Kicking *kitten* In Our Twenties - December Challenge!!

Thanks Rai and Gonks! I feel better about it today - much better actually. In the long run, my "cheat" day yesterday was about a million times healthier than a normal day would have been 1 year ago, and I was very adamant about making healthy choices at dinner and for my night-time snacks before/after work. I had oatmeal, fresh veggies, hummus, some bulgar wheat salad, and an apple after my awfulnes at breakfast and few bites of desserts here and there to balance out my day. I guess it was just those few bad choices that piled up and made me feel like a bit of a failure. But you're absolutely right, Gonks - I am sure it won't be the end of the world and it may even give my body a kick in the *kitten*. Considering I was a few hundred cals under on Friday, hopefully it evens out. Today should be good as well!!

Uhmm so how is it that we are ALL such awesome successful brilliant women and no one ever thought to ask how we spent our days?!? I am so impressed by all of you and I loved hearing about your careers/vocations in life :happy: It's incredible to hear how many of you are working really emotionally and physically demanding jobs and still keeping up with this lifestyle. I commend all of you. I am not so sure I could do what you do. And to those of you who work in health care, big big ups -- I used to work in research at a Geriatrics hospital and I couldn't imagine working on one of the floors with patients. I see how nurses, docs, aides, etc give SO much of themselves for the patients and I am truly in awe :flowerforyou: You ladies are amazing! Those of you with kids... Wow! That's a whole 'nother ball game. I bow down in awe and wonder

Also - hot damn we're a bunch of smart ladies in general! How many graduate students/degrees between the lot of us? Phew! We are a group to be reckoned with, that's for sure. The downside is that I found with all my dedication to school, volunteering and politics (in the day) I was remiss to focus on my own self, my health, and often times making myself truly happy. Perhaps that's the plight of an independent successful woman these days - trying to find balance!

Cait - Hope you enjoy your lifting and strengthening! I am trying to do mine 3x a week, so maybe we can keep each other on track? I have trouble getting motivated because I dread the muscle pain, but I know I feel super accomplished after the fact. Let's stay on each other's case about it!

Rai - IASIP makes me a total mess! I laugh so hard that I cry and my boy usually has to pause the show mid-way so that we can have a laughing fit and then resume without missing any action. It's absolutely the best show on television! And it's the only thing I will take time out of my day to actually sit down and watch. I love it! As for hives and cold, thankfully not. Honestly I just lose all feeling my in hands and feet and then they get tingly, numb and after a few mins start burning and become very painful. Once they are cold they are impossible to warm up until I am inside a warm building for 20+ minutes and can devote time to warming them. It's really frustrating. After walking about 750m in the cold yesterday my feet were in total agony :ohwell: Not really too sure what to do. Drs appt for sure!

For strengthing your quads: stairs, lunges, squats. From my experience, running downhill tends to work your quads pretty hard, and uphill tends to isolate your hamstrings. Alternating and running some hills when you can, up and down (not just on the treadmill), can help to work different muscle groups and also helps to challenge your cardio and vary your workout. They don't have to be massive hills but just long steady inclines or short bursts. Give it a try :happy:

Guam - Hiking with the kids sounds wonderful! I absolutely LOVE hiking as an activity because it's active and gives me lots of quality time with the boy. It's quiet and we can chat, we can challenge each other to race to the top of hills (were a bit like children in that sense) or just walk/cilmb speedily for a hour or two and get a good burn. The scenery is such a nice bonus :happy: It's also a great way to explore the places around you that you wouldn't normally get to see. In the last year I have seen so much of my surrounding region via hiking and walking and it's been really wonderful. Good luck!

Tara - You sound like an amazing mom doing an amazing job! I second what Gonks said - Autism is just plain hard. I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to share your struggles here. I really hope that it helps knowing you have a group of supportive ladies to listen and comfort you when needed. <<HUGS>>

OK I'm late for my long run. Tried to catch up!! Much love to everyone. Enjoy your Sundays and we'll back to our first FULL week of December tomorrow - Hope y'all are ready! :drinker: :bigsmile: :drinker:
Meag

OK back from shopping and going to devote some time to my wonderful MFPals here :happy: I've missed you!

Tara - Thanks girl. I know, I know... And trust me, I ALWAYS log. The only times I haven't logged were while I was away without a computer handy to access my diary. I didn't want to count yesterday's breakfast because I wanted to have my cheat meal guilt free, and knowing how much is in things tends to make me feel worse about eating them, even when they aren't all that bad. I am a *bit* neurotic about my eating habits and I don't want to creep into "obsessive" territory, which my family for the most part already thinks I have. I eat a *lot* of food for a fairly small body because my appetite is gigantic. That means that I have to be diligent about how I spend my calories and typically do not go much over 350 or 400 calories at any given meal. With a good burn, I can eat about 5 meals a day plus a snack and some coffee. Anyway, I log religiously and am adamant about counting everything, and so now that I am nearing maintenance I want to know that I can treat myself to things without getting too anxious or being a total crazy person... This is going to take time, but I should definitely start taking some baby steps toward it. Sure I can count calories for the rest of my life but that doesn't seem very practical - at least not 100% of the time. I've got to find some balance and stop relying SO heavily on my food diary ALL the time. That's all :happy:

Sounds like you are having a great week! Good calorie burn today and cardio work-out. Get those push-ups in! If I'm falling behind, someone has to stay on track hahaha

Mike/Gonk/Rai/etc... Like always, Gonks has some pretty sage advice. Err on the side of caution, I'd say, and just chalk it up to extra burned calories and perhaps an extra ounce or two of lost weight. I don't typically log every bit of exercise I do, and I usually underestimate my burn if I'm not relatively positive of what it is, just because I'd rather underestimate than overestimate and end up overeating/self-sabotaging for no good reason. You definitely need to be eating a majority of your exercise calories on a regular basis, but for light exercise once in a while, I'd say you are safe not to log it.

