9 lbs...and a new Challenge!

This week was not one of the better weeks. Easter. Candy. Ham. Buttered mashed potatoes. Cookie salad (made with canned fruit, pudding, cool whip, and fudge striped cookies). Though I did try to keep the portions in check. And it was one of the few things I ate that day, which was also not good for the metabolism. However, I did still manage to get to the 9 lbs mark! Even with all the food distractions. I have to admit that I am not a sweet tooth. The candy doesn’t have as much affect on me as it does to a lot of people. I prefer salty things. So I have a whole basket of candy that will most likely be eaten by the rest of my family. I am ok with that. With Holy Week, my schedule was a little off this week too. I made dinner for a lot of people with a lot of help on Thursday. I am not sure I ever really ate anything that day. I skipped lunch to leave early (not good I know). And I stopped and picked up fast food (Taco bell…yuk!) but I am not sure I ever ate the whole thing. One fresco taco…not too bad; nachos…very greasy and gross, threw most of them away; one chili cheese burrito…my Taco bell weakness; and a strawberry lemonade frutista who’s only redeeming quality is that it’s made with real (frozen with sugar) strawberries and not flavoring). But I am pretty positive I worked off some of the calories. I even walked the dog when I got home. I am dead tired. On further thought, I ate out a lot last week. Cosetta’s on Friday (Italian is another food weakness). Burger King on Tuesday (side salad with a grilled chicken breast). I am sure there was a frozen pizza in the week somewhere. Ughh. Bad food week.


I tried to walk the dog at least every other day (she does get out 2 times a day at the very least, just not always by me) and I think I was pretty successful with that last week. It was such a nice week it was hard to not want to be outside. The nice weather has helped immensely. I think I only did one full set of sit ups and pushups last week. I did some sit ups while watching the Blind Side, but I was so distracted I forgot all about the pushups. I think I might just have to suck it up and break out the weights. Or maybe just use them in the garage before I put my car in. This was also a bad strength week. Ok on the exercise though. Must step up all the efforts starting this week though because…


I am joining the Lutheran Geek Couch to 5k challenge! That’s right; I am going to challenge myself to run a 5k by September! (And as soon as I figure out how, I will put the button on my blog.) I must be crazy right? Well not really. There is a training program that seems reasonable to follow. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml And it’s worked for a lot of other people. And I will be one of them. I applaud my friend for finding this and challenging all of us to join her. I am over weight and totally out of shape, but with her support (and riding the coat tails of the support she is getting), I know I can do this. The program is 9 weeks. But I agree with her that by giving ourselves more than that, we have time to stumble and repeat a week (or 3 or 5 :-p) and still reach the goal of a 5k run in September. There is even a pod cast that I can download to help with the training. I should point out here that I HATE running. I am a sprinter at best (was actually pretty good in jr high). I played sports, but was never able to do much in way of distance. As a person who has lived with Asthma since I was 13, it’s always been a challenge to keep my breathing in check enough to do much running. I had another breathing test this winter, and thanks to my new job with a much better ventilation system (wait isn’t that what we built at my last job?!?!), my Asthma is officially listed as mild! As long as I do my inhaler before I start anything (and keep it handy just in case), I should be alright. Yea! I might be crazy, but I am also so very excited to do this challenge. Here’s to better health, less weight, less joint strain, and much better outlook on life!