Recap time

So 100 days have come and gone, and I am going to bust out some results.
And I am going to be totally honest. I wasn't sure if I wanted to disclose real numbers, but it didn't feel right to leave you all hanging.

By the way I am 5'2" so if you are reading this and thinking that I am way heavier/lighter than you, first stop comparing, and 2 I am really short.

Before I started this challenge I was weighing in at 150lbs. Before I started the 1st challenge I was at 150lbs too, so I all of my work from round 1 was wasted. This put me in the overweight range in BMI (27.2). I also had a body fat of around 33.5% which is slightly too high according to the interwebs.

For my inches I was around 11.5 on my arms, 37-30-37 for the standard chest, waist, and hips. And I can't remember what my thighs were, but they weren't my major issue. These were taken back in September, so I was actually probably heavier in January/May. Oh and I had no muscles whatsoever. Squishy all over the place.

And as much as I hate this picture...here is me in NYC at the beginning of May,

Before

No I wasn't grossly obese or anything, just a little bit chunkier than I would prefer. It was really hard to find a picture that I am not being ridiculous in. 

So the Challenge started on June 24th.

Out of my 100 days-
23/100 days I got no exercise.
36/100 I got intense exercise
the rest was low-moderate exercise (walking/yoga)

Food wise, I did really well with eating healthy. I have started making healthier choices without even thinking about it. Like for instance, Mike and I went out for supper last friday and I got salad even though it was a cheat day. I also got a pulled pork sandwich thinking it was healthier than ribs, I was mistaken, but I only ate half. There has been very few drinks, and no late night pizzas/poutines. I think I followed the 85/15% split for food pretty well, so much better than last challenge.

So for the results:

I was able to run(/jog/walk) a 5 km in 35 (ish) minutes! 

I go to the gym 3/4 times a week! Even 5 legit times one!

I ran around the city for 6 hours on day 50 for city chase!

I pack a healthy lunch and snacks everyday for work and most of my suppers are healthy too!

I have learned a lot about METs, and "Cutting the Crap"

I have muscles from all that body pump!!! 

I lost 10 pounds, and have consistently kept the weight off!

Tadddaaaa!!

Physically, I am really proud of my arms and shoulders, they are actually getting some definition. And my butt is definitely loving all the lunges (eek am I allowed to say that on the interwebs!!) I am also more flexible from yoga, and this is coming from the least flexible person in the world.

So for the numbers, I am down to 140 and have been consistently around there for the past month. I really want to get to 130. I just took my measurements and I am about the same as before, with 2" off my waist.  I think something must be wrong with my measurements, because I am about 1 dress size smaller than in May and to me that is a true value in workouts.  My BMI is 25.6, which is just slightly above the healthy weight range (25 is the top limit), and my body fat percent is 30% which is in the healthy range for a women (according to the interwebs, I could be wrong.)

Oh and on top of all that the Boyfriend has also lost 10 pounds, goes to the gym almost everyday, doesn't drink pop anymore, and his snacks are now healthy. He also can cook some pretty delicious food! If I have been his "motivation" (read pest) about eating healthy, he has been mine for actually going to the gym. Yay
gym buddies!

Overall I would give myself a A-. I didn't get my weight loss results I wanted (even after two 100 day tries), but I really have changed my lifestyle. I like exercise, and skipping the gym feels weird. I also like eating healthy most days!

The most important thing that I have taken from this, is that it is ok to cheat once and a while, it is the long term dedication to the goal that is more important!

So this ends my totally typical weight loss/get healthy challenge. To my loyal readers, thanks for checking out my progress, and supporting me along the way! If you too are doing your own "challenge" then all the best! Please keep following my progress to my goal weight/healthy food/fitness stuff over on my other blog:
The Pink Hard Hat!

DAY 100! Run for the Cure

Day 100/100!

So today I woke up around 8:00 for RUN FOR THE CURE!! The Run for the cure is important to me because my Nanna did have breast cancer many years ago, but she kicked cancer's butt, so today I was definitely thinking about her!

In addition to that, for a fitness challenge I picked this as my 5k goal about 6 months ago, because I wasn't sure where I would be living now, and wanted to pick an event that was available in multiple cities. I also wanted to do 50 pushups and 100 situps. I should try that out at the gym to see how that goes! In June I revised my goal from 25 minutes for the 5km run, to 35 minutes after talking some legit runners.

