I’m not sure if going a little later in the morning helped me, but it’s possible.  On Sundays, the YMCA doesn’t open until 10am.  The first couple of times I went were during the week, when the Y opens at the crack of dawn.  On those first two excursions, I was already tired before going, because I had to set my alarm to get up early enough to go. 

Or, maybe it was a more engaging show on the television monitor above my treadmill.  During the week, it was morning news.  That’s kind of depressing and the topic changes every 15 to 30 seconds or so, giving me an opportunity to keep glancing at the treadmill’s readout when they rotate the “breaking news”.  By waiting until later in the day, I got some shows with an extended focus.  For me, this time, it was Extreme Makeover.  They were building a home for a lady that promised her dying sister that she would raise her 10 kids (in addition to the 4 she already had) and she needed a home large enough to raise 14 kids.  I love it when Extreme Makeover helps foster, adoptive and extended families.  It warms my heart.  I didn’t get through the whole show in the time I had allotted to exercise, but I was moved to witness their story and focusing on that meant I was not focusing on elapsed time or distance.  In fact, in the ten minutes I jogged, I think I only glanced at the display twice between start and stop!

• My alarm didn’t go off and I didn’t get up when I wanted to.  As a result, I didn’t have first pick of the machines available.  Fortunately, I’m not too choosy and as long as something is available, I will feel content.  I think I had my alarm tuned to a station that doesn’t broadcast 24 hours a day because when I checked it afterwards, it wasn’t coming on at all.  I assumed that I had chosen “pm” instead of “am” when setting the alarm (I have done that before) but this time that wasn’t the case.
• After a five minute warm-up, I could only last two minutes running before I had to resume walking.  I hate to sound like a big complainer, but my foot started cramping up!  I thought it was better not to “push it” just for the sake of saying I had worked through the pain.  I think it’s better to pay attention to the cues our bodies give us and just concentrate on doing better next time.  No need to risk injury!
• I actually have more weight to lose than I thought.  Instead of the 12 pounds I mentioned yesterday, I woke up to 161 on the scale so I actually have 13 to lose instead of twelve.  Sounds unlucky, but since I’m not superstitious, I’ll just treat it as the number it is.
• I’m weaker than I thought.  After 30 minutes on the treadmill (to make up for the fact that I wasn’t running more than two of the 30 minutes, I put the incline all the way up to 15%) I decided to lift some weights.  I did the bilateral shoulder press (hopefully this helps with upper body strength and gets me able to do at least one push-up) the abductors and the lower back machine.  I remember doing all of these machines in the past and being able to set the pin of the weight stack on a lower position (more weight).

So now for some positives!

• I went!  Despite having gone to bed later than I wanted to last night and not waking up when I wanted, I didn’t change my mind about going to the YMCA.  Getting there is half the battle.  It was even raining outside this morning, which is always a mood dampener for me, but I was strong in my resolve.
• The rain was cleansing.  Although I just listed it as a “downer” the rainy weather sometimes can have a different association — that of washing away sins and transgressions.  I felt that by raining down on me, God was telling me that all of my recent bad eating habits were being forgiven and that I had an opportunity to do better going forward.
• I’m symbolically letting go of bad foods.  In a lot of ways, I am a bargain shopper.  So, when I saw milk chocolate bunnies on clearance at Aldi I stocked up.  Their chocolate, Choceur brand, isn’t too bad.  It’s not as good as Hershey in my opinion, but it’s better than some — Palmer as an example!  Anyway, buying chocolate in bulk just because it is a great bargain is a terrible idea.  Thanks to the suggestion from my mom, I am donating all of it to the local food pantry.  I’m going there today.

One thing I did new this time to pace myself and ensure I wouldn’t give up each stint of running before I had “done the time” was to actually not concentrate so much on the time portion of the display. Instead, I counted my paces like you would to a 4/4 musical time signature. (So, for those of you that are musically inclined or at least can read music, think one-ee-and-ah, two-ee-and-ah, three-ee-and-ah.) Or in other words, I counted one for every four steps I took and did not stop running until I got to 100 (100 pounds, 100 counts — I like the symbolism) which is 400 steps and then tried to make the walking breaks in between no more than a count of 50, with 25 to 30 being ideal. It would mean that I was running between 50 and 75% of the time.

I don’t know if all these numbers are confusing, but it made sense to me. And, the number on the distance readout at the end of the 30 minutes made me feel happy, 1.766 which means that I made it an entire tenth of a mile more than I did on Monday in the same time frame.

