It Starts

So I told you I would update you on my running plan. It only took me three days... I was really hoping I'd be jumping to get on my blog the next day and say "hey guys guess what? I'm cured!". Which is why instead I thought long and hard about the state of my blog, and what I want it to be.

Because I was afraid to blog about something that didn't work out, if that makes sense. And that isn't what I want for this blog. I don't want it to be all happy successes, I want to be able to record the stuff that doesn't work out too. I want to be more honest, because out of everything, honesty is something I have a lot of trouble with in regards to losing weight.

So the run. It didn't work out great. And the most frustrating part was, I felt awesome running. Normally I start out and the first  5 minutes or so are hell, and then I reach the point where I feel ok. This time, from the get go my legs felt strong (thank you crosstraining/hiking!), my breathing was steady, I felt great.. But then after about 7 minutes I felt the side pain. It started to go away a bit as I ran, but then I took a walking break for 3 minutes,and couldn't really shake it after that.. But I definetly think stopping to walk it out hurt me more than it helped. I mean it helped initially, but once I went back to running it was 10 times worse :-/

The upside? I completed 1.5 miles. And the pain went away eventually.

But I'm not giving up. It felt so good to run, and I feel like this isn't something I can't figure out. I'm going to keep on trying, seeing if I can find different ways to work this. I am going to try and run outside next week, and come up with a game plan. I'm going to eat less this time (maybe just the apple before, and then the crackers and cheese after?), drink more before, and stretch out even better. I was able to 25 minutes on the eliptical after the run, so I feel like this isn't anything serious, just one of those annoying things that plague my life :-P

I remember last fall, when I first started to get the knee pain, and I just stopped running/working out. I would do some videos, and walk, but I didn't really give the effort I should have. Which is why my weight loss stagnated.

This time is soo different. I am still doing intense cardio, just in a different form. I'm learning to cope with the eliptical (even if I don't love it), and I've found a love of hiking. I love the feeling of working towards something, which hiking is the ultimate form of that (reaching the top!). It's also a great way to spend time with M and my sisters, and in an odd way very relaxing, because it's so quiet and peaceful out there. And, as a plus I burn crazy calories doing it.

So my lack of running hasn't been a complete wash, like it was in October. Which is a definite plus. I do feel like ever since I hit 199 my motivation to follow the plan has gone out the window. Not that I haven't been following, I have. I've been tracking, but I've done little things that I have no excuse for. They are just lazy. Like seeing pie on the counter and grabbing two small slices and eating them standing up. Or eating 2 cookies on the way to the park yesterday. Or getting a chocolate donut with  breakfast this morning (at least I tracked that one). There are others, but these are ones that sick out. And I promise you, these aren't worth it splurges. These are impulsive ones. These are me not being 100% into my weight loss.

I need to find that motivation I had this time last year. Where spending time at the gym didn't seem like such a bother, and eating a healthy meal M-F wasn't so hard.

I think a large part of it is that I hit a big milestone (199), and because of that, my next true milestone (besides hitting a new decade) will be goal weight. Which right now is 160 but I may lower to 155 (I'll post about finding a goal weight soon). And the idea of hitting goal is scary stuff, because it makes everything real. I have such a hard time admitting what I've achieved so far.\And working towards actually hitting a healthy weight is such a different thing for me. I've never been there before. It's always been to get outta the 200's, and we've entered into unchartered territory now.

I'll get there, I promise, it's just something I've had to come to terms with. But I'm ready. I'm going to own these last 40 odd pounds. I'm ready to be an athlete and be proud of what I achieve, instead of feeling I have to hide it, because the idea of me being considered athletic is just a ridiculous notion.

So to start, my plan for this week:
-Friday- Date night! It was supposed to involve a lot of drinking, but plans changed to pizza, mini golf, and a few beers at the brewery by the beach. Fabulous :-)
-Saturday-Hiking! Stir Fry for lunch, hopefully babysitting
-Sunday- Doing a video? And walking. Definetly walking.
-Workout Tuesday and Wednesday night. Take a walk on Thursday.
-pretrack GHG's, to get em in ;-)

and with that, TGIF! It's been a long week, I'm ready for Friday :-)

Weekly Recap

So I've had this written up for awhile, but I was waiting to get my pictures for it. Unfortunetly my computer decided to be an ass and NOT upload pictures, so the hiking ones will come at a later time :-)
Friday night I met up with M and we headed into Cambridge for Dinner at the Elephant Walk. It was a really cute place. It was really pricey (at least for us) so I can't say I would have gone if not for the Groupon, but I still am glad we went. Isn't that the point of the groupon, to try new places?

