading your comments on my last post. I told him that he should write another guest post, and he said he wasn't sure what he should write about. So if anyone has questions for him, just leave a comment and he can do a Q&A post :)

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Weight Watchers 360 plan

Jerry must have read my blog post from yesterday, because I found this note from him on the mirror in the bathroom:

That put a big smile on my face!

I got dressed for a cold run, and then got the kids all ready for school. It's quite possible I was still asleep during my run today, because I don't remember much of anything about it! So weird. But I was dreading this run with a passion--I don't know why, but I just really wanted to skip out today. I thought of a million excuses not to do it, but excuses always lead to more excuses, so I knew I was going to get 'er done.

I even slept terribly last night, because I knew I was going to be running five miles in the morning when I didn't want to. Maybe that's why I don't remember much of my run! Anyway, I was scheduled for five miles at race pace (9:00/mi) and I had no intention of trying to push the pace--I would have been happy with nine minute miles, even though my previous race pace runs have been faster. I did an out-and-back route, and apparently I took a picture of myself when I returned:

(My plan was to have this be a wordless post--where I just took pictures of my day. But I quit before breakfast, because it was too much to think about. Maybe another day!)  Turns out that I ran faster than I'd planned on, despite being tired:

After my run, I jumped in the shower to get ready to head to Weight Watchers for my weigh-in and meeting. Since I'm in maintenance mode at WW, I don't want a big dip in my weight, so I just tried to make my weight the same as it was last week (with clothes and shoes and all that). The WW center got a new computer system last week, and when I saw my weight sticker, I thought the computer must not be very smart. I can do math in my head better than that:

Last weeks weight: 141.6; Today's weight: 141.5. That should be a loss of 0.1, right? Well, it said -1.5! I was confused, but since I didn't notice it until I got home, I figured I'd bring it up next week. What I think may have happened is that the computer uses my GOAL weight as the base, and then the +/- section is how far off of my goal I am...? My WW goal weight is 143, so 141.5 would be a loss of 1.5. That would make sense. Since I'm at goal, WW is only concerned with the fact that I stay at or below goal.

We got our materials for the 2013 plan, called Weight Watchers 360. From what I gathered, between WW Online, the meeting I attended today, and all the materials I've read, the 360 plan is the exact same plan as the 2012 PointsPlus plan. My leader said that the 360 plan is more about fitting WW into your lifestyle, but I didn't feel like anything was different.

I did buy a new 3-Month Journal, because that's how I log my food, and I really like the new design of it! It's bigger than the old one, but worth it when I see the layout.

2013 tracker vs. the 2012 tracker

This is new. Each week, you can plan out your meals in advance.

This is where you can plan your exercise for the week, and keep track of
your weekly points and activity points

These are the actual tracking pages to log your PP. I like that they have a
spot to distinguish between the daily, weekly, and activity points used (the
old planner didn't do this).

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I had such a great time last night catching up with Stacie! She's had quite a bit going on recently, so it was good to hear from her. We sat at Tim Horton's for about two hours, and then we made plans to meet up again on Monday (that way we don't go another year between visits!)

For reference, Stacie is the friend that I suckered into coming to dropped everything to fly out to Minnesota with me in August 2010 to run the Ragnar Relay Great River! Neither one of us had a clue what we were getting into. My brother (a team captain) had a couple of people drop out last minute, so Stacie and I took their places on the team. We had a blast! (Although we definitely questioned what the heck we were doing there).

 I believe this is in St. Paul... but I'm not sure. We had been awake for 30 hours, and I'm surprised we were still standing!

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Words with Friends and Wed. Weigh In

Yesterday I was in shock at how warm it was, and this morning, I was in shock by the cold. It was 61 degrees yesterday morning, and 30 degrees this morning.

I decided to go ahead and take a rest day today. I felt like I needed it. So I guess I'll just do my schedule as written this week--5 miles at race pace tomorrow, 10 miles easy on Friday, and rest Saturday, and race on Sunday. I just hope I'm rested enough for the race. The race is in the afternoon, and I never run in the afternoon! It should be interesting.

Today was my Wednesday Weigh-In. I was happy when I saw the scale:

134--so I'm down one pound this week. I am now just one pound away from my goal weight!! These last few pounds have come off very slowly. In November, I only lost 3.5 pounds. But the last 4-5 pounds have made a world of difference in my clothes. I tried on all of my clothes yesterday--every single item in my closet--and got rid of the stuff that I don't like or doesn't fit.

