Rie's Pre-Summer Challenge Chat Thread (anyone welcome!)

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  • rainbow - That break can't come any quicker by the sounds of it! I hope you have a relaxing time off to recover.

    peaceandlove - When it rains it pours! I hate it when the hot water goes out, I've definitely done my fair share of heated water on the stove showers hah. Good luck with the move into the MIL's and hope you find a new place soon. Congrats on eating so well, it takes a lot of willpower to do so!
  • HDWD - That can really upset your daily routine having to deal with your kitchen out of order. Hope your kitchen remodel goes well. I am sure it will be very nice when you are done.

    Rie - thanks for the tip about fruit. I am having it with my breakfast, along with turkey bacon, eggs and low sodium V8 (my cheat to get a veggie in).

    peaceandlove - thanks! I just have to remember I can't eat as much as I would like, at times. I got a little carried away with some roasted chickpeas 2 weeks ago. They tasted good and they were good for me, but I can't eat 1/3 of the bag I bought! Good luck finding a new house. I do not envy you having to pack up and move (2x even!).

    rainbow - I am confident you will get yourself back to your plan when things settle down. We all have something that we deal with that is beyond our control. Getting back on the bicycle after a fall, so to speak, is the best thing you can do!
  • This last week has been very relaxing for me! Work was lighter, and I got to visit a bunch of friends and have kind of a 'break' week (even though I still worked). It was nice to just take it easy for a while.

    Also, my internet FINALLY got fully fixed a couple days ago. Apparently wires were damaged and my modem was crap, so they fixed that and I'm so happy!

    rainbowstripe: I hear you - being really busy with work makes it very hard to get in more activity and eat really well. I usually consider maintenance during those periods to be a success. Have a great Easter break!

    xopeaceandlovexo: No hot water must be so inconvenient, especially at this time of year! Hopefully that gets sorted out soon!

    Rie: I love relaxing yoga! I'm sorry your favorite kind of yoga isn't available on ClassPass anymore, but at least there are other good options! I hope you get your own kitchen soon! It can be pretty annoying to have a ton of tempations nearby and have zero input into buying them.
  • Hey ladies! It's wonderful to sneakily check in for the first time since October. What can I say, I let myself go during the holidays and then by last month I decided I wanted a change..........and thought I could do it without posting here or on social media. Well, I've learned the internet has been my biggest motivator, so here I am!

    In January, I started student teaching, so I have SUCH difficulty getting myself to exercise. I'm always so exhausted at day's end. It's spring break now, so hoping to see some movement and habits carry over to when school starts up again next week.

    Edit: Oh, it's nice to see my ticker only about 5-6 pounds off. Definitely thought it was a bigger gap!
  • Hey everyone!

    We had a blizzard in Colorado on Wednesday, which meant we spent a day without power. It was actually a lot of fun, I went out and built a snowman and we had snowball fights. I also played a couple of board games, one of them was the Game of Thrones board game which lasted 5 hours! As much as I like technology and the internet it made me think that we are so dependent on it to pass the time. Yesterday our internet was out all day and in the evening instead of playing a game or talking everyone was on their phones .

    Yesterday the sun was out and the roads were plowed so I got to go on a 3.5 mile run as part of training. I was worried that the blizzard would throw me out of my routine but it didn't! I paused my Garmin while crossing the road and I thought I turned it back on but I didn't, when I glanced at it to see when I needed to turn back I realised it wasn't tracking my distance . I put it back on and did my best to estimate but I might have ran further than I needed, which isn't a bad thing. The run was really pleasant, the first mile sucked but after that I felt like I could have ran a lot longer. I was really happy to feel this level of strength in my legs and in my stamina.

    Running distances has made me realise the importance of re-fueling. I ate a lot yesterday, but when I counted calories I wasn't out of my limit since I had run for so long. I made sure I hydrated loads yesterday so I'm hoping to keep up this trend.

    Today I'm going to a barre class then I need to wrap presents for the BF's birthday and his sisters (who's a day before him). This weekend will be busy, busy - tomorrow I have a dance class, then I'm going to get my makeup professionally done, then we're going out to celebrate birthday 1, then Sunday it's the BF's birthday so we're going out for that too.

    I hope you all have a nice weekend!

