September 1!

SO. How have we done this month?
Calories by September 30
11269/15800
Pounds by September 30:
2.6/10 (womp womp)

Ok, you see it?

Good because I'm resetting it. I'm only 4500 calories away from my goal, and I'm definetly not gonna hit 10 pounds by September 30. Because I chose booze and candy over staying within my calories, basically.

But the past month has been good for me. I feel in control. And I haven't gained weight. If anything, I've gained muscle. I feel thinner, I can see a difference in my body from the begining of the summer. And that, to me is 10 times more important than hitting 190.

But I wanna get there! So Here are my September goals!

By September 30
Goal 1	10,000 Calories Burnt
Goal 2	4 Pounds
Goal 3	Work out 16 times
Goal 4	Pretrack 50% of meals and track everything!

Definetly attainable, if I work at it.I have a lot of things coming up this month (visiting my friend D, Red Sox game, Kaiser Chiefs concert, girls night), but I know if I plan ahead and resist temptation more than I have been, I can do it!

I also updated my financial goals for last month. Not a great month, but I am going to be better this month!

Running Freaking Rockstar

That's right, I said it.

A bit premature? Probably. But whatever. Because for the first time in a loong time (minus the one good run I've had since June) I ran. With no problems. And it. felt. amazing. And then yesterday, I did it again.


And I'm cautiously optomistic. :-)

I decided to run outside on Monday, mainly because it was low 70's and gorgeous. No clouds, a nice breeze, seriously one of the nicest days I've seen this year and I was of course stuck inside all day. So I headed to the Pope park (where I was running steadily into June at least once a week) and started out. My plan was to go a few weeks back on the couch to 5k program, to the 5min run 3 min walk 8 min run 3 min walk 5 min run breakdown. In total, I figured I could do both loops and the small trail, bringing me to 2.3 miles total.

I did it. I was a sweaty mess by the end, but I had NO side pain. To say I felt empowered doesn't even begin to give the feeling I had justice. In the past 2 months I haven't been able to run this distance (granted I did it in walking intervals, but still the majority was running!) without being crippled with cramps so bad they made me want to cry.

I think part of the reason I was able to do it with no pain was because I haven't run in awhile, so I've been giving it time to heal. I also ate a snack 2 full hours before, which may be key for the future. I have stomach issues, I have to admit that. Even with the gallbladder surgery, I am going to have some digestive issues for the rest of my life, and it's very possible that it just takes me awhile to digest my food. Either way 2 hours prior will be my rule of thumb for now on when it comes to running workouts.

I'm not sure when exactly I actually started to like running. I think with losing weight it has become slightly easier (and when I say easier, I mean I don't feel like dying), but I love the way I feel when I'm running, and the way I feel afterwards. It gets my heart rate up high, and I just feel so much more accomplished than I do on the eliptical, you know? To me, running is exciting, even on a treadmill. The eliptical is boring, and not nearly as challenging, for me anyways.But Monday and Tuesday nights made me realize just how much I've missed running, and missed the way I feel when I finish. It's amazing to be able to do it again.

Last night was a gym workout, but I decided to run again, because why not? I did 10 minutes high intensity on the eliptical, then 20 minutes running (3 minute warm up, 6 minute running 2 minutes walking 7 minutes running and 5 minute cooldown). Again, no pain. I kept my snack early again, and stretched out like crazy. I did 1.4 miles, and then went back and did 12 minutes on the eliptical. And I was starving by the end.

That part of my night was great. I burnt 615 calories in 50 minutes, and was pretty happy. Then I got home. And there was no dinner yet because we were ordering pizza and my sisters weren't hungry yet. Ok fine whatever. Long story short, I stepped on the end of my gym bag by accident, making the plastic ball on the end of the cord ricoche up and smack me in the neck, leaving a nice, painful welt. My sisters took a half hour to drive down the street and pick up the pizza, so even though I got home at 7 and asked that they order it soon, and after they took a half hour to order, and a half hour screwing around the house before they left. We didn't end up eating it till 830 which made me crappy and starving. Because they went to Walgreens and to get ice cream prior to getting the pizza. Knowing how hungry I was and just not caring. I mean, If I had known it would take that long, I would have made my own dinner, that's what kills me. It just threw me off and was very selfish of them. If either of them was hungry and I did that, I would be flipped out upon, but I was basically told to calm down and made fun of for it. I was not happy and am still annoyed (can you tell?)

