One of my 12 goals for the year was to go paleo, to attempt to eat like a cavewoman. So, how's that working out? Very well, thanks for asking! I have been living a primarily starch-free, dairy-free, legume-free life for over two months and I feel terrific. I also recently gave up soda for the lenten season which means I've cut out artificial sweeteners almost entirely as well. Since the New Year I have lost 13 pounds, my clothes are fitting better and I'm no longer getting the crazy sugar highs and lows.
One of the biggest comments I get from those around me is "so, what do you eat?" Well, a typical day of food starts with a frozen strawberry, pineapple and coconut milk smoothie. Today I put some orange flavored fish oil in it which sounds disgusting but it really has no flavor at all, high quality fish oil is expensive but it doesn't give you the nasty fish burps. For lunch I have a few hard boiled eggs, carrots and celery, an apple with some almond butter, an orange or other fruit and maybe some cashews or a Lara bar. I usually spread my lunch items out over the course of a few hours. For dinner I have a little more variety, last night we had salad with meatloaf. Sometimes we have chicken breasts cooked in bacon grease or perhaps an omelet with veggies and bacon or sausage. All of our food is organic and our meat and eggs are grass-fed and/or free-range. I drink a lot of water and unsweetened iced tea throughout my day and a lot of times I end my day with some dried fruit for a bit of sweetness. So, basically, I eat normal foods that most people eat but I leave out the extra filler.
Some interesting things that I've made recently have been some banana muffins (using almond flour and super sweet bananas), strawberry coconut ice cream, and almond chocolate chip "cookies." It's been fun experimenting with my food again.
I'll be honest, I have eaten some non-paleo foods in the last 2 months including ice cream (my biggest weakness), pizza, and a McD's burger and I do notice a difference. When I eat sugary, dairy laden, gluten-filled foods I feel sick and yucky so I try not to eat them.
In addition to eating a different way I've also been trying to get enough sleep. There is no such things as going to bed too early. I'd like to get to a point where I can go to sleep and wake up naturally with no alarm. I managed to do it last night by going to bed around 9:30 and waking up just before 7 this morning. That's a lot of sleep but I must have needed it :)
My next step is to work on the work outs. I've been "training" for my marathon and so my focus has been running and cardio. My next fitness goal is going to be to do a real push up, on my toes and not my knees. I'd also like to do a pull-up some day. I'll still run but I'm going to focus on shorter distances like 5k's and only one half marathon this year.
Life is good!
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Friday, March 2, 2012
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Ack! Somehow the month of September just snuck by and I didn't even notice. I can't believe that I haven't posted a blog entry in over a month. That is very unlike me. I guess I should get started with a recap of what's been going on.
First, I started the new job and I love it. I work about 25 hours a week and come and go as I please. My office is very quiet without any interruptions during the day. I sit and do data entry and send out mailings. It's pretty chill and my boss has been very supportive of my dissertation writing which is awesome. One of my "to do" items for work is to read and summarize a book about performance nutrition so that we can include it in the student handbook for the cross country and track teams. I'm hoping to get some good information from the book.
Second, the dissertation. Well, it's going and, surprisingly, it's going well. I spent a week in Indiana working on it and met with my major professor and he had some good feedback for me. I think this next round of revisions may be the last that I need for chapters one and two. My goal is to defend by December 1st so that I can graduate and apply for...
Third, a job as a visiting professor of sociology!!! The job is for 3 semesters and I would get to teach for real! I'm putting in my application materials tomorrow and praying that they'll choose me to fill the position. It would start in January and it would be awesome to have the extra income and security even if the job is only temporary. I miss being in the classroom and hope to be back there soon.
Fourth, my weight is holding steady around 207 right now. Not much change in the last month. I'm thankful that I've been able to maintain without really thinking about it but I'm ready to get back to work and keep tracking and checking in weekly on my progress. I've got my husband on my side and he is wanting to lose about 15 pounds and run a 5k so it will be nice to have his support. I've made my meal plan for the week and stocked up last night at the grocery store. We should be good to go! I'll let you know next week how my progress is going.
Okay, I think that's all for now. I'm going to finish my lunch and get some more students entered into the database and then head to the eye doctor for some new contacts. I've been wearing glasses for the last 2 months and can't wait for contacts again!!!
