What I Want When I Want

First, thank you to my friends who commented on Wednesday’s post! You’re encouraging words helped more than you know! 🙂 I want to talk a little more about my feelings on that issue, but first here’s a little randomness from yesterday.

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Yesterday morning I went out for a run. I usually only run 3 miles on a weekday morning (because that’s all the time I have before work), but this morning I did 4! My marathon training plan is starting to call for longer weekday runs, so I’m trying to make sure I get up early enough to do some longer runs before work.

Since my Pure Flows seem to be giving my feet and joints some problems, I decided to pull out my Brooks Ravenna’s. I bought them a half size too small over a year ago, and didn’t realize it until it was too late to return them. So I’ve only run a few miles in them. I knew that they would be a little tight, but I hoped they would help my arches and knees not hurt during the run. They did a pretty good job! I felt good during most of the run, aside from them being a little tight. I know I wont be able to keep training in them, but hopefully they can get me through a few runs until I buy new shoes.

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I’m still thinking on the comments from Wednesday and trying to figure out exactly what I’m going to do to help myself.

The first thing I need to do is quit worrying so much and just give it up to God. It’s funny how easily I forget to take things to Him. He wants us to have peace and enjoy life, so why wouldn’t we take every little problem to Him for help and guidance? It’s comforting to know that all I have to do is ask, and He will provide! 🙂

I really loved Alex’s advice to take a break from fitness and over-thinking my food. I don’t want to completely break away from exercise though, because I still plan on running the marathon in December. So, I definitely need to keep up my training, but I am trying to ease up at the gym.

My weekly workouts usually look like this:

• Monday- Strength
• Tuesday- Run
• Wednesday- Strength
• Thursday- Run
• Friday- Strength
• Saturday- Run
• Sunday- Rest

I’ve been pretty motivated to run with the marathon looming over my head, but getting to the gym has been a little harder. Then, when I miss a workout, I feel like I’ve hurt my chances at getting stronger/burning fat/toning/etc. So, Chad and I decided to cut our strength training down to 2 days a week, and I’m going to use the other day to do another run since I’m loving my runs lately. Hopefully it will keep me from feeling burnt out with the gym AND help with marathon training.

As far as food, I know that I need to stop counting calories again. I did this about a year ago with a week-long challenge that ended up lasting almost a year.  Then over the summer, I gained some weight because of vacations and travels. I decided to count my calories again in hopes of fitting back into my pants. lol It went well for a few weeks, but then the food stress and binging thoughts came back full force, thus leading to all the negative thoughts.

I’ve been reading about ways to let go of the “diet” mentality, and all roads lead to eating what you want when you want. It sounds pretty unhealthy at first because basically I’m saying that if I want cookies all day every day, then I can eat them. It sounds like I’m going to gain a ton of weight that way. It’s kind of scary, but the health professionals that promote this way of eating as a recovery tool say that it only takes a few days or weeks before you don’t even want those “bad” foods anymore. They’re no longer off limits, so they wont send you into an eating frenzy after one bite. If you can have any food any time you want, then you don’t worry about eating it all before you go back on your diet the next day. BECAUSE THERE IS NO DIET… There’s just eating food when you’re hungry. Or even just eating a cookie when you want it.

I’m going to give this a try and see what happens. I know that I need to stick with it for at least a few weeks before trying something different. But, I’m hoping that this works. I just want to live a life that’s healthy, but not a life that’s revolved around food and exercise.

Thanks for sticking with me through all my crazy thoughts. I know it seems insane to still be dealing with things like this after all the years. But that’s exactly why I’m still dealing with it… it’s been years of different methods of dieting and restriction with a few months of normal eating thrown in. It takes a while to reverse what I’ve done to my body and brain.

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We have our first football game tonight at home, so Chad and I are planning on our usual Friday night Casa dinner date before heading to the game!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!! 🙂

WHY? WEDNESDAY

You’ve heard of “What I Ate Wednesday”… well this is “WHY? WEDNESDAY”

WHY…

have I lost any and all motivation to go to the gym??

Chad and I recently skipped 3 workouts in a row and finally went back to the gym this morning. I was still feeling super unmotivated to go, but I thought that maybe if I just forced myself to go this once, it would spark a little more motivation for next time.

Well it was a tough workout because we hadn’t been in a while, so we know now that skipping the “New Rules” workouts will end up making them even harder the next time. There’s a little motivation right there.

WHY…

is running all of a sudden killing my arches and knees??

I knew my PureFlows were getting old, but geez. The pain started last week, and every run seems to be just a little more painful than the last. I’d say I’ve put a little over 300 miles on these shoes, which according to the Brooks website, is more than enough for the PureFlows.

I’m thinking about trying Mizuno’s Wave Rider 16, because I wore the 15s to train for my first half and loved them! The only thing I didn’t like was the weight. Compared to my Brooks, the Riders are heavy. But, I heard the 16s are lighter?

I do love the PureFlows though and am eyeing the PF2s (I have the first edition PF). I’m just scared they may not have enough support for marathon training. #FirstWorldProblems

WHY…

do I feel like a parent when I don’t have any kids yet??

