Working on Weight Loss and getting Lean!

[Worfiedoodles]

A quickie from me --

Kim -- The 12-15 was my total for the daytime, not counting my dinner or dessert. It's based on your weight, but I think most people at goal get 20? I haven't made it that far, so I'm not sure! You can spread it out any way you want -- I tend to have about 2/3 of my pts during the day (breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack) and the rest for dinner and dessert (I try to keep dessert to 1 or 2, 3 if I'm craving a frozen treat). WW works great for me when I do it -- and I'm not hungry as long as I'm eating plenty of 0 pts veggies, and 1 or 2 pt fruits. If you are eating "clean", you can eat a lot of food for your points...

I'll be back with more later -- just wanted to add to Beth's post -- another success -- Jeanne is in Onderland!

Ok, gotta get out the rainy door and to my project -- it's due today, so if I don't make it back, know I'm thinking of you and WISHing everyone a great day and weekend!

Maria

 

[Creativebeth]

How could I forget THAT......the biggest success yet! Yes, Jeanne dear, you are right on target for our Spring has Sprung goal check! Sorry to have missed that in the other post.....b/c we love you Jeanne! (((Thank you Maria! I am glad you reminded me!))) Also have to say a big Congrats to our friend Kim, who has succeeded in accomplishing her first Goofy! That deserves it's own

The day is filled with errands and tasks today..... Hopefully it will all get done!

Now have to send kid#2 off to the bus.

Beth

 

[Creativebeth]

Kim: I do not do WW now, but have in the past. In the beginning, it does take some time to get 'used' to counting points....but it becomes second nature pretty quick. It's a great plan. Well rounded, as long as you make good choices. When I did it, I was too heavy on the carbs and light on the protein. I felt hungry, but it was b/c of bad choices on my part.

It might be just what you need right now, to start something 'new' to help you become more aware of what you are eating and the choices you make. I always love a new plan.....it revamps my energy, and motivation.

I think you would be very successful with it!

Beth

 

[Hockeychic]

How could I forget THAT......the biggest success yet! Yes, Jeanne dear, you are right on target for our Spring has Sprung goal check! Sorry to have missed that in the other post.....b/c we love you Jeanne! (((Thank you Maria! I am glad you reminded me!))) Also have to say a big Congrats to our friend Kim, who has succeeded in accomplishing her first Goofy! That deserves it's own

The day is filled with errands and tasks today..... Hopefully it will all get done!

Now have to send kid#2 off to the bus.

Beth

YAAAAAA JEANNE!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Beth, I am very proud that I fought through my heel pain and did it. What I don't understand is why I am nuts enought to try and do it again.

 

[rubato]

Wow, so much activity since I was last here!

Beth: How's the eating going? Are you feeling a little better now that you've dropped the P90X? I hope you can get that long run in outside. Those long TM runs seem to last forever!

Kim: Glad you were able to maintain after the bad week. That's an accomplishment in and of itself!

Jackie: I guess Chicago just wasn't meant to be! Have fun in your half! It sounds like you have a good plan going into it, so I'm sure you'll do great!

Cindy: I'm sorry to hear you are feeling so bad again. I wish there was an answer to your stomach issues. As far as losing motivation, it may just be that you've been training so hard and for so long, that you needed a break. I'm right there with you! Maybe getting the packet will get you motivated again.

Maria: Congrats on your BL win!!! That's quite an accomplishment with this group! You seem to be doing a great job with WW also. I love your plan to not come back downstairs once you're up for the night. If I could do that, I'd be set. But, hubby falls asleep before me, and I creep back down to eat some more! Ugh!!!

Manda: Wow, 6'1"! I am impressed girl! I'm 5'8" but wear 4" heels all the time so I can be 6'! I'm the shrimp in my family. My brothers are 6'6" and 6'4".
Raquetball sounds like a fun change of pace. I have to ask, what's wrong with your walls? Or do I want to know?

Vicky: Yah to new clothes! I love shopping and I love spring and summer. I reorganized my closet yesterday (took me the whole day) and got all my summer stuff out. I'm also a little OCD, so I had to color code my shirts, dresses and skirts and pants. It's so much fun to shop after you've lost weight.

