Monday, June 18, 2012

It's Goin' Down! 6/18/12

My weight, that is. I weighed myself this morning and despite the ridiculous amount of abuse I've put my body through over the last week, I've lost about 3lbs! It's nice to see the numbers heading back in the right direction.
After last week's week-long birthday celebration, I am definitely taking a break and trying to cleanse a bit! I had loads of fun with loads of booze, friends and food... and now it's time to get back to reality.
Goals for this week:
1. Drink nothing but water and green tea and drink a LOT of it!
2. Eat plenty of water-rich foods (watermelon, cucumber etc)
3. Workout at least 4 times (in the gym) and take at least 2 evening walks with Nora
4. Get my shit together for getting into school! Transcripts, testing etc
5. Lose another 3lbs (or more)
6. Go to sleep before 10pm

I'm usually not very good at writing down my goals but I'm going to start doing this more often and hope that it helps to keep me on track and focused!

I didn't go to the gym this morning, my body is still recovering from the past week of too much fun. I plan to drink loads and loads of water today to re-hydrate and get myself together so I'm ready to hit it tomorrow!

At this point, the only thing I've eaten today is a handful of blackberries but my mom and I are getting ready to go to the store to get some yummy veggies and such for the week!

Short post today but hopefully more to report tomorrow :) Until then...

Monday, June 18th
Weight: 239lbs

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Wednesday 6/13/12

Oh, hello friends!
Here's a quick recap over the last few days....
Monday(my birthday!):
Workout was great! Here's what I did:
MONDAY TIME: 42:00:00
RUN 1 MILE
5 ROUNDS OF:  
LAT PULLDOWNS 10 @ 95#
CABLE ROWS 10 @ 95#
DB OVERHEAD PRESS 10 @ 20#
5 PUSHUPS  
FLUTTER KICKS 30 SEC
BIKE 5 MILES

It felt awesome! The flutter kicks proved to be a bit challenging but I did my best!
Food Monday:
Breakfast - Banana and organic crunchy almond butter sandwich on toasted sprouted grain bread, Protein shake (vegan choc protein w/ light soymilk)
Lunch - 'Egg Roll Salad' at Melt in Cincy... it was spinach, bean sprouts, toasted almonds, carrots and possibly some other stuff I don't remember with a ginger hoison dressing. Yum :)... oh and I had a vegan chocolate cupcake... it was my birthday!!
Dinner - WW spaghetti w/ zucchini, onion, mushroom and garlic spaghetti sauce
In addition to this food, I also did an olive oil and vinegar tasting and had some bread with the olive oil.
Monday night I went out planning to just have "a" cocktail and, well... it turned into a few.

Tuesday I woke up feeling a bit under the weather so did not go to the gym BUT I did go canoeing for 8 freaking hours and damnit I probably burned more calories than if I had gone to the gym! I had an iced vanilla soy latte in the morning and (embarrassed to say) white castle fries for breakfast... hello hangover food! The canoe trip was a total surprise (from my awesome sister!) so I was not prepared with food.... SO whilst canoeing all I had to eat was some Grippo's bbq chips and some pistachios then after we got back to Florence, Kristen(sister) and I went to Acapulco and I had 1/2 of a veggie taco salad and some rice and beans. (no cheese or sour cream of course) Then immediately home and to bed!

Today, again I again didn't go to the gym as I woke up still completely exhausted and sore from yesterday's canoe excursions. I ate my leftovers from Acapulco for breakfast (breakfast of champs, I know) then a footlong veggie sandwich from subway for lunch (all veggies other than olives on oat bread w/ red wine vinegar and oregano) then I made Pad Thai Salad for dinner. Totes yummy. Oh and Nora and I made some vegan cupcakes today so... yeah, had some.

