Go speed racer!

On Saturday, October 26th I ran in a “haunted” 5K on Roosevelt Island in New York City. I wasn’t really interested in signing up for the 5K because I am looking to get into distance running and planned on only doing anything over 5 miles but my friends wanted to do it so I signed up.

I AM SO GLAD I DID. I trampled over any record I have ever set for my mile time and I honestly could not be more proud of myself. I came in 27th place overall and 5th in my age group (http://nycruns.com/nycruns-haunted-island-5k/#/results::1383151026047 check it out). My time was 23:24 which is a 7:33 min/mile. I never actually ran a timed 5K before so I can’t compare times however I normally run a 8:30 min/mile on my daily runs.

To have come from where I did; couldn’t even run a minute without dying, this feels AMAZING.

“Clean Eating” doesn’t always work

If you haven’t heard about people claiming to be eating “clean” than you are living under a rock.

Clean eating is basically the following

• Ingredients that can actually be pronounced
• Food that goes bad
• Minimal list of ingredients in particular item
• Food the nourishes the body in the best way possible

Now all of the above terms are GOOD things so do not misinterpret this post. Eating food that is healthy and nourishing to your body is extremely important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. BUT eating TOO much food that is healthy and nourishing to your body will cause you to gain weight.

I have noticed a lot of people who have embarked on the clean eating diet have decided to not count macros, calories, etc. and claim they can eat as much as they want because it is all clean and healthy. These people are NOT losing weight. They are either staying the same weight or in some cases gaining weight. I don’t care how healthy something is, if you eat too much or more than the portion size it is no longer beneficial.

If you want to lose weight you NEED to keep track of the amount you are eating. Whether you write it down, use My Fitness Pal or are familiar enough with portion sizes that you can eyeball it, KEEP TRACK. Why do you think programs like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig are so successful? It is because of portion control. The food options on those diets are not necessarily “clean” yet people who follow them tend to lose the most weight. I am not endorsing those diets, I have not tried either, but it is the principle that counts.

To sum up this post; weight loss is simple, do not overeat.

Weighing vs. measuring

It seems like everywhere you go in the fitness world you hear something about not caring what the number on the scale says as long as the inches are being lost. Well I do agree with this (my wedding dress fittings are prime examples, I had to have it taken in significantly 3 times and the scale only went down about 10-15 pounds) I also feel that the scale is an accurate way to measure your progress.

I weigh myself every. single. morning. (unless I am just coming off a cheat day). I do this to keep myself accountable. I understand that the scale is going to change a little each day however if you notice the number steadily going up or down you know something is happening. I do not think there is anything wrong with weighing myself every day, some people may find it insane and dramatic but it is what works for me.

I measure myself about once every month and a half. I measure my waist, bellybutton, arms at fullest muscle and thighs. This helps me measure progress in a different way. I keep a record of ALL my measurements as well as my weight every month. I love to see these numbers written down because it makes me proud and provides a sense of accomplishment.

To Each Their Own is how I will leave this post. This is what works for me, I hope it works for you.

A day in the life of my workout…

I try to switch up my workouts but lately I have been finding myself doing the same routine. I realized I do the same routine because I LIKE it and it WORKS. I do throw some change ups in there (boot camp ever Tuesday and workouts in the park on some Thursdays).

My current work out is as follows:

• 4 – 6 mile run outside , I tend to run until I have to go to the bathroom or I am just not feeling it anymore. I average 5 miles daily but sometimes fluctuate between 4 and 6 miles. My favorite part of running is switching up the scenery. I tend to run along the water (in downtown NYC) but sometimes I get adventurous and run through the streets. Trust me, it is adventurous, dodging the tourists is a workout in itself.
• After my run I head up to the gym in my building and do strength training. I am one of those people that works all my muscles during one workout. I don’t isolate muscle groups (i.e. train my biceps and back on Monday, legs on Tuesday, etc.) By not isolating my muscle groups I do not spend as much time on each muscle, so I normally do two reps of 10 on each workout. My strength training takes between 30 minutes – 1 hour depending on how I am feeling at that moment
• My last part of the workout is running up the 3 flights of stairs from my gym to the apartment. This is the HARDEST part of my workout, especially the extremely heavy door I need to push open after the last flight of stairs 🙂