AFM: I've had a bad few days. After my failed run on Wednesday, I did stick to my eating plan. Ankle felt good again almost immediately. Went to bed feeling good. I woke at 5am the next day and was completely organized and ready by the time I walked with my friends. But, once I got back, I just sat around and ate all day. Never went running at all. I feel like a slob right now.

So, I have to decide if I want to run the 5 I was supposed to do on Wed, the 4 I was supposed to do on Thur, or the 9 I'm supposed to do tomorrow. Advice? I am in a taper week, but I feel that if I just skip 2 runs, it would be bad. What do you guys think?

Tandy

 

[rubato]

Now I get to do back to back posts!

I ended up running 9 miles and felt a lot better today. My stomach was hurting again which is strange, because it hasn't hurt at all since I quit soda. I think it may have been all the junk food from yesterday, but it felt just like it did before.

I hope everyone is having a great day! It's 60 degrees and sunny here, but it all changes again tomorrow!

 

[bunnyfoo]

Hi lean ladies! I'm just relaxing before the big race tomorrow. Keeping off my feet and catching up on shows. Does anyone watch What Not to Wear? I caught the episode last night with the female bodybuilder. I like being in shape but she had some serious arm muscles! I wondered if she was on steriods...

Manda - How goes the food journalling? I wish I were as tall as you! Then I wouldn't have to squish my feet into heels. I have the weird feeling that running has somehow made my feet bigger. So now you have me curious ... what did you find behind the wall?

Jackie - Another half?! Wow! Are you going to apply for the Half Fanatics? A t-shirt was all I got at packet pick up too

Cindy - Glad to hear the test results came back normal but it still doesn't explain things. How has cutting out certain types of food gone? I usually find myself in a bit of slump about a month before a race - I think sometimes the training feels like a real drag... Just think of how hard you've worked so far and stay strong! I think it's so cool that I actually know someone who qualified for and will be running Boston!!

Beth - Speaking of goals - I still haven't found a way to work in that extra activity/exercise that I was talking about in January. I'm thinking yoga or maybe just picking up a chin up bar would be the easiest. How long are you off PX90 for? When I first started deadlifting last year, I had to cut out a day of running (5 to 4) so my body had enough time to rest in between workouts and running. Eventually, though I did get use to it and was able to add the fifth day back.

Tandy - Congrats on your 9 miler! It sounds like your training is going wonderfully! How's your ankle holding up? I don't think sorting your closet by clothing and colour is a sign of OCD at all. I only wish I could be that organized

Kim - It was sooo great seeing you and Mike again today! I can see where you've leaned out - You look so fabulous!! DF was asking how much weight you've lost and I said I think it was 10lbs but he thought it was more than that.

Maria - Congrats on the first place finish for the BL challenge this week! Your lunch of veggies and hummus sounds yummy! Do you make it like a big salad or are the veggies cut up into sticks for dipping?

AFM - I met up with the lovely Kim and Mike for lunch out in Hamilton. Lots of fun! Btw, I wish you guys were doing the race tomorrow! Probably will call it an early night tonight - I was reading on another board that the parking rates go up tomorrow the closer it gets to race time. The rates they were charging today were close to big city weekend parking rates so I can only imagine what it will be tomorrow. Will report back after the race tomorrow - I signed up for a runner tracking service that's done through Facebook so if you're on my list, you'll get to see where I am. This is the first race they're testing it out on so no guarantees that it will work perfectly.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[MouseDogMom]

Tandy - It's probably much too late to be any help with the advice, but I firmly believe at this point that skipping a couple of runs before the race doesn't hurt anything. I only ran once each week before the last couple of half marathons, and the results have been nothing short of amazing! I know that's not what any training plan recommends, but it's certainly worked for me.

Kim - How's your heel doing now? Does it still hurt, or has it gotten better? It took me almost 2 years to fully recover, so I know it can be a real hassle!

Cindy - I'm sorry the tests still aren't giving you any answers. I know you're really, really frustrated. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the new round of tests will be the ones that find the answer. But on the positive side... Boston is just around the corner. That is so exciting!

Vicky - How was your race? And yes, I'm going to apply for Half Fanatics. If I'm going to be this crazy, I might as well have the official title!

