Back on track!

The deed is done! I'm officially registered to walk the 4 Bridges Half Marathon in Chattanooga in October. LeeAnn and I have been talking about it for awhile, and now we're all official and stuff. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I can't allow myself to have any doubt about whether or not I can actually accomplish this since I completed a similar task once already this year.

Yup, that's right. Two half marathons in one year. That's certainly not a goal I ever thought I'd accomplish. Isn't it amazing how quickly goals can change?

 This time last year I don't think I'd even considered applying for Covenant's Biggest Winner Marathon team. One simple decision that truly changed my life, my habits, and my goals. If anyone's interested they're currently accepting applications for next year's team! If you've even considered it once ... go for it!

In the last year I've gained strength, courage, determination, not to mention some amazing friends whom I couldn't imagine my life without.

Anyway ... back to Chattanooga. The good thing is that we've never stopped our walking routine, so we're in pretty good shape starting back with our distance training. Here's our basic guide we're going to follow (thanks to Coach Kane's training guide):

Week 1 (Sept. 1): 3-4 miles

Week 2 (Sept. 8): 3 ½ - 5 miles

Week 3 (Sept. 15): 4 ½ - 6

Week 4 (Sept. 22): 5 ½ - 7

Week 5 (Sept. 29): 7 – 9

Week 6 (Oct. 6): 7 ½ - 10

Week 7 (Oct. 13): 9 – 11 miles

Week 8 (Race Day on Sunday):

Monday (Oct. 15): Rest day if you are feeling really tired.

Tuesday (Oct. 16): Easy 20–35 minute walk

Wednesday (Oct. 17): 2 – 4 miles.

Thursday (Oct. 18): Fifteen minute light workout and stretch well. Be drinking more water and eating good sources of carbohydrates over the next few days.

Friday (Oct. 19): Off.

Saturday, Oct. 20: Walk around 10 –20 minutes at an easy pace. Make sure you know what the last one or two miles of the course look like. Hydrate yourself well the night before the race.

Oct. 21: Sunday:  Race Day!  Good luck and have fun.

So there you have it ... my next couple of months in a nutshell! I'm so glad that I've been keeping up with my workouts and strength training -- even though it's nothing compared to our group workouts with Chris. The foundation of strength has really helped me realize that this training shouldn't be too bad! 

I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about getting back into training ... just some parting wisdom from Pinterest.

Setting new goals

Well, it's official, I'm signing up to walk another half marathon. Sunday, October 21, 2012, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Seven Bridges Marathon/Half Marathon! Two of my teammates from my Biggest Winner team are planning on walking with me -- LeeAnn and Darla. I'm happy to say that LeeAnn and I haven't stopped walking since our half marathon in April. We made up our minds to stick with it, and we have!

I am beginning to again question my sanity, though. I mean...who really thought I'd ever complete a half marathon in 2012, not to mention TWO half marathons in 2012?! Certainly not me.

Why am I doing this? Don't worry, I've been asking myself the same thing. The simple answer is: I need it to stay motivated. I've figured out I do best with short-term goals that are easy to measure my progress.

I'm still working on my weight loss goals. Despite working out 5-6 times a week I've plateaued again with my weight. I'm still seeing my clothes fitting looser, so I'm hoping that I continue to convert fat into muscle.

I've been doing pretty well with my eating plan, but have to admit that I've had some weak moments lately (read: enjoyed a cupcake during a girls-night-in), but I choose not to punish myself or talk down to myself for those moments. Every once in awhile you have to enjoy eating something without worrying how many calories you just ate, or how long you'll have to workout to burn off your yummy smack.

So, between now and October my goals are to become stronger, and to keep enjoying the new body I'm building for myself. I appreciate everyone's support!

I'll wrap this up with a little Pinterest wisdom!

Counting my blessings

Today I am thankful for many things.

• I'm thankful for this glorious rain that we've needed for awhile. 
• I'm thankful for the temperatures that are finally below the 90s this week. 
• I'm thankful for my two legs that although parts of them hurt a lot, they're still my two legs that work right most of the time. 
• I'm thankful for my strong arms. Although they're still kind of jiggly on the underneath side, the rest of them look pretty good! I actually looked at my arms the other day and thought, "damn, look at my arms!"
• I'm thankful for wonderful friends and family who are encouraging and supportive, and always seem to know what I need.
• I'm thankful that through my Biggest Winner challenge I've learned how to better manage stress.I truly believe that sweat helps melt it all away. If you aren't a believer ... try it...it works!
• I'm thankful that I can still depend on my teammates for weekend exercise, and look forward to that email or text on Friday saying, "where are we walking tomorrow?" 
• I'm thankful for the delicious vegetables that I bought at the Farmer's Market last Saturday that were part of my dinner. I cooked eggplant for the first time tonight. While it tasted delicious ... it sure stinks! 
• I'm thankful that I continue to choose to make the decision that I'm worth this. I'm worth the time, dedication, sweat, and sometimes tears. I'm worth the time I'm taking for myself, to become a better me. 

