Thank God for New Days!

Each morning when I rise I am so thankful to God that we can start anew each day! Last night after my little binge and pitty party I went downstairs and hopped on the stationary bike. I rode for an hour, burning off all the calories from my overeating as well as the 500 I try to burn every day. Afterwards I was still full from eating and had NO desire to eat! I drank a bunch of water and headed up to bed. I felt so much better this morning!
I started a new fitness class at the YMCA today. It is called 3-2-1 something or other. Basically you do 3 minutes cardio, 2 minutes weights, and 1 minute abs. I really enjoyed the class. The wieght training was just about right for me. The cardio was a little easy but thanks to the training I have recieved through FWSW I was able to modify and make it harder. I'm looking forward to my Friday mornings now!
Tonight is a birthday party for one of my FAVORITE people! There will be lots of yumminess there. I'm going to Spiece for an intense hour-long workout before I go. My metabolism and my conscience will need it!

Struggling . . .

I am struggling, struggling, struggling right now. This happens about once a month with me. All I want to do is eat. That's all I did last week, aside from exercising. I lost a pound but it came right back on Wednesday. Why do I do this to myself? I always regret it the next day and I know what I SHOULD be doing. I just get in this rut. Thank God there isn't much for horribly bad for me food in the house.

The Week in Review-revised

I can't believe a week has gone by! First of all, I lost another 3.4 pounds last week! Can I get a woohoo?! Last Sunday I went to Fort Wayne and participated in my first 5K. I completed it in 38 minutes! I was very proud of that. On the down side, I hurt my foot. Apparently the high-impact on concrete was a BAD thing. I've run one time since, which sent me into a second round of painful walking. I am majorly bummed about this. It depresses me to not be able to do it. Having an injury makes me feel like I can't succeed, which I know is ridiculous. At this point I am trying to accept that I cannot run for a while. I'm goig to take a month off from it and then see what happens.
ALSO on Sunday last week, I had an opportunity to try Zumba. I suspected I would hate it, but have a friend who loves it so I commited to giving it a try.
If you love Zumba and are easily offended, skip this next paragraph . . .







Zumba is just plain WRONG. It is "exercise" centered around sexually driven dance moves. EVERY SINGLE SONG. Exercise or not, shaking your anything like THAT is completely inappropriate. I kept thinking, "If Jesus were standing right here, would I do this?" And of course the answer was a resounding, "NO!" The worst thing about the whole experience was that I stayed. I knew I should leave but I didn't want to offend my friend. I put her above my moral conscience.
Most would say I am a prude and that I am overreacting. I would disagree. Their voices represent the world and its lies. I know that I am a beautiful creature, created by God. More importantly, I know why I was made. And being "sexy" has nothing to do with knowing, loving, and serving God.

okay . . . I feel better now.




So this week has been TERRIBLE as far as my eating habits. Every day I have eaten too much and have eaten horrible foods at some point. I'm exercising hard but it's all a waste of time when I don't eat right. I was supposed to hit my goal of getting under 200 this Tuesday. That is all but impossible at this point. It has also been a very busy and stressful week in which I have become overwhelmed by it all. And when that happens, I eat. I'm pretty disappointed in myself. I know that all I can do is move on from it and try to do better each day. So, that's what I am going to do.

