We bought a spin bike! It should be here early next week! I’d squee but I’m too grown up for such antics. I had intended to hold out for a treadmill and convince the husband by next winter that I neeeeded it. But, in reality, I’m the only one that would use the treadmill. Well, the kids would play on it and fight over it and probably write on it with Sharpies, but I’m the only one that would actually USE it. J and I both will get a lot of use out of a spin bike. I see some biking challenges in our future

My week at a glance:

Monday: 30 minutes strength training/30 minutes yoga

Tuesday: 30 minutes cycling intervals

Wednesday: nada, except for child-wrangling

Thursday: 30 minutes cycling intervals/45 minutes yoga

Friday: 1 hour walking/50 minutes yoga

Saturday: 30 minutes cycling intervals/45 minutes ashtanga yoga

Sunday: 40 minutes strength training/30 minutes ashtanga yoga

That’s a lot of working out! I’m trying to make the yoga a daily habit – otherwise with the running and strength training I get so stiff I start walking like a little old lady.

As for eats and drinks? Meh. I’m taking part in Amanda’s Spring Bootie Buster Challenge, and this challenge encourages you to get at least 64 ounces of water a day and eat at least 7-9 servings of fruit and veg per day. The water has been a piece of piss. (I’m snorting as I type that. Apparently I’m to grown up to squee like a girl, but talking like a twelve year old boy is perfectly acceptable.) However, I’m surprised by how little fruit and veg I eat. It’s not salad weather, so that definitely makes it harder. But I find I’ve slowly segued from basing our meals around a vegetable to basing them around a grain or pasta. Thanks, Amanda, for helping me become aware of this. I’m going to make a real effort this next week to up the veggies on our plates.

This next week I’m planning to get back to my running, keep on keeping on with all other things physical, and reread my Intuitive Eating book. Make it a good one, ladies!

This isn’t your typical fitness blog. I’m older than the average, and I’m certainly less fit than the average.I practice yoga, but I can’t twist myself up into a pretzel. And my mind is certainly not quiet and focused. I run, but I’ve never even run a half marathon. I’ve only just recently discovered that I’m not allergic to sweating. In fact, I kind of like it I suck at taking pictures of my food – or of pretty much anything else, for that matter. So, yeah, definitely not typical.

Oh, and I’ve decided I’m done with the scale. And weight loss challenges. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with either of them. But because they are not good for me. I’ll workout daily and feel awesome and eat good, healthy, wholesome food, and then I’ll step on the scale at the end of a successful week and see the scale hasn’t budged and I’ll feel like shit. And I’ll forget how awesome and healthy I felt. I don’t want to forget how awesome and healthy I feel!

I’ve decided that feeling awesome and healthy, and being awesome and healthy, are far more important than those 10-15 pounds I “should” lose. I’m going to continue running and cycling and sweating – not because they might help me lose a pound or two, but because they make me feel good. I’m going to continue lifting weights – not so I’ll someday look good in that imaginary bikini I’d never wear anyway, but because I want to be strong. And I’m going to continue eating good, healthy, wholesome foods – not because it’s what the experts of some diet/lifestyle tell me are best, but because they are what my body craves.

So, that’s where this blog is going. It’s going to be about discovering just how great I can feel, regardless of my BMI or weight or whatever you like to use as a standard. I will post photos of my unabashedly short and squat self, running races and in yoga poses and probably even in shorts. I will not take 47 self-portraits just to find the one that makes me look the thinnest and hides the grey in my hair. I will talk about my successes, and my struggles. And I won’t be letting the size of my jeans, or the size of your jeans in comparison, determine how I write about them.

I just thought you might want to know I’m back

Then, after I collected the kids, I settled in for fifty minutes of yoga. Nothing too intense, but it was a super-slowed down class. All those warriors held FOREVER really helped me build up a sweat!

I’m currently participating in Amanda’s (Run to the Finish) Spring Bootie Buster Challenge. It’s a challenge designed to encourage you to move a little more, eat a little better, and be part of a community of like-minded people. I love that SBBC is about adding healthy habits instead of nixing the bad. I’ve yet to hear anyone speaking in absolutes: No chocolate for me! Or no alcohol for the duration of the challenge! I also love that it’s not a weight loss challenge. There’s no official weighing in, no rewards for losing the most, etc. It’s about small, healthy, sustainable habits.

