Stronger, Better, Faster, Happier page 4

[Kakes]

Thought it would be another down and out exercise day. I was SO dead tired. I sent hubs and the boys out for a 5k run. Older girl child was not happy about that. The day was gloriously sunny and she and I both needed to get out in it. I promised her I'd take her for a walk after the youngest girl child was a sleep and the boys were home. Hubs was amazing and cleaned house while I laid around. Once I took an iron tablet, things started looking up. We had just set out on our "walk" when the darling little broke out running and yelling, "We're going to run miles together mom!" I laughed and we took off. Those little legs can go! She was pretty hilarious. We ended up running about a mile, playing hard at the park- climbing, pretending, and swinging on monkey bars. Then I turned around to say hi to a friend and she took off up the path. This resulted in some good hard sprints for me! We had a blast and I was feeling much better by the time we got back.

B- skipped (IF)
L- cinnamon almond pancakes with butter, strawberries and real maple syrup, beef patty with veg mixed in
S- banana, a few walnuts, shot of HWC
D- chicken coconut korma over rice w/ steamed broccoli and butter

Went to book club tonight (very un-secret code name for a girls night). Of all the refreshment, I was left with the veg plate and water. Skipped out on the colored chemical sugar water, fruit pizza, cinnamon cream cheese croissants, fake cheese and chips, and caramel popcorn. I was totally cool with it though- I'd just eaten dinner and was full. Only nibbled on a little veg. I went for the company anyway.

[DarthFriendly]

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[Kakes]

The last few days I've completely lost the desire to track and record everything I eat and do. I'm kinda stalled out in a plateau and caught myself scale/measurement obsessing. So I'm going to take a break from that for a little bit and just be.
Birthday season is in full swing at our house. I've been trying to steer clear of the "primal baked goods" for the most part (save for the Saturday morning pancakes for the kids routine), but kid birthdays call for cake. Tomorrow I'll be making this German Chocolate Torte for the birthday boy. He has requested primal pancakes and bacon with fruit for breakfast and Salad and Meatza for Dinner. He got to pick what treats he would take to his class and I'm pretty dang proud that he chose clementines. He's always been our active and crazy little meat monster, so the Primal life suits him well. He loves it!

[Kakes]

I have a problem. I took an entire 2 or 3 days off measuring and a whopping 1 day off weighing. I'm just too curious!!
I always think I'm on a plateau, but in reality, I'm still losing fat slowly and just not losing weight. I do LHT a lot.
Silly, silly girl.
I'm nearing the end of a great IF right now (about 15 hrs in... I'll get hungry at some point). It's younger boy child's birthday today! He is 7! I got up (without needing to crawl back into bed) and made almond pancakes and bacon. Everyone else sat down to an awesome birthday breakfast and I wanted nothing to do with the food. I didn't even save myself bacon for later like usual! I think it's partial subconscious guilt issues over my heavy cream and dark chocolate addiction. None of that! Guilt has no play in my WOL anymore!!
I was raised on guilt. Have I mentioned that? My parents NEVER yelled. But my brilliant darling daddy was an absolute pro at instilling guilt. Guilt. trip. masta! Hubs can attest. I have had guilt issues for decades.... almost 3 decades to be exact. WLB is the king of brushing off guilt and worry. He's all chill and shrugs and "whatever happens, happens". I think it's made me feel like I have to make up for it. He is wise though. I am learning.
So I'm going to try to brush off the silly little guilt trip I have over measuring myself too often.

