Intermittent Fasting update

I want to keep my brain from thinking about the orange man who is currently THE WORST and DOING NOTHING to stop a virus that has killed over 200,000 people in the US....so I thought that I would give a quick update on how intermittent fasting is going!

I started IF in the last week of January and wrote about it here. It's funny to look back on it now because things have changed! I was consistently doing IF until the pandemic hit in March. Even when I went on a work trip I skipped breakfast, presented all morning long, and didn't eat anything until lunch and was perfectly fine. As soon as I was stuck at home with the kids, working 24/7,  and freaking out over COVID, I started to eat all of my feelings and the 13 pounds that I had lost with IF earlier in the year went right back on my body.

After the July 4th holiday, I realized that I needed to get my sh*t together and started back up with IF. Through some googling, I found the "Delay, Don't Deny: Intermittent Fasting Support" Facebook group and joined. I also download the Delay, Don't Deny audible book and started listening to it on walks around the neighborhood. Turns out the tea that I was drinking back in January/February is on the naughty list and I wasn't truly "clean fasting." So I decided to suck it up and start to drink black coffee in the morning. It's been about two months and as I mentioned during my latest DITL post, black coffee is still gross, but I can tolerate it.

So what do I do these days for IF? Well, I close my eating window (aka stop eating by 7-7:30pm most nights) and I generally don't open my eating window until 2 or 3pm the next day. I'm not woozy, I'm not tired (in fact it is the opposite), I don't have trouble working out before I eat (in fact I prefer it since I don't have food sloshing around in my stomach), and I'm really not that hungry until about 2pm or so. The only thing that I ingest is a cup of black coffee and water until the afternoon. On the weekends I end up eating a bit earlier and only fast 16-17 hours so that I can eat lunch with the kids and CP.

Honestly, it's SO EASY. I don't have to worry about lunch most days because some times I'll have leftovers, sometimes I will just eat snacks (grapes, snap peas, etc), or sometimes I'll make scrambled eggs. Then I look forward to eating a full meal at dinner. 

CP thinks that it is weird and that I am "starving myself" but I truly am not hungry and I'm not eating diet foods...but yet I am still losing weight. So far 7 pounds and this week a friend of mine remarked that I look like I have lost weight (yay!). I can definitely tell in my face! The same author of Delay, Don't Deny has a longer, more recent book that goes into more detail about the science/various studies behind fasting and I have started to read it on walks around the neighborhood. 

I hope to come back with another update in a few months with more weight lost!

My first week on intermittent fasting

Week one down for Intermittent Fasting! I was pretty worried the first day and how it would go- it was certainly a mental game. I kept thinking about the fact that I wasn't eating and I just kept chugging water. I thought that I would have to slowly ramp up to 16 hours over a few days so my original goal was 13 hours, but I drank my Hi Caf black tea for caffeine and ended up lasting 17 hours! By the time it was time to eat, I really wasn't even that hungry.

1/23 17 hours

Through some research, I learned of an app called LIFE and it has been really helpful! I can keep track of my fasts and there is a place to post messages if you have a question, need support, etc.

I'm realizing that IF is great for not snacking after dinner! 

1/24 16.5 hours

1/25 17 hours

Saturday morning was the first day I worked out while fasting (the first couple days I would wait until the afternoon after I ate). I thought that I would be woozy or slow, but I ended up doing two MM100 workouts and I felt fine.

Saturday night we had a party at a friend's house for the Lunar New Year so I fasted Friday night through Saturday during the day but knew that I wouldn't be able to fast after drinking. Sure enough, we ended up going out to breakfast Sunday morning and there was only 9 hours between meals.

1/26 No fasting

1/27 19.5 hours

Today was my first day that I was FREEZING during the day. I had a blanket on my legs and a wrap around my shoulders, but still ended up increasing the temperature on the second floor so that I could work. 

1/28 19.5

Making lunch around 2 or 3 is super easy- eggs! I love not having to think about making an elaborate lunch other than scrambling some eggs and eating fruit.

1/29 20 hours

I weighed in this morning and had lost 3 pounds since the previous Wednesday!

1/30 19.5 hours

I ended up making banana bars with chocolate chips out of very ripe bananas for the kids and then ended up eating one close to 9:45pm when they came out of the oven (they were for the kids). It tasted delicious, but I was sort of mad that I ate something so late because then it pushed my fast back.

