I got cabin fever...

and the only prescription is GETTING THE FREAK OUTSIDE AND MOVING!!!
Seriously. When I get antsy in the house, NO ONE wants to be around all that drama.



My cure is moving my legs and achieving a destination then returning to the comfort and warmth of my home. Today, my husband and son joined me. (the Mr. walks on the treadmill or around our neighborhood almost every morning- new year's resolution= new life change).



Guys- let's have a great week. Let's get out EVERYDAY for 30 minutes and when we can, longer.
I would love to hear how you are doing!
Sarah B.- OUT.

Winter Shminter

It is snowing, and I do NOT want to get out and drive in this mess:



However, I DO have a treadmill. Or, as my friend Jenn calls it, the "dreadmill."
But it only works if you get on it. After blogging away the morning and playing in the snow with my two-year-old, I thought I had stalled enough (and I read the previous post for a little more inspiration)...

So whaa whaaa- what is 30 minutes on the treadmill? I started off walking while talking on the phone (a breeze!)...



Don't have a dreadmill or any other gym apparati in your home?
FEAR NOT! Chances are GOOD that you DO have google. Isn't this true?????????

I googled: "creative, at home exercise."
I found:

(click to see awesome tips such as five-minute clean, counter top push ups and jumping jacks!!!!)

Now I know it is cold outside or it is dreary or it feels better to watch a movie today instead of finding time to fit in some exercise, but really, you have no excuse. And besides, won't you feel better? (you already know the answer to that)

Oh, and jumping jacks are FUN to do with your kids, which encourages them to move, too!!
Or also fun for entertaining your significant other, cats... you get the picture.

Mooooooooooooove!

from the illustrated Webster's version:


yep: drinking coffee, scrolling down facebook lane, aimlessly...

Webster's definition:

stall (v): to bring to a standstill.

This is the one, however, that got me out of the chair:

stall (v) : to confine in a stall for fattening, as CATTLE.


If that doesn't motivate ya, then time to try Biggest Loser. They are taking applications, now:

does FRIDAY NIGHT = bye bye diet?

It is Friday night and I'm ready to fall off that wagon, little dogies.
I'm ready for pizza and beer, you?

SO. I'm going to have it because indulging is a part of dieting. But you can do it right.
I'm going to have a light beer (maybe one of those 60ish calorie jobs) and we're having this:

DISCLAIMER: I HATE (loath, despise, etc) COOKING, but these are SOOOO easy and they don't take the night to make.
*hint: drink that low calorie beer while you cook- makes it a little more fun... hee hee.



and this (we're having company):



(click photos for recipes)

Now, because I like losing weight (who doesn't) and getting in shape (who doesn't), I am also going to CONTINUE TO EXERCISE THIS WEEKEND. (So you can burn off your indulgences)!!

Nah, it's not that cold out!

And now, for a winter pep talk! Coming to you at 27 Degrees Fahrenheit!!!




For you outdoor exercisers out there (walkers and runners):



Click photo to read tips!

And CLICK HERE for even more, awesome tips!!!

Keep it up, gang!!!

The Story...

 Ok so Operation All In Stride Revive has commenced.  I thought that the best way to get back involved is to just tell my story on how I went from couch potato to granola girl in  just a few years.  It is a longer than usual post but just in case anyone needed an extra push....here goes....

I didn't start out chunky.  I wasn't a chunky kiddo or anything.  I rounded out at around a size 8, not abercrombie size 8, REAL size 8 ha!  In my 20's I just kept gaining weight hand over fist.  5lbs here turned into 25, turned into 100, turned into me weighing in at over 300 pounds by my 27th birthday.  (*gasps are ok, I could barely write that with out gasping myself.)  I hadn't really hit a rock bottom moment, I had already had several (airplanes, rollercoaster, booths in restaurant)  rock bottoms and so I was just circling the bottom.  I had no idea how to change.  I mean us "fat people" we know what to do, eat less move more blah blah, but how do you untrain your brain to do something you've conditioned it to do?  I had no clue how to stop...

August 2006, just before 27th birthday I quit eating meat.  There was an incident that just turned me off of meat for about a week.  I noticed in that week I didn't eat at fast food at all, I couldn't really get anything.  That didn't mean that I didn't still eat my butterfinger bar or any of the other junk that I regularly consumed as a "sugar junkie" but I was aware of a small change which made me think maybe I could make other small changes.  I kept up the vegetarian lifestyle and then in October 2006 joined the YMCA.  I started small and did water aerobics a few times a week.  I still ate like crap but less fast food and more moving got me down just below 300 by the first of the year. 

In January of 2007 I started a Biggest loser competition and lost 40 more pounds between Jan and May.  At this point I was eating much healthier by counting weight watchers points.  Then in June I went to the Ukraine to work with 5 orphanages.  I was expecting to have an uplifting trip but instead I felt crippled.  It was so sad and so cumbersome that I think I just let that emotional hold I had on my food go when I got back.  I didn't realize it at the time but I think that I just gave up.  So for the rest of 2007 I "fell off the wagon" as they say and managed to gain 25 lbs back of the 40 I lost. 

