This will be quick because I just got home from the gym and I'm starving. So that means no pics either. Yes, I suck.
Ran the Chocolatathon (spell that three times fast) 5K in February. Official time 0:33:16. That was a PR for me.
Ran the Luckython 5K in March. Official time 0:31:22. Killed it.
Ran the Shamrock 15K the next day. The last time I ran this my time was 2:11. I was hoping for under two hours this time. Pie in the sky I'll never manage it goal was under 1:45. Official time 1:39:24. I crushed it.
Needed to use a porta potty a good part of the race but didn't want to stop. When I crossed the finish line, I was so relieved to be done my bladder went "Me too!" and opened the floodgates. Luckily for only a split second. You can see me in the finish line photos going "Where the fuck are the medals? I need to pee!!"
This Saturday is the Hop Hop Half Marathon. Hoping to get in under three hours. Wish me luck!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
P.S. Today marks one year since I started all of this. Down about 40 pounds. Went from an XL shirt to a M and sometimes a S, depending on the shirt. Started at size 14/16 pants; just bought size 6 this weekend. My ta tas? Lost four inches off my band size to a 32. DID NOT LOSE A CUP SIZE. You read that right. The girls aren't going anywhere. Maybe I'll get that pony instead.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Sunday, January 28, 2018
My 600th Post, aka She’s back - again!
Hello to any followers I still have left!
It’s been a long while since I’ve posted, about two and a half years.
To recap some of the last parts of this blog, in 2014 I got really sick following sinus surgery. I think I ran only a few times that year. The rest of the time I was driving the porcelain bus or going in and out of the hospital. Then I got on gastroparesis meds and quit the pill and voila! All better!
Except not really. I lost about 35 lbs when I was sick. I tried to start running again in 2015 and did not succeed. My last post here was on Day 3 of C25K. Then I pretty much stopped. Still down about 30 lbs but soft.
Then the weight started to come back on. I gained back most of it. Got laid off from my job of twelve and a half years. Got hired at the first place I applied. That was the beginning of 2016.
New job is great, I really like the people and the culture, but there tends to be a lot of food around. Like Bagel Thursdays. Found myself at 190 in August 2016.
Lost about ten pounds by “dieting” but got stalled. Then At the end of February 2017, something changed. I don’t know what, or why, but a switch flipped. I found myself asking, if not now, when?
I thought I wasn’t losing any weight because I was eating too few calories so I started logging my food into My Fitness Pal. Which I hate. The logging, not the app. But I made myself stick with it for three weeks.
I definitely was not eating too few calories.
I used the app to set a calorie goal to lose one pound per week and then worked on sticking to that calorie limit. I didn’t change what I was eating. I actually ate a lot of spaghetti o’s and grilled ham and cheese. I started losing weight. I kept on logging.
Some time in I think May, I decided to start walking 30 minutes twice a week during my lunch hour. I quickly bumped that up to three times a week and almost immediately knew I needed to start eating quality foods. No more spaghetti o’s. I figured out a breakfast, lunch, and dinner, still within that calorie limit.
Then it got damn hot in Oregon and I went back to the gym. At the end of July I started C25K again. Took one week off due to illness and picked it right back up. The program is eight weeks but because I’d taken that one week off I still hadn’t finished by the time I ran a turkey day 5k. At a PR of 0:36:03. And I’d ran the whole thing, something I’ve only done once before in a 5k.
In 2016 my rent had gone up about 15% and in the fall of 2017 I got notice it would be raised almost that much again. I had some tough decisions facing me, finally let a friend know about it and we decided to bump up out timetable of being roommates to now. The moral of the story is I took a month off from the gym and thanks to the stress of looking for a place and moving and living on coffee and Starbucks snowman cookies, I gained about five pounds over the holidays.
Oh, forgot to mention I’d hit my first weight loss goal in the meantime. Was about 180.5 when I started in February. Hit 154, this number I’d had in my head to get back to for twenty years, sometime in November.
We moved and the week before Christmas I went back to the gym. Went back and repeated a week in C25K and finally finished the program two weeks ago. Came in the following day to the gym and ran a 5K for fun. On a Saturday. I don’t even recognize myself anymore! Who runs a 5K at the gym on a weekend for fun?
