Thirty-three days and counting...

The 5K I signed up for (and convinced others to sign up for) is in 33 days.  I'm excited and nervous.  I've had a few, very minor, aches and pains that have kept me from running regularly.  Also, it hasn't been as convenient lately because we've had someone staying in the same room as the treadmill, so I can't get up super early and run.  I did run last week and it went pretty well.  Unfortunately, that was only workout 2 of week 3 of the Couch to 5K plan.  I only have about 4.5 weeks left, so I need to get a move on. 
Weight is still doing ok.  I dropped one pound last week.  I've been moving more even though I haven't been exercising much.  Hopefully as I pick up the training for the 5K, the weight will come off a little faster.
I'll keep you posted!

Time flies

I have no idea how so much time has passed since my last post.  I fully intended to post a few days a week, and it's already been a week and a half. 
I had a colonoscopy yesterday (I get them every two years because my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer pretty young) and that meant I went through one and a half days of fasting.  It actually worked pretty well to keep me on my Weight Watchers plan.  I dipped below 190lbm for the first time in a long time and now I don't want to let that go. 

I'm doing it!

I'm actually doing it.  I'm going to the Weight Watchers meetings, I'm exercising, I'm tracking my food, and I'm losing weight!  And, I'm pretty darn happy about it.  I've been doing the Couch to 5K program again and I'm on week three and I'm enjoying it!

I've had my off weeks and days.  Vacation and holidays make it really hard for me to make myself stick to the plan.  Luckily, I've got a break from those for a while now. 
I've signed up for a 5K in October.  I've got my husband and some friends signing up too.  I really, really want to do a 10K and a triathlon at some point in my life.  I've been reading Ben of Ben Does Life for a while and I find him so inspiring.  Not necessarily because he keeps trying and he has his setbacks but because he's trying to share it with others and because he sets such high goals (100 miler!). 
Another person I read regularly is Jill of Baby Rabies.  Her blog helps me in other aspects of my life and she's really funny.  I've actually starting taking action on my long dormant interest in photography partially because of Jill.  She's a photographer and gives lots of tips on her blog.  I'm really enjoying the small amount of progress I've made in photographing my son so far and hope to include pictures in this blog in the future.
Things are good.  I hope there are for you too.

Another new beginning...

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted.  That's shameful.  But sickness, excuses, and denial have all been prevalent in the last few months.  So, I stopped by Weight Watchers on the way home from work on Tuesday and joined.  I had my first meeting this morning.  The coolest thing about it was seeing the "Lifetime Members".  These are people that have met their lifetime goal but still come to the meetings to help them stay on track.  Awesome.  What I realized during my big exercise push is that it wasn't enough.  I just stayed above 210lbm for a long time.  In the recent past, I've been pretty consistent around 205lbm.  Today, I hit 202lbm.  The lowest I've been since I got pregnant with my son over two years ago.  I always feel weird saying this time is it and this will work, but what other attitude could I have?  If I think it will fail, then it definitely will.  I think this time will be different.  Weekly meetings with people to learn your name and people to weight you in and see your weight loss.  Plus, I'm really tired of being fat.  It sucks.

Ugh

Unfortunately, I didn't stick with the calorie tracking for very long.  I weighed in this morning at 210.2 pounds.  However, I started Brazil Butt Lift this morning.  The Cardio Axe workout was actually a lot of fun! With the DVDs came a 6 day supermodel slim down plan.  I'm doing it.  I started today.  I'll be following their meal plan exactly and getting approximately 1000 calories per day.  I do their prescribed workouts each day too.  After I've finished the Insanity workout for the day.  It is a lot, but I'm hoping that an results I see at the end of the week will be motivation to continue on.  I really, really want to lose this extra weight and get down to a good, healthy, attractive (at least to me) weight.  There were notes in the meal plan that said you shouldn't do this for more than 6 days at a time and that you might feel irritable and have headaches.  I already have a headache and I'm not even done with day 1.  Yuck.  But, by eating their meal plan, I'm eating foods I wouldn't normally choose.  I've found that I actually like grapefruit (with zero calorie sweetener) and string cheese.  Hopefully, I can get some more sleep and have another good workout tomorrow!