You earn points in this challenge by drinking 64 ounces of water each day, eating 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, and excercising. I’m finding it quite easy to get in the water, quite difficult to fit in all the fruit and veg (and I’m a vegetarian!), and quite addictive to be exercising so much!

The weather is currently cold and miserable here. Although I’ve prided myself most of the winter on getting out and running no matter what the conditions are, this week conditions forced me inside. I’ll run outside if it only means being cold and wet. But if I’m risking injury, well…. I’m not stupid. And this week the sidewalks and roads are covered in ice and/or slush (depending on time of day) and I’m not willing to risk a knee injury. I’ve had problems in the past with my knees. I carry less weight with which to pound them these days, but I’m not taking any chances.

Today, I turned to our stationary bike for a half hour of intervals, following this beginner program by Tina Reale. Talk about sweat! But it was fun and challenging, and over before I knew it.  I then eased onto my mat for forty minutes of slow but intense vinyasa yoga. It’s a goal of mine to sweat nearly every day, and to hit the mat daily. I feel better, physically and mentally, when I do.

I used to cross stitch. You have NO idea how many hours I spent making painstaking little Xs, creating something beautiful out of nothing but thread and a piece of cloth. In all honesty, I’m not very artistic. I like pretty things, but I’m not good at doing pretty things. Sewing, painting, drawing… they all escape me. But cross stitch? It’s art for the artistically-challenged.

And so I decided to give it a go once more. I have a wonderful chart on the way to me, but I found something to whet my appetite in a magazine. Living in Belgium, you’d think there would be needlecraft shops on every street corner. And there are, IF you want to BUY the finished product. Finding the material and floss is another matter, however. It took a while to track a shop down, but it turns out there’s a wonderful craftstore only about fifteen minutes from me.

This is the pattern I’m currently working on. The actual plans are for a cushion, but I’m stitching it just for a hanging.

This is where I am today. I’ve been working on it for about three days – this is probably about four hours of leisurely work.

I’m not exactly thrilled with the neatness of my stitches, but it’s been at least a decade since I did this. Yet another good reason for a trial project

I’m taking part in Daffycat’s TUSAL 2013!  Once a month, I’ll be posting a picture of my ORT jar. ORT stands for “old ratty threads”. The threads that you collect as you stitch, change colours, repeat. If you collect them in a glass jar they can look sorta beautiful. OR they can look like a mouse nest. I’m hoping mine ends up looking beautiful. Only time will tell.  My jar, January 2013:

That’s one empty looking jar. I’m hoping by the end of the year to have it stuffed beyond belief.

1. To finish – whatever the time, whatever the conditions, by whatever means necessary – whatever it takes to cross that finish line.
2. The time goal they feel they can REALISTICALLY pull out, given proper training and pushing themselves within healthy limits.
3. The dream time – if every condition is perfect and this wind is at their backs and they never have to make a porta-potty break.

For our current challenge at Shrinking Jeans, we’ve been given the task of setting goals for the duration of the challenge – 8 weeks. I have two primary goals I want to accomplish, and I’m going to apply that runner mentality to each of them.

GOAL #1 – LOSE WEIGHT

That’s a no -brainer right, given that this is a weight loss challenge? My “to finish” goal is simply that – see it through. If I give it steady effort and only lose a pound, then so be it. My realistic goal is to lose 10 pounds. That’s just a little more than one pound a week, certainly an attainable goal if I eat well and continue to exercise. My dream goal is 13 pounds, because that puts me in striking distance of my happy, ideal weight.

GOAL #2 – RUN A 5K

I’m working through the C25K program with the Sisterhood, and the last week of that program serendipitously coincides with the last week of our challenge. That Thursday, 28 February, is my last run of the program. My “to finish” goal is to see the program through, period, as I have a nasty habit of quitting. My realistic goal is to run the majority of the 5k, keeping walking breaks to a minimum. And my dream goal is to run it in under 35 minutes. A little lofty for a first-timer, but I can walk it in 42-43 minutes, so I think it’s at least within the realm of possibility.

Great, I have my goals. But how do I plan to achieve them?