And while I was waiting all hungry, I ate 3 cookies that were around 150 calories each, and a piece of scali bread with butter. And I felt pretty crappy about myself for it :-/ I know, it's only 3 cookies get over it, but I can't help but feel guilty. I worked so hard at the gym, and then basically got rid of the calories I burnt in those three cookies. Oh well, I still ended the day with a 120 calorie deficit (because I had 2 glasses of wine. Leave me be I was annoyed), and the fact that I need to move out of my house was reiterated to me. I get along so much better with my family when I don't live with them and have to depend on them for things. I've been reaching my breaking point lately, and truly cannot wait for November 1 :-)

Step on a Crack...

And break my freaking back. A slight correction to the old rhyme, because this is how I feel right now.

To recap:

-Friday night was spent watching Lord of the Rings, eating (well portioned!) chinese food, and drinking wine. It was exactly what I needed after going a bit crazy Thursday night. I was tired, as was M. I hope we aren't getting old :-P
-Saturday morning I was up bright and early to help my friend J move down the street to a larger, nicer apartment (which was beautiful, and had an awesome view of the ocean and the old mill and factory buildings in south boston.). We've helped her before, and it didn't take too long, so Ifigured I would help till 3-4, go home, nap and then babysit.

She had a 10am appointment with Uhaul, to find that the guy with the truck prior to her never returned it. And because it's almost sept 1, everyone was moving that day, so they had no open trucks until 2pm.

So we went to the mall (which was foolish because we really should have just grabbed lunch), walked around for an hour, then headed back over to the UHaul place. I'll spare you the rest of gorey details, but the hurricane started while moving, it was rainy, her stairs were slippy so I got assigned to organize the truck, which killed my back. And We didn't eat till around 6pm, so I was starving and we were all wet and crabby.

At 7 I had to babysit, so I had to leave the two of them to do the rest (we got most of it up, all that was left was the bed pretty much), I was exhausted, wet and achey. Thankfully the little guy was an angel :-) And we played Marie is going to make a giant pile of pillows for him to jump on while I lie next to them and clap, for like an hour. It was the best time everr. I love when 3 year olds are happy.

And after I read him The Jungle Book for the tenth time (every single week he wants it), he sang himself to sleep. It was absolutely adorable. and totally made my rainy wet painfilled day so much better. I got to go home around midnight, and had promised M I would pick him up in town from our friend's graduation party. I thought about just going all gross, and not going in, but I figured I'd be social, so I ran home, showered, threw on a dress and headed out. It was a good time,but I was so ready for bed by the time I got home.

I woke up Sunday morning to the full on hurricane, feeling crappy. My back was so sore from lugging things and bending over, and lifting all day Saturday. I opted to have a rest day (I'm sure I burnt a ton of calories on Saturday, I was so sweaty pre rain haha). Then we had this happen:

And that freaked me out. You can't tell from the picture, but the branch was huge! Luckily no one was hurt or affected really, except my street was blocked all day. I lofted around the house all day, picked up M, and we hung around, watched TV and movies. It was nice, but the rain definetly bummed me out a lot. And my pain didn't let up all day, no matter how much IB Profen I took :-/
Today is more of the same, I don't think sitting in a chair is helping me though. I had a pretty decent weekend eating wise (I went over, but not by a ton), but I need to be OP this week, and  I need to burn some calories.
To accomplish this, I have:
-gone grocery shopping, and bought deli ham, bagel thins (which I haven't eaten in like a year), cheddar cheese, clementines, greek yogurt, and snyders honey mustard seasoned nibblers (which are fabulous btw). I am ready for this week!
-have developed a work out plan. It is now written down that I will work out Monday-Wednesday. There. Now I have to!
My initial plan was to go to the gym, but I'm a bit nervous with my back. I think I am going to try and run outside, because it is beautiful out! And that way if I have side pains, or my back really bugs me, I can just walk the rest of the way. My plan is to do 2 miles walk/running, which is totally doable. So wish me luck!

Snapshot Friday!