1/31 16.5 hours

According to the app, I have fasted for 118 hours and have spent 40 hours in ketosis (basically the LIFE app says that you are in ketosis after 12 hours of not eating). This is EXTREMELY easy and I really think that it is something that I can do for better health and to lose weight. I haven't been hungry and my caffeine intake has decreased as I haven't really needed it. Win win!

Have you tried IF?

2020 goals

Goals for 2020

1. Eat one vegetarian dinner a week.

I am mindful of how terrible meat is to our environment. We certainly eat more chicken and turkey than red meat these days, but it still has an effect. I generally don't control what we eat but will push for this change in 2020. I would even be okay if the meal is fish. :-)

2. Lose 25 pounds this year.

I am feeling reinvigorated in my goal to lose weight again. I had a goal before I turned 40, I met that goal, but then have slowly gained 10 pounds after I had to stop running in June. I'm back in the Weight Watchers app, tracking my food and paying attention again. I'm not happy in my clothes or my skin so it's time to get back on track.

3. Finish Morning Meltdown 100 by February 21st.

As of today I have completed 72 out of the 100 workouts- this is the LONGEST I have lasted on any Beachbody program! I love this program. I mean, I hate some of the days, but I push play anyway and then celebrate the days where I feel strong and I love the program. It took me 70 days to complete the first 50 workouts....I have exactly 52 days in 2020 to complete the last 50 workouts. I had two work trips already this month and I stayed dedicated but I really want to finish this workout before we leave for Hawaii on February 21st!

4. Get rid of my plantar fasciitis.

I should have known better than to run the 5k on Thanksgiving after I hadn't run since September. Continuing to do MM100 has not exactly helped but I really scale down my jumping- especially on cardio days. I'm just really sick of heel pain that lasts for months on end. My new Hoka One One shoes help, but I desperately need to do something. There is something called the "strechlab" coming to my town in March, so maybe I need to try that out?

5. Spend at least one day knocking on doors on a get-out-the-vote effort. 

I want to make sure that I have done absolutely everything to get the orange asshole out of office. It's no longer enough to write a postcard or contact elected officials (which I will still do). I need to step up my level of effort in 2020, even if it makes me nervous. 

6. Practice tennis with Izzy. 

We have two tennis courts a few blocks away from our house...I just need to stay patient with her and remember that she will only get better with practice.

7. Try at least one day of Intermittent Fasting.
I've read some articles on the benefits and at a minimum it should keep me from snacking at night. I figure it can't hurt!

I should have more goals, but this seems like a good number since it is already almost the end of January. :-)

2019 Goals- how did I do?

Let's check in on my 2019 goals!

1. Eat at least one vegetarian dinner every week. 

I don't really have control over this as CP is the person that cooks every night, but we did very poorly with this one. I would like to push for this in 2020.

2. Lose 25 pounds this year. 

Well unfortunately this fall I backslid into TERRIBLE habits when I couldn't run anymore and while 
I definitely work out more working from home, my daily step count is terrible. It has

turned into gaining weight....so now I have even more to lose in 2020. :-(

3. Work out for at least 30 minutes at least three times a week. 

This has gone pretty well. I started Morning Meltdown 100 (MM100) through Beachbody this

fall and all of the workouts are less than 30 minutes. Even when I travel I can do the workouts

that don't require weights so I should hit workout #50 TODAY! 

4. Continue monthly dates with CP.

We probably hit this.

5. Get our credit card balance to $0 this year.

Done! We hit this halfway through the year and have continued this even through 

Christmas. Woo hoo!

6. Get a new job. 

Done! I love my new job!

7. Continue to be politically active whether it is writing postcards to voters, contacting my

elected officials about things that are important to me, or participating in marches.

Still doing this. Will likely step up my game in 2020.

8. Run in at least three races this year including the Soldier Field 10 miler.

Done! This spring I did a 10k, Soldier Field 10 miler, and a half marathon. On Thanksgiving

Day I powered through a turkey trot 5k which left me in pain from plantar fasciitis for days (I did

not run at all before the race). I have new shoes (Hoka One One) but still find myself in pain 

because I do some jumping in MM100.

