WHAT WAS I THINKING?

The Couch-to-5K Running Plan

Our beginner's running schedule has helped thousands of new runners get off the couch and onto the roads, running 3 miles in just two months.

By Josh Clark

Too many people have been turned off of running simply by trying to start off too fast. Their bodies rebel, and they wind up miserable, wondering why anyone would possibly want to do this to themselves.
You should ease into your running program gradually. In fact, the beginners' program we outline here is less of a running regimen than a walking and jogging program. The idea is to transform you from couch potato to runner, getting you running three miles (or 5K) on a regular basis in just two months.
It's easy to get impatient, and you may feel tempted to skip ahead in the program, but hold yourself back. Don't try to do more, even if you feel you can. If, on the other hand, you find the program too strenuous, just stretch it out. Don't feel pressured to continue faster than you're able. Repeat weeks if needed and move ahead only when you feel you're ready.

Well, after having read this with a friend…I decided that this sounded like something interesting. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Me? I am NOT a runner….YET! Yes, it is I that took 20 minutes to run walk a mile in high school. It is a wonder that I ever passed PE. So now it is our goal to be able to run a 5K next spring. Again....WHAT WAS I thinking?

Do you I really know what it means to run a 5K? Heck no! All I know is it means that I run farther than I have ever run at one time before. Honestly if it weren't for high school and having to run the mile annually I don't know if I would have run that far all together (childhood excluded) Then it was fun to run and run and run. So where do I go from here mentally. Because you know as well as I do that I have to be prepared MENTALLY for this.

I have to succeed at this, because right now I really feel like I have failed at the weight loss project. I know, I know...I just need to get back on the wagon, but right now it really feels like that wagon is being pulled by a race car and not just a team of horses. I feel like the harder I try to get back on.....the farther they pull away. Maybe they think they are in the Kentucky Derby or something. Oh GREAT....everybody/ thing is running these days.

Well back to the couch....I mean the training! Week one seems fairly simple.

~WEEK 1~
Brisk five-minute warm up walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

What? I only do this 3 times this week. Sounds simple right? Yep now if only I had 3 times of 30 minutes that I just had popping out of my calendar. Is it bad if you have to literally "schedule" time to work out. Like I mean...look at my calendar and mark 3 times this week that I can train to run. What is up with that? Something tells me this is bad. But from here I will move forward. I am going to push myself and I have several friends supporting me on this tilt - a -whirl of life adventure.

Garden of SUCCESS

Plant a Garden of Success

Plant 5 rows of peas:

Patience
Perseverance
Preparation
Planning
Positiveness

Include 3 rows of squash:

Squash negativity
Squash dieting
Squash deprivation

Add 5 rows of lettuce:

Let us be positive
Let us take responsibility
Let us be in control
Let us reward our accomplishments
Let us be empowered

No garden is complete without turnips:

Turn up with a positive attitude
Turn up with a smile
Turn up with new ideas
Turn up with real determination
Turn up with success

MAY YOUR GARDEN FLOURISH!!!

This little encouragement was found over at Dotties.

Back and ready to kick it!

After getting frustrated for the last 2 months because I wasn't dropping any weight, I got pissed off very frustrated. Frustration lead to depression and depression lead full circle back to frustrated pissed off. While that completely sums up how I was feeling, it doesn' sum up why. Why did I go from frustration to depression. For me it was lack of focus. Focus on what I wanted for myself. I got lost in the everything but not the anything. Causing confusion? Sorry, none to be had. I stopped focusing on my and what mattered most. I started focusing on the looking better and liking the smaller sizes. When in reality I should have been focusing on the true why. The why of losing weight.
I pause....do we really know the why? Do we focus so much on material rewards, (and I use the word material loosely, meaning that can be anything from new jeans to special cup of coffee to a pedicure) Well I did! I lost my focus. My days started to look like this again.

I was trying so very hard to lose weight because I was hoping to chaperone my daughters band trip to New York. Well that "reward" fell through because my daughter is only a sophmore and the chaps picked are those of junior and senior parents. Fair enough right??!!?? So then I had to focus on another reward....hmm so many to choose from, where do I start deciding and prioritizing? First my thoughts went to...oh if I reach my goal, then I should get to go to Vegas for my 15th wedding anniversary. Then it was, oh if I reach my goal then I will get to celebrate if we go to Colorado to watch the Lancers perform. The list goes on and on. Anywhere from new clothes, to dinners out, to you name it...I probably tried to reward it.

Then it hit me like an atom bomb.

This is my reward, right here.....

No not the roasted marshmellows, but my kids! This is why I need to lose weight. Ultimately for myself, because I am selfish. I mean, there is NOONE that would be ever able to raise those 3 kids as well as I do. I am sure they have all the skill in the world but darnit....raising these babes, that's my job! So the only way that I can do my job to ensure that is to get healthy. In this case, getting healthy means, losing weight, exercising, and most importantly staying mentally healthy. And how can I stay mentally healthy if I am to busy getting ticked off at the things that I cannot control.

