Fish Oil

For some time now I have been meaning to add fish oil supplements to my diet. I bought a bottle a few months ago, and I have taken them off and on. Now I am going to get serious. A few months ago (probably when I bought them) I read an article saying fish oil supplements will help in weight loss. It said something along the lines of: those who ate right and exercised and took fish oil pills could lose more weight than those that just ate right and exercised. It didn't give numbers, so who knows how much more means. Now, I have spent the last hour trying to find the article online and I can't. Maybe I just imagined it!

Still, fish oil has many obviously benefits. It's proven to help prevent several diseases: colon cancer, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, etc... It is also supposed to help dry skin, arthritis, and alzheimers. So even if it doesn't help the fat melt off of me -- it has to help me in some way.

Lofty Goals

I have approximately 34 pounds to lose before I hit my "goal weight". I have counted that there are exactly 17 weeks until June 1st (the beginning of summer). Therefore I am setting this lofty goal: I want to lose an average of 2 pounds per week until I am at my goal weight by June 1st. This will be difficult. I haven't really ever lost more than a pound a week (on average). But I am at least going to try.

I have calculated my Basal Metabolic Rate (the amount of calories I burn just sitting on the couch). Then I have done my own calculations based on working out 5 times per week and wanting to cut out 7000 calories (the amount of calories in 2 pounds). I will need to stay at around 1000 calories per day. This might be a little low -- I wouldn't want to lose energy, remember it is my other lofty goal to never get sick again. So perhaps I will aim for 1100 calories per day and hit the gym more intensely.

I will re-evaluate at the end of February. Perhaps this is too tough, but that is the point of lofty goals. They say to aim high: people who have higher goals tend to lose more weight than those who have realistic goals, even if they don't achieve what they hoped for.

Home Again Home Again

Well I am finally back in Lincoln. It is good to be home and back to work and a normal routine. Turns out, traveling makes me ill though. I have a really bad cold, and a super-dooper sore throat. So I am taking it easy and trying to recover. I know that I am sick because I was walking around in wet clothes half the time I was in California, on top of not getting enough sleep, not taking my vitamins as regularly as usual, not working out enough and not eating very well. At least now I can see that they were paying off. I went almost an entire year without getting sick like this -- I must have been doing something right.

I gained 5 pounds while I was in California. I don't even understand how this is possible. That is a pound every other day. There is no way I was eating an extra 1700 calories each day, so perhaps it's actually extra water weight from being on an airplane and drinking extra fluids since I am sick. Still, I don't like seeing the scale 5 pounds heavier. I need to get back to writing down everything I eat. Of course, as I am typing this I am enjoying a mini Hershey's candy bar (okay, I enjoyed two!).

Tomorrow I will get back to the gym and start eating better. That should slap this cold right out of me! For now I will work on catching up on my sleep.

California (part 3)

I got the opportunity to visit the original Gold's Gym in Venice Beach California. This gym was apparently made famous by all the body builders who used it in the 70s (like Arnold Schwarzenegger). It is obviously tailored more for the body builder than my gym -- we had to walk through 4 weight rooms to find the cardio equipment. While I was there I got to use three pieces of equipment that we don't have in Lincoln: a rowing machine, the elliptical/leg swing machines I first discovered in Kansas city, and a double treadmill (where each foot has a different incline that is constantly changing). This was a nice change, I could feel the rowing machine in my shoulders the next day! I wonder why we don't have these in Lincoln.

California (part 2)

On Tuesday, when we finally had some non-rainy weather, we went jogging on the beach. We walked/jogged all the way from Venice Beach to Santa Monica Beach. It sounds like a long way, but really it's only about a mile. It was really cold, even though it wasn't raining at the time, and I didn't even warm up while jogging. This could be because we walked most of the way.

And because we stopped to eat snacks along the way... and take these silly pictures!

Ahhh, don't I look cute?!

