Organize

I had a great 5 mile run this morning with a group of great ladies!  I wish I took a picture today but by the time I thought of it I was already in my car to head home.  The plan was to run outside but we had some snow last night and there was lots of ice and slush on the paths we would be running so we opted to play it safe.  We ran on an indoor track instead.  There were run/walkers at all levels from beginners to intermediate.  There were two options for people: a 5 mile option and a 3 mile option.  Those who chose the 3 mile option surpassed that and did 4.5miles!  Way to go!  Exercising in a group made the time go by so fast.  You get a chance to have some adult conversation while passing the time.  At the end of five miles (86 laps) people were saying: "That's it?".  I know I felt like I could have kept running which is a great thing (to push myself and to celebrate I sprinted the last two laps)! At the end of the run it was high fives for everyone and some ab work from Kristi who just happened to be an aerobics instructor many years ago (my abs are feeling it now :-).

If you are interested in exercise but are having a hard time staying accountable I encourage you to join a group or organize one.  You could ask around your neighborhood, at a pta meeting, church, at work, or post something at your local gym.  I must say this morning I wasn't loving the idea of running 5 miles but the fact that people were expecting me to go I had to show up! 

A great resource to map a route for running, walking, biking etc...:  www.mapmyrun.com

Keep moving one step at a time. One day at a time.  No matter what.

What's for dinner?

I made it to my Yoga class today and I was very much looking forward to it.  I missed class last week because my son K wasn't feeling well and the timing of everything didn't work out.

Crow

Before class started I asked my friend and yoga instructor Nancy to take a picture of me in crow pose.  I love that pose and wanted to get an up to date picture of me doing the pose.  I remember the very first time I did that pose towards the end of last year. I was so amazed and excited to be able to do it and I've been hooked on yoga since then.

In general I feel so relaxed in class.  At times it is challenging but I love it.  Today we did a pose called wheel and it was a challenge for me today.  My arms and legs felt a little tired but that's OK.  A few weeks back I was able to do this pose but today my muscles were a little fatigued.  I still had fun none the less. 

I must say my favorite part of the class is the cool down period or savasanah (corpse pose) and the focus on breathing. I get to rest and soak in the quiet of the room (that is unless someone like myself accidentally knocks over the empty water bottle on the floor next to me .  - Bam! - breaks the silence.  All I could do was say oops and smile :-) - after everyone jumped an inch off their mat of course  :-).

In general when I leave class I feel like I've been on a mini retreat of sorts and then it's back to reality.  After class today I did a bunch of errands (all of which I didn't get to complete unfortunately but there's tomorrow).  One of the errands was to go to the grocery store.  I asked my son K~ what he wanted for supper and he said macaroni and cheese and some sardines.  I was like - OK? - if that's what you want.

Well to get to the point he ate the entire can.  To be a good sport I ate one.  I closed my eyes before I put it in my mouth and didn't think about the fact I was eating a baby fish with skin and a tail.  Oddly enough I ate them as a kid until I thought about what they really are.  My dad loved them so I guess that's how I was introduced to them.  Well then how did my son K~ get the idea to try them (you might be thinking)?  It was the movie  Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.  If you haven't seen the movie yet it's a good one to see with or without kids.

Now I'm off to bed I have a five mile run in the morning that will be inside due to poor weather.

Cheers!

Heart Palpitations (Part 2)

I called my primary care Dr. today and wasn't able to see her but I was able to get an appt with the P.A.(Physician's Assistant). 

My appointment started out with stepping on the scale.  I know every time I go to the Drs. and they ask me to step on the scale I cringe inside.  I hesitated and was trying to decide: "do I take my shoes off?".  I then think of all the other times I step on the scale and then I said to myself: "of course!".  When I stepped on the scale I could see that it was preset to start at 150 or 155lbs.   After I stepped on the scale I had the impulse to adjust it myself and then I decided to put my hand down and let her do it.  I wanted to see what her reaction would be.  The first thing she said:  "you've lost some weight since you were here last".  The last time I was at the Drs. I weighed 170lbs ( I was 26lbs heavier at my last appt).

After my weigh in we went into the exam room and she looked at my file and exclaimed: "WOW you really lost allot of weight in the past year!"
She then took my blood pressure, checked my breathing, listened to my heart, checked my blood oxygination (I think that's what it's called), and I had an EKG.

After all was said and done my blood pressure is excellent, my resting heart rate is low (due to exercise).  My blood work from my last appt was great so no need to revisit that.. and my EKG was perfect and matched up with the the one I had at my last appt. (a baseline EKG was done at my last checkup).
She told me to keep track of my symptoms and every time it arises I need to take a deep breath and count to 10 :-).  If I still have the symptoms after a week they want me to call back to schedule an appt.  The next step is to wear some sort of band/monitor for a week to monitor my heart.

Hope this just goes away and its only stress.  I took a nap today during M's nap and that seemed to help me feel a little bit more relaxed.  I'm going to get a fire going in the wood stove and be a couch potato for a little bit tonight before bed.  Tomorrow is a short run of 2 miles before a relaxing yet challenging Yoga class. Saturday is a 5 mile run outside with hills.

Just breathe and count to 10.  

Heart Palpitations?

I had a great workout today.  Ran for 3.5 miles at an incline of 2 on the treadmill.  After the cardio I did weight training for my legs, arms and chest.  I felt great during and after the workout but something in general doesn't feel right.  Not sure what's been going on with me in the last 5 days.  Ever since I've lost this large amount of weight I've become  more aware of my body.  My body not only feels lighter but different.  I have a deeper sense of physical awareness from the inside.  It's like the organs that used to have fat surrounding them now feel different.  It's like I have a heightened sense of awareness of their presence in my body (sounds a little corny I know).

