Going for a hike today...

Nothing big, just a mom and me hike. But I need to go for a run as well, hopefully outside. I'm tempted to do it right now while Leif and Ellie are still sleeping, but I don't know...

I'm going to record my food and exercise today.

And drink my water.

It's been a couple days and I'm ready to jump into this week full force.

It's official

I am signed up to run the 5K on July 12. Leif is going to run with me and be my moral support.

And I ran 3 times this last week in preparation. The first two times I ran on the treadmill, and the third time I ran outside. And let me say, it's harder to run outside, especially if you don't have music to listen to. So I think I'll need to do most of my training outside, at least once, preferably twice a week. The run is in 2 weeks and I need to be able to run 3 miles by then. My goal is to run it in 30 minutes. When I ran outside yesterday I ran 2 miles (with a couple walking breaks no more than a block each time) in 20 minutes, so I'm already running a 10 minute mile, I just need to extend the run by a mile.

So that's my exercise for the next 2 weeks. At least 3 runs a week, hopefully outside as often as possible.

well...

the run I wanted to do isn't in August, after all. it's July 12. think I'll be ready by then?

WOW!

Well, Ellie is awake. That means I don't get my DDR in, unless I want to try to do it with her in the room. That usually doesn't go terribly well as she wants to play, too, and tries to step on the mat. That usually means I spend my time trying not to step on her instead of trying to step where and when I'm supposed to. I might still try. We'll see.

BUT....

I just did my running for C25K and I thought I'd perhaps pick up with week 3 since I did something resembling week 2 on Monday with no problems. Week 3 has a 3 min run / 1.5 min walk / 5 min run / 2.5 min walk / 3 min run / 1.5 min walk / 5 minute run schedule. And I? Well, I was feeling good after the first 3 minute run, so instead of doing the 1.5 minute walk I just kept running... and I ran the whole time! I ran a full 21.5 minutes! That's the most I've ever run! Makes me think that 5K in August is a little more of a possibility.

Oh yeah, and I burned 335 calories in 30 minutes. Not too bad!

(Just looked it up... turns out it's not week 3 that is the 3/5/3/5 run. It's week 4! So I guess this is where I pick up and start running)

Considering....

Oh yeah. I'm considering signing up to run a 5K in August. I'm not 100% sure yet, but I'm considering it.

today...

Today I am recording my food. So far it's 1:45 in the afternoon and I've had 235 calories, leaving me plenty for an afternoon snack and dinner. And actually, I'm planning on vegetable soup for dinner, so I'll have plenty for snacks this afternoon and evening, which will be helpful as I transition out of snack-mode and back into calorie counting mode. I'm over halfway through my protein for the day, but I really need to work on fiber, as I've only had 4 grams and I need another 20 or so more. Dinner will provide me with 180 calories and 8 grams of fiber, so... (thinking aloud here) that puts me at 355 calories and 12 g. fiber. If I add to that 200 g. of strawberries I'm at 415 calories and 16 g. fiber. Now... that leaves me in need of another 9+ grams of fiber and 685+ calories. I can get my 9 grams of fiber in one Fiber One bar, plus 140 calories. Or I could get 10 grams of fiber and 180 calories from 2 slices of Fiber Flax Bread. The Flax Bread would also give me 10 grams of protein, which would be helpful. And if I went that route I'd have 500 calories to blow tonight at Erika's party, provided there will be food there. Something to think about.

It's hard to get back into calorie counting mode.

It's also hard to get back into an exercise routine, but today is Wednesday so I ought to do my C25K run and then, if Ellie is still sleeping, perhaps some DDR. Of course, I could use the rest of her naptime to clean up the kitchen and put laundry away, too. I wish I were a little more productive and efficient with my time sometimes. At least I started my day out right this morning and did my devotions before I let myself check email or do anything else.

Okay... off to run.

DDR and a hike!

Got some exercise in twice today... first I burned 400 calories on DDR. Then we went for a family hike tonight after dinner. We decided to go into town and we walked around the Fish Technology Center for a bit and then decided to hike the M. It's the first time we've hiked the M with Eliana not in a backpack and it went relatively well. We even made it all the way to the M and I didn't feel like dying along the way. That's pretty good for my first trek of the year up the M. It's usually a big wakeup call for how out of shape I am, but this time it was encouragement that I am not so terribly out of shape!!

Didn't record food today, and I'm not sure I wanted to anyway, because I ate horribly! But I'm taking baby steps and perhaps tomorrow will be a day to record. That's my goal at least.

Sweaty Day!

