The Only Person You're Competing With is YOU

  Yesterday was such a busy day around here. Schedules tend to get thrown off when my boys are out of school longer than the typical weekend. So, it meant no alarms..and waking up later than usual..and when you wake up a little later than usual, everything you typically do gets pushed back. We still loaded up and headed to the YMCA. The boys totally don't like going. I tell them mommy asks for an hour and a half of their day when they come with me. It isn't an option. I mean..what else do they have going on anyway? Got a job you need to rush back for? Haha!

  

(I won't apologize for the lack of makeup in my workout pictures. I don't do that sort of thing.) 

35 minutes of weights and a 3.5 mile run. I'd finally pushed myself to run at an 8.5mph pace! Don't get too excited, though..yesterday was intervals so we're talking 8.5mph for a minute at a time. But STILL! I remember when 6mph felt like sprinting. Progress! :)

 Afterwards, my husband called (Squee!!!). We chatted for about an hour. He asked if eating cleanly was still going to happen when he gets home? He's worried he'll miss some of his favorites, I imagine, but he's also very excited and wants to know what to expect. Yes. I told him it isn't about depriving ourselves..don't think about it like that (because we're not!). It's about being healthier and continuing to eat things we used to eat but only...cleaned up. Like the shepherd's pie I made the first time I ever made him anything (pre-dating)? I'll still make that...but I'll use sweet potatoes or mashed cauliflower..grass-fed ground beef or turkey..load up on veg. Or his favorite chicken pot pie. We'll still eat these things..but they'll just be better versions. This isn't a punishment! 

 I'm not even as super strict as a lot of clean eaters (I mean..it's obvious in my meal plan..). But I think it's pretty dang good! My body has really enjoyed the way I've been feeding it lately. It's even been rewarding me with feeling less tired. I'm into that. :)

 I don't really love shopping with all of the kids..but I definitely NEEDED to go. I'd done a pretty good job of clearing out the kitchen before my shop 2 weeks ago and I was due to shop on Sunday and here it was Monday with 3 hungry kids (one VERY picky eater amongst them) and I'm standing at the fridge like...'uhhhhh..let's see..' So I HAD to take the kids out shopping with me. I pulled together a quick list of things I'll need for recipes and survival til my rest day on Thursday when I can spend more time and energy doing the big shops at multiple stores. 

After we got home, I whipped up a batch of this granola to throw into plain Greek yogurt and school lunches for the next week or so. Delicious!

 

 

Remember my Personal Victories post from a few days ago? Well, this picture is from this morning. I shaved another 10 seconds off that time! I felt like Forrest Gump, "Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!!"

 And the BEST part about this feeling? Is knowing I'm only going to keep smashing goals and my fastest times are only going to get faster. At least for a little while longer, right? I'm not the fastest woman in the world..but I'll bet I could pull off an 8:45 mile by the end of the year.

Ohhhhh snap! New goal! ;)

 

Today My Face Ate...

 

Ezekiel toast, vegetarian sausage, and a scrambled egg. Also, morning coffee with clean pumpkin spice creamer 

 

You'll see this a lot. Spinach, chia, and fruit smoothie (this one's blueberries and apple)

 

(I may have sort of overcooked that sweet potato by a little. Look, there's a lot going on in my life all the time. Forgive me.)

 

Black bean burrito/taco guy. Probably a tostada, really. Whateva.

<3 

Meal Plan 10/14 - 10/20

I started to plan out til Halloween..but some of these are new-to-me recipes and I'm not entirely sure just how many leftovers will come from them. So I thought it safe to fully plan for this week and then fill in the blanks once I see what's what.

Monday 10/14:

Breakfast: Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Snack: Hummus & half a whole wheat pita
Lunch: Grilled chicken salad (I'll actually probably dine out tomorrow, but this is easy to come by)
Snack: Spinach, chia, and fruit smoothie (whatever fruits sound good at the time is what I roll with)
Dinner: Quinoa Chili & Clean Cornbread...salad on the side (this is leftover from the last plan)


Tuesday 10/15:

Breakfast: Ezekiel bread with nut butter, & sliced banana 
Snack: Plain Greek yogurt w/ homemade granola
Lunch: Butternut squash soup (leftover from the last plan), w/ chicken, couscous, and spinach
Snack: 2 Pumpkin Oat Balls & green tea with a little raw honey
Dinner: Big black bean burrito


Wednesday 10/16:

