Friday, August 30, 2013

Just going to take a little bit of discipline.

Boot camp Monopoly was a smashing success, as was happy hour for Jen.  I had to modify some of the exercises because of my back, the burpees and push ups.  Other than that I did feel some pain but was able to make it through class without issue.  My teammate this time was Allison and we did not win.  Not only was I taking it slow so as not to injure myself we were also sent to Jail 8 times, I blame Allison and her rolling of the dice.  So that was quite a few times that we did no pass go that we did not collect our $200 (1 point).  We did 6 complete laps and the winners did 12.  Yes, we got crushed this time.  Regardless it was a lot of fun.

Going to be yet again another tough weekend, I forgot it was a three day holiday weekend.  Tonight we are off to the National's game, goal for the evening enjoy a beer or three but avoid the pizza, there is just something about ball game pizza.  Mmm mmm good.  At some point I am sure we will meet up with some friend types for a few drinks or just to hang out, might be a good weekend to light up the grill and the fire pit again.  Been too long on that front.  Just need to make sure not to over do it on the drinking or eating.  To be make these right decisions is just going to take a little bit of discipline but I can do it even if I might not want to at the time.

As far as workouts I need to fit in a 6 miler and maybe a Saturday boot camp depending on how tonight goes.  Since I have had so many days off I think I really need to make it three for three with workouts and days off this weekend.  Yet again more discipline.  I also am not sure if Weight Watchers is open on Monday so I may shoot over at some point to weigh in, need to make sure I have dropped that ungodly 3.8 pounds from last weekend.

All in all I am beyond excited for a long weekend.  Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.


Thursday, August 29, 2013

Do yourself a favor and don't ever tear your rotator cuff!

The good news is, I'm not dying.  The bad news is that my spine is as crooked as a politician.  The diagnosis is simple.  Because of my multiple shoulder surgeries my right side is so much stronger than my left that the muscles on my right side are literally pulling my spine to the right, that is issue number one.  Essentially when I workout I am overcompensating for the weakness in left side by using more of my right.  I have known for years that I do this, simply because I am weaker due to all my shoulder issues.  Issue number two is again because of my surgery, my shoulder blades are no longer aligned with each other.  My right shoulder blade works normally but left does not, the muscles are not yet strong enough to make the blade move properly throwing my entire back off kilter.  Well the silver lining is that the doctor wants me to keep working out and he thinks he can fix me.  He said he needs me to keep working out to strengthen my left side.  So back to boot camp I go, pain and all.  He said to listen to my body and if something hurts too much then don't do it, he also does not want me doing anything that opens my back like chest press and chest fly.  So we will see how tonight goes.  I have another appointment on Friday to follow up and to assess my pain from tonight's workout.

I am glad to be back in class tonight, its Jen's last day and we are doing a little happy hour for her.  So sad she is leaving.  At this point we still do not know who will be taking her place as trainer.  All we can do is hope for the best!!  She will be missed by all that is a fact.

Hila's dad came over for dinner last night and we ordered Chinese.  It's difficult to be good when ordering Chinese especially since my favorite is General Tso (17 points a cup!!!).  I usually opt for steamed dumplings (2 pts each), egg drop soup (3 pts), and a side of either broccoli or green beans in garlic sauce (2 pts).  All very good especially from Tau Tau in Burke, possibly the best Chinese food place EVER.  My entire dinner last night was 18 points, silly me went to bed without dessert and had three points left over for the day.  Oh well, saved a few calories.


Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Can't wait to see what the doc says.

So I am off to the doctor this afternoon to see what is going on with my back.  This whole thing is definitely weird because right now I feel great, but I felt great on Monday as well until about 10 minutes into the workout.  I am really hoping that we can fix this right away.  Like I said yesterday I miss working out, I need it.  Especially since I have so much that I am training for with the 10 miler and the 25 mile bike ride.

Tomorrow is my trainer Jen's last day at our site and I heard whispers of us playing boot camp Monopoly again.  I would really really love to do that before she leaves, it really is such a fun way to work out.  Plus Linzi and I won last time we played, I want to keep the streak alive.  Regardless, health comes first.  Fingers crossed!!