When I woke up and looked outside and it was practically snowing. Ok it was actually raining and 5 degrees, but still significantly cold considering last weekend was 20 degrees and sunny. Not that I minded because I like running in slightly cold weather and rain is always fun.

I got my sweet runner outfit on, leggings, gym shorts, multiple shirt layers, and a hat. Pretty styling indeed.
Totally meant to take a picture but I got distracted by the the event.

Mike and I got to the run, picked up our shirts, and had a sweet warm up with the CIBC crew. Before we knew it, it was time to start. We joined the 20,000 (!) people walking and running, and we started off.

More people than my home town doing the Run!

Now time for the run breakdown.

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to do this run in 35 minutes. Last time I tried to do a 5km I walked most of it and it took me 45-50 minutes.

So we (Mike and I) started off at a slow pace because of the 7000ish people ahead of us. Mike started his timer on his cellphone when we started because we were later than the main pack. After the crowd started to thin out, we picked up the pace. 1km was no problem, but the 2 km mark was tough. I started breathing heavily and my calfs were not doing so well.

So at around the 2.5 km mark I had to stop and walk. Boo. I walked until the 3 km mark, ran a little bit more, then walked to the 4 km mark. I really wanted to run the last km non stop. Just before we got to the 4 km mark I wondered outloud (to Mike) how close I was to the 35 minute mark. He looked at his phone, and all he said..."ooo it is going to be close" and that was all I needed.

I started running, as much as I could and I kept up a really good pace until we were rounding the corner to the finish line. The finish line was smaller than the main road so we had a major traffic jam so we stopped running about 100 m before the actual stop point.

Then I asked what our time was:

35 minutes, 50 seconds!!

That 50 seconds could have totally be accounted for by the slow start. So I consider that a goal that was met!

WHAT!!!! Yes I was that shocked. I thought because I walked so much I wasn't going to make it, but I think I jog at a really high pace when I do, so it makes up for the walking. My calves were pretty sore the rest of the day, but nothing major. Mike and I are already planning doing a 10 km in May, but that is a while from now!

The best part was about getting up and finishing a major goal by 12, was that I had a significantly productive day following it!

I am going to do a totally typical recap tomorrow of the whole 100 day challenge, but it is getting late, and I have to pack my gym bag for tomorrow!

Day 97- A day in the life

Before my last post (or posts, it may go full Harry Potter Part 7 on me), I would like to detail a typical day in my weightloss/healthy living life. Hopefully if anyone is following along and trying your own get healthy plan, you can appreciate this post.Today was a little stranger than normal, but you get the idea.

Woke up at 5:30 before my alarm, completely awake. Should have actually gotten up then and got my butt to work early, but I fell back to sleep and woke up at 7:45 instead.

Toasted a pita burger while I got ready, added some PB, and grabbed my lunch and ran out the door. Normally I have a glass of water or small juice of water, with my vitamins. That didn't happen this morning. I ate my pb sandwich in the car on the way to work, yes I do that, I like staying in bed as late as possible.

Got to work, filled up my water bottle, and grabbed a cup of tea with one sweetner. I stopped drinking coffee a few weeks ago, purely because I don't really like the taste of the coffee at work, and I am much too lazy to make my own.

Around 10 I had some almonds that I keep at work. I also didn't cook an egg today which I normally do, and I eat that when I get hungry in the morning. At lunch I realized I grabbed a container of squash and broccoli. No spices, no flavour nothing. Bleh. So I went up to the cafeteria and bought a chicken wrap, and I got a diet coke. I have bought a diet coke twice since I started working, so this was really unusual. The wrap was tasty and full of veggies. Later in the day I had some yogurt and an apple to keep me full and more water of course.

When I got home around 6:30 I had a big spinach salad with other veggies and tuna before getting out the door and going to bodyflow(yoga) for 7:30. I got home around 9:00 pm, made a better lunch for tomorrow (spinach salad with broccoli and squash), ate some cucumber, had a glass of milk, and had about two crackers with salsa, and now I am heading to bed to do it all again tomorrow!

And yes I really just want a million bags of chips all the time. Some days are great and I fully enjoy eating healthy, others (like today) I can't seem to satisfy a craving. But I try to have some will power because if I caved to every craving, I wouldn't be seeing any results!

Now I am off to bed before I want more snacks!

3 days until the 5k run!!

Day 95-Its almost over!!! Plans for the future

After today's post I plan too post 2 more times before switching over full time to the Pink Hard Hat.

I can't believe it is almost over. I like how this time around, unlike last time, I am actually trying to keep going near the end, I haven't given up.

