Running Myself Sane

I have a lot of goals for myself when it comes to running. I want to complete 13 5Ks in 2013. I want to run a half marathon. I want to run a marathon. I want to run 5 marathons.

But, first, I have to get better stronger. I wasn't sure how to do that. So, I used the magical Google machine to see what I could dig up.

I found a wonderful app from RunKeeper that allows me to run without thinking too much about distance. It tracks my distance with the GPS capabilities of my phone and interrupts my music occasionally to tell me my mileage, average pace, and current pace. I have it set to update me every five minutes and/or every .75 miles. Since I average about a 13-14 minute mile, that means I'm getting updated at least 2-3 times per mile and it keeps me on track.

RunKeeper also has free training plans for its users to sign up for depending on their needs and goals. Everything from "Running a 5K" to "Running a Marathon" to "Run to Lose Weight" and everything in between. I signed myself up for the "Running a Half Marathon" program and then chose the option "Beginner Half Marathon to Finish." It's a 16 week program that will get me moving enough to run 13.1 miles without dying. I started the program on March 26 and it runs through July 13. The good news? The half marathon that I want to run is in January. So, I have it set to do the beginner program and then jump up to the intermediate one (which lasts 23 weeks).

The real beauty of these programs is that they keep me accountable. I don't like unfinished checklists. RunKeeper tracks whether or not you've stayed true to your plan and, if you miss a workout, that day is red instead of green. That doesn't sit well with me so I'm hoping it helps me to keep it up moving forward.

I'm pretty proud of myself and impressed with my body. Today marks two weeks since I've started the plan and I've already run a total of 33 miles. 10 of those miles were in two different 5 mile sessions. If you would have looked me in the eye two weeks ago and said, "You can run 5 miles without stopping." I would have laughed in your face. But, my schedule said to do it, so I didn't have a choice. So I did it. And it was amazing. This past Sunday I actually ended my 5 mile run at my mom's house. I stretched in her driveway and then went inside and chatted with her while she had her morning coffee. She gave me a ride back home so I could start my day with the kids, but it was a wonderful start to the morning. You'd think that I'd be exhausted after a 5 mile run before breakfast, but it's the exact opposite: I feel so energized and ready to take on the day.

Maybe it's the repetitive motion and the rythym that lets me put all my thoughts in order. Maybe it's the fact that I get an hour to myself without having to worry about my kids being hungry or needing a diaper changed or needing a referee in their argument over who gets to use the blue cup and who gets the green one. . . Whatever it is, it's magical.

My husband has been great, too. I've found that the best times for my run are first thing in the morning before the house is awake. I usually leave the house by about 5:30 am. This means that on my Tuesday and Thursday runs he's getting himself ready for work, our oldest ready for school, and potentially making a bottle for the baby (which our oldest usually feeds to him to help us out, lol). A lot of morning tasks get crammed into the 6 o'clock hour in our house, but he's so supportive. His one request? That I don't let my alarm go off more than once (no snooze!) and for no longer than a minute or so. Just because I'm up at 5:00 am doesn't mean he wants to be. And I completely understand.

So, for now, I run Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings. I eventually want to run daily and just change up the intensity of the runs. Like I said, I have a lot of goals for myself. But, first things first. I have to focus on this 16 weeks plan. I never finish anything that I start. I always start with all the motivation in the world and then I get bored. I refuse to let that happen.

Today was the first day I really had to force myself. I really didn't want to run today. The weather is dreary and overcast and I'm tired and my allergies are making me feel gross. But, I went. And I ran.

And I'm so glad that I did.

New Scale, Renewed Sense of Pride

Lost So Far: 43.4 pounds

Weight To Lose: 30.6 pounds

I've been doing really well with calorie counting, going to the gym, staying active, making the right food choices, etc. To my dismay, however, the scale wasn't moving. I did notice, however, that my scale was not accurate. If I weighed myself 3 times in a row, the weight would fluctuate up to 5 pounds one way or the other. I decided that it was time to scrap our $20 scale. I purchased this one on Amazon and it arrived yesterday. I weighed myself on the old scale and then immediately on the new scale.

I dropped 7 pounds.

I feel like that is a much more accurate representation of the hard work I've been putting in so I truly feel like I'm doing the right things. I felt really good about my weight this morning so I decided to take some measurements, too. Things are really look good!

In this post I compared my post-baby measurements to my measurements from 6 months before I got pregnant. Today I will compare today with where I was at 1 month postpartum.

