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?

fitNhealthy - June 2010

It’s a new month, which means it’s time for a new fitNhealthy challenge, but I’m a little delayed in kicking things off this month or even in tying up last month…

But, hey, better late than never, right?

Let’s recap last month first, shall we? Let’s see…according to THIS POST my goal last month was to do at least 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week in the month of May.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really keep track of my exercise to be able to tell you whether or not I was successful in this challenge, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that I was, because I’ve been doing Shred at the gym on Mondays(which is an hour long class) as well as usually 25 to 45 minutes of cardio before class, and then I’ve been doing C25K (more on this in a bit) at least 3 days a week. I don’t usually go more than a day without exercise, some days doing 30 minutes, other days doing 2 hours, so I’m going to call the May challenge a success.

Enter June. Ami’s challenge this month is to “try at least one NEW exercise activity each week”. We are also building on May’s challenge to exercise 30 minutes a day/5 days a week.

Before anything else, I have to confess that I didn’t start June off very fitNhealthy at all. In fact, I kicked the month off on vacation, and I decided to give my body a vacation from exercise and from eating healthy. I went away, I ate whatever I wanted, and I barely exercised besides some walking around for the first 4 days of the month. Throw in the last few days of month, and I gave myself a 6 day stretch of no exercise and eating like crap. And well, by that 6^th day, I felt like crap. I realized after coming home that those 6 days of no exercise were the longest stretch I had gone without working out in about 4 months. And my body wasn’t happy with me.

And this actually made me happy. My body craves exercise now, and so does my mind. This is a good thing, and I’ll take it.

So, anyway, onto June’s challenge then. I’m actually not going to join Ami on her particular challenge, because I’m sort of hitting the peak of my own.

See, I’m on week 5 of C25K. For those who are unfamiliar with it, Couch to 5k (C25k) is a 9 week running program geared toward “non-runners”, to do exactly what it says, get you from your couch to running a 5k. You can learn more about it here.

For those who are unfamiliar with me, and how I used to feel about running, let me sum it up in one sentence I used to say when people would talk to me about running: “I run if someone is chasing me”.

And then the damndest thing happened. Last year, while out on my “power walks” I decided to start running. And I loved it. Except, I was doing it all wrong, with the wrong shoes, on uneven ground, and I hurt myself. So, I decided once again that running wasn’t for me.

But I missed it.

Then this year, I learned about C25K, and I decided to check it out. I also decided to buy the right shoes for my gait (I underpronate, in case you are wondering).

And now, here I am, week 5, and right before my little vacation, I ran two 8 minute stretches. Without question, the long straight stretch of running I have ever done. TWICE. Up until 2 days ago, when I ran a 10 minute stretch and then an 8 minute stretch.

Because of my little break, I’m repeating week 5 starting this week, and gearing up for that scary day 3, which involves a straight 20 minute run. I’m not sure I’m quite ready for that yet, so I might repeat days 1 and 2 of week 5 a few times before I get there. But I will do it.

And that is my fitNhealthy challenge for June. 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.

That’s my fitNhealthy goal this month. What’s yours??

Active April - Fit N Healthy

Last month I joined my twitter buddy Ami (@smtwngrl) on her challenge to be healthy and ‘active’ during the month of April.

This was not to be the first, and certainly not the last (and in fact, not even the only April) “fitness” challenge I did on Twitter.

Fact is, if any one of my Twitter friends mentions some sort of health/fitness/etc. challenge, I’m probably going to at the very least, investigate it, and most likely, join it.

In January, I attempted (and came very close to fulfilling) @AmberOliver’s 31 day fitness challenge.

Also in April I attempted (and failed miserably) in @swissms99’s 10 day clean eating challenge.

There have been others.

Truth is, lately, I’m all about eating healthy, exercising, and basically, changing my lifestyle to one where health is just a matter of life.

I hate “diets”, I hate “crash courses” and crazy goals and impossible feats when it comes to what to eat and how much exercise to do.

I love food. I like lounging on my couch and watching television.

