9 Months down

9 months and gained 2 lbs since 8 months. Boo! But I have made some changes in my life this month that has cause some extra water weight. The dreaded Birth Control. Now no excuses though I have to be completly honest with myself - I have introduced a few other foods and drinks into my diet that aren't doctor approved.... carbs and alcohol. I have definately been less strict this month, if I have a craving I am satisfying my craving. I know if I would have remained strict as hell I would have stayed the same or dropped. I have noticed since starting birth control that my cravings are more then they use to be. Which sucks but I have to teach myself how to control those cravings and the sizes I eat. I can't fit a lot in my stomach but the bad foods are still bad. I am disappointed with the gain but at the same time I am still so damn proud of how far I ve come. I feel great and I know I will hit onderland soon!!! Hopefully :( Considering I am now injured once again and having to do therapy right now. Met with my physical therapist yesterday and was told no cardio for at least a month. I can walk on the treadmill thats all. No elliptical no bike no running :(  Walking is great but I can't do much cause it does bother my knee so boo! They said by what they felt and examine yesterday I may have torn my LCL. Trying a month of therapy to see if that helps if not then I will have to get an MRI to make sure.  Let me tell you my knee is so sore today .... and I didn't do anything strenous I just did all the stretching and it is killing me. Stupid knee!!! So this month I am concentrating on my food and what I am eating. I want to try clean eating so that is something I am going to start.

Injured.... AGAIN!!

 Alright , Alright, Alright!!! Enough already! Can't even go 6 months without injurying myself. So frustrated. Did a box jump yesterday made it but tweaked my knee and fell off the box. So not cool!! LOL well all day yesterday my knee just kept getting bigger and bigger until I couldn't bend it. Iced it , bengay and woke up this morning not able to walk. :( Awesome. Went to the ER and at least nothing is broken , thank god but I have fluid in my knee and have to go see an orthopedic doctor now. To top it all off it is the same knee I had my ACL replaced back over 15 years ago. I swear my worst nightmare .... Never thought I would feel this pain again. I have crutches and a knee immobilizer which is so much fun. Shouldn't be driving but really have no other choice but to drive. Just in town not far distances as of now. I must find something to do to still burn some calories . I remember an episode of biggest loser where one of them was injured and they had him doing boxing while sitting on his bed and he was sweating. I am going to try that cause I am not going to let this ruin my job so far. Well what else is new..... I decided to go back on birth control and it has made me gain a little weight back which is another frustrating thing going on right now. I have been on it for a little over a week and gained 7 lbs. Yipee!!! I read that it is water retention in the beginning and should stop and level out so I can start losing again. I really hope so otherwise I will need to rethink my choice. Man when it rains it poors !!!!! I need to remain as positive as possible and not let this get me down. I  know my upper body will be getting a great workout with these stupid crutches thats for sure..... Positive thought #1.... :)

2nd 5K down loving running!!

