Check

I'm a week and a half into my 6 week plan. I've been doing well with the running part, not so well with the weights part. I used to love lifting weights, but that was when I had more free time. Now I know I should just go back to Body Pump becuase I think that will be the best way for me to get strong again. Just not looking forward to the sore part.... Plus, I don't want being sore to interfere with the running part, so I need to work something out that will allow me to do both.

Right now I am doing a variation of the Special K diet. I tried some protein water mix at Karrie's last Sunday and enjoyed it a lot. Of course, now I can't find it anywhere here, they only had the tea flavor at HyVee and the Bakers I stopped at didn't have any Special K protein stuff. Yesterday I ate one of the meal bars for lunch and had a bar for a morning snack. I had the 100 calorie popcorn for an afternoon snack and then a really big salad for dinner. I don't know if I'll be able to do that everyday, but I hope to just get back in the habit of really being aware of what I'm putting in my mouth.

Right now we don't have a lot of plans for the weekend, other than the usual (class, groceries...) so I think it will be a good food weekend and I might try Pump on Sunday morning after my scheduled run/walk.

So Far, Alright

It's been a difficult week trying to get all of my workouts in but I almost did them all. I just fell a day behind because last night was too busy, so now I have to do my Friday walk/run on Saturday. This isn't so bad... but I am usually very tired on Saturday nights and I also have to go celebrate my Grandma's birthday and hopefully (fingers crossed) Don and I can start writing thank yous. I think about writing thank yous every day and every day I run out of time trying to get homework done and to sleep at a decent hour. I was hoping that after the wedding things would slow down, but they haven't. I have things planned every weekend in October, including my regular class schedule. Then in November is Jennifer's wedding and Thanksgiving... and we all know how fast time flies by once Thanksgiving hits. I'm looking forward to classes being over in December, but then that means it's winter time and I HATE winter and the thought of it makes me sad. I want a summer redo!

Day #2

I bought a Bosu and a medicine ball last night so I could start the weight training program last night. I didn't start it until almost 9:30 and it took longer than I thought it would, and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be! Which I guess is good news. I was sweating like I would if I had been at the gym. It could have been the temperature in the house and I could have used a fan on me to help cool me off. But I had to take a shower at 10:30 at night because I was too gross to get in bed. Tonight is a running/walking night, shortening up the walking by 2 minutes and adding to the intervals. I think I might try tonight's plan twice to make the workout 40 minutes instead of just 20 minutes. I say that because I weighed myself this morning and it was bad. Three pounds up since last week, which I just don't understand. I have not been eating worse and I have been working out more. I feel even more pressure to lose all the weight because I have a wedding to be in soon and I can't go buy a new dress now.... the last time I tried it on, it fit. Now I'm too scared and things have to change quickly because I just don't understand why this is going on. I don't want to fluctuate like this anymore.

Day #1

Today's goal was to walk for 10 minutes and then for 6 minutes jog one, walk one, then walk for 4 minutes. This is only a 20 minute workout, and definitely not real tough, but I'm trying to get back to 10:30 minute miles by the end of the program. This means that when I run my intervals I run at that pace (5.7 mph). I'm sure I could have done more walking in the end, but I'm trying not to over do it in the beginning so I don't give up easily.

I have faith that at the end of the program I will be able to run 30 minutes at 5.7 mph pace.... Maybe even faster! This means that after the first six week program, I will start the next six week program, and hopefully be able to run 6 miles straight by Christmas. Hopefully that will curb any weight gain from Christmas cookies!

6 Week Plan Starts Today

I am starting my new 6 week run/walk plan today. I have high hopes that this plan will motivate me and get me feeling better about myself and my accomplishments. I figure it starts me out slow enough that it shouldn't be tough and I won't give up easily. I will let you know how the first night goes!

I'm Back

Well, sort of. I've only managed 2 workouts since returning from California because I have had so much homework to do and I have had a hard time adjusting back to a regular schedule. The bad news is that I weighed myself yesterday (because I knew I needed to face the music) and I gained almost 10 pounds the past month. I'm so ashamed of myself for letting things get so bad. The good news is that I am going to do something about it... I want to lose those 10 pounds and get back into running shape so I can run a 10k next year. I won't have a wedding to plan and after December I won't have school work to do either. Since I am waiting to student teach until the fall (I need to save some money again before quitting my job!), I will have plenty of time to workout. Especially once I get better and more confident with running, I can then take Gracie with me since she will be fully developed by then.

I printed out a 6-week "Running for Weight Loss" plan from Women's Health. It seems easy; I chose the run/walk program because the running program starts with 30 minutes straight. Ha! But with this program it increases running time every day and by then end I should be ableto run 30 minutes straight again. Once I get there, I want to do the next program. So here I go. Wish me luck!

I Suck

One would think that the closer the wedding gets, the harder I would be working out to be in perfect shape, but this is not the case. When it is your own wedding and you also have a 4-month old crazy puppy at home, it makes it difficult to work out often. I even now have my Wii Fit and EA Active and have only tried it once and was barked at the entire time. I have not been to Pump or Combat in over a week. I have tried jogging twice now and can only do it in intervals, 3 minutes jogging and 2 minutes walking for a an hour. The last time I did this (Monday) my legs were so sore and fatigued by the end of the workout that I could hardly walk. The sad thing is that I was jogging slower during each of those 3 minutes than I have ever jogged before (except maybe when I first started jogging, but I was overweight then!). Plus I am a stress eater, and since I have no one at work to talk to about it and help me not stress eat, I tend to eat too much chocolate at work and go pick up something for lunch because no one will know.