I Am a Biker Chick

It's true! Two years ago for my birthday my lovely mother bought me a brand new bike. (My biker-chick-friends call the bike "Cory" because they have a ridiculous obsession with naming their bikes!) I carry a special fondness in my heart for my bike. I strap on my helmet, hop on, and suddenly I am twelve again, escaping to a world of freedom! I have no idea how many rides we took that summer or how many miles we racked up, but I do know that I have memories to last a lifetime!
Last summer was a flop with the bike. Being pregnant will do that to a girl and her bike. I did go on one phenomenal ride with the girls in March (yes, that's right, I was SEVEN months pregnant). I barely fit between the seat and the handle bars! Oh, was that ride tough! I think we went20 miles. I had to be picked up before the end because I couldn't make it the last two miles. And the girls could have gone farther. I know they could have but not once did they complain. They were so gracious about turning around and heading back. I almost lost my life that day in a horrible bike accident. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad. But that day will go down in history as the day the L tried to kill me! hahahaha!
This summer I am back to the old, new, ME! I had my first big ride of the season! It was a short little jont (gont, jaunt?) from one park to the next, about 12 miles. When the others left I rode back out to the other park and back. I rode a total of 20 miles! WooWHOO! Man did that feel good!
flashback
When I was twelve my mom was in the hospital a lot over the summer. That summer was a mixture of emotions but one thing stands out. We were FREE! Nothing against mom, but she ran a tight ship. (I am thankful for that tight ship, friends. It kept me safe from a lot of ugly things in the world.) But while she was in the hospital, dad had to work and take care of us and still manage to spend time with her. This translated to LOTS of independence for the Frisch kids! Sure, we still had our chores to do. And, we really were worried about mom. She had been diagnosed with Crones desease, which is AWEFUL, and had major surgery that summer. But during much of our free time we were out on our bikes, riding the neighborhood (in the STREET! Shocking, I know!) Our favorite ride was to go from our house to Foster park and then ride all the way out to Tillman Park. I am guessing this to be about 12 miles, round trip. This was a ride we were allowed to take and we felt like "big kids" getting to go so far! We'd take that ride two or three times a day sometimes! Oh the memories!
Today we took that same ride, from Foster to Tillman. It was very poignant to me. Being on my bike puts me in touch with that little girl that is who I really am, beneath all the layers that time, marriage, and motherhood have covered me with.
I look forward to many rides this summer! L and R don't know it yet, but I have great things in store for us! Marti and "Cory" are BACK!

Training for a Mini Marathon

Last year, inspired by The Biggest Loser, the FWSW crew participated in a mini-marathon for the last week of their program. It took place on the weekend of July 4th. I don't think I will ever forget that day. Tony was about 7 or 8 weeks old. I went to cheer them on. I went to walk some laps with people when they looked like they needed a friend. I went because I love all things FWSW!
Well, I started with a friend and never stopped! (almost) We walked the first 20 laps or so and then started jogging. I felt so good! I couldn't believe that I was keeping up! And Tony was happy to lay in the arms of Tina's mom and get some good snuggle time.
Suddenly I realized that I could actually complete the course! So I kept going. After a while my abdominal area started to HURT. What the heck! Oops. I suddenly remembered that emergency C-SECTION I had just had! Maybe I shouldn't jog. Then the baby needed to nurse. But I didn't want to stop because I knew I would run out of time! So . . . I nursed the baby while walking a couple more laps. I call it, "Promoting Breastfeeding!" Anywho . . .
Well then I had to go to the bathroom. Taking must two minutes off of the course was NOT GOOD! My whole body, from the waiste down, started to cramp up. That last 1/3 of the mini was one of the hardest thing I have every done, outside of a birthing room at a hospital. Every step was pain.
I went out to lunch afterwards with a couple of friends. I could barely walk from my van to the restaurant door. It took five days for me to be able to walk without wincing.
On the one hand, I was so proud of completing the mini (in 3 hours and 58 minutes) and on the other I couldn't believe how out of shape I was!

9 months later I am gearing up for the opportunity to participate in that marathon again! July 3, 2010 is my target date. Thats 11 weeks from tomorrow. I have been back at the gym for over three months now. This week I started training for the mini. There is a great website, http://www.running.about.com, that has all kinds of info. I found a training schedule there to help me train. So last night I jog/walked 3 miles! I am incredibly slow but I am doing it!
My goal this year is not so much to finish the mini fast, 'cause Lord knows THAT is IMPOSSIBLE! My goal is to finish it stong! My goal is to be able to walk out of there, as opposed to limping out of there!

I better go. I broke my own new rule and am eating breakfast at the computer. I am seeing why this is a bad idea. It's been an hour since I sat down here and I am STILL not done eating! (Not a big meal, just a lot of typing! ha!)

Be Mindful!

I went to a FANTASTIC meeting for FWSW last night. Ann Reidenbach spoke to us about "Mindful Eating". A lot of what she had to say made sense to me. What does it mean to be "mindful"? What is a "mindful eater"? We of course were only able to touch the tip of the ice berg, but it was a great start!

According to Ann, a mindful eater is diligently aware of what is going on within their body as well as their surroundings when choosing to eat or not to eat, WITHOUT JUDGEMENT.

We spent a bit of time talking about what hunger feels like, what happens when we get too hungry, too full, etc. Anne had a great hunger/fullness scale to aid in the discussion. The gist of the conversation was that we should feel hungry before we eat. Not crazy over the top pshycho hungry, but reasonably strong signals of hunger. Then, we should enjoy our food, taking our time to eat it. We should stop eating when we feel comfortably full.

