Another Successful Week

I was doing the happy dance when I weighed yesterday. I lost 2.6 lbs last week. I think that is funny since that is exactly what I lost the week before too. I was very happy with that both weeks because I have not been doing a lot of cardio exercises. I gave my leg all week to recover so even though I have been doing yoga/stretches, I haven't been walking or running. I have been very careful about my calories though.

Great Week

I am happy to see the scale moving in a downward direction again! I lost 2.6 pounds last week. Since my leg is still bothering me I haven't be able to get in as much waling/running this week and was afraid that would show on the scale. That officially puts me at the 20 lb. mark

Week's Progress/Grocery Shopping

My leg is still hurting, but it is better. I tried to run yesterday and that is just not happening right now, no way, no how. The first step I took confirmed that for me. Oh well, I am now behind on my 5K training, but not giving up. I lost 1 lb. last week. I thought it would be a little more than that, but a pound is a pound so I will take it!

I went grocery shopping with my SIL last night. What a hoot that was. She had asked if we could go together since some of the foods I have been eating in my quest to be healthier she was not familiar with. She is also wanting to start using coupons more and since she knows I try to use them whenever I can, she wanted some tips. I am very organized about some things and she tends to go on all cylinders and is a tad forgetful. We met at the front of the store and I have my reusable shopping bags, my cloth produce bags and my coupon organizer. She has her wallet. And that is it, she forgot her coupons. Even after sending her husband to the store to get an extra paper. We went through the store and I showed her what I was buying and showed her where some new (to her) things were and told her how to prepare them. She was game to a point but there was no convincing her to get ground turkey or to try edamame.

The healthier I am eating, the harder I am finding it to be able to use coupons. I have been making my own tomato sauces, salad dressings and as many other things as I can. Most of my shopping is done in the produce/organic/meat and baking aisle. Not too many coupons there! I did manage to save $15.85 in coupons though and even was nice enough to share some of my coupons with my SIL.

Ouch!

Not sure what is going on with my left calf muscle, but it really hurts! I did walk/jog yesterday and stretched before starting. Several hours after my workout though I was walking across the dining room and felt a sharp stabbing pain in my leg. It is slightly better than it was last night but I still have a very noticeable limp when I walk. If it doesn't get better I am going to have to figure out some other exercises to do.

Week 1 Complete

Well I did it without collapsing! Today was the last training day of my first week on the Couch to 5K program. I have been trying to exercise pretty consistently but adding in the jogging really pushed my endurance level. I completed it though and I feel really good about that. I feel like I have accomplished something. Not only in the fitness area, but proving to myself that I am strong enough to do it. If you have read this very often you know that learning that I am strong has been a recent development for me. It is amazing how different it feels. I am still trying to incorporate that into my daily thinking and actions.

Food wise I have been doing pretty good too. I have stuck with my planned meals and snacks and have stayed within my alloted calorie range each day. I only record my weight on Mondays but I have stepped on the scale a time or two and the number is slightly lower. Even better is that I am able to wear several shirts that I could not wear at the beginning of winter. Everyone keeps asking me if I have new clothes. The kind of sad part is, some of those shirts are brand new. I bought what I thought was my size and then came home and they didn't fit and I was too disgusted with myself to take them back. It feels GREAT to wear those shirts.

Wednesday/Thursday

I am happy to say that I made it through Day 3 of my Couch to 5K training. My SIL is too funny, we have made this into a competition, not to see who runs the fastest or anything like that, just a competition to actually do it. I get home earlier than she does so after I did mine I texted her to tell her I was finished. When she got home she said she went straight downstairs and did it before doing anything else. Even though she was tired and wanted to not run/walk, she wasn't about to let me get a day ahead of her in training! That's great, I think I may have stumbled onto the perfect motivation here.

Day 3 had us walking for 5 minutes, jogging for 2 minutes and then walking for 5 minutes. I didn't stretch very well evidently. The walk was fine but I could not make it to 2 minutes at a jog. Could. Not. Do. It. My legs were cramping so I stopped at 1 min and 37 seconds because I could not go on any more. I did finish up with the 5 minute walk though. I sat down and rested for about 15 minutes then got up, stretched some more and did it again. I walked 5, jogged 2 and then walked for 5 more. I knew Jenny would get it done and I had the same response, I didn't want her to get a day ahead of me, not this early in the game.

My eating has been very healthy and the scale has started a favorable downward move again and that makes me happy and helps keep me motivated. Today is a rest day on the training program, but that is just a rest from the walking/running. One the days I am not doing that I am doing some weight training exercises for my arms and about 20-25 minutes of yoga.

Upping the Fitness Goals

I had such a great time with my SIL this weekend. We got together because she was wanting to know more about some of the changes I have made in my eating, especially regarding the weight loss. It is a little weird that the scale isn't really moving that much but my clothes are fitting differently. I am able to wear shirts that I haven't been able to wear in a long time and I have to wear a belt with almost all my jeans. I like that they are baggy, but I hate wearing a belt. Anyway I told her one of the absolute important things that I have been doing is planning all of my meals and snacks for an entire week at a time. That saves me some money at the grocery store and since I know what I am eating I am not tempted to run out for fast food just because there is "nothing to eat". We also spent some time talking about exercising and I told her my goal of participating in a 5K before the end of the year. Every April Nashville hosts the Music City Marathon. To get kids involved and excited about fitness, many schools participate in the "kid's marathon". They log miles at school with a sponsor and then they complete their last mile downtown on race day. Both my niece and nephew are participating this year. When I told her my goal she thought that sounded doable and would help keep us accountable so we challenged each other to do the From Couch to 5K program. We are both a little competitive so hopefully this will keep up on the training schedule. As we were talking we decided this would be a great thing for the whole extended family to do so we called and challenged my in-laws too. We are all in our own homes trying to live healthier lives. Jenny and I set the goal for the entire family to be able to compete in a 5K together before the end of the year as a healthy family.

One thing that I have really focused on is getting out of the mindset of skinny vs. fat. My goal isn't to be skinny or to not be fat, my goal is to replace all my unhealthy habits with healthy ones and I am really trying to change the way I think about that.