5K...Tomorrow!

My brother, Mark, and I are running a 5K tomorrow.

Directions to 5K location...check.
Winter running gear - located and clean...check.
Safety pins to secure registration number...check.
Essentials in wrist wallet...check.
A whole bunch of other stuff...check.

We'll be warming up for the race in about 12 hours. Wahoo!

Netflix and some other things

Some days I wonder what I ever did without Netflix. How did I spend so much time watching current programming on TV when I could have been watching the full series of shows that I just missed when they were on TV, or shows that I haven't seen since I was a youngster?

Shows such as this old favorite from when I was about 4.



Now I've got a song in your head...You're welcome.

In weigh in news, I gained .2 over the week of Christmas. I think that's pretty awesome. The fact that I've been gaining and losing the same 1-2 pounds since November...not so awesome.

And in restaurant news, I went to a place in DC with some of my co-workers called "Freshii." I'm not sure I would order what I ordered again, but it was good. Just a little too much onion. It's a place that's as healthy/vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free as you decide to make it.

It's getting to that time of year where the clementines aren't quite as sweet as they were a few weeks ago. Just thought I would mention that in case you were thinking of buying some next time at the grocery store.

Countdown: 5K is 2 days away!

April 2011 - MS Walk

I was outside running a few minutes ago and thinking about the 5K on Saturday, and thinking about the 5K that I walked in April this year to benefit the National MS Society. My team walked a 5K in less than an hour in the pouring rain which was better than we did other years.

Running a 5K will be really different from anything I've tried before. Exciting times.

Personal Best

This morning I've been thinking about why I workout at the gym, besides the fact that it's something that I truly enjoy. Why do I try to row more meters than the day before? Why do I continue to hold plank when I think my core muscles are going to stop working? Why do I try for one more chin-up?

I think it's because I love achieving a personal best. I love knowing where I started and seeing how far I've come. I love seeing improvement.

Today I held plank for a minute and 30 seconds. First time ever. Personal best. I also had a personal best at the chin-ups and dips weight machine.

I used to track all my personal bests in my food journal. I think it's time that I started doing that again.

Just a few days until Christmas and I'm thinking about my workouts for the rest of the week. Probably running outside a few days, and working out at the gym a few days.

525,600 minutes

My journey to develop a healthier lifestyle began a year ago today. You'd never guess that with all the food I just ate at a Christmas party, but it is very true.

I’ve spent a good part of the last 525,600 minutes cooking more than I ever have, eating healthier foods that I never would have tried, clocking uncounted miles on the treadmill, and rowing thousands of meters on the rowing machine. And I've spent hours and hours researching ways to improve my heart health. I’ve gone from not being able to hold plank for 15 seconds, to being able to hold plank for a minute and 15 seconds. I’ve learned that I love sweet potatoes and my go-to snack is now hummus and crackers or carrots. Good health is worth every minute of the effort.

A year ago, I started out on the Mayo Clinic diet, then switched to counting calories. I've lost over 60 pounds, and I'm well on my way to reaching my weight loss goal.

I got a gym membership in January, and started working out 2-3 days a week with Gary, my personal trainer. I committed to keeping my training appointments and to keeping my personal workout schedule, so I have been at the gym 5-6 days a week this year. I only missed 3 days, and each of those days, I would have rather been at the gym. I missed a day for snow, a day for spring-time allergies, and a day for a meeting at work. Not too bad.

Here are just a few things that I’ve gained from training with Gary, my personal workouts, counting calories, and living a healthier lifestyle this year:
1. I sleep better.
2. I haven't needed to take allergy medicine in a long time.
3. I’ve gone from a size 22 to a size 14, from size 2X to Large.
4. General health is better. I’ve been able to drop one blood pressure medication, and I’m likely to be able to drop the next one in the next few months. My blood pressure didn’t change when I dropped 50 pounds on WeightWatchers without working out at the gym. Working out makes the difference.
5. General mood is better.
6. Water intake way up, caffeine intake slim to none.

