Week 5 & 6 of 10 - Christmas Treats and Feeling Defeat

I started out this 10 weeks of me getting back in shape and numbering the weeks in my blog posts in hopes that I'd be sharing actual results with you.  Not so much.  And I'm accepting it for a little while here.  I've been feeling a little blah (had some coughing fits today and I've been really lethargic).  I'm trying to eat well, but it seems like when the sun goes down, I go free-for-all.  I eat well all day and then I get home, where the rest of my food lives, and I just gorge myself.

It also hasn't helped my fitness or my ability to do anything other than crawl under the covers with the abundance of cold weather...

I haven't gotten to run in almost 2 weeks and, unfortunately, I haven't done any other kinds of workouts either.  I'm so tired.  I feel just huge and bloated and unmotivated.

I decided to take a step back and look at my body outside of food and exercise.  I've been having terrible breakouts.  Today I woke up with a crazy PMS headache.  Where I used to be able to count on my period for a quick couple-pound weight loss, now it's resulting in weight gains that I can't get rid of--I just feel so abnormal.  Went to the gyno to get my birth control pill changed.  I'm looking forward to starting it up and seeing if it will help my body feel better.  Maybe then I can get motivated again.

Another plan I have to get motivated is a Christmas present that I bought for myself.  On Monday, I should be picking up my Jawbone UP24.  It's one of those fitness/sleep tracker bracelets that I've been in the market for for a while now.  It was between the new Jawbone and the FitBit Force.  I decided to go with the Jawbone mainly because it looks more like a bracelet (so I don't have to hear "what's that around your wrist?" at work) and I liked the way the app looked and the data it seemed to give.

Jawbone also syncs up with my MyFitnessPal.  Which reminds me...  I really shouldn't get myself down about gaining 10 pounds.  I've accepted it.  I even made sure my gains are reflected in MFP and over the past weekend, I met the one-year of logging in milestone.  Even when I went camping up in the middle of nowhere Northern New Hampshire over the summer, I still made sure to log in every day.

I just need to hold on.  I'll get there.  Just need to keep a positive attitude, keep moving, and keep trying to eat right.


Speaking of eating right...  I just got finished making a bunch of Christmas treats for my coworkers.  So here's some recipes for some sugary, fatty goodness!

Apologies that I forgot to take pictures of my Cookies and Creme White Chocolate Bark.  But here's the recipe...

18 Peppermint Oreos (or your favorite flavor)
1 package of white chocolate chips

Prepare Oreos by breaking into smaller pieces.  Hold aside 1/2 cup of Oreo pieces for the top of the bark.

In a double boiler, melt white chocolate chips until smooth.  Remove from heat and mix in Oreo pieces.  The peppermint Oreos have red filling, so the red made the white chocolate red also.

Pour into a 9x9 pan lined with aluminum foil.  Spread evenly.  Top with reserved Oreo pieces and press in gently to secure.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Next up, I made a Cake Batter Chocolate Bark.  For that I used...

1 large package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 package of white chocolate chips
1/4 cup yellow cake mix
colored sprinkles

In a double boiler, melt semi-sweet chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and mix in 1/3 of your colored sprinkles.  Pour into a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes, then begin preparing the top layer.

In a double boiler, melt white chocolate chips and yellow cake mix together until smooth.  Remove from heat and add another 1/3 of the sprinkles.  Pour on top of existing semi-sweet chocolate.  Spread as evenly as possible.  Top with the final 1/3 of the sprinkles, pressing in gently to secure.  Refrigerate for at least another 30 minutes.  Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

These were 13-year old girl approved...









The last bark I made was a Trail Mix Chocolate Bark.  Of course you could put anything you like in it... but I chose to use:

1 large package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanuts
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup pretzel pieces

Prepare pretzels by breaking into small pieces.  Combine pretzel pieces, peanuts, and cranberries into a bowl.  Set aside.

In a double boiler, melt semi-sweet chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and mix in 2/3 of the combined mix ins, reserving 1/3 for the top.  Mix well and pour into a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Spread evenly.  Top with remaining mix ins and press gently to secure.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.


Have you had enough sugar?  No?  Well, that's good... I have one more...

Of course I got a lot of these ideas off of Pinterest but this one is by far my favorite.  I'm not sure about you, but I love Rice Krispies treats... and I HATE MAKING RICE KRISPIES TREATS!!!  They are messy and sticky and I can never manage to NOT touch them so I get marshmallow goop all congealed on the ends of my fingers.

