Life: Preparations are underway for my move to Atlanta. We started to do things in bits and pieces but we both agreed that it was tedious doing things so spread out, so I think we'll have 2-3 days leading up to the move packing and arranging everything. Bulky furniture has been moved to the garage ready to be put in the truck so all we'll need to do is pack things in boxes. Fun times! Next Wednesday is my green card interview, I think I've mentioned it before so forgive me if I'm repeating myself. I'm not worried about it, I'm mainly concerned they'll ask me to do another medical exam which isn't covered by insurance so would mean forking over $300-ish. Don't want to spend that much just before a move...some people have gone to their interview thinking they were going to get told they needed a medical and walked away without needing one so I really hope that's me! If not, then I have a week to figure something out.
I'm getting a little behind with work since I've been caught up with move stuff, so I need to focus and get it done! I have a feeling the woman I've been working for won't be using me when I move despite being completely able to work remotely. She's an older woman so my only theory is that she doesn't want to use the computer much! It would be a shame since it's a nice little source of income and she's very nice, but if she wants someone local then I have to respect that.
Weight loss: Things have been holding steady, I've been weighing around 166 lbs for the past week so I'm happy with that. I went for a 5 mile run on Monday after the weather started to clear FINALLY. For about a week it was on again off again rain/snow. The run absolutely sucked, haha. I hadn't been on a run for 2 weeks so I was slow and achy. Ugh. The 10K is on Saturday and I'm going to do my best but I don't think my best will be very good! I'm hoping I beat my Bolder Boulder 2015 time of 1:12:00 so that's going to be my aim. I'm going to use my Garmin and at the 3K mark I'll start checking on my pace to make sure I'm running faster than a 11:20 min/mi. We'll see how it goes, fingers crossed! If not, then there's always next time.
Yesterday I did a yoga class and today I'm going to do a strengthening Insanity video that's lots of lunges and squats, then I'll take Friday off before the run on Saturday.
I just got 2 new cook books using a gift card, Thug Kitchen and Forks over Knives. Thug Kitchen looks so good! I had a flick through and everything looked delicious, which did surprise me since I was hesitant to buy a vegan cook book. I can't wait to try it out! The Forks over Knives book wasn't as nicely presented, but it has so many vegetarian recipes. I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan, but I'm definitely interested in cutting back on my animal produce/meat consumption. Plus there's a cheap farmers market nearby at the new place, so we're excited to eat more fresh food!
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Lrivers - Welcome to the challenge! We're here to help!
skittles - Sorry, but if I were you I would have laughed in that woman's face! What an idiot. Don't feel shame, feel superior
pinkalarm - Yes! Record your gains! Without owning up to our mistakes how will we learn? We're here to help, if you need any advice or tips then let us know! But if you just had a bad week, record it and move forward. You got this
redrose - Congrats on your loss!
anity - That's so wonderful to hear that the fast reminded you of your own strength, even if you do see a gain you know you have the willpower to push through! Thanks for the well wishes, I hope it does go smoothly, we can't wait to be living on our own again. As thankful as we are for the BF's parents putting up with us for so long we're so ready to live in place that's ours.
rainbow - I had the same feeling when I was 169 lbs last week, toooo close to the 170's. Thankfully I'm down to 166 lbs but that was a close one! Weekends are tough, especially when you're out having fun. Can you have a half pint instead of a full pint at the breweries? How many drinks do you have when you're out? The reason I ask is perhaps instead of going cold turkey, try and cut back the amount you drink week by week. It's hard to go from drinking and eating to doing nothing, so I would always recommend cutting back 10% each week until you're enjoying just 1 drink on a weekend night out. If you're good 90% of the week then you can treat yourself for 10% of it. The trick is to make sure that 10% is really just a little treat rather than an extravaganza. If you can rein in your weekends I think you'll lose weight in no time. Honestly I'm talking to myself as much as I'm talking to you now, because I have the same problem!
Penny - Despite all your set backs, I think you're going to come out a winner here. You can do it!
Kay - Wishing me a happy 4th and saying you spent your birthday at Harry Potter Universal? You're my new best friend!
Just a quick check in before I head to bed - we're leaving super early tomorrow for Portland so I gotta get some sleep!
Luckily last weekend's gain was just bloating and water - I'm back down to my steady 166. Hopefully there'll be a lot of walking to counteract the eating and drinking over the next few days!
I'll try to be more active on here when I'm back next week (yup, I've said that before) but keep on going guys!!
Wish me and NNS good luck everyone! The 5K/10K we're running is tomorrow morning. Which reminds me I should probably charge up all my devices! I think I'm so worried about this race because I really don't want to let myself down by being slow. The Bolder Boulder last year was a lot of fun and my toughest challenge with all the hills, so I sorta feel like my 1:12:00 running time was justified in a way? If I'm slower than that tomorrow then it's just because I didn't train hard enough . But, I shouldn't be so hard on myself, if I am slower then so be it! It's not my last 10K ever. If anything a slow time might be the kick up the bum I need to train harder next time!
