It's My Life! ....and its's now or never!

I DID IT!!!!

I just got home from running my first ever 5k! This is truly a huge accomplishment for me and I can't believe I did it! It was an amazing experience and I can't wait to do another one! It really feels awesome to be running like that with so many other people. It is a really cool feeling. It was cold today...and I believe it rained a bit during the run, but because my body was so warmed up and I was wearing one of those "wicking" running shirts, I didn't really even notice it was raining. Last night I made a nice playlist on my Ipod for the run and I just ran to the music today and it seemed to go very fast and it was not very difficult at all! I definitely accomplished all of the goals I set for myself. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I WAS going to finish this thing, so I really didn't get any negative thoughts. I worked very hard and my time really showed that! And I definitely think I ran at least 50% of the race. My time.............45:20! That is so impressive to me! My avg mile at home on my treadmill is between 14:30 and 14:50. So 3 miles at 14:30 is 43:30...and I had to go another .12 miles after 3 miles...so I was right on pace with a 14:30 miile! Pretty amazing when you think about it since I was doing distance running. I kept my normal pace all the way through! I thought the longer I ran, the slower I would get because of fatigue....but that didn't happen! I had predicted my time would be 50min or more. But it wasn't!!!! Now I just need to keep improving and hope for a 40min on the next one! 

Here are a few pictures from the race

Here is me waiting in line for the race to start! 

 And here is me crossing the finish line! .......(I know it says 46:49 but because there we so many people there, I didn't even cross the starting line until a minute and a half had passed...so I adjusted for that.)

And here are my 5k "Theme Songs" ......These are the songs that really kept me going and where I really pushed it hard during the race!
 






And this song was the second to last song that I listened to before the end of the race! I pushed it sooo hard during this song! I love it! "Success is my ONLY option, Failure's not!" ...........there are some curse words so beware.....



Thanks for reading and I hope that you will be able to feel this sense of accomplishment! It is an amazing feeling! I can't wait to do it again!

BMR Calculation

I mentioned to another healthy blogger that I would post a blog about how to calculate your BMR and I just got so busy that I never did it....so here it is. This is a great way to know how many calories you should be eating to keep your body healthy and happy.....and NOT gaining weight.

Calculate Your BMR

(Basal Metabolic Rate)

Your BMR is the amount of energy your body needs to function. You use about 60% of the calories you consume each day for basic bodily functions, such as breathing.  Other factors that influence your BMR are height, weight, age and sex.

Step 1 - Calculate your BMR with the following formula

Women:

Take “665”  PLUS (4.3 x weight in pounds) PLUS (4.7 x height in inches) MINUS (4.7 x age in years)

The result is your BMR.

Men:

Take “666” PLUS (6.3 x weight in pounds) PLUS (12.9 x height in inches) MINUS  (6.8 x age in years)

The Result is your BMR

Step 2 - Calculate Activity

In order to incorporate activity into your daily caloric needs, do the following calculation:

•If you are sedentary (Never exercise): BMR (above calculation) x 20 percent

•If you are lightly active (Exercise 1-2 times per week): BMR x 30 percent

•If you are moderately active (Exercise 2-3 times per week): BMR x 40 percent           

•If you are very active (Exercise INTENSELY 3-5 times per week): BMR x 50 percent   

•If you are extra active (Exercise INTENSELY 5-7 times per week): BMR x 60 percent

Step 3– Calculations
Add the number from step 2 to your BMR result from Step 1.  The result of this formula will be the number of calories you can eat every day and maintain your current weight.

In order to lose weight (1-2 pounds per week), subtract 500-1000 calories from this number.  THIS should be the maximum number of calories you allow yourself daily. Make sure that you stay within this range though! If you eat significantly less than what this number tells you, you will also not lose weight. When your body is deprived of the proper calories it needs to function, it will hold onto its excess fat because it feels starved. Tracking what you eat on a daily basis will help teach you how to monitor and stick to this number! 

----this is a calculation that I was given by a former trainer. ATC Mobile Fitness with James. This is the most accurate calculation for BMR. Many of the websites out there do not give a completely accurate number.

