Motivational Monday #119

Happy Motivational Monday! Despite my decision about the marathon, I had a really great week. I've been staying active by walking a lot, occasionally riding my bike, and I even did a deep water run once. I've been counting my calories, and staying within my allowance. I'm still really enjoying the switch from Weight Watchers--I was counting Points for so long that it became very mundane. I feel a renewed motivation from changing it up!

I'm not sure what my proudest moment was this week. I think it would probably be that I celebrated six years since I started this weight loss journey, and while I've had a lot of ups and downs, I'm so much healthier and happier than I was six years ago. Six years is a long time to work on something without giving up! I've changed up lots of things along the way, but the one thing I've always stayed true to is this: I never changed anything that I wasn't willing to do for the rest of my life. And it's worked out really well :)

Anyway, today will be a short and sweet Motivational Monday. Enjoy!

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Amy ran her longest run to date yesterday... 8 miles! She is training for her first half-marathon, which is in November, and she felt 8 miles was a significant threshold to reach. She said she remembered how I struggled to finish an 8-miler (it took me three tries!) and it helped give her the confidence to finish. She finished with an 11:33 pace, and was "a sweaty mess" when she was done ;)

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June and her husband were invited to visit her daughter in Africa and hike Mt. Kilimanjaro with her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend. At 160 pounds, June didn't feel ready to take on the challenge; so she started a strict program given to her by her sister, a trainer. She also started walking, interval jogging, and signed up for a Cardio Barre class. She hit 137 pounds before the trip, and she felt fantastic! She was able to stay very active--they hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro (a six-day, 44-mile hike up to 19,341 feet in altitude), and even did a 30-mile safari bike ride on dirt roads. She arrived home weighing two pounds less than than she did when she left! (June, you've totally inspired me to add Mt. Kilimanjaro to my bucket list!)

June is in the red

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Allie has lost over 75 pounds in the past year! She started with light exercise on the elliptical and can now run and do boot camp-style workouts at the gym. She uses SparkPeople for to track her progress and to blog (her username is AJ0708). She just recently hit a couple of huge milestones--reaching Onederland (less than 200 pounds), and ditching the plus-size clothing!

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Way to go, ladies!! I'm super inspired by the accomplishments this week. I hope everyone has a great week going forward!

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A long training walk

Today ordinarily would have been a long run day, but since I decided to walk the half instead, I made today a "long walk" day. When I trained to walk the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon in 2009 and 2010, I used Hal Higdon's half-marathon walking program. It consists of five days a week of walking, including one long walk on the weekends.

I didn't realize until just now that I actually miscalculated which week I would be on in the program. I was thinking I would be in week five, but it should actually have been week four. So, I thought the schedule was for a six-mile walk today, when in actuality, it was a five-miler. Oh, well! Might as well go that extra mile ;)

I'm not following the program really strictly, but I want to at least have some sort of guideline as to where I should be as far as training goes. Each night after dinner all week, Jerry and I (and the kids) have gone for a walk around the neighborhood. This morning, my plan was to walk six miles while the kids were at church.

Normally, when thinking about how much time I'd need to get it done, I just figure a rough 10:00/mile pace. So, 6 miles = 60 minutes (easy peasy). But I had no idea how much time to calculate for walking, and I just guessed it would take me about two hours (double the time to run it). I had the same trouble when riding my bike--I'm so used to running that I have no clue how to time things when doing other activities.

Even though Joey is a pain to walk on a leash (he pulls and zig-zags like crazy--typical dog behavior, I guess), I would have felt horribly guilty going for a walk without him, so I brought him along. I also don't normally use headphones when running, but while walking I do, so I listened to The Moth podcast while I walked.

First, we took the long way to get to the access road/marsh in front of our house, and once we got there, I was able to let Joey off his leash. He was so good! Normally, when I take him there, it's just for him to play and run around (which totally wears him out); today, I was on a mission to walk, and he ran around but still stayed pretty close to me.

That path you see behind me used to be as wide as a road (it actually IS a road, that is opened only for emergencies). I've watched it get narrower and narrower all summer as everything gets overgrown.

Joey had a blast. I continued to walk while he ran all around me, jumping into and out of the water. When we hit the end of the access road, he let me put his leash back on without any problem. Sometimes I'm just amazed at what a great dog he is!

I walked him back to the house, which was at mile 3.2, so that I could do the last three miles alone and try to keep a good pace. I wore my heart rate monitor, because I was curious how many calories I would burn walking versus running. The first three miles that I did with Joey, my heart rate was between 107 and 116 beats per minute--not very high at all (on a run, it's typically in the 150's). I burned 78, 90, and 87 calories.

Once I started walking by myself, it was much easier to pick up the pace. I did a loop past my parents' house along the lake, and even though the water was a little choppy, it was gorgeous.

My heart rate was a little higher for the last three miles, at 125, 128, and 132 bpm; and calories burned were 95, 93, and 100. I was walking pretty fast, as fast as I comfortably could, so I don't know how I would get my heart rate up higher than that while walking. Lately, when running, I've been burning about 110 calories per mile, so I was happy with the calories burned during walking. Granted, I was out walking much longer than I would have been if I had been running. But I really enjoyed it!

