And now it's time to...

... get fat and sick.

Allow me to explain...

Yesterday morning, I woke up and decided to go out for a little 5 mile run. My soreness was gone and I felt it was time to slowly get back into my routine of getting up early and getting a run in. All felt right in the world... I wore my Marathon Tech Tee (woo hoo finally a marathon tech tee!)

Modeling my tech tee and my new tech hat! Awesome.

(Obviously I can't just stand there and attempt to look pretty, I have to make some lame pose/face).

The back of the tee: I can't wait for someone to ask me while I'm wearing it... "oh, how far was THAT marathon?" I can just turn around and be like... "check it, bitch."

And, I felt pretty good. Until about 1.3 miles in and I started to climb a hill in my route... and then I started thinking... hmmmm... my legs feel pretty damn dead right now. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. I ended up running 4.5 (cause, I mean... I was already up and out). But, when I got to work, I decided to forgo my immediate work duties and went over to check out Mr. Higdon's Post Marathon plan.

Apparently... you're supposed to sit on your ass all week after a marathon. Well, that's not true... he says you can run a couple of miles on thursday, friday, saturday, and then sunday... sunday you can run for 6-8 miles (thank god... I'd go crazy running another couple of miles). So... even though I already went ahead and ran on Tuesday... I'm going to try to follow his plan pretty closely from here on out... Now, that I've beat those Marathon Demons... I've got my eye on improving (more on that later) and I think it's important for me to recover well and also start to get back into a plan that incorporates speed work, etc.

So... this week, I'll get fat. Ohhhh and FYI: I didn't lose the full 10 pounds (shocking, I know) before the marathon, but I did lose 7 total! So, I'm happy about that and I'm just going to continue to try to lose 3 more pounds and then another 10 pounds, etc... It's a work in progress.

For whatever reason, generally after a marathon I am crazy healthy and washing my hands constantly... sleeping a lot, inhaling oranges and Airborne. It's a weird thing... I just have this notion that I'm way more susceptible (which, I guess I am) to germs and stuff after a marathon. Well, this time around... I wasn't so diligent. I got drunk saturday night and spent about 3 hours sunday morning on my death bed (so, I dont think that helped anything) and last night, as I laid in bed... I started to feel some twinges in my throat.

But, I'm on task today: I've got the Airborne flowing, the Oranges rocking... and I'm hoping its not too late to thwart any germs that have come to rape and pillage my immune system while it's already down.

Don't tread on me, germs!

Ugh. 10 pounds. Ugh.

When I first set out to lose 10 pounds before my marathon. I thought... heh... this will be easy. And at first it was... I schlepped off 5 pounds almost in the blink of an eye! I started thinking... "hmmm... maybe I can lose 15 pounds before the marathon." And then I had one gluttonous weekend and everything went to shit in handbasket.

So, I've been at 7 since the 2nd week of October. And honestly... I haven't been eating tons of bad stuff. I really havent! And I've been running consistently... now... it's true.. I haven't been doing my strength training regime... and that must be contributing to the fact that the pounds just aren't budging. I plan on fitting a couple sessions in this week and next.

So, basically I've got to lose 7 pounds by a week from Monday (because I'll be hardcore tapering that last week and it will be hard to lose any additional weight). Can I do it?

Maybe not when this is all I came back from the grocery store with last thursday:

I mean... come on... there's some Kashi cereal in there... and some low cal Gatorade. And hey... what about those apples, right?? They make up for the diabetic inducing amounts of sugary goodness. (I'm not kidding, this is seriously what I bought at the grocery store last Thursday. I noticed as my stuff was going down the little conveyor belt that hmmmm... this is a really odd and unhealthy combination of food to buy when I'm supposed to be dieting. And then I decided that I had to take a picture of it when I got home). (Also, I need to point out... that the candy bars were on sale 2/.79 and it was a total impulse buy... normally, I never buy full sized candy bars like that...no, seriously, I dont!!!).