Rai - I just thought of another great exercise I used to prep for my downhill run in Oct - Step ups! They are awful and horrendous and will make you cry, but great for building up your quads. Hold some weights or something around 5-10lbs in each hand at your sides. Find a bench, either a weight lifting bench at the gym or a park bench outside (anything stable about that height will works but avoid stairs because you want to be stepping straight up), and step up with one foot, follow with the other and then step down, as you would doing a basic step in aerobics. Do an equal # of reps on each side until your legs feel like they're going to fall off. Take a rest and then do some more :happy: Seriously, they are bad *kitten*. Just keep yourself up-right, shoulders back and down (relaxed), and try to limit your forward movement - step down as close to the bench as you can.

Also - Just make sure you are down-hill jogging as much as you are up-hill jogging! If you only work your hams and not your quads, you could be in trouble. I never understood this about treadmills... And LOL @ your comments about my run. Those b-fast calories are definitely gone and burned away today! Woohoot! :drinker:

Cait - I am glad you agreed! I'll definitely be getting all "up in your grill" about strength training and I hope you do the same for me. I am going to try to do mine M/W/F with three different workouts, targeting different muscle groups - I think? Not entirely sure yet. I'd love to know what your weight circuit looks like! And thanks for the kind words. I can't believe what a sweetheart you are sometimes! hehe Well, I can, because you are always so lovely, but it still gets me every time! :happy:

Megteg - Not nearly enough Meg's/Meag's on this forum yet! :laugh: Welcome! I hope you find that this thread helps to keep you motivated and inspired. It's been a great source of support for me these last few months and I know that others feel the same. Good luck and keep us informed :flowerforyou:

Melissa - Sounds like you're having a BRILLIANT weekend! Great job avoiding the sweets, getting your veggies/fruits, and getting organized (two steps forward, one step back with kids sometimes, but you do what you can lol)! The run is just the proverbial icing on the cake (that you didn't eat, you dedicated lady you!). Hollah! :drinker:

AFM - Went to buy winter boots today and came home empty handed. Really disappointing actually. It's quite peculiar to me that in CANADA - the coldest effing place on earth, it seems - it's so damned difficult to find a pair of warm, sensible winter boots that don't make me look like I live in the tundra. Apparently in the world of boots, practicality and fashion are completely incompatible. Argh! It's my mission this week to find a pair that will keep my toes happy this winter.

More on my run... I was SO happy with my performance today. My legs were extremely sore when I got out there but I figured they would loosen up as I ran, and they did somewhat. I definitely had to push through the sore knees and quads from all my squats on Thurs and running Fri (still hurting, I know...) but I managed and I was able to stop less frequently, albeit a little earlier, than the last long run along the same course. It's a very challenging course for me because of the elevations early on, but I was able to make most of my walking breaks between 1 and 2 mins and only took 5 over the course of 75 minutes (there were a few lights I had to stop for, but I tend to get frustrated and jay-walk as soon as the road is clear so it's negligible). I managed to run the last 1.5 miles at around a 10:00 min/mile, and none of my miles were over 10:46. You can see the deets here if you are interested: http://runkeeper.com/user/MeagAlayne/activity/20918838, along with all the rest of the activities that I track on a day to day basis. I love my RunKeeper app :bigsmile:

WI tomorrow morning and I am hoping to see a loss but I'll happy if I maintained as well. I have had a good week, over all, but lots of ups and downs really and I know that when you change your exercise regime, and ramp up your running + weight training, as I have over the last few weeks, your body can react unfavourably. I am fully prepared for that (or so I think) -- I know that I have been working REALLY hard, especially at the gym and hitting the pavement, and have made so many 'gains' with regards to my non-scale goals. My running is better than ever, I am gaining tone and definition in parts of my body that I've never even seen before, and generally I have been really good about staying on track. So I am not going to beat myself up if the # on the scale sucks tomorrow. Hopefully. And if I do, please smack some sense into me :noway: hahah

Figured out my work-out schedule for the week. I'm going to give it a go and see how I like it. Constructive criticism always welcome and encouraged!

Mon - Low Volume Workout 2; 35 mins cross-train (trying the bike again tomorrow on account of Aly's suggestion!); stretch
Tues - 4 mile run
Wed - Time-Pressed Full Body Workout; 35 mins cross-train (rowing, perhaps? I always loved rowing when I was younger but I never hear anything about it on the boards...)
Thurs - 3 mile run, speed work
Fri - Low Volume Workout 1; 35 mins cross-train (undecided) and then birthday festivities
Sat - REST DAY - and my birthday! :drinker:
Sun - 6 mile run

Last but not least - Cauliflower pizza is on the menu tomorrow! And boy am I excited to try it! I've been waiting all week but I haven't had the time. For those of you that are interested, here's a link to the forum post on MFP: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/130577-you-asked-for-it-cauli-crust-pizza-pics

I hope everyone has a great night. I'm going to be busy with the boy once again tonight but I'll check in before bed to see how my favourite ladies (and gent) are doing.