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Garage sale finds

After having a week to think it over, I am really happy with my decision to not run the marathon this October. Occasionally, I started to think I must have imagined the pain I was feeling in my ankle last Sunday; but then other times throughout this week, I've had the pain return, and my ankle has even swelled up. I'm not sure if it's re-fractured, but there is definitely something going on with it, and I don't want to risk doing some serious damage. My physical therapist never liked the idea of me doing the marathon in October, and tried to talk me into the half instead; but I begged and he relented.

Anyway, a reader named Lindsey left a comment on my blog suggesting that I switch to the half-marathon and walk it. That hadn't even occurred to me, but I really liked that idea! I loved spectating a couple of years ago, and waiting until the very last walker crossed the finish line--it was inspiring to see the people in the back of the pack! I haven't walked a race since 2010, when I walked the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon.

When I told Jerry my plan, he offered to walk with me. He had planned to spectate while I ran the marathon, but since that plan changed, he thought it would be fun to walk with me--and of course, I'll love having his company for nearly four hours of walking ;)  I've done the Detroit full marathon and the 5K previously, so now I'll have a new race experience. I changed my registration to the International Half, and I'm looking forward to it!

To prepare, I'm going to go for a long walk once a week, building up to 10-12 miles in the weeks before the race, just like I would if I was running it. I'll also make sure to get in several shorter walks throughout the week. I walked a half-marathon at my heaviest and with no training, so I know I can finish, but I like the idea of training for it.

As far as running goes, I'm probably going to wait until after I see the orthopedist next month to get his opinion. If he tells me to take several months off, I feel okay about that this time... I'm not working on a deadline, like I was before. When I got injured in December, I was worried about the Shamrock 15K in March, and then the Glass City Marathon Relay in April, and the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in May. Finally, I was worried about Detroit. Now, there is no pressure, so I will be patient and do whatever the orthopedist suggests.

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Yesterday, I went to some garage sales with my mom. I hadn't gone in a long time! I used to love looking for clothes in my new size as I was losing weight, and then when I was at goal. It's always fun to see what kind of bargains you can find at garage sales. After gaining 20 pounds, I kept thinking about how I didn't want to go again until I was back at my goal weight. Yesterday, however, I had nothing going on, so I decided to go.

I'm really glad I did! I found some really cute clothes, and I even got an authentic Coach purse for $15:

I've been wanting to get a new purse anyway, and you can't even find a cheap purse at the store for $15. This was in really good condition, and exactly something that I would have picked out.

My favorite item of the day, however, was a very cute lightweight sweater that screams "Fall" to me.

It was $5, which is a little steep for garage sale prices, but I fell in love with it and had to get it. I also bought those jeans I'm wearing (American Eagle, $1), and they're super cozy. Overall, I spent about $40, and I got quite a few things. I'm really glad I went!

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My Fitness Pal vs. SparkPeople

I just started counting calories a week ago, so it hasn't been very long, but all week long I tracked my food on both My Fitness Pal and on SparkPeople. When I was losing the weight in 2009 and 2010, I loved using SparkPeople for motivation. Reading the success stories and looking through other Sparkpages of successful "losers" was very inspiring to me! I've used SparkPeople for years to calculate the nutritional info in my recipes, too.

Several people mentioned that I should try My Fitness Pal, so I wanted to give that a fair chance, too. I decided to try out both for the week and see which I preferred (and which one met my needs better).

Here is a (very unscientific) conclusion:

Both apps have a barcode scanner, which is really nice! When adding a food to your food log, you can just scan the barcode and the product will pop up. Occasionally (on both apps) the wrong product would pop up, or the info was slightly off, but usually, the barcode scanner was super helpful!

SparkPeople has a new app that is much more user-friendly than the old one. It's a lot cleaner looking, with less distractions and less ads than before. My Fitness Pal is also very clean and user-friendly.

They both have a huge database of food. I think there was only one item out of the entire week that I couldn't find in the databases.

You can connect your devices (such as a Fitbit) to each app. On My Fitness Pal, the calories you burn may get added to your "allowed" calories for the day. On SparkPeople, your activity level doesn't change your target calorie intake. I prefer being able to add calories for exercise, because when I do a long run, I certainly need more food than when I have a rest day.

SparkPeople gives you a "daily calorie goal", which is actually a range. The range recommended for me was 1200-1550. My Fitness Pal gives you a specific calorie target (not a range), and they recommended 1200 for me. There is no way that I could be happy on 1200 calories a day, so I made up my own target. You can choose your own target on either app (for SparkPeople, I think it the change has to be made on an actual computer, and not the app--I couldn't figure out how to change it on the app). I like the idea of a range better than aiming for one particular number; because if you're aiming for, say, 1500 calories on My Fitness Pal, and you eat 1502, then it kind of makes you feel like you did something wrong for not being under your calorie goal. Having a range, like on SparkPeople, is nice because you can aim for the middle, and eat based off of your hunger level that day.

