Putting food in its place

[lakegran72]

I (heart) redrox.........

[amalfi_girl]

Right? I am so bummed I can't just click a button and see all of his posts, but alas that functionality is gone from the board now.

25 minutes on bike while watching DVR'd Biggest Loser (saved final scenes for tonight), and ran around with tons of files for a client today and I think that should count, too, since I was sweating.

B: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup water, 1/4 cup Lactaid FF milk, cinnamon, vanilla extract and 1 T apple butter
S: large iced latte (skim) w/splenda
L: 4 oz. salmon, 1 small sweet potato mashed with crab, 1 T restaurant barbeque sauce, skim latte w/splenda
S: 1/2 oatmeal w/1 t jam and 1 T cream
D: Wendy's chicken/apple/blue cheese salad
Des.: chocolate cool whip mousse

[amalfi_girl]

Watching the Biggest Loser yesterday, I was very inspired to start running. I have wanted to be a "runner" for a very long time, but my weight (and my asthama) always stopped me. Seeing Ada run 26.2 miles in less than 5 hours, just like a machine, was so inspiring. I thought, if she can do it, I can do it. So cheesy-sounding, I know, but that is what happened. I have a treadmill in the house, so I feel like there really is no excuse not to at least keep trying. The most recent time I tried was in January (before I lost any of this weight), and I tried to do one of those one-month "Couch to 5K" programs you can print off from the internet. It said that the first week, I should walk for 4 minutes and run for 1, and repeat that 6 times (for a half an hour total). I did that and it worked out just fine, in fact it felt great. But the second week, I was supposed to move up to 3 minutes of walking and 2 minutes of running. I literally could not run for more than a minute and fifteen seconds. That extra fifteen seconds felt like it was killing me, and I felt totally defeated. Instead of just sticking with the 4-1 minute ratio, I quit altogether.

This time, I think I will just keep doing the 4-1 minute ratio, and keep trying to do as much more as I can. If that is a minute-fifteen, than so be it. It's still running. I decided to forgo my morning bike workout so that the pressure will be on to really try the run tonight. Has anyone else tried to start running from scratch, with no experience? How has it worked out? I would love to hear the stories. I found two running threads in the exercise forum but they haven't really been posted in for a long while. I did find this, though, in "The Runners' Thread" posted by toese, which gave me serious hope:

It also took me awhile to actually get that "Runners High". Once I experienced that I was hooked on running. It was the best feeling and you just feel like you are on top of the world.

Before I even attempted running I never thought i would be able to run becuase when I did attempt to run I was always out of breath so I thought something was wrong with me. It was just that my lungs never experieince me running before. It did take awhile for my lungs to get used to it and I think my body thanks me every time I do run!!!! It's really good for you!!!!

Here is the food plan (very phase 2, if I do say so myself):

B: 1/2 cup rolled oats cooked in a cup of water with 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, cinnamon, and 1 t of almond butter; skim latte w/splenda
S: tuna with green pepper
L: mixed sauteed veggies topped with home made chili and 1 oz. of shredded cheese
S: leftovers from lunch, SF chai tea latte
D: spinach salad w/cranberries, goat cheese and candied pecans. 1 slice of delicious but deleterious pizza from our favorite pizza place. The pizza made me feel sick--why do I need to re-learn this lesson every week or two? I don't. I just need to remember it. Yeesh!

[OnaMi]

Hiya amalfi.popping in the see what up w/you!I see you're doing Great!! I've come to love jogging,who would have thought that I walk/jog 16 laps round the track and out of those 16 laps..i jog none stop 3 of those.I be so excited Just start off small and you'll go farther and farther.The devil will always try and tell us what we can't do but he's a liar!!!! he tell me I'm gonna fall,I'm gonna have a heart attack..but i rebuke that and keep going.You'll start back! It should be more easier for you now that you've lost more weight!! well.. take care and I'll be back soon,have a nice day(x)

[amalfi_girl]

Wow, that's great, Ona! I know just what you mean. I have a little devil on my shoulder that says "woah, you've gone past the marker you set for yourself, you can't do that, you're going to run out of breath and you don't have your inhaler, you're going to pass out and suffocate!" But that never actually happens...

Well, drumroll please.........................

I DID IT!!!

I got home tonight on a mission, and I went right upstairs and got on the treadmill with my "workout mix" on my iPod. "Like a G6" came on, which has a really good steady beat, and I just pumped the tread up to 5.0 (my starter jog pace) and started going. Before I knew what had happened, I looked down and I had gone for a minute and thirty seconds!!!