Me, I guess.
So, here I am. When I hit that first weight loss goal, I set a second one of 15 more pounds, if my body will do it. I’m down to a size 8 pants and medium shirts. Yes, I finally got some smaller ta tas. I’m probably the only woman who wanted smaller boobs. Even I don’t lose weight I want to lose fat and gain muscle back, tone up my body composition. I’m two weeks in to the 10K training program, which picks up where C25K ends. Last week I added a fourth day of running in preparation for running Shamrock 15K and then a half marathon at the end of March.
I’m still sticking to making one achievable goal at a time -logging my food, holding to a calorie limit, exercising three days a week - and letting that take hold for three to four weeks before moving on to another goal. At one point this fall I was going to the gym five days a week, running, elliptical, and weights. In two or three more weeks I’ll add cross training back in. One day at first, then two. Weights and elliptical.
Slow and steady and achievable above all.
If you’re still reading, thanks! It’s good to be back.
Cheers,
The CilleyGirl
It’s been a long while since I’ve posted, about two and a half years.
To recap some of the last parts of this blog, in 2014 I got really sick following sinus surgery. I think I ran only a few times that year. The rest of the time I was driving the porcelain bus or going in and out of the hospital. Then I got on gastroparesis meds and quit the pill and voila! All better!
Except not really. I lost about 35 lbs when I was sick. I tried to start running again in 2015 and did not succeed. My last post here was on Day 3 of C25K. Then I pretty much stopped. Still down about 30 lbs but soft.
Then the weight started to come back on. I gained back most of it. Got laid off from my job of twelve and a half years. Got hired at the first place I applied. That was the beginning of 2016.
New job is great, I really like the people and the culture, but there tends to be a lot of food around. Like Bagel Thursdays. Found myself at 190 in August 2016.
Lost about ten pounds by “dieting” but got stalled. Then At the end of February 2017, something changed. I don’t know what, or why, but a switch flipped. I found myself asking, if not now, when?
I thought I wasn’t losing any weight because I was eating too few calories so I started logging my food into My Fitness Pal. Which I hate. The logging, not the app. But I made myself stick with it for three weeks.
I definitely was not eating too few calories.
I used the app to set a calorie goal to lose one pound per week and then worked on sticking to that calorie limit. I didn’t change what I was eating. I actually ate a lot of spaghetti o’s and grilled ham and cheese. I started losing weight. I kept on logging.
Some time in I think May, I decided to start walking 30 minutes twice a week during my lunch hour. I quickly bumped that up to three times a week and almost immediately knew I needed to start eating quality foods. No more spaghetti o’s. I figured out a breakfast, lunch, and dinner, still within that calorie limit.
Then it got damn hot in Oregon and I went back to the gym. At the end of July I started C25K again. Took one week off due to illness and picked it right back up. The program is eight weeks but because I’d taken that one week off I still hadn’t finished by the time I ran a turkey day 5k. At a PR of 0:36:03. And I’d ran the whole thing, something I’ve only done once before in a 5k.
In 2016 my rent had gone up about 15% and in the fall of 2017 I got notice it would be raised almost that much again. I had some tough decisions facing me, finally let a friend know about it and we decided to bump up out timetable of being roommates to now. The moral of the story is I took a month off from the gym and thanks to the stress of looking for a place and moving and living on coffee and Starbucks snowman cookies, I gained about five pounds over the holidays.
Oh, forgot to mention I’d hit my first weight loss goal in the meantime. Was about 180.5 when I started in February. Hit 154, this number I’d had in my head to get back to for twenty years, sometime in November.
We moved and the week before Christmas I went back to the gym. Went back and repeated a week in C25K and finally finished the program two weeks ago. Came in the following day to the gym and ran a 5K for fun. On a Saturday. I don’t even recognize myself anymore! Who runs a 5K at the gym on a weekend for fun?
Me, I guess.
