I can't handle it anymore...

...Fried food that is. 

It literally puts me in pain an hour after I eat it....ugh!!

Tuesday night I went with Miss H out to dinner and had a wrap and french fries and last I went with my honey buns to BW3s...the boy was craving some wings and I had a grilled chicken sandwhich and their buffalo chips or whatever they call them.  Both nights I was in extreme pain in my stomach from eating the fried food.  I even thought last night that having a healthy sandwhich and just half of my meal being fried wouldn't be so bad but nope...still major stomach pains. 

I also do not have a gallbladder, had to have it removed 8 weeks after I had Hailey in an emergency surgery and I think that might be part of my problem too.  I've never really had issues since having that removed over 6 years ago but now that my body has gotten used to the healthy stuff it's causing almost the same pains I had when I used to get my gallbladder attacks...weird! 

Kind of amazing how once you start eating healthy...your body starts to reject the foods that you used to eat all the time and had no major side effects from it showing how bad it truly is for you! 

Guess I'll have to stick to eating these...

Goals this weekend - Run 1 mile tonight, 3 miles Saturday morning with Kristina and 1 or 2 miles on Sunday for what HOPEFULLY will be a BIG (meaning lower) weigh-in come Monday!! 

Have a great weekend!!!

Clothes don't lie!

Yesterday was the first day that Kristina and I started our new thing of getting together once a week and getting in a good 3 mile run.  I was nervous because I have never ran the whole 3 miles straight and I knew Kristina had and I didn't want to hold her back.  Plus it was H.O.T out yesterday and knew it was gonna be hard just because of that.  We planned to meet at 7:30am at a local park. 

I got up at 6:30 and ate breakfast and starting drinking a lot of water and stretching out just waiting for Miss H to wake up.  Of course this is the day she decides to NOT wake up between 6:30-7am on her own but luckily she was up by 7:15 and we were out the door shortly afterwards. 

hydrating!

First we stopped at Kroger to pick up chocolate milk.  I've heard that drinking chocolate milk after a run will help your muscles heal faster, so I thought what the heck, lets try it. 

Heading to the park!

Headed to the park and met up with Kristina and Zoey.  We were at the same park that we ran the 5k at this past weekend and we planned to the run the same course so we knew how far we had ran.  Stretched out some more and walked around some to get warmed up and then started off.  I really tried to keep myself from thinking about how far we had to run.  I took Kristina's suggestion and prayed a lot while running, just asking God to help me keep going.  Also really tried to focus on my music and what was going on around me.  Next thing I knew...we hit 1 mile...2 miles....AND I'm dying of thirst and sweating like a man its so hot and humid out. 

We were coming up on the shelter house where a water fountain was and the bathrooms were!  I dashed for the bathroom....I had to pee!!!  Caught our breath and got some water and we started off on the last mile. 

I should have stretched out some when we stopped because I felt very tight in that last mile...even my lungs felt tight.  It was tough but we did it!  Miss H and Zoey did awesome!  No complaining or whining, the girls did awesome!  We let them play on the playground at the park for a while and then headed home.  What a great way to start the day!  And I CAN"T BELIEVE I ran 2 miles straight and I think if I would have had water I would have been able to run the full 3 miles straight.  CRAZY! 

Girls playing at the park afterwards

Amazing what running with someone can do and not focusing on the distance so much.  If you are wanting to start running, seriously....find a partner!  It'll help so much!  I couldn't believe how well I did with just having Kristina to run by!  And the rest of the day I felt awesome!  Sore but a good sore and I'll take that any day!  Maybe the chocolate milk helped???  Who knows...

Also yesterday afternoon I tackled the huge stack of pants I have in my closet.  You know that pile you save for "when I lose weight I'll fit into these again" stack.  Yeah...I have 2 big piles of those. 

Good Will stack of pants!

And guess what???  12 pairs were TOO BIG on me and several pairs fit me perfect or were even just a tad too big that used to be tight on me or I had to wear them to stretch out.  WHAT???  I seriously couldn't believe it. 

