Tag Archives: Weight Loss

Fitness Friday: Personal Update

Fitness, Running
Me after a run in Florida in April (also helpfully depicting how I feel about my current level of physical fitness)
Me after a run in Florida in April (also helpfully depicting how I feel about my current level of physical fitness)

I don’t have anything overly exciting to share with you guys this week for Fitness Friday – no fun photos or achievements. This is more of a personal update on how I’ve been doing.

2015 has kind of sucked for me from a personal fitness achievement perspective. I set out some goals at the start of the year and the ones I most wanted to achieve were:

  1. Run a 5K in under 25 minutes
  2. Get down to 145 pounds.

Well, it’s felt like a constant battle since I made those goals for myself back in January. I saw my weight slowly increase from 150 to 160 pounds and became really, REALLY upset with myself over it. Unfortunately, I kept half assing the weight loss aspect of tracking my calories so I’ve been pretty much been carrying that weight since January (thanks Christmas!). Even though it’s “only” ten pounds, for me, it’s around this threshold that I become completely pissed of with how I look. I don’t like how I appear in pictures and I don’t like what I see in the mirror. It’s frustrating, to say the least.

I also only really half trained to increase my speed in a 5K and I managed to get the exact same time as my personal best last year (26:10) during a race back in March. But man, I do not know how to balance training for half marathon distances while also trying to increase pace on 5Ks. What a mess.

I got so irritated with myself over the last two weeks that I basically just said “enough” and got back into exercising 5-6 days a week. I’m running three times a week, lifting twice, while still playing soccer and I’ve also chucked in a few Jillian Michaels DVDs every now and then too. I also started restricting my calories pretty drastically – keeping it between  1250 and 1500. It’s a slow damn battle, but I’ve actually managed to drop 4 pounds in 2 weeks which is almost unheard of for me.

Of course, part of the motivation is that Halloween is just around the corner and, like last year, we have another epic group costume planned – Batman villains! The last thing I want to do is be upset with how I look in my Harley Quinn outfit, so I’m all in at this point. My initial goal is to hit 150 pounds by the time I go on vacation mid-September (that’s REALLY, REALLY ambitious as it requires I drop 7 more pounds in 3 weeks) and the stretch goal is to hit 145 by Halloween. It’s hard going, but I’ve been eating clean (no alcohol, low carbs, high protein and more fruits and vegetables than I can count) for a week and a half now and it’s absolutely working – never in my life have I experience such consistent and rapid weight loss without horrific fluctuations.

Not to be a total downer though, I do have some things I’m looking forward to in my fitness endeavours! I managed to rope Zoe of Writing Whimsy into doing a 5K race here in Toronto in September. I’m super excited for that because I love running races with friends and I believe this is her first one! I am also running the Scotiabank Waterfront Half Marathon again this year in October and I’m trying to raise $500 for United Way Toronto. Having a half marathon to train for is definitely keeping me in check with my goal to run 550 kilometers this year! (Which I am absolutely on track with thankfully!) We’re also going to be in Wisconsin over Christmas (my husband’s family is there) and I’m planning to do a New Year’s race near Madison. I love races in new locations!

I’ve also managed to stay on track with weight lifting – I’m not lifting any new and exciting poundage, but I’ve managed to stay stable all year in that respect and I am really, REALLY happy that I never had a break so long that it required me to start from scratch!

So if you’re struggling, even if it takes you months to get back on track like me, you can still do it if YOU want to do it. Try to remember that. 🙂

And if you made it through this whole post, thank you for listening – it helps me to get it out there and it keeps me motivated.

Fitness Friday: Finally Back On Track

Fitness, Running, Weightlifting

It’s now the end of February, and it’s taken me two whole months to finally get back on track with my running and weightlifting. That feels like an excruciatingly long time. I’m still slipping up every now and again (3k calorie days are cramping my style), but for the most part, I’m feeling positive and upbeat – frustrated at times, but still mostly positive.

YMCA indoor track - photo courtesy of blog.to
YMCA indoor track – photo courtesy of blog.to

February has been spent mostly running around the track above at my gym (I snagged that shot from blog.to – that’s the track I run on, but I’ve never seen those people there in my life). I was originally gearing up for a 10K race I intended to do in Panama City, Florida while on vacation in April, but the whole race moved to the week before we’re going to be there, so I’m kind of training for nothing right now (so irritated… who moves a race that people have already signed up for?!?!). However, having a schedule is what’s helping me stay on track so I’m sticking with that. I’ve been running indoors this winter season because the sidewalks are a goddamn disaster in Toronto!

Best pants
Best pants

I do have a St. Patrick’s Day 5K that’s rapidly approaching and I’m a bit nervous for that because I don’t feel like my 5K race pace is anywhere near what it was last year. And sinceI’m planning on breaking a sub-25 minute 5K this year, I’m fairly confident this won’t be the race I do it in. I do, however, enjoy St. Patrick’s Day immensely so I’ll wiggle my butt into my green running pants and freeze my tush off during a mid-March race. If anything, it’ll help me get back into the swing of things.

