Let's play, "Will It Still Fit?"

This is the story of my size 10 teachin' pants.  Are you intrigued?  No, not really?  Well, read on, my friends, because it's a tale of terror and elation, with more than its fair share of binge eating!!

So, I teach balloon decor (as well as having a balloon decor business).  Most days, I hang out at home in yoga pants or jeans.  When I go out, it's normally in jeans as well.  But lately, it's been the year of yoga pants.  Stretchy ones.  When I have put on jeans, they immediately get unzipped when I get home and they stay up that way until I change back into my delightful yoga pants.  Lately my jeans have seemed extra constricting since I have been inhaling food like someone training for an ultramarathon.  Except the only thing I am training for is not splitting the seams on my yoga pants during the Dr. Phil marathon on the OWN network. Grim.

I travel to teach and I have nice black and khaki pants in a respectable size 10 that I wear with my logo teachin' polos.  I haven't worn these magical pants since January and they might have been a tad tight then.  But, that didn't deter me from eating a whole bag of iced molasses cookies this week.  Or Ben & Jerry's last week.  Or anything sweet coming near my mouth for the entire year of 2014.  I have been pigging out.  I think I'll blame it on stress.  That sounds reasonable and much less hoggy than proclaiming, "ME LIKEY SUGAR!" like the yoga-pants-wearing land beast I have become lately.

Next week, I travel to the World Balloon Convention where I will be teaching, thus needing my good teachin' pants.  But size 10?  Did I outgrow them?  Do I need to run to Kohl's and avert my eyes as I save 20% off on size 12 teachin' pants?  I avoided trying them on for days and days - not wanting to face that blubbery muffin top or the puffy under-belly-button area that screams, "YES!  I've birthed two ten pound children!"

But, what is this?  The size 10 teachin' pants fit?  I was so happy that I wrote this haiku:


You barely zip up
My size ten black teachin' pants
I'm not too fat yet!

Do you have a pair of pants that are the barometer of your tipping point in weight?

Day 4 of 100 - I have 47 days to lose 25 lbs!!!

PANIC!!  PANIC!!  PANIC!!

PANIC!!  PANIC!!  PANIC!!

 

Ok, here's the deal.  I bought a too-small dress for an event because, well... Kohl's.

 

 

You know the plan:  Lose weight to fit into a certain outfit by the upcoming event.  Except, other than a week spent barely surviving on rice, I've been eating like a longshoreman.  I made Chicken Artichoke Lasagna with more cheese than Wisconsin produces in a calendar year PER SERVING, and then proceeded to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it was gone.  When that was gone, we ordered Jett's Deep Dish Pizza and had left-overs.  It's easy to limit intake at one meal, but when EVERY meal is garbage, it is not helping!

 

 

AND on top of that, THESE LITTLE DEVILS:

So, yeah.  I feel like a bloated, cheese-filled land beast with Thin Mint crumbs all over my fat little face.  I don't actually have to lose 25 lbs, but 10-15 would probably get me into the dress without full body spanx. (Which I am NOT above, so don't judge me!!)

Now then... what am I going to do?  I can definitely stop eating cookies (since we are out).  And I probably can make more sensible choices for at least 40 of the next 47 days.  I can log back into My Fitness Pal and track, track, track.  Should I try something like Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred?  I've heard great things about that from the freaks on MFP.

Here's the driving force behind the dress efforts... I get to wear these shoes with it:

Hot, yes?  Worth it??? 

And, oh yeah, I rode an hour on the bike trainer today.  That should help!







How I Lost 5 Lbs In A Week!! (aka My Trip To Japan!!)

I've been ignoring my wee little blog lately, but for a pretty good reason.  I've been in exotic and exciting Japan!  And, since this is a blog about exercise and weight loss, I'll bring it home by saying that I lost 5 pounds over the 7 days I was in Japan.  I could explain this revolutionary new diet plan, or I can just show you some highlights:

This is a delicious baked potato completely ruined with squid and squid liver pate.

