BabyBlanketLoveBug

I am so excited to finally be able to make something and sell it. Making blankets has been a hobby of mine for a while, but making baby blankets just recently became a side business. 

I have completed 10 of the 19 orders I've received from family and friends and am hoping to receive a lot of orders for the holiday's. Once the orders are completed I plan on making some pre-made blankets for my Etsy shop.

It makes me so happy to be able to make these gifts, and it's so nice to see when the gift has been given.. Seeing the babies wrapped up (and even an animal or two) warms my heart.. 

Reach out if you're interested!! Message here, or Facebook, or my Etsy store! www.etsy.com/shop/BabyBlanketLoveBug 

Week Two- Training

Two weeks of training completed! 

While out on today's training run I kept thinking about where I was. A year ago I was running with ease. Three years ago I weighed 40 pounds less. I could keep going, but I think you get the picture..

Basically I haven't been allowing myself to celebrate the progress I am making because it's not as good as it's been before.. 

But it's better than yesterday. And that's the only me I should be comparing myself to. 

I may have weighed less, I may have been more consistent with running, I may have done more, but I didn't appreciate it.

I didn't see how good I looked when I was 40 pounds lighter. Now I wish I could look that way. I didn't celebrate the races I completed, instead I thought about how I could have done better or started focusing on the next one.

I'd rather be this me, the heavier, slower version of me because I'm mentally in a better place. I'm appreciating my body the way it is, I'm enjoying the training I'm putting my body through, I'm celebrating all the steps along the way.

This week I lost 1 pound. I'm down a total of 5.6 pounds and have 40.8 to go. I could sit here and think about how I've been going to meetings for 13 weeks and I should be down more. I could think about how I am not doing everything I can, but instead I'm celebrating the fact that I'm 5.6 pounds lighter than I was 13 weeks ago.

Today's training run was a scheduled 5.5 miles. I ended up going for 6.04 miles, walking the majority of the last two miles. Again, I could think about how I used to be able to consistently run without taking extra walk breaks, I could think about how it didn't used to feel this difficult. Instead, I'm going to compare myself to last week. 

Last week was 4 miles. I walked a lot. I couldn't catch my breath. My heart rate wouldn't go down.

This week I only took two extra walk breaks during the first four miles. I did end up walking the majority of the last two miles, but it's progress, and I finished.

To be perfectly honest, I'm just surprised I got out of bed and did it. And my overall average pace really isn't so far off from where I'd like to be. But I can't expect to be there on week two after taking a few months off from everything, and weighing what I do. 

I've never tried to train for a marathon at the weight I am now.. It's hard. Like, really hard. And that's okay. Because it will get easier as time goes on. My heart rate gets really high really fast, but I'm listening to it and taking those extra walk breaks as needed. 

No shame in walking, as long as I'm doing it. That's what I'm telling myself. 

Who knows, maybe I'll make it next week with no walk breaks..

But until then I'm focusing on my eating, water intake, and getting in activity throughout the week. 

Here We Go

I set out to start training a couple weeks ago. I knew I needed that extra time before I started running with my sister again. But, that didn't happen.. 

I couldn't seem to motivate myself to do much of anything. Well, except crochet..

But, I finally had to tell myself that it was time to get serious about this. I knew going into it that I was going to have a hard time. You see, I haven't been consistently active since May/June, and even then it was half-assed. I've gained a good 20+ pounds in that same time period. If I thought running was difficult before, I knew I was in for a rude awakening when we set out for our first training run together.

My sister has found her motivation. I wish I could bottle it up and take it with me. Her dedication to her health has been such a huge inspiration to me and it was incredible watching her run this morning. 

I, on the other hand, did a lot more walking than I would have liked and hung back while I huffed and puffed my way through 4 miles..

But, I did it!! And that it was I'm choosing to focus on.

I can't go back in time to when I was in better shape, or weighed less, or ran daily. That's not who I am anymore. But I did get up, I did get dressed, and I did go out there and gave it my all.

It may not have been pretty, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

Today is day 3 in a row of working out. 

Day 1: cardio- 45 minutes stationary bike. Strength- 9/18/15

✔️ = 1 Set of 10

Squats: ✔️✔️✔️

Lunges (each leg): ✔️✔️✔️

Calf raises: ✔️✔️✔️✔️

Donkey kicks (each leg): ✔️✔️

Fire hydrants (each leg): ✔️✔️

Crunches: ✔️✔️

Reverse crunches: ✔️✔️

Bridge: ✔️✔️✔️

Bicycle crunches: ✔️✔️

Day 2: cardio- 45 minutes treadmill, 2.61 miles

Day 3: 4.06 mile interval run, 1:1 intervals

To say I'm proud of myself is an understatement.. I am doing it! 