My mom wanted me to post some more pictures of myself, you know how moms are.  I guess instead of me just rambling all the time.  So I was able to find these pics from the bike races I did a few weeks back.

More to report tomorrow once I see what the doc says!





Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Well yesterday was a complete disaster.

1.  Weigh in - Atrocious!  I gained badly.  I think the gain was worse because of our dinner Sunday night which was red wine and lamb and copious amounts of each.  I gained 3.8 pounds.  There is something not right about that one bit.  Maybe if the weigh in was tonight instead of the very next day after such a large heavy meal it might not have been so high but the scale does not lie.  I weigh almost 4 pounds more than my last weigh in.  That not only is a lot of weight on my body it also weighs heavy on my mind.  I need to stay focused and not lose track of what I am trying to accomplish here.  Gaining that much weight is ridiculous and not worth the food I ate at any point in time.  Get it in check Bobby!

2.  Boot camp - Disappointing.  Made it less than halfway through the first set before the back pain kicked in full force, so badly that I had to leave class early.  I am now at a week with this issue so it's time to call the doc.  I made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon so hopefully we can get this fixed sooner rather than later.  I am highly upset that I am not able to work out.  Maybe that had something to do with the weight gain as well.  I only burned about half the calories I normally would in a week.  Regardless I need to take care of my body, working out does no good if I cannot move and I definitely don't want to injure myself even more.  So here is to another few more days off from working out.

Without being able to workout all I can do is focus on eating well.  I don't think we have too much going on this weekend with eating out and social events so it should not be too bad.  Focus, focus, focus!!


Monday, August 26, 2013

A hectic couple of days.

Where to begin?  It has been an eventful few days for sure.  So I last posted about some back issues I was having, well my back bothered me all weekend but today it finally feels like its getting better.  It's not quite 100% but close enough to get back to working out again.  Three days off definitely helped.  Yesterday after a 4 hour drive home from the beach I immediately changed into running clothes and took off out the door for a quick 3 miler.  It was hard to do but I am beyond happy that I did so.  My back bothered me the entire time but I needed to do something after this weekend.  The run itself felt great, too bad my back was hurting because I could have kept on running.  Because of this back issue I have now missed my long run for the week which was supposed to be 6 miles.  Looks like tomorrow I will have to get that run in, I cannot miss the long runs, they are the most important.

We left for the beach first thing Saturday morning and came home yesterday afternoon, there was a lot of eating out and not a whole lot of watching what I ate, other than watching it go from the plate to my mouth.  I could have done better with the eating but at this point it is what it is and there is nothing I can do about it.  Saturday night we did get crab legs which is one of my favorite things to do.  I skip the butter and just dip the meat in a mixture of vinegar and old bay.  I also do my best to skip all the fried food they give you which is really just to fill you up so you eat less crabs.  I did reach a point where I made myself stop eating which I am very glad that I did.  I could sit and eat crabs for hours but I knew I was at a point where I was just unnecessarily forcing it in when I was already satisfied.


We will see how the weigh in goes tonight.  I missed last week so it should be twice as much weight loss as normal but its been a hectic two weeks with being out of town each weekend, having family stay with us and quite a bit of eating out.   I still feel pretty good about it.  

One thing I am excited about is getting back to a full week of boot camp.  I only went to class twice last week and I truly miss it.  It is so hard to get into a routine of working out but once you are there it actually becomes part of your life.  It becomes the norm.  Plus this week is the last week we have with our trainer Jen, she is moving so we have to make the best of the time we have left.  

Thursday, August 22, 2013

My first injury to contend with.

I am not sure what happened but somehow I have kinked my back or I have some kind of pinched nerve or something.  Sucks getting old.  I have no idea how I did it but it but it started a few days ago and got significantly worse in class yesterday morning.  I am going to play it by ear but there is a strong chance that I will need to take the night off from working out.  It is definitely not something I want to do by any means but I think that at this point it may be necessary.  I need to workout but I don't want to risk hurting myself more and having to take even more time off from class.  So I have to deal with this and hope that it gets better sooner rather than later.  Not really much else I can do.