Breakfast: Pumpkin-Raisin-Flax muffin w/ plain Greek yogurt & a little honey (the muffins are also leftovers)
Snack: Apple w/ nut butter
Lunch: Lentil soup w/ spinach and gorgonzola
Snack: Turkey Jerky (Some of these items, I still have in my pantry and I'm just trying to use) & green tea w/ raw honey
Dinner: Quinoa Black Bean Casserole


Thursday 10/17:

Breakfast: Ezekial toast with vegetarian sausage and a scrambled egg
Snack: Spinach, chia, and fruit smoothie
Lunch: Grilled chicken, baked sweet potato, and steamed mixed veg
Snack: Whole grain crackers & cheese & green tea w/ raw honey
Dinner: Slow Cooker Chalupa


Friday 10/18:

Breakfast: Pumpkin-Raisin-Flax Muffin w/ plain Greek yogurt & a little honey
Snack: Banana w/ nut butter
Lunch: Leftover slow cooker chalupa
Snack: baby carrots & grape tomatoes w/ hummus & green tea w/ raw honey
Dinner: Clean Eating Baked Italian Ziti w/ salad


Saturday 10/19:

Breakfast: Overnight strawberries & cream oatmeal (basically the same as apple cinnamon but without apples and cinnamon and with sliced strawberries)
Snack: Whole grain crackers w/ cheese
Lunch: leftover ziti & steamed broccoli
Snack: Apple w/ nut butter & green tea w/ raw honey
Dinner: Taco salad (grass-fed ground beef with all the fixings - but no taco shells)


Sunday 10/20:

Breakfast: Big Ass Pancake w/ nut butter
Snack: Carrots w/ hummus
Lunch: Leftover taco salad  (lots of leftovers when there's no man around to help me eat everything ha ha)
Snack: Pear w/ cheese & green tea w raw honey
Dinner: Healthy Fettuccine Alfredo w/ grilled chicken & steamed veg



So, okay...I get that not EVERYTHING I eat is 100% clean eating (and I do make healthier changes where I can in these recipes)...but it's pretty dang good considering where I've come from! Having a meal plan that also includes my snacks has been SO nice! I don't know why I haven't done this forever (okay..probably because it takes quite a bit of searching and planning. At least it does for me ha ha)! No standing at the fridge or pantry with a question mark over my head. No wasted food. No buying tons of extra crap. It's just so smart. :)


<3


 

My "Reasons to be Fit" #1..

   I'm not sure if it's possible, but one of my biggest goals is to do this without surgical intervention. I think I'll probably always be stuck with a bit of wrinkly skin - the product of multiple pregnancies and weight gain..but who's going to see me naked besides me and my husband? No one. I get why a lot of people get tummy tucks and whatnot...but, man..it scares me! Maybe I'm just stubborn. Maybe I can't stomach (ha ha!) the cost of that surgery. Sharee from Funeral For My Fat recently had hers done for 7 grand (plus a thigh lift for a total of $16,000). Whoah.

 Truthfully (and I'm not trying to make people get all angry with me), I don't think it's fair that Tricare covers gastric bypass and the skin removal surgery from that..but they DON'T cover skin removal for someone who's done the work. Busts her/his rump on the daily and makes the correct changes nutrition-wise. Perhaps I'm jealous haha. I've heard of wives going to their doctors with "sob stories" about how extra skin/small boobs affects marriages/their soldier's morale in order to get the surgery covered. But...I can't/won't lie. Wrinkly skin DOESN'T affect my marriage or my soldier's morale. That man adores me regardless. So I refuse to act like it does just to have it paid for. No.

 So, for now, I'll keep trudging along...doing what I need to be doing. As of today, I have 12.4 pounds til my initial goal of 80 pounds (150)..but I think I'll continue on after I get there. I'm considering going for a total of 100 pounds (130). But, of course, we'll see what each milestone looks like once we get there. And IF..huge if..I decide I do really want/need skin removal surgery, I'll do what I need to do. But for now, I'm sticking with trying to do this without it. 

 Though, ya know, losing some pregnancy stretchmarks IS appealing...

 

Today I ate..

Coming to the end of the 2 week meal plan. Tomorrow, I need to make my new one and the shopping lists to go with. I'll share those here as well. Today, all things considered, I ended up around the 1,500 calorie mark. Not a super squeaky day of eating...but it's definitely not the worst.

 

Breakfast: Pumpkin Raisin Flax Muffin, banana, & coffee with a little almond milk and a splash of pure maple syrup. 

