Be careful - don't break your own heart!

So I'm finally getting round to what this blog was meant to be about; running.

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, jogging. ;-)

After being sick last week, and losing a bit of weight in the process, I've started jogging this past weekend.  Nothing major, just a half hour walk/jog in the early morning whilst the sun was out and not many people around to see me. I really enjoyed it actually.  

The only thing that concerned me was my heart rate. They say that your maximum heart rate is 220 - your age, so for me my maximum heart rate is 189bpm, but my heart rate monitor was telling me that I was getting up to 99% of my heart rate quite a lot, and you're not meant to go above 90%.  

I wasn't even jogging fast or anything! Man, I am out of shape. It'll come down as I get better with my cardio and fitness, but it did make me think of how often I strain myself without even thinking about it, it's kinda scary. I don't want a heart attack before I'm 50! (or at all, if possible, kthnx)

But, good points this week: 
- I have a new heart rate monitor and I love it! I have the Polar FT7.  
- I actually went out jogging and didn't die
- I went out jogging twice!
- I gained weight this week (well, I *am* and athlete now! LOL.) but I did lose some inches which is awesome!
- I'm feeling chirpy, which always helps in whatever situation
- I can now fit into size UK16 trousers! And one recent top purchase was a (albeit stretchy) UK14!
- I won £5 on the Euromillions lottery, LMAO. Gotta start somewhere, right?

What are your good points for the week?

P.S... an off-topic post about the Supernatural weekend will be coming soon with some photos and side-by-side pics from last year and this year. It's quite the eye-opener (or at least it was for me!)

Sickety sick

Bleh. 
I hate being sick. Especially when I have 2 days to get better before I go to a Supernatural convention (it's a TV show - check it out!).

The only good thing about being sick is that's really the only time I lose a decent amount of weight. 5lbs so far this week. Woah.

It all started with a migraine on Saturday evening, and since then I've gone downhill. Fuzzy head, stuffy nose, swollen glands, piercing ears, scratchy throat (I'm talking like the late Barry White here, not sexy on a woman lol) and I've lost all will to eat. The last time I ate was 5.15am yesterday (it's now 9am today) and that was just a little pot of Activia fat free yoghurt.

No one likes it when they're sick, but if we can lose a bit of weight do we let it slide? On the upside, I'm back in one-derland! WOOHOO! :D

Be healthy, loves.  <3

x

Don't be a slave to the scale!

The scale is a liar.

It will tell you that you're a failure the second it gets a chance.

But you're smarter than that. You know you can always beat the scale.  Even when you've had a hard time keeping to your calorie goal, you can still beat the damn scale.

Take measurements. Yeah, the scale will never suspect that.
Take measurements and log them like you do with your weigh ins. 

I may be showing a pound and a half gain since the start of the year (boo, hiss) but if you check my weigh ins page you can see I've logged two sets of measurements.

I may have started the year lighter than I am now, but since I started the gym at the beginning of the month I have lost an inch under my bust, a quarter inch on my waist and half an inch round my ever-determined-to-stick-out-like-Princess-Leia's-hair-buns-hips.  I can't believe it!

The scale lied to me. 
It told me I was failing on my journey.
Well, if it was wearing pants they'd be on fire.

Though I may not be losing the fat like I'd hoped, I'm showing myself that I am improving on my shape even now. My work trousers are still tight but they're a size smaller than they were a couple of weeks ago! My gym programme incorporates resistance training along with cardio which is helping me tone up - even slightly (I've only been a couple of handfuls of times) and when I put my mind to it I am going to show that scale - and the world - what I'm made of.

When you're feeling down about not getting a certain number on the scales, I hope you remember this post - and I hope you take your own measurements to back you up. You CAN do this, sometimes the world is slow to pick up ;) 

Want to tone up? Start lifting!
Ladies, you won't get all bulky like Mr Universe - regular lifting improves muscle definition (and building more muscle helps burn fat faster) - you only 'bulk up' when eating at a massive surplus and taking 'supplements'... if you catch my drift.  Seriously, resistance training and lifting will get you into a smaller size before you can say "Hey, these trousers need a belt."