We did make it to the Farmer's market yesterday.  I love the Farmers market.  Such beautiful fruit and vegetables.  OMG the tomatoes, pure heaven.  Picked up some zucchini and squash for the grandparents and a nice watermelon, not to mention the most fantastically large bunch of basil I have ever seen, and only $3!!!!



Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Workout for the day complete by 7 AM!!!

Thank you Burke CFC for hosting me this morning.  Great class even with the massive back spasm I had and am still having.  I never get to come to this class since its M, W, F from 6 AM to 7 AM, even though it is literally at the end of my street.  I always have to be at work at this time.  Well not today suckers!!!!  I am off, I cannot remember the last time I had a mid-week day off, its glorious.  And by 7 AM my workout is complete.  I love it.  I am off because we have family in town staying with us and I wanted to be able to spend sometime with them.   I am not sure what we are going to do today but a trip to the farmers market is definitely in the cards, need to stock up on some fresh fruits and veggies for the week.

It's been a few days so let me update the workouts this week.  Monday I got to class a bit early and ran 2 miles beforehand.  Yesterday I left work early, came straight home and squeezed in a little 3 miler just because I could (28 min so that's a 9:20 pace, finally getting a bit faster!).  Went to boot camp this morning and I will go to boot camp again tomorrow.  I have been using Friday's as my rest day and going to boot camp on Saturday mornings.  But this weekend we are off to the beach for the weekend so I might try to do something Friday since I really have no idea how or when I will be able to workout this weekend.  Even with all that I still need to run a 5 or 6 miler at some point.  It's really difficult to manage all these extra curricular activities and maintain a health lifestyle while training for the Army 10 miler.  Somehow I will find a way to make it work.

So I thought I would be able to post some of the pics of us running the Mud Factor but go figure you have to buy the pictures and they are $7 - $20 each.  Which is complete BS.  I would love to get a copy but I am definitely not paying more money for this race.  Oh well, can't win them all...

Monday, August 19, 2013

Most heinous buffoonery indeed.

For a few brief moments yesterday I lost the firm grip of reality that I have been holding to so well.  First part of the downfall were the Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles which were consumed in abundance followed by the homemade icing topped with lemon cake, yes the cake was simply the tool used for consumption of the icing.  I don't feel great about it but it happened and now it's time to move on.  It's been my first major slip up in weeks and it was bound to happen sooner or later.  I have a crazy busy week this week and will probably not be able to make it to Weight Watchers tonight for the weight in so I may not actually see the after effects of this buffoonery.  Regardless, it's time to get back on the horse and make it happen all over again.  I have family in town this week so it should be interesting with getting in workouts/runs since my schedule will be completely out of whack.  May have some early morning runs this week just to make sure I can fit everything in.  We will see how that goes, as I am not a huge fan of very early morning workouts.  For all of you "I don't have to work until 9 AM people" early morning means 5 AM.  I even have a hard time writing 5 AM much less getting up to go and workout at that time.

Alright so back to this weekend, Mud Factor.  This was not a great by any means.  As far as fitness level I felt great.  Felt like I could have run it twice.  There were different fitness level among us but we still ran as group because that's what friends do.  As for the rest of the race there was little to no mud (other than the last obstacle) and only 5 obstacles.  Five.  That is weak.  This was pretty much a trail run after a huge storm knocked over some trees.  I have read over the Facebook page for the race and people are pretty angry with the racing staff.  Now I am not one to berate someone on their Facebook page but I do feel the concern of some of the racers.  We bought this ticket as a Groupon deal for something like $25.  I would be a lot more upset if we had paid more than that.  Actually if you signed up the day of the race it was $100, that is just insane to charge that much for a trail run it the woods.  Either way our group had fun running together so that is all that really matters. I don't think we will be running this race again anytime soon though.  The after/muddy pic was taken by the race staff so once that picture is up I will add it to the blog.


They did hook us up with a bandanna and a medal although I am not sure how we cheated death exactly...


All other photos copied from event page on Facebook.
Last obstacle - low barbed wire crawl
Rope wall
Scaled wall
Barrel jump
Luckily we beat the line for the "showers"!!!!!

Friday, August 16, 2013

250 of each.

