Help! I want to eat the entire house!

Heeeey! Wow, it's been over a week since Britt or I have even posted! I know I know, shame on us. But, in our defenses, it's been pretty crazy for the both of us during the past couple of weeks. I'll let her give ya'll an update on her life when she's ready.

As for ME, this Friday ends my LAST week of class! I will officially be on Summer Break! Woooo! But along with the ending of a quarter comes a ton of homework and final assignments. I haven't let that affect my diet, though! Thank goodness! I have been doing better than ever! :)

I am please to announce a 3.8 pound lost since I last posted!!!! I almost screamed when I stepped on the scale after 2 weeks of no weighing!

So here I am...15 pounds lighter!!!! :)

My absolute best friend as of a month ago is Myfitnesspal.com! I know that both Britt and I have talked about it before, but I didn't use it a ton until recently, and it has been my diet savior!

Here's all of the great reasons I believe that it is a dieter's best friend:

1. You can gain a support system. I have built a community of "pals" on the site for support! There are so many other girls out there that are going through the exact same things as I am, and it's great to share advice, sympathy, and achievement celebrations with each other! I have also found people who are "success stories" and they really inspire me and remind me that I can be one too!

2. You can document your own personal long-term goals and set your daily goals to achieve them.

3. You can track your daily calories, carbs, fat grams, and protein grams. Their food database is AWESOME. There has only been a couple of times that I looked up a food item (including restaurants) and haven't been able to find it. In those rare circumstances, you can manually add the nutrition information yourself. Trust me, you'll be extremely surprised at the amount of calories in the foods that you eat all the time! (P.S. My "Are you kidding me!?!?" moment was when I found out that a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera....WITHOUT the cream cheese....is 800 calories! ahhhhh! run!)

4. You can track your daily exercise. This tool is GREAT because sometimes I just feel a little extra hungry and go over my calories...but as soon as you add your exercise in, they add the calories that you earned to your daily calorie goal! They have an awesome exercise database just like their food database too! I've always found my exercise in the database--with the amount of calories burned already included!

5. You can weigh-in to your page as many time as you want. You can also record your measurements as you lose weight. It's so easy to keep track of your weight loss! And the best part is that when you lose weight at your weigh in, the site makes an announcement to all of your "pals" so that they can congratulate you! And trust me, it feels awesome!

So those are all of my reasons for why you need to join Myfitnesspal! You won't regret it! And as soon as you do, add me! Martin2132 :)

You're probably wondering what in the world my title has to do with anything that I have said so far. Well, that title is exactly how I have felt this whole beginning of the week! I have had the WORST sugar and grease cravings ever! I really hope I can make it through the rest of this week without gaining some of my weight back! I've been handling it PRETTY well by continuing to exercise even though I might eat a little bit more than usual.

Last thing on the agenda is an update on my health issue that has kept me from running. First of all, I must say that I miss running! Walking is so boring in comparison! But, I have an appointment with my doctor this Friday, so hopefully we can figure out what this weird thing is that's going on with my body when I run. Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes!

Every Day I'm Guzzlin'

Hey guys! It seems like it's been forever since I last updated, so I have alot to fill you in on!

Well, first, as Britt already mentioned, the 5k did was AWESOME! I was so proud of myself for running the entire thing--even though I got a shooting pain in my neck right in the middle of the run! I'm very glad that I finished it but not so glad that I got sick IMMEDIATELY after. Like Britt said, I got super sick afterwards with a migraine and some throwing up issues. We're thinkin' it probably has something to do with the shooting pain in my neck during the run, but I guess we'll see. Gonna get to the doctor A.S.A.P. so we can figure it out and I can get back to running! In the mean time, I'm going to be working on the elliptical! (Just finished 60 minutes on it for today!)

Second, I've lost 2.2 more pounds! Woo-hoooo! I'm only down about 10 pounds and I can already fit into clothes better! And I also had my first official "noticer" last week! By noticer I mean the first person to ask me the question we all long to hear- "Have you lost weight?" I was ecstatic that someone noticed after just 10 pounds! I'm lovin' the progress I'm making :)

Third, I'm pretty sure the fact that I've been trying to save a bit of money by not eating out has really enhanced my weight loss! Eating at home is healthier 8 times out of 10, so the fact that I have been opting out of restaurant and fast-food has done nothing but helped!

