Fate or Destiny

I rode my bike to the grocery store and back, three miles each way and hilly. I had to walk up one hill, but the rest was easy. I couldn’t believe how fit I am.

I also did my upper body workout. I had to use heavier weights on all the exercises but my shoulders. However, I did all the exercises with my shoulders. It won’t be long before I’m raising the weights for that part as well.

I might not be losing weight, but I’m definitely getting fit. Wahoo!

I went to the grocery again on the bike. I had a fall. I got up and finished my ride. I got my first skinned knee in many years. I’m going to have to learn to break better. I think next time I go out biking that I’m going to practice breaking so I don’t fall again. I’m afraid of the aches that I’ll have tomorrow. I’m no longer ten.

I’m still at a plateau. 136.

My running is moving right along. The day off from running made a big difference. I had more energy. It was like I could run forever. I’m not worried about not losing weight. It will come off eventually. By the way, I’m on week 7 of c25K.

Coach Dean of Spark People has an explanation why I’m on a plateau. I’ll copy it and post it here. The most likely explanation for your plateau is that the extra exercise is causing your body to increase the amount of fuel (glycogen) it stores in your muscles to fuel that activity. It takes about 3 molecules of extra water to store 1 molecule of fuel, so while this is going on, your body retains a little extra water and your muscles get a little heavier. It can take about 4-6 weeks for your body to finish the process of adjusting your fuel supply, and during that time it’s pretty common to see weight loss slow down or even stop, even though you’ll be continuing to lose fat.

So I might not lose weight for 4 to 6 weight but my body will be more efficient in using glycogen and I’ll have more energy for running. I’ll be all set to run a 5k or 10k this fall. How cool is that?

Questions for Fertilehealthy Hanlie

1. What types of food were you most likely to overeat? Mostly cookies.

2. What times of day did you overeat most often? After lunch or dinner.
3. What feelings were you having most often when you overate? Emptiness. Nothing.

4. Do you think you have a binge-eating disorder? No. I never ate more than one serving at a time.

5. What circumstances in your life do you believe contributed to your weight gain? My current weight gain was caused by my divorce. I had just lost weight unintentional due to avoiding the kitchen because of problems between my ex and I. Once I moved out, I started eating out a lot. I had a boyfriend that took me to restaurants. I stopped working out. I tried a couple times but I was uncomfortable so I did establish a new routine after my move. I was fired from my job which kept me walking at a brisk pace and lifting for nearly my whole eight hour shift.

6. Do you “blame” anyone for your weight? I didn’t blame anyone. It was circumstances. Some were beyond my control, but I could have found ways around them.

7. What other behaviors made you overweight? Large bones and muscles.

8. Were you active or exercising while you gained weight?I had a job that kept me on my feet and I did weight training regularly. I also had two small boys to keep me busy.

9. Why did you choose that activity level? I was very active before my divorce. Afterwards, I was staying at my sister’s house and she was lazy and I felt uncomfortable (more than uncomfortable) doing anything around her.

10. What finally made you want to change? I went to the doctor and learned that my weight returned to my highest non-pregnancy weight and he acted like it was no big deal. I started counting calories and then started exercising -weight training first. I returned to count calories after a few months off while I continued to workout. March I started doing C25K.

I bookmarked three races in my area. I’m on week 7 of C25K running 25 minutes at a time. I did an estimate of my distance with my car to get my speed. I’m about 11.5 minutes per mile. Not to bad for a beginner. Now, to get over my agoraphobia and actually enroll in one and go. One step at a time. I decided that not going to run a race until I’m running 30 minutes and/or 3 miles comfortably.

I’ve been tracking my nutrition and fitness on SparkPeople. According to my fitness tracker, I burned over 2000 calories running last week and I’m not even up to 30 minutes a day. Wow!

Just read “Why Women Need Chocolate”. I’m going to try mini-meals to see if that helps with my irritability and fatigue.

I also cut back on my strength training a little because I found bruises on my legs and figure they’re from hitting myself with the weights due to my lack of control when I do lunges and squats. I decided that I’ll do at least a week without weights and then I’ll only add weights slowly. I pyramid, doing 3 sets. I only going to add weights to one set a week or even less if I find that my form is lacking. There is no point in hurting myself. I’ll get there in time.

I’m doing great with the upper body exercises and with my running. I can deal with my lower body workout lagging.