Today I am the most sore I have been in awhile.  An interesting workout last night in class.  Another challenge day but not so much a challenge against the others in class as it was a challenge against yourself.  We were told there were five exercises, push ups, sit ups, overhead claps, rows with a squat, and burpees.  You had the choice depending on your level of intensity/experience to do 100, 150 or 250 of each in any order you wanted.  I decided on the 250 and broke everything up into set of 25 or 50.  Ouch is all I can say.  Last time we did something like this I struggled the most with the sit ups, this time definitely the push ups and burpees.  There was a time in my life when I could not do 25 burpees in a row now I am expected to 10 sets of 25 in a row.  Crazy how things change.  I don't care who you are 250 push ups hurt, I even did them all on my knees.  There is no way possible, not at this point anyway that I could do 250 normal push ups, that's just crazy talk.  Our time limit was 50 minutes (the hour of class less warm up and stretching), I was only able to complete 220 of each of the exercises.  Props to those in class who were able to complete the entire set, well done indeed.  I am sure they are just as sore as I am today.

Another rest day, finally.  Six days in a row for four weeks now.  I am impressed with myself.  Mud race tomorrow, I will try to get some pictures but I am not sure if I will be able to do so.  Hopefully we can at least get a before and after pic.

Oh and one last thing...TGIF!!!!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Eating healthy means more than just counting calories.

For years I have tried all types of diets, all of which simply constrict some sort or type of food.  South beach is a bit complex but in a nut shell you cut out most carbs.  Atkins is similar, no carbs at all.  One issue I have with any diet, is that there is less emphasis on eating healthy than there is on not eating badly.  Of course sugar and candy and fatty foods are bad for you but so are processed cereals and granola bars and Lean Cuisines.  All processed with salt and sugar for flavor.  So yes while you can lose weight by eating a Lean Cuisine for dinner every night are you really putting the best food into your body?  In years past Weight Watchers used to assign a point value to fruits, for example a banana was two points.  Who would want to waste two points on a banana when they could have some chips or something else for the same point value, something they are really craving.  Well now they have changed things up a bit and all fruit is zero points.  Finally a push to eat better as opposed to just not eating badly.  I have never been a fruit eater, it was not in my house when I was growing up, we ate chips and nutty butty bars and other extremely delicious crap.  It has not been until recently, since I met my wife, that I have started eating more fruits.  Now I eat four to five servings of fruit a day.  I have tried to replace all daily snacks with fruits instead of processed foods.  Weekly we eat strawberries, bananas, cantaloupe, peaches, cherries and tomatoes (yes tomato is a fruit), just to name a few.  I have to say that the tomato has changed my life.  I liked tomatoes even when all we could get were the mealy ones from the grocery store.  Now, again thanks to my lovely wife and for her introducing me to the amazing farmers market, my love for tomatoes has grown exponentially.  There is not much better in the world than a perfectly ripe heirloom tomato.  When in season I eat a tomato just as a snack with salt and pepper, or on the side of my soup and sandwich for lunch.  The past two years, in addition to the farmers market we have started to grow our own tomatoes in our own garden.  What a treat this has been for the summer months.  Here is our most recent harvest, we pull about 10 tomatoes off the plants every few days.  I like to pull them a bit early and let them ripen in the house so the animals don't eat them.  I have also included a few pics of the plants themselves.  In addition to the tomatoes we also have a hot pepper plant and three dwarf basil plants.












































Not only do we eat the tomatoes as a snack we also make salads with the different colors and some basil.  Just add a little balsamic vinegar and you have a delicious zero point addition to your dinner.


We also buy as many fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmers market as we can eat in a week.  You may pay a bit more than buying from the grocery store but the quality and flavor do not even remotely compare.  Plus you are supporting local farmers and their families.  Below are some plums, nectarines, and peaches.  A minor assortment of what we keep stocked in the house.



Recently Hila found a recipe for Baked Eggplant Parmesan Boats with Sausage (white eggplant also purchased from the farmers market), the stuffing is sausage, crushed tomatoes, seasoning and cheese.  We have enjoyed this for dinner the past two nights.  Beyond amazing and only 6 points!