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    Penny - Glad to hear you had a nice relaxing week after so much stress! Also happy to hear your internet is fixed! Oh man, I'm so excited to be in control of all my food purchases, it's kind of sad haha.

    Atarimae - Welcome back, glad to see you! I feel you on the lack of motivation after teaching. Teaching preschool/elementary aged kids in Japan was my downfall in terms of weight loss. I was so exhausted at the end of the day I wouldn't bother cooking something healthy and didn't exercise. It takes a lot of will power to be healthy when having a high energy job, but I did have a few stints where I was getting my health back! I made sure I did a home workout when I got home and ate healthier. Cut out soda and junk food and all that jazz. I lost about 5 lbs over the course of a couple of months, so it was slow going, but then life got nuts and emotional eating took over so I regained it all. So if you dedicate yourself, just do a workout even if you don't feel like it, you'll get somewhere with your weight loss just like I did!
  • Hey ladies! Like Rie said we had one heck of a blizzard Wednesday! It kinda got me off track with my own training. Tuesday's bike ride was super super short, which was unfortunate, but we still had fun. Wednesday was supposed to be my short (but fast) 2 mile run, but obviously I didn't run at all... Barely even left the house. We had power and internet so I worked most of the day and then napped and was lazy. Yesterday I did my first HIIT run in months! I normally would do a full half hour, but just could not power through the last few minutes. I still did REALLY well and my overall time, even with walking 2 minutes and running 1, was still faster than a straight run! (like less than 10min/mile!) I LOVE the feeling of running fast. The trails were nice and empty too because of the weather. So I think my plan tonight is to make up the 2 mile run after work.

    Speaking of running...does anyone else use MapMyRun on here? I'd love to connect with some more people. It keeps me motivated to see what everyone else is doing!

    Not many plans this weekend. Tomorrow morning is my first meeting for the community garden, which I am excited about. I am sharing a plot with a friend and I can't wait. At my last place, I did a little bit of gardening in pots but was never very successful since I was so limited. I'm so stoked to have this garden 3 blocks from home! It should also mean I'll have lots of fresh, yummy produce throughout the summer. I think I may make it part of my running routine - I can stop there at the end of my runs and tend to my plants.

    xopeaceandlovexo - How is everything going with the move? Sounds like a stressful time between that and the lack of hot water! Did you sign up for the 5K yet?

    Penny105 - I could use a week like that at work! Glad you got a bit of a break. Enjoy

    Atarimae- Welcome back!! Sounds like you didn't do too bad since you were last here! I think once you get in the routine, you'll realize you have more energy and you'll be more willing to work out.

    Ries - Awesome that you still got outdoors and had some fun in the snow! Ugh that is SO frustrating when you are trying to track a run and it doesn't work out. I so feel you on re-fueling. I hate having to schedule when I eat and what, but I know I need to be more aware of it now in relation to when I run. It makes a big difference!
  • nonameslob - The weather was nice in Grand Canyon and Zion last week, though not too warm, and we got a good bit of snow one night camping in GC! It was really weird, it sounded like rain on the tent and of course I get to get up to pee. I was so confused, half awake and without my contacts, that the sand was so white and cold, haha! It was like an inch or so of snow. Really cool. My sister refused to leave the tent in the morning until I had started the fire and boiled water for tea. Anyway, your snowshoeing weekend sounded like fun! I've never done it. I was planning to this winter but it didn't work out because we didn't get as much snow up here as I had hoped. Oh, and how great that you have a plot at the community garden! I love those. I have a small garden back home in Belgium and really miss it, especially now that spring is upon us.. I wish you a productive planting season! :-)

    katiam - Nice to meet you too! Congratulations on dipping below 160. I can't wait to be there too.

    HaveDogWillDiet - Oooh, kitchen remodel! That's exciting! I'm looking forward to redoing our kitchen too (but will need to save a little more money first).

    Rie - I can only imagine how stressful it must be sometimes to be surrounded by unhealthy snacks you know you're not supposed to eat. At least when I find myself emptying the cupboards I know it's my own fault because I'm the one who bought the stuff. We saw some of that snow up here on Wednesday too, but not very much (to my disappointment). Glad your running is going well! How's that game of thrones board game? I've been thinking of buying it for my boyfriend's birthday, but wasn't sure if it would be good. Does it always last that long?

