"Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven't

courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others."
-- Samuel Johnson

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I hope your having great and on-plan weekends.

I wanted to pop in real quick to tell you guys about my run this morning. It was my longest run yet, 7.5 miles! I've been fighting a cold the last couple days too, so even getting out at all was a bit of an accomplishment. But I finished 7.5 miles, and it was at an average pace that was less than my 7 miler before, quite an accomplishment.

Eating has been good this weekend. I've started doing a few new things that seem to be working well for "portion control".

First, on ice cream, I bought a bunch of these 1/2 cup glad ware containers, and as I buy ice cream, when I bring it home from the store, I put it in individual 1/2 cup containers. Keeps me from eating out of the container and controls portions, it works wonders.

On the same front, I've been doing it with pretzels, wheat thins and things like that too. I just put them in individual snack baggies.

I think it helps a lot, I am one of those people who mindless grabs a handful here and there, and this prevents that.

Other than that, nothing to new and exciting around here. Just fighting this cold and trying to rest up!

Hope everyone is doing good!

"He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds
are not found in polished stones. They are made."
-- Henry B. Wilson

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I really intended to post again on Sunday, although I got busy and didn't have time, and Monday, I was off work, so I didn't get around to it, then yesterday, I was busy catching up! So now, here I am!

To answer some questions;

One, I started moderating comments because I was getting spam, and I hated it, but then it kinda got to be a pain to publish all the comments, so I just put word verification on now, hopefully that helps.

As for Tech, I think things are on their way out on that one. It's kind of shame, but I'm not upset. He just doesn't seem that into me, and truthfully, I don't think I'm that into him. Plus he's got a few flaws that I don't know whether or not I'm willing to deal with, since they are personality flaws (like being overly critical). But on a high note, I met another guy, he's an electrician, so I will just refer to him as that! He seems nice enough, we'll see where it goes, and I will keep you guys posted.

Eating has been pretty successful. Sunday was a challenging day for me, but I think I handled it well. My parents have this all you can eat brunch that they go to sometimes on Sundays, and it used to be my most favorite place to go before losing weight. And honestly, while I was trying to lose, I wouldn't even dare go near it, because it would tick me off that I couldn't eat more than like one thing. But I had a couple bites of everything I wanted when I went. And when I left, I wasn't stuffed, I felt satisfied and comfortable. Later in the day my mom made my favorite homemade meal, BBQ Meatballs and Mashed potatoes. I wasn't terribly hungry since I had a big breakfast/lunch, so I had a small (very small) helping of mashed potatoes, and 4 meatballs, and some sweet corn. I left there feeling full, but not sickly stuffed. I opted out of eating the rest of the day. I think I did well.

I think it's the big thing with maintaining, is to learn days like my Sunday are ok, once in awhile. Are they ok every sunday, or every day? Nope! But food isn't the enemy, food is good, and I enjoyed what I ate!

For some reason this week, pretzels have been calling my name. I don't have any idea why. There is a large (like sam club sized) jar of pretzel sticks on the table here at work, and they have been calling to me. I've had some, but I'm eating them plain, and I've been limiting them, so I think I'm doing ok.

I'm reading Intuitive Eating right now, and I'm really enjoying the book, and I'm trying to put into practice the stuff in it. So far, I really do think it's a great way to become a "normal" eater.

One thing that really hit home with this book was the talk of how when you restrict yourself from certain foods, you want them even more, and are more likely to binge on them. Lets look at example.

My friend Peanut Butter. Me and Peanut Butter had a good relationship before WW. I was fond of it, but it was one of those things that I could take or leave, and if I did eat it, it was rarely something I over ate. Now enter WW's, where PB was high point, and I avoided it, because to me it wasn't worth the points. All of a sudden, it became a forbidden, and it was something that if I started on, I usually ended up overeating. I just ended up not keeping it in the house anymore, because quite frankly, I couldn't deal with it.

