Weigh day.

Well I managed to win the latest Dietbet challenge by the skin of my teeth. I actually didn't think I'd made it until I checked online to remind myself what my goal weight was and found I'd hit it spot on, by the time I'd made it back upstairs to the scales with the camera and my verification word I'd actually lost another 1/2lb - cool!
There's another Dietbet challenge beginning Monday 1st July which I'll probably sign up for and then after that one I'll give them a rest while I concentrate on another round of Insanity.

Anyway according to this useless information poster I have now lost the equivalent of a Sperm Whales brain! Don't know what a person is supposed to do with that information but there it is

Leanne and I headed out for a 3 mile uphill forest run yesterday. The rain held off all day until the minute we needed to run, still it was nice to run in the rain just wish it had kept the midges at bay! The run was abysmal to be honest, neither of us had eaten all day so by 4.30pm we had nothing in the tank to get us round a demanding course. We both got stitch immediately (I have never had stitch before) so it ended up being a run when we can run - won't be doing that again!

Weight gain and Spartan races

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last posted! Blimey I'm not good at this am I! I must make extra effort to post more regularly.

Anyway last weeks weigh in saw an increase - eek! Only 2lb but it means I have to lose 2.1lb this week to make the Dietbet challenge which ends today so I have to weigh out in the morning. Ordinarily this wouldn't have bothered me but I have eaten way too much rubbish this week (i really don't know why I've felt the need to binge) and I know I have no way of making it. My own stupid fault and I'll be gutted but I will join the next Dietbet due to start July 1st and get back on track.

In other news my daughter and I have decided to run a Spartan race

For those of you unfamiliar with the spartan races they start with the Spartan sprint -" Spartan Sprints are muddy 3+ MILES / 15+ OBSTACLES course races. The challenging sprint races are a great way to get off your couch and start living. Beginners to hardcore warriors, and marathon runners alike come out to test themselves on the insane obstacles! This 5k race is comprised of mud runs, obstacles, trail racing, physical challenges and mental challenges all in a 3+ race. 99.9% of all people who try this event will finish, and 100% will have their thirst for mud fully satisfied!"

Then there's the Super spartan - " The Super Spartan obstacle race provides an 8+ MILES / 20+ OBSTACLES battlefield of insane mud running with 15 or more obstacles to test your physical strength and mental resolve. This mud fest of a race will have many trials to push you to your limits that any man or woman with resolve can complete! This endurance race conists of mud runs, trails, and both mental and physical obstacles and challenges". 

Finally it's the Spartan Beast - " 12+ MILES / 25+ OBSTACLES - An obstacle Race from Hell. If you have done any race anywhere in the world: whether a mud run, fun run, olympic run, bike race, death march or any kind of event claiming to be the "toughest race on the planet" you will be happy to know that this is where it ends..THIS IS THE SPARTAN BEAST... Step up and get out of your comfort zone on our +16k beast of an obstacle course race; many will arrive, but few will leave!"

You would think we'd start at the 5k and I think my daughter would prefer that however the races are a fair way from home and mean staying away for 2 days so I figure why not just go all hog and hit the 10k! 
It's not until next year as we can't make the one this year so until then we'll concentrate on the 10k runs we have planned, the first one being 21st July.
Are we ready? Are we heck, especially me! I have to fight the urge to walk during every run and yesterdays 2 miler was pathetic. We only ran 2 mile to see if our times had picked up after doing loads of trail and hill work - the 1st mile was at 10 mins 15 secs, most people could walk faster, our second mile was just over 8 minutes so that was much better.
Poor Leanne could easily run a steady 9 minute mile over 5 miles right now but she tends to hold back just for me.