I may not be there yet - but I'm closer than I was yesterday!

Finally waking up

Having the sun finally make an appearance has had a dramatic effect on me. I feel like I'm actually 'waking up'. It sounds crazy, but after the winter and supposed 'spring' we've been having, being able to feel the sun on my skin feels amazing. Scotland may be green and pretty, but only because it rains so much lol.

Can you believe I was so early for the gym this morning it wasn't even open yet? LOL! I was like a proper little gym bunny standing outside with a few other people waiting for the doors to open. And the London Marathon was warming up on the TV screens so I thought I'd have a go on the treadmill (it's not on my usual programme). 

Man I'm sore now BUT I walk/jogged for 35mins and made it 3.46km by intervals of walking 2mins at 6km/h, jogging 1min at 7km/h at a 1% incline and even jogged for a full 3 mins at the end at 7.5km/h! 

I'm so fracking proud of myself! 

And there was a guy in there who was checking me out (LOLz, I think he was actually just looking for attention) - he started doing pull ups every now and again on the TRX machine inbetween the other weights bench while I was running. He went back over when I changed to the TRX but only left just as I made a point of looking over at him to save him from having to come back over, because his arms must have started to hurt by then. HA! I almost LOLed right there on the mat but I held it together. 

Also, there were two people on treadmills behind me and when I heard them talking I had a teeeeeeenie voice in my head whispering not to do it, but I only slightly hesitated to start jogging, I still did it! That's actually almost as big an achievement than the walk/jog itself. I love this gym.

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in forever... part of me got lazy... part of me was in some kind of dragged-out winter rut. But if you've seen the weigh-ins page I have still been logging weight for the better or worse! But let's hope this weather holds out til I can become obsessed with running!  Fingers crossed my back decides to play ball!
 
I 'only' have 6 months until the Backstreet Boys cruise, I need to get my shit together!  60lbs to go!  GAME ON.

ONEderland!

I can't believe the time is here already - I'm in ONEderland!

Over at myfitnesspal.com it's a phrase that sums up when someone passes the milestone of 200lbs and get to have a '1' at the start of their weight number.  It's a cute play on words that for a long time I didn't think I'd get to use.

But now I can!

Last weigh in came up as 199.4lbs and I was over the moon! Given that I haven't been eating the best or done as much exercise as I could have (should have), I was most surprised to see that number.  I think I stared at it for a full two minutes! What a great pick-me-up before work on a dreary Tuesday morning. 
Of course I've done a sneaky mid-week weigh in and the number is down again (yay!) so let's hope I don't sabotage myself and can get a good edit on the weigh in page next week :)

Considering TOM came a week early, I'm so surprised I lost a pound. I always gain or at least stay the same, I don't think I've ever lost anything this time of the month - I mean, surely it's not possible?! Hey, I'll take it! ;-)  I put it down to extra protein; I've had fish, meat, eggs and cheese this week and it's obviously helping. 

Do you know what? It's ONEderful! :D

Honesty is the best policy

I've got to be honest.
In the past when things have gotten hard usually I would just quit.
But this time it has to be different, or I'll just stay the same. (wow, that's deep.)

Logging my weight on this blog is hard - last week it took me 3 days to update the post because I was so ashamed of the number.  But it's going to keep me honest.  I wrote in an earlier post about using this blog to keep me accountable no matter what the scale says, and this week it's especially true - and real - as yet again there is a gain on the scales.

I'm upset about it, sure, time of the month is always rough, but I left it a day before logging so I could have a sneaky weigh this morning and sure enough it's gone down again.  So while logging another gain is really denting my confidence (and ego!), I'm not going to let it get to me too much because I know if I can continue to eat well this week and get some exercise in, the number on next week's log will be green.