Now that I'm maintaining, I've been allowing myself a small amount of PB on a regular basis. Usually this small amount is about 1/2 Tablespoon with some pita bread. If I feel like it everyday, I have it, if not I don't. And you know what? PB has lost it's Binge potential for me, it no longer has that "hold" over me. I can have it whenever I want, so therefore I don't have to eat it like I will never eat again.

This is a common theme of intuitive eating. Now that someone is pointing it out, it's making sense. I promise to update more about the book as I learn more.

In other news, running has been going good. I got in a 5.5 mile run on Sunday, 4.5 on Monday and tonight I'm planning on doing another 5. It's been so nice out, and I'm so enjoying running this time of year! I can't wait til it cools off even a little more!

I DVR'd Biggest Loser last night, and I can't wait to watch it! Although it's been ruined by a few blogs I've read today :( Oh Well, I still like watchin it!

Anyways, I think I've been chatty today, but I hope everyone is having a healthy and happy Wednesday!

Maintenance Weigh in #2

Well just a quick little update right now, hopefully I can post a little more of a "quality" one later while I'm watching some football :)

Weighed in this morning for the 2nd time on maintenance, and I weighed in at 142.2. Perfect! Only .2lbs up from the last one a month ago, and honestly, .2 absolutely nothing! So month 2 was a success!

And this morning, I got in a run of 5.5 miles, it's been pouring here since yesterday morning, but luckily, I woke up this morning to a break in the rain, which looks to be temporary. But I got the run in so I was happy!

Anyways, Happy Sunday everyone!

"Babe Ruth hit more home runs than anyone; he also struck out more
often than anyone."
- Anonymous

Just a quick little Tuesday check in!

Things are going good here. I'm still fighting a cold/bad allergies (which I really think is a cold that was caused by bad allergies, but not sure!), but still doing well.

As far as exercise goes, I took Monday off from running, as I typically do after a long run, and today I plan to do a short 2.5 miles. I have 2 more runs schedules for the other days this week, and plan to get those in hopefully Wednesday and Friday, although the days might change.

Eating has been going ok. Sunday I decided I needed a scheduled day, and a day to put portions back in check, so I weighed things and sort of counted points. Upon weighing things, I found I'm still doing good keeping my portions in check, which is great! Yesterday I got home from work, and I was ravenous, I think it probably was the result of not eating enough on sunday after the long run. So I ate alot. BUT, I kept it in check, and I wrote down what I ate, and by the end of the day, it was still a successful day. Today eating has been fine. Tonight I'm meeting Tech for dinner at a steakhouse, and I've already looked at the menu and decided on a 6 ounce sirloin with a side of steamed broccoli and brown rice. Very calorie friendly, especially if I don't eat all the rice (which normally I don't like rice at restaurants, so I don't eat it anyways), and just eat 1/2 or 3/4 of the steak.

Weight wise, I think I'm doing ok. It's really hard to tell, because I'm trying to avoid stepping on the scale. Last time I checked, i was up a hair. But I'm not really going to get upset about it. I know that 95% of the time I'm eating properly, and I'm exercising enough, so as long as I'm doing the right thing, and my clothes are fitting, I need not be concerned with the number on the scale. I'm trying to grasp this concept.

Speaking of clothes fitting. My size 8's I bought as my goal weight present to myself are falling off of me. In fact, I'm down a loop on my belt So even if the scale shows a bit up, I'm thinking maybe it's muscle from running?

As far as my books I posted about last weekend, I'm reading intuitive eating right now. I really really like this approach. It makes many very valid points, and I will touch on them all when I'm done reading it in my review. But if your looking for good reading, and are looking to get past the "diet mentality", you might want to check it out.

Things with Tech, I really don't know about. I'm very on the fence about him. I'm beginning to think he's in it for the "thrill of the chase" not a relationship, which isn't what I'm after. But we'll see how it works out. I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch. Regardless, we're going out tonight.

Anyways, I hope everyone is happy, healthy and staying on track, and I'll catch up soon!

My Long Run!