Dietbet

2 weeks into my second Dietbet challenge and I have another loss on the scales. I really wasn't expecting it this week as I ate some rubbish during the week that I really shouldn't have. I can only assume that as the actual meals I eat are healthy it off set the cakes and chocolate, I'm not repeating that style of eating this week though as the last few days and the thought of having to weigh myself have been blinkin awful.
The first week of this Dietbet I lost 5.6lbs and then this week I lost 2.8lbs so that's a total of 8.4lbs in 2 weeks - 99% of my total loss needed for Dietbet with 2 weeks still left to go.

Running is pretty hit and miss at the moment. Leanne and I seem to gravitate to the 4 mile trail run in the forest but we need to get back out onto the road and see if we have improved - I'm hoping that the intense hills of the trail run will have helped our strength for the flat.

The forestry commission seem to have added a few new paths so that we get to run in the actual forest but they're quite up and down, narrow and very loose underfoot so we tried it once and decided to avoid them in future

Our first 10k of the year is on 21st July - mine and Waynes 23rd wedding anniversary - so we're looking forward to using that one as a practice for the Loch Ness 10k in September and to give ourselves a time to improve on. There's another local 10k on 23rd July if we feel up to it after the first one but we'll have to wait and see.

Dietbet and running

Day 1 of the new Dietbet challenge I have joined. I was a bit miffed to find that I'd put 4lb on in a week but when I was realistic and looked at what I'd eaten this past week I'm quite surprised it wasn't more.
Anyway there's still time for new players to join in on Sunshines Dietbet game, the stake is $25 (approx £16) and the fund pot currently stands at $20,850.00, so it's worth a go - I won about $48 on the last game.

Having not run at all last week despite my being adamant that I would I knew I needed to start this challenge as I mean to go on so Leanne and I headed out for a 4 mile trail run today. Unfortunately Leanne suffered from stitch almost immediately so we had to run in between the bouts of stitch but we think it's probably because she ran on empty, it seems Leanne doesn't get stitch if she eats before running whereas I have to run on empty - different strokes for different folks though right.

On the upside my cheap 'Pulse sonic' heart rate monitor actually seemed to manage to keep some kind of track for the first time ever - my heart seemed to range from 130 when fast walking to 186 when running. I was quite relieved to see that my heart rate returns to normal very quickly too.
On the downside though I don't know how to use all the other functions such as calories burned or stopwatch etc - I must dig the instructions out.

Here's some of the trails we ran

Food intake today has been minimal to say the least, I've just been too busy. I had a Nature valley bar at lunch time followed by one after we ran and then dinner consisted of a Pasta n sauce with added ham - that's it. I'm about to tuck into grapes but I haven't eaten enough today or drank enough for that matter.
Must do better.

Low calorie/fat Quiche.

When I was doing the Slimming World healthy eating plan I got heaps of fabulous recipes from the Minimins website and this quiche was one of my favourites because there was no crust base to increase the calorie or Syn value - basically I could eat it over a couple of days and know it was safe.

Ingredients:-
4 Eggs.
Tub of Cottage Cheese (Low fat) - I used the one with chives added.
Any other filling you want i.e Mushrooms, Onion, Ham, Bacon, Peppers, Tomatoes.
Herbs

• Whisk the eggs, add the cottage cheese and then fold in all the chopped ingredients of your choice.
• Top with sliced Tomato
• Cook in the oven set to 200 for around 30 minutes.
• Once cooked chill in the fridge. 

It really is delicious and this is what I had for tea along with Barbecue chicken (Chicken breast cooked on the George Foreman grill with a thin coating of BBQ sauce) and banana. I don't know why but I suddenly like eating fruit (especially Banana, Strawberry & Grape) with my dinner - Banana and chicken is a particular favourite. Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it!

I was determined to get up and run this morning. I had it all planned last night - the route I would run and how I would run it, I was even going to give my cheap heart rate monitor one last chance before I stomped on it.
When I got up this morning though I felt like I'd been hit by a truck and just couldn't get motivated for it - tomorrow is another day though!

Weigh day!