All this rambling is to make one simple point.  Eating healthy means more than just counting calories.  Add fruits and vegetables to your diet, make them a staple in your life and try eating less processed foods.  It is a difficult transition to make (believe me I know it has taken me years) but in the end you will be healthier and feel better about your decisions when it comes to eating food and living a healthy lifestyle.  Good luck!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

I am not a natural runner.

If I am being completely honest I do not enjoy running.  I do find that it is necessary in all aspects of fitness and athleticism, that does not mean I like it.  I have run one half marathon and something like 7 or 8 10 milers.  Yes I enjoy the feeling after a run and even sometimes have enjoyed the run itself but more often than not that is not the case.  I am not a natural runner, it does not come easy to me, I have to work at it constantly just to be a below average runner.  I struggled with the 5 mile run last night, a lot.  The minute I walked in the door afterwards I told Hila that I am not meant to be a runner.  Her response was "It takes time, and it's also hard since you are running at the hottest part of the day.  Wait until it's 60 degrees and you go for a morning run, its glorious!"  I am hoping she is right, it was hot and the run sucked yesterday but at least it's done.  I did my weekly long run last night since I won't be able to do it on Sunday because we have plans.  I also have to remind myself that I only started this training plan three weeks ago, that is not much time at all in the grand scheme of things.  It has to get better, it just has to.  I will keep to it and push through as best I can but sometimes it hard to keep your head up when each run seems harder than the last.  I know eventually it will get easier and maybe I am trying to run too long of distances right off the bat but I am definitely struggling.

Boot camp tonight and tomorrow, I will probably take Friday off since Saturday morning we have a 5K mud run in Maryland called Mud Factor.  It is not going to be anything crazy like a Tough Mudder but should still be fun.  I love doing all the obstacles, that is by far my favorite part.  And as far as the running goes its only 3.1 miles.  That I can do!


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The cheat day.

I don't want to confuse anyone and have people think that I condone eating badly because that is not the case, but something that I have found that works for me is a cheat night.  Not a cheat day or a cheat week but a cheat night.  I only pick a cheat night the night after a weigh in and usually only if I have actually lost weight.  It gives me the entire week to get back on track and helps me to stay focused.  What I have found is that by having one meal where I eat whatever I want takes away that burning desire to eat badly the rest of the week.  Now, I am not talking about mainlining straight butter, okay?  I am talking about just eating whatever it is you may be craving so that you don't end up on the wrong side of a late night chocolate chip cookie dough bender.  I think we have all been there once or twice.  For people like me, the average everyday over-eater, if we restrict our food intake too much we can end up craving something so badly that no matter what happens we seek out this food at all cost and end up feeling guilty because we strayed from the plan or ended up not losing weight because of it.  With a cheat night I find that I am able to satisfy that craving without going crazy.  There is one caveat, a cheat night only works if you have not already done so at another point during the week.  For me for example, the past two weeks I have been spot on with food.  I have eaten within my points all week and even had some of my weekly points left over come Monday night.  Because of this I felt comfortable with a cheat night after the weigh in.  Now the week of Hila's birthday where I ate something like 130 points in one meal, I would be better off skipping the cheat night, because 130 points in one day is probably worse than cheating on one meal.  Usually on a Monday night we will order out and eat Chinese, or something from Spartan's or just eat what we have at the house and have a nice bowl of ice cream (a Bobby to be exact).  If you are one of the unfortunate individuals who has never had a Bobby then let me tell you that you are missing out.  Vanilla ice cream, extra crunchy peanut butter, magic shell and topped with graham crackers crumbs.  Watch out Ben and Jerry, I don't have the patent on it yet but if I see it on your shelves I am coming for you.  This concoction has done wonders for people, its beyond good and to be enjoyed as often as possible, within reason of course.  Ok, back to the topic at hand, sorry peanut butter has a tendency to distract me...