9. Run one race with Izzy this year.

Izzy sprained her ankle right before Thanksgiving so we couldn't do the turkey trot together (I

had signed her up for it). Maybe we can do a race next year?

2019 goals- check-in

Let's check in on my 2019 goals!

1. Eat at least one vegetarian dinner every week. 

Not doing well with this. I have less control as CP is the person to make all of our meals and we certainly eat less red meat than we did a few years ago, but we are not doing vegetarian meals as I had envisioned.

2. Lose 25 pounds this year. 

Ha ha. Dammit. Losing weight is not happening. I've got 6 months to make this happen.

3. Work out for at least 30 minutes at least three times a week. 

This has gone pretty well so far this year. Having to train for the races has kept me at least 

running three times a week but since the half marathon in early June. Starting to travel for 

work has screwed up my consistency but hopefully I can get back into it soon.

4. Continue monthly dates with CP.

We probably have gotten out once a month without the kids. 

5. Get our credit card balance to $0 this year.

Getting my vacation payout from my old job was amazing and it allowed us to pay off our 

credit card debt this month. Woo hoo!

6. Get a new job. 

Done! I love my new job!

7. Continue to be politically active whether it is writing postcards to voters, contacting my

elected officials about things that are important to me, or participating in marches.

8. Run in at least three races this year including the Soldier Field 10 miler.

Done! This spring I did a 10k, Soldier Field 10 miler, and a half marathon.

9. Run one race with Izzy this year.

Still need to find a race to do with Izzy.

Six more months to finish the rest of these!

2019 goals

Since it's almost March, it's probably time to write down my goals for the year. LOL.

1. Eat at least one vegetarian dinner every week. 
While we certainly have been eating less red meat with Weight Watchers, we are eating a lot of chicken. I would like to lessen my environmental impact this year.

2. Lose 25 pounds this year. 

I'm happy with the 25 that I lost last year and would like to lose 25 more to get down to my 

wedding weight.

3. Work out for at least 30 minutes at least three times a week. 

I have started strong so far this year, mostly with 21 Day Fix workouts. I am looking forward 

to Shaun T's new program when it comes out in March and when the weather gets nicer I 

will be spending time running outside.

4. Continue monthly dates with CP.

5. Get our credit card balance to $0 this year.

Recent news stories have me worried about whether we are going to owe taxes this year 

instead of getting a refund....that will certainly hinder our ability to meet this goal but I 

hate throwing money away each month.

6. Get a new job. 

I spent a lot of last year doing informational interviews and working on crafting a good 

resume. I have also spent a lot of time figuring out what exactly I would like to do and what

I have a passion for outside my current job. I have two paths that I am pursing and I would 

like to make 2019 my year to make the jump.

7. Continue to be politically active whether it is writing postcards to voters, contacting my

elected officials about things that are important to me, or participating in marches.

8. Run in at least three races this year including the Soldier Field 10 miler.

I have always wanted to do the Soldier Field 10 miler and I have some other friends on 

board to run this race with me. It's in May so I have some time to prepare.

9. Run one race with Izzy this year.

I need to find a 1 mile race to do with Izzy this year. I think that she would love it!

There we go! Now I have 10.5 months to get these done!

Wrap up on 2018 goals

Since it is February, it's a good time to see how I did on my 2018 goals. LOL.

1. Continue our part vegetarian lifestyle through the year. 

We did great on this for the first half of the year and then fell off the second half. 

We certainly continued to eat less red meat but still ate chicken, turkey, and fish. 

2. Continue to send paper cards to friends for their birthdays. 

Success!

I hear from my friends that they love getting a paper card, so I will definitely continue this.

3. The usual lose weight goal.

Success! 

I got down below 200 before my birthday. I didn't lose any more weight due to the holidays, 
but I at least hit my goal for the year.

4. Be more consistent with working out.

Success!

I really like Beachbody on Demand because whenever I have time I head down to the 
basement to work out. I certainly can't and don't work out every day but would say that I 
work out 3-4 times a week.

5. Continue monthly dates with CP.

Success! 

I think we maybe missed one month all year? The trip to FL for a long weekend without 
the kids was sooooo great as well.

6. Pay down our credit card debt.

Still working on this.

