Weight Loss – 12-week Challenge

For the past 12 weeks, I have been participating in a weight loss challenge that was organized by my friend (and fellow mommy of a December 09 baby) Tiffany of Mommy's Losing Rolls. The challenge ended yesterday.

This was taken maybe 2-3 months after I had Liam (early 2010) - the first time I went running after baby. I probably weighed 165 lbs.

I have always wanted to lose my baby weight - just never really made much of an effort. I made it back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I still had areas that I felt needed work - mainly my midsection. I figured with my half marathon training last year, it would have just melted off. Not the case. In December 2012 (my month off from running), I dabbled a bit with the 17-Day diet and got results from that, but I found that I don't like to follow any real plan. So with my food, I took ideas from the recipes from the 17-day diet and just modified and ate what I wanted (or felt like making - I am not a great cook by any means).

June 2012 - probably around 145 lbs.

Instead of following a real diet plan, I started counting my calories with My Fitness Pal and made an effort to eat cleaner. I even bought a Polar heart rate monitor to track my calorie burn with my workouts - WHICH I have learned, that my calorie burn is not quite as much as I had been estimating. I always thought that generally 10 minutes of exercise equals a 100 calorie burn. Nope. I'm lucky to get 70 calories burned in 10 minutes. I'm thinking maybe it is because my heart is just working more efficiently? For instance I ran my fastest half marathon in February, but I only burned 999 calories in about 2 hours of running at a pretty consistently moderate effort.

It's not all about the diet, though. I have been going to a bootcamp class twice a week, running, rowing on my rowing machine, doing planks and other exercises that I can fit in at any given free moment. :) I feel abs under my baby belly!!! Like I mentioned in previous posts, and as you can tell from all my new PRs, I am becoming a faster runner - as well as one who doesn't suffer from as much hip pain as before!

Anyway, it's been quite a journey. Here are my results from the 12-week challenge, starting on 2/14/2013, ending 4/29/2013 (Note: I am 5' 1" tall):

Starting Weight: 137.2 lbs / Ending Weight: 126.8 lbs (-10.4 lb, 7.58% loss)

Starting Measurements / Ending Measurements:

Chest: 35" / 33.5" (-1.5")

Waist: 30" / 29" (-1")

Hips: 38" / 37" (-1")

Thigh: 23" / 21.5" (-1.5")

Right Arm Flexed: 11.75" / 12" (+0.25")

I came in 8th out of 32 participants! I was surprised to be a part of the top 10! Woohoo! Thanks so much to Tiffany for the challenge and motivating me to lose the weight! :) I feel great, look great and I am just SO DAMN PROUD of myself for accomplishing this!

So what's next? I plan to maintain this weight loss, maybe try to lose a bit more. I want to get stronger and gain more muscle! I'm already signed up for another fitness challenge, oddly enough organized by another Tiffany! I'm going to be pushing myself pretty hard again this time. I can't wait!

Wait on Weight Loss

Regarding weight loss... It hasn't been happening for me. I admit, I am not really watching what I am eating. I eat what I want, when I want. Dieting hasn't ever been my thing. But at the same time, I do feel guilty when I do eat crap food... Honestly, I can't put it down (as in consume mass quantities) like I used to, so that's good. I do have a little bit more control with not stuffing myself. But one day we were so hungry and had no food at home, so we caved and got some McDonalds. I got a double cheeseburger meal. I ate it ALL! (Well, excluding the pickles) But that night, my body got upset - literally - and I had to pop three Tums at bedtime.

I do turn away from a lot of greasy food now, it just makes me feel ill looking at it. We go to Chik-Fil-A about once a week. It's Liam's favorite! They have healthy choices there... instead of nuggets, which I used to get, I opt for the grilled nuggets (I like to call them "naked nuggets"). They are pretty good: basically a seasoned chicken breast cut up into 8 pieces. I'm sure there's a bunch of salt on it though. Oh well. Better than deep fried goodness... er I mean, grossness. I still tear up those waffle fries though!!! haha

Weight-wise, I am back up to hovering between the high 130s and 140. Still pretty high for my height - I am only a little over 5 feet tall. I should probably be in the 110s-120s... LOL I haven't been that weight since middle school! I know most of the weight I have gained back is muscle. I actually do look a lot more fit than I did before I started my regular running at the start of 2012. I am actually fitting into size SMALL shirts and shorts now. My normal pants I wear when I run are getting loose in the waist and start falling off when I run in them. It's definitely a good feeling.

(TMI alert?) With the good comes the bad: My boobs are shrinking. I went from a B cup, pre-preggo, up to an E during pregnancy, then to a D post partum, then C, but now my C-cup bras are getting a little roomy. I also still have my preggo pooch that I am pretty sure is not going anywhere unless I get a tummy tuck. Kinda sucks, but that's what happens with some women. Unfortunately. :( Maybe I can get myself a tummy tuck as a "reward" for sticking with a fitness plan at the end of the year?