I had been holding onto a couple of shirts that I was hoping to wear at goal, but they are still too small, so I am getting rid of those. I hesitate to get rid of the jeans that are too big, because I keep thinking, "What if I gain the usual 15 pounds over the summer yet AGAIN?" But I think that keeping them will almost give me permission to gain, so I'm ditching them.

Like I keep saying, I have a maintenance plan this time around, so I WILL keep my weight in my maintenance range (preferably at the low end, but my panic weight is 137). I am also going to work hard to plan for the summer, and the emotional eating that always leads to weight gain. Anyway, one more pound--hopefully next week will be the week!

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So a couple of days ago, I discovered Words with Friends on my iPhone. I know, I'm about two years late to this party, but I think it's awesome! I've always hated Scrabble--not only am I terrible at it, but it's so boring to sit and wait forever for your opponent to come up with a word.

Words with Friends is an app that's essentially Scrabble you can play with your friends. The part I like is that you just play your word whenever you have a moment, and then come back to it later after your opponent has played a word. So theoretically, the games could go on for days, each person just playing a word when they have a moment.

I'm not even a little bit joking when I say that I'm terrible at the game. I have only played with Jerry and John so far, and I'm too embarrassed to even play with anyone else ;)  I don't mind losing, but it's not fun for other people to play with someone that is as bad as I am at that game!

The app even reminds me constantly
that all of my opponents have beat me

I also played Scramble with Friends, which is essentially Boggle. I like this game more, but I'm even worse at it than I am Words with Friends! After the first round, I was pretty confident--then Jerry just demolished my score. For that game, and the next two games.

 It's kind of ironic, because English and writing were always my best subjects in school. My grammar and spelling are both pretty decent, and I love to write. You would think I'd be good at these games! Oh well, at least it's fun :)

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Tonight I'm meeting up with my friend Stacie at Tim Horton's. I haven't seen her since we ran a 10K together in April. Every time we see each other, we say, "Let's get together next week--we can't wait another year again!" and then inevitably, we don't get together for months. I'm excited to catch up with her!

I've been going totally stir-crazy for three days now. Our minivan still isn't working, so Jerry has had to take the Jeep to work--all day long. I haven't left the house in three days, other than to go for a run. There are things we need from the store, so I think I will make a late run to Kroger after I see Stacie.

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How sodium changed my dieting mentality

Not to sound like a broken record, but what the heck is going on with this weather?! I wore my Heat Gear capris and a short-sleeved tech shirt on my run today, and was totally comfortable. Living in Michigan, I'm used to freezing cold December weather. I'm not complaining, I just think 61 degrees at this time of year is strange.

Anyway, I was scheduled for a three-mile easy run this morning, and I had no plans of pushing my pace today. I'm thinking of rearranging my run days because of my race this weekend. Instead of taking tomorrow off, I might run tomorrow and Thursday, then take Friday and Saturday off before the race. My long run is 10 miles this week, so I would like to have two days off afterward.

I did an out-and-back route and it went by pretty quickly. I couldn't believe how warm it was outside.

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Tomorrow is my weekly weigh-in day, and as I was trying to decide what to eat for breakfast, I remembered why I despise having a particular day for an "official" weigh in. In all of my past attempts at losing weight through the years, I always avoided sodium for a day or two before weighing in. I could easily drop a couple of pounds of water weight in a day of low-sodium eating.

But it drove me crazy! I didn't want to avoid sodium--I like salty food. And because I have very low blood pressure, my cardiologist (after I fainted, I had to see a one to rule out heart conditions) suggested I actually get more sodium in my diet. So I have no medical reason to avoid sodium.

When I was finally successful in losing weight, it was because I did on a daily basis what I knew I could live with forever. I didn't reduce my sodium on the day before a weigh-in. I decided that if I lost weight on the scale, I wanted it to be REAL weight--fat--rather than water weight; so there was no purpose in deliberately avoiding sodium that day. As far as sodium goes, my diet was pretty much the same day in and day out throughout my weight loss. When I had a loss on the scale, I didn't feel like it was "only" because of the reduced sodium.

(source)

Then this morning, I found myself thinking about what I could eat that was lower in sodium because I am weighing in tomorrow. No idea where that thought came from--I gave up that thinking a long time ago! So I did not reduce my typical sodium intake today, and I'm happy about that. If I have a loss tomorrow, awesome--if not, that's fine, too. At least if I lose a little, it won't be just water weight.