Looking ahead to the next 525,600 minutes, I'll be running my first 5K, reaching my weight loss goal, and staying with my healthier lifestyle. I'm sure there will be many other exciting things coming up next year on this journey, those are just the things that I know right now.

Running in the Cold

Santa decided to get me a running jacket for cold weather this year. I got to be the elf that chose the jacket, so I tried it out today. (Don't worry. I'll wash it, and wrap it, and put it under the tree.) I had no idea what a difference good cold weather running gear makes. Now I know.

I walked outside and it was still cold, but as soon as I started running, I was perfectly comfortable.

Today was my best outdoor run yet. I ran much further than the first time, and really didn't walk much at all.

5K is 2 weeks away. Getting better all the time.

Oatmeal...It's not just for baking cookies any more

Breakfast is a good meal, but I rarely have time in the morning to sit down and eat breakfast. I usually pack it with my lunch and run to the metro and eat my breakfast at work. (Typical breakfast: Chobani Yogurt and a banana.) Today I took the time to sit down and eat breakfast because there is a recipe for Oatmeal that I found in Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease that I love.

Slice a banana into a bowl, cover with 3/4 cup of old-fashioned oatmeal, sprinkle with raisins. Add apple juice to nearly cover oatmeal (like adding milk to cereal). Then microwave for 1:30 minutes.

Simple enough and very good.

Getting back to normal

Running at the gym tonight was better than it has been for the last several days. Starting to think that I might be able to run the 5K again.

I was down 5 pounds when I weighed in last week. Normally I would say that's really awesome, but I think a very stressful meeting is a high price to pay for a good number on the scale. My eating habits were horrible, my real exercise was worse. I'm getting back to normal with my eating habits this week, too.

This week is going to be busy. Goals this week: Stay hydrated, gym in the morning.

1 Down, 1 To Go

Since 2006, I have been on 2 blood pressure medications: Topol XL (I took the generic version) and Benicar. The dosages on both have been reduced throughout 2011. Today I had a doctor appointment to check on my blood pressure, and my doctor dropped the Toprol XL from my medications. So now I am down to one medication. Wahoo!

Benicar, your days are numbered.

Meetings are over...

...they went well, and now it's time to get back to the gym (as in I am leaving for the gym as soon as I publish this post). I would have gone to the gym Monday and Tuesday night, but I wasn't confident that I could walk on the treadmill without falling off and hurting myself. I was that tired.

If you are also on your way to the gym, have a good workout.

Cooking...Gone Awry

Cooking a meal in a crock pot really shouldn't be difficult. I was making a straightforward recipe: meat goes in first, then a can of corn, can of black beans, jar of salsa, a few other things without high fat/calorie content...easy right? I had made this recipe in the past and it had been a recent favorite. (Maybe this is what I get for cooking with chicken again?) So I was ladling the "Fiesta Chicken" onto my plate, and thought, "This looks a little off." It wasn't supposed to be so soupy. So then I got thinking through the recipe (without looking at the recipe), and I realized I forgot to add the rice. I was glad I hadn't started to put the leftovers in the fridge yet. I added the rice, and now it will be right for all the leftovers.

"Fiesta Chicken" is good comfort food - perfect for dinner after getting home from council meetings at work this week.

I figure my brain drain from the meeting is why I missed a key factor in this recipe. As always, I'll be glad when the meeting is over.

Registered

I registered today to run a 5K on December 31. It's in Ashburn, not too crazy early in the morning, and it's timed.

30 days away.

About a month ago, I was buying some new running shoes and the guy started asking me questions to help figure out the best shoe, so I told him that I was doing the Couch to 5K running program, and that I was close to finishing it. He asked when I was going to run a 5K, and I said, "Well, my goal was really just to be able to run for 30 minutes." Then he replied, "You should run a 5K just as a celebration." The guy gave me the store copy of Washington Running Report and told me that all the races for November and December were listed in the back. It's a good thing I ran into that guy, because I would have had no clue how to find a 5K, and I wouldn't have known there were so many each weekend.

