Weekly Weigh-In 3/25/12

Weigh-in: 228.0 - Down 2.0lbs - Down 106.6 overall.

I'm very happy to see the scale go down this week.  I really thought that I'd be in for a long plateau - I know that I'm due for one, but I keep trying to change things up to keep the scale moving (even though I know that the number on the scale is not everything in weight loss, I like to see it move).  I went over my points every day this week - even over my activity points, so I think that maybe I wasn't eating enough.  I've been SO HUNGRY since I started C25K, so I"m just going to work on eating back at least my activity points and maybe a little more if I'm still hungry - I just have to watch that my extra points are legit food and not Easter candy ;)

High of the Week: I did my 20-minute run for Week 5, Day 3 of C25K yesterday (and then continued to see how much longer it would take me to do the rest of the "5K").  I felt amazing to run that much and probably could have gone a little longer, but didn't want to push myself too too hard and end up injured.  As I was leaving, there was an older guy on the recumbent bike near the exit that asked me how long I was on the treadmill and said he was impressed.  It was very sweet and cute and made me feel like a rockstar for doing that run!

Low of the Week: Although I'm loving the warm weather, I had to mow the grass for the first time this week.  It was only March 20th and thanks to all this rain, it looks like I'm going to be mowing again this week once it dries out.  We didn't buy our house until the beginning of May last year, so I don't know when the grass started growing last year - I just KNOW it was not this early.  The upside is that mowing is so much easier this year now that I'm a lot lighter and more in shape, but I'm still not really a fan - I'll probably continue to complain about my big, unruly lawn throughout the spring/summer! 

Best Work-Out:  I'm still loving C25K!  I have been sticking to the treadmill for the most part (because I suck at timing my intervals), but Tuesday was just a really nice day - cool, not too hot or humid - so I headed over to one of the parks near my work that has a 1mi jogging loop and did my run there.  I learned that either A) the loop or treadmill miscalculates mileage or B) I run way faster outside - I was doing 12:xx miles!  I'm inclined to think that I run faster outside because I notice that I struggle more with my breathing, which I know I need to work on.  Now that there are fewer walk intervals and it's nicer outside, I'm going to try to do more outside :)

Photo of the Week:

 


Inspiration: 

From Pinterest

 

Weekly Weigh-In 3/18/12

Weigh-in: 230.0 - Up 0.2lb - Down 104.6 overall.

I've been due for a plateau here for a while, so I'm not too surprised.  I think some of this week's "gain" (if you can even call it that) is due to retaining water from the heat/salty food the past 2 days.  I know that I didn't over eat and I've been working my muscles harder.  Of course I'm a little disappointed to not see a loss, but I know it's par for the course of losing weight!

High of the Week: I had my first personal training session yesterday!  It wasn't exactly what I expected (that I've seen portrayed on TV, etc), but it was really helpful. He showed me how to use the various weight machines and gave me a plan to follow throughout the week.

Low of the Week: I really can't think of a low this week.  I feel like I say that a lot, but I have this category here because there are weeks that suck. I find myself pretty optimistic most of the time, though. 

Best Work-Out:  C25K is going splendidly!  Week 4, Day 1 was brutal - I had to have a major pep talk on the second 5min run, but I made it through!  On day 2 (Thursday), I felt so great after my run that I came home from the gym and still went outside because it was so nice out, I just had to run a little more - so I did another mile in my neighborhood!

Photo of the Week: 
 
My St. Paddy's outfit :)

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Inspiration:  

 

Weekly Weigh-In 3/11/12

Weigh-in: 229.8 -  Down 2lb - Down 104.8 overall

High(s) of the Week: It's been a really exciting week for me.  I started going to the wellness center, got new clothes, got new running shoes and last night...I signed up for my first 5k!!  It's in Frederick, MD (about 1.5hrs from me) on April 15th.  I was drawn in by the offer of a free cupcake at the end, but it's actually an event that benefits a program for foster children aging out of the system and transitioning to adulthood.  Being a social worker, I just couldn't NOT sign up...  I'm also squarely in a size 16 now! (instead of just the vanity size 16s from Old Navy or the 16Ws from Lane Bryant)

Low of the Week:  It's been such a great week - the only thing I really have to complain about is daylight saving time and how it stole my hour of sleep last night!

