Day 15: Ohhhh we're half way there! Woahhhh living on a prayer!

It's day 15 yo!

Whole 30 is going great! Of course, I have my ups and downs.
Here is a quick recap.

Day 7: My brain is an asshole. I woke up in a weird mood. I just felt off. At work I read something that made me more emotional than I should have been… I was to the point of tears for no real apparent reason. I was just overcome with sadness. My mind slipped for a moment and my thought was, "Gosh, some chocolate would make me feel better…" Then it hit me. I was not really sad, I was having a sugar craving from hell! My brain was basically being an asshole, making me sad in hopes of getting sugar! Talk about scumbag brain.
I used this moment as a real learning tool. I clearly have an unhealthy relationship with food. I didn't really realize it until that very moment. Now that I do know this I feel very empowered! You can't fool me scumbag brain!

Day 10 & 11: The website calls these days the hardest days. Knowing these days were when the majority of people quit the program just added fuel to my fire! I pretty much charged through these 2 days with my eyes set on the prize.

Day 12: First time eating out! My mom, sister, and I went out to eat after we went wedding dress shopping for my sis! At first glance of the menu it was very disheartening. Seeing all the things that I couldn't eat was very hard. I ordered shrimp cocktail for an appetizer. I settled with broiled catfish, cabbage, and a double salad. At first bite the catfish was extremely BLAH. Of course my emotions got the better of me… There's nothing quite as awkward as bursting into tears in the middle of a restaurant. I was also upset that I was being dumb and didn't order the crab legs because "they don't taste good without butter!" My mom sweetly ordered me a side of crab legs and I also decided to try to jazz up my fish with some salt. So, salt is amazing. It made my blah fish really delicious! And crab legs are actually DELICIOUS without butter! I really tasted the actual crab! So good! I survived my first meal out and I'd say it was a success!

Since I've started my workouts have been insanely fantastic. I can't really think of the last time that I felt this good or had this much energy.

I have had a really fun time cooking/learning how to cook and trying new recipes! Tonight for dinner I had buffalo turkey meatloaf and roasted broccoli! Who knew roasted broccoli was so freaking delicious!

Well, there is a pile of dishes calling my name that I must attend to…

Have a great week!

Has it really been 3 months since my last post? Dang...

        So, apparently I have fallen down on the job of blogging. Sorry y'all. But not to fear, I'm back now! And boy have I got some crazy developments to share.

#1. Literally just 3 minutes ago I registered for my first half marathon! Gahhhhh!

Now, I have never in my life ran further than 5 miles at once... So yeah. GO BIG OR GO HOME.

#2. I'm doing Whole30!

I'm currently on day 6 and going strong! If you don't know what Whole30 is I highly suggest you check it out!

http://www.whole9life.com

Basically it's no grains, no dairy, no legumes, no sugar. A paleo program on steroids. Lots of meat and veggies!

This is basically the exact opposite of how I had been eating. It has been some what of a shock to my system. I had one hell of a food hangover on days 2 and 3. It really made me realize just how crappy I had been eating. This is also the most cooking I have ever done in my life. And one thing I didn't realize what happens when you cook a lot... SO MANY DISHES! I feel like all I do is cook and do dishes.

Me a year ago would think that the me now has gone completely bonkers... And I'm sure some people I know now may think I've lost it.

Haters gonna hate and Taters gonna tate!

All I can say is that I am determined and feeling good. Watch out world, I am ready to dominate!

Tears at the gym.

If you know me, you know that I am a crier. Happy, sad, mad, whatever the occasion, I'll probably cry. I have been this way my whole life. Once I hit middle school I pretty much got a grip on the water works, but there are still times I lose control. Like today... Today was my reassessment at the gym. That means tape measures, scales, nifty BMI readers, and physically lifting to see if I've improved. Along with all this great fun, my trainer went over my food journal with me (last weeks homework). So, after all the measuring and food critiquing it was time to lift. My tear ducts had other plans... I broke down right in the middle of the gym. It was like the weight of the past few months were crushing me and I had had enough. To be working so, so hard and still be so far away from where I'd like to be just got the best of me. So there I am, crying like a baby in the gym... Feeling so defeated. Then realizing that I AM THAT GIRL CRYING AT THE GYM. I started to cry harder, out of embarrassment. It's a really vicious cycle. My trainer sweetly calmed me down. He assured me he'd help me get to where I want to be. I cried it out and moved on. After my workout I realized I'm only defeated when I say I am. And right now, I am no where close to throwing in the towel. Today was a mere bump in the road. A bump I was bound to hit sooner or later. If anything, I have realized just how much this whole journey means to me and how damn bad I want it. So, if you are reading this and have hit that bump, cry it out and move on. The road gets smoother, I promise. 

I haven't forgotten about you!

Well, once again I have slacked off on the whole blogging thing. So I shall fill you in on my journey since we last saw each other. 

My workouts with my trainer are going great. I can tell that I'm getting stronger, which is awesome. Yesterday actually, I was bench pressing more than some of the guys there! What can I say? I was in beast mode! 

My trainer did leave me with some homework though... I have to track every bite of food I eat. Because, I'm "working too hard not to be losing any weight". I had been really good with what I was eating. Then, all of a sudden I wasn't. I got busy with work and life and got lazy. At one point last week I ate cereal three times in one day... No bueno. 

So, no more cereal (bummer). 

Now, I'm not the best cook. Honestly, I'm no cook. Tonight I had to call for help baking chicken. So, with cereal and fast food definitely out of the picture I need some help on food ideas. I plan to use my day off tomorrow loading up my healthy recipe arsenal on Pinterest. Which I find kind of exciting, because I love trying and discovering new things! If I have any luck and don't burn my kitchen down I will share my food success stories with you! Let's be honest, I'll probably share the epic fails with you as well. 