So last night, as I thought was another successful weigh in, down 2.8 lbs. to a total of 213.8.  Since I stared this that is a total weight loss of 6.8 lbs.  It is because of this success and only this success that I feel like a cheat night helps me.  I am able to resist the pizza, cookies, cakes, etc. that are littered around my office each week simply because I know if I resist I can reward myself with exactly what I want and not feel guilty about eating something mediocre just because it is there.  This plan may not work for everyone but I have found that it works for me.  Try it out and let me know what you think.  Best of luck to you.  Dinner last night was some homemade (by Elyanah and Sarit) Israeli food and was beyond delicious.  Also added a glass of wine in there, ok two.

Monday, August 12, 2013

These weekend runs are starting to get the better of me.

Another weekend come and gone and another two workouts complete.  I have never worked out so much during the weekends in my life.  As hard as it is to get up at 7 AM on a Saturday to go to boot camp, by 9 AM its all worth it.  Yes its hard, very hard but already I am reaping the benefits.  I feel great, I have more energy throughout the rest of the day, and my clothes fit better than they have in a long time.  Now, unfortunately my weekend runs are not feeling like they should.  They have been extremely difficult, every time.  I am not sure if its dehydration or the fact that I am running at different times of the day than I am used to but I am struggling with these weekend runs.  Yesterday day I did 5 miles in 52 minutes, that is a 10:25 pace, my slowest run yet.  I need to be running faster than this.  Maybe I need to switch my long distance run to the weekdays.  For some reason I have much better runs during the week.  I can only assume it's because I am up and moving all day getting the blood flowing and being in general just less sedentary.  Of course I am out and about on the weekends but there is also quite a bit more relax time, reading or watching some TV at the house just not moving as much as I do while at work.  Who knows maybe its all in my head but there is definitely something that makes my weekend runs harder.  Maybe I should try a pace run every week, where I head to a track and try running a lap or two really fast followed by a lap at a light jog for a few miles.  I have never done this before but I have heard good things from others about how it helped increase their running pace.  I definitely need to do something because these weekend runs are starting to get the better of me.  Anyone else struggle with something this?

On Friday we were out late visiting with some friends in town and wanted to pick something up for dinner on the way home.  Of course we wanted to something good but also healthy.  We opted for Pho.  What a fantastic choice for a good, filling and healthy dinner.  And it's less than $10 a person!!  Without any of the sauces we count this as 13 points for the small including the summer roll.  Before I tried Pho for the first time I used this think how can a bowl of noodle soup fill me up?  I thought there was no way that broth and noodles would satisfy not only my craving for good food but also my hunger level.  I could not have been more wrong.  I don't even think I was able to finish the bowl the first time we tried it.  Now Pho has become a staple for us when we are looking to get dinner out.  We love it.  In the early stages of dating Hila we had Pho Tuesday's where we would try Pho in all the local restaurants in search of the best bowl.  I think it may be time to reinstate Pho Tuesday's, really I am just fishing for an excuse for a date night with a beautiful woman and wonderful food!


Friday, August 9, 2013

My favorite workout day of the week.

REST DAY!!!  Not going to lie, after the beating that Jen has bestowed on us this week I need it.  For the last three weeks I have worked out 6 out of the 7 days in the week.  Today I need a break.  I am sore, tired and just plain exhausted.  This week at work has been redonkulous, so busy, and boot camp has been a straight muscle massacre each day.  Yesterday was all cardio, 45 seconds on with 15 seconds rest of the hardest exercises I can think of.  Doesn't sound too bad until the third set of high knees when you would literally do anything to make it stop.  Today is important, I need to let my body rest, let my muscles release all the lactic acid I have built up over the week.  I am beyond excited to rest today, I really and truly need it.  One day off and right back on it tomorrow morning for boot camp with a 5 mile run on Sunday.


Thursday, August 8, 2013

Ahhhh the truly wonderful feeling of being sore.

Today I hurt.  I am so sore.  Monday was legs in boot camp, Tuesday I ran 4.5 miles, yesterday we did some more legs.  All of this added together equals one very sore Bobby.  I don't know why but I love the feeling of being sore, I mean don't get me wrong I don't like pain but the pain from being sore kind of solidifies all the hard work you have done.  Let me put it this way, I would rather be sore than not because that means I worked out harder than my body is used to.  The only way to get stronger, faster or better is by pushing beyond the limits of the last time you did so.  I feel that I have done that this week.  Especially yesterday, I definitely struggled in class.  I was up at 4:30 in the morning to come into work early, worked a 10.5 hour day and then went to boot camp.  I was very tired and was not really feeling the workout but I pushed through it and somehow I survived (there were a few times I was worried, trying doing 70 calf raises in a row and call me tomorrow and tell me how you feel).  Now today I feel great.  As hard as any workout has ever been, I have never once finished one and said to myself, "I wish I had not done that".  No matter how hard it was or how much I hated it at the time I was glad I did and even more glad that it was over :).