Best Work-Out:  I went easy on myself this week with starting C25K.  I'm definitely enjoying increasing my running in a meaningful way...and NOW I have an actual 5k that I'm training for!

Photo of the Week: 

 

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Inspiration: 

Photo from Pinterest
I remember when I first pinned this - I looked like the person in the pic, but I was determined.  I was browsing my fitness board this morning and decided to make this my inspiration pic for this week :)

Exciting Saturday!

After my second C25K run yesterday afternoon, I talked myself (and my partner) into getting myself new shoes.  I currently have a decent pair of New Balance trail running shoes, but they're a year old and they're just not cutting it for what I need.  I had asked for advice on a Health & Fitness board a while back about choosing the right running shoes and the consensus was that I needed to be fitted by a specialty running store.  I had no idea that such things existed and I highly doubted that I'd be able to find one way out here in the sticks where most people are averse to fitness, BUT I found one in the town about 45 minutes from here (the closest major town really - it's where we do our grocery shopping)!!

I was very excited and went on down today to bite the bullet and get some good shoes before I hurt myself.  Being that I'm a big girl, I know that I need the right shoes because I'm more prone to injury with this much weight coming down on my knees, ankles, and feet.  The place I found is called Runners' Retreat (http://www.runnersretreat.com).  It's in the super cute Old Town section on a pedestrian mall.  They were super nice and helpful.  They looked at the way I ran and how my feet are naturally and were able to give me several kinds of shoes to try on. They explained everything to me about why I needed the kind of shoes they were giving me to try on - It was a great experience all around.  (Disclaimer: They did not pay me.  Everyone was just really nice and I'm excited such a place exists relatively close to home).

Anyhow, I ended up with these:

Asics GT 2170 (Photo from Runner's Retreat website)

I ended up having to get a men's shoe because of the width of my foot.  I tried on several pairs and these are the ones that felt the best.  If anyone is contemplating getting fitted or just going and grabbing a pair of running shoes off the shelf, I highly recommend getting fitted!  I'm a girl that loves cute shoes and I would definitely have preferred the pink women's version, but I knew that I had to do right by my feet and choose function over form for my running shoes.

After shoe shopping, we enjoyed a nice lunch at Panera and then ran some of our errands.

On our way back home, I noticed that our favorite little ice cream place had lots of cars in the lot and looked like they were opening for the season!  We stopped in and it turns out that they are training their new staff before they officially open tomorrow, so everything was free!!  They didn't have my "usual" - banana and chocolate swirl soft-serve - since it's training day, so I settled for plain chocolate.  And despite it being free, I stuck with a small cone :)

If you're ever heading on 50 West through eastern VA, you must stop at this little place!  It's excellent.

It's been an exciting week for new running gear!  Here's hoping for a good weigh-in tomorrow morning!

Couch to 5k (and new workout clothes!)

I've mentioned before about joining my health insurance's awesome weight loss program. I was finally approved and got to start at the health & wellness center (we don't have regular gyms out here in the sticks) in my area this week!  I did the intake Tuesday evening where they do all my baseline stats - I probably should have paid better attention, so that I could report here.  I know I was able to do 20 "modified" push-ups (I call them girl push-ups - I think he was just being nice) and about 12 sit-ups, but I don't remember the measurements.  I haven't gotten a chance to schedule my personal trainer sessions yet, but I get something like 2 hours per month - broken down to 30min a week - which is not a bad deal!

Until I start working with my trainer, I'm a little intimidated by all those weight machines.  Aside from the trainer, one of the main reasons I wanted to join was so that I could have access to a treadmill and start the Couch to 5K.  I'm determined to be a runner and I haven't really been able to do C25k outside because my neighborhood is really hilly and I'm not good with keeping track of the times.  The treadmill gives me a nice flat surface with a built-in timer.  It's not the most enthusing activity, but until I've got my mileage up, I'll take it :)

With that said, Couch to 5K is officially underway!!  I went on Wednesday evening and tried Week 1, Day 1 and felt like it was WAY too easy, so I ramped it up to what I thought was the next level - running 2 minutes, walking 1 minute.  Apparently, that is not the next level and I just made it up in my head.  After looking at the schedule, I decided I could probably start with Week 3.  I went back tonight and did Week 3, Day 2.  I felt great afterward and it feels so good to be able to RUN!  I never thought I'd be running.  I don't even think I ran back in high school.

