C25K Update

I have been working very very hard on my Couch to 5K program. The weather has been pretty blah lately, so I have had a couple of work-outs on the treadmill. Gross. I never thought I would say this, but they aren't challenging enough. I go much faster and I push myself, but I just don't feel quite as spent as I do when I run outside. I hope the rain decides to go away so I can get back outside.

I am officially registered for two 5K's this summer! The first one is at our local zoo. It's the race I'm running with the group of girls I have been running with at work. I am very very excited! There's a kid's dash that day for little kids and I signed my daughter up for that one. I think she'll have a blast!

The second one is one I'm SO excited for! It's the Color Run. I am excited to do a "fun" race with my friends.

I'm thinking of doing a third one in August. It's a glow run back in South Dakota (my home state) and one of my girlfriends might run it with me.


Have you signed up for any races yet?

Weekly Weigh-In

Hello There!

I have had a very frustrating couple of weeks. I have been watching my food intake very well (although I do have to admit, I went to parade and then out to eat on Saturday and it wasn't pretty). I have been doing my C25K running without fail. So I was hoping I would see some movement on the scale.

NOPE.

ARGH!

I haven't lost any weight! How is this possible? I don't know how I couldn't physcially lose weight when I'm under my reccommended calories and carbs every day plus breastfeeding plus running.

I do wonder what effect breastfeeding is having on my weight loss. I have heard some people state that it just kept them at one weight, that they couldn't lose anymore once they hit a certain point. (Before having my son, I was hovering around 290, so I have lost quite a bit, but I am still trying to lose!)

This week I might try adding in some weight training in to see if that helps. I also think I'm taking in way too much sodium, so I think I might be retaining some water. Anyone ever try the Jillian Micheals tea type cleanse? I heard it's pretty good.

So here are the stats:

Weight: 247.2 (Down from 247.8 last week)

Bust: 44.5

Waist: 39.5

Thighs: 56

Goals this week:
1) Avoid eating out disasters! I'm going to eat lunch with my brother today, and I need to remember this goal!
2) No more sweets! I had been doing so good lately, and then bam! I look down to realize I had eaten two candy bars! Boo.

Weigh-In

Well, I was pretty excited to weigh myself this morning until I saw the number. I lost less than a pound last week. I was hoping for more since I had been watching my food intake so well (I only went over once!) and I had been running. Since I felt kinda defeated, I decided to also take my measurements. I improved in that department much more, so that's pretty exciting. I'll take the win where I can get it!

Weight: 247.8 (Down from 248.2)

Bust: 44.5 (up from 44...blame the awesome bra I'm wearing!)
Waist:  39.5 (down from 41.5)
Hips:  56.5 (down from 57)

Stare down with the evil brownies!

I have been doing well this week...**pat on the back**

I started using the MyFitnessPal app on my iPad. I have been able to mostly stay within the recommendations to lose weight! Yesterday my husband surprised me with lunch, so I was a bit over, but not as bad as I would have thought for going out to eat. I have done my CT5K program. The weather was quite rainy and wet here, so I had to run inside twice. I understand why they say not to train on a treadmill for CT5K. I could run longer and harder on the treadmill. Which I used to think was good, but it's not when you're training to run outside! I want to challenge myself and I just don't think running on a treadmill does it. I'll be glad when it's nice outside again.

I made the mistake of weighing myself today. I should have known to wait a week and to do at the same time, but I was curious to see if my efforts the past week to watch what I eat and exercise would equal weight loss. There wasn't any change and I felt quite defeated. :( But I have to tell myself that I'll also measure myself Monday to see if I have lost any inches and maybe that will be my little victory.

Speaking of victories, there is a plate of brownies and rice crispy treats for my office within my eye view of my desk. The temptation!!! I caved and had a couple of chips yesterday and I'm trying to remember that feeling afterwards. You know the one, "that didn't taste nearly as good as the calories I just consumed and guilt from those calories." I shut my office door so they are out of sight and I hope I can keep away until I leave.

Tonight I'm getting a iPhone! My husband and I are celebrating 5 years of marriage in a few weeks and he and I went around and around what we should get. I was going to get a new band to go around my wedding ring, but I decided I would use the iPhone more. So, it's not very romantic but it should pretty darn fun. Yeah for joining everyone I know in the smartphone club!

Monday Weigh-In & Goals.

So, I decided to finally weight myself. I'm going to try to do it at a consistant time and at a consistant place. Last time I weighted myself, I was at home and it was a random time at night. Today, is more reflective of what I want to do. There's a scale here at work. So I want to use that scale and weigh myself every Monday morning.

On a side note, I started using MyFitnessPal and have pretty much stuck within my diet over the past three/four days! I love the fact I can scan a barcode with my iPad and it pulls up the information. It makes it so much easier to record my food intake!

Today my weight was 248.2. My weight last week (on a different scale, after a meal) was also in the 248 range. So not much change, but I did just start watching my food.

I have to say my goal to watch my portions went really well! I actually went out to eat with my family and made two smart decisions. 1) I got a side salad instead of fries and 2) I only ate half my burger. I saved the rest for the next day at lunch. That's huge for me. My husband also went to Dairy Queen, and I didn't get any ice cream. I instead got the Light Smoothie Mango/Pineapple. I do have to say I felt as satisifed as I would have with ice cream.

I also went grocery shopping and came home with only healthy options. That will make my snacking urges SO much easier to handle. My hubby was a bit peeved I didn't have anything sweet...he's an ice cream addict! I got some whipped yogurt and put them in the freezer as a ice cream substitute. (I heard that it's pretty good.)

Week two of C25K starts today. I'm not so excited about being sore, but I can't wait to see some progress on the scale!

Non-Scale Victories!