California (part 1)

Monday, my Uncle took us to Santa Monica to work out with the super-fit. There are these stairs (as pictured above) that people run up and down. It's probably about 6 flights of stairs. We did it twice -- then we were exhausted. Next, we ran down the promenade. It's a two-mile strip of grass that has tons of runners on it. Remember, Monday was a holiday, but I saw at least 100 people working out. It was a little intimidating. I wonder if I would be more fit in L.A. or less.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

Today I am leaving for California. As of yesterday I was only one pound away from my lowest weight ever (well. not the lowest, just since I started this whole weight loss thing). But now, I'm going on vacation and good things never happen to your weight while on vacation.

I got a pass from Gold's Gym so that I can work out at any of their 500 locations. I may get a chance to exercise at the original Gold's Gym location at Venice Beach. Other than that, my Uncle can get me and Jennifer into his YMCA. I belive our Holiday Inn Express (in San Fran.) has a workout room. But who am I fooling? How much vacation time can I spend working out. And that surely won't make up for the amount of eating time I do. I'm gonna try my best... but I am on vacation!!!

Make your Body Pump (Pump)

I try to get two sessions of weight lifting in a week. Usually I go to Body Pump every Tuesday evening. Then I try to sneak in another session, either on Fridays or Saturdays or Sundays. Well, there was a little confusion this week, and I thought Body Pump was earlier than it was. So I didn't go on Tuesday like normal. So I made myself go Thursday evening -- even though it was out of my comfort zone. I didn't get my usual spot on the right side of the room. I had to be on the left, which really threw off my neck alignment. But I got my friend Erin to come along. It was hard -- as I had warned her it would be. And she is probably really sore today. I remember that first Body Pump soreness. It's how I imagine I would feel if I was beaten up from head to toe. But it never feels that bad again. No matter how many weeks you take off; the initial soreness is always the worse. It gets better Erin -- please come back!

I really think weight lifting is just as important as cardio exercises. Mostly I know this because I read an article in Women's Health Magazine. It said: if you want to run your fastest mile of course you'll need to practice running, but you need to build up those leg muscles with weight training just as much. So since then, I try to go twice a week. I love BodyPump!

Week 3

Well, my goal for this week was 6 sets of run 3, walk 3. I didn't make it to the gym on Monday, as I had planned; a birthday dinner for a friend of mine ran late. I didn't really feel like going when I got home at 10pm. So my running week didn't begin until Tuesday. I happened to work a half day on Tuesday and got home about 1:00. I didn't mean to do it, but I have no self-control: I took a nap. Luckily Jennifer called me at 4:00, woke me up from my stupor and got me to the gym. I show up there to get in a good run when I realize a horrifying fact: I forgot to put my sports bra on -- I'm just wearing a regular bra. I tell myself I cannot waste another day not running, and besides, I have nothing that will jiggle too much. So I go for it.
It was pretty difficult to keep up the 3 minutes of running at an 11 minute/mile pace. So I let myself vary between 11-minute miles and 12-minute miles. I made it all the way through. But I was really sweaty -- but surprisingly: not too jiggly!
I went to the gym again this evening! Again I attempted the 3/3 combo. I tried to stay at more 11-minute mile pace. Again I accomplished it; it seemed to go more smoothly. I was watching The Power of 10 on TV and it kept my mind off of the minutes ticking away.
BUT get this... I really enjoy going home and logging my run into the Nike Plus website. It really is fun to see if I can beat yesterday's time and distance. I have even set up some goals on their website, and it keeps track of my miles for me. Beginning next week, I am involved in a "Challenge". I am completing against other beginner runners to see who can run the most! That might be just the competition I need to stay motivated. It would be more fun though if I had friends on there to compete against. Maybe someday.

One Shoe, Two Shoe, New Shoe, Pink Shoe

This is a picture of my new shoes. I think I love them! Although I haven't really used them to workout -- just to look cute. But they come equiped with the Nike Plus System; so as soon as I have a free minute I am going to calibrate that chip and test it out. The Nike website claims that after using the Nike Plus System I will have a new addiction to running. Let's hope!