I like to measure food in grams and ounces, rather than cups and tablespoons, so I wanted an app that would allow me to do that. Both apps had issues with it. SparkPeople gives you the option much more often to log by weight; but several times, I noticed that the numbers didn't make sense (if I used only half the grams in the serving size, the calories didn't always reflect that). I didn't find any glitches like that with My Fitness Pal, but it took more searching to find a product that allows you to log by weight instead of volume. Take a specific cereal, for example: you might have to look at 10 different listings for that cereal before finding one that is listed by weight. You can always add your own food listing, though, so I ended up doing that with several foods that I wanted to log by weight.

100 grams of grapes has 67 calories,
according to the USDA

The biggest deal breaker/maker for me was whether or not I could log recipes. The SparkPeople app doesn't allow me to access any of the recipes I've inputed over the years, so I can't log them on the app (on the computer, I can, however). The only way I found to work around this is to create a new food item with the nutrition info from the recipe... but that is a huge extra step that is really unnecessary. My Fitness Pal wins for sure in the recipes category. You can use the app to create a new recipe, either by adding each ingredients manually, or by importing ingredients from a recipe on a website. Since I cook dinner almost every day, this was important to me.

One of the things I like about My Fitness Pal is at the end of the day, when you are done logging your food, you click "complete this entry", and you get a projection of what your weight would be in 5 weeks if every day were like today. There is something really motivating about seeing the projected weight!

SparkPeople has a different sort of motivator in the form of "SparkPoints". You can earn points by doing things such as tracking food, tracking water intake, reading articles, etc. The number of points you earn determines which level of "trophy" you have. You can also use the SparkPoints to buy virtual gifts for your SparkFriends.

If you're into tracking water, the SparkPeople app has a water tracker right on the same page as the food log, which is nice. I searched, but couldn't find a water tracker on My Fitness Pal. (ETA: There is a water tracker! I don't know how I missed it. When you press the little + at the bottom of the app, there is a button for water.)

A nice feature on My Fitness Pal is that there is a green checkmark next to the food items that have been verified as having the correct nutrition info. Since anyone can add food to the database, it's nice not to have to double check everything. (I'm not sure who does the verification, however.)

With SparkPeople you have to add each food item to your log individually. On My Fitness Pal, you can select several items and add them to your log at one time, which is a big time-saver! I could look at my "frequent foods" and just tap the little circle next to them, and add them all at once.

If you like having a meal plan that is created for you, SparkPeople offers that as an option. The My Fitness Pal app does not. If you turn on the meal plans on SparkPeople, you'll see that things are automatically added to your log; so you can look ahead and do shopping for the week if you choose to follow their meal plan. (I always follow my own plan, because what I eat just depends on what I'm in the mood for). As you eat each food, you check off the boxes. You can also add your own items in addition to theirs.

An example lunch with the SP meal plan

SparkPeople also has a Coaching Center, which I think is pretty cool. There is a "coaching" tab at the bottom, which leads to "Today's Tip" (a short tidbit that may be helpful or motivating), as well as articles to read.

As far as the social part of the apps, I'm too biased to really comment on it ;) My heart is with SparkPeople, because I've met some really great people on Spark. I haven't used any of the social parts of My Fitness Pal, so I can't say what the difference is.

Overall, I decided that I like My Fitness Pal for food logging. It was the recipes that swayed me! If SparkPeople ever allows me to access my recipes on the app (and add calories for exercise), I may change my mind. I'm still keeping the SparkPeople app, however, for the articles, social aspect, and motivation.

Anyone else have thoughts on which app you prefer? Or if there is something major I'm forgetting, please share!

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Wednesday weigh-in (and weight loss anniversary)

Today marks six years since I started losing weight. I cannot believe that it's been that long! I was trying to think of a good "anniversary" post, and when I read what I wrote last year, it still rings very true today. Last year at this time, I was really struggling with the weight I'd gained between March and August. I had stopped doing my Wednesday Weigh-in posts, because I got tired of seeing either a gain or the same weight I'd seen the week before. I wasn't getting anywhere as far as getting back down to goal, and posting the gain(s) week after week just felt sort of demoralizing.

I really like the post that I wrote last year about it. I had gotten a comment on my blog that made me feel kind of bad, and writing that post made me feel a million times better about what I've accomplished. Quitting the Wednesday Weigh-in posts was the right thing for me at the time. I've thought of starting them up again, but always chickened out. Until today.

Since I started counting calories a week ago, I thought it would be interesting to document how well it works for me--including the weight/body fat/waist measurement numbers. So, while I do this six-week calorie counting trial, I'll include my Wednesday Weigh-ins (good or bad). I hadn't done the body fat or waist measurements in a very long time, so I did those, too.

(Not a mole or melanoma on my toe... just an old ladybug tattoo)

My weight today was 155, which is down from 156 last week. Not a huge loss, but more than I was losing each week doing Weight Watchers, so I'll take it! (I wish I'd thought to take the body fat and waist measurements last week; but alas, I did not).

