My Big News!!!

Did everybody stay up all night waiting for me to post my big news today??? NO!  Hmmm, OK, I get it.  My life isn't all that exciting.  But I think you guys will agree that this is pretty darn exciting news ....

WE HAVE MOVEMENT PEOPLE!!!!

It took me 4 days to fully believe it.  You see, I am absolutely sure that my scale lies to me.  Whoever made it in the factory had some twisted sense of humour because that thing can give me some awfully, (not so) funny readings every once in a while.  But 4 days of being consistently down AND confirming it on alternate scales and I finally believe it.

I have broke my 4 month plateau!

It went something like this ....

Jun - 145.8 (all time low)

July - 147.0

Aug- 147.0

Sep - 147.2

Oct - 147.0 (well from Oct 1 - 30th anyway)

then, on the last day of October we begin this trend......

Oct 31 -145.6   what??? really???  No, scale is just feeling peppy

Nov 1 - 143.2   No way!  Need to throw it out.  It's gone insane.

Nov 2 - 144.6   OK, that's the trend we're used to, going up again ... but could it be that I AM actually down???

Nov 3 - 143.6   Hmmm, maybe this is real, better confirm this on other scales.  Yup - it's TRUE!

It's kind of funny because on the morning of Nov 1st, we were laying in bed and my husband had his hand resting on my stomach and he said something about "I think your stomach feels smaller today".  And he didn't even know that the day before the scale had finally moved.  Thats' how much I didn't believe it, I was afraid to share incase it was a false reading.

So the question would probably be ... Did I do anything different? 

Umm, my first thought would be that I don't really think so, not hugely different anyway.  But, since I am using the lovely Sparkpeople website I can go back and analyze things a bit.  I'm such a nerd!  Here's what I found:

CALORIES EATEN

Not a huge change there.  I had planned to increase my calories in the last week of October, but one day I really wasn't hungry and ate very little so my weekly average stayed about the same as it did all month, which was just over 1400 per day or 9,900 per week.

CALORIES BURNED

In the last week of October I went from having a average weekly burn of around 2000 calories, to almost 3200 in the final week.  This would be mostly due to that 18K run I did last weekend. 

FAT

Not much change here.  I average about 40g per day and I try to make it the healthy types.

CARBOHYDRATES

I did lower this a bit in the last week.  Not really intentionally, but because I was trying to increase my protein and stay somewhat in the same calorie range, this is the nutrient that ended up balancing it out.  I also found that in eating more protein, I didn't really want as many carbs.  Earlier in the month I was average 210-215g of Carbs a day and the last week this went down to about 170g. 

PROTEIN

As I mentioned above, I made a good effort to increase the amount of protein I eat.  Earlier in the month I was having approx. 65g per day and in the last week I increased this to 100g.  Sometimes it's a little harder to organize the higher protein foods, but with some planning it's getting easier.  Cottage cheese and egg whites have become my good friends.

So not a huge amount of changes.  It really doesn't feel like any kind of change.  But maybe that was the jolt that my body needed.  Or maybe it just decided it was time and it was OK to let a little go.  Either way, I'm HAPPY!

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New Threads

I think I'm gonna need some downtime soon.  Another whirlwind weekend.

We still have the Japanese exchange students staying with us.  They arrived Friday afternoon, very nervous, very excited.  We had pizza and fruit with a yogurt dip.  I had two thin pieces (as planned) and managed to stay within my calorie level quite nicely.  We also carved some pumpkins.  They don't have Halloween there so this was pretty fun.

On Saturday we went out to a Japanese restaurant for lunch - this made the girls VERY happy.  However, I ate too much rice and beef teriyaki.  Then for "dinner" I ate a full size Coffee Crisp bar.  But it was very good, and I still managed to juggle my day around to keep in my calorie range.  I figured it was Halloween, and I NEVER do something like that, so why not.

Yesterday we went shopping to a HUGE mall.  I am SO not a mall person, but it wasn't that bad.  Not alot of great choices in the food fair.  Why is it that healthier meals are so expensive.  I had a small side of rice and the insides of a vegetable samosa (skipped the fried batter part, even though it does taste good).  For dinner the girls wanted to cook for us.  They made a vegetable curry dish with rice.  It tasted quite good.  I've never had something like this.  At the end of the day my calories were OK, but my carb level was definitely VERY high and protein was next to nil.  Oh well, I'm balancing that out today.