Been a while...

Well....It has been a while since I have blogged. I feel like I am letting the few followers that I have down because I haven't really been sticking with this....and really it is only because of a lack of time....I love blogging. 

So what has been up with me...

--My Thanksgiving went very well. I hope everyone else did well over that challenging time for dieters. I actually lost 1.8 pounds that week! Yes it was hard. But I did well with staying within a healthy range. I had only one plate of food that had a small amount of potatoes, small amount of stuffing, and lots of white meat turkey.....with some other stuff too. I just kept my carbs at a minimum and my protein at a high! .......and I only had two SMALL pieces of pie....so the equivalent of one piece. I don't think you should completely deprive yourself from the things you love. This is a lifestyle change, so it needs to be something that you can live with for the rest of your life....and for me....living without Lemon Meringue pie for the rest of my life is just not an option! :)

--Next piece of news...I joined a weight loss competition on Nov 18th from weightlosswars.com. You should check them out. It is great motivation. I love having the accountability of having a weigh-in every Sunday and having everyone else in the competition seeing what my loss was. It really holds me accountable to my diet and my exercise. Since the 18th, which is 3 weeks, I have lost 6.2 pounds....about an average of 2 pounds a week. I am pretty satisfied with that. Sure I would like to lose more each week...but if I can keep a steady 2 pound loss each week, I will be happy.....Also....I am VERY VERY close to being out of the 180's! I may just be out of them by this Sunday's weigh in. This is going to be an amazing accomplishment! I can not wait to kiss the 180's goodbye forever!

--Remember how I said I really wanted to do a 5k and I was going to sign up for one to keep me accountable.....well that said 5k is tomorrow!!!!!! I am nervous because I didn't get as much training in as I would have liked. Last week I was seriously ill the whole week....and running on the treadmill was just NOT an option....This really set me back, and it is really disappointing. However, I have been training this week, and no matter what, I am going to FINISH the 5k. Sure my time isn't going to be what I would like it to be....but I AM GOING TO COMPLETE A 5K! This is going to be a huge accomplishment for me. One of the things that happens as we dieters move along in our journey is that we often forget where we came from. The true accomplishment in this 5k is that I am going to complete a 5k and that is something I never would have been able to do before. I have never been able to run a full mile (and I am still not to that point) and I have always gotten extremely fatigued from running. My first mile that I ran back at the beginning of my journey when I was at my heaviest took me about 22 minutes to complete and I almost died from the inability to breathe like 20 times throughout that "run". Now I am able to run about .6 of a mile without stopping and I can complete a full mile in about 14 minutes. Sure that isn't the best time and it definitely isn't going to win me the race tomorrow....but WOW what an accomplishment from where I came from! 
Here are my goals for tomorrow's race: 
     --Run at least 50% of the 3.1 miles
      --Do my very best and push harder than I think I can
     --Have NO NO NO negative thoughts throughout the run. No thinking this is too hard. No thinking, I am going to die if I don't slow down. No thinking I can't do this, I might as well just walk the rest of the way. NONE OF THESE STUPID THOUGHTS THAT I OFTEN HAVE WHILE RUNNING! Why? Because I CAN DO THIS! I CAN PUSH HARD! I WILL NOT DIE!

I will update you tomorrow with how the run went and if I achieved my goals. 

On a last note....I will leave you with a question that I would like to know-------How do you get past your negative thoughts that happen while you are working out and it gets hard? I am sure you get them. I am sure you want to quit and just give up sometimes right? So how do you push those thoughts away? How do you keep pushing hard?
 ---And if you feel like it, tell me about a huge accomplishment you have had since you started your lifestyle change and how different it is from where you started. It is good to reflect on these things.

Here it goes...

So I have promised some before pics, so here they come! I can going to give some from the very start of my journey....mostly just for myself to document...

Here is me at the very beginning. My heaviest ever. 225lbs! Look how fat my face was!!! YUCK!

About a month or so after this pic, Mike and I went on a hike in Snoqualmie Falls where I practically died.....I was so out of shape. Here's a pic from this outing...I think I had lost maybe a few pounds..nothing too significant. 