I was dreading weighing in today! I'd been pretty good with food during the week, just the odd 'treat' and I had one day of a sicky bug but I thought the weekends food consumption would add a pound or so on. I didn't eat lots but what I did eat wasn't healthy - egg and chips, homemade curry, a couple of slices of Pizza, a couple of pieces of cake - you get the picture.
2.2lb LOSS though when I stepped on the scales today. i guess the running and all the gardening I'm doing is paying off. That brings my total to 12.2lbs - just 1.8lb to my first 1stone.

I've decided I need a challenge to keep me motivated. I'm training for a couple of 10k's but I need something that will challenge me to exercise every day, even it's just walking. I do gardening most days and I'm active round the house but I need something to get me moving with purpose - I'll let you know what I come up with.
Perhaps something like this to start with

Or maybe Les Mills 'Bodycombat' - I have the LM BB workout, I just need to create some space that will allow me to do the moves. My last BB workout 'Insanity' didn't require much space but 'Body combat' looks like it does - have YOU done LM 'Body Combat'?

Those weightloss bonuses

I'm currently at a loss of 10lb in this weight loss journey and I've noticed a couple of weird things

1. I now know what it feels like to have an empty belly. That may sound strange but as an ex comfort eater I never really allowed myself to be truly hungry. Don't get me wrong there were so many times when I thought I was Hank Marvin (starving) but I can see now that on a scale of one to 10 I probably wasn't even at a 5. It's kinda pretty cool to have an empty stomach and not feel the need to fill it.
2. The coolest thing - Us 'not so slim' girls have probably all been there, you're in the bath and reach forward for the soap or whatever and you reach and reach and reach and nope, you can't quite make it cos the jelly roll gets in the way so you have to scooch forward until your face is literally touching the end so you can get what you need. Well I can now reach without scooching and it's a fabulous feeling.
3. The healthiest thing - I have suffered with acid reflux for as long as I can remember. I get it every single day and it can be so dibilitating. I've always assumed it was caused by my medication as it's listed as a side effect so I just accept it. Not any more - in the 28 days of Dietbet I did not suffer with acid reflux once and I cannot even begin to explain how nice that is.
4.  The ickiest thing - IBS - how many of us suffer from it? After being diagnosed with this about 20 years ago I was told to basically figure out what causes it and stop eating it - simple as that. I would love it if it had been that easy because whereas some sufferers go to the loo alot with it I hardly went at all - once a week on a good week - so not a comfortable feeling. Anyway I haven't been bloated for the entire 28 days and thanks to the Shreddies for breakfast and cutting out wheat in bread I am now regular as clock work.

I'm just looking forward to all the other benefits of weightloss as they show themselves.

Here's my Dietbet weigh in and weigh out photos - just 10lb down and I already see an improvement on the bulldog arms

According to this useless information poster I have lost the amount of chemical additives that an American consumes in a year.

Managed a 4 mile trail run with Leanne today. The weather was quite warm though and caught me unawares so I didn't have water to hand - have to make sure that doesn't happen again it wasn't a pleasant experience.
I'm still getting either numb feet or cramped feet halfway into the run and I really can't figure out what is causing it. I thought maybe my trainers but I tried 2 other pairs and I get the same thing, I really need to figure this out because running with no feeling or running in excruciating pain is beginning to wear a little.
I'm really working on my breathing as I run too. If I breathe through the chest it's a sure fire way to suffer with side stitch so I'm attempting to perfect the art (and it is a flippin art) of breathing through my diaphragm. The difference is amazing, since breathing this way I have not suffered from stitch and even if I forget to breathe properly and a stitch begins to show itself diaphragm breathing settles it right back down.
I once read in a running magazine that diaphragm breathing is our natural way to breathe and that we learn the habit of chest breathing as we get older. As an example the article suggested watching a baby breathe when it's lying on its back - it's the stomach you will see move not the chest. My husband is the only person I know that still naturally breathes through the diaphragm and not the chest.