This was the hotel breakfast: seaweed with beans, ginger root in "sauce", salad with something decidedly NOT ranch dressing, pork sausage that was a little off, fruit and rice.

Lunch one day - a collection of mystery foods.  I did eat the sushi and there was potato salad in there.

This is a tiny Pepsi bottle being served in a tiny little glass.  I guess they don't believe in Super Sizing beverages.

I love noodles, but octopus is chewy.

My quick lunch option on two of the days.  Sandwiches from the local 7-11.  I didn't eat the whole thing.

So, needless to say, I lived on rice all week:

I am lousy with chopsticks so only about half of the food I wanted made it to my mouth.

 

Also, apparently people in Japan walk everywhere as well.  When I would ask how far something was, I was usually told in terms of how long a walk it was.  Since they all seem to power walk like something was chasing them (perhaps the mama squid?), a 15 minute walk was easily a mile.  So I walked.  A lot.

Don't get me wrong... I had a blast.  But eating was not something I did a great deal of.  Fortunately,
the complete flip-flop of time zones (Japan is about 14 hours ahead of EST where I live in NC) meant I was so tired that I was too nauseated to eat much in the first place.  Believe me when I tell you the first thing I did after clearing Customs was to buy a gigantic tea from McDonald's and a bag of white cheddar popcorn.

Here are some pics of some of the cool things I got to see between teaching classes and prepping for those classes:

Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atsuta_Shrine)

Kaminarimon Gate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaminarimon)

Sensō-ji (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensō-ji) - This tower is said to hold some of the ashes of the Buddha.

Tokyo Skytree - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Skytree) This picture was taken at 450 meters up!

Mt Fuji (taken from the train window between Nagoya and Tokyo)

I had a wonderful experience, but I am happy to be home.  Now I can start my 100 days towards getting serious on training.  I have a race next Saturday - the Krispy Kreme Challenge and I'm glad I'm not running for time because I would not be so speedy.

I have to say that 5lbs gone was a welcome surprise and I'm looking forward to losing more before squeezing into my silver dress at the end of March!

2014 - Goals, Plans, and Races - Oh My! (Part One)



YES! 2014 is here and it's time to start anew.  Here are my goals for 2014!

At least for the first 6 months. 

I need to get through the Half Ironman in June before I even think about what comes after.

Or IF anything comes after....

 Goal #1 for January is to get settled into a workout plan and build some consistency.  This is going to be a particular challenge, in that I am going to be away from home 12 of the 31 days in January.  I'm going to Wichita for 5 days next week and then on the 24th, I head to Japan for a whole week.

Truthfully, I feel like I'm starting the year swimming upstream.  It's exciting and all that, but Jeeze, it's going to be pretty easy to put training off unless I fight hard to keep on track.  But keep on track, I MUST.

Also, I should mention food here.  I have really let myself pig out over the holidays.  I'm very interested in learning more about nutrition and proper fueling this year.  And weight loss - oh yes.  I am down a wee bit from last year this time, but I gained 5 lbs over the holidays (this is even with having the flu the last 5 days and eating the cumulative amount of a sleeve of saltines in that time)

Our first race of the year is the famous Krispy Kreme Challenge on February 8th.  The challenge is that you run 2.5 miles, eat a dozen hot donuts, and then run 2.5 miles back - all in under an hour.  You wouldn't believe this by looking at my beetonk, but I can't eat 12 donuts in a whole day (let alone less than 10 minutes), so I entered as a participant instead of a challenger.  I am running this one with my son, Wil, and we are pretty excited.  I think a 5 mile race is a good place to start and this is an iconic event for our area.  We plan to dress up as the Eleventh Doctor (Wil) and the Tardis (me) because dressing up for the Krispy Kreme Challenge is definitely encouraged.

