Over 200 lbs. Lost and 13.1 Miles Later

(Jessica, Justin, Me & Karilynn)

Here we are at the finish line of the Utah Valley 1/2 Marathon. We're all smiling because we made it to the end but i must say that it was a challenge and a half!!! Jessica and i walk/ran the entire race together and with out her i would NEVER have made it through. Quite a few weeks ago we had decided to try for a 15 minute mile but ultimately we wanted to finish in 4 hours. I crossed the finish line at 3 hours 31 minutes and 33 seconds. WHOOP!!!

It was an amazing experience. Jessica and i were talking about how it was the most difficult and painful thing we've ever chose to do next to natural child birth. HA HA At one point she said that she did not believe she'd ever do it again. I smiled and said, "I bet it is like child birth. Challenging and painful but after it's all said and done you forget about that part and just remember the awesome feeling at the end so you keep doing it over and over again." Well it turns out i was right!

I'm now training for the Layton 1/2 Marathon, October 9th. My goal for this race is to do it in under 3 hours. I think that would be a marked improvement and I'm almost certain i will do it. Regardless i will be thrilled to finish once again. It is the inaugural year of the Layton 1/2 and i think it will be really great to be a part of that.

This last month I've been spending TONS of time at the gym with my trainer. I've devoted all of my training to lifting weight and building muscle. This means that I've gained weight this month. I would be having a hard time with that fact if it were not for the fact that I'm losing inches, and a lot of them at that! I will likely start our next comp on July 1st with a 10 lb. gain but as you will see from my pics I'm looking HOT HOT HOT!!! Once the competition starts i will be weight training still but hitting the "leaning out" process really hard.

I CAN'T WAIT! I hope that any of you that haven't reached your ultimate goal will join in the fun all over again. I didn't win much in the last competition but i love have the support and getting to know a lot of you.

For those that know you're joining up... I'll be in touch!

My daughter Jade and I at the finish.

My freaking legs are noodles!!!

I had an appointment with Devin today (my trainer) and i was TOTALLY late. I had this crazy crappy morning and showed up to my appointment like 20 minutes late. i hauled butt into the locker room, threw on some clothes and busted into the weight room. With a day like today i was NOT going to miss my session even if i only had 30 minutes to work out.

REMIND ME NEVER EVER EVER TO BE LATE AGAIN!!!

Devin kicked my butt!!! Legs or Abs was the question she asked and i said, "whatever you can do in a half an hour." She said, "Legs!" So we set to work super-setting exercises. Going from abductors to wall sits and back again. One muscle to the next with little rests in between. I worked so hard i didn't know if i was going to be able to walk my wobbly butt down the stairs after we were done. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!

DANG do i feel like a million bucks! I love lifting weights SOOOOOOO much! I don't know why i ever for even one second forgot about that. It's freaking amazing. I feel so strong and empowered. I feel like i can kick butt and take name and it really takes my focus off the weight loss and the fat all together. Lifting weights gets me focused on how strong i am. How accomplished i can be and how hard i really can work for something.

I'd encourage ALL of you to get a trainer if you can. Even if it is for 1 week... work hard and dig in and you will be so impressed by yourself that all the self doubt and self loathing just melts away.

Ups and Downs

This month I've spent most of my time soaring on adrenaline. I've felt better than i have in a long time. Pretty much every part of my life has been going GREAT!

and then SPLAT!!! I wake up one morning feeling like i got hit by a Mack Truck and I'm lying flat on my face on the floor. WHERE'S MY ADRENALINE?????

I spent the day moping around feeling sorry for me. Hating work, arguing with my husband, impatient with my daughter. I fought ALL DAY to resist the urge to gorge myself with food and ICE CREAM. When it was time to go to bed i sighed in relief because i had made it through that day. What on earth was going on? I was so worried that I'd lost that edge.

THANK GOD!!! I woke up the next day refreshed and energized. Back in action and feeling great about everything. What happened the day before? i still don't know. But this i do know: I spent the day fighting temptation and perhaps that's exactly what it was all about. I've said it before that the Devil is a sneaky little bastard so maybe he just chose to see if he could get me? But, he didn't!!! I made it through that day of feeling sorry for myself and came out kicking on the other side. I came out a better person for having resisted drowning my sorrow in fat and calories. No set-backs or speed bumps to overcome because of it.

I'm not sure what may have happened if i had given in to the temptation. All i can say is THANK GOD I DIDN'T!!! This month is FLYING by. Hope everyone is doing well!

8 Miles

So I've told you all that I'm training for the Utah Valley Half Marathon (June 12th) so it will come to no surprise I'm sure that i walked 8 miles yesterday. What may surprise you and sure as heck surprised me was that i walked 4 miles straight up a GIANT hill!!!