Sunday night some of our youth came up to me at our church picnic to ask if they could all come over to swim. Of course I didn’t mind, but having all these teenage boys swimming/screaming/acting crazy at our hosue made me feel like a mom.

WHY…

does Pierre feel the need to roll around on a dead animal causing us to have to give him a bath right before bed??

Fuzzy little trouble maker.

WHY…

do people not think they should silence their phones while playing games in a quiet doctor’s office??

Yesterday. I can’t even.

WHY…

can’t my life just slow down a little??

I feel like my days are going by so fast because of how busy I am, and I can’t get everything done that I’d like to without staying up way past a decent bed time.

I wake up at 4:30 during the week, so if I’m not in the bed by 9:00, it’s bad news. The past few days I’ve stayed up longer than I should, and it’s made getting up in the morning HARD.

WHY…

can I not just be happy with myself?

I’m so tired of trying to be fit and tone and perfect. There are times when I think to myself that life would be better if I stopped the madness and quit worrying about eating healthy, working out, and looking a certain way. Then I look at myself and do the whole “pick apart every imperfection” thing and make myself feel terrible. “How can I stop eating healthy and working out when I look like this?” It’s a vicious cycle you guys.

At the doctor yesterday, the nurse said my weight out loud when I was on the scale, and I teared up when she left the room. How stupid am I??

WHY…

did I decide to wear heels to work today??

MY FEET ARE DEAD.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!! 🙂

Friday Fotos (Yes, I know how to spell PHOTO)

Like I said yesterday, I’m working on my comeback to the blog. lol Instead of Five Things Friday, I’m giving you a photo dump of the past 3 weeks.

Lots of running!

Now that school has started, my morning runs happen while the moon is still out.

I PR’d and won my age group in the Sunset Run 5k! Time: 27:40! First time breaking 28 min!

Matching Rick and Kayla at church. “I’m blue dabadeedabadaaa”

Still doing New Rules of Lifting for Abs! Sometimes there’s 10 minutes of burpees, other times it’s 10 minutes of kettlebell swings. Either way, it’s torture.

Been hanging out with my favorite buddy a lot. 🙂

Plenty of doctor visits to figure out what’s wrong with my stomach

Getting my classroom ready at GWT! Music starts next week! 🙂

Getting certified to coach. I never knew cheerleading coaches had to do this?

DREW CAME HOME FROM MICHIGAN!!!!! 🙂

Su and Lucy were pretty happy.

Even though this doesn’t really cover everything that’s happened over the last 3 weeks, it’s at least enough to catch up. ********** Last night was an event called Meet the Tigers. Each player for all the fall sports teams gets their name called out, and then there’s a pep rally after to kick off the fall season. My cheerleaders performed and helped varsity during the pep rally. They did so good! I was like a proud momma. lol Tonight is our football jamboree, so it’s technically the first “game” that we’re cheering at. It’ll be a crazy night because after the jamboree, I’m going straight to the church to get ready for our annual “Back to School Lock-In.” Like last year, we’re going about an hour away to P3 Family Fun Center for hours and hours of laser tag, glow golf, arcade games, go carts, and FOOD. haha Let’s hope the other chaperons and I can make it through the night with 100 kids. Because I’ll be sleeping a lot on Saturday, my long run is moved to Sunday. It’s a cutback week anyway, so all I’ve got to do is 5 miles. No problem. Happy Friday! 🙂

DO ALL THE THINGS

Y’all…..

For the past 2 & 1/2 weeks, my life has been CONSUMED in work. Not just my teaching job, but everything. Apparently, my motto for the 2013-2014 year is “DO ALL THE THINGS.” Because that is exactly what I’m doing. Everything.

I’ve been working at school. For the first week it was just on my own, but last week all the teachers officially started back to work. The week was filled with meetings and speakers on top of trying to get my classrooms in order. Students came back this week, and it’s already been a crazy couple of days!

I’ve also had cheerleading practices to coach just about every afternoon. Those are fun but crazy at times… especially when girls are getting their teeth knocked out. Yep. That happened. She fine now, but it was definitely a scare! We have two events this week, one tonight and one tomorrow night. PLUS we have our youth lock-in tomorrow night as well.

Chad and I are still going through the New Rules of Lifting for Abs program. We’re in the middle of Phase 2 right now and going strong! I’m also in the beginning stages of MARATHON training, so that takes up just a little bit of my time.

And to top it all off, I’ve been going back and forth to doctor appointments and having tests and scan done to figure out why I keep having intense stomach pains after most meals. They’ve ruled out gallbladder problems, so I get to go see a GI specialist to try and solve these mystery pains.

With all of this going on, it doesn’t help that Chad has just started working towards his Masters in youth ministry. He’s constantly working on assignments when he’s not actually at work, and just about every month he goes on “retreats” to Memphis for a few days for some classes.

