Those extra pounds

First 5K

2010-09-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday Morning...The Boyfriend suggested the route that would take me 5K or 3.12 miles. I'm at the end of week 8 and it seems like a fine time to try.

3.12 miles
49 minues (walked 14minutes, ran a 30 & a 5 minute intervals)

Monday Morning....Labor Day. My right hip is bothering me slightly but otherwise I'm no worse for wear after doing the 5K on Saturday. I'll do it again.

3.12 miles
47 minutes (walked 10 minutes, ran a 32 & a 5 minute interval)

Mid way through Week 9

Ran on a treadmill at work for the first time. I am not a fan of the treadmill and all the clocks/timers/counters/pedometers flashing at me. Will run outside in the snow if I must to avoid the treadmill.
25 minutes for 1.8 miles. That's down...And it was flat and I kept the speed between 4.3-5 miles per hour. I feel somehow cheated.
Today lots of my leg and abdominal muscels are soar. The treadmill changes things, and maybe that's a good thing. My right hip is still off kilter though. Not sure if it's a joint pain or a muscel pain.

25 minutes

2010-08-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

25 minutes
1.9 miles

Progress is slow.
Race is October 2nd

Week 7

2010-08-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

First 25 minute jog

25 minutes
1.8 miles

2010-08-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

OMFG!!! I just did 20 minutes straight of running! I can’t believe it.

At minute 13 my abs started to complain that this was highly irregular.

At minute 17 my lungs broke the silence and began to protest in the form of wheezing.

I ignored them and kept on running. I had Usher in my ears telling me to give him more so I obliged and keep my feet moving. I hit the 20 minute mark and am still in shock. I honestly didn’t think I could do it. Wow!

20 Minutes!

2010-08-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Guess who ran 20 minutes today? Yup, this moi!
OK and by run I mean jogged.
And by 20 minutes I mean an 8 minute interval followed by a 4 minute and then another 8 minute because that 4 minutes was supposed to be an 8 minute but I hyperventilated and had to stop. But I knew I could do it, I had just done one 8 minute interval so I tried again and Victory was mine! Week 5 is ovah!

And week 6 includes the task of running for a solid 20 minutes! I can't believe this. How about 10 minutes with a two minute rest followed by another 10?!?! I think the solid 20 minute interval will shock my body and help it get accustomed to running longer distances. Like the day trips on Everest to higher altitudes. At least that's what I'm hoping.

Runner's High?

2010-08-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the start of week 5. Can you believe it? I thought week four was going to kill me. We jumped from jogging for 9 minutes total to jogging for 16 minutes. That’s nearly double!! Holy cow.

I did have a bit of a melt down on Monday, the first day of the week, and proclaimed this wasn’t possible about half way through. With his help I came around and finished with 15 minutes instead of the intended 16 of jogging. Not bad. Today is supposed to be an off day. A day of rest before launching into week 5.

But I felt like moving. I’d been knitting most of the morning and felt sedentary and a bit anxious. I made a quick playlist of upbeat songs, Jump by Madonna, Let it Rock by Kevin Little, Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Bobby Darrin. Then I laced up the sneakers and hit the bricks at 11am on Saturday. Can you believe this? What was I thinking? According to Weather.com it’s 74 degrees outside but there is a breeze and there is shade along the road. This wa my first time jogging without my coach. He’s out of town right now. So it’s up to me to hold up my end of this Couch-to-5K on my own. I strapped on his watch, shoved a key and my Ipod into the sports bra and had a great time. I think I’m starting to understand the runner’s high.

Hills are Hard

2010-07-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

We are into week 3. My lungs and knees are angry. Have thrown out 3 pairs of worn out sneakers and a new pair of super lightweight sneaks are on their way. I do look forward to hitting the road most mornings. And we’ve taken to jogging around the neighborhood instead of just on the track. Unless I’m going down, Hills are hard!

Day 4 completed

2010-07-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

Today we jumped up to six 90 second jogs. The Boyfriend is talking about taking me off the flat even track that runs around the soccer fields near our house. I am secretly not amused by this idea. However I did note that we went 1.75 miles this morning and I only had one jog where I thought my lungs would explode. Although maybe I couldn’t hear my lungs over the complaints coming from my calfs(sp?). Why oh why calfs are you attacking me? Is it the heels and the walking in Magical Vermont Yesterday? Perhaps.

The plan is to jog on Tuesday and Friday mornings this week.

1 week done, 8 weeks to go!

Day Three

2010-07-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

Just finished day three. The first week is over. I’d like to say that breathing is getting easier but The Boyfriend and I both agree that it’ll take some weight loss to make that happen. So far I’m down a couple pounds this week. I’ll do an official weigh in on Sunday mornings to track my progress. I don’t understand why it takes my body so long to cool down. Tuesday morning it was more than hour before I could apply make up because I was sweating so profusely. Of course I did shower and blow dry my hair and run around getting ready for work. I may need to allow myself an extra 15-20 minutes in the morning just to sit and cool down before getting ready for work.

Couch to 5K Challenge begins!

2010-07-11T04:42:00.000-07:00

First Day of The Boyfriend’s and my Couch to 5K challenge.

