5 miles in an hour...a HARD workout.

 Since getting Maggie in October, I think I have put on about 20 pounds! The first month and a half we had meals delivered to us, then the Holidays were soon after, and since the new year I just haven’t been motivated to do anything about losing the weight until now! 

I’m determined to get back to my “pre-maggie” weight, especially since we will be vacationing, oops I mean working, in St. Kitts in 6 weeks:) 

We love watching the Biggest Loser and this past week, something Jillian said really caught my attention. She told her team to do 5 miles everyday on the treadmill, AND it would only take an hour. Well, I started thinking about it and was determined that if the contestants could do it, I could too! BECAUSE when I run 5 miles, I can do it in an hour, but if I walk/run 5 miles it’s a lot harder to do it in an hour and on the biggest looser she wasn’t talking about them running all 5 miles. Even though I’m a little overweight, I’m still in pretty good shape. I’ve always been a big runner, and for me thats the best way for me to see results, BUT it also gets very old for me quick if I run everyday...So most of the time I will do intervals of running/walking on the treadmill. 

SO I tried this out this week and the first time I was over my goal by 5:45 minutes. That’s a lot to cut down on especially considering I was sweating like a pig when I finished AND I’m NOT a big sweater! It was a HARD, HARD workout. So the next time I went to the gym, I was determined to cut down on that time and still get in 5 miles of running/walking in an hour. I did it, BUT finished just barely under 1 hour! If you want a really good, hard workout, TRY THIS! I burned 520 calories in an hour timeframe! 

Note: While this is a hard workout, it’s not unmanageable. The highest speed is 6.5 for 2 minutes with NO INCLINE the entire workout.

Time Frame	Speed
0-3 minute Walking Warm Up	3.5
3-5 minutes Walking Warm Up	4.3
5-10 minute RUN	5.3
10-14 walk	4.3
14-16:30 RUN	6.5
16:30-19 RUN	6
19-21:30 RUN	5.5
21:30-25 RUN	5
25-30 WALK	4.3
30-32:30 RUN	6.5
32:30-35 RUN	6.0
35-37:30 RUN	5.5
37:30-40 RUN	5.0
40-47 RUN	5.3
47-50 WALK	4.5
50-55 RUN	5.3
55-60 WALK	4.3

It is my goal to figure out more and more 5 mile workouts on the treadmill in an hour! I will be posting more as the months go on. 

Let me know if you try it, and what you think! BE PREPARED, it’s a HARD workout BUT SO WORTH IT! I didn't add this on the list but be sure to include a COOL DOWN!

healthy living...

Remember last week when I told you that we were changing our lifestyle by eating more organic foods, etc. Well, it’s only been almost 2 weeks and I feel better than I have in a long time! I have so much more energy and I find myself daily wanting to make small changes to improve other eating/exercising habits. Take for instance last night, we had dinner and I’m a sweets girl. I love to have something sweet after I eat. In the last few months, I’ve gone from buying 2 boxes of 100 calorie packs every week to maybe buying 1 boxes a month! Literally, the last few months I’ve been slowing changing my eating habits but more so over the last few weeks. So after dinner, I asked Kaz if he wanted a chocolate chip cookie. With our food order, we got 4 containers of organic chocolate chip cookie dough and it is delicious! He said no he didn’t really want one, so instead of baking 1 for me, I ate a grapefruit! 

I’ve also been drinking a glass of carrot juice everyday for almost 10 days now and it really makes such a difference. Annie Rice has had a full sippy cup everyday now for 10 days and it makes me so happy! She LOVES it, although I don’t always love her diaper:)!