So needless to say, my life is INSANE right now. I’m still trying to eat healthy, though over the last weekend I slipped WAY off my game. It’s my own fault. I think all the stress is getting to me, so letting myself have a few treats or “not-so-good-for-you” foods turns into an all out frenzy. Ugh.. Why does food have to be so comforting and make you feel better? I sound like an addict. I guess you can be addicted to food though, so maybe? haha

Anyway, I just wanted to drop in to confirm that I am indeed alive and still working out, running, and trying to eat healthy. I just haven’t been posting about it as much. I’m hoping that after all the beginning-of-school-craziness dies down, I’ll have more time to write.

So that’s it. No pictures today, so I don’t expect many people to read all the way through this. haha But please don’t leave me! I still want to write and want people to read. I just have to figure out how to manage my time well enough to fit it all in. Thanks for sticking with me!

Happy Thursday! 🙂

Five Things Friday

IT’S FRIDAY!!!!!! Here are five things! 🙂

Five Things I Ate

 

1. Egg white scrambles and toast with honey and cinnamon for breakfast twice this week

2. Oatmeal with fresh blueberries and almond butter.

3. Parmesan crusted tilapia with brussels sprouts.

4. Chicken breast with roasted green beans.

5. Grilled turkey burger in a make-shift lettuce bun and grilled corn on the cob.

 

Five Workouts from the Week

 

1. NROLFA Workout B on Monday

2. Three mile progression run on Tuesday

3. NROLFA Workout A on Wednesday

4. Three mile interval run at the track on Thursday

5. NROLFA Workout B this morning

 

Five Random Things from the Week

 

1. I SIGNED UP FOR MY FIRST MARATHON YESTERDAY!!!!!! December 14th in Huntsville. Holy crap I am scared.

2. My cheerleaders had their picture made for the football program this morning, so I took some with my phone. They’re like my little children! 🙂

3. The other day, Chad got a picture of me while I was stretching. I was looking at it and realized that my arm muscles seem to be showing more. I got excited because all this weight lifting is finally paying off!

4. It’s actually been pretty cool this week considering it was the end of July/beginning of August. I’m kind of dreading the rest of August though. I fear it may be a miserably hot month.

5. I did a lot of laying around this week, soooooooo my life was boring and there is no #5.

 

Five Things Happening this Weekend

1. In just a little while, Chad and I are taking advantage of tax free weekend and going shopping for new work clothes!

2. Tonight I’m running a 5k called the Sunset Run. It starts at 8:30 when it’s light out and ends after dark. I ran it last year and placed 2nd in my age group.

3. I still plan on getting in a run in the morning. I don’t know exactly how far I’ll go. It just depends on how I feel after tonight’s race.

4. Mexican food sometime over the weekend DUH.

5. Youth pool party on Sunday!!

 

Happy Friday!! 🙂

Small Changes to Help with Weight-Loss

Exciting news! I’m typing this post on mine and Chad’s new MacBook! We’ve been needing a new laptop for a looong time, and he especially needed one for school (he’s going back to school for a masters of art in youth ministry), so this was a very needed purchase.

Well, it’s Thursday. The week is almost over, and the weekend is getting closer! But it’s sad for me since the end of another week means summer break is that much closer to ending. I’m sad to see summer end, BUT I’m so ready for fall weather especially for running! It’s going to be a crazy fall because of cheerleading though. There’s just so much going on! At least it’s exciting for me since I actually enjoy cheerleading. 🙂

I’m kind of at a loss for writing right now since I decided to save my meals and workouts for Fridays. It’s causing me to actually have to come up with creative topics for the blog. lol I thought that today I’d talk about the little things I’ve been doing to help with my weight-loss/fitness/health goals.

Over the past month, I’ve been:

• Drinking A LOT of water. I keep my contigo with me at all times and try to make sure I at least drink one full bottle before lunch and two full bottles by dinner. I do let myself have other things at times throughout the day like tea sweetened with splenda, or water mixed with mio, but those drinks don’t count towards my water goal.
• Tracking everything I eat. I use MyFitnessPal to keep up with every single thing I eat. It keeps me accountable for what I eat! You can add me on MFP if you’d like! GraceKennington
• Measuring and portioning EVERYTHING. From meats to fruits and veggies to little things like peanut butter and honey. It’s crazy how fast the calories can add up when you don’t measure and watch your portion sizes! I bough a food scale a long time ago at Walmart for like $20, and I use it constantly.
• Eating MOSTLY clean foods. I try my best to keep the packaged and processed foods out of the house. I don’t do Lean Cuisines, 100 calorie pack snacks, or packaged foods that claim to be “fat free.” Of course I let myself have some processed things, like the International Delight Heath Bar creamer I use in my coffee every morning. It’s like a sweet treat. 🙂
• Sticking with my workout routine. It can be so easy to slack off a little here and a little there. Before you know it, you’re skipping workouts for days at a time. I just take it a little at a time so that I don’t burn myself out.
• Meal Planning! This has been a huge help for me. I sit down on Sunday afternoon or even Monday morning and plan out dinners for the next two weeks. Then I make a grocery list, and buy the things I need. It’s actually saved me money and made me a lot less stressed about what to make for dinner. I love browsing Pinterest for new healthy dinner options!

Give these things a try and see if it helps you with your weight-loss efforts! These have been working for me and seem to be easy things to implement into a lifestyle. 🙂

Happy Thursday!