13.1...times 3

Its been quite awhile since I have posted anything! Where have I been? Well, I've been training for, and running half marathons!

I did it! I reached my goal of completing 3 half marathons in 2015. It wasn't pretty...but I did it. The half marathons I completed are:

1) Country Music Half Marathon
2) Savannah (Ga) Half Marathon
3) Las Vegas Half Marathon

My favorite of the 3 races was Savannah. It was such a last minute spur of the moment (expensive) decision. I was home in GA helping my mom and decided, that I was so close to Savannah, why not run it!  Even though I ended up in the medical tent needing an IV for dehydration because it was so stinking hot, Savannah was my favorite because that's the race that I PR'd on, and I am super competitive with myself.





Post-Race Savannah (& post medical tent/post IV) picture!


Vegas was my least favorite race! I loved the scenery of the Vegas strip and loved running Vegas with one of my best friends, and it was so much fun to watch her succeed at running her first half marathon, the odds just weren't in my favor in Vegas (pun intended). I am so competitive with myself my personality doesn't usually let me just be happy with completing a race, I have to have done my best to be happy. I wasn't really happy with myself when I first finished the Vegas 1/2. Looking back though, I actually am happy with myself for just completing the race. This race was a disaster for me! This race was on a Sunday night. Sunday morning I woke up throwing up every where (TMI I know). I was fine by Sunday afternoon after a good breakfast and lots of water, but I was still not 100% by race time.  Any normal person probably would've backed out...but I am not a normal person (we've already established this). I am also cheap and didn't buy race insurance (lesson learned) so I had no choice but to run the race... Most of running is mental...I was mentally and physically tired! When I run a race, I try my best to stay off my feet/legs as much as possible the day before and the day of the race. That wasn't possible in Vegas. There was so much to see and so little time. So I started out the race already tired from a day of sightseeing in Vegas, and run down from being sick that morning. This is the first race, I am thrilled to have just finished and not given up or quit!

I am so blessed to have the support of so many people! There is no way I would've made it through 3 half marathons without the support of my running buddies who are some of the most special people to me. I am also super blessed to work with great people! It is so nice to work with people who understand my need to take personal days to travel to and/or prepare for a half marathon! My really awesome boss created a meme of me, using a picture from the race for the cure 5k back in October:

I also received so many encouraging text messages and comments on Facebook. This collage is just a sampling of some of the awesome messages I received. When I started my running journey, I did it for myself and no one else (I know it rhymes). It has been a neat experience to hear from others that say I have encouraged and inspired them!  I have learned so much from each half marathon that I have done! While "winning" in a half marathon is finishing, I have learned some races go great, and others not so much. So the quote that sums up my Vegas race is sometimes you win and sometimes you learn! Also! How cool is the Vegas finishers medal! Its a slot machine that says 13.1!!  So awesome! I can't wait to get my "heavy" medal from the rock n roll company that says I completed 3 half marathons!!

I am so incredibly blessed to have this awesome community of running buddies! They are so awesome! Especially when they send me Ryan Gosling meme's to congratulate me on finishing 3 half marathons! :) 

Also a great big shout out to my Vegas running partner and BFF for putting up with my whining about the crappy Vegas weather (40+ MPH winds & rain) during the race. You're the best!


I'm ending this post with my Vegas finisher picture. (Yes it is a screen shot from the photographers website bc i'm too cheap to buy my post race pictures :) )



Thanks for reading! More to come when I figure out what i'm doing next!..and when I hit my goal weight! Which is only like 25-30 pounds away! Woah!! So close!!

Happy Fall Y'all!

I just looked at my blog! Can't believe the last time I posted was August! I've been busy! Too busy to blog! (I guess that defeats the purpose of the blog since I guess you're supposed to blog about whats going on in your life and that type of stuff, so anyways..I digress). What have been busy doing? Running of course! (and starting a new job, and traveling, and trying to get back on track with my eating, after eating too much junk food while traveling, and just trying to keep up with life in general).

 After the potato to tomato 5k training this summer I decided that I would keep running and train for another half marathon. I have been training to run the Las Vegas 1/2 marathon in mid November. I'm super excited but nervous at the same time. I've never run Vegas before, nor have I ever ran a half marathon at night! This past spring when I ran Country Music 1/2 marathon, I had run that course so many times I knew it like the back of my hand! Vegas is going to be completely new! So look out for the post Vegas 1/2 blog post! I may be crazy...but im considering running the Savannah GA 1/2 marathon the weekend before, I would really love the giant blingy medal that comes with doing 3 rock n roll series half marathons, but we'll see. Why do these dang runs have to be so expensive! Running 1/2 marathons is hard to my budget! Geez!

I have had a love hate relationship with the half marathon training so far. I don't know why but the pace of this training and the number of miles we do each week seems very challenging! I have had a few runs that haven't gone really well. However, last weekend we did 12 miles I felt really strong! Long distance runs are hit or miss for me! Im learning a lot in this training! Not sure how this is different than the other training, but im learning that what I eat on Friday nights before the run has a big effect on me! If I eat something healthy and light early in the evening on Friday nights and go to bed at a decent hour on Friday, then my Saturday long runs go so much better! All of these things are easier said than done...

I read two really great articles today! Credit goes to my running buddies for posting this in our little running FB group:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2015/10/08/crossing-the-finish-line-25-pounds-lighter-guilt-and-all/?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/running-as-therapy/?_r=0

These article basically sum up how I feel about running. I used to say that Im not one of those people that runs for mental health or that running doesnt make me feel better or help me de-stress, but after I read the article on running as therapy it dawned on me that running really does help me clear my head and keeps me level headed!  I also really like the other article on running and weight loss, since I owe a lot of my weight loss to running!

My most recent non-scale victory, besides the clothes that continue to be too big, came when I went to Holiday World. In the past when I went to an amusement park it was a struggle to get the harness on the roller coasters to shut over my stomach, or it was cutting it close to get the seat belt to stretch across my waist. It was such a nice feeling to get on the roller coaster and effortlessly be able to close the harness without needing assistance or having to squeeze myself in the seat! It was nice to not feel to big for the roller coaster!  Its the little things that I notice like these that remind me to keep going and that i'm not that far away from my goal weight!