I did a lot of sweating today! It started with an uphill stroller pushing walk with Erika, and then some playtime outside with the girls at the Museum of the Rockies. When we came home and Eliana went down for a nap I ran/walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes, burning 350 calories! Then this evening Leif and I played DDR for about an hour or so. I know that we started with the calorie burning mode and I burned 200 calories, then we switched to a different mode and played for another half hour or so. So... not counting the last bit of DDR or the hike this morning, I burned over 550 calories from exercising today! Hooray!

Now to work on tracking my food again... Maybe that will be tomorrow's challenge.

DDR for the Wii!

Well, I had originally planned to make DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution) for the Wii an incentive prize for when I finally made it down to 110, but we saw it at Target the other day and bought it. But I have been having SO MUCH FUN with it, and that is good because....

I've been exercising!

You can put DDR into workout mode and tell it how many calories you want to burn (after inputting your weight and all that) and then it will give you different songs to "dance" to and calculate your calories based on how much you move your arms and feet! Yippee! I've burned a couple hundred calories playing with Leif already tonight and we're going to play some more once Eliana goes to bed.

I've also agreed to be a friend's running buddy (she doesn't live here, but we'll keep each other accountable for the C25K plan) so I should be getting back into that this week, too.

Recording my food? Haven't in a long time. That's bad. Weight gain? Nope, still at 117. Also bad, but good that I haven't gained any more, just been at a stand still. Still struggling to drink my water, too. Basically, I need to crack down and just not give myself any slack. But I don't want to. I know I need to, though. So that's my current struggle.

So tomorrow is Monday. We have a Mom and Me hike at 10 that should last an hour or so and is 2.5 miles. Then in the afternoon while Eliana is napping I'm going to run on the treadmill. If I'm really good I'll record my food and water, too, but I won't push my luck too far. ;) First I'll just aim to get some good exercise in.

Fighting...

I'm fighting with these two pounds and they seem to be winning right now! Ugh. I have been getting some walking in, which is more than I had been doing, but apparently not enough. Not sure what's going on, but it's annoying. I have not been recording my food, but I don't think I've been over eating really, so maybe I just need to go back to tracking every single calorie. I hate being tied to the computer to do that, because it's so nice outside Ellie and I have been just playing and I haven't wanted to be tied to this thing! *sigh*

Maybe I just need to go for a LONG walk today and kill a couple hours. Unfortunately, I don't think I can stand the heat for that long, so I'm not sure what the plan for today is yet. But so far I've just had 200 grams of strawberries for breakfast, so at least I'm okay on food at this point.

Dinner with friends tonight....

Had dinner with the Koenens tonight. I ate a little more than I probably should, but I don't think I was too overly indulgent. I had a couple slices of pizza, some salad, and dessert. Oh, and a full sugar soda, which I probably should have skipped, but was feeling in the mood for some ginger ale, so I drank it. But all told I'm probably okay for the day. Tomorrow I'm watching Zoe, so I hope to have the snacking curbed by all the toddler activity!

I made it!!

115.4 today. That means I lost .8 yesterday. Another .6 and I'll be down to my lowest point yet and I can work on my next goal, which is....

110 by July 19.

That's what I am aiming for this summer! 5 lbs to go in 5 weeks. That should be totally doable. And I'll look great for Ellie's birthday party that day. =D

Almost there!

No walk today thanks to the snow and then trying to get everything kitted for class tonight, but I weighed myself this morning and I was down .6! That brings me to 116.2 and if I can lose .4 more today I'll make my goal for the week! Hooray! I am doing good on calories for the day, so I am hopeful for tomorrow!

Yesterday

Took Ellie for a little hike yesterday. I had planned to meet up with some friends for the first "Mom and Me" hike, but most people emailed and said they couldn't make it this week, so I didn't know if anyone else would show up. I waited about 15 minutes and when no one else was there, I started hiking with Ellie on my own. I went for about 15 minutes and decided I wasn't too sure about being on a secluded, wooded trail in town by myself! Probably crazy, I know, but I decided to turn around and just hike Peet's Hill instead. When I got back to Peet's Hill there was a group of women with strollers and as I passed them I happened to catch someone's eye and recognized her! It was Molly Hannan, Leif's boss' wife. We said hi and she said they hike every Monday and yesterday it was Peet's Hill! So I hiked with them and it was a lot of fun! Lots of toddlers and Ellie got to get out of the stroller and hike most of the way! She did get tired and hungry after a while, so I put her back in the stroller and let her eat while I pushed her the rest of the way. All told we ended up walking about an hour and a half. Then I took Ellie over to Bogert Park to play for a bit while I ate some lunch (carrots) and she got to play on the slides! It was a good way to start out the morning and start out the week and the rest of the day went pretty well food-wise. I'm hoping today goes well, too! So far so good as I just had a banana for breakfast. Hoping to head out for a walk with Ellie soon - she's clingy today and driving me crazy!

making progress...