Baby steps!

And, there is another benefit to this little goal I’ve set up for myself… as if it were magic, each of the last three days has resulted in another pound off the scale during my morning visit to the scale. I think the addition of the more strenuous cardio exercise (with a toddler I’m always getting some sort of exercise during the day, ha ha) has jolted my body into weight loss mode, because according to the scale this morning, I weighed 173, which is 95 down and five to go out of the original 100. I hope I am not jinxing myself by posting this success early!

I gained a pound, according to the scale, so this week’s official number is 181. <sigh>

However, I wore my “college jeans” yesterday and not only was there no “muffin top” spilling out over the waistband but they were also a bit loose! I looked pretty good yesterday, if I do say so myself, so it was a good day to be around friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

After three hard runs last week, I was kind of hoping for a weight loss, so the extra pound is a bit disappointing. I won’t give up though. In fact, I’m back to the Y right after I post this entry to try to improve on my time of 44 minutes. I have a feeling that as the after-effects of exercise-change-in-routine kick in, the pound will come off, and hopefully more. I did behave myself eating-wise this past week. There was one day where I consumed 1540 calories (I decided to partake of a Friday night fish fry which is something I haven’t done in almost a year I’d guess) but other than that my second highest was 1382 and all other five days were under 1300 calories.

I hope I’m not at a plateau — it does seem like I have been gaining and losing the same pound for about three weeks now. I need to see continued downward trends because there are only 4.5 months left in the year!

As a side note, a milestone did come and go recently and unless my memory escapes me, I haven’t commented… the one year anniversary of this weight loss journey just passed. I have been at this diet for a year and managed to lose 88 pounds. So, although 100 pounds can come off in a shorter amount of time, if someone asks me how long it took me, I’ll have to report that it took me longer than a year. That day will come!

Yesterday I ached a little. After Monday’s 45 minute jog/run, I felt pretty good, but yesterday my muscles reminded me that they had not been used like that in a while. This morning when I woke up I hurt even worse. I was recalling all of the times I began a new activity only to shortly thereafter abandon the notion because of muscle strain and pain. This is why people give up exercise plans so soon after beginning them! One of the reasons anyway…

But, I wasn’t going to let myself get off that easily. I didn’t want to give up, so I went to the YMCA again today to run on the track. I told myself that I would go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so I didn’t want to let myself down. I went. I walked the first three laps around the track, feeling the dull pain with every step. Then I ran a couple. Then I alternated walking and jogging for the rest of the entire 45 minutes. I didn’t die!

In fact, I beat Monday’s success of 34 toothpicks by one. At the end of the 45 minutes I had tossed a toothpick on the ledge 35 times, for a total of 3.04 miles. I calculated that I will need to complete just one more lap (36 total) in order to complete the 5K distance. I anticipate getting to that point by next week, if not on Friday! So much for taking two months to complete that goal!

That assumed, I think I am going to just carry 36 toothpicks with me and work on improving my time. My first 5K will likely come in at about 45 minutes, so I will spend the remainder of my goal’s two months trying to get that number closer to the 30 minutes that sounds a little more standard. That way, I won’t necessarily have to always allot 45 minutes to my exercise plan. Eventually, I’ll only have to spend 40, then 35, then 30 minutes reaching the 5K distance — and that will leave more of my hour (the hour that Sarah is in the child care room) for stretching or lifting weights or hangin’ out at the bubbler!

Almost 3 miles!

My first experience with working towards my new goal was awesome! I’m already wondering if my goal wasn’t big enough. I think the 5K portion is right on target, and the two weeks is doable. I’m wondering if the 45 minutes part of my goal is too lax? Anyway, long story short, at the end of my 45 minutes I counted 34 toothpicks. At 11.5 laps per mile, that is roughly 2.96 miles that I completed in the 45 minute timeframe I allowed myself. That’s almost a 5K distance and that was the goal I thought would need two months to achieve! Before going, I asked my husband what he thought I should be “happy with” for a first time out. He said two miles minimum. When I saw that my results were nearly 3 miles, I was very happy!

Admittedly, I am a total newbie at running. In fact, I am a terrible runner, or so I thought. My pace is slow and my gait is awkward. As I mentioned earlier this year, I don’t even think my form is correct! But, with practice, I plan to get better. For those that are more experienced runners, can you offer your opinion on what a good distance would be to aim for if you were a brand new runner that wanted to set a realistic goal for a 45 minute time period? 4 miles maybe?