Kaz’s favorite dinner that I make is chicken casserole. It’s always been his favorite meal! I normally put in chicken, cream of chicken, chicken broth, and cover the top with ritz crackers soaked in butter. We eat that over pasta. The other night I decided to make it and made a few small changes that is healthier for us and tasted JUST AS GOOD! Instead of chicken broth, I added zucchini and added plain ritz crackers instead of soaking them in butter, over organic whole wheat pasta instead of plain pasta! I’m really seeing day by day how little changes make big differences. We also made a really big decision over the weekend...REMEMBER HOW I SAID I HAD NO DESIRE TO GIVE UP SODA! I’m going to be pretty honest here and tell you how bad my soda addiction has been. We would literally go through 4-6 2 litters a week! I would drink coke zero all day, every day from breakfast until I went to bed. The more I thought about my statement last week about not giving it up, the more I was convicted that Annie Rice sees me drink soda all day and I make her drink water. That’s not really the best example for me to be setting so Kaz and I made a deal. We decided to NOT BUY soda in our house ANYMORE! We have given ourselves 1 out a week BUT ONLY over the weekend IF we go out to dinner. We can’t bring it home, so it has to be if we go out to lunch or dinner on the WEEKEND! I actually was dreading doing this because I just knew my headaches would be awful but I have to say the Lord has honored our decision because I’ve had 1 headache that was yesterday and it maybe lasted 15 minutes. I’m on day 5 of no soda, just water and a little apple juice in my smoothie:) 

I’ve made a couple really good recipes lately that are very yummy! Here are 2 from this week that our family loved:)

Mexican Rice Bake

2 boneless skinless chicken cooked

3-4 cups of cooked brown rice[I use the rice in the bag so mine came out to be a little over 3 cups]

1/2 bag of frozen corn

1 cup of salsa

1 cup of plain greek yogurt[I used vanilla because we didn’t have plain and I couldn’t taste a difference]

1/2 cup of cheese

1 can of drained black beans

Mix it all together[make sure the chicken and rice are cooked, the corn is frozen]. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes! We ate it with tortilla chips! Very yummy!

Chicken Casserole

2 boneless skinless chicken breast cooked. Cut in cubs

2 regular cans of 99% fat free cream of chicken

1 zucchini cut in tiny cubs

Bake for 20 minutes at 350

Take it out and cover the top with crumbled ritz crackers[I used reduced fat]

Bake for 10 more minutes

Serve over pasta!

healthy lifestyle changes...

Kaz and I have been doing a lot lately to change our lifestyle to become healthier. There are some habits that we have, that have needed changing for a long time...and the more Annie Rice grows up, the more we want her to see better eating/exercising habits from us! My biggest weakness is COKE ZERO! I honestly have no desire to give it up. I don’t know that I ever will but I literally drink it like I have a coke zero IV hooked up to me! I drink it all day long! Everyday! Even when I was training[well, the little that I did] for the half marathon, I drank coke zero all the time! Little to no water! It’s A REALLY REALLY BAD HABIT! I have been TRYING...TRYING being the key word to only drink soda at night for dinner. Some days, I do really good, others like today I had it for lunch! BUT I AM GETTING BETTER! I’ve made it a goal to drink at least 3 glasses of water a day. In the past, I would be lucky to drink that in a month! SEE, I TOLD YOU IT’S BAD! I told Kaz last night there needs to be a soda rehab!

I’ve mentioned several times on here, some of my eating habits...We have both been really convicted over the last several months about what we eat! More specifically, the amount of processed foods that we eat! Organic wasn’t even a word in our vocabulary. I ate Smart One’s for lunch and sometimes dinner for almost 3 years...EVERY SINGLE DAY! I cut those out all together back in September. I haven’t had one since! I’ve started replacing those lunches with healthier versions...chicken salad made with greek yogurt, PB and banana wraps, etc. A couple weeks ago we heard about a company called Healthy Home Foods[located in NC and SC]. I took a look at the website automatically thinking it would be outrageous because it’s all natural, organic foods, but I almost fell in the floor when the representative told me for our family it would be about $60 a week! I called to get a better understanding and a food representative came out to our house and cooked there food for us! It was DELICIOUS! I was pretty much sold before they came out, but I was definitely sold after tasting the food and seeing how affordable it is! We received our first shipment last night, which is a 6 month supply of food:) It’s A LOT! I’m so excited to be making these healthy changes...As I was looking through the food, I noticed that my husband added in a few items that I didn’t know about...like chocolate peanut butter! HaHa! 