Thanks for reading! More to come after I run (and hopefully survive) Savannah (maybe) and Vegas 1/2 marathons!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

I started my workout/weightloss journey in Feb of 2014. I started running in June of 2014. The first time I had ever run a 5k without walking was the annual Tomato Fest 5k in August! My time was 39 minutes and 19 seconds. I was thrilled with that time because I had never ran that far without stopping! I trained with a group all summer leading up to the race, we followed the Couch to 5K program. This group was called Potato to Tomato! Potato to Tomato consists of running 3x's a week for 8 weeks. Everyone is divided up by pace group. Last year I chose the 13 minute mile group because I wasn't sure I would be able to run a whole 3 miles!  I loved that experience so much last year that I decided to come back and train for a 5k again this year! This year I chose the 10 minute mile group in order to reach my goal of finishing the 5k in 30 minutes. That meant shaving 9 minutes and some change off of my time from last summer!  I knew I could run a 5k this year without stopping because I ran an (almost entire) 1/2 marathon without stopping! but I wasn't quite sure I could finish a 5k in 30 minutes (it seemed so fast!). This past Saturday was the race. I finished in 29:27!! That was faster than my goal of 30 minutes! I am so excited that I did so well! A year ago a 10 minute mile would'v never crossed my mind! This summer I really fell in love with the Potato to Tomato program & the awesome coaches that volunteer their time to push their groups & make sure they hit their goals. I can't wait to return next year to attempt a 9 minute mile! Below is a picture of me running last summer, and a picture of me after the race this summer. What a difference a year makes! What a great summer its been! Potato to Tomato & Tomato Fest are now my favorite things about summer & definitely the highlight of my summer thus far! So all of that to say find a running group! Make running friends! It will change your life!

Things that Weigh 100 pounds

In honor of reaching the 100 pounds lost mark, I decided to make a fun list of things that weigh 100lbs so that I can compare! (Most of these are not original I have borrowed them from other sites)

Things that weigh 100 pounds:

 A 2 month old horse! 

400 Sticks of Butter

A baby Hippo

A very large pumpkin

100 Pound Hamburger

Doe, a Deer, a Female Deer (are you signing that song yet?)

2 Giant bags of sugar (that's a lot of sugar!)

An Everlast punching bag (Holy cow these things are HEAVY)

And last but not least, things that have lost 100 pounds:

ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are my LinkedIn pics, taken almost exactly a year apart! You can really tell the weight loss in my face

 This is my work in progress picture. I still have some work to do, but a few months ago, there's no way I would've been able to fit into this tank top! so that is a definite non-scale victory.

Don't Take the Little Things for Granted

I am feeling the need to share whats on my mind (afterall isnt that what a blog is for!?)  I work in Downtown Nashville. I am not new to Downtown Nashville, or Nashville's homeless population. Too often I feel that we (I too am guilty of this) drive by that person selling the contributor (Nashvilles homeless newspaper) on our morning commute without so much as a single wave or smile,. Sometimes we ignore them because we have 50 thousand other things on our mind and they're just there everyday. I am making a more conscious effort to pay more attention to my surroundings and treat others not only the way that I would want to be treated, but with kindness and treat them the way Jesus would want them to be treated. Today the realization of how I take the little things in life for granted hit me! and it hit me hard! It is SUPER hot in Nashville, today the temperature was 95 at 4pm! and I am sure the heat index was well over 100. As I was walking around downtown after work, a woman asked me if I had a few dollars to spare so that she could get something to drink. There were several people in front of me that she asked the same question too, but they were so engrossed in their conversation that they ignored her. When she asked me it hit me. Its hot in Nashville, I have the ability to get water, and I have access to drinking water and hydration any time I want it. If for some reason I get dehydrated its 100 percent my own fault because I have plenty of resources at my disposal. The coaches that coach the summer running group im in have been preaching to us all summer, its hot, hydrate, hydrate hydrate. Today when this woman asked me for a few dollars to spare for a drink, I realized that its most likely not so easy for her to get water or something to drink I did not have any cash to give her, so I offered to go across the street to the little grocery store and purchase her a drink. She requested a sprite.I brought back both a Sprite and a Water. As I was in the grocery store the thought that immediate came to my mind was how the running coaches have been saying all summer to drink more water! so I bought sprite and water. There is no way I can really explain this sudden epiphany other than this was God's way of telling me that I need to be thankful for everything I have and to never take anything, not even the 89 cent bottle of water for granted! I am thankful to God for putting these thoughts in my head and for making me pay attention to the least of these.

We Were Made to Thrive

Today I hit a new milestone! I hit the milestone of 100 pounds lost! When I first started working out this milestone never even crossed my mind, but just like eating cake (no pun intended), I have taken it one piece at a time. The first milestone was to be the weight I actually put on my drivers license...my 2nd milestone was to be under 200....my 3rd and latest milestone that I reached today was 100 pounds lost! (insert happy dance here!). Im not done yet! My goal is to be in the healthy range when you look at a chart for height and weight! My last and final weightloss milestone will be to hit my goal weight and be in the Healthy range on a height and weight chart for females. I am so close! I am only about 20/25 pounds away!

Today on the way back to work from the gym I heard the song We were made to Thrive by Casting Crowns. This song and its lyrics hit me! "We were made to thrive." We were made to live more than just an ordinary life, we were made to thrive." I am thriving! I am running & loosing weight and getting closer to my goal weight everyday! I am healthy! I am thriving! I am pasting the lyrics below. Let this song be your motto! Thrive! Don't just Survive! Thrive!

