For the First Time...

I felt like a real runner today.

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I was at the gym doing a 10k run for my current training. I ran the first 1.3 miles straight through, then walked for 3 minutes/ran 7 minutes for 90 minutes. I was pouring sweat, settling into a nice pace, pumping my arms when I needed an extra boost, and running through every excuse I had to stop or cut my run periods short. This chick managed to do 6.22 miles in those 90 minutes! Woohoo!!

I NEVER would have thought I could do that. EVER. And for the granted it's only about half of what I need to run for my half marathon, but the pacing felt good and I felt strong. It's the first time I've done a run and not been panicked about the possiblity of being swept off of the Disney Princess course.

I was, at one point, a week behind on my training, but now I am only 2 days behind. Thursday I am doing a short run of 3.1 miles and then over the weekend I am doing an 8 mile run. Once those are done, I will be back on track.

How is everyone else's training going? I stop by and read blogs when I have a free moment, I just don't always have enough time to actually sit down and write out a blog post of my own. Maybe once the holidays are done? Who knows, right?

Anyway, in other awesome news, I bought a pair of size 16 jeans at Marshall's the other day and I didn't muffin top over them! Plus, the size 16 jeans I bought at Old Navy on Black Friday are too big on me. I'm excited because while the number on the scale isn't going down, it is staying steady but my clothes are getting a little bit bigger on me. It makes me feel good. It makes me want to stick with my training because if I do, I might be able to squeeze into a 14 by the time I go down to Disney in February.

Here's a comparison just for fun, so you can see what I sometimes have a hard time seeing:

Myself and my friend Joe in fall of 2010 before I started running. Size 22

My boyfriend and I this past fall- after 2 years of running for me. Size 16

Here's hoping I can keep whittling myself away!

Plateau Busted!

It's time to CELEBRATE!!

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I have FINALLY broken through my weight-loss plateau! That's right ladies and gents, I'm officially back to 205. This is the weight I was when I ran my half marathon last year! Woohoo! I still have 2 months until my next half marathon, so I'm hoping that as I continue with my training, I will drop those last remaining 5lbs (plus one or two more). That will put me under 200lbs for the first time in about 10 years. Crazy!!! I'm so excited and proud! As you all know, I had just about given up because I had been stuck at 210 for so long- but thanks to everyone's support and motivation, I managed to keep muddling through and it paid off. So, THANK YOU!

On another celebratory note, I decide to follow some of Kara's advice the other day and went out for a run. There was no mileage goal in mind, no set time limit- I just went out to run and see how far I managed to go. I did set my watch timer, but only so I could log my run. I started the stop watch and then put it in my SpiBelt so I wouldn't be tempted to check it. I maintained a steady pace for most of my run, extending or shortening my route as I felt. When I finally hit my street again (I did and out and back loop), I stopped my watch to see that I had been going for 1:20:07. Not too bad for "just going for a run"! I went inside and logged into my DailyMile account to put in my route. Turns out I did 6miles! 6 miles in 1:20:07?! Holy crap crackers, Batman!! Apparently, I need to run without my watch more often. I think I get so stuck in trying to beat my time and speed up my pace that I actually slow myself down by psyching myself out. Anyone else ever feel like this?

Anyway, it's a great feeling knowing that I'm back on track with losing weight and that I had such an awesome long run. Gives me motivation to keep going! Did anyone else have any amazing achievements this past week?!

6 Miles and a Happy 4th!

First off- Happy belated 4th of July everyone!

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I hope y'all had a safe and fantastic Independence day- I know I did! I got to spend my day at Mohegan Sun Casino. They have an amazing fireworks show at the end of the night, and wouldn't you know it but my boyfriend was on the pyro team! Woot! Anywho, we got to the casino around 1:30 and the fireworks didn't go off until a little after 9pm, so while he was working away and playing with explosives, I did laps around the casino, gambled a little, did some shopping, and then headed to the garage roof party to wait for the show. I walked around for about 6 hours! Holy crap crackers!

In other news, I've been keeping up with my training as much as humanly possible with my new summer hours. Today I was hoping to do a 6.5mile run, but I only managed 6 miles before I had to shower and head out for work. On the up side, I did those 6 miles in 1:29:50! Just under one and a half hours! HOORAY!! I'm kind of proud of myself, if I'm going to be honest. I was really feeling tired during mile three, but I managed to continue to push myself. I played around alot with my intervals. I mostly stuck to run 3, walk 1.5. But sometimes I would switch to sprint 2, walk 3 just to give it a little extra oompf.