Breathing is the hardest part. And on the 9^th jog I got a bit light headed. It takes about 60 seconds after I stop jogging for my breath to come back. He’s such a trooper keeping track of the times and encouraging me. I think he’ll enjoy the job as a trainer. We just got back and now he’s headed back out for his own run. He’s been working on running with Five Finger shoes so it seemed like a good time to recruit him to help me run. Not that I’m thrilled to be running but this Couch to 5K seems like a nice progressive plan to follow to get me moving again. We’ll see how I do at 5:30 on Tuesday morning when I run again.

Pizza

2009-06-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

After eating an entire small brick oven pizza (and most of the crust) and some chocolate what a surprise I had this morning. I weighted in on Friday morning before leaving for the weekend. I had several challenges on Friday, Sat, and Sunday. I admitt I gave in to the couple mentioned above but ate really well the rest of the time. I weighted myself this morning and am 1/2 pound less than Friday. I am really pleased since that means I did balance eating well with allowing myslef to enjoy a special meal and desert and did not gain weight. Go Me!!!!

Progress

2009-06-05T05:30:00.000-07:00

Well, a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the daughter! Way to go! I wish the mother had been more successful but I am still hanging in there. This Monday will make 5 weeks on the program and I am down a total of 9 pounds. It's harder to be happy about a 9 pound loss when 4 1/2 pounds were in the first week but I am making progress. The good news is I know what I am still doing wrong - picking up a cookie now and then and throwing on a little more feta and olives on my salads pretty regularly. So I am going to tighten things up and look for a good loss by the end of next week! The first challenge I have for the upcoming week is I will be at a cta show this weekend. At shows you hurry up then you wait and waiting is hard especially when they only have junk food available at shows. So I am bringing my own foods and plan to drink plenty of waer. The daughter will be there too so hopefully we will help each other. After that there should be no major challenges the rest of the week. BTW - Good Luck to Raya's Clearly MzUndrstod Callie at the show!

Broke a 0 number

2009-06-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

The Daughter Here:
In every weightloss program the weights that end with a 0 somehow seem more significant. For example saying you weigh in the 150s or 160s. When you get below that 0 number it's a bit of a milestone. This morning I broke through one and it felt great!!! So far I'm down 7.6 pounds. When I'm hungry I eat, and when I have social plans I'm careful but I enjoy what everyone else is having. So far so good!!!

Week 3 Results

2009-05-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

The Daughter Here:
Today marks the start of week 4. My official weigh in has me down 5.4 pounds. The first couple weeks usual have the largest drops. I hope that that isn’t the case here. While 5 pounds is good it’s not major. I must confess that while we spent a week together, Mum and I went to visit my Grandmother for some home cooking. While it was delicious, and I did eat leftovers the next days, I’m not sure either of us enjoyed it enough to justify not loosing any weight for the next few days. I think the lesson is that we can eat high carb meals but they need to be small and they need to include 2 servings of veggies. They shouldn’t be hog-wild indulgences that last for days. Nobody feels good when they’re on carb overload. Now that’s behind us and I’m on to week 4! This week, I’m going to walk 5 days!

Week 1 completed

2009-05-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Daughter Here:

Sunday marked the end of week one. I officially lost 2 pounds. I had expected a drastic drop the first week. But if the plan is supposed to be a steady weight loss that is maintainable then 2 pounds a week is good. Sunday itself was a hard day, food wise. We spent the day at a college graduation and dinner party. I had breakfast according to plan but that was it. I tried to keep my portions small, only eating what I needed and not pushing it. I did have a glass of wine and eat a small piece of the graduation cake, but not the frosting, it wasn’t worth the calories. I’m pleased with myself.

I am on a meal plan, and I do want to lose weight but I don’t want to stop living life and enjoying special occasions. If I want an alcoholic drink I’m going to have one. I’m going to go for the salad instead of the pizza but I’m still going to go out to dinner when I want. After all that is part of life, and when I’m finished losing weight I don’t want to go all crazy from lack of experience in those situations.
In food news, I find that if I have an after dinner Diet Coke that satisfies my need for something sweet.

A Salad is a Salad is a Salad? NO

2009-05-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

So, I love my lettuce covered with all kinds of goodies including green olives or greek olives, feta cheese, pickled beets and slivers of roasted almonds and I do not mind having one for lunch and one for dinner. Well, not such a good idea no matter how good they taste. Week one I did great. The pounds fell off easily, week two 1 pound??? What the heck?? So I decided to figure out the calories I am adding to my salads to see how many extra I am actually getting. Believe it or not it came to 215 extra calories for one salad with all my extras. It's the feta and the almonds that really drive the calories up. So two salads a day is over 400 extra calories and when you are on a 1200 calorie program well........ So am going to limit to one salad a day with the olives and beets as the only extras. That will increase my salad by 50 calories which I am willing to do. I guess I could probably give up a protien during the day if I really wanted either the feta or the almonds. So off an running on week three with the intention to do more than 1 pound this week!