............... 2/6 ... 2/15 ... 2/21 ... 2/28 ... 3/13
Bust ...... 37.5 ... 37.5 ... 37.5 ... 37.5 .... 37.5
Waist ...... 29 .... 28.5 .... 27.5 .... 27 ..... 26.5
Hipline ..... 40 .... 38.5 .... 37 ..... 36 ...... 35.5
Hips/Butt 42.5 ... 41.5 ... 40.5 ... 40 ....... 39
Mid Thigh . 23 .... 22 ...... 21 .... 20.5 ..... 20

So it's slowed a little. I'm not losing an inch every week anymore, but I am still shrinking.
Last night I felt the need to move more than I had during the day. I had taken a sunny walk with the girls, and done a few pull ups, but body wanted more.
So I pumped out 50 push-ups (real ones, not girly ones). FIFTY! That was an accomplishment. I did some more pull ups... not sure how many. Then some weighted squats. 15 reps with 70 pounds. I'd like to bump up that weight, but without a spotter or mats, that will have to happen when my strongman is home. I ended up in a little late night yoga session as well- just needed to move! It felt awesome. Now if I could just get my sleep adjust to this stinky DLS time, I'd be golden. Planning to do tabata sprints today.

[Kakes]

We had salad and meatza for dinner. Then we broke out the birthday cake. This thing was gorgeous, and ridiculously yummy. It was paleo- nothing suspect or new to me. No flour, no sugar except in the thin chocolate mid-layer. But I used regular semisweet chocolate chips, melted with coconut oil and some 100% chocolate for the ganache thinking it'd be fine. Well it took less than 20 minutes until I was in major digestive pain. And I mean... swallowed razor blades, can't move, breathe or speak PAIN. It has hideous. I've had 4 babies without pain meds. I've had my belly muscles torn apart from the inside out. I've had my hip ripped out of the socket. I've had bruises on my brain. I know pain. This was PAIN. My stomach distended and was so swollen and painful I couldn't touch it. I was burping like a bullfrog. I finally just laid out flat in my bed and didn't move. It only lasted about an hour and a half, but it was so so awful. And then poof... just gone. My tummy is still a little gurgly and I have some gnarly gas now and then, but no more pain. Guess who won't be touching those leftovers.

[WarlordBlade]

I'll eat 'em! That was good cake! Maybe next time we just try with some 70% or higher bars eh?

[Kakes]

WOOT! Out of curiosity I punched my old numbers and my new numbers into a body fat percentage calculator (2 different ones). I know none of them are perfectly accurate, but I figure that if I use the same ones consistently, I can at least tell approximately how much I've lost. In the last month alone I've lost about 7% body fat!! I am stoked about that!
This week has been busy and stressful. I ended up doing tabatas on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. Then yesterday I went on a 3.5 mile run with my sis-in-law. She had injured her back, so we took it easy, but I felt so strong and capable. I could have taken off, but chose the social aspect instead. We had fun. Then afterwards I showed off some of my yoga poses... and fell out badly again. This time it was gentler, and I had the time and foresight to get my head tucked so it was easier on my neck, but I'm still a little sore. My sleep has been sketchy lately due to little munchkins who, haven eaten too many primal sweets or eaten dinner too late, keep waking me up during the night. It has been kind of silly. Requests to use the toilet, have food, go in the car, get extra kisses, etc. at 1:30 and 4:00 in the morning. They usually go right back to sleep, but it sure makes it harder to want to get up in the morn.
Tomorrow is my family's St. Patty's Day fun run in the mountains. 5k or 10k- and we're taking the kiddos along. It should be fun. I'm hoping my body is cool with it, because with all of the mental and physical 'go' this week, it has been begging for a rest day. Sunday is coming body, just hold on!

Lately I've had PB come up in conversation a lot. I swear to myself I'll just keep quiet until someone asks or brings it up and it seems to ALWAYS come up. Not surprisingly, it makes so much sense that I've had many friends and family members jump on board the healthy train in the past 2 1/2 months. For some reason the ease of their decision making makes me feel slightly guilty- like I'm to blame for their intelligent decision. *chuckle* I don't want to convince people, I want to inform people. But I think it's just the weight of facilitating a life-changing decision. It feels good... and slightly nerve-wracking at the same time because there's that silly nagging that if it doesn't work, I'll be to blame. So far, no one has regretted joining the club, which I'm happy about.

