Bloggest Loser Day 14 and Weekly Check In

So much to report.......

First of all,

Pam won the weigh in with a loss of 2.3%!

Congrats, Pam! Glad your foot is finally feeling better!!

So let's get down to business.

This week was a major lesson learned. MAJOR. I ended up losing a mere 1.01% of my weight. Better than last week, and over 1%, so hooray. But after the week I had, I'm just happy I lost anything at all.

Yes, it was my birthday and I had a lot of good food. Hopefully I'll get the details about that on my other blog soon.

But beyond that, it was the trip to the ER that rattled me. Long story short, after a few days of breathing problems (every 4th breath was a conscientious deep inhale and I often felt like I couldn't get enough oxygen, like a yawn that isn't satisfying), I had Josh take me to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon because I had shortness of breath. I was worried that I had some sort of respiratory problem. I ended up with an IV of fluids, chest x-ray, CAT scan, EKG, blood work, and oxygen. Luckily, there were no clots or growths in my lungs. Everything looked healthy, except for my sodium bicarbonate level. It was very low. The doc thought I might be dehydrated since I was experiencing a metabolic acidosis, but I had no other symptoms.

It took a while, but we finally figured out (Josh figured it out, have I ever mentioned how amazing he is?) that I probably had ketoacidosis. What are these words I'm using? I had no idea.

Basically, I was keeping to my recommended online food journal, but the website doesn't take into account the person's activity level. I was eating 1200 to 1550 calories/day. My body wasn't getting enough fuel to run off of. Now, you want a deficit in your calories in order to burn fat, but when you don't get enough fuel you burn fat, muscle, and you begin to keep too much acid within your body.

In my case, the way my body dealt with trying to expel the extra acid was by breathing in more O2 and breathing out more CO2 (carbon dioxide is acidic, oxygen is the alkalotic buffer). The plan to fix it: eat more calories. It's taken me two days of eating anything I want (Italian food, cake, etc) and I'm finally breathing normally again.

I want to tell you about this for one main reason:

ARE YOU EATING ENOUGH????

You want to keep your food in control, but are you getting enough? I did a lot of research after getting home from the ER Wednesday night. It seems pretty agreed that with my rigorous exercising, I should have been eating at least 1700 to 1800 calories a day. Do you know your magic number?

As far as my goal to drink more water than Crystal Light (and then trying to cut out diet drinks altogether), I did pretty well.

Now that my eating is back in order and my breathing is almost completely back to normal, I have a lot of the same goals: eat enough, keep up my exercise, and drink LOTS of water. Oh, and watch The Biggest Loser this Tuesday. Hooray for season premiere week!

So, that was my lesson this week. Did you learn anything new this week? Did you accomplish your goals? What new goals do you have for this week. How'd your weight loss go? (Go HERE for the calculator.) Trials? Successes? Tell me all about your week!

The Run of Shame

Last night we went to a talent show at church which also had a dessert pot luck. I had a tiny bit of Millie's brownie. That's all. I stood strong and didn't give in to temptations even though my calories would've allowed me to have a cookie or two.

I was strong for two reasons: #1 I'm waiting until my birthday for permission to eat baked goodies. #2 I had a disappointing weigh in yesterday morning. More on that tomorrow when we do the check in.

But tonight I wasn't as strong. I ate Chinese food.

Oh, and it was good. I liked it. I could've eaten all of it by myself. I did pass on the rice, though. I don't know how many calories I consumed, but I'm pretty sure I cheated my butt off.

So I decided to go running. It was a run of shame. I don't know if it was the incredible number of carbs and sugar or the guilt that got me so rearing to go. But I ran well and enjoyed it. It was my first night run and I enjoyed some of the things I don't usually get to experience in the mornings. No Millie, for one. Also, there are so many different scents in the air. I loved the smell of the charcoal grills and the fresh laundry smells. I had a race with a cricket. He jumped once for two of my steps. Finally he realized I'm awesome and he jumped off the sidewalk.

I wasn't a fan of the dark, though. I don't know how many more night runs I'll get to do, but it was a nice change of pace. Even if it was simply due to transgression.

First Day of My 1/2 Marathon Training

Today was my first day of the Couch to 5k program. I think this is going to go well. I've been home from my walk/run for about an hour and a half and I think my face is finally back to its original color and not flushed anymore.

The idea of this program is to slowly get your body used to running with a walk/jog combo. This week I run three days using a combination of jogging for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds.

Today's song that I sang over and over again (because I needs me an mp3 player or ipod) was "You Look Good in My Shirt" by Keith Urban. Mostly because I hoped my t-shirt was long enough to keep my booty covered. I'm sure I got people thinking of Jell-o as they drove past me. A bit too much junk in my trunk!!

Veronica and I are trying this new fad called, uh, jogging. I think it's jogging, or yogging. It might be a soft 'j'. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended amount of time. It's supposed to be wild.

--Ron Burgundy, Anchorman

Josh talked to a coworker who is a seasoned marathon runner. She suggested to stick with a program to slowly work my way to running 3 miles (about 5k) and then start running for time, an hour at a time or so, until I can run for 3 hours. I only have a few months to train for this, but I want to do it.

My goal race is called London's Run. It's local and affordable. Some of these races are kind of pricey, but this one is do-able. Plus, all the proceeds go to local children's charities. You can't beat that!! And to add to the fun my sister, my brother-in-law, and my cousins plan to join me. Awesome!

In addition to my new exercise regime, I've begun trying to watch my food intake more. Last week I gave up refined sugar. Hardest thing I've ever done!! I'm a self-proclaimed choco-holic and giving up chocolate is rough! This week I want to focus on keeping my food journal. That should help with several aspects of my diet.

Please feel free to comment, but also join in. What is your fitness goal? We'll begin Bloggest Loser, Season 2 on September 5th. The person with the great percentage weight lost wins.

Get ready!!!