• with moderate, daily exercise. In addition to my three running days per week, I’m also chipping away at a weight training program. Fridays, my “off” day, I go to water aerobics while my boys have swim lessons.
• with a sensible eating plan. I’m following Weight Watchers, focusing on the simply filling technique. This aligns better with the way we eat, but still allows for occasional indulgences and takes the pressure off being 100% strict with myself all the time.
• with a revamped evening routine. Instead of relaxing with a glass of wine and a snack every. single. evening. I’m going to try either reading or blogging with a cup of herbal tea by my side. I’m still hashing this one out. Replacing a bad habit takes more thought and meets more resistance than simply starting a new, good habit does.
• with a little help from my friends. When I’m feeling rocky, when I feel like quitting, when I think eating a piece of cheesecake is going to fix things, I’m going to turn to you, my friends, to my fellow C25Kers, and to my fab partner for this challenge, Adah.

I have goals. I’ve made a plan. Now it’s time to get to work and stick to it!

Featured image courtesy of Creative Commons.

“Champagne” by digitalart
freedigitalphotos.net

Tomorrow, I’m all over this:

It’s obvious I need to create a new evening routine, one that doesn’t revolve around wine and snacking. But, man! I love that down time so much!! Convince me that I can find that time without a glass of vino, a bowl of munchity-crunchities, and Twitter. Seriously. Convince me. What evening routines do YOU have to suggest? What do YOU do?

Today I completed my first run for C25K. It went well, I think. Ironically, my lungs seem to remember how it’s done It used to be that, when I would “try” to run, my breathing would be all erratic. Today? Smooth as silk. But my body? Felt the extra year I’ve aged since last time. And it felt the extra 10-15 pounds I’m carrying since the last time I ran. And then I stupidly didn’t take/make the time to stretch or do a bit of yoga after the run. Much like I didn’t bother to stretch after yesterday’s weights workout. I’m currently walking around the house like I have a log up my ass. And the husband is currently chuckling with mirth.

So, I’m on my way. The challenge at the Sisterhood starts bright and early January 1st. That gives me about a day and a half to figure out that evening routine, and to finish organizing my plan of attack. Because I will be in full-on attack mode from day one. I have a race on March 3rd. I’m not hauling and extra 15 pounds across that finish line!

The shoes have been brushed off, the first week of C25K is loaded into RunKeeper, my sports bras still kinda sorta fit. Now I’m off to assemble a playlist.

I’ve weighed the pros and cons of a multitude of approaches to healthy eating. Do I go 100% hardcore no oil no sugar plant based whole foods again? It works, and I feel good when I’m in it, but one slip up sends you (read: me) faltering for weeks. That’s the big problem, in my opinion, with elimination regimes. They create an all or nothing mindset. Calorie counting on its own does the same. The instant I realize I’ve crossed that magical boundary line, I feel like all bets are off and I might as well consider today a bust and start fresh again tomorrow. After much hemming and hawing, I’ve decided to give Weight Watchers 360° a go. I like that Weight Watchers really seems to be striving to address the psychological side of weight loss, which is definitely where I falter.

So, tonight, we’re going to our favourite restaurant, a Japanese restaurant where they put on a great show. I’m going to enjoy the evening, inevitably eat too much, and start tracking first thing tomorrow. It’s time to get this show on the road.

I’m ready to take the first step.

Apparently I suck at maintenance. I thought I had it, I really did. Yet here I am again. Again sitting ten to fifteen pounds above my happy place. Again with the pants too tight. Again turning to food and wine to decompress in the evenings.

My beloved Sisterhood is hosting a Couch to 5K virtual group, and I’m jumping in. I know, I know, I come and go with this running thing. I’m pretty good at getting exciting for new challenges, and also pretty good at quitting those challenges when things get tough.

I’m hoping that the group support will help me push past those rough spots. I also signed up for a race at the end of it. The race, La Liegeoise, is a women’s only event being held on March 3rd in Liege, a Belgian city about an hour and a half drive from me. It’s a 6k race, but I figure I’ll walk or walk/run that last kilometer if the excitement and adrenaline of the day isn’t enough for me to run the entire thing. There is a movement here to get women running, and similar events will be held throughout Belgium and in France over the course of the year. I want to be part of that, and I want to run in La Parisienne next September! But before I get too excited, and make plans that far exceed my abilities, I need to do the training!

