stop eating crap

Just ran 5.65 miles in 56 minutes. That’s the furthest I’ve ran since starting this journey and I feel great still. Been on a work trip in Illinois and now a weekend vacation in Seattle but I’ve worked out every day. I may not be able to eat as I normally do and my diet hasn’t been perfect but I’m doing my best and pushing my body still.

Woke up this morning thinking that I’d had enough sleep and couldn’t figure out why my alarm hadn’t gone off yet. Turns out I didn’t set the alarm but I still woke up at 6:30 am! Victorious, I got up, put my running shoes on because I slept in my running clothes, threw my sunglasses on and put my ear buds with tunes in and then ran 4.67 sore miles. My body was tight from running, sailing and then sleeping on a pullout couch. A few miles in, the soreness lessened and I just kept going.

What a fantastic way to start the day. I feel good today. We don’t have enough wind to race so we’ve packed up the boat and now I’m really glad I did that run because I feel relaxed.

Waged an unheard of comeback today in really light air. Pretty happy with an 11th place finish out of 38 boats with some great sailors in the mix. The best and worst part was being second to last around the first mark and then climbing out of the whole, passing 27 boats. Today was a good day. I am absolutely wiped out and already in my sleeping bag at 9:25 pm. And I ate pretty friggen fantastic today. I did have strawberry shortcake for dessert because I earned it by eating well and burning shit tons of calories. Life is amazing.

Tomorrow I plan on getting up at 6:15 am again for a run down that peaceful road followed by shower, oatmeal slop + grapefruit and another good race if God will provide us with some wind.

I hit up TJ Maxx first and scored six pairs of running shorts (I currently have none and was wearing gross huge-on-me men’s mesh shorts), two wicking tanks, and some new ear phones for $79. So glad I went there first because Dick’s Sporting Goods is not cheap. I priced the running shorts there and the cheapest were $22 while mine were all $9.99. I did still have to go to Dick’s because they had no board shorts or longer shorts for water activities and the men’s shorts were gross on me (I wore men’s board shorts up until now and they look stupid). At Dick’s, I ended up finding only one type of shorts that actually work for my purposes and they are some kind of wicking hiking style shorts that were pricey. I bought a blue pair and khaki pair, two Nike wicking tanks and a gift card that I’ll be giving my cousin/roomie for watching my dogs this weekend and when I’m away for a work then vacation next week.

Now I have enough running shorts and tanks for the summer, a couple pairs of sailing shorts that I think I can lose another 10 or so pounds into, and I’ll feel comfortable and look good while racing.

This weekend I’ll be racing Lightnings in Pymatuning, Pennsylvania. I’m looking forward to racing again. I’ve been training so hard that I’m stronger and more toned than I was when I raced with them in Florida a few months ago.

So I packed last night and I only had two pairs of expensive sailing shorts left that I could wear as of the Florida trip. I tried them on last night and they look and feel ridiculous. I’m clearly wearing something that doesn’t fit. Now I’m thinking that I’m skipping my lunchtime run today in order to hit up the store for some board shorts or something that actually fits me. These are good problems to have but I can’t believe how much my body is still changing, causing me to waste money on clothing. At least the stuff I bought at The Limited last week will fit me for a while because I can belt the dresses and there’s a lot of stretch to the material.

I’m also planning on keeping to my 6:20 a.m. wake-up time this weekend. I’ve packed my running gear and will go for a 2-3 mile run Saturday and Sunday, come back and eat the protein slop oatmeal concoction I packed and then I have SMART protein bars and oranges for the boat.

I’m feeling prepared and excited for this sailing season to start. I’m ready!

I’ve been getting up early for a couple weeks now with a couple days here and there where I resorted back to getting up later and not having time for a run. I can attribute the main reason for this to my roomie/cousin who caught onto my earlier schedule and started getting up earlier to still beat me into the bathroom. For the last few days I beat him at his game and am now getting up at 6:20 a.m. I want that hot water first! He is moving to Denver next week so it will no longer be an issue but by that time I hope to have this 6:20 a.m. thing become a daily, regular occurrence like my clean eating and workouts.

This early morning thing really helps with my FitBit step count since I’m getting a 1.5-mile walk in each morning. That’s a good portion of my goal of 5 miles/10,000 steps per day. And it’s relaxing. I get up, get ready and then I have a half hour of relax time carved out for my dogs and I to wander around the neighborhood.

