Carbo Loading

As most athlete knows, carbo loading before a big race is a way to help your body obtain fuel to temporarily store and burn the next day during your strenous event. 

This past weekend, I went the way of many of great athletes and began to carbo load for my marathon in March. 

Don't say that I am not doing my due diligence with my training plan. 

Friday I was supposed to go to the gym and do my shoulders & abs weight training, plus a three mile run. Instead I went to a pub around 11pm and had a Shirley temple (don't call me Shirley) and some french fries. 

Saturday I was supposed to go on my long run of the week of seven miles and instead I sat in a pizza parlor/sports bar eating a pepperoni pizza and watching the UGA football game. 

Oh and I drank another Shirley temple.

Sunday I was supposed to make up for my mistakes on Friday and Saturday and go on my long run, but instead I went out and ate a cheeseburger (with the world's most delicious bacon. If any of my family members ever visit me in Atlanta, I will take you to numerous places that serve this amazing local bacon), had some more french fries and then we went out for frozen yogurt. 

BTW - if you can't already tell, my husband and I have a budget that we stick to each month with allocated spending in different categories. Like groceries or dining out. As soon as the 1st of the month rolled around and we could dine out at our favorite places again, we did. Now we have to wait until January to experience cheeseburgers and pizza and pub fries again :(

So yeah....my training and diet plan failed miserably Friday, Saturday & Sunday. But still, this morning when I weighed myself, I had lost a few pounds since last week. I really need to work on sticking with my diet better, especially as the holidays approach and I am tempted by treats from the greatest baker and cook ever (hi mom!)

So here is a breakdown of my training plan from last week.

Monday - Weight Trained Legs

Tuesday - Weight Trained Arms/Abs, plus a 3 mile run

Wednesday - Weight Trained Chest/Back, plus a 3 mile run (broke a sub 10 minute mile)

Thursday - Weight Trained Legs

Friday - Rest

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Rest

So overall, my running plan was way off. I needed to run a total of 16 miles, but only did 6. 

Yesterday I did end up doing my long run of seven miles, so at least the mileage got done, but a few days late. 

One more note: I am so excited to say that my husband is going to be running the Atlanta marathon as well. I am really looking forward to sharing that experience with him.

103 days until the Atlanta Marathon! Here we come!

Only a 1 lb gain!

When it is Thanksgiving weekend and you love gorging as much as I do, I will take any victory. 

This morning when I hopped on the scale after binging all weekend on pie, butter, gravy, butter and high fructose corn syrup, I was delighted to find out that the scale was only showing a 1 lb gain. Hooray!

If I stick to my exercise plan again this week, I should be able to negate my gain and maybe....just maybe drop another lb. 

Maybe.

Today I did all the things that I am supposed to do to be healthy. 

* Woke up and drank some water.

* Had a cup of warm water with lemon. 

* Had oatmeal for breakfast instead of pie (eating pie for breakfast is a wonderful thing and only allowed during the holidays).

* I had some vegetables not covered in cream of mushroom soup or gravy. I even stuck to my allocated calories for the day (as of 8:00pm EST).

* Went to the gym with a million other people to burn off some stuffing calories.

This is a photo of me from Thanksgiving six years ago with the best damn pecan pie I have ever tasted.

Last week I did pretty good exercise wise (it's already been established that I ate a whole bunch of nonsense). I created a running and work-out plan that will hopefully get me to where I need to be to finish the Atlanta Marathon in March. 

For this week, I needed to weight lift five days and ran a total of 14 miles over four days (3/3/3/5 miles). I ended up running three days only because on Friday the day slipped away from me and it got too dark out before I realized I needed to run still.

What I did last week:

Monday - Legs

Tuesday - Arms/Abs plus a three mile run

Wednesday - Chest/Back plus a three mile run

Thursday - Legs

Friday - Shoulders/Abs

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Five mile long run.

This week is pretty much the same, but with that missed day of running three miles thrown in as well as upping my long run to seven miles. Also, I am going to start counting calories again, so I can actually be sure to shed fat, not just gain muscle.

All in all, I am hoping to get enough of a deficit in my weight over the next few weeks so I can eat as much cake/cookies/frosting/butter as I want over the Christmas week.