Here in this worn and weary land
Where many a dream has died
Like a tree planted by the water
We never will run dry

So living water flowing through
God, we thirst for more of You
Fill our hearts and flood our souls with one desire

Just to know You and to make You known
We lift Your name on high
Shine like the sun, make darkness run and hide
We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives
Its time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive

Into Your word, were digging deep
To know our Fathers heart
Into the world, were reaching out
To show them who You are

Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable
Love unstoppable, anything is possible

Do me a Favor

As I said in previous posts, I'm still pretty new to blogging. Im really interested in who (if anyone) is reading my blog. So, if you're reading this:

Leave me a comment. I want to know:

1) Who are you?
2) How did you find my blog?
3) How do you know me (if you know me)?


Thank a million!

New Blog Updates!

I am new to blogging. I am not new to technology, but definitely new to the inner workings and advanced things of all things blogger. I am super excited about the fact that I managed to add social media and email contact buttons to my blog. Doing this requires HTML code. All of this to say, I dabbled in teaching myself some HTML code this week.  Funny story: I have a masters degree in IT...(MBA-IT) this is the first time i've actually used it for something, I have yet to actually use it for career purposes. Go check out my new handy dandy social media and email buttons! (Their pink of course!) TGIF Y'all!

Where i've been

Its been awhile..as usual...Im still alive! The half marathon didnt kill me!...but nothing new to report, except that im super excited to have my handy dandy little mini computer back! It cost an arm and a leg to get it fixed thanks to some monitor cable inside the guts of the computer... but im super glad to have it back! So on to the stuff thats actually important!

Like I said there's nothing really new to report. Since my last post i've ran a few 5k's. I ran some pretty easy courses (other than the heat), so I had really good times! Im averaging around 30-32 minutes for a 5k! ) I ran a 5k in my hometown and as usual I won my age group (this is not meant to be bragging, this was a really small flat 5k with not a lot of young people).

I am feeling really great! I mean I always feel great but I am feeling on fire! I weighed in the other day and had lost 6 pounds since my previous weigh in! Ive been working my butt off! I went to North Carolina for a wedding back in the middle of May, and let''s just call that week the lost week. That was the first time probably since I started loosing weight that I just didnt care at all what I ate that week! Some of what I ate was beyond my control due to wedding festivities where food was provided, but I made some really bad food choices that week! When I got back I made the mistake of weighing myself! According to my scale at home (which everything I read says scales at home are most likely inaccurate) I had gained 10 lbs! I was so upset with myself! I was so upset with myself that I literally felt guilty about the bad choices that I made that week! But there was nothing that I could do! I made those choices an had to get back on track, get back on the wagon and work hard to get rid of the extra pounds I gained from that week! Looking back I dont regret what I ate that week, but hindsight is 2020. I shouldve balanced out my bad eating. There were opportunities where I controlled what I ate and I should have made better decisions, but I there was no need to beat myself up about it!  So all of that to say I was really thrilled that the scale had shown progress and not that I had gained weight...Those of you that know me know I mustve really been paranoid about the weight gain from NC bc I actually got up early before work and went to the gym..this is unheard for me...but now that ive gotten into that routine and pattern, its not so bad!

Warning Brutally honest paragraph here:

I am not sure the fear of gaining all of my weight back will ever go away. For example, my birthday was the 3rd of June, and I had some amazing family friends take me to dinner at Maggjanos for my birthday. That whole day I was totally freaked out about what I was going to eat and what healthy dish I was going to eat! Finally I just had to let go and loosen up and have a little fun. I made sure to get a run in that day, and I couldve skipped dessert but it was my Birthday! I am so glad that I let go enjoyed myself and ordered what I wanted on the menu and not what I felt like I had to! I felt better and actually enjoyed myself instead of beating myself up about what I ordered (which was the lighter portion fettichini alfredo by the way). Back when I did weight watchers around the holiday, the leader made an excellent point regarding getting off track eating wise around the holidays. While my birthday is not a holiday (Id like to make it one :D), the point still rings true. He said that thanksgiving dinner is 1 meal! Christmas dinner is 1 meal! Meaning dont beat yourself up for not staying on track for eating for 1 meal. I have to do a better job of remembering that it really is just one meal and the next day go back to eating right and exercising to balance out that one meal. I am learning balance! I am learning not to have too many of those just 1 meal moments....

I am LOVING my running group! This is a sub group of the larger group that I trained for the half marathon with. Just because I have completed the race I was training for does not mean that I stop running. I have kept up with my running and I am running 3-4 miles on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays with my group. On Mondays I am working out with another running group at a track doing some speed training. The speed training is definitely a challenge! It may be all in my head but I think it really is making me faster and I am starting to see a difference.

Last summer I really got my start running with a group called the Lasty Nasties (get it...I live in Nashville...lasty nasties...) anyways...this group follows the couch to 5k schedule. This is what got me running last year and turned me into a runner! Runners are divided up based on their approximate one mile pace. Last summer I was completely clueless as to how fast my mile was because I had never really done any running before....nor had I ever really kept up with my time for the little bit of running I had actually done. Last summer I ran in the 13-14 minute mile group. This summer I have set a new goal for myself! I joined the 10 1/2 minute mile group! I am so excited! This will definitely be a challenge but I am excited to run a new fast pace.

This is a yearly summer running program put on by the community. At the start of every summer when the program starts, everyone can get measured and get their blood pressure taken. At the start of last summer I was 6 months into loosing weight and had lost a good amount. Today was the kick off for this program and I got measured, weighed, and my BP taken. It was so cool to compare this summers measurements and weight to last summer! In a year I have lost 10 inches in my stomach area! Holy Cow! I googled how many dress sizes is 10 inches. According to google, to loose 1 dress size, you have to loose 1 inch from the bust, waist and hips. 1 inch is equal to 10 to 15 pounds. This makes total sense. Before I started loosing weight I was a size 22. The last time I bought pants I was a size 12. The last dress I bought from Old Navy was a size Large! I have gone down about 4 sizes, From a 22/24 to an 18/20, to a 14/16 and now im in between a 12/14 and  10/12. Really cool random information! Woot Woot!

