Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Week 7: Goodbye Holiday Eating, Hello Healthy Eating!

Week 7 was the last week of the holiday season and my last week of eating like a little piggy.

It was fun while it lasted, but as my jeans got tighter and the number on the scale got higher I knew it was time to get it under control. 

So for my New Years resolution I have committed to dropping the 4 pounds I gained over the holidays, (because believe me, when you're 5 ft 2, four lbs makes a difference in the way your clothes fit.) And then dropping 5 more pounds to get down to marathon weight. My friend who recently qualified for Boston said that losing weight was key in helping her get faster. I'm not looking for a BQ but dropping some extra poundage might help me get my sub 4. 

To drop the weight I started using the MyFitnessPal calorie counting app on my phone and it's pretty awesome. I'm aiming for about 1500 calories a day and the app just helps me keep track of everything. It seriously has every food you can imagine in it's data base and is really easy to use. I also like how it adjusts your calorie total when you work out. Like today I got 600 extra calories for running 7 miles. Pretty Cool. 

Anyway, here's what yesterday's meals looked like: 
( I didn't work out yesterday so I had to take it easy on the snacks, usually I snack more than this)

Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1 tsp brown sugar, 2 Tbs raisins, 1 Tbs chopped almonds and 1/2 cup of almond milk.

Snack: banana

Lunch: 1 egg + 2 egg whites scrambled with 4 slices deli turkey, 1/2 cup spinach, 1/4 cup reduced fat cheese and 1/4 cup of salsa.

Snack: Chobani Strawberry Banana Greek yogurt

Dinner: 7oz Salmon filet on a bed of Spinach with 1/2 cup of broccoli on the side.

Snack: Strawberry/raspberry smoothie made with 5 frozen strawberries, coconut extract, vanilla extract, 1/2 an orange, a packet of raspberry crystal light and 8 0z of water. SO YUMMY!!!

So yeah, I've been eating like that for the last 3 days and I'm feeling tons better and expect to see some good results on the scale next week. 

Training was good last week. We had a 15 miler for our long run and it definitely gave us a workout!



We stayed up late the night before so we could go to the Celtics opening game. Totally worth it!
The next morning we had a babysitter come at 9am and headed out with temps in the low 30's and a forecast for "freezing rain." I was nervous about the weather but once we got going it wasn't that bad. In the end we finished 15 miles with a 9:04 average pace. The course had a 997 ft elevation climb so we really worked for that 9 minute pace!

Also, my last 2 miles were 8:20 and 8:50 so I finished in negative splits. Woot!  
There was ice in my hair and as soon as I stopped moving I was freezing my buns off. I went inside and told the babysitter I needed her for 20 more minutes so I could change and warm my body back up.
It took 2 pairs of pants, a long sleeve shirt, a fleece jacket, and my winter coat to make me stop shivering.


Taber had even more layers than me though. He put on 2 shirts, a sweatshirt, his robe, his winter coat, and a blanket! I was laughing so hard when I saw him that I had to take a picture.

Once we were warm again we realized we were STARVING!! 
I started pulling stuff out of the fridge and making whatever food I could think off. I put some noodles on to boil for spaghetti but then pancakes sounded good too so I decided to do both. While I was waiting for them to cook I guzzled a coconut water, then drank a chocolate milk while I stuffed almonds and craisins in my face. Taber noshed on a giant sweet potato drenched in salsa and then we sat down to eat our carb-tacular feast.

The aftermath of our carb binge.

After we stuffed our faces we showered and then we were so wasted we made all the kids take a nap so we could crash too. We slept for 2 hours and then at last, we felt recovered. 

It was the longest run I've done since having Cam and it definitely took a lot out of me, but I felt great while I was running so I think the bigger issue was not sleeping a lot the night before and probably not fueling well enough during the run.

Anyway, here's the summary of week 7:

Monday: 4 miles of interval sprints on the treadmill: avg pace 8:03
Wednesday: 7 rough miles on the treadmill (ate too much junk that day): avg pace 8:21
Friday: Another torturous 4 miles on the treadmill due to crappy eating: avg pace 8:08
Saturday: 15 miles outside: avg pace 9:04

Hoping my treadmill runs will be a little more pleasant now that I'm eating better! 
Happy Wednesday everyone! 

8 comments:

  1. I know we're different sizes but My Fitness Pal underestimated how many calories I need each day. After just a few days of following their recommendations, I felt weak and slow. Glad it is working for you!! :)

    Your paces are all so awesome that I know you'll go sub-4 for sure!

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  2. Yes - I LOVE that MyFitnessPal app! It is the best! And I also love the free Nike Fitness Club, have you tried it? Circuit training with no equipment needed. LOVE!

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  3. you don't get fat with what you eat between Christmas and New Years ... you get fat with what you eat between New Years and Christmas

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  4. You and I are so similar! I started tracking food again on My Plate (under Livestrong.com). Also trying to keep about 1500 net calories after workouts...so far not making major changes, but am not making any more baked goods for awhile, which should help. :-)

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  5. You're ripping it up! Way to go...I keep thinking, only about 9-12 more months and then I can start to do fun physical activity...(ugh, that sounds like a long time)...in the meantime, I'll live vicariously through you :)

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  6. I know the kind of cold you're talking about. Half of it was from the weather and the other half was from fatiguing your body to that point. It's like after you have a baby and you're just FREEZING... anyway, that's crazy, you guys pushed really, really hard. And I loved the carb binge explanation, so funny!
    So thanks for sharing about that app- I think that may be the solution for me. I know I need to lose weight to not only do well on my marathon but also decrease the risk of injury. I was thinking about joining weight watchers because I just need some set parameters, but I think keeping track of calories with a database that good would definitely do the trick. Awesome idea, thanks for sharing it. :)
    Great job as usual on all of your runs. You are racking up the miles!

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  7. Awesome Becca! You guys are crazy motivated. Did you really eat spaghetti for breakfast? lol Keep up the good work. I need to pick your brain for yummy yet healthy recipes. Love ya!

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  8. umm, your carb feast looks AMAZING, I'd like to come over please. :)

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