I guess I run now

This workout kicked my butt, and I had no idea until about 5 hours later.

I can’t even explain it. The poses weren’t tough and there were plenty of relaxation poses throughout. The sequence wasn’t tough (one of the easiest sun salutations I’ve done, in fact). It was longer than what I’m used to, but it didn’t feel that much longer. But I just could barely move that afternoon.

Loved it, really! Can’t wait to go back.

So I’m going to hit the basic yoga class tomorrow night and Wednesday night (work permitting), and see if I want to move up to a more rigorous class at the studio after that, but the Sunday morning yoga at the temple is a new permanent thing. I can’t imagine ever getting bored with something that beat me up so very badly.

That’s what I thought this morning as I left the house in my yoga sweats. But what the hell, I did it.

And I think the Basic Yoga class may not be challenging enough, so I’m thinking about doing the intro yoga at the temple tomorrow morning (it’s a 1 1/2 hour long class) and then seeing if I can possibly make it to a yoga mix class at the groupon studio (although all of these more advanced classes seem to conflict with my work schedule). Blerg.

Anyway, I called the instructor for the class at the temple, which I’m really excited about, and they are open to the public, so if I can drag myself out of bed at 7am tomorrow, I’m there.I’ve been wanting to check out this temple for a long time anyway, but I never got up the nerve to go. Maybe doing a little yoga there once a week will help me get over my fear of the unknown…by making it less unknown, so, not really getting over it, I guess. Anywho…

Today’s tally of food and exercise is

Breakfast: small banana and coffee with half and half

Lunch: will be a healthy choice option

Dinner: out with friends, Mediterranean cuisine, so probably falafel, hummus, and pita

Exercise: 1 hour yoga (so about 50 mins of actual stretching); longest walk from car to the office (about 3/4 mile).

I got myself to the class and got myself through it.

I was so worried they’d do a balancing pose I couldn’t handle or some other move that would make me look the fool, but I did pretty good with no surprises. In fact, I was more flexible and balanced than a majority of the class, which made me feel great. Okay, so yoga’s non-competitive, but my first time back in a class and I was happy to see I wasn’t the worst person there.

Ate too much yesterday, but hubby and I parked in the farthest spot from our building (about 3/4 mile away) and took two walks last night, so I think things balanced out. And I finally had a salad with dinner, a habit I’ve regretted getting out of a couple of months ago.

Tonight as soon as my work’s done I’ll do some yoga in the basement, and then I’m hitting another class tomorrow morning. Sunday morning if I get up early enough and am brave enough, I may attend the free beginner’s yoga class offered at our local Buddhist temple. Free yoga beats groupon yoga, I think. If not, there’s another 10am yoga class I can go to.

Food today is off to a bad start:

Breakfast: pumpernickle bagel with butter

Lunch: raisin bran with banana

Dinner: while wheat and sweet potato gnocci with asparagus, broccoli, and onions.

Snack: 1/2 apple with 1 oz bleu cheese

Exercise: only a 30-min walk with hubby

And I’m writing this so I don’t chicken out.

I’ve been doing yoga at home since my last post almost a month ago, and wanting to join a class. But they’re so damn expensive! Anywhere from $12-17 per class! They’re a lot cheaper at the rec center at school, but before I pack my giant butt into yoga pants and try out a bunch of balancing poses in front of my students, I figured I’d do a test run somewhere far from campus.

So…Groupon (not a paid endorsement) to the rescue. I picked up a 10-class groupon for $25, and I’m trying out a Basic Yoga class tonight and some slow vinyasa classes over the weekend. Most of the yoga studios in the area offer a first week free package, so I might do a few of those when the 10 classes coupon runs out. In fact, if I play my cards right, I could be in good yoga shape before I ever have to set foot in an on-campus yoga class.

Bought a new pedometer as well, and I’m hoping to log in 10,000 steps a day by parking far from my office and taking nightly walks with hubby. So far my nutrition and exercise have improved, but no movement on the scale. I’d like to be about 10pds lighter for my next doctor’s visit in two months…something that will undoubtedly improve my cholesterol and my mood.

Meanwhile, I’m on winter break this week and just back from visiting my sister’s family for her birthday. Mom and brother were there as well, and while we scheduled a few walks in there, none were long enough to counteract all the food we ate.

So today before yoga I’m getting the week’s healthy menu together, shopping and cleaning the house, and taking a nice walk with the dog.

I’ve been recording my food/exercise using an app, but maybe I’ll do it here instead and really be accountable.

Today:

Breakfast: 10 almonds, 6 cheezits, half and half in my coffee

Lunch: Michigan cherry chix salad on 1/2 whole wheat pita, 20 veggie straws (love these)

Dinner (post yoga): lean cuisine lunch/butternut squash ravioli…1/4 cup asparagus

Snacks: 1 sushi slice at the market, 1/2 cup orange/carrot juice in 12 oz water, (pre-yoga snacks: 1/2 large banana, 1/2 small apple, 2 tbs peanut butter), clementine

Exercise: 30 min. walk, 1 hr basic yoga!

183 pds, and I’m 5″

I’ve gained and lost the same damn 20 pounds for 3 years now.

Kidding myself about my weight…fine, whatever.

Killing myself with my weight…NOT OKAY!

Hubby got us a new doctor who is pretty proactive. Not medication wise, it’s just a different attitude about health that I think I like.