I’ve been trying to add 1-2 fruits/veggies with every meal that I eat! For breakfast, I have eggs every morning! I made some homemade granola over the weekend and I’ve been having a small cup of granola + fresh strawberries with the eggs! It’s yummy yummy! 

I’ve been keeping a food/exercise journal to keep me on track! The reason I decided to do this for at least a month is because the last few months I have had little motivation and it’s my accountability partner:) 

We have been jumping up and down and praising the Lord this week for Annie Rice’s new eating habits! I don’t know where my old picky picky picky Annie Rice went BUT I HOPE she doesn’t come back:) Everyday, Annie has floored me more and more! She has been drinking at least 1/2 a sippy cup of carrot juice everyday! She’s been eating eggs, veggies, subs, really anything we give her without a fight! Normally, we have to fight her on at least the first couple bites and then once she finally starts eating it herself she says ALL DONE, so the fight starts back over! I have been really really proud of her eating this week! 

With some of the changes we’ve made, I honestly feel so much better! I have so much more energy! I pray that I can continue making healthy lifestyle decisions:) 

Here’s the recipe to the granola I made! It’s really yummy!

4 cups of oats

1 1/2 cups of flax seeds

1 cup of sliced almonds

2 cups of honey

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Mix the oats, flax seeds, and almonds together. Let the vegetable oil and honey warm over the stove. On a baking sheet[I put tin foil over mine so it’s not as messy] lay out the  granola mixture and pour the honey mixture over it. Mix it all together and add cinnamon to taste! Bake at 200 for 10 minutes!

I used the honey, to make it a little healthier. I also did not put any dried fruit because I really enjoy fresh fruit in mine:) 

running 13.1 miles...

A few days ago, Kaz and I ran the Charleston Half Marathon. I haven’t mentioned it on here at all, and there’s a good reason! BECAUSE WE DIDN’T TRAIN! We signed up back in the summer and I kept saying that my start date for training was August 1. Then it became Sept 1....then October, and so on and so on! Last year, I was extremely motivated to train. This year, it did the opposite effect! I maybe ran 2xs a week up until the week after Christmas! I honestly had no idea how the race would go because of my lack of training! Kaz agreed to run with me and I’m so thankful he did! He made some big sacrifices to do that! He normally can run a mile under 7 minutes and I’m around 11 minutes so that tells you how much he slowed down!

We both surprised ourselves! Last year, I finished in 2 hours 21 minutes. This year I finished in 2 hours 23 minutes. Not bad for no training!

My friend Carissa also ran the race:) 

Here was my thought process throughout the race....The first 6 miles was great! I kept thinking the whole time, I want to do a full marathon! Mile 6-8, I thought, Why in the world did I sign up for this! 9-11 Ok, I can do this...Just keep running. 11-12, I'm so close just keep moving....12-13, Just keep running. You are almost there. 

The beginning to me is always easy! The hard part is half way to the end! Thankfully, my ipod got me through a lot of it! Between Pitbull and Miley Cyrus they gave me just the amount of motivation I needed! It also helped knowing we would see Annie Rice at the finish line. I never talk when I run so Kaz kissed me and said good luck before the race, because he knew he wouldn't hear from me until the end! I actually surprised him and talked some during the race BUT HE TOLD ME TO BE QUIET! Can you believe that? HaHa! When I would talk, I didn't turn down my music so in reality I was talking REALLY LOUD:) I was really thankful he ran the whole race with me. I couldn't have done it without him!  The weather has been so nice in Charleston so I decided to wear shorts! A cold front came through the day before the race and the morning of the race it actually showed snow flurries! It was COLD, BUT I had already decided on my outfit:) When we started the race, my legs were numb! While running, I literally could not feel my legs! They just kept moving the whole time! My legs were the only thing I couldn't feel...Well, after the race my leg started stinging...I couldn't figure out why! THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BUT I guess during the race my calves rubbed together! I couldn't feel my legs so I didn't notice it so I have a raw spot on both legs! It looks worse than it is. It doesn't even hurt at all BUT I CAN'T BELIEVE that happened! It was a really fun race and actually motivated me to do another one!

waving to Annie Rice!

a little encouragement...