Thats pretty much it, youre all caught up again...My current weight loss total is 91 pounds!!!! I know this is bad and I really should not reward myself with food...but when I hit the 100 pounds lost mark (soon), I am going to have a cupcake collection cupcake..I know thats an oxy moron....those of you that live in Nashville and have been there...you understand...Those of you that dont live in Nashville...well you'll just have to come see for yourself if you think its worth it!

Stay tuned...hopefully my celebration and sappy post of hitting the goal of 100 pounds lost will be coming soon!

13.1 Done

Im still alive!! I survived!! 13.1 Miles done! I officially completed the St. Jude Country Music Half Marathon with a time of 2 hours and 38 minutes. Ideally I would've like my time to be a flat even 2:30 (Im OCD like that..I like even numbers), but i'll take 2:38 because those hills were hard! I am so glad that the rain held off! Thank you Jesus! It would not have been fun to run that race in the pouring rain! Yesterday (The day after the 1/2) while sitting on the couch doing nothing ( a well deserved do nothing day I might add!), I came across this quote while looking for picture frames to frame my medal & finisher photo. "She believed she could, so she did." That quote totally sums up my 1/2 marathon. I believed I could do it, so I did! Woot Woot! Pictures below...not sure why my mom decided she wanted to snap 10 million pictures in front of the porta potties...but oh well....at least there is photo evidence that I finished!

Finished!!! 

Showing off my medal!! (Its heavy!)

Mom & Me (I have no idea how to rotate this picture)

Picture taken by my best friend (Heyheythirdgrade.blogspot.com)..Pretty sure she asked me if I was still alive...

So excited to see my BFF at the finish line! This was my reaction when I saw her at the finish!

Strong 10 miles - 1 week til 1/2! - High School Prom Dress

Nothing really new going on here. I made a great quiche this week to reheat for breakfast this everyday...so there's that... Here are my most recent non-scale victories:

1) I ran 10 miles this past Saturday. While its not the full 13.1 that I will run a week from this Saturday, this was the first run all season where I thought to myself, I might actually be able to run this half marathon! I had never previously had the feeling of a good strong run until Saturday. I felt accomplished and ready to take on the world! (Or 3 more miles on race day)

2) I was in Atlanta this week. (thats where I grew up). While I was home for a few hours this week I stopped by my moms house. Just for fun I tried on all my old sorority and prom dresses. From the time I was 18 til about my Junior year of college, I bought a new evening gown once a year, either for prom or for sorority functions.  While home I tried on all of my old gowns that were in my closet just for fun. All of them were too big! While this shouldnt be a surprise, it was shocking to try on these dresses and them literally fall off of me! These gowns were always a struggle to put on! It used to take spanx, and body shapers underneath my dresses to get them to fit & that was even after I had them altered/taken out to make them bigger. My favorite dress was my pink senior year prom dress. I put it on this weekend and IT WAS TOO BIG!!!!!! This dress was the tightest of them all, and the seamstress worked magic to get me in it.! here's a picture my mom took of me in it. You can't see it, but  the back is super big! I will have to find my actual high school prom picture.

Today is Thursday i'm headed to Gatlinburg for the weekend with the church. Country Music / marathon is one week from Saturday! For the 1st time i actually feel like I can do this!!!

Almost 1/2 Time & Recent Before & After

Today is the day after Easter. Easter was great! But my healthy eating went out the window this weekend! Its Easter tradition that I always go over to my Best Friends & Aunt & Uncles house. They put on a remarkable spread that looks and tastes amazing! I had a little bit of everything! The Mac and Cheese & Sweet potato casserole are to die for! I really enjoyed the food & fellowship with these people are my Nashville family! Unfortunately I paid for that food on the scale today. I weighed in at my weekly Monday weigh-in for Fleet Feet's Ton of Fun (their version of biggest loser). I gained almost 3 pounds :( I wouldn't trade that Easter meal for anything! Good news is today is a new day & I am getting back on track!

There are 2 weeks until Country Music 1/2 marathon! AHHH!!! There are only 2 more Saturday runs until Race day!! I ran 9 miles with my group this week & I feel pretty good about it. The 9 miles were hard, and I was worn out afterwards, but I am learning that I need to slow down & pace myself so I can actually finish the race. This weekend we are doing 10 miles! 10 seems like nothing after the 14 we did 2 weeks ago!  I found my Couch to 5k shirt from this summer. Its crazy to think that almost a year ago I could hardly run for 8 minutes without thinking I was going to die! Now I have a 10 1/2 - 11 1/2 minute mile! Craziness!!

Yesterday was Easter! He's Risen! He has risen indeed! So its tradition to take Easter pictures at church on Easter Sunday. Here is a before and after. At this point last year I had already lost a decent amount of weight, but was (and still am) a work in progress! Sorry for all the before & After pics lately, but this is the way I judge my progress.

Current weight loss total: 84 Pounds!! Woot Woot!!

NSV'S and 1/2 Training

So...my brand new super duper wonderful computer is still dead :( ...but on the bright side my old laptop has mysteriously started to work so I am back in business.

I am EXTREMELY proud of my best friend (heyheythirdgrade.blogspot.com), she started a program called whole 30 & has stuck to it and took to it like a duck to water & I could not be more proud of her. The Whole30 diet is super hard because of everything that you cut out for 30 days straight! Super proud of her because there are no cheat days on whole 30! If you cheat you start over! AHH !! So Way to go Theresa!!

While Theresa is killing whole 30, I am working on getting back on track after two weekends of what feels like nothing but eating! My mom and I went to Savannah GA for their annual St. Patt's day parade. There are so many good places to eat in Savannah! For the most part I stayed away from fried food, but did allow myself to have fried shrimp & hushpuppies one evening for dinner. My mom & I also ate at Paula Deen's restaurant which was AH-MAY-ZING, but im sure everything was cooked in straight butter! I refused to miss out on my favorite Savannah foods (& coffee). I didnt really get any workouts in while in Savannah, but I did not a lot of walking! so hopefully that counts for something & the number on the scale wont be to high! I also got the chance to go visit some friends in NJ last weekend. They live about an hour from Philly, so after a concert we went and ate a real Philly Cheeseteak! It was awesome!! You cant go to Philly & not get a Philly!

