I'm learning to Run 5K in 100 days

Hi there, I'm really excited to write this post because is the first time I'm running and really enjoying it. I always liked cycling and I was not bad at it. I have never been the most athletic person on earth but I like exercise and enjoy how I feel after I finish a workout. I now have a new love that is growing and is for running. About 9 weeks ago I started a program called Learn to Run 5K in 100 days and its taught by Brad Gansberg, please check his website and give it a try he is starting a new group in August. Every week we send him a report on how our week has been and it helps him to measure our progress. This week I wrote one report that was longer than usual and I want to share it in this post, I hope you enjoy reading it. Take care and have a great weekend.
Ximena

Fartlek is an unstructured workout this term is a Swedish word.

Fartlek Rocks and explaining my sense of accomplishment!

Fartlek, what a fun workout! I started this week on Saturday and I know I’m supposed to run only 3 days a week, but this week I’m doing 4 runs, all of them with one rest day in between. I hope this report won’t be to long, but I need to explain my feeling of accomplishment every time I finish my workouts. The workout I did with the farlek in mind helped me realize why I feel so good, energized and above all a runner. To make my story short, I walked for 10 minutes and ran two intervals of 15 and 16 minutes each with 1-minute recovery. For the 1^st interval I started by setting my 1^st goal in the distance and when I reached it I was feeling great and continued jogging; I stopped because Emma wanted some water and it was at the bottom of her stroller and I couldn’t reach it while running, if not, I would have continued and could have run for 30 minutes straight. I love the running portions for several reasons but this one is kind of shallow, I thought I loved them because when I start the runs is usually after I turn around from walking and start my way back home. That day I was already running before I turned back and I still felt awesome so I confirmed that running is not about the time in the intervals or the fact I’m returning home. Running to me is about enjoying the feeling and how my body is adapting to the challenge and enjoying myself, enjoying the scenery I chose to run at and most of all enjoying how I feel when I sweat, and in the end the fact that I’m running is really what is making me feel that I’m tackling something that I have never done before and I’m actually running. Overall, this has been a powerful week for me and is also a turning point in my workouts.

Take care,

Ximena.

What are you having for breakfast tomorrow?

Hi there, I'm back with an unusual but fun blog to write. This week I joined my new blog friend Kenlie from All the Weigh in a breakfast swap. She is doing the summer breakfast challenge with Attune Foods and she is eating their Uncle Sam cereals and is blogging about her experience. I decided to join her because I'm looking for healthy, delicious and nutritious food to fuel my body and what is best than starting my day with a great kickoff than a good balanced breakfast? On Monday morning I prepared my green tea, a bowl with fresh cut strawberries and peaches, yogurt and 1serving or Uncle Sam Original cereal. Below is the picture of my POWER bowl.

 I called it like that because it gave a lot of good nutrition, energy and I was totally satisfied after finishing it. One thing 3/4 of a cup may seem not a big portion but boy it really was and it was very filling!

 Here is the proof I really enjoy it!

On Tuesday I used 1/2 a cup in the morning power bowl and was still very satisfied. At night I prepared baked okra and I  used 1/4 cup to bread the okra, it was really good and crunchy. Sorry there is not a picture of it I was trying to get dinner ready for daddy and baby and in the whole process forgot to document the food.

I invite you to join us to use this cereal as a great start for your day.

FMM - Defining moments

Hi Everybody,
I hope all of you had a great weekend, here is my answer to the FMM - defining moments question that Kenlie had posted on her blog All the Weight. If you haven't checked it out you are missing a great blog full of inspiration and very touching stories. I hope you enjoy the reading.
Ximena

FMM and Some Other Stuff

FMM: Defining Moments

Was there a defining moment in which you realized that you needed to lose weight?  If so, will you elaborate? (If you experienced this moment in some other area of your life, please feel free to share that too!)

Well, this is certainly a question that I have an answer for. In August 2010, I was reaching one of my heaviest weights; I was 193 lbs, 7 pounds lighter from my heaviest weight while being pregnant of my daughter. She was born on January 2010 and after that I lost most of the pregnancy weight, about 20lbs. When I started my pregnancy I was already close to 180 lbs and I lost some due to an ovarian cyst that sent me to the hospital for 5 days. I became a stay at home mom, which I love but this new phase of my life and my new sedentary lifestyle started to become a pound gaining rollercoaster and in 7 months I went from 200 to 175 to 193. I knew I had to do something but I was not ready to make the commitment with myself. In late August I hosted a baby shower for a friend and one of the pictures taken that day made me realized that the person I saw every morning in the mirror was not the same as the one I was seeing in the picture. The one in my mirror didn’t look that big but the one in the picture looked not only big but not happy. I saw that picture and I wanted to hide and cry. I felt very disappointed of me and I felt like I was not the right role model for my daughter. 

Not too long after the picture was taken I also had a deep conversation with my husband and one of the things he said to me was that I had an addiction to food. When he said that I got upset, angry and defensive. I was angry with myself but poor husband got the anger outburst and the whole crying scene for hurting me that way. Today when I think of that conversation I give thanks that we had it and that he was totally honest with me. It took me a while to digest that indeed I had an additive relationship with food. After that deep moment I knew I had to do something and went to WW. I started it and lost about 7 lbs from mid September to late October but I switched to Take Shape For Life (TSFL), and since then I have lost the majority of my extra weight. I made the switch because I wanted a program where I could loose weight without thinking too much about what to do or what to cook and also learn new habits to become a healthier person and this program worked for me. It had the structure I needed and also I learned to make better choices in terms of food. I also became more active, I’m enjoying a lot this new me and the chance to be a good role model for my daughter. I didn’t want her to remember me as the couch potato mom. I also did it for my health and for my husband; he has been an amazing support in this journey. I know this was a little too long but I really needed to put in words. 