I hope you take the time today to be thankful for the blessings in your life. Whether small or large, if you don't take the time to account for what you are thankful, sometimes it easily slips away! 

It's been awhile

I've missed blogging. I've mentally blogged several times in the past few months, but have never made the time to sit down and make it happen. Guess that's what happens when life gets in the way.

Yesterday I got a pep-talk from a nice lady whom I'd never met before in JCPenney. We were both digging through the "lowest price" workout gear. She struck up a conversation about how much she loved the shirts, and how cool they were to walk in. I agreed. Then she told me that if she made it to her birthday she'd qualify for Medicare, and that was her short term goal right now. I kind of chuckled and agreed that was a good goal (to make it to your next birthday).

I started thinking about my goals. Since the half marathon was completed in April, I accomplished several short term goals, but hadn't reexamined my long term goals. Fortunately I'm still driven to become a fitter person, physically and mentally, so that continues to motivate me to exercise and live a healthier lifestyle.

The lady at JCP told me at least 10 times, "honey, you're young. It's so good you're doing this now, so hopefully when you're my age you can just enjoy the life that you've built, instead of struggling with weight and being sick."  I was taken back to one of my initial reasons I felt compelled to get in shape...I felt like I was getting old. I want to have kids at some point in my life before my baby-incubating parts no longer work. For the past year I think I've put myself up against the clock ... hurry up, and get fit. Hurry up, and feel better. Hurry up, before it's too late.

Yesterday made me realize it's never too late. 35 isn't old. Sure, it's older than 25, but it's younger than 65. I've still got plenty of years left to keep building myself into what I want to be -- physically, emotionally, mentally.

Since I've last written I finally joined a gym. My friend and teammate LeeAnn and I both joined YMCA of East Tennessee. We were both interested in a facility that had a pool, and organized exercise classes. So far, I've been pretty happy! We've tried Aqua Zumba at 2 different locations. The class this past Friday was at the West Side Y, and it was awesome! The instructor was high energy, and really gave us a great work out!

I've also taken up yard work! I've always helped in the yard, but usually my husband does the mowing, and I do the weed eating, etc. Well, I asked him to show me how to mow. I've learned I enjoy the challenge, and I know it gives me a great workout! I wear my heart rate monitor most of the time I mow so I can track my progress.

Another thing I'm contemplating right now ... and it may be a sign that I have truly lost my mind... I may do another half marathon this year. October 21 is the Seven Bridges Marathon in Chattanooga. However, if you do the half you only get like 3 or 4 bridges. lol. The thought of this challenge scares the crap out of me, which is how I felt when I committed to the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon in April, and the Covenant Health Biggest Winner challenge that proceeded it!

So, I'll keep you posted! A few of my teammates are considering this race as well. If we decide to do it we'll have to start re-training in late July to be on track! I kind of like the idea of a good challenge. A few of my favorites to leave you with ...

How fat is too fat?!

Vacation seems like such a memory now, even though I've only been "back to the real world" for a little over a week. My husband and I enjoyed a wonderful 5 day trek to Las Vegas! It was a combination of relaxation, fun, and awesome shows. Here's a very windblown self portrait from our last night in Vegas. We'd just finished walking to the Bellagio to see Cirque du Soleil's "O"!

One thing I did, that I have NEVER done on vacation before...I worked out! I've always asked, "who really uses the hotel gym," any time I've cruised past one on the way to the pool on previous vacation. The answer this time is ... this girl! Despite a fair amount of relaxation I worked out 2 mornings, and I logged over 30 miles on my pedometer throughout our stay!! Needless to say, I did not feel guilty at all about indulging in some delicious food during our trip! It was an awesome vacation! 

I witnessed a random weight-related situation one of our flights home that I've been contemplating blogging about and I keep going back and forth. Obviously something about the situation bothered me, or stuck with me, because I'm still thinking about it ... so here goes.

On our last flight, from Denver to Knoxville we were seated in the last row of the plane. Before the flight departed our flight attendants were hanging out in the back of the plane. A lady came down the aisle and put one of her carry on bags in the overhead bin about 4 rows in front of us. She then put her other bag in the aisle seat on that row. She didn't sit down, but instead came straight to the back toward a flight attendant. I could hear the frustration in her voice, and the conversation.

Passenger: There's no room for me to sit in my seat.

Flight Attendant: What do you mean? Is someone else sitting there?

Passenger: No, but the guy in the middle seat is spilling over into my seat ... there's no room for me.

Other flight attendant: Yes, I had to take him a seat belt extender a few minutes ago.

