Cara and I just walked a distance longer than the 5k that I ran back in March.

We WALKED it. Not ran. WALKED. And I still beat my previous record!

March 31st 5k time: 1:07
August 2nd 5k time: 0:48

And then I walked some more. We did about 55 minutes.


YAY I am proud.

So it's been quite awhile since my last update, and I'm ashamed of that.

The wedding came and went. I wound up weighing the same at the wedding as I did at the beginning of the 116 days. Needless to say, I accomplished nothing.

Now it's time to embark on a new countdown. 149 days. Til what, you ask?

Until Christmas!

I'm going to start slow this time. I'm having some foot/calf/Achilles tendon issues that pretty much limit me to walking, but we'll see how quickly I can progress. I've already come a little ways on the pain management, between taking Advil and doing some stretches.

To give a starting point for this journey - I'm at 240.5lbs as of this morning. Ugh.

I want to see 170 by Christmas.

So, here goes!

So here is a chronicling of all of the awful things I have done to my body this week:

-Two supreme omelette sandwiches from Dunkin Donuts
-A McDonald's happy meal
-A medium sized cup of ice cream from ColdStone (Coffee ice cream w/ white chocolate chips and oreo)
-A GIANT sugar cookie from the Barnes & Noble cafe.
-TWO giant cheese danishes.
-Four cups of coffee with full fat cream and REAL sugar
-Half of a large lasagna (as in, the kind that is in an 8x11 Pyrex dish).
-Countless cups/cans/bottles of regular soda
-Two donuts
-A maple cheddar breakfast sandwich from Dunkin Donuts
-A large philly steak and fries
-A mixed drink, with the cheeseburger quesadilla and fries from Applebees.
-And NO EXERCISE.

Needless to say (1) my stomach has felt like crap all week and (2) chances are I am going to see an ugly number on the scale this week.

So what am I going to do about it? Well, after this morning's breakfast (the 20 oz coffee w/ cream & sugar and the maple cheddar breakfast sandwich - nearly 800 calories!) I decided that I can either (1) starve until dinner or (2) just eat normally and try to get back into my good eating habits for the rest of the day.

At 2:00, I started with a Lean Cuisine (Swedish Meatball - YUM) and a Fat Free Yoplait yogurt. I also had a Special K bar and a 100 calorie pack, and tried to eat an apple (which was rotten, unfortunately - I may have to return the apples I bought on Wednesday to Publix because I think they are all bad). So I gave myself a reprieve, and instead of beating myself up, started over at lunch.

The question is - WHY did I do to myself what I did this week? I know the answer, plain as day --

I have been MOODY all week. And by "moody" I mean angry, tired, stressed, and mopey all at the same time. It's the end of the semester, AND the end of my college career (hurray graduation in 21 days!) so I have had a massive amount of deadlines. I have been trying desperately to find a new job, since I am unhappy at work (this is an understatement) but my interviews have not been going as well as I want them to. (I have been on six since the beginning of the year and have not gotten a job yet.) We also found out we owe a ton of money in taxes, which we weren't counting on, and it has hit our bank account in a major way, which is stressing me out beyond belief. I am just not in a good place mentally and I allow that to translate to my physical body by eating garbage to try to fill the void.

My mantra from now on -- FOOD does not equal HAPPY.

I also decided that, for now, I am going to pass on the running - until I can afford a decent pair of running shoes. Instead, I am going to make Dance Dance Revolution a habit, and start marking in here my calories burned doing that. It's something I enjoy, that is unique, and that I think I will stick with since I can do it rain or shine.

On that note, I'm gonna go change into my workout clothes and get dancing.

Nothing lost, nothing gained this week. That's well above what I expected this week, considering that we took a long vacation out of town in which I ate nothing but garbage and didn't bother with exercise. I think I only worked out three days last week.

On the plus side...I am feeling like my "shape" is changing. My legs feel more sturdy and my pants fit better in the thighs/butt/hips area, which must mean that either the fat is redistributing itself, or I'm gaining muscle. Either way, the number on the scale not changing is rather discouraging but fitting my "tight" pants with less discomfort than usual is always a step in the right direction.

I've got nothing else to add for now though.

