Summer: living life to the fullest

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sarahfitchic

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Cutting, Climbing, Running and more!

Time to start a new journal. I finished mass building. I got really sick of it and the end and just wasn't doing well. My muscle growth slowed way down at the end. I'll have some pics up soon. But I did gain a fair amount over the course of the winter, and I'm happy with that.

So, here are my summer goals:

1. Fat loss. Right now I'm at 123.4 lbs. BF by Omron is 18.1% and by caliper is 17.2%. I would like to lose 8 pounds. I'd like to complete this within 8 weeks and then maintain. It won't be hard for me to lose such a small amount of weight. Here is my plan:
A. Cardio will be increased. Both the number and lenth of sessions
B. I'll be more active in general. I'm getting my garden in, putting coats of finish on the house, painting the basement, plus just being outside as much as possible.
C. I'm going to reduce my cheats. I have no desire to strive for a super clean diet. I eat healthy and indulge at times. Right now those endulgences have been overboard, so I'm just going to reduce them.
D. Cut out alcohol. I haven't been drinking much. Just one drink 4-5 nights a week. I'm just not going to buy them anymore.
E. Reduce strachy carbs in my last meal. Eliminating them doesn't work because my blood sugar gets low and I'm miserable. But I've been eating about 50 in my last meal of the day. I think I can cut that down to about 30.

2. Running. I just did my first 5k of the season today. I used to be a very serious runner, but over the past 13 years my running has been nearly non existant. I'm working on becoming a serious runner. I'm going to do a couple more 5ks and a 10k. Right now running is 3 times a week. I may increase to 4 later.

3. Hiking. This is my real passion. I writing started a hiking book last year and I want to get a lot more done on it this year. It's going to be harder since I work on Saturday's now. Bill and I only have one day off together, so we're pretty limited. We're going to do the best we can. I plan to get in one hike a week. If Bill and I can't hike on the weekend I'll do one by myself.

4. Maintain my muscle. I tend to lose muscle in the summer because I'm so active and I forget to eat. I want to maintain, and possibly even grow a tiny bit if I keep my nutrition right.

So...workouts will look like this:
Full body weights twice a week. I'll be hitting the weights super hard and focusing on pre and post workout nutrition so I can get the most out of it.
Running 3 times a week.
Hiking once a week.
Bike or kayak once a week.

For nutrition I won't be tracking my food or anything. I don't have time for it. I've been aiming for 2850 a day, but I think I've only been getting about 2500. That's probably why my muscles haven't been growing. I do have some vague nutrition goals:

3 servings of fruit a day. I usually get this, but I want to make sure I continue and I get a variety. I love fruit, so this is easy.
2 servings of veggies a day. I know that sounds terrible. I've only been getting one. Veggies make me gag. I'm going to be growing some of my own, so maybe it will be easier to get 2. And 2 will be an improvement.
6-8 servings of grains a day
3 servings of meats/eggs a day
1 serving of nuts or legumes a day
2 servings of dairy a day
1-2 servings of whey a day

Carbs will make up the majority of my diet, and I'll be getting plenty of lean proteins. I'm going to keep fats minimal. I function best with about 15% fat, but those irresistable cheats make the fat intake go up!

That's pretty much it to start. I'll be posting some pics later. I want to have Bill do my "after" pics for mass building.
 
Good luck with Cutting Sarah.

I hate it, but in the end, it's worth it.
 
From what I have read Sarah, you seem to have a habit of achieving what you set out to do....I can't imagine this will be any different. Best of luck to you :)
 
Thanks a lot everyone!

This week was pretty good. It rained all week, so I couldn't hike. It should clear up tomorrow so we should get a hike in then. I had the week off from weights. I did my 5k last Sunday. I rode my bike 6.4 miles on Tuesday. Wednesday I did running intervals. I alternated 1/4 mile at 4mph with 1/4 mile speed intervals. My speed intervals were 6, 6.3, 6.6, 6.9, 7. I did a total of 2.75 miles. Next time I know I'll be able to increase those speed intervals. Then yesterday I did 6 miles, which is probably the longest I ever ran. The past 2 weeks I've been doing my long run on trails in the woods and I haven't bee able to measure, but I was guessing 5.5. So completing 6 yesterday was great!

Eating has been better. My cals are a bit lower and I'm having fewer treats. I'll weigh in tomorrow.
 
Monday, May 15th
First week I lost .9 lbs. Pretty much on track. Yesterday we attempted to hike but never did find the trail we were looking for. We walked in the woods for about 4 miles, then worked on the garden. Today it's back to weights. I've enjoyed my break from weights. I really don't like weight training, but I certainly like the results.

We had a big meal last night. I made a healthy gluten free lasagna and gluten free strawberry shortcake. We walked for 45 minutes around our property after eating, so no worries about those extra calories.
 
This week has been real bad. Hubby and I are having some major problems in our life...too long of a story to explain! We're both super stressed.