PS. The pain Tuesday- it was definitely the chocolate chips. I made cupcakes for the little 7 year old's friend party. Basically the same recipe, but used quality 85% dark instead of chocolate chips. No problems! Huzzah! That said, time to lay off the baked goods (even the primal ones). 2 March birthdays down, 1 to go.

[Kakes]

Family fun run was definitely family, sort of fun, and not enough run for me. Hubs wanted to run the 10k, and offered to take the kids in the jogging stroller so that I could really run. But the almost 10 boy and the 7 boy begged for mama to run the 5k with them, so I figured I'd be a good mom instead of a good runner and take the kids. I knew in the first tenth of a mile, with the girls in the double jogging stroller and a boy dragging from each side of the push bar, that this would be interesting. I think we walked more than ran- the boys whined the whole way. "This is HAAAAARRD!" I always answered, "Tell yourself you are strong and happy, and you will be. We can do hard things!!" It was frustrating, but I kept a smile on my face and played the cheerleader. About halfway through my mom (who was walking with my dad), called to us to wait up and took the stroller, "So you can run!" But the stroller wasn't the problem. The boys still wanted to stick with mom despite numerous opportunities to rest and walk with Grammy and Papa. So I ran/walked/skipped/danced/walked/played trying to get my boys to lighten up and enjoy. We stopped at park exercise stations and I showed them how to use the push up, vault and dip bars. By the time we hit 2.25 miles, the 10k crowd caught up to us and beat us to the finish line. I hope my kids will remember that forever. I hope they will remember that their mom cheered them on, and stuck with them, and spewed motivational sayings at them while they rolled their eyes. And I hope they remember how good it felt to run across the finish and know that they'd done it.
After the run there was a Leprechaun Lunch. Wraps, fruit and veg with chips, treats and soda on the side. We unwrapped the wraps and just ate the insides, and stuck to the fruit and veg. The kids were allowed to split a rice krispy treat between the 4 of them, but the older girl child sneaked soda and gummy bears when mom wasn't looking and spent the entire ride home screaming. Sugar makes her angry.
Sunday rest day felt great. We were still busy, but the long midday nap made up for it. The littlest little gets fed sugary treats in her church nursery class, and so we spend Sunday nights with a weepy, angry 2 year old. I've gotten them to stop giving her anything with gluten, but I wish they would quit it with the marshmallows, fruit gummies and caramel covered rice cakes and just give the kids fruit or something. I might start taking a treat bag just for her.
Today there is another family get together planned for the father in law's b-day. Hubs fam is at least sensitive to different eating styles, and has made it a burrito/salad bar with fruit and cream for dessert. They are planning a casual run before hand. I want to participate, but I'm not sure my body loves running every other day. *shrug* I guess we'll see.

[WarlordBlade]

Next event like this we do together we'll either ditch the kids or I'll let you leave us!! Sorry you had to deal with them!

[Kakes]

Just came off a 16 hour fast that I finished off with some bike tabatas. Tuna with homemade lemon dill mayo and a big bowl of Beef Borscht with a dollop of sour cream. I am satisfied and I feel good! I'm wearing the skinny pants I bought a month ago that pretty much fall off now. One of these days I'll take the time to tailor them. Until then, I'll just make sure not to sit in any crack-exposing seats.
Life has been WAY too busy lately and I've been feeling that overwhelmed/depressed-because-I-must-not-be-adequate-enough-to-keep-up. My first thought is to check my fat intake (because fat gives me magical powers right?). WLB reminded me the other day that not everything is diet related. He's right. He usually is.... at least mostly right. So some TENS therapy on my stressy neck, some saying 'no' to more scheduling requests, some dark chocolate without caring about the carbs, and some simplifying of birthday plans- a side of good fasting and exercise and I'm in much better mental space than I was yesterday.
Guilt be gone, worries be banished. I am what I am today and that is enough.

Gonna go sew a bunch of superhero masks for 4 year olds.