Month: July 2013

By Jove! I’ve got it!
I figured out my burn speed and it is very very ridiculously slow.

Those are some sloooow miles! Ha ha! But I’m totally cool with it. It feels good to run slower, I enjoy it more, I can talk more, I don’t feel like I’m dying quite as much… I stopped three times on my run to count my heartbeats and was consistently in fat burning zone. It feels right to run like this.
Speaking of feeling like dying (how’s that for a bizarro segue?!), I realized something yesterday on my run. I went without my compression tanks for two days to see what happens with the rash. Turns out it happens consistently and right now I’m sporting a pretty awesome red rash. I’d show you pictures, but really, you’ve seen it once you’ve seen my belly plenty. Anyhow, the other realization was that I didn’t hit the overheated panic point either time. I think the compression aspect really is detrimental to my workout- I insulate the heat while also squeezing my entire abdomen. No wonder I feel like I can’t draw a breath! I’m like a pioneer woman in corsets or something. So, for now, I need to figure out how to meet in the middle- protect meh belly while also breathing and maintaining a reasonable temperature.

I was interested to look at the patterns on my Wii Fit today. Indeed, my gain and loss is evident. The most interesting thing, however, is that when I rise and dip, my entire family rises and dips on their tracking graph. That tells me that it’s not just my PMS that makes me gain. It’s a whole family thing. We’ll have to watch that more carefully in the future.
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Today I just wasn’t into running. Bradley was out on a job and I stayed home with the kids and got some painting done in our living room. First of all, it looks so crisp and clean in our living room. It’s amazing what some fresh paint can do. Two, when I used to paint it would make me sweat like crazy and get out of breath. Today it felt like nothing. Three, because it felt like nothing I felt like I needed to do something to get some physical exercise. While I painted I watched Extreme Makeover: Weightloss Edition. At one point this woman looks over at her partner and says, “I’m going to do one hour on the bike, one hour on the treadmill, one hour of weights and then we’ll see.” An hour on each! I was amazed. It reminded me that it doesn’t always have to be running and running doesn’t have to be a 20-40 minute workout and that’s it. I can also ride my stationary bike as often as I want. So today I rode my bike for about an hour and did an arms workout. I forgot what a good workout the bike can be. My thighs are burning!

I have been really been struggling lately. I know I’ve talked a little bit about recommitting to things, being better about diet, being more consistent with exercise, but I haven’t talked about what has had me in the tailspin.
First, you should know that within two weeks of hitting 229.8 (for about 37 seconds) I bounced right back up to 234. Then it became 237. Then I hopped on the scale a week ago and it said 240. 240! I couldn’t believe it! I knew that I was stressed, that I had PMS, that I wasn’t sleeping well- all of those things… But I was still running, hitting weights somewhat consistently and still staying within my calorie allowances. But I SERIOUSLY gained a full ten. I was pissed. Livid. And confused as all get out!
How was this happening?
Well, four days after day one of my cycle and four days after the start of warrior weeks and guess what?! It was eight pounds of water! Today I started out weighing in at 238- I was pleased. By the time I finished my run this afternoon – and ate and drank normally all day, mind you- I weigh a comfy 232.

I haven’t posted a sweaty faced run picture in a while. I know what my fans want, so here you go- sweaty faced Tamara.
Today it was only about 73 but the humidity must have let up or something because I really enjoyed my run. I never had a panic moment. I never ran out of breath. It was perfect! I took off and never stopped until I was back home after 2.8 miles. I was pleased with that. My mileage was only around 12:00, but when I took my pulse I was in fat burning zone heaven. Hopefully I will see some changes in the next few weeks. I would SERIOUSLY like to end the summer out of the 230’s!

I took this picture last night while I was watching the fireworks bloom. I decided to be one of those fools who takes a picture of the explosion, so I held my camera in the air and started clicking before I realized I had the camera flipped to me (it’s an iPhone- just as a reference point) and caught this. I love it because it’s the rare surprise candid selfie and I look so happy in it.

The heat. We’ve hit on that, I’m know, but I thought dealing with the heat was really just a mind over matter kind of thing. An excuse to NOT work out for me. Turns out, not so much. The past few days have left me gasping with that tightness in my chest, and the tightness is sustaining beyond my run a bit and I feel the strain in my lungs hours later. Today we took the run from a different direction in hopes that those trigger points wouldn’t get all uppity and freaky on me. It worked. On top of being more downhill than uphill, I didn’t get to those spots where I usually freak out. I also tried this thing called ‘listening to my body’, you know, when I feel so tired or overheated or out of breath that I can’t breathe so I just walk fast for a minute before I continue? That kind of listening to my body. Who would have thought?!
I have been thinking a lot about my burn, my aerobic vs. anaerobic workouts. Like Bradley said, the anaerobic burns both fat and muscle but it mostly just trains me to endure. I decided to dial back my effort a little and run EVEN SLOWER if you can imagine. It was super irritating then, when this lady was power walking on the opposite side of the street keeping up with us. SO annoying. I don’t allow Bradley to walk alongside me when I run slow so it was super humiliating that this woman just kept up with us. For almost a mile. No joke. It was hard because I knew I could go faster but this is about my burn and my body, not her need to prove that she could walk at my run speed. However, we eventually split away from her and my pacing was solid, slow and hopefully did some good burn work.
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Ok. The next part may be a TMI moment, but here it is anyhow.
You know how I told you that I wear compression tanks under my clothes at all times to keep my belly from flying around like a cantaloupe in a hammock?
Yeah, so the other day I was hot and I wanted to run. I thought about it and decided to forgo the compression wear to not end up as hot. As I was running I started feeling a mild stinging happening under my belly fold at my waist – you know, the crease right at my natural waist where my belly folds over. Then it started to burn. Of course I ignored it… But this is what happened:

I only thought of taking a picture three days after the run, but the result was a red, chapped line that ran all along the entirety of my waist crease.
I simultaneously had two thoughts- woohoo! This means insurance will cover my skin removal surgery (my insurance will cover a tummy tuck as long as you’ve maintained the weight for 6 months, it gets irritated/rashy and you document it).
The other thought I had was that I’ve pretty much convinced myself that I don’t care that much about skin surgery anymore. I’ve seen pictures of women who have lost piles of weight who are wearing bikinis on the beach standing next to their glowing husbands, stretch marks and saggy skin evident but no biggie. My hubs could give a hoot about the surgery. He just wants a wife who is happy with her body and sense of self, so the decision is entirely mine. I’ve decided to wait until I actually have the weight gone before I make the decision and I can see what I’m working with. But if I have to wear compression gear to workout for the rest of my life because under my belly I get all red and rashy? I will likely say yes to surgery.
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The rest of my time this summer has looked like this so far:

Not bad…