I am hoping to see these improve each week as I continue to count calories. Speaking of calorie counting, I've really liked the change from Weight Watchers! This week, my daily average calories consumed was 1,604. I'm going to stick with that number for another week, because I'm happy with the one pound loss on the scale.

I was using My Fitness Pal and SparkPeople apps this week, to see which I liked better. I can write a whole post about the differences, so I'll save that for later. But ultimately, I like SparkPeople for the social/motivation stuff, and and My Fitness Pal for the actual food logging. (I know some people have friend requested me on My Fitness Pal, but I haven't added any friends there--I'd like to keep my food log private, and since I don't use MFP socially, the food log is the only part I utilize).

I took Joey for a walk at the State Park today, and while we were walking, I thought about how it's been SIX YEARS since that fateful day I started losing weight. I realized that each year brings different successes and struggles, but if I compare where I am today versus where I was six years ago, I am in a MUCH better place. Here is a breakdown of the last six years (each year starting on Aug. 19):

Year 1: I counted every single bite of food that entered my mouth, and I was 100% on board with the weight loss. I lost weight every single week for 52 weeks in a row. I was extremely focused and felt like nothing could stop me!

Year 2: I broke my jaw, and spent a couple of months healing from that. I reached a low weight of 127.5 (thanks to the broken jaw; it was very short-lived). I ran my first half-marathon. I started researching skin removal surgery.

Year 3: I had a lower body lift, removing the excess skin around my midsection. I'm so so so grateful that I was able to have that surgery! I started marathon training, and my weight started to creep up. I ran my first marathon.

Year 4: My weight reached a post-weight-loss high of 156, and I joined Weight Watchers. I was very committed to the program and reached my goal weight of 133 in December 2012. I was really focused on my running, and got pretty fast. I ran a 10K in 49:23 and a half-marathon in 1:52:07. Maintained my weight for a year.

Year 5: Mark was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, which was one of the hardest blows I've ever taken in my life. I spent the next four months visiting him several times a week and doing everything I could to make him happy before the cancer took his life. He died in March of 2014, and I took it very hard. I gained about 20 pounds really quickly, likely due to emotional eating. My running took a backseat, and I stopped racing hard (if I did a race, it was just for fun).

Year 6: The toughest year so far, in weight management. I got a stress fracture in December, and took about six months off of running (except for a couple of weeks in the middle, where I refractured it). Not running was really hard on me mentally. Running helps with depression and anxiety (as well as weight control), so I had to learn to make do without it--it was tough!

Going into Year 7: I've gotten to the point where I'm not as interested in racing as I used to be, and I'd like to use running for fitness. My injury has flared up again, so I will continue to look for other ways to stay active. I just started calorie counting (instead of Weight Watchers) to see if changing that up will help me to stay motivated in getting back to my goal weight. I've accepted that I'm far from goal, and while I think I look okay now, I'd still like to get back to where I felt my best. (I'm going to reflect back on this in a year, so it will be interesting to see how Year 7 plays out!)

I came across this photo of Noah and me at the Mall of America in probably 2006(?) and I found a recent picture to compare it to:

When we were at the MoA, I remember getting on a ride with Noah that had a lap bar that locked in place. My stomach was so big that I couldn't get it to lock. The girl operating the ride came around to check it, and I was too embarrassed to get off the ride, so I asked her to push it down really hard, and I prayed it would lock. It did (but barely). The comparison picture on bottom is Noah and me at Cedar Point a few weeks ago. I may not be at my thinnest now, but I fit very comfortably in the rides!

When I first made that decision to lose the weight, it was because I felt like a horrible mom. Noah wanted to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels, and I was too out of shape to run alongside his bike and help. In that sense, I am already at my goal--I am an active mom (even more active than my kids are, haha) and I know I don't have any real physical limitations due to my weight. The fact that I've maintained such a large weight loss for five years now is somewhat of a miracle ;)

When I started losing weight six years ago, I never imagined I would reach my goal one day, or that six years down the road I'd be maintaining such a large weight loss. I had attempted to lose weight so many times before, and nothing really felt "different" about this time. Comparing where I am today with where I was six years ago makes me feel proud of what I've accomplished, and hopeful that I can continue to look back each year with more accomplishments to add to the list!

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12-year anniversary (and new marathon plans)

Well, my long run didn't exactly go as planned on Sunday, and certainly not as I'd hoped.

On Saturday, Jerry and I went to his cousin's wedding. I wanted to make sure my run in the morning would be as pleasant as possible, so I didn't have a single alcoholic beverage at the wedding, and I ate plenty of calories at dinner to fuel up for 15 miles. I tried to get a nice picture of Jerry and me, but when he tries to smile instead of making the "Jerry face", he just ends up looking creepy ;) (It reminds me of that Friends episode where Monica is trying to get Chandler to smile for pictures.)

I left at around 9:00 so that I could be in bed by 10:00. I set the alarm for 5:00 in the morning, in order to get an early start before the sun made it feel a thousand times hotter than it was. Jerry said he would come with me, and ride his bike while I ran. I felt as prepared as I could be for this run!

