Weekly Weigh-In and #7daychip?

Starting last week, I set myself some REALLY high goals to get my first #7daychip:

1. Run 4x: Saturday with Jeanna, Monday after work, Wednesday before meeting Jon, and Friday WITH Jon to show him Ile-de-la-Barthelasse. I plan on making Monday a speed workout, the others TBD.

Didn't make this goal, but I still feel really good. Ran Sat. with Jeanna, and my left knee hurt after doing Goal #2's yoga on Sunday so I didn't get in Monday night's speed workout and wasn't able to make it up later. If you've been around the blog long enough, you know I went to PT for my knee last year when I started running, so if my knee is bothering me, no running here, esp so far from Chris!

2. Do P90X Yoga and Ab Ripper X at least one time each (planned for Sunday and then Thursday night)

Done! Actually did the yoga out on my porch (away from prying eyes) Sunday night and REALLY enjoyed it. Light breeze, nice temperature, and (not gonna lie) got to check my form in the sliding glass doors... Actually looks a lot better than I thought. I always have this mental image of me doing yoga that's akin to a cow doing ballet, but from Sunday's workout, I don't look that bad!

3. Stay under 1,400 calories for at least 4 days, with 2 days in the 1,200's.

With 4 days down, I have 2 in the under 1,400 calorie range, with one being in the 1,200's. My official calorie goal on CC is 1,232 cal/day, but that's really hard for me to hit. That said, I feel REALLY good about how I ate this week, so even if I didn't hit the 1,200 calories, I'm going to count my tracking and my intake as a BIG accomplishment this week.

4. Keep up with my intuitive, 7.5-9h sleep patterns

CHECK! I'm really LOVING this goal. Tuesday, I actually woke up for school a good 20 minutes before my alarm clock went off. There's just something so satisfying about waking up on your own and not to an infernal siren-y alarm that wrenches you from a good dream. Great way to start the day.

5. Drink at least 1.5L of water each day.

Check. Doing so well with this. Just carrying my 1,5L bottle with me everywhere, even if it makes me look odd. It's been especially important since I've worked 3 field trips this week, so it's important for my voice (and general well-being) to stay hydrated out in the sun and wind with small children!

As far as goals for the coming week are concerned, expect to see a lot less of me on the blog/twitter. Jon's here and I haven't seen him since Christmas... and won't see him again until the end of June, so I fully intend to enjoy our precious time together as much as possible.

As to how that relates to next week's goals, it just means that they aren't as strict:

1. Keep tracking my food
2. Run with Jon at least 2x (3 would be great)
3. Try to make our activities as healthy as possible. We'll be doing a TON of sight-seeing AND, on top of that, I'm trying to work in some hiking (we'll see) and a possible bike excursion, so we won't be sitting around at all!
4. Enjoy myself, but don't over indulge. Jon and I plan to go out on at least a few dates with at least one nice French restaurant included, so I want to enjoy that, but not undo all of the progress I've made since March!
5. Keep up with my "intuitive sleeping" (this should be doable since we'll both be on vacation after all)
6. Keep up with my 1,5L of daily water

Weekly Weigh-In and Goal Eval

Let me start off by saying that this week is not going to be my first #7daychip. I spent almost half of it (Saturday-Monday) sick, not being able to eat, and not exercising. Then, for the remaining 4 days, I've been over my 1,200 CC calorie goal every day and over my 1,400 max personal calorie target by at least 80 calories each day too. Always under my burn for the day, but still not where I want to be calorie-wise. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm hoping to kick it into gear next week, but it's going to be really difficult since Jon arrives on Wednesday!

That said, here how I did with the updated goals I set for myself once I got better on Monday:

1. Get in 2 runs (one on Tues or Weds and one on Friday)

Check! Got in the really difficult run on Tuesday and my first "speed" workout in a long time Thursday night after work.

2. Do 1 full-length P90X workout either Tuesday or Wednesday

Check! Wednesday morning, I did P90X Yoga all the way through for the first time probably since December. I can STILL feel it--I love those kind of workouts! Might try to do it again tomorrow morning.

