Good days, Bad days.

Its been over a month, and a lot has happened. 

First off a few weeks ago I hit my 40 pounds lost with Weight Watchers! But I couldn't stay to celebrate because I had to go to our Convention. If you want cardio, go to Qualcomm and do the stairs three days strait!

We had a great convention and had a family stay with us for 4 days during. We had a blast! I went back the following Friday and I had gained 0.6 pound. But I was still at the 40 pounds lost, so I was ok. 

I was doing ok and getting back into the routine of things, but still was over my allowance points for the week by wednesday night. Then Thursday I went to Disneyland with friends, with all intentions to track. But I ended up not counting that day. It was the last day of the week and I knew even if I didn't count that day I could start over again on Friday, Friday is after all a new day of a new week. 

We had a blast throughout the day, Spencer was able to join us in the evening! I even went all day without the scooter. Did pretty well. I did have to take 2 pain pills throughout the day, but that is less than I would have normally taken before. 

On the way home from the parks I started a bad tremor due to my disability. It was in my spine. I had to have spencer pull off at the rest area. We were there for an hour and the whole time I was in pain, trying to get the pain to go away. I was still in severe pain and I knew I didn't want to deal with it at the rest area. People were starting to wonder why I was screaming. So I told spencer to clear out the back seat and I somewhat buckled myself with the middle seat belt and laid down to be more comfortable. I ended up falling asleep about 30 min later, thankfully. I had this tremor almost 2 hours. And it was the worst I have ever had pain wise. 

The next day I slept until late in the afternoon. I was feeling a little better. Went to hang out at a friends house in the evening. Still didn't feel the greatest. I didn't Track.

Saturday was a Bonfire and I went to that as well, was doing ok, still not the greatest. Also did not track. On the way home a severe migraine hit me. This migraine lasted until Monday afternoon. So you know I had not tracked. 

Then Tuesday morning I woke up with another migraine. 

I think this tremor took a toll on my body.

It is now technically Thursday morning and I am just now starting to feel like myself again.

I decided to take this past week of tracking off. Start over on Friday, and take whatever gain I have. 

Friday is a New day, New week, New attitude!

I am determined to start my routine of activity again. Determined not to overdue it, like I did last week. I knew with all the good days I had been having, I was due to have some bad ones eventually. 

I do have some good news too. I went to Lane Bryant tonight and got myself a new outfit. Thank you clearance!! I am happy to announce I am a size 16 pants and a size 14/16 top! Such a change from over a year ago when I was size 24!  I am almost no longer able to shop at Torrid and Lane Bryant. Here is the new outfit I got tonight. I cant wait to shop for bathing suits!

My newest find.

First off let me just say I did gain 1.2 pounds this week. But it was expected. But I am surprised it wasn't more with three days at Disneyland.

I wanted to let everyone know about something that I have used in the past but has now become a staple in our house. I started every so often buying Lavash bread. And using it for different things. I recently bought a package and my dad got into it and he thought he wasn't going to like it. He thought it was going to be dry and  not that good because its healthy. Well he was pleasantly surprised when he tried it and he loved it!

I use this bread for everything. I will give some meal ideas later but first I am going to give you the specs.

I get this bread at Fresh and Easy. Each package of 6 full lavash wraps is $2.50. I have not found it anywhere else, so if you see it somewhere else let me know. They have a white lavash and a whole grain lavash. The name of it is California Lavash. I get the whole grain lavash. It has no trans fats. Low sodium. And no cholesterol. It is vegan.

Nutrition facts include: 0g fat, 10g carbs, 1g fiber, 2g protein. For half a sheet. So for half a sheet it is only 1 PPV. If you want a whole sheet it is 2 PPV for the whole grain. The white lavash comes to 1 PPV for half and 3 PPV for a whole sheet.   For the whole grain there is also 0g sugar, 70mg sodium, and 0mg cholesterol. And 60 calories per half sheet.

They can be used for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or desert. I have used them for all.

Here are some ideas.
Breakfast: I have used them in place of bread. I made scrambled egg whites and a sausage patty with some cheese and used the 1/2 lavash instead of a tortilla to make it a breakfast burrito.