Ok, so it's not Thursday, I know. But I got super busy yesterday. Without further or do, here is a snapshot of what I've done recently:

Fenway, isn't it pretty?



look at how close we were!



my rental bike!

the sisters

Action shot!

after 1.5 hours of biking, we stopped for PB &Js

there was a beach on the bike trail! We stopped for water, and scenery



because what would a staycation be without a trip to the harpoon brewery for a tasting?

 Happy Friday! Due to some not so wise choices last night, I was extremely hungover, and maintained at WI, which I was thrilled with. Try again next week :-)

I'm Back!!

Sorry for not posting in awhile! I gave myself the time away from the computer while I was on "staycation", so this is my first time checking the blogger in awhile! My time off was everything I wanted out of a vacation. Good food, relaxing nights, lots of activity, and some quality time with my sisters, boyfriend, and the sunshine 8-)

Some highlights (and lowlights)
-I had really good mexican food on Thursday (and subpar mexican last night. Picture boiled chicken with zero seasoning, wrapped into a tortilla, covered in salsa, sprinkled with cheese and called an enchilada. I was starving, but at one point just stopped eating it, it was so plain and boring, and they put way too much chicken in it)

-I went hiking with my sisters on Saturday, got lost, and ended up burning over 1000 calories because we were gone for so long. And it was beautiful and peaceful to be lost off the beaten track (we were only 10-15 minutes away,so it wasn't scary!)

-I went kayaking with M on Sunday. Gorgeous day, the pond it was on is beautiful, and a lot larger than it initially appeared. We brought a healthy lunch, ate on the boat, and spent 2.5 hours out there. My arms/upper body wanted to kill me by the end of it, but I loved it :-)

-I drank, a lot. But it was so worth it. And it was casual drinking, so I didn't get trashed everynight or anything like that :-)

-The sisters and I went biking on the Cape Cod Rail Trail yesterday. It took us 3 hours and 20 minutes, with a 30 minute break for lunch in between, and we completed a total of 23 miles. Not too shabby for my first time biking in 10 years :-) It was so much fun!

-I tracked everything Thurs-Today. Truthfully. No fibbing. And I only went over (significantly) One day. See here for proof:



I don't know what happened to 818, I assure you I ate and tracked food. My numbers might seem high, but most of those days including working out, so my eating was a bit higher as well.

 -I cashed in on Old Navy's sales on Monday as part of my day of relaxing. for 60 bucks I got:

•  2 Pairs of Jeans (one bootcut, one skinny)
• 1 dress shirt
• an oxford style shirt
• 2 tanks

and I got a work out tank at marshalls for 7 bucks! It's tight, but I figure it'll be nice for outside workouts. Now on paper, you may say, ok great Marie, but what is so exciting about these purchases?

I'll tell you what. For reference, at the start of my weight loss journey I was a tight size 18 (realistically more of a 20, I was squeezing into my jeans), and an XL all around. The jeans I bought were both a perfect 14. Not tight, even sort of loose! The tops I bought vary between a M-L, and the large fits comfortably, not tight. I seriously almost cried when I put the 14s on with no problem. I even tried on a 12, just to see, and while it was tight, I could button it! I'm so close! I remember way back when, I would think to myself that getting to a 14 would be ok with me, and I would be totally happy with that achievement. To me, 14 is the size they start selling in regular stores, it makes you no longer actually "plus sized". I can go to H&M and buy things in a large, and not have it fit awkwardly (or not at all). It's a great feeling :-)

I sneaked a peek at the scale today (I didn't WI on Friday due to a lack of scale, and drinking and mexican occuring the night before), and I was up, but giving the activity of the last few days, I'm not surprised. I was going to work out tonight, but I think I'm going to take it easy and take a nice long walk with the puppy. I also have a zillion pictures to upload to my computer from the past few weeks, so I think tomorrow I will do a Picture update. I'll try and do it every Thursday, give you guys some visuals, I'll come up with a cute name and everything, hehehe

Why is the Weather so Confusing?

And why is it always questionable when I take time off work?

As of right now, it is "a couple of thunderstorms" in the forcast for tomorrow. But the hourly forcast has it as sunny until 6-7, which would be AWESOME, but confusing where it is telling me thunderstorms for the daytime. If it does thunderstorm tomorrow, we'll just go kayaking on Sunday, but it's just so frustrating! Every time I'm off work, it's rainy, or cloudy, or something is up. But when I'm stuck in the office, it's always goddamn beautiful outside.