I beat my previous time, from nearly 12 months and over 30 lbs. ago, right out of the gate. I walked until I caught my breath, which took about another 2 minutes, and then I immediately pumped it back up to 5.0 again and ran for another minute and a half. Having done it once, it wasn't scary anymore. I did that cycle two more times, increasing the walking time between each minute and a half run (because my knee, shins, and feet started hurting a little), and I rounded it out with a full five minute walk cool down. My legs felt like they were saying, "what in the heck was that??" The workout just came out of no where and I am so, SO so proud of myself! I feel awesome right now and, the best part (besides this enormous pride I am feeling in beating the January 2010-version of myself) is that my LUNGS feel wonderful. They actually feel fuller, like I am getting oxygen into vessles that haven't had oxygen in years. Wow. Just wow.

YAYYYYY!

[Hellonurse23]

That's awesome, good for you!!!! I ran lots of pounds away years ago but then a trainer told me not to waste my time running and instead focus on weight training that was the end of me. When I started way back when, I remember that I had to focus on something that doesn't move. Be it a bolt on the treadmill or a dirt spot on the floor. Have one of your tracks going that really gets you pumped and just start off like you did at a 5.0- go until the song stops. Put a towel over the time on the treadmill so you don't look cause as soon as you see that you've beat your previous time you'll lose your groove. Even now when I hit the treadmill at the gym the first few min are the worst and I don't think I can go on but if I can just get past the 4- 5 min point I can go for almost 15 min. The other day I was focused and I went 17 min! Focus on something and don't look at the clock. I kinda feel inspired to hit my treadmill now- too bad the kids are in bed
Saying all this, I don't have any underlying lung conditions so I know that your experience will differ.
So keep going, your doing great- A bit more each day.

[amalfi_girl]

Put a towel over the time on the treadmill so you don't look cause as soon as you see that you've beat your previous time you'll lose your groove.

That is such good advice, nurse! I will definitely be trying that ASAP. I am so psyched about yesterday's run, I feel like I can do anything! I really can't wait to do it again. It just made me feel so powerful, confident, happy. DH is so excited because he can tell that at some point in the not-too-distant future, long before he's too old to do it anymore, he'll get a chance to run with his wife!

This morning, even though I wanted to run again, I knew I shouldn't push it. I watched some Galloway videos from the "runDisney" site (per Moinab's suggestion), and did some pilates for cross-training. Sheesh, listen to me, I definitely feel like an athlete after one run! Feel free to roll your eyes at this point...! I don't care, though, I'm impervious to my own ridiculousness. I can't wait to run tomorrow!

B: roasted veggie souffle, 1 Morningstar Farms faux sausage patty, coffee w/2 T cream
S: yogurt with 2 T sunflower seeds and 1 T honey
L: field greens and spinach with craisins, goat cheese, mushrooms and bacon bits, 1 T balsamic
S: home made vegetarian chili w/1 slice LF provalone
D: TBA (BUT NOT PIZZA!!! )

[OnaMi]

Fantastic!!!!! woohoo!!!!!,Now that's what I'm talkin bout!!!yeah!!! I'm so happy for you!!!!!

[amalfi_girl]

Ona, thank you! Now that I am an (instant) athlete, I truly appreciate the cheering section!!

My best friend since college is a *real* athlete--a petite, gorgeous blonde who has run many 5K's, 10K's, half and full marathons. We've even started SB together, because she wanted to get down from 148 to 135 and I wanted to get down from 248 to 205, so we lost weight at a similar pace but 100 Lbs. apart! She's already at her goal but I am still around 235. I told her about my foray back into running, and she cheered me on, too! She said that if I would ever like to enter a race, she would be right there with me. And it is definitely tempting. I found a 5K here in my town that would take place in June along the waterfront, which is flat and straight forward. I think that is a great goal, because a 5K is basically 3 miles (which was my original goal), and having a set date to shoot for (because it would be a race date) is very appealing to me. I could be a 5K racer by this June. I like the sound of that!!

If I like that race, there is the Philadelphia half marathon in November (2011), five months after the 5K, and I think that is plenty of time to train to go for about 13 miles after having run 5. So I told my marathoning friend about that, too, and she wants to do it with me! That gave me this wonderful, clear picture in my mind of me, my best friend, and my DH running along Fairmount park on a beautiful fall day. I want it!

In the running threads on this forum, many of the runners say that they like tracking and planning their runs on coolrunning or other such sites. I like being on this site, and I already log my food/emotions here, so I am going to add my runs into this journal. It really appeals to me to have fitness goals, as opposed to weight goals, and even better is that I can see myself as I am right now doing these runs. I'm not picturing a slimmer, fitter version of myself gliding along the road to the Philly Museum of Art, but the actual current version of me. That makes me feel good, because every other time I've had a fitness goal, I've pictured a skinny version of myself doing it. Or a goal related to buying smaller clothes, or weighing less. This is a goal for me, not for a figment of my imagination. I may lose weight, I may not, but I'll be healthier and honestly any form of running makes me feel like a hero, even if I'm the only one I'm saving.