We parked the car at 5:45, and headed out onto the bike path. Immediately, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my ankle, including the spot where my stress fracture was. I was totally taken aback, because  out of all the things to go wrong, I really thought my stress fracture was done giving me trouble. I stopped to stretch for a second, and heard my ankle pop (in a normal way, like cracking your knuckles). I though that had to have been the problem, so I tried running again, and I couldn't even do it without limping. I knew I had to stop. I also knew that if I skipped this 15-miler, there was no way to "catch up" on my training for the marathon.

When that realization hit me, as I was limping back to the car, I stopped and just sat on the ground and cried. I did everything right--seeing a physical therapist, doing the PT exercises, getting my training approved, taking it easy when I felt the need to--but it didn't make any difference. Jerry felt really bad for me, and kept trying to help make me feel better, but there really isn't anything that can help.

We stopped at Kroger before going home, because we were invited to a barbecue later and I needed to make something to bring. When I got out of the car, my ankle felt totally fine. I hopped on one foot--again, no pain. I ran around the parking lot, and there was nothing. It felt totally normal! I knew I hadn't made up the pain earlier, because it was so bad I was actually limping even while walking to the car.

I briefly thought about starting my 15-miler from Kroger, but I think my body was probably giving me a harsh warning earlier that I was doing too much, too soon. Even if I got through the 15-miler, I still have several weeks of training and the marathon itself to get through. What if the pain came back, and all the training for was nothing? So, I stuck with my decision to drop the marathon, as awful as that made me feel.

I was glad we had something fun to do on Sunday, otherwise I would have let the marathon bother me all day. Sunday was Jerry's and my 12-year anniversary. On Saturday, my friend Eric and his wife, Maris, put together a last-minute barbecue at their house on Sunday, with several of our good friends from high school. It sounded like a fun way to spend our anniversary!

Maris made grilled chicken, Mexican rice, and refried beans (all delicious!) and we spent the whole afternoon hanging out with friends. Eric and Maris's house is just around the corner from the chapel where Jerry and I got married, and someone suggested we go take a picture there for our anniversary. Amy and Maris even cut some flowers from Maris's garden and made me a bouquet! I thought the photos were a great idea, so Jack, Amy, Adam, Jerry, and I walked to the chapel, where we took some fun photos.

Adam, pretending to marry us

It was a super fun afternoon, and even though we had thought about going out afterward for our anniversary, we had had a great time and decided to call it a day. We spent the evening at home watching a movie.

It's hard to believe it's been 12 years since we got married and 16 years since we started dating! In other ways, it feels like it's been so much longer. I can't even remember what my life was like before I met Jerry (as a junior in high school!). Our friends are awesome, and I feel so lucky that we still keep in touch.

The marathon was still on my mind all day, but there is really nothing I can do about that. I am just hoping that I'm making the right decision. I could drop to the half-marathon if I wanted (I have until August 26 to decide), but I don't even know if that's a good idea. I'm thinking maybe I need to focus on other things for the rest of the year--running short distances (10K or less) if I'm able, and doing more cross-training and "fun" ways to stay active (tennis with Noah, or riding my bike, etc.).

I have an appointment with an orthopedist next month for my back, but I'm going to talk to him about my stress fracture as well, and see what his advice is. For now, I have no "schedule" of what to do as far as exercise, so it feels odd; but I love the relief of not worrying about the marathon anymore. I was feeling SO much pressure to get my training in so that I could be prepared for it.

I also have some other news that is exciting (and a little scary)--I am going to be coaching cross country for second through fourth graders this fall! It's something I've been thinking about ever since I got my RRCA certification, and my friend Renee mentioned that she was thinking of it, too. So the two of us are going to coach the elementary kids. Renee came over this afternoon so we could plan. I was nervous, but after talking about it with Renee, I'm less nervous and more excited. Should be interesting, if nothing else! ;)

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Motivational Monday #118

Happy Motivational Monday! I hope everyone had a great week. I've been enjoying the change in plans (calorie counting instead of Weight Watchers). I'll write more about it later, but it's been fun to change things up and it's helped me to stay motivated.

I have a few Motivational Monday stories to share today. Enjoy!

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Jolynn recently joined an online support group that is run by a friend of hers (who is a Team BeachBody coach). She popped in a walking DVD and did that for three miles. The following day, she decided to walk outside. Even though she says running scares her, she even jogged a couple of times during her walk! She's proud to be off to a great start on her journey.

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Amanda ran her first 5K last November, and then, for some reason, stopped running. On Father's Day, her beloved father passed away unexpectedly and WAY too early. After having the roughest summer of her life, she decided to start running again. She completed the first week of the Couch to 5K program, and is proud that running makes her feel back in control!

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Last month, Mara shared the outcomes of the first 2 of 7 races in 37 days. She's completed her 7 races in 37 days, and is very proud of the improvement she's made in her running. She set a new PR for each 5K she ran over the course of a month!