So, here I am. When I hit that first weight loss goal, I set a second one of 15 more pounds, if my body will do it. I’m down to a size 8 pants and medium shirts. Yes, I finally got some smaller ta tas. I’m probably the only woman who wanted smaller boobs. Even I don’t lose weight I want to lose fat and gain muscle back, tone up my body composition. I’m two weeks in to the 10K training program, which picks up where C25K ends. Last week I added a fourth day of running in preparation for running Shamrock 15K and then a half marathon at the end of March.
I’m still sticking to making one achievable goal at a time -logging my food, holding to a calorie limit, exercising three days a week - and letting that take hold for three to four weeks before moving on to another goal. At one point this fall I was going to the gym five days a week, running, elliptical, and weights. In two or three more weeks I’ll add cross training back in. One day at first, then two. Weights and elliptical.
Slow and steady and achievable above all.
If you’re still reading, thanks! It’s good to be back.
Cheers,
The CilleyGirl
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Day 3 - C25K
Day 3 and the end of Week 1 on the program was actually yesterday but I never had time to post. It has been going well. I have been walking at a 3.5 mph pace and running at 4.5 mph. For Week 2 I'd like to bump up the running to 4.6 mph. Baby steps!
I had planned to start Week 2 this morning but talked myself out of going. Bad me :(
I started at 177.2 lbs and was at 176.0 today. 21 lbs to goal. I know I can, I know I can, I know I can....
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
I had planned to start Week 2 this morning but talked myself out of going. Bad me :(
I started at 177.2 lbs and was at 176.0 today. 21 lbs to goal. I know I can, I know I can, I know I can....
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Day 2: C25K
Good evening and welcome to Day 2.
I made it to the gym. I did the program. Yay me!
Then I went out and saw Magic Mike XXL. Om nom nom.
It's a rough life I lead, I tell you.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
I made it to the gym. I did the program. Yay me!
Then I went out and saw Magic Mike XXL. Om nom nom.
It's a rough life I lead, I tell you.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Day 1 - C25K
MUST EAT ALL THE THINGS!
This is my reaction to completing Day 1 of the C25K program. I forgot about this part of running. Or really, doing any physical activity farther than the couch to the bathroom.
But I did complete Day 1, nearly two weeks after I planned to start the program. Last week I came down with a wicked sore throat that lasted an entire week. Then I slept for a whole weekend (just about, really -- think I was awake about 12 hours out of 48). Then I procrastinated all damn week this week. Finally I recruited my friend Julie to get my ass to the gym, and today was that day!
As you may recall, I lost about 35 pounds last year when I got sick. I've been curious to see how that impacts my running. They say you gain two seconds per mile per pound lost. That should make me a minute ten faster overall. Today I stuck to 4.5 mph running on the treadmill, which I think translated into under a 14 minute mile. I felt like I could definitely go faster but decided not to break myself on the first day. We go back to the gym tomorrow, and I think Julie is going to do the program with me. At least, she downloaded the app. Now I need to find a 5K to do, maybe something in September. I do want to run the Halloweenathon again this year (the bling!) but want to do something earlier than that. There is a 5K in Beaverton on September 5, maybe I'll do that one. And it's only $10 without the commemorative t-shirt (which I'm guessing is cotton). And it starts at 9:00 a.m. Hmm...
Think I'll go grab some trail mix for a snack. Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
This is my reaction to completing Day 1 of the C25K program. I forgot about this part of running. Or really, doing any physical activity farther than the couch to the bathroom.
But I did complete Day 1, nearly two weeks after I planned to start the program. Last week I came down with a wicked sore throat that lasted an entire week. Then I slept for a whole weekend (just about, really -- think I was awake about 12 hours out of 48). Then I procrastinated all damn week this week. Finally I recruited my friend Julie to get my ass to the gym, and today was that day!
As you may recall, I lost about 35 pounds last year when I got sick. I've been curious to see how that impacts my running. They say you gain two seconds per mile per pound lost. That should make me a minute ten faster overall. Today I stuck to 4.5 mph running on the treadmill, which I think translated into under a 14 minute mile. I felt like I could definitely go faster but decided not to break myself on the first day. We go back to the gym tomorrow, and I think Julie is going to do the program with me. At least, she downloaded the app. Now I need to find a 5K to do, maybe something in September. I do want to run the Halloweenathon again this year (the bling!) but want to do something earlier than that. There is a 5K in Beaverton on September 5, maybe I'll do that one. And it's only $10 without the commemorative t-shirt (which I'm guessing is cotton). And it starts at 9:00 a.m. Hmm...