Okay, I know I said I was going to take it easy. Race for the medal, not for time. Course was too hilly. So I get to the start and find the guy who wanted to pace us to a 2:25 last week. He says he wants to run slow this week too, maybe a 2:29. Yikes! That's my PR from last week. I agree to start out with him and a couple of others I know, and hang with them as long as I can. I'll just slow down when I get tired. About 4 miles in, he and I are the only ones left. Everyone else has dropped off. We hit the really hilly part and run it strong. At 10 miles, I'm ahead of last week's pace. At 11, he tells me to go, that I have another PR in me. At 12.74 I decide the jacket has to go, and I take it off and tie it around my waist, unknowingly turning OFF my Garmin when I do so. My friend is close enough behind me to see me and he starts screaming at me to "GO!", so I take off and run to the finish, where I hit what I think is stop, but is really start. Oops. I didn't know my official time until a few minutes ago when they finally posted them. Last week I ran a 2:29:15. Yesterday - 2:26:18. So much for taking it easy!

The best part? I feel 10 times better today than I did last Monday.

Jackie

 

[rubato]

Jackie:What a fantastic time! Way to go!
I guess you just don't have it in you to take it easy, do you?

As far as your advice, I did decide to just skip those 2 runs and had a great run on Friday and today. So, now I'm a day ahead on my training schedule!

Vicky: How did you do? I hope to hear soon.
I have seen that episode (love Stacy and Clinton). I agree. I'm pretty muscular, but man, she was scary! Unless she was muscularly gifted, steroids are a strong possibility!

AFM: Easy Sunday run of 3 miles. It felt great to get outside today. I also managed to lift yesterday. Hoping to do it again tomorrow. Plus Zumba. No running since I'm a day ahead and tapering. I actually felt funny today only doing 3. I could have run forever! That's a good sign, right?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

 

[Hockeychic]

Good Monday morning team!!!!

Vicky: It was awesome to see you as well. Thank you. I don't see any change yet, have lost 10 pds, but I hope by the time we meet up in Sept before Scotia it will be about 40 more. You BTW, look totally awesome!!!! All your hard work has paid off!!!!

Jackie: I thought the heel was getting better but after yesterdays walk it did hurt but I will continue to stretch and lose weight and hopefully that will do the trick. WTG on those times!!!! WOW that is awesome!!!!

AFM: Great weekend, finally got to hook up with Vicky and DF for lunch on Sat. We always seem to run into each other right before a race but this time we actually get to sit and chat. Hopefully we will get to hook up again before Scotia in Sept. Eatting and exercise where pretty good this weekend.

Have a great Monday everyone!!!

 

[Creativebeth]

So, I guess I didn't post anything today......the day was sort of messed up from the beginning, so I don't have to wonder why!

Jackie: WTG! What a nice 'unexpected' outcome for your race! What a great feeling to get the job done, and feel good doing it!

Vicky: How did your race go? Can't wait to hear about it.

Kim: Nice that you got a night out and got to eat dinner with Vicky! And WTG with the 10 pound loss!

Rubato: Glad that your back on track with training!

AFM: Well, I got my 15 miler in on Sunday. It wasn't a great 15 miler, had alot of walk breaks the last 5 miles. I was feeling the soreness from racing last weekend. I didn't expect a stellar run, it was hard work. I averaged 12 min miles, and am happy with that.

I am eating pretty well. I am really trying to eat real food, and leave the processed crap go. I gets difficult to cook healthy meals quickly, but well worth it for the family. I know what we are all eating. We do still have snacks (they are hard to get rid of) but I know that meals are all using real food and ingredients! I am even making my own taco seasonings! (it really saves money, and I know how much salt goes into it) I am lowering our fat/salt/sugar intake by cooking every day..... and I have to keep telling myself that its a good idea.....it takes so much more time to get done.

I hear that the movie Food Inc. is a thought provoking movie about where are food comes from. I am not sure I want to see it.......probably will scare me to death!

One tip I will share.....is printing off recipes from the internet. Using decent ingredients, and will only take 30 minutes to get done. If the recipe is a success, I will punch holes in the recipe and put it into my recipe folder. I have a pretty big collection of recipes, tried and true!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Beth

 

[Creativebeth]

hmm.....I don't like back to back posts.....where is everyone? Maria???

Beth

 

[rubato]

I was wondering where everyone is myself!