Passenger: Is this a full flight, or can I sit somewhere else?

Flight Attendant: I think we're full. He has to be able to put the arm rest down in between your seats. That's our policy.

Passenger: Do you really want me to try that?

Flight Attendant: Why don't you just wait back here and we'll see if we have an open seat.

OK, I went to Frontier Airlines website and can't find anything about overweight passengers and a policy. I guarantee they have one...even if it's not on their website! A little googling and I found this article mentioning that some airlines have started charging passengers if they require two seats. It sounds like most airlines are probably doing just what our crew did ... found the "offended" passenger a new seat.

My more important question is ... America, how did we get so fat? True, I think that many places like airplanes and arenas have downsized trying to make more room for more people to make more money. However, even at my heaviest I never had trouble buckling the seat belt on an airplane.

I keep replaying the scenario over and over in my head and can't decide if I am happy with how it was "handled," or if the gentleman should've been confronted. If there had been no extra seat on the plane, what would've happened? If he had been confronted, what good would the embarrassment have done? Or maybe the confrontation would've been his wake up call that he needed as an intervention of sorts? Emotional, physical, whatever ... maybe that would've been his proverbial straw that broke the camel's back? 

I try not to be judgmental, and I tell myself when I get frustrated seeing the very overweight women in the motorized carts at Wal-mart, that I don't know their situation, and I don't know if their handicap contributes to their weight, or if their weight is their handicap. I want to yell at them when I see the cart full of processed food, sugary sodas, and plain old crap ... "give a damn, and you can do something about your situation!!"

I know that change is hard. And I know that our society makes it pretty easy to just stay the way you are, and never grow out of a difficult situation. We enable people to make poor choices and live lazy lives. I don't want to be that person. I wish that somehow I could facilitate a change in that man's life so that he's never the topic of a flight attendant's conversation again. I wish I could waive a magic wand and make the pain associated with being overweight go away for those who physically hurt because of their weight. But I know those thoughts are ridiculous.

One thing I do know is that I'm glad my desire to change came from within me, and was no spurred on because I realized I was too fat for an airplane, or too fat for my job! Just this past week someone told me about a Texas hospital that has decided to not hire people with a BMI over 35. Granted, I've never been a fan of the whole height/weight chart that determines a person's BMI. I prefer the awesome tool we used during our Biggest Winner competition that calculated the number through a high-tech scale. 

I've always thought that as a group healthcare professionals are some of the most unhealthy people around. When you figure in the physical demands of most healthcare jobs and the stress ... and the fact that we're the last people to take care of ourselves, we're gluttons for punishment. This Texas hospital isn't taking any more excuses for being overweight. Their policy states "an employee's physique 'should fit with a representational image or specific mental projection of the job of a healthcare professional,' including an appearance 'free from distraction' for hospital patients."

Surely you're thinking -- employers can't discriminate against you because of your weight! Well, guess what? Only the state of Michigan and six US cities (including San Francisco and Washington, DC) ban discrimination against the overweight in hiring.

Although I don't agree with the hiring practice I have to say I'm not at all surprised! In this day and age when medical insurance is so expensive for employers to carry on employees. I'm glad that I work for a company that is trying to motivate us to get healthy by providing an incentive-based wellness program, earning points for positive lifestyle habits, and positive health changes. I've almost reached the highest tier in our wellness plan, and try to do things on a daily basis to earn more points.

I'm sorry this blog has rambled. But I've had all of these thoughts floating around for days! I want people to be inspired to improve their quality of life through their own choice. I don't want people to start their journey on a negative step, feeling like they were forced to lose weight for a job, or forced to lose weight so they could fit into their air place seat! The best step I've taken in a long time is to lose weight for me. I want to lose weight to improve the quality of my life. I want to lose weight to build a better future.

Thanks for bearing with me! 

Today I choose to be happy

Today has been a real doozy of a day. Emotionally this day has taken its toll on me. My first reaction to an emotional, sucky day ... french fries, I want french fries. Fortunately the positive thoughts I was able to force into my head on the drive home were enough to help me bypass the McDonald's, the Sonic, the Taco Bell, the Burger King, the Krystal & the Wendy's. All of those temptations were just the ones on my side of the road! lol

A few months ago I wouldn't have cared, and I would've just given in to my emotional eating. The victory  is not in avoiding one of my favorite foods ... but bypassing it because I knew I was only trying to fill an emotional need, not a physical one. I wasn't hungry. I was hurt, angry and frustrated. Hurt, angry and frustrated don't go away with french fries. They may be temporarily numbed by the delicious potatoes deep fried in hot, bubbly oil -- but that feeling of satisfaction is only a momentary pacification. Have you ever noticed how similar the words fried and friend are ... coincidence, I think not! lol

Score: Fast Food: 0 Amanda: 1 And that is today's victory.