Friday night, Kaz and I went on a little date while granddaddy and mama watched Annie Rice:) I have been wanting to wear this one dress all summer but it needed a lot of ironing and I have just put it off and off, SO I FINALLY decided to wear it on Friday night. I specifically remember the last time I wore that same dress and the outcome wasn't very pleasant! It was at our friends wedding in Jamaica, which I had pictures from! What a difference a year makes, lots of running, and eating healthy for the most part! It was definitely encouraging to see the difference and has motivated me each morning on my run!

loosing weight...

As many of you know, I have lost a good amount of weight. A lot of people ask me how I’ve done it, so I thought I would show you a few pictures and tell you a few things that have worked for me.

In 2009, I gained a good amount of weight. I was on infertility drugs, had knee surgery, and just honestly didn’t care what I ate. I was going through a very rough time with not being able to get pregnant and food was my outlet. When Kaz and I got married, I weighed 155. I’ve always weighed a good bit more than I look, I guess because of muscle. I’ve had friends who were the exact same size clothes wise and they weighed 20 pounds less than me. I’ve just come to realize that’s the way my body works. 

January 2010, I weighed 193! SO a total weight gain of 38 pounds! Looking back, I honestly can’t believe HOW much weight I gained. It’s easy to see something completely different in the mirror, AND I just wasn’t seeing how I really looked. 

My eating/exercise habits have changed over time. All of 2010, the only form of exercise I did was run. Eating wise, I usually ate smart ones and 100 calorie packs. I WASN’T super strict.

2011 has been completely different. I’ve been determined to get back to 155. In January, I ran a half marathon and soon after became VERY burned out on running. So as of lately, I run 2-3 days a week and do cardio/toning class 2 days a week at the gym. My eating habits have changed quiet a bit as well...

A typical day looks like this:

Breakfast: Yogurt + blueberries + granola

Snack: Pineapple or 100 calorie pack

Lunch: Smart One

Dinner: Salad + Grilled Chicken[sometimes I will do a mexican salad and add black beans/sweet corn...Other nights it’s just spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, croutons, and Italian fat free dressing]

I’ve really been working a lot harder lately...Even though my weight hasn’t gone below 159 I have continued to loose inches. I went from a pants size of 12 to 8 and a shirt size XL or L to M. My jeans can now all be dried and they are a size 8! I’m wearing jeans that I used to wear when we first got married!  My clothes fit a lot looser and I honestly feel the best in shape I’ve been in a while. 

Kaz says I’m the smallest I’ve ever been, BUT he just doesn’t remember how I looked when we got married:) I still have a ways to go BUT have been very happy with my results! 

Total weight loss: 36 pounds

Below is my story in pictures....

MARCH 2009

AUGUST 2009

 

SEPTEMBER 2009

OCTOBER 2009

MARCH 2010

MAY 2010 

JUNE 2010 

DECEMBER 2010

APRIL 2011 

MAY 2011

a woman's thing...

Most women would say their "thing" is shoes or purses...Don't give me wrong. I LOVE both of those...I have a couple purses[I usually get rid of them after 6-9 months] and I have a lot of shoes[although I only wear 1 pair...my rainbows!] BUT MY THING is Nike Shorts! I have probably 20+ pair and I still want them! In my mind, I can't have enough! The brighter the colors, the better! I'm 100% sold on these shorts for running, working out, and just lounging! They are awesome! AND I wear them pretty much EVERY day during the summer:)

These are the ones I REALLY WANT!!!

pitiful....

I honestly can't believe this happened.....I'm shocked! I'm in pretty good shape, run 4-5 a week, etc...