I was offered a free ticket to a 5k at Wrigley this past weekend and just couldn't pass it up. I want to do as many as I can so I can hit my goal and get better. I had to go by myself which was a little nerve racking considering I have never been down there before. I parked about a 1/2 mile from the park. Wasn't a bad walk at all. The area is so nice. I met some people on the walk to the park from Austin Tx. Also had a few people I chatted with while waiting for the race to start. People were really fun. I ran almost all the race . I just kept telling myself I wasn't going to die and kept pushing myself. I think I walked maybe 3 mins during the first mile and about the same for the 2nd mile. Third mile sucked I was a little worn out and walked a bit more. I need to learn how to pace myself better in the beginning so I can end the races better. I ran in at 43 mins but it took a while to get to the start line because I was at the end of the line. It was a fun run so it wasn't chipped timed but If I go by my music on my phone I came in at the beginning of my 36 min song. I have them timed out so I think I finished between 36 and 39 mins . I am going to have to start saving for a Garmin GPS watch so I can time on my own. This was the biggest race I've been in so I did notice I had to dodge people a lot more then in any other race. Almost tripped twice, ha ha!! And almost tripped someone. I had a lot of fun! I didn't like that I got lost on the walk back to my car though. I swear I turned down the right street and just kind of followed the crowd too. Now the walk to the race took maybe 10-15mins tops and about a 1/2 hour into my walk back to the car I realized hmmm been walking a lot longer so I took out my phone and mapped it. Wow did I feel like an idiot!!! Standing on the corner of a street trying to figure out where I was. Took about 20 mins to get to my car from where I was but the walk was nice and the I never felt uncomfortable or like I was in any danger. So next year I want to do it again but with a group or at least 1 other person. I already started recruiting some family and friends. I really never thought I'd see the day I would go to a 5k by myself and enjoy it so damn much. Also loving running so much. I know I liked it back in highschool but forgot how much until now. I have 2 5k's next month that I am really looking forward too. Girls on the Run with Kaylee on the 10th and Run for the Roses on the 17th. Then on the 31st I have the ALS walk which isn't timed or anything like that it is more of a leisure pace and to raise money and awareness. Still searching for a June run and July run.

8 months post op and 5K results!

On March 22nd I hit 8 months post op and I am down a total of 110 lbs and 75 lbs since surgery. Things have been moving along very slow these days and it does get a little hard to stay motivated cause I feel fat still. I am starting to wear clothes that actually fit now and it is playing games with my head. I am constantly comparing pics to keep me grounded. When I started this journey my personal weight loss goal was to lose 90 lbs by 9 months post op. I am still trying for that but not too confident I will meet it. I will be close though. I am eating 1200 calories a day and mainly protein, veggies and fruit. I have my occasional piece of ezekiel bread with peanut butter or some chocolate when I crave it. I figure better to have it then to deprive myself and end up binging on it. I have had popcorn too. I have found I can not stomach milk at all. No yogurt for me either. I kind of miss that and I am a bit sad about that but I am now on a hunt for a good tasting greek yogurt to see if I can eat that but everyone I have tasted has been disgusting to me. A typical week of working out is Mon- Friday and sometimes Saturday too. I have my trainer on Mon and Thursday and then do strength and cardio on my own the rest of he week. I average about an hour and 1/2 at the gym and I do from 30 mins to an hour of cardio (treadmill, elliptical, bike)

Had my first 5k this year on 3/30 and my 1st 5K with my Hubby!!! Back at Thanksgiving I ran the 5K in 47 mins this 5k I ran in 39:39. I shaved 8 mins off my time. I was so happy. My goal was to hit the 45 mins I had originally had for my goal on Thanksgivings 5k and I blew that out of the water. And I didn't die. I felt awesome!! It is still a lot harder for me running outside which does frustrate me a little while I am running. I can go 10 mins on the treadmill but maybe 2 mins outside and then I have to walk. I know it will get better as I am running more outside.

 We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary the day after the run and have decided that we will do this 5K every year for it. One reason I got the sleeve done was so that me and him could get healthier along with the girls so I feel like it is a way of keeping that promise to my family and myself. I felt pretty good the next day not too much soreness. It is my hips that bother me the most now. I got new running shoes in our local running store - Runners Soul. They are Brooks-Adreline. I absolutely love them. It was fun going into the store and running on a treadmill for them so they can see what type of shoes my feet need. I loved the people there too. I forsee myself going  there alot and I know my hubby isn't going to be happy. LOL I am actually going to take him in there next to get him some good shoes. He is on his feet all day and deserves it.