3. Clean/organize my apartment

Not really. Did go through and organize a lot of my papers and get that all sorted, but I still need to REALLY clean and do laundry before Jon gets here.

4. Get no more than 7.5-8hrs of sleep a night. No naps.

CHECK! This might actually be what I'm most proud of this week. On Wednesday, I got myself out of bed and got my day started earlier than anticipated, ate my breakfast, then got my yoga in right away... Great way to start the day. THEN, for work both Thursday and Friday I woke up (and got up) about 10 minutes before my alarm clock because I went to bed on time. I'm so proud of this and I'm feeling great about this choice already! :)

As far as weigh-in, here are this week's results:

Weigh-In:

Starting weight: 193.8

Last week: 70.5kg (155.4 lbs)

Today: 70.0kg (154.3lbs)

Change: -.5kg (-1.1lb)

Wow, a whole half kilo down? It doesn't sound like a lot in kilos, but I'll DEFINITELY take a 1.1 pound loss! Plus, this puts me in a great position for next week: I mightcould break into the 60's for the very first time!!! Woo! It's not a fast process, but these little losses will totally add up!

On the whole, I'm pleased with my overall goal turn out and tracking this week. Even if I'm not elated with my intake, I've tracked everything and it's led to this next week's goals!

In order to get my first #7daychip, here are my goals for next week:

1. Run 4x: Saturday with Jeanna, Monday after work, Wednesday before meeting Jon, and Friday WITH Jon to show him Ile-de-la-Barthelasse. I plan on making Monday a speed workout, the others TBD.
2. Do P90X Yoga and Ab Ripper X at least one time each (planned for Sunday and then Thursday night)
3. Stay under 1,400 calories for at least 4 days, with 2 days in the 1,200's.
4. Keep up with my intuitive, 7.5-9h sleep patterns
5. Drink at least 1.5L of water each day. (I know this is under the 64oz. but I want to start with a manageable goal and work from there).

I know I've laid these goals out really specifically, but I want to be able to KNOW without a doubt if I've earned my chip or not and if I'm on track to do so, especially since Jon is coming too! For the workouts, if the days change, it's okay, but the overall numbers are what count.

Anyway, I wish you all an AMAZING weekend and now it's time to GET TO IT! :)

Belated Weigh-In Post

Hi all--I'm just now coming back to the land of the living after a lovely 48 hour bout with food poisoning. Yes, I should've known better than to eat yogurt that "expired" a few days before, but it smelled okay... (famous last words).

Anyway, aside from being down for the count all weekend (and calling in sick to work today), I'm finally feeling well enough again to post Saturday's weigh-in results:

Weigh-In:

Starting weight: 193.8

Last week: 70.5kg (155.4 lbs)

Today: 70.5kg (155.4 lbs)

I'm going to be completely honest and say that last week was not my best work. I only got in 2 P90X ab workouts and 2 runs.

This week, my goals for the rest of the week are:

1. Get in 2 runs (one on Tues or Weds and one on Friday)

2. Do 1 full-length P90X workout either Tuesday or Wednesday

3. Clean/organize my apartment

4. Get no more than 7.5-8hrs of sleep a night. No naps. I think this'll help my general feelings of laziness/difficulty motivating myself to get out and do things.

I feel like I've been sliding through time here for the past week or so and I'm not sure why. I have the same lack of drive to get up and leave my apartment that I did back in January, though I'm so much happier than I was back then. I don't really get it. Really need to get out of this funk. Thankfully though, Jon will be here in 9 days so that'll DEFINITELY get me out and about here. I can't wait to show him Provence!

Also, in other news, I bumped up my flight home from July 1st to June 22nd so now I'll have a lot more time to get ready for my sister's wedding (and hopefully squeeze in a trip to Auburn!). So excited! :)

Weigh-In Day and a Make-Up Run!

I actually did what I told you all I would last night and got up this morning at 7am, donned my running apparel and hit the road for my 4 mile run that I was supposed to do yesterday (but got sidetracked by the sun):

Not only am I proud because this was actually longer than 4 miles (I forgot to turn Mr. Garmin back on when I stopped to take off my jacket), but I'm really proud because it's the first time I've successfully managed to drag myself out of bed to workout in I can't even remember how long!