Wake up call January 2008.  I finally had enough.  I went full tilt into the weight loss zone.  I lost nearly 75lbs over that year and got into a great fitness routine and really stuck to everything.  I cut out fast food, alcohol (bless me!), and eating out for the first 2 months of the year.   I kept up the no fast food and no alcohol until the summer.  Even now I rarely eat fast food.  I see it as chemicals and poison (which is basically is) and that makes it easier to pass up.  I can't say I dont have the occasional bean burrito or McDs french fry but I can count on 1 hand how many times I ate fast food in 2009....went from 2 meals a day to 5 meals a YEAR...

Now 2009 was a tough year.  Best year for me physically but worst for weight loss.  Most people go through plateaus for a month or maybe two...I did for 10 straight months.  I gained and lost the same 5lbs over 10 months and I was beyond frustrated.  I was eating right, exercising 6 days a week.  I trained and competed in my first Triathlon Sprint and from what I could gather doing everything necessary to get some of this weight off.  I was so frustrated I tried everything from getting bloodwork at the Dr (it was fine)  to tracking every thing (sodium, carbs, sugars, calories) I put in my mouth to accupuncture (not recommended by me.)  In October my bossy best friend bought me buy one get one free month to go to Weight Watchers for real with her.  I was skeptical because I felt a little "beyond" what they could do for me....SO wrong.  Whatever I did started working and by the end of the year I started losing again...12 pounds.  Didn't seem like much to the naked eye but man those were so welcomed considering I managed to only lose 15 for the entire year last year.  I am now paying for WW on my own and it appears to still be working.  Oh and in January 2009 I started working for the YMCA as a water fitness instructor.  I figured it would be good to try and give back to the program that got me started.  I still teach, and love it!

So 2010 I'm still losing, SLOWLY, but surely.  I try and do about a pound a week if I'm lucky.  I am still a modified vegetarian (eating some fish when I need extra proteins) and still avoid fast food like it is chemical poison.  I work out at least an hour 6 days a week, most days it is more like 2.  And because ALL because of getting back in touch with our beloved Sarah B, I'm training for the Derby City Mini on April 24th and signed up for my first triathlon (sprint)  of 2010 in March.  I am slowly becoming the girl I have always wanted to be...healthy, fit, and happy.  I don't think I would have appreciated my health as much had I not had a serious battle to get here but I really don't recommend doing it my way.  Get up, get moving, and get healthy because life is so much better where I'm standing because of that. 

Lately I've been obsessed with a singer, song writer - Brandi Carlile.  She's like Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline had a rock n roll baby (ha) and I love her.  Her song, The Story, will be playing when I cross the finish line at the mini marathon because it reminds me of all of those who've inspired me and keep me going and grounded on a daily, monthly, yearly basis....now I just hope this helps inspire someone else....If I can do it, anyone can.


THE STORY: BRANDI CARLILE

Stretch yourself before you Wreck yourself.

I got sidetracked from running.  

Instead, every day I walk barefoot into a mirrored room with anywhere from thirty to sixty other half dressed people.  The room is heated to around 108 degrees.  I stay there for ninety minutes- balancing, stretching, sweating.    I love it.  I crave it.  I get from Yoga what many people get from running.  It helps me turn my brain off.  It helps me Be in my body.  It helps me learn to be graceful.  

And so, I put off running a half marathon and competed recently in the Oregon Hatha Yoga Championships.  Odd, I know.  Oxy moronic it would seem.  This year, I started working on the routine of seven poses in late October.  About twelve people from the Bend Bikram Yoga studio practiced intensely for the last two months, and each of us deepened our practice in incredible ways.  One of our teachers, Delana Miller, came in third place at the competition.  I don't know my score, or how I placed among the almost fifty other women, but the rewards of focusing so much on my practice and sharing that with some amazingly supportive and dedicated people was what made being on a cold stage for three minutes in a leotard in front of about a hundred people worth it. 

If we are getting healthy, we are ALL IN STRIDE

I am reviving the blog. OK, correction- YOU are reviving the blog.
This week, that post (down there, below this one), created a lot of talk, a lot of promises and a lot of AWESOME momentum and inspiration.

SO. New assignment: SHARE.
I find that a simple status update on facebook like today's: "I'm going to ruuuuuuuuuuun!!!" Led to me actually going out to do it.

Do I think you're going to call me and make sure I went out? No. I know that if I make my commitments public knowledge, I am more likely to stick to them! Now, that is not necessarily true of say, the dentist (I've rescheduled that appointment for the second time now.....).

BUT! Having a support group IS EFFECTIVE on staying on track with your lifestyle change (ie eating better and exercising more).