So now I'm off to the gym. Gotta get a run in since I haven't been home in time to run a single day this week. I've only been able to get to my morning training sessions.

This week has been amazingly busy at work prepping for a meeting next week. Registering for the 5K has been a bright spot. I was just getting ready to publish this post, and thought, "Oh my gosh...it's for real."

Yoga - Savasana or "Corpse Pose"

On Saturday mornings, I frequently go to an 8:00 a.m. yoga class at the gym. It's a good class and there's not usually many poses that are too difficult for me to figure out. Nothing too "pretzel-y."

I'm starting my actual description of yoga classes at the end. Maybe some time I'll mention some of the other poses that are in the middle. A few weeks ago, the yoga instructor said that she didn't mind if people left the class early, but that if we are already at Savasana or "corpse pose," she would prefer that you just wait until the class is over. Savasana is always the last pose of the class before the end. Yesterday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, there were probably 6 people that left during Savasana, and for an already small class, that's pretty distracting. By the end of the class, there was the yoga instructor, the bald guy, and me.

There was an article in the Yoga Journal all about Savasana that I read a few months ago, called "Heavenly Rest" by John Hanc. The article starts out describing how his instructor, Maria, noted his improvement in Savasana, and his response was, "So, I'm getting better at lying on the floor?"

But here is why Savasana is important:

Maria sighed and looked at me reproachfully. "Savasana is a lot more than just lying on the floor."

Now don't get me wrong: I enjoy that delicious rest at the end of class. But until I gave it serious consideration, I thought of Savasana as a yogic chill pill, built into the end of practice to calm yuppies and soccer moms before they climb back into their SUVs and start texting their way to the nearest Starbucks.

Later in the article, there is a concise definition of what Savasana is about:

"How often in life do we give ourselves permission to lie still, relax, and just breathe?" asks Christina Geithner, a yoga teacher and professor of human physiology at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. The benefits of Savasana, says Geithner, who is also a spokeswoman for the American College of Sports Medicine, include reduced muscle tension throughout the body and engagement of the relaxation response in a quiet place without distractions. Plus, you let go of the concerns of the day.

If you are planning to take a yoga class, take the whole yoga class. That includes Savasana.

Day 2 of work this week

Tuesday was my second day of work this week, and when I got there, I was really tired after a tough workout. I'm not as far ahead on the meeting as I probably would have liked to have been, but I don't think it would have made any difference if I had gone to work today.

My workout with my trainer today was as tough as the Tuesday workout, so Thursday and Friday are rest days, and yoga on Saturday, and rest day on Sunday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 1 of work this week

I woke up this morning and went to the gym. Yay! I hardly ever drag myself out of bed on Monday morning to go to the gym because Sunday seems to be my hardest night to get myself to fall asleep. I got up and ran for 25 continuous minutes and that was a first.

I got nothing done at work today because I was answering the phone all day and having to reformat and resend things. Bleh.

My morning workout was completely negated by a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house. The potatoes were awesome...and the chicken...and the salad...and the green beans...and the carrot cake.

Better luck tomorrow.

2 Days

Even though I'm only going to be at work for 2 days this week, I still made lunches for several days. I figure that will help me be prepared for Thanksgiving and after Thanksgiving. I'm making a salad and Butternut Squash, Apple, and Cranberry Bake. I think I'll make a salad that is heart healthy to offset the other thing I'm making.

Good luck with your Thanksgiving meal planning and preparations.

11/17 Weigh in

This weigh in wasn't great. A slight gain, but that's not uncommon after a big loss.

Next week will be good.