Food-wise, following up my mention on eating better with the KKC might seem like I am not fully committed to... anything healthy.  I totally get where you are coming from, and I have absolutely no excuse or justification other than I get to dress up!  LIKE THE TARDIS.  If I get real ambitious, I'm going to put Bad Wolf right across my ass.  That's worth a few unhealthy donuts!

March 24th - 31st is the World Balloon Convention in Denver, CO.  I am teaching for the second time at WBC, which is a pretty stressful undertaking.

My goals for March are to lose enough weight so I can squeeze into the silver dress to the right on the finale night.  It almost zips up now, but I went ahead and bought it anyway because it was at Kohl's and I think they coat their Kohl's Cash with bad judgement gel.  In any event, I bought the dress in hopes it will fit nicely in 3 months.

I'm looking for a Sprint Tri this month but all I can find so far is during WBC when I am out of town.  In that case, I might look for a nice half marathon and there are a few choices, including the Tobacco Road Full & Half.

Most important in April is that it's my birthday!!  I'll be 44.  Next most important is a huge decision, which is... which race to choose?  I was looking at the Rock N Roll Full on my birthday, April 13th, but there is an Olympic Tri nearby on the 19th.  I seriously doubt I can do both and remain standing.

I am leaning more toward the tri because it will help me get more prepared for the HIM in June.  I am SUPER EXCITED about another Olympic Tri.  I feel like I learned so much last time and definitely need all the Tri practice I can get before June.

I am also concerned that I have 4 months to train and that did not seem to be sufficient on my last Olympic Half.  I can honestly say my training was inconsistent and I really didn't start to swim or bike until 1 - 2 months before the event, so I believe I can go in more prepared this time.  It's local, which is nice.  And I can do some Open Water Swims at the location before the actual race.  All good.  I'd like to do this as a confidence builder towards the HIM, so I have to work up some of that "can do" spirit by April.

 May is kinda up in the air!  I don't want to do anything extreme as I taper, but a cool Sprint Tri would be nice.  I did find one pretty interesting event that could double as a mini-vacation for my family. 

The Carolina Beach Double Sprint is May 11th.  It's Swim/Run/Bike/Run/Swim, which sounds like a fun twist.  Carolina Beach is about 2 hours away and close to where we normally take our beach trips.

Ironman Raleigh 70.3 - Yeah, this is happening June 1st.  THIS is my big race this year and everything I do between now and June 1st will be leading to this event.  I am excited, but terrified.  I can imagine that the following two weeks will be spent doing some well-deserved ass-sitting.

I don't know what else to say about June.  I am dreading its arrival and thinking the first 6 months of 2014 are going to blaze by.

CONTINUED WITH PART TWO AS SOON AS I FIGURE IT OUT!

I'd like to add more events, but even these listed will be a stretch financially.  You may have noticed no RunDisney Races and that is purely financial.  The average RunDisney half marathon is $180 now and that doesn't include travel and hotel, or even time in the parks.  I'd love to do Wine & Dine again, but this may have to be a Disney-free year.  The truth is that I can do THREE local races for the cost of one RunDisney entry and that is hard to ignore.

 

Wish me luck with my first 6 months of 2014!  They should be jam-packed since I usually travel about 6-10 days a month in addition to training.  I am hoping for a more quiet year, but I don't think that's going to happen.  I hope YOUR 2014 is going to be successful and exciting!

 

 

 





In a holding pattern

With Thanksgiving tomorrow and my schedule so full, I haven't been running (or doing anything more strenuous than waddling to the fridge).  I feel like I have been pigging out - eating cookies, cake, candies, you name it - but  haven't gained a single pound since coming back from Disney.  And not sure if I shared this in my Disney recap, but I LOST 4 LBS while at WDW for the Wine & Dine week.  I felt like we did nothing but eat, so I was shocked when I came home expecting a 5 lb gain.

Oink Oink!  It's the holidays!