What is this TABATA you speak of??? ....LOL

Well things are going well my motivation is coming back. I have a 5K on the 30th so I finally got out and ran outside. Man it is so different then on the treadmill. My breathing is all over the place and I think I am running faster so it is harder. I ran from my house to my parents what would have been 3 miles turned into to 4 because I dropped my house key during the run and had to retrace my tracks to find it. Thankfully I did find it and from now on I will be bringing my bulky keys with and just straping it to my bra like I use to. I felt great after the run though, not too worn out and a little hyper. Now the day after my hip was bothering me ALOT! I had to use Bengay which I am in love with now cause damn it works good. I have been talking about getting new shoes for a while but no more talking I am out next weekend to get them. I won't be able to use them for this 5K but at least I will have them for the next one. I am amazed how well my knees have been holding up, not much pain in that area which is what I was worried about. I had set a goal to do 5  5k's this year. 1 will be down on the 30th and I think there is one in April I want to do but still not sure. I know May is packed I have one on the 10th with my daughter and one on the 17th. So 3 down, now I have to search for some in the summer. Ok so on to the title of this post.....
TABATA heard about it but never tried it until today. If your not familiar with it , it is High-Intensity interval training three to ten reps of high intensity exercise followed by medium intensity exercise for recovery. For example my trainer had me do squats with the kettlebell 8x's -each was I think a min and 1/2  and then elliptical for 2 1/2 mins. Then medicine ball throws and run on treadmill... etc. Awesome workout but hard as hell. I know I will be feeling it for a few days. I hope to do many many more of those cause I was dripping sweat. I then tried to run/walk the treadmill and that was funny cause my legs felt like they weighed 800 lbs so it ended up being walking mainly. I will make up for it tomorrow morning. I can tell I wasn't running right either cause my shins are sore. So back on track trying to stay motivated and staying on track with food. I have another goal in place 40 lbs gone by August. I know I can do it and will crush it!!!   

Back with my Trainer!!

So my husband is the best and got me more sessions with my Trainer. I had my first session this morning and I am already feeling it!!! Yipee!! I know I am crazy when I am happy to be sore!! It is amazing the added motivation that comes with having a personal trainer. I know its not cheap but it is so worth the $. I always thought I can motivate myself and I can do this myself. But it is alot harder to do that then I thought. Accountability is such an important key in weight loss. Ive come to realize that. Yesterday I had counseling , which by the way is going very well. It is out in Joliet so I got out there about a 1/2 hour early. I always pass this really cool trail and decided to stop and take a walk since the sun was shining and it wasn't horribly cold. The trail wasn't plowed so I was walking through the snow which was just as bad as walking on sand. But man was it a great walk. 
 I am stressing a bit today because my youngest has her ballet recital on Saturday and tomorrow night is her dress rehearsal and there is so much that needs to be done. I suck at doing hair and she has to have it pinned and all fancy. I still don't understand why I was blessed with girls. I was such a tomboy and still to this day have no idea how to do my own hair. I am looking forward to the recital but I am also looking forward to it being over. On top of all that stress I am also stressing because last weekend she didn't do well with the first trial run and ended up running off stage hysterically crying and wouldn't dance. It just make me nervous for her and how she is going to handle the real thing. It should be interesting.

Feeling better!

Last week was rough but I am feeling better this week. My husband surprised me last week and told me to start training again. He is such a great guy!!! He is realizing how much it did motivate me to keep working. So I am so excited and can't wait. I also cleaned the house crazy on Sunday so that always makes me feel better. Plus I love spring and it is coming!!! Last week I went back to basics on my eating and kept track of everything and started weighing and measuring again . It worked cause I dropped the 2 lbs I gained and an additional pound. Very happy about that. I just have to keep on keeping on. We all have our moments it is what we do after those moments that really matter!! I am not giving up and will continue to better myself. My daughter started her Girls on the Run last week, which is a program at school that they train for a 5k and learn how to socialize better and build their confidence and self worth. I will be doing this race with her this year. I am so excited, I remember last year sitting at the finish line waiting for her and her Dad uncomfortable and tired. Not this year I will be crossing that line with her. Can't wait! I have a week off at the end of the month for Spring Break with the girls, I am looking forward to that. We are redecorating both of the girls bedrooms and they will be officially in there own rooms. It will be a fun and busy week!!!