Ta-da! Its not magic, just my daily workout 😉

Overnight Oats in a Jar (reduced cal version)

Overnight Oats in a Jar Recipe (reduced calorie version)

• 1/4 Cup Whole Wheat Old Fashion Oats
• 80 Calorie Light and Fit Greek Yogurt (I like the vanilla one for this recipe)
• 1 Tablespoon Jif Whipped Peanut Butter
• Generous sprinkling of Cinnamon

Mix all above items together in a small Tupperware container and let sit in the refrigerator over night. Enjoy the next morning! This is a lower calorie version than my normal because of the yogurt and peanut butter 🙂

Total Calories – 225 calories

Total Fat – 7.5 grams

Total Carbs – 25.5 grams

Total Protein – 17 grams

Eat whatever you please days

I am a HUGE supporter of allowing yourself treat days/weekends/weeks(while on vacation). It keeps you sane, or at least keeps me sane. Some people claim that cheat days are triggers to fall back into old habits but I think the opposite. After I have a cheat day or in some cases on vacation a few cheat days the ONLY thing I want to do is eat healthy and work out. Unhealthy food makes my body feel bloated, sluggish and physically sick.

This past weekend my parents came to visit my husband and I and I definitely splurged on both food and adult beverages. On Saturday we went to the Smorgasburg in Brooklyn which is basically a flea market filled with 50+ food vendors all offering there own dishes. It was AMAZING and I ate pigs in a blanket, a Mexican sandwich, an Ice cream sandwich and a piece of cornbread. All this food was shared between my family, I am not that much of a pig :). That night we had some wine (several glasses) and went to a burger joint in the East Village. When I woke up Sunday my stomach HATED me. I had an alcohol and food hangover but it was worth it. I enjoyed my parents visit and I enjoyed some local NYC food that I don’t normally eat.

Now that I am coming to the end of my weight loss journey and plan on just maintaining the weight I am at and toning my body I have decided to allow every Saturday to be my eat whatever you please meal (not full day). This will allow me and my husband to plan romantic dinners out and I wont have to worry about what I am eating. We can also plan fun stuff with friends and I won’t need to pack my meals.

How I do Healthy

Everyone goes about their weight loss journey in a different way and I am NO ONE to judge how anyone classifies being healthy. Below is how I do it. It may not be right for you and you may judge me but that’s okay. This works for me 🙂

Eating:

I log my food in a journal every. single. day. (except on cheat days) and I put down the total calorie count. I strive to reach around 1200 calories per day. 1200 calories is a safe amount for me to eat so I can lose weight without eating too little. Once I hit my goal weight I will slowly increase my calories to keep my weight at a constant number. I only log the calories however I ALWAYS take in account the fat content, sugar, fiber, protein and carbs. I mainly chose food that is high in protein and fiber and low in sugar.

Fitness:

When I first started I did about 30 minutes of cardio (treadmill – mixture of running/walking, exercise bike or elliptical) and about 15-20 minutes of weight machines. I did not have my heart rate monitor at this point so I have NO idea how many calories I was burning in a workout session but I KNOW I was not always pushing myself. After about 1 year into my journey I started to run a little on the treadmill. I ran at about a 5.0 speed and could only run for about 5-10 minutes at a time. Slowly I began to run more and faster and eventually was able to run for 3 miles nonstop (at a very slow pace). My fiance and I moved to a new apartment in March 2013 and it came with an AMAZING gym. I continued to do about 30 minutes of cardio but also added about 45 minutes of weights and strength training. This gave my weight loss a HUGE boost and the pounds began falling off again. In April of 2013 I started running outside and this changed my LIFE (sorry to be so dramatic). I started off running outside at 3 miles and slowly worked my way up. My max distance as of today is 8 miles. I also run MUCH faster; I am running between 8.20 – 8.40 minute miles now. I will create a whole post on running later because I am that obsessed. Generally on a normal day I will run between 3.5 – 6 miles outside and then head to the gym for weights.