I am spending Thanksgiving alone.  My kids are with their dad.  My mom is in Florida for the week and the friends I was going to eat with had to cancel since one of them is in the hospital and not doing very well.  I am also missing my half-sister's wedding because my car's engine light came on and I can't get it looked at until the day I'm supposed to leave on that 1200 mile round-trip drive. It's kinda a rough Thanksgiving, however I still have a million reasons to be thankful.

Top two reasons I am thankful EVERY day.

I'm debating between joining a club (maybe two, but that might be overkill) to get through the off-season.  The first is the Winter session of Raleigh Galloway.  I goes from December through May and I would have set group runs every Saturday.  It's $85 to join.  I joined the regular May through November session of RG and went ONE TIME.  I don't know why this would be different.  My problem is that I'm not very social and in many ways, these slower Galloway groups are kinda cliquey (as weird as that sounds).  So, I spent most of last year running alone in a group.  When no one cares if you show up, it's kinda hard to remain accountable to those people.

No real photo, because I feel bad enough for calling those people cliquey when it is probably my own shyness that is stopping me from being one of them.  I did have a wonderfully snarky group photo and comment though.  BUT I AM TAKING THE HIGH ROAD TODAY INSTEAD!!

The other group I am considering joining is the Inside Out Sports Triathlon Club (ISOTC). Full membership is $80 and it includes group rides, runs, and swims all throughout the week.  I just feel like these are REAL triathletes and I will get left in the dust/be a burden on a group.


Aren't there any other out of shape fatties in this group?

I have some time to figure out my next step and while I do need to get on the ball, I'm going to take my time to decide what I can put my heart into. I think that will yield the best results.

For now, I am going to enjoy being thankful for the things I do have.





Back to training - speedy style!

It's been exactly one month since my first triathlon and despite my well-meaning intentions, it was also the first day I went back to the gym since then.  I know!!  I feel your scorn from here.

Wil ran with me and we totally looked this cool!

I ran 4 miles in my fastest time ever.  Wait - what?  Should I take a month off more often?

What?  I'm IN TRAINING, obvs.

Since I have three weeks to get back in shape for a half marathon, probably not.  In fact, I don't see myself slowing down until... well, maybe the end of triathlon season next year.  I can half-ass a Disney half marathon, but I can't do that for the full and I especially can't do it for a half-Ironman.  I have a plan and now I have a little momentum.  I'd also like to lose 10lbs (if possible) before I go to Wichita to make the balloon videos. I have until the first part of December for that goal.

So.... Yay for getting back to doing what I should be!

Do I need a triathlon coach?

Or, better question: Do I want to part with $200 a month?

Think of the Oreos I could be buying with this money.

I have two big events coming up that I've never done before.  A full marathon in January 2014 (WDW) and a half Ironman in June 2014 (Ironman Raleigh 70.3).  I am unsure how best to train for these and am wondering if a coach could help me get more prepared. 

Of course, when I think about Coach, I think about this:

Although, really, I'm more of a Dooney & Bourke girl.

Or maybe even this:

UNC.  UGH.

But I think it's probably more like this:

First rule: No falling off the bike. Why did you do that?  It was dumb.

Second rule: Look better in a bathing suit.  Honestly, yuck.  People can't unsee your cellulite.

Third rule: Run/Walk/Run doesn't mean Walk/Saunter/Lollygag.  Get faster!

My concern is that I was not as prepared for my Olympic Tri as I had wanted to be. 
I can trace that to:
1) inconsistent training (would coaching help me be more accountable?);
2) not enough training (but I can start early enough without a coach now); and
3) being fat and lazy (chances of that changing are slim.  SLIM, get it?  HARHAR I kill me!).

My scale just has a recorded laugh track.

I also want to lose some weight before these races.  I know I am not knowledgeable enough to figure that out because the last 5 weeks of training for the Oly, I lost 0.00 lbs when working out 2+ hours 6 days a week.  And I wasn't over-eating.  If anything, I think I wasn't eating enough.  At least the people on My Fitness Pal seemed to think so.  What is the answer for losing weight while training?  Simple calorie deficit does not work for my body.  Would a coach help with this nutrition/weight loss bit?