Christmas didn't help....and then being furloughed made it worse....but thankfully I have 
gotten paid again and we are back to working on paying it down. 

7. Continue to be politically active and contact my elected officials when necessary.

Success!

My elected officials have heard from me on lots of different subjects this year. :-)

8. Create a better and more consistent bedtime routine.

Mixed success.

This is certainly tough to do on a consistent basis.

9. Run in at least two races this year.

Success!

I ended up running in three races this year after battling plantar fasciitis most of the year. 
The 5k that I do with coworkers, the 5k that runs right by my house, and a Thanksgiving 
5k that is in another local neighborhood.

Overall, I was much more successful this year in my goals than I have been in the past. I 
believe this was due to making manageable goals and checking in with them quarterly so that
I don't forget about them.

2019 goals in my next post.

Good and the Bad

Let’s start with the GOOD because it is Friday.

GOOD

I ran my second 5k of the year last Sunday and averaged 10:33/mile for a time of 32:41 (this is the race that runs right by my house). According to Nike+ this is the fastest 5k I have ever run since I started tracking in May 2008 (prior to this my fastest 5k was 33:02). Woo hoo! I was up part of the night before with stomach cramps/diarrhea so I was pretty excited about my time. As I ran by my house a second time I asked Izzy if she wanted to finish with me (she was in her pajamas) and she ran with me for the last .25 or so. She loved it!

The other good is that over the month of September I was able to reverse the weight I gained in August (4 lbs) and now I am thisclose to my first goal of being under 200 pounds again. On Wednesday I weighed in at 200.5 so I am crossing my fingers I will see a number that starts with 1 next Wednesday. My goal was to be under 200 by my birthday in December so if I can do it two months in advance (despite almost getting there *ahem* two months ago and the backsliding) then I'm happy. 

BAD

The bad news is that there is something going on with my IUD. I hadn’t checked for the strings recently but did so the other day in the shower. It basically felt like the strings had embedded into cervical tissue as I could feel them but couldn’t move them. Today I had my doctor check them out and the good news is that she can see the end of the strings so they didn’t perforate my uterus but she can’t move them. The next step is to have an ultrasound to see if the IUD has moved. If it has moved and is no longer in place I am looking at a surgery (GRRRR) to get it removed and then I would have to get a different kind of birth control as it wouldn’t be recommended to get an IUD again. If it is in the right place my doctor recommends to remove the current one and replace it with one with longer strings. Obviously I am hoping for the latter because the no period thing with an IUD is super nice and I don't want to have yet ANOTHER surgery.

It’s a rainy, dreary day in Chicago and overall it has been a really hard two weeks with the Ford/Kavanaugh hearings bringing out a lot of emotions in me that I didn’t realize were bottled up. I hope everyone else out there is doing okay.

Checking in on 2018 goals

We are now halfway through the year so I thought that I would check in on my 2018 goals to see how I am doing.

1. Continue our part vegetarian lifestyle through the year. 

Wavering a bit. We have continued to not eat as much red meat but have started to eat more fish and chicken since CP joined Weight Watchers.

2. Continue to send paper cards to friends for their birthdays. 

On Track! 

3. The usual lose weight goal.

On Track! 

January- 1 lb

February- 2lb

March- 6lb

April- 3.5

May- 1

June- 6

Total over the last 6 months: 19.5 pounds!

Only 5.5 more pounds until I hit my first major goal!

4. Be more consistent with working out.

On Track! Currently working on the Beta section of Beachbody's T25 program and feeling stronger! Trying to figure out what program to work on next when I finish this one. Maybe do it over again? I really like the fact that it is only 30 minutes long.

5. Continue monthly dates with CP.

On Track! We just missed March (but made up for it with two dates in April). No dates planned for July but it will be hard to fit one in with our camping vacation, Wes' 2nd birthday this weekend, and then my surgery on the 20th.

6. Pay down our credit card debt.

Stalled! Our patio was finally completed and we had a few extra additions to our final amount due to the landscaper AND we bought new patio furniture so we are still working on this. 

7. Continue to be politically active and contact my elected officials when necessary.

On Track! Since joining the local Moms Demand Action group I have been busy contacting elected officials and going to marches. I have been calling our governor recently about a gun dealer licensing bill and calling elected officials about the immigrant family separations.

