Monday, April 23, 2012

Active, But Not Healthy?

Well, two weeks ago, I joined Weight Watchers.  I never thought of myself as overweight, but according to their website, I am.  Now, to be clear, I am only 3 lbs into the overweight category, but this made me mad.  I want to lose those 3 pounds but I don't want to be on the high end of where I am supposedly healthy either. So now I am on a mission to lose 20 lbs.

Not that I told you that, the first two weeks have been and epic fail.  I did not lose one pound!  I didn't gain any either, but still, very disappointing.  

This, of course, is not the fault of the program.  It is totally all me.  The first week, I had trouble figuring out how to use the website and the second week we were on vacation.  The site is not that hard to navigate, so don't let that comment discourage you.  You can track everything you eat and all your exercise and if you don't know how many points a food is, you just type in the numbers from the packaging and waaa laaa, you know how many points a reeces peanut butter cup is.  Six points, by the way, if you eat both cups in the package.  

I should of been able to do this on vacation, but I didn't.  I just ate and drank what I wanted and to be honest, I am fine with that.  Today is day 1 of week 3 and I am totally on track.  Well, on track if 2 cups of coffee count as breakfast.  

What surprises me is that I work out, almost every day.  It never occurred to me that a person with an active lifestyle can be unhealthy.  I imagine some of you are rolling your eyes and I get that, but I truly thought, I was in good shape.  

I am the same weight I was when I got pregnant with my first kid.  Don't we all make our pre-baby weight our goal once the kids arrive and we are done being pregnant? Well, I got to that weight but it is not the right weight for me.   So here we go!

Not being able to run the last 4 months didn't help but that changed this week.  Yesterday, I did a nice and easy 2 miles at the gym and feel good.  Right now, I am planning on running Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays with cross training in between.  This may change, once the kids are out of school, but until June, this is what it is.  

I am planning on staying on the treadmill a little longer before I venture outside.  This is easier on my body, as I said in the last post, but it is boring.  I use music and the gym has TV's but I still get bored.  I am trying not to worry about that, as I know this is what is better for me, but I would love to hear what you do combat boredom on the 'mill.

I have one more PT session before I see the doctor and I will have to come clean with her that I have been running this week.  I think she will be ok with it since I feel good, I hope so anyway.  I have six months to be ready for the Nike Womens' Half Marathon, which I know is plenty of time.  I am looking forward to the training and adding distance.  

My fundraising so far is slow, but I have reached 4% of my goal so far.  I am trying to come up with some fun ways to raise money and, on Thursday, I meet with a TNT rep to help with those ideas.  If you have raised money before, I would love to hear your thoughts.

For my next run, I am planning on 3 miles.  I am also planing on losing one pound this week but I think the running may be easier.  Wish me luck.

Run strong, think big!

5 comments:

  1. I find that switching up the speed and incline make the mill more bearable. I did a speed workout last month on the mill and I didn't get bored at all. A couple of ideas for fundraising that you may have already tried:
    Send a letter to everyone you know asking for money with a pic of yourself (makes it more personal).
    Raffle on your blog or in real life(a ticket for each $1 donated and do a drawing for a small prize).
    Go to local businesses and ask them to sponsor you.

    Good luck!

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  2. One pound a week sounds like a reasonable goal. I wouldn't stress much about being unhealthy-- when you're active and eat well most of the time, your stats will fall into a healthy range, even if your weight is off by a few pounds on their range. Find where you feel good!

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  3. I vary the speed and incline nonstop on the treadmill to combat boredom. No amount of music or tv helps if I am not constantly pushing those buttons!

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  4. Treadmills are the most mind-numbing machines on the planet. I had to run on a standard one last night and thought the 1.5 miles might never come to an end.
    I've learned, too, that what you eat makes a bigger impact on your weight loss than exercise. I think it's 80/20 (food/exercise). Once you get on track consistently with your eating habits, you'll see more of a change on the scale. Plus, once you get back to running, you'll see more change. Good luck, you're doing great!

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  5. Great goal of loosing 1 pound a week, that's healthy and achievable :) Yay, for running!! I found that loosing weight is all about calorie counting and trying to eat "healthy" foods as much as possible. I am now 1 lb away from my "pre-baby" weight (I gained 74lbs during pregnancy, ugh!) but plan to loose and additional 6-8 lbs from there but my real goal is to be fit and sculpted, kind of like Jillian Michaels, HA! We will see about that!

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