I can definitely find a marathon training schedule online - in fact, Jeff Galloway has one specifically for the WDW Full.  I can add some swimming and biking in as cross-training until after the marathon.  Then from January - June I can concentrate on the half Ironman.  Maybe at that point, I will consider a coach.  I want to be really prepared for this half Ironman.  I simply can not go into it as unprepared as I was for my recent Oly.

So, does anyone reading have any feedback on coaching vs. being on my own?  I'd love to hear!

Being an Athena Triathlete

Athena sounds like a skinny girl.  I think they
should have called it the Roman equivalent -
Minerva.  You just KNOW Minerva is
stuffing her face with oreos somewhere.

When I registered for the Outer Banks Triathlon months and months ago, I weighted 168.  The new 2013 Athena Division rules bumped up the minimum weight from 150 to 165.  Since I was so close, I figured FOR SURE I would lose at least 10 lbs in the training process before the race and would only qualify for being an Age Grouper.  But, nope.  I didn't lose a single ounce!  This has been frustrating, but I'm trying to focus on the training and not the scale.  My guess is that I was not eating enough (as counter intuitive as that sounds) and I really just decided about two weeks ago to stop worrying about weight loss until after the tri.

Today I called the race director to see if I could switch divisions to be an Athena.  I have really mixed emotions about this!  On one hand, it makes sense to be with ladies more my size, I guess.  And it might mean the difference between being dead last in the Age Group vs. at least out-waddling one or two gals in the Athena division.  On the other hand... I don't wanna be big enough to be an Athena - even by 3 lbs.  And it's disheartening to struggle with weight issues and have to accept being more suited to the bigger girls' group.

I really just have to get over it and give myself a reality check.  For one, it's my FIRST triathlon and who I start with will make no difference in my finishing time.  That's my personal battle.  Second, I consider myself a huge lard ass but I would NEVER consider other ladies in this group as anything other than amazing athletes working hard to achieve their goals.  Why am I so hard on me then?  Issues, much?

Athena was the goddess of  wisdom, courage, inspiration, among other things.  Maybe I need to focus on what's amazing about being an Athena and not the junk in my trunk.

Related, is this survey from the USA Triathlon about the Athena and Clydesdale divisions.  It has some interesting questions and might lead to more events focusing on these athletes.  Check it out!
https://usatriathlon.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1Yz2fQGErE91fzD

Blah day - blah workout

I used to be Fat.  Like capital F Fat.  I was almost 300lbs.  I look back and still can't believe I was ever that big.  I had gastric bypass surgery in March of 2003.  I lost 135 lbs and got down to 140.  I was a flabby size 6.  It was at the point where people were telling me not to lose anymore weight.  I can't imagine weighing 125, but that has always been that magic number.  The weight at which I tell myself I will no longer be fat.

I never got to 125.  I maintained my weight at 140/145 for a few years but was diagnosed as bipolar in March 2006.  They put me on Lithium, which made me eat like a crazy person (LOL - I was a crazy person!).  I gained 25 lbs in a month and then refused to take meds anymore.  They tried a few different things until they found the one that has kept me fairly sane for 4 years now without piling on the pounds.  However, during the years following my diagnosis, I put on about 10 lbs a year.  I got back up to 210 lbs before deciding enough was enough and joined Weight Watchers.  I lost 30 lbs before plateauing and quitting because the only thing I was losing the last 6 months was $45/month.  I signed up with My Fitness Pal and have been tracking calories and exercise.  I have lost an additional 15 lbs. pretty slowly over the last 6 months.

Why am I telling you all of this, you ask?  Today I had a terrible workout and I feel blah and fat.  It's easy to see why people get discouraged and quit training if they don't have a goal. Thank goodness I have a goal!!  I know I can't quit and have to go back tomorrow and try, try again regardless of how much of a lump I feel like today.  I also feel a little better writing it all out because I guess I didn't realize until now that I have lost 15 lbs since quitting WW and that IS moving in the right direction.

