chimesblog

Hi guys. It’s been a while since I posted those awkward in-my-undies photos to show that I’m making progress with LiveFit.

I just have to say … I fucking rock. I feel awesome. I feel great about all the choices I’ve made (except that horrible decision to drink my weight in Grainbelt last Friday night). I am owning it.

For reference … here’s Week 2 and here is Week 5.

I think adding the diet component really added to my progress. I mentioned I joined WeightWatchers, right? I eat a TON of fruits and veggies. I’m eating way more food than before, and I’ve gained weight (YES GAINED muscle … and water weight, but that’s a different story and I fixed that — I was drinking almost 200 oz of water a day. no joke.).

And here I am now. Week 9ish? I have no idea what I weigh. It’s close to the same as in the first two progress reports. Which means I’ve lost fat and gained muscle.

Time for awkward underwearness! I even wore heart panties JUST for added awkwardness. Maybe next time I will wear an actual bikini. Still don’t feel comfortable in one of those.

And um, excuse the ginormous pile of laundry in the mirror. Let’s hope my mother doesn’t see this post.

[ everything tends to stick around my hips ... i'm working on lower back stuff ... it's a slow process ]

[ look ma, obliques! ]

So it looks like my abs went away. WRONG. I lost belly fat so the part in the front doesn’t poof out so much … so they don’t look as awesome as before. which I know sounds weird? But it was total shadow play. FLAT TUMMY.

Mostly I noticed that I lost a lot from my sides around my waist and hips. I feel like I’m finally seeing my  hard work I’ve put into my body. GO ME!

Also, I got up at 5 AM today to do a bootcamp with a bunch of tweeps I know from twitter. Let’s hope I made it.

Share on Facebook

I posted some pretty horrific photos a couple weeks ago. Well, I managed to survive holiday break and keep plugging away.

That isn’t to say that I didn’t eat ALL of my mom’s awesome peanut clusters. Or that I didn’t eat a piece of pumpkin bourbon cheesecake (and by piece, I mean a quarter of the damn thing). Or eat my weight in fudge.

I did all that stuff.

But I kept hitting it hard at the gym. So here is where I’m at. It would be better if I didn’t eat so crappy, but now is the time where I’m eating better, so I’ll be seeing better results I hope.

Here is my left side, which I started working on harder so it’s pretty close to what my right side looks like now. It wasn’t there last time I took photos.

And I didn’t use strategic lighting (ie. there was a flash on the camera this time), so you can see what my abs look like without being lit properly. Natural light would be the best.

Where I see the  most progress is my backside. These underwear are the same as the ones I had on last time (different color) and I have a lot less butt. I’m starting to get that coveted dent in the side of my hips. Now if only I could get rid of the cellulite on the sides of my butt. Magic cream? I’ve noticed it’s gotten a little better though since there’s a lot of muscle underneath.

Oh, did I mention that I leg pressed 300 pounds last week? Not once. But 30 times. Yeah. So that’s probably why my butt is looking much  nicer.

I start phase two this week. I think I just have to add cardio (FINALLY) to what I’ve been doing. I already started that … so it shouldn’t be too hard.

Share on Facebook

I’m posting this on Christmas Eve because I’m trying to remind myself not to overindulgeor overdo it this weekend or next. I tend to overindulge and then try to work my butt off to make up for it. That doesn’t work. Years of my crap eating and thinking are finally catching up to me.

Remember that time a few weeks back that I posted about starting this badass workout routine? This one that promised that I’d get super ripped and awesome?

I’ve gained a pound. I took their suggested days off (it’s written for beginners to fitness) and I spent the first week eating way more than normal because my brain hadn’t got the memo that I’m building muscle and trying to shed fat. This week I took MY days off (ie. 1 day) and on the off days from this program I’ve been running or doing some other cardio activity since we haven’t hit the cardio portion of this program yet.

It’s a 16 week program and I’m on week 3. I’m not seeing the results I want, and I think it’s because I’ve been ignoring their diet plan. I pretty much do their diet plan anyway, except I have a sugar problem. It’s like crack. And this time of year is even worse.

And I quit doing cardio because it doesn’t prescribe it. I need to add this back in — even if it’s 30 minutes easy after lifting. It’s better than nothing and will get my muscles loosened back up.

Also, I have a bad habit of eating super late. For instance: It’s almost 8 PM (yes I wrote this on the 20th and scheduled it ahead for Saturday) and I haven’t had dinner. Whoops.

