stop eating crap

I started this tumblr account with no goal in mind except to get well and have more energy. However, that was then and this is now. I've realized goals are necessary or else I fall back into my crappy ways. And you have to hear about my triumphs and...

[stopeatingcrap]

English Muffins FTW

I'm still on this incredibly horrible English muffin kick. There could be worse things in life but I'm pretty sure eating not one but two muffins every morning with butter is not helping me get rid of my butt muffin. And then eating them as lunch and as a snack only makes matters worse. I feel like I've been living on English muffins and coffee for at least a solid month. This reminds me of when I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for lunch for months on end. Why am I such a weirdo. Tonight I'm going hiking with a friend after work. It is gorgeous outside so I can't wait to be done staring at my laptop screen.

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So Duh

So tonight I went sculling. I had to do a flip test which went alright. But I was so nervous and felt like a huge dork since I haven't rowed in such a long time. After the flip test, I was assigned a boat to take out - I put the wrong oar in the oarlock with the oarlock backwards. DUH. And then the guy that runs all of the coaching (the guy that coaches the Olympic athletes) pointed it out to me. UGH. I felt so DUMB and like such a LOOOSER. But I'm glad I went and did it even though I felt totally nervous and awkward and feel like I rowed like a big turd. The hardest part of showing up and having to fall in the water and get back into the boat is over. I can only get better from here so I get to go again next Monday and hopefully be less dumb feeling.

[stopeatingcrap]

Hello Again, Rowing

Today I did something that took me over a year to get the guts to do - I drove to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center and signed up for community rowing for the summer. I'll get to row 1-3 times per week in a single scull. This place is where athletes train for the Olympics and it's 25 minutes from our house. As a member, I can also go to open gym, yoga, and use the running trails. I'm hoping this is the motivation I need to get off my arse. I drove home so happy that I finally went and did it after a year of thinking about it and stalking their website and social accounts. First row is May 31 and I have to do a swim test into the cold water.

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This is my lunch. It could be better. But it could be a lot worse. The good: two eggs from my very own happy chickens, kimchi that a friend made for me, coffee, daily vitamin, 2000 mg coconut oil capsule, 5,000 IU raw D3 vitamin The not so good: English muffin (I loves them), mozzarella cheese, deli ham, a very liberal helping of thin mint creamer in my coffee How I Feel: Good. It was delicious and I could be eating fast food or something much nastier.

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Lunch! Finishing up veggies from last week's CSA to make room for this week's! Yum! Random veggie day.

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I haven't posted in a while. With the wedding, things got away from me. I'll write another post later about our incredible wedding and then honeymoon in Ireland. For now it's just my breakfast and I'm up two pounds since the wedding. That isn't bad considering that I are so much food in Ireland. Time to get back on track.

[stopeatingcrap]

Weight Loss and Stuff

I don’t think I’m losing enough weight fast enough. This is my last chance month. At the end of April, I try on my wedding dress again and have to go get it altered so whatever I do to lose weight needs to happen now.

Up to this point I have been tracking calories but not being crazy strict about them as long as I eat clean. I think I need to tighten up the calorie counts. Also, I haven’t done any crazy workouts like I did the last go around. Everything I’ve done has been snowshoeing, skiing and moderate exercise. I think I need to bump my workout up a notch every other day or so - like running in my snowshoes, doing some sort of interval workout, I don’t know. I just need to to do something more to jumpstart the weight loss again.

In March, I lost about a pound each week or a little less so I’m down 15 pounds total but I’m still heavier than my heaviest weight before this most recent gain. I’d like to be at least under my heaviest weight by the end of this month. That will mean about 7 more pounds.

The actual weight loss process kind of sucks. I wish I was just in maintenance mode but that won’t happen for a long time because of where I’ve put myself and the plan I have to do this slow and steady. Weight loss is not fun and dieting is not fun. Eating everything is fun and then it sucks later, like right now as I’m writing this.

Anyway, I need to bump it up a notch is the bottom line. This is my push month so I need to make some real progress.

[stopeatingcrap]

March Review Time

March Goal: Work out at least once per day with a rest day every 5-7 days.

Did I Achieve My Goal: Yes, except for the week I was in Buffalo.

March: Worked out 21 out of 31 days (better than February!).

Snowshoed 19 times

Skied 2 times

Dodge Ball 1 time

Hot Yoga 1 time

Indoor Erg/Elliptical workout 1 time

Hiked 1 time

February: Worked out 16 out of 28 days.

Snowshoed 10 times

Skied 2 times

Shoveled Snow 2 times

Indoor Erg/Elliptical workouts 3 times

My Plan for April  TOP GOAL: Work out on my lunch break every day (most likely snowshoeing but with the snow melting I’ll switch to hiking when the time comes). - Email friends at the beginning of each week to enlist them on my workout adventures.  - Use my Erg and elliptical in the evenings when I can and when it gets rainy or too muddy to do an outdoor workout. - Continue to eat clean. - Continue tracking calories with MyFitnessPal, workouts with MapMyRun and everything else with my FitBit Charge HR. - Aim to stay closer to my calorie goals. - Hit 10,000 steps per day. - Drink a shit ton of water. - Stay positive. - Take measurements once a week to check on progress. - Stay active on this blog to hold myself accountable. - Add in at least one harder workout each week.

Starting April Off on the Right Snowshoe (today’s evidence):

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Enjoying the Last Bits of Winter

Busy work week is already happening but I still managed to take a snowshoe at lunch. It’s definitely become a habit now and I’m so grateful for that. It was dreary out today and snowing. It didn’t feel like Spring but I was just glad that I get some more days out on the snowshoes before it all melts and I have to trade my wool pants for shorts and my boots for sneakers. I actually like the cold and the winter weather. 