Most of my running plan has been adapting Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 10K race plan as it’s geared towards lowering my race times. And man, I was not prepared. The tempo runs are interesting, and I can definitely see how they’re speeding me up, but those interval days can go die in a bloody fire.

I’m also planning on running the Sporting Life 10K (early May), a half marathon during Ottawa’s Race Weekend and, of course, the Pride Run in June (when it’s always face-meltingly hot).

My gym... except this shot was probably taken during the summer... because right now it's covered in snow.
My gym… except this shot was probably taken during the summer… because right now it’s covered in snow.

I’m also really happy to report that my weightlifting is also back on track!

  • Currently squatting 125 pounds with plenty of room to grow.
  • Bench pressing 75 pounds, although this one is a bit dicey – I’m quite weak in the chest area.
  • FINALLY doing deadlifts again after more than a year of not doing them due to a piriformis issue (I started back at 95 pounds and like with squats, there’s plenty of room to grow there).
  • Amongst other many other smaller muscle groups that are all coming together nicely.

While running gives me that “hell yes I’m a super hero!” feeling, it’s really weightlifting that makes me feel the best about myself. It’s shaping my muscles the way I want to be shaped and it’s tightening areas that were wobbling around only last month. I’ve also happily dumped three pounds in the last thirty days which I can only attribute to the consistent exercise.

Now if only I could stop thinking about all the food I want to eat ALL. THE. TIME….

Fitness Friday: Goals for 2015

Fitness, Running, Weightlifting,
Last year I started something I’d never really put down on paper before; my fitness goals for the year. Having a handy list online to refer to was great at keeping me motivated (even though, realistically, the only one keeping tabs on myself was me) and for having an easy reference point whenever I wanted to re-focus my fitness efforts.

I didn’t succeed on all of last year’s goals, but that’s okay: Not succeeding in all my goals makes me realize I need to refocus if some of them are just too far off the mark (or completely unrealistic).

Here’s my list of things I’d like to accomplish in 2015:

  1. WeightLoss – Let’s try for 145 pounds instead
    • Jesus, Mary and Joseph, this must be on everyone’s list and I don’t think it’s ever really going to disappear from mine. I had a goal of hitting 140 pounds last year and never made it. I originally chose 140 as that would make me “healthy” if we were going by those nasty BMI charts (I know, I know, BMI is a really bad indicator of “healthy”). The closest I ever got was 147, and that was pushing it. I only managed to hit that when I was at the peak of my half marathon training in September, and I definitely wasn’t able to sustain it, since I blew up like blowfish throughout December when my running bottomed out. I’m currently looking at a weight of 157 on the scale and it’s… uncomfortable. I felt the healthiest around 148, so I’m kind of aiming for around 145 pounds (gives me some leeway cuz I love me my wine and fries).
      lol ain’t it the truth?
      lol ain’t it the truth?
  2. Race Pace for 5 and 10Ks – Sub 25 minute 5K, sub 54 minute for 10K
    • While I really enjoyed running two half marathons in 2014, I’m not really looking to work too hard on my pacing for that long of a stretch of time (pushing myself for two hours straight? Nothankyou.). What I would like to do is achieve an under 25 minute 5K (my personal best right now is 26:10) and an under 54 minute 10K (pb of 55:14). I’m going to have to work more on interval and speed training (something I really, really despise) and I’m going to go have to get on it PRONTO because I’ve got races already starting in March! I think this is the toughest goal I have set out for myself this year because it means I can’t just “naturally” get better at running, I have to actually push myself to do so, and that can be discouraging and frustrating to me.
      Toronto Island 10k – clocked my personal best for a 10k in 2014
      Toronto Island 10k – clocked my personal best for a 10k in 2014
  3. Weightlifting – STICK WITH IT
    • I really enjoy lifting. It makes me look leaner, burns more calories when I’m sitting on my ass and gives me bulges in nice places as opposed to the not-so-nice places when I’m not lifting. I had goals for how much weight I wanted to lift last year, and never managed to achieve them. I hurt myself pretty significantly throughout the year and I want to avoid that, but I also want to STICK with lifting. I feel like I’d go back to it every few months, get sick or injured, then stop for another couple months, THEN go back to lifting and start at rock bottom again. So while I would like to see a 100 pound bench press and a 160 pound squat out of this body, what I really want is to just freaking stick with the lifting and not let it fall by the wayside. Lifting is the first thing I drop when I need some space in my schedule, and it’s kind of stupid because it’s the one that takes the least amount of time out of my schedule – seriously, 30 minutes three times a week? I can’t manage that? Come on now.
      I looked, and was, stronger than I am now. Need to get back to it!
      I looked, and was, stronger than I am now. Need to get back to it!
  4. Run more – run over 550k in 2015
    • In 2015, I would like to run slightly further than I’ve run in previous years. Given that I have no intention of training towards a full marathon, or working towards consecutive halves, this basically means I just have to run more consistently. I’m not bad when I have a plan, but there were some months throughout 2014 when I only ran about 20k (or like December… 10k :s ). However, I have done as much as 80k a month, and that’s closer to what I would like to be doing. So the goal to run over 550k in 2015 is only a small jump from the previous year (514k) simply because I want to remain consistent.
    • For reference, here are my distances for the previous four years:
      • 2014: 71 runs, with an average distance of 7.2k. Total distance covered: 514k
      • 2013:  77 runs, with an average distance of 5.4k. Total distance covered: 417k
      • 2012: 46 runs, with an average distance of 4.3k. Total distance covered: 200k
      • 2011: 50 runs, with an average distance of 3.4k. Total distance covered: 173k
        Nike+ 2014 log
        Nike+ 2014 log