I just read in this month's Fitness magazine about some new Nike running shoes that Nike is distributing at Payless for $34.99? I may need to make a pit stop at one to see if they're too good to be true, or if I should just stick with my New Balance and get some orthotics.

Well, today is the lovely weigh in day...

I LOST TWO POUNDS.

HURRAY!

I am now ALMOST back to the place I started at. And doing really well this week too, I might add.

I've done really, really well the past few days with sticking to the diet. I haven't been tracking, but I have been very cautious (no nibbling off others plates, no going out, only eating what I bring/cook, limiting portions) and I am proud of myself.

I've also done good with the exercise. I'm proud to say that the pain in my shins is 90% better...I just did a 2+ hour Dance Dance Revolution marathon...at the beginning, they were nagging at me a bit, but as I kept going, the pain went away. So maybe that's the trick...

I also talked about the running/shin splints with my sister (the bride to be!), who gets them also...she's in the military, and said that a girl in her unit told her once "If you're short of breath, slow down, if it hurts, speed up." I'm going to heed those words whenever I venture out for the duration. Maybe it's the speed up/slow down pace I've been using that has given my leg muscles a "run for their money" (I'm not funny, I just pretend I am...haha).

I'm exhausted so I'm going to cut this short and post it so that I can go shower. I'm tired and hungry! (STARVING in fact!)

Today at 8am was my "first" 5k.

(I am putting quotation marks on "first" because this was more of an experiment than a race for me.)

Let's start out with the good:
-I FINISHED.
-I was able to run longer than expected.
-I didn't give in to the pain in my legs and have Scott get the car and drive me home.

The bad:
-I finished in 1:07:23,
-I was DEAD LAST out of about 400 people. Some of whom were women who were much older and much heavier than me.
-My legs still really, really REALLY REALLY HURT.

I started out this morning doing well. My shins (which, by the way, NEVER stopped hurting this week) actually felt okay. I was really tired and almost decided to skip it altogether (in fact, I kept looking out the window to see if it would start raining so I'd have an excuse to cop out and go back to bed...I have a hard time getting up before 8:30 on a weekday, imagine me trying to get up at 7am on a Saturday!) but I made it to the race.

So we got there about 7:30, signed in, got our packets, changed into our t-shirts, put on our numbers, and stretched.

At 8:00 the race began.

At 9:17 we were in the car on the way home, having just finished the race.

It dawned on Scott (and me) that I had gotten up and ran/walked 3 miles all before I normally get to work during the week. Makes me wonder what I could do during the week if I could just get myself up early enough...(I am not a morning person).

Anyway, here's what happened regarding my shin pain...

We started off walking a few feet, then Scott challenged me to jog. I reluctantly gave it a shot (initially I jogged about four steps and said "No WAY")...once I got going, I got a good pace going and it felt good everywhere except my shins. The rest of my body really, really wanted to run. I didn't get out of breath, my back (which had been a huge problem for me) didn't hurt, my hamstrings didn't tighten up, my calves didn't tighten up -- all systems were go except for the shattering pain in my shins.

So I pushed through it. And pushed through it. Until I could push no more.

At that point, I walked about two and a half miles at a pace that was so slow that Scott was getting really frustrated with me. (Though, to his credit, he tried REALLY hard to keep positive and encouraging). It was infuriating to me, because everything in me wanted to go, but I just didn't want to risk getting injured.

After about two miles, I felt like I could give it another go...so at the 2 1/2 mile (or thereabouts) I gave it another go, and once again - everything in my body was cooperating except my stupid shins.

But - what does all of this tell me?
-My body and cardiovascular system are getting stronger
-My core muscles must be getting stronger since my back didn't hurt
-My muscles are getting looser since nothing tightened up (except my shins)
-I am getting healthier!

I'm gonna give my shins a more aggressive RICE therapy this week, but I am also going to try and keep training (even if it means walking). I'm encouraged that if my shins weren't in such pain, I would be progressing.

About weigh-in this week -- still looking forward to a Tuesday weigh-in, a bit apprehensive about the results. I had a couple of really down in the dumps "emotional eating" days - one of which resulted in LOTS of McDonalds ice cream. Hopefully if I get back on the healthy eating track over the next few days, I will negate the poor eating days and at least weigh in at the same as last week.

105 days left!

Well, the unfortunate truth comes out. I weighed in today and I was up 3lbs.

