FLABULOUS

It’s been a while since we’ve written in the blog and we’re sorry!!

Things just get so crazy sometimes with work and school and babies and freelance work and trying to live a healthy lifestyle and still keep up your relationships with your friends and family. Life can get SO busy.

So here’s an update: KJ is doing great. She’s lost over 25 pounds now and has really kicked things into gear while working and taking care of a baby and being an incredible wife. Me? I’m doing okay. Mounds of full time work and freelance while trying to be a home maker have really bogged me down. Sometimes I get so busy in the day I don’t even realize I’ve skipped lunch. It’s not healthy and I love food so much I never thought I’d be that kind of person but work can do strange things to a person.

But I haven’t forgotten my main goals and what I need to do. Hopefully after I put my freelance work to bed this next week I can start to put my focus back on my health, which I never should have lost sight of to begin with!!!

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Lately things have been really stressful in life. I’ve been trying to work out and eat right, I’ve had finals, I’ve just had another persons entire job description fall to me and now I have to get everything settled before I go on vacation this week. Something I’ve noticed is, stress makes me fat.

When I get stressed, I guess it manifests itself into hunger because I get so hungry. I mean hungry for anything. I don’t really want a meal, I want snacks. Give me a box of cookies, give me a bag of sugar peas. It doesn’t matter, I’m just hungry. And of course the easier thing to reach for (when you are near coffee houses and gas stations instead of real stores) is the crap food. It’s just a terrible habit or whatever, that helps make me fat. And it’s hard to keep in check, but you just gotta you know?

This pretty much goes hand in hand with emotional eating for me. I’ve pretty much decided that my stupid feelings have way too much control over my diet. It’s really silly isn’t it? But as they say, the first step is admitting that you have a problem!!

By the way, after some light reading about stress in relation to weight gain I’ve found that studies show chronic stress contributes to a slower metabolism, cravings, blood sugar and fat storage. So if you are sick of stressing out and don’t want to gain weight while you do it . . . I dunno, do some yoga and meditation!

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So KJ and I finally got our pictures back from our first 5K. Some company actually took pictures of everyone crossing the finish line and then sent us samples of the pictures they took of us with an offer for us to buy them. Bottom line? They were horrifying to say the least, so we didn’t opt to buy them. however we decided to keep the samples as a sort of “before” picture and then next year when they send them again, that can be a little “after” example, see how much we’ve changed you know?

Anyway, the picture above is of me and KJ. I’m on the left and KJ is on the right. Ohhhhh the memories. Isn’t she beautiful? That’s my sis!

I’ve also posted a picture of us near the finish line so you can see a little of the hub bub going on at the 5K event; the people lining the streets, cheering us on.

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As you know, if you read Flabulous, that this weekend was our first 5k. KJ and I did it!

After a night of our nerves running a bit wild, we got off to a bit rocky start, but no matter, we did it! We were running with other 5k’ers, marathon racers and half marathon racers. We might not have been as fast as them (hey they are pro’s!) but we did an incredible job.

It was so exciting to see so many people and have perfect strangers cheering us on. It was a perfect day with sun, but shade and a little wind. We got 5k t-shirts and free red bulls and water.

The best part was the end. We ran across the finish line and our SO’s were up on a bridge yelling our names, there just for us. It was a really cool experience that we’ve both decided we HAVE to do again. But why wait until next year? We’re going to find several 5k’s over the next few months, (and on and on), and just spend it perfecting our time.

If you’ve never done a 5k race, you really have to. It’s just a totally different experience. For get about weight, what can you DO?

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Photo by Cosmogirl 

So tomorrow is the big race. We are going to be running with marathoners, half-marathoners, hard core bicyclists and, well, us lil’ 5k racers.

I don’t know about KJ but I have some pre-race jitters. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally excited for this race, and I know I can do it. Heck, we’ve been walking 5 miles for a few weeks now and a 5k is only about 3.25 miles! Figuring out how to get there and where to go and getting my chip on right and not getting in anyones way, it’s a bit scary. But I really am excited.

Tonight is a prep night. I’m going to save my legs, pluck whatever needs to be plucked, try on my race outfit to make sure everything is smooth, get the chip on my shoe, plan my healthy breakfast, eat my carb dinner (it’s what the racers do!) and set a few alarms to make sure we get there on time.

Basically, I’m treating tonight like I’m getting ready for a date. Is it necessary? Maybe not. I just want to be as relaxed, ready and comfortable as possible to keep this a great experience!

Oh, and by the way, KJ’s knee and my knee and thigh are feeling much better, if not totally cured. Wish us luck ya’ll!

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So one of the hardest days I have while trying to get and stay healthy are the weekends. Lets face it, weekends are hard.

On the weekends your sleeping patterns change, if you don’t work or have school your day’s probably consist of errands, working around the house and then there’s the good stuff; parties, movies, concerts, hanging out with the friends. And what goes along with all of that? Food! Dinners, snacks, dessert, drinks.

