sevenchicks

5k

by cubanchick~  Are you ready?  I actually ran in the local 5k. 

It's not a marathon by any means, but it's a tad bit over 3 miles.  The sad part is, that I actually had to "train" for this thing!  For those who don't know, my husband's family are all runners.  If you've ever seen me run (more like a lot of moving without forward movement) you know that while I am athletic, I am not a quick person. His mother still runs 3 miles a couple of times a week and she is fifty!  Seriously, there was no hope.

Anyway, so I ran for about a month slowly and slowly building up.  My problem is not really running farther.  It's running faster.  I am one of those people that runs in a very slow pace but doesn't stop-simply against principle.  I was drilled for too many years in softball not to walk. 

So here's the week before:  On Valentine's Day, I decide to run the whole 3 miles.  What was I thinking?  Yea, the second I stopped running, my  calves locked up.  Unless I wore heels, I walked like a duck up until the race. So another slight challenge.

So here's the morning of the race:  Wake up and stretch my lovely calves and then stretched some more.  After a few bathroom visits, we leave for the race.  I would also like to mention that my jumping bean-gazelle running-husband was going to run also.  Only he just ran a mile at a time just a few days before the race.  UGH!!!

We get there and the fam is ready to run!  Wahoo, I think.  Put on my mp3 and we take off.  Okay at first.  Then little by little I surely fade back.  Big surprise there.  His sis and mom obviously and smoothly get a bit ahead of me.  I tell myself that if I can just "see" their brightly-colored shirts, then I am running well..

Well, after several turns that misled me---I thought several times that I was near the end and BAM there would be another turn to take.  I finally finish.  I actually had energy to sprint the last bit...

The end result:  I went straight to McD's and had nuggets and french fries and had ribs for dinner.  I ate anything I wanted to without guilt!!!! Crossing the line with all these people cheering like I had done some amazing thing (I sooo did nothing great) was cool, but eating was much better! I only finished 5 minutes behind the hubby.. who disgustingly was able to keep his usual quick mile pace the entire time! 

Oh well, that is done.. now on to slow jogging for no reason other than to let me eat without getting biggeer. But I will say that now I do want to jog in the next one.  I am weird  I know.  And sorry for writing about something so boring, but that was one of my latest "things".  Have a great weekend!

atkins: week 3

by photochick~ Just checking in from the diet front. Pretty much same 'ol, same 'ol. I'm honestly getting a little tired of it (it being meat, meat, meat), but I haven't been really tempted to get off. It's the point where you just put your shoulders down and press onward, despite how you feel.

I was feeling a little unhappy about the numbers this week, but then I remembered that I posted late last week, so my weigh in was at least a day late. I'm counting at least a half a pound of last week's big loss for this week. (just because I can!)

You see, my goal was 3 pounds a week, for 10 weeks, to loose 30 pounds before my trip. Sooooo, at three weeks with over 10 pounds lost, I'm still on track. I might make it after all!If I think about the end I can keep going. I can definately tell the 10 pounds in my clothes and I know that when you get to 20 it's such a huge difference. That thought alone makes me head straight for Hardeez and a side of sausage for breakfast-- sans blueberry biscuit.

So what are some recipes you guys tried during your Atkins days? I think I need to mix it up a little, which at this point would be eating anything besides sausage and steak (i don't even really like steak!!). Which means I'm pretty much open for anything!

weight loss this week: 2.5 pounds

total loss: 10.5 pounds

atkins: week 2

by photochick~ as is always the case, the second week of the dreaded Atkins diet is soooo much easier. i've moved right on from seriously detox ill to perfectly fine. (all except for the can't eat anything but meat part. that's never fine.)

it's funny what a psychological game dieting really is. i had hit the two week mark and was feeling pretty good about loosing some pounds (granted, a lot of water weight) and optimistic about making it to october. then last night after church someone (ugmmm, a well intentioned particularly skinny family member we'll say) asked me if i was pregnant again?

hmmmm . . . granted i was wearing one of the popular style shirts that make everyone look pregnant (especially when the wearee is not particular small up top. you know what i mean.), and she totally said . . . "well, i just wanted to make sure you weren't keeping secrets," and i totally know that i weigh nearly 5 pounds less than i did the last time i saw her, but still in the back of my mind my psyche was crashing.

something inside of me on the ride home totally wanted to say, "how 'bout hit the mickey d's drive thru for some fries and a coke." all that simply because of an innocent comment.

totally rediculous!

i heard a woman talking one time about the fact that we intelligent women (which would be all of us) use our intellect to accomplish great things in all areas of our lives, excpet often when it comes to what we eat.

even if you aren't overweight, it's the decision between a doughnut and a bowl of fruit, or the coke or water when you reach into the cooler. we all face it every day whether it's weight or nutrition, or both for some of us.

now if it were say, the decision between quitting college or sticking to it even though i was working nearly full time and going to school full time while being a wife (or ditto for grad school for that matter) . . . well, that's a no brainer. i'm stickin' it out because i was raised that we DON'T quit. EVER.

but stick me in the room with a bowl full of the garden's fettucine alfredo and we have us some trouble on our hands.

hmmmmm . . . odd indeed. what's wrong with this picture?

weight loss this week: 4.5 pounds

total loss: 8 pounds

not that this is new to you

by photochick~ but, my particular mood required that you see it again. so that someone could be as iritated as me with the very, super duper, unnatural way that men loose weight if they nearly look at, no, merely think of, a weight loss program.

i think you can deduce the rest. (and no, i'm not endorsing slimquick, just the occasional exercise of kicking our husbands in the butt for their metabolism! ~love you hubb!)

what is my weight?

by cubanchick~ i will start off by saying that if you don't like to hear someone who is not overweight to talk about their weight....please stop reading here. 

i know that i have lost, and thankfully maintained, about ten to fifteen pounds.  however, thanks to my boyfriend and terrible eating habits, i have found myself gaining inches and pounds.  well, first came the two or three pounds.  make your ugh sounds! i don't care!  to my five foot four inch cuban curvy body that is a difference in my shorts. 

anyway, so when i noticed those few pounds i began cutting out ice cream and jogging every single day and doing crunches in the morning and at night.  well, a week later-- i went to the scale.  i felt good. right until i saw that stupid number.....i gained weight!!!!!  ahhhhhh.  stubborn and tired of obsessing about my weight (i have been obsessing majorly for the past month), i told myself it was muscle.

i went to the beach for the weekend and tried to eat healthy but that did not workout at all.  now i am back to reality and i have jogged ever since i got back.  my point right now is, even though i am smaller than i used to be, i don't ever want to be there again.  looking at my pictures i looked o.k., but my cheeks were definitely bigger. 

i have felt pretty good about my appearance for the past year.  that is the first time ever.  and now i don't feel very thin.  i know it is perspective, but it is my perspective and i want it gone.  i really don't know my weight.  am i gaining muscle with the exercise and thus the number is rising, or am i reeping the horrible effects of the ice cream i ate in june?  this is my question that i am throwing out into the universe because i am tired of thinking of my "number weight".  i am truly a girl at heart.

i will end on a positive note...the one good thing about my work clothes is that dress pants and heels not only add to my height but make me feel much thinner verses the summer flip flops and shorts that give me the stumpier look.  so, i am in a very minute way looking forward to returning to my work clothes.