Couch Potato to 5 K Turkey Trot DAY!!

I did it!  While I thought the three hills would be the death of me, and I did walk at some point on each of them I was able to finish the run in 26:55!  The run was not a 5K, rather 2.5 miles.  Cob said the hills make it equivalent with a 5K.  He finished in 22:00, Mary in 25:19 and Abi 25:17.  Happy Belated Thanksgiving to anyone reading this :)

Couch Potato to 5 K

O.k.  I have had it with all my excuses for not exercising.  With Thanksgiving a little less than 5 weeks away I decided to start preparing for a local Turkey trot.  So here is the schedule . . .


WEEK 1  Sat - Thu  short week since I am starting late
Oct 22  5 min walk  9 min jog  5 min walk
Oct 23  5 min walk  11 min jog  5 min walk
Oct 24  Relax!
Oct 25  13 min jog  5 min walk
Oct 26  15 min jog  5 min walk
Oct 27  Relax!

WEEK 2  Fri - Fri
Oct 28  15 min jog  5 min walk
Oct 29  Relax!
Oct 30  8 min jog  5 min walk  8 min jog  5 min walk
Oct 31  Relax!
Nov 1  16 min jog  5 min walk
Nov 2  Relax!
Nov 3  17 min jog  5 min walk 

WEEK 3
Nov 4  17 min jog  5 min walk
Nov 5  Relax!
Nov 6   18 min jog  5 min walk
Nov 7  Relax!
Nov 8
20 min jog  5 min walk
Nov 9  Relax!
Nov 10  Relax!

WEEK 4
Nov 11
20 min jog
Nov 12 Relax!
Nov 13  12 min jog  5 min walk  12 min jog
Nov 14  Relax!
Nov 15  24 min jog 
Nov 16  Relax!
Nov 17  25 min jog

WEEK 5
Nov 18  25 min jog
Nov. 19  Relax!
Nov. 20  27 min jog
Nov. 21  Relax!
Nov. 22  30 min jog
Nov. 23  Relax!
Nov. 24  Race Day!


Ran the first day on the schedule.  Mary and Abi came along.  We power walked down the bluff not far from our house to a walk/bike trail.  The walk was more like 6 min. for us.  The first two minutes of jogging I thought the watch was broken.  I seriously thought I would never ever make it all 9 minutes but miraculously after 2 minutes the rest breezed past.

WA HOO!

I declared goal today! I am official back to my life time membership status with Weight Watchers!! Something that was said several meetings ago has really helped me ever since. What do we do when we get a flat tire? Do we get out of the car in a heated rage slash the other three? No, we fix the one that's flat. Translation: What should I do when I have a bad eating binge? Figure all is lost and continue in that binge or have more binges? No, restart right thinking / hence right eating immediately. This has helped me not lose entire days, even if I have bad moments within those days. I am no longer the three tire slasher!!!!

Staying the Course

I haven't posted for some time. I have been maintaining weigh wise. I have been struggling to stay encouraged on a spiritual front. Feel so easily distracted, and I have much to distract me. I know the right thing to do and am just NOT doing it. Drew is so faithful to encourage me to stay in God's Word and to continue to call out to the LORD moment by moment!

My sister Terry's incredible commitment to the LORD and continued weight loss has been a great encouragement to me. Also, I was reading aloud a biography of Abraham Lincoln to some of the kids and was struck by Lincoln's commitment to improve himself. He would make daily goals of what he was going to do that day to be better the next day. Inspired me to keep a daily log of verses I must memorize etc.

I know I rambled quite a bit here, but I needed to :-)

Whew! I just finished my total body blast pilates work out and I must admit it felt GOOD. I showered afterwards and that always helps. I do enjoy the slightly sore feeling of a good work out, call me strange :-).

Well, I just finished the first article I decided to read to help me in this eating battle. I found it over at associated content by yahoo. I learned a lot from it. The main thing I want to try to implement is working out to relieve stress (rather than eating to relieve stress). I really thought the morning paper route was enough exercise but I am definitely stress eating SO I am going to try to work out 4 days a week.

Click here if you want to read the article: Eat like a Skinny Person and Other Weight Loss Tips

Weigh In

Weighed in yesterday at 165. Had a really bad week as far as journaling goes BUT an excellent week pondering on God's word and surrendering different areas of my life to the LORD. He is so faithful. With Drew out of town for several days I literally did not have energy to journal every bite. Wednesday I started thinking about my focus with my weight loss. All I have been thinking about since I started is FOOD! The very thing I want to think less about. SO . . .

I so want the LORD to be the center of my thoughts! Him and HIM alone. What to do????