The other exciting thing about joining the gym is that I was able to justify new workout clothes!!  I never thought I'd enjoy athletic clothes so much.  I got:

Two new pairs of capris from Target's C9 collection (these and a plain black pair)

I also bought a blue tech shirt and pink compression tank from Target's C9 collection that I can't find pics of online.

Old Navy was also having a good sale, so I ordered these:

Control Max Tank - I already have one but I was able to order the next size down! 

Compression Tank - A little less compressive than my other tank 

 

Couldn't leave without a couple new sports bras.   

 I love compression gear - it holds everything in place when I'm doing high impact things like running.  I know I should get more supportive bras for the girls, but they're shrinking and I just can't justify the cost of a really nice one right now.  Between these and the compression tanks, everything stays put pretty well.

Next up - new shoes!!  I've still got to find a good running store around here to get fitted, but hopefully by the end of the month I'll be able to report on pretty new running shoes :)

Weekly Weigh-In 3/4/12

Weigh-in: 231.8 -  Down 1.6lb - Down 102.8 overall

High of the Week: Mostly unrelated to my weight loss journey, my high of the week was buying all the materials to tile my basement bathroom at Lowe's yesterday!  We bought our house last May and the basement is framed and drywalled, so it just needs some finishing work.  Our first priority is to get a working bathroom in down there b/c it's a pain to run upstairs when I'm out doing yard work or working out down there.  We had been putting it off due to finances, but finally bit the bullet and bought everything the tile stuff (we have a toilet and the tub was already installed)!  That project will hopefully be underway soon :)  The weight-loss related part is that when we got to the register, the bag of mortar ripped open and I had to run back to the back and get a new one.  As I got back to the register, I looked and it was a 50lb bag and that thing was HEAVY - that's when it dawned on me that I used to carry around twice that on my body - all day, every day!  No wonder my back and knees hurt so bad.  I'm so thankful to not be carrying around that extra weight any more - I'll take hauling 50lb bags of mortar and underlayment compound any day over carry that weight around all day.

Low of the Week:  Well,  I already talked about all my stress this week.  I tried to be good with eating and exercise.  I have this problem where I eat bad stuff to finish out my points when I see that have some leftover (and sometimes when I don't have them leftover, too).  I know, rationally, that that is not what WW is all about, but it's a tough habit for me to break.  I'm aware, though, and that's the first step to making a change.

Best Work-Out:  I got home before my partner on Tuesday and decided to kill some time before dinner by getting on the elliptical (I usually wait until after dinner to workout).  I spent 55 minutes on the elliptical before dinner was done and, according to my machine, burned 1150 calories.  It didn't make up for what I consumed that day, but it still felt good!

Photo of the Week: 
Just before our Saturday afternoon walk with the dogs :)  I know that not one bit of this outfit matches - my workout clothes rarely match since I workout in my house most of the time.
 

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Inspiration:

Stress...

Back in September I took a new job and I just finally finished the training for it at the end of January, so I've officially been on the job for a little over a month.  I was expecting some stress, but between the actual demands of the job and trying to figure out what I'm really doing, I've been majorly stressed.

The funny thing about stress is that it makes us do crazy things.  Before, in times of stress, I'd turn to comfort food and ice cream - lots of ice cream.  I deserved that big bowl of ice cream after the stressful day I'd had - that was my logic.  I don't know what it is about stress that makes chocolate and pasta so appealing.  I know I'm not the only one who struggles with eating poorly when they are stressed.

This week has been extra stressful and my first thought all week when feeling stressed was more along the lines of "need to work out and burn off this stress" than "eat, eat, eat."  This is a HUGE change for me from where I was a year ago.  I know that working out will make me feel much better than eating a giant bowl of ice cream.  It's hard to still be stressed after working my butt off on the elliptical! It makes me so happy and proud when I have these little moments where I can really see my healthy lifestyle cementing itself in my life and my mind.  

I won't lie and tell you that I didn't indulge in a few pieces of chocolate this week...each day....  That pesky Valentine's candy still seems to be lingering around the office and I still give in to the temptation to grab a piece on my way past.  What can I say, I'm not perfect!  Baby steps...