Part of me is surprised but part of me isn't. I kind of knew that I was slacking off on the diet by the end of the week. And today, my jeans were really tight. So I started back with the fitday.com food tracking again today, so hopefully we will see a change in the RIGHT direction this week.

I also decided that since, after 48 hours of rest, I am still in pain, to switch up my exercise plan a bit. how_many_miles has a great plan that I am gonna borrow from her:

( The Plan: )
I'm gonna start over with Week 1 again today...maybe this will work better on my poor, achy, badly out of shape legs.

I do FEEL better this week than I did last week, in general. I feel like I have more energy. And my skin is glowing more than before - probably a side effect of drinking a lot more water and taking multivitamins.

I'll keep you all posted.

So, today concluded the first week of my training.

I tried to adhere to the Runner's World plan as closely as I could - sadly, I am finding that I am not even up to the level where I can alternate running/walking yet, but I will say that I did give it my finest effort.

In fact, this week has been the most active that I have been in probably the past year. For six straight days, I did some form of cardio for a minimum of 40 minutes, and on three of those days, I incorporated strength training. And I stretched every single day. For all intents and purposes, I did everything right. Tomorrow is my "rest" day which is why I'm blogging about the week now.

According to the schedule, I was suppposed to do the run/walk routine today - the last one of the week. It called for two back-to-back days like that. Yesterday, I did fantastic. Hubby joined me today, and I almost did the routine...I wound up with about seven 1 minute runs worked in (which is close to the 10 that it calls for!). Today, I did about 2 minutes of running, and walked the rest of my route in excruciating pain.

I don't quite know why I'm having so much pain. It is centralized in the shins of both of my legs, but also in the muscles around them. Shin splints, I know, but these hurt worse than any shin spints I have ever had. They were bad enough that I actually had to stop and sit today. (That, combined with my lower back pain, just made today's workout really difficult - I have an anatomical anomaly with my spine which makes my lower back tense up a lot easier than most people - basically I have an extra vertibre which is fused to some other bone surrounding my hip...I forget how the orthopedist described it, I found this out about five years ago when I was being treated for a herniated disc.)

Anyway, I will give myself credit though for not wussing out and giving up. I pushed myself through that last mile and a half, though the entire thing felt like I was walking uphill, through mud. I came home, collapsed, and gave myself about an hour of RICE on my left shin, which was the worst of the two. It now feels a lot better. Thank god tomorrow is rest day.

One thing I'm concerned about though, aside from the pain (which, by the way, despite how much it hurt today, is better than it was on Thursday) is the scale. I peeked today - I know, I know - I shouldn't have - but I did anyway. And according to the scale, I am up four pounds. Which tells me one of two things is happening: (1) I added four pounds of muscle bulk through weight training this week, in excess of whatever amount of fat I lost, (2) I am not hydrated enough and retaining water - a possibility since my fingers were swollen today to the point that my rings were tight and hurting my finger, or (3) I really didn't watch my diet as closely as I should have, and negated all of my exercise. If it's any of the first three, come Tuesday morning, it should have resolved itself since I am resting tomorrow - but just in case it is the third, I am going to start using Fitday again on Monday.

And with that - I'm off. 111 days left until the wedding.

I just got back from "day three" of week 1 of the beginning runner's plan + supplementing it with my weight training.

But let's rewind a bit first.

Yesterday I met up with Cara for the 30 minute walk. Cara's a lot more physically fit than I am, so I was a bit intimidated at the thought of keeping up with her at first - even at a walking pace! But I was really glad when we were done that I had gone with her rather than doing it on my own. I know for a fact that I worked a lot harder than I would have on my own, and it was great to catch up with her - the last time I saw her was at her wedding (back in Nov!) and before that...I don't even really remember!

Lo and behold, the 30 minute walk wound up being a VERY quick 40 minutes - tack on the 20 minutes of Dance Dance Revolution I did and it added up to 60 minutes without even really trying or thinking about it!

Anyway, keeping up a good walking pace yesterday set the mood (and soreness!) into effect for today's expedition.