What's made me so emotional, you ask, that I'm driven to fast food drive bys? Short answer: myself. Let me explain. Another lifelong issue I'm trying to combat is self doubt. Someone once told me ... other people can't make you miserable, you're the only one who can make make you miserable. We, as freed adult humans, hold the key to our happiness. Unfortunately, we loan it out sometimes, or forget where we put it ... but, the only person who has the ability to make myself feel ridiculously miserable is me...because I let people make me feel that way.

Today I was reminded that negativity breeds negativity, and there's no room for that in my life. If someone has a negative opinion of me, or doesn't like me, I'm sorry for that, but I can't dwell on it. I can't make everyone happy, and I shouldn't even try to entertain that thought. If every day I wake up, and be the best Amanda I know how to be...that's got to be enough for me.

I am so thankful for the positive habits I've learned during my Biggest Winner journey. I'm so appreciative of the time and tools that were given to me that will continue to help me accomplish my goals. Tonight I'm recommitting myself to living a positive life. Tonight I'm thankful for all of the good in my life. Tonight I'm thankful for a wonderful friend who knew what I needed and said, "let's go for a walk, it will make you feel better." She was right. Between the brief fellowship and the movement, she quickly had me laughing and remembering that I'm the writer of my own destiny. Other people's words or actions can only upset me or feel bad about myself if I let them. Tonight I choose to not let them. Score: Amanda wins!

Of course, no blog would be complete without a little inspiration from Pinterest! :)

A beautiful day for a hike!

Well, it's been a few weeks since I posted, and I hate that it's taken me that long, but my life has been crazy nuts. Work has been very busy, and I've been trying to stay on top of my exercise and health program.

Our team was worried about our official program ending for many reasons. We've grown so dependent on each other and the support we have provided each other, that we knew we'd struggle some adjusting back to our "normal lives." Our group has been determined to stay together as much as possible, and continue to support each other on our weight loss journeys.

Another concern some of us had was not having the free access to the gym we had during our training. That's been a huge adjustment for me, and I've spent the last week exploring different non-gym workouts that are easy after work. So far I've walked a lot, I bought a jump rope, and I danced with our Xbox Kinect to Dance Central 2. Some of us are exploring affordable options to join a gym, so if you have any great discount connections to a local gym (preferably with group classes and a pool) let me know!

Our team has also come up with a schedule of sorts to try to keep us on track! We would like to include any of our friends and family who are wanting to get more active to join us for any of our meet ups. On the walking days -- there are usually a few runners in our group, but most of us (including me) walk. We know, especially with the summer approaching, that we won't all be able to make every Saturday or Sunday, every week...but we knew we needed some structure to keep us in line! There's also a few local races some of us are considering, if you're interested!

2012 Biggest Winner Tentative Schedule of Meet-ups

Sunday, April 15: Melody’s week! Hike White Oak Sinks in the Great Smoky Mountains. Melody has done this hike before, and it takes about 3 hours to complete. The hike is described as a “wildflower” hike with lots to see! The trail is near Tremont in the Great Smoky Mountains.  

Saturday, April 21, 9:30 a.m.: Arielle’s Day! West Side YMCA. This is down the “hill of death” from New Balance and The Health Shoppe.

Optional: Saturday, April 28, 8 a.m.: Dogwood Classic 5K   Register at: http://www.ktc.org/RaceDogwood.html

Sunday, April 29, Time TBD: Darla’s Day! House Mountain Hike!

Saturday, May 5, 10 a.m.:  LeeAnn’s Day! Tommy Schumpert Park (6400 Fountain City Road, 37918).

Saturday, May 12, 10 a.m.: Edee’s Day! Ijams Greenway.

Saturday, May 19, 10 a.m.: Mike’s Day! Greenbelt Maryville/Alcoa. Meet at Old Courthouse.

Saturday, May 26, 8 a.m.: KTC EXPO 10K/5K  Register at: http://www.ktc.org/RaceExpo.html

Tuesday, July 3, 9 p.m.: Pilot Fireball Classic 5K Register here: http://www.ktc.org/RaceFireball.html

Saturday, July 21, 7:30 a.m.: Carter Mill 10K This race ends at a pool! Register here: http://www.ktc.org/RaceCarterMill.html

Today was a beautiful day to be in the Great Smoky Mountains. Casey & I headed to White Oak Sinks with teammates Melody, LeeAnn, and Darla. We had a gorgeous 3 hour adventure complete with water fall, and a bat cave (no bat mobile, though).

The hike was full of beautiful wildflowers! 

I'll try not to take so long between posts from now on ... just trying to adjust to post-weight loss competition life. Still trying to continue building a healthy lifestyle, and I appreciate everyone's support! Feel free to join us for a walk or a hike sometime!