    Atarimae - I feel you. I teach too and find myself making bad choices too because I'm so exhausted. Also, I teach until 7 every evening and often just can't be bothered put anything healthy together after that. Hope spring break helps you get back on track!

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    Sooo, I was incredibly happy to see that I had actually lost a little weight during spring break despite eating so much! Looks like all the hiking paid off.

    Maybe some of you remember that I was talking about a dress that I wanted to buy for a wedding I have to go to in April. Anyway, I ended up buying that dress (online) two sizes smaller than I would normally wear - I wanted to size down only one size but they were sold out so I took a chance. When it arrived, unsurprisingly it was really small and I couldn't zip it up at all. Now while the number on the scale has been going down slowly, I hadn't really felt any significant change in my clothing or anything. So yesterday I decided to give the dress another try. I was able to zip it up! I can barely believe it! Mind you, it was pretty tight, but I thought it actually looked pretty good already. Will be happy to lose a little more weight so it fits a little more comfortably but boy.. I can't believe I can zip it up! I can barely contain my excitement just writing this right now, haha!

    I have been overeating a little bit because I am weak-willed and because my sister brought tons of chocolate. My friends and family are constantly sending me delicious things that I then eat. I love and hate them for it. I try to compensate by working out more but I really feel that I will have to learn to control myself when it comes to food at some point..
  • Hey guys!

    Life: So I had a nice weekend. Getting my makeup done by a professional was nice, she was a really sweet person too. Her house was amazing! It was my ideal house, a mix of wood and stone. I went for a dark smokey eye look and I had some pretty big lashes on too. I did it with my BF's sister, we both kept looking at each other on the night saying "wow, you look so beautiful!" It was fun. The night out was mellow, we had food at a Mexican place then went for a drink at a bar then everyone departed. Today was the BF's birthday, we had a chilled morning and I made him cinnamon rolls. Well, I made everyone cinnamon rolls since it made about 12! They were really tasty, I didn't have a full one since I was running today but I was pretty happy. Though SO SO unhealthy, I had to check the recipe 3 times to make sure 2 cups of brown sugar was required. We went out for pizza which was lovely too. Overall a busy but nice weekend!

    Weight loss: Bad news out the way - food intake was pretty awful. I was proud of myself at the Mexican, I ordered fajitas but only ate 2 out of the 3 small tortillas and stopped when I felt full. HOWEVER I binged on chips and salsa after not eating all afternoon. So...maybe I shouldn't be so proud of myself haha. Today I ate terribly too, just way too much food! Ugh.
    Good news is that I'm killing it with exercise. I worked out 6 times this week to stay on 10K training schedule. I'm so happy that entering the 10K has kept me on track, otherwise I would have talked myself out of doing the workouts. Today was a 2.5 mile run, did it 2 minutes faster than my last 2.5 mile run but that's not hard to beat since that was the day I had to walk multiple times. I definitely felt stronger though, like I could plod along quite happily for a while. I'm having this issue with running where I know I could run faster but I don't want to because I don't want to burn out and end up walking!
    I'm kind of scared weighing myself, I still haven't weighed since the last challenge. I know that I'm probably still in the mid-60's due to my poor eating habits, but there's a small part of me that hopes all this exercise is paying off? When it's time to set up the next challenge I'll weigh and if I see a bad number I'll continue my scale break.

    Future: Note to self: you're doing awesome working out - make sure your nutrition is equally as awesome.

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    NNS - I think with the HIIT training you're gonna see some great weight dips. And you'll be strengthening your core doing it too so all in all it's a great thing! I use Insanity as my way of doing HIIT training, but if I was working on improving my run time I'd be doing the same as you. Great work!! I don't use MapMyRun anymore since I got a Garmin, in general I don't really have other running friends so I don't join in on the social media aspect of those sites because of it! My Mum has a plot, she grows monster sized vegetables. She loves it, it's her happy place! Fueling correctly for a run is so important isn't it? I feel so sluggish if I don't get enough protein in my diet. That's something I need to focus on, protein protein protein!

