Monday, July 14, 2014

Rethinking Food

I grew up with a "this is for breakfast, this is for lunch, and this is for dinner" mentality. On Sundays, we ate a big lunch and small dinner, and occasionally we had breakfast for dinner. But rarely did we have veggies for breakfast. I'm not knocking it, it's just how it was. Now that I'm trying to eat better I am trying to incorporate more veggies and fruit into all meals, not just lunch and dinner.



I have to tell you... breakfast was AH-MAZE-ING today!!! Two fresh eggs, homegrown tomato (I ate the whole thing), and some sauteed spinach. Yum!!!

I don't eat that everyday. Some days it's eggs and toast. Others it's oatmeal. Some days I just have a PR1ME90 protein shake. I don't do that often, but sometimes I just don't feel like eating, and so it works for me. I want to get more "raw" so I may start doing fruit or veggie smoothies and juicing, soon. I've always said I could never be vegetarian or vegan, but I'm kinda thinking along those lines. I have nothing against meat, but I'm learning I have so many food addictions (processed garbage that actually is addictive) that I want to get back to nature as much as possible with only small amounts of meat protein from chicken, fish, or eggs. I have a long way to go and a lot to learn as I embark on eating a healthier diet and living a healthier lifestyle.



My husband and children will be a challenge. They DO NOT care for veggies, and only a few fruits. And my kids would rather not eat than have to eat veggies or grilled chicken or fish. It's definitely a road I'll be traveling alone while hoping that some of my eating choices will rub off on them. Fortunately, my husband is VERY supportive and will help with limiting the processed crap in the house. It doesn't mean he and the kids won't eat it, but at least there won't be an overabundance of it here. Baby steps. I'll take it. Hopefully our nutrition roads will intersect more and more often until they are mostly on the same road with me.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

July Goal - Road to PTRR

Yesterday I posted that I planned to do the Peachtree Road Race next July 4th. I am COMMITTED to doing this. In the past, it's been an interest. I was interested in running or doing a race. I'm no longer interested. I will do it.



So, back in June I set a goal to walk 30 miles in July. It was a goal that I thought maybe I'd try to reach, but I wasn't putting any pressure on myself. You know, if I happened to hit it, great! But I was OK with not doing it, either.

Well, tomorrow starts my 30 miles for July.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Road to Peachtree

Yep. It's the day after the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, GA. Yep. I'm already talking about next year's race.

Nope. I didn't run it.

So, why am I talking about it? Well, my husband and son did it yesterday, so obviously I went to cheer them on. I had a number to do it, but I didn't train at all for it. When I finally started walking at home, about a month from the race, I could barely get a mile and a half in. I knew there was no way I'd get a 5K in, much less a 10K. The Peachtree is a 10K. I gave my number to a friend who had wanted to get in but didn't.

I stood on the side of the road and cheered for all the runners and walkers that came through. It was so exciting to see the fast and the not-so-fast coming through. The smiles on the faces of so many who were nearing the end of their 6.2 mile run, walk, or combination of the two. I looked at the results and saw that some finished the race in crazy-short times (yeah, these people definitely are used to running) and others who took more than two and a half hours to walk the course. It was then that I realized...

If they could do it, so could I!

So, I have 364 days to get ready. I've though about it and realized that I don't have to wait until I'm a size 10 or smaller to do this. I have two goals to reach by July 4, 2015. I will have lost at least 75.3 pounds. That will get me under 200. If you do the math, you'll see that my weight on July 4, 2014 was 275.2 pounds. While I'd love to be much less than that, I want to aim for do-able goals. This goal means I need to lose between 6-7 pounds a month. That's more than do-able. That's not even a pound and a half a week. My other goal is to be able to run half of the Peachtree. That's 3.1 miles... either straight or broken up... I don't care. But I want to be able to run half of it.

So, there you go. I'm giving myself a year to get ready. But it's a year that I'm going to WORK to get ready - not waiting until a month or two to try and get up enough endurance to walk 6+ miles. Twelve months. I'm going to do it! I may even surpass those goals. Who knows? I'm not focusing on that. One thing at a time so as not to get overwhelmed, right?

I thought I'd share some photos from yesterday's Peachtree. Enjoy! Next year I'll be sharing photos someone took of me running this race!

Tricia