Lunch: I have used a whole lavash grated cheddar cheese on it. Sliced tomatoes and put it on half the lavash. And heated it in the oven. Then I take it when it is completely melted and fold it in half and made it a quesadilla with tomatoes.

Dinner: I use a whole lavash (I have also done it half when I'm not too hungry) and put on fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, baby tomatoes, and mini pepperonis.  No sauce. I heat it in the oven until its melted and just made a a pizza!

Desert: I use half a lavash but a tablespoon of Nutella, with bananas and strawberries. Then microwave for like 10 seconds. And make it like a Nutella crepe!

You can also make sandwich wraps. Which i have not done yet. Or use it as hamburger buns. We made mini patties and used half a lavash broken into 4 pieces and made two mini burgers.

This lavash bread has helped in my food lifestyle change. Instead of a 2-4 point tortilla I use a lavash that is only 1-2 points. Instead of a 4-8 point pizza dough I use a 2 point lavash. Instead of a 4 point hamburger or hot dog bun I use a 1 point lavash! And we all love it in our household! I even just went and bought 4 packages yesterday so we could be stocked up!

I wanted to share this with my friends because it is now a staple in our house. I'm not a big bread fan so this is awesome!

I hope you all have a chance to try it.

My amazing WW group!

I have an amazing WW group! Everyone is so encouraging. I go to El Cajon on Friday mornings at 6:30am. I know, I know that's super early! But regardless we have a very large group that shows up. And every single one of them are awesome!

I walk in this morning and at least three people tell me I'm looking great. I weigh in and I have lost 0.2 pound. It's a loss, small, but a loss! I show my leader my t-shirt from my 5k and she tells me to show the group.  I go to sit down and before I do I get compliments from 4 other people! They are wondering how I do it! Which I thought it was funny because we are all doing the same thing, weight watchers. Then they say specifically what is working for me? I tell them the added activity helps a lot. As well as tracking no matter what. The meeting starts.

Marlene our leader (the best in the world btw) starts the group. This week we are talking about our tracking. She gets to the point of announcing the 5k that the "dynamic duo" did. (That's me and Vickie) she tells me to stand up and show them. And I stand up and show them my shirt from the Sea World 5k and announce I completed my first 5k! And everyone cheers. Before I can say anything else I get even more compliments and someone says "she's wasting away" (wasting away in a good way) and I get another couple "looking great". I feel awesome! I tell them all that I finished with my fastest pace ever and that I even ran some of it. I said "which isn't me, well not usually" and someone says "it's you now!" And it is!

I sit back down and Marlene gives both me and Vickie a 5K charm and I look over and Vickie has got the biggest proudest smile on her face and is looking at me. That feels amazing that I can make someone that inspires me so proud.

I feel amazing after every meeting I attend at weight watchers. But today I felt even better. The 0.2 loss didn't bother me being so low. I have so many other accomplishments and I have an amazing group that attend with me. I know I will succeed at this even if I never hit goal. Because I have so much encouragement in my group.

From wheelchair to running. My first 5K experience.

Can you believe it? I completed my first 5K!!
Sea World Pole to Pole 5k fun run. April 20, 2013.

I never thought I would ever be where I am today. 7 months ago I was in a scooter, and just two days ago I completed a 5k. It's an amazing accomplishment. I am so proud and happy with where I am today. Granted I will never be rid of my disabilities but I don't let them ruin my life. This is my experience from the day of my 5K.

I was nervous, scared, excited, worried and overall happy to do it. I didn't know how I would do or what would happen at the 5k. But I was determined to finish Nd not be last!

Spencer had to work that morning but he was able to drop me off. We get to Sea World and parked. He walks me up to the registration tables and waits with me to get my bib number and T-shirt. I had to sign a hard copy of the waiver and went to the table to get my bib. The tables were set up alphabetically. I go to the table for that has the A's through E's I think. I get my bib and I am bib #2. Since they did it alphabetically there was only 1 other person in front of me that had a name before mine in the alphabet. I proceed to get my shirt and we see Vickie and Vern in line to get their bibs. Then we see Mary Jo and Joe waiting to get Joe's bib. Then we all get our shirts. Vickie and Vern let me put my back pack in their car and there I say goodbye to Spencer. And the three of us head in. Now I didn't know what this was going to be like but when we went in it was so awesome. They had booths up for swag. They had characters out to get pictures with. They had a huge billboard to get a picture in front of. And there was the start. I was ready for this! I saw the start line and we waited until it got close to start time. All the runners/walkers got ready at the start line and they did a count down. And it was time!