My food choices haven't been stellar the last few days, but I am working hard to stay focused and not let it become an all out crazy fest.  They'll ony be here until early Wednesday morning, so it's short term.

While at the mall I had two very exciting events!  First, I bought this pair of jeans ....

They are a size 7 - wahooooo!!!!  When I got down to 135 lbs in 2001 I barely fit into a size 7, sometimes 8, but rarely 7.  I actually tried on a few size 7 jeans from various stores and they all fit.  I am finally getting to the point where I can choose my clothes for how they look instead of just that they fit.  I love it!  My husband said I should go back and get a size 5 (now he's really crazy).  Though, these aren't super tight.  The waist fits just right.

I also tried on a hoodie at Lululemon.  I grabbed the size 8 first of all, and it looked fine.  But the bottom line is I can't jusitfy spending $100 on a sweatshirt (even if it is super comfy and makes me one of the coolest Moms around).  My daughter wanted the same one and I jokingly said "maybe we can share it".  I thought she'd pop a gasket after hearing that.  So she tried on the 8, but it was really too big for her, even with another sweater underneath.  So ... I grabbed the size 6, figuring no way in hell would it fit.  Well, guess what - if fit!  And my daughter said it looked better than the 8.

I remember when Syl was trying to fit into her pink (of course) size 6 Lulu hoodie.  I remember thinking, gee that's awesome, but I'll never wear that size.  Hmmm, never say never!

I didn't buy the sweater, but I'm keeping it on the radar.  How cool is it that I can (sort of) share clothes with my 13 yr old daughter!  Sure they're loose on her, but no crazy loose.

I have some fun other news but I'm going to save it .......

Anniversary & Visitors

Whoops, I missed our anniversary yesterday.  No, not our wedding anniversary, but the day that we met - October 29, 1988.  Officially we didn't start dating until October 31st though.  21 years (and one day) we've been together now.  Have I mentioned that I'm 36 ... we've been together since I was 15.  My son is 15 - what the heck????  Though I'm pretty safe in that area.

This was us a few months after we started dating (definite 80s hair):

This afternoon we have a couple of girls from Japan coming to stay with us for the next 5 days.  It's an exchange program at our school that they've been doing for 10 years.  Most people take in just one student, but we have the room so are able to take in 2 girls.

I'm a bit anxious about this and hope that they're going to have a good time.  The weather is supposed to be pretty awful this weekend too - blah!  I'm thinking we'll do some shopping, maybe bowling and/or swimming, take them to watch my son play soccer, and hopeful find something weather friendly to experience a bit of Halloween.

I have our menu planned out (mostly) and tonight we will be having pizza.  But no worries, I've mapped out my day and made adjustments to fit it in.

Yummy Copycat Soup

Yesterday I had THE BEST  protein bar I have ever tasted.  Ohhhh Heaven!  Chocolate Coated Peanut Butter .... MmmMmmmMmmmmmmm!  Doesn't taste anything like your typical protein bar.  Though with 350 calories, 15g fat but 20g protein ... it's really a glorified chocolate bar.  But as an occassional treat, or maybe after one of my long runs, I think this would be pretty good.

At $3.29 per bar though, that's a bit on the steep side.  I did find that you can buy them from their website HONEY STINGER.  I also found them for a pretty good price at Amazon.com. 

Also made a new soup recipe last night.  Garry (that's my hubby by the way, I never mention him by name) and I went to the Super Walmart the other day and they were sampling Knorr's Orange Soup - Butternut Squash, Carrot & Curry.  It was SOOOO good, but at $2.50 per 2 cup container I figured I could make it much cheaper.  So, I went in search of a recipe to create my own.

This recipe is so, SO simple.  Makes a pretty big batch too and costs next to nothing.

CURRY BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

• 
  
  1 medium butternut squash
  
• 
  
  1 tablespoon oil
  
• 
  
  1 large onion, diced
  
• 
  
  4 stalks celery, diced
  
• 
  
  4 meduim carrots, diced
  
• 
  
  4 cups chicken stock
  
• 
  
  1 tsp curry powder (to taste)
  
• 
  
  1/2 tsp cayenne powder (to taste)
  
• 
  
  1 cup milk (1% was fine)
  
• 
  
  1/4 cup light sour cream
  

1. 
   
   Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds, place in dish with 1/2" water.  Either bake at 350° for 45-60 minutes OR microwave for about 15 minutes until tender enough to scoop out with a spoon.
   