Beth: I'm glad to hear that your eating is going better. It is SO hard to cook everything from scratch and cut out processed foods. I do the best I can, but I'm a stay at home mom and have lots of time. You have a full time job (at least I think it's full time) and run a lot more than I do, so it's even more impressive that you're taking on this challenge. I'm also glad to hear your 15 miler met your expectations. I was wondering where I'm supposed to go in my training after my half. I guess you're just pretty much always training for the next event, huh?

Kim: for a good weekend!

AFM: I got my 4 miler in today and, boy, was it tough. Uphill for 3 of the miles and the 1 that was down was into a headwind. I still got a decent time, but was getting mentally down about it.

Eating is great! I can't believe I can actually write that. I've had a whole week, minus one night, with nothing but healthy, whole foods. I've managed to lose 3 of my 9 pounds and my stomach is feeling good. I think it's the warm weather. I'm busy outside and have less time to just mindlessly eat.

Have a great day everyone. Hope to hear from the absentees soon!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

omg guys, I have so much to say and no time to do it -- Just finished a monster project at work, barely recovered, and I had to start another one...don't these people know I need my DIS time?! I promise to try to post, it's just crazy -- I'm barely in the office tomorrow between meetings, and Thursday and Friday I'm only in for the morning -- ds has a half day Thurs. and he's off all day Friday -- and I'm not ready for Easter, and...anyway, I did 18 miles between Saturday and yesterday -- I ran 6M Sat and Mon and walked 6M Sunday -- did yoga today, eating ok mostly, much more to say but dh is here to pick me up! Hopefully I'll get a few minutes tonight to post!

Maria

 

[Creativebeth]

Rubato: It's not hard to stay in 1/2 marathon shape all year round. I am talking, finishing a 1/2 marathon not PR's every time. I just make sure to 'throw' in 8 to 10 milers once an awhile. I basically run 5 to 6 times a week, and that does it for me. I usually run 6, 1/2 marathons a year. They are spread out through-out the year, so I am having to stay in shape. It is definitly good for me!

I am actually part time, but with all I have to do, it feels like full time! I love my job though, so I am not complaining.

Having the husband, two kids (and all their activities), and my job is a hand-ful. It isn't easy, but I am trying really hard to be a good role model for my kids. We gave up fast food a couple of years ago, so it's good I don't have that 'crutch' to fall back on. I try for real food for all their meals, but man, it gets hard sometimes. Tonight was one of those nights. We didn't get home from baseball lessons until 7, and the plan was to make meatball sandwiches from the spaghetti sauce I made a couple of days ago. Little did I know that someone decided to eat most of said meatballs for a 'snack'. It certainly blew my plans. Ended up making some spaghetti to go with left over sauce for one kid, and the other had grilled cheese and soup. I made myself some shrimp (b/c it was easy). So everyone had something different, but it went pretty fast since most of it was in the frig. You must always have a back up plan I guess!

Maria: I am just glad you posted that you are still on plan! I was worried about you!

Beth

 

[corinnak]

Hi Leanies!

I know I'm a bit of a stranger around here, but just saw what you wrote about staying in half-marathon shape, Beth, and it resonated with what I'm thinking about today. I finally feel like I'm recovered from the Princess after a week pretty much completely off from running. Do you have a rule of thumb for how far apart your races need to be?

I am looking at a half toward the end of April, and a faster friend has offered to possibly pace me to 2 hours scared1 but there is 5K I MUST do the weekend before...and I feel like I've been slacking so badly in the training department with my week off.

My weight, I have been maintaining, goodness knows quite how, but it is still holding fairly steady. I got my body fat re-measured about a week and a half ago and it was down to 17.9%. I believe it is up a little from that today.

My son's 4th grade teacher came up to me today (she is TINY) and said that I was looking so skinny lately, svelte even, and to let her know if I have any workout secrets. She is a part-time fitness instructor, for goodness sake!! She said it so nicely, though - and the hilarious part is that I was wearing my grubbiest paint clothes - I did not have time to change before I went to pick up the kids.

I will share that I found a great website for WWers, especially maintainers or those with a little left to lose who find the scale is sitting still. I think it could be useful for people who are counting calories or with more to lose as well:

http://goingskiing.webs.com/

Maria - so glad to hear you are on track but busy. Hope we'll get a chance to catch up soon! 18 miles in 3 days - wow!

Beth - all those miles - you are amazing!

Rubato - 3 miles of uphill - just wow. Congratulations on your loss!

