I charted out a new 3 mile path around my neighborhood yesterday. It worked out pretty well. There are a couple hills along the way. My DH took one of our dogs and walked with me.
On one hand I was glad he decided to come along for support, but on the other hand his constant critique of my walking style bugged me to no end. He even talked me into wearing a plastic bag under my clothing so I would sweat more. He swears that's the only way for me to lose weight (he used to box and played football all his life and he swears that's how they lose weight. I told him it would just be water weight, but he says it doesn't matter, I get a much better working sweating more). So I did it, I had sweat in ever possible crevice of my body, but it made him happy. I don't think I'm going to do it every walk. I just hate sweating like that.
I did a little run/walk combo. I probably should have run more but it was so hot outside I didn't really push it, especially with my new trail. It seems so much easier when I walk with my group, that I meet downtown. I just have to remember that I'm doing this for me and the more I push myself the better I'll be.
I'm so proud of myself right now. Yesterday I mowed the whole front yard, at my house, and I still had energy to burn when I was done! My only complaint is that my hands were all blistered up. So I'm going to need to find gloves next time. I think this may be my new thing for the summer. I'm going to mow the lawn every Sunday afternoon.
Normally, I would have waited for DH to get it done, but he didn't cut it last week and he was working all weekend. I just got sick of our yard looking like a jungle so I decided to get out there and do it myself. And I did it! So even though I haven't lost any weight since I'm been exercising I can at least tell that my stamina is improving, which is a good thing.
I didn't get a change to walk yesterday because we had to take family photos. They turned out pretty nice and I spent way too much money on them. This was the first photo session as a family of 5 for my parents. My DH was in the photos this year along with the rest of the family. He moaned and groaned the whole time, but I know deep down he enjoyed the experience .
I was hoping to get 4 miles in today, but it's thundering and lightning outside so it's a no go for today. I'm hoping we don't get rained out tomorrow morning, I'm looking forward to our training session, but it looks like the chance for rain is high.
I decided to do 3 miles yesterday with the TNT group, even though it was 90 degrees outside. It wasn't too bad because there was a breeze and the trail had lots of trees. I kept up with the group pretty well. A few people brought their dogs so they would move ahead and then stop to give the dogs water, which gave me time to catch up.
I'm so tired this morning. I guess it's a combination of the heat and moving more. Our AC is out at home, so that doesn't help much. I've been waiting on my brother do come by to fix it but it looks like I'm gonna have to call in a professional, since he hasn't gotten back to me. And if that wasn't enough my DH noticed yesterday that it looked like the tread on one of my car tires was looking weird. He drove my car home and by the time he got there all the tread had come off! This heat is no joke.
It seems like every other post I do I'm taking about "I'm back" or "I need a break" well in true beautifulgirl fashion..."I'm back!" So much has been going on in my life, and a lot still is but I'm really pushing to make positive changes in my life concerning things that I can control. And one thing I can definitely control is getting my butt up off the couch and get moving.
A couple weeks ago I had signed up for a competitive 5K race. I got side tracked and didn't train like I should have, so when race day came I was so unprepared. But I went out there anyway, because my company had paid my entry fee. It has been a bad weekend with family drama, on race morning I realized that DH didn't put my clothes in the dryer although he pulled his items out and dried them the night before, my mother bailed out on doing the race with me… my emotions were just really high. So I line up for the race and make it 1 mile in. By that time I'm so tired and my shins are hurting so badly I just want to go home. It just so happened that my car was parked right at the 1 mile maker which made things even worse because I was then feeling like , "I should get in my car right now and go home".
I pushed my self another few steps and walked over to the grass and stopped. I really wanted to give up and say forget it. After about 5 minutes of sitting and feeling sorry for myself I see this old man who had to be at least 70 and he was jogging/ walking with a walker that has wheels on it. And then a few people later two women come around the corner and see me sitting there. They tell me to get up and walk with them. So I get up and I make it through the race. My time wasn’t great but at least I finished it.
The ladies told me about a group of people who meet downtown a couple times a week that do three miles and invited me to meet up with them the following week. Well, little did I know that my whole drive to do more would be boosted with one little 3 mile walk. They are actually a group who meet up and train for Marathons, Half Marathons, Triathlons, and 100 mile bike races. It ‘s called Team in Training (TNT). They work in conjunction with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and raise funds as well as train for these different events. So I have decided to train to walk the Women’s Nike Half Marathon in San Francisco this fall. I’m so excited about it. I have to raise $3,900 plus my expenses to get the California. It’s a big tasks but I know I can do it. I’m so happy to be able to help myself as well has help others at the same time.
This past Saturday we had our first training session. We worked on walking technique and some good stretches. Our assignment for this week is to walk at least 3 to 4 miles three times, before our next Saturday meeting. I also need to work on doing crunches and pushups to help our core and upper body.
So, on yesterday I did my first walk for the week. I plan to meet with the group of “open walk” on Tuesday after work and I just need to figure out one more day to squeeze in before Saturday . I may need to start waking up early in the morning and getting my walks in that way, because my evenings are so busy.
Wish me luck, and I just can’t wait to cross that finish line this fall!