I'm not really sure what possessed me but many weeks ago when i was planning for this i realized that Jen (you all know her Jennifer B in this comp) lived almost exactly 4 miles from me. At the time i was convinced that it must be much farther away than that but after driving various distances i realize that all distances seem wildly different when you're on foot. (DUH!!!)

ANYWAY... I called Jen up and said, "Hey, if i walk the 4 miles to your house will you meet me at the corner and walk back home with me?" She agreed so i did it. I have to totally thank Jen because I'm not sure i would have made it had i not known that she was waiting for me at the top of that hill. When i finally got about .2 miles from the end and it leveled out i was so exhilarated that i ran the rest of the way!

Jen met me and we headed down the hill. It was AMAZING! That was the farthest that both of us have ever walked in one shot and when we reached my house and realized we had done it, we both felt like a MILLION BUCKS!

I swear i have not felt as energetic, motivated and accomplished as i do right now in my life. I hope that this momentum and attitude carries into the coming weeks.

I hope you're all doing well with the competition. Can't wait to see who takes home the overall. There are so many of you that have done a fantastic job!! KEEP IT UP!

Love the Pain

Well, it's official! I've been training again for a week now and

GOOD GOLLY I LOVE THE PAIN!

In all seriousness i haven't felt this amazing in months! Oh I've been going through the motions and making progress little by little but not right now... right now I'm full steam ahead and picking up speed. :0)

I'm happy to announce that I have officially lost the weight that i gained and I'm on to losing again. it will be hard to post a large enough loss this month to win but I'm sure gonna try.

Good by donuts… hello celery?

Isn’t that about how it seems? It’s so funny how when I decided to buckle down it’s like my body revolts. I start thinking things like “good bye donuts… hello celery” and then all I want to do is eat a freaking donut (or 2). It takes days to break that mental cycle and realize that that’s just crappy thinking!!!
Eating healthy doesn’t require eating food you don’t like OR food that has no flavor. (Sorry to any of you celery lovers out there that are thinking I’m a jerk for saying it has no flavor.)
There are TONS of foods that taste great and are good for you. Bananas for example: Bananas are freaking amazing. I love them. I could eat like 2 every day. How about granola, chicken, black beans, yogurt? How quickly we forget about those awesome flavors. Salmon and asparagus, rice and… YUMMY ORANGES!!!
Food is amazing without all the excess fat and sugar it just takes our bodies and our minds a minute or two to remember that.
I had a bad couple of weeks last month and I feel like I’m still recovering from some bad food choices. I find myself longing for some greasy crappy food and I am reminded of the article that was posted on Moi’s blog a while ago. I am having these internal conversations with myself about how I don't need the excess garbage or junk food but I find myself pulling into the damn drive-thru anyway.... it's like I can feel the shocks pulsing through my body and yet I can't seem to rip myself away. WHAT THE HELL?????

Thanks to God~ I have managed to somehow break that cycle!!! Thank you Jesus! Now i'm back on track and digging in for change.

I hope everyone is having a killer month! See you all at the finish line!

Opportunity

First let me just take a second to wish all you HOT MOMS a very Happy Mother's Day!!!

Now with that out of the way i have an announcement: I'm so excited about this month!
My dad, bless his heart, has afforded me the opportunity of a lifetime. I was talking to him about feeling frustrated... feeling like i was going NO WHERE and that i was struggling with motivation. we had a really great conversation and in the end he agreed to help pay for me to work out with a trainer!

So Saturday i met with her for the first time and i have to say I'm THRILLED!!!! Her name is Devin and she's completely amazing. Not only does she have a rocking body and OBVIOUSLY is in great shape it turns out she's got a 4 month old baby girl at home. DAMN!!! That's what I'm going to look like 4 months after my next kid! What an inspiration!

Anyway, We're going to meet three times a week for a while and then maybe cut back to two. I have to admit I'm a little bit nervous. I've worked out with trainers before and I LOVE IT but I've been hesitant to have my butt kicked to hard because I'm a little scared i won't be able to pick Jade up. LOL! I know it will be worth it though. I told her i really wanted to focus on lots of weight and low reps in an effort to "bulk up". :0) This desire comes from a past experience when i worked with my husband. I had this HUGE HUGH HUGE mental block when it came to "losing weight". Whenever i got it in my heed that weight loss was the goal i inevitably got frustrated and just gave up. My brilliant husband suggested we change up the wording. He said, "Let's make your goal to "GAIN muscle". And what do you know... IT WORKED!!! We focused hard on putting on muscle and taking off fat and I'll be darned if the inches didn't fall off me!

I literally didn't lose to much weight though... all the fat was replaced with muscle so I'm not sure this approach will win me the competition but you can bet your sweet bottom I'll kick some serious but in inch loss!!!!

Wish me luck!