Think I'll go grab some trail mix for a snack. Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Thursday, July 9, 2015
A long, strange year
Blogger tells me I last posted in June 2014. At that time, I was still really sick as a result of gastroparesis. I'd stopped running, I'd stopped working out (such that I was), and I'd stopped eating anything resembling a balanced diet.
Skip forward a tad to August 2014, when the attacks suddenly stopped. The only thing I did differently around that time was go off the pill. Could be the reason, could be a contributing factor, could just be that this thing stopped as suddenly as it came on. I still have nausea on a regular basis (usually in the mornings) but I haven't made a trip to the ER or the hospital since August 2014.
Between then and now, not much has changed in terms of healthy habits. Still no running, no working out, no balanced diet. Still maintaining a 35 pound weight loss, though I've lost all that muscle tone I had when I was running. There's less of me to be jiggly, but what's left is soft. And I'm less than 20 pounds from my goal weight.
Something needs to change.
That something is me.
Let's start with exercise. I get in around 4,000 steps a day in my normal life. I miss running. Well, maybe not the actual physical process of running, which tends to involve a lot of early mornings and exertion, but the fitness I received from it, the friends I made, the feeling you get when you complete a run, and of course doing the races. While I may not break any land-speed records ever, I do get to brag that I've run two marathons, about a dozen half marathons, and many, many 5Ks. Most people I know will only run if on fire. Since the beginning of 2014 I'm not even sure I would've run even then.
I've got a long way to go to get back into running on a regular basis. My goal is to start with the Couch to 5K program. I've got the app and everything. I want to do a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule for this program so Monday is D Day. Or maybe R Day. My ultimate goal here is one more marathon. I know I've got one more in me. I also want to do Shamrock and Rock 'n Roll again.
I also want to get back into belly dancing. Unfortunately there are pretty much no places for classes on the westside of town. Pretty much everything is across the river or downtown, which makes getting to a 6:00 p.m. class nearly impossible when you work until 5:30 p.m. I could start work earlier on those days, but traffic would still be tough and money is a factor. So instead I ordered several DVDs plus a new coin belt (in purple!). The core benefits you get from belly dancing are amazing, and it's fun to do. I want to get really competent in the basics and then maybe I'll be in a position to take some intermediate or higher classes.
I am also determined to start doing yoga. I like the idea of yoga more than actually doing it, but I need the flexibility you get from it.
Then there's weights. I need muscle tone, especially in my sad, flabby arms.
As for food, I need to think on that some more. There are some veggies I believe I should still avoid (high fiber ones like broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans) for GI purposes. Salad needs to be eased back into. That leaves mushrooms, cucumber, and carrots as my main veggies. I may do a Whole 30 once I get used to eating veggies again (and fruit -- I seem determined to court a case a scurvy). Again, lots of planning that needs to go into getting back into a balanced diet.
Of course now you're thinking "Wow! That's really ambitious and you're setting yourself up for failure!" Don't worry, I'm thinking that too. So I'm going to be doing all this very, very slowly. I should be able to do the C25K program for starters -- that's three days a week for 30 minutes per day. Who can't do that? Then I'll add in a cross training day per week, belly dancing or yoga, maybe in about a month. Until then I'll do it randomly when the mood hits. Again, belly dancing is really fun and there's cardio involved. Yoga is relaxing. It'll depend on my mood.
Food I'll be tweaking throughout. I've got to get used to say having a sweet potato with dinner, or some carrots. A real protein source. Some fruit. And then add from there. God knows I've got enough cookbooks to do this. I used to do it fairly well. Just need to plan, plan, plan, plan, plan.
Well, that's me. How have you all been doing?
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Skip forward a tad to August 2014, when the attacks suddenly stopped. The only thing I did differently around that time was go off the pill. Could be the reason, could be a contributing factor, could just be that this thing stopped as suddenly as it came on. I still have nausea on a regular basis (usually in the mornings) but I haven't made a trip to the ER or the hospital since August 2014.