So... this weekend all the way through next weekend... It's going to be Healthy Amy time. I can't wait to shed these 7 pounds.

Let's review...

Things have been going awesome with my goal of losing 10 pounds before my marathon... Last week on Thursday... I was down to 5!!!! I started thinking... Hmph. Maybe I could lose 15-20 pounds before my marathon. And Thursday evening came and my dreams of a 15-20 pound weight loss were crushed...

Let me explain...

So... Thursday night a couple of my good college friends came into town for our annual "Tour of SEC Stadiums" weekend. This year, we picked Ole Miss (You can see the post about last years tour stop... Tiger Stadium here) which is about 4 hours from Nashville. We started the tour off right with dinner and beer at Mellow Mushroom and then more beers (and a pink shot of some sort courtesy of Vandy-Montana). Calorie count at this point... ummm... probably like 3000 for the day?

I woke up Friday morning with a raging hangover headache... but somehow convinced myself that a run would make me feel better. It did not. I managed to eek out 4 miles all the while freaking out that I was going to either have to stop and puke on the side of the road... or stop and umm.. use the bathroom on the side of the road. Neither of which make for a comfortable run.

After my run, we went to breakfast... where I had a very cheesy omelet. We tooled around Vanderbilt's campus for awhile after that... checking out the ESPN Gameday setup etc and even saw Lee Corso shoot a spot for ESPN.com (can I just say how much I hate Lee Corso... Ugh).

Lee Corso... right where he belongs... in front of garbage dumpsters.

Then it was time to head down to Memphis... where we would rendezvous with my co-blogger, April and her Husband Greg and stay the night with them. We got into town around 8pm and immediately went out for food and beer. Cheeseburger (in case you're wondering...) calorie count for the day... probably around 2500.

Saturday morning we get up at 5am and start to make our way down to Oxford. We stop at a Wal-Mart grocery store to pick up beer and tailgating supplies. Once we finally get to the cashier in the checkout lane... she tells us... "uhhhh.... you can't buy beer until 7am." Huh? "Are you serious?" we ask her. "Is she serious?" we ask each other. Fine... we decide to drive down the road a bit and just get beer along the way....

We get into Mississippi and get off the Interstate. Our exit just so happens to have a KFC and a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Perfect. We can get chicken and beer and get to Oxford by 8:00ish. Except... KFC doesn't open till 10:30... UGH. We go into Wal-Mart and find out that we can get some chicken tenders fried up there... but we also find out... that we can't buy beer until 8:00am. WTF?????? We figure this must be some crazy ass Wal-Mart rule and take our chances at a gas station right next to Wal-Mart. There is a lady cleaning the door and as we get out of the car, we immediately ask her... "Can we buy beer?" We wait with bated breath... fearing the absolute worst case scenario is about to happen to our tailgate... i.e. No beer. "Of course!" she says. High fives all around.

After some dirt roads (seriously) we roll into Oxford around 8:30 and get a sweet tailgating spot.

Sweet, sweet tailgating spot and set-up.

Representing...

At the tailgate, I proceed to consume... biscuits, chicken tenders, beer, a banana, grapes, cookies, a cupcake, more chicken, and yes... more beer.

Behold... The famed Grove.

After packing up our tailgate, we walked through The Grove on the way to the stadium. And, I have to just say... it's something to see. I mean, you hear about it... but it's something you can't really explain. It's like a really expensive, classy carnival or festival or something. Tent after tent after tent lined up in an orderly fashion. It's not something that I would want to do for every home game (schlep your tailgating shit to and from... I'm more of a tailgate with your actual car kind of gal), but it was definitely something unique and awesome to witness.

I won't bore you with details about the game... except to say that we won!!! Boo ya! Finally got an SEC win under our belt for the season.

Singing the Alma Mater after the win.

Champions, indeed.

After another walk through the grove, we headed back to the car and drove home. Once we got to Nashville: Nachos and beer. Calorie consumption on Saturday: Ummm.. probably 3500?