Progress

Sunday's weigh in was bad.  I was at 211 pounds again.  But, I've worked out everyday for the last 11 days.  I also ordered the Brazilian Butt Lift workout dvds from Beachbody and I plan to do those along with Insanity.  I weighted myself this morning, after the workout, and it read 207 pounds.  I am pretty excited.  Also, two days ago I started tracking my calories again.  I used to do this and it works really well when you account for everything.  I'm also using the Bodybugg again and it all goes together on myapex.com.  I know that I've posted my measurements here before, at least hips, waist, and chest.  I've also posted my goals.  I stand by those.  But, yesterday I happened across information on Alessandra Ambrosio (the Victoria's Secret model).  Throughout the years of paging through VS catalogs, she has been my favorite.  Anyway, the information I found was that her measurements are 34"-25"-34".  That seems amazing to me.  I've since found women that are smaller, but a 25" waist and 34" hips?  That's impossible for someone like me, right?  We'll see.  With my big push for exercise and my renewed calorie counting, I'm going to try.   What do you think?  Impossible or not?

Insane

We did the Insanity workout for three days and on Friday, I had such muscle pain that I just couldn't do it.  So, we took a break.  Unfortunately, that break lasted through Sunday.  My weigh in wasn't good, 211.4 pounds.  We started Insanity backup this morning.  I have the 5K in less than 4 weeks but it is really hard to run after completing that workout.  I'm not sure how to get that done.  I tried today and couldn't run really at all.  I just walked at a an incline for a while.  Maybe I'll have better success on the days Insanity doesn't focus on the legs.

MIA

Sorry I was MIA.  I had a cold, then food poisoning, and I"m just getting over the cold now.  Sunday I weighed in at 211.8 pounds.  Still 3.2 pounds above where I should be.  This morning I started the Insanity workout program with my husband.  We get up before 5am to do it, so he can be done by then and get to work on time.  I really, really want to stick with this.  I still need to do my running, so hopefully I can make all of this work.  My plan is to run after the Insanity workout.  If that doesn't work, I'll need to find other times to run.  I promised a friend we'd run the 5K on March 24th in less than 40 minutes!  I still haven't run a full mile on the Couch to 5K program.  I'll be starting that up again tomorrow and hope to pick up on week 5 workout 1. 

Weigh ins

Yesterday I was 212.2 pounds and this morning, for the official weigh in, I am 211.4 pounds.  So, I still need to lose 3 pounds this week to get back on track.  And, I'm still sick.  Awesome.

Sorry

Sorry, I didn't post yesterday.  I am really feeling sick as a dog.  At my weigh in yesterday morning I was 213.2 pounds and this morning I was 212.8 pounds.  Yesterday I had a large latte, a bagel with peanut butter, pistachios, greek yogurt, OJ, taco salad with tortilla chips, and a little bit of ice cream.

I probably won't post much over the weekend besides my weigh ins.  I'm going to focus on resting to kick this cold or flu or whatever it is.  I didn't run this morning but I am hoping I feel well enough tomorrow to do it. 

I highly doubt I'll make my weigh in on Sunday so I'll be posting my food consumption next week and I promise to be more diligent about it then.

No way

I feel like crap.  Really sore throat, cough, runny nose, and sneezing like crazy.  I went to Book Babies at the library this morning and as I walked up to the desk, they put up the sign that they were out of tickets.  Awesome.  At the doctor's office this afternoon, I found out, while in the exam room waiting for the doctor, that the insurance company has no record of me.  Our new policy was supposed to be in effect 2 weeks ago.  Awesome.  I ate poorly today.  Awesome.  Luckily, my time with the little one was WONDERFUL and I got my run in this morning.  It was really difficult, but I'm proud.  It seems to be that way each time.  Workout 2 week 5 complete.

PS I'm not posting my food today, see "I ate poorly today" above.

Weigh In Day 4

213.8 pounds.  Again.  That sucks.  I knew I ate too much spaghetti last night.  At least I'm up early and ready to run.

Food - Day 3

I had part of my son's waffle (everyday it seems).  Then for my breakfast, I had a bagel thin (less calories than a real bagel) with natural peanut butter that seems to taste so much better than regular peanut butter.  I then had pistachios for my morning snack, leftover chinese food for lunch, and greek yogurt for my afternoon snack.  I had milk with leftover spaghetti for dinner and I ate too much of it.  Then I had tea and some chocolate after dinner.  I had orange juice throughout the morning and evening.  It seems to make my throat feel better.  Unfortunately, I'm severely missing fruits and vegetables from today's diet.