On Tuesday I tried to beat my time of 44:33 for the 4.5 mile run.  As I was getting closer to the end I started pushing the pace to sprint out the last two minutes or so and as I look down at my running watch I see flashing numbers stuck on 42:20 and the low battery sign flashing.  Much to my dismay the battery died and I have no idea if I actually beat my time.  The very first thought that came to mind was "Oh well, at least I tried" and I was reminded of a quote I heard awhile ago.  It was then I realized that I was not racing anyone but myself and if try hard and push as best I can no matter the outcome I will always be successful!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Now that's what I'm talking about!

It's days like today that make this incredibly hard weight loss journey all worth it.  Finally a victory on the on the scale.  Down 3.8 pounds!!!  Booyah.  (current weight 216.6 lbs)  That makes me very happy.  One reason so many people give up on weight loss is they don't see the results they are looking for or they don't see them quickly enough.  I would say on average an individual should be losing between .5 and 1 pound a week, tops.  Until last night for the past three weeks I have only been at a total weight loss of .2 lbs, that's nothing, especially not where I wanted to be while writing a weight loss/fitness blog.  But now, on average, I am losing more then a pound a week, I'll take it.  The only real difference this week compared to the others is that there was not a single night where I ate like a buffoon.  I tracked everything and even had some of my weekly points left over.  I am very proud this morning.  This little bit of success has given me even more motivation to push harder to achieve my first goals.

Tuesday means run day so no boot camp tonight and another trip to Burke Lake, hopefully a better run than Sunday, can't be much worse.  I will take the Tom Kalka approach tonight and possibly run in the rain, see what this rain running is all about.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Chocolate Smoothie.

Yesterday after my run I was beyond hungry but we were having family over for dinner so I needed to satisfy my hunger but not spoil my dinner.  Under the guidance of Hila the Brain Genius I decided on a chocolate smoothie.

Ingredients:
1 frozen ripe banana (I like using bananas that have started to brown a little, they are sweeter and usually the ones you don't want to eat anyway)
10 frozen strawberries
1 cup almond milk (1 point)
20 grams of chocolate protein powder (2 points)
10 grams of peanut flour (1 point)
Handful of baby spinach
3/4 cup of ice
Put in blender and hit frappe.


This is so good and quite filling.  I use a quart sized container for the smoothie itself, from Chinese delivery.  It works perfectly.  This entire smoothie is only 4 points and there are a lot of variables to make this more or less points.  For less points you can use water instead of almond milk or less protein powder or no peanut flour.  Or to add some points you can use actual peanut butter and/or more protein powder.  Sometimes I even and couple of tablespoons of Greek yogurt which adds a great tang to it.  I will tell you now that the actual peanut butter makes this smoothie amazing.  So filling and extremely flavorful.  I tend to us as much spinach as will fit in the blender because you cannot taste is at all and adds tons of nutrients.  This hit the spot yesterday.  It also helped with me not overeating at dinner itself.  I found that because I was not starving for dinner I just naturally ate a smaller amount of food, and was still completely satisfied.  This really hit the spot.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Why is running so hard?