My legs and back are already starting to feel a little sore, but I'm planning on going in my pool today after I get out of work at 12:30. Hopefully, the weightlessness and the refreshing coolness of the water will help relax my muscles while keeping them active. My next run I'm moving to Monday morning because Tuesday I will be very busy with work. It's only a 2 mile run so it shouldn't be too bad at all.

One thing I'm trying to do for myself this summer is to make sure that I have at least 5 out of the 7 days where I have done some sort of exercise- Whether it's a short swim, a run, a walk, Just Dance on the Wii, or even cleaning- I'm trying to fit something in. I've been stuck at 209-210lbs for the past 3 weeks and it is killing me! So, not only am I trying to increase my calorie burns, I've decreased my daily caloric intake. normally I stick around the 1770 range, I've dropped myself down to 1600 calories a day (this is not taking exercise into considerationg- with more calories burned, I can add on more calories to replenish my system). I'm also trying to more diligent about increasing my daily water intake. I keep a water bottle with me wherever I go, I just have to remember to keep drinking it throughout the day. Ugh!

I would like to be under 200lbs by the time October hits. Not only because that is when I have my half marathon, but also because I will be going on vacation to Las Vegas! I feel that this is a very do-able goal- I just need to stay motivated. Sometimes I get into these funks where I practically convince myself that I will never get through this plateau and under 200. Any advice on how to break that habit?

http://pumpkintoprincess.blogspot.com/2012/07/firecracker-5k-to-benefit-leukemia-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PumpkinToPrincess+%28Pumpkin+to+Princess%29 posted an awesome motivational status on facebook the other day and it really applied to me:  "The BEST muscle to work for weight loss?? Your brain. Change the way you think about food and exercise and it's affect on your health & you WILL change your body." I love that! Also, while I'm talking about Amy- check out her blog and register for her Firecracker 5k Virtual Race to benefit the LLS. You get an awesome engraved finisher medal too! Great stuff!

Anyone have any fun and exciting plans coming up for the summer?

Back In the Saddle

Seeing the title I just chose, I kind of wish I could go horseback riding. I love horses and I've always wanted to know how to ride one. Maybe it's my inner cow-girl coming out.

Anyway, it's been a very long week... and it's only Wednesday! Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
Last weekend was the 100th year Anniversary Jubilee celebration for the Girl Scouts (the organization I work for). I spent part of Friday helping set up, all day Saturday working it, and then Sunday I went back to help take down (though there wasn't much to do). Saturday was a blast! Hectic, but fun! We had around 9,000 people show up to the event. I got up bright and early and was at the fairgrounds by 8am. Around 10:30am I helped lead the opening parade. By 11:30 I was tossed into the food booth to help field orders because the lines were over an hour long! Ahhh!!! After a few hours of that, I made it to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) stage to help load and unload the performers. I also got to MC and introduce the acts as they came out. Rock on! By 6:45pm, we started breaking down everything in the STEM area as the day was finally over. I left the fairgrounds a little after 7pm, got home, had dinner, and went to bed.

Sunday they didn't have much of anything to do as far as clean up, so I headed home. Later that evening, we had to rush my father to the hospital. he had been having severe abdominal pain and couldn't move. At first, they thought it was his appendix. Turns out, it was his gallbladder. They ended up having to do emergency surgery on him Monday morning to remove it. He is still currently in the hospital (he developed a fever yesterday and is still in a lot of pain, but he's doing better), and we hope he is going to come home tomorrow.

I did manage to get in a very nice run Monday morning before I went back to the hospital. I did 2 miles in 28:02. I ran the first 6 minutes straight, then maintained a 2 run: 1 walk ratio the rest of the time. I chose that method for multiple reasons; 1. I haven't been running like I was last year, so my muscles and everything need to be re-conditioned before I start upping the ante, and 2. I chose to run faster for those two minute spurts and try and push myself more than if I tried to run 5-7minutes straight. I plan on doing the same thing tomorrow for my second run of the week.

I've also been trying very, very hard to keep track of what I eat every day and have been keeping up pretty well with MyFitnessPal (again, feel free to add me biggergirlsrun2). I've made a couple of new friends on there and hope to make even more! I'm a firm believer in the more support, the better. Since I first reported that I had gained a good portion of weight back, I'm happy to say that I have lost about 4lbs. Hooray! I'm sure once I really get into my training schedule, I will lose more. And I'm super psyched about that!