First, I started the new job and I love it. I work about 25 hours a week and come and go as I please. My office is very quiet without any interruptions during the day. I sit and do data entry and send out mailings. It's pretty chill and my boss has been very supportive of my dissertation writing which is awesome. One of my "to do" items for work is to read and summarize a book about performance nutrition so that we can include it in the student handbook for the cross country and track teams. I'm hoping to get some good information from the book.
Second, the dissertation. Well, it's going and, surprisingly, it's going well. I spent a week in Indiana working on it and met with my major professor and he had some good feedback for me. I think this next round of revisions may be the last that I need for chapters one and two. My goal is to defend by December 1st so that I can graduate and apply for...
Third, a job as a visiting professor of sociology!!! The job is for 3 semesters and I would get to teach for real! I'm putting in my application materials tomorrow and praying that they'll choose me to fill the position. It would start in January and it would be awesome to have the extra income and security even if the job is only temporary. I miss being in the classroom and hope to be back there soon.
Fourth, my weight is holding steady around 207 right now. Not much change in the last month. I'm thankful that I've been able to maintain without really thinking about it but I'm ready to get back to work and keep tracking and checking in weekly on my progress. I've got my husband on my side and he is wanting to lose about 15 pounds and run a 5k so it will be nice to have his support. I've made my meal plan for the week and stocked up last night at the grocery store. We should be good to go! I'll let you know next week how my progress is going.
Okay, I think that's all for now. I'm going to finish my lunch and get some more students entered into the database and then head to the eye doctor for some new contacts. I've been wearing glasses for the last 2 months and can't wait for contacts again!!!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
What a day! Today, after church, my husband and I decided to go for a walk along the trails near our house. There are signs everywhere with "rattlesnake alert" and be careful but we had yet to actually see one. Well, today was our lucky day because we saw two rattlesnakes on our 90 minute walk! The first one my husband saw first and I freaked out, started crying and ran down the path the other way. We decided to keep going though and went up a different path. Near the end of the loop I saw the second snake, right in the middle of the path and quite big with a long rattle on the end of it's tale. This time I wasn't quite so freaked out but we decided we were done for the day and finished our loop and came home even though we had set out to do 2 hours of hiking. I will not be running/walking on the trails alone, that's for sure!
So far it's been a great week and I've not gone off the rails or anything even remotely close. In the last week I had one day where I was over by a hundred calories or so because we went to a friends for dinner and ate tacos with guacamole that was to die for. The frustrating thing is that I haven't lost any weight yet. I have 3 days until the weekly weigh-in but I still step on the scale in the morning just to see where I'm at. For three weeks I was seeing numbers that pretty well reflected my calorie intake but this week I had a 2 pound gain in one day and I only ate 1350 calories!! I'm trying to drink more water because I have been slacking a little there and hopefully that will help. I really want to be down to 200 by my birthday and I want to pull out the box of cute summery clothes soon! Preferably before Summer is over ;)
That's the update for now, I'll be back with more later!
So far it's been a great week and I've not gone off the rails or anything even remotely close. In the last week I had one day where I was over by a hundred calories or so because we went to a friends for dinner and ate tacos with guacamole that was to die for. The frustrating thing is that I haven't lost any weight yet. I have 3 days until the weekly weigh-in but I still step on the scale in the morning just to see where I'm at. For three weeks I was seeing numbers that pretty well reflected my calorie intake but this week I had a 2 pound gain in one day and I only ate 1350 calories!! I'm trying to drink more water because I have been slacking a little there and hopefully that will help. I really want to be down to 200 by my birthday and I want to pull out the box of cute summery clothes soon! Preferably before Summer is over ;)
That's the update for now, I'll be back with more later!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
I finally kicked my butt into gear and worked out today. I decided to join the sweatsuit to swimsuit challenge because it seems pretty simple and I can do it all in the privacy of my own home :) Today I weighed in at 207 pounds and I'd like to lose 10 pounds by July 20th when I go to Vegas for a friends wedding. I'm going to do the videos and run for my cardio since I'm still training for a half-marathon. I'm going to stay on the low end of my calorie range and I know that I can do it!
By the end of the Summer I want to be at 185 and on my way to a sexy bikini body by next Summer, because, well, I'm realistic and know that I didn't start in time to wear a bikini this summer so I'll stick with my cute one piece for now.
