Live and Learn

If you have been keeping up with mine and my husband's weight loss journey, you know that we have a free day on Sundays.  We are only suppose to eat 1,000 more calories than we normally do and watch our sodium intake.  Well come Monday morning when we weighed ourselves, we realized that the choices that we made for Sunday were poor choices.  We retained water weight for several days and for those several days, we became frustrated.  Even though we were the ones that made the decisions to eat what we ate.  No one else but us. 

The scale usually moves some on our low carb days and it wasn't moving at all.  Personally I was upset because I was so close to being under what is considered overweight on the high side for my age and height. We learned that we can't eat a meal that contains a lot of sodium with every meal that we have on our free day because we will be paying for it later.  We each carried about 3-4 pounds of water weight for 3-4 days.  Very frustrating but we made the decision to eat it so we have to live the
consequences.

Unfortunately for Brad, he had a weight loss but not as much as he would have if he had made better choices for Sunday.  I am still very proud of him.  He lost 20.6 pounds in 5 weeks which is amazing.  Every person is different with their weight loss journey so I know that there are some people that would love to lose the amount of weight and in the time that he has.  Below is an updated picture of him.

My weight loss for this week brought my total to 9.8 pounds. I know that is still awesome and I am very proud of the weight that has been coming off.  I guess in a way I was slightly disappointed. I am about 1/2 pound away from being below a number that I briefly stayed at while training for my first half marathon back in 2012!!  I am excited because I have noticed that I no longer have any love handles and my clothes are fitting looser.  I am determined to make better food choices for my free day tomorrow and maybe by the next blog post that I write I will be able to tell you that I met my first goal.  Below is an updated picture of me.

So the big lesson that we learned this week is while it is still ok to have a free day, we need to be more mindful of what we have because no one likes to keep loosing the same weight over and over again. If you are thinking about doing this, please keep that in mind.  We make mistakes and we have to learn from those mistakes. 

It will be worth it!!

I am sitting here extremely proud of my husband. All his life he has struggled with his weight. We both started working out together in February 2011.  I started Zumba and he would do the elliptical.  I lost about 30-35 pounds in 6 months.  Brad might have lost 5 pounds so he would get discourage and later just do enough.  This streak continued until now. For about 3 years we have been watching the show Extreme Weight Loss with Chris Powell and his wife Heidi.  They take on clients that are extremely obese and help them lose 40-50% of the original body weight.  We kept talking and saying that we need to try what he is doing with his clients.

We gave every excuse in the book.  The most famous one out there is I will start Monday.  Well Monday rolls around and then it is next Monday.  We didn't want to give up things that in all honesty we shouldn't have been eating. So luck would have it we came across his book one day when we went to Books A Million after taking the kids to Sky High to play.

We started his program the week of the fair and he has stayed consistent with it. Consistency is the key to have a successful weight loss. So we read his book and the first couple of days we were extremely tired and trying to get use to everything.  The cravings that were coming on and all that.  It was hard at first but we chose to stick with it.  There are 4 different cycles that you can do.  We have chosen to do Turbo.  This is where you do two low carb days followed by a high carb day followed by another two days of low carb and another day of high carb. You will finally come to Sunday which will be a free day.  Let me break it down a little bit more for everyone that has been asking.

On any of the carb cycles that you choose to do, you will be eating 5 times a day and every 3 hours.  You are to eat 30 minutes after getting up and then every 3 hours after that. Your breakfast no matter if it is a high or low carb day will always consist of a carb.  Whether it is a piece of whole wheat toast or a banana.  There are definitely more options than just those two but those are just an example.  We normally eat egg whites versus the whole egg and I will have mine on a whole wheat tortilla with some hot sauce. 

For my morning snack, I will usually have some chicken with a little bit of ketchup and a handful of pecans.  For lunch, most days I have a chicken fajita salad.  Then for snack I will have some more chicken and sometimes will have some more pecans or a banana. For supper is usually some more chicken with some sort of vegetable. 

The serving size is different for men and women.  The serving size for your protein is usually the size of your palm.  I don't have the book with me right now to tell you the serving size for the carbs, vegetables and fats.  I highly recommend that you buy his book.  It will be most beneifical to you if you are wanting to lose some extra weight. 

Above is a picture of Brad.  To date he has lost 19.2 pounds. This past week he has learned what foods causes him to retain water because of the sodium.  He has done extremely well overall.  He is doing amazing and I couldn't be more proud of him.