Update: I officially dropped out of Weight Watchers at work, this was more due to my work has picked up so much and I am working so many hours I simply do not have time to stop my work and go attend a meeting, so I dropped it. I will miss the group, but I haven't tracked points in a long while and I was pretty much over it! This also goes back to the same thing of I am doing well enough on my own just trying to avoid eating junk food that I don't really need weight watchers.

Non Scale Victories:
1) 14 Miles!!!! You read that right 14! So this was pretty much an awful run! I should be proud that I ran 14 miles but this run was tough! I took a nasty fall at mile 6! Im ok and I got back up and kept running, but I was so tired and sore by the end of the route that I ended up walking the last 5k portion of the 14 miles...I was disappointed that I walked so much. I am hoping that on race day the excitement of the race will keep me going. There is officially less than a month until the 1/2 marathon! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

2) I avoided cake at the office twice this week! Good grief! what is it about spring! There is food everywhere! Junk food everywhere! Not only was there a retirement with cake this week, someone else just randomly brought in cake and sent an email to everyone telling them to come get cake! I am proud I didn't eat the cake! Not even one piece! I went to the party, said my best wishes, but didn't eat a piece of the gorgeous carrot cake that was calling my name!

3) Being healthy is contagious! My co-workers are starting to catch on! One co-worker is drastically cutting back on the amount Coke she drinks & another is simply trying to eat healthier! Its not really my goal to inspire people, (That sounds bad), but everything i'm doing, im doing it for me and no one else but it is exciting to see it rubbing off on others!

4) In a previous post I told you about the biggest loser game at Fleet Feet and their group workouts at this gym called Quest. Quest is kind of far away from me, its a good 45 min drive with traffic. For the first time since the biggest loser game started ive finally had time to go all the way out to brentwood to quest. Im glad i did! The class I took was an hour long and was super HARD! Crazy thing was...apparently this was the easy class..........Holy Crap! I survived!

On deck for this weekend: 15K, 9 miles and some change. Here's hoping that 9 miles goes better than the 14 from last weekend.

Lots to Catch up on!

Im back with lots to tell you & a lot of non scale victories! First things  first: its been awhile..Why? because my brand new computer that I got for Christmas inspired me to start blogging...died an early death...and its incredibly hard to blog from my iphone...I was the recipient of a brand new Samsung Tablet (thanks mom!). I attempted to blog on that...its super cool...but the number of typos however...not so cool...So thats why this post will be so long...because we have lots to discuss! Im currently at my moms house in ATL so im using her dinosaur of a computer (literally this computer was my HS grad present 10 years go...) So on to more important things.

Currently I feel like I am rocking an rolling! I haven't officially dropped weight watchers, but I have stopped tracking points. I am still going to meetings and weighing in every week. I really love the meetings. I get so many good ideas from the meetings and the accountability is great!


Ive had so many non scale victories recently that I am on a NSV high! The NSV's are why I feel like ive been rocking and rolling with my weighloss lately...even if the numbers on the scale haven't shown drastic improvement lately! So here at my Non-scale victories, so I woudnt forget them when I could finally blog again..Ive been keeping a list on my phone!:

1) This is random..but ive really started to like red pepper lately! Why I have no idea...I really wish I could like red pepper with hummus...but it just hasn't happened.....Anyways...I've been eating red pepper on all my salads lately & i'm loving the flavor and color it adds to everything! Not quite sure why I was a red pepper hater before!

2) Last Saturday I ran 8 miles! Thats the farthest ive ever ran! Not only did I run 8 miles but I didnt feel like I was dying at any point in that 8 miles! I dont know what it is but there is something energizing about the downtown Nashville route we ran! Which is a good thing that I think its energizing because that route was part of the half marathon race course! I really felt like I crushed those 8 miles!

3)  I deserve a medal for this one! I found out last weekend that I have really awesome neighbors! They came over to cut down the tree that had fallen on my garage while I was on vacation. So as a way to say thank you I made them cookies! I really hope the cookies tasted good because I did not sample a single cookie! I didn't even have a piece of cookie dough! This is a huge non scale victory for me! That takes an incredible amount of will power! I'm totally patting myself on the back for that one!

5)  I ate a salad at a Mexican place here at home this weekend (Called Willy's..so wish they had a willy's in Nashville!)..& i had a really great salad and it had roasted red pepper on it! Wait a minute...did I just say I got a salad at the Mexican restaurant...yes...and it was amazing! I didn't even need any salad dressing a combination of the pico and the guac made enough of a dressing I didn't have to add anything...This isn't the first time i've gotten a salad at the Mexican place recently either! I dont know why im on a salad kick lately, but theres just something about a good taco (w/o the fried shell) salad that's refreshing!

6) I am in love with meal planning..I bought a groupon for emeals and signed up for one of their plans. Emeals sends me a list of recipes and a grocery list every Wednesday. So far my two favorite meals have been the Crockpot Pork with apples & sauerkraut, and the crockpot Lamb Shanks with tomato sauce..I'm pretty much in love with having pre-panned meals...and my crockpot, these meals make enough for two so I always have leftovers for the next day which is so handy!

7)  I saved the best for last! Guess what size I am...Drumroll please.........I went into old navy last night and tried on jeans for the first time in awhile..and guess what...I bought two pairs of size 12 jeans..SIZE 12!!!!!!! I have never ever in my life (ok maybe when I was a kid) Been a Size 12! A little over a year ago when I started working out and changing my eating habits I was a size 22! I cannot believe I am a size 12! I have been thinking for awhile that I was down to a 14/16 and I was super pumped about that! but realizing i'm a size 12...it makes all my frustrations about life (like why is food at whole foods so expensive..). Im not done yet I would still like to loose about 40 more pounds to be at the recommended weight for my height, but this is HUGE Progress and a HUGE Non scale Victory!! WOOT WOOT!! Before and after pic below.