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rainbow - We're weight buddies, snap at 166 lbs! Hehe. Have fun on your trip!
Last edited by Riestrella; 05-06-2016 at 10:56 PM.
Hope your 10km today goes well, Rie! Don't put so much pressure on yourself to beat your time; just completing it is a big achievement, especially with everything else that's going on in your life from what you've said!! Look forward to hearing from you and NNS on your successes
I hit a personal best for my 5km this morning, sub-30mins woot! I have got a seriously long way to go until I will be able to do my half marathon in September, but I'm feeling quite excited about it. The weather is supposed to be good tomorrow, so I might try and run a little slower but further and see how I go, as my main priority should be about building distance.
On the diet side, things are not so great. I am having the odd good day but I feel like I'm giving into temptation left, right and centre. There are no huge binges or anything, so I'm maintaining/losing slowly, but after putting a bit of weight back on during March and April I am now feeling too chunky again and feel the need to be better behaved! To give myself a bit of a break and encourage me to just keep going, losing weight slowly but surely, one day at a time, I have reset my weight loss goal for this challenge to be a bit less demanding.
So the 10K has been and gone, phew - it was a tough one! The weather wasn't pleasant, it was cold and a bit windy but I had dressed for the occasion so I didn't freeze. The course was hard, the first mile was ok but from mile 1-2.5 (ish) it was a gradual incline with a steeper incline towards the end of that section. There was a nice break after that crap where the majority was down hill, that's where I really picked up the pace to make up for lost time on the hills! The 10K was 2 laps of the same course which sucked since I had to tackle that hill twice, bleh. It was hard keeping up a pace when it was such a slow incline!
The good news is, I beat my Bolder Boulder 10K time from last year! I did the BB10K in 1:12:49 but today I did the FroYo 10K in 1:10:35, woohoo! I was aiming to beat my BB time so I'm super happy I did, especially with such a hilly course. I got my free FroYo which was delicious then headed back home since it was freezing! I ran it with my BF's sister who has done marathons so she was great for support, she had to leave too since she's going car shopping today. I had to walk a couple of times on the second round of the hill action, she was very motivating and I'm glad she was there. I probably would have walked longer!
Today I'm going to eat a greasy burger as is tradition when I run a race. BF wants to go workout though so I have to wait until later . He got up at the a$$ crack of dawn for me though so I shouldn't complain too much
Hope you all have a great weekend!
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dayoneagain - Thank you for your support! I do need to learn to not be so hard on myself, it turned out fine in the end . Wow, congrats on a sub-30 5K! That's awesome! No worries on altering your goal, I'm sure I will too. I think the thing with long distance running is that it makes you feel so hungry that you have to be careful to eat a lot of the right food rather than the bad stuff. It's fine to eat more, because your body definitely needs it, but making the right choices is tough. I'm sure once during your training something will click, you'll want to feel great on a run rather than feeling nauseous! You can do it
Last edited by Riestrella; 05-07-2016 at 02:40 PM.
Oops, almost forgot to post last week's weight. I just put it in the spreadsheet, even though it's Monday. Doesn't look like the charts have been made yet, not that I will do very well on them anyway since my weight is the same as last week. Just kind of been at a standstill recently, haven't had anything big to motivate me to push, so I've just been content with staying in the upper 120's. I need something to give me that push!
Rie - I am SO proud of you for KILLING it on that course!!! Dude, you're going to be a powerhouse when you move to ATL. You should sign up for a race when you move. I bet your time will improve drastically just moving close to sea level! The humidity will probably not be so enjoyable though
dayoneagain - Way to go on the sub-30min 5K! Those faster runs are fun but definitely work on the longer ones! You do have lots of time until the half though Do you have a training plan or are you just going with the flow?
Tiny Tiger - I keep forgetting to fill in mine, too! Ugh. If you figure out something to get you motivated to lose weight, I could really use that too. Hm, maybe a new bathing suit? Summer is coming!
skittlesfirehawk - Hope the chiro helps!
So my 5K was on Saturday! I saw Rie briefly as she was coming up on the finish line. Having only run half that course, I don't know how she did it! That must have been HARD! So KUDOS to Rie once again. I completed my 5K in 31:08. I was aiming for 30 min, so I was a bit disappointed! In reality though I did amazingly well. I cut more than a minute off my fastest time, which was at sea level and totally flat, versus about 150' gain at more than 5,000' elevation. Now I'm at the "What's next?" phase. I think I'll cut back on running for a little bit and get as much bike riding in as possible before it gets too hot. My office is moving in July, where I will have access to a treadmill which will be really great. No more excuses due to weather. I think I'm going to sign up for a 10K this fall and I'll spend the next few months training for that.
Leaving for Delaware next week to visit family and friends for a week. I'll probably bring my running shoes along but I'm sure my diet will not be all that great. However, I'm about due for a break! So I'm just going to enjoy myself and get back on track when I get home!
