Confessions of a Sugarholic

Happy Monday, Readers. It's definitely been a week of developments. All week, my stall has been in the back of my mind nagging slightly, but not discouraging me. If anything, it was nagging me to work harder and not quit. I was very determined this week, and I also started my new weight training plan for the next five weeks.  There was some hella sweat and pain this week. I was tired, and I was suffering from muscle fatigue - which can be a good thing. Muscles break down when stressed, and repair themselves, which makes you stronger. Friday, my leg day, incorporated and additional set of squats and lunges. So now I do wide stance and close stance on squats and walking lunges and side lunges. I thought nothing of the side lunges since they appeared to be quite innocent. My butt and legs are still sore...three days later! My interval running has also improved. I notice that my heart rate isn't as high as it was when running intervals at 4 mph - which means my endurance is i...

Hey everyone! I know it's been a few weeks since I updated. During that time, I hit my three post-op milestone. I didn't have any doctor appointments or anything, but I have been trying different foods and textures. Some agree with me... and some don't. Matilda is still in control and she still runs the slow. I still feel restriction, and I'm eating a constant 800-1000 calories a day and eating four small meals. It seems to be working well. My appetite isn't out of control - even with my workout schedule, and I eat about every 3 hours or so. Hi Matilda! I have my surgery date and tummy name on the back. Speaking of Matilda, my tummy arrived about a week ago. My tummy pillow is a nice reminder of my surgery. She's cute and squishy. I also can toss her around if her namesake is acting up a bit. If any of your are curious as to where she came from, let me know, and I'll give you the deets. The dark blue portion of the pillow is pretty true. My stomac...

Hello my lovely readers, and Happy Labor Day for those of you who reside in the United States. I hope you take advantage of the time off to do something you enjoy. For those of us who live in northwest Pennsylvania/northeast Ohio, it's a lovely day. I started my day with some activity.  I did some weight training - I bought 2 ten pound dumbbells and some resistance bands and put those to good use. I also swung my 20 pound kettlebell - single arm swings, snatches, squats and full American swings. I'll admit I was curious/concerned how my incision sites would react. I have one incision that goes quite deep and there were some internal stitches that may take 8-10 weeks to fully heal, but I was given the green light to start weights at 6 weeks.  It's been 7 weeks now, and no pain anywhere. I'm quite pleased with that so I'll make sure to incorporate more weights 3x a week for about 30 minutes along with my other cardio. So, how is Matilda doing? She's great. ...

Long time no read, right?  I know.  I'm seriously absent and tardy from blogging.  I decided to take a much needed vacation from blogging (and a lot of other things).  Let me fill you in on what I've been up to since I've been away. In my last entry, I shared that I completed my first half marathon.  It was an amazing experience.  I'm so glad I did it, and I plan to do it again.  It was also mentally draining and physically exhausting.  After the marathon, I had two trips coming up - Minneapolis and Jamaica.  So, I decided to take a well deserved vacation from blogging.... and healthy eating. Yes, sir!  I was living la vida loca!  If I wanted it, I ate it.  I ate heaps of hot tamales and jelly bellies.  So much so that I'm surprised I didn't turn into either of those things.  It's funny how the candies I crave aren't loaded with fat. In fact, my favorites pride themselves on being fat free.  That's great, r...

Hey readers!  Sorry for not posting last week.  Nothing was wrong.  I just didn't have anything profound to share, and I'm thinking that's not a bad thing.  I feel like my new lifestyle is taking hold and cementing into place, and sometimes I don't have much to report.  Or it could have been because I did my longest, long run as part of my 14 week training program for the Cleveland Half Marathon (TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! YIKES!), and it completely tired me out.  10 miles.  I think it went well.  I felt like it would have been better if I had water available to drink though out.  I was quite dehydrated after finishing so I talked up on water to rehydrate. The half marathon has many water breaks so I feel I'll be okay.  Plus, when I finished I felt like I could still continue, and at that distance, I would only have 3 more miles left. I definitely feeling better about the Half. This past Saturday, I ran my first 5K and I finished in ...

Hey everyone!  Sorry I didn't post last week.  I didn't have the best weekend, and I felt completely out of it.  I also fell off the wagon.  Not completely, but it was enough for a wake up call.  I've been doing a lot of self-analysis over the last week to figure out what my next step needs to be.  It was very humbling.   Over the last year or so, I've been on a journey to change my life and improve my health. I was tired of sitting on the sidelines watching others enjoy life and wishing I could be them.  I've talked about this before in prior posts.  I wasn't living.  I was tired of eating my emotions, and food just wasn't filling the void anymore.   So I got off my unmotivated, lazy behind and got to work.  I started tracking my calories, working out and researching.  I wanted to know what I could do to keep my metabolism burning and get the weight off.  I had plans for what I would do when I was successful...

Hey Readers!  I hope you guys don't mind that I took a break last week.  I wasn't taking a vacation.  I had homework, research, and decisions to make.  Let me explain. I knew that losing weight by using calorie restriction would only get me so far.  Our bodies are very smart, and they adapt very quickly.  In my case, I have a tremendous amount of weight to lose.  So at the beginning, eating less and moving more was a no brainer.  The weight fell off quickly and steadily.  In that time, my body was most likely in shock thinking, "WTF does she think she's doing?  I can't keep up with what she's doing!"  But, eventually, it did. When your body adapts, the weight loss tends to taper off and stabilize - the dreaded plateaus.  I'm sure I would still be able to lose weight, but it would be slow-going and frustrating.  When this happens to a lot of people in my situation, they become despondent and start falling into da...

Hey everyone!  I know I didn't post during Thanksgiving week.  It wasn't because I completely derailed and fell off the wagon.  I honestly didn't have anything to report.  My weight pretty much stayed the same.  I worked out really hard that week so I could enjoy my Thanksgiving with my family and friends.    I also spent a little too much time online enjoying the Black Friday sales.  I couldn't help it.  It's amazing that I actually have choices now.  Skinny jeans, leggings, platform heels... These are all things I thought I'd never be able to wear.  I tried on a outfit that I got from Macy's, and I asked my mom for her opinion.  She just looked at me with her mouth wide open.  So, I'm thinking it must look pretty bad.  She just shook her head and said, "I can't believe I'm looking at my daughter.  You look amazing."  Okay...I had to go compose myself after that.  That meant so much coming fr...

Hey Readers!  I hope everyone had a productive week.  Sometimes I find that short work weeks are more challenging than regular ones because your schedule is a bit out of wack.  Considering that I was at war with my body, I was a bit apprehensive about this week.  I just wanted to get myself back to "normal."  Get my schedule back on track.  I admit that I haven't felt like "myself" lately.  I don't know if it due to me adjusting to being in a relationship again.  Maybe I was totally too pumped up for my birthday, and we all know how that ended.  I just know that I was tired not "moving."  I felt I was stagnant, and that plateau was just weighing on me.  More so than Doubting Thomas and his sidekick ever could. Plateaus are tough.  And this one was even worse because I'm so close to the century club.  It seemed like I hit 90 pounds, and my body refused to budge.  Back and forth I went.  I was up. I was ...