The tricks to that
*You have to be PREPARED to be able to eat when you reach that hungerness level.
*You need to not be doing anything while you eat so that you can actually enjoy the "experience".
*You have to learn where that line is for you between starting to feel full, being comfortably full, and very full.

I am enjoying a snack of light cheese and crackers while typing this. Snacks don't count, right?

Finally, we did a rather strange "tasting" exercise. It was strange, but it was GOOD! First, we were supposed to get in a sort of meditative place. Then we took a raisin and really focused on it with our senses. You know, how does it feel between your fingers, what does it look like/smell like. Then we put it in our mouth but didn't chew it. I know, it sounds goofy, but stick with me! We again focused on texture/feel/taste. Then we chewed it, continuing to be aware of the food. We chewed it a lot. Then swallowed. In all of it's goofiness it made COMPLETE SENSE! One person even said that they suddenly realized that they don't actually LIKE raisins! Another said that she had never really tasted a raisin before this! It was a great exercise in mindfulness. How often do we just sit down and start shovelling the food into our mouths? Do we really taste what we are eating?

Ann recommends doing this with one food every day and then eventually doing this with one meal a day. I don't know if my scatter-brain can handle a whole meal! BUT, I will say that today I made a point of making a nice lunch and sitting at the table, far away from the computer to enjoy my lunch. I couldn't help myself and ended up skimming the local paper for a few minutes, but I was definitely much more aware of the meal and how wonderful it was.

For a while now I have been eating on a schedule, whether I am hungry or not. But today I am trying to wait until I actually feel hungry. And, I am trying to pay attention to how my stomache feels to let me know when to stop. I though my lunch was kind of big today, but I ate it all and enjoyed it. And when I was done I was comfortably full. Three and a half hours later I started to feel hungry and had a snack.

And finally, Ann said something that made me stop and think. Know your greatest weekness and respect the food that triggers you. So cookies are definitely a trigger for me, especially my homemade ones. I need to respect the draw that those cookies have on me and keep them out until I am ready to overcome that weakness. I think. (I make really good cookies, man!)

Stats

I currently weigh 208 pounds, depending on the day. In the last 3 1/2 months I have lost 35 pounds, which I am very proud of. I was gifted with a six month membership to he worlds GREATEST gym at the start of the new year. I have been doing my best to take full advantage of that! I take classes when I can (my favorites are kickboxing and power (weightlifting) ) and when classes aren't happening I spend a lot of time with my arch-nemesis the stairmaster.

I am currently mentoring a fabulous group of people who are in a weightloss competition called Fort Wayne's Smallest Winner. You should check them out. The website is www.fortwaynesmallestwinner.com and they are awesome! I was lucky enough to be a contestant during the first year and lost 70 pounds! Now I am working on getting back to that winning weight and move beyond to some bigger and better goals! I am not really sure what a "mentor" really is yet, but I am doing my best to be supportive and helpful to these new contestants. They are so inspiring to me! The work very hard and never stop trying!

As for my goals I would really like to get down to 160 pounds. Even more, I would really like to get to that weight by July 10th, which is the finale for the contest. It is a pretty tough goal, but then who wants an easy goal? Not me!

Another new goal for me is to learn to climb a rock wall. This is something I never thought I would be able to do. And, I am a little afraid of heights. When I hit that 160 I am planning to find a place in my area where I can learn to do this. It is a bit scary for me to contemplate, but also very exciting! Imagine, being at a weight were I would be comfortable enough to even try!

So, my biggest challenge in this journey is also my biggest inspiration and motivation. I have been blessed with six beautiful little boys. They are all about two years apart, spanning in age from 11 months to 11 years. We are a homeschooling family, although we do send our little ones to preschool an kindergarten. They require much of my time and attention. I love them so very much and give pretty much all of me to them. Unfortunately that doesn't leave much time for ME! Hence the extra pounds.

My husband is a great support to me. Sometimes that is hard for him and sometimes I can be a bit demanding. It is a pretty big step for us to be at a place where being fit and healthy is important to BOTH of us! Him being on the same page as me is making all the difference in the world!

Losing It With Six

So here it is. For a while I have been toying with the idea of a new blog, all about trying to lose weight. I know, they are a dime a dozen. But this is ME! Fabulous, incredibly interesting, wonderful ME! Right?!

Sometimes I just want to vent about this process and what better place to do that than a blog?

So here I go . . .