A month finished!

This was a really great month.  I have never felt so in control of what I was eating and how I was exercising.  And I lost 8 pounds!  That's a big deal over here where a good month is one where I lose 5 pounds (often just a pound or two a month, and sometimes zero).

First, lets talk sugar free.  That first week was very, very difficult, but once I got past through it wasn't so bad.  I had some "safe treats" that I could have if I was really struggling.  Sugar free pudding cups, sugar free fudgicles, and when I had a REALLY bad day, sugar free slow churned ice cream.  These were a total lifesaver.  Especially towards the end, I found just knowing they were there helped me, and I often didn't eat a treat at all.  I would go all day and say, "If I need it, I can have a fudgcicle tonight." But then I get to the evening, and be like, "Nah, I don't need it."  Some cool things happened too: I used to get shaky in the afternoon if I didn't eat something (and I often went to something sugary), and that feeling went away.  I usually ate a small snack anyway, but I found I didn't need it like I did before.  I would be lying if I said all my sugar cravings went away, because that's simply not true.  I still love sugar and will love frosting until my dying day.  But I learned I don't need it. I don't need it to be happy and I don't need it to give me comfort when things are hard.

My plan for the future is to do no sugar 6 days a week, and to have an "off" day once a week.  I like baking and I missed it this last month, and I want an outlet for that.  All through it I'm still following weight watchers and tracking my points so I don't binge on my day off.  We'll see how it goes.  Eventually, I want to be able to eat a cookie a day and not stress about it, but I don't think I'm there yet.

Fitness wise, I finished Insanity the first week into January, which was awesome.  I felt really good, but I was also pretty burned out by Insanity, I wanted to do something different.  And then, almost on a whim, I decided to train for a half marathon. What the what?  I know.  And here's the other kicker: I wanted to train for it outside, not on my (beloved) treadmill.  I really wanted to see how running outside would go.  I'm SO glad I tried, you guys, because I'm hooked.  I now realize some of my fitness struggles were me just being bored on a treadmill.  On the treadmill, I could go for about 30 minutes at 5mph, and I was pretty tired after that.  I would push on and get myself up to 3 miles, and sometimes 5 miles, but after 30 minutes it always had to be a mix of running/walking, and sometimes stopping.

I ran 5 miles in 1 hour today, outside.  That's a 12 minute mile without walking or stopping.  I have NEVER done that.  On my 3 mile days, I try to push my speed, and I have done a 5k in 33 minutes (which is a big deal for me, I've never been a fast runner).  It's been really exhilarating to figure this out.  I'm so happy I got brave and tried running outside.  Now, no matter where I go, I can always get a great workout in by running, and that's a very liberating feeling.  I should not, I'm not sure if I would have had so much success running if I hadn't done Insanity first.  Insanity really pushed my fitness up a couple (of dozen) notches, and I plan to do it again in a few months.  My Jillian Michael's DVDs are also super useful to add in a little strength training in a quick little workout with my running.

Week 1 of Sugar Free!

I did it!  As silly as this sounds, I've never actually made it through an entire week of not eating sugar, so I'm feeling pretty darn good about it.  The first few days were tough, and I definitely got headaches.  The evenings were the worst, and my head would just pound.  I was worried about the afternoons because that's when I crave something sugary the most, but they weren't so bad (possibly because I ate a bigger lunch to prepare myself). I've lost about 2 pounds, which isn't bad (especially for me).

Now, while sugar-free is the rule and the thing I'm checking off for each day, I'm also trying to eat fewer carbs and generally just staying within my daily points.  I like the approach because it gives me a way to cheat if I feel I need to (I can eat carbs!  They are not totally off-limits), but by working on not eating sugar I'm disposed to not waste this time eating a bunch of junk.  Monday was rough (Jordan has been working very long hours the last week), so I decided to treat myself to some Chipotle.  I actually had enough daily points for it, and even though it had carbs (because who can say no to cilantro lime rice?) I didn't break my goal of not eating sugar.  But most days (including today) I'm probably eating less than 30 grams of carbs a day.

I did notice it taking a little bit of a toll on my workouts.  I'm on my last week of Insanity (yay!) and not eating as many carbs as I usually do has meant my muscles are getting fatigued faster.  I'm not totally sure what to do about this, except to work to add a few more carbohydrates in my diet, but make them more complex carbs (like fruits and brown rice).

I'm really excited to be done with Insanity.  I'm ready to move on to something else.  I think I'm going to train for a half marathon, but use my workout DVD's for some cross-training.  Anyway, I'm feeling good!

A Year Ago

A year ago I decided I was really ready to do something different.  After having Lucy, my weight was creeping up again, and I knew I didn't want to get to where I was after Clara.  I didn't want to weigh that much.  I had been so unhappy.  So I decided I needed to do something real. Not drastic, but real.  I realized that if I changed some habits, even if I only lost 1 pound a week, that would be 52 pounds in a year, and that would be major progress, so I joined weight watchers, wrote down EVERY SINGLE THING THAT I ATE and I exercised 4 days a week.

It's been 52 weeks, and I've actually lost LESS than a pound a week (ha), but I still feel good!  When I started I could barely make it through a 20 minute Jillian Michaels workout, and now I'm on the second month of Insanity, with hour long workouts.  I can run 3 miles at 5mph.  I have exercised at least 4 days a week for an entire year.  I've never, ever done that.  Like, seriously, in my whole life. I've never exercised as consistently as I have this year.  It feels great.  I feel like I"m in really good shape.  I can do a push up!  Well, I can do about 4 real push ups and then I'm dead, but hey!  it's a real, military style push up!

Eating is still my struggle, but I've never given up.  I have always, always picked up myself up and worked on changing my approach to food.  I write down everything I eat.

And in a year, I lost 30 pounds.  30 pounds!  That's something!  That's something real right there.  I have more to lose.  a lot more to lose.  But I've made real progress and there's no way I'll ever discount that.

After all my good progress in my eating habits, this month I've decided to do a doozy... no-sugar January.  It's not a forever change, it's a change to see if I can break my serious sugar habit that feels akin to being addicted to nicotine.  But I know I can do it.  I have had success, and I'm getting so much better at not feeling like I ahve to eat all the delicious food right.now.

Progress, people. I feel like I met the goals I gave myself last year.  That feels so empowering, like I can really do anything I want.