So, I didn't link up this post to the NSV link party, but I should have. Today I have two to share. 1) I didn't abuse my husband. Oh wait, that's probably not what they were talking about when they said non-scale victories huh...

Last night my husband asked me to take the kids to daycare (normally he does since I have to commute an hour to and from work). No problem. I asked him to put my clothes in the dryer so I would have something ready to go in the morning, and I went to bed "early" (aka after feeding baby at midnight). I woke up this morning (he had already left) and the clothes were still in the washer. UGH. I always have a hard time picking out what to wear in the mornings (certain things don't go with certain things..mostly weight related. I don't want to wear tight pants if I don't have something to cover it up, etc.)

After searching my closet I pulled together these clothes. I haven't worn the shirt since before I was pregnant, so I didn't know how it was going to look. I still feel like it's pointing out my mom belly. You know that awkward pouch of skin that is decorated by stretch marks? Thanks kids! I saw a internet meme that said they were tiger stripes...but the meme had the stretch marks on a 115 pounds six pack stomach, so I feel like mine look a bit more like rhino rolls. But hey, no one wants to mess with a rhino either.

So, my first victory was wearing a shirt I haven't gotten to wear in months and even putting heels on. I always feel more powerful in heels (but I only wear them every couple of weeks).

Second victory was lunch (that I'm actually eating right now!). Today was "deluxe nacho" day in our company's caferteria. That sounded delish. I fully planned on eating some delish nachos until I was walking down to the caferteria. I had just read some of your lady's blogs and I decided then and there I wasn't going to eat said nachos. I got a wrap and salad instead. I did get Ceasar dressing, but since I use 1/3 of a packet, I didn't feel so bad about that one.

FYI: This is the very first time I have taken a picture of my food and put it online. I'm now one of "those" people.

So yeah to tiny victories!!

The jiggle in my step is revolting!

Today was day two of C25K. Whew. I woke up yesterday a bit sore, but manageable. Today I woke up a little more sore. After today’s run, I’m feeling hella sore, but I made it! That’s what really matters. I just keep telling myself that I just am one day closer to the day I won’t feel sore.

I have discovered two things while running with our work running group, 1) I’m short and 2) I’m slow. I can’t manage to keep up during the walking periods let alone the running period. I’m a bit surprised I haven’t gotten bruises up and down me from all my different bits slamming against each other. Is it possible that is adding to my soreness? My extra baggage is resisting my weight loss journey by physically assaulting me every time I jiggle. 

During my run today, I witnessed a miracle. Yes, a miracle actually occurred on my run today. How many people get to witness one in front of their eyes? This miracle is that a hill magically appeared while I was running. The hill was not there yesterday. However, today when I hit that hill (during my running period nonetheless) I felt like someone had lit my legs on fire! My poor abusive bum was also feeling the wrath of the new magical hill. Argh. Note to self, try to avoid hill during running period on Friday.

I have new goals this week as well. Giving up sweets last week wasn’t stellar…but I did say no a couple of times, so that’s a move in the right direction. I’m going to continue last week’s goal of sweet moderation and portion control. Although, I find the later more difficult after running and breastfeeding. My body is like EAT AN ENTIRE PIZZA NOW!!!! Don’t worry. I’m not starving myself or anything. I just attempt to curb it with some protein. Although, I really just want to carb load. Probably not a good idea to eat 3.5 pounds of pasta prior to running. It was just add more stuff to jiggle around in my body.

New goal this week is more of a healthy lifestyle choice. I’m going to floss. I know. Crazy me! How will I ever do it!?!? 

Okay. I’ll admit that when the dental hygienist asks me how often I floss, I *may* say I do it regularly. Then she calls my bluff and I leave the office with monster inflamed gums. (Oh, did I say regular? I mean I did my annual flossing about 5 minutes before I walked in the door.)

So goal summary. Stop stuffing my face with sugar. Stop eating enough food to feed a family of three. Start flossing so I don’t have to tell white lies to my dentist. Check!

Modivation via Pinterest Project

I found these two ideas from Pinterest (don't forget to follow me on Pinterest!)

The first one is putting exercises on popcycle sticks. When you have a spare moment, you pull out an exercise and put in a "done" jar (or next to the jar like I will). Since I haven't done much exercise in the past, I also had to add a couple of words as a cheat so I knew exactly what I was supposed to do. I also put the name of the exercise group in case I wanted to do an entire thigh workout or butt workout (You can see one workout is called "Tame Those Thighs").

Of course, they had to go into a cute jar too. I painted the inside of a wide mouth Ball jar.

The second jar is my work-out tip jar (Also a cute jar with some Mod Podge'd fabric on the outside). Every time I do a workout I put a dollar in. My personal goal is to get something once I reach a certain weight...mostly the weight in which my calves are small enough I can wear tall boots. I'd say skinny jeans but I would have like 1,000 dollars before that would be a good idea. I have my mom's thighs. In fact I had a doctor tell me in middle school there was probably no hope that I would ever have small hips. (I weighed like 110 pounds and still had wide hips) Oh well...could be worse. 

So the money will be used for the boots...but that might change. Money is good motivation. I also love the idea that Katie posted on KTJ Weighing In. You bet against yourself losing weight. Great idea!

First Day of CT5K!

Hello!

I'm just about to head to the locker room to get dressed for our first work-out. I'm really excited. A bit nervous I'll fail, but mostly excited to make a change.

I also found out that The Color Run will be in our town this summer! Totally pumped. I think I'm going to sign up this week. I always wanted to do it, and for some reason I thought we weren't a host city this year. Its going to be my 2nd 5k if things go well with CT5K. I can't wait!

I hope the video below works, otherwise check out The Color Run's website!