We got the GO! And EVERYONE starts running. I walked. I told myself slow and steady wins the race. As everyone is zooming past me I see another woman my age walking. I told her it was nice to see at least one other person walking. She said she doesn't run. I told her that everyone that started out running will soon slow down and we will be passing them soon. I heard a mother tell her daughter "Don't worry. Whats nice about your first race is that it is your personal best". That was encouraging to hear for me. It was so nice to walk through the park and see some animals out. As I go on I periodically look at my MapMyFitness app and I am doing the fastest pace I have ever done. It feels great. I don't know why but I got the urge to run/jog. So I started jogging and lasted about 60 seconds. But then I decided I will walk for awhile and jog until I can't anymore, then walk until I get my breath back and jog again. So I did interval walking and jogging. And it worked for me! I would walk about 5 minutes and jog for 30-60 seconds. I did very well. 1/3 of the 5k was in the parking lot. No music (which actually makes me go faster) and it was getting warm. But I walked and jogged back into the park, stopped by the water station (which was placed perfectly coming back from the parking lot) and soon was at mile 2! I'm almost there! I kept telling myself I'm gonna finish, and I'm not gonna be last! There were still some people behind me. Pretty soon I was at mile 3. And I decided to run from mile 3 to the finish line, and I did!

I was determined to finish this race in 50 minutes and as I got closer to the finish I noticed the clock saying 39:47 so I run just a little bit faster! And I cross! Vickie is there taking my picture for me. And I am just full of accomplishment! I feel great. I had my phone out with MapMyFitness up and notice that the course was actually just a little short of 3.1 miles. So I walk past the finish and get it to 3.1 and stop it. On MapMyFitness I hit 3.1 miles in 40 minutes and 27 seconds. A personal best!

They were handing out reusable bags at the finish line with stuff in it. After the race they gave everyone breakfast. Breakfast burritos that were very good. They had coffee, tea, orange juice, bottles of water, and vitamin water that they were handing out. PopChips was also there handing out samples. There were conservation fund tables so we could learn about protecting the animals. A lot of conservation swag. And Smooth 98.1 was there as well. They had animal ambassadors out. And they did an opportunity drawing. They had a lot of nice stuff they were giving away in the drawing. I also got to see my friend Cristina and her son.

After the drawing they thanked everyone and told everyone if they want to see their times they were at the back. So we go to the tables to check. I find me with the estimate of 40 min and they have me down as finishing at 40:05. Which is a 12:55 pace per mile!! Best ever! They had announced that 700 people had signed up for the race. And of that 700 only 531 crossed in time to get on the list of times. I am happy to find out that I ranked #279 out of the 700 registered! That is awesome to me!

After we all had to leave, so they could clean up and open the park, we headed back in to walk some more. There was a triathlon going on that day and they closed a couple roads to make way for the biking part. So the roads wold open at 11:30am. So we all waited inside and walked around until 11:30. So after just finishing a 5k I walked for another 3 hours! I am surprised I didn't collapse. Vern and Vickie were nice enough to drive me home.

The after effects is what hit me hard. It is now two days later and I am still having pain. But I am so happy to have done it. And I am so proud of what I did. I had such encouragement at the run. Nd I look forward to doing the Sea World 5K next year. I do have other 5K's planned. Mom and I will be going for the Girls on the Go 5K next month together. Ad there is at least one a month that I want to do every month this year. But I am so happy I did this one at Sea World as my first one!

I encourage everyone to do one if at all possible. But train, train, train! Because I would have never accomplished what I did without training.

Thanks for reading!

Link to all the pictures from the day: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.587495051261540.1073741832.100000031503377&type=1&l=768888dadd

It is a public album so no need to have FB.