6/27: 10K in 1:06:27
7/4: 6.75-mile relay leg in 1:08:28
7/19: 5K in 35:45 (with kids in a stroller)
7/22: 5K in 33:01
7/30: 5K in 31:49
8/1: 5K in 29:36
8/2: 5K in 29:30

Mara's friend, Alisha, asked Mara to share her story on Alisha's blog. She's lost a total of 60 pounds, and has (clearly) really taken off with the running!

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Amanda ran her farthest distance to date yesterday--6 miles! She's training for a half-marathon in September, and despite the awful humidity in the midwest this time of year (I can totally attest to that!) she's halfway through her training. She's going to rock her half next month!

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You can check out more stories (and share your own accomplishments) on the Motivational Monday Facebook post. Congrats, everyone!

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Humid mileage with Steph

I've been getting a little worried about my running lately, because my training hasn't gone exactly as I'd hoped. Considering I'm coming back from an injury, I think I've done really well; but, I just hope it's good enough for the marathon in October. After cutting Thursday's run short, I really started to doubt myself. I just hoped that I'd have good runs this weekend!

I was scheduled for 6 miles today, and 15 miles tomorrow. Yesterday, I was trying to come up with ways to hopefully make my runs go more smoothly this weekend, and I decided to see if Stephanie was running (she usually does her long runs on Saturdays). She said she was going to do 9 miles this morning, and I could certainly join her if I wanted. So, we made plans to meet at 6:00 a.m. to run 6 miles together (and she'd do 3 more on her own).

I got up at 5:00 this morning to head out at 5:30. If I hadn't made plans with Steph, I certainly would have slept until 7:30, and then procrastinated until 9:30, when I'd do the treadmill because the heat would be too much ;) The temp was only 66 degrees this morning, but the humidity was 99%. Running in that kind of humidity is really tough!

If you haven't experienced humidity like that, the air feels really thick. It's like being in the bathroom after taking a steamy shower, where you can literally feel the moisture in the air. The problem with running in humidity, is that there is so much moisture in the air that when you sweat, your sweat doesn't evaporate. You just wind up hot and completely drenched in sweat!

Anyway, I got to the parking lot a little early, and Stephanie's car was already there, but she wasn't in it. I figured she decided to get her three miles done before meeting me (I wish I had that kind of drive!). She came running up to the car right at 6:00, and we headed out for an out-and-back along one of my favorite bike paths. We decided to do 5:00-run/0:30-walk intervals (I was just praying I'd be able to finish and feel good!). She doesn't normally do run/walk intervals, but she said that considering the humidity, the intervals sounded good.

It was still pretty dark on the way out, but it was so nice that the time went by so quickly because we were chatting the whole time. Stephanie typically runs about an 11:00/mile pace, which is perfect for me right now. Running with a friend is so much better than running solo!

I felt much better during the run today than on Thursday. I made sure to eat more yesterday, particularly carbs, and that made a huge difference in the way I felt. I looked back at my food log for Wednesday, and realized that for dinner, I had a chicken caesar salad wrap that only had 18 grams of carbs. It's rare that I don't eat pasta or rice or something that's high in carbs for dinner. So I think that may have contributed to my feeling very tired during my run on Thursday. Last night, I had 64 grams of carbs with dinner, and felt a thousand times better today.

Anyway, we stopped for a pic on the overpass (running over the expressway is the only way to experience "hills" around here, and it's tough!). I love standing over the expressway and watching the cars below--there is something almost mesmerizing about it.

Stephanie said she looks tired in the photo, but I think she looks adorable!

After the overpass, we had less than a mile to go. I briefly considered continuing on for another 9 miles afterward, just to get my 15-miler done today instead of tomorrow; but I wasn't at all prepared for it (no fuel or water). Even though it was miserably humid today, it ended up being a really nice run. I loved having Steph's company!

Today, Jerry and I have a wedding to go to. I plan to use the 700 calories I burned on a piece of wedding cake! Ordinarily, I would also take advantage of an open bar, but considering I have to run 15 miles tomorrow, I'll just be drinking water all night ;)

I haven't run 15 miles since I was training for Chicago in 2013, so I'm really nervous about it. I haven't planned any details about my route or fueling or anything like that yet. It's supposed to be 99% humidity tomorrow, also, and the temp is supposed to be a little warmer--so it won't be easy! I'm thinking I may use shorter running intervals (3:00 or 4:00 minutes instead of 5:00); and I'll take the pace very easy in order to just finish the run.

Tomorrow is also Jerry's and my 12-year anniversary. We were thinking of doing something really simple, like recreating our first date or do something nostalgic from when we were dating a hundred years ago. After my run, we're going to our friends' house for a lunchtime barbecue. The kids are going to a sleepover birthday party tomorrow night, so Jerry and I will be able to go out in the evening. Should be a fun day (minus running 15 miles, haha)!

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Tempo run, bonfire, and Larabars

Today was Day 3 of calorie counting, and it's still going well! I have to work on finding the right amount of calories for me, though. I had a really bad run yesterday, and I suspect it was from not eating enough the day before. I had eaten a little over 1300 calories on Wednesday, which, when I've counted calories before, is on the very low side. (I wasn't intentionally trying to eat so little; it was just a really busy day and that's what it wound up being). I think I would feel my best with a minimum of 1500 on my inactive days.

