Little Miss Mochi

Just a few updates - weight, injuries, finances, and future races

The Princess Half Marathon weekend was a lot of fun! I have a ton to recap and I have lots of pictures to go through, so expect that from me over the next few days. I just figured I’d touch on a couple things that are non-Princess related today:

Weight Update - I’m gaining weight! In a good way though. My weight’s gone up +3-4 pounds but my body fat percentage has gone down -2%. So, right now I’m roughly 141-142ish pounds at 21% body fat (I’m 5’8”). My knee being a problem has forced me to do other types of cross training over the past two weeks, such as weight lifting, which helped support the weight gain. Supposedly seeing hints of a six pack for females are around 18-20%, so I’m still working on that. (Maybe by summer?) Although, mentally I am a little bit “mrghghgh” about the idea of gaining weight. Knowing it’s muscle is good, but ehhh … it’s just one of “those things”. >_>

Knee Update - I went to a doctor on Friday to figure out what’s going on with my knee, and apparently I have some slight swelling in my right knee. She wasn’t sure if I was having IT issues or tendonitis issues, so an x-ray + MRI was ordered. Admittedly… I was a bad patient and kept my mouth shut about Princess, even though I was technically not “cleared” to run it. But I made it through the half marathon better than I thought my knee could handle it (normally I run a 1:50 +/- 3 half, finished in 2:17, and I thought I’d finish around 2:30-2:45 with injury and costume).

Future Races/Finances Update - I’m on the fence about triathlon now. While my plan right now is to prep for a 70.3 in Fall and 140.6 next year, Sean is really stressing to me the importance of saving money because when we were looking over our finances the past couple of days, the combination of Ironman + Disney is taking a huge toll out of our combined expenses. To be clear, I pay for my own race registrations and triathlon equipment. But also since Sean spectates too, there’s the added cost for his travel and lodging. That cost isn’t as much as I’ve spent, but he’s really expressed his concern now that it could be cutting into how much we are setting aside in savings. And I understand his concern too. runDisney and Ironman races are by far one of the most expensive races held in the US, and I’m in-between prioritizing whether or not I want to hit those long distance triathlons first, or use that money towards the inaugural Tower of Terror 10-miler this year and the 20th anniversary of the WDW Marathon in 2013. Pretty much, prioritizing finances for runDisney races in 2012-2013 and doing Ironman 2013-2014, versus doing both runDisney and Ironman races 2012-2013. I dunno. I can afford both, but whether it’s a good idea financially is really the question.

Team Mochi Update - On a similar note to above, Sean and I are registered as Team Mochi again for this year’s Expedition Everest Challenge!

But in more serious news about it, I don’t know if we can do it competitively as we did last year. Last year we ranked 8th of 786 for the coed teams division, but Sean is still having issues with his knee since then where he can’t run for more than a mile without hurting now. It’s been going on for about a year(!) already, even with him changing his shoes and doing rehab, and it’s apparent now that if we were going to run EEC competitively, he might need to have surgery because signs are pointing to a disc issue. It’s really his call, and with EEC 9-10 weeks away I don’t know if he’ll be able to clock in the same 5K times I do now (21-23 mins). We may just treat it as a fun run, or we may end up splitting where I’ll go for placing in female individual for the sake of one of us in Team Mochi placing. (If we do this, I plan on changing my training to go for 19-21 min 5K times, but even THAT is dependent on MY own knee, lol.) On the side, we’re really hoping that his brother Craig will be able to make it. Craig won 1st place in men’s individual, but he doesn’t know if he can defend his title yet because he doesn’t have his work schedule for that time of the year. More updates to come for EEC as we know more.

How to deal with food cravings

I guess … this post would be more appropriately titled “How I deal with food cravings”. Mandy asked me this at Storm and I had to think about it for a bit while rambling, but I thought it’d also be an appropriate topic to post up on my blog too.

Tip #1 - Know what those foods do inside the human body.

This is what helps me a lot with how I deal with my cravings. Maybe it helps that I’m really big into science, or that I’m just naturally curious and take the time to learn things that interest me, and honestly nutrition has been an area that I’ve really taken a liking in. (I mean, I also keep a book on human physiology for leisure reading.) It’s really changed my perception about food too. For example, knowing that excess sugar in the body can cause glycation (attracts protein and fat molecules into the bloodstream), suppresses HGH (human growth hormone), raises insulin, increases risk of weight gain, etc. That can also branch off with drinking alcohol, because when alcohol is broken down in the body, it breaks down into sugars, and then it enters that loop of reasoning again. Another example would be the dangers of consuming processed foods (particularly fast foods), because they contain ingredients which weren’t meant for human consumption. Those ingredients were intended to produce a higher volume of food faster and are masked with even more chemicals to make it taste like “real food” and they wreak havoc in the body. When you’re aware of how the human body works — in this case, the metabolic system — then all that junk food doesn’t seem very appetizing.

Tip #2 - Know your alternatives. 

In this case, I’m talking about food substitutions, whether it be in meals or with choice of restaurants altogether. If I’m feeling like I want to go out for food, I don’t chose what I call with Sean “Hardcore Fast Food”. That is, stuff like McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, and the like. If we were going out, we’d go for things that at least have better options for a near equivalent price ($5-7) that have better and fresher ingredients, such as going to Chipotle, Hummus House, Panera, and Crispers. When at a restaurant, I usually go with more vegetables than I do with breads/grains, not just for the calorie aspect, but also for the sodium because breads or wraps at restaurants tend to have an abnormally high amount of it.  If I’m out getting dessert, I just get the smaller size of what’s offered, or I split it with your friends.

Tip #3 - Ask yourself if you’re really hungry, or if you just want to stuff your face for the sake of stuffing your face.

I don’t like to eat just for the sake of eating anything. I do try to stick to eating 5 times a day (3 main meals, 2 snacks). I came across a predicament at Storm where a couple people bought a bunch of $5 pizzas from Little Cesars, and I have to admit, those pizzas were smelling pretty good. I came pretty close to buying a slice for $1, but then with thinking about it one more time, I knew that I didn’t want the pizza because I was hungry - I wanted it because it was there. And when I realized that, I was able to decline out of it.

Tip #4 - Drink water before you eat. 

This is something that I do anyway with my regular meals and not just to fight food cravings. But it’s something that helps fill your tummy up, and I do believe that sometimes when I feel hungry that I’m actually just thirsty. In a way, I’ve also used this as a money saving technique too. Whenever Sean and I go out, we almost always come home with leftovers so long as we drink water (~1/2L) with our meal. Then that one meal can now be split up into two meals, which also helps in saving calories, too.

Tip #5 - Indulge every once in a while. 

I know that this sounds like it goes against everything I’ve said above, but from my own experience, I have trouble completely eliminating junk food. My first couple of attempts at weight loss was where I learned this hard, where I had the yo-yo effect going on. I got to my goal weight on a strict exercise and diet, then I had trouble maintaining it because the moment I allowed myself the treats I denied, I binged and gained my weight back. It’s much easier to let yourself have these junk foods, but to have them in an extreme moderation.  One BIG example to this? Storm. Clearly I didn’t eat as well as I should have, but the important part is that I very, very rarely eat and drink junk. I guess it’s the realization that I don’t have to eat and drink these things all the damn time to enjoy them is what helps me keep these things as treats.