Starting Over... Again

I think I get the "Worst Blogger of the Year" award for 2012.  At the beginning of May 2012, my life changed a lot.  It's been an adjustment to say the least... being single again, venturing back out to the dating world, adjusting to a new job, and kind of getting lost with my direction in life.

The week of Christmas (last week), I came to a realization that life is going to continue to move forward all around me, whether I like it or not.  That also means that I am not going to reach my goals by sitting on the couch.

I stepped on the scale Christmas morning, and while I had known that the scale had slowly been creeping up... I thought my 2-3 workouts a week were "doing enough".  Well I think I was living in denial.  That whole calories in calories out thing is not a myth!  As of Christmas day, 2012... the scale had moved back up to 185.8lbs.  A number that I had never wanted to see again.  While I am not back at my heaviest weight, and I am a lot healthier now than I have been previously... I know I can do so much better and be in much better shape than I am currently in.

So... I stopped making excuses, signed back up for Weight Watchers and recommitted to getting  healthy BEFORE that dreaded "New Year's Resolution" day came.  It needs to be a life change, not a New Year's resolution.  Christmas night was spent "retooling" my kitchen... calculating WW points for all my food, tossing too tempting for me junk, pulling out some healthy recipes, and meal planning!  It's all still a work in progress.  I will be training for my 2nd half marathon along with other races, continuing to go to spin classes, and working on strength training with my personal training 1x per week.  I am also considering hopping in the pool once a week and swimming some laps (TBD).

So here I am at 185.8lbs, in my new running clothes... which are tight and yet another reason to lose weight!:

I also had my quarterly fitness assessment for work today.  I failed :(  I hate failing.  That was my 2nd wake up call to make a life change.  You may be wondering why it's a big deal?  Well by failing the assessment today... my insurance premiums increase by $125 per month.  OUCH.  I can test back into the program, but I have some work to do.  A loss of 4% body fat is required!

My stats from today (which I will also update on a quarterly basis):

• Height: 66 inches
• Weight: 182.7 lbs. (6 days on Weight Watchers and I am down 3.1 lbs... official weigh in is Wednesday)
• BMI: 29.5
• Waist Measurement: 29.5 inches
• Hip Measurement 44.0 inches
• Body Fat: 27%

Goal Stats:

• Height: 66 inches
• Weight: 155 lbs.
• BMI: 25
• Waist Measurement: TBD
• Hip Measurement: TBD
• Body Fat: 21%

Here's to a happy, healthy 2013!

Week 16 of 19 in training...

I have been a bad blogger again!  I was just swamped this week with no extra time but to sleep!  Last week we celebrated Easter out in Wisconsin Rapids after I finished my 7.6 mile run on Saturday morning (4/14).  It was an out and back route on the Fox River trail... I paced 10:42, which is pretty decent for me!

Monday night I visited the Sports Medicine workout center for the first time (Aurora BayCare Sports Medicine) - I get a $10 membership per month for being an employee of BayCare.  It's a nice facility... Ryan joined me for a treadmill run at 7:30pm - so we knew it wouldn't be busy.  They have AWESOME locker rooms and I really like their brand of treadmills, FreeMotion!  They don't bounce AT ALL, which makes it nice to watch TV on them b/c you don't get crappy picture quality then.  They also have the motors in the back, instead of the front which is better for the life span of the treadmill - and it gives your legs more freedom in the front of the machine to move.  (Pssst... I know so much about these machines b/c I researched and purchased 2 FM treadmills when I was working at PAi for their fitness center).  Monday's run was 5.25 miles on the treadmill for a pace of 10:47 - total time 56:39.  The first 3 miles were dreadful because I had no fan blowing on me - when Ryan hopped off to go shower - I stole the fan :)

Here's the beauty:

 

I wasn't able to fit in my 2nd weekday run... I had dinner plans Wednesday & I taught a 3 hour class on Thursday night for the PHR study group through SHRM.  Running the 7 miles (or at all) was just not happening at 9pm :(

Last night Ryan and I enjoyed dinner out at the Ten-O-One club, I had a chicken breast salad with their AMAZING breadsticks (I ordered an extra ;)).  Ryan had perch.  Their services was exceptionally good and so fast... we were in and out in less than an hour!  That basically never happens at any restaurant.

This morning I was dragging butt to get out of bed... so I pushed getting up to 6am.  I have found that I just can't eat before I fun.  The last few weeks I've avoided getting sick by not eating before running.  I told myself I had to get up and run - otherwise I knew I would find a way to skip out on my run.  I did AMAZING this morning!!!  9.75 miles in 1:44... or a 10:40 pace!! :)  I walked through the water stations at miles 3, 5, & 7 (plus at mile 5 I had to shed a layer - which meant removing my armband and putting it back on).  Bring on 4, 7, and 11 mile runs next week!!!

Have a great rest of the weekend... I get to spend some time with two very special boys today! :)