And that's really what it's all about - knowing your goal, knowing your plan, and knowing your weaknesses.

That's my mini-epiphany this week, have you had one lately or had a reminder of what your end goal is?

Be healthy. x

*sigh* Being a woman is HARD.

Especially when it comes to losing weight.
I mean, men have it so easy - they drop weight faster, they can do heavier workouts, and they don't have to contend with monster hormones that make you want to eat the whole world.

Ladies, you know what I mean.

So this week I gained 2lbs... I almost didn't log it because I was so ashamed.  My grand total so far is a positive number, not a negative! This is NOT the way to lose 60lbs (well, 63.4 now but let's not get picky).

But in my defence there's not really a lot you can do when TOM (time of month) comes to visit.  I weighed on Tuesday, which was just before it started, so I guess I should be grateful it wasn't more - I've been known to gain 8lbs during TOM - but I've been too scared to do a sneaky mid-week weigh in like I usually do, because I've done nothing but eat this whole week and if I saw another gain I may shoot myself wth pretzel sticks. 

Mmmm... pretzel sticks.

Wait, focus.

I need to up my water intake to help with bloating and water weight, and up my protein to help with cravings/not eating so damn much/lessening the cramp pain.  Yes, protein does all that! At least it does for me.  Eggs and bacon for lunch I think (dry-fried, without oil) and a vegetable smoothie because I've been wasting good food in favour of crappy snacks.

To the exercise bike! :)

What do you do to keep your motivation going when you have TOM visiting? Do you just give up for a few days, knowing you'll get back to it soon?

The first (pound) of many...

Well, that's the hope anyway!

So over Christmas I gained around 2.4lbs.  Today I weighed in and I'd lost 1lb :D
Happy days.
Having not done as much exercise as usual I'm quite surprised but I'll take it!  

Over Christmas I was doing a lot of walking, even though afterwards my hip was in a lot of pain and the nerve going down my leg pinched a lot.  I didn't go walking one day and noticed that I felt better, so it told me that my measly attempt at exercise was still too much for my injury.  So... I've been a bit lazy lately.  I should feel guilty but hey I'm getting better, that's all I'm fussed about.

I went back to work yesterday - just for half my hours as I'm on what we call a 'step up plan' to ease me back into things.  I was so scared in the morning before going in, I was shaking my hands to calm myself down.  It felt so strange to be back there after 12 weeks away!  Now it almost feels like I was never away, I'm almost bored LOL.  It was good to see my teammates again (I'd started to talk to myself!) and they seemed pretty happy to have me back so it was quite nice.

Focus now is to keep up with the walking (though for less than the 30 minutes I was doing... may test a theory that I could do it if it was spaced out) and continue to use my exercise bike at home.  I'd like to get back to the gym soon but it's about a 10 minute walk from the bus stop so right now I'm getting my workout before I even set foot in the place - that's out for at least a month I'd say.

But when I'm back you'll be the first to know! :D

How are your New Year's Resolutions coming along?

2013: New Year - New Life!

13 - unlucky for some!  But not for me. 
Not this year.
Not ever.

I weighed in this morning and I've put on a couple of pounds over Christmas, but honestly, it's not that bad.
After getting down on myself a little when I saw the scale, I realised that it's not as much as it could have been - don't sweat it!

At Christmas I didn't stuff myself with food like usual, I ate a decent sized lunch and then had some Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce later in the evening, and it was just nice. I didn't feel bloated or anything.  But maybe the extra pigs in blankets weren't a good idea; bacon = sodium = short term weight gain!

Still, I went on my exercise bike today for 20 minutes at the highest level I've gotten to in a few months so that was good! I'm getting stronger every day and if it's the last thing I do this weight is coming OFF! I'm getting far too annoyed with it interfering with my life, it's gotta GO!

I do hope you had a great Christmas, and celebrated New Year with gusto - hopefully the hangovers aren't too bad ;)