8) I forgot about this one..so I guess the other one is really the one im most excited about but this one is awesome too. I ran a St Patty's day 5k with my mom this weekend. It was a small race with not a lot of people..especially not a lot of young people. But I totally won my age group! First time ive ever won anything in my life! (now there were probably only 3 people in my age group...but it still counts!). It was pretty awesome to get this cute little shiny medal just for running 3 miles! Me with my medal and really cute "kiss me im a runner shirt" & st pattys day headband are below, its the other part of the before & After pic.

So the left was Feb. 2014 & the right was yesterday 03/14/15! (Pi Day!)

Its been awhile

I have every intention of keeping up with this blog and I've had alot on my mind to write about, but I haven't sat down to the computer in  awhile to actually write it out. maybe I should figure out how to write blog posts from my phone! Anyways...Here's whats happening:

1) I've made the decision to drop weight watchers

2) I've joined a biggest loser game the local running store

3) I ran 7 miles Saturday (Woop Woop)

4) I have new inspiration or should I say Fits-piration

5) VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So bombshell im dropping weight watchers! (Im sure youre shocked (*Sarcasm*))  let me preface this by saying that Weight Watchers does great things and I dont want to down WW, or discourage anyone from joining it. I know there are tons of people who are very successful on WW, but its just not for me. Maybe I am just burned out, (after approx 13 weeks), but I am frustrated with the whole style of weight watchers. I work hard to stay within my allocated "point value" for the day, but it is really unreasonable and virtually impossible to do without dipping into the extra weekly points that Weight Watchers gives people. For Example: Friday I had a Kind Healthy Grains bar for breakfast (Their not incredibly healthy but still much better than a doughnut). This bar is 5pts. Lunch was also pretty healthy. I had low sodium turkey w provolone cheese on a flat out wrap. I had one serving of baked ritz chips to go with my sandwich. Dinner was really great. I had a spinach salad off the salad bar from Ruby Tuesday with very little dressing to start. As my entree I got grilled salmon with Zucchini and Spaghetti squash as my sides. I feel like I ate really well on Friday and I went over my points! It is so frustrating to me that things like Salmon are high in points. Salmon is healthy. It is a lean meat and full of the good fats! I went over my points for the day because I ate!!  Same thing with Saturday!  I had a kind bar before my run (I cant run on an empty stomach, tried it this summer, its not pretty).  then went to brunch with my running group afterwards. I got a yogurt parfait and scrambled eggs. 2 eggs scrambled were 6 points! Why in the world are scrambled eggs six points! So all of this to say I am so over Weight Watchers! I do not feel that there is enough emphasis on healthy eating and real food. There is very little education on how to keep weight off and continue a healthy lifestyle after you stop counting points. I was also reading a blog the other day about a woman who dropped weight watchers for reasons very similar to mine. She made  a really good point that I had't thought of. The goal of weight watchers is to reach your goal weight or "lifetime weight." The point the blog I was reading made was why in the world would you want to reach lifetime weight and become a lifetime member. While its great that you reach your healthy weight goal why in the world would you want to track points the rest of your life! I am over having an assigned point value everyday. I really enjoyed the meetings that I went to. I enjoyed the accountability from my coworkers, but I really felt pressure and anxiety and nervousness stepping on the scale every week. So all of that to say ive decided to drop weight watchers. I lost weight without it and I will continue to do so. To track my food I think I will just go back to the beginning of when I first started loosing weight. I am going to go back to tracking my food in a journal with pen and paper.

Weight Watchers rant over....

Last summer the local Fleet Feet store (the local running store) started their own version of biggest loser, they called it Ton of fun. I absolutely loved it! It was a weekly weigh in, but it also included cooking classes at whole foods & group workouts at a gym. I was so successful with this and I loved it. I also picked up some pretty sweet loot for loosing weight too. I am so excited that they are doing Ton of Fun again. It is even better this time around because participants get a six week free gym membership! How cool is that! So more on this later, while this is a weekly weigh in type of thing, there is much less pressure to loose every week. Their goal is for everyone to get healthy not necessarily loose weight every week.

At the ton of fun kickoff party Saturday the guest speaker was Hannah Curlee from Season 11 of biggest loser. I have never really kept up with biggest loser, other than an episode here and there, so I had no idea who she was. She was so inspirational and so real. She looks so healthy and shes not stick thin either! Can I be her when I grow up please? There was so much interesting information in her talk. Things that blew my mind, and advice that I will use:

              1) Spend money on organic/grass fed beef & cage free eggs. I had no idea that the hormones                    in our meat are causing young girls to hit puberty 5 years earlier! (Holy Cow)

       

               2) There was a Q& A session where the audience got to ask questions. I got to ask what to                       this day does Hannah still avoid or cut out. Her answer was that she tries to stay away                          as much as possible from processed food and refined sugars and carbs (Such as white                          bread and white rice).

              3) The best thing: Jillian Miachels has days where she feels fat! 

Hannah and her sister (who won that season of biggest loser) have a website, a blog, and a youtube channel. They are super cool! 

Last thing to wrap up this long ( as usual) blog post. Saturday I kicked butt! It wasn't easy but I ran the hills of Percy Warner Park. I didn't kick butt as much as I would've liked. I had a goal of not walking any of the hills, but that just wasn't possible. If you dont know what Percy Warner Park is its this park here in Nashville with these running trails of nothing but curvy winding hills. Some of these hills are literally a mile long! I knocked out 7 miles on these nasty hills! That is a HUGE non scale victory! Can't believe its already February! Country Music 1/2 marathon (The race im training for) is at the end of April & were about to hit mid February! Woah!! 

