Feast or Famine...

Life is getting in the way of my goals...

Work was crazy busy last week. I got called in for someone who is sick yesterday and all I can say is what a doozy of a day... today was no better. It's so busy, that I barely have time to pee! I have skipped meals and got to the point of lightheadedness, headache and blurry vision... good grief!

I know that this is not healthy and not good for my sanity. I am so exhausted that I haven't been able to work out...

And then came the weekend... I was off Friday and Saturday. I slept -- a lot! And my nutrition was off then too... too lazy to make meals, I ate little things all day long. They weren't really unhealthy things -- yogurt, almonds and craisins, brown rice (I'm not sure what it is about the brown rice), fruit, and various other things. Worked out on Friday, but that was it.

So, it's quite apparent that I need to find a balance.

Luckily, I have a new week to try again...

Have a great night!

LP

False start...

I tried to get out there this morning and get my miles in. "Tried" was the operative word in that sentence. I ran out of steam pretty quickly and just couldn't get going. Especially the bursts of running... they just were not happening. I was only aiming for 90 second intervals. BOO!

I decided to come home and try again later... I mapped what I did do on SP - 1.09 miles in 16 min. My time is on target (I aim for 15 min miles or faster), but not a good enough workout for the day. Maybe I can get a neighbor to come later... this way someone can push me if I get stuck!

Later,

LP

A new day

Good morning, everyone!

I'm glad yesterday is behind me... it turns out that someone hacked into my "friend in need"'s facebook account and so really, I "helped" a stranger. Thank God I didn't help anymore, except for praying for him and for the ability to forgive him and myself. I learned an important lesson about trust and gullibility, and will be wiser the next time should something like that ever happen again. I know most of my friends are smarter and more savvy than me, but I wanted to let you know what happened so that you too can learn from my mistakes.

I didn't do the best with my nutrition yesterday either... I took my nap, but then came downstairs and proceeded to mindlessly snack. It's a good thing that I've cleared out all of the junk food from my home, otherwise the damage could have been much much worse.

But, today is a new day! I can put all of that behind me and start over... I woke up rested and am going to go for my walk/run shortly (I'm trying to wait for it to warm up a little more). I can make healthy food choices all day. I can do something kind for myself and try not to beat myself up for yesterday's mistakes... yes, today is going to be a much better day!

Have a wonderful weekend!

LP

Laura and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Some days, I wish I had just stayed in bed...

I woke up to a text message about how I'm making somebody in my life whom I love dearly miserable and depressed... I know that I frustrate her to no end, but that's not my intention. We probably are too alike which in my experience makes it more difficult to get along. I promised to try harder... I hope that is enough.

Then a friend messages me that she is in need, and while I help her as much as I can, it's not enough... she needs more help that I cannot provide.

I went to work out. Did my cardio (a treadmill workout of walking and running) and then a lower body workout with Sean. Actually I think this went okay.

But now it's gloomy and raining and all I want to do is cry and go back to bed... which is actually a better option than eating. Maybe this is an "aha" moment... emotional eating is part of the reason why I am so big.

I know I'll get through it -- ride out the day. One of my friends and I are supposed to get together tonight which should be fun. But for now, I think I'll take that nap...

Have a nice weekend!

LP

10K training update

Sunday was day #1 - walk/ran 2 miles... see previous post

Mon 1/18 -- Strength training with Sean - upper body. No time for extra cardio (got home late from work), but did "run" around the hospital and took the stairs whenever possible.

Tues 1/19 -- Strength training with Sean - lower body. Again, no real time for cardio as I got home even later from work (see above).

Wed 1/20 -- Hit the road... walk/ran (walking > running) the neighborhood. Covered 3.98 miles in 61 minutes.

66 days to go! If the race were tomorrow, I'd definitely be walking... I'm still hoping that I will be able to run the majority of it, but I have a long way to go! Let's see what I can do in the 2 months left!

To be continued...

LP

Sparkpeople.com

Hello, everyone...

So I know that I've mentioned SparkPeople before... it's a free healthy living website that has a free nutrition/fitness tracker, countless articles about fitness, health and wellness, tons of healthy recipes and motivation from other people with common goals. I've dabbled on the site before but never really got into it... until now.

Last week though, while looking for my new game plan, I started using it again. I really like it! I've been faithfully journaling my food and it counts everything up and tells me how I'm doing (it has meal plans, but I don't use them because I don't like being told what to do... haha). I've been logging my fitness too and it even has a "map my route" feature which helps with the 10K training. I've even set up some other goals (like journaling every day, drinking my water and getting enough sleep) that I can track. But I think most important for me is that it has given me the sense of being back in control...

So, if anyone else is looking for a free site to help them... I encourage you to check it out! You can even add me as your SparkFriend - I'm LauraP924 of course!

Happy Humpday!

LP

What we have here is a failure to communicate!

DISCLAIMER: I had fitful sleep at best last night and I am CRANKY.

So, I decided to stick with training with Sean for now. What it boiled down to is I don't think that I would go to the gym and do strength training on my own. Also, although I probably sound a little bratty lately (out of my frustration about my setbacks), I really am grateful for the help he has given me. If I had never started working with Sean, I would probably be at least my starting weight and more likely heavier. He has given me tools that I use (or at least think about using) everyday that help me on my journey to a healthy life. And, although the new gym is terribly inconvenient for me and requires me to get up at 4am instead of 4:30, I do appreciate his flexibility in coming in earlier so that I can train in the first place. So for that, THANK YOU Sean... I don't know where I would be without your help.