Looking ahead- After the weekend scare of me getting sick, Britt scolded me for not drinking as much water as I should be. So, my goal now is to start drinking A LOT of water. I found this super cool idea on Pinterest to help me drink enough water.

LOVE! This is exactly what I need to keep me on track! It's been goin great so far! :)

Stay healthy! Don't be like me and ignore little problems until they turn into big ones! That just landed me in a "no running zone" for a while. Blah! Hopefully I'm back out there soon..I'll keep you posted!

Almonds & Feta

I made this delicious salad today for a pre-workout snack.

Shredded Lettuce

Sliced Almonds

Low Fat Cottage Cheese (Holy protein!)

Sprinkle of Feta Cheese

Corn

It sounds weird, but it was so good! Filled with protein & even some good carbs for some energy on my run with my lovely Boyfriend. I cannot wait! For dinner we are opting for Chinese Takeout. Now I know what you're thinking-UNHEALTHY! But Jon and I opt for the Szechuan Chicken with veggies and brown rice which is actually the very healthiest thing you can get there! It's all white baked chicken, no breading. The only bad part is that the chicken and veggies are cooked in butter, but it's not bad to splurge once in awhile especially when the splurge is still pretty healthy! Super excited for our mid-week date night :)

The 5k Saturday went so well! Lindsay and I finished in 31 minutes. She paced herself the ENTIRE time. GO LINDS! I did end up having to spring and walk the last mile or so but managed to catch up with her in the end! Our brother Jordan finished at 26 minutes. So proud of him also!

Unfortunately, Lindsay got extremely sick after the race. She is taking a break from running until she can figure out what is going on with her health. Please pray for her! So worried but I know God will take care of her :)

Turning Over a New Leaf

Well, I told ya'll a few posts ago that there are a lot of new things going on in my life currently & now I can finally tell you about them!

1. New Car-I already talked about this some. I had my first car dealership experience Saturday evening & it was TERRIBLE. So pushy and annoying, but I did get to test drive some cars and a free bottle of water. We are going to start checking out auctions & I go to fill out some paperwork at the bank tonight.

2. New job. This was the big news. I had to wait for some final things to line up. I am happy to announce I'll be returning to my Alma Mater June 4th to start working for the university as an Admissions Counselor. I'm really excited for the opportunity to give back to OCU. Going to OCU played a HUGE part in shaping me into the person I am today and I am ready to give back!

3. Quitting my current job. YIKES! Talk about being nervous. I hated to tell everyone I was leaving because I do enjoy my job and I love the people I work with but it had to be done.

4. That's all :)

Diet is slacking a bit this week just because my appetite is super weird this week. I've also been struggling to sleep at night with all the new things going on in my head! Eek! I need some solid sleep. Jon & I are running tonight! I need to be ready for the 5k Saturday :) Can't wait!

For lunch today, I tried Jimmy John's UNWICH Totally Tuna. It was amazing. It's their tuna sandwich but instead of bread, it's wrapped in lettuce. It was delicious. Can't wait to run off some energy and thoughts today!

$1 Find at my garage saling this past weekend!

10K Training

10K Training Program

Saturday is our 5k race. Lindsay has been asking some questions about another training program after completing her recent 5k training. She had so much success! She is doing great! So here ya go Linds-I found a great 10k program.

Victory!

I don't have a lot of time to update, BUT! I just wanted to let everyone know my AWESOME good news!
After 3 weeks of A LOT of hard work, sweat, and sore muscles, I actually ran 4 miles tonight-without stopping-in 35 minutes!!

Ahhhh! I felt SO good when I finished! You can do anything if you just put your mind to it and tell yourself that you can do it! :) I did..and it was so worth it.