Workout update

I completely forgot to write about my workout yesterday.  I completed workout 1 of week 5.  It was hard but good!  I'm looking forward to tomorrow's!

Weigh In Day 3

212.2 pounds this morning.  That makes me feel better.  Although, I didn't eat very much yesterday.  I hope Monday's weight was a fluke and today's is more in-line with reality.

Food report day 2

I had a few bites of my son's waffles, quite a bit of OJ, an energy bar before my run, and a banana and peanut butter after my run.  I had a salad, a piece of garlic bread, and spaghetti for dinner.  I had tea and a bit of chocolate after dinner.

Unpleasant weigh in

It said 213.8 pounds this morning.  I guess I ate more snacks at the party yesterday than I thought.  I also woke up this morning with a terrible cough, a stuffed up nose, and watery eyes.  Super.

Food for today

I had pancakes and bacon with milk and orange juice for breakfast.  For a snack I had pistachios and a coke.  I had various snacks at the super bowl party including chips and queso and crackers and crab dip.  I also had about 1.5 beers.  Not healthy food, but not a ton of food either.  Tomorrow I'd like to eat healthier.

Weigh In Day

212.6 pounds.  I didn't lose the 2 pounds I was going for.  So, daily weigh ins and reporting my food intake on here.  That should be interesting with the Super Bowl party today with fabulous food.

Catch up

I forgot to write about my workout on Wednesday.  I did it in the morning and I completed the whole thing.  It was really rough, but I finished.  Today I did workout 3 of week 4.  I changed up the speed work to start out for the first 3 minutes and I ran at 6mph for the last minute of the workout.  I think I'm just going to focus on running for an extended time at 5mph from now on instead of also trying to increase my speed.  I need to be able to run 3.1 miles for the 5K on March 24th.  I'm on schedule to do that, but running faster for longer at the beginning of every workout is going to start interferring with my couch to 5K progress.
I was feeling really confident in my progress this week because I've kept up the running and I was banking a lot of steps (I use the bodybugg to track calories and steps).  But, I worked long, stationary hours on Thursday and Friday and I got on the scale this morning and it was bad.  Tomorrow is the official weigh in.  If I didn't lose the two pounds I set out to lose this week, then I'll start tracking all of my food on here for the next week and I'll be weighing in every day.

Done

I completed my workout for today.  It was really tough, but I completed it!

Update

Friday I had a great workout.  I repeated Wednesday's workout.  So I completed week 3 workout 2.  Today I'm going to do week 4 workout 1.  And, I'm going to start with 3 minutes and 30 seconds at 6mph.  My weigh in yesterday was ok.  I came in at 212.4 pounds.  So, this week I need to lose two more in order to get back on track with 1 pound per week. 
I also just took my measurements.  My waist is 41 inches and my hips are 49 inches.  That is pretty bad.  But, I'm going to work on it.  My goal is to have my waist at 32 inches or less and my hips at less than 40 inches.  Off take care of a few things and then do my run!

Working out

Yesterday I tried to do strength training in the morning.  I still was feeling a little sick though so I only completed part of it.  I was using The Biggest Loser video game for Wii.  I've used it before and like it quite a bit.
Today I completed week 3 workout 1 of C25K!  I'm pretty proud of myself.  Especially since I ran at 6mph for 3 minutes to start it off.  It is amazing how relaxed 5mph feels after 3 minutes of 6mph!  I haven't been completing every workout from each week because I've gotten to the point with the first two weeks that I feel a little comfortable with my abilities.  And, I want to have pad in my training plan so if I need to repeat the harder workouts, I can.  I have a feeling I'll be completing all of week 3!

Goals

Following bendoeslife's example, I've listed out some goals I'd like to accomplish this year.  2012 should be a big year for me fitness-wise.  Here they are in no particular order.  As I accomplish each goal, I'll update this list.