Thanks for the question Kenz.

And thanks to those who have taken the time to read my story.

Take care,

Ximena

One year has passed since....

Hi There I just wanted to share some pictures of my weight loss since I started to commit with myself to be a healthier person. I'm on a journey that hopefully will last for the rest of my life because I really want to be there for my husband and daughter to enjoy.
Take care and hope to hear from you one day.
Ximena

I'm with Kenlie

One of the many reasons I started blogging was the daily inspiration I've been getting from reading Kenlie's blog. She opens up on every of her posts, is very sincere and real. She is not afraid of showing her feelings.  Check out the summer swap she is doing with Attune Foods. Here is the link to her blog about swapping her cereal for one week.
Enjoy.

<div><a href="http://attunefoods.com/summer-breakfast-swap"><img src="http://attunefoods.com/images/im_with_kenlie.gif" alt="I'm with Kenlie!" title="I'm with Kenlie!" /></a></div>

Friend Makin' Mondays - All the weight (great blog)

I'm new to the whole blogging experience and I have been reading Kenlie's blog for quite a while. I truly enjoy the Friend Makin' Mondays posts. I get the chance to read about other people's feelings and find other interesting blogs. Thank you Kenlie for letting us connect and be read by others. Here are the asnwers to my questions:

Friend Makin’ Mondays and Some Other Stuff

by KENLIE on JULY 18, 2011

It’s Monday again, and you know what that means, right? =) It’s time for Friend Makin’ Mondays!  The last week has been filled with family and fun, and I’m sad to see it end so let’s talk about something fun today.But first, I want to post a quick vlog follow-up because I was in a pretty rough place when I posted the last one.

I don’t think I’ve ever done back to back vlogs, but I’m so thankful for the support that I received. And it’s much more fun to post vlogs when I have something positive to say. And now, back to FMM…

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Ten Random Questions

1) What do you like most about yourself? I’m dependable.

2) List three characteristics that you like to have in your friends. Loyalty is at the top of the list, sincerity: being real and not trying to pretend be someone they are not, authenticity and spontaneity.

3) How often do you brush your teeth? I brush like a maniac. Mostly when I wake up and after each meal but lately I’ve been doing it to avoid eating extra. It not always works but I still try. Before going to bed.

4) If you could travel anywhere today, where would you go? I would LOVE to visit my family in Colombia.

5) Have you ever met anyone from the blog world in person? Not yet I’m really new this is my 3^rd post in my blog.

6) What is the last show you watched on TV? My husband and I like to listen to the soundscapes music from the music choice channels and enjoy Modern Family, Dancing with the Starts and Glee. I also like the HGTV’s shows.

7) What kind of perfume/cologne do you wear? Don’t wear much perfume lately but I like Eternity from Calvin Klein

 8) How long ago did you complete your last workout? This morning I went for a jog/walk with my daughter. I push her stroller and she enjoys the ride thru the nature.

9) What will you eat for dinner tonight? I made small burgers, roasted cauliflower and tomatoes with olives, mozzarella cheese and olive oil.

10) Share something fun that you did over the weekend. We took our baby to the beach for the very first time and she really liked it. I started my blog while on vacations with my husband and daughter. They were taking a nap and everything was so peaceful. It was raining and that gave me the perfect opportunity to write a little about my journey to become a better and healthier role model for my daughter. I have been telling my husband I wanted to start a Blog and he encouraged me to do it.

Now it’s your turn, and you know what to do…Don’t forget to come back and link up!  Happy Monday!

Some pictures to share

Here are some of the pictures that lead me from this:

to this:

Enjoy the ride...

August 2010 at my heaviest

November 2010

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

April 2011

July 2011

This has been a weekend of first things ever...

Well I'm finally blogging. I really don't know what my journey will be with this blog but I'm sure I will enjoy writing and sharing some things about me. This weekend has been really interesting and exciting. We are taking our first family vacation to the beach with our little one and it has been a fun adventure so far. Right now is raining outside and I decided after a long consideration to start a blog. I didn't know it was going to be hard to choose a name, a description and all the little things that will make the blog appealing to others but to be honest, I guess it will take time to learn how to be comfortable with what you write and how it looks, and in the end you have to write for yourself regardless if someone is reading or not. Another first, and this is more on the shallow end but I want to share it anyway, this is the first time I've worn a bikini. Let me be clear with this last First, in the past 8 months I started what would be called a journey to become healthy in every aspect of my life, not only loosing weight (around 57 lb. so far) but also concerning general activities like doing exercise, or going to a park and play with my daughter, or cooking a new meal for my husband, in general I'm enjoying every single and simple opportunity life is presenting. I'm learning to enjoy and be happier with what I have. I'm learning to be thankful for the good and bad things that surround me and appreciate every day as it comes. Is a one step at a time process that I'm learning to accept and not worry about things I can't control but be diligent with those I can. Now going back to the bikini thing, I'm not a bombshell nor I pretend to be one but being able to wear one, even if my body still needs more care and love from me, made realize I have come so far in this journey and that I'm proud of sharing this whoever is reading. Maybe nobody will read but that is ok, being able to write about it makes me be accountable for my accomplishments and committed to continue my journey. I'm not perfect and I make a lot of mistakes and bad decisions but I'm human and one of the best gifts I have received is being able to learn, do the necessary changes, adjust my path and continue. I think is time to go back to my family and vacation. Before I leave I'm going to share a thought from Edmund C. Blake: "There is no greater joy than living the life you were meant to live".  I think I'm ready to continue living the life I was meant to live. Bye and take good care of yourself.