Between then and now, not much has changed in terms of healthy habits. Still no running, no working out, no balanced diet. Still maintaining a 35 pound weight loss, though I've lost all that muscle tone I had when I was running. There's less of me to be jiggly, but what's left is soft. And I'm less than 20 pounds from my goal weight.
Something needs to change.
That something is me.
Let's start with exercise. I get in around 4,000 steps a day in my normal life. I miss running. Well, maybe not the actual physical process of running, which tends to involve a lot of early mornings and exertion, but the fitness I received from it, the friends I made, the feeling you get when you complete a run, and of course doing the races. While I may not break any land-speed records ever, I do get to brag that I've run two marathons, about a dozen half marathons, and many, many 5Ks. Most people I know will only run if on fire. Since the beginning of 2014 I'm not even sure I would've run even then.
I've got a long way to go to get back into running on a regular basis. My goal is to start with the Couch to 5K program. I've got the app and everything. I want to do a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule for this program so Monday is D Day. Or maybe R Day. My ultimate goal here is one more marathon. I know I've got one more in me. I also want to do Shamrock and Rock 'n Roll again.
I also want to get back into belly dancing. Unfortunately there are pretty much no places for classes on the westside of town. Pretty much everything is across the river or downtown, which makes getting to a 6:00 p.m. class nearly impossible when you work until 5:30 p.m. I could start work earlier on those days, but traffic would still be tough and money is a factor. So instead I ordered several DVDs plus a new coin belt (in purple!). The core benefits you get from belly dancing are amazing, and it's fun to do. I want to get really competent in the basics and then maybe I'll be in a position to take some intermediate or higher classes.
I am also determined to start doing yoga. I like the idea of yoga more than actually doing it, but I need the flexibility you get from it.
Then there's weights. I need muscle tone, especially in my sad, flabby arms.
As for food, I need to think on that some more. There are some veggies I believe I should still avoid (high fiber ones like broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans) for GI purposes. Salad needs to be eased back into. That leaves mushrooms, cucumber, and carrots as my main veggies. I may do a Whole 30 once I get used to eating veggies again (and fruit -- I seem determined to court a case a scurvy). Again, lots of planning that needs to go into getting back into a balanced diet.
Of course now you're thinking "Wow! That's really ambitious and you're setting yourself up for failure!" Don't worry, I'm thinking that too. So I'm going to be doing all this very, very slowly. I should be able to do the C25K program for starters -- that's three days a week for 30 minutes per day. Who can't do that? Then I'll add in a cross training day per week, belly dancing or yoga, maybe in about a month. Until then I'll do it randomly when the mood hits. Again, belly dancing is really fun and there's cardio involved. Yoga is relaxing. It'll depend on my mood.
Food I'll be tweaking throughout. I've got to get used to say having a sweet potato with dinner, or some carrots. A real protein source. Some fruit. And then add from there. God knows I've got enough cookbooks to do this. I used to do it fairly well. Just need to plan, plan, plan, plan, plan.
Well, that's me. How have you all been doing?
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Thursday, June 12, 2014
The magic of a $99.99 special
Hi everyone!
Guess what I've been doing these days?
If you answered with vomiting and getting admitted yet again to the hospital, you would be correct!
New gastro issue this time, my small intestine decided the stomach was getting way too much attention so it got inflamed to the point that (a) they thought I had appendicitis and (b) it triggered a gastroparesis attack. So off to the ER I went. Tip for you: Never go to the ER on a Monday morning if you can help it. Everybody suffers through the weekend with their crap and then Monday morning decide they just can't face the office and perhaps they should go to the ER. I waited over three hours -- start at 6:30 a.m. -- to get a bed. By about one they had ruled out appendicitis and ruled in enteritis (inflammation of the small intestine) and decided to admit me. Luckily only a 24 hour stay this time; I swear you can hear a taxi meter chiming off the dollars every second you're in the hospital.