It doesn't seem to matter how much I work out - it seems to matter what I eat if I want to lose.  In fact, I lose better (MORE) if I'm not working out.  After the Princess Half, I stopped running and lost consistently until I started my training up again.  It's so hard to find the right balance of calories in and calories out.  It should be straight forward to work at a deficit, but for me it doesn't work that easily.  Maybe because of the bypass surgery and my body being used to less calories?  I don't know...  All I do know is that losing weight is hard and I keep wondering at what point I will feel "thin".

And, blah blah, I know I should worry about being HEALTHY and not THIN, but I'm not that evolved.  I want to look good.  (and be healthy, yeah yeah, of course).

Back to my workout.  I swam for 30 minutes yesterday, then did 25 miles on the stationary bike, then ran .5 miles to shake my legs out.  I felt great!  But today, I was tired and couldn't make my legs move.  I did do 10.5 miles on the bike and walked for 3 miles, but I did both much more slowly that usual.  I don't want to burn myself out, so I am going to revise my training plan to not bike three days in a row.  I was doing that schedule because I was trying to shoe horn in biking to an existing marathon training program, but I think I will put the marathon training aside until after my Olympic Triathlon next month.  The marathon (in January) and the half Ironman (next June) will be my next two goals.

Like I said - thank goodness for goals.  They keep me focused and moving forward!

So, I signed up for a triathlon... I've lost it, right?

I don't blog very frequently so a lot happens from one post to the next.  In the time since my last post about the Princess Half Marathon, I spent about 3 months sitting on my ass before deciding I needed a new goal.  Because the first full marathon I wanted to do was the WDW Full in January 2014, I thought about what I wanted to do in the meantime.  For some crazy reason, I decided a triathlon was the answer.

September 21, 2013

This was a ridiculous decision in many ways.  First, I don't have a bike and haven't ridden one since I was 10.  Second, I can "swim" in that I don't drown, but I am no one's life guard material.  Running was ok, but I am still sloooooooooooow.  Oh, and I didn't sign up for a Sprint Tri - I signed up for an Olympic Triathlon.  What?  Yes.  That's 1500 meters open water swim in the ocean, 24.5 miles on the bike, and a 10k (6.2 miles) running.  So, now you agree I'm probably crazy, right?

The good news is that it was 16 weeks away and I had some conditioning with the running.  The first thing I did was join the Y.  In addition to the excellent gym, the kids could enjoy the outdoor pool with twisty slide all summer.  I have been plugging away with cycling and running ever since, but I haven't quite started the swimming yet and I've got about 6 weeks left before race day.  In my defense, I did swim for about a week and the kids told me I looked stupid - LOL.  So, I finally called today about getting some private swim lessons and hopefully, I can get on the right path to swim much more frequently in the next 6 weeks.

I am planning on doing some Sprint Tris as soon as I can get a bike - which I am looking to buy in the next week or so.  I'll post race reports and updates as they happen.  In the meantime, I have talked about weight loss on this blog and my struggles so here's some good news on that front.  I am happy to report that in the last year I've lost 40lbs.  The only full body pic I could find was from 2011, but here is what 40lbs looks like on me:

I'd like to lose about 25 lbs more but I've heard differing reports on how training for a half marathon or triathlon helps or hurts weight loss.  I guess time will tell!

As for running, I have 3 other half marathons on the radar for 2013 - The Run Raleigh Half in October, the City Of Oaks, and Wine & Dine at WDW, both in November.  I'll try to blog more often, in case anyone is interested in my triathlon journey.

Oh, yeah... I almost forgot.  Apparently, I am so convinced I am triathlete material that I went ahead and signed up for the Ironman 70.3 Raleigh that will be held next June.  It's like this:  I have to sign up NOW or it will be sold out by the time I convince myself I can do it.  So I'm doing it.  Last June, we did the balloons for the event.  Next June, I will be working my butt off to finish it!