HDL

Cholesterol levels are an interesting thing. I don't know my exact numbers right now. (I will know them in a few weeks.) Recently, my total cholesterol has not been bad. My LDL (lousy cholesterol) has been dropping. My HDL (healthy cholesterol) has been steady: a little low, and not rising. So here is what I learned today about cholesterol.

"Our research strongly suggests, in fact, that lower than "normal" HDL levels are not worrisome as long as total cholesterol is well within the safe range - under 150 mg/dL - a finding that has been discussed by other researchers, as well." (Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Esselstyn, p. 49)

Learning something new every day.

Shoulders, Part 2

The follow-up massage appointment wasn't bad. Not as painful as last time since there weren't as many knots.

My running program today wasn't fantastic. Better luck later in the week.

Shoulders

Chin-ups and dips are not the easiest thing in the world, even when you are using a weight machine that offsets some of the weight. I did chin-ups and dips on Saturday morning and my shoulders have been a little tense since then. Normally this wouldn't be anything that I thought too much about. but I have my rescheduled appointment with a massage therapist tomorrow evening. Special focus: shoulders. Should be fun since my shoulders will have extra knots.

Maybe my timing on the chin-ups wasn't great. Actually, not maybe. Bad timing for sure.

11/10 Weigh In

Today's weigh in was awesome and how awesome was totally unexpected. I lost 4.2 pounds this week. No idea how that happened since I thought 2 pounds would have been lucky. I'll take a 4 pound weight loss for the week.

19.8 pounds to go!

Pizza

I made this pizza last week when I was doing pretty well at being plant-strong. I took the leftover pizza to work the next day, and there were 2 co-workers standing next to me near the microwaves. One asked me if I made the pizza and how I made it. My other co-worker said, "That's the best looking lunch I've seen all day."

So you can make pizza without cheese and still be the envy of your co-workers. Just in case you were wondering.

Monday, Monday...again

The time change got me to think that it was about to rain outside just before 5, when really, it was just getting dark. So I wrapped up my work for the day and got out of the office just after 5 (rarely happens). So then I went to the metro and there was a delay on the orange line, so I grabbed something to eat at Potbelly. Then went back to the metro and they weren't even letting people onto the platform, so then I went for a 35 minute walk around DC. Seemed as good a way to kill time as any, and that's one unusual way to get my workout in for the day.

In other news, running on Saturday was pretty awesome. The next phase of my running program was a 5-minute warm-up walk, then running for 20 minutes. Started out fine, lowered my speed from 5.1 to 4.9 a little more than half way through the run, then had only 5 minutes left and still feeling fine. Then finished the 20 minute run. First time ever in life that I have run for 20 minutes with no stops.

More running later this week.

Decision and the Next Day

My grocery list was taking longer to put together than usual. All week I've really been missing my Chobani yogurts and my hard-boiled egg since I started following the Engine 2 diet. See, I had my Monday through Friday breakfast down to a science: Toast and Peanut Butter before my workout, hard-boiled egg after my workout, Chobani yogurt and a banana while checking the e-mail and taking care of the early morning things at work. I tried to find good replacements, but it just wasn't working for me. So I added an egg and Chobani yogurts back into my routine. My lunch and dinner are still completely plant-strong this week. The last thing I want to do is get stressed out about what food I'm eating.

I forgot to mention my weigh in yesterday. I lost the weight I gained last week, plus a couple ounces, so I have exactly 24 pounds to go. :)

Ponderous

I have been studying how to lower my blood pressure and maintain a normal blood pressure since late May of this year. Or you could say early December last year, but actively studying and researching since late May. I've read everything about heart health by Dr. Andrew Saul (the guy sitting in the brown chair in Food Matters) on doctoryourself.com. I've watched Forks Over Knives and Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, and reread portions of The China Study. For the last 2 weeks I've been reading and somewhat following the diet recommendations from 2 books: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., and The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn. There are other books and heart health advocates out there, I just haven't read or watched all of them yet.