8. Create a better and more consistent bedtime routine.

Working on it!  This week I put myself to bed at 9pm and according to my Fitbit slept for 8 hours that night. It was glorious. I do try to head upstairs by 9:30...especially on the nights prior to getting up at 5am to work out.

9. Run in at least two races this year.

Not completed yet! Due to my left foot issue which is more than just plantar fasciitis (according to my physical therapist), I haven't run any races. I dropped out of Tough Mudder because I haven't run in 8 months and thought that starting up running right now before the race would be a good way to have foot problems again. Currently I don't have any pain while walking so it's getting better but I want to keep it that way for a few weeks before I test out any running. I would like to do the Hot Chocolate race later this year...I'm assuming that I would do the 5K version and not the 15K version though.

Shopping in the "other" closet

Last week I didn't have a great eating week between celebrating CP's birthday (after he got back from a work trip in Italy) and then a Father's Day dinner of lots of smoked meats (CP's preference). Suprisingly enough I managed to work out enough and eat healthy otherwise so I didn't gain any weight from the week before. 

This week at work I noticed that my pants were falling down a bit and I kept having to hike them up, so this morning I went into Izzy's closet where I keep my smaller-sized clothes and sure enough, the pants fit!! I was so excited to wear them to work today. I looked back at my FitBit weights and the last time that I weighed the same (208) was almost two years ago- in October 2016. That's 3 months after I had Wes. Sure I was breastfeeding but it's sad that the last time I weighed this much was fairly soon after having a baby.

Along with the victory of fitting into smaller-sized pants today I had a coworker notice my weight loss (currently 16 lbs but I think that the T25 workout is really helping to tone as well) AND a friend that I see almost every week. The fact that people are starting to notice has been a big motivator as well.

I'm 8 pounds away from my first goal so I'm pushing hard to get there!! I feel like I am going soooooo slow compared to other Weight Watchers, but I am making sure to also enjoy myself at the same time so that this weight loss will be something that is sustainable over the long run. I laugh because one of the nice things about blogging for so long means that I have a record of all of my weight highs and lows....hopefully it's all downhill from here on out. :-)

Check in on 2018 goals

We are now quarter of the way through the year so I thought that I would check in on my 2018 goals to see how I am doing.

1. Continue our part vegetarian lifestyle through the year. 

On Track! I really can't take much credit with this goal because it is really CP that cooks most of our meals, but we have continued to eat meat only a couple nights a week for dinner (mostly Friday and Saturday). I have been trying to eat more fish when we are out at restaurants instead of eating red meat. We have significantly cut down on the amount of meat eaten in our household.

2. Continue to send paper cards to friends for their birthdays. 

On Track! 

3. The usual lose weight goal.

On Track! As I mentioned before, I was slow in making changes so January I saw a 1 pound weight loss, the same in February. However, March was a better month and I lost 4.5 pounds so I am down 6.5 pounds so far. If I can keep up even just losing 4 pounds a month I will definitely hit the weight that I wanted to hit by my birthday in December and even more! 

4. Be more consistent with working out.

Working on it! Last week I took almost a whole week off of my Beachbody workout because...well, I didn't reallyhave a great excuse. But on Friday and Sunday I was back at it for week 3 and feeling fairly good. My heel pain hasn't lessened with the inserts so no running anytime soon, but I will continue with my workouts as there is a low-impact option. 

I will say that a local mom's group did a pushup challenge for the month of March and I faithfully did my pushups EVERY DAY in March. On the last day we were up to two sets of 31 pushups which meant that I did 62 pushups on Saturday (on my knees of course)! So at least I was consistent with that. This month we are doing a combo of moves every day- situps, planks, leg raises, crunches, and pushups. :-)

5. Continue monthly dates with CP.

On Track! I think that we may have missed going on a date in March, but CP was in Ireland for two of the weekends and we were quite busy the rest of the month. We are going to make up for it by going out two weekends in a row this month. :-)

6. Pay down our credit card debt.

On Track! We are watching our spending and we are so close to paying off our credit card debt. Our work bonuses should be hitting our accounts soon and CP gets three paychecks in the month of May and I get three paychecks in the month of June so between all of those things we should be completely set and may have some money to put into our savings account.

