I ran a 5k!

Well ran/walk.

On Friday, I went to the gym and did my usual on the elliptical. When I was done, I felt like sweating a little bit more so I decided to use the treadmill. I told myself I would run/walk 1 mile. This is something that is fairly challenging for me.

I did the first minute walking to warm up. Then I started running. Immediately, I noticed my breathing was easier than what I'm used to so I decided to cover up the time and just run till I felt I couldn't go on. I know sometimes when you focus on time, you can sell yourself short. Imagine my surprise when the song I was listening to ended and I was STILL running. I ran for a little bit longer before I felt the need to slow down. I looked at the time and I had run a little over 3 full minutes. Some of you might be laughing to yourselves (aka, the people that can bang out a mile at 6.0) but this was a major first for me!

I felt like a runner.

Wow, Deranged must really have upped my aerobic capacity.

The next day, I woke up with this thought in my head "I want to do a 5k". So many people in the blogosphere talk about it. First things first. I had to figure out how many miles that actually was. Google told me 3.1 miles. Hmm, so I had to do what I did the previous day 3 times. I was pumped, I felt I could do it.

And I did. The longest I ran was 4 minutes. I played with the speed to keep things interesting. I walked a lot, don't get me wrong. Definitely had to catch my breath. By the time I was done, I was DONE. I had no more energy left in me - I could feel it. Kudos to all y'all that do this on the regular. It was HARD! When I got home, i had to just sit and be. Sweat was pouring out of every pore.

Looking back, I probably should have eaten a little more before (I had a slice of toast and peanut butter) but I am so proud of myself.

I know some of you have some things you think you could never do. Running is that for me. I read all these blogs where people ENJOY running and I think to myself that our genetic hardwiring must be different. I can do the elliptical, I can weight train, I can swim but I am NOT a runner. That's what I used to believe.

I'm not officially a runner now but I can at least envision myself as one later on in the future. I don't know if I'll keep it up but it's nice to know that dramatic change is possible.

Monday Weigh-In

212.

.2lbs lost. I'm not too pleased. Did a 5k on Saturday (need to talk about that) and was generally good with food. I might have eaten too little on some days and I DID have thai food yesterday so that might be causing retention. I'm gonna MISS next monday's weigh-in b/c I'll be travelling. Hopefully by the time i come back, I will be closer to 200 (in my head, I'm hoping I'll be under but that's not realistic). I might just bite the bullet and weigh-in on Sunday.

We'll see

A picture is worth a thousand words (or multiple blog posts)

Without further ado, I present 11 pounds gone.

Blogger is being weird and I can't get them right next to each other.  It seems photoshop is the only thing that allows you to merge two photos in one. If anyone has other ideas, let me know.

Okay worked slightly better for this set. Finally, back view

Thoughts

I'm pleased with everything except for the back view. I actually think I look bigger in the after picture. It might be how I'm standing because there is that line down my back that's not in the 2nd picture. My belly has definitely gone down which explains the loose pants.

Mind you, this was from like 2 weeks ago so there's been some change. Next pics will come at 20lbs gone. I still have pictures to post from before and after deranged and I have another full blog post coming later today.

Stay tuned.

Monday Weigh-In

213.

I'm down 2.2lbs. Yay.

I quit halfway on Jillian Michaels, I'm sorry to  say.  Made it to Day 4 and then one day I went to sleep late and it was hard for me to get up. I never got back on the wagon after that. These days my work schedule make it soo much harder to workout. It's doable but I need more discipline to make me go. I went on Saturday and worked out hard though.

Calorie wise, I was very good. In fact, I might have been soo good it was bad. I was a little down Thursday through Saturday and so I ate very little. In a twisted way, I'm happy. I didn't know I was on of those people who lost their appetite when they are sad. I am definitely the opposite when I am stressed. The good thing is that my stomach seems to have shrunk and I get full faster.

Syl over at Live, smile, run is going to start a 30 day shred challenge. I might join her and start over. I really would like to do the whole thing for once At least make it to level 2!

I finally took pictures. I'll post them later on today. Crazy what a difference 10ish pounds gone makes!

Monday Weigh-In

Official numbers.

215.2. In the three weeks, I lost 2 lbs. That's not a huge amount but I am down 10.6lbs since May.  Like I said, I'm not too bummed because my body shape has changed a little and I know I did put on a little muscle. Also, my lady friend showed up yesterday morning so overall, I expect a bigger drop next week.

I'm up early so I can get going with day 3 of the 30 day shred. I hope  can keep this motivation level for the next 27 days.

I promised y'all pictures every 10lbs so I'll be posting them later today.

Have a fabulous day!

Back from training

Tomorrow is my official weigh-in after 3 weeks of bootcamp. I stepped on the scale already so I know there's NOT much of a difference in weight. This makes me so happy that I did not bring my scale with me to training because I would have been discouraged. There IS a change in the way my body looks so all is not lost. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Truth be told, I probably COULD have lost some weight but I pretty much went over my calories every single day.

I learned that juice is not your friend. Liquid calories really eat into your daily budget. Also, I need to come up with some low calorie snacks. Making 500 cal meals can be challenging sometimes and it is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to eat out and stay on track. I went to PF Changs, one night and even after I split my meal in 3, it still came up to about 800 -1000 cals  for the meal. What are they doing? Pouring butter and sugar into the food?