                                                            Post workout snack: Whole wheat pita with hummus...and a glass of milk

   

Lunch: Quinoa & black beans with a little lime juice mixed in, pineapple salsa, and avocado burrito "bowl"

  

Afternoon snack: Pear (man, this one was SO bruised it made my heart sad), a few multigrain crackers, and green tea with a little raw honey

   

Dinner: Salmon (when I made my meal plan and shopping list 2 weeks ago, I went through the kitchen to see what was what..see if there were things I needed to use up. This salmon was in there and I thought it'd be silly to just toss them out...so I put them in the plan. I was only able to eat one. My daughter ate half of the other.), brown rice, and steamed broccoli.

 

Personal Victories

"Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting." - Napoleon Hill


  I sat at the rowing machine this morning..and as I started the beginning of my workout, I noticed a woman doing her WOD in front of me. She was heavier than me. Very sweaty. She was alone in her workout. I saw her legs tremble as she completed her lunges. She looked frustrated and on the verge of tears. "Jelly legs?", I asked. She laughed and said yes..that it's so hard. It happens to all of us, I told her. I encouraged her to keep going. I cheered her on. I kept going with my own workout while she finished hers..and then she grabbed the jump rope for the last part. She needed to do 150 according to the WOD board. She looked exhausted. She tripped over the rope. She fumbled. She was SO tired..but she kept going. Finally, she reached 150. I stopped rowing to cheer and whoop for her. She started crying. She did the "YES!" fist punch to the air of accomplishing something she thought she couldn't do. "YOU DID IT!!!", I exclaimed. "I don't know you...but I am so SO proud of you!" I told her it gets easier..because it does. She'll get stronger. I told her soon 150 jumps will be *nothing*. We chatted a little bit as she took her victorious selfie in front of her WOD chart. She'd done it. Her husband is also in A-Stan...and she's going for the body transformation so many of us go for. She thanked me for my words of encouragement and said she'd needed them. Then she gathered her things and said she'd hoped to see me next time. 

After rowing, I biked. And after biking, I went upstairs to run. This is what happened:

 

That is the fastest mile I think I've ever run in my entire life. No walking..not even in the beginning. Just a steady 6.5mph pace til the end where I sprinted to the finish. This old girl is only getting better with age! Today, THIS is my personal victory. :)

 

After my amazing workout this morning :)

Last night, I prepped today's breakfast. Overnight apple cinnamon oatmeal with chia seeds.

My food scale is probably the most used item in my kitchen these days haha.

                       **Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal**
 40g Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (not quick!): 150 Calories & 5g Protein
1 T. Chia Seeds: 60 Calories & 3g protein
85g Honeycrisp Apple (diced): 44 Calories & roughly 0.5g Protein
1 C. Almond Milk (unsweetened): 60 Calories & 1g Protein
Dash of Cinnamon
-------------------------------------------------------------
314 Calories & about 9.5g Protein

            (this picture is from last night when I assembled the oatmeal)

In the morning, eat it cold or heat it up in the microwave like I did for 3 30 second intervals..stirring between each (1 minute 30 seconds total). Yum!


My boys have a 4 day weekend..so we'll all get ready and head on over to the YMCA in a little bit.

My workout this morning will look like this:

35 minutes of weight lifting (free weights, bars, and machines)
3.5 miles of interval running (2 minutes walking @ 3.7mph..1 minute sprinting @ 7.5mph)

Time to EARN my sweat!

<3

Where Do I Begin?

Sometimes it takes brutal honesty to really come to terms with what's going on. It usually needs to come from someone you love...and it tends to spew forth when that person has been injured. They don't take it back because, well, it's real.  You will cry. You will hurt for a very long time. You'll probably feel angry with that person for being so rude and so wrong. How dare they! But then it'll sink in and you'll see.

 That's what happened with me. I knew I'd been getting heavy..my clothes weren't exactly tiny. But I knew my heart and I loved my personality so I just didn't see myself the way that everyone outside of my body saw me. I never saw myself as a fat girl. I just didn't. I never had those body issues that most girls grow up with or around. I could eat at the same rate as my growing teenaged brothers...or more. I kept up with the guys and I shouldn't have. It seems so silly and just stupid to say...but I didn't know. I just didn't. I wasn't sure exactly WHAT a real portion size was. I wasn't sure WHAT a proper meal should look like. I wasn't into exercising...so I didn't.