Walking

2009-05-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

The Daughter:
I just went for a quick 20 minute walk. Physical activity is the hardest part for me. I follow the program and drink big glasses of water like a champ, but putting on those sneakers is a giant hurdle for me. I’ve spent the morning doing not so much fun work while the bright sunny day called to me. SO as a little reward, I picked up my Ipod loaded with my favorite knitting podcast, The Knitmore Girls, and headed outside. I didn’t run or try to over exert myself. Just a little walk to clear my head and make me smile. Instead of thinking of it as a chore I enjoyed it as a reward.

Now I’m back and eating some string cheese. I’m supposed to eat 4 fruits, and 4 dairy/protein servings a day, because I’m a vegetarian I guess. I’m good with the fruit but the last two days I’ve been a dairy/protein short at the end of the day. So I need to really force myself to eat it in the mornings since that seems to be when I’m skipping it.

Pea Soup Surprise!

2009-05-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

OK - So I had the Pea Soup for lunch and I am still in a state of shock! It was good. Oh my goodness, maybe you have to really like pea soup to begin with like I do to like it but I tell you it was good! I had my huge salad that I have at least once a day to begin with then the soup. I feel like I am going to burst, I am so full.

I already told "the daughter" about my fantastic salads and made her one which she liked. The key to it is variety. I load up a bowl with different kinds of lettce, spinach, and broccoli slaw (all pre-torn bagged - convenience is important to success). Then I add to that pickled beets (6 for 15 calories) 3 green olives, a pinch of roasted sliced almonds (in the salad dressing section at the grocery store) then if I have cucumber, celery, tomatoes, peppers, etc. Finally to top it off I sprinkle crumbled feta cheese on top, about a tablespoon or less. Just enough to give it a taste. I count all this as 2 vegetables and then a fat for the feta cheese and the olives. It's great and fills me up!

Day 2

2009-05-11T03:56:00.000-07:00

The Daughter:

I had a thought yesterday. There I was eating the 250 calorie Lasagna noting how similar it is to a Lean Cuisine or Smart One you would buy at the grocery store. But the difference is that, when I normally eat those meals that’s all I eat, and then 2 hours later when I get hungry again, I would be eating a 100 calorie bread item. I think the key here is eating the veggies and fruit and protein in addition to the meals. They fill you up and do not cause cravings the way cookies or crackers would. I already know that if I can learn to eat the fruits and veggies and not think of it as choir then Nutrisystem will be worth it.

One Week Into It

2009-05-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

Dieting is NOT new to me but Blogging is! I think I know more about dieting than any other subject even Devons but I know nothing about blogging. This is my first try at it. Let's see how I do.

Well, I am the mother in this mother/daughter weigh loss event. I am one week into the Nutria System program and am actually pretty amazed at how good the food is. I was not expecting it to be so. I am really full after each meal and am certain there must be some type of drug added to the food to make me feel so full. It couldn't possibly be the fact that I am eating tons of salads and vegetables and fruits along with the NS foods. It couldn't be that I am not eating sugar therefore not craving sugar??

As of this morning, the one week mark I am down a total of 6 pounds! So exciting for one week. I do have to remind myself that a large weight loss is standard in any weight loss program. I have not really started an official exercise program yet. I figured with all the running up and down stairs all week night and day feeding and caring for infant Devon Rex kittens that, that was probably all the exercise I needed.

I just had the beef stew for dinner and I added a can of green beans to that. I am stuffed. I am looking forward to my milk/yogurt and Strawberrie shake that I will make this evening. They are filling and really tasty as I add sugar free vanilla flovoring to them.

Ideally I would like to loose 14 more pounds for an even 20 but if I do then I will weigh 3 pounds less than my goal. I think having a three pound cushion to play with is a good thing. My goal weight is NOT what I weighted when I was 20 or 30 or even 40. I am trying to be reasonable so I selected a goal weight at the higher end of the normal range for someone who is 5'7" tall. It's a goal weight that I should be able to maintaine if I learn from this NS experience how to eat more fruits and veggies and have smaller portions of everything else.

That's it for the end of my first week.

Day 1

2009-05-10T03:27:00.000-07:00

Blogging about weight loss is not the most original idea ever. But I do enjoy writing and thought that this might be a good motivator. Once a week. Blog about how I'm progressing and help me to feel accountable. I'm sure there will be whiny posts eventually. But for now I want to gain some momentum as I begin the Vegetarian Nutrisystem plan. I set my goal at 40 pounds. I weighed myself for the first time in weeks and found I was actually 6 pounds lighter than I estimated. I'd still be in the healthy weight range if I were to lose 40 pounds from here.

I ate my first breakfast. It was cereal. I followed it with two cups of water to help myself feel full. Activity on workdays should not be a problem since I'm on my feet running all day at work. I will however have to make an effort the other 3 days a week to go for a walk or do something low impact that isn't too daunting. And if I can listen to my podcasts I'll be distracted.

Last night I wrote the grocery list. Actually I typed the list of all possible foods so that I can print it, and cross out what we don't need. It makes shopping much easier on my husband. He's also an overweight vegetarian. I'd like him to do the plan as well but he's not ready.

So there it is. Day 1.

By the way, I'm the daughter. I'm in my late twenties and I've asked my mother to join in my this quest to loss those extra pounds.