That whole sodium realization back in the day in 2009 (when I first started losing the weight) actually played a big part of my weight loss success. It wasn't just the sodium that I didn't want to have to think about daily; it was calories and exercise and food choices.

I knew I could probably get the weight off very quickly if I exercised seven days a week for a few hours a day (Biggest Loser-style); but I didn't want my body to adapt to that, because then I'd have to do that every week in order to keep losing weight (and maintain, if it ever came to that).

I also knew that I could lose weight quickly if I ate just 1200 calories a day. But again, if my body got used to that (even for a few weeks), if I ate any higher than 1200 calories, I wouldn't be losing weight anymore. And I most certainly didn't want to live off of 1200 calories a day forever. So I ate the most that I could get away with and still lose the weight (about 1800).

I knew I could lose weight faster if I gave up sugar, or carbs, or other "bad" foods; but if my body got used to that, I would probably gain weight if I ate a single cookie or ice cream cone after that, so I didn't want to give those things up--even temporarily.

The whole point is, I made choices I was willing to live with forever; that way, I was okay with my body adapting to them, because I planned to continue it. The sodium is a good example of seeing immediate results, but also seeing that it's only temporary.

Another example would be when I went to Weight Watchers way back in the day. The day of my meeting, I would skip breakfast and not even drink water that morning because I wanted my weight to be as low as possible at the meeting. That's ridiculous thinking!

Avoiding water wasn't going to give me "real" weight loss on the scale. It would dip down for that morning, and then go right back up when I drank my water and ate breakfast. I should have just aimed to be consistent--eat breakfast and drink water before every meeting, and then if I saw a loss, it would be because I had actually lost fat.

So I made my main focus on consistency. As long as I was consistent, I felt like I was doing it "right".

I hope this is making sense. I understand it perfectly in my head, but it's not very easy to write out! ;)

Basically, it call comes down to what I tell anyone when they ask me for weight loss advice:

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Cat tales

I hate tempo runs. Especially when they are scheduled for a certain amount of time rather than distance. (A tempo run is a run where you go faster than normal--not as fast as if you were racing, but fast enough to wear you wish you could slow down). Here is a quick rundown of the basic runs that I do:

When I do a tempo run for time (rather than distance), I have no motivation to go faster because I know I'm going to be running for x number of minutes, no matter how fast I'm going. When I run for distance, I tell myself that I will be done sooner if I run faster, so I have more motivation ;)

This morning on my schedule was a 40 minute tempo run, and I just didn't want to do it. Since I've been running most of my runs at more of a tempo pace lately (pushing myself to go faster), I decided to run intervals this morning instead--1/4 mile really hard, and then 1/10 mile walking. Repeat that for a total of eight times. Same exactly interval workout as last week.

I started with a short warm-up just to the end of my street, and then I started the first interval. I felt like I was flying! I've been wearing my Mizunos Wave Inspires for fast runs, and my usual Brooks Adrenalines for easy runs and long runs. The Mizunos are much squishier, where I feel more like I'm running on clouds (unfortunately, they give me blisters if I run more than eight miles in them, otherwise I'd wear them all the time).

Each interval I ran, I thought, "Ugh, there is no way I have another one in me." But then after my 1/10 mile walk, I somehow mustered up enough energy for another. When I finished, my lungs were burning and I was dripping with sweat--it was great!! My split times have improved again, even since last week (first number is time to complete the interval, in parenthesis is the pace per mile for that interval)

Interval 1- 1:48.2  (7:13/mi)
Interval 2- 1:42.4  (6:50/mi)
Interval 3- 1:49.7  (7:19/mi)
Interval 4- 1:47.1  (7:09/mi)
Interval 5- 1:49.2  (7:17/mi)
Interval 6- 1:51.1  (7:25/mi)
Interval 7- 1:52.3  (7:30/mi)
Interval 8- 1:42.5  (6:50/mi)

Average pace for each interval today was 7:11; last week it was 7:25; and a month ago, it was 7:40. It doesn't sound like a huge difference, but I am thrilled to see that I'm constantly improving with all the hard work!

I have a 5K race on Sunday--this is the race where I'm praying to break 26 minutes. I've done it a few times during training, but I'm the type of person that totally chokes when it comes to the race. I almost always run faster during training than I do during races--I get SO nervous to race (which is ridiculous, but I do).

To finish in 25:59, I'd have to run an 8:23/mi pace--and that's if I run exactly 3.1, but since I usually end up running a little longer than the actual course (due to weaving in and out of people), I'd like to try and stick with more of an 8:18 ish pace. Yikes!! My previous PR was an 8:42/mi pace, so this will be tough.