I've noticed over the last five days I can feel my heart beating in my chest.  At first when I noticed it I thought it was kind of odd but just passed it off as a heightened sense of awareness.  Since then I've become a little bit concerned.  I've never had this before and I don't have other symptoms (other than perhaps I notice my breathing for that brief moment of time).  When I feel my heart beat its only for a brief moment and it happens several times a day.  When I'm exercising I don't seem to notice any problems with my breathing or energy level etc... 

The only thing I can think of is it stress?  My son K~ wasn't feeling well last week and he's going through a little bit of angst about school (there hasn't been a full week of school yet this year with snow days, vacation days and illness - so that isn't helping I'm sure).  I think I'm going to call the Dr. tomorrow.  It could just be stress but I think I should air to the conservative side of things and get checked out sooner than later.

Hoping this is nothing and I'm just being overly cautious.  Now I'm off to a much needed Mom's Night Out!

White Chocolate

Just finished a 1.5oz chunk of really good white chocolate (I don't like white chocolate but Love White Chocolate from the local chocolate shop).  That cost me about 7 WW points :-(

Oh well.  Looks like my supper is going to be: Egg whites with veggies, salsa, toast and some fruit.
No worse for the ware I just need to be aware.  I've found egg white sandwiches to have been my saviour on many an occasion when I get a little overboard with the calories during the day.
I whip up a couple egg whites (sometimes three depending on how hungry I am).  Put it in the microwave with some salt and pepper.  Serve between two pieces of whole wheat toast with salsa (or ketchup) and sauteed onions.  Yum!

Hmmmm.... I also have a head of cauliflower in the fridge.  I think I may make some cauliflower soup or cauliflower mashed potatoes:  boil cauliflower add your seasoning and put in a blender or food processor with some liquid (water or chicken broth to your taste). Enjoy!  I'm sure some of you may be saying yuck!  It's funny if you said to me a couple years ago that I would be eating egg whites and cauliflower mashed potatoes I would say Huh? - say what? 

Tonight is my WW meeting weigh in.  It will be interesting to see what the scale says.  After eating all that white chocolate I feel like I have a brick sitting in the bottom of my stomach (it tasted good at the time but now I have the feeling of yuck! in my belly).

Today I ran 3.5 miles on a track and it felt great.  I find whenever I have pent up negative energy or worries running seems to get that energy out and I feel more relaxed and rejuvenated. 

Tomorrow will be another workout day for me.  I'm going to run 3.5 miles and get some weight training in as well.  My next big run will be this Saturday of 5 miles with hills outside.  Feeling a little bit nervous about it.  People are going to show up and run with me.  I find that exciting and scary.  The scary part is can I do it?  Can I run 5 miles?  My answer: No Matter What!

Update: The scale at my WW weigh in said I was a +.4lb  :-(  Oh well.  I'm not going to stress about it.  The scale at my WW meeting weigh in last week was a -3.4lbs.  I'm just going to make sure I really work hard this week.

-.6lb Feeling Full

After all the carbs I ate yesterday I'm feeling not super hungry this morning however I did eat for breakfast:

Wheat toast w 1TB light cream cheese and a thin smear of Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves.  3pt
Coffee w creamer 1pt

Applesauce 0pt

Banana 0pt

In case you are wondering - yes I eat allot :-)

Bonne Maman is my favorite brand of preserves and the price in the store is manageable when it's on sale.  Here are the ingredients:
Cherries, Sugar, Cane Sugar, Fruit Pectin, Citric Acid.  I purchase the Strawberry Preserves for the kids PBJ sandwiches.  I'm sure there are some lower sugar versions of Strawberry Preserves out there that don't cost an arm and a leg that have organic ingredients - I just haven't found any in my local store (unless we drive to Trader Joe's which is about 45minutes away :-(.

Before I had breakfast this morning I stepped on the scale and I'm a minus .6 lbs.  I was a little bit surprised based on how much food I ate yesterday ( I ate beyond the point of being full - not good even if I could eat the extra calories).  The interesting part is I did a pre weigh in on Saturday and I had a loss of 1.2lbs.  It is what it is and I'm not stressing about it.  I'm exercising and eating well 95% of the time so it all evens out in the end.  I have to live right?

Here is my food log from yesterday (I ate dinner for lunch.  I must say I'm slightly embarrassed on how much food I ate - I've always felt embarrassed at how much food I can eat):

 My Weight Watchers meeting is tomorrow evening so I'll see what their scale says at that weigh in.  Wish me luck!


Note: When it comes to working out and Weight Watchers I don't credit myself extra points for the exercise I do.  I figure I'm going to have to workout for the rest of my life so what better time than now to just accept that fact and keep it simple.

The Numbers Game

Today was a busy but fun day.  I went to my Butts and Guts Class this morning and then made some cookies (Molasses Spice Cookies - deadly good).  Fortunately I made the cookies to bring to my MIL and FIL ( I of course had to sample a few too many :-).   The recipe was from the America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.  My apologies again for not being able to post this recipe (if I get permission by America's Test Kitchen then I will).

I stayed within my daily Weight Watchers Points and I used the extra banked points for the carbohydrate splurge that not only included cookies but really good bread and butter.  Here's the thing - I had the extra WW points available to use so I ate food even though I wasn't hungry - because I could.  Not sure that's a good thing for me to do.  I wonder how that will translate on the scale in the morning?  According to WW if I stay within my points range I should still lose weight - however the volume of what I ate less than 24hours before a weigh in has to count for something? - at least it feels that way in my stomach right now.  I'll see what the scale says tomorrow morning.  Wish me luck!