7/16/2012

Weight: 212
Neck: 14
Chest: 42
Upper Arm: 12
Fore Arm: 10
Waist: 35
Hip: 48
Thigh: 27
Calf: 16


2/20/2013

Weight: 190.6
Neck: 14
Chest: 39 (still breastfeeding!)
Upper Arm: 12
Fore Arm: 10
Waist: 34
Hip: 46
Thigh: 25.75
Calf: 15.5

Not bad. Not bad at all.

As you can see from my weight at the top of the post, I've finally gotten over the hump. I have less to lose now than I've already lost. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I will get there.

I've got a few sources of motivation. I've joined a few DietBets to keep myself accountable. Also, we're going to Vegas in March and I would really like to NOT be in maternity jeans for that. And I promised my husband that if I can get to 175 by our anniversary (July) we'll have a super romantic night out. Or in. (Giggity.)

A Vlog

A lot of people on the internet turn to vlogs to help get their thoughts out there. I do like writing, but I also feel like all of my thoughts get jumbled around in my head and it's so hard to get all of my thoughts out there. So, I decided to try a vlog. Pay no attention to my hair and my crappy makeup. I'm sick today. But I just got a new tablet and really wanted to try it out. So, anyway, here it is!

Back in the Saddle Again. . .Again.

I tried very hard to lose weight and get fit when the baby was 6 weeks old. I counted calories and exercised...and nothing. I don't know what the problem was. I was on postpartum depression medication at the time and I think that may have had something to do with me holding onto weight.


Regardless of the reason, I'm done with the excuses. I've been counting calories for a week now and, I'm happy to report, the weight is coming off. I recently made the decision to stay home from work for awhile, so this should give me more time to get to the gym and even do pilates or yoga at home. In the very least, I won't be chained to a desk all day so I'll be burning more calories.


My goal is to lose 2 pounds per week. To do that, I need a shortage of 1000 calories per day. I calculated my calories with My Fitness Pal but, to be honest, it's just a guess. Ideally, I'd like to find my Body Bugg and calculate how much I really am burning every day. It's so hard to figure out how many calories I'm burning with nursing, too. Blargh.


Anyway, moving on. I'm enrolled in two DietBet challenges. One of them has a pot of about $300. The second is up over $10000. Yes. Ten. Thousand. All I have to do is lose 4% of my body weight in the next 4 weeks and I get my cut. Honestly, even if I get a few dollars more than what I put in, I'll be excited. A win means that my weight is going in the right direction and that's a win.


Roy and I are meeting a few friends in Vegas in March and I would really like to NOT be wearing maternity jeans. It's getting ridiculous. I'm almost 8 months post-partum in maternity jeans. I'm not OK with this. I know that I'll get a huge emotional boost once I get out of the 200s, but I'm going to keep going. Even if I only lose ONE pound per week instead of two, I'll still hit my goal before the end of the year. And that's exciting.


Tomorrow I'm going to try the 30 day ab challenge again. It needs to happen.

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox!

I joined up with Influenster to share product reviews with fellow consumers on the Internet. Influenster occasionally will send out what they call VoxBoxes to their members. These boxes are filled with products designed to appeal to a certain group of consumers. Here's a pic of the goodies!

It included a Venus Embrace razor by Gillette, an extra Venus Olay Blade, and a $2 coupon off my next purchase! I don't know if you knew this or not, but Venus razors will fit any Venus blade! This is great news on the off chance that Venus comes out with a new product that you ant to try or if you weren't crazy about the blade you started out with. I'm incredibly happy with the Embrace. Not having to use shaving cream makes shaving fast in the mornings, which is important when you have three kids running around like crazy people.  The Olay blade just adds an extra touch of moisture to my already winter-dry skin.


I love Ghirardelli chocolate, so I was stoked when there was a full size bar inside the box! Unfortunately, Influenster failed to take into consideration the fact that not all places have winter so the chocolate melted. Luckily, it all stayed in the wrapper so I was still able to eat it! I don't need my chocolate to look pretty, I just need it to taste good! As always, Ghirardelli did not disappoint. Their new bar is the Sea Salt Escape and it's perfect. Chocolate, almonds, and salt? Magnifique! I plan to buy another one the next time I'm at the store!