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My cats have been cracking me up lately, and I just have to post a few pictures. (I apologize if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, because I've been posting all about my cats lately!)

Yesterday, the boys and I were watching Homeward Bound (movie about two dogs and a cat), and I noticed that Phoebe was totally engrossed in watching the movie. She couldn't take her eyes off the screen. And then Estelle noticed too, because she started watching the movie as well. The two of them sat on their cat tree watching the movie for probably about an hour!

This morning, I noticed that Phoebe was eyeballing the Elf on the Shelf that was perched on top of the TV (my kids know that we are the ones moving the elf, but they still like to look for him every day). So I moved the elf to the curtain right above Phoebe, and she had a blast trying to knock him down.

When the elf actually did fall down right on top of her, she jumped up so high she about hit the ceiling, and she fell off the cat tree. I wish I had gotten pictures of that part!

Estelle is obsessed with boxes and anything else that she can sit in or on. She thinks we bring everything in the house just for her. I got a package in the mail a couple of days ago, and within minutes she was sitting in the box. And she stayed like that for about 30 minutes, just chillin' in a box in the middle of the floor.

(If you want to take a guess as to what was in the package, you can check out this Etsy site. It's the final part of my Ragnar Relay outfit ;) For now, I'll bombard my blog with cat photos).

Phoebe found a box of her own (Christmas stuff that we aren't using):

Chandler is so fat that he can't really fit inside of anything--but on the cat tree, there is a little platform without sides. That's the only spot that he can fit. But I use the term "fit" loosely, because there isn't even enough room left for his head...

And poor Paolo... I don't really take many pictures of Paolo, because he never does anything except for sleep. I'll try and catch him doing something picture-worthy soon.

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Virtual 5K

This morning when I woke up, I checked the weather on my phone before getting dressed to go for a run. I was shocked by what I saw!

It's December, in Michigan, and it's 57 degrees at 7:30 in the morning?!! I dressed in my UA Heat Gear capris and a thin long-sleeved shirt (which ended up being too hot--I should have worn a tank). When I stepped outside, I just couldn't believe how warm it was. Last week, it was 19 degrees during one of my morning runs.

I was scheduled to run 4.5 miles at an easy pace. I've been pushing the pace a lot lately, and I didn't want to feel pressure to keep doing that on every run, so I decided not to look at my Garmin at all. Maybe it's because I wasn't looking, but I felt like I was going SO slow the first couple of miles. When I knew I was close to the turn-around point (2.25 miles in), I looked at my Garmin just to see the distance; and I accidentally saw my pace was at 9:04/mi. I was surprised to see that I was going that fast, because I could have sworn I was running about a 10:30/mi pace.

Seeing that kind of motivated me to pick up the pace a little and try to finish with a sub-9:00/mi average. Shortly after I turned around, however, I stopped dead in my tracks because there was an unleashed German Shepherd practically right on top of me to my left (I was running against traffic, and the dog was in the yard right next to me). The dog was totally quiet at first, which scared me--and then it started barking at me and coming toward me. I darted across the street and just stopped, so it wouldn't chase me. The owners weren't outside, of course, so I just stood there for about two full minutes, debating what to do.

If I turned around to run a different way home, it would add about three extra miles to my run; but I was scared to keep running. I saw a car coming toward us, and as soon as it was fairly close, I booked it and started running--that way if the dog tried to run at me, well, the car would stop it. I could hear the dog barking, but I just kept going.

It started raining on my way back home, but not pouring rain. It actually felt really good!

I'm bummed to have encountered the dog. I've stopped running the other routes I used to love because of the unleashed dogs, and this route was new as of recently. It's mostly on the shoulder of a busy road, so I felt "safe" from dogs. I really need to remember to bring my pepper spray from now on.

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I can't believe I've been 30 for almost a year!

I made a little sign-up form for the virtual 5K next month. If you missed my mentioning it, my 31st birthday is on January 25th--and I thought it would be fun to run 5K (3.1 miles) for my 31st, and make it an event :) So, if you're interested in joining me, I would love that!

A "virtual" race is really just where you map out the distance near your home (or use a treadmill) and run it on your own on a certain date. Then I will post all the results on my blog, and have prizes. I haven't worked out the details on the prizes yet, but I definitely will have a least a few (self-funded). If there are any companies reading this that may want to donate something, please e-mail me! I'll post more about that when it gets closer.