2. 
   
   Meanwhile, saute onion, celery & carrot in oil until tender.
   
3. 
   
   Add chicken stock, softened squash and seasonigs.  Bring to a low boil for a few minutes.
   
4. 
   
   Let cool slightly (though I didn't) and stir in milk.
   
5. 
   
   Blend until smooth.  Return to pot, add sour cream and stir until well blended.
   

Did a Sparkspeople generated workout tonight - Advanced Dumbell Full Body:

Dumbbell Squats with calf raises & overhead press

Wall sits with Bicep Curls

Wall sits with Lateral Raises

Dumbbell Forward Lunges

One Arm Rows

Tricep Kickbacks

Chest Presses

Dumbbell Crunches

2 sets of each x 15 reps

Was pretty good, though not killer.  I added 1 min of elliptical between each set to keep the heart rate up a bit.

Well, I'm off to bed.  Got a TON to do tomorrow.  Goodnight!!

Interesting Facts and Numbers

Been crunching numbers this morning.  I quite like using Sparkpeople so I can look back on my calendar and see my overall numbers.  I'm a total numbers person.  Some interesting things I've discovered this month:

I haven't exercised at all on any Fridays this month, nor most Thursdays.  This is ironic considering I don't work on Fridays and Thursday night is the only weeknight I don't have other committments.  You would think these would be the easiest days to fit in exercise.

Sundays I burn the most calories (870 on average), however this makes sense because this is my long run days. 

I'm kind of suprised to see I only exercised 17 out of 27 days so far this month.  I thought for sure it was more frequent than that.  However, when I do exercise I average 464 calories each time - though that number drops to 254 if you don't include my long Sunday runs.

I eat the most calories on Thursdays (1539) and Saturdays (1697).  Consequently, I eat the least calories on Wednesdays (1302) and Fridays (1303).  Hmmmm ..... see a pattern there????  The most calories I've eaten in a day is 2110 and the least is 835 - that was kind of an extreme, it's the only day I've gone under 1100 and I had 2021 the day before.

Here's the average numbers:

Calories Eaten:  1452
Calories Burned: 292 (this includes non exercise days)

BMR (1716) - Calories Eaten (1452) + Calories Burned (292 ) = 556 Daily Calorie Deficit

This should mean that since the beginning of October I should be down 4.3 lbs (556 * 27 days / 3500 calories to lose 1 lb).  So ... what am I actually down??? .... anything from nothing to up 2 lbs depending on the day.

By playing with the numbers you'd think I'd be losing.  An average daily calorie deficit of 556 seems to be within normal I thought, though perhaps that leaves me a bit too low.  The other thing is that if I calculate the daily average calorie deficit just on days I exercise ... it averages 756.  OK that's an eye opener, didn't realize it was quite that much.

What am I doing with this information????  Well, I've made some pretty charts that I have no idea how to put on my blog (hahahaaa).  NOTE:  If anyone can explain to me how to insert a chart I would love them forever.....  But, seriously, in looking at this I think I may have to up my calories a little bit for one thing.  I know MANY of you have been telling me this for a while, but I'm a tad stubborn (and maybe scared...).  Recently I increased the amount of protein in my diet, but in doing so I made a cutback in carbs & fats because I wasn't comfortable increasing my calorie limit. 

I'm not even sure how I go about increasing my calories because, quite simply, I am not hungry - at all!  Very rarely do I actually feel hunger, and even when I do, if I get distracted for a while it pretty much goes away.  On days that I exercise hard I could probably go without eating.  It completely cuts my appetite.

The other thing I think I should do is to exercise more ..... or should I say more often.  I think on those days that I'm typically not exercising at all I should at least do a light walk.  It doesn't have to be hard core. 

Any thoughts???  Maybe I'm getting to the point where I need a dietician in my life, though I've done a teensy bit of looking around and have no idea how I find one in my area.  Even though I've gotten fairly trim, I know I still have some to lose.  My belly is soft & squishy and with everything else thinning out sometimes it even looks like an early preggo belly.

This week's LONG run

Another long run under my belt. My husband had to see a client yesterday so afterwards we headed out to a bay on the ocean and ran along the dyke for a total of 18.2 Km.  Even though it was on the ocean, it certainly wasn't the most scenic route.  So boring in fact that I can't even find a decent picture online to show you guys.  If we had had a camera we were surrounding by clouds and misty rain the whole time - very grey and blah.  But the trail was flat and easy.  Good thing because the weather was that damp, cold, bone chilling that we get here on the wet, I mean .... west coast. 