And all of my research comes down to this: If you want to have better heart health, you must eat a plant-based diet.

Just in the first 2-3 days of following the diets from the books by the father and son team of the Esselstyns, I could tell a difference in my health and energy. And I could see from monitoring my own blood pressure that this diet would definitely help efficiently control my blood pressure. I currently take 2 blood pressure meds to control my blood pressure. Normal is 120/80. My blood pressure a week ago Thursday was 109/62 (before I started focusing on changing my diet). My blood pressure 2 days ago on Tuesday was 92/63. Yesterday it was 101/66.

This evening I needed a break from studying heart health and plant-based diets, so I went to Five Guys. Why? I figured I would eat something completely off-limits because I needed to make a decision: back to normal and counting my calories which would possibly get me a lower medication doseage, or plant-based and get rid of those blood pressure meds for good? I've made a lot of changes this year, so I figure I might as well go ahead and make one more. Back to plant-based tomorrow.

I read somewhere that Rip Esselstyn's diet was "plant-strong" while his dad's diet was "plant-perfect." I follow Rip Esselstyn's diet: he allows walnuts, pureed cashews in spaghetti, and the use of Pam cooking spray for stir-fry meals. Otherwise, there is no oil at all. I never knew how many things there were that contained oil. And no dairy.

Here are my new 4 Food Groups:
Vegetables
Legumes
Whole Grains
Fruit

Dr. Joel Fuhrman's program is very similar, but he allows fish twice a week and poultry once a week. So maybe that's what I'll try for when I go out to eat.

I'm trying for 90% on the Engine 2 diet. I eat peanut butter and toast before my morning workouts and peanut butter without added oil is just awful. I'll stick with my Skippy Natural. And if I'm making my own vegan pizza, and I can't find a pizza crust without oil, I'm still buying the pizza crust. I figure that gets me to 90% following the Engine 2 diet.

If you haven't tried Haagen-Daz Strawberry Sorbet, I recommend it. And it's totally Engine 2 Diet approved.

Food for Thought

The following quote is from "A Revolution to Restore America's Health Crisis: The Scientific View," by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D and T. Colin Cambell, PHD.

"...studies now show us how rampant cardiovascular disease has become. By age twelve school children develop thickening of their carotid arteries to the brain. Fully 80% of twenty-year old soldiers, dying in combat, are found to have coronary artery heart disease. That figure is now raised to 100% in a more recent study of those men and women between the ages of 16 to 34 years who have died of accidents, homicides and suicides."

"Dr. Lewis Kuller, professor of public health at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as a result of his decade long cardiovascular health study made the following statement: 'All males who are 65 years of age and all females who are 70 years who have been exposed to the typical western diet have cardiovascular disease and should be treated as such.'"

Walking Outside

The day was still somewhat light when I got home from work today, so for my evening workout, I walked outside. I figure there are about 3 days left that I can walk outside after work and today seemed like the day it would be most feasible. It was a good, cold, fast walk around the neighborhood.

I can't believe it's already November.

Happy Halloween

I woke up late this morning. So late that I was even about 20 minutes late for work. Good thing I packed my lunch last night instead of this morning.

There are never many ghosts and goblins that stop by my apartment for Halloween candy, so I didn't buy any this year. (I bought candy last year and hardly any of it was given away.) I'm off to the gym to see how the next phase in my running plan will go. Hopefully awesome.

I hit my knee on my desk at work today and it was one of those pains that really hurt and made me laugh really loud.

Cycling Class

Yesterday was my first cycling class ever in life and it kicked my butt. I went a little early to get my bike fitted correctly and what not. Then the class started and that was fine. The first sprint was fine. Then there was climbing - that was really hard. I sat down for part of it, but kept pedaling. Then there were hovering and climbing intervals and I did the climbing, but not much of the hovering, just kept pedaling through the hovering parts. Then there was more climbing and the climbing got harder and harder, so I would sit down and keep pedaling. Then went back to sprinting and did fine with the sprinting.

