Initial Reasons

Why I want to take these steps to get to a healthy weight this time:

1. Me and the gf want to have a baby in the next five years. I want to be the one to carry the kid. I want to be at a healthy weight going into it.

2. I had another episode with my back (not quite as bad as before). I want to finish losing the weight to take strain off of my lower back.

3. I want to do all within my power to lead a healthy and long life.  I want the quality of life to be high and I want to be super active.

4. I want to feel like my gf and I look good together.

5. I want to climb mountains and hike a lot again this summer.

Week 1

Challenges this week.

For some reason despite working out and eating healthy in healthy/proper proportions I have actually gained two pounds from last week?! (WTF) This would be way discouraging if I did not already feel good results in my clothing and I did some drinking this weekend so it is possible that it is bloat... :(


Successes this week.

1. I joined the gym on Monday and have worked out 4 times. I will be going again today as soon as I get a few chores done.

2.I already look better and can feel a difference in my clothes.

3. I come home from the gym and feel a marked emotional high. Returning to the gym this week I wondered why I had ever left. I just felt soooo good.

4. Using an accurate pedometer I found that my new job keeps me on my feet way more than my old job. (I honestly don't sit down all day long.) I am hitting 10,000-12,000 steps before  even leave work to go to the gym.


Goals for the coming week.

1.  Make sure I am getting 5 fruits and veggies a day.
2. Get 8 cups of water a day.
3. Start doing push-ups every single morning.

A new beginning again...

I've done this every few years now for the past decade. I get really faithful and lose some serious weight, gain some back over the next year or two and get back on a healthier plan. I weigh about fifty or sixty pounds less right now than my highest high about ten years ago. Of the fifty or so that I lost in 2011 I have kept 35 of it off. I'm not starting in a bad place right now.

There are a few things that are going to be more convenient this time around. There are a few extra motivations.

• I've moved and instead of living 35 miles away from my gym the gym is about two blocks away. Instead of living 40 miles way from fresh veggies and produce I live about 1/2 a mile away.
• I have more free time now because I no longer have to commute far for work therefore I have more time for exercising.
• My current job requires me to climb stairs multiple times a day.
• I'm about to see my family for the first time in a year and half so I would like to be looking good when  go see them and I have just enough time to do that.
• I'm at a point where I need to balance my life and having a goal outside of work to focus is very needed.

To Do list for today -

• Make menu for the week
• Cook some items to have on hand for the week
• Make a new excel tracker
• Make a fitness plan
• Post goals where I can see them - Post reasons for my goals

I am starting to love running

I’ve sucked at blogging about it, but I have lost all of the holiday weight and am back to where I was before. Sweet victory this morning on the scale!!!

I’m still running, but I am way off of my running plan. I’m only managing to work out about three times a week because my schedule got crazy. I’m going to have to step it up a bit if I am truly planning on a half marathon in June.

I have noticed though that I have really started to like running. I am starting to find that when I get to the track I can hardly make myself walk a warm-up lap. I get there and I WANT to run. This is a breakthrough for me in so many ways. I have never liked running, but it seems that I am starting to LOVE it. Who knew?!

The mind is in charge, the body will follow

I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately.

“You have to make the mind run the body. The body will always give up.  It is always tired morning, noon and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. You’ve always got to make the mind take over things and keep going.” – George S. Patton

You didn't know we were racing... Oh...

So… Running. I’m starting to like it. My Dad pointed out, “Kiki… We’re Vikings. We are not built for running…”  I agree, but I’m really not in it to become a superstar runner. I need a Louisiana friendly sport since there is a lack of national parks and mountains.

I am a little competitive brat by nature but I am sneaky competitive. The funny thing is that people who I compete with probably don’t even realize we are competing… The sneaky competitive has started to come out on the track over the last few weeks.

1. If I get to the track at the same as someone else I will stay longer at the track than they stay… I get a ton of personal glee out of staying longer than people who get there after me. (Not that I stay at the track all that long… Like an hour.)

2. I get a huge kick out of lapping people. (In some ways that is so silly, because my glacially slow jog is nothing to brag about… BUT lapping people pushes me.)

Running goals for the next 8 weeks.

http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Knovice.htm

I just stumbled onto this page. This is the running program I am going to start next week. It looks totally do-able.

Seven blisters, sore muscles and a resolved to achieve

Muscles all over my body are sore. I have a total of seven blisters on my feet. I'm having some caffeine withdrawals.

Despite these minor pains I am pretty happy. I am on day four of resestablishing all of the good routines and habits that I worked on last year and am looking forward to even more good results.

I have changed things up a little bit.

1. I'm giving up caffeine - Last year I was constantly battling anemia due to working out, due to being vegetarian, and due to my celiac's disease. The anemia would kill me and really mess with my workout routines so this year I am researching ways to overcome it. Turns out that caffeine inhibits iron absorbtion. Good-bye french roast that I love... Adios Diet Coke... It will be worth not being tired and avoiding bruises.

2. I've added pilates to the mix. If I'm going to run a 1/2 marathon I need some serious core muscles, especially considering I don't want to have any back issues. Must take care of old injuries and strengthening my core is going to help with that. (At this point I totally recommend the Windsor Pilates DVDs. I've done her 20 minute pilates workout twice this week and my midsection is super sore...)

3. I have set a 15,000 step a day goal. I might actually have to up this a bit, but just for the first few weeks I want to make sure I am solidly hitting this before uping it too much. 15,000 steps based on my stride length is about 6 1/2 miles. Some days this will be hard and some days this will be super easy...

4. I have not started training for the marathon per se. Right now I just want to be able to run a mile easily. So my goal by the end of February right now is to be able to run three miles without stopping in about 36 minutes. That is 12 minute miles. Its a very reasonable goal.