Another part of my fitness routine are my gadgets: Polar Heart rate monitor, map my run and pre-workout drinks. For those of you who are not familiar with a heart rate monitor it is a device worn across your chest that accurately measures your heart rate. You wear a watch that can tell you your heart rate, calories burned, zone and time. The machines at the gym that tell you how many calories you burn are WRONG and are WAY overestimated. Invest in a heart rate monitor. They are WORTH the cost.

I use Map My Run every time that I run outside. I am the type of person that needs to see the numbers and see the information to know it is working.

The pre-workout drink I am currently using is Cellucor C4 – Pink Lemonade flavor. It is simply amazing. I get such a rush of energy 20-30 minutes after drinking it and it lasts throughout my entire work out. The flavor is also delicious. This is my favorite pre-workout I have tried to date.

Scale:

I weigh my self every single morning before getting into the shower. This may sound insane to you but it holds me accountable. I do not feel like I obsess over the number however I need to make sure what I am doing is working. The number does NOT go down every day, in fact it sometimes stays the same number for week/s. The number also goes up when I have a cheat day/s however it is what keeps me sane.

So that’s it. Nothing fancy. No magic pills. No surgery. No weight loss hypnotism. Just a regular girl eating less and working out.

How it all Began

I was not always chubby as a child. Sure I went through a few “heavy” periods of my life but when I graduated high school I was a normal weight and could comfortably wear a bikini. Then college came…

In my freshman year of college I drank alcohol about 4 out of 7 nights, sometimes even more. I also ate lunch at the cafeteria every day which consisted of a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of lays chips, cookies and a soda. Along with the other junk I was consuming I was probably taking in double or triple the calories I should have been. I also did not work out at all. Well that’s not entirely true; I worked out 2 times at the school gym when I was hungover = not fun. By the end of Freshman year I had easily put on about 40 pounds. I promised myself that I would work out and eat healthy all summer and my mom even bribed me by offering to pay me 5 dollars for every pound I lost. Well apparently I wasn’t interested in the money because that summer I did not lose any weight and in fact probably gained about 5-10 more pounds. Then came sophomore, junior and senior year. I continued to eat and I continued to drink and when I graduated college I was FAT! (I do not condone calling other people fat but trust me I feel comfortable calling myself FAT).

Then I moved to New York City. I wanted to be in the fashion world but let’s be realistic, the fashion industry does not do well hiring plus sized girls, especially ones who have no confidence. I was unable to find a job in that industry and took a job that I had NO interest in. The job I had actually was extremely stressful and I actually lost 15 pounds without even trying. The funny part is I was actually working as a store manager at a gourmet chocolate shop 🙂

Cue the boyfriend entering the picture… I met my current husband while working at the chocolate shop. He worked next store as a chef at an Italian restaurant and he would constantly come over to flirt. We hit it off on our first date and began seriously dating. With dating comes eating out at delicious NYC restaurants. With eating at said restaurants comes more pounds. Not only was the unhealthy eating causing weight gain but I was also in a very stressful apartment and work situation and I blew up. Thank god that my boyfriend loved me for me because I gained 50+ pounds on top of my already heavy figure. It got to the point where I hated EVERY picture of myself and I couldn’t find any clothes that looked good on me.

One day I just snapped. My boyfriend and I had go to Disney World and Vail, CO on vacations within months of each other and looking back at the pictures of me made me sick. Also to make matters worse, when we were in Disney World I had to sit in the “larger” roller coaster seats to fit. We returned from Vail in October, I continued eating like crap for a week or so and then on October, 31st, 2013 I made the decision to be a healthy person. My decision was partly based on the fact that I would be in one of my best friends weddings a year from then and I didn’t want to be the fat bridesmaid. The other part of my decision came from me just deciding to feel better about my self.

I will go into how I started in another post, but there you have it. Me in a nutshell.