I’m also going to be a near-constant presence over at the Sisterhood. There’s a new challenge gearing up to start the 1st, and I’m going to take part.  I was most successful when I made this (this being healthy living, fitness, and weight loss) a huge priority in my life. It hasn’t been a priority, even a small one, recently, and I have the corresponding results. I want the results that correspond with making my healthstyle a priority!

I’ll be starting C25K on the 30th. I know, who starts something like this before the New Year, right?? But Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday works best in my schedule for running days. That gives me three days to find my running shoes and prepare myself mentally. Ignition in 3…

I’m not going to whimper and whine about it. Or rant and rave about any imagined injustice. I’m not going to starve myself, do a “cleansing fast”,  or punish nyself with hours of cardio a day in an effort to get back what I’ve lost.

Gentle. Slow. One good habit building on top of another until the balance tips in my favor. That’s how I did it before. That’s how I’ll do it again. And eventually those good habits won’t leave any toe-hold for the bad habits, and I will get where I want to be. Back on my path. Feeling strong. Feeling confident. Feeling like I’ve got this.

This coming month the good habit I want to work on is to clean up my eating. I’ve allowed a few too many exceptions to sneak un a little too often. Pizza Mondays. Ice Cream on the weekends. Frites (french fries) every once in a while.

Amanda at Run to the Finish is hosting a clean eating challenge for the month of August, and I couldn’t be more pleased. I need the accountability and challenge of a… challenge. I need the encouragement of others on the days when I can’t see my way clear .

Check in #3? How is that even possible?? This month is flying by!!

Looking back at last week’s post, I see I was a bit of a Debby Downer. Never fear, I’ve recovered my normal, happy, glass half full persona! This week is a bit hectic, with Liam having testing at school, me incorporating running into my workouts, the usual end-of-school rush of field trips and picnics and the like, friends moving away, etc. But I’m staying afloat, unlike last week.

I think the running is really helping with that. I like having 45 minutes blocked off on the calendar, just for me. Granted, I’m doing my runs while the boys are in school. But previously that was housework time, or run errands for the family time, or billing time, or some such. Hell, even when I do my weights workouts I’m at home, folding laundry in my rest periods  I love that I’m taking that block of time and doing something completely focused on me. And it’s going to stay that way… unless I figure out a way to take the laundry with me…. maybe pull it in a wagon…?

Nutrition wise I’m doing better this week. There has still been evening snacking, but I’m being more mindful of it, and therefore doing less of it. It must be paying off because:

Starting weight: 139

Last week: 138.0

Current weight: 137.0

Total loss: 2.0

Salad-A-Day: 20/30

Walking (or running) 30 minutes per day: 19/30

New exercise/activity: 0/1

Truly pleased to be down a full pound this week! I’m pleased with any progress in the right direction, but this was a nice surprise Not so nice of a surprise is realizing I only have ten days to try out a new exercise or activity. I think counting the running would be cheating, as I have ran before, just not recently. Crap. I’m actually going to have to follow through on that, aren’t I?

Oh, and then there’s this.

Have a great day, everyone! I’m off to enjoy my afternoon and soak up some sun while it lasts!

That’s Belgium and northern France you’re looking at.

I woke up to pounding rain, booming, crackling thunder, and flashing lightning. Perfect running weather, no?

Luckily by the time my running window opened up (9AM, after dropping the kids off at school) the storm had passed. It was a beautiful morning for a run – sun shimmering off the wet grass, cool, perhaps a bit too muggy but nothing intolerable. I felt surprisingly light and quick on my feet. Oh, and I ran a full kilometer without stopping! I’ve known for a while that my I can’t run mentality was just that – a mental attitude, not a true fact. This just drove the point home for me.

My house is a wreck. I’m behind on the laundry, and when you don’t even own a dryer, that’s a dangerous situation. My eight year old is being bullied at school. Again. I’m in talks with his teacher about possibly moving him to a school with a gifted program next year. I wish I still drank because this is the kind of day that shots were made for.

I know that tomorrow I’ll probably be back to my Pollyanna-esque self and regret posting something so negative. But there you go. This is where I am today.

Starting weight: 139

Last week: 138.5

Current weight: 138.0

Total loss: 1.0

Salad-A-Day: 13/30

Walking 30 minutes per day: 12/30

New exercise/activity: 0/1

What did get accomplished this weekend? Ummm…

• I got half the house spotlessly cleaned. Feel free to come over and eat off the floor. But stay away from the living room and computer area.
• I managed to get about half the garden weeded and harvested what veg were ready for eating. Too bad the birds got to the few ripe strawberries before I did
• I caught up on the billing

Big thumbs up for getting SOMETHING accomplished during the chaos.