DEAR ABBY,
Today I ran Burke Lake again with the intent to beat last week's time and I failed.  I not only ran slower I also had to walk, multiple times.  Why is running so hard?
Sincerely,
IN PAIN

DEAR IN PAIN, 
Running is actually not that hard.  Your issue is probably not the running it's more your mind telling your body to stop.  When an individual such as yourself is on a run there is a little white running angel on one shoulder and a little red lazy devil on the other.  The white angel is saying "you can do this" and "push harder" while that little red bastard is saying "time to walk donkey" or "you know how good it will feel to slow down".  Your issue is you listen to the red devil more than the white angel.  But don't fret, most people only listen to red and never pay any attention to white.  The important thing to realize in your situation is that you put yourself in an opportunity to even encounter the two little guys.  In order to encounter the mini-yous you had to at least go out and try to run.  Well done on that front.  Sometimes you will beat the red devil and sometimes he will beat you.  In short we in the "industry" like to call that...life.  This time you lost, no worries IN PAIN, next time you won't.  Even if you do lose at least you went out and tried and gave it your all and that is never a failure no matter how you look at it.  I have yet to meet someone who was able to present an argument against that logic.  Good luck next time!

ABBY 

Friday, August 2, 2013

A little friendly competition.

Boot camp last night was awesome.  Boot camp Monopoly.  The game is simple, 2 person teams and a huge set of dice.  One team member rolls the dice and you move about the board accordingly.  There were about 15 different stations each consisting of an different exercise.  Stations were something like lunges, push ups, jump rope, running ladder, squats, and even Jail (which was burpees).  So essentially the idea is to get the most amount of laps during class, which was passing go and collecting $200 without going to jail.  The best part was there was a prize for the winning team which was a free beer at happy hour.  This was beyond fun.  It was absolutely a great workout while not feeling like one.  Since there was the competitive aspect team Bresler-DeLong was on a mission from the word go.  We completed 10 laps which was one more than the next team so free beer for us, sorry ladies...

Boot camp is definitely competitive, well it is for me anyway.  I always want to win, I always want to be first on a run or a sprint or anything really.  Sometimes I win sometimes I don't but rest assured I am trying my hardest.  A little friendly competition gets you to try harder, maybe push you to run a little bit faster trying to catch someone or if someone is trying to catch you.  When I first started boot camp three years ago it was me and 10 girls.  Let me tell you there is not much worse than being in a class with 10 girls and getting your butt handed to you daily in a workout.  All of them were faster, stronger and smelled better than me.  But after a few months I pushed and pushed and before you knew it I was no longer the last person on a run, I was no longer the last person up the stairs.  It was not easy for me, I've always been competitive and, sorry ladies, but losing to a girl is hard on the ego, really hard.  But because of this I wanted to be better, I wanted to try harder, so I did and I will continue to.  So if you see me ahead of you on a run or hear me coming up behind you, yes I am trying to beat you.  If you think you can beat me by all means I urge you to try, it will only push me to try harder as well.  

I only had the one beer at happy hour last night for 5 points then went out to dinner for Pho for 18 points.  I did got over by two points yesterday but no worries the beer was worth it, and it was free!!

Not the best picture in the world but the best one of the three group shots taken.  Liz, Cassie, Janice, Rachel, Linzi, Virginia, (sorry don't know two names), Jen, Allison, Mo and Diane.



Thursday, August 1, 2013

You will be missed Jen.

Boot camp and run complete.  Thanks Linzi for running with me and pushing through a foot cramp, you definitely made the run easier.  Nothing like running with a buddy.  Runs are hard but a little conversation with a friend makes it just a little bit easier.  Back to class again today and then a boot camp happy hour after class.  I will absolutely be enjoying a cold beer after class today, all I need to do is count it (4-5 points depending on what I get).  I will skip dinner out and save the points for a healthy dinner at home.  It's tough to eat low points at a Mexican restaurant, it can be done but this time I think I am just going to skip it.  We have dinner plans tomorrow anyway and will be ordering out and drinking wine so better to save my points and enjoy tomorrow more.  If the rain holds out we may even light up the fire pit!!



We received some sad news yesterday that my boot camp trainer Jen will be moving and leaving our site in the next few weeks.  This is highly upsetting.  I am very comfortable with Jen and she is one of the best trainers I have ever worked out with.  Of course I wish her the best but it's tough because there is a strong chance that the next trainer will not be nearly as good.  I enjoy her encouragement and how she pushes us just a bit harder.  As I told her yesterday we will just have to enjoy the time we have left.  You will be missed Jen.

This has been a good week so far and I just need to keep my focus, push through the weekend and I should have a pretty successful weigh in Monday night.