I would like to think that with my increased running and maybe starting weight training (at some point), I will lose more, and by the time I run the half-marathon in November, I will be a lean, mean running machine! I hope to one day post an awesome before and after photo to show everyone! :)

Latest Runs and "The Runs"

First of all, my training has been going well. I've been getting out and doing stuff (or in some cases, doing stuff at home). I love my yoga class and I think it's definitely helping with core/balance and stretching out the hips and ITB. I do that twice a week, and I am trying to get some running in at least twice a week as well. And then in between, I am slowly trying to work in some strength training at home. Here is a rundown of my latest runs and yoga workouts:

1.
Newport
January 13, 2012, Friday
12:41pm
3.1miles
32:23, 10:27 pace

2.
Yoga - Fitness Witness, Pooler, GA
January 17, 2012, Tuesday
5:30pm
1 hour

3.
Newport
January 18, 2012, Wednesday
12:40pm
3.1miles
31:05, 10:02 pace

4.
Yoga - Fitness Witness, Pooler, GA
January 21, 2012, Saturday
9am
1 hour

5.
Newport
January 27, 2012, Friday
12:41pm
3.1miles
30:23, 9:48 pace (Note: Fastest 5k time this year, so far!)

6.
Yoga - Fitness Witness, Pooler, GA
January 28, 2012, Saturday
9am
1 hour

7.
Newport
January 31, 2012, Tuesday
1:13pm
3.1miles
30:55, 9:59 pace

8.
Yoga - Fitness Witness, Pooler, GA
January 31, 2012, Tuesday
5:30pm
1 hour

9.
Newport
February 2, 2012, Thursday
12:34pm
3.1miles
31:20, 10:07 pace

10.
Yoga - Fitness Witness, Pooler, GA
February 4, 2012, Saturday
9am
1 hour

11.
Richmond Hill
February 5, 2012, Sunday
6:12pm
6.4miles - Long Slow Distance (LSD) (Note: Longest run this year, so far!)
01:14:00, 11:34 pace


The second part of this post deals with a TMI issue, but I need to address it.

As you see, I did my first long run of the year. I planned on only running  4 to 5 miles, or 1 hour... whichever was longer or what ever I thought/felt I could do. Apparently my mind took over and I felt like a beast who could probably run an entire 13.1 if I had the time. It was Superbowl Sunday, I had no interest whatsoever in the game this year (boring teams - would like to have seen some new teams in the game this year), so I decided to take advantage of the time to go for a run in a new location (my bro-in-law's neighborhood). The weather was AWESOME, had a great view of stars and a full moon. The only issue I had was that it was really dark in some areas. I almost twisted my ankle.

Anyway, my supposed 4-5 mile run turned into a little over a 10k! I seriously felt good. But turns out that my family was worried about me and sent my sis-in-law to look for me! LOL Good thing I made it back before she pulled out of the driveway! Anyway, I got back in and stretched out, then took some time to eat some dinner. Shortly after was when the first "wave" started.

My bowels were cramping up so badly, that I was doubling over in pain. It was awful. I usually had some cramping after running, but this was worse and I knew that I was about to do some "christening" of my brother-in-laws facilities. In total, this happened about 3 times, until my sis-in-law noticed and asked if I was ok. I asked if she had any Immodium AD... and thankfully, after I took that, I was feeling better. She also offered me a Gatorade, which I think helped due to dehydration.

SO... lesson: I don't need to be running this long or far at this point in my training. I think I need to keep doing my 3 milers and try to add distance gradually. Or do shorter LSDs, like 4 to 4.5 miles. The half-marathon isn't until November! I have plenty of time to increase mileage. I just got way ahead of myself. I also need to evaluate my diet and what I am eating before running. I had an entire Snickers bar before the run.. maybe that contributed to the GI issues. Who knows? Updates on this as training progresses...

P.S. The weight gain was a fluke... I am back to my normal hovering between 135#!

Progress! Back to my pre-preggo weight!

Yes!!!!! I didn't believe it at first. I didn't have my glasses on this morning so I thought the "5" was a "9", but after I took 2 more readings, it surely read: 135.7!

It took nearly 2 years for this to happen. Although my pre-preggo 135 was a lot more fit and taut (haha) than my flimsy, baggy post-preggo 135! Oh well... I am still working on that!

Honestly, I have not been doing much exercise other than some running here and there. I am attributing it to not eating as much, especially with Joel gone - I don't go out to eat much, whereas we used to eat out a few times a week. And maybe I just don't feel like eating because, well, I'm lonely!!!! haha

I'm sure that will change in the coming weeks with Thanksgiving, Liam and my birthdays, Christmas Parties, our Anniversary...

Wish me luck.

I lost 10 lbs

....since this time last year!

That's not bad progress, right? Maybe by this time next year I will lose another 10 or MORE!