Couch to 5K...

I have been thinking about the C25K program again. I ran a 5K a few years ago. I used this program to get me there. If I want to make a lasting change to my life, I have to find a way to exercise that I can do anywhere and love long term. I want to try running. I don't know if I will ever love it, but it is something that I will be able to do anywhere, without any equipment other than shoes, and that will help me build a routine to keep up a healthy lifestyle. It's something I can do with friends, or Leif, if I choose and I can challenge myself with it by entering local fun or competitive runs. 

There's another reason I want to start running, and it doesn't have to do with my physical health. It does, however, have to do with my spiritual health. As I think about what it means to run with perseverance the race before us, I realize that I have never really run with perseverance. I don't know in practical terms what that means. And I will never know unless I actually try to run with perseverance. I don't think I can run with perseverance if I don't start running, so the most practical way it seems for me to start is through something like this. 

So I want to run the C25K program. 30 minutes, 3 times a week. I can do that. I can especially do that with some accountability and a lot of prayer. So please, hold me accountable. Ask me how I'm doing. Ask me how my running is going. And above all, pray for me. Because this is not just about my physical health but also my spiritual health, I am guessing it might require more than just willpower. I am expecting some opposition. But I am resolving that, even with opposition, even when the going gets tough, even when it hurts, or is inconvenient, I am going to do this. Because I was made for more than couch-potato-dom. 

So here's what it looks like. Next week I start running. Ideally, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but 3 times, whenever it is. The workout looks like this....

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.


I like to finish with a 5 minute cool down, for a total of 30 minutes. 


Right now I'm walking on the treadmill for 45 minutes. I have about 5 minutes left. I have been walking 2 mph, but today I upped it to 2.5... I'm hoping to make it up to 3 mph as my brisk walking rate. That's what I'm working toward.

Every day, little by little, I can reach my goals.

I am kind of sad that I told myfitnesspal.com that my starting weight was 148.8, since now it only shows that I have lost 2 lbs instead of 5. However, I am not going to get discouraged about that, and instead celebrate that I am showing a loss since I started using myfitnesspal! 2 lbs lost!! Whoohoo!

a new low!

I weighed myself this morning and was pleasantly surprised to find that the scale said 146.6.t That is a new low for me this to round and past my 5lb loss mark! That feels good! I struggled with food yesterday, relying on sheer willpower to keep me from eating the wheat thin sticks on the table. They were calling to me, beckoning for me to open the box, not to eat, just to smell. Smelling is not so bad, right? But I knew that if I even opened the top just a crack I would not be able to stop myself from eating them. So I didn't. I picked up the box and put it away ... and stopped thinking about the sweet salty goodness inside. Out of sight, out of mind. It really was!

Walked on my treadmill today

Walked for 1 hour this morning on my treadmill! 236 Calories burned, according to the screen.

I weighed in at 147.4. No weight change, but there is a change inside that is exciting me more than the number on the scale ever could. Hooray!

Proverbs 1-10

I have never seen a connection between adultery and food before. But the passages in Proverbs are full of imagery and images linking the adulterous woman to food. My weakness has not been adultery, so I have not paid close attention to the passages on it before. But if I read them in light of my relationship with food... WOW! A brand new perspective is born! And then we come to passages about wisdom preparing a banquet of fruit and the simple rejecting it.... I am blown away by  the chapters I read this morning!

Insight. Wisdom. Bread. Wine. Fruit. Folly. Adultery. Discipline.

I am craving chocolate

I haven't been having cravings for days. Now, suddenly I'm home and I'm craving chocolate. I want to eat.

But you know what? I love God more than I love food. I love obedience more than I love temptation. I love excellence more than I love compromise. I love the lasting results of looking more like Him than I love the temporary satisfaction of chocolate on my tongue. I was made for more than this.

It's 3:00. I'm going to eat a healthy snack. And it won't be chocolate.

Home again, Home again...

I am home again! I knew I would be at the mercy of other people for meals (lunch and dinner yesterday), but I chose to make wise choices and I feel good about that! For lunch there were ham and cheese sandwiches, LOTS of "salads" - you know, the kind with fruit and jello and marshmallows and the like - and LOTS of cake / desserts. I had a sandwich and some baby carrots, and visited with friends and family members. It was wonderful!

Around 3:00 I needed to eat, so Robert and I went to a coffee shop. I was really wanting some fruit, since I hadn't had any yet, and I figured a coffee shop would be a nice place to get a banana or something. I was wrong. I ended up splitting an egg/sausage casserole thing with Robert (I ate 1/4 of it - was pretty excited about the moderation there! Just enough for a snack!) and I succumbed to a coconut mocha frappuccino. It sounded good. It was good. I did choose not to have whipped cream on top, and I enjoyed sipping it. I had about half of it and decided that I was satisfied, so I chose not to drink the rest of it. I'm calling that progress! I wasn't "depriving" myself or pouting over "throwing half a coffee drink away to save calories" or anything of the like. I chose to get it (whether that was a good choice or not), I enjoyed it, and chose not to indulge in all of it.

The same was true at dinner. We had lasagna and garlic bread. I had a small slice of garlic bread, a serving of lasagna, and iced tea. And then they brought out the cheesecake. It would have hurt my aunt's feelings if I'd just said no to the cheesecake, which I emotionally and physically could have done just fine. Instead, I asked if my mom would like to split a piece with me, which she did. I savored and enjoyed it along with the coffee and conversation. And I ate only half of it. Again, not depriving myself, just practicing moderation. It felt good!

At the end of the day, I totaled up my calories - I ended with 1228. My goal is 1200. That's not bad!! I am feeling like calorie counting is beginning to give me some freedom - not the counting in itself, by my changing attitudes about food.

Speaking of changing attitudes toward food, I finished reading Made to Crave. I didn't do the exercises, but just did a quick read-through. What an amazing book! I am looking forward to taking it a chapter at a time and thinking through my own personal issues this month/year. At 18 chapters, I think I will take the next 18 weeks to work through it... Want to join me??