But I also like the way my body looks when I am taking good care of it. I like fitting into my size 4 jeans. I like that the other day, when I flexed my arm, I saw muscle there. I like that I used to be out of breath going up one flight of stairs and now I can walk/jog 3 miles and be barely winded.

I love being healthy.

So, if you mention some sort of fitness challenge to me, you can bet your booty I’m going to ask you more about it.

In April, I was active. I didn’t exercise every single day, but I came close. So, when Ami asked me if I was up for joining her for another fitness challenge in May, I, of course, said yes.

Enter #fitNhealthy. You can find out more about the challenge here, at Ami's blog. But the general idea behind it is that for the month of may, Ami is challenging us to do AT LEAST 30 minutes of exercise AT LEAST 5 days a week. I'm in.

In fact, I've been doing that already for the last few weeks, and most days, I do at least an hour worth of exercise. I'm going to just stick to Ami's challenge however, and see if I can "outdo myself" and push for an hour each day.

For me, these challenges, these Twitter buddies of mine who are focused on their health, are just added motivation for me to live the life I want to live.

In the last few years, I’ve gone from being the girl who would say “I run if someone is chasing me”, to the girl who is determined to run a 5k race before this summer is over (OMG, did I really just admit that out loud?)

And I owe a lot of that to Twitter. The constant motivation, encouragement and commiserating with my Twitter buddies, both the ones who run marathons and the ones who, like me, struggle along, has helped to change me into this person I am becoming.

And I’ll let you in on a little secret, I really like this person.

So, what do you say? Join me in being #fitNhealthy? You can find me HERE on Twitter, if you don’t already follow me, and join me in changing the way our minds work, so we can change the way our bodies work, look, and feel.

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...

Happy New Year - Now, get off your couch...

First and foremost I must say HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you. 2010...wow, wasn't it just yesterday we were kids trying to figure out how old we would be at the turn of the millennium?

But alas, that was then. This is now...and we are no longer kids, are we?

In fact, it seems each year our bodies remind us that we are not getting any younger. And it is up to us to take responsibility for taking care of these bodies.

So, as with probably 90% of the population, we kick off the new year with grandiose plans that this will be the year we will do just that. We will lose that last 10 (20-50) lbs. We will eat better. We will exercise regularly.

As discussed in my post last year (okay, fine, yesterday), I don't make New Year's Resolutions anymore. But I do love the idea of fresh starts and new beginnings. So I set goals, make plans, and...gulp..agree to crazy challenges by fellow bloggers.

My dear twitter friend and blogger Amber has been challenged by her husband to work out every day in January and blog about it, and she asked if any of us were interested in joining her. And I? Well, I must be just a little bit insane, because I said yes.

So here we are, January 1st, time to begin.

A quick note, while I plan to exercise every day this month, I don't plan to blog about it every day. I do plan to blog more often, and I plan on keeping you posted on my exercise progress throughout the month, but blogging daily is just not a reality for me at this moment, so that won't happen.

My cousin PM has, however, demanded I blog more often, because she misses my posts and knowing what is up with me, so I will make an attempt to do that. I promise! (oh boy).

Anyway, back to the exercise. Today is the first day of the challenge, and usually I take January 1st as a lazy day, waiting until Monday to get in gear. But this challenge is not letting me take the weekend off...so I WILL exercise today. Not sure yet what that workout will entail, but I'll share it with you as soon as I do. ;-) I do know I plan on staying in my jammies all day, so I'm thinking a little bit of Dance, Dance, Revolution will do the trick.

I'll be heading back to the gym on Monday, January 4th, and actually have an appointment with a personal trainer, to see if I can budget some PT sessions this year. I'll let you know how that goes too.

I am not, to be honest, looking forward to being at the gym in January, when all the "New Year's Resolution" newbies will be there, occupying all the machines. I'm a firm believer that us "regulars" should have a VIP section in January. I might have to find some at home workouts for the month, and then get back to the gym in February, when they've all given up. (was that mean? yeah, that was mean...my bad).

Anyway, there you go...that's the plan for January...will you join me? Let me know in comments, and make sure to visit Amber's blog and let her know you're 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.