I've fallen off the wagon!

It as been a week since I last ran/walked. I have fallen off the motivation wagon. The snow has come and the wind has blown and all I want to do is stay in my house and keep warm. The Man is home this weekend and instead of shopping I had it in my mind that I could go running by myself. Here it is 8:30 am and I am blogging about how I should be outside running and yet I find myself...warm. How pathetic am I? I guess I could be doing my yoga program too but yet again, I don't really want to. I know that I will be complaining later about how fat I am getting and that I feel lazy...oh, and how close I was to graduating from Beached Whale but here I sit, thinking that maybe I could go Christmas shopping or help the kids put up the Christmas tree. I guess I'll just sit here and wallow in my fat clothes.

Finally!

I have been on a plateau for the past month and I have finally broken it. I am very happy that I didn't go up in weight but at the same time, disappointed that I have been stagnant for a month. So happy that the scale says something is working!

Hooray!

It amazes me how far I've come since I started to exercise. It may not be noticeable to me or anyone else for that matter but since I'm a numbers gal I see the difference. Thanks to Dailymile I have found that if I can finish my challenge this month (which I am on par to do quite possibly even by Thanksgiving) then I will have logged at least 26 miles more than last month and have my total close if not past 100 miles for the month. Hooray! I don't mean to toot my own horn but this is amazing for me! Two months ago I couldn't have even imagined logging that many miles and I couldn't have thought I could do 100 in a month! I look at all the available challenges on DM and I just think to myself, "that could never be me" and now it is! All I can say is HOORAY!

Going nowhere...

It has been about three months since I have started walking/jogging. Within that time I have logged over 150 miles and have almost completed my challenge. I have 45 miles left to go to complete my 180 miles by New Year's Eve and I think at the rate I am going I will complete it by the end of the month. I have almost reached the point in my routines where I can honestly say that my motivation is me and not disappointing other people. I have lost about 6 lbs so far. All these things are accomplishments. All these things give cause for celebration. All these things are evidence of progress. So why do I feel like I am going nowhere? It has been a month since I have lost any weight. At least I have not increased but I am not losing. I have been suffering the effects of a full fledged attempt at weight loss...my weight is on the forefront. I think part of the reason I am the size that I am is because I just ignored myself and my weight. I didn't realize, as most don't, that I was getting bigger. My pants seemed to stretch with me for a while until, of course, I had to replace them. And now that I have decided that I am going to lose ALL the weight, it is depressing me. I look at myself in a different way now. No longer am I happy that I got up and did my hair or put on makeup for the day, now I see the rolls and the bumps, I see how poorly my clothes actually fit me and I am disgusted. I can really see now why people do fad diets and weight loss pills and even surgery. We, as a society want to see results quickly. I guess it is a sign of the times because when my computer takes more than a few seconds to download something or to close a window, I get irritated. I have been suffering the effects of the realization of my weight more recently than ever. I have even contemplated doing HCG just so that I can feel like I have done something. I want to feel like the work I am doing has been worth it. So far, I don't feel like I have made a difference in the way I look and the only difference I feel in the way I am feeling is that I can go longer distances without stopping. It is depressing to me to feel like this. I am not normally one who looks for a short cut but I am getting there. I know in my heart that if I lose the weight right I will be less likely to gain it back but I admit that the prospect of losing it quickly is quite enticing. I need to find a way to be able to see the difference in me and not wait for other people to tell me. Any tips?

Slow feet, quick feet, well feet, sick feet...

I have been having problems with my feet as of late. The last time I ran I didn't have any problems except shin splints. I'm used to those. My feet have been hurting and I haven't quite figured out what to do about it. I read an article today about what to do to stretch, exercise, and relax your feet. Just thought I'd share it will you.
Article

I think I'll have to find a golf ball. 64 miles to go!

It's been a while...

Its' been a while, I know. I have been slacking in my blogging. In my head I know what I am going to write about but when it comes time I find myself with brain drain. I have been getting closer to finishing my challenge on dailymile and I am excited! There was a time when I thought about the lifetime of running shoes. Three months or three hundred miles, as I recall it, seemed like I would always hit the time limit before the distance. It amazes me that I have logged so many miles right now. I'm glad that I joined dailymile for the encouragement that I get from everyone--total strangers at that--and the record keeping that it has done for me. I have heard it said that if you need motivation than sign up for a race, well, the challenge has been good for me so far. I don't think I am quite ready for a race yet because even a 5k would take me longer than I would like. I think I am running at an average of 12 min/mile so far and at that pace I would be looking at a 36-40 min 5k time. I guess I should be happy that I completed it at all but let's face, I am competitive. Right now I think numbers are keeping me going. Trying to squeeze in 180 miles in just over three months has been keeping me going because I don't want to flake out on myself. SUCCESS! I said, myself! That is a great achievement for me! Thus far it has been that I kept going because I didn't want to let my workout buddies down.


BABY STEPS.... BABY STEPS...

I am moving forward. To what, I don't know. I already have planned what I am going to do during the winter once my challenge is done. I hope I can keep it up. Once my challenge is done, I will do yoga on days when it is cold, excuse me, too cold to take Thing 3 out and I will run outside when I don't have to take Thing 3. I think I need to step things up a bit. I know my workout buddies will be canceling on my a lot this winter. I hate to say that but I know it is true. They both have babies and I'm sure will not want to take them out in the weather. I am used to it. I did it quite a bit with Thing 2 and had no problems.

As of late I have been having problems with shin splints and foot bone problems, and it feels like my arches have fallen (if that is even possible.) With all these things occurring to me, it leads me to wonder, what am I doing wrong. Why would walking, a thing which I have been doing since infancy, cause me injuries? I don't feel like I am doing anything different other than pushing a stroller. I haven't been losing any weight lately. But that is probably my own fault. I don't think I have been as good at counting calories as I should these past couple of weeks. Mystery solved! or is it? I have not taken Thing 3 out much this week just because I had a babysitter so I have been running instead of walking. If you were to look at my pace, however, you would see that my running pace is only slightly faster than my walking pace. I would consider myself to have a bouncy walk instead of a run. I am building up my running ability. I can go 2 miles now without stopping. It isn't fast but it's the whole way. There was a time when I ran two miles in 17:34. That equates to an 8:37 mile. My personal best. Right now, I'm looking at around 12:06. I think on one of my runs I might have gotten in the 10 min/mile range but often my time is highly suspect. Because of this sudden increase in the type of exercising I have been doing, my shins have suffered and my feet, hips, knee, and hamstring have all been screaming at me too. I read an article today that made me wonder if I'm doing more harm than good to myself. In a nutshell it tells you the warning signs that you need to give yourself a break. Right now I walk M-F save for the few breaks I had for air quality and a mini vacation. If I didn't walk then I ran. I have been feeling the effects of this behavior for a while now and it is making me wonder. One of the points laid out in the article said that you can lose a couple of pounds but gain fat. I think that is me. I don't feel like the exercise has made a difference in my physique at all. I find that most people say they lose inches but not weight. I am wishing I was in that category right now. I could weigh two hundred pounds if I could fit into a size 3. That will never happen. I will never weigh two hundred pounds and my hips would never allow me to be a size 3. I could be on the verge of death due to anorexia and I would still not fit into a size 3. I know it, it just isn't in the cards for me. I accept that.

Well, I've rambled on enough for this post. Sorry for the novel but it's been a while.