7. Continue to be politically active and contact my elected officials when necessary.

On Track! Since joining the local Moms Demand Action group I have been busy contacting elected officials and going to marches. I also wrote a bunch of postcards for the Postcards to Voters group.

8. Create a better and more consistent bedtime routine.

Working on it! I really am a night owl at heart so I enjoy going to bed later on the weekends...but then it messes up my schedule for the week. Unless I am out and having fun with friends, I need to work on getting to bed on time.

9. Run in at least two races this year.

Not completed yet! I'm still not running yet and had to drop out of the Ragnar Relays (the race from Chicago to Madison, WI) in May. However I am signed up for a Tough Mudder with mom friends in August and there is always the local 5K that runs past our house and the 5K that I do with coworkers in September. Plenty of time to get back into running shape and hopefully with less weight on my body I will be able to run faster than last year!

Weight Watchers lessons

I have been on the Weight Watchers program for over a month now and it has been rather eye opening. I would like to say that I have seen a lot of progress, but I have only lost 2.5 pounds so far. I will say that I am think that I am finally getting a hang of it, but I think that the learning curve would not have been as slow if I was going to weekly meetings instead of just doing the program online (it is less expensive that way).

LIQUIDS

I knew beforehand that I was ingesting too many calories via liquids and boy does this program make that SUPER CLEAR. The Starbucks Via packets of Cafe Mocha are 7 or 8 points which is almost a third of my daily points for the day! Uhhh no. I am now pairing black coffee with a 2 point flavored creamer which is still delicious and allows me to eat real food instead of air. Although if I was really eating air then maybe I would have lost more weight? 

I have essentially cut out all soda, even though a Coke Zero would be 0 points. We don't have it in the house at home anymore and I haven't been that tempted to get it when eating out, so that's been great. A definite plus. 

I have mostly been drinking water, coffee with creamer, and some tea for some caffeine. It has been a month or so of testing and trying new things to see what I like/don't like. Two things that I found I didn't like? The Weight Watchers flavor packets for coffee. It's too bad because they are only 1 point, but they were TERRIBLE. I also have decided that I don't like powder creamers, I only like the liquid ones. 

FOOD
Because I am doing the online program only, I also joined a local weight watchers FB group and the women in that group have been helpful in recommending different lower point foods in lieu of things that I had been eating. For instance, I have swapped out zucchini noodles for pasta and they have been great! Yesterday for lunch I ate sauteed zucchini noodles with rotisserie chicken on top and 1/4 cup of store-bought alfredo sauce- the whole lunch was only 4 points (it would have been less if I had used the rotisserie chicken breast but the kids ate it earlier in the week). Today I tried riced cauliflower in lieu of rice and it tasted great when I put a sauce on top. 

As I start to learn more about swaps and as I get better about bringing 0 point foods to snack on while I am at work, I hope to start to drop more weight. My go-to snacks tend to be sugar snap peas, apples, bananas, and grapes.

ACTIVITY

I could absolutely be doing better in this regard and it would help with increasing my weight loss. I don't know what is going on because the days are getting longer, but I am EXHAUSTED ALL THE TIME these days. Just thinking about getting up to work out at 5am while CP is in the shower makes me tired. Plus I still have my heel pain that won't seem to go away (which means no running). I MUST DO BETTER.

POINTS

Some people in the online community eat all of their daily points and then throughout the week eat all of their weekly points AND most/all of their fit points. So I have been doing that since people were saying that it was working. However, this week I have switched it up since I not losing that much and I will (hopefully) just be eating my weekly points. Fingers crossed it makes a difference!

I do think that I am steering the ship in the right direction after losing my way for a while. Come on weight loss!

2018 Goals

2018 Goals

1. Continue our part vegetarian lifestyle through the year. It's better for the planet and better 

for our bodies.

2. Continue to send paper cards to friends for their birthdays. 

3. The usual lose weight goal. I turn 40 at the end of 2018 and I would like to be back below 

200. At the beginning of the year I decided to join Weight Watchers since it helped me lose 

weight before my wedding, so fingers crossed it helps again! I have signed up for 6 months 

and so far it has been eye-opening.

4. Along with the weight goal, I would like to be more consistent with working out. In 2017 I 

did great for half the year, but didn't really start really working out until I finished breastfeeding 

and then got out of my routine as soon as I went to TX. I need to heal my heel before I can 

get back to running/high impact stuff, but there is plenty of stuff that I can do in the meantime.