That being said, the purpose of this post is to remind myself that my stomach isn’t a garbage can. This is important. I need to go back to being a food snob. If it’s not incredible, do not eat it. And I need to remember that, for now, since I’m trying to mold my body a certain way, food is fuel. Which really, that’s what it should be anyway.

However, I will have a few treats. Just not the mountains of peanut clusters (sorry mom) I normally have.

Also? I promised I wouldn’t blog about this here. So since I broke that promise, I’ll give you all my 3 week progress photos. I will tell you that they don’t look any different than when I started. I swear. The highlight of this? One: Tuesdays and Thursdays I lift when the wrestling team does AAAAND I have moved past the girlie weights to the men’s weights (the free dumbells — the girlie ones max out at 20 lbs).

And for those of you who haven’t realized I have no filter, yes these are polka dot underwear. I could have put on a bikini, but it actually covers LESS so I kept my underwear on. I did cut out my face in case these get distributed on the internets. I don’t have to own up to them.

[okay, i lied. my arms are much more awesome than ever]

Also … I noticed that my right side of my abs is FAR fitter than my left side. I wonder why that is and if it has to do with the fact that I have a somewhat bum leg on my left side? Either way, this is noted and I’m going to try to work on that.

Share on Facebook

I rescheduled an FO Friday post about an adorbs quilt to bring you this breaking news.

Okay, it’s not that exciting.

I started a new workout program this week. I was influenced by Janetha over at Meals and Moves when she posted her rockin’ bod iPhone-in-the-mirror in-progress photo. In-progress of what, you say?

Jamie Eason’s LiveFit program. One word: OUCH

So this program — especially phase one —  is focused on weightlifting. This foreign to me because I’ve always been HUGEly into cardio. In fact this one time a LONG time ago, in case I haven’t mentioned it for a while, I kind of ran a marathon.

But I’m bored. I’m tired of running in circles. I’m tired of plugging away on a stair stepper. I’m sick of waiting in line for a stupid cardio machine to be kicked off by a 20-year-old girl in full-on makeup and hair with Victoria’s Secret PINK strappy non-supportive sports bras …

I’m wussing out and hating running outside in the cold. I need something different. A different motivation. A different spin. A different me? Yes.

Enter Jamie’s program. Phase one is a LOT of lifting and not so much cardio. I’m going to do a bit of cardio as well but I’m going to shift gears and for the first time EVER focus on the lifting part.

So now instead of bubbly CoverGirls I’m hitting it hard with wrestlers*, wannabe bodybuilders, and mostly … macho men. I’m lifting on the manly side of the gym. And it is much prettier than I expected.

Also, I am blogging about my progress in this program.

For those of you freaking out, no worries. I’m not going to go all gung-ho fitness guru over here. I’ll throw some in-progress posts up but I’m blogging over on my Livestrong account. I already log my food and fitness there daily, so it seemed fitting. Don’t go there now because I’ve not done much other than what I’ve just told you here … but still.

So consider this my “before” photo. I may have Mark take some official “before” photos in my bikini … but in case I don’t see any change, I don’t want to set a precedence for more photos in the future. This is my minimal work me. Not really watching what I eat. Working out 30-40 minutes a day (plugging away at the same boring crap) 5-6 times a week.

Side note: My phone is creepy and has pulled all my photos from my old “Life+Running” blog. I came across this photo from 2 weeks before the marathon in 2008 (which BTW I weighed just about the same as now — guessing my muscle mass in my legs was the case there). I would like to be HERE again.

Another side note: I’ve had a mild case of the stomach flu for 2 days now. Of course. When I start a badass program. I have to get sick.

AND one more thing! I don’t know where my head was when I wrote this post, but I forgot to mention that Meals and Moves is doing a Dedicated December workout challenge. Every day you are active, post your workout in a comment on her page (click the image below). She’s doing giveaways all through the month.

*Also — important fact that I’ve forgotten since my days long ago of being wrestling manager in high school: Wrestlers have amazing butts. 

Share on Facebook

Maybe.

Just maybe I’m back.

And I can thank my fabulous former roommate for running a marathon last month — 20 minutes faster than she anticipated even!

What am I talking about?

For those of you who’ve forgotten, I used to love running — in fact, that was the ENTIRE purpose for this blog in the first place. It used to be called “Life plus running” and be over at blogspot.com. Then I obsessed over it and ran a marathon. Then we broke up for a while. And then running was a huge pain in the ass because I had to be strategic about it, so it became a chore instead of a beloved pastime.