 
Four months later I went on a trip to Las Vegas to visit my family and show Mike around....On this trip I was down to 208, so I had lost 17lbs. These pics you can tell a difference in my face...but I still am very heavy.

 In January of this year, I created a before and after pic...I was down to around 195 I think...I really should have been putting weights on my pictures. The before pic is from the same day as the first pic I showed. I did this pic mostly so you could see the change in my face...

Flash forward to this past July. I hadn't lost much weight. I was down to about 192. I had fallen off the wagon several times between January and July, but I still see a difference. Mike and I went on a camping trip to Glacier Natl Park in Montana. We did lots of hiking. Remember the hike I mentioned earlier at the Falls....that was a 1 mile round trip hike that I practically fainted on because I was so out of shape....on this camping trip, I completed a NINE MILE HIKE! With a 3600 foot altitude gain if I remember correctly! Take that!  oh and take a look at that second pic....notice a change in my face? I do!

 And finally the pics you have all been waiting for. These pics I took on Nov 1st. At 189. These are the before pics I will be using for my final journey for my last 49 pounds! 

 

Balance

Weight loss is all about learning how to balance your life.........this is one thing I have not yet mastered.....

Here's me:

~A full time Graduate Student. ---I have to read about a minimum of 120 pages a week---and I should add that this is highly academic/scholarly type reading. ----It's no Harry Potter Book. For comparison-It takes me about 1 hour, sometimes a bit more, to read 20 pages.....Harry Potter....I can read a 700 page book in about a day and a half.. Now on top of my reading, I have at least one, sometimes two, papers to write each week. A paper takes me about a minimum of 10 hours to write. And, I attend class for 4 hours a week. So let's total this up. 6 hrs min of reading + 10 hrs of paper writing + 4 hours of class time = 20 hours a week of school work (AT A MINIMUM), at a maximum it would probably be about 35-40......What does that sound like to you? To me it sounds like, some weeks school is a part time job, some weeks school is full time job.

~ On top of school, I also work a normal job. 36 hours a week typically. Some weeks we throw in an extra day. This means between school and my paid job, I work a minimum of 66 hours a week, maximum of 85. Phew. It really is feeling nice to lay this out. 

~  Now......I have a weight loss goal....Which requires loads of dedication. And loads of working out. My true goal is to get in a workout 6 days a week for an hour at a time. That is 6 hours a week.

~ I also have a wonderful, loving fiance.......He also needs to be allotted some time each week to hear my voice and enjoy some time. And to be honest, I need some time each week to enjoy his voice and enjoy some time not dedicated to work... I honestly don't know how the mom's I know do it. It's hard enough for me to balance all of this, I couldn't imagine having to throw raising children into the mix. 