 

[Creativebeth]

Corinna: I usually do a 1/2 in March, I have one in April that I have done for 5 years, one in the summer (this year is June, last year was August), I do Labor day RnR in Va beach (5 years this year), and try to do Philly in Sept too. I usually pick up one more in November (last year it was Richmond). The family treats these runs as a vacation. They love Lehigh Valley (April) and VA beach Labor day so I usually do them.

I really don't like the ups and downs of training for a specific event (unless I am aiming for a PR). I would rather maintain my 1/2 ability all the time. I am in this running thing for a lifetime! So, running 40 miles a week is becoming easier!

I am still having some trouble increasing the mileage for the real long runs.....the 15 this week was tough coming up behind the race last weekend. I am still a little sore.

I don't have the mood swings with finishing a race either....I used to get down once the race i have trained for is over. I now always have another race coming up!

Beth

 

[Creativebeth]

I am just bumping this up, and hoping that we have some lean ladies checking in today!

Beth

 

[MouseDogMom]

My running group's philosophy is to do the 10 mile long runs all year long as a minimum. We increase it if we're training for a specific event, but otherwise, it's 10 every Saturday unless something comes up. That way, we feel like we're ready for a half at any time. I've run 5 (one of them being part of Goofy) in the past 4 months without increasing mileage, other than one week when we walked 2 at the end of the 10 mile run. So far it seems to work. Once the official training season starts back in May, we'll keep doing 10 even when the first runs are 3-6 miles just to keep our base. (I can't even believe that 10 miles is my every week run now - just a few years ago the idea of 1 mile seemed so unattainable!) Like Beth said, it may not keep you in PR shape, but if you see a race that looks interesting, it's always an option!

Beth - I am in awe of you for always being able to prepare home-cooked meals. We do WAY too much fast food. Even now that I'm trying to fix more at home, DH would still rather go out. I'm trying to break him of that habit, but it's so much easier.

Corinna - I just ran 2 halfs 6 days apart. I thought it would really hurt, but I actually feel pretty good. DH and I did our first post-race run last night, and it wasn't as hard as I was afraid it would be. I'm going to take it easy this weekend and only run 6, but that's because DD will be home and is going to do her FIRST long run ever.

We ran 4.5 last night. Ran 1 mile, walked 1 minute, ran 2 miles, walked 1 minute, ran 1 mile, walked 1 minute. I'm pretty happy with that overall, since most of it was around an 11:00 pace. Ironically, my half on Saturday was at almost the same overall pace using R/W as the almost all-run last night, but we were deliberately taking it easy last night!

The best news... I saw a number on the scale this morning that I haven't ever seen on that scale. I STILL haven't finished chunk #1, but I'm a lot closer than I've been before. Apparently there is hope. The warm weather will help, since it's just more fun to be outside. It backfires though - I have more interest in taking the dog for walks, but she can't go nearly as far when it's warm!

Jackie

 

[Creativebeth]

Jackie: Breaking the fast food habit, and the going 'out to eat' option, was really hard to break (especially kid#1). His favorite meal was 'chicken nuggets'. The first 6 months was constant bickering and begging to stop 'just once' for chicken nuggets. I am glad I held firm to the 'no' answer. Now kid#1 prefers to eat at home (he's a little OCD and gets a bit fixated on one thing), and now it's a struggle IF we want to go out. It's all about habit for them.

I am NOT standing on a soap box here.....I LOVE going out, it just doesnt love me! The times we live in now is different from when I was growing up. My mom ALWAYS made dinner. We never went out. I really didn't know any different until I got older and had money to go out!!!! Then I certainly did!

I just want to get the healthy life/choices ingrained in my kids.....so maybe they won't make the same mistakes I did eating at McDonalds....... In the process of this though is alot of headaches for MOM to come up with dinner options! (((((that everyone will actually eat))))))) I don't think my family understands how much work it is!! I was throwing flanks steaks in a Ziploc to marinate during the day today at freaking 5AM! And there is actually having the food in the frig to do something with! They don't get it, but they are the first to complain when the menu is not to their liking! ((((I give them a choice then....either eat it or not......that's the choice!)))))) I am not one usually to make different options....except last night.....which they LOVED! The best laid plans........

It can be done......but I have to say, not usually done easily!

Beth