Failure??

It's just so hard. This morning I attempted another 2/3 run combo. I am still intent on running at an 11-minute mile pace (5.5 mph). But it is just so hard. The first few sets went fine. I was tired at the end of two minutes, but then I got to walk and my heartrate came down. But afterthe 6th run (out of 7) my heart was racing. I felt dizzy and ill. I told myself I could just walk more and run the last one when I felt good enough. When I still didn't feel better I told myself I didn't have to run anymore, I could just walk the remaining minutes. After another minute of worrying that I was going to puke at the gym in front of all of those people (well the 3 that were there on a Friday morning) I had to get off the treadmill and go lie down in the locker room.
I failed.
And I am not sure where to go from here. I suppose I should just keep on with the training schedule I had and see if it gets easier in a few weeks. But perhaps, I should rethink my goals. Maybe jumping from a 13-minute mile to an 11-minute mile is too large of a jump. Maybe I should be happy running the 5k in March at a 12-minute pace.

This morning I was telling Jennifer that I was beginning to dread the gym -- on days when I knew I had to go there to run. She reminded me of one of my favorite Friends episodes where Monica decides to take a dance class even though this is one of her greatest fears. She is a horrible dancer but when the teacher calls her out for it: 'you in back, you're doing it wrong'. Monica replies with this great line: 'At least I'm doing it!'

This reminds me of a wonderful stat I read in a magazine the other day. Even if you think that you're running with the wrong form, or too slow, or you look silly, or you're breathing too heavily. At least your doing better than the 75% of Americans who don't exercise. And at least your attempting to do something that 95% of Americans never will: run a 5k.

2 minutes

Well today, even though I didn't sleep a lot last night (blame my mom's dog and the fact that I have to dog-sit and had an early meeting) and even though my quads are very sore from Tuesday evening's BodyPump, I still made myself go to the gym and run. I was going with the thought that more excercise would take the pain away. My goal for today was: run 2 mins, walk 3 (for 35 minutes). I'm not gonna lie to you -- it was tough. But I have to say; my legs felt better when I was running than when I was taking the walk breaks. Maybe it was because my lungs hurt so bad, I couldn't feel my legs anymore. I made it through the first 5 sets fine; it was the last two that were killer. I had to resort to counting steps, and that just makes the minutes drag on!

I am on a hunt to find new running shoes. I really want the kind that takes the IPod/Nike chip. But they just don't seem to be very *cute*. I know cuteness really shouldn't be a factor when selecting running shoes, but if I have to get myself to the gym every day, I better have something cute to put on to get there! Alas, my brief afternoon of shoe shopping was not productive. But my workout sure was.

My Short Term Goals

I'm kinda a short-term goal kind of girl. I get really restless thinking long term. So here are my goals for the brief future:

- I want to run a 5k at the end of March.
- I want to do this in 35 minutes (about 11 minute miles).

-I want to achieve this by working on my jogging speed 3 times a week.
-I want to continue lifting weights twice a week.

After March is over, I will work on some new goal. Untill then... here goes!

Just the Beginning

Jen: Here is my first Blog entry. I took Jennifer's advice and started one. I hope that you choose to start one too. It will be super-cool.

So the healthy eating habit didn't last too long today. I have all these leftovers from my birthday weekend. So today for lunch I had to eat left over Shrimp Alfredo from Red Lobster. And I took my birthday cupcakes to work, but that didn't keep me from eating one on my break. Plus two pretzels covered in almond bark that someone else brought to tempt me.

But, so far my workout is planned for tonight. I will be attending my weekly BodyPump class -- happy to be back to my normal Tuesday evening (after two holiday weeks). Then I will stay at the gym for some cardio. No running today.

I re-made my running logs today though. Now they show my new run/walk plan.

Hope to read your blog soon Jen!