I really need to buckle down on the food that I'm eating. An issue with being home all the time now is that I just graze in the kitchen... I'm kinda bored so I snack. A bite here, a bite there and before you know it I've killed a tub of hummus or a jar of salsa. Granted, there are certainly worse things I could be eating but still.. I just kind of feel like shit all of the time now and I need to focus on what's going into my body. I knew that this week would be slightly abusive on the nutritional front (birthday celebrations all week long!) but that is all the more reason to be more mindful during the day of what's going on with it. Tomorrow night I'm going to 'Thirsty Thursday' at the Florence Freedom Ballpark and will be having some beers with some friends and then Saturday night we're going out for the official Birthday celebration! A lot more drinking than I normally have in my week but it doesn't happen often.

Overall I'm feeling a little... meh. I'm happy to be back in the gym and start to get my schedule back in line but I'm still feeling quite lonely and just gross. I know that it's no one's fault but my own for letting myself slip so far off of the edge but  it's still hard to feel this way. Oh well, I'm sure I'll feel better after a good workout tomorrow.

On a lighter note, I just recently ordered and received the Destiny's Child 'Writings on the Wall' and the new Usher CDs (still waiting for my TLC 'Fanmail' CD to be delivered!) and also new running shoes! Yes, I still buy CDs... and they are awesome! :)

I've been going back and looking at the meal plans that I was following when I was doing really well with everything so I'm going to start getting back to it... and I will be putting up recipes as well, I just need to get my brain into a slightly more organized place.

Thanks again to everyone sticking with me and I'll post again soon!
Happy Hump Day :)

Saturday, June 9, 2012

It's Only Up-Hill from Here! 6/9/12

Aaand, she's back from the dead. 'Dead' is as good of a word as any to describe my mental/emotional status for the last couple of months. The myriad of shit that has been going on has been absolutely nothing short of depressing/exhausting/infuriating/maddening... but I am beyond happy to say that I believe things are finally starting to look up! Here's a very brief catch-up:
1. Branden and I are still separated.
2. I was fired from my job for an absolute bullshit/vague reason.
3. I'm still practiving veganism, though not eating as nutritionally well as I should. (energy level, complexion and nail strength are showing effects of this)
4. Nora and I have moved in with my parents.
5. It's turning out to be a beautiful summer.
6. I've gained 10lbs back.

WELL, now that we're all up to speed, I'm very happy to report that I am really feeling like I'm back in my groove again. I've just completed a week of good ass-busting workouts and I've been working on getting my nutrition back to where it needs to be, though it is still a work-in-progress. (Though honestly, isn't it always?) This week I've mostly been working on getting back into the workouts and kind of testing my fitness level so they haven't all been greatly organized, but on Monday I... have a plan...
I've been running 1 mile at the beginning of each workout this week and I like it so I'm going to continue to do that.
Here's the workout that I did yesterday:

Warm-up: Run 1 Mile
Squats 4(sets) x 12(reps) x 65(lbs)
Kneeling Squats 4 x 12 x 65
Switch Step 4 x 30 seconds
Good Mornings 4 x 12 x 65
Calf Raises 4 x 12(straight)/6(toes in)/6(toes out) x 45
Flutter Kicks 2 x 30 seconds
Plank 2 x 30 seconds
Cool Down(not really cool): Bike 5 Miles

Feeling pretty good after that one!
On Monday I'm going to continue to begin each workout with running 1 mile and then I'm going to incorporate the Crossfit-style workouts that I've done before. It seems that those workouts were the most effective when it came to visibly seeing the improvement in my body, so I'm going to do that again but with the extra cardio. I'm excited!

