Weight Watchers Weigh-In

I meant to post this sooner but at the end of October I went back to Weight Watchers after my friend Jenny asked me to go with her. I am Jenny's go-to person for trying out different diets. Two springs ago we did a 3 week vegan program...I actually did well and ended up staying on it for 8 weeks, but she only made it like 3 days. It's hard to stay vegan though if you really don't have an ethical reason to, but overall it was a good experience and I really learned a lot...including incorporating some new foods in my diet I didn't think I liked.

I had actually been considering doing WW for a little while, so it was easy for me to agree to and I was happy to have someone to do it with. The ONLY difference though is Jenny is kind of thin already. She is technically in her healthy weight range but had gained 15 pounds over the past few years that made her uncomfortable and made her clothes not fit anymore. I can respect that, but it's still a little weird doing the program when she's skinny and I'm like 100 pounds overweight. I swear I would ECSTATIC if I looked like she did! But being uncomfortable is still being uncomfortable.

Anyway, I am VERY hesitant to put my actual weight up here at this point...maybe when I make a bigger dent in it. But here are my weigh-in results so far:


Week 1 START: 10/30

(11/6) Week 2: -2.8 (happy)
(11/13) Week 3:  -0.8 (disappointed...thought it should be more)
(11/20) Week 4: -0.2 (happy..I had a tough week!)
(11/27)  Week 5:  -1.6 (happy)
(12/04) Week 6: +0.2 (WTH because I had a great week! Earned 27 APs!)


Total WW loss: 5.2 pounds

As you can see, it has been slow going with the weight loss..that has been really frustrating. I lost around 10 pounds before I officially started WW, so I am down about 15 pounds total since the spring. Yes, it feels great to be down, but having worked so hard, especially in the last month, it makes it hard to feel like I am making real progress.

This week I was extremely annoyed when the scale went up 0.2 pounds. I worked out really hard and I ran my fastest 5K yet (sub 14:00 min mile!) and the scale didn't show that progress. I know I didn't gain weight so it wasn't fat registering on the scale BUT it felt like I was moving backward, rather than forward. Sigh...

I know I just need to stick with it and it will come off eventually. Like everyone else, I'm just impatient and want to see result now! Until then, I guess I will have to ignore the scale and keep eating right, tracking, and being active.

Source: itsuxtobefat.com via It Sux To Be Fat on Pinterest

Until later, happy running!
Jamie

Pre-birthday challenge

My 34th birthday is exactly 61 days away and I want to make them count - not only losing weight wise, but also workout wise. When I hit my first mile straight a couple weeks ago, I decided that I need to refocus and work on increasing my running mileage. So I have a new challenge...run an entire 5K straight!

Source: google.com via Kathy on Pinterest

I found this 8 week long 5K Training schedule for Beginners that I want to follow. It finished up with me doing a 5K on Sunday, January 27...the weekend before my birthday. I did have to make 2 changes though...I had swap Monday and Tuesday because Tuesday is my Weight Watcher meeting day (I'll talk about WW on Tuesday). I also had to swap Wednesday and Sunday to give me a break after the Saturday long run.

My training schedule

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1 Dec 3-9	12/3 1 mi run	12/4 Rest	12/5 20-30 min run or CT	12/6 1 mi run	12/7 Rest	12/8 1.5 mi run	12/9 CT or Rest
2 Dec 10-16	12/10 1.5 mi run	12/11 Rest	12/12 20-30 min run or CT	12/13 1.5 mi run	12/14 Rest	12/15 1.75 mi run	12/16 CT or Rest
3 Dec 17-23	12/17 2 mi run	12/18 Rest	12/19 20-30 min run or CT	12/20 1.5 mi run	12/21 Rest	12/22 2 mi run	12/23 CT or Rest
4 Dec 24-30	12/24 2.25 mi run	12/25 Rest	12/26 25-35 min run or CT	12/27 1.5 mi run	12/28 Rest	12/28 2.25 mi run	12/30 CT or Rest
5 Dec 31- Jan 6	12/31 2.5 mi run	1/1 Rest	1/2 25-35 min run or CT	1/3 2 mi run	1/4 Rest	1/5 2.5 mi run	1/6 CT or Rest
6 Jan 7-13	1/7 2.75 mi run	1/8 Rest	1/9 35-40 min run or CT	1/10 2 mi run	1/11 Rest	1/12 2.75 mi run	1/13 CT
7 Jan 14-20	1/14 3 mi run	1/15 Rest	1/16 35-40 min run or CT	1/17 2 mi run	1/18 Rest	1/19 3 mi run	1/20 CT
8 Jan 21-27	1/21 3 mi run	1/22 Rest	1/23 CT or Rest	1/24 2 mi run	1/25 Rest	1/26 Rest	1/27 5K Race!

The race I decided on doing is the 5K at the USA Fit Marathon. I was kind of limited with options...there aren't many races in January and I wanted to do one specifically on the the 27th.

I'm super excited now...I can't wait to start tomorrow. Hopefully I can knock out a mile tomorrow. Last Monday, I got winded after only half a mile. But maybe since I am taking today off I will be ready to go tomorrow.

As far as weight goes, my goal is to lose at least 15 pounds in this time period. I know it is asking a lot (almost 2 pounds per week) especially during the holidays, but I'm hoping with all this exercise I can make that happen!

Until later, happy running!

Jamie

Reindeer Run Success!

I couldn't think of a more beautiful December day to run a 5K! It wasn't cold and we had plenty of blue skies and sunshine. Normally when I do a race I'm by myself, but  today a bunch of friends/co-workers did it also...even the whole swim team did it too. It was so fun that I think we are going to make this an annual event and even try to get the whole school out next year too! In March there is a 5K at the university right across the street from our school that benefits Habitat for Humanity so we are going to try to get a bunch of people together for that also!

Although it was like 60ish to start off, I know better than to wear long sleeves, like the shirt they gave us. I am generally super sweaty when I workout. The last time I ran an October race with my family in Seattle, it was a COLD 60 and about 5 minutes in I was stripping off my undershirt while I was walking. Well once we got going today it actually felt HOT outside. I think the humidity is kind of high today...by mile 2, I was burning up! I was thankful this was only a 5K, and not a 10K like Turkey Day race.

But I really pushed myself and my chip time shows that...I am REALLY happy with my finish. I would say that I ran around 70% of it and when I was getting tired I stopped for a couple minutes and then ran some more.  My chip time today was 43:20, with a 13:57 average mile! AWESOME! I could not have asked for a better time! I did a 5k practice run Thursday and my legs are still a little sore from that, so I think in the future I will take 2 days off before a race if I am going to work out that hard.

Let's compare that time with my past times...

October 2010 5K - 52:57 (walk 17:03 pace)
October 2011 5K - 47:07 (run/walk 15:10 pace)
August 2012 5K  - 45:46 (run/walk 14:44 pace)
Today's 5K - 43:20 (run/walk 13:57 pace)

I'd say that's progress!

I have new plan I will talk about on my next post...my new goal and my next race at the end of January! I can wait to start training!

Until later, happy running!
Jamie