~ And....I am planning a wedding. 

~~~~~~~~~Man I am one busy person!!!~~~~~~~~~

So how do I balance this? How do I get my workouts in? Anyone have advice? Tips? Usually I can manage, but sometimes, it just doesn't work. 

So this past week/weekend I did horrible! Horrible! I had two papers to write this weekend, so in turn, I got no exercise in! AND! because I still have very bad habits that I need to break, I snacked a lot. We bought some baked cheetos from Trader Joes.....and I ate way too many, and then during the time that I was writing one of my papers,  I ate even more cheetos because I had to stay up all night and I needed "fuel" to keep me going.....EXCUSES!!!!!!.....man I really need to stick by my mantra of STOPPING THE EXCUSES!!!...and this weekend, I met with a cake baker for the wedding, so I tried some cake...Really, this weekend was HORRIBLE for my diet and for my exercise.....Just trying to bounce back.....

So with that being said....I guess I will say goodbye and go hit the treadmill!

oh, and p.s. I took some before pics that I am hoping to show here soon....it's just a matter of my having some time to blog! :) but, it's something to look forward to.

Until next time....

Magic Weight Loss Potion

I know you are all looking for that magic weight loss potion right? That one thing that will just make you lose tons of weight while just sitting on your couch and doing nothing? Well I have got it! 

WATER!!!!!  
(come on guys, do you really think I would have given you some fad/hoax diet?)

No really. Hear me out. Everyone knows that you are supposed to drink AT LEAST eight 8-oz glasses of water a day right? This is serious! REALLY! DO IT! It is really important for your body and for your health and ESPECIALLY if you are trying to lose weight. In Fact, if you are trying to lose weight or you are over weight, you are supposed to drink one additional glass of water for every 25 pounds you are overweight! Lemme help you with the math...a normal person should drink 64 ounces of water a day, and someone who is 50 pounds overweight (me) should drink 114 ounces of water a day! Phew that's a lot of water right? Well, it's not really that hard to get water in, so long as you get rid of everything else you drink. All your sugary death drinks (soda, concentrated juices, etc).     JUST DRINK WATER! AND THROW OUT YOUR DANG EXCUSES FOR WHY YOU CAN'T!!! I HAVE AND YOU CAN TOO!

So your wondering...why should I drink water? Why is water so dang important? Here blogreader, let me tell you. 

~ Water is a natural appetite suppressant! That's right, get rid of your stupid diet pills and drink water!
~ Water helps to metabolize your fat. Layman terms: Water helps your fat GO AWAY! In fact, an increase in water intake will decrease body fat AND a decrease in water will INCREASE your fat! Well, here it is, if you want less fat, just DRINK WATER!
~ The whole myth about drinking water makes you have more water weight is FALSE!!!!! The reason you get water weight is because you are putting your body into starvation mode for water so it tries to hold onto every last bit of water it has. How do you get rid of this? DRINK WATER!!!! When you are giving your body a constant supply of water, it will stop storing water! 
~ (For the non-overweight-ers - yes drinking water is for you too!) Water helps maintain proper muscle tone! 
~ Water helps flush out all your body waste aka FAT! 

There is a million more benefits, but these are the ones specifically related to weight loss. Feel free to google for yourself all of the many benefits of water! There are hundreds! 

LESSON TO TAKE AWAY: WATER IS OUR LIQUID GOLD, OUR MAGIC POTION! DRINK IT!

http://www.highvibrations.org/archive3/water.htm  ^^^^^there's where I got my info! Gotta give credit where credit's due!

Training for a 5k

So, I typically have a really hard time keeping up with my diet and exercise. I always start out fantastic and do really good for a week or so......and....then it's back to nachos....mmmm.....I want this time to be different. I have 8 months till my wedding...and wellll...I want to be thin and beautiful for my wedding and for my Hawaiian Honeymoon. So, I am signing up for a 5k. I have wanted to do a 5k for a while now, but just haven't really tried to make it happen. This time it is going to happen. The 5k is on December 11th, which is 7 weeks away. I can do this! 

So yesterday was my first day of training for it. I am doing this program called "Couch to 5k" (take a look www.c25k.com). It is supposed to get you ready for a 5k in 9 weeks....yah I know, I said mine is 7 weeks away....I guess I am ambitious. As much as I would love to be able to run the whole 5k, I am not sure I will be quite ready for that, but my goal is to be able to run at least 75% of it, which I think can totally be done. So day one of the C25K program gives 20 minutes of run/walk intervals....and I DID IT! I completed every single run! I was pretty proud. Normally I would give up and just say it's too hard...but I did it.  And here's proof. 

A Little Weight Loss Humor