I just wanted to report in for inquiring minds! My long run this morning went fantastic! I ran 7.04 miles!

Now, I think it was a NSV (or just shows I'm addicted to running, one or the other!), I work up this morning about 730, and I heard it raining outside, it was raining hard, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I finally got out of bed around 830, and it was still raining. I've been fighting a cold and bad allergies the last couple days too, so I didn't feel real hot.

Well I checked the radar, and it looked like the rain would be out of here in an hour or so, so I ate my oatmeal and hung out, and about 1030a I left for the run, instead of scrapping it.

Now in the good ol' days, I would've used any excuse possible to get out of exercise, allergies and not feeling well would've been good enough, let alone rain.

But, I went out, and I had a great run, the roads were muddy, so I got a bit wet and dirty, but it was part of the fun, dodging the mud puddles. The sun came out about half way through the run, and it started to get very gorgeous. I made sure to pace myself, and started off very slow, so I could be sure I had enough energy to get through the 7 miles. And I did, I finished and I felt great!

I hope you guys have great Sundays, I'm off to finish watching my Lions get their butts handed to them.

Books to Review

So, as always in a process to continuously improve myself, and better understand the emotional implications behind my eating, I've picked up a couple of books today which I'm going to read and offer reviews on in the next couple of weeks/months.

These books include:

Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we think by Brian Wansink

Eating Mindfully by Susan Albers

The Rules of Normal Eating by Karen Koenig

Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole

I'm excited about all of them. I scanned through them all, but the one I chose first is Mindless Eating, be looking forward to tell you guys about it. Already it's incredibly interesting the studies they've done, and how they can give people stale popcorn at the movie theater and they eat it it just because it's there. That's amazing to me.

Anyways, hope you guys are having fantastic weekends, will report tomorrow how my first ever 7 mile run goes!

"Too many people overvalue what they are not
and undervalue what they are."
-- Malcolm Forbes

Happy Thursday Everyone.

I just realized it's been a long time since I posted last. Wow! I guess I've been pretty busy, so let me recap on things that have been happening, both weight loss/eating related and not.

Well lets see, I finished off Monday as a relaxing day. I did go over to my parents and we had a great summertime mean of bacon tomato sandwiches and sweet corn yum! I think overall the meal was a success, although I did eat some powdered donut holes (what the heck?) and I picked a little too much at the apple crisp I made for my dad. But on the other hand, I passed on having bacon on my sandwiches, and I bought my own bread over, instead of eating the high calorie oversized stuff they had. And I stopped eating the apple crisp before it got bad. Then I went home, and I didn't eat the rest of the day, so you know what? The day ended up being not too shabby.

Eating the rest of the week has been fine.

As far as exercise goes, I'm still running. I've gotten in 3 of my 4 runs this week, with my 4th planned for tonight. My 3rd run was even in the rain. I actually kinda liked it...I know I'm insane.

In as vague of terms as possible, things with Tech are going good. I had gotten the feeling he wasn't interested anymore as of late last week, but finally just asked him yesterday night and turns out there was something bothering him, but we talked about, and things are back to being good.

Today would've been 4 years with the ex. Of course he had to send me an email to remind me. Thanks...I remembered.

I've found a new person who makes me proud to be a woman in S-arah Pal!n, I don't want to type her name, because I don't want my blog getting 400,000 hits because her name is on it. This isn't a political blog, and I don't impart my political views on people, but seriously, I love her. And yes, I despised Hellary Cl!nton.

As far as what my weekend holds, I'm not really sure yet. Tonight I plan to get in a 2.5 mile run, and then make some tuna dish for dinner, yum! Then one night this weekend I'm seeing Tech, although he wasn't sure which night was free yet, but I'm totally excited about it, since we got what was bothering him out of the way, it should be a great time. Then Sunday I have a 7 mile long run planned, it will be the longest I've ever run, I'm excited about it, but nervous also!

Anyways, you guys have great rest of the weeks, and great weekends, and I'll be catching up soon!