Oh, I don't know anyone who runs, bikes, swims, walks... blah, blah.. NO.
Want to know how I found a support group? Well, I was lucky that my mom and sister started running about a year before me, but I live an hour and a half away.

True story:
I went to the greenway where I live and saw a group running together and asked to join them. The end. This group ended up being the single reason I was able to train for the full marathon.
And they, along with people like these:

are the reason I finished it.

SO- scroll down this blog and take a look at those names down there on the right- those are folks who can contribute at any time- all you have to do is send me your e-mail address, and I will add you as a contributor.

I can't keep this blog up on my own and that wasn't the point of creating it- I need cheer leaders, too!!! E-mail me (sarah.b.gilliam1@gmail.com) to be added!

Your struggles and triumphs and questions and answers help others more than you know!

The blog heard around the world

I am adding this post to ALL IN STRIDE because it needs to be known and because it gives me credibility- HA!

Last week, my status on facebook read: "Sarah B. Gilliam has found the fountain of youth."

A couple of friends commented and it didn't take me long to come up with an answer.

And this isn't some crazy Biggest Loser story- I wasn't 600 pounds or something, just unhealthy and not living life to the fullest, but I'm getting there. And you're helping me.

It isn't enough to live- you always enjoy life more when you have someone there to experience it with you. You can quote me on that.

Now, onto my facebook note:

the fountain of youth discovery, explained:

Maybe you remember my status a couple weeks back- overwhelmed, tired, sinking, etc...
Here, I found it (Jan. 9):
"Sarah B. Gilliam can NOT get motivated (in general). It's easy to cheerlead for everyone else."

Well WATCH OUT, 'cause I'm about to TESTIFY!!! (can I get an AMEN)

First, the back story:

As of 2006-07, I was SMOKING about a pack and a half a day, sipping Sun Drops (it's a southern thing for you northerners reading) and eating my FAVORITE thing in the world: China King Buffet.

Slowly, I started cutting all of that out of my life- I quit smoking with the support of my awesome hubby, Patrick (we both smoked for about 10 years at the point), and then I started brainwashing myself BACK to choosing the RIGHT things to eat - and making those things taste yummy instead of tasting like a big, nasty rice cake- gag.

Then, I got preggers (that was NOT a part of my diet/weight loss plan), SO, I kind of fell of the wagon, which, if you're planning a family, may I suggest not going into it while NOT feeling your best... while I loved being pregnant, I did not love being FAT and pregnant. Who does??

Baby Jack arrived in January of 2008, and I had HAD ENOUGH. I was fat, pregnant fat and it was mid-winter. YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!

*****************TURNING POINT IN OUR STORY*********************

***********

Around month 2 of parenthood (Feb-March) I got back on the healthy plan - not some fad diet, not a crazy, serious health plan- just a normal diet with normal splurges. I bought a cheap jogging stroller on craigslist, bundled that little sprout up, and I have never looked back.

HOW I DO IT:
Eating Well: Healthy in a Hurry
Cooking Light Weeknight
GOOGLE: light chicken recipes, easy chili, blah, blah, blah
NO NO NO NO NO NO FAST FOOD (if I have to, Subway, granola bars in the car)
WATER
WATER
WATER
WATER

Think you missed the part where I got back into the gym, back with a trainer, back to Kettle Bells? No. I had never EXERCISED IN MY LIFE. I still have NEVER been to a gym, done pilates, whatever- I'm sure that's great, but I have a limited amount of time and a limited budget.

HOW I DID IT:
I went to Fleet Feet.
I bought shoes.
I started running using this Website ONLY: www.runnersworld.com.

Then, I got the crazy idea I'd run a marathon. And I did.
That's another story, which you can read here:
http://gilliamlife.blogspot.com/2009/04/bucket-list-marathon-check.html

And for goodness sake, you DO NOT have to run a marathon!!! You don't have to RUN!
30 minutes a day is a great start- on your bike, on your feet, in a pool. Cut out that sitcom and walk around your yard, your parking lot, your neighborhood, your park.

The fountain of youth = exercise and diet.
Really, really.
You don't have to take it from me: http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20091201/molecular-proof-exercise-keeps-you-young

OK, more TMI time. I have been blue, blah, bummed for about two or three months, and when it came down to it, I looked at my calendar and saw that I hadn't ran since October.
I have been out three times this week, and you know that psycho cleaning mood you get in? You know the one- yeah, I've been high on that feeling EVERY DAY THIS WEEK.

I am glad you hung in there to read this. I've never really felt like sharing this little story with everyone, but when you feel this good, it is hard not to want to share :)
Maybe this will inspire someone who is blue, or someone who is tired of fast food.. I just hope my story shows that if a smoker, chinese-buffet eating, couch potato can do it, you can, too.

Thanks for 'listening.'

QUESTIONS??? ASK AWAY!!!!