Alright here's the deal....to lose weight, all you have to do is eat less food, less CRAPPY food, and get your booty up and exercise. That is all it takes! You don't need to get surgery, you don't need to take weight loss pills, you don't need to put stupid hormone drops under your tongue and starve yourself, none of those stupid diets. And all of those fad diets will not help you KEEP your weight off. The only way to lose weight and keep it off and stay healthy is to eat right and exercise! That's it. It's really not that hard people. It's just a matter of doing it and sticking to it!

One last thing: you can't just exercise and not eat right. I don't care what you have been told in the past or what you really believe to be true, it just doesn't work that way. Hundreds of people will always say, "but I go to the gym for 3 hours every day and I just can't lose weight....." YOU HAVE TO EAT RIGHT! If you are going to the gym 7 days a week, and then eating 2 big macs each day, it doesn't work! You must combine the two! DIET IS 90% OF THE BATTLE! Sorry, but it's time you get rid of your snickers bars, your tubs of ice cream, your cookies, your hamburgers, your french fries, your lucky charms, your cakes, your pies, ALL OF IT. All of the bad food that you eat must go if you want to lose weight and get healthy. Then, throw in a little bit of exercise and your GOLDEN!

And now.....a little bit of humor about the topic....

Welcome!

I have decided to create a blog to record my journey to a healthier lifestyle.

A little about my journey to health thus far:

Around June 2009, I began working on losing weight. Here's why. Like many others I had gotten to my heaviest weight and really couldn't believe it. 225 POUNDS! Worst I had ever been, and I am only 5'4. Oh yah, and my body fat % was somewhere around 49%!!! Wow, really, practically half of my body was made of FAT! That means I had about 112 pounds of FAT! YUCK! So I started to get rid of the fast food and all the other CRAP I was eating! Fast forward 16 months later and I am at 189lbs! WOW! But trust me, it has not been an easy road, and it definitely wasn't smooth along the way! I have fallen off the wagon more times than I can count...most important thing is that I keep getting back on. Are you? However, this still means that I have about 60-70 pounds of fat. My weight loss goal is to end at around 140lbs. Nice healthy range for my height. It can be done, and DON'T TELL YOURSELF IT CAN'T! EVEN IF YOU WEIGH WAY MORE THAN I DID IN THE BEGINNING YOU CAN STILL GET DOWN TO A HEALTHY THIN RANGE! STOP TELLING YOURSELF YOU CAN NEVER BE THIN! YOU CAN!

Here is my hope for this blog:

~ I will inspire others to work towards a healthier lifestyle.

~ I will be able to show other that it can be done and that it can happen to someone you know!

~ I will show people that eating healthy doesn't mean you must eat NASTY BORING food. Healthy food can taste great! And often times will taste even better than what you are used to! I would love to share recipes along the way. 

~ I want to be able to record my journey and see how my thought processes and beliefs and feelings change along the way.

~ Hopefully I will get people to stop being afraid of doing the work!

So, why haven't you lost weight and started a healthy lifestyle? Lemme guess? You will do it next week. Start Monday right? Gotta start out a fresh week.....Here's the thing. WE ALL MAKE EXCUSES FOR NOT DOING IT! 

Here are some excuses that I have made along the way and some excuses that other people make as well. How many are you guilty of?

1) I am just too busy.  I don't have the time to cook meals or work out. 

2) Eating healthy is just too expensive. 

3) I don't want to take time away from my loved ones (Fiance, Husband, Wife, Children, etc)

4) I just don't think I can do it like they do on the biggest loser...

5) I just love food way too much! 

6) Healthy food is disgusting

7) Exercising is too hard, I am too out of shape to exercise, I can't exercise......

8) I won't be comfortable being thin. I am afraid I will be a different person when I am thin. OR THE BEST......I am happy being FAT! 

9) So and so in my life told me I will always be fat, its my genetics, etc, so I might as well get used to it. 

10) I've tried everything.......I have done it over and over, Nothing works

11) I am meant to be fat

12) I'll do it after  _____________ fill in the blank....

13) The gym is too expensive...

14) I need a trainer to do it....

AND ON AND ON AND ON......

I know you have made several of these excuses if not all of them. I know I have. And that is all they are. EXCUSES!!!  You can give me any excuse you have for not doing it, and I will shoot it down! .....here's one...."The gym is too expensive".......How much does it cost you to go for a walk in your neighborhood? NOTHING! Some crunches and pushups on your floor? Hmm....ZERO DOLLARS! Here's the bottom line....You can keep telling yourself these excuses over and over, and eventually you start to believe it. But when it all comes down to it, you are really just lying to yourself. None of these excuses are legitimate excuses for not doing what it takes. You are just fooling yourself and in the end, you are the only one that is going to suffer from it. So I challenge you to STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!!