So…history of heart disease and high cholesterol in my family and she’s got me on 3000 mgs of fish oil (put it in the freezer and the whole belching up fish oil all day side effect disappears…new doctor’s idea).

Low cholesterol diet and much, much more exercise. I’ve got three months to improve the following numbers:

total cholesterol: 243 (should be under 199)

triglycerides: 131 (I’m okay, but would like to be even lower…recommended is less than 149)

LDL (the bad stuff): 153 (should be below 129)

HDL (the good stuff): 64 (I’m okay here…should be more than 40).

So…three months of veggies and fruit and oat meal and walking and yoga…progress on the scale and progress in the blood.

Here goes everything!

The Fast Five site says to wait 3 weeks to start seeing results, mostly because people take the “eat whatever you want between 5-10″ as an invitation to eat as much as they want during that time. I’m guilty of a little of that, and hubby and I have had pizza twice in the last 20 days, but for the most part we have a nice dinner around 5:30 (I know, so early) and then around 9:30 I have a piece of toast with peanut butter or a small bowl of cereal.

Yesterday I was a little crazed at 4:30 after spending most of Saturday in the office and heading right from there to Costco to stock up on stupid supplies, so I had a McD’s cheese burger on the way. 300 calories and 1/3 of the daily salt limit. WOW! But then when we got home I had only a small bowl of pasta and chicken (about 1 1/2 cups) and later a slice of toast with peanut butter and that was it for the night/day.

I came in around 1000 calories, so there’s where the fasting for 19 hours works.

We’ll see on Thursday if I’m losing at this point, and I suspect I will be. And I suspect that, yes, I can lose a pound a week (easily and without feeling at all deprived) doing this.

I’ve been doing some intermittent fasting this week to break through it & I think I have, finally.

Thinking about trying this for a bit: Fast Five.

I don’t mind fasting…even kinda like it, like the way it makes me feel, and like the way it alters my relationship with food. And after 6 months on Atkins with only a 10 pound loss (I know, at least it’s a loss!), I’m loving the thought of a one pound a week loss while I get to still eat the foods I like. I’ll probably make my break-fast food Atkins-friendly, but for tonight it was a thrill to eat a whole mess of carbs.

Anyway, today was my first Fast Five day. Broke the fast with 2 eggs, 2 slices of wheat toast, a handful of peanuts, 2 cups popped corn with butter, and coffee with cream. Not a huge number of calories for my first night (about 800), so we’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

I haven’t taken the dog for another run because every run is rainy these days and I’m regularly surprised about making it through a normal day without breaking my own neck: add running, rain, and dog to the mix and I figure I’d just be tempting fate.

So…happy about the runs. Angry as hell about the plateau (better be TOM). Craving all things carb, but especially chocolate.

Maybe it’s stress? Have I heard this somewhere before? I’m majorly stressing the last two weeks and have more planned for the next two until I can get some work out the door…maybe long days in the office, long nights working at home, more/less constant indigestion, and stress are all making me hold on to the weight?

Or what I’m doing’s not working. Yeah, it’s probably that last thing.

Hope your week went better and your weekend is fun, but temptation free.

Does it count if it was unintentional and the miles were spread out over a 12-hour period?

My guess is, no. Doesn’t count. Nice try, though.

Ran/walked my two miles in the morning. The bike pants (really, quite long) worked pretty well under sweats, but add to that my jacket that I use to carry my iphone (gps run tracker, music, 9-11 when I pass out on the road), a t-shirt, and a sports bra and I was pretty dern toasty towards the end there. Figuring out the i-phone issue tonight so I can leave the jacket behind…although if the weather turns.

And then tonight while hubby was at choir practice I figured I’d see how the dog might do on a one-mile run/walk. Answer: not too bad. He slowed me down by about a minute, but then maybe it wasn’t him so much as me tired after a long day. Hubby said the dog gets very upset when I’ve gone out to run these past 3 times, so I thought maybe I’d bring him along for the 1 mile runs twice a week. He’s good, distracting, company.

So I ran/walked 3.24 miles in 50 minutes today. Not exactly fast, but faster than slow. I think my goal is to get my run tracker to call these little adventures “runs” rather than “walks.” I think of them as runs, and my lungs, sore legs, and aching back think of them as runs. Why won’t the technology do me the honor of calling them runs even if they’re pathetically slow ones?

The two pounds I gained last week are gone again and good riddance. Now to add a two-pound loss onto next week to make up for it.

I did a 1-mile run/walk yesterday in the pouring down rain. But I think I’ve decided I never learned to run when I was running on the treadmill, so nothing was going to keep me from hitting the very wet open roads.

Sounds so romantic, doesn’t it? Open roads, pouring down rain, the lone determined runner. Ha! Picture damp and squishy shoes, soaking wet head, fogged up glasses, red and patchy red face, huffing and puffing, oh, and chafing, lots and lots of chafing. I’ll never make it on a Nike billboard, that’s for certain.

Tomorrow’s a 2-mile run. Solving the chafing problem with truly unattractive biking shorts under my sweats. I will be, once again, a dreadful spectacle roaming the neighborhood. But just the thought of making myself do a run, get stronger, increase my speed and stamina, makes me happy.

So maybe I didn’t just break even this week. I know many of you have said this before, and maybe I have as well, but there are more measures of progress than pounds lost. This week so far I’ve had a 4-mile run/walk gain. And that’s not bad at all!

Happy week chicks!