Even though I see the scale going down its like a big mind battle that I find myself questioning...am I REALLY making a difference?  Can you REALLY tell I've lost 23lbs so far?  I mean that's not THAT much compared to how much I want to lose all together.  But man....clothes does not lie!!  I still can't  believe the pair of jeans that used to be so tight on me was baggy yesterday...no way!!!  That is such an awesome feeling! 

Today I've got on a pair of Khaki pants that I can't remember the last time I wore these.  I loved them and always hoped I would get back into them and I did today!  They fit perfect and are even kind of big in the butt but they work for now!  So exciting! 

"New" pants!

can see they are baggy in my butt and legs!  wow!

Hope you had a great 4th!  We definitely did! 

Happy 4th of July!

This is what I looked like at 30-35lbs less!

One of my FAVORITE pictures of me and Miss H was at my Sister's wedding back in 2007.  I was about 30-35lbs lighter compared to when I first started loosing weight.  I felt beautiful this day and I hadn't felt that way in a really long time after I had become a single mom.  I will be ESASTIC when I hit this weight!  To me once I hit this point then I KNOW I'm actually doing this.  Even though I know I am doing it now but its like I'm erasing the past 5 years of my weight gain and actually starting where I should have back then.  It'll finally feel like I'm getting somewhere to myself!  YAY!!! 

2007 - I'm about 12lbs from where I was in this picture!

 Also why I am so excited about this picture is because I was physically strong back then.  If you are a mom, you know how strong your arm muscles are from holding a child all the time and being able to do things with just 1 arm while holding a 30lb child in the other arm.  I have lost a lot of that and that probably bothers me more than anything, I was always pretty strong in my arms and legs and now working towards getting that back feels amazing!!!

Just to give you an idea of where I was when I started back on April 2, 2012.  BIG difference!

Weekly Weigh - In

Today I am happy to announce that I am down 1.8 lbs from last week!!!! 

Go Sarah, Go Sarah, Go Go Go Sarah!!!!  WHOOHOO!!!!! 

Total weight loss to date - 23.1lbs!!!

Very cool!!!  My goal this week is to hit the 25lb weight loss!  I know I can do it, just gotta make sure I eat right the rest of the week and get my runs in.  And with Miss H going to her dad's this weekend, I have no excuse to not be able to do either one of these! 

We leave for vacation in a little over 3 weeks and my goal is to have lost 12 more lbs by then which will put me at the 35lb weight loss!!!  The weight that I will be at that point I will have not been at in over 5 years!!!  Which means I gotta lose 3lbs per week for the next month to hit that goal.  Hopefully I can do it and if not, I know I should be REALLY close!!! 

Here's to an AWESOME weigh in this morning!!!! 

Happy 4th of July everyone!!! 

23.1 lbs lost!!!

2nd 5k - Race Recap

This past Saturday I ran my second 5k in my home town at a local park.  I was not ready for this race I thought, all week long I kept trying to run and I was just not motivated.  I was hot or was really having mental fights with myself...just  not good over all! 

Friday came and I was trying to get ready for it.  I really wanted to make sure I was ready and was really trying to hydrate myself well because I didn't want to get dehydrated like I think I was the last time.  So I got my clothes laid out and was sucking down water like it was my job and was stretching a lot.  I really wanted to make sure that I was stretched out. 

Clothes all ready!

water!

Woke up around 6:30ish Saturday morning, wanted to be wide awake for the race and make sure I had plenty of time to stretch again.  Ate a light breakfast.  I really didn't know what to do for breakfast because I normally don't run in the morning so I wasn't really sure what my stomach could handle.  Got ready and Miss H and I headed to Kristina's to meet up with her and to head to the race. 

Breakfast -  but only ended up eating the cantalope.



Ready!