Brutus had a great time since the surface of the snow has hardened, allowing him to run beyond my snowshoe trails. Today was 1.47 miles in a little over 37 minutes. 

Sunday we went to the rope tow skiing. I think we’ll only have another couple weeks before that’s over with. I love the people there and the whole experience puts a smile on my face.

So in all, things have been good and my eating has been good. PMS is coming so my weight is a pound up from before but that’s ok. It’s better than having it be 5 pounds up!

[stayhungry-getbig]

“You don’t get better on the days when you feel like going. You get better on the days when you don’t want to go, but you go anyway. If you can overcome the negative energy coming from your tired body or unmotivated mind, you will grow and become better. It won’t be the best workout you have, you won’t accomplish as much as what you usually do when you actually feel good, but that doesn’t matter. Growth is a long term game, and the crappy days are more important.”

- Georges St Pierre (The Way Of The Fight)

I don't usually reblog but this one hits home.

[stopeatingcrap]

Eating everything, and then some.

Went for a snowshoe at lunch today. I didn’t take photographic evidence because I was on the phone with my mom the whole time. It defeats me getting out into nature but we haven’t spoken in a while and it was a happy call. 

And then I can’t stop eating the last two days. I think it’s PMS. I want salty everything and food food food. I decided not to deprive myself but whatever I eat, it has to be semi-good for me. So I have that going for me but I’m way over on calories yesterday and now today (and it’s not even dinner yet). Tonight we are going to a fancy restaurant for my future father-in-law. I wanted to save a lot of calories so I can really enjoy it but that didn’t happen. I think I’m just going to say, “FUCK IT,” and enjoy it anyway.

So that’s all I have for you right now. I’m just trying to be honest with myself when things aren’t perfect. Nothing is. We just have to live with it and keep moving one foot in front of the other.

Love, Me

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It was super gorgeous out today for my lunchtime snowshoe. This has definitely turned into a habit because, despite a stressful workday, I still carved out some time for a workout. I have to say, making my fitness be centered around getting outside is having a really positive attitude during the day. Keep on keeping on.

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After work, I met up with a friend and we hiked Buffalo Mountain on snowshoes. It was relaxing and just what I needed after a stressful day. Here's the evidence!

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Evidence of lunchtime snowshoe. Work is crazy but I forced myself to get outside for 30 minutes of exercise. I think it helped.

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Proof of fitness. It is still full-on winter in Vermont so we did a stress-relieving snowshoe workout through woods and fields. The first steps are always the hardest so I'm all about getting back on track this week.

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I Fit Into My Wedding Dress and Other Random Updates

So I was in Buffalo all last week. On Wednesday I tried on my wedding dress and it pretty much fits. I need to lose another couple inches so it isn’t so tight but if I had to get married this week, I could do it! I’m so excited that buying a dress two sizes too small worked out. I am so glad I didn’t put it on and have it be way way too small on me still. I’m keeping it at my sister’s house and will try it on again May 1. That mean’s I have 40 days to make some more progress. 

During my drive to Buffalo, I stopped at an outlet mall because I didn’t have any good clothes to wear to work. I bought some adorable shirts and a pair of jeans. The pants probably won’t fit 10 pounds down from now but that’s ok. All of the shirts I bought will still look good on me as I lose more weight. I also bought a dress for my wedding shower! I decided to go a size too small since I’m pretty sure I’ll lose another dress size by May 3. If I don’t, then I can always buy another dress and wear it for the rehearsal dinner. I might do that anyway.

My plan for the week in Buffalo was for me to do yoga every day. I did it Sunday afternoon and then haven’t worked out since. I was a little disappointed in myself but being back there for a week makes me pack so many things that there just isn’t enough time to do everything I want - and my family is definitely my most important priority so I made some workout sacrifices.

On the food front, I did pretty good. I brought my oatmeal slop mixture with me and ate that for breakfast every day. I went grocery shopping last Sunday and bought fish, veggies, quinoa. I pretty much ate that for lunch most days except when I went out to lunch, and I ate it at dinners when I didn’t have plans. The other nights, I went over on calories here and there but nothing super out of control. I definitely wasn’t as strict as I would have liked to have been. But again, I made some sacrifices so that I could enjoy the company of others and not be extreme about things.

During my drive back to Vermont yesterday I was not prepared with food. I ended up eating some junk and even stopping at MCDONALD’S. I was pretty disgusted with myself by last night. 

With the lax workouts, lax eating, and horrible eating day yesterday, I was dreading standing on the scale this morning after a week away from it. BUT I LOST TWO POUNDS IN A WEEK! Yay. So I’m down another two pounds even with all of that. It just goes to show that I must have been totally out of control with my eating before this wedding diet started.

The good stuff I did last week - I tried to walk as much as possible even though I didn’t usually meet my step goal, I tracked calories on myfitnesspal last week week even though it was painful. 

My Plan for This Week  - Work out on my lunch break every day (most likely snowshoeing). - Try to get friends to go snowshoeing with me (since it is still full-on winter here with no sign of Spring).  - Use my Erg and elliptical in the evenings when I can. - Eat very clean to detox myself from the cheats I had last week and yesterday. - Aim to stay closer to my calorie goals. - Hit 10,000 steps per day. - Drink a shit ton of water (I didn’t do this enough last week). - Stay positive. - Take measurements sometime this week to check on progress. - Stay active on this blog to hold myself accountable.

[stopeatingcrap]

Today's evidence of snowshoeing.