I did 8 MINUTES, yes that's it, 8 MINUTES of Ab ripper X[P90X] on Monday before my run. I'm used to doing abs, just not these abs. 

I was sore yesterday BUT NOT IN MY ABS....A muscle[something beside the hip flexor] was sore [right where my hip and leg connects]...

Yesterday, I ran thinking it would help but as the day went on, I got sorer and sorer AND it got harder and harder to move!

Last night, I could hardly sleep....I couldn't lay on my back with my feet straight, turning back and forth about killed me and today I'm walking like THIS:

photo credit

Actually, walking this way feels the best! I can't believe HOW SORE I am...AND it's NOT even in my abs! Kaz told me to stretch, stretch, stretch today...He said DO NOT run. I should be relieved but I think I would rather run than stretch! HaHa!

HOPEFULLY, this thing passes quickly! It's about to kill me. I think, I WILL NOT be doing ab ripper X again for awhile and WILL stick to my NORMAL routine!

MY weight loss plan....

A lot of you have asked HOW I lost the weight....Well, my plan hasn't been super strict...ACTUALLY I went in spurts. I've always "kind of" followed weight watchers. I usually eat a smart one everyday for lunch..Last year, I was so busy working at Seacoast and doing photography I didn't exactly have a lot of time to cook so it was usually smart ones for lunch and dinner. Running was really my only form of exercise and Kaz and I started juicing back in January 2010.

Now that I have more time, I'm going to follow Weight Watchers very strict for the next 2-3 months. I REALL REALLY REALLY want to loose those additional pounds and working from home I need a strict plan! I signed up for Weight Watchers online for 3 months[$53 for the 3 months]. It's been GREAT![Mind you, I typically follow this plan anyway JUST NOT VERY STRICT...] While I already eat smart ones, 100 calorie packs, etc I'm not very good at staying within my points range..SO THAT'S going to be the real trick! Being at home everyday, I have the flexibility to eat whatever I want...that's both a good AND bad thing. Keeping track of my points is really going to help me follow a plan. 

I LOVE that I can enter the foods I've eaten and WW online tells me exactly how many calories, grams of fat, etc I've eaten AND how much I am allowed for the rest of the day. I can also track my exercise and water intake. 

The way I've set my account up, is to weigh in each Sunday. WW online will show my progress from week to week!

I'm super excited about this AND ready to loose those few extra pounds!

I'm also starting back on the "NO SODA" bandwagon that I fell off of at Christmas:( It's a very hard addiction to stop! Everytime I try to stop, I do good for awhile AND then crash. So this time I'm doing something a little different....I'm allowing myself 2 diet cokes a week. THAT'S IT! To you, that may sound like a lot BUT when you are used to drinking just diet coke all day, it's really not...This way, I can cut down the soda, but still get a little fix:)

I'm still going to continue running BUT I'm going to add in strength training 2xs a week. AND Kaz and I are going to continue juicing.
SO, there's my plan. I would LOVE to hear your tips and tricks..OR your weight watchers experience!

M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N...

Since December, I really haven't had ANY motivation to loose weight. I've been running a TON so it kind of gave me the freedom to eat whatever I've wanted. I haven't gained any weight BUT haven't lost any either....I still have 8 more pounds to go to reach my "wedding day" weight. I would really love to loose a total of 23 pounds[including the 8] BUT my current goal is 8 pounds:) I'm starting back hard core TODAY...I'll be telling you a few things I'm doing next week but when loosing weight YOU HAVE TO CELEBRATE the little victories. Today I'm celebrating...I think the pictures speak volumes!

August 2009

October 2009

March 2010

June 2010

January 2011

 There MAY NOT look like a lot of difference in the last 2 pictures BUT BELIEVE me there are!

Since Jan 2010 I've lost 36 pounds, gone down 4 pants sizes, and 2 shirt sizes!!!!

For all who think loosing weight is not possible, IT IS!!!! Stay MOTIVATED!