The run out wasn't too bad, though I was downright miserable before we left and it was COLD! But a few Km's in I got into it. Then a couple of male runners came on the trail in front of us and my competitive nature kicked in and I wanted to pass them (even though they were a fair bit in front of us). They ran at pretty much the same pace as us so we had to push hard. Almost caught up to them and my shoelace came undone. Plus we were at our turn around point and they finished their run there.  I think they may have had the right idea.  They parked one car at one end, then drove to the starting point.  I hate having to repeat my tracks.

The first half we ran fairly fast, 7.5mph average, which was a pretty good average considering how slow we started because of the cold.

When we turned around the rain and wind came in and it felt like we were running into a brick wall. I told my husband it felt like I was on a treadmill going nowhere. Near the end both of us felt like we had legs of heavy, stiff steel. Our legs were frozen and stiff. I think this was a run we probably could have used some nutrition on because we clearly ran out of gas. But you get to a point where you know you have to keep running because if you stop your legs will just lock up completely and you're done.

In total it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes. So if I could hold that pace for another 3Kms (which I think I could) then I could finish a half marathon in under 2 hours!! WOOT WOOT!!!  That would exceed my goal at this point.

Per my SILs suggestion I'm trying to eat more protein than I was. She looked at my diet journal and figures with the exercise I'm doing that I need more protein. What I'm eating now is probably fine for most people, but not with the activity level I have.

I haven't lost any weight really in ...hmmm, 4 months, but my scale this morning showed that I've lost another 1% in body fat (however accurate that thing is - I'm not very confidant in it). It shows that I'm 27.1% body fat and I think it was 31 or so when we first got the scale (Jan 2008??).  However it says my husband has gone from 28% body fat to 26.7%.  He's lost about 40 lbs and if you were to see him you'd think he has maybe about 15% (very athletic, lean type body).

Tonight I'll probably just do some easy time on the elliptical to loosen up my muscles.  Maybe some light upper body weights and/or core.  Overall I'm not feeling too terrible.  More like being hit by a bicycle as opposed to a freight train. :)

Died And Gone to Peanut Butter Heaven!

Oh my .... oh MY!!!!!  I have died and gone to peanut butter heaven.

Every year we have a Women's Show  here and there are always lots of neat products to check out.  The highlight for me this year was peanut butter.  The flavours they had were amazing!  Also, all natural and organic to boot.

I ended up bringing home SIX jars of this stuff.

Banana, Cinnamon Currant (got two of that - sooo goood!), Dark Chocolate, Vanilla Cranberry, and Carmel. 

I probably should have gotten two of the caramel.  It is amazing!  I can not wait to mix this into some oatmeal or red river cereal ... or just enjoy on a nice piece of toast.  Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmm.

Other than that there wasn't anything superbly amazing.

Had a FANTASTIC workout last night.  I totally prefer to exercise outdoors when I can, but in doing so, I don't hit the weights as often as I should.  If I have to exercise indoors, then running on the treadmill like a gerbil can drive me a bit bonkers.  Sometimes it's OK, but if I'm not really into it then I can talk myself out of a long run on the treadmill pretty easy.  Last night was one of those nights.

So, instead I turned to one of my trusty little workouts I have printed and stacked in the gym.  Last night was an upper body workout and boy oh boy can I feel it.

This is what I did:

*15 min run at 7 mph

*Following moves (3 sets x 12) with 1 min 30 sec running at 9 mph between each move:
...Chest press (15 lbs)
...Dumbbell Rows (15 lbs)
...Incline Chest Press (15 lbs)
...Lat Pulldown (4 plates)
...Shoulder Press (12 lbs)
...Tricep Pulldown (2 plates)
...Hammer Curls (2 x 15 lbs, 1 x 12 lbs)
...Tricep Kickbacks (8 lbs)
...Concentration Curls (15 lbs)
*5 min run @ 7mph
*10 min. Abs - basic crunch, reverse crunch, 2 min plank
*Stretch

I sure can feel it in my chest today and a little bit in my abs.  The last 15 seconds of the fast run is pretty tough, really have to push through it.  But I think that will help with my distance running speed.  I plan to increase my speeds over the next few months.  Will have to make up some more home workouts.