And that’s it for me! Pretty short and sweet. The goals are a bit more vague this year compared to last year, but I think it gives me opportunity to grow without getting panicky, which is what I started to feel towards the end of 2014 with my lifting goals (and promptly bombed out of every single one of them). Do you have any fitness goals for 2014? Tell me! I’d love to hear about them.  🙂

Fitness Friday – Where I Started Out

Fitness, , ,

So let’s take a quick break from the makeup, and start with a visual.

196-149

Over the past few years  I’ve lost 47 pounds. At my heaviest recorded weight, I was 196 pounds and as of writing this I’m 149. My current “ultimate” goal weight is 140 pounds before I re-assess what I want to look like, or what kind of condition I want my body to be in. (For reference, I’m 5″3″.)

For me, it wasn’t looking at pictures that did me in. It was standing on the scale one Christmas break at my parents’ place when I read 196 pounds on the screen. I couldn’t believe it. I had an inkling I was “heavier” but since I hadn’t weighed myself in probably 5 years, I had no real concept as to what “heavier” was. I’ve never been small by anyone’s definition: I have football player shoulders and I usually have a decent combination of fat and muscle on my body. Throughout high school I was “thick”. Not fat, not slender, but just… thick. At the time, I was figure skating about 4-5 days a week, 3 hours each session. I also played soccer on my high school and competitive city teams. As a result, I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. At a guess, I was around 140-150 pounds at this stage in my life.

This became a problem when I quit figure skating at age 17. Suddenly I was no longer able to absorb the calories I was downing, and yet my appetite was still voracious. I was still playing soccer, but since that was seasonal (April till November), it wasn’t enough of a calorie sink. By the time I started university at 19, I was about 165 pounds. I promptly gained the “Freshman Fifteen” by eating cafeteria food day in and day out as a result of living on campus with a meal card. I returned home after my first year of university weighing 175 pounds. I lost about 10 pounds that summer, but put it all right back on during my next year of school.

By the time I finished university, to right before I got married, I somehow managed to pack on another 20 pounds or so. I was still playing soccer, but over time I was becoming less and less active as I was playing more and more World of Warcraft. It was at this point that I decided weight loss was a requirement since I didn’t want to see 200+ pounds on the scale.

175Since I was still somewhat active, it became a matter of watching what I ate. The first 20 or so pounds came off predominantly from cutting down portions (No, I didn’t need that second burrito!), however I also picked up running during this time. The best thing I ever did was pick up a Nike+ foot pod and sensor for my iPod. Tracking and monitoring my runs was hugely motivational. It also showed me that I couldn’t run nearly as long or as far as I thought I could and so that became even more incentive. We started out running 1 or 2 kilometers and eventually built it up. Finally hitting 5k was a relief as that’s what I felt I should’ve been doing all along.

I’d say it took about 10 months or so to lose 20 pounds. That doesn’t sound like a very fast loss rate, but I was happy with it and it was sustained loss too. I would occasionally vary up and down 5 pounds if I wasn’t careful with what I ate but never any more than that.

About a year into my exercise and weightloss routine, I stumbled across My Fitness Pal. Previously, my wonderful husband had been keeping track of all my calories, but it was time consuming and a bit of a hassle. My Fitness Pal was life changing. I’ve been logging calories on that bad boy for about two years now and it never gets old – heck, it’s even kind of fun! Feel free to add me on MFP – my user name is Nikachelle.

Over the last year or so I’ve dropped another 25 pounds, and am pretty pleased with how I’m doing. I never actually thought hitting 150 pounds was a reasonable goal, and now I’m shooting for an even lower weight! As I continue towards my goal weight (140 lbs.), I’ve been keeping up with my running and have added gymnastics and weight training to the mix while continuing to play soccer. I’ll have regular updates on my exercise plans and my progress as it happens. Thanks for reading!