But now //

// I think it’s fun again*.

And I can blame my old roommates. Both of them. One of them got married and the other came and stayed with me for the evening before the wedding. Danielle and I used to run together a lot in the 4 years we lived together. That’s how I got my start. In fact the last time I ran any significant distance with anybody was a 7 mile run right before the marathon 2 years ago with here.

What better way to get back in the saddle than by enlisting the help of a friend to make running fun again?

So we ran about a 10K. I haven’t run more than 3-4 miles in at least a month. In fact, I hadn’t run AT ALL for 2 whole weeks. And the weird part? I didn’t miss it a bit. Not ONE tiny bit. I was actually DREADING our Saturday run so much that I put it off until we absolutely had to go in order to get the rest of our stuff done before the wedding that evening.

Then it started again. That feeling. The almost giddy feeling I used to have every day knowing that when all my work was done that I got 45-60 minutes ALL TO MYSELF (and, let’s face it, 5 years ago Slipknot was there too). My time to relax. My time to think things out. My time to pound the pavement and bust out all the bad feelings I felt before I made it home and they eeked out into the rest of my life.

Sunday I RAN my errands. I had to pick up a prescription, and guess what? HyVee is on my 5K route. So I ran a 5K. THE DAY AFTER I RAN A 10K.

The thought of being injured again made me very wary of running two days in a row since the PT lady told me not to do that 2 years ago when she released me back into the wild after 3 months of physical therapy. But I’m lifting and training specific muscle groups now. I’m seeking chiropractic care once a week. I’m being SMARTER and I know my body and my limits now.

So all that being said? Yeah. I think it’s back. I ran a mile yesterday too — 2 laps backwards in fact — which makes 3 days in a row of running. Not of running significant distances like before, but the victory here is that I want to run again. It makes me happy. No more hours plugging away at boring cardio machines or workout videos. I have the option to run. Whenever I want. And most importantly I have the drive to run again.

Where am I going with this? Nowhere in particular. I haven’t set any weird crazy goals for myself — except not to get injured again and to continue to enjoy being outside running like I used to. And of course, to get some of the awesome gear associated with running.

*Sorry for the weird typography … I’ve been reading  the typography bible and I’ve been wanting to try some new things for separators.]

Share on Facebook

I’ve been obsessing over smoothies.  Big time.  One every day for breakfast.  I keep this one for the weekend because sometimes bananas give me stomachaches, but it is SO worth the tummy ache for this smoothie.

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

1 frozen banana
5 ice cubes
2 T cocoa (unsweetened)
1 scoop whey protein powder
1/2 c–3/4 c almond milk

Crush ice then blend until smooth. Serve cold.

Yummmmmmmm! It’s like having ice cream for breakfast. Except less naughty.

Share on Facebook

Happy Fathers Day to my Dad who will probably never read this because I’m still very proud of him for being able to turn a computer on and fumble his way around a cell phone.

My dad is the infamous Calvin Himes (chimes sr.). Who, up until recently, drove around in a little yellow 1989 Ford Festiva with lightening bolts on the side.  Everybody in town (Monticello — around 3500 people) knew that as the Calvinmobile.

In his lifetime he’s run more miles than I probably ever will — and he had to quit running when he was 45 because of knee surgery.  Which ultimately inspired me to keep running further, although much, MUCH slower. And resulted in my running a marathon*.  My half marathon PR is 1:46, my dads: 1:08 — or so he claims. It seems that his race times keep getting faster and faster each time I’ve asked over the years.

My dad is also a hardcore underdog sports team fan. Chicago Bears and the San Francisco Giants.  Although, writing this post this year doesn’t do those teams as much justice as far as their underdog status goes.  Either way, I would have to say that at least 90% of my dad’s wardrobe is orange and navy.

Mom scanned some oldies in for me, so I thought I would share.

Dad and me at Wacky Waters probably in 1986

Dad and me playing in my kiddie pool outside our trailor, also probably 1986. Look at those amazing shorts. And my amazing haircut (thanks MOM!)

The dadstache — not as awesome when not paired with the redfro that went with it before I was born (mom couldn’t find any of those). This was in 1988 when my sister was born. Again, thanks, mom, for the haircut.  When the heck did I have straight hair?!

And since everybody was posting photos of their dads on Facebook, I took this ample opportunity to steal a lovely photo of both sets of my grandparents from my mom and my aunt.