I'm not really a perfume person. In fact, I don't think I've worn perfume since my oldest son was born almost 6 years ago. So, when I saw the Forever Red perfume from Bath & Body Works I was pretty apathetic. I don't hate perfume, I just don't buy it anymore. However, I love the scent. I've worn it daily since receiving it. It's the perfect choice to either wear to work, out running errands, or out on a date. And it's not so strong as to bother my husband's allergies! I'll definitely be buying more when my sample bottle runs out!

The last thing in the box were FriXion Erasable Gel Pens. Let's be honest, we all remember erasable pens from our childhood and they were awful! I didn't have high hopes for these. However, I was pleasantly surprised! In the snapshot below I wrote my name with both color pens I received. I decided to wait 24 hours before I tried to erase anything just to see if it still worked once the gel was dry. The outcome? It's amazing. You can still see a slight shadow of what was there before, but it's no worse than a pencil. The ink doesn't seem to smudge while being stored (like pencil or the old erasable pens) and the ink is much more consistent than the old ones. I will definitely buy them and I'm curious to try their erasable highlighters.

All in all, I was so happy to be chosen to do this! I can't wait for my next VoxBox!

WW: Week One, Day Three

So far, so good. I actually cheated this morning and weighed myself again. (WW frowns on that, you're only supposed to WI once a week.) I've actually lost .6 pounds already. Not bad for two days!

I've gone over my points a little everyday, but that's what they give you the weekly allowance for, right? :)

Weight Watchers: Week One

Pregnancy High: 234 pounds
Current Weight: 212 pounds
Goal Weight: 160 pounds

Lost So Far: 22 pounds

Weight To Lose: 52 pounds

Good News: I haven't gained any weight.
Bad News: I haven't lost any weight.

I don't really know what I expected since I haven't worked out since I abandoned the ab challenge last week. Apparently I thought the weight would just melt right off while I sat on my rear end watching Doctor Who on Netflix. Well, that didn't work. Hmph.

So, today I signed up for Weight Watchers again. I had a decent amount of success when I did it a few years ago. Because I'm nursing, WW only has me set to lose one pound per week. Any more than that can affect my milk supply.

I'm going to skip the regular exercising for now. I start back to work next week. I'm going to need to pack my lunch and snacks everyday because, since I'll be pumping, I won't have time to go to the cafeteria and eat. So, not only will this (hopefully) shave the pounds off fairly quickly, but it will help me save money, too.

I suppose, to look on the positive side, once I start eating right the weight should just fall off. I've been eating nothing but crap food for the last 6 weeks. Fast food, junk food, soda, etc. Even with all that crap, I've been maintaining my weight steadily for the last 3-4 weeks. I'll cut the crap out and lose some more weight.

The thing that made me get serious? Realizing that when I go back to work next week I'll be wearing maternity clothes. That's embarrassing. Mortifying, even. I have one pair of pants that were my pre-pregnancy "fat jeans." And now they don't even fit.

Today I found body measurements from March 2011. Compared to where I'm at now, they're not that much smaller. But a few inches here and there really add up. I figure this is a good place to chronicle the difference so I can come back and compare in a month and then again in 6 months.

Just a note: I remember that March very clearly. I was 16 pounds away from my goal weight and fighting with those last 16 pounds. I was feeling very dejected and angry with myself for not being able to lose the last 16 pounds. Now, if only I weighed 173. *sigh*

Anyway, here goes (all measurements are in inches, of course):

3/24/2011

Weight: 176
Neck: 13.3
Chest: 37
Upper Arm: 12
Fore Arm: 9.8
Waist: 30.5
Hip: 44
Thigh: 25
Calf: 14.8


7/16/2012

Weight: 212
Neck: 14
Chest: 42
Upper Arm: 12
Fore Arm: 10
Waist: 35
Hip: 48
Thigh: 27
Calf: 16


It's obvious that the biggest change has been in my chest, waist, and hips. My chest is probably related to the breastfeeding. My waist and hips were affected by the pregnancy and that takes time, I know. The rest is just weight. So, I'm carrying most of my weight around my middle. Once I get back into the swing of things at work I'm going to start some cardio. That should really help with the midsection.

As far as eating goes, I know I eat when I'm stressed or anxious or bored. I'm trying to stop that. The hard part is finding something else to do with my hands when I get the urge to snack. I need a rubberband or something. . . Also, I need to get more calcium in me. Especially with the breastfeeding. I didn't get ANY calcium today aside from the multivitamin I'm about to take. That's not good. Not good for my bones and not good for Alex's bones.

Wish me luck! Here goes nothing! Hopefully I'll have SOME kind of weight decrease to report next Monday.