Healthy You Challenge Update

What can I say? This weekend was a food disaster, but I completed my third full 5K with a personal record. And I finished 5 miles on Sunday. I'm chugging along with training for my 10 miler in May. I have a 10K this Sunday. Not going to stress too much about the over-eating for now. Have told myself I'd stay away from the scale until May 3rd, but I would like to know that I'm not getting any bigger between now and then. Need to refocus on healthy foods. And stay away from the following: cheese tortellini, cheese hoagies, and brunch of all stripes.

Water with Links

Poll: Do you have an exercise rest day?

Self Care for Arch Pain (or is it just me?)

Overweight? Want to run a half-marathon in November? Here's what you need to do to get started.

Workout music ideas from Starling Fitness.

Roni from Roni's Weight discusses the all-too-common All or Nothing Mentality.

Healthy You Challenge Update

Checking in on my three goals for this week:

1. I followed my training schedule, only missing one workout (2 miles on Friday didn't happen).

2. I didn't average 2500 calories, but closer to 2700.

3. I stayed away from the scale

I need to keep working on getting my food under control, but I'm more than happy with how hard I'm exercising. Going to regroup and focus on averaging under 2500 calories for the week.

Over Eating Triggers

Thinking back over the last few months, (and even the last few years), I'd say the following situations account for the majority of times I have over eaten.

1. Boredom accompanied by extra cash.

2. Being tired when I get home from work.

3. Failure to plan meals and snacks.

4. Putting off going to the grocery store.

5. Drinking alcohol, especially at bars.

6. Waking up with a major hangovers

7. Being offered free food

8. Traveling

March Miles

That's how many miles I ran and walked in March. Thirty-five! I tracked them at Map My Run, which was a lifesaver for figuring out how long my lunch walks are (1.42 miles!). These include 4 miles in the rain (properly attired or course), 3.1 at the 5K, and 2 while my friend was in town this weekend. It feels so good seeing progress like this, even though I'm avoiding the scale for a bit. April's off to a good start as well, two down, dozens to go!

Healthy You Challenge Update

Here are my stats from this week. Activities were great. Food was out of control. Have worked out consistently for three weeks in a row, which is good progress. Went running yesterday even though I had a friend in town. Did yoga twice.

Goals for this week:

1. Follow my training schedule ( Yoga today, 4.2 miles Monday, yoga Tuesday, 2 miles Wednesday, 2 miles Friday, 2 miles Saturday with yoga)

2. Average under 2500 calories

3. Stay away from the scale

Second 5K--A Little Walk, A Little Run

I finished my second real 5K this morning in 56:21, which is 14:39 faster than last time. Bonus, my knees don't feel sore at all, which they did before. And yes, only twenty-four people finished after me, but who cares? I beat my previous best.

I am doing another one on April 11th and hope to finish in under 50 minutes.

Diet Coke with Links

From How Stuff Works, where does the lost weight actually go?

Printing calories on the menu may not change adult choices, but may change the choices we make for children.

Via Science Blog, Mizzou continues the search for low cost soy meat substitutes.

A truly fabulous Eggplant Lentil Salad recipe.

And from Runner's World, the 10 Laws of Injury Prevention for runners.

Measurement Update

Apologies for the rudimentary table. My old laptop broke in December, and I got a new one a few weeks ago. However, I haven't added Excel yet. This was made in the text editor that comes with all Macs. Not exactly stylish, I know.

The bottom line from these numbers is that while I gained back about 9-10 lbs, my clothes are still fitting pretty much the same. My jeans are a bit snugger, but wearable. I'd like to be a size down by the end of March, when it's time to bust out the spring clothes.

Back on the Wagon

November, December and January were dark days. Filled with takeout food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and fourth meal (thanks Taco Bell). Some of this can be explained by severe winter moodiness, complete lack of exercise, and general total laziness. But I started getting back on track January 24th, and now with two solid weeks behind me, I feel comfortable enough to openly recommit here. To help keep the motivation, I signed up for a 5k on March 21st.

I gained some weight back. Clocked in at exactly 300 lbs on Tuesday. So move the dial back to 20 lbs lost total. I'm going to stay focused on healthy eating and working out (which I've done consistently since starting up again). The plan is to go running 3 times a week and do yoga 3 days a week.

10 lbs to go until the next pictures. We'll get there this time, I promise.