17 days into the new year and I have yet to work out so this needs to change asap.

5. Continue monthly dates with CP to make sure that our marriage stays strong.

6. Pay down our credit card debt from rehabbing the house within the first six months of the 

year. Unfortunately due to a few unplanned things that happened with our rehab the project 

cost more than was budgeted. We are unsure how we are going to fare during tax season 

this year and CP's bonus will be a lot smaller this year at the new job, so we are going to 

have to stick to tight budgets.

7. Continue to be politically active and contact my elected officials when necessary.

8. Create a better and more consistent bedtime routine. I do think that with getting up early to 

work out, I need to make sure that I am in bed earlier as well. Some days it is great and I'm in 

bed and asleep by 10pm, some days I am up until 10:30pm and then the next day I am tired. 

It needs to be all about consistency.

9. Run in at least two races this year.

2017 Results

Last year I posted my 2017 goals. How did I do? Well, it was a mixed bag.

1. Dress up more on the weekends and when I am at home. It's so easy to throw on a sweatshirt and yoga pants to do anything and everything on the weekends. I have really been trying to make an effort to dress up for dinners out with the family and to look a bit nicer in general when I go out in public. I have continued my goal of doing my hair and putting on makeup more often so the next step is my clothes. :-)

RESULT: I did a pretty good job. I have upgraded my wardrobe more and don't wear yoga pants EVERY day on the weekends. :-)

2. Continue to send paper cards to friends for their birthdays. This has been a goal for the past couple of years and I have kept it up. I know how much I love receiving mail and think that my friends would too (I do get thank yous from friends every year. They are also amazed that I remember- well, generally I don't but I use a free website called birthday-reminders.com. I input birthdays and I get an email 7 days beforehand which gives me time to buy a card and send it! (If I was smart I would buy all the cards for a year ahead of time but I like to personalize the card for each friend.)

RESULT: Success! I think that I only missed one card this year and I took Lacey's suggestion of stocking up on cards ahead of time so that I didn't have to run out for a card every time I had a birthday coming up.

3. The usual lose weight goal. I'm back at 208 but really want to be at 190 by the end of the year. I've got to do better about eating healthy- especially while I am still BF so that I can burn the extra calories!

RESULT: Big fat fail. I'm now more like 220 so now I have even more weight to lose this year. :-(

4. Part of that weight goal will include working on being more active. Right now during the week I am going from 5am to about 8:30pm (depending on when the kids get to bed). I'm not sure I have it in me to wake up before 5am to exercise. I do take Buster on walks three days a week (Sat, Sun, and my telework day), but my body is itching for MORE and HARDER exercise. This goal will get easier once I am no longer breastfeeding as I will get that time back. For now, I would like my goal to be to work out 4 days a week.

RESULT: Mixed. Starting in May I would wake up at 5am to work out a few times a week. I was doing great with running until I left for TX in November and have since fallen off the wagon. So for about half the year I was getting up early to exercise.

5. Spend more quality time with CP. I would love if we could take a trip, or even just stay overnight in downtown Chicago, just the two of us later this year. We try hard to have one date night every month- thank goodness my mom is willing and able to babysit!

RESULT: Success! CP and I got away for a weekend around his birthday to eat meals without the kids and to see Hamilton. It was really nice!

6. Breastfeed Wes *at least* as long as I breastfed Izzy. I don't think that this one will be too hard. Wes is now 6 months old and I made it 7.5 months before Izzy decided she no longer wanted to nurse....so I don't have that long to go. Best case scenario I breastfeed until the end of winter. I would be okay with mostly formula feeding and then maybe nursing in the morning and at night as he gets closer to the age of 1. 

RESULT: Success! I was able to breastfeed Wes longer than I breastfed Izzy although my body stopped producing milk before I was ready to stop. 

7. Run in at least two races this year. I don't care the distance, but participating in races makes me more accountable with my running!

RESULT: Success! I ran in 4 races this year- three 5Ks and one 15K. I ran a total of 171.24 miles this year in 9 out of the 12 months of the year. My biggest month was October when I ran 37.68 miles (also the month that I ran the 15K).

