FitNhealthy - July 2010

If you've read my blog the last few months, and/or if you follow me on Twitter (@CandidK - please do) then you know that I've joined my buddy Ami in her monthly FitNHealthy Challenges. You can find out more about these at her blog here.

Basically, however, each month Ami is challenging us to join her on some fitness challenge of her making, or if we choose, one of our own. If you click here you can see what I've challenged myself with the last few months.

I've been doing C25K, so last month, this was my challenge to myself: By the end of the month, I’m hoping to be able to not only finish week 5, but also week 6. If I can follow the C25K plan exactly, I should be ending Week 7 just as June comes to a close, but I’m giving myself a break, and taking my time with it, so I’ll be happy if I can be ready to begin week 7 by the end of June. (Week 7 is when the straight running, 25 minutes each day, begins).

Along with C25K, I’m also going to keep doing Shred on Mondays, and try to squeeze in a little bit more strength training on my in-between run days.

So, how did I do? Well, unfortunately, I only attended one Shred class in the month of June, because my gym cancelled the class at the beginning of the month to make room for the 6th Zumba class there...I'll save that rant for another day (sigh), but needless to say, no more Shred for this girl. I was NOT happy about this.

But, the good news is that my parents opened up their pool, so I decided to substitute swimming for shred a few days a week.

Except...uh...I've only done that once or twice so far.

BUT I have stayed with C25K. I've been running pretty much every other day this month with the exception of 2 weekends ago, when my cousin got married, and I, as a bridesmaid, was caught up in all the pre-wedding hoopla.

However, on the evening of her wedding I danced for about 5 hours straight, so,you know...that counts.

I'm not quite at week 7 of C25K yet, I can't seem to reach the 25 minutes of running straight yet, so I've been repeating week 6 for a while now. But, I'm still trying, and I'm pushing forward, and I'll get there.

So...now onto July's goals.

This month Ami is challenging to work on our eating habits, and I'm actually quite glad for that, because exercise has become a habit, and a need for me, but my eating habits can ALWAYS use improvement.

So, her challenge: Eat at least 4 servings of vegetables each day and incorporate one new-to-you veggie each week.

Okay, I think I can do that...I'm in.

Also, I'm going to continue to challenge myself with C25K, hoping to be much closer to running that 5K by the end of July, and I'm going to try and incorporate some more swimming, and some abs and other work into my routine as well.

What do you think? Will you join us? What fitNhealthy challenges are you up for this month?

Active April

I’m always looking for motivation to be healthy.

If you don’t know, about two and a half years ago, I signed up for Jennie Craig on a whim. I’d gone to an appointment with my mom for moral support. I knew I needed to get in shape, but I was sure I could do it on my own, and didn’t need to sign up for any program to do it, I was just going with mom because she didn’t want to go alone.

She was going to sign up, and I was going to walk away and go do my own thing.

But I signed up. And I’ll be forever grateful that I did. In the next 4 months or so I dropped 25lbs.

More importantly, however, I changed the way I thought about food, about exercise, and about my health.

This post is not an advertisement for JC. Although I feel I do owe it to the program for my weight loss, and I think it is a great program and it DOES work, this isn’t about them, it’s about me.

I needed to be in the right mindset to take control of my health, and although JC helped me on that path, it was I who made the decision to do it.

And since then, on my own, I’ve done a pretty darn good job of staying healthy.

Over this past holiday season, however, I slacked a bit. I regained about 10 lbs. Now, to be honest, considering where I was before I regained this weight, I’m still in pretty good shape. If I wanted to, I’m pretty sure I could stay right where I am, and would never be called overweight by anyone.

But I know my body, and I know that the 10lb difference matters. Over the last several months I’ve been able to manage the food and exercise balance so well that I have maintained my weight pretty steadily. I have not been super strict with either food or exercise, but have managed to not gain an ounce.

I have also not managed to lose a single pound.

You could say I’ve maintained, or you could say I’ve plateau.

Either way, the scale’s not budging, up or down.

I read somewhere that the “cursed” last 5 lbs women struggle with constantly are a woman’s body’s way of telling her that maybe she’s not supposed to lose that last 5 lbs., which is why she’s constantly re-gaining them.

I wonder if that is true. I’m wanting to put it to the test.