 After a bad relationship at 20 where I'd gotten fairly big, I felt depressed. Tired. I stopped eating. I started swimming a lot. The weight started to come off. I went home to my mom. I'd spent the rest of that summer walking A LOT. Started out with just going around the block..but built up to about 7 miles a day. I was lifting the weights my younger brother had. I was using his heavy bag to take out my frustrations. I bought a lacy pair of underwear and heels and I'd dance around in my room to Marilyn Manson or Mindless Self Indulgence. I watched what I ate and the weight came off. My confidence was sky high! It was around this time (okay, a couple of short relationships later) that a friend had a friend who was visiting who had a friend who'd just returned from Iraq and moved to Colorado (where I was at the time). He brought him with to a party we were having at my mom's house. I was 21. This guy who I looked up and down. Sneered at. Felt too good for (but he still felt familiar)...became my husband (squee!).

 So..3 babies, many moves, and way too many fast food restaurants later, I was 29 and faced with the truth on the scale below me. 230 pounds. Two hundred and thirty pounds. 

I'm going to change! 

I snapped a couple of quick pictures in the bathroom mirror:

They are horrifying to me *now*...but I'm so glad I have them at the same time. 

I never did BEFORE measurements. I'd lost some weight (16 pounds) then started Power90. I have those measurements:

Chest: 42.5
Right Arm: 12
Left Arm: 12
Waist: 40
Hips: 47
Right Thigh: 24
Left Thigh: 24

Weight: 214 

After completing the 90 days:

Chest: 36
Right Arm: 10
Left Arm: 10
Waist: 34
Hips: 41
Right Thigh: 18.5
Left Thigh: 18.5

Weight: 193

Whoah! Look at those numbers! That program was amazing for me. So then I'd heard about and started Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred. I'd lost another 5 inches from all over. And then I'd heard about C25K (Couch to 5k)...sure, it'd be cool to be a runner. I didn't finish. I was, I think, 4 or 5 runs away from finishing..but I'd stopped on my 30th birthday:

I'd finished off 2012 weighing 176 pounds. At 5'9", I'd felt sexier than I had in years. I still had quite a way to go, of course, but I was at a standstill. And then the holidays..and the baking..and the eating..and then my husband was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan...so we went out. We traveled around and we ate delicious food. My pants got tighter. 

When he left in May, I stepped on the scale. Back up to 194. CRAP! Okay, Abby...it's time to stop messing around. Get serious! Do this! Now's the time, my dear. 

No one's seen these pictures yet...but here they are. My Before shots from June 6th when I'd gotten over being so sad and decided to start.

June 6th Day 1 (again):

Chest (breasts center): 41
Chest (right under): 37.5
Waist: 35
Belly (fullest point): 45
Hips: 43.5
Arms (flexing): 11 each
Thighs (mid-thigh): 20.5 each

Weight: 190.4


I cleaned up my eating..though, I still ate a lot of  "diet" packaged foods. I was more focused on the calorie count at the end of the day and how quickly I could prepare these foods than I was full nutritional value of what I was eating. Still, they were much healthier than fast food and total garbage. I started doing interval training on my treadmill at home. Walk 2 minutes...run for a minute for however many miles I'd planned. I used a weighted hula hoop and the set of weights we have. I was on Pinterest A LOT. Looking up any info I could find on different workouts and food and a TON of motivational pictures to keep me going. It took a lot of experimenting..a lot of trial and error (and I'm STILL experimenting)..and a heck of a lot of dedication. But...I kept going. 

Recently, I joined the local YMCA to use their heavier weights and better equipment (and having someone watch my 2 year old daughter so I could get a decent workout in was a complete plus!). And about 2 weeks ago, I cleaned up my eating even more. I'm trying to focus more on Clean Eating to really get the results I'm interested in seeing. 

October 3rd was my 120 day weigh, tape, and bikini pictures:

Chest (breasts center): 37
Chest (right under): 34
Waist: 30.5
Belly (fullest point): 39
Hips: 39
Arms (flexing): 10.5 (*note here* September's measurement was 10 inches. I'd gained half an inch of muscle)
Thighs (mid-thigh): 18 each
Top of thigh (I'd started this measurement in September at 21.5): 21

Weight: 164.0

Not including the new measurement area, that's a total of 28.5 inches and 30 pounds gone from the points that I keep track of! Not bad. Not bad at all.

I still have plenty of work to do, of course...but I'd like to invite you all along on this journey with me.


Ready?
 <3