Anyways we asked to sit outside and they told us it would probably be 10 minutes. No problem.

25 minutes later we are still waiting. I'm hungry, and getting crabby. We go over and ask again and the girls apologize, saying they thought a couple was leaving but I guess they didn't. Which is fine, but I was slightly bugged that they didn't let us know that, since there was no wait to sit inside.

We finally got a table outside after a half an hour. We both ordered drinks, M got a beer and I ordered one of their specialty drinks. It was a white wine fused with fruit liquor, it was delish:

It tasted like a strong sangria, definetly what I was looking for!

Elephant walk is a Cambodian/French restaurant, two types of food I had never had before. M ordered a french dish, a bone in chicken thigh with noodles, and I ordered a lemongrass chicken off the cambodian menu.

we both agreed mine was better. It was delicious and full of flavor, I was slightly worried I wouldn't like it, or it would be too different but I loved it. M's dish was good, but the noodles had a bit of a weird aftertaste. I think it was just a bit too rich for me.  I also only ended up eating half of my plate, which made me feel good :-) yay for progress!

Either way, a really good meal. I don't know if I would go back without the coupon, just because it was way overpriced (the food was good, but not the best meal I've ever had), but either way a good time. After this we walked down the road to Cambridge Common, a beer bar that has an outstanding tap. They have about 30 beers on tap, 10-12 regulars, and then 10 rotating taps, and 4 specialty ones. It features the big microbrews, a lot of local places (cambridge brewing, pretty things, etc), and a few up and common or smaller breweries that you don't normally see at a bar. We both ordered a sampler to start out, I tried a brown ale, a burbon porter-lager fusion, a hefewisen, and an imperial red. The burbon porter-fusion was delicious, as was the imperial red. The other two were good, but not the best I've had.

We followed this with a few rounds :-) I have to say I had a bunch of good beer. My two favorites of the night were the Ommegang BPA

And Bear Republic's Hefewiesen. Which was one of the best wheats I've ever tried. It's a really cute bar too, with a great layout. and it's so cheap (for Boston anyways, most of the beers were around 4.50, with the high alcohol specialty ones topping out at 8 bucks. ). I just wish it was a bit closer.

Saturday I went to the beach with a bunch of my friends. It was nice because we didn't get there till 130, but it was such a gorgeous day and the water was perfect. Not too cold but not warm either. We ended up staying till almost 6pm, it was a great day!It wasn't a good eating day though. I went way over my points,  but hey, it could have been worse :-)

I went home, grilled with M and my sister, and then ended up meeting up with my friend A from New Jersey, who was in town for the weekend visiting family friends with her mom. I stole her away and we went out wiht our other friend A, and two of my friends to Tequilla Rain. It was fun, but I truly think I'm done with those "douchey bars". you know the types, the ones that always have a cover. The big dance floors, always filled with bachelorette parties, and drinks that tend to stay in the 8-10 dollar range. It was fun to dance with my friends, but there are just so many other places that are better, and more fun. It was just filled with creepy guys, and rude girls pushing into you constantly. We all agreed it wasn't really our type of place. But it was still fun :-)

Sunday I felt kinda crappy, and I didn't even drink that much the night before (I offered to DD to save money and to make sure we could get home ok). I woke up my feet hurt and my neck was still. I brought my friend A back to her family, and went home planning on going to the gym with my sister. After an hour of procrastinating she suggested we go for a hike instead. Where I hadn't worked out at all since Wednesday, I wanted to do something, so I agreed and we set off with a ton of water (and an ice pack to keep it cold). It was an awesome hike. Really hot, but it was nice and cool in the trees. And I took some pictures, so my fellow bloggers can actually have some visuals, for once :-)

So all in all, I had a great weekend! Was it a perfect WW one? No, but I tracked everything, and Friday and sunday I was pretty good as far as food went, plus I burnt a crazy amount of calories on my hike, thanks to the 94 degree weather.

