A Lovely May

"Saying you don't have enough time is a bad reason to not run.
There's always time for a run."

-Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary

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MAY FITNESS GOALS

-1,416 CALORIES/DAY
-RUN 20 MILES
-WATER - At least 64 oz/day
-WEEKLY EXERCISE - At least 150 mins/week

Keeping the above quote in mind as I keep plugging away at running this month. It's been 63 days since I committed myself to losing 55 pounds.  Moving forward little by little, day by day.   May calorie goal: 1,416 cals/day. Last month I overshot my running goal by saying I'd run 100 miles and I didn't make it. This month I've trimmed it down to 20 miles. That's doable for easing back into running.

Also, drinking enough water is very important.  Somehow, after months of absence, Diet Soda and juices crept into my January thru April 2011 diet.  One of the main reasons - my water was only coming from water 16.9 oz bottles.   I was buying 24-packs of bottled water every other week, grabbing a bottle a day, re-filling that same bottle throughout the day with fountain water and not getting as much water as I think I was.  In March I made note that I needed a Brita filter and I finally got one!  I found a $4 off coupon online for Target and ended up paying $20 which I thought was a good deal, only to later discover that Walgreens has a basic Brita pitcher for only $10!   Since I like to refill so much (it makes me feel like I'm conserving resources) I also dug out my aluminum water bottle from last summer and fill it up several times at work.  End result - more water drinking during my work and home life!

I've incorporated Yoga into weekly fitness routine which is easy to do since my office provides free Yoga classes every Tuesday until the beginning of July.  Yoga is no joke.   Not as easy as it looks.  I've also dusted off home fitness videos from my DVD collection and sampled some from Netflix. A week ago I streamed Crunch: Cardio Dance Blast via Netflix. It was super fun and seemed more like I was re-incarnating dance moves from Genie In a Bottle and Hit Me Baby One More Time. When I finished my whole back was wet from the constant hip-hopping and I was in a fabulous mood. It's great when workouts don't really feel like workouts. I will have to explore more Netflix videos. I've also been doing Wii Sports which burn more calories than watching tv online.

Hoping the weather stays warm so I can get back to outdoor running. Call me a wimp, but it's still too cold for my liking. I can walk for 5 - 30 mins, but I ain't so keen on running in this chilly wind quite yet. Overall, I'm just trying to stay as active as possible - walking one el stop instead of taking the el, walking 10-30 mins during my lunch break, taking the stairs up/down at work. :)

This year has proven to be difficult weight loss-wise. Too much eating out and too much dessert!   Last week I had 3 scheduled lunches/dinners with friends, all of whom I hadn't seen in quite a while, some years. It was easy to plan to meet up at a restaurant. This lead me to eat cheeseburgers. One a half to be exact. What happened to my one cow a week rule?

Being good with a lunchtime salad at work.

Mother's Day dinner was a healthier choice.  I'm used to going out to eat but this year my family stayed in and cooked healthy foods - grilled chicken, crab cakes w/o the filler, salad and a fresh-picked green bean/carrot medley.  It was a nice change of pace from the cow and much needed.  Day-to-day I'm trying to eat as much greenery at work as I can!  I found a bag of Turnip Greens Medley at Jewel and a yummy receipe that involves garlic and a turkey leg.  That's what I'm making tonight.  :)


Despite slight weight gain, I'm staying motivated by hearing friends/family talk about their own weight loss efforts -- Weight Watchers, Elliptical Training, Calorie Counting, P90X or whatever.   Seeing before and after pics is amazing.   I stumbled across a workout contest for Venus Index.   Before/After pics of this Mother = AMAZING!

The first ever Venus Index Transformation contest was a huge success and Alisha McGinn took it to the house, her transformation was amazing.  See more photos at:  http://www.venusindex.com/takin-it-to-the-house-vi-contest-winner-alisha-mcginn/

New song of the moment:  Lovely by Sara Haze