It can be hard to say no and it can be even harder to remember what you are supposed to be eating. For me it’s hard to get my 8+ glasses of water in, sliding back into my old 1-2 glasses a day habit and as for fruits and veggies? Forgetabouit!

Solution? Be accountable. It doesn’t solve your problem all the time, but trust me, it helps. KJ and I have shared our weight loss/get healthy goals with our friends and family and they have been really supportive so far. When we go for Saturday Night Movie night at our parents house (sounds lame but is a blast) they always make sure they get food we can eat. They’ll always throw in vegetables and a big fresh fruit bowl.

The more people who know about your goals, the more support you can muster up, the bigger the chances that you’ll succeed.

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When I was little Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was a staple in our house. I mean, we ate this stuff all the time. The problem was (besides the fact that it’s all processed that is) that it required what I remember to be 6 tablespoons of butter. 6 tablespoons! That is a LOT of butter for 1 box of Mac & Cheese. As I got older and started to make it on my own I slowly started to lower the amount of butter I put in and I found a good amount was 3 tablespoons, or HALF the amount the box said to add. Granted it’s still 3 tablespoons of butter, but it’s less.

Well, I’m happy to say that Mac & Cheese finally got a clue. I think it’s probably been changed for a few years, I’m not totally sure because I hadn’t eaten it for so long, but my husband was craving it the other day and when looking at how much of which ingredients to put in I notice the number 6 was suspiciously, and happily missing from the box. Instead of requiring 6 tablespoons of butter it called for 3 tablespoons of butter.

Now I’m not saying this is the most healthy thing to eat, or that you should even eat Mac & Cheese at all, but I was extremely happy with the progress and effort some companies are making to at least make their products a bit healthier. I’m really glad they got a clue!

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It’s hard to measure success of any health journey. Sure there’s the scales, but sometimes scales lie. They don’t take into account the actual weight of the food or water you have in your system at the time, they don’t take into account sodium bloating (not to mention *ahem* cycle bloating and they sure don’t account for muscle gain and as we all know muscle weighs more than fat.

So how do you gauge success? Well one way I’ve found it through fitness milestones. If you’ve noticed a difference in your fitness level, how far you can walk, you are starting to jog, you can do twice as many crunches or push ups, you walk up the stairs or tie your shoe with ease, if you’ve noticed a difference in any of these things you’ve probably hit a fitness milestone. It’s just another way to be proud of yourself without being tied to the scale.

Yesterday, my friends, KJ and I made what is, in my opinion, a definite fitness mile stone. For the past 2 months we’ve been getting together every single Saturday morning without fail, walking, training for a 5k event that’s coming up. On our very first time out we’d planned to go 1 mile. Neither of us had really worked out in a while, but when the 1 mile mark came around we were feeling good enough that we actually went 2.5 miles which was a surprise in itself. Since then we’ve been slowly upping the mileage to prepare for that 3.2 mile milestone.

Last week we walked almost 4 miles and couldn’t believe it. It’s only been 2 months, and we’re only meeting once a week (though doing our own workouts during the week) so it was a surprise that our abilities had increased so much. But today, OH today! Yesterday KJ and I walked 5 miles, half of which was with her little one uphill, and it felt GREAT. We couldn’t believe how far we’ve come and we have definitely hit a fitness milestone. In fact, we felt so great we’ve decided to go for a half marathon at the same event next year, something we’d never even want to dream about doing in the past! Talk about success.

My hat is off to KJ for pushing me, what would I do without her?

Oh, and the best part is that we celebrated afterwards by going shoe shopping . . . man are my calves starting to look good.

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You know when you were in elementary school learning to spell and your word for the day was dessert? I don’t know about you but my teacher always said stuff like “The difference between dessert and desert is that dessert has two s’s because you always want two desserts.”

Boy was she right.

Having two desserts, not deserts, is one big reason I got big! But getting healthy doesn’t have to mean a dessert desert, though desserts with mirage calories would be nice!

My favorite dessert right now is ice cream . . . NOT the way I used to, you know, by the pint, but by the serving. Oh and ice cream is great with strawberries or raspberries. There’s nothing wrong with eating ice cream, but try a scoop. Trust me, I have to chant that a lot when I’m indulging.

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It’s time to wish someone a Flabulous Birthday! Yep that’s right, it’s KJ’s birthday!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear KJ! Happy Birthday to you!

We already sort of celebrated with a healthy but delicious halibut dinner and a movie last night. She was SO good though. Being as it’s her birthday she did want a treat, but nothing that would kill all her progress. I got these mini gourmet cupcakes, a special Breakfast at Tiffany’s jeweled one special for her and they were flabulous.

Because they were mini cupcakes, they were perfect for the occasion, without going overboard!

So I just want to say how proud I am of you KJ! You are seriously an inspiration to all of us trying to get healthy.

Have a Flabulous Birthday KJ!

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