Above is a picture of me. To date I have lost 7.8 pounds.  My biggest problem is I obsess with the number on the scale.  Even though I see in the mirror the changes and I have been complimented on how much I have slimmed down.  I am still working on not obsessing over what the scale says.  It is definitely a work in progress.

We also try to work out 5 days a week along with this lifestyle change. I am starting to incorporate weights and on Saturdays right now is the day that I workout the hardest.  I will do a long run followed by Zumba. Brad will do the elliptical machine and also weight training.  This can be done without exercising but I would strongly recommend that you do. The benefits are so worth it.  You feel so much better after a good workout.  Even if you have a bad workout it is still better than no workout at all. 

My husband and I chose to do this journey together so that we can keep each other accountable.  We also want to set a good example for our children.  What are you willing to do for your weight loss journey?  Remember it may be hard now but it will be worth it in the end. 

More than just a run

Yesterday I finished the second to last long run.  I ran 9 miles and I do have to say that this is the best  training that I have done for a half marathon.  This is the sixth one that I will be doing and I honestly feel that I have grown quite a bit since the first half marathon that I did back in 2012.

I am no longer pushing to do a faster time or to beat anyone in particular.  The only person that I am competing with is myself.  I get more satisfaction out of achieving a personal best than I would if I beat someone.  I have learned that it is more enjoyable to embrace the run.  The good and bad runs.  Let's face it, not every run is going to be the same.  Do you run a 5K in the same amount of time every time you run one?  Of course not.  That is almost impossible to achieve.

As the training for this half is coming to a close in a couple of weeks, I can't help but find myself to be thankful.  Thankful to God for all that He has done for me.  For bringing me out of a dark place.  For allowing me the ability to still have my family despite everything that we have been through. He has used my running as a way of healing for all the bad things that have been going on in my life in  the last few months.  As I am running, it is so nice to see God's beautiful creation.  The quietness of your surroundings if you will just take the time to look.  He will also talk to you in the quietness if you are willing to listen to see what He has to say to you.

I ignored Him for so long but not anymore.  My runs have allowed me to connect with Him again and heal from all the things in my past. From this long run, I didn't learn that I could run 9 miles.  I learned to trust Him and be thankful for each day that He has given me.

Only 3 1/2 weeks away!!!

There is only 3 1/2 weeks left until my next half marathon.  I am starting to get a little nervous because I have been unable to train like I need to.  I got started and was 2 miles behind in training to begin with and then I got freaked out this past Saturday when I was meeting my running group for a run. I had a man that I have seen at our local rec center approach my vehicle and ask me for a ride.  I was grateful that at the time that I was on the phone with my husband at the time and he was respectful enough that when I told him no that he didn't bother me anymore.

I have watched several cop shows that I know better than to allow a stranger inside my vehicle voluntarily.  Let alone it is just plain common sense.  Nowadays you don't know how people are these days. After that I decided to try and run on the treadmill since it was raining and no one really showed up for the run. Unfortunately, the same man that asked for a ride was upstairs and I couldn't concentrate for anything.  I couldn't even concentrate at home so I just dismissed it as a bad run and went on. 

This is a whole new week and I am anxious to get back to training like I was before. I don't have very many training runs left so I have to make the last few runs count.  Tonight I plan to run with my son and get a jump start on training for his first 5K.  I am beyond excited that this is something that we can do together.  Do any of you run with your family?

Until next time.

The pounds are just melting away

If you read my last blog post, you will remember me talking about starting a new weight loss journey with my husband. It is by the host of the host of the show Extreme Weight Loss.  We have been doing this for 3 weeks and I am here to give you an update on how that is going.

I am going to be honest.  I really didn't think that this was going to work.  I wasn't losing anything. On our free day or high carb day, I would put on a couple pounds or just a pound.  It was very discouraging to me because I have struggled to lose the last 10-20 pounds that I would like to lose.  I am happy to tell you that I was wrong.  I have had success with this lifestyle change but Brad has had the most success.  He has lost 16 1/2 pounds since this morning.

The above picture is my husband.  As you can tell, he is thrilled that he has lost the weight and is looking forward to having more success stories to tell you.  He is beginning to notice changes with his clothes.  Which they say is the biggest way to judge how your body is changing. I can't begin to convey in words how excited I am for him.  

The above picture is a comparison from the time that I started exercising.  The left picture is in January 2011 and the right picture is October 2015.  There is a forty pound difference between these two pictures.  I am looking forward to seeing how much my body changes while on changing our eating habits to better ourselves.

I will continue to keep you updated on how things are going with our journey.  If you have any questions about this, please feel free to send me a message on my Facebook page Focus on Your Own Race.  Look forward to updating you!  Until next time.