Getting eating right has been really tough this week. My stomach has been upset. I doubt this week's weigh in will be as good as last week, but we'll see. It's done nothing but rain all week, so workouts have sucked! I've hardly gotten out to do cardio. Bill and I walked in the woods sunday but it was too muddy to hike. I did ride my bike and run outside once. I ran on the tread (Speed intervals) once, but it was horrible of ocurse....I just can't do indoor cardio. It's not worth it. It's not raining right now so I hope to get in my long run after work!
I started weights back up. I've been feeling weak, which I'm sure is stress related. But I've been nice and sore. :p

I'll update with my weigh in and BF test.
 
Wednesday, May 24

Just a quick update. Workouts have been great and eating has been great too. Since I forgot about my bodyfat this weekend I did a mid week weigh in and bf test. I'm down to 16.5% and down another .4 pound.

And today is my rest day!
 
Wednesday, May 31
Doing well here. I had tomiss last Saturday's run because I developed a horrible cough. The doc says it's just allergy stuff though. Bill and I hiked Sunday, I did weights Monday, and ran yesterday. I had a great 4 mile run yesterday with an improved time of 41:10. Yay!
I've got the PMS bloat right now, but I can tell I'm losing because I've been able to see more abs. Hopefully I'll weigh in in a few days and see a nice drop.
 
Saturday, May 3
DOing well. Wednesday I had an excellent speed workout at the track. Thursday I ran 6.4 miles. REally hot, went really slow. Yesterday I had a crappy day. I was completely exhausted due to lack of sleep. I had weights scheduled. I ended up just doing part of my weight workout and I'll finish the rest of it up today real quick after work.
Eating has been very good with one exception. I had a ham hoagie Thursday night. That's the only bad thing I ate all week.
Weigh in tomorrow.
 
Sarah awesome job on your running! You have been doing so well with that! when is the 10k? I would like to do another half marathon in October. you are inspiring me to actually start training again for that. Running is such a high.

katie
 
Hi Sparrow,
My 10k is the first week of August. Running is a great high! Especially the long slow distance runs. I always look forward to them.

I weighed in and I've lost 3 of my 8 pounds. Almost half way there. I was happy with that weigh in since I did nothing all weekend but eat. It was so depressing with the rain and wind. I just can't stand it.
 
3 pounds??!! That's great!!! Congratulations!!!!!!! YEA!!! and Hip Hip Horrah!!! I am sooo happy for you and thank you for being such a great role model!!!

Sandy
 
Thanks for the nice posts! As for pics...I never was able to do a final set of pics after mass building because our camera broke. :mad: I dropped it ont he floor and that was the end of it. Hopefully we'll have a new one by the end of the summer.

Things are going....that's all I can say. I've hit a few road blocks. One being rain for over 3 weeks straight. I have been FAR less active than normal. Running has taken a back seat due to rain and the fact that I've developed patellafemoral pain syndrome in my right knee. The knee is actually doing better already. It's supposed to be nice out for a while....but they've been saying that for the past week and every day it rains. I have gotten to run some, but not nearly what I should be. Hiking has not been going so well either. We did get out for 2 hikes this week, but we got soaked. Wasn't too much fun.

Consequently, my weight is only down another .6 pound in a week and a half. No big deal really. I know when the weather is better I'll be back to my active self and be able to burn a lot more fat.
 
sarahfitchic said:
Thanks for the nice posts! As for pics...I never was able to do a final set of pics after mass building because our camera broke. :mad: I dropped it ont he floor and that was the end of it. Hopefully we'll have a new one by the end of the summer.

Things are going....that's all I can say. I've hit a few road blocks. One being rain for over 3 weeks straight. I have been FAR less active than normal. Running has taken a back seat due to rain and the fact that I've developed patellafemoral pain syndrome in my right knee. The knee is actually doing better already. It's supposed to be nice out for a while....but they've been saying that for the past week and every day it rains. I have gotten to run some, but not nearly what I should be. Hiking has not been going so well either. We did get out for 2 hikes this week, but we got soaked. Wasn't too much fun.

Consequently, my weight is only down another .6 pound in a week and a half. No big deal really. I know when the weather is better I'll be back to my active self and be able to burn a lot more fat.
Click to expand...

What exactly is patellafemoral pain syndrome?? Sounds...painful! Yikes! Sorry that you hare having issues. I know...the rain sucks! The last few days have been great though, huh? And then we see the weather and for the next like 4days it will rain again...ugh.. WILL IT EVER END?!?!?! lol

Best of luck in your "recovery"!!
 
Thanks Wendy! Looks like the next 4 days of rain are going to pass to the south of us up here, phew! Hubby and I are actually going to be in a tent north of Jackman! :D

Patellafemoral pain symdrome is also called runner's knee. It basically means something is not aligned right in the knee. SOmetimes it can be real painful, but sometimes it's mild. Mine actually isn't that bad. It was feeling about 95% until I woke up this morning and oculd barely walk! I ran a race last night, which might be why, although I've been running hard and that hasn't been bothering it. Hmmm.

My running has been going very well with improving times, except for my stupid 5k last night. It was my worst 5k time in my life. I was so embarrassed that I just left. I don't know what happened. Ugh.

My weight has dropped a bit more. I've lost over 4 pounds now, so that's going well. Last BF reading was 15.9% and I've probably lost a bit more since then.
 
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