According to my clock it is officially Sunday Funday Runday! I have a lovely little run planned in park I recently discovered.  The trail is around a lake, it's absolutely heavenly. Have a great day! I shall report back with foodie things soon! 

Hello There!

It has been a busy 2 and a half weeks! I've been keeping up with my trainer twice a week. My running... well... It's been a little hit or miss, thanks to a busy work schedule and really gross weather.
My last session with my trainer was a reassessment  workout again, goodness a month goes by fast!
Seeing results really makes all the hard work worth it. I can hold a plank for 12 seconds longer and bench press 10 more lbs and squat 30 lbs more!!!

And yesterday I ran my second 5k. Now, this race wasn't exactly planned. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I signed up a little over a week ago. I was bored and decided I needed something to do. Like I said before, my running has been a little hit or miss, so I just decided to wing it! The morning of the race I had a battle with my alarm. At one point I actually decided to just sleep in and forget the race... It was raining and 5:30 in the morning. I was in no mood to leave the comfort of my bed. Thankfully I talked myself into being awesome and running! It was definitely worth it! I did get rained on and I didn't exactly run fast, but it was a good time and I felt great afterwards! Had I slept in I would be regretting it right now.
The beginning of this race was definitely intimidating. There were people everywhere. I think there were like 2000 something people in the race and the street where the starting line was was small. My claustorphobia was getting a workout. People were everywhere stretching and warming up like crazy. Most had like fancy running clothes on, I was there in gym shorts and a t shirt just like hanging out. Once the race started... holy cow. I got clipped by at least 2 crazies with strollers and had to jump out of the way of half a dozen more. So annoying! The race went really well. It was a bit disheartening when I finally reached the 2 mile marker THERE WERE RUNNERS ALREADY RUNNING BACK TO THE START LINE! Overachievers. But I'm sorry, if you are so fast and crazy enough to run all 3.1 miles back to the start line, please, please take another route. Like really. C'mon! But overall it was a great run, so great in fact that I passed up the free ice cream at the finish line!

p.s. I also got a cool finisher medal! I'm all about the hardware!

My friend Ralph

 Today has just been one of those days. It's my first day off in over a week. I was super excited to start it off with a good workout and then see a movie and maybe do a little shopping. Well, that did not happen. Instead I ended up spending my afternoon in the veterinary clinic with my dog. Luckily she's fine, just not the day off I imagined.

  And my workout...

So the trainers at my gym got this new workout called "The Dirty Thirty". It's 30 exercises, 30 reps of each in 30 minutes (or as fast as possible). Since at the moment I'm no where close to actually surviving the whole "Dirty Thirty" I did a slight variation, only 15 reps of a majority of the workouts. Now, this may have been ok if a sane individual were doing it. But no, it was me...

 I don't think I have mentioned my competitive problem  before. Well, I am super competitive. Sometimes insanely so. Why? I have no clue. And most of the time it is with the weirdest stuff.  Well, as I was doing my little workout there were 2 trainers also doing the Dirty Thirty. And for whatever reason my mind was all like, "C'MON! YOU ARE JUST AS GOOD AS THEY ARE!!!! GO FASTERRRRRRRR! FASTERRRRR!" These were trainers... They get paid to be in shape! And me... I'm slowly getting in shape. Even though my trainer was telling me that it wasn't a race (my brain ignored this) and I could take me time ("Yeah right!") I did not listen. To make a long story not so long, I ended up having to "Call Ralph" in the middle of my workout. Now, having gone through some truly hellish workouts in my younger days, this was the first time I ever vommed while working out. Now, it was a hard workout and all, but I was not expecting the sudden call from Ralph. It has been a weird day...

On the bright side, I did get a good workout in, even if my competitive edge threw me off course a bit, and I did get to spend some quality time with my pup.

I did not wear the right bra for this...

   When is the last time you did a jumping jack? Me? It was at least 7 years ago, if not more. Well, jumping jacks were on my trainer's list for my monthly evaluation. My first thought when he told me was, "I did not wear the right bra for this." Which made him really nervous and embarrassed. I was half kidding, but my "girls" were not. I was never a member of the itty-bitty-titty-committee, I have always been large and in charge. And those of you out there who are blessed with "a rack" know that you have certain bras for certain activities. I was not wearing my heavy duty, secret service sports bra that is really necessary for jumping activities. After some internal debating on whether I would take BW up on postponing the jumping jacks I thought, "Screw it! Do I really care what anyone in here thinks about my jiggly boobies?" No, I did not care one bit. And it was only a minute's worth of jumping jacks, so right sports bra or not, it wasn't going to kill me...
Ok, so back to the actual jumping jacks. BW asked if I had done jumping jacks, I laugh, "Of course I have!" Then the moment came to do one... And I froze. It was like spelling a really simple word and getting all confused because it doesn't look right. I knew what to do it just seemed all wrong. It was a tad bit embarrassing. Oh well, if my life wasn't embarrassing I would have no good stories to tell you!

As I said it was an evaluation day with my trainer. This time I got to see what my max out weights were. I actually surprised myself quite a bit. Having not formally lifted weights in almost 5 years I was really unsure where I was at. Well, I benched 115 lbs, which is more than I ever did in high school, and squatted 145 lbs! Now that I know where I stand I am excited to beat my record next during next months evaluation!

Now the biggest area of improvement was my plank. On the first day I started 2 months ago I could only hold a plank for 24 seconds. And they were 24 seconds of pure hell.

TODAY I HELD A PLANK FOR 55 SECONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I more than doubled my plank time! My trainer was super excited! It is so exhilarating finally being able to see and feel real change!