What didn’t get accomplished?

• The other half of the house cleaning.
• The other half of the gardening.
• The writing I promised to do for someone – you just can’t be all quirky yet deep when you feel like crud and are worried about your kids. You just can’t.

So, obviously, there’s a lot on my plate Monday. Finish the house. Finish the garden. Get to the writing. Maybe write an actual blog post for here – who knows? Stranger things have happened! Fit in a workout. Register for the local elections. Find a violin repairman in the local area. Get to know what I’m sure will be a fab new group of friends on the Up & Running forum. And many more mundane little goings on that fill my day but don’t even warrant a mention on the blog.

Will it all get done Monday? Ha! I’ll be lucky if all that gets done by Friday. Not being able to get things done on my own timeline because of circumstances outside my control used to completely stress me out.Pre-TW Karena would be snapping at her kids, letting the workouts slide in favor of getting the important things done, rushing from here to there to there to here in a mad dash to accomplish everything. Not anymore. It surprises me how well I can roll with the punches these days.

How is already time for this? I’m not ready yet!!! But, time and tide and all that, so…

Starting weight: 139

Current weight: 138.5

Total loss: .5

Salad-A-Day: 6/30

Walking 30 minutes per day: 5/30

New exercise/activity: 0/1

I’m okay with that. It’s been (slightly) less than a week, the weather has been shite, and I’m having serious, serious sleep issues. The fact that I’m not curled up under a blanket on the couch with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon is a serious win in my book.

My plan for the coming week? Move more, eat as healthfully as I can, sleep. And you?

I honestly don’t know what I’m going to be able to report tomorrow. I’m doing my best, but I feel like the universe is conspiring against me. Let’s move on, shall we?

In other news, tomorrow’s my birthday! I’m going to be… wait for it… 40. Impressive, no? And I’m so glad to be turning 40. My teens were just godawful years. In my 20s I hated myself. In my 30s I finally started to live. Now? I love myself. I can’t wait to see what this next decade has in store for me!

For my birthday, I’m giving myself two gifts. One is intangible, and not something I talk about on this blog. But it’s a good thing. Cryptic enough for you?? The other? Is this:

I’ve tried to run so many times in the past. I got most of the way through the C25K program last year but,  for some reason I can’t recall now, never finished. Maybe I pushed too hard and got hurt. Maybe I got bored. Maybe I – oh, wow, look! a butterfly! and shiny things! But I’ve read good things about the Up & Running program. I like the idea of the support forums, and the warm up week which will hopefully help prepare me mentally. And Shauna. She has that awesome accent and she lives in my favorite place in the world.

In other news, I’m one workout away from completing stage 3 of New Rules of Lifting for Women. Kirsten and I are plowing straight on with stage 4 – I love that she’s with me so I won’t falter and fade. And my other Iron Sisters are, for the most part, determinedly pushing on. I am so proud of all of us!

So, in short: reality bites, but not a lot, and I refuse to wallow in it. Looking ahead toward brighter days

I’ve partnered up with Adah from Plain Ole Grandma is Losing It (love her candor!) for this challenge and we are on fire for it! We’re both more than ready to say au revoir to several pounds, bienvenue to mayhap a smaller clothing size, and mission accomplie to one another at the end of the month.

But we have goals that have nothing to do with the number on the scale or on the tag inside our clothing. Mine? Funny you should ask!

1. Eat a Salad-A-Day! Angela at Oh She Glows is hosting a Salad-A-Day challenge for the month of June. I’m looking to up my nutrition and expand my salad repertoire.
2. Walk at least 30 minutes (2 miles) a day. Every day. Rain. Shine. Good days. Bad days. Days when I have all the time in the world. Days when I can’t afford to take the time but will anyway.
3. Try one new exercise/activity that pushes me outside my comfort zone. What will it be? I have no idea. But by the end of the month, I’ll try something. Knowing my comfort zone, it will probably involve either heights or taking part in a group activity, both of which make me sick to my stomach just to think about.

Starting weight: 139

Salad-A-Day: 1/30

Walking 30 minutes per day: 1/30

New exercise/activity: 0/1

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