Here's how the rest of the week is turning out
M- Stayed within my points, and I worked out, even though I was not feeling it at all. I did the No More Trouble Zones  video, burnt 300 calories, and definetly felt it the next day :-)
T-  M and I went to see Horrible Bosses. We grabbed sandwiches from Fresh market for dinner, and then had two beers at Beer Works following the movie. Great movie, btw. I love Charlie Day. And My affection for Jason Sudekis is rapidly growing :-)
W- Crazy workout session. I ended up going for an hour and ahalf and burning 1068 calories! I am sore today!
Th-Cardio After work, I am going to try to ease back into running
Happy July Everyone! I can't believe how fast it's going!

Sometimes You Need a 9pm Bedtime

That's how I felt last night, anyways!
I was supposed to go to a midnight showing of Harry Potter last night (actually it was a double feature of the first and 2nd, starting at nine), but I woke up yesterday morning feeling exhausted, sinusy, and sounding like a manly version of myself. So After some debate I decided to cancel and stay in, for my health. I know myself, and staying out late + only getting 4 hours of sleep would not have been a good combination for me. I could almost promise you I would wake up sick. I won't lie, I was kind of looking forward to a midnight showing, but I think I would have won the bad decision award if I had gone.

I was just so exhausted. So I said my goodnights and went to bed, where I promptly passed out, and didn't wake up till this morning.

Best Decision ever. I don't know what was making me feel so gross all week, but I can tell you my best solution for that pre-sick feeling is getting extra sleep. I will always standby my method sleeping extra. It really does make you feel instantly better :-)

A 1.4 loss doesn't hurt that "feeling better" feeling either, haha. I was really excited about this one, because I felt like this was my first truly OP week in awhile. I worked out 3X (4 if you count my dog walk yesterday). ate all my weeklies but not beyond that, and tracked everything. So It's nice to know that this method is working!

Speaking of my dog walk, while walking the little guy (my dog is a dauschund chiawawa mix, so he's pretty little -30lbs), we went to the park, and came across this giant dog. I'm not talking german shepard/bernese mountain dog big, I'm talking the dog's body came up past my waist big.

I have no idea what kind it was, but it was not leashed. Which bothered me, not because he was vicious or anything, but because he was not well trained. And followed us all around the park, which visibly bothered toby. And I'm sorry but especially with a dog that sized, if he won't listen to you calling him back, that makes me very nervous. Especially where he kept on trying to "play" with my dog (like pounce on him and such), which upset little Toby even more. I said something to the owner about it, telling her that no offense, but it made me a little nervous where he got so far away from her and her response was "oh he won't hurt you" Yea, well your dog is upsetting my dog, and is badgering us on our walk

This is a park with tons of little kids. We were right near the playground. I'm not questioning the nature of the dog, but with any dog really, if he isn't going to listen to your commands, you should leash him when he is around other people/dogs. Not let him run clear across the park (it took the owner 10 minutes to catch up with him because he ran so far away). Just my 2 cents. And for what it's worth, Toby is very well behaved (like he won't bite anyone), but has a tendency to wander off and get distracted very easily. So I never let him off his leash. I'll run with him, and play with him, but I know how he can get, and I would hate for him to wander up to someone or some dog that doesn't want to see him, and have him get hurt/someone get offended, you know?

<3

And for the record,  I love dogs of all sizes, this one situation just bothered me. I've had plenty of seemingly nice dogs growl at Toby, or other dogs take swipes at him. If this dog did that he would have seriously hurt him, with his size and everything.

moving on, I have a semi quiet weekend set up for myself. Tonight is date night. M got a groupon to this Cambodian-French restaurant in Cambridge, so we are heading over there after work. I'm excited, it is all very original food, nothing I've ever even heard of before. I'm looking forward to trying it!
http://www.elephantwalk.com/cambridge/index.html

Then we are heading over to this beer bar right down the street from the restaurant. We went once before in February, and loved it. They have an amazing beer selection, and the atmosphere is very relaxed and comfortable. I plan on getting a few beers and enjoying myself :-)

Tomorrow is a beach day, and Sunday I may go for a hike with the sisters/go see Harry Potter. Either way it's shaping up to be a good weekend!!