I just now did a little web research and see that with a little practice I should be able to get my 5K time to under 30 minutes. If you run, what is your best time for a 5K distance?

I plan on using the indoor running track at our local YMCA three days per week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I have arranged to drop off Sarah at the Child Care playroom for a one hour time slot on each of those days. (This will be good for her, too, as up to this point she has never been in the care of someone other than me or my husband. She is going to benefit from the socializing time with other toddlers!) With the one hour that I will have available to me, I can spend ten minutes stretching (I hope that’s enough) and a few minutes cooling down afterwards.

In the 45 minutes reserved for exercise, I will begin with a warmup walking lap or two around the track. I will be wearing my MP3 player with energizing upbeat music and I will be carrying a stash of toothpicks in my hand. Each time I complete a lap, I will place a toothpick on the ledge at the edge of the track. At first, I don’t care how much of the 45 minutes I spend jogging/running versus walking, but I am going to try to jog/run as much of it as I can. It’s just important to me to be active for the full 45 minutes. Then, when the 45 minutes are up, I will count my toothpicks pile on the ledge to see how far I went. The equivalent to one mile, I was told, is 11.5 times around the track in the center lane.

So, that is the plan! Stay tuned for a report on how my first run went yesterday!

Well, yesterday that same friend invited me to participate in a duathlon — run two miles, bike 20 and run two more. It is so close to my home and would be so convenient! The trouble is — I don’t own a bike and it’s next month. I don’t think my body would be ready by then, even if I was equipped. I’m so disappointed though. I would love to do this, and the two mile portion seems less daunting than a 5K, even though I’d have to do it twice with a bike ride in between!

So, long story short, I need a plan! My husband and I were talking recently about how I am finding success in weight loss because I took the time to plan and make a goal that was definite and concrete. Blogging about it made me accountable, and the fact that I disclosed my prior weight to about 60 people in last year’s Christmas letter gave me all the motivation I needed not to screw up. With the 100 pounds goal completion in sight, I think I’d like to layer another big goal on top of that. (Normally, I wait until one major goal is accomplished before starting another one, as I think I’ll have better luck meeting it if it has my full attention.) Abandoning the norm, here goes:

I want to be able to run a 5K distance in 45 minutes or less by two months from today. Ironically, two months from today will be my 17th wedding anniversary, I’ve just realized. What a nice gift to be able to give myself — the completion of a goal and the sense of satisfaction it will bring.

I will expand on my plan in my next post. I do already have those things ironed out, but a screaming toddler in the background is preventing me from getting them typed out right now.

It was kind of odd (and exhilarating) but the scale went from 191 to 187 one pound at a time for four days in a row. I knew that it was just circumstance and that I was not actually burning that many excessive calories each of those days. But, I do think my deep breating techniques (as coached in the yoga portion of the Wii Fit) and also my attempts at increasing running times (again in Wii Fit) in combination helped me get there.

I am trying new things, and it has been shown that varying your exercise will help increase metabolism and therefore spur weight loss. I know the weight isn’t going to come off three pounds per week all the time, but it sure was nice seeing it this week, especially after last month’s roller coaster. If I can ease back into my one to two pounds per week for the rest of the month, I’ll be very happy.

I was discussing my treadmill results and future aims with my husband today and amidst the bragging had to admit the speed at which I was jogging. When transitioning from the walking portion to the jogging portion, I am only going from a 2.5 walk to a 3.5 jog. He joked that at 3.5, that’s really just a “shuffle”. True, I know. But, it’s like a jog for me! I’m not good at running at all, and these baby steps are what I need to take to get going.

I do have a plan though. I need one if I plan to accompany friends on 5K excursions! After I get to a point where about 22-23 of my 30 minutes are jogging (or should I say shuffling) then I am going to increase the speed, both the walking speed and the jogging speed. I’d like to get them up to 3.0 and 4.0 respectively. It will probably mean that my number of jogging minutes slips a bit, but that’s ok. I can then work on rebuilding back to the same times. After I do, perhaps I’ll even increase the speed one more time.

To those that have done this before, I’m sure this doesn’t sound all that impressive, but I’m impressing myself and I’m liking the sense of accomplishment this little challenge is providing. (Hopefully the next time I step on the scale I will see some progress in that area too! Weight loss is always a good motivator!)