These are Lumps of Coal Rice Krispies Treats that are a melding of a few recipes I found on Pinterest.  I chose to use:

1/4 cup butter (half of a stick)
10.5 oz bag of mini marshmallows
black food coloring (not gel)
5 cups rice cereal
18 Oreo cookies, cream removed and turned to powder in the food processor

In a non-stick pot (trust me, it makes it easier), melt butter under medium-low to low heat.  Once nearly melted, add mini marshmallows and the cream from your Oreos.  Melt down and add in black food coloring.  When color that you want is achieved, add crumbled Oreos and combine well.  Lastly, remove from heat and add rice cereal.

And mix.

And mix.

And you might need to put the heat back on it so you can actually get it all mixed in.

And mix.

Once all combined, drop in odd shapes onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet.  Let cool.  These look fantastic and it was fun, though challenging to get them off of the spoon onto the parchment.  I'd recommend using a silicone spatula to mix everything.  It won't damage your pot and it can withstand the heat.

Luckily all of these tasty treats are for my coworkers, so I didn't actually eat any.  I do have the ingredients to make a Oreo Cheesecake Brownie to take over to the handsome gentleman's house for Christmas Eve...  I'll probably end up eating plenty of that.


I'm technically in the middle of Week 6... so I might postpone blog posting again until after Christmas.  I've got some extra days off, so hopefully I'll be able to stay on track and get more active.  I'm sitting here exhausted with a huge headache...

There were a couple of observations I've made over the last two weeks that I wanted to share.  I've been eating a lot more salads... and I wanted everyone to see what a "serving" of croutons looks like...

Depressing.  I know.

Then there's the things that make me happy and keep me going through the day.  I've been mixing my protein shakes in iced coffee... and chasing that with my normal iced tea...

I'd rather drink this than eat candy...

I know my change is coming soon.

Realistic Expectations

What have I learned over these past couple of weeks of inactivity on the blog? That weight lifting and training for a half marathon (while holding a full time job and being a full time graduate student) are not things that can go together. ChaLEAN Extreme is on hiatus until the Half Marathon is over.

What does that mean? Katie, you should seriously cross train because it will make you a better runner.

I know. But I'm seriously tired right now. I'll figure something out.

I caught a cold two weeks ago and so I took 6 days off of running... and then the cold moved into my chest and I kind of still... kept running. I'm a really bad example... or a really great example of what NOT to do. I'm feeling much better though. While I'm running I feel fantastic. Then I stop running and I'll cough for a little bit, but overall improvement once I get up out of bed and moving.

I've been terrible as far as feeding myself is concerned. I've been going mad on the carbs... eating sandwiches (which I never do) and eating way too many sweets. The only thing that has kept me in these size 4 Skinny Jeans is the running. I swear to you. I've been a bad, bad girl. I've better intentions coming up and I've been pretty good today. When I sleep in (and sleep is something I've been lacking here recently) my first breakfast gets screwed up... and each meal afterward gets screwed up. If only I lived in a vacuum.

Some things I ate this week:

Fun with yogurt. I've been seeing how different I can make my vanilla yogurt every time I eat it. Here we have an example of three oreo cookies crushed up in my yogurt (I told you I've been mowing down on the sweets) and then I have fresh strawberries with mini chocolate chips and butterscotch chips (a half serving of each of the chips... so I was measuring...)

Last weekend I treated myself to a breakfast at my favorite cafe. I ordered something sweet but small and it was delicious. This is a cinnamon roll split in half and fried like french toast, covered in powdered sugar and bananas. Yup.

I did have good intentions... my basket at the grocery looked healthy enough.

But it was the exercise that kept me normal this week. I ate out too much and seriously, right now, I'm sitting here with the belly-ache part of a hangover because I had a couple vodka lemonades and a mudslide the size of my face last night. I seriously need to stop eating buffalo anything while drinking. It hurts coming out your nose. I know... another example of the bad example. But I have a lot going on.

Let's talk about the running this week. I'm counting last Sunday because, since I was sick, I had to skip Week 2 of my training (my extended training where I'd planned to do Week 1 twice, so I really didn't miss anything). Here's an overview of the week.

And here's the breakdown. Sunday I did two miles while still sort of sick. Took my handkerchief with me to blow my nose. I made surprisingly good time for feeling like garbage.

 

Wednesday's run was fun because a coworker decided to run with me! We had a good time and it was interesting running with someone else. It definitely made the hour go by faster and forced me to pace a little better than I normally do. We're planning to run again this coming Wednesday after work.

Thursday I participated in another 5k. This one markets itself as being a “Fast 5k” because it's all on a gradual decline. I was no faster than I normally am in a race. In fact, I was 18 seconds short of a personal record. I was totally beat afterward... slept well that night at least.