So keep it up, and don't give up! Your met goals are right around the corner! :)

Roll with the Good and the Bad

Of course, while I'm finally doing extremely well with running, I start not feeling well. Every day this week I have had a migraine and have felt completely and totally drained. Thinkin' somethin might be goin on with my eyes--but I guess we'll see. I really hope I don't need glasses...I'm the only person in my family who doesn't wear them, and thank goodness because I look AWFUL in every pair that I have ever tried on! Fingers crossed!

See!!! Ahhh! So nerdy! And these are my mom's glasses which are so adorable!

Well, I haven't gone running at all this week, but I am going to get a run in tomorrow regardless of how I feel. My running schedule calls for 3 days of running and 4 days of rest or cross-training, so I am just using these first three days of my week as my resting days, and I'm going to work my butt off the rest of the week!

 Besides the beginning of the week lull, I actually have a lot of good news to share!

1.) I dropped another pound from last week! It's coming off slowly but surely. It get's a little frustrating when I'm not losing as fast as I have in the past, but at the same time, I'm finally sticking to it as a lifestyle this time because I'm not going hard-core and burning myself out after a few weeks. The slower it comes off, the longer it stays off. So I'm content. :)

2.) I can run an 8 and a half-minute mile!!! That might be kind of lame to those of you who are experienced runners, but I am so very proud of myself! I have never been the runner type, so to have that kind of a running accomplishment is a big deal to me! On my running schedule tomorrow, I have to run for 35 minutes straight, so hopefully I'll be able to get in at least 4 miles during that time!

 

This little guy has been a HUGE help to me! I suggest that every runner get a nice stop watch to use during your run. It's both encouraging to know how you're doing, and it makes it so easy to keep track of your workout time. LOVE!

3.) During these few days of resting because I haven't felt good, I've gotten a lot better at tracking what I consume down to every single little bite. Because I didn't work out, I wanted to make sure that I didn't go over my daily calorie goal. Tracking everything that you eat is a HUGE help because sometimes you don't realize how many calories you really put into your mouth every day! The best resource to track is myfitnesspal.com. It's very easy to use and super helpful!

So, here's to a great rest of the week filled with lots of sweat and fat burning! :) Good Luck everyone! Don't give up- Just keep working toward your goals!

Down 3 pounds! Woo-hoo! :)

Power Chili

For my first week of Insanity, I wanted to make sure I had plenty of protein, veggies, fruits, and water. So in order to kill a few birds with one stone-I made chili! Here is what I used in my chili.

Ingredients:

Tomato Sauce

Chili Powder

Baby White Mushrooms

Corn

Ground Turkey

Pinto Beans

Chopped peppers

Chopped onion

Garlic

Olive Oil

Stewed tomatoes

I started by boiling my corn on the cob and sauteing my peppers, mushrooms, and onions with some olive oil. I was also browning the meat at the same time. Once all of this was done-I added everything into the same pot and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Add Chili powder to taste. I added a little Cayenne pepper also. It is so delicious!!!! I love it.

Chile Chicken Burger

I got a new meal idea from TJ's website. I bought all my supplies there for this tasty meal. I used TJ Chile Chicken Burger patty, brocolli slaw, reduced fat cilantro dressing, and shredded cheese. I cooked the burger for only about 5 minutes in a skillet. It was done so quickly! The patties are large and really thin. Great for a quick meal. Once the chicken was done-I just put everything else on the bun and ate away! I also put some brocolli slaw on the side with cheese and dressing on top. It was good as well. For another veggie, I made corn on the cob. Delish dinner! Try it some time.

Getting Closer!

What a week! This year has been a big year for me in so many different was and there are still many things to decide in the near future. I'll keep you updated with all the new things going on of course. So let's get to it!

1. I lost another pound! I am exactly 10 pounds away from my first major goal. 158 pounds! I weighed in this morning and it felt great! 

2. I'm still loving Insanity. I am going to focus on running for the next two weeks though. Next Saturday (Mother's Day weekend) is the 5k Lindsay and I are running with my mom and baby brother. Super excited.

3. Car shopping! I'm officially buying or leasing a vehicle. Big decision! It's my first car purchase. Yikes!

4. I am SUPER proud of Lindsay. She is officially outrunning me. She is doing awesome! Go Linds!

Here is a recap on my weekend :)