Happy New Year, Happy Valentine's Day, etc....

I know, radio silence.

I joined 2 weight loss challenges (diet bet-style) in January. My goal was to lose 4% of my body weight. I faltered around the first few weeks of January, but got my act together the very last week and started really researching macros again. On January 31, my weigh out POINT THREE POUNDS from my 4% goal. I can't explain how irritated I was at myself for letting that happen! BUT between Jan 25 and the 30, I dropped over 2lbs. JUST following my macro numbers TO A TEE.


I saw so much success in just those few days with macros ("IIFYM") that I have been following this religiously for the last several weeks. My weight continues to go down and - maybe more importantly - I don't feel restricted or "bad" or wrong if I eat something "off plan" - because there is NO OFF PLAN!

Whole30 is amazing - I think everyone should try it - but it's just not a way of life for me. If I had discovered a sensitivity or allergy to a food or food group, maybe it would be easier to tolerate. But I have a problem where if you tell me I can't have something, I want NOTHING ELSE but that one thing and when I do have it, I have ALL of it.

The other thing about IIFYM is that I think I'm finally giving my body enough calories of the right quality. I'm meeting a protein goal of 144g/day (my objective is to hit +/- 5g of my goal), my carb rate is 206g and my fat is 73g.

I actually quite enjoy playing "Macro Tetris" at night to see what will fit with my leftover macros. I need to get better about spreading them out throughout the day for sure - One day last week I had a 227g of Greek yogurt with 1 1/2 servings of almond flake cereal haha!  So my goal is to start averaging out my macros and hitting specific numbers at each meal.

I'll get putting my progress pictures up. I will say, January wasn't a total bust. I lost 7.5 lbs total and 10" over my body in general! Now that the baby is sleeping (WOOHOO) I have been excited to get to the gym more and work out! I am re-starting Jamie Eason's LiveFit training - day one was last week. However due to schedule issues, I will be stretching it out a LOT more than I did last time. I was generally on point with Phase 1, but I know as the workouts get longer, I will need to make adjustments to how many times a week I go. Plus - I am DYING to get out and run! We moved to a new area last June and there is an amazing people trail that I CANNOT wait to get on with the jogging stroller!

So the next few weeks, months will be balance - balancing my family with my health, balancing my macros, balancing my time.

Running, running!

I have been really focusing on running lately, which has changed my general workout schedule. Plus it's the last week of summer !!  My kiddos (BOTH OF THEM!) head back to school next week!

I've gotten a few shorter runs in but now that school is starting, I am going to be hitting the longer runs hard!  My son will be in preschool 2 mornings a week so I'll be running Tuesday/Thursday mornings, plus a long run on the weekends.

This week I ran 2.5 on Sunday and 5 yesterday. I figured out the way to make the miles fly on the treadmill - my Kindle!!  I never thought I could run and read but the Kindle kind of changed all that. I don't have to move physical pages, I can change the font size and the time SERIOUSLY FLEW! I looked down the first time and had already been running for 28 minutes!

So Sunday I'm running with Sara and we are going to get in a 60 minute run.  Sometime next week I'll post the training schedule I hope to follow.  

Starting around Sept 1st, I will be starting another Whole30. I have been following macros for the last few weeks and I'm liking it so far. Except days like today where I TOTALLY miss the mark and have no clue where I screwed up! Yikes!

So here goes nothing. Ramping up the running to get a few PRs come October!!

Final Stats from Whole30

I learned today that PEAS aren't allowed on Whole30. I truly had NO idea. So if you're looking to do one, don't eat peas!  

Aside from the whole "no peas" thing,  we finished a successful (as far as we knew) Whole30! 

Here are my stats ! 

 I've had more energy, I have successfully weaned myself from an antidepressant and I feel stronger. I didn't have the amazing results I've seen around the forums and Whole30 sites, but to be honest, I didn't have a ton of weight to lose to get to goal. I hoped to get closer to my goal weight, but I can't turn my nose up at a 6.5 lb loss in a month. 

I think I've said it here before, we won't be paleo after this - it's just not sustainable to us. Unless we find that someone in our family reacts poorly to something during reintroduction, we will return to "clean eating." My husband and I agree that this is an excellent "reboot" and we will try to complete 2 Whole30's per year. 

I won't even go so far as to say everyone should do this. It's NOT for everyone. But if you feel that you need a good body reset, if you feel like you have inflammation or AI issues, if you feel like you need CONTROL of it for awhile - this is for you.  I didn't hit my goal weight. I didn't even lose as much as I hoped, but I also am a lot closer to my goal than someone coming from a SAD (standard American diet) because of the small changes we've gradually made over the years. It's been hard for me not to compare my results to ALL THE OTHER people who have completed a Whole30. "Why didn't I lose that much?" "Why didn't I get the tiger blood feeling?"  But I can't do that. I am not them. They are not ME! 

I can only go so far as to be proud of my 6.5 lbs, my 1.1% body fat loss, the teeeensy tiny abs I see in my "after" pictures. The fact that I am off an antidepressant I've been on for as long as I can remember. That I don't NEEEEEEED coffee to get me moving in the morning (in fact, most mornings lately, I FORGET to make a cup until around 10am!) 