Saturday's run was the long one for the week; 6 miles. About 5 miles in the back of my knee started to get sore, but that went away with some good stretching afterward. Which comes to my intention to cross train. I think I'm going to do yoga at least one day a week on my non-running days. 

 

 

June is just being hard on me. I thought May was bad. But June has 4ish events at my job... the end of my first term of grad school (which ends today) and the start of my second term of grad school (which starts tomorrow). I'm not resting. I'm not relaxing. I'm taking stress to the internal most parts of me. And then I'm trying to choke it with alcohol. And dessert.

Thank god for running. Or we'd be having a terrible conversation.

Sorry my blog posts are straight and to the point here recently. Just an attempt to stay sane. And hopefully motivate people to do what I'm not doing.

Challenging the Plan

You plan. You plan your meals and your workouts and you try to make your body predictable. Anticipate that little up and down you'll have during the week. Plan your splurge day. Plan dessert. And most days, your plan works out well. You might sneak a couple pieces of candy that you choose to leave off of your tracker. It won't kill you. Tomorrow's a new day.

But then there's times when your plan goes completely out the window. This was my week.

It's still a challenge for those of us that seem to have it all together. Coming down off of that bought of strep throat has been a challenge. I've finished my antibiotics but still have a little cough. I had zero, I mean absolutely no, energy this week. Not a great thing when you're trying to get pumped for a new workout. And then there's this school thing I'm doing. My brain has had to work harder than it's worked in a long time. Which is great! Don't get me wrong... I'm just not used to being so tired.

Monday I came home and did my first Chalean Extreme workout before getting into school work. It was great. I have a hard time focusing when weight lifting, so having someone telling me exactly what to do helps me focus. It's not that I don't know how to do a deadlift... but I'll start thinking about something else while I'm doing it, lose focus, and it's as if I'm not doing it at all, losing count of my reps and not paying attention to the muscle I should be working. Squats have become super easy for me with my strong legs... but squats with 24 pounds were a challenge. And I needed it. I was sore for two days after and I couldn't have been happier.

Tuesday should have been cardio day. I was exhausted. I have a busy mind anyway, constantly thinking and talking to myself and moving, so add school work into it and it gives me another subject to constantly think about and worry and think... so my day at work trying to focus on the task at hand and fight my own brain into submission was tiring. I got home and thought if I laid down for a half hour, I'd get up and do my workout. I put the DVD in... it said it was 45 minutes... I turned it off. I couldn't do 45 minutes of cardio.

But I think that was because I was still technically sick. It was really okay that I didn't do it because I needed to get well and pushing too hard would be a painful setback. I have a race in 3 weeks and I should really get better. On Tuesday, I ended up doing my school work and then making myself go to bed at 8:50.

Wednesday I went to dance class and found myself coughing a lot. Thursday I did the second lifting workout which yielded sore triceps, back, and hamstrings. Deliciously sore. 

Which is great except when you spend the evening cheering on the Bruins at TD Garden and it hurts to curl your beer to drink it (and the next three too, which were all worth every calorie). And you try to sleep but your arms won't let you lay a certain way. I just felt like everything was out to make me tired.

This morning broke the cycle. I woke up at 6 on my own. I laid there... and thought, You could run right now... nothing's stopping you. And rather than make an excuse I got up, put my hair up, strapped on the sports bra and went for it. I haven't ran for two weeks because of the strep throat, so I gave myself two miles. I got the first mile done in 8:49 which reminds me that my muscles are fine. My endurance is just a little off because I can still feel a twinge in my lungs. The second mile was a little over 10 minutes, but that's collectively under 20 minutes and that makes me feel good. Getting out there before the cars woke up made it easier. Just moving forward and enjoying the music.

My biggest thought as my chest started to hurt was, “They don't make sports bras small enough...”

I haven't talked about food yet. My solid eating foundation got me through this week. Not going to lie, last Sunday I went to Domino's for a medium pineapple and jalapeno pizza with a side of cinnamon sticks. Working all day on school work brought back those boredom hunger pains. I found myself snacking more when I was working on papers and reading. The difference now is I drink a seltzer water with it instead of a coke. And my portions are measured and under control.

Teaching yourself to eat can really help get you through the times when you can't exercise or you really are too busy or too tired. Don't use exercise to eat. Let it be the extra push that helps you burn fat and transform you.

It's funny what happens when you break away from your plan and try something new. A couple weeks ago I had altered my calories on MFP to “lose .5 lbs a week.” I get to eat 1390 now. Not that I wasn't eating that before, but now I get to eat it without working out for it. And I lost weight. I'm super close to seeing that 129 on the scale that I'm looking for :) I don't know what I'm going to do when I get there. It was never part of the plan. Just a happy accident.