But to be completely totally honest, I am going to fail at this challenge again. Ok fail is a nasty word. Lets just say I won't be getting an A+. I will detail all my final results on my last post but for now I want to talk about my big plan for the next 100 days.

It isn't actually for the next 100 days, it is just for life in general.

Weight wise I want to loose 10 more pounds by Christmas (spoiler alert, this will get me to my totally typical weight loss goal). Fitness wise, I really still want to run a 5 k (or more) at some point. I am going to keep working on it.

Gym wise I want to amp up my exercise regime from 3 times a week to 5 times a week or MORE, every week. I plan on doing this the following way:

Monday-Body Pump then Zumba BACK TO BACK
Tuesday- Body Pump Again!
Wednesday- Quick Run/Cardio
Thursday-Bodyflow
Friday-Day off
Saturday- Body Attack (A crazy high cardio class)
Sunday- Body flow

This a crazy amount of gym-age, but I have learned that I really like to go to the gym, mostly because I feel really good after, not just physically but mentally too! I have enough yoga in there so I don't kill my body, and I have a coveted day off in there too!

Food wise, I think I am doing pretty well. Maybe working on smaller portions, but I have been eating really healthy.

I am going to detail all this once and a while on my other blog.

Normal recap time:
Yesterday I went to Zumba and it was really fun. And today I went to Body Pump and added weight to squats and now I am a little sore in a good way.

For supper on Monday the BF cooked some spaghetti squash and we had one of my favorite healthy meals...
SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH BEANS!!

Yah it doesn't have a snazzy name, but it is delicious. Also lacking pictures, need to get on that part of blogging.

Step 1. Cook a ginormous spaghetti squash for 1 hour at 350 C. Poke holes in it so it doesn't splode everywhere.
Step 2. Go do something nearby for 50 minutes. Don't leave the house with an appliance on, that is just common sense.
Step 3. Open can of beans, I like pinto beans or white kidney beans, rinse, have a dance party.
Step 4. Open can of pasta sauce, put in pot, add vegs and spices, and hotness if your into that. My choice is Tabasco, classic but delicious. Mike prefers thai chilies.
Step 5. Add beans to pot, simmer until hot.
Step 6. Remove squash from the oven CAREFULLY! Open it up, remove the guts and seeds.
Step 7. Fork out pieces of squash that are magically noodle shaped, and top with sauce and some low fat cheese.
Step 8. Enjoy!

The best part of this meal is that it is makes awesome leftovers. One normal sized squash fed me and the bf for 3+ meals! 

Today I also made a mini potato salad with one leftover potato, some light sour cream, garlic and dried basil, with canned artichokes left over from my pizza. It was surprisingly delicious!

So only 5 more days till the run. GAHHH!

Day 93-Exercise on the Weekend

This week has been a little strange with the workouts. Monday I was crazy and did Body Pump and Zumba as detailed before, then I didn't do anything until Saturday.

I felt really bad because for the 1st (or maybe 2nd) time this whole process I skipped the gym on Thursday, my normally scheduled bodyflow class, with no good reason. This bummed me out because I felt like I let myself down. There is a total difference to me comparing missing a class because of an event (family visiting, going out with a friend) but to miss for no reason...not cool.

Anyway to get out of my bleh mood I went for a run/gymage on Saturday. I ran for about 2 minutes before I felt like I was dying, so I power walked the rest of the 30 minutes to the gym. Probably not going to be able to run the 5k next weekend, but that is ok (I guess). At the gym I hit the elliptical for 30 minutes to get some extra cardio, and then walked back.

Today I went to Bodyflow, and I must say there is something really nice about going to a class earlish (10:30) on a Sunday, and feeling like I have accomplished something.
So even though I took 4 days off, I still went to the gym for 4 "sessions". Not too bad.

For food this week I didn't really make a meal plan so I was kind of all over the place with food. Last night I did make a delicious homemade pizza topped with the normal pizza stuff (pepperoni, cheese, mushrooms, veggies) with my favorite pizza toppings: artichokes, sundried tomatos, spinach, and olives. Delicious. We ate it all before I could snap a picture. Tonight I am making homemade shake and bake chicken with potatoes and carrots. A real meal as my brother and I used to say when we were little.

Simple yet delicious

I can't believe this 100 day challenge is almost over! Next week I will have to recap the whole thing, compare it to the last one. There may even be a before and after photo, just a warning.