One of the forums on MyFitnessPal.com asked people to list what their summer fitness goals were. I thought that was pretty nifty, so I decided to share mine here and see what goals y'all might have as well.

My summer fitness goals are:

to train (intelligently) for my 2nd half marathon,

to run at least 50 miles,

to go rock-wall climbing (inside),

to go ziplining,

 to go for at least 3 really nice hikes,

and to try a new Zumba place.

What do you think of my goals? What are YOUR summer goals?

Where, Oh Where, Has My Motivation Gone?

I'm depressed.

That about sums up the past few days of my life. I have no real reason to be depressed- my boyfriend is amazing and probably the sweetest guy on the planet, my job is time-consuming but fulfilling and fun, my family and friends are all healthy, finances are starting to straighten out... so, why am I depressed?

Because, despite all these other wonderful things, I've lost my motivation to do anything.
I've kept up with my bikini body boot camps, but I haven't done any other workouts. LAME.
I go to bed every night and think "tomorrow I'm going to get up and run", I even set my alarm and lay out my clothes. But, when that buzzer goes off, I reset my alarm and go back to bed. I can't seem to drag myself up and out. Not even down to the living room to do a quick workout video or anything. Ugh! I'm so frustrated with myself, I could seriously spit!

I keep giving myself little goals:

Run 50 miles and I will treat myself to a full body massage.
Get under 200 and I can have a shoe shopping spree.
Run any distance today and have an ice cream.

But, nothing seems to do the trick. I even keep trying to visualize different things to get myself going:

Being skinnier for my 10 year high school reunion.
Being a size 14 for 2013.
Losing another 10 pounds for summer.

Nothing. It's as if my brain gets what I'm telling it but my body refuses to take the message.
*sigh* I don't know. I'm at a loss. I was excited a bit yesterday because I bought something in a size 14/16 and it felt a little lose, but then some of my old clothes don't seem any bigger on me. And this morning I hopped on my boyfriend's scale. It said I had gained 15 pounds. I burst into tears. He tried to console me and tell me that the leg on one of the sides is broken so the numbers are wrong, but I know it's a lie. How did I gain 15 pounds in 2 weeks?! It's not like I've been stagnant- I'm still always up and about with work and rehearsals. I haven't even been eating as much because I don't always have the time to eat. Maybe that's part of the problem- maybe my wacky eating habits are killing me.

Either way, I just feel as if I worked so hard to get down to 207 and now this. I'm taking gigantic steps backwards and I don't know what to do. Even now, I just want to cry. I want to go to the gym while I'm still angry at myself but I'm literally working/rehearsing until goodness knows when tonight. And I want to wake up early tomorrow for a run before work, but I know I'm going to be exhausted.

Please help.  

A Little of This....

Howdy Howdy Howdy!

Tonight is probably going to be a short update, but oh well, I suppose not every day needs to be a novel haha.

First, we shall start out with a story..... Today I went shopping for a new bra for the show I'm in (because the one I was wearing is too big, which is fun times). I decided, whilst shopping for my brassiere, to also try on a pair of pants, just to gauge where I am size-wise in a particular store. I managed to slip into a size 17 comfortably, which was exciting. I didn't try to push to a size 16 though. The 17's were comfy on the waist, but loose in the legs, so I figure I have a few more pounds to go before I hit a 16, but it's not far away by any means. Hooray me!

Here is today's stat updates:

Food

Deli sliced chicken sandwhich with honey mustard and 1 slice of American cheese (white) on whole wheat bread- around 550 calories
Can of Light Italian Vegetable soup- 200 calories
Pistachios- about 85 calories (for the small serving I had)
Veggie Burger with Honey mustard- 180 calories
Small serving of Kielbasa and Sauerkraut- 140 calories
Redbull sugarfree 12 oz- 15 calories

Grand total: 1170 calories


Exercise

Acting for 2 hours- about 500 calories
Dance for 30 minutes- around 300 calories

Grand total: 800 calories burned!

And I swear I'm going to start next week with the weigh-ins because I have to get a working scale. Tomorrow's plan is to run another mile and a half, though I may push it to 2 miles tomorrow if I really feel like it. Then, more dancing and acting with the show tomorrow night.