Today: Core muscles still sore from medicine ball push-ups at Wednesday's training session, and various exercises at today's training session. Quads sore from cycling class, and various exercises at today's training session.

All classes, training sessions, exercise sessions: totally worth the time and effort.

A Goal and a Weigh In

My weigh in this week was not great. I gained 1.6 pounds. There were a variety of not great food choices and for one of them, the timing was just bad. Who eats something with an unknown calorie count the night before a weigh in? Apparently, I do. I'll put that in my bad idea file.

Earlier in the week, I wrote down a goal for today to try the cycling class at the gym today. I've been giving myself a pep talk for the last few minutes. The cycling classes have always been a little daunting to me, but I'm gonna give it a try.

Quote

“A NASCAR track in North Carolina is selling a funnel cake that's covered with both bacon and chocolate. NASCAR fans are like, “That's just ridiculous. No ice cream?”
-- Jimmy Fallon

Tofu and Coconut Milk

So I tried cooking with 2 new ingredients last night: Tofu and Coconut Milk. I liked the tofu, but I used the wrong kind of coconut milk, so it didn't turn out right.

Better luck next time. I'll use tofu in something else.

Monday, Monday

Stepping it up for the next two weeks means that I am going to the gym in the morning and the evening. Monday mornings don't typically work for me and today was no exception, but I made it to the gym. There was only one problem: I was just starting out on the elliptical, and after about 45 seconds, I was thinking, "Why am I so hungry?" Then I realized that I totally forgot to eat anything before I left my apartment. Oops. Not the most successful workout ever.

But I made up for it this evening. I completed my running workout, and only forgot to bring my water bottle with me when I left the apartment. Lesson learned: A bottle of Dasani water costs movie theater prices at the gym. Remember to bring water bottle.

1999...

...was the year that I bought this dress. It was also the last year that I was able to wear it.


Until now...



The dress totally fits again. Wahoo! It's one of my favorite dresses that I've ever owned in life. I think of this dress as the baseline standard of what should fit me.

A Competition and a Weigh In

I'm in a competition against my trainer to see who can lose more body fat in one month. The next body fat test will be the day before Thanksgiving. Pretty much that means I will stay hydrated, eat as healthy as possible, not miss a workout, and step up my workouts. And take the stairs at work, walk during my lunch break...

Thursdays are my weigh in day. My weigh in this week was good since I lost .8 when I had anticipated a gain. I thought the gain was possible because I went to family reunion out of town for the weekend (both of the lasagnas that were on the table contained 8 pounds of cheese between them - true story from the chef) and went out to eat for my birthday. My workouts this week have been awesome, especially my running program. The running had been kicking my butt lately, and now I'm feeling strong again and getting through the whole thing.

24.2 pounds away from goal!

Green Salad

It's a rare day that I choose to eat green salad. People ask me how much salad I
eat frequently. I don't like lettuce very much, but I do eat spinach salads, and other types of salads. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, I just try to eat things that are different colors.

Eat from the rainbow.

"Before" and "After"

Before





And After

I guess there will be an update to the "after" in the upcoming months.

December 18, 2010 to October 13, 2011

I lost 55 pounds between December 18, 2010, and October 13, 2011. It has been an awesome journey so far, and the changes I have made will last a lifetime. I've entered an interesting part of my journey: I'm 25 pounds away from my ultimate weight loss goal. Then comes the even trickier part of maintaining my weight loss. I've been watching the numbers go down for several months and it will be strange for them to stay in one general location on the scale.

People frequently ask me how I've lost my weight. Here's my secret - counting calories, learning better ways to eat foods I enjoy, and working out at the gym 5-6 days a week, 2-3 of those days each week with a personal trainer. I am committed to this healthier lifestyle and don't plan on going back to my unhealthy habits ever.

55 pounds gone, 25 to go. Wahoo!