Saturday

I'm out of clever names for posts. Today is Saturday, thus the title. :)

I felt stronger during my jogging this morning. I've completed a second week of Week 2 and will step up to week 3 on Tuesday. I just need to work out the music thing, because it will be different. I should just take an afternoon and make up music lists for all of the remaining weeks in this program. We'll see.

I can't believe that September is almost over. I'm nervous for the weather to turn colder. I need to figure out a plan B for that, because right now I'm just jogging on the streets and while I'll be fine if it's chilly, I won't be if it's snowy and icy.

I have a friend who lives around the corner who offered to let me use her treadmill on such days. I need to take her up on that and get that organized.

Plugging along

Sorry I haven't been updating my blog very often. We've been sick, and trying to bounce back, dealing with a teething toddler. Seriously, it's taking it's toll on all of us. I hope he cuts those molars soon.

I lost another couple of pounds this week. Yay! I've still been exercising. Some days I feel stronger than others. Today was rough, it was all I could do to barely jog the jogging parts of my routine. I hope Saturday is easier. It may be because of my monthly cycle. I seem to have a harder time exercising when I'm on my period. Good thing it's only once a month. :)

I'm off to bed, hoping that Adam doesn't wake up every hour through the night like last night. Ugh!

I missed my first day of exercise!

Saturday was to have been my third day of Couch to 5K for this week. I woke up stomach sick at 4 a.m. and needless to say I wasn't up to even sitting up for the whole day, let alone walking and jogging. I slept most of the day.

I don't know if I need to repeat week 2 or move on to week 3 of the program. I suppose I can always try week 3 and if it's too hard, I can back up to week 2.

My girls and I were all sick. It had to be something we ate the day before. I'm thinking the bit of raw cookie dough we snitched must have been the culprit. Although, the girls literally only had as much as was on a beater. Ugh. Not pretty. They were just as sick or sicker even, than I was.

The good experience in all of this is the priesthood blessing I was given by my husband while I was vomiting. As soon as I started I asked him to give me a blessing because the band can slip with excessive vomiting and necessitate a surgery to fix it. So Brad gave me a blessing while I was heaving. It subsided immediately and didn't return. I was so grateful for that. I continued being sick the other direction, but that's not hazardous to the band, just miserable for other reasons. :)

The Biggest Loser: Families. . some thoughts but no spoilers

I watched the first episode of The Biggest Loser this week. I haven't ever watched this show before. A few things struck me.

First of all, Jillian and Bob are mean! I can't believe some of the things they do to push these guys. I know they mean well, but seriously, I couldn't handle being treated that way. What I did take away from that, though, is that I could push myself harder when I work out. I've never exercised hard enough to make myself puke and don't want to, but I could do more.

Secondly, this show is going to be good to help me continue to motivate myself to keep going. There are women on there that weigh less than I do, so that helps me realize there is still so much work to be done. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not discounting all the progress I've made and how much I've changed, but I do appreciate the reminder that I can keep going and get to a healthier and slimmer self.

Thirdly, I really didn't want anyone to get voted off! It was horrible to realize someone would only get one week of this experience when all of them wanted and needed the effects of the show. I felt a little better when they show you at the end where those people are now and that they've continued getting healthier.

Also, it was interesting to me how many of these parent/child pairs have such similar body types. Almost like twins on a couple of them. They have to fight genetics as well as bad habits.

I'm looking forward to following this season of this show.

I survived

I survived the morning workout this morning and I even moved on to Week 2 of the Couch to 5K. I did get the music thing figured out and it was so awesome to have the music doing my timing for me. When the song switched I knew to switch between running and walking. I loved it. I'm going to do one for each week of this program and its different schedules.

This week's schedule is 5 minutes warm up followed by 20 minutes of alternating 90 seconds running and 2 minutes walking.

Bummer is that I was up one pound this morning from last week's weigh in. I was hoping to see consistent loss, but alas that is not the case.

Keeping on

I don't have a lot of new stuff to post about, but things are still going well. I guess there was something noteworthy yesterday.

We periodically have potluck dinners after church. Yesterday we had one. I ate my meal, feeling a bit conspicuous because I was eating a bit more than I usually do at home. Then I looked around at others' plates. They were filled up with lots of food, just how I did before my surgery. My portion was significantly smaller than theirs or mine pre-surgery. So, while it was a bit of an indulgence, it was still in moderation. That's why I love this band.

I need to figure out how to customize my walking/running music mix. With the Couch to 5K program it would be ideal to have 90 seconds of one song, followed by 2 minutes of another song, at the appropriate tempos for running and walking. I'm a bit of a circus show with my stopwatch in one hand, my mp3 player in the other, switching things around every time I switch from running to walking or vice versa. I have the songs I want, I just don't know how to save just part of the song. Off to google it, I guess.

Feeling reflective today

With it being September 11th today, I'm feeling an acute awareness of the significance of that day. The memories are not hard to recall and the feelings I felt that day come right back to the surface. I'm so grateful no other major attacks have been carried out on our soil and that my family has been safe.

On a lighter note, I did my second day of CT5K this morning. It was a tad easier, though still good and challenging. I'll have to see how Saturday goes before I decide if I'm going to advance to week two, or repeat week one next week.