I was scheduled for an eight-mile tempo run (yes, eight miles!) yesterday. The Hansons tempo is slower than a typical tempo, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds. I decided to do it on the treadmill, so I could just maintain a constant pace and not have to think about it, and I figured I'd aim for 6.0 mph (10:00/mi). Since I don't have a marathon goal pace, I just have to pick paces that seem to work out for each run.

I had carbs for breakfast (two pieces of sourdough toast with coconut oil), and about half an hour later, I hopped on the treadmill. About a mile in, I just was not feeling well at all--I felt very tired and weak (which is actually "normal" for me on the first couple of days of doing Weight Watchers--going from eating too much to cutting it back is tough for a couple of days). I took a walking break, and tried negotiating with myself to at least get through five or six miles, but by mile three, I was really feeling run down. So I called it quits.

I can tough out cramps, or heat, or sometimes even nausea; but the feeling I got while running yesterday wasn't anything like that. So, today, I made sure to eat more (1600 calories) to hopefully feel better during my six-mile run tomorrow. I may have to do caloric cycling (having a lot on some days, and less on others) to feel my best. It always takes some experimenting to find out what works best for me! I have a very long run on Sunday, so tomorrow, I'll probably be eating well over 2,000 calories.

Anyway, the rest of the day was pretty low-key, as was today. This morning, I got all of our bills paid--strangely, I love doing that. Then the kids and I took Joey for a walk across the street to the access road, where he could run off leash. It's gotten pretty overgrown back there, and Joey loves jumping around and running into and out of the water.

Oh, I got the results of my MRI, too. I read them in the morning online, but my doctor called in the afternoon to go over them. The MRI was normal, except for the scoliosis/arthritis that was shown on the x-ray. I think that's a good thing? I was kind of hoping it was something that could be fixed, but maybe when I see the orthopedist, he'll have some ideas to make it less painful.

This afternoon, we did some yard work (why does it seem never ending?!) and Jerry made a fire to burn a bunch of wood that we had from when we built the garage. It's been sitting in the fire pit since last fall.

Jerry and I decided to plan a bonfire/get together this fall. It's something we used to do every year, and I always looked forward to it, but for whatever reason we haven't done it in a few years. We invite several friends from high school, and it always ends up being fun. This year, we're going to do it the night of the Detroit Marathon; that way, after the race, I'll be able to celebrate with my friends.

I did something completely idiotic today. I opened a Larabar (I love Larabars!!), and after taking a couple of bites, I thought it tasted weird, like the nuts in it were rancid or something. I looked at the expiration date, and saw it had expired in May. I just bought it last week! So I went to the pantry to look at the others (there were eight of them in there) and check the dates. All of them had expired in May and June.

I was super bummed (I wanted a Larabar!), so I dug out my receipt from last week, and brought the bars to Kroger to return or exchange them. The woman who was working customer service said I could go get new ones from the shelves, and I would just exchange them. So I went over to the section with the Larabars, and started looking at the dates. All the flavors I liked were expired--May and June, again.

I went back to customer service to let the woman know, and she called someone else over (probably to clear them off the shelves). She pointed out the dates, and then said, "Wait, it says 2016..." At first I thought it had to be just that particular bar she was looking at, but no--she went through each and every bar, and they all expired in May or June of 2016! I felt like a complete idiot, hahaha. Apparently, I just don't like the Cashew Cookie flavor, because that was the one that tasted weird to me!

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MRI experience

Well, the first day of calorie counting went smoothly! Several people suggested using My Fitness Pal, which I am familiar with--I've used that and SparkPeople to count calories in the past. My heart kind of lies with SparkPeople, because it kept me motivated while I was losing the weight in 2009-2010. However, for this whole first week of calorie counting, I'm going to use both apps and decide which I like better.

I am super bummed, though. SparkPeople apparently made another app called Pep, which is kind of like Instagram for fitness/weight loss. I thought it would be fun to try, and I noticed that all of my SparkPeople "friends" were automatically added to my "following" list on the Pep app. I had over 6,000 "friends" on Spark (I always just added everyone who added me), which is way too many people to actually follow (I like to keep my social media lists manageable, so I don't miss things).

I spent FOREVER going through and clicking "unfollow" to all 6,000-something people, leaving just the 40 or so that I know in real life or through my blog. (They don't have a "check all" button, unfortunately). I noticed when I signed into SparkPeople on my computer, all those people were deleted as my friends on Spark as well! I didn't want to do that--I just didn't want to see 6,000 people on my Pep newsfeed.

I didn't care for the Pep app, so now I have to go back and manually re-add all of the people I accidentally deleted. (If someone from SparkPeople is reading this, PLEASE add a "select all" button to the friend feed... thanks).

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I went for my MRI today. On Monday, I had the x-rays done of my back. The results of the x-rays were already uploaded to my chart that same night--again, I love being able to see my chart online! They said exactly what I expected: I have mild scoliosis and degeneration in the middle of the thoracic section of my spine. That's exactly where my pain is (right where my bra strap is on my back).

