PROGRESS!!!

Ok. I went and tried on my bridesmaids dress for Natasha's wedding. It didn't look THAT bad on me...but I didn't feel that great in it. So, I decided to do a diet. A real diet. Just to lose a little weight before the wedding.
I've never successfully dieted before, so this will be a first. I decided to try to cut my carbs, since that is the biggest thing I eat a lot of. My goal is to eat under 40 a day. I'm using calorie counter on my phone to keep track of the number of carbs I'm eating daily. Yesterday, I went overboard...I ate candy corn. When I looked back at it today, that is what put me over by 50 grams of carbs. Yikes! So far, today I've had:

Breakfast- 3 eggs, onion, green pepper, swiss cheese all in an omelet w/ 2 strips of bacon- 0.9 grams of carbs!!!

Lunch- Spinach leaves, 1/4 an apple, 1/8 serving of glazed pecans (so stinkin good!), chopped onion, 1/8 of a tomato, chicken breast (from last nights supper) and Light Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette...for a total of 13 grams of carbs

Dinner- I had 2 porchops (with 1 tablespoon of light brown sugar on them) and 2 slices of apple (cooked them with the chops...so good!) (I also had olive oil in the pan, so it wouldn't stick.) and cauliflower with cheese. (The rest of the family had mac and cheese...and I didn't eat a single bit!!!) and that was 8 grams of carbs.

I am totally kicking this diets butt! Oh yea- Snack-1 piece of Orbit gum...1 carb.
I am at 23 carbs for the day...I'm trying to stay under 40. I'm on a roll!

I'm a competitive person and a numbers person...so I'm trying to beat my own numbers! I do the same with running. Try to finish faster or run longer. That motivates me. Also, the last time I weighed myself, I was at 145...today, 142. I doubt that three pounds was from the last three days, but, I'll give it credit for 1 lb :D

If anyone has an carb free snacks I can eat, let me know...particularly sweet. I've got the salty end covered, but I need more sweet snacks. Or even chocolate! It's prob not possible...but its worth a try!
I will be SO excited to get back into my size 4's and 6's again :D

"Look Ma, no hands!"

When I was about 12 years old, I rode my bike EVERYWHERE! Windsor's grown up a lot since then. We used to only have two stoplights in our little town. Sarah, who was I guess 8 or 9, and I used to ride all over the place. If we had a few dollars, we would ride down 258, cross 460, and eat lunch at Dairy Queen. Then with whatever change we had left, we would ride down 460 until we got to the pharmacy, where we would cross those 4 lanes again to spend our change on candy. We'd probably ride past the high school, go down Deer Path and venture back home down 258 again. I'm not sure either of our parents knew what we were doing. To think that Logan who is 8, doing that scares the crap out of me. I hate letting him ride down the path in the backyard because I can't see him past a certain point. There's not any traffic...but it still seems dangerous. However, we had to be in incredible shape to make these journeys on bike...almost on a daily basis. I know that except for the turns, I probably road without holding on to the handlebars.

Today, I rode the bike for 1 1/2 miles...and my thighs are burning. Also, I started sweating, so I took one hand off the handlebars to wipe my face and it scared me to death. One hand, ain't no joke, anymore. I starting practicing to see if I could ride one handed for a long period of time and it was really hard to do. I'm not skilled enough to ride without any hands...yet.

Also, today, I went jogging. Last Friday, Sterling and I went jogging with Gracie. She would run and then need to walk, so we'd walk. It was great. While G was napping today, I said I was going running, so Sterling decided to join me. Not fun. He kept telling me I run slow and trying to get me to pick up my pace. I told him, I'm trying to run for distance, not speed. When I did get to the point where I was tired and I wanted to walk, he kept saying, You can't stop. Stopping is for quitters. No. I'm walking. Not stopping. And walking is not for quitters. It's for people who don't want to pass out. THEN. I had to pee. What does Sterling say "Peeing is a reward for when you finish running." What? No. Peeing isn't a reward. Peeing is what I do when I have to pee. I left him running and I came back home and peed. Ok. I got some water too. I don't think I'm going to let Sterling run with me anymore. I don't want to not like him...and I'll be honest...I wanted to punch him. haha. I know he was trying to be encouraging (sidenote: running with Tasha is the same way), but I don't like that kind of running. Also, he didn't talk! I'd ask him a question and he waited til we got to the end of our run to answer. Lame. But I still love him.

(This picture is from Gracie's tea party birthday party...looks like one of the princesses is putting the moves on the butler. Haha)

After Sterling went back to the house, I did another .6 of a mile. Running by the woods is great because I know a blue cobalt won't try to hit me. On the other hand, I'm constantly scared of deer, bears (there was one in the area a few years ago...I'm sure he hasn't gone too far.), racoons, snakes. For fun, I plan my escape route. Do I run? Do I stay and fight the bear? My best idea so far has been to download the light saber app on my phone and take the animal down Yoda style. I just need to start bringing my phone with me when I run.