It's been a long time since I've been on this blog. Recently I've been receiving emails from extrapounds about the new features and I though now would be a good time to come back and blog.
I have the best mother in the world. She saw that I was unhappy with myself, and she knew that I didn't have much extra money, and she offered to pay my WW fee for a while. I'm now on my 8th week of WW and I'm doing okay. I've lost every week so far.
I weight in tonight and I know I'm up. This last week I did a horrible job of not journaling and eating any and everything. I didn't follow the plan at all. I just hope I didn't sabotage myself too badly.I was so proud of myself for receiving my 5 pound star a couple weeks ago and then I go and not even try. I used PMS as an excuse, and let it throw me off track. But today I begin a new week and I have the opportunity to make a new set of choices. Wish me luck!
So I signed up for Curves last Friday. Well I didn't really sign up; I had a 2 week free trial coupon that I took advantage of. I was surprised at the monthly cost, if you sign up month to month it is more expensive than the local gym/ fitness centers in the area. So I don't think I can afford the fee right now so I'll just enjoy my 2 weeks and hopefully that will motivate me to keep it moving.
The thing I like about Curves is that there is a planned routine, you go around the circle twice, changing exercises every 30 seconds, you stretch at the end and you are done. I’m going to try to go at least 5 days a week.The routine doesn’t seem too strenuous so we will see.
So I’m getting my exercise in not I just need to get this food under control.I did find my new favorite snack at the grocery store a week or so ago.They are these pre-sliced apples that come in this zipper bag at the grocery store.They are sprinkled with Calcium and Vitamin C to prevent them from turning brown and they usually last for about a week.Each bag has about 3 medium apples sliced and I really do get about 3 servings out of a bag.They are great!They have gala apples, which are my favorite, and they also have granny smith.They are a little pricey, $2.99, but for the convenience I don’t mind the cost.Usually if I buy a bag of gala apples I have to throw about half of them away anyway because of bruising so paying for the pre-sliced apples makes sense to me since I know I can eat every last slice and not have to throw anything out.
So I'm back...a few pounds heavier but I am refocused. I’m resolving to improve my physical health as well as my financial health. My B-day is coming up in a couple weeks (Feb 25), I'll be 27, and I'm sick of seeing B-days go by and me still being overweight. This will the 3rd B-day that I'm overweight and can't stand the thought of family and friends wanting to take photos to celebrate my special day with me looking like one of the party balloons getting ready to float away, I gotta do something! At least if I had kids I could say that I never lost the baby weight, but I don't have children, I have not excuse!
The craziest thought has been in my head for the last few days, I was sitting in my Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class (I just completed my 1st week) and I though to myself, "I want to train for a half marathon." I don't think I have ever had such a radical thought in my life. I have always been the person to say, "Why would anyone in their right mind want to run/walk over 5 miles?" I even felt that way when I was skinny, and now I'm this person saying, "I think I can do it, I want to run/walk 13.1 miles" This is so insane, but I'm going to train for it !
Everything I've been reading says in order to truly begin training for a half marathon you must start by being able to run 4 to 5 miles comfortably, that's about the distance of a 10K race maybe a little less. So I looked up 5K and 10K races that are coming up this spring in my local area and I am going to get started. My 1st goal will be to run a 5K comfortably (3.1 miles). I going to start today by stopping by Curves and take advantage of there 2 week free trial coupon, I received at a bridal show, I know they are not too challenging but I think it will be a good start to get me moving.I’m hoping by the end of the 2nd week the weather around here will be a little nicer and I’ll be ready to get outside. Wish me luck!
I have decided to put my weight lost journey on hold for a while. There is just too much other stuff going on in my life at the moment for me to actually put forth an effort to loose weight. I'n not going to use this break as an excuse to pig out, I signed up to participate in the Diabetes Foundation 5k walk next month. So I'm going to still do good things here and there I just don't have the time to spend with blogging and with my peertrainer group. Wish me luck and I hope to get back on track soon!
"...I read an interesting article in this month's issue of O. Suzy Welch (I think that's Jack Welch's wife?) Has a 10-10-10 method for making decisions. How am I going to feel in 10 minutes-10 days-10 months? I thought it was an interesting one and useful for monitoring calorie intake / eating choices. How is this chocolate cake going to make me feel in 10 minutes time? And in 10 hours time, will I even remember it? And in 10 months time, if I keep making decisions to eat these things, how will I feel/look then? It's a holistic way of looking at any decision, weighing up short-term gratification versus long-term consequences. Thought I'd share and see what others think of the idea."
I really need to implement this strategy into my daily life. There are so many times when I will put something in my mouth and 10 minutes later feel horrible about what I just ate. So the next time I think about purchasing a snickers bar I'm going to stop and think about how I'm going to feel 10 minutes after I eat this bar, how I'm going to feel 10 days after I eat this bar and the number on the scale increases, and how I'm going to feel 10 months after I eat this bar. I bet 9 times out of 10 I will be able to talk myself out of making poor food choices by doing this.Don’t you just love reading something that really clicks with you, something you can do to improve your day-to-day living?I think it’s so great. Bye for now!