Below is my dad’s parents. I don’t know whose wedding this was at (mom and Dad or my aunt Sheila’s most likely judging by the attire).  Both of them have long passed away — my grandma in 1991 and my grandpa in 2006.  But we still make my grandma’s recipe for sugar cookies every year.  She had the best frosted sugar cookies.  And come to think of it, I’m guessing that’s where my sweet tooth comes from.  I have a recipe book that my aunt Sheila put together and it’s like 35 pages and it’s all desserts, cookies, bars and frostings. Six pages of frostings alone! Which is probably why there is a small container of frosting in the freezer RIGHT NOW that I whipped up to have a spoonful of when I need a sugar fix.

My mom’s parents — who are both still around, but my grandma is only sometimes around. She’s got Alzheimers and has been in a senior community for a few years now. Sometimes she’s still able to hold a conversation, but doesn’t understand much, but other times it’s like she’s long gone.  It’s been really hard to watch, and I wouldn’t wish Alzheimers on anybody.  Which is another reason I’m such a health freak — trying to stave off brain issues as well as health issues that run on both sides of my family.

I think this photo must have been from the mid-eighties — judging by the awesome glasses.

*which, btw, I’m thinking of walking one to see if I can beat my run time because I was injured and I ended up with an embarrassing 13.5ish mile pace. Which is my walk speed.

Share on Facebook

I haven’t run more than 9 miles since last year’s half marathon, but I ran 10 last weekend.

And shattered my old 10 mile PR! By 14 minutes.

Check it out — here are my race times (some are embarrassing — note that my mile time for the marathon is my WALKING pace, though I didn’t walk!).

[previous 10 mi time — Capital Pursuit 2008]

[last Saturday's run — note the epically fast ending at 6:41/mi]

I am definitely giving myself props. And bragging rights.  Not to mention that it was 95° out on Saturday compared to the 50° 2 years ago.  YAY!

Share on Facebook

… gets lots of stuff done!

I got up early today since I had an appointment to take my car in for the 30K service that it needed.

Then Mark and I went to the Ames Farmers Market. We found some fabulous things at the Farmer’s Market — spring greens, granola and some english muffin bread (which Mark promptly turned into homemade egg mcmuffins).  But most of all — Pappardelle Pasta. They have so many different kinds and awesome flavors. I even let Mark get some that wasn’t whole wheat. We got the Sweet Red Onion Linguine and the Tomato Cracked Pepper Pappardelle. We’re planning on doing Linguine with Shrimp and Lemon Oil for dinner tonight with the red onion linguine.

Then the bank to cash in my change from my giant Jack Daniels tin — $30 — mostly pennies.

Then groceries.

Then I baked some EPIC brownies, which gave me an excuse to use my giant spring blossom pyrex cinderella bowls.  I used the recipe my mom used since I was a little kid (which apparently is still popular with Hershey’s). Please note that Paula Deen would definitely approve of the butter usage in these brownies.

And I’m going running. A decent distance. Yet to be determined, but between 9–10 miles. It’s supposed to thunderstorm, but I’m throwing my iPod in a ziplock and going anyway — especially after making those diabetes-inducing brownies. So there, weather.  Hit me with your best shot.

Share on Facebook

It’s almost the time of year to get the grill out and shut the oven off. Enter: light summer dinners.

Chicken Fajitas

1 full boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
2 green bell peppers, julienned
1 yellow, orange or red bell pepper, julienned
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
fresh cilantro
red pepper flakes
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t cumin
dash of nutmeg
lime juice
2 T olive oil
tortillas of your choice
salsa
lime/cilantro sour cream (see below)
shredded cheese (optional)

For lime/cilantro sour cream, mix these ingredients and refrigerate:
8 oz plain yogurt or sour cream
cilantro to taste
1 T lime juice

Put the chicken in a large ziplock bag with the red pepper flakes, cumin, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, lime juice and 1 T olive oil. Put on a plate in the fridge for 30 minutes or more.

Heat a bit of oil in a large skillet over medium/high heat. Toss in the peppers, onion and garlic and sauté until not-quite cooked to the consistency you want. Remove veggies and set aside.  Throw chicken into the skillet (drain the marinade if you want — I put it all in). Cook through. Add veggies back to skillet and toss to combine. Remove from heat.

To assemble fajitas, warm a tortilla, add some shredded cheese, put your meat and veggie mixture on top and add salsa and the sour cream.

Best enjoyed on a porch with friends and some crisp beer.

*If you want crisp vegetables, cook the chicken first. If you want well-cooked veggies, cook the veggies first.

Share on Facebook