Oh Herro!

Long time no blog fellow peoples!

It seems everyone has been lacklusterly blogging in the dreary winter months. Come on guys, I'm bored here!

On thing I haven't been doing is slacking at the gym. I downloaded a few handy apps to help me track what I've been eating and to record my runs and workouts. Honestly, they are really helping motivate me & I'm finally seeing results!!

I downloaded "Lose It", "Runtracker" and "Evernote". The lose it records my calorie intake and losses through excercise and activity. Its not foolproof, but it is a good indicator of what is most likely happening during the day. Runtracker is awesome! It uses GPS to track your runs and speeds. Its super cool to see the GPS map of where you ran. I use Evernote to record my workouts to the T. I say how much cardio/distance, etc as well as record my weighlifting for the day.

Lately, I've been going about 4-5 days a week (25-40 minutes of cardio + weighlifting) and riding twice a week. Also I clean houses for about 15 hours a week and let me tell you..vacuuming for 3 straight hours is TIRING. In addition, I clean 19 stalls 3 days a week. Basically, I've been working my ass off!


oh heyyyyy there!!

I've lost all 30lbs I gained last year and I'm finally at my goal weight of 160. Crazy to think at 5'7 I weighed 190 lbs...GAH!! How in the world did I ever get like that? Now, I notice if I gain like 2lbs...over Christmas I gained 3lbs and working that off was no fun.

My biggest breakthrough was a few days ago when I did 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and then hopped on the treadmill, intending to only run for a mile, when instead I felt so good, I just KEPT RUNNING! I ran for 20 minutes striaght!!!! Which I haven't been able to do since I was in 7th grade in XC. Even in HS I couldn't do that. WINNING.

I intend to keep myself at 160, since I feel that is healthy for me. I was 165 at my fittest (in track in HS) so even if I gain 5lbs, it would most likely be in muscle since I lift at least 3 days a week. Mostly though, I want to keep the belly fat off. 1) because my boy toy is SUPER rippped and I feel fat next to him, ha 2) I missed my abs! 3) Spring break is right around the corner!

I turn 21 on Saturday/Sunday (midnight drinking, ha) and I know I will have a hangover, so lets just hope I can hop right back into working out and run off all those alcohol calories, because I know I will not be counting them that night!

Progress Picture

Here is me in stretchy pants in March of this year.












And last week.




Definitely making progress.

Changing Things

I had the stomach flu over the weekend, so I'm looking thin at the moment, but I noticed something. As I'm reincorporating normal food into my diet again, I'm doing it in smaller portions.

Making a concentrated effort to eat smaller portions and less of them takes a long time and is not the most fun thing ever. On the other hand, it works. I had one serving for dinner last night and did not feel the need for a second. If I'm eating and I realize I'm full before my plate is empty, I stop anyways.

The fast food cravings pretty much quit as soon as I got the grease out of my system, then realized that any time I reintroduced it would make my stomach hurt. Normal food is more of a challenge, but I'm making progress.

Yankee Giving Lessons

Encouragement

So I've been plugging along this year--I'm working to improve my diet, drinking lots of smoothies, running lots of miles. It's just that I see me in the mirror every day. Same flaws, same problems, same me.

What's really helped me out lately is, oddly enough, a friend coming out and taking pictures of me in breeches with my horse. Yeah, I don't look perfect, but my legs are tighter (even if they wear the same size as before) and my position is so much stronger. I'll never be a super model, but I can get closer to being the rider I've always wanted to be.

Plus, I made it back to my pilates class this morning and my teacher commented that I had lost weight. Nice... she's earning her paycheck. ;)

Feetsies Part Duex

Look at my pretty new shoes!! :)

Feetsies

So I have been working out a few days a week, riding, mucking stalls (LOTS of them) and walking around campus with a heavy backpack so one could say i've lost a few lbs :)

However, my feet HURT. Bad.

Its not just like soreness, I think I actually pulled ligaments in my soles.

I have a theory.

I normally wear minimal shoes...flip-flops, sandals, chuck taylors, etc. My feet hate shoes of substance (and socks) and when I can, I go bare. Otherwise I am in my chucks (no socks) or flippies. I've done this since I was about 12 I think and I'm used to it. I am most comfortable that way and I stay "sound".

Recently, my flip flops broke, and I've been wearing actual tennis shoes. Why not my chucks you say? As noted before, I HATE socks. In wicked heat (100 deg), chucks are NOT comfy at all. If its like, 75 or below, they're fine. The tennis shoes have the whole shibang-arch support and all that blither blather CRAP.

The result of wearing tennis shoes for almost 2 weeks? EXTREMELY sore feet. Like I can barely walk. For sure "lame".

My theory is that since my body and feet are SO sososososososoooo used to me essentially going barefoot (the way people should go, I think) and then switching to extreme padding and fluff, my body reacted negatively.

I am a HUGE supporter of the barefoot movement and I personally feel that most running shoes are pieces of crap that only do damage to the body. Feet are not supposed to be supported like that, and in the long run I think they do more damage than good. However, I am NOT an expert at all, I just feel this way from personal experience.

Take my mom for example. Col. in the USAF, marathoner, tri-athelete, super-dooper-mega-fit-crazy and she has scores  of problems with her knees, back, and hips that developed over time. I, too, have had numerous injuries to my knee, shins, and tendons on my left leg and am nowhere near as fit as her, and all my injuries are new and not related to running.. She is one of those people who has the latest running shoes and swears by them, yet she is always "lame" or  not able to run well. I, on the other hand, CAN run even with fresh injuries with my flat shoes or barefoot, to an extent, only limited by fitness and strength at this point.

See where I'm going with this? Here's a website some skeptics might find interesting.

So. Off to find some flip-flops so I can get back to working out!!