 This week in food, I spent most of my time enjoy different ways of eating the things I've been eating all along. Yesterday, I bought bread for the first time in FOREVER at the grocery so that I could eat my veggie burger on a bun. I had some chili still in the fridge, so I topped my veggie burger with chili (which was also vegetarian). I could only eat half of it, which was sort of funny because you put a big ol' cow burger in my hands and I devour it pretty quickly. To quote my friend that went to TGI Friday's with me: “Did you taste it?”

Instead of going to my favorite cafe for breakfast this morning, I decided to make my own pancakes and save on the carbs and calories. Finally tried putting chocolate chips in my banana pancakes. For those of you who forgot how to make these or haven't made them before, all you need is:

 2 eggs

1 banana, sliced

1 serving of mini chocolate chips

½ Tbsp powdered sugar

Blend the eggs and banana together until smooth. Use this as your pancake batter. The only difference with these pancakes is they don't act like pancakes on the griddle, so you need to watch them. A good hot griddle can really help. Pour the batter out and then plop some chocolate chips on top. Sprinkle the whole lot with powdered sugar. A plate full of 6 pancakes costs you only 315 calories and you get 14 grams of protein. To give you some perspective, 4 chocolate chip pancakes at IHOP are 720 calories, twice the fat (at 24g) and almost 15 TIMES THE SODIUM... there's over 2000 mg of sodium in those IHOP pancakes. You don't have to sacrifice the thing you want for a good decision.

I had some more quinoa with salmon and baby bella mushrooms. I finished off the baby bellas Friday night with my handsome gentleman. I made a stir fry with potatoes, zucchini and mushrooms to go with our pork tenderloin. I really love cooking for him. He always shows appreciation.

I'm hoping the week ahead will be a little easier than last week. Probably won't be, since I got two days off this week, so I had most of the afternoon Friday to work on school stuff.

Going to go change my clothes and lift some weights now.

ChaLEAN Extreme Day Zero and Things Skinny Girls Don't Tell You

I set my alarm this morning for 6 AM because I had a very specific purpose for my morning. I wanted to be at my favorite breakfast restaurant at 7 AM when they opened to sit, have coffee, have pancakes and finish writing my paper for my grammar class. Come to find last week I had a super awesome case of Strep Throat, so my first week of Graduate School is kind of a blur. As a reminder, I've started a program to get my Masters in English in Creative Writing all online. I had completed everything for the week except this last paper and my hopes of finishing it last night were dashed as I kept falling asleep last night around 10 PM with my laptop resting on my thighs.

Big breakfast. I ordered two white chocolate chip pancakes that were covered with powdered sugar and this delicious mixed berry puree. Came with a couple pieces of bacon. And as I sat there, in my size 4 skinny pants, legs perfectly crossed, I caught the eye of a girl sitting across the restaurant with her basket of bread and her parfait. She's much bigger than me, though I did notice the 13.1 sticker on her car. From hearing her talk to the waitress, it sounds like she's a walker. And I wonder how I look to her. She doesn't finish her parfait, things are parceled up and she leaves the restaurant quickly.

I feel like I've become that novel person that you always see sitting in the front row of a Weight Watcher's meeting. The skinny girl that you assume has always had it easy. Maybe she joined Weight Watcher's to lose 10 pounds because she wanted to be a supportive person for her friend that needed to lose 50. The girl you wonder, “why is she here?” And then you find out she's celebrating her 6^th month at goal after losing 100 pounds. Being skinny almost sullies your street cred. How do you know anything about fatness?

I've thought of the topic “Things Skinny Girls Never Told Me” for a few weeks now in that I have really been enjoying some of the benefits that being a smaller person have to offer. There's negative things too. I think that phrase should be more accurately put, “Things Skinny Girls Would Tell You If You Cared to Listen.” It's the old adage, “Don't trust a skinny chef.” Why not? I eat more often than many overweight people, sometimes that's the problem, eating too little and too much of what you shouldn't eat. Food is still a wonderful experience and I dare say I enjoy it more now because we have an understanding. It's not here to serve the same function it once served.

I ate every last bite of those pancakes, completely eliminating the need for “Second Breakfast” today, as I was still full.

What skinny girls never tell you is how good it feels. Don't take my use of the word “skinny” as used in a way that discredits the word “fit.” I'm not at tip top athletic condition, but I can manage a lot with this little body I'm working, so I'd say I'm fit-ish. People look down upon that Kate Moss quote, “Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels” but once you rid your body of its obsession with donuts and then you eat one... you know exactly what she means. And when you're doubled over with lower abdominal distress and you wonder why you just did that to yourself, you remember when you used to buy three donuts in the Dunkin Donuts drive thru, eating all three of them before you walk into work... and how your body did nothing, almost encouraging you not to stop. Maybe skinny girls can't tell you how good it feels because it's all they've ever felt.