    runthec - I don't know what's more stressful, being around so much temptation or being weak willed enough to eat it! I should be stronger and learn to resist, I need to change the way I think about food after all. The Game of Thrones board game is an excellent game. However the rules are very detailed and it takes a while to get used to them. When you first sit down to play it you'll think it's impossible to remember, but once you start visualising the rules it makes a lot of sense. For example there's a rule that says that land units can't attack sea units but sea units can attack land, so it's good to think of it like soldiers can't walk into the sea and attack the boats. I read all the rules, made detailed notes and I still refer to the notes I made each game. However having said all that it's a really fun game. I've yet to play a short game...they last 4-6 hours usually depending on who has played before. Having a new person in the group slows things down a lot since you have to take time explaining things. I'm a huge board game fan, so I personally love it, but if you don't care for board games that much I probably wouldn't recommend it to a casual player. You have to have some level of dedication to sitting down and playing.
    Oh wow, huge congrats on the dress zipping! I remember you talking about it, that's such great news. I actually have 2 dresses in my wardrobe right now that I will cry if I fit into them! Haha, oh man I totally understand that you love and hate your family for sending you delicious treats. My Mum is sending me over chocolate and I'm going to struggle resisting. Some people say "maybe you can throw it away?" but then I think "are you crazy?! this is amazing chocolate!" Rationing is the key!
  • Happy Monday guys! I have quite a busy week ahead at work...I already can't wait until Friday! Not much exciting this past week. We spent Easter with some friends and had a nice dinner (very indulgent dinner...every single thing besides dessert had cheese in it, haha!). Lazed around a good bit on Saturday...I slept until 11:30AM!!!!

    I didn't do as well as I hoped activity-wise last week now that I am looking at what I actually did.
    Monday: Rest
    Tuesday: Short bike ride
    Wednesday: Snow day! Rest
    Thursday: 2.53 miles HIIT run
    Friday: 15 min. yoga (did an online video specifically for runners and man my body hurt!) and some casual bike riding
    Saturday: Rest (some casual bike riding)
    Sunday: 3.1 mile run (32.26!)

    Weather kept me from doing as much as I wanted, and even just easing into running I am noticing my legs are REALLY sore! Especially since I was also riding my mountain bike last week due to the snow and that bike is just so much more difficult to ride. This week I am hoping I can stick a little closer to plan...
    Monday: Yoga (my friend teachers a class!)
    Tuesday: Bike
    Wednesday: 2 mile fast run
    Thursday: 30 min. HIIT
    Friday: Rest
    Saturday: TBD
    Sunday: 3.5 mile run

    I'll probably throw in a few 10 mile bike rides depending on the weather and time. No time for personals right now, but hopefully writing this down will help me to stick to my plan for the week!
  • Feeling good again after a couple of excellently nutritious days and plenty of exercise 😄 Muscles sore from running, but it's shoved me back into a positive mindset.

    I bought a spiralizer this weekend, which is very exciting! I never thought it would actually be good, but it's amazing. I feel like I might never need to eat real pasta again...so we'll see how long that lasts!
  • Spiralizer, excellent purchase! I enjoy mine very much as well
  • Looks like everyone's week is going pretty well! Mine has been nice so far, but a couple days one of my coworkers was having a horrible time at work (through unfortunate events, she got slammed with a ton of work), so I spent a lot of time helping her catch up. I'm always glad to do that kind of thing because I hope that whenever I have the same problem someone will return the favor.

    I've been taking a bit of a break on losing weight and just kind of maintaining again. It's different than when I do it because I feel overwhelmed by life events, and feels a lot more relaxing. I find that I tend to build up stress with weight loss, and I'm trying to see if (maintenance) breaks help. I've also been experimenting a little with some (very minimal) cooking and (very light) exercise. Just to dip my toes in. It's nice so far.

    Rie & NNS: A blizzard? Whoa! Although I guess you are in Colorado. We had a snow (in big, fluffy flakes) dumped on us some time last week, but it melted pretty quick (which is nice). I don't envy you guys - I'm so done with snow now.

    dayoneagain & Kalaya: How much did your spirilizers cost? I like the idea of quick ways to prep veggies, and I've been considering that or a mandoline or something. How easy are they to clean?
  • Same ol', same ol' here with me. Exercise = good, Food = bad. I'm not sure what's up with that? Previously in life I've started exercising and I've made sure to make the right food choices to fuel my exercise and not ruin my fitness efforts by indulging. A part of me thinks maybe I should start weighing again to keep me accountable, but I know I'll feel glum if I see the number stay the same. The other part of me thinks that I should treat my exercise as damage control while I'm living in someone else's house with loads of treats around and really start my weight loss up again when I move out. I almost feel like the latter is cheating in a way? I guess not though, I am doing well with exercise and I should be proud of that. I would be disappointed if I saw no change in weight after the 10K is finished but then again I couldn't really be that shocked considering my eating habits these days.