I was once diagnosed with back fat. True Story.

My entire adult life, I've had these softball sized knots in my lower back. Both of my sisters have them, so we think it is pretty normal...does anyone else get them? They come and go, but I've noticed that when I exercise regularly they stay away. My doctor thought they were a hormonal thing...you know how some women get bigger boobs once a month...I get bigger back fat. Haha. Well, that isn't the case. I've had people feel them and they've told me...that is a bone. That's how hard these things are. They get really big and cause pain all the way down my legs. Back when I went to the doctor, he sent me to get an ultrasound. When I went, they happened to be pretty small...about the size of a golf ball. A few days after the ultrasound, my doctor called and gave me the diagnoses. I have fatty lipomas. (Funny...spell check wants me to change the word lipoma with diploma...I could have fatty diplomas. Haha) Anyway. I have tumors that are made of fat. Great. Diagnosed with fat. No wonder why when I work out they stay away...isn't that the point of working out? To keep fat away? This isn't rocket science. (Also, the radiating pain is because it puts pressure on my sciatic nerve.) Well, the other night my kidneys were hurting. Like, it hurt when I peed...only it was in my lower back. Now, my fat back is acting up. It's been months since my fat back has hurt. I'm wondering if they are related. They are relatively in the same area...my fat back is lower than my kidneys, but they are still pretty close.

This whole week, I haven't had the energy to work out. I feel like I could sleep all day. Like I have mono...except I feel fine. Just tired. I'm going to start taking a multivitamin...I think. I stink at taking pills. I don't even take tylenol to get rid of my back fat pain. I'd just rather complain. However, I really want to train for a half marathon. OBX 1/2 marathon is in November. I can be ready by then...right?

I figured I'd share my story about why I initially started running. I've always been a fan of yoga and pilates. (Its a lot of laying down or standing still...my kind of work out. Haha) However, in 2005 I was hired at Farmers Bank. When I was shown my office, I realized there were things from someone else still in the office. A calendar with every birthday labeled. Finger nail files. Coffee cups. Simple things. There was also a box labeled "Kathies". I soon learned that the lady that had the office before me was recently diagnosed with leukemia. We would get updates pretty frequently and I was just as eager to hear how Kathie was doing...even though I never met her. She got to a point where she was able to come visit and I finally met her. A few months later, Kathie was healthy enough she was able to come back to work. I still had all of her things in her office...but it was also now my office. It wasn't big enough for the both of us, but I wanted her to be able to have her office back. They ended up doing a lot of office rearranging and Kathie and I ended up in a new office together. It was small and didn't have windows. However, it did have a dry erase board. Together we went to walmart and bought material to make curtains for our windows. We had curtains for several months out of the year.

We both instantly bonded because we had very similar personalities. We caused trouble together, "worked" together, and had a lot of fun together. We figured out how to play frisbee in our office. During this time, the bank switched its banking program. It was a very stressful time, so we thought a hula hoop would help lighten the mood. It did...we even have pictures of the president of the bank hula hooping. Well, during one of my "performances", I hula hooped while walking like a chicken and a really good looking guy walked by(he was from the company that helped us get onto the new banking system) and everyone died of laughter because of the sight of me acting like a fool in front of a stranger. The guy had a very serious personality and didn't even acknowledge us. We found out the next morning that very serious, but good looking guy ran marathons for a little girl with cancer. Kathie said "Anyone who runs for cancer is okay by me."

The week of September 11 rolled around and Kathie was extremely quiet. I didn't pry because I thought if she wanted me to know...she'd tell me. Well, on September 11, she told me that her cancer was no longer in remission. I was trying to be and optimistic because that is what I do and that is what Kathie would also do. Kathie wasn't optimistic. She said she didn't think she could go through all of it again. Of course, every song on the radio that day was a sad song (we listened to country and it was sept. 11), so I spent my day secretly crying at my desk. Kathie wasn't crying, so I didn't want her to see me crying. She left work early that day and was headed to Duke within the next couple of days. We talked on the phone a lot while she was there. I could tell that she was getting worse, pretty fast. She got to the point where she would talk and I couldn't understand anything she said.

For about a month, I cried every day. I prayed every day. I hated knowing that she was in pain. When Kathie needed a bone marrow transplant I asked how do I get tested to see if we were a match. (We had the same taste in clothes and we wore the same size clothes...surely our genetic material was going to match!) They planned on testing her sister first. I wanted to do something.
I told Kathie before she left that if she came back to work bald, then I'd shave my head to match hers. I planned on us wearing really fun scarves around our heads or crazy headbands. Kathie never got to come back to work.

I decided that I was going to run in memory of Kathie. That was the initial reason I started running. TNT is a group that trains people to run 1/2 marathons, marathons, triathlons. Since it is almost September 11, I am reminded why I wanted to run. So, I'm going to take my multivitamin and run. Run for Kathie. Because someone who runs for cancer is okay by her. :D