The title of this post refers to me believing that maybe I can actually lose weight. Around Christmastime I got myself a Fitbit Flex. Right after that I got really sick with all of this GI stuff so it wasn't until about a month ago that I set up some of the dashboard stuff like a weight goal. Back in my high school days I weighed 154 lbs for forever. No matter what I did or didn't do, I was at 154 and I was (mostly) happy there. Freshman year in college I was walking everywhere and got down to 145 which was great but 154 seems like a better goal. For one thing, 50+ pounds is easier to lose than 60+ pounds.
And hence the title. When I put in my weight goal, the Fitbit dashboard tells you how many pounds you have to lose to get there. And apparently the Fitbit can do math better than I can, or maybe it just did the actual math. At any rate, suddenly I didn't have to lose 50+ pounds. I only had to lose 48. Which is better than 50. Fifty sounds like such an impossible goal. "I'd have to never eat and work out five times a week to lose 50 pounds!" But less than fifty? Totally doable. Forty-eight pounds is nearly 45 pounds. Then you're almost to 40 and once you hit 40 that's practically 30. Once you've got less than 30 pounds to lose that's almost 20 and then you're nearly at your goal weight. Right?
With the fun flare up last week, the gastroparesis seems to be stuck. Not in the ER but not eating very well. I get hungry, which is a good sign, but then I get full really quickly. Consequently today I only have 41.8 lbs to lose. That's almost only 30 pounds left to go!
And this is why everybody wants to shop in Oregon where there's no sales tax. Your purchase will be $104.23? Too much. Only $99.99? Sign me up!
I'm off to try to eat some Spaghetti-Os. Nice, squishy, there's-kind-of-a-vegetable-in-there Spaghetti-Os.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Guess what I've been doing these days?
If you answered with vomiting and getting admitted yet again to the hospital, you would be correct!
New gastro issue this time, my small intestine decided the stomach was getting way too much attention so it got inflamed to the point that (a) they thought I had appendicitis and (b) it triggered a gastroparesis attack. So off to the ER I went. Tip for you: Never go to the ER on a Monday morning if you can help it. Everybody suffers through the weekend with their crap and then Monday morning decide they just can't face the office and perhaps they should go to the ER. I waited over three hours -- start at 6:30 a.m. -- to get a bed. By about one they had ruled out appendicitis and ruled in enteritis (inflammation of the small intestine) and decided to admit me. Luckily only a 24 hour stay this time; I swear you can hear a taxi meter chiming off the dollars every second you're in the hospital.
The title of this post refers to me believing that maybe I can actually lose weight. Around Christmastime I got myself a Fitbit Flex. Right after that I got really sick with all of this GI stuff so it wasn't until about a month ago that I set up some of the dashboard stuff like a weight goal. Back in my high school days I weighed 154 lbs for forever. No matter what I did or didn't do, I was at 154 and I was (mostly) happy there. Freshman year in college I was walking everywhere and got down to 145 which was great but 154 seems like a better goal. For one thing, 50+ pounds is easier to lose than 60+ pounds.
And hence the title. When I put in my weight goal, the Fitbit dashboard tells you how many pounds you have to lose to get there. And apparently the Fitbit can do math better than I can, or maybe it just did the actual math. At any rate, suddenly I didn't have to lose 50+ pounds. I only had to lose 48. Which is better than 50. Fifty sounds like such an impossible goal. "I'd have to never eat and work out five times a week to lose 50 pounds!" But less than fifty? Totally doable. Forty-eight pounds is nearly 45 pounds. Then you're almost to 40 and once you hit 40 that's practically 30. Once you've got less than 30 pounds to lose that's almost 20 and then you're nearly at your goal weight. Right?
With the fun flare up last week, the gastroparesis seems to be stuck. Not in the ER but not eating very well. I get hungry, which is a good sign, but then I get full really quickly. Consequently today I only have 41.8 lbs to lose. That's almost only 30 pounds left to go!
And this is why everybody wants to shop in Oregon where there's no sales tax. Your purchase will be $104.23? Too much. Only $99.99? Sign me up!
I'm off to try to eat some Spaghetti-Os. Nice, squishy, there's-kind-of-a-vegetable-in-there Spaghetti-Os.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
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