    I feel like I'm living 2 lives, one where I come on here and say "what the heck? why did I do that?" and another that says "I'm hungry, just eat all the carbs they're yummy who cares!!" I'm sure you guys are getting fed up of hearing all this, I'm like a broken record that's been on a loop for the past 2 years. I suck, I'm sorry guys . You know on Facebook when it says "here's what you did X years ago?" I saw pictures of a trip to Seoul and I was 165 lbs then and that was 2 years ago. Made me feel like crap in all honesty. I know I shouldn't give myself such a hard time since that won't inspire change, but it really did suck seeing that. Still got my big stomach and a chubby face when I want to be lean and healthy.

    Anyway, enough doom and gloom. I think I will treat the next couple of months as a maintenance and then when I move to Atlanta I'll have no more reasons to not eat healthy. I'll be living with my BF, I'll be in charge of all the shopping and meal plans and we won't have the money to go out to eat multiple times a week like we do now. Right now I need to focus on hydrating*, eating as good as I possibly can** and exercise.

    *I have been SO bad with water in the last week. This morning I started to feel so drained a crappy and my head was aching. Gotta remember to hydrate!
    ** I know from experience I don't do well with temptation around me, however I can't use that as an excuse to eat poorly. I need to make the right choices and sometimes I might slip up but that's ok. Just need to do my best until I have 100% control of my own kitchen!

    Sorry for the mega vent! Worked out a few kinks in the process of writing this.

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    NNS - Good luck with keeping on plan, you can do it! Think of that 5K and the delicious FroYo that awaits as a reward!

    dayoneagain - Congrats on feeling pumped to be healthy!

    Penny - That's so nice of you to help, I'm sure she really appreciates it. I'm so happy to hear that you're not feeling the stresses of weight loss loom over you and you're enjoying maintenance. I hope I can join you in that mindset very soon. You're so right...weight loss can be stressful and feel a little all-consuming. Yup, I think it might snow today as well! Now that Christmas is gone I'm done with snow too, but I must admit I did have fun building a snow man
  • So far this week is already off plan, some good some bad. On Monday, I rode my bike all the way home and got in a solid 15 miles PLUS I went to my friend's yoga class, which was awesome! Yesterday it was rainy and storming and I was stressed, so I skipped the group bike ride. Today I have an after-work meeting AND it's supposed to be raining, so I am not confident I'll get my two mile run in due to lack of time and the weather. Sigh. Supposed to rain/snow AGAIN on Thursday...so if I can't run, I will do an inside workout. The bf is out of town until Friday so I have some room in the apartment to do stuff like that.

    I am stressed, but I'm also broke until I get paid Thursday which is nice because it prevents me from going out to eat at least, haha!

    dayoneagain - Enjoy that spiralizer!!! I have got to start making zucchini noodles again.They are so delicious!

    Penny105 - I highly, HIGHLY encourage maintenance breaks! Good for you! One thing I will recommend if you haven't thought of it is to give yourself some parameters. It may mean a start and end date, a commitment to exercise, weighing daily, etc. But truly, a maintenance break is a BREAK so yay that you are already feeling more relaxed!

    Rie - You shouldn't be so hard on yourself! I know you are frustrated, and that's okay, but two years of maintaining a 35 pound loss is AWESOME. Yes, you are TRYING to lose, but maintaining is difficult regardless. At the same time, I feel like I am in a similar boat and it is annoying. We will get there eventually. It takes time to learn these life lessons, but thankfully it is not a race! I do like your goal of making these next few months a maintenance period. That should relieve some of your frustrations!
  • Penny, I bought a slightly pricier one with a handle you just turn because I heard the cheaper handheld ones are a real pain. It was £20/$28 but you definitely can get them cheaper online for about £10-15. Its really easy to clean because all the compartments come off and just need a rinse really.