1. I want to weigh 150 pounds or less. (currently 213)
2. I want to fit into a size 6. (currently 16/18)
3. I want my hips to measure less than 40 inches. (?)
4. I want my waist to measure 32 inches or less. (?)
5. I want to wear a size 34 bra. (38/40)
6. I don't want my thighs to touch. (They do.)
7. I don't want to have to squeeze into any adult-sized chair because my hips/butt/thighs are too big. (I do.)
8. I want to run a 5K. (Not yet.)
9. I want to run a 10K. (Not yet.)
10. I want to regularly run 3 miles 3 times a week. (Not even close.)
11. I want to regularly run 5 miles once a week. (Not even close.)
12. I want to run a mile in under 8 minutes. (Ha.)

Food

I was going to log my food intake here, but I'm not going to.  Maybe I should, but for now I'll stick to logging my exercise.  I got up early this morning and completed week 2 workout 2 of the couch to 5K program.  I was able to run at 6mph for 2.5 minutes again.  Wednesday, I'm hoping for three minutes.  At the end of the 2.5 minutes I was really, really tired, but not as bad as Saturday morning.  So that is something.  Saturday morning, I completed week 2 workout 1 of C25K AND I did Baby Boot Camp.  It was a lot for the morning, but I'm glad I did both.
Also, I got on the scale this morning and it said 213.0 so I'm hoping my weigh in yesterday was at the top of a water/big dinner the night before swing.

Unfortunately...

I did not make my weigh in this week.  Actually, I weighed in at 214.4 pounds.  Exactly what I was two weeks ago.  That means that next Sunday, I need to be at 211.4 pounds. 

Since I started running this week, hopefully continuing that will make weight loss easier.  I really need to watch what I eat though.  So far today, I've had a glass of OJ, a big bowl of cereal, and a couple left over bites of my son's waffle with peanut butter.

I also hope that I can reliably blog about how this is going.  We'll see.

Inspired

Last weekend I was visiting my parents so I wasn't able to weigh in on my scale.  I lost a pound while there and was super excited but then I stopped paying attention to what I was eating.  This morning, when I did a quick check, the scale read 214.0 pounds.  Not good.  I think some of it might be water weight because I've been focusing on drinking more water, but it still isn't good. 

Recently, I've been reading bendoeslife.tumblr.com.  I have been so inspired!  I'll let you read about his journey on his site, but it inspired me to decide that I would get up yesterday morning and run a 10 minute mile.  I haven't run in a long time and I wasn't running that fast then.  Needless to say, the 10 minute mile didn't happen.  But, I ran on my treadmill at 6 mph for 2 minutes and then completed the first day of the couch to 5K program.  Since I have a 5K scheduled for March 24th, I better get moving on that training.  So, every day that I run, I'll start out at 6mph for as long as I can, at least as long as the last time, and then do the next day of the couch to 5K program.  I hope to be able to run a mile in under 8 minutes but right now that seems impossible.  I also secretly want to run a 10K.  There is one on April 28th.  I put it on my calendar but probably won't register for it until I complete the 5K race.

I was hoping to get up early this morning and run but that just didn't happen.  Tomorrow, it definitely will. 

One Down and Fifty-one to Go!

I had grand plans of blogging and tweeting regularly about what I was eating and how I was burning enough calories to lose one pound each week.  Then, I took reality into consideration!  I'm a full week and two days into this journey and I'm feeling good about it.  I'm trying to make small changes as I go.  Changes I can stick with.

Here are the stats:

My first weigh in on Sunday, January 1st: 215.6 pounds

My first completed week weigh in on Sunday, January 8th: 214.4 pounds.

I lost 1.2 pounds!  This could have been more but I had a big hamburger and fries for dinner Saturday night.  My goal was one pound and I made it.  Even on weeks when I lose more than one pound (hopefully I'll have those), I still plan to keep to the goal of (at least) one pound each week.  That way I won't slack off.

If you are working on a weight loss goal this year, I hope it is working out well for you!

Day 1 of 365

Well, it is Day 1.  Unfortunately, I didn't do so good in the watching-what-I-eat department in the last few days and my official start-of-the-year weigh in is at 215.6 pounds.  Fortunately, today is a new day and a new year and my 52 pounds in 52 weeks challenge begins now.  I'm excited because I know that if I stick with it, this time next year I'll be at my goal weight.  I just have to stick with it.  Help me out.  Keep me accountable.  Don't let me slack off or give up.  Thanks.