111 days until the Atlanta Marathon! Here I come!

 

I may be crazy...

Earlier this month, I had the honor of watching my husband run the Savannah Rock N' Roll marathon. It was awe-inspiring, made me feel incredibly out of shape and lazy and I also got to cringe at some people's outfits (seriously...no one needs to wear a unitard, even if you do have a runner's body). 

My husband trained for this marathon since July. 

While attending law school. 

And being on law review. 

And mock trial. 

He was a bit busy the past few months, but he was so dedicated and worked so hard at being able to cross the finish line. There were quite a few times when he would get home from a full day of studying at 9pm, strap on his headlamp and go running for three hours. 

He is insane.

 

This is him before the race began. Doesn't he look happy?

This is around the 8 mile mark. 

Getting ready to cross the finish line...

And done. 

I can't even begin to describe how incredibly proud I am of him. Of his dedication, perseverance and willpower. I had several people ask me if I was going to run along with him and I told them that I only would if someone was chasing me. 

But...I have changed my mind. 

I think.

I am going to run a marathon. I am pretty sure. Like for real. I think. 

I am scared. 

 via

And then I hear quotes like that....and I think I am a giant wussy.

So I have decided to ....

via

And I hope that I will feel like this most of the time...

So Atlanta Marathon, March 17, 2013....here I come. 

I think.

I Don't Like Pants With Zippers & Buttons

So...something interesting has happened all of a sudden. I seemed to have gained some weight. 

I guess it wasn't really all of a sudden, but you know....kinda, sorta, not really paying attention, so some doughnuts attached themselves to my outer thighs, all of a sudden.

Right around Thanksgiving I was around 145 lbs, the lowest that I had been in about five years. Since Thanksgiving, I have gained about 15 pounds. 

Gasp. Gag. Shudder. 

Unfortunately, at 145 pounds, I wasn't one of those people who walked past you and you thought to yourself, 'She needs to eat a ham sandwich.' You thought....she looks good, but might need to lose a couple of pounds. 

So at 160 pounds, you can see the kind of predicament that I am in. I went from needing to drop a couple of pounds to needing to lose 25 pounds.

Total bummer right? I will admit, these last few months were kind of awesome. I stopped being a vegan and went full-on meat eater. I went from one extreme to the other. Instead of beans, I have been eating McDonalds. Instead of fruit, I am eating fried eggs. 

Well...today I realized that I need to lose some weight. Since I work from home, I have the pleasure of wearing yoga pants all day/everyday. No tight waistband, no constricting materials. It's awesome.

I just started a new part-time job today though (more on that later) and need to wear jeans to work. 

O.M.G. 

My Old Navy jeans and I had one hell of a battle this morning and I was actually almost late for work as I had to do about three dozen deep squats to activate the 'stretch' in my jeans. When I got home from work, I ripped my pants off immediately and actually had the jean side seams imprinted on my outer thighs. 

Am I painting you a sexy enough picture yet? 

So yeah...I need to get back in shape. I know what I need to do, how to work out correctly, how to eat right, I just don't do it. I get a bit lazy. So I am hoping that by posting updates on my weight loss each week, maybe you all will keep me accountable and help me lose my saddlebags (I'm keeping the booty though). 

So....as if my jeans experience wasn't bad enough, I took a few photos of me in a bathing suit today, thinking that I would post a 'before' picture on the blog with this post and then show you photos in a few weeks of how I look after getting my fitness on. 

Um....well after reviewing the photos, I have decided that no way am I posting photos right now. I have realized that 1) I have an ill fitting bathing suit, 2) I am deathly pale and 3) I don't want any creepers looking at my photos online. Who knows though....maybe when I get all fit, you guys can see some photos then. 

Maybe. 

So since you guys aren't getting any photos, here are some of my starting stats. I didn't measure myself because I feel like it is too inaccurate for me. I always seem to measure myself in different places, so I get all amazed at a 3 inch loss per thigh after a week.

So no measuring tape, just my scale and calorieking.com (to track my food intake/calories burned). All of this information is as of this morning.

Weight:  160.6 lbs

Body Fat: 45.5 lbs

Body Fat %: 28.4 %

BMI: 25.1

Ugh. So there you have it. All my info is out in the interwebs. Be kind.