Also, this is Saturday morning, so it's weigh-in day! I stepped on the scales before heading out for the run and this is what awaited me:

Weigh-In:

Starting weight: 193.8

Last week: 71.5kg (157.6 lbs)

Today: 70.5kg (155.4 lbs)

Weekly workouts:

Runs: 3x

Crosstraining: 0x

I'm so excited! This week was really hard for me both personally and, as a result, food-wise and I'm really happy to see that my eating intuitively and trying to make up for my epic splurges on Monday paid off on the scale. I know I only ended up meeting 1 of my weekly goals (since I didn't crosstrain at all and I didn't do well at the party last saturday), but I still think this week was a stunning success. :)

Anyway, instead of posting my weekly goals here now, I'm going to include them in another post later today along with my new involvement in #7daychip! For now, I'm off to finish getting ready because I'm spending the day visiting the Bambouserie (a bamboo forest) with one of the teachers I work with and her family! Don't worry, I'll take plenty of photos!

Have a great day!!! :)

Weekly Weigh-In and St. Paddy's Day

Weigh-In:

Starting weight: 193.8

Last week: 72kg (158.7 lbs)

Today: 71.5kg (157.6 lbs)

Weekly workouts:

Runs: 1x

Crosstraining: 3x

Voilà! Here's the first weigh-in of weight loss journey 2.0! Down 1.2 lbs! Not too shabby for the first week weighing in again. While I did have two days that I wasn't as on track as I wanted to be, I only ate more than my "calorie output" one day and, surprisingly, it wasn't St. Patrick's Day! For St. Paddy's Day, I budgeted for 2 pints of beer and was able to resist peer pressure and stick to that. Felt good (especially the next morning!) and we had a great time!

Huge street party in front of O'Neill's Irish Pub

Road cone loudspeaker? Definitely.

I'm hoping to step it up again this coming week and make it count. Here are my goals:

1. Get three runs in on Sunday (tomorrow), Tuesday, and Friday. I've decided Sunday is going to be my long run day, so I'm going to shoot for 5 miles tomorrow and go from there. I need to get myself back in a regular pattern again!
2. Do 2 days of P90X as cross training.
3. Try and be smart going out to dinner tonight with the girls and not over do it

What are your goals for the week? :) Now, off to read your blogs!

Introducing... The Scale

As I mentioned last week, one of the main reasons that I suspended my WW membership is because I hadn't been faithfully using the eTools (or really the entire WW program) since I got here in October. Because WW changed the way I live my life and the way I understand food, I've been able to maintain my weight without tracking during that time, but now, I really want to kick it back into gear and lose these last 20 pounds.

As a result, that means I need to start getting reacquainted with another old frenemy. No, not yesterday's bikini... my scale. At home in Athens, I'm used to using a digital, hi-tech, body fat %-telling epic scale (Jon's an EE, he likes cool things). Here in France, I'm cheap (and won't be bringing a kilo scale back to America with me) and use a 5€ scale from Ikea:

To be honest, I'm not sure if it's that accurate (I feel like it's saying I weigh less than I really do), but from now until July, this'll be the bad boy used to track my progress.

I'd been so discouraged over the past year and a half because I haven't lost any more weight (haven't gained it back either), but I haven't been able to motivate myself to really get back on plan in a sustainable, noticeable way either. Two things have contributed to this newfound energy:

1. After Jan/Feb, I was starting to really feel out of control and was beginning to noticing that my clothes weren't fitting as well as they should be.
2. I stumbled across Whitney @ Slimming Down for the Gown's blog. Clearly I'm not getting married, but I looked at her progress bar on the right and she started at about my weight and a little over a year later is almost to her goal. What really motivated me was seeing how all of her small weekly losses have added up to such big results. Whenever I see a small loss myself from here on out, I'm going to try and think of her and remember that the little losses DO add up so I don't get discouraged.