So here it is the last day of August and I am setting my sights for the remainder of 2009 and making sure that I am in this for the right reasons, and those reasons are

1. HEIDI
2. MORGAN
3. CHRISTOPHER
4. KADEN
5. DANIEL

AND IF THAT'S NOT REASON ENOUGH....THEN I SURE AS HECK DON'T KNOW WHAT IS.

So good-bye to the 1st 8 months of 2009 and the 53 pound weight loss (which I have maintained during my slacking months, which to me is a huge accomplishment. To be able to eat fairly normal and just be aware of my consumption and still not gain) and hello to the last 4 months and the new me! In 2010 you will find a stronger (physical and mental) healthier, and more faith filled me!

July 20, 2009

Another weigh in......and another 2 pounds lost. So actually since last week I lost 4! But I don't count 2 of those as those were already lost! So the official number is.....

2 (boys)

2 (pieces)
2 (boxes)

GET IT???

2 is the number for the week!

July 13, 2009

This is how my last week felt for me on this eating better roller coaster.

This was by far the hardest week of my program so far. I struggled with many emotions, stresses, stupidities, you name it, I am pretty sure I struggled with it. I by NO means was extra careful of what I consumed for food last week. In fact, one might say I was even over the top. We attended a carnival and that made things much worse.

I mean there are cheese curds, mini donuts, cotton candy and the list goes on and on......

I am proud however to say that I didn't eat any one of these orders by myself, but I shared plenty with my family! If my kids would just tell me "NO" Darn me for teaching them to share!

Anyway.....I was up 2 pounds for this week. Shocked? I am not. That is what happens when you completely let yourself go!! But this week is gone and the new one is here and now it is time to refocus.

S*T*R*E*S*S

I have found that stress still affects me in not so positive ways. This week has been a horrible one for me...at work....at home....I wish I could say at play, but I don't seem to have much time for that these days. :~(

But I have noticed that stress does still affect me. I have gotten much better when I am stressed on how I deal with it! In the past....I would have made sure that I had chips in the house, then I would just munch and munch and munch. Hence the reason that I am working my butt off now to lose the weight. But you know, things in life happen for a reason. So I gained lots and lots of weight for a reason huh?!?! Yep I guess so.


I follow another blog very closely, here, take a look. That is MckMama. She has really helped me to realize remember, that things happen for a reason and that God has this all planned out for us. I knew this once upon a time....but where did that thought process go? Out the window I think.
I wrote about EMOTIONAL EATING a few months back. This is a post that I don't always refer to, but when I do....it helps set me straight. Well to a point. If I still resort back to that EE (emotional eating) way of life even if just once in a while, am I really set straight? Not so much!


So how does God have this planned out?!?! Maybe why is the better question! I mean why did God chose me to be one that struggles with weight? I don't know and most of us don't know the answer to the why's. I guess if we did, then we would know more than God Almighty and that really wouldn't be fair now would it?!?!



For me my answer of "Why did God chose me to struggle with my weight?" is a hard one. Not hard to answer, but hard to admit. I feel he chose me to struggle with weight so that I would realize that life does not need to be that complex. I am such a controling person and want to have things done my way all of the time....that he was giving me something that was much harder to control. Now is this fair? Some might say yes....some might say no. For me....depends on the day. Do I feel it is fair that I struggle daily with weight loss...NOPE! But does my family feel it fair that I control? Probably not. So what do I have to do with this information?
Maybe the better question is...."What will I chose to do with this information?" I will chose to use is sybolically. You know, take the word "weight" in several contexts. For instance, I will take the "weight" of stress that I feel and use it in a positive way, constructively. How you ask? Well, I will use it to push that extra walk, or push to get up that 1/2 hour earlier on days that I am able to be sure to get my bike ride in. Also many times during this weight loss journey, I will start to wait. Wait for additional direction from God. I will also wait for things to happen. I will be more patient in letting things happen without being such a grump. Because of my controlling nature and my feeling of needing to rush, I don't take time to just be patient. My poor kids!
Now I do realize that I am no



but over all I feel that I am a pretty good mom! Yet I do know that I could work on that patience just a bit. HMM.....maybe that would help with the stress level too!

JULY 6, 2009

YEP...THIS IS MY NUMBER OF TOTAL POUNDS LOST AS OF TODAY!!!

With this weeks weight loss of 2 pounds I have officially hit 50 pounds! I just can't even believe it! This is so cause for celebration. Maybe I will head for another walk!!!

I did however treat REWARD myself because I hit my 2nd round of 10% loss. This means that I took my starting weight multiplied it by 10% and first came up with a loss needed of 24 pounds. Once I reached that goal I took that current weight and did the same....and have now reached that goal of a 22 pounds loss. Next goal.....a 20 pound loss! I would like to do that by the end of August....I should be able to achieve that since I have already lost 4 of those 20 pounds!

Cheer me on to the VICTORY!