They don't tell you that sitting isn't the most comfortable position. I find myself standing very, very often because my ass is so tiny and my bones get tired. And if sitting isn't the most comfortable position, think of all the things you can do while not sitting. And then you have a self fulfilling prophecy. Though my plane ride was awesome because I could really curl up in the seat, my tail bone was grinding against that firm seat to the point of pain. They don't tell you about that stuff because then everyone starts playing the world's smallest violin, standing there believing that these things are not attainable. You never know what you're capable of, what you're truly capable of, until you achieve it.

They don't tell you that clothes are just as difficult to buy (ever think of what you do when a Small is too big?). That eating so often makes you tired of chewing. That sometimes you just get sick and tired of salad.

The point is that life isn't perfect. When you get to your ideal weight don't get comfortable. Life is full of challenges whether you're 217 pounds and you're trying to lose weight and get under 200, or whether you're 132 pounds and you're trying to find a way to give your body a new challenge. Everyone is working hard. Everyone has failed. Everyone has successes to celebrate. Just like that skinny girl sitting in the front of the Weight Watcher's meeting, she has lived and beat those challenges down and continues to face the challenge of not letting her old lifestyle win her over again. Skinny girls never tell you how hard it is and how hard they continue to work. Maybe talking about hard work isn't super motivating... but telling you how worth it it is should help.

Amidst my strep throat, I lost what would have been my first week of ChaLEAN Extreme. But I've been a very good girl while sick and have only done a few push ups a day and tried not to do cardio since I'm really getting some deep chest coughs out. But today, I took the 20 minute fitness test that you're supposed to take before starting the workout, watched the video about form for slow, deliberate weight lifting, and took my Day 1 pictures and measurements. Of course, I rigged up this McGyver picture taking stand that consisted of an empty oatmeal container and two different size containers of protein powder, so some of the pictures cut off my head... but I got it! I'm about 2 weeks out from doing any sort of challenging exercising, so I'm a little ashamed of my pushups, but I tried to be honest as far as marking down what I could do before my form started to get sloppy. Here's my Day Zero results:

Move	Start (4/7/2013)	Final (approx. 7/6/2013)
Pushups	10
Crunches	23
Squats	22
Forearm Plank	00:01:03
Overhead Shoulder Press	12 reps – 7 pounds
Biceps Curl	10 reps – 7 pounds
Sit & Reach	11 inches

  And here are my measurements:

Measurement	Day 1 (4/7)	Day 30 (5/7)	Day 60 (6/6)	Day 90 (7/6)
Waist (at navel)	32 inches
Hips	36.5 inches
Abductors	35 inches
Chest (at nipple)	37 inches
Right Arm	10.5 inches
Left Arm	11 inches
Right Thigh	20.5 inches
Left Thigh	20.5 inches
Weight	131.9 lbs
Body Fat %	19%

And lastly, here are my "before" pictures!

What am I hoping to get out of this program? You're plenty skinny, Katie... Well, I'm glad you ask. This program seems to be much more about building muscle and reducing overall body fat. I'm looking forward to getting stronger so that I may use that strength in my obstacle race that is now less than a month away. I'm also hoping to use this as cross training for my running for when I start in on half marathon training. I'm going to do the first week exactly as I'm supposed to, but I may end up substituting the cardio DVD for a run.

In food news, I don't know if I've ever mentioned, in the processed food that I have eliminated from my life, there is one that remains. Cereal. And I was never a cereal eater when I was overweight. My Handsome Gentleman actually turned me on to cereal because he'd eat a bowl of cereal in the middle of the night and still be all fit and skinny and gorgeous (hey, I'm biased) so I thought he was on to something. I've been eating a lot of Kashi Go Lean Crunch. I've eaten it normally in a bowl of milk, but I really like it in yogurt! It's very much like granola only with none of the fat. I eat a half serving with my yogurt. Here are some pictures of the different ways I've had it recently. 

 

I'm really proud of the way I ate while I was sick. I actually lugged myself to the grocery to get good for me foods and I only got two milkshakes (Wendy's Caramel Frosty Shake) because hey, I had a sore throat. Bite me.

I'm hoping to try some of the ChaLEAN Extreme menu foods just as something new to try. I would write more, but frankly I'm exhausted. I tried to take a nap earlier, but that didn't happen. The sun is shining on my chair next to my big, big windows and I'm going to curl up in it like I'm a cat.