I'm still mulling over my 2018 goals. What is your #1 2018 goal?

Pre-Christmas Bullets

Let's post about something other than a birthday, shall we? But because Christmas is only in a few days, I only have time for bullets.

• While TX was a fantastic experience and I'm really glad that I went, it totally screwed up my workout routine. I had been running 3 times a week and the weekend before I left ran 9.3 miles. I only had the opportunity to run twice while in TX and when I got back, I felt out of shape. I have run a couple of times, but have started up T25, a Beachbody workout that I forgot I bought the DVDs secondhand about a year ago. So far so good as the workouts are only 25 minutes long so I can do it in the morning, but with the dark mornings it sure is hard to get up. Plus....I have been having heel pain in my left foot for the past couple of months. I pushed through it but I definitely hobble when I get up in the morning, so I finally went to see a doctor about it. No break, but I likely have a deep tissue contusion, probably from the pounding from running (which has not been helped by the jumping/ high impact workouts from T25), so I have been ordered by the doctor to do low impact stuff for the next few weeks and wear heel cups to lessen the impact of walking. Fingers crossed my heel gets better soon!

• In the meantime, CP got some scary results of some bloodwork (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.) so he has been running three times a week on the treadmill at night after the kids are asleep. I am PSYCHED about this because he is doing great. He watches Narcos on tv and works out for 45 minutes. Hopefully this will help get his body in better shape.

• We also have changed our diet to eat more vegetarian meals. Here is what we put together:

1. Goals
   1. Eat healthy
   2. Lower food bills
   3. Faster prep during week
   4. Lose weight
2. Weekly Dinner Structure
   1. 3 day x vegetarian
   2. 1 day x egg or fish as protein
   3. 1 day x pasta
   4. 1 day x  eat out
   5. 1 day x no-rules day
3. Rules of the House
   1. Dinner should include:
      1.        Main
      2.        Veggie Side
      3.         Grain/ carb
      4.      Fruit dessert during the week
   2. No sugary sweets to be purchased
   3. No ice-cream purchased at grocery store
   4. Reduce cheese to < 8 oz/ week for house
   5. Use whole grains where practical
   6. Use  lean meats where practical

• So far I think that it is going well. I don't miss meat and usually end up having it on the day that we eat out and on Saturday, which is usually our "no rules" day. During the week for breakfast I have something with eggs and for lunch, I have been bringing veggies with usually some kind of soup from our freezer. CP has lost some weight between running and our new diet, I haven't seen a change so far...which leads me to the next bullet....

• I'm contemplating getting rid of my IUD. Sure it's nice to not have a period as often, but I have little to no interest in being with CP throughout most of the month and I have gained weight. Plus I keep seeing reports on birth control causing cancer. Why is it always on the woman to prevent pregnancy? After the New Year I am seriously considering sitting down CP and having a talk that he needs to get a vasectomy done. We know we don't want anymore kids and I want to feel normal again. I am not going through any more surgery, so it's time for him to step up. I don't think that the talk is going to go well, so wish me luck!

• Finally, with Christmas upon us I think that I am a little bit depressed to be in a dog-less home. We have ornaments on the tree with pictures of both Buster and Koda, a magnet of both dogs up in the house, and a picture we bring out every Christmas of the two dogs and my sister's first dog (still alive, but it is an amazing picture of all three dogs in front of the Christmas tree). I see dogs in our neighborhood, on tv, etc. and they just make me sad. Buster's death, most likely because he was so young, feels so....unfinished. :-(

• I think that I have said this before, but I do think that it is important to have a pet around when kids are young because they learn valuable skills like taking care of something other than themselves and for infants, learning "gentle" is key. CP and I have discussed possibly getting a cat because although I am not a huge fan of them (maybe I could be?), they are easier and less expensive to take care of (meaning they don't eat $100 worth of food a month and need to go to doggie daycare while we are at work). We'll see. I think that I am more ready to have another pet in our lives than CP right now because our house feels so empty. Maybe sometime this spring we can visit a shelter to see if there is a cat to bring into our family.

• Next week CP and I took off the week to work on some projects around the house while the kids are at daycare. Hopefully we are able to get a lot done!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate it). This can often be a hard time of year for people, but hopefully it is full of fun, laughter, and great memories with people that you love.