Last but certainly not least! VACATION!!! WOOOOO Cruise time is officially here! Hello Sun and Fun and days away from the office!  If for some reason you're reading this and you dont know me, I am a huge fan of the band Train. I have no idea how or why it started..but I love them so much that I am going on their cruise! I cannot wait to recreate some pictures on the boat for some pretty sweet before and after pics #weightlossgirlproblems . Last year I did really well and didnt really go off the rails in regards to eating. My plan is to do the same this year. I weigh in monthly at the gym, this month I didnt loose as much weight as I would have liked to. So while im still not going to deprive myself of anything (I mean hello im on vacation), I am still going to keep in mind that I have worked super hard to get where I am and I dont want to come back from the cruise weighing 10 pounds heavier.

Thanks for reading!

Will Workout for Cute Workout Clothes & NSV's

This is kind of a non-weightloss related post...sort of...

The hashtag that defines my hair is #whitegirlproblems (no offense to anyone). My hair is stick straight and baby fine. It is a struggle to find headbands that stay on my head during my workouts because my hair is so fine and straight.

I am an etsy addict. I have bought literally 7 headbands from etsy to workout in. I have lost 6 of the 7. Why? Different reasons but mostly because they fall out of my hair and I stash them somewhere and forget where I put them... 

Enter new adorable workout headband. Do you hear that sound? Its me cheering why? Because I bought a headband that actually doesn't fall off when I workout! It actually lives up to its non-slip promises. I did burpees at the gym tonight & my headband actually stayed on! I was so excited! 

My headband is also super cute! I bought the anchor one because there is less than a month until my cruise! Last year I just randomly had a headband in my makeup bag and due to the wind on the boat it ended up being the thing I was most glad I packed! This headband will be doing double duty! Keeping my flyaways out of my face on the windy shipdeck & keeping my hair out of my face during my workouts. 

Here is the website where I got my headband, I gotta give credit where credit is due:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FleurtyBands

Here is a pic of me rocking the headband:

This is my Burpess Suck!! Face!

Today is Monday. A great day to set goals for the week and recap NSV's (Non Scale Victories), from last week.

Goals:

1) Minimize eating out this week. Cook at home..since I spent a ton of $$ at the grocery store this week.

2) Run 5k distance on your own. I'm skipping my Saturday Country Music 1/2 training this weekend b/c ill be traveling. My goal is to have the discipline to run the distance on my own Friday before I leave.

3) Stick to the meals I planned this week

4) Loose weight this week. Really hoping for a loss at weigh in this week so I can say I lost two weeks in a row!

NSV's this week:

1) I meal planned! I sat down & came up with a week's worth of healthy meals for Breakfast, lunch & dinner this week. I made Breakfast burritos, Bought spinach flat-out wraps to spice up my boring turkey lunch sandwich, and came up with some exciting healthy dinner ideas for this week! 

2) I ran 6 miles!! I RAN 6 MILES!!! The best part about CMM 1/2 training is that each week (with the exception of the drop weeks), Im running the farthest I've ever ran! I look back to the beginning of the summer when Running for a whole minute felt like an eternity! Progress is real! 6 miles is almost 1/2 of a 1/2 marathon!

Its going to be a great week!

My ode to Spaghetti Squash

To the tune of all about that base:

Because you know i'm all about that squash no pasta, i'm all about that squash about that squash no pasta. I'm bringing veggies baaacccckkkk, them other carbs just don't know to act.

I've been seeing the recipe for spaghetti squash on Pinterest for weeks. I finally decided to try it. I dont follow any clean eating plans or Paleo, but i'm always looking for easy healthy recipes. Most of the time the stuff I see on Pinterest never actually gets made. This time something healthy from Pinterest actually got made & it wasn't a Pinterest fail! I am so proud of myself.

To make this recipe I googled microwave spaghetti squash and found the nom-nom paleo recipe. I put my own spin on their recipe, I cut my squash in half (Thats the hard part!), sprayed it with olive oil cooking spray sprinkled it with a little garlic salt & Parmesan cheese. I put in the microwave for 3 rounds of 5 minutes. While the squash was being micrwaved I put a little olive oil & garlic in the skilled, let it get hot then added some chopped zuchinni, spinach, and mushrooms. I debated added ground turkey to make it even more spagehtti like...but my ground turkey wasn't defrosted and "ain't nobody got time" to wait for ground turkey to defrost. After the squash was done in the microwave I shredded it with a fork & added it to my veggie mixture in the skilled.


The squash soaks up the sauce so well I really just used a little bit of sauce off the top of the can. I forgot to measure out the sauce to one serving size (1/2 cup) to calculate the WW points for the sauce.

Here's a pic of my spaghetti sauce. I added a little bit of shredded mozzarella & wham bam thank you ma'am you're eating veggies instead of pasta & its ah-may-zing! (It really doesn't look appetizing..but trust me on this one, its really great!)

Here's my source for the Recipe. (I did two years of graduate school...its now a permanent habit to site my sources..) http://nomnompaleo.com/post/7080566496/microwaved-spaghetti-squash

Don't Be Fooled & You don't have to try so hard

This post is inspired by all of the spam Instagram follower requests I get from people selling wraps and pills etc. No offense to anyone selling these products, but im not buying & im not interested. I work my butt off in the gym & try my hardest to have a healthy lifestyle! There is no quick fix to loose weight & im not going to spend money on quick fixes. The problem with these quick fixes is that you dont learn anything. A wrap or a shake or diet pills dont teach you the discipline nessecary to have a healthy lifestyle change. This article I found on a website describes it perfectly..End Rant!

http://www.fitbodybootcamp.com/fbbcblog/dont-fooled/


Im sitting here eating banana protein pancakes & hot chocolate! Healthy food can be good! I posted my recipe for my agave hot chocolate on my previous post. For my pancakes I bought this mix on amazon (im an amazon prime addict, there might need to be an intervention). The mix is called Flapjacked protein pancake mix. I got the Banana Hazelnut flavor and its 5 WW points for 1/2  cup. I mixed it with water and added 1 serving of chocolate chips (30 chips..yes I counted).