In 1999 I almost started the Weigh Down by Gwen Shamblin, after which I named the blog. How funny that it took me several weeks to get my focus right. I don't even have the book. In fact I don't think I ever owned it. The Weigh Down bible study had it's first planning meeting in my living room a day before the whole thing blew up due to some of Shamblins doctrinal views. I still think she has some great principles. These are the ones I remember and have been implementing the past few days.

1) Don't eat if I am not hungry (really listen to your body and learn hunger signals.)

2) If I think I am hungry drink a cup of water and wait a period of time to see if I was really thirsty and read my hunger signal incorrectly.

3) Pray before eating

So here I go!!!

Slump

I had a really bad day. Journal - breakfast only. water - o.k. just in a total slump. Funny, I don't think I'm pmsing :-). I still plan to weigh in tomorrow. The night is young but I am pooped out. It's bed time for this Mama!

This sums up my feelings so well. Well, maybe not the stage one quite, but the other two for sure.

http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2005/08/transformation-of-inner-me.html

Staying Encouraged

I am staying encouraged on the eating front. Had some other stress in the day which I was eventually able to surrender to the Lord. Emotions and eating go so hand in hand. I am curious to see how I do through pms. Time will tell.

Goals:

success on calories

shy on water

Hurray! And Goal Review

Hurray! I am thanking the Lord that I was able to stick with my new eating plan for the entire week.

Weigh In - 166! (that's down 4#)

I remembered from past experience to expect a greater loss the first week when following a new (reduced calorie) eating plan. I was thankful for the 4# loss, but don't expect that much each week.

Goals:

I decided to extend out my goal date a bit. From what I have read and what I remember from WW it is healthiest to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. With 11 pounds to go and the 4th of July 5 weeks away I think I should give myself a few more weeks. I will set my goal at Aug. 1st.

I thought about adding work out to these but I am just so pushed for time. I will just try to play some tag and things with the kids. I am still doing the paper route about 4 days a week too.

1. Lose a total of 14 - 15#
2. Track/Journal every bite
3. Weigh again next Saturday (not sooner for psychological purposes)
4. Goal weight by Aug. 1st
5. Be accountable (Thanks Kari! and anyone who is following the blog :-))

History

My battle with bulge began after I had my first baby. Well, not exactly. I did indeed gain too much weigh with my first pregnancy but somehow without trying was down to my prepregnancy weight when I found myself in my second pregnancy. I didn't gain any excess with this pregnancy so I guess it was after my third pregnancy, when the weight didn't fall off that my battle began. About 9 months after my third baby was born that my husband suggested I join weight watchers, which I did. I gleaned a lot from being a part of this organization but resented the 10+$ that I was forking over every week. I did get down to my goal weight - 156 and maintained that through another pregnancy. After my fifth baby was born I joined spark people as I the weight was not coming off. I got the weight off, gained again with sixth pregnancy, got that off by last spring. Then over the coarse of 10 months I have gained 14 pounds. This brings me to my current motivation to get and KEEP my weight off.

Goal Keeping

1. I was able to successfully journal every bite yesterday

Motivation

my accountability partner shared these great phrases she learned from her past attendance of Weight Watchers:

• You bite it - you write it
• You smack it - you track it

funny how those little phrases help journal every bite.

Good Day

I had a successful day journaling every item I ate. My total caloric intake - 1,500, so I am in my goal range!

New goal:

• drink 10-12 Cups of water a day

Fresh Start

I need to lose 14 to 15 pounds! I am planning to use this journal to help. I am very excited to be counting my calories again. I signed up for SparkPeople several years ago but have not signed in for about a year. I just signed in and recorded my weight this morning. By weighing in I got suggested daily calorie intake of 1,250 - 1,600 calories.

I was remembering last year when Mom fell and broke her hip and I traveled to FL I was down to 152#. I actually thought that was too thin. Yes I think one can get too thin. I lost 3# traveling, before that I was at the best weight for me. 155# or 156#. So what happened over the coarse of 10 or 11 months? I overate - plain and simple. I ate more calories than I was burning. My weigh in weight today - 170#. I am not going to let that get me down, BUT I am going to do something about it!!!!!

Overall Goals - The Long of it :-)

1. Lose 14# to 15#
2. Track/Journal every bite I eat (I bought a new notebook last week. I plan to use spark people's nutrition tracker to help me out here. They have a great resource as far as how many calories are in different food items.)
3. Weigh In (at home) every Saturday (I have to note here it is not good to weigh yourself more than once a week so I am keeping my scale under my bed and am only going to pull it out on Sat. AM
4. Be to my goal weight by July 4th
5. Stay accountable with my partner, Kari (thanks sistah) and anyone else who wants to join in the journey.

Overall Goals - the short of it :-)

1. Lose 14# to 15#
2. Track/Journal every bite
3. Weigh In (at home) every Saturday
4. goal weight by July 4th
5. Be accountable