Don't worry mom..

My parents visited this weekend, and as I was getting ready to head out the door for my C25K jog, my mom asked "you aren't losing any more weight are you?" I know she is my mom and worries, but really, exercise should be a part of everyone's lifestyle, not just a way to lose weight. I told her- don't worry I eat PLENTY (probably more than I should; I've definitely gone off WW portions!) Right now if I wasn't exercising enough I would probably gain a ton of weight back, and I might have already gained some, I really have no idea.

Speaking of C25K, I actually went ahead and started week 4, even though I thought I might need to repeat week 3! Week 4 is 3 min jog, 1.5 min walk, 5 min jog, 2.5 min walk- and repeat. I guess jogging will continue to get easier, but I still just can't see myself ever enjoying it or wanting to jog more than a 3k max. Stranger things have happened though. Like, the pain in my tendons around my knees went away! I'm really glad about that b/c I thought I might have to give up the program when it wasn't going away the 1st couple of times I wore my new shoes.

So that is what's going on with me. M will be out of town on Friday, so I am not sure how I'm going to fit in the scheduled run. I might have to extend my morning break and shorten my lunch, b/c it will be too stinkin' hot to wait until midday!

Adding a progress bar

I was able to make it through day one of Week 3. It's amazing how long 3 minutes can feel! I'll add in a progress bar to the side to track my C25k workouts so I don't necessarily need to write a short boring post about it every 2 days :-p

Am I Vain?

well yes, I think all humans are to a degree, but in particular, am I really vain for wanting to get a bunch of pictures taken of myself b/c I feel like when I look in the mirror all I see are the same old flaws? Pictures are a little different, it's like you can be a little less objective and see what others see when you look at a photo. Like a couple of pictures that I was accidentally in from Emily's bday party, I was like, ooh, that shirt does look good on me; my arms are kinda toned; etc etc. I really want to get to the point where I appreciate how I am looking and feeling now, b/c despite my best efforts maybe it won't last and I'll have wasted this time looking past my accomplishments and zeroing in on all the flaws.

So anyway, that is what is going on in my head. As for my exercising; I officially completed week 2 of C25K last night, but I'll have to check what the next level is, to see if I need to repeat it before moving on. Unfortunately though, even with new shoes, I am feeling some pain in my knee area. It's weird b/c where it hurts is like the sides of my legs extending a few inches above and below my knees. So I guess it is the tendons connecting my knees to the top and bottom bones of my leg? On a happier note though, I am going to be rocking it during all my exercising soon b/c my IPOD and armband both just shipped out today- wooohoooo! When I first ordered the expected arrival time was like 2 to 3 weeks away and I was totally bummed, so I am glad that it is not going to take that long.

Oh and I am about to order a 2 piece swim suit for the first time ever (other than tankinis that I have had)

new shoes and plugging right along

I finally got some new running shoes yesterday. It has probably been at least 6 years since I bought actual running shoes, so I guess it was time! Kohl's was having a sale, as always (I swear you need to re-evaluate your life if you ever pay for something full price there!) plus I had a 15% off coupon so I was able to stay under my budget of $40 max while still getting a name brand shoe. The absolute cheapest shoes of course weren't available in my ridiculously big size *sigh*.

I was also able to find a route by work that is relatively flat- not huge hills like the greenways at least- and also isn't crossing too many intersections and business driveways. Which means I completed day 2 of week 2 on C25K! How in the world can 90 seconds feel like sooo long though!? and how in the world will I be able to run further when that seems so bad?

It might be a struggle to get my next scheduled run in on Sunday since we will be busy all day plus it's maybe supposed to rain. We shall see!

Week One: Check!

I completed week one of C25K successfully last night. I'm going to attempt to move on to week 2 and see how that goes, but fully accept that I may not be ready for that yet. I think a big thing I need to do is get new shoes though- like STAT! I am wearing shoes that are 10 years old...granted I have had them sitting in my closet for several years, but they are really not cut out for giving me the kind of comfort and support I need for first time running. I have already decided to get a new Ipod (my first ever BTW!) so there really isn't any cash to be spared, but I guess we'll just have to suck it up!

Success!

I finally got everything right last night on my walk/jog! I found a relatively flat route, had my MP3 player working so I didn't need to think about when to stop and start and was able to complete the cycle for real. It's kind of annoying though, that the man said "you should be feeling the effects of the running now, but not be out of breath or tired" Excuse me, but not jogging in over 10 years I think gives me the right to feel out of breath and tired!
So that will officially be day 1, and I just need to find the time and place to jog again!

Oh and I tried for about 3 sec to jog on the treadmill on Wed, but it totally freaked me out and I couldn't do it :-p

Day 2 (ish)

I technically finished day 2 out of 3 on week one of C25K. However, on day one, I thought I was supposed to walk 2 min/jog 1 min, but it's really walk 1.5 min/jog one. Plus, I have been having MP3 issues, and have had to use my phone to time myself. It's really hard to try and jog or even walk when you are looking at your phone every 5 sec! So I am thinking that I might just have to start with day one again tomorrow- assuming everything is working for me by then!