I'm trying to look at things in a more positive light and take advantage of the positive opportunity given in any situation. I'm determined to make this summer the best one yet! I was really pissed off when I was fired for my job at first, mostly because of the way I was dismissed after having worked my ass off for them for 5 years... but now, I'm thankful to be gone from there. I realized that I was far more miserable there than I noticed when I was living it and it was holding me back mentally from looking at my life from an honest perspective, since I had such a negative brain all the time. Now that I am free from that negativity, I have decided that it is high time I make my life a life that I actually WANT to live! Not one that I'm forced/obligated to live. That being said, I went and visited the Midwest Culinary Institute at Cincinnati State Technical College a few days ago... I've finally come to the realization that food is my passion. Not just eating, but preparing, providing, nurturing, and healing with food makes me feel alive. I want to learn more about food in all aspects, from seed(where applicable) to the kitchen, and spread this knowledge through cookbooks and eventually opening a restaurant specializing in delicious (and healthy!) vegetarian/vegan foods. Beyond this plan, I also decided tonight that I'm going to start writing a book based upon the knowledge that I've gained while traveling down this Losing Path of mine, in hopes to help someone else change their life for the better.

I realize that this post is a little all over the place but I plan for Monday's post to be right back into the swing of things... brief re-cap with a workout and meal plan listed, as well as any insights/tips which apply. :)  OH and Monday is also my birthday, write that down.

As some of you may have seen on my personal Facebook page earlier, I was having some self-image and self-appreciation issues today. My cousin, who is a really amazing and positive person, has recently come back into my life in a big way and through his help and guidance I've been able to bring my brain into the light, you could say. I've been working on being more positive and loving of myself, but today I had a moment when I wasn't feeling quite so sunny. I was taking Nora for a walk (about 4 miles :) ) and was thinking how great it felt to take an impromptu long walk and get a good sweat and how beneficial it would prove to be, when I passed a parking lot and a swarm of skinny girls with long gorgeous blonde hair, short skirts and high heels stepped out of their car and started walking into a restaurant. The moment I caught sight of them, my entire demeanor dropped and I felt SO negative about myself. I was jealous. I kept thinking to myself, 'man, I wonder what it's like to walk around and look like that all day? Oh, the attention they must get.' Not that I'm some attention-starved whore or anything but let's be honest, every girl likes to hear that they're pretty. My life hasn't exactly been completely void of compliments, I've always been told that I 'have a pretty face' and I'm funny and smart... but the words 'hot', 'sexy' etc were never used to describe me... so it's THAT attention, that which I never received, that I want. My brain/nature is naturally VERY competitive. I want to be the best.. the smartest, the funniest, the best story-teller, the best dressed and - of course - the best looking. I've been working to make all of these things happen and it hurts greatly when an instance such as today occurs and I'm quickly thrown into reality and realize just how far I still have to go.
I had drinks with a friend last weekend and we were talking about body image and it made me realize quite a few things... and just how ignorant we, as a people, really are. My friend is a petite size 2/4, really attractive/funny/smart - the whole package. It was pretty stunning to me to hear how many issues she had with her own body. And she was stunned to hear that being overweight, you have to think/worry about things that the 'normal-sized' person doesn't... like whether or not a bracelet will fit your larger wrist! (this particular point was discussed in detail) Up until recently it never occured to me that a person such as my dear friend would have any reason to have issues with their body... but then I remembered, every person has grown up in their body, and that's the body that they know. We all see our own imperfections far more blatantly than an innocent by-stander. She grew up skinny so she has no reason to think to check the length of a bracelet before trying it on or pay attention to the distance between the table and seat-back in a booth at a restaurant... I don't know how to live my life without immediately thinking of those things. Our minds play cruel tricks on us and our eyes will emphasize something that may not be noticeable at all to others. One thing that my cousin has mentioned multiple times is simply postive self-talk. Wake up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you love you. Remind yourself that you are strong and capable of accomplishing whatever is set in front of you. It's easy to say these things, the hard part comes with believing what you're saying. I'm going to be adding this ritual into my day, and hope that it will help me stay positive.

Anyway! Aside from everything I've mentioned above, this summer is turning out to be a beautiful one! I'm getting to spend so much more time with my Nora and we're both loving it. I decided that I want this summer to be the best one yet so it's up to me to make that happen! And that's exactly what I plan to do. :)

Thank you for your patience and sorry for the rambling... I'm looking forward to having some sort of a normal schedule/life again, including the documentation of my Losing Path for you dear readers. :)

Until Monday, my friends...