And as far as weight watcher's goes.. I'm down another 0.2 this week. Another undeserved loss.

But, seeing another loss makes me wonder what I can do when I actually put my mind to it. I deserve to see success. At running, on the scale, everywhere. I just have to get out of my own way..

Where I'm At Currently

I'm done wishing and wanting.. I'm ready to do this. 

I cannot begin to explain the frustration I feel with myself for the amount of times I start over. 

I also cannot begin to explain the pride I feel in myself for not giving up and continuing to start over.

I'm not where I want to be, but I'm a lot closer today than I was yesterday. 

I'm ready to make this commitment to myself. I cannot do this for anyone else and I cannot expect anyone else to motivate me or hold me accountable. I have to do this because it's what I want and because it's what I'm willing to do.

My goals are not unrealistic and they're not out of reach. My goals are simple, really. It's just going to take time. 

I have to be patient..

Current measurements (9/17)

Waist: 40"

Hips: 47"

Bust: 42.5"

Thigh: 27"

Arm: 13"

My husband asked me if I felt confident in my new bikini. My response was "not yet, but I will one day." He told me I should. 

With that kind of support, I can do it all!

Being Flexible

With my schedule, that is.. 

Today's schedule called for Body Revolution workout 1 and a run. But I got home at 6pm and the temperature was just too hot to justify going for a run, especially because I would have had to bring Isabel with me. 

Since tonight was back to school night, our timing was limited, so I simply switched the cardio from tonight's run to tomorrow's walk. 

I will be able to run tomorrow after work without Isabel if the weather continues to be in the high 90's by the time I'm off from work. 

I was pretty close to skipping my strength DVD and then I was pretty close to skipping both. I figured if I skipped one day it would be no big deal.. 

But, who skips day two?! 

Not this girl!! 

I stayed flexible and I did it. And I'm so proud of myself..

Training- Day One

No, this will not be a daily post of my workouts while training, but they will happen often.

Today was day one: strength- arms & abs and cardio- stationary bike. 

I found a great DVD on clearance at Kohl's a while back. A Weight Watcher's boot camp that includes 15 minute workouts for core, upper body and lower body. I'm combining core with upper body on Monday's, core with lower body on Wednesday's and doing all three on Friday's. Then mixing up the workouts for strength on Tuesday's, Thursday's and on the weekends. 

I completed both workouts before heading to the garage to ride the bike for 40 minutes. 

Multitasking at it's finest:

I also cleaned the living room for at least an hour with a few dance breaks, as well as helped Patrick move a couch back in to the house.

Poor Marley was exhausted.. 

I feel so good, and need to keep this feeling in mind tomorrow morning when my alarm goes off and it's time to head back out to the garage for my strength workout. My run is scheduled for after work.

The countdown is going and I'm getting more and more excited about this upcoming marathon. I saw a picture from my first marathon and I'm looking forward to taking this on again. Hoping to go through quite a transformation before then..

Update

I need to get better about posting on a more regular basis, and with recent events, I plan to.. 

I'll start with Weight Watcher's-

I lost 3 pounds this week!! I tracked (almost) all week and it paid off. Who would have thought that following the program would actually work.. 

Crocheting-

I am happy to say that I am getting orders for blankets and keeping busy. Still getting orders from family and friends for now, but so grateful to those supporting me and my adventure.

I'm hoping once the custom orders are done I can focus on making a bunch for the Etsy store. 

Running- 

I received an email from my sister asking if I was already signed up for the LA Marathon, which I was. I was planning on taking the hit financially and not running, but she decided to register and it's happening!!! 

Training starts tomorrow, and although every day has something scheduled I plan to make my goal to complete more than I skip. 

I spoke with my leader at Weight Watcher's and we're going to keep an eye on how much I'm eating while training. Shouldn't have to worry too much until the double digit miles, but I don't want what happens each time I train for a race to happen again. 

I decided to spend this 3 day weekend crocheting only, but being a wife, mom, step mom, pet owner and house owner (and now in training mode) makes that impossible. Saturday was spent crocheting, so I'll need to mix it up a bit today and tomorrow. 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!