HAVING SAID THAT, sometimes going to the trainer just infuriates me. I have a lot of pain issues (I think subacute sports injuries or complications of my being so big), especially in my right shoulder and my lower back. These pains prevent me from doing some exercises for the number of reps or the weight that Sean would like. I let him know that I am in pain, but often I think that he thinks I'm just making excuses. What I would like for him to do is acknowledge the pain and modify the exercise, rather than either just ignoring me and making me push through it or just getting angry and stopping the exercise altogether. The other thing that drives me crazy is when there is a simple misunderstanding in his instructions. What happens he'll say something like "stand behind the bench" but mean in front and it confuses me or he'll say do push-ups "off of the knees" which I take to mean stay off of my knees. Rather than just clarify, he appears to get annoyed. All I'm asking for is a little patience.

So there you go... I told you I was cranky! Hopefully tonight I will get more sleep and be back to my usual sunny disposition!

Happy Monday!

LP

10K training... off to a soggy start!

So, the Monument Ave 10K is 10 weeks away... and while I had hoped to get a head start on my training, in true Paletta fashion, I procrastinated instead. Although since all of the training groups I know about had their first run yesterday, I must be right on track.

The plan was simple... get up this morning before church and walk/run for 40-60 minutes. I went to bed at a reasonable hour and set my alarm for 6:15 -- I was ready! And when I woke up, what did I find??? It was raining.

Call it determination, stubborn-ness, or stupidity, I decided that a little rain wasn't going to wash out my first training session. So, off I went iPod full of my rocker girl tunes, full of a can-do-anything spirit! Ha! Ten minutes in, I was drenched! I think my clothes weighed an extra 5-10 lbs because they were saturated. I realized pretty quickly that I was not going to be able to get in all that I had planned... but I'd do my best.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible start. I did 2 miles in 30 minutes. I did more walking than running (as is still my usual M.O.), but I give myself an "A" for effort.

Until next time, Happy Sunday!

LP

Soliciting thoughts from the peanut gallery ...

Where does that expression come from anyway? I mean, peanuts can't talk!

Anyway, I'm thinking about getting a Wii Fit and I'm interested in your opinions... Any of you have one? Do you use it regularly? Do you like it? I don't want get one if it's just going to end up gathering dust...

Have a great day!

LP

Coming up with a game plan...

Can I just say, it was WONDERFUL sleeping in this am??? I so needed that. I'm still not back to my old self, but I think I may be a little better today...

I'm still trying to decide in what direction this journey is going to take me now. Do I continue with Sean, even though it seems that I'm no longer getting the results I desperately need? If not, what is my next step? It's not like I can just stop my journey here - I have a long long way to go before I am healthy.

So that's where I am... I have a lot of soul-searching and strategizing to do! If I'm not successful, I will have to make an appointment with the surgeons, which is something I still really really really don't want to do!

Agghh! I need another nap!

Happy Wednesday!

LP

The slippery slope...

I finished another 14-day stretch on wards on Sunday and came down with a horrible cold. Mostly URI symptoms, but also no energy and achiness all over. Yesterday all I did was sleep! I had both of my flu vaccines, so I'm pretty sure it's just some other nasty cold virus...

It seems like this cold has also wiped out my motivation, too. I decided that I need to take some time off from training. Sean reluctantly let me cancel and I will check in with him on Thursday to see if I'm ready to come back or if I want to take the entire week (or longer) off...

I'm hoping when I'm rid of this cold, I'm rid of the bad attitude too. Hopefully my motivation will come back before it's too late...

So, if you hear from me in a while, be sure to check in!

Happy Tuesday!

LP

My "New Week's" resolution...

I've decided that New Year's resolutions are too hard to keep. Instead, I'm going to make my resolutions more frequently in order to increase my chances of success...

My New Week's resolution?? To stop eating candy at work. My boss's Christmas present to us all was to stock our team room with snacks. Some were healthy (granola bars, bottled water) and others (like candies and chips) not so much. And being both a stress eater and in the middle of a 2 week long stint at work has been a dangerous combination... it's got to stop!

So, I'm putting it up here to increase my accountability... No more candy from the office supply. I bring plenty of healthy snacks and will be fine with them. For those of you who work with me, if you catch me slipping, I'd appreciate a vague comment referencing my blog (like "I read your last blog post") ... I'll know what you mean...

Happy Sunday!
LP

Happy New Year!

Wow, 2010 is here... can you believe it?

Yesterday I managed to steal a few moments for reflection on the past year. Last year was quite a rocky one on my weight loss journey... it was an uphill battle for all of 2009. And it's a little disappointing to think about how this detour cause significant delays in my reaching my final destination. I had projected that I would be at a healthy weight by my 35th birthday -- unfortunately, that is no longer mathematically possible... sigh...

While I may have lost progress and made mistakes this past year, I can be proud of some of the things that I achieved. I did my first race (well, not counting the Lake Run 10K in junior high) and signed up for my second. I met a lot of wonderful new people and learned the value of great neighbors. I went by myself on vacation to KY and WV and represented my branch of the family tree. I started a journey of introspection and am learning more about myself each day. And most importantly, despite the setbacks of 2009, I never gave up on the commitment I made to myself that Valentine's Day to become a healthier and happier person...

I want to thank you all for being my cheerleaders and champions. I look forward to updating you on all of my successes in the next year.

May 2010 bring you all much joy, love, health and prosperity.

Happy New Year!!!

LP