On that note, Saturday is going to be Amy's and my official weigh-in day, so stay tuned for that, but unofficially, I weighed in yesterday at 72kg (158.7lbs), so that means I have 7kg (15lbs) to lose in order to get to a healthy BMI.

This is the first time I've measured as anything less than 'overweight' or 'obese,' but I'd still like to get it down to the healthy range (even if everyone likes to say that BMI is outdated).

Anyway, that's all for now. Here's to the start of something new.

Home for the Holidays (Part 1)

I know I've been totally MIA while I've been back here in the States... To make it up to you, here are a few photos from the beginning of my visit. I went to Athens for a few days to see friends and to get stuff back/give stuff to Jon post-breakup.

Seeing my friends and visiting my local favorites was amazing and exactly what I needed. I needed to see Jon too and I'm glad that we did, though I have to admit that it's a lot harder being in the same state/country as him and not being together than it was missing him from France. While my trip here has been amazing and I'm so glad I've had the chance to see everyone I have and visit, it has been hard knowing that I originally bought this ticket to see him and spend the holidays with him, but hey, I'm doing the best I can.

Met Alicia and her boyfriend at Jackie O's, a local brew pub for fried pickles and some local delicious beer

Bad for the waistline, but I'd been looking forward to fried pickles from Niffer's (down in Auburn) since we left AU this summer, so at least I got in a good substitute!
Then met Em and Jesse for dinner at LuiLui's (no photos) and after dinner drinks at Casa. These two margaritas represent Em's and my senior year. Every Thursday, we'd go to Casa and get margaritas and catch up. Mine with, hers without salt.


Graffiti on the way to the parking garage... I've wanted a photo of this for years.
I stayed with my pseudo big sis Bethany and her hubs Steve, aren't they fabulous? Steve even wrote me a song about Jon's and my breakup in an attempt to make me smile. He's a sweetie.


On my way out of town, we grabbed breakfast at Casa. This coffee gets it's own picture when you realize how much I'd missed normal American coffee!
Half order of huevos rancheros with homefries
Biscuit with apple butter
Adorably goofing around.

I wish I could have stayed a few more days, but I did get a lot done while I was there AND spent a lot of quality time with B and Steve. It's amazing how large a role food plays in coming home. I don't know about you all, but I came home from France with a list of places I had to eat while I was home.

That said, I'm now trying to get back on the tracking bandwagon since the past few weeks have brought me up to 166, as I found out at WW on Friday. I don't know if I was misreading my scale in France or if my clothing makes that much of a difference or if I really have overindulged that much lately, but it was disappointing, so now that xmas is over, I'm back into tracking and am slowly weaning myself off holiday sugar and chocolate!

More later!

Cookies, Weigh-In Day, and Evil Wind

Last night continued with my personal quest to a) be positive, b) keep busy, and c) try and enjoy Christmas as much as possible. I had my lovely girlfriends over to my apartment for some Christmas cheer and cookie decorating. We're really trying to do as much as can to pass the time buy and enjoy the season here before we all go to our respective homes this week/weekend. :) Here's the recipe we went off. Not "healthy" by any means, but it was a great time.




Our makeshift roller.




Weighed in this morning (after a breakfast of some cheese and toast... I forgot to weigh in) at 72kg (158.7lbs). I blame this .5kg (1.1lb) gain from yesterday on last night's Christmas cookie extravaganza. Since I didn't get in a lot of tracked activity points (I don't count my walking/biking around the city), I ended the week with a -2WP count. Not my best work. :-/

Today's gain would probably have been avoided if Helen and I had, in fact, gone running yesterday. As you can see from the lack of running posts, we did not since neither of us have the correct running gear to run in 45mph winds in the cold. I need to get some more running gear when I'm home in the states... Do any of you have any recommendations to battle this wind?

So far, I have:
a coldgear turtleneck
a pair of winter tights
a half zip fleece
a light all weather gear jacket
running gloves
fleece headband
The wind is supposed to calm down, so we'll be on schedule for a run tomorrow. We're debating training for the Marseille half marathon on April 17th. I'd sign up for it in a heartbeat, though I'm nervous about the 2:45:00 cut off... We'll see. I think it'd be really nice to have someone to train with the whole time and then run side by side during the race. Jon and I would train at the same time, but we wouldn't run together. I think it'd be really nice to have an actual running buddy.

