The ELFF Diet

Favorites!

So I asked for a running partner on Facebook, and it sparked a conversation on gear.  Specifically, bras and socks.

I can say BRAS, right?  We are all adults. 

When I first started trying to lose weight, I had enormous boobs. I wore a 40J.  J as in JUGS.  I had herd a lot of great buzz about the Enell bra and tried it, and I ended up wearing it with a regular bra underneath. It gave me just about the right amount of support.  It was a fairly spendy purchase, but it was definitely worth it.  It's a German Prison Matron type dealio, with a dozen hook and eye closures up the front, and it's big and ugly and so not going to attract any men folk.  But it keepsthe girls in place and that's all I care about.

I just remembered that I wrote about bras before.  Read what I had to say about running and bras before. I'll wait.  It still stands.

As far as socks go, PLEASE do yourself a favor and get some good running socks. Wicking, non cotton type, so as to avoid blisters.  i'm a HUGE fan of the DeFeet brand

Any time I wear other socks, I get blisters. 

Speaking of favorites, I have worn out four pairs of Sauconys.  The same style, the same color.  I REALLY would like to get some cool pink runners, but I pronate so awfully that the Sauconys are comfy and I stay with the same over and over.

As far as clothing goes, I'm a huge fan of Lululemon - but I can't afford them. Maybe for Christmas.

What are you favorite brands and such of workout gear?

Woman Loses 410 Pounds!

While watching the Today show, I saw the amazing story of Tammey Burns - a woman who lost 410 pounds.  She was amazing and awe inspiring - and she left me with one piece of very valuable advice.  She made a comment that was so valid and so real, yet one I'd never thought of in precisely those terms.

She changed her attitude on food from a comfort source to an fuel source. 

That's a little thing, but it's a big thing. 

Food needs to lose it's power in all of our lives, so that we aren't unconsciously - or consciously, for that matter - seeking it out to make ourselves feel better.  We need to use food as a fuel source for whatever sport we choose to indulge in - a source of energy and power.

It took Tammey a long time to learn this - and I'm not there yet.  I think I need to create a mantra to repeat whenever I want to make a bad choice.

Food is fuel not love.

The Power of Six

The last fifteen minutes of Muay Thai class is often devoted to plyometrics, abs, pushups - strength training type stuff. It's my VERY favorite part of every class - I really enjoy hitting the pads, not so much on the sparring, but my favorite is the strength stuff.  Here's what we did today.

Six squats holding a medicine ball - mine was 10 pounds
Six two handed kettle bell swings - I think I had a kb in the 12-15 pound range, not sure
Six burpees - my LEAST favorite exercise EVER. They make me want to barf HARD
Six box jumps - jumping up on to the side of the ring - see also, yuck
Six pushups
Six V-sit ups

REPEAT six times.

It was awesome. 

The only not-so-awesome part?  The man next to me passed an insane amount of gas LOUDLY each and every single V sit. 

Roadblocks

Stumbling blocks, whatever you want to label them - we all have them.

The Headless Mom has a great post on this very issue.

What are the rules that you routinely break when it comes to weight loss/maintenance? What are your stumbling blocks? What foods or habits get in your way of losing those last 5/10/15 pounds?

I could:

• walk more often and get back into running
• avoid the occasional sugar soda that has crept back into my diet (damn you, Sonic Vanilla Coke!)
• drink more water
• drink less alcohol
• avoid eating out with my husband - Mexican restaurants are the very BANE of my existence lately
• pull out the stomach exercise equipment and actually USE it
• get more sleep

What about you?