This isn't just for runners--you're welcome to walk this, too! The prizes will be given out at random to people who finish the 5K and give me their results--so you don't have to be fast. My mom said she will try to make this her first 5K (she's still doing the Couch to 5K program), so I will most likely be doing it along with her.

Here is the form:

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Typical meals

I've been asked quite a few times recently about the specifics of what some of my typical meals are, especially since I've been doing Weight Watchers. I was avoiding this post, because I know that my diet is FAR from perfect. I probably have too many carbs, too little protein, not enough veggies, too much processed crap, and too many sugary grapes. However, this is an honest look at what I eat.

The point of posting this isn't for a "meal plan" but to show that I eat things I like and still manage to lose weight. I don't live off of salad and grilled fish. These are things I enjoy eating. I usually go through phases, where I eat the same thing for a long time before switching to something else; but these were the common things I found while going through my food journal from the last three months. I just eat whatever I feel like eating, and I count the PointsPlus in it.

Typical breakfasts:

• Healthy Life English muffin (toasted) with 1 Tbsp. peanut butter + 1 Tbsp. Nutella and a banana
• 1/2 cup (dry) oatmeal prepared with 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water and 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, and a banana
• Healthy Life English muffin (toasted) with 1 egg + 1 egg white (scrambled) and 2 Tbsp. Hormel real crumbled bacon and 1 slice Kraft 2% American cheese, and a banana
• Cascadian Farms Cinnamon Raisin granola (1 serving) with 1/2 cup 1% milk and a banana
• 1/2 cup (dry) oatmeal prepared with 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water, 2 Tbsp. PB2, and 1 Tbsp. chocolate chips, and a banana
• Protein shake
• 1 serving Kashi GoLean Crunch with 1/2 cup frozen blueberries and 1/2 cup 1% milk

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Typical lunches:

• 2 eggs + 1 egg white, scrambled, with 2 Tbsp. Hormel real crumbled bacon and 1 slice Kraft 2% American cheese; 1.5 cups grapes
• Healthy Life English muffin (toasted) with 1 egg + 1 egg white (scrambled) and 2 Tbsp. Hormel real crumbled bacon and 1 slice Kraft 2% American cheese, and 1.5 cups grapes
• Subway 6" ham & turkey sub on wheat bread with provolone cheese, lettuce, green peppers, onions, banana peppers, and mustard; and 1.5 cups grapes
• Healthy Life English muffin (toasted) with 2 Tbsp. almond butter; and 1.5 cups grapes
• 1.5 cups spaghetti squash (cooked) topped with 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese, 1/2 cup jarred spaghetti sauce with 1 oz. cooked lean ground turkey, and 4 tsp. parmesan cheese; 1 slice 35-calorie bread, toasted, with 1 Tbsp. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light spread and sprinkled with garlic salt
• 1 can light Progresso soup with 5 saltine crackers; and 1.5 cups grapes
• tuna salad (1 can tuna + 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese) on 6 Dill Triscuits with 1.5 cups grapes

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 Typical dinners:

• Chili with 1/4 cup fat-free cheddar cheese and 2 Tbsp. chopped onions
• General Tsao's Chicken with 1 serving cooked brown rice
• Homemade pizza--homemade crust (1/4 of the recipe), 1/4 cup canned pizza sauce, 1 oz. mozzarella cheese, 1 oz. fat free feta cheese, 2 Tbsp. chopped bell pepper + onion, 4 tsp. parmesan cheese
• Homemade split pea soup in the crock pot
• Southwest Chicken & Beans in the crock pot
• Baked Ziti
• Pasta e Fagioli

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Typical snacks:

• CLIF bar
• 1.5 cups grapes
• 2 Tbsp. peanut or almond butter
• Fiber One Oats 'n Chocolate bar
• 1 oz. almonds
• 6 oz. wine + 1 Dove Promise (dark chocolate)
• Broccoli with 2 Tbsp. Marzetti light ranch veggie dip
• McDonald's vanilla ice cream cone
• 2 cups Kroger Butterfinger ice cream (I only have this occasionally when I earn a lot of activity points--the pint is 18 PP, so I obviously can't have this very often!) 

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As you can see, I just tend to eat whatever I'm craving at the time; and I'm happy with the way I eat. However, I do plan on challenging myself to eat more veggies sometime soon--I'm definitely lacking in that department, because I'm just not a big veggie fan (and when I do buy them, they go bad before I use them). So while my diet certainly isn't ideal, it's definitely MUCH healthier than what I ate when I was obese!

Now that I've shared, what does a typical day's food look like for you??

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