Anyway, I started the 30 day shred. This time around, I want to get past day 4 (I've never even seen the level 2 &3 exercises). Yesterday was day 1. I thought that three weeks of bootcamp (1 hour and very intense) would make it easier to do the video since it's only 20 mins.

Wrong! 

Jillian kicked my butt. She does the exercise for longer (especially strength) and that tires me out. I can keep up with the jumping jacks now so that's an improvement.

If anyone wants to join me, let me know in the comments. I'm going to supplement it with 3 days of cardio (probably Monday Wednesday and Thursday). Hopefully by the end of August I'll have some decent progress. I'm not doing too in pushing the scale down!

:(

So, I just realized I tried on the wrong pair. Ah well.

When I tried on the correct pair, I could zip and button them up but it's not as great a fit as I thought. Hopefully, by next week, it will fit as well as I thought it did this morning.

How I felt when I thought it was real was great so I hope to get to that point for real soon.

I guess stuff happens. I know I've still lost some inches so I'll try to focus on that and not be disappointed.

Is this real?

Omg.

I am so excited today. I have been faithfully going to bootcamp 6 days a week for the past two weeks. Sometimes, I give it my all and sometimes I've only given 20%. No matter how I felt though, I had decided to go everyday.

It's been tough. Some days my muscles hurt and I just wanted to sleep. This workout is high intensity guys. It's pretty much a version of the insanity dvds.

I mentioned that I didn't bring my scale with me. Well, I still wanted to be able to judge my progress, so I brought a pair of pants (14) that were just a tad to small for me. I could get them on but I couldn't close them. I took a picture.

Last week, I told you that I could zip it up but it was still really tight and had little rolls over the top. Well, this morning, on a whim, I tried them on and THEY FIT! Perfectly. Like no hassle or squeezing or anything. I actually took them off to look at the label and make sure I was trying the correct pair.

I almost shed a tear. Just know, it's possible guys. It's been about 2 weeks and I've gone down a size (it's probably more like a 1/2 size). I haven't been eating anything far fetched. I've gone out to eat at places like red lobster (although not that often) and chipotle and still made progress. I've gone over my calorie limit everyday and still made progress

Speaking of which. I want to know if 1500 is adequate for someone my size that exercises. If I have any 200+lbs  readers, could you share around how many calories you take in a week if you know. I'm beginning to think that 1500 might be too low.

Anyway, I'm really happy. Can't wait till next week when I can put before and after photos as well as post my new weight.

I'm being practical and I know I might only have lost like 5lbs because of the strength I've built up (hello pushups and 10million squats) but at least I have the fact that something that didn't fit before now fits as motivation!

P.S I went to Ann Taylor loft and fit a large skirt (I had sized out of regular stores) and a M workout pant from wal-mart. I really want to go to stores I regularly shop at to see if I've truly gone down a size.

Overcoming Inertia

Inertia  (-nûrsh)
1. Physics The tendency of a body to resist acceleration; the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest or of a body in straight line motion to stay in motion in a straight line unless acted on by an outside force.

2. Resistance or disinclination to motion, action, or change: 

A while back I was reflecting on my current state of affairs. It occurred to me that the force of inertia was holding me back in so many ways. I didn't want to DO anything. Not exercise, not cook, not go out. Nothing.

I felt like I was stuck and that was certainly not helping me in my quest to lose a 100 pounds by my next birthday.

I'm happy to report that that is no longer the case. Thanks in great part to a boot camp class that I joined, I feel alive again. I think I mentioned that the class is called deranged. It's about one hour of absolute madness and I think I am addicted. I have gone every single day except sunday (no classes) which means I've worked out 6 days of the last week. I even stay for the 30 min ab class they have 3 days a week.

For me, watching the instructors is inspiring. They are extra extra fit and strong. Seeing them do the exercises ten levels higher than me and not get winded is motivation for me. They are just regular people who do this on the side. Not olympic athletes or bodybuilders who devote their life to being fit. If I could be just half as fit as they are, I would be happy. Hell, if I could run for two minutes without being winded I would be happy.

Anyway, the side effect of working out is that I make healthier food choices. The funny thing is that I ALREADY knew this about myself but for some reason it wasn't enough to make me start. I've gone out to eat with people here (red lobster) and I was semi-grossed out by some things (eww butter, cream). I just had mental images of the cream in my arteries.  I don't eat when I'm full and I like this way of being.

Its easier for me when I don't WANT the unhealthy stuff. I think about food more in terms of what it is providing my body. This doesn't mean I don't eat processed food. I still do but not the way I used to before. I can actually just have a little bit of something and be okay. I bought a bag of animal crackers a little over a week ago and there is still something in the bag. I have just a little at a time. Before, I could easily polish the whole bag in one or two sittings.

The upside of this is that the pants I brought with me that couldn't zip up, CAN now. Its still tight but its only been six days. I'm super glad I didn't bring my scale but I can't wait to get back and weigh in. I think 15lbs might have been too ambitious as I'm probably building a lot of muscle. At this point I think I would be happy with about 7lbs. I'll post the before and after pics of the pants at the end.

The point of this whole post is to let you guys know that sometimes you just have to DO
SOMETHING. Just start and sometimes that is enough to get the ball rolling.