I have posted two pictures. One before the race and one crossing the finish line!

Ready for new things!

I lost another pound this week! Didn't think I would lose so that's a good thing! I went over my allowance this week by 11. And even used all but 3 of my 19 activity points. But I don't think the Active Link counts as many points as I do when I work out.

I started The C25K program (see previous post) and since I did it my knees have been killing me. Today my left knee is still sore but almost better. My right is fine now. But they were both so sore for the last couple days. Eventually I will get it going. I should be fine for tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow is my first 5K!!! Sea World Pole to Pole 5K fun run! I am happy to be doing it with my WW buddy Vickie! I cant wait! I don't care what pace I do I just want to finish! Sea World is giving all the runners a light breakfast after. So this is going to be fun! I do plan on eating light before I get there. Carbs and protein. Planning on toast with egg whites and a banana, an orange and strawberries. That way I can get through the 5K and then have a full breakfast after.

I want to eventually do a 10K. I am thinking that if I can work on doing the 6.2 miles by May 3rd then I will sign up for the Girls on the Go 10K. But if not I will do the 5K. And hopefully mom can do it with me!

Well I have to prepare for tomorrow. I will post pics later.

C25K

Today I started the C25K program. (Couch to 5k) this is the first day I added running to my walking.

First off I don't run!

I don't think spencer has ever seen me run in our 8 years together.

I was never a walker either. When I was in middle school I would walk half the track and the cross the grass and tell the teacher I quit. In high school I was only in school for 1/4 of the year and then I went into home school with no PE. So I never really ran before. So this is huge for me.

I got the C25K® - 5K Trainer FREE from Zen Labs on my iPhone. It's a good program. You can use it with multiple programs. I was using it with my music and my MapMyFitness app. I was able to hear my music no problem and when it went to talk it would turn the volume down on my music then turn it back up when done. And my map my fitness app was still able to speak as well.

The training starts out this way: Week 1 Day 1 workout. Warmup walk 5 min. Run/jog 60 seconds. Walk 90 seconds.do this for 20 min. Then 5 min cool down walk.
As the weeks pass you do longer runs and longer walks.
It gets you 5K ready by doing 30 min a day, three times a week, for 8 weeks. It gets you to run a 5K. Not just walk it.

Well today I did my 5 min warm up and then was only able to do about 9 min of the 60 second running and 90 second walking. So I did 14 min in total. But I still did a mile!

I know I will get this done eventually. But the best part of this is I started! I won't be running on the 5K on Saturday. But eventually I will be running a 5K. It will just be a long ways off.

The best part of this is I have so much encouragement!

I have so many friends at Weight Watchers, friends on FaceBook, friends in the congregation, and family near and far that are so encouraging. Even just someone commenting on or liking my status on FB is encouraging. When someone says "you look amazing!" That is such an encouragement. Being invited to hikes or to go do something active, is an encouragement. Even seeing any loss at the meeting, wether it be 3 pounds or 0.3 pounds, its encouraging. Because that is gone!

I will continue to work at this. And like other things I thought would be almost impossible, I will succeed!

I am back!

I know it has been a little while since I have updated. Well I am back and it will be updated more often.

Here are some things you may have missed.

I am now 43.2 pounds loss since end of August. And around 55 pounds lost since last April when I was at my heaviest.

I started adding walking to my weekly routines. I started walking on 2/18/13 and since then I have been working toward my first 5K!! I have my first 5K at Sea World on Saturday morning. I cant believe it. This is a huge accomplishment for me!

Also I have almost completly stopped using the scooter. I no longer use it to get to places. I now walk to places. I do however take it to Disneyland when we go just in case. Also I will be taking it to convention next month also. But for the most part it will stay in the car. I have not used it since February.

I do still have my health issuse that iwll never go away. If I am having an issue then I deal with it and if it is on a day that I plan on walking (Mon, Wed, Fri) then I just adjust my walking days until I feel better. These health issuses will never go away but the weight loss have helped me tremendously.

I no longer let my health issues run my life. The weight loss and activity have made me more confident in all aspects of life.

Well I just wanted to update and I will do so more often.

Thats it for now.