 Got to the race and got checked in but they had a hard time finding my goodie bag with my tshirt in it.  That was kind of frustrating but oh well.  This was an EXTREMELY small race.  Only around 180 runners I think.  I had pictures from the race but Miss H was on my phone this weekend and I think somehow they got deleted. 

The race was good, it had rained earlier that morning which was a good thing because it cooled things down some but it was still hot and humid!  Starting off I was doing ok, I really tried to go slower starting out this time than I did on the last 5k hoping that I would be able to go further.  I ran the entire first 1.5 miles and then walked while taking my water at the water station.  Caught my breath and took off again.  Then my mind really got to me.  I was fighting myself hard.  I probably ran the next 3/4s of a mile and then walked again to the water station, caught my breath and then I knew I only had 1 mile left and knew I could run it.  I pretty much ran the last mile straight.  Did take real short walking breaks but as soon as I would walk I would yell at myself to keep going.  I hit the 3 mile mark and took off sprinting. 

Kristina met me at the finish line and she pushed me to the end.  She let me know I was lower on my time than last time and pushed me hard.  It was hard and I was EXHAUSTED!  My legs were done!  I  finished in 36minutes and something but I was done and I did it!  I improved with was all that mattered!!!  I felt good. 

after race

Got some food and water and relaxed.  Found out we both won a door prize!  Benefit to being in a small race!  SCORE!!

Got home with Miss H and she of course went through my goodie bag right away. 

Miss H enjoying all the goodies she could find!

Showered and then iced my legs, my shins were hurting me and I was hoping to avoid being in pain for several days after running.  And I think it helped!  I was really only sore on Saturday and Sunday I was sore if I sat around for a while which is normal.  Much better healing time compared to last time!!!  I also think it helped that this was a morning run so I was up the rest of the day moving around and didn't go to sleep 3 hours after I finished running.  Only thing was I still got a headache about an hour after the race and I'm not really sure why.  I don't see how it is possible that I was dehydrated, I drank so much water the night before and drank 3 cups of water in the morning and 2 bottles of water after the race was over. 

Then we got ready and headed to my sisters Pampered Chef party and I was so excited when I tried on a pair of bermuda shorts and they fit perfect and were even kind of big in the waist!  I tried these on a month ago and they were WAAAAAY too tight!  NOTHING beats fitting into clothes that used to not fit! 

YES BABY!!!!

Afterwards we headed to the pool to enjoy the sunshine!!!  Hope you had a great weekend!!

Final Race results:

Have you ever heard of drinking Chocolate Milk after a race? 

 I was told that and read that somewhere and I think next time I'm going to have some ready to drink as soon as I get home!  Maybe that'll help with my headache issues after I run.

For all you Stalkers out there...

Yeah...I know you are there. 

Unfortunately ONLY 7 of you have actually clicked on "JOIN THIS SITE" that's on the left...to actually admit you are following my oh so boring life....its ok...just do it...it'll make me feel good!  Like I have friends or somethin'! 

And with having 669 page views the last time I checked....I'm pretty sure that those 7 people that have said they are following my site are NOT checking my page almost 40x a day...I'm sure their lives are waaaay more exciting and only check this page 20x! 

However...if you would like to stalk me even more...check me out on Instagram...my name on there is sarahg2604

Then you can REALLY see what I'm doing with my workouts and food and so on! 

Stalk away all you secret stalkers!  Love ya!!!  :)

Metabolism...Interesting stuff

 I just got done reading this article on metabolism and found it really interesting and helpful. 

Metabolism is what burns calories.  This article clarified a lot of what I'm doing and why its working for me

1. I eat often...therefore my body is never "starving" ie thinking it needs to save the food/calories for later.  This is why Breakfast is the most important meal of the day...get that meabolism back up for the day. 

2.  I'm not just dieting but I'm working out too.  Building muscle so that when I do hit my goal weight, the muscle I've gained will help keep me at a good healthy weight. 

Check it out!  Helps to know how my body works and what it needs to function properly!