Can you imagine?

What is this? This is approximately 30 lbs worth of canned goods (and most of the cans that were in my cabinet before I went shopping) It is also the amount of weight that I have lost in the last 9 months. It's been a slow journey with months at a time that I didn't lose anything, or lost and gained over and over but as you can tell from my weight tracker it's been a pretty steady downward trend. It also puts me pretty close, 13 pounds, from my "high" goal weight which I really can't remember ever being at but I'm sure I was in at in my 20's.



Are there benefits of losing 30 lbs?

HELL YEA!

Lets start with the running. I'm getting faster. Not fast, just faster. In the last 6 months I've gone from a monthly average pace of 12:42 to 12:14 that's almost 30 seconds a mile! Like I said not fast but it would be really hard to get that kind of increase just training I think. Especially when you don't like to make it hurt.

Clothes all fit so much better and I've dropped 2 jean sizes. This means I get to shop for new clothes, can't see anything bad about that, well except for the obvious lack of money. Luckily most of my workout clothes still fit which means the spandex must have been stretched to the max before. I will however need a new wetsuit since the one I had was already slightly big.


My knees and feet don't hurt! Not only when I run but just on an average day they feel pretty darn good almost all the time.


Self confidence. I feel much better about myself in general and as an athlete. Am I still shaking in my boots about that 70.3? Yes but every pound makes it seem that much more attainable.

Then of course there are the obvious health benefits of which there are to many to list.

This one may seem odd but food...it tastes good again! When I'm heavier it's as if I just eat to be eating and don't really taste or enjoy it again. When I'm watching what I eat and eating healthy everything tastes so much better and I get real enjoyment from it.

I'm sure there are many others that just aren't coming to mind right now but it's time to get out for my weekend long run...7 miles today..I think I'm going to be smiling. :)

Have a great day!

Feeling good!

I'm starting to feel much much better about things. Not working out as hard as preseason/season training, but have certainly been getting in some decent workouts. It helps that my oldest son keeps dragging me to the rec center since he has become interested in working out. Yea!!! My running while still very slow and not to many miles feels strong and even some what easy.

I finally got to watch Spirit of the Marathon too! I've been wanting to see it since it came out and I finally happened upon it on line. It was so inspirational! It almost made me want to try for a full marathon...almost. :) It did make me want to do another 1/2. I really do think I will plan for the Denver 1/2 Marathon next year. It will be a Rock and Roll series this year too which makes the idea even more appealing

I've become addicted to the food blogs as well as the tri blogs...scary really, but it has made me realize that I really need to get back to making good food to eat. I was in so much of a rut in what I ate that I felt deprived and was eating all kinds of junk, then of course came the weight gain. I've manage to lose about 6 pounds over the last few weeks, while that's not a lot it is certainly a step in the right direction. And the good news is I don't feel like I'm on a diet. Because of that I had some fantastic food this weekend. Nothing special, nothing even that hard to make, but different things then I've been eating and sooooo goood. I had some stuffed acorn squash, some fantastic oatmeal (this mornings was like eating dessert and healthy too!) Green chili, a yummy tortilla pizza and a gorgeous salad with pear, feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette....Oh man it was good...must go and find some more things to make!

Tryptophan anyone?

Ok so I was reading this article in this magazine from the Sunflower market called "Can't stop eating?" it is very interesting and talks about some supplemental support that will help in aiding you with addictive eating. (which I so think is me!) One of them it talks about is tryptophan. I recognized the name as being in a diet drug that had some problems. But the research I'm doing looks like it is really very safe and not only that but addresses all of the issues I've been having. It is suppose to improve sleep, relieve depression, and obsessing over food. I read in one of the articles that it is being used in the treatment of SAD.

Clinical research has shown mixed results with respect to tryptophan's effectiveness as a sleep aid, especially in normal patients[20][21][22] and for a growing variety of other conditions typically associated with low serotonin levels or activity in the brain[23] such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder [24] and seasonal affective disorder.[25][26] In particular, tryptophan has been showing considerable promise as an antidepressant alone,[27] and as an "augmenter" of antidepressant drugs.[27][28] However, the reliability of these clinical trials has been questioned.[29][30]

Here are a couple of links that I found interesting. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... t&dbid=103 http://www.healthandnutrition.co.uk/articles/depression.htm Anyone have any experience or knowledge of this? It list a few other supplements that are suppose to help also, but this one hits everything. One of the others is fish oil which is suppose to help fight depression also. I used to take it and then stopped. Maybe I'll go back to that too. And last but not least...exercise of course should help...something I've been sorely lacking of late....gee do you think I've been doing anything good for myself? Something is going to change...it's got to!