I am determined to lose the last 10 (or actually it’s 13) lbs. to reach my goal weight. I’m going to do this one last SERIOUS push in the next few months to drop the weight, get in great shape, tone my body…and see what happens. I wonder if after I do, with this new balance I seem to have found, I’ll be able to maintain it, as I’ve maintained the weight I am now for several months…

So, starting today, I’m putting myself on a 1200 calorie a day diet, with healthy options, regular snacks, and a complete and varied diet.

And also, I’m joining my twitter friend Ami on her Active April challenge.

Here are my “activity goals” for April:

Mondays: Shred at the gym

Tuesdays: Kickboxing at the gym (with the exception of Board Meeting Tuesday, because…well, I can’t miss the meeting)

Wednesdays: will probably be my day off from the gym, but if the weather allows, power walk outside, and if not, abs and arms at home with FitTV

Thursdays: Cardio day at the gym

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are always a crapshoot schedule wise for me, so I’m just going to focus on trying to get in at least 30 minutes of “real” exercise each of those days.

On top of that, my plan is to walk at lunch daily, take the stairs at work instead of the elevator, park far away from wherever I go, and just MOVE more.

I also have a plan to chat with a friend about starting a weight training routine of some sort. I’m completely clueless when it comes to weight/strength training, but really want to get into that a bit…

So, there you have it, my ActiveApril plan…wanna join in? Visit Ami's blog to find out more, or let me know in comments that you'll be joining in...

Back on Track

Around this time last year I was barely a month into my weight loss journey. In fact, I set off on my “journey” on August 27th, 2008. Don’t ask me why that date is so clear in my mind, especially since I tend to be really bad with dates, but there it is. That was the day I joined Jenny Craig and set off on my journey to lose “a few pounds”.

At the time, I knew I was “a bit” overweight, but having always been “the skinny one”, I don’t think my brain had wrapped itself around the fact that I was actually “quite a bit” overweight.

I am “petite” at 5’2”, and at the time when I started JC I weighed in at almost 150. (149.9 to be exact). I realize that to some this may not sound like a lot, but the truth is, it’s an unhealthy weight for me. Especially because I happen to be one of those “lucky” girls that carries my weight right in my belly area. Belly fat, as we all know, is the unhealthiest of all.

Anyway, when I started JC, I set my goal at 135, thinking that there was no way I would get there, but what the heck, I’d go ahead and put that down.

When all was said and done, I reached that goal and kept adding 5 lbs. to my goal. Eventually I dropped 25 lbs, and went from feeling squeezed tight in a size 10, to being very comfortable in a size 4. At 125 I looked better than I ever have, and was only 5 lbs. away from my final goal of 120.

I set the 120 goal as a safety net. If I could stay between 120 and 125, then I would be in a good spot, not having to stress too much for a few extra pounds, but knowing to get back on track if I started inching my way up past the 125.

I told myself that 130 would always be my do or die…the number I did not want to see on the scale, just to keep me in line.

I should say here that I’m not obsessing over the numbers, I’m just using them as reminders to stay on top of my health.

But the thing about getting so close to your goal is that it gives you a false sense of security. And then, you slack.

A few weeks ago I stepped on the scale to see 133.

Not a dire emergency, not an atrocious number, but…yes, it’s time. Time to get serious again.

So, starting today, I’m back on track. Eating healthy, eating every 3 hours, snacks, small meals, keeping a food journal, lots of vegetables, THINKING before I eat.

And it is time to step up the exercise again. Truth be told, I haven’t slacked nearly as much with exercise as I have with food. But I’m going to make a concerted effort to really stick to a routine. For now, I’m going to take advantage of the gorgeous fall weather and stick to power walks. I’m easily doing a 3 miler a few times a week now, so I’m stepping it up and adding a mile to it this week. My goal here is to be doing 5 miles before the winter sets in and I’m forced inside a gym. I’m also going to be adding some abs and arms at home every other day. (I’ve also bought wrist weights for my walks).

The goal for the scale stands at 120, with the realistic realization that I really just want to be anywhere between that and 125. It’s a healthy weight for me, and it is where I plan to “live” for the long term. I just need to get there first.

So there it is, all in writing to hold me accountable.