For lunch today I did a 3.2-mile jog. I would call it a run but they were barely 10-minute miles. Tonight I have a training appointment at 6 p.m. and then I plan on going home for a nice bike ride since it is so gorgeous outside. I’m loving this weather so friggen much.

My eating has been pretty good and my weight keeps fluctuating from 149-151. I wish I was solidly in the 140s and not straddling this 150 mark but there’s nothing more I can do in a healthy way. I’m just going to stick with the healthy shit, cheat a little here and there, and keep working out hard. That’s all I really can do at this point. Progress is so fucking slow so if anyone tells you different, they’re probably lying. If you want to keep it off, it has to be gradual and I can’t believe how much my body wants to hold onto this last 10 pounds of FAT.

So I went to a follow-up appointment with the nutritionist I saw January 19. I was really looking forward to seeing how much of my weight loss was fat and how much muscle I’ve put on. I knew the results had to be good because you can SEE them so here they are…

The Overall Verdict: I’m feeding my muscles and burning off fat!
My BMR went from 1444 to 1418 calories so that hasn’t changed much. She said I should never go below 1600 net calories per day or I’ll send my body into starvation mode. We don’t want that because then I’d be burning muscle and holding onto fat. I’ve stopped tracking calories at this point because I have my meals pretty balanced and under control so I am better at estimating my intake.

Calorie Goals Remain the Same For Weight Loss and Muscle Building
Non-workout days: 1600 calories
Workout days: 2000 - 2100 calories (she said this might even be too low because I’ve added so much intensity to my workouts but since I’m not tracking, I’ve been letting my body tell me if I’m hungry). So, as I said in my last nutritionist recap, to LOSE WEIGHT, INCREASE CALORIES!

Trainer says my arms are starting to show more veins when I’m working out which means that I have less subcutaneous fat. She was very excited to see this. I haven’t really noticed but I’m definitely noticing my face thinning and other random people have mentioned it as well.

The last couple days I’ve felt insane with salt and chocolate cravings, my face was breaking out, and I was so tired that I didn’t train Monday night. Then I realized Shark Week is upon us so at least there’s a reason. Because of this, I haven’t weighed myself since last week. I’ve finally liberated myself from the scale for the most part and have stopped logging calories incessantly. My diet is pretty much set at this point and I have a general idea of calorie counts so I think easing off on the tracking is helping me continue to lean out.

I’ve upped cardio and running quite a bit since my muscles are rocking hard and I want to get rid of the gelatinous layer that is very small at this point. The last two areas to tackle are my lower tummy and lower butt and they are coming along slowly but I am seeing changes.

My meals are pretty much as follows:

M1: Protein shake with protein powder, chia seeds, cinnamon, fresh spinach, frozen banana, frozen blueberries or raspberries, ground flaxseed, wheat germ, unsweetened almond milk

M2: Plain nonfat Greek yogurt, SMART granola, whole pink grapefruit

M3 (lunch): Wild card. Whatever I cook for the week or a salad or sandwich

M4: Handful of nuts and a little dried fruit OR cottage cheese and small piece of fruit OR Hard boiled eggs.

M5 (post workout refuel): Hard boiled eggs x2

M6 (dinner): Fish and brussel sprouts most nights OR Sunday meal prep stuff

Ran all over the place this weekend, stayed up too late, ate pretty decent but not perfect, used Saturday as a workout rest day, and then my sister’s baby shower was today so I did cheat and stuff face with cupcakes and brownies. It made me feel like crap. Mind you, it wasn’t guilt, it was gross sugar overdosing. It’s been so long since I had large quantities of sugar that it literally makes me feel sick now. I don’t regret my cupcake stuff though. They were DELICIOUS.

I get home from all of the running around and during the drive I was struggling to stay awake. I knew if I came home and napped that I wouldn’t sleep right tonight soooo I forced myself to take the dogs for a quick walk. I realized that my sis left my bro-in-law’s Kindle in my car so I told her I would return it. Being the semi crazy person that I am, I figured why not bike to her house and back. I managed to find a 5.1-mile route to her house that didn’t go through the dangerous part of the city and wasn’t riddled with potential frogger style traffic issues. It turned out to be a beautiful and perfect ride that took me 27 minutes there and 24 minutes back. I basically tricked myself into working out and now I can’t wait to visit her again, ALL SUMMER! 

Planning on getting up again early tomorrow for a dog walk before work. Haven’t packed lunches, didn’t Sunday meal prep, bedroom is messy and gym bag is in shambles but it can wait and I’m forgiving myself for not making the time to get these things in order because my weekend was spectacular.