This week is a stretch week..meaning im stretching every penny I have until payday. So that means no eating out until payday. I have a bad habit of eating out for breakfast. So to keep myself from eating out for breakfast this week I made pumpkin overnight crockpot steel cut oats. I had steel cut oats in the pantry & some leftover frozen pumpkin in the fridge. I used this recipe & it makes a ton of oatmeal. I put the oatmeal in mason jars & then grab one every morning to take to work & heat up in the microwave! These are so easy! I put everything in the crockpot the night before & their done in the morning. Easy Peasey!

http://skinnyms.com/overnight-slow-cooker-pumpkin-pie-steel-cut-oats-no-sugar-added/


Two posts in one weekend! This has to be a record for me so far! Also posting my new favorite song below. Love this song "You dont have to try so hard"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8

Non- Scale Victories, Getting Back on the Wagon, Running, & Hot Chocolate

I weigh in weekly at Weight Watchers. This week I gained. I usually have a pattern loosing several pounds in a week then gaining a few of them back the next week. I think it has to do with rewarding myself for loosing. Unfortunately I tend to reward myself with food, so its a vicious cycle. My goal for the next two weeks is to loose consecutively 2 weeks in a row.

Theres a pattern and a term in all of these weight loss blogs and instagram accounts I follow. Its called a Non-Scale victory. A non scale victory is exactly what it sounds like. Its a victory that has nothing to do with pounds or points or what you weigh. My Non Scale Victory or NSV this week is runnning. Actually my NSV this week is actually getting up to run. It was 12 degrees this morning when I woke up. So I put on all my layers and headed to run with my group. It's only week two but I am LOVING my running group. I dont really know anyone in the group & I havent really talked to anyone (yet, its only week two). But I am loving the sense of community so much. Someone commented on my FB page that I was insane for running when it was this cold & that I could just run in the gym. I could run in the gym but I HATE the treadmill with a passion. I have treadmill ADD. Today I ran (outside) for 55 minutes or 4.87 Miles. There's no way I could run the treadmill for 55 minutes Id get entirely too bored. So yes, Im insane, and yes it was cold...but I loved every minute of it...& you warm up when you start to run. I heard a saying that turned into a funny joke today while running. What do you listen too while running in the cold? Coldplay hahahahha..(ok I thought it was funny). My NSV for today was running the longest ive ever ran. I think ive done 4 miles on the greenway before, but I dont think ive ever gone past 4! Today I ran 4.87 miles!! for 55 whole minutes!! I didnt die and I made it through the whole run!

My usual Saturday morning breakfast after a run is an egg white omlet. This is what I put in my omeltte:

Egg Whites -->Measured out to 1/4 cup

Spinach-->Several Handfulls

Mushrooms-->From the produce section, not the canned kind

Shredded Cheese-->1/4 cup--> I measure this out too bc if not I will go cheese crazy...

I also add whatever else I have in the fridge. For example this week I added some cubed ham I had leftover. 

I usually have a Kind bar on my way to my Saturday Morning run (Im addicted to the Kind healthy grains peanut butter bars).

This weekend I also added hot chocolate to my Saturday breakfast routine. I know what youre thinking, Hot Chocolate! Thats not healthy! But wait!! Dont give up hope! Im not doing any specific diet (other than WW), but I do like the Paleo diet, Whole30, and clean eating.  A few years ago I walked the Country Music Half Marathon (The current race im training to run). After every training run I would drink chocolate milk (Just regular chocolate milk). I really like Chocolate milk & it has some good benefits after a workout, but most brands have yucky nasty High Fructose Corn Syrup in them. So I wanted to add chocolate milk back into my routine, but dont want to deviate from eating healthy & I have a feeling that regular chocolate milk would not aid in my weightloss journey. So all of this to say, I made this really amazing hot chocloate today. I googled clean eating hot chocolate & paleo hot chocolate, but unfortunately a lot of them called for complicated ingredients I didnt have (like raw coconut sugar..ya that's not exactly lying around in the pantry). Have no fear, I found a recipe that doesnt call for strange ingredients & I also happened to have a bottle of Agave (sugar replacement) thats hardly even been touched. I was so excited to find a decent fairly healthy hot chocolate recipe. I also bought chocolate soy milk this week at the store with the intention of drinking a glass after my run today. So after my google search I found this recipe on another blog: 

http://stephcupoftea.blogspot.com/2008/10/hot-chocolate-with-agave-nectar.html

The only modifications I made to this recipe is that I used the chocolate soy milk I already had in the fridge. It was really good! I loved the cinnamon in it! 

Its been a tough week as far as eating and staying on track. I learned I really have to work at being strong & staying on track, Bingeing on the leftrover Christmas chocolate at work isnt doing me any good. I had every intention of staying on track Friday night at Chilli's by ordering off of their lighter menu...but my intentions were squashed when I decided to eat an order of chips and queso This week im going to try harder to stay on track! Every time I want to eat that chocolate at work im going to remember how much it stinks to stand on the scale at my weekly WW weigh in and see the number go up! Out of sight out of mind really is the truth. If I keep the cookies and candy out of sight then I will have less of a chance to binge on them!

To wrap up this (really long) blog post my goal for this week is to get back on track! Sub goals:

 1) Get back on track with my workouts. 

--> I fell off the workout wagon this week because it was cold & I got lazy! None of that this week! 

2) Stay away from the junk at work! This is just self control

 --> I dont have to eat every cookie, candy, and junk food that comes my way at work! I have to be strong and stay away from it this week!

THIS WEEK I WILL NOT GO OFF THE RAILS! I WILL STAY ON TRACK! <-- my mantra for the week

Long term goal:

There are about 30 days until my big cruise! (Woot woot!) & Im planning on giving myself a little vacation from "being good"  on the cruise, So that means that for the next 30 days I need to stay on track!

Thanks for reading this incredibly long post! Cya next time!

The Mug I put my hot chocolate in! Mad props to my BFF http://heyheythirdgradeblogspot.com/ for getting this for me!