Anyway, this week is a slight gain, but nothing that can't be fixed! Now I just need to find a training plan and kick my butt in gear!

Back in the Action

Alrighty, here I am. Back again, only this time blogging to you from Avignon, France in Provence.

I'm having a problem getting Mr. Garmin 305 to upload to the website--it gets to a certain stage in the uploading process and then freezes every time. I emailed Garmin about it and we'll see what they say. I REALLY want to see the map from yesterday's run! (Update: Got it to upload, but the map is mysteriously missing... See splits below). It was the longest I've done in a very long time (8 miles) and it was all around the island next to Avignon called Ile de la Barthelasse. My roommate, Claire, went with me the whole way on her bike and directed our run, which was really helpful since I didn't know where I was, and fun because I had someone to keep me company. I'll upload the map and such as soon as I get Mr. Garmin's problem sorted out. Have any of you with the 305 had something similar happen? I'm going to keep the GPS in miles while I'm here, since I don't really have a good grasp on kilometers.




It really took 1:42:ish to do the 8 miles, the last 15 minute or so was walking back to the apartment with Claire, who's bike ran over a piece of glass and went flat. I should have started out at a slower pace obviously, but I'm still pleased at how it went overall.

Speaking of not being used to European units of measure, yesterday Claire and I went to Ikea and bought a scale (in addition to bedding for my room and a super cool picture frame thing for my photos of the fam, Jon, and Sahara). At 5 euros, here's our new acquisition:



I haven't weighed myself since the last hiatus post, so I was pretty curious to see what I was at now, after 10 days in the country of food. The scale clocked me in at 74.5 kilos, which, thanks to Google, translates to (drumroll please) 164.24 pounds, making me .24 from my mini-goal and 5.6lbs from my last weigh-in. I'm not going to lie, I'm having a bit of trouble believing it's true, but I guess we'll see next time I weigh myself in? Regardless, I'm really glad I decided to go ahead and pack my 30-pound earrings. In case you'd forgotten, I'd bought them a year ago anticipating that I'd wear them in a week or two and they have been hanging out on my refrigerator or in my jewelry box ever since.

I really think walking has been very beneficial. I take the bus to my schools, but other than that (and the occasional car rides with my roomie), I walk everywhere. Thankfully, for winter's sake, the bus stop is RIGHT in front of my apartment, but I'll still be getting in a lot of walking.

Other than that, here are a few photos to give you an idea of what I've been doing. From here on out, I hope to get back into blogging pretty regularly, so stay tuned! I'll try and catch up on all of your blogs in the next few days, I've missed you guys!

Sunrise from the balcony of my apartment in Avignon on my first day. Even in France, God is an Auburn fan. :)
Cooking dinner at the apartment with two other assistants: On the menu pasta with turkey, green beans and a goat cheese sauce

My cousin Michel took me to visit the cities I'll be working in. In one of them, they were having an American day! I couldn't find Ohio, but I did find Alabama!
What American Day would be complete without kids dressed as cowboys on donkeys...
...Motorcycles...
...and native americans?
A view of the Provençal countryside from the car
Inside Avignon's Papal Palace
A view of Avignon through the interesting glass in the palace
The Mediterranean from the house of the US Consulate General in Marseille (she invited all of the American assistants over for dinner)
Me, from the Consul's terrasse
Sunset in Marseille over the Mediterranean
Random street performers in Marseille
Raclette! A French dish usually served in winter, where you cook the cheese and slices of meat on that machine and then put them over a baked potato. YUM
First view of Gadagne, one of my towns

An American evening in France: Bowling
and American diner with burgers


Then, a french night with froglegs!

Okay, that a was ton of photos, but at least now you're all caught up! More later! Wish me luck for my first day of teaching tomorrow! Subject: American Halloween, a holiday that's not really celebrated in France.

Oh and last thing, WAR EAGLE! I can't believe that Bama got beat by South Carolina! Go Gamecocks!