I was really nervous for the MRI. I wasn't sure if I'd ever had one (the memories of my night in the ER from when I broke my jaw are fuzzy... I think I had a CT scan, but not an MRI). Anyway, I'm a little claustrophobic, but not enough to where I thought I'd need anti-anxiety meds or anything. They had me change out of all of my clothes and into a hospital gown.

When I got in the room, I was relieved to see that they had an "open MRI" machine--instead of being very tubular, the sides are more open so it's not as claustrophobic.

Photo source

When I saw it, I felt much more relaxed. I had to lie flat on the little table, and then they started putting sponges (padding) around me (under my knees, under my arms, around my head, etc.). I was told that I'd be under the machine for about 30 minutes, then they'd pull me out and inject a contrast material into my arm, and then put me back under for another 20 minutes.

When they slid the table under the machine, I was taken aback at how low the ceiling of it was. I was surprised my eyelashes weren't brushing against it, because it was so close to my face. Suddenly, it didn't seem so "open" anymore (everywhere I looked, all I could see was the ceiling of the machine). I decided to just close my eyes through the whole thing, and hopefully I would forget that it was such a tight space.

When I read about MRI's recently, it kind of freaked me out--somehow, the magnets make all the protons in your body line up in the same direction. Then radio waves knock the protons out of alignment. When the protons realign, they send out some sort of radio waves, which eventually produces images of the body. I read that you don't feel anything, but I kept expecting to feel something crazy as the protons did their aligning and realigning. Haha! It sounds kind of crazy, though, right? I kind of wished I hadn't read about it.

Anyway, there was an intercom where the technologist performing the scan could talk to me and hear me if I talked. I was also given a button to press in case I panicked or something. Before each photo scan, the tech told me how long it would take. The first was three minutes, and then they kept getting longer until the last one was six minutes. I didn't feel anything--I just had to lie extremely still, and there was a loud noise that sounded like a jackhammer during each scan (I was given earplugs to wear).

After several scans, the tech pulled me out and then injected the contrast into my arm. Again, I expected to feel something with the contrast, but I didn't feel anything at all. He slid me back under the machine, and did round two. By the end, my head, neck, and back were sore from being in the same position for so long. It felt awesome to sit up after it was over.

I was given a disc with the scans on it... I wish I had a disc drive on my computer so I could see them! (Not that I would know what I was really looking at). The results should be uploaded in a couple of days. I'm really curious to see what's been going on and why my back pain has gotten so bad lately. My next step is to see a orthopedist who specializes in back pain. The earliest I can get in is September 16th. I'm not sure what they can do, because my scoliosis is mild (I don't need surgery for it or anything). But I'm getting ahead of myself... we'll see what my doctor says.

When I left my appointment, I was starving. The appointment was at 11:15, and by the time I got out of there, it was 12:45 (I usually eat lunch at 11:00 or 12:00). I should have brought something to eat when I was done, but I didn't think of it when I left the house. Anyway, with a half-hour drive home, I decided to swing through McDonald's and get something quickly (yes, even though I'm trying to avoid eating out this month).

It's interesting how counting calories instead of PointsPlus affects my decisions. I don't eat at McDonald's often, but if I do, my favorite sandwiches are either a Big Mac or a Filet O Fish. The Big Mac is pretty much out of the question, unless I did a long run or something that day, because it's 14 PointsPlus. The Filet O Fish is 10 PointsPlus, which is still generally much more than I would spend on lunch.

While counting calories, though, I saw that the Filet O Fish was 380--that's not too bad for a lunch. (I'm not saying it's a healthy lunch--just saying that spending 380 calories for lunch sounded like a good number). So, I ordered it--and it was delicious! I can't remember the last time I ate one. I counted the calories for it, and it fit nicely into my day.

One of the other things I've already noticed is that a lot of restaurants these days list the calories in their items right on the menu, which makes it so much easier to decide what to order--I always hated having to look up PointsPlus on anything I was interested in before deciding. It was very time consuming. Seeing the calories right there on the menu is nice.

I think the most time-consuming part about counting calories is probably calculating the calories in a recipe. Thankfully, I already have most of my favorite recipes saved in SparkPeople, so I won't have to do that again. I remember spending a lot of time entering them, though! One of the features on My Fitness Pal that I discovered and I think is awesome is that you don't have to type in all the ingredients from a recipe that's online--you can just plug in the webpage of the recipe, and MFP will automatically detect the ingredients. I was amazed! One of the biggest drawbacks to SparkPeople is that you can't log a recipe that you have entered (you can do it on the website, but not on the app). I'm enjoying comparing the two apps, so I'll write my findings once I do it for a week or so.

Anyway, the first day of counting calories was successful, and I'm feeling motivated and excited about doing it--which is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks so much for the kind comments and suggestions on yesterday's post. I love that I can write such personal things on my blog and not feel judged. Good luck to those of you who are going to take on this six-week challenge with me! Make sure you keep me updated on how it's going for you as well :)

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