Ages and Ages

It's been ages since I updated. In a lot of ways I've had a very rough summer.

Two weeks ago I re-started The Couch to 5K Running program. I did this two years ago but as soon as I could run 30 minutes without stopping I quit running. Self defeating behavior? When you're my age two years is a blink of an eye for the mind but much more than that in the ability of the body!

I've found lots of fun blogs which are very inspirational. Oh She Glows is the one I spent (literally) all last night and all today reading. She just started posting at the end of October 2008, but she posts every day and most days more than one post (which I love). I found her blog by looking for Green Monster Smoothie recipes. Angela is inspirational in her motivation and motivating of others. There are contests galore on her site. She also has an online bakery but is generous with sharing her recipes.

But back to the running. Actually it's not all that hard this time around. I hope I haven't called down the evil eye by writing that, but it's true. Even though I haven't exercised all summer the last two weeks haven't been the killer I expected. At least not physically. I'm actually looking forward to doing the training runs; there really is an (addicting) endorphin rush. Today was a run day, but since I was up until 6 a.m. reading and then slept until noon I've not been up to it. So tomorrow I will do Day 3 of Week Two. And Tuesday I'll start Week Three. Technically not supposed to run two days in a row, but I have to make an exception this week to be able to keep next week on track. Because:

My little boy comes home from California to spend the long weekend with me! I don't want to be having to "train" while he's here since he'll just be here a little over 72 hours.

This week I have some challenges for myself:
Drink one green smoothie per day
Do some form of exercise (Jillian Michaels' Thirty Day Shred?) even on the days I don't "train"
On "training" days finish off the run by doing the Fat Burn mode on the treadmill until I've exercised one hour
Get at least seven hours of sleep/night

These should be doable. They are small goals to attain the larger picture: a healthier body and mind. I tell you, the Fat Burn mode on the treadmill at my gym is awesome! I bought the heart rate monitor (Polar) which interacts with it. The 'mill adjusts the incline and speed to keep the heart rate in the fat burning mode. I did find a lazy way to exercise. Sometimes laziness is just efficiency in disguise.

Happy Running!

Day 4 and 5

The diet is fairly easy now that I'm used to it. Today was a little harder because a vendor brought in Chik-Fil-A cinnamon rolls today. They smelled so good. And I finally caved and ate one little tiny piece.

Today was mostly a protein day--four of the six meals were strictly protein. I got all four protein meals down and one fruit meal for a total of just over 1000 calories--the highest I've eaten in this process. Just goes to show that protein sources are generally higher in calories than vegetables.

In my e-mail today there was a "flyer" from Famous Dave's advertising their Que for Two meal. It looks so good. My first thought was: "I'll get it to go this weekend." Then I remembered, no way. There are "cheat" days built into this diet but not until day 11, which isn't this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, being a stress eater if I can make it through this weekend I can probably make it through anything.

Day Three

Day three went quite well. I didn't get all six meals in because I was so busy cleaning out my closet I never got hungry. And I didn't get to the exercise, but I figure the (at least) 15 trips up and down 4 flights of stairs had to count for something, right?

One of the meals was one vegetable and one fruit. This is going to sound gross, but it was actually quite good. I had 1.5 cups of baby spinach and one cup of sliced strawberries. Over that I poured 1 Tbsp. of balsamic vinegar. It was delicious. I had read a recipe that involved pouring balsamic vinegar over strawberries and sprinkling with sugar. And of course there is a salad using spinach and strawberries (and bacon and nuts) so I figured what did I have to lose? Besides weight? It all came in at 80 calories.

Another thing I did was to roast some zucchini, onions, peppers, and garlic cloves. I had that with Parmesan cheese sprinkled over. Again, delicious.

Fat Loss 4 Idiots Day 2

Yesterday was Day 2 and it went pretty well. Of course it helps that I slept an extra five hours and so didn't have as much time to be hungry.

My calories were just under 1000 which really surprised me, since I missed one meal and there was very little fruit yesterday. I did measure my amounts and that probably gave me the accurate calorie count.

This morning I decided to weigh myself (I'll only be changing the Ticker on Mondays) and was down 2.2 pounds. I didn't exercise at all these past two days so I figure the it's water weight. But like I always say: My jeans don't know the difference!

Fat Loss 4 Idiots Day 1

I started Fat Loss 4 Idiots today. I am hungry!

Even with eating 6 times a day (I'm doing the Beyond Calories plan), it's very hard to not be hungry. There is enough food at each meal to fill me up, but not enough calories to stay satisfied. Tomorrow I'll try some of the higher calorie options and see if that helps. Today my calories totaled only 999.

I'm sure a lot of my hunger is the stress of having to be with the new Mrs. C and the ex tonight for a jr. high band concert. It is enough to send me straight to a pint of Ben and Jerry's. It's tradition that the two kids and I go to Village Inn after band concerts and have pie, but I am sure I wouldn't be able to resist so I just sent the kids there with $20. They are going out with the ex and his new wife later tonight so I really didn't want to hear all about it.

Race for the Cure

Today was the day! It was a lot of fun. Our team had a good turnout to support Carol. The top picture is most of the team (minus the two who were doing the photographing). The bottom picture is Lori, Kate, and me at the 3 mile mark--almost finished. The crowds were unbelievable and so our team didn't attempt to stay together.

Next post I'll have pics of the things I did for our team members.

Happy Running!

Keepin' On

After the night I had Tuesday, I was really fatigued on Wednesday, but decided to do a DVD or two. I did the A.M. Yoga Workout with Rodney Yee to loosen up my back and hips from the attempted Tuesday evening run. Then I did The Biggest Loser Bootcamp. It was hard. My arms were all shaky afterwards. But in a good way.

The Biggest Loser is by far my favorite TV show (even beating out Grey's Anatomy's Dr. McDreamy) and the trainer tip Bob gave on Tuesday's show was not to workout the same muscle group with weights two days in a row. He went through the whole explanation of the tearing and rebuilding of muscle fibers. But then in the Bootcamp DVD he says to do the workout 4-5 times a week. Now this workout involves the use of weights--a lot of use. I'm really trying to do the math and see how that jives with only using weights every other day. I'm so confused. Not that it matters since I just won't do the DVD on consecutive days.

Today Big Guy and I had planned to go on a bike ride and I wanted to go for a run. But he had mucho school work and I had mucho real estate business to prepare for.

Tomorrow I pick up the team packet for Race for the Cure. I've already seen this year's t-shirt since my niece registered individually and has received hers already. They are pretty cute! Picture to follow.

Happy Running!