It's completely embarrassing to put these pictures out publicly, but I am proud of where I am now. I admit, the fact that there are baby abs pushing through in the bottom left picture is a little addicting and I want to keep moving in that direction.  We are a few days out now and I've been adding in "prohibited" foods - I feel them. I have been more bloated-feeling and I miss the feeling of thinning out. I am going to try to start making a conscious effort to get back to tracking macros (without such a RIDICULOUS number for my protein!) and go back to a "clean" approach - with whole grains and lots of starchy carbs instead of processed stuff. 

I've missed a few days of the Jamie Eason plan - and I'm ok with it. It was getting to be a LOT of time spent at the gym, when I really needed to be spending more with my kiddos (you know, the reason I left my job?).  So I'm spacing out the workouts a little more. I am going to complete day 61 tomorrow, which is the 5th day of week 9. Today is technically the 2nd day of week 10, so I am only 4 days behind. 

I am going to start adding some running into the mix too. I registered for the Halloween 10K (fourth year in a row!) and the Mo' Cowbell Half again for this fall, so I need to get my butt in gear! I registered my expected finish time for the half to be 2:15!! 6 min shorter than my last! So I have a lot to prove - if only to myself. 

So as always, I finished up one thing and I'm on to the next. We will revisit the Whole30 concept again, hopefully a few times a year. If NOTHING else, it's a good reminder that I DO possess will power. I CAN control my eating, I can accomplish what I set out to do. 

Jamie Eason's LiveFit Training Program

After my colossal fitness failure two weeks ago, I sat down to do some serious thinking about what I want out of my workouts.   I love love my circuit classes, kickboxing and spinning, but I don't know that they are what I NEED right now.  My ultimate goal is to drop my body fat to about 20% and to get my weight back to around 153.

Some research led me to www.bodybuilding.com to find a workout plan.  I stumbled on Jamie Eason's LiveFit training program and figured I might as well give it a shot, it certainly seemed to work for her. :-)

I completed 3 of the 4 Week 1 Workouts already (day 4 will be tomorrow!) and so far? I feel awesome!  The hard part is that in phase 1 there is NO cardio!  SO brutal for me. So brutal that the first day, it took me 19 min to do the whole workout.....   and it was unthinkable to just LEAVE the gym, so I did my treadmill interval workout from the previous week, 4.17 miles. Oops.  Tuesday I was able to do the lifting and leave (23 min) and Thursday I did Day 3 (and spinning).  I think for where I am and what I want to accomplish, a little cardio during the plan won't hurt me.

Clean eating is a big part of this plan too.  I've been trying to stay as clean as I can. I'm working on bulking up my veggies and paring down my carbs.   Which reminds me ....


I had a discussion with one of the trainers (who runs) at the gym and told her about the high protein macros I was following. She told me that the way I work out, there is NO WAY 15% carbs would fuel my body the way I need to be fueled. She explained that is probably why I couldn't even hold a side plank by Friday a few weeks ago.  So I researched macros for runners and found a better balance at 45% carbs, 30% protein, 25% fat.  Those numbers have been a lot more realistic for me and my workouts have felt MUCH better!

I have a bunch of food porn pictures, but I'll save that for my next post! 

Do you have any phenomenal ways (that aren't smoothies) to get more green in your day? 

Protein Crazy!

So I've tried to focus on my macros more this week. I'm still at 166 with no movement, so I'm hoping if I start to actually focus on the the specific nutrients, maybe I can get the scale moving!

Here are my macro calculations according to my weight and loss goals: 
As you can see, my protein is astronomical. At least, for someone who barely ever breaks 100g of protein a day - see evidence A below, my protein intake for the last 90 days!

Evidence A

I have no earthly clue how to git fit this much protein into my day.  Today was the closest I've come, obviously according to the chart above - and I really feel like I CANNOT eat like this daily

Today, I had:

• 1 cup greek yogurt with flax and honey
• Tuna salad with 2 egg whites in it
• Smoothie with 2 scoops of protein powder
• 10oz of Salsa chicken
• 6 oz greek yogurt, 1 scoop protein powder, flax 

I hit 190 g of protein. Of course, when I work out MyFitnessPal adjusts my totals so my goal is 246 for today - how is this POSSIBLE without eating an entire cow?!? Seriously, I feel like I ate a ton at dinner - 10oz of chicken!! - and it didn't get me close! 

I won't lie - where is says "REPEAT" at the bottom?
I actually told the screen to eff off. 

Anyhow, I am feeling more and more fit again, which is making my heart happy. I love being back at the gym but I'm also finding ways to work out from home and incorporate my kiddos.  I found an awesome HIIT workout on Pinterest that I did yesterday at home. 



My little guy is home with me during hte day and so he did this workout "with" me.  Although during the squats (about 30 in) he said "Mama, this hurts my bones!!"    He lasted until about the first pushup, then he went about playing around the room while I finished up :-) 

Tonight, I did this awesome treadmill workout. I had to adjust the speeds down by about .5 after awhile, but I was able to keep with it until 44 minutes!

So here's to a good final weigh in. I won't be able to join my FitNuts next month but I'm hoping to keep the momentum going on my own, while staying in touch with the main page!

Spinning tomorrow!! Excited to see the results from the HRM when I take the class!