I'm feeling a bit of a struggle to lose weight. I'm still not entirely motivated...I'm relatively happy maintaining my current weight, but occasionally I get disappointed in how I look which pushes me a little bit to want to lose again. Last week while I was getting ready for the race I took the week off from alcohol and felt GREAT. I also think I would have lost weight if I hadn't been eating more than usual (allowed myself to do so because of the race...) I think I'm going to do that again this week (in preparation for vacation!) and see if I lose anything. If so, maybe I'll add some new dietary rules for myself going forward.
I'm baaack - So quite a few years ago (Rie good for you for keeping up these challenges!!) I lost a bunch of weight during one of the bikini challenges. Unfortunately school and stress got the better of me and I gained it back. Pretty sure I posted once about coming back but didn't stick to it.
I've stuck to my new years resolution this year, so I've been going strong since the beginning of January. I'm down almost 30 pounds and thought I'd come see how everyone else is doing. I'm currently running 4 days a week training for a half marathon in June. I've been at a bit of a plateau for a couple weeks so thought I'd come back and see if posting about it would help break that.
Rie You did awesome on the 10k way to go! Congrats on beating your time record.
Just a quick post - green card interview is tomorrow, no need to send me luck since we're a genuine couple, but definitely send me thoughts that go along the lines of "I hope you don't need to pay for another medical exam and delay the process!" That's literally the only thing I'm concerned about, besides waking up at the arse crack of dawn .
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NNS - I dread to think of the sight that you saw when I was coming around the corner! That last final hill was almost the death of me, I saw my race picture at the finish line today and it ain't pretty! Did you find yours? I really want to carry on running and keep training but I fear the worse for the summer months in Atlanta! Humidity is a killer, I'd hate to start something and then switch to a different routine halfway through a training plan. I'm going to see how I feel in the humidity. I've tried looking at weather websites, I think June-September are awfully humid, so I'm thinking I might start up running again in October when the weather chills out.
Thank you for all the kudos! It was definitely a tough course, as I said before if that course was flat you would have nailed it. Hills are tough. Cutting a minute off your time on a course like that is definitely something to be proud of. Enjoy your vacation in Delaware! I think changing up your routine with diet, not drinking alcohol and your exercise will really encourage some weight loss. It's hard to stay motivated to a process where you're fluctuating between the same weight range for a long time. Looking back to my early weight loss days, I was just so focused on losing the weight and seeing the number drop on the scale that that was my biggest motivation. It sounds quite unhealthy saying so now, but hey, I lost 50 lbs back then! Now that I've got a busier life and I'm between the same 5 lbs it's hard to get pumped about weight loss. I predict that once I change up my routine and start seeing new numbers then I'm going to get so excited to keep moving forward and lose weight. Maybe it'll be the same for you too! But being happy and maintaining is also something positive.
torito - Welcome back! I'll be running these challenges until I reach my goal for sure! So I'm not sure how great it is that I'm still around, haha! Glad to still be helping people though . 30 lbs down since January, wow! You're killing it! I hope this challenge provides some additional inspiration, as well as the half marathon. Thank you muchly re the 10K, though my PR is actually 59 minutes, I just wanted to beat last years time!
Last edited by Riestrella; 05-10-2016 at 11:57 PM.
Well the green card interview did not go so well. I've already ranted about it on multiple platforms (friends, family, immigration forum!) so I'll try and keep it brief. Basically the woman we got was not friendly which really threw us off. BF also snickered at one of the ridiculous questions they asked me ("were you ever a member of the communist party?" for example) and she stopped and said "what's so funny?" He immediately apologised but I think we never recovered. She seemed skeptical of the evidence I brought, for example I brought in a bank statement for our joint account and she said "you only brought one?" The idea of the evidence is to prove we're a genuine couple who have assets in both of our names. We mentioned we were moving to Georgia and she asked about the lease and made me feel bad that we didn't bring a copy even though BF hadn't finished signing it!
At the end she said "if I feel comfortable approving you then you'll hear in 1-2 months." First of all the if I feel comfortable line really rubbed me the wrong way. We've been together 6 years and known each other for 14 years, the evidence was all in front of her if she looked harder! Jeez. Secondly 1-2 months?! I've heard of people being approved on the spot and walked away with a notification that their green card is being processed! Sounds like she just didn't like us, maybe the BF's comment really got her back up and she's decided to put our application to the bottom of her pile.
I really wanted this to all be over but now I might have to wait months to hear; it's infuriating. She kept making a point of making sure mail would be ok going to our current address "in case I need more evidence". Ugh. She just didn't seem positive that she was going to approve us and kept making it seem like she wanted to see more evidence. We had joint bank accounts, health insurance, car insurance, tax returns, photos and a flight itinerary of a trip we took. Our drivers licences both had the same address on too. Can't believe people who have known each other for a fraction of the time we have walked away with an approval while we're left hanging over one woman's power trip.
Anyway. Needless to say I was off today. Had a Subway, soda, cookies..just general emotional eating. I'm going to try and move on with life the best I can but today sucked.
. He got up at the a$$ crack of dawn for me though so I shouldn't complain too much 