After work today, I ran home, threw on my exercise clothes and drove up to the Black Hammock trailhead of the Cross Seminole Trail. I had set up a playlist on my iPod for "Week 1" and fully intended to get through the intervals today (1 minute running alternated with 2 minutes walking). I did everything right - started with five minutes of walking, paused to do some very light stretches to get my muscles a little loose, walked a bit more, then launched into a jog, then 2 minutes walking, then a 1 minute jog...and then...

...you know how you feel when you get a charley horse in your calf? When you're just laying there and all of a sudden your calf just feels like it's about to rip off of your achilles and spring up behind your knee, like one of those projector screens from elementary school? I got that feeling, but in the left side of my right leg! Not in the calf, not in the shin, but from the little nobby-bone part of my ankle all the way up the side of my leg to the mid-calf area. I limped to the nearest bench and tried to find a way to stretch it out but there's really no way to stretch that part of your leg. So I figured - I'm only about 10 minutes into my workout, I'm gonna truck through as best as I can and work it out...cramps don't last forever after all.

So I kept walking. I saw the part of the trail where 417 crosses overhead and I told myself I was at least going to get past that. And I did. And then there were some trees in the distance, and I told myself I was going to walk to those before I turned around.

And then the pain got worse. And I started overcompensating on my "good leg". Which made my back and hip hurt. So I turned around and walked back toward my car.

Half way back, the cramp went away so I jogged out a couple more minutes, then walked and stretched to cool down before hitting the gym tonight for some weights, crunches, and 5 minutes on the stairmaster.

All in all, my total workout time was at LEAST 50 minutes...possibly more than that. And the trail portion worked out to be 30 minutes (and approximately 2 miles, if the map scale is correct.)

So I'm proud of myself for the past three days. I've stuck with it and I feel good about what I've done so far. I'm avoiding getting on the scale more than once a week as to avoid obsessing about it (I tend to do that A LOT) so I won't know what impact it will have had weight-wise until next Tuesday.

I also signed Scott & I up for a 5k on March 31st. It's a run/walk, and I imagine we will probably walk most of it, but the proceeds go to benefit the local high school's athletics department. So it will be worth it (and give me an idea of how long a 5k really is, since I am very poor at judging distance). I'm hoping, though, to at least be able to run part of it.

The diet -- has been going okay, not GREAT. I probably wound up just under 2000 calories yesterday, and today I will likely wind up at the same. But it is still a vast improvement over my previous dieting habits.

So...114 more days. That number still seems kind of big. But that's no excuse for slacking off.

My sister is getting married on July 14, 2007. She was my maid of honor, I'm going to be hers, and she looked stunning at my wedding.

( Here's a picture, in case you don't believe me: )

That's her (her name is Stefanie, by the way) and her soon to be husband, Will, at my wedding, following the bouquet/garter toss. It was meant to be from the start.

Since she looked so stunning, I want to be equally as photogenic by her wedding. Thus begins my journey.

Also, we recently discovered that there is a tendancy toward type 2 diabetes in my family, with my father having recently been diagnosed. Since that fact makes me four times more succeptible to becoming diabetic, I want start now, while I'm still young (26), in my attempts at preventing it.

( Some pictures from MY wedding: )

( This is me, one year ago: )

( This is me, as of today: )

This is the plan I am starting out with:Click here.

My GOAL in the next 116 days is to get under 200lbs, or a size 14, whichever comes first.
Here are my current stats:( Here are my current stats: )

Eek. A far cry from 36/24/36...ha. Not that I'm striving for THAT. I think for me, it's probably unrealistic to ever expect to get down to those measurements.

Now that the formalities/introductions are out of the way, here's a bit of a summary of how today went...

Eating: Did well...no dining out or excessive sweets. Total calories: approximately 1500 (slightly under)
( Here's the calorie breakdown )

And, today, I started the exercise plan.

I was supposed to do a run/walk for 30 minutes, with 1 minute running alternated with 2 minutes walking. I got up to 12 minutes before I had to stop...my shins gave out on me (weird thing to happen!)  But afterward, I hit the weight machines and "wailed" on my upper body, and then did about five minutes on the stair machine to hit the glutes. I may have to do a repeat of week 1 next week unless I can really get the whole 30 minutes under my belt by Sunday.

Tomorrow's plan: Walk 30 minutes, Cara might join me. Stick to the diet - 1500-1800 calories.

Thanks for reading this and joining me on my journey!