Sunday morning... I did manage to get a nice 6 mile run in. Though, honestly... I should have ran 10 or so, especially since I had pancakes for breakfast, chips and queso while watching football, various cookies, and a portion of lasagna the size of my freaking head that day. Calories? 300oish.

Monday morning... again another run of about 6 miles... and this was the morning I dared to step back on the scales to see how much weight I had gained. I am sad to say... almost all of it! I had gained 4 pounds over the weekend. Did that stop me from eating Pancakes Monday morning, though? Nope. How about the leftovers of the lasagna from the night before? Ummm... nope.

I am officially back on track though and am back at 7. It's so frustrating though... how you can have one bad weekend of eating like Michael Phelps and wind up a bloated pig. Just goes to show that I must be diligent with this task. I'm hoping that by Monday or so, I'll be back down to 5.

I really wanted to keep this all from you. I wanted to not mention my gluttonous weekend and just pretend that everything was going well... but... I gotta keep it real.

Update...

Alright... it's time for a weekly update on my weight loss project...

Drumroll please....

Ok, well first off... before I tell you the number, I need to get a few things off my chest...

I haven't really dieted that much. Okay, at all, in fact. I mean... I have been watching what I eat... and making some good choices, but, I haven't really been stopping myself from going out to dinner... eating pizza.... and creme brulee... but, I have definitely been eating less of all these bad things than I would normally... so, I guess that's something.

I also haven't really been cross training too much...

And when it comes to temptation... I've kind of failed that test as well...like when a friend (*cough* saboteur *cough*) texted me asking me to go out for a beer after work... I not only said yes, but, I picked a place that specifically had 2 for 1s. (Because I'm frugal... not because I'm a drunk, of course).

So, the odds are stacked against me... and I promise to become more diligent... (at least with the cross-training).

Regardless.... I'm already down to 8!!! Woo hoo... 2 pounds down. Only 8 more to go (for now, at least). I have a feeling that it's going to get a little harder now, though...

(anyone up for happy hour tonight to celebrate??)

I kid, I kid. (kinda).

SABOTAGE...

You would never have to know... I could just skate along around here like I'm eating carrot sticks and alfafa sprouts all day and you'd be none the wiser. But, I can't do that... I'm too honest.

I knew this wasn't going to be easy... there are temptations everywhere... but, I didn't really anticipate fudging on my new weight loss plan on day 1.

You see... yesterday I went to Louisville for a work-related concert... and I'm feeling a little guilty about the onion rings at dinner... and the 6-7 beers (god, I am such a freaking lush these days) at the concert.

But, despite getting home at midnight... I did get up at 5:30 to get in a run with my mom and her neighbor/running partner. I ran 3 miles with them and then hopped on my parents treadmill for another 2 miles.

I'm getting good at taking sober-looking pics while drunk!

I will not let onion rings and beer get the best of me!

The Before...

It's on!

Last night I went home after work, changed clothes and did my 20 minute upper body strength training video. Well, that's not entirely true... I actually took my official before picture first!


Actually... to show you how retarded I am with my camera... these were the first two accidental Before pics...

Ok... so, I've got it figured out now, right?
Yikes, apparently not.

Also... I weighed myself this morning to get my official Before weight. And in order to keep things accountable around here, I've come up with a sophisticated number system to keep track of my weight loss. It's a very complicated computation full of algorithms, proofs and lots of x's and y's and some graphs and whatnot. So, try to keep up as I explain... I want to lose 10 pounds, so we start at the number 10. As I lose weight... for each pound lost, the number will decrease by one. (I know, I know... I told you it was complicated, I'm a math genius).

Here we go... leaner, meaner, and faster Amy is just around the corner.

Day 1 Weight: 10.

No more messing around...

So, we're all friends here, right? I mean, sure, I guess it's more like a virtual friendship or something, but in the virtual sense, I feel like... we all support each other through our highs and lows.

So, it's because of this, that I feel comfortable telling you something that I've just recently come to terms with.