For now though, I want to talk about a gym pet peeve of mine. When I go to the gym (except for body flow) I come out looking like a sweaty lobster. I push myself really hard, especially at Zumba and other cardio classes, because if I drag my butt all the way to the gym, I better make it worth my while.

What drives me nuts are the people who are at the gym for an hour, and don't really do anything! I am not talking about people who are just starting out in their fitness regime and physically can't do much, I am talking about the super pretty/skinny girls who just kind of aimlessly walk around maybe stretch for 5 minutes, go on the eliptical for 15 (at a slow pace) and then stretch some more. Dear girls like that, if your make up is still nice when you leave the gym, you aren't working hard enough.

Guys are just as bad too. My boyfriend just added "they do a few reps, kiss their muscles, then flex some more"

There is one gym location I go too, and it is infamous for having good looking people who go there (that is not why I go there, I found that out after the fact), and that is where it is the worst. I just don't get it. Obviously they had to work at getting into the shape they are at, because they all are pretty fit, so maybe I am just catching them on a off day...but still why waste your time going to the gym to look good?

I am a little bit proud of my sweaty lobster-ness. But not proud enough to ever post a picture on here.

Day 87- Double Time

Whoa...I never have 2 posts in 2 days.

What is the special occasion you may ask??

Well I did something crazy today. 

First of all, I changed my gym routine to allow me to go to an earlier Body Pump class. This meant I was at work at 7:00 this morning. I Finished work by 4:00, and was at the gym at 4:30. Oh yah. I did this plan because I wanted to be home early. 

But....then the craziness happened. I decided to stay after I finished a great Body Pump class, and go to ZUMBA!!! 

I. am. so. tired. now. 

I came home to some delicious leftovers that was very healthy. Mostly reheated veggies, 3 mini potatoes and like 3 oz of fish. It was mostly that healthy because there wasn't very much fish left, but hey it works!

I am pretty pumped that it is only Monday and I already have 2 hours of intense exercise done!

 

Day 86- Gym Love

Recap dance party time:

Day 82- Yoga and a walk to and from yoga. Normally I go to the Thursday body flow class but I had a conflict on Thursday, so I went to this one. It was real yoga. I prefer body flow because you get the calm relaxing stretch part of yoga plus a great workout from Pilates. Yoga was ok though. I had the taco pasta for lunch, and a veggie lentil curry for supper. 

Day 83- I had the leftover lentil veggie thing for lunch, and went out to dinner with my book club. I could have got a salad or something healthy, but I got a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. I have been craving one of those for about a month now, so I figured I would splurge. After coming back from that Mike and I went for a run/walk to train for the Run for the Cure in 20 days. I can run about 2.2 out of 5 km. Not perfect, but at least I am trying. 

Day 84- I had the day off, so Mike and I went out for lunch to celebrate. We got amazing pad thai, that was totally not diet worthy. I was planning on going to Body Attack (a super high intensity cardio class) but I was so sore from the gym, my body needed a day off. 

Day 85- Since I skipped Friday, I went to the gym yesterday afternoon with Mike and did some running and some weights with the machines. Not as fun as body pump, but at least I got a work out in. I also went out to dinner last night and had more pasta. 

If you add all that up it means that this week I went to the gym 5 TIMES!!!! Since I started this fitness journey back in January that was my goal, and I have done it twice. Once back in March with 5 days of Zumba and now this!! Zumba, Body Pump, Yoga, Run/Walk, and Run/Weights. Not too shabby. 

The bad thing is that for the past week I have had carbs and pasta and restaurant food way too much. It sucks because I know I am still doing really well with this challenge, but my diet has been slipping. I am definitely not as careful as before. I still don't eat a lot of junk food or anything, just little stuff, like fatty cheese, and too many carbs. Since day 50 my weight has been consistent. I think I am loosing, because my clothes still feel looser than before, but the scale isn't reflecting that. My ideal weight would be about 10 pounds lighter. I know I am not going to reach that goal by the 2nd. But I am going to keep trying until I do. 

I am just not sure what I can do to get down to that level, because my diet and my exercise levels are pretty good. Perhaps if I go to the gym 5 days a week every week, then I will see the results I want! 

In other news, I have officially signed up for the 5k Run for the Cure. If anyone would like to make a donation to this great cause...check out my page here.

Also Mike has decided to do the run with me. I asked him to help me out because I need motivation to keep running. I hope to run 3 times this week and next to prepare for the run. Maybe I will be able to run 5k non stop by then!