I'm bitter.

The Red Sox game was fun. I mean, they lost, which sucked, but our seats were right next to the foul pole, which was cool because you could tell which we're home runs and which were foul. And we saw a triple play, which I thought M was going to pee himself with excitement, because "that happens maybe once a season, and never at a game you actually watch". I love when he's happy at Sox games. Our record is not good though guys (2-5) , so they really need to step it up and win next month when we go.

In other news I'm a new and improved woman, in case you don't know :-) Last night I hit the gym, and had a great 850 calorie burning workout. It was just one of those workouts that exhausted me, but made me feel great. While I was working out I felt empowered, and not wanting it to end like I have been lately. It was an awesome feeling :-)

But I was exhausted by the end, and am sore today. M and I have plans to grab mexican and drink some beer tonight, which I'm pumped for. Sadly, both those activities aren't exactly weight loss friendly. I've planned ahead, and know the damage I'm going to do (complete with chips and salsa), and it made me realize that just taking a walk won't be enough tonight. So I'm going to attempt to run outside near my house. My initial plan was for tonight to be a high cardio night, but that was before we walked to the red line on Tuesday night, because it was gorgeous outside, and M hates crowds. It was lovely, but I was sweaty afterwards

a solid 2 miles, and we didn't stop at all. So I counted that as some quality cardio to work off the Beer Works beers :-)

But, I'll only have 20 calories left for the day after my food/drink tonight, and I have a feeling I'm not calculating my meal fully (I did the best I could but with restaurants you can never tell), so I'd rather burn some extras to give me a buffer room.

I'm kind of nervous to run outside, it'll be the first time in awhile I've attempted it. But hey, no time like the present, right? Plus if I fail, I can just walk home and I'm still burning calories :-) It's a win win!

I'm so ready for it to be 5pm today. I desperately need this time off. I'm exhausted, need to catch up on sleep and relax for a bit. Plus my sisters leave for school in 2 weeks, so I would like to spend some quality time (not just after work) with them before we move them in. So I'm looking forward to Monday/Tuesday being off work with them, and going biking/hanging out. It's going to be so much fun :-)

3 Awesome Things

1.2nd Best Place to Live in America, Money Magazine
That's my hometown! Born and raised in the 2nd best place to live in America, my current claim to fame, haha. It's been on the list before, and I can agree with it. It's a beautiful town,and you get a small town feel being 10 minutes from Boston, which really couldn't be better. I will say it does have a budget problem. They redid the schools a few years ago (which was well needed), and as a result of bad budgeting and spending money on stupid things they don't need (like brand new vending machines to replace the 3 year old ones), they have cut a lot of after school programs, and jobs. Which isn't cool. But hey, everyone has their dark spots, right? They do get a lot of things right :-)

2. I'm going to a Red Sox Game tonight!
My boss gave me her box seats for free for tonight's game. I guess she couldn't go, and didn't want to see them go to waste. And since I love the Red Sox, and baseball in general, she knew I would want to go :-) I'm so excited! It does me I don't work out tonight, but hey, I can work out Wed/Thursday instead. I have pretracked my dinner (papa ginos on the way home) and beer (3), and am only over my points by 200. Which is what I was under yesterday. And I plan on killing it at the gym tomorrow night. So booya, I'ma have me some fun!

3. Short Weeks
I took off Friday, Monday and Tuesday, so my week ends on Thursday! I desperately need a break, it has been a bit crazy lately, and I'm feeling burnt out. My company is also on the brink of becoming ridiculously crazy (it already is sort of starting, the production increased 10X in the past 2 weeks, so basically the number of cards I have to get through went from 15 to around 50-60), so I think my break could not come at an even better time.

It's the best feeling to be thinking about what I'm going to do for lunch on Friday, and then say to myself "oh wait, I won't be here". The Best. I'm not going anywhere, it's more of a "staycation" really. But I am doing 2 day trips, which would make any weight loss enthusiast proud :-)
-Friday M and I are going kayaking (weather permitting)
-Either Monday or Tuesday the sisters and I are doing a bike trip down the cape! It should be fun, although I can't remember the last time I road a bike, so I can see myself being incredibly sore the next day!

The inbetween will be filled with resting, sleeping, and enjoying a few days of my summer (hopefully at the beach with a book)

Happy Tuesday!