I didn’t lose any weight this week. Oh, well. My running is going great. I start week 7 soon on the c25K running plan. I just ran 25 minutes straight. I’m pumped.

I decided to do my body fat on this site. It seems like a pretty accurate test and it’s easy to do. I figure even if the scale isn’t that friendly, I can watch the inches come off.

I’m developing muscle tone. I can see it as I change my clothes and in the mirror. The lower body workout didn’t hurt this time. I’m getting stronger in that department too.

So my weight is still 136. It will go down eventually and when it does there will be all this sexy muscle to be seen where the fat use to be.

PattyLite has great suggestion to prevent anxiety

I ran the day 1 week 6 today although I should have taken the day off. I had muscle aches form changing my lower body workout and the run made them worse.

I’m fine outside a little emotional exhaustion. My honey and stepdaughters are going through a rough time. I’m eating fairly cleanly. I didn’t eat much yesterday - too much stress. I still feeling the effect and I doubt if I’ll eat much today.

I love working out. I know changing the exercises when I’m bored is a must, but why do the new exercises have to be so hard? I know that the soreness means I’m growing new muscles. I know women don’t get bulk, not that I care about such things. It’s strange when I complained that I couldn’t do as many lunges or squats as the book recommends that a personal trainer on SP thought it was because it was fear of bulking up. It wasn’t fear it was pain. It’s not a race. A little pain is too be expected but I’m not going to deliberately put myself into agony to do more squats or lunges.

Running is good with the Ipod. I have to push myself. I don’t want to keep running. I haven’t reached the point of feeling that runner’s high that I managed to reach once or twice as a teen.

I have my TOM this week so my weight is up. My honey bought a new digital scale as well. I’m back at 136. Oh, well.

My running is going great. I started doing a different exercise book this week. The lower body workout just kicked my butt. Actually, the butt exercises were the only ones that were easy. The thighs, abdominal and calves exercises were difficult. I know that strength training has to be difficult to be effective, but it’s hard learning new exercises.

I’m on week 5 of Couch to 5K running plan. I did three 8 minute runs yesterday. Tomorrow or if I feel daring later today is my first twenty minute run.

I was my first time up since joining HYC but I’m embarrassed. I’m doing great on my running and I’m proud of that. Focus on other things than weight. Are you gaining muscle, endurance, strength? Do you feel like getting out of the bed in the morning? These things matter more than a number on the scale.

Wow! I’ve been running 5 weeks and I feel like a runner. I’m thinking about doing 5K this summer if I can find a free one in my area. I emailed for information about one this summer. Actually, it’s 9 weeks, 8 races. A summer series. I hope that I hear back. I would love to meet other runners in the area.

I’m down one pound. I bought an Ipod and I was so excited by listening to music that I jogged on a day off from c25K. I’m on week 4 of c25K.

Sunday, I ran 45 minutes without taking walking breaks. I didn’t check the distance so I don’t know how fast I run. I still can’t believe that I could run that long. I didn’t bring a watch or a timer with me and I just ran listening to my tunes. It was great.

I needed new sweatpants: the elastic was failing in my old ones. I tossed the too large ones in the trash (lady’s medium) and bought some junior smalls. I thought they were too big when I first tried them on but there weren’t extra smalls in the colors I liked. I tried them on again and they fit fine.

I also like to mark a NSV victory for having a definition line running from just below the center of my ribs to my belly button and then starting again soon after it. I never had a definition line there before.

I also finished week 3 of c25K. Week 4 looks tough. The first run walk was a little difficult but I managed. I ran an extra 3 minutes. It won’t be long before I’m running 20 minutes straight.

It was difficult to finish my run/walk for day 2 week 3 yesterday. The first time I went out it wasn’t as cold as I expected so I decided to go back and change. The second time there was freezing rain that bit through my clothes and I only ran half the time suggested on the running plan before I walk back home. I tried a tried third time a few hours later and I did the run/walk the both cycles as recommended. I ended up running a little more than three cycles if you count the two false starts. I’m proud of my perseverance.

I plan on take a long walk today if weather is permitting, but the weather report on weather.com doesn’t look favorable. I might just do my lower body exercises and skip doing cardio.

I lost a pound this week making it five pounds this month and twelve since I started dieting Feb 5th. SparkPeople is a great site and it’s easier to use the WW point system.