Also, I probably need more time at this level anyway, b/c yesterday when I approached even the slightest elevation, I was probably "jogging" at about the same pace as I walk (when I am doing my fast walking). Yuck! I would just relegate C25K to the treadmill at the gym, except that something about it really throws off my equilibrium and I have seriously almost fallen off the thing just walking before (more than once actually)!

So that is where I am with C25K; poised to start day 3 (or 1- ha!) of Week 1 tomorrow. As for the rest of the day, I think I'll take a long walk to Harris Teeter to buy a gallon of milk, maybe a coffee from Caribou and also mail some yucky bills at a box along the way! Everyone enjoy this beautiful day!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my momma, except she is having some health issues right now and will be going to a Dr appt to hopefully diagnose the problem. Prayers from everyone that it's nothing serious :(

5K

There is a 5k taking place basically right outside my door in a few weeks. Since I am semi-doing the couch to 5k program I decided to get a baseline to gauge my progress. So I took the route map for the upcoming race and walked the 5k this morning. It took me 45 minutes. I think less than 15 minutes per mile is quite brisk! So there is my starting point, and even though I'm not necessarily going to get to the point where I'll run a whole 5k, it will be interesting to see what kind of progress I can make in a few weeks.
So far today I have 9800 steps and I hope to get a couple thousand more by pulling Emily to and from the park in her wagon...and then to get a frozen coffee drink :-p

Hello? Anyone out there?

I kind of doubt it, and don't blame you. It's been 3 months since my last post, crazy!

I'm hanging in there and despite not being an active participant in WW, have gotten below my goal weight! Still not as toned as I would like to be, but I have all kinds of time to work on that as long as I can continue with a more healthy lifestyle to stay at the same weight.

I've been walking a lot more lately and I've actually worn a hole in the "air pod" in one of my Reebok Easytones, and the other foot is probably not behind. Everytime I take a step there is a "whoosh" sound. I find this development pretty annoying, considering the price and only having had them 3.5 mo. I guess it won't hurt to check for some sort of warranty, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

A new pedometer based competition at work has made me "step up" my game- har har. Luckily the weather has been gorgeous the last couple of weeks so I have been taking my entire lunch break to walk about 3.5 to 4 miles! Now I'm thinking that the only way to increase my steps any more is to jog....I am NOT a jogger (I refuse to call what I do running b/c it's so slow) but I can't add time to my day, so I'll just have to try and get more steps in in the same amount of time that I have now. So.... I started my first day of Couch to 5k today! I'm not sure I will finish out the program, but I would at least like be able to a jog/walk combo on my breaks to increase the distance to 5ish miles.

So, with this new jogging routine, I was thinking about buying new shoes anyway, since the Easytones are designed more for walking. Still sucks that they didn't last longer though!

Looks like another beautiful week ahead, so wish me luck in my endeavors! I'll make it a point to keep up with my C25K progress on here, so at least that will guarantee frequent posts for the next several weeks (assuming I continue with it that long!)

Hoping there is some truth in advertising!

This week I was finally able to start using one of my Christmas presents! Who has seen the Reebok commercial with the woman that has the toned legs and butt that I could only DREAM of having? Well, I saw it back in November, and since I couldn't get them for my birthday present I decided to see if I could add some EasyTones to the old Christmas list. If you haven't heard of them at all, here is a description from one of the shoe websites:

"The Reebok EasyTone Reeinspire is designed to help give definition to your legs and butt. Simply walk and let the balance pods under your shoe do the rest. The slight instability created by the pods feels similar to walking on sand and forces your muscles to work a little harder, toning you up as you strut your stuff. The EasyTone™ technology improves muscle tone in the hamstrings, calves and glutes up to 28% – not bad considering all you have to do is walk around as usual."

I figured this would be a good option for me in the quest to tone up, since my main source of exercise other than weight machines is walking. After 3 walks I obviously can't say they are "working", but they did make my knee feel better after I literally thought I had fractured my knee cap on Sunday! So why not try to get a little extra oomph out of something I am already doing, especially when I can get momma to pick up the bill :)

As far as keeping up with my weight-loss, yet again, all I can say is that my pants still fit! I also ordered 2 new dresses online in a SINGLE DIGIT SIZE and they fit too! whoa- didn't know that was possible after being in the doubles for....forever. That is another reason I need to step up the toning effort in my legs especially. These dresses, while not indecent or anything, are way WAY shorter than I have worn for years. Luckily I have a couple more years until I am OVER 30 (you're not over 30 until you are 31, right? :p) so I figure I need to take advantage of still being "allowed" to wear short things according to 'the rules'.

I've also finally gone through my Cooking Light magazines from the last year and compiled a bunch of recipes that I hope to start trying out. We need some variety in our meals, and they need to be healthy, so if I try some that we really like I'll definitely share! It's a little disappointing to see that they can't make all their yummy desserts good for me though :-p