Goals, goals, ....

I have survived September, which was full of multi-day panels that I had to set up and run.

Now that things are less chaotic, I'm going to start working towards my get healthier goals.

• Goal #1: Work out 3-4 times per week. 
• Goal #2: Eat cleaner and track my food and water consumption. 

These two things work for me when it comes to losing weight, but my one problem is consistency and accountability. To help with that on the exercise side, I've signed up to work with a personal trainer at my gym. I'll meet up with him twice a week, and will do "homework" - some other exercise - twice a week.

On the food side, I've signed up to work with a nutrition coach who also works with my sister. She's had good results with her, so why not. I have to do weekly check-ins where I get measurements taken and she tracks my progress. The meal plan she has me on has bigger meals than I've had on previous plans (where I felt like I was so restricted I would get cranky just from thinking about it). The other thing she wants me to do is drink more water... like a gallon a day (128 fluid ounces!). I'm working up to that. 

So what else....

Oh... starting numbers:

• Weight: 148 lbs
• % Body Fat: 24.70
• Which means I have 37 lbs of fat
• 11lbs is essential 
• 21 lbs is reserve 
• 5 lbs is excess <-- the stuff I need to lose!

It's been a while....

In the past few months year or so, I have ...

• been diagnosed with Type II diabetes,
• changed jobs,
• celebrated 5-years of marriage with my husband,
• found out that I was pregnant,
• had a miscarriage, and
• gone on a vacation to Thailand. 

In all reality, that is a lot! The second, third, and last bullet are awesome, but the rest... not so much.

After being considered pre-diabetic for years, I was formally diagnosed with Type II diabetes in December 2015. After realizing that my exercise routine really wasn't one (aspiration not actualization), I decided that I would go to a personal trainer to hold me accountable. So, I signed up at the gym in the same building as my new job... and in the same night I found out that I was pregnant. Well, that put the weight loss and get healthy goals on hold, at least I thought. 

The shortened version of my pregnancy story is that a few weeks later is that I miscarried due to the fact that I had a partial molar pregnancy. While the hubs and I want really want to take the next steps with the family side of our life, that has been put on hold until next spring. 

Now, I can re-start my weight loss and get healthy goal. To put it more tangibly, I want to lose enough weight and body fat to reduce the amount of medication I'm taking to combat the Type II diabetes. 

I'm so ready for spring to get here.

On Monday morning, I (along with many others in the DC area) woke up to find snow on the ground. My first thoughts were "Really!?!?! Isn't it supposed to be spring! I am on spring break for Pete's sake!" Now, I know there have been plenty of people who have accused a certain poor groundhog of lying and deceiving the entire US.  But let's recognize that  weathermen and politicians have probably done worst than Phil in terms errant predictions.

The side yard where my vegetable garden will be.

While I was not able to do much towards planting or working on my vegetable garden on Monday, I luckily had worked on it over the weekend.

Before anything can be planted into the ground, I have to clear out stuff that is already there. Lucky for me, my dad has offered to help me up root these bushes once I've trimmed them down to a manageable size.

So... STEP 1: Clear out side yard: In progress.

Another thing that I needed to do is start some seeds so that after the last frost comes through, I'll be able plant out some seedlings and get a head start on growing plants.

Grow light set up

Lettuce seedlings!

The plants that are on my indoor starting list include lettuce, tomatoes, pepers, basil, and marigolds. I started some of those seeds this past weekend as well. While I was not expecting any seedlings until this Friday (after about 7 days), I had a happy surprise from my lettuce pot.

So, gardening goal is under way! More updates to come :-)

Goal: Complete Princess Half completed... but hurting

Pre-race photo (probably around 4am) Leah, Michelle, me, & Becca 

When you are going to run a long race, you're supposed to train and bulding your endurance to complete the race. However, if you're a busy person like me, you forget to train and don't want to waste the cash spent on the bib, hotel, and flight. So, you go anyway, change your goal of getting a PR, and have fun with your friends who are also in attendance. :-)

My goal was to finish and run as much of the race as possible. I would say that I ran over half (closer to eight miles total, walking about five miles). I was able to do this in just under three hours.

Unfortunately, my legs hurt for a couple of days after the race. At least I was able to walk up and down stairs without pain three days after the race. I probably will do a light workout tonight.

Lessons learned:
- If you're going to do a race ... train!
- It's not really a race to set a PR
- Hot and humid = drink lots and don't forget nutrition.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend

:-)

too late for a "new" year's resolution? Nah

I know it's already Febraury and most people make their resolutions in the first few days of January. But recently, I started a new semester at Mason and a new quarter/semester at work. So, in a way for me, now is a great time to make my resolution or set my goals for 2013. (These are in no particular order)

1. My racing goal this year is pretty straight forward. Participate in three races. The ones I have planned so far are Disney Princess Half Marathon (Feb), Rocket man triathlon (May), and Ragnar (Oct). So, come October, I would have met my goal.

2. Go to the gym 4x/wk. To get ready for said races, I need to go to the gym, go running, or just do something active. I also want to get healthier overall, so exercise is needed.

3. Become a week day vegetarian. This was inspired by a TED talk that I saw not too long ago that I thought was pretty cool. I need to eat better and get more veggies in my diet. So I thought this would be helpful.

4. Stay consistently organized.I am cyclically organized then messy, then organized again. I need to get to a point where I am more organized than messy

5. Grow a vegetable garden in my front yard.