I'm Fat.

Now, before you get all hoighty toighty and denial-y on me, let me explain... I realize that I'm probably average or just slightly fatter than average, but you see... I don't want to be average. I want to be lean and mean and all that jazz. And I know I can be disciplined, I know I can set goals and meet them... it's just... I love nachos. and pizza. and beer. and cookies. And by "love" I mean... "can't live without."

Remember my Summer of Amy Project???? Yeah, it's just sitting out there with one measly post, because you know what?? I never actually did anything about it. I got lazy. But, after perusing the zillion photos of me at my high school reunion last weekend... all I can think of is how fat I look.

Ugghhh... sooo out of shape looking.

What do I want to look like instead? Well, I'd take this body for sure:

Photo courtesy of Athleta where you can order the outfit and tons of other cool clothes, as well as get a wonderful jolt of self-loathing from looking at their buff and fit models. Blah.

So, okay, that's probably not attainable... That girl looks like she spends 6 hours a day working out, but I think it's something to keep me motivated. Instead of getting crazy and setting one GI-NORMOUS goal, I'm going to baby step it. And the first baby step is...

Lose 10 pounds by Nov 8. (My marathon date for those of you keeping track). This shouldn't be too difficult, particularly since right now is like mega-mileage time in my training. But, I've got to do more than run... I've got to eat healthier and I've got to do some consistent strength training (ugghhh). And dropping 10 pounds by my marathon, will definitely help me out come actual race day.

Another way to achieve my goal is to take a break from dating for awhile. You wonder how that makes a difference? Well, when you're eating out 3-5 times a week... it's hard to find yummy healthy things on the menu, plus... it takes up extra time that could be spent working out.

So, here we go. I'm sticking to it this time and I'm expecting you guys to hold me accountable. I will try to post a "before" pic tomorrow and by Nov 8th, my first goal "after" pic will show me 10 pounds lighter. Woo hoo. I'm pumped.

Summer of Amy... Part 1: Arms

It’s like the fitness Gods all aligned yesterday to tell me something very important…

I am a weak, puny, out of shape girl.

First of all… upon waking up, I notice that my right arm is seriously jacked up. I recall the night before and realize… ahhh… 8 games of bowling with a 12 pound ball might be the cause of that. Still… who is sore after bowling for chrissakes? Yup. Me.

Then… as I’m trying on bathing suits all day… I’m thinking about the need for a moo-moo bathing suit to be invented. That is not a good sign.

Lastly… as I’m settled into the couch eating a plate of melted cheese covered baked ruffles watching the Academy of Country Music awards… I see this skinny beotch.

Uggh.
Uggh. Uggh. (Photos courtesy of People.com and Getty Images)

The first thought that runs through my mind is… Has she been eating lately? And then I start thinking… hmmm… she’s really skinny…(as I continue to shove nachos into my mouth) but, she actually looks good really skinny. I wish I was really skinny and looked like that. Within about 90 seconds I get up and do about 20 minutes of various upper body reps.

During my run this morning… I start thinking about Skinny Carrie and how I should start by just focusing on one part of my body at a time. I am starting Cross-fit. Yes, I am going to call next week and that should help. But, to further motivate me… I’ve decided to let my guard down and show you just how awesomely flabby and out of shape certain parts of my body are. Hooray for brutal honesty via the world wide web!

So, first up… it’s summer and I like to wear me some cute halter tops, spaghetti straps, and tank tops… I mean.. doesn’t this just scream summer cute-ness??

I love the shirt and jewelry all-in-one combo! And pink is a kick ass color on me, I must say.

And I wear these things…. I do, but I probably shouldn’t. Because I have flabby, unattractive arms.

So… Part One of the Summer of Amy:

Arms. Notice... lots of extra flab in the tricep area. Ewww. Also notice... no bicep definition.

So... there you have it. My gross, flabby arms. Remember this gross-ness.. because it's going away. I will post progress pics as we go along... (Please, for the love of god let there be some progress).