I have honestly never been so comitted to, or excited about exercise before in my whole life. I think it's because this is the first time I have seen physical results of that exercise. It's so motivating! I'm so glad that I've been able to make the switch from being a non-exerciser to being a legitimate exerciser.

Brad likes to ask me, "Hey, you work out?" He got it from this video:

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First day of Couch to 5K

I don't know what kind of couch potato they are targeting, but that workout was definitely not something I could have done a few months ago. Maybe even a month ago. Here's what week 1 entails: Brisk five-minute warm up walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

It was hard! It was ever so much more vigorous than the walking I've been doing, even though that has been very brisk and pushing myself faster and faster.

So for this program I'm supposed to do that three times a week, which works out great because I do that on the day that I do the shorter T-tapp workout. So I do long workout, short walk one day, then short workout, long walk, or now the CT5K program on the next.

I did get a headache right off, during the first 60 seconds of running. I'm going to try to remember to take ibuprofen before I go next time. But other than that, I'm not sore or anything. Feels good to have done that today!

I'm so happy!

I just had to post this first thing this morning!

I have to admit I was very nervous to step on the scale this morning. It's been a week since weighing and I was scared that it would have gone up. Well, it didn't and I'm down 3 pounds. It looks like the plateau is broken! I'm so glad. I've been a little looser with my eating, letting myself get in a few more calories than I was a little while back. So I think a combination of upping my calories and my exercise finally kicking in has been the key. I'm just so happy. :)

Surreal

So I was cleaning out my closet this afternoon and started going through a box I've had for years, marked, "Melissa's Hopefuls "which contained some of my more favorite "skinny" clothes. They were from my single years, and early marriage years. Guess what? Every single one of them fit. Some were a little snug, but everything in there I could wear. I was really surprised. I've heard people say this before, but it really is puzzling when it's me experiencing it: I weighed about 30 pounds less than I do now when I was wearing these things. Maybe I'm more dense with muscle or something, but anyway, I no longer have clothes that I used to wear that I'm too big for. It floors me. I still have clothes that my friend has given me to shrink into, but not my old clothes anymore.

Weekend is here

I'm glad today is Saturday. It's a much-needed break from the everyday.

Yesterday it was raining. I still did my inside workout, but didn't go walking. Today I did both and the walk felt so good. I stepped it up and walked the fastest part of my walk to A Little of Your Time by Maroon 5. Holy moly! I didn't know I could walk that fast. It makes all my other music feel so slow in comparison. I usually use Blake Lewis' She's Making Me Lose It for my fastest song. I guess I'm increasing in intensity. I have to remember to start the Couch to 5K thing on Monday. That should be interesting.

We took my measurements yesterday. I've lost 1.5 inches off my hips in the last two weeks. My arms are smaller, my thighs, and my waistline. All in the last two weeks. So I was right about inch loss happening, even if the scale isn't moving. I haven't been on the scale since Tuesday. I'm anxious to see what it will show next Tuesday. I'm glad I don't even know where the scale is because I would certainly break down and use it.

Couch to 5k

I think next week I'm going to start implementing the Couch to 5K program. It eases you into running bit by bit. I'm fit enough that I think I can do it without too much trouble, although today my legs were really hurting me on my walk. It's not usually that way, so I'm not too worried.

The Couch to 5K program is supposed to be 3 days a week which works out well with my schedule, since three of my walks are intended to be longer, and more strenuous. I'm still going to walk on the off days, just not add the running, I suppose.

I'm feeling great and happy.

New features added

I just wanted to direct your attention to a few new features I added:

The coolest ones are the little slideshows on the right side. I added one of before shots. I hate looking at those pictures, but it really serves the purpose of showing just how far I've come, especially if someone doesn't know me in real life.

I also have progress picture slide shows from the front and from the side. I love how you can just watch them morph into the new me. I'll continue to add the newest shots to those.

I also added an option for you to subscribe to my blog. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but you can choose to either be notified of the new posts, or every single comment. I hope you find that helpful.

I also have started a list of favorite websites, but that's nothing new, most blogs have those.

Enjoy!

Guess why I'm smiling. . .

This is me wearing my husband's pants. The pair he wears all the time. They have a 36 inch waist. I was able to get them buttoned and zipped with no trouble at all. They're not as baggy on me as they are on him, but they weren't tight. I can hardly believe it! I've never been able to put a pair of my husband's pants on before! What a fun surprise.

Freedom

There was a measure of freedom today with not weighing.

I woke up and thought, What the heck, I'm going to weigh just to see. Well, Brad did his job and hid the scale, so I couldn't. Good man. It was nice not to have those numbers bugging me all day.

I just realized that tomorrow is Tuesday, so I will do my weekly weigh then, but then back away with the scale.

I'm still really enjoying the T-tapp and walking. I do feel muscles that I haven't in a while. My thighs (quads, I think) and my waist both have more muscles under the fat, but I can really feel them. I was really thinking today about muscle weighing more than fat and realizing that I believe that is happening to my body. I know that I'm developing more muscles and that they must weigh more. Now, I just want to see them turn into the promised fat-burning machine and get the rest of this excess weight off of me.

I set my monthly exercise goal high, 26 days. That's every day but Sundays. That's what I did in August, so why not?