By the end of the Summer I want to be at 185 and on my way to a sexy bikini body by next Summer, because, well, I'm realistic and know that I didn't start in time to wear a bikini this summer so I'll stick with my cute one piece for now.
Monday, April 27, 2009
So, I did really well last week and was having a great day (eating wise) on Saturday until I got to my friends party. They had found out the sex of their baby and so they wanted to have a party to let us all know. Well, it's a girl and so they had breakfast for dinner. For some reason it just wasn't that satisfying and I kept going back for more until I had consumed several thousand calories! On the good side I had a lot of fun and I got a lot of exercise in on Saturday walking to the park and playing frisbee with my husband and then flying kites with my nephews and dad.
Sunday after church the In-N-Out Burger truck came and served free cheeseburgers and chips. There was other potluck fare as well but I didn't go near those tables and so I felt like I had done well considering the event and then I got home and again had the munchies all evening. Again, I did get some exercise in. We went to the pool and swam for awhile and I did some laps so that made me feel good about the day, and I had fun which is the most important thing.
This morning I'm starting with chores and work and then plan to swim or bike this afternoon depending on the weather. My knee is really bothering me and I looked up some stuff at runnersworld.com and it looks like I need to ice, stretch and take a break from running for a few weeks while I heal. I'll be biking, swimming and working to strengthen the muscles that support my knee this week and hopefully it will be good as new soon. I'm sure that the added weight is not helping my knee out at all, when I ran the half marathon last year I was 30 pounds lighter!
Sunday after church the In-N-Out Burger truck came and served free cheeseburgers and chips. There was other potluck fare as well but I didn't go near those tables and so I felt like I had done well considering the event and then I got home and again had the munchies all evening. Again, I did get some exercise in. We went to the pool and swam for awhile and I did some laps so that made me feel good about the day, and I had fun which is the most important thing.
This morning I'm starting with chores and work and then plan to swim or bike this afternoon depending on the weather. My knee is really bothering me and I looked up some stuff at runnersworld.com and it looks like I need to ice, stretch and take a break from running for a few weeks while I heal. I'll be biking, swimming and working to strengthen the muscles that support my knee this week and hopefully it will be good as new soon. I'm sure that the added weight is not helping my knee out at all, when I ran the half marathon last year I was 30 pounds lighter!
Monday, April 20, 2009
It's already 80 degrees and it's supposed to get to 97 but this afternoon! I'm thinking it might be the perfect day to use the pool. I haven't been swimming since last summer. Hopefully I'll feel good enough to go. I've been battling a horrible cough and head cold and am feeling a little better although I still sound like an 80 year old chain smoker when I talk.
Anyway, thanks for all of the positive comments over the last couple of weeks, I went through and reread them and realize what a great community this is. I'm so glad that Sparkpeople exists and is free for everyone! Yesterday I stayed in my calorie range without any problem and I drank a ton of water. Today I'm also off to a good start and plan to keep it that way. I was reading an article about dressing for success and showing off the features that you like about yourself and I got to thinking...what part of my body do I love as is? The answer - my collarbones and my back. I should really always wear v-neck or scoop neck tops because I have decent bone structure and it draws attention away from my not so nice saddlebags. I also like my back, I'm 210 pounds and yet my back still looks pretty good, apparently my weight just likes to go to my hips, butt and thighs. It makes me feel really good to know that I look gorgeous as I am and while I want to lose the weight and be healthy and not have sore knees, I'm a hottie!
Anyway, thanks for all of the positive comments over the last couple of weeks, I went through and reread them and realize what a great community this is. I'm so glad that Sparkpeople exists and is free for everyone! Yesterday I stayed in my calorie range without any problem and I drank a ton of water. Today I'm also off to a good start and plan to keep it that way. I was reading an article about dressing for success and showing off the features that you like about yourself and I got to thinking...what part of my body do I love as is? The answer - my collarbones and my back. I should really always wear v-neck or scoop neck tops because I have decent bone structure and it draws attention away from my not so nice saddlebags. I also like my back, I'm 210 pounds and yet my back still looks pretty good, apparently my weight just likes to go to my hips, butt and thighs. It makes me feel really good to know that I look gorgeous as I am and while I want to lose the weight and be healthy and not have sore knees, I'm a hottie!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)