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.