I forgot to weigh this morning, but yesterday when I weighed I was at 116. Hooray! Just one more lb to reach my goal of 115 by Thursday. I can do it!

I just filled up my water bottle, I'm packing some carrots for lunch, and I'm getting ready to head out for the first Mom and Me hike of the season!

Yesterday got away from me!

At least for the food tracking it did. My biggest downfall was that Eliana and I made soft pretzels, so there was some snacking. Eek. But I skipped dinner (I wasn't hungry after eating a soft pretzel in the mid afternoon, and then it was time for me to leave!) and I roughly figured out what I ate during the day before I went to bed and I think I did okay. I did NOT drink my water though, and I'm disappointed by that. Didn't exercise either. Like I said, yesterday got away from me!

But today I have been counting calories and am doing fine! We're having spinach lasagna for dinner, so that will be good. I've already entered that into Spark People so I know that I can have 200 calories of snacks yet today. Good to know! I have also been working on my water today and am over halfway done, so that is encouraging! And... I weighed this morning and I'm back down almost a lb from where I was yesterday. I'm back to 117 (.8) so at least I'm headed in the right direction.

No exercise yet today, but I'm hoping for a family walk after dinner. We'll see if the weather cooperates.

OUCH!

Today I am sore! I apparently used my glutes a lot on my walk yesterday and I guess I don't use them very often because I am SORE today! So we'll see what sort of exercise happens, especially since the weather is icky.

Yesterday I didn't get all my water in, but the rest of the day was good. I ended the day around 1250 calories and everything else was more or less in balance. I had a soft pretzel for lunch at Target, but I decided that was better than anything I would have eaten from the Costco food court, which is where I was planning on having lunch. So it was a good day. Today I'm aiming for drinking all my water.

And I weighed this morning... I'm up another lb to 118. Uck. But I'm bloated and hormonal, so I'll just keep eating well and exercising and know that in a week or so my weight will (hopefully) even out and I can start believing the number on the scale again. Ha!

I have a class to teach tonight, but Leif is working from home today so I'm hoping to come up with a decent healthy dinner before I go, instead of "fend for yourself" which is what's written on the meal planner!

A walk and a run

Well, I woke up this morning before everyone else again, so I got up, ate breakfast, and did my devotions. Then, when Ellie got up, I got her ready right away and we headed out for a run a little before 9. I did week 2 day 2 of the C25K run and when I got all done I decided to keep walking around the loopy trails. I went a total of 7 miles on my walk/run in an hour and a half. Woohoo!

I've already completed a few things from my to-do list today and now it is time for a shower and trip into town for groceries!

at the day's end...

... I've had 1350 calories, 1.5 hours walking, and I'm almost done with my water for the day.

I'm pretty happy about the 1350 calories considering I've been STARVING all day long. It's like my blood sugar has been on the fritz or something, but I kept feeling SO hungry and like my blood sugar was low, so I ate more snacks today than I usually do. Fortunately I had small snacks and things that were good for me, like string cheese and apples.

Tomorrow I need to go grocery shopping, so I'll pick up some good snack foods and try to plan our meals so I'm not tempted to go with the easy frozen stuff while Leif is on his way home. Planning ahead will help make the meals a little better and a little more nutritious, I hope. And hopefully I can curb the afternoon snacks by looking forward to what I have planned for dinner.

I guess that means I should write up my grocery list before I go to bed, too, so I can get an early start on the day. I have hopes for going on a walk as soon as Ellie wakes up, but we'll have to see how that will work. If I don't go for a walk I want to do aerobics while she naps. Please ask me which I did. =D

Okay... off to put away the rest of the laundry and plan meals / write up the grocery list before I go to sleep for the night. I'm still tired after yesterday's adventure!

a new day... a new week... a new month!

... and a fresh start!

So today I started by going for a walk. I walked over to Taylor's house and then we loaded up her 3 kids and we headed out for a while, then I dropped her off and Ellie and I walked home. All told I walked 4 miles for an hour and a half.

And so far (after breakfast and lunch) I'm at 500 calories for the day, which leaves me 700 for dinner and snacks. I'm thinking stir fry for dinner, so that's pretty low calorie.

Now if I can just get the dishwasher unloaded and reloaded, the kitchen cleaned, and the laundry put away I'll call it a really good day!