So, here's to gearing up to run 3 miles, running a 5K in June, and running in the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November. There, I've posted it. It's officially public, and I am officially on my way to reaching my goals!

[Hellonurse23]

That's a great goal, good for you!!!
After your post yesterday you really inspired me to run. I finally got on my treadmill today!!!!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

[lakegran72]

you are awesome.......it makes me happy just reading your posts.......

[amalfi_girl]

Awww, guys!! Thank you so much for your wonderful support! This is my kind of "paying it forward"--Ada from Biggest Loser inspired me to run, and my writing about it put you in the mood to run Hellonurse (I'm so happy for you!), and who knows who will be inspired by your choice to rev up your treadmill!!

Yesterday was my cross-train day, so I did a little pilates (enough to make my abs sore all day and into the next morning!), but I couldn't wait for my run today. DH and I went to Target and Dick's last night and got some winter running gear so that we can mix up our treadmill runs with outdoor runs (and that way we can run together, at the same time). The clothes just did something to me. FIrst of all, even though they are skin tight, and even though I'm 230+ lbs., they looked good on me! And they felt really good on. Something about the material is just so springy that it made me want to run right away! But it was 10pm by the time we got home and I knew I had to wait for today and stick to the schedule. So I made an "interval run" mix on my iPod, lining up songs that would last as long as my run-walk intervals (so a 1:30 minute song for a run interval and a 2:30 minute song for a walk interval). The run songs ranged from 1:28 to 1:45, and because I never knew which was which (and I covered my timer with a towel--THANKS so much for that advice, it worked great!!--I didn't have a chance to doubt that I could increase my run time by another fifteen seconds. Because I didn't have a chance to doubt it was possible, I DID IT! I went from not being able to go past a minute fifteen, to jumping right up to 1:30, and now I've jumped another fifteen to 1:45! I am so excited. I like this pace, and this method, and I can see that by adding 15 seconds per run I will move up by 1 full minute per week (w/4 runs per week) and I will be right on schedule for the C25K (couch-to-5K)!

So, to sum up, I ran at about 1:30/2:30 run/walk intervals, walking at 3.2mph and running at 5.0mph for a full half hour. I have to take a moment to pat myself on the back.

B: Chris55's bean & egg breakfast (good call, Chris, this one is a keeper)
S: 1 T vanilla almond butter
L: 2 brown rice sushi rolls (eel and california) -- late lunch (2pm) so no snack
D: lean corned beef and cabbage (Yummmmm!)
Des.: dark chocolate dove bar

[amalfi_girl]

Soooo excited! I had no idea that running would make certain things sore. Like my lats, and my abs (SO sore!), and my inner, upper thighs. Yet my calves and large thigh muscles feel just fine. Weird! Anyway, I have been so enjoying these journals that, yesterday, I started a blog on blogspot (it is eatrunhavefun.blogspot). I used some of my old posts here (slightly revised) to start it up, and now I'll be updating it with some of the stuff I put up here, and some other stuff that is more detailed (like the details of how I overcame my binge eating disorder, lots of details about running, and other things that aren't entirely relevant to this site). I didn't expect this to be so reqarding but it really has been. The support has been amazing, and inspiring, so I wanted to open myself up to that kind of support from people from other focuses (not just SBD but those overcoming an eating disorder, runners with no dietary issues, and people who love to cook). More support can't be bad, right?

Yesterday was great, the run went well and I ate well, too! Cruising along feels nice.

[amalfi_girl]

Very excited about my new running shoes. It was fun to go pick them out with DH at a real professional "running store." The guy who sold them to us was very nice--a multiple-marathon runner. He had a big golden retriever in the store with him named Trevor and I wanted to take him home so bad! Allergies be damned! But alas I couldn't, as he clearly loved his runner-owner so much. Trevor was so soft, so sweet, he kept strolling over to the various patrons and wagging his tail, then plopping down at his owner's feet as the guy fitted me and DH for new shoes. Adorable!

B: spinach souffle, chicken apple sausage (from Costco), SF mocha smoothie (1/2)
S1 (10:30am): 1 T vanilla almond butter
S2 (12:00 pm): 1/3 cup oatmeal w/1 t grape jelly and 1 T half and half
L: chicken fajita salad with refried beans
S: home made coffee smoothie w/FF milk
D: chicken kebob with green salad
Des. No Pudge Fudge!

My run tonight had 2 MINUTE RUNNING INTERVALS!!! I made it to my 2 minutes in 3 workouts!! THIS. IS. EPIC!

[zas]

your running shoes is inspiring me too !!! got to start doing something about the workouts now !!!
your menu is mouth watering....my seems so bland....